After receiving as much food as they could carry from the house-elves, they joined Vanessa and Amanda, who had followed them downstairs, and escaped out onto the grounds.
It was still dark outside, and the moon was almost full. Lily noted that especially, remembering Remus. They went to the lake, and, grateful for friends, Lily told them everything.
"So you didn't do a thing to her?"
"Well besides insult her after she did so to me, no."
"Wow. I wonder what is possessing her to do that?"
"To tell you the truth, she hated me ever since she saw me. I have no idea why."
"Hum. And you didn't reveal any of the Gryffindor team's strategies or anything?"
"There's nothing to reveal. I only went to their practice once, and that was last year. And then I only sat in the bleachers; I didn't hear a thing, and, besides, I was too new at Quidditch to know what exactly they were doing."
"Shame."
Lily and her friends whirled around to see Malfoy leaning on the trunk of a weeping willow.
"Lucius-what're you doing here?"
He yawned. "I wish I wasn't."
"What are you doing here?"
"Serverus wants to see you."
"He does? Why?"
Lucius shrugged. "I don't know. I wish he didn't, because I just got dragged out of bed and landed on the floor. I'm a bit sore all over." He felt his back. "But I don't know."
"Oh." Lily was a bit puzzled. "You don't have the faintest notion of what this is about, do you?"
"If I was a good guesser, I'd say yes, but I'm not, so I'll say no and see what happens. No."
"I see." Lily got up and brushed her robes off. "Mind telling me where he is?"
"Over by the Forbidden Forest, close to the Quidditch Field. You're welcome."
"Oh-right, thanks. Hey-Lucius!" He was turning back to the entrance hall, but her last remark made him come back.
"What?"
"This isn't a trick to make me run headlong into the arms of ferocious Gryffindors that want to stick my head on a pike and dance around it, is it?"
"Why would I want to help them? No. Not to my knowledge. Goodnight." He yawned again and made off for bed.
Eva caught Lily's arm. "Do you want us to come?"
Slowly, Lily shook her head. "No-no, not right now. I don't think you need to."
Vanessa pursed her lips. "Lily, he's a Slytherin."
"So what? Where does it stand written in the Book of Truth that all Slytherins have to be evil and hate me? Every single generalizations is false. Including this one," she added as an afterthought. "No, really. Just stay here." She finished getting the wet leaves off of her robes and made for the forest.
Lily didn't see Serverus until she was ten feet from him, he being in his black Hogwarts robes. He stepped out from in front of a tree.
"Um-Lily?"
"Oh, there you are-What?-That is, Lucius told me you wanted to speak to me."
He nodded. "Yeah…I did…Listen, I want you to know that I'm sorry about last night."
"Sorry? Why? Did something else happen?"
"Oh-no-I don't think so, but-Lily, if I hadn't invited you out here for practice, I doubt this would have happened. I'm sorry."
Lily stared at him incredulously. "Serverus, Serena would have found some way to make me miserable, and I'm thankful it wasn't worse. This whole thing just goes to show me how dumb I was to think they were my friends."
"So, was she really hurt?"
"Nope. She could have a future in theater, however."
"How so?"
"She's very good with makeup. Makeup she stole form me and is now claiming as hers, including the nice teach casket it was in. And I can't protest, otherwise I'll have all of Gryffindor Tower on my back. And that would hurt. I'd be smushed."
Serverus smiled a bit. "Oh. I see. Well-" he kicked the ground nervously-"I just want you to know that-well, that-erm…"
"That what?"
He took a deep breath. "Thatillalwaysbeyourfriendnomatterwhathappens."
"That wh-wha-what?"
"That-oh, never mind. You remember when you said this could be worse?"
"You're wandering from the point and changing the subject intentionally, but I'll humor you. What about it?"
"It can get worse."
"Well, I knew that-" She whipped her head around, staring him in the face. "How?"
"Do you know what the Minister of Magic's name is?"
"Where did that come from? I hate to display ignorance, but no."
Serverus, biting his tongue, seemed a bit reluctant to speak.
"Well?"
"His full name is Rowland Stuart Sikora. That tell you anything?"
"That depends. How many Sikoras are there in England?"
"Not that many. You know what I'm trying to say."
"Well, yeah, that Serena Sikora's father is the Minister of Magic. That explains why she has a lot of followers."
"It certainly does. And, Lily, if you don't want to get into an even bigger mess than you're in now, you might want to make up with her as soon as you can. The Minister has a very ruthless temper."
"Oh, posh." Lily gave a short laugh. "I can deal with that when it comes."
"Oh, really? How?"
"It might help if I knew what exactly was going to come, but trust me, I can deal with this."
Serverus looked a bit doubtful, but he slowly nodded. "All right, I guess you can-you did take care of me and Lucius very well the day we met," he said, grinning. "And you hadn't even been to Hogwarts yet!"
Lily smiled. "I'm a bit sorry about that-I thought James and Sirius and them were my friends then-I guess I was mistaken. I've said that so many times now," she added.
"You know, Lily, why exactly did you stop being friends? I never found out the whole story."
Lily shrugged. "Oh, nothing big, just after that last Quidditch match last year, I figured I'd find out who really liked me for who I am, so I threw all those painful curlers and things like that out. They refused to have anything to do with me from then on, so-well, you know what happened after that. We're practically tearing each other's throats out now." She sighed. "And I suppose, from his point of view, that what Serena told him is quite believable. I only have my word for it."
"What-but our team knows you didn't tell us anything!"
"Well, but that just might be because I hadn't gotten around to it yet."
"Oh. She does have a strong case, doesn't she?"
Instead of answering, Lily looked out over the grounds, which were now a light pink from the sunrise. Drawing her breath in sharply, Lily drew Serverus into the forest, where the dark trees his them from view.
"Lily-what the-"
"Shh!" Her set face made him quiet down and look towards the castle. He bit his lip. The Gryffindor team members, Sirius, Remus, and Peter were out combing the lawns.
"Lily, this isn't going to go very well if they find you."
"Even worse if they find us. Malfoy is the team manager, and you're his best friend, and if I'm caught here, I might as well check into the hospital wing right now. Go!" She pulled him farther into the forest, out of sight of the team.
Scratched by brambles and wet from the morning dew, Lily managed to get into Gryffindor Tower and lock herself in her old dormitory. Eva, Vanessa, and Amanda were already there, with cloudy countenances, but their expressions cleared as soon as Lily walked in without a stretcher or crutches.
"Lily! We were so worried! We had to leave as soon as we saw them,-but how ever did you get away?"
Lily sighed and flung herself down on her bed, breathing hard. "You know Serverus and I were talking near the Forbidden Forest, right?"
"Right. I told you not to."
"Shut up. Anyway-Vanessaa, I was joking!-anyway, when they came out, we took a large detour through that wonderfully charming forest we have on our grounds. It needs to be weeded badly. After that, we got in through the kitchen door and the house-elves got me back up here. They have their own special entrance to all the towers-on the end of the long hallway out there. So I didn't have to face anyone in the common room." Exhausted, Lily fell back on the pillows, jumping back up immediately and pulling a ring of brambles out of the back of her robes. "Ouch."
Eva shook her head. "You certainly were lucky. Did you see anything in the Forbidden Forest? Besides the usual creatures and plants, I mean something like werewolves and vampires."
"Oh-" Lily shrugged. "I saw this horse-man thing about fifty feet away, but that's all. Nope. No werewolves or vampires. Lots of other things, plants, squirrels. No vampires." she added in a playfully mournful tone.
The rest of the Saturday went well, seeing that Lily managed to hide from the Gryffindors She hadn't had any lunch or dinner, and at eleven o'clock at night, she was in a terrible mood.
"You know, Eva, I'm about ready to let them find me, just so I can eat again."
"But they'll permanently paralyze you! You can't!"
"I'll have to go back to classes sometime, won't I?"
"Well, yeah, but there're teachers there. You'll be safe."
"Oh, honestly, who cares about safe?"
"You should."
"Well, right now I care more about getting a square meal. Unlock the door."
"Lily, this is dangerous. Go to bed."
"So, you're telling me now to go to bed? Who died and made you my mother? Not that I obey her," she added.
Eva and Amanda managed to get Lily into bed around twelve. The only promise they got from her was that she wouldn't sneak out during the night, but in their turn they had to let her out in the morning. Neither of the two parties was much pleased with that, but it was the best compromise they could reach.
Sunday morning was rainy with lots of wind, so the option of escaping outside when things got to violent inside sort of blew away. Lily woke her friends up at six-thirty, and they quickly showered, dressed, and went down to breakfast.
It was just being served, and there were only about five people in the Great Hall, total. Eva was very pleased.
They went back up to Gryffindor Tower afterwards (Puritan hysteria), and went straight to the fire, as the wind was beating on the cold windows. They pulled out a chessboard, but no one's mind was really on the game until there came yawns from the top of the dormitories' stairways.
Lily's attention suddenly became riveted on the game, as did the attention of her friends. Ignoring the stares of Miranda, Ashley, John, and Remus, Lily coolly attacked Eva's knight. Pieces of spear and armor were flying all over the table as Remus stepped forward.
"You've got a lot of nerve, Evans."
Lily didn't turn from the chessboard. "Eva, do me a favor, get that Anatomy book out of my trunk and see how many nerve cells there are in the average human body."
"Oh, so now you're being smart?"
"I know I am; thanks though for telling me."
John vanished back up the stairs. Several others were appearing, wondering what on earth was going on, then becoming enlightened as they saw the four friends playing chess in the totally empty common room. Remus advanced down the stairs. "You know, you honestly should get re-sorted into Slytherin. Crafty, mean, scared-You really don't belong here."
"I know. If I could get re-sorted I'd do it; you really don't think that I willingly live amongst you people, do you?"
Remus was speechless. "You mean that you'd honestly prefer Slytherin over us? What kind of traitor are you, anyway? First you turn on us in Quidditch, then you insult our House-What next, Evans? What next?"
"I'm killing a pawn."
James appeared at the bottom of the stairway, just in time to hold Remus back. "Hey, Evans, finally got up enough nerve to appear in front of us?"
"In front of what? It really doesn't take much to sit among moldy mushrooms. Well-besides clothes that you don't mind getting dirty-"
James grabbed her by the collar. "Listen, Evans, enough of that smart mouth. We want an explanation and we want it fast. Why did you reveal us to the Slytherins and attack Serena?"
Lily pinched his fingers hard, and he let go, fast. "I'm waiting, Evans."
Lily sighed. "So, really, what you want to hear from me is that I betrayed you and beat up Serena because I have a violent temperament and hate everyone in this room? Oh, and I can't forget in love with Serverus Snape. Is that what you want to hear?"
James was a bit taken aback. That was, as a matter of fact, exactly what he expected her to say under cross-questioning. "Well, confess already, why don't you?"
Lily sighed. She stared dreamily into space and started quoting something.
"I have been thinking I would confess to them, Elizabeth. What say you? If I give them that?"
She continued in a softer voice. "I cannot judge you, John." She paused, then went on. "What would you have me do?"
"As you will, I would have it. I want you living, John. That's sure."
Lily was speaking as if she were two people, her pupils contracted and her face frighteningly surreal.
"Giles' wife? Have she confessed?"
"She will not."
"It is a pretense, Elizabeth."
"What is?"
"I cannot mount the gibbet like a saint. It is a fraud. I am not that man. My honesty is broke, Elizabeth; I am no good man. Nothing's spoiled by giving them this lie that were not rotten long before."
Remus broke in. "What is she doing? She's going insane!" He started for her, probably to bring her back to the world with a slap on the cheek, but James held him back.
"Remus, I'm not sure what's going on here. Just don't do anything."
Lily was still dreamily gazing into space.
"And yet you've not confessed till now. That speaks goodness in you."
"Spite only keeps me silent. It is hard to give a lie to dogs."
Then, frightening everyone half out of their wits, Lily's eyes snapped back to normal, cool and green, the dreamy expression gone.
"Does that tell you anything?"
The whole of Gryffindor Tower stared at her, shaken to the core by her strange behavior. It was so silent that one could hear every single heart beating, and Lily was the only one who kept her self-possession. Tossing her hair over one shoulder, she took Eva's arm and went back up the stairs to the dormitory, clearing a wide path as she ascended the stairs. No one wanted to come close to her, and she reached her bedroom unmolested.
Serena, Diana, and Elspeth were sitting on Serena's bed; Abigail was standing in the doorway, a bit of fright and lots of admiration on her face.
"Lily, I was so worried! I thought they were going to kill you or something like that!"
Serena, who had modified her makeup so that she had a pinkish scar on one cheek and a pale lavender ring around her eye, sniffed haughtily.
"Well, that was a minor performance. I could pull mine off much better than that. In fact, I have pulled mine off much better than you did. Diana, hand me that lipstick, will you?"
Lily pulled Abigail and Eva over to her own bed, where they sat down, still looking at her with a bit of reverence in their eyes.
"Sikora, I don't know where you get that idea."
"What idea? You certainly did hit me in the eye-Elspeth and Diana saw you do it. And you told us that you would give out the Gryffindor team's secrets to Slytherin; don't try to deny it."
"Where did that just come from?"
"It's not my fault that my ancestors were recognized, and it certainly isn't right of you to treat me like this. I've tried to make peace with you so many times, Lily."
"Oh, you're calling me Lily now."
"I always have. I've always counted you as my friend, and I'm willing to forgive you."
"Forgive me for what?"
"I have never wanted to fight with you. I still don't know what I did that made you hit me with your sword, but I'm sure you had a reason that was-"
"EVANS, YOU DID WHAT?"
Lily spun around. Crowded at the door was Gryffindor Tower, both boys and girls. James was standing in the front, eyes flashing.
"She never told us how she got that cut; she must have been too afraid of what we were going to do with you. You murderess, you-"
He stopped, flailing for words.
"Where's that sword you threatened us with over the summer?"
"In my trunk."
James, a bit taken aback by her icy tones in her voice, nevertheless moved towards her trunk, threw the lid open, and took out the first thing he saw.
"Potter, my foil's on the bottom."
"It is not. It was lying on the top of your things." He held her well-known sword up. Everyone stared at it, gasping.
Lily was a bit startled herself. The tip, usually flat and broad, was long and pointy, and covered in dark red, dark red that looked suspiciously like dried blood.
"What about it?"
"You attacked Serena?"
"No."
John had pushed his way forward. "For Pete's sake, Lily, confess, and you won't be punished as much!"
"Confess to what? This is turning into regular McCarthyism!"
James lost control. "EVANS, YOU'RE TERRIBLY RUDE, YOU'VE TRIED TO MURDER, YOU'VE BEEN A TRAITOR, AND YOU'RE STILL MAINTAINING INNOCENCE? FOR GOD'S SAKE, WOMAN, THE WORLD DOESN'T REVOLVE AROUND YOUR WISHES AND WHIMS!"
When Lily got angry, she didn't explode; she didn't start to swell with anger, scream, or go into tantrums. Her anger was of the frightening sort that no one ever wanted to come across.
Lily stood up. Everyone else practically melted before her; she radiated dignity and superiority to such an extreme that it was majestic. Her lips were an icy white, and everyone later swore that she grew several inches. Slowly, she walked towards James, not losing control, not shouting or screaming. She had never been made this angry before, and it was all the frustration of the past year that helped her appear like this. As usual, she had her black robes on, but they swung on her body like elegant clothing did on princesses. She was armed with nothing whatsoever, not a wand; not even her fist was clenched, but no one could doubt that if she struck, in whatever way she would strike, it would be fatal. Her eyes, still the forest green they had been, turned hard and dangerous, and as she paced towards James, he visibly cowered. She said this very slowly.
"I tell you this, and I tell it once, you are not finding in me a helpless maiden you may burn at the stake. Molester me again, and I swear to you, you will regret the day you ever saw daylight." For an instant, her eyes flashed, green with silver threads running through them, and then her normal gaze fell upon the almost empty doorway.
Almost empty. Almost. James was still standing there, not frozen, not frightened to death, simply quite a bit intrigued.
“Wow.”
“Wow what?”
“How did you do that to your eyes? That was amazing!”
“What-what did I do?”
“You mean you didn’t do it on purpose? Double wow.”
He looked around. “May I come in?”
“That depends.”
“On what?”
“On if, when you leave, I’m still going to be alive.”
“Oh, that.” He looked at her quizzically. “If you promise never to attack anyone anymore, then all right, I promise.”
“Can’t do that. Sorry. Have a nice day.” She turned her back on him and pulled a stack of Exploding Snap cards out of her bag.
“What do you mean, you won’t stop? Next thing we know, you might be killing people!”
“Oh, honestly.” Lily was a bit exasperated. “I’m leaving now.” She got up and started out the door, but James held her back.
“Hey-listen, I didn’t mean to anger you. Please talk to me?”
Lily started back out, but then gave in. “All right, all right fine. Say the magic words.”
“Which ones?”
She slapped her hand to her forehead. “Never mind. Magic words in Muggle language are ‘please’ and ‘I’m sorry’.”
“Those are pretty pathetic substitutes. But I’ll humor you. Please and I’m sorry. There. Good enough?”
“I suppose. It’s the best apology I’m going to get out of you in any case.”
“Come play chess with us downstairs?”
Lily narrowed her eyes. “Why are you being so nice all of a sudden?”
He shrugged. “Well, part of it is that I don’t ever want to see you angry like that again. You’re really frightening when you act like that.”
“I know. That’s why I do it.”
“Oh, really. I call the black pieces!”
“Oh, no, you don’t!”
Lily chased him downstairs, leaving the dormitory gaping with wide-open mouths. All but one. One particular one. Her beautiful blue eyes were narrowed in loathing and her delicate hands were clenching her perfectly manicured nails into her palms, making them bleed.
Over the next few weeks, the Gryffindors calmed down quite a bit, and Lily could walk places without being hissed at, and, a month and a half later, she and James were getting to be very good friends again. Sirius and Remus had rejoined them, though Peter was still a bit nervous and jumpy.
They were in the common room, Remus and James complaining about a particularly hard essay for Professor Kettleburn, who taught Care of Magical Creatures (two rolls of parchment on the development of unicorns), and Lily was griping about the fact that they had just been tested on their incense ashes in Divination, and when she was asked what she saw, the words, “A load of crumbly gray good-smelling stuff” had outed themselves and, before she knew it, she had detention. Professor Trelawney gave evil detentions; Lily’s was to dispose properly of the tea leaves and ashes used in Divination. But one could not just throw them away, no, according to the prophecy of each heap of trash, it had to have its own special ritual. Lily wasn’t happy.
Sirius was the only halfway satisfied one there. Their Study of Ancient Runes teacher was not very big on giving out homework, and he did very well in Divination, so he was mostly homework-free.
That night, down in the common room, it was a week to go till Halloween, and everyone was excited. It made it almost impossible to work.
“Miserable old dragonfly,” Lily mumbled. “Giving detention on the night of Halloween. She really does hate me, doesn’t she?”
James nodded. “She does.”
“Oh, hush. I needed an ‘Of course not, who could hate someone like you’, not a ‘She does’.”
“Well, it’s a bit pointless denying it. Especially since you got into that logic discussion and wiped the floor with her.”
“Well, what can I say? I’m good at logic.”
“I’m not going to dispute that.”
“I know. Because you’ll lose.’
“Oh, shut up.”
Their conversations had usually gone like this, and it was fine with Lily, who preferred it over their fighting. Neither of the boys liked the fact that she was on good terms with the Slytherins, but they were living with her decision. For now.
They didn’t exactly talk to Abigail much, saying that they didn’t know her that well, even though Lily had tried to introduce them and get them talking several times. Secretly, Lily suspected that they didn’t want to be around her that much because she wasn’t blade-thin and a beauty queen, but she kept her opinions to herself.
Serverus had persuaded her to become a bit friendlier with Serena, and grudgingly, Lily had agreed. It worked; at least Serena wasn’t clawing herself up and accusing Lily. She had helped her with her homework on several occasions, still, grudgingly, and only because Serverus practically implored her to do so. He was more afraid of the Minister of Magic than she was, and she really wished he wasn’t. It would make her life so much easier, without having to practically scrape the shoes of someone she wanted to use as a boot-rack.
Finally, around eleven, they had their homework completed and were going up to bed. Lily was the last to leave, having more things to clean up. She finished rolling up her essays and calculations, when she cast a last look at the still roaring common room fire. She had to sit down; mainly because her legs failed her.
A familiar person was sitting in the flames, which had parted so as to form a chair for him. His messy black hair wasn’t even singed by the flames touching him; neither were his robes.
“Tom-Voldemort? What-how-why?”
He smiled and stepped out. “Aren’t you going to welcome me in?”
“It seems you did that yourself. How did you do that?”
“Magic.”
“Well, duh. Why did you come here, of all places?”
“Making sure you were all right. You sorta faded away last time I saw you.”
“I know. Next thing I knew, I was lying on the floor of the Hogwarts Express, with people slapping my cheeks.”
“That’s odd.” He frowned. “I wonder what could have made that happen.”
“I have no idea. I don’t even know why or how I got to the Alendoren Cove. I started looking it up, but the library here is huge. The only thing I did was stare at Lucius.”
“Lucius?”
“Malfoy. He goes here. In Slytherin, very rich, Quidditch team manager, don’t think you’d know him.”
“You think right. I don’t. I think I used to know someone named Malfoy-oh, never mind. Doesn’t matter. Anyway”-he flashed a conspiratorial grin at Lily-“you want to come back to Alendoren? Litharelen wants to talk to you.”
“Why?”
“She had a large family reunion, and her parents invited several great-grand parents to come live with them, and she needs someone to talk to. She liked you. Coming?”
Lily cast a quick glance over her shoulder to make sure no one else was watching, then nodded.
“Of course.”
He took her hand, lifted her into the fireplace, and, a moment later, they were standing in a fountain inside a beautiful, iridescent mansion. Lily stepped out towards a figure she saw sitting on a bench, but who jumped up as soon as she saw the arrival.
“Lily!”
“Litharelen!”
They raced towards each other and hugged. Lily only came up to Litharelen’s chest, but they still felt like best friends meeting again after a long time.
“Oh, you don’t know just how bored I’ve been!”
“I might. Tom told me a bit of what’s happened here.”
Litharelen laughed, a beautiful, musical, tinkling laugh. “He didn’t tell you that I’m having to wait on them hand and foot, did he?”
“No, he didn’t,” Lily admitted. “That must stink.”
“Oh, it does. Have something to eat?”
“Erm-do you have things that homo sapiens can eat?”
Litharelen laughed again. “Don’t be ridiculous. Tom lives here, remember?”
“Oh, yeah, right. I’d be glad to.”
“Come on, then. Tom, you hungry?”
“Um-not really, but I’ll come.”
They headed out of one of the many doorways framed in sculptures and inlaid with gold, ivory, and silver, and made for what Litharelen called the kitchen. When Lily reached it, it surpassed anything she’d ever seen in ways of a kitchen.
In the first place, instead of a stove, there was a large contraption based on a fountain that spouted water from the mouths of four statues. It had four long, thin pieces of iron placed at every corner that curled over the spout of water to form a ring, somewhat like a gas stove, only with hot water instead of fire.
In seven of the twelve fireplaces, kettles were hanging, and each of them emitted a different smell that Lily recognized from somewhere, yet couldn’t pin down. The tiles of the floor were marble swirled with silver, and the counters were the same, though with iron snakes for handles. Overhead, three marvellous chandeliers hung, iron, though laced with silver and hung with crystal. Normally, such an addition would have made a room look ridiculous, but this enhanced it, throwing a warm, blue, iridescent glow over the whole room. Lily felt stunned.
“And I thought Hogwarts had a nice kitchen!”
Tom moved to a fountain placed in the center of the room, made in the same style as the chandeliers, except that from four snake-shaped hooks there hung four crystal pitchers. He took one off and dipped it into the spouting liquid.
He drank deeply, then passed the pitcher to Lily, who, a bit curious, took a small sip, then another, and another. It was almost as if she had become addicted to it.
The liquid had taken the appearance of molten silver, but it tasted something like all the good things she had ever had in her life all rolled together, forming something sweet, cool, refreshing, and intoxicating. Litharelen quickly reached over and took the pitch away from her.
“That’s enough! The first time Tom had this, he had half a pitcher and walked around the rest of the day spitting out his deepest secrets!”
Lily quickly dried her mouth off. “I’ve had enough, thank you.”
Litharelen laughed again. She set the pitcher down on the counter and closed her eyes, concentrating deeply. In a moment, she changed back into the almost-human she had been when Tom introduced them, with a flowing gown swishing around her body.
“There, much better. I feel so out of place when I’m the only one with a tail!”
Lily was the one to laugh now, but she stopped as soon as she heard an inhuman sound come form Tom’s throat.
“Tom-“
“Shh!” Litharelen clamped her hand over Lily’s mouth. “Don’t wake him! He had the rest of the litaleter! If you wake him, people say he’ll go insane!”
“Wouldn’t take much, really.”
They were interrupted by a harsh, creaky, high sound coming from Tom.
“Do you know, if I find that necklace, I’ll have power over everyone on this wretched earth? It’s true. I only have to find the one who wears it-they say he’s at Hogwarts. At Hogwarts. My old school.”
His head drooped onto his chest and he started to snore lightly, but then he snapped his head back up. “Wh-did I miss anything?”
Litharelen took the empty pitcher out of his hand. “Idiot. You’d think that you’d learn, after the last time.”
“Last time what?”
“You had too much litaleter.”
“Not again! What did I say this time?”
“Some mumbled junk about a necklace and that whoever has it is at Hogwarts. If those are your deepest secrets, you need to work on getting better ones.” She sniffed, smiling.
The rest of the day passed nicely. It seemed that the time here was different; that they were a few hours ahead of Lily, so they were ready to get up when Lily was falling asleep standing. Sitting on a couch in what Litharelen called the living room, Tom and Lily were talking while Litharelen was bringing food to her great-grandparents.
“So, what was all that about a necklace?”
He looked a bit embarrassed. “I do need to stop drinking that stuff. Anyway, I read somewhere that the elf-nymphs made this one necklace of power once, and it gives long life and the power of no other mortal on earth. I thought that might be nice to have.”
Lily breathed again. She had thought for a minute that he had been talking about her necklace, which she kept tucked under her robes, but she certainly didn’t have the power over all mortals.
“So, the person that has this, he’s at Hogwarts?”
“Or she. You know, if I were a supreme ruler, I’d make this world such a better place. It’s frightening to think that it might be in the hands of a no-account, greedy, good-for-nothing spoiled child. He’d make the world simply serve him. I couldn’t stand that.” He shuddered.
Lily smiled. “Well, I’d do my best to find it for you. I think, from what I know of you, you’d make a pretty decent ruler.”
Tom raised his eyebrows. “Thanks. But wouldn’t you want all that power for yourself?”
“No. I’d be too tempted, and, anyway, I’d hate people bowing to me-and worse-be hounded by the press all the time.”
He laughed. “You’d hate people bowing at your feet? Geez, you’re strange!”
“Thank you. No, but really, I think I will do my best to find the necklace for you. Who knows, if I don’t, the world may be run by a nasty, greedy someone like Serena.” She shuddered.
“Serena?”
“A sort of Barbie doll in my dormitory with the personality of a wet mop.”
“I see. That would be scary. We’d all be inventing new types of cosmetics for her to wear-aargh, I’m shuddering just thinking about it.” He was, too.
Lily finally fell asleep on the sofa, covered with a blanked made of knotted silver strands, strangely light and comfortable.
About two hours later, she woke with a start. “Uh-oh.”
Lily had remembered Hogwarts and that she was supposed to be there right now, and that people might be in a frenzy when they found out she was missing. Sliding out from under the blanket, she noiselessly made her way back to the fountain in the grand hall where she had first set foot in the house. Taking a deep breath, she stepped into the fountain, and, before she could think, she was whirling back to Hogwarts in a whirling storm of fire and water.
