“Lily!”
He gave a sort of strangly gasp, then tried to swing himself down from Svordsja’s back. It didn’t work too well. He tried to swing his leg over her back and land conveniently on the sand, but somehow he managed to get entangled with his own feet, so he was hanging off of the pentacorn sideways. It surprised everything around that Lily didn’t wake up at the world-class screaming concert Mr. Potter presented.
He finally managed to get untangled, and when he did, he almost committed unintentional suicide by falling off. But in the end he was kneeling near Lily’s head, shaking her extremely hard, so hard, in fact, that if her neck had been only a bit less firmly attached, she would have had no head.
“Lily! Lil! Oh, come on, wake up…you’re only pretending again, aren’t you? You’d better be! Oh, wake up, won’t you?” He sat back. “This is an extremely sticky situation.”
Sitting back on his heels, he stared around the inlet for any moving creature besides Svordsja, who had already tried picking Lily’s cloak up and boosting her onto her back. The pentacorn seemed to understand quite well when someone needed help, James reflected, but at that moment he didn’t have time to reflect. Several loud bangs came from a spot shielded from his eyes about two hundred yards away. James gulped.
The first thing that came to mind was the story Lily had told him about the day of her first battle, and, though he didn’t know what it had looked or sounded like, she had given him a pretty good verbal illustration. And, since there were bright green and gold sparks coming from the place he couldn’t exactly see, he was more than convinced that this was exactly what he had thought it was.
“Oh-oh. This isn’t good.” He was right. It wasn’t. “What’m I going to have to do now, with Lily like she is? This was not a good time for this to happen!”
No, it wasn’t, but James couldn’t very well do anything about that now.
“Oh, dear bouncing quills.” He glanced around for a convenient place to hide, and when he did find one, he discovered that it was one of the hardest things in the world to lift someone about your own weight onto a nine-foot high pentacorn. Panting with the effort, he finally gave up and leaned against a suitable piece of rock that was sitting nearby.
“This definitely isn’t good.”
He finally decided to take her back into Svordsja’s stable, the entrance to which was much more concealed than the regular cave Tom used was. Swinging her into a sort of damsel-in-distress-that-is-being-rescued mode (in other words, he was carrying her in front of him, one arm under her neck and back and the other under her knees), he set out for the cave.
It was funny, he thought, how distances lengthen so terribly when one is carrying something heavy. Not that Lily weighed that much, but she was still a human being, and she didn’t have hollow bones or anything of that sort, and she didn’t starve herself. Just this once, though, he wished she had.
James managed to push the stable door open and set her down on a pile of something hay-like, though it looked like splintered glass and was soft to the touch. It made no sense to him, and he decided to drop it before his head started to hurt from thinking about it. Svordsja curled herself around Lily, and James set himself to brushing the bits of rock and sand away from her face after swinging the door shut.
It took some time to free her skin from all of the debris that her fall had almost permanently embedded into her, but he finally managed it, and by the time someone screamed loudly about one hundred yards away from the stable door, her hair was relatively untangled and placed neatly away from her face.
James and Svordsja gave a large start when something exploded almost outside the door; the only good side to it was that it woke Lily up. She shook herself several times and tried to sit up.
“Lily! You’re all right!”
“I would say how childishly obvious that is, but I don’t think this is the time. What’s going on and what did you blow up this time?”
He frowned. “I didn’t do anything—this time. I’m guessing it’s another battle.”
Lily frowned, too, but hers was more of an ‘I’m thinking, so leave me alone’ frown, while his was pretty nonplussed. Then she stood up, wincing. James caught her wrist.
“And where do you think you’re going?”
“Outside. Let go.”
“Lily! Do you have any idea what the words ‘highly dangerous’ mean?”
“Yes. ‘Fun’. Let me go while you still can reproduce.”
“Lily.”
She swung around slowly to face him. “James Potter, if you wish to be fatally injured, keep this up. If, on the other hand, you would enjoy participating in a battle, feel free. I am going out there whether you like it or not.”
“Chances are I don’t.”
“Then the other chances are you do. Coming or staying?”
He sighed. “Coming. But isn’t there anything in the way of armour around here?”
”It’s called a Shield Charm. Get used to using it.”
“Right. And if it doesn’t work?”
“Then, my friend, you are royally screwed.” She vanished out of the door, and James followed her, muttering.
“Why did I even bother to ask?”
He looked out of the door, and was met with a surprise. Actually, more of a battle scene than a surprise birthday party, but it was still a surprise. It was also another one to find that Lily wasn’t out there, and he stared around stupidly for a good ten seconds before his collar and himself were yanked into a sort of cove.
“Excuse you? That hurt!”
“Sorry. It’s just that if you insist on being hit with the Killing Curse, you’re going about it the right way. And you haven’t told me whether or not you’d mind, so I figured I’d better pull you out of the way.”
“I like your logic.”
”So do I. Now, I’m going to be watching. Disturb me and you’re going to wish you’d never attended Hogwarts.”
“Done.”
“Good.”
“Okay.”
“Hush.”
“All right.”
“I said ‘shut up’!”
“No, you said ‘hush’.”
“Potter!”
“Snap—Evans! I meant Evans! Really, I did!”
“I suggest you shut your mouth.”
“You know, that really might be to my advantage.”
”Then shut up.”
“Yes, sir.”
Lily pushed him aside rather roughly and ducked. James was quite puzzled until he saw a small crack that she was peeking through at the battle. He poked her on the shoulder.
“What’s going on?”
”Tom’s fighting…naturally. I can see Crabbe..and Avery…and Nott—oh, and there’s Macnair. Don’t blame Lith for not letting him know about Svordsja—that ax he’s swinging looks rather nasty. Doesn’t he know how to use a wand? Brainless…and someone just hit the floor! Beach, actually, but who am I to criticize. Ministry wizard—James, do you know him? Remus-y hair, kinda short, chubby—I might know him. I think I’ve seen him somewhere before. Tom, the Medusa hair on that poor girl really wasn’t necessary! Ouch—that had to hurt! What’d he do, give her cobras for hair?”
James interrupted the flowing commentary. “Looks like he did. Pleasant, isn’t he? That wizard over there—the one that looks like a cross between Remus, Peter, and a slug—that one’s Marvel. He’s one of the clumsiest Auror’s I’ve ever seen.”
“He works in your father’s department?”
“My father goes to the Ministry once in a while to straighten interesting things out. He doesn’t work there.”
”How come?”
”He doesn’t need to; we’re the richest family besides Malfoy’s on this side of Britain. Well—and the Doylens. But still—yeah, that is Marvel. Idiot. See anyone else you know?”
Lily pushed him aside to squint at the group. “I don’t know. Don’t think so. I know most of Tom’s people—they’ve all visited him at one point in time—but I don’t recognize any of the Ministry.”
“Who do you think is winning?”
”I don’t know. Can’t exactly tell. Looks to me like the Ministry’s lost more people, but they’re driving Tom back. Depends on what you mean by ‘winning’.”
“Ah. Anything interesting happening?”
Lily frowned and didn’t answer for quite some time. James finally got impatient and shoved her less than gently.
“Anything interesting happening?”
She wore the expression on her face that she hardly ever wore: the one that said ‘There’s something wrong and I can’t put my finger on it’.
“Depends. There seem to be less and less of Tom’s army—but they’re not dead. They’re not anything. They’re just not there.”
“You mean they disappeared?”
”Yeah—exactly. But I don’t know if they’d dare without Tom’s orders—and why he’d allow them to leave him in the middle of a battle is a mystery to me.”
“Oh. I see.”
Suddenly, Lily let out a loud gasp. “Tom!”
James instantly knelt next to her and stopped looking for more peepholes. “What? What?”
”They’re all gone! All except Tom! Every single one of his army—hang on. I think it’d be safe to stand up now.”
They regained their feet behind the rock, and, peering over it, saw that the entire Ministry army, what was left of it, at least, was closing in on one person: Tom Riddle, and he was the last of his army, the others obviously having Apparated away. Just as the Ministry wizards formed a circle around him and he was in the center of a ten-foot ring of enemies, he raised his wand into the air, muttered something, shot a green and glowing figure into the air, and started laughing madly before he Disapparated.
There was nothing left on the field but about three dozen rather unnerved Ministry wizards, destruction and splinters of rock shards and sparks everywhere one looked, and the great, glowing shape Tom had shot into the sky. Lily drew her breath in so quickly she became dizzy.
It was the same design on the tiara Eva had given her as a birthday present once. The same design she had copied onto paper for Tom. The skull with a snake protruding out of its mouth.
Lily had no time to think, for the Ministry was searching all around for anyone that was still on the inlet, and James had taken control. Quickly, he threw the necklace around both of them, dashed it against the rock they had been kneeling behind, and held her tightly as they whirled back to Hogwarts, landing hard on the floor of the dormitory.
They couldn’t speak for more than a few minutes, and when they finally managed to get up enough strength to get up from the floor, the first thing Lily did was fall onto her bed, while James, after unhooking the necklace from around his neck,simply stole the blanket that was lying at the foot of her four-poster, using it as a pillow. When Lily finally sat up, she had to shake her head several thousand times to get rid of whatever was buzzing around in her brain and giving her a large headache. That landing was the hardest she’d ever had; if it had just been a tiny bit more violent, they’d both have broken several bones.
“James?”
“What?”
”Why did we land so—erm—painfully?”
“I don’t know. It’s not usually like this, is it?”
”No. I—wait. James Potter.” She sat up. “You threw the necklace around both of us, didn’t you?”
“Er—yeah.”
”Never do that again.”
”Why not?”
”Because if the landing has not broken all of your bones, I will personally take care of that.”
”Hey!” He defended himself. “You didn’t know that this would happen, either!”
She was about to respond, but then her shoulders sagged. “True. I’m sorry for blowing up.”
”Anytime, I guess. What was that green thing we saw?”
Lily frowned. “The skull with the snake that Tom shot into the air?”
”Yeah, that.”
”I think—well, actually, I know he’s using it as his Mark now. Sort of like a trademark. I guess he’s using it whenever there’s a battle or something important happens—I don’t know! I just know that—well, I don’t.”
”You don’t sound to be pretty far off.”
“Thanks.”
”Sure.”
He rubbed the side of his ribs, where a large bruise was forming. “You up to walking to the hospital wing?”
Lily smiled. “We could do that.”
They did so quickly, avoiding anyone that might ask questions they couldn’t answer. Madam Pomfrey was told that they had fallen off of James’ broomstick, seeing that Lily was rather terrified of them. She asked no questions; simply gave each of them a hot, chicken-like broth to drink and touched the bruises they had a few times with her wand. By the time they went down to dinner, they were perfectly fine, and if Lily hadn’t imposed a strict rule of silence about what happened that afternoon, James would have been singing Madam Pomfrey’s praises with his knife, dinner glass, and a terribly warbling baritone that needed to be squashed.
Sirius seemed to be all right again at the dinner table, at which Lily was terrifically relieved. She had been afraid she’d done something—well, something that had hurt him badly. But he was in quite a good mood as he asked James if he’d had a good time at Hogsmeade.
“Yeah, I did! It was neat…but Zonko’s needs to hire new inventors. The stuff they have is rather old. But other than that, it was wonderful.”
Lily smirked. She didn’t want any idiotic rumors about her and James going around, so she was going to prick his little bubble of happiness and hinting as soon as possible. Which, in other words, was right now.
“I don’t know if I’d call it a good time if I were in his place—but everyone to his own, I guess. I personally wouldn’t like having rum spilled all over me and then being attacked by a phoenix on a rampage, but I guess he does.”
Sirius snickered. “You ordered rum?”
“No.” Lily settled into her seat. “Rosmerta was serving some hag, and James had put his bag in her path. She tripped. And I’m not quite sure the seven showers he says he took got the smell of it out of his hair.”
James stared at her, rather insulted. “Hey!” She glared. “I mean—I thought you said you wouldn’t mention that!”
“I said I wouldn’t mention it. I didn’t. I introduced it as a topic of general conversation and interest.”
”I’m really starting to despise you.”
”Oops.”
“That isn’t a question with an ‘Oops!’ answer!”
“That’s what I just made it.”
“Oh, honestly!” James grabbed the hair on each side of his head and pulled. Yanked, actually. “You’re one of the most difficult people to live with that I’ve ever seen. Honestly!”
She shrugged. “I’m sorry. By the way, I’m going to need your advice later today.”
”You are?” He was puzzled. “I thought you were refusing to talk to me!”
“I need your advice.”
”On what?” His evil grin flickered across his face.
”On what to make out of one of my Christmas presents.”
His face dropped. “It’s nothing more interesting? Like, for instance, how to propose to Snape?”
”Well, actually,--” She had to leave off, as the boys were laughing so hard it would have been pointless to continue. They wouldn’t have heard her anyway.
She met James down in the common room later that evening, while Sirius and Peter were serving detentions for Filch for setting off firecrackers in the hallway in front of his office and while Remus was resting—that night was going to be a full moon. So, when James came down to the common room, he wasn’t surprised at all to find it empty except for Lily. Walking over to her, he knelt down in front of her, looking at the book she held.
“Oh, hullo.”
”Hello.” James stood back up. “Agatha Christie: An Autobiography. Interesting?”
Lily nodded. “Actually, yes, quite. She found out once that her husband intended to divorce her, so she ran away and was found ten days later in an institution, where she was proclaimed insane, so her husband couldn’t divorce her and marry another lady, but two years from then—Okay, I’ll stop. I remember asking you down here, don’t I?”
”I suppose you do. I remember your asking me that.”
“Good.” She reached behind her and pulled out the long roll of black velvet she’d received for Christmas. “I need to know what I need for the Alendoren Cove. I was thinking I might need a riding habit, but then again I might need some clothes especially for Albania. I don’t think my school robes like the water there.”
”They don’t. Mine are fading.”
”Plus the fact that I have to tear them up every time something like a battle crops up. So I need your advice.”
He smiled. “All right, then. You don’t need a cloak, I presume?”
”No. I got mine from Severus some time ago, but I lengthened it.”
”You got it from Snape?”
”Yes—so?”
”You need a new cloak. Well—aside from that, I do think that a dress and riding habit might double as the same thing, don’t you?”
”That could work,” Lily admitted. “Have any ideas as to patterns?”
James pulled the book of patterns out from behind her back. “Let me see this for a minute.” He looked through it, flipping pages almost idly, till he came to something. Staring at it for some time, he finally decided it was good enough, and handed the book to Lily, pointing to the page he’d just been examining.
“That one would be good. Remember, you’re an up-till-now unknown outlaw.”
Lily wrinkled her nose at his words, but had to admit that what he said was true.
The pattern he’d pointed to had a hood attached to a short cape with slits in it for arms, not too obnoxious but easy to use when covering up one’s face was desirable; it had a tunic going down to the knees and tied at the waist with a simple sash, along with long, wide trousers. There was also a design for a mask that covered the forehead, hairline, and nose, leaving the mouth and ears free, with slit-like cuts for the eyes. It was, all in all, something someone might wear to a Halloween party, but when the hood and mask were removed, Lily mused, it wouldn’t look any more out of place than anyone else’s robes did. She looked up at James.
“Would it be beneath you to help me with this?”
James squirmed for a bit, then, suddenly, relaxed.
“Sure I’ll help you. I was the one that suggested it, right?”
Lily laughed. “I suppose you could say that.”
”So, when do we start?”
Smiling, Lily wrapped the material around one arm. “Is tonight all right?”
He suddenly looked nervous, a fact that Lily was quick to catch on to. “What?”
”Er—I don’t know if you realize this—but tonight’s a full moon…”
Lily shrugged. She had instantly caught on to the fact that James wanted to be with Remus, but…well, this was much more amusing…
“I don’t see what that has to do with you.”
”It does—see, he’s my friend, and, well—“
”He’s a werewolf, and when he’s transformed, that’s even more reason not to get too close to him.”
”Er—“
“You don’t intend on going with him, do you?”
“Well—not exactly—I was going to wait for him—“
“You can do that just as well with a scissors in your hands, can’t you?”
“Yeah, but that would just make too much sense!”
“And?”
“Oh, never mind. Lil, we can’t do this tonight. Wish I could, but—but—er—well, I don’t think I can give you an explanation right now. Maybe sometime.”
“Gee, that consoles me.”
”It should. See you tomorrow at breakfast.”
Lily sank back into the armchair, gathering up sheets of paper. “Sure.”
James, vanishing up the stairwell, didn’t catch her last words.
“I know you want to be with your friend, Prongs…”
He was with his friend. For safety reasons, and because Lily wasn’t that insane as to step right in front of a werewolf marauding the Hogwarts grounds, she didn’t follow them out at around ten; contenting herself merely with sitting at her window and making out the shapes of three creatures dashing across the lawns covered with brittle, packed ice. Peter wasn’t visible from her point of view, which was near the top of a tower.
The next morning, as expected by Lily, all three were late to breakfast. Remus was in the Shrieking Shack, sleeping as much as his conditions would allow. Lily received this information thanks to the strange effects the Alendoren Cove had on her; mostly the increased sense of hearing. She gathered that they had possibly discovered a passage to Hogsmeade (Another one?, Lily thought privately), and that there was a shortcut to the kitchens if one rampaged through the greenhouses and trampled most of the Flutterby bushes. She felt that they really needed a map or something, so as to keep track of everything they found, but they were Gryffindor boys, which basically meant, to her that they wouldn’t do anything if it involved work. And, depending on how one looked at it, writing could or could not be work. In their eyes, it depended on how many other options there were open to them…
She steered clear of questions as to why they were so tired, and that day she spent mainly in her room, writing a long letter to her family at home and working on her tunic. It might have been lonely for some people, but Lily reveled in the time she spent by herself, singing snatches of old arias and humming the overture music from Gone With the Wind. It surprised her when she realized how much she remembered from the Queen of the Night’s first aria from The Magic Flute.
Du, Du, Du Wirst sie to befreien gehn--
Du wirst der Tochter Retter sein;
Du wirst der Tochter Retter sein.
Und werd’ ich Dich als Sieger sehn’,
So sei sie dann auf Ewig Dein,
So sei sie da(here an extremely long sequence of high and almost impossible notes was to be sung)nn auf Ewig Dein
So sei sie dann auf Ewig Dein.
It was one of her favorite pieces; the Queen of the Night has lost her daughter to an evil kidnapper, and the mother begs a prince to return her daughter to her, and this was the speech the mother made to the prince. It was Lily’s dream to sing that in a performance, though she knew she never could. This aria was definitely not made for altos.
Still, she passed an enjoyable afternoon with her memories and her needle, and when dinner rolled around, she was still half in her land of fantasy and evil snakes and Egyptian mythology, hardly noticing the worried glances the boys were giving each other after staring at her face, which, apparently, had taken on a glazed, blank look.
