Beyond Hogwarts -Chapter Fourteen

-=Beyond Hogwarts; Chapter Fourteen=-

Sirius did indeed drop by at a quarter to seven, and not unarmed; he was carrying a rather large picnic basket for the dinner, as he explained. Lily informed him he’d better not expect them to fill it to the brim, but she gave in, and Sirius Disapparated happily, though almost staggering under the weight of a crushed walnut pie, a large bowl of noodles covered in a white cream sauce, another bowl filled with green peppers, onion slices, and fried corn, at least a dozen hot rolls, and two jars of marmalade, raspberry and blackberry, for breakfast.
   Lily, a fist stemmed in one side and her other hand on the counter, stared at the place where Sirius had been shortly befor he Disapparated, shaking her head and grinning.
   “How he’s going to eat all that, I don’t know.”
   James swung himself inside the kitchen. “You know Remus and Peter are going to have some, don’t you?”
   “I wouldn’t count on it,” she laughed. “James, do me a favor, and get that apple cake out of the oven. They’ll be here in five minutes, and I don’t have the table set. Slenka, would you—“
   Immediately, the house-elf had whisked off to the dining room, carrying several china plates in one hand and a stack of silverware in the other, rolled up with napkins, and Lily caught herself holding her breath, praying the elf wouldn’t smash the china.
   Slenka, however, did not smash the plates, proving to be extremely deft with tableware as well as hair, and she took over the rest of dinner preparations just in time for Lily and James to point the flour out of their hair and arms and to search for some decent clothes.
   James got downstairs first, just as the doorbell rang, looking affably presentable in a pair of blue velvet robes, but Slenka had kindly decided to wash all of Lily’s Ministry robes; in other words, all of those that were plain, so she was stuck between gowns of all different styles and centuries. Frustrated, she had to stick with her English green velvet bliaut, the only dress that was really partly like a pair of robes, though it was still a long way off.
   Almost running down the staircase, Lily saw Professor Dumbledore and Professor Maar shaking hands laughingly with James, who was exaggeratedly showing off the entrance hall.
   A bit out of breath, Lily stepped onto the Persian rug just at the end of the stairway, hugging Dumbledore and Professor Maar, then drawing back and looking curiously at her old Anatomy teacher.
   “I had absolutely no idea who ‘Joseph’ was, as Professor McGonagall wrote about an Albus and a Joseph. I’m glad it’s someone I know, though.”
   After dinner, Lily pushed back her chair swiftly, helping Slenka clear the table, something the house-elf disapproved of but allowed. Whisking Dumbledore and Professor Maar into the library—they preferred it over the sitting rooms—she lighted the lamps, sitting down next to James on one of the sofas.
   “You wanted to talk to us, Professors?”
   Dumbledore smiled. “You’re out of Hogwarts; we’re Albus and Joseph now.”
   James grinned. “On the same level as teachers; something I’ve been wanting since first year.”
   Lily elbowed him in the side. “Laugh later. Listen now. Profe—Albus, I mean—what did you want to talk to us about?”
   Professor Maar—well, Joseph—spoke up.
   “Your necklace, dear.”
   Involuntarily, her hand flew to her throat. “What?”
   James stiffened next to her, his hand searching for hers.
   “Albus told me that in your first year, you got locked in a dungeon and found a particular necklace, and we’ve got reason to think it’s of some importance.”
   “Importance?” Lily asked. This didn’t look especially good.
   Albus frowned. “Lily, let me see it, please.”
   She cast a quick look at James, then raised her hands to the clasp, undoing it and handing the chain and its pendants to her former headmaster, who took it into his hands as if it were made out of fragile bubbles.
   “Interesting…very interesting, to say the least. Joseph, would you—“
   The addressee shook his head. “No; all I needed to know was that she still had it.” He handed it back to Lily, who slipped it quickly into her pocket.
   “Well,” James frowned, “what’s the fuss about?”
   “I assume,” Albus said quietly, “that you know the value Lord Voldemort attaches to this stone?”
   Lily nodded. “Yes. He—yes, I know.”
   Joseph nodded. “It’s not very hard to miss, for us—though I’d like to know how on earth you found out that.”
   There was an uncomfortable silence in the library till Lily took up the thread of conversation again.
   “All I know about it is that, if used rightly, it can provide one with immortality and the power over mortals, and it’s got a power that draws one to Tom’s current hideout, besides the fact that he values it above anything else.”
   “Tom?” Albus said quickly. “What?”
   Next to him, James heard her take in a breath so quickly it looked like she had gotten dizzy for a minute, and, a bit frightened for her himself, he drew her closer to him.
   “You call him that?” Joseph asked eagerly. “You know him?”
   “I—I’ve accidentally met him—it’s the necklace; it drew me to wherever he was. I couldn’t quite help it.”
   James ran his tongue nervously around cracked lips, watching the two older men warily as they exchanged glances.
   Albus looked at Lily, finally, and nodded gently. “Yes; as far as that goes, you’re correct.”
   Lily felt a large load of relief drop from somewhere in her chest like a boulder, and she half-smiled. “I know there’s something I don’t know, though.”
   Joseph nodded shortly. “Yes—yes, certainly. Lord Voldemort has his people searching low and wide for that necklace—it was stolen from his family years back, by someone unknown, and buried in the lake at Hogwarts, and he knows it has been found, though how I can’t tell.”
   Lily rearranged a fold of her dress. “Yes?”
   The two men exchanged another glance before Albus spoke.
   “We have good reason to believe that he suspects either you or your husband of possessing it.”
   James started back, surprised beyond reason at this; he hadn’t suspected Tom of thinking he owned the necklace-but then, come to think of it, Tom’d want to pin everything possible on him, wouldn’t he? He looked quickly over at Lily, but she hadn’t lost her self-possession for a moment.
   “Sir, I assume you’ve got an idea of some sort?”
   Squinting at both of them, Joseph frowned.
   “To tell you two the truth, we’ve come to tell you just that, and though I don’t know about Albus, all I had in mind was to warn you.”
   Quickly, Lily rose, moved over to the windows, and drew the curtains, pulling them closed with a swift, fluid motion, then rustled back to the sofa, reclasping her husband’s hand.
   “Thank you, sir.”
   Reseating himself, Joseph took the word again.
   “Albus told me what he thought you had found when I arrived at Hogwarts-as a matter of fact, he had asked me to come to keep an eye on you-make sure nothing happened-when he made sure that the stone was what it was. We know you weren’t quite the usual standard of student-quite a bit smarter, in fact-so we judged it safe for you to keep it, as Voldemort would most likely look for it in the hands of an adult. But now-well, now we’re positive that he’s aware of your existence-and, well, he’s got a good reason for being suspicious of you, since you’ve managed to land near him by virtue of the necklace.”
   James frowned. “Sir, do you have any idea as to what we’re to do-or anyone, as a matter of fact?”
   Albus coughed. “James, we’re suggesting-now, this isn’t an order; just a suggestion-that Lily turn the necklace over to us, where it’ll be in safe hands. It’s safer for both of you.”
   Lily cast a clandestine look over at James, then stood up, taking the necklace out of her pocket and clasping it back around her neck. She knew, just as she knew she could trust James, that the two men in front of her weren’t about to go dancing off to the Ministry with a record of whatever she said.
   “Sir, I appreciate the concern of both of you, but I’d feel safer if I kept it. I know Tom-Lord Voldemort-I know him well, and he’s sworn faithfully to me that he’s not to kill me, though I refused his offer of a Death Eater. I can’t but feel that it’ll be safer with me than with someone he-excuse me, sir-wouldn’t think twice about killing.”
   James stood up at the same time the men across from him did, putting his arm around Lily’s waist. Albus smiled at them.
   “To be honest, my dear, I expected nothing less from you. I merely wished to offer you an alternative, and to caution you against the possibilities.” He paused. “I am-proud of your courage, and am honored to know that you once attended Hogwarts.”
   Lily flushed with pleasure, and Albus’ eyes twinkled at her from behind the half-moon glasses, still clean as they had been when they were just made as Joseph shook James’ hand.
   “Well, I must say; it’s been wonderful seeing you two again, but we’d better run. Lovely meal, though, really, and you’ve got a house to envy.”
   The couple saw the men to the door, and after the door closed with a small click, James swung Lily to face him, pushing her back roughly against the door and grasping her upperarms tightly.
   “Why’d you do that? We could have had that thing out of our lives forever!-and now you not only admitted we’ve got it; you spilled loads of other stuff-My God, Lil; I don’t want you to land in Azkaban!”
   Unmoved and a bit tired, Lily brushed a bit of hair out of his face. “James, Albus won’t spill. And I’m ready to bet he knew everything else beforehand.”
   Furious for a reason he couldn’t pin down-it could have been her calmness against his obvious nervousness, or the fact that their visitors considered her much more important than he, or the fact that she had taken charge automatically of their visit-James shoved her away, hard, storming up the stairs. “I’m willing to be he didn’t!”
   Lily watched him leave, clutching her shoulder, where she’d been slammed into the door, a smouldering fire growing in her eyes, a fire of incensed fumes.
   She yanked the door open and slammed it shut behind her, fleetly running towards the stable in the darkness. The door of the stable opened for her without her doing anything; a hot, burning mass of energy was building up inside her brain, and, with a quick movement, she flung herself on the black horse’s back, its front feet crashing through the door that had shut behind her.
   The horse reared sharply outside when she pressed a hand against its neck, and, standing for a moment on its hind legs, it fell to the ground again, galloping over the country with the madness that possessed its mistress, grasses and bushes tearing at their legs, its mane and tail and her hair and dress streaming out behind them, tangling, tearing, but neither of them caring; just so they got away.
   On his part, James had stormed upstairs, slammed the door to their room and locked it with both the key and several charms, then threw himself onto the bed and glaring at the ceiling.
   It was at least a quarter-hour before he realized that he hadn’t heard anyone come up the stairs or try to open the door, and it was twenty-five minutes before it came to him that there didn’t seem to be anyone in the house. Suddenly bathed in sweat, he sat up, his hair almost standing on end, what with the memory of Albus’ words-
   “We have good reason to believe that he suspects either you or your husband of possessing it.”
   “Holy Merlin’s beard,” he whispered breathlessly. “I hope…”
   She was at least three miles away by then, and her horse wasn’t out of breath yet. Breathing harshly through her teeth, feeling her eyes dry out with the force of the wind, she was trying to hurl herself into calmness, but the wind was only incensing her, and as the ground sped away underneath the horse’s hooves, her mouth started to dry out and her anger wasn’t abating. He had no right to hurt her, she thought angrily as she pulled up her sleeve and saw a bruise forming on her shoulder. No right to snap at her, to yell at her for something he’d approved of earlier, no right to do anything of that sort-
   She could see better than her horse in the dark, thanks to her intensified sight, and she assumed that, when a dark mass loomed in front of them, the outline of a ditch, that the horse would jump it. But it couldn’t see as well as she could, and, with a neigh, a sharp cry, and a splatter, she was lying half in, half out of a three-foot trench half-filled with rainwater. Her horse lay half on her chest for a second, but then, turning sharply around, it raced back the way it had come, leaving her alone, soaked, wandless, unconscious, and with a stabbing pain in her side.
   James hadn’t wasted a minute before setting Slenka to search for her mistress in the house, and once both of them had satisfied themselves that she wasn’t inside, he tore off for the stables, stopping short as he noticed the broken door and the absence of her horse.
   Whipping the door open, he called frantically for the elf.
   “Slenka? Slenka, for God’s sake, where are you?”
   “Sir?” she squeaked, peering through the banisters.
   “Tell Sirius, Remus, and Peter she’s gone. And get Dumbledore if you can find him!” he gasped, clutching a stitch in his chest before racing back outside, swinging himself onto his own horse, and lighting his wand with a curt “Lumos!”
   What seemed like hours later, Lily opened her eyes, immediately curling up in pain and then crying out again. Something in her chest was crushed or broken, and it hurt to move. An unwilling tear ran down her face as she grasped tightly at tufts of grass till she pulled them out, only groping frantically for tree roots, weeds, bushes, anything to hold on to.
   Suddenly, over to her left, a glow far away caught her eye, and she squinted, trying to make out what it was. Then, she flinched, realizing it was a fire-and by the size of it, it was a building that was burning.
   And then her eyes flew open as she recognized a shape she had drawn several times-a skull with a snake coming out of its mouth-it had been shot up, into the air, green and glowing and frighteningly visible-and then, all around her, Lily heard shouts and yelps of joy.
   Biting her lip fiercely, she slid down, farther into the ditch, hoping to get out of sight. All of a sudden, a shooting knife-like pain passed through her ribs, and her teeth passed right through her lip. Blood flooded her mouth as she tried to keep quiet and sink down further, trying desperately not to be noticed.
   But soon, that hope was dashed. She heard footfalls coming closer, running, and they stopped just feet away from her head. And then, Lily heard a familiar voice as the figure knelt down next to her head, worried to the core.
   “Lily?”
   “Severus?”
   Sirius, Remus, Peter, Lora, Eva, Frank, and John were forming a search party at James’ and Lily’s house; they had their wands lit, and John had his broom; Sirius carried James’. They hadn’t been able to locate Albus.
   “All right, then,” a white, pale Sirius shouted, slipping Lily’s wand inside his robes. “Eva, Frank-go the back way. Remember-green sparks if you’ve found them, red if you’re in trouble.”
   Eva nodded quickly, and the party dispersed, each setting off in an assigned direction, and all worried half to death-Slenka had told them what she had heard about Voldemort wanting either Lily or James for something, and each of them feared the worst.
   James could hardly see a thing, even with his wand lit, and he couldn’t choose between dashing off in an instinctive directon and hoping that it was the right one or taking forever tracking, and finding her injured or something, just because he hadn’t gotten there on time. So he was traveling in short galloping jerks, sometimes tearing ahead, sometimes stopping quickly.
   Then, after about forty minutes, he saw an orange glow off in the distance, with something bright green off in the distance. Mistaking the green for sparks, he shoved his heels into the horse’s flanks, ripping up the ground as they flew along.
   But then he realized just what Lily had-this was a house, a building on fire, and he knew what the shape was. Terrified, he spurred his horse ahead again with his shoes, dismounting thirty feet away from the flames.
   The house was about to collapse; even inexperienced as he was in the element of firefighting, he could see that. He couldn’t hear a thing except roaring smoke and crackling flames, and every now and then a beam falling; he couldn’t tell if anyone was inside or not, alive or dead.
   Looking behind him to see if there was anyone else there that could be of assistance, he scanned the thick, rolling black expanse, fired a jet of green sparks into the sky hopefully, then turned back around, teeth set. Running around the corner of the house, he found what looked like a doorframe, golden red with flames. James took a deep breath and ducked inside.
   As soon as he had, he knew he’d made a huge mistake. What he could discern through the smoke masses was nothing but the frame of the house; there was a large pile of wood and ash, still burning, in the center of the floor, and, looking up, he could see the sky in patches. The upper story must have collapsed, he thought, shocked, and there wasn’t the faintest chance of anyone being left alive.
   Just as James turned to leave—he could hardly breathe anymore, and his sight was becoming blocked badly by the smoke—, there was a crackling above him, and, horrified, he watched as something huge, flaming, massive fell towards him—aghast, he couldn’t move, staring at it, till something inside of him hurled his body back out of the door, onto the blackened lawn. From there, he picked himself up hurriedly, tripping over his feet in his hurry to get away from the site.
   He leaned on his horse, panting with exhaustion, till two minutes later, the building collapsed in a mass of timber, roaring fire, and smoke. The skull with the snake coming out of its mouth was beginning to fade, and he knew it would vanish in another half-hour or so.
   Sick to his stomach, he put his arm around his horse’s neck, walking away; he couldn’t have stood the jolts of a ride. He didn’t know where he was going; he just wanted to get away from there. Straggling, he trudged along, tired, hardly thinking of anything but the family that might have perished.
   Lily had recognized her friend instantly; worried, he slipped into the ditch beside her, slipping an arm around her shoulders.
   “Lily, what is it? What’s wrong—why’re you out there?” He shifted his arm, and she took in a quiver of breath sharply.
   “What? Lily, what’s wrong—“
   She tried biting her lip, but it was too swollen and painful to touch. Grasping his hand, she squeezed it tightly, hardly hearing the cartilage crackle.
   “I—don’t—know. I was thrown—from—my horse—and I think I’ve broken something.”
   “Oh, Lord,” Severus muttered. “Now I wish I’d volunteered with Madam Pomfrey more often. I’d try to help you, but I’ve no idea how to fix a break—“
   “Don’t—bother—“ she breathed. “Just—just don’t kill me if I break your hand, and I’ll be fine.”
   He half-grinned and pulled his cloak off, throwing it over her, not daring to lift her up in case he damaged her even more. “Just don’t go to sleep—it’s not all that warm out.”
   Lily closed her eyes in exhaustion and pain, and she tried to relax, but she found she couldn’t without falling asleep, so she kept her eyes fixed on the folds of the cloak draped over her.
   Then a noise whistled through to her ears, and she raised her head weakly.
   “Severus?”
   “Hmm?”
   “Did you hear that?”
   “Hear what?” he asked, puzzled and a bit worried.
   “Over there, I think,” she nodded, looking at a dark, trudging shape without any real outline.
   Severus’ started; he hadn’t seen it before. Ducking down, he pulled the cloak up around her face—he had thought all the Death Eaters had left the house after they set it on fire, but obviously they hadn’t—
   James was trying to see ahead of him, but with the smoke that had gotten into his eyes, he was having trouble seeing the hair that was flopping in front of his face. Dimly, to his left, he could see a long, dark line he assumed was a ditch or a hole or a sewer of some sort—but a few feet in front of him, on the other side, it looked like a plant had been thrown half into the hole. Squinting, he made out the shape of an arm and a mass of tangled hair—a person.
   “Hey, you there!” he shouted vaguely; “are you all right?”
   Severus recognized that voice. It wasn’t one he particularly wanted to invite to dinner, but it was a good voice to recognize.
   “Potter!” He rose, throwing up an arm. “Potter?”
   James raised his eyebrows. “Snape? Who’s that in there with you?” he asked, as the mass of hair and the oddly angled arm still remained there.
   Severus glared. “If you’d like to start acting childish, go right ahead; start cursing me. I warn you I’ll retaliate. On the other hand, if you’d like to help your wife—“ he spat those two words out as if they were mud—“then I’d suggest you get down off of your high horse and help get her out of here.”
   James’ eyes widened. “My—Lily! What—what happened—“ He was crouching next to her by this time, moving wet, plastered hair out of her face. “Lily—“
   Severus sighed. “She told me her horse threw her—I don’t know anything else. Are you familiar with the way to conjure up stretchers, by any chance?”
   Nodding, James pulled out his wand, handing Severus’ cloak back to him. “Hold this—“
   With a flick of his wand, he drew up a stretcher for the half-conscious girl, and, with a mumbled Wingardium Leviosa, levitated her gently onto it.
   Severus nodded. “That should do it.” A gust of wind swept by, and he shivered involuntarily.
   “I’m not saying that I like accepting favors from you, but do you mind if I come back with you and dry out? There’s got to be at least two feet of water in that ditch.”
   James eyed him warily, but nodded. “I guess. My house-elf’ll get you clean robes—she’ll wash yours, and we’ll get them to you tomorrow.”
   Severus’ eyebrows went up. “A Potter, being courteous? The Day of Judgement is at hand.”
   Biting back a retort, James turned around, starting back, letting Lily float along beside him, and holding her limp hand.
   Within about two hundred yards of their house, Frank and John came running towards them, breathing hard.
   “James! You—we found your sparks near the Prewetts’—we didn’t know what happened—“
   “Oh, Merlin’s beard, what happened to Lily?”
   “What’s Snape doing here?”
   James raised a hand for silence, taking control. “He’s my guest for now; he found Lily—her horse threw her, he says. Will someone do me a favor and find a doctor that makes house calls? I’ve got to get Lily inside.”
   Lily’s eyes fluttered open as she was being levitated up the stairs. She vaguely felt something clasped around her hand; moving her fingers, she realized it was someone else’s hand.
   “James?”
   Beside her, James’ eyes lit up with relief, but he place a finger on her mouth. “Ssh. Don’t talk now-we’re getting you into bed. Don’t try to talk; not yet.”
   Weakly, she smiled at him, and as he moved her onto the bed, pulling the blankets over her with a flick of his wand, her eyes closed again, forehead furrowed in silence.
   James stayed next to her till he heard quick, pattering footsteps on the stairs and the landing outside, his eyes flowing from her stained dress to the swollen and bleeding lip, to the forehead scratched by overhanging trees and to the dirt-drenched auburn hair, now more brown than red.
   A thin, weedy man with scarce brown hair and a small moustache entered; he was dressed in a pair of maroon robes and a black hat; he carried a brown bag in one hand and was accompanied by Sirius and Lora.
   “James-this is Dr. Nicholsen,” Lora introduced him. “He’s the only wizard we could find, and we thought we’d better not ask a Muggle to help.”
   James nodded and stood up, stretching a hand out to the doctor. “Evening, sir. Sorry it’s so late-but it’s an emergency, and I’m more than willing to pay you anything you ask for in compensation.”
   Dr. Nicholsen waved that remark aside and fixed the sleeping girl with a sharp glance. “She was thrown from her horse, you said?”
   “Yes, sir,” Sirius nodded. “She-“
   “Sirius,” James mumbled, “do me a favor and go get Slenka.”
   Sirius vanished, reappearing moments later with the small house-elf, who was immediately dispatched on errands for cloths, hot water, and a nightgown for Lily.
   Lily opened her eyes to a dull, warm atmosphere, and she vaguely felt something wet wrapped around her arm. Shaking her head to try to clear away cobwebs, she made out her husband’s face next to her.
   “Lily!-you’re awake! Thank Merlin; I was beginning to get scared…”
   “Where am I?” she asked numbly, seeing below her a cloud of white and everywhere else a mass of green with golden flecks.
   “At home, sweetheart. Dr. Nicholsen looked at you about five hours ago and said you had a broken rib…but otherwise you’re fine, besides a few bruises.”
   Lily blinked several more times and watched as the golden flecks morphed into candle flames, which were lighting the room magnificently. “And you’ve been here all this time?”
   He looked down, “Yeah…Lily, I’m sorry about earlier.”
   She stared at him, trying to get him to look straight at her. “I don’t know what happened. One minute you were-fine, and the next instant you’d turned mad.”
   Holding her hand, he sighed. “I’m sorry. I-“ He stopped. “Well, at least you know I won’t be caught dead shouting at you again.”
   Lily smiled again, and he got up off of the chair, sitting down next to her on the bed, carefully trying not to jolt her. Misty-eyed, she saw that the robes he was wearing were the same ones from earlier that evening, dirty and mucked-he hadn’t taken the time to even change.
   “Sleep now. I’ll stay here…and if you wake up and I’m asleep, tell me if you want anything.”
   For some reason relieved, she closed her eyes again, nestling her head against his arm, and moments later she was asleep.
   A week later, she was sitting up already, able to read sitting up in an armchair, and presenting a pretty picture in the Scarlett O’Hara dressing gown while she slowly nibbled on a piece of toast. Severus had come to see her several times, as had the rest of her friends, but she had found out that he currently didn’t have a place to live, exactly, so he was staying with them in a dark red room down the passageway, much to James’ chagrin.
   James had taken three days off of work, but then he had been called back, so her most frequent source of conversation was Severus. Lily usually sat on the balcony just outside their room, and Severus would join her around breakfast-time.
   One morning, about nine days after her accident, he walked slowly onto the balcony with his robe and cloak pulled over something on his arm. Lily tilted her head curiously, closing The Complete Works of Victor Hugo.
   “Sit down, have some coffee. What’s that?”
   Severus grinned. “Close your eyes.”
   She shot him an odd look but obeyed, hearing cloth rustling and a short “Ow!” from Severus. Then, something warm was lifted into her lap; something spiky and warm.
   “Open,” he commanded.