Beyond Hogwarts -Chapter Eight

-=Beyond Hogwarts; Chapter Eight=-

She wasn’t looking her best, to put it nicely; the mass of red hair that she had bound up in the red silk scarf was falling down in bits and pieces; her eyes were bloodshot, her cheeks and nose were pink, and streams of tears were visible on her face. Her robes were wrinkled at one shoulder and on her back, where James had clutched her tightly while he was crying. Immediately, she dried her eyes.
   “I need your help.”
   Looking concerned but somewhat suspicious, he ushered her into the house, staring distrustfully at the red silk kimono she was wearing. They moved into the living room, where her father pointed her to a chair and handed her a glass of ice water, sitting down on the sofa across from her.
   “Tell me what happened.”
   Lily couldn’t for a few minutes; she kept gulping down more of the ice and water till she’d hiccup crazily, and then her tears would start streaming again. She finally got somewhat of a control over herself back, and, hiccupping slightly every now and then, she succinctly told him what she needed.
   “I know I was terribly rude to you when I stormed out of the house, but I need to ask you something. I—James’ parents just died—they were in a fire. He was out of control—he’s broken down almost completely. His home is nothing more than ashes; we saw it when we rode to it to greet his parents. He’s got to have somewhere to stay—and I do, too. I want—I’d like to ask you if we could stay here, just till we find somewhere to stay.”
   Lily drew a deep breath and gazed at her father squarely, and was amused to see she could read the thoughts flashing across his mind. For all he knew, James had done something to her, and he’d have two wizards in the house if he said yes. On the other hand, this was his daughter, and nothing could really get around that.
   But there was one thought Lily hadn’t guessed. If he managed to make James appear in a bad enough light, there was a chance that she wouldn’t marry him after all—and then there was always Richard Walden, that rich young man he knew would marry Lily with a little prodding. He hadn’t any idea Lily was married to James—she hadn’t sent him any word or said so.
   “All right,” he sighed, “you two can stay here. He can have the guest room; I’ve just got to get your bed out of the attic.”
   Lily breathed a sigh of relief, fresh tears running down her face. “Thank—you—“
   “No matter. I’ll show you the rooms—we’ve taken some of your things and stored them in the attic, but otherwise…”
   They walked upstairs, and Lily nodded briefly when she pushed open the door to her room. It was an office now, but if one moved a desk aside, there would be room for the bed. She nodded.
   “Thanks, Dad—this’ll be just fine for us. I’ll Summon the bed down here; it’ll be easier for both of us.” She pulled out her wand and mumbled “Accio,” after moving the desk out of the way, and, seconds later she was prodding her bed into its old position.
   “We’ll be fine here,” she sighed. “Where’s Petunia?’
   “She should be coming home any minute now. She’s got a job at a bookstore,” her father rumbled conversationally, but then he froze.
   “We as in you and that wizard will be fine here?”
   Lily shot him a rather odd look. “I would expect so, yes.”
   “Er…” He hedged a bit. “I would have thought you’d prefer something in the area of separate rooms.”
   She was rather confused. “Dad—that’s not really necessary.”
   “I’d prefer for you to wait until you’re married to someone before you share a room. He’ll have the other one.”
   “Oh.” Lily’s face cleared, then darkened again. “You mean you don’t know?”
   “Know what, precisely?” Her father was starting to grow a bit more dangerous by the minute.
   “Er…Dad, I married James on the thirtieth of June.” She pulled up her left sleeve. “See ring?”
   His eyes widened at the sight of the expensive black and grey pearls set in the white-gold. After a few seconds, he shook himself, and he looked up at her, suddenly dangerous.
   “You—you married him without my consent?”
   “I did,” she stated, starting to get slightly nervous. It wasn’t like her at all to be afraid, but she was now—afraid of her father, of all people.
   He stepped towards her, and she sharply took a few steps backwards. “You dared to marry that wizarding trash against my direct orders!”
   “He is not trash!” Lily snapped in spite of herself.
   “Young lady,” he whispered perilously, “I would watch your mouth if I were you.” He stopped. “Have you regretted it?”
   “No,” she said firmly. “No.”
   His eyes narrowed. “You are to divorce him,” he ordered domineeringly, “without any further ado.”
   Lily’s eyes flew open. “What?” she gasped, shocked.
   “You are to divorce him,” he repeated, “instantly.”
   “No.” Against her will, her eyes grew pink, but she was regaining confidence—at least she knew where she stood. “I am not. I’m happier than I’ve ever been, and I’m certainly not divorcing him—especially not when he’s just lost his parents,” she said logically. “He’d have a complete breakdown.”
   “I do not care about the state of his mind or body. You are, as I have expected you to for the past few years, to marry Richard Walden, and if you disobey me—“
   “Marry Richard?” Lily’s face started to grow hot. “I’m not standing for this! I’m not a child anymore, and you’re not controlling me! You’ve no right to make me divorce anyone—no right at all. Good Lord, I’m happy with James; can’t you understand that?” Hot tears were running down her face as her breast started to heave with shaking sobs that she tried to keep subdued. “I love him, you idealistic mercenary prat!”
   She had backed up to the wall by now, and she was supporting herself on a bookshelf, while her father’s eyes grew more narrow and precarious by the moment. The only thought that was whirling around in her mind was that she wasn’t letting her father win this one; everything else was blocked out, such as the safety of her wand.
   Mr. Evans recognized that, and he wasted no time taking advantage of it. Snatching at the dangling piece of wood, he endeavored to wrench it out of her fingers. He almost succeeded, but his quick movement startled her, and she grasped at it just as he did. Her pupils dilated as she realized what was going on, and she leaned backwards, trying to keep her wand from slipping out of her grip.
   They struggled for moments, but by no means in silence—her sobs and his bellowings of “Hand it to me!” shook the house. Lily sank to her knees, gripping onto the slim piece of wood for dear life—she knew he’d break it if he were ever in complete possession of it for only a few seconds. He was stooping over her, trying to pinch her fingers away, hitting her hands, her wrists, elbowing her arms heedlessly of anything else. He was mad, Lily thought, completely and utterly—he’d finally gone over the edge. She knew he’d never try anything like this if he were sane—he’d shout and yell, but never attack her—
   She heard the faint click of metal, but she couldn’t place it for the moment. Then her mind registered the sound of a key, and she started to scream as loudly as she could.
   “Please—help! Help, someone! Anyone, help me! Help!”
   She heard the person drop his or her keys and start tumbling up the stairs—she recognized the footsteps. Petunia.
   “Petunia, help!” she cried one last time before her father’s hand covered her mouth. He felt her grow weaker, and in a moment of triumph, reached for the wand.
   As he whisked it out of her fingers, however, one of her nails caught a splinter of the wood, and they cut a slit no larger than the width of about a dozen hairs away from the wand, but as her father’s hand caught it in his skin, he ripped part of the wood away from the wand. The inevitable happened—it started to malfunction badly. He’d touched the inner core of her wand, and that was mortally dangerous to anyone that did so, besides a trained wand-repairer.
   Lily’s eyes snapped open, and then she buried her head in her hands just in time to see Petunia throw open the door and the look of panic enter her father’s eyes as a blueish-gold mist enveloped him from the wand and started to dissolve into his skin.
   Both girls screamed shrilly as they heard a heavy thud, and Petunia didn’t stop—shrieking, screeching, it sounded to Lily like the end of the world.
   She didn’t even stop when James Apparated into the room—for all James mattered, she hadn’t noticed him at all.
   “Oh, my God! Lily, what have you done! You’ve killed him! You killer! You murderess—you slaughterer—you—you—“
   James paid no attention to her likewise; he knelt down next to Lily. He’d somehow sensed something wouldn’t go well, and he’d hurried to her—well, it hadn’t gone well. She leaned into his shoulder, crying uncontrollably as she kneaded her robes with his fists. He pulled her onto his knees, and she started sobbing into his shoulder.
   “I killed him! I killed him! I couldn’t—I didn’t mean—oh, God, I killed him! I—“
   James scooped her up in his arms; she was pounding his chest with her fists madly. He knew he’d have bruises there the next morning, but by now he didn’t care. He didn’t see Petunia screech one last time and fling herself out of the front door when he stepped towards the doorway of the bedroom; the only thing he was concentrating on was getting Lily somewhere—anywhere.
   He carried her inside the living room, where he pulled a packet of green powder, borrowed from Sirius, out of his robes. James set Lily down gently at his feet, pulled his own wand out, and conjured up a blueish fire in the fireplace, ignoring the pokers that were placed every which way inside the fireplace. He reached inside the packet, took a pinch, and shouted, “Adiumentum Circle 81,” watching grimly as the blue flames turned an acid shade of green.
   James slid an arm underneath Lily’s knees and another underneath her back, stepping into the fire quickly. He placed a protecting hand over her eyes just before the soot started whirling around him, and he buried his own head into her hair and the scarf that was tangled up in it as he clenched his own eyes shut tightly.
   They landed in a medium-sized, but well-furnished apartment, and for once in his life, James didn’t fall when he stepped out of the fireplace. The room was painted a warm goldenrod, and several plushy chairs were placed here and there, piled high with papers, books, dirty dishes, and the odd broomstick.
   James pushed a pile of books out of a sofa and set Lily on it, which wasn’t that easy to do; she was clutching his robes so tightly she was coming close to strangling him, and her nails were digging into her eyebrow, marking it inevitably. His face contracted, and he detached her nails from her face; she shuddered and buried her head in the sofa cushions.
   A step behind them made James look up.
   “Sirius!” he sighed in relief. “Bloody hell, I didn’t know what to do. She’s practically out of her mind—I think her father might have snapped and done something to her wand—it killed him, all right. Lily’s blaming herself for it, though, and I don’t know what to do. I can’t leave her alone.”
   Sirius nodded grimly. “You two go through too much. First her mom, then your parents, then her dad—“ He shook his head. “I’ll inform the Ministry. They’ll probably be at her house—they know that some sort of accidental magic was performed, I’m betting. I’ll meet them there and get them to send someone over.”
   James nodded, letting his head sink into Lily’s hair. “Thanks, Padfoot…don’t know what we’d do without you.”
   Sirius cast a last glance at the two, then Disapparated, and James let himself relax. He groaned in despair, hugging Lily, who was still sobbing brokenly.
   “What did we do to deserve this?” he moaned.
   Several hours later, Lily opened her eyes to see a blurry green image. She blinked a couple of times before the room around her came into focus, and then the first thing she noticed was the figure kneeling beside her.
   “James?” she whispered weakly. “What—what happened?”
   James sighed. “This is a Ministry-provided apartment. We’ve got permission to stay here for six months. Sirius managed it for us.”
   Lily shook her head. “No. Is—is—“
   He met her eyes and saw the question in them. Reluctantly, he answered.
   “Yes, he’s dead. They couldn’t do anything else; he was gone before we left, they said.”
   Lily turned over and buried her face in her pillows, letting the linen soak up her tears, and James wrapped his arm around her shoulders.
   “Lily—we’ll be okay. We will. I know we will. We’ve just got to give it time…” His own voice faded away, and he let his head sink into her hair, remembering his own parents.
   Two weeks later, their life had regained somewhat of a normal quality. The apartment they were staying in was in a building just next to the Ministry; it was about the size of Sirius’ and Remus’. A kitchen and living room combined into a whole, with a large window letting so much sunlight in that they didn’t need artificial light during the daytime.
   There was one bathroom and two bedrooms, but the couple had transformed one of the bedrooms into a library and souvenir collection room, using only the other. The bedroom was painted a pale green, with the curtains and the sheets and linens a dark green colour. The pillows were patterned dark green and ivory, though there weren’t too many of them; Lily had had to pull out some of the pillows from Turkey to make up for the difference.
   There had been a plain vanity table in the room, which they replaced with a beautifully decorated Egyptian mirror and a Grecian chair. Their bathroom was a permissible pale blue patterned wallpaper, with a nicely lighted mirror and white rugs—not first class, but then again, they weren’t paying rent for this apartment.
   The living room was a comfortable cornsilk pale gold, and two sofas and an armchair, a table, and a footstool made up the furniture in it, besides a bookshelf. They pulled out more pillows, stacking the couches almost to bursting with them, and they spent a pleasant day making curtains out of the silks from Japan they had brought home.
   Their closets were rammed to bursting with clothing, none of which belonged to this time period, and one room was almost useless, crammed as it was with cloth, furniture, tokens, coins, clothing that couldn’t fit into the closets, cushions, and many other things Lily could hardly count.
   Lily grew into the new way of life, though she’d break down into tears every time she remembered the family she looked forward to having, her new family. But often, she’d have to put every thought of herself aside and turn to James, who’d look into a mirror and spot his father’s hair, and then break down.
   Still, as they got used to the apartment, they quietly accepted it as their home. Lily started to enjoy herself—she was happy mornings, when she’d slip out of bed, throw on a kimono, and make her way towards the kitchen, where bread was rising in the oven. The sight of James’ eager, expectant face when he smelled breakfast was something that made her laugh as nothing else ever had, and by the time Eva and Frank dropped by their apartment a month after they returned, with excitement at her good news as yet unknown to Lily shining out of Eva’s ears, Lily finally began to hope that she was destined for a long, happy, life with her husband.
   James was sitting in bed with a headache and a nasty cough, and Lily was standing at the stove with boiling water in a pot for a hot water-bottle—it was the last week in January, and it had been snowing hard lately. Whenever Lily looked out of their window in the living room, she could see heaps of white fluffy housetops when their curtains were drawn. She couldn’t see much of the city, to her delight; they were on the seventeenth floor of the apartment building, so she could see more sky than she would have in a house.
   Suddenly, in their fireplace, a small tornado of soot started to form, and, moments later, Eva fell out of the fireplace. She hadn’t seen her friend since the wedding, and Lily rushed towards her.
   “Eva—where’ve you been? I’ve missed you…” They hugged each other tightly, and Lily pushed her friend onto a couch.
   “Sit. Anything to drink—tea, coffee—I’ve got some very good Turkish coffee left over from this morning. It’s very good. And I made a cake when I was tired…have some?” She was rushing around the small kitchen like a maelstrom, sn atching plates and mugs out of cabinets and whisking napkins out. Eva laughed loudly.
   “No, that’s okay! I just…well, I actually came to say congratulations, and welcome back—and I’m sorry for what happened.”
   Lily sank onto a stool, almost letting go of a plate. “Thank you, I guess.”
   “So—what’re you two going to be doing now?”
   “I don’t know,” she shrugged, “but as soon as James is up to doing anything, we’re looking for a house. He’s got a cold and a headache,” she explained, “which is what the hot water’s for.”
   “Oh, he’s here?” Eva’s eyes lit up. “I want to see him, too!”
   Just at that minute, James’ voice drifted into the living room. “Lil, who’s that?”
   “It’s Eva,” Lily laughed. “We’ll be right in.”
   She poured some coffee into a mug and picked up the hot water bottle, turning off the stove. Eva, relieving her of the coffee, followed her into the bedroom.
   Eva almost leaped over to James, hugging him. “Welcome back! We’ve missed you two so much!”
   James rolled his eyes as Lily slipped the hot-water-bottle underneath the covers. “I’m being spoiled.”
   “’Course you are,” Lily said quietly. “I’m not losing you, too!”
   Eva broke the quiet by bouncing up and down on the bed a bit. “Guess what!”
   Lily and James replied simultaneously. “What?”
   “I said, guess!”
   James frowned. “You just won the Daily Prophet draw.”
   “Nope,” Eva replied in a sing-song voice. “Guess again!”
   “You and Frank are getting married,” Lily said, after a shrewd glimpse of the gold on Eva’s left hand.
   James opened his eyes wide. “Really? Eva?”
   Eva nodded, grinning, and was almost strangled by the couple, though she managed to set her cup down on a nightstand before it spilled its contents all over everything. “Yep. He asked me two days ago. We were at the zoo, taking care of his little cousin—Algie and Enid’s kid—and we were in the snakehouse, in front of a rather large boa constrictor, I think, and something just slipped out of his mouth, and I heard the words “would you” and “me”, completely missing the major one, something I would do,” Eva grinned, and Lily laughed.
   “Well, I asked him what on earth he just said, and Arthur took that moment to spit up his lunch on me, so when Frank repeated, ‘Would you marry me’, and took out a ring, I had a hand full of baby food…”
   A faint whishing noise in the fireplace announced another arrival, and Eva jumped up as quickly as if she had been stung by a rather large hornet.
   “That’s Frank. I told him to come as soon as he could…” She reappeared in the room, leading Frank Longbottom by the hand. To Eva’s and Lily’s amusement, James took a flying leap out of bed, shaking Frank’s hand madly.
   “Congratulations! I thought you’d never ask her! Congratu-gratu-gratulations!”
   He’d bowled Frank over, and both of them had just narrowly missed hitting their heads on a corner. Eva had shrieked once, and then had to burst out laughing at the sight of Frank lying on the floor, petrified, with James kneeling beside him, shaking his hand as if it were a piece of floppy cloth.”
   “James,” Lily sighed, “let Frank up so we can at least talk to them.”
   Not a bit abashed, James hopped to his feet and pulled Frank up. Lily, sighing but unable to repress a grin, pointed the three into the living room.
   “Sit while I get cake. This needs a celebration. Have you told anyone else yet?”
   Eva joined her at the counter, cutting slices. “Nope. You were the first.”
   “Which means we’ll be having a large, fancy dinner somewhere tonight,” Lily laughed. “By the way, where’s Frank going to be working?”
   Eva blushed. “I shouldn’t be telling anyone this—well, Frank wasn’t supposed to tell me—but they’ve formed that new group of Aurors that are fighting that Lord Voldemort…and, well, Frank put in an application. We’ll know in two weeks. The pay’s good, too,” she grinned sheepishly.
   Lily hugged her. “Make sure he doesn’t get himself killed—tell him you’ll resurrect him just to inflict more damages if he does.”
   “I’ll remember that!” Eva smirked. “Is that all the cake?”
   “Sure.” Lily was surprised. “You didn’t honestly expect we’d have more, did you?”
   “Not really,” Eva sighed. “Not with James around. But it was worth a shot, wasn’t it?”
   “No,” Lily retorted. “Not with James around. He takes advantage of the fact that my old one isn’t back from Ollivander’s yet—they’re repairing it there.”
   “I see.” Eva wrinkled her nose. “So all you can do is confiscate his wand when he tries to unlock the cabinets where you keep food?”
   “He’s got an uncanny knack for finding out where I hide things,” Lily informed her. “James, two pieces or three?”
   They started to laugh as James immediately replied, “Five!”
   Three hours later, the Marauders, Lily, Eva, Frank, Vanessa, Lora, and Amanda had all gathered in the same Japanese restaurant in Fraeden Square that Lily had been to with the Malfoy family the evening after she found out about her mother’s pneumonia. It had hardly changed, Lily smiled to see—the black ceilings and dragons guarding the entrance portals were still as solemn as ever; the scrolls inside the enclosed booth and the red silk curtains still gave off the enticing aroma of wealth and prosperity.
   James squeezed her around the waist, lifting a piece of stray hair out of her ear and whispering into it. “You look absolutely ravishing,” he told her earnestly.
   She kissed him as they slid into their seats. “So do you.”
   Lily was in the most expensive and elaborate kimono they had been able to find; this one actually widened at the bottom and had a train; the pale green and ivory sash wrapped around her waist deepened the forest green of the garment. She was wearing jade and ivory earrings and a necklace that James had bought for her in China, and this was her first time wearing them.
   That evening, an hour before they were to go to dinner, all the girls had Apparated to Lily’s apartment in order to raid her store of clothing. The apartment was in a disorder unimaginable to the human mind when they left for dinner, but everyone was absolutely satisfied.
   She had lent Lora one of her Egyptian chitons; it was bright red, to match the almost gory slash of ruby lipstick Lora had laughingly dashed across her face. Vanessa had chosen a quieter pale blue gown Lily had bought in London during the thirteenth century; it fastened with a silver pin at her throat and the long sleeves were knotted so they wouldn’t drape into her food. Amanda had poured herself into a Persian garment; a dark blue veil covered her hair, and a dark blue dress with gold gleams on it and a rather long train covered her. She was wearing Lily’s favorite pair of shoes; gold with curled toes, and one of the twining snakes on her upper arm that James had bought Lily in Egypt.
   Eva was simply dressed in black velvet, a bliaut that buttoned up to her throat, with long, fitting sleeves and an unpretentious skirt. Still, she was wearing Lily’s most elaborate golden necklace, one whose diamonds reached down to her chest, and gold chains covered her shoulders. James had had to pay what Lily considered the earth for it, and she wouldn’t have bought it by any means, but, after all, if it wouldn’t make a bit of difference to his parents’ bank account…
   The boys weren’t dressed up as much; they were in black or grey robes, though they still fell nothing short of charming. They would have appealed to people even more if Sirius hadn’t insisted on magically sticking an “I like Sugar Quills” sign to their waitress’ back when she wasn’t looking.
   They managed to get through the dinner without breaking any of the fine blue-and-white bone china, which was quite an accomplishment with the Marauders around. The steamed rice with sauce was even better than Lily remembered, and the green tea was wonderful, not hot enough so as to burn her throat, but deliciously strong. Leek soup with green onions and thin mushroom slices floating on top was served to them, and then an extremely large platter of green pepper, shrimp, onions, steak pieces, and cooked broccoli stalks, all smothered in a sauce Lily would kill to have the recipe for.
   They toasted Frank and Eva several times, Lily could remember three when they left the restaurant. In a wonderful good humour, Lily and James returned to their apartment and sank down on the sofa, Lily throwing aside a gauzy red silk shawl and James grinning madly.
   “I always thought he’d had a thing for her. Not that he exactly raved about you nightly, like I did, but it was still rather obvious.”
   “Indeed,” Lily smirked.
   “Yeah. It was kind of pathetic, really—how he never thought he’d get the chance. Well, he finally did, I guess. Over a mouthful of baby food,” he added, laughing.
   “That wasn’t what I indeeded about. You raved about me nightly?”
   “Er.” James blushed. “Yeah.”
   “I feel honoured,” she smiled, leaning her head onto his shoulder. “Out of all the pretty girls at Hogwarts…”
   “You definitely overshadowed them,” he interrupted, pulling her into a kiss.
   James was starting to visit the Ministry three weeks after they were moved to the apartment, and she was left in the house, not knowing what he was doing. One day, not too long after the engagement party, while the snow was still causing people outside to blink because of the glare, he burst through the door, grinning broadly.
   “Lily, guess what?”
   She had been lying on the sofa, curled up with The Second Jungle Book. Lazily, she looked up at him.
   “You found a house for us?”
   “No! Better than that!” he grinned. “Much better! Lil—I’ve got a job?”
   The corners of her mouth slid into a smile. “Really?”
   “Yes, really!” he grinned. “I’m an Auror for the Ministry of Magic!”
   “Really!?” she almost squealed, jumping up and kissing him. “Really?”
   “Is that all you can say?” he joked. “Yes, really! I didn’t want to tell you that I’d applied…in case I was rejected…”
   She pulled him down onto the sofa, handing him a piece of cornbread. “Tell, tell! I’m excited now!”
   “Well,” James continued, beaming madly, “they’ve had me sorting through files in their archives, just for starters, and today Sikora called me into his office—he handed me a folder, and said, “Report here tomorrow at nine. You’ve got yourself a job.”
   “That’s wonderful!” Lily kissed him again. “I can’t tell you how happy I am!”
   “No need,” he told her. “I can tell.”
   Her face suddenly grew serious. “James, what if you ever come face-to-face with Tom? He knows you…and he’ll kill you if he sees you. He was hoping to catch you that night your par—your house burned down,” she corrected herself quickly. “What’ll happen then?”
   James hugged her impulsively. “Don’t worry. I won’t let him kill me, that’s all.” His face lost the smile. “Lily, I know it’s dangerous. But they need people desperately—more and more wizards and witches are starting to grow scared of Voldemort—some have even stopped calling him by his name—they just say ‘You-know-who’ or ‘He-who-must-not-be-named’, and, frankly, I think that’s just to his liking.”
   “I agree,” Lily said thoughtfully. “These are the moments I wish you’d never insisted on coming to the Alendoren Cove with me.”
   He hugged her again. “I’m glad I did. If I hadn’t, that last time, he’d have turned on you, instead of mainly me, and the same thing would have happened, only you’d not be here.”
   “I see you have lots of faith in my abilities,” she said dryly. “But what do you expect me to do while you’re gone?”
   “Er…I dunno…” he mumbled, caught off of his guard. “I thought you’d stay home…”
   “You don’t seem to know me at all. I’ve been almost bored out of my mind while you’ve been gone! Can’t you ask the Ministry to find something for me, too?”
   “I will not,” he said firmly. “I don’t care what happens to me, but you aren’t getting yourself killed!”
   She wrinkled her nose, burying her face into a pillow. “I hate this.”
   “You’d hate life lots more if you were dead. On this I put my foot down.”
   “Oh, all right!” she moaned. “I hate you!”
   “Lily,” he whispered, “I just don’t want to get you killed.”
   She didn’t give any answer, and he thought the issue was settled. Still, he should have been suspicious of the absence of a flaming row. Lily had no intention of giving in so easily, and she wasn’t going to now.