| -=Beyond Hogwarts, cont.; Chapter Thirty-Four=- |
| Lily woke up an hour later by means of the de-Stunning spell to find James, Sirius, Peter, Remus, and Lora crowded around her. Quickly, she sat up, and immediately wished she hadn’t. A side effect of that curse-or Dumbledore’s healing methods-seemed to be a headache feeling something like a block of lead pounded into her skull with the same ferocity that Sirius might have used if the lead were intended for Severus. Groaning, she slumped back. “Lily, are you all right?” “Yeah,” she responded. “Massive headache; that’s all.” “I’ve heard that decapitation helps,” Remus grinned. “Here. Albus left this for you.” He handed her a steaming goblet filled with something that smelled vaguely like cinnamon and coffee. “He said it should help.” She accepted the cup gratefully and drank; the hot, wonderful-tasting liquid slipped down her throat and wiped the headache away within a matter of seconds, besides leaving her with the feeling that she had stepped into a deliciously warm bath. “Oh, that’s wonderful.” James touched her shoulder, lightly. “Lily, is your arm all right?” “I don’t know; it doesn’t hurt, but…” She pushed her sleeve up to reveal a very light, silvery thread of a scar. “I don’t think that’ll go away.” “It’s a weird color,” Sirius commented, looking interested. “Any idea why it’s silver?” “Aftermath of the curse, I suppose,” Lily sighed, sinking back into her pillow. “It’ll be an interesting souvenir.” The five around her visibly relaxed, and Peter stood up, hands in his pockets, to pace slowly across the space of floor about a yard away from her feet. Her-wait. Lily frowned, puzzled. “Where on earth are we?” Her surroundings were nothing like the tent that she had expected to see, or at least her own house. The ceiling was white and low; blue-and-red plaid cotton curtains covered a window to her right, and the thing she was lying on was a maroon sofa, covered with two or three mismatched blankets. The room was carpeted in a mixture of grey and blue, and a lamp sat on a wooden table next to the couch. “Benjy’s house,” James explained. “We had to move you from the campsite, but Dumbledore refused to let you risk another bit of Apparition, so Benjy offered this room.” “He’s gone to get a spot of sleep, and as soon as you think you can Disapparate, we can leave,” Remus put in. “We’ve brought your things back to your house, and everything at Dartmoor’s been dismantled.” “Dartmoor,” Lily said vaguely. “Dartmoor! Yes-what happened? Did we win? Did we lose anyone? What happened?” None of them bothered to suppress a grin. “Yeah, we won,” Sirius told her triumphantly. “It was really great-none of the Minstry Aurors knew that there was anyone else there, they captured about three or four Death Eaters, and no one’s been killed. Except, I think, a few of the Death Eaters-just before we left, we shot a load of Stunners at a group of them, and they might have killed a few. I’m guessing the Ministry Aurors weren’t allowed to use the Killing Curse, but the Death Eaters didn’t have that inhibition.” “Fortunately, we know how to duck,” Peter put in. “And we’re not so stupid that we don’t know that Shield Charms won’t work against Avada Kedavra; they’re too weak. So we’re all alive.” “Alive and perfectly okay,” James grinned, leaning over to kiss Lily. Peter stopped pacing. “Perfectly okay?” James pulled back, staring at him. “What?” “Well, Moody’s been cut up really badly,” Peter said slowly. “He’s got this huge gash on one cheek, and about two or three cuts on his other cheek and forehead…and he’s torn his hands open pretty well, too.” “Oh, those’re just cuts,” James said airily, waving his hand. “And he’ll be all right. It’s not as if he’s going to have to sit in a wheelchair for the rest of his days.” “Moody would enjoy that,” Lily smiled. “He’d find a wheelchair that would sprint a good one hundred miles an hour, and he’d just steamroller his enemies.” Sirius, Lora, and James laughed heartily, and Remus grinned. Peter was the only one with a disapproving frown on his face. “I think I can Apparate now.” Lily pushed the blankets aside and stood up. “Yes; I’m okay. Where’s my cloak…and what have you done with my robes?” She was clad in only her black pants, shirt, gloves, and socks; her shoes had been taken off as well. However, James held up a bundle of black cloth and two heeled black ankle boots. “Here. I’ll take them. Come on, let’s go; we can thank Benjy later.” He threw a glance over his shoulder at the other four friends. “Say, do you want to stay the night at our place?” he asked. “We can gurantee warming pans between the sheets and loads of breakfast.” “A hot bath, too?” Lora asked. She was splattered all over with dirt and mud and had obviously not taken advantage of Benjy’s offer of his shower. Everyone else looked about as clean as she did; Peter had a long streak of dirt down the right side of his leg; he had slipped and fallen, thankfully not twisting, spraining, or breaking anything. Sirius and Remus were somewhat cleaner; they had managed to keep themselves upright, and were only a bit dirt-spattered, while James’ shoes were full of magical shards, and his cloak was ripped artfully all over the back by the pieces of the magical dome. His sleeves, too, were somewhat torn, and a stem of grass had adopted a place for itself among his hair. “Yes,” Lily said, knowing she looked about as clean as any of them. “You’re all filthy. Come on, let’s go.” Sirius smirked at her as they reappeared in the entrance hall. “If you’ve got any of that special soap and shampoo that Snape uses, I’d advise you to give some to James.” Momentarily off guard, Lily fell for it. “Why?” “Because, at this point, even grease-inducing shampoo as intense as his would make an improvement in that”, Sirius smiled sweetly, pointing at James. “Shut up,” James said good-naturedly. “SLENKA! SIX BATHS, PLEASE!” “Ow,” Lora winced, holding her ear; he had been just beside her when he had bellowed out his request. “Do you have to do that?” “Only for you,” he grinned. “Come on, chaps, last one up the stairs gets the bright pink towel!” Shaking her head, Lily watched the four sprint up the staircase, and she and Lora almost fell over laughing when James let out a yelp halfway up, clutched at his feet, and rolled back down the stairs in a manner reminiscent of a monkey that had just been forced to snort a large vat of helium up its nose. “Good Lord, James, are you all right?” Lily called, whisking over to where he had fallen. “What happened?” “Damn magical glass in my shoes,” he hissed. “Trust Voldemort to think of something like that.” “Don’t say that,” Peter grumbled. “Don’t just say his name like you’re his best friend or something, like you’re not bloody scared of him…” “I AM NOT BLOODY SCARED OF HIM RIGHT NOW; I AM SUPREMELY IRRITATED, BLAST IT!” “Bath, I think,” Lora commented, nudging him to his feet with her shoe. “Before you take our heads off completely with that noise. We’re already in the running with Nearly Headless Nick as to how much skin and muscle there is left to hold our heads on; don’t scream like that again.” Peeved, James obeyed, but not before taking off his shoes and socks. At the top of the stairs, he snatched a very pink, fluffy towel from Sirius’ outstretched hand; no one really knew how it had ended up at their house. Lily’s guess was that it had been left by someone after James’ hospital home-coming party, and that they would be most annoyed if James or Sirius caused it to go up in flames. That was the only reason that it was still around; that, and it was often considered a mild torture device. It was not scratchy; it was quite comfortable, but each and every one of the boys looked mildly stupid with a fluffy pink towel around his waist. “My stuff’s at my house,” Lora said after she stepped out of the bathroom, to which another bathtub had been magically added. “Want me to Apparate back and get pajamas, or can I borrow one of James’ shirts?” “Don’t be ridiculous,” Lily said, tossing her long, wet hair over her shoulder. It took a good fifteen minutes for her to wash all of it now, and it was getting difficult to rinse every bit of soap suds out of it. However, she had no intention at all of cutting her hair; she was rather proud of it-it was the only part about her that she really loved. “Of course I’ll lend you a nightgown. A dressing gown, too.” Running her hands over the tightly packed robes, gowns, cloaks, and other articles of clothing in her wardrobe, she pulled out her silver satin dressing gown and tossed it to Lora, who was sitting on the bed. “What color nightgown do you want?” “I dunno,” Lora shrugged. “Have you got white?” “Yep. Long-sleeved or not?” “Not,” she grinned. “You’re really disgustingly rich.” “I know,” Lily commented as she handed Lora a very comfortable, sleeveless, floor-length, white cotton nightgown. “And I could use our money for so many other things than clothes and books. Imagine, I could manufacture Soul-Sucking Lipstick, or set loose a torrent of banshees from the Tower of London, or buy up Honeydukes.” “The last isn’t such a bad idea,” Lora said thoughtfully, slipping into the nightgown. “Imagine, you could make them manufacture Cockroach Cluster Chocolate Frogs and hand them out to people like Malfoy.” “Or his wife.” Lily smiled almost sadistically, selecting the long-sleeved, silky white nightgown for herself. “Imagine, I could make her sprout horns or an extra tongue…” “You could enchant her breath to the window-cracking point.” “Give her Polyjuice Potion disguised inside a Fizzing Whizbee that would turn her into a Gorgon.” “Enchant her with the King Midas-Touch of Gold Curse!” “Make her bear a goblin instead of a child!” Lora snorted with laughter. “She’d either kill it or herself because it wasn’t pretty enough!” Lily joined her in laughing. “Too bad it’s all illegal.” “How is it illegal?” “You’re not supposed to sell anything that doesn’t have its effects and side effects clearly stated on the label in English. At least in England.” She winked. “I think Sirius and James must have tried persuading Honeydukes to do something like that before that last bit was written, and the warning was written in ancient Egyptian or Russian or Norwegian. Only they would come up with something like that.” “They are really clever,” Lora conceded. She stared at Lily as the latter fastened her green velvet dressing gown in the front. “I’m also going to kill you.” “Why?” “You’re bloody gorgeous, that’s why. It’s not fair.” “Oh, bollocks,” Lily said flippantly, picking up a brush and running it through her very long hair. “You’ve never seen me when I wake up, or when I’m unhappily distraught, or when I’m all dowdy in poncing fancy dress.” “Judging from what you look like when you’re in poncing fancy dress, I don’t want to know what you look like when you wake up, if it’s anything the same. If it is, you really do deserve to die.” “Poncing fancy dress,” Lily scowled, “according to James, who buys most of my things, is extremely revealing, which I definitely do not enjoy, mostly because I am not a prostitute by profession.” “If you were,” Lora said with certainty, “you’d be the head one.” “Oh, shut up!” Lily laughed, hurling a pillow at Lora with such force that her friend fell backwards and landed very comfortably on the bed’s mound of pillows. “I’ve got half a mind not to thank you for Stunning me back there.” “You’re quite welcome,” Lora returned, unfazed, and accepting this as a thank-you, which it was. “Do we wear slippers in this house?” It had started to rain while they were at Benjy’s, and the weather had not let up; it had, as a matter of fact, increased. The rain was not at all warm summer rain; it was cold and mixed with freezing October winds, something Lora had found out when she experimentally stepped out onto the balcony and immediately retreated back into the bedroom. Even five seconds out in that cold had chilled her horribly, and she had never been as excited to step into a hot bath. “What good are slippers when we’ve got very thick carpets and roaring fires?” Lily asked reasonably. “Come on, let’s go downstairs. I smell something chocolate.” The “something chocolate” came from a rather small cauldron placed over a portable fire, which was filled with melted dark chocolate. Almond biscuits were lying on a plate nearby, ready to be speared on a stick and then dunked into the liquid chocolate, and, assuming that a plate was held underneath said dripping biscuit, nothing was spilled onto laps, sofas, or floors, and the eating ritual went smoothly. Ideally. “That,” James said, spearing his fifth biscuit, “was an absolutely great night out.” “Yep,” Sirius agreed. “Not to be beaten at all by putting the Imperius Curse on Snape and making him set a world tap-dancing record.” Remus poked both of them with one of his feet. “You know better than to say that within a hundred yards of Lily, don’t you?” “Yes,” Sirius nodded. “Of course we do. Of course, also, we’re quite suicidal.” “Still,” James repeated, “this has been a great night. Three or four Death Eaters captured and possibly some killed. We’re getting there, aren’t we?” “Yeah,” Remus said soberly. “That Dark Lord…I don’t know what’s wrong with him…” “Mental disorder, probably.” “Killing off all the Muggles,” Peter murmured faintly. “That’s got to be more than just a disorder.” “You’re right, Pete; it’s plain insanity.” Sirius dunked his eighth biscuit into the sauce and narrowly stopped a large chocolate spot from appearing on the carpet. “He’s just mad, that’s all. And with a madman in charge…anyway, we’re doing a pretty good job stopping him, don’t you think?” “Yeah,” Peter nodded. “I just…I just don’t believe he was actually there tonight…” “Buck up, Pete; you weren’t the one that fell right at his feet,” James said flippantly. “He almost killed you, James,” Remus added. “And Lily, too.” “It’s only thanks to Lily that we’re both okay, actually,” James pointed out. “She was the one that kept her wand; they Disarmed me. And we’re really, really lucky that the Apparition-Banning Spell dissolved along with that advanced Shield Charm; otherwise we’d both be dead.” “What cheerful talk,” Lily’s voice laughed. As if they had been pulled by four invisible strings at the same time, all four men’s heads turned towards the staircase. Lora did look very, very pretty at that moment; the silver dressing gown looked quite beautiful against her grey eyes, and her brown hair flowed over her shoulders with the grace of a small, gliding brook. She knew that she looked nice, and she had, if only slightly, hoped that Sirius would bother even looking at her as a girl. However, she realised dryly, with Lily around, that was just about impossible. Not that Lily tried with all her might and main to jerk heads into whiplash; the opposite was true, as a matter of fact. She owned absolutely gorgeous dresses, but she didn’t buy most of them; James did. The rest, like her green dressing gown, she wore mostly because of their historical fascination as well as for the way they looked. Still, Lora thought, it isn’t fair. She supposed that “it” had something to do with Lily’s alarming resemblance to an elvish or fantastical creature; but her gait had something to do with it, as well as her intelligence, and her quite unaffected differentiation from the rest of the wizarding-and the Muggle-world. Lora, thinking this over, was suddenly rather irritated. “Hullo, all,” Lily said cheerfully, entering the living room and sitting down on the couch, betweent James and Sirius. “Oh, fudge!” Spearing a biscuit of her own, she dunked it completely into the chocolate sauce, and, without letting a drop fall onto the floor or her lap, she popped it into her mouth. Peter looked at her with something like envy on his face. “How do you do that?” he asked. “Dexterity,” she answered. “You have been using Cleaning Charms, haven’t you?” For an answer, James picked up his wand from the smallish table next to his side of the sofa and twirled it lazily in front of her face. “Do you see any spills?” “Hey,” Lora interrupted, “does anyone know what the next thing is that the Order of the Phoenix is going to be doing?” Remus shrugged. “If I know Dumbledore, probably something similar. You know, aid the Ministry when they’re in over their heads, that kind of thing.” “I’ve heard something whispered about Exeter,” James stated, naming a southern English town, “but I’m not sure of anything. Merriwether just had a report lying on his desk that included the initials ‘D.L.V.’, and the name Exeter was mentioned.” “What does that stand for?” Lora wondered. “Dangerous Location…er…Violation?” “Probably not,” Sirius said absently, handing Lily another biscuit. “Dumb Loon Voodoo?” The company laughed heartily, but Lily sobered up almost instantly. “Dark Lord Voldemort,” she explained. “I believe that’s what it stands for.” “You’re probably right,” James sighed. “Ah, well, another chance for us to blow ourselves up.” “What did possess you to jump inside there, Lily?” The addressed grinned. “One: it was possible, two: it was dangerous, three: there was a possibility of catching someone that had stayed inside.” “The only one that made logical sense was the last one,” Remus frowned. “You do need to stop doing things just because you want excitement; you almost got slaughtered back there.” Lily shrugged. “It was amusing, though. I believe the only reason I’m still alive is because I mouthed off to-to Voldemort. He didn’t seem to expect that.” Peter stared. “You mouthed off to You-Know-Who?” “I figured I was going to die anyway,” Lily answered, a bit nettled. “And why not tell him off while I had the chance?” Slumping into his chair, Peter shook his head. “I just couldn’t imagine doing that.” “Well, we’re all fine, aren’t we?” James asked cheerfully. “Buck up, Pete. Biscuit?” Silently, Peter accepted the offering, staring into the melted chocolate. Sirius looked at him for a moment and then scoffed rather rudely. “Really, Pete, you’re worse than a girl.” “A-hem,” Lily said sternly. “What are Lora and I, cows?” Elegantly, Sirius reached for her hand, held it gently, and kissed it, all with the air of some ancient royal knight that had just managed to rescue his lady from a dragon or a giant. “No, my dear, you are a lady.” Remus looked up sharply. Sirius’ voice had held none of the mocking or teasing tones that it usually did when offering up such a sentence, which was puzzling in itself. No one else seemed to have noticed anything odd; Lily had laughed gallantly as James settled his arm around her shoulder; Peter was still semi-sulking, and Lora was concentrating on not dripping chocolate onto her dressing-gown. Sirius, also, was acting just as he usually did, lounging on the sofa next to Lily and eyeing the last biscuit, seemingly deciding whether or not to grab it. Mentally shrugging, Remus let his thoughts drift in an entirely different direction, writing off his idea as temporary insanity. The friends went to bed after another half-hour of genial chatting and munching on a second supply of biscuits. Lily was the last one to drop off to sleep; she stayed awake for some time, examining and tracing over the silver scar on her arm. The faint light that it emitted reminded her strongly of the silver mist that her eyes had held each time that she had returned from the Alendoren Cove. Drawing her old but fascinating and magical necklace out from the hidden compartment in her jewelry box, Lily examined the perfectly round stone surrounded by the five claws; it would never be dark blue again, she realised. It had changed; whether for better or for worse, she could not know-but the deep, envious green still circled around a core of swirling silver. She had never known what her necklace meant-she knew what it could do; Tom had explained that to her, though he hadn’t known that she possessed the trinket-but she knew nothing about its properties, its changing appearance-its moods, even. It reflected spells aimed directly at it, and it could transport her to what she could only guess was its place of origin, but otherwise, the claw-encircled pendant was a mystery. Still, Lily ruminated, re-fastening the necklace, if everything about it were known to her, then half of its attraction would be gone. Knowledge, to her, was on the same level as adventure; she loved both with her entire being, and life without those two qualities would be empty-bare, soulless, windowless; deafeningly quiet. And here-here was something to study, to wonder about, and to be drawn into. Sleepily, Vera jumped onto Lily’s lap, and, with a soft laugh, Lily picked her up, slipped into bed, pulled the covers over her chest, and set the cat onto her stomach, where Vera curled up happily. Within five minutes, both of them were asleep; one out of exhaustion, the other out of contentment. The air at the breakfast table next morning was triumphant; the Daily Prophet sported a large, front-page splash over the success of the past night. They took turns reading each bit of the article out loud to each other, and enjoyed a good laugh when an unnamed Auror was quoted as saying: “We were moving so fast, it was like there were more of us than only fifteen. It seemed like forty at least.” “Oh, wonderful,” James grinned, folding up the paper and tossing it to Sirius. “That directly puts me in a great mood.” “Yeah,” Sirius shot back, perusing the paper. “They must have interviewed those poor guys at four in the morning or something.” “And didn’t print it till about five o’clock,” Remus added. “Wonder who tipped them off?” James shrugged. “If you ask me, the Ministry’s got a fat lot of influence with the Prophet. How else would you explain the fact that Sikora’s resigning hasn’t made the papers?” “They don’t want to cause even more panic,” Lily explained. “I can sort of see what their ideas are.” “Still, they’d better get on the bat. The Wizengamot has already chosen Millicent Bagnold, and she’ll be stepping into office on Wednesday.” “Why Wednesday?” Peter asked, helping himself to more kippers. “Oh, just to give Sikora time to clean out his office,” Lora guessed. “You know, I’m surprised that that mission last night actually took place. I mean, Sikora’s daughter is married to a Death Eater, isn’t she?” “We don’t know that for sure-I don’t know if they even speak much. Sikora may have fathered a brat, but he doesn’t approve of anything that could lose him his position, such as someone else taking over the wizarding community. He’s scared to death of this whole thing, anyway,” James corrected her. “And he wasn’t in charge of that mission. I doubt he even knew much about it. Merriwether and the Head Auror Trainee were the only upper-departmentals that were fully informed, I think, from the way they’ve been acting like oysters lately.” “I do hope you’re not telling me that someone has been scooping out Merriwether’s slimy insides with a spoon,” Lily countered, pushing her chair back and standing up. “I’m getting dressed.” |
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