“It turns out I’m their slave, and they can tell me who and how to talk to.”
“Ah.” Severus nodded. “I’m sorry.”
“Don’t be. Where’s your compartment?”
“In here.” He gestured to a door to his left. “I’m just warning you; it’s a mess.”
“I don’t care.” Lily followed him inside. “It won’t kill me.”
“I wouldn’t be too sure of that.”
“I would.”
As it turned out, the Tarantallegra that was put on her the moment she entered didn’t kill her; it just made her legs start to jerk in a sort of quickstep. However, she spent quite a nice two hours in there before Eva and Amanda dragged her back into their compartment. “It’s not as fun when you’re not around.”
While back in her first compartment, she asked James something that had been bugging her for some time.
“James?”
“Hum?”
“Didn’t you say something about the Quidditch World Cup last year?”
“You don’t know? What’s wrong with you--oh.” He nodded. “I forgot; you don’t get the Daily Prophet. It’s Italy against Japan, next week.”
“Why not over the summer? Isn’t that usually when the World Cup’s held?”
“It’s being held in Egypt. They’ve got a large sandstorm going on there, and we’re not allowed to interfere with magic. We can’t stop thunderstorms or anything like that, so the logical (or illogical) thought process is that we can’t interfere with a sandstorm.”
“Oh.” Lily sat back on her heels. “Is that so?”
“Yeah…but students have permission to go see it on weekends. So we’re going then; it starts next Friday night. By the way—“ he turned to Remus—“remind me that Nigel owes me five Galleons.”
The rest of the talk excitedly turned to Quidditch; Lily had a feeling that they had been bursting to talk about it all day, but knew that she and Amanda would either fall asleep or leave.
They arrived at Hogwarts when it was pelting huge drops about the size of someone’s thumbnail. They had to stay in the train for several minutes till it cleared up and the gamekeeper could retrieve all the boats from the middle and bottom of the lake (someone had cut the ropes that had held them to the bank).
It gave them time to slip into their Hogwarts robes; Remus had also been made a prefect, as they found out when he pulled out his badge. No one expressed any surprise at all when they saw Lily’s.
When Lily stepped into the faintly damp, moth-ball smelling carriage, she was quite thankful she wasn’t a first year. She didn’t see how they could make it across that lake without drowning, especially since there was a nice giant squid that lived inside the stormy water.
By the time the carriages reached Hogwarts, everyone was reasonably dry, though they had to soak their robes as they held them over their heads in order to get inside without looking as though they’d just taken a quick dip in the oh-so-calm lake with their clothes on. Damp and dripping, everyone filed into the Great Hall, ready to welcome the first years, who filed in and stuck together in a large clump.
Professor McGonagall carried the Sorting Hat up to the three-legged stool that sat on a stage, and immediately, the hat opened its brim and lost it, with a plop. The brim, that is. It was simply a pointy thing with a patched, round bit of cloth draped around the stool. Everyone tried not to roar with laughter, but it was too funny not to.
Professor Dumbledore finally got the noise down to a semblance of quiet, flicking his wand and replacing the brim. Then, for the second time, the hat opened its ‘mouth’ and began to sing amid suppressed giggles.
In days when I was new and young
This school was bright and clean.
And the Four Heads of Houses swung
Small wizards into streams.
Gryffindor’s stream ran sunset red;
And into it he threw
The bravest from their safe, warm beds;
The daring from their pew.
The trickle of Hufflepuff widened large
Flowing with liquid gold.
And in the river rode a barge
Filled with a loyal, trusty mould.
Ravenclaw’s torrent took to the sea
Azure and blue and bronze
The smartest, the brightest one could see
For miles all around.
The silver watercourse among the rocks
Tinted with streaks of green
Took to Slytherin the smartest locks
The sneakiest in between.
And when they were quite old and gone
I was left instead
To do my best for wizards at dawn
Of their new life’s stead.
So try me on and do not shake;
Your insides are still there.
And I have yet made no mistake
Of this, your life’s first scare.
The Great Hall burst into applause. Lily turned to Sirius.
“It did pretty well, even if that brim did fall off!”
“It’s a talented hat.”
Lily laughed. “Yes!”
They were terribly hungry; the lady with the cart on the train had run out of food quite early, and everyone was more than ready for dinner. As Dumbledore stood up at the teacher’s table, several groans could be heard throughout the Hall.
“I trust you have all had an eventful summer; time for all that nice knowledge to seep out of your heads. I know you are all anxious to eat, but before you do so, I would like to say a few words.
“First, all of you who are excited about the Quidditch World Cup, we are allowing you to leave Hogwarts on weekends with permission from your parents. We shall be transporting you there and directing you to the group you shall be with. Needless to say, if the Cup lasts into the week, you shall be back at school.” The Great Hall groaned even more loudly. “Another thing, before I shall allow you to nourish yourselves. You are, as usual, not allowed inside the Forbidden Forest, and no one is to visit Hogsmeade without a signed form or when a visit is not announced.” Lily saw Sirius and James turn their heads to look at each other as Peter sat in his seat, looking smug.
“We shall be asking you, as usual, to pay strict attention to out prefects and Head Boy and Girl.” James stole a glance down the table to where Lily was sitting, and was surprised to find that she hadn’t displayed her prefect badge prominently, and that she wasn’t looking half as smug as Peter was. Her head was sort of down, and it looked like she had a faint sunburn.
“We would like to welcome two new teachers to our midst. Professor Flitwick will be your new Charms teacher.” He gestured to a small wizard on his right, the new teacher’s chin barely reaching over the top of the table. Thunderous applause flooded the Great Hall, especially from James and Sirius, who had mischievous grins on their faces.
“And, of course, our Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher; Professor Dorvan!”
The applause was just as loud for this new teacher, though she was in all ways different from the small wizard that could hardly see over the table. Tall and stately, she was wearing dark green robes, and her hair was a sort of brown. However, she resembled a tree more than she did a person—her hair seemed to be formed of branches and twigs; her robes fit her as did the summer coat of leaves on trees. Lily’s eyes widened.
“She’s a dryad!”
“She what?” Peter was confused.
Impatient at his denseness, Lily threw him an exasperated look. “The spirit of a tree is called a dryad. There are only few left, though. And—“ she stole another look at Professor Dorwan—“and I doubt whether she’s a pure-blood dryad. I’d say she’s half human.”
Sirius frowned. “Why would you say that?”
“Her eyes.” Lily pointed. “They’re not as dark and woody as they usually are. And she’s not as tall as they’re supposed to be.”
“I’ll take your word for it.”
Lily motioned for him to shut up as Dumbledore began to speak again.
“And as that is all I can say, let us begin!” He clapped his hands once, and the golden plates in front of them filled with the usual delicious food. But, tired as everyone was and drenched as more than everyone was, no one really enjoyed the feast as much as they would have normally. When Dumbledore finally let them leave the Great Hall, the first moves of everyone were towards the common room fire. Lily was pushed in front of the mass of Gryfffindors rushing towards their Tower, and only a few feet away from the portrait hole did she remember that prefects gave the students the password into the Tower.
Her mind searched frantically for something, and finally, in a bit of drenched and dazed desperation, she hit on the first thing that came to mind; something out of A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur’s Court.
“Greek fire.”
The Gryffindors, satisfied with their password, pushed the Fat Lady open and piled into the common room. Whether it was because they were wetter and colder than usual or that the fire was larger and higher than it usually was, it definitely seemed warmer. However, the space in front of it could only be occupied by so many people, so about a fourth of the Gryffindors had to go upstairs to the bathrooms so as to take hot showers. Lily did so, mainly because she was more than ready for bed, which she got into at about eleven; the feast had lasted so long. She said a quick hello to Diana, Elspeth, and Abigail before her head hit the pillow and she fell asleep. It was debatable if she was asleep before her hair touched the pillow or after, though if anyone had watched, they would be inclined to say the former.
Next morning, everyone woke up a bit later than usual. They got dressed, yawning, and went down to breakfast, where Professor McGonagall was busy handing out schedules.
Lily slid into a seat next to Remus and Eva. “Hullo.”
“Hallo, Miss Prefect.” Eva was in a good mood. “Tired.”
“Very. What’s for breakfast?”
“The usual. Have some sausages?”
“Sure; why not.” Lily watched lazily as Eva piled her plate.
Professor McGonagall went around handing out schedules, and Lily grabbed hers as it went flying onto her milk jug. “Remus, schedules!”
“Um.” His mouth was full and he had to swallow twice before it became empty. “I can see. What do we have first?”
“Potions. With the Slytherins.”
“Wow.” Remus rolled his eyes. “What a great way to start our day.”
"It won’t kill you. Really; it won’t. Come on—they’re not really all that bad.”
“To you, maybe.”
“That’s because I was nice to them. Come on, get rid of that stupid prejudice. Remember, they could say worse about you if they knew.”
“Oh, right.” Remus picked up his own schedule. “I’ve got Transfiguration second…how about you?”
James plopped into a chair across from Remus, next to Lily. “Anatomy.”
“And how would you know that?”
“I’m in her class. Come on, Rem, it’s almost time for—POTIONS!?” His voice echoed all over the Great Hall, and everyone turned to stare. James waved to everyone, a bit sheepishly, because Professor Cauldwell was seated at the teacher’s table.
“Hi, all?”
They laughed quietly, turning back to their breakfast. Soon, however, it was time for them to go to class, and they all filed out of the Great Hall quickly, grabbing book bags as they raced to respective classrooms.
Professor Cauldwell was more animated than usual; this time he actually had notes, and he gave a long lecture on the different potions that could be used to ward off Dark creatures. Lily had a roll of parchment of jotted notes on how to use them and what they were made of and how long they were to simmer. It was interesting, for once, and they had to research one of two potions he gave them; they would be making them on Wednesday.
Anatomy was next. Professor Maar had become even more demanding over the summer, and he told them that they would be studying unicorns before Christmas holidays and that he would be bringing a specimen into class. Everyone was excited and couldn’t wait, but their excitement was crushed when he told them that they had two rolls of parchment on unicorns due Friday.
Lily wasn’t the only one delighted to find that they didn’t have Divination that day. It had been moved to right before lunch on Tuesday, which was wonderful, since it didn’t get so hot in the morning. They had Herbology instead; they were planting a grove of small birch dryads near the Forbidden Forest.
Lily and her friends stayed up late that night in the common room, talking about the new Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher. Lily would have her on Wednesday, and she could hardly wait.
Lily yawned her way through Divination next morning. Sirius and James were absent, and Professor Trelawney was teaching them about the different ways to use crystals when stargazing. It made no sense whatsoever, and she slid into her seat at lunch with an air that suggested that she wanted to go to sleep.
Sirius handed her a glass of pumpkin juice. “Tired?”
“Aren’t you?”
“Nope. We skipped.”
“I noticed.”
He shrugged. “Well, we’ve got a good excuse.”
She looked skeptical. “I see.”
“We do! Well, that is, we will once we think up one.”
“I see.”
They trooped into History of Magic at the end of the day, not at all looking forward to this. They were his first class after lunch, and he usually took a nap during lunchtime. And this year, he had an extra hour and a half to sleep, so when they walked inside it was natural for them to see an empty classroom. It was only when he didn’t show up for fifteen minutes that they began to get edgy.
“D’you think he’s all right?”
“Of course! The old git just overslept.”
“Well, something’s wrong!”
“Go get him, why don’t you?”
“I’m just worried about our teacher! Stop it!”
“Why worry?”
“Yeah; he never teaches anyway; what’s the point?”
“There isn’t one. Binns never has one; at least that I can discern.”
“No, but something could be seriously wrong!”
”All right then, Miss Prefect, go see what’s wrong while our other prefect supervises us unruly children.”
“James! Don’t call me that!”
“Touchy, are we?”
“Come on, Lily, give it a break!”
“Lily, we’re perfectly fine without him; we can even do the same thing we do when he’s here.”
“What’s that?”
“Go to sleep.”
“Yeah, Lily, go to sleep.”
“But something could be seriously wrong!”
“So what? Lily, you can be one of the most annoying people on earth, do you know that?”
“But if something happened…”
Remus finally lost it, too. “Good God, Lily, will you shut up? You’re the only one in here that cares or pretends to like our teachers—go find him then! And when you catch him coming out of some bathroom, I reserve the right to say ‘I told you so.’”
“All right then!” Lily was angry now. She slid her chair back and walked in the direction of Binns’ office; she’d been there once before to discuss a paper. It was around several winding stairways and corners; when she finally got to it, she wouldn’t have been surprised at all to find the door locked. It was open, however; ajar, even, and she pushed it open easily.
Professor Binns was dozing in a large armchair in front of a blazing fire. Lily walked towards him, coughing deliberately and loudly. When he didn’t wake up, she tapped him on the shoulder.
“Er—Professor Binns?”
No answer.
“Professor?”
No answer.
She shook his shoulder.
No response.
Harder.
No response.
“Professor Binns!”
His hand dropped from his robes.
“PROFESSOR!”
This time, as she shook his shoulder violently, her hand felt cold, as if she had just plunged it in a bowl of ice-cold water. Something started to dawn on her.
“Erm—Professor?” Meekly, this time.
She touched him again, and the coldness flooded her arm again. She shook him again, and this time his head dropped to one side, leaving a pearly replica of his head drooping on his chest. Lily’s breath started to come faster and shorter.
“Oh, my God. Oh, my God. Oh, my…PROFESSOR!”
She heard running footsteps in the hall, and James and Sirius were at the door. “Lil! What’s up?”
With a shaking hand, Lily pointed to the transparent second head of their teacher. The boys moved into the room.
“Geez, what do you think happened?”
“How old was that guy?”
“I wonder how long it takes bodies to rot.”
“I wonder how long he’s been dead!”
“You think he’s really dead?”
“He’s a ghost, idiot!”
“No, I mean is his ghost dead?”
“Can ghosts die?”
“Get Dumbledore.”
“Yes. James, go with her. I’ll try to wake him up.”
James and Lily broke into a run as they headed for Dumbledore’s office. At the statue of the disturbingly ugly goblin, they stopped. Lily stemmed her fists in her sides.
“How are we going to get in? I don’t know the password.”
James gave his mischievous smile. “I do.”
“How?”
“Remember when I told you I had a good excuse? I got to file papers in his office.”
Lily scowled. “You little—anyway. Go ahead.”
“All right. Butterbeer.”
The goblin jumped aside as the two moved in the doorway, jogged up the winding stairs, and knocked loudly on the door, which swung open to reveal Dumbledore sitting at his desk, writing a letter. He looked up as they ran in, breathless and panting.
“Professor—we were in history of Magic—“
“Professor Binns didn’t come, so I went to go check on him—“
“She went inside his office and found his body—“
“Headmaster, Professor Binns’ dead!”
There was complete silence in the room after Lily came out with that statement, but after a good five seconds, Professor Dumbledore rose from his chair, beard and robes swaying. He left his office at such a speed that Lily and James had to run again to keep up. They rounded several corners and finally came to Professor Binns’ office. The door was closed and locked.
Alohomora was a useful charm, and they opened the door easily. But the only thing they found was a blazing fire and a body in an armchair. Professor Dumbledore touched the form. It was still warm.
He straightened up. “James, please go fetch Professor McGonagall. Lily, come with me.”
They left the room, James turning one way, Dumbledore and Lily another. They came to the classroom Lily had left a few minutes ago, and Lily was shocked to hear a familiar droning sound coming from the room. Dumbledore pushed the door open, revealing the entire class staring at their teacher in wonder, who apparently had risen from his armchair, walked into the classroom, picked up his notes, and started to read.
Dumbledore and Lily stopped at the door, a bit stunned. Collecting herself, Lily noted that Dumbledore was pushing her into the classroom, so she slid into her seat quietly. Professor Binns didn’t even look up.
That evening, at dinner, everyone at Hogwarts knew about Professor Binns. They were all pointing and whispering at Lily, Sirius, and James, who were huddled in a knot, talking about that afternoon. It was Sirius’ turn.
“Ok, so you two leave me, right? I yelled in his ear again, just for good measure, and he wakes up and tells me to get back to class! I tell you, that scared me! So I bolted and got into the classroom just as he was entering it through the blackboard. I wasn’t the only scared one!”
“I can imagine.”
“Ok, James, it’s your turn now.”
James leaned closer. “I went to McGonagall’s classroom to get her after Dumbledore told me to fetch her, and I walked in, but when I tried saying something, her class was too loud, so I had to yell, 'PROFESSOR BINNS IS DEAD!' It shut them up quick as anything, and then McGonagall just stared at me, and when I didn’t start to laugh, she swept out and banged the door loud. Next thing I knew, I was standing in front of his classroom and he was teaching, so McGonagall almost gave me detention, but then she saw him, and he was all ghostly and stuff, and she gave this really odd gasp, told me to get to class, and raced down to his office.”
Lily and Sirius had a good, refreshing laugh as they helped themselves to the last bits of chocolate cake.
That night in the common room, hardly anyone was in bed. They were all discussing Binns’ death, and for once, Serena had swallowed her anger and was as curious as everyone else. It was around two when the common room was halfway emptied.
The next morning, Lily woke up, exited about something she couldn’t quite put her finger on. Then she knew. Defense Against the Dark Arts was their first class, and the first encounter she’d ever have with a dryad. She dressed hurriedly and was downstairs at breakfast before anyone else was, skimming through her new Defense Against the Dark Arts book for the sixth time. By the time Sirius and Eva took seats on either side of her, she was already halfway through.
“Good Lord, Lily, are you that obsessed with making a three hundred in that class? Give it a break!”
“I don’t want to make a fool out of myself, and besides, this is interesting. Did you know that dryads were over fifteen feet tall originally, and that their hair type changes with every season?”
Sirius nodded. “I knew the last part. Dorvan has leaf-type things in her hair.”
“Oh, really?” Lily peered at the teacher’s table. “I didn’t notice that!”
Eva laughed. “What kind of tree do you think she is?”
“I don’t know. I’m about to find out.” Lily flipped a page, running her finger down the indents.
“Either an oak, a beech, a chestnut, or a pine. I’m inclined to cut the oak out, though, because they’re mostly male.”
James pointed at the page. “She’s also half-human, and look here—“ His finger traveled to a picture of a twig—“This isn’t what her fingers look like. They’re more sturdy.”
Lily nodded. “So she isn’t half-beech or oak.”
“Right. I’d say she’s a pine, as a matter of fact.”
Lily twisted in her seat so she could stare at him. “Why that?”
James pointed at the teacher’s table. “Look. She’s really stately; she’s got long, dark hair—sorta needly. Can’t you see that?”
Lily nodded, slowly. “Now I can.” She could, too. The green robes of the welcoming feast had been changed to solid black, with a sort of shimmery shine to them. She couldn’t think of how she had missed the resemblance to the pine tree Lily’s mother had planted in her backyard.
The bell rang, and everyone, especially the Gryffindor fifth years, rushed to class. They were all in their seats by the time the bell rang, and when Professor Dorvan drifted in and shut the door softly, even James and Sirius had, for once, shut their mouths. With a sort of husky, deep, windy, rustling voice, their teacher began to speak as she seated herself on the edge of her desk. Just now Lily realized how tall she was; even sitting down, one could see her height. Liquid black eyes gleamed with an excitement on either side of an average nose; a practical mouth with a hint of a smile to it fastened her cheeks together. Her hair was pulled into a loose side ponytail to the side, and several branches of hair fell into her face and covered her ears.
“I will be your Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher this year; hopefully for several years, if I fulfill my duty. I am not your average professor; I was born in the Forbidden Forest—“ here Lily caught James and Sirius exchange delighted glances—“and know the habits and fears of almost every creature there. I will not be requiring you to do much bookwork; I shall be teaching you many practical things.” She cleared her throat. “Please get out your wands.”
They did so, still quietly. Her voice, soft yet hard, low yet overpowering, had the ability to keep a class quiet without an effort on her part.
“I suppose you all know I am a half-dryad. And if you know that, I assume you also know that, when angered, dryads can be the most dangerous creature this Earth can hold.” She went on to explain the scientific reasons behind the unnatural madness dryads were capable of, the reasons why they could not easily be overcome, and the spell that could hold an enraged dryad at bay.
“I shall be asking you to test this on me. Please, now—wands out, and repeat after me.” They obeyed. “Flueroticis Dranyada Muerotnics Pourtyen.”
They stared at her; she had pronounced these words with a mixture of a German, French, and Russian accent, which seemed almost impossible for them to imitate. She repeated her words, slowly this time.
“Flueroticis Dranyada Muerotnics Pourtyen.”
This time the class responded. “Flueroticis Dranyada Muerotnics Pourtyen.”
“Excellent.” She clapped her hands lightly, and her sleeves fell from her arms, exposing bark-like skin. “Someone, now, come up here. I just want you to concentrate on what you’re saying.” Her eyes roved over the crowd. “Miss Evans, come here, please?”
Lily stepped forward, sweaty palms grasping her wand. As forewarned, Professor Dorvan’s eyes slitted in anger, her hands raised in branch-like clawing motions, and as she dashed for Lily, the class all gave a stifled gasp.
Lily held her wand up, not shaking, though she dearly wanted to. As if on impulse, without any nudging from her brain, the words broke forth from her throat.
“Flueroticis Dranyada Muerotnics Pourtyen!”
Immediately, the half-dryad was frozen in position; she stopped as something began curling about her feet. The class drew back as a smoky twirls gathered around their teacher’s feet, then, transforming quickly to brambles, she was entwined in vines and tangles. It lasted for a minutes; then it dissolved. Lily had let her wand fall.
Professor Dorvan straightened up, clapping lightly. “Excellent! Wonderful! Anyone else care to try?”
With an effort, Lily pulled her joints into working positions. “I’ll pass.”
The dryad laughed woodily as she pulled Peter up to the front. “Come on, dear, your turn!”
Peter went a sort of nervous green. “I don’t have a very good foreign accent.”
Lily laughed, too. Only hers didn’t sound as if she were locked in a thicket; it had more scorn to it. “Well, you can pronounce Latin stuff, can’t you?”
“No.”
“Oh, come on! What language do you think Petrifocus Totalus is?”
“Uhh…jibber?”
“Latin, you dope. Come on.”
“All right.” He rolled up his sleeves and brandished his wand as Lily deftly stepped out of the way and Professor Dorvan rushed at him.
It all would have gone well, Lily later reflected, if Peter hadn’t insisted on standing there, frozen in the most idiotic position you could ever not wish to be seen in. The summary of it was that he got attacked by an enraged tree that almost strangled him with its branches before Sirius, James, and Lily jumped for their wands. Professor Dorvan was thrown off, and as she hung onto her desk, shaking a bit, she wasted no time in giving Peter detention.
“When I tell you to curse me, do it! I can’t control myself when I get angry; I told you that! No dryad can! You could have been killed! Two weeks’ detention, Mr. Pettigrew!” James, Sirius, and Lily were slinking into their seats, and the rest of the class was trying to hide behind opened books. “Don’t ever disobey me again! Who knows what could happen if you ever land in the Forbidden Forest and don’t know this spell—I could lose my job!”
The class tried hard not to laugh at this, but it couldn’t be helped. The bell rang, leaving everyone trooping off to second period in a much more comfortable mood than they had been earlier. Though Divination was next, they managed to get through it without receiving any major injuries; i.e.: falling off of their chairs and cracking their skulls open on the table because of intense drowsiness.
That weekend, the whole common room was practically deserted except for Lily, Amanda, and several other Muggle-borns that hadn’t the slightest interest whatsoever in Quidditch. They had settled themselves on the rug in front of the fire, taking a dreary sort of pleasure in the empty common room, which, for once, was free of noisy explosions and sparks but full of the whiplash sound of rain lashing the windowpanes. The cheerful chatter of the girls, telling each other about their summers and their first days back, was almost drowning it out, but not quite, which was nice, for the noise of the rain that couldn’t come in was a satisfying sound; it made them feel rather safe and warm. Which they were, as a matter of fact.
Amanda dealt the Exploding Snap cards for the fifth time, yawning a bit. “Lily?”
“Hum?”
“Don’t you wish we could have gone?”
“Nope.” Lily shook her head. “Quidditch is all right, but it isn’t my dream sport.”
“I know that, Miss Fencer.”
“You should. WATCH OUT!”
The warning came too late. A faceful of smoke and singeing sparks had hit Amanda full in the face.
“Oh, wonderful. Isn’t this great?”
Lily shrugged. “Go wash your face. I’ll get Minky to get us some hot chocolate.”
“No coffee?”
“You obviously haven’t asked Minky to bring up coffee yet, have you?”
“No; why?”
Lily scrunched up her voice in a high and crinkly imitation of the small house-elf. “Miss is too, too kind to wish Minky to do a service for miss, but Minky has heard from several reliable sources that coffee is bad for miss! Will stunt miss’ growth and stain miss’ teeth!”
Amanda laughed, but Lily only shrugged again. “I swear; that’s her voice. She will go on for hours like that.”
That afternoon, Amanda was in her dormitory, trying to rest; the other Gryffindors were either sleeping, wandering aimlessly around Hogwarts, or playing chess in the common room. Lily was in her dormitory, toying with the idea of the Alendoren Cove.
She hadn’t been there in ages, she told herself, and she missed Svordsja and Litharelen, and of course Tom. It was perfect, just perfect…but was this even allowed at Hogwarts? This continual vanishing and and and….Sighing loudly, Lily kicked her covers aside and opened her jewelry box, pulling out the flashing gold and midnight blue necklace. She fastened the chain around her neck, grasped the pendant in her left hand, and hit it against the bureau.
With a small thump, Lily landed on all fours in the familiar white, glittering sand of the Alendoren Cove. She shook the sand and hair out of her ears—something was wrong. Then she knew.
The Alendoren Cove was usually the most peaceful place she had ever encountered, with the sun glittering on the waves and a lazy elf-nymph usually flopping onto a stone, or moonlight bathing the beach in a silver glow; there was hardly any noise. But now—now—now—
The cracks around her were splitting the air. Streams of light were disfiguring the sky, unnaturally dark at this hour. Yells and screams echoing through the whirling sands were cutting into her head, and it was only when a large something flew just over her head and exploded right behind her that she thought she’d better get under cover.
From the cliff she’d dashed behind, she had a view of everything that was going on. It confirmed her worst suspicions. It was nothing more or less than a battle.
Lily recognized a small army fighting desperately, which included Tom, Macnair, Avery, Nott, and several others she’d seen in the cave with Tom several times. And against them an army of wizards in dark green robes were fighting, blasting, injuring, killing. And there—Lily saw a tall silvery figure dash into view. Litharelen. Mounted on Svordsja and armed with her wand, she managed effectively to trample several while cursing others. And Svordsja, Lily saw, was a wonderful ally in battle. It was the most painful thing anyone could imagine to get speared on her horns, and about ten had found that out already. It was easy to see now that Litharelen was an expert horsewoman. Though Svordsja reared, trampled, galloped, and jumped too many times to count, Litharelen never slipped an inch from the pentacorn’s back. It was amazing, Lily thought. All around Litharelen and Svordsja, a mass of dark green and black were clashing, and this streak of silver was fearlessly fighting and rearing. Lily was moving forward slowly, out of the safety of the cliff. She was closer to the battle now; once she flinched as a streak of fire landed on the ground next to her crouching figure.
Keeping her eyes on her friends, Lily watched. It was breathtaking to see the utter courage and casualness Litharelen displayed as she threw four opponents to the ground, stunned, and then was ready to take on five more.
Lily smiled. “Note to self. Never anger an elf-nymph.”
Or a pentacorn. Someone had hit Svordsja in the flank with a spell that left a large gash along her side, and, with a terrible scream that cleft the dusty air into millions of tiny pieces, she fell over, pinning Litharelen underneath her. The Ministry lost no time.
By the time Tom had realized what had happened and had fought his way over to Litharelen’s side, her skull had a deep gash in it and her arm was broken; her chest was slowly developing a large bruise. With panic in his eyes, he took his stance right over Litharelen, enraged and infuriated, daring every Ministry wizard to come at him. Which they did.
Lily could see that the Ministry was well organized; they had swept most of Tom’s followers to his left and held them there, fighting, while Tom was being slowly encircled by at least thirty wizards in dark green. And as a cut across Tom’s chest started to bleed profusely, they started attacking even more vigorously.
Without consulting her common sense, she slipped to the body of a fallen Ministry member and pulled his wand out from his grasp. With a deep breath, she moved forward into the circle of death, trying desperately to push aside the fact that she was only a fourteen-year-old child.
The Ministry was puzzled, not to say astonished, when from one area in the circle their men started to fall, lying rigidly on the ground with only their eyes moving. In an instant, before they had time to regroup, Lily had slid through and had knelt over Litharelen, who was weakly trying to get up. Tom whirled at Lily’s light touch on his sleeve. For that instant, he forgot how young and inexperienced she was; all he saw was a faithful ally.
“Lily! Thank God! Listen, you’ve got to help me!”
Lily shook her hair back. “That’s what I came to do.”
Tom shot a few bolts of blue light towards three attackers, who immediately ceased to be attackers. Then, with a large effort, he managed to get Svordsja to her feet.
“You’ve got to get Lith out of here.”
Lily had already slipped cool hands under the elf-nymph’s body. “Where to?”
Litharelen groaned slightly as Tom placed her on top of the pentacorn’s back. “There’s a mountain range over there. Go to the nearest valley you can find, hidden, if possible, from anyone over here, and set her off.”
Lily swung her foot over Svordsja’s back, and next instant, she was mounted, and gave a curt nod.
“See you, then.” Without waiting for a response from him, she turned Svordsja around, and, digging her heels viciously into the pentacorn’s side, managed to gallop through the re-forming ring of Ministry wizards. She was heading, without further ado, for the blueish-gray mountain range in the distance.
Back on the sand, surrounded by his enemies, Tom smiled mockingly.
“Well then, who’s next?”
