Chapter 16: The Letter
Lily was making her way back to the castle, having just seen Raven off at the entrance to Hogsmede. It was another bitter, winter day, so cold that Lily could hardly feel her toes. She occupied her thoughts with Raven, who had been acting very strangely at breakfast and during their walk across the grounds. She’d even given Lily a hug goodbye, which maybe wouldn’t have been very odd behavior, except that Lily knew that the only times Raven ever hugged her was at the end of the school year when they said goodbye. Other than that, it was usually Lily who initiated a hug. At breakfast, Raven had hardly touched her blueberry pancakes, which was her favourite Hogwarts breakfast dish. Should Lily rule it off as stress?
The sound of snow crunching under someone’s feet other than her own, jerked Lily out of her thoughts. She looked up and around, trying to spot the person, with no success. She did notice that the trail of foot prints that disappeared behind her and that she knew were her own, were a bit bigger and more disturbed looking than she thought normal. The footprints directly behind her, were nothing like those.
Someone was following her.
As her heart beat sped up she feigned nonchalance forcing her exterior to remain calm, while her interior was on red alert. Could it be the attacker who had finally appeared after so many weeks of peace? If so, what were they waiting for?
Taking a tentative step towards the castle, Lily slid her hand discreetly into her robe pocket and grasped her wand. In one fluid motion she had spun around, taken aim in the general direction she thought the person would be and fired a curse.
She heard an outcry, and saw footprints shuffling through the snow coming straight at her! They had dodged her curse. Panicking, Lily said the first spell that came to her mind. “Petrificus Totalus!” she all but screamed, her voice ringing in the winter silence. There was a snapping sound as her pursuer’s limbs sprang together. Unbalanced by the sudden activity or their body, the person fell to the ground. Not that Lily could see the person, the only thing that gave them away was their outline in the snow.
“Eeeehh... mmpf...”
Lily studied them cooly, as they tried to speak. Now that she knew they weren’t going anywhere fast, she took the time to think. The person had obviously done something to make themself invisible... but what? A spell, a potion? Should she wait for it to wear off, or fetch a teacher for aid?
For reasons unknown to her, Lily found herself kneeling down beside the person and reaching out with a hand to touch them. She paused briefly, her hand getting a weird feeling that made her think it was hovering only inches above the persons torso. Plucking up her courage, she lowered her hand. Her fingers met a strange silky material with a odd watery texture to it. She pinched it in between her fingers and dragged it upwards to reveal feet clad in some dirty trainers... that looked vaguely familiar to her. More sounds emitted from the person. She tried to drag the material further up, but it was caught under the dead-weight body. She pointed her wand straight at his chest and said, “I’ll take the spell off, but any sudden movement and you can kiss your consciousness goodbye.”
“Mmmph..” Lily had no choice but to take the sound as one of agreement. She waved her wand, setting the person free.
“Merlin, Lily, that’s the last time I ever try sneaking up on you again!”
“J- James?” she asked in an high-pitched voice completely unlike her own as she stared in horror at her almost-boyfriend’s invisible body.
“Yes, me!” A hand appeared and apparently threw back the curious invisi-material, because James’ head suddenly became visible. His expression was very disgruntled and unimpressed.
Lily’s mouth gaped. She felt many emotions, seeing his head suspended in mid-air and then his shoes on the ground. It was such an odd sight, that Lily couldn’t help but laugh, amused and relieved at the same time.
For a brief moment, it seemed as though James was going to retort something sarcastic and mean at her, but then his features twisted into a smile and he began to laugh as well. He took the invisibility cloak off, for that’s what Lily could see it was now, and
Playfully, Lily pounded James on the shoulder, “You scared the crap out of me!! What were you doing following me like that!?”
His hand immediately jumped to mess his hair, as a guilty grin spread across his lips. “I wasn’t following... I was... educating myself,” he finished with a smirk.
“Oh really?” Lily said with a light smile, “I don’t believe stalking is a subject they teach at Hogwarts.”
“It’s on the down low.” He leaned in closer, so close, that Lily could feel the heat of his breath on her cheek. With a whisper he added, “You’re in jeopardy now, just knowing about it.”
She grinned, and was about to retort something when James pushed his lips against hers. The affect it had was instantaneous. She forgot everything, where she was, what they had been talking about before, all was lost to her except for James.
“Ahem...” The world snapped back with a jolt. Startled at the intrusion, both she and James jumped and looked up at the figure towering over them.
“Er... Hullo Marie...” The intruder was none other than Raven’s aunt, the one she was supposed to be with in Hogsmede at that very moment. A small figure popped out from behind Marie’s bulging form. “David,” Lily said with a friendly nod, getting to her feet.
“Hallo, Lily dear,” Marie said. She spoke with a small lilt in her accent, for she had spent a great deal of her childhood living in Germany. Lily had met Marie during the summer in between her fifth and sixth year. Marie had just finished traveling abroad Europe and had come to the Sheppard’s summer cottage for a surprise visit. Lily remembered her as being young, fun and absurdly kind. With a wicked, toothy, grin Marie added in a supremely innocent tone, “Hope we’re not interrupting anything important.”
“No.... no, of course not,” Lily said, managing to bring her tomato blush to a rose colour. She lifted her chin in an effort to regain her composure. “Marie, this is James Potter, James this is Marie McKinnon. She’s Raven’s aunt.”
The two murmured greetings to one another and shook hands. Lily noticed that although James wasn’t blushing as fully as she was, there was a slight pink tinge to his cheeks. Though, that could have been from the cold.
“Have you seen Raven around, by any chance?” Marie asked.
“I just saw her off at the Hogsmede gate,” Lily said, frowning, “You must have just missed her.”
“No, I don’t think so. We were early and waiting... we had to have crossed paths.”
Warning bells were going off in Lily’s head. Something wasn’t right. Why would Raven just disappear?
“Did she mention where she was going to meet us at?” Marie continued.
“In the Three Broomsticks, I thought.”
Marie looked thoughtful. “It was crowded, auntie, we could have missed her,” David piped up.
“Yes... that must be it. We’ll just go back, she’s probably waiting,” Marie gave Lily a tiny smile. They said their goodbyes and then walked off, Marie and David to Hogsmede, Lily and James to Gryffindor common room. James wanted to know why Raven’s aunt was here and although Lily fibbed to him, saying it was just a quick family gathering, he didn’t look like he believed her. Or, at the very least, he thought she was holding something back from him.
She started feeling a little awkward and trapped; she knew James was forming another series of questions to ask her that she couldn’t possibly lie to. So when they reached the Fat Lady, Lily hurriedly gave the password and practically dived through the entrance (she figured she could seek homage in her dormitory). In fact, she went a little too fast and would have fallen flat on her face if James hadn’t reached out and steadied her.
“Thank you,” she muttered, an embarrassed pink tinging her cheeks. Without even a wave to Remus and Sirius who were playing exploding snap on the armchairs be the fire, Lily ran up the dormitory stairs as fast as she could. She missed James’ look, a mixture of hurt and confusion which probably would have caused her to hang back.
With a sigh of relief she closed her dormitory door behind her and then leaned against it. She stayed that way for a moment, catching her breath and collecting her muddled thoughts. It was dumb not to tell them. This secret was crazy and so not worth it. But she couldn’t tell them. She had promised, and she took promises seriously, although at that moment she really wished she didn’t.
She still had the article, it was in the top drawer of her bedside cabinet. Would it be considered telling if she ‘accidentally’ left it out in the common room? Crossing the room, Lily pulled open the drawer expecting to see the newspaper article, she got a shock when she saw a large piece of parchment folded in half with her name, in Raven’s handwriting, scribbled across the front.
Curious, Lily plucked it out and read.
Dear Lily,
By the time you get this letter, I’ll already have gone, so please don’t come after me. I wouldn’t have left you this, but I didn’t want you to worry about me. I can’t stand knowing that the murderers are still out there, perhaps plotting to kill again and inflict the same pain upon others as they have on me.
I don’t know if I can stop them, but I do know that staying holed up in Hogwarts while they are out there is a torture I cannot bear any longer.
I’m sorry Lily, I hope to see you again.
Love,
Raven
(A/N DUN DUN DUUUUNNNN ^_^)