Disclaimer: I think you'd be smart enough to tell the difference between a brilliant writer and me.... but if you can't... well, that's okay too! ;)
(A/N: Okay, I know it took me longer than forever to update this, but at least you had HBP and all the other Lily/James fics out there to tide you over. If you've been with me from the beginning, or almost beginning, than I marvel at your patience and bow down to you. Erm... and let's hope I don't take as long on Ch. 19 as I did this one. You know I love you all.)
Chapter 18: Be Serious
Holding on for dear life, wind whistled in Lily’s ears as she slid further and further below the castle. After what felt like many long minutes, but in reality couldn’t have been more than seconds, Sirius’s voice reached her ears, from not too far below, “Slow down!”
How? she thought but what came out was; “I can’t!” in a very high-pitched scream. She scrunched up her face, bracing herself for the impact that was sure to come. She couldn’t help thinking how frustrating it would be to be fussed over by Madam Pomfrey in the hospital wing as the bones she was bound to break slowly healed.
“Impedimenta!” In a split second Lily’s rapid descent had slowed to almost a complete stop. It was as though she was moving in slow motion; a snail-like pace. The drastic change made her feel a little nauseous, but the feeling was generally overcome by her immense relief.
Gentle hands grabbed her waist, plucking her from the ladder as though she were light as a feather and set her safely on the ground. James murmured the counter-curse and the first thing Lily did with her reinstated freedom was to heave a large sigh of relief. James turned her around, his eyes doing a quick check to make sure she was alright and then his arms were encircling her in a hug. She could hear his heartbeat; it was speeding like her own.
Sirius cleared his throat loudly and reluctantly Lily let James pull away from her.
“Truly, I hate to put an end to your touchy-feely moments, but I believe we’ve got a missing girl on our hands.”
Lily nodded. “Right,” she said, all her urgency coming back. “Let’s go then.” She looked around her for the passage that would bring them to Hogsmede but only found walls facing her each way. “Er . . . where are we?”
“At the only apparition point in Hogwarts,” Sirius explained proudly.
Lily scowled. “Be serious . . . ”
“I am Sirius,” Sirius interrupted.
Lily rolled her eyes and continued, having heard that pun too many times for her taste, “There is no ‘apparition point’ in Hogwarts. The spells on the castle prevent anyone from apparating anywhere inside it.”
“But we’re not inside it,” James explained, “We’re under it. We’re under the lake too. The spells don’t reach this far.”
“But then . . . ” Lily stammered. After all how could ‘Hogwarts; A History’ be wrong? It’d never failed her before!
“Look. We don’t have time to argue. We know what we’re talking about!” Sirius snapped. Lily blushed, but tried to hide it by glaring at Sirius, hoping he’d take her embarrassment for anger. She missed James throw Sirius a look telling him to ease off. Sirius sighed and rolled his eyes to the ceiling for a brief moment, collecting his patience. “So, we’re able to apparate from here, the question now, Lily, is where do we go?”
Lily repressed her doubts for Sirius and decided to trust him. If the three of them didn’t have full confidence in one another things were bound to get messy. They had to keep things in perspective. “I’m not sure,” she admitted, fiddling with her pink-heart necklace thoughtfully. “I don’t think she’d be in Hogsmede, there aren’t enough dark wizards there... and her aunt surely would’ve seen her...”
“Knockturn Alley maybe?” James suggested, his hand unconsciously running through his hair as he thought.
“Definitely, it’s always full of His followers,” Sirius agreed. Lily nodded, Knockturn Alley had always been a place that promoted the dark arts. It was rumored that the Death Eaters controlled all the stores there, selling dark magic items and books dedicated to describing the genocide of all muggles, to cleanse the wizarding world.
“I think, possibly, she may have gone to her house.” James and Sirius looked at her curiously. “Not to find the Death Eaters, but I don’t know, to make sure it really happened. I think she’s still in shock,” she added in a quieter voice. “Let’s check Knockturn Alley first though, I think it’s the best bet.”
Sirius frowned, “let’s split up. I’ll check her house, and then catch up with you in Knockturn later.”
“But how will you find us? And what if she’s there? How’re you going to tell us?” Lily questioned.
Lily watched as James and Sirius exchanged looks. “Mirrors,” they said with a nod at each other.
“See ya.” There was a loud pop and Sirius was gone; disapparated to Raven’s house.
Lily turned to James. “What mirrors?!” She demanded, totally confused. What had just happened? How were mirrors relevant to anything at all at that moment?
“Let’s go... the longer we linger the more danger Raven’s getting herself into.” And with that he too had disapparated with a loud pop, leaving Lily in the dark, except for the soft pink glow emanating from her necklace; his wand had been the only light.
Lily, disgruntled at being left in the dark, in more than one way, was about to disapparate when she heard a voice far, far above her call out: “What was that?” McGonagall’s stern voice bounced off the walls; it was as though she was standing right next to Lily, whose breath caught in her throat at the sound.
“I didn’t hear anything, Professor.” That was Remus. Terrified they’d somehow be able to see her, Lily backed against the moldy wall and sidestepped into a corner.
“I heard that noise; it was the distinct sound of someone disapparating.” Lily thought they must be outside the mirror, McGonagall unaware of the passage, must’ve been strolling along the castle when she heard James’s exit. Perhaps she was looking for them; Remus must have gone to Dumbledore already... but then why was he with McGonagall?
“But Professor, that’s impossible; no one can apparate or disapparate inside of Hogwarts!” Remus said. Lily winced; he was not a very good liar, his words sounded very forced and desperate. No doubt, Remus knew about the passage she was now trapped in (she didn’t dare disapparate for fear McGonagall would hear) and that his friends had used it.
“I know that,” Professor McGonagall snapped. Lily prayed that Remus would be able to persuade McGonagall to leave, and that James wouldn’t be worring about her and apparate back, and give everything away. “But I wouldn’t put it past Black and Potter to find a way how! And with the combined mind of Miss Evans...”
“I suppose it’s possible...” Remus stammered, “But if you can’t disapparate here, after so many years of teaching, I doubt they could figure it out...”
There was a long pause, and then Lily supposed they had started walking again, because the next time she heard McGonagall speak, her voice was much fainter. “Probably just Peeves. Come, Mr. Lupin we must get you to the hospital wing and then escorted to the Shrieking Shack...”
Lily didn’t stick around to hear the rest; she disapparated and when she opened her eyes she found herself in Knockturn Alley in front of Borgin and Burkes. James stood with his back turned to her, he was fidgeting nervously, shifting his weight from one foot to another.
“You wouldn’t happened to be worrying about little me, would you?” she asked cheekily, watching with amusement as James practically did a pirouette as he turned to face her.
He breathed an obvious sigh of relief and Lily hid a smile, thinking it was pretty cute that she’d hardly been five minutes and already he’d worried about her. “What took you?” He asked.
She shook her head. “Doesn’t matter. Let’s go.”
James and her began to walk along the practically deserted alleyway. Abruptly, she stopped as a thought entered her mind. “Wait! We need a disguise! We’ll get attacked for sure walking around in our uniforms...”
For it had just occurred to her that it probably wasn’t safe to wander around Knockturn Alley in their Hogwarts uniforms, let alone with their Head Girl and Head Boy badges pinned to their chests for all to see.
~*~
Sirius looked up at the large three-story house towering innocently above him, the bright sun reflecting on its windows. But the events that had taken place inside this house were anything but innocent. This was Raven’s house. He’d only been there a few times before, when he’d stayed at the Potters during the summer, they were close friends with the Sheppards.
Taking a deep breath he strode purposefully towards the front door, the dark wood was painted the exact same blue as the house’s framing.
He tried the handle, only to find that it wouldn’t budge; the door was locked. With a cocky smirk Sirius drew out his wand and muttered, “Alohomora!” Once again he tried the handle; it still wouldn’t budge.
He circled the house, attempting to unlock the windows and taking care not to tread on the flowers out of habit. When his attempt proved fruitless, Sirius returned to the front door. He wasn’t ready to give up just yet. He pictured the bright and comfortable living room he knew lay just beyond. Sure it was rude to apparate into a house uninvited, but it wasn’t as though anyone was there.
But there was no familiar pop as he teleported from one place to another. In fact, when Sirius opened his eyes he was still facing that accursed blue door! He kicked it out of frustration and the result was shocking; he found himself flying through the air, backwards, and ended up crashing painfully onto the hard concrete pathway.
With a groan he pushed himself up onto his elbows, pulling out the familiar mirror that would allow him to contact his best mate without the hassle of an owl (all the droppings really weren’t worth it, in his opinion). It still looked new, although he’d bought it nearly four years ago.
It was time to contact James and catch up with him. No way could Raven have put a spell on her house like that. That was the work of the Ministry of Magic. They must have secured the house with spells so that they could investigate further.
“James Potter,” he muttered, a little grudgingly, upset that his search had been foiled so quickly.
“You found her!?” James’s voice and face appeared in the mirror, looking relived. But it wasn’t the face Sirius was accustomed to seeing. He’d done something to his nose; made it longer and added a mole onto the end. His hair was still black, though with sporadic blond streaks, but it was slicked back; not at all like the untidy mop he usually sported. There were various other tweaks to his features too, so many that if Sirius hadn’t known that nobody else could have answered his call (he’d asked for James and therefore only James could answer) he wouldn’t have recognized his friend at all.
“What have you done to yourself!?” Sirius demanded, completely failing to register James’s question.
“Evans! What did you do to me?” James was clearly addressing Lily who must’ve been standing to the side of him. Sirius couldn’t hear what she was saying, but when James looked back at Sirius he appeared to be slightly chastised. “Did you find Raven?” He asked again.
“Nah,” Sirius replied, “House is locked up with Ministry spells; I can’t break through. She can’t be here. Where are you?”
“Still in Knockturn, no sign of her yet. We didn’t want to be recognized...” James added, gesturing to his face.
“I’ll meet up with...” Sirius started, but stopped when James shook his head.
“No. We’ll draw too much attention. I think I saw Lucious in one of the stores. No doubt he’s still pissed that we beat him in the Quidditch cup two years ago. He’s such a wanker.”
Sirius laughed, remembering the platinum blond boy. He’d been rubbish at Quidditch but had managed to make his way onto the team and eventually became captain. He lead his team to last place in the league, much to James’s delight who had hated him from the moment he’d first faced off with him on the Quidditch Pitch. The Malfoy’s were deep in the dark arts and James made sure to loath every person involved in such things. Sirius couldn’t blame him for this prejudice, having been brought up in a family of dark wizards he understood just how cruel they could be.
“Anyway, I think it’d be a good idea if you returned to school, mate,” James was saying, “Cover for us while we search. Remus’ll be out with the full moon tonight so he can’t. Besides, I know how much McGonagall loves you...” James grinned as he took the mickey.
“I know. I’m so good-looking, even the teachers bow down to my devilish charms,” He retorted with a smirk.
Once again, James looked away from the mirror as an invisible Evans spoke to him. “Ahem. I’ve just been reminded that I’m on a mission of sorts... Anyway, apparate to Hogsmede and “”
“Go through the Shrieking Shack passage so I can claim I was just strolling around the grounds. I know, I know. Good luck mate.” Sirius saw James salute and then his friend’s foreign reflection faded; replaced with his dark-haired, handsome self. He tucked the mirror back in his pocket. The sun was slowly moving toward the horizon, and as its light faded so did Sirius’s high spirits. He couldn’t help but feel frightened for Raven. Sure, they’d had their disagreements, but that wasn’t always the case. There were times when Sirius felt the Raven genuinely cared for him, even though he acted like a git toward her more than not.
She’s mental, that one, he thought as he jumped to his feet. Bloody suicidal chasing after Death Eaters. Even I’m not that stupid.
Sirius heard laughter in the distance. Muggles were coming, but before they had the chance to turn the corner, the space once occupied by a seventeen-year-old boy was now empty.
(A/N Once again VERY sorry for the length of time it took me to write up a chapter. And I know I've probably muddled some things up in this chapter, I'm easing back into it... hehe, oh, and please keep your pitchforks and mob-like-mentality at bay. ^_^ Reviews are welcome though!)