A/N: I’m sorry it took me such a ridiculously long time to update- VERY unprofessional/ uncool of me! I have edited chapters 1-6 extensively and have now picked the story back up again, finally. If you read it when it was originally posted, I would recommend reading it again, because a few things have changed.
Characters/setting/etc. are obviously JKR’s. Thanks!
Chapter Seven: Betrayal
Lily was curled up, exhausted, in a plump, red armchair next to the fire in Gryffindor Common Room. She was attempting to write her Potions essay, but could not concentrate. If you didn’t look at her very closely, it appeared as though Lily was working diligently; her quill was poised above the parchment, freshly loaded with ink. But if you paid a bit more attention, you would see that all she had written, so far, was her name.
Cassie and Andromeda were at Quidditch practice, leaving Lily, as usual, alone with her work and her thoughts- which, today, were overwhelming her. The dark circles under Lily’s eyes were a result of late evening homework sessions with Cassie and Andromeda, and patrolling the halls nightly; as Head Girl she had a lot of responsibility on her shoulders.
After a few more minutes of relative silence, in which Lily continued to stare at the blank parchment on her lap, she heard footsteps, and glanced up. It was Vega, Andromeda’s sister. Lily smiled slightly. “Hi, Vega.”
The little girl grinned back, her dark, warm eyes crinkling up. “You looked like you could use a friend,” she said, plopping down on the arm of Lily’s chair.
Lily laughed. “You’re right,” she said, “Can I ask your advice about something?”
“Shoot,” Vega nodded.
It did not seem at all strange to Lily, that she was asking a girl six years her junior for help. Vega was incredibly mature for her age. She was smart and soft-spoken, and completely lacked her older sister’s sometimes-cruel bluntness.
“Okay, so, Dan Hopkins asked me to the ball yesterday evening. He’s sweet and good-looking and everything, but I told him I wasn’t sure. I don’t know why I said that, but I did, anyway…and yesterday, at lunch, James asked me to go with him, and I said that Dan asked me. I don’t know what to do!” Lily sighed, rubbing her eyes.
Vega grinned wickedly at her. “Lils, I think you do know.”
“I don’t.”
“Why would you have turned Dan down if you hadn’t been hoping for a better offer?”
Lily looked at Vega, green eyes wide, and laughed a little. Suddenly, she couldn’t believe that it had been at all difficult for her to reach a decision; the answer seemed glaringly obvious. Sometimes, to make a choice, all you need to do is stop worrying, she realized.
“Thanks, Vay,” she smiled, letting her parchment and quill flutter gently to the ground as she stood up. She wiggled her fingers at the girl, a quick wave, as she hopped out of the portrait hole.
Lily walked quickly towards the grounds. With her every step, butterflies in her stomach seemed to double; for once, they didn’t even bother her. When she reached the large double doors, she broke into a run. Lily was small, but fast, and it hardly took her any time at all to reach the pitch.
When Lily arrived, she ran to the middle of the field. She tilted her head back and stared hard up at the players, flying far above her. Lily took a deep breath before yelling, “JAMES!” as loud as she possibly could. Birds fled their perches in nearby trees, and James immediately barreled towards her on his broom.
“What is it, Lily?” he asked. His eyes, squinting in the setting sun, were full of concern. He dismounted his broom, striding towards her.
“This,” Lily said softly. Her cheeks glowed pink as she reached up and wrapped her arms around his neck, tipped her head up, and kissed him. She reveled in the scent of him, in the feeling of his strong arms snaking around her waist, in the softness of his lips on hers, and she could not believe she had ever detested this boy. A minute and several wolf-whistles later, Lily pulled back. Breathless, she whispered in his ear, “Will you go to the ball with me?”
“Yes!” James yelled triumphantly.
“Okay, good, now go back to practice,” Lily smiled slyly. “They’re waiting for you.”
James looked at her, questions in his eyes. His lips were swollen and as pink as his cheeks.
“I’ll wait for you,” she smiled, and waved her gloved hand as she jogged towards the stands. James mounted his Comet and zoomed up into the clear, cold air, feeling as light as the wind on his face.
*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*
Quidditch practice ended late that night. It was long past sunset by the time James dismissed his team, stored his broom in the shed, and hurried cheerfully over to meet Lily in the stands. He was flushed from the cold and exertion, and grinning from the rush of flying and Lily.
At first he didn’t even see her, but then a flash of dark red caught his eye. She was slumped on the floor of the top row, asleep. James crept over to her. She was out like a light, snoring softly, almost delicately. James gently lifted her and began walking back to school.
James cradled Lily, still sleeping soundly, in his arms. He was so glad to be with her, that it didn’t even occur to him to grow tired from the soft, warm weight of her against his chest. Her brilliant auburn hair brushed against James’s chin, making him smile slightly.
The stars were all out and twinkling brightly by the time James entered the quiet castle, through one of the Marauders’ many secret passages. This one let out quite near the Fat Lady’s portrait. He cautiously pulled open the door, so as not to wake Lily up, and stepped inside. There were a few fifth and seventh years frequenting the overstuffed sofas, with their quills and parchment and books spread around messily, but mostly everyone had gone up to bed.
No one so much as glanced at James as he gently laid Lily down on one of the worn couches and spread a striped, knobbly knitted blanket over her. He then sat down on the braided rug and leaned against Lily’s couch, her sentinel. He sat, simply watching, as, slowly, the rest of the students went up to their warm beds.
James had just Summoned his Charms book when he saw a pair of black and blue trainers plant themselves in front of him. He looked up slowly, taking in the form of a boy wearing jeans and a deep green sweater, and glaring daggers at him.
“Hello,” James said, trying valiantly to keep any trace of smugness from leaking into his voice.
“James,” Dan Hopkins nodded. His voice was rough, hard, and James was not surprised when Dan’s trainers did not continue on their merry way up the stairs like everyone else’s.
“What is it?” James said after a moment, annoyed that Dan would not edge off. He stood up now, nose to nose with his dorm-mate.
Dan took a ragged breath. “So you’re with…her…Evans, now?”
“You’ve got a problem with it?”
“As a matter of fact, yes. She’s going to the ball with me.”
“She won’t,” James said calmly.
“I recommend that she does.”
“And why would that be?”
“Mark my words, James Potter, if she doesn’t, you’d better watch the hell out.”
James stared incredulously at Dan. He’d never thought Dan would stoop down to threatening him, to get Lily. They were Gryffindors. They were stoic. They stuck together. They were not enemies; did James really need another one of those, anyway?
“I’m not ever giving her up. You just try and take me, Hopkins- go right ahead,” said James heatedly.
“No, Potter. I won’t try to ‘take you’. But I will hit you where it hurts, remember that,” he said coldly.
James looked hard at Dan for what felt like the very first time, although he’d known the boy for years. He saw how serious Dan really was, through the boy’s blank, light gray-purple eyes; against his dark skin, those eyes were so out of place, making Dan’s eyes look, to James, like an old Seer’s. Dan’s stony, dead-set features were both handsome and disconcerting. James noticed a deep, rough, almost heart-shaped scar on the side of the boy’s cheek. James wondered if the scar was new, or if he had just never looked close enough at Dan before to see it.
James opened and closed his mouth several times, like a shocked goldfish, before getting out, in a hoarse whisper, “You can’t hurt her.” He stepped back, closer to the couch, protectively. James’s forehead creased as he glared at Dan furiously.
“We’ll have to see about that, now won’t we?” Dan said, calm as anything, before turning on his black and blue heel and retreating up the stairs to the boy’s dormitories.
James sat on the edge of Lily’s couch. His face contorted in anger as he turned, over and over in his mind, the conversation he had just exchanged with a boy he’d thought he knew. He conjured his Patronus shakily, and sent the comfortingly familiar stag up the stairs to his best friend.
A minute later, Sirius stumbled down the spiral staircase in his striped pajamas. He rubbed his eyes, and, in the midst of a huge yawn, asked James, “Whaddya wake me up for?”
James quickly filled Sirius in on what had just happened. Sirius’s sleepy brown eyes widened and his face darkened in anger. “Well, there’s only one thing we can do,” he growled, his voice even more canine than usual.
“What?”
“We have to have one of us with her at all times. We have to get you up to her dorm. It’s the only way.”
James sighed with relief. “I can’t believe I didn’t think of that. I knew I had to be with her, but obviously we couldn’t take her up there,” he nodded angrily at the boys’ stairs, “So, good plan. Do you know how to get that spell off the stairs? So I won’t slide down?”
Sirius stared at James. “Of course I know. Did you really just ask that?”
James laughed tensely with his friend, before Sirius brandished his wand at the girls’ staircase and said confidently, “Ameliorus.”
The stairs glowed golden for a second, before returning to normal. James reached down and picked up Lily again. His eyes hardened with determination, and, tentatively, he planted a soft kiss on her pale forehead before stepping on the bottom stair.
James then turned to face his best friend again. “Thanks, mate,” he said roughly, and Sirius nodded.
“No problem.”
James continued up the steep staircase with a growing sense of trepidation about the days ahead.
*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*
Lily opened her bright eyes and blinked, disoriented, up at James, who was carrying her up a set of stairs. He did not notice that she was awake. His dark eyes were set, and his thin face was serious, but still he held her gently, carefully. Lily was comfortable, and she reached a hand up to cup his cheek. James started.
“Hi,” she whispered.
He said nothing, but leaned down and kissed her deeply. There was love in his kiss, but an urgent, frantic quality that Lily associated with fear was also present. When he pulled away, Lily opened her eyes and found that they were in front of her dorm room. She reached out to open the door for him without asking questions, and they entered quietly.
“What the bloody hell?” was the first sound Lily heard.
“Andy,” Lily admonished, as James set her down on the end of her bed, and then plopped down next to her, wrapping his arm around her shoulders protectively. She turned and reached her arms around him in a hug, and when they were nose to nose, she whispered, “Should I be worried?”
James’s eyebrows rose at her perceptiveness. He shook his head, then, after a pause, sighed and nodded. He leaned his head onto her shoulder, as though he was defeated.
Before Andromeda opened her mouth again, James held up a finger. Cassie and Andy got out of their beds, which bracketed Lily’s like bookends, and sat cross-legged on the floor at James’s and Lily’s feet. Cassie’s black eyes were wide with worry; Andy looked impatient.
After a deep breath, James explained what had happened, quietly, so that the two other girls, who were sleeping, would not wake up and overhear his words. Cassie’s face grew more and more distraught, while Andromeda looked ready to spit fire at Dan.
Lily was dumbfounded. How could Dan, of all people, threaten her? She believed James, but could not understand why Dan would want her so much that it would come to this- threats, deceit. What’s so important about me? Lily wondered. Her head was beginning to ache, and she was growing numb with fear.
James finished, “Sirius and I decided that one of us- one of the Marauders- will always be with Lily, so Dan can’t get near her.”
Lily made a small sound in the back of her throat, before saying, “James, I can take care of myself.”
“Lily-” he pleaded, before Andromeda interrupted him.
“You don’t think our protection adequate, Potter?” Lily’s best friend spat angrily, sounding for all the world like a furious Professor McGonagall.
“Of course I do, Andy. But can I kip on the floor, just in case? You won’t even know I’m here.”
Andy was unsettled by James’s polite words, and she shrugged, because she didn’t know what else she could do. “You better not take advantage of this, Potter,” she said, but this time, she smiled a little.
Lily said, “James, are you sure you don’t mind staying? I’ll be fine without you.” She hoped that he would stay; she knew she would sleep easier if James was there, but she didn’t want him staying if he didn’t want to.
“Please let me,” he said softly.
Lily nodded. “Okay,” she whispered, “But you can’t sleep on the floor.”
James laughed and held her. Lily did not want him to let go. She could not believe how quickly he had become her comfort source, but guessed that it had been years coming, now. Lily planted a kiss on his lips before going to change into her pajamas, a pair of baggy navy sweatpants and a t-shirt. When she got back from the washroom, James was sitting on her bed. He had pulled back the covers for her. She climbed in and scooted over, giggling, as she whispered, “Now don’t get any ideas, you.”
He snuggled next to her, and wrapped his arms around her. Lily’s body relaxed, and she thought about how content it made her, just to have James’s warm hand at her back. Even though she knew she should be worried about Dan’s threat, she couldn’t bring herself to be. She buried her face into James’s shirt, and within minutes, her breathing was steady.
“I’m here, Lils, don’t worry, love,” James whispered. Lily heard it as she was drifting to sleep, but she would not remember in the morning.
*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*
Lily was standing in an unfamiliar, yet exquisitely decorated, bedroom with one big stained glass window. She picked up a small, gilded mirror that was lying on a nightstand, but she did not see her own familiar visage in the ancient cracked glass.
A distorted vision of Vega Black’s small, pale face looked back at her, appraisingly. The first inconsistency Lily noticed was that Vega’s dark brown hair was now red, like Lily’s. It was as though the little girl had decided to dress up as her sister’s best friend.
Vega’s dark eyes still shone bright and large, although her thin face was smudged with soot and dirt. Her dirty white shirt was torn rudely at the left shoulder to expose a grotesque skull and snake tattoo there. The mark looked exceedingly out of place on the small girl, and it made Lily’s skin crawl.
Vega parted her swollen, bruised, petal-pink lips, eyes widened beseechingly. Suddenly panicked, Lily threw the mirror to the marble floor, before the little girl could speak.
Regret overwhelmed Lily almost before she heard the mirror shatter, and she scrabbled on the ground to pick up the pieces. Lily’s knees were bloodied from the shards of mirror she had kneeled upon, but she barely noticed. She looked for Vega in a particularly large piece of broken glass, and was disappointed when she saw nothing but her own bright emerald eye looking back at her.
Lily flopped onto the large, ornate bed in defeat. Her stomach ached with fear and hunger; she worried that breaking the mirror had been the wrong thing to do. Lily turned her head towards the colorful window beside the bed. When she saw the carefully concealed metal bars in the jewel-toned glass, Lily knew that she had destroyed her only means of escape.
No windows. No doors, she saw now. No mirror. No wand. Lily was utterly and completely trapped, and she let herself cry. She knew inherently that there was nothing she could do to save either herself, or Vega, wherever the little girl was.
*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*
James woke with a start. It was two in the morning, according to his watch. It took his eyes a moment to get adjusted, to remember where he was.
Lily was whimpering, in her sleep. Inexplicably, she was calling for Vega Black. James tried to wake Lily, whose small pale hands were clutching the front of his t-shirt in a death grip. He called her name, tapped her shoulder, even shook her gently, but she refused to open her eyes.
Finally, James ceded defeat; Lily was trapped. He pulled her closer to him, hoping that wherever she was, she would know he was there for her. After a few minutes, Lily stopped calling for Vega, and sobbed the silent tears of a broken heart into James’s chest.