A/N: A/N: I doubt there is anyone out there that is still reading this story since I have been posting one new chapter every three months or so but I hope there still are a few people! I'm trying my best to get these chapters to you, and I really do feel bad that I can't spend more time on the story. But don't worry, I will not give up on this story and the only time when you will stop getting more chapters is when the story is over. So, please, please, please keep reading! I hope you won't be disappointed with the story... or with me. =) Brownies for everyone! [] [] []
~~~~~~~
Lily was exhausted, and it showed. Beneath her eyes, there were large purple bags which made her look much older than she really was. Her hair had lost its usual shine and now hung limply around her shoulders. Around her forehead, cheeks, and chin, many pimples were beginning to appear and her entire face was nearly always drenched in sweat. Ranging anywhere from three to four hours, the amount of time she had to sleep depended on how hungry the rest of the inhabitants were. All in all, Lily was in no condition to be doing the kind of work the Death Eaters were forcing her to do.
Everyday, she would wake up early in the morning and be forced to bustle around the tiny, apartment-like structure where she was being held captive. Against her will, she was forced to do everyday-around-the-house chores such as cooking, cleaning, and doing the laundry. Since the Death Eaters had their wands ready whenever they needed them, there was no way that Lily could escape from the prison she was in, much less stop doing her chores.
After about an hour of slaving in the small, cramped kitchen, Lily finally finished making dinner. Instead of allowing her to have at least a little bit of the food that she had prepared, the hooded figures around the table sent her off to the tiny room in which she was a captive. Disappointment showed in her eyes as her stomach rumbled from lack of food.
One of the Death Eaters noticed her look and angrily shot a spell at her that caused her right arm to throb and gave her a hard shove toward her room. She immediately straightened up and hurriedly began walking down the hall, not at all eager to have another hex hit her.
Once she reached the room, she fell back against the cot and forced herself not to cry at the pain. Since the Death Eater had not taken the spell away, or at least lessened the amount of pain, she was stuck lying on the itchy blanket as she was.
“What could they possibly need me for anymore?” Lily moaned as she shifted positions and a bruise on her left calf muscle began hurting her.
“I don’t have any information for them. How am I supposed to know what Julie and Snape are planning? I wonder how many times I’ve explained to all of those maniacs that I don’t have a clue as to what they are talking about.”
Lily got up and began pacing her room, wondering what was going to happen to her next. It seemed that no matter what she did, something wrong.
Suddenly, she heard footsteps coming from the direction she had just come up from.
‘Who could be coming to my room, now?’ Lily thought in confusion and annoyance.
A Death Eater came into the room and even through the person’s mask; she could tell there was a glare on his or her face.
Finally, after sitting there and returning the glare that she thought she was receiving, Lily spoke up.
“Well? What is it? I’m tired and I really would like to get to sleep. So if you don’t mind...” Lily said, trying to be braver than she felt.
“Don’t you dare talk to your better with so little respect, girl,” the figure, whom Lily guessed was a man due to his voice, snarled at her.
“If you are just going to stand there and yell at me, be my guest. I am going to get some sleep while you rant,” Lily said moving back toward her bed and taking a seat near the bad-smelling pillow was placed.
After another few minutes, Lily really did get annoyed. Here she was, forced to glare at a man who was obviously not going to say anything, and she had to do it without losing her temper. Obviously, this was going to be a very long night for her.
The man took in a deep breath and slowly let it out before he began talking once again, “I’m sure there is no point in me telling you this as you won’t care, but my orders were to tell you what has happened so you had better just sit there and listen to me talk. And if you dare to interrupt me one more time,” here he paused to draw out his wand and point it toward her, “It won’t be pretty.”
Lily managed not to roll her eyes and, without speaking, made him realize that he should continue.
“Well, as you know the Dark Lord has been keeping you prisoner here,” the Death Eater pointed out as Lily puffed out a breath of air impatiently, “and no one has told you why. That’s correct, isn’t it? No one has told you why?”
He waited for a few seconds and then asked, “Well? Answer me!”
Confused, Lily hoped that she wouldn’t get hurt in the process of answering him, “I know that you want information, I just don’t know why you want it from me. I have nothing of value to tell you.”
“I said quiet when I am talking to you, girl!” he snarled, but, thankfully, made no move to hex her.
“As I was saying, you don’t know why you are here. The Dark Lord told me that once you knew of our ‘conditions’, you will come to your senses and tell us what you know.”
Lily, hoping that she now had permission to speak, once again spoke, “Didn’t we just go over this? Really, I wish that I could understand your logic but I do not. For Merlin’s sake, my life is in danger here and I really am quite fond of living; if I knew something, anything, of value, don’t you think I would tell you? I don’t know anything that you would want to know. All I know is that you want to know what it is that Snape and Edmonds are planning. Well, guess what? I don’t know. Yes, it is true that I overheard them talking about some plan that they had gotten orders to do from Voldemort, but I don’t know what it was about!”
“You don’t deserve to call him by his name!” the Death Eater yelled as he shot a spell at her. Luckily, Lily was ready and quickly dogged the spell directed at her. She looked behind her in horror as she saw there was a large hole in the wall of her room through which she could she a little more of her outdoor surroundings.
As if he were the one that had just nearly dogged a curse that would have put a huge hole in his body, he took a few more death breaths, and then appeared to have calmed down.
“You, Mudblood, are very lucky that the Dark Lord doesn’t want you dead, yet,” he panted. Lily cringed slightly as she heard the word ‘yet’ come right after ‘dead’.
“Now, what else did you here during their little ‘conference’?” he asked,
“Nothing, that’s what, why is it that no one can get that through their masks?!” Lily screamed angrily.
“If that’s how you want to spend the rest of your life, go right ahead. The Dark Lord has told me that I should tell you what will happen if you don’t tell us the truth, however. The first offence, after this little chat that is: one of your friends dies. Second offence: one member of your family dies. Once two are dead, we go back through the list until everyone you care about is, well, dead. That is, of course, until you tell us what you really know.”
Lily felt as if a million lethal spells were thrown her way. She forced herself to not believe anything the Death Eater said, but she couldn’t help it. There was no way she could tell them anymore than she already had. She had told them everything she knew.
After a slight pause, Lily managed to choke out a few words, “That’s not true! You can’t kill anyone! I know you can’t!”
“Oh? Are so sure about that? I believe there are three boys that we have captured that are people you definitely care about,” he said, his masked face now very near to Lily’s. She was very tempted to rip off the black barrier, but she knew that would solve nothing. Her mind was already reeling on the terrible information it had just got and she couldn’t place the identities to the three boys he had mentioned.
“You want to know who we have?” he asked her, his voice holding a slight bit of happiness, which she guessed was he was gaining from her pain.
“No,” she said her voice hoarse. Inside, she knew that at least one of them must be James but she didn’t know how she would be able to survive knowing that she was the one responsible for his death. She didn’t want to know who the other two were either; she didn’t know if she would be able to face it.
“Well, in that case, I must tell you. Let me see,” he said as he pulled out a piece of ripped parchment with very tiny writing on it. Although Lily could barely see what the list said from the position she was in, she hoped that none of the names on the list could be anyone she knew. Three names though, were highlighted in a very bright yellow color and she had a terrible feeling that she knew exactly who it was.
“Sirius Black, Remus Lupin, and.... James Potter. I actually don’t know how long they will still be... around, but I am guessing a day or two at most,” he announced to her.
Lily felt her heart break in half. The worst she could imagine had been confirmed. James had risked his life to safe her. And what had she ever done for him? Nothing. Tears were beginning to form in the back of her eyes but she thought of the happiest thing that she could think of to counteract how bad she felt. Although she tried to look unfazed, she knew it would be incredibly difficult to hide her feelings.
Although she continuously told herself that they were just trying to make her crack and tell them what they wanted to hear, she was sure they were telling the truth.
‘James! How could I have treated you so badly!? I never got to tell you I love you! Now I never will!’ Lily screamed at herself in her mind.
“Now then, are you still sure that you know nothing?” he asked Lily, pulling his head back away from hers.
Sighing unhappily, Lily decided that if she made some plausible story up, her friends, and James, might be saved. Although she knew that once she gave them her ‘information’ she would most likely no longer be living, she knew that if she didn’t tell them something, she would never be able to live with herself.
“Give me a few minutes. I need to think about this,” Lily muttered to the Death Eater.
“No way am I going to do that. I am not supposed to let you leave my sight,” he told her sternly.
“Well, then, go stand by the door or something! That is, unless, you’ve decided you don’t want to know anymore...” Lily told him.
“No!” he shouted, “I’m going to stand right by the door for no more than five minutes. If you make any sort of move to try and leave, I won’t hesitate to hex you into next week.”
“Wait!” Lily exclaimed, trying to buy herself more time to think about what to tell him, “I, er, want to know why you want to know what I know! Yeah, that’s it. Why do you want to know what I know if you have already been told of the plans. And why does V-- You-Know-Who want to know if he is the one who made the plans?”
For a few seconds, he stood there, contemplating the meaning of the long sentences she had just thrown at him. Shaking his head, he seemed as though he did not care anyway. “You are in no position to ask the questions, girl,” he snarled. Lily fought off a smile at the realization that she could continue to ask questions and get more time to think.
“But I just want to know! If you tell me, maybe I’ll be more willing to tell you what I know. And, then I might even be willing to tell you who else knows!” Lily added the last bit in, knowing that the statement would catch his attention.
“How about you tell me what you know and who else knows it and in return, I won’t kill you?” he asked, glaring at her though she could not see.
“Not until you tell me why You-Know-Why wants to know what I know,” she said, with a very sharp edge to her voice.
For a few minutes, the two continued to sit in silence, while Lily’s mind was working overtime with what she was supposed to ‘know’.
“Well?” the Death Eater angrily asked her, “You’ve had your time to think! Now get out with it!”
“Oh, I haven’t been thinking about that! I was just waiting for you to answer my question,” Lily lied. Needing just a few more minutes of thinking, she quickly bought herself some more stalling time.
“I already told you that you are in no position to ask the questions!” he yelled at her.
“See, I can imagine this conversation going two different ways. One is that you tell me why Vold-- You-Know-Who has to know, and I might consider letting you know something. The second is that you don’t tell me anything and I don’t tell you anything. I don’t know if you realize this or not, but I am the one in the position of power. You can’t kill me unless you have the information you want,” Lily said leaning back against the wall, stretching her legs, and putting her hands behind her head. She knew that she really wasn’t the one in the ‘position of power’ but she thought that if she made herself believe it, she could make the Death Eater believe it as well.
“Listen here, you: I am the one in the position of power; not you. Without your wand, you are but a mere muggle. You see this wand here? If I decide that I wish to use this wand on you in order to get information out of you, nothing you say or do could stop me. All you have to do is tell me what I want to know and I’ll leave you alone. Now what do you say you tell me everything I need to know.”
By this time, Lily had already thought up most of what she could tell the Death Eater without making what she said sound false. She just hoped that he would buy it and not kill her. If only she could twist it a little so that she would have to be alive for their plan to work.
Suddenly, a conversation flashed into her head which gave her an idea...
“...No, I think the real reason is that Voldemort didn’t tell every one of his Death Eaters is so that none of them could betray him. See, if none of them know the whole plan, there is no way that any of them could come up with a plan that could reverse the effects. I think the only ones that actually know the whole thing, or close to it at least, is his closest, most loyal Death Eaters,” James whispered to Lily as the two made their way patrolling the hallways.
“But you can’t know that for sure,” Lily argued.
“Well, I know that I can’t know that for sure,” James agreed, “But I do know that neither Snape nor Edmonds know the rest of the plan! I doubt that they are the most loyal Death Eaters that Voldemort has.”
“How can you know that without actually asking them about it?” Lily lowered her voice as she and James turned a corner where they heard a noise.
“Because, although I don’t know Edmonds that well, I definitely know Snape...”
When Lily gave him a weird look, he explained with a hasty, ‘One too many detentions with the bloke...’
“Look, I know what I am talking about, Evans. Even if he doesn’t know why he is doing what he is doing he’ll do it anyway if he had orders to do it. Remember when Edmonds asked him why she had to go through with the plan, or whatever it was? He couldn’t give her a straight answer. All he said was that ‘the Dark Lord’ told her to.”
“I’m not sure I agree with you or not, but what you’re saying does make sense,” Lily said with very little doubt in her voice.
By then, the two of them had reached the broom closet where they heard the noises coming from. James peaked through the tiny keyhole, saw something, opened his eyes very wide, grabbed Lily’s hand and nearly ran out of the hallway.
Lily fought off the urge to laugh at how strangely James had been acting. But then, she suddenly realized that she didn’t have much more time to think. She hoped that James’s statement was true and began to mentally erase what she had already thought of to tell the Death Eater to make it fit around her memory.
“Fine,” she said hoping that her voice sounded as disappointed and scared as she thought it did, “I’ll tell you everything I know.” She bent her head down low and attempted to frown but made what seemed like a wince.
“Good, you are finally seeing things our way,” the Death Eater said triumphantly.
“Julie Edmonds and I were walking around the corridors and talking to each other because, really, there was nothing else to do. And then, we ran into Severus Snape and, being the slimy git that he is, he started to bug us. Well, at least he was bugging me. But, I’m guessing that Snape and Edmonds had this all planned out long before I started talking to her. And then,” Lily paused here for a second for dramatic effect, then continued, “Well, they just started to...” once again, Lily stopped talking. She sniffled a bit and ran the back of her left hand over the bottom of her eye to make it seem as if she was crying.
“I’m-I’m s-s-so sorry!” she nearly balled, “I just get so emotional!”
“Just keep going on with the story, girl,” the man growled at her, making her wonder whether or not she was right in assuming that this was one of the Death Eaters that didn’t know the plan. Terrified, but trying as hard as possible not to show it, she began again.
“All right, I’ll-I’ll try,” Lily said softly before she continued the tale she was so easily creating, “It’s a bit blurry, this part of the memory, is; but I’ll keep going...”
“BAM!” Lily yelled her fake tears and emotions forgotten, “There were hexes and curses being thrown off every which way. It was as if a huge rainbow of different colored spells were just waiting to hit me. One of them managed to get me, right in the shoulder, but I continued to fend off all of the spells as best as I could. It was hard work but I was determined not to die at the hands of Snape and Edmonds!”
She looked up without stopping from her tale and noticed that the Death Eater was intrigued by all of the action, and that he didn’t care about the sudden change of emotions. It seemed as if he were eagerly waiting for the next part of the story to be spoken. Lily mentally smirked and was happy that, for once, she had listened to something James had said.
“I soon realized that my wand was no match for the two wands pointed at me. My only hope was to get out of the hallway and behind a huge stone gargoyle. Unfortunately, the only way I could get there was by stunning both of them and army crawling my way across the floor. And it wasn’t easy at all. I didn’t send out a strong stunning spell since I didn’t expect them to throw it off so quickly. And I definitely didn’t expect them to do what they did next. Once the two of them realized what I was doing, and they transfigured anything they could into terrible creatures from the Forbidden Forest onto the floor. It was deadly work, believe you me! As I was making my way across the floor, another spell hit me, right in my left leg. There was nothing I could do but hope that I would live to see the next day. I crawled as fast as I could, which was pretty fast considering the pain that was throbbing through my body, and finally just as I was about to reach out of the hallway and behind the figure...” once again, Lily paused for dramatic reasons.
The Death Eater, now resembling a small toddler waiting for the rest of his bedtime story, circled his hands together in a way that told her to continue.
“... When they blasted the gargoyle to pieces! I was stuck and there was no way out. Then suddenly, I realized that I was almost toward the hallway. If I could just reach a few more inches around the corner, I would be able to reach my wand and fix myself up, the best I could. It took a minute or two of working under very harsh conditions but I eventually made it to the safety of the other hallway. Once I was sure that my body parts were functioning properly, I made loud, in place, footsteps that sounded as if I were running. Apparently, they fell for my little trick.”
“They began to discuss the evil plan that they were told to go through with. They were trying to get Ja-- er, Potter, that is, to this secret location. I heard Edmonds say that they were so lucky that the Dark Lord had picked them as the ones that knew the whole plan over the rest of the Death Eaters. She said that there were only two others, beside them, that had the honor of knowing what the real plan was.”
In the back of her mind, Lily knew that by saying all of this to the Death Eater in front of her, she would be getting Snape and Julie into a lot of trouble that they didn’t deserve. Well, they wouldn’t deserve it for the reasons she was saying, at least. But she couldn’t help herself. She knew that if she didn’t say something, James and his friends were going to die trying to safe her. But when she remembered that it was the two traitor’s fault, she continued.
“So that was when I realized that the plan I was hearing was top secret. I knew that if anyone found out that I was listening to what I was saying, I wouldn’t be alive for too much longer. And that’s when I heard something that scared me so much, that I am afraid I might not even be able to say it now...” Lily whispered the last part.
“No, no, continue!” the man urged her.
She bit back a smile and continued talking, “Well, I heard them say that if everything went according to plan, they could get both Potter and I to their secret location without anyone noticing. I heard them say that it was going to take place at Hogsmede before I ran away in fear of being caught eavesdropping.”
“And I’m guessing that because I am here and Potter isn’t, nothing went according to the plan.” Lily held her breath until she heard the man begin speaking again. She was terrified that she was wrong and that the Death Eater did, in fact, know the actual plan.
“Well then,” the Death Eater said clearing his throat and acting as if he wasn’t, just moments ago, engrossed in her story, “you got your facts right. That is indeed what I was guessing you would say. Because I was one of the two that Edmonds mentioned, so I, uh, I know the plan.”
Controlling herself as best she could, Lily nearly let her cover slip and was about to burst out laughing. She knew that there was no way that the Death Eater could have possibly known what she was going to say for she hadn’t even known until a few minutes before.
Once again, there was silence for a few minutes until Lily finally broke it, “Well?”
“Well, what?” he asked in her in a very annoyed tone.
“Are you going to tell me what I asked for?” Lily asked in the same annoyed tone.
“Why should I?” he asked rolling his eyes and scoffing.
“Because that was part of our deal,” Lily said angrily, “And, now that I have told you what I was supposed to, you have to honor your part.” Truthfully, Lily hadn’t even cared about the answer when she has asked the question. She had just been looking for a way to buy herself a little more time. But, after she had thought about it for a few minutes, she thought she ought to know.
“No, actually I don’t think I have to,” he said casually.
Lily felt her anger build up to a very dangerous level. Even though what she had told the Death Eater was a total lie, she was at least hoping that she would find out what she wanted to know. Looking back on her decision, she realized that it wasn’t a very smart thing to do.
“I’ll tell you anything you want to know if you just tell me why You-Know-Who wants to know.
“I find no gain in this deal. I have found out all that I need to know, and there is no reason for me to anything else. I very much doubt that there would be anything you could tell me that I don’t already know,” he said, returning to his stiff ways of talking.
‘I don’t think so...’ Lily thought to herself in a sing-song voice.
“If you don’t want to know about who else knows...” Lily started.
“What else is it that you know?” he asked sharply.
“Give me one good reason that I should tell you. If you already knew what I was telling you about earlier, why should I assume you don’t know what I know now? You could, after all, know what I know and are asking me for what I know now to make sure that you know what I know so that You-Know-Who won’t get mad later on.”
The Death Eater sat there for a few seconds, confused at the tongue twister that she had just said. Then, realizing what she said, he responded, “I need to verify what you said to see if it is accurate or not.”
Lily could easily tell that he was lying and was afraid that her lies were coming off in the same way. But once she saw how eager he was to listen to what she was about to tell him, the thought didn’t disturb her again.
“Do you want to know or not?” Lily asked, her patience, once again running thin.
“Yes,” he answered.
“In that case, tell me what I want to know,” Lily actually smiled this time, instead of holding it in. She knew that she was in control.
For a few moments, it looked as if he were internally struggling on whether or not to answer her question. Finally, he agreed to the deal.
“Good, you are finally seeing things our way,” Lily quoted the Death Eater and smirked.
Angrily, he pulled his wand out again but stopped before he could voice the curse he was going to use on her.
“The Dark Lord wants to know how much of what you know is what actually happened,” he answered, making Lily not sure whether or not he was telling her the truth.
“Why would he care? What does it matter if I know what he and his followers are up to? There is no way I can put a stop to it by myself. And if I told anyone else what I know, even if it really is the truth, who would believe me?” Lily asked, confused at why what she said matters to Voldemort.
“Do not question the Dark Lord’s ways!” he Death Eater bellowed.
Lily slightly cringed at the sudden outburst and then decided to let him continue.
“It does not matter why he wants to know! All that matters is that he wants to know,” the hooded man said sternly.
Suddenly, a light bulb went out in Lily’s mind. Obviously, if the man couldn’t tell if she was telling the truth about what went on in the hallways, he was not one who was trusted enough to know anything else. Why would Voldemort trust him with something as important as the reasons for his rash actions?
“If you aren’t going to be able to tell me what I want to know, I can’t tell you what you want to know,” Lily said simply.
“Just for your information, if you can’t cough up any more information, that’s it for you and your little friends. No longer will you be alive and no longer will those search parties be out looking for you,” the man informed her, cruelly.
“No!” she cried, “You said that if I told you what you wanted, you wouldn’t kill anyone else!”
“Well, I lied,” he snapped irritably, “I would say get used to it but you wouldn’t have much time to get used to it. Considering...”
“Go ahead, kill me,” Lily nearly begged trying to keep herself under control, “Just don’t kill anyone else, please! I’ve told you everything I know and there is nothing else I can tell you.”
The Death Eater mumbled something that Lily couldn’t quite make out and then left muttering. Afraid, Lily remained sitting in the same position for a few more minutes, wondering if he would come back. Feeling terribly alone, she thought of all of her friends, especially James, wondering if they were feeling as terrible as she was. Finally, she came to the realization that he wasn’t going to come back, at least for the rest of the night, and painfully forced herself into a deep sleep.
~~~~~~~
“No, no, that won’t work either,” Arielle said quietly to herself as she used her quill to cross something out.
“I think that this is a good idea,” Nicole muttered as she added a sentence to a very long list. For a second, she stared at the parchment, unsure, then decided to leave it and dropped her quill in the ink well in front of her. Quickly changing her mind, she picked up the quill and crossed out a few more lines. Satisfied, she dropped her quill back down and leaned back in her chair to read over her work.
“Are you done?” Arielle asked Nicole as she turned her head to the left to see Nicole’s parchment. In a messy scrawl, she continued her list.
“Y-yeeeahh,” Nicole drew out her words, “I thiinnk sooo.”
“Okay, read it out to me,” she said as she, too, put her quill in her ink well. Turning, she completely faced Nicole and nodded for her to start.
Nicole began reciting what she had written, which read:
Possible Reasons for Kidnapping Lily and Locations
Reasons:
• Too much of a threat to Lord. V?
• Random girl that is part muggle - maybe hate crime type thing? But why Lily? Ahh, this doesn’t work!
• Bait for someone else to come get her... maybe James.
• Trap for Dumbledore
• Anger, frustration, hatred?
• Way too freak out public and start his wizard world domination
Locations:
• Hidden place within secret places in Hogwarts???
• One of his hiding places
• Corrupt Ministry employee’s office?
• Abandoned store in Diagon Alley
• Hogsmeade - where she was taken?
• Some random place in the middle of nowhere?
Sighing, she stopped, “Now that I think about this, it doesn’t make any sense at all.” She made a move to crumple the parchment but Arielle stopped her. “It might help later” was all she said.
Looking down at her own parchment she said, “I don’t think that mine is going to help out little collection of ideas here.” Resigning in their hope for the day, she handed Nicole her list.
“Nicole?” Arielle said, her voice muffled by her hands.
“Yeah,” she asked, drained of any real energy, “What?”
“Do you suppose that Lily actually wants to be found?”
Nicole, who had now moved to her bed and her face down in a pillow quickly lifted herself up.
“What could you possibly mean by that, Arielle?” Nicole asked, slightly annoyed at the way that Arielle was talking.
“What I mean is that what if she is the one who arranged this whole ‘kidnapping’ thing to happen. I am not trying to say that Lily is trying to pull a prank on us or something but just look at the facts. First of all, she disappeared in Hogsmeade when there was fog all around her. She could have easily snuck down into one of the nearby buildings and hid in fear and then she could have come out when everybody had left, leaving everybody confused as to where she is. Second of all, whenever anybody goes to find her, they disappear too. What if everybody but us is in on the joke? What if this is just some weird and twisted way for us to pay more attention to Lily?”
All throughout Arielle’s speech, Nicole had remained calm although the anger and frustration had been building up in her the whole time. Finally, as her friend came to a close, Nicole allowed that anger that had been threatening to bubble up to escape.
“What in the world is wrong with you?” she asked her voice low and steady but on the verge of angrily rising. She made sure that she was able to let out what she needed to say in a calm manner and spaced out her words evenly. However, she suddenly could not hold it in any longer and exploded on her friend.
“How could you ever accuse someone as sweet and innocent as Lily to do something as horrible as you said she could have? Have you been away from her that long to have forgotten how kind she is? If you were really her best friend like you say you are, you would not have been able to even thing of a solution as horrid as the one you just spoke. Fine, maybe, just maybe, I can understand that you can not think of anything else but deprecating Remus and all the others like how you did. But how could you ever belittle someone like Lily? You know, I always thought that I did not fit in with you two; as if I were the third wheel because you two had known each other longer. But you know what; I am acting more like her best friend right now than you ever could. I’m going for a walk; don’t wait up for me.
Her clear blue eyes nearly brimming over the top with tears, she turned away from Arielle, grabbed her coat off of her trunk, and stormed out of their room, making extra sure to slam the door on her way out. Once she was out of the common room and through the portrait hole, she was tempted to go back inside and apologize. But her pride kept her from doing so and she remained out side feeling more alone in life than she had ever felt.
Back inside of the dorm room, Arielle was feeling terrible. Burying her face in her hands, Arielle began sobbing; not only was she sobbing at the realization that nearly everyone she cared about was no loner with her, but also that could think something so terrible about someone so great.
“What have I done?” she whispered out softly.
Wiping the tears away from her eyes, she dropped onto her bed in a tired heap. With a feeling of loneliness in the air, she felt her eyes fill with tears once more. Too exhausted to do much else, she flipped off the light switch and closed her eyes, falling into a deep but not peaceful sleep.
~~~~~~~
Looking down at her watch, she noted it was 2:16 AM and 32 seconds when the brilliant idea struck her. Turning behind her head, she saw what she had hoped to find: the large hole.
“They can’t really be that stupid can they?” Lily whispered very softly to herself. “They just left the hole here. I can leave!” Brimming with excitement, Lily nearly jumped off the bed and started cheering.
Controlling herself, she examined the hole once again. Unfortunately, the hole was not nearly big enough for her to fit through. Lifting her arm up, she saw that it was now 2:18 AM and 54 seconds.
Usually, at least one of the many death eaters gets hungry around 6 o’ clock. However, they had never woken her up less than around 3 hours and thirty minutes after her sleep. Considering that the idea struck her so early in the morning and she had just fallen asleep about 45 minutes preceding the brilliant idea, she had roughly more than 2 hours and 45 minutes before she had to ‘wake up’.
She smiled: it was ample time. Looking around her, she noticed the bowl, fork, knife, and spoon that she had from the dinner that she had gotten a few days ago was still sitting on the floor beside her cot.
Nearly crying at her good fortune, she picked up the knife and started picking away at the hole that, at that moment, was about the width of Lily’s fist and the length of her head. Biting her lip down from screaming out in her glee and happiness, Lily continued scraping away, as quietly as she could which was nearly silent, at the hole. She could not believe it: freedom was so sweet.
Always and Forever by jamesnlilyforever
Chapter Notes: A/N: I doubt there is anyone out there that is still reading this story since I have been posting one new chapter every three months or so but I hope there still are a few people! I'm trying my best to get these chapters to you, and I really do feel bad that I can't spend more time on the story. But don't worry, I will not give up on this story and the only time when you will stop getting more chapters is when the story is over. So, please, please, please keep reading! I hope you won't be disappointed with the story... or with me. =) Brownies for everyone! [] [] []