“Hurry up! We don’t have all night you know!” Malfoy was shining his light in a broom closet as his fellow Slytherins searched along the hallway.
Lily pressed herself against the cold wall and closed her eyes, hoping that they would not see her. Ten seconds passed and her bare feet felt like ice already.
Lily felt something hairy brush against her leg and he almost screamed. She slowly pushed her head down and almost kicked the black dog that was smiling back up at her.
“You ruddy dog,” she whispered, “Where’s my wand? Oh, you’d better not have snapped it in two with your bloody teeth, or I will personally pull them all out!”
“Did you hear that?”
Lily clasped her hand over her mouth and looked at Malfoy. His head was out of the closet and he had his wand pointed at the knight in shining armor.
“Hear what?” Bellatrix asked.
“There’s someone behind the knight.”
Lily looked from Malfoy to the dog. She swallowed. The dog nodded in the direction of the Gryffindor common room. Then it grinned again.
Stupid dog, Lily thought. But at the same time, she was about to do as the dog had advised her to do. Malfoy began advancing towards her hiding place, wand prepared for hexing.
The black dog crouched down in a springing position and let out a low growling. Malfoy faltered for a second but continued walking. When Malfoy was two feet away, the dog jumped from behind the knight and pinned Malfoy to the floor, smiling his heart out again as if he had been waiting for that moment all his life.
“ARGH! Get this beast off of me!” Malfoy yelled. He tried to punch the dog but a huge glob of drool splattered onto his face. The dog seemed to be having the time of his life.
All the Slytherins’ head turned to face the fight between Malfoy and the dog, so Lily took this opportunity and bolted to the staircase.
Malfoy wiped his eyes with his robe and gasped when he saw Lily escaping.
“There! There!” he yelled, pointing at Lily’s shrinking figure. “Behind you, idiots!” The Slytherins all whipped around and started chasing her.
Oh great, Lily thought, I have no wand and I’m being chased by Slytherins. This isn’t my night.
“Stupefy!”
“Immobilus!”
“Petrificus totalus!”
Five hexes in total were shot at Lily, but the only one that hit her was a Tripping Hex. Lily’s chin met the floor and began to burn fiercely. She tried to get up again, but her foot was wedged firmly into a crack in the floor that was never there before.
“We got her!” a voice cried, victoriously. The footsteps slowed down and Lily looked at them through the corner of her eye. They were walking towards her now that she couldn’t go anywhere.
“Who is it? Off you bloody animal!” Lily saw Malfoy tossing the dog off his chest and into the wall. The dog whimpered and fell down on an injured leg.
Someone grabbed Lily’s hair and pulled her head back. Lily found herself looking into the empty eyes of Severus Snape.
“It’s the mudblood!” he snarled. He tightened his grip on her hair and pulled her head farther back.
“Let go of me, Snape,” Lily said calmly.
“Or else what? You’ll take points off? I’d like to see how much that can scare me.” Snape sneered his infamous sneer and tossed her head back. Lily was going to make another run for it, but suddenly, her wrists were bound together in front of her by a glow of yellow light.
“What are you doing out here, Evans?” Bellatrix Black shot rudely.
“What are you doing out here, Black?” Lily replied a bit more politely.
“It is not any of your business.”
“Oh, I think it is.” Lily slowly was able pulled her foot out of the crack and backed up the stairs. Everyone followed her. “Don’t you think it’s a bit odd? Slytherins leaving to a secret hiding spot in the middle of the night?”
The Slytherins just looked at each other.
“What do you have to talk about in private and secret? Or are you going to a meeting of some sort with other students?”
All the Slytherins now had their wands out of their pockets and pointed at Lily.
“You will say no more, mudblood!” Malfoy ordered.
Lily saw a movement back in the hallway. The dog was up again and stalking Malfoy, teeth bared. Lily smiled. For once, she was glad the dog was awake.
“Oh yeah?” She grinned wider. “Make me.” She tossed her head teasingly. She backed up a few more steps.
“Hex her,” Malfoy told his comrades.
Lily held up her bound hands and pointed a finger at them. “That would be a very unwise decision, you know.”
“I don’t think so, mudblood. You may be head girl, but that doesn’t make me have any respect for a piece of filth like you!” Malfoy opened his mouth to utter a spell but a loud bark from behind made him turn around. So did everyone else so Lily began running up the stairs, biting the rope binding her hands. A spell hit the staircase above her and a cascade of rocks fell down. Lily screamed and backed down the stairs as her pathway was blocked.
Someone grabbed her arm. Malfoy had her in a headlock, but she stomped on his foot. Lily grabbed his sleeve, brought it back, and whacked him.
“Let…” She hit him once. “Me…” She hit his arm again. “Go!!!” She hit him harder. Lily brought back her hand for another punch, but the sleeve ripped off.
The rip seemed like an eternity. Everyone stopped whatever they were doing and stared at Lily and Malfoy. Bellatrix Black absentmindedly let go of the dog that was standing on top of Snape, one paw on top of his head and digging it into the stone floor. Three other slightly shorter Slytherins, with hoods over their heads, stopped shouting spells and stared at Malfoy’s naked arm, which was inches from her face. Lily slowly turned her own head and looked at the arm and shrieked. Then, eternity was shattered into a million pieces.
Lily tripped over her own feet and collapse to the carpeted floor, still screaming her lungs out. The dog remained immobile for a moment but then got off of Snape and began prowling towards Malfoy., snarling more than Lily had ever heard a dog snarl before.
“Silencio!” Malfoy roared over Lily’s screaming and the dog’s barking. Lily went suddenly mute. But she was still screaming a silent scream and her eyes were as wider then they had ever been. “And someone PLEASE get a hold over that annoying animal!” Two hooded students grabbed the dog’s torso. The black dog fidgeted and growled menacingly but he was held in place. Malfoy turned back to her and looked at her, as if making sure he knew what had happened.
He waited until it seemed Lily had stopped screaming and caught her, then, he removed the curse. Lily backed away from him until she was sitting against the railing. She wanted to be as far away from the Slytherins as possible.
“Y-You’re… you’re Death Eaters,” she stuttered. She looked around. “All of you are.”
“So you have discovered are little secret, Evans. What luck! So now you get to turn us in, am I right?”
Lily didn’t answer. She was still getting over the shock of a Dark Mark on Malfoy’s arm.
“But you will not tell. You know why?” Malfoy walked forward and bent his legs so his face was level with Lily’s. She looked away, at anything other than the Death Eater in front of her. Malfoy grabbed her face and jerked it towards him. “Answer me!”
Lily took two slow breaths and whispered, “Yes…”
“Excuse me, I didn’t hear that. What did you say?”
“Yes…” Lily said a bit louder.
“Yes? You will tell? That would be a very foolish choice, Evans. You want to know why?”
Lily glared at his pointy face. “Yes,” she said, “Try and give me a reason not to turn you into the authorities!” Lily was regaining her Gryffindor strength again.
“For beginners, what do you know about the Dark Lord?”
“I know quite a few facts and none of them are very nice, to tell you the truth.”
“Such as he enjoys killing off muggles, for instance? Would that be one of them?”
“Yes…” Lily said slowly.
“Ever question yourself why we call you a mudblood?” Malfoy smirked.
Lily suddenly realized where this was going. She sent her fist flying in his direction. It smashed against Malfoy’s jaw and sent him flying backwards. Blood began dripping from the corner of his mouth.
Lily grabbed his wand off the floor, stood up, and with both hands, pointed it at Malfoy.
“DON’T YOU DARE DRAG MY PARENTS INTO THIS! YOU WILL NOT USE THEM AGAINST ME!” Lily bellowed.
“We gave you a choice, mudblood,” came Snape from her right and she pointed the wand at him in case he tried to attack her. “If you do not turn us in we will put your parents at the Dark Lord’s mercy. If you do, we’ll stand by the Dark Lord as he sends a Dark Mark into the sky over your house.”
Tears were filling up in Lily’s eyes and her aim was shaking. She gripped the wand so tight that her hand turning white. When she felt as if her hand would implode, she threw the wand back at its owner. But she would not cry in front of Death Eaters, ever.
“I won’t tell anyone, alright? You have my word on it.”
“You can’t even tell your reflection in case someone will hear,” Malfoy added, “We will be watching every single move you make to be sure you don’t tell on us.”
Lily nodded a very tiny nod. The dog nipped at Snape’s feet and his throat rumbled like thunder.
Malfoy undid Lily’s rope with his hands and murmured to her, “Which is more deep: you love for you pathetic muggle parents or you hatred for us? Which are you more willing to give up: the ones you descended from or the satisfaction of turning in six supporters of the Dark Lord?” He pulled the last string off and clapped his hand on Lily’s shoulder.
“Let’s go,” he ordered. Everyone turned away from Lily and began walking back down the hallway. Lily fell to her knees and released all her tears that were so eager to get out.