Black Lily

Chapter Eleven

Unleashed

"What the fuck do you mean 'Losing her'?!" Madame Pomfrey looked at him reprimanding.

"Kindly watch your language Mr. Potter. I understand that you are upset, but there is no need-"

"Madame Pomfrey! Quickly; her vitals are failing!"

"One moment Drusilla."

"But remember her condition?!" The matron paled, and she hurriedly turned back to the patient.

Dumbledore was just rising from where he had been kneeling before the fireplace.

"James, a word if you please?" Anything to distract me from this mate. I don't want to lose her. He followed the Head master out of the infirmary, away from the sobbing of Remus and Abby. What ever Remus knew about Lily, it was making him panic beyond recognition. Dumbledore stopped in the corridor, and turned to James.

"I would not ask you to leave her side if it was not of great need. Had Miss Le Fey... Le Fey- Evans been conscious, I would have asked her." The old man sighed dejectedly, "You cannot understand the help that she has been to the Order. Spying, fighting, paper work... she has done every thing and more."

"Get to the point, or I'm going back to her." At any other time, James would not have been so blunt, or rude, to the head master, but he was in no mood to be courteous.

"As you wish. We have discovered Voldemort's head quarters. We wish for you to go in with a squad of the people from the Order." Infiltrate The Dark Lord's head quarters? Could he do that? Dumbledore placed a hand on James's shoulder.

"Lily would have done it. You know what may happen to her right now, don't you? That is Voldemort's doing. Do you not wish to have revenge? He may very well take her away from you. Could you bear to know that he hadn't got his comeuppance?" But I might die, and she could still wake up. How could I bear to let her wake up and have to be told that I wasn't coming back because I went on some hare- brained crusade?

"I'll do it."

~

She stood beside Remus, looking at the girl on the bed. Her eyes were closed, and her lips tinged a light blue. A nurse was slamming her hands onto her chest, over her heart. That's odd. Why is she beating her up? She looks familiar though... who is she? And why is she wearing my ring? A thought dawned on he; it was her lying on the bed, her who looked liked death. I don't want to die! Not now, please not now. She stepped over to the girl, looking at her body mournfully. A shock went through her chest. Ow! What was that for? She glared at the woman who was holding a wand at her chest, then clamped her hands to her chest as the nurse sent another bolt through the body. With a faint sigh, she lay on the bed, folding herself back into the body.

Lily's eyes snapped open, and she gasped for breath.

"We've got her! My god, we've got her!" A hand grasped hers, and she found herself looking into amber eyes.

"Lily, can you hear me? Look, don't try to speak yet. Just, just stay conscious, ok? Hold on for us." She swallowed, and closed her eyes. So tired...

*

"Vitals stable.... Yes, she's alright... mercifully, she didn't miscarry..."

"Miscarry?! You mean..." mutter mutter mutter "HOLY FUCK!"

"Shh, Sirius, be quiet..." Slowly, carefully, Lily opened her eyes. Sirius was leaning against Peter, staring at her with huge eyes. She blinked, trying to get the world back into focus. A hand was pushed gently behind her head, and raised her head, tipping a glass gently to her lips.

"Here. It's water; you're dehydrated." Ah, some one who understood what she needed. She drank the water in greedy sips, and then choked slightly when she couldn't manage any more and the water kept coming. "Ok, I get it. Enough." She lay back against the pillows, and swallowed, a little painfully.

"Remus?" The young man glared at her.

"I told you not to speak."

"This isn't speaking, it's growling."

"Now I know you're going to be alright; you're being argumentative." She rolled her eyes at him, and then tested out her voice.

"Where... Where's James?" the group looked at each other uncomfortably. "Where is he?" Sirius swallowed, licking his lips a little nervously.

"Well, you see, there was this thing about... Voldemort... And Dumbledore asked James to... to... goandgetrevengeasyoumightdie." The last words were spoken so fast it took Lily a moment to decipher them. 'Go and get revenge as you might die.' Dumbledore had used her as an excuse to use James in a war that had nothing to do with him. That crafty old bastard.

"How long ago?" The reply took a while in coming.

"...Three or four hours ago." She clenched her fists in the sheet over her so tightly that her arms shook. He would be there by now. Fighting her battle, believing her to be dying. It just wasn't right; Dumbledore bending things to his liking the way he did.

She swung the covers off her, and made to stand. Within a moment, Remus was holding her down.

"Oh no, you are not going any where. This is out of your hands now, leave it. Just stay exactly where you are. And don't look at me like that, you know I'm right." Bastard. The utter, annoying bastard. "And there is no need to be so rude Lily." She lay back, sulking. This was nothing to do with them, they wouldn't understand. She raised a hand to her necklace, holding it like a comforting to that a small child might have. The metal was icy cold, but had a flicker of a flame within it, as though... as though it had become cold when her body was dying, as she was becoming cold, and was now beginning to warm up with her blood. Please let James be alright, she begged silently, please. I'll do anything, just let him not be hurt. I couldn't bear to lose him. Not now, not ever.

Her hand went to her claddagh ring, twisting it around its finger, the cool metal her only connection to him that was physical and within reach. Lilith, it was her; Morgan. Lily waited for the rush of sickness, of faintness. It didn't come. Lilith, listen to me. Wait until they leave or sleep. You will get your chance. And for the first time, Lily replied without anger. Yes Morgan.

~

As soon as he stepped into the room where the members of the order were congregating, silence fell. Then, a voice shouted out.

"For Gods sake Dumbledore, where is she? And who the hell is that?" Ok, that hurt. James raised his head, and looked around the room in what he hoped was a confidant, not caring way. He hoped. Dumbledore placed a hand on his shoulder.

"This is James Potter. Yes Philison, THAT one. Firefly is unavoidably detained." He looked the ash blonde man in the face. "Voldemort." Firefly? Hmm, interesting code name. Not one that he would have chosen, but still, interesting. He tuned back into the conversation.

"-Dumbledore, you must be insane! I know his father, and from what I've heard from him, this boy is one of the most irresponsible, self absorbed people in the whole Wizarding world! Look, he isn't even listening to anything any one says! It won't work, it will not work."

"Hey, I am right here you know. If you want to bad mouth me, do it else where, wont you? There's a good chap." I have definitely been hanging around Lily for too long. I'm starting to talk like her! Philison looked at him, and the staring competition lasted for about a minute. Then he grinned at James and clapped him on the arm.

"I guess he'll do as a replacement. Don't get in the way of any major curses, will you?" OK, this guy had a weird sense of humour. James pretended to glare at him.

"Only if you promise not to get in my way, old man." Philison grinned even wider.

"So, how is it you know our Firefly?" He knew by the heat in his face that he was very probably blushing. "Ahh, your sweetheart? Pretty little thing, isn't she? I can see why you'd like her." That was degrading for both Lily and me, he thought.

"I love her." It was obvious by the look on Philison's face that he did not believe him. Well, who would believe every eighteen year old boy that they said they were in love with a beautiful seventeen year old girl?

*

This wood is dark. And creepy. For God's sake Potter, he thought to himself angrily, are you a wimp or what? Scared of a load of trees. Pathetic.

Philison tapped him on the shoulder.

"You alright lad?"

"Course I am, why wouldn't I be?" He nodded and turned back to the squad of men and women behind him.

"Right, we need some one to go right up to the castle, check the patrol. Typical, pretentious git, choosing a castle... any way. We would use Lily, but she isn't here. Any volunteers before I pick some one at random?" James looked at the gathered Witches and Wizards, all of whom were shuffling about in a slightly anxious way. Oh for pity's sake he thought, rolling his eyes.

"I'll do it." Philison turned around and looked at him, eyebrows raised and a sneer on his face.

"You? Why would you want to do it?"

"Well, the fact that no one else is offering, and I want something to do. I'm not a little kid you know." For a moment, Philison seemed to be fighting some internal battle.

"... Fine." With a grin, James closed his eyes.

Prongs shook his head, and eyed Philison with contempt. Idiot, look at his face. He turned and cantered into the woods, his little cloven feet making little to no sound on the damp earth. Left here, right now, now straight ahead. Ah. He skidded silently to a halt. How many guards? One, two, three... six. Huh, he doesn't keep a very good guard- account, does he? Oh, no, wait, there's more. He counted again, and then swallowed a feeling of mild sickness. He darted around the other sides of the castle. It was the same. Philison needed to know. Prongs practically flew through the trees, and began morphing back into his human form as he leapt to Philison's side.

James staggered slightly on his two human feet, and then straightened himself. Philison raised an eyebrow.

"Well?"

"Around two hundred guards on the outside, fifty on each side of the walls. There are probably more inside too."

"Oh, a weak guard. That's alright then." A weak guard?! What the bloody hell was he talking about; it was two hundred men to fifty of them! He must have looked shocked, because Philison started laughing.

"Don't look so surprised Potter! We've handled worse then this, with less of us!" OK, he definitely did not understand why Lily worked with these people. At all.

~

Why wouldn't they go away?! Or sleep?! Lily turned her head away again, fiddling with the ear ring at the top of her ear. Morgan, help me. What do I do? The reply came with a chuckle. You wait, my darling, you wait. With a sigh, she rested her palm on her belly, and closed her eyes. She was still so tired.

*

Oddly enough, the thing that woke her was the silence. Opening her eyes, she found that the room was deserted; they must have gone to sleep, change their robes and eat. Lily wouldn't be able to do anything, she was asleep. Bollocks to that. She sat up and swung her legs off the bed, feeling the cold tiles of the floor against her bare feet. Ok, I've come this far. Now I'm through this, I want you out of my head. Now. I can do this on my own. Before the ghost had a chance to protest, she shut off her mind. Her wand was on a table, in the middle of the room. Quickly, she crossed the room and picked it up. Just as she did, Drusilla came into the room. She opened her mouth to speak, but Lily flung out her wand arm.

"Petrificus totalis!" The nurse fell over backward, a look of shock on her face. Lily shrugged guiltily. "Sorry Dru'. Things to do you know." She swept out of the room, and darted down a secret passage that lead directly to the Head girls chambers. God, she loved this castle.

In her room, she threw open her wardrobe and pulled out her black army style trousers and a black jumper; camouflage. She had been ready for this for a long time. She pulled them on, and then picked up her black army boots. She stood, and grabbed the black ribbon that Falcon had given her months ago, swiftly tying her thin plaits back. She looked around, checking to make sure there wasn't some one in the room with her, and then stroked her right index finger over the very centre brick of the left hand wall.

"Cassemodose." The brick trembled, the vibration spreading through the wall. An arch way appeared. As Lily looked around, her full mouth spread into a wide, vicious grin.

"Well well well. I have got to say, Dumbledore, you really do prepare for emergencies, don't you?" Dumbledore had told her about this place.

"Lily, you must remember this, for once you leave this room, we will not discus it again. At some time in the future, a situation will arise, and you will need to be able to cope without your magic. At this time, you are to go straight to your room, to the left wall and find the very centre brick. No other. Use any other brick, and the spell with be deactivated. Run your right index finger over it, and say 'Cassemodose.' It is keyed to your touch, and to mine. Once you have done this, you will find what you need."

Within the room, she saw all the equipment that she needed. She had never fought with weapons before, but she needed them. Wanted them. What did she want? Her eyes fell on the two samurai swords, strapped together in a cross, designed to be fixed to the back. She lowered them from the wall, and fastened up the lightweight, practically invisible against her clothing, harness. Perfect. What else. Ah, a boot dagger? Perfect. No more, or she wouldn't be able to carry them. She heard Dumbledore's voice in the room.

"Remember Lily, the help will change with you. The charm in this room makes whatever you are holding, or wearing, count as a part of you." Cool. Now, where was this Vipers Lair?

Remus looked out of the window on the way back to the hospital wing, and saw a large, dark red feathered bird swoop silently out of a window of the castle. He turned to Falcon.

"Hm, that's funny, that bird is the same colour as.... Oh Shit! Lily!"

~

He was so nervous, his palms were sweating. James swallowed hard, and took a harder grip on his wand. Dumbledore placed a hand on his shoulder.

"Don't think too much James. I won't be here when it starts, I cannot be. I would draw too much attention to us. Listen to me now; these are the people who hurt Lily. They wouldn't care if she dies. Bear that in mind." The old man smiled, squeezed his shoulder, and Disapparated. He's right; they hurt Lily. He thought of Lily, her wicked smile, the smell of her hair, her laugh, the muscles he could feel under her skin when he held her tightly. She could die because of these people.

Philison's voice broke through his mind.

"Now." James rose and moved as silently as he could, through the trees. What I wouldn't give for an Invisibility cloak now, he thought wryly. Oh well, he would make do with the black cloak that he was wearing.

One of the Witches in the party winked at him as she passed. She was very pretty. No, bad James, baaaaad James. No thoughts about other girls. There was a sharp snap, and James looked down to see that he had just stepped on a branch, which had promptly snapped. The bastard. The Death Eater closest to them looked up, and pointed his want at them.

"Avada Ked-"

"Stupefy!" James stared as the red beam shot out of his wand and hit the Death eater, who promptly hit the ground. With that, the hexes and curses were flying thickly, shouts bouncing off the outside walls of the castle. He threw the curses he knew in random directions, hoping to hit some one. After two minutes, he realized that he had worked his way into a corner, and that a Death Eater was closing in on him. The woman laughed mockingly, making little spirals at him with her wand.

"Aww, did they bring a baby with them to fight with the men? Is the baby gonna cwy? Poor baby." Bitch. Scary bitch. Damn. I don't want to die! He pointed his wand at her. It's you or me Psycho, and personally, I think it's going to be you.

"Avada Kedavra!" The woman fell forward on her face, a look of surprise on her face. Just as some one smashed something into James's head, and he blacked out.

*

"Urgh... fuck my head hurts... Where am I?"

"He must have hit you pretty hard." James's eyes snapped open. He knew that voice. The man raised his eyebrows at him. "I must say, you aren't what I expected. In truth, I didn't expect any other teenager then Her."

"Well she isn't coming. Deal." When he tried to sit up, he found that he was bound with ropes. That hissed in a not so good way. He glared at the man. "So I am finally meeting you. Must say, I saw you as being taller. Mind you, I was seeing you through the eyes of some one much smaller." Voldemort chuckled, and James noticed, to his fascinated disgust, that it sounded like a distorted hiss.

"A sense of humour. Quite right too. So, little man, why did you come here? Searching for glory? A story to take back to your friends? Or are you just suicidal?" James didn't bother to answer.

~*~

Remus threw open the door of the infirmary, and skidded into the room.

"LILY!" He stared at the empty bed dumbly. "Oh fuck." A muffled squeak came from the other side of the room. He turned, and saw Drusilla lying on the floor, rigid as wood.

"Oh for god sake. Finite Incantatem." The nurse sat up with a gasp, running her hands shakily through her hair. Remus grabbed her by the wrists and hauled her up right.

"Where is she?!" Terrified, the nurse shook her head jerkily; she didn't know. Swearing angrily, Remus released her wrists, and she rubbed them in an attempt to get the blood back into them. Falcon came panting into the room, looking at the young man who was stalking backward and forward in the room, growling softly.

"Remus? What is it love?" The werewolf glared at him.

"Not here. Don't call me that here."

"But-"

"No." The Ravenclaw looked moodily at his boyfriend, but then shrugged it off. His eyes fell on the empty, rumpled bed. His mocha eyes widened.

"Where... where is she?!" Remus sneered at the younger Ravenclaw.

"Oh, so you only notice now that your best friend is missing? Aren't you the observant one?" Ignoring the hurt look on the Falcons face, he stormed over to the fireplace and, grabbing a handful of Floo powder, pulled out his wand.

"Infernio." A roaring fire exploded in the grate, and Remus threw the glimmering grey powder into it. "Albus Dumbledore." After a moment, the Headmaster's head appeared in the grate.

"Mr. Lupin, what can I do for you?"

"Step through the grate. Now." The old man raised his eyebrows, but did as requested. And, to Remus's surprise, Sirius and Abby followed him. The Hufflepuff's eyes were swollen with crying, and Sirius, though looking tired, was holding her hand. Dumbledore was looking at Lily's bed, frowning.

"Where has Lily gone?" Falcon slipped his arms around Remus's waist and rested his cheek against his shoulder as the Gryffindor looked at the floor in disgust.

"Isn't it obvious? She's gone after James. You're a fool, Dumbledore, for sending him. Lily would follow him to the ends of the earth and beyond."

~

James looked up as the door opened again. Voldemort had returned, with a group of people in black robes. He couldn't see their faces as their hoods were drawn up. Voldemort threw out his arm, an evil sneer on his face.

"Ladies and Gentlemen, I give you James Potter, Dumbledore's favourite minion. And our favourite guest for tonight's... festivities." One of the black robed figures faltered.

"...Potter?" I know that voice.

"Snape?! Oh god, they got you too?!" The silence was a distinctly uncomfortable. The reality dawned on James, leaving him feeling so stupid and blind. "You... bastard! It was you! You who did that to Lily! You put that... thing on Lily!" Snape shifted uncomfortably, yet didn't reply. James snarled, and spat at him. Immediately, Voldemort kicked him.

"Now now, don't be common. Spitting is so foul. But now I see your devotion to our little wild cat. Oh, don't sneer at me; it distorts your face so. Now, ladies and gentleman, we shall finish off what we were doing." A loud crash and a strangled cry suddenly echoed out. Voldemort looked up.

"McArthic! What was that?!" A body dropped in front of the man, landing on its face. The back of the mans neck was slashed straight through to almost the front. Voldemort's eyes bulged, and he looked around, hissing slightly as he spoke.

"Who's there?" There was a 'thunk' as some one jumped down from a high place behind James.

"Me."