Lily Potter and the Shadows' Misfortune

Chapter Forty-Four

Standing before Lily and her equally shocked friends were none other than ex-Headmistress Smithers and ex-Professor Jones. After the Neoma's Trance debacle of the last school year, the two had fled Hogwarts, and Lily certainly had not expected to see them again.

"Why, little Lily Potter, it's great to see you again," Jones said, his voice sickeningly sweet through his snarling facial features. "Are you still starting fights in the halls of Hogwarts, or are you reformed now that you're Minister's little—"

"What are you two doing here?" Lily asked, a fierce edge to her voice.

"Now, now, Miss Potter, it isn't nice to interrupt," Jones said with a tsk. "We haven't gotten through the roll call."

"You know who we are," Eli said. "We know who you are. Now, tell us what in Merlin's name is going on."

Smithers, who had stood silently, spoke up, "Mr. Harris—"

"Oh no, dear sister, you've got it wrong," Jones said, playfully patting his apparent sister on her shoulder. "He's a McGonagall now. Your successor as headmistress is now his legal guardian. Isn't she such a gem?"

"Minerva McGonagall is the greatest witch of the age," Lily said. No one was going to talk poorly about her Aunt Minnie; she refused to allow it—no matter the circumstance. "What do you two want?"

"Why, to sell all of these artifacts to help finance the revolution of course," Jones said. "Die Revolution kommt."

"It was you that night in the Forbidden Forest," Hugo said. Lily detected a small waver in his voice and prayed that he would stay strong. "You were the one who chased us out of the forest when we went looking for you."

"You're working with someone else though," Eli said with a little less fear in his voice than Hugo's. "You have to be. When I was in the Forbidden Forest, the cloaked figure I saw wasn't either of you two. I didn't get the best look, but I would've recognized you two."

"Not necessarily," Jones said. "We should show them, dear sister."

"Of course, my brother," Smithers said, her voice cold.

Lily's suspicion and slight terror melted into pure shock when she watched both Headmistress Smithers' and Professor Jones' physical features morph into completely other people. Two thirty-somethings now stood in front of the group of Hogwarts students. Lily would have uttered something about her astonishment at the two Metamorphmagi standing in front of her—had she not recognized one of their new appearances.

In Smithers' place stood a woman with very familiar curly brown hair. Lily's memories flashed back to the previous school year's battle in the empty hall of Hogwarts in the dead of night. When she, James, and Al had jumped out to face the Imperiused Olivia Smith, they had been immediately hit with a powerful Reductor Curse, which had sent them flying backward. In midair, Lily had caught only a brief glimpse of the spell's caster, and it certainly wasn't the blonde-haired Olivia. It was the woman who stood before them now—she was certain of that.

"You," Lily said, breathlessly. Though she wanted to everyone around her calm, she couldn't help but voice her knowledge of the woman. "You're the one who almost killed my brothers and me last year. You cast that Reductor Curse."

She blinked, and Lily realized that Smithers—or whoever she was—hadn't realized that Lily had caught a glance of her that night.