You wish Potter : A Jily Fanfiction

A Snake and a Saint

The following morning, Lily was being made a second cup of strong black tea in Hagrid's hut.

"James told me that the Aurors have started tracking down giants," she said quietly. "And if they catch them...they kill them."

Hagrid lifted the whistling kettle off the fire. "Where does that boy get his information from? This stuff's s'posed ter be top secret," he muttered, splashing boiling water into two bucket-sized mugs.

"It's not true, is it Hagrid?"

"Yeah, he's right," Hagrid sighed, and his expression softened. He sat down at the table opposite Lily and offered her a plate of treacle toffees. "The Ministry's bin hearin' reports of giants joinin' You-Know-Who. The Aurors are after 'em, an' more an' more are goin' into hidin'. It's not safe," said Hagrid darkly, shaking his shaggy head. "They're afraid o' wizards, an' the Minstry's only makin' it worse. 'Sides, if all those giants bin killed 'ave joined You-Know-Who, I'll eat my kettle!"

Lily wrenched apart her jaws, which the toffee had cemented together. "They can't do that!" she said hotly. "If the giants are forced to live so close together like that, they'll kill each other!"

"Listen don' keep worryin' abou' these things," Hagrid said, patting Lily gently on the shoulder, so that she nearly fell sideways off her chair. "I promise yeh it'll be over soon. Now, you had better get back up to the castle, an' tell James ter stop bein so nosy - it'll ge' 'im in trouble!"

Lily was only a few minutes away from the castle when she heard voices nearby. Moments later, Mulciber appeared, followed closely by Avery and Rosier.

"Look who it is," Mulciber said in his usual cold drawl, blocking Lily's way to the stone steps.

Evan and Rosier chuckled trollishly.

Lily elbowed her way past them, but before she could reach the castle she was knocked off her feet and fell with a thud at the base of the steps. Mucliber and his lackeys advanced on her, pointing their wands hungrily. Lily struggled to get up, but Mulciber's jinx was pinning her to the ground.

"What?" Lily panted, staring up at Mulciber with an expression of purest loathing. "What're you going to do, Mulciber?"

"You wait," said Rosier viciously. "Just you wait, mudblood."

"Wait for what?" replied Lily coolly, although she felt as though she were bound by invisible ropes.

"I think you know," Mulciber said, and his pale eyes glinted maliciously. "I'm surprised you don't feel a little guilty. Regulus said you're practically responsible for Sirius Black being kicked out."

"It was his own choice," Lily replied, although she wasn't sure she believed it herself. "He's better off with Potter anyway."

"James Potter," said Mulciber coldly. "I wonder when his parents will tell him to stay away from you too. After all, they wouldn't want their little boy to be killed for being a blood-traitor. If he really wants you, he could try this." Mulciber released the binding charm and shouted "Scourgify!"

Pink soap bubbles streamed from Lily's mouth at once; the froth was covering her lips, making her gag, choking her. She grabbed her bag and ran away from the castle in the direction of the quidditch pitch, spitting out soapsuds.

Walking quickly and with no idea where she was going, Lily felt the empty, aching hole growing inside her, so that when she finally stopped at the edge of the pitch, she leant against the wooden wall of the broomshed and collapsed to the floor. And then she cried. That was how James Potter found her, quite by honest accident, nearly ten minutes later.