Chapter Twelve
Awakenings
"No! Lily don't close your eyes!"
It was too late.
She was already falling into a tunnel of darkness.
*
Lily felt herself fall, and fall, and continue to fall. The ground seemed ages away and the only reason why she seemed to be moving at all was that there was a gravitational force coming from somewhere. Her head was still spinning and she could see nothing as she dropped down into an endless sea of black at an alarming speed. At this rate she'd be a pancake when she finally reached the bottom.
Suddenly everything stopped and Lily slammed against the ground, hard. Her green eyes snapped open. She blinked just to find that there was no difference.
"Ouch." She moaned rubbing her head.
She was now aware of her aching body. There wasn't a part of her body that wasn't hurting, but amazingly nothing was broken. She managed to pull herself up into a sitting position without any trouble.
"Where am I?" Lily wondered aloud.
"Well it looks like someone else will be joining us."
Lily jumped at the sound of another's voice. This one she didn't recognize. In fact she had never heard a voice anything like it.
"I didn't know you'd be here tonight, so forgive me if I didn't make any dinner preparations."
"Where are you? Who are you?" She asked.
The voice laughed. "Questions, questions, my child, all will be revealed in good time."
It was getting creepy. Lily felt as if the odd voice was talking in her head. She shook her head muttering to herself.
"I'm just imagining that I hear voices."
"You're a funny one. Come on inside so that I can have a look at you. Don't be afraid, I won't hurt you."
Lily sat up startled. A doorway had appeared a few feet away and was opening slowly to reveal a bright lit room. The light blinded her and Lily held up a hand to block the light. She hesitated, what was going on?
"Do not be afraid."
The voice was soothing and Lily slowly got to her feet.
A dark silhouette had appeared in the doorway, its features too dark to make out against the blinding light. But Lily realized as she took another tiny step forward that there was two people, a tall someone and a smaller figure that looked around Lily's height. Cautiously she took two more steps toward them, her curiosity drawing her closer. Lily was only a foot or two away from them and now she was beginning to make out their faces.
The child to the left was what drew her attention. She looked vaguely familiar causing Lily to take another step toward them. Now at last she saw the girl for the first time.
Gray eyes, a smile, and blonde hair met her with a sudden conclusion.
"Gloria?" She choked.
The other girl smiled.
"Come on Lily." She beckoned to her.
Lily's heart stopped, was she dead? Suddenly a sharp pain shot through her head. Her knees quivered threatening to buckle.
"Lily?" Gloria asked reaching out to her.
Lily once again tried to grab Gloria's hand but something was driven into her own hand. Lily yelped and leapt back, the light began to fade. She stared at her hand watching as a thin line of blood began to trickle down her wrist. Her hand was being pressed and squeezed and another dot of blood appeared, Lily stumbled backwards. Someone was calling her name far away, and it wasn't Gloria or the mysterious voice.
Gripping her throbbing hand Lily glanced one last time upon the face of Gloria and the mysterious figure. Then she fell back in a dead faint.
*
"Lily!"
Lily felt the floor fill in beneath her. The darkness was gone and so was the blinding light. But still she kept her eyes closed, too weak to open them. The painless feeling had left her and now once more she felt ill and tired.
"Come on Lily, open your eyes." A soft voice said.
Lily's eyes flicked open. The world spun before her, but she was able to make out one thing, she was back at Hogwarts. She blinked a few times and slowly the room came into focus as two brown eyes and a pair of hazel eyes swam into view.
"Thank Merlin!" Arabella exclaimed.
"We thought we lost you there for a moment." James said beaming.
"No. I'm right here." Lily assured them.
She groaned as the pain came back full force. Rubbing her aching head she sat up slowly. She attempted to free her throbbing hand only to find that James was holding it tightly.
"You can let go of my hand now." Lily told him.
"Oh, sorry about that." James said sheepishly letting go.
James' had held onto her hand so tightly that his fingernails had broken the flesh of her palm. Lily could now see the source of the blood.
"James!" Arabella exclaimed shaking her head amusedly.
"I'm sorry Lily. I didn't know I hurt you." James said embarrassed.
"It's okay. Now help me up." Lily ordered them.
Arabella and James helped her to her feet. Lily could hardly stand because she was so weak. She leaned against them, thankful for the support.
"Are you alright?" Arabella asked worriedly.
"Fine." Lily said quickly.
She closed her eyes and took a deep breath. Clearing her mind, she felt better. Some of the energy seemed to return to her and she opened her eyes.
"Where's Allison and Gloria? Are they okay? What happened?" Lily asked in quick succession.
"Calm down!" Arabella instructed her.
"Allison's fine. She was just knocked out." James answered.
"Oh good." Lily said sighing in relief.
"What about Gloria?"
"Um, we're not sure." Arabella said biting her lip and exchanging a glance with James.
Lily moved out of their grasp, now having enough energy to stand on her own. She stared at them. James bowed his head and Arabella looked like she had been telling the truth but avoided her piercing gaze.
"Where is she?" Lily asked.
"Hospital Wing." Arabella said quietly.
Lily remembered the dream clearly, the way it had seemed like Gloria was, and she gulped. No, Gloria couldn't be gone. She was only eleven. Lily had only met her that very day, she hadn't had time to even get to know the poor girl.
"They took her away as soon as they found her. But I know that they were heading there." Arabella continued.
Lily looked from Arabella to James who had suddenly become interested in the floor. They had no idea how serious this was.
Lily paled, the color draining from her face. She fell back against the wall, leaning against it. Slowly she brought a hand to her mouth. Arabella watched her, wondering what she was thinking. Suddenly it dawned on her.
"You don't think that." Arabella trailed off because Lily suddenly came back to life.
The red head stood up silently and started walking toward the door. She slammed the door behind her and they could hear her hurriedly descending the stairs. James looked up and he and Arabella stared at each other for a moment. Then in silent agreement they both ran for the door and chased after her.
"Lily, wait!" James called running after her.
"Where are you going?" Arabella asked as they caught up to her at the portrait.
"I'm going to see Gloria."
"Then we're coming with you." James said, Arabella nodding at his side.
Lily didn't object, and the three of them started toward the infirmary.
They walked in silence; each was left to his or her thoughts as they made their way to the Hospital Wing. It didn't occur to them that Lily had no way of knowing where the infirmary was. The walk seemed like an eternity as they came closer and closer to their destination and the answers they were looking for. It was pure luck that they bumped into a familiar prefect.
"Molly!" Lily exclaimed running up to her.
"Hello Lily." Molly greeted her solemnly.
"Could you give us directions to the infirmary?" James asked hopefully.
"Just follow me, I'm on my way over there." Molly beckoned to them and the three first years fell in step behind her.
Molly led them down a series of twisting corridors. After plodding along for about ten minutes she came to an abrupt halt causing Lily to nearly crash into her and James to collide with Lily. Arabella luckily caught herself in time and avoided the collision.
"Quietly, you're not supposed to be here." Molly whispered gesturing toward an open doorway.
Lily brushed past Molly and entered the white walled room. It looked exactly like a muggle hospital wing. Lily had been expecting something more unique considering the other magical things she had seen in the past few weeks. With Arabella and James on her heels she made her way to the row of neatly made beds.
"Sirius, Allison!" Arabella squealed, breaking rule number one; keep your voice down.
She rushed toward the occupants of the first two beds. Sirius was sitting on the edge of one of the beds talking to Allison who was sitting up in the first bed, looking slightly tired. They both looked up and grinned when they saw Arabella come running toward them followed by Lily and James.
"You guys are okay." Lily said in relief smiling at the two of them.
"Yeah, never been better. Now if only Madam what's her name would see that and let me go back to bed." Allison grumbled.
"I think I'll tell her to keep you here another night, better yet how about another week." Sirius said grinning.
"You wouldn't dare." Allison said narrowing her eyes.
"Oh yeah, Madam -"
Allison lunged at him clamping a hand over his mouth.
"We're going to be kicked out if you two don't keep quiet." Lily reminded them, though she was grinning.
"I need to get out of this place, I need air!" Allison moaned dramatically falling back on the bed.
"Cool it drama queen, you've only been here for less then two hours." Arabella said rolling her eyes.
"Two hours is long enough. I miss the sky, the sunshine, and the green grass, quidditch, even old Binns. And I'm never wearing white again, or going into any white rooms, ever." Allison muttered.
Lily smiled but looking around she suddenly realized that someone was missing, James. Of course, he probably went to go find Gloria. Out of all of them Gloria had gotten to know James the best. Remembering why she had come Lily excused herself and headed for the very last bed. All of the curtains were drawn around the final bed. But Lily took no heed of this and slid through the small gap joining James.
Gloria was lying on the bed in a deep sleep. The poor girl was as white as a ghost and even her lips had gone a very pale pink, drawn thin as if the sleeping girl was in pain. It didn't look like she was breathing at all. She was colorless, gray and pale and looked lifeless in every aspect. Lily reached over and touched Gloria's hand, recoiling quickly. It was ice-cold.
"Is she alive?" Lily asked in a whisper.
"Barely."
Lily and James looked up. Another girl stood behind them, her head bowed and hands clenched tightly as she stared at Gloria with saddened eyes. She was nearly a head taller than them and looked a couple of years older then them. But they couldn't tell in the dimly lit infirmary.
The girl moved past Lily and James and came to stand on the opposite side of Gloria's bed. Immediately she sat down and took Gloria's hand in hers. Entering a patch of moonlight Lily saw the girl in the eerie light for the first time. Her green eyes widened as the older girl looked up.
She had the same long blonde hair, the same nose, the same face and figure, and nearly the same color eyes as Gloria. Except that this girl was far more beautiful then Gloria and was older by at least two or three years. But this wasn't the only thing that struck Lily. It was the fact that the girl resembled Violet.
It took a moment for Lily to regain herself as memories of her older sister flooded her mind. She had to blink a few times before she picked out the obvious differences that she had missed. Even though the girl had the same hair and was the same age as Violet, she had light blue eyes with a hint of Gloria's gray within them. Her hair was actually straighter and lighter in color and there was something about her that Lily couldn't quite put her finger on.
"I don't believe we've met. I'm Narcissa, Gloria's sister and you must be?"
"I'm Lily and this is James, we're friends of Gloria." Lily replied.
James was still taken aback by Narcissa's appearance and was having difficulty speaking.
"I suppose you two were with her when it happened." Narcissa said after a momentary pause.
"Yes, we actually came after it happened, but yes we were there with that thing." Lily shivered at the thought of the growling creature with the fierce red eyes.
"What exactly happened?" Gloria's sister asked.
"We don't really know." Lily answered softly.
She wished she could tell her differently but Lily didn't know what had happened. It had just appeared out of nowhere. What was that monster of a thing doing in the Girls Dormitory in the first place?
Loud voices were suddenly heard coming from outside the curtain's walls. No doubt that Arabella, Sirius and Allison had made too much noise and were being kicked out. Their suspicions were confirmed when Sirius ran in his ankle fully healed and a look of pure terror on his face.
"Lily! James! There's a Madam Psycho after us! Come on let's get back to the Dormitory!" He exclaimed grabbing them by the arms.
"But"
"No buts come on let's go." Lily turned and waved goodbye to Narcissa as Sirius dragged James and her toward the door.
A plump woman dressed in all white with a matching hat was bellowing at them waving her wand threateningly. Allison was making a dash for the door with Arabella close behind her. Lily and James didn't need to be told twice. They took off after Sirius escaping from the cries and sparks, entering the quiet hallways of freedom.
"I'm free, I'm free, I'm free!"
Allison's shouts and the other's laughter could be heard echoing throughout the hall as the five friends made their way back to the common room.
It was a miracle that they weren't caught. Remus was waiting for them in the common room when they returned. He was happy to see that they were all okay but he was also full of questions. They were tired and it was put off by all of them until the morning. Allison and Arabella headed up to the Girls Dormitory and Sirius and Remus left for the Boys Dormitory. Only Lily and James remained in the empty common room.
"Lily?" James asked.
"Yeah?" Lily asked sleepily.
"Do you think she'll be okay?" He asked nervously.
Lily took a long time answering this question. She considered her words. After all Gloria was still alive, even if it was barely, and after all it was only a dream.
"I think so." Lily said giving him a small smile.
"I know how everyone feels about her. But I talked to her, and once you get to know her. She is actually a nice person." James said staring into the fire.
Lily had nothing to say about this. The two lapsed into a short silence. Both of them were staring into the fire. Lily was stealing glances at James every so often. She felt like it was her fault for some reason. She wished there was something she could do.
"James she's going to be okay." Lily said lying her hand gently on top of his.
"You think so?" He said looking up at her.
"I certainly hope so." Lily said nodding.
There was an awkward pause.
"Thanks again, for saving us. If it wasn't for you, I-I don't know what would've happened to us." James said stuttering slightly.
"It was luck." Lily said trying to smile.
James smiled weakly back.
"Well whatever it was, I'm glad for it."
They smiled, reaching a silent agreement.
"I'm going to bed." Lily said standing up.
"Yeah same here, good night." James said as they made for the dormitories.
"Goodnight again." Lily said laughing.
The two friends parted each moving toward the separate dormitories. But this time as Lily opened the door, Allison's snores was the only thing she heard. Relieved she turned and gave James a small wave. Everything was going to be okay, she thought. And with that she collapsed upon the bed, falling asleep before her head hit the pillow.
Chapter Thirteen