The Marauders: Year Five #Wattys2017

Lucy Minchum

There in the corner, tucked between the desk's side and the wall, was Lucy Minchum.

She was trembling, staring at them with a horrorstruck face, hugging her knees to her chest, her face wet with tears. She shook her head and backed deeper into the corner so that all they could see was her toes.

Kreacher's ears flattened and he looked at them, then back to her, and then he went and scrambled to get the small bag of things together.

Maryrose stepped forward first, walking over to the corner where the girl was and carefully kneeling down to look at her, as James hovered over her shoulder. Maryrose brought her palms to rest upon the girl's knees gently and she tilted her head so she could look in her eyes. "Hullo sweetheart," she whispered quietly, smiling in a soothing manner, "Lucy, my name is Maryrose Jenkins, and this here is James Potter. We're going to help you get back to your grandpa... How does that sound?"

Lucy looked up tremulously, her eyes wide with fear and a slight flicker of hope.

"We're here to save you." Maryrose said.

Behind them, Kreacher dragged the bag out the door, and they could hear his shuffling steps echoing down the stairwell.

"I'll bet you miss your home, yeah?" Maryrose whispered to the little girl.

Lucy Minchum nodded.

James hovered, looking over his shoulder, then back to Lucy and Maryrose. "C'mon," he said, "We need to figure out how to get out of here. I'm hoping the floo will work - we'll have to aim for McGonagall's or Dumbledore's, and I dunno how that works if we're uninvited. We might have to go back down past that front door and if we do I don't want the Dark Lord to be stirring about in that parlour when we do. It only takes so long to drink tea."

Maryrose looked at Lucy, "Can you be very brave?" she asked.

Lucy stared up at her. "I think so," the girl whispered, barely audible.

Maryrose held out her hand to the girl and Lucy took it and Maryrose pulled her up to her feet. Lucy was wobbly on them - it was clear she hadn't been doing a lot of moving about since coming here. She was impossibly thin and peaky and her eyes had dark hollows beneath them that worried James. The girl started to trip and fell into Maryrose and tears filled her eyes. Thinking quickly, James knelt down, "Here, climb on my back."

Lucy looked up at Maryrose, uncertain about James still.

"What a great idea," Maryrose said, smiling at Lucy, "A piggyback ride! Isn't that fun?"

Lucy looked back at James and hesitantly stepped forward until she was right behind him and she carefully wrapped her arms about his neck James reached back and took hold on her legs, hoisting her up so she was sitting against his spine, hunching forward slightly for balance. Lucy held tightly onto him and pressed her face against his shoulder. "There we are," James said, and he stood up. "Alright, Lucy?" he asked.

She nodded against his shoulder timidly.

"Alright. Let's go."

They turned to the door.

The door opened before they got to it, and there was Kreacher again, and, ears flapping, he said, "The Dark Lord and Kreacher's Mistress are coming, they're coming."

"Bloody hell," James muttered. He looked around. What to do? What to do? They had to make a run for it. And they had to pray really, really hard that the bloody floo network would work. "C'mon. Run."

They ran.

They ran down the stairs, not giving a damn if they creaked or thumped or any other sound in the world. They raced to the library room, shoving the door opened and running across the plush green carpet. James clutched onto Lucy. They ran across the room to the fireplace - they could hear voices in the stairwell outside and James looked at the door and then back to Maryrose, "Quick. Find floo powder, quickly." They scoured the mantel, grabbing at all the knick knacks, opening up little jars and turning over boxes 'til they finally found a black opal vase with the family crest etched into it that opened and within it was the bright green floo powder. James thrust it at Maryrose. "Here, you're going first. Try Dumbledore's office."