Hello and Happy National Star Wars Day! :D I'm tired and want to go to bed, so I shall make this short-like. ;)
Thanks to all of you reviewers for reviewing last chapter! (wow, that's a lot of you... :D YAYAYAYAY! ;) And good job to those who guessed right! (you'll find out who you are in just a moment)
On with the story! :) Enjoy!
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Chapter 14
The room was dark until a whispered "Lumos Maxima!" caused a bright light to shine from the end of someone's wand. Another spell was whispered and I heard a click come from the door. A locking charm, I thought, still struggling against the two pairs of hands holding me tightly, one still over my mouth, one around my waist and the other two holding each of my arms.
I squinted my eyes against the bright light and saw two indistinct figures – one short and stout, the other thin and frail-looking. I kicked harder, trying to get them to let me go. Were they Slytherins who had a grudge against me for some reason? Were they underage Death Eaters who had figured out my secret and who had a mission to bring me back to their master?
I shivered slightly, then redoubled my efforts, determined to not be taken without a fight. Unfortunately their hands only tightened on my arms, restricting my movement even more. They pushed me down to the floor roughly and I banged my knees hard on the cold stone.
Just before I resigned myself to my fate, I remembered a tactic James had used against Teddy when they were in Auror training and showed us a 'play fight' one afternoon. I slumped as if I were exhausted, purposefully made my breathing heavier to make it seem like I was too tired to keep fighting. The hands hesitantly removed themselves from my body, leaving only my mouth and one arm being held onto.
I quickly spun away, kicking away from the people who were holding me. I rolled over, away from them and reached for my pocket – where I knew my wand was stowed.
Except it wasn't there.
A shadow fell over me, allowing me to see, and said "Looking for this?"
"My wand! Why did you- wait, Remus?"
His grin was enough of an answer. He helped me up, but when I reached out for my wand he pulled it away with a sly smile on his face. It reminded me why he was considered one of the Marauders. One of the Marauders.
"Why did you kidnap me?" I asked hotly, hands on my hips as I tried to look menacing.
"Much more like an intervention," Sirius said from the floor, where he and James were sitting. "You know, because we just randomly abduct girls once a week."
"I can certainly believe that."
James and Sirius got up from the ground, ignoring my words (just like they did everyone else's it seemed) – James rubbing his wrist with a grimace on his face.
"You got some sweet moves," he said, grinning despite his obvious pain. But the grin slid suddenly off his face. "Lily Potter."
Shivering at the tone of his voice – somewhere between anger and curiousness – I backed away, trying to come up with some excuse.
It was just as hard as it had been the night I had spoken with Dumbledore. There was nothing I could say or do that would get them to believe me. What was I supposed to say? That I was his long-lost cousin, but wanted to go under a different name? That it was a total coincidence? Yeah, right. I'd been going by Luna Thomas for the two months I'd known them. From what I knew of them they wouldn't take anything that stupid for an answer.
Think Lily! Think of something!
Something my dad had told me came to mind. "Well, my dad was a Muggle whose last name was Potter. It's much more common in the Muggle world than the magical world, you know. And my real name is Lily, but I like Luna better (that's my middle name) because it's not a flower, which I used to get teased for and so I didn't like it, but yeah, and I just really like Lil- I mean Luna better than Lily because I just do and-"
I trailed off, realizing that all of the Marauders (except Peter, who was standing behind the other three) were looking at me with 'oh, really?' looks on their faces.
There was silence for a moment, then-
"You seriously expect us to believe that?" Sirius asked, disbelieving.
I shrugged and he made a big deal of rolling his eyes.
"And I thought my brother was a bad liar," he scoffed under his breath. "Yet you surpass him by leaps and bounds."
I bit my lip, trying to think of something else to say, but absolutely nothing came to mind.
"I- I-"
"Cut it," James said, taking a step forward, then another. It made me realize how tall he was and I took a step back, gulping. "I don't know how you can expect us to believe it's a coincidence that your last name is Potter, but we seriously aren't that stupid. Who are you?"
I thought about what Dumbledore had said – that I should get to know my grandparents. I just knew I had a bad feeling about telling them. Something didn't feel right.
"I don't-" I sighed. "don't know if I'm allowed. It's kind-of, well, secret."
The angry spark in James and Sirius' eyes told me what they thought of my identity being a 'secret'.
"Can I tell Lily at the same time?" I asked suddenly, knowing why it felt so strange that I would tell the Marauders on their own.
James, Sirius and Remus shared surprised looks, while Peter just looked like his usual frightened self.
"I, well… I suppose we can get Lily – but would it be easier to go back to the common room? It is after hours," Remus said, reminding them of the time.
James and Sirius agreed, and Peter shrugged. Remus pocketed my wand along with his own, just giving me a half-hearted, playful glare.
"Okay, you can't tell anyone about this, Lun-Lil- whatever your name is," Sirius said, holding something behind his back. "It is one of the most closely guarded secrets of the Marauders and just mentioning it to someone is a crime punishable by death."
His voice rose dramatically, along with my eyebrows, and this time it was me giving him an 'oh really?' look.
"Just get on with it, Padfoot," James said, rolling his eyes. I could tell he was slightly anxious to find out who I was. He was tapping his fingers against his thigh in the exact same way that my dad and brothers did.
"Fine Prongs."
Sirius pulled out the Invisibility Cloak from behind him and I gazed at it in amazement. My dad had told us it had been passed down from his dad (the teenager standing right in front of me), but it had never really occurred to me that James Potter of the 1900's would actually have it, when the last time I remembered seeing it was when Al and Scorpius had dragged me down to the Quidditch Pitch to do a midnight fly the second week of school. It had definitely been worth the trouble we got into.
I unconsciously reached out to feel the smooth fabric that felt so familiar, yet so distant. Disjointed memories of various pranks my brothers had pulled with the cloak haunted my vision, the first time my dad had shown me the cloak and my screams of terror turned joy when my daddy disappeared only to reappear a moment later. I was eight.
A cold shiver rushed through my body, leaving my eyes wet with tears. I held them back and forced out some exclamation of awe that apparently satisfied them. James motioned me toward them and swung the Cloak around himself, Sirius and I.
"What about Remus and Peter?" I whispered, looking back as we exited the room. Remus had extinguished the light, leaving the hall and abandoned classroom very dark. "Aren't they coming up to the common room with us?"
James and Sirius shared a look, seeming to have a silent conversation as we walked along the shadowy corridor.
"Remus is really good at charms, so he already learned how to Disillusion himself," Sirius said finally, motioning behind them. "Peter on the other hand… Let's just say he has his own way of getting around."
I was about to demand that he elaborate, but at that moment a sixth year Prefect I recognized from Ravenclaw (one Charles Anderson whose whole wardrobe had been colored fluorescent orange by some mysterious pranksters) came around the corner, a light from a wand tip shining around.
The two dark-haired boys who were under the cloak with me stopped abruptly, causing me to run into them with a loud exhale and making me almost fall over.
Charles, who had been coming toward us, stopped and looked around suspiciously. "Who's there?" He asked, his voice echoing a bit off the stone walls. "You'd better come out. I'm a prefect!"
James motioned for us to get closer to the wall and we did so as silently as we could. Charles passed his wand over every inch of the walls, as if looking for some hidden passageway. "I'm warning you!" Charles said, still searching for us. "If I find you out past curfew, you'll be in detention for two weeks unless you show yourself now!"
Charles walked past us again, probably close enough to touch if we wanted to. He was about to go through another sweep of the hall when a door closed, sounding loud in the stillness, a few corridors away.
"Gotcha!" Charles shouted, running past.
I let out the breath I was holding and hurried to keep under the cloak as James and Sirius scurried away.
We arrived at the Fat Lady's portrait only a minute or so later. I was surprised, not thinking we were so close to the common room. Remus and Peter showed up as James pulled the cloak off of us, and I remembered the reason we had come back to the common room. (It had been forgotten in the excitement of avoiding Charles Anderson)
Telling them all about me.
Sirius said the password and we entered the portrait hole.
"Find Lily and meet us in our dorm in five minutes," Remus whispered into my ear as he passed me. "Be ready to talk."
Be ready to talk. Now that sounded frightening.
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Yay for a longer chapter! (but sorry that I didn't get the actual story posted yet... I'm really tired and wanted to get something up today!) :(
So, tell me how you liked (or disliked) it! Anything you want to see/recommend? I welcome criticism! :)
May the Fourth (or what's left of it at least) be with you! :D