Harry Potter 1. Prologue

  
DISCLAIMER: I own everything in this chapter, so you can't sue me! Nyah nyah nyah nyah nyah!  
  
  
  
NOTE: This is the sequel to Warriors of the Light, which I have just finished. It's #2 in what I'm now calling The Lili Chronicles, for lack of a better name. If you haven't read Warriors, read it. Otherwise, you won't know what the hell is going on.  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
MEMORY OF THE FUTURE  
  
  
  
  
  
PROLOGUE  
  
  
  
Two figures stood huddled over a bubbling cauldron, one cloaked in purple, the other in slate blue. The one in purple raised its head and glanced nervously at its surroundings.  
  
The stood in a place that must once have been the heart of a great city, debris and rubble were strewn everywhere, and a lone street sign stood unwavering like some strange flower. The sky around them was pitch black, and the only light came from the muffled fire crackling underneath the cauldron.  
  
The purple-cloaked figure ducked back down to its companion. "You know the risk we're taking." It wasn't a question.  
  
The blue cloaked one didn't look up from the cauldron. "Yes. I do."  
  
"And you know what would happen if we're wrong? Would you be able to take it?"  
  
The figure jerked its head up to meet its companion's eyes. "Yes. But would you?"  
  
The two stared intently at each other for a moment. Then, without a word, the purple cloaked one turned away, and they both continued stirring the cauldron, gazing meaninglessly into its depths.  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
(A/N) Okay, and there is the beginning! Well, the prologue anyway. I work fast, don't I? Not nessecarily well, but fast. Now see that big pretty box down there? Use it! Review! Or else.... a character dies! (gasps sound). Trust me, I can work it in. Now review! 


	2. And It Begins Again

Wow, I'm getting better at writing romance! One-time occurrence, though, don't get used to it. I hope to God none of my friends ever see this, though, they'll never let me live it down....  
  
  
  
  
  
CHAPTER ONE: AND IT BEGINS AGAIN  
  
  
  
  
"Hello, hello, hello, happy people!" Lili's rich, cheerful voice rang out through the entire train. Those who didn't know who she was cocked their heads to the side with confusion, and those who did smiled at the seventh-year's cheerfulness. "Happy people? Hello, happy people, where are you?" The three people sitting in the compartment rolled their eyes, and she laughed.  
  
"Hi Hermione, hey Harry, hello Ron," she grinned as she flopped down across from the three. "And how was your summer? Don't ask about mine, remember, I share it with the evil creature known as Dana. She was actually pretty good this summer, though. Spent most of it in her room. Don't ask, I don't know." She stopped talking as the compartment door slid open once again. A pale boy stood in the doorway. He nodded curtly to Harry, Ron, and Hermione, before turning to give his only real smile to Lili.  
  
But Lili sneered at him. "Hello, Malfoy. Still just as ugly as normal, huh? Just as stupid, too, I bet. Well, it's good to know some things never change." Draco looked at her in shock, and Harry, Ron and Hermione glanced at each other. Lili's face was twisted with an expression of pure venom.  
  
Then she burst out laughing. "Draco, honey, don't look at me like that! I was only joking! Crimeny, you have no sense of humor." Draco grinned at her in relief, and sat down. She leaned over to give him a kiss on the cheek, and he blushed embarrassedly. The other Gryffindors saw this and grinned, but said nothing. It was a mark of how much their relationship with him had changed; a year ago, none would have passed up this opportunity to make fun of him. Now, if not exactly friends, they all tolerated each other, and didn't go out of the way to make each other's lives a living hell.  
  
Draco put his arm around Lili's shoulder. For once, he made no smart remark, just smiled. She smiled back.  
  
"And now, for a tender moment between Draco Malfoy and Lili Grey," Ron said in a deep TV announcer's voice, and Draco moved his arm while Lili blushed. The others laughed.  
  
"What is this, a soap opera? It's getting too sappy in here, someone open a window," Lili grumbled, and Hermione, with a grin, cracked open the train window.   
  
  
  
It had been around a half-hour when the five Mages saw something move outside the compartment door. It was only a quick blur, a flash of something blue, but Lili rose, wand in hand, and slowly opened the door. Peering outside, she called back to the others. "Hey! The food cart passed us by! Old meany!" She pulled her head back inside. "I'm going to go get some chocolate frogs." Lili told them. "Anyone want to come?" She looked at the others expectantly.  
  
"Um, not really," Ron answered. "But could you get me some Every Flavor Beans?"  
  
"And I want some Pumpkin Pasties," Hermione piped up.  
  
Harry rolled his eyes. "I'll come with you, Lili, and help you carry it all." He stood up slowly, giving Ron's shin a light kick. He followed Lili out the door.  
  
The food cart was all the way down the hall by the time they got to it. Lili told the witch what they wanted, and she dished it out into their waiting arms. Three steps back to the compartment, Lili dropped everything.  
  
"Damn!" she swore, kneeling down to gather up the spilled candy. Harry set down his own load and helped her. **Ah, stupid me, I go and drop all this perfectly good candy. Look at this! Every Flavor Beans everywhere! And oh, that one's probably strawberry, too...**  
  
Her thoughts were interrupted by Harry, who suddenly began speaking. "Hey, Lili, I've been thinking about this for awhile.... and... um..."  
  
"Oh, just spit it out!" she cried impatiently.  
  
"Doyouwannagooutwithme?" he managed to sputter out, turning brick red. Why did he always say it like that? Why?  
  
"Say what?" she asked, confused. "Slow down there, Speedy. Enunciate."  
  
  
Harry wondered vaguely how she could make fun of him while he was trying to do something like this. "Do you want to go out with me?" He turned even redder, if that was possible. Lili looked a little embarrassed. **Oh please, oh please don't let her be going out with Malfoy!** He silently begged any god he had ever heard of.  
  
"Um, sure, Harry. I'd love to." She turned red herself, and Harry looked at her in amazement.  
  
"What?" he asked, not sure if he had heard her right.  
  
"If you weren't listening, that's your problem." She snapped irritably. But she softened and repeated herself. "I said I'd love to."  
  
Harry didn't exactly feel like singing and dancing, the way people always do in stories. But he did feel a nice, warm, happy feeling in the pit of his stomach. It was sort of like the feeling you get when you're sitting in a hammock on a warm summer's day, with a cup of lemonade in your hand and the knowledge that everything is right in the world, or the feeling you get (well, most people anyway, not Harry) when you wake up one morning and remember that it's the first day of your summer vacation, and you don't have to worry about schoolwork for another two months. In a split decision, he leaned over and kissed Lili. She dropped all her candies in surprise.  
  
Once again, it was not quite the storybook stereotype, but it was close to it. He felt a hand snake around his neck, and pressed one of his own into her hair. It was wonderful.  
  
And the mood was shattered with a spectacular crash and a loud whoop from just off to Harry's right. Immediately, they broke apart, and Harry spun around to see two identical faces grinning at him.  
  
"Harry's got a girlfriend, Harry's got a girlfriend..." they chanted.  
  
"Fred? George?" he said, stunned. "What are you doing here?"  
  
"New first-year flying coaches." George grinned. "Dumbledore decided Madam Hooch would only train fourth-years and up from now on. Hired us for the first through third years, and against McGonagall's judgment, too." He eyed both Lili and Harry, who were still kneeling among the spilled candy. "But I think the real question is, what are you two doing? Snogging in the train? In the hallway? Tsk tsk tsk." Lili laughed outright, and George pretended to be hurt.  
  
Fred took a step forward. "And who is this lovely creature?" he asked in a deep voice, overexaggerating his movements as he grasped her hand, bent over and kissed it.  
  
"Why, my name is Liliana Josephine Grey, of course," she said in a slow, Scarlett O'Hara southern drawl. "And just who might you be?"  
  
"Misters Fred and George Weasley, at your service, Ma'am."  
  
"I'll remember the 'at your service' part. Trust me." She smiled.  
  
"So you're the infamous Lili Grey, eh? Ron's been talking about you all summer. Almost as much as he talks about Hermione. That boy's got an obsession with her." They were interrupted as the boy in question came marching down the corridor.  
  
"Hey, where were you two? We've been waiting. Are those Every Flavor Beans for me? Thanks!" Without waiting for an answer, he grabbed the bag and opened it. As he shoved beans into his mouth, he saw Fred and George and promptly choked.  
  
"Fred? George?" he asked, swallowing a bean and unconsciously echoing Harry's previous words.  
  
"Oh, Fred, did you hear that?" George looked melodramatically at his twin. "He can say our names! Now say Mommy and Daddy, Ronniekins."  
  
"Shut up," Ron grumbled. "What are you two doing here?"  
  
"Well, it all started when..." Harry decided to make his escape, and grabbing Lili's wrist and dragging her down the hallway. Getting back to the compartment, they sat down, and all started in on the candy. Lili was sitting next to Hermione, speaking in shushed voices. Lili's foot began jiggling wildly, and Hermione glanced nervously at her.  
  
"Lili, did you have any coffee this morning?"  
  
"Yeah, about three cups, why?"  
  
The others groaned. Hermione pulled her knees up onto the seat and folded her arms into the traditional plane crash position. A year of knowing Lili had warned her that this was not a good thing.   
  
"Lili, we're doing this for your own good, you know," Harry said grimly. He raised his wand, and Lili pushed herself backward in her seat.  
  
"What are you doing?" she asked, her eyes wide.  
  
"Trust me," said Ron, who had by this time returned. "You'll thank us for this later. Stupefy!" Lili fell to the side, hitting Hermione's shoulder. Hermione patted her head.  
  
"It's all right, we'll wake you up when we get to the castle. You need to sleep off the caffeine." She looked around her at the others. "So, anybody for poker?"  
  
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The train pulled slowly into Hogsmeade station, and the four conscious teenagers scooped their winnings together and stood up. Hermione pointed her wand at Lili, who was stretched out across three seats, and muttered "Ennervate."  
  
Nothing happened.  
  
A flash of worry crossed Hermione's face. "Ennervate!" she said again, louder. The others looked at her. Still no reaction from Lili's still body.  
  
"ENNERVATE!" Hermione fairly screamed, with barely hidden panic. Although they saw the spell hit Lili, still nothing happened.  
  
Harry looked at Ron. "Get a teacher." Ron nodded once and slipped out the door. Harry and Draco grimly pulled out their wands and helped Hermione try and revive Lili.  
  
They were still trying when Dumbledore arrived in the compartment. His face set, he tried to wake her again. When it didn't work, he turned to her worried friends, their faces pale and stretched.  
  
"Let's get her to the hospital wing," he told them, conjuring up a stretcher. He moved Lili's still body on top of it, and all four followed him.   
  
Draco was the last out the door. As he left, he muttered, "And so begins another chapter in the Lili Chronicles."  
  
  
  
  
  
  
(A/N) Okay, I can't write Fred and George! I know! I just had to try, though. They're some of my favorite characters. And since awhile ago, some of you were asking for H/L, I put some in. Don't think it's permenant, though. Like I said, Lili keeps all her options open. Draco still has a chance, for all of you who like the idea of D/L. Only I know who she'll end up with in the end!  
  
Now, enough with the romance talk. I'm making myself sick. I'd like to thank Ady, the one and ONLY person to review the prologue. Also, I want to ask you all to read The Night Albus Went Crazy, my parody of Weird Al's The Night Santa Went Crazy. I think it's pretty self-explanitory. Review it, too. And M.W.'s sick, and reviews help me feel better! Write reviews! Lots of 'em! Get it? Got it? Good!  
  
Luv ya lots!  
-M.W.  



	3. A Memory of the Future

Heh heh.... forgot the disclaimer in the last one. I own Lili, and the two people in the prologue. Oh yeah, I own 4 pounds of jelly beans, too. No, you can't have any, John!  
  
(A/N) About the romance in the last chapter.... that's about as graphic as you'll ever get from me, I was in a moment of temporary insanity when I wrote it (temporary... riiiight...), so don't go expecting more! Got it?  
  
  
CHAPTER TWO: A MEMORY OF THE FUTURE  
  
  
  
Lili stood in emptiness. White space, with no beginning or end, no top or bottom. She wasn't sure just what she was standing on, what was under her feet was the same as what was above her, and all around her: nothing. She was afraid to move, and even more afraid to stay absolutely still. This place was lonely, and pretty scary, she hoped her friends would help her home quickly. She had just sat down to wait, when Draco popped into existence next to her.  
  
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"Now Malfoy! What the hell's happening?" Harry asked angrily. He clasped the hand of Lili's prone form tightly. Ron heard a bone crack, although he wasn't sure if it was in Lili's hand or Harry's. Either way, Harry's grip loosened.  
  
Dumbledore shook his head. "I do not know, Harry. However, neither Mr. Malfoy's nor Miss Grey's bodies seem to be in any kind of discomfort. I would venture a guess that wherever their minds are, they are fine."  
  
"I sure hope so," Hermione muttered. Suddenly, making everyone in the hospital wing jump, she let out a low wail, and collapsed backwards. Ron just barely stopped her from hitting her head on the stone floor.  
  
"Hermione?" he shook her shoulders, and touched her cheek. "Hermione!" He looked up at Harry. "We're all going, one by one. If I go next-" He stopped suddenly, with his face twisted, about to say his next word, and toppled over.  
  
Dumbledore sighed, and levitated them to empty beds.  
  
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Lili and Draco looked up as first Hermione, then Ron, popped into the empty nothingness. Both had looks of utter confusion on their faces as they looked around. Hermione, spotting them, let out a small cry. "Lili! Draco!" she called, rushing over and hugging Lili, and then, to everybody's surprise, Draco too. Ron and Draco nodded at each other, an acknowledgement to the fact that the other was alive, and that, if not exactly glad, it wasn't a bad thing.  
  
"It's been coming faster in between people now," Lili commented. "Not as much time." She was proved right as Harry popped into existence behind Hermione. "See what I mean?" She smirked. Harry jogged over to them.  
  
"You're all right," he said, the relief evident in his voice. "What on earth happened?"  
  
"No idea," Lili replied wryly, with a glance at all of them. "All I remember is the word 'stupefy'-" they all looked a little ashamed at this "-and then I was here. I guess it triggered something- hey, what in the world is that?"  
  
Off on what must have been the horizion (although it was hard to tell, this world had no ups or downs) there was a spot of light, brighter than the plain white nothingness. It was about the size of a quarter, and gradually grew larger as it approached them; or they approached it. With no landmarks, it was hard to tell what was moving.  
  
All five Mages were tense as the light approached them, by the time it was the size of a peanut butter jar lid, Harry felt as though his muscles were about to seize up.  
  
"Gooo intooo the liiight..." Lili moaned, with a grin on her face. The others glared at her and she grimaced. "Geez, sorry, just trying to lighten the mood a little." Draco rolled his eyes.  
  
"Is it just me, or does no one else want to get near that light either?" someone asked. Draco didn't take his eyes off the light, which was now about the size of a TV screen and forming itself into an oval. It was approaching at an alarming rate, and in the time it has taken for you to read that sentence, it had almost tripled in size.  
  
"Um, let's go," Ron voiced, and as one, they all took a step back. But it was too late. The light enveloped them, and they were suddenly in a very different place.  
  
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It was dark, and dirty, and Draco instantly tripped over a large block of concrete lying in his way. A figure cloaked in slate blue grabbed his arm and helped him up. He looked up at a face shadowed by the hood of the cloak, but the bright silver-blue eyes shone brightly, as if with an inner light. Startled, he jerked his arm away from the figure, and it stood up, apparently unperturbed. He looked to his left, and saw, scattered around, were the others. Hermione was standing with her arm in the grasp of a figure in royal purple, staring at it like it had two heads. Ron was standing by what seemed to be a huge cauldon, large as a bathtub and twice as deep. Harry was helping Lili to stand, she grimaced in pain, and her left wrist hung at a strange angle.  
  
The two figures looked at each other and nodded. Silently, they let go of their grasps on Draco and Hermione, and moved together, to face the group. For a moment, all were silent.  
  
Ron broke the silence. "Who in the hell are you?" he asked angrily. The two cloaked figures looked at each other, then back at Ron.  
  
"We will tell you after we explain why you are here," the purple one responded, in a young, feminine voice. "Please, just wait, and listen." She paused, and her companion urged her silently.  
  
"It is the year 2017," she turned to Lili, who was holding her left arm close to her body. "The world has been taken over by a Dark Magician, by the name of Dinarsae (A/N: pronounced Dyn-AHR-say), alias Dana Isabel Grey."  
  
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"Woah. Hold on, just a minute. How in the hell can my little sister be a Dark Witch?" Lili interrupted angrily. "She's got no magical power!"  
  
The blue figure turned to her and spoke calmly. "We did not say she was a Dark Witch. We said she was a Dark Magician. Dinarsae has no magic of her own. Therefore, she is not a witch."  
  
"Thank you," the purple figure said to the blue one. "Dinarsae is not a witch. She is a sorceress, which is quite different. Sorcery is the reason that you, Liliana Grey, were not recognized as having magical talents until the age of fourteen." Lili winced at this sentence, and the others turned and looked at her in amazement. She refused to look at them, and gestured tightly for the figure to continue.  
  
"Sorcery is when someone has the ability to use magic, but is not born with it. They often resort, sometimes unknowingly, to stealing the magic of others. You, Liliana Grey, were Dinarsae's source of magic until she was eleven. She used all of your magic, so you were not recognized as a witch. But it was not her own magic, so she could not be a witch either."  
  
"But... the magic quill!" Hermione said triumphantly. "Dana is younger than you, you would have had your name written down when you were born, and she wasn't there to steal your magic!"  
  
"Salem Academy works on a different principle, Hermione," Lili said through gritted teeth. "They write down your name when you are about eight, to prevent the admittance of those who were born with power which then faded away gradually. It does happen, although not as often in your country as in America."  
  
"Bet Longbottom's one of those people," Draco muttered. Harry elbowed him in the stomach, none too lightly.  
  
"Dinarsae stole the power of whatever witch or wizard she came across, and soon she had enough store of power to begin her conquest. It started when she was seventeen," the purple figure continued. "America was her first target, and she took over the wizarding population there extremely quickly. The muggle population lasted a few months longer, seeing that it was much larger, but in the end, it too fell to her. Nobody expected Dinarsae to really succeed with her plan, most thought her a silly girl who was in the process of biting off more than she could chew. The defense against her was not what it should have been, and soon her conquest was complete. About six months after her domination, her sister, along with the other element Mages, decided to try and fight her. None ever came back. Dinarsae claims responsibility for her sister's death, and the others, but most believe that the fight was a draw, and the Mages are hiding somewhere, waiting for their next chance. It is said that when a mage dies, their element mourns. The world was quiet that day that they fought. Most believe them alive."  
  
"What do you believe?" Harry asked.  
  
"I believe that they are dead," the purple figure responded flatly. "If they were alive, they would have returned for their children."  
  
"Children?" Lili asked sharply.  
  
"Yes, children." The figures pulled down their hoods. Curly red-gold hair spilled across the shoulders and down the purple cloak of one, her eyes were bright hazel. Straight raven black hair and glowing silver-blue eyes adorned the other one. "Rhiannon Hester Weasley and Aramis Nicole Grey. Hello, Mother, Father."  
  
  
  
  
(A/N) Okay, so who saw that coming? Probably only me, am I right? Heh heh heh... well, sorry to everyone who was hoping to give me a villian, but I've actually been planning to use Dana ever since the idea for a sequel came to me (somewhere around chapter 11 of Warriors). And Ady, Ady, Ady. Sweet, peaceful Ady. Kind, non-violent, peace-on-earth Ady. Why do you threaten me so? ;-)  
And Lili isn't faking. I'll give you all a little hint inside her mind: Lili likes both Harry and Draco, and she can't decide who she really wants. So, she decided that she's go out with whichever one of them asked her first. Harry was the quick one, therefore, at the moment, it's H/L. I don't know if it'll stay that way, though. Actually, I do, I'm just not saying evil grin. Mwah-ha-ha-ha-ha!!! Keep reviewing, I luv y'all lots!  
  
-M.W.  
  
P.S.- Everyone who tried to email me (if anyone), gurlmail is down right now, so I can't check my mail. Sorry!  



	4. Curiouser and Curiouser

DISCLAIMER: I know, you know, we all know, that I own zip.  
  
  
(A/N) This chapter's mostly talking and explaining. Hey, you need to know somehow!  
  
  
  
CHAPTER THREE: CURIOUSER AND CURIOUSER  
  
  
  
  
"Okay. No. No way. No way this is happening," Lili said flatly. "So you're telling me that you've just brought us about 20 years in the future to help our kids defeat my sister?"  
  
"That's right, Mother." Aramis smiled at Lili.  
  
"I need a beer," she muttered.  
  
"Earth, you don't drink," Draco pointed out.  
  
"I need one anyway. All right, now that's just freaky. And who's your father, anyway? I mean, I'd like to know who I end up having a kid with."  
  
Aramis looked downcast. "Sorry, Mother. I can't tell you. When you were seventeen, you didn't know who you'd end up marrying. But I will tell you this: my father is here, now."  
  
"So I end up marrying either Harry or Draco," she mused, ignoring that the boys were glaring at each other as if they could kill through eyes alone. "Because we all know that Ron and Hermione-"  
  
"Shut up, Grey!" came a call from the other side of the cauldron. Lili chuckled. Quieting quickly, though, she took a good look at Aramis.  
  
The girl couldn't have been more than fourteen. She was petite, slender, no more than maybe five feet, with silky black hair and cool silver eyes. Her hair fell to her shoulder blades, and her skin was pale, with only a slight touch of pink in the cheeks to show she wasn't a walking corpse. She looked so much like Dana that Lili found it hard to believe that it wasn't her sister there, playing a strange joke on her.  
  
But it was the eyes that made her so different. Large and silvery, while Dana's were black. Dana's eyes had always held that hint of cruelty, ruthlessness. Self-confidence and arrogance. Aramis's eyes had their fair shares of the ruthlessness and self-confidence, and maybe a touch more arrogance than necessary. But there was no cruelty. And it changed the whole personality.  
  
Aramis was looking at Lili with something like desperation, waiting for something. Lili sighed. "You look so much like my mother and sister," she murmured, and Aramis's face lit up at this recognition. "When did you last see your parents?" she asked Aramis, her normal businesslike manner returning. Get the facts first, be emotional later.  
  
"Perhaps eleven, twelve years ago. I was around two," Aramis answered quickly. "It was a year after Dinarsae took power, and you had been leaving to go fight Dinarsae. All I remember is a flash of your hair, and father's eyes. Father always had very distinctive eyes." Harry and Draco were now quietly arguing over who had the better eyes. Lili rolled her own.  
  
"Shut up, you two!" she snarled back at them, and they both fell silent, looking somewhat sheepish. Muttering softly to themselves, they turned around and left. Lili slowly turned back to Aramis and frowned slightly. "Aramis, I know that you're thinking of me as your mother. But the me that's here, now, isn't really your mom. I've never known you. Hell, I'm only seventeen. I can't be your mother." She said this last sentence with special emphasis, and the younger girl's face fell.  
  
"I know," she whispered. "But knowing-"  
  
"And believing are two different things," Lili finished. "I know. But honestly, I'd make a sucky mother. I have no patience, kids hate me, I'm a perfectionist. You'd never survive with me." Some tiny voice in the back of her head whispered softly to her **She just wants her mother, you know. Come on, give her this one little thing. You'll be trying something new, anyway.**  
  
Lili glanced at Aramis's downturned face. The brilliant silver eyes were gazing at the ground, where one foot was slowly tracing a pattern in the dirt. "Aw, hell, Aramis. Ignore me. Come give your mother a hug." The girl's face shone, and the seventeen-year-old mother and thirteen-year-old daughter embraced. **Fuck you, conscience,** Lili mentally muttered. Still, she admitted, she hadn't been around for her new daughter's Terrible Twos phase. Oh boy, she could remember Dana going through that...  
  
Dana. Her sister was an evil witch. Scratch that, sorceress. And it was now her responsibility to kill her own sister. **This day just keeps getting better and better,** she thought. She let go of Aramis and looked the shorter girl in the face. "Aramis, why exactly did you call us? Why didn't you just fight Dana with other people, or fight her yourself?"  
  
Aramis looked slightly embarrassed. "Rhiannon and I, we're not powerful enough, Mother." Lili mentally groaned at being addressed as such. "The Mages were the most powerful group in wizarding history, with few exceptions. You were not at the height of your power, true, but you were still much more powerful than any other witches or wizards. And yet you were defeated. So we decided to bring you back from when you were at your zenith, and ask that you fight Dinarsae."  
  
Lili nodded slightly. "And you and Ri- Rhi-"  
  
"Rhiannon," Aramis supplied helpfully.  
  
"Rhiannon, thanks, I'm horrible with names. You and Rhiannon, are you Mages, yourselves?"  
  
Aramis shook her head slightly. "No. The Magery was never passed to us. But we do have special powers of our own. I myself am what was called a Siren."  
  
"Weren't the Sirens those bird-women who lured sailors to their doom in Greek mythology?" Lili asked.  
  
"Yes," Aramis nodded. "Through song. Their music was so enchanting, that sailors willingly threw themselves off boats to try and swim to them. All died. But that's not quite the point. A Siren is one who can work magic through song, like Song Charms. The late Mrs. Potter, Harry Potter's mother, was a Level-Four Siren. Though she had considerable talent, she could work magic only through the preordained Song Charms. Level Four is quite an accomplishment, though. There are very few Level Threes, and only a very few Level Twos in the last century or so."  
  
"What's your level?"  
  
"I am Level One," Aramis answered, flushing slightly pink. "I am the only known Level One Siren in the last five hundred years. My magic comes out in any type of song, not just song Charms. It is also much more potent. Allow me to demonstrate. Do you remember that old children's song, about the tree, and the branches and the bird and all those things?"  
  
"Ye-es..." Lili said slowly.  
  
"All right then. Listen." Slowly, Aramis took a breath, and singing in a low voice, she sang, "and the green grass grows all around, all around, and the green grass grows all around." A simple song, one they commonly sing in kindergarten classes, and yet the effect it had was amazing. From under Aramis's feet, a carpet of thick, lush green grass erupted; soft, rich, the kind that is wonderful to just lie on and stare at the clouds, completely ignoring the fact that there's a beetle crawling into your hair. The girl grinned cheekily up at Lili who smiled back.  
  
"Wonderful! That is so great! You have talent for this, I can tell," she recalled the sort of praise her father commonly gave her when she succeeded at something. Her laid-back mother often didn't even realize. "But what is Rhiannon's extra gift?" she asked curiously.  
  
"She is a Seer, a gift needed desperately in these times," Aramis answered proudly. Lili grinned and glanced over at the redhead. **Hermione's kid, the fortune-teller. Oh, the irony.**  
  
'Well, that's wonderful. But Aramis, is there anywhere else we can go? This place is kind of creepy... where are we, anyway?"  
  
"We are on the remains of the old Grey house. Your old home, Mother," Aramis said desolately. "As the place where she grew up, the house held a great power which could be used against Dinarsae-"  
  
"Call her Dana. Your Aunt Dana."  
  
"Yes, Mother. Well, it held a great power that had the potential to be used against Aunt Dana. Instead of leaving it, she destroyed the house. But the foundations held enough magic left in them to fuel your resurrection. And no, you can't bring anyone else here to help you, Mages are the only ones who can withstand the forces in Limbo without being trapped there."  
  
"Limbo?"  
  
"That white area you passed through. Most magical people would be trapped in there. Mages, however, have the ability to pass through Limbo unharmed. They can't be forced out of Limbo, though. That's why we had to lure you out with the white light."  
  
"Lure?"  
  
"Yes, lure. Didn't you go into the light? We thought, since they're the 'Warriors of the Light' light ought to make them feel safe..." Aramis trailed off.  
  
Lili slung an arm around her shoulder. "Kid, remind me to have you watch Poltergeist."  
  
  
  
  
  
(A/N) Um... please don't as about the title. Remember that 4-pound tub of jellybeans I mentioned? It's down to 2 pounds. OK, thank you to all the reviewers! Sorry, I know that one was mostly talk. But I needed some way to explain the whole situation, and I figured that Lili would be asking quite a few questions when something like this happened. There WILL be more action in the next few chapters. Also, to comment on reviews:  
  
Ady: Thanks, I liked the idea of Dana as a villian (she's one heckuva lot better at it than MY sister would be, though). And, I have to suffer through calculus every once and awhile. As a freshman, no less! And, you are a sick and twisted individual. I cower in fear of the giant pumpkins. Go take a shower, you! ^_~  
  
Marfresbo: I'm not all that sure that someone who punches out her best friend can be called a Mary Sue... Lili has some temper problems. In the version I'm rewriting of Warriors, her fear of heights is way heightened, too (no pun intended!) And the ending will be different from Warriors, I have it planned already. I'm not THAT uncreative!  
  
Julia: Where on Earth did you get Ron and Lili from? Please, tell me. was it the notes that said it will be either D/L or H/L? ^_~  
  
Lastly, my apologies to whoever I've offended in my review responses today. I'm PMSing. Sorry.  
  
  
Luv y'all lots!  
  
-M.W. 


	5. In Which Some Explinations are Made, and...

DISCLAIMER: I don't own Harry Potter or anything in the books, and I don't own Fritos. I do own the world and an empty bag of candy corn.   
  
  
(A/N) I made some modifications to Warriors (I rewrote the whole damn thing), mainly in chapters 1-6, I think. Reread it. This'll make more sense.   
  
  
CHAPTER FOUR: IN WHICH EXPLINATIONS ARE MADE, AND THE WEASLEY FAMILY GETS A SHOCK   
  
  
  
"Okay, so what do we do now? Besides go kill my sister, I meant," Lili added, tossing her hair over her shoulder with a quick jerk of her neck.   
  
"Well, firstly," Rhiannon began. She was interrupted by a sudden flash of light, not the jet of color that would come out of a wand, but a glare that lit up the entire area, and made all sven cover their eyes in terror.   
  
"The Dinarli!" Aramis screamed. "Run!" She set off across the ruined landscape, stumbling over the debris that lay everywhere. Rhiannon followed her unhesitatingly, and the five Mages lagged behind. Aramis stopped suddenly at a place marked only by a fallen YEILD sign, and rummaged frantically in her pockets.   
  
Rhiannon wrung her hands wildly, and yelled, "Aramis, where is it, you were carrying it!"   
  
"I can't find it!" Aramis screamed back, almost in tears. She stuck her hand deep in a pocket- and pulled out a tiny leather bag. Turning it over onto the ground triumphantly, she called, "Burrow!"   
  
And the ground opened up in front of them just as the curses began to shoot past them. The two girls slid in without a second thought, but their parents hesitated. But then Ron, true Gryffindor that he was, followed them. And then the rest scrambled in. As soon as Harry had jerked his head in, the ground slid shut.   
  
"We're safe," Rhiannon breathed. She turned to her future father. "A torch, if you will?"   
  
"What?" Ron asked, distracted. "Oh- yes, a light, sure." He held out a hand, palm up, and a speck of light appeared, suspended in midair above his palm. It quickly grew into a ball of flame, and they could see that they were in an underground passage, almost like a mine shaft. All seven set off down the passageway, with Ron and Rhiannon in the lead. "So, Rhiannon," he said casually. "Who did you end up staying with? Since me and Hermione didn't raise you. This feels so weird," he added.   
  
"It's Hermione and I, and way to state the obvious, Ron," Hermione said sarcastically.   
  
"Uncle Bill and Uncle Percy never survived Dinarsae's attacks," Rhiannon said sadly, and Ron's face darkened. "I don't remember them. Uncle Charlie was wounded badly in the same attack the Uncle Bill was killed, and he had his left arm amputated. Uncle Fred and Uncle George both got out of it relatively unscathed, and so did Aunt Ginny and Grandpa and Grandma. Aunt Ginny was never the same after, though, her fiancee at the time was killed, his name was... let's see... yes, Terry Boot, that was it."   
  
"I liked Terry," Hermione said sadly.   
  
"So it's just me, Grandpa and Grandma, Uncles Fred, George, and Charlie, Aunt Ginny, and Aramis. Aunt Maria, Percy's wife, got remarried a few years ago, and she and Cousins Emily and Rachel live... somewhere. It's hard to know where people are nowadays. Uncle Charlie's ex-wife, Fleur, and Cousin Jodette, Cousin Adele and Cousin Marcus live a little way away from us. Uncle Charlie and Fleur are still on pretty good terms, and Jo and Ady are great, even if Marc is insufferable," she finished.   
  
"Aramis, you live with the Weasleys?" Lili asked her future daughter with interest.   
  
"There was no one else for me," Aramis said shortly. "My grandparents were all dead by the time I was born, and Dinarsae- I mean Dana, was not exactly about to take me in. The Weasleys were the closest thing I had to family."   
  
"You are family, 'Mis," Rhiannon said absently. They had come to a dead end in the passageway, and she was slowly and methodically running a hand over the wall. "Where is that handle," she muttered. "Darn thing won't stay put... ah, here it is!" Triumphantly, she placed her hand over a handle, and loudly proclaimed, "Rhiannon Hester Weasley, Seer; Level B1. Phoenix activist, codename; Epona. Password: Hogwarts." The handle shot a spark of light into her hand, and she stepped back. "Now each of you," she instructed. "Full name. List yourself as Mage first, then your element. After that, you are a guest, and Aramis is your sponsor. Got it?" All five nodded.   
  
Ron stepped up first, and fingered the handle. "Ronald Matthew Weasley, Mage, Fire. Guest. Sponsor; Aramis Nicole Grey. Password?" He questioned Rhiannon, who nodded vigorously. "Password Hogwarts." The spark of light shot into him, and he moved away from the wall. The others followed suit, finishing with Aramis.   
  
"Aramis Nicole Grey, Siren, Level One. Phoenix activist, codename: Musketeer. Password, Hogwarts. Sponsorship password for Ronald Matthew Weasley, Hermione Anne Granger, Harold James Potter, Liliana Josephine Grey, and Draco Philip Malfoy: Fritos." She got the customary jolt of light, but did not let go of the handle. "End of list. Open sesame!" she gave a tug on the handle, and the wall slid open. With a smile at the Mages, they all entered.   
  
"The name 'The Burrow' was taken from the Weasley household when the Phoenix community went underground. Most people thought it was appropriate to name the community as a whole 'The Burrow,' and now the Weasley house is generally known as Rapunzel's Tower, because all the doors and windows on the first and second floor are blocked off, although it's technical name is still The Burrow. The Floo network will recognize it as both, though," Rhiannon informed them as she casually led them down the street of a giant underground plaza. Lili and Harry tried not to gawk too much, but Ron and Draco apparently had no shame about it. Hermione shook her head miserably. "Us Weasleys- and Greys- have our own trick for getting in, though," Rhiannon continued. She obviously loved to talk. "Watch this." Clapping her hands in a complicated pattern, she cried; "Rapunzel, Rapunzel, let down your hair, that we may climb the fiery stair." She clapped again, and a long ladder dropped from a top window. "The traditional phrase is 'golden stair,' but who's to say Rapunzel was a blonde anyway?" Rhiannon asked, starting up the ladder. Aramis followed her, and the Mages followed.   
  
Rhiannon pulled herself through the window that the ladder emerged from, and reached back out to help the others. The moment the Hermione, who was last, had fallen through the window, the ladder evaporated in a small cloud of orange smoke. Rhiannon smiled with delight, then called out; "Grandma! Grandpa! Look who's here!"   
  
"Your grandfather's not here, Rhiannon dear, and what have I told you and Aramis about screaming in the house?" The voice of Molly Weasley hadn't changed a bit, it was still as warm and caring as ever.   
  
"Yes yes, Grandma, don't do it, but you really need to come and see this!" Rhiannon roleld her eyes.   
  
"All right, all right dear, I'm coming. What have you and Aramis done this time, and why is it so important that I have to stop the dishes and- oh my goodness!" Mrs. Weasley had rounded the corner and entered the room, and promptly dropped the dish she was still drying, causing it to be shattered into a million pieces. "Ron?" She gasped out.   
  
Ron stared at his mother. This version of her looked so different than the mother he had been living with for the past seventeen years. Her hair had much more gray in it than it used to, and her face was lined with age and worry. "Hi, Mum," he heard himself say, and then he choked, because Mrs. Weasley had grabbed hold of him and was hugging him so tightly that he could barely breathe.   
  
"Ron- where have you been- we all thought you were dead- twelve years and you couldn't even send us a single owl?" Ron grinned. Only his mother would mix tears of relief at finding her son alive with scolding. She let go of him, and saw the others. "Harry! Hermione! Lili! Draco!" She hugged each of them in turn, and Ron looked both shocked and revolted to see his mother hugging a Malfoy. Draco, too, looked less than pleased, although Lili, if no one else, could easily see that he was faking. "Where on Earth have you all been for twelve years? You couldn't even send your family an owl, much less the children who didn't know if their parents were alive or dead!" Relief evaporated, Mrs. Weasley had gone to that old mother classic, scolding.   
  
"Um- Ron- why did your mother hug me?" Lili whispered, confused. "I've never even met her. I'm not even going into Draco."   
  
"Obviously you knew her before the other you left," Ron whispered back. "And thanks for not asking about Malfoy, I don't want to think of that."   
  
"Oh- I have to owl Arthur-" Mrs. Weasley was frantically scurrying around the room, collecting parchement and quills. As she tossed it to the owl, who grabbed it in its talons and flew out the window, Harry noticed the envelope read DEN FATHER. "But what- no, I'll save the questions for when everybody gets home. For now, everybody relax, I'm making us a dinner to remember!" And she scurried off downstairs.   
  
"That's my Mum, alright," Ron said fondly. "Good, bad, or scary, making dinner will solve it all."   
  
"I hope it's good," Draco muttered, flopping onto a nearby sofa. "I'm starved."   
  
Ron looked at him in amazement. "Are you joking, Malfoy? My mother is the best cook this world has ever seen. Better than your Mum, I'm sure."   
  
Draco sat up. "Leave my mother out of this," he growled. Ron clenched his fists, and Hermione looked at Lili pleadingly.   
  
Lili shrugged. "I'm sick of playing peacemaker. Let them kill each other." she turned away, and Hermione sighed.   
  
"Both of you sit, right now," she said forcefully. "Ron, Ma- Draco. Sit. Do not look at, speak to, or even breathe at each other. Got it?" She looked at them with a glint in her eye not unlike Professor McGonagall, and they both sat immediately. "Boys." She shook her head. "Always needing a babysitter." She sat down next to Ron, and watched as Lili sat down between Draco and Harry. She leaned her head against Harry's shoulder, and watched thoughtfully as Aramis scooped up a small cat that had been passing by.   
  
"Hello, Bastet," she said to it softly, stroking its fur.   
  
**Hello, Aramis Panther,** the cat replied, arching its head a little bit more towards her hands. **You have guests.** Lili's ears perked up, and she listened intently.   
  
"Yes, I do," the girl responded. "This is Ron and Hermione Weasley- er, Ron Weasley and Hermione Granger, Rhiannon's parents, Draco Malfoy and Harry Potter, and my mother, Liliana Grey."   
  
The cat looked indifferently at each of the Mages. A cat's intrest was never held for long, and those unworthy of it were barely even noticed. But Bastet was staring sharply at Lili with her green-yellow eyes. **Your mother, you say, little Panther? This one is a Catspeaker as well. The Lioness.**   
  
"The Lioness?" Lili asked, unable to keep quiet for any longer. The non-Greys in the room stopped their conversation and looked at her. "Sorry," she blushed. Like a Parselmouth speaking to snakes, when she spoke to cats it sounded like meowing.   
  
"My mother is a Catspeaker too?" Aramis asked, almost reverently.   
  
"Well, yes," Lili replied bluntly. "Naguret, the first cat I ever talked to, a lioness, actually, told me that I was decended from someone called the Great Catspeaker. Therefore, so are you."   
  
"The Great Catspeaker," Hermione murmured. "I've heard of a woman called that. There was also a woman known as the Tiger Queen, although whether they were the same person or different is unclear. Obviously, they... well, spoke to cats. Well, felines."   
  
"All Catspeakers are women, and all have a title that they are known as to the cats. The Tiger Queen; the Cougar; the Wildcat. I am known as the Panther, and you, Mother, were the Lioness. The cats consider you a legend, second only to the Tiger Queen herself. They refuse to tell me why, though. And I have to say, it's irritating when I'm known as the Lioness's cub."   
  
Lili grinned lopsidedly. "Didja hear that, folks? I'm famous!"   
  
"You were already famous, Earth," Draco pointed out. "We all are. Mages, remember?"   
  
"Oh yeah." She paused. "Do I have any other titles?" The others rolled their eyes.   
  
Hermione answered. "We all have the Mage titles, Lili," she told her friend. "There are a lot of those. Most of them are along the lines of Daughter of the Sea, or Son of the Flame, but there are others. The Earth Mage can be known as the Daughter, and the Air Mage can be called the Breeze, and oh; there are so many others..."   
  
"Cool." Lili smiled. "So what do we do now?"   
  
Ron stood up and sniffed the air. "If the smell is any indication, I'd say we go eat dinner." Rhiannon and Aramis nodded emphatically, and all stood. Sure enough, a moment later, Mrs. Weasley's voice rang out through the house, calling all to dinner. All five Mages, and their children, thumped down the steps like a herd of elephants. Lined up along the table, each in front of a chair, were Arthur and Molly Weasley, Fred and George, Charlie and Ginny. Mrs. Weasley was beaming, the others looked at them in shock.   
  
And then five wands were pointed directly at them. "Arthur!" Mrs. Weasley shrieked, and her husband's eyes flickered towards her. Fred, George, Charlie, and Ginny didn't even blink.   
  
Ginny spoke. "Ron is dead. So are the rest of the Mages. We're not fooled. Who are you?" Her voice was hard and unfeeling, and she spoke in short, clipped sentences.   
  
"And oh, by the way, drop the wands," Charlie added sarcastically. Harry noticed that his left leg seemed shorter than his right, and he walked with a limp. "Now."   
  
Lili's eyes darted around frantically, for once she seemed to be at a loss. Harry nodded grimly, and the wands dropped from the Mages' hands. Charlie gestured to Aramis and Rhiannon, and they scurried over to him. But instead of huddling under his outstretched, protective arm, they jumped in front of the wands.   
  
"Aramis! Rhiannon! What in the hell do you think you're doing!" Fred cried. Ginny elbowed him and muttered something about watching his language, but he ignored her.   
  
"No, no, you don't get it!" Rhiannon cried to her uncles. "These really ARE them! We-" she paused, hesitating, and Aramis spoke up.   
  
"We performed the Levart Emit Charm," she told them, her face impassive.   
  
Ginny gasped. "Aramis- that's illegal!"   
  
"Yeah, but it's not enforced," the brunette grinned wryly.   
  
"A girl after my own heart," Lili muttered. George glanced at her with a grin, before remembering that he thought she was a Death Eater.   
  
"Prove who you are," Mr. Weasley told them steadily. "Answer my questions." He looked them over quickly, then asked; "Ron, what happened to the pet puffskein you had when you were seven?"   
  
"Fred used it for bludger practice," Ron said, glaring at the twin, who at least had the decency to look embarrassed. Ginny murmured something to Charlie, and they both eyed Ron warily.   
  
"Lili, what is your favorite musical group?"   
  
"Trick question," Lili said promptly. "I don't have one, I have two. No Doubt and Blink 182."   
  
"American Muggle music," George rolled his eyes. Lili glared at him.   
  
"Hey! Blink rocks! And No Doubt is great!"   
  
"If you say so." George looked at his father. "I think they're real."   
  
"So do I." All five lowered their wands. And then there was something like an avalanche as all six of the Weasleys threw themselves on their long-lost brother. Aramis and Rhiannon, huddled in the background, smiled happily and shook hands with satisfaction.   
  
Ginny remembered the others first. With a scream that made her niece wince, she hugged Hermione so hard Rhiannon thought she heard a rib crack. The rest of the Weasleys fell on the Mages, hugging, kissing, and otherwise embarrassing them.   
  
"Glad to see you too," said Harry, when Ginny let go of him. "Now, how about dinner? We're starving."   
  
  
  
(A/N) Okay, I thought that would be a good place to stop it. It was getting kind of long, and I'm sure kind of boring. And ten points to anyone who can tell me about the inspiration for the title! Now, it may be awhile until the next chapter comes out, because report cards come out next week. Let's leave it at that, shall we? But trust me, the real action starts soon. R&R!


	6. Dinarsae

DISCLAIMER: This story is based on characters and situations created and owned by JK Rowling, various publishers including but not limited to Bloomsbury Books, Scholastic Books and Raincoast Books, and Warner Bros., Inc. No money is being made and no copyright or trademark infringement is intended. Hah!  
  
  
  
  
(A/N) The song in this chapter is one of my favorites. Enjoy.  
  
  
  
  
CHAPTER FIVE: DINARSAE  
  
  
  
The infirmary at Hogwarts was clean, quiet, and empty. Save for seven figures. Five were lying, eyes closed, breathing shallowly. The other two stood, watching the rest.  
  
"What's wrong with them, Headmaster?" Minerva McGonagall asked quietly.  
  
"We don't know," Albus Dumbledore answered her in the same tone. "Poppy has inspected all of them thoroughly, and nothin at all seems to be wrong with them. For all appearances, they are simply sleeping. There is no harm being done to them, physically or mentally. Nothing we do has any effect."  
  
"Then what do we do, Albus?" McGonagall cried, reaching down to stroke Hermione's hair. The girl had always been a favorite with her.  
  
"We wait, Minerva," he said simply. "It's all we can do. Wait, and hope."  
  
*************************************************************************************  
  
Apparently, in the terms of the Weasley family (except for Mrs. Weasley), 'dinner' was shorthand for 'briefing.' Ginny, the family member with the most talent for condesing epics into haiku, filled the Mages in.  
  
"Our movement's been fighting Dinarsae since her ascent to power. She fights us with soldiers that she calls Dinarli. 'Dinar's loyal ones.' Dinarsae means 'Power of Dinar,'" Ginny explained. "And Dinar is 'dark' in Aldaric."  
  
"Um, question from the under-informed," Lili rose her hand. "What is Aldaric?"  
  
Hermione beat Ginny to it. "Aldaric is the language of the first wizards and witches. It and Latin are the two languages we use for most of our spell incantations, and some legends say that the language itself has incredible power, and simply saying something in it can make it come true."  
  
"Heavy stuff," Lili said, and the rest of the table nodded in agreement with her.  
  
"But Dana was smart to use it," Draco told her. "'Dinar's Power?' Spoken in words that just might make it true?" Somehow, he managed to make eye contact with every one of the twelve other people seated at the table at the same time. "She would have made a good Slytherin."  
  
"No, she makes a good lying, cheating, despicable scumbag of a creature," Lili said sharply. "She makes a good nothing else."  
  
The others looked at her, and Lili could not help but see the pity from all of them. All except for Aramis, who clearly felt the same anger as she did to be related to the person who was causing harm to the ones she loved most. And Draco, whose face and eyes were carefully blank.  
  
"You're taking it hard," Draco said neutrally.  
  
Lili stood up abruptly, knocking her chair over with a loud thump. "Taking it hard? Taking it hard? Friggin' hell, I've just found out that my own little sister, who I've lived with for almost fifteen years, now, is not only responsible for the death of the rest of my family, not to mention my future self, but she's also taken over the Americas, Asia, and half of Europe!" She closed her eyes for a moment, and held her hands at waist length, looking as though she was trying to calm herself down. Slowly, she opened her eyes. Without a word, she swept away from the table, and all of them heard the front door slam.  
  
Aramis rose from her seat. "I'll go get Mother," she offered. "If I'm not back in fifteen minutes, my will's in Rhi's sock drawer." She nimbly hopped over Lili's fallen chair, and slammed the front door so hard on her way out that plaster fell from the ceiling, and the ghoul in the attic could be heard yelling at her to stop that racket, and young people had no respect these days.  
  
"Well," said George lightly. "I see her temper's not changed." Mrs. Weasley shook her head in exasperation at her son and rose from her seat to pick up Lili's chair.  
  
*************************************************************************************  
  
"Mother?" Aramis called softly. She suspected where she would find her, and as she padded quietly across the turf, she saw she was right. Lili was standing by the edge of the Weasley's pond, one hand on an overhanging tree branch, the other hanging limply at her side. Somehow, the Weasley's garden looked just as though they really were outdoors, instead of underground. Aramis doubted she had been heard, and moved quietly to her mother's side. She had always loved people's reaction to the way she could move without being heard. She opened her mouth to speak.  
  
"I shouldn't have said that inside. I certainly hope you didn't inherit my temper, Aramis."  
  
Aramis closed her mouth in surprise. "How'd you know I was there? And it was me?"  
  
Lili turned and looked at her. "I heard your footsteps, of course. And no one else walks that way. Ron has those big galumphing footsteps, Harry's are just slightly quieter, but a bit more confident. Hermione's are very brisk and purposeful, and Draco's are usually slow, confident, and somewhat dramatic. Rhiannon, I noticed already, walks like she's a celebrity. Like the world is waiting for her. Fred and George raised her mostly, didn't they?"  
  
Aramis nodded, grinning. "Grandmam couldn't drag the three of them apart. Said she wanted Rhiannon to be a lady, but Rhi never put up with it."  
  
"And let me guess- you spent most of your time with Ginny?"  
  
"Got it, Mother."  
  
"You walk a lot like me- almost silently, but with the impression that you can most definitely take care of yourself, should the need arise." Lili looked at Aramis affectionately. For someone who hated kids and loved weaponry, she was really just a big softy inside. "You're a good kid, Aramis. I know that my future self is going to regret missing raising you like all hell." Recollecting her babysitting jobs of the past, she wrinkled her nose. "Well- maybe not like all hell," she amended, thinking of a bucketful of dirty diapers. Aramis giggled, she was pretty sure of what her mother was thinking.  
  
"Cousin Emily is only six years old," Aramis said as they started to walk back. "I was old enough to help out when she was born. I know enough about babies to know I'm never having one."  
  
"I'll remind you of that when I turn out to be the grandmother of three," Lili said with a wry smile. Then she paused. "D'you have any idea how weird this feels? Talking to your fourteen year-old daughter when you're seventeen?"  
  
"Freaky," Aramis commented, preferring not to give it too much thought. "Isn't this one of those- you know? Time paradoxes or whatever they're called?"  
  
Lili frowned in concentration. "No, those are like- like- like when you are riding in a convertible, and you lose your hat you're wearing, and you go back in time to get the hat, and you see yourself in a convertible driving down the road and losing your hat. And the you in the car will, in a moment, come back in time to find the hat and see another you in the convertible, driving down the road and losing your hat. It goes on forever."  
  
"No, that's a closed-loop time paradox," came a drawling voice to their right. Both mother and daughter turned, and saw none other than Draco Malfoy, sitting on a low branch of a tree. "I'm pretty sure a time paradox is just when you have two versions of you in the same time." He hopped out of the tree and went to stand in front of Lili. "I- I'm sorry for what I said before," he said hurriedly. "It was stupid to say, and I should have known you'd react like that. I'm sorry." He said the last two words as if they were painful to squeeze out, and his eyes squinched shut, as though he was expecting the wrath of hundreds of generations of Malfoys to suddenly fall upon him.  
  
Lili chuckled silently. "Well, I don't know," she said carefully. Draco's eyes flew open, and he looked at her, horrified. She laughed. "Draco, I was joking, of course. If anything, I should be apologizing to you. I bit your head off when you were only trying to be nice and helpful. Well - um, you weren't being hostile..."  
  
Aramis giggled, and they looked at her. Somehow, they had ended up walking next to each other, with Aramis between them. The black-haired girl looked up at them (she was a good four inches shorter than even the petite Hermione) with an odd expression on her face.  
  
"What?" Lili asked her, shaking her out of her reverie.  
  
"Oh, nothing," she replied. "I don't think I told you: the Cousins Brady, as they're nicknamed, are coming for a visit. Charlie's kids, in other words. Jo, Marc, and Ady. Need a briefing?"  
  
"Definitely." Lili was notorious for her bad memory with names.  
  
"All right then. Jodette, or Jo, is the oldest. Looks just like her mum. Blond, blue eyed, smart, the whole nine yards. Seems like a real Mary Sue."  
  
"Mary Sue?" Draco asked, confused.  
  
"In the eternal words of Mary Poppins, someone who is 'practically perfect in every way'," Aramis explained. "She's pretty cool, most of the time, though. You've just got to bring out her inner rebel. No sense of humor, though. Jo is sixteen," she finished. "And then there's Marc. Blond and blue eyed, like Jo and his mother, but he's got Charlie's build, although he's already taller than Charlie. Rhiannon complains constantly of the fact that what must be the single most attractive male on Earth is her cousin." She grinned. "He's an incredible jerk, though. He's fifteen, so he thinks he's got it all over on me, Rhi, and Ady." She glanced at them to see if they were paying attention. They were. "Ady is most definitely the easiest Delacour-Weasley to get along with. Have you ever heard the saying that they have in families with three kids? The oldest is the leader, the middle is the conformist, and the youngest is the rebel." They shook their heads. "Well, it describes this bunch perfectly. Ady is the only one in the family with red hair, although it's a darker red than the rest of the Weasley family. Gray eyes. She's six months younger than me, so she'll be turning fourteen in a month."  
  
"Ah," said Lili, using her all-purpose response. She was feeling a little overwhelmed. Aramis seemed to notice effectively, and guided the group back to the house.  
  
"Aramis!" Mrs. Weasley cried. "Where on Earth have you been? You've had a hard day, you go in bed. Now!"  
  
"Yes, Grandmam," Aramis said politely. Showing no emotion at all, good or bad, she began up the stairway. She was halfway up when she hestitated, and turned around. "Mother?" she said falteringly. "I was wondering if- well, when I was little, you used to sing to me while I fell asleep. I was thinking-" two pale spots of color rose into her cheeks.  
  
Lili nodded. "Of course. Go get changed for bed. I'll be up in a few minutes." Aramis nodded happily and disappeared up the steps. Lili collapsed in a chair. "Dear gods," she muttered. "I'm actually acting like a mother. Why me? Why?" She raised her eyes to the ceiling, and Draco smirked.  
  
"Fate cannot be altered," he intoned mysteriously. "If it is your destiny to have children-" he was cut off as Lili hurled a pillow at him.  
  
*************************************************************************************  
  
Lili stepped hestitatingly into Aramis's room. She smiled to see that it was painted entirely in royal purple, which, if giving it a darker feel, seemed to suit Aramis's temperament perfectly. The silver trim on the windowsill flowed like water, and the gauzy curtains gave the room a more mystical feel. Lili sat down on the end of the bed.  
  
"All right," she said. "Any song you want to hear in particular?"  
  
Aramis tilted her head thoughtfully. "I.. think... that one that was your favorite. I can't remember what it was like, but you sang it so often, I know it must have been your favorite. It was very sad, though."  
  
Lili smiled. "Scarborough Fair." She closed her eyes for a moment, then, with a breath, began.  
  
"Are you going to Scarborough Fair?  
Parsley, sage, rosemary and thyme  
Remember me to one who lives there  
For he once was a true love of mine  
  
Tell him to make me a cambric shirt  
Parsley, sage, rosemary and thyme  
Without a seam or fine needlework  
And then he'll be a true love of mine  
  
Tell him to wash it in yonder dry well  
Parsley, sage, rosemary and thyme  
Where ne'er a drop of water e'er fell  
And then he'll be a true love of mine  
  
Tell him to find me an acre of land  
Parsley, sage, rosemary and thyme  
Between the sea and over the sand  
And then he'll be a true love of mine  
  
Plow the land with the horn of a lamb  
Parsley, sage, rosemary and thyme  
And sow it with seeds from north of the dam  
And then he'll be a true love of mine  
  
If he tells me he can't I'll reply  
Parsley, sage, rosemary and thyme  
Then let me know that at least he will try  
And then he'll be a true love of mine  
  
Love imposes impossible tasks  
Parsley, sage, rosemary and thyme  
Though not more than any heart asks  
And I must know he's a true love of mine  
  
Dear, when thou hast finished thy task  
Parsley, sage, rosemary and thyme  
Come to me, my hand for to ask  
For thou then art a true love of mine."  
  
Lili didn't know it, and if she had she probably would never have agreed to sing, but sound carried far in the Burrow. Everyone heard the song, and, for a moment, stopped what they were doing to listen to the sorrowful words and the voice that sang them. But Lili didn't know it. And so, when she had finished, she rose from the end of the bed, kissed the sleeping girl lightly on the forehead, and left the room, closing the door softly behind her.  
  
She stepped softly down the stairs, and sat down in a an overstuffed armchair. A moment later, Ginny and Mr. Weasley herded the rest of the Mages in, and, with a quick locking spell, Mr. Weasley sealed the door.  
  
"There," he said. "Now we can't be disturbed. You need to find out all you can about Dinarsae. Ginny?" His daughter stepped forward, tossing her hair over her shoulder in a quick and impatient manner.  
  
"Dinarsae is deeply involved in the Dark Art of necromancy. It is rumored that the Dinarli are really reanimated corpses, but no one knows for sure. Anyone close enough to have seen a Dinarlus is in no shape to tell us about them." She smiled grimly. "So when we attack, watch out. Stun rather than kill, because a dead anything may turn into a live Dinarlus." She nodded once, firmly, as if to fix the instructions in their minds.  
  
"Dinarsae has compounds in several countries, across all six of the seven inhabitable continents. There are seven in the Americas, four in Europe, six in Asia, five in Africa, and two in Australia. The one we are concerned with is in the country of France. It is Dinarsae's most used compound, and she is scheduled to stay in that compound until June twenty-ninth. Today is April third," she added. "We believe that the best time to attack her is on or around April sixth. You see," she went on. "The wards on Dinarsae's fortresses have to be renewed annually. It's impossible to attack while the wards are down, because it's only a fraction of a second, but the wards are slightly weaker directly after being renewed."  
  
Draco narrowed his eyes. "But staying in the fortress while the wards are weaker and she's more vulnerable? Is it just me, or does that kind of scream 'trap' to anyone?"  
  
Lili gave him a wry smile, telling him she thought the same, but Ginny shook her head. "A trap is possible. Hell, a trap is probably what it is. But it's our only chance." Lili held up her hands in defeat, and Draco muttered something. Harry managed to catch the words "idiot" "Gryffindors" and "never see an inch in front of their noses, the-".  
  
"All right, so we attack in three days. Got it. Doesn't give us much time though."  
  
"No, it doesn't. We need to get our plans together. Dinarsae guards her fortress with both Muggle and magic technology, so we need someone who knows Muggle guard systems. Fortunately, Charlie's daughter Ady is a hacker, and a damn good one. She'll get us past the security systems, and her siblings Marc and Jo can work togther and take down the wards. That family is made for that kind of work. Never let it be said that Fleur Delacour lets her children be ignorant."  
  
"Damn straight," called a voice, and Harry looked up. Where a roaring fire had been blazing were now standing three teenagers: the older girl and the boy were both tall, blue eyed, and platinum blond. The youngest, a girl, had a wild mane of Weasley red hair and wicked gray eyes. "Mum never raised no fools," the youngest girl continued. Her sister elbowed her.  
  
"Sorry we're early, Aunt Ginny," the blond said smoothly. "Mum had to get out on some business really fast. Said it was classified."  
  
"I'm sure Jo and Marc don't want to impose, and would be more than happy to spend the night in the yard," the other girl said wickedly. The boy squirmed.  
  
"Don't be silly," Ginny said with a grin at her niece. "You're sleeping inside." The blonds looked vaguely relieved. "Now, aren't you going to say hello to our guests?"  
  
The blond girl started, then, to the amazement of all five Mages, actually curtsied. "My apologies for not seeing you," she murmured. "I am Jodette Alissa Delacour-Weasley."  
  
The boy bowed. "I share my sister's regrets. I am Marcus Arthur Delacour-Weasley."  
  
The third girl grinned, and cracked her gum loudly. The formal mood was instantly shattered. "Ady D.-W.," she introduced herself, holding out a hand. Ron took it and shook it firmly.  
  
"Ady!" her sister cried, shocked. "What did Mum tell you, if you introduced yourself like that again?"  
  
Ady rolled her eyes. Reluctantly, she wobbled into an akward curtsey. "Adele Trixie Delacour-Weasley," she muttered. "I go by Ady." She straightened, and looked a good deal more comfortable as she leaned against the mantlepiece. "Now who the hell are you?" Jo looked as though she was ready to strangle Ady.  
  
Ginny sighed, and began the introductions. I believe I will skip this part, as the reactions are quite predictable, and it is not truly nessecary to the story.  
  
"All right. Back to business," Ginny said, once all the hubbub had settled. "Ady, do you think you can hack into Dinarsae's computer system?"  
  
"I've done it before," the girl said, confused. "And she never makes it any more complicated, just stranger. I can do it, sure."  
  
"Jo? Marc? Can you lift Dinarsae's wards?"  
  
The siblings looked at each other. "If we have time to study them, sure."  
  
"You've got three days."  
  
"Three days?" Jo stood up and glared at her aunt. "Aunt Gin, we'd need a week to analyze normal spells effectively! There's no way we can get Dinarsae's wards done in three days!"  
  
"Have you tried?" Ginny smiled infuriatingly, and Jo sat again, defeated and frustrated. "Right then. Three days. Ady, you take the system, Jo and Marc are on wards, the Mages form the attacking team, and me, the twins, and-" she groaned. "Aramis and Rhiannon- don't glare at me like that Lili, there's no one else- will be backup. Got it? Good. Now, to the next order of business: bed."  
  
*************************************************************************************  
  
Of course, the three days passed as though they were three hours. The day arrived, and nothing was in place.  
  
"Mum!" Rhiannon cried. "I want to be in the attack party!"  
  
"No, Rhiannon," Hermione said calmly. She and Rhiannon had easily fallen into a mother-daughter relationship that was right out of a fifties TV show. "You can be in the backup group." Well, maybe not a fifties TV show. "Now, people, let's go! Ginny, d'you have the Portkey?"  
  
"Rght here," she said, holding up a pair of sunglasses. "We ready? Right then, let's go." Ady, Jo, Marc, Ginny, Fred, George, Aramis, Rhiannon, Lili, Draco, Harry, Hermione, and Ron all crowded around the sunglasses. It was extremely crowded. Ginny checked her watch. "Five, four, three, two- one!" Harry felt the familiar jerking behind his navel, and, a moment later, they stood (or, in most cases, sprawled) across a barren landscape under a gray sky. A small grove of trees stood nearby, but there were no leaves. Just gray trunks with dead limbs reaching up toward the sky.  
  
Ady pulled out her laptop. "All righty then," she said, typing something up quickly. Instantly, a 3-D image of the fortress standing in front of them popped onto the screen. She pressed a key, and every entrance suddenly glowed red. She pressed another key, and a large purple bubble surrounded the fortress image. "It'll take me a bit to break these codes," she said, typing rapidly. "But I can definitely do them. Woman's got no imagination, I tell you. Codes are so plain. Not even an effort to make them a bit interesting," she tsked. "Jo? Marc? The wards, if you will?"  
  
Jo nodded briskly, and rolled up her sleeves. Marc pulled out his wand and touched it lightly to Jo's. The two began muttering in low voices, and slowly, slowly, the purple bubble surrounding the image of the fortress began to fade away. When all that was left was a faint lavender-colored haze; Ady began typing rapidly. A small beeping sound emitted from the computer, and three of the red glows around the doors disappeared. Ady turned to Harry.  
  
"Right. Head straight over to the fortress, stick to the shadows, if you can. Find the shabbiest door, it's got the phrase 'Abandon Hope All Ye Who Enter Here' over it. In the code lock by the door, punch in 624-3827. That should get you inside. Once you're in there, I can't help you. And oh, don't worry about the tingling feeling when you pass through the wards. It's perfectly normal. Now go!" Ady gave Harry's kneecaps a shove from her sitting position on the ground.  
  
"It's nice to see Dana hasn't lost her warped sense of humor," Lili said, looking up at the words above the door. They were in neon pink calligraphy, and covered with little flowers. "I suppose some things never change. Let's go." The Mages slipped through the door.  
  
"Wands out, do you reckon?" Ron said quietly. Harry winced. The others had no way of knowing it, but that was almost exactly Cedric Diggory's last words. Even after three years, it was still something he'd rather not think about. The Mages all yanked out their wands, and Harry led the way down the corridor.  
  
"Dana always did have horrific decorating taste," Lili mumbled, as they crept down a hallway lit by lava lamps and candlesticks. The carpeting was in leopard-print, and the walls were neon green. Several paintings adorned the walls, all with their back to the intruders, a few muttering about the horrible view. At Lili's words, a small girl in a pink ruffled dress turned around.  
  
The painting and the girl made eye contact for just one second. Each was as surprised to see the other, and the moment stretched for eternity. The painting's mouth curled into a small pink 'o'.  
  
"INTRUDERS!" The painting shrieked, shattering the silence. "AWAKEN THE DINARLI! INTRUDERS IN THE FORTESS!"  
  
"Nice work, Earth," Draco puffed out as the Mages broke into a run. "Can't you keep your big mouth shut?"  
  
"Shut up, Draco," Lili called as she passed him. All along the hallway, paintings were waking up or turning around with muttered words or cries of alarm. All joined in the general cry of warning. "I don't have time for this now," Lili muttered as they turned a corner.  
  
And almost ran directly into several large spears. All five skidded to a halt, shocked. There were about fifty Dinarli, and not all were armed with simple spears. Some carried Muggle guns, and some carried wands. And the creatures were like something out of a nightmare. They seemed to be pieced together out of the strangest things. One of them seemed to be a faceless teddy bear, grown six feet high. Lili put a hand to her mouth. "Oh my god," she whispered. "The Dinarli are her old toys, mixed and matched together. And mine! Mr. Bear," she said sadly, looking the teddy bear. "I am so pissed, how many times have I told that girl not to touch my stuff..."  
  
"Um, Lili, I don't think this is the time," Ron said pointedly, eyeing the spear that an overgrown Barbie with dinosaur legs was wielding.  
  
A tyrannosaur with a dog's head and Barbie arms spoke up. "You are our prisoners," it croaked out. "You will come with us. Unless you will make a deal."  
  
"What deal?" Harry asked suspiciously.  
  
"Liliana Josephine Grey is to be handed willingly to us. My Mistress has no quarrel with the rest of you. Give us Liliana Josephine Grey, and my Mistress will grant you safe passage out of this fortress and to your home. No harm shall come to you. Refuse this offer, and you will be cut down where you stand, and Liliana Josephine Grey will come with us anyway." The dinosaur/dog/Barbie creation finished, and waited for a response.  
  
"We accept the deal," Lili said quickly, before the others could say anything. "I will come willingly."  
  
"What in all Hades are you talking about, Lili?" Ron said, horrified. "We're a team! We don't leave our own to the enemy!"  
  
"We do when we're outnumbered and leaving one of our own to the enemy is the only chance any of us has at surviving," Draco said harshly. "Listen, Weasley. There is no time to discuss this in a commitee. We live, and she goes, or we die, and she goes. Use common sense, and live to see another day." He turned to Lili. "Good luck." She nodded, afraid to say anything, in case her fear took hold of her and she ran. Each of her friends hugged her in turn, and the Dinarli watched impassively.  
  
Harry wrapped her in a hug. "Be- be careful, okay?" he whispered. "Don't leave an opening for her, or anything." Lili wondered how he could seem so old.  
  
She kissed him lightly. "Don't worry, I can handle myself. And hey, I lived with her for fifteen years. I figure I can live with seeing her again." She grinned. Faking expressions was easy, once you'd had some practice. She stepped away from the others, and the Dinarli moved around her. A G.I. Joe with a machine gun held out his hand, and she slipped her wand into it.  
  
With a cheerfulness that everyone saw was fake, she winked at her friends. And the the Dinarli stepped in her way, and she couldn't see anything other than fake fur and plastic skin.  
  
The Dinarli swarmed around her, forming a shield that prevented her from seeing where she was going. She followed the Dinarlus in front of her, relying on it to tell her which way to move. Twice she almost walked into it as the group turned a sharp corner.  
  
"Where are we going?" She asked, after taking a few minutes to build up the nerve.  
  
"To my Mistress," the dog-headed dinosaur said bluntly. Lili was quiet. "We are here," it said again, startling her. The Dinarli stepped aside, seemingly vanishing into thin air. Lili stood alone in the center of the room.  
  
In front of her was a chair. And in this chair, sat the most beautiful woman Lili had ever in her life seen. She had flawless ivory skin, and coils of silky black hair topped with a golden tiara falling down her back. Her black eyes sparkled under perfectly arched eyebrows, and the dress she wore was form-fitting purple silk, contrasting beautifully with the pale skin that showed under wide sleeves and at her throat. "Hello, sister," the woman said.  
  
Lili's fear edged away. Thirty years old or not, drop-dead-gorgeous or not, this was still her little sister, who had thrown peas at her across the dinner table and taken her clothes. "Hello, Dana," she responded confidently. "I hear you're making a name for yourself."  
  
"You hear correctly," Dana, or Dinarsae, replied. "I controll both the Americas, Europe, and most of Asia. World domination isn't as hard as it seems, you know."   
  
"I'd bet," Lili said, arching an eyebrow. Dana laughed, a pretty sound, like metal tapping against glass.  
  
"Just like the old days, eh, sister? Me thinking I can do anything, you knocking me down a peg when I need it. Or when I don't need it," she added. "But I have a suggestion for you. Join me. It would be nice to have my sister around for advice. And your powers would come in handy."  
  
"What is it with evil villians going for world domination asking me to join them?" Lili mused. Dana laughed again.  
  
"But seriously. Join me, Lili. Together, we can rule the world. As sisters, we will be unstoppable!"  
  
"Dana, you've been watching too much Star Wars."  
  
Dana's face darkened. "I am not Dana. Dana is the name my parents gave me, and it is not me. I have named myself, and it is a truer name than Dana. I am Dinarsae."  
  
"Right then. Dinarsae. Excuse me while I go write you up a new birth certificate. Honestly, no one likes their name. Especially me. Remember, Mom always calls me 'Liliana.' But I don't go around conquering countries. Dana, you-"  
  
"Enough!" Dana roared, rising from her chair. "Will you join me or not?"  
  
"No," said Lili easily. "Honestly, all these world domination plans, they give me gas, you know? I don't suppose you've got some Pepto-Bismol hanging around here."  
  
Dana sat down again, a smile fixed firmly into place. "Sister dear, your attempts to be funny always were pathetic. Shut up." Lili looked offended. "I'm not going to complete the cliche by telling you that if you don't join me, you'll die. You will anyway. We all die in the end."  
  
"Unless you managed to get hold of a Philosopher's Stone," Lili said cheerfully. She watched a muscle in Dana's cheek twitch and grinned broadly. She always had known just what buttons to push with her sister. "And by the way, can you tell me why exactly you're doing this? I mean, just to know why you've killed our parents and all," she said harshly.  
  
"Why?" Dana said, her control fading. "Why? Because I was the bad daughter, the horrible one. The one who got caught breaking rules and got punished for them, while my dear sister-" she drawled out the word "- could bring a hobo home for dinner and our mother wouldn't bat an eye. Then I went off on that exchange student trip, the first thing that I had ever done that was worth anything! Do you have any idea how hard I worked to learn Italian so I could go on that trip?" Dana's face was turning an awful purplish color. "I thought Mom and Dad would be proud of me when I got back. But no, I get home and they're raving about the fact that while I'm gone, you get whisked off to some kind of magical boarding school. And then every vacation, you'd come home all holier-than-thou with your precious powers, handing me your old textbooks and patting me on the head. Do you have any idea how much I wished I could be at that school with you?" Tears were running down her cheeks now. "Do you? At all? Ever since I saw my first Disney movie, all I cared about was the possibility of magic in the world. I thought about it night and day. But I never said anything, because I knew you'd all just pat me on the head again and whisper among yourselves, you and Mom and Dad, about my imagination. And then I found out, I found out that there was magic in the world. But I didn't have it. You did. I was never the same after that, Lili. But you never noticed, did you. Didn't bother to see that I went from getting straight A's in school to straight D's. From dressing like a prep to dressing like I should be out walking the corners. And neither did Mom or Dad. Because their attention was focused on you, their jewel, the one who could do no wrong. They didn't bother to watch little Dana in the back."  
  
"Of course they did!" Lili cried. "They loved you!"  
  
"All I wanted was a taste of the powers you had," Dana continued, oblivious. "But I didn't have them. So I stole them." She sat up straight again, and wiped the moisture from her face. The smile was back again, and this time it was genuine. And not a little crazy. For the first time in her life, Lili was really, truly afraid of her little sister. "And now I do. And the world that wouldn't let me in before will pay." She clenched her fist until her knuckles were white. A door appeared in the wall next to Lili. She edged toward it as Dana lowered her head, her hair hanging over her face.  
  
"You're insane," Lili proclaimed in a whisper.  
  
Dana looked up, and for one moment, blue eyes met black. Then Dana grinned again, and it sent chills up Lili's spine. "Then join me in my madness," she said, and with a wave of her hand sent Lili flying through the doorway.  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
(A/N) Woah, long chapter, eh? Oh well. The next one is really really short. But luckily for you, it's already written. Which means I can have it up soon. If I get at least ten reviews. No more, no less. Not nine reviews, nor eleven reviews, but ten reviews. Ten being the number of reviews there must be before the sixth chapter shall be posted.  
  
And oh yeah, there's some other stuff in this chapter I don't own. I don't own the song Scarborough Fair. Actually, I don't think anyone does, so I think I'm safe. I also don't own Star Wars, although I wish I did. By the way, the reason she says "you've been watching too much Star Wars" is that's a variation on what Vader says to Luke. Even I, the SW fanatic, can't remember it exactly, but in The Empire Strikes Back, Vader says to Luke, "Join me, and we will rule the galaxy as father and son." Or something like that.  
  
And the last bit of this chapter? the "You're insane" "Then join me in my madness" bit? That's not mine either. Belongs to the wonderful K.A. Applegate, and it comes from Animorphs book #33. I can't remember the title, sorry. However, I DO own Aldaric. I think I'll write my next essay in it. 


	7. False Soul

DISCLAIMER: Almost forgot it! I own Lili and the plot. K? Good!  
  
  
  
  
  
CHAPTER SIX: FALSE SOUL  
  
  
  
  
  
Slowly, Lili stood up. The room was clean, and brightly lit, and decorated similarly to her bedroom, had she been incredibly rich, lived in the Middle Ages, and preferred jewels to plants. The room was cluttered, though, with things: books, clothes, furniture, magical equipment. She tucked a loose strand of hair behind her ear nervously. For all its innocent appearance, the room had a sense of oppressiveness, a dark foreboding hanging over it.  
  
But she was the only person in the room. Cautiously, she poked a cushion on a chair. She wouldn't put it past Dana to have something hidden and ready to attack her. But the cushion was just a cushion, and nothing leapt out at her from a hidden corner. She glanced around the room warily, feet planted in the defensive position her father had taught her. She saw a rack of weaponry against a wall; it was purely ornamental, but nevertheless, she reached out and grabbed a sword. Now that she had a weapon in her hand, she felt much better.  
  
She began to explore the room, every sense alert for a hint of danger. The books, she found, revolved mainly around two subjects: the Dark Arts, and beautifying oneself. She dropped a copy of YM magazine in disgust.  
  
Poking at a few tapestries adorning the far wall, she noticed that one moved further than it should have. She ripped it aside, pulling up a huge cloud of dust. When her coughing subsided, she saw what the tapestry had hidden. Set into the wall was a door.  
  
She smiled. A way out of the room! She was far from foolish enough to think that Dana's game with her was finished, but as long as she was out of this room, she was satisfied. She reached for the doorknob.  
  
Just as her hand touched it, it swung open. And showed the girl standing on the other side.  
  
The girl had a pretty, oval-shaped face, with a button nose and a small rosebud mouth. Her hair was sleek gold-brown, falling in pretty curls to her waist. Her eyes were just the right distance apart, bright violet and long lashed. Her face was too perfect to be quite real, and Lili felt a chill go up her spine. The girl was dressed elegantly, but carried herself with an air that said only too clearly that she felt obedience and respect were her due.  
  
The girl quirked one delicate eyebrow. "Well?" She said in a pretty, but cold, voice. "Are you just going to stand there all day, or are you going to let me pass?" Lili's eyes narrowed. She didn't like this girl's attitude. But she slowly stepped aside, and the girl swept past her.  
  
The girl sat down gracefully at the vanity in the corner. Opening a drawer, she pulled out several hair clips and began pinning her hair up into a tower of golden curls. Lili stood and watched her, sword in hand, glaring warily at the girl.  
  
She turned around, one hand still sliding a pin into a curl. "Well? Are you going to tell me your name, or just stand there? That's very rude, you know," she added, turning back around to face the mirror.  
  
"Liliana Josephine Grey," Lili said coldly. She didn't trust this girl.  
  
"Oh?" said the girl, turning around again. This time the pin in her hand fell to the tabletop, and the two girls' attention was entirely on each other. "So you are her. I was wondering what was taking you so long."  
  
"Who in the hell are you?" Lili didn't bother to be polite. She was getting angrier by the moment. All she wanted was to leave.  
  
The girl laughed, and Lili shuddered. "You don't even know who I am! Why, that's the funniest thing!" Her voice was saccharin sweet. Sliding one last pin into her hair, she rose and swept a magnificent curtsy. "I am Liliana Josephine Grey," she said, flipping a loose curl back into place. "Welcome." She straightened, and Lili looked at her in amazement.  
  
"What the hell are you talking about? I'm Lili Grey! You're insane," she added angrily.  
  
"Oh no," the girl added, and all sweetness was gone from her voice. Now she spoke low and menacing. "I am Lili Grey. You see, I am you." Lili looked at her, suddenly terrified.  
  
The sweet mask slipped back into place. "But we can't go calling each other both by the same name. It would make things so confusing, wouldn't it? You can call me... let's see... how about Ana? The other half of the name we both share." She giggled.  
  
"You're not me," Lili snarled. "I know who I am, and I'm not you." But the girl did look startlingly like her...  
  
"Oh, but do you know who you are?" Ana said, and all pretense of nicety was gone from her. She was cold, commanding, and worst of all, powerful. "I don't think you do. You see, nobody else does. And if you don't know you, how can anybody else?"  
  
Just at that moment, the door swung open, and Draco ran in.  
  
Lili was overjoyed. "Draco!" she called out. She reached for his hand. But just as she touched him, he turned, and looked at her. And the look in his eyes was disgust, and fear, and loathing. He jerked his hand away, and moved to stand next to Ana.  
  
"What are you doing?" Lili screamed, watching in horror as Ana kissed the boy gently on the cheek.  
  
"Why, I'm being myself, of course," Ana said, smiling cruelly. "And being myself is being you. Except," she said, leaning close to Lili and whispering to her, "I'm a much better Lili Grey than you are. Don't you think, love?" Draco nodded, looking at Lili with the utmost revulsion.  
  
Lili shook her head. "This isn't real," she said firmly. "My friends know who I am. And they know that you're not me."  
  
Ana laughed, and with a twitch of her fingers, Lili's sword was in her hand. And then in Draco's chest. Lili screamed, and the world seemed to go in slow motion as Draco looked at Ana with an expression of utmost betrayal. The he collapsed, and time set itself right again. Lili flung herself at the spot where he was, with blood from his would seeping into the floor underneath him.  
  
"Draco," she sobbed.  
  
Then he was dead, with a whispered, "Lili?" But it was to Ana. Even as he died, Ana's power still held him. Lili looked up at her double, eyes filled with tears. The other girl shrugged, not concerned with the death of the boy.  
  
"Suit yourself, if you think that. But I know what you really feel, Lili. I know how your mind is starting to waver, to question what you've believed before. To wonder if I really am you." Lili cradled Draco's lifeless form, silent tears streaming down her cheeks, ignoring the blood that was seeping into her clothes.  
  
"You see," Ana said, sitting at her vanity once more. "I really am a better Liliana Grey." She began to pull out the pins in her hair, and as she did, she spoke. "I'm beautiful." Pin one dropped with a clink. It was true. Lili, while she could be pretty, if she worked at it, was not the beauty that Ana was. "I'm powerful." Pin two. This was right, also. Lili could feel the power radiating off Ana like cheap perfume. "I am far more intelligent than you." Again, true. Lili, though smart, was not known for her brains, merely her magery and fighting ability. "I can fool your friends, your enemies, anyone." Pin three. Ana was a perfect actress. "I am kind." Pin four. "Or, I can act kind." Ana smiled mirthlessly. Lili had a good heart, but she never really showed it. Ana would. "I can offer your friends more than any of them could ever dream of." Pin five. Ana's lovely hair fell down. She turned, and placed her hands on the arms of the chair Lili kneeled in front of. She spoke slowly and passionately, with more anger than Lili had ever heard in a voice.  
  
"I am everything that you are, Lili, and what is more, I'm everything you're not. I am the you that is inside, only a thousand times better. And I will separate myself from you and your weaknesses, and I will become you. Lili is gone. Ana remains." Ana stood straight, and Lili, her last strength gone, collapsed into tears.  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
(A/N) Oooh, cliffie! I'm such a sadist... well, not really. I just like saying I am. And I am extremely depressed; I got THREE reviews! I asked for 10, and I got THREE? That was just wrong. I'd better get 10 more this time. Otherwise, you'll have to wait at least a month for the next chapter. There must be 30 reviews for this story before the next chapter gets up. Or, you'll have to wait for up to two months. I'll do it. Don't think I won't.  
  
So, I FINALLY went and saw the HP movie. (Mmmm.... Sean Biggerstaff......mmmm....) It wasn't bad, but it definitely could have been better. And Tom Felton, who plays Draco? His hair looked plastic! Nooooooo!!!! What have they done to my poor Drakie-Wakie's hair?!?!?!? (Okay, lay off the coffee, MW.... how many times have I told myself that? Too many....)  
  
Okay, MW is rambling here, so I'm going to end with two things: one, PLEASE read my songfic, Suspension Without Suspense. It was good, and I only have 1 review for it (thanks, Ady!). And my other songfic, too, Draco's Song. (I figured out that it had already been done AFTER I posted it.) And, please review! K? Thanks!  
  
-M.W. 


	8. Nameless

DISCLAIMER: I own nothing.  
  
  
  
CHAPTER SEVEN: NAMELESS  
  
  
  
A tall girl wandered across a barren landscape. Tangled hair hung in her eyes, hiding their size and their slate-blue color.  
  
"Where am I?" She spoke out loud to herself. "More importantly, who am I?" She looked around. The scene was dark and dull, and nothing sparked a memory. she felt a tear roll down her cheek, and she brushed it aside. "Why am I crying?" she wondered. "What is going on?" she screamed at the sky, and sat down on the ground with an ungraceful thud.  
  
A pair of tiny yellow eyes peered out from under a bush. The girl peered back, and slowly, a small cat emerged, and sniffed her cautiously before rubbing against her hand, purring. "You're a sweetie, aren't you? You remind me of Dex," she said with a smile. Then she straightened. Dex? Who was Dex? And why did she want... him? Yes, definitely a him. She concentrated, hard, and an image floated up to meet her. A cat. Gray-brown, like this one, with large yellow eyes. Her cat, Dex. She smiled.  
  
  
  
"Well, if I can't have Dex, I can have you," she said to herself. She wondered if she was crazy. But no. She shook her head. "If I was crazy, I'd know it," she said. "Wouldn't I?" Did crazy people know that they were crazy? It didn't matter. She set out again, trudging across the bleak land, with the gray-brown cat trotting at her heels.  
  
Suddenly, from somewhere off to her right, she heard a cry. "Lili!" Lili? Was that her name? She whirled around.  
  
No. A golden-haired girl with purple eyes was rushing into the embrace of a black-haired boy with glasses. The girl hid behind a bush.  
  
**I have learned the number one rule of Not Being Seen. Do not stand up,** she thought to herself with a wry smile. Another random memory. This was frustrating.  
  
Three other sets of footsteps came thundering past her. Two boys and a girl. None noticed her. They ran to hug the golden-haired girl. "Lili!" one cried. He had red hair, the girl noticed.  
  
"Oh my goodness, we thought you were dead!" the girl wept, with her arms around the girl that the others had called Lili. She had somewhat bushy brown hair. The girl held up her own. Close to the same color, but the other girl's hair didn't have the reddish-gold highlights she had.  
  
"Hey, Hermione, it's alright," Lili said gently. "I'm fine. Dana still hasn't learned all my tricks."  
  
A black-haired girl ran up to the group and threw herself at Lili. "Mother! Mother, we thought you were a prisoner or something, I was so scared..." the girl sobbed pitifully, and Lili wrapped her arms around her.  
  
"Shh, Aramis, darling, it's all right. I'm okay." The girl watched carefully. How could that Lili girl be the black-haired one's mother? They looked only a few years apart in age. The girl felt a small pang go through her. She wished she had someone to hold onto her and tell her they were glad she was alive.  
  
The black-haired boy held out an hand, and the others stopped moving. He muttered something to the redhead, something the girl couldn't hear. They slipped around a tree, and the girl couldn't see them.  
  
She craned her neck, trying to see where they had gone without being seen herself. For some reason, she liked the look of these people, without having ever met them. Except the golden girl. Something was wrong about her. She tilted her head further, shifting her position to keep from falling.  
  
"Gotcha!" Two hands pressed themselves to her shoulders, and she swept a foot backwards in an instinctive motion, cursing everything with power that she hadn't heard them coming. Her grabber fell with a loud "Oof!"  
  
She ran, with the cat just at her ankles. The black-haired boy was ahead of her, she must have knocked over the redhead. She swiftly dodged the black-haired one, and kept running, ignoring the way he fell on the ground. Her mind screamed at her to get away, her breath came in short gasps. Her body wasn't used to this sort of exertion.  
  
Something grabbed at her arm, and she swung around into a body, knocking herself and the other person over. She lay dazed for a minute, paying no attention to the voice in her head screaming at her to get as far away as possible. She opened her eyes, and saw a face with silver eyes and hair to match.  
  
  
  
//FLASH//  
  
Silver eyes, wide open under silver hair. They didn't blink. A shirt covered in blood. Screaming.  
  
//FLASH//  
  
  
  
The girl jumped away from the boy, screaming at the top of her lungs. He looked at her in shock, and stood, slowly. The cat hovered in front of her, with its back arched, spitting violently at the blond boy.  
  
"NO! Get away!" she screamed, raising her arms to ward him off. She took a step backward. He looked at his companions, pleading silently for help. "Stay away from me," she sobbed.  
  
The black-haired boy stepped between her and the silver-haired one. "It's all right," he said soothingly. "Malfoy's not going to hurt you. None of us are."  
  
The girl ignored him. "Stay away," she repeated. "Stay away." Her arms dropped, and she wavered unsteadily. "Stay away from me," she murmured, as her eyes closed and she fell to the ground.  
  
  
  
**************************************************************************** *********  
  
  
  
When she woke up again, she was in a bed. A nice, warm bed. A flash of memory came. Sitting in a bed, with a book, a cat on her lap. Dex. A pain in her arm. It was in a cast.  
  
Her mind drifted back to what was here. She sat up slowly in the bed, looking around the room. It was decorated mostly in a blinding shade of orange, with spot of black here and there. People in posters on the wall peered at her curiously. A man, with hair to match the room, was asleep in a chair next to the bed.  
  
Slowly, carefully, she pulled the covers on the bed back. She was relieved to see she was still in her clothes, however ragged and dirty they may be. The same gray-brown cat lay on the floor. As she stepped over it, its lamplike yellow eyes opened. She stopped, praying that it didn't give her away. But it simply closed its eyes and went back to sleep. The girl breathed again. She stepped around the cluttered mess on the floor, mostly old comic books. Slowly, she opened the door, hoping against hope that it didn't squeak. It didn't. But the poster on the back of the door did something even worse.  
  
"SHE'S LEAVING!" The blond man in the poster bellowed. "SHE'S LEAVING THE ROOM!" The redheaded man fell out of his chair, and the girl flew down the stairs as fast as her feet would take her. She heard the pounding of feet behind her, and didn't dare stop.  
  
She ran until there were no steps left. This must be the first floor then. She looked around frantically. There! A door! She raced to it, and yanked at the handle.  
  
It didn't open. She yanked again, fear building in her. For the love of all things holy, why wouldn't it open? She abandoned the door and ran to a window. Footsteps were getting closer. The window wouldn't open either. She swore that she would pray every day if the window opened. It didn't.  
  
The footsteps behind her stopped. Her fear reaching its zenith, she turned. The redheaded man who had been by the bed was standing there, along with what looked like his double, plus the six people she had seen before. She didn't look at the silver-haired boy. Two reheaded girls were there too, they looked about the same age as the black-haired girl.  
  
"Fred, you imbecile!" One of the identical men turned on the other. "You couldn't even stay awake?"  
  
"Lighten up, George," the other mumbled. He looked behind him, and six more people appeared: two reheaded men and two reheaded women, and a blond girl and boy.  
  
"Hey Dad, what's going on?" the blond boy asked.  
  
The younger of the two men that had just arrived answered. "Nothing, Marc. Jo, I want you to take the rest of the kids upstairs. We need to handle this calmly."  
  
"Yes, Dad," the blond girl replied, and she grabbed one of the redheaded girls by her wrist. "Come on, Ady. Rhiannon, Aramis, let's go. You heard Dad." The redheaded girl was dragged upstairs, and the other two followed them dejectedly.  
  
"Have a seat," the father of the blond children said graciously. The girl sat down warily. The other eleven people squashed themselves onto the remaining seats, and the identical men sat on the floor.  
  
"Who are you?" The younger of the redheaded women asked.  
  
"I don't know," the girl replied honestly. She couldn't see how telling them this could hurt.  
  
"What were you doing in Dinarsae's fortress?"  
  
"Who's Dinarsae?" The girl asked curiously. "Is that where I was? Dinarsae's fortress?" The other people glanced at each other. The girl narrowed her eyes.  
  
"What do you remember?" the woman asked. "About where you were, that is."  
  
"Nothing." Now she was getting annoyed.  
  
"Amnesia, Ginny?" The older woman asked the younger. The younger nodded.  
  
"Looks like it might be. Look girl, what's your name?"  
  
"I don't know," the girl said through gritted teeth. She was really starting to get angry.  
  
"Are you sure you don't know?"  
  
"I just told you I didn't!" There was a strange buzzing in her ears now.  
  
"Where are you from?"  
  
"I DON"T KNOW!" she bellowed. A glass cup sitting on the table shattered, followed by a vase, and a windowpane. Everyone in the room ducked under their chairs, except for the girl. "I don't know who I am, where I'm from, what I can do, or what's happened to me! All right? Are you satisfied?" Everything glass in the room was in pieces, and with her last word, the light fixture exploded, leaving them in utter darkness, with tiny pieces of glass raining down on them. The girl curled up into a ball and glared at them fiercely.  
  
For a moment, they all stared at her from behind their various pieces of furniture. Then the silver haired boy slid out from behind an ottoman. The girl shrank back from him. "Well, hello, then," he said, extending a hand. "I'm Malfoy. Draco Malfoy."  
  
"Bond. James Bond," she said, before she realized what she was saying, or could stop herself. The brown haired girl giggled. She pried the redheaded boy's hands off her arm and stood up.  
  
"Hermione Granger," she introduced herself. The redheaded boy stood with a sigh.  
  
"I'm Ron Weasley." As if it was their cue, the other redheads stood as well.  
  
"Molly Weasley, and my husband, Arthur." The oldest two redheads nodded politely, and the woman smiled warmly.  
  
"Fred Weasley."  
  
"George Weasley." The identical men. The girl nodded regally.  
  
"Charlie Weasley." The father of the blonds.  
  
"Ginny Weasley." The woman who had been asking her the questions. She smiled apologetically, and the girl smiled back.  
  
"Harry Potter." The black-haired boy. She liked his looks, and smiled at him. He smiled back.  
  
The golden haired girl was the last. "I'm Liliana Josephine Grey," she said, and the girl felt a pain in her chest. She let go of her grip on the arms of the chair she sat in, and touched one hand to her heart very lightly, with a confused expression on her face.  
  
The girl called Hermione spoke. "Well, first of all, you need a name. We can't go around calling you 'Hey You', after all."  
  
"But I don't know my name." The girl really didn't want to get into this again.  
  
"Oh, I know. But why don't you pick out a name for yourself?"  
  
"No... I couldn't. You pick out a name for me." The girl looked at Hermione pleadingly.  
  
"Well... All right then. Lucy?"  
  
"No."  
  
"Rachel?"  
  
"No."  
  
"Michelle?"  
  
"No."  
  
This went on for quite some time. Finally, they settled on a name.  
  
"Lyric," Hermione murmured. "It seems to work. I think that should be your name. Does it suit you?"  
  
"Yes!" The girl shrieked. "Yes," she said again, more softly. "My name will be Lyric. Lyric!" She sat up proudly. Lili watched her absently, leaning her head on Harry's shoulder.  
  
"You tired?" He asked her, and she sat up a little.  
  
"Hmm? Oh, yeah," she said. "I mean, it is a little disturbing, going off to battle your now-evil sister."  
  
"What happened to you in there?"  
  
She shuddered. "I'd rather not talk about it." She stood up. "Lyric? You should probably go to bed now. You've had a hard day." Lyric nodded warily. Lili could tell the other girl didn't like her. But she went.  
  
When she was gone, Lili beckoned the others closer. "I don't trust that girl. She just shows up out of nowhere and can't even remember who she is?" She shook her head. "Something's very wrong here. I think she's spying for Dana. We should... get rid of her," she finished meaningfully.  
  
The others looked at Lili in shock. They knew that Lili could be violent, but she had never spoken about killing a person in cold blood. Draco raised an eyebrow. "Lili? Did you stop to think that maybe Dana was, I don't know, holding her prisoner or something?"  
  
"I don't think so," Lili said coldly. "Don't ask me why. It just doesn't seem right to me."  
  
Draco rolled his eyes and stood up. "I'm not going to sit here and listen to you talk about killing people. I'll count on the decent people here to keep you from doing anything cruel." He looked at the Weasleys, and Ron seemed as though he was about to faint. Draco nodded once, briskly, and left the room.  
  
As he was going upstairs, he bumped into Ady.  
  
"Draco?" she asked. "What was going on down there?"  
  
"Nothing," he murmured. He wanted to go find Lyric and talk to her. he had a few questions he wanted to ask that girl...  
  
"Yeah, right," Ady said, one hand on her hip. "And I'm the Queen of France. Tell me."  
  
He grinned. Ady didn't seem to belong with the vain, blond members of her family. "Hey, kid, I can't." He held up his hands in mock defeat. "Go ask your dad. Bug him." He gently pushed Ady towards the stairs, and she looked at him with disappointment.  
  
"Fine," she grumbled. "But I'm not going to leave you alone, Draco Malfoy. I'm going to get the details, not the watered-down story that my dad gives me. You can count on seeing me again!"  
  
"I'm sure I can, kid." He disappeared up the stairs, and Ady grunted in annoyance as she made her way in the opposite direction.  
  
  
  
Draco stepped into the room, and immediately stumbled backwards and shielded his eyes. "I think Weasley is blind," he muttered, trying to find a spot in the room not bright orange. "And if he isn't, he's getting there." He stumbled further into the room. "Lyric? Lyric, hello?"  
  
"Out here," called a voice. A window was open. Draco leaned out, over a six-story drop. He gulped, and called out again. "Up here." He felt something tug on his ear, softly, and he turned. Lyric was above him, leaning over the edge of the roof and smiling.  
  
"How in the hell did you get up there?" he asked, amazed.  
  
"Climbed."  
  
"No shit." Draco swung himself out of the window, and scrabbled for a hold on the shingles. Lyric grabbed one of his sleeves and unceremoniously dragged him up.  
  
"Thanks," he gasped.  
  
"Don't mention it." Lyric lay down on her back and stared up. It was easy to forget that they were underground; the sky looked real, you could smell the grass, a cool night breeze ruffled Lyric's hair. even an owl hooted in the distance. "Are you scared?" she asked unexpectedly.  
  
"Of what?'  
  
"I don't know. Anything."  
  
"No. Not right now, at least," he replied.  
  
"I am."  
  
"What?"  
  
"Take a guess."  
  
"Um... I don't know. I'm thick."  
  
Lyric rolled her eyes. "If you can't guess, I'm not going to tell you."  
  
"Fine by me." Draco sighed, annoyed. "Is it me you're afraid of."  
  
"Slightly." She said it matter-of-factly,as if fear wasn't scary.  
  
"Why? I'm not going to hurt you."  
  
"I didn't think you would."  
  
"Then why on earth are you afraid of me!"  
  
Lyric ignored the strange feeling that resonated through her bones. She didn't know what it meant, but she knew the meaning would come to her in time. "Memories have been surfacing in the strangest ways. When I saw you, one came up. Like I had known you before. You were lying on the ground, and you were bleeding. You were dead." She said this last sentence with calm finality.  
  
"Obviously I'm not. Probably a past-life memory."  
  
"A what?"  
  
"Past-life memory. You know, a memory from a past life? A former incarnation?" He looked at her patronizingly. "You do know we reincarnate, don't you?"  
  
"As a matter of fact, I didn't," she said icily. "And with all my memories of this life gone, why would I be remembering things from a past life?"  
  
"I don't know. Let's leave it alone."  
  
"Lets."  
  
A voice sounded from out the window. "Draco? Draco, are you here? Don't hide, Ady told me you were going up here. I need to talk to you."  
  
"Out here, Earth," Draco called. "That's Lili to you," he added. Lyric blanched. She didn't like Lili, and wanted to be nowhere near her.  
  
Lili stuck her head out the window. "Draco? What are you doing out there? Oh, hello, Lyric," she added, her enthusiasm cooling a bit. "Sorry to bother you. I need to talk to Draco."  
  
"Sure," Lyric said. No one looking at her would be able to tell her disgust and fear of the Earth Mage. "Come on up."  
  
Lili laughed. "No, sorry, Lyric. I don't do heights."  
  
"It's easy," Lyric objected, and Draco squirmed nervously. "Just put your foot right there and don't look down."  
  
"No," Lili said flatly. "Draco, come down. Now." She pulled her golden head inside, and Lyric let her hatred show.  
  
Draco edged away from her. "You really don't like Lili, do you?"  
  
"No," Lyric said flatly. Draco could feel the hatred and fear coming off of her in waves. "I don't. Now go ahead." She leaned back against the shingles, hair covering her eyes.  
  
"All right, then," Draco said, as he slipped back inside the window. Lili was waiting for him just inside.  
  
"Come on," she said, grabbing his sleeve and pulling him into the next room. It was the bathroom, and Draco raised one eyebrow. She ignored him.  
  
"I'm sorry," she said breathlessly. "I shouldn't have suggested that we- you know- off Lyric. I know that's not how we do things." She didn't meet his eyes, no matter how long he watched her. "It was cruel and horrible of me to even think about it for a moment." She looked up and met his eyes.  
  
"But I still don't trust her."  
  
**************************************************************************** *********  
  
The room was incredibly crowded. It hadn't been large to begin with, Lili thought, and now there were five girls trying to sleep comfortably. She pushed Hermione's foot away from her face irritatedly.  
  
**I want Lyric gone.** she thought to herself. **Among other things. But first things first. How? And Draco is already making friends with Lyric- how do I keep Harry and get Draco at the same time while keeping Draco away from Lyric? And most of all, how, how do I get rid of Lyric and make it look like an accident? This is going to be hard.** She grinned maliciously. **But I'll do it.**  
  
  
  
Across the room, Lyric slept.  
  
//FLASH//  
  
A head of dark hair, tossed mockingly.  
  
//FLASH//  
  
A song, crooned softly. Sad. Beautiful.  
  
//FLASH//  
  
A battle. Blood. Hair in her eyes. The foul stench of death. A scream, a voice she knew so well.  
  
  
  
Lyric sat up, gasping. Across the room Lili shut her eyes quickly and pretended to sleep. The other girl slowly brushed the red-brown hair out of her face and looked about her. She mentally recited the names as she saw the faces. Hermione, Ady, Jo, Lili. They scared her, somehow. They seemed nice, but there was something wrong about them. She could feel it in her bones. She had seen the magic in their house, and wondered timidly if she herself was magical. Had something happened to her, so that she couldn't remember anything? Lyric lay down again, frustratedly. Two pairs of eyes, violet and blue, stared at the ceiling. And thought.  
  
  
  
  
  
(A/N) Wow, I can't believe all the reviews I've gotten. FOUR!!!!!! Four? How could you? All of you? I feel like I'm going to cry now. Ten reviews for this chapter, or you'll have to wait TWO months, which mean you won't get chapter eight until March 17th. And I had this chapter written about a day after I posted chapter six, but because I only got FOUR reviews, you all had to wait a month! So ten reviews!  
  
Now, on to the thank-you's.  
  
Julia-You like Ady as a hacker, eh? Well, the idea popped into my head, and I went with it (like all of my ideas, but nevermind...) Thanks!  
  
Marfresbo- You like the idea of D/L? Hmmm..... Not changing my storyline. But then, who's to say that the storyline wouldn't end D/L anyway? I'm evil, I know. You won't know until the end. But I'll tell you this: the pairing at the end of this story will be the permenant pairing. Now you just have to wait and see whether it's D/L or H/L.  
  
Ady- Well, obviously you now know whether or not I'd kill off Draco. I'm sorry to say, I can't (in this one at least). I just love him too much. If you want Draco-death, go over and read Draco's Song. Which you did. But, anyway...... I'm feeling really flattered now! This is really not that good, I like to think that my writing is normally better than this. I know that a different fic I'm working on is better... but I'll finish this before I post my other fic.  
  
Naralina- That had to be the longest review I have ever read! But hey, I'm not complaining! I like long reviews! Although the genetics talk did confuse me a little... a lot... But anyway, the hair thing isn't true, because I have light hair, and everyone else in my family for about three generations back has dark hair. I like to think it makes me stand out. And of course I'll email you! Wow! I can't believe it! Someone actually asked me to email them when I post my next chapter, they like it that much...... eyes glaze over  
  
  
  
But, on to the more general comments: A lot of people (those who REVIEWED) glares nastily at the people who didn't review said that they couldn't figure out who Aramis's father was. I actually thought I had made it too obvious. I guess not. Yay! I'm confusing my readers!  
  
Also- Originally, I said that I was going to write four stories with Lili in them. I've changed my mind. There will only be two: Warriors and this one. I think it's better to just quit while I'm ahead, so to speak. There are two reasons: One, the other two I had planned have really pathetic plots. Two, my muse attacked the other day and said "You! Write this! Now!" So, I'll have to stop with the Lili stories. She goes bye-bye after this one.  
  
Well, hope you enjoyed this chapter. Review, PLEASE! !0 reviews, or you wait until March. Got it?  
  
-M.W. 


	9. If At First You Don't Succeed...

DISCLAIMER: What me own? Me own nothing. What you own? You own nothing. What JK Rowling own? JK Rowling own all. Ooooooh.  
  
  
  
  
  
This chapter is dedicated to Ady, a wonderful author who is lucky enough to be recognized for her wonderful work. Review, dammit, all of you!  
  
  
  
  
  
CHAPTER EIGHT: IF AT FIRST YOU DON'T SUCCEED...  
  
  
  
  
  
The next day dawned bright and early. Too early for Lili, in fact. While everyone else was up and moving around, she huddled in a tiny ball at the bottom of her sleeping bag.  
  
Ginny poked her head into the room. "Lili? It's really time for you to get up. It's nine!"  
  
"G'way," came the muffled voice from within the bag. "S'too early."  
  
Ginny shook her head, a look of exasperation on her face. Swiftly, she reached down, and in one quick motion, unzipped the bag and yanked it open. Lili squealed in horror and tried to pull it back up. "Ah ah ah," laughed Ginny. "Time to get up. No excuses."  
  
"Fine, fine, I'm up," she mumbled, throwing her feet out of the side of the sleeping bag. At just that moment, Lyric chose to stick her head in through the door.  
  
"Ginny?" She said, tentatively. "Your mum was calling you... something about sorting the laundry before washing it..."  
  
The redheaded woman covered her mouth in horror and cursed. "I forgot! Mum's linen tablecloth..." She swiveled, brushed past Lyric, and ran down the stairs.  
  
Lili glared at the other girl, and flipped a blonde curl over her shoulder. Lyric's eyes narrowed, and the two girls stood for a moment. Lyric was sure Lili was plotting something against her, and Lili didn't trust Lyric as far as she could have thrown Hogwarts.  
  
"You won't succeed," Lili said abruptly. "Whatever you're planning, it won't work. I will kill you."  
  
Lyric was taken aback. She hadn't expected Lili to declare her animosity so openly. But, she quickly composed herself, and nodded once. "Not if I kill you first." Lili nodded back, and the two girls eyed each other. Lyric felt a quick flash of relief. At least now she didn't have to pretend to like the violet-eyed paradigm of adolecence.  
  
The tension built. Violet eyes never moved from slate blue ones. A shaggy lock of hair was pushed back. A cat, winding around an ankle, was ignored. Lyric felt that if something didn't interrupt them, in one moment one would attack the other. She wished that she had a wand. Although, even if she did, she most likely wouldn't know how to use it. Damned amnesia.  
  
"Lili! Lyric!" The voice of one of the younger girls--- the black- haired one, Lyric remembered--- came up the stairs. "Grandmam says breakfast is ready, and if you want to eat, better come down now, before Fred and George get it all." The feeling in the air dissipated instantly, and Lili grabbed a pair of jeans and pulled them on, as Lyric disappeared out the door. Quickly, Lili pulled on a purple long-sleeve shirt with a neckline that was, for her, unusually low--- Lili usually preferred to keep as much skin as possible covered. Twisting her hair up into a knot that she knew would look fashionably messy, she made her way down the stairs.  
  
In the kitchen, everyone was sitting at the table. As she sat down, grabbing a mug of coffee, Ginny nodded to Jo. The oldest Delacour-Weasley took the cue, standing up and ushering her siblings, cousin and Aramis out of the kitchen. Fred and George, who had been standing against the counter, took their seats. Mrs. Weasley followed her grandchildren out of the room, closing the door behind her.  
  
Ginny began. "Well, obviously, the attack two days ago on Dinarsae's fortress was unsuccessful. We have to take her down. We have to try again." She surveyed the people in the room. Her father, her brothers, the Mages, and Lyric. She turned to the latter. "Dinarsae has done horrible things, Lyric. She's killed and tortured witches and wizards for no reason but they had magic. She's launched a campaign against purebloods, doing her best to hunt them down and kill them. She's the polar opposite of what Voldemort was at the height of his reign, in beliefs, anyway. In methods, identical. We are on the verge of becoming extinct. She's killed her very own parents. Only Lili knows why, but don't ask," she added, seeing the look on Lili's face. The Earth Mage was very pale, and looked as though she was about to be sick. "All in all, we're not doing so well in this war. What we need, Lyric, is your help."  
  
"How can I help?" Lyric asked, irritatedly. "I can't remember anything."  
  
"Ah, but you might," Ginny said. "That's the key. The memories are somewhere in your mind, you just have to find them. And when you do, you can help us, more than we could have dreamed of. The question is, will you?"  
  
"Of course I will," Lyric said staunchly. "Whatever I can do to help, I will."  
  
"You know you're under no obligation to help," Ginny reminded her. Lyric shrugged. Ginny nodded. "Thank you," she said, before getting right back to business. "All right. We have a new target for the attacks. All those who practice sorcery must store their powers. Whatever the power is stored in, be it a jewel or a toaster, it is called a Sorcerer's Orb. If Dinarsae's Sorcerer's Orb is destroyed, she loses all her powers. So, our new plan is to destroy the Sorcerer's Orb, and then attack Dinarsae."  
  
She looked around the room. Draco and Lili each wore a well-developed poker face, which gave away nothing. Lyric looked apprehensive. Harry, Ron, and Hermione all looked determined. "Lyric," Ginny continued. "We need you to try and navigate the fortress for us, and find the Orb. Ron, you're tactics. Lili, you get to play doctor. Draco--- you can think like the enemy. Hermione, you always know which spell to use. And Harry, you're team leader. Naturally." Ginny pulled out her wand. "Now, Lyric and I need to do some excercises. To try and refresh her memory," she explained. "It would probably be better if you all left."  
  
Hesitantly, they stood. Impatiently, Ginny waved her hands, shooing them out. With a wave of her wand, she locked the door behind them, before tuning back to Lyric. "All right," she began. "We have a lot of work to do..."  
  
**************************************************************************** *********  
  
Almost three hours later, Lyric stumbled out of the kitchen, looking tired and haggard. She didn't even notice the two figures in the shadows until she almost walked into them.  
  
"Oh I'm sorry," she said, flushing. "I didn't mean to interrupt you."  
  
Harry looked up, a little dazed. Lili looked annoyed. "Oh, it's all right," she said, obviously not meaning it in the least. "How are you feeling, Lyric? She asked, saccharin sweet. Lyric felt like retching. "I know that trying to regain your memory must have been hard for you."  
  
"Not very," Lyric said, her face giving away nothing. "Ginny helped me remember a bit of the layout of Dinarsae's fortress."  
  
"How?" asked Harry, who had come out of his daze and was curious, to say the least.  
  
"Oh, you know. Charms... potions... shock therapy," she added the last part under her breath. Harry didn't seem to hear, but Lili did. She smirked.  
  
"So, you can remember Dinarsae's fortress now?" Harry asked curiously. Lyric nodded, with a slight grimace.  
  
"Vaguely. And only the layout, with a few details scattered here and there. Paintings, carpeting. I should be able to navigate us through the fortress," Lyric told them. "I hope," she added under her breath  
  
"Well, that's good!" Harry said, impressed. Lili nodded, only slightly less enthusiastic.  
  
"Ginny wants us all in the living room at nine AM tomorrow for battle planning," Lyric said, suddenly, obviously just remembering the message. "We need to...." -she yawned- "....figure out what we're going to do." She rubbed her eye lightly, then finished with, "And for now, I'm going to sleep. Enjoy yourselves." Ignoring the nasty look from Lili, she turned, and dragged herself up the stairs.  
  
  
  
Lyric slept for the rest of the day, and Lili, to put it politely, was not overly bothered by this. Half an hour after Lyric ended their conversation, Lili let a very dazed and rumpled Harry make his way up to Ron's old room. She was watching him go up the stairs, as a voice over her shoulder commented, "He really likes you, you know."  
  
She whirled around, wishing to heaven that she had her wand. To her utter relief, it was only Hermione, looking very wise and serene in robes of pure blue, trimmed with pale gold. "Oh, Hermione," she breathed out, putting a hand to her heart. "Don't do that. You scared me."  
  
"Sorry, Lili." Hermione looked not at all sorry. "But I needed to talk to you. Malfoy helped me plant the idea to let Harry leave in your mind." Lili looked at Hermione reproachfully. She disliked the idea of Draco being inside her head, and she disliked even more that he had seen her... busy... with Harry.  
  
"Well, what did you need to talk to me about?" She asked her friend, a bit sharply. One of her hands involuntarily grasped a golden curl and stuck it in her mouth. Hermione frowned at her slightly, then explained.  
  
"Lili, to put it bluntly, it's your aura. Since I'm the Water Mage, I'm sensitive to auras. Part of the job description. But, your aura's.... changed. It was green before, with some gold, or brown, or a touch of purple here and there. Maybe a spot of another color, when you were feeling a strong emotion. Now, there's black and silver mixed in, and lot more purple and gold. In all, there's a lot less green. Lili, what have you been doing to your Magery?"  
  
Lili had steadily been looking more and more upset during Hermione's speech. As she finished, the Earth mage burst into tears. "I don't know, Hermione! Dana did something to me in that fortress of hers... I can't even remember what it was! A-and I've been getting these really strange thoughts in my head--- I would never think them on my own! I even suggested--- I wanted to kill Lyric! I hated myself the moment I let out the words!" Hermione stared at Lili, shocked by the intensity of the emotion behind the words, and by the fact that she was actually telling Hermione. The two girls were close, very close, but Lili had always kept Harry and Draco as her special confidantes. Hermione had never pried.  
  
"Shh, it's all right," Hermione said, instinctively reaching across the space between them and cuddling the taller girl. Lili sniffled, rubbing her red nose. "We can talk to Ginny about this. You think Dana did this?"  
  
"Mm-hmm," Lili mumbled, her voice lost somewhere in the folds of Hermione's robes. She hugged her friend tightly for a moment, then let the other girl go. "Thanks, Hermione," she said, wiping an eye. "I think Dana's been contaminating my mind and my magic--- I just hope that it can be fixed." Again, she hugged Hermione. "I think I'm going to go out to the pond. If anyone asks, you don't know where I am. Unless," she added, thinking again, "it's Draco. Tell Draco where I am, if he asks."  
  
Hermione nodded kindly, smiling reassuringly at Lili. Lili returned the smile shakily, and, standing up, ran out of the house.  
  
Hermione sat back, thinking over the short conversation she had had with Lili. Putting her feet up on the ottoman and kicking off her shoes, she wondered vaguely if there was a way to reverse whatever Dana had done. She certainly hoped so. Lili had been so upset.... and Hermione knew that if her Magery were corrupted like that, she would be... she would rather not think of that.  
  
Her musings had just traveled onto other topics when the last person she wanted to see at the time appeared from the stairs.  
  
He opened his mouth to say something, and than paused, as if changing it to something totally different. Hermione watched him curiously. "Granger," he asked. "What size shoe do you wear?" Hermione rolled her eyes. Leave it to Draco Malfoy to ask something as random as that.  
  
"Size five," she informed him. "Why?"  
  
He smiled triumphantly. "I thought so! Granger, you're not a complete Mu--- muggle-born after all. You've got some faery blood in you."  
  
"Malfoy," Hermione said slowly. "Fairies are---"  
  
"Oh, yes," he said impatiently. "I know the fairies in the textbooks could never mate with humans. But those are fairies, F-A-I-R-Y. The faeries I'm talking about are F-A-E-R-Y. They're completely different creatures. You see," he continued. "Faeries-with-an-A don't exist in this world anymore, but they used to. Faeries are beings made entirely of magic. Some mated with humans, and faery blood dilutes very slowly. You have some faery blood."  
  
"And just how do you know that?" Hermione snapped, irritated at the fact that he knew a random fact that she didn't. He smiled lazily, knowing that he was annoying her and enjoying it intensely.  
  
"Why, your feet, of course, Granger. Faeries have tiny feet, everyone knows that. No faery's feet grows to be larger than a size five. For a faery, you have positively huge feet." Hermione went red and tucked her feet under the folds of her robes.  
  
"Fine, I've faery blood in me then. What did you want?"  
  
"Ah yes," he said. "Have you seen Lili?" Hermione, who would never let the words out, cursed inwardly. She believed that the best thing that Lili could have at the moment was some time alone. But, she had told Hermione to tell Draco where she was. Hating herself with every syllable, Hermione told him to check by the pond. With a grateful smile and a hurried "thank you," Draco left. Leaving Hermione wondering how on earth one single American girl had managed to do something five years of being Harry Potter's fried hadn't: turn her life into a soap opera.  
  
  
  
"Hey, Lili? You out here?" Draco looked around the small pond. On the side opposite him, she sat, legs stretched out in front of her and head tilted back to look at the darkening sky. It was amazing how fast the day ened, Draco mused. It seemed only an hour ago that he had been eating breakfast. As he thought of food, it occured to him that he hadn't eaten lunch.  
  
"Draco? Why are you out here?" Lili looked at him, a section of hair falling in her eyes. She brushed it away, attention focused on the silver- haired boy.  
  
"I'm looking for you," he told her, walking around the pond to sit by her. She swept the hem of her robe toward her, clearing a space for Draco to sit. He looked at her analyzingly. She didn't seem upset, just thoughtful. And very pretty. Her silver robes were coolly beautiful in the fading light, and fit her nicely. "You look nice today."  
  
She blushed attractively. "Thanks," she muttered. Draco watched her as she picked up a blade of grass and tore it up. A daisy by her left ankle was next, she busied herself tearing off its petals and dropping them one by one in her lap. After a moment, she looked up at him. He was still watching her, and, going even redder, she dropped her head once again.  
  
A fierce internal debate went on. "Draco?" Lili asked, seeing him staring off into space "What's---" she was cut off as he leaned over and kissed her.  
  
Draco had no idea why the urge to kiss her had suddenly been so strong, but damned if he was going to go against it. He realized with a flush of pleasure that she was returning his kiss, with equal, if not more, emotion behind it. After a few moments, they broke apart. Draco realized that her hands had somehow managed to find their way into his hair, and the usually impeccable silver strands were wildly disarrayed.  
  
They looked at each other for a moment, no more, and then both moved together for another kiss. Draco had no idea how long it went on, only that when it ended this time, the sun was already down. "We'd better get back to the Burrow," he said, a bit breathless. Lili nodded, and did her best to straighten the silver robe, now quite covered with grass stains and dirt. Draco smoothed down his hair, smiling at her. After a moment, he reached out and took her hand. "Come on," he said softly, beginning back towards the house. But Lili held him back for a moment.  
  
"Draco," she said, her voice tense. "I shouldn't have kissed you. I'm still with Harry, you know, and I can't leave him." Seeing the mixture of hurt and anger twisted on his face, she hurried to explain herself. "It's not that I didn't want to kiss you... heaven knows I did. But Harry... well, if he knew, it would destroy him. And we both know we need Harry, to lead us. Plus," she added, "I don't think I could bear it if I hurt him. Just let's wait a little while, Draco. Wait until this whole escapade is over, and we go home, and I'll tell Harry, and we'll break up, and... Draco, I know," she said mournfully, seeing the look on his face. "Just please, don't tell him, and we'll wait, and..." she stopped as he wrapped his arms around her and kissed her.  
  
"It's all right," he said. "I can't say I'm happy with it, but all right. Not a word to him will come out of my mouth. I swear it." Silence came as they kissed again.  
  
With a contented smile, Lili moved out of his arms. "let's go back up to the Burrow now," she smiled. Returning her happy look, Draco took her hand, and the two moved away from the pond.  
  
  
  
  
  
(A/N) Wow, there was an awful lot of romance in that chapter, wasn't there? Anyone know a quick and easy way to commit suicide? Oh well, it's important to the story... as you all will see later.... Now, review thanks.  
  
NARALINA: Congratulations, due to your lovely, long REVIEW, you have won.... (drumroll please)..... REVIEWER OF THE WEEK! Please accept my gratitude, and the prize of having the next chapter dedicated to you. Well, to comments from your review: I doubt I have ever been as flattered as when you said that the language flowed. Personally, I think that that is the (tied) most important thing in a story. No one will want to read a story, no matter how good it is, if the way it's written is bad. Of course, it doesn't matter how good the writing is if the plot itself is bad, too. And isn't the name Aramis great? I have no idea where I got it..... oh yeah, Three Musketeers. And believe me when I say that I wish I could answer your questions.... But I can't without giving things away, so that's that. I'm glad everyone is still confused about Aramis' parentage. I want you all to be surprised. And are you so sure Lili isn't really Lili? I refuse to give away anything (intentionally)... and I have a tendency to try and trick you all. There are reasons MW is a Slytherin! SLYTHERIN PRIDE! Ahem... sorry....  
  
JULIA: Please don't tell anyone who you think Aramis' father is! I need it to be a surprise! I'm sorry if that chapter confused you, but, just to warn you, that's only the tip of the iceberg....  
  
ZENEMI: Sorry, but I have my reader standards, and I have the patience to wait to post. Sorry if I frustrate you.  
  
ADY: You think Lili isn't Lili? I refuse to say, you know me. And ALL guys are thick, it's not just Draco. (Lousy, idiot guys couldn't get a hint if it was twelve feet tall, neon pink, and doing the Macarena in the middle of the Superbowl....) Sorry you had to wait, but I actually didn't finish this chapter until today. Computer troubles combined with loads of romance to write made this chapter a doozy to write. And I think the flashes of memory may be done... I'm not quite sure. Ask Dr. Bojangles.... wherever he's gone to...  
  
MARFRESBO: I'm so flattered! I didn't think that quote you liked was especially good, but oh well, if you thought so, it's your opinion that counts. I prefer the more cynical quotes, like "You can get further with a kind word and a two-by-four than you can with just a kind word." I really hope I didn't give away Aramis' father.... I know I didn't to everyone, but anyway... You're a fabulous reviewer! And, if you don't mind, can I use your pen name in the fic? I think I have a bit for the name...  
  
  
  
Well, that's it for now. The usual things apply... I want 40 reviews up, or not until, say... mid-April or June, perhaps, I'll put it up? Thanks to all my reviewers, and I love you all (unless you didn't review). Please review! Please? Oh, come on! I'll set an angry Lili on you if you don't! I'll tell her you insulted her friends! You don't want that.... so review!  
  
-M.W. 


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Harry Potter, Adventure