Obliviate [ON HIATUS]

Close Encounters

Lily shivered as she walked down the staircase to the dungeons. She wasn't sure whether it was the sudden drop in temperature or the sudden apprehensiveness that seemed to tangle and snake its way through her bones. Mindlessly, Lily's hand grasped Scorpius'. She expected him to pull away but instead he lightly squeezed her hand in what was meant to be encouragement. The tension in her chest lessened quite considerably. 

'Turn right,' the voice in her head instructed and she followed suit after. Scorpius trailed behind her, still holding her hand, his wand had been taken by the hand that was still holding his broom. 'Go straight until the end of the dungeon, be careful though, danger approaches.' the Tree whispered. 

Lily and Scorpius quickened their pace until almost the end of the long passage, where they stopped in their tracks as they heard footsteps. They released hands before lifting their wands up at the ready. Both Lily and Scorpius' backs were pressed up against the cold stone wall to make themselves as small as possible. Lily slowly peered into the small room. A man covered in black robes was standing there, facing away from her and staring intently at the emblem of the Slytherin house. Lily's heart stopped at the realisation of who it was. She quickly pulled herself back and looked at Scorpius wide eyed. 

'It's your father.' she mouthed and noticed Scorpius' pupils slightly contract and the melting silver momentarily harden. 

'You'll need to pass him in order to get to me, he still doesn't know I am a little beyond where he is,' the voice in Lily's head murmured, 'see the door on the other side? You'll need to go through there.' Lily pulled Scorpius in close by the nape of his neck, speaking as quietly as possible, she told him the plan. 

He nodded his head in determination as a wicked smile found its way to his lips, smiling despite herself, she watched his lips as he mouthed 'go hide'. She quickly looked into the opposite room of where Draco Malfoy was and found it to be empty. Quickly hiding in a dark corner, she waited with bated breath for Scorpius' 'brilliant' plan. However, as a loud banging noise resounded from the corridor the word 'brilliant' had quickly changed to 'moronic'. Lily had to forcibly hold herself down in the corner as to not go out and look for Scorpius. His father soon shot out from the opposing room and ran down the hall to where the sound had originated. 

'Go now,' the voice in her head whispered, just as she was about to argue back, to wait for Scorpius, the Tree interrupted, 'he'll be fine, he'll find you after, you're wasting time.' 

Lily shot out of the room like a bullet. Flew to the door the Tree had instructed her to go through. And quickly shut it behind her. She waited for her eyes to adjust before looking around the small dark room. A layer of dust covered everything in her view. Tables were stacked on top of each other while chairs were pushed into a corner. It seemed to Lily that these were just extras in case any professor needed them for lessons.

'There's a hidden staircase behind the bookshelf.' The voice in her head murmured. Lily thought of Scorpius, 'Don't worry child, he'll find it.' 

'Can you speak to him mentally too?' Lily asked quietly while walking down the spiralling staircase. 

'No, I'm going to leave him a clue,' the voice answered.  

Lily frowned, 'why don't you speak to him the way you speak to me?' 

'His father is an Occulumens. If your friend is caught, his father will know where to find me.'

'Well what if I'm caught?' Lily asked, still descending the stairwell. 

A silence seemed to encompass her mind for a few long seconds before the voice started again, 'Lily, there is a certain magic in your mind that was passed down from your father and from his mother... Take a left turn here,' Lily followed the instructions set out for her. She had walked into the smallest and darkest hallway she'd ever been in, the stone walls on either side of her were placed so close together that she began to feel claustrophobic. 'The magic is set there to protect you from others invading your mind. Your father was never very good at Occlumens however it's your mother's gene that seems to have triggered the kind of magic that your father never had. Your brothers also have that protective magic layer.' 

'Then why don't you speak to them too?' Lily huffed with the exertion she was putting on herself as the ground seemed to be sloping downwards even more.

'I thought you would have preferred if I kept them out of this - what was it you called it? - drama.' The voice sounded like it was smiling. 

Lily smiled, 'thank you.' 

'You're very welcome, now don't be alarmed by the noise behind you, it's your friend, Scorpius.' True to the Tree's word a slight shuffling sound could be heard behind her. 

'What took you so long?' Lily asked when he had gotten close enough.

'Gah,' Scorpius jumped back at the sound of Lily's voice, he hadn't realised she was there, 'oh Lily, it's you. Uh, needed to get dad off my tail.' 

'Do you hear that?' Lily asked, her ears prickling.

'Yeah, what is it?' They both quickened their pace until, finally, they made it to the end of the stone passage.