•stay-jily fanfic•

Chapter 35- Curses & Lies.

Lily POV, morning after the Ball

I inhale happily and snuggle back into the warm blanket. After we left the Ball, we went and hung out with our friends in the Gryffindor common room. Bella STILL doesn't know who bought her the dress, and she's getting anxious about it. I mean, who wouldn't? The guy bought her a 20 galleon dress. And 10 galleon for the shoes and jewelry. Why not tell a girl, you know? When we came back upstairs, I slipped out of my dress, washed my makeup off, and threw my hair up into a messy bun. I run up the stairs to James's room and flopped on the bed next to him. "Thanks for an amazing night." I whispered in his ear, and he rolled over. "Thanks for being an amazing girlfriend." He replied, sending shivers down my spine. I sigh and swing my legs over the bed, about to stand up and go back to my room, when he laces an arm around my torso. "James!" I scold. "I can't stay here all night again! We're breaking the rules, and we are the Heads, after all." "Since when was I one to follow the rules?" He says sleepily, tightening his grip around me and puling me closer to him. "I give up." I sigh, and wiggle under the covers. "If we get caught, I'm blaming it on you..." I trail off, placing my head on his chest as he twirls a piece of my hair around his fingers. We slip off into a sleep filled with dreams of love and happiness......

When I wake up the next morning, next to James, I shake his shoulder. "James?" I whisper. "Mmhm?" He says huskily. "Wake up babe." "Oh, so I'm your babe now mmm?" He says, rolling over to face me. I kiss the tip of his nose cheekily. "Maybe." "Well I'm okay with it." He sneaks a real kiss this time, and I enjoy a couple of minutes of kissing and laying with James, until I hear Alice banging on the portrait. "LILYYYYY!" She hollers, and bangs on the door this time. I roll out of bed and jog down the stairs. "What Alice, what could possibly be important at this hour right now-" "Bella found out who sent the dress!" She yells, and I scream. I run upstairs and quickly pull on some clothes, fixing my hair as I run down the stairs and down the hallway with Alice, our ponytails stealing behind us. We burst into the Great Hall to see most of the school eating breakfast and watching the people in the front. Bella is standing in the front of the podium with a boy's who's back is facing us. "Now, as some of you may know..." The boy says, and turns around. Wait, what?

Lucius Malfoy? "Bella here looked absolutely ravishing last night, and it was all due to the dress I bought her. Now darling, don't let anyone else tell you different because I am the best soon to be boyfriend ever, and I bought you that dress. You ARE a Slytherin, after all, and we all feel SO very bad for you, being forced into spending SO much time with those BLOOD TRAITORS!" He said loudly. He kept pointing to himself and exaggerating on specific words. I was kind of hurt when I realized that she wasn't defending us, until I realized that Lucius had put some sort of charm on her. Because she kept looking at us out of the corner of her eye, and trying to gesture to her hands. Think, Lily, think!  Charms class, um, it definitely wasn't a silencing charm, because she would be able to move. This seems like he can control what she's saying AND her movements. I rack my brains. Some ancient charms are like an incantation, and must be chanted, so I'm guessing thats what he used because it's nothing from the  Restricted Section or Standard Book of Spells. I'll have to research it later! Poor Bella. Malfoy kept going on and on about how great he is, and how much Bella loves him. "What's going on?" I turn around to see the Marauders. "Malfoy's claiming that he bought Bella her dress, and he's put some sort of spell on her so she can't move or speak without his command. I don't remember what it is!" I say quickly, stressed. "Bella, would you be my girlfriend?" He says proudly, and rubs his bult buckle. I gasp. "It's the buckle! Oh my gosh I remember now! It's a chanting incantation. quod loquor non loquor face nihil! You chant it seven times and you have to touch the hand of the person you are controlling and an inanimate object. 

The object reads your mind and forces the person to say what you want them to say, without your wand. Traditionally, only the person who cast it can remove it. I might be able to find out a way otherwise though...." As I'm lost in thought, I don't realize that it's taking James, Remus, Peter, Frank, Alice, and Mary to hold Sirius back. "You guys. Tell Professor that we need to reschedule for a different day. "That's why we're here- we- needed- to - tell- you- its- tomorrow- she's sick-" Frank says, panting with the struggle of restraining Sirius. We all freeze as we realize Bella was fighting the curse. She hasn't answered the question. "Bella?" He said sharply, and rubbed the belt buckle again. "Y-es." She choked out, and winced, looking away. "Fantastic." He smiled evilly, and put an arm around Bella. "Continue, everyone." He leaded Bella away towards the Slytherin table, and she shot one last glance of pleading and terror towards us before looking away. "Lily. What do we do?" I turn to see the group looking at me, Sirius still fuming but James and Remus both have a hand on his shoulder. "Me?" I ask, looking at the group. Alice has a determined look on her face. "You have the highest marks of all of us." "You're the most determined person I know." "You have an amazing drive to get this done. "You know the library inside and out." "We trust you." "We NEED you."  They say. I take a deep breath and run my hand through my hair. James silently takes my hand. "Remus and Sirius, bring power food. Fruits, vegetables, and some carbs. Alice and Mary, here's a list of books to start looking for. Peter and Frank, I need you to go to every teacher you know to try to get a note for permission of the the Restricted Section. James, come with me." I hand the girls a list of books, and everyone runs in different directions. I take in a shaky breath. "Hey." James whispers. "You got this." He kissed my forehead. "I can't lose my best friend again, James." I say shakily. "You got this. You'll get through it. We always do. You'll always have me." He says confidently, and gives me a hug. Together, we run down the hallway to the library. "Hello, Madam Pince." "Hello Lily." She smiles and looks up. I snag the biggest table in the back corner and arrange my stuff. "Uh, Lily." I see Remus's face appear from under the Invisibility cloak. 

"How are we supposed to eat this stuff? And get it in here, mind you?" "I know a thing or two about sneaking food into the library." I wink. James gasps. "The famous Lily Evans, breaking a rule?" I slap him lightly. "I got this." I create a tower of books around a corner, and make a little  nook. I slip all the food into the corner. Remus and Sirius appear, and so does everyone else. Frank hands me a note, and the girls slam down huge stacks of books. I run into the Restricted Section with Remus as the rest of them start going through the other ones. We stand there for hours, going over more than half the library. Remus and I constantly are running back and forth to and from the shelves, the Return to Shelf pile by Madame Pince's desk getting higher and higher, her patience getting lower and lower while her eyebrow got higher and higher. Eventually, she goes to me "Please return the books back." We put the books back, get new ones, and go back to the table to see the Done pile higher and the Evidence pile shorter. Reality was starting to set in and I was getting more and more anxious. 

Could I even save my best friend?

I collapse between the M and N section of Charms. I put my hands in my knees and just start sobbing. My body shakes with sobs and I stay there until the tears don't come. "Lily?" I hear my friends call my name. "Coming." I call back, holding my voice steady. Sadly, I've become very good at it. Acting like I'm okay when I'm not. Holding my voice steady when I'm so close to losing my mind.  "Hey." James sits next to me. "You wanna talk about it?" he says quietly. I take a shaky sigh. "I should, right?" He nods. "I won't make you, but you should."  I tell him every thing I'm worried about. I tell him how worried I am about Bella, worried about this stupid war, nervous fro exams, anxious that on top of all this I'm a terrible girlfriend to James and and terrible friend to Alice and Mary. James is one of the best listeners I know, and he sits quietly until I'm finished. I sigh again and run my fingers through my hair. 

James swivels so both of our knees are touching. His eyes brim with sincerity, and I don't think I'v ever seen those big beautiful brown eyes looking more serious behind those wire framed glasses then they are now. "Lily, listen to me. You could NEVER be a terrible girlfriend to me. That's one thing I'll assure you of. Heck, you could go off snogging another guy and moving to America and I would still love you. You can always tell me anything and I'll always be here and love you. I need you to know that." I lean in and trace my fingers on his cheeks, the tips of my fingers brushing over his stubble from the morning. I press a kiss to his lips, and he leans in and kisses me back. I run my fingers through his hair and he puts his arms over my shoulder, twirling the ends of mine. 

"OI! So this is what you do when you two lovebirds go off looking for new books?" We read off and Sirius is standing there, looking disshevled, and his hair is pulled up into a sloppy bun at the top of his head. "Sorry mate. Any leads?" James hops up and holds out his hand to help me up. I stand ups and brush off my shirt, picking up the piece of paper with the books on it. "Nothing." Sirius says, stressed. "There's nothing in these about non-wand controlling spells, and for a while I thought it could be Imperio, but imperio you can fight. This one according to Lily you can't fight. And you don't need your wand for this one. It's like an older version of Imperio, more complex." I hand him a new stack of books. "Don't worry, we'll find something." I attempt to crack a small smile. As James runs off to the Ancient Runes section, I wander down the Dark Arts Restricted Section. I walk slowly, tracing my fingertips along the spines. 

I pause at 'Controlling for Beginners' but come to a complete stop at 'Incantation for the Advanced- Older, Hardier, and Trickier magic for those who wish to control more deeply into the mind'. I run that one back over to Remus. I climb the book latter to the top shelf, because one emerald green bound book caught my eye. 'Remedies and Counter Curses for the Oldest Spells in History'. My pulse starts to race as I trace my finger down the Table of Contents section and flip to the Incantations page.

'quod loquor non loquor face nihil. This is one of the oldest incantations told to mankind, and very hard to perform- but harder to reverse. Traditionally, only the one who has cast the spell can reverse it. But, Professor Elizabeth Evans, has found a counter curse that succeeds. To do so, you must need the person who the spell has been cast on's wand, the intimate object used, the wand used to cast the spell, a part human, part wizarding creature, and the person who the spell was cast on. Have the one being controlled sit in a chair in the oldest room of the building you are in. The part animal place their left hand on their shoulder, and right hand holding the person in the chair. Use the casters wand to say the incantation backwards 7 times. Then, use the witch or wizard who the spell was cast upon's wand to repeat this- libere loqui et facere 7 times. Note- if the person who the spell was cast upon has an ash wood wand, chances of success are slim. The wand will only work for them and a person who is VERY close to them romantically. Therefore, the one speaking the incantations must be that person.'