The Marauders: Year Six Part 2 #Wattys2017

The Cogs

The Cogs

CRACK!

Lily was on a rock-coated shore, made up of hundreds of thousands of tiny stones of all different colors. The stones were all around her, slippery and moving beneath her feet the way sand upon a beach might. She held out her arms to gain her balance as Kostos Mopsus released her hand.

She looked around and found herself on a peninsula of the stones, water surrounding them - beautiful, bright blue, and so clear she could see the stones and sand beneath the water for some distance. The air was warm and humid and her wool coat was far too heavy for it. She turned around to look behind her and saw Mopsus was already walking away, several steps over the slippery stone with his cane feeling the way, headed toward what looked like a cluster of stone buildings, cylindrical in shape.

Struggling to remove her coat as she followed after him, slipping on the stone, she called, "Where are we? What is this place?"

Mopsus's voice shivered with age, "A safe place. Come."

Lily frowned. Again, against her better judgement, she obeyed, following after the hunched old man. Although he was quite nimble for the age and shape of him, she was still much faster moving than Mopsus was and she caught up with him easily, looking about as she went. The sky was endlessly blue, not a cloud in it, and sunlight, warm and clear, warmed her skin as she carried the wool coat and her Christmas dress swished about her thighs. It was hard to believe she'd left the icy evening air outside of the Lupin house just seconds before.

"I know I already asked this, but - where are we?" She questioned.

"Greece," he answered simply.

"Greece!" Lily echoed. "I have never been." She paused, looking around, then back to Mopsus. "Sir, I beg your pardon but... what are we doing in Greece, sir? I was trying to see my friends, you know Remus and Sirius - because James seems really - I don't know, just - wrong - and I was trying to help him and ---"

"We are going to save your husband, do not worry, Lily."

Lily blinked. "Come again?"

Mopsus had reached the door of the nearest tower and he paused, holding onto the handle with both his bands. "Ah, yes. And I told myself not to make that mistake this time around." He shook his head and pushed through.

"James and I are just --"

"Friends, yes, you've assured me." Mopsus muttered.

Lily flushed.

She'd been going to say James and I are just seventeen, she realized.

Then -

"How does being in Greece with you help James Potter?" Lily asked, deciding that was the more pressing matter. She'd deal with this other thing later.

Mopsus's cane shuffled over the stones. "It helps a great deal, Lily." He misstepped then, his cane catching on the stone and Lily instinctively abandoned the reservations she had and caught his elbow to straighten him up and he nodded graciously to her. "You are very loving. A trait you shall pay heavily with in time, but whose benefit shall impact the course of time."

Lily guided him over the stones, "There are two stone towers before us," she said, "Which are we going to?"

"The closer," Mopsus answered.

"Thank Merlin," Lily said.

Mopsus said, "Bright lad, Merlin."

Lily laughed, "Oh. Was he now."