Lily Potter and Neoma's Trance

Chapter Ten

“Eli!” Lily yelled as she sprinted over to him. He was lying face down on the marble floor and not moving a muscle. “Eli!”

He can’t be dead, she thought. He’s can’t be dead.

She flipped him onto his back (he can’t be dead) and was horrified to see his gray eyes wide open and glazed over (he can’t be dead). “Eli,” she breathed, putting her hands on his chest and becoming only slightly less terrified when she felt his heart beating faintly.

“Help!” Lily screamed as she shook him trying to wake him up from this trance. “Help! Somebody! Help!”

“Don’t just stand there,” she yelled at the pictures. “Get some help you imbeciles!”

She continued to check Eli’s pulse and scream from help until it came in the form of Hagrid and Professor Longbottom charging down the hallway with Madam Pomfrey scurrying right behind them.

“Bloody hell,” Professor Longbottom muttered under his breath. “What happened to Harris, Potter?”

“I don’t know,” Lily answered standing up as Hagrid picked up the limp Eli in his arms. “He started screaming about a revolution; it was like he was possessed or something.”

“It’s okay,” Professor Longbottom nodded, putting his hands on Lily’s shoulders. “Hagrid, you take Harris down to the hospital wing with Madam Pomfrey. I’ll escort Miss Potter back to the Gryffindor common room.”

Silently and feeling quite shaken up, Lily walked beside Professor Longbottom all the way back to the common room without saying a word.

“What were you two doing up there anyway?” he finally asked once they were standing outside of the portrait hole. Quickly, Lily explained how and why she had chased after Eli. “That’s kind of a reckless thing to do, Potter.”

“I’m so sorry,” she apologized quickly and could feel the tears welling up in her eyes. It’s my first week, and I’m already in trouble, Lily thought. “Does this mean I’m in trouble, Professor Longbottom? Please don’t tell my parents; they’ll be so disappointed.”

Longbottom gave a small laugh, “All that you being reckless means is that you really are the daughter of Harry Potter and Ginny Weasley. Recklessness is in your genes, Potter; you can’t help it.”

“Is that a bad thing?” Lily asked, a bit confused.

“If they hadn’t been reckless, Lord Voldemort would be ruling the world right now, and if you hadn’t been reckless back there, I don’t even want to think about what could have happened to Harris. Ten points to Gryffindor,” he said as he walked away.

Lily ducked through the portrait hole and into the common room and was relieved to find out that the other Gryffindors had yet to return from the Great Hall. Trying to get what had just transpired off of her mind, Lily attempted to dive right back into her notes but to no avail.

All too soon, the rest of the Gryffindors all poured into the common room, seeming to be abuzz with news not about Eli, but of Blaire Weeks, the fifth year Ravenclaw prefect.

“I can’t believe she’s gone,” Lily heard someone sob from her spot in an armchair. “I’m never going to see her again; she’s dead.”

“She’s not gone,” she watched Fred comfort the upset girl. “She just hasn’t been found yet; have some hope! She’ll be found.”

“New news about Blaire Weeks?” Lily disinterestedly asked Hugo and Rudolph once they had made their way over to her.

“Headmistress Smithers just gave us an update once the meal was over. She told us that Blaire’s still missing and warned us not to go out after curfew,” Hugo explained.