Lily Potter And The Secret Bewitchment

Chapter Thirty - Time to Act

"It's Malfoy Manor," Lily answered. There was a moment of stunned silence as the four boys processed this information. James was the first to speak.

"Is that where Rosie and Hugo are?" He asked, desperately. Lily nodded.

"And Jayla, too, I think."

"Well, who do we tell?" Al looked panicked, "We have to go to them!"

"We tell Vector, obviously," James replied, looking at his brother and sister.

"We can't, James," Lily said, from where she was standing. "There's a spy inside Hogwarts. That's why I can't tell anyone except for you four."

"So we're going to them?" Oli asked, fidgeting as he stood beside Lily and George.

"No!" James said, standing up quickly. He sounded panicked and angry. Lily's own anger rose inside of her. Didn't he understand that they needed to find them and save them?

"We just let them die?" Lily shouted, "James, one of the sources that Rosie found said that the prisoners were to be killed!" Al suddenly went as white as a sheet. He stood up also and faced his brother.

"We can't leave them for dead, James. They're our cousins, our friends. And you know full well that Lily will just go anyway!" Al hissed under his breath. James suddenly conceded. Turning to Lily, he asked the question on everybody's lips.

"How are we getting there, then, you crazy musketeers?"

"We can't apparate, nor get a portkey," George said, listing the magical modes of transport on his hands. "But we can floo."

"We don't have any floo powder, though," Oli pointed out.

"Vic has some," James said, "She was using it to visit her parents during the Easter holidays." Lily knew this also, and it was very convenient at that particular moment.

"We can't ask her for it," Al said, "She'd be really suspicious. Both her and Molly have been so protective since... You know." The sentence was left hanging, but everyone knew what Al was referring to.

"We're going to have to take it," Lily said, decisively.

"We?" James asked, stating the obvious, "You, Lils, we can't get up the damn staircase!" Lily knew, regretfully, that this was to be a one-person job.

"Okay," Lily said, pretending to concede defeat. "James, have you got the map?" James nodded and pulled the Mauraders' Map out of his pocket. Lily nodded appreciatively.

"What's that?" Oli asked, as James tapped the map with his wand and muttered the incantation.

"This is our Mauraders' Map. The Mauraders, that is to say, my Grandpa and his friends, created this map when they were at school. You have to know the incantation, but once it reveals itself, you can see everyone inside Hogwarts, as well as all the secret passages." Lily paused, allowing her two friends a second to digest this. "Did you pick up the cloak, Oli?" 

"I got it, along with the book." George volunteered, "I thought we might need it."

"You're learning," Lily said, impressed. James opened his mouth to object, but Lily cut him off. "Yes, we have been stealing from you. Deal with it, dear brother." James and Al shook their heads, and Lily was secretly very pleased with herself and her friends.

"Are Vic and Molly in their dormitory?" Al asked James, breaking the slightly awkward silence as James struggled for something to say.

"Oh, well," James started, "No, but the common room's really full, it'll be difficult to navigate in the cloak."