Lily Black and the Twin Souls (Book Two)

Chapter Thirteen: The Diary

When Lily and Teddy stepped off the train, several people screamed. This was of course, because of Ash. The dragon was nestled in Lily's arms while her trunk floated behind her. Lily smirked to herself, she loved Ash, and she didn't care what people thought. She met Dumbleduck at the door and grinned,

"Hello, Dumbleduck, this is Ash. Thank you for letting her stay with me." Dumbleduck's blue eyes twinkled as he smiled,

"It's lovely to meet you Ash, and as long as she makes no trouble, she can stay for as long as she would like." He paused thoughtfully, "May I ask where Dumbleduck came from? I must say that I have never heard that one." Lily smiled gratefully,

"Thank you. As for Dumbleduck, it came from when we turned you into a duck last year. It was quite funny and the name sort of stuck." Dumbleduck chuckled,

"Dumbleduck it is. Have a lovely day Miss Black." Lily grinned and followed Teddy inside,

"Hey, Shadow, how do you think my roommates will react?" she asked as they neared Gryffindor tower.

"Why don't we find out," Teddy smirked and told the fat lady the password. The portrait hole swung open to reveal most of the Gryffindors catching up after the holidays. Everyone turned around to stare when Lily entered with Ash. She ignored the stares and continued up to her dormitory. 

She entered the room to find that another trunk had been added to the foot of her bed. She smiled and set her stuff down before opening it. Inside, there was a ladder that went down into it. It must have been enchanted for Ash. Lily moved over so that Ash could enter first before following her down. She gasped at the sight that awaited her. There was a large field for Ash, along with food for her. There was also a shaded porch area that contained a table, couch, and two beds. They could live here if they wanted to! Ash, of course, would be living in here already, but Lily and Teddy could technically move in too if they wanted to. There was practically an entire house! Even a kitchen and bathroom! 

Lily was pretty sure that it was because Dumbleduck was anticipating Tommy's return. They could set this up somewhere, and live comfortably in it instead of being on the run. Lily explored some more and came across an area that would work for Teddy's transformations. She grinned, it was absolutely perfect.

Lily flew up the stairs to the boy's dorms and grabbed Teddy before dragging him up to her dorm. The staircase would only turn into a slide if there wasn't a girl on it, so Teddy could come up, while she was on it too. She practically shoved him into the enchanted trunk, before climbing down herself. When she got to the bottom, she found Teddy looking around in awe,

"What is this place?" he asked. 

"For now it's Ash's home. When Tommy comes back and we need to go into hiding, it'll be ours. There's even a place for your transformations." Teddy smiled softly as he took it in,

"It's perfect. Let's hope we don't have to use it anytime soon." Lily nodded in agreement.

"I agree, but just in case, we should slowly start filling it up. I doubt we'll need it for at least a couple of years, but until then we can start preparing." Teddy smiled and nodded,

"Good idea Flamie. Ash loves it too." 

"That she does Shadow," Lily said, laughing at the dragon who was prancing around in the meadow. 

Lily and Teddy learned that it was not in fact, Dracula, although they had never thought it was in the first place. Harry and Ron had actually succeeded in using Polyjuice Potion to get it out of him on Christmas. Unfortunately, Hermione had accidentally used a cat hair rather than a human one and was still in the hospital wing coughing up fur balls. 

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Weeks passed, and there was no sign of the attacks on muggle-borns continuing. Lily and Teddy's detentions were stretching further than ever, as they had been bored in the past weeks. Ash was growing at a considerable rate, and Lily had taken to doing homework in the magical trunk with Teddy, while Ash frolicked nearby. 

Harry, Ron, and Hermione had been acting very strange, and a couple times she had heard them whispering about some sort of diary. It made Lily wonder if it was the same one she had often seen Ginny writing feverishly in, though she sincerely doubted it. She was planning on going to eavesdrop on them as a fox tonight in the common room. She assumed they would be talking about whatever it was that was so secret. 

So, when everyone was talking quietly in the common room, or not so quietly in Fred and George's case, she slipped up into her dormitory and returned as Flame, as she called her animagus form. She leapt lightly into Hermione's lap, making her jump, before looking down and realizing it was 'Teddy's pet fox', as everyone thought she was.

"Have any of you guys noticed how strange this fox is?" Hermione asked, examining her.  Ron shook his head blankly,

"Seems like a normal fox to me. Not that I've met many foxes." Harry laughed at that,

"Same here. Why do you think it's strange?" Hermione's eyes narrowed on Lily's form curled in her lap,

"I don't know," she said slowly, "It just seems rather smart for an animal." Lily bristled and leapt from Hermione's lap into Harry's. He glanced down at her,

"I think it heard you." Hermione harrumphed before returning to what they were talking about before she arrived,

"Anyway, as I was saying, I don't really think it was Hagrid who opened the chamber all those years ago. Maybe Riddle was wrong. Maybe he got the wrong guy." Lily perked up. Why in Merlin's name did they think it was Hagrid? And where did they hear the name Tom Riddle. She listened attentively as they continued discussing what they knew, and was a mix of impressed and shocked with how much they had figured out, even if most of it was wrong.

A while later, after hearing everything she needed to know, Lily hopped off Harry's lap and pranced up the stairs to the empty boys dormitories. When Teddy found her up there a minute later, she was human again, and sitting on his bed with her legs crossed, examining her nail. When she heard Teddy come in, she glanced up and grinned.

"So, did you hear anything useful?" Teddy asked, laying down lazily next to her. She smirked, though there was a hint of worry in her grey eyes.

"Did I ever. Harry, Ron, and Hermione think it was Hagrid who opened the chamber fifty years ago. Harry found an old diary that belonged to Tom Riddle. Remember him? Yeah. Something about the diary showed him Tommy's memories of 'catching the heir'. He framed Hagrid Shadow. He's the reason Hagrid was expelled. I'll bet you a galleon there's something about that diary enabling him to act through someone else this time. Only thing is, there's no way to prove it." Teddy nodded slowly, registering what she said.

"So it was Tommy both times? Also, I'll take you up on that bet." Lily grinned, they were both pretty great at coming up with ways to make any situation lighter. It was a skill they shared. 

"Yup." Lily answered, popping the 'p'.