Chapter 25
The Arrival
It seemed as if the hours ticked by at a snails pace to Aria. It was as if the world knew what was going to go on, and slowed down in anticipation. And every steady tick tock tick tock echoed in her head.
"It's eleven," Lily announced as the eleven bongs of the grandfather clock from the walkway traveled through the house.
"You think that he's going to come around midnight, don't you?" Remus asked as he gazed at Lily's face.
Lily shut her eyes and said, "I-I don't know. I can't say."
The room returned to silence.
Kayla was sitting next to Sirius on the floor, leaning against the couch, Aria was pacing in front of the fireplace, Remus was situated in a chair close to the fireplace, and would grab Aria's hand every time she passed him. James was leaning against the window that looked out to the front of the house, and Lily . . . she was everywhere. She couldn't stay still.
With a sigh, Lily walked over to her husband and wrapped her arms around him from behind, looking over his shoulder into the darkness of the night.
James shook the emptiness out of his head as he felt arms wrap around him. He'd been staring at nothing for too long. James took one of Lily's hands and intertwined his fingers with hers, their wedding bands brushing against each other.
"I hate waiting!" Kayla sighed as she blinked her eyes to get the spots from her eyes.
"I'd rather wait then have to deal with this guy." Sirius said in his deep voice as he gathered his wife closer to him.
"I don't think that you can even consider that thing a guy," Lily commented as she shuddered. She was not looking forward to tonight. Not at all.
"You know, I don't think that any of us have ever acted like this," Remus observed.
"Like what? Silent? Edgy? Spooked?" Aria asked as she stopped pacing and walked over to Remus's chair and sat on his lap.
"Yes," he agreed as he put his arms around her.
*.*.*
"It's almost time," a raspy voice sounded into a damp, cold dungeon. If you listened carefully, you could here the distant drip drip of water in the background.
"I'll soon be unstoppable," the voice said as he looked over the group of black hooded cloaks.
"With the help of their past friends, I shall defeat them by using their weaknesses," he announced, more to himself than the rest of the room.
A cheer went up, then died quickly.
The clock stroke the half hour, and the hooded figure in the front of the room grinned evilly. It's begun, he thought as he snapped his fingers and apparated to the outskirts of Bristol along with two other people.
*.*.*
"What do you think that Voldemort will try to do?" Sirius asked the room in curiosity.
"The same thing he did when we were doing our test. Most likely, he'll be using our weaknesses. But it isn't going to be so easy to overcome this time," Aria sighed. She didn't know what her weakness was, but that just makes it even harder to face.
"We have to get through this you guys. If not for ourselves, for our children. They shouldn't have to live in a world of fear," James said.
The others nodded their heads in agreement, and began to look around the room in silence. Maybe they could win this. Maybe. Just maybe, they could create a better world for their children.
Lily opened her mouth to say something just as the clock chimed the half hour. Suddenly, this strange . . . dark feeling fell over the house, causing its occupants to shiver in fear.
The time had come.
Those words hovered in all of their minds as they looked at each other in fear. There was a big possibility that they could never see one another again.
"I love you all," Lily whispered before kissing James lightly on the cheek and taking a deep breath.
"I love you all too," Sirius echoed, as did Kayla, Aria, and Remus.
"How sweet," a familiar voice sounded from the hallway, causing them all to turn towards it.
"Tiffany!" Lily yelled as she saw one of her past friends.
"So smart of you to remember my name," the girl spat as she stepped into the room.
"Why don't you take off your cloak?" Kayla asked as she tried to peer into the darkness of the hood of Tiffany's cloak.
"Why would I do that? So that you could have the memory of my face burned into your brain. You think that I don't know that if someone was to try to figure out the big riddle of who killed the famous Marauders and wives that my face would be sketched there? You guys never did realize that I wasn't a total moron did you?" she laughed. "Well, now it looks like the wheels have turned around. Don't you say Peter?" she asked with a smirk as a chubby man came in, dressed in a thick black robe with the hood over his face like Tiffany's.
"Yes, I do. It's about time they learn what it feels like to be small. To feel un-needed," he growled.
"Why the hell are you guys doing this?" Sirius demanded, his brown eyes flashing with temper.
"What better way to get back at you all?" Tiffany taunted.
"You ignored us and made our lives miserable, now, we're going to make your lives go bye-bye!" Peter laughed.
"Now, now, Pettigrew, that's no reason to taunt our little hero's," Voldemort's raspy, hissing voice sounded as he stepped into the room.
Lily gasped at the sight of this tall creature with a black hooded cloak in her house. He looked hideous. His skin was gray and wrinkly, and he smelled bad too. Almost as if he just climbed out of a crypt. As if he was a creature of the dead.
"Surprise, surprise," Voldemort said as he took in the shocked and disgusted expressions of the witches and wizards standing before him.
Lily's hand started to creep inside of the robe that she had put on a few hours earlier. Her hand stole into the pocket and her fingers wrapped around the wooden handle of it, and she felt the power flow into her body. She knew, that she'd fight with all that she was worth.
James felt his wand, which was up his sleeve, and began to work it out slowly. He hid his arm behind Lily as it started to show, and wrapped his fingers around the grip handle. He allowed the surge of power to flow through his body, and he knew that he'd do what ever it took to win.
Kayla's hand searched her robe pocket until her fingers clasped around the precious wood. She could feel the power rising into her body, and she smiled. They were going to win.
Sirius's hand snaked to his back pocket and closed around the handle of his wand. As the magic flowed through his veins, he knew that they were all going to do all that they could to win this battle.
Aria's hand skimmed over the waistband of her skirt and closed over the smooth willow stick that laid there. She wouldn't be afraid of dying.
Remus's hand already lay on his wand, ready to pull it out in an instant.
"So edgy for such young people," Voldemort hissed as he saw all of their hands go for their wands. "But if you wish to fight, so be it. We'll fight."
With that said, he raised his hand and pointed at Lily. "Cucio," he commanded.
Lily dodged the yellow sparks that was the spell, and raised her wand and shouted out, "inverso" [1].
Voldemort laughed as he hung upside down. "Silly girl. Do you honestly think that that will affect me?" he teased as he shot out the impero spell towards Sirius, who managed to block it with another spell.
"How the hell are we supposed to beat them?" Aria screamed as Peter and Tiffany began to call out spells also.
After close to five minutes of constant spell dodging and counterattacks, someone screamed out the one curse that made everyone's blood freeze. The Killing Curse was fired. And headed towards Aria.
*.*.*
Aria froze as the green light came closer to her. She was facing her death, and she knew it. Death in a green light.
Then, in a quick succession, a picture of her parents, one tall with black hair and ice blue eyes, the other petite with blonde hair and gray eyes, flashed through her head. Then, the first time she went to Diagon Alley, the train ride to Hogwarts, meeting Lily and Aria, then meeting James and Sirius. Then, Remus. Then an image of Remus flashed through her head. The first time they kissed, said 'I love you', made love. The night he proposed.
Then, her hand went down to her stomach, where she knew that her baby lay.
She couldn't let it die. Not without experiencing life.
With that in mind, Aria took a deep breath and closed her eyes, summoning her powers to her.
Seconds later, everyone was holding on to something to keep them from flying around the room.
Aria spread out her arm, and the heavy gust of wind pushed the killing curse away from her body.
And as Remus watched her, he found the way to kill Voldemort.
"Sirius! James! Kayla! Lily!" Remus yelled as he grabbed Aria's hand. The winds gust increased considerably. "Grab on to her hand!" he instructed.
The four others ran as best as they could over to Aria and created a line, one hand linked to another.
"Siamo stati trasmessi, per sgominare l'oscuritá. L'oscuritá che siete. Samo stati trasmessi, per sbarazzare il mondo dei vostri sensi, della vosra influenza. Invitamo le nostre alimentazoini, darci la resistenza per fare cosí. Per darck la resistenza per pulirli dalla terra e per non rinviare mai,[2]" they chanted.
"You silly kids!" Voldemort yelled. "Do you honestly think that you can take away my immortality!"
Kayla smirked and continued chanting. The bright yellow haze that surrounded them slowly made its way over to Voldemort – who stood with his arms crossed, thinking that nothing could happen to him – Peter and Tiffany, who looked at the cloud with skepticism. What could that thing do to us, they wondered.
Slowly, the yellow haze got closer to them, and the chanting stopped.
Lily slumped against the wall, drained, as she watched the mist like cloud drape itself over the three invaders.
James watched from his place on the floor as Voldemort, Peter and Tiffany were being drained of all power.
Aria tried to get the larger part of her weight off of Remus as she watched the black cloud of power join the yellow, only to be enveloped by the yellow.
Remus smiled as much as he could as he watched the three in front of him fall to their knees.
Kayla watched with her head resting against the mantel of the fireplace as the life was being sucked out of her ex-friends and Voldemort. The white mists of life slowly raised out of their bodies and disappeared into the yellow haze that they had created.
Sirius breathed deeply as he stood with his feet splayed apart and watched as their bones turned to dust little by little, then disappeared totally.
No one seemed able to speak as they looked around the house, only to see it exactly how it was before Voldemort had come.
"What happened?" Kayla croaked.
"Did it really happen?" James frowned as he looked over his house once again. Every thing seemed in order.
Lily pushed herself off the wall, and on wobbly feet, walked over to where Peter, Tiffany and Voldemort had stood.
There was still dust there.
"James, Aria," Lily rasped and raised a hand to her throat to soothe it. That single spell drained her body of so much. "Go into the kitchen and start making a vanishing potion. We should have all of the ingredients needed. If not, tell me and I'll go to Diagon Alley," she instructed.
James levered himself up with the help of the near by table and nodded his head before making his way over to his wife. He wrapped his arms around her body, and just hugged her close. She was alive. That was all that he could think right now. That his life, his love, was alive.
"I love you Lils," he whispered into her ear as he skimmed a small kiss over her lips and let go of her. "I'll be right back, okay baby?" he smiled as he made his way out of the door.
Aria broke out of her embrace with Remus and made her way out the door and to the kitchen. Her child was safe, she smiled.
Lily looked over in Kayla's direction, and smiled when she saw her being strangled in her husbands arms.
She couldn't grasp the fact that they were all alive and unharmed yet. It seemed to . . . unreal for her.
"Remus," she rasped, her voice still not back. "Can you go to Hogwarts and tell Dumbledore of the activities that has taken place? And tell him that I'll come for Harry tomorrow afternoon."
Remus nodded and quickly took his wand out and apparated.
"I need to get that fixed," Lily muttered to herself, referring to the apparation inside of her house.
"What about us? What do we do?" Kayla asked.
"I don't know," Lily shrugged. She couldn't think of anything else that needed to be done.
*.*.*.*
Within hours after using the potion on the remains of Voldemort, Peter and Tiffany, the whole wizarding world knew of the Dark Lords downfall. And all of his followers were drained of a little bit of their powers from being connected to their Lord as they were. Many of them were caught, but a few managed to get away.
Everywhere you turned, there were parties, fireworks going off, people dancing in the roads of muggle and wizarding Britain in robes. All of the pubs were full to the maximum, and shooting stars could be seen all over the world.
They were free of Voldemort – or, as they still referred to him, He-who-must-not-be-named.
*.*.*
The next morning, Lily woke up on the couch, with one of her best friends head on her stomach, and the other one laying next to her. Lily smiled a little and lifted her head a fraction to see where everyone else was. She smiled at what she saw.
James was sprawled out on the cushion of the bay window, one of his arms and leg hanging over the side, his glasses askew, and his other leg was bent at an angle so that he could fit in the little space.
Sirius lay in a small ball in the walkway between the couch that the girls were on and the table in between.
And Remus looked so uncomfortable in the armchair that he was asleep in. His head hung over the backing of it, and his feet were spread out in front of him, and one of his arms was resting over his stomach while the other hung over one of the arms of the chair.
Lily laughed a little and somehow managed to slide out of the room without anyone waking up and noticing.
She needed a shower, then she needed to go and get her son. She wanted to see him so badly.
*.*.*
When Lily came back down, everyone was in the kitchen, eating a pile of food that Aria and Kayla had cooked. Well, probably mostly Aria seeing as Kayla can't cook water without burning it.
"Good morning," Lily smiled. They were still all here. She had been wrong. And this was one time that she would be happy to admit that. She still had all of her friends.
"Good Morning!" the echoed. Everyone seemed to be in a happy mood.
"Lily Evans-Potter!" a voice shrieked, causing Kayla, Lily, Sirius and James to wince. They knew that voice, and what that tone meant. Trouble.
"Mama?" Lily asked timidly as her Mother walked into the room looking beautiful as ever in her white dress and black robes.
"How could you leave Harry with Dumbledore without asking me first?" Alexandra huffed as she placed her hands on her hips as she glared at first her daughter, then her son-in-law.
Lily looked down at her gray sweater and plucked at the hem of it, as her black jean incased legs shifted nervously on the floor. No matter how old she got, she would never stop being afraid of her Mother.
"Uhh. . . I don't know," she mumbled.
"You don't know?" her Mother echoed.
Lily shrugged her shoulders, deciding that keeping her mouth shut would be in her best interest.
"She was going to go and get him now if you wanted to go with her, Alex," Kayla tried.
"That's not my point. I want to know why my grandson didn't stay with me!"
"Because I was scared that you wouldn't be able to handle Voldemort or one of his followers with the amount of power that you have if they had come after Harry!" Lily exclaimed as she waved her arms around frantically, missing James's head by millimeters.
Alexandra looked at her daughter, and smiled, "That's all you had to say to me. Now, why don't I go and get Harry, and bring him back here. You need to eat your breakfast Cara, you look hungry," her Mother instructed before turning around and heading for the living room, where she would use floo powder to get to Hogwarts.
"That's where I have to get it from," Lily sighed as she plopped down in a chair and took two pancakes, an egg and a few bits of bacon and put them on her plate. Her Mother was right about something. She was famished!
*.*.*
Later that night, Lily lay on her bed with Harry laying next to her, thinking about what had happened the night before. She was glad that it was over, that her son could grow up without having to worry about his family and friends being killed.
"Hey," James said softly as he sat next to his wife on the bed, and brushed her shinning red hair out of her face.
"Hi," Lily smiled. Her family was still here.
"Are you okay?"
"Yes, I am," she answered as she looked up at him, then down at her baby boy.
"I love you Lily, and I always will."
"I love you too James. So much." She smiled, then looked down at her son. "And I love you too, baby boy."
James smiled, then walked over to his side of the bed. Before getting under the covers, he reached over on to his night stand, and turned off the light.
"Night, baby," he whispered into the darkness.
*.*.*
Authors Note:
Hey y'all! This is the last story of this story. :::Sniffle::: My baby is finished!!
[1] upside down
[2] we were sent, to vanquish the dark. The dark which you are. We were sent, to rid the world of your ways, of your influence. We call upon our power, to give us the strength to do so. To give us the strength to wipe you from the Earth, and never to return.
I will have an epilogue out sometime in the next two –three days, so look out for that. Then, I'm going to be finishing up Spellbound.
Tell me what you think of the ending.
And for all of those who didn't read the one Authors note where I put that I wasn't going to kill them off, SURPRISE!! LoL.
But tell me what you all think of the ending. Good, bad.
I'll see you all in the next chapter! Bye bye!!!!
Mistress del Mare