A/N: Just to clear up some confusion about the Tongue Tying Curse: James can talk, but he CAN’T talk about the events that happened while he was captured. He can say some things about Lily, but, for example, he can’t say, “I stayed in a cell with Gideon Prewitt and I met with Voldemort three times,” or something like that. Okay? I got a lot of questions about that.

Disclaimer (I haven’t done this in forever): This is Jo’s world. I just live here.

Lily began to awaken, utterly confused. Where was she? Why was she so cold? Then her heart sank as she remembered, and she didn’t want to open her eyes to face the reality. She lay there, taking in the sounds of dripping water on the stones, the whistle of cold air through the cracks in the door, and footsteps.

Wait a minute. Footsteps?

She shot upright and her eyes snapped open. The footsteps were coming their way, accompanied by faint voices. “Is it true? What everyone’s been saying this Mudblood can do?” Lily heard an unfamiliar voice ask. She strained her ears to hear and crawled toward the door.

“I doubt it,” said a different voice. “But why else would the Dark Lord keep her here?”

She hoisted her self quickly to her feet and ran the few steps to wake up Gideon. She shook his shoulder violently. “Gideon, wake up! Someone’s coming!”

Gideon woke with a start and shook his head to clear his thoughts of sleep. His overlong red hair spun in all directions. “Who is?” he asked, now alert.

“Death Eaters,” Lily replied, turning her head to view the door again. “They’re coming for me.”

Gideon scrambled up and took Lily by the shoulders. “Listen to me and listen carefully. Take the mirror with you. I’ll contact Hogwarts as soon as I can with the duplicate mirror you made me. Do not come back for me if you escape. If one of us contacts Hogwarts, Dumbledore will know what to do. I’ll be fine. If they ask to see what you can do, show them. If you don’t, you’ll be killed, you understand?”

Lily nodded and tore herself from his grip as the door swung open. Two unfamiliar Death Eaters were standing there, but Lily suspected they had been part of the group that had taken her from Hogwarts.

“Mudblood, you’re coming with us,” said one on the left in a bored tone. He beckoned to her. “You understand English, don’t you? Let’s go!”

Lily glanced back at Gideon. He nodded, indicating for her to leave. She advanced toward the Death Eaters. “I understand English,” she said venomously as she reached them. “In fact, I bet I can speak it better than either of you.”

The other Death Eater grabbed her arm. “Shut your trap, Mudblood. Let’s go.” He gave her arm a sharp yank, but Lily didn’t budge.

“For example,” she continued, anger flashing behind her eyes, “Mudblood doesn’t exist in my vocabulary.” She glared at the Death Eater, refusing to look away.

The first Death Eater raised a heavy fist and punched her with force across the face. Lily gasped as the pain exploded across her cheek, but she had learned how to keep her emotions hidden. Instead, she began to laugh. “Now I have another bruise to match the lovely one that Lucius gave me,” she grinned. Inwardly, she winced. That punch had really hurt, and she could feel her face beginning to swell.

Both men were thrown by her attitude, but quickly recovered their composure. “Enough of this. You’re coming with us,” said one - Lily had lost track of who was who-, “or we’ll kill the other red head,” he continued in a threatening tone. Behind the black mask that he wore, Lily could see his eyes narrow, and she knew that he meant it.

She unintentionally paused barely long enough for them to cast a spell that bound her wrists tightly behind her back. She strained furiously against the bindings, but they were too tight and she couldn’t easily reach her wand without them seeing. As if reading her mind, each arm was taken at the elbow by a Death Eater, and she was marched away.

The distance was short, for once. Lily had only to walk down two more hallways before she was at her ‘new home’. As a Death Eater magically unlocked the door, Lily thought, I can take them both out with this new power. Now. Right now. Come on, Lily, do it! She couldn’t summon the power, and she wasn’t sure how.

The door clicked open and Lily was pushed inside of the pitch black cell. She fell and hit the ground heavily, unable to break her fall because of her bound hands. The Death Eaters shut the door, locked it, and left without another word, presumably to summon guards.

Lily struggled to her feet and managed to maneuver her hands to her pocket. Groping inside painfully, as the ropes were cutting off her circulation, she finally located it, and used it to Vanish the ropes.

“So what are you in for?”

Lily jumped visibly. She hadn’t realized that there was another person in the room. She squinted to see in the darkness. “Who’s there?” she called, leveling her wand. “Lumos!”

The thin beam of light somewhat illuminated the room, and Lily could now see a thin black girl leaning against the far wall, smiling thinly. “Don’t look at me like that,” said the girl, “I’m not going to kill you. Haven’t you noticed I’m locked up just like you? I’m on your side.”

Lily’s suspicion dropped minimally. “Who are you?” she asked.

“Trinity,” replied the other prisoner. “You can call me Trin. How’d you manage to keep your wand?”

“Long story,” Lily muttered, and changed the subject. “What are you doing here?”

Trinity grinned. “Handed out pamphlets with the heading ‘Stop Voldywart’ for a good laugh.” Her tone became serious. “But it just looked like a joke from the front. Inside there was lots of information on defensive spells and suspected Death Eaters. Unfortunately, my partner Jorge handed one to a Death Eater whose name wasn’t on the list – and here I am.” She looked slightly sad as she said, “Jorge died right after.” She wiped her eyes with the back of her hand before tears appeared and said, “So…what about you?”

Trinity obviously didn’t want to talk about her partner in her so-called crime, so Lily decided not to mention him. “He thinks I have potential,” she sighed. “And even if I was a complete failure, I’m a Muggle born.”

Trinity smiled. “I’m a half-blood, but he doesn’t like those either, since my mum is apparently scum in his eyes. You Know Who didn’t like the whole ‘witch with Muggle blood’ defying him thing, so I got solitary. I was lucky not to be killed. Were you with other people before?”

Lily smiled regretfully. “Yes. I got special treatment. Hence, the wand.” She twirled the afore mentioned object between thumb and index finger, making the ray of light still coming from its tip careen crazily around the room. “Wish I had Dumbledore’s Deluminator with me,” Lily said, straightening the wand again, “we’d have a bit more light. I bet he’d give it to me.”

“You know Dumbledore?” Trinity’s mouth had dropped open.

Lily snapped her mouth shut, afraid that she had said too much, but Trinity went on without noticing Lily’s lack of participation. “He could get us out of here! I tell you, I’m so sick of being in this God forsaken cell. They forget to bring me food half the time, and it’s not like I had any fat to begin with! They think they’re all that, don’t they?”

Lily blinked, slightly unnerved by the rant that Trinity had just said without taking a breath. Trinity noticed immediately. “Sorry, I’ll shut up,” she murmured. “A lot of people are put off by how much I talk.”

“No, no, it’s fine,” said Lily hurriedly. “And yes, I know Dumbledore. Didn’t you go to Hogwarts? I mean, I know there are other schools, but…” she trailed off, waiting for Trinity to answer.

“Nope,” replied Trinity, twisting a loose string from her robes between her fingers. “I was home schooled. This would be my seventh year there, though. Is it fun?”

“Oh, it’s amazing,” Lily said in a tone bordering on awe. She stared off into space, remembering all of the good times at Hogwarts with her friends. Then something clicked. “Who home schooled you? Your dad?”

“My family hired a governess to teach me everything I needed to know,” Trinity said dismissively. “It was never much fun. I would have loved to go to Hogwarts. It’s got to be more fun than my house.” Her face clouded over as she said this, and Lily suspected that there was more to the story than she let on.

“So what sort of ‘potential’ does he think you have?” asked Trinity, using air quotes with her hands.

Lily hesitated. Could she trust her with this? “It’s simpler to show you,” she relented. “Watch.” She set her wand on the ground to show that she wouldn’t use it. She thought of the Deluminator and closed her hands, feeling her palms go warm. She opened her hands, and a sphere of light floated up toward the ceiling and stayed there, illuminating the room with a soft glow. Lily picked up her wand, muttered, “Nox,” and looked at Trinity, curious to see her reaction.

She could now see her clearly, and could tell that her robes were ripped, torn, and slightly bloodied in some spots. Lily bit the inside of her lip at the sight of her emaciated ribs, but said nothing and instead concentrated on her face. She had wide brown eyes and her hair was done up in many tiny braids that reached just to her shoulders. Despite her innocent appearance, Lily could tell from the attitude that she gave off that she was used to having to fight for what she wanted, and she was ready to.

Her features were arranged into an expression of pure shock. “You can do wandless magic,” she said in an astonished voice, stating the obvious.

“Er…yes,” Lily said hesitantly, afraid of her next reaction.

“That’s wicked!” Trinity exclaimed, and Lily let out a breath she didn’t realize she’d been holding. “How’d you do it? Where’d you learn? Can you teach me?”

Lily smiled. “I don’t know, nowhere, and no, I don’t think so,” she replied, answering all of Trinity’s questions. “I’m just gifted, I suppose.”

“Lucky,” sighed Trinity. “Wish I could do that.”

“That’s what landed me here,” Lily contradicted. “I don’t think you’d want that on top of your pamphlet episode. And besides,” she continued, “You must be pretty smart. You got the whole system going to try and get the word out for the flight against Voldemort, which takes planning.”

Trinity shrugged. “I guess. I’m a pretty good Legilimens.”

Lily’s interest rose. “Really? I’m a good Occlumens, but Legilimency? Not so much?”

“I’m exactly the opposite,” laughed Trinity. “I can find anything I want in people’s minds, but they could do the same to me. You,” she continued, “are an extremely good Occlumens. I can’t get anything from you.”

“Voldemort’s the only one who has. He was trying to-” Lily stopped. That memory still hurt.

Trin noticed Lily’s hesitation and didn’t press the issue. “You know, I wonder if you can make food,” she wondered aloud to the change the subject.

“It’s against the Laws,” Lily said immediately, beginning to sound like the know it all she’d been her first few years at Hogwarts. “They clearly state that any food conjured will eventually disappear.”

Trinity snorted. “Are you saying what you’ve been ding follows those Laws as well?”

“Well…no, not exactly,” Lily muttered, defeated. Trinity reminds me of Sirius in a way, she thought absently.

Sirius! She’d nearly forgotten.

“Hold that thought,” she said to Trinity. She pulled the mirror from her right pocket and rubbed it free of smudges and lint. “Sirius Black,” she said in an undertone.

“Lily? Are you okay?” Trinity asked, obviously wondering why she was talking to a mirror.

“Wait.” The mirror flickered. Lily held her breath. Then, Sirius’ face appeared, clear as day. His expression was jubilant, but Lily shushed him before he could say a word. “There might be guards outside,” she murmured, “so stay quiet.”

Sirius nodded. “What’s going on?” he whispered. “James can’t talk about it and I don’t know the counter curse.”

“It’s a really long story,” Lily replied. “And I don’t believe that there is a counter curse.”

Sirius’ face fell. “Oh,” he said quietly, looking down for a split second. Then he met Lily’s eyes again and managed to grin. “You’re alright, though! What did he do to you?”

“He just moved me to a different cell,” Lily replied. “Nothing monumental.” She looked past him to his surroundings. It looked like he was in the corridors, and the fruit bowl painting behind him showed that he’d been raiding the kitchens. Lily frowned. “Sirius, what were you doing?”

“Getting a snack, Lils, relax,” he said disarmingly, widening his eyes in innocence.

Trinity came over curiously. When she saw Sirius’ face she nearly shouted in surprise, but Lily clapped a hand over her mouth. Trinity tore it away and asked in a loud whisper, “Who is that?”

“Who’re you?” asked Sirius curiously.

Lily sighed impatiently. “Sirius, Trinity, Trinity, Sirius. Alright? Now anyway, Sirius, I’ve loads to tell you. And what’s going on over there now that James is back? Has Gideon contacted you?”

“Is he the red head bloke that was in the cell with you and James?” Sirius asked. “Yeah, he did. Just around half an hour ago, he asked to speak with Dumbledore. Oh, by the way, Dumbledore knows that James is back. You’d think the first thing that James would do once he got back would go to Dumbledore, but apparently he didn’t.” Sirius drew in a breath and continued, “Everyone’s in the Common Room now trying to get a fix on where you are. I think Alice is getting close.” He shrugged regretfully. “It’s like trying to find a gold brooch in a huge dirt pile without a niffler.”

“It’s alright,” Lily sighed. Her mind was racing with the new information. Dumbledore knew. They’d be safe. “You’ll get it eventually. It’d be nice if you could get here in the next three days, though.”

Sirius immediately looked worried. “Why?” he asked, obviously expecting the worst.

“If I don’t have something satisfactory to show Voldemort in three days,” Lily said, “he’s going to do something horrible.” I think he might kill me.

Sirius’ face changed completely, and it was now a hard mask of anger. His eyes were cold as he replied, “We’ll be there, Lily. Damn it, if it kills me, I’ll get you out of there, I swear.”

Lily knew that he meant it, and it scared her. As much as she wanted to escape, she didn’t want more blood on her hands. Already, there were her parents, Katie, and the torture and capture of James. What else would be her fault? Would Sirius die now as well? Gideon? Trinity? Friends from Hogwarts? It wasn’t right, and she wouldn’t let it happen.

“Lily, I’ve got to go,” Sirius said, breaking the silence. “Stay strong, alright?”

“Alright,” she sighed. The mirror went blank.

Trinity looked at Lily, hands on hips. “Explain that, now, or so help me, I will never talk to you again.”

“That might be an improvement,” said Lily wryly.

“I mean it!” Trinity retorted. “Otherwise, I’ll be forced to think that you weren’t really communicating with Hogwarts.”

“How could you even think that?” Lily exclaimed. “I was going to tell you anyway.” Trinity’s suspicious gaze did not waver, and Lily sighed. “It’s a two way mirror,” she revealed. “It was my boyfriend’s. His best mate has the other one. That’s Sirius. Now do you understand? It’s our ticket out.”

“Fine,” said Trinity reluctantly. “But why didn’t you say something before?”

“You didn’t ask.”

Trinity looked at Lily, curiosity unveiled in her eyes. “What else aren’t you telling me?”

“Nothing that’s important,” Lily said evasively. She didn’t need to know about the prophecy, which she hadn’t thought about in ages, or Katie, or her parents…she didn’t have to know any of that stuff.

“You’re lying,” said Trinity immediately. “Wish I had some Veritaserum on me.”

Lily leaned against the wall. “I’ll never tell,” she said challengingly, smirking to cover up the sadness that had resurfaced. “You’ll have to beat it out of me.”

“I will, Lily. I will,” Trinity replied, crossing over to the other wall. She faced Lily and slid down it until she was sitting. “If it takes me weeks.”

“You don’t have weeks.”

“Days, then.”

“What are you going to do? Torture me with chatter?” Lily leaned forward again and began trying out different things with her newfound power. She held out her hand and accidentally conjured a ball of blue light. Remembering the light that had slashed the Death Eater’s stomach, she quickly made it disappear.

A thought crossed her mind. “Trinity.”

“Are you going to tell me?” the girl asked, raising one eyebrow.

“No…I want you to try to Summon the mirror from me,” Lily replied.

Trinity frowned. “Why?”

“I want to test something, but I need help to do it. Here, use my wand.” She rolled it across the floor to Trinity.

Trin pursed her lips and stood. Her robes made rustling noises on the floor. “Fine.” She aimed Lily’s wand at its owner. “Ready?” asked Trinity in a slightly bored tone. Lily nodded, bracing herself. She began to Summon her magic from the hidden place where it lay, waiting to be used.

“Accio mirror!” Trinity directed the wand at Lily.

Protego! Thought Lily as the spell rushed toward her. The power was coming, rising, then, with a jolt – it stopped. The mirror flew from the ground, who caught it, but dropped Lily’s wand in the process.

“So what was that about?” asked Trinity, as she stooped to retrieve the wand. She picked it up from the floor, straightened, and tossed it back to Lily.

“I was trying to do a Shield Charm without my wand,” frowned Lily, “but it didn’t work! The magic just stopped!” She mussed her hair in thought. This was so confusing!

“Like there’s a barrier there?” asked Trinity. Her tone was worried.

“Yeah – yeah, that’s it,” nodded Lily, “like it had hit something and stopped. Why?”

Trinity sat back down in shock. “Someone’s partially bound your magic.”

“No, they haven’t,” Lily countered, “there’s no such spell.”

“Yes, there is,” Trinity argued. “Voldemort created one, and he apparently used it on you.”

Lily remembered with horror his words at their first encounter here – I can unleash that power. Wasn’t unleash the same thing as unlock? And if he could unlock it…oh, gods. “No,” Lily whispered. “It’s not true. It can’t be true. It’s not fair.”

“I know it’s not, but-”

“No, that’s not it,” Lily interrupted in a strangled voice. “I can’t show him ‘satisfactory’ things since it’s partially bound – which means I’ll never leave. He’ll kill me.”

3rd person POV

“I’VE GOT IT!”

The shout bounced off the walls of the Gryffindor Common Room as Alice released her exhilaration. She threw her arms around Erika and began to dance around the room. “I know where Lily is! I know where she is!”

Sirius and James came sprinting down from the boys’ dormitories. “Alice! What is it? Where is she?” demanded James as he reached her.

Alice detached herself from Erika and collapsed on a blue armchair, sending papers pell-mell across the floor and through the air. “Lily Evans is in the marshes of Wales,” she said triumphantly.

“How on earth did you figure that out?” asked Leah, who was sitting on the floor brushing papers off of the many open books spread around her.

Alice held up an old edition of The Daily Prophet. “From this reporter – Annabelle Noga. She wrote the story that confirmed the rumors that You Know Who was in Wales. Wales has marshes. Lily and James both noted that they were surrounded by mud and marsh. So…” she shrugged. “Now we have a country and a region.”

James lifted her off of the armchair and spun her around. “Alice, if I didn’t love Lily, I would kiss you,” he proclaimed. “You’ve done it!” His first real smile in days lit up his face, and some of the happiness that had been lost returned to his hazel eyes.

Alice smiled too. “And if I wasn’t about to throw up, I’d kiss you as well. Now put me down!”

James set her gently on her feet, and she tottered dizzily before regaining her balance. “We just need an exact location,” Alice said, more to herself than to the others, “and we’re set.”

James turned to speak to Sirius, but he was gone, climbing out of the portrait hole. “Where are you going?” he asked incredulously.

“What, did you think Dumbledore wouldn’t want to know about this?” Sirius asked, grinning. He climbed the rest of the way out and vanished. James glanced back at the Common Room for an instant before scrambling after Sirius.

Padfoot was already halfway down the corridor by the time James had clambered out of the portrait hole. “Wait up!” called James. “I’m coming as well.”

Sirius halted and turned to face him. “Well, then hurry up!” he replied. “We don’t have all day!” James jogged the last few meters, and Sirius set off again as soon as he reached him.

“I can’t believe you’ve forgotten Dumbledore again,” Sirius chided. “First yesterday, and now this?” He wagged his index finger at James like a scolding mother. “Tsk tsk.”

“I was elated,” said James defensively. They reached the stairs, and James sat on the banister. “This is faster!” he said insistently at Sirius’ raised eyebrows and smile. Sirius shrugged and sat on the opposing one.

“Race you,” he challenged.

“Ready – one – two,” James pushed off and cried, “Three!”

“You bloody little cheater,” Sirius said indignantly. James just laughed. The halls were free of students and Lily could be freed – nothing could bring him down right now from this moment.

THUD.

Except for that.

He looked sheepishly up from where he had fallen at the person who had stopped his rush down the stairs. It was Dumbledore, who looked unruffled except for a slight tilt to his half-moon glasses. He adjusted them and surprisingly smiled at James. “What’s gotten you into such a hurry, Mr. Potter?” he asked, sounding quite amused. No matter how much time he spent in the man’s presence, James was still surprised at the manner in which his headmaster viewed things sometimes.

“We know where Lily is,” James said, jumping up. “We were looking for you.”

Dumbledore began to stride up the steps back toward the Common Room. “Then why, may I ask, are we wasting time talking? This is excellent news, Mr. Potter, excellent. Mr. Black, are you coming?”

Sirius slid off of the banister and hurried after Dumbledore. “Coming, sir! Why are you going back to the Common Room? Don’t you want to know where Lily is?”

“Preparations must be made,” sighed the wizard, “and if your friends wish to fight, then they must know what to do.”

A/N: -sniffs loudly- There are only three more chapters to write after this! It’s so sad! I’ve been writing this since March, it’s going to be weird not to have anything to write. Oh well…I’ll have other fan fictions to keep me busy. But this is not about the end. Time for that later. Now, I really need some input on the Mugglenet edition of this, and maybe a sequel? I’d really love your opinion.