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Harry Potter and all of its characters belong to J.K Rowling.
I own nothing but the original characters I make.
"Dialogue"
'Thoughts'
-Author notes-
Chapter 241: The Interrogation
"Harry, what d—"
"Go check on that fire. I will track down these intruders the elf mentioned. " Harry told his mother.
Lily was a bit hesitant for a moment, but then...she knew her son could handle this by himself. Her priority should be to find her daughter.
"Okay, but be very careful, Harry..."
"I'm going with you, Professor," Daphne said. She knew that if she went with Harry, she would only be a bother and get in the way.
Lily and Daphne were guided to the back side of the hedge maze by a few senior students.
"Someone has burned their way out of the maze," Lily pointed out while looking at the hole in the shrubbery wall.
"Yes. We thought at first it was some student trying to be clever… but then we saw a large fire on that dirt path that goes around the castle… that looked like dark magic, Professor," a worried student said.
"Yes, and I noticed some guys with black cloaks running that way, right before the fire. Those were definitely not students," another one added.
"Okay… you," Lily pointed at one of the students. "I want you to go inside and tell the Headmaster everything that you saw." She then looked at the others. "And the rest of you, I want you to gather the students here at the garden and bring them back inside the Hall. Make sure no one leaves."
The senior students went on their way, leaving Lily alone with Daphne.
"You should go back inside too."
"No way, Professor. My sister is also missing!. I'm not going anywhere without her."
"It may be dangerous. These black-robed individuals they mentioned…" Lily already had a good idea of who they could be, given the current situation and Harry's worries about who could be behind this.
"I am not as defenseless as you think, Professor. I know what I am doing…"
A quick glance at her determined blue eyes was enough for Lily to realize that the girl was not going to back down.
"Very well, but stay close to me and do what I say."
After Daphne gave her a nod of consent, the two of them hurried towards the dirt path where the students had seen the fire.
"Wait, there is something over there!" Lily warned. "Daphne… wand ready."
"Yes, Professor."
There was a dark bundle at one side of the path. It was hard to tell what it was at first because the moon was not offering much light on that night.
But when they got a bit closer and heard it moan in pain, they knew it was a person wearing a black cloak and lying on the ground. He appeared to be severely injured.
Lily spotted several stains on the dirt that were probably blood.
"Hey! Turn around… slowly…" Lily had her wand pointed at the man, ready to fire.
"Ugggrg…" The man managed to turn himself on his back.
Lily spotted a wand in his hand and immediately fired a disarming charm at it.
They both were now able to see the man's face. Or more like they couldn't, because he was wearing a mask. A very familiar white mask.
Lily had seen a few like this one before. "A Death Eater… in Hogwarts…" Her son's worries appeared to have been warranted after all.
Daphne noticed that the wand from the Death Eater had fallen close to her feet, so she knelt down and picked it up.
She gasped loudly when she saw the wand. She recognized it… this was certainly not the Death Eater's wand.
Her eyes moved quickly to the man lying on the ground and managed to catch the moment when another wand appeared in his hand, likely from a hidden holster.
Without hesitation, she made a fast wand motion. "Expelliarmus!"
"Arg!" The man yelped in pain when the wand was ripped from his hand, breaking a couple of his fingers in the process.
Lily glanced back at Daphne for a moment and nodded. "Good one."
"Professor, look!" Daphne showed Lily the wand she had picked up.
Lily's face went a shade paler. She grabbed the wand from Daphne's hand to take a closer look.
Her face contorted with rage as she turned to face the injured Death Eater. "Where is she?! What did you do to my daughter?! This is her wand."
Lily sent a pulse of wind that lifted the man in the air and pushed him against the rocky wall.
He grunted in agony and fell back on the ground but refused to utter a single word.
"Accio mask!" Lily took the mask off his face, revealing a young man with blonde hair and very pale skin.
"I know him!. That's Tobias Smith!" Daphne exclaimed. "He… was in my house. Graduated last year…"
Lily stared at him. "A new recruit… they send children to do the dirty work now." She would normally show more compassion, but if this boy had hurt her daughter… there would be no mercy. Harry was not the only ruthless one in the family.
The youngster opened his eyes with difficulty and looked at her.
Lily noticed the large stain of blood on his side now and the fact that he was missing an arm.
"He is not going to last long… he lost too much blood already," Daphne pointed out.
Lily's eyes were cold as she spoke. "Then you better answer quickly, boy, if you want to live. Where are the girls?"
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