Lily Emberwick's Arc

Chapter 2 of 5

The professors arrived with stretchers and floating charms, but the Thunderbird wouldn't let them close. It spread its good wing and shrieked, a sound that split the air and made the ground trembling. Lily stayed perfectly still, and the creature folded itself around her like she was something it needed to protect. Professor McGonagall convinced the others to let Lily help move the Thunderbird to the hospital wing, but only because the creature wouldn't calm for anyone else. They levitated it on a conjured platform while Lily walked alongside, one hand resting on its neck. The vial in her pocket grew warmer with each step, then began to pulse like a heartbeat. By the time they reached the castle entrance, it burned hot enough that Lily had to press her palm against her robes to hide the glow seeping through the fabric. She glanced back toward the forest and froze. Past the crater, barely visible through the morning mist, stood a carved stone altar she'd never seen before. Dark feathers covered its surface, and broken glass glinted in the pale light. Someone had been there recently. Someone who knew about Thunderbirds. The vial pulsed again, brighter now, and Lily understood: whatever was in this vial, someone had left that altar as a marker to find it again. They would come looking, and when they did, they would find her instead. Lily made her choice before they reached the hospital wing doors. She told Professor McGonagall she needed the bathroom, then slipped away down an empty corridor. The vial burned against her skin as she ran toward the tower she'd spotted from the entrance, a dark stone building that rose past the treeline like a spike. She'd never noticed it before, which meant it was either very old or very hidden. The vial's glow brightened as she got closer, pulsing faster, and Lily knew she was right. Whoever built that altar worked from this tower. She stopped at the base of the stairs and buried the vial under a loose stone in the wall, covering it with dirt and moss until no light showed through. Let them come looking. They'd find an empty hiding spot and a first-year who knew how to be still enough to watch them search. The Thunderbird needed her more than this vial did, and she'd already learned the most important thing: someone else was trying to use Thunderbird blood for something, and now she knew where they worked.