Chapter Eighteen: Timeless
Timeless,
Like those winter nights,
And our very first kiss,
I want to stay here,
To be completely timeless,
With you forever,
I want us to be timeless.
"Lily, where are you taking me at," Septimus paused, glancing at his watch. "Two in the morning?"
"To where my parents are." Lily said in the most non explanatory way.
"How do you know where they are?" Septimus continued to ask, getting a bit annoyed.
Lily then came to a full stop, causing Septimus to nearly slam into her. "Oh Merlin, it all makes sense now! All the pieces, there was just that one that I was looking over, that everyone looked over!"
"What, what pieces, what are you talking about?" Septimus questioned in alarm.
"The cave, and the fact that they weren't dead, oh how could I have been so stupid!" Lily continued to ramble on, until Septimus put his hand over her mouth.
"An explanation would be terrific right about now Lils." He said irritably.
"Mr. Creevey said something about a cave, and thinking someone that wanted to get revenge on them put them in there, but he got it all wrong,
they put themselves there, and before you interrupt let me continue and explain." Lily gave Septimus a weak smile. "Out of safety precautions, in case something happened to one or the other and they got into a life threatening situation with no wand at hand, there would be a spell placed over them that would immediately transport them to a certain safe place. I remember when I was a little girl, about seven or so, my father talking with my mum about how it would be amusing to use the cave that held Voldemorts locket as the safe place!"
"Oh, oh, how foolish I've been. Obviously they never thought that the both of them would get stuck in there and that the other would come and get the original out, but how would they know?" Lily paused for a second before the realization struck her. "A patronus! My father was always a brilliant one, upon entering the cave, at least for that reason I guess, the magic of it would take your patronus and send it to someone letting them know, but I bet mum and dad bound it to each other, so the patronus would only go across the room to the other one. No wonder aunt Hermione and uncle Ron never knew about this!"
"Wow, that's a lot to take in." Septimus gulped as she finished. "So how did you figure this out?"
"I had a dream, and I saw my parents. Except I don't think it was really a dream, and I think they saw me. It's really confusing and I hope my parents will be able to tell me what in the name of Merlin happened there." Lily finally took a long breath. "Does that help with anything?"
"Yeah, actually it did. But um, how are we getting there?" Septimus then queried, as he looked around, she had dragged him into the middle of the Forbidden Forest while he was still in his half awake trance.
"Apparating there." Lily said matter in a matter of fact way.
"But neither of us have our apparating licenses." Septimus pointed out skeptically.
"I just have a really good feeling about this, Septimus, and all I'm asking is for you to trust me." Lily looked up into his eyes, as she took another breath. "Can you trust me on this Sep?"
"Lils I-" Septimus started then stopped almost immediately, he nodded mutely, what was the worst that could happen?
With a sudden jolt the world started to spin and he had an uncomfortable feeling around his navel area, finally he took in a deep gulp of fresh sea air, suddenly wide awake from the horrible experience. He looked around quickly and saw Lily standing about a foot away, her eyes wide, dancing with amazement. She quickly turned to Septimus, delight vividly apparent on her face.
"I did it, we made it!" She squealed, then her face fell slightly as she dubiously looked at the water below. "How do you suppose we are supposed to get across, you don't think we'd have to swim, do you?" Lily looked around, hoping to see some sort of boat, but couldn't.
"There's a boat over here Lils." Septimus called, pointing out an obscured little fishing boat.
***
Harry looked up in surprise, he could feel something changing, as if there was someone else approaching the cave, he looked over at Ginny to confirm suspicions, to see if she could feel it too, with a slight nod, his theory was confirmed. He reached for his pocket out of habit, forgetting that he had no wand, then cast a nervous glance towards Ginny.
"Harry, it will be alright, it's not like anyone knows how to get in here, besides,
if they did, then we could get out of here maybe." Ginny whispered reassuringly.
"I know, sorry, I'm just still used to the death-eaters being everywhere." Harry sighed, relaxing slightly.
"Even if it was a death-eater, I don't think Voldemort would run around telling them things like 'oh hey guy, there's a cave that I store my horcrux in guarded by a bunch of inferi, and in order to get inside it you have to make a blood offering.' I don't think he would have learned that in his book of 'How to be Evil'." Ginny said softly, and Harry couldn't help but crack a smile.
"Everything will be alright." He couldn't help but say.
"I know it will." Ginny replied, smiling up at him.
***
"Ow!" Lily hissed as she fell against the stones and scraped her forearm, a few drops of blood flew onto the rock wall, as she whirled around, thinking she heard something, but it turned out to just be the waves crashing along the rocky cliffs.
"Are you okay?" Septimus immediately asked, but Lily's reply was cut short, as the rock seemed to melt away leaving an empty archway where it once was.
"Bloody hell," Lily muttered in shock, she then in a clumsy manner, entered into the great cavern, but after taking three or so steps, slipped on the wet rocks and began to fall.
"Watch out!" Septimus called, barely catching her around the waist.
"Yeah, that was scary." Lily laughed lightly.
"You're just lucky that I was there to catch you." Septimus smirked at her.
"I know I am," Lily said, before kissing him quickly.
"What the hell!" They heard someone, a male someone, bark, the two of them jumped apart, barely steadying themselves, they saw two dim outlines about fifteen feet away.
"Lumos!" Lily mumbled as she quickly drew her wand. "Dad!" She cried suddenly, closing the distance between her and two figure in a few bounds. "Mum!"
"Lily, is that you?" Ginny asked in shock, as she hugged the red haired girl tightly.
The teenager could only answer with a muffled 'yeah' and a nod.
"I thought I'd never see you again," Lily murmured, sounding a bit choked as she hugged her dad. "I thought you were dead."
"It's alright, we're here now." Was all Harry could think of to say.
Finally after a few minutes they broke apart, Lily was still sniffling slightly, as was Ginny. That was when Harry managed to ask the question that he had been before the tearful reunion.
"Who's the boy you were kissing?" He demanded, looking over at Septimus who barely moved during this whole time.'
"Oh, um," Lily turned a vibrant, Weasley red blush as she took a couple steps backwards so she could stand next to Septimus, nervously slipping her hand into his. "Mum, Dad, this is Septimus Snape, Sep, these are my parents."
"Snape?" Harry exclaimed in bewilderment.
"Pleasure to meet you." Ginny said cheerfully, elbowing her husband in the chest lightly.
"Err, hi." Septimus gulped slightly, he had the distinct feeling that Harry didn't like him.
"It's okay, he just doesn't like the idea that his baby girl is in a relationship." Ginny grinned at Septimus warmly.
"Come on, we should head out of here." Lily quickly suggested.