Suddenly I cringed as I heard a yell from the next room. "I heard that, Joey Russel!"
Lily's mother bustled into the room with a suitcase, obviously in a hurry. She is still zipping up the suitcase as she walks into the room, and random unidentifiable bits of magic paraphernalia are spilling out as she does so. With a final grunt of effort, she gets the suitcase zippered up, and turns to Lilly.
"Honey, I know this is sudden, but something has come up, and they need me in Calcutta for a bit. I'm afraid that your Uncle Eustace has gone and made rather a mess of things, and I'm not sure how long it will take to put things right."
Lily is obviously struggling to hide the excitement from her voice. "What? Again? How long do you think it will take you to put things back in order this time?"
Lily's mother Harrmphs. "Hecate only knows. He's really screwed up this time."
You notice the gleam in Lily's eye. Mom! Out of town! For who knows how long! Maybe even enough time for her to figure out how to turn you back!
Lily's mother notices the gleam in her daughter's eyes as well. "Don't give me that look. You," she jabs Lily with a finger "I know I can trust to keep mostly out of mischief as long as their isn't too much temptation." She swings, and fixes me with a scowl. "You, on the other hand, I have no such assurances over, in addition to the fact that you represent one such temptation."
Several things happened at once.
Lily's mother made a casual gesture with her wand, and there was a momentary sparkle from it.
Lily herself gave a cry and rushed to my side, shouting "Joey!"
And for my part, suddenly the world seemed to jump a bit, my legs sort of stopped working, and I collapsed to the floor.
Lily's mother was brushing past us both, now seemingly uninterested. "That should cut down on the hanky panky while I'm gone."
"Mother!" Lily is on her feet again, while I struggle to sit up and clear my head. "We had a DEAL! You said you wouldn't do anything like that! You said-"
"Hush, pumpkin." Lily's mother puts a finger over her daughter's lips. "I don't have time to argue. We can debate morality when I get back, but for the short-term future, I need to make sure that this one", she punctuates this by pointing at me, "won't do anything silly, and that YOU won't feel tempted to do anything silly yourself. And if you DO feel like going through with your little threat, just remember what happened to aunt Janice."
Lily goes white. "You wouldn't!"
Her mother's merely replies "Desperate times. I've dallied long enough." She lifts up her bag. "If you don't see me within a month, you know what to do, although hopefully it won't come to that."
She vanishes in one of her weird teleportation mist/glass marble flashes.
Lily stared at the spot where her mother had just vanished from, before walking back over to me. "Great. Just great." She says. "She really did a number this time."