AN- I was grounded from the computer for a while, (and still am, I'm updating where mum can't find me!) but here's my update. It's somewhat sudden, and you may not like it, but it's going to play a part in my plot. Anyways, I have some reviewers to thank, only two, but those two thrilled me!
Sweetkiwi456- hey! I'm glad you liked my ending; I'm pretty sure that if you liked the last one, you wont fancy this one, but it's un-avoidable, and somewhat predictable. Anyways, keep me posted on your own story, and I'll keep you posted on mine. If you have an e-mail or AIM and don't mind sharing, I really want to talk to someone who sounds so like me! Anyways, just a thought.
Galexytext- THANKYOU SO MUCH! You have no idea how much I'd like to take part in a round robin, especially one concerning Lily and James! (smile!) Thank you thank you thank you! I hope you can afford to wait up; I was grounded from the computer for a week! Thank you thank you, and any time you want to include me, please do! (Still smiling, and now squealing!)
Disclaimer- do I look rich? No. Leave it at that.
James
"HOW COULD YOU SHOW PRONGS TO HER IF YOU HATE HER? HOW COULD YOU EVEN IF YOU LOVE HER? IT'S SUPPOSED TO BE REMUS'S SECRET, OUR SECRET!" Sirius lowered his voice, noticing the werewolf's glare. Afterward, he continued to rant, but I didn't pay him much attention. I'd pretty much learned to block Padfoot out around third year, and had during such occasions ever since. It wasn't as though I hadn't known it was coming, and I was still trying to answer for myself the question Padfoot had asked moments before.
I hadn't planned on sitting next to Lily like that, it had just sort of happened. Well, this is interesting. I thought to myself in amusement. My own feelings died for Evans, but my stag's feelings haven't changed at all. Right now, I wasn't exactly sure of what I felt towards Lily, and I wasn't less sure I wanted to find out. I had just transformed to run off some stress, (which was her fault I had in the first place) when I happened to notice Evans by the lake, tears streaming silently down her face. She had made no effort to wipe the tears away, and I could help but notice she looked lonely.
She looked a little less lonely now, walking in through the portrait, and I wasn't about to talk to her and give myself away on accident. (I seemed to have a tendency to do this when my minds as cluttered as it is at the moment.) So I did the only thing I could think of. Yeah, I know, real brave of me. But I ran.
"Hey, I'm not done with you yet!" Sirius called.
"Oh, sod off, Padfoot." I think that may have been the limit, and raced off before I could cause any more trouble. I ran through the portrait and into the halls, unsure were I was going, and not really caring were I ended up.
I transformed when I reached the grounds, welcoming the feelings of freedom that accompanied my stag form. When I ran, it was like flying. Nothing else seemed to matter. I wound up, without realizing it, right by the shrieking shack, welcoming the familiarity. What I saw through the trees astounded me.
Half of Hogsmade was in ruin. Burning homes and jobs, smoke, and fallen trees made the street look littered the streets amongst human bodies. And yeah, I'd been aware of the battle being waged, having been told to inform all students why they were no longer aloud in Hogsmade. The Death Eaters had shown up about an hour after Hogwarts had called it's student's back early, and it looked as though the number of casualties was even on both sides. But knowing this didn't make it any better.
The other half was a combination of people running, spells, Death Eaters, (in my mind, they aren't people,) and Aurors (in my opinion, they're better than average people). I saw more than half of the people working in my parents department, people I had grown up knowing, throwing out the occasional spell, and defending themselves with shielding charms. Even more Aurors were apparating back and forth amongst the few daring healers who went into the battle to retrieve the victims, coming to their aid. I saw my dad, brown hair bloody and hands burnt, throwing spells at anything coming his way, no longer on offence, but on defense. I heard his shouting out the spells and saw a number of curses being thrown his way successfully dodged when I heard him cry out and drop his shields.
I watched him as he half raced half scrambled to get over the rubble to my mother, who had been trying to escape to heal her wounds, and felt the tears coming as son as she fell to her knees. I was about to rush to her side, then saw my dad pick her up, and watched through someone else's eyes as both of them dissapperated. Suddenly aware that I was in the center of an all-out battlefield, and scrambled back up the hill I had just moments before stumbled down. I felt a wave of heat come at my back, and fell as soon as it hit my back. I felt my body become human again, using my energy so that at least no one would know my secret, and, successful in that, stumbled blindly into the edges of Hogsmade, the destroyed village.
* * *
When I woke up, the sunlight was coming through the curtains; Sirius, Remus and Peter were asleep either on the hospital beds or, in Sirius's case, in the uncomfortable position on one of the chairs by my bedside. I shifted and tried to sit up, and was held back by a searing, splitting pain up my spine. Biting my lip hard enough to almost draw blood, I stifled any noise and quietly woke up Sirius.
"Huh?" Sirius said, falling out of his chair. "JAMES, YOU'RE AWAKE!" So much for quiet. The others woke up too, still groggy. Why did it have to be Sirius next to the bed? I tried to talk, but my mouth seemed glued shut. Remus, always ready, handed me a glass of water, and the first words of my mouth, rather than thanking them for waiting only god knows how long next to my bed, were "What happened?"
At this moment, the headmaster walked in, followed by Madam Pomfery, the new healer, who immediately started to kick-out the protesting Marauders. Ignoring them, I eyed Dumbledore and repeated my earlier question. "What happened?"
"You seem to have a knack for appearing at the wrong place, at the wrong time." He replied. He was trying to lighten up the situation, but the twinkle I'd grown used to was missing, and I had that same feeling, the one I'd been having ever since Voldemort's rise. "Would you like me to remind you where we found you, or have you remembered the events of that day already?"
The events of what day? Slowly, I remembered Lily and our date, if it could be called that, watching the sun set, and going out for a run much later that night. I remembered seeing my mother fall, and seeing my father rush to her. I was trying so hard to stay calm, but a wave of panic overcame me. "What happened to them?" Dumbledore swallowed hard before saying
"Your father made it out, but your mother took a severe blow to the head, and was out into a coma. This morning she passed away." I wouldn't believe it. I didn't want to. Dumbledore seemed to sense that I needed time alone, and allowed Madam Pomfery to check my vitals, made sure I would live, apologized for my loss, then left.
The school nurse explained that I'd been severely burnt, and that, if I applied the tonic, over time it would heal. I just gave her that I knew was a blank look, then asked stupidly, "Which pain?" she sucked in a breath, unsure of what to say, then dismissed me, but not before telling me to check in with her in a week.
I ran out of there faster than I had ever run as a stag, then threw up in the corridor. It wasn't because of the pain of losing a parent. I didn't feel that pain, or even the stabbing pains lacing up my back, although I should have. All I felt was numb.
Lily-
I had never seen a boy cry. Not one any older than three anyways, but the four Marauders were there, in the common room, at three in the morning. And two of them were crying. Lupin and Black weren't sobbing, just letting the tears run from their eyes. Peter Pettigrew seemed in shock. James seemed emotionless, until he finally blinked and I saw a single tear roll down his face. Somehow, that tear made the situation, whatever the it may be, all the more real. I didn't think this would be the right time to interrupt, but I knew James had been in the hospital wing, although no one but the Marauders had been allowed to visit, and I wondered what trouble he'd gotten himself into this time. Black finally broke the silence of the common room, saying, "If you found this out this afternoon, where were you for the last six hours?"
"Crying. Flying. Running." James replied in a monotone, and I noticed that his face was red, his eyes swollen. Bloody hell. If Potter was that upset, it had to be pretty bad. Black just shook his head. " Brilliant. Just bloody brilliant! She was like my mother too, you know! You should have at least come back to say something."
James just shook his head, his voice thin and wavering as he said "Padfoot, I really don't need this right now." His thin and strong form was shaking. Black started shaking with him, then took an unnoticed black envelope from James's hand and opened it to read it once again. He looked as if he was about to throw it in the fire, but James summoned it and smoothed it out. Folding it with care, he stood up from his spot on the couch and said in a calm voice, "I'm going to bed." Nobody stopped him; they just silently followed him up the stairs to the dorm they shared.
When I was sure they had left, I pulled my book out and sat down in the same spot Potter had been seated in moments before. It was a muggle romance novel, one that my own mother had sent for Christmas. I tried to block out what I had just seen, but curiosity was killing me. Judging from what I had hear, something had happened to James's mother. He had, after all, been the one to hold the letter, the one who had been missing and crying most of the day.
I heard footsteps on the stairs to the boy's dorm and turned silently to see James Potter walking down the stairs. It had to be a few hours after the crying incident, and I had to assume all of the others were asleep. I had been practicing levitating things without a wand, and actually controlling were they go, when he had come down, thus the reason I was up reading at sun-up. I could tell from the red eyes and black shadows under them he hadn't slept at all.
"Why aren't you asleep?" I asked, grateful it was only him, and he already knew my secret, so I didn't have to stop my practicing. The thing about being an Angelinos was, I had strong magical capabilities and could perform wand-less magic with hard effort. Still, that was an accomplishment, and if I practiced enough I wouldn't have to work so hard without my wand.
James smiled wryly at my question. "I would ask you the same question, but I already know the answer. Me, I'm never going to sleep again."
"Bad dreams?"
"Bad memories." Jams replied meekly. "Bad memories that used to be god. They told me to try remembering my favorite times with her, but that only makes it hurt worse." He sounded a lot like a little kid would, but I could relate. I'd probably have been worse than him if I'd lost my mother. He restlessly looked around, and then said "you know, I know a much better place to practice, if you want. You could use it in the day in your spare time, and it'd have whatever you need to test yourself."
"And what do you get out of this magnanimous offer of yours?" I asked bitterly. Part of it had to do with the fact that I had been up half the night, and part may have been that I still didn't trust him. He either liked me or he didn't. Apparently, James Potter's mind isn't that simple, because as he would have before replied "the pleasure of your company" he now simply said "something to do."
I swear he's more emotional than me. And aren't females supposed to suffer the mood swings? Emotional or not, he was giving me a room with everything I wanted in it, and who could turn down the offer?
So he got the invisibility cloak, which was one of my conditions if I had to follow him, and we quietly climbed out of the portrait just as the sun rose. We wandered for what seemed like was forever, but only was really a few minutes, before James stopped us. "You walk past this stop in the wall three times and think hard on what you want.
I need somewhere to secretly practice wandless magic. I need somewhere to work without the worry of someone finding me. I need books on Angelinos.
A polished door appeared in front of me, and James opened it and stepped inside without hesitation, like he didn't really care what was in there or rather it was dangerous or not. Which I'm pretty sure he didn't. "Nice." He commented, looking around. On one wall, there were books on what I was and my abilities, while on the other wall, there was a table with porcelain trays for me to practice levitating, a large and comfortable looking chair. James seemed to scrutinize the room before saying "I'd assume you want to practice through breakfast." I nodded reverently, ignoring the quiet rumble in my stomach. James smiled without humor and a tray of eggs, sausages, orange juice, and my other favorites appeared on the table. "That should hold you over. I've got to go. Sirius'll be awake any moment now, and less tired. He'll be pissed if it looks like I'm hiding from him." With a small wave he left. I noted that he'd only left for me my favorite breakfast foods. Did he really know me that well? It made we wonder how often he'd watched me eat. It wasn't a comforting thought.
Sirius-
Where James was before breakfast, I wasn't sure. I was pretty positive I would never know especially if it had to do with his mother or Evans, who was missing from the table. I would know, because James kept staring at her empty chair.
It wasn't healthy for him to brood, and he had been all year. His mother's death wouldn't help. He'd been extremely close to her, and his father was an alcoholic, and though he'd quit a while ago, his wife's death and having his son away at school might give him more time than he should to think over things. I didn't want James to get started on the firewhiskey.
A black owl caught everyone's attention as it led the mail, and dropped another black envelope, similar to the one I'd read from hours before. James paled, and I mentally cursed. My voice was gone, or I would have said these words aloud, but I saw James relax, and hand me the message with care, telling me to be careful with it before walking to only god and perhaps Evans knew, leaving his food once again untouched
To whom it may concern,
In the line of duty, Mrs. Harriet Potter fell in the midst of a Death Eater attack. She saved many lives in her line of work, and we appreciate her service. We regret to inform you that Mrs. Potter's funeral ceremony, as well as the ceremony mourning the loss of others who fell during the attack on March the 24th, will be held at 12:00 on Saturday the 27th. We apologize for your loss Sincerely
Matilda Periwinkle
Yeah right, I thought, annoyed. They were real sympathetic. (Note my sarcasm, I've been told it's one of my few Slytherin traits.) I watched James walk off, apparently excusing himself from his lessons. No one tried to stop him.