Chapter 14: The News is Spread
Lucius watched the pretty boy and the freak help Evans up into the castle. His breath came in ragged pants and his shoulder hurt where the Stunning Spell had hit him. The Stunner that had come from nowhere!!! He glowered at the great oak doors as they closed behind the three Gryffindors. Lucius knew he'd never be able to get that close to Evans again without getting into a decent fight first. Ignorant Mudblood. She didn't realize what she would have gotten from Lucius. To be merely touched by him was an honor, and he wanted her! She should be thanking him on bended knee . . . among other things. Groaning, he shook his head and slowly crept back to the Slytherin common room.
*********
Sirius picked moodily at his plate of fish and chips. Life without the Marauders was turning out to be completely
miserable. He especially missed James. Classes were boring without someone to plan pranks with, or laugh at the
teachers, or charm spitballs to fly at Snivellus... But James was ignoring him, which meant Peter was too. Remus had
seemed willing to talk, but Sirius purposefully distanced himself from Remus just to keep things safe. He knew Remus
was in hot water with James and though he didn't know the details, he didn't want to make things worse for his
friend. So Sirius isolated himself.
How could I let this happen?! My best friend's girlfriend. . . I shouldn't have done anything about my
feelings for Lily. I should have ignored them. Stupid git! He'd spent weeks mentally abusing himself. He
thought it would be therapeutic, but it wasn't doing much good so far.
People were coming into the Great Hall with horrified looks on their faces, having whispered conversations. He
didn't care. The only whispering he'd heard lately had rumors of why Lily and James had broken up. Many had to
do with him. Sirius was sick of the whispers and the odd looks he got in the halls. He hoped it was as annoying to the
others as it was to him. Sure enough, he heard Lily's name being whispered by a group of girl's passing behind
him.
"Wonder what happened. . . The way she looked. . . . James Potter. . . "
So it was the usual stuff. Nothing of interest. Sirius shrugged and went back to his uneaten dinner. The fish was cold
now. He threw his piece of fish back onto his plate and stood to leave. He glanced at the High Table and saw one of the
girls who had been whispering behind him talking to Professor Dumbledore. Dumbledore face looked very worried. He stood
and strode quickly from the hall, igniting a great deal of muttering among the staff and students alike. It was not
Dumbledore's custom to leave in the middle of dinner.
Sirius had turned to watch Dumbledore's progress from the hall so he was facing the doors when Autumn and her
brother Spike came in. Instantly, they were bombarded with questions from various students.
"What happened to her?"
"Did you see anything?"
"Do they know who hurt her yet?"
"How is Lily? Is she going to be all right?"
"WE DON'T KNOW!!! STOP BADGERING US!" Spike yelled. The Great Hall fell into silence and that was when
Spike caught Sirius' eye.
Lily's hurt. Someone's hurt Lily. The thought ran over and over in Sirius' head as he bolted for
the doors. Spike tried to grab Sirius as he passed but too many people were in the way. He ran out the doors, ran smack
into a student - it was Calista. Ignoring her cry of surprise, he kept going. He had to get to Lily.
He ran for the hospital wing as fast as he could. He had to know what happened to Lily; he had to get to her. He
didn't care about the students he was pushing out of the way; what were they compared to his Lily?
He flew down the corridors, his heart pounding in his ears. Everything around him was a blur except. . . He turned a
corner, skidded to a stop and slowly turned back around. There was Sara Brown, walking along and humming to herself
like she didn't have a care in the world.
Sara wouldn't be like this if there was something wrong with Lily. Sirius decided to double check anyway.
He whistled at Sara and waved her over to him. Sara glided over.
"Hey, Sara," he said while trying to keep his voice as casual as possible, "have you seen Lily
today?"
Sara giggled. "You're not supposed to ask that question anymore!" she scolded him in a singsong
voice.
"I just heard a rumor she wasn't okay, and I wondered if you knew anything. . ." Sirius let his voice
trail off. Please god, let me be overreacting. Let everything be all right.
"I dunno," Sara said. She was giggling like a loon now, and hiding her face in her hands. This isn't
right. Sirius began to edge slowly away from Sara, wondering what was going on. Sara's face went suddenly
solemn. Sirius noticed her, truly noticed her for the first time. Her pale skin, her clouded eyes with the pupils
completely dilated and rimmed in red, her shaking hands.
"I'm supposed to be at school," Sara said softly. Her voice sounded like it was coming from miles away.
She's under a spell, Sirius realized.
"You are at school, Sara," Sirius replied. He was trying to catch her eye, but she refused to look directly
at him.
"Sara," he pushed, "what happened to Lily?"
"I don't know. I left. . . " Sara turned away and walked toward a nearby window. Sirius ran to her. He
grabbed her arm and whirled her around to face him.
"Left her where?" he demanded.
". . . the lake . . . it was just us and I left. . . " The far away voice was seriously creeping Sirius out
now. Something was very wrong. He knew it in his gut.
"You left her alone? Why would you do that?" Sirius shook her hard, trying to get her to snap out of whatever
spell she was under. Sara finally looked directly into his eyes and he was stunned at what he saw there: fear, rage,
confusion, hate.
"BECAUSE YOU TOLD ME TOO!" she screamed.
*********
James paced back and forth in front of the doors to the hospital wing. He didn't know how Remus could be so
calm, just sitting like he was on the ground, his head leaned back against the wall. Dumbledore had told them to wait
outside while he spoke to Lily. That was over an hour ago.
"You're gonna end up pacing a trail into the stone floor, and I don't think Filch has the resources to fix
something like that," Remus said. James rolled his eyes and kept pacing. He didn't know how much longer he
could stay out here. He needed to be inside, with Lily. She was calling to him, he could feel it. They had been apart
for too long, and now she needed him with her and he was out here! He hoped Dumbledore came out soon. The waiting was
agony.