Disclaimer: This story is based on characters and events from J.K. Rowling's wonderful Harry Potter books. I am writing this for my own enjoyment and hopefully for the enjoyment of readers. Anything you recognize belongs to JKR. The rest belongs to me.
Chapter 28: Backfired Curse
James was peacefully resting in darkness when he heard a distant scream. Suddenly he found himself being pulled through a fog as light entered his vision. He heard muffled voices, at first seeming distant but growing closer as he started to pick up on his surroundings. He heard someone sobbing - was that Lily? He tried to turn his head toward the voice but moaned as the trees started to spin around him. He quickly closed his eyes when the voices suddenly stopped. James felt a lead weight form in his stomach as he heard Professor Riddle's voice.
Suddenly he remembered being attacked - how long ago was that? He forced himself to push up to a standing position when he finally opened his eyes again. He saw Riddle pointing his wand at him muttering the incantation to a curse when a flash of red hair ran by and slammed into Riddle's wand. A flash of yellow light that was starting to come from the wand backfired and knocked Lily and Riddle to the ground.
"Lily!" shouted James as he tried to run to her but stumbled as he felt a new wave of dizziness. He looked over to Professor Riddle and saw that he was starting to stir. James had to get to Lily and get her out of there before Riddle found his wand. As James started to stumble toward Lily's still form he saw Riddle starting to look around.
When Riddle saw that his wand was about a meter away he started to reach for it when all of a sudden a booming voice rang out in the darkness, "I WOULD NO' DO THAT IF I WERE YEH!"
Riddle froze. He and James looked toward the edge of the clearing and saw an enormous shadow holding a crossbow aimed at Riddle's heart. Riddle smirked and started to reach for his wand again when an arrow landed an inch away from his hand.
"I tol' yeh NOT t'move! Next time I won't miss!" He stepped forward and as the moonlight struck him James gasped in relief as he saw that it was Hagrid, the gamekeeper. "Now just yeh stay there. I already sent word t'Dumbledore and he'll be here quicker than yeh can say hippogriff!"
The mention of Dumbledore sent a glimmer of panic into Riddle's eyes. He looked back and forth from his wand to Hagrid. Calculating his odds, he leapt for the wand and ran for the edge of the clearing where he shouted, "Portus!" to a twig and grabbed onto it, but not before receiving an arrow in his shoulder. Before Hagrid could aim another, Riddle disappeared.
Hagrid yelled in frustration at Riddle's escape just as Professor Dumbledore strode into the clearing. He looked around and asked Hagrid, "Where is he?"
Hagrid shook his head violently, practically in tears. "I had 'im, Professor. I had 'im, and he escaped, by portkey! I'm so sorry, professor!"
"It is alright, Rubeus." Professor Dumbledore turned to James and looked down at Lily.
James, having been distracted by Hagrid's and Dumbledore's arrivals, and Riddle's disappearance, suddenly remembered Lily was still laying motionless next to him. He turned to her and saw that she was unconscious.
"Professor! It's Lily! She was hurt by Professor Riddle!" cried James as he leaned down to see if she was breathing. At first glance he thought she was gone, but as he looked closer he saw the steady rise and fall of her chest to indicate that she was breathing.
Professor Dumbledore rushed over and knelt down. After looking Lily over he conjured a stretcher. "Can you tell me what happened?"
James shook his head, tears threatening to form in his eyes. "Professor Riddle knocked me out. When I was waking up I looked over and saw him trying to curse me. Before he could finish Lily ran into him and the curse backfired into them. It looked like Lily got the worst of it."
"Do you know the curse he was using, or the words he was saying?" asked the headmaster.
"No, I was across the clearing and my head was not clear enough to hear the words. I saw a bright yellow light before she fell," replied James.
Dumbledore frowned and said, "We must get her to the hospital wing right away. I am not sure what curse he was using or if he was able to finish the incantation before she hit him. There's no telling what effects she could still suffer from." At those words James fell his stomach drop.
Dumbledore turned to Hagrid and said, "Rubeus, please go to Professor McGonagall and have her round up the staff. We will need her to set up certain security measures to ensure that Tom cannot get back onto the grounds." Hagrid nodded, grateful to be able to do something before leaving.
Professor Dumbledore wanted to conjure a stretcher for James however James insisted that he was fine. He wanted to walk beside Lily's stretcher.
Once they made it to the hospital wing Madame Pomfrey would not allow James to stay with Lily. She insisted he change into pajamas and get into another hospital bed while she tended to Lily. After what seemed like an eternity she returned to his bed, mended the wound on his head, and gave him a potion to help with his concussion.
"Madame Pomfrey," James asked impatiently, "How's Lily? Is she going to be okay?"
"Now, now, Mr. Potter," started the nurse, "you need to concentrate on resting and healing."
James shook his head stubbornly. "I need to know how she is!"
Madame Pomfrey studied him for a moment before sighing. "I do not know yet how she'll be. Currently, it seems like she is only sleeping, yet I am unable to wake her up with standard spells and potions."
"So what does that mean?" he asked. "Is she ever going to wake up?"
"I cannot say for sure, young man," replied the nurse. Seeing his pained expression she added, "I suspect she'll wake up in time, Mr. Potter. We just have to let her come around on her own."
She handed him a potion and he looked at it unhappily. "It's to help you sleep tonight." Before he could protest she added, "Miss Evans will not likely wake up before morning and I'm sure she'd want you to rest and heal."
He slowly grabbed the potion and gulped it down before falling into a peaceful, dreamless sleep.
**************************************************************************************
Early the next morning James heard a commotion coming from the entryway to the hospital wing. He slowly opened his eyes to see Madame Pomfrey arguing with a group of students.
"They are NOT ready for visitors!" she firmly stated.
"But we can at least sit with them," pleaded Marlene.
"They're our friends! You can't expect me to believe it's bad for them to see us!" shouted Sirius.
"Be quiet or you will wake them! I cannot have you disturbing my patients," said the nurse.
"It's okay, Madame Pomfrey. I'm already up," said James.
The group turned to James, startled at hearing his voice and seeing him awake.
Madame Pomfrey was starting to say, "See! I told you that you were too loud!" but not before the group of students rushed to James' bedside. The nurse gave an exasperated sigh and stormed into her office to prepare the potions she would be administering that morning.
"James!" said Remus. "What happened?"
"How did you know I was here?" asked James.
Alice answered. "Neither you nor Lily were in the dorms last night so when we woke up this morning and discovered you both were missing we did a little detective work."
"This is the first place we looked," said Remus.
"What HAPPENED, James?" asked Sirius impatiently.
"I would like to know that, myself," came a voice from behind the students. They all looked up, surprised to see Professor Dumbledore standing behind them. It was as if he had suddenly appeared out of thin air. "I would ask your friends to step out while we discuss this, but I suspect you will be telling them about this later, am I right?" James nodded. "Alright then. I already surmise that you and Miss Evans were breaking some rules last night when you went outside for a stroll after dark and when you ventured into the forest, right?" James nodded again, sheepishly. "What happened then?"
James started telling what he could remember. "Professor Riddle was there in the clearing. He was different from how he was in class - very cold and cruel. He took away our wands and aimed his at me, demanding that I give him a ring my father had given me for Christmas." Remembering this, James felt for the necklace that held the ring but his heart sank when he realized it was gone. What would he say to his father? He was supposed to keep it safe! "It's gone! He knocked me to the ground and when I tried to get up he stunned me. The next thing I knew I was waking up to hear Lily screaming and sobbing. I tried to get up to help her but that's when I saw Professor Riddle starting to mutter a curse at me. Lily tried to stop him but that's when the curse backfired. Then Hagrid arrived and the rest you probably already know."
The rest of the students stood there in stunned silence. They couldn't believe their ears. Professor Riddle had done that? He had always been so kind and easygoing. "I don't understand, Professor," said Alice. "Why would Professor Riddle attack students like that?"
"Tom Riddle is a dark wizard, as evident by what happened last night. He is no longer a professor here. After some of the events that happened here this year, such as the attack on Miss Vance in the library, I suspect he may be in league with the Dark Lord we've been hearing about," replied the headmaster.
"Professor?" asked Marlene. "Is Lily going to be okay? James said a curse backfired on her."
"We have to wait for her to wake up, Miss McKinnon," he replied.
"She hasn't woken up yet?!" shouted Marlene.
"Not yet, she hasn't," said the nurse, who had just arrived at James' bedside with his morning dose of potion. She started to shoo everyone away. "Now I have been patient enough with the lot of you! Leave so my patients can get their rest! You can visit later," she added, seeing Sirius starting to protest.
After they left James tried to humor Madame Pomfrey and rest, though he refused to take more sleeping draught. When she was in her office James snuck out of bed and tiptoed over to Lily's bed. He pulled up a chair and sat next to the bed, grabbing hold of her hand. He was relieved to feel warmth, unlike the many times those past few months when her hands had been freezing.
"That has to be a good sign, right?" he said. "C'mon Lily, you have to wake up." He saw nothing but the steady pace of her breathing. She looked so peaceful, but it still seemed like she could wake up at any moment. "You know, that was a stupid thing you did. You shouldn't have tried to stop Riddle from cursing me. I hate to see you hurt," he whispered. "I'm so sorry you had to get pulled into this. It was my ring he was after. You were hurt because you were with me on that walk. I promise I won't let anything like that happen to you again." He sat there for a while watching her breathe.
A little while later Madame Pomfrey shook his shoulder and he jolted awake, not realizing he had fallen asleep with his head resting by Lily's hand.
"You should be in bed resting," she scolded.
"I am resting, just here instead of over there. What's the difference?" asked James.
The nurse shook her head and sighed before walking back to her office, muttering something about difficult patients.
James turned back to Lily and noticed there was something different about her - was it her breathing? He had been watching her for so long he had gotten used to the pace of her breathing. There was something different about it. He squeezed her hand and said, "C'mon Lily, please wake up."
Suddenly he felt a tremor in her hand. He looked down at it before looking back at her face hopefully. "Lily?" No response. "Lily? Wake up! Please!" he said, his voice pleading. Her eyelids fluttered and James leaned closer, coaxing her to open her eyes.
When her lids finally opened James sighed in relief at seeing the emerald green that always made his heart speed up. "Lily! You're awake!" he exclaimed with a huge grin on his face.
She blinked a few times before turning to James, her expression turning to confusion. She looked at him and then down at her hand which he was holding and before looking back up at him. "Potter?" she asked.
James grinned wider before something struck him as odd. Had she just called him 'Potter'? He squeezed her hand and said, "You have no idea how worried I was about you. We weren't sure that you would wake." He reached up to touch her face but suddenly a panicked look came about her face as she pulled her hand away from his.
"What are you doing?" she asked.
"Lily-"
She sat up and started to stare around the room, getting more agitated. "What am I doing here?"
James wanting to soothe her so he could explain how she got there, grabbed her hand again. Lily looked at him in shock and pulled her hand away again before saying louder, "Why do you keep holding my hand?! What am I doing here?!"
James couldn't understand what was happening. "Lily, I'm just trying to help."
"Why are you here, Potter? Where is Madame Pomfrey?!" cried Lily.
"Lily, I'm your boyfriend-" started James before he was cut off by the shocked look Lily threw him.
"My BOYFRIEND?! Since when?!" she cried.
Before James could bring himself to respond Madame Pomfrey had heard the commotion and was at the bed ushering James away. He was forced to return to his bed while Madame Pomfrey drew the curtain around Lily's bed. He couldn't believe it. What had happened to Lily? What had that curse done to her? Why did she act surprised when he said he was her boyfriend?
Professor Dumbledore entered the hospital wing an hour later and spoke with Madame Pomfrey. He then walked down to James. "How are you feeling, Mr. Potter?"
James was ready to jump out of his skin by this point. "I'm fine! I need to know what's happening with Lily, Professor!"
"Madame Pomfrey is still running some tests. It would appear that Lily is suffering from some memory loss. She remembers most things, but there are events from this year she cannot remember," he replied.
"She couldn't remember me!" said James, his voice full of pain.
"On the contrary, Mr. Potter, she can remember you. She just can't remember much between the time you first started this year and now. Other things like the magic she's learned here this year, she is still able to recall. Her lapse in memory seems related mostly to people and events," said Dumbledore.
"How can we help her get her memory back?" asked James.
Dumbledore paused and gazed down at James, the usual twinkle in his eyes absent. "Madame Pomfrey has had no success resurrecting Miss Evans' lost memories. There is a strong possibility she will never regain them."
James fell back against his pillow, feeling defeated. Lily couldn't remember him. Correct that - she couldn't remember them! Not only that, but it seemed like he agitated her. After thinking about it more, he realized that she had just woken up and that she must have been afraid to suddenly have holes in her memory. He decided he would sit with her and help her remember. If she couldn't remember then he would win her back.
"Can I see her, Madame Pomfrey?" he asked as the nurse checked on him later.
"I'm sorry, Mr. Potter. No visitors," replied the nurse.
"But I'm her friend. Even if she can't remember I can help her," pleaded James.
Madame Pomfrey shook her head sympathetically. "I'm sorry, but she asked that you not be allowed to see her."
James felt his heart drop as he looked toward the closed curtain surrounding Lily's bed. Somehow, he thought, somehow he would find a way to see her.
**************************************************************************************
A/N: Okay, don't hate me for what happened to Lily. Just remember, in the long run, they will wind up together. This is where the story is coming to a turning point. The first year is pretty much over, but there are still six more years to write about - so hang in there and watch out for the little clues I will stick in here and there!
Thanks to my latest reviewers: sweetie513, urSweetiemSmia, Harrysgrl, Watermelon!, itsme63 (x2), Remus'sweetie (x2), and Golden Phoenix. Replies are in the review section.
So what do you all think? Did you like how Hagrid saved Lily and James?
Next chapter: Another visit in the hospital wing with the Marauders. James gets called to the headmaster's office.