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 29: Tragedy Strikes
Sirius, Remus, and Peter stopped by the hospital wing that evening for a visit. They walked past Lily's bed, glancing at the curtain surrounding it with questions forming in their heads. They approached James with smiles and happy greetings, glad to see that he was recovering well.
"So when are you getting out of here, mate?" asked Sirius.
"I don't know. Madame Pomfrey hasn't actually told me when that will happen," he replied.
Remus smirked and quietly added, "She never actually releases anyone from here, you know? She's always so overprotective. You have to sneak out of here on your own when you feel up to it."
"How would you know?" Peter asked Remus.
Remus paused before replying, "When I had that accident earlier this year - I was here for a few hours and then snuck out." Peter nodded, trying to remember.
"So when are you going to sneak out?" asked Sirius with a calculating smile. "I'm thinking that we should sneak into Riddle's quarters and hex his undies to shrink as soon as he puts them on - that is, if he dares to sneak back to get them."
James shrugged his shoulders and glanced over at Lily's bed. Remus noticed and said, "You want to stay and see how Lily is, don't you?"
"Hasn't she woken up yet?" squeaked Peter.
"Yeah, earlier," said James.
Sirius perked up and exclaimed, "You mean Evans is awake and we're just finding out about this now? What's she doing behind that curtain anyway?" He turned toward the curtain and shouted, "Oy, Evans! You don't need any more beauty sleep! Come on out and join the party!"
There was no answer, but James sensed that she had heard every word.
Sirius started to walk toward the curtain when James said, "Sirius, stop."
Sirius turned to James with a confused look on his face. "What's going on, James? I thought you said she woke up. Is something wrong with her?"
James nodded glumly and said, "Yeah. She's missing parts of her memory from this year. She remembers things like classes and what she learned, but she can't remember people or events since the beginning of the year."
"Well, Madame Pomfrey can fix that, can't she?" asked Peter.
James shook his head. "She tried but it hasn't worked."
"Well, I'm sure you can help fill her in on what she doesn't remember," said Sirius.
James shook his head again. Remus seemed to understand. "She doesn't remember you, does she?" he asked.
"She knows who I am, since we met at the beginning of the school year, but that's all she knows," replied James.
Sirius nodded in understanding. "She knows you as the odd boy who wouldn't speak in complete sentences to her, not as her boyfriend."
"Not even as her friend. She looked scared of me! I tried to see her, but she told Madame Pomfrey that she doesn't want to see me," said James.
"She's just scared right now - not of you, but of the situation. She suddenly woke up missing pieces of her past and people are trying to tell her what her life is like now," said Remus.
"If I could just get a chance to speak with her, I could try to get her to at least see me as a friend and not someone to be afraid of," said James dejectedly.
"Maybe you can," suggested Sirius. The others looked to him in question. "The invisibility cloak," he explained. "We can bring it to you and after Madame Pomfrey goes to bed you can sneak over to her curtain and slip inside."
James thought about it. It wasn't a bad idea, as long as Lily didn't start screaming when he suddenly appeared out of thin air inside the curtain next to her bed. "It's worth a shot," he replied.
Remus stayed with James while the other two left. About ten minutes later Sirius ran back into the room, out of breath and with the cloak. James took it and hid it under his pillow just as he saw the nurse coming out of her office. She saw that the boys were still there and yelled at them to get out before she gave them a medical necessity to stay.
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Later that night after dinner and after Madame Pomfrey retired to the nurse's quarters next to her office, James decided to try out the invisibility cloak. He silently threw off the covers and tiptoed out of bed. He grabbed the cloak from under the pillow and started to unfold it when the doors to the hospital wing were thrown open and in strode Professor McGonagall. She walked straight over to James with a grim line set across her mouth. James looked at his head of house looking like the cat who ate the canary.
"Mr. Potter," she started, "the headmaster has asked that you come straight to his office. Bring your things."
James felt a mixture of dread and disappointment. His attempt to speak with Lily would have to wait. He suspected that this trip to the office was related to the rule breaking that led him into the incident with Riddle.
"Is something wrong, Professor?" James asked as he followed her down the deserted corridors, their footsteps echoing down the hall.
"The headmaster will tell you when you arrive," was all that she would say.
James wasn't sure, but it looked like her chin had a bit of a quiver as she said it. He wondered what was going to happen to him. Would he be expelled for wandering into the forest? He wasn't looking forward to seeing his parents after they found out.
He was led up to a stone gargoyle where Professor McGonagall muttered something before the wall turned, showing a spiral stone staircase. He followed her up the steps, musing to himself that after all the detentions he had received during the year, this was the first time he was going to the headmaster's office. He silently chuckled to himself as he remembered that Sirius had to come here twice after some rather humiliating pranks he pulled on the Slytherins. Sirius wasn't one to cover his tracks well. James suspected that Sirius did that on purpose as a way to brag that he was the king of pranks.
James was lost in this memory so at first he didn't notice that there were several people in the headmaster's office. Not only did he find Professor McGonagall and Professor Dumbledore, but to his surprise he saw Mad-Eye Moody standing in front of the desk and his mother, standing in the corner facing away from him. James felt a knot starting to form in his stomach. This couldn't be good - he was probably in for a huge punishment. Not even his dad would be able to get him out of this one.
Professor Dumbledore was seated at his desk with his hands folded. He had a similar grim expression to the one James had seen on Professor McGonagall's face. "Mr. Potter," he said, his voice somewhat strained, "please sit down." The headmaster indicated a chair in front of his desk.
James slowly took it, glancing at his mum as he walked toward the desk. Why wasn't she looking at him? She had always been very direct with him when he was in trouble. He wondered now how bad things were, if they were going to break his wand and send him to live with Muggles. He saw that Mad-Eye Moody was still facing Professor Dumbledore but James felt certain that the magical eye was focused on him.
As soon as he sat down, he cautiously looked at Professor Dumbledore. At first, the headmaster didn't speak. Then he carefully selected his words. "Mr. Potter, as you are probably aware by the late hour, you are not here in my office due to happy circumstances." He looked to James' mum and asked, "Marianne, do you wish for me to tell him?"
James looked back at his mum, who finally turned toward the desk. James felt a flutter in his stomach as he saw the ashen color to her face and the red rims around her eyes, puffy from crying. She shook her head and in a tight voice said, "No, Albus. I should be the one to tell him."
James glanced back and forth between his mum and the headmaster, feeling his heart starting to pound. "M-Mum? What's going on? Am I in trouble?"
Marianne Potter approached James and knelt before his chair and shook her head, a few tears escaping. "No, sweetie. You're not in trouble." She took a deep ragged breath as if trying to summon up courage. "I'm not here because of what happened in the forest, though I am so relieved that you are okay. You have no idea-" she choked, reaching up and stroking her son's cheek. "Sweetie, it's your father-"
Suddenly James felt a foreboding sensation, one that made him feel like the Earth had suddenly stopped rotating and stopped time. He shook his head, hoping that what he was about to hear was all a bad dream, that he would wake up back in the hospital wing or better yet, his dorm room. "W-What about him?" he asked, his eyes wide with fear.
"He was away on a mission, tracking down the Dark Lord and his followers. He was in Scotland when he learned of an attack in a Muggle neighborhood. He ran into one of the houses to help rescue some children when there was an explosion-" her voice cut off at this point.
"No," said James, shaking his head.
Marianne Potter's voice closed up in grief and she turned to Mad-Eye Moody with pleading eyes. He turned to James and said, "You're father didn't make it out of the building, son. He-"
"NO! MY FATHER IS NOT…HE'S NOT D-DEAD!" shouted James, standing up and turning on the auror.
"I'm sorry, James," said Professor Dumbledore. "There was nothing anyone could do to save him."
"NO! It's NOT true!" He turned to his mother hoping for her to say that his dad was in St. Mungo's, alive. She started to openly sob and tried to reach for him but James backed away shaking his head more violently. "How can you say that he's dead?!" He turned to Moody and accused, "You were with him, weren't you? Why are you standing here if my father's dead?"
"You're father broke the cardinal auror rule. He didn't wait for backup. We were eating at a tavern when we overheard some talk about a possible attack about to occur. I told him to wait while I went to call the Ministry and Floo in some assistance. When I got back your father had already left, leaving a note that the attack was happening at that moment and that he needed to be there to help. I rushed after him and arrived there to see a woman standing outside of her house screaming about her children being trapped inside. I turned to see Joseph running inside. Before I could run in after him the house exploded. There was nothing left," replied Moody.
James stood there shaking, feeling as if the world was crashing in around him. How could they stand there and say that his father, his mentor, his role model, had been killed? He had always been indestructible in James' eyes. How could he get himself killed when he was always so strong and full of life?
"Tell him the rest, Alastor," said Professor Dumbledore.
"Does he really need to know, Albus?" asked his mum.
"It is likely to end up in the Daily Prophet. It's better that he hear this from us," replied the headmaster.
James looked at Moody again, feeling like he wanted to jump out of his skin. His father had died. What else could there be?
Moody focused both his eyes on James and said, "After the explosion, I noticed something odd about the woman who had been screaming outside the house. For a mother who had just lost her children in an explosion she was not acting like a bereaved parent. I detained her and had her interrogated. It turns out that the attack on the village was a trap set up to lure your father there and kill him. He had been targeted by the Dark Lord. We also discovered that he is going by the name Voldemort, though she still referred to him as the Dark Lord."
James spoke up, "I don't understand. The attack on the Muggles, all those deaths, was a setup just to kill my dad?" The auror nodded in response. "But why would they target him?"
Dumbledore spoke up. "I suspect it has something to do with the ring that Professor Riddle stole from you. I think that Voldemort found some value in it."
"But I had the ring. Why did he have to kill my dad?" asked James.
"We are still investigating the matter, but you come from a long line of powerful wizards and a family heirloom like that probably had more value than monetary or sentimental value," replied Professor Dumbledore.
"Albus? I think he's had enough for now. He's recovering from the attack and he just found out about Joseph. Please just let me take him home," cried Marianne.
Professor Dumbledore nodded sympathetically and replied, "We have said what needs to be said tonight. You may take James home. Since it is very close to the end of the year and due to the nature of his absence he will be excused from his final exams and we will expect him back next year. It goes without saying, Marianne and James, that I respected and admired Joseph Potter. He was a kind, fair, brave, and fun man and I want to offer you my sincerest condolences."
"Thank you Albus. Can you have James' things Flooed over to our house?" she asked.
"Of course. I will have Minerva see to it," he replied, glancing at Professor McGonagall who openly had tears flowing down her cheeks. She nodded quickly and left to go to Gryffindor tower.
"Thank you again," said Marianne as she led a stunned James to the fireplace. "Oh, and could you thank Hagrid for me please? Without him I may have suffered a double tragedy." She tossed some powder into the fireplace and led James in, saying, "The Potter House!" before being swept away.
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A/N: And so first year is coming to an end, and on a sad note, too. Looks like James is having a really bad week… Once again I must say that I KNOW what Sirius told Harry about James' parents welcoming him to stay at their house after he ran away from home. Despite Joseph Potter's death, I can still make it work. You'll find out how after the end of 2nd year. Alas, I had to kill him off. His death is very important to the plot, though you may not find out why for a while.
Thanks to my latest reviewers: MysticalMacaw, urSweetiemSmia, Harrysgrl, Golden Phoenix, Watermelon!, Remus'sweetie, onepinkbuttercup, itsme63, and sweetie513
Next chapter: James and Lily both return home for the summer.
BTW, Happy New Year!