Thanks:
Fluffy pink thing (I know…thanks), babbling (you tend to do stupid things under drastic circumstances), aliasfreek (again), Remus`sweetie, hazeleyedmarauder
Disclaimer: Davey Cort doesn't exist. Mine all mine. Plus Alice's surname and behaviour, Maddy, Tawny, Beth, and anyone else who doesn't seem to exist. And any OOC, weird behaviour of the recognisable characters is mine, too.
That's it, I'm done. I hope you enjoy the chapter, please R/R! You'll all get virtual chocolate buttons.
Oh, and more chocolate for the person who managed to find the quote in last chapter, and can tell me what the quote was from. It's during the part Lily is in the Hospital Wing, I'll give you that much. Happy hunting!
Thanks bunches!
---
Chapter 6, Deathly Serious
Tawny watched Sirius and Bethany snogging with a dreamy smile on her face, as if they were a TV show she was particularly fond of. She looked up and smiled as James and Remus came down the stairs from their dorm and flopped down either side of her.
"Enjoying the show?" James asked.
"Am I ever! Lily and I have wanted this to happen for, like, ever!"
Remus grinned. "They were too blind. Kind of like Lily."
James raised his left eyebrow perfectly and said, "Oh?"
Remus rolled his eyes. "I will not talk about Lily whilst you're here. You used to prank her all the time, and ask her out non-stop. If I give you an idea you'll go back to your old ways."
James shrugged. "Okay," he replied, and returned to watch the `TV'. Then he had a thought.
"If Lily's like that, then you are, too, my dear friend Moony!" He dodged Remus's arm and smiled innocently at him.
Tawn looked confused. "Huh?"
"Never mind…"
James smiled to himself. He'd have to talk a bit to Lily and Beth, and maybe Remus himself, but he'd see to it that Remus and Tawn got together, and before the Christmas Ball.
---
"Ask. Her. Out."
"NOO!" Remus replied. "She won't…I can't…what if she's afraid of me after or something…?"
"Right then. Tell her. Tell Beth too. Tonight."
Remus looked into James's eyes and raised his eyebrows. "Why not Lily?"
James thought hard. He couldn't think of anything to say to that.
"She knows, doesn't she?"
James couldn't do anything but nod weakly.
"I can't believe you told her. I mean, after you knew I didn't want anyone else finding out. It had to be my choice who told everyone. I didn't want you just going around and telling people like that. I mean, it's bad enough Snape knows. What did Lily do, freak out or something?"
James tried to calm Remus down. "I didn't tell her. She worked it out all by herself, and the fact that we're Animagi. I managed to refrain from telling her about the Map, though, which is probably a good thing. And she said you're one of her friends, and it didn't care what you were, you were still Remus. She won't react differently. And she won't tell anyone; I swore her to secrecy. It's your decision, Moony."
Remus sighed, and nodded his head. "You're right. It has to be done. The point is, how?"
---
The septet crowded into the Heads' Common Room early that night, just after dinner. Lily had been let out of the Hospital Wing, and she'd agreed to participate. She heard James's reasoning, and, after telling him it was screwed, relented.
They were playing Truth or Dare. They decided that they wouldn't play Strip Truth or Dare, but rather they'd play a game with consequences. If they didn't want to tell the truth or do the dare (which refrained from `having sex', but that was it), they had to do a consequence (which were on cards James had materialised), which was a lot worse…if sleeping in the same bed as someone else and in your underwear counted as worse than stripping completely (needless to say, very few consequences were expected to be handed out…unless they were vital).
James spun the charmed bottle (courtesy of Lily), which they'd decided to have rather than picking on people. It landed on Beth. "Truth or Dare, Beth?"
"Truth," Beth replied, shaking nervously.
"What's the most nerve-wracking thing you've ever done?"
Beth looked at her nails and thought for a moment. "I kissed Sirius for the first time," she replied timidly. She spun the bottle, and it landed on Lily. "Truth or Dare?"
"Truth." James raised his eyebrows. Pathetic girls.
"Who do you fancy?"
Lily pondered this for a few moments, before coming to the conclusion that she didn't fancy anyone, unless Davey Cort counted (famous film star of their time). All six of the others just looked at her.
"Woah," Peter said. "That's weird."
"And pathetic," Sirius added. James sighed.
"Spin, Lils."
She did so. "Peter, T or D?"
Peter shook a little before `signing the petition' as it were. "Truth."
Lily rolled her eyes. "Do you love Angie?" Angie was his girlfriend.
Peter squeaked out, "Yes." He spun the bottle. "Sirius, Truth or Dare?"
"Dare!" he cried out cheerfully. Yay for Sirius, James thought in relief.
"Um…spend the night with Beth somehow."
Sirius rolled his eyes and grinned seductively at Beth, who giggled. After spinning the bottle, he said, "Speak of the devil! Beth, the little T or the big D?"
"Um…T again."
"Have you ever had any romantic feelings for anyone in this room but me?"
"No."
"Good!" he replied, his face all lit up. He was smiling cheerfully.
After that, the truths and dares went smoothly. Nobody had yet got a consequence…until Remus, of course.
"Tell us your most embarrassing secret," James told him, rather cheerfully. He didn't know it, so it was going to be good.
But Remus shook his head automatically, turning a rather interesting shade of red. "Consequence, please."
James picked up a consequence and grinned. "Spin the bottle, Remus." He knew who he was hoping the bottle to land on.
As it were, it landed exactly where he'd hoped it to. On Tawny.
"Tonight," he read out, "you will share a bed. And yes, you will be in your underwear."
Remus rolled his eyes. "Great. Maybe I should have told you my secret…"
"But this is great news Moony!" James said cheerfully. "Because after all, weren't you just saying how much you fancied Tawny?"
Remus's eyes narrowed. Tawny's, on the other hand, lit up completely.
"You fancy me?" she bubbled. Remus shrugged, and Tawny beamed.
Then Tawny spun the bottle, and the game continued.
Finally, Beth grinned at Remus. "Tell us your deepest, darkest secret," she told him.
Remus bit his lip. Tell them…tell them not…tell them…tell them not…tell them. He'd have to at some point anyway.
"I'm…a werewolf," he whispered almost inaudibly.
Tawny and Beth stared. "OMG," Tawny breathed out. "Well, that's certainly something, right?" She smiled gently. "How do you cope?"
Remus smiled genuinely. "The guys are unregistered Animagi, they became during their third year. They help me through the transformation. It's quite a relief, let me tell you that."
Tawny nodded in sympathy. She yawned. "C'mon guys, it's really late. We'd better be off to bed. Night Lily, night James."
All of them left but the two Heads, who chuckled together at the thought of the two couples.
---
Lily received the letter by owl post early next day. It told of her parents' funeral that evening. She wanted to go, but she needed someone to go with her. Of course, the only person who was allowed to go was James.
"Fine," she sighed eventually. "You'll have to do."
James refused to take offence for a change and nodded grimly. He turned around just as Remus and Tawny walked into the hall, giggling.
"Good night, Tawn?" Lily asked her friend as she sat next to her, Remus on her other side. Tawny blushed and nodded.
"The best," she replied. "It was so romantic. We just talked at the start, but…"
Lily smiled and nodded. "Hey, James and I are going to my parents' funeral later. So don't miss me, okay?"
Tawny's eyes widened. "Your parents died?" she asked in shock.
Lily bit her lip, having forgotten that she hadn't actually told them. "Um…well…yeah…sorry for not telling you…"
Tawny tapped her foot lightly on the floor and raised her eyebrow delicately. "Missy, when you get back you are telling us, okay? And I can't believe you told James and not us!"
"And Sirius," James offered, not realising how big the hole he was digging Lily into was.
"And Sirius?"
"Accidentally," James continued.
"How could it be accidentally!?" Tawn shrieked quietly.
Beth and Sirius bounded in before James could anything to dig Lily's hole even deeper, and Tawny automatically rounded on Sirius.
---
Lily and James flooed to Lily's house later that day. Lily was insulted by Petunia, who then proceeded to flirt shamelessly with James (being the `catch' he was, as she put it) and ask Lily how come she managed to get such a damn good-looking boyfriend. Lily's protests that he was not her boyfriend were drowned out when they had to leave for the funeral place.
It was a very sad funeral, for both Lily and Petunia. In the end, Lily buried her head in the front of James's shirt. He had unfortunately sat next to her, and was therefore subject to a wet shirt for the next hour or so.
Finally, they left to go back home, and then, the next day, they flooed back to Hogwarts.
---
Evie, James's little sister, had been very worried about her Auror parents. She'd convinced James to go home with her to check on them.
They were gone for a few days, in which James's friends had no word from either of the siblings.
James returned from his trip a week later, pale as ice and almost shaking. Every time someone came up to him he'd jump a mile.
The first breakfast meal he was back, he walked into the Great Hall and sat next to Lily rather stiffly. She tried to ask him what was wrong, but he wouldn't reply. Lily asked him where Evie was and he visibly shivered. This led Lily to believe that something seriously wrong had happened.
Just then, the owls came with the morning papers. James paled even more when he saw the front page, excused himself arduously, and left the room. Lily rolled her eyes and muttered something about boys to Beth and Tawn, who were both sitting with their new boyfriends (Remus and Tawny got together the day of the funeral). Then she turned to her paper, and her face whitened.
THE NEW SCHEME OF HE WHO MUST NOT BE NAMED
You-Know-Who has just struck again. Two days ago he attacked four Muggles (Mr and Mrs O'Brien and their sons Jack and Howard) and a family of well-known Aurors.
The Potters were attacked at their home just before noon on Wednesday. He demanded they join him, and when they refused, he killed their daughter Evelyn (16). After that he killed Mr and Mrs Potter in turn. Their son, James (17), managed to escape after trying to negotiate with You-Know-Who and return to his school Hogwarts, where he is Head Boy.
Lily stopped reading after that. She just stared in shock at the paper. James had watched his family be killed before his eyes. He'd negotiated with Voldemort, and had survived. That boy was amazing.
Remus's eyes spoke the question and Lily wordlessly slid the paper over to him. His eyes widened and he nodded at her, needing no words to tell her to go after James.
Lily got up and hurried after him, wanting to pay him back for helping her.
---
He was sitting, on a bench, next to the lake. He watched the Giant Squid's tentacles splash about in absolute silence, terrified. His head was in his hands and he was trying hard not to cry.
Lily sat down carefully next to him and patted his arm tentatively. "They wouldn't have wanted you to mourn," she told him quietly.
James shrugged. He'd started chewing his nail.
His eyes lifted up towards her face, and she saw the telltale glint in the corners of them. "It's okay to cry, you know. Your family was just murdered. Let it out."
He shook his head rapidly. "I can't. I have to stay strong. I'm the strongest, and I'm the only one left. I don't want to betray their trust…"
Lily sighed and scooted further over towards him. "You're no less a man if you cry, James. You have reason to. In fact, I'm more afraid of you not crying."
He sighed, and a trickled rolled down his cheek. "Why? Why them…then…?" he asked in a whisper.
Lily reached out and hugged him tightly to her, allowing him to cry into her shirt. After a while he pulled back and smiled sheepishly at her. Then he began to break down again.
Lily, seeing he needed comforting, did the only thing she could think of to do. It had seemed comforting at the time, and it obviously helped.
She leaned across and gently pressed her mouth against his.
It wasn't a romantic kiss. It was solely platonic, and for the purpose of comfort, and nobody could misread it. But even so, Lily felt something there.
After a while, she pulled back. He smiled nervously at her and said, "Thanks Lily, for everything. You're the greatest friend a guy could have."
---
Now, what did you think of that?
I've been planning that last scene since before I even started writing this fic…it was meant to take place in another chapter, but I didn't know what to use as filler.
They're not going to start going out now that they've kissed. It was platonic, but there'll be a lot more of them, don't worry.
I hope you enjoyed that,
Ly,
x Kirstie x
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