I'll Fight For You
By Hazelmist/Summerskies
Disclaimer: If anything unusual occurs, chances are it has nothing to do with Rowling and everything to do with an over reactive imagination and several sleepless nights.
A/N: Sorry the update took so long. School has taken over my life.
Chapter 20: Shattered
The winter break comes to an end just as suddenly as it began. It's hard to believe that it's only been a fortnight since that dreadful night we spent in the mausoleum with the ghosts and bodies of the Moons. Christmas, the attack at the Ministry Ball, even Tiffany's father's funeral seem to all be a part of one giant blur that pales in comparison to the startling discovery James and I made in the Potter's kitchen only three days ago. Hope Moon Adams (Gracie's mother) thought to have been murdered with her husband and son Christopher back in September, is actually very much alive and has been right under our nose the whole time. First we found her in the form of a lost, forlorn child that wandered into my room, and then rediscovered her as a feisty (but not exactly mentally stable) teenager that fought with us and revealed her true identity. That same girl is the cause of my current troubles, as I recall the promise that James and I made to James's father. That night we swore to watch out for the girl at Hogwarts, help her heal and recover her memories and above all keep her identity a secret.
I'm torn between excitement and sadness as I look around the breakfast table at the people I've been living with for the past two weeks. As weird as it may sound, they kind of became like a family to me. Well, with the exception of Potter. (Who's currently shoveling food down his throat faster than a speedy snitch.) Though he could easily fit the position of the annoying-bratty-little-brother or perhaps the perverted-second-cousin, or maybe the attractive-I-have-no-idea-how-but-I-wish-I-wasn't-related-to -
My thought process comes to a blessed halt. Did something just hit me? I reach up and touch my forehead. I brush my shoulder off and examine my lap but it must've been my imagination. I swear I'm going crazy. Insanity is the only possible explanation as to why I suddenly find Potter attractive and why I might've enjoyed that little mistletoe kiss, not to mention the fling that I was considering. Thank Merlin I squashed that nutty fantasy.
I dip my spoon into the bowl of hot cereal and bring it to my mouth. Heather or the house elf, or whoever it is that makes the food, is an amazing cook, well at least that's what I thought, until now. I start to swallow, separating a chunk of something that tastes remarkably like paper. Disgusting! I grab my napkin fast and with a quick duck of my head, silently spit it out.
EEWWWW.
It was in fact a piece of paper. How it got into my bowl of cereal is a mystery. I make to close up my napkin but something stops me. Is that writing on the paper? I glance to my left but Sirius is too busy with his fourth bowl and Heather got up and went to the kitchen a while ago and hasn't been back. I grimace but bravely poke at the paper with my spoon so that it unfolds and I can read what it says.
"Meet me upstairs."
I crumple up my napkin with the note inside. Mystery solved. Only he would pull something this stupid and gross. I catch James's eye, and give him one of my infamous death glares. James gulps.
"Can someone help me in the kitchen?" Heather's sweet voice calls from the other room.
Automatically I push back my chair, but Sirius beats both James and I to it.
"I'll help!" He runs into the kitchen, probably hoping that there will be a fifth helping or a taste test involved.
"Look at the time!" Danny suddenly folds up The Daily Prophet. "I'm sorry son I can't see you off, but have a good time and don't do anything I wouldn't do." He winks and ruffles his son's hair.
"Take good care of him," he tells me, tipping an imaginary hat at me before running into the kitchen to say his goodbyes to the rest.
I check to make sure that the others are safely distracted in the kitchen and then throw my napkin into his breakfast. James's mouth drops open giving me a wonderful view of what he forgot to swallow.
"What was that for?" James asks as he swallows and picks the dirty napkin out of the bowl.
"What do you think?" I shoot back.
Realization dawns on his face and he laughs.
"It's not funny, you ruined my meal." I scowl and fold my arms on the table.
With a sigh, James stifles a final laugh. He pushes his bowl aside and leans forward in his seat.
"I'm sorry, alright? I was aiming for your head, but it must've fallen into your bowl," he apologizes.
"There's no excuse-" I hiss, leaning across the table.
"How else was I supposed to get your attention?" James demands loudly.
"Lower your voice," I whisper, stealing a glance at the kitchen door which was left ajar. James rolls his eyes but I notice that he pauses for a moment, listening intently and does in fact lower his voice significantly.
"I need to talk to you," he says softly.
"About what?" I ask my heart quickening. "Why don't we just discuss it right here?"
"Because I need to talk to you about…" he trails off when he hears the sound of approaching footsteps but I have a feeling I know exactly what he wants to talk about.
"I'll meet you up there," I tell him pushing back my chair. "Wait five minutes, okay?" He nods.
"My room or yours?" he asks as I get to my feet and push the chair back in.
"Mine."
I exit the room and run right into someone.
"Sorry!" I exclaim.
For a split second I mistake her for Hope, but then I remember that we dyed Hope's hair yesterday and that she was transported to Hogwarts early this morning through the floo network. Apparently, they'd decided that it would be less suspicious if Hope was reintroduced to Dumbledore and many of her teachers before the other students arrived in case she had a relapse. One of the healers that she felt comfortable around had gone with her.
"That's all right Lily," Gracie laughs. "Hey, where are you off to in such a hurry?" she asks as I brush past her.
"Oh!" I rack my brain for a believable lie which isn't easy because I'm horrible at lying, especially when it comes down to my best friend. "I uh, just remembered. I forgot to pack my toothbrush."
"Oh okay, I'll see you in a bit then?" she asks, with a funny smile.
"Yeah!" I smile back and hurry off to my room.
I let myself in and shut the door behind me. I already finished my packing, last night actually. My trunk sits ready to go at the foot of my bed. I'm debating whether I should shrink it down or not. I almost lost it last year. Luckily Tiffany spotted it and pocketed it, not knowing until later that night when I was racing around with my head chopped off what it really was that she had found.
I sit down on the bed, Indian style, with my eyes on the door.
Twenty minutes later the door opens and a disheveled James walks in.
"You're late," I inform him narrowing my eyes.
"I know, my mom recruited me for baking duty," James says sheepishly, running a hand through his hair. "And then Gracie kept asking me all these funny questions…" He frowns as if he wants to say more but we've already wasted too much time.
"What was it that you wanted to talk to me about?" I cut straight to the chase.
"You know what I want to talk to you about, Lily," James sighs and leans back against the door. "You know… out little secret…"
"Hope?" I provide.
"Yea, her." James slams his head back against the door in a moment of frustration. "Ow," he says, rubbing his head and staring at the door, as if it was the door that hit him and not the other way around.
"Come here," I sigh, making room for him on the bed beside me. James, still holding his head sits.
"You're worried?" I ask, handing him a pillow to rest his head on.
"Just a little bit," James admits, accepting the pillow with a grateful smile. He lies down, leaning his head on the pillow.
"Wasn't it you that told me we had nothing to worry about?" I inquire with an amused smile.
"That was before I got to thinking," he groans.
"It's called worrying James, probably something you've never experienced until now," I chuckle.
"Lily?" James asks hesitantly.
"Yes?"
A long pause seems to stretch and fill the room. I wait patiently, watching James intently.
"Do you think the person that murdered my uncle and my cousin is going to try and finish the job off?" he asks seriously.
It feels like someone's suddenly poured a bucket of ice water down the back of my shirt. I shiver uncontrollably. Up until now I had blatantly ignored the reason why Hope's identity had to be kept secret. Now though, the haunting truth suddenly flashes back to me.
"Um, what exactly is at stake?" James asked timidly.
Danny blinked, but his expression quickly turned from incredibility to severity.
"Our lives." He said gravely before sweeping out of the room, leaving both of us in a stunned silence.
"I don't know James," I whisper pulling my knees to my chest.
I close my eyes, hugging myself as if to fend off an intangible cold. A door opens somewhere in my mind and suddenly I'm falling headfirst down that dark, freezing tunnel. Shattered memories flash before my eyes: the black owl, Gracie, falling hard, crumbling in my arms; Tiffany, alone in the snowy graveyard; and Hope, afraid, yelling and begging us to just take her home. I'm slipping and sliding, down, down, down, watching the domed ceiling of the mausoleum disappear, seeing my smoking living room dissolve as Serial Killer's hands close over my throat, clinging to James as everything collapses around us…
"Lily!"
My eyes snap open and lock with a familiar pair of hazel ones. James is sitting up beside me with concern in his eyes and the hand that rests heavily on my arm. I try to smile but it's too late. The damage has already been done. James looked in my eyes and saw what I saw. He knows.
"Oh, Lily," he whispers.
He pulls me toward him, drawing me into the very warmth of his heart which radiates from his chest. I rest my head on his sweater and take a deep breath. I inhale his cologne, his clothes, his hair, his eyes, his handsome face, the strength and the warmth, all of him, all in one breath. And then I lift my head, pull back, and smile.
"I didn't mean to upset you," he apologizes.
I grab his hands and squeeze them tight.
"I know James, but the truth is upsetting," I remind him sadly, pulling my hands free.
"It could only be the beginning," James sighs.
"Or it could be the end…" I say optimistically.
"It might get worse," he says seriously.
"Or it could get better…" I point out.
James looks at me.
"We don't know yet James, what the future holds. All we can do now is wait and be the best damn babysitters there ever were."
"Bodyguards," James corrects me.
"Babysitters," I insist.
"Bodyguards," James repeats finally smiling. "It makes us sound much more macho," he elaborates, puffing up his chest.
"Fine." I roll my eyes and laugh. "Here's the deal, I'll use my brains and since you don't have one-"
James hits me lightly, noticing that I'm kidding, because I never lie and there obviously has to be something up there if he's breathing right now and stringing together words, unless he's a robot… which is entirely possible…
"As I was saying, before you decided to abuse me." He laughs at this. "You should have no trouble disarming or charming her with your suave moves and stud-worthy good looks."
James makes a face and it's my turn to grin.
"Lily, she's my Aunt," he reminds me grimacing.
"A minor inconvenience." I wave a hand dismissively.
"I would kill you, but you just admitted that you find me irresistibly handsome, suave and charming." James smirks.
Did I? Oops.
You're an idiot Lily. As if his head isn't big enough as it is now you openly admit that you find him attractive-
Shut up, who doesn't? It doesn't necessarily mean I like him or anything.
To him it does. Think about it Lily, do you need to give him another reason to stalk you.
You have a point.
"Don't worry Potter, I'm immune to the charm, just pretend I'm your Aunt."
Nice save.
Thanks.
Sarcasm.
I'm not listening to you anymore.
"But you're prettier than my Aunt!" James blurts out.
Caught off guard, I blush. Then to cover it up, I mock swoon, throwing a hand over my heart and another over fluttering eye lashes.
"I'm flattered James, really, but-" I come out of my swoon, grinning widely. "I think right now I'm looking a lot better than your Aunt because first of all your Aunt's married and second of all she's related to you."
"Of course, but Lily I think you're beaut-"
"Why are we even having this conversation?" I interrupt him not wanting him to finish that sentence. He has no idea how close I came to letting myself go yesterday and I don't intend for him to ever know what happened during that minor lapse in my sanity.
"I-I don't know." James looks a bit bewildered. He lifts one of his hands and runs it through his unruly hair, causing it to stick up, it it's possible, even more. "What were we talking about again?" he asks with an adorable puzzled expression on his face.
"We were talking about your Aunt, the reincarnated sixteen year old loony," I refresh his memory.
"Ah yes, Ophelia's biological mother, actually come to think of it, Gracie's always been a little mad…" He snaps his fingers. "Suddenly everything's illuminated! It all makes sense, it was in the genes!"
I hit him. James clutches his arm as if he's been shot, instead of hit by a girl who's half the size of him.
"OW! Ow! Lily, she's my cousin! It's like an unwritten rule, I have to make fun of her!" he whimpers.
"James you don't follow rules, you break them," I sigh.
James gasps loudly.
"Lillian Evans, did you just encourage me to break a rule?" He gapes at me.
"No!"
"You did! I heard you!"
"NO, I DIDN'T!"
"Wait until I tell Sirius that our little Lillian is a rebel in disguise!" James laughs wildly.
"That's not what I meant! Oh what's the use!" I groan and bury my head in my hands. I can only imagine what might happen if he were to spread the word that I, Lily Evans, the Gryffindor Prefect, just encouraged him to break a rule. Gracie and Sirius would probably split their sides laughing and never let up on me for months, maybe years…
"You're never going to let me live this one down, are you?" I ask, biting my lip.
"Nope." James grins.
Well then, I guess my life's officially over. I grab the pillow and stuff my face into it. James's laughter fades to background and suddenly I feel the bed move beneath me and hear the springs squeak. His feet hit the floor, moving fast. I sit up, tossing the pillow aside. James is already at the door when I touch his arm.
"Where do you think you're going?" I demand, folding my arms over my chest.
"Nowhere," James smiles innocently.
I raise an eyebrow.
"All right, I have to finish packing…" he says lamely.
I look at him closely and notice how he fails to meet my eyes. He's guilty of something and I have a strong suspicion of what it might be. I shut the door and face him.
"Listen to me James, don't you dare tell anyone about this - POTTER!"
But James shoves past me and runs out the door. I yell and holler, fruitlessly twisting at the doorknob but James is holding it on the other side, trapping me in the bedroom. I bang on the door.
"Potter - BANG! - You - BANG! BANG! - BETTER - BANG! - let me OUT of this room - BANG! - before I - BANG! BANG! BANG! - hurt you- ARGH!"
The doorknob finally gives way in my hand and I can hear James already getting a head start down the hall.
I take off after him, running hard. I catch up with him easily, and make a pathetic attempt to tackle him. Unfortunately, I forgot to take into consideration the fact that James Potter actually has at least six inches, fifty pounds and five years of strenuous quidditich training on me. I come up from behind and jump up onto his back.
"POTTER I'M GOING TO - oh!"
I gasp.
"Hello Lily." James's mother grins. I promptly let go of James's neck and fall right on my bum. As if the situation isn't already embarrassing enough, I have to go and fall and make it about a hundred times worse.
"Are you all right?" James asks, holding out a hand to me.
I sit on the floor where I fell, sincerely wishing that I was in fact hurt or better yet that I had simply fallen all the way through the wood and disappeared.
"Lily?" she asks. "Did you hurt yourself?"
"I'm okay," I tell them, ignoring James's hand and avoiding both sets of eyes. I stand up and brush myself off, taking far more time than necessary. But alas, eventually I have to lift my head and face his mother who caught us in such a…suggestive position.
"Oh honey, there's no need to be embarrassed," his mother reassures me gently.
Huh?
I look at James, but he looks almost as confused as I am.
"Young love is nothing to be ashamed of," she continues, smiling fondly at the two of us.
It takes me a moment to register what she said and to identify the young couple in question. That would be me and James.
"Oh," I almost laugh at the absurdity of this observation. Nothing could be more far from the truth. "No, James and I, we-"
"There's no need to deny it," Heather cuts me off with that same smile, the one that seems to imply that she knows something that we don't. She winks and whispers, "I know you two have been sleeping together."
My jaw drops and James blushes.
"Mom, we haven't-" James stammers but Heather's laughter drowns his words out.
"You didn't think I would notice the two of you sneaking off into the woods that first night." She smirks. "I saw you two come crawling back in around dawn."
Immediately the truth tumbles from our lips as both of us scramble to set her straight.
"No!"
"You don't understand-"
"We weren't-"
"We were only trying to comfort one another!"
"Oh, is that what you kids call it," she giggles before continuing, "And the other night in the kitchen, I think we all know why you were both up and in the kitchen when you weren't supposed to be." She winks again, implying that we're all in on this sick, twisted, completely false secret.
"We couldn't sleep!" I admit.
"I was hungry!" James whines.
"Well obviously," she giggles again, clearly amused by our flustered faces and our stammered denials, obviously mistaking them for embarrassment. I think she's been waiting a long time for this and I bet that she's enjoying every minute of this.
"What about the night we were at the ball? And how about all those times you go sneaking off to your room, like this morning for instance, and last night in the guestroom, did you honestly think that your mother wouldn't notice?"
"It's not what you - wait - the guestroom?"
I stop short, the wheels in my head suddenly coming to a screeching halt. My heart jumps into my throat and I turn to look at James.
"The guestroom?" I ask again, looking at James. I haven't been in the guestroom for at least a couple of days and James looks equally puzzled.
"Oh yes, I know all about your midnight meetings. I'm a mother for Merlin's sake, I see and know everything. I wasn't born yesterday, by the age of eighteen we had-"
"MOM!" James yells.
"James, dear, there's nothing to be ashamed of-"
"ENOUGH!" I scream.
Heather blinks in surprise, still smiling a little bit, but the leak has been plugged. The blessed silence fills the hall and I exhale slowly.
"I'm sorry," I mumble. "But I don't really want to know about the intimate details of your - um - relationship with your husband."
"I know honey, that's why I don't really want to know the details of yours." The smile slides off her face, replaced with a look of disappointment. "I thought we had an agreement."
"An agreement?" James asks, blinking.
"Yes, an agreement." She folds her arms over her chest and leans against the wall. "The very first time you brought her home, we agreed that you wouldn't sleep in the same room. Or if you were going to sleep together that some rules were to be upheld and we agreed to those rules, didn't we James?"
My jaw drops as I watch James stammer something and then under the pressure of her stare, bend his head in a reluctant nod.
"Make sure that you and your girlfriend remember that in the future, James, or you know the consequences." Heather's eyes are so fierce that I don't have the courage to correct our relationship status or attempt once again to speak the truth.
Another mumble of assent and a nod from James and Heather's disciplinary tone vanishes, replaced with that voice of a childish taunt.
"Well, I'll leave you two alone, now," she teases, putting far too much emphasis on the word alone. She winks at us as she walks away and I find myself staring after her with my jaw unhinged.
James had dragged me into a vacated bedroom and shut the door before I finally regained my ability to speak. I guess he knows me better than I think.
"What is she talking about?" I demand, wondering what kind of drugs that woman was on and where I could get them because I probably need to be obliterated after that mortifying experience.
James shuffled forward, beat red and avoiding my eyes at all cost.
"Er, Lily," he coughs, turning me away from the door which I was reaching for. "Maybe you should go and let me handle this."
"No, James!" I wrench my arm from his grasp and face him. "This needs to stop. She needs to know the truth."
"The truth?" James repeats, looking at me oddly.
"Yes! I'M NOT YOUR GIRLFRIEND and WE ARE NOT SLEEPING TOGETHER!" I explode.
James takes a step back, blinking as if he wasn't quite prepared for that. I take a deep breath, trying to calm myself. But James just stands there. Minutes go by and still he says nothing. I wish he would say something, anything to break this silence.
"What?" I ask, realizing that something's wrong with this silence and that I may have missed something.
"Lily," James says, shoving his hands into his pockets. "There's something you need to know about… the truth."
"What do you mean?" I ask faltering.
James runs a hand through his unruly hair, looking suddenly nervous and unsure.
"Um, we, er, well, we had to er," he stammers.
"Spit it out James," I interrupt his stuttering.
"We told her that you were my girlfriend," James blurts out. "And that-"
"What?" I asked, wondering if this could get any worse.
"We kind of told her, well, actually we sort of implied, that you and I were sleeping together."
Now it's my turn to entertain the silence, and James's to fidget and silently beg me to break the quiet with reassuring words.
"Anything else I need to know about? Did you tell her that we eloped? Or maybe you told her that I'm pregnant?" I laugh harshly and take pleasure in the fact that James has the decency to avoid my eyes and even wince upon hearing my reaction. I'm so angry that I could strangle the boy.
"Gracie told her that we were promised to each other," James suddenly recalls. I feel my stomach drop. It's one thing for James to tell lies about me but it's another for my own best friend to say these things.
In the wizarding world, to be promised to someone is a sentence even more frightening and terrible than marriage. It was the worst possible thing that Gracie could've told them.
"She did?" I choke out, anger and disappointment clouding my words and my vision.
"Yes but Lily you don't understand we had to - Lily wait!"
I slam the door shut, and send a charm over my shoulder, successfully locking him in the room. (Even if it was only for the satisfaction of thirty seconds before he realized that his wand was in his pocket.) James can wait. I have to find Gracie.
*
"You told her WHAT?!" I corner Gracie in an empty compartment as soon as we get on the train. Gracie must've been able to sense that I was upset with her, because she was attached to Sirius's hip all morning, until we got on the train moments ago and I dragged her away from her Siamese counterpart.
"Lily, calm down. It was a joke!" Gracie has the audacity to giggle even as I give her my infamous death glare. "Auntie Heather knows that. Surely, she was just playing around with you two." The fact that Gracie finds this funny infuriates me.
"Well, I don't find it very funny." I fold my arms over my chest and I can feel myself morphing into my prefect mode. "And I don't think your aunt did either," I add.
Gracie rolls her eyes.
"Lily, I think that you're taking this just a little too seriously."
"Gracie, she gave us a lecture!" I explode. "And then she went on about how disappointed she was in us because we're sneaking around and we won't admit it. All I'm asking is for you to stop encouraging her-"
"Me?" Gracie's eyes pop. "You think that this is my fault." She throws back her head and laughs.
"Lily, I didn't do anything other than merely make a joke. You on the other hand made her believe it was fact," she points out.
She's accusing ME? She's saying that this is MY fault? Suddenly, I can't take it anymore.
"Grace! You told her that James and I were PROMISED to each other!" I shout, thanking Merlin that I had soundproofed the compartment when I came in.
She stumbles back a step, leaning against the wall. I wait for her to deny it, but she doesn't.
"James told you," Gracie says simply, avoiding my eyes.
"What possessed you to tell her that?" I ask angrily, wondering how she could insult me like this.
"Lily, I had too," Grace whispers, suddenly sounding weary.
"No." I shake my head so angry that I manage to brush away the secrets held in her blue eyes and on the tip of her loosening tongue. "No, you didn't."
"Lily, you don't understand…" James had said that too, hadn't he? But I didn't care. No one was going to decide my future, not even my own best friend.
"NO! You're the one that doesn't understand! I don't fancy your cousin, I don't even like him! And even if I did, it would have never worked," I can feel the tears burning in my eyes as I edge dangerously close to the real truth behind my discomfort and disappointment. "You don't know enough about James or me to be making those kind of claims on the future."
"Lily, listen to me!"
"No, you listen to me!" I snarl. "I'm not dating him, I'm not promised to him and I am NOT marrying-"
"LILY!" she screams, reaching for me wildly. "LOOK OUT!"
BANG!
The compartment door behind me explodes. Glass shatters, wood splinters, and Gracie's wide fear filled eyes are lost in the cloud of debris. I hardly have time to breathe, let alone get out of the way. The spell misses me by barely an inch. I see my reflection glowing green in the light of the deadly curse, shocked, white faced, and with both arms half raised as if to cover my head, an instant before the spell breaks the windows.
The bitterly cold January air, rushes in through the open windows and I watch in a sort of stupefied state as the train keeps going as if nothing had happened. But something had happened. Someone had fired a curse into the compartment where Gracie and I had been standing and I knew just as surely as I knew that it was the month of January that they had been aiming to kill.
"Gracie!" I exclaim, suddenly remembering her. I start searching for her with my eyes, a sorely delayed reaction. It seems as if everything's moving too quickly or too slowly since the spell's arrival and departure. My heart flutters and I find it hard to breathe.
"Grace! GRACE!"
"I'm right here Lily!" I feel her hand on my shoulder and realize that it's been there the whole time. Gracie had pulled me out of the way, brought me safely to the floor, and aimed several useless stunners into a gaping hole in the door and an empty corridor.
Whoever it was, they didn't stick around long enough to see that their curse had missed.
"Lily?" Gracie shakes my shoulder lightly.
"Y-yeah?" The single word response is oddly difficult to form and once again I am aware of the fact that something is wrong with my heartbeat, or is it my breathing?
"Just hold on Lily," Grace whispers, and I realize that she's crying.
I struggle to hold on, because Grace looks more frightened than she did when the curse struck. I don't remember Grace ever looking that scared before. Grace Adams does not get scared. She's brave, like James. I think of James, his unruly hair, his soft hazel eyes, his warm embrace… I try to concentrate on James or Gracie, but I can feel my mind slipping. The glass shards surrounding me, wink and sparkle in the swinging lamp that miraculously survived it all. I watch the lamp, swaying in the swirling frigid air that blows into our compartment.
"Help! Someone help me!"
It's snowing I realize. I remember Gracie and me dancing in the snow filled dormitory with Tiffany complaining and Alice sneezing. I remember James throwing snowballs…
I try to tell Gracie that it's snowing, but I can't find her face anywhere.
"Stay with me Lily!"
Tiny flakes, shaped just like stars. I remember looking at the stars with James.
"You're going to be fine Lily, just stay with us," James says.
I smile, his voice is soft and reassuring.
I can feel him lying next to me in the snow. Safe and secure in his warm embrace, lying in the midst of a winter wonderland…
"No! NO!" Gracie screams, shaking me violently.
I finally find peace.
A/N: Thanks to everyone that reviewed the last chapter that I posted a while ago and I would love to hear what you think! I'll have the next one up soon hopefully.
-->