This is written for TheNextFolchart as winner of my Forbidden Words Challenge.
It is a little... emotionally charged. At least I believe so. But I hope you will enjoy it either way.
When he landed on his ass, he knew instantly that something was wrong. Instead of being in an empty Great Hall, this one was filled to the brim with people. But instead of them sitting at the tables, they were in clusters. It was also clear that there was some sort of emergency going on. The room was littered with those that were hurt as well as those who were crying over lost others. Suddenly glad he was wearing the invisibility cloak, James pulled it tighter to himself and stood up. Dodging everyone, he exited the Great Hall.
Outside he found chaos. There were holes in the walls, rubble and bodies on the floor, and a very clear sound of grief. James felt the terror creep in his veins. He had never seen anything so sad in his life. But gathering his Gryffindor courage, he headed toward the Headmaster's office. Surely the Headmaster could tell him what was happening and would be able to fix it.
On his way, he refused to look at anything but the ground immediately before him. He dodged the rubble, and the bodies, but he couldn't avoid all the blood. And soon there was a wet red sheen to his shoes and it made his stomach fall over itself. But he couldn't stop. If he stopped he would hear the sound again, so he kept moving forward.
When he reached the Headmaster's office, he spotted a young red-headed girl curled up against the wall, crying. He almost ignored her, but recognition flared through him. "Lily?"
The girl's head shot up, and it was indeed his housemate. Quickly he pulled the cloak off. "Potter? Is that you?" Her tear-stained voice asked. He nodded, and suddenly she launched herself to him and wrapped her arms around his waist. "Where are we?"
"I... I don't know." He was filled with conflicting emotions. There was the fear from this whole predicament, and joy that Lily Evans was actually touching him. So he did the only thing he could. He pulled the cloak over the both of them and wrapped his arms around her. Comforting her. He would willingly admit that the scent of apples that always surrounded her was both giving him courage, and blocking the smell of death all around them.
Lily seemed to gather herself up. After a moment she leaned a little away from him, but still close enough to stay under the cloak. Her green eyes looked up at him, and if it weren't for the very unsteady nature of the world around them, he would have leaned in for a kiss. Instead he released her waist. "We should get the Headmaster."
Lily shook her head. "I already tried that. No one is there. And the portraits are all empty too." James was at a loss, but Lily was already speaking again. "Let's see if we can find anyone we recognize. Maybe they can help us find the Headmaster." It was a good plan. Lily always had good plans, so he nodded.
They walked in silence for a while, standing in single file. James rested a hand on Lily's right shoulder to keep them close enough to remain covered. There was a heavy silence filling the castle now, and James began to wonder if he had died and this was hell or something. But that Lily was here, proved it wasn't. Lily broke the silence. "Is this how you did it?"
"Did what?" He responded automatically.
"Everything. You had a invisibility cloak this whole time?"
James nodded, then realized she wouldn't see that from in front of him and said "Yes."
"Oh." And silence fell between them again, but there was now noise from the castle itself. The air somehow seemed lighter. The noise was still filled with sadness and grief, but it somehow seemed, gentler. Lily must have heard it, because she lifted a hand to put on top of his, but said nothing.
It wasn't long that they were back at the doors near the Great Hall. They slipped in and stood in a corner. Lily standing close enough that her back barely brushed against his front. Her hand was warm and comforting against his. He soon realized that he was staring at the back of her head rather than looking around. But he wished he hadn't looked. There was no one he recognized. There were only the dead, and their crying companions.
"Look." Lily whispered and James looked to where she was pointing. There he spotted a young man, a few years older than them. At first, James didn't understand what had caught her attention, until he realized that no one noticed him. Even when he was a hairbreadth away, no one even flinched. There was also something about him... something... Without realizing it, they both began to follow the boy.
He stopped next to a large collection of red-headed people. They were crying and clutching at each other, and James could just make out another red-headed body on the ground, covered by a sheet. He glanced up at the raven-haired boy. His eyes were closed and tears were streaming down his face. He looked oddly familiar though.
"He looks just like you, but older." Lily whispered.
There was a moment's pause. Something clicked in James' head. "Did we time-travel?"
"I... I think so. But how far? Only a few years, if that is you." They both turned back to the boy, but found that he had turned and was now leaving the family. Again, they both immediately followed him. He left the castle and walked toward the Lake. Without pause, they followed. At the edge of the lake he sat down and began to cry. Something slipped off him, and then Lily was moving toward him. James stepped forward to stop her, but paused when he saw her wrap her arms around the shaking boy. He somehow was jealous of his older self for getting a hug from Lily.
"Go 'way Ginny. I'll find you later." The boy said between sobs.
"I'm not Ginny." Lily said simply, and the boy looked up at her. Lily froze, and James walked forward until he saw the boy's eyes and froze as well. This was not an older James.
The boy's eyes widened significantly and the tears slowed to a stop. Slowly, the boy reached out a hand and touched Lily's cheek as though she would shatter. "Mum?" James felt the cloak slip from him, but somehow couldn't seem to care. This boy, he looked just like James, but... but he had Lily's... James immediately looked to Lily and saw her looking back at him in shock. "Dad?" The boy asked around his tears.
James' eyes shot back to the boy. To... next thing he knew he was kneeling before the boy, and pulling him into a deep hug. The boy stiffened, but slowly relaxed into the hug. And James hugged with all he was worth. He hugged the boy because he was his son. He hugged him because he was hope for him and Lily. He hugged him because he could see grief. And he hugged him, because this boy needed it.
Looking up, he noticed Lily still hugging the boy from behind. They had the boy in a hug sandwich. And the boy was crying again, hugging James with one arm, and Lily with the other. And Lily started to sing softly. It was a tune that James had heard her hum before. And the boy quieted. And then James felt a pull in his gut.
It was the same pull he had felt minutes before being dumped in this place. His eyes shot open to Lily, and her's looked as shocked as his. They both immediately squeezed the boy tighter, before realizing he had fallen asleep. They let him go and lowered him gently down. James covered the boy back up with what he now realized was an invisibility cloak, casting a warming charm and an alarm for an hour later.
He felt Lily slip the cloak over him, and the boy immediately became visible to him once more. Than Lily took his hand and smiled up at him softly. He smiled back and squeezed her hand gently in promise, and as the world around them began to blur they both watched the boy.
James opened his eyes and found Lily standing across from him. Their arms were outstretched and their fingers intertwined. Slowly they both let go, and a necklace fell from their hands and clattered on the ground between them. But neither of them looked away from each other. James didn't have a true understanding about what Lily was thinking, but he was evaluating his life. There had been so much grief there, so much pain. And that boy... his son... looked like he had suffered as much as any single person there.
Determination filled him. He would fight against the world he had just seen. He would fight for his son to have a better life than that. As he glanced up at the crowd surrounding them, he saw dark greasy hair, and knew where he needed to start. He needed to start with himself. Snivellus may be a greasy bat who always hung around Lily. But, he was no longer important. He was just a childhood rival. And with that, all determination to make his life miserable faded away. So James turned his eyes back to Lily's and met them once more. Her eyes softened and she smiled. He smiled back.
Then noise filled the air between them, and Professors swarmed to see what was going on. He watched as McGonagall levitated the necklace away, and the two of them were ushered into the Hospital Wing. But James kept the sight of Lily's smile fresh in his mind. And the sight of that boy crying his heart out alone fresh in his memory. They became his motivation, and would continue to dictate his life up until the night he died protecting them both.
One quick note, I felt that if there were 2 of the same invisibility cloaks in the same time steam, they would cancel each other out, so that anyone wearing one would see anyone wearing the other.
Please review.