Come Alive by snidget76
Prologue: The Calm before the Storm
James:
I heard the screaming before anything. It was loud and clear even being so far away. The day was bright and sunny. My large extended family was spending the day at my grandparents' house, the Burrow. It was supposed to be a nice lunch filled with grand mum Weasley's cooking and Quidditch. I had been sitting down on the grass clipping stray twigs off my broom. My cousins were all over the backyard in the air, working on school, or talking with the reminiscing adults
Everyone had looked up at the sound and froze. The adults exchanged looks.
"We have to see if anyone's hurt," started my mum. She looked white and scared, which was a way my mother never looked.
"I'll go," my dad volunteered. Uncle Ron nodded as did my Uncle George and his wife, Aunt Angelina.
"Us too," she said.
"Harry, if you're going so am I," my mum. Dad looked like he wanted to protest but consented.
"Everyone inside," shouted my grand mum.
When we entered the kitchen of the Burrow, the remaining adults began counting up the children. Aunt Audrey's breath caught clearly audible over everyone else.
"What is it, dear?" asked gran, looking concerned.
"Lucy and Molly," whispered Aunt Audrey. The people in the kitchen looked puzzled for a moment before looking around the room frantically, their expressions changing to shock.
"Vere is Louis?" asked Aunt Fleur. She glanced out the window and her eyes grew worried.
"I saw them. They left about a minute ago. They went in the direction of the Scamanders," I was hardly aware of the words leaving my mouth. I was numb. Don't let it be them was the only thought in my mind.
A few seconds later came another scream. This time I recognized the screaming voice. It was the voice of Rowena, one of my best friends, sounding as though she was being tortured. Without thinking about consequences, I had raced through the kitchen much to the shouts of protest behind me. I raced out of the Burrow and up the hills that led to the cylinder- shaped house.
When I arrived at the pathway that led to the house I was out of breath but I hardly noticed. All I could think about was saving Rowena from whatever had caused her to scream. What I didn't expect was for the person to have caused her to scream be her own father.
Rolf Scamander was being led out of the house by my own father and my uncle Ron.
"James! Get back to the Burrow!" my dad shouted and without waiting to see if I listened he and Ron apparated away with a sharp crack.
"James," called out a voice. I looked around and saw Lucy emerging from behind the house closely followed by Lysander Scamander, one of Rowena's older brothers, Molly, and Louis. "James, come on let's get back to the Burrow," she said. Lucy didn't seem at all surprised to find me there. Without a second look behind her she gestured for me to follow and began hurrying down the hill. Lysander gave a stiff nod and re- entered the house.
"What happened back there?" I demanded.
"You don't want to know," was Lucy's only response. She had a faraway look in her eyes. Molly and Louis looked slightly shell- shocked and didn't say anything.
"What in the world are you doing here, James? And you three! Come on!" exclaimed my aunt Angelina. Without waiting for a response she grabbed my upper arm and pulled me down the hill back to my grandparents' house, gesturing for the others to follow. My mum and my uncle George were waiting at the bottom of the hill for us.
"James, James. James!"
I woke with a start. I was in my bedroom at Godric's Hollow, staring into the eyes of Rowena Scamander, my girlfriend.
"Your mum told me you'd be here," she said. "I didn't realize you'd still be asleep."
"Oh," was I could think to say.
"You were having that dream again weren't you?"
I grimaced. That was answer enough for her.
"James, it happened years ago. Can't you forget?"
I shook my head. "There are some things you shouldn't forget. Anyway," I said changing the subject, "why are you here? Not that I'm not glad to see you."
Rowena gave me a bemused look and pulled from her pocket a sheet of parchment and held it up for me to see:
i Ms. Rowena Scamander will require:
Standard Book of Spells (Grade 7) by Miranda Goshawk
Advanced Defensive Magic by Quentin Trimble
Defensive Magical Theory by Godfrey Hettinger
The Predictions of Planets: Astronomy and Divination Working Hand in Hand by Cassandra Vablatsky
Advanced Transfiguration (Grade 2) by Emetic Switch
Seeing Without Eyes by Cassandra Vablatsky/i
"Oh right, we're meeting the guys at Diagon Alley to get our supplies. I forgot," I remembered. We had made the plans over a week ago.
Rowena hesitated. "James, maybe we should reschedule. I mean you don't seem well and I'm concerned—"
"Row," I interrupted her, "I'm fine. Now I've got to get dressed, if you wouldn't mind waiting downstairs for a bit?"
"I hope you're right, James," she murmured before heading out the door. I frowned, I couldn't help but get the impression that she seemed a bit distracted and not in a good way.
I shook my head to clear away those thoughts. Rowena always seems a bit distracted, as though she's thinking about something else at the same time as doing something different. It just comes with being a Lovegood.
I got out of bed, stretched, then headed to my chest of drawers. I pulled on a dark navy blue shirt with a collar and a pair of blue jeans. I also grabbed my black jacket off the back of my desk chair.
Once dressed, I glanced around the room. It was pretty much a mess. My mother would never let me leave the house with it like this. Grabbing my wand off the top of my mahogany desk, I muttered the household-y spell my mum had taught me. The effects were immediate. The dirty laundry on the floor went zooming into the hamper, the bed began to make itself, and the mess of broken quills and screwed up bits of parchment on the desk went into the rubbish bin underneath it. Satisfied, I waved my wand once more.
"iAccio booklist/i," I said clearly. Said parchment list went flying into my waiting hand. Nodding, I left the room.
A/N: Thank you for reading. Constructive criticism is greatly appreciated. Please review and tell me what you think. Updates will be rather irregular I'm afraid to say. I've got the next few chapters lined up for revising and editing, so the next one can be expected soon at least.
