Echoes of the Heartless
A Story by J. Romant
Disclaimer : Anything you recognize is not mine. Anything you don't is mine.
Author's Note : Just for the record, I got the idea partly from Goethe's Faust and partly from Pirates of the Caribbean : Dead Man's Chest. It's been a really long time since I've posted anything, so my writing's a bit rusty. Hope you enjoy it, everyone!
Synopsis : Long ago, when the girl he loved fell for Tom Riddle, James Potter made a pact with the Devil: His heart for unlimited wealth and power–enough to match Voldemort. Now in 7th year there's a new girl called Lily, who's going to change his world…
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Chapter 1: Newcomer
Two Years Ago
James Potter stumbled through the corridors, sobbing and trembling. With every step he took, puddles of muddy water gathered at his feet, due to the howling storm outside of Hogwarts. He looked half delirious, his eyes were bloodshot and there was an enormous ugly bruise on the side of his head.
If it had been anyone else, the residents of Hogwarts would have thought the person in question was drunk. But not James Potter. James Potter never drank. He was the ultimate goody-two shoes, gaining straight A's in every class – maybe except Quidditch. James was a shy guy. He didn't go crazy over sports like half of his classmates did. He hadn't ever touched alcohol in his life, except for the occasional Butterbeer or so after exams were finished.
Indeed, it was a strange and rare sight for James to be in such a state as today.
Unfortunately, there was no one around to see this once in a lifetime chance, for it was 3 o' clock in the morning.
Anyway, James pushed open the door to the Room of Requirement.
"Please…" He muttered under his breath, talking to himself. "I can't go on like this. How could you leave me? HOW COULD YOU!"
In a sudden outburst of rage, James punched a vase before him, splintering it into a million pieces. He didn't wince even once in pain.
The Room of Requirement was filled with rows and rows of books, with a large steaming cauldron in the middle. The cauldron glowed a luminous red, sending sparks across the room every now and then. A sickeningly sweet smell of molten candy hit James's nose, but he did not even notice. He was too busy searching for a book, frantically going from shelf to shelf.
"The Daemonica Emporio… " James smiled as he pulled out a thin gray book.
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"So… James Potter…" The Devil whispered, perched above the steaming cauldron. "I know why you summoned me. I know what you want. The question is, are you willing to pay the price?"
James sobbed, his head buried in his hands. "Yes! Yes! Just do anything to relieve me of the pain. I hate him! I want you to kill him! Please… I would give anything- do anything."
"Anything, you say?" The Devil mused, his eyes glinting with anticipation. "A tempting offer, but-"
"But what?" James asked sharply.
"As you can see, I can't kill anyone myself. Although this apparition of me can be summoned any time at will, my body is in reality still chained to the pits of Hell."
"So you're saying you can't help me? Must I suffer the pain he has brought upon me?" James asked in a hoarse whisper.
"No." The Devil made a sweeping gesture with his hand. "I can help you. And I will help you, dearest. I shall give you the power to destroy him yourself. Unlimited power. Unlimited wealth. And unlimited fame. I dare say you'll have a splendid time seeing him die at your hands, won't you James?"
"I will. What do I have to give?"
"What I want is…" The Devil's eyes darted sideways as if he was afraid of someone overhearing. "Your heart."
"Deal." James said instantly, and as he said this, the Devil grabbed his hand. A bright red light blinded his eyes for a moment. James screamed in pain, he could feel something sucking on his chest, as if it was trying to drain it of any emotion.
Then James realized he was being drained of emotion – he could not feel anything. He could not feel the dampness of his cloak, or the icy chill of the cauldron. And then, he realized with a faint smile, he no longer felt his heart ache for his lost love. He was free of pain. At last.
Then a great drowsiness came over him, and he slumped to the ground. The last thing he remembered was the door bursting open, and the Headmaster shouting something frantically at him.
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As Albus Dumbledore knelt down next to James, Minerva McGonagall asked, "Were we… were we too late?"
"I'm afraid so." Dumbledore sighed, looking older than ever before. "This is a curse we cannot undo. Look Minerva, put you hand on his chest."
And when McGonagall did, she gasped in horror. "My goodness! His heart's stopped.!"
"Worse, Minerva. His heart is gone."
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Present Day
Lily Evans was well on her way on becoming a 'true' Gryffindor. It had already been three weeks since she had transferred from Beauxbatons, and she had learned quite a lot since.
For instance, she now knew that the Marauders were the pranksters of Gryffindor. Wherever there was mayhem, there would be a Marauder at the bottom of it. And she had learned through trial and error, that she did not like their leader, James Potter. He was arrogant, he was egoistic, and he never laughed.
It was creepy, Lily thought. Though it wasn't as if James scowled or grimaced all day long, it was still strange. Sure, a girl had to give him credit that he was quite handsome, but Lily could not just stand someone who could not laugh.
People said that he wasn't always like that – and that he hadn't always been good at Quidditch. He was Captain of the Gryffindor House now, of course. Rumor had it he had changed over the summer holidays two years ago, but no one knew the real reason for sure.
And for some peculiar reason, James seemed to hate her. The few times they spoke, he wouldn't look her in the eyes, and his face crumpled up as if he were smelling some foul stench in the air.
The rest of the Marauders were okay. Sirius Black was nice enough, apart from the fact that he tried to hit on her the first time they met. Remus Lupin was the one she hung around with the most, due to his living across the street from her back at home. Peter Pettigrew was courteous, but Lily always felt he was holding something back from her.
"Ouch!" Lily shouted as she turned the corner, bumping into someone. Papers flew into the air. "I'm so sorry, I should've been watching were I was going –" She faltered as she recognized the person before her. James Potter.
James scowled as he whipped out his wand to take care of the mess. He seemed to be in a hurry to get out of here. Lily might as well have been a stone obstacle in his way.
Lily watched with her mouth open as James gathered his stuff and walked on, not even sending a glance in her direction. "Well I never!" Lily huffed, disgruntled. She bent down to whisper a spell when she spotted something very out of place among her books.
It was a pink envelope, evidently a girl's. Only a girl would pick a pink envelope to send letters in, Lily knew. Not only was the envelope pink, but it had red hearts drawn on it as well.
Lily turned the letter over to see the words,
To : James Potter
From : Celine Earnshaw
'It's evidently a love letter.' Lily mused, thinking of what to do with the letter. Returning it would be the best and honest policy, but then she wasn't in the mood to see Potter again. And she was curious.
Potter wasn't the kind of guy to go out with a girl, Lily thought. 'I mean, pink envelopes? We aren't first year students, for god's sake!'
Deciding to keep it for now, she pushed the letter deep inside her bag and proceeded to class.
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"Everyone, please pair up and work on your Split Personality charms!" Professor Flitwick squeaked, his glasses threatening to fall off.
"Arthur Weasley with Samantha Barrows, and Remus Lupin with Peter Pettigrew…"
Lily waited for her name to be called out. 'Of course, I hope it's not going to be Potter, He'll ask me if I'd seen his letter, which then, I'll have to come clean about it, and then I'll never get to see who this Celine Earnshaw is…' Lily rambled on in her mind, oblivious to the fact that she had missed her name.
Somebody tapped her lightly on the arm. "Errr, Lily? I think your supposed to partner with me?"
Lily whirled around, to see a pair of dark eyes and a roguish grin
"Sirius Black at your service, mademoiselle." He bowed, taking off an imaginary hat.
"Stop it, Sirius." Lily laughed. "You know very well that I don't have any eyes for you – unlike them." She said, noticing a group of girls looking at her enviously.
"Of course, of course." He nodded. "And how are you and the rest of Hogwarts getting along? Any problems? Are none of the Slytherins harassing you?"
For some strange reason, it seemed that the three Marauders, except Potter, had taken her under their wing. The moment she stepped in this place, the Marauders acted as if she were their baby sister or something, rushing to and fro at her command. Except Potter.
"No, Sirius. Hogwarts is very nice to me. Thanks to you guys."
"Well," Sirius said suddenly, glancing around to see if Potter was listening. Potter was on the opposite side of the room, paired up with Amos Diggory. "Lily, do you want to come to Hogsmeade this Saturday?" He asked, his voice low in conspiracy.
"Uhhh…" Lily stammered. She liked Sirius, but not like that. He was only like a brother to her, nothing more.
"Oh, darn!" Sirius exclaimed, realizing what it sounded like. "Not like as a date, you know. It'll be four of us- Remus and Peter will come along. We, the Marauders, have this… little favor to ask you…" Sirius squirmed as he said this.
"If it's a favor, why do we have to go to Hogsmeade to talk about it? You can always tell me here, you guys. And if it's a Marauders thing, why won't Potter be with you?" Lily questioned.
"It's kind of a long story. And we don't want the risk of anybody hearing us. And about the matter with James, it's sort of about him."
"Ah," Lily said. And for some strange reason, a reason that she would never be able to explain, she asked, "It's about Celine Earnshaw, isn't it?"
Sirius looked surprised. "Yes." He admitted. "It all starts with her."
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The Marauders, plus one Lily Evans and minus one James Potter, were huddled in a corner of the Three Broomsticks. Lily sat between the three, nervously sipping a big jug of Butterbeer.
Remus was the first one to speak. "Sirius told me you know about Celine Earnshaw. Exactly how much do you know about her?"
"Not much. Only her name, I guess." Lily replied. "But what's she got to do with me?"
Remus ignored her question and went on speaking. "Two years ago, in our fifth year, James fell in love with a girl. It was quite shocking to us, you know, since he was never the type to go looking for one."
"I know." Lily nodded.
"No, no. James was different then. He was the perfect goody two shoes, always nice and smiling. He had never pranked anyone in his life, and couldn't catch a Quaffle if it was dancing in front of him in a troll's clothes. Girls simply didn't look at him. James was nice and all, but no one considered him a dashing prince in armor."
"But then," Sirius cut in. "Celine entered the picture. She was a student at Maldioux, an Italian school. They dated for six months, and it was clear to everyone that James was in love. I mean, he spent the whole summer at her house!"
"He didn't even answer our owls; he was practically doting over her. You couldn't keep them apart with a squadron of giants." Peter grumbled.
"Then came Tom Riddle." Sirius spoke up, his voice lower than ever. "Ever heard of the name?"
Lily shook her head. She still didn't understand what this had to do with her.
"I didn't think so. He's five years our senior, one of the geniuses of the geniuses that Hogwarts ever produced. Handsome, rich, powerful, he had everything."
"And Celine fell for him." Lily spoke, a flash of understanding striking her.
"Yes. James didn't stand a chance. Tom Riddle swept Celine off her feet. Celine started to avoid James, making excuses and lies. It was quite a while before James knew the truth."
"And he was devastated." Quipped Peter.
"Heartbroken." Remus added.
"Suicidal." Sirius joined in. "He found the Daemonica Emporio, Lily."
Lily gasped. The Daemonica Emporio was outlawed in every country in the world; it was the path to the Devil. "He didn't!" Lily exclaimed.
"He did." Remus nodded. "He traded his heart, Lily. Literally. And in its place he gained unlimited wealth and power. Enough to match Tom Riddle."
Lily was speechless for a while. "And none of the students know about this? None of the teachers?"
"Dumbledore and McGonagall knows. And I'm sure Madam Pomfrey found out when James was knocked out at a Quidditch match against the Slytherins last year. But for the students, no one has found out. People don't usually go around listening to your heartbeat." Sirius said.
"What became of Tom Riddle?"
"He became the maniacal killer you're reading in the Daily Prophet every day. He changed his name to Voldemort. And Celine Earnshaw became a Death Eater."
"You see, Lily." Remus spoke, his grey eyes sad. "James is willing to do anything to destroy Voldemort. A whole wall in our dormitory is dedicated to finding Voldemort. Newspaper scraps, sightings of the murderer, and such."
"He even has a huge map with listings of supposed hideouts of Voldemort. And each vacation spent is a wild goose chase across the countryside, searching for Death Eaters."
"He pays half a dozen Aurors for information about Voldemort-"
"I get the picture." Lily stopped them in mid-sentence. "So where do I come in? Why are you telling me this?"
The three Marauders glanced at each other, and Lily felt something sinking in her stomach. Sirius nodded to Remus, who then produced a weathered, muggle photograph from the insides of his robes.
"This is a picture of Celine Earnshaw, taken two years earlier on the West Coast of Italy. When you see this, all will be clear."
Lily gasped. "She looks… she looks… " She couldn't finish her words, for a million thoughts were rushing through her head.
"You look exactly like her, Lily. In fact, the two of you look exactly the same, down to that freckle you have on your nose. That's why James hates you so much. He can't stand to look at you."
"Even though his heart is gone, even though he can't feel anything now, the ghost of the pain still resides inside him. You awaken that pain every time he sees you. And that's special; because that's pretty much the most emotion he's shown for the last two years."
"The last two years have been living hell for us, Lily."
Then Sirius popped the big one.
"We want you, Lily Evans, to get James's heart back. We want you to replay James's fifth year, except for the falling for Tom Riddle part."
End of Chapter One.
Synopsis of Chapter Two (Coming in a few days – depending on the reviews)
Lily agrees to help the Marauders out, and in a bizarre twist of fate, (with a little help from the Marauders) the two of them end up in Hogsmeade. What will become of their first 'date'? Will James finally at least start 'speaking' to Lily? Watch Lily as she struggles to create a miracle – as she struggles to make James smile.
A/N : Please Review, Ladies and Gentlemen. With each click you're making somebody very happy. Criticism or Praise, throw it all at me, guys!