Hog's Head - Day 1
James wakes up like he's popping out of a storybook. He bounces to his feet and glances quickly around himself. "Padfoot?" he whispers to the lump at his feet. After being given no response, he shoves the guy's shoulder and shouts in his ear, "Padfoot! Wake up!"
The lump groans and turns over to glare murderously at James. "Don't. Touch. My. Shoulder."
James withdraws his hand sheepishly. "Oops, sorry. You okay?" He says as he hoists him up by his other side.
"Uh, fuck no. I think my shoulder's dislocated, idiot." The words roll off his tongue effortlessly, so used to making such remarks.
"Shit, it's okay, we'll just get you to Pomfrey's and then-"
"Uh, James?"
"What?" He stops, wondering why Padfoot has deigned to use his proper name.
"Where are we and, where are the others?"
"Well obviously we're-" James scratches his head. "And the others are-" He sighs. "Shit." He wanders around the room aimlessly, feeling the walls for a door or at least a revolving wall, but nothing budges. "Sirius," he says, finally realizing the gravity of the situation. "Are we locked in, what happened, where is everyone, why is there no door?!" His voice rises significantly and his eyes bulge a bit from behind his glasses.
But before Sirius can answer any of those questions, there's a large bang as something falls from the ceiling. Sirius and James go into a defensive duck and cover position, holding their hands over their heads and crouching on the ground. When the dust clears, they hear a voice. "Guys? You awake? I thought I heard voices?" A questioning, quivering voice yells down that belongs to none other than their mate, Peter Pettigrew. The boys scramble over to where Pete's voice is coming from and find that there is a trapdoor right over their heads and that a ladder is hanging down under it. "Okay, good. You guys are up. You better get up here though. There's some news and I don't think you're going to like it." Even from a distance, James can tell that he doesn't like the nervous glint shining in Peter's eyes.
However, James soon forgets Peter's anxiety after climbing up the ladder, which reveals the majority of their so-called "Order" they had formed sitting in a semi-circle on the floor of the Hog Head's main room. It looks slightly different though as the tables are no longer in the middle of the bar, but instead being used to barricade the doors.
"Mr. Potter, Mr. Black, please come sit down." A voice James immediately recognizes as Dumbledore, calls from the circle.
However, when he looks over at him, he finds himself bewildered by the similar looking man sitting right beside him- did Dumbledore have a twin? James quickly scans the rest of the circle, finding Remus sitting Indian style and Marlene, a girl they had only met a few days prior, with her knees pulled up to her chest and her head cradling between them. She has a worrisome look in her eyes, one that reflects Peter's earlier and James wonders what they aren't telling him. He quickly looks around the circle again before sitting and is startled to find that Lily is not in it.
"Uh Dum- Professor Dumbledore, where's Lily?" He asks nervously.
"Ah, Mr. Potter, call me crazy- many do, but I was quite sure that that was the question that you would ask first. Is that not what I told you, Aberforth?" Dumbledore says, nudging the man beside him before looking at James with the normal twinkle in his eye, yet somehow sadness overshadows it. "Please join the circle, Mr. Potter and I will explain where our Miss Evans has gone."
"Where she's gone? What the fuck do you mean where she's gone?" Sirius grabs James's arm and yanks him down into a sitting position next to him.
"Pardon his French," Sirius starts, normally the habitual curser, "but where is Lily?" Although it's obvious Sirius is trying to be nonchalant, he fails epically. His eyes dart across the circle anxiously at Remus and squint at Peter before glancing sideways at James.
"Well let's start from the beginning, shall we?" Dumbledore begins.
"No, let's start at the part that tells me where Lily is!" James answers hotly.
"James," Sirius mutters under his breath, placing a hand on his shoulder, as if restricting him from pouncing on Dumbledore.
"Well I must give you a bit of a back story before we get to the part concerning your Miss Evans or I would think that you'll be a little bit confused. How much of the fighting do you remember, Mr. Potter?"
The fighting, oh Merlin, the fighting! He had forgotten all about the fighting! It had started the night before and man, were they excited. They were supposed to sneak into Hogsmeade (an easy deed for them, having done it so many times) and attend a meeting that the Order was having at the Three Broomsticks.
It had been Padfoot, Moony, Wormtail, Lily, and him. The "newbies" of the Order, they weren't even technically a part of it yet. It was supposed to be some kind pre-meeting, to make sure they were interested and to ensure that they knew what they were getting themselves into.
And did they find out, James recalls, as all of the details from the fight swoop into his head and take over his mind for a moment. He's overwhelmed by the memories of the flashing spells and the flying objects and the Death Eaters with their swooping black cloaks that jump out at him. "Yes," he finally answers. "I remember."
"Well as I'm sure you remembered, Death Eaters swarmed the Three Broomsticks and we were forced to flee here." Dumbledore stops to take a breath, as if gearing himself up for the next part. "And in that transition, our own Miss Lily Evans was taken by the Death Eaters. We do not know why she was targeted or where she was taken, but I assure you, Mr. Potter, that we will find out."
James stares at him and more memories come flooding back. He closes his eyes tightly and runs a hand through his hair. He says lowly, "It's my fault. It's my fault she was taken."
"No, Mr. Potter, it surely was not. As you will soon come to see, this Order does not take these matters lightly. We are very loyal and we will fight for Miss Evans and we will get her back safely to Hogwarts."
As Dumbledore turns to address the group at whole, Sirius turns to pat James on the arm. "It's going to be okay, okay James?"
"No, it's not and it's all my fucking fault." James mutters, the anger rising quickly to overshadow the lump in his throat that's making his eyes wet.
"No, it's not." Sirius stops the awkward patting and grips his arm around James' shoulder. "It's not," he repeats.
But he leans away from Sirius, pretending to pay attention to Dumbledore, who is still speaking. It is, it is my fault- they don't know the half of it, he thinks darkly to himself.
Author's Note: I don't normally like to do a lot of ANs because I don't want to interrupt or anything, but I just wanted to introduce myself and say hi and thanks for reading! This is the first real multi-chap fic that I've written and I have A LOT planned for it so...be ready? If you like it, review/favorite/follow, whatever you're most comfortable with! Thanks again :)
