Chapter 3

"What's going on?" I asked in a tone of utmost worry. Edward had his wand straight out in front of him. He was peering around Remus as though he expected Death Eaters to come sprinting down the alleyway. As if they were sensing the danger, Alaina and Alyssa hurried out of the joke shop with no bags in their hands.

"Oh, Remus!" Alaina cried, and she sprinted towards him. Alaina and Remus had always been good friends. At one point and time, they had tried dating, but it ultimately failed. They harbored each others secrets and looked towards one another as brother and sister.

Remus and I had never been extremely good friends. However, being roommates for the past six years has helped me learn to have a certain respect for Remus, and vice versa.

Alaina reached up and touched Remus' cut hesitantly, and he let her. After letting out a wince of pain, Remus grabbed Alaina's hand and started talking in a rush.

"You-Know-Who was here. He already left, but there is a lot of damage control that needs to be done. He killed James' parents. We have to go help. Your dad is with them."

The four of us followed Remus back the way he had came. As we ran farther away from the joke shop in. Diagon Alley we were astonished to see so much damage, but when we reached the area where James and the other Marauders were, we were absolutely shocked to the point of immobility. Walls of shops were crumbling from areas where spells had obviously hit them. Bodies upon spilled frog spawn and other ingredients in the streets from the Apothecary.

James Potter was kneeling on the ground between two bodies. He was sobbing into hands and Sirius Black was standing behind the messy haired boy, his hand upon his shoulder. Tears were running down Sirius' face. Peter Pettigrew was standing far away from James and Sirius, his eyes wide and his skin a ghostly white.

Remus walked straight over to his friends without even bothering to give us an explanation. I wanted to walk forward to see what I could do to help, but I was cut off by my father rushing forward and enveloping me and Alaina in a hug. I squealed in horror as my dad grabbing me with tears flying down his face.

"Oh kids!" My father sobbed into Alaina's hair. "That's it! No running off!" My dad refused to let go as both me and Alaina struggled to get out of his grasp. He seemed almost scared that the moment he did me and my sister would run off again. "I thought you were both dead!" Though I now felt bad about running off, I felt the strong urge to breathe.

"Well, we aren't dead, dad, but if you want to keep us that way, you might want to let me and Alaina go soon!" I said, and my dad reluctantly let go. I turned towards my friends and saw that Alyssa looked extremely pale. I walked over and hesitantly draped my arm around her shoulders. She smiled beautifully at me thankfully, and leaned a little closer. My heart started to race a million miles a minute as I felt the warm radiating off of her body and onto mine.

"Mr. Riley, have you seen August?" Edward asked and it like my stomach had turned inside out. How could I have forgotten about Augusta? Edward must have been worried sick!

"Yes, Edward, I have. She is with everyone else we could evacuate in time. Let me tell you one thing. That girl did not want to go. She was too worried about you naturally." My dad said, and he managed a half grin. "She is in the Leaky Cauldron along with the others who could not apparate out. They magically barricaded the entryway. The minister himself has to undo it." Edward nodded his head, content with my father's answer.

I walked past my father as quickly as could, not gain his attention. I had a sick feeling in my stomach as I passed the dead bodies, but kept my eyes on the Marauders.

I knew that this was a planned attack. There was no way that it was random, and the Potters had been accidentally hit in the crossfire. Both Simon and Julienne Potter were important figures to the wizarding society. Simon was a large advocate for muggle-born rights, whilst Julienne was secretary to the Minister of Magic, which meant everything went through her.

Without them, the whole wizarding community was lost, and so was James Potter.