Disclaimer: I own nothing except the plot and my OC's!
Sirius and Jessica were half-way down the stairs when they heard the distant sounds of what sounded like two wailing toddlers, coming from the living room. They both quickened their paces automatically, neither of them admitting to the twisted anxiety in the pits of their stomachs. They reached the living room to find Alice alone, desperately trying to feed Harry and pacify Neville at the same time.
Jessica was first to cross the room in quick strides and pull an increasingly cranky Neville onto her lap. In a matter of minutes he calmed down. Alice, who had by this time convinced Harry to drink the formula she had made him, met her friend's gaze gratefully.
"Thanks Jess, you are a life-saver honestly, I was losing my mind down here!"
"Why didn't you call us Allie? We were right upstairs you know," Jessica pointed out. Alice looked sheepish and mumbled something about not wanting to interfere. It was such a lame excuse that Jessica was about to roll her eyes, but just then Alice finished feeding Harry and looked up at her.
The pain and misery in her eyes seemed horribly familiar to Jessica and so, instead of being sarcastic, she asked carefully; "Did Nora tell you about James?"
"Yes she did," Alice replied solemnly. "I cried quite a bit when I heard the news, it seems Lily and me are destined to have the same fate in everything."
At those words, Jessica frowned in confusion; "What do you mean, Al?"
Alice took a deep breath and began to explain; "What really made me cry was when Nora told me when exactly the attack on Godric's Hollow was. Earlier on that very same day Bellatrix Lestrange and a couple other Death Eaters came to my house and used the Cruciatus on Frank and Mum. I had gone with Neville to the park at the time and when I got back, the house was in shambles, Mum was dead and –"she broke off looking on the verge of tears.
Jessica squeezed her shoulder awkwardly; she was the last person to push such a close friend towards a clearly upsetting topic. Alice had her eyes closed now; evidently she was struggling to stay in control of her emotions. Looking in the opposite direction, she continued her painful tale.
"And Frank was repeatedly cursed to the point of insanity! He's in hospital and will stay there for the rest of his life. The curse did permanent damage to his brains and the Healers doubt he'll recover. What I meant before was, Lily and I became brides, mothers and Order members together and now we're practically widows together."
A horrified silence hung in the air like a grey storm cloud once Alice had finished her story, but it was only when Jessica put Neville down and hugged her friend tightly that the latter broke down entirely. Minutes later however, the comforting moment was interrupted by frantic knocks at the front door.
A pointed look from Jessica told Sirius that he had to answer the door. At least that way, he could be more useful than if he continued to hover awkwardly at the foot of the staircase. With a sympathetic glance at Alice he proceeded down the corridor. All seemed fine for a moment, but Jessica had barely resumed her position beside Alice, when they heard hysterical screaming.
"Sirius Black I will kill you! How could you just leave the house like that? You didn't leave a note or anything and worse, you took Harry with you! Do you have any idea how terrifying it was to wake up and find Harry gone without a trace?"
Alice and Jessica exchanged a worried look; "That doesn't sound good, I should probably go help him," Jessica pointed out.
Alice looked slightly skeptical; "Good luck with that, everyone knows there's no reasoning with Lily when she gets into this kind of temper. By what she just said to Sirius I'm going to have to take her side personally. There's nothing worse for a mother than waking up to find her child gone. You're great in many ways Jessie, but you can't possibly understand how that would feel, because you aren't a mother."
Jessica looked slightly hurt, but before she could retort, Lily stormed into the living room. She looked a complete mess: Her hair was a mass of tangled knots and her normally vibrant emerald eyes looked dull and lifeless. But behind her worn out general appearance, both Jessica and Alice could sense a mixture of anger at what Sirius had done and relief at finding Harry in good hands.
Without a second's hesitation, Lily strode across the room towards her two closest friends. Gently she took Harry from Alice, temporarily too distraught to even wonder what the former was doing at Nora's house in the first place. Silence reigned for a few minutes, as Lily simply hugged her son close to her chest. Soon enough however she recovered sufficiently to turn and fix Jessica with an accusatory glare.
"I really hope you had no part in Sirius' carelessness, Jessie," she told her menacingly.
At the hurt look on Jessica's face, Sirius spoke up firmly; "Lily, Jess had nothing to do with the fact that I forgot to leave you a note. She left before you even went to sleep, remember?"
Lily sighed; "I know that and I also know you would never let Harry get hurt. I don't know what's wrong with me, saying such mean things when you've both done nothing but help me through the pain. I'm sorry to both of you, Padfoot and Jess."
"It's okay Lil," they were quick to assure her. Lily looked relieved that she had such forgiving friends, but their kindness had reminded her of an old score she still needed to settle.
"Have any of you seen Nora recently? I intend on giving her a piece of my mind personally, for what she said about Harry." There was a wide variety of reactions at her words: Sirius shrugged and muttered something about baby food, Jessica looked guilty as the memory of her fight with her sister came back to her, but it was Alice who stood out the most. Suddenly she seemed to give off the air of someone who knew something which the rest of them did not and judging by her concerned frown it wasn't good news.
All eyes were on Alice now, although she seemed to be having trouble speaking up. She opened and closed her mouth a few times, looking very much like a fish out of water. After watching her friend swallow dryly for the fifth time, Jessica lost control completely; "Out with it Alice, where is my sister?" she snapped.
Sirius approached the hysterical girl from behind and squeezed her shoulders; "Calm down Jessie, I'm sure she's fine," he told her soothingly, but Alice put a dampener on his efforts with the words; "Come upstairs with me Jess, we need to talk."