Good news! I have recently kidnapped James and now own him! Haha!
Not true. Though I wish it were. James still belongs to J.K. Rowling. As does the rest of Harry Potter.
Chapter 10: Memory Lane
James' POV
Lily had to practically drag me back to Hogwarts. And up the stairs. And into the Gryffindor common room, where she sat me on the couch by the fire. She put an arm around me and her chin on my shoulder.
"James? Are you going to be okay?" she asked. I nodded weakly.
"Yeah…just a bit of a shock…" I said. I stared into the flames of the fire.
"Was he one of the ones who kidnapped you last winter?" she asked quietly. I took a deep breath and automatically started rubbing my right arm.
"He didn't kidnap us, but he was one of the one's trying to force information out of us," I told her. She nodded.
"Should we tell Dumbledore?" she asked. It was nice that she was leaving the decision up to me, even though if I said no it would endanger the entire school.
And as Head Boy, I therefore can't say no.
"Yeah…we should tell him." She straightened up a little in surprise. It was very out of character for me to admit we should involve someone of authority.
I stood up and held out my hand to Lily. She took it and pulled herself up.
Xx
Dumbledore listened with rapt attention as we explained what happened on our way back from Hogsmeade. When I told him how I knew Raston, his eyes nearly popped out of his head.
"I think our first order of business should be to call everyone back from Hogsmeade," Dumbledore said. He quickly scribbled a note and gave it to Fawkes, his phoenix. "To Professor McGonagall, please."
Fawkes took off out the window, the letter clutched in his beak. Lily and I watched him go. I suddenly had a fleeting thought.
"Sirius, he's still in Hogsmeade," I said. I felt the blood drain from my face. Sirius would be even more traumatized than I am when it came to Raston. And Raston could still be in Hogsmeade, tracking him.
"Sirius will be fine. I'd be more worried about Raston," Lily said. I thought a moment and realized she was probably right. Sirius would tear Raston limb from limb. "But why didn't Raston fight longer? I mean, if he wanted you dead…" she let her voice trail off.
I nodded. "I think he wanted to scare me. Why else show himself at all just to leave that quickly?"
"He's toying with you," she realized. I nodded again. A bitter taste filled my mouth. It was like last winter all over again, only on a much larger scale.
The fire in Dumbledore's office roared up, and Madam Pomfrey's head appeared.
"What is it Poppy?" Dumbledore asked. Fear clutched my gut, and I took Lily's hand for support. She squeezed back.
"You need to come down here. Remus Lupin has just been brought in. He's badly hurt." And with that, her head disappeared. I was frozen.
Not Remus. Don't drag him into this too.
Before I was even aware of it, I was flooing down to the Hospital Wing. Remus lay unconscious on one of the beds, his face a bloody mess. Sirius and Peter stood off to the side, both looking pretty shaken. Madame Pomfrey was hustling about, healing Remus where she could. I walked over to Sirius and Peter.
"What happened?" I asked. Sirius was pale and tightlipped. He didn't say anything, or meet my eyes.
"Remus decided to come back early. We found him like this on our way back," Peter said. I closed my eyes and took a deep breath.
Lily put her hand on my arm, silently saying she was there to support me.
"Do you think it was him?" she asked quietly. "Raston and Bellatrix both saw us, so if Raston saw him…"
She didn't finish was she was saying. She didn't have to.
"Oh, Merlin," I said. My legs started to give out under me. Lily dragged me to a bed where I collapsed into a seated position.
"So it was him?" Sirius asked quietly. He sat next to me. "Raston is after us?"
I nodded. "He came after me and Lily on our way back. He didn't do much, just basically let us know that he's out for revenge and that he was the one who shot me the curse last weekend," I said. Sirius cursed. He rubbed his eye with the heel of his hand.
"What could he possibly want with us? Don't you think he would have figured out that we don't know anything?" Sirius asked, his voice nearly breaking. I shook my head.
"I don't know." I pulled out my wand. "But he won't get us so easily this time," I vowed.
"Not when we can fight back," Sirius agreed. He had a stern look to his face, but he was staring at the floor. Maybe he was imagining Raston falling lifeless to the floor. I hate to admit it, but it wasn't that bad of a picture.
Xx
Remus woke up groggily a little while later. He didn't really seem to know what was going on, but he also didn't seem like he was in pain, which I was glad for. Madame Pomfrey kept him overnight, and he didn't seem like he could move anyway, so none of us fought it.
That night, I had trouble falling asleep. Big surprise, right? I didn't hear Sirius' snores either, so I assumed he was having the same problem. Peter though, was out like a light. I tossed and turned for a few hours, seemingly unable to find a comfortable position. When I finally fell asleep, it was restless and uneasy, and of course filled with nightmares.
It started in the Hell Hole, which was enough to freak me out right there. Nothing bad had happened in the Hell Hole per say, but it still wasn't a happy place to be. I was alone, and I could hear Sirius screaming above me. Raston's cruel laughter filled the air, along with Bellatrix's. I covered my ears, cowering like a lowly Slytherin.
What am I doing? I'm a Gryffindor, and I'm not helpless anymore! My wand materialized in my hand, and I ran up the steps. The door was surprisingly unlocked when I burst forth. The screaming changed, pitching higher. It wasn't Sirius on the floor anymore, it was Remus. Remus saw me and reached out a hand weakly, mouthing my name.
Raston laughed. I turned my attention to him and aimed my wand. It turned into a snake in my hand and I dropped it instantly. "You couldn't stop me before, why would you be able to now?" he asked. Bellatrix stepped into the picture, pointing her wand elsewhere. I followed the trajectory and silently screamed.
Lily was curled into herself, long past screaming. Tears streamed down her cheeks, leaving trails in hallow and sunken cheeks. I fell to my knees, wrapping my arms around myself. Lily saw me. "Help me…James…" she said quietly. Her eyes closed.
"He couldn't even save himself," Raston said, suddenly closer. A knife was in his hand, and he plunged it into my right arm, dragging it along the same path Bellatrix had. Pain flared in my arm, ten times worse than before. I screamed and grasped my arm as if my life depended on it, which it sort of did. Raston laughed.
"And dear Sirius can't help him either," Bellatrix cooed, stepping aside to show the body lying on the floor. I didn't want to look at it. Raston grabbed my face and forced me to see it. Sirius lay, unmoving. He wasn't even breathing.
Sirius was dead.
I screamed myself awake.
Xx
I thrashed around in my bed, still caught in the dream. It all seemed too close, too containing like the Hell Hole. I moved slightly over and fell off the bed, dragging the red hangings with me. I landed with a solid thud. My legs were still on the bed. My right arm hurt like bloody hell.
I lay, gasping for air like a fish, covered with cold sweat, on the floor, staring up at the ceiling. Sirius's snores faltered a bit before continuing their normal rhythm. At least he could sleep.
After a few minutes I disentangled myself from the sheets and the hangings. I quickly fixed those so I wouldn't have to later. I grabbed my glasses and went downstairs, still shaking from the dream.
It all seemed so real, and it had felt real too. Especially my arm. I chaffed it as I slowly descended the steps. The Gryffindor fire was still going pretty strongly, which I thought was odd. What time was it?
I went to sit on the couch, nearly sitting on someone who was sleeping on it. I caught myself on the back of the couch and pushed myself upright again. I looked to see that it was Lily, wearing her pajamas and a bath robe and covered by a blanket. Had she planned this? Or had she had a bad dream as well and accidentally fell asleep down here?
I shook her gently awake before common sense could tell me not too. She woke up fairly quickly and panicked for a moment before her eyes settled on me. She smiled sadly and sat up, making room for me. I sat down next to her.
"I figured you would have a bad dream," she said. She leaned against me and I put an arm around her.
"You didn't have to wait here for me," I said. "You should have gotten a good night's sleep in your bed."
"But then you'd be down here all alone and being depressed again. I'm here to let you know that you don't have to do this alone. You're not going through it alone," she said. She put an arm around my torso, staring intently into the fire. I did too.
"Sirius is going through the same thing," I said. "I know I'm not alone." I felt her shake her head against my side.
"Yeah, Sirius is in the same position as you. But Remus and I are going to be dealing with it too. Raston knows we're the reason you were able to get away last winter. He'll come after us. He already went after Remus."
I hadn't even thought of that. I tightened my grip around her, seeing her curled into herself in my dream, calling out to me for help…and I couldn't do anything…
My resolve settled right there.
"I won't let anything happen to you, ever," I said. I kissed the top of her head. I felt her cheek pull up against my side.
"I know you won't. I'm not going to let anything happen to you," she said. "That way, neither of us get hurt."
I smiled and closed my eyes, feeling the fatigue of a sleepless night. My arm still throbbed painfully, which was somewhat concerning me.
"I like the sound of that," I said quietly. She readjusted herself, accidentally jostling my arm. I hissed at the sudden pain. She stiffened.
"What's wrong?" she asked in a no-nonsense tone.
"It's nothing," I said. She moved away so she could look me in the face. I averted my eyes. It took all my self-control not to hold my arm.
"Look at me James," she said. I did, for a fraction of a second, before looking away again. Her eyes were just so intense. "James, please tell me what's wrong. I want to help."
"It's nothing, just a phantom," I said. Yeah, a really painful phantom that's bent on killing me painfully.
She narrowed her eyes at me. On a whim, she reached over and poked my right arm. I hissed again and instinctively grabbed my arm.
"Nothing, huh?" she asked. I rolled my eyes bitterly. "Madame Pomfrey should look at this."
"No! I mean…if it still hurts at breakfast I'll go then," I said. "It's probably just my memory or something, triggered by the dream."
She completely ignored me and started rolling up my sleeve. I hissed again and pulled away. "James. This is serious. Please let me look at it?" Her tone took on a pleading note, and I made the mistake of looking her in the eye. I sighed and held out my arm.
Dang, if she can do that to get whatever she wants…I'm going to go broke really soon.
I tried to ignore the stinging pain in my arm as she rolled my sleeve up. She stopped suddenly. "Um…Your sleeve won't go up any farther," she said. I looked over at her, then down at my arm. She had only gotten my sleeve up a little past my elbow, just barely showing the tail end of the scar.
"Oh well. Guess we should go to bed," I said. Hey, a guy could try, right?
She laughed, once. "You don't get off that easy. I can either cut your sleeve, or…you could take your shirt off." She said the last part so quickly and so quietly, I wasn't sure I'd heard her. But when I looked at her face, it was as red as her hair and she was looking anywhere but at me.
As much as I wanted to take my shirt off in front of Lily, I didn't want to make her uncomfortable. Then again, I really didn't want to cut the sleeve off of this shirt either. It was a Quidditch one of my favorite team that my uncle had gotten me at the world cup a few years ago. Yes, he'd gotten it a few sizes too large, but he'd figured at the rate I was growing then I wouldn't have been able to fit into the shirt after a few weeks.
He had probably been right.
And he'd been killed by Voldemort not long after. It was the last thing I'd gotten from him, and I really didn't want to ruin it.
"You sure this can't wait?" I asked. She nodded, still averting her gaze. I sighed. I wasn't even sure I could lift the shirt above my head and get it over my arm. But maybe if I was fast enough…
"Does the shirt mean something to you?" Lily asked. I nodded.
"My uncle gave it to me right before he was killed." She took a deep breath.
"Do you think you can get it off?" she asked. I nodded, confident in my speed ability. She swallowed hard, still shaky. "Then take it off." I raised a brow.
"You sure? I don't want to make you uncomfortable…"
"I'm sure. Just take it off," she said, her face continually growing redder. I nodded and leaned forward a bit to give myself more room. I took a deep breath and whipped my shirt off as fast as I could, hissing and wincing because of my arm.
I leaned back again and kept my shirt over most of stomach and chest, trying to make it easier for Lily. She seemed to be almost hyperventilating. But she shook her head and muttered, "get a grip, Evans."
She focused back on my arm and gasped. I looked up to the ceiling first before looking down at my arm. It was all red and swollen, which explains why my sleeve hadn't rolled up farther. The thin scar that had been left from Bellatrix's knife was white and fleshy, like it had been done not all that long ago.
"How is that possible?" Lily whispered, running her fingers gently over the wound. Her cool fingers felt good against the inflamed skin.
"I don't know," I muttered, still in shock from the sight. She looked up at me, her eyes darting down to my bare chest and then away again. I smiled despite myself.
"You sure you don't want go to the hospital wing now?" she asked. "It might get worse if you wait." She had suddenly found the singed carpet very interesting.
"I'm sure. I think it'll fade away in a few hours," I said. Total lie. I just hate the hospital wing.
She nodded. "Right well…I'm really tired and should probably go…up…um…"
I smiled. She wasn't one to stumble with her words. "Right. Go get some sleep," I said. I kissed her forehead. "I'll go try and get some more too."
She looked up my face and smiled. She reached up and pecked on the lips with hers briefly before darting away and up the stairs, like a little fairy. I smiled again and headed back up to my dorm, stealing glances at my arm along the way.
Why did I have this feeling that my arm suddenly doing this was only just the beginning in a long line of surprising and painful things?
End Chapter
I'm honestly surprised I managed to write that much for this chapter, but I won't complain.
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