A/N: Beware of strong language in this chapter!

Chapter Nine: Bad News and Inconsistencies

It was dark, except for a dim light from Hagrid's window, and the trees in the forest behind Harry whistled ominously as the wind blew through them. Harry looked around wildly for James, but he was nowhere to be found. He wondered briefly if he was under the Invisibility Cloak, but no…Sirius had it with him…

Harry heard James before he saw him—weak moans were coming from the pumpkin patch. James was lying in the mud with the sprouting pumpkins, covered in blood and muck. His hair was stuck to his face, his left arm was off at an unpleasant angle, and with every breath he winced. He wasn't wearing his glasses.

Harry dropped down beside his father. The edges of Hagrid's hut were becoming fuzzy. Where were the other Marauders? He had to remind himself that James was going to be perfectly fine, that it would be completely impossible for him to die right then and there, but there was so much blood…where were they?

Footsteps. Harry's head snapped up in time to see Remus throw off the Cloak and sprint towards Hagrid's hut.

"Where is he, Sirius?" he called over his shoulder.

"I left him in the pumpkin patch!" Sirius shouted back, stuffing the Cloak into his pocket with his good arm while Peter puffed breathlessly behind them. Remus tripped over several roots before stumbling across James.

"James!" he lightly slapped James' face. "James, can you hear me?"

James groaned meekly.

"God dammit, Sirius, you are such a fucking idiot," said Remus darkly once Sirius had dropped down next to him.

"I know, I know, later, okay?" said Sirius hastily. "Let's get him up to the hospital wing and then you can rant all about how irresponsible I am."

The memory flickered.

"—and me and Peter will get his legs." Remus nodded, grabbing James under the arms while Peter held his legs. Sirius, with only one functioning arm, supported James's legs to relieve Peter of some of the weight. They stood and walked back to the castle as fast as they dared. James moaned when they picked him up and Harry knew that if he had the strength, he would be screaming.

The memory flickered again.

When it resurfaced, they were slightly farther up the grounds, but the outlines of Remus, Peter, and Sirius were fuzzier than ever. They did not, as Harry would have expected, go in through the front doors, but instead crept around the side of the castle. They put James down as Remus lit his wand, scanning the stone wall.

"Hurry!" said Peter, looking panicked. By the wandlight, Harry saw that Remus' face was even more abnormally pale than it had been a few hours ago. After a few more moments, Remus put his hand on the stone wall, extinguished his wand, and tapped it seven times. The wall opened to reveal a passageway, which Remus, Sirius, and Peter carried James through. They pushed through a tapestry and ended up in the Charms corridor. The memory was now so fuzzy that Harry couldn't tell the difference between Sirius and Remus.

The memory flickered again, but this time when it resurfaced, Harry realized that more time had elapsed than it had the other times this had happened. Remus was knocking on the door of the hospital wing.

"She's not answering!" said Peter frantically while Sirius hissed a steady stream of "Fuckfuckfuckfuckfuckfuck" under his breath.

"No shit, Peter," snapped Remus. He banged on the door with his fist. "Madame Burton! Help, please, we need help!" James moaned and the memory flickered again.

"For Merlin's sake, Sirius, keep him awake!" Remus yelled.

"How?!" Sirius demanded.

"What is the meaning of this?" A woman who looked to be in her mid-sixties was standing in the doorway and wearing a puce dressing gown. Her eyes found James. She whipped out her wand and levitated James through the door and onto an empty bed in the infirmary.

"Poppy!" she called to a woman distributing medicine to a boy with boils all over his face. "Poppy, go get Minerva. You'll be in Gryffindor, right?" she shot at Sirius, who nodded quickly. "You'd best lay down, too—that looks nasty." She gestured at Sirius' flesh wound. He shook his head.

"It's fine, it's not that bad—"

"Lay down." She forced Sirius onto the bed next to James. She conjured a goblet full of smoking potion and tipped it down James' throat. He coughed and sputtered, but once the potion went down, he fell asleep and the memory slowly dissolved into blackness.

James was blinking groggily, clearly just waking up. The sun was shining through the window of the infirmiry—it had to be near lunchtime. Sirius was sleeping on a chair next to James' bed, mouth open and mumbling occasionally. James reached across his bedside table, searching for his glasses, but they weren't there. He yawned hugely.

"Sirius? Sirius!"

Sirius jumped in his seat, jolted out of his sleep by James' voice.

"Wha—" he blinked, looking around, and his eyes found his newly awake friend. "James!" he sounded relieved. "Hold on, let me get the others." He reached into

the pocket of his robes and pulled out a mirror. A very familiar looking mirror…

"Remus Lupin!" Sirius said clearly to the mirror, and for a few seconds he was left staring at his own reflection before Remus' face replaced it.

"What?" he asked.

"He's up," said Sirius, and Remus' face vanished. He reached into the pocket of his robes and pulled out a pair of glasses. "Here. I found your spares in your trunk."

"Thanks." James put them on and rubbed his eyes with his right hand—his left was still in a sling. "What happened?"

"Don't you remember?" said Sirius, now looking worried.

"I remember getting attacked, and you dragging me out of the Forest," said James, his eyebrows furrowed. "And then you came back down to the pumpkin patch with…with Remus and Peter and brought me back up here. Bits of it, anyways." He rubbed his head. "How long have I been here?"

"Four days," replied Sirius. "We've been taking it in turns to stay up here with you. Remus and Pete are—"

As if on cue, the door opened and Peter and Remus entered the hospital wing, but they weren't alone: Linnea Orwell was close behind.

"Hey, guys," said James, smiling weakly. He looked at Linnea confusedly, as though trying to figure out why she was there. "Linnea…uh, hi."

"Are you alright?" she asked anxiously, but when James nodded her expression hardened.

"James Potter what the hell were you thinking?" she shouted, and James winced. "The Forbidden Forest, I ask you. What could have possibly possessed you to go in there?"

"It was Sirius's idea," James mumbled, but far from calming Linnea, this sentence had the opposite effect.

"You are the world's biggest prat, you know that? Do you have any idea how much stress I'm under? Now we're down a decent Seeker and a Chaser, the match against Ravenclaw is next week, and that's not nearly enough time to replace you and make Vance decent, plus I've got N.E.W.T's to study for and McGonagall is breathing down my neck—"

"Linnea, calm down," said James, looking alarmed. "What do you mean, replace me? I'm fine, I can still play." James wiggled his slung left arm as though this would prove that he was fit to play in the match. Linnea stopped, looking at Remus, Peter, and Sirius.

"You haven't told him yet?" asked Linnea softly.

"I was just getting 'round to it," said Sirius bracingly.

"Tell me what?" said James, and now it was his turn to look anxious.

"Well…erm…" Sirius rubbed the back of his head. "Remus?"

"Oh, no," said Remus, taking a step back. "This is your fault and I will take no part in telling him."

Sirius looked anxious, too. "Okay, now James, you have to promise not to freak out," he said, scooting his chair a little further from James' bed.

"Why would I freak out?" asked James quickly. "What's going on?"

"Okay…so after we brought you in, we tried to make it out that we'd had a duel and it went badly," said Sirius, "but Madame Burton didn't buy it, and she brought McGonagall up here. She took one look at you and knew pretty much what had happened, and eventually she got the truth out of us, and McGonagall was off the wall. We've both got detention for a month, plus a hundred points taken from Gryffindor, and…" Sirius hesitated.

"And what?" demanded James.

"And…you're off the Quidditch team for the year." Sirius said this very quickly, looking apprehensive. He stepped back behind Remus and flinched when James raised his hand, but it was only to run it through his hair. He looked dumbstruck.

"I…no…" He seemed to be incapable of forming a full sentence. "But…"

"We know what you mean, mate," said Sirius sympathetically.

"I don't," said Peter. James ignored him.

"A—are you serious?" James spluttered.

"Sorry, mate," said Sirius.

"But I—I—" James' face, which had been paling before, was now turning red. "You mean to tell me that I get attacked and now I'm kicked off Quidditch?!"

"How can you be like that? It was entirely your fault!" Linnea exclaimed.

"What is going on over here?" Madame Burton bustled out of her office. "You're up! Good, jolly good…all of you, out!" She pushed them away from James' bed. "He's just woken up and now you are getting him riled up—"

"I'm not riled up, I'm fine!" said James a little too loudly.

"For Merlin's sake, Mr. Potter, sit down." She pushed James' shoulders forcefully back onto the bed. "You can scream all you want once I've released you."

"When can I leave?"

"Tonight," she replied. "I just want to make sure there are no lasting effects of the attack."

"Great," said James grumpily, slumping back on his pillows. "Just great."

When the next memory materialized, Harry was standing in the Transfiguration corridor, where James and Sirius were leaning against the wall, looking extremely pleased with themselves. They were surrounded by several Ravenclaw and Hufflepuff girls, and Harry even noticed Marlene McKinnon looking on with curiosity. The other Gryffindor girls were nowhere to be seen. Remus and Peter were off to the side, looking annoyed.

"And so then I pulled out my wand," James said casually, demonstrating the act. "And I said to the Centaurs, 'You'd better stay back or else,' and one of them charged at Sirius, so I shot a Stinging Hex at him." Several of the girls gasped. "He turned to me—"

"—and I did a Jellylegs Jinx before it did too much damage," Sirius continued. "So when the rest of the herd—"

"Well, well, well, aren't you the little heroes," sneered Snape, and two boys Harry recognized as his roommates laughed.

"Yes, we are, aren't we?" said Sirius lightly, and the girls giggled.

"That's not what I heard," drawled Snape.

"Nobody cares what you heard, Snivellus," James snapped. Snape ignored him and smirked.

"I heard that you were attacked by a rampaging unicorn." He ran a hand through his greasy hair in an imitation of James and then surreptitiously wiped it off on his robes.

"That's—ridiculous," Sirius stammered lamely.

"That's right, ladies," drawled one of Snape's friends—Avery. "You're big, bad Gryffindors couldn't even hold their own against a harmless unicorn."

"Unicorns aren't harmless—or did you miss the gigantic horns on—" James spat, but Sirius put a hand over his mouth and pushed him backwards.

"You have no idea what you're talking about," Sirius growled.

"Oh, I don't, do I?" said Snape lightly. "I overheard McGonagall telling your Quidditch captain. Or was she mistaken?"

"Shut up or you'll regret it," muttered Sirius darkly.

"Will I?" Snape drew his wand, but James shouted, "Expelliarmous!" and Snape's wand flew out of his hand and the force of the spell combined with Snape's small stature forced him back. He hit the wall.

Avery and the other Slytherin drew their wands and began to advance on James and Sirius, who were now shooting each other apprehensive looks. Remus drew his own wand and faced the Slytherins.

"What, gonna hex me?" sneered Avery. "As if you could. The great James Potter, Quidditch hero and Centaur master doesn't even have the nerve to properly hex anyone, even when his opponents are outnumbered." James' jaw was set.

"James," Remus muttered, "you've got a months' worth of detentions already, don't do anything stupid."

James stared at Avery, but slowly put his wand back in his pocket.

"C'mon," he said to Sirius and Remus. "He's not worth it." Sirius and Remus nodded and they picked up their bags.

"What, are you a coward?" Avery jeered. "Where's that Gryffindor courage you keep going on about?"

"Keep walking," Remus whispered. "Keep your head. It's what he wants—"

But a jet of blue light whizzed through James' hair, narrowly missing him. James threw his wand aside and jumped on Avery, who was so shocked he fell over. James pounded his face while Avery attempted to throw him off, amid screams from the girls, and Sirius, Marlene, and Peter's cheering.

There was a loud bang and everyone stopped. Professor McGonagall was standing in the doorway of her classroom. She wrenched James and Avery apart, both of whom were sporting bloody noses.

"Twenty points from Gryffindor and Slytherin!" she shouted.

"But professor, he attacked me!" James protested thickly, trying to stem the flow of his nose on his robes.

"I took points from both Houses, didn't I?" McGonagall said angrily. "Get inside. Go to class, all of you!"

"It could've been worse," said Sirius bracingly, and James nodded as they entered the classroom and the memory faded once more.

A/N: Yes, you are supposed to be confused as to what happened in the Forest, but don't worry, it will become clear soon...on another note, I got 17 reviews for the last chapter! 17! That's the most I've ever gotten for one chapter. You guys are amazing. Again. So that means thanks to RainingRain (cool pen name, btw!), Hikari-and-Akari, -EHWIES, DistractedButSerious, wishfulthinking123, xsinglovelivedancex, Her-mee-own, Cassie Rita Marie, lilyjames4ever15004, FallingForFootie, the sudoku kid, deisegirl, Twistyler, prongster, Jessluvsharry, Kira2667, and EatenByFlowersAndStillLaughing! Did I mention I love you guys?

Also, I have a question for you: first year is drawing to a close, and I was wondering if you wanted me to break up the story into sequels for each year (each year would be in a different story) or just have one massive fic? Please don't forget to review! It makes me so very happy...

-Dem