DISCLAIMER: ALL HP characters are the property of JKR, the WB, and the respective publishing companies. I do own Jenn Parksen, Lori Wilson, and Monica Sinclair as well this twisted version of the plot. This is, of course, a simple Fan-Fiction that I have written in order to retain some semblance of sanity and dignity.


Chapter 11: Dangerous Moon Rising

Lord Voldemort had not moved once since the student Death Eaters had scurried from his presence. He sat unmoving in his chair before the fire place as he stared somewhat vacantly at a spot off to the right of the doorway into the room. Several older Death Eaters stood nervously around the edges of the room and kept casting furtive glances over to where Voldemort sat waiting as if expecting their lord and master to punish them at the drop of a hat.

The floor in front of the Dark Lord's chair was covered in a huge dark stain that reflected the flickering light of the fire. A faint trace of steam rose from the sticky substance as it dried slowing by the heat of the fire, evidence that another of the Dark Lord's followers had displeased the volatile wizard.

As the silence stretched out a single Death Eater appeared suddenly onto the very spot Voldemort had been watching. Hurrying forward he sidestepped the stain and leaned close to whisper to the Dark Lord. Grinning Voldemort shoved the Death Eater back and stood up from the chair. He pointed to three of the Death Eaters in the surrounding room and jerked his thumb towards the informant before he turned his back on them.

Without a word the four Death Eaters left to carry out their master's instructions.


Sweeping back and forth Sirius desperately longed to find some trace of his best friend and Lily. They had to be okay, they just had to be. It had been two hours since they'd turned around and still they hadn't spotted so much as a single thread from one of their missing friends' cloaks. He looked over at Remus and saw that he too was feeling disheartened by the fruitless search.

Facing forward once more, Sirius contemplated turning around and searching by himself, but then he couldn't leave Jenn for too long. James might be the closest thing to family he had, but Jenn… he loved Jenn. James would understand, wouldn't he? He'd do the same for Lily, Sirius was sure of it. Wondering where James could have gone to, Sirius happened to look back over his shoulder and saw the first burst of red sparks climb into the sky several miles back and to the far east of where they had been searching.

"Moody," Sirius cried out happily, "I see sparks! That has to be them!"

"Where?" Moody called back as he turned around and joined the younger wizard quick as a flash.

"There!" Remus barked as he turned and caught sight of the second and third sets of sparks climb into the sky.

Moody turned and led the way back towards the dangling red sparks as three more burst into the air as the first few sets of red lights faded away. Leaning forward, the three of them pushed the brooms to their limit as they raced just above the trees tops towards the faint red traces of magic that clung to the night air. As they grew close to the point of origin of the sparks, they slowed down and slipped between the tree tops until they were weaving carefully through the many trunks of the ancient forest.

Just before they arrived at where Moody estimated the sparks had been sent from, he slowed their group even further so that they were inching along through the branches until that could be sure that it was indeed James and Lily and not the Death Eaters.


Sturgis and Emmeline sat stiffly on opposite sides of the holding cells as they watched the imprisoned Death Eaters glaring from their individual cells. The two of them had been assigned to watch over the prisoners while they waited for Moody to return from Hogwarts with the counter spell to the bubble curse that Bellatrix was still afflicted with. It was a boring job and the constant barrage of insults being hurled from the Lestrange brothers were grating on the two Aurors' nerves.

They had been on guard duty for nearly three hours when the lights in the area were suddenly doused, immersing the entire room in a blanket of darkness. Sturgis called out for Emmeline to sit tight while he attempted to discover what was going on after double checking the cell doors.

He'd barely moved a few steps away from where he'd been seated with the air began to rapidly grow colder and Sturgis nervously inched away from the cell doors as he swung his wand left and right in an effort to determine if there was any danger. He was about to call out to his partner a second time when with-out warning the door leading from the outer offices burst open in a flash of bright orange light. Emmeline was knocked unconscious when the blast threw her backwards where her head connected with the wall and she went down in a crumpled heap.

Sturgis had ducked down and just missed getting clipped by the shattered remains of the outer door. He had just begun crawling towards where he last remembered Emmeline's position to be when he felt a wave of despair wash over him as five dementors floated into the room. He rolled over onto his back so he could defend himself from the crushing onslaught of the dementor's attack, but his efforts grew weaker rapidly as the demonic beings rushed closer. Three times he attempted the Patronus Charm before the sheer number of dementors over whelmed him. Drowning in the cold and despair, Sturgis slowly lost consciousness.


Lily finally stopped firing off more sparks as she gazed up into the sky and watched the magic slowly fading from existence. Nothing, they hadn't even noticed the sparks. Dropping to her knees she buried her face in her palms as she stopped fighting the despair that had filled her from the moment she realized her would be rescuers had apparently given up. So certain she had failed, she never even bothered to check the map again. If she would have looked, she'd have seen the three dots speeding towards her.

Several minutes passed as Lily silently sobbed with the world around her pressing in on her. She then had somewhat of a shock when the near silence of the forest around her was shattered by the sound of voices calling out in the growing darkness.

"James! Lily!"

"James?"

"Lily?"

"Potter? Evans?"

Relief and hope surged through Lily as she climbed wearily to her feet and yelled out in return, "Here! Here we are! HELP! Please! Over here!"

"Hold tight! We're on our way!"

Sirius! It had to be Sirius and Remus! Lily gave a cry of joy as she finally turned to the map, and sure enough they had turned around and come back for her and James. There was a sudden whooshing sound as the three of them swooped down from the sky on broom and landed with a thump beside her. Tearfully Lily ran to Sirius, wrapped her arms around him, and cried as she babbled out thanks you's.

"I didn't think you'd look, I thought you'd left. I was so scared. James needs help. He's dying."

Awkwardly Sirius patted Lily's back while he gave Remus a panicked look because he had no idea how to handle Lily's breakdown. Finally he murmured a few soft comforting phrases.

"There, there; we're here now. Everything will be alright, you'll see."

Lily smiled gratefully up at Sirius before she pulled him over to where James still hovered a foot off the ground on the makeshift stretcher.

"Can you help him?"

"Stand aside girl," Moody muttered as he stepped up beside James and carefully peeled back the bandage on the unconscious boy's leg while Lily watched fearfully.

Sirius reached out and gently clasped her shoulder and gave it a gentle squeeze as Remus came up and placed his hand on her other shoulder. Lily gave them both a grateful squeeze and a small tight smile before turning back to Moody where he was checking James temperature.

"Will he be alright?" Lily asked desperately when she couldn't stand the waiting any longer.

"He needs more help then I can give him. The infection has gone too far and his temperature is out of control."

Lily broke down again as she collapsed on knees while she covered her face and cried, "I couldn't do anything. I can't even manage a simple healing spell."

Moody frowned down at Lily. He'd never dealt with women well, and the younger they were the harder they were to deal with in his mind. It was even worse when they cried. Sighing a silent frustrated sigh, Moody walked over to Lily and hauled her up to her feet.

"Look, he needs help. Sitting here crying about what you could and couldn't do is pointless. He's still alive and we are here to get you both back to the castle. Now buck up and get a move on. Every minute counts," Moody growled out as kindly as he could.

Lily had stopped crying during Moody's short speech and nodded back at him when he was finished. Hiccupping softly she wiped her eyes on her sleeve and then stood back as they tried to figure out how to get James back to the school quickly.

Finally moody conjured several ropes and secure James between two of the brooms.

"Alright, Black and I will fly Potter back to the castle. Will the two of you fit on that broom, Lupin?" Moody asked.

"I don't think so sir. However, I know this forest like the back of my hand; I can lead Lily safely back to the castle on foot. If we get into any trouble I can set Lily on the broom and send to her the castle quickly."

Moody nodded as he and Sirius mounted the brooms. Kicking off they hovered several minutes, checking to make sure James was secure, before they rose above the trees and zoomed off towards Hogwarts.

"Let's get moving, Lily," Remus said quietly as he took several steps towards the castle.

Lily nodded and silently fell in beside Remus as they moved off in the same direction Moody and Sirius had gone.

Twenty minutes later they were still walking silently, but Lily was growing exhausted. Tired and sore from the long hours trekking through the forest and from the emotional upheavals she'd been through since she awoke had her stumbling and tripping which slowed down their progress.

"Why don't you fly on the broom along side me, Lily?" Remus asked after on particularly nasty fall she took while stepping through a tangled bush.

"I don't think I'd be able to stay on the broom," Lily replied tiredly. "It's hard enough just walking, at least this way I don't fall too far."

"Ah, you might have a point," Remus mussed as he watched her wipe off the dirt and leaves from her hands and knees. "Do you need to sit and rest for a few minutes?"

Lily shook her head, "No, I don't want to stop."

"Okay," Remus replied with a small frown as they walked on in silence once more.


Once they were up in the air, Moody set a fast pace on the brooms. He was concerned about the unconscious wizard lying unconscious between him and Black. In spite of what he had told the Evans girl, he feared that there wasn't much time left for Potter given how deep the infection had set. This angered Moody. He had been close friends with the late Mr. and Mrs. Potter, and he had dangled James on his knee as a toddler. Determined to make those responsible pay, Moody swore he would catch every Death Eater or die trying.

Beside him Sirius was just as determined to see those responsible get what they deserved. Although, he was focusing on one individual; rather then on the hundreds of Death Eaters under Voldemort like Moody. Peter Pettigrew; Wormtail the forth Marauder and close friend of James, Remus and himself. Sirius thought to himself. Traitor, turncoat, scum of the earth, what did he think to gain? How could he turn on his best friends of six years? Why did he run to Voldemort? Was he tricked? Cursed? Threatened?

Sirius had no answers to the questions flying around in his head. All he knew was that his brother by choice and his girlfriend were both hurt and possibly dying because of Peter's behavior. Worriedly Sirius cast a glance down at James where he lay burning with fever as the infection threaded its way through his body. Fiercely Sirius swore he would do what ever it took to avenge his makeshift family.

As they drew closer to the main entrance of the castle Moody looked over at Black flying beside him and was surprised at the stony expression on the young lad's face. Moody only saw that look once; it had been on the day Black had run away from his house and turned up at the Potter's home.

He had been over at the Potter's house for supper that night, and young James had been in the middle of relating some caper that he and the other Marauders had gotten away with during the previous year when the door had swung open with a loud crash. Mr. and Mrs. Potter had jumped up and ran to the front door to see what was going on. Several minutes later they had returned with Black in tow looking like he'd just been through an explosion. James had taken one look at his friend and then led the other boy upstairs to the extra bedroom.

Once the boys had come back down stairs Sirius had sat stone faced and silent for close to three hours, before he finally opened up and announced that he had run away from home. James and the Potters didn't seem shocked or surprised at the time, it was almost as if they had expected him to leave home sooner or later. That was little over five months ago now.

Moody frowned and wondered what could have upset Black to the point of closing up, but as he caught sight of James's body lying in agony below the two brooms Moody realized exactly what had the other boy riled. Sirius had reason enough to hate those who had done this to his best friend and the closet thing he had to a brother.

"Lets swoop lower and ride the brooms in; we don't want to jostle Potter any more then we have to," Moody announced.

"Fine," Sirius answered in a clipped voice.

They angled the broom lower and Moody opened the doors with a wave of his wand. Passing under the threshold they swerved to the left and up the stairs towards the Hospital wing.


Jenn… My name is Jenn… Isn't it?

Desperately she tried to hold on to herself as she floated in the blackness. There were no butterflies now, no twinkling bright flashes of light, nothing but a soundless black void. Or was it soundless? From somewhere nearby she could hear what sounded like someone crying.

Struggling to see out into the void Jenn opened her eyes. Nothing. Why couldn't she see? Jenn closed her eyes tightly and counted to ten before she opened them once more. Still nothing. Either there was nothing to see or she could see nothing.

"Sir… Sirius…" she croaked out into the darkness.

From her seat beside the bed, Lori bolted up and stared at Jenn. She could have sworn she had heard her speak. Leaning closer she whispered to her.

"Jenn? Can you hear me?"

"Lily?" came the soft croak in reply.

"Oh, thank Merlin!" Lori exclaimed softly. "Jenn, it's Lori. How do you feel?"

"Where… where is… Lily… and… and… Sirius?" Jenn breathed out.

"They'll be here soon. Sirius went to get Lily and James," Lori quickly answered, praying the others would be there soon.

"Why? Why is it so dark?" Jenn asked with difficulty.

"What do you mean?" Lori asked in confusion.

"Dark… can't… see… anything…" Jenn said as her voice faded away.

"Jenn? Jennifer?" Lori cried as she gave her a little shake.

Footsteps rushed over to her as she sat holding Jenn's hand and trying to get Jenn to speak again.

"Did she wake?" Madam Pomfrey demanded to know.

"Yes, she said it was dark and she was looking for the others," Lori replied fretfully.

"Dear me," Madam Pomfrey fretted as she turned to glance from Dumbledore to Jenn. "Here, let's move her over closer to the Headmaster's bed. That way I can be closer to hand if she wakes again while I'm attending Albus."

As they pushed Jenn's bed over to the other side of the room a loud crashing sound echoed through the hospital as the doors were flung wide open and two brooms swooped in carrying something between them.

"What is the meaning of this?" Madam Pomfrey cried angrily as she caught site of two wizards entering the ward recklessly on broomstick. "Out! Out I say!"

"Oh keep your hairnet on Pomfrey; this was the quickest way to get Potter here. He's injured and lost a considerable amount of blood… not to mention he's burning with fever from the infection that's set into the wound on his leg."

Sirius landed first and charmed the stretcher bearing James to hover while Mad Eye landed and untied the brooms.

"Potter?" Madam Pomfrey looked concerned. "Well get him on a bed and then get those confounded brooms out of my ward!"

"Yes, Ma'am," Sirius replied softly as he helped lift James off the stretcher and onto a bed.

Madam Pomfrey immediately stripped the makeshift bandages from James's leg and gasped at the putrid smell that wafted from the infected wound. Quickly, she used her wand to scour out the wound and then rushed off to grab a blood replenishing potion and a bottle of disinfectant to further clean the wound out. As she returned she handed one bottle to Moody and told him to "Lift the young man enough to get at least half of that down his throat." Before she turned back to the wound and began disinfecting it with the other potion.

While Moody poured the potion into James mouth, Sirius stood back and watched Madam Pomfrey work. So focused on his brother in all but blood he didn't notice the person approaching him until he felt a cold hand touch his arm. He jumped and swore loudly until he realized Lori was standing beside him.

"Don't do that!" Sirius muttered as he rubbed his arm and glared at Lori.

"Sorry, Jenn was awake just a bit ago."

"She was! Brilliant! How's she feeling? Will she be released soon?"

"She asked for you," Lori replied instead of answering his questions.

Sirius turned from James and hurried over to where Jenn now lay close to Dumbledore and picked up her hand before he sat down beside her.

"Jenn? Can you hear me? It's Sirius, I am here now," He whispered tenderly.

Lori watched as he continued to speak softly to an unresponsive Jenn. Shaking her head to clear her thoughts she turned and watched Madam Pomfrey finish tending James's wound and seal it up with a flick of her wand. She was still watching the process when she frowned and turned back to Sirius and then looked around the room. Turning in a complete circle as she searched for something she felt herself break out in a cold sweat.

"Sirius," she called out sharply, "Where is Lily?"

Sirius jerked around to face her as he opened his mouth to answer her, but was interrupted when she began yelling at him instead. "Where is she, Black? She was with James! If he is here, where is Lily?"

"Calm down child," said Moody rasped exasperation. "She's fine - "

"Then where is she?" Lori interrupted again.

"She is on her way back, with Remus," Sirius said quickly before she could start yelling again.

"Oh," Lori replied softly before she turned and walked over to an empty chair by the window and sank down into it.

Moody closed his eyes and shook his head slowly. That's twice in one day that he's had to deal with an emotional teenage female. Scratching his head he turned back and spoke softly with Madam Pomfrey before he turned and walked out.


Peter shivered as he moved slowly down the hall, behind him stretched a long thin trail of blood. He could not remember how he had gotten into the corridor but he didn't really care. The only thing that matter was that he got as far away from the Gryffindor Common Room as he could. He knew he was weakening fast due to his injuries and the blood loss and he had to find a safe place to hide where neither his friends nor the Death Eaters could find him.

Tripping over a rug, Peter the rat slumped onto the floor. His eye sight flickered from grey to black and then back again, as he laid breathing heavily on his side. To weak to raise him self and move on he lay there for almost an hour before Mrs. Norris came wandering along the hallway following his trail of blood.

As her eyes caught sight of the motionless body laying near the rug Mrs. Norris licked her chops as she hunkered down and watched the form intently as she flicked her ears forward listening for any sound. Several minutes later she rose into a half crouch and moved slowly closer to the injured rat.

Peter felt Mrs. Norris' breath as she leaned over him and sniffed at him. Too weak to run Peter only squeaked in fear as he felt Mrs. Norris grasp him firmly in her jaw. Struggling helplessly Peter felt completely helpless as he slowly sank into the blackness that was sucking at him.

Trotting along Mrs. Norris happily carried her catch to Filch's office on the second floor.


After stumbling about for at least another hour, if not two, Lily finally admitted defeat and slumped down at the base of an old gnarled oak tree. Remus heard her sigh loudly and looked back as she sank to the ground. Sighing gently himself he trudged back to where she had sat and silently sat down beside her. From the corner of his eye he watched as Lily's head slowly slumped to her chest as she fell asleep against the tree.

Concerned, Remus pulled his own cape from his shoulders and draped it over her to keep her warm. Leaning back Remus kept himself busy by searching the surrounding forest for any sign of movement. As Remus kept watch he noticed that the sun was sinking slowly towards the horizon. He felt a great sense of unease rise in his chest as he watched the sky darken as the minutes slipped by. It wasn't until the silvery edge of the moon crept into the sky that it dawned on him what was wrong.

Tonight was the full moon. Fearfully Remus turned to Lily and shook her roughly awake.

"Lily! Come on Lily, wake up!" Remus cried softly as he continued to shake her.

"What?" Lily groggily asked as she felt herself shaken fairly hard.

"You need to go now!" Remus practically shouted.

"What are you talking about?"

"You have to run. Now! Go and hurry!" Remus urged frantically now.

"Remus will you stop uttering nonsense and tell me what is going on?" Lily demanded as she turned to look at him closely.

"I don't have much time left to explain and I won't be able to control myself. Please, Lily, just go," Remus begged as he shoved the broom into her hands. "Here you will be able to get out of here faster with this."

"Remus I am not going anywhere without you!" Lily yelled as she stood up and faced Remus. She could just make out his pale features as the moon rose in the sky behind them.

Growling in frustration Remus tried to make her understand the urgency involved. "Lily what am I?"

"A boy," Lily responded without thinking.

"Lily, think, what am I?"

Lily stood with a confused look on her face until it slowly dawned on her what Remus was trying to make her understand. "Oh sweet, Circe, tonight is the full moon isn't it?"

Sighing in relief as Lily finally understood how serious this could be he turned her towards the castle and gave her a quick shove. "Yes, now go!"

"But what is going to happen? Will you be okay? Should I stay nearby?" Lily didn't want to be alone and she was worried for Remus.

"I will be fine. But you must go now! If you are anywhere near you will be in danger!" Remus started backing away as Lily stood there in her shock and confusion. "Please, go now!"

With a final look over his shoulder Remus started running away from Hogwarts in an effort to put as much distance between them as possible. Fearfully, Lily watched as he disappeared before she shook herself and mounted the broom. Keeping close to the ground she flew slowly through the trees hanging on as tight as she could.


Moody headed to the closet where he and Sirius had locked the three would-be Death Eaters before they had gone to find James. He had expected to find Peeves hanging about, but it looked as though the poltergeist had taken off to cause trouble elsewhere.

Absently Moody let his magical eye wander around the empty hall before turning it onto the door of the closet. When he caught sight of Kingsley laying there unconscious instead of the boy's he'd captured, he cursed softly and hurried to open the door. Another round of curses were spewed forth when he realized that the door had been magically charmed in such a way as to prevent it from being opened from the outside.

Growling out a final obscenity, he blasted the hinges off the door and shoved the offending scrap of wood out of his way so he could reach his subordinate officer. Carefully he eased the young man out onto the floor and revived him from what was obviously nothing more than a stunning curse.

As Kingsley sat up he groaned painfully and pressed a hand to his eyes. After a minute he dropped his hand and shook his head to clear away the fog left from the stunning spell and looked around. When he caught sight of Moody he stood up abruptly and had to steady himself against the walls as a wave of dizziness passed through him.

"What happened and why are you here?" Moody growled.

"Amelia sent me to find out what was taking so long. When I got here, I heard some kids banging from inside the closet and found them locked in. I thought they had been caught in there by another student or Peeves and offered to help them out. When I unlocked the door they attacked me and that's the last thing I knew."

Moody frowned as he let his magical eye search the area again.

"Damn, they're gone now. We'd been holding them in there temporarily. They group of them had attacked another student earlier but I didn't have time to deal with them until now. I had reason to believe they are working for Voldemort," Here Kingsley groaned as he realized he had freed them by mistake. "We'll find them later. In the mean time you had better be getting back to the Ministry. I'll finish up with what I needed to do here and be there as soon as I can so we can finish the interrogations."

Kingsley nodded and headed towards the entrance. As Moody watched him go he felt a shiver of dread crawl up his spine. Deep in thought he turned and began climbing back up towards the hospital wing where he would wait beside Dumbledore, in case the older wizard awoke, while he waited for the Evans girl to return to the castle so he could get the counter to the Bubble Hex that had been placed on Bellatrix.

As he peeked in the doors he saw Dumbledore lying as still as before and thought better of disturbing his friend. Closing the door gently he took up a post in the hall just outside the hospital.


AN: As promised, here's chapter 11! I can't say with any certainty when chapter 12 will be reading for posting, but I'm hoping both it and chapter 13 will be finished before Christmas. I want to at least get 12 up before the 25th, which gives me exactly 15 days from today to get it taken care of in between everything else I have going on. You can check my author's page for an update later this month to find out what's going on with the updates though. I've been keeping notes beside the link to this story in my bio. - Jenn