It was a particularly lazy Saturday towards the end of October. Ursula and Elyse had snuck up to the boys' dorm earlier that day to waste away the day. Currently, Ben and Sirius were playing a game of wizard's chess, the final game in the tournament they had set up. James, who had been knocked out in the last round by Ben, was laying hazardously near the edge of his bed while tossing up a Quaffle he transfigured from a sock. While the others seemed completely engrossed in watching the game, James was getting restless. A stroke of brilliance hit him and he nearly fell off his bed.

"Oi! I just had a brilliant idea!"

"SHUSH!" Everyone shushed him as Ben and Sirius stared at concentration at the chess board.

James ignored them, as usual. "You know, we should really get started on Ben's idea about the map of Hogwarts." He said in an assertive tone.

Ursula snorted, "Yeah, want to start drawing Jamie?"

"It can be like muggle school all over again," Sirius taunted.

Ben too looked up from the chess board, "Yeah, James, draw us a pretty picture."

Rolling his eyes, James didn't dignify that with an answer. "Me Lucky Charm, you have the most artistic talent; want to go exploring with me?" He asked Elyse.

Elyse looked up from the game, "Sure. Let me get me stuff." She stood up and disappeared from the room. James also got off his bed. He wandered closer to the chess board and studied it for a second. Still a little bitter about losing to Ben (Ben's comment a few moments ago didn't help his case), he grabbed Sirius's queen and moved her over, ignoring her indignant shouts at being manhandled. "Check."

He quickly walked away and smirked as he heard Sirius's cheer and Ben's complaints of cheating. He grabbed his cloak off his bed post and took the stairs two at a time and waited for Elyse in the Common Room. She showed up about a minute later.

"Ready?" James asked her.

She nodded and James offered his arm for her to take which she graciously took. "Sure yeh's not tryin' teh replace another red-head?" she asked him with a sly grin on her face.

James didn't seem fazed, "The love that Lily and I have is pure. One day she'll realize that and we'll grow old and have a full Quidditch team of children."

Elyse snorted but didn't say anything else. They traveled first to the Entrance Hall. James helped her take measurements of each hallway so she could draw it to scale. It took them a good part of two hours to finish two hallways.

"Have you finished your defense homework yet?" James asked her as she started sketching the hall. Her charcoal pencil paused for a millisecond before she continued drawing.

Their homework was nothing from a text book or something that they could copy off of each other. They had started a new creature in Defense Against the Dark Arts and it was one that Elyse feared the most at that point. Ironically, she feared the boggart which would display her fear for everyone to see. She thought of all the people she had seen murdered in her visions; friends, teachers, former classmates, random people. Their homework had been to think of three things that their boggart could turn into and to think of something funny to change it into.

"Not yet. Me fears are thing 'het people shouldn't know." She explained.

Realization spread over James's face, "Your visions, right. That's a bit problematic."

Elyse gave him a disbelieving look that clearly said, 'Ya think?' He held his hands up defensively. "Hey, don't blame the messenger, me little leprechaun. I happen to be perfectly happy not knowing my future but you know don't cha? You know how I'm going to die and when."

It wasn't really a question but she nodded anyway with melancholy look in her eyes. James threw some spare parchment he crumpled up into a ball at her and hit her right in the middle of the forehead. "Don't give me that look. I'm still alive causing mischief. But if you ever get a vision of me of becoming one of those Ministry idiots, kill me right away."

Elyse laughed at the disgusted look on his face. "Don't yeh worry. I'd be 'appy teh oblige, even witout teh vision."

James laughed loudly and threw another piece of paper at her. "Shut up, Lassie."

"Isn't that the pot calling the kettle black?" Remus asked as he walked up to where they were sitting. He was followed by the rest of the group though their numbers were down by two.

"Where's Sirius and Ursula?" James asked.

Ben chuckled as he joined them on the ground, "Some Ravenclaw whistled at Ursula when we were on our way down here. Sirius went into brother mode and hexed the kid. The boy's friend made a comment about the Blacks being insane so Ursula hexed him. Unfortunately for them, Flitwick was just around the corner and only saw them hexing two kids from his house."

James and Elyse winced. "'hat's not good," Elyse said.

Remus tugged at a thread on the sleeve of his cardigan, "Flitwick is known to be fair and I think that he has a soft spot for Ursula after she got the perfect score on his last test. Sirius on the other hand…"

Ben laughed loudly, "Ol' Flitty still has it in for him after the bubble incident."

The bubble incident was a simple prank, one that Flitwick would have normally awarded points for (he counted it as extra charms practice) but things had not gone according to plan. The bubbles covered the entire room and picked up the entire class a safe distance off the ground. Fortunately no one panicked and everyone enjoyed being carried by bubbles for about five minutes. Unfortunately, when the bubbles popped, they covered the room in a thick black goo that ended up destroying a lot of Flitwick's personal papers and everyone's charms books. Sirius had been the one to cast the spell so he had received a full week of detention. Ever since then, the tiny Charms professor hasn't been happy with the male Black twin.

"They were bloody awesome hexes though!" Peter defended their friends.

James snorted, "It's not awesome if they get caught; I taught them better than that."

All four of the others laughed disbelievingly at that.

"Says yeh 'ho tripped on 'is robes 'n got caught fer teh roastin' teh Slytherins prank?" Elyse asked through her laughter.

James tried to keep his composure but the very tips of his ears turned red. He crossed his arms and looked away from them, "I have no idea what you are talking about." He said haughtily.

"Sure you don't James." They all chorus disbelievingly. Well, all except Peter who instantly sided with James. "I agree with James!" He declared, his eyes shining widely at James.

Smiling confidently, James turned towards the rest of his friends, "See y'dolts, Pete here agrees with me; if that isn't enough proof then I don't know what it."

James joined them laughing, leaving a very confused Peter as to why his friends were laughing like hyenas.

The next day, they decided that they needed to venture outside since they had been trapped inside all of yesterday.

"So how did things go with Flitwick?" Peter asked out of curiosity.

Ursula smirked while Sirius's face darkened.

"Woot?" Elyse asked with a laugh.

"Flitwick actually gave the two Ravenclaws detention for lewd conduct towards another student." Ursula explained with a smirk. "I got off scotch free."

James jabbed his thumb towards Sirius, "What's up with him then?"

Ursula laughed outright while Sirius darkly muttered, "I still have detention."

The rest of them laughed while Sirius indignantly shouted, "It's not fair! I was just defending my sister!"

Elyse turned to Ursula with her hands on her hips, "Woot is it aboot boys 'hat think we need protectin all teh time!"

Ursula shook her head, "Probably has to do something with them being chivalrous, thick headed Gryffindors. But we aren't the ones that need protecting." Ursula informed her in a matter of fact way.

Elyse looked at her confused, "Woot do yeh mean?" She asked.

The corner of Ursula's mouth twitched up, "They're all about to be mauled by a tree."

The boys had continued walking forward while debating the validity of Sirius's detention and had strayed a little too close to the Whomping Willow.

"OI! LOOK OUT!" Ursula and Elyse shouted at them. The boys stopped on a dime and spun around, staying put. A branch from the violent tree came flying out behind them.

"DUCK!"

Four of the boys immediately dropped to the ground. Peter hesitated just a moment before the branch hit him in the back and sent him flying. He landed with a sickening crunch. The girls ran over to him while the boys scrambled to their feet.

Peter was as white as a sheet and tears were falling down his face as he cried in pain.

"Where does it hurt?" Ursula asked him with urgency and comfort in her voice.

"My leg," he whimpered.

They all looked down to see his leg bent at an unnatural angle. Elyse almost lost her breakfast when she saw it. Ben ran off to get a teacher because there was no way they could get Peter back to the school without hurting him anymore.

"Does anything else hurt?" James asked.

Peter nodded, "My-my- b-b-back." He stuttered out.

"Shit." James swore and he ran his hand through his hair. Sirius too was pale and he looked panicked, as if he had no idea what to do and that scared him. Peter moved a little bit but Ursula placed a firm but gentle hand on his shoulder, "Don't move Pete."

They were silent for about thirty seconds, waiting for Ben to return with help, when Peter smiled weakly up at them.

"R-r-remember when I-I-I said I didn't know w-w-what my big-biggest fear was? For Defense?" He asked through his sniffles.

They looked at each other oddly, wondering if Peter had hit his head too, before they looked back down at him. He smiled weakly, "I think I figured out my fear." He looked at the still moving tree and he shuddered, which brought on another wave of tears.

Sirius and Elyse smiled shakily at the attempt at humor while Ursula smiled kindly down at him and carefully squeezed his shoulder in comfort. James on the other hand smiled widely and looked proudly down at Peter. He crouched down next to him and nodded at him, "That's it, Pete! Who knew to make you funny all we had to do was beat you with tree branches!"

Peter's eyes filled with happiness at James's (roundabout) praise. Just then Ben, out of breath from running to the Green Houses, returned with Professor Sprout on his heels. Quickly, Sprout checked Peter over before deeming him safe to move. James and Sirius carefully helped Peter sit up and they wrapped his arms around their shoulders and Ben grabbed Peter's legs gently to keep them from moving. The four made their way back to the castle. Elyse went to follow before she turned back and saw Ursula and Remus collecting everyone's bags that had been forgotten on the ground.

"De yeh-"

Ursula waved her offer away, "We've got this, stay with the boys."

Elyse nodded once before she ran over the hill back towards Hogwarts.

The pair silently gathered up all seven bags. Remus took the fourth one from Ursula but he didn't say anything. Ursula knew something was wrong with her friend so she stepped forward cautiously towards him, knowing he was trying to play it cool.

"Are you okay Remus? You've been really quiet." She said.

Remus sighed and looked back at the tree that had literally knocked Peter off of his feet.

"The Whomping Willow is a newer plant; did you know that?" When Ursula shook her head, he continued, "It was planted our first year actually. And it isn't just some random tree that Dumbledore decided he wanted. It covers up the entrance to the shack that I spend full moons in."

The look in Ursula's eyes instantly softened when Remus mentioned his condition. Seeing him look so defeated inspired her to work on becoming an animagus more so that maybe, just maybe, he wouldn't be so miserable. "I'm sorry Remus." She placed a hand on his shoulder.

To her shock, Remus violently ripped his arm away from her. "You don't understand! That tree is there because I'm here! If I wasn't here then-"

"Then what?" Ursula challenged. Her eyes had turned a steely grey and her hands were on her hips. "Peter wouldn't have been hurt? I hate to break it to you Remus but Peter hurts himself walking down the stairs! You being here, not even considering your 'little furry problem', did not cause this. Now stop this little pity party before I push you into the damn tree myself!"

Remus stared at her, gaping like a fish. He swallowed loudly and shook his head, "You know, no matter how many times I reassure myself that you guys don't care about my condition, I sometimes convince myself that it is too good to be true. Having friends; friends that not only cared enough to figure out what is wrong with me but friends that accept what I am."

"Not what," Ursula said softly, "who."

For the first time since Peter got hit by the tree, Remus smiled. "Thanks." He said appreciatively as reached over to give her a half hug. She leaned into him and smiled. It always broke her heart a little bit when Remus doubted them. But they couldn't really broadcast what they were planning on doing to help him, even to him because he would immediately put a stop to it. She just wished that he wouldn't always doubt himself so much.

Suddenly a weight disappeared from her shoulder and she spun around and grabbed the strap of the bag that Remus had taken from her shoulder.

"There is no way I'm letting you carry five full bags while I only carry two," She informed him quite factually.

Remus the corner of Remus's mouth rose a little bit, "What is this, Miss Black? I'm just being my usual chivalrous, thick headed Gryffindor self." He said almost mockingly as he turned her words against her.

Her glare slowly turned into a smile. "Is that the case?"

He nodded, "Werewolf strength, remember? It only feels like I have my one bag."

Realizing defeat, she gave him one last look before she looked like James before a big prank. "If that's the case Moony, then race you to the castle!" She spun on her heels and started running towards the castle with the two bags hitting her legs. Remus barely paused a moment before he started running after her, shouting "Cheater!"

Thursday morning came all too quickly for the third year Gryffindors and Slytherins. Horror stories from yesterday's Ravenclaw – Hufflepuff class had spread like wild fire. Apparently, Gabriel Abbot's greatest fear was Lord Voldemort (which was not surprising considering he had relatives killed by the man) so when the world's most feared wizard appeared in the middle of class, it wasn't exactly a good situation to say the least.

That morning a flurry of owls flew in overhead, the flock looking bigger than usual. Three owls swooped down and dropped off papers for Ben, Remus, and James. The other four didn't get anything and continued eating their breakfast while Sirius and Elyse discussed their transfiguration homework and Ursula was trying to explain Quidditch strategy to Peter. The three boys with the papers froze and color drained from their faces. Remus and Ben looked up horrified at James. The messy haired boy was frantically reading the cover article.

"What's wrong?" Ursula asked, dread clear in her voice. There were a couple shouts of horror across the Great Hall and one girl from Ravenclaw was bawling her eyes out.

When no one answered her, she grabbed Ben's paper from his hand and her own eyes widened in terror when she read the article.

ATTACK IN GODRIC'S HOLLOW

Four days after the attack in London, Death Eaters struck again in Godric Gryffindor's birthplace. A symbolic town not only for the man that later founded Hogwarts but because of the people who live in the quaint village. While it is a Wizard Community, half of the town on completely muggle making it a prime target for supporters of He-Who-Shall-Not-Be-Named.

The attack began early in the morning. Death Eaters set fire to a local muggle primary school (a school where they teach children basic knowledge such as math and reading) while classes were in attendance. At last count, forty-five children spanning the ages of five and twelve have been found and indentified. More than twenty more children remain missing. Multiple wizards and witches alike noticed something amuck when the fire department (a group of muggles that work to put out fires) was unable to control the seemingly normal blaze. Wizards and witches, with a great risk to themselves, ran into the burning building and tried to save as many children as possibly. Sadly, most of them were too late. They sustained slight injuries for their bravery.

At the same time this was happening, a horde of Inferius (page six has more details) attacked the Wizard half of town. Dozens upon dozens of witches, wizards, healers, aurors, shop keepers, and off-duty Ministry officials poured onto the streets and defended their home against the army of the undead. I spoke to a young witch, who wishes to remain anonymous, who witnessed the entire battle from her second story window.

"It was awful! There were literally bodies littering the floor. It was impossible to tell if the bodies were dead inferius or if it was one of my dead neighbors! It was horrible! Simply horrible!"

I asked this young women is she knew the names of some of the valiant men and women who protected their homes. She nodded with tears swimming in her eyes, "Yes, yes, I did know a few. There was Bathilda Bagshot. You would think that a little witch like her couldn't do much but she was taking them down like it was her job! The one that saved the day though was Mr. Potter. He's the former Head Auror, you know? He ran out of his house faster than a speeding bullet (A bullet is a small silver object muggles use to shoot out of guns; a muggle weapon used to kill or maim) and he destroyed twenty in the first sweep of his wand. Pity what happened though."

The actions at Godric's Hollow cost around sixty children and at last count, eight wizards. The names of the deceased have not been released to the public as of yet. But let the families of those lost have some comfort for without the daring and courageous acts of those eight, it is possible that the entire village would have been destroyed.

Ursula couldn't read anymore. She looked horrified up at James who looked like he was on the verge of a nervous breakdown. She could see his lips moving fast as he muttered the word, "no" under his breath repeatedly.

"Mate, it doesn't say that your dad—," Ben cut himself off. "What I mean is that your parents are probably perfectly fine."

James didn't seem to hear a word he was saying. He was repeatedly running his hand through his hair and he kept on rereading the article as if it would announce to him after the seventh time reading if his father was alright or not. He made as if he was about to get up, "I need to talk to Dumbledore." He said frantically.

But just then another owl dropped a letter on his plate. His eyes widened when he recognized the handwriting. "It's my mum." He said horrified. James picked up the letter and opened it with a shaky hand. He tried to hold the paper but his nerves were too shot. Ursula reached over the table and gently took the paper from him. Sirius put a comforting hand on his friend's shoulder as they waited for Ursula to read the letter and tell him what the news was.

She held her breath as she quickly read the letter and her face gave away nothing. When she reached the end, she let out a shuttering breath and slowly folded up the paper. She looked up and met James's eyes.

"Your dad's fine. He has some burns but he's alive."

James nearly slid off the bench he was so relieved. He ran his hand through his hair and he took a couple of breaths before the color began to return to his face. It was the best news that James had ever heard in his life (he included finding out he was on the Quidditch team in that list) and he was sure that his parents just took a good ten years off his life. They were going to be getting a strongly worded letter from their son about this in the coming days about the stress they put him through.

James barely had time to recover before they had to go to Transfiguration. When they walked into class, James sat in his usual seat but didn't look around the room like he usually did. His mind seemed to be a hundred miles away with his parents when Lily cautiously walked up to his desk he shared with Sirius.

"James," She said, shocking him out of his thoughts.

He jumped the slightest bit and when he saw who was in front of him he ran his hand through his hair and smiled charmingly at her, "Hello Lily-Flower."

She took a deep breath but ignored the nickname, "I saw the Prophet this morning and I read about your father. Is he okay?" She asked in genuine concern.

James looked shocked for a moment before he rebounded, "He's got some burns but my mom said that he's going to be fine." He told her honestly.

Lily smiled, "That's good. I thought for a second that he was one of the eight that passed."

"That wouldn't be so bad," James said after a moment. Lily looked at him horrified for a moment before he continued, "You'd be able to give him messages for me since you're an angel."

Sirius laughed but quickly turned it into a cough when Lily turned her glare on him. She looked back at James in disgust. "Here I was, concerned about your father and you go and act like a prick!" She stormed away back towards her desk, ignoring James's call for her to go to Hogsmeade with him when they are finally allowed to go.

Ursula turned towards Elyse. "That boy needs to learn subtly."

Elyse rolled her eyes in agreement.

"Ah, boys. Can't live with them."

"Can't live witoot tem."

The rest of the day went smoothly. The teachers seemed to be taking it easy on them and they were often seen sending James a sympathetic glance everyone in a while. By the time they got to Defense, the story of Harold Potter's heroism had spread throughout the school and people actually stopped James in the hallway to congratulate him on having such a brave father. Though his friends just rolled their eyes, James reveled in the attention.

Clarke immediately got them set up for work. "Wands out, put all of your bags on your chairs and stand in the middle aisle please."

The students did what they were told. With a wave of her wand, Clarke shoved all the desks to the side of the room and gave them basically the entire room to move around.

"Alright class, I hope that you took my assignment seriously because today you are going to be facing your boggart. Don't forget that the spell won't get rid of it. The laughter is what destroys it. Now form a line while I go get the little bugger." She turned and went up to her private office while the class assembled themselves into a line. Fittingly enough, it was the Gryffindors that were first in line. Sirius ended up being the first one up.

Clarke walked back into the room carrying a small wooden chest. "I had to search the entire castle for this little guy. Now when I open this trunk, I want you to be prepared. Are you ready Sirius?"

Sirius closed his eyes and nodded after a moment. Clarke opened the trunk and stepped back. Instantly, the ceiling turned into a dark mass of clouds. Blinding lightening lit up the room and deafening thunder echoed throughout the room. Sirius raised his wand and shouted, "Riddikulus!" Suddenly the thunder turned into obnoxious farting noises and clouds started to rain miniature rainbows. The class roared with laughter (mainly the boys) at the musical symphony that was being tooted out.

"Benjamin!" Clarke called him forward through her laughter.

Sirius walked towards the back of the line, high-fiving all the Gryffindors, while Ben squared his shoulders and faced his boggart. The figure spun around before it turned into a mirror. But Ben's reflection was staring back at him. No, staring back at him was the eyes of a younger Annabelle. She was smiling evilly, almost taunting Ben. He raised his wand, "Riddikulus!" And mirror-Annabelle suddenly became clown-Annabelle. The Gryffindors laughed as they pictured the tough, former Quidditch captain in a clown outfit.

"Lily!"

Lily's boggart was comical before she even said the spell. Slughorn appeared in front of her and handed her an essay that had a large T scribbled on top of it. "You're a failure." Slughorn kept on saying over and over again. Finally, Lily said the spell, "Riddikulus" and Slughorn was in a hot pink bikini. That brought upon cries of laughter and disgust. Ursula's eye was twitching and Elyse was staring in horror at the boggart. Lily moved from her spot in line, leaving Elyse right in front of the creature.

It turned into something she was not expecting. A speeding calendar appeared in front of her, speeding through the months and the years. At the bottom, it looked like someone was taking a chisel and etched the words "they all die". The flip book effect then went in as she saw the face of everyone person she's seen die appear on the pages. Quickly, before any of her friends can pick out their faces, she shouted the incantation and the calendar blows up into brightly colored confetti.

Ursula was up next. The confetti flew together and formed into her little brother. He smiled at her in a purely evil way and slowly slid up the sleeve to his robe on his left arm to reveal the Dark Mark. Quickly, she waved her wand the Boggart turned into Sirius dancing around in a frilly dress. The class roared while Sirius shouted out indignantly (but even then, he too joined in on the laughter."

The rest of the class went quickly now that they had the hang of things. Peter made the Whomping Willow dance with the ground's keeper, Hagrid. Remus made the full moon turn into a balloon that flew around the room. When Snape walked up, Sirius elbowed James slightly in the ribs, "Five galleons it turns into a shampoo bottle."

"You're on," James whispered back.

It was not a shampoo bottle. A simple, brown leather belt appeared on the ground. Sirius and James tried to hold it back but they couldn't help but roar with laughter at terrified look on Snape's face when he looked at the simple article of clothing. Snape, who had no sense of humor and was burning with embarrassment, quickly turned the belt into a snake before he went to stand by Lily. She seemed to understand his fear and she wrapped her arm around his shoulders. James glared at Snape's back and sent a simple charm Snape's way that tied his shoelaces together.

The only other hiccup was when Alice and Marlene were standing too close together and the boggart tried to turn into both of their fears. A half of a severed head and half of a creepy looking slug was actually a comical mix so they didn't even need to change it to anything.

Finally, it was James's turn. His paper of his guesses had been being taken off the Quidditch team, losing all his hair, and losing a match to Slytherin. What he wasn't expecting (though he wasn't totally surprise) was for two tombstones and two open coffins to appear in front of him.

Evangeline and Harold Potter

The tombstone read. Underneath their names, lay their bodies in coffins, looking as dead as dead could be. They were wearing expensive Wizard's robes, something that none of James's friends had ever seen the elder Potters wear. Their faces were ashen and they looked the age that they truly were. It was startling to all of James's friends, and even the entire class's, to see what he saw.

When Clarke realized that James wasn't going to do anything except stare at the 'bodies' of his parents, she stepped in front of him. The scene changed and it looked a like a giant brown wolf charging at her before she changed it into a smaller dog chasing its tail. She goaded the boggart back into the trunk and turned to look at the usually outgoing and confident Gryffindor.

"What was that James? Why didn't you do anything?" She questioned.

James shrugged one shoulder, looked the most serious anyone had ever seen him look in a classroom for the last three years, and said as if it was the simplest thing."You can't make death funny."

Clarke regarded him for a moment and then nodded slightly, "I couldn't agree more."

Just a few housekeeping things.

One: I don't own Harry Potter.

Two: To explain Snape's boggart (because it is a bit ambiguous): the books suggest that he was abused at home by his father. Hence, he saw his father's leather belt.

Three: Band Camp is starting to I probably won't be able to update again this week.

Four: The poll is still up. If you don't have a pen name, leave your answer in a review. I will count it in the end. The question is what position Ben should play in Quidditch: Beater or Keeper. So VOTE

Last but not least,

Five: REVIEW!