That's weird. This chapter actually took 9 pages. Well, whatever. I wasn't really able to translate a lot. Christmas is really a busy time. This chapter didn't really contain adventure, more drama I suppose. ^^ Well, have fun anyway.
Chapter 21 – white darkness II
After defence against the dark Arts, Lilli were running after Anna, who was arguing with Sirius while walking down the corridor. This time they had different opinions on if a banana was curved or buckled.
"Anna!" Lilli called, causing both of them to stay and wait for her.
"Lils!" Sirius grinned, winking charmingly, which caused Anna to roll her eyes exasperated.
"Get rid of your permanent-grin, Wannabe-Casanova! Let's go, Lilli."
Both girls went away from Sirius to walk together far away from him to the next class. This doesn't seem to bother him even a little since Remus and Peter joined him just a few seconds later.
"So, what's up?"
"What?" Lilli asked confusedly, whereupon Anna hastily fluttered with her hands in the air.
"You shout my name, running after us and all that for nothing? Don't tell me you appreciate my presence that much."
"Oh...Well... I'm... um..."
"I was kidding, Lilli."
"Oh..."
"So, what's up?"
Now, she was walking with Anna and about to talk with her about what she wanted to, it suddenly felt awkward. A moment ago, she desperately wanted to know what happened between the three of them after the quarrel, but walking with Anna through the corridors and actually talking about that somehow felt strange and not appropriate. Probably, her friend didn't want to tell her that at all?
"You want to ask what happened in history of magic, because James, Lissy and I wasn't there?"
"How -" she started irritated, but Anna just smiled.
"I could tell you, but you won't like it."
"What do you mean by that?"
"Lilli, I once told you to not try to break James and Melissa up. Why are you still doing that?"
"I didn't!"
"So, you are doing that unintentionally?"
"Do what? I really have no idea what I've done wrong!"
And suddenly, Lilli got pulled away from the other students right outside of the castle. After she made sure that there was no one listening, Anna turned back to her.
"Look, Lissy isn't like you thought she is. She may appear evil and cruel to you, but she isn't. That nasty, being a bitch-thing is just for protection. The only really bad thing about her is that she didn't know how far her influence goes. You know Bella?"
"Yes?"
"You know Rudolphus? Bella's boyfriend?"
"Yes -"
"You know, Goyle, Crabbe? Green and Table? Owens, Nott?" With every name, trepidation was shooting up in her throat. She knew them, but didn't link something good with those people, rather trouble and difficulties.
"Why are you telling me that? Of course I know them. They are all Slytherin students and in the same year as we are."
"And they are Melissa's Beat-the-crap-out-of-the-muggles troop."
"Beat the crap what?"
"She would never lay her own hand on anybody. She loves James to much and knows how he despise those things, but her other friends are different."
"So, you want me to what? Watch out?"
"No, not anymore. I guess I've talked her out of it, but if you don't stop to provoke her, I may not be able to keep her from doing something stupid anymore. She didn't always listen to me and I'm not sure that she's doing it this time."
"So, you want me to watch out?" she asked insecurely, but Anna didn't even seem to be sure herself.
"I don't think Lissy already set Bella on you. I told her, that James would instantly knew, who sent them and it's the worst for her to lose him."
Lilli suddenly felt bad, because that was exactly what she wished for. James leaving Kingcade and turned to her. She wanted that girl to feel sorrow for all the pain she caused others. Suddenly, she noticed a sad glow in Anna's eyes, after that thought crossed her mind.
"Then, why did she do all this terrible things?"
"What things?" the dark hair girl asked as if she really had no idea at all what Lilli was talking about.
"Evil things! She makes life a living hell to people, who never did her wrong. Diana, me and so many others."
"You think you've never done her wrong?"
"Well, at least I don't know of anything."
"Nice to know how good you're listening to my words," Anna said sarcastically.
"What?" she said baffled.
"I told you, that Melissa is the one, James is together with, but you're the one he always wanted."
"Did James said that?"
"Didn't have to. His behaviour was enough. And still, she loves him and he loves her. They are my friends and I don't want anything to happen what they might regret. That's why I followed them."
"Err – okay. So... as a neutral person?"
"Something like that."
"Something?"
"Well, I make sure they stay safe. The dark mark on his back might be inactive, but if he strains himself too much, he will get weaker and the dark-magic inside him will grow."
"Dark Magic? Grow?" Lilli repeated anxiously.
"Yeah... don't worry. He's not dangerous to you guys in that status, just to himself. But Lissy didn't know this side on him and she isn't suppose to know it either. More or less, I'm with them to cool them down if it gets heat up."
She looked a little bit puzzled at her classmate.
"You haven't told me everything, have you? I mean... that night, you haven't told me everything."
"I told you that night, that the whole story was way too long to be told in detail. And besides, I doubt that one can fully understand and cope with it, without experiencing it with one's own eyes."
"With your own eyes? You were there, when he-?"
"No," Anna cut her off. "Well... Yes... somehow."
"Means what?"
"Nothing. I've already told you too much and didn't even know why I'm doing it. Just to clear this up: If you ever tell that to anybody -"
"You're going to kill me. Got that," Lilli said, but smiled slightly amusedly. This time, she knew that her partner wasn't serious and after she smiled back, it became clear that she was right. It felt weird to talk like that to somebody, who had been ignoring her for the past six years and never changed a word with her, even though every time she saw her, she wanted to speak with her and get along with her. Now, they did and it was like Lilli thought it would be.
"Anna, what you saw in Occlumency that day... I-"
"You don't need to explain yourself. It's quite the contrary."
"Um -"
"I saw something I've actually forgotten a long time ago."
"..."
The young dark hair witch sank down at the meadow and leaned against the tree. She pulled her knees to her breast and wrapped her arms around them, looking a lot like a little child, while watching the sun hiding behind the horizon. In autumn, the sun was falling early, but there was no better place to watch the beautiful colourplay than from Hogwarts. It was probably magic, allowing that unique view that changed every day in the most beautiful colours.
After some time, Lilli joined her and sat down cross-legged next to her. What was the right thing to do now? Talking or remaining quiet? Or was is probably the best to leave her alone? She had no clue, but somehow it felt right to remain quietly at her side and just being there.
"I would like to ask you a question," Anna said after quite a while, causing the Head Girl to turn to her, looking anxious. "Is there any person in your life, you hate that much that you've thought about killing him?"
Gentle dark eyes were showing sorrow towards sparkling green ones, who were feeling just a lot of sympathy for the girl in front of them.
"You haven't, have you? Killing is something one shouldn't even think about. At least, if you're white-magical. A dark-magical witch thinks about it every day. It's so tempting to get rid of one's fears..."
"Anna? What do you want to tell me by that?" she asked, now rather looking worried.
"Nothing," came the hurried answer. "Forget it." She wiped away all feelings from her expression and was suddenly cold and inaccessibly again.
"You think about killing someone?" Lilli prompted, but got no answer. Anna turned away and stared back to the sky. The sun was now completely gone. The cricket were starting to chirr.
"Who are you hating that much?" She said tenderly. "I know I'm probably the last person you wanna talk about it with, but I think I know who you're meaning."
The girl really turned her gaze back to her, the eyes were now completely blank. It was as if they hid every emotion behind a thick wall, letting nothing out and nothing in. The only thing they showed were indifference.
"It's your father, isn't it? Allan White."
"My father – You don't know him."
"No, but I saw you two. Several times, actually. I saw that hatred in your eyes, whenever it was only the two of you and without your mother. Why?"
"Why what?"
"Why do you hate him? What has he done to you?" She now watched the friend with a look that couldn't be more caring and warming. The truth was that the dark hair witch already closed herself up for any good feeling a long time ago, no matter from whom it came.
"Nothing. He hasn't done anything to me," she answered very weak, leaning back at the tree again as if she was about to faint if she didn't instantly close her eyes. Her breathing was hard and powerless. For one little moment, her eyes were showing something strange. As if this girl's sorrows were to much to handle for anyone and were pulling her slowly into emptiness. Lilli suddenly felt concerned.
"For nothing, you seem to hate him a lot. You don't hate somebody that much, if he hasn't done anything and I'm sure your hatred is justified. Did James know about it?"
In the split of a second, the whole expression in the face in front of her changed into fury and mistrust.
"Listen, Lilli. This is none of your business. My family, me or whatever James knows or not, is none of your business. You try to get involved into dark things, which will backfire. My parents are evil and dangerous and so do I. Stay away from me if you want to keep your life."
"I don't understand -"
"Just do it!" Anna yelled, but she seemed to be able to calm herself instantly.
"For your own safety, just do it," she added softly.
"My safety?" Lilli asked disbelievingly. "I can take care for myself."
"Sirius said exactly the same." Those words came out with a frustrated voice. Slowly, it started to rain. First a few drops and then the rain were dripping down harshly into the sea. Minute by minute, the skin of both girls became more and more wet.
"Sirius," the Head girl said hoarsely. The moment Anna was talking about this, something very important appeared in her expression, which was able to tell everything to a person and to Lilli. "Is that the reason you broke up with him? Because, he said he could take care of himself, but something happened to him?"
"We should go back inside. It's cold." Anna stood up and went back to the castle. She didn't throw even one look back at Lilli or pay attention if she was with her. It was as if she just wanted to leave as fast as possible, probably to be alone again. Lilli didn't follow her instantly, but rather giving her the space she needed.
Lilli arrived back at the common room a little while later, but Anna wasn't sitting with the others. Her view turned up to the girls dorm, where the friend most likely was at that very moment. Should she follow her to continue their talk and thereby risking an argument? Or should she just leave her alone, like she wanted to? The second choice was maybe the better one and so she joined the others at the fireplace.
Remus was playing chess with Peter, while Sirius and James played something that nobody seemed to understand. They called that the game nobody seems to understand. She observed them for a while, throwing incomplete sentence to each other, which made absolutely no sense at all, but rather a lot of rubbish. Finally, she decided to turn her attention towards something more important. Her homework. While she was still writing things onto the parchment, she noticed something strange. Something, that scared her instead of comforting her. Where was Kingcade? Was she with Anna upstairs? She could find out, if she just went there to look. But if the only Person inside was Anna, who apparently only wanted to be alone, she would disturb her for no good reason. The question remained where her archrival was. The answer came very quickly, when the portrait hole opened and searched person climbed in. Her first gaze was poisonous and evil like usual towards Lilli, the second much sweeter and brighter look towards James. He wrapped one arm around his girlfriend and gave her a kiss. Surprisingly, Kingcade seemed to like and understand the game of the boys or maybe she just pretended to. Lilli thought that the latter was more likely, because the only thing she did was laughing as soon as both guys laughed.
She was about to finish her homework, when James arrived to pick her up for rounds. They were hardly out of the common room, when he turned worriedly at her.
"Everything okay?"
"Sure, why?"
"Well, because you look like-" James grimaced like a crazy monkey. "-that."
"What?" she laughed at his funny face.
"Yeah, that's why I guessed that something is wrong."
"Because I did what?"
"Because you look like -" Now he grimaced like a crackpot monkeybaby. "-that."
"You think that's funny, aren't you?" Lilli asked, smirking, but James just nodded devotedly.
"A lot," he answered with a broad grin. "So what's up?"
"Nothing."
"If it's nothing, you wouldn't look like being kissed by an electric eel."
"Thank you," she said dryly.
"You're welcome," he responded gormless back. "So, what's wrong?"
"You wouldn't tell me, even if I ask you."
"Try me. Do the spell, don't just ring the bell."
"What?" she asked baffled.
"Wizard's idiom. Surprise! We have that, too!"
James winked at her that hilarious that she couldn't help but smiled.
"Err, I see," she said still puzzled. "I suppose it's like cursing with Merlin's name?"
"Or with Dumbledore's name. But that's just Anna, who did this. She's probably the only one, who dares to do that. Guess, it's because she's his great-granddaughter and can therefore afford to do this. She isn't even afraid to curse with Voldemort's name."
"She isn't afraid of anyone, is she?"
"I can assure you, that she's not fearless. In first class, Padfoot and I played her a prank. He and Lissy knew Anna since infancy and I couldn't believe that she wasn't afraid of anyone or anything, even though she acted all cold and whatever. Guess what little James did? Try out! So, the guys and I took her out to a walk in the forbidden forest one night. Of course without permission. Every day before that night, we told her lurid tales about vampires. We acted as if we saw real ones in the forest. Padfoot pretended to be caputred by one of them and we pretended to ran after them and made Anna believe that we weren't able to get him back, although we really -" James winked mischievously at her. "- did everything we could."
"She had no clue that you guys were just staged that to play a prank at her?"
"Nope. She hadn't. She wanted to run back to Dumbledore, so he could save Sirius from the dangerous fangs of the vampire. The moment she turned around to get help, Sirius jumped out of the shrubberies, looking like a real vampire, because we had the right spell to do that. Poor Anna was flabbergasted, crying like a real girl."
"She's a girl," Lilli said gently, who found herself slightly amused by knowing that he obviously didn't consider his female best friend as a girl.
"To be fair, I would probably have done the same if I didn't know that it was just a charm. He looked like death itself. Man! She beat us black and blue, when she finally realised that it was just a prank. We looked absolutely nuts after that, because of her curses."
James laughed again, causing Lilli to join in even though she knew that if they would have played that prank at her, she would've reacted like Anna did. But James' laugh was so catching that she couldn't help it. His laugh came from his heart. Lilli liked to hear from their past and their friendship. It always brought warmth into her lonely heart.
"Anna isn't afraid of things a normal person would be," he continued after they turned around the corner to walk into another corridor.
"For example?"
"Death?... Or Voldemort."
"She isn't afraid of him?"
"Not really, but worms are frightening her to death."
"Worms?" Lilli asked disbelievingly, but James nodded keenly while suddenly got a mischievously grin.
"On her 12 th birthday, Sirius was trying to play a prank at her, baked a cake, which exploded if got sliced and throwing worms into the air. They were just sweets in the form of worms with strawberry flavour. Still, Anna fainted as soon as she saw them. After she got back to her feet, she chased Padfoot through the whole school all day long to get her revenge."
"Really?" she asked, grinning as it crossed her mind that she always thought they only played those weird pranks at her. The truth was that they played it even on their own best friends.
"Really. She finally gave up because McGonagall interfered or poor Padfoot would probably still running. Run! Padfoot Run! we called after him, every time they passed us and to Anna, we cheered: Just a little bit more! You almost got him!"
"Ah, I remember! On that day, they even passed Diana and me three times. Sirius was laughing and Anna was cursing."
"That's right!"
They laughed again, while turning around the next corner which was the floor leading directly to the Slytherins.
"James?" Lilli suddenly said, holding onto him, before they could make one more step. It was just a feeling but somehow, she found it better to skip that floor that night. Anna was right. Kingcade may not be able to harm somebody but the Slytherins were famous for doing that. They used to offend and abuse Diana and her a lot of times.
"Lilli? What's wrong?"
Okay, James was with her tonight, but who said that they couldn't punch him out first? If they were more than ten, even he wouldn't stand a chance against them and she didn't want to risk that danger.
"Lilli?" he repeated, looking rather suspiciously now. "What's wrong? Are you scared of the darkness?"
"I- Um, no."
"But?"
Should she be honest to him? He could probably making fun about that, so she decided not to tell him.
"It's because of Lissy, isn't it?"
"How -" she stuttered surprised.
"You are scared that she set Bellatrix or somebody else on you."
"You know about that?"
"I already told you, that I know that she didn't treat you and others that fair. But that's just how she is. Not everybody can be nice and perfect and it's not the reason I'm in love with her either."
"You once said that this is the reason, you are together with her. Because she is evil. You're contradictory, buddy."
"I don't. You just like to twist my words."
"I do?"
"Okay," he said, slightly impatient. "I just said this one time and then the topic will never come up again."
"I'm all ears."
"I don't love her, because she's all evil. But we're together because it's just her way to deal with things. I got use to it and accepted it, since this was also the reason we became a couple in the first place. Other than you, I don't try to change people. I love the person, not just a part. It's not like she was born to be nasty."
Lilli remained quiet, causing James to frown.
"She had a hard life. She used to have a younger brother and an older sister, but both got killed. Her sister fell in love with a Muggle, but he cheated brutally on her, causing her to kill herself. It was I think in summer vacation before our second year. Lissy was just twelve years old. Her younger brother died in a car crash. She was even there when that happened. They crossed the street and got hit by a car, driven by a Muggle. Lissy was pulled away while her brother got fully hit. The driver didn't even stop. Instead he sped up. It was a hit and run. No Muggle were willing to help. They just stood there and watched. Her brother bled to death in her arms. Lissy witnessed the cruelty of Muggles with her own eyes."
Lilli's expression changed, looking dolefully at him. She wasn't able to say anything at all. After revealing this, she felt sorry for her archrival, even though she wasn't able to do that ever since they met.
"She felt helpless," James said tenderly, knowing that with his words, he might could bring her to understand his girlfriend a little bit more. "We were just in 5 th class. Lissy tried to put a healing charm on her brother but none of them worked. So, I guess you know why she isn't in love with you guys. Lissy is the last child of the Kingcade family and didn't want to disappoint her parents, but rather fulfil their expectations. I love her because of her strength and because of who she is. I love her, because she kind of understand me in every possible way. I know that she would never do anything I despise and that she listened to me."
"Did she?" the witch asked doubtfully, but he smiled benignant.
"I'm the only one, Lissy would do everything for if I asked her to."
"How do you know that?"
"I just do. So, can we please go now?"
He went on first and stepped into the corridor, while she hesitantly followed. One of the reason was, that she still felt shocked about Kingcade's past. Lilli couldn't imagine how hard that must have been for her to lose a brother and a sister at those circumstances. The other reason was that she still wasn't sure if Kingcade was really was he thought of his girlfriend. Somehow, she could picture that girl betraying his trust.
"You know, what happened to her family is awful, but it's no reason to crash others like that. It's not like it was our fault, what those two people did."
"I know that. I'm sure she knows it too, but she can't really control her hatred. I know that because I witnessed that with my own eyes. She's very emotional and didn't hold back with her feelings which then culminated in her getting to far. Nonetheless, she asked for my help."
"She did?" Lilli asked, looking rather suspiciously.
"Yeah, she knows that what she's doing is wrong, so I put it on me to protect her from herself."
"Why?"
"Lissy is a good-hearted witch. She just needs people to watch over her and prevent her from doing something she didn't really want to. I love her too much to lose her to the dark Arts."
'He loves her too much,' she thought bitterly, feeling a painful stab in her heart. Why did he have to say those words? Slowly but surely, she was losing all hope to ever win his heart. With every detail from his relationship with Kingcade, he told her, she understood that they were closer than she thought they were. And to know and accept that hurt so much, she wasn't sure how to deal with that. They kept on patrolling through the floor, pretending to watch out for trouble and didn't change words.
James didn't say anything, because he was afraid that he might have given something away from his girlfriend, he probably didn't have the right to do in front of someone, she never really liked. On the other side, Lilli remained quiet, because she was frustrated of knowing that the guy, she was in love with, was in fact deeply in love with a girl, she still despised, despite everything she heard that night. Those weren't reasons enough to bully anybody like Kingcade did it every day with passionate.
"Lilli, what I told you tonight, promise me to not use it against her. I didn't involve you, so you can get back at her."
"I know that. You have to know that I would never do anything like that."
"Thank you," he said candidly.
"But no matter what. It didn't justify her cruel behaviour."
"And what about your behaviour?" James ask gently.
"My? What's with that?"
"You're not that nice to her as well. Remember in the train? You made her looking very stupid."
"Because everything she said was rubbish. It was your duty as Head Boy as well to correct her."
"I wasn't a prefect, as you know, which means that I didn't have a clue why to call McGonagall first and not Flitwick."
"Because McGongall is-"
"Deputy Headmistress. You've said this quite clearly. I'm sure the whole train got that now."
"I just want to be a good student," she said angered about his incomprehension. "It's important to me to get good grades. I want to become an Auror and it's not easy to get in. As far as I know, they hardly take trainees."
"Yeah, I know," he mumbled, shrugging indifferently. "If you like, we could switch?"
"Switch?"
"I don't want to become an Auror, but it seems like I'm going to be one. How about we just switch? I become whatever you get?"
"Ha ha, very funny," Lilli said, shaking her head.
"I'm serious!" he continued to joke with a big smirk. They couldn't get any further, because suddenly the torches, which light up the corridor went out, leaving them in complete darkness.
"James?" Lilli asked scared.
Now, it was going to happen. She didn't know what, but it would happen at this very moment. He was wrong. Kingcade didn't listen to him. She would have her revenge now.
Something squashy grabbed her hips, causing her to twitch in shock. Spontaneously, she struck out her fist - "Lilli, It's me." - And punched whatever was behind her, which immediately let go of her body. She heard a body dropped down to the floor and a soft grunt.
"James?" she asked worriedly.
"It was me."
Lilli bit on her lips, feeling totally embarrassed. Thank god, it was dark. She was sure she had never become more crimson in her face than now. Did she really just hit her partner with everything she got?
"James?"
"Still alive," he answered wearily.
"I'm sorry... I thought... you know?"
"Don't worry. My abs like to be treated as a punching bag."
As he seems to struggle to get off the floor, she could clearly hear him gasping painfully. Yeah, that was a great friendship gesture of her.
"What now?" she asked carefully.
"Lumos."
The top of his wand was lighting up the floor now.
"Question answered?" he smirked.
"Err, yes," she said slightly irritated. That was really the most obvious thing to do but somehow it didn't pop up in her mind. She was so confused that it was impossible to think rational. Still, it felt good to know that he was there. Maybe he was right after all and Kingcade really didn't dare to attack her, if he was there. Lilli tried to calm herself down, since her knees and fingers were still shaking out of fear.
In the meantime, James were going to the torches to lit them with his wand.
"Inflamare," he said every time he reached one. The corridor then got brighter with every new flame. He arrived at the last one and just lighted it up, before turning back to his partner, who was standing on the other end of the floor, when he suddenly opened his eyes widely in shock.
"Lilli!" His voice echoed in the whole corridor and also in her mind, before she felt a sharp pain crawling up in her head and then everything went completely black. She couldn't see anything, nor could she feel anything. It was just a deep nothing.
It was warm, comfortably warm to be specific. Very comfortable in fact. She breathed in quietly. The twitter of the birds were surrounding her and everything went brighter. The rays of the sun? Was is morning already? Exhausted, she tried to open her eyes, but got dazzled by the much to bright sun, causing her to blink several times, before getting use to the light intensity. Something soft was in her hand, a blanket? No, it was her blanket. Lilli straightened herself, noticing irritatedly that she was in her own bed. How did she get there? She was even still wearing her cloth from yesterday.
"Hey, there. Finally up, I see." Anna was sitting at her bed, smiling relievedly at her. A strange feeling appeared at her right shoulder, causing Lilli to reach out to that spot to touch it. What happened? "You've slept very long."
"Did I? How long?"
"A whole day." Her roommate answered.
"A whole day?" she said appalled. Anna left her own bed to take a rest at Lilli's. Her look was still worried.
"What happened?" Lilli asked.
"Crabbe attacked you from behind."
"Crabbe? Why?"
"Because, he hates Muggles. You are not the first, but you're the first, James interfered. He saved you, because he's a pretty damn good duellist and he will be a great Auror, even though he's reluctant to do that."
"Why did Crabbe attacked me? And why can't I remember anything?"
"Because you got knocked out first. James fought him off. McGonagall gave Crabbe detention for that. She probably didn't now the whole truth, because James brought you here instead of the hospital wing. Since Crabbe used a very evil curse, he thought it would be better if I treated you instead of the matron."
"You did that? You can heal an evil curse?"
"The Slytherins mostly attack with such curses. A lot of them learn those things from their parents, though Madam Pomfrey can't really heal a lot of them. It's not suppose to be common to use those curses at a school like Hogwarts or even from students, who haven't even finished school. But with Voldemort becoming stronger, I suppose nothing is impossible anymore. Pomfrey is a matron, not a professional Healer."
"Then, how come that you can heal them? You are just a student, too."
"I can, that should be enough for you, don't you think? You should be thankful, because Pomfrey couldn't have help you that fast. I'm pretty sure she didn't know how to deal with that curse Crabbe put on you."
Lilli was too shocked to think rational.
"In that case... thank... you... right?"
Anna smiled softly, but walked away from her bed.
"It's okay. I have a faint guess that you did that on purpose to avoid mixing the potion for Ick again."
"WHAT?!"
"Kidding," she said smirking immediately. "James already finished it, yesterday. Ick gave you a good grade."
"Oh... Then... I should thank him as well?"
"Probably, but you will have to wait for that a while."
"Why?"
"James isn't in Hogwarts right now. Dumbledore gave him some time off."
"Some time off? Why that?"
"He got a owl yesterday. His mother is in the hospital after an attack from deatheaters. Her condition isn't good, so the director thought it would be better if her son is with her."
"When did he go?"
"He went several hours ago. Told me to say hi to you and make sure you get better. Seems like you have to put up with me again doing the rounds."
With an amused smile, she was walking to the door when Lilli called after her, causing her to stop and turn around.
"Consider James' mum... how terrible is it really?"
"I don't know," she answered honestly. "But Maria is a fighter and until now she always made it. I just hope, that it will be the same this time. I don't know what's going to happen to the Potter family if she died. See you."
With those words, she left the dorm, leaving a puzzled Lilli behind. So, James was gone now. He wasn't in Hogwarts anymore, but with his mother, whose condition was apparently worse. Lilli suddenly felt bad for him and even more because she couldn't be there for her friend like she wanted to be. He didn't deserve such a tragedy and she really hoped that his mother would make it again. She didn't even wanted to think what her death would do to his already beaten heart.
"James," she whispered worriedly.