A.N: Hey guys. I'm really sorry for the long gap. I've had a lot going on, but with the summer holidays coming up, I have a lot more spare time. I also lost connection to my fan fiction e-mail so I wasn't notified about some of the newest reviews. I'm really sorry for not responding and sending you chapter previews. I feel terrible and I hope you're still willing to keep reading this story. I was going back over this story and I've got to admit, I'm not very happy with it so far. Although I'll keep updating, I'm going to go over each of the chapters and edit them. I will notify you about any important changes to the story, though I don't think there'll be anything major. I've already written the next few chapters so I should be updating fairly regularly.

Guest – Thanks. The film was really good. Even though it came out a while ago now, if you haven't seen it, I recommend it :)

The Yoshinator – Yeah, he does come off as a bit of a jerk. But I think that makes it interesting… ;)

Katsumi Kobayashi – Sorry I took so long to update. :) But here it is… finally -_-

Leopardlover005 – Thanks, I'm glad you like it. And I can finally post it now that my internets back up :)

Hogwarts 7777 – Good guess. Cant exactly tell you if your right or not though cause it'll ruin the story ;)

Thanks for reviewing. I love reading them XD Now on with the chapter

Disclaimer: I don't own the Harry Potter series or the magical terms ect. I only own my own characters. :(

P.S: This is the edited version of this chapter. Thank you for all of the reviews so far. I'm sorry about the typos and I hope I've corrected the all. I'm also looking for a Beta so if you know of any that would be good for this story please pm me. Thanks :)

Chapter 13 – Help

A jet of light shot out of the end of James's wand as the incantation left his lips and flew through the air towards the falling figure. As the light hit the figure, it wrapped itself round and began to fade slightly. James kept his wand pointing at the figure as he watched, his teeth gritted in anticipation and eyes squinting to get a better view as he waited for his spell to take effect. He knew it wasn't powerful enough to stop the figure from falling completely but it would serve its purpose. Sure enough, the high speed that the falling figure was travelling decreased, though it was only by a tiny amount. However, slowly, by slowly, the speed decreased. By this time, the figure was only a few meter above the lake and was now falling at a speed that would injure the person as much as diving from one of the higher diving boards would, though, unprepared, it would hurt, it would be nothing compared to the damage the figure would have received without use of the spell.

James let his hand, which was gripping his wand, fall down from his side and he let out a breath of air he hadn't realised he had been holding in. He had done it. He watched as the figure fell the remaining meters and, with a splash, was submerged in the water. Though, the figure was safe, he did not move his eyes from the area in the lake that the figure had dropped in. He waited for it to remerge from the waters depth and, after a few seconds, it did, thrashing and struggling. He squinted again, trying to get a better view of what was happening. It seemed as if something was trying to pull the figure back under the water. He took a step closer and was now balancing on the bank of the lake. He stayed like that though, not moving away to re-balance himself nor did he forward, into the water. That was, until he saw the head belonging to the figure plunging under the water once again.

He hesitated for only a moment before pulling off his cloak and slipping off his shoes and flinging them on to the grass behind him. With a deep breath, he dived into the icy waters of the lake water.

Alex's cloak fanned around her as the air rushed past her. Black hair flew around her, obstructing her vision and her head felt dizzy from lack of oxygen as the oxygen she had been storing up was being put into her loud scream and, in her terror, she hardly found time to breath. Her eyes were shut tightly and her hands clenched into fists. Her head was in a mess, she wasn't sure which way was up and which way was down, if she was in fact falling or if she had imagined it all and was now flying through the sky with her broom. Actually she wasn't sure of anything, especially when she felt the speed slowly decrees. The only thing she was absolutely sure of was that she was completely and utterly terrified. This was not a good thing as it drove her scream, making it harder to pause to take breaths. Instead she tried to think of happier thought. Yes, she had imagined all of this; she was actually just flying through the air on her broom. Yeah, that was it. She could feel the wind on her face and her cloak and hair flying around her. She should have worn it up. It was getting annoying. But she couldn't put it up now; she would have to wait until she stopped. Maybe she should go back down. No, it was okay. She could bare it a little longer. Anyway, she had to practice so that she could beat that stupid and arrogant James Potter in the quidditch games. Yeah, she could beat him; even if he had his fancy broom. Suddenly it started raining; hard. The water was icy cold and seemed to be everywhere. It was all around her. She took a deep breath and it entered her mouth and swam painfully down her thought and into her lugs.

Her eyes pulled open and she clawed her throat which burned painfully. She really was surrounded by water, which was icy cold. She realised that she must have fallen into the great lake and wondered why she had survived. Not that it mattered; in this case, her outcome of survival was more or less the same as falling of a broom from thousands of feet. But she couldn't give up. She forced her head upwards and, seeing a faint light, pushed her arms and legs to move. She wasn't sure how she did it and, though it wasn't very successful, it was good enough as she managed pull her head out of the water and take a lungful of air before she started to sink again. She thrashed her arms and legs wildly trying to stay above water and managed to resurface a few times, but, way too soon, her arms and legs grew tiered and in her head screamed her would be voice – had she had enough oxygen to spare to make the sound – which gave her an excruciating headache. Her eyes closed involuntarily and her protests died out as she felt herself being submerged in the great lake's icy grasp once again.

Though her body was still as it sank, her mind was still somewhat conscious as the air escaped her lungs and rose in the form of bubbles through the water above her. She slowly took a breath and winced as the water slid down her throat and added to the water already resting in her lungs. Time seemed to slow in her hazy mind as she drifted through the water. Her thoughts clouded over and she was about to submit to unconsciousness when a feeling, stronger than anything she had felt before, exploded in her minds, causing a pain worse than the water in her lungs. The feeling was brutal and merciless and forced the tears to slide from her closed eyes. Regret. Everything she had done was in vain, not only that, but she had not even tried. Not even had the chance. How could she die when the ultimate deed that had to be done be forgotten? How could she leave justice un-served? Her answer was the only clear thing in her mind, she couldn't. But she couldn't change what was happening. It was beyond her power. She may have been top of her class but she didn't know any resurrection spells that would bring her back from the dead, because that's where she was sure she was headed. No she didn't have that power. She was helpless to the situation. She squeezed her eyes tighter closed and prayed with all her remaining will power. Please give me another chance. Nothing happened.

Just as she was giving up hope and her thoughts had once again scattered and were in the proses of melting away into the freezing water, she felt two warm arms wrapping themselves round her waist. She gave a feeble push, trying to get away, thinking of the scary things that lived at the bottom of the great lake, but the warm arms tightened themselves round her limp form and then, she felt herself being dragged though the water and then, suddenly, the arms pulled her from her icy cage and out into the air above it. She felt herself being half dragged, half carried up and completely out of the water and then she was lying on the warm ground.

Shouts surrounded her but she couldn't make out what the voices said. Warm hands hit her repeatedly on her stomach and water was forced out of her mouth. She gasped and spluttered as the water forced itself out of her lungs and, once her lungs felt empty of water, she carefully opened her eyes and, when they obeyed, looked around her. Three faces peered down at her, all of which were familiar. She had seen these faces, earlier that day. It was the same day, wasn't it? She wasn't sure. It seemed like a lifetime ago.

"Are you okay?" The boy with the blond hair asked stupidly.

"Of course she's not." The boy with the dreadlocks said, rolling his eyes at the blond.

The other boy said nothing, just watched her carefully. Alex noticed that he was dripping wet and his usual smirk was wiped clean of his face, instead leaving a concerned frown.

Alex moved her hands and used them to try to push herself into a sitting position, which was unsuccessful. Her arms and legs felt like led and her sudden movement made her head spin. She gave herself a short minute to recover before trying again. This time, a pair of hands, which both belonged to James, helped her up.

"What the hell happened?" He asked, his eyes cold. Alex was about to answer when he stopped her. "Never mind." He stood up after this and looked down at them. He was so tall, Alex realised. Though maybe it was due to the fact that she was still on the floor. "Come on; let's get her to the hospital wing." He said and the other two, Ash and Louis, also stood up. Without another word, they went to the entrance to what she had just realised was a small clearing, and grabbed their bags, Louis had one and Ash carried two, the second was probably James's.

James, who hadn't moved from his spot standing up, turned to Alex and held out his hand. Hesitantly, she took it, and he helped her up. She tried to stand but her legs were unresponsive. James, seeing this, caught her before she fell back to the ground, and lifted her up and onto his back. Saying Alex didn't like this position would have been an understatement, but she said nothing instead gritting her teeth and folding her arms round James's neck to stop her from falling. Though she didn't like James Potter at all, she was grateful that he was helping her.

"Oy, Louis, bring her cloak with you." James shouted over to the blond boy, who, seeing what he meant picked up a damp dark cloak. Her cloak? Alex repeated his words in her head. Seeing as she was the only 'her' there, it was obviously hers. But then what was she wearing over her uniform now? She could feel an unmistakable warmth radiating from the heavy material that hung of her shoulders and was fastened with a cold, metallic button at her neck. She looked down and, yes, she was wearing a cloak. Only it was too big and… dry. How could it be dry? Her hands tightened round James neck and cold water seeped through her sleeves from James's shirt. It was then that she realised that James was not wearing a cloak over his wet uniform. Had he let her borrow his cloak when he was equally as wet? That seemed to be the case. But why? The questions swirled round Alex's head. None of them seemed to make any sense. Didn't James hate her for pouring water on him in the train? For embarrassing him? For squashing his pride? She had thought so. But if so, why would he save her and lend her his cloak?

As she felt James's body moving under her as he began to walk, she tried to turn their positions round in her head. If he had poured water on her, would she be mad at him? Of course she would. But she would've still helped him had James, or anyone, been in her situation and she would have lent him her cloak. But she still would have disliked him.

Having come to this conclusion, Alex sighed and rested her head on James's shoulder. Though he didn't shake her off and Alex didn't remove her head, it was clear neither of them where comfortable in this position. In truth, Alex actually desperately wanted not only to move her head away, but to get of his back and walk the rest of the way, but her head ached. As she concentrated on the pain, it grew and grew and she let out a moan of pain as her head exploded and high pitched noise screamed in her ears – though she doubted it was really there. Now the movement of James underneath her worsened it. Each long stride jolted the pain up into a new level of sever-ness. She felt black blotches float across her vision and she fought to make them stay away. Though it was disorientating, she could still cope well enough to hear a voice calling out to her.

"Hey, Alex. Are you okay?" The voice came from next to her head and sent a wave of pain into it.

"Y-yeah." She managed to get out. "Just a headache." She said, toning the situation down. She wasn't extremely worried because she knew exactly what was happening to her. She knew what the source of the problem was. Migraines. She had been having them since she was around eight years old and, though they were few and spread far apart, they all followed a similar pattern. They usually occurred when she was stressed or something had happened and her mind was plagued with questions and confusion. The pattern was fairly simple. They attacked fast and suddenly and first gave her an excruciating head ache which would be worsened by sound, movement and change in light, next her vision would cloud before she would finally blacked out. True to her word, not long after James had asked if she was okay, she grew limp on his back, her hold round his neck slackening.

At first James was relieved; her strong grasp had been on the verge of strangling him. But when he felt her body slacken against his and felt her arms which had been gripped tightly round his neck just a few seconds ago fall away, he grew alarmed. He gripped her more tightly onto his back as he felt her body start to fall and called out to his two friends to come and help him. Between them, they managed to reposition Alex back onto James's back but this time it was James who held her up, not herself. It was evident that she had fainted and, though the three boys weren't sure why she had, it was obvious that she wasn't going to wake up soon, so with more care, they continued on their way back to the school.

To say Madam Pomfrey was surprised to see the schools famous bad boy, dripping wet, carrying an unconscious first year girl she had never seen before who was also soaked to the bone into the school hospital would be the understatement of the century. Her eyes widened and her mouth hung open in shock as she looked at the students. The hospital wasn't very big and had not changed in the least in appearance for years. Madam Pomfrey, like her mother before her, liked to keep things in order and, when she had taken over the position of the school nurse a few years ago when her mother – the original Madam Pomfrey – retired, she had left things like they had been before. As her and her mother shared the same last name, not even her name tag had needed to be changed and, had a previous student from Hogwarts who had been there at Madam Pomfrey senior's time had revisited the office, maybe to pick up a sick child, they would have noticed no change except from maybe one. Madam Pomfrey looked nothing like her mother. She had long blonde hair which she usually wore in a ponytail and quirky brown eyes. She was fairly tall and not the least bit plump. The one thing she did share with her mother though was her friendly personality, caring nature and her love for medical magic.

So, as soon as she had recovered from her shock at seeing the two drenched students, she transformed into nurse mode.

"What happened, are you two okay?" She asked James as the girl was still unconscious. The concern in her voice was true, though, she had to admit, she had no love for James Potter as he was stuck up and bullied the other pupils relentlessly.

"I'm fine. I'm not too sure about this one though." He gestured as best as he could to the girl on his back. It was difficult as his hands were busy supporting her, lest she fall off. Instead he kind of jolted her accidently and she let off a moan.

"What happened?" Madam Pomfrey repeated gesturing for James to follow her further into the hospital.

"I'm not sure." He answered as he followed the nurse through the room. "We just heard a scream then she came falling out of the sky."

Madam Pomfrey stopped in her tracks. "We?" She asked. James turned and angled his head towards the door. By the door Madam Pomfrey saw two pupils she had not noticed before. Ash Jordan and Louis Weasley, two more common trouble makers though they were not as bad as James. "Oh." She said before continuing walking. "Why are you both wet?"

"She landed in the lake; I went to help her out." James answered. By this time they had reached one of the many sterile white beds and Madam Pomfrey gestured for James to lay the girl down. He did so, careful not to jolt her again, and turned back to Madam Pomfrey who didn't seem to be done questioning him.

"Was she unconscious when she landed?" the nurse asked as she bent down and felt for the girls pulse at her wrist.

"No. On the way back to school she said she had a headache and then she fainted." He said dismissively, not wanting to show the nurse how much this actually bothered him. She didn't seem to buy it.

"Well, her pulse is strong. She should be fine. Some magic and sleep should sort her out. Nothing I can't handle." Madam Pomfrey saw how the tension in James's face relaxed slightly and she smiled. "Okay, just come this way and answer some questions for me and then you'll be good to go. Make sure to drop by in the morning. She should be awake by then."

James nodded his head as he followed Madam Pomfrey out of the hospital and into her office, looking back just once at Alex's unconscious form.

A.N: Hope you liked it. I found this chapter a little bit hard to write but I did my best. How's the story so far? What do you think of James? Are there any events you would like to see take place in this story? I have a lot of unplanned chapters available. Please leave me your views and comments as a review. Thanks for reading and I'll have the next chapter up next week :)

Smileytiger :P xxx