JAMES POTTER

And The Road To No Promises

Chapter 21. Out Of The Frying Pan

"All persons will evacuate the school. Please calmly make your way to the nearest exit." Professor McGonagall's voice rang across the ground and through the castle. James exited the castle at a run, looking around and spotting a growing group of people that he knew. Fiona and Landon were holding hands and talking. Millie was on the ground next to them, comforting a shocked Michelle. Demi was kneeling next to the both of them. Lily stood facing away from the others, staring at the burning building with unblinking eyes. As he watched the Lovegoods and Hugo went and joined the group, they all sat facing Millie and Michelle. For sanity's sake James looked around, seeing Amy and her group of friends moving toward the lake. He walked over to where his family was sitting.

"James!" Fiona shouted, unthinkingly letting go of Landon's hand and throwing her arms around him. She pulled back almost instantly and replaced her hand in Landon's, scanning the grounds for other familiar faces.

"Where are Rose and Albus?" James asked in a strained voice.

"No one has seen them yet." Demi answered him, the fearless Quidditch player was obviously one of the more coherent of the group. Just then they saw one of the first floor windows break off from the building, it fell in pieces onto the grass beneath it. First Rose climbed out, followed by Albus. They stood unsteadily and stumbled their way over to the others, Rose had to stop on the way to stomp out the singed end of her robes. They both had sooty faces and their eyes watered from the stench of the smoke that lingered on their skin. Fiona ran toward them, hugging Rose and then Albus.

"You had us worried!" She scolded them, "What took you so long?"

"We had to find our way out from the top floor." Albus explained, Rose wiped her eyes on her sleeves, her eyelids were red from tears that weren't all caused by smoke ventilation. They all took several steps back as the teachers hurried among them, shooing everyone away from the building while trying to find a way to put the fire out. By now the whole school appeared to be engulfed by the flames, they shot out every window and some people were talking about sections they had to pass on their way out where the ceiling had fallen in.

"Thank Merlin you're alright!" Fiona continued

"Merlin had nothing to do with it." Rose spat, curling herself up on the ground. Everyone turned to look at her quizzically, Albus held his breath apprehensively.

"What did that mean?" James asked. Rose's red-rimmed eyes snapped up to her best friend.

"It was all your fault!" She shouted at him, "I told you we needed help, now look what you've done! You've burned down the entire school!"

"It was an accident!" Albus yelled back, "And it was just as much your fault as it was mine! You helped!"

"But it was your idea!"

"What the bloody hell are you two going on about?" James demanded impatiently. Rose locked her jaw and sulkily wrapped her arms around her legs, curling up in a fetal position. Leaving Albus to answer.

"We were just experimenting." He pleaded, "We didn't mean for things to get so out of hand…"

"You did this?" Fiona asked incredulously.

"It was an accident!"

"How do you cause an accident like that!" James yelled, half furious and half exasperated.

"Maybe if Albus didn't have such a big head!" Rose yelled from her vulnerable pose.

"Stop trying to blame this entire thing on me!" Albus roared.

"That's enough, all of you!" Fiona cut across them. Everyone looked at her, she was standing next to Landon with her arms stretched out, her eyes snapped to each member of their circle with stern discipline. "Let's not do this now. We all just made it out of there, blaming people for it isn't going to help, you can explain yourselves later. And believe me; you will explain yourselves. But you're both covered in ash, Michelle is in hysterics, and Lily's in shock. We're all stressed out because we've been looking for each other. Let's just be grateful for now that we've all made it out alive." Everyone nodded mildly. Rose then turned moodily to look at the ground, Albus rolled his eyes at her and James smacked him on the back of the head for it. Lily still hadn't turned to look at them, she continued to stare at the flames licking the roof of the castle. Fiona moved forward and put a hand on the young girl's shoulder. "Come away from there, Sweetie. It's probably better not to watch it, let's go over by the lake." Lily turned to her, worry written on every plane of her little face.

"Where's Ella?" She asked softly. Fiona stood bolt upright, looking around, when she met James's eyes she whispered to him,

"Where's Ella?" He looked around, too. They both took a few steps back, increasing their sights until they could see every group standing on the lawn. Though it was dark the flames lit up the grounds and they couldn't see Lily's little friend anywhere. "Where's Ella?" James asked the others. Everyone turned their head this way and that, each doing a mental head count of everyone present.

"She must still be…" Albus whispered in horror.

"Must still be what?" James demanded his little brother.

"She," He stopped to gulp and close his eyes for a moment, "she was up on the top floor with us, I saw her before we started testing the spell. Up on the landing by the staircase, I saw her watching us from the corridor, she must not have made it out." James and Fiona looked at each other for a breathless moment before taking off toward the castle. Before going two steps Landon caught her elbow.

"What are you doing?" He demanded. James stopped a few paces away, turning to look back to see why Fiona wasn't following him anymore.

"We can't just leave her in there!" Fiona said, trying to pull her arm away.

"Fiona, come on!" James called, turning to look at the castle.

"Don't you dare. Don't you dare, Fiona Finnegan!" Landon threatened.

"Fiona!" James yelled. Her eyes feeling suddenly wet, Fiona jerked her arm from Landon's grasp.

"I'm sorry." She whispered before taking off after James at a sprint. Landon called after her, but she couldn't hear him anymore. She and James were running desperately, in the back of their heads they could hear teachers calling for them to stop, but they couldn't listen, they had to find Ella. Adrenaline pumped through Fiona's veins, she could feel blood pounding in her ears. They ran into the entrance hall which was now almost unrecognizable because of the fire.

"This way!" James yelled over the roar of the flames, "Stay behind me!" He ran up the stairs and navigated though the halls with Fiona right on his heels. Flames were moving along the walls like a living thing, bent on creating havoc, the thick black smoke made it hard to see. When they were on the seventh floor Fiona stumbled just in time for a flaming plank to swoop down from the ceiling in front of her, swinging back and forth like a pendulum on a hinge. She swerved to avoid it, getting a face full of smoke. She spun around, disoriented and coughing uncontrollably.

"Fiona, are you okay?" James called.

"I'm fine!" Fiona had to take a few deep breaths after yelling, "Keep looking!" She fell into another coughing fit. She stumbled through the corridor, determined to find Ella or catch up with James. James used his hands to fan away some smoke when he reached a door, he felt the wood and found it warm. He opened it anyway since he was already surrounded by fire. He carefully made his way into the room.

"Ella!" He shouted, getting no reply. She doesn't talk, he thought to himself, of course she isn't going to answer! Of course she isn't going to scream for help! He fanned away some more smoke, nearing the center of the room, "Ella, please! I need to find you! If you can hear me just call out, tell me where you are, scream, anything!" He didn't get an answer. When he got to where he thought the center of the room would be he lowered himself to his knees, trying to see under the smoke. He saw a small pair of little girl feet not very far in front of him. Desperately he waved the smoke away and saw Ella. For the first time, she wasn't the expressionless little girl. She was standing as a startled Rabbit might stand, her hands and feet poised as though she was ready to run for her life, but she wasn't going anywhere. Her grayish eyes were wide and James saw nothing but pure terror in them as they reflected the flames. Her mouth was dropped open, her skin was pale and sweaty, James had never seen someone so scared. He moved forward and reached out, taking her hand, when he touched her her head snapped up to look at him, completely shocked. "It's okay." He assured her, "I'm going to get you out of here, I promise." He moved closer to her and picked her up. With a few little whimpering noises Ella wrapped her legs around his waist and her arms around his neck, clinging to the front of his torso. He used one hand to support her and his other to fan at the smoke. James carefully made his way back to the door and into the corridor. "Fiona, I found her!" He called into the darkness.

"Okay!" He heard her reply from not very far off.

"Just follow me!" He shouted, starting to move forward so he could finally get out of the burning building. Fiona moved forward too, she couldn't see and she didn't know where she was, but she heard the sound of James's voice and moved towards it, hoping to find him again. James moved as quickly as he could through the building with Ella holding onto his chest, shouting back to Fiona whenever there was a trick step or a missing plank. After what seemed like hours, he emerged from the front entrance and gulped down fresh air very much like a man would gulp water after going weeks without it. He rushed back to the group and pried Ella from him, when he set her on her feet she tottered, but Lily was there to catch her when the smaller girl fell and dissolved into tears. Landon moved forward purposefully, nervously scanning the empty air around James.

"Where is Fiona?" He asked stiffly. James turned to look behind him, no Fiona. He turned the other way and craned his neck, still no Fiona.

"She was right behind me…" James said softly, panic clenching his heart, "We must have gotten separated or…" His breathing accelerated.

"If she dies because she went after you into that godforsaken structure," Landon's eyes glinted with pain and rage.

"Don't worry about it." James answered with his own glint, it wasn't of rage, it was something harder, something much more solid and compelling. "Look after Ella, everyone!" He called over his shoulder, already running back to the door.

"James!" He heard Michelle shriek after him, he paid her no mind. He was running, his already exhausted legs carrying him as fast as they could. He should have thought about how tired he was, but all her could think was: Find Fiona. Find Fiona.

"Mr. Potter!" Professor McGonagall shouted sternly, James didn't see her until he crashed into her, "Just what do you think you're doing?"

"I've got to find Fiona." He tried moving past her but the surprisingly fast old woman blocked him every time.

"That is out of the question, I'm afraid."

"But Professor-!"

"I'm sorry, Potter. I'll not hear a word of it; no student is to enter the building! Hopefully Miss Finnegan has the sense to find a way out or find a place to wait this out, we'll look for her as soon as the building is safe again."

"I'm sorry too." James muttered, sounding defeated enough to catch McGonagall off-guard.

"Sorry for what?"

"Sorry for this." He pushed past her and rushed back into the castle.

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