So, this is a very crappy chapter. I'm not so proud of it, but I couldn't find any way to rewrite it. I hope to update a lot in the next two days, I have them off school, and I don't have practice.
Dedication - this chapter is dedicated to Mrs Kathy Nichols, for giving me an opportunity to do nothing but write in her class.
After the night she'd had, why hadn't Lily been ready to watch James transform into a stag right before her very eyes? She'd met her ghost, cheated death, almost been killed by the love of her life, but she just couldn't accept James' transformation. But there she was, clambering onto the stag's back for a brief ride to the castle.
"Lil," he whispered, transforming back and catching her before she fell. "You look pale."
"Do I?" she snapped. Oh, no reason. Just that I almost got killed by someone I love, manage to break his illusion, only to watch him transform illegally into a forest creature and back! He seemed to notice she was a tad upset.
"I'm sorry, Lily." He looked defeated. "I just didn't want to walk and get ambushed." Lily just stared. "I should have told-"
"It's illegal, James," she whispered, cutting him off totally. "We just broke the law."
"Lil, nobody has to know," he said, exacerbated. He thought they'd gotten past her stubborn adherence to the laws. "It's fine."
Lily wavered for a moment, fighting the urge to faint. But it had been a very long twenty-four hours, with Anne's death, Voldemort's mind control, James' transformation; she just collapsed. James, with his lightning-fast reflexes, caught her a second before she hit the floor.
He didn't have the strength to carry her to their dorm, and Levitating her body would make her look a bit like a corpse, something he wasn't eager to see. So, since they were so close to the Room of Requirement, he decided to take Lily there. She was very light, lighter than he would've imagined. Sure, she was skinny, but she wasn't anorexic; she was rather curvy. But she weighed no more than a skinny twelve-year-old. He frowned, concerned, but took her to the Room nevertheless. He felt a bit awkward; he'd always planned on taking her there for sex, not because they'd almost had to fight Voldemort the very same night one of his cruelest soldiers killed Anne.
Once you'd used the room enough, and so had your friends for the same purpose, the Room no longer cared which one of you it opened for, nor if another person were already in it. So James wasn't surprised when he opened the door and Sirius was on the couch snogging a girl. He felt Lily beginning to stir in his arms, so he opened his mouth to tell Sirius to take his new first-year to a broom closet.
That was, until Alex Vance peered around Sirius' head the moment Lily opened her eyes.
Both girls screamed at the same time. "Alexandrina Alanna Vance?! I know that's not you!" The silence that followed was enough of an answer for the vexed redhead. "Alex! How could you?! This is not a time to be snogging Sirius Black! You should be mourning! You-"
"I should be mourning?!" Alex screeched. The impending fight was making both boys visibly uncomfortable. However, neither girl seemed to notice their unease. "You're here with Potter," she spat the name, "aren't you?"
"I'm not snogging him, groping him!" Sirius blushed for the first time in years. "He brought me here to let me rest."
Alex snorted. "Rest! He watched you while you sleep, Lily! He-"
"Alex!" "Lily!"
Both girls turned toward the boys. They both blushed faintly. "Alex didn't expect this to happen, Lily. Just… out of the blue…" Sirius trailed off, trying to come up with something that might make the furious witch understand. He had nothing, so he settled for, "She's my girlfriend now, Evans."
This was the wrong time. Lily swelled like a giant balloon; she was nearly at James' chest now.
"And Alex," James quickly interrupted, fearing a true explosion. "Lily went for a walk in the woods with me to clear her head, and she fainted, so I carried her up here." Alex's face instantly cleared of all anger.
"Fainted? What happened?" she asked worriedly. Lily just shrugged and shot her an 'I'll tell you later," glance. Alex shrugged back and turned on James. "I told you to stay away from her! You knew she was exhausted, but you deliberately went up and-"
"He's the reason we're even getting to have this conversation, so I'd back off," Lily said quietly, cutting Alex off and making her gape. Even James and Sirius were stunned. "I'm tired, Exhausted, actually. I'm going to bed, goodnight." She turned and marched out, with James following closely behind her.
"Lil!" he whispered, surprised. "What happened back there?!"
She turned to him, displaying the dark areas between her shocking eyes and her alabaster cheeks. "I'm so exhausted. I couldn't take her shit anymore. And we were starting to sound like Alex and Anne…" Lily's bright green eyes filled with rears. James wrapped her strong arms around her.
"Shh," he murmured soothingly as she started to sob into his chest. "It's going to be okay. If I knew Anne, there was a reason she didn't fight back. Besides," he added, almost as though beginning his last-ditch-effort statement, "you have to be strong for Miranda. No champion can go at this tournament alone. The four of you, Alyssa, Andromeda, you, and Alex, need to band together for her."
How can I argue with him when he's right? Or when those hazel eyes are shining down at me and twinkling? "Okay," she replied shakily. If he knew the devastating effect his eyes had on her, he gave no indication. "Can we go to the dorm now?"
Lily sat dutifully through the first half of Double Charms, the only class she was required to go to the next day, trying to pay attention to Flitwick's lecture. There were only six people in her Advanced NEWT Charms class: Remus Lupin, Severus Snape, Amos Diggory, and Will Sanches. She didn't mind her small class; it gave her a chance to learn better. But when she was this distracted, it was forty-five minutes of pure hell.
"Psst!" Will whispered, shooting her a folded note. Careful to avoid Flitwick's attention, she waited until he turned to grill Snape before opening it.
Lil,
I'm so sorry about Anne. She was pretty amazing. I hope you're okay. Well, as okay as you could be. I'm here if you want to talk.
Are the rumors true? Well, okay, Remus is the only one to have said it, but is Alex really with Black? I thought she had better taste than that. Oh well. Anyways, I just wanted to say I'm here for you. We'll talk when you get back.
Hugs,
Will
In that one fleeting moment, as she shot him what she hoped was a grateful smile, she remembered how normal her life used to be. Friends, family, boyfriends, her strange premonitions… the tears nearly spilled over.
"Miss Evans, Mr Lupin, Miss Black," Flitwick suddenly called out, eyes softening. "It's time."
Those two simple words managed to set off her body's panic sensors. She was shaking, and very nearly hyperventilating. Remus obviously was feeling the same symptoms. Lily gathered her things gracefully, lightly shoving her books in her bag.
"So," she said conversationally, trying to keep the three of them from losing it completely. "Think Flitwick's going to miss us?" Andromeda just shot her a look. Clearly, neither she nor Remus was in the mood to chat. The journey to the Entrance Hall was a very uncomfortable one, the three of them keeping a two-foot bubble of separation.
"Ah, there they are." McGonagall had left her class alone, something she absolutely hated to do, in order to see them off. "Filius kept you a bit long."
Lily nodded, going to stand next to James. She and Alex weren't quite over their problems, and Alex was crying softly into Sirius' chest. That was one good thing that had come of this, Lily mused; Alex wasn't so secretive about her emotions.
"Ready, everyone?" Lily asked, fighting to keep her voice strong. Their party was large, consisting of Miranda, Lily, James, Andromeda, Alex, Alyssa, Remus, Sirius, and Akemi Meilani, so they had to take two Portkeys to Potter Manor. Everyone nodded. "Alyssa, Andromeda, Akemi, Miranda, and Remus, you guys take the quill. Alex, Sirius, James and I will take the ink bottle.
"One," James whispered, "two, THREE!"
Lily's feet left the floor as soon as he said three. She squeezed her eyes shut, hoping against hope that nothing would go wrong.
She felt herself land with an unpleasant bump.
How'd you like it?
I hope it wasn't as bad as I thought!
-irishphoenix615
Thanks to my Reviewers:
Chels: Glad you like it, thanks for the review!
Jagrfkjhduigadrs: Your name certainly is a mouthful. Thanks for the review!
Brianna24: Thank you for sticking with it. Thanks for the review!
Vartan-LoVer: Yes, what she said was of her own accord. And I can't answer your other questions, because they get answered when the group comes back to Hogwarts. But thank you for paying such close attention. Thanks for the review!