Hello everyone, three and a half days it is. I guess it took me longer to write than I thought. That, and the wonderful Indian resources which shut our electricity down for ten hours straight.
So... this chapter is probably the only one I haven't proof-read, and it's definitely not as good as the original draft (Argh, why did I have to lose it?) but it's the best I could do.
Read and review! :)
"You're kidding. Second place?" Sirius roared, Hestia smacking his arm repeatedly to keep him quiet. People were starting to stare. "After winning against Slytherin? SECOND PLACE?"
"Okay, Jerk, get away from the hourglasses!" she whispered urgently, and eventually succeeded in dragging him off to the school grounds. The Gryffindor rubies seemed to sparkle in shame as they left them behind, Sirius still stomping his feet and screaming in frustration.
"How? We beat them 450- 200, and there they are, sitting grandly with a hundred points more than us-" Sirius looked like he was going crazy.
"Calm down!" Hestia said. "You have another match in March. You'll be ahead then. And maybe if you don't keep going around flirting with McGonagall, you'd save yourself another score!"
"But I love her," Sirius said with mock love-stricken eyes, and Hestia was forced to elbow him in the stomach. He winced. "Gosh, for a girl, you're strong."
It was a grey morning towards the end of January. The day was warm but the snow still hadn't completely melted yet. The news about Bellatrix and the Potters spread a couple of weeks ago, and at the time, everyone had gone mad with grief, but they were all recovering now. Sirius had actually bawled his eyes out for a whole day.
And, well, everyone was recovering except James.
"So, Jerk…" Hestia started smiling. "What're you going to be doing tonight?"
Sirius could tell by her tone of voice that she was asking for a snog session, and he was ready to blurt out 'nothing' until he realized that it was a werewolf night. He'd have to accompany Remus. "I can't believe I'm saying this," he shook his head, "But I'm going to be doing my Astronomy homework."
"You. Are. What." Hestia gaped. "Sirius Black. Doing Astronomy, avoiding me, holy Merlin."
"Uh…" he smiled awkwardly, and he could tell she wasn't buying it. He'd never been a very good liar. "Yeah."
"Hmm. Yeah. I don't believe it," she said. "What are you actually going to be doing? Planning a prank? A bit too soon for that, don't you think?"
Sirius wanted to say 'no' but no words came.
And before he knew it, he was spilling everything. About how Remus was a werewolf, and how he turned in the Shrieking Shack every full moon, and when he finally came to the part where they were Animagi, he couldn't say it. He had a horrible feeling in his gut that he was making a huge mistake in telling her, but he couldn't keep the secret forever.
"It's a full moon tonight," she said, after having quietly listened to him the whole time. "Astronomy homework, my foot. But then, where are you going to be going?"
Yeah, thought Sirius, there's the loophole.
"Well… it's quite a funny story, really…" he stuttered, playing with his fingers. "Promise you won't punch me?"
"No."
"Fair enough. Here it is…" he trailed off, and he couldn't feel his stomach, let alone his legs. "Okay. Okay. Oh Merlin, if this weren't so hard…"
"Shut up. And tell me!"
"Fine," he sighed. "The truth is that me and Prongs and Wormy, we're A- Ani-" he tore at his hair. "Aargh! Why!"
You have five seconds before I turn you into a statue," Hestia narrowed her eyes, obviously getting irritated.
"Fine. For the sake of Sir Cadogan. We're Animagi."
A moment of silence. Maybe two. Sirius buried his face in his hands as if expecting his girlfriend to punch him, but none came. Slowly peeking through his fingers, he noticed her staring at the wall like a statue. Ten seconds and she didn't move. He began to grow a bit worried.
"Uh… Twat?"
"What animal?" she said suddenly, and he couldn't even see her lips move, but of all questions, she had asked that one.
"I'm this huge black dog," Sirius replied, lowering his hands but still keeping his distance from her. "And I'm really cute."
The last sentence actually made her smile.
"You're an Animagus," she repeated, asserting herself, and he nodded. "An actual, real live animal. Wow. Unbelievable."
"All of us turn on the full moon so we can accompany Moony and keep him from terrorizing the earth," he added, and her eyebrows shot up.
"You go with him?"
"Calm down! We haven't died yet!" Sirius jumped, his hands flying to his face yet again, but Hestia made no motion to move. "But. Yeah. That's what I wanted to tell you. What do you think?"
"Hmm. As long as you won't die on me," she said, making eye contact for the first time. "And you promise to show me that huge, cute black dog-"
"His name is Snuffles."
"Snuffles," Hestia giggled. "Nice. As long as you promise me that, I'm okay with it."
"What." Sirius' mouth was hanging open in amaze, and he was feeling an urgent desire to kiss her a million times. "You're serious."
"No, you are."
"That's the first time someone's used my jokes against me, no fair!"
Smiling, Hestia sank to her knees at the edge of the frozen lake and gestured for him to sit down too. "I just can't help wondering how Lily-Petal took the news. She must have gone crazy, finding out about James being a… a…"
"Stag."
"Wow, right," she blinked. "Oh, I would kill to have seen her face!"
"Twat…" he bit his lip, darting his eyes back and forth between her and the ground. "I hate to break this to you, but we haven't exactly told her yet."
Hestia went rigid.
"You're kidding. Tell me you're kidding."
"No, not really."
"Well then," she sighed. "I feel really sorry for James right now."
Lily Evans stormed across her the Heads' Dorm, her hair flying and her mood ready to straighten out the ends of the earth. She was angry, so angry. And worried. Which was the worst part.
Darting up the stairwell to James' room, she went up to his desk for the billionth time and ran her eyes over the book and papers littered there. She could hardly believe that he had done all that research, for weeks on end, only to get where he wanted. And now he was gone.
January 21
James has been acting distant ever since we came back from the Mansion. He didn't even flinch when McGonagall yelled at him, as I told you, and now he's… he's this different person. Always locked up in his room after hours, working on something I have no idea about.
What's happened to him?
I feel like crying. I don't even know him anymore. Yes, he's been slowly recovering, but so slowly that its almost unnoticeable. What can I do? He looks like he needs to desperately go to St. Mungo's again. It's true. And terrible.
I want to help him, but I don't know how. We've barely talked. Like I said, he's keeping his distance, and that's why I'm so angry.
Maybe one day he'll come around.
-Lily
Lily ran the diary entry from that morning over and over in her head, ready to throw something heavy out of the window at that moment. Her hands found papers on the desk, and she read them for the thousandth time since that morning.
Lestrange.
That word screamed up at her from everywhere, from newspaper articles and books, and she had begun to think that James had let the matter rest, but of course he didn't. Why would he? He had nothing left to lose now, according to him, everything was gone.
Except her.
And he didn't realize that.
Hence the anger.
"Petal?"
Whipping around, Lily came face-to-face with Hestia, who was looking at her with apprehension etched on her face. She suddenly realized how mental she must look, with her tangled hair and bright eyes, her hands flying wildly across the books.
"What's happened?" taking a few steps towards her, Hestia leaned down over the desk and started to read the mess.
"It's James. He's gone missing."
"He can't have, it's Friday morning and we have Herbology! There's no way he could have made it out of the castle!"
"He probably did it at night."
Lily could feel Hestia's gaze on her, and she felt like vanishing. It wasn't like her to act this way, but how could she help it?
"Gosh, Lily, are you okay?" draping her arms across her best friend's shoulders, Hestia led her to the bed and they both sat down. "You don't look it."
"Of course I'm not," she said. "He shouldn't have done that. What is he, an idiot?"
"All guys are."
"He should have told me," she kept a hand over her forehead. "And then maybe I could've stopped him. Bellatrix is going to kill him now, for sure, Hest, what do I do?"
She could tell that Hestia had no words. Grimly, Lily stood up and walked over to the window. Her eyes started to burn, but she didn't let herself cry. Watching the grounds, she wondered how he had escaped- Floo Powder, again? It would have been easy with his Invisibility Cloak. But she doubted whether she could do the same now, since McGonagall was up and about her office.
"I don't want him to die."
"I don't either," said Hestia.
Lily stood there for a while, and Hestia sat there for a while, the silence creating a buzzing sound in their ears. It looked like it was going to crash down on them.
"Alright. Stop it," Hestia said loudly after a few seconds. Standing up, she walked forward and took Lily's arm. "Petal, I can't believe I'm saying this, but we are going to go look for him. Right now. We're going to figure out where he came from and leave this God-forsaken castle."
"What, are you serious?"
"Of course I am!"
"But we have Herbology."
"And your stupid boyfriend is out there getting his butt kicked!" Hestia's statement seemed to override Lily's as she grabbed one of the strewn books and flipped through it. "It's high time someone didn't get saved by an Evans but by a Jones. You've got to swear, I'm going to be doing all the dramatic stuff! Okay?"
"Sure," smiling, Lily started to look through papers as well. It took them quite a long time, probably around half an hour, before they found out where James had gone. He'd left for Bellatrix's house. It was so obvious, and Lily actually couldn't believe it at first, but then again of course he had. She wouldn't have expected less.
"Oh, come on, James, can't you give it a rest? Hestia sighed in frustration.
"Wait! I think I know how to get there without Floo," A light bulb clicking on in her head, Lily crossed of to his trunk and slowly withdrew the Marauder's Map.
"What's that?"
"A key out of here," she frowned. "Oh, Hest, I can't believe we're doing this. Again."
An hour later, they were walking through the secret passageway leading to Honeydukes. Tired and grumpy, Hestia was making faces the entire way, but Lily looked determined. At first, Hestia couldn't fathom the principle behind the Map but she had silently absorbed everything as Lily told her. And now here they were, after disappearing from the hump of the one-eyed witch, aiming to take a Floo ride from Hogsmeade instead of from Hogwarts. It was a brilliant plan.
Except from one little thing.
"Oh, where are we going?" a snide voice (with a hint of triumph) rang out from right behind them.
Turning around with ever-increasing holes in their stomachs, the two friends felt scared out of their wits as another person turned the corner, resting one hand on the wall and the other on her hip, glaring at them like they were in serious trouble.
And they knew her perfectly well.
"I have to say, Evans, sneaking off like this during school hours? Tch tch, it's not like you," Phillipa the Veela scrunched up her face in disapproval.
"What are you doing here?" Hestia spluttered, feeling fury rise inside her. She hadn't spoken to Phillipa since before the winter vacation.
"It's quite simple, really- I followed you. You made it so easy," stepping forward, Phillipa flicked a lock of Lily's hair and watched her furrow her eyebrows with apparent pleasure. "And here I am, a teacher's pet, wondering whether I should turn you in…"
"Please, you don't understand," Lily protested with gritted teeth, "A life is at stake here!"
Pondering it for a moment, Phillipa eventually threw her head back and laughed. Hestia hated it; she really had a beautiful laugh. Soft and lovely but still taunting. "Oh, don't tell me. James Potter? Ah, young love. It's quite sad, I knew he was going to die at an early age."
Lily refused the urge to deliver a slap to her pretty face. But boy, was Phillipa making it hard for her; her hand itched to grab a hold of her wand, just centimeters away in her pocket, and cast a nice Stunning Spell at her heart.
"Let this bitch rot in hell. Come on, Hest, let's go," Lily spun around, deliberately smacking Phillipa's face with her hair, and Hestia followed her.
"Stop right there," the veela said commandingly. "I'm prepared to offer you a deal."
"We don't want to strike a deal with you!"
"So you'd prefer being ratted out to Dumbledore?"
"Forget it. We're running late. He might already be dead by now," Lily half screamed. "Have a heart, Phillipa!"
"Oh shut up, Evans!" Phillipa threw her hands in the air with an irritated expression. "Here's the deal- Bones, Sirius will be my property for one day. And then you can have him back for eternity. If your promise me that, I won't tell."
"WHAT?" Hestia's scream echoed around the tunnel. "You're not serious. How can you still be on that?"
"That's all I ask."
"I'm sorry, you're going to be so abysmally disappointed, but no," Hestia snarled, and she looked like an angry bull to Lily in that moment. "And it's not like he's willingly going to step into your embrace anyway!"
"One day, Bones."
Right then, Hestia used a swear word so offensive that she would have been given a week's worth of detention just for whispering it. Phillipa's eyes widened, but she didn't say anything. Instead, she pulled out her wand with amazing speed and non-verbally cast some spell on the both of them in under three seconds.
It wasn't for a minute that Lily found that she couldn't talk.
She had been hit with a powerful Silencing Charm.
"It's all so easy," Phillipa sneered. "You let me have him for one day, and your precious boyfriend lives," she said the last part to Lily. "Oh! And one more thing- you let me come with you. Don't think I haven't got a score to settle with this Lestrange woman."
A score to settle? Lily wondered what that meant, but she didn't let herself think too much on it. Desperately, she threw a pleading glance at her best friend, trying to make her understand what she wanted with just moving her eyes. Hestia stared back. Finally she let out an inaudible sigh and shrugged, nodding her head dejectedly.
"Wonderful!" Phillipa clapped her hands together, not showing any kind of motion for removing the charm she had placed on them. "I'm glad you obliged. You won't regret it."
Starting forward, she grabbed their shoulders with each of her hands and dragged them towards Honeydukes, as if they were old chums walking home from a movie. The entire time, Hestia and Lily had an entire conversation with only eye-contact, without the Phillipa's notice.
Thank you so much, Hest, said Lily.
Don't. It's alright. I'm going to tell Jerk. We'll think of some way to embarrass this girl. She's never going to get her hands on him.
Wish there was something I could do.
Stop trying to act noble and all, and stare ahead. Miss Filled-With-Crap is going to notice us. Oh, if only the Giant Squid were here...
Wait! I have an idea, Lily's eyes grew wide with excitement, like she was congratulating herself. Holy God, this could work! But I'll tell you later.
"Here we are! Honeydukes sweet shop. Mind if I buy a couple Sugar Quills while you find a way out of here?" Phillipa asked. Lily gestured to her mouth, trying to say that she couldn't reply without the charm being lifted. Rolling her eyes, Phillipa waved her wand and Lily and Hestia gasped, trying to regain their speech.
"The rule of the game is that we have to get out without Mr. Flume noticing, dear," Hestia spat.
"Of course," Phillipa licked her lips. "But I'd rather complicate the equation."
Shaking her head, Lily reached up for the trapdoor and coughed as dust rained down on her face. The door creaked open, and, shaking cobwebs out of her hair, the redhead placed two hands on the cold floor and heaved herself up.
The cellar was empty. Crates were pushed up against the wall and above her, she could hear Flume, the shop-owner, whistling to himself. Getting to her feet, Lily threw a hand downwards so that Hestia could catch it. After she came up as well, Lily had half a mind to slam the trapdoor in Phillipa's face, leaving her to wither in a damp passageway.
But no, they had made a deal.
"Hurry up, Laroche," Lily allowed the girl to take her hand. "We haven't got much time. It's already ten in the morning!"
"Calm down, Evans," Phillipa said, brushing dirt off of her robes and huffing. "It's not the end of the world."
One thing was for sure, she seemed o be enjoying herself. Inflicting torture was probably one of her specialties. And Lily couldn't even stop her before she kicked the trapdoor backwards and it slammed into place with a loud thud. Grinning evilly, Phillipa watched as Hestia's and Lily's eyes grew wide with horror, and listened to Flume's voice suddenly diminishing.
"Phillipa!" Hestia whispered vigorously. "He's definitely going to come down now!"
"Oh dear," she sighed. "What have I done?"
Shoving her away, Lily ran across the room searching for a fireplace. There was no end to that girl's malice. And, what was worse, she didn't appear to care whether she got caught as well. Her gaze darting around rapidly, Lily eventually located a fireplace at the very end of the cellar, its coals looking recenty burnt-out.
"Over here!" she gestured, as footsteps sounded on the stairs above them. Flume was coming. Darting forward, Hestia began to look for Floo Powder while Lily pushed crates, trying to make cover. And all the while, Phillipa had her arms folded with an amused expression.
"Petal! I found some!"
"Great!" grabbing the box from Hestia, Lily unscrewed it open. "You know the venue, right?"
"Of course. 27 King Street."
"Hmm, Elsa, are you here?" a deep voiced roared, awfully close to them. The two girls jumped, assuming it was Flume's. "I heard something down here, thought I should check…"
"Okay. As soon as we light the fire, he's going to see it," Lily whispered, feeling her insides deaden. "We've got five seconds to get out. I'll go first, and then Hest, and then you," she nodded towards Phillipa, who only shrugged.
"Sounds good." Hestia agreed.
Whipping her wand out, Lily made a fire with her 'Incendio' Spell, and quickly chucked the powder into it without a moment's hesitation. As soon as they were through, Flume would raise the alarm; but she didn't care. That wasn't what mattered. They could get expelled for all her concern.
Speaking the address, she stepped into the fire.
James held his breath as he sat in an abandoned closet at 27 King Street. Spiders had settled themselves across his ears, but he didn't notice. His entire being was focused on that one thing.
Kill her.
He hadn't let go of his wand for over five hours, and he was sure that if he stood up right now, he'd fall over almost immediately. He'd been sitting, in that exact same position, for the whole morning. He was waiting for Bellatrix to come home, and he was sure she would; but right now, all he could hear were Cygnus and Druella Black talking to each other in low voices. They'd been talking the entire time he was there.
It was pitiful, really; Till now, all he could feel was overwhelming sadness and a large hole in his heart, but now it was replaced with excitement and eagerness. He had been working on this for weeks. He knew it was wrong, and that the grief was making him delusional, but what could he do? It wasn't easy to forget his family, especially since he'd spent Christmas with them. It was as if he believed that if he accomplished what he had set out for, it would bring him peace at last. He'd never been a killer, it was true, but this bloody woman deserved to die.
Shuffling his feet around a bit, he tried to adjust his position for the first time. It wasn't too easy, because the space was a bit too cramped, but he managed it in the end.
A door slammed.
"Mother, Rodolphus and I have come to pay a visit!" a high-pitched, drawling voice shrieked. James sat erect, recognizing Bellatrix's voice even before he had time to register it. They had encountered once, a long time ago.
"Bellatrix?" Druella said, and the sound of chairs scraping against the floor was heard as the mother and father stood up.
"I've come to ask for a favor."
James' heartbeat skyrocketed as Bellatrix's voice sounded astonishingly close to him. Gripping his wand tighter than he ever hand, he moved a little so that he was in a crouched position, the bottom of old coats tickling his head.
"What is it?" asked Cygnus.
"It is about the Dark Lord," the man James assumed was Rodolphus answered. "Bella is of the opinion…"
"Oh, be quiet, Rodolphus," snapped Bella. "Mother, how about you set the table and we'll discuss this over an early lunch?"
"Fine," Druella murmured, saying it as though her daughter's word overpowered her own. James waited until he was sure that both Mum and Dad had vanished into the kitchen, before he braced himself and prepared to come out.
His hand on the door handle, he was about to push it open before something held it back. Was it… doubt? Yes, probably. He was about to use an Unforgivable Curse. And something inside him told him not to.
But that was before he swung the door open.
If he had expected a dramatic appearance, it never happened. As he was stepping out, he tripped, and only his quick reflexes saved him from being killed by Bellatrix on the spot. He watched at the woman turned around to look at him, and shabbily stood up with his hands on his wand, aimed directly at her heart.
"Potter?" she said in shock, but not loud enough for her parents to hear. Rodolphus, a thin brown-haired man beside her, drew his wand in a jiffy, pointing it at James, who kept alternating his aim between the couple.
"Long time no see," he said stiffly, eyes burning in hatred. Finally, she was standing before him, and he had the upper hand. It took all he had not to kill her then and there.
"Summer of '68, I believe. I tortured your grandmother. Oh, I remember it so well," Bellatrix seemed amused, sliding her wand out of her pocket, acting like this was an interesting twist to her otherwise boring morning. "And right in front of your face. You should have seen it, Potter-"
"Shut up," he ordered. Druella and Cygnus were still in the other room, having absolutely no idea what was currently happening in the hall. "You don't get to talk."
"Here to kill me, are you?" Bella frowned. "I could have expected as much."
"You disgrace of a lady," he said in rage. "You kill in cold blood. Now it's all going to be over in a few seconds; you'll be killed yourself."
"Bella, who is this boy?" Rodolphus asked. Bella ignored him.
"Today is going to be a fun day!" she cackled suddenly, firing a bright orange spell at James, but he ducked just in time. The blast went whizzing over his head, shattering an ornate photo frame on the wall behind him. In the same moment, Rodolphus shouted 'Expelliarmus!' and if it weren't for his quick thinking, he would have been disarmed and would have fallen into the welcoming arms of this murderer.
"Bella? What's going on?" Druella entered the room, blinking as she saw a seventeen-year-old boy dueling two adult Death-Eaters in her house. And, sadly, that was when she too joined the battle, Cygnus following her five seconds later.
It was four against one.
He really hadn't thought this out very well.
"Protego!" James yelled as two spells came in from two different directions. It was all he could do to keep himself from getting maimed.
"Don't be sad, Potter, at least you'll die a heroic death!" Bellatrix laughed as Cygnus hurled a Cruciatus Curse at him. He lunged to the side, and the curse missed by only a fraction. He had been lucky so far, and it was probably only because of his Quidditch skills.
"I don't plan on dying."
This was the moment he'd been waiting for. The moment of truth, the moment where he had to kill her. He was surrounded. There was no other chance, and the Black family, along with the one Lestrange, were closing in on him. He'd gone this over a thousand times in his head- but as he was standing here, he realized he couldn't do it.
And it was in that precise moment where he knew he couldn't, that he fired.
"AVADA KEDAVRA!" he bellowed, closing his eyes and a glowing green jet shot out of the end of his wand, sending powerful vibrations through his arm. His head was about to burst open. He couldn't believe he had actually done it, but despite everything, he knew that he closed his eyes because he didn't want to see himself take a life. Even though it was Bellatrix's.
"No!"
What? This was a new voice. Female. James' eyes flew open as he backed up against the wall, noticing shiny silver hair run through the doorframe. She had fired a spell straight at his own, with astounding aim, deflecting it so that it smashed into a table and blew it up almost instantly.
Phillipa.
And behind her, Hestia. And then Lily.
What in Merlin's name were they doing here?
There was no time for talk as the three girls charged in like stampeding elephants, wreaking havoc in the once-peaceful room. James barely had time to lock eyes with Lily once. As the fight went on, he sent a Stunning Spell at the back of Rodolphus' head, knocking him out before he could reach Hestia.
He expected a 'thanks' from her but she only gave him a glare.
"James! Come here!" suddenly Lily was beside him, tugging on his sleeve and begging him to follow her. Reluctantly, he followed her into a desolate room as the others were left in the hall.
"You shouldn't-" he began, but she cut him off.
"Take the Floo Powder, and get back to Honeydukes. I'm right behind you. Hestia and Phillipa will be too in a few seconds."
He would have objected, but before he could, she threw some powder in herself and shoved him inside. Whirling around in an abyss for a whole minute, his hands and legs finally came to a rest on the cold dusty floor of the ever-familiar Honeydukes sweet shop.
There was no doubt about it- he was angry. They had no reason to butt in like that. He had almost had Bellatrix, if it weren't for Phillipa. She was one second close t being dead.
So then why did he feel grateful?
"Ouch!" came Lily's voice as she crashed into his feet. Staggering forward, James held on to a crate as she got to her feet.
"Lily."
"Please don't talk," she muttered, smoothing down her hair. "Let me say this before Hestia comes. You've been abominably stupid."
"You shouldn't have come."
"You would have died!"
Shaking his head, James turned around. "No. That's not what I'm saying. I mean… you shouldn't have come, but thanks."
Lily blinked.
"Promise you won't do something like this again?" she asked.
"Look…" he trailed off, not knowing what to say. A minute ago, he wanted to kill a lady. He still did, in fact, but when he saw them running in to help him, something changed, and he didn't know what it was. "I'm going to be an Auror soon."
The conversation sounded utterly ridiculous, and she would have said something if Hestia didn't come shooting out of the fireplace.
"You. Bloody. Idiot." She coughed between each word and, standing up, she didn't hesitate to deliver a thorough slap to his cheek. Cringing in pain, James began to rub the spot while Lily tried to get her to calm down.
"Hest! Easy!"
"My parents died too, but did you see me running around acting like a mentally damaged killer girl?" Hestia said wildly, keeping her voice as low as possible so that Flume didn't come down again.
"Are we leaving or not?" Phillipa, who had just arrived, blew grey smoke from the tip of her wand and eyed the two friends. "Cygnus is dead, by the way. I hate to say I killed him when he got stunned and fell against the edge of a table. Quite sad, really."
Silence followed her words. No one wanted to say anything, and the only sound was of the ragged breathing of four teenagers. Flume's whistling was still prevalent upstairs.
"James. Glad you're okay." Hestia said finally, a cold tone to her voice. It was as if she had given up a lot to get here, but James couldn't pinpoint it.
"That was intense," he replied. "I'm sorry. Lily, I'm sorry. You're right. There's no use rushing into things- I can murder her when I'm older."
"There's not going to be any murdering!" Hestia said.
"Save the talk, we have lunch to get to," Phillipa snorted. "Man up, Potter. You had three girls coming in to save you. Not something to be proud of."
Turning around, she walked up to the hidden trapdoor and, feeling around for a few seconds, she found the handle and threw it open. As she disappeared down the staircase, Hestia went next and then it was Lily.
"James, can I say something?" said Lily suddenly, like she hadn't thought of saying it but the words just came flying out of her mouth.
"'Course."
"It's my birthday in a bit. Please don't be sad and distant on my birthday."
He felt like laughing, for the first time I days. "Don't worry, Lils, I won't be."
Smiling back in apparent happiness, she ran forward and gave him a big hug before following her friends into the hidden passageway. James felt terrible now; he hadn't realized that through all of this, he was probably ignoring Lily for most of the few weeks since the incident. But not anymore. He would make it up to her.
They were walking back through the tunnel. Hestia in the front with her chin up, Lily and Phillipa behind her, with James forming the rear. A single file line, like they were an army marching towards an enemy camp. Again, the silence was so profound that it felt like they actually were marching towards an enemy camp, because dead feelings seemed to hang in the air.
"Laroche," Lily whispered, calling Phillipa by her last name. This questions had nagged her for a long time. "You deflected his curse. Why?"
"I don't know," Phillipa's snarl was audible even when she said it so softly. "It was in the spur of the moment, Evans. Now keep tight and look ahead."
Lily kept quiet for a few seconds, letting her mind wander. Yes, she hated Phillipa. But that hatred was less pronounced now. Yes, that bitch had inflicted hell on her best friend, but she had still saved a life, even if it were for her own selfish reasons.
"You know, you aren't all bad," she said, so that only Phillipa could hear. She knew her well enough to determine that she could expect either no reply, or an overly smart answer.
Well then, overly smart answer it was.
"Be careful what you say, Evans. Once I've gotten my day with Sirius, I'm going after Potter Boy next."
Why do I like the last line so much?
Anyway, you can expect another chapter up in around a week and a half... it's going to need some thinking on. And from now on, the story is going to be loads less intense. The way I like it :)
Stay tuned!
