The Houses Competition (or THC)

House: Gryffindor

Class: Transfiguration

Category: Standard

Prompt(s) chosen.: [Themes] Trying (or succeeding) to understand what somebody is going through; [Location] Room of Requirement/Come and Go Room

Word Count: 2269

Disclaimers/triggers (which would make it a high T - abuse, non-canon death): Light swearing; canon (or non-canon?) deaths

Beta: Secrefanficlover, Copper's Mama

It happened exactly at 8:14am.

James, Sirius and Remus had decided to go down to breakfast early and were very surprised when they saw a regular brown post-owl sailing towards them.

"But, regular posts come at 8:30am," Sirius said, as he looked at it warily. It was a time of war. Anything which didn't act ordinarily was a suspect.

"Except for emergency owls," Remus reminded him as he propped open the hefty Charms book. NEWTs were right around the corner and he still had to perfect quite a few charms.

James froze as he heard of emergency owls. He kept muttering, 'it can't be. Please no. Anything but that.'

"What is it, Prongs?" Sirius asked as he stopped buttering his toast and looked concernedly at his oldest friend.

James didn't seem to hear him as he opened the envelope. His eyes quickly scanned through the letter. By the end of it, he looked utterly and completely devastated.

"What is the matter, James?" Remus asked, his brows furrowing.

"Yeah, James. You're scaring us!" Sirius agreed.

However, James didn't say anything and simply stormed out of the Great Hall.

"What the-?" Sirius asked as Remus picked up the letter.

"Sirius, read it!" Remus hissed at him.

Dear Mr. Potter,

It is with my deepest condolences that I inform…

"Holy shit!" Sirius swore after reading it. It was a mark of how serious things were that Remus didn't rebuke him.

"We need to find James!" Remus said as they packed up everything, took a toast to chew on and rushed out of the Great Hall.

They searched high and low for James but couldn't find him. There was only one place where James could've been - the Room of Requirement. They rushed to the seventh floor and stopped in front of the stretch of the wall opposite to the tapestry of Barnabas the Barmy trying to teach the trolls how to dance.

'A safe place to mourn,' thought Remus as he tried to find out which type of room James was in.

'A place with Fleamont and Euphemia's images,' thought Sirius. After half-an-hour, they finally hit gold - 'a place where Sirius, Remus or Peter will not be able to disturb me'

Unfortunately, this meant that they would not be able to enter since the Room had specific instructions to block them out. However, they couldn't leave James to mourn on his own. Who knows what type of comfort he might resort to? They decided to give him time to mourn but, even after the classes ended, when there was no sign of James, they went to ask for help from the least-likely person.

"Evans! Oy, Evans!" Sirius called out and watched as Lily stopped and looked around. Normally, she would've walked away but she could hear actual concern in Sirius' voice and James had been missing ever since morning.

"What is it?" she asked irritated.

"Look at this," Sirius said, shoving a piece of parchment under her nose. Remus kindly took her books as she read the letter.

At the end of the letter, it became clear why James was missing. She felt sympathy for the boy. How hard it must've been for him! And, just before NEWTs too.

She knew why they had called her and what she had to - no, wanted to - do.

"Where is he?" she asked.

"In the Room of Requirement. But, do you want to? I mean, we have bullied you and your friend and...well, we are very sorry for that but I would understand if you didn't want to," Sirius said in a rush.

"My, my, Black. You've grown to be a bit mature after all," Lily said, raising an eyebrow.

"Yeah, well. Things like that happen when your dearest mother throws you out of your house," Sirius said, shrugging, as if it wasn't such a big deal. Lily was shocked. How could a mother throw out her own child to the streets? But, it wasn't the time to think of it.

"Okay. Take me to the Room."

...that Fleamont Potter and Euphemia Potter passed away at exactly 3:04am on 29th May 1978 at St. Mungo's Hospital for Magical Maladies and Injuries.

"You need to think 'a place where Sirius, Remus or Peter will not be able to disturb me' three times as you walk up and down in front of the blank space," Sirius prepped her.

"Got it," Lily said.

"Thanks, Evans. You are doing us a great favour. We won't ever prank you or your friends again," Sirius said seriously.

"Thanks," Lily said, looking shocked.

Remus and Sirius disappeared and Lily did what Sirius had told her. True to his word, a plain wooden door appeared out of nowhere. She went to open it but the door was locked. She tried to open it with magic but it wouldn't budge. Finally, she shouted, "Let me in, Potter! Or I swear!"

"Go away, Evans!" came James' voice. Good, he was talking at least. Though his voice sounded angry and sad at the same time.

"No! Open up! Or I will go to McGonagall and-"

"And what, Evans? Please, go away. I don't want to talk to anyone," James' voice switched to a slightly pleading tone that completely melted her heart.

"Look, I know you are mourning but you have friends who are more than willing to help you. Please, come out Potter or let me in. Don't isolate yourself," she said in a soft voice.

She heard a sigh and the sound of a chair being pushed back. Finally the door opened.

It seemed like James had cried, but not overly much. Now, his face looked like it could've been carved out of marble since it was so blank, so expressionless. Nothing like her James.

Wait. Her James? Nope, nope, nope. She didn't think that. She didn't think about how much James had matured or how handsome he looked. Nope. She totally wasn't thinking how she would like to kill everyone who flirted with her James.

"You're irresistible, you know?" James asked with a wry smile, "Come in."

Lily went in and saw a more muted version of the Gryffindor common room with a few changes. There were no posters and there was a table made of marble and two comfortable chairs. Not like the Gryffindor common room.

James must've sensed her confusion for he replied with, "Family living room."

"James, look-"

"What did you call me?"

"James" Shit, why did she do that? Oh no. That was totally not in the plan. James Potter seemed capable of rendering her intelligence into nothing by just being in the same room as her.

"Oh. Can I—can I call you Lily?" Well, let it be said that James Potter is a true Gryffindor through and through.

"Yes."

Shocked.

"Okay, so, as I was saying-"

"Urm. Sorry to interrupt but who forced you to come?"

"No one. I came on my own. Sirius helped me understand your...predicament," Did he truly think that she was heartless enough to turn her face away from a problem that was not hers but was deeply affecting someone else? She was not Narcissa Black, sorry, Malfoy!

"Oh. Thanks, I guess,"

"James, I can't say that I understand what you're going through but please, tell me what you are feeling. Maybe I can help you," Lily pleaded.

"How do I feel? Well, I feel like my whole world is falling apart. Like some sort of monster is squeezing my heart and I feel so much pain. Like I want to break down and cry but I can't summon up the energy to. Like I want to scream at the world for being so unfair to me but that won't change a thing. I feel that I would do anything to bring back my parents but I can't. Why did it happen, Lily? Why?" his voice broke at the end as he closed his eyes and took several deep breaths.

Lily scooted towards him and said softly, "Oh, James. I am so sorry. Were your parents suffering from some disease..?"

"Dragon-pox. They had been admitted the previous month. They were old. The Healers told me that there was a high chance mum and dad wouldn't survive but I held onto a thin ray of hope. Fat lot of good it did to me."

Lily knew enough about dragon-pox to know that the patients feel like everything is burning from inside. They were in tremendous pain.

"But they were in pain," Lily said in a soft voice, "It must've been unbearable for them. Wouldn't you like to make sure that your parents aren't in pain?"

"You mean to say that it was for the good they died?" James asked bitterly.

"No! Of course not. I just-urgh! Why are you so impossible!"

"That's my natural charm, Evans," James said, winking.

"No. Not Evans. Call me Lily or whatever suits your fancy,"

"Okay then, Lily."

"Could you say anything about your parents?"

"My mother was...light and carefree. Her voice would make the songbirds cower in shame. She had a big heart and couldn't stay mad for long but when she was, it was a terrible sight to witness.

"My father, on the other hand, was a tough, more down-to-earth kind of person, you know? He worked as a curse-breaker when he was young but left that profession after I was born. Then he started working on improving potions and created Sleekeazy Hair Potion.

"He instilled values in me and the harshness of life. He would play chess and we would discuss various strategies for hours on end. He had experienced Grindlewald's rise and fall so he told me to be cautious.

"My mother taught me piano, everything that a Pureblood should learn like Occlumency. She also taught me some of the phrases Dumbledore is oh-so fond of saying. Both were excellent people with brilliant hearts."

Lily was surprised at the thoroughly detailed explanation. At times, however, he would feel angry at himself. Lily let him rage at the world for losing his parents, for everything. She thought that it was probably dinner time and realized with a jolt that James must've been hungry.

"James? Aren't you hungry?"

"...No, are you?"

When she came to think about it, no. She didn't feel hungry even though she knew that much time had passed and she ate little-to-no lunch that day. Deciding to worry about it later, she said, "No. I'm not."

After what seemed like an eternity of James being angry - she could really do with a muggle clock seeing that she couldn't read the wizarding one correctly and the Room of Requirement won't provide something that interfered with magic, a lesson she learned the hard way - she said, "James, could you tell more about your parents?"

"Sure. I think you might want to see some pictures," instantly, a wooden box appeared filled with what she assumed were James' parents' pictures.

Then, he opened the box and took a picture out. It must be Fleamont and Euphemia Potter. They were beautiful. Euphemia had James' black hair forcefully tied in a ponytail with pale skin, beautiful, angular, delicate features, mile-long legs, almond shaped violet eyes and a kind smile. Fleamont Potter, on the other hand, had somewhat-tameable black hair, tan skin, handsome features like that of a Greek God, hazel eyes and a kind smile. They looked so different yet they obviously loved each other as Fleamont captured Euphemia's lips in a kiss.

James started explaining the story behind all the pictures - and there were quite a few. Lily adored hearing about the antics of baby-James and his accidental magic. His pouty face was so adorable that Lily had to bite her tongue to not coo at him. By the time it was over, James said, "Thank you so much, Lily. I feel so much lighter now. I'm so sorry that I bullied you and your friend but, please, forgive me?"

"I don't know if I can forgive you just yet for all the things that you have done but we can be friends," Lily said.

"Wha-? We can?"

"Of course," Lily almost grinned as she saw James' face brightening, the dullness retreating from his eyes and his face becoming more emotional.

"Okay then!"

"Come on then, let's go out. I don't know about you but I would like some chocolate...Jamsie,"

"Nooo! Don't call me that!" James wailed, his face the picture of mock-sadness. They looked at each other for a second and burst out laughing.

"Come on! We need to leave before it is curfew time and the others become suspicious of where we have been!"

"Yeah, let's go," James agreed and they walked out of the Room, watching as the door vanished.

It took James quite a few months to get over his parents' death. Every year, on their anniversary, James would visit their graves with Lily and talk about how everything was going on.

James also started properly dating Lily and the Marauders almost ceased their pranks except for a couple here and there - a fact about which the teachers were terribly confused and happy. Seven months after graduation, James finally proposed to Lily to which she said 'yes'. James and Lily started taking their own pictures to put in a wooden box to tell their experiences to their son, who they named Harry - after Lily's father who died in a car crash, James - after his father.

James took his small family to his parents' graves and happily recited everything about Harry.

Ironically, Fleamont and Euphemia were married on 31st October 1946.

A/N- Hope you like this story. Have a wonderful day/night.