Disclaimer: If you happen to view this while I'm still in the process of revamping Chapter 35, things may not line up exactly. The outcomes are the same, I'm just changing the Headmaster removal process to be more in line with cannon :)
"I want to live, I want to give. I've been a miner for a heart of gold." – Neil Young, 1972
Hours later, James Potter climbed a few steps, popped open a discrete hatch and managed to go up onto the roof of the Castle. His agitation continued to drive him mad. Still dressed in his Quidditch robes, the Captain let out a small grunt of dissatisfaction as he started to pace back and forth, his boots angrily stomping across on the stone roof. He maintained his sour mood and ignored the fantastic view of the emerging sunrise just beyond the Suspension Bridge. But once the sky turned a variety of pinks and yellows, James finally caught the sun's blinding force and shielded his eyes. He stumbled slightly before sitting down and adjusting his glasses; he tried to ignore the bright spots in his field of vision.
"Potter! Come down here, at once!"
James froze, knowing that voice all too well. He gulped and slowly made his way over to the hatch to climb back down and face Professor McGonagall. Once inside, he hung his head in shame. Her practiced frown was fierce, signaling that she not there for petty small talk.
"Potter, you are to report to the Headmaster's office."
This took him by surprise.
"But I haven't done anything wrong!"
"Headmaster Dumbledore will inform you of the details. Now go."
James curtly nodded his head as a sign of respect and moved towards the stairs. McGonagall, however, stopped him and placed a hand on his upper arm.
"Potter," she said in a soft tone, "you are one of the best Quidditch players I have ever seen. Yesterday's result does not change that."
He froze; McGongall had never spoken so highly of him. Yet, she quickly reverted back to her usual, stern demeanor.
"But the next time you decide to brood on top of this Tower, remember that my office is at the bottom of it - your incessant stomping interrupted my peace and quiet!"
James tried not to laugh. His Head of House rolled her eyes and he flashed her a grin just before tucking down the stairs. As McGonagall made her way back to the First Floor, the Head Boy quickly traversed the Castle to the Headmaster's office. After running down the Gargoyle Corridor, he took a second to catch his breath and uttered the password.
"Ice mice."
The Gargoyle statue moved aside and James lunged up the emerging staircase. When he finally entered the office, he took another moment to catch his breath.
"Ah, Mr. Potter. You're here," Dumbledore greeted. His wrinkled hand gestured towards the front of his claw-foot desk. "Would you please take a seat next to Miss Evans?"
James' eyes widened. Dumbledore's tired tone and Lily's presence only meant one thing: something terribly wrong had happened. He lowered himself onto the spindle-legged chair and threw a remorseful look over at his girlfriend. Yet instead of giving him the cold shoulder, Lily reached out and grabbed his hand. The dire situation quickly mended the pair back together again.
"I have called you both to my office to inform you," the Headmaster began, "that there was an attack, earlier this morning."
"Where?" asked James.
"Please don't say Cokeworth," Lily muttered under her breath.
"I'm afraid it was here, at Hogwarts."
Both Heads glanced at each other, their faces draining of color. Lily's bottom lip began to quiver and James squeezed her hand.
"Who was involved?"
Dumbledore took a deep breath and folded his long fingers together behind his back as he made his way over towards his ornate desk chair. Once he sat down, he hesitated before answering.
"Gemma Rawnsley and Luciana Rosier, I'm afraid."
"Merlin!"
"Gemma attacked Luciana? Or - or the other way around?"
"Miss Rawnsley was attacked by Miss Rosier," Dumbledore clarified, "just after midnight. She forced her to drink an experimental potion that triggered a prophecy."
James exhaled as he slumped in his chair. What was Luciana thinking? What had Gemma seen? And more importantly, what was he going to tell Sirius? He pushed his glasses up his nose, trying not to think of his best mate's eventual reaction.
"Where is Gemma now?"
"Madame Pomfrey kept her in the Hospital Wing for a few hours, but I am afraid she had to be transported to St. Mungo's for further monitoring."
"St. Mungo's?"
James stared down at his shoes, still unable to process the Headmaster's jarring words. His mind wandered back to Sirius' reaction, and as he ran his hands through his messy hair, he began to dread passing on the terrible news.
"What did she see, Headmaster?" Lily asked timidly.
"I do not know for certain. She came to my office for safety and tried to communicate her visions to me … but alas, she was too bewitched to make any sense. She named her attacker, but not much else."
"Headmaster … Gemma didn't happen to foresee anything involving an … overthrow, did she?" Lily pressed. James' eyebrows popped up in surprise, but his girlfriend avoided his gaze.
"She did not," Dumbledore remarked. "But may I ask why you are so interested in this particular topic?"
Lily gulped and let go of James' hand.
"Someone warned me," she admitted, "that there is going to be an overthrow here at Hogwarts. At first I thought the information was just a weak excuse to get my attention, but after hearing about Gemma … Headmaster, I think someone wants to take your job."
"I can assure you, Miss Evans, that my post as Headmaster is quite secure," the old wizard explained, a small smile tugging at his lips. "A chief administrator can only be removed by the Board of Governors … which is not an easy task, getting them all to agree. But I will not take this threat lightly, for we are currently living in very dark times. Very dark, indeed."
Silence fell over the office and James' thoughts continued to whir. Who had told Lily about the potential overthrow? Why hadn't she mentioned it before? And how was Gemma? Was she ok? Was she going to return to Hogwarts? Sirius – oh Sirius, how was he going to take all of this without breaking down completely?
"So what can we do?" he finally begged.
"James -" Lily began, but he quickly cut her off.
"Headmaster," he implored, looking Dumbledore directly in the eyes. "Hogsmeade, Aberdeen, Rosier's assault, this overthrow … they all sound avoidable! So what can we do to stop events like these from happening? Tell us – tell us what we can do to stop Voldemort!"
James' hand slammed against his chair with a whack! and Lily flinched. Dumbledore, however, remained cool, calm and collected. He adjusted his half-moon spectacles and folded his hands together on the surface of his desk.
"Mr. Potter," he said, "while your enthusiasm shows your dedication, I must caution you against taking it upon yourself to stop Lord Voldemort. He is a very powerful Wizard and would easily destroy you if he had the chance." James hung his head in shame, feeling slightly daft for bringing up the subject. "But if you are serious about fighting him along side other like-minded individuals, then I have one question for you and Miss Evans … are you able to cast a Patronus?"
Both of them nodded their heads and signaled that they could; Dumbledore's smile grew into an eccentric grin as he pulled out his wand from beneath his robes. He closed his eyes, and without uttering a single word, cast a full Corporeal Patronus. The Headmaster's phoenix burst across the room and James couldn't believe how strong and fully developed it was. He automatically reached for his wand to demonstrate his own mastery of the spell, but Dumbledore held out his hand to stop him.
"That will not be necessary, Mr. Potter, I believe you," he said. "Miss Evans, you may also put your wand away." James glanced over at Lily to see that she was also mid-cantation. "I only asked because we pass along information through our Patronuses – to keep things secret."
"We?"
"Secret?"
Dumbledore smiled again.
"I would like to extend an invitation to the both of you," he explained as his Patronus settled onto his shoulder and slowly disintegrated, "to join the Order of the Phoenix. We are a secret society dedicated to combating Lord Voldemort and his Death Eaters."
James let out a yelp of joy.
"I knew we weren't the only ones who wanted to stop him! Oh Lily, wait 'till I tell the boys -"
"James," she said quietly as she glanced at Dumbledore, "I don't know if they've formally been invited to join …"
"If you are referring to Messrs. Black, Lupin and Pettigrew, then you would be correct. They have not been invited, but only because they have never asked to be, as you have just done."
"I know they would if they had the chance," James urged. "Please, Headmaster …"
"I will meet with them on a separate occasion then, Mr. Potter," Dumbledore answered. Both wizards pushed their glasses up their nose and smiled at each other appreciatively. "But now, we still have the matter of the attack … Gemma will remain at St. Mungo's until the potion's effects wear off. She may need to stay longer, but it is unclear at this time. Professors Sprout and Slughorn have been notified of the situation and will alert the other staff."
"And Luciana?"
"Miss Rosier has been expelled," Dumbledore answered curtly.
Even though he thought she deserved the expulsion, James couldn't help but gulp; Dumbledore had never kicked someone out of school during James' entire time at Hogwarts. Luciana was a vile witch – that went without saying – but she was also a Seventh Year who was just about to take her NEWTs. So why would he decide to expel her instead of giving her detention until the end of the term?
And that's when James fully understood Dumbledore's logic. If Luciana was expelled before she could take her NEWTs, then she could never go into the Ministry because departments required several passing scores to serve as an employee. She would most likely become a Death Eater, but at least she would not be able to abuse a position of power to spread Voldemort's ideals. James smiled. Dumbledore's wisdom still continued to surprise him year after year, and since he was planning on joining the Order, he supposed it would continue to surprise him in the upcoming ones.
"I will not make an official announcement, but as Head Girl and Boy," Dumbledore continued, "it is your duty to inform all interested parties about the circumstances that occurred earlier this morning. Miss Evans, I believe that will require a trip to the Hufflepuff and Ravenclaw Common Rooms and Mr. Potter … I believe you will only need to return to the Gryffindor male dormitories."
"Yes, Headmaster," Lily confirmed as she rose from her seat. James quickly joined her.
"Very well then," said Dumbledore. "I will leave you to your business."
Just before the pair left the elaborately decorated office, they locked eyes with their mentor and nodded as a sign of respect. Dumbledore smiled tenderly and gave them a nod in return. Shortly after they left his office, they flew into each other's arms.
"Oh James, I'm so sorry -"
"No Lily, I'm sorry -"
"I should have told you about Severus' warning -"
"I never should have yelled at you -"
Before they could interrupt each other again, James lowered his lips onto hers. After a few minutes, both of them forgot they were snogging in the middle of a public corridor, but were not disturbed due to the early hour. When James finally pulled away, he noticed that his girlfriend was trying to hold back tears.
"I should have been honest with you. When Snape cornered me during the Slug Club meeting, I thought I could handle things by myself … which lead me to not taking anything he said seriously. I thought he was trying to get a rise out of me – I should have been more careful. Merlin." She took a moment to sniffle. "He always brings out the worst in me. My friendship with him is something I've actively been trying to forget, but that's easier said than done."
"Well knowing all that, he probably was trying to bother you."
"He blamed you, you know. For ending our friendship."
"Naturally," James spat.
"And I told him you're absolutely everything to me," Lily admitted. "That if there was going to be an overthrow, I would be by your side to fight it. But I didn't expect his threat to actually be true."
They both looked down in remorse, reliving their earlier conversation with the Headmaster.
"Thank you for being honest," James finally said. Lily smiled in return. "But you're not the only one with a vindictive side. It's just – I wanted to win the Cup so bloody badly since it's my final year … I'm sorry for taking out my anger on you."
"That might be my fault as well. Sirius warned me about going to see you and I completely ignored him."
"Ah," James remarked. "Yes, well he learned that lesson just after Third Year when I made the team. I take Quidditch losses way too personally. I have to let off some steam before I can have a civil conversation with anyone."
"Thank you for being honest, then," Lily echoed with a smile. "Well … I guess I'll go alert the band."
"I – I'll," James began, his voice beginning to crack, "find Sirius, then."
Lily placed a supportive hand on his shoulder before walking down to the Castle basement; James made the long trip back to Gryffindor Tower. He dragged his feet the entire way, trying to think of the best way to tell his best mate that his ex-girlfriend was currently in St. Mungo's, and once he reached the male dormitory, gulped as he opened the door.
"Prongs!" Remus called from his bed.
"Told you he'd only need twenty four hours, give or take," Peter muttered.
"What's wrong?" Sirius said coolly from the other side of the room. He'd read James' face quite easily. James looked up from the floor and tried to say the speech that had been forming in his head, but even though his lips moved back and forth, no coherent sounds came out of his mouth. Instead, he gasped for air and clutched his chest as his heart began to race. His panic attack continued to accelerate and Sirius flew across the room and carried James over to his bed.
"Don't faint!" Peter squealed. James did his best not to.
"Chocolate?" Remus offered. Once James' breathing pattern went back to normal, he wrenched the chocolate out of his hand and stuffed it in his mouth.
"I've got some Frogs if you want 'em," Peter suggested. James nodded – quickly finding that chocolate was the only real definition of happiness – and shoved the sweets down his throat. He finally swallowed, but felt his throat tighten when he caught Sirius' protective stare.
"Prongs," he asked again, "what's wrong?" James looked at him forlornly before deciding that the only way to tell him was to speak the honest truth.
"Gemma's been attacked by Luciana." Peter squeaked nervously; Remus gasped in awe; Sirius did nothing. "She was forced to drink an experimental potion that triggered her to make a prophecy and now she's in St. Mungo's for further monitoring. Rosier's been expelled."
He could only look at Sirius. The pureblood's face started to blanch, but he swallowed with determination and tried to keep an even keel.
"Dumbledore doesn't know when Gemma's coming back to Hogwarts," James finished softly.
"I – I can't believe it!" Peter whimpered. Remus was still speechless, but let out an aloof sigh.
"Padfoot," James implored as his friend continued to mask his pain with an unreadable poker face. "We're here for you."
Sirius looked up from the floor, his features stern and harsh; his grey eyes turned cloudy and tormented. He quickly rose from James' bed and took several strides across the room to find his Beater's bat. Once he retrieved the object, Sirius flung it over his shoulder and angrily raced towards the door.
"Padfoot!" Remus called and James stood up to stop him. The two boys locked eyes, neither willing to budge. Sirius finally growled and lost the staring contest by rolling his eyes.
"Prongs, I've had a hellish twenty four hours – we lost the Cup and now you're telling me that the girl I'm still in love with is in St. Mungo's and you don't know when she's coming back." Sirius held up his bat dramatically. "So instead of pranking Snivellus or shagging some bird, I'm going to express my anger by smashing some Bludgers into oblivion."
James' eyebrows popped up in surprise, but finally let his best mate storm by him.
"Well, I never thought I'd see the day," he said, completely bewildered.
"It seems Padfoot has finally matured," Remus remarked with a slight smile. James laughed and set his attention on Peter, who was shaking in his bed across the room. He cocked a brow, but started laughing even more when he realized that the other Marauder was sitting in a puddle of urine.
"Ha!" he exclaimed. "Wormtail got so scared he pissed himself!"
Remus snorted with laughter; Peter's face reddened with embarrassment and he wrapped his arms around his legs, pulling them towards his chest. James continued to howl with glee as he fell back onto his bed. His anxiety and stress left his body with every laugh and finally, he felt whole again.
"Thanks mate," James grinned. "I needed that."
He was so tickled that he didn't notice Peter rocking back and forth, muttering obscenities under his breath.