When they came to the more shallow water it was apparent that
it was very stormy day. The current pulled at Lily as if the beckon
her to return to the deeper, more calm parts of it. Lily had half a
mind to do so but she kept swimming until she could still be underwater
and the 7th years could stand with their heads above water. Soon
Dumbledore was running from the castle and into the water. Dumbledore
pointed at her. "Returnskilhumans" he said "Lily felt her tail split
her bikini bottoms form onto her and Lily's gills seized up. She broke
the surface of the water and gulped in air. Without her fins Lily
couldn't swim. A Griffindor realized this and pulled Lily into his arms.
"Hello Lily, my name is Jonathan Donbeg. You can call me Jon." He
carried her to shore and set Lily down on her feet. Her knee's knocked
painfully together as she toppled over. "Are you ok?" Jon asked as he
kneeled down next to her. "Y-yeah, I don't think I can walk though."
Jon pulled off his cloak and wrapped it around her shivering body. As
they made their way back to the castle the wind seemed to try to keep
them from getting inside. The wind whipped her hair into her face,
which stung. The rain came down in torrents as they climbed the stairs
to the castle. Lily heard the loud talking in the Great Hall full of
students eating lunch. "How long have I been missing?" Lily asked,
"Well, you were kidnapped September 2nd and have been missing 7 months
and a week, meaning today is April 9th. This is one of April's
notorious showers." Jon gave his head a shake and sprayed Lily with
water from his brown hair. "I've missed 7 months?" Lily squeaked, "Am
I going to be kicked out? I'm so behind!" Jon smiled "Don't worry
about it, Little Mermaid, Dumbledore has something up his sleeve."
"How long have you been searching for me?" "Ever since you
disappeared," Jon told her "The volunteer parchment to find you was
over 7 feet long. Many Griffindors, Hufflepuffs and some Ravenclaws,
and no Slytherins. After 3 month all the Ravenclaws dropped out and
some Hufflepuffs. After 5 months a lot of the Hufflepuffs and
Griffindors gave up. Who were there today were the hopefuls. It's
finally paid off!" They had finally reached the Hospital Wing. Jon saw
Madam Pomfrey storming over to them. "This is my cue to leave." Lily
said goodbye to him and then faced Madam Pomfrey and for the next hour
underwent check up after check up. Finally Lily was allowed to go to
Dinner.
Jon came to carry her down to the Great Hall since she still
wasn't that good at walking yet. The whole hall burst into noise when
she came in. As soon as Jon put her down in a chair, Teagan jumped on
her with a huge hug. James, Remus and Sirius were next. "Lily, I've
missed you so much! It's so creepy sleeping in the dorm alone!" Lily
smiled at them as they filled her in on what she had missed. Then,
they listened spell bound as she told them all about being a mermaid
and all about Camden. When dinner was over, Teagan and the others
wanted to go to their common room to play wizard chess. "Hey there
little mermaid." Dumbledore needs to see you and which ever one of
you is James Potter." Jon told them as he picked Lily up. Seeing the
looks her friends gave her, Lily quickly explained that she couldn't
walk. Jon, Lily and James went to Dumbledore's office where he was
waiting for them. " Ahh, thank you Jon for carrying Lily." He placed
Lily in a chair. "Would you please wait outside and then when I'm done
with them, please carry Lily back to the Griffindor common room."
"Wait," James said, "Headmaster, I could carry Lily back." Dumbledore
nodded and he dismissed Jon. "Lily, you've missed almost all of school."
Dumbledore began "We're going to perform a spell that will basically
copy everything that James has learned this year and it will be
transferred to your head." James nodded his head and Lily agreed.
"You need to touch hands, look right at one another. Into each others
eyes." Lily looked into James stormy Blue eyes as he gazed into Lily's
bright green ones. "Transfera." Dumbledore murmured as he touched
James' head with his wand. A tingling sensation filled James's head
and he slowly went down his arm and through his hand and to Lily's,
slowly up her arm and to her head. Lily suddenly knew how to
transfigure a chair into a dog, how to make polyjuice potion, how to
ward of Vampires, about the Goblin Rebellions of 1256 and loads of
other things. They broke the connection and Dumbledore smiled at
them. "Now Lily, you don't have to do all the make-up homework but I
expect to hear that you're working hard." James pulled Lily into his
reassuring arms and he took her to the Griffindor Tower. "Thanks for,
well, for giving me what you've learned these past seven months."
"Yes," mumbled James, "Er-no problem." Lily smiled "Are you ok?
James?" James wouldn't look at her. "James, you can't ignore me, I'm
in your arms. You have to talk to me." James sighed, "Lily, well, it's
just that, you've been gone for seven months. It's almost like you
died. Teagan cried nearly every time she would go up to her dorm for
bed. Sirius didn't have nearly enough jokes to keep us from thinking
about you. Sirius and I both got weeks worth of detention for beating
the, uh, crap out of Malfoy and Snape." Lily looked stunned at James
"Well Lily, it's almost like seeing a ghost." They came to the
portrait of the Fat Lady. "Unicorn Tail" James said and it swung
forward. Surprisingly the common room was empty, "Where is everyone?"
"There is a Quidditch game tomorrow. Griffindor against Ravenclaw."
"Oh James! You should be asleep! You've got to play tomorrow." "Don't
worry about it. You know, I've never been in a girls dorm." He said as
they entered her dorm room "Don't make it a habit." Said Lily and James
laughed as he climbed the stairs to the 5th year dorms. He gave Lily
her pajamas and waited patiently as she changed in the bathroom. Then
when he came to get her she saw her bed had all the drapes drawn
except for one and her covers were pulled back. James helped her into
bed and then looked awkward. "Um, well, Goodnight." "Thanks again
James!" He closed the drapes and left the room. When the door had
closed Lily heard Teagan leap from her bed and tear the drapes away
from Lily's bed and jumped in "What was James going in our room? Did
you two hook up? Did he kiss you?" Lily laughed "No." She then filled
Teagan in on what had happened. Teagan nodded and gave Lily another
fierce hug "I'm glad you're back." She replaced the drapes and returned
to her own bed and soon they were both asleep.

(A/N: I'm growing up, my years seem to slip through
my fingers, all I want to do it hold on to them but
the tighter I make my grip the faster they slip away,
it really sucks...)