James Potter and The Unogua Board
Chapter 9: Between Life and Death
'How much did Lily go through anyway? We'd done twelve and there seem to be tons left!' Sirius complained, working on yet another jigsaw puzzle.
'Relax! We have all summer!' James said. 'It's only the third week, Sirius.'
'We stayed here for one weekend all we'd done is only twelve!' Sirius protested.
'Who's the one who kept trying to run off, peek into Lily's diary or tried to ransack the room?' Bec said, eyeing Sirius accusingly. Sirius grinned nervously.
'Whatever. Hey, who remembered how that boy looked like?' James asked. He was working on one where Lily was pulling a face at him.
'Uh, I think he's blonde,' Bec said. 'Mean face, blue shirt.'
'Okay. Why are there so many yellow everywhere?' James said, looking at the pile of yellow.
'Petunia's blonde, too.'
'Oh. Yeah. Blue… blue… blue…'
'Sounds like Malfoy,' Sirius giggled. 'Blonde hair, mean face…'
'Come to think of it, he is like Malfoy!' Bec said, looking at James's nearly finished picture.
'Let's face it: When will that Slytherin even dress like a muggle???' James asked. 'He hates muggle-born, remember?'
'Right. This is the fourteenth puzzle we'd completed,' Sirius said, sticking his.
'Odd. I don't remember Lily at Aunt Kie's wedding,' Hart said, looking at the picture Sirius had just completed.
'Probably you never see her,' James said carelessly.
'But her parents told me that she's sick! And look, she's standing next to me!'
'Part of her memory. I don't care,' Sirius said.
'D'you fix this correctly?' James asked.
'Dunno. Just grab everything I can that I thought should fit.'
'Sirius! This is wrong!!!' Hart cried, taking out the pieces that fixed into Lily. She then replaced them with the cornflower blue pieces that were gathered in a corner next to her. They fitted perfectly. 'Stia!'
'Oops. Hehehe,' Sirius grinned sheepishly. Hart frowned and James scowled.
'If you keep doing mistakes, we'll all be in trouble!" she said severely.
'Okay, okay! I'll try my best to NOT do any mistakes,' Sirius said, taking a piece. 'Let's see… her parent's death. That's my next one! Go Sirius!!!!!!!'
'So long as you don't turn the fun into a candy bar, we'll be quite safe,' James said, doing his when Lily was talking to the stuffed bear.
They worked in silence for the next fifteen minutes. James had an odd feeling that someone was watching him from behind. His hand started to sweat profusely, at the pressure of knowing someone was watching him. Finally, he swung his body around to see who his observer was.
No one.
'What's wrong?' Sirius asked.
'Uh, nothing,' James said. If he said someone was watching him, the – Bec and Sirius – would think he's insane. There's obviously no one else in the room besides them, and Lily was still unconscious.
'Get on. If we keep as quiet we'd probably finish all of these in no time,' Bec said, gesturing tiredly at the jigsaw puzzles.
'Okay.' But James can still feel the piercing stare of the invisible eyes.
~**~
'35th!' Bec said wearily, fixing the last piece of her current jigsaw puzzle. It was ten in the night and the trio were still fixing the puzzles.
'That makes… the forty-eighth one,' James said tiredly, doing a few mental calculations.
'And there's still tons!!!' Sirius wailed, pointing at the box.
'We'll do until twelve today. The earlier Lily is cured, the better,' Bec sighed.
'I'm feeling sleepy,' Sirius yawned.
'So are me. What, you think we're noctural animals – er, I mean, humans? We need sleep, too,' James said patiently to Sirius.
'Why don't you two just do to bed? I'll manage it myself,' Bec said. Sirius got up thankfully.
'Bye Sirius. G'night!' James said as Sirius yawned before stumbling off. He banged into the door, muttered something about dark arts and went on his way.
'Aren't you going?'
'No, I'm helping you.'
'Thanks.'
'No need to. She's my friend and I'm just doing her a small favour,' James shrugged. 'There, another one finished.'
'There isn't much left, so this'll probably be the last. I hope. There're fifty altogether,' Bec said, pointing at the one Sirius abandoned for bed.
'There're only fifty?'
'No. these are just a few from the millions she hid. There's no way fifty could be just all. She went through a lot but I'm guessing that these are the few that she speak of,' Bec replied, scanning the pieces for a missing piece.
'Bec?'
'Yes?'
'Can I ask you a question – or maybe a few – about Lily?'
'Shoot them.'
'Okay, why is this wedding picture in Lily's memory? She didn't even attend it,' James said, pointing at one.
'I don't know,' Bec replied, thinking pensively.
'Why didn't she stand up for herself when she's bullied? I mean, Petunia and that blonde kid were pretty mean.'
'I don't know that either. She isn't close to me. Always distant and talk only once in a while. It's tempting to find out about her. I'd dearly love to open one of her diaries, but I can't. she trust me and I want to keep that trust,' Bec said absent-mindedly. James nodded understandingly.
'I know. She has this air around her that simply begs you to listen to her. That she desperately needs help. But all I can come up with is that she needs a friend. One that she can trust, she can believe, she can pour out to and one that wouldn't betray. I want to be that friend,' James said. 'Haven't much idea on how one will be, without a friend. I mean, I can't live without my sister's constant annoyance! I bet she feel pretty lost.
'Lily's wise, for someone of her age. She could bottle up emotions and pretend that things don't happen. Those things she said to me were experiences. Her experiences. Her knowledge from what she had gathered.
'Unfortunately for her, she experienced everything but happiness. She may have, probably, but they would have drowned in her sea of emotions, I think. Bitter memories, anger, sadness can't be kept bottled up forever. To her, present is all that counts,' James said knowledgebly.
'You seem to be making a pretty good conclusion, from what you'd said,' Bec said, laughing a little. James's solemness was funny to see, especially when he's only twelve, nearly thirteen.
'I had the answer to why she is closed up now. She doesn't wants to be hurt. She was hurt many a times already. She's learning from bitter memories. She must have realized these days that loneliness isn't the only choice for her. That's why she opened a little to me,' James added.
'Good answer, James. And an acceptable theory, too. Now, if you could have given me an answer as good as this for my DADA essays, I'd be very delighted to award some points,' Bec said, winking. James rolled his eyes.
'Sorry, but I don't see red imps everyday,' James said. 'Else, I'd be fried by now.'
'Where's this piece?' Bec asked suddenly, looking around for the last piece to finish the jigsaw.
'You don't mean it's not in there?' James said, pointing at the box. Bec shook it.
'It's empty! Oh, dear, we can't finish this!' Bec moaned.
'Relax! Lily once said, "Things might take a turn. Unfortunately for me, I was born on Saturn's day, under the Charon moon, thus is why my things will never take a turn,"' James quoted.
'What Saturn, what Charon? Just look for it!' Bec said franticly.
'It's not at my place.'
'Get up and let me check! Without this, Lily might be gone before we know it!!'
At this, James hurried to Lily. He sighed in relief when he found out that she's still breathing rhythmicly.
'I'll ask Sirius, in case he took it by accident,' James said, running straight to the guest's room. Sirius was sleeping peacefully, snoring a little. James shook him gently.
'Wha?' Sirius mumbled, stirring a little. 'Whaddya want?'
'Did you see a puzzle piece?' James asked urgently.
'Hah?'
'What happened to- oh, let me check your pockets!' James said impatiently. Reluctantly, Sirius pulled his pockets out and a small piece of jigsaw fell onto the marble floor.
'Sirius, you idiot, why did you take it?' James cried happily. He didn't wait for the answer and ran straight up, where Bec was still searching franticly for the last piece. She was looking very red and very flustered.
'Has he got it?' Bec asked.
'Yeah, here,' James said, fixing the last piece. 'Now what?'
'Arrange them in order?' Bec suggested idly.
'Maybe. Wait, let's ask,' James said, pulling a parchment out.
Dear Aunt Jie,
We'd fixed the puzzle. What do we do now?
James
'Crisium! Crisium! Crisium, come here!' Bec called quietly. No owl came.
'What happened to it?' James asked curiously.
'Probably sleeping, lazy thing. Cephes!' Bec hissed. A small screech owl swooped down almost immediately and landed on Bec's should, pecking her mistress fondly.
'You have two owls?'
'Just in case. One is noctural, the other is now. Listen, Cephes, send this to Aunt Jie today. Now. Get me?' Bec said to Cephes. It gave an assuring hoot, clutched the letter tightly and flew off thought the window. Just when James was wondering if the owl had lost its mind, Cephes flew back in and landed on Lily's shoulder, a sheepish look on its face. It them flew back to Hart.
'Let's see…
Dear James,
Thank you for fixing the puzzle. Rebecca, you too. I'm ever so grateful to the both of you. Now you'll have to arrange those pictures, but do be quick! I can't stop him much longer!
Jie'
'Stop who? Don't tell me they're already here?' James said incredously.
'That should be it, I think,' Bec said pensively.
'Then what are we waiting for? Hurry up!'
'A slight problem, Potter. There're fifty different pictures here. I can only name a few,' Bec said slowly, 'to properly understand the answer is to look into Lily's belongings.'
'Oh. So what do we do now?' James said.
'We have to decide. Should we meddle with Lily's personal belongings, save her and get yelled at or should we just try our best to interpret all this, let her life stand between the line and trusted by Lily? There's only two choices left and I don't fancy either,' Bec said with a troubled look on her face.
'Neither of them's good! The second, however good it may seem, is rather risky,' James said distastefully.
'We have to make up our mind. To look or not to look?' Bec insisted.
'Argh!!! Just don't look, then!' James cried in panic.
'Hey, hang on, there's a PostScript down here…' Bec said, turning the letter. 'It says "He'll be here at 0000 hour. Should we be late, Lily will leave."'
The two gulped.
'The fast we finish this, the better,' James swallowed nervously.
~**~
AN: Phew. I finally finished this. Don't bother asking me if Lily's going to die or are James and Bec ever going to get things done in time because I won't answer that :) you know I won't, anyway. And you'll have to excuse my grammar and spellings in here, because I typed this out in a rush, kay? Please? Thanks!! And please review for me!
Disclaimer: You very well know what I'll be saying, but I own what I own and JKR owns what she own.
Lime Green Combat Boots: I did leave you hanging [sorry], but I want you to know that I never get to sleep at night at all, because I have too many things to worry about ^^;; and you thought I sleep? Well, I was worrying how I'll ever face datelines of net year's work, if I couldn't even finish what I like best in time.
ra3212: I'm not planning to stop and I can't guarantee that Lily'll be okay ^_^
Granda: pardon the name, but I'm in a rush, because I've been hogging too long ^^
Cheeky Witch |=P: powerful?! I think not!! It sounded very pathetic, unless you have great imaginary skills!
Did I miss anyone? If so, I'm so, so sorry!!!!
