Lily And James; Carpe Diem; Part 1

SUNSHINE IF ETERNAL; 14

Lily and James

By Ginny :)

*Sings* Here we are again, happy as could be, all good friends... annnnywaaay, this is part 14! ::Dances around:: I didn't even get writer's block for this part [OK, so that's no great achievement, but that's not the point...] My thanks to Gumdrop [please correct me if I got your name wrong!] for giving me her luverly concrit and help!

I would also just like the world to know that 2 hours- worth of contempory dancing leaves you aching for over 24 hours afterwards. Oh, and that really when you drown [not a pleasent experience], you just think a lot of swear words. I thought you'd like to know that... ;)

My thanks to hermione potter for betaing.

One more thing-- please check out my latest co- written story, 'Conspiracy Theory', which was co- written with CheyLeah... the URL is http://www.fanfiction.net/index.fic?action=story-read&storyid=285616 ... copy & paste it! Please check it out!]

Ginny :)

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Lily's POV

We all stared into each other's horrified faces, aghast and upset as Moony ran off. It was early evening, and no one was about outside to help us. He'd have to search all over the castle before he found a teacher or even a Prefect. Gem's body twitched a little, like a pig after it had been killed. A bubble of air floated up out of her mouth... Then she lay still.

No one said anything for what felt like a million years. We all just stood there. A kind of sick fear felt like it was lodged in my stomach. I never felt something like it before. It's a feeling you cannot explain.

"We have to help her!" Potter pushed past Ana, Pettigrew, and I, desperately.

"Don't be an imbecile!" I grabbed him, "You'll drown!"

"So will she if we leave her there!" he shook himself free of my grasp.

"But you can't do anything!" I screamed hysterically. I might not like him, but I didn't want him to do anything stupid.

"James, I don't think--" Pettigrew started, but Potter cut accross him.

"Do you want her to die?!"

"No, but--"

"Then let me at least try to help!" He was furious now. I looked around desperately for some sign of Moony, but there was none. Potter wasn't seeing sense! He pushed past us, and dived into the water.

"Potter!" I didn't intend to call out, but I did. He let out a yell as he hit the surface. It must have been freezing cold, being as it was, late December.

"James! James you idiot, come back!" Pettigrew howled. Two idiots in the lake now. That could mean twice as many casualties... but then again, it could save a life. I didn't know what to do, what to make of it. I could hear Ana sobbing, frightened. Her fist was now half-way stuffed into her mouth, as if trying to stop herself shouting out.

The trees close to us seemed to press in menacingly. The water frothed around Potter and Gem. I wondered if the rumours about there being a giant squid in there were true. I prayed not. I also prayed that Moony would come soon, with a teacher. I wouldn't normally pray, but I was desperate. Despite all of Jennifer Potter's and Gem Fairfax- Littleson's bad points, I didn't want anything to happen to them.

Potter floudered in the lake, trying to reach Gem, but I could see that he was tiring fast.

Oh, God, please let everything be all right, God, please, God, oh God, please...

Even if he reached Gem, he wouldn't be able to drag her back to safety. I wished I knew a spell that could make them be able to float or fly back, but I drew a blank. All I could do was hope any pray, and, with the best will in the world, what good would those do?

Pettigrew was whimpering softly to himself, and Ana was still looking mortified.

Please can the teachers come soon, please can Moony come back, please can everything be all right, oh God, please...

JAMES' POV

When I hit the water, it had been so cold, it felt like a million kives stuck themselves into my body. Painful, to say the least! A bag of ice dropped into my stomach as the sudden realisation of intense coldness hit me. I gasped for air, and forced myself to keep moving. I used to learn swimming-- I got my Goldfish Life Saver's Badge-- but this was something else entirely, to jumping into a pool with your pyjamas on! Water seemed to grip to my arms, like hands trying to pull me under. I knew that if I gave up now, I'd die. And I didn't want to go doing something as careless as dying-- can you imagine what Ma would say?! I realised that I was letting my mind stay again...

I had to remember, survival was all-important. There wasn't a chance, surely, that Gem could still be alive, face down in water as gripping and chilled as this?! It seemed to freeze my heart over.

My brain seemed numb. I couldn't see. Everything was blurred, edged with fuzzy black. My muscles seemed to give up on me. I tried to force them to move, but exhanstion and cold played bloody havoc with them. I could heard a horrible, continual, buzz in my ears. I wished for a teacher, or indeed anyone who could help at all, but none came.

Exhausted, I had to stop swimming. I had to... I just had to...

Blackness.

~*~

"Oh God, I want to go home, oh God..." a girl's voice. I lay there, aware of the warmth around me. I didn't move. Where was I? Not the lake, that was for certain, unless the lake was suddenly warm, and made of crisp white cotton. Must be the hospital wing. My head hurt and my chest ached, but I lay still, listening to the voices. I didn't want to move, just yet.

"Will he be all right?" A boy's voice. I couldn't be bothered to match up a name or face.

"He... should be." That was the voice of an adult. The nurse or matron?

"Why doesn't he wake up? It's horrible..." another girl.

"He'll be all right. He will be all right." Repeated over again by a boy, like a good luck incantation. Each of the voices held a kind of faint tearfulness. I knew who the speakers would be, without trying to put names to voices, or even opening my eyes.

I sat up, and involentarily began to cry. I felt so stiff and weak. The nurse- Madame Castos-, Evens, Accentios, Moony and Peter stared back at me. I was in the hospital wing, clean, quiet and hygenic. The nightmare of earlier was ended. I wondered what had become of Gem, but didn't say anything about it. I'd soon know the best... or the worst. Besides, my muscles ached like billyoh .

"Oh!" Accentios threw herself on me in a hug, and everyone looked at her like she was a nutter. She drew back, blushing. I could see releif etched into the faces of my friends, and even Evens.

"Careful there!" Madame Castos barrated her, "Wouldn't like to hurt your boyfriend whilest he's still ill, eh?"

Accetios went redder, and muttered that I wasn't her boyfriend. I forced an arm up, and pushed the tears from my eyes.

Moony and Peter smiled thankfully at me, and laughed at Ana, relieved that I was OK. Evens's face wore a kind of half-way-scowl. But I could see that her eyes were red with crying.

"Hi." I couldn't think of anything else to say. I sniffed, realiseing that my nose was running. My muscles still ached. I felt weepy and a little dizzy, but I forced myself to sit up and put on a brave face.

"I'll leave you all here for a moment, shall I?" asked the matron. She paused, "And wait 'til he's stronger before..." she didn't end the sentence. You didn't need to be Einstien to figure out why. They couldn't all be so red eyed and pasty over me, could they? Not so sombre and silent, just because I was ill?

"No, tell me!" I interrupted her, propping myself up on the snowy pillow. My voice was croaky, and my throat felt as though someone has scraped it dry with a knife.

"I really don't think--" She began, but I cut accross again.

I forced myself to speak again, despite my thraot being so sore, "It's... it's Gem, isn't it?" I could feel heat prickling behind my eyes. She nodded.

"Gem's dead, Mr. Potter. I'm sorry. She was dead before we arrived for you."

The heat behind my eyes became over powering. I felt a tear scorch my cheek, burning hot. Before I had just wept for myself, but now I wept for my friend.

It was as though an empty hole had opened up in my chest. It made me feel sick, as though all the emotions inside me were forcing themselves out through my mouth and chest. The most lousy feeling in the world.

Evens was staring ahead, as though determined not to let her feelings show. But I could see the red rims of her eyes. Accentios had her face burried in her hands, and Peter was snivelling. Moony gazed sadly at the wall, and although you couldn't see the tears, you could tell that he was pretty upset too. He's one of those people... with emotions that are impossible to understand. But this time, I knew why he was so silent.

My friend, our friend, was gone.

LILY'S POV

James Potter is a fool, an imbeciele, and an idiotic nincompoop! But he's brave. I can see why he's a Gryffindor. The sorting hat wanted to put me in Slytherin-- I told you I was too scheming-- and, unlike me from time to time, he really belongs here. That's his one good point! He did try and save our friend. He did try.

A week or more went by, since Gem's... since Gem left us. The rest of the students returned to Hogwarts. There came more tears, from Sirius aka 'Michelle' Black amoungst others. Professor Dumbledore announced it in an assembly, and warned everyone about going too near the lake. It was all very sad.

Gem's adoptive family, the Fairfaxes, came too, as soon as the main fuss was over. They took whatever Muggle- repelling charms there were off of the castle, so that they could visit.

You rather have to wonder about Gem's real family. I wonder if they care at all? Would they care, if anyone told them? Would they remember her? Or are they not even alive any more?

Questions that will never be answered, no doubt.

The Fairfaxes were an average family. Nothing unusual about them at all. Their other daughter, a 5 year old called Gabby, was a monsterous little creature, with a tempestuous temper, who only half understood what was going on.

Other then Gabby, there was Gem's adpotive father and mother. They were in tears the whole time. Who could blame them? We all felt the same.

Until someone dies, you never realise the feeling you have inside you. How much lonliness, or how madly you can wish for something, even when you don't believe in fair godmothers or 'Star Light, Star Bright' rhymes. If someone had told me that, when a friend dies, almost no matter how distant you are from them, that you wish for their return, I would have laughed. I would... as if a simple little wish can solve anything! But as from now I will no longer scoff at people who believe in wishes, because I know now why they do.
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OK, I'm crying now... I'm stupid... This is in the memory of my friend [Jess, if you're reading this, you know who I mean].

Please review?

Ginny :)