A/N: well...this is a very...eventful...chapter...I'm still trying to get over having to write it...well, I got this chapter up pretty fast, didn't I? I think I might be finished with this fic by the end of this week...that's amazing to think about...
Disclaimer: the plot, and a few characters are mine...
Chapter Fourteen:
Explanations and Evil Fathers
James was completely in a state of shock for the next few days. A part of him felt bad for sending the letter to his parents, but the stubborn part kept at it that they deserved it. But, did they really? James didn't know the whole story; that was for sure. On Tuesday, James received a reply from his parents.
Dear James,
We're sorry, we really are. We only wanted to protect you, son. We love you. You're coming home for a few days. We've already arranged it with Dumbledore. He says it's fine if you miss a few days of classes. The train will pick you up at seven tonight.
We love you,
Mum and Dad
Then, James felt sorry. He felt a horrible pang of guilt. There were tear stains on the paper. These were the parents he had. They were the parents who had raised and loved him all his life. He loved them, and he had done this to them. What kind of a horrible person was he? Nevertheless, it had happened.
James sat in the train compartment in complete silence. When James got off the train, he saw his mother and father awaiting him. His mother was in tears, and his father trying to look happy. "Oh, my baby!" His mother hugged him.
Once at home, His parents explained, "Your...your mother, your real mother was a witch named Jessica Cepeda, well, Jessica Riddle after she married Tom Riddle, who is now known as Voldemort. I knew her pretty well in her Hogwarts days, actually. But, back then, no one knew that innocent Tom Riddle would one day be a mass murderer named Lord Voldemort. She gave you to Professor Dumbledore. Voldemort killed her soon after, but Dumbledore wouldn't let him get you. He gave you to us, you see, and we changed your name to James, and swore we'd never let Voldemort know about you. But..." Mrs. Potter was sobbing hysterically now.
"He knows now." Mr. Potter finished. "We just don't know what to do, son. We can take you out of Hogwarts...or..."
"No! Taking me out of Hogwarts wouldn't help anything, dad. I'll be fine, really."
"You don't know who you're dealing with, James." His mother sniffed.
"Oh, please, mum, ask Dumbledore to look out for me, and I'll be extra careful, I promise!"
His father eyed him skeptically, but his mother looked at his father, "Sam, Dumbledore is much more capable of protecting him than we are. They say Voldemort's even afraid of him."
After a while of debating, his parents finally decided to let James stay in Hogwarts, under strict rules never to leave campus without a staff member. Of course, they didn't know that Voldemort had actually set a date to come after James. James had conveniently left that part of his story out, seeing as they'd never let him leave the house if they knew this. When James had returned to Hogwarts, he was much calmer. Compared to some of the things that had ran through James' mind when he first found out he was Voldemort's son (i.e. his mother cheating on his father with Voldemort, etc.), him being the son of an innocent woman who had no idea how evil Voldemort was didn't seem that horrible. The scary part was the fact that Voldemort wanted James to join him, but, as long as Dumbledore was around, James would be safe, right? Only destiny could tell, and the only person James knew who supposedly could tell the destiny, besides Grace, it would be extremely embarrassing asking his cousin if he would be killed by Voldemort, was Professor Trelawney. But, that was insane. First of all, Professor Trelawney had predicted at least one Grim for every single student in the class within the past few months, and would be glad to tell him he'd be murdered violently by the dark lord.
The days ahead were increasingly boring. James had been forbidden to go anywhere outside of his common room alone. He was usually doing homework, in classes, or playing chess. One day, Sirius confronted him, "Jamesie, you've been forbidden to go anywhere, right?"
"Right," James said
"Well, I've been thinking,"
Lily, who was sitting on an armchair, cut in, "Oh, jeez, why do I get the feeling that if Sirius Black has been thinking, nothing good is to come of the next few words?"
Sirius ignored her, "As I was saying before I was so rudely interrupted, I've been thinking, since when does James Potter follow rules? You're perfectly safe with Dumbledore around."
James' face lit up, and Lily groaned, "James! Don't listen to him! You have to listen to Dumbledore and your parents! You'll get in trouble, or worse!"
"Sirius is right. I'll be fine. I have weeks worth of pranks to catch up on!"
Lily scowled and the two ran out of the common room.
"It's a full moon tonight." Sirius said. The boys were all in the common room. "Everyone ready?"
"Yup!" James grinned, he had missed the last full moon, but this time he'd make it up to Remus, and they'd have the time of their life.
"James, I'm not so sure you should go out there," Remus said,
"Yeah, w-what if you-know-who finds you?" Peter said, nervously (A/N: Peter isn't working for Voldie yet, in case anyone was wondering)
"Then, goody for him." James said, grinning, "I can't spend his life in fear."
"James, there's a difference between spending your life in fear, and being cautious. Sirius, you of all people should know that Voldemort's dangerous, and there's no playing games with him."
"Sorry, Remmie, but I'd have to agree with my man, Jamsie on this one. I mean, he's perfectly safe! Voldie's afraid of Dumbledore! Plus, he'd never suspect to find us in the Shrieking Shack."
Remus rolled his eyes, but didn't protest.
Grace had been acting oddly all day. She kept going off very dazed, and Lily even thought she caught a glimmer of a tear in Grace's eye during Charms. Something was wrong.
"What's wrong, Grace?" Lily hissed during lunch.
"What? Oh, nothing. I'm just thinking. Hey, Lil, TW?"
"Yeah?" Lily and Tawny cried in unison.
"Let's skip History of Magic, ok? I need to talk to you guys."
"Fine, we'll get the boys to take notes for us." Tawny said, turning to Sirius and telling him to take notes.
"Why do I have to? You're cutting in on my precious sleeping time!" Sirius grinned at her.
Tawny put on her puppy dog eyes, "If you loved me, you'd do it."
"Oh, fine, but you owe me one." Tawny grinned, and kissed him on the cheek.
While the rest of the Gryffindor 6th years were in History of Magic, Tawny, Grace, and Lily sat in the common room. "Lily?"
"Yeah?" Lily said, looking at the nervous expression on Grace's face.
"When I die, I want you to have Rascell." She said, "And the matching charm bracelet, but I want you to give that to Tawny."
"Grace!" Lily giggled, "You're not going to die for another 70 or so years, and I'm sure your owl won't be alive then, but, ok..."
"And, Tawny?"
Tawny squealed, "This is fun! After you finish telling me what I get when you die, I'll tell you guys!"
"Ok, but me afterwards!" Lily laughed
"Tawny, I want you to have all my dresses, and make-up, and accessories, and my Ruby earings, and you'll both split my life's savings."
"Goody!" Tawny giggled, "Ok, you get my Hogwarts graduation dress, Grace, and Lily, you get my wand, and you both get custody to my children, and-"
"Children?" Lily giggled, "Does Sirius know yet?"
"Oh, shut up," Tawny grinned, "And tell Sirius he can have my wedding ring, so he should make sure it's a good one." Tawny laughed
"Ok, my turn!" Lily started, "Grace, you can have my stone white elephant. It's my good luck charm. TW, you can have my mirror, you know the one you love because it tells you what other people are thinking about you."
Tawny laughed, and Grace struggled to laugh along. She didn't want Lily and Tawny to know she was serious about this whole thing.
Grace knew what she had to do. It was 8 o'clock. They had to go now. "Lily, Tawny, want to sneak into Hogsmeade? I'm bored..." Grace said
"Hogsmeade? It's a Tuesday night, and it's getting late!" Lily cried.
"Oh, come on, Lil! Let's have some fun, for once!" Tawny cried, and dragged Lily out of the common room.
They went through the secret passage and into Hogsmeade. There were howls from the Shrieking Shack. "What's that?" Tawny said nervously.
"I dunno..." Grace bit her lip, "Wait...it's a full moon, right?"
They all knew what the noises were. "Oh, James better not be up there, he'd be in huge trouble if he got caught!" Lily said
Just then, there was a noise from behind her, and a pair of hands covered her mouth. She shrieked, but the hands just pulled her back. She turned around to see a Braedon Chestire. In his other hand was James. Lily shrieked again, but it was no use. Tawny and Grace were helpless to this man, and no one else was around.
The man dragged them down the road, and into a forest. Lily wasn't able to look back, but she knew Grace and Tawny would be following. Lily shuddered, "What are you doing this for?"
"My master has ordered me. I live to follow his commands." Braedon said, in a voice that sounded almost personality-less.
"Why?"
He was silent, then he repeated, "I live to follow his commands."
"Oh, Grace! What're we going to do?" Tawny was near tears.
"Tawny! Grace!" There was a cry from behind them.
"Sirius!" Tawny was crying now. She ran up to him and Peter, "Oh my god, Sirius. It's horrible. He has Lily and James!" She sobbed into Sirius' arms.
"Ok, come on. Let's go."
"Shouldn't we go get a Professor of something?"
"No time. Come on."
Peter was looking baffled and scared, "M-maybe I should go get Professor Dumbledore..."
"Ok, sure, Peter, go ahead, and hurry!" Tawny said
"Ahhh...Miss Evans, and, James, my son..."
"I'm not your son." James growled.
"But, you are, boy. You have my blood. Together we can conquer all humanity."
"What if I don't want to."
Voldemort grabbed Lily, "Then, the girl dies." Lily kicked and shouted, but Voldemort's grasp was too tight.
"Lily! No! You can't hurt her! I'll do anything..."
"No, James! Don't! Don't listen to him!" Lily shouted, tears in her eyes.
"First, girl, you are going to tell me something. Where is the ring?"
"What ring?" Lily asked, although she had an idea of what he was talking about.
"The Phoenix Ring," He spat, "Don't play clueless girl. Where is it?"
"I don't know. I don't remember..." Lily said, and, in all honesty, she didn't. She had blocked all those memories for years, to the point until now, she had completely forgotten them.
Voldemort looked into Lily's eyes, and saw that she didn't know. "Fine, then, you are useless, girl. Chestire, kill her. Unless, that is, Mr. Potter here has decided to change his mind."
"Yes," James said automatically, "Yes, I will."
"Swear to that."
"I swear, now let Lily go!" His arms were crossed in front of him.
"Oh, no, I don't think I will." Voldemort grinned evilly, "She knows too much. This is the end girl."
From behind the bush Tawny was trembling madly. It all seemed to be happening in slow motion:
Voldemort picked up his wand...
He aimed at Lily...
Grace jumped up...
Voldemort began the death curse...
Grace pushed Lily to the side...
The curse hit Grace...
Silence...
Dead silence....
A/N: *sob* I just killed one of my favorite characters...I'm too evil...next chapter's gonna be very, very sad...make sure to have a tissue handy before reading it...I'm still in complete shock...I mean, I've known I was going to do this for months...but...*cries* I can't believe I actually had to do it...wow...I really liked Grace too...but, I had to...this was the only way I could symbolize how deeply Voldemort can cut a scar...And I'm not talking 'bout the scar on Harry's forehead...well, I hope that'll keep reviewers hanging by the edges of their seats waiting for chapter fifteen...btw, there's only one or two chapters left! Can you believe it? I'm actually almost finished!
Thank-Yous:
~Sierra Sitruc: YAY! Thanks for da review! And, yup, Voldie being his father *is* very scary...*nodz*
~Aurora Riddle: lolz...it did suck, but oh well, anywayz, ya, I haven't read any fics where James is Voldie's son either, but my MB is flooded w/ theories 'bout Lily being Voldie's daughter, so I figured I'd go against the flow...lol...thanks for the review!
~Satans Little Princess: aww...sorry you didn't have fun...eek! da hospital? Icky...and I'm glad you liked In The News! *dances* well, thanks for the review! (I say 'thanks for the review' way too much...I need to think of something original...lol...)
~coolgirl947@aol.com: I'm glad you like my stories so much! And Grace clutched her head 'cause she had a...umm...a whatcha-call-it...like, when you see something from da future...and Grace was seeing something from her future @ da moment, and what she was seeing is what just happened in this chap (i.e. her being killed by Voldie)...btw, u were my 100th reviewer!!! YAY! Dontcha feel specialful? lolz..anywayz, thanks for the review!
A/N: OMG! I have exactly 100 reviews! *dances*