Upon request, I have added a little reminder from the last chapter before this chapter to jog your memory (it's the italicized bit) I hope this helps, and of course, sorry, sorry, sorry that this took so long! Longer explanation at the bottom.
* * *
"Lily," James said, "we have to leave." Lily rose slowly, but James just grabbed her arm and pulled her along. "Now."
"We'll take care of it," Sirius assured him. "Just like before, right? Simple enough," he said, pulling out his wand. Lily wondered absently why they hadn't just done a tracking or locating spell on the oak tree. James started walking, but Lily planted her feet.
"Now wait a second," she said loudly, drawing four pairs of eyes to her. "I don't understand what is happening, but I think you'd all better tell me. I deserve to know. It's my finger after all." She'd looked at her fingers; the first had already started scabbing over. She gasped, and looked up slowly.
"Just trust me, Lily," James said. "I need to get you up to the castle right now. Unless you aren't particularly fond of your fingers, that is," he added jokingly, though she had the sinking feeling that he really wasn't kidding at all.
"Okay, I'll follow you, but I demand a full explanation tomorrow. A good one," she added for emphasis.
"Of course," he replied mechanically and dragged her along. They ran, quickly, desperately, through the forest and up to the castle. He never did let go of her hand.
* * *
Chapter Twenty-Two: The Door, The Tree, The Kiss
(and now I KNOW you are excited!)
They ran, James pulling Lily along by her hand, into the school and back to the room where Lily had met with the Marauders the other day. James hummed the bars to Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star, and was about to start tapping the door when Lily interrupted.
"Excuse me, uh, Mr. Door," she started, not sure how to address it. "Would you mind letting us in?" The door's face popped out, glanced reprovingly and James and Lily's interlocked hands, and slowly opened. Mutters of "riff-raff" and "vagabond" were heard as they both rushed through the door. Lily started to smile, but was tugged away by James as he dragged her to the corner of the room, and began one-handedly flinging open several cupboard doors.
"Be careful, young man!" The door wailed. "That is my uncle you are banging apart." James rolled his eyes.
"The door never bothered us this much before," he commented, making Lily feel a little guilty. He reached up high to open another door, and attempted to grab a large jar with his one free hand. It wobbled, but finally righted itself. "I need you to help," he said, turning to her. Lily just held up their connected hands.
"You could just let go of me and do it yourself, you know," she said.
"I could," he answered, "but you would still have to hold onto my arm, and promise not to let go, no matter what." Lily raised an eyebrow.
"James, I don't understand."
"And I will have to explain later, because right now I am trying to save your hand," he finalized. Lily sucked in a quick breath apprehensively. She slowly looked at her hand. Her whole finger was scabbed over, and the tips of her others were beginning to turn black. Shaking, she slid her hand up James's arm a few inches, leaving behind a patch of bare white skin where her hand had touched. James deftly grabbed the jar and, moving quickly; he managed to concoct a smelly balm and immediately dumped it on her hand.
"Ouch!" she cried, as the salve hit her hand, for it stung her terribly. 'This hurts even more than the bug bite!' she thought sourly, before a numbing blaze set in over her hand, making it violently shake. "I need—" she croaked, "I think I need to lie down." She tumbled to the couch and lay there, watching the ceiling spin. James's face appeared above her, looking worried, and then it vanished. A roar filled her ears, but she knew it was coming from inside her head.
She heard whispers in the background and she could tell that they were the Marauders, arguing. Over her, presumably.
"I knew something would happen, I knew it."
"She shouldn't have gone, she's—"
"Yes, she should have gone!"
"Look at her though! I mean, she's not responding to anything we do!"
"Well, duh, she's asleep."
"Haven't you ever paid attention in Magical Healing? She's unconscious!"
"Does he ever pay attention in any class? No, he doesn't."
'I'm not unconscious,' she thought as the voices faded away. 'Or at least I don't think I am. I wonder if a person knows they are unconscious when they really are unconscious.' Clearly, even if her state of consciousness was debatable, she was obviously becoming quite delirious. She couldn't feel her hand, it was as if was detached, somehow, from her body, and the hazy apparition of an arm in front of her could not possibly be her own, for she had no memory of moving it there. Lazily, before her eyes finally closed, she had the oddest sensation of a snake shedding skin as the scab, which by now had consumed her entire hand, dropped cleanly away.
* * *
She awoke at the same time as the nerves in her hand, for they were causing quite a bit of pain. She whimpered at her own stupidity and bit her lip, and then made the best attempt possible at forgetting about it, reducing the pain to a small buzz. She did this with not once looking at her hand, and so she didn't realize that she had been bandaged overnight. Some of the feeling in her hand had obviously kicked in, but not all. She then realized she must have spent all night in this room, and that her friends were going to be very curious about what exactly she had done all night when she met them for breakfast. Sirius popped through the door.
"I brought you breakfast! You missed it." He set down a plate with some bacon and pancakes on it, as well as some cantaloupe. 'Okay then,' Lily corrected herself, 'When I meet them for lunch.'
"Sirius, what happened last night?" she cried with annoyance.
"Well," he said, dragging it out. "You did find some leaves." He smiled stupidly, and Lily laughed softly.
"At least that's taken care of then. One down, seven to go, right?" she said, speaking of the ingredients. Sirius turned away.
"Not necessarily the right leaves," he said carefully, and Lily looked about to burst. "But some very nice ones all the same!" he finished quickly.
Lily blurted out "You mean to tell me that all that was for nothing!" at the very same time Sirius reconsidered with "Well, they turned out to be not so very nice after all, really, but that doesn't take away the adventure of finding them, does it?" She just glared. "Oh, I was afraid you were going to think so," he added solemnly, and Lily felt the desire to shake him and actually answer her question.
"Sirius—"
"Oh! And I hear James coming so I am just going to leave this to him. Enjoy the breakfast!" he said, grabbing a piece of her bacon.
"Sirius! Sirius, come back!" But he was out the door and gone, leaving Lily to not enjoy her breakfast alone. To her surprise, as she was finishing her last bite of cantaloupe, James really did walk through the door. Lily considered, though, that Sirius had time to go fetch James and send him here running, and that's exactly what he had done.
"Good morning, Lily," he said cheerfully, and plopped down on the couch next to her, making her bounce up, and then break into a smile.
"That was really the first time I've felt good all morning, actually," she answered truthfully, then looked down at her plate in embarrassment. Sneaking a peek at James, Lily noticed he had colored as well, and was about to say something in response.
"Young people these days!!! You can't be bothered to say good morning to ME, now can you? It's simply 'Pay no heed to the Door, he doesn't object, he has no feelings, he's just made of wood,' by golly!" the door screeched, ruining whatever moment had just transpired. "Lily, dear, I really don't approve of your socializing with such a blackguard. Full of chicanery and mischief he is! You really are quite above him."
"Please, Mr. Door," she pleaded, and then halted, being rather too startled to think of anything else to say.
"Mr. Woodsworth, if you please," he corrected haughtily, and then continued. "And after all his egregious behavior! He is nefarious—truly picaresque! I hope my disapprobation means something to you, Ms. Lily, for I will be in great woe if you attend any more of his clandestine gatherings, I have the mind not to admit them to this room anymore!" Lily and James exchanged glances, full of both amusement and worry.
"Mr. Woodsworth, James truly isn't anything of the sort. He's really very kind and generous, and a great friend." She tried hard not to blush, for she didn't want to anger the door—or rather, Mr. Woodsworth—any further. James, however, was not so aware of the consequences, as he gazed at Lily to such a degree that the door let out an extremely loud "Humph!"—shaking James from any further reverie.
"I hope you don't hold any of his doings against him," she continued, "for they really are only a bit of fun."
"Since when is opposing the law simply a 'bit of fun?'" Mr. Woodsworth sighed, for he could not hold against Lily, as he had a certain soft spot for her. "Please, if you will, hold no more of this conversation here in the future, for I don't believe myself to be of such a grain to handle it. Dear Uncle Woodsworth is still healing after his harsh, brutal, inexcusably insidious treatment last night"—said with a pointed glare at James with a raising voice—"that we both wish to hear nothing more on the topic. So, I beg you leave imminently, and not return for at least a fortnight, or perhaps one and twenty days. Until much later, Lily," he ended with, and Lily and James quickly exited after grabbing what was necessary for the completion of the project as well as what was needed to heal Lily's hand. Silence accompanied them down the halls while they reviewed what had just taken place.
"I suppose we should find somewhere to put these things," said James, who was toting the jar that was needed for the balm for Lily's hand.
"There must be another secret room in the castle that you know about," Lily said, as the boys always seemed to know where everything was, and when the teachers weren't around, and when the object of their prank was.
"No, not ones that don't have certain extreme disadvantages. We can rent storage space at Hogsmeade, I guess." He wasn't so enthusiastic about the idea though, and Lily could tell.
"What's the matter with it then? I can see how it's so terribly inconvenient to have all things so far away for awhile, but we can delay it for two or three weeks, or one and twenty days, or whatever," she said, smiling. "Mr. Woodsworth wasn't in such a good today, was he? I wonder what could have set him off. He never exactly liked you, but he never did hate you with such a passion before." James muttered something unintelligible, and Lily left it at that. Before Lily recognized the path they had taken, James had revealed a whole in the wall and was ushering her through.
"Hogsmeade," he said simply, to answer her confusion, and upon the clarification they walked comfortably through, resealed the passage, and made their way to Hogsmeade.
* * *
After James grudgingly paid the hefty sum for renting the space (and Lily fervently told him she would pay him back) the man behind the counter flicked James his change and a small brown box, muttered thank you, come again soon, and disappeared into the back room. James asked Lily to say a password, did something to the back of the box and Lily, utterly confused, just said "James, I don't get it." James laughed, Lily felt unreasonably, and she demanded to know why.
"Why are you laughing?" Laughter. "WHY are you laughing? Come on, it isn't funny! James!" And upon her final cry, the small box sprung into their life-size storage room, knocking them both over and calling the attention of a very unhappy rental clerk from the back room. Lily hadn't quite comprehended the nature of the storage room, having never come across one before, and James not having mentioned it, thinking, of course, that she already knew. Once they had sorted out the mess, and having 'James' being established as the password, they trundled outside to the loading station where, the clerk informed them, "We do ask that all our customers do there loading, as you can plainly see on the signs around you." Thus, quite perturbed by them, he left them to themselves.
"You might have told me how they worked, you know, before you let me make a fool out of myself," Lily griped playfully, moving in a jar of what looked like the goggly eyes she used when she was in kindergarten, yet more sickeningly three-dimensional.
"Actually, both of us looked pretty stupid, if it makes you feel better," he answered. And it did, as being with him usually made her. Once they were done, James, imitating Lily from before, screeched a falsetto "James!" and the room shrunk back to pocket size, though the effort also earned him a playful slap to the shoulder, which he theatrically received as the equal to a blow of a bodybuilder. He then explained to her the nature of the storage box, which they were now in possession of for one month. 'James' having been the first word she said, established that as the password, and when she had repeated it she activated the charm to restore it to full size. There were more complicated settings on the back of the box that would expand or diminish the size and all sorts of things, but for right now it stayed nice and small in James's cloak pocket.
They walked aimlessly through the town for a minute before Lily brought up something that had been bothering her all day. "We've been so busy today that I never had a chance to properly ask what happened to my hand. I thought it was a bug, but then Sirius said some rubbish about some not-very-nice leaves and I wondered. Peter had called them spiny poison oak leaves, I remember, and I was thinking that maybe you all had just played a really horrible joke on me."
James mouthed 'spiny poison oak' incredulously, laughed, then answered, "I think Peter just calls it that to add a little danger to it all. He gets a little crazy with the whole Marauder thing, if you've noticed. I mean, it does sound a little more impressive then saying we need to find Northern Red Oak leaves, doesn't it?" Lily agreed, though thought this was one of those times when boys really did seem very, very different that herself. "And besides, do you really think I would be that horrible?" Lily knew that No, he could never be that horrible.
"So then it was a bug?" she asked, and looked at her bandaged hand. "A really, really, really, nasty bug?"
James shook his head. "No not a bug."
"So, it wasn't the bug. It wasn't the leaves. Then what was it?"
"The leaves."
"But I thought you said the leaves were harmless? I am so confused," she gasped in defeat.
"Northern Red Oak leaves are harmless, but you found a different type of leaf. They really do look a lot alike, when we first make the Animagus potion Sirius almost got killed by it, and we have had that medicine ever since." James spoke of Sirius's near-death so calmly that she almost screamed.
"So, Sirius sent me out to look for leaves that look like the leaves that practically killed him, did not tell me that I could practically kill myself, and then let me go on my merry little way through the forest alone?!?" Many different ways to torture him were crossing her mind at this point.
"Well, yes," James said, seeing no way to gloss his friend's stupidity. He was sure, however, that the problem with The Tree had been fixed. Dumbledore had seen to it, he knew. But somehow his work had been undone.
"So explain to me about this tree then, James. Why is my hand like this? How could a tree do something like this to me?" She said, taking a seat on a nearby bench, intending that this would be a long, thorough conversation. James, taking a seat and a deep breath, began.
* * *
When the Marauders had first hatched the plan to become Animagus for the benefit of Remus, they had launched into action to find every ingredient, research the background of the transfiguration, and find the perfect animals to become. Sirius, mostly in charge of the ingredients (for Peter became a little too excitable with the prospect of so many things that needed stealing, and James was in charge of the transfiguring) was, to his character, not such a diligent worker. Certain sixth-year females were more in his range of study. So, when he had to get the leave at the last minute to add them to the potion, he had a vague idea of what to look for. Grabbing what he guessed to be leaves he ran quickly back to the castle, and up to the room, to grind them up and add them in. As soon as he walked in the door the others screamed. Blackness had filled his veins, and they could be seen through the skin of his arm, slowly making their way up, and up. Remus ripped his shirt and tied it around his arm to stop the blood flow, and James, who was in his second year of Magical Healing, flipped to the very back of the book, under Life-Threatening Plantae. Peter was then sent to the Magical Healing classroom for the ingredients needed, other than the leaf that had caused the injury.
Like a snake, whose venom is needed to the anti-venom, the leaf was needed in the balm to heals it's wounds. While Remus dashed to the Infirmary for some Dreamless Sleep Potion (he claimed nightmares of his transformation, which was enough to halt any further enquiry from Madam Lorquette.) Giving three full doses to Sirius, who was now writhing with pain as more and more red shot into his eyes, he hoped to still his friend's silent screams, more agonizing to the watcher than normal cries, for he was passing through an indescribable amount of pain. Peter had returned, and James mixed the balm as quickly as he knew how, applied it to his friend, left the bandaging to Remus and Peter and went to the bathroom where he threw up everything but his intestines and sat on the floor and cried.
Sirius stayed asleep for four days, and his absence in classes was well-covered by the other Marauders. Their homework was forgotten as they researched the leaves that had done this to their friend. Volumes disappeared from the Library, only to be found months later by Mr. Filch when hot on the trail of Peeves. The books, though, were memorized. Not on purpose, but on horror. This tree is so imbued with magic, and so powerful, and revered in the same manner by the magical community who knew it's true nature as God is by the most pious. So each tree of such kind is called The Tree, and The Tree has the power to give life—eternal life, or a cursed life—and the power to take so much life in one breath that nothing should ever have existed within The Tree's realm. The Tree draws from the earth and gives back to the earth. Left alone, The Tree will function beneficially—reviving, restoring, replenishing. Each leaf, each twig, will continue to take life after being detached from The Tree, thinking still to be feeding to the greater source where the energy will be returned to the earth. Nutrients may be taken from the ground they lay on, or blood from the hand its grasped by, for The Tree was never meant to be manipulated by humans. And so, like a vampire, a person may be drained, left to dissolve from an empty shell to dust, and to return to the earth, and thus to The Tree.
But The Tree was not worshipped, simply acknowledged—acknowledged and protected against ever touching human skin. It was of the greatest magical caliber, but any great wizard or witch knew what folly it was to try and guide the forces of life. Death cannot be escaped, only life preserved. For this tree was a mythical Tree of Life. Few existed throughout the world. They were guarded, such as the one in the Forbidden Forest was guarded by Dumbledore, though The Tree had means of protecting itself, but as there were now pieces of The Tree on the Forest floor, the man-made guards must surely be broken.
* * *
Lily was astounded. Pretty confused, but the confusion amazed and awed her, for she knew James spoke of ancient magic—magic which founded what she learned in school now, most likely. James didn't seem like her peer just then, but just a little ways above her, and she perhaps saw that he wasn't as much as a rebel as she had always thought him to be. And when he told her how he cried he hadn't seemed the least ashamed or proud or false. So possibly some of the awe she felt was directed at James as well. He certainly didn't mind how she seemed to stare at him now.
"What you've told me… it all seems so unreal. Yet, it all makes sense. I can't understand why it all fits together in my head, but it does," she mused quietly. Then, realizing that she must have sounded idiotic, voiced that exact thought. "I sound stupid, I know," and she resigned herself to a sigh.
"I don't think you sound stupid," James said. "You hardly ever sound stupid," and, as if to make the statement less promising, added, "except if you try to explain Transfiguration. Then, I'll admit, you sound pretty stupid." He grinned widely and laughed.
Lily let out a noise of indignation. "I doubt you'd sound as brilliant as you just did just if you tried to explain a Conflagratio Charm and its countercharm." Seeing his blank look she continued "Ha! You don't even know what they are," and she grinned herself.
Without hesitation he replied "Fire inducing and capturing charms. Very useful for a mother in the kitchen to know, a basic for firefighters as well. Did you say I was brilliant?" And whether she had or not, Lily turned just that shade of red. She was barely able to utter, "Possibly I made the mistake."
James laughed softly. "No, Lily, I think you might have meant it," he said with just enough of an air to stop Lily's abashment and make her riled enough for a reply.
"I think I made the dreadful mistake of making a comment that would inflate your ego even further than it is already stretched. Though," she said in apparent pensive reflection, "I do suppose that just about everything anyone happens to say to you would have that effect, seeing as how drastically large your ego really is."
Then James laughed, really laughed, and Lily joined in. Laughter had the habit of consuming her, and when she finally righted herself from her bent-over position, she found James not-at-all laughing anymore, much closer than he had been before, and smelling especially nice. They, sitting on the bench as they were—closely, staring at each other with (though they might not see it) some longing—would appear to the average passerby as a young couple out for the afternoon. These thoughts would be further confirmed by James, who slowly leaned over, and kissed her.
* * *
HAHAHA, Just kidding, they don't really kiss.
I bet you think I'm joking.
But I'm not!!!
Ok, ok, yes I am. But I had to make the attempt, because I really have been putting this off for quite some time. The kiss and the chapter as well, so I guess they go hand in hand. I would like to further apologize for this chapter's lateness, and also say how sorry I am to every one of my readers. I slacked with review thank-yous, writing, etc., and I don't deserve you. The time I took for swimming and schoolwork was worth it though, as I qualified for Scholastic All-American (with the exact GPA requirement of 3.5! Woohoo!) and was the county champion in the 50 butterfly this summer, and 2nd in 5 free and 100 IM (to my best friend, so I cant be bitter at all, because I'm just as happy for her) So, everything turned out okay, I think, because you have your kiss, and I did well in what I wanted to do, and better(!) so I hope you feel okay that the time I took off wasn't spent on my butt doing nothing! I have internet access only through my sister's computer right now, so I had to copy all the reviews I got and save them and put them on my computer, but I HAVE done the review list, because everyone who had to wait the 3 ½ months for this chapter is wonderful, and if you are still interested after so long you are even MORE wonderful.
MWAZ to you all,
naavi
Amelia Bedelia ~ Thanks for the sweet review! I was at the beach when I got it and so I decided to sit down and write chapter 22! Three or so hours later I was done. As for your L/J questions, I'll have to plead the 5th :) You'll just have to see what happens. Ariana ~ You were the first to review for this chapter, and so I feel the worst about how long you waited! I'm SO sorry that it took as long as it did! Arwen ~ It's bee forever since we last talked (or emailed, whatever) How are you doing? I'd love to hear from you! Ayla Pascal ~ You were one of the four who reviewed the day I posted, and had to wait the longest for this chapter! I'm SOSOSO sorry it took so long. I hope you remembered enough about the story to follow this chapter! Mwaz Britz ~ I must say right now that I am a horrible, horrible person and a mean, mean friend. Just because I lazed off ff.net this summer didn't mean I should forget about such a great person like you! I'm bad at keeping in touch, which is no excuse, but rather an accepted truth on my part. If you are reading this and still care to talk to me please just say so! I will send you a HUGE email with more appropriate thanks. SORRY!!!! Catamonga Pidgeons ~ Hey catamonga! Sorry you had to wait so long, I apologize a gazillion times! Cathy Gurl ~ I took your advice and put a reminder in at the top of the chapter! Hope it helped a bit. Eidyia ~ I hope you're reading this, because it has been SUCH a long time since I posted last. I need to work on this summer hiatus thing I seem to have going. Hoped you liked the chapter! Elspeth Gordie ~ Thanks for the review! Just wondering by your email addy, do you play Neopets? I used to, but I an extreme moment of self control I gave away my account. Hope you liked the chapter! Ember ~ Hey, remember me? Its been *counts* Three months and 14 days since you reviewed for the last chapter. I think I overused the saying "Take your time" on this one ^-~ Hope you liked it! Emerald Eyes ~ Hey cquill, how is everything going? Thanks for the review and hoped you liked this chapter, even though there was such a long wait for it! Kascy ~ I'm so sorry about the wait for this chapter! I'll take a guess that this chapter is now your fave (judging on the L/J action) so I hope you like it. Le Chat Qui Garde La Lune ~ It's great people like you that I feel sososo guilty about when I don't update, because you are just TOO sweet! Swimming is going pretty well, and thanks so much for asking! I hope everything is going great for you as well (though school starts soon… ick) Talk to you soon! LittleA ~ Here's more, just like you asked for! (Psst, the next chapter should be up in just two weeks, because I only need to write thank-yous for it!) Lollipozz ~ If you were surprised when I updated before, your eyeballs probably popped out of your head when you saw this. The next chapter will be much more constant, I PROMISE!!! Lucky5 ~ Thanks for the sweet review! I had a great time in Europe! I think I tried emailing you once when I realized you had sent some emails to my old account, but I probably sent that to your old account (that was an epiphany right there) so I'll email you if you still want me to! Matrices ~ You moved continents?!? Why such a huge change? Your compliments genuinely touched me, thank you. I appreciate that you took the time to read my other work as well. Email me sometime (naavi@fanfiction.net!) Min Hee Ha ~ Sorry to disappoint you with the long wait for this chapter! Hoe everything is going great with you, and that you liked the chapter okay! Mwu ~ Thanks for saying my L/J is one of the best out there, it really means a lot! Myri-Canari ~ It's my job to put so much stuff in here to make you confused, didn't you know? J/k, but anyway, very happy you liked 21, even if it was confusing :) Parselmouth Majere ~ Yes, chapter 21 was really too wordy, glad you pointed it out to me! I went for more content and less verbose mess in this chapter! Hope you like it! Luv ya lots ;D Pickle Princess ~ I am seriously honored that you think is the best L/J on the site. Thanks so much! PrincessLesse ~ Eek, I went back and checked my grammar because of your review and I really have been getting sloppy. As for your comment on how weird its getting, well, that's there for a reason. Glad you think this isn't a "half-assed attempt" as you put it! Puddles ~ I know you asked for me to "Continue quickly!" as you said, and that three and a half months isn't exactly the definition of 'quick' but 23 will be up very soon! Two weeks or less, maybe, if people are still actively reading. Ttyl Sierra Sitruc ~ I know you waited 3 ½ months for this chapter, but I hope you can forgive me! The next one is done and will be up MUCH quicker, pinky promise! Skatergirl370 ~ Sorry you had to wait for the chapter for so long! The next one will be quicker, promise! Tokyo's Angel ~ Thanks for always leaving such great reviews, they always make me feel better! MWAZ! Y. Kuang ~ I hoped you liked the door's appearance in this chapter as well! He is getting pretty popular. Sorry this took so long :(