A/N: As promised, here's another chapter for today… and remember, I won't be back till July 31 at the earliest… but that doesn't mean you can't keep reading/reviewing! Enjoy!

Chapter 19: The Dementors' Effects

Lily looked mournfully around the common room.  "You know," she said, "I remember the first time I set foot in here.  I was scared out of my wits."

Dumbledore smiled.  "Many children are, when they first come to Hogwarts.  They don't know what to expect."

"That was exactly it.  I had no idea what magic was, beyond the magicians I saw perform at parties, and then here I was, suddenly a witch and able to learn how to do things I had only dreamed possible before."  Lily smiled and even laughed a little.  "I can't tell you how many nights were spent in front of that fireplace my first year here… being kept up against my will as James and Sirius explained the finer points of quidditch to me.  And then that table is where the boys all taught me how to play wizard's chess."  Lily now turned toward a small bench by the window.  "It was right over there that James kissed me for the first time.  And right over there," Lily pointed to one of the central couches in the room, "is where I first met Claire.  Just over a year ago now…"

Dumbledore walked over to Lily and held her in a warm embrace.  "We will find out what happened to her, Lily.  I promise you that," he said reassuringly. 

"Thank you," she whispered.

James, meanwhile, rushed to the Ministry office as quickly as he could.  As soon as he got there, he rushed right to Mr. Ocran's office.

"Where are they?" James panted.

"Calm down, Potter.  This is an office, not a racetrack," Mr. Ocran told him.  "But I do understand your situation, so I will tell you.  The Lestranges are being held in the old owlry tower.  Questioning is most likely underway, and I think it would be best if you did not take part in it.  You may observe all you like, but I just fear that you might be a bit overly emotional else wise."

"I'll keep an eye on him, sir," Sirius said, coming in from behind James.

"Thank you, Sirius.  I shall leave this matter in your hands then.  Good day and good luck, gentlemen."

Sirius and James walked out of Ocran's office and headed for the old owlry. 

"Sirius, I shall leave this matter in your hands then," mimicked James.  "How the hell did you get in his good graces like that?"

"Never you mind, Potter," Sirius said, flashing him a devilish smile.  He suddenly became much more serious.  "We've got a lot of work to do."

"I will not tell you anything!  You have no right to hold us here!" shouted Edward Lestrange. 

"We would beg to differ, Mr. Lestrange," said Shulstad.  "I, for one, think we have every right to keep you here until you tell us what you know."

"And just what is it that you are looking for?"

"The whereabouts of a certain wizard by the name of Voldemort and an innocent witch by the name of Claire Potter.  Think you might know anything about either of those?"

"I will never tell you anything," Lestrange hissed.

"Well then, I suppose we'll just have to see what the Veritaserum does for you.  Chisolm? If you please…"

Chisolm walked over to where Lestrange sat, brandishing a crystal bottle in his hands.  "You are aware of the effects Veritaserum can have on a person, are you not?"

"You are all powerless against the Dark Lord.  He will rise above you all!" Lestrange declared.  "You will cower before him when the time comes!"

"Where is the girl, Lestrange?" demanded Sirius upon entering the room.

"I don't know what you are talking about."

"Don't lie to me," Sirius started.  "The truth serum, please," he said, holding his hand out toward Chisolm.

While this was going on, James decided to take some matters into his own hands.  He picked up Lestrange's wand that was sitting on the desk by the door and started to examine it.  He then heard a voice from deep inside himself whisper: Check the wand… it's last spell… James then pulled out his own wand.  "Prior Incantato!" he roared.

James held the two wands end-to-end, his hands shaking in anticipation of what might appear. Please not Claire… Please, dear God, not Claire, he prayed silently. Apparently he didn't pray hard enough though. In the faint smoke that appeared where the two wands met, James saw the lifeless body of his beloved sister gliding itself into a large stone fireplace, where it was engulfed by flames.

"No!" he shouted. After seeing this, James couldn't even be bothered to erase the ghost of a spell from the air; instead, he turned so quickly, and had such a murderous look in his eye, that he didn't even have to touch Lestrange. The man flew halfway across the room and slammed into the wall.

"Bastard!" James yelled. "Why her?! Why my sister?!" James made a mad dash toward Lestrange, but Sirius somehow managed to grab his robes just in time.

"No, James! Not like this," Sirius warned.

"You will rot in Azkaban for this!" James shouted, nearly choking on a silent sob. "I should kill you and your wretched wife with my bare hands!"

"James…"

"But I won't. You don't deserve that, either of you. You both deserve far worse. You will both go to Azkaban and waste away, and if I have my way, you will receive the Dementor's Kiss…"

"I would rather face 1,000 Dementors than betray our new Lord & Master."

"Careful what you wish for," sneered Sirius. He then turned to Chisolm. "Have Fudge or someone send for the Dementors at once. We don't need this trash around here any more."

Within the hour, several Dementors had arrived to take Edward Lestrange back to Azkaban with them.  From the moment they entered the room, everyone could feel a slight chill going through their systems, but none more so than James.  He could feel the happiness draining from his being as he heard voices screaming and echoing in his head.  Take Harry and run!  Run Lily!  I'll hold him off!

"James!" shouted Sirius.  "James!  Are you alright?  Come back to us, buddy, come on!"

James suddenly blinked and shook his head.  He could feel that he had broken out into a cold sweat.  "What- How did I end up on the floor?" he asked, taking hold of Sirius's extended arm and pulling himself up.

"It must have been the Dementors… that's the only thing it could have been."

"They've never affected me like that before though…"

Sirius shrugged.  "I don't know what else to tell you then."  He put his hand on James's shoulder.  "Come on, let's get you home to Lily."

James suddenly remembered the voices he heard.  "Lily!  Oh god, is she alright?"

"Why shouldn't she be?"

"No reason," James meekly replied.

The two friends walked out of the room and down the hallway back toward James's office so he could collect his things before heading home to Lily.  Regrettably, this meant walking past their boss's office, which is where James saw something that upset him greatly.  Sitting in front of Mr. Ocran's desk was none other than Catherine Lestrange.

"What the hell is she still doing here?" demanded James.

"Ah, Potter.  How nice to see you," Ocran said, coming out of his office to join James in the hallway.  He closed the door behind him. 

"Why didn't the Dementors take her with them as well?"

"It's not that easy, Potter.  We had hard evidence against Mr. Lestrange, but the Ministry is pushing for trial in her case."

"No hard evidence?  It was not only me, but also my wife and even the great Albus Dumbledore who saw her transform from the shape of my sister to her own!  What more could you possibly need?  You have three eye-witnesses!"

"It isn't just the witnesses, Potter, you should know that.  We didn't have a chance of breaking her husband, but perhaps we will be able to get information out of her," Ocran said.  "Anything we can find out from her, even the slightest hint of Voldemort's whereabouts would be a help, don't you think?  Then maybe we'd have a chance of preventing this from happening again."

James sighed and nodded grudgingly.  "I suppose that you're right, but be careful with that one.  Just come and get me if you need anything, sir."

"Of course I will, Potter, as soon as I find anything out."

"Thank you, sir."

Once James grabbed a few papers from his desk, he apparated back home where he found Lily pacing around the living room nervously.  Jem was sitting on the couch watching her, while Remus was sitting in front of the fire with Aaron playing exploding snap, no doubt trying to distract him from Lily's nervous behavior.

"Hey," James said quietly.

Lily's eyes immediately met his, and she ran to him, threw her arms around him and buried her face in his shoulder.  "Did you find anything?" asked her muffled voice.  James sighed, and Lily could feel him nod.  "Oh, god, James… I'm so sorry, I'm so sorry," she cried.  "Why does all of this happen to us?"

James wrapped his arms tighter around Lily and stroked her hair with his hand.  "I don't know, baby, I don't know."  He kissed the top of her head and looked over at Jem and Remus who were now looking intently at them.  Aaron was still engrossed in the game though.

"So Claire's…?" Remus whispered.

James lowered his eyes and nodded again.

"Are you going to do anything for her, have a service? Anything like that?" asked Jem.

"No, I don't think so.  Things have been too rough already, and everyone has been through so much… We'll just have to come to terms with this on our own," James replied.

"You're sure?" she asked.

"I don't see us as having any other choice."

"What's going on?" asked Aaron, turning around to face the adults.

"Nothing, honey," Jem said soothingly.

"What's wrong with Miss Lily?"

"We've all had a very, very difficult day," James said as he continued to stroke Lily's hair.

"Why? What happened?" Aaron asked.

James sighed and opened his mouth to say something else, but before he could, Jem had gotten up, walked over to Aaron and led him out of the room, promising him an explanation.

Sirius suddenly apparated into the room, rather out of breath.  "I've been looking everywhere for you, James!"

"Why? You knew I was coming home…"

Sirius shook his head.  "The trial is scheduled for day after next.  Thought you might like to know."

James could feel that his lower lip was beginning to tremble, so he bit after muttering his thanks to Sirius.  Lily turned around and released herself from James's arms and went over to Sirius, giving him a hug.

"I know you had a lot to do with this, and thank you for it," she whispered.

"You know I'd do anything for you guys, Lil," Sirius told her.

"We probably should discuss what you want to do as the next step," Remus said.

"I know, everyone seems to be wondering if we're going to get a new Secret Keeper, and to be perfectly honest, I don't think we need one," James told everyone.

"What?" Remus, Sirius and Lily said at the same time.

"Look at the good they've done so far.  What's the point?  I suppose we can just move to a new house and see how things work out from there, but I don't want to risk any more lives, not unless we absolutely have to."

"Do you really think that wise, James?"

"Yeah, I do."

"Lily? What about you?"

Lily looked as though she was considering the matter very seriously.  She then sighed.  "He's right.  We can't go on living this way."  She crossed back over to James and stood beside him.  "We need to move on, and try to regain some normalcy in our lives, all of us do.  It just can't be done living like this."  James put his arm around Lily's shoulder and kissed the top of her head.

"You're sure about this?" Remus asked cautiously.

"As of right now, I think it's the best decision," James said.  "Lily and I can handle things, especially with everyone, and everything that's on our side."

Lily looked up at her husband, a bit confused by his last comment.  No matter, she thought.  It must be something to do with the Ministry, or perhaps even Dumbledore…  She suddenly shook her head, realizing how strange she must look to everyone in the room.  "Sorry," she whispered.

Sirius laughed.  "Well, it's nice to see that you can still mesmerize Lily so that she won't pay attention to anyone else in the room!"

"Oh, shove off," James smiled.