Chapter 6: He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named Arises
The next morning James woke up in a dark place that smelled slightly like lavender. He sat up and realized that he had been sleeping in stiff white blankets. There were pictures of moving nurses on the walls and it was all painted white. It must be the Infirmary. In instants everything came rushing back to him.
"Owww." he groaned as feelings rushed into his head, causing a headache. He clutched his head and sank back down in the bed. He heard a bustle of footsteps come in, and knew it was the neurotic nurse, Miss Grimhaven. This made him groan even more.
"Looks like you've woken up, Mr. Potter" she said, talking so fast and professionally that her words slurred together. "I'll have to inject you again." She paused, "Oh dear, I do hate needles so. Hang on a moment, dear, will you?" and she bustled out of the room again.
James wanted to yell after her that he'd take as many moments as possible, but didn't because he figured that it didn't actually make any sense. He looked around and saw an envelope with his name scrawled onto it placed on the stand to the side of the Infirmary bed. Eagerly he reached for it and was about to tear it open when Miss Grimhaven entered again.
"Now, now," she reprimanded him, "You can open that later. NOW, I'll have my assistant inject you. I do hate needles so, and I will not be in the room. Good-bye." Her long white skirts rustled as she exited.
The assistant glanced in his direction and hurriedly got ready and held up the needle. James braced himself for pain, but none came, instead he felt quite pleasant. He smiled in the assistant's direction and drifted off into another long sleep.
When he awoke, for the second time, the first thing he saw were the millions of letters piled on stand. After he regained his focus, though, he realized it was in actuality only ten envelopes. He reached for the first one and tore it open.
Dear James, Poor fellow, you've missed out on all the fun. Poor Snape has had millions of pranks played on him; I loved the one in particular concerning a rotten egg breaking all over his head. We started off your long leave of absence by playing a few pranks on Lily, mean ones too I might say. But she acted quite oddly and just laughed them off. She didn't seem to change around her friends, but around us.. Well, you'll just have to see for yourself when you come back. It's been what, two weeks now? Sincerely, your good friend Sirius
James was glad to hear the Snape was having an awful, but confused when he read the part about Lily. The last he had talked to her was right outside the Infirmary when he was acting particularly rude to her. I feel bad about that, he told himself, and then immediately took it back. She's a rude girl that needs to be talked to roughly once in awhile, he said silently.
He brushed these thoughts aside and ruffled through the envelopes, looking for one he should open next. It looked like four of them were assignments, which he felt would not do anything for his already drooping mood. Finally he saw near the bottom the Daily Prophet with big scrolling letters written off to the side. James rotated it a bit to read whatever it said on the right level.
My dear friend James, I heard about the mishap you had in Double Potions and am quite sorry about it. Anyways, you've missed a lot while you were in your nearly-coma, so I thought I'd give you this newspaper in hopes you'll get a bit caught up before your return to normal life. I assume we'll need to get you a tutor to catch you up on things. Toodaloo, Albus Dumbledore
James smiled and glanced down and the front page story, which instantly wiped the gleeful expression from his face. YOU-KNOW-WHO KILLS FOUR MORE. James gave a loud exclamation. He knew who YOU-KNOW-WHO was, but he had lying rather low ever since he made a pass at Hogwarts and Dumbledore created the foundation for You-know-who's fear of him. Yet, he kills four MORE, so there must have been other killings. James read on:
Yet another attack is raged on the Wizarding community, this time in the close but distant country of Romania, where You-Know-Who's roots are supposedly from. One of the four whom were killed called He-Who-Must-Not- Be-Named a 'disgusting bastard who can't see the good in life'. Of course HE got infuriated and immediately performed a spell, killing four and injuring eight.
James was scared now, really scared; he bolted out of bed and ran out of the infirmary, regardless of Miss Grimhaven's yells.
"Password?" the fat lady in the portrait guarding the Gryffindor tower asked.
"Lemon drop pens," James replied breathlessly and rushed in when the portrait swung open. He found his three friends seated, laughing, in the armchairs around a roaring fire.
"What's this?" James gasped, falling at the side of Sirius' armchair after shoving the Daily Prophet in his face.
"Oh no." Sirius sighed, not even welcoming his friend back to civilization. "You've been out of the loop only two weeks, and yet so much can happen."
The four of them, mostly three actually since Peter was cowering in a corner, stayed up late into the night discussing the latest antics of Voldemort. Apparently he had hidden away for months, recouping and practicing to perfect his deathly skills. Already ten had died at his hand, six had nothing to do with him whatsoever until he killed them, and twenty-some were critically injured. James was furious at himself for not wakening up sooner, although he knew it was inevitable.
James, trying to lighten things up he asked how things were going. Everybody laughed, even Peter, and they talked well into the night.
Lily was in a particularly bad mood that morning, considering that she hadn't had any time whatsoever to get prettied up before breakfast, and it didn't improve a bit when she observed that James had decided to join them after a long absence. He was his normal self, of course, laughing and apparently had sent a box of INSTANT FIREWORKS UPON LANDING to Severus Snape. Lily shook her head and played with her oatmeal which greatly resembled grub.
"Come on, Lily, eat up!" Lisa said, nudging Lily's elbow. Lily nudged back. "And put some flavoring in it. That grub, or whatever it is, looks sampling appalling!"
Lily laughed and shook her head. "I'm not really that hungry."
"Oh, come on," Sonya chided from across the table. "Not hungry? I have never seen Lily not hungry." The other girls laughed at this jest towards Lily's seemingly bottomless stomach.
"No, I would be hungry, if someone hadn't lost my appetite for me," Lily said, glaring at the boy down the table.
"Oh," Lisa nodded knowingly. "Yeah, I hear he's Miss Grimhaven doesn't want him to be out yet, but he forced his way back into our lives." Lisa rolled her eyes. "Boys sometimes, you know?"
A/N: I know that my chapters are comparatively shorter than others, but I get so impatient and just want to get on to the next chapter. Sorry *blushes* Thanks
The next morning James woke up in a dark place that smelled slightly like lavender. He sat up and realized that he had been sleeping in stiff white blankets. There were pictures of moving nurses on the walls and it was all painted white. It must be the Infirmary. In instants everything came rushing back to him.
"Owww." he groaned as feelings rushed into his head, causing a headache. He clutched his head and sank back down in the bed. He heard a bustle of footsteps come in, and knew it was the neurotic nurse, Miss Grimhaven. This made him groan even more.
"Looks like you've woken up, Mr. Potter" she said, talking so fast and professionally that her words slurred together. "I'll have to inject you again." She paused, "Oh dear, I do hate needles so. Hang on a moment, dear, will you?" and she bustled out of the room again.
James wanted to yell after her that he'd take as many moments as possible, but didn't because he figured that it didn't actually make any sense. He looked around and saw an envelope with his name scrawled onto it placed on the stand to the side of the Infirmary bed. Eagerly he reached for it and was about to tear it open when Miss Grimhaven entered again.
"Now, now," she reprimanded him, "You can open that later. NOW, I'll have my assistant inject you. I do hate needles so, and I will not be in the room. Good-bye." Her long white skirts rustled as she exited.
The assistant glanced in his direction and hurriedly got ready and held up the needle. James braced himself for pain, but none came, instead he felt quite pleasant. He smiled in the assistant's direction and drifted off into another long sleep.
When he awoke, for the second time, the first thing he saw were the millions of letters piled on stand. After he regained his focus, though, he realized it was in actuality only ten envelopes. He reached for the first one and tore it open.
Dear James, Poor fellow, you've missed out on all the fun. Poor Snape has had millions of pranks played on him; I loved the one in particular concerning a rotten egg breaking all over his head. We started off your long leave of absence by playing a few pranks on Lily, mean ones too I might say. But she acted quite oddly and just laughed them off. She didn't seem to change around her friends, but around us.. Well, you'll just have to see for yourself when you come back. It's been what, two weeks now? Sincerely, your good friend Sirius
James was glad to hear the Snape was having an awful, but confused when he read the part about Lily. The last he had talked to her was right outside the Infirmary when he was acting particularly rude to her. I feel bad about that, he told himself, and then immediately took it back. She's a rude girl that needs to be talked to roughly once in awhile, he said silently.
He brushed these thoughts aside and ruffled through the envelopes, looking for one he should open next. It looked like four of them were assignments, which he felt would not do anything for his already drooping mood. Finally he saw near the bottom the Daily Prophet with big scrolling letters written off to the side. James rotated it a bit to read whatever it said on the right level.
My dear friend James, I heard about the mishap you had in Double Potions and am quite sorry about it. Anyways, you've missed a lot while you were in your nearly-coma, so I thought I'd give you this newspaper in hopes you'll get a bit caught up before your return to normal life. I assume we'll need to get you a tutor to catch you up on things. Toodaloo, Albus Dumbledore
James smiled and glanced down and the front page story, which instantly wiped the gleeful expression from his face. YOU-KNOW-WHO KILLS FOUR MORE. James gave a loud exclamation. He knew who YOU-KNOW-WHO was, but he had lying rather low ever since he made a pass at Hogwarts and Dumbledore created the foundation for You-know-who's fear of him. Yet, he kills four MORE, so there must have been other killings. James read on:
Yet another attack is raged on the Wizarding community, this time in the close but distant country of Romania, where You-Know-Who's roots are supposedly from. One of the four whom were killed called He-Who-Must-Not- Be-Named a 'disgusting bastard who can't see the good in life'. Of course HE got infuriated and immediately performed a spell, killing four and injuring eight.
James was scared now, really scared; he bolted out of bed and ran out of the infirmary, regardless of Miss Grimhaven's yells.
"Password?" the fat lady in the portrait guarding the Gryffindor tower asked.
"Lemon drop pens," James replied breathlessly and rushed in when the portrait swung open. He found his three friends seated, laughing, in the armchairs around a roaring fire.
"What's this?" James gasped, falling at the side of Sirius' armchair after shoving the Daily Prophet in his face.
"Oh no." Sirius sighed, not even welcoming his friend back to civilization. "You've been out of the loop only two weeks, and yet so much can happen."
The four of them, mostly three actually since Peter was cowering in a corner, stayed up late into the night discussing the latest antics of Voldemort. Apparently he had hidden away for months, recouping and practicing to perfect his deathly skills. Already ten had died at his hand, six had nothing to do with him whatsoever until he killed them, and twenty-some were critically injured. James was furious at himself for not wakening up sooner, although he knew it was inevitable.
James, trying to lighten things up he asked how things were going. Everybody laughed, even Peter, and they talked well into the night.
Lily was in a particularly bad mood that morning, considering that she hadn't had any time whatsoever to get prettied up before breakfast, and it didn't improve a bit when she observed that James had decided to join them after a long absence. He was his normal self, of course, laughing and apparently had sent a box of INSTANT FIREWORKS UPON LANDING to Severus Snape. Lily shook her head and played with her oatmeal which greatly resembled grub.
"Come on, Lily, eat up!" Lisa said, nudging Lily's elbow. Lily nudged back. "And put some flavoring in it. That grub, or whatever it is, looks sampling appalling!"
Lily laughed and shook her head. "I'm not really that hungry."
"Oh, come on," Sonya chided from across the table. "Not hungry? I have never seen Lily not hungry." The other girls laughed at this jest towards Lily's seemingly bottomless stomach.
"No, I would be hungry, if someone hadn't lost my appetite for me," Lily said, glaring at the boy down the table.
"Oh," Lisa nodded knowingly. "Yeah, I hear he's Miss Grimhaven doesn't want him to be out yet, but he forced his way back into our lives." Lisa rolled her eyes. "Boys sometimes, you know?"
A/N: I know that my chapters are comparatively shorter than others, but I get so impatient and just want to get on to the next chapter. Sorry *blushes* Thanks