Disclaimer: I own nothing that you recognize from any Harry Potter book. If you don't recognize it: Hey it's mine!
A few little things. Not worth the re-read though – you probably wouldn't recognize anything different.
Alright! I know I didn't post yesterday, like I said I would… but here it is! I had to finish typing it… I was only halfway done yesterday, and it took me a good hour or more to finish! *phew*
Thank you for my reviews. All FOUR of them. At least I'm now at 70. 70's a good number.
On with the chapter.
* * *
The girls had taken Donna out of The Temple, and down to the Hospital Wing. Ara had gotten a stretcher for her, and they were all met with curious glances as they ran through the corridors. When they got to their desired location, Madam Wong rushed to her side, telling the girls to quickly put her in a bed, while she went to get some supplies.
They laid her on the closest bed, and took her hair out of its ponytail. When Madam Wong came back, and started checking vital signs, she noticed the parchment crumpled in Donna's clenched fist. She performed relaxation spell on her hand muscles, and took out the letter. Scanning it quickly, she gasped, and covered her mouth with her free hand in order to stop from crying out. She called to M. Vocher, showed him the parchment, and told him to go get the Headmaster. He asked Jen to go with him to Dumbledore's office, and tell the Headmaster what happened. She complied, and they ran off.
Jen had no idea what was in the letter, and felt odd running to Dumbledore's office with little idea of why she was doing so. They stopped at a gargoyle, M. Vocher said the password, and then proceeded to run up the moving staircase. Jen was in awe of his office, and looked around, taking in everything. She was shocked to see a Phoenix sitting there, looking at her with sad eyes. It seemed to her that this phoenix knew what happened, and pitied someone. She took in the circular room, it's furniture, portraits of past Headmasters, (all sleeping, mind you), and then her eyes came to rest on Dumbledore himself. Both of the men seemed to be waiting for her to speak. M. Vocher sighed. He had been explaining what he knew, and Jen had caught none of it. 'Damn,' she thought, 'I don't even know if we'll find out what was in there… that might have been my only chance.'
Taking his sigh as her cue to talk, she began explaining what she knew. "Uh – well, we were, we being Lily, Ara and I, talking about stuff, and Donna came in. We had a window open to let some air in… the weather was nice…" Jen seemed to think she had to explain herself for everything that was the way it was, "And then Donna came in. Through the door – not the window." Dumbledore smiled at her. "And then this big, ugly thing… Looked like a vulture of sorts, came through the window, it was open, and dropped a letter at Donna's feet. It squawked at her, then flew out again." She paused, letting her jabbering set in their heads.
"By the looks of it," Dumbledore started, "the vulture was a Turkey Vulture. He flew by my window, upsetting Fawkes, my Phoenix, very much. Go on, Ms. Black." He gestured for her to continue.
"Right, well… she picked it up, and started to read it. She looked frightened… then she screamed… well, not screamed, but you know… whatever, and then fainted right there… parchment in her hand. We all jumped and got her down to the Hospital Wing. And that's it." She finished, waiting for a response on her interesting way of explaining things.
"Thank you very much, Ms. Black. Let's head back down. I believe you and your friends would like to know whom the letter was from. And I think it would be best for you to know. For Donna's sake." Dumbledore told her, getting up from his chair.
They headed back down to the Hospital Wing, walking this time, not running. When they got there, Donna was now sleeping, and the others were around her bed, Lily holding her hand, stroking it gently, looking at all her scars, and running her fingers over them.
"Girls, if I may have a word with Ms. Kensington alone, please." Dumbledore requested of them. Jen looked put off.
"But you said you'd tell us who it was from?" She said, not meaning to sound forward.
"And I will. I would first like to get all the information I can from Ms. Kensington, and fill you in later. It is better, for this circumstance, to tell you the whole truth right away. Now, if you please." He explained, looking at the doors.
They left and waited outside. In a few minutes, they saw Mel running to them, gasping for air as she arrived.
"I came as soon as I could… what happened to her?" She asked, resting her hand on her knees, holding herself up.
They explained what they knew, and Jen then told them what she learned from her visit to the Headmasters office. As she guessed it, they were all pretty upset when she said she tuned everything out for a few minutes. ("But you have to see this place!") The doors opened, and Madam Wong asked them to enter, and they followed her to Donna's bed.
She had gone back to sleep, her face seemed damp with tears, and her blonde hair was covering part of her face. There were four chairs around Dumbledore, and they all took their seats respectively. He looked at them all. They were so eager to know what was wrong with their friend. Even a friend who had tried her hardest to push them out…
"First off, I want all of you to understand that you do not go around telling everybody of what has happened, and was has been happening to Ms. Kensington." They all nodded their heads. "Good. For the past seven or so months, Ms. Kensington tells me, she has been receiving letters from Voldemort." They all gasped. They knew who he was, and what he had done to families. Any news about him, other than his sudden death, would surely be bad news. "She explained to me the content of his letters. He wants werewolves on his side, and was trying to get her to join him. His conditions were as follows: Join him, and her parents live. Oppose him, and they die, along with others he felt would hurt her." They all looked at her sadly. That was probably why she kept them so far away. She was protecting them from Voldemort's wrath. "She never replied, and thus never accepted nor denied. To her, that meant they'd stop. That neither of his consequences would come. He grew impatient in his last letter…" Dumbledore trailed off… letting his gaze wander to Donna's sleeping form. "He killed her parents." They all let out small cries.
"No…" Mel whispered, looking at Donna sympathetically. Jen had covered her eyes; Lily, her mouth; and Ara was sitting there, just staring at nothing.
"Yes." Dumbledore continued, "And he has dedicated his latest Muggle-killing to her. That was too much for her."
No one said anything for a while. Two questions kept on popping up in Lily's mind, and she finally thought it best to get them out. "How many did he kill?"
Dumbledore looked at her gravely. He seemed to be debating whether or not to tell them. It would be in the Daily Prophet the next day for sure. Deciding that it would be better to hear it from him, he answered. "24 Muggle children, 3 Muggle adults. It was a Day Care centre…"
All girls started crying right there. This man was so ruthless, so angry, so persistent, so… everything bad. Evil, dark.
They all stayed quiet for a few minutes. The moment of silence was for the innocent lives lost, and their families. Lily still had a second question nagging at the back her mind though… Biting her lip, she asked it:
"Professor, I have one more question…" The other girls looked at her, wiping their eyes. How could she ask something else like that last one? She continued, "Why would he think that killing her parents, and innocent muggles make her want to join him?"
"Well, Ms. Evans," Dumbledore said; looking at Lily with a small, barely distinguishable twinkle in his eyes. He felt that it was good to know the answers to ones questions, if they are available. "I do not pretend to know exactly what goes on in his mind, why do you think he would do such a thing?"
"Uh…" Lily had no idea what to say. She was shocked, and wasn't even sure why he'd do it. She winged it. "Would it be because that would make her feel overwhelmed, and just join him to stop him from killing?"
"That would be my guess, too." Dumbledore said, smiling just a little.
"But that just doesn't make any sense!" Ara exclaimed, startling everyone. "Why would someone join him to stop killings, if when you join him, you'll be doing the killings yourself? It's stupid! It makes absolutely no sense! Surely he should see that!" She was beginning to rise out of her seat. Jen put her hand on Ara's shoulder, and gently pulled her down.
Dumbledore couldn't hold back a smile, even if it was a grave one. "Exactly what I think Ms. Figg. You are very correct. His reasoning, I believe, is that she will feel that she would be saving lives joining him. He would no longer dedicate them to her, and she'd save her loved ones. It is a vicious cycle, and I do not believe any of you should dwell on it. Push his intentions out of your minds, and go back to being teenage girls while you can. Go off to dinner now, I do believe it's in ten minutes time. I will see you there."
They all got up, thanking the Headmaster profusely for telling them what has happened to their friend. They headed to the Great Hall and ate their meals in silence.
~ * ~
"Ok, got the map, Invisibility Cloak, and Peanut Butter." Sirius listed. It was now 8:30 that evening, and the guys were getting ready for their little 'excursion'. They had heard about Donna, but were just told that she was still worn out from being 'sick' for the past few days, and the walk to Gryffindor tower, and up to her dorm tired her too much. Everybody seemed to believe it; she always looked on the verge of unconsciousness when she got 'sick'. Everybody believed it but Remus. "Do we want Creamy, Extra Creamy, Creamy Light, Crunchy or Crunchy Light?" Sirius asked, holding up each Peanut Butter jar as he spoke their name. The guys just looked at him blankly, not moving.
"Uh – Sirius, why…" James started to ask.
"I like peanut butter, ok?" They all looked at him, no one saying a word. "You can all shut up. So shut up." Sirius told them. There was rarely a day, now that the guys thought about it, that they didn't see Sirius having something with peanut butter, or anything nutty on it.
"Yea, we're all pretty shut up…" Peter spoke up in the silence.
"Let's go." James said, relieving the awkward tension that was building. They all knew Sirius was odd, but he could still surprise them. 'Who's that touchy about peanut butter?' James thought, as he started unfolding the Cloak.
"But which kind? I'm thinking extra creamy!" Sirius asked, gray eyes gleaming.
"Sure Sirius. Whichever you don't mind wasting…" Remus said uncertainly, shaking his head slowly, brow furrowed.
They crept through the Common Room, each pair of eyes on a certain girl friend of theirs, each on a different one, thankfully. Well, except Peter. He had to watch where he was walking. A little clumsy he is. They exited the Portrait Hole, and started their trek through the dark hallways of Hogwarts. With Sirius' eyes watching the map, James' scanning around them, Remus' ears perked up, and Peters' eyes watching his own feet, they crept as soundlessly through the corridors as they could. They were four teens… they didn't fit as well under the cloak as they did when they were eleven.
"Which tunnel should we take? The humped witch? The mirror? Go through the Willow? Or how about we go behind the tapestry of the Field with the little birds on it? I like that one…" Sirius asked, eyes searching the map for Mrs. Norris, Filch, students, and any teachers that may be near by any of the exits. "Or should we go through the pipe system? That's a new approach."
"The pipes?" Remus asked, "Since when did we go through pipes? I'm leaving if you think I'm crawling through crap (A/N: not literally crap… just junk, ie. dust and air vent crap… spiders…) … and will some one please stop touching my ass?!" he snarled through clenched teeth.
"Sorry bout that, Remus." Sirius laughed, "I'm watching the map, not whose ass I'm touching. I was kind of hoping it would be James'." He fought to keep a straight face, hoping they'd turn to look at him. They did, and were all surprised to see him looking normally at the map. Not a smidgen of a smile on him.
"Guys – please stop talking," James whispered, "And Remus, I sincerely thank you for taking up my ass time." James chuckled, trying not to burst out laughing.
"Oh jeez, you're welcome James – anytime." Remus responded sarcastically.
"Guys, let's get to Hogsmeade quickly, and pick up the toothpicks. Pity, I'd thought the kitchens would have had some… We still have to prank the Slytherins!" Peter finally added to the conversation.
"Oh Peter, you're just jealous…" Sirius said as they made their way to the humped witch.
They went through to Honeydukes, and used Sirius as a decoy to take any suspicious eyes off them as they made their way through the streets. Sirius as a decoy means: playful, lovable, hungry stray; playing with the passer bys. Sirius, being a male of 16, targeted mainly woman. He was fed sweets, bread, and a few bites of chicken. 'I could live like this… a stray in Hogsmeade! Sounds good for a back up plan! Let's see if this works…' A few women were petting his head, and scratching his ears. He rolled over onto his back and looked at them expectantly.
"Aww! Isn't that the most darndest thing! Rub his belly Julia! Aww… wonder where he's from?" One of the 20 year-old witches said, while she and 'Julia' rubbed Sirius' belly.
'Oh Merlin that does feel good… right there… oh yea…' They had been scratching right below his ribs, when his leg started to kick repeatedly. 'How odd…'
"Oh what a cute, lovable flee infested mutt!" A high-pitched male voice said, ruining Sirius' fun.
'James…' thought Sirius, 'Damn you!' Padfoot got up, licked the girls' hands, and walked over to James, looking, as best as he could, angry.
"Don't worry ladies, he likes to sleep at my place. C'mon boy. Good Snuffles. Bye." James waved to them, laughing at Padfoot's face when he called him 'Snuffles'.
"Bye Snuffles! Be a good boy for your master!" Julia called as James, the master, and 'Snuffles', the mutt walked away.
"You disgust me, you know that Sirius?" James told him as he changed back into Sirius behind Honeydukes where Remus and Peter waited for them.
"Did he get girls to pet him again?" Peter questioned, eyeing his friend suspiciously.
"Nah! Got my belly scratched this time! Feels a hell of a lot better than one might imagine…" Sirius said, remembering the feeling and smiling.
"And the fact that they were woman meant nothing?" Remus said raising an eyebrow, side looking Sirius. "So if they were men…"
"Shut up Remus!" Sirius said, cringing at the idea of guys touching him like that.
They got back to Hogwarts ok, and were waiting inside the tunnel to concrete their plan. By then it was 10:30 pm. James told Lily they'd be back at 12, and he planned to keep it at 12.
"Alright," James began, looking at the map, "to the dungeons! Remus, did you get the double sided or one sided toothpicks?" He asked, looking through the shopping bag. "Mint, eh? Why did you by all this other crap?" He looked up at Peter and Remus who actually went into the store. James had waited outside, on lookout.
Sirius took the bag, and began listing the items. "Uh, Shampoo, Conditioner… wait! Smells like…" He sniffed it, "Wild Yam? Uh-huh… What else?" He sifted through the bag. It was a bit dark in the tunnel, and hard to see exactly what everything was. "Olives? I'm not asking… mint toothpicks, hand lotion? Skin need moisturizing, Remus?" He asked, smirking at the now impatient Remus.
"It's for me." Peter stated. "My hands get dry easily."
"Right… a magazine! Witch's weekly, eh? Didn't know you read that…"
"Look – I needed to buy things other than toothpicks!" Remus exclaimed, throwing his hands in the air, thoroughly fed up with Sirius mocking him for everything he bought. "Would it not have not looked odd if teenagers went into a store just to get toothpicks?"
Another five minutes of their bickering, and James got them all on their way to the dungeons. Looking at the map, which told you how to get into the secret passageways, they got to the Slytherin Dungeon entrance. They stood in front of the seemingly blank wall, and muttered the password that the map told them to say.
They got in, and made their way to the 6th year boys' dormitories. They filled the Slytherins hair, and covered parts of their clothes with peanut butter and toothpicks. They put a charm so that the peanut butter and toothpicks wouldn't come off, and would be on the garments that the boys unknowingly chose. The toothpicks were mainly used just to add to the confusion. No one could understand the minds of the Marauders, but they found it funny nonetheless.
They got back to Gryffindor Tower, licking their fingers of the excess peanut butter that didn't make it to anything Slytherin. They went through the Portrait hole slowly, making sure no one was there. James played along. Lily was sitting alone in front of the fireplace reading a book. She was curled up, lying against the arm of the couch, blanket draped over her legs. She was facing the entrance, and looked up when they came in.
"Hello?" She asked, having fun, "I know someone's there…" She said, knowing full well it was the guys. "Ok Lily, stop hearing things…" She mumbled to herself as she continued reading.
They boys silently crept past her, and up to their dorm. They congratulated each other quietly, so as not to wake Dennis. James let out a big, and rather obvious yawn.
"Well, I'm pooped." He stretched. "I'll see you guys bright and early tomorrow…er, I think it's today now… whatever. I can't wait to see their faces when they come into the Great Hall!" He said excitedly. They were all crawling into bed.
"Yea. With all that peanut butter stuck to them for the day. How'd you come up with the toothpicks, Remus? It's so… not Remus-like." Peter added quietly.
"I dunno. I tried to think like Sirius. I was very happy to see Malfoy sleeping on his stomach, though. Poor git. He'll have trouble sitting down tomorrow." Remus laughed.
"Great idea for the olives, Peter!" James exclaimed in a whisper, giving him a thumbs up. "They'll smell so bad… well, worse than usual, and have olives on the toothpicks! Brilliant! But, I must get some sleep now, g'night guys." He drew his curtains shut, and heard the others guys do the same, while telling each other good night.
~ * ~
Lily waited downstairs, and kept reading her book. Well, it looked as though she was reading. She was really thinking about Donna. Dumbledore told them not to concern themselves with trying to fight her battle, and to try and make each day count. She was doing her best to do that. Beneath the blanket, and under her legs, lay her wand, bag and cloak she was going to wear over her pajamas. She heard a creak, and dipped her head over the arm of the chair to see, from her view, James coming downstairs upside down. They both had their large goofy grins on their faces, and did small waves. He came over to her, and sat at her feet. She lifted up her head a looked into his deep blue eyes, framed by his circular glasses.
"We could get into big trouble for this you know…" Lily said, trying to be the voice of reason. The gleam in her eyes gave away the fact that she felt differently. She took the blanket off and grabbed her wand, bag and cloak.
"We won't get caught. This is a great idea by the way. Never been done. It'll be a… a learning experience. Now," He started, getting up and helping Lily to her feet, "we have to make it work on us, too. If we never say something to the person that sits near us, it'll be all too obvious. Should we do it to the teacher's chairs, as well?" He said, linking his arm with hers, and covering them in his cloak.
"But of course." She responded, side glancing James. She held onto his linked arm with her free hand.
James smiled at this, and stepped out of the Portrait hole with Lily by his side. He took out a piece of parchment, his wand, and muttered ten choice words. "I solemnly swear that I am up to no good."
Lily watched as the entire floor plan of Hogwarts raced across the parchment. She also watched other parts of it show that she had never seen, nor heard of before. She watched the lines form hallways, classrooms, bathrooms, bedrooms, and secret passageways. "James… this is amazing… where did you –"
"We made it. Sirius, Remus, Peter and I. Took us a while, but I think we've got every passage down." James said, brimming with pride and happiness. He looked at her, and not the map. "The only place we haven't got it the infamous Chamber of Secrets." He said in mock fright.
"Well I should hope not," Lily said, also making fun of it, "That'd mean one of you would be the awaited Heir of Slytherin. Look! There we are! Ha! And Filch, Mrs. Norris… oh Peeves! Sh!" She began to whisper, "He's just a couple of corridors down." James loved this side of Lily. She was as much of a troublemaker as he, but she decided to tone it down, and focus on 'more important things'.
"Well, we're not taking that corridor. Too long." James whispered in her ear.
This made Lily shiver. His warm breath smoothing over her skin made her want to jump him right then and there. 'Wait… jump him?' She thought, 'I guess so. But I promised myself I wouldn't get a boyfriend… keep it out of your mind Lily.' She restrained herself enough to ask a question. "But it's the fastest route to the Great Hall. What faster way is there?"
"This way." He opened a door to a broom closet and gently pushed her in. She took the Invisibility cloak off the two of them, and looked around with disbelief and confusion all over her face.
"James, I highly doubt that you and me in a broom closet will help us in our plight to the Great Hall." Lily said, wondering his intentions for the evening.
"No Lily." He smiled. He laughed at her insane ideas. Well, not insane, but happy, nice, enjoyable and fantastical ideas. "No, we're not doing anything like that." James blushed as he said that. 'Thank Merlin for the dark.' He thought, as he felt his cheeks go warm. Lily was doing a pretty good job of going pink, as well. "We're going in here." He pushed aside some boxes to show a small door. He knelt down and opened it.
"Whoa. Do we have to crawl?" Lily asked him. She was folding the Invisibility Cloak, and putting it into her bag.
"Just for a bit. Then there's a ladder, and steps downwards. After that we can stand. It's sort of narrow though, so don't think of stretching out your arms." He went first to save her from any headaches. He knew where any low ceilings, or chucks of wood that could easily get you were. He also didn't want her to fall down through the floor where the ladder was. They made it through unscathed, and a lot faster than James made it sound.
"Well," Lily said once they were in the broom closet near the Great Hall. "That was educational." James took the cloak out of her bag, and cloaked them in it.
They went into the Great Hall and worked their magic (A/N: excuse the pun… not.) on every bench and seat in there.
As they returned to the Gryffindor Tower, albeit slower because they were climbing up, they were holding hands, unknowingly.
"Wronski Feint." James said to the Fat Lady. She was too tired to even realize that it was 2 am.
Once in the Common Room, Lily jumped in the air, clapped her hands, then preceded to hug James. "That was such an adrenaline rush! My heart is still beating fast!" As she pulled away from James, she noted how close they were. 'But it could have sped up for other reasons…' she thought as they gazed into each other's eyes, searching for a response to an unasked question. They closed them, and leaned in for a kiss they both knew was coming.
* * *
Alright! Woo! A teeny cliff hanger! Go me! I'm so proud!
To my thank you's!
LilyFlower: Thanks! You know I love being told I'm funny! : ) And yes, James and Lily will like each other soon ; ) It's already begun! Thank you for reviewing!
qwerty: And the answer to your question is here! So yea, they did die. Sad, eh? Thanks for reviewing!! : )
Zoe Lefebvre: I got Sex Planet by trying to think like Sirius! Well, the Sirius I have in my head… so really, I got it out of my "Sirius personality" that I contribute to this story. Now did that confuse you as much as it did me? Thanks for the review, as always!
Katrina: Thank you so much for that huge review! I love'em when they're long! Yea, Donna is a great character… she reminds everyone that you can't control everything in your life, like you may want to. But her tale is sad, and will get sadder. :( Poor girl… I'm starting to feel cruel with all the things I'm doing to her, and plan to do. (that was a small hint in a way… I think) So things will stay bad with her for a while. On a lighter note: thank you again!
Ok, I don't know when I'll be updating next! Not Sunday, or Monday (visiting cousin and her 1 month old daughter), or Tuesday (night school), or Wednesday (Dinner with mum) well, maybe Wednesday… and for sure not Thursday (night school). So if all else fails… FRIDAY'S THE DAY!!
I'll catch up with you guys later! And don't forget to review!
