A/N: Am I evil or what? Lolzers, I love it...here is a shoutout to Kristina: Now you don't have to steal my notebook and then be murdered! Thank God we got this half-day, we were sent home early from school today because of SNOW! After this chapter comes New Years Eve! Now read!

Disclaimer: Must I? See the previous chapters, I'm too lazy to retype this.
Chapter Eight: Good-Bye, Kate
"What the fuck happened here?" Jen gasped.

James spotted a note on the kitchen table. He walked over and picked it up.

*All you had to do was take the gifts*

James knew who it was from. (A/N: Don't we all?) His father...

James looked down at his mother and suddenly felt the urge to vomit...which he did...

"What do we do?" Terry asked.

"I-I don't know," Lily said.

"We need to contact Dumbledore," said Remus. "He'll know what to do."
Professor Dumbledore was sitting in front of the fireplace in his office. He was busy unsticking a few lemon drops when someone's head popped into his fireplace.

"Ah, Mr. Lupin," he said. "Merry Christmas, how are you on this fine day?"

"Not too good, Professor," Remus said. "There's an emergency at the Potter Residence."
Remus stepped out of the 'line of fire' and waited for Dumbledore to step out.

"What's the matter, Mr. Lupin?" Dumbledore asked.

"In the kitchen," Remus said, pointing to the doorway that Lily, Terry, and Jen were sitting near.

The first thing the professor saw upon entering the kitchen was his Head Boy leaning over the garbage can and Sirius Black kneeling next to him...the second thing he spotted would be Kate's body.

"Oh my...what's happened?" James, panting, lifted his head out of the garbage can, keeping his eyes tight shut. He handed Sirius the note.

Sirius read it, then handed it to Dumbledore.

"Who is this from?" Dumbledore asked.

"His father," Sirius said quietly.

"Get James into the living room," Dumbledore said to Remus and Sirius.

"Right, sir," Sirius said. "Up you get, buddy."

James let the other two lead him into the other room and the girls followed.

Nobody said anything, they just sat there, silently crying. No one knew what they could say to James, so they just kept their mouths shut.

Ministry people soon arrived at the house and a Law Enforcement Squad was sent out to look for john. Guys from the Ministry were questioning the teens, but the others wouldn't let them talk to James.
"Pack all of your things up," said Dumbledore. "James, you are going to be staying with your grandmother. The rest of you will be coming back to Hogwarts with me."

The six of them nodded and went upstairs to get their things.
Remus entered the silent library. Over in the 'reading corner' he spotted Lily. She was just sitting there, staring into the fire.

He walked over.

"Hey, Lils," he said.

Lily looked up. "Hey, Remus."

(A/N: This is still Christmas Day, it is just a bit after dinner time.)

"How come you didn't go to dinner?" Remus asked.

"I can't eat," said Lily.

Remus nodded. "None of us could either. Are you going to be all right?"

"I don't know," said Lily. "The image just won't leave me, you know? And I feel like I should be with James right now, not sitting in the school library."

"I know what you mean, Lily," said Remus, nodding. "I don't want to be at school either." "How's Sirius?"
"He hasn't left the dorm since we came back. Jen's up there with him now trying to calm him down. He really needs to be at the funeral, he needs the closure."

"Lets go, then!" Lily said, standing up.

"What?"

"Lets go to the funeral." "Lily, we can't do that?" Remus said. "We'd get our heads cut off by McGonagall." "And you call yourself a Marauder!" Lily exclaimed. "I don't know about you, but I'm going and I'm sure Sirius will agree that this is the best thing to do."

"How are we going to get there?" "I'll rig the fireplace in the common room so that it's connected to the Floo Network."

"Isn't that illegal?"

"Yeah, so?"

Remus smiled. "Lets go, then!"
*Dear Professor Dumbledore,

We realize that you wanted us back here at the school, but we have a friend in need.

We have flooed to James' grandmother's house and will attend the funeral with him. We will come back to school with James.

We hope that you aren't too mad at us, but we had to do it, sir.

Yours truly,

Sirius Black

Remus Lupin

Lily Evans

Jen Nealson

and

Terry Luke*

"Amazing youngsters, they are," Dumbledore muttered, putting the letter in his desk. "Utterly caring too..."
"What are you doing here?" Samantha Smith asked. She was James' grandmother on his mother's side. She had black hair that was flecked with gray and amber eyes.

"Hey, grandma," Sirius said, hugging the short old lady. Sirius had always called Mrs. Smith 'grandma'. "We're here for you and Jamesie-poo."

"Hello, Remus," she said, hugging him. "Introduce me to your lady-friends, boys."

"This is my girlfriend, Jen Nealson," said Sirius.

"This is Terry Luke, my girlfriend," Remus said.

"And my name is Lily Evans," said Lily. "I'm James' girlfriend."

"Hello, girls," said Mrs. Smith. "James is up in his normal room, could you please try to get him to eat or drink something?" "We'll try, grandma," said Sirius.

He led the other four up to James' room. Remus knocked on the door. There was no answer, so Sirius just pushed it open. "Prongs?"

"What are you guys doing here?" James asked monotonously.

"We sneaked out of the school after sending a short note to Dumbledore and Flooed here from the Three Broomsticks," Jen said. "Lily's idea."

"I wanted to rig the fireplace in the common room, but it was too illegal for them," said Lily.

"I think I'm starting to rub off on you Lily," James said from the bed, still in monotone.

"I think so," Lily said.

She couldn't stand looking at James. He looked worse than he had when they had left him earlier that day. His hair seemed more disheveled than ever, his eyes were hollow and his face held no emotion.

There were no tears in his eyes nor tearstains on his face. He couldn't cry, the tears just wouldn't come out...he wanted to scream! Lily walked over and sat down next to him. She opened her arms. James accepted the offer without a thought.

With Lily's embrace came all of the tears that James had been dying to let out. Her hug was a special one and James knew it.

Sirius, Jen, Remus, and Terry tip-toed out of the room to give the couple some time alone.
Lily went downstairs to find the others sitting in the living room with Mrs. Smith drinking tea.

"How is he?" Sirius asked.

"He fell asleep," Lily replied, graciously accepting a cup of tea from Remus.

Sirius nodded.
Lily, Sirius, Terry, Remus, and Jen were there for him and James was thankful. He couldn't thank his friends enough for basically breaking out of school to be at his mother's funeral.

It was a foggy day. James stood at the foot of the freshly filled in Earth.

Sirius, Remus, and the girls hung back and Mrs. Smith was seeing off the people to their cars.

"They were so happy in that last part of the summer," Sirius said absently. "This was *not* supposed to happen!"

"I know," Remus said, shaking his head.

"If that boy ever sees his father again..." Jen trailed off.

"Hell, if *I* ever see his father again..." said Sirius.

"I'm with you, Si," said Terry.
James looked down at his mother's tombstone. *It wasn't supposed to be this way...that bastard had better hope that I never see him again!*

That's all James had been thinking about for the past three hours.
Dumbledore had sent for the Marauders, minus Peter, and the girls the day they had returned to Hogwarts. (The day after the funeral.)

"Hello, all," he said when they arrived at his office. "Would any of you care for a lemon drop?" They all accepted with a 'thanks'.

"Now, first of all, James...how are you holding up?" Dumbledore asked.

"Not so good, Professor Dumbledore," James said quietly.

"I am sorry, James," said the older man. "You should know that the Ministry is doing everything in their power to find John Potter." James nodded. "And now for the escapees-"

"We're really sorry, professor!" Lily said. "It's just that-"

"I understand why you did what you did, Miss Evans," said Dumbledore. "Had you waited until the next morning, however, you would have been informed that I had planned to send you to the funeral. I just didn't want you to be a burden on poor Samantha."

"Oh." The five escapees blushed.

Dumbledore smiled. "I would have done the same thing," he told the teens. "Just make sure that you stay as close as you are now."

They nodded.

"So, we aren't in trouble?" Sirius asked slowly.

"No, Mr. Black," said Dumbledore. "Not *this* time anyway...why don't you all go down for dinner?" "Yes, professor."
A/N: Hey y'all, how was that one? I liked it, but I did write it, so I won't take my opinion on it...the next chapter has plenty of alcohol, YAY! L8r, guys!
LyL,

-Kristin-