Disclaimer: All characters and places belong to J. K. Rowling.
Life Had Just Begun
By Terra
Chapter Two: Blood is Thicker Than Water
The entire office clapped as the last syllable left my throat. Lily blushed madly at the attention. It had been my idea to stand on a desk and announce it to the world from there. I gave her a big kiss in front of everyone and someone in the back whistled.
"I have to go to my department now," Lily said, gingerly climbing off the desk and heading towards her desk so many halls away. I felt rather silly standing on the desk by myself so I leapt off and headed towards my department as a few men clapped me on the back in congratulations.
I worked in the Improper Use of Magic Office at the Ministry. Lily worked in the Department of Muggle Affairs with Arthur Weasley. I grinned as I imagined Mr. Weasley offering child-rearing tips to my wife. At the time, Mr. Weasley's wife was also expecting a child, their sixth child; fifth pregnancy. The last one had resulted in twins.
I paused before I turned the last corner. The single lonely hall was the closest way to get to the office were my co-workers and I worked. The long walk down that hall made my blood run cold. The hall containing the offices of the Aurors, the frightening hunters of Dark Wizards, always gave me the creeps. I took one deep calming breath before turning the corner and beginning the walk down the Aurors' Hall, as it was called. The hall itself seemed to pull at my clothes, sniffing me out. I feared if I so much as thought about joining the league of Darkness, the walls would smell the thought on me and the Aurors would swoop down and swallow me whole.
I would soon learn there was more frightening things than walking down creepy hallways.
I survived my journey down the dark, cold hallway that day and once back into the magically produced light, I walked merrily. There were no windows where I worked and every desk was hidden by wooden cubicle. Work was well in progress as I strode in, greeting people as I passed them. At the end of the fifth row, the row closest to the wall was my desk. I could almost see my desk in my mind before I walked in. My polished wooden desk would be clear of paperwork since I put all my paperwork in the locked cabinet on Friday. On the desk was a picture of Lily and I at the last day of Hogwarts, after our N.E.W.T.S., on the left corner, my cup of quills in the center, and a picture of Lily, Sirius "Padfoot" Black (my best friend), and I at our wedding on the right corner.
I walked in the little opening of my cubicle and noticed a striking difference from the mind's picture of my desk. The pictures and cup were in their proper places and the paperwork was still unseen but on the desk a message was written. The writer had used a dark red liquid to write on my desk: "Give it up". The liquid certainly wasn't ink. It looked a little like blood.
I snorted at the thought, telling myself, "Blood, James? You'd have to kill someone to get enough. Probably some prank by one of the Aurors trying to rattle me." I shook my head in disbelief. I wanted Dark Lord gone as much as anyone but the Aurors were not going to catch him by writing cryptic messages on my desk with a red substance. "That stuff better come off. I have to work," I mumbled, unlocking the cabinet as I did so. The lock clicked and I absent-mindedly opened the drawer. Should I work on that stone enchanting charm case first? I wondered. I reached my hand down to take out the file but I touched something else instead. It felt like a plastic bag. Perplexed, I looked down into my drawer.
Sitting on top of my files, in a stapled clear plastic bag, were pale chopped bits of flesh. A human eyeball stared up at me. My words rang in my head, You'd have to kill someone... You'd have to kill someone... I quickly dropped the bag and stared at the cryptic message. The words written in red glistened menacingly. Blood. It was blood.
I screamed and ran out of my cubicle. Even out of my cubicle, I kept screaming. I couldn't stop. Half the office ran to me, inquiring what was wrong. Finally, I became aware of their presence. My mind was in disarray.
"Blood... on my desk... body parts in my drawer... Oh God... Someone's dead... I feel faint..." I muttered at them. A young woman walked into my office and quickly came back out, shaking. She nodded, biting her lip. The people around me gasped. I felt sick. The room was spinning. Why my desk? Who is in my desk? Whose blood did they use? I stood up, ignoring the advice of my co-workers and I staggered to the lavatory. I banged open a stall, kneeled down in front of the toilet and vomited.
Lily's voice rang in my head, "Your father is missing... Your father is missing..."
It hit me. Father was in my desk. My father had been chopped up and his blood had been used to write that message on my desk. I began to sob. I vomited again, tears running down my face.
After some time, I felt a hand rubbing my back. A soft, masculine voice tried to soothe me, saying, "There you go. Let it out. That's a good boy." I was coughing up only bile at that point so I turned around to face my intruder. Sitting cross-legged, Frank Longbottom smiled calmly at me, inquiring, "Are you better now?"
"No, I just found a corpse in my desk," I answered abruptly.
"I know. The entire force of Aurors is combing your desk right now. I was sent to check up on you. What should I report?"
"I think my father's in there," I whimpered.
Mr. Longbottom patted me on the shoulder, saying, "These are truly hard times. I'm sorry if it is your father, James." There was a pause, broken by me sniffling. Finally, Longbottom said, "I hear your wife is pregnant."
I smiled weakly and answered, "Yeah. The doctor said she's a month along." I had a sudden flash of memory and asked, "Isn't your wife pregnant too?"
"That she is. Two months to go for us," he replied.
Frank and Olivia Longbottom were a strange couple. Frank was a serious, hard-working man, Olivia was an easy-going woman. At first glance, they seemed to be incompatible but once you met them, you knew they were truly in love. Frank was a tall, thin man who absolutely dwarfed his short, plump wife.
Olivia was a florist by day. Olivia also had a secret identity that few knew about. Olivia was an emergency Auror. Olivia did a lot of spying for the forces of light. Looking at her, one wouldn't think she would make a good spy. She was clumsy, talkative, and scatter-brained. That's what made her such a good one. No one would ever suspect that the woman on the bench talking about how much she hated Muggles would actually be a spy gathering information from the Deatheater trying to recruit her. You either loved her or despised her. Lily loved her to pieces, saying, "She represents everything Petunia hates. Perfect!"
Longbottom was the essence of calm and control. He walked gracefully and spoke softly. He was one of the most pleasant Auror to talk to and one of the few that didn't resort to using the Unforgivable curses on Deatheaters if he could help it. This is not to say he was soft-hearted. He was as vicious as they came. As far as I knew, he had never failed to bring in the Deatheater he wanted. If one was not a Deatheater, his presence was very comforting.
"Have you decided on a name yet?" I asked.
"Neville if it's a boy, Natasha if it's a girl," Longbottom answered, smiling, "Have you two decided on any names?"
I shrugged, saying, "No. We went through the alphabet but nothing sounded good."
"Get a baby name book. That's what we did." He went into his pocket and pulled out a roll of mints. He smiled and remarked, "Sorry to say but you smell like vomit. Take one, please."
I took a mint and placed it on my tongue. I hadn't fully recovered, I still felt shaky. I didn't want to go back to my desk but I had to get some work done. I also had to pretend everything was normal for Lily's sake. Lily had enough on her mind, she didn't need to know about the blood... and the body... and the message. I was beginning to feel faint again. I leaned against the cool wall of the toilet stall.
"Do you want someone to tell Lily for you?" Longbottom asked, looking worried. I probably looked like hell.
"No, not right now," I replied, weakly. "I'll tell her later," I lied.
"Well, you won't need to worry about work today," Longbottom sighed.
"Why not?"
"We had to confiscate the desk. We need to identify the body. And try to see if there's any sign of who did this." He stood up, brushing himself off. Looking at me like a mother at her sick child, he said, "Take the time to recover yourself. Your desk should be returned tomorrow." With that, he left.
I sat there, crumpled on the tiled floor. All my previous energy had sucked out of me. Even the thought of Lily's pregnancy seemed cold. The thought of bringing a defenseless child into this terrible world made me want to cry. Cry I did until I had no tears left.*** *** I went home at the usual time with Lily. Lily had not received any cryptic messages written in blood or found any chopped up body parts in her desk. Her day had been very pleasant and she chattered excitedly with me about it. I didn't listen. I just nodded at the right moments. I felt listless and weak. "So, how was your day, James?" Lily asked. "Oh... fine."Lily frowned, responded, "You feeling okay? You seem a bit off. Something bothering you?" Yes, something was bothering me. I found a body all chopped up in my drawer and a message written in blood. Other than that, my day was lovely. "No, everything's fine. I'm just hungry, I guess." "Me too. I feel like pasta." "Sure." "Doctor Vita told me I should listen to my instincts because the baby is telling what it wants." "Fine." "Are you sure you're okay?" "I'm great," I told her. I gave her a smile that was so fake I couldn't believe that she didn't notice it. We made pasta and Lily continued to chat away at me. I piped in now and then but my heart wasn't in it. After dinner, I sat on the couch trying to banish the day's images from my mind. The images wouldn't go away. I needed to get out. I needed to make the thoughts go away. Lily sat in her chair, flipping through a fashion catalog, lingering over the maternity section. "I'm going for a walk, Lily," I told her, walking towards my coat, "do you mind?" "Nope. Go ahead." With her blessing, I left the house, into the cold December air. My breath came out in white clouds and the stars shone dimly above me. I walked along the houses of our street, trying to find solace. I could find none. I walked on past our block into the borders of downtown. The first building I encountered was a bar. I went into the bar and sat at one of the stools. Even there, the thoughts would not leave. I had to make them go away.
"Excuse me," I asked the bartender, "um... is the air above this building good for flying?" That rather silly phrase is a code for "is this a Wizarding bar?"
"Yes, it sure is," the bartender replied, "What would you like?"
The words written in blood flashed before my eyes. I needed something strong. "Do you serve Raging Dog?"
"Sure do."
Raging Dog is the most potent alcoholic beverage in the Wizarding world. One bottle was usually enough for most people. I knew a bottle of Raging Dog would banish every thought from my mind. The bottle was placed in front of me with an empty glass. I decided to forgo the glass and drink straight from the bottle. I didn't want to be too long, Lily would worry. I took a huge gulp of the drink. I nearly choked as the liquid went down my throat. I already felt dizzy and light-headed. I gripped on to the railing to keep my balance. Once the initial shock wore off, I felt very happy.
I couldn't stop smiling. I took another gulp. The room spun in front of me and I very nearly fell off the stool.
"You okay, sir?" The bartender asked, obviously worried. One should not gulp Raging Dog.
"I'm not okay!" I hollered, "I'm terrific! Everything is perfect! The world is full of rainbows and puppy dogs!"
I giggled. I had never felt better. What had I been so worried about? I couldn't remember. I took another gulp and I couldn't stop giggling. Everything was hilarious, even the bartender's very frightened expression.
Another Raging Dog later, I staggered out of the bar, humming to myself. I leaned against a lamp post as the world swayed around me. I felt so light. I wanted to sing so I did in the middle of the street. I slid down the post and sat on the walkway, blissfully content. The bartender, finally being rid of his last customer (me), closed his business for the remainder of the night. He looked at me sitting there, humming to myself.
He bent down and commented, "You got a home, don't'cha?"
"Yup," I said, then hiccuped.
"Well, shouldn't you be headed there?"
"In a moment," I drawled, giggling.
The bartender sighed. I was a lost cause. He walked away, back to his own home far away. I sang a few bars of a new song on the Wizarding radio. I looked up at the sky.
"Such pretty stars," I said to myself.
I brought my knees close to my chest like when I went star-gazing when I was little. "I wish I was little," I said, glumly. The high was beginning to wane. I noticed the moon between the trees. "I wonder how Moony is."
I adjusted myself (and nearly fell flat on my face) to have a better look at the moon. Were my eyes playing tricks on me? No, I could clearly tell its phase.
"It's full!" I moaned, "Oh no! I'm not at Moony's! He needs me there!" I became hysterical. I struggled to stand up but the street kept rocking under me. I used the lamp post to steady myself. I needed to Apparate. I couldn't remember how! I tore at my crazy hair. I glanced at the moon once more.
*** ***
The next thing I knew I was lying on a dusty wooden floor. I felt awful. My head felt like it was being bashed against a wall with nails on it. I felt really nauseous and really thirsty. Someone had also taken my glasses so I couldn't see a thing. I struggled to a crawling position to investigate where I was. As far as I could tell, there was little furniture in the room. I saw four blurry chairs and a blurry table. To my left was a doorway with no door.
A soft murmuring was coming from the other room but it seemed to make my headache worse. The first priority was to find my glasses. I crawled on the gritty floor to search for my glasses. My search was interrupted by a loud voice screeching.
"WHAT IS HE DOING THERE?!" Lily. Oh great, just what I needed. A very angry Lily. No, make that a very angry, hormone-filled pregnant Lily. Someone murmured in response. Lily shouted back, "I don't CARE if you don't know! Send him back!" Murmuring. "Wake him up then! He has to be at work!" I heard someone rise from a chair in the other room. I curled up in a ball. Don't send me back, I pleaded, please don't.
"James," the owner of the house beckoned softly. It was Remus.
"Remus?" I weakly replied. Remus placed my glasses in my hands. I put them on and Remus' face came into focus.
"Me. James, you have to speak to Lily."
"Please. I don't want to. I really don't feel good," I pleaded.
"You must speak to Lily. She's been worried sick."
Remus offered his hand and hoisted me up. I felt sicker standing up and I stumbled over to the fireplace where Lily's very angry face was. "There you are! Do you realize I was worried sick?!" Lily howled.
"Yes. Lily, I can't go to work. I feel awful," I moaned.
"Where were you last night? You went for a walk and never came back!"
"I went to a bar," I muttered in shame.
"WHAT FOR?!"
"I can't remember right now... please don't yell."
"I CAN YELL AS MUCH AS I BLOODY WANT!"
Remus moved me aside and addressed Lily, "Lily, he's obviously hung over. He can't work like this. Just send an owl ahead of you saying that he's sick," Remus paused and added, "which he is, if you think about it. When he's well enough to travel, I'll send him home."
Lily let out a sharp breath. She answered, "Fine. He better be at home when I get back from work!" Then Lily's head vanished.
A long silence hung between us. Finally, I could feel my insides running up my pipes and asked Remus for a bowl to vomit in. After I was done coughing up my dinner, Remus asked, "So, may I inquire why you found the need to be dead drunk last night?"
"I had a really awful day and I don't want to talk about it," I replied coldly. "How did I get here anyway? Last thing I remember is trying to figure out how to Apparate."
Remus rubbed the bridge of his nose and sat in one of the dingy wooden chairs. He said, "As far as I can gather, you decided not to Apparate. You stumbled to my house on foot. Once you reached my house, you howled that you couldn't remember your Animagus form," Remus paused to see my reaction. I shook my head. Had I been so drunk that I couldn't remember my form was a stag? Remus continued, "Luckily for you and me, I was awake. I heard you screaming and I went to investigate. I found you staggering around outside my house, moaning. I knew you were obviously drunk so I led you inside. I laid you down on the floor for a minute while I went to put your coat away. By the time I returned, you were asleep."
"So, when did you find time to become a werewolf?" I asked.
"It wasn't a full moon last night, James," Remus replied matter-of-factly.
"It was... I know it was... I saw..."
"James, you probably had so much alcohol that you saw a waning moon and imagined it to be full."
I felt pretty dumb. I was lucky it wasn't full because the werewolf would have probably eaten me or turned me into a werewolf as well. "I'm sorry, Remus," I mumbled.
"It's alright, James. You really should be apologizing to Lily though. She was frantic when she called me."
I felt awful about what I had done to Lily. I wanted to curl up in a corner and die from shame and guilt. Remus let me stay an hour before deciding it was time for me to be off. He used Floo Powder to escort me home. When I reached home, I dragged myself upstairs and collapsed on my bed. I slept the entire time Lily was gone. Her opening the door woke me up. She stomped into the room and looked me straight in the face.
I tried to dissolve into the sheets.
"You better have a good reason why you went to a bar last night," Lily hissed.
"I was... celebrating," I stammered. "I got... carried away."
"What did you have?"
"Two bottles of Raging Dog."
Lily rolled her eyes at me. "James..."
"I don't know why I picked Raging Dog. It seemed like a good idea at the time," I whispered, trying to avoid Lily's wrath.
Lily took a deep breath. "Fine. Okay." Lily threw up her arms to the ceiling. "No point getting mad now. I bet you're feeling bad anyway. Just don't do this again!" Lily swooped out of the room and closed the door with an earth-shaking bang.
"I'm sorry," I whispered after her.
To Be Continued...
Author's Notes: In case you're wondering where the term "Raging Dog" came from, I was thinking about Red Bull, an energy drink. This made me think of Red Dog, a type of beer. So, I used the same first letter and made Raging Dog. I'm pretty sure that drinking that much alcohol would kill you, so don't do that. Please e-mail me at destinyplot@lycos.com or review! See ya later!