Thanks to all who reviewed or simply clicked on this story! Every little
bit helps, ya know?
As many have already pointed out, I made an error with Regulus. In my defense my brother had my copy of OOTP and I couldn't check. Anyways, it's staying with him being older, hope that's okay, it's just that I've already worked out the plot and he just needs to be older. It's just...not feasible.
Anyway, I like this chapter, I had fun writing it while I should have been working on my other fic
~~~~~~~~~~~~~
James watched his friend spin several times in the fireplace and then disappear. He then sat down on a bench near the fireplace, sighing. He didn't like seeing Sirius like that, it nearly broke his heart. He had never before seen Sirius cry and was hoping he'd never again have to. There were plenty of times when Sirius was really upset, though. Each of those times James thought that if he was in Sirius's shoes he'd bawl his eyes out, but he never did. The fact that he had cried that night made James realize how alone Sirius must have been feeling out there. James was determined to make him feel less alone from that point on.
He sat on the bench trying to think of the best way to cheer Sirius up, but couldn't think of anything that would work. He decided all he really needed was to be there for his friend, and maybe convince his parents to let Sirius live at their house permanently. Sirius needed a home and since his own was out of the question, he needed somewhere stable. Getting up off the bench James stretched and looked around at the few late night customers left in the pub. He was ready to leave when he caught a glimpse of familiar deep red hair.
"Lily!" he called. She was sitting alone at a table in the corner of the bar. He arrogantly walked up to her and took a seat across from her. "Hi!"
She simply glared at him.
James wasn't the least bit affronted by this. "What are you doing here so late?"
Again he received nothing but a glare. This time James was beginning to loose a little of his arrogance.
"Look, Lily, I know I haven't always come across as the nicest guy...but I've changed. Really."
"How so?" She asked stiffly.
James didn't really know what to say, as he, of course, hadn't changed at all. He used the only thing he could think of and replied, "Well, you know Sirius? He just ran away from home because his parents weren't going to let him go back to school this year. Still not sure what they were planning on doing with him, but he wasn't about to stick around and find out. So he ran away and slept on the streets last night and most of tonight until I came and found him...now he's at my house."
"Well, that's very kind of you James, but do you really think he would appreciate that you just told me all that? I'm quite sure he wouldn't like that too much."
James mouth dropped open. She was right of course.
"See James, you still are just as selfish and full of yourself as I always thought you were. Maybe once you do something completely selflessly I'll give you a chance. As of right now you still are a selfish bastard. Now will you please leave me alone?"
Although James knew she was right that he shouldn't have told her that, he wasn't about to except her calling him selfish. "I admit, I shouldn't have told you all that, but I think going and finding my best friend, risking getting severely grounded and all that, constitutes me not being a selfish bastard! Sirius could have died on the streets or been mugged, but I didn't let him. I just saved my best friend."
"Would you have saved him if he wasn't your best friend?" Lily asked curiously.
James opened his mouth to speak but no words came out. He thought for a moment and then said, "If he hadn't been my best friend I wouldn't have known he was in trouble." He then sat back with a cocky grin, thinking he had just weaseled his way out of that question.
"That means no. You wouldn't have helped him if he wasn't your best friend. This confirms that you are the person I thought you were. Now will you please leave me ALONE!" "Lily, come on..."
"Is there a problem here?" boomed the voice of a tall man wearing a dark cloak. James thought this was rather silly as it was sweltering outside, but he kept his mouth shut.
"No, sir, no problem at all."
"Actually," Lily said with a smirk. "This riff-raff is refusing to leave me alone."
The tall man grabbed James by the collar and pulled him out of the booth. Lily suddenly looked horrified. She had thought the man had simply been joking. She stood and watched as James was pulled right out of the Leaky Cauldron.
"James-" she called as the door shut behind them. She climbed out of the booth and ran to the door. James and the man were already out of sight.
"Way to go Lily," she moaned to herself and then ran to the counter where old Tom Sr was nearly asleep against the wall.
"Tom!" she shouted.
He snapped awake grumpily, "Whadya want?" "I " Lily started when another woman approached.
"Have any of you seen my son? James Potter. He's about 16, glasses, messy black hair?"
'James's mom!' Lily thought frantically to herself. "I did, he was just talking to me and this man came and pulled him outside. I was just trying to tell Tom."
"Oh the trouble that boy can get himself into. Did you see where they went?"
"I just saw them go out the door, when I got there I saw no sign of him...oh this is all my fault."
"Of course not dear, James has a knack for getting himself into messes like these."
"No...it is. James was er annoying me and the man came over and asked if there was a problem...and I said there was!"
"Don't worry dear, a man wouldn't take a boy away just because a girl said there was a problem. He was probably after James to begin with. A lot of people out there don't like us Potter's. But there's no time to talk about this now. I need you to do me a favor. Go to my house, 'The Potter Place', Sirius will be right there in the living room. Tell him to go wake James's father and explain to the two of them what's happened."
"Okay."
"And whatever you do, don't let Sirius out of the house. Whoever's after James would probably love to get their hands on Sirius as well."
Lily nodded and watched Mrs. Potter speed out of the Leaky Cauldron.
She let out a small whine and then ran to the fireplace through in a fistful of floo powder and called, "The Potter Place!" In moments she found herself stepping into a cozy living room, face to face with a very miserable Sirius Black.
"Lily?!"
"Yeah, it's me..."
"What are you doing here?"
"James is in trouble Mrs. Potter told me to come here and have you wake up James's father. I'll tell you the rest after that."
"Is James okay?" Sirius asked frantically.
"I don't know."
Sirius nodded solemnly and then raced up the stairs. He pulled open the door to Mr. And Mrs. Potter's bedroom and ran to the bed. He began roughly shaking Mr. Potter until he finally rolled over and sat up.
"Sirius, what in Merlin's name are you doing here? In the middle of the night? Waking me up?" He said in an irritated voice.
"I'll explain later. Right now I need you to come downstairs with me James is in trouble."
"Where's Meg?" He asked, referring to Mrs. Potter.
"She's looking for James."
"Where's James?!" He asked quickly.
Sirius shrugged violently. "Come on! Lily Evans is downstairs. She knows more than I do. She's the one who told me to wake you up."
Mr. Potter climbed quickly out of his bed, wearing nothing but a pair of boxers. He made to walk out of the room but Sirius stopped him. "There's a girl downstairs Jack," Sirius said and threw him the robe that was hanging by the door. Mr. Potter couldn't help but smirk at Sirius. He could be such a gentleman when he wanted to.
Mr. Potter threw on his robe and hurried down the stairs, Sirius at his heels. Lily was sitting anxiously on the couch. She stood when they reached the living room.
"I'm Jack Potter, James's dad," he said holding out his hand. Lily took it and shook it gently.
"Lily Evans," she muttered.
"Now can you please tell me what's going on?"
"I was sitting in the Leaky Cauldron and James came over to talk to me...I don't really like James. I asked him to leave me alone and then this guy came over and asked if there was a problem. I said there was a problem...but I honestly didn't mean it. Anyway, the man grabbed him and dragged him out of the bar. I couldn't see where they went. And then Mrs. Potter arrived, I told her what happened and she went after them. She told me to come here and get you though. I think she wants you to go help."
"And that's just what I'll do but first I want you to describe this man to me."
"I can't really. He was covered head to toe in black robes. I didn't even see his face." "Shit!" Mr. Potter exclaimed. He got ready to apparate out, but then turned back to Sirius and Lily. "I want you two to stay right here."
They both nodded solemnly and then watched as he apparated out of the living room.
Sirius threw himself back against the couch. "This is all my bloody fault."
"Your fault? How is it your fault. I was the one who said there was a problem. I feel so bad."
"Think about it Lily. Who would kidnap a person just because there was 'a problem'? Whoever took him was probably already after him...and it was probably because of me."
"James told me what happened to you...I'm really sorry."
"He told you?! He was trying to impress you again. Didn't work did it?"
"No I figured you wouldn't want him telling the world about your problems."
"That's right...but I don't mind him telling you. He likes you a lot Lily. You should give him a chance, he's a really great guy. I don't know anyone nicer."
"Is nice turning Snape upside down so his underwear show?" "Snape's a git. He deserves everything he gets.
"I don't think anybody deserves that."
"You don't see him the way we do. But...I don't want to talk about this...James is in trouble, and if it weren't for me he'd be up in his bed sleeping right now."
Lily gave him a half smile and they sat in silence on the couch, waiting anxiously for any word on how James or his parents were doing.
~~~~~~~~~~~
Jack Potter had just apparated to the entrance of the Leaky Cauldron and was walking up and down the road, looking down all the side alley's. He saw no sign of his son but as he looked down the eighth or so alley he heard a pop and suddenly his wife appeared.
"Meg!" he called. She turned and ran to him.
"I can't find him Jack...or any trace of him."
"We'll find him, dear, don't worry. It'll be okay." He pulled her into a quick hug and then said, "I think we should split up. You keep looking down that way...I'll look this way. If you find anything, summon my watch or something. It'll guide me to you."
Megan Potter nodded and took off at a jog in the direction her husband had pointed her.
She went on for what seemed like hours but was only about five blocks and found nothing. She stopped for a moment to catch her breath when she heard screaming. It sounded like a boys scream of pain.
Again she took off at a fast jog until she reached the source of the screaming. She peered cautiously down the dark alley and saw her son rolling on the ground in pain. Three men in black robes stood above him, laughing hysterically. Megan remembered what her husband had said and hurriedly summoned his watch. It took a few minutes but soon her husband was at her side.
There were tears running down Megan's face as she watched her son writhing in pain. Jack wiped them away with his thumb and whispered, "You stun the one on the right. I'll get the one on the left and then we'll both take out the one in the middle."
They both pointed there wands and muttered the incantation. The two on the ends dropped like flies and the one in the middle turned to see the source. Since his wand was still on James he couldn't react quickly enough and watched as another stunning curse came straight at him. He landed on top of James who tried to push him off, but was too weak from being under the cruciatus curse.
He propped himself up enough to see his parents running down the alley towards him. His father through the middle man off of his son and his mother scooped him up in her arms. "Are you okay Jamesie?"
"It hurts," James said hoarsely. "Lily-?"
"She's fine dear. She's at our house with Sirius."
James nodded. "I'm sorry..."
"It's okay James. We're glad you helped Sirius."
"Meg, take him home. I'll deal with these three."
"Regulus..." James mumbled, pointing at the person Megan had stunned.
"That's Regulus?!" Jack asked, quite shocked. James nodded and leaned into his mother.
"I had a feeling he was part of that crew."
James tried to keep his eyes open and asked, "What crew?"
"Don't worry about it James. Your mother's going to take you home...I'll deal with this. I should be home in an hour or so."
"Can you stand dear?" Mrs. Potter asked her son.
"I don't know," James mumbled and let his mother help him to his feet. Without her support he'd be flat on his face, but she had him there long enough to apparate the two of them back to the Potter Place.
James collapsed on the floor of the living room the moment they appeared there.
Mrs. Potter knelt beside him and Sirius ran to his other side.
"What happened? James are you okay?"
"I'll be fine, Sirius. Don't worry about me."
"Oh...this is all my fault...what happened?"
"I'll tell you later," he mumbled, looking over at Lily with a hurt look in his eyes. Sirius didn't notice the look. He grabbed James's hand and pulled him into a sitting position and then threw his arms around him. James laughed lightly and hugged back.
"I'm so, so, sorry James."
"Sirius it's not your fault. I'll tell you about everything later. Just trust me, it's not your fault. It's my own fault."
"Actually it's none of your faults, your's either Lily," Mrs. Potter declared. "James, you were just attacked by deatheaters. I know you've all heard of Lord Voldemort and his plans. Well, he's been gaining followers, called deatheaters. That was one of the many attacks that I imagine will soon become frequent in our world. You all need to be much more careful with where you go and what you do."
"Did you see who the deatheaters were?" Sirius asked James.
"No, I didn't see them...but I recognized one of the voices." He hugged his friend to him tighter.
"Who was it?"
James didn't know if he should tell him or not, but figured Sirius would get it out of him eventually. "Regulus."
Sirius dropped his hold on James and tried to pull away, but James wouldn't let him. Sirius instead buried his head in James's shoulder and for the second time that day started crying.
"I'm so sorry! My goddamn family they're evil! I'm sorry James."
"Sirius, it's not your fault. You're different from all of them. You may as well not be a member of that family because you're nothing like them," James said, rubbing his friends back gently.
"You all need to rest now. Sirius, you take the room next to James. That is now YOUR room, permanently, got it?"
Sirius just shook his head in James's shoulder.
"Lily, where are you staying?"
"At the Leaky Cauldron."
"Where are your parents?"
"Well ummm, see my parents are muggles. And this summer, we didn't really get along so well. So I sort of..."
"Ran away?" This came from James who was looking at her almost sympathetically. She nodded.
"Well, considering that you are young, pretty, and muggle born, the Leaky Cauldron is not a safe place for you to stay. You saw what just happened to James and he comes from a fairly long line of pure bloods. You'll stay here."
"I no I couldn't. After all that I've done already. Thank you, but no."
"I'm not allowing you to go back to the Leaky Cauldron. Either I'll take you home, after you get some sleep, or you'll stay here."
"Alright...thank you."
"Follow me I'll show you to where you'll be staying, and where the boys will be sleeping. Sirius, help James to bed, okay dear?"
"Yes, Meg."
Sirius pulled away from James when they were alone in the room.
"So what happened?" he said with a small sniffle.
James sighed. "Let's go up to my room. I'll tell you all about it there."
Sirius nodded and stood up. He pulled James to his feet and then helped him hobble up the stairs.
As they reached the landing of the upstairs hall they saw the door to the bathroom swing open. Out came Lily Evans wearing baggy flannel pants and a t-shirt that was a few sizes too big fo her.
"Those are mine," James said matter-of-factly.
Lily was startled at the appearance of the boys. She quickly recovered and said, "You're mom got them for me."
"As long as you didn't dig through my room yourself," James joked tiredly.
She smiled uncertainly and said, "Goodnight."
Sirius and James watched her walk down the hall to her room and close the door. James then let out a hearty sigh and leaned harder against Sirius.
"You okay, James?"
"Yeah, let's go." Sirius helped him the rest of the way to his room and set him on his bed. They turned and looked at the clock.
"Five o'clock!" James exclaimed. "Damn."
"I know. I'm wiped...Do you want to talk about it now or later?"
"Now's good, the wounds are still fresh."
"The Lily part or the part with my brother?"
"Lily..." James mumbled, a dreary look taking over his face.
"What did she say?"
"After you left I took a quick glance around the Leaky Cauldron and saw her sitting all alone...looking gorgeous as usual. So I walked over and started making friendly conversation, but as usual she...blew me off. And I started pleading with her..making an even bigger ass of myself. I told her things I shouldn't have...about you."
"I know she told me...it's cool, keep going."
"Well I was pleading some more and this guy comes over and asks if there's a problem-"
"Was that Regulus?"
"No, we met up with him later...Anyway, I said no and then Lily said, "This riff-raff is refusing to leave me alone."! Riff-raff?!?!"
"Yeah, that was cold...is that when they took you?"
James nodded and shuddered. "They dragged me out and then put me under petrificus totalus and took me to an alley quite away from the Leaky Cauldron. That's where Regulus was, as well as some other guy. Regulus asked me a bunch of questions about you, but I told him I hadn't seen you since we left Hogwarts."
"Did he believe that? Was that the reason they took you?" Sirius asked frantically.
James reached out and put a flimsy hand on his friend's shoulder. "No, Sirius, it had nothing to do with you. I think it was just coincidence, and he seemed to believe me. I put on a good show asking why he didn't know where you were and all. He completely bought it," James laughed.
"It's not funny Prongs."
"It was kind of funny."
"You could have died."
"But I didn't! I'm fine, look at me!"
"You couldn't walk out of the living room, you're not fine."
"Why are you being so serious about this?"
"Because it's all my fault!"
"No it's not, it's my own fault, and I'm sure they're going to tell me that shortly. You didn't ask me to go find you, you didn't even tell me you had left your house...I did everything on my own free will, including talking to Lily...That was a bad idea."
"Deep down I think she likes you."
"I truly doubt that...but I don't know why she hates me so much."
"She doesn't hate you! If she did, she probably wouldn't have told your mom what happened."
James just shrugged. "She just didn't want to have a guilty conscience. I wonder what happened with her and her parents, and why would she be sitting in the Leaky Cauldron at that time of the night?"
"Ask her," Sirius said with a shrug.
"She probably wouldn't answer," James said bitterly.
"Prongs...maybe you just need to get over her."
"That'll be easy with her staying here all the rest of the summer."
"Do you really think she will? She didn't sound like she wanted to."
"My mom will convince her...you know how she is."
"Oh? How's that?" Came a voice from the doorway. They both looked over and saw Mrs. Potter standing there.
"How much did you hear?"
"Not much. James, your father and I need to talk to you. Sirius, I want you to go to bed. You've had a long couple of days." "Did something happen?" Sirius asked.
Mrs. Potter's gaze shifted slightly but she said, "Everything's fine. We just need to talk to James about what happened this evening. He usually says different things when you're around then when it's just us."
Sirius looked at her suspiciously but got up and left anyways. "Night James...thanks."
"No prob Padfoot...sleep tight."
James turned to his mother. "Where's Dad?"
"He'll be up in a minute. I'll tell you the basics before he gets up here though. When your father was rounding up the three deatheaters the spell wore off one of them...Regulus. The other two are in ministry custody now, but your father's worried. We're almost positive that he's going to come after Sirius."
James gasped slightly and looked at his mother speechless. Before he had a chance to let words take over there was a crash outside the door.
Mrs. Potter walked briskly over and swung the door open. Sirius was now sprawled on the floor with a small table on top of him. He had heard it all, and he wasn't happy about it. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
That's all for now. I hope you liked it and please review.
For All for You fans...I'm kinda stuck at a boring part and I'm having trouble pushing through, but it should be out within the week
As many have already pointed out, I made an error with Regulus. In my defense my brother had my copy of OOTP and I couldn't check. Anyways, it's staying with him being older, hope that's okay, it's just that I've already worked out the plot and he just needs to be older. It's just...not feasible.
Anyway, I like this chapter, I had fun writing it while I should have been working on my other fic
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James watched his friend spin several times in the fireplace and then disappear. He then sat down on a bench near the fireplace, sighing. He didn't like seeing Sirius like that, it nearly broke his heart. He had never before seen Sirius cry and was hoping he'd never again have to. There were plenty of times when Sirius was really upset, though. Each of those times James thought that if he was in Sirius's shoes he'd bawl his eyes out, but he never did. The fact that he had cried that night made James realize how alone Sirius must have been feeling out there. James was determined to make him feel less alone from that point on.
He sat on the bench trying to think of the best way to cheer Sirius up, but couldn't think of anything that would work. He decided all he really needed was to be there for his friend, and maybe convince his parents to let Sirius live at their house permanently. Sirius needed a home and since his own was out of the question, he needed somewhere stable. Getting up off the bench James stretched and looked around at the few late night customers left in the pub. He was ready to leave when he caught a glimpse of familiar deep red hair.
"Lily!" he called. She was sitting alone at a table in the corner of the bar. He arrogantly walked up to her and took a seat across from her. "Hi!"
She simply glared at him.
James wasn't the least bit affronted by this. "What are you doing here so late?"
Again he received nothing but a glare. This time James was beginning to loose a little of his arrogance.
"Look, Lily, I know I haven't always come across as the nicest guy...but I've changed. Really."
"How so?" She asked stiffly.
James didn't really know what to say, as he, of course, hadn't changed at all. He used the only thing he could think of and replied, "Well, you know Sirius? He just ran away from home because his parents weren't going to let him go back to school this year. Still not sure what they were planning on doing with him, but he wasn't about to stick around and find out. So he ran away and slept on the streets last night and most of tonight until I came and found him...now he's at my house."
"Well, that's very kind of you James, but do you really think he would appreciate that you just told me all that? I'm quite sure he wouldn't like that too much."
James mouth dropped open. She was right of course.
"See James, you still are just as selfish and full of yourself as I always thought you were. Maybe once you do something completely selflessly I'll give you a chance. As of right now you still are a selfish bastard. Now will you please leave me alone?"
Although James knew she was right that he shouldn't have told her that, he wasn't about to except her calling him selfish. "I admit, I shouldn't have told you all that, but I think going and finding my best friend, risking getting severely grounded and all that, constitutes me not being a selfish bastard! Sirius could have died on the streets or been mugged, but I didn't let him. I just saved my best friend."
"Would you have saved him if he wasn't your best friend?" Lily asked curiously.
James opened his mouth to speak but no words came out. He thought for a moment and then said, "If he hadn't been my best friend I wouldn't have known he was in trouble." He then sat back with a cocky grin, thinking he had just weaseled his way out of that question.
"That means no. You wouldn't have helped him if he wasn't your best friend. This confirms that you are the person I thought you were. Now will you please leave me ALONE!" "Lily, come on..."
"Is there a problem here?" boomed the voice of a tall man wearing a dark cloak. James thought this was rather silly as it was sweltering outside, but he kept his mouth shut.
"No, sir, no problem at all."
"Actually," Lily said with a smirk. "This riff-raff is refusing to leave me alone."
The tall man grabbed James by the collar and pulled him out of the booth. Lily suddenly looked horrified. She had thought the man had simply been joking. She stood and watched as James was pulled right out of the Leaky Cauldron.
"James-" she called as the door shut behind them. She climbed out of the booth and ran to the door. James and the man were already out of sight.
"Way to go Lily," she moaned to herself and then ran to the counter where old Tom Sr was nearly asleep against the wall.
"Tom!" she shouted.
He snapped awake grumpily, "Whadya want?" "I " Lily started when another woman approached.
"Have any of you seen my son? James Potter. He's about 16, glasses, messy black hair?"
'James's mom!' Lily thought frantically to herself. "I did, he was just talking to me and this man came and pulled him outside. I was just trying to tell Tom."
"Oh the trouble that boy can get himself into. Did you see where they went?"
"I just saw them go out the door, when I got there I saw no sign of him...oh this is all my fault."
"Of course not dear, James has a knack for getting himself into messes like these."
"No...it is. James was er annoying me and the man came over and asked if there was a problem...and I said there was!"
"Don't worry dear, a man wouldn't take a boy away just because a girl said there was a problem. He was probably after James to begin with. A lot of people out there don't like us Potter's. But there's no time to talk about this now. I need you to do me a favor. Go to my house, 'The Potter Place', Sirius will be right there in the living room. Tell him to go wake James's father and explain to the two of them what's happened."
"Okay."
"And whatever you do, don't let Sirius out of the house. Whoever's after James would probably love to get their hands on Sirius as well."
Lily nodded and watched Mrs. Potter speed out of the Leaky Cauldron.
She let out a small whine and then ran to the fireplace through in a fistful of floo powder and called, "The Potter Place!" In moments she found herself stepping into a cozy living room, face to face with a very miserable Sirius Black.
"Lily?!"
"Yeah, it's me..."
"What are you doing here?"
"James is in trouble Mrs. Potter told me to come here and have you wake up James's father. I'll tell you the rest after that."
"Is James okay?" Sirius asked frantically.
"I don't know."
Sirius nodded solemnly and then raced up the stairs. He pulled open the door to Mr. And Mrs. Potter's bedroom and ran to the bed. He began roughly shaking Mr. Potter until he finally rolled over and sat up.
"Sirius, what in Merlin's name are you doing here? In the middle of the night? Waking me up?" He said in an irritated voice.
"I'll explain later. Right now I need you to come downstairs with me James is in trouble."
"Where's Meg?" He asked, referring to Mrs. Potter.
"She's looking for James."
"Where's James?!" He asked quickly.
Sirius shrugged violently. "Come on! Lily Evans is downstairs. She knows more than I do. She's the one who told me to wake you up."
Mr. Potter climbed quickly out of his bed, wearing nothing but a pair of boxers. He made to walk out of the room but Sirius stopped him. "There's a girl downstairs Jack," Sirius said and threw him the robe that was hanging by the door. Mr. Potter couldn't help but smirk at Sirius. He could be such a gentleman when he wanted to.
Mr. Potter threw on his robe and hurried down the stairs, Sirius at his heels. Lily was sitting anxiously on the couch. She stood when they reached the living room.
"I'm Jack Potter, James's dad," he said holding out his hand. Lily took it and shook it gently.
"Lily Evans," she muttered.
"Now can you please tell me what's going on?"
"I was sitting in the Leaky Cauldron and James came over to talk to me...I don't really like James. I asked him to leave me alone and then this guy came over and asked if there was a problem. I said there was a problem...but I honestly didn't mean it. Anyway, the man grabbed him and dragged him out of the bar. I couldn't see where they went. And then Mrs. Potter arrived, I told her what happened and she went after them. She told me to come here and get you though. I think she wants you to go help."
"And that's just what I'll do but first I want you to describe this man to me."
"I can't really. He was covered head to toe in black robes. I didn't even see his face." "Shit!" Mr. Potter exclaimed. He got ready to apparate out, but then turned back to Sirius and Lily. "I want you two to stay right here."
They both nodded solemnly and then watched as he apparated out of the living room.
Sirius threw himself back against the couch. "This is all my bloody fault."
"Your fault? How is it your fault. I was the one who said there was a problem. I feel so bad."
"Think about it Lily. Who would kidnap a person just because there was 'a problem'? Whoever took him was probably already after him...and it was probably because of me."
"James told me what happened to you...I'm really sorry."
"He told you?! He was trying to impress you again. Didn't work did it?"
"No I figured you wouldn't want him telling the world about your problems."
"That's right...but I don't mind him telling you. He likes you a lot Lily. You should give him a chance, he's a really great guy. I don't know anyone nicer."
"Is nice turning Snape upside down so his underwear show?" "Snape's a git. He deserves everything he gets.
"I don't think anybody deserves that."
"You don't see him the way we do. But...I don't want to talk about this...James is in trouble, and if it weren't for me he'd be up in his bed sleeping right now."
Lily gave him a half smile and they sat in silence on the couch, waiting anxiously for any word on how James or his parents were doing.
~~~~~~~~~~~
Jack Potter had just apparated to the entrance of the Leaky Cauldron and was walking up and down the road, looking down all the side alley's. He saw no sign of his son but as he looked down the eighth or so alley he heard a pop and suddenly his wife appeared.
"Meg!" he called. She turned and ran to him.
"I can't find him Jack...or any trace of him."
"We'll find him, dear, don't worry. It'll be okay." He pulled her into a quick hug and then said, "I think we should split up. You keep looking down that way...I'll look this way. If you find anything, summon my watch or something. It'll guide me to you."
Megan Potter nodded and took off at a jog in the direction her husband had pointed her.
She went on for what seemed like hours but was only about five blocks and found nothing. She stopped for a moment to catch her breath when she heard screaming. It sounded like a boys scream of pain.
Again she took off at a fast jog until she reached the source of the screaming. She peered cautiously down the dark alley and saw her son rolling on the ground in pain. Three men in black robes stood above him, laughing hysterically. Megan remembered what her husband had said and hurriedly summoned his watch. It took a few minutes but soon her husband was at her side.
There were tears running down Megan's face as she watched her son writhing in pain. Jack wiped them away with his thumb and whispered, "You stun the one on the right. I'll get the one on the left and then we'll both take out the one in the middle."
They both pointed there wands and muttered the incantation. The two on the ends dropped like flies and the one in the middle turned to see the source. Since his wand was still on James he couldn't react quickly enough and watched as another stunning curse came straight at him. He landed on top of James who tried to push him off, but was too weak from being under the cruciatus curse.
He propped himself up enough to see his parents running down the alley towards him. His father through the middle man off of his son and his mother scooped him up in her arms. "Are you okay Jamesie?"
"It hurts," James said hoarsely. "Lily-?"
"She's fine dear. She's at our house with Sirius."
James nodded. "I'm sorry..."
"It's okay James. We're glad you helped Sirius."
"Meg, take him home. I'll deal with these three."
"Regulus..." James mumbled, pointing at the person Megan had stunned.
"That's Regulus?!" Jack asked, quite shocked. James nodded and leaned into his mother.
"I had a feeling he was part of that crew."
James tried to keep his eyes open and asked, "What crew?"
"Don't worry about it James. Your mother's going to take you home...I'll deal with this. I should be home in an hour or so."
"Can you stand dear?" Mrs. Potter asked her son.
"I don't know," James mumbled and let his mother help him to his feet. Without her support he'd be flat on his face, but she had him there long enough to apparate the two of them back to the Potter Place.
James collapsed on the floor of the living room the moment they appeared there.
Mrs. Potter knelt beside him and Sirius ran to his other side.
"What happened? James are you okay?"
"I'll be fine, Sirius. Don't worry about me."
"Oh...this is all my fault...what happened?"
"I'll tell you later," he mumbled, looking over at Lily with a hurt look in his eyes. Sirius didn't notice the look. He grabbed James's hand and pulled him into a sitting position and then threw his arms around him. James laughed lightly and hugged back.
"I'm so, so, sorry James."
"Sirius it's not your fault. I'll tell you about everything later. Just trust me, it's not your fault. It's my own fault."
"Actually it's none of your faults, your's either Lily," Mrs. Potter declared. "James, you were just attacked by deatheaters. I know you've all heard of Lord Voldemort and his plans. Well, he's been gaining followers, called deatheaters. That was one of the many attacks that I imagine will soon become frequent in our world. You all need to be much more careful with where you go and what you do."
"Did you see who the deatheaters were?" Sirius asked James.
"No, I didn't see them...but I recognized one of the voices." He hugged his friend to him tighter.
"Who was it?"
James didn't know if he should tell him or not, but figured Sirius would get it out of him eventually. "Regulus."
Sirius dropped his hold on James and tried to pull away, but James wouldn't let him. Sirius instead buried his head in James's shoulder and for the second time that day started crying.
"I'm so sorry! My goddamn family they're evil! I'm sorry James."
"Sirius, it's not your fault. You're different from all of them. You may as well not be a member of that family because you're nothing like them," James said, rubbing his friends back gently.
"You all need to rest now. Sirius, you take the room next to James. That is now YOUR room, permanently, got it?"
Sirius just shook his head in James's shoulder.
"Lily, where are you staying?"
"At the Leaky Cauldron."
"Where are your parents?"
"Well ummm, see my parents are muggles. And this summer, we didn't really get along so well. So I sort of..."
"Ran away?" This came from James who was looking at her almost sympathetically. She nodded.
"Well, considering that you are young, pretty, and muggle born, the Leaky Cauldron is not a safe place for you to stay. You saw what just happened to James and he comes from a fairly long line of pure bloods. You'll stay here."
"I no I couldn't. After all that I've done already. Thank you, but no."
"I'm not allowing you to go back to the Leaky Cauldron. Either I'll take you home, after you get some sleep, or you'll stay here."
"Alright...thank you."
"Follow me I'll show you to where you'll be staying, and where the boys will be sleeping. Sirius, help James to bed, okay dear?"
"Yes, Meg."
Sirius pulled away from James when they were alone in the room.
"So what happened?" he said with a small sniffle.
James sighed. "Let's go up to my room. I'll tell you all about it there."
Sirius nodded and stood up. He pulled James to his feet and then helped him hobble up the stairs.
As they reached the landing of the upstairs hall they saw the door to the bathroom swing open. Out came Lily Evans wearing baggy flannel pants and a t-shirt that was a few sizes too big fo her.
"Those are mine," James said matter-of-factly.
Lily was startled at the appearance of the boys. She quickly recovered and said, "You're mom got them for me."
"As long as you didn't dig through my room yourself," James joked tiredly.
She smiled uncertainly and said, "Goodnight."
Sirius and James watched her walk down the hall to her room and close the door. James then let out a hearty sigh and leaned harder against Sirius.
"You okay, James?"
"Yeah, let's go." Sirius helped him the rest of the way to his room and set him on his bed. They turned and looked at the clock.
"Five o'clock!" James exclaimed. "Damn."
"I know. I'm wiped...Do you want to talk about it now or later?"
"Now's good, the wounds are still fresh."
"The Lily part or the part with my brother?"
"Lily..." James mumbled, a dreary look taking over his face.
"What did she say?"
"After you left I took a quick glance around the Leaky Cauldron and saw her sitting all alone...looking gorgeous as usual. So I walked over and started making friendly conversation, but as usual she...blew me off. And I started pleading with her..making an even bigger ass of myself. I told her things I shouldn't have...about you."
"I know she told me...it's cool, keep going."
"Well I was pleading some more and this guy comes over and asks if there's a problem-"
"Was that Regulus?"
"No, we met up with him later...Anyway, I said no and then Lily said, "This riff-raff is refusing to leave me alone."! Riff-raff?!?!"
"Yeah, that was cold...is that when they took you?"
James nodded and shuddered. "They dragged me out and then put me under petrificus totalus and took me to an alley quite away from the Leaky Cauldron. That's where Regulus was, as well as some other guy. Regulus asked me a bunch of questions about you, but I told him I hadn't seen you since we left Hogwarts."
"Did he believe that? Was that the reason they took you?" Sirius asked frantically.
James reached out and put a flimsy hand on his friend's shoulder. "No, Sirius, it had nothing to do with you. I think it was just coincidence, and he seemed to believe me. I put on a good show asking why he didn't know where you were and all. He completely bought it," James laughed.
"It's not funny Prongs."
"It was kind of funny."
"You could have died."
"But I didn't! I'm fine, look at me!"
"You couldn't walk out of the living room, you're not fine."
"Why are you being so serious about this?"
"Because it's all my fault!"
"No it's not, it's my own fault, and I'm sure they're going to tell me that shortly. You didn't ask me to go find you, you didn't even tell me you had left your house...I did everything on my own free will, including talking to Lily...That was a bad idea."
"Deep down I think she likes you."
"I truly doubt that...but I don't know why she hates me so much."
"She doesn't hate you! If she did, she probably wouldn't have told your mom what happened."
James just shrugged. "She just didn't want to have a guilty conscience. I wonder what happened with her and her parents, and why would she be sitting in the Leaky Cauldron at that time of the night?"
"Ask her," Sirius said with a shrug.
"She probably wouldn't answer," James said bitterly.
"Prongs...maybe you just need to get over her."
"That'll be easy with her staying here all the rest of the summer."
"Do you really think she will? She didn't sound like she wanted to."
"My mom will convince her...you know how she is."
"Oh? How's that?" Came a voice from the doorway. They both looked over and saw Mrs. Potter standing there.
"How much did you hear?"
"Not much. James, your father and I need to talk to you. Sirius, I want you to go to bed. You've had a long couple of days." "Did something happen?" Sirius asked.
Mrs. Potter's gaze shifted slightly but she said, "Everything's fine. We just need to talk to James about what happened this evening. He usually says different things when you're around then when it's just us."
Sirius looked at her suspiciously but got up and left anyways. "Night James...thanks."
"No prob Padfoot...sleep tight."
James turned to his mother. "Where's Dad?"
"He'll be up in a minute. I'll tell you the basics before he gets up here though. When your father was rounding up the three deatheaters the spell wore off one of them...Regulus. The other two are in ministry custody now, but your father's worried. We're almost positive that he's going to come after Sirius."
James gasped slightly and looked at his mother speechless. Before he had a chance to let words take over there was a crash outside the door.
Mrs. Potter walked briskly over and swung the door open. Sirius was now sprawled on the floor with a small table on top of him. He had heard it all, and he wasn't happy about it. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
That's all for now. I hope you liked it and please review.
For All for You fans...I'm kinda stuck at a boring part and I'm having trouble pushing through, but it should be out within the week
