Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter or the other stuff J.K. Rowling came up with. I own my stuff. And I don't own "Rinse" by Vanessa Carlton.
Thanks to my reviewers!
BURN THE RUM: Yup, poor Remus, indeed. Soon the tale will be told of HOW. Hehehe…
Indiangurl: I know, I know…I would be mad, too! Like I said, the story of Ashley will be told soon enough. Yeah, Harry should kick Voldemort's a*s. Doesn't he every time? Same with Peter…
Cocopops: Thanks for reading! I really appreciate it. Soon Ashley will come into the picture.
Harryforeva: Everybody likes (or strongly hates) a cliffhanger. And apparently they like Ashley, too. Soon…
(the song this time will not be in bold and italics. My computer's a little screwed up at the moment.)
she'd do anything to sparkle in his eye
she would suffer, she would fight, and compromise
she's been wishin' on the stars that shine so bright
for answers to the questions that will haunt her tonight
she must rinse this all away
she can't hold him this way
she must rinse this all away
she can't love him this way
how she'd be soothed, how she'd be saved if he could see
she needs to be held in his arms to be free
but everything happens for reasons that she will never understand
'til she knows the heart of a woman will never be found in the arms of a man
she must rinse this all away
she can't hold him this way
she must rinse this all away
she can't love him this way
and if she runs away she fears she won't be followed
what could be the worse than leaving something behind
and as the depth of oceans slowly become shallow
it's loneliness she finds...
if only he was mine
she'd do anything to sparkle in his eye
she would suffer, she would fight, and compromise
she's been wishin' on the stars that shine so bright
for answers to the questions that will haunt her tonight
she must rinse him
she must rinse him
she can't rinse him
she can't rinse him
she can't, she won't, she must rinse him
she can't, she won't, she must rinse him
she must rinse this all away
she can't hold him this way
she must rinse this all away
she can't love him this way
"James, what are you doing?"
"Harry has been following us around everywhere since last week. I was looking for some alone time." James looked into Lily's bright emerald eyes.
"James," she said, "there's something…odd about him."
"Are you talking bad about my son?"
"No, James. Actually, it's funny you mention the part about 'son'-"
But Lily was cut off by Mel and Sirius bursting through the doors.
"Geez, James," said Sirius. "We've been looking all over for you. Where have you-"
James put his finger to his lips and motioned for Lily, Sirius and Mel to follow him. And they headed outside, towards the forbidden forest.
----------------------
Harry stared across the room at Hermione. He all of a sudden felt a hate seer through him. He envied the fact that she, or anyone else, was not being hunted by Voldemort. He could very well cease to exist. Not her…
"It's not fair," he muttered.
"What?" she asked, as she looked up from her book.
"I said, it's not fair," his voice rising.
"What's not fair?"
How could she be so oblivious? "Is Voldemort after you?"
"Oh," she said. "No, but Harry, you need to come off it for a while."
"How can I come off it? It's not as simple as you think, Hermione. I'm the one who has to fight. I'm the one who must kill or be killed. Why? Because of some damn prophecy!"
Hermione started to get really aggravated. "Harry, you're not the only one with problems, you know. The Order is trying so hard to make everything safe for you, but all you can do is complain! You're not the only one who's been hurt by Voldemort. Quit acting like everything in the entire world is always on you!"
"Fine, you can go back to your silly problems and just stop caring. I envy you."
Hermione, furious, grabbed a copy of Macbeth, and stormed out of the common room. As soon as she left, Harry felt a pang of guilt in the pit of his stomach. Just then, Ron walked in.
"Hey, mate. Why so down?"
A sudden thought occurred to Harry. "Ron, if you're here, then where are my parents?"
"I thought 'Mione was with them!"
Harry swore and ran out of the room, Ron right behind him. He stopped at a nearby window as he witnessed James, Sirius, Lily, and Mel enter the Forbidden Forest. Not far behind them, Harry saw Remus and Peter point in the direction they had just gone, and run into the Forest as well.
Harry and Ron ran towards the doors leading them to the outside grounds. On the way, they spotted Hermione. Forgetting what had just happened in the common room, she sensed the emergency and she quickly followed them.
-------------------------
"James, what are you looking for?" asked Melissa.
"I just wanted to see if it's still here…"
"Wait, Prongs, are you talking about-"
"Yeah," answered James.
Sirius gave a smirk and started looking around. They stopped at a large tree with jet-black bark. The leaves were just as dark. The only spot that wasn't black was towards the bottom of the tree. There was an engraving. The letters M, W, P, and P, were blood red. James and Sirius began digging with their hands through the dirt and the foot of the tree. When they could find anything, they gave up.
"Someone must've found it," sighed Sirius.
"Found what?" asked Lily.
James answered her. "We hid our Map out here. Since we've been so…notorious at Hogwarts, Filch checks our dorms every week. We couldn't risk him finding it, and no one ever comes out here."
"Hey, Prongs!" yelled Remus.
"Moony, Wormtail, what are you doing here?"
"We saw you guys come, and we didn't want to miss out on the fun. So, what are you doing?"
"Well," started James, "We were just-"
"GET DOWN!" Harry screamed as he, Ron, and Hermione were running up to the forest.
James got down, just barely dodging the stunning spell that seemed to have come out of nowhere.
"You can't dodge everything," came a cold, high-pitched voice.
A/N: Ok, I know this was a short chapter, but it's setting up for the next one. PLEASE review!!