Author's Note: Here's the second chapter, as promised. Let's hope I can spit out another one tomorrow! And thank you all for reviewing! It's readers like you that really make writing worth while.
Disclaimer: As aforementioned, Harry Potter, that is to say: characters, places and unoriginal history is from the ever brilliant mind of JK Rowling.
Chapter Two: The First Crossing
James Potter sat in his final examination of Transfiguration and had yet to transfigure the piece of branch in front of him into an eagle. With twenty minutes left in class, it wasn't looking hopeful. Sirius must have been thinking the same because every five minutes he nudged James and said something to the extent of "Are you trying to fail?" and "Well done transfiguring that branch…wait, never mind. It's still a bloody branch." James really didn't care much. His eyes might have been on the dull brown brush on his desk but his mind was clearly elsewhere.
This whole week of finals had been absolutely brutal. James was sure that he had done well enough but he was overridden with such guilt over Lily that his mischief making had decreased to an all-time low. What made it thirty times worse was that every time he had tried to talk to Lily, all she had said was a lousy "Goodbye" or "Is someone talking to me?" or even "Well, it's off to makeout with my deliriously good-looking and talented boyfriend" which made James boil to the point that all three of the Marauders had to restrain him.
"Prongs…what are you waiting for? Next Christmas? Bloody hell, mate." And without another thought, James calmed his mind, concentrated as hard as he could on the branch in front of him and muttered the incantation under his branch. Sure enough, the brush in front of him transfigured into a magnificent eagle, whose wingspan was equal to his desk. "Blimey," James heard Sirius whisper before James had begun to stroke the eagle's feathers absentmindedly, to which the eagle replied with a weird cooing noise.
"Nicely done, Mr. Potter," Professor McGonagall said. James looked up, not even realizing that she had ever been there. She leaned down to him to whisper, "Although why it took you nearly an hour and a half is beyond me." He looked away from her before she clearly spoke the reverse incantation and took away the branch from his desk. James had never felt so…awkward in his life. Unpleasantly so. There was a permanent knot in his stomach. He hated being at odds with people, especially any of the Marauders and Lily. There was only a quick stint in his third year when him and Sirius weren't talking but that was easily resolved. This was different. Lily was…well, feisty…and stubborn.
After class had ended, most of the students had left, as this was most everyone's last final and triumphant yelling was soon heard in the hallways, a certain celebration of the end of term. Sirius only needed to take a few steps to stand beside James.
"I'd ask how you did but that would be rather pointless, now wouldn't it? Top marks as usual, Prongs." James didn't say anything. He was too busy watching Lily approach Professor McGonagall. On her desk was the supposed eagle, which looked more like an oversized barn owl. If James wasn't mistaken, those were tears in her eyes… "Well, thanks for asking how I did. I pulled that exam off quite nicely, I have to say. What's that you say James? Oh! I'd love to go plant some dungbombs in-"
"Not now Padfoot." James gave his best friend a quick look. Sirius was a jokester, but he was just about as passionate and understanding as James could be.
"Right," he said, gathering his stuff. "I'll be in the common room with Remus." And then he added, quite hastily, "Good luck."
"Thanks," James muttered, only out of habit for being wished good luck. He managed for a few minutes to be seemingly preoccupied with gathering his books and such as Lily finished talking to Professor McGonagall. James could only manage to hear bits of the conversation.
"…I haven't been myself. If I could just-"
"I'm sorry, Ms. Evans. Now, I know you're a very capable witch, the most talented girl of your year in fact, but I cannot give any exceptions."
"But Professor!"
"Ms. Evans, I daresay that…oh, for the love of Merlin! Mr. Black! Must I remind you how many points you have cost Gryffindor already this year?!" And with that, the Professor had swept out of the room, ready to chase down a jinx-happy Sirius. James couldn't help but smile, but it soon disappeared as he turned to face Lily.
She was standing where Professor McGonagall had left her, yet staring out into the hallway as she watched Sirius running the Professor in circles. She began to laugh and James thought at that moment, that she was the most beautiful creature he had ever seen. Even with the tears running down her face, her laugh brought back the happy and most lovely Lily Evans, the girl he had fell…no, he hadn't. There was sexual tension, sure. But that was only because they were hormonal teenagers and had been close their whole school lives, he told himself.
He approached her quickly, half-jogging up to her side. "Only Sirius Black could be so graceful," James said, as he watched Padfoot bump into a third year Slytherin, letting Professor McGonagall finally catch him. James and Lily watched as she began dragging him off to her office. He quickly escaped back to the classroom window to wave at them before he ran off to the Professor's side ("Only joking, Professor!").
"Graceful? Idiotic is more like it," Lily said, the laughter leaving her throat. She walked to her bag at her desk, ignoring the greetings of the large barn owl/eagle as she packed up her books and wand.
"Well, we can all be a little stupid sometimes."
"Tell me something I don't know," Lily said angrily, as she shoved the owgle off her wand.
"Lily, I'm sorry. I really am."
"If you're so sorry, you shouldn't have done it to begin with. Oh shutup!" She yelled at the owgle. She grabbed the wand from her bag and tried using the reverse incantation, but it wasn't working. James took out his own wand and said it properly, allowing the owgle to transfigure back into the brown branch. "Do you always have to showoff, James?"
"I wasn't-"
"It doesn't matter," she said quickly while strapping her bag together. "You never think before you act! Not with the teachers, not with your house, not with your enemies and surely not with your friends!"
"Lily, just hear me out! Lance started it and you even saw it! But you don't dare believe it because you're too blinded by your…whatever it is you feel for that great prat."
"James, unlike you, I can separate fact from fiction. I know he started it but for once you could've been better than that-"
"You mean better than him. It's not exactly hard Lily and-"
"No! Why couldn't you have been the bigger man for once?! I know you're better than all of that! You're the most…" And by this time, she had started to cry again, and her voice had lowered considerably. It was just below her normal speaking voice. She started to move around, her body couldn't decide whether she should just leave for the door or stay where she was. Her hand was to her mouth, a position that James was quite familiar with. "You're so talented, and bright…you're the smartest person I know."
"That's not true, Lily," he said, chancing a step towards her. She didn't move. "Without you I would have never been any good at Herbology."
"You've always been good at anything you wanted to be good at. You just hate that new Sprout woman. You've got to give her a chance. She's not used to teach-"
"Lily…" She looked to him, right through him and he felt like a clean rush of air had just swept through his insides. "I'm sorry. That's all I can say except…I'll never like Lance. I've tried it's just-"
"You have never tried to like any of my boyfriends. You even hated Sirius when we dated our third year…not that we lasted but…you hate seeing me happy."
"That's not true. How can you say that? Lily, you're always happy with us…with the Marauders, even if we cause you to worry…we cause you to laugh. You never laugh with Lance."
"That's a lie, James Potter!"
James didn't say anything for a moment, to let her settle down a bit. "Well, that may not be true…but you cry an awful lot."
Lily had nothing to say. She didn't have any time to divulge whether this was true or not. She quickly strapped her satchel shut and flung it over her shoulder. "No matter how many tears I shed because of Lance, it'll never compare to the oceans I cry for you, James."
Lily didn't waste another moment standing in front of the boy who could transfigure his way out of anything, while she was stuck with half-eagle, half-barn owls on her desk. As she made her way to the door, there was a loud explosion and the hall outside the classroom was full of screams. Suddenly, students were running past the Transfiguration Classroom and fleeing away from…something.
James, out of instinct, grabbed his wand from his bag and then immediately went to Lily's side. Lily dropped her bag from her shoulder and opened it clumsily and quickly scrounged around for her wand. Once she had it, James looked to her. "I'm going to look, get my back, Lily."
She nodded and stood up from her spot where she had fell after the explosion. Her legs were a little shaky at first, but once she saw the look of determination and courage overcoming James's face, she became a little more certain of her actions and she stopped shaking. Rising to the edge of the door she looked towards the left, watching out for anything while James stepped almost completely out of the classroom. Lily could feel him right behind her and suddenly, her hand was in his and James was pushing her back inside the classroom.
"James-"
"Giants."
Lily's mouth dropped as the grip on her wand tightened. She had heard him wrong. "What?"
"There are giants in Hogwarts, and they don't seem to be stopping by for a spot of tea." James ran his fingers through his hair, a move he always performed out of habit. He seemed to be thinking.
"Well, the teachers must know," Lily said, suddenly finding that she could talk once again. "But James…what are they doing here?"
"I don't know," he said, holding her hand a little tighter. James quickly stuck his head out of the classroom and then ducked back in once again. "Alright, Lily…I don't see any teachers in this hall."
"Well there are probably more than a few…the professors must have their hands full."
"Exactly. Which is why you need to go and round up any sixth and seventh years you can."
"What?" Lily said, watching James act so perfectly calm. It almost made her relax knowing he was so confident if it wasn't for the horrible grunts from the giants and the matching screams of students…or maybe those were from the teachers too?
"Go get any prefects you can…and if you can find the rest of the Marauders, especially Sirius and Remus, you all need to come back here as soon as you can."
"And what are you going to do? Hold them off by yourself?"
"Well there isn't anything else-"
"These aren't hippogriffs in Care of Magical Creatures James! They're Giants!"
James turned to Lily. "I know what they are, you just need to have a little faith in me, Lily. I'm going to be that bigger man you were talking about," James said, a little unconvincingly.
"James, if you think I am going to leave you here by yourself with a giant than you have another thing coming. You either come with me or-"
"Lily, you're almost scary when your eyes are all narrow like that." And with one swoosh of a cape, Remus, Sirius and Peter materialized in front of James and Lily. Sirius was almost smiling, wand in one hand and James's unmistakable invisibility cloak in the other, to which he tossed to James. "Had to borrow it."
"Understandable," he said, catching the cloak. "So what's going on outside?"
"Well, as far as we can tell," Remus said, kneeling down with James and Lily; Sirius and Peter followed in his wake. "The teachers, most of the prefects and higher years are fighting off about twenty-five Giants in the courtyard."
"Dumbledore's furious. I've never seen him so angry," Peter added. He was shaking almost as bad as Lily was, and doing horribly to try and hide it. It was remarkable enough he had managed to not stumble and stutter over his own words.
"The rest of the students are behind the outer most part of the lake, guarded completely by that Giant Squid."
"What do you mean the rest of the students?"
"Well," Sirius said. "There are the ones fighting…and I bet some are still hiding in the castle and then there are the…injured ones."
"Injured…" Lily began but James put out a hand in protest.
"Look, we have to do something about those three other trolls in the hall because Dumbledore has enough to worry about."
"B-but P-p-prongs-"
"Peter, there's five of us…and we're all capable. Four of us can easily fit under the invisibility cloak," James said, as he heard crashing outside the Transfiguration Classroom. For once in his life, he wished it would have been Peeves. "And the other one can act as a diversion. Now who-"
"Me." The four Marauders, looking the most serious they ever had been in their entire lives at Hogwarts, looked to Lily.
"No," James said, his face a little white. "You're staying in this classroom. If anything happens, you need to go warn the teachers."
"James that's-"
"NO." It was final. James ran to the back of the room and took a branch from Professor McGonagall's box. "We have a diversion." Within moments, a large eagle sat on his arm, it's talons digging in to his skin. He didn't even chance a look at Lily as spread out the large invisibility cloak and swirled it quickly around the Marauders. She heard some whispering from somewhere in front of her, but the sound of James's voice moved towards the doorway and then out into the hall.
Lily sank to the ground and edged her way to the door of the Transfiguration Classroom. She kept herself low as she looked out into the hallway and almost had to bite her own tongue to stop the scream omitting from her throat. Three large giants, all exceeding twenty feet in height, were roaming around the end of the hall. The one in the middle, a particularly large giant, had some sort of armor over his chest and a large helmet on his head, with two dragon horns coming out the sides. The other Giants had headpieces as well, although theirs was less menacing and more or less resembled large plates of steel hastily beaten together to resemble a helmet. They were just standing in the middle of the hall, looking into classrooms for any sign of students and although Lily doubt any of them could fit inside the doorway, the large stone and wooden clubs they were dragging behind them could easily allow them access to any room they wanted. Lily became very nervous.
Please let them be okay she said to herself. As she watched the three giants, drag their large bodies through the hallway, more towards her with every step, she felt more inclined to shut her eyes, but she couldn't even will herself to blink. She was completely focused on what was happening in front of her. If only she could help…
Suddenly, and without warning, the small giant to the left (if that can even be said), looked straight at Lily. She quickly dodged back at the room, hoping the Giant hadn't seen her. Oh no…please, you didn't see me. Lily held her wand to her chest and quickly scanned her brain for any hexes, curses or jinxes that she could use. And with all her experience in witchcraft, especially in Charms, Lily couldn't think of a one spell that would be useful towards a full-grown Giant.
And then, quite distinctly, she heard the largest Giant, from beneath his dragon-horn helmet say in a very low and rumbling earthquake voice, "Lilllllllyyyyyy." Such a beautiful name withered into rot and decay as soon as it left the Giant's mouth.
Lily's eyes opened especially wide and she couldn't help but to think it said my name…it wants me. Why? Why? Why did it come for me? But her ponderings were cut short as she heard the high-pitched and threatening screech of James's eagle, followed by the sound of stone wall cracking. Lily had to see. She just had to. Without thinking twice, she stuck her head out from the classroom to see the large eagle flying rapidly around the top of the hallway, taunting the Giants below, whose clubs connected only with the walls of Hogwarts and nothing more. It didn't last for long however, the middle Giant's club hit the eagle with a sickly thud and the piece of branch fell to the ground. The Giants, seemingly upset that they failed to kill something and feeling tricked, turned towards Lily once more, with an unmistakable vengeance and anger in their dark black eyes.
Just as all the Giants were facing towards the classroom Lily was taking refuge in, four wands appeared from under the cloak and a unanimous "DIFFINDO!" was heard, causing the helmets and chest piece of the Giants to fall to the ground, the leather straps breaking instantly. If possible, the Giants looked even more infuriated than before. The middle one, appearing more ravenous by the second, pointed a thick finger at Lily and emitted a noise that sounded like a mix of a scream and a roar. The four wands transpired once again and an undivided Conjunctivitis Curse was yelled from underneath the cloak. It seemed to have worked on one of the Giants, the smallest of the three, who immediately cried in anguish and began to swing his weapon at anything he could, including the Giant to the right of the helmet-horned one. The regular-sized Giant began beating on the other one and by this time the invisibility cloak had been shed, and a determined bunch of sixth years stood before the Giant walking heavily towards Lily.
"STUPEFY!" the four yelled, but it only managed to anger the Giant more. The only thing they could do was try to hit the Giant in the same spot again and again, with a hope that its rough skin would start wearing away. But no such thing happened. The Giant began to pummel towards them at somewhat of a run, which seemed more like an irritated jog. Sirius, James and Remus jumped out of its path, but poor Peter Pettigrew was too late, and the Giant used its large hand to bat him away, as if he were a fly. Peter flew to the wall next to the other Marauders, hit it so hard that it cracked and slumped to the ground. Remus went to his side while James yelled "Take him upstairs!"
Lily didn't know what to do. James and Sirius were trying to stop the other Giant coming towards her while trying to dodge the fighting of the other two Giants, but nothing was working. Sirius dashed quickly out of the way of the smallest Giant's stone club but just barely. A crater lay in the place where he stood just barely seconds before. She felt helpless, but she wasn't going to let two of her friends be trodden upon because the Giants had come for her. The whole school was in jeopardy because of her, even though she had no clue why. This wasn't how it was going to be.
Daringly, Lily stepped from the classroom and stood in the middle of the hallway. "LILY! NO!" She heard James yell and from Sirius, "GET BACK IN THERE!" But she ignored them.
Lily looked right into the Giant's eyes as he staggered towards her, raising his club as he did so. He was only about ten feet away from her as the stone mallet came down with such speed she never expected, but Lily was ready. She ran out of the way to her right while the giant reared his club again and went again to strike. Lily could barely hear Stunning Spells from James and Sirius but she tried to blur them out of her mind as she concentrated on what was going on. She had never been more unsure and scared in her life, but she had to do something. For some reason, she felt the Giant was acting peculiarly slow. When she had watched it with the eagle, the Giant had moved unnervingly fast, but he was purposefully slowing down his actions, careful not to hit her. He wants me alive she told herself…I can use this.
As Lily watched the club come down towards her again, rather slowly compared to the eagle, she dived out of the way to the left, only feet away from the classroom door. But this time, as the Giant looked towards Lily as a point to strike again, she mustered up every last bit of concentration she could gather and every final ounce of vigor and pointed her wand to the Giant's point between its eyes and bellowed quite clearly "CONFUNDO!!!". A streak of red emitted from her wand and hit the Giant between the eyes and possibly into one of them. He roared once and then confusion came over him so much so that he fell to the ground and began to roll around slightly, seemingly unable to control his own body movements, but unlike the Cruciatus Curse, he didn't seem to be in any pain.
Lily fell to her knees, quite winded from the amount of energy used and suddenly, by her side, was none other than Professor Albus Dumbledore. "Lily, are you alright?" Lily managed to nod her head as Dumbledore beckoned Sirius and James forward. "Where are Peter and Remus?" he quickly inquired.
"We sent them upstairs after Peter was…" Sirius couldn't finish, he was so overcome with exhaustion, or perhaps he didn't want to think what had happened to his friend. "But…we managed to use the…the Impediment C-Curse."
Dumbledore looked past them to see the two fighting Giants slowly fighting each other. If the time at hand hadn't been so serious and daunting, it would almost have seemed comical to watch their slow-motion battle. Professor Dumbledore pointed his wand to the two Giants and performed the Binding Spell on the two. Instantly two chains, as strong as dragonhide, wound themselves around the Giants and they fell to the ground. He turned to the last Giant, still slightly moving on the ground, small gurgling noises escaped from his mouth and his hands were slowly searching the floor beneath him, looking for his stone club. Dumbledore quickly Binded him as well before he looked to Sirius.
"Please go find Remus and Peter, who I'm sure are already on their way to the hospital wing and escort them to Madam Pomfrey. Then if you could, Sirius, please go to the lake and help Professor McGonagall with anything she needs." Sirius nodded quickly before running past James to the hall doors.
Dumbledore then turned to Lily. "Can you stand?" he asked softly. She too nodded. No one seemed to be able or want to speak. "Can you make it to my office?" After another nod, Dumbledore said, "The password is Chocolate Frog, Lily," he said, grabbing her hands and hoisting her gently to her feet. He kept one hand on her shoulder. "I will be up shortly." Lily began to walk towards his office, looking at James right before she turned her head to leave. James thought he saw something in that look…
"Can I go with Lily, sir?" He said, cutting the distance between himself and Dumbledore. "Please?" Professor Albus Dumbledore considered it for a moment before he looked to James.
"I'm sorry, but I need you here, James."
"But Professor I-"
"James," he said softly yet firmly and James knew that was the end of that. "If Lily would like you to visit her in the Hospital Wing after our conversation, then you may visit her and Peter later tonight."
"Yes, sir," James said dully and watched Lily until she rounded the corner and then out of sight. He turned to the Headmaster, not sure of what to do. "Uh…Professor Dumbledore?"
But the Professor wasn't giving James his full attention. He walked around the Giants looking at each of them in turn, before rounding on the largest one, still apparently confused. "Such a strong Confundus Charm. Did you perform this, James?" Dumbledore asked quietly.
"No, sir. It was Lily." Dumbledore didn't seem surprised by this information, quite the opposite of Sirius and James's reaction when they had seen such a strong spell take down an adult Giant.
Dumbledore, looking a little older than he was, placed his wand on each of the Giants in turn, muttered a spell that James could not hear and each of them disappeared, as quickly as the struggle had came.
"Where are they now?" James asked.
"In a dungeon they cannot escape."
"Azkaban?"
Dumbledore looked at James. "No, not Azkaban…that place is tainted now."
James wanted to further inquire why Azkaban wasn't suitable for Giants, perhaps the most vicious of creatures, as well as ask a million other questions but, upon looking at Dumbledore, he suppressed the urge. He did have one uncertainty that needed to be answered: "Professor, uh…the Giant said something."
Dumbledore didn't say anything for a moment. Instead, he placed his wand to his forehead and then into the air in front of him. James thought this to be a peculiar move, but didn't ask further about it, just waited for Dumbledore to respond. "Really," he said softly.
James was looking more from Dumbledore than a 'really', perhaps he was looking for the same uncertain excitement and nervousness that he was feeling, but he pressed on. "He said 'Lily'."
Dumbledore's head stayed where it was, but if James wasn't mistaken, there was a sharp flicker in the way his eyelids seemed wider than before… "Quite interesting," he said slowly, and then nothing else.
When the silence seemed to be going on forever, James cut in. "Professor Dumbledore-"
"James," he said, finally looking into his eyes. "A time will come, hopefully much later than I assume, when the ones we love…the ones we truly care for," Dumbledore added, putting only a smidgen of emphasis on 'care'. He continued only after a short pause, "Will all be in great danger." James wanted to say something, ask even more questions than before, but he just listened to Dumbledore, intent on remembering everything…as if he could forget. "But before this time, we must hold to the bonds that make us stronger. You and your friends, though reckless at times," Dumbledore added, making James flinch but he calmed after seeing the look in his Headmaster's face. Was that a hint of a smile? "Have overcome what they are to love each other. Perhaps your feelings of benevolence are contagious…an old man could only hope."
"Professor Dumbledore…what's going on outside of Hogwarts?" James knew that Dumbledore would never put any of the students in danger, but the message he had just told James seemed more like a warning than fatherly advice. "Is it like Grindelwald?"
Albus Dumbledore's eyes quickly found James. The feeling of defeating the Dark Wizard Grindelwald, though over thirty years old, still lay fresh in his mind. "No, James. Very unlike Grindelwald at all."
James did not have time to ask whether this new danger, this new threat, was worse than Grindelwald or not. There had been reports, deep within the pages of The Daily Prophet, behind the gossiping voices of Hogsmeade of the rise of a Dark Lord, or a new Dark Era. But it was just rumors, old shadows of Grindelwald and nothing more. Perhaps the wizarding world was too at rest, too at peace…the calm before the storm.
Disclaimer: As aforementioned, Harry Potter, that is to say: characters, places and unoriginal history is from the ever brilliant mind of JK Rowling.
Chapter Two: The First Crossing
James Potter sat in his final examination of Transfiguration and had yet to transfigure the piece of branch in front of him into an eagle. With twenty minutes left in class, it wasn't looking hopeful. Sirius must have been thinking the same because every five minutes he nudged James and said something to the extent of "Are you trying to fail?" and "Well done transfiguring that branch…wait, never mind. It's still a bloody branch." James really didn't care much. His eyes might have been on the dull brown brush on his desk but his mind was clearly elsewhere.
This whole week of finals had been absolutely brutal. James was sure that he had done well enough but he was overridden with such guilt over Lily that his mischief making had decreased to an all-time low. What made it thirty times worse was that every time he had tried to talk to Lily, all she had said was a lousy "Goodbye" or "Is someone talking to me?" or even "Well, it's off to makeout with my deliriously good-looking and talented boyfriend" which made James boil to the point that all three of the Marauders had to restrain him.
"Prongs…what are you waiting for? Next Christmas? Bloody hell, mate." And without another thought, James calmed his mind, concentrated as hard as he could on the branch in front of him and muttered the incantation under his branch. Sure enough, the brush in front of him transfigured into a magnificent eagle, whose wingspan was equal to his desk. "Blimey," James heard Sirius whisper before James had begun to stroke the eagle's feathers absentmindedly, to which the eagle replied with a weird cooing noise.
"Nicely done, Mr. Potter," Professor McGonagall said. James looked up, not even realizing that she had ever been there. She leaned down to him to whisper, "Although why it took you nearly an hour and a half is beyond me." He looked away from her before she clearly spoke the reverse incantation and took away the branch from his desk. James had never felt so…awkward in his life. Unpleasantly so. There was a permanent knot in his stomach. He hated being at odds with people, especially any of the Marauders and Lily. There was only a quick stint in his third year when him and Sirius weren't talking but that was easily resolved. This was different. Lily was…well, feisty…and stubborn.
After class had ended, most of the students had left, as this was most everyone's last final and triumphant yelling was soon heard in the hallways, a certain celebration of the end of term. Sirius only needed to take a few steps to stand beside James.
"I'd ask how you did but that would be rather pointless, now wouldn't it? Top marks as usual, Prongs." James didn't say anything. He was too busy watching Lily approach Professor McGonagall. On her desk was the supposed eagle, which looked more like an oversized barn owl. If James wasn't mistaken, those were tears in her eyes… "Well, thanks for asking how I did. I pulled that exam off quite nicely, I have to say. What's that you say James? Oh! I'd love to go plant some dungbombs in-"
"Not now Padfoot." James gave his best friend a quick look. Sirius was a jokester, but he was just about as passionate and understanding as James could be.
"Right," he said, gathering his stuff. "I'll be in the common room with Remus." And then he added, quite hastily, "Good luck."
"Thanks," James muttered, only out of habit for being wished good luck. He managed for a few minutes to be seemingly preoccupied with gathering his books and such as Lily finished talking to Professor McGonagall. James could only manage to hear bits of the conversation.
"…I haven't been myself. If I could just-"
"I'm sorry, Ms. Evans. Now, I know you're a very capable witch, the most talented girl of your year in fact, but I cannot give any exceptions."
"But Professor!"
"Ms. Evans, I daresay that…oh, for the love of Merlin! Mr. Black! Must I remind you how many points you have cost Gryffindor already this year?!" And with that, the Professor had swept out of the room, ready to chase down a jinx-happy Sirius. James couldn't help but smile, but it soon disappeared as he turned to face Lily.
She was standing where Professor McGonagall had left her, yet staring out into the hallway as she watched Sirius running the Professor in circles. She began to laugh and James thought at that moment, that she was the most beautiful creature he had ever seen. Even with the tears running down her face, her laugh brought back the happy and most lovely Lily Evans, the girl he had fell…no, he hadn't. There was sexual tension, sure. But that was only because they were hormonal teenagers and had been close their whole school lives, he told himself.
He approached her quickly, half-jogging up to her side. "Only Sirius Black could be so graceful," James said, as he watched Padfoot bump into a third year Slytherin, letting Professor McGonagall finally catch him. James and Lily watched as she began dragging him off to her office. He quickly escaped back to the classroom window to wave at them before he ran off to the Professor's side ("Only joking, Professor!").
"Graceful? Idiotic is more like it," Lily said, the laughter leaving her throat. She walked to her bag at her desk, ignoring the greetings of the large barn owl/eagle as she packed up her books and wand.
"Well, we can all be a little stupid sometimes."
"Tell me something I don't know," Lily said angrily, as she shoved the owgle off her wand.
"Lily, I'm sorry. I really am."
"If you're so sorry, you shouldn't have done it to begin with. Oh shutup!" She yelled at the owgle. She grabbed the wand from her bag and tried using the reverse incantation, but it wasn't working. James took out his own wand and said it properly, allowing the owgle to transfigure back into the brown branch. "Do you always have to showoff, James?"
"I wasn't-"
"It doesn't matter," she said quickly while strapping her bag together. "You never think before you act! Not with the teachers, not with your house, not with your enemies and surely not with your friends!"
"Lily, just hear me out! Lance started it and you even saw it! But you don't dare believe it because you're too blinded by your…whatever it is you feel for that great prat."
"James, unlike you, I can separate fact from fiction. I know he started it but for once you could've been better than that-"
"You mean better than him. It's not exactly hard Lily and-"
"No! Why couldn't you have been the bigger man for once?! I know you're better than all of that! You're the most…" And by this time, she had started to cry again, and her voice had lowered considerably. It was just below her normal speaking voice. She started to move around, her body couldn't decide whether she should just leave for the door or stay where she was. Her hand was to her mouth, a position that James was quite familiar with. "You're so talented, and bright…you're the smartest person I know."
"That's not true, Lily," he said, chancing a step towards her. She didn't move. "Without you I would have never been any good at Herbology."
"You've always been good at anything you wanted to be good at. You just hate that new Sprout woman. You've got to give her a chance. She's not used to teach-"
"Lily…" She looked to him, right through him and he felt like a clean rush of air had just swept through his insides. "I'm sorry. That's all I can say except…I'll never like Lance. I've tried it's just-"
"You have never tried to like any of my boyfriends. You even hated Sirius when we dated our third year…not that we lasted but…you hate seeing me happy."
"That's not true. How can you say that? Lily, you're always happy with us…with the Marauders, even if we cause you to worry…we cause you to laugh. You never laugh with Lance."
"That's a lie, James Potter!"
James didn't say anything for a moment, to let her settle down a bit. "Well, that may not be true…but you cry an awful lot."
Lily had nothing to say. She didn't have any time to divulge whether this was true or not. She quickly strapped her satchel shut and flung it over her shoulder. "No matter how many tears I shed because of Lance, it'll never compare to the oceans I cry for you, James."
Lily didn't waste another moment standing in front of the boy who could transfigure his way out of anything, while she was stuck with half-eagle, half-barn owls on her desk. As she made her way to the door, there was a loud explosion and the hall outside the classroom was full of screams. Suddenly, students were running past the Transfiguration Classroom and fleeing away from…something.
James, out of instinct, grabbed his wand from his bag and then immediately went to Lily's side. Lily dropped her bag from her shoulder and opened it clumsily and quickly scrounged around for her wand. Once she had it, James looked to her. "I'm going to look, get my back, Lily."
She nodded and stood up from her spot where she had fell after the explosion. Her legs were a little shaky at first, but once she saw the look of determination and courage overcoming James's face, she became a little more certain of her actions and she stopped shaking. Rising to the edge of the door she looked towards the left, watching out for anything while James stepped almost completely out of the classroom. Lily could feel him right behind her and suddenly, her hand was in his and James was pushing her back inside the classroom.
"James-"
"Giants."
Lily's mouth dropped as the grip on her wand tightened. She had heard him wrong. "What?"
"There are giants in Hogwarts, and they don't seem to be stopping by for a spot of tea." James ran his fingers through his hair, a move he always performed out of habit. He seemed to be thinking.
"Well, the teachers must know," Lily said, suddenly finding that she could talk once again. "But James…what are they doing here?"
"I don't know," he said, holding her hand a little tighter. James quickly stuck his head out of the classroom and then ducked back in once again. "Alright, Lily…I don't see any teachers in this hall."
"Well there are probably more than a few…the professors must have their hands full."
"Exactly. Which is why you need to go and round up any sixth and seventh years you can."
"What?" Lily said, watching James act so perfectly calm. It almost made her relax knowing he was so confident if it wasn't for the horrible grunts from the giants and the matching screams of students…or maybe those were from the teachers too?
"Go get any prefects you can…and if you can find the rest of the Marauders, especially Sirius and Remus, you all need to come back here as soon as you can."
"And what are you going to do? Hold them off by yourself?"
"Well there isn't anything else-"
"These aren't hippogriffs in Care of Magical Creatures James! They're Giants!"
James turned to Lily. "I know what they are, you just need to have a little faith in me, Lily. I'm going to be that bigger man you were talking about," James said, a little unconvincingly.
"James, if you think I am going to leave you here by yourself with a giant than you have another thing coming. You either come with me or-"
"Lily, you're almost scary when your eyes are all narrow like that." And with one swoosh of a cape, Remus, Sirius and Peter materialized in front of James and Lily. Sirius was almost smiling, wand in one hand and James's unmistakable invisibility cloak in the other, to which he tossed to James. "Had to borrow it."
"Understandable," he said, catching the cloak. "So what's going on outside?"
"Well, as far as we can tell," Remus said, kneeling down with James and Lily; Sirius and Peter followed in his wake. "The teachers, most of the prefects and higher years are fighting off about twenty-five Giants in the courtyard."
"Dumbledore's furious. I've never seen him so angry," Peter added. He was shaking almost as bad as Lily was, and doing horribly to try and hide it. It was remarkable enough he had managed to not stumble and stutter over his own words.
"The rest of the students are behind the outer most part of the lake, guarded completely by that Giant Squid."
"What do you mean the rest of the students?"
"Well," Sirius said. "There are the ones fighting…and I bet some are still hiding in the castle and then there are the…injured ones."
"Injured…" Lily began but James put out a hand in protest.
"Look, we have to do something about those three other trolls in the hall because Dumbledore has enough to worry about."
"B-but P-p-prongs-"
"Peter, there's five of us…and we're all capable. Four of us can easily fit under the invisibility cloak," James said, as he heard crashing outside the Transfiguration Classroom. For once in his life, he wished it would have been Peeves. "And the other one can act as a diversion. Now who-"
"Me." The four Marauders, looking the most serious they ever had been in their entire lives at Hogwarts, looked to Lily.
"No," James said, his face a little white. "You're staying in this classroom. If anything happens, you need to go warn the teachers."
"James that's-"
"NO." It was final. James ran to the back of the room and took a branch from Professor McGonagall's box. "We have a diversion." Within moments, a large eagle sat on his arm, it's talons digging in to his skin. He didn't even chance a look at Lily as spread out the large invisibility cloak and swirled it quickly around the Marauders. She heard some whispering from somewhere in front of her, but the sound of James's voice moved towards the doorway and then out into the hall.
Lily sank to the ground and edged her way to the door of the Transfiguration Classroom. She kept herself low as she looked out into the hallway and almost had to bite her own tongue to stop the scream omitting from her throat. Three large giants, all exceeding twenty feet in height, were roaming around the end of the hall. The one in the middle, a particularly large giant, had some sort of armor over his chest and a large helmet on his head, with two dragon horns coming out the sides. The other Giants had headpieces as well, although theirs was less menacing and more or less resembled large plates of steel hastily beaten together to resemble a helmet. They were just standing in the middle of the hall, looking into classrooms for any sign of students and although Lily doubt any of them could fit inside the doorway, the large stone and wooden clubs they were dragging behind them could easily allow them access to any room they wanted. Lily became very nervous.
Please let them be okay she said to herself. As she watched the three giants, drag their large bodies through the hallway, more towards her with every step, she felt more inclined to shut her eyes, but she couldn't even will herself to blink. She was completely focused on what was happening in front of her. If only she could help…
Suddenly, and without warning, the small giant to the left (if that can even be said), looked straight at Lily. She quickly dodged back at the room, hoping the Giant hadn't seen her. Oh no…please, you didn't see me. Lily held her wand to her chest and quickly scanned her brain for any hexes, curses or jinxes that she could use. And with all her experience in witchcraft, especially in Charms, Lily couldn't think of a one spell that would be useful towards a full-grown Giant.
And then, quite distinctly, she heard the largest Giant, from beneath his dragon-horn helmet say in a very low and rumbling earthquake voice, "Lilllllllyyyyyy." Such a beautiful name withered into rot and decay as soon as it left the Giant's mouth.
Lily's eyes opened especially wide and she couldn't help but to think it said my name…it wants me. Why? Why? Why did it come for me? But her ponderings were cut short as she heard the high-pitched and threatening screech of James's eagle, followed by the sound of stone wall cracking. Lily had to see. She just had to. Without thinking twice, she stuck her head out from the classroom to see the large eagle flying rapidly around the top of the hallway, taunting the Giants below, whose clubs connected only with the walls of Hogwarts and nothing more. It didn't last for long however, the middle Giant's club hit the eagle with a sickly thud and the piece of branch fell to the ground. The Giants, seemingly upset that they failed to kill something and feeling tricked, turned towards Lily once more, with an unmistakable vengeance and anger in their dark black eyes.
Just as all the Giants were facing towards the classroom Lily was taking refuge in, four wands appeared from under the cloak and a unanimous "DIFFINDO!" was heard, causing the helmets and chest piece of the Giants to fall to the ground, the leather straps breaking instantly. If possible, the Giants looked even more infuriated than before. The middle one, appearing more ravenous by the second, pointed a thick finger at Lily and emitted a noise that sounded like a mix of a scream and a roar. The four wands transpired once again and an undivided Conjunctivitis Curse was yelled from underneath the cloak. It seemed to have worked on one of the Giants, the smallest of the three, who immediately cried in anguish and began to swing his weapon at anything he could, including the Giant to the right of the helmet-horned one. The regular-sized Giant began beating on the other one and by this time the invisibility cloak had been shed, and a determined bunch of sixth years stood before the Giant walking heavily towards Lily.
"STUPEFY!" the four yelled, but it only managed to anger the Giant more. The only thing they could do was try to hit the Giant in the same spot again and again, with a hope that its rough skin would start wearing away. But no such thing happened. The Giant began to pummel towards them at somewhat of a run, which seemed more like an irritated jog. Sirius, James and Remus jumped out of its path, but poor Peter Pettigrew was too late, and the Giant used its large hand to bat him away, as if he were a fly. Peter flew to the wall next to the other Marauders, hit it so hard that it cracked and slumped to the ground. Remus went to his side while James yelled "Take him upstairs!"
Lily didn't know what to do. James and Sirius were trying to stop the other Giant coming towards her while trying to dodge the fighting of the other two Giants, but nothing was working. Sirius dashed quickly out of the way of the smallest Giant's stone club but just barely. A crater lay in the place where he stood just barely seconds before. She felt helpless, but she wasn't going to let two of her friends be trodden upon because the Giants had come for her. The whole school was in jeopardy because of her, even though she had no clue why. This wasn't how it was going to be.
Daringly, Lily stepped from the classroom and stood in the middle of the hallway. "LILY! NO!" She heard James yell and from Sirius, "GET BACK IN THERE!" But she ignored them.
Lily looked right into the Giant's eyes as he staggered towards her, raising his club as he did so. He was only about ten feet away from her as the stone mallet came down with such speed she never expected, but Lily was ready. She ran out of the way to her right while the giant reared his club again and went again to strike. Lily could barely hear Stunning Spells from James and Sirius but she tried to blur them out of her mind as she concentrated on what was going on. She had never been more unsure and scared in her life, but she had to do something. For some reason, she felt the Giant was acting peculiarly slow. When she had watched it with the eagle, the Giant had moved unnervingly fast, but he was purposefully slowing down his actions, careful not to hit her. He wants me alive she told herself…I can use this.
As Lily watched the club come down towards her again, rather slowly compared to the eagle, she dived out of the way to the left, only feet away from the classroom door. But this time, as the Giant looked towards Lily as a point to strike again, she mustered up every last bit of concentration she could gather and every final ounce of vigor and pointed her wand to the Giant's point between its eyes and bellowed quite clearly "CONFUNDO!!!". A streak of red emitted from her wand and hit the Giant between the eyes and possibly into one of them. He roared once and then confusion came over him so much so that he fell to the ground and began to roll around slightly, seemingly unable to control his own body movements, but unlike the Cruciatus Curse, he didn't seem to be in any pain.
Lily fell to her knees, quite winded from the amount of energy used and suddenly, by her side, was none other than Professor Albus Dumbledore. "Lily, are you alright?" Lily managed to nod her head as Dumbledore beckoned Sirius and James forward. "Where are Peter and Remus?" he quickly inquired.
"We sent them upstairs after Peter was…" Sirius couldn't finish, he was so overcome with exhaustion, or perhaps he didn't want to think what had happened to his friend. "But…we managed to use the…the Impediment C-Curse."
Dumbledore looked past them to see the two fighting Giants slowly fighting each other. If the time at hand hadn't been so serious and daunting, it would almost have seemed comical to watch their slow-motion battle. Professor Dumbledore pointed his wand to the two Giants and performed the Binding Spell on the two. Instantly two chains, as strong as dragonhide, wound themselves around the Giants and they fell to the ground. He turned to the last Giant, still slightly moving on the ground, small gurgling noises escaped from his mouth and his hands were slowly searching the floor beneath him, looking for his stone club. Dumbledore quickly Binded him as well before he looked to Sirius.
"Please go find Remus and Peter, who I'm sure are already on their way to the hospital wing and escort them to Madam Pomfrey. Then if you could, Sirius, please go to the lake and help Professor McGonagall with anything she needs." Sirius nodded quickly before running past James to the hall doors.
Dumbledore then turned to Lily. "Can you stand?" he asked softly. She too nodded. No one seemed to be able or want to speak. "Can you make it to my office?" After another nod, Dumbledore said, "The password is Chocolate Frog, Lily," he said, grabbing her hands and hoisting her gently to her feet. He kept one hand on her shoulder. "I will be up shortly." Lily began to walk towards his office, looking at James right before she turned her head to leave. James thought he saw something in that look…
"Can I go with Lily, sir?" He said, cutting the distance between himself and Dumbledore. "Please?" Professor Albus Dumbledore considered it for a moment before he looked to James.
"I'm sorry, but I need you here, James."
"But Professor I-"
"James," he said softly yet firmly and James knew that was the end of that. "If Lily would like you to visit her in the Hospital Wing after our conversation, then you may visit her and Peter later tonight."
"Yes, sir," James said dully and watched Lily until she rounded the corner and then out of sight. He turned to the Headmaster, not sure of what to do. "Uh…Professor Dumbledore?"
But the Professor wasn't giving James his full attention. He walked around the Giants looking at each of them in turn, before rounding on the largest one, still apparently confused. "Such a strong Confundus Charm. Did you perform this, James?" Dumbledore asked quietly.
"No, sir. It was Lily." Dumbledore didn't seem surprised by this information, quite the opposite of Sirius and James's reaction when they had seen such a strong spell take down an adult Giant.
Dumbledore, looking a little older than he was, placed his wand on each of the Giants in turn, muttered a spell that James could not hear and each of them disappeared, as quickly as the struggle had came.
"Where are they now?" James asked.
"In a dungeon they cannot escape."
"Azkaban?"
Dumbledore looked at James. "No, not Azkaban…that place is tainted now."
James wanted to further inquire why Azkaban wasn't suitable for Giants, perhaps the most vicious of creatures, as well as ask a million other questions but, upon looking at Dumbledore, he suppressed the urge. He did have one uncertainty that needed to be answered: "Professor, uh…the Giant said something."
Dumbledore didn't say anything for a moment. Instead, he placed his wand to his forehead and then into the air in front of him. James thought this to be a peculiar move, but didn't ask further about it, just waited for Dumbledore to respond. "Really," he said softly.
James was looking more from Dumbledore than a 'really', perhaps he was looking for the same uncertain excitement and nervousness that he was feeling, but he pressed on. "He said 'Lily'."
Dumbledore's head stayed where it was, but if James wasn't mistaken, there was a sharp flicker in the way his eyelids seemed wider than before… "Quite interesting," he said slowly, and then nothing else.
When the silence seemed to be going on forever, James cut in. "Professor Dumbledore-"
"James," he said, finally looking into his eyes. "A time will come, hopefully much later than I assume, when the ones we love…the ones we truly care for," Dumbledore added, putting only a smidgen of emphasis on 'care'. He continued only after a short pause, "Will all be in great danger." James wanted to say something, ask even more questions than before, but he just listened to Dumbledore, intent on remembering everything…as if he could forget. "But before this time, we must hold to the bonds that make us stronger. You and your friends, though reckless at times," Dumbledore added, making James flinch but he calmed after seeing the look in his Headmaster's face. Was that a hint of a smile? "Have overcome what they are to love each other. Perhaps your feelings of benevolence are contagious…an old man could only hope."
"Professor Dumbledore…what's going on outside of Hogwarts?" James knew that Dumbledore would never put any of the students in danger, but the message he had just told James seemed more like a warning than fatherly advice. "Is it like Grindelwald?"
Albus Dumbledore's eyes quickly found James. The feeling of defeating the Dark Wizard Grindelwald, though over thirty years old, still lay fresh in his mind. "No, James. Very unlike Grindelwald at all."
James did not have time to ask whether this new danger, this new threat, was worse than Grindelwald or not. There had been reports, deep within the pages of The Daily Prophet, behind the gossiping voices of Hogsmeade of the rise of a Dark Lord, or a new Dark Era. But it was just rumors, old shadows of Grindelwald and nothing more. Perhaps the wizarding world was too at rest, too at peace…the calm before the storm.
