Chapter 10 – Saving Lily
~*~
James ignored all the students going to their next class; he had been entrusted to care for Lily and had failed miserably, so what was one measly Herbology class? It wasn't like Herbology was hard for him or anything. He was sure Peter, Sirius, and Remus had taken the map, but he just didn't know where they were … and if they had gotten hold of Lily. Sure, they were his best friends, but they were known as the lunatics of Hogwarts for a reason.
Where would I go if I wanted to be alone and not interrupted?
The Astronomy Tower.
James didn't even pause to congratulate himself on his fantastic brainwave (fantastic for him, anyway) as he rushed up to the highest tower in the school. He climbed the rope ladder with haste, opened the trapdoor and burst into the room in much the same fashion as the other Marauders had done earlier. James adjusted his glasses so that he could actually see, and found himself face to face with some very guilty looking Marauders.
"Uh, h-hi James … w-w-what are you doing here?" Peter stuttered nervously.
"What do you think? Where's Lily?"
The other Marauders all looked at their feet. They were good at lying, but not to their best friend. There was a long silence. Finally, Sirius lifted his head.
"We can't tell you," he said softly, looking straight into James's eyes.
"Why the hell not?" James returned angrily.
"You're under a spell, James. You're so intoxicated with her you can't even see it. She's bewitched you, but you don't even know it!" Sirius said, his voice rising as he spoke faster and more confidently.
"You have to snap out of it! You've changed James. We don't know you any more. It used to be just the four of us, but we've lost you to Lily. You spend all of your time with her, you visited her every day while she was in hospital, but what does she do? Nothing!"
As Sirius paused for breath, Remus took the opportunity to speak.
"We know you won't believe us, but you're under a spell,"
"I AM NOT!" James retorted angrily. "SHE CAN'T EVERN DO MAGIC, FOR CRYING OUT LOUD! I AM NOT GOING TO SPEAK TO ANY OF YOU UNTIL YOU TELL ME WHERE SHE IS!"
And with that, James slammed the door, opened the trapdoor and fell down it. He obviously wasn't concentrating. Seething with pain and anger, he got up, ran a hand through his hair, and tried his best to walk down the hallways in a dignified manner. Nobody was watching, of course; they were all in class.
It was too late to go to Herbology, decided James, so he decided to start searching for Lily. Being logical for once, he started in the dungeons, planning to work his way up. Pity she was in a supplies closet in the Astronomy Tower.
But as ducked a nasty-looking silver substance oozing out of the closet he had just opened, James couldn't help but think about what Sirius and Remus had said. Was he really obsessed? Or was he just doing a job? He'd learnt a lot in the short time that he was around Lily. Her psychological problems ran much deeper than what he had first thought. For some obscure reason, he James, Potter, had just assumed that he, the all around good guy, could just some in and get Lily to talk again. Then, she would be bright and popular, despite her scarring, have heaps of friends, and, of course, date him. But Lily was different. She made James sit up and think about how lucky he was.
Lily was the type of person who would take meticulous notes in class, do really well in written tests, but just not be able to perform a simple spell, because she wouldn't speak. Even in potions, where she didn't have to say anything, she had cringed when the potion was brewed and tested, as if she were afraid it would work. It was so hard to figure someone out when they couldn't – rather, wouldn't, talk.
~*~ Back in the Astronomy Tower ~*~
"Well, that didn't go very well, did it, boys?" Sirius reflected. "James was supposed to immediately be released from the spell,"
"Maybe he really has just fallen in love," Remus suggested. Sirius looked horrified.
"That's impossible. Who could have fallen in love with her? Nope, must have been something else. Obviously, separating them isn't going to work. No, I say we move on to plan b,"
"Sirius?" squeaked Peter.
"What?"
"We don't have a plan b,"
"But you see, Peter-Peter-Pumpkin-Eater, that's the beauty of it. I do have a plan b. Let me tell you. Firstly –"
"Perhaps it would be a good idea to let Lily out of the closet first," interjected Remus.
"Oh, yeah. Okay. I suppose we could do that,"
Lily, looking even more terrified then before, was let out of the closet. Shaking all the while, she slowly got as far away as she possibly could from the Marauders without falling out of the window again.
"Okay, Lily, this is what we're going to do," Remus said before Sirius could scare her even more.
"Separating you from James isn't going to work, so this is what we're going to do instead…"
~*~
James was sneaking down the hallways, hoping that his absence from Herbology was going to go unnoticed and praying that McGonagall was teaching a class. He had gone earlier to put his invisibility cloak back before he searched for Lily, not wanting to have the cloak weighing down on him. Now, he realized how much he needed it. Unfortunately, his prayers went unanswered, because behind him came the shout of
"Potter!"
Groaning inwardly, the latter slowly turned to face a menacing but slightly curious face of McGonagall.
(A/N: do you get that? She wasn't mad at him, because she doesn't know why he's not in class, but she's pretty sure it's not because he's sick.)
"What are you doing out of class? More importantly, where's Lily?"
"Uh … she's … lost,"
"Lost?" McGonagall raised an eyebrow.
"She ran out of potions and now nobody can find her,"
"Oh. Do you have any idea where she could have gone?"
James was stuck. He knew the Marauders had something to do with this, but if he told his Head of House then he'd be dobbing in his best friends. But … Lily could be in danger.
"No. No idea."
~*~
Apparently lily's "disappearance" had been much more important than what James had first anticipated, because McGonagall went straight to the Headmaster, dragging a now very anxious James with her. James ran a hand through his hair anxiously as he stood outside the stone gargoyles, now lifeless, while Dumbledore and McGonagall conferred inside. He jumped as the gargoyles sprang to life, revealing the Headmaster and his transfiguration teacher inside of it.
"My portraits have located Lily – she is in the Astronomy Tower," Dumbledore announced. James rolled his eyes; of course she would be there, that would be the last place he would have looked; especially without the Map. For crying out loud, he had just started searching the dungeon.
They began to head up to the Astronomy Tower.
~*~ In The Astronomy Tower ~*~
"Okay, Lily, let's go over this once more," said Sirius to a scarred-for-life (forget the pun) Lily.
"Since our dear James can't tear himself away from you, this is the deal. You have to be nice to him and do whatever he wants you to do. YOU WILL NOT BREAK HIS HEART. YOU WILL SPEAK TO HIM SOON. Do I make myself clear?" Sirius finished in a tone that would make McGonagall proud.
Lily nodded, trying to back away from him.
"Good." Sirius and Peter smiled in satisfaction, but Remus looked troubled. At that moment, for just about the thousandth time that day, the door burst open and Dumbledore, closely followed by McGonagall and James strode in.
"Ah, Headmaster!" said Sirius, quickly masking their shock at having the teachers burst in. "We had just found Lily here, and we were just about to find James and return her to him!"
All stared at him disbelievingly.
"So … uh … here she is,"
"Right," McGonagall said.
"Well, Misters Black Lupin and Pettigrew, best be going to your next class now. Off you go,"
Gladly, the said boys left the Tower. Dumbledore continued.
"James, please do not let this happen again. You need to understand how important it is that Lily stays within your sight."
"I know," James interrupted. "It won't happen again,"
James was disappointed in himself for failing, and at that moment resolved not to let her out of his sight (within reason) again.
"Alright then," replied Dumbledore. "Off to class then,"
"Come on Lily," said James, taking her arm. "Let's go,"
~*~
A/N: Longer chapters! Yeah! Thanks for reading!
