Yay! This is the chapter after the...cliffhanger thing. If you're wondering what happened to James, this chapter won't explain anything at all, and if anything, will just make the mystery seem a lot more deeper...anyway, I just read over some of my story, and I didn't realized how non-descript in all was. I just basically breeze through everything w/o too much explanation...oy...gotta start improving writing skills. But I guess that's OK because you'll just get to the climax and whatnot a lot sooner cuz I really hate overly descriptive passages...

Hmmm...I wonder if anyone actually reads this. Oh well, it's fun to write it anyway.

So read and review people, read and review!

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Chapter Seven : : Lily

Lily gasped from the pain in her left arm. It was bent grotesquely between her wrist and elbow. To her left, James had frozen for some reason. Star was on her knees before Sirius, clutching to her head and screaming for something or someone to "get out!" Sirius was shaking her by the shoulders. Lily could see his mouth moving but couldn't hear anything at all. It was as if it had been drowned out, but all was silent save for Star's screams.

Professor McGonagall burst in, out of breath. Her eyes widened. At that moment, streaks of bright, white light shot out of Steorra's body, as if it was piercing through it. The light grew brighter and engulfed Sirius and Steorra. The light expanded and the castle shook. Cracks appeared on the walls and floor. Lily rolled away in time to avoid its expanding circumference and she watched in horror as James, a dreamy look on his face, was engulfed.

"Quickly, Evans! Out!" Professor McGonagall shouted and grabbed Lily just before the room collapsed with a deafening boom. The floor caved in and everything fell to the room under it, which thankfully, was empty. Just about the whole school was running to Transfiguration now. A crowd formed, all trying to get a good look at what used to be the Transfiguration room, now just a hole.

"James! Star! Sirius!" Lily shouted, trying to jump after them.

"What do you think you're doing, Evans?" Professor McGonagall pulled her back, "You're not going to help them any by leaping to your death!"

Lily gave McGonagall a defiant look, wrenched herself from the professor's firm grasp, and ran towards the stairs. Two more people followed, Remus and Peter.

Lily arrived at the room on the floor below. The walls in that room had crumbled but the floor still held steady. An enormous pile of stone and broken rocks were on the floor.

"James! Star!" She started trying to remove the rocks, which were too big.

"Stand back," Remus stepped up and was about to blow the rubble into dust.

"Oh, no, don't do that. What if you accidentally blow them apart too?" Lily took out her won wand and held it in front of her, racking her mind for a spell.

"Wingardium Leviosa," Peter said and a slab of stone flew up and hovered in mid-air, almost hitting the people peering down through the hole in the ceiling. Lily blasted it into dust. This process was done over and over until the air was choked with dust and the mountain of rubble had become a large pile. On top of it, were the still forms of James, Sirius, and Steorra.

"Oh my gosh, please don't be dead, please don't be dead..." Lily mumbled to herself as she ran up to James. He was so very still. Lily couldn't see any signs of breathing. "James? James?"

Professor Dumbledore, followed by Madam Pomfrey came in.

"Oh, these poor children," Madam Pomfrey rushed forth and pried Lily off of James. She listened to his chest, then flet for a pulse in his wrist, and her brow furrowed into a confused look. "Hmmm, that's strange."

"What? What is it?" Lily asked.

"He has no respiration, but he does have a very strong heartbeat," Madam Pomfrey answered and leaned down again to listen to James' chest.

"So is he...is he alive?" Lily asked tentatively.

"I guess hi is. We'll take him up to the infirmary and see what happens," Madam Pomfrey shook her head and muttered, "Never seen anything like that in my life..."

Lily gave James another look before turning her attention to Steorra and Sirius. Lily was surprised to see Star on top of Sirius, as if trying to protect him. I guess you still like him, Lily thought. even though things had seemed to be back to normal between their friendship, Lily knew that they'd never be the same. Steorra seemed much more torn than before about Sirius. One side of her said: push him away while another side said: bring him closer. Lily knew so because she'd found a list of pros and cons under Steorra's bed on being friends with Sirius. The pros list was a lot longer than the cons list, which had "not allowed to" scrawled across it, and Steorra had apparently wadded it up in frustration. Lily had received so much help and advice from Steorra over the years. She made a promise to herself then, that she'd help Star sort through this mess...if they came out of it alive.

A/N: Yeah, start reading here ppl, cuz this is where I left off...yeah...the story just gets weird her. But just read and review, ppl, read and review, and no one will get hurt.

There was a groan from under Steorra as Sirius moved a bit. Remus flipped Steorra over so that Sirius could get out. He stood up, a little woozy, and looked blearily his surroundings, as if not quite sure of anything. Lily gaped. He was perfect. Everything from his long hair to his robes were perfect, clean, and free of the layer of dust that covered everyone else. What's more, he didn't have a single scratch on him. Even the gash that had been cause by Steorra's Quidditch model had completely healed over, without a trace of a scar.

It seemed that everyone else had noticed too. Madam Pomfrey was staring at him with the same expression as the one she wore when she examined James, and if possible, it was even more stunned. She recovered and started examining him from head to toe.

"Well, you seem fine, but we'll probably have to keep you a night in the hospital wing," she said.

Lily calmed down somewhat, seeing that two of her friends where somewhere around fine, despite the fact that they were both in very bizarre states indeed. However, her heartbeat quickened as a scream welled up in her throat when her eyes settled on Steorra.

She seemed to be in the worst shape of anyone. The bandages still left on her body had all been soaked red, and there was a large gash above her left eye. Add to that about a million new cutes and scrapes, that would just about sum up Steorra's condition.

Lily bent over her, "Star," she whispered, "Star." There was no response.

"Idiot," Lily muttered as she rested Star's head on her lap, "What'd you go and blast apart the room for?" Lily felt the tears welling up in her eyes, and the warm, salty liquid run down her face. She looked around. Sirius knelt down in front of her, numb with shock and trying to spit clean blood from Steorra's face (which didn't work). Peter and Remus leaned back against a corner, tired from moving and blasting the rubble. Their faces were empty and slack. Professor Dumbledore stood over James, an expression between fear and interest on his face. Madam Pomfrey had clapped her hands over her mouth, aghast at the sight of Steorra. Faces still peered through from the hole in the ceiling, each seemingly grievous and afraid. Lily felt something warm trickle down her hand. She lifted them. Blood. She flipped Steorra on her stomach and hear a loud, resonant thump beside her. Madam Pomfrey had fainted.

On Steorra's back, the robes had been viciously ripped apart, and there were two holes at each shoulder blade, where the flesh had been torn and the which bone showed. Blood flowed freely from it, staining everything a violent shade of red.

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Oy, you have no idea how long that took me to type...OK, yeah, I just get lazy sometimes. I never realized how many words I don't conjugate in the process of writing, good thing I write it out all by hand first. Yeah, sorry this chapter was so short, but my writer's block started somewhere around here. And ugh, chapter eight sucks. But at least the story moves along and you find out lotsa surprising stuff...well...one surprising bit, but whatever, it's the main focus of the story. Yeah, so basically I plan to divide this story into two parts. The first part will end after the next chapter or two, in which case we will get to a more...exciting (I hope) part in the story...all about Quidditch and whatnot. Yeah...I wonder how many times this plot's been used...