Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter. However, I do own the rest (plot, unfamiliar characters, and the like) and could you please not burden me with claims of plagiarism and the like? Because A) It's not true, and B) I'm really bogged down these days with school and the like. Much obliged.
By the way, this title will be explained later on. Now go on, won't you, read! And then, of course, review.
Hey guys, I'm back! I hope I end up putting this up very soon, maybe my fastest post yet! crosses fingers Thank you to everyone who has followed me to this chapter. Glad to know you thought it was at least good enough to check out the second chappie.
These lyrics that I am putting at the beginning of each chapter will, if you make the connection, usually tie in with the subject matter or content of the chapter. Maybe not always, if I can't find good lyrics that work for the chapter, but usually.
I think that last chapter was good, but that's just me. Plus, I don't want to brag, but really, if you think you have talent for something, you have to go for it, tell the world, "Look out, I'm here, I have talent and I know how to use it." And then, of course, find out how to use it ASAP. Well, that's my spiel (sp?) for the day. Now, READ!!! Yay!
A time-bomb ticking to explode,
Something passive, something not.
Billy clubs out, call the S.W.A.T.
Rabid dogs without a leash,
Is this how you keep the peace?
You want riots?
Wear your riot gear.
You want violence?
Then shoot some tear gas in the air.
Go and get your riot gear,
Swing your girlie all around,
We'll be dancing on the cinders,
As the town is burning down.
Swing her around,
Burn it all down.
"One Girl Army" by Five Iron Frenzy
A "Warm" Welcome
It was nearly dark when the train finally slowed, then stopped. A few hundred Hogwarts students in their flowing black cloaks, sporting a scarf to match the colors of their respective houses.
Among the crowd, nine Gryffindors trooped in a line to the horseless carriages, separating into two groups to accommodate the limited space. A certain redhead laughed and joked with the three boys and the black-haired witch that she was riding with, and the short, blond boy clambered into the second carriage with the other three girls.
Lily had promised Sirius that they could sit with his friends in the carriage, since they had spent most of the train ride with Lily's. She was sure she'd regret it, but what could she say? How could anyone resist Sirius, after all?
Their carriage was near the end of the line. Lily sighed when she sat down. James Potter, Quidditch captain, best buddy of Sirius Black, and all around prat was sitting across from her. Ever since he had began bullying Severus Snape in first year, Lily had taken a severe dislike to him. Not only that, but he had taken to asking her out every chance he got. This was likely no exception. Here it comes... Lily thought.
"So how was your summer, Chase?" James asked politely. Lily felt her jaw drop before she snapped it shut. Wait – James? Polite? And not paying a whit of attention to Lily? Well, this was certainly a change, and not a bad one, to Lily's mind. She hardly knew what to make of it. Of course, the rest of the school, mainly the popular groups of girls, would think that he had come to his senses and stopped going after that bookworm Evans.
For no reason that Lily could discern, she felt a sharp pang of – could it be disappointment? – shoot through her belly. Then she shrugged and told herself that she was grateful... she had Sirius, after all. What need had she of anyone else just yet?
Putting the aggravating wizard from her mind, Lily tuned in to the avid conversation between her boyfriend and Remus.
Remus Lupin. The sweetheart of the Marauders. His mousse brown hair fell into his dreamy hazel eyes, eyes that could flash an almost golden color when provoked, an occasion Hogwarts didn't often see. Remus was quiet, helpful, and co-prefect with Lily both last year and this year. He was the only one of the group who studied and got good grades, since James and Sirius seemed to be boycotting textbooks, and Peter was too close to failing to care, usually.
Despite his innocent demeanor, there was something about Remus that seemed off, at least to Lily. She had never approached him about it, and hadn't wanted to seem paranoid by discussing it with Chase, but it was there. His frequent visits to his ill mother also struck that strange chord in Lily. If Remus had a secret, he had better hide it very, very well. She could be quite persistent and definitely stubborn when she wanted to be.
Then there was Sirius, Lily's year-and-a-half boyfriend. Playful, energetic, and decidedly mischievous, Sirius was the lovable Marauder puppy. His gray eyes were absolutely adorable, often half-hidden by his shaggy black hair. He was the prankster, unruffled and all around great guy. He was also a star Quidditch player, a Beater on the Gryffindor team. His athleticism made for a great body, slim and powerful, that the female population of Hogwarts could never get enough of, not excluding Lily.
Of course, no one could forget the second half of the two-some, James Potter. Son of Auror Harold Potter, James and Sirius were practically joined at the hip, the ultimate pranksters. However, where Sirius was completely at ease around Lily, James seemed to strut around her, trying to impress her. There was the fact that, to date, he had followed her around with his gorgeous, God-given blue eyes, eyes framed by lashes girls would kill for. Out of his constant ability to grate on Lily's nerves had sprung a great annoyance and dislike for the Gryffindor Chaser.
The last of Hogwarts chief troublemakers was Peter Pettigrew. He seemed to be the exception to the rule "Last but not least", because as the youngest of the group, the last to join them, and the least intelligent, he certainly was last and least. Lily often wondered how in the world he managed to hang onto his membership as a Marauder as long as he had.
The carriage shuddered and jerked to a halt, dumping the five teenagers onto the floor for the second time that day and yanking Lily from her meandering thoughts.
"Ohh..." James groaned in pain. "Not again!" So they picked themselves up and stumbled out the door to determine the cause of their sudden stop.
When Lily saw the front wheel, her heart skipped a beat. The one on the right-hand side was entirely missing, blown away by a strong force. The thing that scared her the most was the tilt of the carriage and its close proximity to the edge of the road, which sloped steeply. It could easily have tumbled sideways, all the way to the Lake.
The charred wood where the wheel should have been have mute testimony to the fact that such as scenario had been someone's intent. Lily looked up nervously at the last carriage as it turned the corner far ahead, out of screaming distance. For a long while it was quiet.
Then Sirius casually set a hand on the side of the vehicle. With a creak and a groan, the carriage leaned toward the long drop, tipping end over end down the hill. Five frightened faces watched it descend until with a great splash, it rolled into the Lake and sunk out of sight.
For a full minute, the friends stood staring at the slowly diminishing ripples.
"Back to back," James, whose father was an Auror, spoke tersely. "Stand together, keep calm, and hex them for all they're worth."
Both James and Sirius already gripped their wands. The rest drew theirs as they gathered together.
After a minute or two of silence, a small pop could be hear, and a black- robed figure appeared to Lily's left, wand outstretched. A jet of red light shot at them. James yelled and parried it with a spell of his own. The figure crumpled to the ground, Stunned.
A series of pops filled the air as nearly twenty Death Eaters Apparated to the scene. The two groups eyed each other warily.
"STUPEFY!" James roared, Stunning another opponent.
All hell broke loose, and over it all James could be heard, slowly but surely wearing away at Voldemort's troops with his extensive knowledge of spells.
Lily set the Jelly Legs curse on one Death Eater, and to her slight, if tense amusement, he began to sway and swagger as if drunk. She put him out of the picture, at least temporarily, with the Full Body Bind.
Three "Stupefy's" and a Levitating charm later, Lily glanced around her to locate her friends.
Sirius had a runty-looking Death Eater by the throat, having abandoned his wand in favor of brute strength.
Remus, their personal expert on Defense Against the Dark Arts, held three enemy wizards at bay, blocking their curses and shooting his own left and right.
Chase had two wands in her hands, presumably her own and that of a Dark wizard. The foreign wand kept shooting sickly reddish-brown sparks spitefully, protesting being used by someone other than its owner. Lily's friend rapped the wand with her own, intimidating it into obedience. Then she resumed the struggle against the Death Eaters with a new, fierce vengeance.
A flash of movement caught Lily's eye and she watched James combine both the Muggle and magical defenses into one very interesting move. Of all of them, James was the most experienced in this sort of thing, for all that this was his first real fray, as his father had been teaching him the art of an Auror (albeit on a minor level) since he could walk and talk. Harold Potter had had an apt and willing student, since James' mother had died in front of him when he was very small, yet still quite conscious of the world around him. She had died in an attack against Muggleborns, protecting a few Muggles who had come to celebrate the wedding of the same witch and wizard the Death Eaters sought to destroy.
A hand reached across her vision, grabbing her shoulder hard to spin her around. Lily could almost see the malicious glint in the Death Eater's eye, within the deep recesses of his volumnous cloak. In his hand was Lily's own wand, hissing and spitting white-gold sparks fit to rival those of the wand Chase had swiped from its wizard.
A gleam of white inside the hood belied the grin the wizard wore as he gleefully cried,
"Crucio!"
James finished off his opponent with a word and a flick of his wand, then snap-kicked the man in the back of the knees. He dropped like a stone.
"Crucio!" he heard. A shriek of agony reached his ears.
James spun around and surveyed the scene before him. Lily writhed on the ground, and a tall cloaked man stood over her with a maniacal grin on his face. The sight made him freeze, and he stood there in a kind of horrified shock for a long minute.
Rage like he had never known filled him from head to toe. Without realizing it, he had broken into a dead run. The Death Eater looked up in surprise, into the most terrible face he could ever hope to see.
James raised his wand.
"AVADA-"
He tripped over someone's foot and fell flat. A heavy knee held him down.
"Stupefy!" His captor shouted the spell, but it wasn't aimed at James.
The Death Eater fell, and a hand helped James up. A grim Sirius gripped his arm and nodded at his friend before turning back to the fight.
Recovering, James went to Lily and knelt at her side. Her eyes were closed, her breathing quiet, and there was a lump on her head where it had hit a rock when she fell, but she was otherwise unhurt, as far as he could tell.
"Lily? Oh, please, Lils, wake up! Quick, Lily, we don't have much time." Very lightly, James slapped her face. Lily groaned in pain and cracked her eyes open.
With a sigh of relief, James slung her arm around his shoulders and lifted her up.
"Come on, Lils, you're going to have to help me. One foot in front of the other. Hurry, now." James half-carried the redhead.
"Padfoot!" he yelled. "Let's go! We can't hold them off. Pass the word." Sirius nodded and shouted to the others as James continued toward the treeline, heading for the scant cover of the Forbidden Forest as fast as he could, as encumbered as he was.
James concentrated on heaving his dazed burden a step at a time. Lily was obviously trying to help, but her efforts were really not doing a lot.
The weight was suddenly much lighter, and James looked up to see Chase grin tensely. The threesome ran after Sirius and Remus as though hell snapped at their heels. And indeed it did seem to.
James saw Sirius look back, swear, and shoot a hex at someone behind them. Apparently the Dark forces were not as far behind as they would like.
James was tiring all too quickly, and Chase was obviously not faring any better than he. Soon they would either drop Lily or all fall over in the effort not to. James did the only thing he could think of. Stopping abruptly and ducking out from under Lily's arm, he screamed one word as loud as he could.
"DUMBLEDORE!!!" He had once overheard that Dumbledore would come when called in great need, and if this was not great need, then there was no such thing. If it didn't work, then they were done for either way.
Yet more pops were to be heard behind them, and when James turned back, he saw a most astonishing, although not unwelcome sight. The Hogwarts teachers, from Dumbledore, to McGonagall, to little Flitwick, all battled the Death Eaters fiercely. Dumbledore himself had a look on his face that made James shiver, somewhere between a controlled rage and an unleashed power that was both great and terrible.
James turned back to Lily and Chase, who looked strained. With a burst of energy, James lifted Lily from Chase's shoulders, for which he received a grateful glance.
They ran down the road, desperate for the safety of Hogwarts, and longing for an end to the nightmare that their would-be happy homecoming had become.
Lily saw everything as if through a haze. She saw James take out a Death Eater, and then it was just pain. No, not just pain.
It was as though every ache and pain Lily had ever felt had returned with a vengeance, ten times over. Her muscles screamed. Within moments, Lily was lost in the absolute agony of the terrible spell.
The next thing she knew, the trees along the road blurred into one bright shade of green, and she was conscious of being jogged and jounced as James carried her toward safety. James...
James?
Where was James?
Lily's vision focused suddenly, and she was nearly blinded by the sterile white of the room. She was in the Hospital Wing.
A throbbing headache was beginning to set in, a migraine if Lily knew one. She turned her head and gasped in surprise.
James Potter was asleep on her bed.
Well, not on her bed, per say, but he was using her leg as a pillow, which was embarrassing enough as it was. He was sitting in a chair next to her bed, his glasses crooked and his jaw slack, the image of a sleep-deprived man.
Man?
These thoughts were becoming increasingly uncomfortable. Lily tried to turn her thoughts onto a different track. Her memory seemed awfully fuzzy.
James, fighting someone off... a black-cloaked someone...
Like a tidal wave crashing on a beach, the horrible struggle came back to her, and Lily sat bolt upright.
Where was Chase? And Remus? And... Sirius? Nothing had happened to them, had it? Lily tried to think back.
Her sudden movement had woken James, and with a groan he straightened his glasses and sat up, disgruntled. When his bleary eyes had cleared he saw Lily sitting up, looking pale.
"Lily? You alright?" He asked concernedly.
Lily started, as if she had forgotten that he was there. "James, where is he? Sirius. And Chase and Remus?"
James winced at her obvious concern for his best friend.
"They're all fine, don't get your knickers in a twist." He grumbled, still half-asleep. It had taken him nearly half the night to get to sleep, only to be so rudely awakened this morning... Needless to say, like Lily he was not a morning person.
Lily glared at him. "Kidding, kidding, I was just teasing." He assured her. "I don't usually associate myself with your knickers anyway." He blushed as he realized what he had said. "What I mean is... erm..." A speechless James Potter. Now THAT was something Hogwarts had never experienced, and it seems it just did.
Sheepishly, James shrugged. "Welcome home, Lily."
Well, how was it? Like? Hate? Let me know! R and R, and I don't mean "Rest and Relaxation". If you don't know what I mean, figure it out by pressing that little purple button down in the left hand corner and leaving your opinion of this story in a novel little idea that some genius thought up called a review. Anyway...
This chapter turned out rather depressing, don't you think? I didn't mean it to be. In fact, I meant it to be quite cheerful and happy. Notice the name of the chapter? Well I only inserted the quotation marks for fear that you devious little innocents might get the idea that this is how a warm welcome is generally conducted. It's not, believe me. Or is it...?
Thank you SO MUCH to bob-the-bear, who has been a great listener as I spill out my woes to her, and who was my first, and sadly, my only reviewer so far. I hope this is not so at the end of the next chapter. Hint, hint! I would just love to have a heck of a lot more reviews waiting for me in my inbox by, oh say... three o'clock tomorrow? Yes, that would do quite nicely. And yes, that was another hint, so please pick up on it. That is, if you are even reading this, or if it is just my imagination that I am spending good sleeping time sitting here writing this just for you, and if I am not really feeling this painful cramp in my thumb from putting so many spaces into this chapter. But hey, if it's not really there, tell me so that I can put it there, and then we'll all be happy and just smashing. Savvy? Savvy.
Well, thanks for reading my possibly-non-existent story thus far, and I hope you continue to do so in the future. Amabo te et gracias! (a mixture of Spanish and Latin, meaning "Please and thank you") It is most appreciated. Until next I update!
Your faithful authoress forever,
Sam