Ordinary Day

And as he spoke, he spoke ordinary words
Although they did not feel
For I felt what I had not felt before
You'd swear those words could heal.
And I as looked up into those eyes
His vision borrows mine.
And to know he's no stranger,
For I feel I've held him for all of time.

And he said take my hand,
Live while you can
And if we walk now we will divide and conquer this land.
Don't you see your dreams are right in the palm of your hand
Right in the palm of your hand

A week had passed by, and Sirius had never found his birthday more exciting. Though he didn't know what he would do on his actually birthday it was a big difference from the usually depressing sixteen birthdays
prior to this one. His reasoning being that instead of being surrounded by 'family' who expected him to be just as evil as they were, he was surrounded by a real family who loved him and let him be who he was.
The Potters had decorated their living room with a banner that said "Happy Seventeenth Birthday!" that changed colors every so often, they had magical confetti that gave off tiny sparks when they touched anything
solid, and a birthday cake that had a picture of Sirius' image, smiling and waving on its surface. They had all done it in about a second, and in the quiet of the morning before Sirius woke up. They wanted it to be a
surprise. Jaimie, Lily, Remus and Peter as well as some of the Order of the Phoenix members attended his little party, planning on giving him a small surprise. They had decided on letting Jaimie wake him up, as the
theory was she could coerce him to get up much easier than the others could.
Tiptoeing up the stairs, Jaimie made her way to Sirius' room, which was the first door on the left. She rapped softly upon the door three times and getting no answer, opened the door, to find Sirius admiring his
reflection on the mirror, wearing a pair of jeans and a dark shirt. From the mirror, he saw Jaimie's head pop into the room and he turned around and smiled at her.
"No wonder you didn't answer when I knocked." Jaimie teased.
"Oh, I didn't hear you." He said, apologetically."Well, this is it." He sighed, swinging his arms forward and back.
Jaimie nodded, "You're officially not a child anymore."
"Yeah,"
Jaimie came up to Sirius, and placed herself against his chest. He wrapped his arms around her, held her in place, and rested his chin on her head.
They were silent for a moment. At length, Jaimie parted herself from him and said, "Come on, let's go."
Jaimie headed for the door, but felt Sirius' hand enclose over her own. She turned around and he said, "Remember that night, when we were looking for flats?"
Jaimie sighed. She knew this talk would come. They had been avoiding this conversation since the night they had parted at the fireplace. She remembered what had happened when she arrived at the Lupin
household. She found that the living room was empty, but the candles were lit, ready for her arrival. She had gone upstairs, hoping that no one would come and ask her about her day, until she could make of it what it
was herself. She laid there for hours and hours, wanting desperately to talk to Lily about her feelings, all the while trying to decipher them herself, though not suceeding. Deep down, she knew the answer to Sirius'
candidness, thought she didn't want to acknowledge it. It was in front of her face all along, and yet she couldn't admit it. To admit it was to kill Sirius, and she couild not handle another death.
She snapped out of her reverie and said, "Of course. How could I forget it?"
"Well, do you remember, that I-that I told you that I loved you?" Sirius said, still holding Jaimie's hand.
Jaimie nodded.
"And you said not to say it unless I meant it? Well I meant it. And I still do. I love you, Jaimie." He looked solemnly at her, looked inside her, into her eyes.
She looked back at him, knowing deep down what to say, though not having the gall to say it. Sirius unhooked his hand from hers, and collapsed on his bed. He looked slightly pale, but stared determinedly at
Jaimie. She came up to him, placed his head against her stomach, and held her there, stroking his hair gently. In turn, he wrapped his arms around her waist, and hugged her middle tightly.
"I know," She sighed.
A minute passed and neither moved. They heard footsteps on the landing outside, and heard a brief knock on the door and James' muffled voice calling, "What happened to you guys? Did you disapparate or
something? Sirius and Jaimie, if you're in there and I know you are, come down. Mum's having a fit."
His footsteps started up and slowly died. Sirius looked at Jaimie, a question in his eyes. Jaimie merely shrugged and said, "Let's go downstairs, shall we?"
Sirius stood up, and gave her his arm. Looping her hand around his, Jaimie walked through the door and down the stairs, making sure that everyone was well hidden before Sirius made his appearance. Jaimie
reached the floor, as she heard Sirius' clunking footsteps on the stairs behind her. She wanted to squeal with girlish delight, but kept herself in check. After all, it was a surprise.
Sirius' eyes widened for a minute, as his foot hit the floor with a thud. His eyes, softened to a look of delight as in unison, the guests of his seventeenth birthday jumped, lunged, sprung and apparated from the
hiding places yelling "Surprise! Happy seventeenth birthday, Sirius!"
Jaimie laughed next to Sirius as he wobbled forward, clutching Jaimie's outstretched hand and said, "You shouldn't have!"
"Oh Sirius, darling, don't talk nonsense!" Mrs. Potter said, hurrying forward with the beautiful cake, the seventeen magical candles sparking on their wax sticks nestled into the frosting. For once, Sirius had no
remark to say. This was truly the most beautiful, well second most beautiful, sight he had ever seen. James watched him with amusement, laughing about how Sirius seemed to lose the ability to string two words
together.
Remus laughed at his plight, and Peter, nearly on the verge of happy tears, blinked furiously to keep them back.
"Well, say something, you twit!" James teased lightly.
"Gaflab." Was all he managed.
James shrugged, and turned to Remus. "Good enough." He said satisfied.
Then, Mr. Longbottom called from an unseen corner, saying, "Dim the lights!"
Jaimie heard several voices muttering "Nox!" and the lights obediently following the spells.
Then, at once, the little room erupted into a rendition of "Happy Birthday," Sirius, still clasping Jaimie's hand.
His cheeks were tinged with a bit of pink, and his lips were fixed in an eternal smile. Jaimie laughed, her voice disappearing from the others singing and didn't stop until the song had ended and James and Remus
erupted in yells of "Wish! Wish!"
Smiling around, Sirius said in his most sincere voice, "What more could I ask for? I have everything I need around me."
"Lots more!" James replied. He was responded by a round of light slaps.
They all laughed, and Sirius closed his eyes for a moment. He opened them again, took out his wand, and swung it over the cake, the sparks on the candles tip extinguishing as he brought the wand over the
cake's surface until all the candles were unlit and smoke rose from the candles' charred wicks.
They all clapped and cheered, and Peter, in a surprise display of spontaniety suddenly burst, "Hah! Padfoot did his first bit of legal magic! Who knew it would be snuffing out a couple of candles?"
Sirius sent sparks in his direction. Peter clumsily dodged them by leaping sidways and trodding on the foot of the man next to him. It sent a chain reaction through the people behind him. The man whose foot was
trodden on by Peter, elbowed the man next to him, trying to clutch his foot in pain. When the round of "Oohs!" and "Ouches!" had stopped, Peter stared ashen faced at the damage he'd caused and apologized.
But everyone else was laughing too hard to hear him. Jaimie watched with a smile at the scene before her, trying to supress her giggles. In between Mr. Potter's gasps for breath, he announced to the gathering,
"Time for presents!" and at once, the laughter died, and rushed to the sitting area, where next to the a bookshelf laden with spell books was a small pile of presents that surprisingly was unnoticed to Sirius. His eyes
widened. Usually, with the Blacks, he had gotten unwanted Dark Arts presents like biting books, shrieking boxes and a sackful of some powder that looked highly questionable. And the packages they had come in
were not inviting either. They were usually wrapped in red paper that reminding one strongly of oozing blood, or black paper with skulls that laughed dersively; but the ones that the Potters and all the other guests had
given to Sirius weren't suspicious looking. They were wrapped in bright paper, ribbons and such, the same things one would expect to find a birthday present in-at least in the wizard world.
Sirius sat down on the floor next to the pile, his guests crowding around him, pointing at him to open their presents first. Sirius was getting so confused that instead of choosing the presents himself, Jaimie ended
up handing him random ones to open. There were many marvelous things inside them, a package of chocolate frogs, spell books (the ones that were fun to read) a set of gobstones, shoes, wand polishing kit and the
list went on and on. Finally, the coffee table that was in the middle of the crowded room was laden with opened presents, and the floor that they had once occupied was littered with their wrapping paper, some of it
still shaped like the boxes that held the presents. Sirius finally tore the handsome red wrapper off a large, brown leather bound book. Sirius ran his hand over the face of the book before he opened it and found himself
looking at a moving miniature picture of James, Remus, Peter, Lily and himself on the school grounds. Their uniforms hanging loosely on them, as they usually did whenever their classes had ended. Jaimie was
nowhere to be seen, so he assumed that she had taken the pictures. As he looked through the photos in the book, he didn't notice that the room had suddenly gone quiet. Jaimie was looking at the pictures over
Sirius' shoulder, a half-smile playing on her lips.
Sirius watched with concentration as each of his miniature selves laughed and smiled and waved at him.
"Do you like it?" Jaimie asked him softly.
"Yeah, I've never had the luxury of pictures. My family always thought they would lead to our downfall." He explained most reasonably, despite the fact the entire gathering had just burst into a fit of laughter.
He didn't notice as the photographs had held his attention. This was his family, the only family he had ever known. Suddenly, the small crowd had parted, and Mr. and Mrs. Potter came striding carefully up to
Sirius, Mr. Potter's hands held behind his back an envelope in his hands though Sirius didn't see. He stood up and set the leather book on the coffee table and clapped his hands together. Mr. Potter and Mrs. Potter,
and now James and his other friends stood behind them, eternal smiles plastered on their faces.
"Sirius," Mr. Potter began, "You've become something like a second son to us. You've always been welcome here, and you've definitely made yourself to be a Potter. I'm proud of you."
Sirius smiled placidly back. "Thanks Mr. Potter." He replied with a nod.
"And I just hope you know, that you'll always be welcome here, we'll always have food and a bed with your name on it." Mrs. Potter added, her warm face shining with sincerity.
Words failed him and he just nodded.
"Now, since its your seventeenth birthday, the Ministry of Magic have just seen fit to give us quite a bit of news. First, I'm sorry to tell you, but your uncle Alphard had died of heart failure just last fall." At these
words, the wind seemed to be knocked out of Sirius, as if a troll had gone and hit him on his abdomen and sent him flying.
"My parents never told me?" Sirius managed.
"That's the thing Sirius. Your parents had gone to the reading of his will and testament and have just sent us word of how it went. His family, your aunt and cousins, has received most of his possessions, but your
uncle has seen fit to leave you four-thousand galleons, all of which has already been transferred to your own vault this morning."
Mr. Potter watched, with great amusement, at Sirius' bemused reaction. His mouth had dropped slightly and he stared disbelievingly at Mr. Potter. James, Remus and Peter were laughing conspiratorially behind
him and Jaimie and Lily stood next to Sirius; clutching Jaimie's much lower shoulder for support.
"Fo-fo. Four thousand galleons?!" Sirius exclaimed.
Jaimie gaped at Mr. Potter. Four thousand galleons? Wasn't it Sirius who had gone about, telling everyone he saw that his family had hated his guts? So why had this uncle of his just given him four thousand
galleons?
"Yes, four thousand galleons and its all yours." Mr. Potter repeated conversationally.
"All mine." Sirius repeated slowly, the grin on his face widening, if possible.
James suddenly appeared at his shoulder and said, "Four thousand galleons is a lot of money, Padfoot."
"And its all mine." Sirius repeated mechanically.
"Think what we can do with that kind of money." Remus said contemplatively.
"Uh-uh!" Mrs. Potter interjected as Peter decided to put in a word. "You are not to touch that money until you have moved out. You are to live with us a couple more weeks and then you can touch your money. I will
not give you a reason to spend a sickle. Four thousand galleons is a lot of money but if it is spent unwisely it will run out."
She looked so forbidding that Sirius chose not to argue. Instead, he had taken the receipt that Mr. Potter had handed to him. It was a copy of his favorite uncle's will. It was written in a swirly, barely legible writing,
although one sentence did stand out among the jumble of swirly writing near the end of the last paragraph.

. . . and last of all my earthly possessions, I choose to leave my nephew, Sirius Black, four-thousand (4,000) galleons ten (10) sickles and twenty-three (23) knuts in that precise amount from my vault in Gringott's
Wizard Bank to be left in his name.

It was legal, written and bound by magic and was endorsed in what seemed to be a signature inscribed in a red ink that alarmingly resembled blood.
Four thousand galleons . . . and it was all his. Neither Bellatrix nor Narcissa or even Andromeda inherited the money and they were his daughters. Bellatrix amd Narcissa were nasty daughters mind you, but
daughters nonetheless. All his . . . He knew he liked at least someone, besides of course his cousin Andromeda, in the Black family. After all, he was the only one who had bothered to care about Sirius when he had
run away.
These thoughts zoomed quickly by in Sirius' mind, and it showed in his face too as Jaimie and the others had rarely seen a thoughtful expression on his face before. Getting scared, Jaimie nudged his shoulder,
and looked questioningly in his face.
Sirius stared back and was back to normal. His mouth cracked into a wide and dangerously attractive grin and said, "Four thousand galleons! Do you reckon how many things you can get at Zonko's?" He
whispered connivingly.
Neither one of them answered as Mrs. Potter had suddenly announced that Sirius would cut his cake. Sirius as well as the five others walked up to the table, his image on the cake smiling cheekily at him. Sirius
handled his wand again and made a slicing movement in the air. A split in the cake's surface indicated that he had cut it. Thus the first piece of the homemade cake was handed around the small gathering. Since
there were no more traditional formalities to be done, the adults and the young adults all parted ways. The adults conspiring to one another about some grown-up business, most likely about the battles between
themselves and Voldemort's legions. Meanwhile, Jaimie, Lily, Remus, Peter, Sirius and James all ambled to the kitchen and to the back door under the pretense of going out, but they were dismayed, as when James
pulled away the curtain hiding the view through the glass door that it was raining like it had never rained before. And in the summer, too. So now, with the depressing thought of being confined to the Potters' house on
a potentially beautiful day, they piled around the abandoned living room and sat around, doing nothing in particular.
James was idly playing with the tassel of one of his mother's throw pillows, while Remus and Peter played an amusing game where they tried to dodge the other's slapping hand, Sirius was on the couch and
Jaimie sat next to him, laying her head on his shoulder while Lily sat with her chin in her hands, looking positively bored. James, struck with a sudden brilliant idea started to share it with the others when suddenly,
they heard a loud crack and a person apparating amidst them, landing on the coffee table in the middle. The table collapsed into hundreds of tiny slivers of wood but thankfully Sirius' presents had been moved from its
tabletop. They all stood up wands raised pointing in the newcomer's direction. The adults had come rushing into the living room, their wands raised also, their faces contorted in anger. But none more so that Mrs.
Potter, who gave a loud wail when she saw the state of her beautiful coffee table and who had caused the wreckage.
"My table! Jacob, I know you just learned how to apparate, but please watch where you appear! Repairo!" Mrs. Potter cried, as she angrily magically fixed the table again.
"Sorry Mrs. P, didn't mean to land on your table." The newcomer, Jacob, apologized hurriedly. His american accent greatly differed from the others in the room. And it was not only his accent but his choice of
clothing. He wore pants that flared past the knees and his Led Zeppelin tee shirt was ripped artfully. Led Zepplin was a popular American rock star but was more prominent to muggles than wizards.
Jacob stepped away from the coffee table as though he were apt to break it again. Then he took a look at Jaimie and the others and proceeded to Mr. Potter and handed him the rolled up parchment. Mr. Potter
hastily read it, eyebrows furrowed and lips pursed. The ones who could look over his shoulder read with increasing alarm on their faces, indeed Frank Longbottom's face was turning an ugly puce. When they were
done, Mr. Potter said, "We'll have to go; all of us. You six," He indicated to Jaimie and the others, "stay here. Under no circumstances should you leave this house. I'm warning you, we'll know when you step out of the
door, you four." He stared menacingly at Peter, Remus, Sirius and James. James receiving the worst look.
"What's happened?" James asked.
"Never you mind. Just stay put and keep out of trouble. I mean it, James."
James gave him an indignant look, either from being told to stay put like a child or by getting the heft of the blame for something he had not done. Or hadn't yet done.
"But I haven't done anything yet and your accusing me!" James cried.
"But knowing you, you will. So stay put, do not go looking for trouble." Mr. Potter said warningly.
Giving up, James just shrugged his shoulders and his father took it as a sign of agreement and then called to the others, "Right, let's get going. Jacob, you stay here and guard them. You'll be more helpful this
way. Behave you, lot. This means you, James, Sirius, Remus and Peter." And with that, he and the other dozen adults disapparated, the sound of their disapparation much louder than when only one person
disapparated. Thus Jaimie, Sirius, Lily, James Remus and Peter were left alone with Jacob. They all stood awkwardly in one side, while poor Jacob was in the other, idly clapping his hands and smiling placidly. In a
pathetic attempt to strike up conversation, Jacob offered, "So you're all going to Hogwarts. You're all in the same grade, right?"
"Grade?" James asked, confused.
"Oh, uh, class, age, semester, you know, grade?"
They all stared blankly at him.
"Oh, how could I explain it? You know, first grade, second grade, third grade and so on?" He spelled out.
"Oh you mean year? As in, what year are you on?" Lily said, with a sudden wave of understanding.
"Is that what you call it? God, you guys are weird." Jacob said, laughing stupidly.
Jaimie gave Sirius a reproving look.
"Well, what year are you guys in?" Jacob reiterated.
"Seventh, the last one." James said, clearly getting annoyed.
"And what school did you go to?" Lily offered, trying to be friendly and erase the tone of hostility growing on James' part.
"Oh, uh, I went to Salem Institute of Magic. Third in my class." He added proudly, giving Lily a cheeky expression.
"Oh go figure." Lily said uncomfortably.
Sensing tension, James said, "Um, you guys, I got to go get something from the kitchen, Lily, could you help me?" He walked briskly away from the living room and Jacob, Lily following him.
Sirius, not one to tolerate someone that annoyed him paced to the sofa, Jaimie's hand in his and sat down. He put his arm around her possesively and gave Jacob the evil eye. Sensing Sirius' gaze, Jacob walked
carefully around Sirius and sat down on a chair farthest away from him. Remus walked to the sofa and took the spot next to Jaimie, sitting rather closer than what was necessary. Peter stood uncomfortably for a
moment before following James' and Lily's steps to the kitchen.
The silence in the room did nothing to hide the hostility Sirius was emanating. Jaimie, feeling sorry for Jacob said, "So how old are you, Jacob?"
Looking at Jaimie with a confused look on his face he said, "Sorry, must have zonked out for a sec, what did you just say?"
"Oh, uh how old are you?" Jaimie asked, not understanding for the life of her what he said.
"I'm twenty years old." He said simply.
"So your only a few years older than us?" Jaimie asked, surprised.
"Yep." Jacob said, stretching his arms up toward the sky in a sort of masculine way. Sirius snorted.
"How old are you guys?" Jacob asked, nodding his head at them.
"Seventeen." Sirius said gruffly.
"Well, actually, me and Remus are sixteen. I'll be seventeen in a month and Remus'll be seventeen in a week." Jaimie said matter-of-factly.
"So, you two are dating?" Jacob said, changing the subject and referring to Jaimie and Sirius.
"Yeah. For a year now." Sirius' tone was one of finality.
Jacob, losing the thread of conversation closed his mouth for a minute. Jaimie, pitying Jacob who was only trying to be friendly, was about to say something encouraging to him when the swinging french doors
swung open, pivoting on their hinges. Peter ambled into the room and sat down on the sofa slightly away from Remus, his arms crossed in an indignant manner. Curious, Remus said, "What happened in there? Does
James need any more help?"
"No, apparently he has enough help what with Lily. They just gave me the boot." He said glumly.
"Why?" Sirius asked.
"I think he just wanted to have alone time with Lily. Stupid prat." Peter said, with a derisive chuckle.
Sirius was about to say something when Jacob interrupted. "Is Lily that hot red head in there?" He asked, his interest sparked again.
"Yes." Sirius said shortly, not even turning around to look at Jacob.
"Oh." Jacob paused. "Does James have a claim on her or something? Is that why they went into the kitchen, to get some privacy?" He tried to hide his eagerness.
"Well-" Jaimie began but Remus cut in.
"Yes. Yes, he does." He said, distastefully.
Jaimie looked at him in surprise. Remus was never one to lie about his friends, well except of course when it got them out of trouble, but he never lied about the fact that Lily more that despised James, yet here he
was, telling this stranger that they were going out. Did their dislike for this newcomer really that awful? Having had enough, Jaimie stood up abruptly and surprised the other boys in the room.
"Pardon me, Jacob, but could you excuse me and these boys?" She dragged Sirius and Remus up by their arms. Peter stood up automatically. "I think I heard James and Lily calling for help."
She left the room and straight into the kitchen where James and Lily were nowhere to be seen. Jaimie stopped and turned briskly around to face them. She crossed her arms and gave them a foreboding look.
Completely nonplused, Sirius said, "What?"
"What do you guys think you're doing-" But what they did, they did not find out as suddenly, a large explosion had drowned out Jaimie's words and nearly deafened them.
Jaimie gave a shriek of fright as Sirius nimbly tackled her to the ground and protected her with his body. Blinded by Sirius' torso, she faintly heard the sound of two thumps beside her. She presumed that Remus
and Peter had gone down on the floor next to them. She wanted to see if they were alright but she could not move, for a minute she thought she was paralyzed. Slowly, her hearing returned to normal and she could
hear the cackling of flames and the sound of wooden splinters collapsing around them. Sirius quickly jumped to his feet, Remus adnd Peter following suit. They all took out their wands and pointed at the now
demolished wall, but they saw no shadowy figure no suspicious bodies ambling around. It seemed Jacob had perished in the blaze. But they could not find his body anywhere. Suddenly, they heard another bang
behind them and thought it was another explosion, but it was only James and Lily coming into the house from the backyard, completely drenched, their clothes sticking to their bodies like glue.
"What the bloody hell has happened here?" He said, taking out his wand. Lily did the same.
They looked around the kitchen. The wall which blocked the living room from the kitchen was completely destroyed. The remains of the muggle refrigerator and stove were in shattered ruins and they could see what
was left of the house through the immense gap in the wall. It was as if there wasn't a wall there at all. There was also a large hole in the ceiling and Sirius' and James' bedroom were ready to collapse at any second
into the living room. All of Mrs. Potter's furnishings were ruined and were in burned pieces, the rugs all reduced to ash and the family portraits that hung decoratively on the wall were burning as they watched. Jacob
was nowhere to be seen, he must have gone by the first explosion. And he was so young, too.
Jaimie, unable to think of anymore deaths, clung to Sirius, not only because she was afraid of what had happened, she also didn't want him to . . . to go. Sirius wrapped a protective arm around her and held her
tight. Jaimie buried her face in his chest and sobbed. James walked up to them and said, "Sirius, Jaimie, listen we all have to-"
But then a crack, not like an explosion but like a person apparating, erupted and Jacob, his clothes badly tattered and his curly blonde hair ruffled, appeared. He held his wand loosely at his side and he was
vacillating slightly. Jaimie looked up and her eyes widened. He was alright! Jaimie could hardly supress her happiness.
"You're alright? We-I-" She stuttered.
"I'm alright. And what about you guys? Are you alright?"
"We're all fine." Sirius said weakly.
"Good, we have to get out of here. Hundreds of Death Eaters are marching down the street, and it seems they know that an Order member lives here. We've got to get you out of here. Quickly out this back door,
and be quiet. Any sign of danger, I want you to hold them off as much as you can. James, Lily, Sirius, you three seem more than capable to do magic, protect these other three. Keep them from doing any magic, the
less the Ministry is involved the better. I want you all to wait in the Leaky Cauldron and just sit tight. Don't leave the pub, Tom'll keep you occupied." He urged them all toward the back door, but Jaimie didn't move.
"What about you?! What are you going to?!" She asked frantically.
"I'm an Order member, didn't you know? I have to keep them from hurting more people, until the others get here, they should be arriving any moment now. Don't worry," He added, noting the expression of panic in
Jaimie's face, "I'll be fine." He pushed her out the door and bolted out of it himself, before they heard the sound of the second floor collapsing over the first. They all watched as the house literally crumbled before their
eyes. The smoke and ash flew over them and they shielded their eyes and mouths from the acrid smell of smoke. Once it was better to breathe, Jacob said, "Be careful. Death Eaters are running around. Do not go
looking for a fight with one of them. Follow my orders, someone will come get you when its all over!"
Then he turned for the fence and bolted over it and out of sight.
They all hurried for the door in the fence. Silently, James eased it open and they all crept out of the backyard. They ended up in a sort of alley behind James' house. They were in London, so it wouldn't be too
difficult to reach Diagon Alley, it was avoiding the Death Eaters that would be the difficult part. But James seemed to know what he was doing. He walked the length of the alley, the houses keeping them out of sight.
When he reached the corner that led to the street, he peered around it and checked if the coast was clear. It seemed that it was alright to go and they hurried forward, keeping a steady pace, making sure that they
kept out of sight. The rain pounded the pavement around them, and they were already soaked when they had first stepped outside the once sheltered home of the Potters'. It was slow moving. Each time they turned a
corner they checked for more Death Eaters. The battle that they presumed had ensued in front of James' house had begun and they could hear the sounds of spells led astray doing their job. The spells they were
casting were so powerful that a piece of wood had landed a couple feet in front of them, its edges smoking. They looked in alarm at each other and quickened their pace.
Soon, they were out of residential London and were seeing more shops and things of the like. Despite the heavy rain and the dark grey sky, there were still very many muggles out and about, their umbrellas
opened, the rain sliding down the plastic covers. They hurried through the streets and tried to be as inconspicuous as six soaking wet teenagers carrying smoothly sanded sticks could be. Which as you can imagine
was pretty difficult. Jaimie kept looking behind her, sure that a Death Eater in their faceless masks and black cloaks would come pounding down the street and kill off everyone around her. But none came, to her
relief.
Finally, they had trodden the familiar path that led to the Leaky Cauldron which was just ten blocks away when suddenly, out of nowhere a blinding red light zoomed past them and hit the closest street lamp which
exploded upon impact. The force of the spell sent a couple of muggles as well a postbox, a bench and of course the street lamp flying into the air. The scene alarmed all that were walking on the sidewalk and sent
them screaming and diving to the ground covering their heads. The six of them turned around and saw five lone Death Eaters in the far corner, pointing their wands in their directions ready to cast another spell that
surely wouldn't miss. Alarmed they all pelted down the street, James, Sirius and Lily shooting random stunning spells in the Death Eaters' direction. They turned the corner, their footsteps pounding the pavement,
kicking up little droplets of rain at the passers by. They kept running, water running up their noses occasionally when they took a breath, hoping that they would lose them but the Death Eaters were hot on their trail,
shooting more destructive spells after them. Sirius had let go of Jaimie's hand and was helping James and Lily with the stunning spells. Eventually the two boys slowed down behind an alley and with them the other
four.
"What the hell do you think you're doing?" Remus asked between gasps of air.
"We'll stall them, take the girls and Peter and go! Take them to Diagon Alley and send for help as soon as you can!" James said, shooting not only stunning spells but also another spell that Jaimie recognized as
the Impediment Jinx.
"Yes hurry, We can't stall them for very long you know!" Sirius said, not looking at Remus but at Jaimie who was behind him.
"No." She said stubbornly. "I'm not leaving you. Not after . . . no I'll fight them with you. I can help, I won't let you fight them alone."
"Jaimie, we'll be fine. Just listen to me. Please go, it'll be better this way, just send for help as quick as you can!" Sirius said, in between throwing spells at the pursuing Death Eaters.
"No I won't leave you!" She yelled and she planted herself next to the numerous crates in the alley.
"Please Jaimie, listen to Sirius and James. They can handle themselves, we can always send for help." Lily pleaded.
"No." She backed herself even further down the alley under the impression that she was making a stand. Couldn't they see she couldn't leave Sirius? She couldn't let him get captured so easily, not like her family.
She was so caught up in her thoughts that she didn't see the Death Eater behind her who had just pulled off his Invisibility Cloak, a boot in his hand, and had grabbed her in a headlock.
Jaimie barely heard the anguished yells of Sirius, James, Remus and Lily as she felt a jerking sensation underneath her navel and was zooming out of the London alley.







A/n: Once again, after a whole month, I have a new chapter. Phew that took a while didn't it? Thank you to everyone, AshleyConnor, Mishi6, Lj, pRoNgSMoOnYPaDfOoT, SiobhanBlack2, Zeldagirl436, Alcapacien, Phototropism, Nicole Black and everyone else, I'm sorry if I missed anybody, just tell me and I'll mention you in the next post. I love you all to death!! Muahs, muahs!