Living A Legend
Book 1- A Clash of Wills
Chapter 20- Uneasy Sleep and Last Minute Madness
Lily lifted the bright red apple, smiling over at Brittany. She had brilliantly lifted the very last apple off of the platter. The sun glinted off the red surface, shining above them on the brilliant Dining Hall ceiling.
"Accio Apple!" James called suddenly, putting to use the summoning spell the first years had learned that morning. In light of Lord Voldemort's rise to power, the school had been placing extra emphasis on the students learning a variety of useful spells.
"Hey!" Lily shouted indignantly before lifting her own wand. "Accio Apple!" she called, and the apple came zooming back to it's original owner.
Lily smiled triumphantly, but James wasn't done. He repeated the spell and the apple was his. What followed was a furious, yet pointless battle which involved much wand waving and shouting of "Accio apple!"
Finally Sirius intervened by reaching forward and grabbing the apple mid-flight. James and Lily stared in astonishment, their wands still at the ready as Sirius casually rolled it in his and then took a large bite. Sirius glanced up with a puzzled air, "What? I like apples." He shrugged.
The week of finals, Lily stressed constantly, along with the rest of the school, but once they were over, she finally learned to relax with the other students, and joined the rest of the first years outside. The last few days of school at Hogwarts were like a dream for Lily. She couldn't imagine leaving.
She was eager to go home and see her family, despite the whole Petunia situation, but was very reluctant to leave behind her friends and her new magical life for a whole summer.
James and the Marauders had no such regrets. They all came from magical families and were certain to have a blast over the summer.
When it came time for the end of the year banquet, all students were anxious. Gryffindor was in the lead, having defeated the Slytherins in the Quidditch cup, but the Ravenclaws were not far behind. It turned out that the Gryffindors pulled through by a hair at just the last moment, and managed to secure the house cup as well as the Quidditch one.
The great hall was decked out in maroon and gold for the end of year banquet, in honor of the victorious house, and most of the students were in very good humor, even those from losing houses. Lily thoroughly stuffed herself, leaving no dish untouched.
Most of the Gryffindors stayed up very late that night celebrating. Some older students had smuggled in some butterbeer and decorations had mysteriously appeared in the common room. It wasn't until the wee hours of the night that Professor Lacy finally broke up the fun and sent all the students to bed for their final night of the year in Gryffindor Tower.
Lily stayed up wondering what the summer would bring, and remembering all the amazing things she had experienced over the years. She remembered when she had arrived at the train station to go to Hogwarts for the first time. James had tricked her into running into a barrier, and later he had angered her to the point of falling into the lake. Their feud had begun just as soon as she had come to Hogwarts.
"Brittany," Lily whispered finally, wondering if she was the only one awake.
Brittany shot up in bed, "So I guess I'm not the only one awake," she muttered.
"Do you remember when we first came here? Do you remember how horrible James was to me? How horrible he still is?" Lily asked pleasantly.
"Oh come on Lily, he was never that horrible to you," Brittany rolled her eyes. "He defended you when Lucius called you a mudblood, remember that?"
Lily sighed. "Yeah, then he poisoned me."
"You poisoned him too! At the same time!" Brittany retorted defensively.
Lily giggled, "That was pretty funny. But we got detention with Terrance and Malfoy in the dungeons," she grimaced at the memory. "And then we got another one re-planting the Whomping Willow."
The silence lasted in the room for a few moments and then a new voice piped in, "I wonder what the willow is really there for?"
"Dora?" Lily asked.
"Yeah."
The girls contemplated the question for a moment. "I dunno," Brittany finally concluded. "It seems odd that Hogwarts would have such a dangerous tree, but I suppose Hogwarts is a very odd sort of place."
"I wouldn't have it any other way," Dora whispered with a smile. "Do you remember flying lessons? I love flying!"
Brittany giggled, "James was nice to you during flying practice Lily. As I remember it you got a private lesson."
Lily shot up in bed and tossed a pillow violently in Brittany's direction. The pillow missed and hit Jackie instead, who sputtered and rubbed her eyes.
"What are you three on about," she muttered sleepily.
"We're just arguing whether James is nice to Lily or not," Dora explained.
Jackie smiled, "Of course he is! He gave you that ring didn't he!"
Lily flushed, "It is not! It's from a secret admirer. James would never give me a ring! Don't be ridiculous!"
"He's nicer to you than he is to the Slytherins anyway," Dora added unsurely.
"Urgh… Even James is better than Malfoy and Terrance!" Lily admitted. "Remember when they put that freezing charm on us and set us to drift on a raft in the lake?"
Brittany let out a little shriek, waking several other girls in the dormitory. "Yes! Of course I remember. That was so horrible of them! The little weasels! But at least the Marauders got them back. Remember? James and Sirius locked them in the bathroom with dung bombs! I have to admit that was a stroke of brilliance."
"I remember that," yawned another of the newly awakened girls. "They smelled for weeks but they got what they deserved if you ask me."
"Remember when John gave you tickets for his Quidditch match," Dora asked almost sadly.
Lily nodded, silent for a moment. "I miss John."
The dark air seemed to fill with painful silence, the memory of John Potter's untimely death smothering all the fun out of the reminiscence. Minutes ticked by and no one could find words to express the emptiness that his absence left, and one by one the girls drifted off into sleep.
As soon as James Potter closed his eyes the dream began. This time it was different, but he could tell that it was the same dream. He saw Lily's face, smiling. She was holding a small velvet box in one hand. He watched her open it and slip gasp as she saw a sparkling ring. She pulled it out and slipped it onto her finger.
Suddenly the scene flashed forward and James was in the familiar field. The robed death eaters were standing in a circle and Lily was in the center, screaming and bleeding. James was afraid that she was going to die. Over her stood a boy in Hogwarts robes, unlike the rest and his face was familiar to James. He recognized him as a Slytherin and just as the boy's name came to his mind, he awoke with a start.
Sirius was standing over him, and for once his face was not taunting, but rather fearful. "What is it James? Are you okay?"
James arched his back and realized he was on the floor and his face was drenched in sweat. He took a few deep breaths before answering.
"Yeah, Sirius, I'm alright. What happened?"
Sirius helped his friend up and James sat warily on the edge of his bed.
"I don't know James. You woke us all up again, screaming about Lily. But this time when we tried to snap you out of it, you wouldn't wake up. You just kept rolling around on the floor and screaming. Are you alright James? Maybe you should go see Madame Klase," Sirius suggested.
Remus stood next to him now, looking every bit as worried as Sirius. James decided that he liked it better when his friends were teasing him than when they were fussing over him.
"I'm fine guys. I just had a nightmare I guess," James explained wearily, trying his best to sound convincing.
The next morning was very hectic. All the girls were up packing very early and all last minute preparations were still being made.
"Dora! I need your phone number!" Jackie cried while Lily was hurrying downstairs to the owlery to fetch Lothlorien and Brittany was having a panic attack.
It took nearly four hours, but all four girls were downstairs and ready for the last breakfast they would ever eat as first years. Lily was still slightly sad. The previous night's mention of John had left the girls feeling a bit down.
The Marauders made a late appearance, but it was nothing less than grand. Just as Lily was about to feel reassured that they would not make it in time for breakfast, the four boys came tumbling through the dining hall doors, out of breath but not speechless.
To Lily's surprise, they did not stop running when they entered the hall and Lily quickly learned the reason when right behind them was Filch, the strange young caretaker, chasing after them with a look of utmost rage on his face.
"You horrid kids! I'll be here a month cleaning that mess up! You think it's a funny prank do you? A last little first year scam? Well it's not funny and it's not little! I'll have you expelled for this one boys," Filch hissed angrily.
The Marauders took off in separate directions across the hall. Peter ran straight into Professor Ludwick, Remus was snatched quickly by Professor Lacy and James was stopped by Dumbledore himself. Sirius in the meanwhile was hiding under a table occupied by several very frightened Hufflepuffs and had to be extracted by hand by Filch himself, who nearly wrung Sirius's neck before Dumbledore thought to pull him off.
Whispers of "what did they do," and "I knew that they would pull a prank on the last day," filled the room after the Marauders were escorted out. They went passively, aside from Sirius, who struggled and fought with Filch the whole way.
"I won't let them take me alive!" Sirius screamed just as he was pulled out of the dining hall by the hair.
Curiosity overcame most of the students' desire to finish their breakfast and witches and wizards of all years began to trickle out of the dining hall to see what had caused the commotion. Lily reluctantly joined the masses after a bit of prompting from her friends. What was waiting in the entrance hall was worth leaving the dining hall.
A huge lifelike picture of the Marauders was painted across the whole of the entrance hall wall. A mammoth sized Sirius gave Peter a wedgie and tried to hide behind James, instead pulling his cloak off. The picture James knocked Sirius on the side of his head and refastened his cloak smugly. Remus grinned and laughed as Peter struggled with his wedgie. Underneath the life-sized images of the Marauders were the words, "A Tribute To The Best Humans Alive."
While most of the school found this immensely funny, Lily was instantly offended. "They think they can get away with anything! What makes them think that the whole school wants to see a tribute to them for the rest of the year?" Lily fumed.
"Lily," Dora soothed, "There is only an hour left until summer. The rest of the year is hardly very long. I'm sure Filch will get it removed before next year. Calm down."
Never-the-less, Lily's animosity lasted until they boarded the train. Just as Lily, Brittany and Dora had found a compartment and settled down, James and Remus burst in. Lily met them with a cold glare and before they could make their excuses and leave, Jackie ran breathlessly into the compartment holding in one palm the blue velvet case in which Lily's ring had come.
"Lily!" Jackie gasped excitedly, "You almost forgot your box! Can you believe it? That would have been awful!"
Lily flushed, "It's just a box Jackie, and hoped that James and Remus would not say anything embarrassing.
"Oh, but it's from your secret admirer! You have to keep it, as a memento," Jackie insisted, shoving it into Lily's hand. Lily rolled her eyes, and placed it gently inside her bag.
When she glanced up she noticed Remus tugging on James's robes. James had a strange look on his face. He seemed to be staring at the box as if there was something unusual about it.
"James, let's go!" Remus shouted, snapping James out of his trance. The two boys left the compartment quickly, frightened off by Lily's evil glare.
As the train took off, Lily found herself wondering who her secret admirer was, and whether she would see him in the year to come. Her first year at Hogwarts had been fantastic, and she was reluctant to go back into the Muggle world.
The girls giggled and chatted, and when the carts came by, rushed to sort out their money in order to buy chocolate frogs. Lily was collecting the wizard cards which could be found within, and was very pleased when she discovered a Herbert Drooble inside her frog.
Lily was happily reading the back of her card, while Jackie and Brittany were comparing toenails when suddenly she felt the world going black. She screamed as her body was pulled inward. Lily felt as if she was being pulled into her ring, the metal turned hot and then suddenly it cooled and she opened her eyes warily. She was not in the same place she had been a moment ago.
Dora's voice box was growing worn out. She had screamed so loud that Brittany finally had to slap her. Dora blubbered, frightened and confused.
"She. . .she's gone! Where did Lily go?" Dora cried in panic.
Brittany rolled her eyes. "I'm sure it was the Marauders. Let's go find them and get her back."
Jackie looked a little unsure, "I don't know Brittany, I don't think the Marauders could do something like this. . .maybe we should find Dumbledore. I mean, people don't just disappear."
Dora burst into noisy tears and the other two girls looked at her nervously, wondering where the red head had gone.
However, Brittany was a born leader and it was not in her nature to go into hysterics when something went wrong so she stepped forward and took action. "Well we might as well ask the Marauders before we jump to conclusions. Come on girls," she ordered.
The blond girl walked with more confidence than she felt, followed by a tentative Jackie, and a weeping Dora. The three of them made quite a group. It didn't take long for them to find the Marauders, who were two compartments down.
Sirius shot them a strange assessing look when they entered the Marauder's compartment and Peter was so shocked he dropped his chocolate frog.
"What did you boys do to Lily?" Brittany asked immediately, pointing an accusing finger in James's face.
Shock was clearly evident on James face, "I didn't. . ." he started.
Sirius jumped forward, "I take all the credit," he announced grandly, taking a bow.
"So you made Lily disappear?" Jackie spoke timidly.
"Yes! I definitely made Lily disappear. I am a genius you can see," Sirius spoke suavely with a wide grin.
"Wait, Lily disappeared?" James asked in a strangely constricted voice. "Did she just leave, or like 'poof' vanish?"
"Well there was no poof," moaned Dora. "One moment she was there, just sitting and looking at a chocolate frog and the next she was gone and all I could here was her screaming!" Dora broke down into tears again, becoming incomprehensible.
"Genius," Sirius mused, "Pure Genius, the perfect prank."
James twitched anxiously, apparently not taking the news quite as easily as Sirius. He remembered his dream of the night before and a question popped into his head without him thinking about it. "Was she wearing her ring?"
Brittany looked at James like he was crazy. "Yeah, sure, but what does that have to do with anything? Lily is missing you guys! I think something bad might have happened to her. I don't know I just feel like whatever happened it was no simple prank," a note of panic had crept into her voice and this caused Dora to break down completely.
James seemed to be studying the back of his hand. "The death eaters," he mumbled under his breath, "the dream."
Everyone turned to stare at him, and James suddenly jumped in the air. "The ring, it must have been a port key!"
"Who would give Lily a port key?" Jackie asked doubtfully. "Where would it take her? Did you say something about a death eater?"
James was not paying attention. "There's nothing I can do! It's too late. She's gone. She's going to die. I saw it in my dream."
"Shut up!" Jackie yelled suddenly. "Stop it James! Stop it! You're lying."
James shook his head and collapsed to the floor miserably. "She's gone," he whispered.
Book 1- A Clash of Wills
Chapter 20- Uneasy Sleep and Last Minute Madness
Lily lifted the bright red apple, smiling over at Brittany. She had brilliantly lifted the very last apple off of the platter. The sun glinted off the red surface, shining above them on the brilliant Dining Hall ceiling.
"Accio Apple!" James called suddenly, putting to use the summoning spell the first years had learned that morning. In light of Lord Voldemort's rise to power, the school had been placing extra emphasis on the students learning a variety of useful spells.
"Hey!" Lily shouted indignantly before lifting her own wand. "Accio Apple!" she called, and the apple came zooming back to it's original owner.
Lily smiled triumphantly, but James wasn't done. He repeated the spell and the apple was his. What followed was a furious, yet pointless battle which involved much wand waving and shouting of "Accio apple!"
Finally Sirius intervened by reaching forward and grabbing the apple mid-flight. James and Lily stared in astonishment, their wands still at the ready as Sirius casually rolled it in his and then took a large bite. Sirius glanced up with a puzzled air, "What? I like apples." He shrugged.
The week of finals, Lily stressed constantly, along with the rest of the school, but once they were over, she finally learned to relax with the other students, and joined the rest of the first years outside. The last few days of school at Hogwarts were like a dream for Lily. She couldn't imagine leaving.
She was eager to go home and see her family, despite the whole Petunia situation, but was very reluctant to leave behind her friends and her new magical life for a whole summer.
James and the Marauders had no such regrets. They all came from magical families and were certain to have a blast over the summer.
When it came time for the end of the year banquet, all students were anxious. Gryffindor was in the lead, having defeated the Slytherins in the Quidditch cup, but the Ravenclaws were not far behind. It turned out that the Gryffindors pulled through by a hair at just the last moment, and managed to secure the house cup as well as the Quidditch one.
The great hall was decked out in maroon and gold for the end of year banquet, in honor of the victorious house, and most of the students were in very good humor, even those from losing houses. Lily thoroughly stuffed herself, leaving no dish untouched.
Most of the Gryffindors stayed up very late that night celebrating. Some older students had smuggled in some butterbeer and decorations had mysteriously appeared in the common room. It wasn't until the wee hours of the night that Professor Lacy finally broke up the fun and sent all the students to bed for their final night of the year in Gryffindor Tower.
Lily stayed up wondering what the summer would bring, and remembering all the amazing things she had experienced over the years. She remembered when she had arrived at the train station to go to Hogwarts for the first time. James had tricked her into running into a barrier, and later he had angered her to the point of falling into the lake. Their feud had begun just as soon as she had come to Hogwarts.
"Brittany," Lily whispered finally, wondering if she was the only one awake.
Brittany shot up in bed, "So I guess I'm not the only one awake," she muttered.
"Do you remember when we first came here? Do you remember how horrible James was to me? How horrible he still is?" Lily asked pleasantly.
"Oh come on Lily, he was never that horrible to you," Brittany rolled her eyes. "He defended you when Lucius called you a mudblood, remember that?"
Lily sighed. "Yeah, then he poisoned me."
"You poisoned him too! At the same time!" Brittany retorted defensively.
Lily giggled, "That was pretty funny. But we got detention with Terrance and Malfoy in the dungeons," she grimaced at the memory. "And then we got another one re-planting the Whomping Willow."
The silence lasted in the room for a few moments and then a new voice piped in, "I wonder what the willow is really there for?"
"Dora?" Lily asked.
"Yeah."
The girls contemplated the question for a moment. "I dunno," Brittany finally concluded. "It seems odd that Hogwarts would have such a dangerous tree, but I suppose Hogwarts is a very odd sort of place."
"I wouldn't have it any other way," Dora whispered with a smile. "Do you remember flying lessons? I love flying!"
Brittany giggled, "James was nice to you during flying practice Lily. As I remember it you got a private lesson."
Lily shot up in bed and tossed a pillow violently in Brittany's direction. The pillow missed and hit Jackie instead, who sputtered and rubbed her eyes.
"What are you three on about," she muttered sleepily.
"We're just arguing whether James is nice to Lily or not," Dora explained.
Jackie smiled, "Of course he is! He gave you that ring didn't he!"
Lily flushed, "It is not! It's from a secret admirer. James would never give me a ring! Don't be ridiculous!"
"He's nicer to you than he is to the Slytherins anyway," Dora added unsurely.
"Urgh… Even James is better than Malfoy and Terrance!" Lily admitted. "Remember when they put that freezing charm on us and set us to drift on a raft in the lake?"
Brittany let out a little shriek, waking several other girls in the dormitory. "Yes! Of course I remember. That was so horrible of them! The little weasels! But at least the Marauders got them back. Remember? James and Sirius locked them in the bathroom with dung bombs! I have to admit that was a stroke of brilliance."
"I remember that," yawned another of the newly awakened girls. "They smelled for weeks but they got what they deserved if you ask me."
"Remember when John gave you tickets for his Quidditch match," Dora asked almost sadly.
Lily nodded, silent for a moment. "I miss John."
The dark air seemed to fill with painful silence, the memory of John Potter's untimely death smothering all the fun out of the reminiscence. Minutes ticked by and no one could find words to express the emptiness that his absence left, and one by one the girls drifted off into sleep.
As soon as James Potter closed his eyes the dream began. This time it was different, but he could tell that it was the same dream. He saw Lily's face, smiling. She was holding a small velvet box in one hand. He watched her open it and slip gasp as she saw a sparkling ring. She pulled it out and slipped it onto her finger.
Suddenly the scene flashed forward and James was in the familiar field. The robed death eaters were standing in a circle and Lily was in the center, screaming and bleeding. James was afraid that she was going to die. Over her stood a boy in Hogwarts robes, unlike the rest and his face was familiar to James. He recognized him as a Slytherin and just as the boy's name came to his mind, he awoke with a start.
Sirius was standing over him, and for once his face was not taunting, but rather fearful. "What is it James? Are you okay?"
James arched his back and realized he was on the floor and his face was drenched in sweat. He took a few deep breaths before answering.
"Yeah, Sirius, I'm alright. What happened?"
Sirius helped his friend up and James sat warily on the edge of his bed.
"I don't know James. You woke us all up again, screaming about Lily. But this time when we tried to snap you out of it, you wouldn't wake up. You just kept rolling around on the floor and screaming. Are you alright James? Maybe you should go see Madame Klase," Sirius suggested.
Remus stood next to him now, looking every bit as worried as Sirius. James decided that he liked it better when his friends were teasing him than when they were fussing over him.
"I'm fine guys. I just had a nightmare I guess," James explained wearily, trying his best to sound convincing.
The next morning was very hectic. All the girls were up packing very early and all last minute preparations were still being made.
"Dora! I need your phone number!" Jackie cried while Lily was hurrying downstairs to the owlery to fetch Lothlorien and Brittany was having a panic attack.
It took nearly four hours, but all four girls were downstairs and ready for the last breakfast they would ever eat as first years. Lily was still slightly sad. The previous night's mention of John had left the girls feeling a bit down.
The Marauders made a late appearance, but it was nothing less than grand. Just as Lily was about to feel reassured that they would not make it in time for breakfast, the four boys came tumbling through the dining hall doors, out of breath but not speechless.
To Lily's surprise, they did not stop running when they entered the hall and Lily quickly learned the reason when right behind them was Filch, the strange young caretaker, chasing after them with a look of utmost rage on his face.
"You horrid kids! I'll be here a month cleaning that mess up! You think it's a funny prank do you? A last little first year scam? Well it's not funny and it's not little! I'll have you expelled for this one boys," Filch hissed angrily.
The Marauders took off in separate directions across the hall. Peter ran straight into Professor Ludwick, Remus was snatched quickly by Professor Lacy and James was stopped by Dumbledore himself. Sirius in the meanwhile was hiding under a table occupied by several very frightened Hufflepuffs and had to be extracted by hand by Filch himself, who nearly wrung Sirius's neck before Dumbledore thought to pull him off.
Whispers of "what did they do," and "I knew that they would pull a prank on the last day," filled the room after the Marauders were escorted out. They went passively, aside from Sirius, who struggled and fought with Filch the whole way.
"I won't let them take me alive!" Sirius screamed just as he was pulled out of the dining hall by the hair.
Curiosity overcame most of the students' desire to finish their breakfast and witches and wizards of all years began to trickle out of the dining hall to see what had caused the commotion. Lily reluctantly joined the masses after a bit of prompting from her friends. What was waiting in the entrance hall was worth leaving the dining hall.
A huge lifelike picture of the Marauders was painted across the whole of the entrance hall wall. A mammoth sized Sirius gave Peter a wedgie and tried to hide behind James, instead pulling his cloak off. The picture James knocked Sirius on the side of his head and refastened his cloak smugly. Remus grinned and laughed as Peter struggled with his wedgie. Underneath the life-sized images of the Marauders were the words, "A Tribute To The Best Humans Alive."
While most of the school found this immensely funny, Lily was instantly offended. "They think they can get away with anything! What makes them think that the whole school wants to see a tribute to them for the rest of the year?" Lily fumed.
"Lily," Dora soothed, "There is only an hour left until summer. The rest of the year is hardly very long. I'm sure Filch will get it removed before next year. Calm down."
Never-the-less, Lily's animosity lasted until they boarded the train. Just as Lily, Brittany and Dora had found a compartment and settled down, James and Remus burst in. Lily met them with a cold glare and before they could make their excuses and leave, Jackie ran breathlessly into the compartment holding in one palm the blue velvet case in which Lily's ring had come.
"Lily!" Jackie gasped excitedly, "You almost forgot your box! Can you believe it? That would have been awful!"
Lily flushed, "It's just a box Jackie, and hoped that James and Remus would not say anything embarrassing.
"Oh, but it's from your secret admirer! You have to keep it, as a memento," Jackie insisted, shoving it into Lily's hand. Lily rolled her eyes, and placed it gently inside her bag.
When she glanced up she noticed Remus tugging on James's robes. James had a strange look on his face. He seemed to be staring at the box as if there was something unusual about it.
"James, let's go!" Remus shouted, snapping James out of his trance. The two boys left the compartment quickly, frightened off by Lily's evil glare.
As the train took off, Lily found herself wondering who her secret admirer was, and whether she would see him in the year to come. Her first year at Hogwarts had been fantastic, and she was reluctant to go back into the Muggle world.
The girls giggled and chatted, and when the carts came by, rushed to sort out their money in order to buy chocolate frogs. Lily was collecting the wizard cards which could be found within, and was very pleased when she discovered a Herbert Drooble inside her frog.
Lily was happily reading the back of her card, while Jackie and Brittany were comparing toenails when suddenly she felt the world going black. She screamed as her body was pulled inward. Lily felt as if she was being pulled into her ring, the metal turned hot and then suddenly it cooled and she opened her eyes warily. She was not in the same place she had been a moment ago.
Dora's voice box was growing worn out. She had screamed so loud that Brittany finally had to slap her. Dora blubbered, frightened and confused.
"She. . .she's gone! Where did Lily go?" Dora cried in panic.
Brittany rolled her eyes. "I'm sure it was the Marauders. Let's go find them and get her back."
Jackie looked a little unsure, "I don't know Brittany, I don't think the Marauders could do something like this. . .maybe we should find Dumbledore. I mean, people don't just disappear."
Dora burst into noisy tears and the other two girls looked at her nervously, wondering where the red head had gone.
However, Brittany was a born leader and it was not in her nature to go into hysterics when something went wrong so she stepped forward and took action. "Well we might as well ask the Marauders before we jump to conclusions. Come on girls," she ordered.
The blond girl walked with more confidence than she felt, followed by a tentative Jackie, and a weeping Dora. The three of them made quite a group. It didn't take long for them to find the Marauders, who were two compartments down.
Sirius shot them a strange assessing look when they entered the Marauder's compartment and Peter was so shocked he dropped his chocolate frog.
"What did you boys do to Lily?" Brittany asked immediately, pointing an accusing finger in James's face.
Shock was clearly evident on James face, "I didn't. . ." he started.
Sirius jumped forward, "I take all the credit," he announced grandly, taking a bow.
"So you made Lily disappear?" Jackie spoke timidly.
"Yes! I definitely made Lily disappear. I am a genius you can see," Sirius spoke suavely with a wide grin.
"Wait, Lily disappeared?" James asked in a strangely constricted voice. "Did she just leave, or like 'poof' vanish?"
"Well there was no poof," moaned Dora. "One moment she was there, just sitting and looking at a chocolate frog and the next she was gone and all I could here was her screaming!" Dora broke down into tears again, becoming incomprehensible.
"Genius," Sirius mused, "Pure Genius, the perfect prank."
James twitched anxiously, apparently not taking the news quite as easily as Sirius. He remembered his dream of the night before and a question popped into his head without him thinking about it. "Was she wearing her ring?"
Brittany looked at James like he was crazy. "Yeah, sure, but what does that have to do with anything? Lily is missing you guys! I think something bad might have happened to her. I don't know I just feel like whatever happened it was no simple prank," a note of panic had crept into her voice and this caused Dora to break down completely.
James seemed to be studying the back of his hand. "The death eaters," he mumbled under his breath, "the dream."
Everyone turned to stare at him, and James suddenly jumped in the air. "The ring, it must have been a port key!"
"Who would give Lily a port key?" Jackie asked doubtfully. "Where would it take her? Did you say something about a death eater?"
James was not paying attention. "There's nothing I can do! It's too late. She's gone. She's going to die. I saw it in my dream."
"Shut up!" Jackie yelled suddenly. "Stop it James! Stop it! You're lying."
James shook his head and collapsed to the floor miserably. "She's gone," he whispered.