Chapter 43 – Flight in the Death of One

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The green light consumed Maria, flooding into her body.

James yelped as Sirius caught her when she fell. Noel and Remus ran out from their hiding place. Voldemort laughed.

"You see what happens to those who defy me!?" He yelled, eyes on Maria. "She died because you were foolish enough to think you could beat me. Now, you can never kill me, since you are only two!"

James balled his hands into fists. Sirius laid Maria on the ground, standing tall next to his best friend.

Voldemort turned and started to walk away.

"Where do you think you're going!?" Sirius shouted, tears running down his face. "Come back, O Great Dark Lord!! Stay and fight!!"

"Fight…you?" Voldemort turned slowly back around. "I have no more business here. Oh, actually…"

Noel covered her ears as Voldemort shouted an incantation. The Dark Mark hovered high over Maria's prone body.

Voldemort lowered his wand. "There, you see," he said quietly. "The prophecy was wrong. You never had a chance. You can't defeat me now." He walked away again.

"Nnnnnnnoooooooooo!!!" Sirius screamed, jabbing his wand at the Dark Lord's retreating back. "No! Bloody – hell!!" He shot various spells, but none did any good.

"Sirius," James tried to put his hand on his best friend's shoulder, but Sirius shrugged it off, staring into space.

Remus knelt over his sister, his tears falling on her black tank top. "Maria," he whispered, shaking her. "Wake up…please…"

Noel shook her head. "I…I think we'd better take her to the castle. The Death Eaters will have left, since their master's gone…"

Remus started to pick Maria up, but Sirius swept past him. "I'll do it."

"Okay…" Remus turned to James. "How do you feel?"

James sighed. "I…really don't know. I can't feel anything."

"…is she…still…there?"

James screwed up his face. "I…I can still feel her, if that's what you mean."

"No, I mean…is she still in you? James, you'll be able to tell us if she's alive." Remus pleaded. "Can you feel her!? Is she warm!?"

"Remus, I…" James shook his head. "I'm too numb…"

Noel took Remus's arm. "Come on," she murmured. "Follow Sirius." She took James's hand, too. "Let's go…" She led them back to the castle.

- - - - - - - -

Lily watched as the Death Eaters retreated. She was panting, bleeding from one arm, but okay. She ran out to the castle steps along with a few other adults.

"Oh, my God…the Dark Mark!"

"It's in the forest, where…where…"

"Sirius, James, and Maria!!!"

Lily's heart contracted painfully. Could it be? Were her friends dead? She let out an animalistic yell and sprinted for the forest, Dumbledore on her heels.

There was heavy fog coming out of the forest. Lily stopped, squinting. Four figures were emerging from it…three tall ones and a smaller one. She narrowed her eyes even more. James, Remus, Noel…and Sirius carried Maria, who was motionless.

- - - - - - - -

Sirius stopped in front of Dumbledore, head bowed. "We…couldn't save her. Remus has her pendant, sir."

Dumbledore started to reply as Mark Lupin ran up on the scene. He took one look at his lifeless daughter and howled. "Maria!!!"

"Calm down, Mark." Dumbledore said to him quietly. "We must take her to the hospital wing." His light blue gaze rested on James. "Mr. Potter, an assessment, if you please."

James cocked his head. "I feel…funny. Like…no. No, I don't know. It's too early to say. I'm sorry."

Dumbledore nodded. Mark took Maria from Sirius and started up to the castle. Noel, Remus, Lily, and Sirius trailed behind. Dumbledore still stared at James.

"Can you hear anything, James?"

"I'm coming to find you, if it takes me all night…"

"…I told you, I'm not sure yet."

"Everything will be alright."

James walked up to the castle.

- - - - - - - -

The clock was ticking obnoxiously. The Marauders, Lily, and Noel were sprawled in the hall outside the hospital wing. Dumbledore, Mark, Trista, Madame Pomfrey, and Professor McGonagall were inside with Maria.

Poppy placed a hand on Maria's neck.

"Well?" Mark urged. Trista gripped his arm tightly.

Poppy frowned, moving her hand. Finally, she said, "She's alive."

Mark exhaled loudly. "Let me see." He put his hand on his daughter's throat. Yes, it was there – a faint pulse. Barely there, but still recognizable. "But how?" He looked at Dumbledore.

"I think we better get them in here to tell us what happened." He called the five Gryffindors inside.

"Well!?" Sirius wasted no time. "How is she? She's not…"

"Maria is alive." Dumbledore announced.

Lily and Noel hugged each other tightly. James gripped Remus's shoulder, who had started to cry quietly. Sirius stared at Dumbledore, unmoving.

"Perhaps you should tell us what happened."

James, being the only one capable of speech, told what happened down at the lake. He told the adults how he, Sirius, and Maria had been flustered as to how to kill Voldemort, and how Remus figured it out and shouted. Voldemort got mad and shot the Avada at Maria, who held her Pendant up in front of her.

"That's it!" Mark shouted. "That's why she didn't die!"

James looked confused. "Why?"

Mark spoke fast. "The Pendant. It has magical powers. It protected Maria. Serenity did the same thing in our seventh year. It recognized Maria as Rowena's Heir and absorbed the curse. Of course, since she was holding the Pendant, Maria still got some of the shock and pain from the curse. But the Pendant put her into an enchanted sleep that would preserve her soul and heal her slowly, while making Voldemort think he killed her!"

Sirius drew a breath. "Okay. So she's fine. How long will it take for her to wake up?"

"Ah. Well," Mark looked uncomfortable. "It, depends."

Sirius glared. "On what?"

"Well…on how resilient she was to the curse."

"And how do we know how resilient she was?"

Dumbledore intervened. "Sirius, please. Maria will wake up when she is ready. She may wake up in five minutes. We don't know."

Sirius seemed to accept that. "Okay…but…one more thing. Voldemort, he – he said something. About the Founders."

Dumbledore waited patiently.

Sirius seemed flustered. "He – he asked me, if – I loved Maria, and if I would do anything for her. Then, he said, he said he was willing to bet that – that James would, too." He blushed and shot a guilty look at his best friend. "What was he talking about?"

Dumbledore nodded. "Ah. He was playing up that legend again, was he?"

"What legend, sir?" Lily asked suspiciously.

Minerva interrupted. "The legend about Salazar and Rowena. Apparently, they were lovers. And then Godric decided that he wanted Rowena for himself. Some say that was the real cause of their fight. I say it's a bunch of nonsense."

James looked at Sirius, who was still blushing. 'I would never do that to you, Siri.' He thought.

"I'm dreaming about those dreamy eyes."

"Oh, good news everyone." James smiled.

Maria was singing in his head.

- - - - - - - -

The end of term was only a few days away. Sirius spent every waking moment by Maria's bedside. He was considerably cheered by the fact that she had taken to singing songs in James's head.

"Why is she singing, sir?" James asked Dumbledore.

"Oh, maybe just to let us know that she's alright. That charm came in handy, huh, Mr. Potter?"

"Oh, yes, sir. Now I've got one of my best friends singing endlessly in my head. At least she tells me what she's singing. But it's all Muggle rock music!"

Dumbledore laughed.

Now James was Sirius's favorite person. He would seek James out and ask him what Maria was singing, or ask him if she had said when she would wake up. Unfortunately, Maria didn't seem to be able to hear James the way he could hear her.

"Her spirit's asleep, James. She probably thinks she's singing to herself. She always loved to sing," Mark told him.

Noel and Lily came wandering into the hospital wing, yawning.

"Sirius, it's midnight," Noel said. "Are you coming back?"

"Not tonight. I don't want her to wake up alone." Sirius said.

Lily smoothed back Maria's hair. "Sirius, you're going to make yourself sick. Go to bed. Remus and James are worried about you."

"Oh, speaking of James, did you ask him what she's singing now?"

Noel rolled her eyes. "She picked a song by The Used, another Muggle rock band. It's called 'Let It Bleed.' He thinks she picked it because there's a line in it that says 'if you feel like dying, you might wanna sing.' He said it explains why she won't shut up."

Sirius laughed quietly. "Yeah."

"Sirius, come to bed. We can watch over her, too." Lily said.

"No, it's okay." Sirius waved them away.

Noel shrugged. "Come get us if she wakes up."

"I will. Oh, by the way Lily," he said without looking at her.

"What?"

"You don't…believe what Voldemort said, do you?"

Lily looked at him. "I don't know. I don't think so. James wouldn't' do that. We wouldn't do that."

Sirius nodded.

- - - - - - - -

"When the slumber of forever's called me home, I will not be gone, oh, you'll never be alone."

James sighed. "Maria, I appreciate your singing, but please, please, I wanna go to sleep!"

"Well, James, just tune me out."

James's eyes shot open. "Maria!?"

"Yeah. Hey, can you go tell Sirius to wake me up? I can't seem to do it on my own."

"Maria, you shouldn't wake up until you can do it on your own. You're still not fully healed."

"Okay. So, this next song is – "

"OKAY, OKAY!!" James woke Remus, and they went to the hospital wing.

- - - - - - - -

"Sirius?"

Sirius looked up, eyes bleary. "James? Remus!"

James smiled. "Hey, Padfoot. Maria started talking to me!"

"She did? That's great!"

"Yeah. She said to wake her up."

"Wake her up?" Sirius looked confused.

"Just do it." Remus said.

Shrugging, Sirius reached out and shook Maria. "Hey…Mia…wake up!"

She didn't move. Sirius shook harder.

"…it's not working, James. I guess you were right. You guys can go back to sleep. Sorry for waking you up…"

James sighed and relayed Maria's message.

Sirius's face fell. "Well…I've waited this long. I guess I can wait a bit longer."

Remus and James exchanged glances.

"It's hard on all of us, Siri." Remus said.

Sirius just nodded. "I…I couldn't protect her…"

Remus shuffled his feet. James looked uncomfortable. "We did our best…she's still alive."

Sirius shook his head.

"Ugh!" James's hand flew to his chest. His heart contracted painfully.

"What's wrong?" Remus asked.

"…sorry…"

Maria was crying.

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a/n: How strange, huh? Well, nearing end. Next chapter, Maria will wake up, and we'll have the End of Term feast. Then…it'll be sequel time! Thanks, reviewers! Oh, BTW…can anyone guess lyrics I used? Here they are again (the first three are from the same song):

"I'm coming to find you if it takes me all night."

"Everything will be alright."

"I'm dreaming about those dreamy eyes."

"When the slumber of forever's called me home/I will not be gone/Oh, you'll never be alone."

They're not well known, but I guess they would be classified as punk or rock. Who knows, maybe I'll write you a short story if you get them right! :)