James stood, trying not to scream out as he was hit with the curse. His every nerve was on fire. Finally after what seemed like eternity the curse seemed to be lifted, but then he felt nothing. He felt happy, but still extremely drunk. He heard a thud as someone hit the floor, and he too fell, waiting to be found.
Lily was off dancing with Sirius having a good time with some of her old friends, she was hardly mad at James anymore, and she couldn't be mad at him for long, with the news she had just found out. She had been floating on could nine ever since she realized this was the best thing that could happen with their relationship.
Midnight came all too soon for her, and she was waiting at the door for James. People were filing out and giving her strange looks, and it seemed as if some were whispering as soon as they saw her. Everyone was using hushed tones, and Lily had no clue what it was about. Did her dress rip? Was she showing anything inappropriate? Was there something on her teeth? Lily decided to go into the bathroom to check herself out quickly.
She looked just fine, and was completely stumped on why everybody was acting so strange. She gathered up her things and headed back to the main entrance. But she was stopped by an elderly looking auror. "Mrs. Potter, I'm so sorry," he said. She could see the sympathy in his eyes.
"What do you mean?" she asked, confused.
"Your husband-"
"Is James alright? Is he hurt?" She asked quickly, walking faster towards the man.
"No he's fine, I assure you, but he killed a woman, he killed the Minister of Magic," the auror said, putting a hand on Lily's shoulder.
Lily dropped everything she was holding, and the contents of her purse spilled out on the ground. Her wand rolled away under a table.
"He didn't, he couldn't have, James wouldn't do that sort of thing unless it was self defense, I'm sorry but he just wouldn't, you've got the wrong man!" Lily said sobbing.
"No, he most certainly was the man who killed her, the last spell from his wand shows the killing curse," her replied, trying to calm Lily down. He looked like a nice man, tall and handsome. He was very fit looking, and had a very prominent nose, he had longer black hair that was a bit untidy like James's, but not to that extent.
"What's going to happen to James now?" Lily asked, her voice cracking.
"He'll be shipped off to Azkaban now, at least until his hearing," the auror replied, running his hand through his hair like James always did.
Lily fell to the ground in a dead faint.
James woke up to find himself in a cold dark room. He was sitting on the ground which was made of cement, but had lots of dirt in it. The walls were damp and cold also, and James saw brutal waves out the tiny window in the corner.
He jumped up and reached for his wand, only to find it missing. He reached for his glasses and put them on, he saw black figures floating around in just outside of a set of bars, two on each side.
"Tell me where I am," he demanded, but there was no response. "TELL ME WHERE I AM!" he yelled. Still there was no answer.
Suddenly he heard footsteps headed towards his cell. "Hello Mr. Potter," he heard.
It was Albus Dumbledore, and Cornelius Fudge. "How have you been holding up?" he heard his old headmaster ask. James didn't answer.
"Don't be civil to him, he's nothing but a cold hearted murderer!" Fudge whispered to Dumbledore.
"What do you mean I'm a murderer? You have got to have the wrong man!" James said suddenly, a note of fear in his voice. "And where is Minister Bagnold? Shouldn't she be down here questioning me?" he asked.
The two men outside of his cell gave each other strange looks. "She would be, but she's dead," Dumbledore said suddenly.
"What? When did this happen?" James asked, his mouth hanging open.
"What do you mean when did this happen, you were there, you KILLED her, don't play dumb with us, Potter," Fudge said.
"I didn't kill anyone!" James protested.
"It doesn't matter, your wand had the killing curse on it, and you had motive-" Fudge tried to continue
"What motive?" James asked, getting angry.
"You were having an affair with her and-"
"WHO TOLD YOU THAT?" James bellowed.
"None of your business, anyway, is there anyone in particular that you can call in for your defense? And is there anyone you would like us to call in?" Fudge said, not giving James's question a second thought.
"Lily, Sirius, and Remus," James said immediately. They would be able to help him for sure.
"Lily," said a wispy voice. Lily sat up and looked at where she was. Everything was sparkling white and the place smelled sterile. The hospital.
"How are you feeling?" the wispy voice asked. She identified herself as Nurse Jones.
"Where am I?" Lily asked.
"You're at the Sacred Heart Hospital, now how are you?" she asked.
"I'm fine, but how is-" Lily started to say but was interrupted by a needle making its way into her arm. "What is that for?" Lily asked, flinching.
"You need your liquids, now swallow this and you should feel a little drowsy," the nurse said, stuffing a pill into her mouth.
Lily spit it out immediately. "I want to know how my baby is," she said coldly.
"If you just take your pills I'll get the doctor to come in and talk to you," Nurse Jones said just as cold, once again stuffing pills into Lily's mouth.
Lily swallowed them, reluctantly and resorted to glaring at the nurse while she checked all of Lily's vitals.
Hours later Lily was still waiting for the doctor to come in and talk to her when she thought she saw Sirius walk past the door. She thought that she must be delirious and shook it off.
Just then the doctor walked in. "Hello Mrs. Potter I'm Dr. Jensen how are you feeling today?" he asked, pulling out a clipboard.
"I'd be doing a lot better if I didn't have to wait for five hours for news on if everything's ok with pregnancy," Lily retorted. She had always hated hospitals.
The doctor's smile faded. "Ah yes, sorry about the wait, Anyway you're doing just fine and so is the baby, although we would like to keep you for a couple of days for observations and maybe we'll need to put you on bed rest," he said.
"Why would you need to do that if we're both fine?" Lily asked, getting worried.
"Well in some tests your baby showed some abnormalities, it's really highly developed for you only being about eight weeks along, have you been taking some drugs or steroids that could be affecting your child's health?" he asked. Lily glared at him. "I'll take that as a no," he said, marking something on his clipboard.
Lily knew exactly why her baby was developing faster; it was definitely a wizard, because in the womb they tend to grow faster than muggle babies do.
"You've got to let me go and see my husband," Lily said, she was going to try to leave and not come back.
"We can't let you do that Mrs. Potter, I'm sorry but we can try and get him to come here," the doctor offered.
"He can't come to me, I have to go to him," Lily said, a tear rolling down her cheek.
"Merlin, James, we'll get you out of here as soon as we can," Sirius said, as he was meeting with his friend. Remus was there also, but was staying very quiet.
"Where is Lily?" James asked, looking concerned.
"We couldn't reach her, we're sure she's fine though," Sirius said quickly. James nodded, looking a little bit sad.
"Are they going to give me the kiss?" he asked, looking scared.
"They can't because you're innocent, James," Remus said, it was the first thing he had said since he had arrived there.
"I think I heard that Lily was taken to a hospital because she fainted or something," Sirius said looking at James, sympathetically.
"I want her here as soon as you find her. I'm scared that they're not even going to give me a fair trial and I want to at least be able to say goodbye to her while I am still sane. I want her to know that whatever I did was only to protect her. But you guys, the worst part is that I don't even remember last night," James said sadly, looking down, letting a single tear fall freely to the ground.
"It's going to be alright James, everything will work itself out in time," Remus said, feeling sorry for his best friend.
"She's going to hate me, she won't believe that I'm innocent," James said shaking his head.
"Time's up you two," said what had to be the only human guard in Azkaban. Remus and Sirius grabbed their coats and left, leaving James to the dementors.
Author's Note: I don't really like this chapter, but it's one of those ones that you've got to have in order to proceed with the story. And thank you so much to: Da-Munchine for reviewing my last chapter! It's really appreciated!