A/N: Hey again! I'm glad you guys liked the last chapter so much. I had so much fun writing it. Anyway, I wanted to ask you if you guys liked the whole thing with Sirius and Regulus? They hate each other and everything, but they still love each other. I don't know if that makes any sense, but I think I'm going to explain their relationship better in upcoming chapters. Just let me know if you'd like to hear about the brothers or not and I'll do whatever. Thanks a lot!
Remus felt something cold and slimy lapping against his face. He wanted to see what it was, but he just couldn't open his eyes. He was so tired and his entire body felt like a piece of lead. Finally, his curiosity about the slimy thing got the better of him and he wrenched open his eyes. Remus screamed in surprise. A big black shaggy dog was standing over him, licking his face. The dog gave him a grin and hopped off the bed, only to jump back on it.
"Oh, Padfoot, that's disgusting," Remus said wiping his face, "You've got terrible dog's breath you know." Sirius yipped happily, his dog tail wagging like crazy. "Get away from me, you mangy mutt. No, I'm not going to pet you, being licked by you is sick enough," Remus said pushing the dog away. Sirius whined and his ears dropped. Remus sighed, "Alright, fine," he said scratching Sirius behind the ears.
"Good to see you, Moony," Sirius said after transforming into himself.
"How long have we been in the hospital wing?" Remus asked.
"You've been sleeping for two days," Remus looked appalled and Sirius quickly explained, "When Dumbledore stopped all of the earth shakes, he used a tremendous amount of power and the people who were out in the open were drained of their energy. Most of them are awake by now, you must have got it pretty bad."
"How long were you out?"
"None," Sirius said casually, "For some reason, I still had all of my energy, but I kept having spasms all day yesterday. The only reason I'm out of bed now is because I sneaked out as a dog. Madame Pompfrey still thinks I'm sleeping in the bed."
"What about James?" Remus said worriedly.
Sirius didn't answer straight away, but he finally sighed and said, "They don't know what's wrong with him. Pompfrey says she can fix it, she just has to find out how. But with so many people being hurt, she hasn't had much time to work on him. He hasn't moved or woken since the attack started."
"Why don't they take him to St. Mungo's?"
"Er—" Sirius thought for a moment, "There's no room."
"What?" Remus asked confused, "That place is huge."
Sirius sighed, "It turns out that Hogwarts wasn't the only place attacked by Voldermort—"
"So it was him?"
"Yeah, let me finish though," Sirius dropped his voice, "Voldermort and some Death eaters were actually going to attack a muggle village not too far away from Hogwarts. They went there and instead of just killing everybody, they had some fun torturing them first. The earthquakes that we felt here were just a result of the magic going on at the village."
They both were quiet for awhile before Remus asked, "So, was everyone in the village killed?"
Sirius smiled grimly, "No, Dumbledore knew something was wrong and he got there to sort out the village immediately. A couple of aurors followed Dumbledore and they managed to save most of the people in the village. Unfortunately, Voldermort and all but three death eaters got away safely. McGonagall managed to get a hold of Dumbledore and he left the ministry to sort out the rest of the village and he came to save us."
"Got to love old Dumbledore."
"Yeah," Sirius said bitterly, "But the ministry is angry with him for leaving the village without permission. Evidently, Dumbledore was supposed to save the entire village alone and then wait around for the Minister to show up and tell him he could go save the school."
"That's outrageous," Remus said angrily.
Sirius rolled his eyes, "It gets better…Dumbledore said he was eating dinner with the Minister when Fawkes warned him of the attack on the village. That stupid minister git didn't believe him, so Dumbledore just grabbed a couple close friends who were aurors and went to save the village himself."
Remus shook his head smirking slightly, "So where are the muggles that they saved?"
"St. Mungo's for now. I think that they're coming to stay at Hogwarts until their homes get restored. Then it's memory zap for them and they go on with their lives."
Remus snorted, "You think we'd be a bit more courteous to them seeing as they were attacked by a wizard that we can't control."
"That is a very good point, mate," Sirius said with a curious expression on his face.
"Er—excuse me, Miss Evans?"
Lily turned to see a tall, pretty, raven-haired woman walking towards her, "Yes, I'm Lily Evans. Can I help you?"
The woman smiled, there was something familiar about that smile to Lily, but she couldn't quite figure out what it was, "I'm looking for the hospital wing, Lily, but alas, it's been so long since I've been to the school, I've quite forgotten where it was. I was just wondering if you could point it out…?"
"Oh yes, of course," Lily said returning the smile, "A few years ago they moved it up to the fourth floor instead of the first. I'm sure that's what threw you off, Miss…?"
"Elizabeth Potter," the woman replied, extending her hand, "I'm James' mother."
Lily blinked surprised, the woman had the same smile as James, "It's nice to meet you, Ms. Potter."
"The same to you, Lily, but please, call me Beth," She replied with a grin, "James has always spoke so highly of you and I understand why now."
"James talks about me?" Lily said delighted.
"Oh yes, m'dear," Beth said laughing, "It's getting him to shut-up that's the hard part, but a good punch from Mr. Black usually does the trick. James can be a little tricky sometimes, he gets it from his father, but really he's a good guy. He cares for you a lot, Miss Evans."
Lily blushed and changed the subject quickly, "So, um, are you helping out with the people who are hurt from the attack?"
"Oh no," Beth frowned, "I'm here to see James. Dumbledore sent a letter that he wasn't doing well after getting hurt during the Ball."
Lily felt her heart stop, "James is hurt?""Why, yes, dear, he hasn't woken up since the attack. They aren't able to find out what's wrong or a cure for it."
"I'm so sorry, I didn't know," Lily said quickly, "You'd best be getting to the hospital wing then."
"Yes, I have to get going," Beth said confused, "You say it's on the fourth floor?"
"Yes, on the right, you can't miss it," Lily said, already sprinting towards the Gryffindor Common room, "I'm going to murder Sirius Black!"
"SIRIUS!" Lily yelled seeing the boy sitting on a chair by the fire, "You had better give me a good reason not to hex you until death."
Sirius looked confused, "Er—can I have the reason you're yelling at me for, first?"
"You told me that James was okay and instead I find out from his mother that he's in some sort of coma," Lily snapped.
"Oh," Sirius said weakly, "I—well, I mean, if it wasn't for you're idiot boyfriend showing up and cursing Prongs then he would have been fine."
It finally hit Lily. It was her fault that James was hurt. She should have never agreed to go to the ball with him. She knew that Amos would be jealous. She couldn't bear it if James didn't wake up soon.
"Lily, don't worry," Sirius said patting her arm comfortingly, "James is going to be alright, it's just going to take some time."
Lily looked at Sirius, "I did this to him, it's all my fault. I shouldn't have gone to the ball with him."
"Going to the Ball with him was the best thing you've ever done for James," Sirius said hugging her, "You made him happy."
"What if he doesn't wake up? I'll never be able to tell him that I'm sorry."
"What are you sorry for?" Sirius asked her curiously.
Lily buried her head into Sirius' shoulder, "That I was wrong about him, he's a great guy. And that I don't hate him like I always said I did. I never let myself have any fun around him because I knew—I just knew…"
Sirius looked at Lily, a smirk playing across his face, "So Lily Evans has finally fallen for the old 'Potter Charm.' James always said it worked on all the girls, I never thought I'd see the day when it worked on you."
"It hasn't," Lily said quickly, "I don't like James, not like that," She lowered her voice to barely a whisper, "I can't."
Sirius laughed outright, "Of course you can, it happens to everyone at sometime or another. Come on Evans, even I actually like, like, somebody. You like James, even if it's only a teensy weensy bit, just admit it."
"I do not like him," Lily retorted, "He's a good friend, that's all I'm saying."
"My dear Lily, you leave me no choice," Sirius cleared his throat and yelled loudly across the room, "DENIAL!" several students stared at Sirius curiously, "WHO HERE THINKS THAT LILY EVANS…"
"Sirius don't!" Lily whispered, "I do not like him."
"Admit it and it's all over," Sirius said with a huge grin, "AS I WAS SAYING…"
"Fine! I'll admit it, just don't yell it all over the room," Lily groaned, Sirius smiled and turned away from the staring crowd.
"Oy, Black!" a fifth year yelled, "What were you saying?"
Lily shook her head warningly at Sirius, who had a mischievous glint in his eyes, "I WAS SAYING, WHO HERE THINKS THAT LILYKINS AND I WOULD MAKE ONE HELL OF A COUPLE!" Sirius grabbed Lily and wrapped her in his arms.
"I'd say that Lily would need a large glass of brandy beforehand and a good case of memory loss after you're done with her," Holly said, coming down the staircase to the girls dormitory.
Everyone laughed as Jason Cordata, a sixth year, stood and said, "If you taking Evans, Black, can I have Holly?"
Sirius waltzed over to Jason with an ugly smile on his face. People stopped laughing, Sirius had been known to do oddly rash things at the poking fun at he and Holly's relationship, "Jason, mate," he said putting his arm around his shoulder, "I am the king of juggling two girls at once, most of the time more, but we won't get into that. Now then, do you really think that I would let one of the lovely ladies out of my hands and into yours?"
Sirius and everyone else laughed heartily at the look of relief on Jason's face. Sirius grabbed Holly and carried her over to where Lily was sitting as everyone else went back to their work.
"What's up, Lils?" Holly said taking a seat next to her best friend.
"Lily has been admitting her wildly divine feelings for a certain best mate of mine," Sirius said taking a seat on Holly.
"I have not—"
"Well, Lils, what are you going to do about Amos now that you've finally come to your senses?" Holly asked.
Lily looked at Holly, dismayed, "I'm not doing anything about Amos. You of all people, Holly, should know that I care a lot about Amos and I wouldn't let anything get in the way of our relationship."
Holly rolled her eyes, "And I of all people, Lily, should know that you really like James, but you're too stubborn to admit it."
"I am not stubborn."
Sirius winked at Holly before turning to Lily, "Well, Evans, it doesn't really matter because James thinks of you as a fellow student, not as a friend or potential girlfriend. In other words, if you really were going to pursue your interests in James, it wouldn't work out."
Holly caught onto Sirius' game, "Yeah, Lils, Sirius is probably right. You'd do best just to stay with Amos. Even though he is the most boring thing that walked the earth since bacteria…"
"Amos is not boring," Lily said indignantly, "I mean, James is practically too interesting with everything he's good at. And Amos' talk of work at the ministry isn't so boring, but James just goes on and on with jokes and endless fun. He never takes thing as serious as Amos…"
"Yeah, no kidding," Holly said sarcastically, "Who'd want to have fun all the time?"
"Now that's not what I'm saying," Lily replied, "James is great, really, but I just…" she stopped for a moment before snapping back into it, "Like Sirius said, he doesn't like me, and I, most certainly, will never fall for James Potter."
"Too true," Sirius said reflecting for a moment before holding his arm out to Holly, "All this talk has made me hungry. May I escort you to dinner, my fine young lady?"
Lily rolled her eyes, "When aren't you hungry, Sirius?" But deep inside herself she felt a pang on lonesomeness as she followed as a third wheel down to dinner, behind a very happy and lovely couple.
A/N: Sorry it took so long but Drivers Ed along with summer activities has kept me busy. And of course the beautiful weather has kept me outside rather than on the computer! I'll try to update soon, and just for a warning, there's some very big twists coming up! Please review and tell me how you feel on the Sirius and Regulus thing. Thanks a lot!
