'ALLO ALL! I AM HAPPILY ALL BETTER AND HERE IS YOUR NEW YEARS PRESENT! HAPPY 2005 EVERYBODY AND I HOPE THIS YEAR IS BETTER THAN LAST AND ALL OF YOU HAVE A MERRY YEAR!!!!

I'M SORRY TO ALL OF MY REVIEWERS BUT I CAN'T WRITE BACK TO ALL OF YOUR REVIEWS BECAUSE I SADLY CAN'T GET TO THEM AT THE MOMENT BECAUSE I HAVE A RETARDED COMPUTER,BUT I REALLY DO APPRECIATE THEM ALL! THANK YOU!!!!!


CH. 8

Lily heard the door burst open and voices. She couldn't make out what they were saying but she heard footsteps running down the stairs. She wanted to scream out to them that Voldemort was down there. She felt someone lift her up but she couldn't open her eyes to see who it was. A loving and familiar voice spoke to her but the words seemed jumbled and fuzzy to Lily. She knew whose strong arms held her and she knew whose kind voice spoke to her, James, her love. 'I can't move or speak. What's wrong with me? I must have hit my head on the stair harder than I thought.' Lily thought as she felt James hugging her to him. 'What's wrong? Why is he crying?' Lily thought with panic as she felt James' body shaking and tears hit her face. 'What happened? Is something wrong with Keely?' Lily was ready to jump up and do something to help but she was unable to move.

James clutched Lily's limp body to him. He knew she wouldn't die but he couldn't bring himself to admit he'd almost lost her again. Dumbledore put a hand on James' shoulder and spoke softly.

"This is my fault. I should have flooed to her apartment immediatly." Shouting could be heard from the stairwell and smoke began to roll out of the open doorway. Aurors could be seen running out with their hand over their mouths coughing. Sirius, Charly, Frank and Alice stood there and coughed.

"What happened?" James asked in a croaky voice.

"Don't know, Tori was screaming and then the stairwell collapsed. There were eight flights of stairs." Sirius said softly looking at Remus who had been standing next to James.

"Where is she?" Remus asked frightened. Sirius had a glazed look in his eyes, he couldn't bear to look Remus straight in the eye.

"There was nothing we could do. She was too far down the stairs when they collapsed." He said sadly and looked at his feet as his friend began to sob.

"She's dead?" Remus choked. Charly went to him and put a comforting arm around his shaking form.

"We were only married two days." He sobbed.

"When?" Charly began but stopped, it wasn't the time to ask.

"We just wanted something small, with my mum and her parents so we got married two days ago." Remus lifted his head from his hands and tears streamed down his face. Charly rubbed her hand in small circles around his back as he shook with racking sobs.

"Oh Remmy." Alice sighed as she too came over to the sobbing man. Not a single eye was left dry.

'She can' have died! Tori, she can't have died!' Lily shrieked in her mind. It took all of her willpower to open her eyes but she did.

"no." she croaked and raised a shaking hand to her mouth as tears spilled down her pale cheeks. Sweet, loving, kind, caring Tori was gone and there was nothing she or anyone else could do about it.

A cry of pain and a flash of green light came from the stairwell as Remus ran to the doorway. Pointing his wand in he muttered something and the stairwell danced with light. Staring into the depths of the deep hole Remus almost choked when he saw Tori's body pinned underneath a railing.

"Help! She's down there! She might be alive!" Remus yelled as her was about to jump down. Sirius put a strong hand on his shoulder to stop him.

"It's too far down to jump, mate. You'll be killed for sure. Plus, apparating's faster." He smiled at his friend and Remus disappeared. Remus appeared a moment later at the bottom of the stairwell. Walking cautiously across the rubble he reached Tori and knelt down, trying to lift the heavy railing. Sirius appeared next to him and began to help Remus. Finally pushing it off Tori Remus ran to her and grabbed her hand.

"Is she?" Sirius asked in a whisper, not wanting to finish his sentence. Remus gave an aggravated cry and disappeared. Sirius cautiously walked toward Tori and lifted her into his arms. Disappearing he landed in the room that held his awaiting friends. Laying Tori softly on the tiled ground Sirius stood and looked at the, now, fully awake Lily.

"I don't know Siri." Lily said in answer to his unasked question. Scooting toward her friend Lily took out her wand and pointed her wand at Tori's wrist. Muttering softly a green line began to trace Tori's veins and a small letter c appeared on the inside of her wrist. Tears welled up in Lily's eyes and she bent over one of her best friends and cried.