"As well they should be," snapped McGonagall a little tersely, "Even the bravest of hearts have fears. No child should be subjected to that kind of inane madness at this crucial point in their life."
Dumbledore drew in a long, tired breath and said quietly and effectively, "Voldemort (he ignored McGonagall's flinch) may have failed in his original plan, God know what it may have been, but he did succeed in something greater. He struck fear into the lives of not only all of Hogwarts peers, but their parents as well. I will be most concerned in seeing just how many parents pull their children out of Hogwarts for good."
Dumbledore and McGonagall's conversation went on unnoticed to the Marauders, whom had taken their seats, albeit stiffly, for the tension had not only been in the hospital wing, the Gryffindor common room, and the Transfiguration classroom, but the Great Hall as well. Lily had a feeling that the world beyond that of Hogwarts was just as strained and tinted with fear. Surely by now the word has gotten out to the rest of the Wizarding community that Voldemort and his followers had been bold and cowardly enough to strike at the lowest point in wizards' status. A trainload full of under-trained, ignorant, and innocent school children.
"The post should be here soon," commented Remus, his greyish-blue eyes shooting heavenward to observe the fascinating bolts of lightning and heart-shattering booms of thunder.
"How long d'ya think the storm will last?" spoke Peter, lifting his beady eyes in the direction of Remus'.
"Who knows? Probably not too longer. It's been this way for two days after all." chimed in Sirius, happily sinking himself into any sort of conversation, even one as boring as the weather. It was rather unnerving to actually be able to hear your own heartbeat in the Great Hall during lunch time. Tiny wisps of what they could only assume to be whispers from their peers penetrated their ears occasionally, but that was it. No cocky second years conversing with the new and timid first years about what their past experiences were the year before. No arrogant Gilderoy Lockhart shouting as loud as he could to anyone who would listen about his "thrilling" adventures the past summer. And the thing that unnerved them all to no end:
No invitations from the opposite sex for dates.
Not trying to come off as egocentric, but usually the first day back was hectic in that area. Whether it be Hufflepuff girls, Ravenclaw boys, or first year, ignorant and confident Slytherians, there was always at least six people yearning to chat away with the group of five 6th year Gryffindors.
At that moment, Sirius was pulled into a much less dull conversation. Frank and Shelia both practically dropped into seats next to the Marauders. Both looked exhausted; you could easily see dark bags under their weary eyes.
"How are you, Lily, James?" asked Frank, rubbing his eyes. When he opened them again, Lily realized they were bloodshot.
"We're both fine. Madame Pomfrey fixed us up straight away," answered James.
"What about you two?" asked Sirius, shoving some shepard's pie into his hungry mouth.
"Been up all night with some of the teachers and Dumbledore," explained Frank, "chaos at the Ministry-,"
"Not just the Ministry," cut in Shelia, shaking some of her unkempt hair out of her eyes, "all of England and Scotland, the wizarding parts, at least-,"
"Word reached the Daily Prophet last night about 2:00. Seen the paper yet?" continued Frank, casting each of them a penetrating look.
They all five shook their heads.
"Post hasn't arrived yet," answered Remus.
"Oh, they sure had a field day with this one, they did," griped Shelia angrily. "Had some of their reporters arrive here last night, lickity split, precisely seven minutes after catching wind of the...incident. Insisted on waking the both of you," she indicated Lily and James, "up last night. Said they wanted to get their facts straight, they did. Said they had a right to know. But Dumbledore was very firm on keeping them away from the two of you. Said you've been through enough for the time being, he did."
"So, they printed without your input. Bundles of those papers hit the streets all over England and Scotland straight away after they finished the article. The way parents were sending howlers to Dumbledore starting at 4:00 this morning, the Headmaster shoulda just let the both of you give your statements."
"They, the reporters that is, blew this whole thing completely out of proportion. You know some of the rumors going around the school?" asked Shelia.
"Like the one with both of us fighting off seven hippogriffs and three dragons," smiled Lily, the thought so ludicrous it was hilarious.
Frank and Shelia nodded, "Yes, that one. Well, that rumor, and many others, didn't just start from one random student. That was in the article from the Daily Prophet."
James, who was in the process of drinking some of his ice cold pumpkin juice, promptly spit it out, sputtering indignantly, "Honestly!"
"You're not serious!" exclaimed Lily practically at the same time as James. A rather large crackle of thunder practically shook the castle at that moment.
Frank nodded solemnly, "Oh, we are, trust us."
"You would expect this from some silly kid, but not from grown witches and wizards!" Shelia's outburst was droned out by the way the Marauders started up on their own objections.
Finally, their yelling got so bad, that by the time Frank got the five sixth years to calm down, the majority of the Great Hall was looking in their direction.
"Bloody unbelievable," muttered Sirius under his breath, planting his chin in between his two fists on the table.
"Well, we didn't mean to cause a riot in the middle of the Great Hall today, I must say," said Frank, finally helping himself to some chicken and potatoes. His brows were drawn down, making him look like he had one long uni-brow, and his mouth was set into a firm frown as he shoved some carrots around his plate with a fork.
"Is there anything else bothering you, Frank?" Lily asked, knowing full well the amount of stupidity the question held the second it left her mouth. As if all that has happened in the past day hadn't been enough to make Frank look as preoccupied as he did.
Surprising her, Frank sighed and said in such a quiet voice, Lily had to strain her ears just to hear him say it. "I don't know...just...this whole thing...(he sighed again)..." he broke off and looked up at her and the rest of them, "I've wanted to be an auror for 13 years of my life...and it's taken pretty near 24 hours for me to realize that I'm not fit for this position. I'm not even fit to assist running a school." He dropped his fork with a clatter and put dropped his face into his hands before speaking in a muffled voice, "If I could, I would resign my position."
He went on despite the second outburst the Marauders had exclaimed, "As it is, Dumbledore's already denied my permission to do that. Bloody mistake that is in my opinion."
"Frank, it wasn't your fault it happened," said Lily desperately, comfortingly placing her hand atop his, concern written all over her features.
"Yeah, Frank, it was nobody's fault. You did all you could in your power. You and Shelia." said James.
"It was Voldemort's fault, that who it was...well, him and-," Sirius broke off, jerking his head in the direction of the Slytherian table.
Frank and Shelia both turned in their seats and viewed Lucius Malfoy talking with some of his old buddies. Jerome Crab and Alazar Mirish were clapping him on the back, obvious delighted at his return to Hogwarts. Frank and Shelia both scowled as they turned back around.
"So, you think Malfoy had something to do with all this?" asked Frank conversationally, still downcast.
Sirius scoffed, "Of course. There's no question about it."
Remus, not wanting more attention drawn to them, said in a low key voice, "Can you tell us anymore about what's been happening?"
Just at that moment, a heart-stopping flash of lightning illuminated the already brilliantly lit Great Hall.
"'Fraid not, Lupin," said Shelia, shortly. "Dumbledore's sworn us to secrecy about most of the stuff we discussed last night."
"Besides, not even Dumbledore knows too much about what has happened...well, he knows about Voldemort and everything, but..." he trailed off, casting a quick glance over at Lily.
"What on earth was that bubble thing?" loudly butted in Shelia, curiosity overcoming subtlety. Another sound of thunder, accompanied by a flash of lightning, made for the perfect effects to Shelia's question. Frank shot Shelia a look that could curdle milk.
Lily fidgeted in her seat, a tinge of pink appearing on her cheeks as more and more people around them that had heard Shelia's question turned their heads to glance at her, an almost desperate-for-information desired look in their eyes. Rita Skeeter from the Ravenclaw table was peering at her with hungry, animal on the prowl look, her hands gripping a quill and parchment readily. Clarence Kreppets from Hufflepuff was gaping stupidly at her, his mouth hanging open and exposing a disgustingly half-chewed piece of bacon. Luckily, neither the Slytherians nor the teachers had heard Shelia, so their attention was away from her.
"I-I don't know," she said softly, looking down at her plate. For some reason, at that moment, she felt self-conscious about what had happened. Before, it had only baffled her. But now, seeing her peers' reactions to what she had done not only embarrassed her, but it also frightened her. After all, Dumbledore had done ten times more powerful things than any of them, and they had never once, not once, looked at him as though he were some new animal in a cage at a zoo. But that's what they were doing to Lily.
James, seeing Lily's affection to all this, gripped her hand and squeezed it. He said loudly, with a tone of finality, "Lily and I are going to grab out books for the next class." With that, he pulled Lily from the bench and rushed her out the Great Hall.
From up at the teachers' table, Dumbledore looked on with a pondering stare.
The next morning, the storm had finally stopped and the sun was able to shine brilliantly upon Hogwarts once more. Unfortunately, the sun seemed to have been the only cheery thing around those parts.
"...'We at the Daily Prophet have been most fortunate at locating a few select individuals at Hogwarts to grace us with some answers that not only us, but our Wizarding community as a whole, have been wondering. Rita Skeeter, a delightful fifth year student at Hogwarts, was kind enough to inform us about the details of the recent attack on Hogwarts' youth.
"I was in my safely locked up compartment the time the dreadfully frightening incident occurred. Luckily, I was able to see the terrifying action going on outside with Lily Evans, James Potter, and You-Know-Who." stated Skeeter, "At first, it was just Lily, You-Know-Who, and his...deatheaters. Then, suddenly, he snapped his fingers and about ten, no, fifteen hippogriffs and twelve dragons appeared. By that time, James had run out of the train and, oh, it was so strange. They, James and Lily I mean, started to talk to one another. Then I saw them pull out their wands and shout the Stupefy curse. And...and the beam of light, purple it was, split into four separate beams and hit four of You-Know-Who's deatheaters. Oh my, it was strange indeed. And then-,'"
"Stop, just stop reading Moony," James cut Remus off. Remus looked up from his copy of the Daily Prophet, staring at James and Lily both from across his seat at the Gryffindor table in the Great Hall at breakfast that morning. Everyone's owl showed up for breakfast, beings that none of them had reached their owners yesterday, all day, on account of the storm. Meaning that practically every single occupant in the Great Hall was reading, whispering, or pointing about at Lily and James right now after receiving their own copy of the Daily Prophet.
Lily's hands were balled up into fists, squeezing them so tightly that the blood had drained from them, leaving them to look like two small snowballs. Her face was flushed with anger and embarrassment as she caught some of the pointed stares being thrown her way by most of her peers. James took one of her hands into his and forced it open so he could hold it properly. She relaxed a little, but not enough to stop an outburst of fury.
"That bloody Rita Skeeter!" She cast a furious glance over at the Ravenclaw who was filing her nails, purposely avoiding any of the Marauders' stares.
"What a rotten, little liar," breathed Peter, straining his neck to catch a glimpse of the article Remus held in his hands.
James nodded, finishing the last of his pancakes and said through a mouthful of it, "Well, no need to dwell upon old news, now is there? Let's go fetch our books. We have Charms in fifteen minutes." He pulled Lily up and the others followed him out the Great Hall, purposefully ignoring any and all stares they were receiving.
"Oh, I just can't take it anymore! I'm going to the library! Don't wait up, James!" exclaimed Lily, shooting to her feet, letting go of James' hand, and practically running out of the Gryffindor common room.
She and James had just been asked about the incident for the fourteenth time as they were trying to peacefully do their homework on their favorite couch in front of the fire. The day had been rough. Flitwick decided that just because it was their sixth year, void of the OWLs and NEWTs, that didn't mean the workload would be any less the harder. If anything, it was worse than their previous year. Already he had assigned them a twelve foot essay on the origin of the Replacement Charm and had told them to be expecting a quiz during their next session.
Unfortunately, Hooch and McGonagall obtained the same attitude two days ago when the Marauders had Transfiguration and Herbology.
Lily was reaching a boiling point all day, and the little second year girl that had just curiously asked her about it had sent her straight off the edge. James had calmly told her to go away. He had been the sensible one for the past two days, surprisingly. It had seemed as though their roles had switched. Because, you see, never before had Lily blown up at a younger student. Never in her life. That, ironically, had been James' job.
So, after all that, James was left to stare at the fire in front of him pensively, going over all of the events from the previous week. He knew that Lily was just stressed, more than usual, and that was why she was acting the way she was. So, he wasn't too concerned about that.
Despite his calmness towards the curious students, he couldn't help but feel a hidden anger deep within him. The sting of his father not being the Minister of Magic and being accused of such things as Dark Magic affected him tremendously, even if he hadn't shown it.
Of course, Wellington was taking it much worse that he...and showing it as well. That afternoon in Potions, someone had made a remark about 'administering the batch in (they had been talking about a batch of freshly cut frog legs)', but Cassandra, lost in her own little woeful world and thinking about her tragic life, heard 'assistant Minister of Magic' and went completely off the edge. She screamed to the innocent people, "My father will return to office!!! Just you wait!!!"
James started to laugh quietly to himself, relishing in the thought of the lost, frantic look that had delightfully placed itself into Cassandra's eyes at that moment. It was when James' laugh had gotten a bit louder that Sirius, Remus, and Peter walked into the common room, heading straight for him.
"Hey James," greeted Peter, all three of them giving him a weird look, not expecting him to be so cheerful at that time.
"Where's Lily?" Remus asked, noticing the redhead's absence.
"Where else? The library." James's laughs subsided. The three others joined him on the couch and started in on their heavy load of homework as well.
A/N- hello everyone. I'm sorry for such a long pause in this story, as well as my others. It's been a little weird around here. I've had another...well, event happen to me and I've been back in the hospital. I'm sorry if this seemed a little short and a bit choppy and rushed, I really wanted to get this out as soon as possible. And, the fact that I haven't been too well has left me a little not up too standards. This chapter didn't finish up the rest of the preview things like I wanted it to, but I'm hoping the next chapter will. I'm hoping I won't get any negative reviews from this chapter (all the grammar mistakes and maybe some sentences not making sense). Just keep in mind that I haven't been well for a couple of weeks and I'm still recovering. I really don't want to tell you all what happened, so I ask you to just bear with me as I try to update my other stories as soon as possible.
About the poll of the other story plots. As soon as I get around to it and feeling up to it, I'll start off with story # 3, then #4, followed by #1, then #2, and finally #5. If you find that the outcome didn't coincide with the reviews I have gotten, it is because I also asked friends and family members.
Thank you to everyone who has been patiently waiting. You all deserve much more than this.
In case some of you forgot what the preview things were, here they are again:
"What's he doing here?!"
"That was about the biggest load of crap I've ever heard in my entire life."