A/N: Ok, first I want to say a huge thank you to you guys for reviewing, you have been amazing, and my ego is feeling good ;) Also, I hope you enjoy this update, it may not be what you were expecting, but it is what I have had planned for a while now….
Chapter 14 part 1:
James walked into the Great Hall, still chuffed with the fact that he had woken up in such proximity to Lily, and as such, oblivious to the reaction they had been greeted with when they entered the hall. It wasn't until he heard Sirius mutter, something about it not being his fault, that he realised there was a problem with their arrival. James looked around the hall, noticing that all eyes were on the entrance area, and that students were muttering to each other, and shooting curious, scared glances their way.
His initial reaction to the students' behaviour was that they had been hexed with something making them look like two headed multicoloured freaks in retaliation to the circus prank they had placed on the Slytherins. But he knew it was more serious than that by the looks on their faces, and he also realised that this attention was not for all of them, but only one member of the group that had entered the Great Hall late that morning; the one student that walked in first. He had a feeling she wasn't getting this attention just because she came in with a group of students from another house, and he also surmised that she herself, had no idea why people were staring at her.
Olivia had stopped after only just entering the hall, a couple of metres in front of the rest of the group, upon realising she had attracted such attention. James could see that she was utterly confused, and somewhat apprehensive as to why the majority of the student population had decided to grace her with so much acknowledgement of her existence. James saw her try and give Lily an inconspicuous glance, searching, in James's opinion, for some reassurance. He looked at Lily and saw that she was biting her lip slightly and had concern etched onto her face.
James watched as Olivia, for a reason James was lost to, glanced briefly at Sirius, before making her way slowly and tentatively through the sea of curious gazes towards the Slytherin table, taking a seat next to Snape, who immediately started talking into her ear. James noticed, before he followed the rest of the group over to their own house table, that the majority of the Slytherins did not appear at all concerned or scared about whatever it was Olivia had done, and that did not bode well with him.
"Where the hell have you guys been?" Augie asked worriedly, as the group sat at their usual spots at the table.
"Why didn't you come back to the dorm last night, Lily?" Alice asked before any of them had a chance to respond to August's question.
"I stayed in the Head's Room last night," Lily said distractedly, "what the hell have we missed?"
"You guys were in the Head's Room together?" Augie asked looking at them collectively. "Not with Semasky though, right?"
"Not really important now, Augie," Lily said frustratedly, "and Olivia wasn't with us, what gives you that idea?"
James caught Lily's eye, giving him a look that clearly told him to go along with this version of events. He just nodded slightly in response, and noticed the other three boys remained quiet.
"Just the timing of your entrance I guess," she replied, shrugging slightly.
"What the hell is going on?" Sirius asked, a slightly impatient tone in his voice, which James was quite familiar with.
"I guess you guys should read the Daily Prophet," Alice answered chucking the one in front of her towards Sirius, Remus and Peter, while Augie passed one towards James and Lily for them to read.
"It's not good," Augie said solemnly.
He now understood why such a large proportion of the students were informed of whatever it was that Semasky had done. It wasn't unusual now for so many of the student's to receive a copy of the Daily Prophet, as it would have been when they were younger. So many of them, particularly the older students, wanted to keep informed about what was going on. Voldemort's presence was a real threat now, that none of them, no matter how much they would have liked too, could ignore.
James could not deny that he had breathed a sigh of relief when he realised the attention from the students during their entry, was not focused on any of his friends, or himself. He had a hunch that whatever had happened was serious, and he didn't want any of his friends to be involved in something like that. He had already watched as one of his friends, well, the person he adored more than anyone, coped with the loss of their family this year, and he couldn't bear for another one of his friends to go through the same ordeal, and he didn't even want to think about himself going through it. He honestly didn't know how Lily did it; how she remained so strong.
Lily gasped and swore under her breath, James feeling her body tremble slightly. He grabbed the paper out of her hand so he could read the article that had gained such a reaction, knowing that he had been right, whatever Olivia had done, was not good.
Attacks made on Muggle London: Suspects apprehended
In the early hours of this morning, a series of attacks on popular muggle venues throughout inner city London, were made by he-who-must-not-be-named and a band of his loyal supporters, who are now known collectively as 'Death Eaters'. Although the presence of he-who-must-not-be-named has yet to be confirmed, the attacks have his name written all over them, more precisely his mark. The dark mark, a green skull like symbol with a snake protruding from its mouth, was found hovering above the different venues late last night, above what could only be described as chaos. Officials have informed the Daily Prophet, that there were 50 casualties in total during the attack, 90 per cent of those being defenceless muggles. Although the details of the attack have yet to be disclosed, we can inform our readers that some suspects have been apprehended at various scenes of the attack, and are currently being held in Azkaban, awaiting trial in front of the full Wizengamot at a later date.
Suspects include: Oliver Ferris, Seth Baird and Daniel Semasky. At this stage details of the charges each suspect will be facing, are not available, however we do believe that the use of unforgivable curses are amongst the charges being laid.
The Daily Prophet has yet to receive an official announcement from the Minister of Magic and have not been informed on the knowledge the Muggle government has on the specifics of these attacks. Muggles memories have been modified, deaths being blamed on a series of explosions….
He scanned the rest of the article quickly before turning to look at Lily who was slightly pale. The article had confirmed James's impressions about Olivia. She was from a dark family, an evil family, and Lily was endangering herself staying friends with her.
"Fucking evil cowards," Sirius snarled, slamming the paper down onto the table. The group around him shaking their head in agreement.
"Daniel Semasky," Peter breathed, "is he related to Olivia?"
Sirius glanced at him witheringly, "How many Semasky's do you think there are in the Wizarding world?"
"I was just asking," he muttered, a slight blush on his face.
Sirius sighed, "Sorry Wormtail."
James was looking at Lily who was rereading the article, a look of disbelief and shock on her face. He had a feeling her views on Olivia had come crashing down. James turned to Sirius and followed his gaze over to the Slytherin table, Semasky was noticeably absent.
"Her father?" Remus mused.
James shrugged, it was who he had assumed, but Lily was the only one in their number who knew for sure, and she wasn't going to say anything in front of everyone. From her earlier statements, no one except himself knew how close Olivia and Lily actually were, not even Alice and Augie.
Lily jumped up from the table unexpectedly, "I have to go and send an owl to Petunia, make sure she is ok."
Oh shit, James thought. He had completely forgotten about her sister. They watched her retreating form, James mentally kicking himself for not thinking of that sooner.
"I think I will go with her," Alice said.
James looked up at Alice, who was starting to rise to her feet, "Do you mind if I go?" he asked, not sure if he was doing the right thing.
Alice raised an eyebrow and hesitated, before sitting back down in her seat, "Fine, just be sensitive, James."
"What do you mean?" he asked, bewildered.
"Just try not to get her more upset," Alice answered.
"Why would I want to make her more upset? I am not a bastard." James replied angrily.
"I know that, James. You just have a habit of doing it unintentionally," she said in a tired tone.
He shook his head and muttered under his breath, before rising and following after Lily, knowing Alice had a point.
o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o
So what did you think? Please leave me a review and let me know :D
In regards to the muggle attack, obviously details were inspired by the London blasts from last week. I was so disappointed and angry and upset when I saw it on the news (and no, not cause I was drunk at the time), and that reaction/attitude may come across in future writing…I do want to express my thoughts and condolences to anyone that may have been affected by these blasts, directly or not…