A/N: Thank you all for reviewing : D I'm so glad that you like the story
so far. I have more for you and I hope you enjoy it as much.
Disclaimer: I do not own anything that has to do with HP, JK Rowiling does, I only own some minor characters and the plot.
~ Legacy of Two Generations ~
Chapter 9 ~A day of Leisure
The tower was full of commotion very early the next morning as students got ready to go down for breakfast and go to class. In the boys' dormitories, the Marauders (with the exception of James) got ready to get on with their day, they tried to do everything quietly without having to wake up James, they knew that he must be exhausted after all the events from the previous day.
"Lucky dog, him." Whispered Sirius as they exited the room. "A long soak in the bath and just flopping about the whole day, a three-day weekend for him."
"Well, he certainly deserves it, he has been so busy with the Festival he barely had time for anything else." Said Remus leading the way to the common room where they would meet the girls.
"He certainly has been swamped, I cannot see how he got time to attend classes and do his work." Commented Peter. They had arrived to the common room, the girls were not there yet, so they walked up to their usual chairs to wait for them.
"Well, he is still having some trouble with Charms, it is always surprising to me how good he is at all the other classes, especially Transfiguration, but Charms is just a mystery to him." Said Remus.
"Maybe we can get Lily to help him, that's her best class." Replied Peter.
"That would be a good idea, they can spend more time together." Said Sirius.
"His mother is hiring someone to tutor him remember, he said so when we were on the train, we would have to go to her and ask her to hire Lily and that would make her suspicious and ruin everything." Responded Remus, who knew Mrs. Potter's penchant to drive her son crazy with her meddling.
"She scares me sometimes, how can a lady so intelligent think of nothing else but marrying James off, he's too young!" Exclaimed Sirius, who thought the same as James and thought marriage was a waste of time, what was the point of it?
"And if she heard that we were trying to match Lily and James it would certainly give her ideas and she might want to do so as well, and her methods are much more ruthless than ours. It would only serve to pull Lily and James apart." Said Peter as he looked into the fire. It was now November and the weather was starting to get chilly and a nice fire was welcomed . "What will pull Lily and James apart?" The boys turned as a female voice was heard from behind them. Katie and Emma stood watching them waiting for them to answer Katie's question.
"James' mum. She is the meddlesome sort." Said Sirius as he stood up from the chair and greeting the girls with a kiss in the cheek.
"Oh, yes James' mum can be ruthless in her search for a wife for James. She can't find out about our plans." Said Emma as she turned to greet the other two boys.
"Where is Lily? Still sleeping?" Said Peter as the group started to walk toward the painting hole and go to breakfast.
"Yes, she was really exhausted last night, she barely had time to change before she fell asleep." Said Katie.
"At least they will have some rest time, the lucky devils." Responded Sirius.
"Oh I know Lily would make the most of it, she plans to have a long soaking in the prefects bathroom." Said Emma with a wistful look in her face, she obviously envied Lily the opportunity.
"She can't go in there!" Exclaimed Remus coming to a halt, the group stopped to look at him with surprise.
"Why can't she, she has a right to do so." Frowned Katie.
"But James is planning to take a bath in the prefects bathroom." Said Remus.
"Oh dear, that would be awkward." Muttered Emma.
"Maybe we should leave them a note." Said Peter as he started to turn back to the Gryffindor Tower. Sirius stopped them before he could go very far however.
"No I don't think we should." Said Sirius with a mischievous smile.
"No Sirius, if you are thinking the same thing I am, it would only get us in trouble not to mention them." Said Emma.
"Oh but it would be such a great opportunity for them to know each other better." Said Katie.
"I don't think that it would be a good moment for them to do so." Said Peter, he clearly thought the idea to lead to disaster.
"So they would be embarrassed, big deal, they will get over it." Scoffed Sirius, he was getting warmed up to his idea and didn't want the others get him off it.
"But if they find out we knew about it and didn't warn them, they will be mad and you know how bad their temper could be." Said Remus.
"Don't worry, you know nothing will happen the moment one of them gets in and sees the other using the bath he or she will run out of the bathroom as if the devil was in their tail." Said Sirius.
"And Lily is to smart to leave the door unlocked, James would know then that she's in there and will go to the Head Students Bathroom." Said Katie.
"You see, there is no need to tell them, they know how to take care of themselves." Smiled Sirius and lead the group back toward the Great Hall.
The group was settling into their seats when Sirius said, "Oy, I forgot my transfiguration assignment. I'll be right back." And sped out of the Great Hall.
"How could he forget his assignment?" Asked Katie.
"He always leaves his parchments lying around, he forgets one assignment of another at all times." Said Remus serving himself some eggs.
"Hmmm.well, I don't think he can make much mischief on his own then." Said Emma.
The rest of the group laughed and Peter chocked, Remus turned to slap him in the back and said, "You obviously don't know Sirius very well."
Sirius readily returned the group was still eating and he quickly piled food on his plate.
"I'm famished, I feel as if I haven't eaten anything in weeks." He said.
"You must be joking, you ate twelve pies yesterday not to mention all the candy during the Festival and the pile of food during the Feast." Said Katie.
"I'm a growing boy, I need to be fed."
"Honestly!" She exclaimed while the others laughed.
"Well, you better hurry, we are going to be late if you don't." Said Emma getting her things together, ready to go to class.
"I wish I was James, all cozy in his bed, then take a long bath and return to the bed." Sighed Peter.
"We all wish to be in their shoes today." Said Katie.
The group left the Hall and made their way to their classes.
Lily slowly opened her eyes, sunlight streamed through the curtains surrounding her bed. She heard no noise, no whispering, no movement. Was it possible that everybody had left already? She thought, What time is it? I could not have overslept, I'll be late for class.
Lily parted the curtains and noted the time on the clock by her bed, it was 9:45.
"Oh no I'm late, Professor McGonagall will be so mad." Whispered Lily as she quickly started to get her things ready.
She was so busy getting ready that she didn't noticed she was being watched.
"Will miss, like breakfast?" A squeaky voice asked from behind her.
Lily screamed and turned with her wand ready. She saw a small house elf standing by the dresser, a tray piled with food beside her and her hands covering her ears.
"Oh I'm sorry, you scared me so." Apologized Lily.
"Minnie sorry miss, did not want to scare miss." Sobbed the elf.
"Oh Minnie, don't cry, it is alright." Lily tried to soothe the elf.
Minnie gradually stopped sobbing and turned her big eyes full of tears toward Lily. "Is miss sure? Minnie don't want to be punished miss."
"I'm sure, and I don't think Dumbledore would punish his elves." Smiled Lily.
"Dumbledore, is a good master miss. But my own master is better." Minnie's face lighted up the moment she mentioned Dumbledore, she seemed to be very fond of him. Lily wondered who her master was and why was she here.
"Oh, I'm glad. But why are you here Minnie?"
"I came to bring miss breakfast. Professor Dumbledore said that you and Master James had permission to skip classes, and that Minnie bring breakfast here."
"Oh, you are right, I don't have to go to class! I was worried I had overslept; I was already thinking of the scolding I was going to give Emma and Katie for not waking me." Said Lily feeling very relieved.
"Will Miss like her breakfast here? Mater James is in the common room." Said Minnie looking at Lily, her big, tennis-ball-sized eyes now dry with a hopeful expression.
"I think I will join James Minnie, I don't like to eat by myself." Said Lily and tried to grab the tray but Minnie quickly took it and went down to the common room. Lily shook her head and followed her.
"Good morning! I see you decided to join me." Smiled James as he sat in one of the tables with a Daily Prophet in his hands.
"Good morning! Yes I did, if you don't mind, I don't want to disturb you." Said Lily as she glanced the paper and wondered if James did this every morning when he was at home, he certainly didn't do it when he was in Hogwarts.
"Oh no, I don't mind. I don't want to read anymore, it is starting to get me depressed." Said James putting the paper aside. He stood from his chair and held the one next to his for her to sit.
"Thank you. I had forgotten that we were given the day off, I was already getting mad that the girls hadn't woken me." Said Lily lifting the cover from the plates in her tray. She noticed that James has eaten a little, he had barely started then, she thought.
"What is it about the paper that is very distressing?" She asked after putting her milk glass down and turning to look at James.
"Oh, all the new attacks this week. I cannot believe that the Ministry hasn't been able to find out who is responsible and able to do something about it." Exclaimed James, he felt very strongly about this issue in his opinion, a wizard that took advantage of his talents to give pain and suffering had no right to live.
"I thought that with the assignment of Mr. Crouch as the Head of the Department of Magical Law Enforcement things would be different." Said Lily. She was starting to get worried about the latest news from the magical world.
"Well, he has done more than the previous Head of the department, but he hasn't been able to find who is responsible, and to make things worst muggles are now disappearing and some have been found dead." James shook his head; this situation was getting worrisome.
"Oh no! Who would do such a thing. I suppose it was wishful thinking that muggles would be safe from all of this." Sighed Lily.
"I suppose we all thought that it would stay within our world, muggles have no chance against a wizard. The Ministry is going crazy trying to keep it quiet but it isn't working."
"Oh, let's change the subject I don't want to think about all of this. As long as we're in Hogwarts we'll be safe."
"Yes, Dumbledore will keep us from harm." Said James and tried to think of something else to talk about.
"Will Master and Miss want something else?" Minnie asked. James and Lily turned to look at her, they had forgotten about Minnie.
"No thank you Minnie I'm fine." Smiled Lily.
"I'm fine as well Minnie."
"Very well Master James. Mistress Susan sent an owl Master James, do you want Minnie to bring it here?"
"Yes, Minnie bring it here, if you don't see me here then leave it at the table by my bed." Said James as he piled all the empty dishes on the tray.
"Very well Master James." Minnie bowed to the couple, gathered the empty dishes and left the room by way of a hidden elf door at one corner of the room.
"Mistress Susan?" Asked Lily, who was Mistress Susan, she thought.
"My mother. Minnie always makes sure that I get her messages, mother told her to." Grumbled James.
"Is Minnie your elf?" Asked a surprised Lily, she thought that house elves in the castle belonged to the castle.
"Yes, she's mine. Mother gave her to me, said I needed to learn how to lead employees and servants."
"I don't like the idea of having magical beings as property." Said Lily, it was slavery in her opinion.
"Neither do I, but can't go against centuries of a established society, and they like it, I tried setting one free when I was a child and it kept coming back, cried every time I told it to go away, that it was free. I finally gave up."
"Oh that's cute." Giggled Lily, she could easily imagine a black-messy- haired little boy trying to make an elf leave.
James blushed and quickly stood from the table. "Well, I got more leisure time to kill." Said James.
"Oh so do I, I'm going to take a long bath." Sighed Lily.
"All right, I'll see you later then." James quickly left the room and returned to his dorm. James quickly turned to look for something to do, he then remembered that he had planned to take a bath as well. If she's taking a bath, then she'll be using the Head Student's bathroom. I'll use the prefect bath then. He thought. James started to get his things together, when Minnie came into the room.
"Here you are Master James, Minnie brought Mistress Susan's letter Master James."
"Thank you Minnie. Have you seen my towel Minnie? I can't find it." Asked James while he was looking through his trunk.
"Oh yes, I washed it Master James, they are here in this pile Master James." Said Minnie, pointing to a pile of clean clothes that had been set at the foot of his bed.
"Thank you Minnie. You don't need to bring me lunch in here Minnie, I'll go to the Great Hall."
"Very well Master James. Do you need anything more Master James?"
"No Minnie, you can return to the kitchens if you want."
"Thank you Master James." Minnie bowed and quickly left the room.
James opened the letter cautiously, his mother had been sending notes full of praise for one girl or another, she had really gotten into her head to marry James off as soon as possible.
Dear James, By now you might have read how hard things have become in our world, your father has been working endlessly at the Ministry and things doesn't seem to get any better. Your father is worried, they had gotten news that the one responsible for all of this is very powerful. There might be some history of him in Hogwarts, can you tell Dumbledore to go to the Gryffindor common room Saturday at midnight? It is very important that he does. I love you James, always remember that. Mum
James got worried, he had never received a letter like this one before from any of his parents, this must be very important, but why didn't they owl Dumbledore instead?
James shook his head and remembered that he was getting ready for a bath, he gathered his things and left the room.
James slowly made his way through the common room and then into the corridor. He couldn't get his mother's note out of his mind, what was so important? Why did she want him to tell Dumbledore to be at the Gryffindor common room? And at midnight no less. And who was this very powerful person his mother thought was responsible for all of that was happening? This was very dangerous, he could feel it, he didn't know how but he did.
James finally reached the statue of Boris the Bewildered standing near the door of the bathroom. "Lemon-Lime" he said and the door opened. He turned to lock the door, and a scream made him turn.
"Aaahhh!" James met Lily's eyes, round as saucers, and with surprise. "What are you doing here?"
"Er.I came to take a bath, why didn't you lock the door?" He exclaimed, he was feeling very embarrassed.
"I did. How did you get in?" Lily sank further into the tub, making sure that James couldn't see anything.
"It opened when I said the password, it wasn't locked." James finally noticed that he was alone in the bathroom with a naked young lady in the tub, he blushed and quickly turned back to the door and reached to open it.
The door wouldn't budge, he pulled and turned the knob, and it wouldn't open. He reached for his wand and remembered that he wasn't carrying it with him. Without turning to see Lily he asked, "Lily, do you have your wand in here?"
"No, didn't think I would need it." She said.
"Damn! This door is stuck, I can't open it." James tried to pull and turned the knob again, he also tried kicking, but it still didn't work.
James heard Lily giggle behind him. "What is so funny? Do you think I'm dancing with the door?" He snapped. His comment just made Lily laugh harder.
"I'm sorry, but you seemed so funny, trying to open the door." She said as she tried to regain her composure.
"I'm glad you think so, now think of something, we can't stay in here."
"Stay there, don't turn around, if you do I'll hex you when we get out of here." Said Lily. James kept his back turned to her, he really didn't want to find out what she was capable of doing to him if he didn't do as she asked. Lily snatched her clothing from the bench where she had left then and rapidly put them on, keeping an eye on James to make sure he didn't turn around.
"You can turn now." She said when she was finished. James gave a sigh of relief and turned to look at her.
"Now what? We need to get out of here, not to mention that I still have to take my bath." Snapped James, he was rapidly losing his temper.
"I'll try to open the door, and you can take your bath." Said Lily walking toward the door.
"I'm not taking a bath while you are still here." James sounded scandalized by the idea.
"Fine, move aside, let me see what is wrong with this." Lily kneeled by the door and with two hairpins she pulled from her hair she started picking the lock. She slowly worked on the lock while James stood behind her watching closely at what she was doing. He was about to ask her what she was doing when the door silently opened.
"How did you do that?" He asked with awe.
"A muggle trick." She smiled.
Lily and James quickly exited the bathroom, while James started to look around to see if anybody had seen them, Lily was checking the lock.
"I just cannot believe that the lock didn't work when I closed it, I could've swore that the lock closed." Said a confused Lily peering into the lock, but she didn't know anything about locks and she wasn't sure if there was anything wrong with it.
"It might be broken, all we can do is tell Filch and he will take care of it." Said James.
"Yes he will, while grumbling and complaining at the same time." Lily responded, she was not very fond of the new caretaker, she liked the old caretaker, Apolllyon Pringle, but he retired last year, and a middle aged man named Finch had taken over, the students weren't too happy about it.
James laughed, he knew that most students didn't like Filch, but to the Marauders he was a challenge and an easy target.
"I think I won't take a bath now, I'll wait until later, I'm going to the Quidditch Pitch." Said James as both started to walk toward the Tower.
"I'll go to the library, hopefully I will finish the essay for Arithmancy."
"Don't you want to do something frivolous? Maybe a facial, or something, I know how much women like to be pampered."
"Oh, and you are an expert on women!" Lily scoffed.
"Well, with a socialite mother and sister, I know what is considered 'The Thing' for women."
"Well Mr. Expert, not all women like to spend the day doing nothing, facial and pampering are fine if you can afford it. For us who are not lucky to have house elves doing your every bidding, we have to do for ourselves and a facial is out of the question."
"All right, but you could borrow Minnie if you wanted a facial, she likes doing facials, she is always bugging me to get one, I think it's too girlish. You'll be making her very happy if you decide to use her." Urged James.
"Really James! You sound as if you were trying to get rid of her, that's mean."
"Is just that she drives me crazy sometimes, always asking if she can do something for me, I feel no privacy." James complained.
"Oh, all right I'll ask her to do something for me. But you're being a baby about it."
"I am not."
"Yes you are, and you better not say anything more because I see her coming toward us." Said Lily as Minnie turned the corner and walked toward them.
"Mater James! Mater James!" Squealed Minnie when she caught sight of James.
"Oh no!" Lily heard him moan, his expression so comical that it made her laugh.
"It's not funny, wait until she gets her hands on you!" He hissed before turning to Minnie. "Yes Minnie? I gather you were looking for me." James tone was business-like, so unlike him, Lily couldn't help it and giggled. James turned to glare at her.
"Yes Master James, an owl just arrived from Master Aliaster, Master James." Was Minnie's eager response, and quickly slipped a parchment into James' hand.
"Thank you Minnie. I have a job for you." James said, with a wicked smile and looking at Lily, who was warily looking back. "Lily here would like to have a facial and I know you are quite good at them so I thought she might use you today."
"Oh, Minnie would like to help Miss, Master James." Said Minnie turning to look at Lily.
"And I'm sure she will enjoy it, now if you don't mind, I have a note to read." And James quickly left without giving Lily a chance to protest.
Minnie was eagerly looking at Lily, but behind her eager expression a speculative look entered her eyes. Lily turned to Minnie, she had no idea what to do, she had never had a house elf before. I'm going to kill him when next I see him. She thought, leaving me here to deal with this, he is going to regret it. She quickly smiled at Minnie.
"Is Miss ready for a facial?" Asked Minnie.
"Oh, yes of course. What do we need to do first?" Lily asked, how does a magical facial work?
"Does Miss has a preferred place?"
"Hmmm...what about my dorm?"
"If Miss prefers her room, Minnie can work in room."
"Let's get this over with then." Said Lily and led Minnie to her room.
James sat on his bed looking at the letter that his father had sent, and read it for the tenth time. What is going on? He thought.
Dear James I know that you are probably wondering about all the secrecy, I cannot tell you exactly why it has to be so, but I'm sure you will understand in the future. Please make sure that Dumbledore is in the common room, it is very important. I want you to make sure that nobody is near at that time, it can be dangerous if somebody overhears, for us as it could be for them. Take care son.
James knew that it had something to do with all the recent events, the disappearances, the murders, and the strange marks that had been seen in the last couple of months, but what did his father had to do with it and why did the Ministry thought of involving Dumbledore. True, Dumbledore is a genius and knows absolutely everything, thought James, but how can he help, and how will this affect Hogwarts? James didn't want to think of the danger that might cloud over the magical and muggle worlds.
"Enough! I'll practice, that always makes me feel better." James bent over his trunk and started to look for his robes and broom. He quickly found them and started to look for his polishing kit, he wanted to polish his broom in the field after he was done. As he rummaged through the trunk he noticed something disturbing.
"This is odd!" He said.
From the bottom of the trunk he could see a pulsing light, bright below all his things. He started to clear his trunk in order to get to it, he was very curious to see what was causing it. He pulled things out and put them aside, until he finally found the source of the oscillating light.
He held in his hand a small black box, it was a ring case, he remembered getting it from his father for his seventeenth birthday. His father had said that it was customary for all men in the family to receive a signet ring for their seventeenth birthday. The ring had the name of the wearer inside the band, the stone was a large emerald engraved with the family coat of arms, a crouching lion surrounded by laurel leaves, and around the ring the old Italian family motto was engraved "Uniti venciamo, uniti moriamo" "Together we conquer, together we die".
James' family could be traced as far back to ancient times when England was considered to be part of the Roman Empire. The Potters were always taught to be proud of their ancestry and to do their duty to the family, especially if you were the head of the family. Aliaster Potter now had that position and it would fall on James when his father died, it was his mother's fierce search of a wife for him that served as a constant reminder of what awaited him.
The ring box vibrated in his hand, he slowly opened it and saw the light emerging from the emerald.
"What is going on?" He asked out loud. Then the ring started to buzz; James gasped and let it fall, but the sound just started to get louder and louder until it became a piercing whistle.
James groaned and took his head between his hands, trying to cover his ears and keep the sound out, but it was becoming unbearable. James fell on his knees, and soon lost consciousness.
Lily lay in one of the day beds the girls had brought into the dorm's bathroom. Her face was wrapped in a towel and Minnie was almost done. Minnie had chattered the whole time, Lily found her diverting and very knowledgeable, for a house elf that is, but she did could see how a guy like James would have difficulty having a being like Minnie around.
"Minnie, how come nobody knows that you belong to James, we have all assumed that you were the elf assigned to the boy's dorm?" Asked Lily.
"Oh, Master James is very shy, Master James doesn't want people to know about Minnie. Master James says that people will make fun of him. Master James' friends know about Minnie." Answered Minnie as she bustled behind her, putting things away and cleaning the bathroom while they waited for the towel to come off.
Suddenly a piercing noise invaded the silence of the room, it wasn't very loud but it was very disturbing. Lily's head came up trying to hear the noise and to determine it's origin, Minnie gave a small gasp and stopped what she was doing.
"What is that? I don't know where it's coming from." Whispered Lily.
"Master James! Master James is in trouble! Minnie must help Master James!" Minnie was very concerned and quickly left the room.
Lily threw the towel from her face and run behind her. They quickly made their way past the stairs and turned into the boy's dormitories. The noise was louder as they neared the room, it had now turned to a sharp whistle, the torches and the windows vibrated and rattled.
"What is making that noise, we'll be lucky if the windows don't break." Yelled Lily as she and Minnie put their hands over their ears trying to keep the noise out.
"Oh Miss Lily, Master James is in trouble, Minnie can feel it." Minnie's eyes were filling with tears, Lily wanted to hug her and tell her that James was probably in the Pitch and felling perfectly fine, but she didn't want to take her hands off her ears and she wasn't sure that James was in the Quidditch Pitch.
"Don't worry Minnie, we'll handle it." Said Lily, trying to soothe Minnie's worries.
They had finally arrived to James' dorm and turned the knob. The door opened and they saw James lying on the floor. They didn't know from where the noise originated and they didn't bother to look for it, Minnie quickly used a bit of her elf magic to levitate James and pull him from the room. Lily followed her to the common room, performed a sound proof charm and together they settled James into one of the couches.
"Minnie, go to Professor Dumbledore, tell him what happened and bring him here, I won't move James unless Dumbledore thinks he should go to the infirmary. Go quickly." Ordered Lily as she put pillows below James' head.
Minnie quickly left the room. Lily stayed watching James, she didn't know what to do next. The piercing noise couldn't get through the charm that Lily performed, but a low buzz could be heard.
What could've caused this? I hope Dumbledore knows what's going on. Lily thought as she started to pace the room. It was almost time for luncheon and students would be coming back to the Tower to leave their bags before going to the Great Hall. Lily groaned, she wasn't looking forward to telling people they couldn't get into the Tower, she was going to have to tell the Fat Lady not to let anybody pass with the exception of Dumbledore of course.
She had just turned to go to talk to the Fat Lady when the portrait opened and in came Dumbledore.
"Oh I'm so glad you are here Professor, I was just going to talk to the Fat Lady and tell her not to allow anybody to enter the Tower." Lily quickly said as Professor Dumbledore walked toward her.
"That would be a good idea, Minnie says that a sharp noise is coming from the boys' dorm, if it is so, we don't know how long it will take us to locate it and get rid of it." Said Dumbledore as he approached James and quickly examined him. "I'll take James to the infirmary, make sure that nobody enters the Tower. Put a repelling charm if you must, I'll send Professor McGonagall. Where are the prefects?"
"Marissa said that she was going to help Professor Sprout taking care of her plants, and Dave went to the library to finish some work." Lily responded.
"Very well, I'll send somebody to find them and to come and stay here to guard the Tower, I don't want anybody in here." Said Dumbledore. He slowly made his way to the entrance pulling James behind him; Minnie worriedly followed them.
Lily followed them out and saw them going down the corridor and turned to look at the Fat Lady.
"What happened dear? Dumbledore seemed very worried, and was that James Potter whom he was pulling?" "Yes it was, I got orders to keep everybody away from the Tower, would you mind not letting anybody in? If any gives you trouble just let me know, I'll be in the common room, Marissa and David will be joining me soon and Professor Dumbledore will send Professor McGonagall to come as soon as classes are over." Quickly said Lily.
"Of course my dear, I'll keep everybody away. Poor James, what happened to him?" The Fat Lady seemed very concerned about him, and everybody knew that he was her favorite person ever, she would let him get away with anything and didn't scold him if he happened to leave the Tower in the middle of the night.
"We don't know what happened a strange noise is coming from his room and it was probably the reason that made him unconscious, we'll try to figure out as soon as the Professor gets here." Responded Lily, she was looking around to see if Marissa and David were on their way, but she didn't see anybody in the corridors.
"Oh dear! I hope he gets better soon, he brings life to the Tower." Sighed the Fat Lady.
Lily smiled and silently agreed with her. Many things could be said about James, but the one that most agreed on was that he, with the help of his friends of course, brought life to the Tower. Making life in the dorms a unique experience. Soon, Lily saw Marissa and David running from around the corner and quickly joined her by the portrait.
"Lily what happened? I was told to come here and that James had been taken to the infirmary." Said David in between breaths, he was panting trying to catch his breath.
"I was told the same thing, what happened?" Said Marissa.
"Let's go inside and I'll tell you. Thank you." She said turning to the Fat Lady, who nodded and opened to let them in.
"We have a situation." Said Lily as the three sat in one of the couches. "I don't know exactly was is going on, but a strange noise is coming from the boys' dorms and we found James unconscious." Marissa gasped at this and David looked puzzled.
"Do you know what is causing this noise?" Asked David.
"No, the only thing that I know about it is that is very piercing and loud, I had to charm the room so we wouldn't hear it. Professor McGonagall will join us soon, and we might probably learn more about this. Right now all we can do is wait and try to keep everybody away." Responded Lily.
"Morning classes will end in fifteen minutes, lots of people will try to come in, this is not going to be easy Lily, and what do we say to them?" Said Marissa, she clearly wasn't looking forward to confront Gryffindor students.
"We can say that we have orders to keep everyone away from the Tower, I've instructed the Fat Lady to deny entrance to anybody, except us and the Professors. If she has any problems with any student I told her to leave it to us, we'll take care of it. They don't need to know what is going on until is time for them to know. As far as I'm concerned the only ones who should know about this are Sirius, Remus, and Peter, and probably Emma and Katie, they would be very angry if we try to keep them away from James." Said Lily.
"Oh Lord! They would probably start a riot." Moaned David, that was the group he was planning on leaving up to Lily, he didn't want to know how they might react to the situation.
They heard the signal for the end of class and listened to their classmates talking to the Fat Lady, some argued but most just left toward the Great Hall with speculation in their minds. Lily kept her ears open, listening for Sirius' voice, it was the loudest and most recognized. She finally heard Sirius booming voice through the portrait, he was trying to cajole the Fat Lady and get past her, she could also hear chuckles and giggles and assumed that the rest were with him.
"I'll return shortly, I got to talk to this lot." Lily took a reinforcing breath and opened the portrait hole.
"Lily! Can you please tell her that we need to get in there, she won't let us." Said Sirius the moment he saw Lily.
Lily had closed the portrait and stood looking at the group, she really didn't know how to go about it and was feeling really apprehensive.
"I'm sorry, nobody is allowed into the Tower, except for prefects, me and Professors." She replied.
"What?" Exclaimed the boys.
"What happened Lily?" Asked Emma, she knew that there might be a reason for all of this.
"I have bad news." She said looking at them biting her lower lip. The group felt a wave of foreboding pass through them and quickly quieted.
"What is it Lily? Where is James?" Asked Remus.
"He is in the infirmary." at that moment the group gasped and Sirius and Remus had started to turn to go to the infirmary, ".no, you won't be allowed to see him." Lily quickly said, the boys stopped and turned to look back at her.
"What happened to James Lily?" Peter quietly asked.
"We don't know. We found him unconscious in your room and a piercing noise coming from somewhere in there. I don't know if it was the noise that caused him to lose consciousness or if it happened before the noise went off. Dumbledore took him to the infirmary, until he wakes up we won't know what really happened." Lily explained. The faces before her were now serious and pale.
"Why weren't we told when it happened? He is our best friend Lily!" Exclaimed Sirius, he felt that it was an injustice to be told this way, he wanted to be with James.
"It happened only a while ago Sirius, besides, there was nothing that you could do. All we can do now is wait and see what happens." Responded Lily, she knew how they felt, he was her friend too.
"Has Dumbledore any news on him?" Asked Remus.
"Sorry, he hasn't been back since he took James to Madam Pomfrey. Professor McGonagall will come soon and we'll look for the origin of the noise, maybe it will give us some answers."
"Do you think we could go and wait near the infirmary, see if we could get any news about him?" Whispered Katie, her eyes were rapidly filling with tears.
"You could try, I'm sure that Madam Pomfrey would understand." Quietly said Lily, she also felt like crying but her position as Head Girl didn't allow her to do so, she had to be strong for her friends, it would do for students to see their Head Girl crying like a baby.
Sirius nodded, "Thanks Lily, we'll come and let you know what we find out." He gave her a quick hug and started down the corridor. Lily gave a small hug to each and saw them go toward the hospital wing. She sighed and turned back to the portrait and smiled sadly as she noticed that the Fat Lady had a handkerchief in her hand and was trying to dry the tears that were falling down her face.
"Don't worry, I think he will be unscathed by this incident, he's too stubborn to let anything hurt him." Said Lily to the Fat Lady. The portrait opened and Lily quickly entered the common room.
The moment she entered she noticed something strange, the buzz that had been heard from the moment she had charmed the room was getting louder and the pictures were vibrating in place.
"How long has it been like this?" She asked as she turned to look at the prefects who were still sitting in the couch looking at the subjects in the pictures taking hold of the frames and looking around the room in fright.
"It started recently. Do you think the charm is wearing down or is the noise getting louder." Nervously asked Marissa.
"I don't know, it cannot be heard from the corridor. David, go outside and listen for it, let us know if it is heard from somewhere else in the castle." David took advantage of Lily's order and quickly left the room.
"Can I go as well Lily? I'm sorry but this is starting to bother me." Said Marissa looking at Lily with a hopeful expression.
"That's all right, go it would be better to get two different reports, don't worry, go." Said Lily shooing Marissa out of the room.
Lily was starting to get worried. What will we do if the noise is getting louder? She thought, how can we control something like this? She had started to pace the room, waiting for someone to come, the noise was starting to permeate the room, she tried doing another charm to keep the sound out, it helped but only for a few moments, it didn't last long.
Sirius and the rest arrived to the entrance of the hospital wing. In a chair next to the infirmary door was a tiny elf, her face in her hands and sobbing quietly.
"What is that?" Asked Katie as she saw the small figure.
"That's Minnie." Gasped Remus.
"Oh no, if she's here then it means that James is in very bad shape." Moaned Peter.
"If it was that bad, she would be in there, she would never leave James' side." Said a thoughtful Sirius.
"Who is Minnie?" Asked Emma.
"And why wouldn't she leave James' side." The girls were very curious about this Minnie.
"That's James' personal elf, she dotes upon him." Whispered Remus.
"Practically kisses the floor he walks on."
"Not to mention she does one hell of an apple pie." Said Sirius.
"Only you would remember her pie." Chuckled Peter.
"How did James get an elf?" Asked a surprised Katie.
"A gift from his mother." Responded Remus.
"Why is she here and not home?" Emma wanted to know.
"He was allowed to bring it to Hogwarts as long as his studies were not disturbed." Said Peter.
"I didn't know James had an elf, I haven't seen her around the Tower." Katie speculated.
"The mark of a good elf is that no matter the circumstances, it will do its job and not be seen." Said Sirius.
"Sirius, that was mean! Calling her like that, it." Exclaimed Katie as she gave him a quick jab on his stomach.
"Ok, she then." Said Sirius wheezing.
The group had now approached Minnie, who was still sobbing and hadn't noticed the group standing beside her.
"Oh, you poor thing, don't cry." Said Emma, putting an arm around Minnie.
Minnie lifted her head and noticed the others around her. She recognized the boys and sobbed harder.
"Oh, Sirs, Master James is sick, Minnie shouldn't have left him, this is all Minnie's fault." The elf sobbed.
"That's not true Minnie, I'm sure you could've tried to help but the result would've been the same." Soothed Remus, kneeling in front of her.
"Minnie was just trying to help Master James' friend, Remus Lupin Sir, Master James asked Minnie to. Minnie likes Master James' friend. Minnie shouldn't have left Master James."
"Don't worry Minnie, James will pull through, he's a stubborn bastard. Why don't you go to your room Minnie and rest, if anything happens we'll call you." Said Sirius, patting her back.
"Sirius Black will?" Asked Minnie with a hopeful expression.
"Yes I will." Sirius shooed her to the kitchens and turned back to the others.
"She's taking it very hard." Whispered Peter.
At that moment the door opened and Professor Dumbledore came out of the room.
"I have been waiting for you. I am sorry to say that his state hasn't changed."
"What is wrong with him Professor?" Asked Katie.
"We don't know. Only he can tell us and he is in no state to do so. I'm setting temporary rooms for Gryffindor in the South Tower, I recommend that you go to the Great Hall and eat, there is nothing that you can do for him." Urged Professor Dumbledore.
"Will we be told if there are any changes?" Quietly asked Emma.
"I will send somebody for you the moment he regains consciousness. Now I need the three of you to do me a favor." Dumbledore said turning to look at the Marauders. "I want you to go to the owlry and send the Potters a message." The boys nodded and the group turned to leave. Dumbledore returned to the infirmary.
"How did they take it Albus?" Asked Professor McGonagall as she stood by James' bed.
"Better than I thought. They are growing up Minerva." Smiled Dumbledore.
"Hmph! It was about time they did." Exclaimed McGonagall crossing her arms.
"Perhaps, but I do miss their tricks sometimes." He sighed.
"Well, I like it better this way, perhaps now my gray hairs will wait to come out."
Dumbledore laughed at this but was quickly shushed by Madam Pomfrey.
"Really Headmaster, this is a hospital." She frowned.
"I'm sorry Poppy, couldn't help myself. How is he doing?"
"There is nothing I can do for now, you do know what this is of course. A Dark Curse, this is, and unless we can find how it was inflicted and what kind it is we won't be able to do anything."
"Oh, Albus, how could this happened. Who could've done this?"
"Don't worry Minerva, we will find out. I sent the boys to owl the Potters, I expect them to arrive as soon as they get the message. Go to the Tower and see if you can find the thing that caused all of this. There has to be a way to make it stop, it seemed to be getting stronger."
"Of course, you'll tell me if there are any news?"
"I will. You'll find Miss Evans in the Tower now, she might be getting worried by now."
"I'll take care of her."
Professor McGonagall quickly left the room, leaving behind a very disturbed man.
A/N: There you go : ) Remember to review!
Disclaimer: I do not own anything that has to do with HP, JK Rowiling does, I only own some minor characters and the plot.
~ Legacy of Two Generations ~
Chapter 9 ~A day of Leisure
The tower was full of commotion very early the next morning as students got ready to go down for breakfast and go to class. In the boys' dormitories, the Marauders (with the exception of James) got ready to get on with their day, they tried to do everything quietly without having to wake up James, they knew that he must be exhausted after all the events from the previous day.
"Lucky dog, him." Whispered Sirius as they exited the room. "A long soak in the bath and just flopping about the whole day, a three-day weekend for him."
"Well, he certainly deserves it, he has been so busy with the Festival he barely had time for anything else." Said Remus leading the way to the common room where they would meet the girls.
"He certainly has been swamped, I cannot see how he got time to attend classes and do his work." Commented Peter. They had arrived to the common room, the girls were not there yet, so they walked up to their usual chairs to wait for them.
"Well, he is still having some trouble with Charms, it is always surprising to me how good he is at all the other classes, especially Transfiguration, but Charms is just a mystery to him." Said Remus.
"Maybe we can get Lily to help him, that's her best class." Replied Peter.
"That would be a good idea, they can spend more time together." Said Sirius.
"His mother is hiring someone to tutor him remember, he said so when we were on the train, we would have to go to her and ask her to hire Lily and that would make her suspicious and ruin everything." Responded Remus, who knew Mrs. Potter's penchant to drive her son crazy with her meddling.
"She scares me sometimes, how can a lady so intelligent think of nothing else but marrying James off, he's too young!" Exclaimed Sirius, who thought the same as James and thought marriage was a waste of time, what was the point of it?
"And if she heard that we were trying to match Lily and James it would certainly give her ideas and she might want to do so as well, and her methods are much more ruthless than ours. It would only serve to pull Lily and James apart." Said Peter as he looked into the fire. It was now November and the weather was starting to get chilly and a nice fire was welcomed . "What will pull Lily and James apart?" The boys turned as a female voice was heard from behind them. Katie and Emma stood watching them waiting for them to answer Katie's question.
"James' mum. She is the meddlesome sort." Said Sirius as he stood up from the chair and greeting the girls with a kiss in the cheek.
"Oh, yes James' mum can be ruthless in her search for a wife for James. She can't find out about our plans." Said Emma as she turned to greet the other two boys.
"Where is Lily? Still sleeping?" Said Peter as the group started to walk toward the painting hole and go to breakfast.
"Yes, she was really exhausted last night, she barely had time to change before she fell asleep." Said Katie.
"At least they will have some rest time, the lucky devils." Responded Sirius.
"Oh I know Lily would make the most of it, she plans to have a long soaking in the prefects bathroom." Said Emma with a wistful look in her face, she obviously envied Lily the opportunity.
"She can't go in there!" Exclaimed Remus coming to a halt, the group stopped to look at him with surprise.
"Why can't she, she has a right to do so." Frowned Katie.
"But James is planning to take a bath in the prefects bathroom." Said Remus.
"Oh dear, that would be awkward." Muttered Emma.
"Maybe we should leave them a note." Said Peter as he started to turn back to the Gryffindor Tower. Sirius stopped them before he could go very far however.
"No I don't think we should." Said Sirius with a mischievous smile.
"No Sirius, if you are thinking the same thing I am, it would only get us in trouble not to mention them." Said Emma.
"Oh but it would be such a great opportunity for them to know each other better." Said Katie.
"I don't think that it would be a good moment for them to do so." Said Peter, he clearly thought the idea to lead to disaster.
"So they would be embarrassed, big deal, they will get over it." Scoffed Sirius, he was getting warmed up to his idea and didn't want the others get him off it.
"But if they find out we knew about it and didn't warn them, they will be mad and you know how bad their temper could be." Said Remus.
"Don't worry, you know nothing will happen the moment one of them gets in and sees the other using the bath he or she will run out of the bathroom as if the devil was in their tail." Said Sirius.
"And Lily is to smart to leave the door unlocked, James would know then that she's in there and will go to the Head Students Bathroom." Said Katie.
"You see, there is no need to tell them, they know how to take care of themselves." Smiled Sirius and lead the group back toward the Great Hall.
The group was settling into their seats when Sirius said, "Oy, I forgot my transfiguration assignment. I'll be right back." And sped out of the Great Hall.
"How could he forget his assignment?" Asked Katie.
"He always leaves his parchments lying around, he forgets one assignment of another at all times." Said Remus serving himself some eggs.
"Hmmm.well, I don't think he can make much mischief on his own then." Said Emma.
The rest of the group laughed and Peter chocked, Remus turned to slap him in the back and said, "You obviously don't know Sirius very well."
Sirius readily returned the group was still eating and he quickly piled food on his plate.
"I'm famished, I feel as if I haven't eaten anything in weeks." He said.
"You must be joking, you ate twelve pies yesterday not to mention all the candy during the Festival and the pile of food during the Feast." Said Katie.
"I'm a growing boy, I need to be fed."
"Honestly!" She exclaimed while the others laughed.
"Well, you better hurry, we are going to be late if you don't." Said Emma getting her things together, ready to go to class.
"I wish I was James, all cozy in his bed, then take a long bath and return to the bed." Sighed Peter.
"We all wish to be in their shoes today." Said Katie.
The group left the Hall and made their way to their classes.
Lily slowly opened her eyes, sunlight streamed through the curtains surrounding her bed. She heard no noise, no whispering, no movement. Was it possible that everybody had left already? She thought, What time is it? I could not have overslept, I'll be late for class.
Lily parted the curtains and noted the time on the clock by her bed, it was 9:45.
"Oh no I'm late, Professor McGonagall will be so mad." Whispered Lily as she quickly started to get her things ready.
She was so busy getting ready that she didn't noticed she was being watched.
"Will miss, like breakfast?" A squeaky voice asked from behind her.
Lily screamed and turned with her wand ready. She saw a small house elf standing by the dresser, a tray piled with food beside her and her hands covering her ears.
"Oh I'm sorry, you scared me so." Apologized Lily.
"Minnie sorry miss, did not want to scare miss." Sobbed the elf.
"Oh Minnie, don't cry, it is alright." Lily tried to soothe the elf.
Minnie gradually stopped sobbing and turned her big eyes full of tears toward Lily. "Is miss sure? Minnie don't want to be punished miss."
"I'm sure, and I don't think Dumbledore would punish his elves." Smiled Lily.
"Dumbledore, is a good master miss. But my own master is better." Minnie's face lighted up the moment she mentioned Dumbledore, she seemed to be very fond of him. Lily wondered who her master was and why was she here.
"Oh, I'm glad. But why are you here Minnie?"
"I came to bring miss breakfast. Professor Dumbledore said that you and Master James had permission to skip classes, and that Minnie bring breakfast here."
"Oh, you are right, I don't have to go to class! I was worried I had overslept; I was already thinking of the scolding I was going to give Emma and Katie for not waking me." Said Lily feeling very relieved.
"Will Miss like her breakfast here? Mater James is in the common room." Said Minnie looking at Lily, her big, tennis-ball-sized eyes now dry with a hopeful expression.
"I think I will join James Minnie, I don't like to eat by myself." Said Lily and tried to grab the tray but Minnie quickly took it and went down to the common room. Lily shook her head and followed her.
"Good morning! I see you decided to join me." Smiled James as he sat in one of the tables with a Daily Prophet in his hands.
"Good morning! Yes I did, if you don't mind, I don't want to disturb you." Said Lily as she glanced the paper and wondered if James did this every morning when he was at home, he certainly didn't do it when he was in Hogwarts.
"Oh no, I don't mind. I don't want to read anymore, it is starting to get me depressed." Said James putting the paper aside. He stood from his chair and held the one next to his for her to sit.
"Thank you. I had forgotten that we were given the day off, I was already getting mad that the girls hadn't woken me." Said Lily lifting the cover from the plates in her tray. She noticed that James has eaten a little, he had barely started then, she thought.
"What is it about the paper that is very distressing?" She asked after putting her milk glass down and turning to look at James.
"Oh, all the new attacks this week. I cannot believe that the Ministry hasn't been able to find out who is responsible and able to do something about it." Exclaimed James, he felt very strongly about this issue in his opinion, a wizard that took advantage of his talents to give pain and suffering had no right to live.
"I thought that with the assignment of Mr. Crouch as the Head of the Department of Magical Law Enforcement things would be different." Said Lily. She was starting to get worried about the latest news from the magical world.
"Well, he has done more than the previous Head of the department, but he hasn't been able to find who is responsible, and to make things worst muggles are now disappearing and some have been found dead." James shook his head; this situation was getting worrisome.
"Oh no! Who would do such a thing. I suppose it was wishful thinking that muggles would be safe from all of this." Sighed Lily.
"I suppose we all thought that it would stay within our world, muggles have no chance against a wizard. The Ministry is going crazy trying to keep it quiet but it isn't working."
"Oh, let's change the subject I don't want to think about all of this. As long as we're in Hogwarts we'll be safe."
"Yes, Dumbledore will keep us from harm." Said James and tried to think of something else to talk about.
"Will Master and Miss want something else?" Minnie asked. James and Lily turned to look at her, they had forgotten about Minnie.
"No thank you Minnie I'm fine." Smiled Lily.
"I'm fine as well Minnie."
"Very well Master James. Mistress Susan sent an owl Master James, do you want Minnie to bring it here?"
"Yes, Minnie bring it here, if you don't see me here then leave it at the table by my bed." Said James as he piled all the empty dishes on the tray.
"Very well Master James." Minnie bowed to the couple, gathered the empty dishes and left the room by way of a hidden elf door at one corner of the room.
"Mistress Susan?" Asked Lily, who was Mistress Susan, she thought.
"My mother. Minnie always makes sure that I get her messages, mother told her to." Grumbled James.
"Is Minnie your elf?" Asked a surprised Lily, she thought that house elves in the castle belonged to the castle.
"Yes, she's mine. Mother gave her to me, said I needed to learn how to lead employees and servants."
"I don't like the idea of having magical beings as property." Said Lily, it was slavery in her opinion.
"Neither do I, but can't go against centuries of a established society, and they like it, I tried setting one free when I was a child and it kept coming back, cried every time I told it to go away, that it was free. I finally gave up."
"Oh that's cute." Giggled Lily, she could easily imagine a black-messy- haired little boy trying to make an elf leave.
James blushed and quickly stood from the table. "Well, I got more leisure time to kill." Said James.
"Oh so do I, I'm going to take a long bath." Sighed Lily.
"All right, I'll see you later then." James quickly left the room and returned to his dorm. James quickly turned to look for something to do, he then remembered that he had planned to take a bath as well. If she's taking a bath, then she'll be using the Head Student's bathroom. I'll use the prefect bath then. He thought. James started to get his things together, when Minnie came into the room.
"Here you are Master James, Minnie brought Mistress Susan's letter Master James."
"Thank you Minnie. Have you seen my towel Minnie? I can't find it." Asked James while he was looking through his trunk.
"Oh yes, I washed it Master James, they are here in this pile Master James." Said Minnie, pointing to a pile of clean clothes that had been set at the foot of his bed.
"Thank you Minnie. You don't need to bring me lunch in here Minnie, I'll go to the Great Hall."
"Very well Master James. Do you need anything more Master James?"
"No Minnie, you can return to the kitchens if you want."
"Thank you Master James." Minnie bowed and quickly left the room.
James opened the letter cautiously, his mother had been sending notes full of praise for one girl or another, she had really gotten into her head to marry James off as soon as possible.
Dear James, By now you might have read how hard things have become in our world, your father has been working endlessly at the Ministry and things doesn't seem to get any better. Your father is worried, they had gotten news that the one responsible for all of this is very powerful. There might be some history of him in Hogwarts, can you tell Dumbledore to go to the Gryffindor common room Saturday at midnight? It is very important that he does. I love you James, always remember that. Mum
James got worried, he had never received a letter like this one before from any of his parents, this must be very important, but why didn't they owl Dumbledore instead?
James shook his head and remembered that he was getting ready for a bath, he gathered his things and left the room.
James slowly made his way through the common room and then into the corridor. He couldn't get his mother's note out of his mind, what was so important? Why did she want him to tell Dumbledore to be at the Gryffindor common room? And at midnight no less. And who was this very powerful person his mother thought was responsible for all of that was happening? This was very dangerous, he could feel it, he didn't know how but he did.
James finally reached the statue of Boris the Bewildered standing near the door of the bathroom. "Lemon-Lime" he said and the door opened. He turned to lock the door, and a scream made him turn.
"Aaahhh!" James met Lily's eyes, round as saucers, and with surprise. "What are you doing here?"
"Er.I came to take a bath, why didn't you lock the door?" He exclaimed, he was feeling very embarrassed.
"I did. How did you get in?" Lily sank further into the tub, making sure that James couldn't see anything.
"It opened when I said the password, it wasn't locked." James finally noticed that he was alone in the bathroom with a naked young lady in the tub, he blushed and quickly turned back to the door and reached to open it.
The door wouldn't budge, he pulled and turned the knob, and it wouldn't open. He reached for his wand and remembered that he wasn't carrying it with him. Without turning to see Lily he asked, "Lily, do you have your wand in here?"
"No, didn't think I would need it." She said.
"Damn! This door is stuck, I can't open it." James tried to pull and turned the knob again, he also tried kicking, but it still didn't work.
James heard Lily giggle behind him. "What is so funny? Do you think I'm dancing with the door?" He snapped. His comment just made Lily laugh harder.
"I'm sorry, but you seemed so funny, trying to open the door." She said as she tried to regain her composure.
"I'm glad you think so, now think of something, we can't stay in here."
"Stay there, don't turn around, if you do I'll hex you when we get out of here." Said Lily. James kept his back turned to her, he really didn't want to find out what she was capable of doing to him if he didn't do as she asked. Lily snatched her clothing from the bench where she had left then and rapidly put them on, keeping an eye on James to make sure he didn't turn around.
"You can turn now." She said when she was finished. James gave a sigh of relief and turned to look at her.
"Now what? We need to get out of here, not to mention that I still have to take my bath." Snapped James, he was rapidly losing his temper.
"I'll try to open the door, and you can take your bath." Said Lily walking toward the door.
"I'm not taking a bath while you are still here." James sounded scandalized by the idea.
"Fine, move aside, let me see what is wrong with this." Lily kneeled by the door and with two hairpins she pulled from her hair she started picking the lock. She slowly worked on the lock while James stood behind her watching closely at what she was doing. He was about to ask her what she was doing when the door silently opened.
"How did you do that?" He asked with awe.
"A muggle trick." She smiled.
Lily and James quickly exited the bathroom, while James started to look around to see if anybody had seen them, Lily was checking the lock.
"I just cannot believe that the lock didn't work when I closed it, I could've swore that the lock closed." Said a confused Lily peering into the lock, but she didn't know anything about locks and she wasn't sure if there was anything wrong with it.
"It might be broken, all we can do is tell Filch and he will take care of it." Said James.
"Yes he will, while grumbling and complaining at the same time." Lily responded, she was not very fond of the new caretaker, she liked the old caretaker, Apolllyon Pringle, but he retired last year, and a middle aged man named Finch had taken over, the students weren't too happy about it.
James laughed, he knew that most students didn't like Filch, but to the Marauders he was a challenge and an easy target.
"I think I won't take a bath now, I'll wait until later, I'm going to the Quidditch Pitch." Said James as both started to walk toward the Tower.
"I'll go to the library, hopefully I will finish the essay for Arithmancy."
"Don't you want to do something frivolous? Maybe a facial, or something, I know how much women like to be pampered."
"Oh, and you are an expert on women!" Lily scoffed.
"Well, with a socialite mother and sister, I know what is considered 'The Thing' for women."
"Well Mr. Expert, not all women like to spend the day doing nothing, facial and pampering are fine if you can afford it. For us who are not lucky to have house elves doing your every bidding, we have to do for ourselves and a facial is out of the question."
"All right, but you could borrow Minnie if you wanted a facial, she likes doing facials, she is always bugging me to get one, I think it's too girlish. You'll be making her very happy if you decide to use her." Urged James.
"Really James! You sound as if you were trying to get rid of her, that's mean."
"Is just that she drives me crazy sometimes, always asking if she can do something for me, I feel no privacy." James complained.
"Oh, all right I'll ask her to do something for me. But you're being a baby about it."
"I am not."
"Yes you are, and you better not say anything more because I see her coming toward us." Said Lily as Minnie turned the corner and walked toward them.
"Mater James! Mater James!" Squealed Minnie when she caught sight of James.
"Oh no!" Lily heard him moan, his expression so comical that it made her laugh.
"It's not funny, wait until she gets her hands on you!" He hissed before turning to Minnie. "Yes Minnie? I gather you were looking for me." James tone was business-like, so unlike him, Lily couldn't help it and giggled. James turned to glare at her.
"Yes Master James, an owl just arrived from Master Aliaster, Master James." Was Minnie's eager response, and quickly slipped a parchment into James' hand.
"Thank you Minnie. I have a job for you." James said, with a wicked smile and looking at Lily, who was warily looking back. "Lily here would like to have a facial and I know you are quite good at them so I thought she might use you today."
"Oh, Minnie would like to help Miss, Master James." Said Minnie turning to look at Lily.
"And I'm sure she will enjoy it, now if you don't mind, I have a note to read." And James quickly left without giving Lily a chance to protest.
Minnie was eagerly looking at Lily, but behind her eager expression a speculative look entered her eyes. Lily turned to Minnie, she had no idea what to do, she had never had a house elf before. I'm going to kill him when next I see him. She thought, leaving me here to deal with this, he is going to regret it. She quickly smiled at Minnie.
"Is Miss ready for a facial?" Asked Minnie.
"Oh, yes of course. What do we need to do first?" Lily asked, how does a magical facial work?
"Does Miss has a preferred place?"
"Hmmm...what about my dorm?"
"If Miss prefers her room, Minnie can work in room."
"Let's get this over with then." Said Lily and led Minnie to her room.
James sat on his bed looking at the letter that his father had sent, and read it for the tenth time. What is going on? He thought.
Dear James I know that you are probably wondering about all the secrecy, I cannot tell you exactly why it has to be so, but I'm sure you will understand in the future. Please make sure that Dumbledore is in the common room, it is very important. I want you to make sure that nobody is near at that time, it can be dangerous if somebody overhears, for us as it could be for them. Take care son.
James knew that it had something to do with all the recent events, the disappearances, the murders, and the strange marks that had been seen in the last couple of months, but what did his father had to do with it and why did the Ministry thought of involving Dumbledore. True, Dumbledore is a genius and knows absolutely everything, thought James, but how can he help, and how will this affect Hogwarts? James didn't want to think of the danger that might cloud over the magical and muggle worlds.
"Enough! I'll practice, that always makes me feel better." James bent over his trunk and started to look for his robes and broom. He quickly found them and started to look for his polishing kit, he wanted to polish his broom in the field after he was done. As he rummaged through the trunk he noticed something disturbing.
"This is odd!" He said.
From the bottom of the trunk he could see a pulsing light, bright below all his things. He started to clear his trunk in order to get to it, he was very curious to see what was causing it. He pulled things out and put them aside, until he finally found the source of the oscillating light.
He held in his hand a small black box, it was a ring case, he remembered getting it from his father for his seventeenth birthday. His father had said that it was customary for all men in the family to receive a signet ring for their seventeenth birthday. The ring had the name of the wearer inside the band, the stone was a large emerald engraved with the family coat of arms, a crouching lion surrounded by laurel leaves, and around the ring the old Italian family motto was engraved "Uniti venciamo, uniti moriamo" "Together we conquer, together we die".
James' family could be traced as far back to ancient times when England was considered to be part of the Roman Empire. The Potters were always taught to be proud of their ancestry and to do their duty to the family, especially if you were the head of the family. Aliaster Potter now had that position and it would fall on James when his father died, it was his mother's fierce search of a wife for him that served as a constant reminder of what awaited him.
The ring box vibrated in his hand, he slowly opened it and saw the light emerging from the emerald.
"What is going on?" He asked out loud. Then the ring started to buzz; James gasped and let it fall, but the sound just started to get louder and louder until it became a piercing whistle.
James groaned and took his head between his hands, trying to cover his ears and keep the sound out, but it was becoming unbearable. James fell on his knees, and soon lost consciousness.
Lily lay in one of the day beds the girls had brought into the dorm's bathroom. Her face was wrapped in a towel and Minnie was almost done. Minnie had chattered the whole time, Lily found her diverting and very knowledgeable, for a house elf that is, but she did could see how a guy like James would have difficulty having a being like Minnie around.
"Minnie, how come nobody knows that you belong to James, we have all assumed that you were the elf assigned to the boy's dorm?" Asked Lily.
"Oh, Master James is very shy, Master James doesn't want people to know about Minnie. Master James says that people will make fun of him. Master James' friends know about Minnie." Answered Minnie as she bustled behind her, putting things away and cleaning the bathroom while they waited for the towel to come off.
Suddenly a piercing noise invaded the silence of the room, it wasn't very loud but it was very disturbing. Lily's head came up trying to hear the noise and to determine it's origin, Minnie gave a small gasp and stopped what she was doing.
"What is that? I don't know where it's coming from." Whispered Lily.
"Master James! Master James is in trouble! Minnie must help Master James!" Minnie was very concerned and quickly left the room.
Lily threw the towel from her face and run behind her. They quickly made their way past the stairs and turned into the boy's dormitories. The noise was louder as they neared the room, it had now turned to a sharp whistle, the torches and the windows vibrated and rattled.
"What is making that noise, we'll be lucky if the windows don't break." Yelled Lily as she and Minnie put their hands over their ears trying to keep the noise out.
"Oh Miss Lily, Master James is in trouble, Minnie can feel it." Minnie's eyes were filling with tears, Lily wanted to hug her and tell her that James was probably in the Pitch and felling perfectly fine, but she didn't want to take her hands off her ears and she wasn't sure that James was in the Quidditch Pitch.
"Don't worry Minnie, we'll handle it." Said Lily, trying to soothe Minnie's worries.
They had finally arrived to James' dorm and turned the knob. The door opened and they saw James lying on the floor. They didn't know from where the noise originated and they didn't bother to look for it, Minnie quickly used a bit of her elf magic to levitate James and pull him from the room. Lily followed her to the common room, performed a sound proof charm and together they settled James into one of the couches.
"Minnie, go to Professor Dumbledore, tell him what happened and bring him here, I won't move James unless Dumbledore thinks he should go to the infirmary. Go quickly." Ordered Lily as she put pillows below James' head.
Minnie quickly left the room. Lily stayed watching James, she didn't know what to do next. The piercing noise couldn't get through the charm that Lily performed, but a low buzz could be heard.
What could've caused this? I hope Dumbledore knows what's going on. Lily thought as she started to pace the room. It was almost time for luncheon and students would be coming back to the Tower to leave their bags before going to the Great Hall. Lily groaned, she wasn't looking forward to telling people they couldn't get into the Tower, she was going to have to tell the Fat Lady not to let anybody pass with the exception of Dumbledore of course.
She had just turned to go to talk to the Fat Lady when the portrait opened and in came Dumbledore.
"Oh I'm so glad you are here Professor, I was just going to talk to the Fat Lady and tell her not to allow anybody to enter the Tower." Lily quickly said as Professor Dumbledore walked toward her.
"That would be a good idea, Minnie says that a sharp noise is coming from the boys' dorm, if it is so, we don't know how long it will take us to locate it and get rid of it." Said Dumbledore as he approached James and quickly examined him. "I'll take James to the infirmary, make sure that nobody enters the Tower. Put a repelling charm if you must, I'll send Professor McGonagall. Where are the prefects?"
"Marissa said that she was going to help Professor Sprout taking care of her plants, and Dave went to the library to finish some work." Lily responded.
"Very well, I'll send somebody to find them and to come and stay here to guard the Tower, I don't want anybody in here." Said Dumbledore. He slowly made his way to the entrance pulling James behind him; Minnie worriedly followed them.
Lily followed them out and saw them going down the corridor and turned to look at the Fat Lady.
"What happened dear? Dumbledore seemed very worried, and was that James Potter whom he was pulling?" "Yes it was, I got orders to keep everybody away from the Tower, would you mind not letting anybody in? If any gives you trouble just let me know, I'll be in the common room, Marissa and David will be joining me soon and Professor Dumbledore will send Professor McGonagall to come as soon as classes are over." Quickly said Lily.
"Of course my dear, I'll keep everybody away. Poor James, what happened to him?" The Fat Lady seemed very concerned about him, and everybody knew that he was her favorite person ever, she would let him get away with anything and didn't scold him if he happened to leave the Tower in the middle of the night.
"We don't know what happened a strange noise is coming from his room and it was probably the reason that made him unconscious, we'll try to figure out as soon as the Professor gets here." Responded Lily, she was looking around to see if Marissa and David were on their way, but she didn't see anybody in the corridors.
"Oh dear! I hope he gets better soon, he brings life to the Tower." Sighed the Fat Lady.
Lily smiled and silently agreed with her. Many things could be said about James, but the one that most agreed on was that he, with the help of his friends of course, brought life to the Tower. Making life in the dorms a unique experience. Soon, Lily saw Marissa and David running from around the corner and quickly joined her by the portrait.
"Lily what happened? I was told to come here and that James had been taken to the infirmary." Said David in between breaths, he was panting trying to catch his breath.
"I was told the same thing, what happened?" Said Marissa.
"Let's go inside and I'll tell you. Thank you." She said turning to the Fat Lady, who nodded and opened to let them in.
"We have a situation." Said Lily as the three sat in one of the couches. "I don't know exactly was is going on, but a strange noise is coming from the boys' dorms and we found James unconscious." Marissa gasped at this and David looked puzzled.
"Do you know what is causing this noise?" Asked David.
"No, the only thing that I know about it is that is very piercing and loud, I had to charm the room so we wouldn't hear it. Professor McGonagall will join us soon, and we might probably learn more about this. Right now all we can do is wait and try to keep everybody away." Responded Lily.
"Morning classes will end in fifteen minutes, lots of people will try to come in, this is not going to be easy Lily, and what do we say to them?" Said Marissa, she clearly wasn't looking forward to confront Gryffindor students.
"We can say that we have orders to keep everyone away from the Tower, I've instructed the Fat Lady to deny entrance to anybody, except us and the Professors. If she has any problems with any student I told her to leave it to us, we'll take care of it. They don't need to know what is going on until is time for them to know. As far as I'm concerned the only ones who should know about this are Sirius, Remus, and Peter, and probably Emma and Katie, they would be very angry if we try to keep them away from James." Said Lily.
"Oh Lord! They would probably start a riot." Moaned David, that was the group he was planning on leaving up to Lily, he didn't want to know how they might react to the situation.
They heard the signal for the end of class and listened to their classmates talking to the Fat Lady, some argued but most just left toward the Great Hall with speculation in their minds. Lily kept her ears open, listening for Sirius' voice, it was the loudest and most recognized. She finally heard Sirius booming voice through the portrait, he was trying to cajole the Fat Lady and get past her, she could also hear chuckles and giggles and assumed that the rest were with him.
"I'll return shortly, I got to talk to this lot." Lily took a reinforcing breath and opened the portrait hole.
"Lily! Can you please tell her that we need to get in there, she won't let us." Said Sirius the moment he saw Lily.
Lily had closed the portrait and stood looking at the group, she really didn't know how to go about it and was feeling really apprehensive.
"I'm sorry, nobody is allowed into the Tower, except for prefects, me and Professors." She replied.
"What?" Exclaimed the boys.
"What happened Lily?" Asked Emma, she knew that there might be a reason for all of this.
"I have bad news." She said looking at them biting her lower lip. The group felt a wave of foreboding pass through them and quickly quieted.
"What is it Lily? Where is James?" Asked Remus.
"He is in the infirmary." at that moment the group gasped and Sirius and Remus had started to turn to go to the infirmary, ".no, you won't be allowed to see him." Lily quickly said, the boys stopped and turned to look back at her.
"What happened to James Lily?" Peter quietly asked.
"We don't know. We found him unconscious in your room and a piercing noise coming from somewhere in there. I don't know if it was the noise that caused him to lose consciousness or if it happened before the noise went off. Dumbledore took him to the infirmary, until he wakes up we won't know what really happened." Lily explained. The faces before her were now serious and pale.
"Why weren't we told when it happened? He is our best friend Lily!" Exclaimed Sirius, he felt that it was an injustice to be told this way, he wanted to be with James.
"It happened only a while ago Sirius, besides, there was nothing that you could do. All we can do now is wait and see what happens." Responded Lily, she knew how they felt, he was her friend too.
"Has Dumbledore any news on him?" Asked Remus.
"Sorry, he hasn't been back since he took James to Madam Pomfrey. Professor McGonagall will come soon and we'll look for the origin of the noise, maybe it will give us some answers."
"Do you think we could go and wait near the infirmary, see if we could get any news about him?" Whispered Katie, her eyes were rapidly filling with tears.
"You could try, I'm sure that Madam Pomfrey would understand." Quietly said Lily, she also felt like crying but her position as Head Girl didn't allow her to do so, she had to be strong for her friends, it would do for students to see their Head Girl crying like a baby.
Sirius nodded, "Thanks Lily, we'll come and let you know what we find out." He gave her a quick hug and started down the corridor. Lily gave a small hug to each and saw them go toward the hospital wing. She sighed and turned back to the portrait and smiled sadly as she noticed that the Fat Lady had a handkerchief in her hand and was trying to dry the tears that were falling down her face.
"Don't worry, I think he will be unscathed by this incident, he's too stubborn to let anything hurt him." Said Lily to the Fat Lady. The portrait opened and Lily quickly entered the common room.
The moment she entered she noticed something strange, the buzz that had been heard from the moment she had charmed the room was getting louder and the pictures were vibrating in place.
"How long has it been like this?" She asked as she turned to look at the prefects who were still sitting in the couch looking at the subjects in the pictures taking hold of the frames and looking around the room in fright.
"It started recently. Do you think the charm is wearing down or is the noise getting louder." Nervously asked Marissa.
"I don't know, it cannot be heard from the corridor. David, go outside and listen for it, let us know if it is heard from somewhere else in the castle." David took advantage of Lily's order and quickly left the room.
"Can I go as well Lily? I'm sorry but this is starting to bother me." Said Marissa looking at Lily with a hopeful expression.
"That's all right, go it would be better to get two different reports, don't worry, go." Said Lily shooing Marissa out of the room.
Lily was starting to get worried. What will we do if the noise is getting louder? She thought, how can we control something like this? She had started to pace the room, waiting for someone to come, the noise was starting to permeate the room, she tried doing another charm to keep the sound out, it helped but only for a few moments, it didn't last long.
Sirius and the rest arrived to the entrance of the hospital wing. In a chair next to the infirmary door was a tiny elf, her face in her hands and sobbing quietly.
"What is that?" Asked Katie as she saw the small figure.
"That's Minnie." Gasped Remus.
"Oh no, if she's here then it means that James is in very bad shape." Moaned Peter.
"If it was that bad, she would be in there, she would never leave James' side." Said a thoughtful Sirius.
"Who is Minnie?" Asked Emma.
"And why wouldn't she leave James' side." The girls were very curious about this Minnie.
"That's James' personal elf, she dotes upon him." Whispered Remus.
"Practically kisses the floor he walks on."
"Not to mention she does one hell of an apple pie." Said Sirius.
"Only you would remember her pie." Chuckled Peter.
"How did James get an elf?" Asked a surprised Katie.
"A gift from his mother." Responded Remus.
"Why is she here and not home?" Emma wanted to know.
"He was allowed to bring it to Hogwarts as long as his studies were not disturbed." Said Peter.
"I didn't know James had an elf, I haven't seen her around the Tower." Katie speculated.
"The mark of a good elf is that no matter the circumstances, it will do its job and not be seen." Said Sirius.
"Sirius, that was mean! Calling her like that, it." Exclaimed Katie as she gave him a quick jab on his stomach.
"Ok, she then." Said Sirius wheezing.
The group had now approached Minnie, who was still sobbing and hadn't noticed the group standing beside her.
"Oh, you poor thing, don't cry." Said Emma, putting an arm around Minnie.
Minnie lifted her head and noticed the others around her. She recognized the boys and sobbed harder.
"Oh, Sirs, Master James is sick, Minnie shouldn't have left him, this is all Minnie's fault." The elf sobbed.
"That's not true Minnie, I'm sure you could've tried to help but the result would've been the same." Soothed Remus, kneeling in front of her.
"Minnie was just trying to help Master James' friend, Remus Lupin Sir, Master James asked Minnie to. Minnie likes Master James' friend. Minnie shouldn't have left Master James."
"Don't worry Minnie, James will pull through, he's a stubborn bastard. Why don't you go to your room Minnie and rest, if anything happens we'll call you." Said Sirius, patting her back.
"Sirius Black will?" Asked Minnie with a hopeful expression.
"Yes I will." Sirius shooed her to the kitchens and turned back to the others.
"She's taking it very hard." Whispered Peter.
At that moment the door opened and Professor Dumbledore came out of the room.
"I have been waiting for you. I am sorry to say that his state hasn't changed."
"What is wrong with him Professor?" Asked Katie.
"We don't know. Only he can tell us and he is in no state to do so. I'm setting temporary rooms for Gryffindor in the South Tower, I recommend that you go to the Great Hall and eat, there is nothing that you can do for him." Urged Professor Dumbledore.
"Will we be told if there are any changes?" Quietly asked Emma.
"I will send somebody for you the moment he regains consciousness. Now I need the three of you to do me a favor." Dumbledore said turning to look at the Marauders. "I want you to go to the owlry and send the Potters a message." The boys nodded and the group turned to leave. Dumbledore returned to the infirmary.
"How did they take it Albus?" Asked Professor McGonagall as she stood by James' bed.
"Better than I thought. They are growing up Minerva." Smiled Dumbledore.
"Hmph! It was about time they did." Exclaimed McGonagall crossing her arms.
"Perhaps, but I do miss their tricks sometimes." He sighed.
"Well, I like it better this way, perhaps now my gray hairs will wait to come out."
Dumbledore laughed at this but was quickly shushed by Madam Pomfrey.
"Really Headmaster, this is a hospital." She frowned.
"I'm sorry Poppy, couldn't help myself. How is he doing?"
"There is nothing I can do for now, you do know what this is of course. A Dark Curse, this is, and unless we can find how it was inflicted and what kind it is we won't be able to do anything."
"Oh, Albus, how could this happened. Who could've done this?"
"Don't worry Minerva, we will find out. I sent the boys to owl the Potters, I expect them to arrive as soon as they get the message. Go to the Tower and see if you can find the thing that caused all of this. There has to be a way to make it stop, it seemed to be getting stronger."
"Of course, you'll tell me if there are any news?"
"I will. You'll find Miss Evans in the Tower now, she might be getting worried by now."
"I'll take care of her."
Professor McGonagall quickly left the room, leaving behind a very disturbed man.
A/N: There you go : ) Remember to review!