Disclaimer: I don't own Harry Potter, or the marvellous plot of the books, just my plot, James Potter (The Younger one), Vanessa, Alex, Lily (Younger), Maria, Sasha & Will…the younger generation Has anyone seen Sirius…I'm supposed to kidnap him and marry him…xD!
James Potter sat in Saint Mungo's, the moon's light reflecting his haggard face. Purple circles were under his eyes, and his calloused hands held Vanessa's tiny one in his own. "Please Ness, wake up." He pleaded quietly, smoothing a blonde curl back, away from the closed eyes.
The healer bustled in. "Mr Potter, I'll need to take her temperature, se if the fever's gone down." James nodded, but didn't release Vanessa's hand from his grip. "Mr Potter, I'm going to need you to move." James frowned, but stood up, dropped her hand, and strode to the other side of the room, watching Healer McDonald take Vanessa's temperature.
"Alright Mr Potter, you can sit down again. Her temperature has gone down a bit." She said briskly, leaving the room. James sat down again, "Please Nessa, please wake up. I'll do anything." He dropped his head onto Vanessa's pillow, resting his head next to hers.
"James?" A deep voice said, as the owner entered the room. He lifted his head, and spun around. "How is she?" The agile, dark haired boy asked. Peter Lupin was James' best friend. Born the same year as him, Tonks and Remus, who'd been in a bit of a hurry for children, the two had been a ramshackle group of the Marauders.
"She's shown no signs of awakening, but her fever's lessened. It'd sure help if we knew what curse was used." James said hollowly. "Thanks for coming Pete." Anybody who knew the Original Marauder's were always shocked when they saw James and Peter. James was nearly identical to his grandfather, with the messy dark hair, and his mother's hazel-brown eyes. With his father's build, the same as his grandfather's, he too was often mistaken for the original James Potter. Upon seeing Peter, who had his mother's original dark hair and silvery eyes, the black trademark, people asked if Sirius had taken a youth potion.
James stood, and Peter and him met in a brotherly hug. "Where's Jack?" He asked. Jack was the third member of their group, a Scot with reddish hair, dancing blue eyes, and a burly accent.
"He'll be coming soon." Peter answered.
"Good." James said, relieved. He glanced back at Vanessa, and took a seat in the chair that had been at her bedside for three hours. Peter conjured a chair, and took a seat on Vanessa's other side. "Jack!" He exclaimed as a stocky, shorter young man walked in.
"How is she James?" Jack Montgomery asked anxiously, looking down at the pixie-faced girl lying in the bed. The usually twinkling blue eyes were subdued with worry. James just grunted, and Jack stood at the end of the bed. He sighed as he watched his best mate clasp his girlfriend's hand with one hand, and smoothed her hair with the other.
Peter and Jack exchanged a look, "James, mate, you're going to have to leave her side to eat." Peter said softly, his usual buoyancy. Jack nodded.
"And sleep. You've been up since four for Auror training. It's eleven o'clock mate. C'mon, we'll go being you back to the flat, and you can get some sleep, and then you can come back, okay?" Jack asked, raking a hand through his hair.
James shook his head, his eyes fixed on Vanessa's pale face. "Professor Longbottom and Mrs Longbottom have left already, Alex too." A new, slightly higher-pitched voice said as the owner entered the room. "James, you need sleep." Ryan Keyes said, his blond hair reminding James painfully of Vanessa's, even though his hair was more of a dirty blond then anything.
"Ryan! Thank God! Maybe you'll be able to talk some sense into this bloke here. He's mad!" Peter said, sighing. Jack stifled a snicker as James lifted his tired gaze for a second to glare at one of his best mates.
"I'm here, I'm here. So, Potter, is Nessa okay?" Ryan asked, standing behind James, looking down at Vanessa worried. Healer McDonald entered again.
"Boys! She needs rest. And by the looks of it, so do you!" She hurried them all out of the room, even James.
"C'mon Keyes, Lupin, help me get Potter to the flat." Jack ordered, grabbing James, the tallest of them all, under the arms, starting to half drag him to the apparition point located in the back of Saint Mungo's. Ryan grabbed one of James legs, and Peter the other.
Grunting under the strain of their Quidditch refined mate's weight, the boys finally got to the apparition point. "We'll take him Side-Along." Peter said, motioning to himself and Jack. Ryan nodded, screwed up his face, and apparated. Peter grabbed one of James wrists, Jack the other, and the two concentrated on their flat in the wizarding town of Dumbledore, named in honour of the greatest wizard of their fathers' time.
When they appeared in their flat, they were in shock. "What happened?" Peter asked Ryan, who was looking around the flat, who looked like he'd been knocked flat on his back.
"I-I-I don't know." Ryan stuttered, rubbing his brown eyes with closed fists. "I just found this." He handed the now very astute James a note.
This is just a warning…be aware Potter…watch out for Longbottom.
"They're after Nessa!" James growled, passing the note around. Jack made a grunting sound, and Peter began clenching and unclenching his fists.
"She's been with us Marauders since the first day of school. We'll show them for hurting our only female member." Peter said, his voice low and menacing. "Who d'you think it is? I bet it's that girl, Jewel! She was such a slut. Always mad because I wouldn't date her, so she took it out on the only Marauder girlfriend right now."
"Not the only one!" Jack protested. "I am dating Ella, remember?" He said, cuffing Peter upside the head.
"Oh yeeeeeah!" Peter said, chuckling. "I forgot because she looks a bit like a bloke." He winced as Jack knocked him to the ground, and the two began to wrestle.
"She doesn't." Ryan said, thinking back to the tall, slender girl with the heart-shaped face, and pixie-cut chestnut brown hair. "She looks like a girl." James sighed.
"We know Ryan. Peter just wanted to get Jack mad." The messy-haired boy said, exasperated. Jack was big and burly, with a bad temper. James was calm, a big prankster, but very clever, and often took it upon himself to be the responsible one. Peter was obsessed with girls, thought only about girls, and impressing girls. Oh, and girls. It was definitely a big difference from his namesake, the original Peter. Ryan was a major player, but often a bit slow. But the girls thought he was good-looking…just like the rest of his friends.
"Let's search the rest of the house." Peter said, standing up and brushing himself off. The rest nodded, and they began a thorough search of their flat.
"Ginny, explain why we can't just send Lily money to get her things again? Why do we have to buy them without her there? She'll get mad." Harry complained, as he shrugged on his red robes. Ginny scowled.
"Because she'll spend money on clothes, not the things she needs." She reminded him as she combed Beth's hair into pigtails. Harry frowned.
"I'm sending Lily the money she needs." Harry announced, leaving the room to tie the bag of galleons to Hedwig's leg.
"Mom!" Sirius bellowed as he entered the room a few minutes after his father left. "Mom! My robes don't fit!" He said, as he tried to pull them on, to no avail. The mother in question sighed.
"I guess you'll have to wear some of James' old ones." She said, tying Beth's other pigtail, and sending her to wait in the living room for her siblings to be ready. "Go ask you dad to get them for you." She told her son, as her middle daughter skipped into the room.
"Mommy, can you tie my plait?" Molly asked, twisting a red lock around her finger. "Oh! And Quiz brought a letter from Aunt Hermione." She said, handing her mother a piece of parchment.
Ginny smiled, and opened the letter.
Dear Ginny,
Let's meet at Ollivander's at three, okay? We need to buy the boys' wands, and the rest of their school supplies, and they'll love to do it with Molly, so I thought we could do all the shopping together! When we go to the Ollivander's, Harry and Fred can take Sirius, Molly and Beth to the Quidditch shop, and to Florean's. We can get all the books at the same time, and the new robes. Madam Malkin's sound good? Send your reply back with Quiz please.
Hermione
Ginny scrawled a reply, saying yes to the plans Hermione had concocted, and plaited Molly's hair, asking the red-haired girl to attach the note to the owl, and send him back to his owner. Molly did so, and Quiz reappeared within minutes, with a short note from Hermione telling Ginny she couldn't wait, and neither could the boys.
Molly jumped around excitedly, her plait whipping her cheeks. "Jesse and Justin are coming with us?" She asked, her cheeks rosy with anticipation. "Can I go with them?" She inquired, fiddling with the bottom of her yellow sundress. The children often wore muggle clothing at home, during the summer, and basically whenever they weren't at Hogwarts, or the family picnic, or some big Wizarding function.
"Yes, they're coming with us, and we're all shopping together!" Ginny said happily. "Why don't you go wait with Beth." She said, leading Molly down the stairs. Sirius bounded down at the same time, wearing robes much too big for him. Ginny sighed, and pulled him up before he tripped down the stairs, nearly knocking Molly down as well.
"Let me shorten the robes for you Sirius." Ginny said, waving her wand, so that a strip of fabric of about a foot wide fell from the bottom of the robes and the sleeves, so that they fit better. "Go on now. Go see Beth and Molly, you dad and I will be down in a second." Ginny told him.
"Dad's already downstairs. He told me to tell you." Sirius said, looking at his feet. Ginny nodded, and then started walking down the stairs to the living room, her sandals clicking on each step.
"Alright everybody, Diagon Alley." She told them, as she sent her children through. Beth went with Sirius, and Molly with Harry. "Dobby, keep an eye on the house while we're out please." She told the house elf, who swept a low bow, and bustled out. Ginny tossed the powder into the fire, and green flames burst around her as she said clearly, "Diagon Alley".
"Okay, are we all here?" Ginny said, counting heads. "Molly, Beth, Sirius, Dad." She nodded, and took Molly's hand as Beth skipped around up front with Sirius. "We only have three minutes to get to Ollivander's! Harry, you go to Gringotts, take Sirius and Beth. I'll meet Hermione, Jesse and Justin." Ginny bossed, as she led Molly to Ollivander's.
"Excited Molls?" Ginny asked, "First year of Hogwarts. Professor McGonagall sent your letter today. We didn't think you'd get in, as you turn eleven second day of term, but she agreed, so you'll be going with Justin and Jesse." Ginny informed her daughter.
Molly turned to her mother, "REALLY!" She exclaimed, having lamented the fact that she'd been born three weeks late for the past two years, while her best friends talked excitedly of going. "Molly, you are a lot like your Aunt Hermione. Jesse is so much like Ron it's uncanny. Justin…he's more…hero-problem, not unlike Harry. I suggest you make sure they do their homework, or Aunt Hermione will have your head, if you're in Gryffindor. I'm sure you'll be in Ravenclaw with your smarts." Ginny said fondly.
Molly beamed, and ran ahead the few steps upon seeing Jesse and Justin. "I'M GOING! I'M GOING!" She cried, running into their open arms. The twins were extremely protective of Molly, often being the cause of much laughter among the adults.
The day passed fairly uneventfully, but for Jesse blowing up a stack of robes in Madam Malkin's, Justin eating too much ice cream and vomiting all over Fred, Sirius wanting at least four different brooms in the Quidditch shop, Beth getting lost in Flourish and Blotts, and Molly spilling newts' eyes down her front in the Apothecary.
Vanessa's eyes fluttered open at three twenty that afternoon, to see James sitting at her side, clutching her hand in his own. She smiled, and then frowned seeing tears spill down his face.
"James…what's wrong?" She asked weakly, lifting a trembling hand to his cheek to wipe away the tear.
"Vanessa." He breathed, taking her hand from his cheek, and kissing each fingertip. "I-I-I was so worried you wouldn't make it." He said, his body shaking.
Vanessa heard a sigh from the other side of the room. Peter, Ryan, and Jack were sitting on a rather comfortable looking sofa obviously conjured and pushed against the opposite wall, looking at the scene playing on in interest. "Pete. Ryan. Jack. You-You're here." She said, smiling.
"Of course we are Pet." Jack said gruffly, using his nickname for her: Pet. Vanessa winced.
"Jack, how many times have I asked you not to call me 'Pet'?" She said fiercely, obviously gaining back some strength…and her legendary temper.
James sighed with relief, while Peter left to go get a healer. "Nessie darling, d'you know who got you? And what hex they used?" He asked, his dark brown eyes filled with urgency.
"No…I don't remember at all. I just remember leaving for a second to go get a glass of water for you." Vanessa said. "How're your ribs, anyways?" She asked him tenderly, her blue eyes dropping to his chest, "Did they heal okay?"
"Healer Abercrombie fixed me up in a second." James said, reassuring her. Vanessa smiled as he leaned down and wrapped his arms gently around her in a hug. "See? I'm fine." He told her.
"Miss Lily Potter in here?" A gruff voice asked.
"Yes, why?" was Will's suspicious reply.
"Owl came at the front desk. Said something about her Aunt in labour at St. Mungo's. Came from a Healer…Dennison or something." Tom the landlord answered.
Thanks to my ever faithful reviewers Aria-wolfstar, and Fairy-GYAKUTENNO-MEGAMI...:cookies:
OoOoO I'm getting hits but no reviews...REVIEW PEOPLE GEEZ! Okay, that's outa my system...Thanks to Aria for pointing out my BIG mistake in the fourth chapter, Sirius was a dog, not a wolf...
