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Panting, tears covering her distressed face, Lily looked up to see James standing over her, before turning her attention to Sirius, who was lying, limp in her arms.
She felt around his wrist for a pulse, frantically, her hand shaking madly as she groped at his hand, James kneeling now on the other side of their friend, pain etched into every corner of his face as he studied Sirius' condition.
There it was. A weak pulse swept through Sirius's limp figure.Lily let out a sigh of relief, and broken down crying all over again. She was a mess. She had just destroyed one of the most powerful magical objects she had ever heard of, and now there was no hope for Remus.
"You had too." James said, encouragingly, gripping hold of her arm and giving her a grim smile, knowing what must be going through her head. "You had no choice. We would have all been…" he trailed off, not wanting to discuss what would have happened had a death eater ouched the bloodstone, and instead embracing Lily tightly, and picking up Sirius.
Slowly, but surely James picked himself up from the ground and led his friends back into the main street of the cobbled little village, walking not to the Three Broomsticks as Lily had suspected he would be taking her, but instead to the Hogs Head.
A lip of sunlight could be seen peeking over the horizon mockingly their tiredness, but Sirius' breathing was light and battered and his pulse was hazy. James kept walking determinedly.
Exhausted, he passed the rickety sign that showed the entrance to the dingy pub and swung the door opened. The room was deserted, with the exception of the ever-present barman, who stood stooped, behind the counter.
Lily looked at James quizzically, and he leant closer to her so that the barman couldn't hear him whisper.
"He was at the meeting. He knows Dumbledore, he'll be more help to us than Rosmerta or Cass could be at the moment." He said quietly, and Lily nodded, approaching the bar.
But before James could even open his mouth to tell the barman, who was eyeing them with caution and curiosity, of their predicament, a solemn voice spoke James' name from the staircase.
James and Lily turned quickly, James taking care of Sirius, who was held tightly in his arms, and saw a man standing in the rickety staircase that made them sigh with relief.
Dumbledore gave them a worried yet encouraging smile, and hurried forward, as James lay Sirius down on a table in front of his, James' weak limbs groaning as they were alleviated of his weight.
He knelt before Sirius and muttered something, whipping a thin wand out of his robes swiftly. He stayed there for a moment or two, muttering away while James and Lily looked on anxiously, watching intently as Sirius' breathing got louder, and the pained expression on his face lessened, so that by the time Dumbledore looked up at them Sirius was sleeping calmly.
"Where were you tonight? Are you alright?" he asked, offering them seats.
"I don't think that we should talk about it here Professor." Said James quickly, as Lily opened her mouth to speak. With a swift, apologetic look at Aberforth, Dumbledore stood from his chair once again, and levitated Sirius with his wand held aloof in front of him.
"Of course. I am staying here tonight; I thought it best not to return to the castle at such an hour, as I am to leave again early this morning, so my brother has kindly offered me a suite here for the night. We can talk privately in my parlour. Please follow me."
He said, and led the way back up the staircase to a small room at the end of the landing.
Forwarding inside, James scanned the room curiously, despite their unusual circumstances. It was far from the elaborate furnishings that one would expect Dumbledore to ordinarily stay in. The bed was made, and the table had been wiped clean, but the floors were covered with a thick impenetrable layer of grim, and the chairs looked as though they might fall to pieces at any moment.
Nether the less, James accepted the one that Dumbledore drew out for him, and Lily sat down similarly, Dumbledore laying Sirius down gently on the bed, and sat himself down opposite Lily and James, looking at them, concerned. Lily opened her mouth to talk, however, couldn't get one word out before she began crying again. James grabbed hold of her cold hand under the table, and began to speak. He couldn't, however, find the right words with which to begin…
"We found the heliotrope sir." He said simply, looking disgusted with his choice of starter. Dumbledore looked surprised, an expression that James would not have thought possible of his calm features. Not just mild wonder, but utter astonishment stole over his countenance, and James thought it best to continue at once.
And so he talked. He spoke of everything, from their discovery of the bloodstone, and the legend, right up until the moment when he had apparated back to Hogsmeade. The only thing that he left out was the fact that they knew about the heliotrope. He made it sound as though they were looking for the cure for Remus, and that they didn't know why the death eaters were there, however, there was a knowing glint in Dumbledore's bright blue eyes that made reluctant to lye, though the professor didn't ask any questions. He merely nodded serenely and stared at James, lapping up the story.
Lily didn't stop the steady flow of tears that were issuing from her green eyes the whole time that James was talking, and when he got to the part of Lily destroying the stone, she let out a gasp, and put her head in her hands, ashamed of herself.
"No Lily." Dumbledore said, and James laced his arm around her shoulders. "You have no idea how much you have helped tonight. That stone as much better destroyed than used for what Bellatrix wanted it for." He said sadly, and Lily looked up.
"But Remus-"
"I know. I know that it will be devastating, but I think that I am right in saying that Remus didn't ask the three of you to go looking for that stone tonight?" he said, and James and Lily nodded silently. "Then I know that he will not be the least bit disappointed. In fact, I think the fact that the three of you are alive and well will mean a great deal more to him, and that is saying a lot."
Lily gave him a small, watery smile.
"Now, you have all been through a lot tonight, and I am prouder than I can say. Sirius will make a full recovery. Now, I am sure that we could find beds here for you all tonight, however, I know that your friends will be very worried, and I think it best that Madame Pomfry looks over you, and treats you for shock." He said, smiling. "But it is, of course, up to you."
James took a quick glance at Sirius, lying in the bed, and gave a quick nod to Dumbledore.
"I think it would be best if we went back to the school tonight sir." He said, and Dumbledore smiled.
"In that case, I must ask that you don't tell anyone that we cant trust about this, both of you, but we will need the quickest means of transport, and I daresay he is efficient."
Throwing one hand into the air, Dumbledore beamed at the shocked looks that jumped onto Lily and James' face when Fawkes the phoenix was suddenly perched on the headmasters arm.
"Now, if you will hold onto his tail, I will take Sirius along with me." He said, lifting up his sleeping figure, as James and Lily grabbed a hold of the beautiful scarlet plumage protruded from the magnificent bird.
In a shoot of flames, they were gone, and with a rush of heat and flames all four of them were standing in the hospital wing in Hogwarts, Madame Pomfry running towards them promptly, flustered her hair bouncing in her hairnet, and her eyes blotchy with sleep.
"Albus!" she cried, scanning the four people standing on the floor of the hospital, surrounded by empty beds, one of which Dumbledore lay Sirius down in promptly.
"Yes Poppy, good evening, or…" he looked at the light streaming in through the windows. "Or good morning." He said, with a slight chuckle.
Dumbledore didn't tell the matron what they had been through, or where he had found them, but she gave them both potions for shock, and treated the cuts and bruises covering James body, though she said to him that they wouldn't be fully healed for a few days yet, and he was to take it easily.
Sirius was to stay in the hospital wing for two night, and Madame Pomfry asked James and Lily to bring him his things, and study material for their NEWTs, which James laughed at, thinking of Sirius face when he turned yup with loads of work for him in the morning when he woke up. In fact, it was more of a laugh of relief with reassurance that Sirius would be waking up. There had been a very long moment the previous night when he feared that he would never see Padfoot again, and that was something that James hoped he never had to face in his life.
James looked at Dumbledore, and he gave a small nod, smiling. James whispered a quick goodbye to Sirius, and Lily gave him a kiss on the forehead. They said a very sincere thankyou to Dumbledore, and ran through the corridors, sprinting with a renewed energy that was brought on by the potions that they had taken in the hospital wing.
Half way back to Griffindore tower, Lily stopped, and held onto James sleeve with a great beaming grin on her face, her pretty features bent into pure ecstasy.
"We did it James." She said. "We actually did it!" added with a squeal, and he picked her up and kissed her, in the deserted corridor, sunlight glistening on their faces as it streamed in the window. They ran, hand in hand, all the way back to the portrait hole, and burst inside.
They stopped; the common room was relatively quiet, though the three people still sitting inside it hadn't noticed them enter, as they thought that they would. Lily's continued to grin as she went to walk up to Remus, Dani and Ella, whose head was laying on Remus's lap, her chest rising and falling peacefully as she slept.
"No, you can't, don't be stupid. It's not your fault."
"Not you too. An hour ago you were going to come with me!" Remus hissed back.
"I know, but that was stupid. Do we even know where they were going?"
"Chestervalle, I'm sure of it. They said that they'd been there before…"
"Why the hell had they been there before?" Dani asked, raising her eyebrow. Remus made a frustrated noise, picking up a cushion of the couch and groaning into it. Ella stirred.
"Shit, shhhhh." He soothed, stroking her hair so that she settled down again. James laughed.
Dani and Remus' heads whipped around so fast that they seemed to have enough momentum to fly off their necks all together, and They jumped up from the lounge quickly, their eyes wide.
"Ow!" screamed Ella from the ground, having rolled off their laps. "What they hell did you do that for!"
James and Lily laughed, and Remus hauled her to her feet apologetically. Ella rubbed her eyes, and when they finally focused on the two people standing by the entrance of the common room she gave a squeal so high pitched that Remus cringed, and she wrapped her arms around the necks of both Lily and James, pulling them into a deep hug, tears of relief spilling dangerously into her eyes.
"Um." Dani's eyes were wide open, in fear. "Where is he?" she asked quickly, her brow creasing in terror. James gave her a small encouraging smile.
"He's gonna be fine." He said, grinning. "He's in the hospital wing. I'm sure Dumbledore wouldn't mind if we took you to see him soon, but he's sleeping for the moment." James explained. Dani looked confused. Lily put her arm around Ella.
"I think you'd all better sit down. We have a loooot of explaining to do." She said, and Ella giggled feebly. They moved aside, so that Remus was standing right in front of them, eyes wide, as white as a ghost. Lily burst out crying again, and hugged him.
"I am so sorry. I destroyed it Remus! There's no cure now! I destroyed your only hope." She sobbed into his shoulder. Remus looked shocked, and widened his eyes at James over her heaving shoulder, exasperated.
"Lily, it's ok! It's fine! All that maters is that the three of you are alright, and I cant even believe that you tried to get it!" he said and pried her off him. Lily whipped her red eyes sombrely. James draped his arm around her shoulder, sat down, and didn't stop retelling the story of the night until the common room began to fill with people heading down for breakfast.
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