Disclaimer: Not ours.
Chapter 38
Lily was sitting in front of the fire in the Gryffindor Common Room with an arm around Sirius' shoulders.
"There's still a chance that she'll be fine." she told him softly.
"I wanted to take her to the ball you know. I really like her."
"Yeah, I know." Lily responded softly, hugging him and resting her head on his shoulder.
***
James crept down the stairs under his invisibility cloak with the intention of going to the library to read up on the cruciatus curse. He stopped dead at the bottom of the stairs, staring in shock at the two figures sitting in front of the fire.
"Thanks Lils." he heard Sirius whisper affectionately.
"Any time." Lily smiled.
She kissed him on the cheek and walked up the stairs leading to her dorm. Sirius got up and went to his own dorm, just missing bumping into James, who had quickly pressed himself against the wall.
After Sirius had disappeared up the stairs, James continued on his way to the library thinking some very angry thoughts about his supposed 'best friend'.
***
"Damn." James hissed upon finding the library door locked. He pulled out his wand. "Alohomora."
He pushed the door open, wincing as it creaked on its hinges, and tiptoed in slowly.
"Lumos."
James entered the Restricted Section, looking over his shoulder as he did so even though he knew that he was invisible. Looking back ahead of him again, he was shocked to see a boy who looked a little younger than himself materialise in front of him.
"Hey, you!" he called, but the boy showed no sign of hearing.
He walked closer and tried to tap the boy on the shoulder, but found that his hand simply passed through the boy. Inspecting the boy, James realised that the two of them could almost pass for twins - except for their height and their eyes. The boy was a little shorter than James and had green eyes. The boy pulled a large, heavy looking book off the shelf and held his lantern close to it so that he could read it. He suddenly jumped as if somebody had made a sound and dropped the book and the lantern. James looked around but there was nobody there. The boy quickly walked away, fading out of James' sight as he did so and still showing no sign of having noticed James. The lantern also faded but the book remained where he had dropped it.
James shook himself and rubbed his eyes. The book was still there. He picked it up and started flicking through the pages, pausing every few moments to check that no-one was there. Coming to a page headed "The Unforgivables: Cruciatus" he skim-read until he got to the part that was of interest to him.
"This curse, if used excessively, has the potential to cause memory loss and/or insanity. Depending on the power exerted by the caster, the length of time that the victim is held under the curse and the victim's will power, these effects may or may not be curable. There is a little-known charm that was experimented with in the middle-ages that, in theory, can lift the effects of the cruciatus, but it is not known whether or not there were any successful attempts at using this charm. Assuming that the charm works, the caster would have to have great magical strength and will power as well as some sort of connection (relative or close friend) to the victim. The incantation for the charm is 'Expecto Remembrall'. It must be cast within a week of the cruciatus curse in order to have any positive effect."
James re-read the passage before checking his watch. "3 o'clock. I'd best get to bed." he muttered.
He wrote the incantation on his arm before turning to head back to Gryffindor Tower. He took one step forward and bumped into something solid. Looking up, he realised that that 'something' was, in fact, a 'someone'.
"Good evening Mr Potter. Or should I say good morning?" came the unmistakable voice of the headmaster.
A/N As you can see, Hermes has been located. He was hiding under Sploogal's bed. With Hermes back, there will be rapid updates until some time around chapter 45 or 46. Then there will probably be no more updates again until after New Year because Gnome's going overseas. Lucky Gnome. Sploogal will be attempting to fit into Gnome's suitcase.
Thanks to the following people for reviewing: "the counter" "Kandy916" "Jade" "danran" "Siriusbaby" "ReBelleRose" "Hoover" "Nie Starwhistler" "Maddy-Riddle" "sweetyp" "magickalstar135" "ronluvr28" "SjabRox" "jenova- san" "flying-piggy-123" "l[LiSa PiCe'A PePeRoNi PiZZA]l" "Moony2187" "ChaosLightning13"
"Kandy916" - That script thing was pretty funny but if you want to send us anything like that to read would you please email it to sploogal@hotmail.com rather than sending it as a review? You'll get a faster response that way. Thanks.
"Jade" - I don't think that you can talk to people on aim if you're on msn but I'm not sure. Sorry.
"Siriusbaby" - I (Sploogal) will have a look at 'Love Conquers All' soon.
"ReBelleRose" - Yeah, the rescue was pretty weak, eh? I don't think we really have an excuse for that other than the fact that we wrote it during maths, so we were a little distracted. Hopefully we'll get around to the 're-writing thing' soon and make that bit a little better, but until then that's how it's staying. Sorry.
"sweetyp" - I think that the whole "I'm so bored of where I live" thing is one of those "The grass is always greener" things. Garden Gnome is the nickname of Sploogal's co-writer for this fic. Sploogal did not actually speak to a garden gnome. Hehe.
"Magickalstar135" - Don't hurt Sirius and James you say? *laughs evilly* We have some lovely Sirius and James torture coming up in their sixth year. And some James torture for the end of seventh year. (Sploogal's already started writing their graduation. Poor James. Mwahahahaha!)
"SjabRox" - Have a look at what we wrote to "ReBelleRose" for the thing about the rescue being uneventful.
"Moony2187" - I (Sploogal) still haven't finished reading your essay thing - I have problems reading off the computer screen so it will probably take a while for me to finish it. I like what I've read so far and I'll review it when I'm finished.
"ChaosLightning13" - Thanks for the suggestion! About Snape apologising to Lily - Most of this was written before the fifth book came out, so technically it's not in canon anymore. We're not going to completely change the entire fic to fit with book five canon because it's simply not possible. If you want to read something that's mostly in canon check out Sploogal's "Seven Years at Hogwarts".
Chapter 38
Lily was sitting in front of the fire in the Gryffindor Common Room with an arm around Sirius' shoulders.
"There's still a chance that she'll be fine." she told him softly.
"I wanted to take her to the ball you know. I really like her."
"Yeah, I know." Lily responded softly, hugging him and resting her head on his shoulder.
***
James crept down the stairs under his invisibility cloak with the intention of going to the library to read up on the cruciatus curse. He stopped dead at the bottom of the stairs, staring in shock at the two figures sitting in front of the fire.
"Thanks Lils." he heard Sirius whisper affectionately.
"Any time." Lily smiled.
She kissed him on the cheek and walked up the stairs leading to her dorm. Sirius got up and went to his own dorm, just missing bumping into James, who had quickly pressed himself against the wall.
After Sirius had disappeared up the stairs, James continued on his way to the library thinking some very angry thoughts about his supposed 'best friend'.
***
"Damn." James hissed upon finding the library door locked. He pulled out his wand. "Alohomora."
He pushed the door open, wincing as it creaked on its hinges, and tiptoed in slowly.
"Lumos."
James entered the Restricted Section, looking over his shoulder as he did so even though he knew that he was invisible. Looking back ahead of him again, he was shocked to see a boy who looked a little younger than himself materialise in front of him.
"Hey, you!" he called, but the boy showed no sign of hearing.
He walked closer and tried to tap the boy on the shoulder, but found that his hand simply passed through the boy. Inspecting the boy, James realised that the two of them could almost pass for twins - except for their height and their eyes. The boy was a little shorter than James and had green eyes. The boy pulled a large, heavy looking book off the shelf and held his lantern close to it so that he could read it. He suddenly jumped as if somebody had made a sound and dropped the book and the lantern. James looked around but there was nobody there. The boy quickly walked away, fading out of James' sight as he did so and still showing no sign of having noticed James. The lantern also faded but the book remained where he had dropped it.
James shook himself and rubbed his eyes. The book was still there. He picked it up and started flicking through the pages, pausing every few moments to check that no-one was there. Coming to a page headed "The Unforgivables: Cruciatus" he skim-read until he got to the part that was of interest to him.
"This curse, if used excessively, has the potential to cause memory loss and/or insanity. Depending on the power exerted by the caster, the length of time that the victim is held under the curse and the victim's will power, these effects may or may not be curable. There is a little-known charm that was experimented with in the middle-ages that, in theory, can lift the effects of the cruciatus, but it is not known whether or not there were any successful attempts at using this charm. Assuming that the charm works, the caster would have to have great magical strength and will power as well as some sort of connection (relative or close friend) to the victim. The incantation for the charm is 'Expecto Remembrall'. It must be cast within a week of the cruciatus curse in order to have any positive effect."
James re-read the passage before checking his watch. "3 o'clock. I'd best get to bed." he muttered.
He wrote the incantation on his arm before turning to head back to Gryffindor Tower. He took one step forward and bumped into something solid. Looking up, he realised that that 'something' was, in fact, a 'someone'.
"Good evening Mr Potter. Or should I say good morning?" came the unmistakable voice of the headmaster.
A/N As you can see, Hermes has been located. He was hiding under Sploogal's bed. With Hermes back, there will be rapid updates until some time around chapter 45 or 46. Then there will probably be no more updates again until after New Year because Gnome's going overseas. Lucky Gnome. Sploogal will be attempting to fit into Gnome's suitcase.
Thanks to the following people for reviewing: "the counter" "Kandy916" "Jade" "danran" "Siriusbaby" "ReBelleRose" "Hoover" "Nie Starwhistler" "Maddy-Riddle" "sweetyp" "magickalstar135" "ronluvr28" "SjabRox" "jenova- san" "flying-piggy-123" "l[LiSa PiCe'A PePeRoNi PiZZA]l" "Moony2187" "ChaosLightning13"
"Kandy916" - That script thing was pretty funny but if you want to send us anything like that to read would you please email it to sploogal@hotmail.com rather than sending it as a review? You'll get a faster response that way. Thanks.
"Jade" - I don't think that you can talk to people on aim if you're on msn but I'm not sure. Sorry.
"Siriusbaby" - I (Sploogal) will have a look at 'Love Conquers All' soon.
"ReBelleRose" - Yeah, the rescue was pretty weak, eh? I don't think we really have an excuse for that other than the fact that we wrote it during maths, so we were a little distracted. Hopefully we'll get around to the 're-writing thing' soon and make that bit a little better, but until then that's how it's staying. Sorry.
"sweetyp" - I think that the whole "I'm so bored of where I live" thing is one of those "The grass is always greener" things. Garden Gnome is the nickname of Sploogal's co-writer for this fic. Sploogal did not actually speak to a garden gnome. Hehe.
"Magickalstar135" - Don't hurt Sirius and James you say? *laughs evilly* We have some lovely Sirius and James torture coming up in their sixth year. And some James torture for the end of seventh year. (Sploogal's already started writing their graduation. Poor James. Mwahahahaha!)
"SjabRox" - Have a look at what we wrote to "ReBelleRose" for the thing about the rescue being uneventful.
"Moony2187" - I (Sploogal) still haven't finished reading your essay thing - I have problems reading off the computer screen so it will probably take a while for me to finish it. I like what I've read so far and I'll review it when I'm finished.
"ChaosLightning13" - Thanks for the suggestion! About Snape apologising to Lily - Most of this was written before the fifth book came out, so technically it's not in canon anymore. We're not going to completely change the entire fic to fit with book five canon because it's simply not possible. If you want to read something that's mostly in canon check out Sploogal's "Seven Years at Hogwarts".