I'm back! I got back on Saturday but haven't posted due to jet lag. Chapter 28 is half written in my notebook and will follow soon. Enjoy!
Lily ran down the corridor, spurred into action after standing frozen for several minutes, too shocked by her encounter to move. She'd seen madness there in Snape's glittering black eyes – and it sickened her.
Her feet pounded on the rich carpet of the hallway and as she progressed, the noises of the fight became clearer and louder.
Suddenly, a jet of light shot down the corridor, and, acting instinctively, Lily threw herself flat on her stomach, her heart pounding as she breathed raggedly into the fibres of the carpet. The jet of light had faded away, and Lily crawled flat to the wall. She stood up, pressing her back against the icy stone, her body taut with alertness. Inching her way along the passage, it was only after she'd cleared the corner that she broke into a run.
James paced in front of the door of the Room of Requirement, biting his lip until he drew blood. What seemed like every few decades, he'd stick his head out of the door to see an empty corridor.
After what may well have been several years, he felt a light hand on his arm, and swung around to see a wide-eyed Lily standing behind him. Without thinking, he pulled her into a tight and desperate hug. James could feel her lightly linked body trembling as she whispered into his shoulder; "Down the corridor. I reckon we have ten minutes."
He inadvertently tightened his grip as he replied, trying in vain to steady his voice, "We need to move the kids."
Letting go of Lily, the fearful young man resumed his pacing.
"There's a secret passageway just along the corridor. It leads to…"
He narrowed his eyes, searching his mental version of the Marauder's Map. Then suddenly snapping his fingers, "The kitchens!"
Lily scowled and folded her arms across her chest,
"For God's sake, James! This really isn't the appropriate ti…"
"No, no, no, no, no!" James cut her off, "They'll never find them down there! A portrait told us that us four, Dumbledore and some bloke called Hogmany were the only people to have visited for one hundred and twelve years, and Hogmany was both Dumbldore's best friend and he is also rather dead. "
Lily stared at him for several seconds before deadpanning, "James Potter, you are a genius."
James forgot to give the compulsory 'I know!' and instead quickly cast a Sonurus on his voice. "Hey, everybody!"
The low murmurs of the younger students stopped immediately and everyone gazed attentively at their Head Boy,
"We'll be taking you in groups of approximately fifteen to a passageway just along the corridor. First years to the front. Stay calm."
Just those three sentences stirred the students of Hogwarts into action, and for the next five minutes, a quick, efficient operation ensued. As James was hurrying across the corridor with the second to last batch of students, when he heard raised voices. He froze, gesturing for the students to slip behind the tapestry masking the entrance to the passage. Wordlessly, he beckoned to Lily.
"The lad said they were in this corridor, didn't he?"
"That's right, Zabini. Good kid, that."
"Yeah. Wait a sec, listen!"
James felt the blood drain from his head. There were at least two Death Eaters only metres away. Dare he stun them? What if he missed? There'd be Unforgivables flying down the corridor before he could say "Voldemort", and, due to his Defence lessons, that would be a very brief interlude of time. He turned his head to look at Lily, her green eyes were wide with fright, her lips moving soundlessly. One noise and they'd die, he knew that.
He began to desperately rack his brains. He thought frantically of his Invisibilty Cloak. It wasn't any good to him now, folded neatly in his trunk.
Or was it?
He remembered a Defence Against the Dark Arts lesson a few weeks ago. Potter had been talking about wordless and wandless magic.
But what had he said? What? What?
'Both types of magic are usually accidental,' he'd told them. Shattering windows or inadvertent flying wasn't going to help him now. But what else had he told them?
But they can be controlled, if usually by a determined and fairly powerful witch or wizard.
James took a deep breath. He didn't know if he had the power, but he sure as hell had the determination. Had Potter said how to do it?
No.
Time to improvise, he thought grimly, I hope I can do a really good summoning charm.
Shutting out his fear and gripping his wand tightly, he focused.
Accio Invisibilty Cloak, Accio Invisibilty Cloak, Accio Invisibilty Cloak…
"Hurry up, Zabini. We've established that they're not in there."
Accio Invisibilty Cloak, Accio Invisibilty Cloak…
"Nope, not in here,"
ACCIO!
A soft rustle of sound brushed past James's right ear. He snatched the Cloak out of mid-air, covering Lily, then himself as tall shadows fell around the corner.
Lily's eyes grew wider under the cloak, and she held James's hand in a death grip.
The seven Death Eaters all held their wands like swords before them as they walked down the corridor.
In a row.
Shit.
If they continued in this formation, they'd walk straight into the frozen couple. But then, suddenly, a flash of light inside of the cloak broke his mental cursing. Lily gave him a shaky smile.
"I took a leaf out of your book. Did a silencing charm." Her voice was trembling but triumphant. James gave her a wan smile, silently, although this was now unnecessary,
communicating what they had to do. He barely heard himself breathe, "One, two, three…"
"STUPEFY!"
Two Death Eaters fell to the ground, struck by jets of light that seemed to have no origin. Before the remaining standers could react, two more of their number fell. Malcolm Zabini raised his wand, swinging it in a wild arc about him, Lily and James missed an Avada by a hair's breadth, giving them enough opportunity to fire the stunners that brought the remaining foes down.
James stood, breathing heavily, looking down at the unmoving bodies.
"C'mon. we need to get everyone to the kitchens."
The two half-ran in a daze to the Room of Requirement, where a huddle of terrified Gryffindor third years were waiting.
James inclined his head , and the group hurried silently to the tapestry, stepping over the bodies that were just beginning to stir. Lily pulled the thick material aside and ushered the Gryffindors inside. They were met by a sea of frightened faces that stretched far along the stone passage. Hastily casting a silencing charm on the doorway, Lily turned to face James.
"Well?"
"Well?" he echoed. He turned to the students, "Two lines, please. We're going to disillusion you…"
He trailed out when the group heard raised voices from just beyond the tapestry. It was mainly curses being hurled back and forth, though ever so often he could hear either Harry or Ginny bellowing instructions. Suddenly, high pitched laughter, hysterical and insane, filled his ears, chilling him to the bone.
"OK, screw that, let's move!"
Harry was proud of how the DA students were holding up, but they were getting tired. The battle had raged for nearly two and a half unceasing hours, and they had been forced to pull back much of their ground. Harry was praying that Lily and James had managed to keep the students safe.
There'd been thirty casualties so far, and twelve of them fatalities, if his mental messages from Dumbledore were anything to go by.
He glanced over his shoulder. He could see the stretch of corridor that held the Room of Requirement from here.
Lily, James, Mum, Dad, for God's Sake, move the kids. Please. Just move them.
"Shields," he bellowed, "Raise the sodding shields!"
He'd been swearing like an Auror for the past hour, and he got the feeling that if his students weren't slightly busy, they'd be pretty shocked.
He'd long slipped into that adrenalin fueled calm that battle always brought to him. Hex. Stun. Bind. Disarm. Snap. Bye bye, wand. In truth, he rather enjoyed the occasional challenge.
When the familiar, shrieking laugh reverberated in his ear drums, a tiny part of him, the part that wasn't swearing inanely, said; Oh good. A challenge.
"Why, hello, Tom," he said pleasantly, stepping forward. He was acutely aware that DA members and Death Eaters alike had stopped to stare. Ginny was taking this opportunity to stun as many as possible. Voldemort had said nothing.
"Don't remember me, eh, Tom?" asked Harry sweetly, "That really isn't very fair, is it? You haunt every goddamn nightmare of my life and you can't even be bothered to remember me? I'm so hurt, Tom."
The double use of his true name had stirred the Dark Lord into action, and he spat,
"Do not dare to use that Mudblood name, filth!"
"What, d'you prefer Voldie?"
Someone gasped, and Harry hastily dodged a killing curse.
"I'll take that as a no… Tom."
"What, fool? Do you, like all others, fear to speak my true name?" asked Voldemort, his lip curling.
"Nope. I really find it quite easy to say… sorry, what was your name again? Specatrius!"
all of a sudden, blinding light encased the two foes in a golden dome then hummed, the note low and gentle.
"Shall we duel?"
Voldemort narrowed his scarlet eyes, daring his opponent to accept. Harry gave the abomination before him a feral grin.
"Oh yes, let's."
James pelted down the corridor to a rather bad portrait of a bowl of fruit. With a trembling finger, he reached out to tickle a pear in an inharmonious shade of green. It gave a giggle, the sort a baby makes when someone pulls a funny face at it. the portrait swung aside just has Lily appeared around the corner, leading a long stream of students.
A wide-eyed house elf appeared in the gap, and on seeing James, she burst into shrieking hysterics.
"Master James! You is coming at last! We is so scared, the noises us elfs are hearing. We is not liking this, no, we is not!"
James hurriedly pacified the tiny elf, and in a fairly quick operation, the several hundred eleven, twelve and thirteen year olds were stowed into the kitchen.
When he finally got through the doorway himself, he found the few house elves that weren't in the midst of floods of tears handing out cups of hot chocolate to the students, who were all huddled in a black mass in front of the huge stone fireplace. The fruit portrait swung shut behind him, and he felt Lily's shoulder brush lightly with his own. He turned his head to look at her, and they exchanged another wan smile.
"They're safe here."
James let out a breath he'd been holding for what felt like an eternity. Just hearing those words finally spoken, and to be spoken by Lily, was all he needed.
He felt a tug on his trouser leg, and a particularly tiny house elf pressed a large mug of tea into his hand. He raised it to his mouth, letting the steamy tendrils caress his face, and took a sip.
The familiar, delicate taste brought back rosy childhood memories. His grandmother, a rather old fashioned lady, had always served the meal of tiny sandwiches with the crusts cut off, scones exploding with jam and clotted cream, and cup after cup of tea sipped from rose patterned china at five o'clock.
To James, the whole situation seemed ridiculous, sitting in the middle of a war zone having a cuppa and thinking of Nana's high teas.
"Lovely tea, isn't it?"
Lily gave him an odd look, and then glanced down at her own mug.
"Tastes pretty normal to me."
James felt himself blush, and studiously watched his grubby trainer slide against the red flag stoned floor.
A faint cry of pain sounded from somewhere above them, and the house elf that had given them the tea whimpered. Out of the corner of his eye, James could see Lily playing with her hands, weaving her fingers in and out of each other.
A few minutes of silent tea drinking was eventually broken by Lily voicing their mutual sentiment.
"I feel so helpless."
Four words that said all they felt.
I feel so helpless…
My friends could be dying
I feel so helpless…
What's going on?
I feel so helpless…
Are we going to die?
I feel so helpless…
"Let's go."
The words were spoken in unison, and moving as one, the two rose from the stools they barely remembered sitting on.
"We're walking needlessly into danger, Lils."
Lily turned, and cocked a dark red eyebrow very slightly.
"And your point is?"
James looked at his girlfriend, and a grin broke out across his face,
"So let's do it."
James stared, silent, at the thronging, fighting mass of people crammed into the stairwell, circling a golden dome. Once again, Lily spoke up to sum up their thoughts.
"Bugger."
"You can say that again."
"I won't."
"Thank you."
Their eyes hadn't moved from the battle on the stairwell. They could see Marnie dueling fiercely, and, as a fairly elite member of the DA, barking out orders.
Reaching across her body, still transfixed, Lily drew her wand, James repeating the same movement.
"James?"
"Yes?"
"Did you realize that I love you?"
Ha di haha! So was it worth the long wait? I reached my personal record of reviews for the last chapter so maybe I should always wait this long, eh?
Lots of people have asked me why James isn't more suspicious. The answer? I doubt he'd work out something this unlikely. If he did, he'd have a highly overactive imagination.
Why are H+G taking so long to get together? I want SOME incentive for my readers to persevere, also, this whole story is ABOUT them getting together. Unless you'd prefere my fic to be something like this?
JAMES: Wow, this is creepy. Are you my son from the future?
HARRY: I am indeed.
JAMES: Cool! Want to go prank Snivelly?
HARRY: Sure, once I'm done snogging Ginny.
Get my point? Uh, I'm too jet lagged to do review responses. There are just too many. Also, for the record, California was great, apart from the scary portions and lousy tea (no offence, I'm just too English for my own good.) Incidentally, while I was writing the James/tea bit, I was having a pretty serious PG tips craving.
By the way, did you notice this was my longest chapter yet? It should be, considering all the hotel rooms it was written in.
Love y'all
Mee