Hey guys, sorry this is a bit of a boring chapter, but the next chapter will be better!
Fleurdelacour33, Lily Hermione Potter and Dominus513- i hope you like it! weirdness- im into weird too yay!
highserpantking- thanks! It's more of a theory than a story, I just wrote it in story form to get people to read it. It's kind of what i thought happened, because the mirror and RAB is important, Regulus couldn't have gone on his own- even Dumbledore couldn't, and Lily Potter had a huge secret to be revealed in the next book, and i think the potions thing was important- hence the draught of the living dead and JKR's emphasis on it. I know most people don't agree but it makes a fun story to write and hopefully to read as well!
That night had been one of the worst nights of Lily's life. Sirius and Remus had returned later that evening to check on James. Neither of them spoke or looked at her. Even James was refusing to look her in the eyes, as if she was a constant reminder of the pain she had caused him.
The next morning was barely any different. An exhausted Lily walked into the kitchen around ten o clock and found the tea pot empty, and James reading a book.
"Morning" she called, hoping for a reply. James nodded his head in reply and continued to read the book.
"Coffee?" she asked refilling the kettle. James merely raised his already full cup to indicate that he was fine. When the coffee was made, Lily sat down hesitantly on the other side of the table to James.
"James?"
He raised his eyebrows but continued reading none the less.
"Please James, I am so sorry! It was only a misunderstanding!" Lily pleaded. James said nothing.
"I never meant to hurt you! I didn't do it on purpose!" tears began to leak out of Lily's eyes. When James continued to ignore her she began to get annoyed. "If you were so upset that I had supposedly died, then why are you so angry that I survived?"
James slammed the heavy book onto the table and looked at her.
"I thought you were dead. Misunderstanding or not, for over one hour, I thought that my wife, the most important person in my life, had been murdered. No matter how sorry you are, it will never change the fact that for one hour I thought that my life was over. You can never change that."
Lily looked at him, shocked by his words. James looked away and picked up his book again.
"Is there anything I can do?" she asked. James shook his head and pulled the book higher to cover his eyes. They sat in silence for several minutes, giving Lily time to think.
When Regulus's body had been found, she would have to wait until the day of the funeral when they would seal his coffin. That way, when she swapped Regulus's body for something or someone else, no one would know. She would then wait until Regulus recovered and woke up to decide where to hide him next. She wondered if his parent yet knew, or how Sirius would react when they found him.
Her thoughts were interrupted by an owl tapping on the window. Lily jumped at the opportunity to get away from the table and ran to let the owl in. She untied the newspaper from its leg and placed several coins into a small pouch on the other leg. She sat down when the owl had taken flight and unfolded the paper. As she had expected, the front line proclaimed the death of another death eater.
Although the "Daily Prophet" blamed the entire group of death eaters, and not Snape personally, Lily knew that her plan had succeeded. As she read on she discovered that the body had been discovered twenty minutes later by ministry officials who had been aware of strange activity in that area, an hour prior to that. The body had been found with no physical damage, the signature symptoms of the killing curse, and with the dark mark leering in the sky above the street. The article concluded that there would be a small funeral attended by bereaved family members at the end of the coming week.
Torn between relief that her plan had worked, and anxiety of what was to come, she re-folded the paper and laid it in the middle of the table to resume her morning coffee.
"Have you finished with this?" James asked her awkwardly gesturing to the newspaper. Lily nodded in reply and waited to see James reaction.
James stiffened as he read, and she noted a slight frown forming across his handsome features. As he finished he sighed heavily and placed the paper on the table in front of him, staring at the face of Regulus Black, which was the centrepiece of the article. After two minutes he stood up abruptly and walked over to the fireplace.
"I'm going out." He said shortly and helped himself to a handful of floo powder.
"Where to?" Lily inquired curiously. James turned his back on her and was about to step into the bright flames, when another figure stepped out.
"Sirius!" James exclaimed placing a hand to his chest in surprise. He recovered almost immediately. "Are you alright?"
"Why wouldn't I be?" Sirius replied almost too casually. James did not pick up on falseness in his friend's voice.
"Sirius, in the paper this morning…your brother…" he began awkwardly.
"Oh that!" Sirius replied waving an impatient hand. "As if I care!"
Lily could tell that he did care very much. He looked tired and sad, and the smile on his face looked painful. She knew he and his brother never got on but she recognised a certain bond that even she felt for her horrid sister Petunia. James must have realised that Sirius was not being entirely truthful.
"You must care to some extent." James placed a comforting hand onto his shoulder. Sirius shrugged it off and looked James fiercely in the eyes.
"I've told you before James. You are the only brother that I will ever need."
James looked at him uncertainly, but decided to let it lie and offered Sirius a coffee, who accepted too cheerfully. Lily was pained to see Sirius so falsely happy. She would much rather have him yell, lash out, blame her for his pain, rather than keep it to himself, leaving her to suffer in silence too.
As he sat down, Lily attempted a greeting but was ignored.
"Sirius…please talk to me!"
Lily felt sick. She realised that she had neglected herself over the past few days. She had been so consumed in helping Regulus that she hadn't eaten and barely slept. Feelings of nausea and exhaustion crashed over her in waves and she found herself slumped over the table, too weak to support herself any longer.
"Lily?"
"Is she alright?"
"Is she breathing?"
"Guys, I'm fine… I need some space!" she began to feel sicker as the two men moved closer, making her feel claustrophobic.
"What's wrong?" James bent down to her level and she noticed that she had moved to sitting on the floor.
"I just need… I don't know! I feel sick!" she whispered, shaking like mad and hunching over. James rubbed her back comfortingly. Despite the urge to throw up, Lily quickly took advantage of the situation. "James, I'm really sorry, you know I'd never want to hurt you."
James sighed and pulled her closer. He rested his head on her shoulder. "I know, love, I'm sorry too."
"So that's it is it?" Sirius said with a dry laugh. "She puts you through hell, and then pulls a sickie so you let her off?"
Perhaps it was the fact that the heat from James was making her dizzy, or the fact that Lily hadn't eaten or slept in days, she suddenly threw up. James did not draw away but held the hair out of her face. He looked up at his friend.
"Pulling a sickie eh?" he said sarcastically. Sirius looked guiltily at Lily who was an ugly shade of green.
"I'm sorry Lil" he said kneeling down to her level and looking into her eyes. "I think you should go to bed, you don't look well at all."
Lily nodded in agreement, too tired to argue and allowed James to carry her up the stairs. When tucked up in bed with a glass of cooling water beside her, Lily told James that she would be fine, that she only needed rest. She waited until he had gone back downstairs before unfolding the paper.
Despite the fact that her head was pounding and her eyesight swimming in and out of focus, she concentrated on the minor details of the newspaper article. She wrote down that the funeral would be in Hammersmith, London at the end of the week at midday. She decided that she needed to get to the morgue twenty minutes before hand in order to steal the body and fill the coffin with a heavy substitute. That way, Regulus's family would not bury him alive.
Until then, Lily had to concentrate on recovering. She would be no good to anyone if she was too tired to walk. She decided that the best course of action until the end of the week would be to curl up in bed with a book for company, and not dwell on the dangers ahead.
coming up- Lily has to steal the body back, but there is a suprise guest at the morgue! And James discovers the truth behind her mystery illness...
PLEASE REVIEW! I DON'T HAVE MANY- IT MAKES ME CRY :( danku!
