The Almost Prank

Chapter 3

Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter.

Lasttime: James found out his daughter had died.

a/n: This will be a study of how the death of a child can effect a person. Hopefully it will help people deal with sad times and help others deal with them. All emotions are real. This is a story that is veryy personal so updates might take a while.

a/n: I want to thank all of you that reviwed. I hope you continue to like this story. As I said lasttime not all chapters will be as sad.

"Come on, James," Lily said sitting next to James Potter in the Great Room. It had been two days since James had gotten the fatal news. In those two days he had not eaten anything, although both Lily and Sirius had tried. "Jimmy, you have to eat something. Just a little please. For me."

"Why should I ," James sobbed. "I have nothing left. Just let me die. It will be better for everyone else."

"Prongs, don't say that," Sirius said sitting next to the two of them. "I still need you. The Marauders still need you. Think about Lily. She still needs you. And what about your parents. They love you. Do you want to put them through this."

"Just leave me a lone," James stormed jumping up. He did not get very far however because Sirius had anticipated this move. Sirius had had moved from his chair and had grabbed James by the arm.

"If you eat I will leave you a lone," Sirius exclaimed. "However if you don't eat I will keep bothering you. And I will tell Moony and Wormtail. They are worried about you. They have seen the fact that you are not eating."

"You wouldn't," James screamed. "You promised that you wouldn't tell them. You promised that you would leave it up to me."

"I would, if you keep going like this," Sirius stated seriously, something he never was. "You will start eating even if we have to start forcing you to eat. To do that we will need help. OF course the other option would be to put you in the hospital wing. However I do not want to serve the detentions that I would have to serve if we went that route. It would not be fair to Lily. Your option of not eating is not fair to Lily. If you haven't noticed she cares for you. Even when you are being a selfish git."

(a/n: Alright, this may be a little out of character for them, but it is important that they have this exchange. Please bear with me. I will get James back into character. I do feel however that Sirius would pull out all the stops to help his friend. If you do not agree please let me know in a review.)

"Fine have it your way," James said. "I'll eat later. Now however I have Quiditch practice. It wouldn't exactly look good for the captain to be late." With that James got up and made a hasty retreat.

"I am going with him," Lily muttered getting up and grabbing some food. "Maybe he'll eat after practice."

"He'll come around, Evans," Sirius said. "He has to. He's a fighter."

"I know," Lily whispered. "I just hope he does before it is to late. Were you sirious when you told him you would talk to Remus and Peter."

"If that is what it comes to I will."

"Maybe," Lily started and stopped herself as she noticed the other two Marauders coming in to breakfast with puzzled looks on their faces.

"What is up with Prongs?" Peter asked. "He just walked past us right now. He didn't even look at us when we said hello."

"HE's been acting weird for the past two days," Remus added. "Come to think of it so have you Padfoot. Spill the beans. What is going on and why are you keeping us in the dark?"

"There are certain things that James has to tell you," Sirius replied helplessly.

"James daughter died," Lily broke in. "I am sorry Sirius but I can't keep this inside anymore. He needs all of you guys."

"James had a kid?" Remus asked. "Why did no one tell us? And you new? When did this happen? How did it happen?"

"Gee, Moony and you claim to be the smart one," Peter said. "He and this girl where snogging and it lead to more. I can't believe you would ask such a question."

"The important thing right now is not why," Lily exclaimed. "James needs us. We have to figure out how to help him. He won't even eat. Something has to be done."

"I agree with,Lily," Remus said. "I noticed he wasn't eating but I never thought it was something this bad. But what do we do for him? First we have to figure out how to get him to eat."

"I am going to the Quiditch Pitch," Lily explained. "I was hoping that I could get him to eat something after the practice. It is getting to the point where we are going to have to force feed him."

"I hope it doesn't come to that," Remus muttered watching Lily walk out of the Great Hall. "I just wish you would have told us sooner. We do not have a lot of time to getting a plan together. Plus our best schemer is the one we are scheming against."

"I know," Sirius exclaimed. "But James asked me not to say anything. I feel like a heel for talking about this."

"He'll get over it," Peter replied. "Besides you didn't tell us Evans did. You keep his promise, it was Evans that didn't."

True to her word Lily sat by the Griffyndore dressing room and watched the practice. She could never get over how confident James looked on a broom. Even with his world falling apart he looked as if he could take on the world on that broomstick. All the self doubt that he was having vanished when he was up in the air. She just hoped that she was doing the right thing. The practice lasted for an hour in which time the rest of the Garauders joined Lily.

"we have it figured out," Remus said watching the Grifendore captain and seeker. "We will wait with you until James comes out. We are hoping that he will eat a little bit for you. If he does he will never have to know that we know. However if he still refuses to eat we will just have to force him."

"And how are you going to do that?" Lily asked a little distracted. She never liked being a part of a prank. This one however sounded to familiar.

"James was actually the one that gave us the idea," Sirius said. "Although he is going to be upset that his plan is going to be used against him."

"What about intimidating him," Lily said. She knew that the four of them used a lot of intimidation to get what they wanted. "Besides, you might get in trouble by doing it this way."

"That is a chance we will have to take," Peter replied.

"If you can't handle the trouble," Remus explained. "You can leave. IF we have to do this."

"No," Lily mumbled seeing that the practice was almost over. "I have to do this. IF it gets to rough, hopefully the Professor will understand. If not I will not let you take all the blame. Let me talk to him first."

As the practice ended the three friends hid behind the bleachers. They all hoped that James would keep his word and eat a little. If not they had a plan to get him to eat. They had even figured out a way not to let on that Lily had let the secret slip. "James, I'm over here," Lily cried as she saw James finally exit the dressing room. "I thought we could have a little picnic."

"I suppose you won't stop," James mumbled going over to Lily. "Do I have a choice if I eat or not?"

"No," Lily replied shortly. "You promised you'd eat after practice. Just eat a little for me, please. Besides if you don't eat I will just have to sit on you and force feed you."
"Fine," James muttered grudgingly sitting down and grabbing a piece of bacon. "You are relentless, you know that?"

This was to much for the other Marauders. They could not believe how scheming Lily Evans could be. Was this just an act to get James to eat or was this how she really was. They never thought that Evans would be able to get James to eat. Much less scheme him to eat. This was another more forceful side of Lily. They had all been in the same house for six and a half years. After that time they thought that they would know somebody. But here was Lily showing them a new side of herself.

"I know," Lily replied leaning against James. "Sometimes you have to be. You really need me to be right now."

Lily was worried about how much James ate, but the deal was that Lily would leave James a lone as long as he ate a little bit. "You know you really should eat more," Lily coaxed when James started to get up after one piece of bacon.

"I ate," James scoffed. "That was the deal. You never said how much I had to eat."

"This is true," Lily replied. "Although I never said that I wouldn't try to get you to eat more. Tell you what. For every bite you eat I'll let you take me flying for fifteen minutes." Lily hated flying but she would promise James anything if he would eat. Of course the three Marauders had heard all they could take and came out of hiding laughing. This was to much James had finally found his equal and nobody would believe who it was.

"You have a way of picking them, James," Remus said with a smile.

"What is that suppose to mean, Moony?" James asked. He did not like the look on his friends face.

"Just what I said," Remus replied. "We never thought you would meet your match. But you have."

"What are you guys doing here anyway?" James asked ignoring Remus last statement.

"We were worried about you, mate," Peter exclaimed. "Plus we wanted to see if Evans could get you to eat."

"You told them," James muttered turning on Sirius. "You promised you wouldn't. I trusted you."

"He didn't tell them anything," Lily murmured. "I did. I was worried about you."

"It was my place to tell them," JAmes roared. "It was not your place. It was mine."

"Prongs, calm down," Peter responded mildly. "She was worried about you. We were worried about you. You weren't eating and it was scaring us."

"What's more you weren't letting any of us in," Remus exponded. "You can not keep this all inside yourself. We are your friends. We want to help you. Sirius kept your secret for as long as he could. You were slowly killing yourself."

"If I wanted to kill myself it is my decision not yours," JAmes explained.

"We realize that this is a hard time for you," Sirius muttered. "But, you can not keeep going like you were. It is not fair to you. It is not fair to the memory of Jacci. Would she have wanted you to do this to yourself?"

"She was so young," James murmured letting the tears come freely now. "I failed her."

"You didn't fail her," Lily replied hugging James. "However by giving up on live you would fail her."

"Why her?" JAmes cried. "She was so innocent. She was buaetiful. Wasn't she, Sirius."

"Yes she was," Sirius answered. "And she knew you loved her. She knew you would do anything for her. As your parents knew. However, you need to go on."

"But, I can't," James responded. "I can't do this a lone."

"You don't have to do it a lone," Lily said still holding James. "We are all here for you. We all care about you. IF you have any doubts about that just take a look around you. What's more I love you. If I were to loss you know I don't know what I would do."
"What's more your parents love you," Sirius explained. "Just think how they would feel if they knew you were doing this to yourself."

"Can you guys leave us a lone," Lily muttered into James hair. "I think Jaames and I need to have a little talk."

With that Remus, Siruis and Peter left the other two a lone but not before casting a mournful look towards JAmes. They sincerly hoped that Lily would be able to break through the wall that JAmes had built. They knew that there were still things that James was not saying.

"Lil, I need to explain," James said when his friends left. "It was not fair of me to make you worry about me. I'm sorry."

"You have nothing to be sorry for," Lily murmured pulling James towards her. "If anyone should be sorry it should be me. Although I can't say that I am sorry for telling them. I have no excuse other then that I was worried about you."

"I know," James murmured pulling Lily onto his lap and absently running his hand up and down her arm. ""But what is done is done. We can not take back the past. I do however owe you an explanation."

"You don't owe me anything," Lily whispered. She didn't want to ruin the moment by getting James upset. However if James wanted to talk she would let him. "But if you need to talk I'll listen."

"I never loved Jacci's mom," James started. "It was just a summer fling. I was upset that you kept turning me down. When I found out she was pregnant last year I was scared. She was scared. She wanted to get rid of the baby. I however could not bring myself to accept that. She moved in with my parents until Jacci was born. This summer after Jacci was born she took off. She didn't even leave a forwarding address. I didn't tell you any of this because I didn't want to loss you right after I had finally gotten together with you."

"We weren't going out at the time," Lily replied leaning further into James. "I wouldn't have held it against you."

"At the end of last year I had decided that I would drop out. I was going to raise Jacci by myself. My parents however had other plans. They wouldn't let me drop out. See my parents had to drop out of school when I was born. They didn't want me to make the same mistake. But I had to take responsibility for my actions. We argued and my mum finally told me that if I went back to school they would raise her. Sirius even sided with my parents. I never thought he would side with them against me."

"They were trying to do what was best for you," Lily stated. She could tell how hard this was on James but she hoped this would help him.

"I never understood that statement," James said looking off into the forest. "Until Jacci was born. I wanted to give her everything. I wanted to protect her. In the end I couldn't protect her."

"It wasn't your fault. Sometimes people just die. We do not know why. It is very common with muggle babies. Sometimes these things just happen. We do not know why they just do. I am sorry, James. I need you to believe me."

"I believe you. It doesn't make it any easier though. I would like nothing more then to be with her. See when you become a parent you would do anything to protect the child. I feel like such a failure."

"You are not a failure. If you were you would not have these feelings. It is only natural that you would feel like this."

"Why are you being so understanding," James asked leaning down and brushing Lily's lips. "I don't deserve this."

"Your right, James. No parent deserves to go through what you are going through. It's not fair."

"But I don't deserve you. I don't deserve the understanding that you are giving me. After what I told you two days ago I expected you to walk out on me. I wouldn't have blamed you. I guess that is why I kept the fact that I had a daughter a secret from everyone."

"You have a daughter," A voice said in the background. Snape had been listening from the distance. He had snook up on the two of them hoping to get something on them so he could get them in trouble.

"Just leave us a lone, Snape," Lily muttered sensing the change in James. This was the last thing he needed right now.

"Why should I ," Snape sneered. "This is to good to not tell the school."

"You wouldn't dare," James said getting up. He had promised Lily he would leave Snivilouse a lone but this was to much.

"And what exactly are you going to do a bout it," Snape snarled. It was all James could take. He was going to tear Snivilouse a part. He lounged at Snape knocking him down. As they rolled on the ground it was all Lily could do to stay out of their way. Finally she was able to get the two of them a part before anyone got seriously hurt.

"Leave us alone," Lilt roared at Snape who was still on the ground. "Come on, James. Let's find better company. If you say anything about this Snape I will tell them that James was only defending himself."

"I'm sorry," James muttered placing his hand on Lily's back. "I promised you I would leave Snivilous a lone. I broke my word. I really am sorry."

"He was asking for it," Lily reasoned. "It wasn't you fault. You asked him to leave you a lone and he didn't."

"Did we do the right thing?" Remus questioned in the Gryffindore Common Room. The boys were sitting in front of the fireplace. They had been sitting there for the last hour after leaving Lily to comfort James. Since it was Saturday they didn't have any classes so they had a free day. Usually they would have spent the day outside, but none of them had any desire to be outside.

"I hope so," Sirius murmured. "I couldn't take watching the way he was beating himself up. I just hope that we intervened soon enough."

"Why didn't he want us to know?" Peter muttered. "Did he think that we would think less of him or something."

"I have no idea," Sirius muttered. "The only thing I can think of is that he was trying to come to terms with being a father. It was a major decision. One that he did not enter into lightly."

"We could never think less of him," Remus said. "He should know that. So he kept this secret from us for how long?"

"Since last year," Sirius explained. "He found out that Jacci's mum was pregnant with her two months into the year. She then moved into the Potters until the baby was born. She didn't want anything to do with the baby so she left as soon as Jacci was born."

"How can a mother do that?" Peter asked. "That seems so cruel. I don't think I would do it."

"James wanted to raise Jacci," Sirius continued as if he hadn't been interrupted. "He was going to drop out and take care of her. However his parents talked him into coming back. They said they would take care of Jacci. You should have seen Prongs with her. He loved her so much. She was never out of his sight."

"I always figured James would be a good parent," Remus broke in. "He cares about the ones he loves with so much devotion."

Please read and review. Sorry about the long chapter. Any ideas on the story or comments will be accepted. IF you have questions I will answer them either in an e-mail or in the next chapter. I will try to start responding to my reviews. Once again thank you for taking the time to read. If you go to my profile you will find more of my stories. They are more upbeat.