Title: Light
Author: Amelia Bedelia
Chapter Seventeen: Déjà Vu
AUTHORS NOTE: Nothing to say – enjoy!
Chapter Seventeen: Déjà Vu
"Who are you?"
Lily froze.
"I beg your pardon?" she whispered, mouth hanging open, unbelieving.
James shrugged, helplessly. "I'm sorry," he said, squinting at Lily, hoping to recognize her. "I just don't know who you are."
"You don't? Oh…" She swallowed, blocking out the pain beginning to collapse in on her. "I'm Lily. We're, uh…" she shrugged, looking him in the eyes, hoping to find the old James there. No luck. "We're friends," she muttered, biting her lip.
"Oh," he said, nodding at her, trying to act friendly. "Well, it's nice to meet you, Lily."
She nodded. Exhausted, Lily sat in her chair, looking away from James. Small tears made their way down her cheeks once again. It just never gets old, does it?
"Lily?"
She jumped, hearing James speak. She turned around. "Yes, James?"
"Are you all right?"
Lily laughed slightly. "I'll be fine. Don't worry about me," she said quietly, putting on a brave face and patting James' hand soothingly.
"Ah, you've finally woken by yourself, have you?" a high voice chirped merrily. Lily turned in her seat to find Madame Pomfrey bustling about the room, picking up a bottle of potion. "And it's about time, too!"
James sat up slightly worried, and shrank back, moving as far away from Madame Pomfrey as he could, and closer to Lily. "Who's that crazy woman?" he muttered, pointing at the nurse, standing over him.
"Who am I? Dear boy, how are you feeling?" Madame Pomfrey pressed a hand to his forehead, frowning. "Not heating up…"
"He lost his memory," Lily muttered, quietly.
"He – you – what?"
"I don't know who you are," James said, not feeling the slightest bit comfortable in an empty room with two people he didn't know. But ignoring any embarrassment showing on his cheeks, he pressed on, exuberantly. "I don't know where I am, I don't know why I'm here, and I don't know who I am!" He gestured over to Lily's figure. "I just met her a minute ago!"
Silently, Lily closed her eyes, trying not to show her pain.
"Oh, my… James," Madame Pomfrey said, bending over so as to look at him directly at eye level. "You were in an accident a few days ago. Lily found you banged up pretty badly."
Lily nodded. "You must have tripped over something, because I found you lying in glass from the coffee table. You hit your head on your way down harder than we had thought, apparently…"
James bit his lip, racking his brain in hopes of remembering something – anything. But nothing came to him.
"James," Lily said, "what do you know?"
"My name is James Potter."
Lily nodded, urging him on. "And what else?"
He shrugged. "Not much more than that. I don't really know where I am…" he muttered, hoping to clue them in so they could give him information.
"You're in the Hospital Wing at Hogwarts," Madame Pomfrey said, as she searched her cabinets for more potions, pushing them all to the side when she found ones that she didn't need. A scraping noise echoed off the walls, making Lily mentally cringe at the sound, disturbing the silence.
"Hogwarts!" James shouted, eyes lighting up. "I've heard of Hogwarts before! It's a, uh…" James focused intently, scrunching up his face. "Shoot…" he muttered frowning, disappointed. "I don't really know what it is, I guess."
"It's a school," Lily said, exasperatedly. What have I gotten myself into now? "You're a Gryffindor, sixth year. You're top in nearly all of your classes. You're a Marauder!" she said as her final attempt at getting James to remember his best friends since day one at Hogwarts.
He stared at her. "A what?"
Lily stood up abruptly and paced the room in front of James' bed. "Don't you remember anything? Anyone?"
James nodded, excited again. "My mum and dad!"
Lily paused. Oh, Lord no… "James, your parents…" She watched his puzzled face, feeling her insides squirm with guilt at the fact that she was the one that had to give him such awful news. "They're dead."
"Oh."
His face fell, paling, and he scratched his head, looking downward.
"They were murdered at the hands of Lord Voldemort several years ago."
James' eyes grew wide, lighting with a fire, similar to the one that normally blazed within Lily. "Voldemort – he killed them?"
Lily nodded, glad to have him remember someone else.
Madame Pomfrey hurried over, cutting off their conversation, with her feet scuffling across the floor. "Lily," she said, pulling her away for a moment. Reluctantly, she stood on her feet and left James' side. "My dear, as you noticed, James does not have his memory, or rather, has selective memory. Oh, James!" The nurse darted her eyes over to James to find him pulling the bed sheets off and attempting to stand on his own. Hurriedly, she rushed over and helped him before he fell from lack of strength. Lily followed, supporting James weight under her own.
"As I was saying," Madame Pomfrey continued, accommodating James as he lied back down. "James has selective memory. In his case, he tends to remember things he's heard of the most or has been acquainted with for many years, for example, Hogwarts, being something he's always heard of. You-know-who, as you saw, is something that's impacted him rather hard, because of the fact that we all fear him and he is in the news virtually every day."
Lily nodded, looking down at James figure. "Yes," she responded.
"I also need you to give him one pill every morning around breakfast. I know I can trust you," she said, "otherwise, if Black had been here, I would have told him to come see me personally to get his medicine!" Lily laughed, but the light in her eyes was dull. "Other than that, I think he's good to go."
"Is that all?" Lily whispered.
"I believe so – should there be more?" the nurse asked, frowning slightly, trying to remember if there was anything she'd forgotten.
Lily raised an eyebrow curiously. "Normally, you're pushing to keep people here longer, and now you're pushing to get him to leave?"
"In his case, dear, he needs to leave as soon as he can and get around to seeing people or things he might recognize. Get him back into his normal schedule. The more he gets to know, the faster his recovery."
Lily nodded again and sat next to James' bed as Madame Pomfrey scurried away, muttering to herself. "Careless accidents – wouldn't be here if they knew how to walk properly…"
Lily smiled slightly. "Are you alright, James?" she said, glancing warily at his face, currently covered with anger.
"He – damn him!" he shouted, referring to Voldemort, and pounded his fist on his bed.
Lily linked her arm through his as his chest rose heavily with each breath. Slowly, calmly, he touched her hand and threaded his fingers through hers, grasping her hand tightly. "It's alright," she whispered, looking into his eyes. "We'll get through this."
()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()() Gryffindor common room ()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()
"James!" Sirius shouted, surprised when Lily escorted him through the Gryffindor entrance Sunday night. "When did you wake up, Prongs?"
"Sirius!" James shouted, shocking himself.
Lily crossed her arms, following behind slowly. Sure, he recognizes him…
James ran, ignoring the pounding headache he had left the Hospital Wing with. He threw his arms around him and seized Sirius in a large bear hug. "Hey, seems like years since I last saw you!"
Sirius laughed, clapping him on the back, and took a few steps away. "It's only been a few days, mate."
James shrugged, smiling. "So, how's Atria? Is she here?"
Sirius froze. "What?" he whispered, voice constricting to a higher octave. Lily gasped, eyes widening. Not again…
"Your sister?" James said as if he were stating the obvious. "Your twin? You haven't forgotten her, have you?" he joked, laughing.
"James," Lily whispered in his ear, hoping for a miracle, "I don't think you should keep talking…"
Sirius backed up even farther, looking frantically between Lily and James, and then darting his eyes over to the rest of the Gryffindor sixth years, sitting on the couch. "What the hell is this?" he shouted, regaining his deep, booming voice. "Some kind of sick joke?"
Lily shook her head and reached out to Sirius. "No, it's not. Sirius, he's just - "
"He's out of his bloody mind, that's what he is!" Sirius fumbled for his words, pressing himself to the wall behind him. At this point, the whole common room had become attentive to the argument between long-time best friends.
Lily began calmly. "Sirius, it's ok. Just relax, you don't - "
"I don't what, Lily?" He had a pained look on his face, a mixture between astonishment, disbelief, and anger. Tears threatened to fall, but in the midst of his anger, he didn't notice them.
"You don't know what happened!" she yelled, stepping forward angrily.
"Then what happened?"
Lily blinked, listening to the silence of her surroundings. Carefully, she walked to Sirius' side and grabbed his arm, moving him over towards their circle of friends, seated open-mouthed by the fireplace. "Sirius," she said, much quieter, "James – he lost his memory."
A soft buzz filled the common room, students turning to their neighbor.
Lily bit her lip and looked around nervously, ashamed at how recklessly she had told everyone what happened. It'll be through the whole school by dawn…
"Upstairs," Remus muttered, pulling Breanna to her feet and nodding at the rest of the group. "It's the only place we'll ever get any privacy."
Silently, they each climbed upstairs to the boys' dormitory.
James stood there, puzzled. Lily smiled. You gotta admit – he's got the cutest face when he's confused…
"Come on," she said. "Your bedroom's up here," she said, holding out her hand.
James stepped forward hesitantly and took her hand. "What just happened?" he whispered, leaning in near her ear.
Lily ignored the pleasant shiver running down her spine as well as the warm breath across her neck, and became serious. "Atria died."
James gasped, wide-eyed.
"Voldemort," Lily said quietly, looking away from his ice cold glower.
"Lily," he said, directing her attention back to his face. "Would you mind telling me who else died so I don't end up in this situation again?"
She nodded. "But we'll have to do that later, we have to talk to everyone else right now."
James blinked, allowing Lily to pull him up the steps, as if he were a dog, obediently following its master.
She walked him into the room of deadly silence. "Oy," Remus said, shattering the stillness, "your bed's over here, mate." He pointed at a neatly made-up bed, untouched for the past two days. James nodded gratefully and sat down awkwardly, away from the group of people sporadically placed around the room.
Lily shut the door behind her with a muffled click and closed her eyes, breathing deeply. Gaining courage, she turned around and stood tall, bravely keeping her emotions inside of her.
"James woke up roughly an hour ago," she started, looking in his direction, as did everyone else. "Madame Pomfrey told me to take him up here and get him back into his normal routine – the more he gets used to things, the quicker he recovers."
James idly twiddled his thumbs, trying to ignore the adamant stares, watching him closely.
"He doesn't know any of us?" Bella whispered, covering her mouth.
Lily shrugged. "He only knows or recognizes things that he's known of for long amounts of time or had a strong impact on him."
Sirius nodded, keeping his gaze downward. "He recognized me. And remembers Atria."
Breanna looked up at Lily, helplessly. "Does James recognize you?"
Lily was about to answer, when a hoarse voice cut in. "You all can stop acting like I don't exist and talk to me yourself," James said, looking at each of the faces individually.
Breanna nodded, slightly surprised. "Did you recognize Lily?"
"No," he stated firmly.
"Do you recognize me?" she asked.
James shook his head in response.
Breanna swallowed and looked at the others in the room. "Do you recognize anyone else other than Sirius?"
James looked at Remus; then to Bella; then to Peter; and finally back up into Lily's face. "Sorry," he muttered.
Lily continued biting at her lip, feeling the sour taste of blood in her mouth. "He recognized the name Hogwarts, but didn't know that it was a school. He also remembered his parents." James' face fell slightly. "And remembered Voldemort."
An air of unease fell over them. "But he doesn't remember his own best friends," Remus whispered, reaching for Breanna's hand.
"I'm sorry," James repeated, looking at each of the downcast faces.
"It's alright, James," Lily muttered, walking to his side and put her hand gently on his shoulder.
"I can't take this anymore," Sirius muttered, standing and leaving, flinging the door open. "I have to empty my mind…"
"Oh, Sirius," Bella said, chasing after him through the open door.
Remus shook his head and ran a shaky hand through his hair. "I'm sorry, but I'm going to have to go with Sirius on this one," he said.
Lily nodded as Peter, Remus, and Breanna all left the room, leaving Lily and James left, alone.
James swallowed and looked up at Lily, guiltily.
"It's not your fault," Lily cut in before James could even say the words aloud. "They just… It came to them as a bit of a shock."
"It was a shock to you also, wasn't it?"
Lily nodded slightly, walking across the room to Sirius' bed and pulled open a drawer in his side-table desk. "It was," she said, "but then again, for starters, the three guys were your best friends for the past six years. The two girls, along with myself, became good friends, with you sometime around a month ago. In fact," Lily said, "the ones you saw holding hands are going out – obviously."
James nodded, then looked up hurriedly, panic-stricken. "Do I have a girlfriend?"
Lily laughed at his reaction. "No, you don't, I'm sorry." She shuffled a few objects around in the drawer and finally dropped to the floor, looking underneath his bed. She found what she was searching for, pulling out a black notebook. "Here," she said, tossing it gently in his lap.
"What is this?" James asked, opening up the top cover.
"It's a photo album. Sirius showed it to me a week or so ago – he said that he took as many pictures here as he could and then kept a record of all his years at Hogwarts. This is just first year."
James nodded, raising his eyebrow at the first picture. "Where are we?"
"Oh," Lily said, crawling onto the bed, and lying down. "That was the first day coming to Hogwarts at King's Cross Station. Platform 9 ¾," she added, hoping to jog his memory.
James nodded and turned the page, expressionless. "Whoa," he muttered, looking closely. He turned and lied down next to Lily, moving the photo album so that it was in front of both of them. "Who is that?" he asked, pointing.
Lily sat up on her elbows and stared at the moving picture with a small girl, flailing her arms about as she tried to swim to the nearest boat. Lily laughed. "That would be me," she said.
James burst a gut, laughing loudly. "What happened?"
"You happened," Lily said, poking James in the shoulder.
His eyes widened. "I did that? Are you serious?"
"Very serious," Lily said, smiling.
James flipped the page and laughed again. "And that's you after…"
"After you cursed my hair to stick straight up all day."
James shook his head. "And this picture of you is - "
" – after you put a jelly-legs curse on me." Lily smiled as James buried his head into his bedspread.
"Why on earth was I doing this?" he asked, his voice muffled in his pillow.
"Because you hated me," Lily said. "But wait, the pictures get better," she whispered excitedly, turning the page.
Blown up, covering a whole page, was a picture of James with cake covering his face and a pitcher of milk in Lily's hands, being poured down slowly, turning his dark hair light.
Lily laughed out loud.
James merely blinked. "Oh, and you think this is funny?"
Lily recovered quickly, grinning. "You couldn't have possibly thought I would have let you get away with pulling those awful pranks on me, could you?"
James smirked at her. "You are an evil little girl."
Lily laughed again, pushing James' shoulder. "Oh please," she gasped, attempting to stifle her giggles. You'd think that after you realize your best friend remembers nothing about you and your boyfriend cheats on you, you might not be laughing as much as I am right now. "Just keep looking," Lily said, smiling over at him.
James flipped the page, and the laughter continued.
Bella
"Sirius!" Bella chased him out of the castle and through the cold grounds, near to the Quidditch field. "Sirius, would you stop acting like such a little child and quit running away from your problems?"
Sirius halted and spun on his heel, glaring at Bella. "A little child? Bella, you have no idea what I'm going through right now!"
Bella raised an eyebrow. "Sirius, we're all friends with James – the fact that he lost his memory impacts us all, not just you!"
Sirius stepped forward, glaring down at his girlfriend. "Oh, really?" he asked, narrowing his eyes. "How long has he been your best friend?"
Bella stopped speaking, and stared up at Sirius, unable to comprehend him at the moment. "It doesn't matter how long he's been my friend or best friend," she said calmly and quietly. "He's still my friend, and I still care about him."
Sirius stepped backwards, away from her. "That's just plain bull!" Sirius pointed up at the tall Gryffindor tower. "James has been my best friend my whole life! And you expect me to act upbeat and together when he hardly remembers me?"
Bella shook her head frantically. "He remembered you, though, Sirius!"
"But he sure as hell didn't remember what happened to Atria!"
Bella paused, not saying anything. "Sirius, he - "
"No, stop, just – just leave me – go away!" he shouted, tripping over his feet and toppling onto the ground, unmoving.
"Sirius!" Bella kneeled on the ground, rolling Sirius onto his back.
He stared up at her.
"Sirius, are you ok?"
Slowly, but surely, he shook his head as a small tear traveled across his cheek, falling onto the snow without noise.
Bella smiled weakly and leaned closer, moving her hand by his face and stroking his hair behind his ear. "Sirius, what's really wrong?"
He sat up on his elbows and swallowed, shrugging.
"I know this can't all be about James," she whispered, pressing her forehead to his and looking him deep into his eyes. "Because we all know that James has been lucky before, I'm sure he'll be back to normal within a few days."
Sirius looked away, blinking the tears out of his eyes.
"Sirius," she said, "will you tell me who Atria is?"
He nodded, sitting up straight.
"Alright," she said, holding a hand out to him. "Let's go inside. You can tell me on the way."
Remus
"Sirius had a twin?"
Remus nodded silently. "Atria Black, as I'm guessing you've figured out, and she was murdered by Voldemort – when Sirius was standing right beside her."
Breanna dropped her head in her hands. "Poor Sirius…"
"Don't even say any of this to him," Remus said immediately, cutting off anything Breanna was about to say. "I'm already guessing he's in bad enough mood, from being reminded of her."
Breanna nodded seriously. "I won't say a word."
"Good," Remus muttered, glancing around the library room.
Breanna bit her lip. "What do you think we should do with James now?"
Remus shrugged. "We probably shouldn't bother them. If I know Lily, she's probably working with him as soon as possible, trying to get him back to normal."
"And they might need a bit of alone time as well…" Breanna let the open sentence hang in the air, smirking at Remus.
"You match-maker you," he muttered, laughing.
!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!Lily!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
"And this one," Lily said, picking up a blue notebook and flipping through to find a picture, "is the famous Marauders at Hogsmeade for the first time. In second year, after you had figured out the secret passage there and back."
James glanced at the picture and smiled, flipping through the rest of the pictures. Lily and James had relocated themselves, sitting next to each other on the rug in front of the Gryffindor fireplace with six albums and several pictures spread out on the floor in a halo around them.
"So, I'm smart?"
Lily stared at him, and then laughed out loud at the bluntness of this statement. "You could say that," she muttered, smiling over at him.
"I'm not smart?" he asked, puzzled, interpreting Lily's answer differently than she had meant for it to be answered. "But in the Hospital Wing, you said I had top marks…"
"Well, top marks in all classes except Charms," she said. "That's my subject," she boasted, proudly.
James nodded, turning a page.
"But at times, sometimes you just lose your cool and say the wrong things. Or just at the wrong time…"
James nodded. "I can see that coming from me – I obviously must have said something wrong for you to have done all of these horrible tricks on me."
Lily laughed. "Well, after pushing me out of the boats to Hogwarts first year, I think we kind-of declared war on each other after that."
James smirked and closed the photo album, opening up a blood red album. "What year is this one from?" he asked.
"Oh, that's from this year," Lily said, excitedly. "These are my favorite – then again, that might be because this is the only album where I look any good. You know," she said, "without a spell on my hair or food on my robes."
James chuckled and flipped through the pages. "Wait, I saw him earlier, who's that?" he asked, pointing at the boy hanging from the wall in Charms, swinging back and forth, attempting to jump down, but without luck.
"Oh," Lily said, dropping her voice. "That's Snape. Severus Snape, or Snivellus to you four."
James raised an eyebrow. "Snivellus? Are you serious?"
Lily nodded and smiled. "You see, whenever you weren't planning on ruining my life, you plotted against him."
James flipped the page. "Why am I so mean?"
"Oh, you're not mean. Just… You prank people for fun. As a joke," she said, attempting to find the right words. "I used to do the same things to you."
"But only because I did it first," he replied quickly.
"You're not a bad person, James," Lily said, finishing the small argument. "You're one of the nicest people I know."
"And yet we fought the first time we met each other."
Lily shrugged. "Wrong place, wrong time. And plus, if we hadn't have fought, I wouldn't have been able to be friends with you now, you realize."
James bit his lip, wondering if he should speak out loud. "How exactly did we become friends?"
"Well," Lily started, "there was a bit of a mix up last break a few days before Christmas. Needless to say, we 'bonded' when we were sort-of forced to be together, and now we're friends."
"Boy," James muttered, "I got a pretty good deal."
Lily laughed, as James smiled down at her.
He turned a few pages, looking at each picture, and then smiling. Lily stopped him, pointing her finger. "This is where we start to come into the pictures. There, that's Bella, she's going out with Sirius, remember? And that one's Breanna with the brown hair. I just adore her hair, it's so pretty," Lily muttered, speaking to herself. "Oh!" she whispered, excited, "there's me! And then this one is Bella and Sirius a day or so after they started going out. And you and me on the couch, here."
James smiled down at the picture. All he ever saw of himself, as he continued turning pages, were pictures of him and Lily. Occasionally there would be a picture of him alone, maybe even one or two of everyone huddled together. But nearly all of the pictures of James were of him and Lily together.
"I must really be good friends with you, huh?"
Lily began to grow uncomfortable very quickly. "Yeah, we are," she muttered, feeling her voice falter.
"Did we ever go out?" James asked curiously.
Lily chuckled slightly, hoping to divert his attention from the tears building up in her eyes. "No, we didn't."
James' face darkened slightly at the thought. "We didn't?"
"No, James," she repeated, swallowing a large lump in her throat. Lily never imagined it ever being this hard talking to James when he was like this.
James rolled over onto his elbow and looked at Lily. Slowly, he reached out a hand and stroked her cheek. Lily closed her eyes, allowing a lone tear to trickle down, across his thumb. "A girl as beautiful and kind as you…" he whispered, smiling, "and I didn't have the sense to ask you out?"
Lily's body began shaking with sobs and she clutched James' hand to her cheek, looking him in the eyes. "I'm so sorry, James," Lily said quietly, sitting up. "It's a bit – challenging," she muttered, wiping her tears away. "I'll just be right back…"
She stood, rushing from the room to a girls' bathroom, he assumed.
Weakly, James watched her crimson hair disappear out of sight, staring blankly at the opening to the dormitory steps.
I obviously messed something up again, he thought, sighing. Maybe that's why she never went out with me.
(%)(%)(%)(%)(%)(%) Breanna (%)(%)(%)(%)(%)(%)
Remus yawned and stretched out in the large armchair at the back of the library. He reached over to Breanna and grabbed her waist, pulling her onto his lap, hugging her up against his chest. "So," he said, kissing her on the cheek, "how are you feeling?"
Breanna smiled and leaned back on her new-found pillow. "This must sound really horrible of me," she muttered, "but I'm in a great mood."
"Oh?" Remus began to play absentmindedly with her hair. "Why is that so horrible? It's ok to be in a good mood."
"Remus," she whispered, turning to look up at him, "James doesn't remember who we are!" He nodded. "But," she sighed, "at the same time, my parents are alive! They're not dead!"
Remus laughed and ran his hand up and down her arm. "Yeah, they're… Breanna?"
"Yes?"
"In the newspaper, the Ministry of Magic confirmed they were dead, didn't they?"
"Yes…"
"And they said they found their, erm… bodies, correct?"
Breanna paused, not speaking.
"Breanna?" he pressed.
"What if it was a decoy?" she muttered, biting her lip. "Maybe… Maybe Voldemort wanted the people at the Ministry of Magic to think that they were dead so they would stop looking for them! That has to be it," she said, eyes sparkling.
Remus smiled. "I guess."
There was silence.
"Remus, you do think they're alive, though – don't you?"
He shrugged. "I'm hoping as much as you are believing – but until real evidence comes, I can't commit to anything." Breanna's face fell slightly. "I'm sorry," he whispered, "but we don't even know when that note was written."
Breanna shook her head. "Remus, you don't have to see everything to believe it. As long as you know that they can't possibly be gone, you're believing in them." She pressed her small, delicate hand onto his chest where his heart beat. "This has to be something you just know or feel – you can't have proof for everything in life."
Remus stared back at her, agape with wonder.
"I believe."
!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!Lily!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
"Sorry about that," Lily said, her voice soft. "Just got a bit carried away with a few things."
James nodded, looking away, suddenly embarrassed. "That's alright," he muttered.
"So," she said, putting on a false smile. "Which picture are you looking at now?" she questioned.
"Actually," he muttered, pocketing the picture of Lily and himself, "I was getting a bit hungry. Is there any food in this place?"
Lily laughed and nodded. "Of course," she said, dragging him out of the Gryffindor common room by hand.
Lily attempted to make conversation, but all James had on his mind were the objects in the hallway that they passed by.
"This Hogwarts," he said in awe, "is the most amazing place I've ever been to."
Lily smiled at him with sadness in her eyes. It's like I'm having to teaching a foreign student, she thought, miserably.
"James," she questioned, "do you remember any spells?"
"Spells?" James' eyes widened. "I can do spells?"
Lily smiled. "You do know you're a wizard, though, right?"
"'Course!" he shouted, excited. "But you mean – I know how to cast spells also?"
"Yes!" Lily said, beginning to share his excitement. "After next year you won't even have to be supervised and be on your own."
James began running, hooting and hollering.
Lily laughed, chasing after him down the hallway. "James, wait up!"
The pair continued laughing the whole way to the portrait of a bowl of fruit. "Here, this is the door to - "
James cut her off. "The kitchens!"
Lily raised an eyebrow. "You have got to be joking. You're telling me that you remember the kitchens, but don't even remember me? Oh, for heavens sake…"
Lily reached out her forefinger and tickled the pear. The door swung open, revealing a large group of house elves, bustling about the place, cleaning dinner dishes.
"Food," James muttered, hopping inside through the entrance. He plopped down at a table and sat, watching Lily anxiously as she took her sweet time, sauntering over to the table.
"You know, James," she said, sitting down and crossing her legs daintily, "if I had not already been with you all day for the past two days and sat by your bed in the Hospital Wing while you were partially unconscious, I would have thought that you were the same old James I used to know." Used to know – you still know him! He's sitting right in front of you – he hasn't left permanently! Just… His brain is on a bit of a vacation… Lily scolded herself.
James smirked at her. "I definitely remember food. How could I forget it?"
Lily nodded and glanced away. How could you forget me?
=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=Sirius=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=
"That one up there," Sirius whispered, "is Polaris, the Pole Star. And that constellation that it's part of is Ursa Minor."
Bella nodded, gazing steadily up at the stars, openmouthed. "They're so pretty," she whispered, reaching for Sirius' hand absentmindedly and dropping her head onto his shoulder, sighing.
Sirius jerked his gaze away and looked down at their hands. His eyes traveled back up to her face and smiled, gently at her.
Bella looked up, feeling a pair of eyes on her, and she blushed, smiling back.
Sirius took advantage of the moment. After his… mishap… Bella and Sirius had walked inside and grabbed their cloaks, with Lily and James nowhere to be found. They eventually left through the castle doors and wandered the grounds, gazing at stars and talking occasionally.
No one was around. The night sky was silent. They were alone. Together.
Alone.
Sirius quickly executed his actions, leaning over and catching her lips on his, landing a passionate kiss. It was bliss for him. After dealing with so many hectic problems within the past month, it was just good to get away from it all.
Bella kissed back with as much force, giving entryway to her mouth.
But they were soon interrupted – with a soft thud.
"Let's get the hell out of here! Who knows what odd animals patrol the forest for Dumbledore," the man spat.
Sirius quickly pulled away and wrapped his arms protectively around Bella.
"What was that?" she whispered, panicking.
The muffled voices began speaking again and Sirius' head whipped wildly around the grounds, searching for their owners. Squinting, slightly, he found two burly figures and a mass of robes in a pile. It looked almost as if the figures were –
Upon impulse, Sirius pushed Bella to the nearest tree. "Don't – move," he hissed, deadly serious. Immediately, turning around, Sirius ran at the cloaked figures.
And transformed into a large, black dog.
He charged the cloaked figures, emitting loud barks as he gained speed.
"What the – a dog? Since when did Hogwarts get dogs?" One of the called, angrily.
He had them on the run now.
"What – I'm allergic to dogs!" the other called, squealing slightly as Sirius nipped at his heel.
Sirius continued barking, enjoying this chase very much so. His tongue hung out of his mouth, panting loudly with a sloppy, lopsided grin on his face. He advanced on the two running figures and caught the end of their cloak, skidding to a halt and stopping the man in his tracks.
Growling, Sirius tugged as the man panicked. "Get – away! You mangy dog!" He delivered a swift kick into Sirius' side, throwing him several feet back, whimpering on the ground.
They disappeared into the Forbidden Forest.
He let them get away.
"Damnit," Sirius cursed, turning back into human form, moaning as he rolled around on the ground.
"Sirius!"
Aw, hell no.
"Sirius, what on earth was that? What did you just do?"
Sirius rolled over, looking up into Bella's worried face. He grinned weakly, ignoring the pain in his side. "I bet you've never seen Death Eaters run that fast from a dog before, huh?"
Her eyes widened. "Those were Death Eaters? Are you sure?" she asked, biting her lip. "They might have been friends of Dumbledore's!"
Sirius shook his head and crawled onto his hands and knees. He paused and gagged slightly, then retched his dinner all over the snowy grounds.
"Are you ok," Bella said, leaning down and gently putting a gloved hand on his back in a comforting manner.
Breathing heavily, Sirius nodded and wiped his mouth off with the sleeve of his robe.
"Good," she whispered, then shoved his shoulder roughly. "What, on this bloody earth did you think you were doing?" she hollered, glaring at him.
"Bella, those were Death Eaters," he explained, shakily getting to his feet. He began to walk slowly to where there was a lump on the ground, holding his side.
"You don't know that! And," she yelled, pointing her finger in his face, "even if they had been Death Eaters, why were you chasing after them? And in dog form! What was that?"
Sirius laughed nervously, attempting to walk faster.
She cut him off, standing taller, and more powerful than Sirius had ever seen her before. For one of the first times, he was actually scared of this small, petite blonde. "You tell me what happened this instant or you will never be speaking to me anytime soon – and I will guarantee that!"
Sirius heaved a long sigh and bent his knees slightly, looking directly into her face. "Bella, those were Death Eaters – why they were here, I'm not sure, but they obviously left something here," he said, pointing at the mound of black contrasting against the white snow.
"You didn't explain the dog," she said, not forgetting what she had seen.
Sirius ran a hand through his hair, bushing flecks of snow away, and paled slightly, hoping his friends would forgive him for what he was about to do. "Bella," he said calmly, "I'm an Animagus." He started to walk again.
Bella's stopped in her tracks momentarily. "What?" She shook herself and ran, catching up with him. "Sirius, you can't be an Animagus – you have to be registered and there's only seven! Plus, you have to be supervised by the Ministry – it's the rules!"
Sirius chuckled, smirking. "And since when have I ever listened to the rules? And plus," he said, "being an Animagus helped me catch up to those Death Eaters. And they didn't even recognize me because I wasn't in my normal form."
Confusion was written all over Bella's face. "Sirius, you – you just can't be an Animagus! Was this just another one of your let's-have-fun-breaking-the-law schemes?"
Sirius glanced at her sideways, partially offended. "As a matter of fact, no it wasn't. All of us are Animagi."
"You're all Animagi? As in James, Peter, Remus, and you?"
He shrugged. "Yes and no – Remus isn't an Animagus. He's a, uh…" Sirius looked over at Bella's inquiring eyes and he bit his lip. "Remus is a werewolf," he spit out into the silence. "We became Animagi so that he wouldn't be alone during his long transformations."
Comprehension began to dawn on Bella's face. "And he was really transforming when he lied and told everyone that he was visiting his mum or – or sick in the Hospital Wing! I get it now…"
Sirius kept walking, looking straight. "Bella, you can't tell anyone what I just told you – we all promised to each other that we wouldn't say a word about it."
Bella faked a look of confusion. "Say what?"
Sirius looked over at her and smiled. Weakly, he threw his arm around her shoulders and leaned on her. "I think that guy broke my ribs or something," he muttered, cringing as Bella touched his side.
"Oh, I'm sorry…"
Sirius nodded slightly. He pulled away once the two of them reached the mound of black robes.
"What on earth…"
Bella bent down. "Sirius, what is it?"
Sirius shrugged, puzzled. "It doesn't look much like a bunch of robes – more like one…"
"I think it's someone…"
"Yeah, me too. Pull back the hood."
"Me? I'm not pulling back the hood! You pull it back!"
"Why me? I just got kicked in the ribs!"
Bella crossed her arms and narrowed her eyes. "I just found out my boyfriend's been lying to me. And if he knows what's smart for him, he won't challenge me."
Sirius looked up, his eyes sparkling happily. He gave her an innocent grin and bent down, near the hood. He pulled it back slowly…
Bella gasped. "Oh my God!"
The two looked at each other, eyes wide.
"Professor Sonetra!"
!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!Lily!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
"Are you quite finished?" Lily asked, drumming her fingers on the table, impatiently.
James looked up from his chicken leg and spread a toothy grin.
"Whoa, James, never do that again," Lily muttered, shielding her face from the flecks of chicken he began to spit out while laughing.
James swallowed and wiped his face with a white napkin. "Sorry," he muttered.
"Oh, yeah right. I know you James Potter," Lily said, picking up her fork and dragged it around, mixing up the foods on her plate. "You're not sorry," she whispered, leaning in.
She picked up a handful of lasagna and plastered it all over his face, smearing it around, taking her time, so that his face was covered in food.
Carefully, James opened his eyes and blinked, staring back at Lily. "You meant to do that."
"You bet I did."
Silently, he picked up a bowl of mashed potatoes and dipped his hand in. Carefully, he reached over and rubbed mashed potatoes around, letting it drip down her face. Finally, he patted her hair, smirking.
"You did not just touch the hair."
"You bet I did."
And before you could blink, both had dived onto the table, grabbing random food items, arming themselves for battle.
Lily ran back to the opposite end of the room with an armful of provisions. Rapidly, she began to unpeel a banana.
"Take that!" she shouted, giggling as the banana hit him in the chest, leaving a large mark on his robes.
But James was quick on the rebound. He grabbed the bowl of gravy and tossed it on Lily as well as on anything and everything else that was near her, including the floor.
Lily squealed, hiding her face from the impact. "James Potter! You're going to get it!"
James ran to the refrigerator. "Not fair!" Lily called. "You're cheating!"
"All's fair in war!" he shouted, grinning from ear to ear.
James pulled out a bottle of ketchup and ran, charging towards Lily. She began to giggle as she slipped, failing to rise to stay on her feet and sliding on the gravy. But not more than two seconds later, James was lying right next to her, having fallen on his backside as well.
The two began to laugh uncontrollably, holding onto the other.
James' breathing began to slow and he came down to a small giggle every now and then. "Déjà vu," he muttered, looking over at Lily.
Lily's eyes widened and she sat up, looking down at him. "Déjà vu…? James, what are you remembering?"
"I just… I remember being in a food fight before."
Lily smiled down at him.
"With you."
Lily grinned even further.
"Anything else you remember?"
He nodded. "You had ketchup and mustard stains all over your outfit. And I was wet."
Lily laughed, giddy. She threw her arms around James, unable to control herself, and hugged him tightly, even throwing in a few kisses on his cheek every now and then.
"You remember!" she squealed, laughing again.
"I don't remember everything," he muttered, blushing.
Lily grinned. "At least you remember me! I don't care if you never remember anything else as long as you remember me!"
James blinked, slightly astonished. "So…" he said, trying to figure it all out, "You mean, if I say I remember you – would you give me more kisses?"
Lily laughed and rolled off of him, in a much better mood than she had been in all day. "Sorry, buddy," she said, smiling.
"Can I give you kisses?"
Lily laughed and then looked into his face – to realize he was serious.
"Alright…"
"Wait!" James cried, pausing. Then he turned back to her. "I remember you, Lily!" He lied down on top of her and began to kiss her cheeks continuously, Lily giggles the whole time.
"Oh, would you cut it out!" she hollered, grinning as a tinge of red crept onto her face.
"Aw," he said, pinching her cheeks, "you're blushing!"
"Oh, shove off," she muttered, sitting up and attempting to clean bits of food off of her. Realizing it was a helpless cause, she stood and pulled James to his feet. "Come on," she said, pulling him to the door. "You need to get cleaned up."
Bella
"Is she – dead?"
Sirius looked up at Bella, panicked. "I don't know! I pulled off the hood – you check and see if she's alive!"
"Sirius, we are not going through this ordeal again!" Sirius sat back onto the snow stubbornly, crossing his arms. "Oh, sometimes you are such a child," she muttered, leaning over the teacher. She pressed two fingers to her wrist and felt for her pulse.
"So?" he inquired, raising his eyebrows questioningly.
"I don't feel anything," she muttered, pulling her hand away very quickly, paling.
The two sat in the snow, looking at each other for a moment. "So what do we do?"
Bella shrugged and stood up, backing away. "I reckon we should take her to Madame Pomfrey – maybe she really is alive."
Sirius scowled and crossed his arms. "Maybe we should leave her in the cold, for all the fat lot of help she's done for us."
Bella slapped him on the arm. "She's a teacher, Sirius! Not to mention, if she weren't really dead and you decided to leave her out here, you would be helping in a murder!"
Sirius rolled his eyes. "Oh, please, don't be getting dramatic – she was a Death Eater, you found the note! We'd be doing the Ministry of Magic a favor!"
"They wouldn't want her dead; they would want her in Azkaban for further questioning! Plus, she might not even be a Death Eater! Maybe she just got mixed up in a few things and they, er… Well, maybe they killed her because she was a spy for Dumbledore!" Bella guessed, hopefully.
"And they oh so kindly brought her back instead of leaving her in a ditch? Really, Bella, I'm sure you're right – after all, I'll be having a spot of tea with Voldemort and a few Death Eaters tomorrow afternoon, I'll ask them then, shall I?" Sirius began laughing heartily, grinning.
"Cut it out," she muttered, frowning at Sirius. "That's not very funny."
Sirius grumbled at her sense of humor and stood, accidentally stepping on his teacher's leg. ("I slipped!")
The two managed to drag her up to the castle, stopping every now and then to catch their breath. She wasn't exactly as light as a gnome, you know.
The group managed to make it inside, closing the doors to the winter winds blowing towards them, and leaving behind two sets of footprints and a large trail where Professor Sonetra had been dragged through the snow.
They brushed snow off, leaving small patches of snow and water, behind where they had stepped.
"This is so – creepy," Bella hissed at Sirius, cringing at the feel of Professor Sonetra's frozen hand.
"Definitely not a hand I want to be holding…"
Bella looked over at Sirius, raising an eyebrow. "You better only want to hold one person's hand," she said, warning him.
Sirius smirked at her, proud. "Of course," he said sweetly. "My mum's."
Bella glared, playfully.
"Here," Sirius managed, pushing the infirmary door open and dragging the teacher inside.
"What do you think you two are doing?" Madame Pomfrey shrieked, running to their side and pulling out her wand, levitating Professor Sonetra to a bed. "Honestly, you would think that students at this level in magic might remember a simple spell instead of dragging her through the castle!"
"And the snow," Sirius corrected as he brushed his hands off on his pant leg, wrinkling his nose at the mere thought of even touching the Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher.
"The snow? What was she doing out there?"
"The Death Eaters - "
" - he thinks were here. I honestly think it's a load of rubbish, Death Eaters on the grounds, but they were all dressed the same."
"Dressed… The same?" she questioned.
Bella nodded, looking at Sirius for confirmation. He agreed as well. "We were relatively close to them."
"Mr. Black," she interrupted, looking sharply at him, "please inform Dumbledore as to what has happened here tonight."
"Whoa, wait," he said, "I got hurt too. I think they broke my ribs or something…"
The nurse rolled her eyes and began getting out tools to work on the teacher lying on the bed. "Miss Figg, could you help me out here?"
Bella nodded and left the room, fleeing to Dumbledore's office.
"It's a good thing you've got a girlfriend who sticks around all the time," Madame Pomfrey muttered, looking directly at Sirius. "Otherwise, I'd probably kick you out by now for being a pathetic, lazy bum."
Sirius shrugged and lied down, crossing his legs comfortably. Clearly, he wasn't fazed by the fact that Madame Pomfrey didn't like him very much. "Yeah, good thing she's with me, huh?"
-----------------------------------James-----------------------------------
James and Lily laughed all the way back to the common room with grins on their faces. "So, this girl," he said, "she's your sister? And I spit corn at her?"
Lily laughed at the shock on his face. "Yes!" she shouted, holding her stomach. "It was the funniest think you should have been there!"
James raised an eyebrow. "But I was the one there spitting corn on her."
Lily swallowed, realizing another one of her mistakes. "Well… You should've remembered," she muttered, smiling weakly.
"Guess so," he muttered. "But I remember your house, now. And why exactly was I at your house?"
Lily smiled. "At that point, we pretty much hated each other. I sort-of stole your broom as a pathetic little trick at the time and you flew on Sirius' broom to my house to get it back." She smiled innocently.
James laughed. "I honestly flew to your house to get my broom? Wouldn't that be hours away? And why did we have a food fight in your kitchen if I only came to pick up my broom – unless you were trying to stop me from getting my broom…"
Lily grinned. "You see, earlier that day I kinda sorta told my sister I had a boyfriend at school and your name was the first that came out."
James raised his eyebrows, smirking. "Oh, really? You told them I was your - "
"Then," Lily cut him off, playfully, "when you showed up, first thing out of your mouth was your name and my parents just had to meet you and you just had to stay for dinner. So," she said, happily dwelling on past thoughts, "you did and we ended up having a food fight while cleaning the dishes."
James chuckled. "But," he muttered, "you 'kinda sorta' said I was your boyfriend? When we weren't the best of friends yet? Now why would that be if you didn't like me?"
Lily slapped him on his shoulder playfully. "Oh, give it up," she mumbled, as James let out a loud guffaw and began laughing. She crossed her arms stubbornly, smiling slightly.
"Lily!"
Lily raised an eyebrow and unfolded her arms, searching for the voice. She heard footsteps running behind her.
"Bella, what is it?"
"You might – Sirius – Death Eaters – the Hospital Wing!"
Lily's eyebrows knitted together in a look of concern. "Sirius is in the Hospital Wing?"
Coughing, Bella nodded and continued running, waving slightly.
Lily looked at James, wide-eyed, and the two bolted in the direction that Bella had come, straight to the infirmary.
"Sirius!" Lily shouted once she entered. "What happened, are you ok? Did Death Eaters attack you – are you hurt? What were you doing to get Death Eaters to attack you?"
Sirius held up a hand as James put his own hand on her shoulder. "Calm down, it's nothing," Sirius said, sitting up slightly. "Might've gotten a few cracked ribs, but all in all I'm good. Her, however…" Sirius pointed towards the teacher.
James froze. His whole body had stiffened up. Sights passed before his eyes. He could see Lily speaking to Sirius, asking what had happened, but the words weren't processing. His mind was a blank.
Lily turned to him and frowned. Then put a hand to his forehead, feeling for a temperature. She mouthed a few words, but there was no sound. It was like his brain had been shut off.
James began to sway on the spot. He bit into his lip, feeling blood spill into his mouth. A strong emotion began to build up inside of him and he closed his eyes against the pain. It traveled up through his legs, to his spine, creeping up the back of his neck, and exploded into his head. James balled his hands together in a fist as his nails dug into the palm of his hand, unable to bear the pain in his head. His eyes sprang open.
The pain had stopped. "James, what - "
He fell to the ground on all fours, breathing heavily.
!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!Lily!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
"Sirius!" Lily shouted. "What happened, are you ok? Did Death Eaters attack you – are you hurt? What were you doing to get Death Eaters to attack you?"
Sirius held up a hand. "Calm down, it's nothing," he said, sitting up slightly. "Might've gotten a few cracked ribs, but all in all I'm good. Her, however…" Sirius pointed towards the teacher.
Lily looked into the next bed over and her eyes widened. "What is she doing here? All Bella told us was that you were here!"
Sirius shrugged. "Well, I found her outside – some Death Eaters dropped her off on the Hogwarts Grounds. I think - "
"Where is she, that little…" Breanna stormed into the Hospital Wing, eyes blazing as Remus followed behind her holding her back.
"Breanna, deep breaths, calm down. Let's not do anything irrational," Remus said, speaking calmly into her ear.
Breanna nodded, backing off. "Fine."
"You mean Bella told you that Professor Sonetra was here, but didn't tell us?" Lily crossed her arms. "Well, how do you like that," she muttered.
Sharp breaths sounded from behind her, and Lily turned around. "James – what are you – are you alright?"
He squeezed his eyes closed and bit into his lip. "James?" she whispered, touching his shoulder.
Then his eyes opened and Lily jumped, backing away slightly.
James dropped to the floor and Lily dropped as well, taking up his hand. "James, what - "
"Get him to a bed!" someone shouted, hoisting him up underneath the arms.
"No, I - " James looked over and recognized the new people in the room. "Remus, I'm fine, just – I'm good, I can walk now, thanks."
"James," Lily asked, steering him towards a bed and sitting him down on it, "what happened?"
He looked up into the faces of his concerned friends. Slowly, a small smile spread across his mouth.
"I remember."
AUTHORS NOTE: Thank you VERY much for reading – really hope you liked it!
REVIEWS:
o god…: Haha – sorry I left a cliffhanger! Thanks for reviewing!!!
star: Hey, I'm REALLY glad that you said the reason why you liked sixteen better than fifteen is because of the plot!!! I tried to add a little bit more of a plot here other than just nonsense stuff. I had more couple related things (like Sirius/Bella, Remus/Breanna, and Lily/James) instead of having it all about the plot, but I tried to incorporate it more – tell me what you think about how I did on this chapter! Thanks for reviewing!!!
turtlebutts: Ha – nice name! :) Thanks for the review!!!
NEXT CHAPTER: I know I said I would have some Snape/Rookwood stuff in this chapter – I lied. ::smiles innocently:: Also, I think I said I'd have Charles here – oops, lied again. I kinda had too much written, so I just decided they'll be in chapter eighteen. (Wow, I'm really that far…?) BUT, next chapter, I am, so far, planning on having a bit of Charles, probably a bit towards the beginning so he should be worked in, and then I'll try and have Snape/Rookwood, although nothing is planned for them yet.
Thank you, everyone!
Yours truly,
Amelia Bedelia
