Author's Ramblings: Soon! Like I promised! Aren't you proud of me? Now, I know this isn't the typical length of my chapters, but think of Chapter Thirteen as a 'Part A' and this chapter as a 'Part B' – okay? Then it'll go back on track.
P.S.: Sorry for any typos… duh.
Chapter Fourteen – Battles Unwanted
That was not normal. Not normal in any way.
They were supposed to be glued together for two endless weeks. Halfway through that sentence it was not expected to have their hands ripped apart.
Not normal.
Lily stood watching as James's cloak disappeared with a swish behind a tree. She couldn't believe it. She couldn't believe it at all.
She glanced down at her hand, half suspecting damage to be done. But there was none to be seen. Her hand was perfectly the same – as if nothing had happened to it. She flexed her fingers and clenched her fist; boy did it feel good to do that.
She sent one last quizzical look in the direction James had gone before running towards the castle, in hopes of finding truth in her trusty friend: the library.
James was mad.
He was mad, hurt, sad, spitting fire, stressed, confused and scared.
And he didn't like it at all.
Love wasn't supposed to be a battle. You weren't supposed to have to bully and fight to get the other person to fall in love with you. It wasn't worth it if he had to fight tooth and nail to get Lily to hold him in a hug and realize that what she was doing was what she wanted. He couldn't do that. Not to him or to her.
"Merlin!" Lily gave a muffled scream as she slammed her hand down on the bookshelf. The search for answers wasn't going as easily as she'd hoped. "Why can't I find anything in here?" she asked the books.
"Find what, Lily?" Alice asked, coming up behind her.
"Ahhhhhh!" Lily screamed, toppling over her own feet and landing with an "oof!" on the floor. "You scared me!"
"Sorry, Lily," Alice said, helping Lily up. "But what cant you find?"
"I need… well, haven't you noticed that I'm, well, missing something?" Lily asked, waving her hand limply at her side.
"OH MY GOODNESS! You're right!"
"Yes, and I need to know how and why this happened. I'm almost certain it's only temporary. But…" Lily drifted off, gazing at the books in confusion.
"But what?" Alice prompted.
"Well, James and I had a nasty fight, and I'm thinking he completely lost his temper and really needed to be alone so that's why the spell was broken temporarily. You know?" she asked.
"Well, I can see that. But what did you fight about?"
"I'd rather not say," Lily said quietly, not looking at her friend.
Alice studied her up and down silently for a minute.
"Of course, I understand."
"But… I need to research this!" Lily exclaimed, running her finger along the spines of the books. "Who do we know who can help?"
Alice was quiet for a moment.
"Remus?" she suggested.
Night had fallen soon after their fight and now the moon shone bright in the sky as James trudged along the path of the Forbidden Forest, his robes catching on random twigs and such, ripping every couple steps. But he really didn't seem to care. He was in more of a trance than anything else.
James sighed as he dropped down to the forest floor.
It wasn't supposed to be like this.
He rested his elbow on his knee and drooped his head to rest in his hand. James was lost in thought.
He drew a sad face in the dirt before him and sighed as a gust of wind ripped the pattern out of the hearth. Depression was in the air, that was for sure.
Many different sounds were heard to James as he played with a brown leaf that had fallen. The bugs were scuttling across the forest ground, birds were rustling in their trees, death and heartbreak was all around him.
"Remus!" Lily whispered, her head poking into the boys' dormitories. "Pssst! Remus!" she hissed louder.
A groggy Remus looked up from his place in bed, rubbed his eyes and looked at the door through a squint.
"Lily?" he murmured.
"Get out here, Remus. I need your help, please," she pleaded, opening the door a bit, inviting him out of the dorm.
He threw back the covers and stumbled out of bed, his pajamas in odd disarray and his hair clumped into messy bunches at random parts. He stifled a yawn and scratched his neck as he followed Lily out into the hall.
"You rang?" he asked sarcastically, looking at her through bleary eyes.
"Yes," Lily said, glancing around, nervous for some reason. "I need your help."
Remus straightened a bit.
"Help with what?" he asked semi-stiffly, yet concernedly all the same.
"I'm missing something," Lily said through clenched teeth, a bit upset that no one seemed to notice. "And I need to know how our hands were separated."
The news came to Remus with shock. His gaze dropped quickly to Lily's hand and noticed that no, it didn't have James attached to it. His jaw dropped.
"What happened?" he asked, all sleepiness dropped from his voice.
"I don't know!" Lily cried quietly. "We had a fight and then there was this fire thing with our hands and next thing I know he's marching off into the forest, not attached to me at all!"
"He's in the forest?" Remus asked, going still.
"Yes, but he's fine…" Lily said, starting to wonder if her comment was fact or fiction.
"Lily, don't you think that's a bit dangerous?" Remus asked, turning around to glance out the window.
"Remus! Please! I need help – help now! I am so lost it's not even remotely funny!" Lily exclaimed, grabbing the front of his pajama t-shirt and pulling him towards her.
Remus sighed. "Fine, Lily. Look," he said, backing up a bit, "give me five minutes and I'll have a book and some notes ready for you to read while I go and find James. Good?" He looked at her for approval.
"Um… yeah, sure," Lily said, slightly distracted for some unknown reason.
"Good," he repeated. He backed up and dashed into the dorm and got to work.
A wizard's emotions affect the strength, distance and effect of a spell, potion or curse. Current events in his/her life come into play while dealing with their wand – or the remains of someone else's spell, potion or curse. The greatest sorcerer in the world could have a terribly bad day and end up having a spell backfire on him because of pent-up emotions or similar feelings. When a wizard hits a level, his emotions overrule any spell, potion or curse, and bend those rules to accommodate the wizard's emotions.
Lily skipped down to read Remus's direct notes.
He was upset, Lily, and that's the pure reason for why you're hands separated. He needed to get away from you for a while, so in that case, his feelings beat down the potion that kept your hands together. Basically, you will remain apart until he feels better and can face you again. And, if we have a nice enough conversation tonight, he should be ready to do that within twenty-four hours. The words you guys exchanged must have been harsh to push James to such a level. He loves you so much, Lily, you should know that.
P.S. I advise still sleeping in our dorm, James's bed, of course. I would get in there shortly after finishing this, for James's benefit. When your hands want to rejoin – and believe me, they will – its going to be a bit painful if you're on opposite ends of the grounds. It would be easier if you were closer. Good night.
"He loves you so much, Lily, you should know that," Lily mouthed. Her stomach clenched at the words. She loved him, but she knew she couldn't. She didn't want to. It was too dangerous to love James Potter. There were too many risks in it. But all the same she couldn't exactly sleep, knowing that what Remus said was right – and knowing that she had pushed James to an extreme that he'd never touched before.
"James?" Remus called, moving his way through the branches.
He grumbled in response.
"Hey mate, hows it going?" Remus asked, sitting down next to him.
He grumbled again.
"C'mon, Prongs, it can't be that bad."
James nodded his head.
"So it can be."
He nodded his head again.
"Care to share?"
He shook his head.
"And reason for that?"
He nodded.
"Care to share that reason?"
James sighed.
"James, you need to tell me what's going on so I can be in the loop a bit and help you."
He took a deep breath and looked up from spot on the ground.
"It's stupid, Moony," James said finally. "It's so stupid."
"Well lucky for you I know stupid pretty well – hanging out with Sirius and all," Remus smiled at his joke. "So shoot. Tell me."
James ran a hand through his already disheveled hair.
He sighed.
"I guess it all kind of started a while ago…" James began as he launched into the entire story.
"I screwed it al up," Lily moaned into James's pillow, her fists tightening on the cover that she held down over her head.
She thrashed around under the covers, unable to kick the guilt out of the bed.
This wasn't working out. Not working out at all.
"So, Prongs, mate, let's get you back up to the dorm, into your pajamas and asleep. Call tomorrow a rest day and sleep in," Remus said, patting James on the back.
"Thanks, Moony," James said weakly, standing up and brushing off his robes.
"That's what friends are for, James."
"Yeah… that's what marauders are for."
Author's Ramblings: YES! I think I made this chapter relatively nice. –Pats chapter affectionately- I was actually thinking it'd end up being only a couple pages and I'd literally have to ring out all the ideas just to get a decent "half" chapter. But I actually couldn't stop typing. LOL! Anyways… now you have to wait a couple more years for me to get my lazy bum out of bed and actually write chapter fifteen. HA!
Haha, JK, but I hope you enjoyed the chapter! I hope it's not too "OMG, WTF did she do to it?" But if it's let me know. Thanks.
P.S. Hey, if any of you have livejournal, message me or leave a review with your address/URL/link-thingy.