Affectionate Obsessions
Disclaimer: I own nothing you recognize.
Note to readers: Thanks a lot for the reviews! Not as much as I had hoped, but still, those very nice things you wrote really boosted my spirit to continue with this. And yes, I've now noticed that Sirius is a little crazy…forgive me with that, I didn't even notice before. I'll try to tone him down a bit after this chapter. Much love!
Chapter 2
The Unwanted-and Unneeded- Rescue
"The sun will come out, tomorrow….."
"Padfoot, will you stop singing that song?" Remus said exasperatedly. It was a Saturday, it was raining, and they were just inside.
Sirius frowned. "Fine". He then burst into song again. "Rain, rain, go away, come again another day….."
"And that song too!" Remus irately said.
"Okay. How about, 'I'm walking in the rain, I'm-------"
"Padfoot stop—oh for goodness' sake, never mind," Remus said exasperatedly. "Just keep quiet, will you, I'm trying to finish this essay".
Sirius nodded, and Remus basked in silence for awhile as he finished his essay. A few minutes later, Sirius started humming an unfamiliar tune, going gradually from a soft murmur to a loud, annoying buzz.
Remus put down his quill. "When I said quiet, Sirius, I meant that there was to be no sound coming from your mouth".
Sirius simply nodded again…….and started clapping his hands very, very loudly.
Remus, now looking thoroughly agitated, shut his book with a loud SNAP, and looked at his friend, giving him his sharp I'm-annoyed-and-I'm-going-to-hurt-you-during-the-next-full-moon glare.
Sirius, upon seeing that look, shuddered, and stopped his hand in mid-clap, then put them down in defeat. Remus gave him a final look of warning before resuming his work.
Suddenly, Peter came out of the common room. He sat beside his friends after short greetings were exchanged.
Half an hour later, Remus was finished with his essay and his two friends were playing Wizard's Chess. Abruptly noticing something, Sirius looked around the near-deserted common room and asked, "Hey. Where's James?"
"Beats me," Remus said now noticing it as well. "Peter, you were the one who came back to the dorms after breakfast, and James was still asleep, do you know where he went?"
"Um….." Peter replied. "He didn't say where, exactly, but he did mutter the words, 'Astronomy Tower'".
Sirius sat up so fast and so suddenly, wailing his arms around. As he did so, he knocked over the ink bottle……
…….Which came crashing into Remus' newly made essay.
Ignoring the glare of his friend, Sirius said in a very anguished voice, "Oh no. James is in the Astronomy Tower! We must get to him! Before it's too late!"
"Padfoot what are you talking about?" Remus and Peter said in unison, looking rather startled at the look of horror on Sirius' face.
Sirius looked at his friends in anguish. "We have to save him! Remember the last time he went into the Astronomy Tower?"
"Of course we remember, we all had Astronomy last night, didn't we?" Remus said.
Sirius shook his head. "No,no,no. I meant the last time he went there alone. He tried to jump, don't you remember that?"
He was despaired to see the impassive looks on his two friends' faces. "No Sirius. He didn't try to jump he----" Remus said but was cut off.
"Yes he did. Ad he was doing it because Lily yelled at him that day!" Sirius argued.
"No, he was just leaning over the ledge because he was looking for his watch that slid off his wrist because he made the mistake of unclasping it," Remus clarified. "It just looked like he was about to jump".
"How can I have not known this?" Sirius demanded.
"Because you were too busy snogging Hilary Daltren to notice?" Peter supplied in what he thought was a helpful voice.
Sirius whipped around to face his friend. "What did you say, Peter?"
Overcome by severe intimidation, Peter simply stuttered, "Um….I uh….I said that Orange the Orangutan is looking for me and I have to go now. Bye!" And with that he scurried away. Remus looked reproachfully at Sirius.
"What?" Sirius defended. "I just wanted to know who Hilary Daltren was, that's all. I've forgotten about her. But anyway," his voice turned brisk once more, with the same intonation of horror. "We must save Prongsie! He can't die yet! He still needs to get Lily's affections and prove that he isn't a crazy stalker! I still have to be the best man at their wedding! I still have to corrupt their future children to learn my dashingly handsome and wonderful ways! Come on, Moony! Off we go!" And with that, he sped off quickly, leaving the common room.
Remus sighed tiredly, and decided to follow his friend to the Tower. Outside the Fat Lady's portrait, he met Lily, who was bringing some thick-bound books.
"Hi Remus," she greeted. The noticing Sirius disappearing down the hall shouting, "Must get to Prongsie!" she asked. "Where are you going?"
Giving a look at Sirius's retreating figure, Remus replied, "To follow Sirius to rescue James because he thinks that James is about to jump from the Astronomy Tower".
"And why are you following him?"
"Because Sirius Black by himself with no companion that possesses even the least bit of common sense is sure to be very catastrophic," was his succinct reply before he followed Sirius' steps, leaving Lily behind.
She had just entered the silence of the common room when something Remus said registered in her mind. "Wait….did he just say Potter was about to jump off the Astronomy Tower?"
Lily promptly dropped her things, turned on her heel and left the common room, heading for the Astronomy Tower, leaving her poor books scattered carelessly onto the floor.
..------..
James was bored. Very bored. The rain, which was now coming down steadily, was boring. The morning was boring. Hell, from his point of view, everything was boring.
"This is just as interesting as listening to Moony recite the Latin alphabet backwards," James thought tiredly.
He sighed, probably thinking that most people would not be caught out here, soaking wet, in the middle of the rain. Unfortunately, James wasn't most people.
But he didn't care. Being alone in the Astronomy Tower, with the rain pouring, was relaxing to him and made him think. And besides, James liked rain; he loved rain. He liked the way it pattered down to the earth noisily. He liked the way it went to his skin. He especially loved the way the dark clouds and droplets formed an image of a certain redhead------
"I am so in love with her," James muttered to himself, yet smiling at the thought.
As he launched himself into a fantasy world he privately called Lilyland, he thankfully failed to notice a certain person running through the grounds, yelling, "Prongs, I'll save you!" with an agitated-looking person by his side.
..------..
"Sirius, is this really necessary?" Remus muttered, his tone voicing annoyance. "I mean, this really isn't going to save James. Nothing will, because, oh I don't know, he's not in a NEAR DEATH SITUATION!"
"Nonsense my encyclopedic friend," Sirius brushed of Remus's protests. "I assure you, it'll help him in every way".
Remus threw him a look of incredulity. "Sirius, would you please explain to me how on earth invoking the spirits of the four founders is going to help James?"
"Well, they built the school, didn't they?" Sirius explained. "So they protect the school. Meaning they'll protect James".
"But Sirius," Remus pointed out, "In the highly unlikely event that James is really going to jump, don't you think that it would be better to save time and rescue him by yourself?"
"No Moony, I need all the help I can get," Sirius paused. "Hand me that piece of wood, will you?"
"Why?"
"Because it shall be the starting point with which I will build my shrine to call----"
"Never mind, Padfoot," Remus replied resignedly.
"But Moony, you have to listen! It's very important. This shrine I will make will contact the spirits-----".
This statement was promptly interrupted by a block of wood hurled sharply at the speaker, resulting in a short cry of pain and cursing.
..-----..
"Oh shit".
These two words were repeatedly said many times over by James as he looked despairingly down at the Astronomy Tower…..
……And at his watch, which was annoyingly snagged on one of the sharp statues more or less in the middle of the ground and where he was standing. Which was a pretty high distance, if you looked at it.
"Of all the stupid things I could have done, again, I just had to unclasp my watch. I am such an idiot," James cursed himself. He looked down again, measuring the distance with his eye, debating with himself about whether he should jump or not.
After realizing, however, that jumping would surely lead to death, he got a brilliant idea.
"I could use my wand to summon my broom to get my watch!" James thought, grinning. "James Potter you are a genius!"
He reached into his back pocket to get his wand, took the belongings found there, and looked at them.
There was a piece of untouched gum. A scrap of parchment. A picture of Lily Evans. But no wand.
"Damn," he cursed again as he abruptly remembered where his wand had gone.
FLASHBACK
At five o'clock in the morning……
"James, do you love Lily?" Sirius asked.
"Yes," James mumbled in his half-asleep, half-awake state.
"Are you crazy about her?"
"Yes?"
"Do you think you have a chance?"
"I don't know….."
"Okay. Hey, can I borrow your wand?"
"Mmhhmmm, sure, whatever".
"Thanks. One more thing. Am I the greatest, most handsome and charming being on this planet?"
"NO!"
END OF FLASHBACK.
"Reminder to self: Murder Sirius later," James muttered to himself as he looked down below, wondering what on earth he was going to do.
..------..
Lily, on the other hand, was having problems of her own. It might not have been lost to you as to why Lily wasn't in the Astronomy Tower yet, since she had left ages ago and was not involved in some lunacy-filled situation, as Sirius and Remus were. Well, it was all very simple, really.
You see, just as she had rounded a corner awhile ago, she was met with a rather unsettling sight.
All of which involved Lucius Malfoy and Narcissa Black, involved in a heated lip-lock session.
"Malfoy! Black! What the hell do you think our doing!" Lily demanded.
"What's it to you mudblood? Hmm, let me guess. Probably jealous since you don't seem to be getting any action from any boyfriend, right?" Lucius said snidely.
Lily reddened, and anger coursed through her, but she kept as calm as she could and stood her ground. "As Head Girl, I have the right to inform you that you are doing an act of indecency that is strictly permitted in our school, especially in public. Ten points from Slytherin!" Lily snapped with utmost authority.
"You can't do that," Narcissa said angrily.
"Au contraire, Black, I can," Lily smirked. "And by the way, where did you get your highlights from? Your hair deserves the 'Most Horrendous' award".
"WHY YOU LITTLE--------" Narcissa made to launch at her, but Lucius stopped her and spoke to Lily, venom dripping from his voice.
"You're just a pathetic little mudblood, don't you dare talk to us like that. We are superior to you in every way," Lucius hissed at her. Lily stared back into his cold, grey eyes, not in the least bit afraid.
"Well then," she said evenly, and with a hint of satisfaction, "I guess being pathetic isn't even half as bad as blindly worshipping a worthless, merciless, evil, and cowardly dark lord called Voldemort whose sole purpose is to ruin people's lives, now is it?"
Instantly, Narcissa and Lucius drew their wand. "How dare you say his name, mudblood!" they hissed.
Before anything else could happen, a ground strode behind Lucius and Narcissa.
"Well, well, well, Miss. Evans the mudblood, how delightful," Rodulphus Lestrange said with malevolence, Bellatrix Black cackling in the background.
"And to what do we owe this meeting?" Bellatrix asked, her eyes glittering with malice.
"She has insulted the dark lord, even said his name! And she took ten points from our House," Narcissa said spitefully.
Instantly, Rodulphus and Bellatrix drew their wands as well. "You dare say his name, mudblood? You should be trembling with fear at the very thought of him, and us, as we will rise into power, because he will come after filth like you!" Rodulphus said.
Lily stared at them with unwavering cool. "Yeah, right. But guess what, there's a tiny problem here. You see, Voldemort? I'm not afraid of him, not in the least bit. And you guys are as spineless and as cowardly as he is".
Their wands now pointed to Lily's throat and heart. "You'll pay for that one, mudblood".
Looking determined, and not at all daunted by the fact that it was going to be a four against one match, Lily drew her own wand. "Bring it on, bitches".
..------..
"Sirius, this is getting really ridiculous," Remus said as he watched his friend piece together a half-finished shrine, which, he had to admit, looked pretty impressive. "We are wasting our time here!"
As he said so, he looked out of the corner of his eye and looked at James from the Astronomy Tower, which could thankfully be seen from his viewing range. Remus added, "Sirius, James isn't jumping, look----"
"Look Moony, if you don't want to help save our friend, that's fine with me," Sirius said, now getting annoyed as well. "Just don't try to distract someone who is willing to help".
Remus sighed tiredly and rubbed his temples. He was getting a headache, just from arguing. "Sirius, it's not like that. It's just that this is completely useless, since James isn't about to-----" He suddenly stopped short as he scanned his surroundings and saw the Astronomy Tower.
"Sirius," Remus suddenly said, a bite of urgency in his voice.
"Not now, Moony, I'm about to call the spirits," Sirius said impatiently as he raised his hands.
"Sirius," Remus repeated, the urgency in his voice now very hard to miss.
"Shh, quiet Moony. 'I humbly call the spirits of the Four Founders of this great institution of learning, Godric Gryffindor-------"
"Sirius!" Remus now yelled.
Sirius now turned away from his shrine to snap, "What?"
"James is about to jump from the Astronomy Tower, now!" Remus said in a very urgent tone, which held a hint of disbelief as well.
"WHAT!"
..------..
"Had enough, yet, Evans?" Bellatrix asked her as Lily staggered back after being hit with the Jelly-Legs Jinx. It had been ten minutes since they had drew their wands, but Lily still hadn't shot any spells yet.
"Are you kidding?" Lily replied as soon as she was able to stand up again. "I've only just begun". She dusted off some imaginary dust from her clothes. "Hmm, a four to one match? It doesn't seem fair, you know".
"Too bad mudblood, because you see, we don't care about being fair," Narcissa said, cackling evilly.
"Really? Maybe you don't, but I do. Expelliarmus!" She cried and at once all their wands flew neatly to her outstretched palm. Once carefully making sure that they wouldn't be able to get their wands from her, she met their eyes, which were clouding over in fury.
"All four of you are getting detention for provoking, insulting, and fighting with a student. I will go and see McGonagall about this, who will obviously call on your Head of House, as assault on a student, however light, is strictly prohibited, and I am sure you will get just punishment. I, on the other hand," she took a moment to smirk at the four, who was glaring at her malevolently. "Will tell McGonagall exactly what happened, and the worst she will do to me is take off 5 points for insulting you lot, because I did not shoot any spells except one to end and control the situation".
"Evans you bitch," Lucius spat.
"Maybe, Malfoy, maybe, but I assure you, no matter how much of a bitch I m, will still be more likely to be believed than the whole lot of you put together". She looked at her enemies once more. "Now----wait a minute, where's Lestrange? Where's-----"
She never did get to finish that sentence because at that moment, Rodulphus Lestrange crept behind Lily and suddenly grabbed her arms with such force that she couldn't escape. He took a box from his pocket, which contained some silvery powder. He bew it at Lily, and she was instantly immobilized from the neck down. He took their wands easily and gave them back to their owners, and resumed his place with them.
"How does it feel to be helpless now, Evans?" was his question as he and the other looked up at Lily's emerald eyes, which, for the first time that day, now held a hint of fear.
..------..
"Remus, come on! Run faster!" Sirius urged him as they quickly run up the steps leading to the Astronomy Tower. "He might have already fallen by now!"
"I'm running as fast as I can, Sirius," Remus said as they ran up the long flight to stone steps. "It's not my fault that I didn't ingest at least three bars of chocolate and a piece of cake to make me hyper and run faster!"
They didn't speak anymore as they ran up the steps, going higher and higher. Finally, they reached the top and opened the door and ran inside and saw……..
…..James leaning precariously down from where he was standing, looking as if he had every intention to jump.
"James, NO! Don't do it!" Sirius yelled as he and Remus suddenly wrestled James away from the edge of the Tower, resulting in James getting thrown to the floor and looking at his two friends as if they had gone insane.
"What are you guys doing here? And more importantly, what the hell are you talking about?" James asked them as he stood up, brushing off some dirt from his robes.
"You were going to jump! We had to stop you!" Remus explained.
"Yeah! Come on, James, killing yourself will not make Lily love you back, it'll only end up-----" Sirius said but was interrupted by James.
"Whoa, whoa, wait a minute, what did you just say? Kill myself? You thought I went into the Astronomy Tower to kill myself!" He asked incredulously.
Remus was now beginning to feel sheepish. "Um, yes. Honestly, yes. You see, Sirius thought that you were about to jump and he went after you. I followed him. I ran into Lily too and told her what was going on. Then Sirius was building a shrine to call the four founders to help you, which I always said wouldn't work, and I saw that you were leaning so close to the edge it looked like you were about to jump and-----"
James now began laughing at this. "No! Come on, you guys, I may be a lot of things, but I'm not stupid enough to do that!"
"Then why were you leaning over the edge?" Sirius asked.
"My watch fell again, and I can't get it because you borrowed my wand, remember?"
"Oh yeah," Sirius said. Then he broke into a huge grin and said, "Alrighty then! Let's all go celebrate Prongsie's False Suicide Attempt!" He began ushering his two friends out of the Tower and going down the steps.
"But Sirius, what about my wa---" James tried to say, but, as they were already halfway around the stairs, decided not to continue it. Besides, he knew that if he would, Sirius would just try to brush everything off, and Remus would just recite some wise proverb that just wouldn't help at all.
Meanwhile, Lily was not in a good situation. They had been shooting spells at her, not very harmless ones, yes, but she was getting very irritated at being made to giggle and tap-dance while in a very stiff position.
"All of you are cowards," Lily spat. "You don't have the guts to take on one person freely; you have to bind them before you do it. So cowardly," She knew provoking them wasn't really the best idea, but she needed to stall for time until she could think of a plan.
Lucius raised his wand and said. "Shut up, mudblood. Sectumsem-----"
"Petrificus Totalus!" Two voices cried. Instantly, the four were turned rigid and fell down to the ground. Then another voice cast, "Liberazione!" And instantly, Lily was released from the spell and fell to the ground as well.
James, Sirius, and Remus ran up to her and helped her up. "Lily, are you okay?" Remus asked her.
"Yeah, I mean, those scum really had you bad," Sirius commented.
"Yeah, I'm fine, but really, you guys, you didn't have to come save me, I was doing fine on my own!" Lily defended herself.
"Of course you were, Lily, which explains perfectly why you were immobilized in front of them, helpless and at their mercy," James said dryly.
Lily glared at him. "I was doing fine, okay? Don't fuss over me, I'm fine, stop doing that!" she added the last part to James, who was giving her a once-over (well, as much as the restraining order charm would permit, as Remus was standing partially in between the two) to see whether she was hurt or not, and checking her out in the process.
"You sure about that?" he asked.
"Yes, yes, I am, the worse they made me do was a tap dance, got it!" Lily snapped.
"What were you even doing here, Lily? Most people don't frequent this corridor," Remus questioned.
Lily, to their surprise, blushed. "I was….well…..If you must know, I was going to the Astronomy Tower because I heard Remus say that Potter was going to jump".
James visibly smiled at this. "Really? So that proves that you're concerned over me! Meaning you care for me! Hey, what do we say we go to ---------"
"Quit it, Potter you're rambling," Lily cut him off. "I went there because I needed to stop you from pulling an idiotic stunt because, one, I absolutely refuse to shoulder Head responsibilities on my own, and two, if you really did jump and you died, people might blame me".
James looked a bit downcast, but said softly, "Right. Whatever. I'm just glad your safe now, Lily".
Lily nodded. "Right. Anyway, thanks again. I've still got to report this to Professor McGonagall. Bye" and with that she turned and left.
James stared at her retreating figure with a glazed over expression on his face, his two friends shaking their heads. Once she was completely gone, he turned back to his friends and said, "So what do we do about these four?"
Sirius looked at them and said, "Nah, just leave them there. Someone will find them eventually".
Remus rolled his eyes as the trio began walking. They were silent for awhile until James remembered something and spoke to his friends.
"Now guys………." James said to them. "About my watch………….."
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There! An end to an impossibly long and strange chapter. Hope you like it. Read and review, please! Thanks!
