Oooh, I'm evil aren't I? I wonder what will happen? And what the heck does that strange title mean? Oh, and thank you for the wonderful, if not slightly language abusing, reviews. Don't forget, R,E&R! And if you haven't stopped reading this blurb yet, then you should because nothing more of use is going to be said. Should I show her answer, or just skip to where she tells her friends her answer? In other words, should I be evil, or nice? puts hands together in Mr.Burns impersonation EVIL! MWAHAHAHAAA!
Ch.30, Twice, Thrice and Jamie the Juggler
Lily apparated into Len's apartment, with a very sad look on her face. Len walked out of her room, where she had been unpacking, and saw the look on Lily's face.
"Lily! What happened? What's wrong?" she asked, concerned.
"I...James..." Lily started, the sullen look still on her face.
Just then, Melissa and Marlene tumbled out of the fireplace. They saw the look on Lily's face, and asked what was wrong. But Lily was still not able to form complete sentences, so they sat her down on the sofa and got her some water.
"Now take a drink Lil, you'll feel better. Now tell us, what happened." Len said firmly but kindly.
"I...James, he..." she started again, but just couldn't form complete sentences.
"What did he do Lils? Come on, take a drink, good. Now tell us, what happened." Marlene said in the same tone of voice that Len had used.
"He...he..."
"Did that &$!# break up with you or something? If he did, then I'll kill him." Melissa said.
"No...he..."
The girls leaned in.
Lily smiled, and held up her ring. "He proposed to me!"
The girls stared in shock for a few moments, then shrieked.
"I so tricked you! And you all fell for it! Even you Len!" Lily said, but then was crushed by three hyper girls.
"Help...need oxygen..." she stuttered.
"No way! Now, you know how I felt whenever you gave me one of these!" Len said, holding her best friend even tighter.
"The bouquet never lies Lil!" Marlene said happily.
"Ooooh, remember you aura stone Lily! The only two people with green end up getting married!" Melissa said, and both the previous comments made Lily blush.
Soon, Remus came to see what all the ruckus was about. He then saw four girls, his wife among them, jumping up and down for joy.
"Woah, what happened?" he asked.
Len came up to him. "James proposed to Lily! And she said yes!" she said excitedly and gave him a big hug.
"Congratulations Lily." he said once Len let him go.
"Thanks. Listen, I have to go, see you guys later!" Lily said right before she apparated out.
But just as she arrived home, Emmaline Vance arrived into Len and Remus' home.
"Come on guys, emergency Order meeting. I got to go tell Lily and James." she said quickly before apparating out.
The group was startled, but grabbed their shoes anyway. Then, they apparated out to the LC. Meanwhile, Emmaline was informing Lily and James.
After all the members were there, Dumbledore stood up and announced that one of their operatives had not yet come back from a mission, and that was very bad. The operative had been sneaking into a DE hideout that they had found. She was supposed to contact them within twenty four hours. No such contact had been made, and it was so late now that Dumbledore was worried.
"Once we get there, we shall split up into teams. The five of you (he points at Mr.Potter, James, Sirius, Remus, and Benji) will enter the hideout through the back way. You five (he points to Mrs.Potter, Lily, Len, Melissa and Marlene) will be on the lookout for group one. (the first team mentioned) You five, (Sturgis, Moody, Emmaline, and the Prewet brothers) will come with me through the front entrance. Now make haste, there is no time to waste! (heehee, that rhymes!)
So the group took a port key because it was quieter, and walked around a bit before they saw the base. It was sort of built into a hill, but there would probably be a back entrance. Group two dissolutioned themselves and stood on the lookout. Group one did the same and then crept around to the back. Group three went with Dumbledore right through the front entrance. Fighting was soon heard as DEs piled out in the fifties. The lookout crew was no match for them. But they had the element of surprise.
The DEs were patrolling around the base and group 2 surrounded them. Since they were still disolutioned, the DEs couldn't see where their targets were. But this was obvious. Lily, Len and Melissa had hid themselves in trees like they had when playing hide and seek with the boys. Marlene was on the ground with Mrs.Potter, and they both had blended in with the area around them. By the time the DEs had co-ordinated where the jets of red light were coming from, and started shooting back, half of them were stunned. Soon, group 1 joined the group, saying that there was no sign of the operative, let alone anyone, in the base. All the DEs had come out here, and now they were being joined by a few dementors.
Lily sent a phoenix shaped patronus after them, and they went. But more DEs were flooding out by the second, and soon a very tall person came out and yelled something. Then, to the horror of the group, the jets of red light turned green. The DEs were now using the Avada Kedavera curse.
All the Order members had to take at least two DEs each so they wouldn't be to outnumbered. Sirius and James were somehow juggling eight of them, and doing an okay job. Remus and Len were back to back, and taking on another five. Melissa and Marlene were with Mr.&Mrs.Potter, and trying ten of them.
The number of DEs slowly decreased, so did the Order members. James almost froze as a piercing yell was heard through the ruckus. He quickly dealt with the few he was taking, and rushed, dodging spells this way and that, and ran to his mother and father.
But he was to late. While his father cradled his mother's dead form in his arms, another killing spell was sent. It hit him square in the back, and their killer towered over them. As Voldemort laughed, James' anger burst. The next moment he could be seen in a fierce duel with Voldemort. But Voldemort was better. He had taunting on his side after all. But soon, Sirius saw the trouble his friend was in, and rushed to his side.
"Oh, the traitor Black is here too? You're family would probably like to say hello..." he taunted.
Melissa ran over to help her boyfriend. Still, with three angry people dueling him, Voldemort was able to block everything and send killing curses. But these were few, and dodged easily.
Remus and Len ran over to help. But this only got Voldemort to tease more.
"Oooh, the half breed and his wife, what a pleasant combination. Tell me Lupin, do all you're friends know what you really are?"
"Shut up!" Len shouted for her husbands sake. With five people dueling now, they were doing slightly better. The odd stunning spell hit him, but because of all the evil in him, he did not falter.
James saw something out of the corner of his eye, but did not dare shout out.
"Tallentaragra!" a very familiar voice shouted from up a tree. This startled Voldemort, as he had been to busy taunting to notice the brave person climbing a tree right behind him.
As his legs started moving a little, he scowled and turned to face his attacker.
"Mudblood scum! You'll pay, just like you're parents did!" and with that, Voldemort apparated away, and a smiling redhead hopped down from the tree.
With their master gone, the remaining DEs had no choice but to leave. Not to mention that Dumbledore and the rest of group 3 had decided to join. As Marlene told him what had happened, James knelt beside his dead parents. Tears slid down his cheeks, as he realized all they had missed.
As Lily's hand rested on his shoulder, he said quietly, "They didn't even get a chance to here our engagement."
Lily's hand tightened on his shoulder as Sirius came and sat beside James. They had been like a real family to him, and he would miss them like one.
The rest of the group sat down too. They had all met them, and liked them. As they all quietly mourned, Dumbledore came over to them.
"This is a great loss. May I offer my apologies." he said quietly.
The rest of the Order came over, and they used a port key to go back and take back the bodies to the LC. Sturigs came over to James and said, "Listen James, all aurors in my department have a written will in these hard times. You're parents were included. I'll get a copy to you as soon as possible. They were great people." he said.
James still hadn't said anything. His mind was filed with one colour: baige. (finally found correct spelling!) He couldn't think of anything but his parents, and so he just sat through the short meeting that followed, and barely listened while Dumbledore reported their losses.
"It would seem that Dorcas Meadowes, our operative, was killed by Voldemort the moment it was discovered that she couldn't give any useful information. There are other losses as well. Mr. William Potter, and Mrs. Anne Potter, were killed by Voldemort today, may their souls rest in piece as heroes." he said mournfully.
When it had been mentioned that James' parents were dead, everyone turned to look at the oldest Potter son. Who was still surrounded by his friends and fiance, all of whom were trying to comfort him.
When James got home, Lily gave him a hug and he broke down completely. Lily did her best to comfort him, and soon, which was about 11pm, he was calm enough to go to bed.
The next day, James still didn't talk much. It had been reported officially that his parents had died on an auror mission. That day he and Lily went over to Potter Manor to find the house in a state of ruckus.
None of James' siblings had bothered to read the paper, and Tot could not control them. As James entered the North common room, he saw his brothers and sisters jumping up and down on the sofas, and his oldest brother was doing the same.
James held up his wand and it emitted a loud bang. This made them all stop, and look at James. They all raced forward and gave him a hug.
"Hey James, do you know where mum or dad is?" his oldest brother, Jeremy, asked.
"Come on guys, sit down. I got somethin' to tell you." he said quietly. His siblings, startled by his serious expression, sat down right away.
"Where are they James?" Jeremy, the only one old enough to understand that his parent's jobs were dangerous.
"I guess none of you have read the paper yet, have you?" he asked, as he sat down and explained that they wouldn't be coming home.
Afterward, the entire Potter house was quiet. The quintuplets were silently crying, and James' brothers were all stoneyfaced, just like he had been.
James realized that if they were here right now, his parent's would tell him to look after his brothers and sisters. He pulled his head up, and in an attempt to lighten the mood, he told them all about his and Lily's engagement.
This seemed to be the distraction that they needed, and when James' grandparents apparated in, they found the house in much better shape than they had expected. His grandfather quickly took James aside.
"James, you do know what happened to you're mother and father, right?" he asked.
James went stoney faced again. "Yes. I was just here telling them. Then, I realized that if they were here, they would tell me to make sure they were okay, so I told them about mine and Lily's engagement. It cheered them up a bit." James said.
So, James left Lily with her soon to be brothers and sisters in law, he explained to his grandparents how they had died. Of course, he didn't mention anything about the Order. They listened with sullen faces.
"Just curious James, you're not a fully-fledged auror yet, how could you have been there?" his grandma asked.
"Oh, uh, sometimes if their short for people they let the aurors take the training ones on missions. Me and my friends are some of the best in our class, so they let my mum and dad take us." James lied quickly.
So James and Lily spent the rest of the day at the Potter manor, and the rest of James' family was amazed at Lily's cooking skill. But soon, Sturgis arrived with the written copy of his parent's will.
"It says that you guys are to live with grandma and grampa." James said to his brothers and sisters. In the end, the couple had to call Sirius because there was a small section for him too, which made him feel very touched.
But then the couple left, because the manor had been left to Jeremy. Of course, he could only claim it once he was of age. He would have to wait many years, because he was only this year starting third year at Hogwarts.
Most of his parents' fortune had been left to James. Along with a letter.
Dear James,
If you are reading this, it means we are dead. We want you to know that we both loved you very much. We have only one piece of advice for you: follow you're heart. You have to do what you want to do. You're mother and I area always with you, if not physically, we're in you're heart. Look after you're brothers and sisters for us. Enclosed is a letter like this one for each of them. Please make sure they get it. (Once the girls can read, of course.)
We both love you very much.
Love, you're parents.
P.S. we don't know how far you're relationship with Lily is, or even if it is still on, but we know that you two make a lovely pair.
James had given the letters to their owners, and asked his grandparents to give the quintuplet's their letters when they could read.
A few days passed, and the school term started again. Len went a little easy on Jeremy, and his brother, who just started Hogwarts. They were still shoocken, but both wanted to be aurors now. They paid rapt attention in all DADA classes, and got the best marks in the class.
It was the weekend, and Len was in with Remus marking papers. Then, Lily popped in, and came up to Len.
"I thought you should know, James and I have set the wedding day. October 10. Oh, and you are definitely a bridesmaid." Lily said excitedly all in one breath.
"Great! A little soon though, don't you think?" Len asked.
"Well, we wanted a small wedding. Just James' closest family, the remainder of mine, and some friends. See you next week for the fitting!" Lily said as she popped out, to tell Melissa that she was maid of honor.
When she got home, James said that Sirius had been estatic about being best man. They had been planning like crazy, James found it the perfect distraction from his parent's death. It would be held in the backyard of the Potter Manor, and the reception would be there too.
The girls went to Madame Blah's Wedding Supplies again for their fittings. MB was thrilled to see them again.
"Now who's the bride this time?" she asked. Lily raised her hand. She smiled and took Lily to the same fitting room where Len had been measured. After, she too was heaped with catalogues.
"I can't find anything." Lily complained to the girls while MB was with another customer.
"Well, when Remus and I got married, she mentioned that they do custom gowns here. It'll probably be a tad expensive, but I'm sure you can afford it." Len said.
"You know, that's an idea." Lily said, just as MB came back over.
"Have you made a choice?" MB asked, gathering up discarded catalogues.
"Actually, I was wondering about a custom dress." Lily said politely.
"Ah wonderful! With that option, you can either draw you're own design, or have someone else draw it." she said, sounding like a commercial.
Lily thought for a moment. "I would like to design my own please. And I can draw it too." she said, and MB led her over to a small area of the shop where the walls were covered in parchment. There was a table, with every drawing material you could think of.
After being there drawing for about an hour, Lily finally got the look she was looking for. She told MB, and she said that it would be ready in two weeks.
"That's just in time for the wedding!" Lily said happily. Then, after finding emerald green bridesmaids dresses for the other girls, they left the shop and went into the LC to meet the boys, but just for a drink.
The LC had sort of become the meeting place for most Order friends. But, just to chat and things like that. It was very convenient, incase there was ever an emergency.
On a Saturday a few weeks later, Lily and the other girls were picking up their dresses. They stopped into the LC to have a drink, (not alcohol) and meet their husbands/fiances/boyfriends/friends.
Lily and Len were laughing as they watched Remus and James literally juggle seven drinks. 5 butterbeers, 1 iced tea, and 1 gillywater almost went crashing to the floor more times than the group cared to count. The entire non-drunk population of LC was watching. They all cheered as James and Remus set the drinks on the table. James took a mock bow before sitting down with Lily.
"I had no idea that you could juggle James." Lily said, and out of the corner of her eye, she saw Sirius start to talk.
"Hey Prongs! That can be you're new nickname! Jamie the Juggler!"
This made the bar, (everyone who was not to drunk to listen was) roar with laughter. The barkeeper was howling with laughter, and James blushed, knowing that the rest of the Order that was not here in the bar would here about it soon.
But seeing him blush made the table he was at turn red with holding in laughter.
"Oh shove it." he said miserably as he tried to sink into his chair.
But then an Order member pointed out, "That's no way to talk to you're fiance is it James?"
James looked to his side and saw Lily with a mock hurt face on. He moaned and banged his head on the table.
But then, a recognized Order member came running down the stairs, and gave the sign that there was an emergency. The group waited, knowing that if every Order member went rushing up the stairs at one time, it would look to suspicious. So when no ones attention was on them, the group casually got up and headed upstairs.
When they opened the door, they could hear what the charm stops the drinkers from hearing. The sound of ruckus and panic. Of sheaves of parchment being spread out. Of people yelling and shouting.
The group quickly entered and closed the door. Moody came up to them and told them what they knew.
"Dumbledore just got word that there is a full-scale slaughter planned in a small muggle village east of France. We're getting all members, but some are unavailable. You six are to apparate there immediately to meet every other person we've been able to wrangle up." he said quickly.
So, they took their wands and anything else they might need, and apparated to the area. It was dark out, and the crescent moon was high in the sky. There, they found the Prewet brothers, the Longbottoms, the Weaslys and a few other people. Moody came in and took charge.
"Dumbledore can't be here, he has to distract the ministry. He believes that we can handle the situation better if there aren't ministries to get in our way and ask questions that we can't answer. Now we believe that Voldemort (slight shudders from everyone but our one and only group+ Moody) has his stronghold in the town hall, but be careful. Our operative says he has several creatures at his disposal, including giants. Remember, constant vigilance!" Moody said quickly.
The split up. The group, and everyone else. The group patrolled around the city, because Voldemort hadn't stricken yet. He was gathering his forces, and everyone else was going to try and stop him.
The group (just to remind you, the group at this point does not include Marlene) walked around the streets, keeping in contact by means of some walkie-talkies that Lily and Len conjured. Sirius loved them.
"Padfoot to Jamie the Juggler, what's going on?" he whispered into his.
"Padfoot, I'm right beside you and don't use that stupid name!" James said from, well, right beside him.
Sirius scowled. "Padfoot to Mrs.Moony, James is bugging me!" he whined to the group peace keeper, Len.
"Sirius, we haven't even split up yet, we're all right here!" Len said in a voice that said, I'm-annoyed, from about a meter away. (for those of you who don't know, a meter is about 3 feet, give or take a bit)
Again, Sirius scowled. "Padfoot to-"
"Sirius! Wait until we've split up!" everyone hissed.
So they went off in groups of two. James and Lily, Remus and Len, Sirius and Melissa.
"How come I get stuck with him?" Melissa had complained.
Sirius put on a mock hurt face. "If you don't remember Melly, you moved in with me." he said smugly.
"Yeah, but we don't use walkie talkies to talk inside our house, do we?"
"What a great idea!"
"Ugh."
The rest of the group laughed, and set off.
"Everything seems so peaceful here. It's hard to imagine what this place will look like if we fail." Lily said as she and James walked through a child's play park.
"Yeah. But as they say, the calm before the storm." James said, and put his arm around her waist.
Hours passed, and the group was getting tired. They decided to meet up where they had started, even though it had been hard to contact Sirius. (his line was always busy)
When they got there, they were faced with devastation.
Dead bodies were everywhere, children had been spared no mercy. The houses were crushed, nothing but ruble. Crater-like holes were in the paved road, and cars had been over turned. Once perfect flower beds were torn and rooted. Trees were upside down. Screams could be heard. Fences were ruined. Power lines were down and sparking. Everywhere, there was chaos.
And, walking down the road, was an army of giants, DEs, dementors, and several Blast-Ended Screwets.
The group stared. They felt very lucky that the army was facing away from them. They quickly took cover behind a fallen tree.
"W-What happened?" Lily whispered.
"Obviously the others couldn't stop that. Where are they anyway?" James asked.
The group looked around and saw that they weren't in sight. They formulated a plan. They hoped that most of Voldemort's forces would be terrorizing the city. Len and Melissa would go around the city, looking for survivors. Lily, James, Sirius and Remus would go to town hall and find the others.
Remus gave Len a quick hug before they parted ways. "Be careful." she whispered.
"You know I always will be." he smiled as he let go of her and gave her a quick kiss on the cheek before leaving.
Lily and Len walked in the army's wake, but always far enough away to avoid the Dementors sensing them. Unfortunately, this was not the only advantage they had the Dementors for. They left none living.
Just as they were about to go onto the next street, Lily's walkie-talkie broke through the silence with a knife of static. Melissa's voice came through.
"Lily (static) head back (static) outnumbered (s) don't stand a (sssssssss)" was all they could hear.
"Mel! Mel, can you hear me!" Lily cried into the walkie-talkie. She then turned to Len and said it was no use.
But Len wasn't thinking along those lines. "If you ask me, that wasn't Mel. She wouldn't have told us to head back, she'd tell us to get the heck over there and help. Not to go back."
Lily's eyes widened. "The Imperious curse! You're right! They must be in trouble. Come on, let's get to Town Hall!"
The two girls decided that if the others had been captured, then it would be best to go in transformed. They reached it slowly, avoiding standing power lines.
They got there and flew around the building for a bit until Len spotted the room Obviously being used as a prison. As both birds perched on the window, they saw that everyone was unconscious. A DE barged through the door, and there was one other helping him drag Melissa back into the room.
"So the Dark Lord got the blood traitor to fool her friends eh?" one said.
"Yeah, it was easy. And, the Dark Lord devised a splendid plan to prevent them from escaping. A simple dose of stunning spells keeps'm out cold!" the other cackled.
But then they left, leaving the two conscious birds to look around.
The Prewet brothers weren't there. Everyone else was unconscious. But, Marlene! Marlene was laying down, not breathing! She was... dead.
The two girls looked at each other. They returned to human form and locked the door from this side right away. Then, they proceeded to wake up the others.
"James! Are you okay?" Lily asked worriedly as she revived him with Evanesco.
"Yeah... wait, what are you doing here?" he asked.
Lily chose to ignore how rude he was and explained about how they had assumed that Mel was under the Imperious curse when she contacted them.
"You can't have been more correct Lily." Melissa herself said as Remus, who Len revived, revived her.
"But how did you two get in here? There are guards outside the door." Remus asked.
"We flew." Len answered simply.
"And I'm going to fly you out." Lily said, and when she was met with 'what the heck?' looks, she said, "Well, phoenixes can carry very heavy loads. I'm confident I can carry you, Sirius, Remus, and the rest of you." she said to James.
Everyone agreed, saying that this was logical. So, Lily transformed and flew out the window. Then, from inside, James grabbed on, then Sirius grabbed his hand, and so on and so on. Len and Melissa flew out themselves. Unfortunately they couldn't take Marlene.
Lily was struggling slightly, but managed. As everyone landed safely on the ground, she returned to human form, saying that she would not be able to keep on flying because she was to sore.
But, Unfortunately she hadn't been able to fly very far, so they were still near the building. They all turned around when they heard a cruel, harsh laugh.
"So that's how you scum have been escaping? The mudblood is an animagus. No wonder you could slip through you're chains." Voldemort sneered.
But, fortunately for them, Len and Marlene were not so tired that they could still fly. Now they were sitting in a tree, ready to start pecking Voldemort. But, Remus gave them the sign to find their wands. They would need them, and quick. So, Len and Melissa flew off looking inside windows for the pieces of wood. Meanwhile, Lily and James were keeping him busy with talking and taunting.
But soon Voldemort got tired of talking. He drew his wand, and was just about to start killing when-
Peck! He was hit on the head by a raven! While he was distracted, Len soared above her friends and dropped their wands from her talons.
They caught them with ease. Soon, an all-out duel started. Len and Melissa were able to return to human form without Voldemort noticing. They joined in, fighting off the streams of DEs that came out of the building.
Lily and James were left fighting off Voldemort.
"Come Potter, you don't want to mingle with low-lives such as this mudblood!" Voldemort said as he blocked spell after spell.
"Don't you dare talk about my fiance that way!" James said, but his words stunned Voldemort so much that he faltered. If they did have a child, he thought, it would be able to fulfill the prophecy!
But Lily took his falter, and sent about twenty quick body-bind curses at him. They slowed him quite a bit, but he was able to block most of them.
But then he struck back with some sort of curse at Lily, who was unsuspecting. She screamed and fell to the ground, where James rushed to her side.
"Lily! Are you okay? Come on Lil, say something!" James pleaded as he cradled her head.
Lily slowly opened her eyes. She heard James gasp with relief. She slowly got up, not knowing what he had hit her with.
But Voldemort was stunned. How could she have gotten up from that curse without so much as a scratch!
But Lily had something he didn't. She had people who truly loved her, and they were all rushing over after they had heard her scream. After they saw that she was, they turned their wands on Voldemort.
They stood in a line, (from left to right: Melissa, Sirius, James, Lily, Len and Remus) and sent spell after spell at him.
"You will all pay! Blood traitors, filthy Mudblood is and halfbreeds alike, will all pay the price in the end!" Voldemort yelled as he disapparated.
After their precious master left them, they remaining DEs and creatures all left too.
When the remaining mission members got back to Headquarters, it was morning. They were all stunned as Madame Pomfrey told them what Lily had been hit with.
"It was the Darkonious Strikus curse. It's a terrible way off killing someone extremely slowly, first making their skin have an acid effect on the body. After the skin burns off, the blood becomes sticky and acidic. Meanwhile, all the internal organs are flooded with dark magic. This causes them to stop functioning, and to deteriorate from the inside out. But the thing is, you're skin is fine, and there isn't a hint of dark magic in you're body." MP finished, looking at Lily in amazement.
"I believe I have an explanation, Madame Pomfrey." a voice said.
Dumbledore walked into the room, and silence fell.
"Lily is loved very much by her friends, and her fiance. The Darkonious Strikus curse thrives on hate, and evil. As Voldemort was the only one in the vicinity who hated her, the love of her friends over powered it. ( he turns to Lily) You are very lucky that you have so many who truly love you as friends, (he looks at James) or something more. Now I suggest you all go home and get some well deserved rest. You did very well tonight, and I'm proud of all of you." Dumbledore said as he left them all speechless.
After a few minutes, Sirius spoke first. "Well that was quick."
So how do you like this chapie? I'm sorry it took so long, but thank you so much for those of you who are REVIEWing. (hint hint) by the way, I'm having a Palat Expander put in on Thursday, (it's a dental device sort of like braces but not) and so I probably won't have another chapter put in until around Saturday or Sunday.
Now, again thanks to all who are REVIEWing. Thank you.
NOTE: I wrote this chapter last Monday, I only just got a chance to post it because my computer wouldn't let me access the file. So sorry for making you wait!