GoldenFace- I'm sorry for the torture, I hope this was quick enough!
xXMizz Alec VolturiXx-Thanks for the review! The Weasleys and Prewetts make an appearance in the next chapter and will be in it a lot more when I cover the Christmas chapters.
The small group of sixth years watched in horror as Sirius took off sprinting from the Hospital Wing. Lily urged James to go after him but it was as if his legs couldn't move, he was so surprised. By the time he registered what was going on, Lily had already run out into the hall outside the Hospital Wing.
"Where did he go?" She asked, looking at James with wide eyes.
"No idea," He murmured as the everyone else came outside with them. "He's got the map, but I don't know where he could have gone."
"Map?! What map?" Lily asked, her voice shrill as she looked from Peter to James. They had to find Sirius, she thought, they had to find him before he did anything stupid. There simply was no other option.
"They could be anywhere!" Alice cried. "We've got to do something!"
"Alice, you and I will go right. Lily, you and Peter go left. Search everywhere you can as quick as you can. Try not to have anyone notice you!"
There was too much at stake to be partnered with Lily, he knew that. She would only be a distraction and they had to find Sirius before he did anything stupid. Alice and James started out jogging, keeping their eyes peeled for anything. It felt like a year before they were finished checking the dungeons and with a frantic feeling Alice and James kept looking.
"Do you think we'll find them?" Alice asked as she tried to regain her breath. James turned to look at her sharply and stared, running a hand through his hair.
"We have to, I don't know..." He trailed off staring at the Black Lake. Pucey, Higgs and Marquette were all there, sitting near the water's edge despite the cold. Sirius was coming upon them quickly, Lily and Peter emerging from a door just below where Alice and James stood in front of the wide window.
"Go!" Alice cried, taking off as fast as she could when she saw Sirius whip his wand out. He was only a few hundred feet from them and the three by the lake hadn't noticed him yet. She knew Jenny Marquette pretty well, their parents were friends after all, and she couldn't believe that the extremely sweet girl had anything to do with what happened to Messalina. Now, John and Graham she couldn't vouch for since she didn't know them personally but Alice wasn't sure something had happened and she didn't want Sirius to get hurt. Sirius Black was a great dueler, however, Graham Pucey was as well and Alice knew the Slytherins wouldn't hesitate to take Sirius down if they thought Jenny was in danger. And she probably was.
They wouldn't get there on time. Lily knew it, deep down she did but she kept running. She had left Peter behind ages ago when her lungs hadn't felt like they were on fire and when she thought the two of them might catch Sirius.
The Black Lake was a little ways away from the castle, not a huge distance but Lily knew it was just far enough away for her to not reach Sirius before he did something insanely stupid.
When she heard a loud high-pitched scream ahead of her, Lily found herself running a little faster but with a sinking feeling she realized that she couldn't keep up this pace forever. It felt like forever since she had run anywhere except a few hundred feet to class, and this felt a lot farther.
"What the hell, Black?"
"What did you do to her?" Sirius bellowed and Lily finally made it over the small hill just in time to see Sirius fling a curse at Graham who swiftly blocked it without any effort.
"To who?" Jenny asked, her voice shrill, she was holding onto John's wand arm, trying to pull him backwards with her but he wasn't budging.
"To Lina!" Sirius replied, his voice tight and furious.
Jenny looked stricken, looking between each of the boys frantically. "What happened to Lina?"
"Sirius!" Lily found her voice finally and hurriedly ran down the hill. "Sirius stop!"
None of the men looked at Lily, but Jenny did. Her eyes were filled with tears and Lily felt pity for the girl for a brief second before the redhead remembered that these three could have killed one of her best friends.
"What's going on?" Jenny asked, staring at Lily with wide eyes.
"Messalina's at St. Mungo's." Lily told them, carefully gauging their reactions. Jenny took a few stunned steps backward, dropping John's arm and putting one of her hands to her heart. Graham looked like he had been slapped, his mouth dropping into a little 'o' and John swallowed hard, narrowing his eyes.
"We had nothing to do with that," Higgs told her gruffly as Jenny wiped a few tears away with a gloved hand. Neither of the Slytherins or Sirius had removed their wands from the air and were still eyeing one another up. A panting Peter Pettigrew appeared beside Lily a few moments later, putting his hands on his knees and bending down to catch his ragged breath.
"Lily, you know us! We wouldn't do that to Lina, she's our friend," Jenny cried, looking at Lily with her big blue eyes. "You know us!"
"If you didn't then who did?" Sirius growled, narrowing his eyes at the three.
"Do I look like a bloody Auror to you, Black?" John snapped.
"If we knew, we'd go kill whoever it was." Graham added quietly but Sirius just scoffed at him.
"Sirius-" Lily began cautiously but Sirius wasn't listening.
"They did it, Evans, can't you see?" Sirius cut her off, turning to look at her for the first time and she saw tears in his eyes. His shirt was soaked with sweat and Messalina's blood, something that Jenny seemed to just be noticing.
"Is-is that hers?" She asked, her voice choked with tears as she gestured to his shirt.
"Yeah, it is. What do you know about it?" Sirius asked and Lily felt her throat tightening as the tension seemed to be building.
"We had nothing to do with it, Black. Lina's one of our friends," Graham pointed out once again as James and Alice came jogging over the hill, each of their wands raised. Graham swallowed hard as she realized just how outnumbered they all were. This wouldn't end well.
This wouldn't end well, Madam Pomfrey thought as they flooed to St. Mungo's. Lucien was limp in her arms and blood was now pouring from her eyes, nose and ears. Beside her McGonagall held the girl's shoulders tightly as they were roughly thrown into the lobby by the Floo Network and Madam Pomfrey nearly lost her hold on the girl's legs as a healer came running from one of the offices.
"What's going on?" He asked, gesturing to a few large men to take Messalina from the two women.
"Stage two scrofungulus confirmed, I'm thinking she progressed to stage four." Madam Pomfrey replied, her voice surprisingly calm. "She's unconscious, blood from ears, nose and eyes."
"Started with the nose?" The healer asked, biting his lip as the three other men took Messalina's limp form from the two.
"Yes."
"Take her to the the Second Floor," The healer barked to the three men who had conjured a gurney and the three men hurried away before the man turned back to Madam Pomfrey. "What have you tried?"
"I tried a Coagulant Potion, to stop the bleeding and wake her up but it didn't work."
"It's likely too late for that. Excuse me." The healer jogged off and the two women turned to stare at one another.
"We must inform the family and Dumbledore." McGonagall stated solemnly and Madam Pomfrey nodded. Seeing the look on the young healer's face, McGonagall's face softened. "There was nothing you could have done Poppy. I'll go back to the castle. There's nothing we can do about it now."
"I should have recognized the symptoms, I should have checked up on her more!" Madam Pomfrey cried, looking at Minerva with wide, angry eyes.
"Poppy, I'm sure she'll be fine. It's not like Miss Lucien was the only person you were in charge of, you have dozens of patients a day! You were busy and she seemed to be getting better. Now snap out of it!"
"This is bad, Minerva," Madam Pomfrey murmured as the women moved towards the line of Floos. McGonagall turned to stare at her sternly. "Stage four, Lucien could have brain damage if she lives."
"Don't talk like that. Miss Lucien will be fine." McGonagall told her sternly. "Now stay here with her, should she wake up or the healers have more questions."
"She's dying right now, and someone's got to pay!" Sirius screamed, waving his wand recklessly.
"We. Didn't. Do. Anything." John Higgs told him, glaring at the group of Gryffindors with all of their wands out.
"C'mon Potter, you and I both know that we didn't do anything! Put your damn wand down!" Graham called, receiving a hex from James in return but it was easily blocked.
"Just because they're Slytherins doesn't mean we did anything!" Jenny cried angrily. "We're her friends!"
"She was misled by you," Peter wheezed, still slightly out of breath from the run. "You tricked her."
"Messalina's probably just sick!" John offered, his voice tight and upset. Everyone turned to stare at him and he blinked a few times before continuing. The air was tense and uncomfortable, the cold air making everyone want to go back inside. Jenny was shivering despite her coat and John wanted to take his own jacket off and give it to her but he knew that that would mean removing his wand from where it was pointed at James Potter across from him. And he wouldn't be doing that. "She's got scrofungulus, or did you all forget that? Some friends you lot are!"
No one answered and Lily was trying to figure out how to get them all out of the situation when it was solved for her.
"What in Merlin's name do you all think you're doing?" McGonagall asked, her voice tense and angry. "Miss Lucien is gone ten minutes and you're all at each others' throats?"
"Professor, they did something to her!" Sirius cried, refusing to lower his wand.
"How do you know this?" She asked, staring at him.
"There's no other explanation!"
"There is Mr. Black and it has nothing to do with these three. Now, all of you get back up to the castle now or I'll take fifty points from each house. And Mr. Black, do lower your wand. Now." She ordered them, John quickly grabbing Jenny's hand and the three outsiders were out of there within a second.
"What happened, Professor?" Lily asked.
McGonagall sighed before answering, sounding exhausted. "Miss Lucien is ill. That's all I can say without violating her privacy."
"Thank you professor." Lily replied, a few tears running from her eyes. "Will she be alright?"
"I don't know Miss Evans. I must go now, your little battle took me away from mailing letters to her family, who still doesn't know Miss Lucien is in St. Mungo's. Go back to your Common Room and stay there."
"Professor-"
"Go, Mr. Black. And do leave these three alone." She ordered them, briskly walking back up to the castle.
A ways away in a large house in Salisbury, Gwen and Samuel Prewett received a rather odd letter.
"Looks like Messalina's in trouble." Samuel said, the corners of his lips rising ever so slightly.
"Shame, that'll be her first detention all year." Gwen replied, sipping her tea.
"Let the girl have some fun Gwen, it's not exactly cheery out here." Lennox Lucien stated from where he was looking out at the grounds of the mansion.
"Well what's it for, Sam?" Gwen asked. Samuel smiled at her as he opened it roughly, opening the parchment and scanning over it. His face lost color and Gwen quickly set her tea down. "What is it Sam?"
"She's in St. Mungo's, something to do with her scrofungulus. Madam Pomfrey's there with her now." Samuel stated, all the humor gone from his voice.
"What are you waiting for? Let's go!" Gwen stated, hurriedly getting up and grabbing her purse.
"Lennox will you-"
"Inform the twins? Consider it done." The older man stated and Samuel thanked him graciously before grabbing his wife's hand and a handful of floo powder. "St. Mungo's!"