"All parents damage their children. It cannot be helped. Youth, like pristine glass, absorbs the prints of its handlers. Some parents smudge, others crack, a few shatter childhoods completely into jagged little pieces, beyond repair." ― Mitch Albom,

Chapter Sixteen: Secrets and Betrayal

Lily had never been so excited for any band of knights to return to the kingdom in her life, though that was because she had never been friends with any knights (or persons who traveled with knights) before this year. There had been many rumors about the events that had happened in the Hollows, but she refused to believe them until she heard it from James, Sirius or Remus. James wouldn't have murdered innocent people, he wasn't his father, but she was nervous just the same. The entire city seemed to be on edge, waiting for Prince James to return and tell them all what had happened and Lily was no exception.

Her and Mary sat just outside the main gates, far enough so that they were away from any crowds, waiting for everyone to get back. They weren't exactly sure when the prince and his knights were meant to be back, but a rider had rushed in early this morning and the news had spread rapidly. The girls had been out there since they caught wind of it all.

"They didn't actually kill anyone." Mary said resolutely. "Dory wouldn't let them."

"Remus wouldn't let James do anything he shouldn't." Lily said, trying to sound as confident as Mary had.

"Why? Does Remus stick up for people with magic?"

"Remus sticks up for everyone who's in the right." Lily crossed her arms over her chest and jutted her jaw out. "He's a good man."

"And he doesn't fancy you." Mary sighed, rubbing her eyes with her palms. "You need to get over him."

"I am over him. Gods, I should never have told you that I kissed him."

"You should never have kissed him in the first place." Mary countered. Lily didn't really know what to say to that, because it was true. She shouldn't have kissed Remus. And she was over him. Did she miss him more than she had ever missed anyone before? Yes, but he was her first friend to go away anywhere. She supposed she missed James and Sirius too. And she was looking forward to getting to know Dory now that she and Mary were friends. But she was most definitely over Remus.

They heard the knights before they saw them. Shouting filled the air long before they heard the footsteps of their horses or the clinking of their armor.

"No one is actually going to believe that!" James' voice catapulted through the woods and Lily got a horrible feeling in the pit of her stomach about what had actually happened over the past few days. "We didn't do anything wrong."

"I agree," She heard Remus's voice next, trying to be comforting as usual. "We did everything that we could have."

"And then some." Dory said.

"You trusted them!" Another voice shouted, this voice Lily couldn't place. "You trusted them, and now the entire kingdom is going to think that we-"

"I know what they are going to think!" James shouted. Lily could picture him pulling at his hair as he said this. "But it's not true. If we just talk to the people, then-"

"Then what?" Sirius didn't sound nearly as angry as James or the knight. He sounded like someone had finally bested him at something. "We played right into their hands, James. We did exactly what they wanted us to do." Lily finally saw some movement at the edge of the woods and looked at Mary.

"At least they're okay." Mary said weakly, though she didn't look relieved.

James was riding in front with Sirius on his left and Remus on his right. All three of them looked as though they had just gone through the worst few days of their lives.

"I wish they would have just tried to kill us." James sighed, not yet having caught site of Lily and Mary. "At least that we would have expected."

"Cheers to that." Sirius said.

Remus was the first to see them and he slid down from his horse as soon as he did. "Lily." He said softly, rushing up to her. Lily met him halfway and threw her arms around him. She knew that Mary was most likely giving her a look right about now, but she hoped that she was too busy rushing up to hug her own friends. She tried very hard not to care one way or the other though.

She pulled back from Remus and looked him over. Other than looking completely exhausted, he didn't appear injured or harmed in any way. She almost reached up and brushed his hair out of his eyes but decided that it wouldn't be entirely appropriate and pushed her own hair back instead.

"What happened?" She asked quietly. Remus shook his head and looked towards the sky. He opened his mouth to say something but Sirius, who had dismounted along with the rest of the knights, was now standing right behind Remus and answered before him.

"We were set up." He said bitterly, pulling Remus back and giving Lily a hug of his own. Lily was more than a bit shocked, because she'd never hugged Sirius before, and because he didn't seem like the type of person who liked to hug people, but she hugged him back anyways.

When he pulled back, Lily couldn't stop herself from pushing the hair out of his face. "What happened to you eye?" She asked, her voice far more stern than she had meant it to be.

Sirius pulled her hand away and stepped back. "Amos and I got into a bit of an argument. I was winning, so he punched me."

Lily looked at the four knights who's names she wasn't sure of. She knew that the twins were Fabian and Gideon, but the other two she had no clue. She glared at both of them, and then shook her head. "Is anyone else hurt?"

"No." James was still standing by his horse. "No one got hurt."

They all looked so dejected just then, that it made Lily's heart ache. She saw the look on James' face and acted without thinking about it. She walked the five meters or so to close the distance between them and then wrapped her arms around James' neck, forgetting entirely that this was the crowned prince, or that a good number of his closest knights were there watching the exchange. In that moment, he was simply a boy who needed a hug. He seemed too shocked to do much of anything at first, but eventually he wrapped his arms around her middle and brought his forehead down to her shoulder.

"They knew we were coming." He said quietly, leaving his head down. "They wanted to make it look as though I was worse than my father, so they set us up. They killed six people, all because they stood up for me. Then they told everyone that I did it." Lily pulled him a bit closer before letting go.

"But there were people who saw what really happened?" She asked. He had let go of her, much more slowly than she did him. His eyes were softer now than they had been when she first walked up to him.

"Of course there were."

Sirius laughed harshly. "Do you think anyone of those people are going to come forward with the truth after what happened to anyone who even muttered something positive about James? Those men just slaughtered them!"

"We couldn't even do anything about it." One of the twins said, his head hanging low. "We just watched it happen."

"People will have to believe you, James." Lance said, one of his arms around Mary. "We did everything we could have."

"Those people still died." James took a deep breath and then reached up for his saddle. "You can all do as you please, but I have a feeling that my father is expecting me." Lily watched him ride off, the twin knights and the two that she couldn't name rode after him.

"You're not going with him?" She asked Remus.

"No, his father doesn't like me all that much. It'll probably go easier if I'm not there."

"And you?" She asked Sirius.

"His father doesn't like me either. Doesn't think I should be a knight."

"But you both saw James, correct? You want him to be alone right now?"

Sirius reached out and ruffled her hair. "Looks like you finally saw James." He said, giving her a small grin. "We need to get warm again Lily. We've forgotten what it feels like to be warm."

"He's not wrong." Remus nodded. "And we already talked to James about this. We're going to meet him at Dumbledore's in an hour."

Lily looked over and saw Mary, Dory and Lance, leading his horse, walking towards town as well. "Are you three going back to Hagrid's?" She asked. Mary turned around and nodded at the same time Dory turned around and glared at her.

"It's none of your business where we're going." Dory snapped.

"Lily and I are friends now." Mary said, putting a hand on Dory's shoulder to calm her down. "She's not the enemy."

"What do you mean you're friends?" Lance asked, sounding a bit surprised. Lily didn't know how she felt about that. She had never talked to Lance before, and she didn't really like the idea of Mary and Dory talking about her with him behind her back.

"I mean that you were gone and I wanted to talk to someone, she was at Hagrid's a lot and she's actually a really nice person so don't be mean to her anymore." Mary pushed Lance's shoulder and then looked over at Lily. "Not that any of us was really mean to you per say. It was really all amongst ourselves."

"Right." Lily nodded. "Well, I wasn't the nicest to you lot before, so I guess I can't really get upset about that. I'm sorry if I upset any of you."

"If?" Dory spat.

"Gods! Enough, Dory." Sirius sighed, rubbing his jaw. "I know that we've all just been through hell, but Evans is a nice bird, and so are you. So stop acting like you're the spoiled brat that you used to be and just apologize like she did."

Dory raised her brows and then huffed. "Fine. I'm sorry, Lily that I called you-"

"No." Mary interrupted her. "Try again."

Dory's eyes widened and she shook her head. "Apparently I got the wrong impression of you. I'm sorry that I… judged you too harshly. Is that satisfactory?"

"It's perfect." Mary said. "I'll see you tomorrow, Lily."

"See you tomorrow."

"So, what is Mary like?" Sirius asked after they split paths. Remus, Sirius and Lily were walking towards the castle, because even though they hadn't explicitly invited her to come with them, she was going with them anyway.

"She's nice. A bit abrasive and brutally honest, but I like that about her."

"Honest?" Sirius asked, raising a brow. "Did she tell you Lance's secret?"

"No." Lily asked. "We're friends. I respected her privacy and didn't ask. Besides, even if I were to ask, I wouldn't expect an answer. It's not her secret to tell."

She saw Remus and Sirius exchange a look. She could tell by the look on Remus's face that he hadn't wanted her to see that exchange, but she had seen it, so she pressed her lips together and waited to see what they were going to say.

When neither of them said anything, she shrugged. "Do you disagree?" She asked.

"No." Sirius said. "If someone has a secret, and they want someone else to know about it, then they should be the one to tell people."

"Yes." Lily nodded.

"So if I know a secret about James or… Remus," He shrugged his shoulders. "Then you wouldn't want me to be the one to tell you, right? Because you would want to hear those things from Remus." He narrowed his eyes. "Or James." He added as an afterthought.

"See, this is you telling me that Remus has a secret, which is only slightly better than telling me the secret itself."

"Only slightly better?"

"Only slightly."

"So I should just tell you the secret?"

"What do you think?"

"I think that the two of you should stop talking to each other." Remus pushed his way in between Sirius and Lily. "And I thought you learned your lesson with James, Sirius."

"It worked out in the end." Sirius shrugged. "Besides, I've got a feeling this girl is going to be around a lot, and I need to ask you some questions. I've waited the entire ride back, because I didn't want to chance Amos or the Prewett brother's over hearing, but I can't wait much longer."

Lily looked at the two boys and then frowned. "James knows something about you that I don't?"

"You know loads of things about me that James doesn't." Remus said quickly.

"I know that. That's why that kind of stings." Remus turned to glare at Sirius, who only smirked at him. "And he knows too?"

"That was both an accident and a massive mistake." Remus covered his eyes with his hand. "Since he keeps trying to tell everyone."

"I haven't told anyone. You're the one who told Lance and Dory."

"Lance and Dory know too?" Lily was all for privacy, but it seemed like he was telling everyone except her. "I knew that you were keeping something to yourself, but I didn't think you wanted to talk about it, so I never brought it up!"

"Lily, I didn't keep it to myself to spite you."

"No." She shook her head. She stopped walking and so did Remus and Sirius. They were almost at Lily's house now, just a few houses away. "But you also didn't keep it to yourself."

"I have magic, Lily."

"Very funny, Remus." Lily said, crossing her arms over her chest and looking around them to make sure that no one had heard his proclamation. It was cold today though, so there weren't many people out in the streets today. "But you know that you can't say things like that."

"I know."

"Then why did you say that?"

"Because you wanted the truth. Sirius found out because he followed me without my knowing to Dumbledore's when I was gathering things to save the king's life. Lance found out when I stopped a brick chimney from falling on top of him. Dory found out because I thought she had magic and I told her. And James found out because Sirius here decided that I should tell him. And now I'm telling you because you're my best mate, and I don't want you to think that I-"

"I didn't want to know that!" Lily shouted, closing her eyes and covering her ears with her hands. "I didn't want to know that, Remus!" She felt him warp his fingers around her wrists and pulled them away from her head.

"I knew that, and that's why I didn't tell you. I wanted to, but I knew that you wouldn't want to know because you worry too much and you-"

"I worry too much!" Lily laughed humorlessly. "Are you joking right now? I don't worry too much. Mary tried to tell me the same thing yesterday and I told her I didn't want to know, and she respected that. If you knew that I didn't want to know-"

"Shut up." Sirius put his hands out in front of him, his fingers all spread out and he was looking at Lily as though he'd never met her before. Lily felt her jaw tightening and her face get red. "What the hell is your problem?"

"What the- What are you talking about?" Lily asked, not sure how to respond to this Sirius.

"I thought you were Remus's friend. You thought you fancied him just last week."

"I am his friend, but that doesn't mean that I want to kn-"

"I trusted you." Sirius said. "Apparently I was wrong to do that."

"You don't understand-"

"No, you don't understand! James knows about Remus and while he's upset that Remus didn't tell him sooner, that's about it. He's fine with it." Lily wasn't sure if he believed that, but Remus wasn't disputing him so she wrapped her arms around her middle and shrugged. "When those men gathered in front of us and we thought that they were going to try and kill us, James had Remus and Dory standing beside him because he's not stupid and he knew that he wasn't going to win a battle of magic if he refused to use magic. How can you stand there and claim to be Remus's friend if you can't accept him the way he is?"

"I never said that I wouldn't accept him! I just said that I-"

"Didn't want to know. Yes, I heard you." Sirius tilted his head sideways to stretch his neck and then started walking again. "Maybe you shouldn't come with us."

"My mum was a witch!" Lily snapped. She took a deep breath and balled her fists by her sides. Sirius stopped walking and both boys looked at her. "She didn't die. She ran away because she had magic. I knew that she had magic, and she used it all the time and it was great." Lily felt her eyes fill up with tears. She saw Sirius sigh and close his eyes and Remus stepped up to her but she shook her head and took a step back. "One of our old neighbors got suspicious and cornered me one day. I knew that I wasn't supposed to tell anyone, but I've never been an exceptionally good liar and- my mum packed up her things that night and left. She just left and my dad told everyone that she was dead."

"Lily-" Remus started to say something but Lily didn't let him.

"No. I'm the reason my mum left us. So when I say I don't want to know your secret, or when I worry too much about something, it's not because I'm trying to be a horrible person or because I don't know how to relax, it's because I am the reason that my mum left. I put her life and my family's lives in danger because I couldn't keep a secret."

"You were just a little kid, red." Sirius said.

"You can't blame yourself." Remus added. Lily bit down on the tip of her tongue and tried to think of a way that she could explain all of this and make it make sense.

"I do blame myself. Of course I do, and how could I not. If I had said something different, or just walked away, I could still have my mum with me right now. I could have a good relationship with my sister, I might not have had to work since I was seven. My life would have been completely different. So no, I don't want to know your secrets, because I don't want to be responsible for them."

"See that's where my sympathy ends." Sirius said. Remus's brow went up, but Lily wasn't offended by Sirius's blunt attitude.

"Sirius." Remus elbowed him, but Sirius just stepped to the side to avoid any more bodily harm, and then continued speaking.

"You both know what happened to my brother and you both know that it was my fault. Your mum left because you messed up, fine. My brother died. He died because I chose to side with someone else over him, and that will haunt me for the rest of my life, but you're mistake… Lily you were a little kid, four? Five? Why did your parents even think that it was okay to burden you with that kind of secret? Your mum could have taken you with her, but she didn't and that's on her, not you. You don't have a mum right now because of the decisions that her and your father made, not because of anything that you did.

"And even if it was your fault, and you should blame yourself, you can't live the rest of your life in fear of making the same mistake again. You have to own up to what you did and then fix it. You can't just stick your head in the ground and hope that you can get by completely ignorant to everything that's happening."

Lily shook her head and felt herself flush when she could no longer stop the tears from welling up and spilling over.

Remus approached her carefully, and when she didn't flinch away from him, he wrapped his arms around her, pulling him close to his chest and resting a hand on her head.

"We can find her if you'd like." He said quietly. "I'll find her for you."

"No, it's alright." Lily sniffed. "Like Sirius said, she didn't have to leave, right? But she did." She tried to smile. "And she hasn't tried to talk to me in over ten years, so…" She sniffed again.

"Whatever you need, I'm here for you." Remus said, stroking her hair.

"Alright, break it up." Sirius said, pulling Remus and Lily apart. "This is why Lily thought you fancied her, mate."

"Can you try and act like a real-"

"He's right." Lily nodded. Remus blanched and then shook his head.

"And now they're ganging up on me." He muttered turning back towards the castle.

"You alright?" Sirius asked, slinging an arm around Lily's shoulders and leading her after Remus.

"It's not even noon and today has already felt like it's been going on forever."

"Cheers to that."

"You say that a lot."

"You want a drink?"

"No, it's not yet noon. I just said that."

"You also look like you could use a drink."

"I'm good. Do you need a drink?"

"I always need a drink." He swept his hair back and Lily laughed. He looked over at her and smiled. "I'm sorry for making a speech at you. I don't have any right to do that."

"Maybe not." Lily nodded, "But you meant well and I appreciate it."

"Well, then I'd be more than happy to help you out again in the future."

"Thank you."

James was still numb from the cold when he started walking up the stone steps to the Great Hall. His father had the guards lined up along the walls and James was glad to see that his father had been cautious while he was gone.

Two of the guardsmen pulled the giant oak doors open for him and he was hit with a gust of hot hair. His cheeks started to tingle almost instantly and he stretched out his fingers, trying to absorb as much heat as he could.

"James," His father was seated on his throne, and Bella was sitting on her chair off to his left. Bella's face was pale and her eyes were red and James almost forgot that she had tried to kill their father. For a moment he wanted to rush up to her, make sure that she was alright. It was only a moment however, and then he remembered what she had done.

"Father," He said, bowing his head slightly. He looked around the room and saw that the only other person in the room was Kingsley, one of his father's personal guardsmen.

"I heard that you had a rough trip." Was all the king said, his tone not indicating whether or not he believed the stories he must have heard to be true or not. He didn't look happy however, and he looked exhausted as well. He assumed that his father had been up worrying about him.

"You could say that." James sighed. His hands were stinging now, almost painful, as they tried to warm themselves up. He rubbed them together to help them along. "It was a trap."

"What do you mean?" The king asked, sitting up straighter and narrowing his brow.

"I mean, I would like to question whoever told you that you needed to send someone out there because they knew we were coming, the whole town knew that we were coming. They had a plan."

"James, I heard you executed six people in the middle of town." His father managed to smile a bit. "What part of that was their plan?"

"Does that sound like something I would do?" James asked, too tired to actually argue with his father about this. "Lord Antonin Dolohov, you had his son executed a while back, he gathered five other men and met me in town and then a crowd started to gather and he started talking about how I needed to be stopped before I was king so that their people wouldn't continue to be slaughtered. He waited until six people stepped forward against him, and then he and his men attacked."

"Lord Dolohov killed his own people?" Bella asked, looking startled.

"No." The king said softly, turning to look at Bella, his gaze instantly softening. "He killed my people."

"They all had magic, what do you care?" Bella snapped.

"We've been over this, dear." The king sighed, looking both exhausted and sad.

"But why would Dolohov kill them?" She asked, turning back to look at James.

"Because I asked for diplomacy," James laughed. He ran both hands through his hair and started pacing in front of his father and Bella. "I came to Antonin with someone he knew to have magic and I asked him to speak with me about what he wanted to change and that just upset him even more! And now the whole kingdom- Well they're going to think that I'm just as afraid of magic as you are." The king opened his mouth to speak, but Bella beat him to it.

"You missed a lot this week you've been gone." Bella said tersely. "Apparently he's not afraid of magic. He knew what he was sending you into."

"I did not know that Lord Antonin was going to tarnish James' reputation. And if I thought for a moment that his life was in danger, I wouldn't have let him go." He almost looked angry now. "If you could behave like an adult, that would be very helpful, Bellatrix."

She huffed and crossed her arms over her chest. James looked back and forth between the two of them. He couldn't recall a time before now that they had acted more like father and daughter and that didn't make sense to him. Bella had tried to murder the king, the king had always been slightly cold towards her, they shouldn't be behaving like this.

"Well, I'm not sure that I believe James is innocent." Bella snapped.

"Of course you know he's innocent. If it were me, than you wouldn't even ask, but James is your brother and the two of you have always gotten on very well."

"He's not my brother. I don't have any brothers, I have two sisters."

"Do you wish to talk more about this now? You had locked yourself in your room since yesterday, so I was under the impression that you wanted to drop the subject."

"I don't want to talk about it!" Bella shouted, jumping to her feet.

"Sit back down." The king shouted, also getting to his feet.

"I will not! You are not my father and I do not want you to act as though you are!"

"I know that you feel I made the wrong call, and there is not a day that goes by that I don't wish that I could have saved your sisters as well, but your father-"

"I KNOW WHAT MY FATHER DID!" Bella shrieked, walking up the few steps so that she was on the king's platform now. "I remember what kind of man he was! I was thirteen when I moved here, I remember, alright! I remember what he said, and I remember what kind of man he was."

"Then why are you so angry with me?" The king asked, he reached out for her arm but she pulled always.

She looked up at the ceiling and then over at James. He wasn't sure what to think of the look she was giving him just then, but suddenly he was quite sure that his father knew that Bella was behind him getting sick.

"I don't know." Bella sighed. "You killed my parents, I feel like that's justification enough."

"What happened while I was gone?" James asked, walking up the steps to stand next to his father and the woman who had once been his sister. "What is going on with the two of you?"

"James, things are complicated at the moment." The king said, putting a hand on his son's shoulder but keeping his eyes on Bella. "But it's nothing that we can't work through."

James looked at Bella and saw that her face had gone red. Her hands were balled into tiny fists and she had her jaw clenched so tightly that her whole body was shaking slightly. He had never been afraid of Bella before, but he wouldn't mind leaving her presence right about then.

"Bella has magic." He blurted out quite suddenly. Bella and his father turned to look at him, both equally surprised by his outburst.

"Kingsley, you may leave us."

"Yes, sir." He muttered the only words that James had ever heard him say and then walked briskly out of the room.

When the oak doors had swung shut behind him, the king rounded on James. "Where do you think you get off saying something like that?"

"She looked about ready to-"

"Of course Bella has magic!" The king hissed. "Both of her parents had magic, and all of their parents had magic!"

"You knew?" Bella hissed, grabbing a fist full of her skirt and taking a step closer. James involuntarily took a step back. "Why didn't you tell me that you knew?"

"Because then I'd have to admit that I was wrong about you!" The king roared. He fell back into his throne and sighed, letting his head fall against his hand. "I took you in! I look at you and I see that daughter I never had, and I convinced myself that you were nothing like him. That you were better, that you were kind. I'd rather play the blind fool and pretend that I don't notice that you've tried to poison me twice in the last month than admit that I was wrong about you."

"Twice?" James gasped. Bella meanwhile had frozen where she stood. "You knew the first time and you didn't banish her or imprison her or have her executed for treason against the crown?"

"Of course I didn't." The king started massaging his temples. "Whether you like it or not, darling, you are my daughter and I love you."

Bella blinked slowly and then shook her head. "You both knew? You both knew what I had done and… and…" She stumbled back her foot hung off the step she was on before falling onto the one below it. "Why didn't you kill me? Why didn't you throw me in the dungeon or- or something? I tried to kill you!"

"The first time, yes." The king nodded. "But then I was honest with you and you didn't let me drink the poison."

"You knew it was poison and you were going to dr- Why?"

"Bella," He stood up and reached for her hand. This time she was too shocked to move away. "I would never do anything to hurt you, I explained as much as you'd let me before."

"Can you explain some more?" James asked. "Because I don't know what's going on. I heard from multiple sources that Bella was trying to kill you; that she lets you punish others for her magic, and that she might have been behind the attack in Leefside. She can't go unpunished."

"James, please."

"No! I don't understand why you're being so- so forgiving! Every time that I've asked why magic is illegal, you bring up my mother. You tell me how dangerous it is, but when she comes into our home and uses her magic to try and kill you, you're fine with it?"

"I didn't say that I was fine with it, obviously I'd rather things turned out differently- But you don't know what her father was like. There are some things that you can't wash out of a person, James."

"Are you trying to say that I'm like my father?"

"Bella-"

"No, is that what you're saying?"

"How many people have you let me execute since you started using your magic here in Camelot?"

"Gods, I should have killed you." Bella was shaking again.

"Just because you've made some poor decisions doesn't mean that-"

"She's responsible for her actions, same as everyone!" James shouted. "Why is that so hard for you to understand? She's admitted to attempting to murder you, and she uses her magic in the castle! You've had people sentenced to death for far less."

"You want him to kill me?" Bella looked genuinely hurt at this and James couldn't have cared less.

"Why was Leefside burned down?"

"No one died in the fire, why does it matter?"

"Why was it burned down?" He shouted.

"It doesn't matter!"

"Both of you keep your voices down." The king shouted. "If you keep this up, I'm going to throw both of you in the dungeon."

"She tried to kill you!" James shouted, thinking that if he spoke louder, then maybe his father would actually understand what he was saying. When his father only sighed, James threw his hands up in frustration. "Are you mad? Because that's the only explanation I can come up with."

"She's my daughter, James-"

"I am not your daughter."

"She's not. You've only got me, dad."

"Yeah, because you played with something you don't understand and got your wife killed."

"That's enough." The king stood up straighter and looked Bella in the eye. "You are angry and confused, and I can overlook everything that you've done if you prove to me that you are going to change."

"I don't want to-"

"I suggest you hold your tongue." Bella's mouth hung open but she didn't continue speaking. "Both of you go to your rooms."

"You can't send us to our rooms!" James shouted. "She needs to be locked up!"

"James, this matter is more complicated than you know." The king started walking towards the door. "You'll either go on your own, or I'll send the guards in."

Bella screamed, and as she did, all of the flames lighting the room jumped ten feet in the air, bellowing out. The king didn't react to this and continued for the door. James, who was more frightened than he cared to admit, watched Bella storm off and then headed to his own room.

AN: Reviews are always wonderful!