James walked with Lily across the grounds toward Hogsmede. As he went, he couldn't help but glance nervously back at Hogwarts, in case it was crumbling to the ground. If they were the cause for the destruction and untimely death of Hogwarts and everyone inside, James wasn't sure he could forgive himself. He looked at Lily again and had a fierce internal debate as to which was more important, having her or Hogwarts. It was difficult to say.
"So," Lily asked him, snapping his attention back to the present. "Where should we go?"
"Er...wherever you want." James said. "How about Madam Puddifoots?"
Lily looked at him with a slightly incredulous expression on her face. He quickly made another suggestion. "Three Broomsticks?"
She shook her head, then nodded. "The Three Broomsticks'll be fine."
They headed for the pub, James now worrying about Sirius and Remus and Peter. They were more likely than not at Hogwarts right now, and if they were hurt because of this, he'd never forgive himself. He did brighten momentarily at the idea that Snivellus was at Hogwarts too. He didn't think he'd mind nearly as much if something happened to that prat...
Matilda woke to a loud rumbling below her feet. She crawled out of bed, confused, and glanced out the window at the vast lawns of Hogwarts in the late afternoon sun. She yawned. The rumbling grew louder and more intense. She frowned, a sudden suspicion latching onto her mind and sinking its teeth in. Lily and James were at Hogsmede right now.
Suddenly feeling quite alarmed, Matilda dashed down the staircase, only to come face to face with a large, gaping hole where the Gryffindor common room should be.
"No!" she gasped, hanging onto the banister for dear life. Fortunately, at that moment, Sirius' owl flew past. Matilda reached out and grabbed hold of his talons and he carried her down to the ground safely.
Matilda set off at a run, heading for Hogsmede, telling herself repeatedly not to look back. Unfortunately, Matilda had never been the type to listen to that sensible little voice inside her head. It sounded far too much like her mother.
She stopped at the school gates and turned around slowly. The castle was nearly destroyed. Towers were crumbling, and large chunks of wall had embedded themselves in the once smooth lawns, sticking up out of the ground awkwardly. There wasn't a window in the school that was not completely shattered. Random bursts of magic blew holes in the walls, and it looked as though the eastern dungeons had caved in, as the castle was sinking into the ground at a strange angle.
Creatures were emerging from the Forbidden Forest, centaurs and werewolves and all manner of terrifying creature. Matilda could hear screaming now, faint screaming filled with terror and anguish.
She took all this in, eyes wide, then turned and fled to Hogsmede, only one thought on her mind: Get to Lily and James.
She saw them through a window at Madame Puddifoot's, staring lovingly into each other's eyes. Hogsmede had not survived the destruction either. Buildings were on fire, collapsing around her. Children were sobbing. People ran past, screaming and fighting and looting. Matilda pulled the door open, only to have it fall off its hinges in her grasp. She dropped it and ran to their table where they sat, hands laced together and completely oblivious to the madness around them.
"Lily," James was saying as she approached. "I love you more than anything in the world. I would levitate mountains for you!"
"Oh, James!" Lily cried, eyes sparkling. "I love you as well! I would decapitate every chicken, skin every kneazle that ever existed if it meant I could be with you!"
"Lily!"
"James!"
"Lily!"
"James!"
"LILY!" Matilda interrupted. She nearly quailed under their furious glares, but managed to summon up all the Gryffindor courage she possessed, and continued. "Lily, don't you realize what you're doing?" she asked desperately.
"Of course I do," Lily cooed, fixing her adoring eyes on James. "I'm having tea with my Jamsie."
James smiled sappily and blew a kiss at her. A wizard ran past the window, screaming and quite obviously on fire. Lily caught the kiss and pressed it to her lips, eyes never leaving James.
"Oh, for the love of..." Matilda really really wanted to slap one or both of them right now. This was not the secure world that Matilda lived and thrived in. It wasn't right, and it wasn't Lily.
"Lily," she said, catching her friends' reluctant attention once more. "Look out the window. Do you see that?"
Lily looked. The man who'd been on fire was now rolling around on the ground, while several other people beat him with sticks and bags, apparently in an attempt to put him out. "Oh, it's sunset!" Lily squealed. "James, darling, let's go watch the sun set!"
"As you wish, love." They stood and James slid his arm around Lily's shoulders. She sighed happily and leaned into his arms. As they left the shop, a chunk of ceiling collapsed on the table they'd been sitting at. Matilda followed them hastily.
"But Lily," she continued, catching up to the now slightly irritated couple, "Lily, look around you! Hogsmede is falling apart! And Hogwarts is ten million times worse! It's the TSHSD! Surely now you have to believe in it!"
Lily scoffed. "I'm sure Filch just fell behind on repairs or something. He'll catch up soon."
"Yeah," James said, glaring at Matilda. "It's Filch. Or You-Know-Who or something."
Matilda gaped at him.
"Now, Lily, love of my life, lets go watch that sunset." James glared at Matilda over Lily's shoulder as Lily nodded and hugged him.
"Oh Merlin..." Matilda muttered to herself, watching them wander off in bliss. "This had better be a dream..."
Matilda woke with a gasp. She sat up, trying to calm her breathing enough to listen for any suspicious noises. She didn't hear any rumbling, but that meant nothing. She quickly fixed her hair and smoothed her robes. Her afternoon nap had been meant to discourage her from worrying about Lily and her 'date', but all it had done was freak her out with strange dreams.
She debated the pros and cons of going to Hogsmede, and when common sense won out and told her it'd be best to stay and wait for them to come back, she pulled on her cloak and left the common room. Common sense sounded too much her mother.
On her way out of the school and down to Hogsmede, Matilda kept a sharp eye out for any signs of devastation or anarchy. She nearly had a panic attack when she found a suit of armor destroyed in the middle of a hall, before she realized it had just been Peeves causing trouble.
In Hogsmede, she kept a sharp eye out for Lily and James (and impending doom). Which was why she nearly screamed when someone managed to sneak up behind her and cover her eyes.
"What are you doing here?" Sirius asked, letting her go so she could face him. "I thought Lily would've threatened you with torture if you tried to come. I know James threatened me, anyway."
Matilda could only glare at him.
"Well, he didn't threaten so much as beg," Sirius amended with a grin.
Matilda finally found her voice. "You scared me!" she managed. "I thought you were a looter or a big, ugly, evil...creature from the Forest or...something..." She trailed off, because Sirius was now giving her a highly incredulous look.
"What looters? Why would there be looters?" he asked, baffled. "And why would a 'big, ugly evil creature' suddenly appear out of the blue and attack you?" He paused for a moment, allowing a pout to spread across his features, then added, "And I thought I at least rated a big, terrifying, yet strangely seductive evil creature."
Matilda frowned at him again. "It's not like I knew it was you," she said matter-of-factly. "And I assure you, if I had, you would have rated a big, terrifying yet strangely seductive and well-groomed, fearsome evil creature. All right?"
Sirius appeared pacified for a moment, then brightened and added, "How about a-"
"Sirius!" Matilda interrupted. "Do I have to be the sensible one here? Because that's not a very encouraging thought!"
"Fine," he pouted. "Just one more question."
Matilda looked at him expectantly.
"D'you think I could pass as a Dark Veela?" he asked, tossing his head and giving her his most disarming smile. "Because I remember my auntie telling me about rumors of Veela blood in our family and I thought-"
Matilda eyed him for a moment, then snapped out of it and howled, "Sirius! You're distracting me from the big picture! I had a prophetic dream about Lily and James!"
"You had a what?" Sirius asked curiously. He didn't know much about prophetic dreams, having been kicked out of Divination in third year along with James, after they'd both arranged their tea leaves to say 'DIE!' in big block letters, and caused the professor to collapse in hysterics in the middle of class.
Matilda explained to him all about the dream she'd had, getting steadily more and more worked up. As she talked, they walked, searching for the wayward couple.
"And then James called her 'pookie' and I knew there was something seriously wrong and-" They passed Madame Puddifoots, and Matilda stopped dead. "No," she whispered, staring in the window. Sirius looked over her shoulder to see Lily and James sitting across from each other in the window booth, both looking self-conscious and talking a bit. "It's just like the dream!" Matilda cried, running to the door before Sirius could stop her and wrenching it open so hard that the handle came off in her hand. Her eyes went wide and she screamed, staring down at it in utter horror. Then she ran inside.
Lily sat across from James in Madame Puddifoots. He'd finally managed to convince her to go in because, well...he'd given her a wounded look when she told him she really didn't want to go in there, and as he looked at her with big, sad, puppy dog eyes, she started to wonder what harm could possibly come of going into a teashop. She was pretty sure that she'd never heard of anything in Defense class about the dangers of teashops.
They'd ordered coffees and sat down in the window booth, as nearly every other table was occupied with snogging couples, and made awkward conversation at first. After a bit, Lily relaxed, until she saw something flash past the window out of the corner of her eye. She glanced up, and James took the opportunity to grab her hand. She looked back at him, startled, and then the door flew open and someone screamed.
Lily stared in shock as Matilda burst in, and, still holding the door handle, barged over to their table.
"Lily, don't do it, please!" she cried frantically. "I Saw! I Saw the school and Hogsmede! All of it, gone! Everyone will die! TSHSD, Lily!"
"Oh, Merlin, it's happened already?" James cried, voice hysterical, eyes wide with shock and horror. In the doorway, Sirius was making frantic gestures at him to shut up, but he didn't see. "I thought we'd have a bit longer than this! What have I done!"
"I thought you agreed with me!" Lily exclaimed angrily, causing James to flinch and avoid meeting her eye guiltily. "Utter rubbish, isn't that what you said, James? I don't believe this! And you!" she added, rounding on Matilda who cowered slightly in the face of Lily's wrath, "You are coming with me right now!"
And on that less than cheerful note, she grabbed Matilda by the arm and marched her out of the shop, breaking off the date and leaving James staring forlornly after her.
"I tried to warn you, mate," Sirius said, appearing at his shoulder with a shrug. James frowned.
"Let's get out of here. Its too crowded."
One of the girls that had been sitting near them in the crowded shop snagged his sleeve as he passed. "Is it true?" she asked, staring up at him fearfully. "The TSHSD? Is Hogwarts...gone?"
James looked around for the first time, and realized the pandemonium Matilda's statement had caused. Everyone had been talking in loud, panicked voices, rushing around frantically and generally making themselves useless. They all stopped, though, when they heard the question, and waited anxiously for his response.
"I have no idea," he said finally, in a tone that foretold imminent doom. "I was in here with all of you. I guess all we can do...is hope."
The crowd murmured ominously, until Sirius let out a huff of frustration and said, "Look. Mattie had a dream, alright? She just...overreacted a little. I was just at Hogwarts not twenty minutes ago, and it's just fine. Maybe a little dusty, and the Gryffindor common room could use a new coat of paint," he looked around at their reactions, which were becoming grim again - dust preceded disaster, that was a lesson Filch had ingrained in their minds well - and rushed to finish his speech. "But otherwise, it's fine!"
The crowd calmed minimally, allowing James and Sirius to escape to the fresh air outside. "Now what do I do?" he asked pathetically.
"Now you avoid the angry redhead until we come up with a plan," Sirius said, steering him away from the shouting they could hear echoing down the street. James sighed and followed Sirius away from the shop, head hung low.
"Matilda," Lily yelled furiously, whipping around to glare at her friend, "Just WHAT did you think you were doing in there?"
They were halfway across Hogsmede now, and Lily had lost what little restraint she had, stopping in the middle of the street in order to berate Matilda.
"What part of STAY IN THE DORM do you not understand, Mattie?" Lily advanced on Matilda, jabbing her finger at the other girl to punctuate her words. "What part of DO NOT COME TO HOGSMEDE do you not UNDERSTAND? And I get that I technically can't force you to stay at the school, but you had NO RIGHT," Here she pulled out her wand, face furious, "AT ALL to come in there SCREAMING and breaking things," she pointed at the door handle which Matilda still had, and was currently using as a bit of a shield. "And then just start TERRIFYING the other students and RUINING my date without so much as a BY YOUR LEAVE! I HOPE YOU CAN EXPLAIN YOURSELF!" This last bit was punctuated by angry red sparks shooting out of Lily's wand, to match the sparks flying from her eyes. Matilda gave up all pretense and took several steps backward.
"Er..." Matilda began warily.
"Be QUIET!" Lily interrupted. "I'm not done YELLING at you yet!"
"But you-"
"No! I was in there, having a good time, James was actually being DECENT for once, and then you have to come in and ruin it! All because of some stupid THEORY that isn't even TRUE!"
"Lily, I-"
"No-"
"LISTEN to me, Lily!" Matilda finally yelled, effectively stunning Lily into silence. "I'm really sorry and I didn't mean to mess up your date, but you need to understand! Just because you don't believe in it doesn't mean it's not possible! Things like the TSHSD are common in the wizarding world! You're a muggleborn, so you haven't grown up hearing stories about these kinds of things, but it's very likely that the Theory is true! Someone could have placed a curse on the school, like the curse on the Defense job! Do you understand? I'm really worried!"
Lily stood quietly for a moment, her anger draining away as realization started to sink in. She had heard of a curse on the Defense position, and she hadn't even connected the two ideas in her mind. Matilda had a point. When it was put that way, Lily could almost believe that the Theory was true. Which meant...
"Oh, God, Matilda!" she finally gasped. "All this time, I've thought it was nonsense, and if it's all true then I've been...been..."
"That's what I've been trying to tell you, Lily," Matilda said gently, putting an arm around her shoulder.
"I've been courting death by being nice to James!" Lily whispered, feeling a bit panicked. "Matilda, if I'd agreed to really date him, we might have all died..."
"I know, Lily," Matilda said somberly.
"And he...he knew!" Lily realized suddenly. "He knew and he still didn't say anything, even asked me out, when he knew we could all die!"
"Yes, he's an idiot," Matilda agreed, leading Lily back toward Hogwarts.
"He..." Lily paused on the edge of a tirade when a thought suddenly struck her. "He must really like me..."
Matilda stopped dead, seeing the look on Lily's face.
"No, Lily. Please don't go in that direction," Matilda said pleadingly, to no avail. Lily was starting to smile a bit, which, quite frankly, terrified Matilda in this situation.
"He was willing to risk death and Hogwarts being destroyed, just so he could spend a bit of time with me." Lily continued, ignoring the increasingly frantic squeaking sounds Matilda was making. "I can't help but feel flattered..." she said thoughtfully. "If only..."
"No! Lily, please!" Matilda said. "James the prat, remember? James the terrible, bullying toerag! Lillllieeeee!" she whined cajolingly waving her hand in front of Lily's face, "He's a toerag, remember? You used to love calling him that! Remember that time he spilled butterbeer all over us? What a loser, eh? ...eh?"
"Remember what Remus said?" Lily asked fondly, setting off for Hogwarts again, "He said it was because James was so nervous...that he'd liked me even then, Matilda. That's..." she paused, trying to think of a good word.
"Pathetic?" Matilda suggested hopefully, "Clingy? Annoying?"
"Adorable," Lily finished with a smile.
"Ohgodohgodohgod," Matilda muttered, trailing behind Lily as she crossed the grounds to the castle. "But you can't do anything about it, Lily! The Theory, remember?"
Lily frowned. "That is a problem. I'm sure we can find a way around it, though..."
Matilda stuck her tongue out at Lily's back as they walked up the castle steps. This hadn't happened in her dream...