A/N: Okay, so here's the next chapter. It's pretty long, so I think it will keep you busy for a while. Ad always please review- it means a lot to me. Enjoy!

Chapter 12: Two Sorts of Attacks

By the time Sora reached James's common room she was completely out of breath. The tipsy dragon looked at her from his portrait with a worried expression in his eyes.

"Heard that the Head Girl got kidnapped" the dragon said. Sirius, who had run just behind Sora, frowned.

"How in the world do you know that?" Sirius asked. The dragon looked surprise.

"Everybody's talking about it. It's the talk of Hogwarts…"

"Never mind" Sora said sharply. She gave the dragon the password and he swung open, revealing the large wooden door that lead to the common room. Wrenching the door open, Sora scampered into the room, followed by Sirius.

James was sitting on the sofa with Peter, each staring into the fireplace in silence. When Sora came stumbling in the room, James immediately pried his eyes from the flames. He saw the determined and frightened expression on Sora's face and rushed to her.

"Sora, what is it?" he asked, his voice shaking. Sora opened Alice's yearbook and showed James the page that she herself had looked at a minute ago. James scanned the page, his eyes opening wide in recognition.

"Dear Lord, that was Alice?" James said, surprised. Sirius and Peter both huddled round the book, getting a good look at the picture.

"So you remember her?" Sora asked. James immediately turned a bright shade of crimson.

"Yeah, and to tell you the truth, I'd rather not" he mumbled. Sirius looked at him with a single eyebrow raised.

"What in the world did you do to her, Prongs?" he asked. James looked a bit flustered.

"Well, it was a long time ago, back when I used to be really awful" James said slightly.

"James, what did you do to her- this is important!" Sora cried. James looked down at the floor.

"Well you have to understand; back then, I was only about eight or nine, I thought that the Potter family was naturally better than any other family out there. I also thought that that made me better than any other kid out there"

"You still thought that till four years back" Peter said, earning him dangerous glares from James, Sirius, and Sora. Peter shut up right away.

"Anyways" James continued "Alice was a little girl from a not too well off family. She lived with her grandparents in London, in a tiny flat. I always thought she was an odd girl, very annoying, and not quite…well…not very attractive. She was always there, wherever I was, and I made fun of her terribly; many times even going out of my way to be extra evil to her" James finished quietly. Sirius groaned.

"I knew that your wonderful people skills would get us into a load of problems later on" Sirius said.

"Don't rub it in, Padfoot" James growled before turning to Sora "but what does me being mean to Alice during primary school have anything to do with where Lily is?" he asked. Sora pointed to the writing on the bottom of the page. All three boys read it and fell into a stony silence.

"Okay…that's a bit scary" Peter said finally. James and Sirius nodded.

"It's the same writing that was on the letter that was given to Lily" Sora said "I recognized it".

James gave off a loud, rather long string of curse words that caused Peter to cringe a bit.

"So the only reason why Lily got kidnapped is because of me!" James cried.

"No the only reason Lily got kidnapped is because Alice a psychotic maniac!" said Sirius. Sora thought that statement would have been quite funny of not for the grave situation.

Just them Remus entered the room, looking a bit peaky and ashen.

"What's up, Moony, I thought you were supposed to be with Slughorn" Peter said as Remus walked up to them.

"I said I was ill, I couldn't concentrate on anything" Remus said, looking at the book in Sora's hand.

"What's that?" he asked. Sora told Remus the whole story, watching him getting more shocked as she progressed.

"Alice!" Remus said "but that's worse than anybody else!"

"Why?" Sirius asked.

"Because Alice knows all of the passageways!" Sora said, smacking herself on the head. The rest of the boys groaned. Over the years Alice had grown quite close to them and she knew most of their secrets.

"So that means Lily can be anywhere!" Peter said. Sora and James looked crestfallen.

"We should go to Dumbledore" Sora said, but Remus shook his head.

"He said not to come to him until lunchtime, remember." he reminded. James reached for his cloak.

"Well I'm going out to find her"

Sora looked up at James and saw the resolute look in his eyes. She then looked around at the other boys and saw that they had the same look in their eyes.

"We'll all come with you" Sora said. Everybody nodded and once again set out on their search. They went over to all the secret passageways and talked the painting or statues that were guarding them. All of them said that nobody had passed through the passageways in the last day.

Around lunchtime the H6 walked down the hall, all looking crestfallen and dead tired. All the students that walked by them whispered among themselves. James could hear snippets of their conversations.

"Poor H6, look at them!"

"It's Lily"

"disappeared, kidnapped they say"

"what if she ran away"

"why would she do that?"

James shook his head and continued to walk down the hallway. He looked next to him and Sora, who looked lost in thought.

"What if she's in the kitchen?" Peter said. The rest of the group looked at him blankly.

"Well we checked everywhere else!" Peter said, defending his argument.

"Wormtail, if Lily was in the kitchen I am sure the house elves would have told Dumbledore by now" Remus said.

"We haven't checked all of the passageways" Sora said darkly.

"What do you mean?" James asked.

"We didn't check the one that leads to the Shrieking Shack" she said.

"Yeah, but I don't think Alice could get through the Whomping Willow. She's not small enough" Sirius said. The rest of the boys nodded. They walked in silence until they reached Dumbledore's office.

Their meeting with Dumbledore was quite disappointing. The showed him the book and told him all they knew. They also mentioned that they had searched all the passageways, which riled the Headmaster a bit- since he had forbade them from continuing with their search. By the time lunch was over, they were no where further from where they had started.

"Listen, Alice seems to be more vindictive person that we imagined. I can tell you children to not go look for her alone, but I know you will not listen to me. So instead, I urge you to use good judgment. I also want to warn you, Alice might have spies working for her in the school. If you plan to go after her, do it at night time. Right now I advise you to rest. All of you look like you're dead on your feet. Especially you, Remus- are you alright?" Dumbledore said. Everybody looked at Remus, who did indeed look very faint and ill.

"I'm just really tired" Remus said softly. Dumbledore smiled at the five children in front of him and went to the door of his office to open it. One by one the teens filed out of it. Sora, who was last in the line, faltered back a bit.

"Professor" she said slowly. Dumbledore looked down at her.

"What is on your mind, Mistress Kaito" the old man asked her, a kindly smile on his face.

"Well, I was wondering if there could be any way that Alice could have gone through the Whomping Willow passage. It's the only passageway that we have not checked yet." She said.

"I'm sure that she could have" Dumbledore answered simply. Sora nodded and walked out the door.

"Good luck, Sora" the headmaster said the girl. Sora turned around.

"We're going to get her back" she said.

"I have no doubt of it" Dumbledore said, smiling, as he shut the door behind her.

That night, Sora slipped out of her dormitory and snuck outside to the Whomping Willow. She reached the tree only to find James standing in front of it, examining the large plant with curious eyes.

"How in the world could she have gone in?" James asked as Sora drew up near him. Sora didn't bother to wonder how James had known that she was there. She just stood next to him and examined the tree as well.

"Maybe she hit it with a spell" Sora said. James shook his head.

"There's no spell that could do that" he answered.

"Maybe she knows one we don't" Sora said. Once again James shook his head.

"Alice might be different than we thought she was, but she isn't smarter. If she was she wouldn't have let that book just lie on her bed like that" he said. Sora shrugged. Looking around she found a rather long branch near the tree, half covered in dirt; as though some daft person had tried to hide it but had failed miserably.

"Um, James" Sora said lightly.

"Yeah?"

"You know how you just said that Alice isn't that smart?"

"Yeah…"

"I believe you know" she said, pointing at the branch.

"Bloody hell, I didn't think she would be that slow" James said, looking at the branch. He took it and held it up. It was the perfect length to use to press the knob that would open the passageway.

"Well, I guess we can't be complaining" James added, taking the branch and opening the passageway, avoiding the tree's violent jerks. The passageway opened.

"Okay then, I'll guess we'll go in" James said, but was stopped by Sora placing a hand on his shoulder.

"James look" she said, pointing to the field past the tree. James looked over to find Remus walking around, rather lethargically.

"What's up Moony?" James asked. Remus looked over at him and started to walk over. Only then did James see the blank look in his eyes.

"Oh gods" Sora said. Suddenly Remus started to twitch, his body contorting in odd angles. He fell on the ground in a heap. Immediately James and Sora looked up into the sky. It was a full moon.

"How did we miss that?" James asked.

"We must have been too preoccupied with Lily" Sora answered.

"But wouldn't Remus know?" he asked.

"He probably thought it would just be an extra problem for us. He didn't know we were going to be out here tonight" Sora said. Remus got up, but now, though, was in his wolf form. He looked over at the two teens and started to run towards them, full gallop. He seemed to be heading right towards James, who just stood there, staring in fear. He could hear Sora shout something but did not hear what it was. Remus was barely two feet away from him now. He jumped, teeth bared, and James reached for his wand, knowing it would be two late.

Suddenly, a flash of black fur whammed into the side of Remus tossing him to the ground. James saw Sora, who had transformed into a black panther, lying beside the large wolf. In spite, Remus scratched Sora, leaving a nasty cut on her side flank, and ran off.

Sora changed back into human form and examined the cut, which was on her forearm. It was quite a deep wound and she was bleeding terribly. Silently, Sora tore off a part of her robe and held it up to James.

"Tie this around the wound tightly" she said shakily. James took the cloth and tied it up.

"Thanks for saving me" he said. Sora just waved off his thanks, wincing in pain.

"You go get Lily" she said to him.

"What about you?" James asked. Sora looked at him pointedly.

"There is a rabid werewolf lurking around the school unchecked. I need to go make sure he doesn't get in trouble" Sora said, changing back into her panther form and walking away, limping a bit. She turned her head around at James and winked, a sign of saying good luck. James waved to her weakly before making his way down the passageway.

James would have rather had Sora with him when he went to go rescue Lily, but he knew that he could take on Alice by himself. He reached the end of the passageway and crawled out the hole into the Shrieking Shack.

"How nice of you to join us, James" a voice called out. James looked up to see a very odd looking Alice. She had a very evil expression on her face that contorted her features and made her look as ugly as she had in her yearbook picture. James immediately took out his wand and pointed it at her.

Alice just smiled and shook her head at James. From among the shadows, she pulled a chair up next to her. In the chair, looking very frightened indeed was a bound, tied up Lily. Alice casually pointed her wand at the redhead.

"You hex me, and Lily kicks the bucket" Alice sated smoothly.

"You wouldn't dare!" James cried, eyes narrowing. Alice just laughed at him.

"Of course I would, you daft boy!" Alice said "I've meant to do it all along, I just wanted you to be here for it" she added. James eyes grew big.

"You knew I was going to come" he said slowly "you left the book there on purpose. This is all a trap!" he realized. Alice laughed once more.

"Well done, James. Though I must say it took you a lot more time than I expected" Alice said. She looked around.

"I also have to say, I expected Sora to come as well" she said. James looked at the girl with the most utmost disgust.

"She ran into werewolf problems" he said shortly. Alice frowned.

"Oh, and I so looked forward to taking care of her as well" she said. James growled at her.

"Why are you doing this, Alice?" James asked. Alice just glared at him.

"I am doing this James because of you" she cried. James looked confused.

"James Potter, you have avoided me for far too long. I loved you in primary school, but you dismissed me. You said I was too fat, too ugly, too annoying and shy" she bit. "So I left school. I got a complete makeover. I got a new face, dropped all my extra weight, started to be outgoing, started to be smarter- all for you! Then I came here and what happened! You didn't notice me again, no matter how many times I flirted with you or how many times I tried to be with you! No- all you ever saw was this filthy little mudblood! Well now, I'm getting rid of her James, and you will have no choice but to love me!" Alice yelled. James looked at her in shock.

"I will never, ever love you- no matter how many people you get rid of" James snapped. Alice's eyes flashed in the dark light.

"You'll regret saying that, James" she said, her tone cold "you will love me"

"I will not, not now, not in the future"

Alice looked at James darkly and pursed her lips.

"If that is the way you want it" she said tightly "I did not want to go this far, James, but you have forced me to do this"

Alice raised her hand and snapped her fingers. From in the shadows appeared about five large men (muggles it seemed), who all looked as though they wanted to kill James.

"If you will not listen to my words, I have to use force" she said simply, smiling. She nodded to one of the large men, who went up to James and struck him across the face.

"Bloody hell!" James cried out, reaching for his wand.

"You fight back, and I will kill Lily" Alice said, holding the wand straight to Lily's temple. James stood still, dropping his wand on the ground.

The large man hit James once again and he stumbled back a bit. Lily cried out, but the bind covering her mouth muffled out her words.

The rest of the men came up and started to beat up James as well. From her place in the seat, Lily kept yelling and kicking, but to no avail. The more she struggled, the harder Alice pressed her wand to her temple. Lily looked at James, who was getting beaten to a pulp and felt her heart break. Angrily she looked up at Alice, who was observing the scene with a look of amusement. Suddenly, Lily had an idea. It was a painfully simple idea that Lily knew probably wouldn't work, but she knew she had to try it anyway.

Moving all of her weight to one side of the chair, Lily started to rock the chair. She kept rocking it until it toppled over, straight onto Alice.

For a moment, Alice didn't know what had happened to her. She shook her head a few times, and pushed Lily and the chair off of her. It had only taken her a moment to get up, but in that time James had managed to reach for his wand and stupefy all of the large men. By the time Alice stood up, James had pointed his wand towards her.

Without hesitation, James stupefied Alice, who crumpled to the ground. He could have loved to kill the girl, but he would rather have Dumbledore take care of her.

Rushing over to Lily, he unbound the girl, who fell in a heap next to him, breathing deeply. She looked at James, who was greatly bruised and bleeding from a cut that he had received on his forehead. Lily, who had been captive for over a day, been bound to a chair, and kept in cold, damp conditions with no sleep or food; took one look at James's injuries and burst out into tears. She had taken as much as she could in this past day. James on the other hand, looked bewildered.

"Lily, what's the matter?" he asked her. Lily looked up at him.

"Why, James?" she asked him through her tears.

"Why what?"

"Why didn't you fight back, you big dolt? Look at you, beaten up and bruised. Why didn't you just fight back!" she cried.

"Because then Alice would hurt you!" James said.

"That wasn't your problem, that was mine. You could have died, the way they were beating you. Why in the world you choose my life over yours?" she asked. James looked at her for a long while, the shaking, sobbing girl in front of him. Why had he done that? The same question came into him mind and he answered it right away, no hesitation.

"Because…because I love you" James answered, his voice shaking a bit. Lily just burst out into new tears and clutched the front of James's cloak, sobbing into the velvet. They two of them just sat there for a while like that, until it looked like Alice moved a bit.

"Come, Lily, we need to take her to Dumbledore before she wakes up" James said. Lily nodded, finally seeming to get a hold of herself. She helped James pick up Alice (who surprisingly didn't weigh too much at all) and they carried her out of the passageway.

As they left the passageway, James saw that the sun was just coming up.

"We weren't in there for that long were we?" he asked. Lily shook her head.

"We were in there for pretty long" she answered slowly. Suddenly from the forest a large wolf ran out, his claws rather bloody.

"Remus!" Lily cried as the wolf ran around and them collapsed, withering. "I think he's changing back"

"Where's Sora?" James asked. Then, as to answer his question, a large panther came walking from the woods. James gasped. Sora had large gashes all over her and was walking painfully slow. She saw James and Lily and tried to run over to them, only to collapse halfway there. James dropped Alice on the ground and ran over to Sora, who had changed shape back into her human form. Her arms and legs were covered in deep gashes and she had a rather nasty scratch on her cheek.

"Dear lord" James cried, scooping the unconscious Sora into his arms. She was bleeding quite badly, and form the looks of her extra pale skin, had already lost a lot of blood. James knew that the girl was in grave danger.

"Lily- get Alice to Dumbledore. I have to go to the infirmary!" he cried, running towards the school.

"Don't you dare die on us, Sora" James whispered to the girl as he ran.

A/N: Okay, so how was that? The big questions now- will Sora live?? Does Lily love James back? All will be answered in the next chapter...