Chapter 6: In Which Ally Gets Some Sleep

Meanwhile…

"ARGH!"

"James, calm down, Lily's a perfectly capable witch—"

"Get off," interrupted Sirius, who obviously didn't care about James's anxiety or Lily's disappearance. All he was concerned with was the fact that he back was being weighed down and it felt like it was going to crack any minute. "Oi, lay off the candy, will you? You're giving me scoliosis."

"Er, Sirius, I don't think that term means what you think it means," said Peter carefully.

"Wow, you're stupid, Paddy," snickered James.

"Shut it, Prongs," muttered Sirius, looking around the campsite. "Hey, where're Ally and Moony?"

"They went to look for a way out of the Forest with Lily," squeaked Peter proudly. "They've been gone for about an hour now."

Sirius's eyes sharpened. "Ally went too?"

Peter nodded.

"And they've been gone for an hour?"

Peter nodded again.

"And you didn't go and look for them because…?"

"Because you two were still recovering from the effects of the Sobering Potion," explained Peter.

"Right you are, Wormy, and I'm glad you stayed," said Sirius happily. "Oh, wait…no, I'm not…Hey, Wormtail, there's no chance that you have a twin, is there?"

"Um, no," said Peter in confusion.

"Damn," said Sirius sadly.

"Don't worry about him, he's still recovering," said James. "He can't hold his alcohol. I, on the other hand," he added proudly, striking a dramatic pose, "can."

Sirius glared at him. "I don't see what holding alcohol has to do with being drunk," he said crossly.

James sighed, hung his head, brightened up, and grabbed his arm. "We're going on an adventure, Padfoot!" he crowed happily. "Pack up your things, we're going on an adventure to save Lily!"

"And Ally and Moony," said Peter quickly.

"Yes, and them," James said impatiently. "But mostly Lily."

Sirius looked depressed. "I don't have any things. Ally burned them all."

"Oh yeah," said James thoughtfully. "Darn."

"Well, why don't we get rid of all this stuff and go searching for them?"

"Exactly!" cried James to Peter. "Where are you getting all of these great ideas from?"

"Er, I don't know…?" said Peter. To be perfectly honest, the ideas were fundamentally simple, but the boys had yet to recover from the Sobering Potion that Peter had discovered in Sirius's trouser pocket, and so they were a bit out of the loop.

"Ahem," said Sirius, while James was shaking Peter's shoulders. "Er, where are our wands?"

Peter's grin disappeared. "Ally…took them…?"

Sirius shrieked. And it wasn't even a manly shriek, or a slightly-manly shriek. It was a full-out girlish shriek, which Peter was terrified by and James was highly impressed. "What are we going to do without our wands? Do you know what this means, Peter? Do you?"

"…No?"

"It means that Ally really does hate me!" wailed Sirius in despair. "It's why she left me in this god-forsaken place with no form of defense, except two human shields and…" His eyes brightened as he saw a large branch lying at the edge of the clearing. "…and a stick! Two human shields and a stick!" he cried, brandishing said stick.

James frowned. "Did he just call us human shields?"

Unable to respond, Peter simply nodded.

"Hey Padfoot, don't you think you're being a little over-dramatic?"

Meanwhile, back with Ally, Lily, and Remus…

"ARGH! Lily, don't do that!"

"Sorry."

"You cannot pace. It's not that big of a hole. And if you touch my ankle it explodes with pain, so please control yourself."

"Yes, I know, I'm sorry."

"Oi, Ally, is your ankle any better?"

"No," I groaned, looking pitifully at Remus, who had been holding his wand for the past half-hour shining a light up at the top of the hole. He and Lily had hopes that Sirius, James, and Peter (though in my opinion, it was more likely that we'd see my parents and Snape then any of them) would come by and save us.

Lily and Remus had not stopped trying to magic our way out of this mess, but the Killer Couples (or Segarim, as they were actually called) obviously knew what they were doing. Every time they tried, they somehow got me hurt, which was not all right by any means because I was already in pain and I thought I deserved a little comfort, or, at the very least, not to be crushed by rocks or Lily or a thesaurus (it's better if you don't ask).

It was far past midnight now. I don't know why I'd thought coming out at eleven at night was a good idea, but I suppose I'd been a little more than desperate.

And I still hadn't slept.

Although, at the very least, it wasn't for lack of trying.

Lily slid down to the ground beside me. "I can't believe this," she grumbled sourly. "Head Girl, and I can't even magic my way out of a hole."

I looked at my ankle. "It wouldn't matter if you did," I told her finally. "I'd still be stuck down here. I can't climb out. I can't even stand."

"Well, you could stand," Lily said fairly.

"No," I admitted. "I couldn't. If I put weight on it, the spell wears off and considering all the damn things you've dropped on me since we got down here, my ankle will be ten times worse. So I'd just fall down again from pain."

"Oh," said Lily reluctantly. This was not good news, not by a long shot.

Are we really going to be stuck down here until we die? I thought soberly. I looked over at Lily and realized she was thinking the exact same thing.

With James, Sirius, and Peter…

"Liiiiily! Liiiiily!"

"You know, Lily isn't the only person who's gone missing," said Sirius sullenly, as they walked through the forest searching for the three missing persons.

Peter looked at him in relief. "Has the Sobering Potion worn off yet?"

Sirius cocked his head, looking thoughtful. "Yes, I think so."

"Oh, thank Merlin," sighed Peter. "Then can you talk some sense into Prongs?"

"No, I don't think so."

"Why not?"

"Because there's no talking sense to someone on Sobering Potion," said Sirius seriously (A/N: Hardy-har-har). "It's even more dangerous than Firewhiskey."

Peter looked horrified. "Then why is it Sobering?"

"Eh, don't worry, Wormtail," said Sirius, suddenly looking chipper. "It'll wear off soon."

Peter nodded happily, too stupid to realize that three boys, two without wands, one completely nuts and the other high off of Sobering Potion was definitely something worth worrying about. "So which way next?"

"Hey! Hey!"

"Hay is for horses, Prongs," mumbled Sirius as he and Peter followed the sound of James's shouting.

A loud moan echoed around the clearing. A girl's moan. "Sirius, Peter! I found them!"

Sirius and Peter stared at each other. "What?"

"The missing persons!" The girl's moan came again. "I found them!"

"I dub thee Sherlock Holmes," said Sirius. Peter wasn't quite sure whether he was being sarcastic or not. "Oh wait! You found them?"

Another moan. This time it sounded more like a "Noooooooo….."

"Yes!" cried James enthusiastically, completely unaware of the fact that his friend had only gotten to the point after the second try. Peter did, but he didn't say anything.

"Ally!" cried Sirius, rushing in the direction of James. "Ally! Allegra!" He stopped at the edge of the hole and cocked his head. "Is that your first name?" He shook his head and swiped his hair out of his eyes. "I am here to declare my undying love for you and that I don't care that you left me alone with two human shields, one an idiot, one a shtick, and a…stick…" He shook his head again. "Anyway! I love you and everything and I will stop binge-flirting, like you said, even though I don't really know what that means…"

There was stifled laughter, a loud yelp of pain and more stifled laughter. "Er…Sirius, are you feeling all right? This is kind of…sudden."

Peter came around the trees with James, who appeared to have gotten off his high. They both ran for the hole. "Lily?"

"James?"

"Thank Merlin! Are you all right?"

"I am, but Ally's got a broken ankle…" Lily sounded sheepish.

"You got a broken ankle from falling into a hole?" asked Peter.

"No," said Ally with gritted teeth. "I got a sprained ankle from falling into the hole. It got broken afterwards." Her tone made it clear that there would be no more answers, and therefore, no more questions.

A few minutes later, everyone was standing on firm ground. Much to James's surprise, Lily threw her arms around James the moment they were close enough, and whispered an "I'm sorry" into his shoulder. He grabbed her comfortably. Everyone stared at them, shell-shocked.

Everyone except Ally, that is. She was sitting a ways away, tending to her ankle. Sirius left the gaping Peter and walked over to stand by her. "So…how's your ankle?"

She looked up at him. "I see you're back from Cloud Nine."

Sirius laughed nervously. "Kind of. Er, about that…"

"Yeah, I know. Peter told me about the Sobering Potion. What the hell did you put in there?"

"An abundance of Cheering Charms," he told her happily.

She rolled her eyes, but laughed anyway. "So…about that…"

"Right. Well, I'm not sure what happened tonight—to be honest, this whole day's been a blur—but I think I want to remember."

Ally stood up (rather well, considering) and brushed off her jeans. "Well," she said, her eyes flashing mischievously, "I had an epiphany down there, and I think that maybe, just maybe…I want you to remember too." She gave him a smile. "You're kind of a lot more than I thought you were. Granted, you're an absolute moron, and you will have to stop binge-flirting, even if you don't know what it is…but maybe we can try."

Sirius grinned at her, and in a moment of chivalry (which Ally thoroughly milked for all its worth, because it probably wouldn't happen again for a decade or so) picked her up bridal style so she didn't have to walk.

"Going a bit fast there, aren't we, Padfoot?" said a smirking James.

Lily did nothing. Ally shot her a hurt look, but all Lily did was stand there with a 'serves-you-right' look on her face.

Ally didn't really believe in sentimental moments, but if she did, this would be one. All their things were there (Peter, of all people, had had the sense to pack everything up), the night was nice in that 'if-I'm-going-to-be-the-last-thing-you-see-before-you-die-I-at-the-very-least-have-the-decency-to-look-nice' sort of way.

And then, it happened. The thing. The thing that saved Ally's sanity from being forever, as opposed to temporarily, lost.

"Potter! Black! Pettigrew! Lupin! Miss Evans! Miss Godrey! Where have you been?"

Never in all her life did Ally think she'd be so glad to hear the sharp-edged tone of Minerva McGonagall.

A/N: Ha! I finished!

I lied. I didn't. There's going to be an epilouge.

(I just spelt that horribly wrong.)

And if you think that I'm a horrible evil person who just loves to torture you with lack of updates...well, you're right. Except that I don't love it. It just happens, damn it!

And if you're wondering why - well, then, you're just dumb.

Kidding.

The reason why I'm writing an epilogue (Ha! And no, I'm not going back and fixing the other one) is because this is not an AU story. So I have to kill Ally off.

Sorry.

So if you like this couple, don't read the epilogue, and go on living your Sirius/Ally lives.

And if I do something AU (I think I put the wrong Head Boy) just change it. You are all smart people. At least, I hope you are.

I'll be tying up a few loose ends though, so read the epilogue and mentally add an extra paragraph about it being a dream or something.

Right. Wow, this is long. And I'm making it longer.

Bah-bye!