After lunch they all had Potions. Sirius who had at least five servings of food was bouncing happily as they walked down the corridor to the dungeons where Potions was taught.
'WHOOHOO! POTIONS' Sirius shouted happily and they made their way to the classroom. Everyone looked at him weirdly.
'You are so dumb, Padfoot' Sean said shaking his head.
'Hey! I resent that remark, Wormy.' Sirius said looking indigent.
'No, you resemble it.' Remus said matter-of-factly. 'You forgot that we have Potions with the Slytherins. You know the people who are out to humiliate us and then maybe kill us.'
Sirius face dropped and the recently happy look was replaced with a downcast one. 'Oh man.' he moaned. James patted him on the back supportively.
When they reached the classroom the Slytherins were already there. They glared at the approaching Gryffindors and the Gryffindors glared back. But before a fight could break out Professor Slughorn came and unlocked the classroom.
Before they could get settled with the partners of their choice, however, Slughorn gave them all bad news.
'To promote inter-house unity I have put you all into pairs and you will be sitting with them for the rest of the year. As you can see there is an even amount because Miss. Narsicca Black has chose to do a seventh year class.' he said looking at Narsicca Black kindly.
The Gryffindors were disgusted. Slughorn only liked her because she was great at Potions. She grinned smugly.
Slughorn started to call out names. 'Mr. Potter and Miss. Black, Bellatrix' he clarified before they could ask. James didn't know which Black sister was worse. They both glared at each other.
The boys got paired with the people that they wanted to stay away from. Sirius got Lucius Malfoy, Remus got Narsicca Black, and Sean got Evan Rosier.
The girls also got partners that made them want to go to the bathroom and throw up. Slughorn wanted his two best seventh year potion-makers to be together so Lily got paired with Severus Snape.
All four boys glared at Snape giving him a warning with their eyes that if he tried anything he wouldn't live to see another day.
Ari got paired with Theodore Nott. Addy and Meg got paired with George Goyle and Mason Crabbe to their disgust.
Needless to say, the seventh years were not happy. They were all glaring at the board imagining their partners face on it. Slughorn put the instructions on the board to the potion.
He clapped his hands. 'All right, you will be making the potion on the board. I have a meeting with Dumbledore this class so when you are done you may leave. Please try not to kill each other or there will be consequences.'
With that he left. Everyone worked quickly and quietly, wanting to get out of there as soon as possible. Towards the end of the class, however, there came a big bang from James and Bellatrix's cauldron.
Everyone looked over at them.
'I didn't like that comment about the Dark Lord, Potter.' Bellatrix snarled. Everyone looked at her shocked and then turned their gaze on James wondering what he would say.
You could tell that he was angry but when he spoke it was in a controlled voice. 'And I didn't like what you said about my friends and family.'
The bell rang signaling the end of class and the Slytherins filed out glaring at James. The others walked towards James.
'James...' Remus began but James held up his hand indicating that Remus should be quiet.
'I'm going for a walk.' he said handing his bag and wand to Sirius. 'See you guys later.' Then he walked out. Everyone looked after him.
'He'll be all right.' Ari said softly and they all turned her attention to her. 'James hates it when people insult his family and friends. He just needs time to cool off.'
The others nodded but you could clearly see the worry etched on their faces.
Sirius looked the most calm out of them all, even Ari. 'If he's in trouble he'll call.' Sirius said and showed them all the two way mirror that James's dad had given the two of them last Christmas.
They all looked relieved and headed to the common room.
Meanwhile, James was walking down the corridor that led to the kitchen which was at the very end of the hall.
He was thinking about what Bellatrix had said to him. She had said that he shouldn't hang out with Sirius and Lily. She had then called Sirius a blood-traitor and Lily a Mudblood. James had been very mad by that point but he guessed that Bellatrix didn't know when to stop. Because she then proceeded to tell him that he would be a great help to Voldemort and that he should join their side as soon as possible.
That made him loose all the control he was trying to keep. How could she suggest that he do that? He would rather die than betray his friends and family. He told her that he would join Voldemort when hell freezes over. He had been sure to put an emphasis on Voldemort to show her that not all are afraid to speak his name.
She said she would get even and James wondered how. The two Black sisters, Narsicca and Bellatrix could be very nasty when they wanted to be.
James head someone come from behind him and turned around to find him about three feet away from Bellatrix. She wasn't very happy.
'Now you'll learn what happens when you defy the Dark Lord.' she hissed. James couldn't help but feel slightly scared. He could definitely tell who the worse Black sister was. What was he going to do? Bellatrix was glaring at him menacingly and he didn't even have his wand.
In one motion she whipped out her wand and said, 'Concelo!' James felt the curse hit him and he shivered.
Since his parents were Aurors he knew what most curses meant. This one made sure that no nurse or patron could tell what curses were shot at the victim with their wand. They would need a Healer from St. Mungo's and by the time they got one the victim would probably be dead. It was only used if the caster was going to use dark magic.
Bellatrix was smiling even more cruelly now. Without warning she started to use the Crutiatus Curse on him. James tried very head not to scream but after about fifteen minutes or so he couldn't stop screaming.
Bellatrix stopped the curse and looked down at him. He was lying at her feet and bleeding heavily.
Bellatrix leaned close to him 'Now for the cherry on top.' she hissed, 'I bet you've heard of Nervous Incedio'
She turned and walked down the corridor to make sure no one was there. James had no problem admitting that he was afraid. The curse she was going to use on him burned your nerves so that you couldn't move for a couple of hours. And by the way he was bleeding he would be dead unless someone found him.
James pulled out the two way mirror from his pocket slowly. Even reaching into his pocket hurt.
He muttered, 'Sirius Black.' and positioned the mirror so Sirius could see him and what was happening. He hoped with all his heart that Sirius could figure out where he was.
Bellatrix came back and performed the curse without guilt. She them walked away. James felt the curse hit and felt pain like he had never felt before. The last thing he saw before he lost consciousness was Sirius's horrified face in the mirror.
A/n: I was going to leave a cliff hanger but I decided not to. So Enjoy!
Sirius was sitting in the common room with everyone else. He felt the mirror in his pocket warm up and pulled it out. He was shocked to see his best friend on the floor bleeding heavily. Someone performed another curse and James blacked out.
Sirius jumped to his feet. The others looked at him, 'What happened?' Lily asked.
Sirius shook his head. 'Sean, get Dumbledore, Lily, get McGonagall, and the others come with me. Meet us at the Hospital Wing.' Sean and Lily looked confused but left right away. They knew that they situation must be serious because Sirius had used Sean's first name and not his nickname.
Sirius then hurried out the common room and the others ran to keep up with him. Sirius had seen a picture of food behind James so he knew where he was.
By the time they were at the kitchen corridor the others were out of breath. Sirius spotted a dark mass and ran to it. He turned the person over gently and saw James who looked –well– James looked dead. The others who had come up behind him gasped.
'James?' Ari said horrified.
Remus pulled out his wand and levitated James. They all walked to the Hospital Wing quickly.
They sat in chairs around James nervously as Madam Pomphery ran her wand over James, trying to figure out what happened.
She looked at them gravely. 'This is Dark Magic. He has the Concealing Charm on him.' She turned and want into her office.
Ari burst into tears and collapsed into Sirius's arms. 'James!' she sobbed. Addy and Meg were crying silently with their heads on each of Remus's shoulders.
The doors burst open and in came Lily and Sean along with Dumbledore and McGonagall. They stopped short when they saw Ari sobbing and James's bloodied body. Lily moved slowly and sat down on James's bed next to him. She ran a hand through his hair and tears welled up in her eyes. Sean gave her a hug and she began to cry.
Madam Pomphery came out of her office followed by another person wearing Healer robes.
'This is Healer Michaels and he can take the Concealing Charm off of James' the nurse said.
Dumbledore looked at James gravely with the twinkle gone from his eyes. 'I and Minerva will be back later.' he said and the two of them left.
Sirius looked at the Healer. 'We'll pay you anything but make James better.' he pleaded.
The Healer nodded and got to work. After a while he looked up. He looked sad.
'He has been tortured using an Unforgivable and the nerve burning curse.' he said. Madam Pomphery gasped and went to get the potions that were needed to fix the damage. The Healer looked at James.
'He should be better in about three days, maybe less but I can tell you something. This boy is a fighter. He has a reason to live. Most people would have been dead.' The others sighed with relief and the healer left. Thank god he was going to be okay.
Even thought they were assured that he was going to be okay none of them wanted to leave his side. They had argued with the nurse until Lily, being Head Girl and gone and gotten Dumbledore. Dumbledore told Madam Pomphery to let them stay because James was important to them.
Disgruntled Madam Pomphery told them that they could stay. Eventually they all got tired and feel asleep in the chairs surrounding James.