A/N: So I was looking at my story traffic page, and WOW! You guys come from EVERYWHERE! USA, UK, Canada, Australia, Germany, India, Lebanon, Mexico, Finland, Indonesia, New Zealand, Philippines, Sweden, Jordan, United Arab Emirates, Ireland, Singapore, Oman, Portugal, Switzerland, Netherlands, Pakistan, and Norway. So crazy...anyways, just thought I would say...
Chapter Eight: Seekers and Bad Ideas
James entered the Great Hall about halfway through dinner, slightly sweaty.
"Pete, move it," he said sourly, plopping down between Peter and a third year he didn't know, across from Sirius and Remus.
"How were Quidditch trials?" asked Remus. James grunted and piled meat on his plate with more force than necessary. "That bad, huh?"
"So, who is it?" Peter wanted to know.
"Emmeline Vance," said James shortly.
"Emmeline Vance…" repeated Sirius. "Sounds familiar. What is she, second year? Third?"
"Second," said James through a mouthful of green beans.
"Come on, she can't be that bad," said Remus optimistically.
"She is completely effing blind," James said, an edge on his voice. "Can't see a damn thing. She nearly knocked Natalia Moore off her broom. I don't care if her whole blasted family dies—if Lester doesn't haul her ass back to school by the Ravenclaw match then we're more screwed than Peter on a Transfiguration exam."
"Hey!" said Peter indignantly. "I do okay in Transfiguration!"
"Peter, last week you glued Lulu Cao and Sofia Lin together when you were supposed to be Transfiguring a candlestick," said James, his voice still harsher than usual.
"I said 'okay,' not 'great,'" Peter mumbled, and Sirius laughed.
"If she's so terrible then why did Orwell let her on?" Sirius asked.
"Because everyone else was worse," James told them darkly, punctuating his statement by stabbing his meat with his fork. "Why do people come to Quidditch trials when they can't even stay upright on their broomsticks?"
"Beats me, mate," said Sirius. "Hey, this'll cheer you up—what do you say we break out the old Invisibility Cloak again?"
"Sh!" hissed James. "Don't go shouting things like that!"
"Sorry." Sirius lowered his voice. "So how about it?"
"And do what, break into the Slytherin common room again?" said Remus. "We nearly got caught last time, and you can call me a pansy all you want but I do not find a dungeon full of angry Slytherins very appealing at all."
"No, no, I've got something better," said Sirius excitedly. He leaned in the table and motioned for his friends to listen in closer. Lowering his voice again, he said, "Let's go to the Forbidden Forest."
Peter, James, and Remus stared at him, and then at each other, and then back at Sirius.
"Yeah, okay, instead of invading the territory of angry Slytherin students, let's invade the territory of angry unknown monsters," said Remus, returning to his food with a shake of his head.
"I dunno, Sirius…" said Peter hesitantly. "I mean, it is the Forbidden Forest. Emphasis on the Forbidden."
"I think it's brilliant," said James. "Let's do it." Remus spat out a mouthful of corn.
"Excuse me, are you two stupid?"
"What, are you scared?" challenged Sirius, and Remus put down his fork.
"Of course I'm scared, you idiot, do you know what's in there? Acromantulas, and Centaurs, and Merlin knows what else! This isn't just some field trip to the Slytherin dorms, this is something that could legitimately kill us!"
"Come on, Remus, nothing's worth doing without a bit of risk!" said James, his eyes bright.
"This isn't a 'bit of risk,'" said Remus. "This is possibly the worst idea in the history of bad ideas."
"And we do have that Charms essay due on Monday," Peter reminded them. "Plus Remus has tons of make-up work to do, so…"
"Fine, whatever you want," said Sirius offhandedly, leaning back and folding his arms. "You two can do your homework, while James and I do awesome things in the Forbidden Forest."
"And be sure you do a good job, because we'll need to copy those essays tomorrow," James added. Remus groaned and put his head in his hands.
They were back in the dormitory, later that night, and James and Sirius were pulling on sweaters and shoes, the Invisibility Cloak lying on James' bed. Remus was lying in his own bed, watching the other two silently, his face impossible to read.
"Quit staring like that," said Sirius. "People could get the wrong idea."
"You two are idiots," Remus replied. Sirius and James looked at each other, as though trying to figure out what Sirius had said that was idiotic. "I just want it on record that I think you two are idiots."
"And I just want it on record that I think you are a killjoy," said James lightly, picking up the Cloak. "Right, I think that's everything. And you'll be there to open the portrait hole for us?"
"Maybe if you're lucky," said Remus. James and Sirius shrugged and threw the Cloak over themselves.
"Last chance, Peter," said James' bodiless voice.
"Yeah…maybe next time," said Peter.
"Alright, Pete, let's do this essay." Remus picked up his backpack and motioned for Peter to follow him out of the dormitory. All four left the dormitory, and the memory faded into nothing.
The memory re-surfaced almost instantly. Remus and Peter were making their way towards an empty table by the fire. The common room was about half-full—by Remus' watch, it was ten o'clock.
"Hey, mind if I sit here?" asked Lily, a little nervously. "I mean, I'm doing Flitwick's essay, too, so…"
"Yeah, whatever you want, Evans," shrugged Remus, pulling a roll of parchment out of his bag while Peter opened his Charms textbook.
"It's good to have you back," said Lily. "Black and Potter are almost unbearable when you're not there to tell them to shut up every so often."
"You'd be surprised how little they listen to me," said Remus.
"Speaking of which, where are they?" asked Lily, looking around the common room.
"Doing something stupid," Remus grumbled. "Evans, can I borrow your Charms notes from last week? Peter's are unreadable and James and Sirius played hangman all over theirs."
"Sure," said Lily, rummaging in her bag for the notes. "You didn't miss much—all we've done since you were gone is charm kitchen utensils so they dance with each other." She handed Remus a neatly headed piece of parchment, which he accepted.
"I still don't see how that's practical," said Peter.
"Hey, guys!" Marlene McKinnon sat next to Lily. She was talking very fast. "What is up? Remus Lupin, good to have you back! You look…kind of horrible, but I mean that in the nicest way possible. And Percy—"
"Peter."
"Peter, always a pleasure. Oh, are you working on your Charms essays?" Marlene asked in mock-surprise. She grabbed Lily's and held it above her head so Lily couldn't reach it. "I was thinking of starting mine tonight, too—God, Lily, you've hardly written anything! Don't be such a procrastinator! I'll bet Lupin's got his finished—no? Well, thanks for the chat, I'm gonna go find Alice."
"Does she ever do her own homework?" chuckled Remus.
"I doubt it," said Lily. "I don't let her copy stuff anymore, but the number of times she's paid Ravenclaws for their essays…"
"Sounds like Sirius," said Peter. "So, what exactly is Rutherford's Second Law of Counter-Charms?" He gestured to the heading of his essay, and Lily launched into a full explanation, pointing to bullet points on the parchment of notes she had given Remus from time to time. Peter was scribbling on his parchment as fast as his hand would go, barely looking up from the table, and pausing only when Lily drew breath. Harry smirked when he saw Marlene at the next table over, scrawling Lily's lecture word-for-word on her own parchment.
Harry, bored with this talk of schoolwork, decided to roam around the common room as far as the invisible force field keeping him within the realms of Lily's memory would allow. Harry saw the unmistakable teenage version of Arthur Weasley, wearing a Prefect badge and laughing with a group of fifth years, while stealing glances at a red-haired girl—Molly!—who was sitting with a boy Harry recognized as Prewett from the Quidditch try-outs. He realized suddenly that this had to be one of her older brothers, Gideon or Fabian.
Linnea Orwell, the Gryffindor Keeper and newly-appointed Quidditch captain, was sitting in a corner, drawing up endless diagrams and looking as though she would very much like to rip out all of her hair. A seventh year that Harry recognized as Kingsley Shacklebolt had fallen asleep with his head on his Potions textbook and a few second year boys were now charming wads of paper to hit him on the head. Alice Callahan and Mary Macdonald were building a house of cards with a pack of Exploding Snap cards, and Mary nearly fell off her chair when the tower exploded. An old issue of the Daily Prophet lay on the floor, and the headline caught Harry's attention: New Clues in the Lester Murder.
Being completely transparent, Harry could not pick the newspaper up, so instead, he sat down on the ground to read it:
Three weeks after Julianna Lester's well-publicized murder, the Ministry has had very little to show as far as results of the investigation. However, Ministry officials have reported a certain trend in crime victims over the past month: Annika Holst, a Muggle-born employee of Zonko's Joke Shop was admitted into St. Mungo's Hospital last week after an unidentified man hexed her as she closed the shop (although Healers tell the Prophet that she will make a full recovery). Bradley Ingram, also a Muggle-born, was ambushed outside the Muggle entrance to the Ministry of Magic on his way home from work. He, too, remains in St. Mungo's in critical condition.
Though discrimination among Muggles and Muggle-borns has been prevalent for generations, Ministry officials regard this series of attacks as more than just racism.
"This isn't just graffiti or propaganda," remarked Kevin Whalen of the Department of Magical Law Enforcement. "A woman died and several others are very lucky to have survived the attacks. If the perpetrator isn't caught in due course, we may have the makings of a genocide on our hands."
The Department of Magical Law Enforcement has been (continued on page eight)
Harry, unable to turn the pages of the newspaper, had no choice but to stop reading. If only all these kids knew what was in store for them in a few years…Alice Callahan, Frank Longbottom, Gideon and Fabian Prewett, Marlene McKinnon, and even Lily...eight or nine more years were all they had. Harry watched the whole common room talking and laughing and stressing over homework and felt sick to his stomach. More than half of them would never live to see their children get their Hogwarts letters.
The portrait hole burst open and Harry looked up in time to see Sirius, covered in sweat and dirt, clutching his sweater to a bleeding wound on his arm, racing through the common room to where Remus and Peter were still listening intently to Lily. Many students looked around, whispering to each other--Sirius definitely knew how to make an entrance. Harry glided over to them in time to here Sirius say,
"Evans, get lost."
"What happened to you? Where've you been?" she demanded, completely disregarding Sirius's words and looking in alarm at his blood-gushing arm.
"Go away, you have friends, don't you?" he snapped. She gave him a dirty look, gathered up her books, and joined Alice and Mary.
"What's happened? Where's James?" Remus demanded in a low voice.
"He's down by Hagrid's, in the pumpkin patch" said Sirius quickly. "Come on, I need your help." He tossed the Invisibility Cloak at him.
"What's going on, Sirius?" Peter asked.
"It's James, he's hurt really bad," said Sirius, throwing the Cloak over Remus. "We got attacked. I need you to help me bring him up to the hospital."
A/N: You guys are so rediculously cool that I decided to write/post this early! So thanks to deisegirl, -EHWIES, DistractedButSerious, Her-mee-own, FallingForFoote (who left me the nicest review I have ever gotten!), wishfulthinking123, Jessluvsharry, MissJoline, and prongster. I hope I've been able to respond to all of your reviews...but sometimes I lose track of who I've responded to. I'm sorry...I really appreciate all of your feedback. Thanks for sticking with this story--I know a few of the chapters have been a bit mediocre, but I think they're improving. First year is going to end in about three more chapters, so don't worry, we'll be getting to the good stuff soon. I can't wait until fifth year--you would not believe the shit I have in store for you! Last night I got this huge inspiration for a chapter in late fifth year/early sixth year, and I am so excited about it I just kind of want to post it now. But I won't. you'll just have to wait :(.
Wow, that's a long authors note. Review. Please. After I update, I sit at the computer and press the refresh button until a review pops up. That is how lame I am.
-Dem