Disclaimer: I am not JK Rowling and therefore do not own Harry Potter
A Change in the Tide
Chapter 11: Memories
Sirius stared at his friend in confusion. He decided that his friend needed clarification about Lily due to his latest response. "Well, that's what she said, that her name is Lily."
James simply nodded his head but continued to stare at the door ahead of him.
"James, is something wrong?" Remus asked, noticing his friend's unusual behavior.
Shaken out of his thoughts, James turned his head to face them. "Yeah? No, nothing's wrong. Everything's fine. In fact, it is getting late. I think I will head to bed now. Perhaps you should do the same," James suggested.
He got up from his chair and swiftly walked out of his room leaving his friends completely clueless.
"What do you suppose is wrong with him? He claims he is fine, but I know him too well to believe that. Do you?" Sirius asked.
"What? Believe him? Of course not. You could tell by the dazed look in his eyes something was up."
After a moment's silence, Sirius said, "Hey, you don't think that he likes Evans. Maybe that is why he was staring at her like that."
Remus rubbed his forehead, deep in thought. "I doubt that. They are barely even friends. For all I know, he might still dislike her. No, his face was that of one deep in thought. As if, something one of us had said had triggered something in his mind."
"You think so?" When Remus nodded, Sirius went on to say, "That does sound right, I guess. We'll just have to see, I suppose. He'll tell us what is going on eventually."
On his way to his room, James got lost quite a few times. He could hardly think straight. When he finally reached his door, he hurried inside. James relaxed on his bed and rubbed his temples, trying to clear his head.
"Okay, let me just think this out," James whispered to himself.
'Well, first, her name is Lily. My Lily's name was Lily,' James compared the two Lilys he knew inside his head.
'They are both around the same age. Evans said she was twenty and, if I remember correctly, Lily was only a year younger than me, making her twenty now. Wow! It is hard to picture little Lily as a twenty year old.
'Hmm, physically, I suppose they do look similar. Evans has red hair and…' James had to stop and think. It had been years since he had seen his best friend from his childhood. 'Well, I think she had red hair. Yeah, I am pretty sure she had red hair. Now eyes… I know that my Lily had green eyes. I have no idea what color eyes Evans has. I think they are light colored. That leaves it to blue or green, I guess.
'This is so difficult, I'm comparing a twenty year old woman to an eleven year old girl I haven't seen in a long time. For all I know, after all these years, Lily might have changed her hair color to brown might be extremely tall and fat unlike Evans who is rather short and thin.'
James got up from his bed and walked over to his stack of newspapers he had from a few years ago. At the time, he had just became a pirate and wanted to look for anything regarding a missing female orphan. He had found nothing. 'Maybe she was fine as I had figured and lived. Maybe there is a chance that Evans is my Lily. Aw, who am I kidding. Although they may look remarkably similar, she would have remembered me. Unless, she had forgotten me! No, Evans cannot be Lily. Lily had an amazing memory. It would have taken a lot to forget me. But, then again, how many redheads are there that are twenty years old, British, and have light eyes.'
James was beyond frustration. He had to figure this out. He was going to find Lily right away and talk to her.
Lily had reached her room and changed into her night clothes. Jumping into her bed, she drifted into a deep sleep.
While sleeping, Lily began to hear voices inside her head. At first they were very faint, but they slowly grew to be louder and louder.
'Lily, wait. Lily where are you going.' the voice sounded like one of a young boy. Suddenly, images began flashing in front of her eyes.
Two young kids were running down a street, the young boy running quickly to catch up to the girl ahead of him.
There was another flash of an image with voices.
'Don't cry, Lily,' the boy whispered to the girl as he stoked her back. 'Everything is going to be okay.'
The girl had tears in her eyes as she said, 'It is not going to be okay. I'll never see you again, James. I can't do it. I'm not going with them.'
This time the boy talked. 'Lily, you have to. They're going to take great care of you. They seem really nice.'
'I want to stay with you, James, and the rest of the kids at the orphanage. This couple that is adopting me will probably never let me see you guys again.'
The scene shifted. The young kids were hugging each other. The girl broke the hug and said, 'James, let's go away. We already made it out of the grounds. We can live together in the streets, like this here alley.'
'Lily, that's impossible. Stop thinking that.'
'No James. I'm not leaving you.' She grabbed his hand before continuing. 'We'll be fine and I won't be adopted. Please James… please.' The girl began crying hysterically.
'Lily, you know we can't do that. We could die. Besides, we would have to steal our food and live the rest of our lives as thieves. And what would happen if the police found us? Huh? It would never work. I don't want to see you hurt, Lily,' the boy reasoned.
'Oh James, you're my best friend. I don't want to lose you.'
The scene flashed again. The kids perked up when they heard noises. As the noises came closer, two pirates came into sight. Frightened, the young children stayed put, having no way of escape.
The men spotted them and walked over to them. One of them said, 'Now what's wrong? Are you scared of us?'
The young boy bravely spoke up. 'Leave us alone.'
'Well, I happen to like it here. I don't want to leave.'
'Leave now!' The young boy screamed. He stood up, prepared to defend himself and his friend.
The two pirates walked closer to them. One of them said, 'What are you going to do about it?'
'I… I'll fight you.' The boy raised up his fists.
'James, please don't,' the girl whispered worriedly.
A new image popped up. The pirates had just attacked the boy. The girl got up and tried to save her friend. It was useless. The men were too strong for such young kids.
'Stop!' the girl screamed. 'What are you doing? Stop it! Leave him alone.'
'Cut it out girl,' one of the men roared at her. When she didn't stop, he roughly pushed her down where she hit her head hard against the pavement. Then everything went black.
Lily suddenly woke up from her dream. There was a knock on her door. Without waiting for an answer, the person outside opened the door.
Lily looked up in shock at the man before her.
"James," she whispered, tears rolling down her cheeks.
A/N: I know that it was kind of short. Originally, this was going to all be part of the last chapter, but I figured that it would be too long to have all in one chapter.
I know I left you hanging at the end so I am going to try to update again by the end of this week.
Thanks for reading this story so far and feel free to review.