A/N: Oh no guys, there's going to be a bit in here that I know none of you will like...but it just had to be done. I know I said fluff but I never said that it was nice fluff...to be fair I did start out intending for it to be nice but alas the outcome was not...
- - -
They decided that they would split into two groups to cover the search. Admittedly the search would have been quicker if they each took a direction and went solo, but none of them particularly fancied being by themselves in dim corridors after the whole Hand incident.
Sirius offered to escort Rosie back to her Common Room and Remus decided that he would go too and Sirius practically dragged Peter with them. James knew that the odd number of members in the two groups was not coincidental but he chose not to say anything and gave them the map.
"Whatever for?" Sirius asked. "The Hand doesn't show up on it."
Remus reached out and took the map. "We're not Head Boy and Girl. If we get caught I think we'd have a hard time arguing out of it. At least if they get caught they can just say they heard noises and were out to investigate."
"Oh, I get you. That's a good excuse. Why Remus I never realized how good you were at lying." Sirius battered his eyelashes purposely and Remus snorted.
"You set a good example."
Standing a little aside from the banter Lily watched James peer out through the door to check that all was still clear and they hadn't woken anybody up.
"I wonder if Brent is okay." She said aloud to no on in particular. James shrugged not really bothered about Brent in the least.
Overhearing her worry Sirius laughed. "Bent West? He's probably hiding in some closet quivering in his boots." Peter let out a peal of laughter. For once he could be marked for bravery and it was someone else that had taken off before he did. "Look, there's the annoying bastard." Sirius pointed to a labeled dot located in one of the dormitories. "He got back all right. Don't worry about him, he's probably packing his stuff getting ready to leave."
Lily frowned. "Still, I wish you wouldn't call him names like that. He's a Squib and hardly ever sees magic; back in the days when I thought I was just a Muggle I probably would have run off screaming."
"Yeah but remember who his parents are. Pah! If he don't see magic with parents like that then he must turn a very big blind eye." Sirius crossed his arms. "And back when you were a Muggle you were just a kid you'd be expected to run and scream. In fact it would be your duty to do so."
"Just like it's your duty to get moving." James intervened before it could turn into an argument. Sirius opened his mouth to continue but James cut him off. "Come on, get moving or I'll lock you in a room with Tatty."
"Yeah, well if you try that you are going to be one dead man." Sirius grinned and ushered Rosie out. "So, care to explain how why that thing was chasing after you?" he asked growing serious when the door had shut behind them.
- - -
James closed the door. They would wait a minute or two before they would leave just in case. They couldn't be too careful when out and about at night, especially with Snape taking it upon himself to patrol the grounds. There was also Filch and Mr. Cronks of course but Snape managed to notch the irritation factor up by a few marks.
Lily paced the area near the door still not quite daring to venture further into the room even though it was sufficiently lit up now. She had a feeling she would never feel quite the same about being along in the dark neither and a moving dead hand had definitely reached first place in her scheme of dislike. Lost in her jumbled thoughts Lily jumped when a hand landed on her forearm. She stared at it noting that it was long fingered and strong looking, absolutely nothing like the mummified hand of Sameth. Her eyes traveled up the hand and then the arm and shoulder before coming to a rest on James' face.
"We should get going now." He informed her. Wordlessly she followed him out and for a while neither of them spoke. They had fallen into a companionable silence that continued throughout their search. With eyes low they scanned the gray flagstones under the whispering fire on mounted torches.
"You seem to know the castle very well." Lily commented after a while. Even though this was her seventh year Lily could just as easily get lost in the vast castle as any first year and only truly knew the well trodden paths to lessons.
"I have a rough idea where most places are but for the whole layout we need all four of us together."
"When do you guys ever find time to sleep? I mean, it must take a lot of night time exploring to be able to make the Marauders Map." Lily was impressed in some ways at their dedication to be Messrs. and for once she was able to appreciate the effort it took, especially since having taken part in increased night excursions she hadn't been sleeping very well lately.
James chuckled. "During lessons."
Lily clicked her tongue disapprovingly but smiled, "Is there anywhere in the castle that you lot haven't been?"
James rubbed the back of his neck thinking hard. "Well, sure. The girl's dormitories of course."
"I should hope not!" she cried but then added slyly. "But I take it that that doesn't mean no attempts have been made.
"Well..." He began sheepishly.
"I knew it!"
"Sirius reckons that it can be done, just have to be persistent enough but usually after a fall or two it's very hard to ignore the pains and aches. It'd be a lot easier to just wait for the girl to chose to come down."
"I bet that didn't settle too well with Sirius."
"Not really but even he has to admit defeat especially to a flight of stubborn stairs." James surprised himself. Why did he never listen to himself? Hadn't he been as stubborn as Sirius in the past few years? He was determined to get Lily to date him and Sirius was equally determined to get up those stairs to see a current girlfriend. There were many similarities between the two goals but even Sirius had all but given up now...
Once again they fell into a comfortable silence but this time James could not help but brood over himself, it bothered him that maybe he had turned a blind eye to reasoning in his childishness.
With both of them lost in their own thoughts they made their way around until it became obvious that something was wrong. They had followed the whole length of the corridor that led directly to the Room of Requirement and had even gone beyond and still there was no sign of the Hand. Lily turned to James. "How many times did we say that reversal spell?"
"Definitely more than four times." He replied. With so many of them all shouting it they had most certainly have undone more than just the Calling spell. "More than four even before it escaped." Lily could see that he wore a grim expression. This was not good. Some spells took some time to take effect but the Reversal spell was not one of them; that Hand should have been rendered motionless even before it had a chance to run out! Could severed limbs think for themselves? Surely not! Yet when they began to cast the Reversal spell it had gone mad as if trying to escape.
The darkness began to unnerve her and she looked over her shoulder to the empty flickering corridor behind. When she turned back again James was gone!
"James!" A piece of armor to her right clanked.
"I'm here."
"What are you doing?" Lily approached the rusty suit or armor flooded with ghost stories about moving armor and clanking chains. James had his arms around the stand that the metal rested on and heaved it aside.
"You hear that?" he asked pushing some hair away from his forehead.
Lily listened but couldn't hear anything special. "Just a bit of wind." She said not quite sure what significance there was to what she heard. James was on his knees now peering at what looked like a gap made by a bit of missing stone.
"But can you feel the wind up there?"
Lily raised her head for a second and then realized what he was getting at. She could hear the wind but the cool air in the corridor was almost completely still.
"The wind is coming from down here."
Lily lowered herself to the ground and a breeze that smelt of mold blew out from the hole greeted her face. "Oh no." Lily gasped, the full implication sinking in. For air to displace in a hole it must lead somewhere and with the strange architecture of the castle the Hand could be anywhere. "Maybe it ran down a hole and then the spell worked?" she offered optimistically.
"Maybe." James replied but he did not sound very convinced. "It would be good if it did, but if not I'm sure we'll be hearing students scream about it soon enough."
Lily nodded, at least then the teachers would deal with it. The thought was almost comforting but- "James!" She cried out when she spotted James with his sleeve rolled back and sticking his wand hand into the gap.
"It's okay, I just wanted to know how deep this thing goes. Lumos." The wand inside the hole flared up and revealed very little. James pushed his arm further in until his shoulder hit the edges.
"Take your arm out! Please!" Lily tugged the sleeve of his cloak. Had he never seen horror movies? Sticking your arm anywhere was always a very bad idea.
"Wait, I just want to see if I can see anymore." He grunted and swiveled his arm about and pushed his face against the gap. The small tunnel led deep into the wall and curved sharply away after about a metre.
"Jamie!" Lily pleaded. She was convinced something in there would bite his arm off. "Come on!" She hooked her elbow around his free arm and pulled forcefully. James allowed himself to be pulled away and sat up confused. Had Lily just called him Jamie? Not noticing anything amiss, Lily scrunched her nose and pointed at the trail of black webbing that he'd dragged out along with him arm. He quickly scraped the sticky stuff on the foot of the armor and wiped his wand off on his trousers.
He unconsciously rumpled his hair. "Did you just call me Jamie?" No one other than his Mother ever called him that and it had sent a pleasant feeling up his spine at the familiarity. He must have heard wrong he decided. Being called James by Lily was a huge improvement already; being given a familiar name was unimaginable.
Lily looked startled. "Did I?" She did not notice the pronounced effect she had just had on him and instead, became preoccupied by surprising thoughts of her own.
"Ah, it doesn't matter." James scruffed up more hair and swiftly stood up. "Here," he offered Lily his hand. "We should get back. The Hand is probably long gone if it can still move." Lily nodded and took his offer and stood up.
Lily watched James maneuver the suit of armor back to its original position. It was most likely a slip of the tongue she thought. It was a habit that she found hard to break. Maybe James did not appreciate being called Jamie? She would have to be careful not to call him that again.
- - -
Remus walked on with them keeping at a polite distance but listened all the same while Peter trailed a little behind with the map. Sirius however, hovered right by Rosie's side so that his immediate presence demanded an answer.
"I think somebody has a little confession to make." Sirius said his voice completely void of the humor it had held earlier. "You know, we always thought the culprit that attacked Yoanna was a he but you've just made me realize that he could also be a she." Remus stiffened. What was Sirius trying to suggest?
"What?!" Rosie angered at the hinted accusation. They had all stopped walking now and Sirius walked a few steps away and leant against the wall with his arms crossed. He had assumed an air of coldness and a haughty and even patronizing smile played across his handsome features.
"Please don't be coy with me, Rose Amiral." He emphasized. "You know, I've been thinking," He started afresh.
"Wouldn't that be a first?" she retorted.
"I've been thinking, a lot of things don't add up-"
"Oh, you can add now? I was beginning to wonder." She snapped.
"Look if you wish, you may insult my intelligence after I'm done with what I have to say, at least then I might care to be hurt." Sirius countered still as cold as ever. Rose said no more and he continued. "I admit I was slightly curious at bumping into you the night Yoanna got attacked. You're not as good at lying as you may think and one excuse used over too many times is a dead give away."
"Just spit it out, Black." The terrified and speechless Rosie they had seen earlier was nowhere to be seen. All that was left was a dark eyed woman that radiated defensiveness.
Not rushed at all Sirius took his time explaining. "Don't think I didn't notice you cradling your side or just maybe you were hiding something under your cloak?" he suggested. "Now correct me if I'm wrong, but we've figured that He wants something and that something is the Hand." This was where Sirius took the huge jump that even he was unsure of although his cool exterior did not falter for a second. He deliberately left the identity of He open in case she might give it away herself. "First He used Lily to get it but she unexpectedly threw it away and Yoanna unknowingly picked it up. Controlling Yoanna proved to be more difficult than expected so He...let's just say asked you to retrieve it?"
Rosie burst into laughter unexpectedly. "Wrong! Wrong! Wrong!" her body shook with laughter. "That's absurd!"
Remus had had enough of being a silent spectator and stepped in now that he understood Sirius' suspicions. "You confirmed that you had the hand yourself tonight. I bet you weren't expecting us to make a Calling. Wasn't it a surprise when the Hand came to life in your very own pocket?"
Her laughing subsided and she looked at Sirius challengingly. "Yes, I had the Hand." Remus let out a sharp breath and looked away disgusted. "But I did not attack Yoanna." Sirius snorted at that but he let her finish. "I'm not denying that I had an idea that something was up especially when I kept running into Lily and she was sleep walking. You've seen what they can do." She said specifically to him. "The blank look, the way they lose control and have almost no memory afterwards." As much as Sirius didn't want to know he did know what the Followers of the Dark Lord could do. "I knew from then that Lily was to be used for a puppet of some sort and so I started going out every night. It was only a matter of time until her purpose was revealed."
"How...noble of you." Sirius said, his sarcasm almost impossible to detect.
"And it did, when we were in the woods she got the Hand from the grave. I didn't and still don't know what the Hand is for but I do know that it's important to whomever it was that wanted it so badly. I didn't know that she threw it away and I certainly didn't know that Yoanna picked it up although it was easy to tell after and if not it was certain when she had that nightmare."
"So you attacked her?" Remus said bitterly.
"No! That night Sirius saw me I was on my way to confront her about it but before I even got there someone ran past me and I chased him and when I tried to hex him he accidentally dropped the Hand. That is how I came to be in possession of it."
"And you started to have the nightmares ever since then." Sirius added from recalling a comment Jacob had made on her ill sleeping patterns. "What a happy ending!" he exclaimed mockingly.
"That is how it was. I've wasted my time explaining to you and you can either believe it or not. It's entirely up to you."
"You must see how I find it such a challenging task to believe you are entirely innocent Rose Amiral. Especially after all the things I've heard about your family."
"I hear many things about you family too, Sirius Black. But do they apply to you? I should very much worry for all your Muggle born friends if they were. And do you really think Dumbledore would let a spy from the Dark Lord carry out his deeds right among his students?"
"Dumbledore is a great wizard, but he cannot be everywhere or know everything at the same time." Sirius replied darkly. "And if it's as you say the culprit is someone else he or she is still seems to have a pretty full run of the school don't you think?"
Rosie considered his words carefully. "You're right."
Sirius feigned shook. "Excuse me! I'm what?"
She glared at him through narrowed eyes. "You're right. Whoever it is he's manipulating students right under Dumbledore's nose."
"And for what reason do you think he would be interested in doing so?"
Remus didn't need Rosie's answer to know this one. "People have always said that Dumbledore is the only one wizard He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named fears and even Brent's parents sent him here for protection. Maybe he's finally deciding that he wants Hogwarts to fall." Peter gulped and licked his lips nervously.
"Oi! Where are you going?" Sirius called after Rosie as she spun on her heel to leave.
"Back to bed. I'm sick and tired of trying to play hero." She replied and disappeared around the corner.
"Funny, I thought she was trying to play the villain." Sirius said and they watched her dot walk away on the map.
"I don't even know what to make of her." Remus sighed and rubbed the bridge of her nose. "Say, why didn't you confront her when we were all in the room?"
Sirius raised an eyebrow. "Can you imagine Lily hearing all of this first hand? I think she might have gone berserk and made the interrogation that much harder. I was still guessing myself at the time."
"Really? I thought you had rock solid proof by the way you were talking."
"It is called bullshitting. It's an art, honest, you should give it a go one-day Moony."
- - -
They walked on in what felt like an awkward silence, the amiable companionship seemed to have lifted on Lily's behalf and she pondered over why she suddenly felt strange towards James. She felt very aware of her surroundings; everything felt heightened by the nervousness that had descended on her all of a sudden. She sneaked a quick look at James from the corner of her eye wondering if he felt that anything was wrong, but he seemed perfectly fine. Damn it! Why did she have to call him Jamie?
"James?" Lily swallowed thickly. He looked down at her with one eyebrow raised. Lily had to resist the urge to reach up and brush some hair away from his eyes-
-Where in the world did that come from?! Lily could feel herself go red and she turned away well aware that he was still waiting for her to continue. "Uh, nothing." Sensing that there was something wrong he pulled her to a stop.
"Is there something wrong?" his brows creased and once more Lily found herself touched by his concern.
With a mental slap she straightened her back and replied as evenly as she could. "No, everything is fine." She started walking again and James followed suit with his hands in his pockets.
If anything he was more convinced now than ever that there was definitely something wrong but he all he could do was wonder because she wouldn't tell him. Wonder. That's all he seemed to do when she was around. Wonder if she happy, wonder if she was sad, wonder if she was annoyed with him, wonder if she merely tolerated him. The list was simply endless. She had never been particularly expressive towards him if it didn't involve insults and lately she hadn't even been doing that. It was disheartening and although he would prefer not to think about it he could not ignore the possibility: maybe it was time to let some things go, after all, as he had been telling himself over and over; now was not the time.
Feeling that he'd put his wondering mind to a rest James shoved his hands deeper in his pockets and only spoke again to say good night once they had reached the common room.
Lily watched him go up the stairs two at a time until he disappeared at the top. Lily Evans, what is wrong with you? She silently asked herself but still she lingered for a while longer wondering a little at the spot where he had stood.
- - -
A/N: Gasp! Don't hurt me! I know that's cruel but I just couldn't resist putting a twist in their relationship. Yes, Lily is starting to feel that queasy-oh-my-god-I'm-attracted-to-him feeling and James is starting to turn away. Part of the reason I put it in was because it seems so rare in L/J fics and the other part is because stuff rarely happens that easily in real life anyway. But I assure you guys before I get hate mail that James is still very much...dare I say it? In LOVE with Lily although he doesn't say those three little words to her for a while yet.
And wasn't that some fat chunk in the middle? Rosie, what are they going to do with her?
