A/N: Possibly the last chapter before I go! It's an exciting one...well at least I thought so!

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James awoke from an uneasy sleep. It was still early but today there was a Quidditch match between Gryffindors and Ravenclaws. Try as he might he could not fight off the sinking feeling and he kept expecting to see a Griever leak out from the shadows but the morning light was bright and there was not a shadow to be found in their room be it natural or unnatural.

Remus was already up and gone. Peter lay lost in a mound of blankets mumbling in his sleep. Sirius hadn't bothered to draw his bed curtains and he lay stretched out on his back with an arm stretched over his face snoring softly. James quietly got changed into his Quidditch robes and left his room.

He passed Filch on his way to the main hall and was held up for ages while the older man shouted at him heatedly for leaving all the cleaning tools strewn all over the hall. It had been a good few days ago but still he shouted at him as if it were yesterday. James did not say a word and patiently waited until the old man ran out of air before excusing himself.

Remus was already at the table with a book in one hand and a mug of steaming tea in the other.

"Morning." James sat down and Remus looked up from his book.

"No sleep?" he queried upon seeing his friend's tired face.

"Not much." James poured himself a cup of black coffee and sipped it. All the while he kept looking over his mug to the Ravenclaw table searching for hints of the Griever. The Ravenclaws chatted and ate happily, blissfully unaware that some things less pleasant lurked among them.

"It's been five days." Remus said mildly after seeing him do this. "It's not healthy. Grievers are always among us; there's nothing that we can do about them." Since the spell had been cast Remus had dutifully read up on any material he could find on the creatures but all of it said the same thing. There were creatures that foretold the bad.

Taking a larger mouthful of the black liquid James relentlessly searched among the increasingly busy hall with his eyes. "The only difference is that I can see them." He stiffened when he spotted yet another Griever prowling among the tables. It's fluid limbs swung with its movement as it glided past them. Like the others it had no discernible features yet there was something about it that was suggestive of something half man and half beast. It seemed to turn its head towards each of the students, hesitating every now and again as if coming to a person of interest.

James had seen them around the castle and had noticed that they seemed to prefer to go about singularly; at most he had seen two side by side, silently following students. The intensity of the emotion they caused was always increased ten-fold for every Griever that paired up with another. At just two, James felt like he might collapse from the titanic pressure of grief that they embodied.

"Maybe nothing will happen."

"It will." James downed the rest of his coffee.

"Eat something. You barely eat any more." James didn't say anything to Remus' comment. "I still think that maybe Padfoot and I should-"

"No!" James said a little more sharply than he had intended. "I'm sorry. I don't think it's a good idea." Sirius and Remus had offered that they both cast the spell on themselves so that they too would see the Grievers but James had been adamant and had threatened to end their friendship if they tried. One suffering was much better than three he reasoned with them. Already his paranoia for others had risen to alarming proportions. He lacked sleep, couldn't eat properly and with academic demand as well as physical labor in the evenings James was a wreck.

He stared at the table finding it a relief to look at something that was so completely normal and mundane. A plate of peanut butter on toast was pushed into view and he looked up to find Lily smiling at him. He hadn't even noticed her sit down beside him.

"Hey." He greeted and pushed the toast back towards her.

"Hey!" She returned warmly and returned the plate back in front of him. He smiled at her but Lily could see that his smile did not reach his eyes. "Have a little." She coaxed. James shook his head and poured some more black coffee. "Can I have some?"

"You shouldn't have too much though, it's not very good for you." He was about to pour her some but she covered her mug with a hand.

"I want your one." A little puzzled he handed his steaming mug to her. Lily tipped some into her mug and then added a lot of milk to James' coffee finishing with a spoonful of sugar. "It'll be less harsh on your stomach." She explained and handed it back to him. It seemed that was her aim in the first place because he cup of black coffee remained untouched for the rest of breakfast.

James accepted the coffee and took a sip, It was much nicer tasting but it lacked the punch that he felt he needed. Lily went on to cut up the toast with a knife until there were six small pieces on the plate.

"Have a small corner." She offered. "It's tiny, really!" James picked up a corner and ate it slowly. Lily took another corner and nibbled it all the while making sure James was eating.

Remus watched over his book, fascinated by how Lily dealt with James' stubbornness. Whenever he or Sirius tried to get him to eat they would be greeted by nothing but a stony silence.

"You can't leave four pieces on the plate. I don't like the number four." She declared after he had finished his piece.

"Why not?"

"Me and four just don't go. To fix that I think you need to have one more." A shadow of a smile passed his face and he had another piece. In the same manner he allowed her to coax him into finishing the piece of toast and two hash browns. When he'd finished he did feel better and he was thankful for it.

Lily was also beaming. James was worrying her, in the past week he had lost his appetite and he seemed distant and even twitchy. When asked he would always say that he was fine but deep down she knew he wasn't. Not wanting to push the matter she had accepted his answer but all the while she grew more worried.

It was soon time for the teams to go out to the fields. Lily followed James out her hand tightly in his. There was something very wrong today, she could tell. If anything James was tenser than usual and he kept scanning the people around him.

"I'll get a good seat." She told him.

"Okay." He replied still looking about.

"Good Luck, Jamie." She reached up and kissed him on the cheek. For a second he looked confused as to why she was there but he quickly recovered and swept her into a warm hug.

"I'll see you later." He promised and released her.

Lily watched him walk away until he disappeared to meet the rest of the team in the changing room. Suddenly feeling anxious she made her way up the stairs to find herself a seat where she had the full view of the pitch.

James sat down on a bench. The other team players had arrived and Sirius was pacing with excitement. They were a good team and so far almost unbeatable. With a shout from Madam Hooch they were on the move.

"We're good they're bad." Thomas the goalkeeper said.

"That cup is going to be ours!" Sirius fisted the air. Everyone agreed and they marched out of the changing rooms with James coming out last.

Once out on the field the students thundered. Without fail, every student in Hogwarts always came out to watch the game. The Gryffindors roared with their banners and the Ravenclaws screamed. As soon as the sharp whistle went James kicked off, soaring upwards.

Up high the air was thinner and it was much colder but James didn't feel any of it. He could feel the familiar excitement of a game come flooding back and knew that he was mentally switching off the autopilot that he had been living on during the past five days.

The Quaffle was up and James tore after it. Mindy from the Ravenclaws also flew towards it but she was not match for James' determination. Within seconds he had it in his hand and he threw it with deadly accuracy to Sirius who casually tossed it through one of the hoops. The whistle was blown and the Quaffle was tossed up again.

The Gryffindor team played with a fervor almost unrivaled and on this high tide they rode out the game. All they needed now was the Snitch, which fell onto the responsibility of their Seeker Pennywise.

James was about the score again when Ben, a Ravenclaw chaser zoomed in on him trying to tackle the Quaffle off. Easily fending off Ben he was about to pass it on to another team member when he saw something that made him freeze. Without meaning to he dropped the Quaffle. The crowd gasped at such a careless slip but James couldn't hear anything. Ben hovered in front of him confused that such a novice mistake could be made by such an experienced player, but James wasn't looking at Ben, he was looking behind him where twisted onto the broom...was a Griever.

Although there was nothing to mark the Griever James knew that this was the one he had followed to the Ravenclaw Common Room. He wanted to yell out to Ben, tell him to get back to the ground at least something! His rational mind tried to remind him that the Grievers didn't cause the bad things to happen but it foretold it.

James blinked and Ben wasn't there. He'd flown away with the Griever still on the back of his broom, his interest following the Quaffle. James searched each of the other flying brooms with paranoia but they all remained thankfully empty.

"PRONGS!" James half turned to Sirius' cry but the next thing he knew a bludger slammed into his ribs and knocked him backwards. The huge expanse of sky flashed by and he saw the bleachers filled with upside down people. With a shocking realization James found himself falling off his broom.

Lily was on her feet. Her hands pressed to her mouth. She wanted to close her eyes to convince herself that it wasn't happening but they refused to shut, leaving her to watch in horror. At the very last second she saw him grab the handle of his broom. He hung there, suspended hundreds of feet in the air with nothing to catch him. The crowd was screaming. Lily bit hard into her lip willing that he would pull himself up.

With immense effort James heaved himself back up onto his broom. It hurt even to breathe and he knew that the bludger had cracked at least two of his ribs. Once righted he found that he could hear again and the crowd was cheering for his recovery. Sirius was flying at his side.

"You all right mate?"

James nodded, wheezing a little while bent over. A second roar among the spectators erupted because Pennywise had caught the Snitch. James didn't cheer because he suddenly noticed that Ben seemed to be having problems with his broom. It kicked backwards and then forwards like a wild horse trying throw off a tamer. Ben remained calm believing to be just another glitch in the old broom but soon, as the kicking grew more violent he began to get scared. James was on the move immediately ignoring his hurting ribs. He flew in from the right and once he was close enough he held out his hand.

"You've got to get onto my broom!" he yelled but was forced to fly away as the wild broom charged at him. The sharp movement was felt sorely by his side but he reached out again. Ben tried to reach out too but the broom would have none of it. Nobody else had noticed Ben's plight until the broom gave one last dying kick before plummeting down to the ground taking Ben with it. James speeded downwards but his broom wasn't fast enough to catch up with the broom that was determined to hit the ground with all its might.

With a sickening crunch Ben hit the ground. His broom broke in half and it lay with him and his broken bones. James barely managed to stop himself from suffering the same fate by pulling up sharply at the very last second. Landing roughly on the ground he hobbled over to the Ben who lay like a broken mannequin. The Griever hovered over his unconscious body almost molding itself around him and did not let go until James got there and waved it away.

Madam Hooch and a handful of Professors came running and Ben was quickly carried off to the infirmary. Lily tried to push herself out from the crowd of students that had formed to watch but quickly found her attempts to be futile.

"James!" she called but he was too far too hear her and soon she couldn't see him any more because Madam Hooch had returned to take him for medical treatment. Lily changed direction and began pushing back out again until she was clear. With her heart thumping wildly she ran all the way to the infirmary but McGonagall was there.

"James!" Lily gasped. "I need to see James!"

McGonagall held a hand up. "He's fine. Madam Pomfrey will see to him. You can return and wait in the Common Room." Lily protested to no avail before turning away. Around the corner she peeked out and waited until the majority of the Professors had left. When sure that there was only Madam Pomfrey left Lily made for the doors.

She had barely passed through the first set of doors before the nurse appeared in front of her with her hands on her hips. "Sorry, visiting hours are over."

"But I need to see-"

"Mr. Potter is fine. He'll be returning later."

Lily opened her mouth and then closed it, deciding to switch tactics. "I'm glad that you're okay now." She said genuinely although she harbored ulterior thoughts of sugar talking her way in.

Madam Pomfrey's hard expression softened. "Yes thank you. I'm glad to be back."

"What happened? Did someone hex you?"

"Good heavens no! It was just an accident. The poor girl was having a nightmare and didn't know what she was doing." Madam Pomfrey shook her head sadly but she grew stern again. She was more aware of the wiles of a student than Lily had suspected. "And you are still not going in!" With that she closed the door and Lily heard the definite sound of a lock falling into place.

Disappointed and worried Lily was left with no choice but to return to the Common Room to wait for James to be released from care.


James trudged back to the tower stretching his tired muscles as he went. Madam Pomfrey had fixed his ribs and he felt almost as good as new except for a bruise or two. Still, his brain felt tired and he did not feel up to challenging waifs that no one could see. Tonight, he decided he would sleep fitfully for a change. He would not let anything stop him from doing so. With effort he climbed the stairs that led to the tower and gave the password to the Fat Lady.

When the portait swung open James was pleasantly surprised to found Lily asleep on a sofa in the Common Room. She must have been waiting up for him to return but had fallen asleep. The candles were burning at a low intensity and the embers in the fireplace cast a soft and inviting light over the whole room. Winter moths could be seen fluttering against windows enticed by the promise of warmth in the glowing room. All the doors were closed completing the stillness of the room.

James took a few steps closer to Lily's sleeping form and felt his blood run cold. Windows and doors could keep moths and people out but nothing could keep Grievers out. There were seven in the room. All of them hovered over Lily Evans.

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A/N: how did you like that one??? I bet James could have stopped Ben falling if he had a Firebolt! But alas, they hadn't been made then.

I might start writing the next chapter but whether I get to post it before I leave is still to be seen. If not I'll see you guys soon or I'll post while I'm away! xXx