A/N: Must admit that this chappie was hard to get out because I'd already written one or two chapters that came over after it and I loved those! So it seemed that when I was writing this one I was filling in a hole that bridged to those later chapters.
TO: Ember Marie, I have reread some of the earlier chapters and was pleasantly surprised when I didn't want to cringe and rip my throat out afterwards! It is weird rereading stuff though because I rarely do it. Anyways, what stuck with me most when I did reread them was that they were generally a lot more light hearted. I think that that definitely had a lot to do with the type of ideas because it gave a lot more room to make up silly ideas. Confession...I loved writing those! But the issues surrounding these chapters are a bit too sensitive and I'm pretty much dancing around everything wondering how to word it all. No worries though things will get a bit more light hearted, I mean, look at the characters! I don't think they'd lose themselves in misery.
TO: Rieux, I'm so glad that you love Sirius so much. He's one of my favourites too because he's so fun to write about!
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Lily was dreaming. It was strange that she knew she was dreaming at all but somewhere along the line she was caught up in an intricate mess of her jumbled thoughts landing her in a hybrid of the past and present.
Like old times she was arguing with James. The constant bickering that had been so unavoidable in the past few years seemed to have grown intensely personal. She found herself glaring at him, which was not the least unusual however, this time she was also looking at him somewhat from the perspective of his girlfriend as well.
He was handsome, her dreaming self thought with a jolt. Maybe not with a devastating movie star quality but attractive enough for her to want to drop whatever it was she had been arguing about. Maybe now that they were actually dating his pleasing features highlighted by a kind of boyish innocence was having too much of an affect on her and she lost the will to disagree with him. Dreaming Lily was nodding, agreeing to something that he was saying although she had no idea what it was. Like a strung up puppet she continued to nod.
In an instant she found that someone had turned up the volume and she could hear him.
James voice was as sweet and persuasive as an actor's was. He was able to create moods and build drama with his voice and he could employ it so subtly that even she fell under his spell.
Spell.
Lily found him charming. A perfect charmer with plenty of wit under his mellifluous tones. She suddenly felt compelled to hold him. To squeeze him like a tube of gel to see if there was any truth under it all after the charm had been squeezed out.
Spell.
...What do you see? Hogwarts...
He said. Lily was still nodding.
Spell.
This wasn't James. Lily knew or at least her sleeping mind knew it although it was having a hard time arguing against her audio and visual senses.
Not James.
The though floated by but it was nowhere as strong as the very image that was in front of her. He held out his hand and she reached out to grasp it but suddenly it wasn't there! She looked up expecting to see James but instead she saw his face contort and unfamiliar face appeared although he was still wearing James' uniform.
Like James this stranger had a head full of jet-black hair, he was older with cold good looking features that twisted into an expression Lily knew James could never achieve. It was a cruel smile, the corners of his mouth lifted whilst the rest of his face remained bland except for his eyes.
Lily shivered not quite daring to look into them. But somehow they looked into her. They seemed to pierce like icicles through her cornea and straight into her brain where she could feel them reading her thoughts and memories like a book...the longer his mental hold dragged the more she felt like he was prodding her thoughts, almost peeling through them layer by layer.
Lily whimpered but she was frozen in the bottomless stare until at last she felt him withdraw from her mind with a sneer. Whatever he had seen in it he was not overly impressed. Just as suddenly as he had appeared she was released and she reeled back and was faced by a more familiar face. Mum?
...You're under a spell...
She said.
.... Wake up!...
Diane dissolved away and a larger than life form of Petunia was there.
...You filthy little witch!
Lily jolted awake confused by the remnants of her conflicting dream. Her heart was hammering away letting her know that she was still alive. She shuddered and sat up wrapping her arms around her knees. Legilimency. Lily didn't need to be a super clever witch to work that one out. Someone had taken advantage of her weakened state to invade her mind. Still shaking Lily explored her head with her hands, half expecting there to be holes where that man's eyes had driven a hole that went straight through her. Although she felt no such thing she felt drained and it was a full minute later before it occurred to her to look at the new surroundings she had woken up to.
It was dark. She was sitting on worn rough boards. All around her looming structures towered around covered in dusty white sheets. The assortment of vague furniture shaped ghosts were unnerving and Lily automatically scooted away from the centre of the room where she had been dumped until her back was pressed against a cold concrete wall. The room was not overly large but it felt spacious enough for her to feel unsafe.
In the chilled air she looked for as much detail as she could in the dimness until she spotted two doors on the far wall. With barely a glimmer of hope she stood up and headed for them.
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James rubbed his eyes. The night before had been a long night. Waiting was not something he was particularly good at. Feeling disgruntled he headed to the main hall where he hoped he would receive good news. A high pitched wail greeted him at the bottom of the stairs.
"Jaaaaaames!"
James very much wanted to jam his fingers into his ears but before he could react Cerise was in his face.
"Jaaaames! He's going To AtTack HogWARTS!" She shrieked at roughly the same decibel as she had squealed his name. Fearing for his hearing James took a step back.
"Calm down, Cerise." He said with more patience than he felt. "Who is attacking Hogwarts?"
Cerise drew closer her eyes shifted from side to side before they landed on him. "You-Know-Who." She said as if it had already occurred.
James was off in an instant. He sprinted out heading directly for the Hall where most of the gossip or news was ever exchanged in the school. He leapt down the stairs and took several short cuts and in less than two minutes he managed to travel the distance that usually took at least six minutes walking at a brisk pace.
"Moony!" he plonked himself at a bench noticing the hushed atmosphere as he did. "Spill, what have I missed?" Somehow in the space of the few hours that he had been asleep news of an attack had launched and already nearly every last student knew about it except him.
"You see the teachers?"
James swiveled in his seat to look at the front of the hall where the teachers usually sat during meal times but today not a single one was to be seen. "No."
"That proves that there's some truth in the rumors. I bet their all having a meeting. Probably planning how they can protect Hogwarts if need be. Don't bother with that." He said to James when he saw him pick up a copy of the Daily Prophet. "It won't tell us something as important as that." He said, his sarcasm as clear as day.
"Anyone know when?"
Remus shook his head.
"Where did all this suddenly spring from?"
Remus moved closer not wanting anyone to overhear. "Just a little over an hour ago a man burst into the hall and he went straight to Dumbledore. A few first years overhead him say that Voldemort plans to bring Dumbledore and Hogwarts down once and for all."
"He's Dumbledore's spy?"
"I think so, I don't think he's a Death Eater though, just someone posted out to keep an eye out. What are you doing?" Remus asked because James stood up.
James was surprised. "To eavesdrop of course!"
"Sit down." Remus pulled his friend back down shaking his head with a sigh. "It's all seen too."
"Oh?" James raised his eyebrows.
"Let's just say we going to owe a certain rat. His ears a very useful, he's small too and would go unnoticed."
"Oh, I see." James said knowingly. He wondered how he'd even doubted that Remus would prefer to sit and not know anything in the first place, Moony was a Marauder after all; eavesdropping was like a second nature to them.
Now they had to wait, wait until they had finished talking and wait until it was safe for Peter to return. "Has there been any news of Lily?"
Remus shook his head. "Sorry mate."
James stirred his tea in silence pondering over rumors of the attack and Lily. Everything seemed so...unreal. He'd been at Hogwarts for so long that everyday he woke up expecting it to be there the next day and the next, and the day after that. Now that the possibility that someone might come and deliberately destroy it...it...it was incomprehensible. He was outraged. His grip on his mug tightened.
"Look, Wormtail's back."
James looked up eagerly as Peter came running to the table slightly out of breath. "Hi guys!" he grinned proudly, his cheeks flushed from excitement. He could see the other two were desperate to know what he had heard.
"Well?" Remus prompted.
"It true." Peter said knowingly as if it were he himself who had brought the news to Dumbledore. Remus and James exchanged worried looks. "Well, at least that guy, what was his name? Wicks. That's it. Wicks said that that's what he heard from some Death Eaters. He's a very brave man. He almost got caught too! But luckily he escaped but he said some other girl got caught. He thought she was also working for Dumbledore but Dumbledore denies it."
"What so he was spying on some Death Eaters and they let it slip?" Remus rubbed his chin thoughtfully.
"Yep."
"And there was a second person spying?"
"Yep."
"'A right bonnie lass she was, I have a soft spot for fiery red heads me self.'" Peter imitated Wicks faithfully with a heavy accent. James choked on his tea and Remus frowned.
"And she's not a spy for Dumbledore?" Remus asked with dread while James fought his spluttering.
"Nope, Wicks thinks she's too young looking."
"..." Silence hovered over their heads even when James had recovered. Only Peter was unaware of what had suddenly killed the conversation. He sat uncomfortably looking from James to Remus and then back again. Remus stared at the table thoughtfully whilst James sat sullenly, his forehead creased with worry.
"It could be a very big coincidence." Remus said after the silence stretched thickly for several minutes. James opened his mouth but before any words came out Remus continued. "Lot of girls in London have red hair."
Peter sat, completely and utterly confused. He didn't want to say anything just in case the other guys thought he was dumb or anything.
Like Peter, James didn't say anything neither. Big coincidence or not, the fact that Lily was missing in London and some spy had reported seeing a girl with red hair being abducted by Death Eaters...that was more than enough to get him up and moving.
However he remained seated, already he weaving an intricate plan of escape from Hogwarts to London. Be it for the sake of his peace of mind, to find Lily or for the sake of the poor abducted girl even if it weren't her, James decided that he owed to himself and Lily to get off his ass and do something about it.
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A/N: Dramatic drum roll!!!! Yeah, this chapter was a very big 'prepare for the big thing' thing. Keep reading people! xXx
