Chapter 40 Attack
Disclaimer: I don't own James or Lily Potter or anything else in the Harry Potter universe.
The next morning Lily and her friends met James, Sirius, and Peter in the Common Room. The three boys looked dead on their feet but James' face broke out in a big smile upon seeing Lily.
"Good morning," he said leaning in to kiss her.
"Morning," she said smiling back.
"Sleep well?" she whispered grinning cheekily.
"You are a cruel woman, Evans, you know that right?" James asked trying, unsuccessfully to suppress a yawn.
Lily just smiled back at him looking him up and down. He looked perfectly fine, not a scratch. She kissed him again before taking his hand.
"Come on, let's get some breakfast," she said cheerily.
As Lily was pouring her orange juice the Great Hall was suddenly filled with the rustling of hundreds of wings as the mail owls arrived. An owl arrived with Marlene's copy of The Daily Prophet. Marlene, who was sitting across from Lily and James again, opened up the paper and let out a gasp.
"What happened?" James asked.
"Another attack?" Sirius asked.
"Oh, Merlin," Katie, who was sitting next to Marlene, said looking at the paper over her shoulder.
"What?!" Lily asked imploringly.
Marlene turned the paper so that Lily, James, Sirius, and Peter could see the headline.
Werewolves Attack Village
Twelve Killed
Dozens More Injured
"Oh, God," Lily said covering her mouth. The image showed the dark mark hanging over a small cottage with its front door torn off the hinges.
"Shit," Sirius exclaimed.
"Bloody hell," James and Peter said almost in unison.
"What happened?" Lily asked.
Marlene began to read:
Last night, no less than a dozen werewolves are believed to have stationed themselves on the outskirt of Little Sherdon to await the rise of the Full Moon. Residents report that there was no indication that anything was amiss. "I was sitting in my study when suddenly I heard howls erupting all over," reports Mrs. Archer a long time resident of Little Sherdon. According to an Auror spokesman the werewolves ransacked the town attacking wizards and Muggles alike. The majority of the fatalities were Muggles but two wizards and one witch were also reported among the dead.
Aurors arrived at the scene about 20 minutes after the attacks began. The Auror spokesman reports that the Aurors were dispatched within moments of being notified that the attacks were taking place.
"People were panicked. It took a while for anyone to report what was going on," the spokesman said.
In addition to the twelve deaths at least two dozen are thought to be injured, though the Auror Department and the Ministry refuse to release information on just how many of the surviving victims were bitten.
"Obviously, we will not be releasing the names of any surviving victims," the Auror spokesman reported. "They have been transported to St. Mungo's for treatment."
The Daily Prophet has also learned that the Ministry for Magic received a letter, from the Death Eaters, minutes after the Aurors were dispatched taking full credit for the attack. A Ministry insider also tells the Daily Prophet that the letter promised more attacks if Minister for Magic Harold Minchum does not step aside immediately and turn control of the Ministry over to He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named.
Cont. on page 2,3, and 5
The Seventh Year Gryffindors were all very quiet. As Lily looked around the Great Hall she saw many other students with the paper talking in hushed whispers. The only table that seemed to not be upset was the Slytherin table. There too, Lily saw people whispering but most of them looked more excited than frightened.
Lily pushed her plate of food away, untouched. She felt sick. Unconsciously she reached out and wrapped her arm around James lying her head on his shoulder. James automatically wrapped his arm around her and started playing with her hair.
"All those people," Katie said looking stunned.
While Marlene had stopped reading out loud she had turned to the next page her eyes flying back and forth across the page.
"It says here that some of the wizards in the area tried to help defend their Muggle neighbors," she said her voice cracking.
"Is it even possible to fight off a werewolf?" Lily asked lifting her head to look at James.
"Yeah, not easy, but possible," James said.
Suddenly, James stood up and Lily almost fell over.
"Sorry," James said as he started to walk down between the tables.
Lily got up and followed him, not sure what he was about to do.
"James?" Lily whispered questioningly.
James took her hand and squeezed it gently. He stopped when he reached the staff table and was standing in front of Professors McGonagall and Dumbledore. They stopped talking and turned to look at James and Lily.
"Yes, Mr. Potter?" Professor Dumbledore asked.
"Sorry to interrupt, sir, but well," James paused and ran his hand through his hair. Professor Dumbledore waited patiently for him to continue.
"It's just that Remus usually takes the paper and well I'm not sure it's the best time for him to be reading that," James gestured towards the copy of the Daily Prophet that was sitting between Dumbledore and McGonagall the Dark Mark on the front page glittering ominously despite being in black and white.
"Ah, yes, I quite agree," Dumbledore said quietly. "But Madame Pomfrey usually collects any mail he receives."
"Oh, good," James said still sounding a bit nervous.
"Remus is lucky to have friends who care about him," Dumbledore said with a small smile.
"We're lucky to have him," James replied and with that he turned and walked back to the Gryffindor table.
Despite Dumbledore's reassurances James was still worried. The fact that Remus had absolutely nothing to do with attacks wouldn't matter. Remus would still feel guilty. That was just how he was. James was also certain that there was about to be an uptake in anti-werewolf sentiment.
James was also furious at what this band of werewolves had done. How could they attack innocent people like that? Didn't they realize that they were just reinforcing people's negative view of werewolves? How could they expect to change their status in society if they acted like people's worst idea of werewolves?
When they reached the table James picked up his school bag and threw it over his shoulder.
"I'm not hungry," he told Lily.
"I've rather lost my appetite myself," she said looking at the breakfast she had yet to touch.
"Do you want to come with me?" he asked.
"Sure," Lily said.
"I'll see you later," Lily said to Marlene and Katie.
They nodded.
"Prongs?" Sirius asked.
James just shook his head.
Lily took James' hand and he led the way when they left the Great Hall. They still had over half an hour before they had to go to Transfiguration. James led Lily out the front door onto the grounds. He didn't stop until they had reached the Beech trees by the lake. He sat down. Lily sat down and curled up next to him.
After about ten minutes Lily finally broke the silence, "James, are you okay?"
"Not really," James replied quietly checking around them for eavesdroppers. "All those people. I've seen what it does Lily and it's not pretty. I hate that all those innocent people are going to have to go through the same thing as Remus every month. I hate that Remus has to. It's horrible to watch…"
"At least he has good friends who are willing to stand by him," Lily said hoping she sounded reassuring.
"I'm worried about what's going to happen to him after we leave here," James said so quietly Lily almost didn't hear him.
"Why?" Lily sounded confused. "He would never join with You-Know-Who."
"What?!" James shouted angrily. "That's not what I mean. He wouldn't…"
James stopped his rant mid-sentence when he saw the frightened look on Lily's face.
"I'm sorry," he said returning his voice to barely above a whisper. "I didn't mean. I'm just upset. I shouldn't have shouted. I know that's not what you meant."
"No, I'm sorry," Lily said. "That came out all wrong."
"I still shouldn't have shouted at you," James said apologetically.
"Well, no but considering that you've had what, maybe two hours sleep on top of the latest news, I think I can forgive you," Lily said gently.
James laughed humorously, "Merlin, I am tired."
"I can only imagine," Lily said kissing him gently on the cheek.
"Lily," James said quietly turning to look at her.
"Yes, James?"
James took a deep breath.
"I, well, I want to tell you something but…"James hesitated.
"James?" Lily asked nervously.
"It's nothing bad," he said reassuringly. "At least, I hope it's not. It's just a little scary."
"James, we're Gryffindors, where dwell the brave of heart," Lily said quoting what James had told her on their very first train ride.
"Yeah, the brave of heart," James mumbled.
What could he possibly want to tell her that wasn't bad but could be a bit scary? She knew he didn't want to break up, unless she had really missed the signs. But she didn't think so. She was completely stumped.
"Just tell me," Lily said gently, though her voice shook slightly.
James breathed in deeply. If he was going to do this now he wasn't going to be a coward about it. He looked her in the eyes.
Lily was surprised by the intensity of the look he gave her.
"Lily," James hesitated and ran his hand through his hair, "I love you."
"Oh," Lily said her eyes widening.
She hadn't seen that coming. He was right it was kind of scary. But it also felt kind of wonderful. It was a relief to be honest. The moment he said the words all the worry and confusion she'd been feeling disappeared and she knew that she loved him too.
"Um," James said nervously his eyes suddenly looking anywhere but at hers.
Oh, right. She should probably say it back.
"James," Lily said softly.
He stopped fidgeting and looked at his hands. Lily ducked her head so that she could see his eyes better a smile growing on her face.
"I love you, too."
"Really?!" he asked sounding hopeful.
Lily laughed. Merlin, he loved her laugh.
"Yes, really," she replied.
A huge grin broke out on James's face and his eyes lit up. Lily smiled back, all the horrors of the wizarding world momentarily forgotten.
James leaned forward capturing Lily in a kiss. Lily responded enthusiastically. James tangled one of his hands in Lily's hair and she wrapped her arms around him. After several minutes they finally broke apart both breathing heavily. James rested his forehead against Lily's.
"I love you," he whispered smiling.
"I love you, too," Lily whispered back.
James kissed her again. This time he leaned back pulling her to the ground with him.
"Lily," James moaned slightly against her lips.
"James," she murmured back.
Lily pulled back. "We need to stop now," she whispered.
"Mmm-hhmm," James said trying to pull her back down.
"James," Lily said attempting make her tone admonishing.
James laughed.
"We have Transfiguration in like ten minutes. We can't be late again. That would be twice in two days," Lily reminded him.
James sighed. Lily was right. McGonagall would probably make it 100 points this time. And they would probably wind up in detention until their grandchildren graduated.
They gathered up their things and started to walk hurriedly back to the castle. James looked over at Lily.
"Your hair is a mess again," he said laughing.
Lily sighed, "Great and I have no time to stop in the loo and fix it. I really should start carrying a mirror with me."
James reached into his bag and after a moment of rummaging pulled out a small mirror.
"Um, why do you have that?" Lily asked giving James a look that clearly said she was questioning his sanity.
"It's a two way mirror, Sirius and I use them to communicate when we're in separate detentions," James explained.
"Why am I even surprised?" Lily asked taking the mirror and looking into it to fix her hair while they walked back up to the castle.
Thanks to James's shortcuts they made it to their seats seconds before Professor McGonagall entered the room.
Today's lesson was a practical one and once McGonagall had given the instructions Sirius leaned over to James.
"What are you smiling about?" he asked in an undertone.
"What?" James asked quietly looking at him quizzically.
"There was a horrible attack last night, you looked horrible when you and Lily left the Great Hall. And now you're grinning like a fool," Sirius explained.
"Oh," James said. His conversation with Lily had pushed the previous night's tragic events to the back of his mind. He had not realized, however, that he was, 'grinning like a fool,' as Sirius put it.
"Not now, later," James said. Though now that Sirius had brought the events of last night up he found them at the forefront of his thoughts again.
As the Gryffindor seventh years left Transfigurations James slipped his arm around Lily's shoulders and pressed a soft kiss to her temple.
"James," Lily said admonishingly, though the affect was somewhat diminished by the small smile playing on her lips.
"So, Prongs," Sirius started, "What…"
"Later," James said cutting him off. "Tonight, later," he added giving Sirius a look that clearly said to drop it.
"What later?" Lily asked curiously.
"Nothing important, love," James said. "Now is just not the time, Padfoot," he added.
As they walked through the hall it seemed like people were talking about nothing but last night's attack.
"They should just round them all up and throw them in Azkaban," someone said.
"They are an abomination. I don't understand why the Ministry doesn't get rid of the lot of them," they heard someone else say.
Lily felt James' whole body tensing. She slid her arm behind his back reassuringly.
She glanced at Sirius and Peter. Both of them looked just as upset as James. Lily wished she could say something reassuring but she couldn't think of anything that wouldn't sound suspicious in front of her friends.
By the time lunch was over James felt that he may have reached his stress threshold. He walked Lily to Ancient Runes and then returned to the Gryffindor Common Room. Here too there were people discussing the attacks. James decided to escape to his dormitory.
When he opened the door he found Sirius and Peter there. Peter was reading his DADA book and Sirius was flipping through a magazine.
"You couldn't take it anymore either?" Sirius asked, not looking up.
"No," James said flopping down on his four poster. "It's awful. I heard at least three separate people suggest that St. Mungo's should just let the people bitten last night die instead of trying to save them."
"I heard someone say that the Department for the Control and Regulation of Magical Creatures should start an extermination program," Peter said sounding sickened.
"Poor Moony," James sighed. "I really hope Madame Pomfrey doesn't let him see the paper. I know he has to find out but that is not the way he should."
"If he doesn't read it in the paper we'll have to tell him," Sirius said, sounding unenthusiastic but resigned. "Though it's probably better if he hears it from us," Sirius added.
"Hey, is it later yet?" Peter asked suddenly.
"Huh?" James and Sirius both asked.
"Padfoot started to ask you something after Transfiguration and you told him you'd tell him later," Peter said.
"Oh, yeah," Sirius said. "What in Merlin's name were you smiling about in Transfiguration? When you left the Great Hall you looked even more miserable than I felt and then you came into class and you were smiling like an idiot."
"Oh, that," James said, smiling in spite of his present concerns.
"There it is again," Sirius said pointing at James.
"I told Lily that I love her," James said his smile broadening. "And she said it back."
"You what?!" Sirius exclaimed.
"Wow," Peter said.
"We went outside after we gave up on breakfast and I don't know, it just felt right," James explained.
"Well, I don't understand it, but congratulations, mate," Sirius said.
"Yeah, congratulations," Peter said.
When Lily and her friends arrived in the Great Hall for dinner that evening James, was already there with Sirius and Peter. The girls made their way over to the Gryffindor table and sat down with the three Marauders.
Lily slid onto the bench next to James.
"How are you doing?" she asked quietly.
"I'm alright," James said.
"Liar," Lily whispered so that no one else could hear. She leaned over and gave him a gentle kiss on the side of his mouth.
James turned his head and captured Lily's mouth with his.
"Oi, Prongs, Evans, some of us are trying to eat," Sirius said louder than James thought was necessary.
"Well, if it bothers you," James said smirking.
Lily wacked him in the chest affectionately.
"Oh, so Marlene and I are going to the library after dinner to study," Lily said. "We have a project to do for Ancient Runes. It's going to take forever so we want to get started."
"Okay," James said. "Are we still patrolling at nine?"
"Of course," Lily said.
When they finished dinner the six Gryffindors left the Great Hall together. When they reached the fourth floor Lily and Marlene turned to head to the library while James, his friends, and Katie planned to return to the Common Room.
"I'll see you at nine," Lily said smiling at James.
"I love you," James said leaning over to give her a quick kiss.
"I love you, too," Lily said as James broke the kiss and turned to follow his friends.
"I've changed my mind. I'm coming to the library with you, too," Katie said abruptly turning to follow Lily and Marlene.
Katie grabbed Lily by the elbow practically dragging her along.
"Bye," Lily called to James and his friends.
When the girls arrived in the Library they found a table in a secluded corner of the stacks.
"What was that all about?" Katie asked in an excited whisper.
"Yeah?" Marlene asked trying to keep her voice low and glancing around for Madame Pince.
"What?" Lily asked.
"When did you and James start saying, 'I love you?'" Katie asked looking at Lily like she must be daft to not know what they were talking about.
"Oh, that," Lily said a huge smile spreading across her face.
"Yes, that," Marlene said sounding exasperated.
"This morning after breakfast," Lily said. "We walked down to the Beech trees by the lake and we were talking about what had happened. And well…" Lily smiled.
"Did you say it first or did he say it?" Katie asked.
"James said it first," Lily replied. "We were talking about what had happened and then he said he had something to tell me."
Katie and Marlene were listening with rapt attention.
"He said it wasn't bad but it was a little scary. So I reminded him that we are Gryffindors, where dwell the brave of heart. And then he said it."
"How did you not tell us this earlier?" Marlene asked.
"When have we had time today?" Lily asked.
"So then what happened?" Katie asked.
"Well, at first I was so surprised all I said was, 'Oh.'"
"He said 'I love you' and you said, 'Oh?'" Marlene exclaimed.
"Shhhhh," Lily hissed glancing around for Madame Pince. "Do you want to get us thrown out?"
"Sorry," Marlene said glancing around too.
"That's mean," Katie said in a whisper.
"As soon as he said it I knew I loved him too. All my doubts just vanished. It just took me a minute to gather my thoughts," Lily said. "I did feel bad for making him wait though. Even if it was just a few seconds. He looked so upset when I didn't respond right away."
"You did say it back eventually?" Marlene said questioningly.
"Obviously, I did," Lily said rolling her eyes.
"And then what?" Katie asked.
"Then there may have been some snogging," Lily said grinning. She could feel her neck flush.
Katie and Marlene grinned at her.
"We really should start working on our project," Lily said.
"Yeah, I suppose," Marlene sighed.
James, Sirius, and Peter returned to the Common Room to wait for Remus.
"What do you think the odds are that Remus makes it back without hearing anything?" Sirius asked James in an undertone.
"Well, it's getting late so hopefully he can at least make it to here without hearing anything," James said looking over at the portrait hole.
"I say we drag him up to the dorm as soon as he gets back. Before he has time to hear anything," James said glancing over at a group of fifth years who were discussing the article.
"He's going to feel guilty," Sirius grumbled. "Even though he had nothing to do with it."
"I know," James groaned. "Like having a furry little problem makes him a bad person."
Just then the portrait hole opened up and Remus entered the Common Room. James jumped up and walked quickly over to Remus.
"Prongs, what?" Remus asked confused as James grabbed him by the arm and started dragging him towards the stairs.
"Not here," James said quietly.
Sirius and Peter joined them, Sirius grabbing Remus's other arm, and helping James rush him up the stairs.
When they reached their dormitory Peter shut the door and James cast a silencing charm on it.
"Okay, what is going on?" Remus asked sounding both deeply curious and exasperated at the same time.
"Sit down," James instructed.
Remus gave his friend a questioning look but did as he was told. He had no idea what was going on but he was strongly reminded of when they had told him that they knew he was a werewolf.
James, Sirius, and Peter exchanged a glance. James nodded.
"There's been another attack," James said. "Another large scale attack."
"And you couldn't tell me this in the Common Room because?" Remus asked confused.
"It happened last night," James said quietly. "Somewhere in the South of England."
"What did they do?" Remus asked looking nervously at his friends.
"It was werewolves," James said quietly.
A look of horror spread across Remus's face.
"They think there were at least a dozen involved in the attack," Sirius said.
"What!" Remus exclaimed.
"It was planned," James continued. "They killed nine muggles, two wizards, and one witch. At least as of when the Prophet came this morning."
"And at least another two dozen were injured," Sirius added.
"But the Ministry isn't releasing how many of the injured were bitten," Peter said.
"Or their names of course," James said.
"A dozen werewolves?" Remus asked looking even paler than he normally did after the full moon.
"At least," Sirius said.
"It's horrible," James said. "But it's nothing to do with you," he added pointedly.
"Yeah, these werewolves are working with the Death Eaters and You-Know-Who," Sirius said. "Apparently, the attack was planned to try and force Minister Minchum to step down. They've threatened that there will be more large scale attacks if he doesn't."
Remus buried his head in his hands.
"We're sorry, Moony," James said. "We thought you should hear it from us."
"Yeah," Sirius said. "You should be warned, too, that people are obviously saying some pretty horrible things about werewolves at the moment."
"Can you blame them?" Remus asked sounding disgusted. "All those people…"
"I don't get it!" James practically shouted. "The way the wizarding community thinks of werewolves is bad enough. Why would they go and do something like this? It doesn't help their cause at all to portray themselves that way. And it hurts everyone else who is a werewolf, too."
James looked sympathetically at his friend. Remus had looked exhausted when he'd walked through the portrait hole. Now he looked exhausted and nauseous.
"You're a good person, Moony. It's just not fair," James said.
"Thanks, James," Remus sighed.
"We nicked you some chocolate from the kitchen," Sirius said holding out a large bar.
"Thanks," Remus said taking the bar and breaking off a piece. "I think I'm going to turn in early."
The other three boys nodded.