Chapter 33

Ari's POV

"So you're saying that a wizard could make a polyjuice potion using the hair of the deceased?"

Brittney nods, clearly not sure where I'm going with the question. "Yes, I suppose so… Why?"

I tap my chin, muttering my thoughts aloud as I pace around the room. "So if that's the case, then dad could really be dead, and someone could be using his hair in a polyjuice potion… It definitely plausible seeing as whomever the Dark Lord is did it before with Caledon. Who then, if not dad, is the Dark Lord?"

Landen grabs my arm and forces me to sit down. "Ari, this is crazy. You're over thinking this…"

I shake my head as I pull my arm away from him. "Am I, Lan?"

Brittney scoffs loudly. "Yes! You want for your dad to be innocent so badly that you're cooking up this crazy scheme! It's just like when he was hurting you! You chose to forgive him rather than just leave!"

"If the scheme is so crazy, how do you explain the fact that the Inferius of my dad attacked me and James over winter holiday last year? If he's still alive, how is that possible? Explain that to me, Bri, please!"

She shrugs her shoulders as she continues to give me a concerned look. "Ari, I'm not sure how to explain it, but you really should drop it…" She sees the angry look on my face and immediately adds, "Just for a day! I mean, constantly stressing about this isn't good for your health…"

I let out a sigh as I rub my face with both hands. "And what do you recommend I do? I can't just make myself stop thinking about it. It's not like there is some sort of switch I can flip or anything…"

She shrugs again. "You're going to have to think of something. Besides, maybe taking a step back will be the key to figuring this out…"

I nod as I get up from the couch. "I guess… I think of something during the rest of my classes today. Lan, we should get going to our second classes. I'll see you in detention tonight…"

He waves to me with a grin on his face as I exit the Head's common room. I take a deep breath before leaving the Gryffindor common room and heading to my potions class.

(Break)

I laugh as I walk down the corridor with Landen to our detention with Professor Patil. "Yes! I'm telling you, it was the funniest thing I've ever seen! Monroe set her hair on fire in DADA class! Who does that?!"

"I wish I could have seen that… By the way, did you figure out what you're going to do to distract yourself?"

I shrug my shoulders, a small smirk playing on my lips. "Nothing yet… Although, watching Monroe set her hair on fire was pretty distracting… Maybe I'll do that again…"

He shakes his head with a laugh. "Your disdain for her is amazing… Seriously though, what are you going to do?"

"I happen to have something in mind…"

I roll my eyes as I glance over at him and see him smirking. "Does this distraction involve James?"

I shrug again. "That's on a need to know basis, and all you need to know is that it will be quite the distraction, okay?"

He holds his hands up defensively and flashes me a knowing grin. "Okay, okay…"

We walk into Professor Patil's classroom and immediately take a seat at our usual table. Professor Patil looks up from her desk and sighs. "You two will be writing lines this evening. 200 lines each of 'I will not disrupt class' ought to help the message sink in…"

I look over at Landen and grimace before pulling out some parchment and a quill and getting started on my lines. I messily scrawl my lines onto the parchment in an attempt to finish as fast as possible; James and I have some things to discuss after this…

(Break)

Landen and I set the finished lines on Professor Patil's desk and, after getting her nod of approval and promising her not to disrupt her class again (yeah right!), we leave the classroom to head back to the common room. When we get back into the Gryffindor common room, Landen heads up to his room and I head into the Head's common room. Ignoring Eli and Brittney, I walk into James' room only to find that it's empty. I walk back out into the common room and sigh. "Where is James?"

Brittney and Eli both shrug their shoulders before Brittney answers. "He said something about following Andromeda…"

"Alone?!" I throw my books into my room and groan. "I could barely walk back from The Room without getting attacked… Why did you let him go alone?!"

Eli laughs and says, "Relax! He said he was going to go find Al first! He's not alone! Besides, he's a big boy, he can take care of himself."

I motion toward the portrait. "Are you coming with me or not?"

Freddie walks out of my room and smirks at me. "Where?"

I point at him then scratch my head. "Why were you...? Never mind… I'm going to go look for James."

He pulls a piece of parchment out of his pocket and grins. "I'll come with. You've managed to go exploring with everybody else except me and I don't appreciate it!"

I roll my eyes and laugh before gesturing him forward. "Yes, because it goes so well for everyone I go exploring with… But, since you're that adamant about it, come on!"

His grin widens as he runs forward and exits the common room with me. As we leave the Gryffindor common room I glance over at the parchment in his hand. "What's that?"

He looks down at his hand and smirks. "Its how we're going to find James." He taps the parchment with his wand and says, "I solemnly swear that I am up to no good."

He unfolds the parchment and I watch crimson ink spread across it, a slow smile spreading on my face as I watch footprints with nametags walk around what looks to be a map. "Fred, this is brilliant. Where did you get it?"

He responds as he studies the map intently. "I nicked it from James, who nicked it from his dad. Do you see his name on here?"

I scan the map for a moment then shake my head. "No, I don't… Wait, I see Al! Eli said that James would be with Al!"

Freddie taps his chin and frowns. "Where is he running off to?"

I shrug my shoulders and nudge him. "There's only one way to find out… He's pretty far across the grounds, so we better hurry."

Freddie nods then pulls me down the corridor behind him as we run to try and catch up with Al. After running for about ten minutes, Freddie pulls me toward a statue and mutters something to it. The statue moves to the side, revealing a secret passage. Freddie goes in first and I follow close behind him.

A few minutes after we enter the passage, we get to the exit and go out into the corridor, running directly into Al and knocking him to the ground. I help Al up and gasp when I see him clearly. He has the start of a black eye and multiple cuts on his face. "Al, what happened to you?"

He shakes his head and grabs my shoulder to balance with one hand while he grips his side with the other and lifts up his left leg so that he's standing on just his right leg. "We got jumped in the corridor."

Freddie crosses his arms. "Why didn't you use your wands?"

"They disarmed us right away… I was on my way to the hospital wing to go get Madam Pomfrey now."

I grab his face, immediately regretting the decision when he winces at the contact, and slowly say, "Where is James?"

He releases his side with a grimace and points down the corridor in the direction that he was running from. "He's that way."

"You left him alone?!" I release his face and pass him over to Freddie. "You two go get Madam Pomfrey. I'm going to go find James."

Freddie nods while Al wraps an arm around Freddie's neck. "We'll be back soon."

I nod then turn and run down the corridor, pulling out my wand and using it to light my path ahead as I whisper, "James? Jamie, where are you?" I continue down the corridor, shining my light down each corridor I pass along the way.

I quickly shine my light down the fourth side corridor then run past it before abruptly coming to a stop. I tilt my head to the side and step backwards until I'm next to the corridor again. I point my wand ahead of me and approach the mass lying on the ground. "Jamie?"

The mass groans as it tries to roll over. I inch closer and hold my wand out so I can identify the mass, vulgarities escaping my lips when I realize its James. I crouch down next to him and purse my lips as I look at his mangled body. His lip is split and bloody and his open mouth reveals a missing tooth. One of his eyes is a deep purple and is swollen shut while the other eye is barely opened. One of his cheeks is also purple and swollen and he has a large gash on his neck. I can also see a small trickle of blood seeping from a cut on his hairline. I sit down flat on the floor next to him, with my legs extended out in front of me, and gingerly lift up his head then set it on my outstretched legs. I use my wand to cut off a chunk of my shirt and press the cloth to the cut on his head with a sigh. "You look like shit, Jamie…"

He flashes me a small smile and, with his raspy voice barely audible, says, "I prefer 'rugged'…"

"I prefer shit…" I pause for a moment, taking in what I assume is a smug look on his face, and groan. "Sod off… I know what I said and you know what I meant… Jamie, who did this to you and Al?" He tries to sit up but I apply more pressure to the cut on his head and place a hand on his chest. "Sit still, stupid. You're going to make your injuries worse if you try to move around."

He grunts as he lowers back down. "You just sounded American again…" He attempts to look around before asking, "Where's Al?"

I look back in the direction I came from and rub his chest. "He's with Freddie. They went to go get Madam Pomfrey." I hear rapid footsteps coming toward us so I add, "They should be here any minute. I'm going to go show them where you are."

I attempt to stand up but he grabs my shirt and slowly shakes his head. "You could make my injuries worse by trying to move around, you know…"

"You're lucky this cut on your head hasn't clotted yet…" I can hear Freddie yelling for us, so I call out, "Over here, Fred!"

He and Madam Pomfrey come running around the corner into the corridor we are in and sprint over once they see us. Madam Pomfrey gasps when she sees James and whips out her wand. "I can't have him move at all while I bring him back to the hospital wing. Please move, Miss Brighton." She waves her wand and James' body immediately becomes stiff as a board. She levitates him and begins walking away from us, calling out over her shoulder, "Mister Weasley, Miss Brighton, please go back to your rooms. You can visit them in the morning."

I scoff at her as I run to keep up with her brisk movement. "What about his family?"

"I've already notified them! Now go back to your room Miss Brighton!"

Freddie grabs my shoulder and whispers, "We'll go visit them in the morning. Don't worry, mate. They'll be alright. Besides, we have the cloak so we can visit them after tonight whenever we want."

I nod my understanding and walk back to Gryffindor tower with Freddie in silence. Once back, Freddie immediately goes to get Landen, then we all go into the Head's dorm room. After explaining what happened to Al and James to everyone, I tell Freddie and Landen they are welcome to sleep in our common room before excusing myself. I walk into my room and flop down on my bed with a huff. I'll go visit James tomorrow and everything will be perfect because Madam Pomfrey knows what she's doing. "They're going to be alright… They're going to be alright…"

I close my eyes and fall asleep, this mantra the only thing that flows through my brain the entire night.

You all have been so patient while I wrote this chapter! I'm sorry it took so long to get out! I was feeling rather inspired with my other FF and facing a but of a writers block with this one...

I hope you all enjoyed the chapter! I would love to hear what you thought about it! :)

Thanks!

-Tx :)