Hey, guys. So sorry about this being late again. The last couple of months suddenly got really hectic and the last couple days was the first time I felt like I could sit down and finish this. I'll try to be better about getting the next chapter out at a semi-reasonable time, but no promises. Thanks for sticking with me this far, and please review!

The usual disclaimer still applies.

Chapter 15

"You're lying."

"I'm not! I'm telling you," Sirius explained through a laugh, "It was very willing to go, too. We didn't get it past the front door before Mr. Potter stopped us, though."

I shook my head, grinning. "So let me get this straight: You and Potter saw a cow in the field and decided, 'Hey, let's sneak it in the house!' and then tried to bring it in through the front door? I thought you two were clever."

"We were twelve!" he defended as he pulled back a tapestry, revealing another corridor. "And that's nothing compared to the time we crushed up a Language Lozenge and put it in Mrs. Potter's tea. She yelled at us in Russian for an hour. I wasn't sure whether to laugh or flee for my life."

I laughed with him, pausing in front of the Fat Lady's portrait. "Venomous Tentacula," I said. The portrait swung open and I climbed through, Sirius close behind.

I'd hardly taken two steps into the common room proper before I was tackled by a force that would have bowled me over if Sirius hadn't steadied me.

"Alyssa, oh my Merlin, are you all right? We were so worried and terrified and– don't you ever do that again, do you hear me?!"

The words came so fast that I could hardly keep up, and when Brooke finally paused to take a breath, I patted her back. "I'm all right, I promise," I assured in a strangled voice. "Erm, Brooke, could you…?"

Another voice laughed. "Brooke, I don't think she can breathe."

She gasped and released me immediately. "Sorry!" She took a step back, now standing next to Remus, who smiled warmly.

"Glad to have you back, Alyssa," he said. Were he and Brooke standing a bit closer than usual? "Feeling all right?"

I shrugged. "As good as I can feel, I guess." I peered around them and saw Peter, Alice, Marlene, and Potter. "Have you guys seen Lily?"

Brooke suddenly looked nervous. "She's upstairs. We heard you come in and wanted to…she was… um…" What she didn't say echoed loudly in my ears. Lily didn't care to see me. Could she really still be angry with me over what I had said about Remus? Against the others' judgment, I walked up the stairs anyway.

I nudged the door to our room open and lingered in the doorway. "Lily?" She was on her bed, two textbooks open in front of her. She didn't look up, but stared resolutely at the page. Tears welled in my eyes. The last time I had seen her, I had been sure she was about to die. I had been running toward her in the middle of a battle, determined to save her. Now here we were in the same room, and she refused to look at me. My temper rose.

"What the hell, Evans?" My voice hadn't risen, but my anger was clear. "Are you really still mad about what I said about Remus?"

Lily still did not look up. "Yes. Yes, I believe I am." Her voice was completely emotionless. I walked over to her bed and threw her books on the floor. "Alyssa!" Lily squealed in shock, finally meeting my eyes with an ire to match my own.

"Look at me!" I screamed. "Damn it, I'm sorry! I didn't mean what I said!"

I saw the familiar fire flare up in Lily's green eyes. Her lips pursed the way they did when she was about to lash out. "But you still said it! You called him a monster! You turned on him, your friend, in a matter of minutes after you knew the truth! Didn't it occur to you that this is being taken care of? Didn't occur to you that maybe he's smart enough to take precautions? He hasn't hurt anyone!"

"I don't care!" I screamed so loudly my throat hurt. "Do you know how much I don't care about that right now?" Hot tears streamed down my face. "I have no idea how the hell you're still angry about this! Let it go, Lily! What the hell is wrong with you?"

I saw surprise in her face, but her anger stayed. "What? Does this all just go away because you're tired of dealing with it? I thought you would handle this so much better than you did, but you acted like some pureblood elitist!" She took a deep breath, seeming to calm some. "Listen, I'm glad you're okay, but that doesn't-"

"-change anything," I finished, whispering past the lump in my throat. "Got it." I turned and got all the way to the door before I stopped and faced her again.

"I thought you were going to die," I choked out. "I thought I was going to lose you, and I did everything I could to try to-" Tears clogged my throat. Lily's eyes softened. "Lily, I need you-" I let out a sob. "I need you to forgive me." Lily swallowed hard.

I took a step toward her. "Lily, you're my best friend. I really need you right now." Lily's chin trembled and a tear ran down her cheek. I held out my arms. "Please?"

She made a strangled sort of noise and flew into my arms. Her tears dampened my shirt, and I was doing the same to hers, but it didn't really matter right then.

"I'm still pissed at you," she sobbed. "But I'll listen to whatever you have to say."

We sat on her bed and talked for a long time. I carefully explained how I figured out Remus's secret and my initial fears of the consequences, my misconceptions, and everything leading up to our huge blowout. By the end of it, we were both in a much calmer state.

"I never intended to tell anyone," I muttered after a few moments of silence. "At least not any students. Maybe I would have talked to McGonagall or Dumbledore eventually, but I panicked and said the first thing on my mind when you asked about the book and my notes."

Lily fidgeted and looked sheepishly at her feet. "I know. I overreacted a bit, and I'm sorry about that. It's just…" She sighed and drew her knees closer to her chest. "When you said that, you looked exactly like the people who call me a Mudblood. Then I wondered if that's what you'd been thinking this whole time."

"I could never think that about you or anyone, Lils," I whispered.

She nodded, then flopped back into her pillows. I leaned back so that I was next to her. For the first time in what felt like ages, I felt at peace.

I had nearly drifted off when I said, without thinking, "I'm going to miss this."

I heard the frown in Lily's voice. "What? What does that mean?"

My eyes opened and saw my best friend sitting up, worry etched into every line of her face. "Did that spell do permanent damage?" she fretted. "You're not… you're not dying, are you? Oh, Merlin, Lyssie, please tell me–"

"I'm not dying, Lily," I said over her.

"Then what is it?"

I sat up too and locked my arms around my knees. "My parents are taking me out of school."

The silence was long and drawn out. "What?" she breathed. "They… they can't do that, can they?"

"Apparently, they can," I answered dully. "They're coming for me on Saturday."

"You almost died, and they want to take you away from the safest place on earth? That's– that's ludicrous!"

I scoffed. "Try telling my dad that. According to him the safest place on earth just isn't safe enough."

Lily nearly burst into tears again. "I don't want you to leave!" she cried hysterically.

"Me either."

"Who's leaving?" came a voice from the doorway.

I turned, spotting Marlene and Alice lingering in the doorway, Brooke standing on her tiptoes behind them. Each wore a concerned expression.

I sighed. "I am."

Three gasps chorused in response, asking why and when and stating how I just couldn't leave Hogwarts. I shrugged this time, tired of having to explain. Lily took over the details, but I excused myself to the bathroom to get ready for bed.

When I came back, each of my roommates was had something to say.

"You can come stay at my place anytime during the holidays, you hear?" said Marlene, grasping me in what had to have been one of the only hugs I'd ever received from her.

Alice nodded. "And I bet that you'll be back next year, no problem. You'll see. It will all come together." But even her optimism felt forced.

Brooke smiled, though it failed to reach her eyes. "Nothing's going to change with us. Promise."

Something told me that they were right, and I held onto that hope, however unrealistic, as tightly as I could.

o0o0o0o

Suddenly being friends with all of the Marauders other than Remus was a strange thing to get used to. Peter was quiet and we didn't speak much, but he seemed nice enough. James, to my utter shock, was possibly one of the nicest boys I had ever met, going out of his way to make someone feel included. It was a complete turnaround from the way he treated Slytherins, particularly Snape. Remus was, shockingly enough, the mastermind behind most of the Marauders' greatest pranks, I came to find out. It never would have occurred to me that he would have the most devious mind considering how responsible he had always appeared to be.

And Sirius was a morning person. If you were unaware before, let me make it abundantly clear at this time: I hate mornings.

I am not human for the first hour of the day. I am downright dreadful to be around in most cases. And Sirius Black was the exact opposite. He was so… pleasant.

The first morning we sat together for breakfast, I nearly stabbed his hand with my fork, if only to get him to stop humming. Not that it was bad, but it was far too cheerful for my liking. He learned rather quickly to keep his distance when I had any remotely sharp instrument in my hand, at least until I had truly started to wake up.

I went over to the Ravenclaw table for a few minutes to talk to Adam, and he held my hand across the table. His lips pressed into a fine line when I told him I was leaving Hogwarts.

"We'll work it out," he told me, finally offering a smile. "Don't worry. This doesn't change anything."

I sighed. "I hope you're right."

Before anything else could be said, James came to get me for Transfiguration. "I want to see if we can turn Sirius's hair purple before McGonagall gets there," he said by way of explanation, a grin overtaking his face.

I couldn't help but laugh. I said goodbye to Adam, who I noticed was giving James a very annoyed look. That bothered me, so I made a mental note to talk to him later, since James was already dragging me off to execute his master plan.

Sirius went ten straight minutes before he realized what we had done to his hair. Instead of getting angry, he stated that he loved it and insisted that I put a violent pink streak in it as well. He sported it all day, and I hadn't laughed so hard in what felt like ages.

I was really going to miss them.

o0o0o0o

Thursday night came around far too quickly for my liking. Normally I would have been anxious for the weekend to hurry up, but now there was just a pit of dread in my stomach. The boys were doing their best to keep me distracted, but they could only do so much. After Remus completely wiped the floor with me at wizard's chess, we moved on to a game of Exploding Snap with Sirius, James, and Peter. Brooke joined us as well, and we all sat in front of the fire with the cards laid out before us.

Halfway through the game, James's cards exploded in his hand. He let out a girly squeal, then coughed on the smoke he inhaled.

Lily laughed from her place on the couch behind us. "James Potter, actually failing at something for once. I must admit, I'm shocked."

"Shut up, Evans," James said, scowling, but I swore there was a smile tugging at his mouth at actually being addressed by her.

"As long as he wins the next Quidditch match, I don't care what else he fails at," Marlene commented. "Slytherin deserves to get their asses beat."

Sirius got a wicked grin on his face. "Oh, you don't have to worry about that, McKinnon. We've got a plan that'll–"

"Hey!" a voice shouted across the common room. "Let that owl in!"

Silence fell and every head craned to watch a fourth year jump up and push the window open, where an owl was pecking its beak on the glass, a letter tied to its leg.

Everyone held their breath while the owl circled the tower, looking for the recipient. Owls nearly always went to the owlery and waited till morning, when all the other letters were delivered to students. If one was coming straight to a dormitory, it was urgent above all else. And it was nearly guaranteed that it was from the Ministry of Magic itself, a condolence letter.

Someone in the room was about to learn that a family member had been killed.

The owl swooped down, catching sight of its target, and my heart clenched, waiting for–

A purple envelope fell into my lap.

Whispers broke out through the room. For a solid minute, I sat frozen, eyes glued to the offending piece of parchment.

Not possible, I thought. There's been a mistake. This couldn't happen to me.

But my name was written in silver cursive on the dark envelope, cruelly beautiful in the light of the fire.

The weight of everyone's eyes on me began to press in, crowding me. I took in a deep gasp for air, a stabbing pain in my chest constricting the action. Fear and panic coursed through me first, then a deeper sorrow than I'd ever felt.

"Get her outside," someone said, though I didn't recognize who. Two hands gripped my arms and nearly carried me out of the common room. Next thing I knew, I was pushed into an empty classroom and told to sit at one of the tables. The only light in the room came from the open window, where the half moon was casting barely enough light to see by.

"Lyssie?"

Hestia crouched in front of me, looking just as scared as I felt. She gripped my hands in hers.

"Hestia…" I whispered. "Who–"

"I don't know," she answered. Her eyes flickered over to the two people on the other side of the room. They– Lily and Sirius– were looking at me with something akin to pity.

I suddenly got up, strode over to them, and snatched the letter out of Lily's hands. My hands trembled as I tried to make out the words in the dim light of a candle someone had lit.

My heart fell into my stomach when I read the heartless, empty words.

Dear Miss A. Jones,

It is with our greatest condolences that we announce the deaths of Fredrick and Isabel Jones at the hands of Death Eaters.

A Ministry of Magic official will be sent to your remaining family in a few days to settle the effects and confirm funeral arrangements in the wake of your parents' passing.

We are sorry for your loss.

Sincerely,

Gregory Thurston

Department of Magical Accidents and Catastrophes

Sooooo yeah. That happened. What did you guys think? Leave me a review!

~AMQ

***IMPORTANT NOTE (9/9/15): It will probably be a bit of a wait for the next chapter. The mother of my close friend is in the hospital and things really aren't looking good right now. I might be going up to the hospital to wait with her for news, and if that happens I'll bring my laptop or a journal to write in to pass the time, but given the way things are going I'm not sure when the next update will be. It's kind of on hold until further notice. Thanks.