Chapter 30: Not Again

They all stepped out of the shadows in sync. It was Bellatrix, Avery, Lestrange, and Snape. It was kind of creepy.

"Mudblood, nice to meet you again." Bellatrix squealed with glee. I instinctively held up an arm in front of Sirius. It blocked him from doing anything rash. I knew I did the right thing when Sirius collided with my arm. "It's good to see you're all better. Quite the mess you were, the last time I saw you." She added, coming closer. James' jaw visibly tightened. I grabbed his hand so he wouldn't do anything, either. I seemed to be the only sane one here.

"It was your one-year anniversary the other day, was it not?" Avery asked, feigning interest.

"It was? How silly of me, I haven't bought you a gift!" Bellatrix squealed sarcastically.

"Leave them alone!" Sirius growled. He tried to advance, but I held him back with a hand.

"And my lovely cousin, how are you?" Bellatrix asked, a twisted smile forming on her face. Such a sarcastic little witch.

"Shut up." Sirius growled, stepping forward with his wand.

"Sirius, control yourself." I warned.

"And now you're letting the mudblood control you! My, my, what would your mother say?" Bellatrix sneered as she eyed me in disgust.

"STUPEFY!" Sirius yelled, pointing his wand at Bellatrix. I didn't stop to see if it hit her or not.

"Protego!" I yelled out, creating a barrier between us and the rest of them. Most of the spells rebounded around. I let out an exasperated sigh. Why did we have to choose an alleyway where no one would see us? We were just lucky it wasn't dark here! I put the barrier down and yelled, "Petrificus Totalus!" immediately, and I ended up hitting Lestrange.

I turned my head quickly and saw Avery with his wand pointing in my direction. His mouth moved slightly, and I swiftly moved to the right, while shooting a spell in his direction. It narrowly missed him and he shot another one back. I was just able to hold up my wand and say "Protego!" to deflect it. I staggered backwards a little, and then tried to shoot another spell at him. I missed again, because James knocked into me, trying to avoid Snape's spell. I pushed James out of the way just as Avery sent a spell in our direction.

"Thanks!" James yelled out, advancing towards Snape again. Both had identical expressions of contempt on their faces. Snape quickly lashed out and James only just avoided the spell. I turned around again, and found Avery was trying to attack me again. This time, I attacked quicker, and managed to get him to stagger backwards and almost fall as he tried to avoid the spell. I sent a non-verbal Levicorpus at him, and he ended up dangling in mid air.

"Petrificus Totalus!" I said hurriedly, and his arms snapped to his sides, his mouth fixed in a grimace. I let him down on to the ground; I didn't want all the blood to rush to his head, that'd hurt him. I didn't want to hurt them, just stop them from hurting us.

I heard a loud, high-pitched squeal of delight. Bellatrix. It seemed she was having fun making Sirius dance around. I ran towards him to try to help him. It seemed Bellatrix's parents were teaching her a few things while she was at home for the last few months.

"Impedimenta!" I yelled, and it hit her, but she quickly regained her balance. It gave Sirius the opportunity to catch his breath. "Go help James. Leave this to me!" I instructed him. I knew Sirius would be upset with having to duel his family members, no matter how much he hated them.

"Oh, now we're going to have some fun!" Bellatrix squealed. Without warning, a bright blue light headed my way, and I threw myself to the side before it could hit me. She was throwing spell after spell at me, and that's when I realized, she knew non-verbal spells! But how would I stop her? I couldn't keep dodging forever! I'd have to catch her off guard. I'd have to do something she wouldn't expect. Sure she was better at magic than she was before, but she didn't have the experience. I dropped to the ground and rolled around. I propped myself up on my elbows and sent the leg-locking curse in her direction. The flow of spells stopped. I sighed in relief and did the full body bind on her.

"YOU BLOODY WANKER!" Sirius bellowed. I whipped my head around and I saw James doubled over and Sirius was trying to hold him up. My stomach dropped in pure fear and agony.

"JAMES!" I screamed. I ran towards him, but stopped halfway there. I turned my gaze towards Snape and started walking towards him. "You…arsehole. He hasn't done anything to you in a year! Get over yourself, will you?" I screeched at him. Snape's eyes flashed, and I momentarily remembered that night when he first attacked me, and when James first saved me. I pointed my wand at him and went towards him again. He held up his wand at me, only before something flashed on his face…something similar to fear. He hadn't actually attacked me on purpose, ever. The night our friendship died, he was driven by anger. And then the little fiasco near the end of mine and James' first date, he'd meant to hit James, not me. He even helped me with that one, by getting the curse off of me!

"Don't come any closer." He growled. I lunged forward and instead of hexing him, I hit him the muggle way. I've been told I have a killer right hook. He staggered backwards, clutching his nose where I hit him.

"Take your 'friends' and get the hell out of here!" I screamed at him, pointing my wand at him this time.

"Lily…" Sirius whispered, and then touched my shoulder. I felt my feet being lifted off the ground, and my insides being pulled in, and then spat back out. My feet touched the ground again and I sighed in relief. Sirius apparated us away from them. We were now in an open field, with a tree behind us and grass surrounding us. Where, I had no idea.

"Are you okay?" I asked, turning towards them.

"Yeah, my stomach really hurts though." James muttered. Sirius let him sit down on the ground, back against the tree, and I kneeled down next to him. I reached down to lift up his shirt.

"Now Lily-flower, now's not exactly the time for that." Sirius joked. I glared. "Too early for jokes? Okay." He muttered, blushing slightly. I pushed James back a little as I lifted up his shirt. There was a huge, black and blue thing on his stomach.

"Sirius!" I gasped. Sirius joined me on the ground next to James.

"Shit." He muttered. "What are we going to do?" He asked me desperately.

"I think we'll have to go to St. Mungo's." I told him slowly, eyeing the black and blue thing.

"NO!" They screamed together. I looked up and met their worried gazes.

"We can't." James said simply, his eyes full of fear.

"His parents…already…" Sirius tried explaining. Oh. So that's what this was about. He didn't want his parents to know, since they were already dealing with their own…issues.

"Then what are we going to do?" I asked them both. They exchanged worried glances and looked away.

"I got it!" Sirius suddenly shouted. "Misty?" He called out. The little elf appeared in front of us with a pop.

"Master Sirius! You called Misty!" She squeaked. Then, she saw James' stomach. Her saucer-wide eyes went even larger than I thought was possible. "Master James! What happened?" She squealed, her large eyes watering, and my heart broke into two.

"Do you know anyone who can fix this, Misty? Please?" Sirius begged her. She thought for a moment before nodding slowly.

"Misty does know a very old elf." She said slowly. "Misty can go get him." She offered.

"YES! YES PLEASE!" Sirius and I yelled out together. She was looked a little alarmed before nodding again and apparating away with a small pop. Sirius and I let out a simultaneous sigh of relief.

"Wow, didn't know you guys loved me that much." James smirked. I rolled my eyes.

"If you weren't already hurt, I'd hit you." I muttered and put my head on his shoulder.

"I wouldn't push it, mate. She gave ol'Snivelly quite a punch back there." Sirius told him, giving me an amused look. I crinkled my nose.

"We won't speak of it." I told them both stubbornly.

"Why not? That was great! You went pssshhhh," Sirius started dramatically, and waved his arms around, "and then he went flying!"

"Don't exaggerate!" I screeched, reaching over James to swat at Sirius. "He did not go flying! He just went backwards!" I huffed and crossed my arms over my chest.

"Where's Misty?" James asked, rubbing at his stomach a bit. He abruptly stopped and started to poke it. Softly at first, and then harder with each progressive poke. I grabbed his hand at the tenth one.

"Why?" I demanded, shaking my head a bit. He shrugged.

"Prongs, you really need to get over that impulse of poking your injuries." Sirius smiled. "He's been doing that for as long as I can remember." He told me.

"What did he hit you with?" I asked James, looking down at his stomach once more.

"I don't know. But it doesn't feel weird or anything…it feels like an ordinary bruise. Just larger." James said, reaching down to poke it once more. I stopped him with a piercing look.

"A…large…bruise?" Sirius said out loud slowly.

"Yeah, it feels and looks like a bruise. But bruises don't get this big." James said, his expression morphing into one of curiosity and confusion. I sighed in frustration.

"This is too big for us. We're going to need to go to the Library. In Hogwarts. We'll have to look when we get back." I mused.

"And maybe we'll be able to get into the restricted section, since you'll be Head Girl and all." Sirius smirked.

"Sirius Orion Black, are you mocking me?" I asked incredulously, my nostrils flaring just a bit. He winced.

"What's the right answer?" He whispered loudly to James. James smacked a hand to his forehead and shook his head. I rolled my eyes.

"What about Remus? Are we going to tell him? Don't you think he'd completely blow up at us?" I asked them, but their answer was interrupted.

"Misty is back!" Misty squealed, as she appeared next to us. The three of us jumped.

"SHE'S BACK!" Sirius and I screamed together. She looked a bit alarmed, again. "Where's…" Sirius and I started together. We turned to each other. "Stop that!" We snapped at each other. I huffed and pressed a finger to my lips to tell him to not speak. He nodded meekly.

"Where's the elf you were talking about?" I asked her.

"He's coming!" Misty squealed, glancing worriedly at James again. "Master's parents will be very upset, won't they?" Misty said, looking at James.

"Please don't tell them, Misty. We don't want them to be upset." James begged her. She nodded. We heard another pop, and an older elf appeared. He was wearing a smile identical to Misty's, and had the same large eyes, and pointy ears. But by the wrinkles, I could tell he was much older.

"This is Gille." Misty told us.

"Hi, Gille." We greeted together.

"Gille is the one who helps Misty and other elves in Hogwarts when Misty and other elves are hurt!" Misty explained.

"Hello." Gille smiled at us. He had a much lower voice than Misty.

"Gille, do you think you can fix this, please?" Sirius asked, pointing to James. I moved over so Gille would have space to work. He dropped down next to James and put a bony, pale pink hand to James' purple stomach. He felt around a little, and James winced when he touched sensitive spots.

"Gille can fix it." He confirmed, standing up. "But Master Potter might be in pain for sometime. Gille will need bandages." He told us. I conjured up some bandages for him to use. "Master Potter-"

"Please Gille, call me James." James interrupted.

"Can Master James lie down?" Gille asked him. correcting himself. James did as he was asked and slowly lowered himself so he was lying down in the grass. Gille pressed both of his bony, pale pink hands to James stomach, and his mouth moved as he muttered a few words. Slowly, but surely, the bruise got smaller. The black and blue wasn't as dark as before. "Can Gille have bandages?" He asked me. I handed them to him. James sat up, and Gille put the bandages around James' stomach area.

"Is he going to be okay?" Sirius asked. Gille turned to us and nodded.

"Master James must keep bandages on for two weeks." He told us both. Sirius nodded.

"I'll make sure that happens, Gille. Thank you so much." Sirius said, reaching down to hug the little elf. Gille froze, completely stunned.

"Thank you, Gille. We really appreciate it. We'll be sure to visit you next year." I promised him, giving him a wide, grateful smile. He nodded numbly.

"Yeah, what they said already. I'm happy you could cure me." James told him, reaching down to hug the elf, too. James pulled back and the little elf was so overcome with emotions, his eyes started watering.

"Gille will visit later. Gille needs to go. Bye!" He croaked, very obviously trying to hold back tears. He apparated away with a pop.

"Masters and Mistress made Gille very happy. Gille is never that happy!" Misty smiled. "But Misty must go now. Misty hopes Master James will be better, and Misty will visit soon!" She apparated away with loud pop, leaving the three of us in the field.

"So…" Sirius said, trying to break the silence.

"Okay, so we're not telling Remus about this?" I asked, just to clarify. They exchanged a glance and turned back to me.

"Nope." They said together, with identical smiles that looked too mischievous to be innocent. I raised a questioning eyebrow at them. They didn't answer. Instead, James threw an arm around my shoulder, and Sirius put his hands on both of our shoulders, and apparated us away.

A/N: I hope you guys liked this chapter! I know it was short, but I had to make it that way. The next chapter will be super long, I promise! It'll cover the rest of the summer, but at least twice as long as I usually make the chapters!

I want to thank you guys for reviewing! Only a few chapters ago, I barely had 100, and now, I have 155! It's really nice of you guys, even the ones who just write a few words!

Until next Friday,

Love,
SAM :)