Chapter 34: Roller Coasters

GOING TO BE IN JAMES' POINT OF VIEW!

"Lily, your parents have passed away." Dumbledore told her solemnly. I blinked. What? No. Clearly, I heard wrong. "I'm so sorry." No! I didn't hear wrong! But how? This was supposed to happen to my parents, not hers! I swear, if it were the Death Eaters, I will find You-Know-Who and strangle him. "It was a car crash." Dumbledore added, this time looking at me, once again giving me the strange feeling that he heard what I was thinking.

But, it was a car... I looked at Lily. She was simply staring at Dumbledore. I don't think it quite hit her yet. I found her hand and simply held it. When it hit her, I'd be there. I looked towards Dumbledore again. He seemed to realize it hadn't hit her yet, too. "Your sister notified me. I think two weeks off of school should do it, if you'd like, I'll give you more time. Mr. Potter, if necessary, this will go for you and Mr. Black, Mr. Pettigrew, and Mr. Lupin." He told me. I bit the inside of my cheek.

"What about Marlene?" I asked. She could probably help Lily where I couldn't.

"Her too." He nodded, staring into my eyes. Lily was still sitting, as still as a statue. I guess it'd be best to take her back to our dorms. Maybe she'd be more comfortable there, when it hits her.

"Uh, Lily?" I coughed. She looked up at me, her green eyes completely empty. My breath hitched in my throat. I glanced towards the door. She seemed to get the message and stood up. She still said nothing. I led her to the door, with one quick look back at Dumbledore. He was still staring at me. We stepped on to the gargoyle's stairs and it led us down. My heart starting pounding against my chest. I side-glanced at Lily. She was staring ahead, still saying nothing, still emotionless. I gulped. Okay, time to get her to our dorms. We walked carefully, and I could tell, if I wasn't leading her, she'd still be sitting in Dumbledore's office.

Why her parents? They didn't need to go! They did nothing! I felt the tears prickling in my eyes. No, no crying now. They're not my parents, they're hers. She needs the help! We kept walking, and I was trying to walk as fast as I could while dragging her behind me.

"Oh, look who it is!" Why did life hate us today? It was Avery and Snape. Why? WHY? Okay. Deep breath. Deep breath. Just keep walking. They blocked our path in the narrow corridor. Bastards!

"Get out of the way." I muttered, avoiding their eyes. They laughed.

"What? Gone to take the mudblood bitch for a walk?" Snape sneered. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Lily's head snap up. Before I could even register that she took her wand out, she had Snape and Avery hung upside down by their ankles. Her face was red and her wand was shaking wildly. She crashed into me, throwing her arms around my neck, and I could feel her hot tears on my shoulders. Oh no. I quickly put an arm around her waist and started rubbing her back. Avery was too busy trying to find his wand to let himself down to notice. Snape, on the other hand, was staring at us, eyes wide, and mouth in a perfect "O." I threw him an annoyed look.

I took her wand that was poking me in the neck from her hands and pocketed it. Now what was I going to do? I couldn't just take her like this; she wouldn't want half the student body seeing her, the Head Girl, and all broken apart like this. I could use my invisibility cloak though! I made sure to disappear from Snape and Avery's view by going into a nearby corridor. It was difficult, since I had to get her to walk, too. But, she seemed to take no notice of it. I threw the cloak over the both of us, not caring enough to see if it was going to cover our feet. I was going to use corridors that no one really went in. But, it was going to be trouble, trying to walk with her.

I picked her up, and started carrying her bridal style. This is much better. It was a good thing I knew how to wear this cloak like my school robes.

She was clutching my shirt like she was holding on for life. I sighed and walked as fast as I could. Why did this have to happen now? This is definitely not the time for anything bad to happen! This year was going on so well. And then…suddenly…this. And to Lily, too! Why not me? I was prepared! I have been, for months now! It's just not fair! I started to blink rapidly, trying to avoid the tears. Not now.

"Godric Gryffindor." I said to the portrait, still holding Lily close to me. The portrait looked around, and looked really confused. Oh wait, I still had the cloak on! Easy to forget about this thing. I took it off and the portrait's eyebrows shot up in realization. It took a look at Lily and simply opened. Smart portraits in this place. I climbed in. Finally, we were here at last.

My bed? Or the couch in front of the fire. Maybe my dorm room. There's a bathroom in there. And food. I tried getting up the steps as quickly as I could. Lucky for me, I left my door open this morning. I sat down in my bed and swung my legs up, so I was in an inclined position against the headboard. Lily was just sprawled all over me, still sobbing into my chest. I didn't want to say anything; she'd talk when she stops crying. I stroked her hair and kissed the top of her head.

"Lily. Where are you going?" I asked groggily, grabbing her wrist. She turned to me and her puffy eyes widened. She'd gotten up off of me because I'd accidentally fell asleep. I woke up because I felt her getting up. I looked towards the clock. It was 7:30. Something told me she wasn't going down for dinner. "Stay." I practically begged. She looked troubled for a second.

"James, I-"

"Lily, please. Stay." I pressed. I pulled her back to the bed and moved over so she could sit next to me. I patted the space where I just moved from. "Nice and warm." She didn't even crack a smile, and I immediately felt guilty. Too early for jokes? She slumped down on the bed. I ran a hand through my hair and kept my eyes on her.

"James…" She croaked, sounding like she was going to cry again. She slowly turned to me, and I felt like I was going to cry. Now even closer up, I could see her puffy, bloodshot, sad eyes. Her nose was red and her cheeks were flushed.

"Lily, anytime you're ready." I whispered, carefully taking her hand. She nodded slowly, knowing what I was talking about. I glanced at the clock near her again. The other guys were probably worried…unless Dumbledore told them what happened. That was a horrifying thought, this entire thing being real. Breathe James, breathe. Lily needs you right now. Be horrified about this later. She looked at me again and my breath caught in my throat.

"Why…" She whispered. "Why them? Why now? How?" She looked down at her hands. "All this time, all this time we were worried that Death Eaters were going to find them. And then something so much smaller, so much more innocent, took them." She sounded like a little girl again. It was frightening. I wrapped my arms around her and pulled her closer into my chest. She started sobbing again. I was doing surprisingly well for not being able to handle crying girls. Actually, I was just lucky Lily didn't need to hear anything while she was crying, simply a shoulder to cry on.

"It's okay." I started, running my hand through her hair. "Time will heal these wounds, Lily." I continued. In a few months, I'd probably be in her place. I could get what she was saying. My parents were trying to lay low because they were good Aurors. And then, something as small and innocent as Dragon Pox is slowly taking their lives. It really wasn't fair.

"James…" She whispered, looking at me with wide eyes. Then, a small, salty tear slipped into my mouth. That was why she looked a little confused. I was crying, too. I was crying. Not again… It was bad enough the first time I cried in front of her. I pulled her closer and she wrapped her arms around my neck, and we both sat there, rocking and crying all over each other.

"Prongs! Prongs! Prongs! Prongs!" A voice whispered close to my ear. I resisted the urge to groan. I opened my eyes a little and saw Lily first, and the sadness from yesterday filled me. I quickly looked down at us. Okay good, we were still clothed. Bad, James, bad! Head out of gutter.

I turned around to find the source of the noise. Wormtail, Moony, and Padfoot were hovering over me. Their faces were somber. So they knew, too.

"Hi." I said, looking at all three of them. They exchanged glances.

"We brought food up here, just in case." Moony whispered, pointing to my desk, which was piled high with all sorts of food. If Lily was nothing like me, she wouldn't eat any of it. I, on the other hand, might just single-handedly eat it for breakfast. I eat when I'm sad.

"We'll be downstairs if you need anything." Padfoot added.

"Wait, does Marlene know?" I asked, running a hand through my hair.

"Yeah, Dumbledore told us four together." Wormtail said, looking down at the ground.

"Alright, can you guys go downstairs? She's still shaky." I told them, glancing at Lily, who even in her sleep, looked troubled. Moony and Wormtail left. Padfoot stood by the bed, staring at me.

"It'll be okay. We can all get through this together. It'll be okay, mate." Padfoot told me, putting a hand on my shoulder. By the way his grey eyes were knowingly looking into mine, he knew I was thinking about my parents. And I knew he was thinking about them too.

"Same for you." I told him, raising an eyebrow. His eyes softened a bit, and he cleared his throat.

"Yeah...well, I'll be downstairs." He said awkwardly, before quickly leaving. I felt so bad for him. After losing his first set of parents just a year ago, he's about to lose another! I took my glasses off and set them on the table near Lily. The clock said 9 in the morning. Wow, we slept a lot.

"James." Lily murmured. I looked down at her. Her eyes were still closed, and her mouth was slightly ajar. Was she talking in her sleep? "James…don't…go…" She mumbled, sounding more hurt than I'd ever heard her. She was having a nightmare! I should probably wake her up.

"Lily." I whispered, shaking her slightly. "Lily." I said louder, shaking her even more. "Lily." Her eyes shot open. She looked at me. Her eyes were confused, annoyed, lost, and a little bit angry at the same time. She was probably debating whether yesterday was a dream or not. When her mouth turned into a small frown, I assumed she realized yesterday wasn't a dream. I ran a hand through her hair.

"Sorry…you seemed to be having a nightmare…and I thought I should wake you up." I muttered sheepishly. She blinked a few times before nodding. She sat up, and I sat up with her. Her eyes darted towards the food pile on my desk. "Padfoot, Moony, and Wormtail brought it up here for us." She nodded slowly. Her eyes darted towards the bathroom. "Did you want to take a shower?" I asked carefully. She looked at me for a little bit. And then sighed. That's almost never good. I braced myself.

"James, I'm not crippled. I mean, yes, I am not feeling my best, but really?" She threw me a semi-annoyed look. "No, I probably won't be up for eating for a few days…and I probably won't be in the mood to talk much or go to class…or see people. And please, try not to read me so much, it's quite distracting." She told me, rather frankly in my opinion. I ran another hand through my hair. She reached up and grabbed it. "And stop doing that, too." She told me seriously. She got off the bed, threw open the door, and walked outside. I sighed loudly and put my hands in my head. Why was everything going so wrong suddenly?

"Hey." Padfoot said, sitting down on the bed next to me. I grunted in response. "Don't worry about her. She's probably just really confused." He told me, patting my back. "Hey, what's this?" He asked. He got up off the bed. I raised my head to see what he was talking about. He was facing my desk. He turned around with a letter in hand. "It's addressed to you." He told me, handing it to me. I opened it.

Dear Mr. Potter,

I didn't give you too many details yesterday; I wanted to wait until what I told you first sunk in. Just a few things Miss Evans may want to know: Her sister contacted me, just as she did all those years ago. She said that she'd plan any funeral. It will be in a week. And there are some legal matters that must be discussed. Whenever Miss Evans is feeling up to it, she may talk to me about that. Thank you and you have my condolences.

Professor Dumbledore

A/N: I know, I know, very late. And yes, I know. This chapter isn't even that good. But I had the worst writer's block ever. And this chapter was horribly difficult to write.

James' POV is interesting, though. I might do it again.

Review please? We're almost at 200!

Until next Friday (I promise!)

Love,
SAM :)