Chapter 39: Healing and Angry Surprises

I blinked my eyes once or twice tying to adjust to the light. My head snapped up when I couldn't recognize my surroundings. My back was pressed up against a cold, stone wall, and I was sitting on the hard ground. My shoulder and back were sore from the uncomfortable position. Why was I here? I stood up and found that my legs were pretty sore, too.

"Lumos." I muttered, lighting my wand. I was in some corridor. I shined the light on my wristwatch. It was almost two in the morning! I kind of started to remember how I got here.

It was fairly late, and I still hadn't seen James since he yelled at me, hardly twenty hours ago. I didn't want to go back to our room, or my old dorm rooms…I just didn't really want to be near people. As I was walking along, I spotted a deserted corridor. My legs were fairly tired, and I decided to sit down.

I must have dozed off when I sat down. Well, now what to do? Maybe go check on Sirius…I knew he wouldn't push me away. I quickly dusted myself off and started walking. The torches got brighter near this main corridor and I spotted a familiar tapestry. I was near the Room of Requirement, on the seventh floor. There was a shortcut some where here, back to Gryffindor Tower. James had shown me last year. After feeling around the general area of the hall, I found it. I climbed through and suddenly realized using this way probably wasn't a good idea. There were noises of things crawling, squeaking, and just noises. I tried to calm myself down by making the light a little brighter. I walked a little faster, and then straight into something solid. I let out a tiny scream. I would've fallen back, but it had a hold on my arm…wait, it was a hand!

"Watch it, Lily!" The voice said lightly. Sirius? I shined my wand up, and it showed me Sirius, using his arm to block his eyes from the light.

"Sorry," I muttered, stepping back, and lowering the light.

"What're you doing out here, this late?" He asked. I shrugged, and then realized he probably couldn't see that I shrugged.

"I slept out there, in the corridor. I only woke up a few minutes ago." I replied with a yawn.

"I-I was headed to the Room of Requirement…d'you want to come?" He asked. It wasn't a request…it was a plea.

"Sure." I said, turning around. We started walking back, and I felt a lot safer, knowing Sirius was next to me. We reached the main corridor, where I just was, in no time, and I realized I hadn't gone that far at all. We walked t the area in front of the Room, and I let Sirius open it. He walked in front of it three times, and on the third time, a large, steel door formed. When we approached, it opened itself. We stepped inside, and I gasped in awe. It looked almost exactly like the Gryffindor Common Room, without desks or tables. Just couches, rugs, the fireplace, and the usual wall decoration. I went to go sit down on the couch in front of the fireplace, and Sirius sat down next to me. After a few minutes of silence, he spoke up.

"It was back in first year when I met them," He started hoarsely. "Prongs invited us all over for Christmas Break. I couldn't be more excited to go. Prongs always talked about them so much and always spoke so highly of them. He adored them, idolized them. They were Aurors, the best of the department. They were great parents, they were his heroes.

"I couldn't help but feel jealous of him. It's wrong to be jealous of your best mate, but I was." He paused, and I patted his arm encouragingly. "When we arrived at the station, both of them were there to greet him with huge smiles on their faces and huge hugs to give. My parents never hugged me like that…nor did they ever smile at me like that." He voice cracked and it took him a few minutes to regain his composure. "When they learned I was a Black, they didn't care. They didn't care that my family was the reason over half of their family's dead. They welcomed me and made me feel even more at home because of that.

"Over the years, they became my surrogate parents. Prongs is selfless. He's always more than willing to share. We became a little family of our own. I could always write to them when I was having problems, and in some way or another, all the clothes I own are because of them. My cousin Andromeda's been secretly paying them back. And because of the vastness of the Potter vault, they haven't noticed.

"Why, Lily, why?" He asked rhetorically. "We still need them. James needs them. I need them! We're not ready for this, Lily!" He whimpered. I tried to breathe, make myself stop crying before I talked to him, but I couldn't, so I just started to speak anyway, even though I was practically sobbing.

"You may not think you're ready, but I have total faith in you. You're pretty responsible, you've got great personalities, and you've made quite the name for yourselves. You've accomplished so many things that people our age shouldn't be able to accomplish.

"When my parents passed, I thought the same way, but I guess after a lot of thought, I realized I could live without them. I would have to, anyway, it was just sooner than I expected. Thinking more, I realized I have everyone else I need right with me. I just felt better, knowing I wasn't completely helpless. It was still awful, knowing I'd never be able to talk to them again, see them again. I guess life goes on…unfortunately, without them." I shrugged. I decided to stop; the tears were flowing on to my face too quickly.

I wasn't sure how long we sat in silence, but it was a long time before he said anything.

"Thanks, Lily." He said, taking a huge breath. Another long silence. "Don't worry about Prongs, he'll come around really soon. He's just in initial shock. I remember the first time you rejected him. He sat in the Kitchens for two days straight, simply eating." I was momentarily worried. Would it take two days? It hasn't even been 20 hours since I last saw him, and I was already worried sick, and missed him like crazy.

"Thanks." I replied quietly, trying to keep the tears out of my voice.

"He's probably stuffing his face right now…" Sirius let out a dry chuckle.

"And you guys will be okay, I know it." I told him again, patting his hand. "We can make it through together." I looked at him and decided he probably wanted to be alone. "I-I think I'll go…" I muttered, getting up.

"Wait," He said. I turned around. "Take this." He told me holding a piece of parchment that I knew was the Map. "Don't want to run into Filch." He said, meeting my eyes. The pain in them made me look away almost immediately.

"Thanks." I replied softly, before nearly running out of the room, closing the doors behind me. So he knew where I was, he deliberately came looking for me. I pointed my wand at the map. "I solemnly swear that I am up to no good." The ink spread itself out to form the map of Hogwarts. I forced myself to keep my eyes away from the vicinity of the kitchen. I quickly located the caretaker's office, and found both he and his cat were there. "Mischief Managed." I muttered quickly, so I wouldn't accidentally come across James. I knew I'd be tempted to go find him if I knew where he was.

I decided not to take the shortcut back. But wait, where was I going to go? I still didn't want to go to our room, or the Gryffindor Tower. So where? Maybe a visit to Myrtle's wouldn't hurt. I started walking in that direction, and realized Hogwarts at night was actually a lot more magical than with people running around in it. It looked so peaceful and oblivious to everything gong on in the rest of the country. The portraits were peacefully snoozing, and the staircases were quietly moving, as they do during the day time. I stepped off the staircase that led to her bathroom. It was a pretty creepy corridor. The torches were dim and the walls seemed damper than the rest of the castle.

"Lily." A voice said, and a hand grabbed my arm. I didn't even scream out. I could recognize that voice anywhere. I turned around quickly and faced him. His hair was sticking up worse than usual, his clothes were disheveled, and his glasses were crooked. An overall gruff appearance. His eyes were bloodshot, but abnormally bright. "Lily," He said again, this time hugging me as he said it. I put my arms around his waist as he let out a string of curses. "I'm sorry, I don't know why I did or said any of that. I didn't mean it, you know that! I'm so sorry." He muttered into my hair.

"I-It's okay." I said, stuttering a little bit. He said nothing, just hugged me closer and my head rested at the base of his neck. As we stood there, it made me realize how dependent I was on him. It hadn't even been 20 hours since I last talked to him, since I last touched him, and I already missed him so much.

"Hardly 20 hours with out you, and I already had a need to see you…" he muttered, voicing my thoughts, rubbing my back.

"Exactly what I was thinking. I can't go a day apart from you without missing you." I agreed.

"I love you." We said at the same time. I started to feel warm water trickle down my hair.

"I-I…Sorry." He let out, taking his hands from me to wipe his eyes. I looked up at him.

"It's fine, it's fine…" I assured him.

"You did a little crying yourself, didn't you?" He asked, looking over my face. I shrugged.

"I was talking to Sirius…" I told him.

"So that's where you got the Map from…" he muttered.

"Oh yeah." I said, and handed the map to him. He folded it up and stuck it in his pocket.

"Where is he now? Is he sober again?" He asked.

"Yeah, he's just really tired. He's in the Room of Requirement." I told him.

"Were you there, too?"

"Yeah. I thought he might want to talk…so I was heading back to him, just as he came to meet me." I explained.

"Wait, so where were you?" He asked.

"I fell asleep in some corridor on the seventh floor." I answered.

"What're you two doing here?" A nasty voice asked. I turned around quickly, my wand pointed at the person. It was Snape.

"Well…" I started.

"Good morning." James said at the same time. "We fancied a walk. How about you?" James asked, and only then I realized that he sounded slightly delirious. Did he drink?

"None of your business." Snape said, his nostrils flaring just the slightest, and glaring at James. "Head Boy and Head Girl out of the dorms…I might have to report."

"And how would you explain knowing that we were out? Unless you were out yourself?" I asked. This was only going to get himinto trouble! James put a hand on my shoulder, and gave me an evil smile. He seemed to realize what I just had. I narrowed my eyes and shook my head at him. His face fell and he gave me a pleading look. I held my glare. He gave up. "Just get going and we won't report you." I told him fiercly. His nostrils flared at us, but he walked by, purposely pushing right through me and James.

"All here?" Dumbledore asked. I did a quick count. Peter, Remus, Sirius, James, me, Dumbledore.

"Yes, I think so." I replied, glancing at the tired faces of Sirius and James. Sirius thankfully stopped drinking, and although James stopped isolating himself, he looked as though he'd never be happy again. The cold, hard, defensive look in his eyes was replaced by raw depression. He didn't run anymore, but he rarely spoke. He hasn't left my side, but he won't even try going outside to fly. He ate twice as much as before, while the rest of us hardly touched food. Occasionally, he'd burst into tears, at completely random times, and during other times, he'd sit in deafening silence. I knew, for him, it was enough for me to just be there, but I couldn't help but wish I could do something more.

Sirius, on the other hand, was honestly trying. He was honestly trying to be happy again. He was honestly trying to move on, to try to be happier for James' sake. But one look at James, Sirius would automatically shut himself back up again. James' unhappiness was bringing everyone down, and I could tell what it was like when my parents passed.

I was hoping that they would get better once they went to the funeral, just as I did. But looking at the state of them, it was unlikely. Although it' been a week since the news came, they haven't changed a bit since the initial shock wore off.

"1…2…3, Now!" Dumbledore said, and we all immediately touched the Portkey. I felt myself being spun around, and then falling back to the ground. We hit the ground with a huge thud and a lot of groans, while Dumbledore gracefully floated down unscathed. We scrambled up and James appeared by my side again, slipping his hand into mine. I looked around, and saw we were at the entrance of the graveyard. James didn't want a huge funeral with people he'd never met, so he just decided to let them bury it, and figured whoever wanted to come and visit could do that by themselves.

We walked ahead, weaving through the graves, and James' hand started to get clammy. I looked up at him, and there was a foreign emotion in his eyes: fear. I rubbed his arm soothingly, trying to get him to calm down. I glanced at Sirius. He was no better. Although he had his head up high, his hands were balled up and he was walking a little too stiffly. Remus and Peter stayed a little further from us, keeping their distance, just as they had for the last week.

We arrived at the grave and I gasped. It was honestly beautiful. It was a fairly large tombstone, covered in wreaths and flowers everywhere. The names and the year were almost covered, and this tomb was only made earlier today!

"Well, it seems as though Charles and Dory had many admirers." Dumbledore mused, as he added several more flowers. I brought out more flowers of my own, lilies, and added them. We all stood there in silence, dwelling in our own thoughts, and silently speaking to them. "I think, we three will return to the entrance." Dumbledore said, looking at Remus and Peter. Both nodded, and they left James and Sirius with me.

"I think we should sit." I said quietly. At the same time, we dropped to the ground. James and Sirius sat on either side of me. Their eyebrows were identically furrowed. They were silently speaking to them, and I decided I should say a few words, too.

Well, it's quite unfortunate that I have to speak to both of you like this…but I know you're listening. Both of you did well here, for the world. Being Aurors, great parents, and even better role models. Even people who don't know you can tell you'll be greatly missed, because the amount of flowers is a huge indication. As Aurors, you were definitely very successful, and it was out of the goodness of your heart that you decided to become Aurors. With the vastness of the Potter vault, you could've stayed home all day and still gotten along fine. James admired you and loved you and you taught him well. You allowed Sirius to stay with you and you helped him where his own parents couldn't, which means a lot to him. You raised him as your own son, and he couldn't thank you enough. As role models, I can only wish to become like you, although it is highly unlikely that it will happen. You've lived a great life, and done well here.
I'll help James and Sirius through this, I promise. There's no need to worry.

I blinked back some tears, and patiently waited for James to finish. I knew Sirius was finished, by the way he was picking at the grass on the ground, but James was still as concentrated as ever.

After a few more minutes of picking grass, counting the flowers, and adding stuff to what I wanted to say, James slowly exhaled.

"I-I'm done." He said hoarsely, and then cleared his throat. Sirius and I looked at each other in shock. "I think we should head back." My eyes widened. That was the first sentence full sentence he spoke all week! It was just one or two or three word sentences before. Sirius and I broth grinned widely, and we all stood up. Sirius patted James on the back, and I let go of James' hand so they could hug properly. It was a brotherly hug, and I could see in James' eyes the depression slowly slipping away. They let go of each other, and James held my hand again. We walked back, and I could see Remus, Peter, and Dumbledore quietly conversing.

"Yes, I see you're all back. Excellent." Dumbledore said, his eyes slowly looking into each of ours. James looked at me, and then Sirius, and the corners of his mouth twitched up into a small smile. Sirius threw his head back and gave a pleasant laugh, and pulled both me and James in for a huge bear hug. The three of us swayed on the spot for a little, before pulling back, and going into fits of laughter. It was nice to hear them both laughing and smiling again. "I hate to interrupt this moment, but I'm afraid our Portkey is about to leave without us." Dumbledore said, also smiling. Five hands touched the Portkey, along with Dumbledore's, and I felt the same sensation of being lifted up, and then falling. Once again, the five of us fell messily on to Dumbledore's rug, but Dumbledore landed neatly in front of his desk.

"Nice to see you're back." Remus said, patting James on the back. I stepped back, and they all huddled and shared some kind of Marauder moment. James ruffled his hair, and they stepped out of the square they made.

"Now that we've all somewhat healed, I thought I'd take the opportunity to wish you a Happy Birthday, Lily." Dumbledore said. My head snapped up and my eyes went wide.

"What?" I gasped. Dumbledore pointed to the calendar on his desk. My eyes got larger at the date. "I-…what?" I repeated.

"Wait…what?" James asked, pulling me away from it to look at the calendar himself. Remus, Peter, and Sirius, glanced at the calendar, too, and started laughing loudly.

"You…forgot…birthday…" Remus laughed.

"Nice going, guys." Sirius laughed, hitting both me and James on the back.

"Happy…Birthday…Lily…" Peter gasped in between laughter.

"Yeah, Happy Birthday!" Remus and Sirius both said, looking at my confused face once more, and then going into another round of laughter.

"Oh wow, come on, I'm going to make you have fun today, whether you like it or not." James said, pushing through the other three. "Thank you, Professor." James added.

"Thanks Professor!" I said behind my shoulder as James dragged me out of his office. Dumbledore gave us an amused glance, before returning his attention to Remus, Peter, and Sirius who were saying unintelligible things to each other. James dragged me down the gargoyle's stairs, and away from Dumbledore's office.

"How did I forget? I never forget! Not once! Especially yours, of all people!" James said, shaking his head. I laughed. "I don't forget birthdays. Just impossible for me!"

"It's okay, I forgot, too." I reminded him. "Honestly, I'm just glad that you're pretty much back to normal again, that's good enough for me."

"Did Potter forget about the mudblood's birthday?" A nasty voice asked. I grimaced. We looked up and found a large gang of Junior Death Eater Slytherins. I hadn't seen this many at once for a long time.

"Hey guys….oh…" Sirius called out, coming up behind us. He stood on the other side of me and faced them. He fixed his glare on Regulus.

"Nice of you to join us….we were just congratulating Potter on becoming an orphan." Avery said, causing the other Slytherins to laugh. I bit my lip. How'd they find out?

"How did you find out?" Sirius demanded. They kicked over something. Sirius bent down to pick it up. It was the Prophet, and the headline was about the burial of the Potters. I let out a silent gasp. "You assholes." Sirius sneered.

"And where were you two about to go?" Mucliber asked, looking to me and James.

"I think the better question is, why were you coming after them?" Avery asked Sirius, raising his eyebrows.

"I believe it's because the rumors in the Slytherin tower is true." Snape said. "It has become the Marauder's slut."

"You filthy piece of-" James yelled out to Snape, immediately bringing his wand out, but then stopped for some reason. Sirius didn't even reach for his wand, he automatically tried lunging at Snape.

"I'm going to kill you, with my bare hands, let go of me, Lily!" He barked. I tightened my grip on the back of his shirt, and with one hard tug, I pulled him back next to me. He took out his wand, and started shooting spells at him, while Snape deflected them all with a lazy shield charm. I was just glad James didn't start attacking him. He was doing a good job remembering his Head Boy duties! Suddenly, Snape started shooting spells back, and Sirius and Snape were engaged in a battle. All of them started to form a circle around us, and we were pushed back to back.

"Don't attack them, just defend yourself!" I told them both, but I had a feeling only James was following it. I felt myself being bound by ropes, and it took me a while to get rid of them. I was putting up the Shield Charm, and hoping I wouldn't get hurt. I already got enough cuts from those ropes. Sirius was going on as strong as ever, knocking out two at a time. James was doing the same thing as I was, simply defending himself. I glanced at James, and we made eye contact. I looked at the Shield Charms. He gave me a curt nod.

"1…2…3!" He yelled, and we both made a Shield Charm appear at once, causing the remaining ones to fly backwards. I put it down quickly and looked at the Slytherins sprawled on the ground.

"Let's run!" I yelled, taking James' hand. We ran away from them, and finally stopped where there were people every where, in the Courtyard. I stopped, trying to catch my breath. James and Sirius seemed fine. "That…was terrible." I said, shaking my head. "Sirius! You could've gotten in trouble for attacking them! You already have a record with Snape!" I reprimanded him. "But…thanks for defending me." I added. He smiled and started pulling at his hair. "And I can't even tell you how glad I am that you didn't start attacking Snape either." I told James. He gave me a weak smile

"Come on, let's just keep this entire thing to ourselves, we can't tell anyone." James said, looking at me, and then Sirius.

"Yeah, if Remus found out, he'd make us tell, and that's not happening. We don't need to give the Slytherins the satisfaction. They'll think we can't handle ourselves." I agreed. Sirius looked between us, and just smiled.

"Wouldn't dream of it." He smirked..

"Now, we," James said, putting an arm around me, "Are going to the kitchens. Don't follow us!"

"Like you haven't eaten enough already. Soon, you won't be able to fit on to the bed…you know, for future purposes!" Sirius said, winking at James. I blushed deep red, and James eyes widened. He dragged me away from Sirius, who was doubled over in laughter.

A/N: Well, I can explain.
Okay, so I had this chapter all finished and ready to go WEDNESDAY night. I was actually going to post it then because of all the reviews I got (THANK YOU SO MUCH). But then, I realized, there was something missing. So, I took a huge break from it, and went away for a few days. And then I woke up this morning and I realized what was missing! And it's a lot better and longer than it would've been if I posted it on Wednesday.

Thanks again for the reviews/alerts/favorites, I appreciate you all!

Until next Friday,

Love,
SAM :)