Before anyone yells at me for taking so long (and you have every right to), let me make my pathetic excuses—exams! I had finals! Also, social drama! To the max! ALSO, I'm moving this week. So that just trumps, I figure. I know, I suck, but here's the next chapter, and I'll do my best to update quicker!
Disclaimer: Copyright Jo-Ro and Pink Floyd.
A/N: I know I'm sort of playing cat's cradle with the timeline-according-to-canon, but I guarantee, everything will MAKE SENSE and comply with Deathly Hallows. I wrote this in such a way that I could include the Sirius!betrayal mostly just because I adore that story, and yes, that involves some canon tweaking, but I promise—and you'll just have to trust me—it will make canonical sense. Also, I AM aware of the 1976/77 error. This error is a result of my forgetting about that scene in DH where we get canon dates and using hp-lexicon instead. I am sorry. HOWEVER, it does not really make any difference whatsoever. Just saying. Thank you to everyone who has pointed it out, though =P.
In addition to Pink Floyd's "Brain Damage" (this chapter title) and "Eclipse" (next chapter's song), musical inspiration credit goes to the Bird and the Bee's brilliantly melodic "Polite Dance Song."
Before: Sirius has a recurring dream about drowning. Lily's ex, Luke Harper, has a death eater brother, Logan, who is hiding in the Harper's abandoned shop following a job; Lily and Luke overhear the auror Lathe discussing going down to the village, and Luke takes off. Lily convinces James to give her the Marauders' Map so she can follow him, but she doesn't give all the details and promises to be back in the secret passage before sunset. It's a full moon, and Sirius tells Snape how to get into the Whomping Willow because he wants to get Snape back for "corrupting" his little brother, Regulus.
Chapter 21- "...Life is But a Dream"
Or
"Brain Damage"
"Shit."
Lily held out her arms to steady herself once again as she nearly fell to the moist, dark floor. James hadn't mentioned that the tunnel was positively ridden with potholes, and even with her wand lit, Lily found herself tripping quite a bit. Steady again, she took a hesitant next step and then another and another, until she was confident enough to resume her quick pace through the black, narrow corridor.
(Soon)
"You'd better leave," Remus advised weakly, sitting down on the cracked wooden floorboards of the Shrieking Shack's common room. The furniture—put in place purely for show, six years prior—was all in pieces, and the floor was the only place left to sit. "The sun will be down in a few minutes, and then it's not long before... before I change."
Madam Pomfrey looked sympathetically at the pale young boy before her. "I'll just put these in the cabinet," she said, indicating to the folded clothes she had brought from the Hospital Wing. Remus nodded gratefully and leaned his head against the wall, while Madam Pomfrey placed the neatly folded clothing in a cabinet on the wall, which she proceeded to magically seal. "And—your wand?" she inquired hesitantly.
"Under some loose bricks on the hearth," replied Remus. "It's easier to find if I have one safe place I always keep it."
"Would you like me to...?"
"Oh. Thanks, yeah."
Remus gave the witch his wand, and she placed it in the referenced spot. "The moon—it sets... five o'clock, is that correct? Shall I come then?"
"You should wait until six... six-thirty," replied the other. "Just to be safe. And I—er—I might not be awake."
"Of course." Madam Pomfrey paused near the door, as though uncertain if she should say "Goodnight" or something else, but then thought better of it and left swiftly. Remus breathed heavily, ignoring his raging headache and the sick feeling in his stomach to the best of his ability. He never wore a watch on the full moon (he'd only break it, after all), but he knew it wouldn't be long now. He had only to wait.
(Passage)
Lily had been in the corridor for just over twenty minutes before it came to an abrupt end. She reached a wall of black stone, and, at first, she thought she had hit a dead end. However, an examination of the scene showed a rickety wooden ladder near the corner, and with the help of a powerful lumos, Lily saw that the ladder extended far upward to another landing. She thought for a moment and then put her wand between her teeth, starting up the ladder, which, in addition to squeaking forebodingly, was rather slippery.
Still, she reached the upper landing safely, and—in the wand light—Lily could just make out what looked like a trap door in the not-too-distant ceiling. There was no ladder here, but the stones in the wall were uneven enough that they could be climbed easily. Wand between her teeth again, Lily took hold of one protruding brick and slipped one foot between two others. She tested her weight, found the wall would hold her, and began the short climb upward.
When her head was inches from the trapdoor, Lily gripped a stone tightly with one hand and, with the other, withdrew her wand, tapping the wooden door once and muttering "Patefacio." The door did not swing open as she expected, but rather dissolved altogether. Lily felt the touch of cold air, and she could see a patch of the darkening sky.
It was not without difficulty that the witch managed to pull herself upward and out onto the ill-kept lawn, which—if James's information was correct, and she had no reason to doubt it—was that of the garden behind the apothecary shop. Her socks were soaked, and—in the better lighting—she saw that she was rather dirty from the tunnel, but Lily had no time to fret about that. She moved her legs away from the hole through which she had climbed, and almost the moment she had done so, the dirt surrounding the opening closed up again, sealing the gap quite naturally.
Lily glanced about for something with which she might mark the spot, and she located a white stone near the fence that she thought would do the trick. When the tunnel entrance was marked, she took a moment to find her bearings. There were voices coming from within the nearby shop, and since she guessed that the apothecary would be less than receptive to a strange girl appearing from his backyard, the witch moved behind a large bush before trying the fence. It was not high, and she hopped it with little trouble. She was then standing on a dusty back road (fortunately deserted) that ran parallel to the main street. From there, she could determine where to go next.
Clutching her wand, Lily jogged west towards the area James had mentioned. The sun in the sky continued to sink, and she didn't have much time.
As she traveled, Lily became aware of an audible commotion in the distance, and it grew louder and louder as she continued along the road. The houses and shops impeded her view of the high street, but from the shouts, Lily could guess the cause, and it only made her move with more urgency.
Soon, the road was a path, and then the path was merging with another, which tapered off as the terrain became greener and hillier. Lily was climbing through shrubs and over rocks soon thereafter, until she reached the spot she thought James meant. There was a small, shallow cave, low enough that Lily had to duck her head to enter. Even in the dim light, the back of the cave was quite visible at the mouth. The witch frowned, running a hand along the rough stone cave wall.
James hadn't mentioned a password for this entrance... what if Luke was already through? But he'd said her passage would get her there in much better time... should she wait...?
Lily pointed her wand at the cave wall, tapping it once and muttering—as before, "Patefacio." Nothing happened. She swore under her breath and retreated momentarily, before stepping forward again and repeating the gesture, this time with the incantation of a basic dividing charm: "Dissendium."
The effect was immediate: not unlike the entrance to Diagon Alley in London, the stones of the cave wall began to re-arrange themselves, rolling and sliding out of the way to reveal a long, dark tunnel. Lily stepped uncertainly forward. "Luke?" she inquired of the darkness, but she was met with silence. A little louder: "Luke?"
Still, no response. Lily deliberated, withdrawing the Marauders' Map from her pocket, though she knew that Luke had disappeared from it some time ago. Perhaps James had given her the wrong passage entrance... it was almost impossible to tell from the map...
"Luke!" she shouted again, moving into the passageway. She once more received no reply and was moments from choosing between heading for the Harpers' and exploring the tunnel, when a distant voice responded.
"Who's there?"
Recognizing her ex's voice, Lily sighed in relief, but did not answer the demand at once. She listened carefully instead and—after a few seconds of silence—could just make out the sound of scuffling feet.
"Who's there?" Luke shouted again, and he sounded closer. Still, Lily did not reply. The footsteps ceased for several seconds before starting up again, growing louder and louder as Luke evidently approached.
When they were fairly distinct, Lily dared a response: "Luke, it's me! It's Lily!"
He would either come out and meet her or turn around and run... either was acceptable, though she rather hoped for the former. Again, the patter of Luke's feet stopped briefly before resuming, this time at a much quicker pace. He appeared at the mouth of the tunnel a minute later, breathless and serious.
"Lily? What are you doing here? How did you...?"
Lily tucked the map into her pocket before the Ravenclaw could take note of it and hurried towards him. "It doesn't matter, Luke. I know what you're doing here, and I can't let you."
"I don't have time for this," insisted Luke, trying to sidestep her. Lily moved quickly to impede his path, and he noticed that she was holding her wand. "Are you going to hex me?"
"At this moment, I have no plans to hex you," replied Lily shakily. "Please, Luke," she continued. "The aurors are down at the shop—they'll either catch your brother or they won't... what are you going to do? Go fight with them? You'll only get yourself killed or arrested or..."
Luke looked crestfallen. "You're certain? About the aurors? I'm too late?"
"Too—too late for what?"
"I only wanted to warn them," muttered Luke. He sat down on a stone near the entrance to the cave. Lily—conscious of her promise to James that she would be in the tunnel before dark, but unable to do anything about the inevitable passage of time—sat down as well. "I had to try." His elbows propped up on his knees, Luke rested his forehead in his hands.
"Luke," began the Gryffindor softly, "please. What's going on?"
Luke looked up at her with sorrowful brown eyes, fingers kneading their way through his wavy brown hair. The sun dipped below the horizon. "How long do you think he will be in Azkaban?" asked the wizard, ignoring her question. "Very long?"
"I don't know," she replied truthfully. "It depends, doesn't it? If he surrenders—if he testifies..."
"Logan is not a coward," Luke whispered. "He's not a traitor either."
Lily argued neither point. "How did you break your arm, Luke?" she asked instead. His face grew hard—stony and secretive. "Luke, please. I have to know. You know I'd never be able to tell anyone."
Luke watched her carefully and then sighed. "Logan was here on the day of Black's funeral," he began with resignation in his voice and on his face. "He asked me to follow through on the job that he mentioned back in February."
"Job?"
"I don't know the details," he said vaguely. "Moving some objects—not very legal, obviously. I don't know if it was for the death eaters..."
Try as she might, Lily could not determine whether or not Luke genuinely believed that there was any possibility to the contrary. She certainly did not.
"...I told him 'no,'" Luke went on. "He was angry. He said they needed another wand, and it would be a good opportunity for me. I knew it was illegal—I begged him to turn himself in, but... he wouldn't, of course. I was afraid he would be hurt again, and this time there would be no one to take care of him. I met a few of his friends who would be on the job with him, but I didn't trust them much either, so..." he trailed off.
"So you agreed to help?" Lily finished.
"No. I told him I would wait in our old shop. If there was any trouble, they could apparate there, and I would clean them up, like before."
Lily hadn't the energy to be concerned by the twilight. Her eyes were transfixed upon Luke. "What happened?" she asked, breathless.
The Ravenclaw smiled bitterly. "There was trouble," he said. "Someone died. The others apparated to the shop. I did everything I could to clean them up, and then they—they had an argument. About me. One of them thought I must have told someone, because—because of the trouble."
Because the aurors showed up, Lily substituted in her mind.
"I didn't," he vowed sadly. "I didn't tell a soul. They fought about it. Logan stood up for me. He didn't believe I would tell. He knew I wouldn't. He believed me. He got the others to back down, until they received a message that said there were aurors at Hogwarts again. That was this morning. Then there was another fight."
"They broke your arm?" asked Lily. "The death—er, Logan's friends?" Luke stared silently down at his hands, and suddenly, Lily understood. "It wasn't Logan's friends, was it?" she breathed. "It was Logan."
Luke flinched. "He had to do it, Lily," insisted the wizard. "He had to prove to the others he was loyal—that I was trustworthy! He had to make sure they believed him!"
And the look in his eyes broke Lily's heart to witness. For the first time, she understood, actually understood, Luke Harper. She saw the consequences of the last few months—the consequences of his conflicted loyalties over Logan, his grief for his father, his fear for his family, his disappointment in Lily. He was torn apart. The weakness she had perceived in February—his feather trigger changeability—had left him in shreds, and now he clung to one thing he had always believed in, though his own, rational brain ought to have showed him reason. Though he had broken his arm and Merlin only knew what else, Luke believed in Logan. He had to.
His brown eyes were wide and dilated. He didn't—he didn't look all together there, and it broke Lily's heart.
"Oh, Luke," she murmured, barely able to kill tears.
"Logan had to do it," Luke repeated adamantly. "He had to do it. He didn't have a choice. I'm fine. I'm perfectly fine."
"Okay," she whispered. "Okay, I believe you."
"Don't appease me, Lily. He had to do it."
"Okay," Lily repeated, louder but in an unsteady voice. "It's okay, Luke." The light dwindled. "We have to go back to the castle," she went on, reaching over and taking his hand. "You have to get back to your dormitory. If Lathe—if anyone suspects you had anything to do with this..."
Luke, however, didn't seem to be listening. He was staring out of the cave, across the village as though searching for something. "I should have found a way to floo down here," he muttered, probably to himself. "If I had, I would have been able to warn Logan. At least Logan. I could have had him out of the shop, when the aurors showed up. How long do you think he'll be in Azkaban, Lily?"
"I don't know," Lily said again. "Luke—we have to go back to the castle. There's nothing you... nothing we can do for Logan now."
To her surprise, Luke nodded. He started back towards the now sealed passage entrance and then paused. "How did you get here, Lily?"
"There's another passage," she replied. "It comes out in the apothecary garden."
Luke stared thoughtfully at the rocky floor, calculating something, before looking up at Lily again. "We should take that route."
"No," said Lily firmly. "I know what you're thinking. You can't help them, Luke! It's too late."
"We'll stay off the main road, I swear," Luke promised. "We'll take a back road. If I could just catch a glimpse—just so I know that Logan's okay."
"You can't see anything from the road," replied the other. "There's no chance, Luke."
"But you said you saw the aurors..."
"I heard the aurors."
"That will be enough. Please, Lily. If there's even a slim chance..."
After a moment, it was against Lily's better judgment that she replied: "Fine." Luke exhaled, relieved. "But there are conditions. If we don't hear anything, we're not doubling back, and we're not stopping."
"Fine."
"And give me your wand."
Luke looked at her strangely. "Lily, you can't..."
"I don't want to summon it," she interrupted, forcing herself to speak steadily. "But, Luke, I will if I have to."
The Ravenclaw hesitated, then drew his wand and handed it to her. "Come on, then," he said, slipping past her into the open air. "Lead the way."
(Late)
"Well where do you think he is?" Peter pressed.
"I don't know," snapped James, pacing from one end of the dormitory to the other. "If I knew, I'd tell you—or, better yet, I would go and find him. So clearly I don't know."
Peter, who was seated on one of the beds, merely sighed. "Well why can't we use the map to find him?"
James temporarily ceased his nervous walking. "We—we can't. I don't have it."
Both Marauders were silent for a time, and then Peter spoke again. "You gave it to Lily when you two were up here, didn't you?" he asked quietly, and James nodded. "Why did she need it?"
"She... she just did, that's all."
"Is—is she in trouble?"
"Why do you say that?"
Peter shrugged. "You look like maybe you think she is."
James did not reply at once, but walked over to the bed and sat down beside his friend. "I don't know," he said. "I have this feeling she might be. I should've gone with her."
"Why didn't you?"
"It's just a feeling," sighed Prongs. "She said she'd be fine, and it—it shouldn't be a problem. Anyway, Moony needs us tonight. You've seen how he gets if we're not there when he transforms." James stood up again. "Which brings us back to bloody Sirius..."
"We still have time," said Peter calmly. "He'll be here. He always is."
(Road)
She held Luke's hand as they walked. It was an unromantic act, but it was not controlling either. She merely led the way—Luke half a step behind her—towards the apothecary shop, and for once, holding his hand felt natural.
Lily tensed as the voices from town became audible. Words could be made out the closer they came to the Harper's shop... she didn't hear the aurors anymore: only the chatter of spectators. From the villagers' discussion, she determined that Lathe and the aurors had put up wards to stop the death eaters from apparating or flooing. It sounded as though the aurors were going to (or already had) entered the shop... beyond that, they had only to guess.
"Luke," she pleaded, as the Ravenclaw slowed to listen better. "Please, let's hurry. If anyone sees you, you'll be in trouble."
"So will you," Luke pointed out, though he complied with the tug of her hand.
"I'm not talking about being out of the castle," said Lily. "I'm talking about if someone suspects you were involved in what happened: in Logan's job."
Luke was silent until they reached the apothecary. They both climbed the short fence into the back garden and moved surreptitiously behind a bush to make sure the yard was all clear. Certain that it was, Lily pulled Luke's wand from her pocket and presented it to the wizard.
He looked at her skeptically.
"I trust you," she said. Luke took the wand, and the pair moved around to the spot that Lily had marked with the white stone. She tapped the earth once with her wand and said: "Patefacio."
As before, the dirt and weeds seemed to dissolve, revealing the tunnel through which Lily had traveled not long before. Luke seemed less certain. "How do we get down?"
"The wall. There's stones... it's an easy climb. Here—Lumos." Her wand lit up, and she pointed it down the tunnel, revealing the wall and the dark, dank landing below. "Be careful when you land," Lily advised, as Luke positioned himself to descend. "There's another level below that's the actual tunnel, so don't just go trotting about or you'll fall."
Luke nodded and started down. Lily continued to hold the light, keeping watch on the shop as she did so. Luke was completely underground but still climbing the wall when she thought she heard a voice much closer than the Harpers' shop.
"Someone's coming," she muttered.
"What?" asked Luke. "I'll jump to the bottom."
There was no time, though, and Lily knew it. She could hear the handle of shop's back door being fiddled with... they would have company in a moment, and even if she jumped into the tunnel now, the hole might not seal itself in time... the Apothecary would see it... he might even figure out where it led, and the Marauders' passage would be ruined. Plus, Luke risked exposure...
"Follow the tunnel back to the castle," Lily ordered rapidly. "I'll take your passage."
"Wait, Lily..."
But she was already moving away from the hole, and the ground closed up once again. Lily made for a nearby tree, but the door was already swinging open, and an elderly wizard with a cane appeared on the steps. Lily froze, and he saw her.
The wizard drew his wand at once. "You, girl!" he snapped. "What are you doing in my garden?"
"Um... I'm... that is, I..."
"You shouldn' be here!" the wizard barked, ignoring her stammering. "It's dark out, girl! Don't yer know there are death eaters about?"
"W-w-well, I was just..."
"Never mind it! I know exactly what yer were doin'! Stealing my dittany leaves, weren't yer?"
"Oh, no, I was..."
"Yes, yes, yer were! Now get ya out of here, b'fore I call over those aurors to deal with yer! Hear me, girl?"
She didn't wait to see him wave his cane threateningly at her. In little more than a single movement, Lily turned and hopped the fence, jogging up the road once again. The wizard shouted after her, but his voice soon faded into the shouts from the street. The sky was quite dark, but the reflection of dozens of spells could be seen flashing against the clouds.
The road was growing narrow and dusty again before Lily slowed her pace even slightly. The nightfall stung her conscience, given her promise to James, but there was nothing to be done about it now. She had tried to get into the passage, hadn't she? Anyway, she'd be in the other tunnel soon.
"Bode! Mandella!" a nearby voice rang out suddenly—from an intersecting road, Lily guessed. She slowed down at once, moving behind a tree along the side of the path. Seconds later, three wizards and a witch appeared on the road ahead of her, walking quickly. One wizard, a silver-haired man with a goatee, was the speaker, and he barked orders at the other three. "You take these roads. Robards, you join Gibbon on the west end. No one leaves, y'hear?"
"Sir," acceded one of the wizards—presumably Robards. He started at a jog down the road in Lily's direction. The apparition wards must have prevented him from traveling magically to the other end of the road, and though the darkness and the tree collaborated to shield her from sight, as Robards passed and the silver-haired wizard continued to bark orders at the other two, Lily leaned against the trunk and sighed.
"Shit."
(Quiet)
How quiet the grounds became after dark.
It occurred to Severus, as he slipped out from his hiding place amongst a scattered plot of trees west of the castle, that the school was a far more enthralling place when his classmates had retreated to their dormitories and Common Rooms for the evening. Without the dull, ignorant, and idle chatter of his peers, Hogwarts was an entirely different entity. Perhaps that was why he preferred the dungeons to the Great Hall and the library to the Common Room.
The sky grew blacker and blacker. The moon would be up soon, and that was the time Black had said he would be able to get into the Whomping Willow.
Severus gazed through the treetops at the dimming sky and felt himself smile. He was almost there, now. After all of these years, just minutes remained...
He could already see James Potter's expression when he found out... found out that he knew...
(Idea)
"Shit."
The commanding auror's voice faded—he seemed to be moving back onto the high street. The other wizard and the witch, however, remained put, and Robards was headed towards the other end of road. How on Earth was Lily supposed to get back to the castle?
"Shit, shit, shit..." she whispered. "Okay. Okay, get a grip, Lily. Calm down. You can do this."
She cast her eyes about, and then—spotting a gap between two shops—Lily made her best go at an idea. She glanced around the tree trunk to make sure that the coast was clear; then, moving quickly, she bolted between the two shops. There was a wooden fence spanning the narrow distance, but a ladder appeared at the flick of her wand, and Lily climbed over, dropping to the ground on the other side with an uncomfortable Oof.
She got to her feet quickly, wincing as she put weight on her ankle but aborting all thought of the pain. She didn't have much time.
She moved out of the alleyway and onto the high street, finding herself between a residential house and one of the lesser robe shops. The road was crowded with spectators, all staring down the street at the spectacle at the Harpers' shop. In the pushing crowd, however, Lily saw very little, and she didn't have time to dawdle for a better look. She shoved her wand into the pocket of her robes and attempted to move through the mass of villagers, all craning to get a better look at the commotion.
"Everyone indoors!" an auror was shouting as he ran up and down the road, but no one paid him any more attention than they did Lily, as she ducked through the crowd, moving against the general grain the very quickest that she could. "Inside, inside!" shouted the unfortunate auror, shooting sparks futilely into the sky. "Get inside! For your own safety, please move indoors!"
About a third of the onlookers shuffled half-heartedly back towards their domains, but most did not. Still, by sticking close to the shop doors, Lily could move fairly quickly—hopefully quickly enough to beat that Robards wizard...
Lily had been elbowed, kicked, and trodden upon before the crowd began to dwindle, and the shops became scarce. Here, the road split off in three directions—one led south (to where, Lily didn't know), one led to the Shrieking Shack, and the last—the path that stretched out directly in front of her—led to Hogsmeade Station. The auror sent to keep watch had not arrived yet, and Lily took this middle path at a sprint.
(Now)
It would happen soon.
Remus breathed deeply, willing himself to pay attention to anything but the imminent transformation. Perhaps more troubling was the absence of the other Marauders—they had usually arrived by this time, and he could only hope that the fact that they hadn't was not an indication of trouble. Still, while unusual, late arrivals were not unheard of: they would be there soon. They always were.
The dust lay thick on the wooden floorboards, and Remus began to trace designs with his finger. Draco dormiens nunquam titillandus, he wrote. Then, below it, he added Moony was here, and it made him smirk a little, because it was the sort of immature thing Sirius would do. He wiped away the last two words, replacing them with Contra Mundum. Below the words, he etched a circle in the dust—the moon, he surmised, because that was always in the back of his head—and then, to take his mind off things, he drew two dots for eyes and a curved line for a mouth inside the shape. It was almost an oval, really, he reflected.
The Shack creaked in the moving wind, and Remus wondered vaguely if there would be rain again. The face he had drawn stared up at him.
De nihilo nihil, he wrote—it was something he'd read earlier. When he moved his finger up, the dust from the floor clung to it, soft like velvet. If he looked closely, he could see each grey, minute speck. Why did they stick together like that, anyway?
Remus held his hand flat, and with his palm smeared the picture and most of the words with it. He wished he had his watch on him so he might know the exact minute, but even without out, he was well aware that what would happen would happen soon—minutes. There were only minutes left. His stomach churned in ominous anticipation, and his head throbbed, and if only the windows weren't boarded up, he might see the sky.
Nihil, his inscription now read.
A swift pain shot through his stomach, and Remus gripped at his sides, groaning. This time, the agony did not subside. It grew and expanded, and, with his feet, he pushed himself up against the wall. A familiar ache racked his bones and muscles and skin. He gasped for air.
It was starting now.
Sirius strolled into the boys' dormitories a little before nine o'clock.
"Where the bloody hell have you been?" demanded James, jumping up from his bed at once. Sirius was grinning, though, and did not seem bothered by his friend's agitation. "Moony's set to change in a few minutes! You've got the cloak, yeah?"
"I have it," Sirius confirmed, pulling out the Invisibility Cloak and dropping it on a chair. His gait was uneven and seemed far too relaxed: James realized why a moment later.
"Are you drunk?" he asked, sighing.
"Barely."
"It's not safe if you're drunk," said Peter. He had been lying on his own bed, but on Sirius's arrival, sat up. "Remember what happened last time?"
"I'm only a little tipsy, that's all," began Sirius, rolling his eyes. "Thanks for the concern, Gran, but..."
"It's fine," James interrupted. "We'll conjure you some coffee..." He did so with a wave of his wand and then crossed the room to hand over the goblet. "Drink that. We'll miss the transformation, but it's fine."
Sirius let out a great, bark-light laugh. "We'll be missing more than that tonight, Prongs."
"What do you mean?" Peter wanted to know.
Sirius's grin grew broader still. "I'm a genius," he claimed. James couldn't help but grin a little as well.
"What did you do, Genius?"
"I got Snape." Sirius took a drink of the coffee. "I figured out my revenge."
"Brilliant," replied his friend. "But that can wait for tomorrow. Tonight we've..."
"No, no." Padfoot sat down on the chair over which he had draped the cloak. "I've already done it. It's already done. In fact..." he checked his watch, "Phase two begins any minute."
He wanted to get to Remus as soon as possible, but the fact that Sirius finally seemed to be taking pleasure in something (anything) was enough to distract James at least momentarily. It seemed an eternity since Sirius had looked genuinely happy. He matched his friend's expression and sat down as well. "Well, let's hear it, then. What's the brilliant revenge?"
Sirius took another gulp of coffee, probably to extend the suspense. When he had placed the goblet onto the desk and shifted his chair to face the other two properly, his eyes danced with mirth. "I told Snape."
The others waited, and when no explanation came, James bewilderedly pressed: "You told him... what?"
Sirius breathed, and then elaborated with unconquerable satisfaction: "I gave him exactly what he's always wanted. I told him how to get into the Whomping Willow."
James did not understand; his smile had not quite faded when he said: "Don't be thick, Sirius. What did you do, really?" But as the words escaped, he began to read the expression on Sirius's face. It was no joke.
"Think about it, Prongs!" said Sirius enthusiastically. "He's going to go down there, get through the willow, see Moony, and—can you imagine? Can you imagine his expression?" So absorbed in his amusement was Sirius that he utterly missed the change in James's expression.
"Padfoot," he half whispered, getting to his feet. "You're... you're joking, right? This is a joke. This has to be a joke..."
Because it couldn't be true...
"What's wrong with you, Prongs?" snorted Sirius after another gulp of coffee. "Snivellus will..."
"Tell me you're joking," ordered James through gritted teeth. Sirius met his eye with defiance.
"I'm not. I told Snivellus how to get through the Whomping Willow." He noticed for the first time that Peter was staring at him—not with admiration or amusement, but with shock... even horror. "What wrong with you two?"
James ignored the question all together. He moved quickly to the window, peering out at the clouded, dark sky. "Shit," he swore, grabbing the cloak from Sirius's chair.
"Hey!" protested the slightly displaced Padfoot. "Hey, Prongs! What are you doing?"
James, already halfway to the door, wheeled around. "You told Snape?" he shouted. "You swear to God you told him how to get to Moony?" Sirius's expression was confirmation. "Why? What in Merlin's name would possess you to do that?"
Sirius stared, confused, between James's cold fury and Peter's shocked fright. "What do you mean 'Why?' You know why... he's Snivellus. He's..."
"He's about to get bitten by Remus is what he is!" roared James, and the dormitory seemed to shrink. The air grew tight. Beside James, everything else seemed small, quiet, and nervous, and never—not once in six years—had Sirius or Peter seen him like this. "Do you have any idea...? Any fucking clue what this means? Moony could go to prison... he could be killed—either one of them could be..." He made to put on the cloak, but Sirius stopped him, grabbing his arm.
"Where are you going, Prongs?"
"Where the hell do you think? I'm going down to stop this!"
How quiet the grounds became after dark, Lily thought.
She trudged up the slope towards the castle, tired and overheated, but grateful she had been lucky enough to get through the gates before they closed.
The sky was quite dark now, and Lily had not the energy to fret about how she would get back into the castle. She had the Marauders' Map, after all—that ought to provide her with some passage inside. Anyway, she would worry about it once she was closer to the school. She would worry about what to tell James then, too, and what to do about Luke, and what to tell Lathe should he question her again. Later. Not now. Now, she had only to enjoy the cool air on her face and the quiet of the Hogwarts landscape.
It happened just like Black said it would. Severus touched the knot amongst the roots without being bludgeoned to death by the Willow, and immediately—as promised—the tree froze. The gap was there, ready and waiting for him, and, brushing dirt from his knees, Snape took the plunge.
The landing was rough and uncomfortable, and he bruised his hands as he slid downward. When he came to a tumbling halt at the bottom, Snape groaned a little, but shook of his pain and stumbled to his feet. He had to duck at first so as not to knock his head against the low, jagged ceiling, but a tunnel stretched out before the Slytherin, and as he traveled hastily through, maneuvering became easier.
Severus had no clear idea of how long he traveled in the passageway; he slipped twice but barely felt it and moved unflinchingly on. His feet seemed to run on their own, his hands outstretched to steady himself, though he had no intentional notion of directing this. His heart beat wildly with excitement.
The thrill, the high—he'd only felt anything comparable once before, and then he had been almost too nervous, too furious, to appreciate. Now, he had time, plenty of time, to savor.
The tunnel inclined upward, steeper and steeper; he was almost climbing. His socks were drenched and there was mud underneath his fingernails. Steeper and steeper, upward. He moved too quickly—his hands were cut. All was black. Black, cold, stale air.
Then, the path stopped. A low, trapdoor beckoned.
Excitement, fear, anticipation—he couldn't breathe.
Then—
"Snape!"
His surname rang out, echoed, from a far away source that Severus did not need to recognize to identify. Snape drew his wand (when had he put it away?), lit it, and looked around. He was still alone.
"Snape!"
He could hear clattering footsteps. He had to hurry.
With his wand, Severus pushed open the trapdoor, and with the stony wall, he pushed himself upward. The voice from the tunnel did not repeat.
The vast lawn was beginning to level out, as Lily walked north, past the lake. Hogwarts—on its pedestal-like peak—glistened blue in the moonlight, a contrast to the dark clouds swirling around it. At her pace, she was still about ten minutes out, and perhaps she ought to have hurried a little, but Lily dreaded the thought of making the decisions she'd designated for arrival. So, hands in her pockets, she plodded onward, with the great white moon as her only lantern.
Severus found himself standing in a room—a large, dusty, derelict common room. The windows were boarded up, and he was alone. Except for the creaking of the floorboards as he walked cautiously over them, the house was quiet, completely silent, for several seconds.
Then, from upstairs (the steps were rickety and mostly destroyed), there was a crash, and Severus jumped.
His wand ready, he peered up the staircase, slowly moving in that direction.
It appeared at the top of the stairs—grey, huge, and growling. A werewolf.
The creature saw him, no question, and Severus knew why it did not attack at once—there was no need. It could close the distance between them in seconds... there was no possible way that he, Severus, could reach the trapdoor before the monster (Remus Lupin!) could get to him.
He was frozen for several seconds, unconscious of everything except the monster at the top of the stairs, who barred its teeth gleefully. Then, several things happened at once.
The moment the wolf started to move—to bound down to the first floor—Severus raised his wand to attack, and, in the same instant, a hand grabbed Snape's arm, pulling him forcefully back.
The wolf landed, thrashing, mere inches from where Sev had formerly stood. The Slytherin had fallen from the force with which his advocate had pulled him backwards. He slid along the dusty floor.
"The door!" shouted the voice of James Potter.
Automatically, Snape tried to protest, but he realized quickly that argument was unwise. The wolf regained the balance it had lost in the jump, and swung one of its enormous paws in the direction of the two wizards. Potter pulled Snape back again, but this time he did not remove Severus quickly enough. The monster's claws tore into his lower leg as though it were made of silk.
With a great ripping sound, the wolf pulled back, pulling blood and flesh with it.
Severus screamed out in pain, and James was pulling him again, shouting something that Snape did not understand.
James kicked open the trapdoor and very nearly threw Snape's limp, agonized form down into the tunnel. Remus the wolf advanced quickly, and James threw stunning spell at him.
The werewolf paused dizzily and then fell to the floor in a shattering, dust-raising heap. James jumped down into the tunnel with a groaning Snape.
He breathed heavily, trying to think what to do next. "Will you shut up?" the Gryffindor barked at Snape. "I'm trying to think."
But Snape's leg bled profusely, and he ignored James. As it turned out, he didn't have much time to think anyway. A rumbling sound, following by growling told them that Remus was waking from his stunning spell, for the effects were minimized given the size and power of the target. Panicked, James grabbed the side of the stone wall and tried to pull the trap door shut. He was too late.
Remus's heavy paw held the wooden door open against the shack floor. His yellow eyes fixed on James, and he readied himself to pounce.
"Stupefy!" James shouted again; he did not wait to see the effect. James dropped back down to the tunnel and pointed his wand at Snape.
"Sorry, but I don't have a choice," he muttered, before adding: "Stupefy."
Snape finally stopped groaning as he passed out of consciousness. James ducked down and, with adrenaline-aided haste, threw the Slytherin over his shoulder. He closed his eyes and, for a moment, allowed the world around him to grow silent as he concentrated.
A familiar sensation gripped his muscles, causing them to seize up and then expand, as though he were performing a difficult stretch (magnified by ten). He felt his hair growing, tickling the back of his neck, and his heart beat slowed ever so slightly. His temperature rose, and for a moment, his thoughts were incoherent.
Then, his mind cleared again, and he set out at a sprint down the tunnel, Snape still slung over his back. However, as he ran, the sound on the stone floor was not that of his tennis-shoes, but of hooves.
Lily was close now. She had withdrawn the Marauders' Map from her pocket and was scanning for a passageway into the castle. There was a place along one of the courtyard walls that looked like it would do, but she could not be certain until she tried, and there was no indication of how she might get through. If worse came to worst, she might be able to levitate herself up to a dormitory window...
Lily returned the map to her pocket and continued across the lawn. She was at such a place that anyone looking out their window could have seen her easily, and if they were on a lower floor, they probably would have been able to identify her (well, the red hair didn't help).
Really, Hogwarts was beautiful at night—the whole thing. The dark castle, the shining lake, the perfectly stationary Whomping Willow...
Wait...
What?
Never, in six years, had Lily seen the Whomping Willow perfectly stationary. Relatively calm, yes, but never stock still.
Maybe fifty yards from the tree, Lily stopped to make sure she had seen correctly, and she had. The tree stood frozen like a statue. Confused, Lily slowly approached. Then—
"What the hell...?"
Something appeared at the base of the tree, and even in the full moonlight, Lily could not quite make out what it was. She moved closer, and she made out a shadowy figure, limp as it emerged from the roots, as though the ground were vomiting it up. The Willow shuddered, causing Lily to start, but before it began to resume its typical tossing, the branches once again froze.
The thing—Oh, God, it looked like a body—was completely expelled from the roots, and Lily was about to move closer, when something else appeared from the base of the tree. It was—well, she had no idea what it was, except white. Very, very white.
Before the white thing (creature?) had emerged entirely, however, the glow surrounding it seemed to fade, and only another shadowy figure remained. This one moved more easily than the other, however, actively pulling itself out onto the grass. The Willow shuddered again, but the second figure seemed to strike the tree, and it froze again.
The second figure (a person, a male, a student, she thought she could determine) staggered to his feet and grabbed the first person by the arms, dragging it towards the castle. The people—whoever they were—did not see Lily at all. She opened her mouth, fully intending to call attention to herself, when she thought better of it and remembered the map. Hands shaking, Lily pulled it from her pocket again.
James Potter and Severus Snape.
Lily gasped.
She walked quickly, practically jogging, after them, and was once again going to call out before she caught another glimpse of the map again. A third dot (other than her own) had appeared and was emerging from the Whomping Willow.
Remus Lupin.
Lily wheeled around. The Willow began to quake again, and she was not entirely sure that she was out of its range. It did not freeze like before, however, and for a second, Lily was worried about Remus.
Wait—Remus? Hadn't he gone home for the rest of the...?
"Lily!"
James's voice shouted her name, and she spun around. "James, what the hell is...?"
"Lily," James interrupted, panic and anger and fear ringing through his voice, "Run!"
"What are you...?"
But she learned exactly what James was talking about without one word from the wizard himself. A great, bone chilling howl echoed across the grounds, and Lily looked over her shoulder. At the base of the Whomping Willow stood—stood something... she couldn't quite...
The tree thrashed, and the thing bounded out of its trajectory, and Lily realized exactly what it was.
The pieces fell into place. Lily grabbed her wand and followed James's instructions, breaking out into a sprint towards him.
Remus. Wolf. Snape. James. The Willow. Werewolf. Remus.
Oh, God.
James had long since dropped Snape's apparently unconscious form, and, much to Lily's horror, he was now running... not away from the wolf, but directly towards it.
"James!"
"Get Snape up to the castle and wait for me!" James shouted as he passed her. Lily, five or six paces from Snape still, stopped and turned to see what James thought he could accomplish verses a werewolf (even one that may or may not have been his best friend), but James was gone. In his place, galloping towards the werewolf, was the giant white creature Lily had glimpsed earlier.
A stag.
"Shit."
Lily stumbled towards Snape. His leg was bleeding, and he was pale. She collapsed onto the grass beside him, tapping his face frantically and muttering, "Wake up, wake up, wake up, Sev, please..."
If she had been thinking more clearly, she would have used magic, but Lily's attention was torn between her unconscious friend and the werewolf and the stag, who seemed to be something between playing and fighting, all the while dodging attacks from the tree. So, instead, Lily pointed her wand at Snape and said, "Wingardium leviosa."
His body became stiff and rose several inches from the ground. Lily staggered to her feet, pulling a levitated Snape around so that he moved in front of her. They reached the short path up to the castle, but Lily did not continue. She directed her wand—and, by extension, Snape—up the path, dropping him as gently as she could near the closest castle wall. Then, she turned back towards the Whomping Willow.
Her heart skipped a beat when she realized that both James (as a stag) and Remus (as a wolf) had disappeared.
"Shit," she swore again. Her hands flew to her forehead, and she tried to steady her breathing. What next? What next? Where was James? How did he...? And Remus...? And...
And the map.
Lily tore it from her pocket again and searched the map for any sign of James or Remus. However, neither appeared. Lily looked up at the real Whomping Willow. It shuddered and then began to sway.
Of course—they must have gone back down underneath the tree. James must have warded Remus down there... as an animal, he wouldn't be capable of being changed... of course... but Snape—how did Snape figure into...?"
Lily turned and hurried up the path as quickly as she could. Snape lay as though sleeping on the grass, and, kneeling beside him, she checked the wound on his leg, realizing for the first time what it might mean. Blood pounded in her ears as she moved the shredded remains of his trousers up his leg to see the cut.
They weren't teeth marks, though. They were scratches.
Lily flicked her wand twice, conjuring two white towels which she quickly tied around the bleeding portion of his leg. She checked his eyes, and found that they didn't appear out of the ordinary... he didn't seem to have fainted... it looked more as though he'd been stunned...
The Slytherin began to stir, and Lily realized what must have happened. She pointed her wand at him.
"Sorry," she murmured. "But I think you're supposed to be asleep."
She did not stun him, but cast a quick sleeping spell instead. It would last longer and be a bit more comfortable for him. Then she checked the map again. A path extended from beneath the Whomping Willow, but it cut off before reaching any discernable destination and if James had, indeed, steered Remus through this passage, they were no longer visible on the map.
Lily sat down, and ran one hand through her hair, which was moist with sweat and stuck to her forehead. Dark clouds overhead threatened imminent rain, but the moon was still quite visible.
She wasn't sure how long she sat there—staring up at the sky—but it probably was not more than a few minutes. Then, she looked down at the map once more, and, much to her relief, James had appeared again. She got to her feet and craned to see him as he emerged from the Whomping Willow, but her view was obscured, and she did not see him until he was halfway across the lawn. He was still in stag form, and this time when he changed, she saw it happen.
The nearly iridescent whiteness faded first, growing darker and darker, as the limbs and muscles of the creature changed shape; its head shrunk, the long white mane retracted and became black, and galloping became running. By the time he reached the path, there was only James Potter, no stag... no (and the thought occurred to Lily for the first time) Prongs.
"James," she breathed when he reached them; the sweat on his face gleamed, and his clothes clung. "Are you okay? What...?"
"I left the door open," muttered James distractedly, kneeling down beside Snape and examining his leg. "It was stupid, but I didn't think... it was just... anyway, he escaped and then I had to... you did this? With the wound?" He pointed to the bandages Lily had conjured.
"Yes. But, James, y-y-you're not making sense. What happened? That—that was... the wolf... it was..." James looked up at her expectantly. "That was R-Remus, wasn't it?"
He nodded mutely. "He's locked in the shack now," explained the Marauder vaguely. "He won't get out again."
"I don't understand," Lily breathed, as James removed the towels and pointed his wand at the cuts. "How did Severus find him?"
James did not reply. Instead, he asked: "What are you doing out here, Lily? You promised you'd be back in the passage before dark."
"The passage was blocked by the aurors," said Lily impatiently. "How did Sev...?"
"The aurors?" snapped James, glancing up at her. "What aurors?"
Lily realized her mistake, but it was too late. "The... the aurors in the village." And, because there was no point in denying it any longer, "...the ones sent to capture Logan Harper."
James stared. "That's why you... why you had to get Harper..."
"He was going after Logan, I had to..."
"You lied to me..."
"I did not!"
"Well, you mislead me..."
"James, now is hardly the time for this," Lily reminded him. "And seeing as I just saw you turn into a giant white horse..."
"Stag."
"Whatever—I don't think you should be lecturing me about honesty!" James was silent for a few moments. He was removing the blood from Severus's leg with Lily's towels. "He should go to the Hospital Wing," she pointed out. "Werewolf scratches are..."
"I know," interrupted the other. "I'll take him there. I just... I don't want it to look too bad when Madam Pomfrey sees it. I..."
"James, you're bleeding!"
Lily noticed the large tear on the back of one of James's shoulders—a clear imprint of claws.
"I've had worse," said James curtly. "But I'll need you to help me fix that before I take Snape to Madam Pomfrey. Yeah?"
"I don't know how to heal werewolf scratches..."
"Then I guess it's a good thing I do. At least well enough. Just watch this, yeah?"
Lily had never heard him speak so brusquely—and that was saying something. She watched and listened as James closed the gashes on Severus's leg, all the while trying to piece together everything in her mind.
"Okay," she whispered, "so Remus is a... a... a..."
"Werewolf."
"That's the one."
James nodded heavily.
"And you're an—an Animagus."
He nodded again, eyes fixed on Snape, his expression grim.
"Prongs," she clarified. "But—but I've read the register. You're not on it. So... so you must be... unregistered." He did not contradict her. Moony, Wormtail, Padfoot, and Prongs, she thought. Moony, Wormtail, Padfoot, and Prongs. "Moony—that's... that's Remus? Because of the moon. Because he's... But then... Wormtail and Padfoot... those are the nicknames for Peter and Sirius. What...?" She stopped. "They transform too. Like you. Is that it?"
James took a long time to respond. "Peter's a rat," he said finally. Lily waited for an explanation on Sirius.
"And... and 'Padfoot?'" she prompted.
"A dog," he almost whispered.
The skin on Snape's leg had all but closed. A low rumbling in the sky foretold imminent rain. "Alright," said Lily, "I think I can fix your shoulder... but you promise you'll have Madam Pomfrey look at it, too?"
"No."
"But..."
"Do you have any idea how much trouble Remus could be in for attacking one student, much less two?" James barked. Lily stared—honestly, she hadn't thought about it that way.
"Then why are you taking Snape to Madam Pomfrey at all?" she asked. "You know she'll have to go to Dumbledore."
James gestured for her to come and do his shoulder, and she complied. "There are two reasons," he said grimly. "One, Snape saw Remus. He knows how to get through the Willow and into the Shack. It's too late to do anything about that. The second—well, have a look at his leg."
Lily glanced away from her own wand-work towards James's. Snape's cut was very slowly peeling apart again, and a few drops of blood trickled from it. "Why is it doing that?" she asked, panicked.
"You have to keep re-sealing them for a while," said James, as he began to work on Snape's leg again. "They're cursed wounds."
Lily finished sealing James's shoulder. She added some bandages for good measure and magically re-stitched his robes. "You have to let Madam Pomfrey look at this," she insisted, but he shook his head.
"Peter can fix mine," he said. "Trust me—we've had a lot of practice." The Marauder got to his feet. "Lily, I don't think I have to say this, but—what you saw today, you can't tell anyone."
Lily nodded. "And what about Sev...?"
"Honestly...?" James looked down at the Slytherin and breathed. "I have no idea."
It began to rain.
"Go back to your dormitory," James half commanded. "I'll take him to the Hospital Wing."
"You don't need any...?"
"You can get into the west courtyard easily enough. The door unlocks with the incantation aperio magnus."
"James..."
But before she could finish whatever she wanted to say, they were interrupted.
"There you are, Prongs," said Sirius Black, as he approached. "What's going... Evans, what are you...?" He noticed Snape and paused. Lily saw James's face grow very, very pale.
"You should go, Lily," he said, not tearing his eyes away from Sirius.
"James, what's..."
"Lily."
His hazel eyes flashed dangerously, and Lily knew better than to fight. Pulling up her hood to protect herself from the rain, she turned and departed.
"Prongs..." began Sirius when they were alone; he took a step forward, but James moved away.
"No," he snapped. "No, you stay the fuck away from me, Sirius!"
The rain grew louder and heavier, and James stared coldly at his fellow Marauder, who seemed too stunned to speak.
"James..."
"What the fuck were you thinking?" James interrupted. "What the fuck were you thinking? Kill Snape? Murder Snape? Get Remus in more trouble than I can even say... Evans was out here—she could have been... Snape could have... You would... Fuck, Sirius, what were you thinking?" And his voice softened ever so slightly at the end, that Sirius had the courage to step closer.
"I wasn't... I just... I don't know, I was... Regulus, and..."
"And the worst part," said James bitterly, as though he had not heard Sirius's failed attempts to articulate thought, "The worst part is I actually thought you were different... different from Snape, from the Slytherins, from your fucked up family. I thought—thought you were one of us. But I was wrong, wasn't I? You're not different. You're exactly like them."
"Shut up," Sirius ordered. In retrospect, he would never know what made him say what came next, except the anger and fear had been boiling in him too long. He felt a key fumble for the lock in his mind, and as the words formed on his lips, he could hear the click of a door opening. He knew what he was saying, and he could see the anger in James's eyes before it appeared there, but he was already stepping over the threshold and past his point of no return. "You don't get to say that, James. Don't pretend that you would care one bit about Snape if it wasn't for her. And just because you're worried about what she thinks, you don't get to..."
A simple movement, really; the simple fluid movement of his arm, cocking back and propelling forward with a fuel of adrenaline, till his tightly fisted hand came into contact with Sirius's face.
Sirius staggered, tripping and skidding onto his back—onto the wet grass. James did not look where his best friend fell; Snape was coming around again. The Marauder scooped up the delirious Slytherin.
"Stay the fuck away from me," he repeated over his shoulder, before starting for the castle.
Cold water in his hair and an ache under his left eye.
James's parting words faded in his mind, and Sirius heard nothing but a heavy pounding in his ears: his heart beat. Cold water in his hair and an ache in his left eye. Slowly, the water trickled down his neck... his shoulders were wet, too... the collar of his robes... the large, white moon hung ominously overhead amidst grey, swirling clouds and a starless black sky.
He'd been here before.
Stay the fuck away from me.
It was the dream... the drowning dream.
Kill Snape? Murder Snape?
Sirius waited. He for the water to envelop and overwhelm him.
You're not different. You're exactly like them.
He waited to slip below the surface, to sink, to drown.
Brilliant. Perfect. Fitting.
He waited and waited. Rain slid across his face.
At the base of the tree, there's an opening in the roots...
Brilliant. Perfect. Fitting.
Stay the fuck away from me.
He waited for the water to overwhelm him. He waited for the grass to disappear, as it had in his dream, for the water to swallow him up. His eye throbbed, his back ached. He waited to sink and drown. He waited for the water to swallow him, but it didn't.
It was only the rain.
A.N. The last interaction between James and Sirius was written a long, long time ago—before I think I even published the first chapter on this site. It took me an hour to find the file I saved it under, lol.
So, this was a comparatively short chapter—a mere twenty-six pages! The next chapter is all about the fall-out!
Love to the fantastical Anonymous reviewers:
Mr. Pink (you're quite right about Frank and Alice. But, seeing as I get most of my inspiration comes from bad fanfiction, I wanted to try my hand at a storyline involving them, which is why I decided to put them only one year ahead of James, Lily, and co. Thank you for the feedback!), Amarilla Grey (I wouldn't say Lily is "chasing" Luke... well, literally she was, but not figuratively. She doesn't want Luke, and she has no romantic feelings for him, but he's an important person in her life, and Lily cares about people's well-being... arguably too much), TheTimeLord (Doctor, your interpretation of the Carlotta-teasers are quite perceptive; the timeline error, however, has been explained so many times my head hurts. Thank you, nonetheless, for you lovely and lengthy reviews), Anonymous (why thank you), anonymous (Thank you—I'm glad you like the supporting characters, and thanks for the support on Agrippa =P), Ahhreelmonsters (I loved smoking James too! But no one else did, lol, and, to be honest, it was always part of the plan that he would quit... you know, maturity and all that. But I'm glad you enjoyed that... and he's got some angst coming, so he might light up once or twice sometime soon...), twinkly (I hear ya—as for the dividers... I'm kind of experimenting with those, and I'm not sure what I'm going to use permanently, but definitely thanks for the input), FoggyMoon (aw, it's the thought that counts =P. thank-you!), Jay (Marlene's response in the next chapter—promise!), Sirius' Sweetheart (glad you enjoyed—this one's a little shorter, and hopefully easier to get through =P), Sophia, anonymous (number three... and thank you ASLDFKJALKEJRLKAQWERJ!), gigi Z (thank you!), and ElizabethKnightley (okay, so is your name really "Elizabeth Knightley" or are you combining names from "P&P" and "Emma?" OR are you combining Lizzie Bennett with an actress who portrayed her? Clearly, I have been pondering this—either way, love the penname, and thanks for the review!)
Reviews are summertime!
Love and cookies,
Jewels
P.S. Just geeked out as I realized this site now has a "World" option, in which you can select "books" or "movie." Don't know why that excited me so much... but who, exactly, is going to write in the movie-verse? No, hate, I just can't see a reason for it...