Chapter 22: A Friend Comes Back

James bolted upright in his bed. He grabbed his glasses and put them on. The dream had been so real. Lily had been there standing right in front of him. Just as he reached out to touch she was being pulled backwards. Then a green light came out of nowhere. She lay dead on the floor before he could react. He turned around and saw Voldemort standing there laughing like a mad man. Just as he was about to reach for his wand he woke up.

James got out of bed and walked down the stairs. He went into the living room. The clock read 9:00. He moved into the kitchen. He was meant with a black mop of black hair and bright blue eyes. "Couldn't sleep?" Karen asked.

"Nightmare," he replied. "Where's Sirius?"

"Asleep," she said. "He could sleep through a Death Eater attack."

"You can say that again," James snorted.

"Did you want some tea?" she asked. "I made some."

"No, I couldn't," he replied. "Not with Lily. . . . ."

That's all it took for Karen to burst into tears. James moved quickly and wrapped his arms around Karen. "I'm sorry," he told her. "I shouldn't have said that." He rubbed her back as she cried onto his shoulder. James knew Karen was strong; he wondered what her breaking point would be. Losing her best friend had been it apparently.

"I miss her so much, James," Karen sobbed.

"I know," he said. "I do, too."

A brown-haired girl made her way quickly up to the Potter Manner. She looked around to make sure no one was following her. Sighing she walked up onto the front porch. She knocked on the front door. No one came. She knew it was early, but at least one person was awake at this time. She knocked again, louder this time. The shuffling of feet could be heard inside. The door burst open and there stood a puffy eyed Karen Moore, her hair was disheveled and sticking up in odd places; tears still running down her cheeks. Behind her stood James Potter, his hair still messy as ever; he had been crying, but had stopped the tears before Karen answered the door. "Dorcas!" Karen shouted, throwing her arms around the brown-haired girl.

"Hi, Karen," Dorcas said, hugging her friend. She smiled sadly at James. After Karen let her go, she hugged James as well.

"I'm so sorry about Lily," Dorcas said. "I wish I could have been here sooner, but I had some business to take care of. Did you hear any news?"

"No, we haven't heard anything," James said, shaking his head.

"I'll go wake Sirius and tell him you're here," Karen said.

"Don't do that," Dorcas said. "Let him sleep. He'll need it. I have a feeling none of us are going to get much sleep now."

"I know how you feel," Karen said. "I haven't been able to sleep properly since I found out."

"I came back as soon as I could get off work for the Order," Dorcas told her.

"Lily wouldn't have wanted you to do that," James said.

"I did a lot of things Lily didn't like," Dorcas replied.

"James? Who's that?" someone called, walking down the stairs. They all turned and saw Remus walking into the room.

"Remus!" Dorcas' eyes lit up when she saw the sandy-haired boy coming down the stairs. It had been common knowledge in their 7th that Dorcas liked Remus, but he never seemed to take notice. However the Marauders knew that Remus liked her just as much. The feeling hadn't faded with time.

Dorcas ran over to Remus and through her arms around him. She smiled as she felt his arms tighten around her. Karen and James slowly backed into the kitchen. Dorcas pulled away to look at Remus. "How are you holding up?" she asked, letting her hands lower to his hands.

"Ok, I guess," Remus said with a shrug. "James and Karen are the worst. James thinks it's his fault and Karen is detaching herself from everyone. It's what she does when she's upset."

"Even Sirius?" Dorcas asked.

"I haven't seen them together to know," he replied. "I'm sure Sirius could get her to open up if he wanted to, but the thing is Sirius isn't exactly the most sensitive person in the world."

"I know," she said. "I wish I could have been here sooner."

"What you were doing was important, too," he told her. "You were helping defeat Voldemort."

Dorcas blushed and looked down. "Dorky?" a voice said.

Dorcas looked behind Remus to see a sleepy Sirius standing at the bottom of the stairs. She walked over and hugged him. "Hey, Sirius," she said. Sirius hugged her back.

"We missed you," he said.

Dorcas pulled away. "I missed you guys, too," she said.

"I'm sure you did," Sirius said. "I know R-"

"Shall we get some tea?" Remus asked, cutting Sirius off, who snorted.

"Sure," Dorcas said. "Coming, Sirius?"

"Why not," Sirius replied. They walked into the kitchen. James and Karen were sitting at the table. Dorcas smiled at them.

"Do you have any tea?" she asked.

Karen nodded. She moved over and grabbed the tea kettle and some cups. She gave one to everyone and sat down. Sirius sat down next to her while Remus and Dorcas sat with James. There was silence as everyone was in their own thoughts. James the first to break the silence. "I can't sit here anymore." He got up and started pacing. "I want to look for her."

"You know why we can't," Karen said. "We'd let our emotions get in the way."

"I don't care!" James yelled. "I have to find her! I can't sit here and wait for someone to walk through the front door and tell me what happened to her!"

"You think this is easy for me?!" Karen yelled back. "That's my best friend out there! You think I'm not hurting just as much as you are?! I want to look for her just as much as you do, but we have orders!"

"To hell with the orders!" he shouted. "I-"

"James! Karen! That's enough!" Sirius had stood up. "I know you both don't want to sit here and do nothing, but yelling about it isn't going to help. If Dumbledore wanted us out there he would have sent us. He might be an old duffer, but he knows what he's doing."

Karen turned on her heel and stormed out of the room. Sirius sighed and went after her. "James, are you alright?" Dorcas asked tentatively.

James kicked the leg of the table. "She's gone," he whispered. "She's really gone and I can't bring her back. I can't help her."

Tears started to pour down James' face and sobs racked his body. "Oh, James," Dorcas said and wrapped her arms around him. James buried his face in her neck. "Shh, it's ok, let it out."

James was always one of the stronger Marauders, it scared Dorcas to see him cry like this. He was usually the one making everyone else feel better. She sighed and rubbed his back comfortably.

"Prongs, mate, are you alright?" Remus asked from behind Dorcas.

James just nodded into Dorcas' shoulder. It was a no.

"Karen! Karen, slow down!" Sirius said, grabbing her arm and spinning her around.

Tears ran down her face and she looked away from him. "Come here, baby," he said pulling her into a hug. Karen buried her face in his chest. Sirius stroked her hair until she stopped crying enough to talk.

"I-I'm sorry," she mumbled into his chest. "I didn't mean to blow up like that. I just couldn't hold it back anymore."

"I know," he said. "It's alright. Next time. . . . . .could you just not blow up at James?"

"I'll try," she said.

"Now, come on, tell me what's wrong?" he asked.

"You know what's wrong," she said.

"Alright, do you want to talk about it then?" he asked.

"Not really," Karen replied.

"Sure you don't want to let it out?" Sirius said, tilting her head up so he could look her in the eye.

Karen nodded. "Can. . . .can we just go back to bed?" she asked. "I couldn't sleep last night."

"Yeah, of course," Sirius said, pulling her up the stairs. "Come on, love." He walked into his bedroom and laid Karen down on the bed, then laid down next to her. She curled into his chest and sighed. Wrapping his arms around her, he sighed and closed his eyes.

Dorcas sat next to James as he looked up at the ceiling. They were in the living room and James was lying on the couch while Remus and Dorcas sat next to him. "Did you want me to get you something?" Dorcas asked.

"No, but thanks for the offer," he replied. "I-I think I just need to be alone."

"Right," she said. "Remus let's go for a walk."

Remus nodded his head and followed her out. There was silence between the two friends neither of them wanting to break the silence. Dorcas looked at his hand and bit her lip. She wanted to reach out and hold it, but she knew it wasn't a good idea. He would just get all weird and clam up like he always did. "Is that the way James has been since Lily got captured?" Dorcas asked. "Explosive."

"Sometimes," Remus replied.

"When Lily gets back everything will be put right," Dorcas said. "I know it will. She and James will realize how much they love each other. Karen will be happy again. Everything will be ok. The Aurors will find her-"

Dorcas was cut off be something soft on her lips. She stood there wide-eyed as Remus kissed her. Just as quickly as he had kissed her he pulled away. "I'm sorry," he said. "I shouldn't have done that."

Dorcas stared at him for a moment then said, "Don't be sorry." She reached up and kissed him lightly on the lips then turned and started back to the house. "Better go check on James."

Remus stood there staring after her before a smile slid onto his face and he went after her.

A/N: Hello! So I thought I would do a little more on Remus this time. I haven't been writing him every much and I feel so bad about that. Leave a review, tell me what you think!