Chapter 14: We Have Some Intense Chats

(Hugo)

"You and I have to talk."

I turned around and saw Roxanne of all people standing behind me.

"Uh, me?" I asked slightly confused. Sure, me and Roxy were friends but she wanted to talk? We had never 'talked' before and it was especially odd since Lily and Lucy were in the room next to us. And Jacob. Why was I her first choice?

She rolled her eyes. "Yes, you."

"Okay, sure. What do you want to talk about?"

"Jacob," she replied.

I nodded. Now that made sense. Lily would've been too obsessed- plus Lils and Roxy were still on rocky waters- and Lucy didn't really care that much about Jacob. And Roxy definitely couldn't talk to Jacob about Jacob.

"What about him?"

"He seems a little different. Less himself."

"Yeah, I've noticed that too. A little edgy. You know why?"

"I'm not quite sure. He told me some things but… he seemed to be dealing with it. Now he's acting all depressed and stuff."

"So you want me to keep an eye on him?"

"Yes."

"Okay."

She smiled. "Great. Talk to you later."

I grabbed her by the arm as she turned to make a hasty exit. "You serious?" I snorted. "You're not getting away that easily."

Roxanne wasn't stupid, and she didn't pretend to be. She knew what I was talking about. So she sat down on the bed next to me and waited.

"What's wrong?"

She smiled but when she spoke her voice was a little shaky with a hint of bitterness. "Everything's fine. Why wouldn't it be?"

I moved closer to my cousin and put an arm around her. She closed her eyes tight and put her head down, against my shoulder. She wasn't crying, or at least I couldn't feel tears, but she was shaking a little and she gripped my shirt like it was her only lifeline.

"Hey," I said tilting her head up. "It's okay."

She let go of my shirt and clenched both her hand into fists. "No, it's not."

"Everyone's allowed to be scared or afraid or sad…"

She shook her head hard but didn't say a word. She seemed to be trying to gain control over her emotions. And it didn't seem to be working.

"You can't talk to Lucy because she's, well Lucy. You can't talk to Lily anymore because you're fighting. You can't talk to Jacob because you don't want to burden him. You usually lean on Frank, but he's been busy with Lucy lately." I paused for a minute. "So you've been alone. You need someone to talk to and that someone can be me, Roxy. Please talk to me."

She sighed. "What the hell did I do?" she asked quietly and forcefully. "What did I do to deserve my life? Why did I get stuck with them as parents?"

And it made sense. They never talked about it, Roxy, Fred or their parents, but our whole family knew neither of them had gotten over the loss of Uncle Fred. We suspected there was never any actual connection between the two except the deceased boy who was George's twin and Angelina's old boyfriend. Each other was the closest thing they had to Fred. And they both desperately needed him. Their love was really just their attempts at keeping their bond with Fred alive. And it makes sense that that would affect Roxy.

"Talk to me, Roxy," I whispered, "I can help."

"They've tried to kill themselves before, you know. I saw my mom do it once. She downed the whole bottle of pills. In front of me. It's a wonder she survived. And my Dad? He's on drugs. Tons of them. Had been for a while. Since Fred left for Hogwarts. They were hardly even parents! I had to take care of them! I laid awake in bed every night wondering if this was the night their argument would escalate into something more. Can you make those nights go away Hugo? Can you fix that?!"

Her words weren't accusatory or angry. They were desperate. She was really asking. She really wanted me to somehow magically get back the childhood she had been robbed of.

I stroked her thick black hair and wiped a tear off her cheek. "I'm sorry, sweetie, I can't."

I don't know why I said sweetie. It sort of just came out naturally. In a protective older brother sort of way almost, even though I was younger than her. And the word seemed to comfort her a little. At least she stopped yelling. Her voice, when she spoke again was gentle.

"I was the one who saw my mother lying in Uncle Harry's bedroom. I thought… I thought she'd tried to kill herself again. I thought she'd actually succeeded too. I called for my Dad but he didn't come. Uncle Ron showed up instead. He told me she was alive and so I went to find my Dad to tell him. He was outside, standing in a cloud of smoke with a bottle of Victory in one hand and some drug in the other. And when I told him Mom was inside, barely alive, he said 'who?'" she closed her eyes tight again and in a voice full of hatred said, "He didn't remember her, and he didn't recognize me. He said, 'Listen, I got some stuff to attend to' and just walked away. He was so drunk and high he didn't even remember his own kid!"

That's when she started full-out sobbing. I panicked inwardly because I didn't know what to do. Should I tell her everything is all right, that it's going to get better? Or should I tell her the truth, her parents are never going to fully heal?

"Roxy…"

She shut her eyes tight again. "Neither of my parents have called me that since I was eight. My father hasn't called me anything at all in the past year."

I sighed. "I'm not going to lie to you. Your parents need help. But that doesn't mean there's not hope. We can get them the help they need, we can-"

"Don't you think I've tried that?" She shrieked. "They insist they don't need help and you can't get an adult help or any sort without their consent."

She'd been there. She'd already tried that. This poor thirteen year old just wanted a happy, secure relationship within her family. It's all she asked for. And she'd already tried everything. Such a simple dream that was apparently impossible? I remembered Lily telling me about how Albus told her to have faith. How could you believe in a God when things like this happened?

After my minute long silence Roxy's face grew sad and bitter. "I should've known," she muttered.

"Known what?"

"That you couldn't help. I came here thinking, somehow that you'd have a solution. Huh."

"Roxy I-"

"No," she said all traces of emotion gone from her voice. Back to stoic Roxanne, the girl who didn't feel anything. "Don't apologize. It's not your fault. It's mine. I don't know why I ever let myself get my hopes up…"

"There is never anything wrong with hope," I told her firmly.

"Hope is the worst of evils, as it prolongs the torment of men," Roxanne said, like she as quoting someone. "It's exhausting Hugo. Hoping day after day. I did it for the longest time, for a good six years. Only last year did I realize that there's no hope, and no point in pretending there is."

I didn't say anything for a minute as I thought of what I could do to change her mind. "Roxy, maybe I'm not the best person to talk to about this, because I can't relate to you. I don't know what it's like to grow up in a broken family. But I do know what it's like to hope for something that seems impossible. I do know what it's like to be scared and want to bury my emotions behind a curtain of emotionlessness. You're in a dark tunnel and I get that. Why not just close your eyes and try your best to forget you're there? It sound easier right? Easier than facing it-"

"But I have faced it, Hugo! I've faced it so many times and I just can't do it anymore!"

"Hey, hey let me finish. You might not want to face it anymore, you might want to give up. But take hope and use it to your advantage. It's like your one light in this tunnel of darkness. You might not think it's done anything for you yet but it has."

"Oh yeah?" she asked, still bitter. "What's that?"

"It led you to me. You came here with hope. And if you give up that hope you'll never be able to find it again and you'll be wandering in a dark tunnel, bumping into the walls for the rest of your life."

Roxy snorted. "Isn't that exactly what I'm doing now?"

"No," I replied. "Right now you've extinguished the light but you haven't gotten rid of it. You can turn it back on, Roxy. And now even on those days where the tunnel is darker than usual or hope isn't shining as brightly as you wished, you'll know I'm there with you, even if you can't see me."

She seemed to consider this. Her face lightened up a bit, just a tiny bit but I could tell.

"And Roxy? If you entered this tunnel that must means there's an end to it." I reached and pulled my cousin closer to me and made sure she was facing me, and listening closely. "There's always an end unless you're the one who's building the tunnel around yourself."

All the compartments on the train were packed. I wandered around with Lily and Jacob trying to find somewhere that wasn't packed.

Lily sighed and grumbled, "I'm going to the loo."

Once she left, almost simultaneously, Jacob and I asked, "What's wrong with you?"

"What's wrong with me? What's wrong with you?" we said again in unison.

"No seriously, Jake, what's up?" I asked.

"I don't know what you're talking about," he said stubbornly.

"You don't think I noticed? There was only one person in that compartment back there and you steered us away from it."

Jacob shrugged. "I didn't realize."

I narrowed my eyes. "Stop playing stupid, Jacob. Your sister was in that compartment. And you better tell me why you're so keen on avoiding her before I alert Lily."

Jacob sighed, defeated. He didn't want to talk to anyone about his problem but more than that he didn't want Lily knowing his problems. She was the worst, at least with Jacob, when it came to talking.

"You already know. Me and my sister just don't get along, okay?"

I shook my head. "It's more than that. You're scared of her."

Jacob scoffed. "I'm not scared of my eleven year old sister, Hugo."

"Then you're scared of what she knows… do you think that she'd go telling everyone about what you went through with Jonathan?"

"No. She'd never do that. He might not have hated her as much as me but… well he did things to her too."

I nodded. "And you think those things are your fault. But they're not. And your sister has to know that."

"Look, Hugo, can we not talk about this?"

Jacob began to walk away. I grabbed his arm. "No. You keep running from your past, and it'll keep chasing you. And trust me Jacob you can't out run time."

I inwardly smiled. It seems I was pretty good at coming up with good things to say at the right time. Outwardly, however, for Jacob's sake, I kept a stern face.

"I'm not running from anything," Jacob snapped.

"Then why are you being so defensive?"

Jacob's eyes narrowed. I grinned triumphantly.

"Okay, fine. While I was there Jonathan reminded me of something. And my sister, she reminds me of things I'd rather not think about."

"What things, Jacob? C'mon, mate, you can talk to me."

Jacob put a hand at the base of his throat. "No, I really can't. Not about this."

"Why not?"

"Because this… this could hurt you. And it's something I'd rather not drag you into. Please, Hugo, just leave it alone."

I frowned at Jacob and then walked towards the compartment where Jasmine was sitting alone.

"Hugo, no!" Jacob shouted.

But I didn't listen. I grabbed him by the arm and practically shoved him in there. If he couldn't work it out by himself I'd have to give him a little push.

(Jacob)

I knew Hugo had meant to do anything bad. I knew he didn't understand but I couldn't help but be mad. I told him that he could get hurt badly. Did he think I was joking?

I stood in the doorway for a second trying not to think about how Jacob had just thrown me in here and locked the door the same way Jonathan had done when I was small. The way Jonathan still did.

After what seemed like an eternity my sister looked up from her book. For a second it was like she didn't even recognize me. Then her face wrinkled up as if she just smelt something foul. "I hardly even recognized you without all the blood and the scars."

It was true. My sister had never really seen me looking like a normal person. I'd never gotten the chance. The only memory my sister had of me was when I was begging Jonathan to either leave me alone or to keep her out of it.

But still, truth or not, it stung that my sister would bring back those painful memories. A million retorts came into my mind but I held my tongue. "They're still there. At least there's this one I'll never get rid of." I touched the base of my neck.

I noticed her do the same subconsciously. "Yeah. Well."

"Don't act like you're a stranger," I begged. "Don't pretend like you don't remember me."

"I remember you, Jacob," she said coolly. "No matter how hard I try I'll never be able to forget you. But I just prefer not to think about you."

I could feel my heart shatter into a million pieces. "Jasmine-"

"What are you even doing here?" she demanded. "Why do you insist on bringing up those old memories?"

"Please. Don't do this to me. You're the only family I have left-"

"Do not call us family. As far as I'm concerned Jonathan is a better brother than you."

Tears formed in my eyes. My voice grew scratchy. "How could you say that? How?"

"Because you're a pathetic loser!" she shouted. "You lied to me for years. You pretended to be some brave knight coming to my rescue. But really you stabbed me in the back! You left me at home while you fled to Hogwarts. In what part of your mind did you think that was okay?"

"I never forgave myself-"

"Save it. I'm tired of you lies. At least Jonathan never tried to deny the fact that he hurt me."

"But he did hurt you!" I cried. "He hurt both of us, Jaz."

"He never killed a man!" Jasmine shouted back, finally losing the control she had maintained up until now. Then she gave me a disgusted look. "You don't even regret it."

God, I wished so bad that she was lying. I wished I hadn't killed him. But that wasn't true. Because Jasmine was right I didn't regret a damn thing.

"I've saved your life, Jasmine! I killed him for you!" I snapped. "And you won't even look me in the eye."

She looked me straight in the eye now and with such intensity that it made me want to cry again she said, "Saving one worthless life hardy means anything. But killing a person, for whatever reason, is still murder. The road to hell is paved with good intentions, Jacob." She laughed bitterly and slammed the compartment door as she stormed out.

(James)

"It's cheating!"

"No, Alice, it's being smart," I argued. "They said I could."

"That's not what they meant and you know it."

"I don't cheat. You know that. I don't lie either. But this is not cheating or lying."

I held the map of the forest Fred and I had made last year in my hand. Working together with Alice we had finally deciphered the clues for the second task. It wasn't actually that hard. The clues had been On the Hogwarts property I lay, come to me and you shall be pray, I am the place with no rays. The only possible answer was the Forbidden Forest. It was on the Hogwarts property, if you went there you'd be hunted by various creatures and the sun didn't shine there.

I found out from Steffi that each set of clues was one part of the riddle. My clue explained the location, and Steffi said her clue explained that we would be facing, creatures ranging from Acromantula to Unicorns.

The clue also told me to see Neville when I had figured it out. So I did and he told me that I was allowed to bring one item, and my wand with me into the forest. I had chosen the map of the forest, which not only mapped more than half the forest-because there were certain points that no one dare pass- it showed areas of danger, and anyone else who was in that forest. So sure, it was stretching the one item rule, but it was the Professors fault for not being more specific.

"Digging for loopholes is lying, Jamie."

"Well, it's not like the competition couldn't do the same thing," I countered, maybe sounding a little too harsh.

The truth was, I cared a little too much what Alice thought. I may have been some big shot do what he wants type of guy but I did care what Alice thought. If she was saying this was cheating maybe I really shouldn't do it.

She knew me too well. She read the look on my face. "Don't be offended, Jamie. I don't mean you're a cheater. I know you hate lying, but… promise me you won't use this destroy or seriously hurt Scone in any way."

I smiled, knowing Alice had caught me. How was it that this girl could predict my next move even before I knew what it was? "I'll do it because you asked me too, not because he deserves it."

Alice smiled back at me. A smile that made the promise worth it. "Thank you, Jamie."

I smiled back and tried to make it look as cool, and normal as possible. But I knew Alice knew the effect her smiles had on me.

We headed down to the room where the champions were meeting. Alice kissed me on the cheek. "Good Luck, Jamie. Although I know you won't need it." She winked and was gone.

I walked into the room and saw Steffi, Scone, and Reed waiting already. Parkinson, Bryson, and Lusk were there standing with their respective house champions. Neville stood off to the side waiting for me.

"Now that we've all arrived I'd like to explain the task," came the voice of Flitwick. We all turned to pay attention. "The task will take place in the Forbidden Forest. There are five creatures in there who are guarding colourful coins. Defeat the creature, whether it is a battle of brains or brawns, and get the coin. There are five different coloured coins. The Blue worth 1 point, the Red worth 3, the yellow worth 5 and the Orange 7 and the Green worth 10.

"Whoever has the most points at the end wins. The five creatures in this task have a level and there are five of the creature for that level. A level one creature might have four blue coins. While a level five creature might have two green, for the first two people to defeat it, an orange for the third and a yellow for the fourth. Understand?"

All four champions gave him a confused look.

"No matter," he said. "Your Head of House will give you a chart that explains the level system. Lose to a level one creatures will take away your coins. I believe that's it…oh, yes there will be a teacher or volunteer at each station to give you your coins as not all these creatures can be trusted. If you're in danger just send up red sparks. You have five minutes to discuss strategy with your head of house. Go!"

I ran towards Neville who said, "Don't lose this," and handed me the paper that explained the levels.

Level One: 3/5 creatures have four blue coins, 2/5 creatures have three blue coins.

Level Two: 2/5 creatures have three red. 1/5 creatures has two red, two blue. 2/5 creatures has two red.

Level Three: 3/5 Creatures has three yellow. 2/5 Creatures has two yellow, one red.

Level Four: 1/5 Creatures have three oranges. 3/5 Creatures have two oranges, two yellow. 1/5 Creatures has one orange.

Level Five: 2/5 Creatures has one green. 2/5 Creatures has two green. 1/5 Creatures has a green, one orange, one yellow, one red.

"Are you ready, James?" he asked, as I studied the paper.

"Yeah. I have a game plan in my head."

"Good. It seems the other champions have a pretty good idea of what's coming and have prepared for it so I hope you have too."

I touched my pocket where the map was. "Don't worry, I have."

"Good. I'm allowed to give you advice so… I recommend going to one the harder levels first. Play to your strengths though. That's most important. If you think you have a better chance of fighting creatures than answering a riddle, do the fighting first. Speed is important but so is caution. Those creatures will not hesitate to put you out of commission. Got it?"

I nodded. "Harder levels first, play to my strengths, speed but caution."

"Good." Neville paused for a minute then slapped his forehead. "I almost forgot. I have to approve your item that you brought with you. What is it?"

"A map," I replied simply, though I was a little nervous that was cheating.

Neville had a very interesting reaction. He breathed a sigh of relief. I was about to ask him why but Flitwick told us our time was up and directed us outside the grounds.

"If you have any friends who want to wish you luck you may see them now," Flitwick explained.

I immediately looked for Alice and Fred before I remembered I didn't care about Fred. He was a prick. Still I couldn't help but notice he was sitting next to Lyndsay Bellum. My blood boiled at the thought of them together.

"Hey," I heard a voice say.

I turned around to see Brianna next to me. "Hey," I replied.

"How's that transformation on your personality going?"

I thought back to the Christmas Break. Brianna told me I wasn't the same person as before. She told me I had to become less of a prick, be more grateful for what I had, and be less whiny.

"Good," I replied. "According to Alice I haven't whined about one thing. And you should've seen her face when I said we should pray before eating!"

She smiled. "Good. I want you to be the best you. Speaking of that go out there and win that competition."

I was about to thank her but then I frowned for a second. "Why don't you want Reed to win?"

She laughed and for the first time I noticed how it was the only noise I heard until she stopped. "I'm a Slytherin, James," she said as if this were a perfect explanation. I was about to press further on the matter when she kissed me.

"Luck," she whispered and walked back towards the Slytherin section of the stands.

"Okay, on the count of three Steffi will run. Five minutes later, Samuel, followed by James after two minutes and then Lucas after another minute."

Flitwick counted down from three and then released yellow sparks in the air which turned into a badger. Steffi went flying towards the east side of the forest.

I waited impatiently and Scone got ready and a blue raven burst into the air. He went to the western side of the forest.

Finally after seven agonizing minutes it was my turn. When I heard Flitwick shout "Go" I didn't turn around to see the red lion or wave at the cheering crowd. I just bolted as fast as I could.

Once I was out of sight of the crowd and made sure no one was around I pulled out the map.

Most of it was red, which meant danger zone. About a third of it was yellow which meant proceed with caution, and a small portion was green which meant all was good.

I looked for the little moving dots on the map. When I saw that there was more than four of them my heart sank. When I picked the map as my item I hadn't known there would be volunteers at each station. I could see exactly where each station was. Now having the map felt like cheating.

I tapped it twice and said, "Thank you good map, what a deed you've done, but please hide the people on here, thanks a ton." The people disappeared and I was left with a colorful map.

The good thing was that I knew the forest like the back of my hand. And I knew exactly where to find certain creatures. Which meant I could find certain stations.

I started heading North-West. It took about ten minutes of running before I reached the area where the Centaurs usually lived. And I found my first station.

"Ah, young Mr. Potter," said Firenze the centaur. "How are you?"

I hesitated wondering if this was part of the test. I also noticed this station had no guard. "Good. How are you?"

"Very well thank you," he replied. "I am level two creature. Since you are the first to reach my station you will get one red coin if you answer my general knowledge question correctly."

"Awesome. Ask the question."

"If I told you to name the Hogwarts Founders in a logical order who would be second?"

I frowned. Logical order? What kind of logical order? I thought hard for a minute. Logical… Ravenclaw was the most logical of them all. After all she was known for intelligence. Slytherin was also logical, at least more so than Gryffindor and Hufflepuff.

"Salazar Slytherin," I decided though I had a bad feeling it was the wrong answer.

"Explain your reasoning."

I tried to hide my shock that he hadn't said it was wrong right I away. "Ravenclaw is the most logical, as she is known for that and her intelligence. Gryffindor is more of a brave risk-taker. He doesn't think. And Hufflepuff is all around, which I'd say places her behind Slytherin because ambition requires logic, and so does self-preservation," I declared confidently.

"Very good," Firenze said. "Here is your coin."

After he handed it to me I let my shock show. "That was seriously the right answer?"

"There was not one specific right answer. It was all about thinking in your own way and explaining yourself. Having confidence. Had you told me Gryffindor, but had a different reasoning I would have accepted. Now run along, you have an hour and forty-five minutes remaining."

"Are all the Centaurs placed around here? Or are they spread out?"

Firenze considered the question before answering. "They're everywhere. But they're not unorganized."

Firenze's face gave away that he said too much and with a smile I thanked him and ran away. I looked at the map again. This specific area had been green, centaurs are not a threat. But an area not too far from here- maybe a ten minutes away, running- was red. It made me wonder how this was organized.

I ran in the direction of the red. I didn't notice the slight drop in temperature until I saw ice on some of the trees. Dementors. Slowly I stopped running. What was the point anyway? Running was so useless, and exhausting… what was I even doing?

Winning the tournament! I reminded myself.

Suddenly I wondered if it was worth it. I had never really casted a Patronus before and that was the only way to defeat a Dementor. Maybe I could use my Animagus powers… but there would be a volunteer at the station. And I was an illegal Animagus.

That's when I saw the Dementor. It was as scary looking as always. A robed figure with scabby hands. It turned towards me and lowered its hood, which was odd since I'd never seen a Dementor do that before.

I didn't have much time to ponder it however, because I could feel the life being drained out of me. I turned to the Volunteer. It was Teddy. Teddy knew about my powers already… I could turn into a stag.

I focused intensely on becoming an animal. Seconds later I was. Teddy stared at me, a little shocked, but it was effective. The Dementor disappeared.

Wait… disappeared?

I turned back to human form. "That wasn't a real Dementor was it?"

"I'm not allowed to answer you," Teddy replied. "Here's your coin. Good luck."

"C'mon Teddy! Show your God brother a little favoritism."

Teddy grabbed me by the shoulder and pulled me towards him. "There's cameras on the champions at all times. Just be thankful that I shut it off for you."

He slipped a green coin into my hand and pushed me away a little roughly. A little dazed I ran away. Cameras? So what? And then it dawned on me. Everyone in the audience could see me. They would've seen me in stag form if Teddy hadn't helped me.

Remembering what Brianna said about becoming a better person I turned around and ran back towards Teddy.

"Thank you," I said, words that, though I hadn't really noticed it, were almost foreign to me.

He smiled a little. "You're welcome. And good luck, kiddo."

I ran away again heading away. I took out my map and marked this station, and the last one, so I could avoid running into them again. I realized that if cameras were on me at all times they must've noticed the map and what I said to activate it and deactivate it. I wondered if they'd disqualify me for cheating. I hoped not.

I randomly headed north and felt the air getting colder again. I almost turned around but then I thought for a minute. I randomly headed north and felt the air getting colder again. I almost turned around but then I thought for a minute. Who do I make fun of? Cowards. And what would running away make me? A coward. And a hypocrite.

I took a deep breath and followed the ice on the trees until I saw it. Another Dementor.

"Ex-ex-pecto," I stuttered, as the temperature dropped even further and the will was drained out of me.

This time I didn't act quickly enough. I wasn't in the forest anymore I was in the water.

"Help!" I screeched as my arms flailed. "Help!"

But no one was coming. No one was helping and I couldn't flail anymore. I dropped my arms by my side and watched as the light disappeared and my screams turned to gurgles.

Then I was flying. Soaring through the air about to catch a Quaffle. And then BAM! Pain exploded in my back. And I was falling towards the ground and I couldn't breathe and…

There was screaming. It wasn't mine though. I couldn't see because it was pitch black but I knew where the screaming was coming from my left. Then I realized who's it was. Lily's. I ran towards the screams but then it as eerily silent for a split second before the screams were replaced with evil, hollow laughing.

I could see. Lily and Albus were lying on the floor already dead. My parents were there tied to chairs. "Avada Kedavra!" shouted the voice. Laughter rung out but it was different than the first hollow one, this one sounded more enthusiastic like the killer was enjoying what they were doing.

The scene changed again. Now I was back in the forest.

"Do you need help, James?" asked the voice… Alice's voice, I was pretty sure.

"No," I managed to say. "I can do it."

I could feel myself being pulled back into the world of terrible visions again but I placed a firm foot in the world of reality.

"You don't scare me!" I shouted, albeit weakly. I thought about a time when I was little. Al, Lily, Hugo, Rose and I were playing Quidditch. Hugo and I had just won the best 12 out of 22 tournament we had played. Most people wouldn't call that the happiest moment of their life but it was pretty special to me. We had been laughing and having the best time of our lives out even thought it was cold and raining and getting to hold that soaking wet homemade trophy might've been the best feeling ever.

"Expecto Patronum!" I yelled.

A small smoke of silver taking the shape of a stag… sort of, came out. The Dementor disappeared.

Alice smiled at me. "Good job, James. Here's a green coin."

"You didn't tell me you were one of the volunteers."

She shrugged. "It never came up. Good job by the way. And good luck."

"Thanks, Ally." I smiled.

She opened her arms. Without even the slightest hesitation I ran into them. "Happy Birthday," she whispered in my ear.

"Thanks," I whispered back.

"Now go," she said as she let go of me. "You only have an hour and fifteen minutes left."

I smiled at Alice and darted off. Ten minutes had passed when I came face to face with the giant spider.

A/N: Hey guys! how's it going? Happy update day! Or night, for me at least cause it's 10:30 pm.

1: Hope you like this chapter. Hope it peaked your interest. I always like reviews so you can tell me :)

2: Just want to say the dementors weren't real. Just simulations. After the fiasco in Harry's 3rd I don't think they'd let real dementors back into the school. And James still can't cast a real Patronus.

3: I hope Roxy's life wasn't too intense for you guys. I just can't imagine Angelina and George growing up a happy couple. She was Fred's girlfriend. And George must be depressed after losing his twin. And I needed to explain to you guys why Roxy is always so bitter and unlike-able. It's just the way she is, trying to mask her feelings. At least that's how Lily sees her. And mostly we've seen Roxy though Lily's perspective so far.

4: I'll update again on April 5th or 6th. Like always if the chapter doesn't come there will be an A/N the next day explaining why I couldn't update.

5: Recently became a fan of two new TV shows: The 100 and Teen Wolf. Any other fangirls or fanboys of those shows?

Is Roxy okay? Are George and Angelina? Will her relationship with her parents ever be mended? Will she find her way out of that tunnel? Will Jacob make peace with his sister? Why does she hate him so much? Who's life did he take and why doesn't he regret it? Will James listen to Alice or try and hurt Scone anyway? Why can't he cast a real Patronus? Will he win the task? Will he be disqualified?

"Hope is the worst of evils, as it prolongs the torment of men," Nietzsche.

-Monkeywoman14