Disclaimer: Anything that rings a bell belongs to J.K Rowling

Chapter 20: Marauders after Midnight

The invisibility cloak was barely off them when Sirius hopped onto the bar's counter and James laughed as his best friend toppled over onto the other side.

"Ever so graceful, Padfoot." Sirius responded with a rude gesture, jumping to his feet with gusto, despite claiming to be 'dog tired' just a few minutes ago.

Sirius twirled about and looked at the many shelves of liquor, his wand the only source of light in the unlit room. "I haven't a clue what any of this is. This green one looks like Noxious Potion. Absinthe… give it a go?"

James shook his head at his best friend, and glanced about the large, but empty cocktail lounge.

It was well past midnight on the fifth night of their stay at the Ritz Hotel in London, which his parent's had chosen due to its location. It sat comfortably two streets away from St. Mungo's, which was a daily destination for his family as Jude was still in the hospital recovering from her injuries.

But that wasn't the only reason for the convenient location. Whilst his parents were sympathetic when they initially found out about the fire, blinded by the relief of everyone's safety and the despair at Alphard Black's death, they weren't so naive to let the teenagers' irresponsibility go unpunished.

So, the day following the funeral, James' parents had explained to Sirius, Aiza, and himself that they were to be 'volunteering' their assistance in renovating the Janus Thickey Ward, on the Fourth Floor of St. Mungo's.

The ward was a cumulative initiative of various pureblood families, and its renovation had served a dual role of punishing them for organising an unsupervised party, and a viable excuse for James to visit Jude without anybody getting suspicious.

It initially was hard slipping away from his friends to visit Jude in her Seventh-Floor private room, but after word got around about their punishment, several other parents had sent their children who had also been at the party to help, making James' disappearances go almost unnoticed.

"I think anything that looks like Noxious Potion should be given a wide berth, Padfoot. Just look for something like butterbeer."

"Prongs, Prongs, Prongs." Sirius' dark locks shook as he wagged his head at him in exasperation, "One does not go to France and merely dine on French fries. You see those muggle blokes that live in this hotel. Bloody hell, this bar even has a dress code, which we are definitely defying." He laughed as he glanced down at their sweatpants and t-shirts.

"Fine, fine, fine. Though if we were in France, it would be extremely appropriate to eat French fries!" James laughed and hopped over the counter and landed lithely on his feet, grinning cockily at his friend.

Sirius rolled his eyes and they both turned to the array of liquor. James couldn't fathom which of the enticing bottles they should try, everything was foreign, muggles sure liked variety. He reached for a black bottle near the top, "Château Margaux. French enough for you, Padfoot?"

"It'll do. And the muggles shouldn't miss it, it's just red wine, right?" Sirius waved his wand and the top popped off.

"I've got that covered." James pulled out the crisp paper of muggle money from his pocket and slipped it into the machine he saw a muggle worker use at the Hotel Gift Shop. He picked up the contraption that held the paper down and slid the notes underneath and pushed the drawer of the machine shut, chuckling at the little ring it made when it closed.

Muggles were so weird.

He then took the offered bottle of wine from Sirius and took a swig, frowning at the bitterness, "Godric, this tastes worse than that beer the Prewett twins tried brewing in our Fourth."

"I don't know… I like it." Sirius fiddled with a few more bottles as he licked his lips, his grey eyes contemplative, "I suppose I have an acquired taste for French cuisine." He chuckled to himself at that, and James narrowed his eyes.

"I wasn't going to bring it up, but after that little… whatever that was, I'm going to have to. I found your little book under the bed yesterday, what's that about?" James was talking about the copy ofFour steps to French Flatterythat he had happened upon last night.

Sirius summoned the bottle of wine with a nonchalant twist of his hand and shrugged, "I thought it time I diversify my talents of seduction." James narrowed his eyes and Sirius sighed, "I might have…made a friend. A French friend."

"Ohhh." James grinned, "Perhaps a French more-than-a-friend."

"Ease up. It was just a kiss. Not even that, just the slightest bumping of lips." James could tell that irrelevant of how small the kiss was, it had a big effect on his friend who was trying to downplay the event by reading the back of the wine bottle.

"Is that what you and Logan were whispering about yesterday?" Dean Logan and Robert Thomas had joined their little party of wrong doers yesterday.

Even though they were legally adults and didn't defy their parents in attending the party, they felt horrid about the house burning down. It was a similar case with Lan, Edgar, Alice, and Frank who showed up two days ago. They didn't care that James had said that his parents didn't blame the party for the fire, that it was completely the fault of Death Eater activity, they stayed to help with the ward, grabbing paint brushes and started working immediately after their arrival.

The manual labour aspect of the punishment was entirely his mother's idea, convincing the hospital to allow it by claiming it would give the ward a more natural, vibrant feel.

The only thing natural and vibrant about this whole process was the ache in James' upper arms and back from all the heavy lifting.

"Yeah. Logan was the one that brought all the French girls to the party, even though it was Robert's cousin's friends, you know how Logan is."

Everyone in school knew how Logan was, he made Sirius seem like a bashful saint. "So, let's have the details." James held up his hand, "And by that, I mean her name, I don't want to know anything else."

"Well, that's just it." Sirius glanced away from the bottle and looked up at him and James was startled by the depth in the stare, "I don't know anything else. None of the girl's from Beauxbaton's fits her description. Logan says he's still asking around but so far none of them remember kissing a boy that fits my description."

"Maybe she was from our school?" James knew it was impossible even as he said it. Sirius knew every girl in school and vice versa.

"Sometimes I think I just dreamed her up." Sirius laughed and took a swig of the bottle and James frowned at the shakiness in his friend's voice.

This girl had really affected him.

"Speaking of dreamy mystery girls." Sirius lowered the bottle and looked at James with a smirk, "You find out anything about fake Evans?"

James grabbed the bottle back at that, "Nope."

He was utterly embarrassed at the way he behaved that day and wished to not think about Lily Evans. If it hurt to find out that the girl that he spent the better part of an hour snogging was in fact not the redhead but some girl using Polyjuice, it crushed him to find out that Lily was now dating Philip Bell.

Philip fucking Bell.

James evaded giving a full answer by sniffing the bottle and cringed, holding it out to his friend, "For a canine you have a horrid sense of smell."

Sirius laughed and took the bottle back, "Maybe you're too doe-eyed for such mature tastes."

"I swear, you guys need new material." James gasped and Sirius nearly dropped the bottle of wine at the sound of the new voice. "Deer this, dog that. We get it, you're animagi."

"Fucking hell Moony." Sirius placed the bottle carefully on the counter as their friend walked towards them and clutched his heart in exaggerated shock. Remus was also staying with them, the only one of the three boys who was actually volunteering, in the true sense, at the Janus Thickey ward. "You bloody scared the fur off me."

"See what I mean?" Remus laughed at his friend's words and picked up the dropped bottle, his smile fell quickly though, "Merlin, Sirius! This is a Château Margaux!"

"It tastes like a shit-oh Margaux." James guffawed at his joke, but Remus scowled at him.

"This costs the equivalent of a small house." Remus chided.

"Where?" Sirius questioned.

"What?" Remus snapped.

"A small house where? Cause it depends, you know, a small house in London can cost the same as a big house in York, it's all about location right?"

"Padfoot! Not. The. Point!" James had to stifle a laugh at the look on his friend's face.

"Oh hush!" Sirius mocked in an aristocratic tone which made Remus' face go red in annoyance, "Give it here." He took the bottle and filled it up under the tap, then he tapped his wand to it and it re-sealed, "There. Good as new."

Their sandy haired friend looked as if he could find a hundred things wrong with that statement, but instead took a deep breath and glanced about the room to calm his nerves, "What are you two even doing down here!"

"Relax, there are no cameras, we already checked. And as to what we're down here, I would be thanking us if I were you." Sirius had a holier than thou look on his face as he let his finisher brew behind his lips before whispering seductively. "Stud muffin."

"Oh Godric." Remus groaned and grabbed his hair in horror as James laughed, "You two were listening at the door!"

"It was purely unintentional mate." His parents had booked two separate suites, one for them and one for him, Sirius, Remus, and Aiza. Naturally Aiza had a room to herself which unnaturally, that is to say by Charlus Potter's wand, prevented the entry of any boy.

His father of course didn't foresee what selfless friends James and Sirius were as they let Remus have alone time with his girlfriend whilst they wandered about the large Hotel. Today's excuse was that they wanted to take an evening swim, much to James' consternation as he hated swimming. "We got back from the pool and you two were still in the room and we thought we'd just wait and watch some TV but then-."

"I didn't know Aiza had that kind of vocal range." Sirius snickered for a moment and then quickly raised his hand, "Line, I know, I crossed it. Sorry." Sirius' lips quivered with having to keep a straight face. "Stud muffin."

Sirius' laughter quickly turned into a yelp of fear as he ducked as Remus lunged at him, but he was too slow and Remus secured his arm about his neck and held him in a lock, rustling up his hair, "No! No Moony! Not the locks! Not the locks! I'm sorry. I'm sorry!"

Remus eventually let go with a smirk as James laughed and leaned against the counter, enjoying the show. His friend then turned to him and he automatically prepared to protect himself, but Remus remained where he was, "I wouldn't look so chipper if I were you. Lily wrote Aiza, she's not too happy that people are spreading rumours that you two were making out at the party."

James' smile fell instantly, "You mean Bell's not too happy about it." He couldn't believe that Lily was dating the sodding idiot.

"It's not Prongs' fault that somebody disguised themselves as Evans and decided to rock his world." James groaned at Sirius' words; he knew he meant well but sometimes he should just opt for silence.

"Did you ask Lan about that?"

Lan Daiyu was Head Girl and knew everyone. She also had a great memory and had recited the list of Hogwarts students that attended the party when requested from the auror department, just to ensure that everyone was in fact accounted for. "Yeah, but she said that she can't hazard a guess who it was, it had to be an upperclassman and she thinks all of them were present at the party, and the few who weren't had good alibis. And they'd have to be pretty smart to brew Polyjuice."

"Or pretty rich and connected to buy it. It's a regulated potion. You have to get permission to brew it for use or purchase it." Sirius added.

"Hmmm." Remus pondered, "What's most disturbing is why would someone want to pretend to be Lily, make out with you and disappear? What was her agenda?"

"Or his." Sirius added and shrugged at James' glare, "What, it could have easily been a guy. Or a Slytherin!"

"Ugh, I'd rather it were a bloke. But Lan insisted it was a Snake free party, she definitely would have remembered seeing one of them there."

"Either way." Remus added, "It's something we should look into. Also…" Remus scratched the back of his neck in discomfort, "Marlene wrote Aiza and it would appear that Cassie… Cassie's dating Fabian."

James wasn't surprised. Remus had told him about what he saw at the Reception area that day, but he did feel guilty. He had cheated on Cassie without a second thought just because he thought Lily had finally come around.

"Isn't there some code about dating your best friend's little sister?" Sirius asked.

"Richard apparently has given his blessing. Aiza says that Fabian had a thing for Cassie for years but never acted on it. I'm sorry James."

James shrugged, "As long as she's happy."

Guilt gnawed at him for being more upset that Lily was dating Bell than Cassie dating Fabian.

"Look." Remus swallowed, "I didn't tell you this before because I didn't want you to over think things and especially after hearing about this whole fake-Lily thing and Cassie… " Remus took a deep breath, "When I saw Lily at the reception area at Mungo's…she… she was very worried about you."

James knew that Remus was just trying to make him feel better.

"She even wrote me. To see if you were okay. She asked me to write her, but I had completely forgot what with-" Remus glanced at Sirius and stopped.

Alphard Black's funeral.

James didn't let Remus' news excite him which was easy to do at the dark look that crossed Sirius' face.

After all Orion Black's talk about barring Sirius from attending the funeral, James and his family, Sirius, Remus, and Aiza showed up to find the graveyard deserted except for Sirius' father, who left once they arrived without saying a word.

It turned out that Sirius' mother had struck Alphard from the family tree for some reason, and therefore it was taboo to attend his funeral.

Alphard Black, who had received an Order of Merlin, first class, for his heroic deeds on the 25th of December, had been buried with just one family member at his side. Sirius.

And Sirius would never forgive his family for that last insult. That last slap in the face to the only family member James ever heard his friend speak of enthusiastically.

James shook his head and sighed, "Let's call it a night. I'm exhausted. And we still have to move in all those beds tomorrow."

-x-x-x-

It quite possibly was the most frustrating experience, being utterly exhausted but finding sleep elusive, hence James had made the only reasonable assumption he could make.

He wasn't the one that was restlessly awake.

It was Jude.

This was just their weird connection that had him feeling all fidgety.

He grumbled out of bed, not worrying about waking up his two roommates who were fast asleep in their own beds, snoring in rhythm with each other. He fumbled to the small desk and used the nifty little muggle pen on the Parch, hoping that it would work. The words glowed which meant that she had received the message, but minutes ticked by without a response.

He sighed and tossed the pen down and crawled back into bed and closed his eyes.

Nothing.

Sleep just would not come.

He got out of bed swifter this time and slipped on his sneakers, crossing the room in quick strides despite his exhaustion.

His usual go-to in such an instance would be a nighttime fly, but he couldn't exactly do that in the heart of muggle London, so instead he made his way out of the Ritz Hotel and took the familiar walk to St. Mungo's.

He didn't like the idea of Jude lying restless in bed, for all he knew she could be having one of those awful nightmares. Either way he would just pop in to see her and be back before anybody even realized he was gone.

He shoved his hands deeper into his jacket pockets, regretting not gloving up before he left but refraining from using his wand to warm himself up. He had just gotten this new one from Ollivander's since his old one burnt in the fire, and it needed some breaking in. Also, he wasn't off age as yet and the wand was only to be used in an emergency.

He reached the department store and followed the normal protocol that led him into the hospital, which despite it being well past two in the morning was as alive as ever.

"James?" Charlotte was a young nurse who'd sometime pop upstairs and give them pumpkin juice whilst they served their time in the Janus Thickey ward, "Is everything alright?"

James couldn't tell her that he was here to see Jude as nobody but the select few workers on the Seventh Floor knew of her existence, "I forgot my wand upstairs, silly me. I just realized and couldn't shake the feeling of being away from it. What happened over here?"

Charlotte evidently didn't believe what he had said but was distracted by his last question, "A fight broke out in the Leaky Cauldron, tensions are high after that article in the Prophet about Barty Crouch accusing those Macmillan boys of working with the Dark Lord. It got some debate going on about blood purity, that not all purebloods are working for He-who-must-not-be-named, and that Crouch is taking things too far, but some say that they need someone like him taking control of the situation rather than Minister Minchum who's answer to everything is more dementors in Azkaban. Oh blimey."

She bustled off as James turned around to see a few more people being hoisted into the reception area. He took that as a distraction to sneak up to the Seventh Floor, it wasn't exactly visiting hours and he had stupidly left his invisibility cloak back at the Ritz.

He took the stairs to the Seventh, contemplating Charlotte's information. He wouldn't call himself political, but his father and Aiza's dad would often debate about such things at dinners, and he'd hear snippets and as he got older, he'd started contributing to the conversation now and again.

He knew Minchum had only been in office for two years, but his father didn't like him. Hid dad agreed with Charlotte, that he concentrated more on dementors in Azkaban than investing in aurors to actually catch the dark wizards. Mr. Shafiq on the other hand thought he was highly competent in comparison to their previous minister, Eugenia Jenkins, who in his opinion was much too lenient on squibs, allowing a demonstrative march campaigning better treatment of the unmagical magical folk in the late sixties. Personally, James thought Mr. Shafiq didn't like her because she was a woman, but that was a whole other dinner table debate.

"James." He stilled, lost in his thoughts, and forgetting that he was supposed to be sneaking in to see Jude. It was Healer Albright, his greying hair glowing on the well-lit Seventh Floor. He glanced down at his pocket watch and raised an eyebrow at James, "It's two in the morning, you know you're not supposed to be here. Jude needs her rest. And so do you, young man."

James couldn't exactly say that he knew for a fact that Jude wasn't resting as he hadn't informed the healers of their connection. He didn't know why, but it just seemed… something they should keep to themselves. He didn't particularly want people investigating him as if there was something wrong with him. "I'll be quiet, I just want… to see her."

James was surprised at the slight desperation in his own voice. He had really grown to care for the girl and Healer Albright sighed in defeat.

"Fifteen minutes, and come to my office and I'll assign a guard to walk you back to the hotel. It's not safe to be walking the streets at this part of the night, even if it is just Muggle London."

James nodded, knowing that it was a lie as he planned to sneak out, in no mood to be escorted like some child. He walked towards Jude's room, which was near the end.

He gasped suddenly as cold shock fled through him and then a piercing feminine scream broke through the ward. Before he could recover from the panic, a tall figure in a dark cloak ran out of the room at the end and ducked down the far end stairs.

That was Jude's room.

"Madam Exeter! What is it!" Healer Albright's voice echoed from behind.

"Someone was in her room!" James hadn't bothered to look at the matron as she bustled out of Jude's room, acting on instinct and fleeing after the man.

"James!" He ignored the Healers shout as he was already down the stairs, dashing onto the sixth floor which was unnaturally dark. The fleeing man had evidently extinguished the light sources, but James couldn't care to re-light them, concentrating on the heavy footsteps which guided him after the man.

"What's going on?" James ignored the question from one of the sixth-floor occupants and followed the footsteps down to the fifth floor.

Yet again the corridor was dark, but he didn't spare a thought and ran down to the fourth floor, knowing the man had to use the Floo Corridor to escape or go out the front, either way he was going to catch him before he even touched the Reception area.

James wasn't disturbed by the lack of light on the fourth floor as he was quite used to it by now, the corridor was empty however has they had been renovating the Janus Thickey ward here and relocated all patients.

He couldn't hear footsteps now but slight breathing. He reached into his pocket to light his wand but clutched at nothing. It must have fallen out whilst he ran.

Before he could think of his next move the man was bathed in moonlight from the opened window, but his back was to James and before he could take another step he watched as the man jumped out of the window.

James sprinted to the window but instead of seeing a falling figure he saw the figure glide easily to the floor. With a soft thud he reached the ground as James hoisted himself up on the ledge, but someone grabbed him from behind and pulled him back.

He didn't need to hear the crack to know that the man had apparated away…

He pushed Healer Albright off him, harder than he should have, annoyed that the healer had prevented him from going after the man. "I could have gone after him! I could have used a gliding charm, just like he did!"

"How!" Healer Albright snapped and gestured at the wand in his hand…

It was James' wand…

If he had jumped…

Suddenly embarrassed by this realisation he snatched his wand back and ran towards Jude's room. He didn't stop till he got there, finding both his parents there already, looking distressed and still dressed in their pyjamas.

Madam Exeter was fussing with Jude's pillow, but all James cared about was ensuring that she was okay.

He stopped as he spotted her unconscious body.

"Is she-"

"She's fine." His father grasped his shoulder to stop him from going further and his mother chided him.

"You should not have run after-"

"What happened!" James shrieked, looking at her unconscious form. After days of visiting her in this room, playing exploding snap and swapping stories on the Parch, it unsettled him to see her like this.

"They had to stun her. She heard the commotion outside and tried to follow you, gave Madam Exeter a nasty push in the process, knocked her unconscious."

James only just noticed that it was another matron seeing to her, rather than the usual Madam Exeter.

"Tell the security at the door and the Floo corridor to ease up, he jumped through the fourth-floor window and he's gone." Healer Albright entered the room after relaying his instructions to whomever, James didn't even bother to turn around.

"How did a man get in here anyway!" His mother cried.

"Probably the same way James did." Healer Albright gestured, "There's such an influx of patients these days it's hard to keep track. I've been asking the board to increase security, but they keep denying it, saying that they haven't the resources."

"You said he jumped out the fourth-floor window." His father released James' shoulder and schooled his features, "I thought that impossible, I thought the wards prevent patients from jumping out the window."

"Yes. But they've temporarily taken down the wards on the Fourth floor due to the construction work in the Janus Thickey ward. It's why all the patients were moved."

"He must have known that." James spoke for the first time, "He ran straight for that floor. He must be from the hospital."

"Now, now." Healer Albright looked sternly at James, obviously affronted at the accusation, "The Janus Thickey Ward has been highly publicised due to the call for donations, any wizard with knowledge of ward magic would know that it would have to be taken down for the construction. For all we know he could have come up from there."

"Then you should have had security there." Healer Albright recognized his mistake in admitting that a potential entrance to the hospital was unguarded.

It was his father that spoke next, "This isn't helping, James. What can you tell us about the man."

James stilled, glancing at Jude's sleeping form and back at his father, "I didn't get to see much of him. He kept turning off the lamps… his tall though. Taller than me. Slightly bigger… fast. Definitely athletic. He was using a dark cloak."

"Death Eaters!" His mother gasped and Charlus calmed her with a reassuring squeeze of her right shoulder.

"We can't say that just by his clothing. I myself am using a dark cloak. Did you manage to see his forearm by any chance?"

James didn't know why his father asked that and shrugged, "No. You think this is related to the fire?"

"No. Nobody knows of Jude's existence except the people in this room, and the fire was caused by a parcel addressed to me, there's no reason to believe that Death Eaters know about Jude."

James could tell that his father was trying to calm his mother down. She looked two seconds away from fainting.

"Plus, why would death eaters go after Jude?" Healer Albright asked. "And if they were, he would have attacked her. I've just been to see Madam Exeter and she says she didn't see him when she entered. That Jude was asleep, but she looked restless, her blanket was half on the floor from all her kicking and that she then tucked it around her and something caught at the corner of her eye. She says she didn't see the man's face because he was already halfway out the door and that's when we heard Madam Exeter's screams."

"If it were a death eater, he would have no problem in attacking Madam Exeter whilst she was busy tucking Jude in and then …" His father didn't continue his statement and James fell into his seat next to Jude's side. "Healer Albright is right, there is no reason to believe that death eaters are involved, why would they be? Not every bad thing has to be linked to Voldemort." His father sounded like he was trying to convince himself now.

"Sir." They glanced at the door and two men stood there, one with dark red hair and the other with dirty blonde, the latter glanced at Jude in curiosity and James found himself hastening closer to her protectively. He relaxed when he realized who they were. Brown and Abbot had been there when his father had initially found Jude in France and was among the few people who knew of her existence.

His father walked to the door, ready to brief the aurors who James assumed would serve guard duty tonight.

"You'd better get some rest Dorea." Healer Albright offered his mother a comforting side hug, they had worked together many years at Mungo's before his mother retired and were good friends. "There's nothing you can do now. Jude is perfectly fine. She's actually well ready to go back to Hogwarts on Monday."

"She's not going back to Hogwarts." His father spoke from the door, evidently done with the other aurors.

"Why!" James spat.

His dad raised a brow at his son, "She needs to be protected."

"And you don't trust me to protect her?"

"James-"

"Well, if you don't trust me, trust Dumbledore then. Hogwarts is the safest place on earth." James rubbed at his eyes; he didn't know why he was so angry. He always teared when he was angry. But he remembered how Jude was when he first met her.

His father was going to put her back in that institution and she'll be miserable.

He kept thinking of the way she ran through those flames for him.

He slipped his hand into hers, "You're not putting her back there."

"I won't." His father agreed softly and James felt his mother's hand at his shoulder.

"Come. Healer Albright is right. We need to rest."

James opened his mouth to fight his mother, but his father spoke first.

"I'll walk you back Rea." James glanced away from Jude and looked at his father, "I'll let the boys know that you went for a morning run, and you'll meet them on the Fourth floor at nine?"

James nodded at his father and rested his head on the bed, content that he understood that James didn't have plans to move from this seat tonight.

Jude had protected him.

It was time he returned the favour.

A/N: I know this was a long one, but hopefully you guys liked it!

Review if you can! I love them!

Kalina