The Ladders Of Love: James Potter

30

the visit

WAKING UP ON A RAINY SUNDAY MORNING TO AN INCESSANT RINGING DOORBELL WASN'T HOW CLARISSE PICTURED HER WEEKEND TO GO. It was the Sunday before Halloween, the celebrated holiday being on Monday. James had already left the house early for an emergency Auror last minute training course and Clarisse only worked at St Mungo's during the weekdays so she was home alone.

She stretched her arms up with a yawn, her back cracking as she rolled out of bed and started tiredly stumbling down the stairs of her home. Before opening the door, Clarisse's hand hovered over the doorknob as her dazed mind began to think.

Who was she expecting?

No one, was the answer, nonetheless even if she was they wouldn't be ringing her doorbell, they'd use the floo.

Clarisse bit her lip nervously before spinning around, holding her hand out. "Accio wand."

The stick came flying at her with immense speed and she was glad she caught it out of the air before it could smack into her face. Turning around with newfound determination, the girl pointed her wand at the door.

"Who is it?!" She called out loudly with narrowed eyes.

No one replied and the doorbell stopped ringing.

A sinking feeling grew in her gut as she slowly stepped back from the door, her hand gripping her wand tighter and tighter.

"Hello?!"

No answer again, just silence. A shadow moving across the wall next to her, reflecting from the doorway. Another ring.

Something felt very wrong.

Lifting up her wand, Clarisse began to chant and a small silvery animal shot out of her wand. "Tell Prongs I'm in danger." And the animal leapt off.

Clarisse didn't wait by the door, instead she slowly started to back up the stairs whispering as many protective enchantments as she could remember. The shadow in the doorway moved slightly, and Clarisse almost jumped as silvery dark hair peeled through the window on the porch. Then a darting green eye and a wand.

One that she didn't recognise.

"BOMBARDA!" A male voice and the loud crashing of her doorway made the girl start to sprint up the stairs, her heart beating fast.

Clarisse didn't need to look to know she was being chased, the multiple hurried footsteps echoing after her made her legs push harder. She ran into her room, slamming the door shut and holding her wand up, creating a shield on the door that would last a few moments.

The brunette girl whipped her head around side to side to look for an exit, her frantic eyes catching onto the window. She scrambled over, opening it silently before peeking out of it. The ground was clear and looked like her best chance of escape.

"Miss Russo? I only want to talk!" An eery voice sang through the doorway, a slashing wand noise and cut through the door making the girl jump.

"Talk to someone else!" Clarisse shouted back as she tossed her legs over the edge of the window, breathing in deeply before jumping off the ledge.

But she didn't fall... why wasn't she falling?

A tearing pain fell through her scalp as she looked up, the dark haired man gripping onto her clothes and her hair, holding her up. He pulled her through the window roughly before throwing her to the ground, the wand that was pressed into her hand clattering onto the floor. The girl scrambled to get up, but before she could she was backhanded to the floor again, her head hitting the wood. A ringing sounded in her ear.

"Now why are you so afraid? I'm just here to get something!" The dark haired man tilted his head with a devilish smile.

"What do you want?" Clarisse spat out blood on the floor, screaming out in pain as the man stepped onto her hand with an audible crunch.

"You."

Before she could scream, pain and darkness overcame her and the last thing she saw were scarlet glinting eyes.

✤

"Why are there so many of them today?!" James shouted over towards the shaggy dark haired boy near him as he whipped his wand at a nearby deatheater.

Sirius shot a curse at a deatheater. "I don't know!"

It had been pretty early when the group of Aurors were called in for an emergency attack, a hoard of deatheaters strangely attacking a muggle orphanage. The group of Aurors managed to arrive before much harm was created, but were inevitably outnumbered.

"Do you think it's a distraction maybe?" Alice shouted over towards the two boys as she finished off the deatheater in front of her, throwing one off of her boyfriend.

"Maybe," James replied as he shouted out another shield, "but for what?"

A familiar patronus appeared in front of James who's eyes widened in shock, Sirius taking over his opponent as James listened to the message from his panicked girlfriend.

"Clarisse is in trouble!" James shot up with frantic eyes as he shot a curse at a deatheater who tried to attack Marlene from behind.

"What?!" Sirius shouted in outrage, before turning to look at his obviously distressed best friend. "Go! We will be fine!"

James didn't think for two seconds before apparating out of the battlefield onto his porch which he found in pieces. "No, no, no, CLARISSE?!"

He ran up the stairs, wand gripped in his hand as he surveyed the damage leading to his bedroom. When he slammed the door open to see nothing but a damaged door and a pool of blood on the ground he fell down onto his knees.

"No!"

✤

"What does he want with her?" A nasally voice sounded.

"Who knows," a masculine voice replied, "maybe because it's a halfblood."

"He hasn't even gone for the mudblood yet, so why would he try get to the halfblood first?"

"I don't know Bella," the masculine voice sighed, "maybe she's valuable."

"She's as valuable as an ant," the nasally voice sounded sharply, "when she wakes up I'm going to be the first one she sees, and I'll make sure she doesn't forget my face."

Clarisse didn't dare open her eyes.