The Next Great Adventure (A Marauders Fan Fic)

Chapter Forty Seven

Chapter Forty Seven

Lily was trying to convince Sirius to hand her the strawberry jam when the post arrived and, before she’d even had a chance to open it Cassie had asked to borrow it.

Finally James snatched the jam off his friend and handed it to her. “Why?” Lily asked as she opened the paper with one hand, using the other to spread the jam on her toast as quickly as possible in case Sirius decided to grab it back.

“I just wanted to actually read the news for once,” Cassie replied and Lily paled as she saw one of the headlines.

“What happened?” Alice asked.

Lily stared at the newspaper for a minute, her eyes clouding over, before answering slowly and as airily as she could. “Oh nothing, just another attack. I’ll tell you about it in a minute.”

“So can I have your Daily Prophet?” Cassie repeated.

“Well I haven’t finished it yet, have I?” She began to read it slowly, breakfast forgotten as she focused on every article before turning the page at a glacial pace.

“God you read so slowly!” she complained. Lily looked up and paled even more as she saw McGonagall standing behind Cassie, her thin lips pressed even tighter together than usual. “Jones, could you follow me please?” she asked quietly.

Cassie’s eyes widened and she shot a panicked look at Lily, who smiled weakly, hoping that it looked reassuring, before she followed McGonagall. As soon as Cassie was out of earshot she slumped forwards in her chair and sighed, shivering in her thick jumper. Everyone was looking at her with concern, and the salt shaker which Sirius had bewitched to sing extremely out of key only minutes before had stopped, leaving them in a crushing silence. “What happened?” Mary asked.

Sirius glanced from Lily, who was still clutching the newspaper, and to where Cassie had disappeared with McGonagall. “No,” he said simply. “No that’s not…”

“What’s not?” Peter asked, leaning in from where he was sitting and nearly dropping his bacon. “I don’t understand.”

“Yeah me neither,” Lily said sadly as she turned The Daily Prophet and showed everyone, eliciting a ripple of horrified gasps.

“Oh no,” Alice murmured. “I can’t believe it. Oh Merlin that’s…” Remus gazed into his cereal as if it could reveal the secrets of the universe and stirred it slowly while Mary stared mutely at Lily.

“That’s not fair,” Sirius spat, slamming his hand on the table. “Those- those utter… bastards!”

“Watch out Sirius,” James mumbled, “you’re going to break something.”

“Damn right I am!” he cried, drawing a number of eyes to where he was sitting. “They’re going to pay for this.”

“How, Sirius?” Lily asked. “What can we do while we’re here? Being angry isn’t going to do anything; we have to help Cassie. Her parents were just killed, after all.”

He shrugged mutinously and glowered, managing to make even sullenness seem attractive in the eyes of some of the Hufflepuff girls who were giggling behind him. “It might take a couple of years I suppose… Maybe I’ll wait until I’m in the Order.”

“That’s the spirit Padfoot,” James said.

When they left the Great Hall Lily and Sirius headed up to the Gryffindor tower and, when they arrived there, they sat down to wait wordlessly for Cassie. When she arrived Lily sprinted over to her. “Are you okay Cassie?” she asked, realising only after she said it that it was the stupidest question she could have chosen to ask. She grabbed her in a hug and led her over to the sofa. “Here, sit down,” she said. “I’m so sorry,” she continued, her arms still wrapped around Cassie. “I am so, so sorry.” Cassie buried her face in the crook of Lily’s shoulder and they sat there in silence as tears trickled down Cassie’s face and soaked into Lily’s jumper until Lily sighed and extricated herself. Her place was instantly taken by Sirius who pulled Cassie into his lap and Lily whispered, “I have to get back to lessons but I’ll be back in an hour and I’ll stay with her for the rest of the day,” to him. He nodded, knowing that she was tactfully giving them some time alone; the knowledge that she was coming back was comforting too because he didn’t understand how he could help. Nothing he said could bring Cassie’s parents back and he had no comparable experience - after all he detested most of his family and would love to be really rid of them.