Chapter Sixty
Lily was roused from her very pleasant dream by a poke on her arm and then her forehead. Moments later someone flicked her nose and whispered, “Lily,” in her ear.
“Mmm?” she groaned.
“So I was thinking,” James began.
“Can’t you think when I’m awake?”
“No. So I was thinking… It seems like everything is becoming more and more dangerous - even more so than before-“
“Well noticed.”
“Yeah well I was just thinking… what with the attack on the flat and our work with the Order and, you know, mini-Potter… Are you going to keep working at St. Mungo’s?”
“Why?” She hid her eyes with her forearm and rolled over.
“Well there was the attack on it last week and those three mysterious deaths and-“
“James there are always mysterious deaths in St. Mungo’s. That’s pretty much in its job description.”
“I know but don’t you think it was strange that two of them were Aurors and one of them was high up in the Ministry? It doesn’t seem like much of a coincidence, it seems like You-Know-Who is trying to gain control of the Ministry.”
“James he’s been trying to do that for a while and he hasn’t succeeded. Can’t I go back to sleep?”
“What about the Boneses? They’ve pretty much destroyed their family!”
“I know,” she sighed, burying her face in her pillow, “but I can’t just quit because of that. They’re not the first people to die.”
“Lil I’m sure they’re watching you,” he said. “Think how many times we’ve been caught unawares at the end of battles, think about the flat. You’re going to get yourself killed.”
“And what about you James?” she snapped. “It’s not like you’re exempt from these events - they’re coming for you too.”
“I know but… I don’t care about myself as much.”
“I care about you. And you’re out with the Order all the time; you’re not exactly much safer than I am.”
“I know. Look Lil, I’m not saying… I don’t want you to quit if you don’t want to-“
She interrupted him. “I don’t want to.”
“But,” he continued, “personally I think it makes more sense to leave for a few months. You can always become a full-time member of the Order, like Dumbledore suggested. I mean… it can’t continue like this forever, can it? If you did quit, you could always go back to Mungo’s at the end of the war. It’s not like you don’t have a good reason for taking some time off work. But I mean… I don’t want to tell you to do anything. If I did presume to do that you would probably murder me so… that’s just a thought that I came up with while I was thinking about it last night.”
“Why does it bother you so much?”
“Apart from the looming possibility that the love of my life might be murdered, you mean?” he said lightly. “Well it’s just… I think they’re trying to destabilise our society - that’s why they want the Ministry, along with its power - and one of the other big, recognisable institutions is St. Mungo’s. Also, if they control the hospital then they essentially control who survives and who dies and, since so many of the injuries from battles with Death Eaters result in wounds the Healers have to treat, they would have a sort of monopoly on injured Aurors and Order members. No one would come out alive that they didn’t want to survive.”
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The Next Great Adventure (A Marauders Fan Fic)
Fanfiction(Companion piece to Dwelling on Dreams) James Potter has been Lily's enemy since the first day that they both started at Hogwarts. She has never been interested in his being his friend but, when they and their friends return for their fifth year at...
