The Next Great Adventure (A Marauders Fan Fic)

Chapter Seventy

Chapter Seventy

Unfortunately for Lily, Harry's birthday was not as sociable as she had hoped it would be. Cassie still hadn't returned from abroad, and Sirius was... well Sirius was somewhere, and although he had sent Harry an amazing present and had promised to make it up to them, she knew that it was the lack of his real, physical presence that very afternoon that James had missed the most. They had been exchanging the odd letter when they could, and she had a half-written thank you letter to him on the kitchen table, but it paled in comparison to seeing him in person. From Remus there had been no word, although she was sure that he would reappear soon, and Frank and Mary had said that they couldn't leave their house either because Neville was too young. Their most recent visitor had been Peter, who had dropped by the week before with a present for Harry and an apologetic smile on his lips.

"I really am sorry I haven't been round much Prongs," he had said as he sat in their kitchen. "Only all this Order business is... well it's mad and I've been running this way and that. I didn't realise how much time had passed until I saw how much Harry has grown!"

"Honestly it's fine Wormy, don't worry about it," Lily replied. "We understand. James would be doing exactly the same thing if he could."

"Can't say I'm not jealous though," James said, running his hand through his hair. "Never thought I'd get bored of Lily's company but... well there it is really." They all laughed and Peter snorted, "Surely not. I'll have to tell Padfoot when I see him! Well, if I ever do see him."

"Merlin, if only we were still at Hogwarts. I could do with an enormous prank to get all of the tension out of me. But there's no one here to do it to... Well and no one to do it with really."

"Surely you could go out as Prongs for a couple of nights though? I'm sure Lils wouldn't mind... if you feel that rough. It wouldn't be the same without the others but..."

"I have once or twice but yeah, it's just not the same without all four of us. I mean, Moony's furry little problem is terrible, but it did provide a lot of fun nights over the years." James grimaced and thought of his friend, out in the wilderness somewhere where nobody appreciated his sarcastic comments or the subtle eye rolls that let you know whatever was happening was far too amusing for him to take it seriously, especially when it involved McGonagall scolding them in her office.

"He's... about as fine as he can be, considering the circumstances," said Peter, interrupting his thoughts. "I saw him not too long ago in an Order meeting; he looked a lot skinnier than usual - although Moony could never keep any weight on anyway, even with all that chocolate - and a bit beaten up, but he's alive and in a better state than some of the people around at the moment."

"Oh good," Lily said, breathing a sigh of relief. "It's so tiring worrying about everyone else when you can't do anything to help them. I hope he comes over; I know he was having trouble with his jobs and I just want him to be alright, especially with what's happening with the werewolves at the moment."

"If I see him again next month I'll get on his case and make sure he comes to see you," Peter promised.

"Thank you Peter," she smiled. The evening had stretched itself out along all the streets before he left, dusting the roofs of the houses with the shadow of a night that seemed only half there.

So instead she was waiting for Bathilda in the garden, who was the only person who had said she would make it round for tea that afternoon. She had been spending the majority of her days outdoors in the garden, taking advantage of the summer weather to lounge around with her favourite books and hoping that they might distract her. Although the days seemed too bright and cheerful for anything bad to happen, The Daily Prophet was full of terrible news about what was happening outside their sleepy village. Just the other day it had reported that the body of Ed Thomas - one of the Prefects from their second year, as well as James' first Quidditch captain - had been found. That afternoon, she had found James locked in their bathroom, and the voice that claimed he was fine sounded too strained for it to be true. The back pages of The Prophet were now devoted to lists of people who were missing and the confirmed deaths as they were discovered, as well as pleas for information on family members; the list of people who had been found alive and well was dwarfed by everything else. Every morning Lily tried to put the paper down without reading the back but she couldn't - even though she knew that she wouldn't be able to do anything, she needed to know. In the back of her mind lingered the knowledge that their friends in the most dangerous places were there without anyone really knowing because it was Order business. The first she would hear of it would be if Dumbledore reported them missing, and that didn't seem very likely.