Turning Tables

Chapter 33 - Fighting

(J&L) (J&L) (J&L) (J&L) (J&L) (J&L) (J&L) (J&L) (J&L) (J&L) (J&L) (J&L) (J&L) (J&L) (J&L) (J&L) (J&L) (J&L) (J&L) (J&L) (J&L) (J&L) (J&L) (J&L) (J&L)

Professor Sprout had stepped away from the lectern and was now standing at one end of the teacher's table with Professor Flitwick. The two of them were talking quietly, taking care to keep their voices low, mindful of the curious ears around them.

The Hall was still oddly quiet, and the low murmur of voices was subdued. James' elbows rested on the table as he supported his head in his hands, his fingers covering his face. The others were silent around him, exchanging worried glances. It was Mary who eventually broke the silence.

'I'll, er, just go up and talk to Sprout and Flitwick. Let them know the last time we saw...' she trailed off and looked at James sympathetically. 'I'll let them know that we were the last ones to see Remus, Marls and Lily. Maybe it'll help.'

With one last concerned glance at James, she slid from her seat and headed for the front of the room. Silence settled back over the group. Alice remained curled into Franks' side, his arms gripping her tightly as her fingers dug in and clung to his jumper. Emma and Peter sat quietly, their eyes idly scanning the room but returning repeatedly to the shattered Head Boy sat between them.

The silence was broken by the sound of a voice quietly calling James' name; for the first time since the list had been read, James responded to the sound of his name being spoken. He lifted his head slightly and lowered his hands to the table, his face no longer hidden behind calloused knuckles.

'Mr Potter!' His name was called again, and James looked up to see Dumbledore walking towards him. The old wizard looked calm and serene as he approached the table, still clad in the same blue robes he had been wearing earlier, but his face appeared significantly more fatigued than usual, and he seemed to walk more slowly than he normally would.

He came to a halt just alongside James' seat at the Gryffindor table and addressed James in a quiet voice, though not so quietly that the others sat around him could not hear.

'I thought you would wish to know that Mr Black is currently in the hospital wing; he is uninjured, and he should be joining you shortly. I believe that Madame Pomfrey will be discharging him from her care very soon, since he is being extremely vocal about insisting that he doesn't need medical attention. I suspect he may have an interesting story to tell you, though I cannot say for sure since he declined to discuss the events of this afternoon with me in any detail.'

James let out a brief sigh of relief; concern for Sirius had temporarily taken a back seat to his more pressing worries for Lily, Remus and Marlene, but he had been both troubled and confused when his best friend had neither been on the list of the missing or in the Great Hall with the others. He knew that Sirius had obviously been accounted for since he was not listed as missing; he was in the castle somewhere, James just didn't know exactly where. He had been confined to the Great Hall by Dumbledore and so had been unable to go looking for Sirius, but his friend was safe and that was good enough for him; his concerns had been reserved mainly for the people that the staff had not been able to locate so far.

Still, hearing the news that he was not only okay but would be joining them soon pulled James out of the despondency he had sunk into since the list had been read out. He was hoping that Sirius could shed some light on the events of the afternoon, that was true, but mostly he just wanted to see his best friend and have him there with him while they tried to fix this horrendous mess.