Carry On

Chapter Eight

Carry On

Chapter Eight

James spent the rest of the day wondering if he had given Albus the right advice.  Sure, it had been two years since they had seen or heard from Lily, and sure, everyone had assumed that Lily was dead, but what if that really was her?  He had just tol Albus not to go after her, but in the slim chance that it had actually been Lily, he may have just cost her her life.

"You okay?" Christopher whispered to him across the desks in History of Magic, "Normally you would have made a joke by now about Professor Bins' age.  What has gotten into you?"

That is a good question, James thought, not really knowing the answer himself.  "I'm just tired," he saiid, knowing he was not being very convincing.  

Christopher looked at him with a look that confirmed James's supicions, but he didn't push any further.  Instead, he turned back around and put his head on his desk, going back to sleep.

The bell marking the end of the class rung, causing everyone who was sleeping to wake up and everyone who was alreay awake to jump up and rush out of the room as if they were being chased.  James poked Christopher, who jerked his head up, his hair a tangled mess.

"See, there is definetely something wrong with you," Christopher said, "You didn't fall aleep?  I thought you said you were tired."

James just shrugged.  He had given up trying to convince his friend that nothing was wrong.  

It was time for his free period, so James went back to the Gryffindor common room, where he ran into Albus.

"Albus, what are you doing?" James asked, looking at his younger brother.

Albus had a giant suitcase slung on his shoulder, and he was lacing up his shoes.

"Are you going somewhere?" James crossed his ams across his chest and started tapping his foot.

"Um...no?" Albus dropped his suitcase and tried to push it behind him as if James had not aleady seen it.

"Albus, are you about to do something stupid?" James asked.

"No?" Albus said.

"Albus..."

"Fine." Albus sighed, sitting down on one of the couches.  "I've decided that I'm going ater Lily.  I'm going to find her."

"Using what?  Where are you starting out?  How do you know where you're going to go?  Do you have any idea where you're going?"  Albus stayed silent.  "Do you need more questions to answer?  Because, trust me, I have more."

"Okay, so maybe I haven't thought it out completely." Albus admitted.  Before James could say anything, he started talking more, "But I'm not letting Lily die just because there is  chance that Lily is alive and I decided to take advice from my idiot brother!  Could you live with yourself if in a week, you looked at the Daily Prophet and the headline was 'Lily Potter found dead in a ditch on the side of the road'?  Can you really tell me that you wouldn't feel even a little bit guilty?"

"Albus..." James trailed off before starting again, "Of course I would feel guilty.  But think of the chances that that letter was actually sent by Lily?  One in a million?  One in a billion?"

"James!" Albu yelled.  Several people studying in the common room turned to look at him with annoyed looks on their face.  "James," he repeated quieter, "I'm not going to let her die."

"Well, I'm not letting you go out there on a hunch!  I've aleady lost my sister, I don't think I would be able to cope if I lost my brother as well!" With that, James ran up to his dormitory and drew the curtains around his bed, wanting only to be alone.  He could feel teas burning in his eyes, threatening to spill over onto his cheeks.

"James?" he heard Albus's voice from the other side of the curtain.

"Go away, Albus," he whispered.  Hearing footsteps, he laid on his bed, wanting only to be left alone.

He even surprisd himself that he had said that; James had always thought that he didn't want Albus to go after Lily because he wanted to be right and he didn't want Albus to go on a wild goose chase.  But his mouth seemed to think something differently, since it had wandered off on its own and said things James didn't even know he thought.  But the more he thought about it, the more he didn't want Albus to die.

What were they going to do?  Albus had a point; James would not be able to live with the guilt he would have if he let Lily die.  On the other hand, if he let Albus go on a wild goose chase and he didn't survive, he would feel guilty and he would lose his only brother and one of his best friends.  Even though he often complained about Albus and Albus was often the center of his pranks, he often told Albus things he would never tell anyone, not even Christopher.  When Lily first went missing, Albus and James often spent hours in the school library; sometimes they would talk about memories they had of Lily as if she were already dead, and sometimes they wouldn't even talk, but James would still walk away feeling as if it were the best conversation he had ever had.

The more James thought about it, the more he came to the same conclusion.  He had come to a desicion.

If Albus was going to find Lily, James was going with him.

A/N: I hope you liked this chapter!  Sorry it was a bit short and it took me so long to update, but midterms week happened, so that was a thing that took away all of my time.

Vote and comment if you liked it!  Thank you so much for reading!

ALSO thank you so much for 1,000 reads!  You have no idea how happy you made me :)

~Jane