Lily's P.O.V
All day, I was jittery and shaking. The loss of Sirius seemed to hit the Gryffindor house bellow the belt. No one acted out of line in class. The entire house walked to lunch and classes together in silence. No one went unnoticed. It was going to be hard for Remus, Marlene, James, Peter, and I to slip out undetected. If anyone asked, our plan was to say we went up to the boy's dormitory to study for the next day's exam. Remus and Marlene were going to sneak out during dinner because Remus wanted to grab his textbook and Marlene would offer to accompany him, then sneak the invisibility cloak out of her bookbag and put it on when no one was around. A little while later, James would fake a breakdown and Peter and I would take him for a walk so he'd get some fresh air. At the train station. No! The other way around! James would have a breakdown first and then Remus would go to get his textbook. To give us time to get to the train station. Ugh. I was nervous already.
My hand was shaking as I wrote the herbology notes. I glanced at James, who'd usually be tormenting me by now. Today, he couldn't even look at me.
"Got the phones this morning when everyone was at breakfast," Marlene whispered when the class had erupted into soft conversation. Tension filled the room. "McGonogal caught me on the way out. She told be she was sorry about Sirius but there's nothing we can do. Watch out for her, she might be onto us."
I nodded and glanced around, just to make sure no one was listening. "I'm freaking out, Marl," I hissed. "What if these are the guys that killed my dad?"
Marlene looked down at her doodle of a robot. "They probably will be, Lil," she whispered. "But we have to be brave. Not just for Sirius, but for the wizarding world. Time to be a little Gryffindor." There was a dangerous glint in her eye. I loved it.
--
At dinner, I was sitting next to Marlene and Remus and across from James and Peter. Everyone was pale and particularly jumpy.
"Showtime," Marlene hissed to James.
"Time to put on your acting hat," Peter commented.
James nodded and took in a deep breath. "WAAAAAAAH!" He wailed, shoving his food at Remus, who barely dodged it. "I- I- I CAN'T DO IT ANYMORE!" James sobbed, actual tears pouring from his eyes. The rest of us leaped to our feet rushing over to help him.
"Merlin, is he okay?" Alice asked, a few seats down.
"Yeah, just a little break down," Peter commented. "This has been happening all day. Lily, do you want to take him to get a little fresh air with me?" He asked.
I nodded. "Yes, of course. C'mon, James, you're going to be alright!" I said, brushing his hair with my fingers as he sobbed.
Alice sent a confused look to Marlene, who simply said "she's good at calming him down."
Peter and I both took one of James' arms and dragged his sobbing body out of the great hall. "I CAN'T BELIEVE I LET HIM DOWN LIKE THAT!" James wailed, sniffling. "I- I'M THE W-WORST. W-WHY D-DO I EVEN T-TRY? H-HOW DO YOU GUYS S-STAND ME? I- I'M A N-NUISANCE, E-ESPECIALLY TO Y-YOU, LILY. I- I SWEAR I- I'LL BE BETTER. I W-WILL!"
"Of course, James. You're perfect!" I hushed him. "We're just taking him to get some fresh air outside. His best friend was.. well- you know," I told the professor guarding the entrance. She bowed her head and let us out, reminding us to be back by curfew.
Once we were clear and headed toward the exit of the building, Peter and I let go of James, who gathered himself immediately.
"I've got to say, Potter, you're a good actor," I said, grinning.
"Not to bad yourself, Evans," James said, smiling back.
"Flirt later. Walk now," Peter said, walking in front of us. "The station is about a mile away. It will probably take us about 20 minutes to get there, if we hurry. That's only as much time Marlene and Remus can give us."
Of course as soon as we got outside, it was raining. Peter and I put our cloak hoods up, but James 'I'm-so-smart' Potter decided it would be easier to run without a cloak and left his in the dormitory. "Take this, Potter," I grumbled, offering him my sweatshirt from my book bag to shield himself.
"Wow, Evans. If I didn't know any better, I'd think your were being nice to me!" James commented.
"Well, I don't want to be stuck with a whiny Potter all night, now would I?" I retorted. "Just shut up and take the sweatshirt."
He did as I told him. "You have the phone in that bag of yours?" He asked.
"Of course I've got the phone!" I said. We got stuck with Suzy Clearwater's flip phone while Marlene and Remus got Alice's Iphone. Marlene's reasoning was that they were more likely to die, therefore they should have the better phone. We'd exchanged phone numbers and decided against prank calling Suzy's boyfriend before arriving at dinner. From the test calls we exchanged in our dorm room, they seemed to work just fine.
"Just checking," James chuckled. "Are we there yet?" He asked Peter.
"Not even close," Peter grumbled, nearly tripping over a rock sticking out of the stone road. "This is going to be a long night." I couldn't agree more.
--
"Finally!" James shouted as we entered the train station.
"Shhh, Potter!" I hissed. "Someone could hear you!"
"Oh, who's going to hear me, Evans? We're at the Hogwarts express in the middle of the school year. No one's been here for months!" He was right. The train sat stationary, a few birds nesting in the windows. "What do you think, should be go in?" He asked.
I pulled out the cell phone and waved it around. "Yeah, maybe we'll have better reception in there."
"Don't know what that means, but okay!" James said merrily. "See an open door anywhere, Petey-boy?" He asked.
Peter looked around. "Over here, I think. It's the luggage compartment, but if we can get in there, we can take the doors to the other compartments." We followed him into a dark compartment that was covered with spider webs and unclaimed bags. "No one use magic. We're outside Hogwarts, so the ministry could track us."
"Shit," James cursed. "I can't see a thing!"
"Come on," I said, finding my way to the door to the next car. I pulled the lever, unlocking the door and pulling it open. There was about a foot of gap before the next car. I pulled the lever opening that one and stepped in. "Mind the gap!" I called back to the boys. This car wasn't any better than the last one. It was almost entirely empty, less spiderwebs than the last.
We continued to move forward until we found the first car with seats. "Well, this looks nice," I commented, sitting down at one of the compartments.
"It's bloody freezing in here!" James said, sliding into the seat across from me and rubbing his hands together.
Peter looked ahead. "I'm going ahead to the front of the train to see if I can figure out how to turn the heat on. It's only a two or three cars up. I bet I'll hear you if you yell loud enough."
"How are you going to figure out how to turn the heat on?" I asked, squinting at him.
He shrugged. "I dunno. I think I'm smart enough to sport a furnace or something."
"Just... be careful, mate," James said. "Shout if you need anything."
"Will do," Peter said before walking to the front of the car and transferring into the next.
James circled his feet in the heavy layer of dust on the floor. "Odd how they park it here when it's not running, huh?" He asked, sneezing when the dust cloud got to his nose.
I wave my hand in front of my face, blowing the dust away. "I suppose. Where else are they going to put it, though?"
"Touche," James commented, cocking his head to the side. I fiddled with the phone, flipping it open and closed so I didn't have to look James in the eye. So he didn't have to see the exhaustion, the nerves, the sadness, the confusion, the small bit of a crush lurking in the depths of my green eyes. So I didn't have to show him. He leaned forward, balancing his elbows on his knees. "You okay, Evans?" He asked.
I smiled and looked up at him. "Fine, Potter. You?" I asked, loosening my tie so that I could breathe.
"Honestly... nervous. Anxious. Worried. Scared," he paused to smirk. "Didn't know the mighty Potter was capable of fear, did you?"
"Oh, I knew, Potter. Everyone gets scared. Even the mighty Potter, no matter how stupidly arrogant and stubborn he might be." I looked back down at the phone. Fear. That would be another thing he saw if he looked at my eyes too long.
"Even you?" He asked. He was leaning even closer. My heart was fluttering like I had just ran a marathon and I had to put in a little too much effort to make my breathing normal. Ew. Bloody Potter making me all nervous. Why was I all nervous? I could take him down in seconds. He wasn't a danger to me.
I laughed. "Even me," I said. I stopped touching the phone in fear of breaking something and never being able to explain to Suzy what happened.
James took the phone out of my hand. "What do you say we call Suzy's boyfriend. Just for a little fun?"
I grabbed it back. "No, Potter! Marlene already told us, it's too dangerous. What if they tried to call us while we're talking to him? What if he called the ministry or something saying we stole her phone? Do you even know how to work a phone, pure-blooded fool?" I mocked, tucking it in my robe pocket.
"You could teach me?"
I didn't answer and tried to look out the window. It was too dark to even see James clearly, though he was sitting right in front of me.
"I hate the dark," James said, smirking again. "It makes it harder to see your face."
"Good observation, Potter. Since it is night and it's raining and we're in a train that hasn't been used in months, it is indeed dark. I'm very proud of you for figuring that out," I replied. "Maybe Peter will find lights when he's up there."
"I'm freezing, what's taking him so long?"
"Probably the fact that none of us have any idea how to work a train."
"I suppose so."
We were quiet for another moment. I loved the silence, but James was one of those people who just couldn't stand it. He was tapping his foot, humming a tune, licking his lips.
"Calm down, would you?" I hissed at him. "You're making me even more nervous!"
"You not talking to me is making me nervous!" He said and leaning back. "Can we do something? Talk for a bit? Play a game? Do something? I'm going to lose my mind if I have to be quiet much longer!" He snapped.
I shrugged. "Talk to me."
James froze. "What are we supposed to talk about?"
"I dunno. You're the one who sugge-" I was cut off as the lights above us flickered before turning on. Finally I could see more than four feet in front of me. Not there was much to see. The same train that I took to Hogwarts every year, and James. Well... I quite liked that view. "Finally, some light," I commented, smiling. "Oh, wait, now I have to look at your putrid face."
James rolled his eyes. "Like you don't love it. I know what we can talk about! The color of your hair, now that I can see it. It's- it's like the color of the leaves in the fall."
"Gee James, how nice of you. It's not every day that my hair is compared to a dead leaf," I said sarcastically.
He clapped. "You called me James!"
I scoffed. "Did I? I meant to say... to say..." I racked my brain for an insult starting with J. "Oh, I don't know! Dammit, when did it get so hard to insult you?"
"When you realized you had a crush on me."
"As if!" I laughed, my cheeks turning red. "Jackass! Ha! I meant to say jackass!"
"Jackass? What kind of an insult is that?" James laughed and I laughed back. "'Oh, that boy! He's a jackass alright!' 'Look at that jackass go!'"
I giggled. "When I was little, my Dad was a terrible driver. Still is- I mean... was," I coughed and shook my head. No. I wasn't going to get all sad right now. That was the last thing I needed. "But anyway, he was a terrible driver. He would cut people off on the highway and stuff and then get mad when they cut him off back! Whenever someone did it, he'd go 'Damn jackass'. He always did it, even with my sister and I were in the car. So for like a month, whenever something didn't go our way, my sister and I would scream 'DAMN JACKASS!' as loud as we could. My dad found it hilarious, but my mum finally had to sit us down and tell us that we couldn't say it anymore."
James held his stomach laughing. "I wish I could've met your father. He seems so much better than mine. Mine is always so serious, even around Sirius."
Hey, it's better than being dead! I thought. Instead of saying that, I gasped. "A Potter not full of arrogance and bad jokes? Impossible! He must have had some good moments when you were little."
He thought for a moment. "He never really has been around, auror stuff. But there was this one time, the first time I brought Sirius home for Christmas. I thought he was going to be all rude, asking Sirius why he wasn't with his family and snarling at him for being a Black. Sirius and I thought we were going to have the best sleepover ever and we stayed up all night talking, even though my mum had told us to shut up hours ago. So Sirius tells me he's hungry so we go downstairs and I accidentally dropped a pot. My dad came down to see what was going on, so Sirius and I hid under the table. Dad was about to go back upstairs when Sirius and I both start giggling like rookies. He made us come out and I thought I was grounded for sure, but instead he made us blueberry pancakes and showed us his favorite wizard band and told us awesome stories about work," James told me dreamily. "The next morning, he was gone, but left the pancake mix and the pan out. Mum thought it was us and we got in so much trouble, but Dad told her the truth. After we had cleaned all of the toilets with no magic, of course. And it wasn't actually the truth. He told her it was the pancake faeries. She was terrified for weeks!"
My stomach hurt from laughing so hard. "See! I told you he couldn't be that bad!"
James ginned. "I guess he wasn't. We had one good time in 16 years, but hey, he's better than others I guess." He smiled and watched me laugh. "You have a wonderful smile," he said randomly. And genuinely, unlike his other halfhearted attempts to woo me.
"Thank you," I said, my cheeks burning up again. "You know who has an even better smile? Sirius."
"I know, right! Dashing lad, he is. Ah, I suppose I can take some of the credit, being his best friend and all. One of us had to be the ugly one."
"Oh, don't!" I cried, still laughing. "You know, I like this Potter."
"Which Potter? My dad? Don't you think he's a little old for you?"
I punched his shoulder. "No! I like this James. The one who's not mocking me and teasing me and then spitting nonsensical compliments at me when you fail to woo me with your... your... your tomfoolery. The one who laughs with me. The one who tells me silly stories about his father and pancake faeries. The one who's my friend and not my... my bully!"
James had a look of hurt in his eyes. "Is that how you see me? A bully?"
"I- no, of course not! Not a bully. More like a menace. A bane to my existence. A bug bite in a spot I can't itch," I spat, smiling.
He chuckled. "Well... I like this Lily. The one who talks to me and doesn't just shut me out. You know, you're only like this when no one else is around. Are you... embarrassed by me?" He asked.
I shrugged. "Yeah, sometimes. I mean, you throw paper balls at me. You tease me endlessly. It does get kind of embarrassing at times. Don't pretend you're like this around other people, too. You're so much more annoying around everyone else, like you're trying to prove yourself."
"That's stupid. If I like you like this and you like me like this, why don't we just always be like this?" He asked.
"I don't know. Why don't we?"
And then, the Peter screamed and the train lurched forward.
Marlene's P.O.V
Remus and I watched as Lily and Peter rushed James out of the great hall, causing such a scene that the entire hall was staring at them.
"Poor chap has had terrible breakdowns ever since Sirius went missing," Remus explained to the table. "Best not to make a big deal out of it. It'll only make him more upset." The fact that his face was nearly as pale as Nearly Headless Nick's only added to the fact that he was worried for his friend. And not being kidnapped or anything.
"He's been really reliant on Lily and I, too. We knew Sirius almost as well as he did," I said before sniffing a little. "I'm sorry... it's just... it's really hard for me to talk about."
Alice gently touched my shoulder. "It's be alright, Marlene. I'm sure Dubmledore'll find him. I know how it feels. I miss Frank like crazy. Every living moment without him is-" her voice cracked. Shit. I had forgotten about Frank. "Well, it's agony."
I took a deep breath. "We- we shouldn't let boys toy with our emotions like this," I said, wiping my nose on my sleeve. Yes, it sucks that they're kidnapped, but I mean... we can move on, right?" I asked. Alice looked at me as if she was a small child and I had stolen her favorite toy. "Bring it in, Alice. Bring it in!" She begrudgingly hugged me.
"Marlene, I think it'd be best for everyone if you stopped talking," Remus said softly. "Sirius and Frank are both wonderful boys. I'm sure we'll see them very soon."
Alice wailed even louder. "Ugh! Perhaps I should go up to the dormitory to see if he's called me," she said, standing up.
I grabbed her arm and pulled her back down. "Don't do that!" I told her. "He can't have called you. His phone is in the boy dormitory. Right, Remus?" I asked, glaring at him.
"Yeah. Yeah, right on his bed." Remus was the worst liar.
Alice wiped away a tear. "Really? Did- did he have any calls? Maybe I should answer them for him."
Remus coughed. "No, no calls at all."
She looked concerned. "But I must have called him 20 times! He has a special ringtone for me and everything! My name is his lock screen pass-code!" She wailed. "I'm in his answering machine message!"
"It must be out of battery, dear," I said, putting my arm around her. "You know, Remus it the worst with technology."
"Oh, I'd better charge it then. His charger... he left his charger in my bag! Oh, Marlene! How could this have happened?" She cried and pulled out the charger. "I have to... I have to charge it. Talk to his mom. I bet she's in ruins! Oh, Marlene, would you come with me?"
I took the charger and tucked it into my own bag. "What's a charger going to do? There are no outlets here, sweetie. Dumbledore already told his mum, remember? You wrote an owl to here. Plus, there's no use getting her all upset. Frank we be back very soon. I bet Dumbledore is working on it right now." He was not working on it. In fact, he was enjoying some pudding on the other side of the great hall. "Why don't you eat your dinner and forget about Frank. Lily's been telling me about this really great book, I'll leave it on your bed for you."
"That would be wonderful, Marlene. You're always so- so nice to me!" Alice said, taking a wad of tissues out of her pocket. Girls has issues.
"That's what friends are for, Alice."
Remus cleared his throat. "Speaking of friends, Marlene, you wanted my help studying for the transfiguration exam tomorrow. Would you like to come to the library with me so I can help you?" He asked, subtly tapping his watch.
"Oh, yeah!" I said, standing up. "I'll leave the book on your bed on the way by, okay, Alice? Feel better!" I said and rushed out the door before she could say anything or try to come with us. "Remus, you almost got us killed!" I hissed at him once we were out of the great hall.
"Shut up and put on the cloak," Remus hissed back. "That was a close one. Frank's phone kept ringing the first night he was gone, so Sirius threw it at the wall. I don't think Frank will be getting any calls for a long time."
I laughed and put on the cloak and made sure it dragged on the floor, so none of me was visible. "Okay, wander around I guess."
"Should we go to the bathroom?" He whispered and started walk to make it seem like no one was talking to him. "That's where Frank was when he was captured. It might be our best bet. Maybe that's where Sirius went last night."
"I'm following you," I commented, nodding. Not that he could see. This was going to be an interesting experience.
Remus sighed. "What's wrong with you, Marlene. Do you have any emotion at all? Why aren't you nervous?" He asked, stilling whispering. I agreed, he looked like a mess. "I mean, I'm freaking out, But you're here like 'whatever'."
I brushed up net to him, our arms touching. "This isn't my rescue, buddy, it's yours. I already know how great of a kisser Sirius is. It's your turn."
His face turned a bright scarlet. "How did you know I... like... Sirius?"
"Darling, it's obvious!" I laughed. "Now hush up, we're getting closer to the bathroom."
We were silent for five minutes as we walked into the bathroom and Remus waved me into one of the stalls after him. He didn't have time to do anything before a tall, hooded black figured reached out and grabbed Remus. Unfortunately for him, so did I.
A/N:
I JUST DOUBLE-CLIFF-HANGARED YOU.
WOW.
SUCH TALENT.
HOW DOES IT FEEL... TO BE DOUBLE-CLIFF-HANGARED? TWO FOR THE PRICE OF ONE. MORE EMOTIONAL PAIN WITH LESS CHAPTERS. MAGICAL. DON'T YOU FEEL SO HAPPY TO BE BLESSED WITH THE OPPORTUNITY OF HAVING TWO CLIFF HANGARS?
This chapter was going to be much longer but it's already like 4x longer than most of my other chapters...
Enjoy! Next chapter coming soon!
-Lilytat