The Undead, Eggs, and Opals
James had just got his knee up on the rock to pull himself up onto the jetty and out of the cave when a hand clamped onto his ankle. The hand was ice-cold and clammy in a strange way and gripped his ankle hard, pulling him backwards toward the water. His other foot slipped on the algae covered rock, and he fell forward, falling down to the mercy of the grip on his leg, his glasses falling off so he couldn't even see it correctly, the frames bouncing off the rock and into the water.
Maryrose let out a shriek and grabbed James's arm with one hand and aimed her wand with the other. "Stupefy!" she shouted and a jet of red sparks flew over James's shoulder, striking the horrible, pale figure in the face - or what had once been a face and was now a sort of a mush of melted features... James squinted his eyes shut. It was the most horrible thing he'd ever seen. "Stupefy!" Maryrose shrieked again and she struck the thing in it's wrists and it hissed and seemed to shriek, but it's grip on James loosed for just a second... A second was all Maryrose needed. She yanked him hard and he fell forward, tumbling over her onto the rock on the jetty.
"Hurry!" she cried as the thing tried to climb out of the water.
James could only see things through the blur of his poor eyesight, his glasses lost to the ocean, and Maryrose had to guide him over the rocks and back to the beach. They ran as hard and fast as they could, kicking up rocks and sand as they went, Maryrose looking back over her shoulders at the dark that surrounded the mouth of the cave, praying that she wouldn't see the figure running after them... and her prayers were answered, they were allowed to escape off down the beach.
When they'd run halfway back to the bonfire from the cave and nothing was coming after them, she grabbed James's elbow, panting so hard that her lungs felt as though they were burning within her. "Oh my god," she sobbed, "That was terrible."
"The skin was so awful," James agreed quietly, shivering. He sat on the pebbles and rolled up the ankle of his pants to look at the place the thing had touched him but there weren't any marks, at least not that he could see without his glasses on.. But he didn't feel anything there, either. "What the bloody hell was that thing?" he asked and he squinted up at Maryrose.
"Inferius," whispered Maryrose, "I reckon."
The word sent a shiver through James and he had a distant flashback of the last time he'd heard about an inferius - the night that Derek Bell died. They'd left the N.E.W.T.s to go investigate an inferius sighting, somebody had claimed that Voldemort had awakened an army of inferius - the undead controlled by dark magic. That particular member of the undead must have drowned in the water there in the cave perhaps. James felt sick to his stomach at the thought of it. What a horrible, dismal place to die. Nobody deserved that. Not even Voldemort himself. Well. Maybe Voldemort himself did, James ceded. But nobody else.
Maryrose knelt down and inspected James's ankle. "Is it alright?" she asked, looking carefully.
"Far as I can tell," James replied, "But then again I can't really see too good without my glasses, so."
Maryrose tenderly touched the skin of his ankle and looked it over. "It looks okay," she said, then, "What about your knee?"
James had been so concerned with the flesh where the inferius had touched him that he'd completely forgotten about the pain in his other knee. When he'd been dragged back, the rock had caught the fabric of his slacks and his skin and torn it up, great red, bleeding marks covered his kneecap and the blood dripped red down his shin, staining the pants and probably his socks as well.
"Episky," Maryrose muttered, tapping her wand to the wound. It healed up instantly, but there was no getting rid of the blood stains in the fabric. Even a siphoning charm couldn't fix that.
Across the beach, they could hear the laughter of the others at the bonfire party, and Maryrose stared over at it, at the sparks flying into the sky, as orange as the hair on her head. The happiness of the party seemed odd juxtaposed against the energy between her and James, sitting there on the damp pebbles. James would never have admitted it - not in a thousand years - but Maryrose could feel the fear in him still as he stared at the ankle the inferius had touched.
She put a palm on his trainer gently. "Are you okay?" she asked.
James nodded, though his throat felt tight.
"Are you sure?"
"Well, I reckon I've got a new boggart but yeah I'm alright overall," James said, trying to sound casual. Honestly, that was probably the worst bloody thing he had ever experienced in all his life - and that included facing Voldemort.
Maryrose moved so she was sitting next to him and she put her arm around his waist and he leaned into her, putting his arm 'round her, too.
Sirius and Lily got off the Knight Bus in front of Maryrose's house and Sirius called an apology to Ernie, who stood in the center of the bus with a great big mop, sopping up the spot where Lily Evans had been sick. "Sorry again!" Sirius said, and he ushered the poor, greenish Evans into the dark outside the Jenkins house. The bus cracked way and Sirius looked at Lily. "Thanks for coming with me..."
Lily nodded and held onto Sirius's arm as she doubled over and took deep breaths, trying not to puke again. "I bloody hate that bus," she choked.
Sirius petted her spine gently with his fingertips. The motion was terribly awkward - he didn't quite dare to touch her, really, so the contact was only just barely, like somebody trying to gingerly pat a feral cat or something. She couldn't help but laugh at the sad little attempt.
"Lily?" there came a confused voice suddenly and Sirius, who had been holding the mirror absently with one hand so that it aimed in Lily's direction from his knee as he petted her back awkwardly, perked up and lifted the mirror.
"MOONY!" he cried, seeing Remus's face in the mirror peering at them in confusion.
"SIRIUS!" answered Remus, breaking out in a grin and his eyes instantly filling up with happy tears. "Oh Merlin's beard I've missed you!! I've been checking the mirror - everyday! I sleep with it next to me, just waiting -- and now -- there you are! There you are! Blimey I've missed you!!!"
"I've missed you, too!" Sirius cried, "I've missed you so bloody much!!"
Lily stood upright and leaned closer to Sirius, looking into the mirror, "Hello Remus!" she called as she squished into view in Remus's mirror.
"Hullo Lily!" Remus called, "What are you lot doing together?"
"Getting the mirror!" declared Sirius.
"We were at Maryrose Jenkins's birthday party," Lily added, "We snuck off to get the mirror."
Remus exclaimed, "Oh I'm so glad that you did!"
"I am, too!" Sirius exclaimed. "Have you had marvelous adventures?"
"Many!" Remus nodded, "I've seen such wonderful creatures, you lot wouldn't believe it!" He paused then, "And look - check this out." The mirror turned and in the image came a great glass box, lined with blankets, and in the center a dazzling purple-silver egg under an orange light bulb. "It's a Charkorais egg."
"A what?" asked Lily.
"It's a moon bird," Remus said, "They're endangered - nearly extinct. But Newt saved this egg and he's going to help it to hatch!" he looked quite excited. "There's a whole mystery he's trying to solve, too, he think that somebody tried stealing the egg to make a Philosopher's Stone. The last time one was made was centuries ago by a friend of Dumbledore's named Nicholas Flamel... Apparently these Charkorais eggs can be sold for hundreds of galleons on the black market. A place like Borgin & Burkes in Diagon Alley would give every penny they have for one, Newt said. They're very rare because Charkorais birds will only lay fertile eggs on the night of a full moon. But Newt says this one's fertile because of the silver striping. It apparently doesn't have that if it's not a full moon. So a Charkorais will be hatched from it if we keep it incubated!" He turned the mirror back to himself and he was flushed with excitement, "We're going to talk to Dumbledore tomorrow about the egg."
"Wow!" Lily said, then, "But what's a Philosopher's Stone do?"
"Vegler says it make a potion that makes a man live forever."
"Blimey," Sirius said.
"Yeah," Remus nodded.
Suddenly there was a great deal of shouting going on from the beach and Sirius and Lily both looked up in surprise. "Rey, I'll have to talk to you when I get back to the Potters later... something's going on, we gotta go check it out," Sirius said.
Remus looked worried, "Alright. Keep me posted." His eyebrows folded, "I love you, Sirius."
Sirius stared down at him, "I love you, Moony."
"AND I LOVE YOU BOTH!" Lily called, pushing her face back into the reflection by leaning over Sirius's shoulder.
Remus laughed, "Love you also, Lily," he said.
"Oi, Potter's going to be positively pissed he wasn't a part of this," Sirius laughed.
"Well I don't love him," said Lily, rolling her eyes.
Sirius smirked, "See ya, mate," he said, and he shoved the mirror into his pocket and he two of them hurried into the Jenkins house to see what was going on...
Out on the beach, in the glow of the fire, Pandora Jenkins had been dancing with Xenophilius Lovegood to a song playing on the bewitched record player... when the song had ended, Xenophilius had taken up both of Pandora's hands in his and kissed her knuckles gently and he'd stared into her eyes...
"Pandy," he whispered thickly, "You make me so happy."
Pandora smiled, "You make me happy, too, Xeno," she replied, and she'd tried to put her arms about him again to resume dancing with the next song, but instead, he'd flicked his wand, silencing the record a moment. She looked confused.
And then Xenophliius Lovegood dropped to his knees in the sand, staring up at her.
Pandora gasped.
"Pandora Jenkins," Xenophilius began, and he kissed her knuckles again, and he reached into his pocket and he withdrew a beautiful opal ring, hanging from a chain and he turned the ring over and held it up for her to see, "It isn't a diamond... I'm not a rich man, I'm just a man who... who's always known exactly what it was he wanted... and it's always been you. Your smile, your happiness, you're everything I've ever dreamed of, and - and you're more, you're more than my little mind could ever dream of, really. You're so... and I'm so... so in love with you..." He stared up at her with pleading eyes, "Pandy, my stars, I should love it... love it so much... if we could spend the rest of our lives together."
Pandora had tears in her eyes and she knelt down with Xenophilius in the sand and she nodded vigorously, having basically forgotten how to speak words in her excitement.
Xenophilius smiled and shakily undid the chain and slipped the ring off of it, sliding the ring onto Pandora Jenkins's hand... and he leaned forward and kissed her... and she wrapped her arms about him. People all around the fire were cheering... shouting... clapping.
Sirius and Lily ran down the stairs and onto the beach just in time to see it and Lily's eyes were full of tears of happiness for her friend and she turned suddenly and hugged Sirius, overwhelmed with emotion from the beautiful scene they'd just witnessed. Sirius stiffened as her arms went about him. "Oh stop it," Lily said, "You should be used to this by now."
A moment later, James and Maryrose stepped up beside them. James was squinting. "What's going on?" he asked.
"Xeno's just proposed," Sirius said, "And judging by the snogging they're doing now, I reckon Pandora Jenkins said yes." James squinted, trying to make out the vague furry shapes by the bright fire before him.
"Where are your glasses, Potter?" asked Lily.
James squinted over at her, a mustard yellow blur. "Long story."
Maryrose gripped his palm.
Sirius looked at James with a raised eyebrow, but James, of course, couldn't really see the expression on his face through all the blur... Sirius reckoned he'd get to hear the whole thing later that night, back at the Potter house.