Disclaimer: Day 256 without ownership of HP franchise - "That idea of bribing JKR with the giant Hershey bar looking real hopeful right now."
~~~~~
Chapter 48
"Are you alright?"
Lily opened her eyes reluctantly to see James standing in front of her, freshly showered and holding a towel in his hand with which he was drying his unruly hair.
"Not really," Lily replied honestly as she rolled on to her back on the couch, closing her eyes once again, "It feels like the Hobgoblins are having a rock concert inside my head."
She heard shuffling of feet and opened her eyes again to see James kneeling on the floor next to the couch.
"What's wrong?" he asked, gently placing his palm on her forehead to check the temperature.
Gentleness wasn't something a person would associate with James Potter at first sight. With his height and attractively unruly look, he would come off as intimidating. There was once a point in Lily's life when she had never seen past this intimidating aura of his.
It took her a year to realize how juxtaposing it was that he could look intimidating when he wanted but gentle otherwise.
Maybe it was this hypnotizing gentleness that made Lily tell him everything, from the nightmares to her lack of sleep and consequently her headache now. She told him all of it, almost as if she was under an imperius curse.
James remained silent in thought for a while and Lily turned away to the window in disappointment. Of course there was nothing he could do about her weird nightmares.
"I've got something for you."
Before she could even ask him what he was talking about, he had dashed up the stairs to his room. Moments later, he was back, this time holding a small vial of clear pink liquid.
"Mum sent me this when I was taking my OWLs.", he explained as he held the vial out for her to see, "It really helps."
Lily stared unblinkingly at him. It hadn't been much long since she had gotten close to James but it was surprising how different he was from the image of him she had forced herself to believe. She was sure that her fifteen year old self probably couldn't even imagine falling sick and having James Potter take care of her.
"Do you wanna try?" he prompted when she didn't reply.
Lily nodded. She had tried everything from Madam Pomfrey's calming draughts to the muggle medicines which her mom always made her keep for emergencies. None of it had worked so far so she concluded there would be no harm in trying something else.
On receiving her permission, James placed the vial on the stand next to the couch. He leaned down and lifted Lily's head slightly, and sat down on the couch before placing her head back on his lap.
Lily was paralyzed with shock at his sudden action so she remained unmoving. But her heartbeat had increased to such an alarming rate that she wondered if he could feel it.
Looking up slightly, Lily saw James open the vial and tilt it. The pink liquid that looked like a sort of serum flowed out of the container onto his open hand. He rubbed his hands together, spreading the potion on his palms.
The effect was so instant that Lily sighed in relief when his hands delved into her mass of scarlet hair, massaging the serum on her scalp.
"This feels good." she murmured, almost drowsily as her eyelids seemed to struggle keeping open.
"It does, right?" he said as he continued to massage, occasionally running his fingers along the length of her hair, "It's a potion my dad invented."
"I might fall asleep." Lily warned as she moved her limbs around to get comfortable. The way he was so carefully caressing her hair was making her lose coherence, making her slowly drift off to sleep with her head on his lap.
"It's alright." she heard him reply, "I don't have anywhere to be at the moment. Feel free to use me as a pillow."
It felt like hours had passed when she opened her eyes again, hearing a knock on the door. James too, looked up on seeing the portrait door turn inwards.
"There's someone at the door." the knight in the painting informed them, "He's asking for permission to enter."
"A boy with long dark hair." the lady in the painting elaborated, examining her nails in disinterest, "Shall we let him in?"
"Sirius told me earlier he'll come over to talk about the Quiddditch trials." James said to Lily, then turned to the impatiently waiting figures in the portrait, "Let him in."
Lily got to get up but was stopped when James placed a hand on her shoulder, making her lie back down. "Stay, it's just Sirius."
Albeit hesitantly, Lily lied back. She knew Sirius would make a big deal out of her resting with her head on James's lap. Maybe write a song about it. Probably a whole musical. But she was too tired to be worried about Sirius's teasing.
The portrait door opened and Lily's eyes widened when she saw the person who had stepped in, who was also certainly not Sirius.
Lily sat up immediately, banging her head against James's in the panic. The crown of her head throbbed where it had come in contact with his chin.
"Oh shit, I'm sorry." she apologized on seeing him hiss in pain as he gingerly rubbed his chin.
"It's fine." he dismissed as he got up to face the new comer who was watching them with an expression akin to disgust.
"Snape." James addressed the other person in the room, "What are you doing here?"
"Dumbledore sent me." Snape answered, keeping his gaze only on James and never once looking at Lily who was stood beside him, "He wants to meet the head students right now. Apparently, it's something important. I was asked to inform this."
Several moments and confusing corridors later, James and Lily stood in front of the headmaster's office, almost shaking in anticipation.
"Why do you think he wants to see us?" James asked.
"Don't know." Lily shrugged in reply, "But it must be important if he called us directly instead of asking Mcgonagall to inform us whatever it is."
James frowned a bit at her vague answer. "Do you think he found out I'm the one who steals all the leftover treacle tart from the kitchen?"
Lily smacked his arm lightly. "Be serious for once, Potter."
"I missed that." James said abruptly, a little smile playing on his lips.
"Missed what?"
"You calling me Potter."
Lily rolled her eyes and looked away to hide her smile, while James stepped forward and knocked on the door of Dumbledore's office.
They heard a flutter of wings, which Lily assumed was the headmaster's pet phoenix. Almost immediately, the door swung open, the hinges creaking noisily as the interior of the room came into view.
Dumbledore, who was sat at his desk, gestured for them to enter and take the seats in front of him. Lily looked around the office in awe. She hadn't been in the headmaster's office frequently, nor did she get the time to observe the curiosity inducing instruments scattered around the room.
"You must be wondering why I called you here."
Lily looked away from the interesting looking silver thing in the corner of the room and focused her attention on the old wizard.
"You're not in trouble, Mr. Potter." Dumbledore said, voice laced with mirth, "You can relax now."
James sighed audibly, making Lily hold back a chuckle. It wasn't everyday that she got to see him look scared for his life.
"I wanted to talk to the two of you about something more serious." the headmaster said, observing the two of them over his horn rimmed glasses.
The two head students nodded, acknowledging his words.
"Have either of you heard about the order of phoenix?" Dumbledore questioned.
Feeling movement to her left, Lily saw that James was clutching his wand so tightly that his knuckles were turning white. It looked like he was struggling not to voice whatever that was going on in his mind.
"No, professor." James lied, casting his eyes down at the table in fear that the older wizard could read his mind.
"What about you, Miss Evans?"
"I haven't heard of it either, Professor." Lily answered truthfully, still wondering why James was lying about it.
"Very well then." Dumbledore said, turning his gaze back to James. From the way his blue eyes twinkled in amusement, Lily was sure he could see right through James's lie. "I'll have to explain it to you then."
And explain it, he did. By the time Dumbledore had finished telling them about the group of wizards who took it upon themselves to stop evil from spreading, Lily was mindblown as to how something so noble yet dangerous could exist.
James, who was generally known for being distracted easily, was paying full attention to everything the headmaster was talking about, a strange fierceness clouding over his eyes. His determination only seemed to increase as Dumbledore offered the prospect of them joining the order once they leave Hogwarts
"Now I'm not saying you must join the order." Dumbledore concluded, "I would not want to make it an obligation. The choice is absolutely yours. But I specifically called you both here to talk about this because I know the two of you are capable of making the right decision. So, think it over. Give it time. You can let me know your decision anytime you want. It's never too late."
James and Lily left the office feeling heavily burdened by the weight of such an important decision but at the same time a tinge of pride at taking up such a life changing responsibility.
~~~~~
When Marlene came back to the dorms after a small snack break in the castle's kitchen, she found the common room unnaturally crowded, save for the one person she was looking for.
"Where's Sirius?" she asked the two Marauders in the room as she sat down on the floor next to them.
Remus and Peter looked at each other, silently communicating before turning back to Marlene.
"He's in the dorm." Peter answered, "But not in the best mood. We don't exactly know what happened but it has something to do with Regulus."
Marlene stopped chewing on the sugar quill and looked up, Regulus's name catching her attention. The last time Regulus was involved, she had found Sirius bleeding and seething in the bathroom.
"Do you mind if I go to the dorm and talk to him?" she asked them.
"I wouldn't recommend." Remus said with a shrug, "But if you don't mind getting things thrown at you, then go right ahead."
After Marlene disappeared up the stairs to the dorm, Peter turned to Remus. "I have a feeling that she might be the only one who won't get things thrown at her right now."
Remus only smiled in reply, knowing Peter was right for once.
Marlene walked into the cluttered dorm to see a lone figure sat on the edge of Sirius's bed.
"Black?" she called out softly, "The house elves gave me these sugar quills for you."
On receiving no response, Marlene braved herself to walk further into the room, around his bed and in front of him.
Sirius was stubbornly staring at the floor, a letter clutched in his hand.
Marlene expected him to resist and not let her read the letter, so it surprised her when she plucked it out of his hands with ease.
She skimmed through the letter, anger coursing through her at each word that was written in pretty flowery font by Walburga Black. She was too blinded with rage to comprehend the entire letter but she caught on to the key points. Regulus, the dark lord, family heir, the mark, pureblood dominance.
"He got the mark."
Sirius's voice was gravelly and scratched when he talked. It made her wonder whether he had been crying before she came in.
Marlene was at a loss for words, confused as to what she could do to make him feel even slightly better. But as Sirius looked up and Marlene's heartstrings tugged painfully seeing his red-rimmed eyes and turned down lips, she knew exactly what she had to do.
Sirius held his arms out, extending them towards where she stood a little away.
Marlene hesitated for a moment. Warning bells were going off in her head and the little voice at the back of her mind was screaming at her to step back.
This was how it all began, the voice tried to remind her, This was exactly what happened last time. Do you really want a repeat of that heartbreak?
Sirius seemed to notice her hesitation and was just about to let his arms drop when Marlene covered the distance between them, letting him wrap his arms around her waist.
He laid his head against her stomach, calming himself down by letting his breath sync with hers.
"I know how it feels." Marlene said, a while after Sirius had stopped shaking, "I know it too well. I know you too well to know that you're probably blaming yourself for this."
"But I should have helped him! It was my responsibility. He was only a child."
"So are you, Sirius." she reminded him, "He had the chance to save himself but chose not to. You did ask him to leave with you that day. You did what you had to. Now all we can do is hope he comes to his senses before it's too late."
Sirius didn't speak for a while but he clutched onto the fabric of her shirt a little tighter and it was all the confirmation Marlene needed to realize that her words had made sense to him. She had learned from the several years she had known him that Sirius preferred communicating through actions more than words.
"Stay with me for a bit, please." he mumbled after several tense moments, his voice muffled against her shirt, "I don't know what I'll end up doing if I'm alone right now."
Marlene frowned. It wasn't like Sirius to plead for something. He was usually the type to command. "Do you want me to stay or would you rather I send one of the boys?"
"Don't tell them." he said almost immediately. His hold around her waist tightened a bit more. It reminded her of how he always held people tighter in the fear of letting go and losing them. "It's you I want right now."
Marlene was sure her heart had skipped one too many beats for it to be healthy.
"Alright, I'll stay." she replied softly, "As long as you want."
________________________________________
A/N: Hello dear readers, I wanted to address a small issue in this author's note.
I know I haven't been regular with the updates. And a lot of you have been messaging me about when the next update will be.
Most of the readers who messaged me have been extremely polite and understanding. I really appreciate that you are nice to a stranger on the internet when you don't necessarily have to be. If you are one of those readers who have politely asked me about the update, then this message is not directed at you. So you can ignore this if you want.
While most of you have been nice, I have received several other messages which are not so. Some of them reminding me of how many days it has been since I last updated and saying that I will lose reads on the book if I'm irregular with the updates. If you are one of those readers, then all I can tell you is that I'm not obligated to update because you said so. I'm writing this story on this platform for free, all because I wanted to share my writing with people who like reading it, so the least I can ask of you is to be a bit respectful and understanding. I get that you are impatient to read more but I have a personal life outside of this, which needs way more attention. I'm a college student, balancing studying for my course and for my uni entrance exams at the same time so it's not an easy task to make time to write as well. If you're one of the readers who do not have the patience to wait for updates, then I suggest that you either quit reading this story or wait until it is completed. I'm sorry if I offended anyone with this.
But I can assure you that I will keep writing this book. I will not abandon it because this story is as dear to me as it is to you. So no matter what, I will keep updating even if it takes a while to do so.
Anyway, I really wanna thank the people who have been supportive of me and this story. Your positive comments give me the motivation to write more and I can't express in words how much y'all mean to me.
Thanks for reading. I hope you have a wonderful day!
Love,