Chapter 15: Aftermath.
White, everything shone white. Screams of pain were heard around them from Death Eater's and Dementors. The light was burning their skin and the dark mark caused them the most pain. Some collapsed at the pain coursing through their bodies. This power, or magic, was something so pure, that they couldn't stand it. Darkness had already conquered their souls and the purity of this force overwhelmed them. They started to retreat from it. Disappearing into the forests, apparating some place else, summoning their broomsticks and just running away. The cowards. They were not prepared to fight this battle. Those who stayed had collapsed and were screaming in pain. They twitched and turned and they could feel their insides churning. Fits of spasm occurred in their legs and arms. They couldn't take it. This was a slow and painful death for the Death Eater's who did not run away from the light emitting from Lily and James.
Voldemort was taken aback by what was happening and therefore couldn't continue with the curse. The green ball of light at the tip of his wand disappeared as the light touched it. The brightness blinded him and the power emitting from Lily and James was beyond what he imagined. Even he, the all-powerful Dark Lord felt pain soaring through his body. He stumbled backwards and fell. He covered his face a little from the light and through a gap between his arms he peered at the sources of the light. There he could see to hands holding the others, with intertwining fingers, and clutched together so that they wouldn't separate.
Sirius stopped wailing at the visions that went through his head. He felt an energy wash over him. The bad feeling that had taken over him completely vanished and he felt more harmonious memories fill him. Like when he made the Quidditch team in his second year, when he and his friends had pulled the biggest prank on Snape ever, when he had finally managed to turn into a dog after many months of practising the complicated animagi spell in his third year, when he had helped make the Marauder's Map, the good times he had with James, Remus, Peter and later on with Lily. He opened his eyes and saw the bright light coming from his two friends. Many of the Dementors had retreated, however, there were still some around him. They were on their knees and twitching in pain. A wave or courage hit him. He gathered his wand waved it above his head.
"Expecto Patronus!" he yelled and a bright light shot out his wand. He saw things that looked like shooting stars engulf the Dementors and caused them to retreat from him, even though they were in pain. Sirius whooped but suddenly felt drowsy and weak. The spell had taken a lot out of him and he couldn't help but feel weaker as he fell to his knees in exhaustion. 'Forget being weak! You've had worse injuries on the Quidditch pitch! You have to help Lily and James!' Sirius thought. He started to gather all his strength in standing up. He gradually got to his feet, and started to stumble towards Lily and James rather shakily. The light was blinding as he went nearer, but he felt more energy pulse through him as he walked nearer and nearer to his friends. He soon could make the outline of Lily, she had managed to shatter the cage she was in and was laying on the ground, whispering to James. James was still feeling the effects of the Cruciatus curse on him, but he whispered words to Lily hoarsely but reassuringly to her. Sirius collapsed on the ground next to them and placed his hand on top of theirs. The light got brighter -if possible- and Sirius was sure he could hear the heartbeats of his friends, in a simultaneous rhythm.
"Sirius…" he heard his friends whisper.
"Shhh…I'm here for both of you," he whispered reassuringly and smiled as he could make out green and brown eyes look up at him.
Moony growled and covered his eyes. Although he was a werewolf his mind was more humane and he thought like Remus would have. It was an untimely transformation, so he gathered that was why he could still think humanely for himself. He growled more and then roared a long and angered roar. As he roared he saw how his yellow cage shattered into a million pieces. He leaped out and landed on something squishy. He looked down and saw he had partially landed on Voldemort. If werewolves could grin, that was what he was doing. He stretched out and scratched Voldemort deeply on his face. Voldemort was too stunned by the power to notice that the werewolf had scratched him deeply. Moony then ran away from Voldemort and ran closer to his three friends. He felt more energy come into him and as he came closer he saw the three hands holding the other's. He walked closer and closer to them but stopped a little while. Sirius looked into the werewolf's eyes, they didn't hole the menacing look they normally had when he was around humans, they looked warmer. Sirius smiled and then felt how a well-built paw was placed on top of his hand. The paw slowly turned into a hand. It was a painless transformation, and now a slightly tired looking Remus sat there with his hand on top of Sirius' and his heartbeat came in tune to rhythm of his three friends. The light grew into a pure white light.
Voldemort screamed in pain. He felt as if his skin was burning. As someone had put the Cruciatus curse on him. He felt his skin go dry, his face seemed to shrink and look gaunter than it already was. He felt bones break inside of him and his vision was blurred, and any noise around him didn't reach his ear, he seemed deaf. This power was so pure and full of friendship. It seemed foreign to him. He picked up his wand, which seemed heavier than usual. He gathered any strength left in him and shakily stood up. He raised his wand around him and with any energy left inside him, he apparated away, thinking 'They definitely are the 'creators' in the prophecy. They have to die.'
The light started to falter and eventually started to die down. As it died away, the four friends lay there, breathless. Sirius caught his breath.
"Alright…what the hell just happened?" he asked between gasps for breath.
"I don't know…ask…Lil or James," Remus panted and pointed at his friends. They didn't respond, they just lay there, unmoving and silent.
"Lily? James?" Sirius said and started to shake them a little. No moans or groans came from the two lying down.
"Shit! What's happened to them!" Sirius asked again.
"Stop panicking! I'll check for a pulse, you listen for breathing!" Remus snapped.
Remus placed two on his fingers on the wrists on his friends. He felt feeble pulse come from both of them. He sighed in relief; at least it was something, other than nothing. Sirius placed his ear by their mouths and felt for any breath on his cheek or the sound of breathing. He was happy when he felt a gentle breath on his cheek, from both his friends.
"We need to get back to the school and get them medical attention soon! But how are we going to get back to school?" Remus asked. They didn't know where they were. Or how to get back. Remus looked at Sirius for suggestions and saw him looking rather guiltily.
"Sirius?" Remus asked. Sirius pulled out some cards from his robes.
"Ok, ok! I cheated! I gave myself extra cards in Exploding Snap! They're probably portkey's too!" he admitted guiltily. Remus stared at hind and started to laugh.
"Although I should be angry at you for cheating, I'll lay off for now, since those are our only hopes of getting back!" Remus said.
Remus held on to Lily's hand, then onto Sirius', who held onto James' hand. With one of Sirius' fingers touching a card, they disappeared away from the open plains.
***
They arrived back into the common room, on the same rug by the fireplace they had disappeared on many hours ago. Sirius and Remus looked up to see the common room cleared of students and only Professors Dumbledore and McGonagall, Hagrid, and the Auror, Alastor Moody, aka Mad Eye Moody, standing there. Professor McGonagall gasped as the students reappeared. She looked as if she could hug them all and yell at them at the same time.
"Professor, we, were just up against…" Sirius and Remus started but were silenced by Dumbledore.
"We'll all hear what happened, once those two are seen to, and I suggest you both go to Hospital Wing too. This seems to have traumatised all of you." Dumbledore said and conjured two stretchers for Lily and James.
All four were taken to Hospital Wing, where Madam Pomfrey stood awaiting her patients. She immediately tended to James and Lily seeing as they were unconscious and just barely alive. But she didn't tell Sirius and Remus that, because, in case they went into a state of panic. Sirius and Remus told them all about what happened to them and what happened when Lily and James touched hands. Everyone listened in silence to what they said, with occasional gasps at what had happened. Dumbledore and Moody seemed sombre as they listened to what happened. Sirius was given some chocolate, to recover from the Dementors effect on him, and Remus was given some potion to calm down some of his nerves, which caused him to become a werewolf. All four students spent the night in hospital wing. And when Remus and Sirius were back to health, they went back to schooling, visiting Lily and James everyday, as they lay unconscious. One day when Sirius and Remus entered, Dumbledore greeted them.
"Professor, what are you doing here?" Sirius blurted out without thinking. Remus kicked him, stating that he was the headmaster. Dumnbledore just chuckled.
"I am here, because, Madam Pomfrey has told me that this is the day Lily and James may wake up. But I am also here to explain a few things to you four," he said with a twinkle in his eye.
He conjured some sandwiches for them as they sat. They all stopped eating when they heard a stir coming from the two unconscious people.
"Well, I'm glad to see you two awake," Dumbledore greeted the two.
"Yeah! James me boy! You had me worried!" Sirius said jokingly.
"Don't forget Lily, she's also waking up!" Remus added. Both pair of eyes opened at the mention of their names.
"Professor…Voldemort! He's…" they both started to say, but Dumbledore silenced them.
"Voldemort is no where near the school any longer. I must say that the story I heard from these two was very intriguing. But I'd like to hear your thoughts on it first." Dumbledore said to them calmly. They all listened as Lily and James told them what they thought about what had happened some nights before. James told them how he saw some of the Death Eater's and could only vaguely remember some of the people. But he could definitely make out Malfoy-"There was no doubt about him- Sirius had said.
"Professor, what was that light?" Lily asked.
"That light, is why Voldemort wanted all of you to join his side. You see, it was your love for your friends that created something so pure, that it scarred Voldemort and his followers. They were into the Dark Arts too much and feeling something as pure as love seemed to burn away their souls. James, Sirius and Remus all helped you, they saved you from death. That power really does, take a lot of energy off you, and without James' help from the very start, you may have very well died. And if these two hadn't helped you later on, both of you would have died," Dumbledore informed them.
"Well isn't that a cheery note." Sirius commented, making them laugh.
A few days went by and Lily and James were allowed to out of Hospital Wing. The whole school had heard of the event, but none of them actually knew what happened. They didn't know the very detail of what had happened. Moody the Auror had heard about the suspected people at Hogwarts being Death Eater's and there stood a long court case between the members of Slytherin House and the Ministry of Magic. During this time, they still had their O.W.L's to study, then their N.E.W.T's and then they would graduate. Marriages would take place and Lily Evans would become Lily Potter, and then the birth of the 'Boy Who Lived' would take place. Then the incident of Halloween 1981 would be recorded in books all over the Wizarding World. But through it all, Lily had shown her true power as a witch. The power of love that saved her friends, her husband and her son's life.
The End.
A/N: Ok…I'm finally finished! But I'm going to apologise now, that ending sucked. But it was the only decent one I liked out of the many theories that were in my head, And this was the only happy one. I'm sorry! This story is dedicated to ~:
Snowlily
- I know that you love L/J fics, and I promised you I'd post a chapter up tonight anyway!Phoebe
- Who was the first person to ever know about me writing this fic, and was the first to read and review it!Gary Skinner
- You are probably the real genius behind this, you found out the real dates of events, and corrected me so I wouldn't make a fool of myself! I thank you for that! And I've hopefully convinced you attempt to read some L/J fics, they really are good even if they are categorised as love/hate.Ok just a few queries are going to be answered. One reviewer told me that Remus' hair was a brown colour, well, I can just imagine Remus with blonde hair, so I just went with my imagination. But if I do find proof that it is brown, I will gladly change what I think.
Also, I've had e-mails telling me that James was a Chaser in his Quidditch team. I honestly can't remember what position he played, and when I saw the film, it said he was Seeker on the shield, so I assumed he was Seeker.
So, that's it folks! I hope you enjoyed it! My biggest thank you's to readers and reviewers! I love you guys! You make my day whenever I see my number of reviews have increased! Until next time…
Lots of Love,
Mithua ^-^
29/12/01.