Chapter Twenty Six: Pulling a Juliet

Sirius awoke to a bloody nose. Slightly dizzy and incredibly nauseous, he forced himself to stand and look around for Mulciber.

Just as his search began, the Richie in question sped past from behind him, almost knocking him on his face.

"Run!" cried Mulciber.

A few of his fellows lifted their heads to see what the fuss was all about. Then their gaze fell just over Sirius' shoulder and they too began to run.

"What's going on?" demanded Sirius, using his sleeve to wipe the remaining blood from his face and turning to find a small crowd gathering around a fallen figure.

Others were joining now, liberated from their fight, free to join the panicking throng.

Sirius did not stay still for long, shouting as he ran, "What's wrong? What's happened?"

Before anyone could answer, Fabian silenced everyone with a single yell of, "Quiet!" then, in a quieter yet equally tense voice he said, "Give him some space. That means you, Lily."

The crowd parted and Sirius glimpsed the scene that had drawn so much attention: James Potter, pale and bleeding from somewhere around his stomach, one hand weakly attempting to stem the flow, the other in Lily's clutch.

"Is he okay?" cried Sirius, rushing to James' side.

"I said give him space," scolded Fabian. "Hest, help me get him to the car."

"Sirius," said Remus, standing at a reasonable distance yet not taking his eyes off of James, "Listen to Fabian."

Sirius ignored both Fabian and Remus, instead asking, "How did this happen?"

"I said get away!" snapped Fabian, any patience lost. Then, looking at Lily he said softly, "Lily, let go, I've gotta get him some help."

Lily nodded slowly, releasing James' hand. James let out a small noise just as she did so but did not protest (not that he was in any position to do so).

As Sirius stepped back, allowing Fabian and Hestia to pass, James' weight supported between them, he saw a familiar knife in the grass, shining with blood.

Hestia returned some five minutes later and told everyone that it was time to go home. There were several murmurs of agreement and the field was vacant not long after that. Lily had not waited that long before setting off towards the hills.

Remus, eyes widened, wandered over to Sirius who was standing firmly in place a clenched jaw and a dangerous look in his eye. The others walked past the two boys, in too much of a daze to register the conversation.

"You alright?" asked Remus, glancing at a small patch of dried blood on Sirius' upper lip.

"It was Pete," replied Sirius darkly.

"What do you mean?"

"Peter sold us out. His mum's not sick; he just needed an excuse so he could warn those tossers."

Sirius said the word 'tossers' with such violent fervour that it startled a nearby Alice Podmore, who was helping an injured Frank out of the field, to the point that she almost dropped him.

Remus nodded slowly, considering how best to combat the madness that had resulted from Sirius' obvious concussion. There was no way Peter Pettigrew, chubby, friendly, useless Peter, was a rat.

"What makes you think it was Peter?" said Remus carefully.

Before he could answer Sirius vomited on the grass. Then, after much spitting and coughing, he said, "Regulus warned me. He told me Peter was working for the Richies, but I didn't believe him. "

"Why would Regulus tell you that, Sirius? Are you sure he's not trying to frame Pete? Make us turn against each other?"

"Boys," called Hestia from the gate.

That was when they realised everyone else had already disappeared home.

"Think about it, Remus," said Sirius, ignoring Hestia's glare. "How did they get the tickets for the disco? How come they started breaking windows after Peter made that huge fuss with the candles? And how could they have known we were here?"

Hestia let out a pointed cough.

Remus jerked his head in the direction of the village, indicating that he and Sirius should continue this conversation as they walked.

"Fine, let's go," said Sirius. "But only if we're going to kill Pettigrew. Then we can take my bike to the hospital and see if James is still alive."

"I'm not letting you get on a motorbike. You clearly have a concussion."

"Just the beating then."

"Are you sure about this, Sirius?" inquired Remus, giving Hestia a small apologetic smile as they passed her.

"We always knew someone was a traitor. We just didn't want to start pointing fingers or put a stop to all that fuzzy group love business."

With a deep breath, Remus said, "This might be insane of me, but you're actually making sense."

"Too right," spat Sirius.

"You want to know something funny? I thought that if anyone was gonna be a traitor, it would've been you."

Sirius laughed coldly before replying, "Funny, I thought the same thing about you."

The three minutes between the ringing of the doorbell and the opening of the door introduced Lily's head to a new, unbearable kind of pounding.

At the sound of the doorbell, Mr. Potter sighed, placing his crime novel on his bedside table before he untucked himself from the bed, put on his silk dressing gown, popped on his slippers and made his way downstairs to see who on earth would call at such an hour.

When he saw his son's girlfriend standing on his doorstop, pale (well, paler than usual) and panicked, James noticeably absent and a bruise beginning to show on her right eye, Mr. Potter started to worry.

"Lily, are you alright?" he asked, unsure if she wanted to be invited in or not. "Where's James?"

"The hospital," replied Lily in a small voice. "I don't know if he's okay."

In just thirty seconds, Mr. Potter had vanished and reappeared at the door with his car keys in hand.

"Thank you, Lily. Now get yourself home."

"Okay," replied Lily, not making eye contact, knowing this meant she was not invited to join him.

She made her way down the driveway and turned left, step after step feeling heavier and heavier. Then, the car drove past her, speeding out of sight, and the adrenalin that had carried her to the Potter's doorstep reached its inevitable end. Feeling as though she might pass out, Lily steadied herself on a nearby fence, squeezing her eyes shut in a vain attempt to clear her head.

Just as she had decided to put all her energy into regaining her composure so that she might be able to reach her home before morning, she heard the unmistakable sound of Sirius' voice, crying out somewhere down the street.

Remus had suggested that he and Sirius politely ask Mrs. Pettigrew if they could talk to her son. Sirius had agreed to this on the walk up but had either forgotten or chosen to ignore the plan because as soon as he spotted Peter's house, he began to yell, at the top of his voice, "Oi Pettigrew! Come out you cowardly piece of shit!"

"Sirius, are you trying to get the attention of the entire street," scolded Remus. "I'd rather just deal with Peter than try and take on every Richie in town again."

"Like they'd stick their necks out for Pettigrew," said Sirius before crying out Peter's name once more.

Deciding that there was nothing for it but to submit to the madness, Remus joined his friend in jeering the word, "Pettigrew" as though it were a terrible insult.

A figure came running at them out of the shadows, making them both jump a little. Sirius saw Remus tense beside him, but was far too worked up to care, almost hoping for another fight.

"Lily?" said Remus, recognising her face as she drew closer.

"What are you doing here?" asked Sirius.

Lily's eyes were wild and red. Neither boy had ever seen one person look so exhausted and yet so infuriated at the same time.

"I came to tell James' dad that his son might be dead," snapped Lily. "But clearly you thought your top priority should be to harass Peter."

"James isn't going to die," retorted Sirius. "But Pettigrew is."

"It's his fault James got hurt," added Remus as way of explanation.

"Why? Because he didn't show up tonight?" said Lily.

"Because he's the one that told the Richies what we were up to," replied Sirius.

Before Lily could express her disbelief, the Pettigrew's front door opened to reveal a furious looking Mrs. Pettigrew.

"What on earth do you three think you're doing," she cried, storming down her front lawn. "If you don't stop screaming obscenities at my family, I'll call the police."

"Time to go," muttered Lily, dragging Sirius by wrist, trusting Remus to follow.

Sirius allowed himself to be guided, displeased but aware that he would not be able to justify entering a physical confrontation with Peter's mum.

Lily was welcomed home by a furious Petunia.

"Where on earth have you been? Is that a black eye?" she cried, following Lily from the front door to the kitchen.

"I don't want to talk about it," said Lily, putting the kettle on, "Has anyone rung for me?"

Petunia spluttered, "You disappear the night before my wedding, come back in the middle of the night with your face a mess, and you ask me if you've had any phone calls?"

Lily turned to face her sister, trying not to cry as she did so.

"Look, I'm here aren't I? I'll be in your stupid wedding," she snapped.

The two sisters stared at each other in terrible silence, practically daring the other to say another word.

Then, the sound of a flushing toilet, followed by their mother rushing from the bathroom asking, "Is that Lily?"

"Yeah, it's me mum," called Lily in response.

Jill Evans let out a sigh of relief as she burst into the kitchen and saw her youngest daughter in one piece, albeit with a rather obvious black eye.

"Now," began Jill, her voice tired but stern, "Do you have any idea how much trouble you're in?"

Lily was not allowed to retire to bed until she had recounted the tale of her evening. So, she did as she was told, joining her mother and sister at the kitchen table.

Once Lily had finished, Petunia, in a cool voice, said, "I don't think you should be a bridesmaid anymore."

"Why? Because I got home a bit late," sneered Lily.

"Because you don't even care enough about my wedding to avoid getting into one of your stupid gang fights for one night."

"Gang fight?" cried Lily. "Are you serious?"

Petunia stiffened, sitting as straight as possible for a person to sit, with all their bumps and lumps.

Lily rolled her eyes and said, "Fine. I didn't want to wear that godawful dress anyway."

"That's enough!" snapped Jill.

Both Petunia and Lily flinched.

"Now," she continued, "It's bad enough your father won't be there tomorrow. I won't have you two fighting."

"It's my wedding," cried Petunia, incredulously.

"Well, if you're old enough to be a wife, you're old enough to forgive your sister. At least for now," said Jill. "Now are you going to keep arguing or am I going to have to send you to the naughty step the night before your wedding."

Lily smirked.

Jill rounded on her, "I don't know what you're so smug about. You won't be leaving the house for a month after tomorrow. It's sixth-form, church, or home. Now go to bed, both of you."

After an hour of squeezing her eyes shut, trying desperately to fall asleep, Lily admitted defeat. It was, after all, rather difficult to relax when your mind kept running through different scenarios in which she would be informed of James' death.

As quietly as possible, for fear of waking Petunia, Lily clambered out of bed and tiptoed towards her mother's room.

The door creaked as she pushed it open, causing her to wince, but no one to stir. Pressing on, Lily entered the bedroom and allowed the door to creak closed behind her.

"Mum," she whispered.

Jill Evans rolled over but did not wake.

"Mum," repeated Lily, her voice slightly louder.

"What is it, darling?" replied her mum in a sleepy, confused voice.

"I know you're upset with me, but I can't sleep."

Jill lifted the covers, indicating Lily should join her. With a small smile, Lily got into the bed and made herself comfortable.

"Do you remember what I used to tell you when you were younger," said Jill in a whisper.

"When I couldn't sleep?"

"Yes."

"To tell myself a story in my head. But I can't think about anything pleasant. I'm just worried about James," then, after a moment's thought, Lily added, "And I'm worried Petunia'll never speak to me again."

"She will, dear, she will," said Jill, giving Lily a reassuring pat on the arm. "Now think about something nice."

"Like what?"

"The zoo."

The next day Petunia was far too busy worrying about the wedding to take the time to scold Lily. Not to mention that they had left for Surrey at seven that morning, meaning that almost the entire day would be spent in the presence of friends and relations. Petunia, no matter how much rage consumed her, was never one to lose composure in public.

Lily did her best to play the part of devoted sister, even going so far as to try and hide the fact that her bridesmaid's dress was giving her chest a rather painful rash.

If James had been there, as he was supposed to have been, she could have complained to him. But if James was there to listen to her complain about her rash he would also be uninjured and able to keep her entertained with terrible jokes and bad dancing.

The day passed slowly, not simply because Lily was desperate for the following morning when she would finally be able to return to Sowsworth and discover the fate of her boyfriend, but also because Vernon Dursley's family were as awful as they were boring.

One of Vernon's cousins, a fourteen year old boy named Martin, kept giving her the eye, undeterred by her hideous dress. Thinking it was safe to slip away; Lily wandered across the dance floor to the boy and, with her sweetest smile, asked if he had any change.

Martin nodded fervently, producing twenty pence from his pocket.

"Thank you," said Lily, taking the coin and rushing out of the building, searching for the nearest payphone.

The wedding was being held in a quasi-expensive hotel at the top of a country road, but Lily had seen, on the drive there, that there was a high street not too far away.

Picking up the hem of her dress, Lily ran for some ten minutes before she saw signs of civilisation.

"Excuse me," she asked the first woman she saw. The woman looked taken aback at the horrendous clash of ginger and pink, but Lily, unperturbed, continued, "Do you know where the nearest payphone is?"

"There's one outside that pub," answered the woman, gesturing over her shoulder. "Keep walking and you can't miss it."

Lily thanked the woman before setting off again.

When she finally reached the payphone, the twenty pence piece growing sweaty in her tight grip, Lily realised she had no idea who to call.

Mr. Potter? It was unlikely he would be home and not at the hospital. Fabian wouldn't have been allowed to stay long enough to know how James was doing. Sirius or Remus might have heard something but she couldn't remember calling Remus before.

She tried to recall Angie's phone number, but James had lived there so long ago that she wasn't certain she actually knew it anymore.

Lily was getting frantic and so decided she would simply have to call Mary or Dorcas and hope they knew what was going on.

Without further ado, Lily dialled Dorcas' number and waited.

Mrs. Meadowes answered.

"Hi, is Dorcas there?" asked Lily.

"I'm afraid not," replied Mrs. Meadowes. "She's gone to her friend Maureen's house."

"Oh, okay," said Lily, trying not to sound as disappointed as she truly was. "Thank you."

Despite her exhaustion, Lily barely slept that night either.

By the time she and her mother arrived in Sowsworth on the Sunday, after seeing Petunia off on her honeymoon, every inch of Lily's body was pleading for a nap.

As soon as the car pulled into the drive, however, Lily practically threw herself out of the car.

"Lily," called Jill.

Supressing a sigh, Lily stuck her back into the car.

"Yeah, mum?"

"You can go find out how James is. But after that you come straight home."

Lily gave a quick nod to show she understood before heading straight to Angie's.

Before Angie could even say hello, Lily blurted, "Do you know anything about James?"

"Yes, Lily," said Angie kindly. "He's fine."

"Fine? Completely fine?"

"Well they've got to keep him in the hospital for a while, but he'll survive."

"Have you seen him?" asked Lily.

"Yes, I went with my brother yesterday."

"How is he?"

"Already bored of the hospital. Asked if I'd sneak him out."

Lily laughed breathily, embarrassed that, in light of her overwhelming relief, it was quite likely she would break down in tears on Angie's doorstep.

Although Jill Evans had been completely serious when she had sentenced her daughter to a month's long house arrest, she was not heartless.

So, after dinner, she said, "Tomorrow, when I finish work, I'm going to the hospital to visit dad. Do you wanna come?"

Lily almost dropped the plate she'd been washing.

James was suspiciously sniffing a bread roll when Lily entered his ward. He didn't notice her at first, too caught up in investigating his dinner.

"Hi," greeted Lily.

James flinched, crushing the bread roll in his fist and pulling it back as though he were ready to use it as a weapon.

"Lily!" he exclaimed, tossing the roll onto the floor and attempting to get out of the bed. "Your eye looks awful. Are you alright?"

"Oh my God, what are you doing?" she cried, throwing herself forwards and pulling James' sheets back over him. "Don't get up! Also you're attached to about a million tubes."

"Ugh, you sound like the nurses," complained James.

"Nice to see you too."

James grinned as Lily glanced around for a chair. James patted the tiny patch of bed beside his bum that was free and, after a moment's consideration, Lily took up his offer and sat down.

"This feels inappropriate," said Lily, resting her head on James' shoulder, careful not to brush against his stomach, as they leaned back on his mountain of pillows.

An old man in the bed opposite threw them a dirty look.

"Yeah, we'll probably get told off," said James. "But what's the worst they can do? Stab me?"

Lily lifted her head to give James an unimpressed expression.

"Too soon?" he asked.

"Give it another day at least."

"It's been three days already. I feel like that's enough time."

"Hey," she said, cuddling up to him once more. "I only found out you weren't dead yesterday."

"You thought I was dead?"

"I didn't know if you were or weren't."

"Were you worried?"

"Of course," said Lily.

"Did you consider pulling a Juliet and offing yourself?" he teased. "Because if not then I don't think you really love me."

"Do you wanna get stabbed again?"

"Hey guess what my Doctor's called."

"Tom?"

"No even better."

"Than Tom?" laughed Lily.

"Yes, now be quiet and get ready to hear the greatest Doctor name you'll ever hear."

"I'm ready."

"My Doctor's name is Edgar Bones."

"No!" cried Lily.

"Yes!"

"Doctor Bones?"

"Doctor Bones," confirmed James. "I personally think it was almost worth being hospitalised just so I could hear that name."

Their laughter was interrupted by an incredibly disgruntled nurse who began a rather long lecture on why nobody should be sitting on James' bed just now.

Sirius had managed to convince Remus to get on his motorbike later that week. Remus was still incredibly wary of Sirius' skills as a driver, but was far too excited about the prospect of seeing James to care all that much.

The visit was, to James' dismay, largely dedicated to discussing revenge on Peter.

The two boys had immediately, after dragging two chairs from across the room and placing them by James' bed, brought up Peter.

"Can't we talk about something else? What have I missed on Top of the Pops this week?" said James, his voice weary, still adjusting to the idea of Peter as a traitor.

"James, that little shit is the reason you're in a hospital bed," replied Sirius before adding, "And me. It's my fault too."

James scoffed, "I'm pretty sure that Mulciber's the one who stabbed me in the gut."

"With my knife," said Sirius firmly.

"But you didn't intend for James to get hurt," reasoned Remus.

"That doesn't matter," spat Sirius.

"You know, we could do this all day," said James. "I mean really if we're following that line of argument then it's Fabian's fault for getting on that roof."

"James," began Sirius.

"Who wants to play cards?" asked James, cutting Sirius off before he could continue.

"James," said Remus calmly. "Peter needs to pay for what he's done. If you thought about him as a traitor rather than a friend, you'd see that."

"Actually, Remus," countered James. "Since getting stabbed, I have decided to become a pacifist."

"A pacifist?" said Remus, his disbelief clear.

"What would you do if Snivellus really pissed you off?" demanded Sirius. "Just give him a flower and a pat on the back?"

"Well, to begin with, the flower seems a bit overboard," said James. "And secondly Snape doesn't count. He's not even human, technically."

"Alright, what about Mulciber? What if he ever starts something on you again?" said Sirius.

"Well, I would kill him," answered James.

"Okay, so you're just a pacifist when it comes to Pettigrew," said Remus.

"Pretty much. Now can we just drop this?"

Sirius and Remus did not argue so James started to shuffle his pack of cards.

"Oh, by the way," said James, as though he were about to discuss the weather, "Mulciber's not being charged with anything. Apparently it was just a 'fight between boys' and not attempted murder."

"Are you having a laugh?" said Sirius. "So the farm got destroyed and Mulciber's walking free."

"Well, at least I didn't die. Now, do we want to play Gin or Rummy?" asked James.

"They're the same game."

Lily was allowed to visit James a couple more times over the next three weeks, but her mother put her foot down when it came to allowing her to attend the party being thrown at the pub, celebrating his release from hospital.

"Mum, he's my boyfriend. I should really be there," persisted Lily, knowing she was fighting a losing battle.

"Like you should have been here the night before Petunia's wedding?" replied Jill, not cruelly, but pointedly.

Lily did consider, later, when alone in her room, climbing out her bedroom window. This plan was quickly dismissed as ridiculous and possible deadly, so, in a huff, Lily went downstairs and sat with her mum, watching telly.

Other than Lily Evans, all of James' friends and acquaintances had gathered in The Griffin that night.

Alice had even slipped him a pint of lager with a wink and a, "Down it now before anyone sees and comes begging for their own."

James did as he was told, feeling, the entire time, the odd sensation that Maureen Baddock was staring at him.

When he sat down beside Sirius and Remus, Sirius asked, "So, any thoughts on how we should get back at Pettigrew?"

"Well, he didn't get invited to this snazzy party," said James dismissively.

Sirius and Remus shared a look but dropped the subject.

"Oh, God," cried James, bowing his head as though to hide his face.

"What is it?" asked Remus.

"Fabian's looking this way. He keeps trying to apologise to me. It's getting pretty tedious," said James. "Let's pretend like we're having a really serious, private conversation."

A few minutes later, Regulus entered. A few people looked up from their conversations, but no one other than Sirius greeted him.

Regulus stood by the door, making himself as small as possible, as Sirius came over.

"Didn't know if you'd come," said Sirius with a grin. "Glad you did though."

"I'm not sure I should stay," replied Regulus, glancing around awkwardly, "I'm pretty sure everyone here hates me."

"Nah," said Sirius. "You're just being neurotic. Go sit with Dorcas."

"Why?" asked Regulus.

"Because she doesn't discriminate; she'll talk anyone's ear off."

The regulars, mostly middle-aged to elderly men, did not look overly amused when it reached ten o'clock and their pub was still overrun with teenagers.

One such teenager, however, had made his way over to a lonely regular and struck up a conversation, forgoing interaction with his own classmates.

Frank had been too caught up in Alice to notice that Benjy had joined an old man at the bar to talk about Coronation Street until half ten.

"Excuse me," said Frank pleasantly, standing between Benjy and the old man, interrupting Benjy's rant about the Janet Barlow storyline. "Could I borrow my friend for moment," he asked of the man, who didn't seem too upset to be rid of Benjy.

Taking Benjy to a quiet corner, Frank said, "Are you alright?"

"I'm fine, why?"

"You're out with all your friends and you're talking to an old man about Corrie. Now unless you suddenly have a thing for really old men, there must be something going on."

Benjy sighed, "I don't know. I don't want to talk about it."

"Is it Kenneth?"

"Why would it be Kenneth?"

Frank shrugged.

"Are you not still into Kenneth?" he asked.

"Not really. I'm pretty sure he's going out with Kathy Jones now," said Benjy casually.

"Really? Why didn't you tell me?"

"I don't know. I guess I just didn't get the chance."

"What do you mean? I see you every day."

"Yeah, at school," said Benjy, "But I don't really want to talk about this stuff there. After school you're always with Alice."

"Oh."

"Look you're really making this out to be something bigger than it actually is."

"Fine," conceded Frank. "Do you want to get back to your conversation with the old man or do you want to come with me and get Dorcas and Mary to argue something?"

Benjy grinned and said, "Definitely the Dorcas and Mary one. That is, if we can get Dorcas away from Maureen."

"Yeah, why are they suddenly best friends now?"

Benjy stifled a laugh but did not bother to correct Frank's assumption, not thinking it his place.

After his second secret pint, James slammed his hand down on the table. Mary, beside him, jumped in her seat a little.

"Ladies and gentleman," James called out to those around him. "Tonight has been fantastic except for one thing."

"No Lily?" asked Dorcas.

"No alcohol?" suggested Maureen, giving Alice a pointed look.

"No disco music?" said Mary with a small laugh.

Sirius shot her a mock-glare as James said, "Yes, Dorcas. So, what I'm gonna do is go see her for a little bit."

"But she's not allowed to leave the house," voiced Kenneth.

"Kenny, I'm not asking for negativity. I'm just letting everyone know that I'm gonna go find my girlfriend."

"See you tomorrow then," said Remus.

James got to his feet and squeezed himself past Mary, Kenneth, Benjy, and Hestia.

"You don't think he'll be coming back?" asked Maureen once James had exited the pub.

"Not a chance," said Sirius.

James considered throwing rocks at Lily's bedroom window, but thought that might result in broken glass and an even angrier Jill Evans.

Instead, James decided to do a loud impression of a Cockrill.

A second later, the front door opened and Jill Evans stuck her head out, looking around for the source of the noise.

"James?" she asked. "Did you make that sound?"

Wandering over, James replied, "Hi, I thought that would be more discreet."

"Were you looking for Lily? You know she's not allowed out."

James heard Lily call from inside, "Mum, is that James?"

"Hi," cried James in reply.

Jill gave him a disapproving look.

"Sorry," he said sheepishly. "I just wanted to say hi."

"Well, you've said it now," said Jill just as Lily appeared at her shoulder.

"James!" exclaimed Lily, pushing past her mother and throwing her arms around him.

"Hello," said James, pulling her as close as possible without touching stomachs. "I should probably go before your mum kills me."

Lily, letting go of James, turned to shoot her mum a sad look.

"James," sighed Jill. "Would you like to come in for a cup of tea?"

AN: okay guys this is it this is the end

it's been a wild ride let's be real and I can't believe some of you have stuck around from the beginning

I can't express how grateful I am for all of your support

also, because I won't get another opportunity for this fic, I'm gonna beg for reviews one last time xxxx