The Marauders: Year Six #Wattys2017

Jinxes, Cursed Objects, and Other Stuff

Jinxes, Cursed Objects, and Other Stuff That Will Most Likely Kill You If You Have It Around

A dripping sound echoed in the dark.

A cold wind whistled through the windows, high, high above. The grey of a sheer grey mountain face filled the view. Flecks of snow blew through the window, twisting and dancing to the stone floor, which wasn't even warm enough to melt the flakes as they fell.

James Potter lay in the middle of the cell, sprawled upon his stomach, his face pressed into the crook of his arm.

Lily pressed against the bars, stretching... reaching just as hard as she could... but she couldn't reach him.

"James..." she called, but he didn't react. He lay very still. "Please," she begged. "Don't let me be too late. Don't let me be too late. James, please..."

Lily sat up in bed.

Across the common room, in the boys' dorms, so did James Potter.

In his dream, he'd heard the tone of Lily's voice somewhere far away, saying things he couldn't quite hear or understand.

He stared at the ceiling, drenched in sweat, his heart racing.

It was Friday again.

Nearly a week had gone by since the fight in Horace Slughorn's brunch and nothing had really been resolved. It had been a horribly confusing week - especially for James. Every class was a nightmare, it seemed. He still couldn't look Lily Evans in the eye because of the incident in the Quidditch locker rooms, couldn't talk to Sirius because of the fight at the brunch, couldn't face any of the Gryffindor girls because every time he even looked McKenna, Meg, Annalee, or Carly's way, they instantly started whispering together, like a horrible little club. Peter was the only one James could really talk to and even that was awkward because lately Sirius had been suddenly really kind to Peter and Peter was clearly hesitant to break whatever trance Sirius was under so he wasn't quite as clingy and eager to please James as he might usually have been, so there were a lot of long, silent nights for James, hiding in the Marauders' dormitory, his back to the other three as he read a textbook or just lay staring at the wall. Some nights, he was there by himself until the small hours of the morning.

This had been one of those nights and as James rolled over to glance at the clock he saw it was after two in the morning and still only Wormtail was in his bed - Sirius and Remus's bed was empty.

James closed his eyes and begged his mind to shut off.

"She needs to tell him," Remus was saying.

He and Sirius were in the alcove off the Trophy Room Passageway, where they'd taken to hiding out since the fight because being around James Potter was simply the most awkward thing in the entire world for Sirius at the moment. Every time they were in the same room, the air thickened to near choking levels.

"I've told her that," Sirius said, "Several times over. She won't listen."

"Well that's the only way to resolve all this. Somebody needs to tell him what's going on. You hitting on her like you've done is only making him resent you."

Sirius sighed, "I just don't dare to tell him without her permission. I don't. Last time I betrayed somebody I went half a year without you in my life properly and they're both my best friends, Lily and James. I couldn't bear to lose either of them. I've been going mad enough already this week with him angry at me. You know how many times I've tried to apologize?"