"It's... it's a masterpiece!" Sirius cried, standing back to admire his craftsmanship. It was past midnight, probably ages past, but it had been worth it.
"Concipio!" he said, and it stopped wiggling immediately. "Leviparopsis!"
Hovering just centimeters below the ceiling of the kitchen, Sirius directed it out in front of him, though the door. He arrived, panting, at James' door, and kicked it (both hands were quite occupied with his creation, which was now bobbing uncontrollably).
James appeared in the door, and moved back speechlessly to avoid being bowled over.
"It's... Padfoot..." He mouthed like a Banshee on the hunt, but no sound came out.
Sirius had channeled his creativity (and previous boredom) into a six-foot work of Jello history.
As he stared, James was fairly certain he, Lily, and a large colony of gnomes would easily fit inside it.
"It's a tower," said Sirius proudly (and largely unnecessarily). He set it down in the center of the room, between his bed and James' own.
"Tower?" said James in shock. "It's Hogwarts, and Hogsmeade. And possibly the whole of England... Are those - bridges?"
Sirius nodded proudly. "Over the river of gondolas. I embellished," he added. "Dig in!"
"You only just finished it!" James said in shock.
"I made sure the house-elves got a photo of me beside it," he said, moving forward and producing a fork from within his cloak.
They ate the sixteen tiers of Jello, including the miniature versions of themselves, Dumbledore, and Severus (who they took great pleasure in cutting into several jagged pieces).
Halfway through devouring the Great Hall, Sirius finally asked.
"So, what happened?"
James sat, munching on the Slytherin common room. He didn't meet Sirius' eyes, or even look up from his bare feet; instead, he dug a hand into his breast pocket, and placed its sole contents between them.
Sirius looked down at the ring, then at James, who refused to look up.
"Right." He nodded.
They sat and continued to peck at the Jello (Sirius single-handedly finished the electric blue kumquat tier).
"It was... I didn't do it right." James found his eyebrows creased deeply in anger, and he ruthlessly cleaved Zonko's from the rest of the village shops.
After a long pause, Sirius replied bracingly, "It isn't going to get better unless you change it."
"I know!" James shouted. "And if I loved her, shouldn't it be enough? I tried to change it. I went in there."
It's not another world, said his mind.
She closed herself in, he shot back. Might as well be!
"She's upset - " Sirius interrupted, but James matched him.
"Upset! She's traumatized! I've met people who were left after Death Eater attacks - my parents bring them home or talk about them often enough. You've been with them, too. How different is she?" He was becoming both furious and, though he could never say so, absolutely terrified. Sirius was blinking back, letting James rant, which made none of it better. "This whole mess is absurd! She's going try to do something stupid, and I'm not even going to notice! It's absurd!"
He realized he was on his feet, panting slightly, with a weight around his chest he had been ignoring, guilt and fear and hurt.
"Nevermind," he said, when Sirius just nodded. "It's not your problem."
"Prongs, I think you are underestimating her -"
"I'm going to bed," James huffed. "If I ever have to eat another cube of Jello in my life I think I'll just explode."
The next morning was hardly better. James woke with the same wrinkled brow, the same compressed feeling inside like he had lost a quidditch match and been simultaneously starved. This did not prevent him, however, from waking Sirius up when breakfast was made - a gesture he knew was received as an apology.
It was in this mood, then, that he joined his mother in the kitchen, and took the food she offered, washing each few bites down with pumpkin juice. It refreshed his throat, but he remained distant and agitated all morning.
Both Mrs. Potter and James were sufficiently flabbergasted, staring wide-eyed, unaware of their dropped jaws, at Sirius, when he rounded off four steak and kidney pies.
"You are very lucky to have such an elastic metabolism," Helena said.
"And I intend to use it to the fullest," he muttered through his food.
Just as he was about to offer Sirius another serving, James heard a small hiss from the hearth. By the time he had turned around to look at the fireplace, his father was stepping out of it, looking grave as he dusted himself off.
Helena leapt to her feet. "Out!"
The boys both knew that she wasn't in the mood for a bargain. She practically slammed the door on James, who pressed his ear to the door the second it was closed. Sirius, for possibly the first time in his life, didn't join in the mischief.
Moving into the library, Sirius merely said, "James, I do believe you've corrupted me. I am trying to be good and the world just won't let me." He shook his head sadly, every hair moving in unison. "You tell me everything later, yeah?" Sirius added. He left as James nodded.
Inside the kitchen, James heard Helena opening and closing the cabinets hurriedly.
"They're upstairs," he heard his mother say.
"Good," Mr. Potter replied, and the scraping sound of chairs could be heard.
"Dumbledore's just got word off some... 'reliable source' that the Death Eaters are going to be meeting at Emerson's Grove tonight at midnight."
"Isn't that near where the Rookwoods live?"
"No, the Malfoys." (James' brow grew, if possible, more furrowed.) "The minister's having the Aurors all go and do the raid on them then."
"All of the Aurors? That's a little risky, isn't it?" Helena asked in a hushed voice.
"That's what I said. So it's going to be a team led... by..." Jack muttered something, which apparently neither Helena nor James could hear.
"Who, Jack?" Helena's voice was direct and low.
"Well... Me."
She gasped inadvertently; James stared wide-eyed at the door. The last important leaders on Auror-led raids had been killed or captured, and Jack wasn't as young as he had once been.
"I'm going, too," James heard Helena finally say.
"No, you're not," Jack told her, in the manner of an older brother instead of husband.
"Where are we meeting?"
Jack mumbled something again.
"If you're not going to tell me, I'll just follow you."
"We're meeting at the..." There was a long pause. "Can't it wait till after dinner?"
"Fine, but if you don't, I'll swear I'll..."
But James wasn't going to let them keep up this ridiculous conversation. He walked into the kitchen, fully bound on telling them flat out that he was going with them on their raid. Some irrational part of him connected the raid and that ring.
Unfortunately, door just swinging shut, Jack strode past James with a pat quickly on his shoulder.
He tried to sound respectful. "Sir, I wanted -"
"Sorry, James, I need to go," said Jack hurriedly, taking extra-long strides.
Helena whipped up some pots and pans, and began working on lunch, early as it was. She decided to make a roast, so the cooking would take a long time, even with of magic.
"Mum, I need to talk to you," James began.
"I'm occupied here, James, as you can see." Her temper was short enough that he didn't breach the subject. He turned instead and found Sirius.
They ate in silence, and everyone knew why. When they did need to fill the holes of silence, they talked about going back to school and the homework the boys still hadn't finished.
The talk was so empty, so emotionless, while James felt a clash of every conceivable emotion within that he felt drained. Sirius was hardly to blame, but his entire mind was set on after dinner, willing it to come.
He motioned to Sirius silently across the table, and they both left the kitchen as the adults magically washed the dishes.
When they reached James' room, Sirius locked the door and looked at James questionably.
"I'm going to get them."
Sirius waited. James didn't feel an explanation was necessary, apparently, so Sirius said, "Yes, James, you see, being psychic myself, that was an extremely easy statement to decipher."
The grin on Sirius' face evaporated. "What do you mean, 'go get them'?"
"The Aurors are going on a raid on the Death Eaters tonight. And I'm going, too."
Sirius knew by James' tone that it wasn't a joke. Sirius had always felt that James had a good interpretation of when to draw the line; now, however, that perception was vanishing quickly.
"Why?" Sirius asked.
James felt his resolve hardening in his stomach. "Lily is... I don't know, Sirius, but if she doesn't get herself back soon, I don't think she will. If I can get them back for this... maybe Lily can be mine again."
He took the ring from inside his pants pocket.
James shrugged. "It took too long for us to get here."
"Getting yourself mangled isn't going to convince Evans of anything," Sirius said forcefully. "You are not thinking at all! You have no idea what they're planning, or who's going to be there. It's stupid, Prongs, and you are only making more problems."
"I don't want to lose her," James said simply. "I have to try."
He put the ring on the chain from his desk top, clasping it around his neck. He grabbed his invisibility cloak, then smiled weakly at Sirius.
"Don't try to stop me, Sirius. I'm doing this."
Sirius sat down with a thud on his bed, not knowing what to do. "No. I cannot let you stick yourself like a big, dumb bulls eye in their inner circle and expect you to come home. Regulus is part of their group, and tons more. If they recognize you, they won't stop. You're not a kid, James."
"Sirius, if I'm not willing to risk getting hurt, then I don't love her."
James whipped out through the door, slamming it behind him. Sirius was so stunned by this sudden movement that he was barely up when the door shut.
"Don't be an idiot, James - OUCH!" He drew back his hand, swearing. The handle was burning hot. "You can't lock me in, Prongs, I am much too clever and too vengeful."
But try as he might, Sirius found himself on the wrong side of a rather effective oak obstacle.
Crouching outside the kitchen, James waited until he heard the sound of dishes finally being set away. He listened intently and thankfully heard the information he needed.
"I understand, Jack. Where?" Helena asked.
"In the clearing by the biggest oak in Emerson's Grove forest," replied Jack.
James smiled, but then realizing what he was about to do, he felt something telling him to stop, to think, to wait... He shut it off, and the part of him with no fear took control. In a second he had disappeared under the invisibility cloak, just as his parents came from the kitchen into the hall, went upstairs and were out of view. Quickly, James ran to the kitchen. He picked up his forgotten wand from the coffee table by the fire.
As he gripped his wand between his fingers, he saw something else he hadn't expected on the countertop.
It was a slip of crinkled parchment with the words, "Emerson's Grove - Midnight," written on it.
The handwriting was of neither Jack, Helena, nor Sirius, and the scratchiness of it gave the paper a dirty look, as though it were a copy of a more important, older page.
Everything else forgotten, James stared at it; why, he didn't know. He couldn't take his eyes off it, he couldn't move, he just stared. One part of him said to leave it and continue, to follow the plan. The other shouted, Pick it up! The latter won out. Slowly, James stretched out his fingers until they felt the wrinkle of parchment.
In a second, the room spun and evaporated, and a hook pulled James from behind his navel; his muscles released his belongings in panic, leaving the cloak and his wand in his place, but he could not release the note, with a whirl of color and sound.
*********