Marauders Instagram | Promises

Missing part 4 (text)

Lily's POV:

The atmosphere grew darker as we, Remus, Sirius, Marlene and I walked in the dim light of the forbidden forest. Dorcas, Alice and Frank were in the castle just in case James was not in the forest, instead in a dark hallway being tortured to death by death eaters. Just thinking about it made my heart beat increase and my stomach rumble in fear. Marlene was holding my hand tight as we walked further into the mystery of the forest, she was obvious to the fact that I was in worry about James. I definitely did not want to lose him.

'Guys', a whisper came from Remus, 'guys.' Marlene and I put our heads up slowly as we heard the barley noticeable whisper. Sirius did not hear it and kept on walking with his head bowed down but still looking around.

'Guys', Remus said again this time he nudged Sirius slightly making him look. Remus then pointed with his finger to a black thing that lay ahead of us between loads of branches.

'Do you- Do you think James is in there?', I asked in a slight whisper matching Remus'.

'Lets go check', said Sirius and we all nodded. We slowly walked towards it and as we reached more close to it, you could notice it was a small cabin. If it wasn't for Remus, I don't think anyone of us would have noticed it from far away. We made sure to make no sound as we looked into one of the small dark windows. The cabin was dark making it look like there was nothing inside but when my eyes adapted I saw the dark-wooden furniture spread around the room, what seemed like a mirror cover in black-cloth at the very back, a sofa in front of the mirror, also covered by the cloth, papers with messy written notes around the floor as if a hurricane had passed through, and....liquid on the floor? Marlene made a weird face as she also noticed it. It couldn't possibly be blood, could it?

'Is that blood, on the floor?', Marlene asked scrunching up her nose as she glanced at the unknown-liquid.

'Maybe', Sirius said and looked around the room again. I took a step away from the window, it now appeared black again. What if that was James' blood? That must mean he was somewhere near, right? The death eaters and wanna-be-death eaters would most likely do something like this. Kidnap someone, torture them, bring them to an cabin in the middle of a forbidden forest, leave their blood on the floor, probably leave the person too and then go on and live there lives, knowing they killed or hurt someone. Well I was not going to let them kill James. No way.

And then I noticed there was another wall coming from behind the cabin, maybe another room? James could be there. I ran over, Marlene, Remus and Sirius behind me. I saw a small door that looked locked and pulled on it. The wall was part of a miniature room, way smaller than a bathroom and not taller than an average person's height.

'I need some help here', I said to Marlene, Sirius and Remus who were watching me pick at the door like frozen ice cubes that couldn't move. They all walked over and as we pulled on it, the door cracked the lock hanging loosely on a chain broke. I opened the door and stepped into the dark, lacking light, room.

'Eh...hello?', I said as I took a step forward and tripped over something, making me land in the pitch darkness of the room. I cursed at myself for walking so quickly into the room and for the darkness surrounding me.

'Alright there?', suddenly rang beside me and I sprang to the other wall, my eyes widened in fear.

'I didn't mean to scare you off,' said the british voice again. I knew this voice.

'James?', I said in fear. The room was so dark, I couldn't see anything at all.

'Yeah. It's me', said James and in a flash of a second Sirius ran in and  threw himself on James, and yes, I do mean threw.

'JAMES', Sirius said, 'I THOUGHT YOU WERE DEAD!'

'If YOU DON'T GET OF ME I WILL BE!' said James, matching Sirius' welcoming.

Remus and Marlene held out a hand to all of us, pulling us to our feet. Finally outside the light-swallowing room, I could see James. Like in the mirror he had scars and blood all over his face. I walked to him and hugged him tight. I buried my face in his shoulder and he did the same to me. I didn't know how long we were standing there but after a while Remus said,

'It's great to have you back James, but if you guys start with all the couply shit again, we won't be able to get to the hospital in time...' James and I both rolled our eyes but laughed and somehow happiness grew inside me.

'Yeah..James..I think your arm is a bit-', Sirius said but James interrupted him, '..broken? Yeah it's broken.'

I looked at his arm and feared. It was full of blood and seemed...wrong?

'Okay let's go to the hospital right now', I said quickly. We walked back to Hogwarts and the clock on the tower showed midnight. Sirius and Marlene were walking in front, while James, Remus and I were walking behind them. I was holding James' hand as we walked quietly and James was telling us the story and as I listened my head ached slightly. To ever think I was best friends with a guy who had tortured a person and made them break their arm. What if Snape and his gang did worse? They definitely did worse, I was sure, but how far would they go? Would they go as far as actually joining people like Voldemort and killing people like me? Would it come to a point where in the future, Snape will maybe actually kill me? My mind wandered off into the unknown of the future and as the sky had changed into a raven black, I was left to fear more everyday.