Not-So-Secret Admirer -A Jily Story

Part 8- Lily

I THOUGHT THAT THE MOST TERRIFYING THING IN THE WORLD WOULD BE PROFESSOR MCGONAGALL TELLING ME THAT I WOULD NEVER BE GOOD ENOUGH, THAT I WASN'T A CUT OUT FOR BEING A WITCH BECAUSE THAT WAS MY BOGGART. I never imagined that there would be something more terrifying than that, but it turns out a single piece of paper can be much more terrifying.

"Hey what's wrong?" James asked. I turned to face him. I guess he could tell that I was crying.

"How do you always know?" I said sniffling. He sat down next to me and I put my head on his shoulder and, despite my best effort, started crying.

"It's okay, it's okay," he said, stroking my hair "I'll get you some tea and then tell me what's wrong okay?" I sniffed and nodded. He took a cloak from his room for some reason and left the room.

I looked over the owl again. It had just arrived thirty minutes ago. I was asleep with the ruffling of the owl's feathers woke me up. If I ever encounter a boggart again, it would turn into this piece of paper.

James returned after a while with a tea pot filled with chamomile tea and two cups. James poured me a cup and I sipped it lightly.

"Now, tell me what's wrong?" he asked.

"It's my parents," I replied.

"Are they-" James started to ask. He didn't need to complete his sentence. I already knew what he was going to say. He was going to ask if they were okay, or were they dead. The answer would be the same in both cases.

"No," I replied "They're missing. I got an owl about half an hours ago. It's from my parent's neighbor. She said that she heard some struggling in the house but it subsided after a while and then when she went to check, they were gone."

"Did the neighbor say anything else," he asked. My parent's neighbor was an... eccentric woman. She was convinced that the muggle post was unreliable so she just sent her mail using owls. My owl usually flies home so the neighbor might have seen it and sent a message my way.

"No, she didn't see anything. There was no blood so they might still be alive," I said "James I'm really scared."

"It's okay," James said, pulling me closer "It's getting late. Let's just get some sleep." James escorted me to my room. I got changed and slid under my covers.

"The neighbor thinks I should have a funeral," I said "Bury an empty casket."

"Lily, your parents aren't dead," James said "But, I know you don't want to be alone right now so I'm going to sleep on the floor okay?"

"Yeah, that sounds good," I said. James got the mattress from his bed over to my room. I couldn't sleep no matter what I tried.

"Could you maybe come up here?" I asked. James looked at me curiously and then decided to oblige. I moved over a bit so he could have some room.

"I can help you find them if you want," he said, softly "We have have the whole week of holidays."

"You would do that for me?" I asked. James laughed softly.

"Anything for you," he whispered.

"Thank you," I whispered back. James reached up and tucked a strand of hair behind my ear.

"Thank me when we find them."

**********

I woke up earlier than I expected. James was still asleep and at some time during the night I woke up in his arms. I slowly got out of bed and got ready for the day. James fluttered his eye open.

"Sorry, did I wake you?" I said. James shook his head and rolled to the left and fell off the bed.

"Ow! I forgot I was in your room," he said "I have a wall on the left side of my bed."

"Um... thank you," I said "For staying with me last night."

"What are friends for?" James said. Marlene and Dorcas and Remus for that matter were friends. James was... something else, maybe something more. "How are you feeling?"

"I don't know," I admitted. I wasn't feeling a bad as I was yesterday but I wasn't feeling any better either.

"That's okay," James said "I've got to go. I promised I'd help Peter with some more research about the Ministry's true intention about the ball, gala, event, whatever."

"Okay, I'll see you around," I said. James left my room and soon after Marlene and Dorcas walked in.

"Lil, why was James in your room?" Marlene asked, wiggling her eyebrows.

"It wasn't like that," I said "What are you two doing here?"

"You'll never believe what happened!" Dorcas exclaimed. The gleeful look on Marlene's face vanished. "Veronica Williams parents disappeared!"

"What?" I said.

"Yes! We just found out this morning," Marlene said "And it's not just Williams. Karen Smith, Judy Hart, and Keira Shipka's parents also disappeared."

"Mine did too," I said. Marlene and Dorcas stared at me and then both of them hugged me.

"Oh Lil, are you all right?" Dorcas asked.

"I'm fine, relatively," I said "I just found out yesterday. That's why James was here. He stayed the night so I wouldn't have to be alone."

"Don't lose hope," Marlene said "It's going to be okay. I'm sure your parents are fine all of yours." There was a small knock on the door. Dorcas opened it and Remus and entered.

"Heard about your parents are you all right?" he asked.

"I'm fine," I said.

"Your not the only one," Remus remarked "About thirty students' parents are missing too."

"Thirty!? We only knew about three!" Marlene exclaimed "Who's doing this?"

"Who's parents next?" Dorcas asked.

"That might be easier to figure out," Remus said "We just need to figure out what Lily and the other students have in common." We all were thinking about what I had in common with the thirty other students other than the fact that we go to Hogwarts and that is when it hit me.

"We are all Muggle-borns," I replied.