Rubatosis Rewrite

Chapter 12

James was pacing in the common room, Astra was nowhere to be found. Alice said she had not heard her come to bed last night and that made James' stomach drop. The others were sitting on the couch minus Peter who was in the boys dorm searching for the currently missing map. Of course the one time they needed the map, it was gone. "James mate, I'm sure Astra is alright, maybe she got in late last night and then left early this morning." Sirius tried to console his friend, he was worried as well but he had never seen James like this, so uncontrollably anxious.

    "We did go to bed pretty early last night, maybe we just missed her?" Lily offered as the other girls agreed. James ran a hand through his hair, none of them were helping his stress. He knew they were just trying to help but it just made him overthink more.

    The common room door opened and Frank walked towards the group, they all stared at him. "Mcgonagall told me to tell everyone to report to her office, now." Frank looked at them worriedly, even he had noticed the blonde's absence. The group stood up and quietly walked to her office. "Sit down, please." Mcgonagall had conjured more chairs for the group but they remained standing. "Mcgonagall what's going on?" That was the only time the woman had heard Sirius Black call her that and that's when she knew they had already noticed something was wrong.

    "Late last night, Professor Slughorn was walking around the corridor when he heard screaming." She explained slowly. She didn't want to scare them. "What are you saying?" Remus asked, stepping forward. Every heart in that room sped up as they stopped breathing. "A large snake conjured from magic had been found in the library, when Professor Slughorn got rid of it he found something else. Miss. Black was also in the library last night." She stopped talking.

    "Where is she, Mcgonagall?" James stared at her. He couldn't breathe. He hadn't been there to protect her this time and look what happened."The hospital wing-" James immediately turned, running for the door. "Mr. Potter, Potter. James!" He stopped in his tracks and turned to her. "You aren't allowed in, only her family is allowed in right now."

    "Minerva, I have to see her. You know her family isn't coming to see her. You know her situation. I have to be there for her. I lo-" He cut himself off looking down. " Your parents are here Potter, they are with her right now. They are also trying to find out who did it. She had several injuries and the shelves in the library were destroyed which means there was a fight."

    "How is she?" Marlene asked the question they all wanted to know. "She is stable, she hasn't awoken yet." Mcgonagall was very vague with her answer but they didn't question it anymore. The door flew open and in walked Fleamont and Euphemia. "Mom, dad!" James ran into his fathers arms tearing up as Euphemia held a distraught Sirius. "Can you take me to my sister?" Sirius whispered to the woman as she consoled him.

She too was too exhausted to speak aloud. She gently took the boy's hand and pulled him towards the door. The rest of the group except for Mcgonagall followed. Frank held Alice's hand, Marlene held Lily's, and the other boys walked side by side. When they approached the doors Fleamont held the door for Sirius and Euphemia silently. When James went to walk through his father put a hand on his chest. "Dad please, I need to see her." James' voice broke and was extremely quiet.

His father would have let him in if he knew that James would be alright. But he knew James wouldn't be able to handle how sickly she looked. When the husband and wife had seen her they had assumed the worst until they were informed of the situation. James heard Sirius sob from outside the door and flew towards the door as his father held him back. The group all held in their own tears as James started yelling at his father.

"James, listen to me kid. Just wait until the morning, you can see her first thing tomorrow morning, alright?" Fleamont teared up as his son sobbed into his shoulder as he stopped trying to fight. "Just come back tomorrow morning, okay? Go try to get some sleep." Remus and Lily grabbed both of James' arms and pulled him back towards the common room, he never said a word. Even as they sat in the common room on the couches no one said a word.

The portrait opened and in walked Sirius. His eyes were wide and red. His cheeks were stained with tears. He stared at the floor, never looking up and walked straight to the dorms. "Sirius?" James stood up and faced the boy. Sirius turned around and they both quickly walked to embrace each other. "How is she mate, how's our girl?" James' voice broke. Sirius sobbed again. "She's alright, she doesn't look good but she's alright."