Rebirth {Marauders Era}

CHAPTER 7: JAMES: LIBRARY STUDIES, OF MANY KINDS

James awoke to broken sobbing. It sounded like Sirius. He sat up to see his mate squirming in bed, as if wrestling with invisible demons.

"Sirius!" He exclaimed and jumped out of bed to his side. "Wake up Sirius!"

But Sirius just whimpered. "I don't understand...please no! Not him, why...James!"

"I'm right here mate, just wake up! Damnit!" He shouted when Sirius suddenly writhed even more violently.

"Remus!" He shook his friend, and he woke, blinking his sleepy eyes slowly.

"What was that for James? It's in the middle of the night..." His voice trailed off when he heard Sirius let out other cry.

"Noo, not them! Why? It's all my fault! What have I done!" Then he relaxed, but his face was still full of terror.

"What's wrong with him?" Peter cowered in fear, then remembered what Sirius had told him and straightened up. "Is he ok?" He tried to steady the quiver in his voice.

James had no idea, this dream seemed so much worse than the last one he'd had. And that one had been scary.

"Come back, noo, where are you?!" He gasped awake, and looked around, anger and sadness coating his tongue. "Why do you keep disappearing!?" He shouted to no one in particular.

"Sirius, it was just a dream, you're safe now." Remus murmured, and Sirius turned his head and saw him. Then he saw James. His eyes nearly popped out of his head.

"Whoa, it's alright Padfoot." James stumbled back as he suddenly found himself in a hug. Fat tears meandered their way down Sirius's cheeks as he saw that his friend was alive, not dead on the floor of his house as he had seen.

"Sirius," Peter suddenly spoke, and it was strong and confident, so out of character they all looked at him in surprise. "You helped me face my greatest fear, now let us help you face yours."

Sirius dried his eyes the best he could, and told them of the dream. James leaned back, very disturbed at the idea of him and Lily being dead.

Sirius couldn't remember Harry, as then they would have a paradox, but he did tell them about how they were betrayed. "I don't know who it was, but by golly it looked so real...the anger was so intense, I was really going to kill them."

"Sirius, you have to go to Minnie. You can't keep having these dreams. It's killing you, mate." James stood, his eyes glassy as Remus talked and comforted Sirius.

"James, are you alright? Sit down." Suddenly a chair was beneath him and he shivered, his friends coming into focus.

"I...I can't fathom being dead. What did that being say to you this time Pads?"

"It told me to decide. Life or death. But I don't know what it meant by that. Then it told me to tell Athena that Decima had struck again. More code."

"Mate, this sounds like a magical being. Maybe I can have Lily look up something in the library."

"More like snog her there."

"I would never."

"And why do I not believe you?"

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James held to his word, on both accounts unfortunately. But Lily did find some extremely interesting information.

"Decima, he said?" She murmured, flicking through the pages of an old dusty book James was sure was as old as the school itself. It was the next day, a Saturday, and they were sitting in the morning sun. Lily was pouring over the books after hearing that Sirius was having nightmares. James was marveling in how the sun turned her hair a brilliant gold.

"Yeah, why?"

"Well, it's just that my Dad's a bit of a mythology nutter, and I remember him telling me the stories as a child." Her face suddenly paled. "Decima is Latin, it's the name of one of the fates."

James didn't follow, and Lily rolled her eyes at how oblivious he was.

"Decima, Nona, and Morta are the Fates, and they dealt with life and death."

"So?"

"So Decima measured the length of life you twat! Clearly having someone telling you about Decima is not a good thing, if she strikes again, she determines how long life is, then Morta ends it. If she's indeed real, and after Sirius, then I'd say we have a problem."

"So it's a cycle then," James peered over her shoulder, then snuggled into the crook of her neck. "Nona brings life, Decima maintains it, and Morta ends it."

"Yes you daft prick, now what's the other half of the message? Tell Athena? But Athena's Greek, Decima's Roman and...and oh, oh." Her eyes got very wide.

"Again Lily, I am impressed by your skills, but I am yet left behind." He murmured into her shoulder. She relaxed into him.

"Athena's Roman counterpart was Minerva, and we know a Minerva don't we?"

"What're you getting at Evans?" He now put his arms around her.

"That...that Decima is going to cut a life short, and...and we must tell McGonagall that..." She muttered, then suddenly turned around and smashed her lips on his. When they came out for air, he gasped.

"What was that for Lils?"

"You were asking for it, Potter."

Both their minds strayed off the new discovery as they enjoyed a morning in the library. Suddenly a small squeak was heard and a thump.

"What?" Lily broke away from James, unfortunatly someone had decided to walk in to their section of the library and had found them snogging.

"My baby, all grown up, oh whatever shall I do!" Came the cries behind the shelf, and Lily turned red.

"Marls, what're you doing here?" She asked quietly.

"I was coming to study, and it seems I got more than I bargained for. How good must James Potter's lips taste for you to snog him for that long?" If Lily hadn't been blushing then, she was certainly now.

"We- I- we haven't been for that long!"

Then James Potter said the very words that made Lily mine vomiting on the floor. "If you really wonder, why don't you come taste them yourself?"

"James Charles Potter!"

"What? She bloody asked!"