The Marauders: Year Six Part 2 #Wattys2017

Unwanted, Pesky Guests

Unwanted, Pesky Guests

Despite having been intending to return to Gryffindor Tower after leaving the Headmaster's office, Remus was lost in thought about Dumbledore's words of wisdom about the Shiva and he found himself getting off the stairwell and walking along the sixth floor corridor toward the hospital wing. He hesitated in the hall directly outside of the ward, gnawing a bit on his lower lip, his fists deep in his pockets as he stared at the door of the room.

Suddenly, it creaked as though to open, and Remus shuffled quickly, wincing at the movement, behind one of the suits of armor near by to take cover, not wanting to be caught loitering about. The door opened, but even though he squinted quite hard, he could see no one there in the hall. He hesitated, "James?" he whispered, thinking of the invisibility cloak. "Sirius?"

There was a pause and then, like a shifting in the air, a shimmery movement and the cloak was lifted off, revealing Lily Evans, her red hair shining lavender under the moonlight coming in the high windows. "Remus?" she whispered back, "Is that you?"

He came out from behind the armor slowly.

Lily's eyes went soft. "How are you feeling?" she asked, remembering how awful he'd looked on the Durmstrang ship on the way home.

"Still sore," he replied.

"Are you here to see Pomfrey? Perhaps she can see you get some of that special tea and --"

Remus shook his head, "I'm here to see James," he answered. He paused. "I reckon that's why you're here as well?"

Lily nodded.

"How is he?" Remus asked, a bit afraid of the answer.

Lily answered, "Asleep at the moment..." She stared down at the invisibility cloak hung over her arm and she sighed, poking at the silver fabric as she stared at the way it seemed to reflect the light of the flickering torches lining the hall. "He's quite down."

"Even with you there visiting him?" Remus prodded.

Lily said, "Perhaps especially. I don't know."

"Come now, you know better than that. It's James Potter, of course he's happy to see you," Remus said, consolingly.

Lily shook her head.

Remus touched a hand to her shoulder and she looked up at him. He could see the tears glistening in her eyes, only just holding onto the edges of her aqueducts. "Who in bloody hell would be anything but happy to see you, Lily?" he asked gently, "They'd be right out of their mind."

Lily smiled ever so slightly at these words, her heart warmed by the well-meaning behind Remus's words. But her smile was sad. "I reckon, Rey, that he's realized that I am a jinx, and it's my fault for what happened to him - for all the time he's spent suffering like he did..." She cast her eyes downward at her feet.

"Sorry, but unless you've Voldemort under an imperius curse, you're not to blame for what happened to James Potter," Remus said sternly.

"If I hadn't suggested we go out to that bloody dock --"

"Then they would've done whatever it is they were actually planning to do just the same," Remus inserted.

"But they would've had a harder go of it, wouldn't they?"

Remus raised an eyebrow, "Evans," he said sternly, "Stop trying to make yourself guilty of a crime you didn't commit. James is in a bad place because of what You-Know-Who did to him, not because of anything you've done. And furthermore, you bloody saved him from that! You're a rescuer."