I'll Take it Shaken, Not Stirred

Chapter 23: The Lord and the Outlaw

History: There are about 8551 pages worth of English HP fanfics on this site. None of the authors filling them are—in all likelihood—JKR. Neither am I. I own zilch.

Recap: Silth kills Praedam, almost killing James, but Gilbert Korcesh (Ministry guy) rescues him, and he goes to the castle to talk to McGonagall (Dumbledore is away from the school). He meets up with Lily, tells her everything, and she goes to retrieve her memories using Snape's pensieve. James doesn't find McGonagall and he is forced to go to the Common Room. Lily comes to him later with directions to The Clearing in the forest, believing Silth is scheduled to meet "The Foreigner" there. The two sneak out. In the forest, James's memories begin to return in the same painful way they returned to Lily months before. But worse. Lily must go on alone, and James is left behind.

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"You want results, but you never want to get your hands dirty. I'd start rolling up your sleeves. I'm gonna need a hacksaw." –Jack Bauer; Day 2, "24"
(I had this chapter in my head before I became obsessive of "24", but, seeing as there is a scene or two that scream "Jack Bauer", I thought he deserved the quote :-P)

"Here."

"You're giving me your wand?"

"No. I picked it up off a death eater when I knocked him out... What is it?"

"I... it's just... the wand won't work as well, since I'm not the owner..."

"It's just a simple healing charm... the cuts aren't too deep... hopefully. Okay, screw the last comment. Knox! Move your hand there... Sana!"

It was with great difficulty that James did not shout out in pain. His head felt as though it was splitting open. Images and words and scenarios played through his head top speed—even things that James already remembered. Somehow, he managed to push himself up so that he was sitting on thick roots of a tree, which he leaned against.

He sat there, and the minutes slipped by. At first, the throbbing pain in his head was so excruciatingly acute that he could barely breathe, and it required all of the self-control he possessed to keep himself from making noise about it; there was no chance of his going anywhere. However, as time passed, the pain slowly eased away. Eventually, he could stand up and breathe more normally. Admittedly, his head still felt as if someone had taken an axe to it... but less so.

Still leaning on the tree, James pushed himself up and looked about. It was dark but not entirely so. The full moon lit the area and James felt a jolt of guilt as he noticed it. Remus would be in the Shrieking Shack by now—alone without the other Marauders. However, he did not have much time to be guilty about that, as Lily was currently braving Merlin knew what by herself. She had disappeared a little over a quarter of an hour ago and James would have to move quickly if he wanted to make up the distance.

He looked about and located the directions she had left behind on the ground, where he had dropped them some time ago. Picking up the parchment, James read it through briefly, and then looked at his surroundings, comparing them with what Lily had written. He noticed one of the landmarks—a few mossy boulders—that she had pointed out, and read the bit of instructions regarding where to go next.

Unfortunately, it was slow business, following the directions. He did not trust his own memory enough yet to even partially rely on it, so he had to pay strict attention to the written directions as well as the forest around him. In addition, the aching in his head seemed to have spread through his entire body, and his pace was one at which he had no hope of catching up with the Head Girl. Still, he could not exactly turn back and leave Lily to her own devices. He felt guilty enough regarding her.