Accio Evans

Chapter 41: News

Recap: James and Lily, bored on rounds decided to head up to the Astronomy tower as Lily wants to see the stars. Lily is once again reminded that the future for her looks quite bleak, James pretends to read the stars for her and tells her she will marry her 'gorgeous boyfriend' and have lots of children, as well as be happy in whatever she does. Lily admits she would love to be Mrs Potter and they recall the first time James asked her out, a moment from their third year and their conversation after the incident at the lake in their fifth year.

"Prongs?!" Sirius exclaimed, clicking his fingers in front of James' face. Less than a minute previously James had been falling asleep into his porridge, it seemed sleeping in the astronomy tower did not leave you feeling refreshed the next morning, but after scanning the letter written in his father's cursive print, he had jolted awake. He had been so absorbed in the letter that he had stopped midway through a sentence that he had been sleepily rambling. His friends were now eyeing him with an eye of suspicion and anxiousness; unexpected letters were usually not something to be welcomed these days.

"James are you alright?" Hestia asked, half a slice of toast abandoned on her plate, James suddenly realised his friends were all staring at him.

"Um... yeah, fine. Err... can I talk to you, alone?" James asked Sirius across the table. Sirius looked less than impressed, a plate full of breakfast in front of him, he looked at it longingly.

"Can it not wait?" Sirius asked, the thoughts of crispy bacon and sausages smothered in ketchup overpowering every other thought that entered his brain.

"Not really Sirius." James replied. At the use of his first name Sirius looked up, aware that James was serious. Sirius nodded and both boys stood abruptly, the rest of the group exchanging confused glances. Lily caught James' wrist as he stood.

"Is everything alright? I recognised the writing on the envelope. It's from your dad, isn't it? Is everything okay?" she asked in a quiet voice, hoping no-one around her could hear. James looked at her for a moment, and then nodded.

"My parents are fine." He responded quickly, and she released his wrist. He sprung from her grasp and followed Sirius already disappearing through the doors of the Great hall and out into the entrance hall.

"Wonder what's up with them?" Jessica thought aloud, before spooning a mouthful of porridge into her mouth.

"Beats me." Peter added.

"We'll find out sooner or later." Alice reminded and the rest of the group nodded in agreement.

"Morning guys!" Frank said cheerily as he appeared alongside the table, taking Sirius' recently vacated seat and planting a kiss on Alice's cheek. "Where were James and Sirius off too, they looked in a hurry?" he asked, buttering a slice of toast and piling a spoonful of scrambled egg onto his plate.

"We don't know." Remus sighed. "James just got a letter and disappeared off, no idea what it was about." He added with a shrug.

"Well there's no point fretting over it yet, it could be nothing – maybe James' goldfish died – pass the salt Jess?" Frank offered and the rest of the group couldn't help but agree, it was probably nothing, still Hestia felt uneasy, the feeling had settled over her a few days ago and she'd been unable to put her finger on the source of her discomfort. Mentally shutting the uncomfortable feeling away in a metaphorical box, she allowed herself to be pulled in to Frank's cheery morning mood and the subject of the mysterious letter was soon forgotten.

"James, slow down!" Sirius panted. James, with his long legs was able to take the dormitory stairs two at a time, Sirius, whose legs were considerably shorter couldn't match his pace. Rounding the door to their room, Sirius flopped down on his bed, breathless. Inhaling deeply, Sirius turned to his best friend who was still looking uneasy, his eyes flicking over the letter once again. Sirius had deduced the letter was from Edward Potter – his cursive handwriting was scrawled across the envelope somewhat untidily - and the envelope had been sealed with the deep red seal of the Potter crest.