Prongs Rides Again

XIV.

James was the first out. He stood to the side of the door and studied his surroundings. The air was warm and wet -- they had to be far away from the chill gloom of Scotland. A soft breeze, detectable almost by inference alone, flowed gently by in gusts. The trees were all tall and thick and obviously ancient. There was little bracken obstructing the space between them. High above, the moon blazed with silver light, illuminating the whole scene. Something caught his eye -- something painfully familiar, yet unidentifiable. An oak with twin trunks -- it seemed to mean something to him...

"James! James, close this thing off!" Sirius hissed.

He jerked around. The door remained a gaping hole hanging between himself and safety. He could even see the top of Harry's head, propped up against the arm of the couch. A sound distracted him. Sirius was helping Remus to his feet: Remus was pale, and shaking, and trying to suppress gasps of pain.

"What's wrong?" James asked, startled.

"Nothing... I'll be fine," Remus lied through clenched teeth. "Shut it off, James, before somebody could get back through."

James approached the Aperio talisman. Tentatively he reached a hand out to touch the rim. He leapt back when he discovered it was spinning, fast, and hard. He bit his lower lip and concentrated: he put his fingers to it once again, and pressed toward the center. The ring began to shrink, and the blue in the middle grew more intense. Despairingly, James watched as Harry grew less and less visible, until finally the object was the same size it originally had been. The ring hung there, hovering in midair, for a moment: it then gave off a blinding burst of light and dropped to the ground, apparently harmless.

Sirius, frowning, leaned down and picked it up. Without another word he dropped it into a pocket and drew his wand. Remus was hunched over, his hand on his knees. "Are you okay?" James asked.

Remus swallowed. "It's... as soon as I came through here it just exploded in me. Everything is just throbbing, like... like it does right before I change."

"But it's not the full moon tonight!"

Remus raised his head, his eyes narrowed in thought. "There's something supernatural about this place. Something really strong."

Sirius held out the namyasto pendant. "Yeah, this thing's been going crazy. Feel it."

James wrapped a hand around the green amber, and felt how it seemed to be buzzing with energy against his palm. The sensation was in two places however... James furrowed his brow and took the phoenix feather out from his robes. "My feather's doing it too. Check your wands -- are they vibrating?"

"Look, whatever this is, doesn't matter to what's waiting for us," Sirius interrupted. "Voldemort is around here somewhere; we've got to get to him before he catches up with us."

Silently, they began to move through the field. James had never been so alert and scared in his life. Yet he found himself noticing not possible signs of the Dark Lord, but the way the dry grass swept by above his ankles, or how the trees seemed to glow in the moonlight.

"Wait!" whispered Sirius, throwing his arms out to stop the other two. "Do you see that?"

James peered over to where he was pointing.

The figure of a woman stood alone among the grasses, waiting. Her ferociously red hair was like a poppy amidst the dull russet colors of the dormant forest. "Lily?" he said incredulously. How could that be possible? He would have known were she alive. And Harry saw her last June. How could she be out here? How--?

"It's a shade," Remus replied quietly. "I'll bet you anything it's just an image, trying to lure us to him. Or to let us know where he is."

"If that's his plan, then we'll meet him and fight him there, then," said Sirius. "Come on, James." He pulled his friend by the arm and lead him forward.

They followed the apparition silently through the field. Lily never seemed to change size as they neared her, although she did seem to come into focus. It panged James desperately to see her, even though he knew it was a trap. Then, at one point, the vision began to lose its opacity, and as her edges blurred, they saw that an endless blackness loomed in her place.

Remus stopped walking. "That's him."

"How?" Sirius peered through to the patch of darkness. "How is that a wizard?"

"He's not a wizard anymore," replied James. "He's not even alive." His eyes widened as he noticed something, and pointed. "Look!"

Translucent faces were flashing within the blackness, as though trapped. James saw a sheet of bright red hair thrashing against the sides of the shape; a boy about seventeen was throwing his weight onto whatever barriers contained him. As they watched, the people faded, and then he was there -- Voldemort, towering over them, smiling.

He said nothing for an instant, but instead uncurled his hand, revealing a small glass globe. Wordlessly, he tossed the ball skyward. It stopped a few feet above his head, and then emitted a burst of light. "Good evening, my faithful Death Eaters," he said, his voice nearly a purr. Sirius, Remus, and James watched, horrified and transfixed. Remus's eyes were darting frantically, but he, like the others, could see no one else.

Voldemort had still not addressed them, though he continued speaking. "This seems to have carried off better than I had hoped. Black and Lupin are here as well -- the convict and the werewolf. I do hope you appreciate the irony, Severus. Really, Potter, did you think your parents' washed-up friends could help you?"

He thinks I'm Harry, James thought fleetingly. Snape kept the secret well indeed.

"No matter -- perhaps I shall give Wormtail the honor of killing them. Oh yes," he said, noticing the way Sirius grew rigid, "he is lurking out there somewhere. He has been watching you ever since you arrived."

A furious growl erupted from Sirius's throat. He fought to keep himself still, to keep his eyes on Voldemort. But something inside betrayed him, and he looked to his feet.

It came instantly. "Crucio!" Voldemort cried, and with a startled scream, Sirius fell.

Remus yelled, and withdrew his wand. "Conjunctiva!" But before the blindness curse had hit, Voldemort had deflected it. His wand still on Sirius, he made a clutching motion with his other hand, and Remus was suddenly lifted up by the neck off the ground.

James knew he had to move. An old instinct had taken over, a spirit of war which had not been in him since he was young. He lifted up the phoenix feather and pointed it at Voldemort. "Expecto Patronum!" he yelled, to distract him. A dazzling silver shape exploded from the tip of the feather: he could not see it clearly, but he remembered his old Patronus enough to know this wasn't it.

All activity stopped. Remus fell to the ground, gasping, while Sirius ceased his cries. He lay oddly still on the grass, barely even panting. Voldemort was now facing him fully. A curious expression came over the Dark wizard's face. "You..." he began. "You are not him..."

James felt his wand arm fall to his side. He kept up the eye contact with Voldemort: he felt strangely calm. "I am not Harry, true. But I will give you this, my last name is Potter."

"Is this some sort of trick?" his opponent hissed. "I killed James Potter as sure as I've killed all the others."

"Then I should be worried indeed," James answered lightly. "You did not kill my son, and you did not kill me."

A wind began, rustling the dead leaves of the trees around them. Voldemort's eyes were hard and angry. "Where is Harry? I will have you, but I need Harry. Where have you hidden him?"

A slow half-smile twitched at James's mouth. "Surely you don't think I'd tell you that," he replied, with just as much cheek and courage as he actually felt. He had never felt this confident. Even his heartbeat was slowing down, slow and steady, to even pulses which spread through his body like strength made solid.

There was no amusement left in Lord Voldemort's face. He bared his teeth. "You will pay... but you will also do. For now." James noticed the tip of his wand was beginning to smolder, glowing vaguely red, like embers. He moved quickly.

"Cineris--" Voldemort began.

It did not happen as Harry or Lupin had said. The world seemed to become hyper-real and washed out. The wind roared into life, and the very edges of objects seemed to swirl and flicker. Complete silence reigned. James felt rather than heard the beats that seemed to explode within him. He looked up in surprise at Voldemort: the Dark Lord was paralyzed, and pieces of him seemed to be less distinct, at intervals.

"What is this?"

James received no verbal answer. The pulses seemed to increase in their power, however. They washed over him, as though searching through him, trying to draw out an answer. A muffled, indistinct voice seemed to grow audible. Stag, it spoke, though it was not with words. Stag. You are come again. Stag. Stag.

He lost the ability and the need to breathe. He remembered the trees, the wind, the twin oak. He recognized the source of what was causing his feather, and the namyasto, and Remus, to shake. "Cernunnos?" he breathed, barely confident of an answer.

"Cernunnos! Cernunnos, who gave me name and body and breath!" He felt himself recalling the language of the stories he'd heard at the Well. "You, who gave me the greatest of boons, I did not realize you were here!"

The voice seemed gratified, and a little amused. I extend farther than my rock, James Potter. You should know -- it was you who followed me from here.

"Yes, it was. And now I stand here, facing the enemy who sent me to you in the first place."

The voice of Cernunnos was silent. James felt a breeze rushing over his face. He felt himself tilt his head backward and close his eyes.

"Please. I need your help. I am loathe to ask of more from you, but if you might... My two dearest friends and I are facing a formidable foe indeed. I have no wish for them to become relevant to Samhain, this feast of the spirits. I want us all to continue living. Yet I have run out of ideas, and I do not think I could escape again."

Cernunnos did not answer directly. Have you seen your son since? he inquired.

James nodded. "I saw this evening. I can still smell him upon my clothes. I would give anything to be able to return to him."

"She is dead."

Then:

James opened his eyes. "Why?" he repeated. "Why? I am here because I did not want to have returned to life in vain. I do not want Voldemort, this dark force in the world, destroying the lives of my son and of those I've loved and left behind -- and since come back to. I am here," he finished, "for the same reason Lleu of the de Danaan was."

Strangely, the voice of Cernunnos began, inexplicably, to chuckle. It is fitting you should mention that tale.

"Why is that?" he asked, confused.

* * *

Remus wondered distantly if he had gone deaf as a result of Voldemort's curse. Shaking, he lifted his head, trying to see what was happening. The air had become silent and still, and he could hear nothing of Sirius, lying some feet away from James.

James. He was standing there, holding his feather, looking like for all the world like a ghost. A soft white glow was emanating from his skin; his eyes were closed, and he did not appear to be breathing. Voldemort, on the other hand, was frozen in an attitude of confusion and fear. Every once in a while, Remus thought he saw holes in the Dark Lord's body.

"This is odd," he whispered fiercely to himself, and tried to prop himself up on his elbows, to watch, and try and figure out what James was doing.

* * *

Yet they shaped me, those first ones. They gave me identity.

* * *

The white mist surrounding James seemed to congeal, very suddenly. Remus gave a sharp intake of breath. It had all gathered in his chest. Every few seconds, it would flare outward. James was completely oblivious. He appeared to be listening to something hidden.

* * *

* * *

The whiteness definitely had a shape. It kept appearing and vanishing, as through it was being pulled in and out of James's chest against its will; but Remus could distinguish a head, and occasionally legs. It... well, in all truth, it resembled a stag. His brow contracted. Why would I see Harry's Patronus... trying to come out of James's chest?

He looked over at Voldemort again, and back at the phantom stag. He began to notice a correlation: the more the stag emerged, the more gaping the holes in Voldemort became. He was only solid at intervals, at even intervals... like nodes... Furiously, Remus continued thinking. This is not magic. This is something simpler and more powerful than magic. This...

* * *

* * *

"Who are you?" James asked through his trance. "Are you... are you Merlin?"

Cernunnos paused, and somehow, James felt he was smiling. No.

James felt a sudden surge in the pulses within, and they escalated into a drumbeat, so powerful he felt he was being pounded out of his hard-won body.

His eyes were wide, trying to take in everything that was happened to him. He exhaled, and felt himself shudder. "I think so."

* * *

"Oh God," Remus whispered, as he watched the white stag struggling forward even more.

"He'll die!" he moaned. Even worse, he'll simply stop being. He'll just vanish, like that. He has nothing extra to spare, to negate Voldemort. We'll lose everything about him!

Trembling, Remus stood, his eyes locked on James. His friend was glowing brightly now: he was standing there, helpless, as the white stag flashed, each time a little closer to escape.

"I won't let him," he said firmly. "I won't let him do this to me." He straightened, staring hard at James. "Hell no are you going to leave me again, after all we've done. I'll be damned if I let you become a martyr again."

He tried to estimate how far apart James and Voldemort were, tried to remember everything he'd ever read of waves and interference and physics. He began inching his way to the right, and back. He concentrated fiercely on the throb of pulses washing over him.

"Please," he implored, searching for a listener. "Whoever, whatever is out there, helping James -- listen to me. I know what you're doing: I see it. And I ask you to use me instead."

Something in the ground suddenly burst in a wave of energy at his feet. A pulse rocked through him, and he gasped. Never had he felt this way, not even when the change was new to him. His breath came fast and haltingly now, but Remus plowed forward. "Use me instead. Please. I've lost James once. Don't let me lose him again. Don't let Harry lose him again. And Sirius. Please. We all need him here. Use me instead. I ask you--"

* * *

* * *

All movement died. The white haze surrounding James evaporated instantaneously. Voldemort became whole again. An expression of terror was upon his face, and he tried raising his wand. Briefly, James stumbled.

* * *

The ground he lay on was moving. He couldn't explain it, but he thought he detected... ripples in the earth itself. They rolled forward, past him and toward James and Remus. It was though the ocean had decided on a whim it might try being solid for a day. This is stupid, he told himself. Here you are lying down while they're standing up, facing Voldemort. Have you no pride, Sirius Black?

He gritted his teeth, and pulled himself to his feet. He nearly panicked when he saw his friends. James was shining as brightly white as the moon above them; Remus was walking backward and forward, muttering something. Voldemort, strangely enough, was motionless.

He tried yelling, tried raising his wand to stop whatever was cursing James and possessing Remus to do nothing, but he found he could not move. Indeed, everything seemed to slow down; he became aware of absolutely everything around him. The sound of his own harsh, ragged breathing was the only noise accompanying that of his pounding heart. He was powerless: he could only watch.

The whiteness enveloping James was quite suddenly absent, as though it had been sucked in by his body. James gave a start, and fell forward a step. Beneath him, Sirius felt something rushing through the ground, toward... oh God...

Remus started to glow like James had; a silvery cloud began collecting around his body.

"Moony, what--!" No sound came from Sirius's throat. He leapt upright and tried to sprint closer to his friends.

At that instant, the whiteness suddenly streamed to the front of Remus and dove into his chest. The next second, an enormous silver wolf exploded outward, and flew through the air. It landed lightly on the ground, and charged across the brief stretch of space between it and Voldemort. Without a sound, it hurtled itself at the Dark wizard, who gave a shout of disbelief. And then--

He just simply wasn't there.

Sirius stood transfixed, frozen to the spot. A great cry of anguish erupted from Remus: he was deathly pale, and clutched at his chest as though something had been torn from him. James, with an astonished expression on his face, crumpled to the ground and was still. Remus's screams began echoing through the forest. Sirius finally ripped his feet apart and rushed over to Remus.

Remus's normally calm, gray eyes were blank and terrified. He had fallen to his knees, and was shaking madly now. Sirius tried to calm him, tried to see what was wrong, but he could get no intelligible reply. Despairingly, he looked over at James, sprawled uncannily like he had been that Halloween fourteen years before.

Sirius grabbed at the pendant hanging around his neck and ripped the chain off. He gripped the namyasto desperately, feeling it tremble as though it was experiencing aftershocks. "Bill!" he cried. "Bill! Are you out there? Hello? Help us! Help! Come quickly! Bill!"

He received no answer. Frantically he shuffled through his pockets until he found the Aperio talisman. He shook it, threatened it, pleaded with it to open, but the little wooden ring remained dead and unresponsive.

Sirius began to shake terribly now. Remus was now lying on his side, still screaming raggedly. James did not move in the slightest. Slowly, Sirius stood, and surveyed his surroundings. The wind rustled through the dead leaves in the trees. No birds or animals made any sound within the forest. No footsteps rushed toward them. They were completely and utterly alone.