Rising from Embers

RISING FROM EMBERS
by shiiki

---

CHAPTER ELEVEN

Battle Scars

February, 1977

‘Sit still, Potter, or I’ll end up patching you up unevenly!’ Madam Pomfrey tutted at him. James stopped trying to crane his head to peek through the curtains around Lily. Madam Pomfrey ran her wand over his injuries expertly.

He wasn’t badly hurt; he’d done a bit of duelling and got cut, scraped and bruised everywhere. The worst of it was only an inch-long gash in his cheek, which Madam Pomfrey was repairing now.

There were remarkably few injuries – most students hadn’t anything more than an abrasion brought about from brushing against rough surfaces while rushing to escape. A great deal of chocolate had been needed, however, to deal with the after-effects of the Dementors.

‘Good as new,’ said Madam Pomfrey finally. ‘Let me just clean you up a bit. Tergeo!’ She siphoned off the dried blood from his face and handed him a large slab of chocolate. ‘There you go, Potter. Eat that up, now.’

James took a big bite of chocolate – it was distinctly a Honeydukes’ product – and felt warmth spread throughout his body instantaneously. The chill the Dementors had given him dissipated slowly.

There was a muffled noise from behind the curtains. James forgot the chocolate. Lily was lying there, looking half-dead – he knew because he’d been in the hospital wing when they’d brought her in, alongside Zinnia Prewett, who was dead. Madam Pomfrey had fixed up Lily’s battered body, but she had yet to awaken.

Now, though … James hopped off the stool and followed Madam Pomfrey to Lily’s bedside.

~ * ~

There was screaming coming from a distant place. Or was it laughing? Lily couldn’t tell. She felt as if she was moving underwater – in very dark, black, murky water.

Her mother was calling her name. Lily, Lily, Lily. It rang out, clear and loud in her head. And then James was the one saying it. Lily, Lily, Lily.

But you’re dead, Lily told him.

No, said James. You are.

I am? she said. She opened her eyes. And everything was black.

‘Why is it so dark?’ she croaked.

‘Miss Evans,’ said a cool voice. ‘Can you hear me?’

‘Yes,’ Lily rasped. Her throat felt completely dry. ‘I can’t see.’

‘Madam Pomfrey.’ James’s voice. ‘Is she awake? Lily, are you all right?’

‘I can’t see. Why can’t I see?’ Was she dead, then? Panic was rising in her. And so was something in her stomach. She could taste the bile …

She threw up all over the covers.

‘Lily!’ The sound of footsteps.

‘That’s quite enough! Get back, Potter!’

James apparently paid no attention to Madam Pomfrey, as the next thing Lily felt was a hand in hers. She clutched it, unable to dispel the terror welling up in her.

‘Why can’t I see? Why can’t I see?’

‘Is this a hospital wing or not?’ roared the voice, irate. ‘Will you let go of her, Potter!’

James’s hand disappeared, leaving Lily more lost and afraid. Why couldn’t she see anything, only black …?

‘Miss Evans, you’ll need to calm down, or I’ll have to give you a Calming Draught. Try to take a deep breath, now.’

The cool, firm voice made it easier to fight hysteria. Lily closed her eyes – not that it made a difference whether they were open or shut, but at least when she didn’t open them, she would face an understandable blackness. She took several deep, calming breaths. She could breathe. That meant she was alive, right?

‘That’s better. Now, let’s get you out of this mess.’ Lily felt herself being guided gently out of bed. Someone wiped her mouth and settled her on another mattress. ‘Thank goodness it only got on the covers and not on you, or we’d have to get you changed, too. Now you stay still, and I’ll come do an examination on you when I get this cleaned up – yes, all right, Potter,’ she addressed James, ‘you can sit by her. Quietly.’

‘James?’ Lily ventured tentatively.

‘I’m here,’ he said reassuringly.

‘I’m – I’m not dead,’ she said uncertainly.

‘Of course not.’ His voice rang out strongly.

Everything was a blur in Lily’s head. She struggled to recall what had happened.

‘What happened?’ she asked James. ‘Where am I?’

‘The hospital wing,’ he said. ‘You were – do you remember Hogsmeade?’

She recalled Dementors. A Death Eater. And Drucilla Malfoy. But her recollections were dim.

‘I think so…’ she said slowly. ‘I was…there was a Death Eater. I tried to stop him. Did I? James, did he get in? And Zinnia! She’s all right; tell me she’s all right, too –’

‘Mr Potter, if you can’t talk to her without agitating her, I’m afraid I’m going to have to ask you to leave.’

‘But Madam Pomfrey –’

‘Tell me, what happened? I need to know! Is everyone safe, did they all get back OK, what happened where you were?’

‘That’s enough! Out you go, Potter. No, no protests, go!’ Madam Pomfrey shooed James out of the room. Lily heard him arguing with her, their voices fading as she pushed him further away. She didn’t want James to go. She wanted him to stay beside her and tell her everything was all right.

The infirmary door closed with a click. Madam Pomfrey was back, Lily could hear her footsteps.

‘Madam Pomfrey, what happened? Is Hogsmeade safe? Are the Dementors gone? The Death Eaters –’

‘I don’t want any more questions from you now, Miss Evans. You need to rest and stop worrying. Everything is all right.’ Madam Pomfrey spoke firmly, but Lily didn’t feel very comforted.

~ * ~

James paced the common room uneasily. Madam Pomfrey had categorically ordered him out of the hospital wing and even threatened to give him detention if she caught him anywhere near it.

‘Miss Evans needs her rest, and you’re disturbing her,’ was her stern verdict.

The threat of detention didn’t bother James, but it was pointless waiting outside the hospital wing. So he had returned to Gryffindor Tower, where at least he had a certain possession that would allow him to get back into the infirmary undetected. But he decided to wait until night, because he didn’t fancy the idea of the school nurse discovering his Invisibility Cloak.

The occupants of Gryffindor Tower were all extremely subdued. Understandably; two of their number were down: Zinnia Prewett, felled by a Death Eater, and Lily – thank Merlin she hadn’t met with a similar fate! – seriously injured. James had found out from Professor Dumbledore that Lily had been crushed by a landslide of stones that had, along with a strong charm, sealed the entrance of the secret passage against outside invasion. He could only guess that she had done it herself, to ward off Death Eaters … although why she hadn’t got out of the way was beyond him.

Alice, who had been in Hogsmeade, was white and shaking. She had been cornered by two Death Eaters – only narrowly escaping when help arrived as an Auror found her just in time. Dorcas had her arm around her friend. Peter had gone to bed ashen-faced. Even Sirius was uncharacteristically quiet, without a single complaint about missing out on the action.

The hours ticked by unbearably slowly. Finally, at nine, James decided to take a chance and see if Madam Pomfrey had closed the infirmary for the night.

~ * ~

Lily drifted in and out of sleep. Madam Pomfrey had given her a spoonful of liquid that tasted like beetroot. A sleeping draught, from the smell of it. Although Lily had never sampled one before, she had successfully brewed them enough times in Potions to recognise the leafy odour.

There was a warm presence in the room when she slipped into consciousness.

‘James?’ she asked. She was grasping at straws, guessing his identity. To her relief, she turned out to be right.

‘How did you know it was me?’

‘I felt it.’

James let out a humph of disgruntlement. ‘I hope Madam Pomfrey doesn’t have a keen sixth sense like you seem to have developed. She told me I’d get detention if she caught me hanging around.’

Lily laughed softly. ‘Maybe you should go then.’ Although she didn’t want him to. She felt less lonely now that he was here.

‘I’m not going anywhere. Are you OK?’

‘Yeah. I wish I could see you, though.’

‘D’you want me to take off the Cloak?’

‘What Cloak?’

‘The Invisibility Cloak, of course.’

‘Oh. I forgot you had one. It won’t matter. I can’t see anything at all. I wouldn’t be able to see you even if you were visible.’

‘You can’t … But why? Didn’t Madam Pomfrey do something about that?’

Lily shook her head. ‘She said the nerves were damaged. And it’ll take a while to repair. So … I’m blind.’ Blind. The word made her feel lost and afraid. She felt a silky material brush against her hand, and then warm fingers closed around her palm. Lily squeezed James’s hand gratefully.

‘Thank you.’

‘It’s – she’ll fix it in the end, won’t she?’

‘I hope so.’

There was a strained silence. Lily imagined James was feeling awful for her. She cast around for a new subject, to take her mind off her sight – or rather, her lack thereof – and remembered that she had wanted answers from James earlier on.

‘James, tell me – I want to know what happened in Hogsmeade.’

‘Are – are you sure you want to know this?’

‘Of course. I need to know.’

‘Don’t get – worked up or anything, okay? Or Madam Pomfrey will chase me out again.’

‘Just tell me what happened. At your end first.’

‘Well, once you’d taken off for the passage, I held off the Dementors as best as I could. There were still a couple more students, and all the Hogsmeade residents and I didn’t want to leave them defenceless. Then the Death Eaters started coming and things got bad … they were shooting curses everywhere –’

‘Was anyone hurt?’

‘Not badly –’ James’s voice faltered a bit here, but he cleared his throat and went on. ‘At least not in the village. Dumbledore and the Aurors showed up quite quick so the Death Eaters couldn’t do much damage.’

‘That’s good. So everyone got back to school all right?’

James didn’t answer. Lily felt her breath catch in her throat.

‘James?’

‘Not – not everyone. Lily – you don’t remember what happened in the secret passage? Because I don’t really know that bit, but …’

‘Zinnia,’ whispered Lily, remembering. The flash of green light bolting past her Shield Charm. She hoped she’d been mistaken, that Zinnia wasn’t really …

James sighed heavily. ‘She didn’t make it, Lily.’

Her eyes stung, but they were dry; she literally had no tears to cry. Her heart, however, wrenched with pain.

‘It missed me,’ she whispered. ‘The killing curse. I could have – I could have stood in its way but I dodged.’

‘No. No, Lily, don’t tell me you feel guilty for that. Lily, you saved the school. You almost died saving everyone. It’s not your fault you didn’t save her.’

You didn’t save Mum either, a reproachful voice reminded her.

‘It’s not your fault,’ James repeated, and though Lily knew he couldn’t possibly know the details of her mother’s death, Lily let herself believe that he meant it for both cases.

~ * ~

James wondered why he hadn’t mentioned Voldemort to Lily. He’d conveniently managed to skip over that part in his tale, going straight from Death Eaters to Dumbledore. However, the five minutes he had left out were firmly emblazoned in his mind.

‘A mere schoolboy,’ said Voldemort, in a voice that was so cold and high-pitched, it was like a blast of ice. ‘Playing the hero.’

James held his wand defiantly. His Patronus was still charging around. Voldemort flicked his own wand lazily and the silver hound disappeared.

‘Expecto Patronum!’ said James, calling it forward again, although what use it would be, he could not imagine. Voldemort was no Dementor. All he knew, though, was that his life was probably about to end – and he wasn’t about to go out meekly.

‘A Gryffindor,’ remarked Voldemort, his slit eyes travelling to the red-and-gold stripes on James’s scarf. ‘Bravery … to the point of foolhardiness. Do you expect, boy, to defy Lord Voldemort and live?’

‘My name is James Potter,’ said James. ‘And I am not a boy.’ He didn’t even know where the words were coming from.

To his surprise, Voldemort laughed – if that horrendous sound could be called a laugh.

‘I do admire bravery. Tell me, James Potter, you stand up to me bravely, but have you the courage to follow the path to true power?’

‘I have the courage to do what is right.’

‘Right?’ Voldemort sounded amused. ‘There is no right or wrong, James Potter. But there is power. And I can give you power … that is, if you have the brains and the courage to take it.’

James shuddered. Voldemort had been asking him to join him. There is power. He felt ashamed to admit that it had sounded almost seductive to him. Surely there wasn’t a single bone in his body that was tempted to follow Voldemort’s twisted path! The idea was treacherous.

He had made it quite clear where he stood, though. Before Dumbledore had arrived to save the day, he had at least left Voldemort with no doubt that he, James Potter, would never be one of his minions.

He wouldn’t tell Lily about all that now, though. Maybe another time, if it ever came up … Now, she was breathing hard, staring through blank eyes that saw nothing, her fists clenched, clearly wracked with grief over Zinnia’s death – a death that she thought she could have prevented.

Lily, he thought, if you had stopped it, you would have paid with your own life. It was a horrible thing, to be thankful that it was Zinnia, and not Lily who had died. James felt terribly guilty, even thinking it. But he couldn’t help being thankful that Lily was here now, still alive.

He stayed in the hospital wing for the rest of the night, under the Invisibility Cloak, holding Lily’s hand until she unclenched her fist and relaxed, her fingers entwining with his as she fell asleep again.