Some Are Happy, Some Not So Much
Chapter 9: Some Are Happy, Some Not So Much
October 10, 1993
"What?" James asked quietly, unable to think, unable to move.
"Yes," said Lily in a shaking voice. "Liana is missing. MISSING! OUR DAUGHTER'S MISSING!" She abruptly stomped her foot in outrage, causing a flower vases to crash to the floor.
"I heard you," James said calmly, clutching the scarf he was holding tightly. He was an Auror. The first step was not to panic. He had to be good at this. "First, we have to-"
"I don't care what we have to do!" Lily screamed. "FIND MY DAUGHTER!"
"I can't get anywhere if you're going to react like this-"
"OF COURSE I'M SUPPOSED TO REACT LIKE THIS!" Lily yelled. "My daughter is missing! Do you not care?"
"Of course I care," whispered James, stung by the accusation. "Of course I care."
"You have a funny way of showing it!" Lily cried, her face red from anger. "Our. Daughter. Is. Missing. MISSING. SHE'S NOWHERE TO BE FOUND! WHY DO YOU TAKE THIS SO CALMLY? YOU DON'T CARE ABOUT OUR DAUGHTER!"
"I absolutely care about my daughter," James, standing up and advancing on Lily. "I care about her. As much as you do."
"Yeah, right," seethed Lily.
"I do," James snapped. He was getting thoroughly annoyed at her now, so he took a step closer to her and took a deep breath. "I do. But you have to be calm."
"I can't be calm!" cried Lily. "Our daughter is missing!"
"You've told me this!" James snapped. "You're overreacting. You're too sensitive. We're never going to get anywhere in finding Liana if you're going to slow us up like this. You keep pushing me to go find Liana, why don't you? Because you can't. You can't do anything in a situation like this, and that's why you're crying and screaming. You don't know anything else to do."
There was a silence as Lily stood, shocked, staring at James. Both of them had been triggered.
James started to turn away when he thought he saw something flash on Lily's face. He looked at her and saw - to his horror - that there was a single tear flowing down her face.
Her eyes were filled with tears, and James instantly felt horrible. He hadn't meant to go off on her like that. He definitely hadn't meant to injure her feelings. But he had, and he couldn't do anything about that.
"I…" And then it hit him, listening to her terrified tone and her nervous face. She was afraid. She slowly backed out of the room, shaking her head in shock. And then, she was gone.
"Darn," muttered James, dropping the scarf and taking out of the room after her. He looked left and right, but she was nowhere to be found.
And then he heard sniffling.
He closed his eyes, cursed himself mentally, and went into an abandoned room. Lily was hunched in the corner, hugging her knees, tears flowing down her face, and James knew he'd gone too far. Lily never cried. She never did. She didn't let anything hurt her. She'd grown up with teasing since she was Muggle-Born.
But she'd let him.
Tears ran down her face and she looked extremely distraught.
He walked over and gently knelt next to her. She ignored him.
"Lily?" he asked softly.
"What do you want?" she asked coldly, looking over at him. Her eyes were disturbed, not the warm, green eyes he'd grown up knowing. The tone of her voice stabbed James's heart.
James gulped. "I'm sorry, I know I shouldn't have yelled at you like that. Trust me, you're not useless. You're truly not. You just care about Liana, I know. You don't just cry and scream. You really don't."
"You just said I was," Lily murmured, playing with the corner of her dress. "You just did."
"I was angry," said James. "My temper just rose. Trust me, you're not. I was just lying."
Lily didn't say anything.
"Do you forgive me?"
Lily turned to face him. "What on Earth should I forgive you for?"
James was bewildered. "For… saying those things to you? Accusing you of not knowing what to do other than cry and scream and be useless? And being hysteric and sensitive? And overreacting…" His voice trailed off as a lump in his throat appeared. How had he said those things to her? He felt terribly guilty for all those things.
"I don't care," Lily said in a shaky voice. "I know you don't mean them, but some things were true."
"No-"
"I am sensitive," Lily muttered. "I overreacted. But I'm a mother, you can't expect me to not be like that."
James frowned, not keeping up with the train of thought she had. "Right. So…?"
"I yelled at you," she whispered, her voice trembling. "I said you didn't care about L-Liana." Tears filled her eyes again. "I screamed and overreacted. I ruined the flower vases. I told you that you didn't care about our daughter. I said you didn't care…"
"Shh," said James, now understanding where this was going. "It's not your fault. I'm just an Auror, it's natural for me."
Lily forced a smile. "All right."
James enveloped her in a hug, planting his lips on her hair.
"Now can we go find our daughter?" asked Lily once their little "reunion" was over.
"Sure. I'll get the case written up and be at Hogwarts in two hours. I promise." James gave Lily a quick peck on the cheek before he tumbled out the stairs of Hogwarts and disapparated.
He could smell them.
Sirius Black stood as a human, leaning against a tree, catching his breath. Having swum as a dog all the way from the North Sea, he truly felt like he needed a break.
But that wasn't the point.
What was the point was that he had been a dog just a few seconds earlier, and he'd smelled the scent of his ex-best-friend.
James Potter.
He knew that smell better than anyone could. And it made him nostalgic to think of James… as he was dead.
The dirty rat Peter Pettigrew had killed James Potter and Lily Potter.
But his son, Harry, survived, and he was in the woods right now. He heard rustling, and he watched from behind a thick canopy of branches as a girl crossed his view.
A girl? Harry was a boy… wasn't he?
"Liana? Are you here?" came a frantic voice. Then a caramel brown hair girl appeared. "Oh, Liana, there you are. Where's Candice?"
"I don't know, Kylie," came the girl's voice, and Sirius stopped in his tracks.
Her hair was the color of Lily's - orange-red. It was fluffy and wavy. How… This couldn't be Lily's daughter! Lily and James only had one son… Lily and James were dead!
Weren't they?
Then it hit him.
Sirius never knew for sure that they'd died. Peter must've failed. Somebody must've failed. Because they were alive… and their daughter was standing right here.
They survived. The joy practically knocked euphoria into Sirius, the smile across his face was so wide he could scream.
His best friend wasn't dead!
But then the smile wiped away as quickly as it came.
Everyone thought Sirius was the murderer.
But James and Lily wouldn't believe that…
Right?
They knew him. They knew Peter, too. They knew that Sirius would never betray them.
Not once in a million years.
Never.
But James trusted the Ministry. Lily trusted the Aurors. James was an Auror.
So would they really still trust Sirius?
"Kylie!" hollered a voice. "Liana!"
Sirius smiled. Liana Potter. It sounded beautiful. How had their daughter turned out?
"Candice?" asked Liana. "Candice, is that you?"
"Yeah, it's me," muttered a girl, wading through the thick mud and mulch. "The Portkey must've messed up."
Kylie grinned. "I thought you were dead."
"I'm not dead," Candice grumbled. "Nice to know you have faith in me."
"Okay, okay," said Liana. "We don't need to argue. We're here to find Sirius, not blabber about faith."
Sirius raised an eyebrow. This was confusing. They were here to find him? To what… Turn him into Azkaban?
Shoot. He couldn't let them find him. He had to find James and Remus.
"But it's such a big forest," Kylie said. "How are we going to find one man? And where's that dog you talked about in your dream?"
Sirius was so confused he didn't even try to understand what they were saying. And the least of his worries was why they weren't at school, when they looked around twelve or eleven years old.
"I don't care," said Liana. "I want to find Sirius."
"The Ministry would give us such a big award for that," sighed Kylie dreamily.
"Remember, it's not about the award," Liana said, and Sirius's confusion practically burst the confusion meter. "It'd be cool to talk to him. How he betrayed and all of that."
"Your dad really trusted him," commented Candice.
"Apparently," Liana said. "My dad was so crushed… I mean, this all happened way before I was born, and you'd think a guy got over the fact that his friend betrayed him in two years, right?"
"Your dad must've really been his best friend," Kylie put in.
Liana rolled her eyes. "Well done, Captain Obvious. We all know that."
Sirius's heart sank. James didn't trust him. Why had he thought James would be any different?
Because James was his best friend. They knew each other. They were brothers. They shared everything with each other.
They were Marauders.
They had been Marauders.
Sirius sighed, knowing what he had to do. If he wanted to get James (and maybe even Remus) back…
He was going to have to follow them while they tried to follow him.
Oh, joy.
"But it's your House," McGonagall said. "You should take responsibility for your students."
Snape's lip curled. "You suggest what you would have done then," he remarked coldly. "Since obviously you're a much better Head of House then I am. Would you like me to step down?" he asked quietly, sarcasm dripping from his voice.
McGonagall grit her teeth. "Seriously, Severus, there is a limit!"
"I'm aware of that," Snape said with mock politeness.
"Snivellus-" James started.
"Severus," cut in Remus.
"Fine, whatever. Sniverus," - Snape rolled his eyes - "you should know! They're YOUR students. How can you come to me and say and you don't know where they are? You weren't keeping an eye on them, that's why."
"What would you like me to do then?" Snape asked, remaining his calm posture. Harry felt that he was too much like Dumbledore in some ways, and that was eerie. "I can't watch over all my students at once. Being a teacher doesn't give you much free time, you know. I would've thought a Potter could take care of herself for two minutes while I wasn't watching."
Harry was sitting in the corner of that room, biting his lip in anxiety. It was his fault, he knew it. He'd been a bad brother. He should've protected her. He shouldn't have been so terrible that she turned against him. It was all his fault.
His sister had gone from Hogwarts. Would she come back? Had she left on purpose? Was she kidnapped? Was she planning to return? Why had she even gone? These questions were unanswerable.
"Where the heck were you, then?" demanded James. "At Zonko's?"
"James," Remus said softly. "You're being unreasonable."
"Oh, no he isn't," Snape said sarcastically. "You go on, Potter, I'm very interested in hearing what you have to say. Would you care to explain why I was at Zonko's? To buy fireworks, or a prank nose? I'm extremely curious about-"
"Severus, you too," Remus said.
Snape shut up, looking smug.
"We have to be reasonable, you're right," James sighed. Harry looked over at his dad. He looked distraught and worried. Being an Auror, he must've felt responsible for all of this. "Did you not give them a good talking-to about why you shouldn't ditch school?"
"I would've thought our headmaster knew enough," Snape remarked.
"Stop it," said Lily quietly, looking at the two of them. "You guys aren't in school anymore, these are extremely childish feuds."
James sombered immediately. "Yes, Lily." Snape looked the same, but the fury in his eyes was unbearable. Harry frowned. Why was Snape mad at his mother?
"Can we get to the point here? How are we going to find Liana?" asked Hermione, who was sitting next to Ron on the other side of the room.
"Harry, what do you think?" Lily asked gently. The entire room turned to look at Harry.
Most of the teachers were there, along with Dumbledore, and James was there too. Harry, Ron, and Hermione were there. Two Slytherin first-year girls - Allesia and Valentina? - were there as well, sitting next to each other by the door.
That was an awful lot of eyes on Harry.
"I dunno," Harry mumbled, looking down at his sneakers.
"How articulate," Allesia snorted, but she was watching him like he could be an interesting pawn in her game of chess. He didn't like that look.
"Oi, lay off him!" Ron ordered. "He's gone through a really tough time. His sister's missing."
"You know your sister doesn't care about you, right?" the blonde girl next to her, Valentina, asked Harry. "She told us. Why do you care about someone who doesn't care about you?"
Allesia nodded. "Yeah, she told us."
"Nobody asked," Ron said harshly.
The two girls leaned back. "Sheesh, we were only trying to help," Valentina grumbled.
"I don't even think we're needed here," Allesia said, standing up. "Professor Snape, may we be excused?"
Snape gave Harry the murderous look that he reserved just for him - except for some reason, Remus was getting it too this year - and turned to Sia. "No, you two sit. Potter, behave yourself when talking to my students."
"Whatever."
"Sir."
"Whatever, sir," Harry mocked.
Snape didn't look bothered. "What were we saying?"
"How to find Liana," supplied Hermione.
"We need an Auror," Remus suggested. "Like, other than James," he added before James could protest. "They can work together."
"Leave it to me," said James casually.
Harry looked over at Remus, who looked almost… hopeful. He looked like he had an Auror in mind. "Who are you going to call?" he asked, not doing a very good job of hiding the excitement in his voice.
James replied with a grin. "The only one who'd help me. Nymphadora Tonks."
Remus was watching for her.
His heart had soared when he had heard that she was going to be working with them to find Liana. Finally, after just a few weeks since their first encounter at Honeydukes, he was going to see her again.
All it took for him to sight her was a flash of bright pink hair, following which he was immediately by her side, just in time too, since she had just tripped over something. He caught her waist and held her until she was steady. When she saw him, her face broke into a wide smile.
"We need to stop meeting like this," she laughed, rightening herself. "I'm so sorry."
"Don't be," he said, smiling as well. "How are you, Nymphadora?"
She grimaced. "Tonks. Please. I much prefer it. But I'm doing well. I guess you know what happened to James's daughter?"
"Yeah, I heard," he replied. "And that's why you're here."
"That's right," she said brightly. "The good news is that I'm stationed here until we find Miss Potter. Plenty of time."
"Plenty of time," he agreed.
"Well, I'll be going," she said pleasantly, giving him a vivacious smile that made him go weak at the knees. She walked a step, then turned right back and faced him. "Also, er, Professor, one more thing."
"Yeah?"
"I, er, never took Ancient Runes. Do you know where Lily's office is?"
He smiled. "I'll take you."
"Are… Are you sure?"
"Of course."
She beamed. "Thank you."
His hand brushed her lower back as they set off, and he could swear her smile grew a little brighter as they walked together to Lily's office.
The door was open when they reached. Remus reluctantly removed his hand from her back, though their shoulders were still in close proximity as they walked in together.
"Ah, Moony!" exclaimed James jovially. How could he be this jovial when he had just received news that his daughter was missing? "And Tonks! Come on in."
His arm was around Lily, who was red-eyed from crying. They were standing together against a table. James beckoned for them to come in, and so they stepped in cautiously.
"Moony?" asked Tonks, her eyes darting between Remus and James curiously.
"You want to tell her or should I?" asked James, looking right at him.
"Does it really…"
"Yes, it really matters." James turned straight to Tonks while Remus felt a sickening sensation unfold in his stomach. "Remus is a werewolf."
Remus closed his eyes, his insides filling with dread. Why did James have to ruin it? Why did James have to tell the woman he liked about his deep, dark secrets?
What he was not expecting was for a soft, small hand to enclose his. He opened his eyes slowly and saw that Tonks was squeezing his hand, her thumb stroking the back of his fingers softly. She was looking straight at James. "Okay. Cool. Er, let's get onto the case, then?"
Remus watched her in shock. She was touching him, holding his hand, despite knowing that he was a werewolf. What kind of angel was she?
"Yeah," said James, who thankfully did not comment on this. "Liana's still underage, so if she's gone to a place that's devoid of much magic, the Trace will find her. If she's gone to a magical place, though, it'll be much harder to find where she is."
"Where could she have gone, though?" croaked Lily. "Why would she leave Hogwarts? Could she have been kidnapped?"
"It's a possibility," Tonks said. "But why? We need facts, James. We need to gather all of the information we know." She Summoned a piece of parchment and a quill with her free hand. "Let's start."
And so the three of them started relaying everything they knew that could be relevant to the case. She listened with impeccable detail, never once interrupting, noting everything down at alarming speed. When they finally finished, it had taken the better part of an hour.
"I'm going to look over this tonight," Tonks said, frowning. She let go of Remus's hand to make a copy of the information she had just compiled and handed the copy to James. "You too. Send me a Patronus if you get anything."
"I will," James assured. He gave Lily a reassuring smile. "Don't worry, Lils. It'll be okay."
"We'll make sure your daughter's home before you know it," said Tonks, smiling at Lily. "We're going to do everything we can. Just don't panic."
"I know," whispered Lily. "I just… I just worry."
"It's a maternal instinct, Miss Potter," Tonks replied kindly. "It's natural. Don't sweat over it. I'm sure your daughter is capable of having a clear head and finding her way out of whatever mess she's gotten into."
Lily let out a half-laugh, half-sob. "Thank you. And call me Lily."
"Yeah, okay."
"Well, that's it for now, Tonks," James said. "Remus, have anything to add?"
"Not really," Remus said. "Let us know if either of you find something."
"We will," assured Tonks, smiling at him. "Okay. I'm going to go check out my new quarters. See you guys."
She turned on her heel and headed out of the room, Remus watching her as she walked. He turned back to James and Lily when she was out of sight. "I… I think I'll go to bed, too."
"Good night, Remus," the two of them chanted. Remus nodded and left the room, leaving the two of them to their thoughts.
Tonks was walking towards her new room when she heard a voice call, "Excuse me!"
She whipped around, trying to locate the source of the voice. A young girl, first-year by the looks of it, with straight, shoulder-length black hair was approaching her cautiously. "Yes?"
"I have something to tell you," admitted the girl. "Are you here to find Liana?"
"Yeah, I am," Tonks said, watching her closely. "What's up?"
"I'm one of the girls in Liana's dorm. Earlier this morning, before Liana, Candice, and Kylie went missing, Liana had a nightmare. She was talking in her sleep. She said 'Sirius Black.' She kept repeating Sirius Black's name over and over again. Then her friends woke her up and took a dig at me for being awake, and then the three of them went out to the common room for a private discussion."
"Oh. I see," Tonks said calmly, though her heart was racing. Sirius Black? This couldn't be good. "Thank you so much, by the way. I'll take care to note that down. What's your name?"
"My name's Allesia, but I will kill you if you call me that," the girl, Allesia, grumbled.
Tonks grinned. "Looks like we have something in common, then. My name's Nymphadora, but I will kill you if you call me that. Call me Tonks."
"Call me Sia. Er, no offense, but what was your mother thinking when she named you Nymphadora?"
Tonks laughed. "Believe me, I ask myself the same question every day."
Sia laughed softly. "Thanks. I hope you stay around for a while. You seem fun."
"Thank you," replied Tonks, feeling a burst of happiness cascade through her veins. "That means a lot to me. Good night, Sia."
"Good night, Tonks."