The Phantom (James)

Violet carefully walked through the darkening streets of Hogsmeade, having just left the Three Broomsticks. Against her brother’s wishes not to go alone, she had snuck out of the castle on her own to take a trip to the nearby village to do some shopping. It might be stupid, but she just had felt way too imprisoned at school, always having to look over her shoulder in case one of the Death Eater children wanted to curse her back. It almost felt as if Hogwarts was more dangerous than the world outside and Violet felt much saver to be here than even in her own dormitory.

Turning away from the usual path, she neared the edge of the village, her eyes travelling towards the Shrieking Shack and a sneaky smile slipped onto her face. Violet quickly looked around to see if anyone was watching her and then she ducked under the fence and ran towards the old house, circling it slowly to see if she could find a way inside. Maybe she could stay there for a while, simply enjoying some peace and silence without having to watch her back.

The room was dark and dusty, and the boy was laid up on a bed that had not so long ago been left to ruin. The sheets were clean, as was the young brunette. But he hadn't woken in months, which was why his body was different as he began to stir. It was slow, regaining consciousness, and he had to fight just to open his eyes. He didn't know where he was- the last thing he remember was Astoria yelling and seeing a flash of green light. Green light? Was he dead then? Surely if he was he wouldn't be in such a dingy place. How did he get there, though? It took him even longer to move his arms, so that they could assist the rest of him in getting up. And his legs were worse, almost crumbing beneath his own weight. How long had he been there for?

He could see the door, and he shuffled his way toward it, holding onto the wall and the old furniture as he did. There was light underneath the door, and when he finally reached it, it was surprisingly easy to get open. Had the light side won the battle? He couldn't focus on anything for long, and his attention was taken by the next room he walked- or more so stumbled- through. It was a little lighter than the last, and it was obviously a multi purpose room. Kitchen, dining and lounge all in one. Or at least it had been, before it was allowed to fall into decay.

The next door was a little harder to manage, but what was worse was the floor of light that hit his eyes as it opened. He groaned, a hand coming up to rub at his closed eyelids as he gripped the door frame. He opened them again, and all he could see was white. For a few moments, he fought to keep his eyes from closing again, but eventually they became used to the light. Where was he? Was he far from home? Slowly, he was able to comprehend what was around him and it seemed familiar. He couldn't place it, but he presumed that meant he was somewhere he knew.

Another step forward and the step down made him lose his footing. He crumpled to the ground, his shoulder against the frame, his hand wrapped around it the only thing keeping his head from joining the rest of his body on the ground. Pain in his side from the fall gave way to aching all over. How long had he been out for? He tried to call out, but not sound came from his lips. He did his best to moisten his mouth, and he could tell that he was dehydrated. "Hello?" he tried again, and this time he managed to make noise, though his voice was so hoarse that it was barely more than a whisper. He closed his eyes again, resting his head against his hand on the door frame, not wanting to return to sleep, but also not wanting to wander around aimlessly while he was so thirsty.

The temperature was dropping as the sun sank below the horizon and Violet pulled her cloak closer around herself. She reached out with her hand to touch the window of the old building, memories flashing behind her eyes; memories of better times. Times when her friends and siblings had come here during the weekends to hang out, gossiping about teachers and complaining about homework. All the was long in the past. Now students tried to stick to themselves to prevent drawing attention and conversations usually concerned the outcome of the war and fears about their future. With a sigh, Violet pulled her hand away from the icy glass and continued on her way around the shed.

Times had changed and more often than not, she felt so very much older than her 14 years of age; as if the life she used to live had been in some other dimension, some past long forgotten. Violet stopped and pulled out her wand, as she had the impression of a noise coming from inside the building, but after keeping utterly still for several moments with no further sound emerging, she moved on. Cold wind was blowing against her pale face and she realized that Christmas was already nearing again. It was laughable, how could they even think of celebrating after losing so much in the past year. Friends had died, her mother had died, James … With a snarl, Violet kicked a stone against the wall of the shed, her face turning into a grimace of anger and pain. At least she had been able to bury her mother and say goodbye, but James had just vanished, probably lost amongst all the other corpses.

At the back of the shed, Violet crouched low and settled against the shed, resting her chin on her knees while her eyes fell close. It was eerie silent out here with just the whistling of the wind keeping her company, but it was just what she needed right now. For how long she sat there, she couldn’t tell, but her hands and feet were slowly getting numb and her facial muscles so stiff that she wouldn’t be able to smile even if there was a reason to do so. Suddenly though, her body tensed when she heard another noise from the front of the shed. It sounded like a door opening and Violet grasped her wand a little tighter as she moved around the house towards its entrance.

What she saw made her halt in her steps. Someone had collapsed in the doorway and looked to be in pain, but her first instinct was to be cautious and to protect herself, so Violet stayed hidden in the shadows, just watching on as the person, the guy, as it was definitely a male person, but not that old, yet. Could it be one of her fellow students? Maybe they had gotten drunk inside of the shed and were now trying to get back home? Frowning, Violet moved closer to the sorry boy, her wand still raised in case she had to fight him. When he didn’t seem capable of getting up on his own, she finally took pity on him and approached him. “Hey! Are you drunk? Or do you actually need help?” she called out, cautiously walking towards him.

James had almost let go of consciousness, but something told him to hold on- to stay awake. It wasn't safe to fall asleep in the open no matter how exhausted he was. And he could hear something. Footsteps. Someone had found him. He fumbled for his wand, but although he could feel the wood in one of the deeper pockets of his dusty and almost falling apart robes, he couldn't quite manage it.

Someone was saying something. Focus James. What did they say? he thought, knowing that he knew the voice. It was what had distracted him from the actual words that had been said. The voice, her voice, had reached his ears and his first thought was that he was dead. He was dead and he had managed to be sent to heaven where he could pretend that he was around the people he loved. But he had already established that he was still alive somehow, and the ache in his bones assured him of such.

Was he hallucinating then? Or could he dare hope that she was actually there. "Violet," he rasped out, reaching a hand out toward the sound, finding new energy when he allowed himself to think that she was real. "Violet," he said again, his voice cracking as he continued press out words, "are you guys looking for me? I'm okay, I think, just thirsty. So thirsty. Is Ian here with you? Or is he looking somewhere else?"

Seeing the person turn their head slightly in her directly was prove enough that they were at least still conscious and Violet took at as a good sign. If they were not, she would have to levitate them all the way back to the castle for they surely wouldn’t get any better out here in the cold. She stopped her approach when he started searching for something in his old robes. “By Salazar, what happened to you!?” she just now noticed the sorry stare his clothes were in and sped up her pace till she was by his side. By now her fear for her own safety had ebbed away a little as her concern for the boy grew.

Only seconds before she reached him, he finally managed to speak up and she was shocked to hear her own name, though the shock was nothing compared to how she felt when she at last could really see his face. “James?” her eyes grew large in her paling face and her yaw dropped open as she gasped, feeling her legs threaten to give out below her. “But how…?”  James started to talk again which effectively shut her up and made her rush forward to wrap her arms around him to pull her friend into a hug, barely listening to what he was saying. It didn’t matter. He was alive! “Oh Merlin, thank you!” she sobbed and couldn’t hold back the tears of relief to have him back. “You’re alive … you’re alive! We thought you were dead! How … where have you been, James? What happened to you? Who took you? Why didn’t you come back for us? I thought I wouldn’t ever see you again, you idiot!” the words just spilled out of her mouth in a rush, barely comprehensible while she pressed her face into his shoulder. He was warm, alive and she didn’t seem able to stop crying.

It was her. He could tell because if this were a dream, or some kind of heaven, she would be speaking to him all sassy. It was one of the many things that he lov- liked, liked about her. But instead she was crying, and talking all over the place and he could only pick up on some of the things she said. "You thought I was dead?" he asked with a chuckle, his eyebrows pulling together as he forced his eyes to stay open, "why on earth would you think that?" He realised that he has been in the shack, probably for a while, and he wanted to understand- to be fair. But he couldn't help the slight bitterness in his tone as he said, "you guys gave up looking for me? How long have I been missing?"

Because the last thing James remembered was sending a curse to a Death Eater, and looking back at Astoria as she had screamed his name. He couldn't know that she had watched him die, or that the others- his brother, had seen his lifeless body. "It's okay," he cooed, holding her against him even more for his comfort than her's. "I just woke up," he admitted, "I don't remember anything since the battle. I think I've been unconscious. How long has it been?" He didn't realise he had asked the same question again as he used the energy he had left to rock her gently. "Violet.." he whispered, "should we move? I don't know who's around.."

For a long time, Violet just stayed where she was, wrapped around the Gryffindor with her face pressed into his shoulder which was slowly getting soaked with her tears. It had been so long since she had been able to be near him and the last time had been a sight she had tried her best to forget. And yet, the image of James’ dead body was forever edged in her mind and she could only hope that now it might be replaced by his smiling face again. When he questioned her though, her head snapped backwards and she glared at him with glowing dark eyes. “How dare you, James!” Violet slapped his shoulder, not amused by the fact that he was laughing when she had been heartbroken when he had died.

“Astoria brought your dead body back to the great hall. She told us that she had seen you get killed by one of the death eaters! Can you imagine how your brother reacted to seeing you like that? How I reacted? We hadn’t even been able to say goodbye and then all of a sudden, you were just gone! We tried to find your body, but there was so much chaos and then we had to flee from Voldemort and his men and then we were forced to return to Hogwarts and  …. “ she broke off and wiped the tears off her face, taking a deep breath to calm herself. “It has been months, James! Months since the battle ended.” Violet told him quietly, realizing that he was the last person she should be angry with, as he obviously hadn’t any idea what had been going on while he was gone. Still, she couldn’t believe that he had been so close the whole time. And alive!

Resting her head against his cheek, she finally managed to get back some sort of reason to her thoughts. Running her hand across the side of his face, she shyly smiled up at him. “I’m so glad you’re alive.” Violet admitted and pressed a chaste kiss against his cheek before pulling back a little. Taking a good look around, she just now realized that they were still sitting in the doorway and that James obviously needed medical attention. “Oh shit, you’re right! Let’s get you back to the castle. Can you walk? I’ll help you.” She offered her hand to him. Violet had so many questions, but for now, there were more important matters to take care of.

James focused on his breathing, because no matter how glad he was to see Violet he had been locked away in a dusty shack for at least the night. Or maybe longer.. he thought, as he looked down at her. Then she got angry, and any amusement that had been there evaporated from his eyes. Because he could tell this was more serious than he had thought, and his eyes grew wide as she spoke.

"I'm sorry," he said instantly, frowning deeply. "Ian.. thinks I'm dead?" He tried to get up again, but the adrenaline had evaporated from his system and he knew he would need help. "I'm so sorry, Violet," he said again, firmer this time, "I didn't know... I just woke up and I thought that you guys must have just been looking for me. Months... I've been gone for months?"

Violet pressed her lips to his cheek and despite the raging thoughts inside of his head, and the awful pain of thirst in his throat, he still blushed and let himself commit the feeling to memory. "Yeah.." he insisted, "I can walk." But as he tried again to pull himself to his feet, he was reminded that maybe he couldn't. So he took her hand and allowed her to help him stand. "Where is Ian? I need to see him," he said, his tone frantic again, "he needs to know I'm okay.. I need to know he's okay."

Watching his failing attempts to rise to his feet, Violet shook her head and quickly moved to put his arm across her shoulders to help him up into a standing position. It was quite difficult as he was taller and heavier than her, but in the end, she managed to get them both upright and to their feet. Panting , she looked over to him and nodded with a grim expression on her face. “Yes, months, it’s already getting close to Christmas and the battle was in the summer. Almost half a year by now.” She told him quietly.

The past half year had been horrible for her. She barely saw her sister anymore, her brother was mostly brooding somewhere and she had to pretend to hate her father, she had thought that James was dead and she and her friends always had to look out not to be caught by the death eaters. But now James was back and it gave her hope that maybe not all was lost yet. Together they would make it work somehow, she just had to get him back to health first.

“As soon as you’re in the hospital wing and go and get your brother. He will be so very happy to have you back.” Violet promised him and smiled slightly, knowing how much the older Hufflepuff would be cheered by having his brother come back to life. “He was devastated when we thought your dead, but now you’re back and everything will be alright again.” She said, knowing that not everything would be, but a lot of warmth would return to Ian’s and her own heart now. Slowly, Violet started to move away from the doorway and towards the street that would lead them to Hogwarts.

James felt a blow to his ego as he almost stumbled before Violet managed to get his arm over her shoulder. He hoped they would be able to make it to the castle, as he felt the energy leaving him by the moment. "I'm sorry," he said again, this time with guilt as he realised how much helping him stay standing was taking a toll on her. But they had to move, and he forced his legs to walk as he relied on her to keep him upright. He wouldn't leave her to take his weight if he could help it. "I can't believe.. it feels like a few hours. The aches say otherwise, but in my head the battle is still happening. It's an.. odd feeling." He tried to lighten the mood with a smile, but he couldn't keep it there for long as he concentrated so hard on actually moving.

"Do you think.. Ian will be.. angry with me?" he asked, his breaths laboured by the sheet effort of walking. He had never had any problems with it before, but right now all he needed was a pepper up and water. Water had never sounded so good to him before. He realised with a jolt that he couldn't have survived months with nothing going into his system, and before he could stop himself, he muttered, "someone has to have been coming to see me.." He wondered who, and why they had not tried to wake him. And why they hadn't told his friends that he was alive. It seemed odd, but he tried to keep his attention on the task at hand.

As they approached the main village, James glanced around and said, "can we cut through to the road to school?" He didn't want to see anybody yet, and if Violet had been in Hogsmeade, it had to be an outing weekend. In no time, they were on the road and Hogwarts was I'm sight. "I'm glad there won't be many people around to see me like this," he said, a very small smile growing on his lips. James didn't care that Violet had seen him, because she was the closest of his friends. And he loved her, not that he would admit it to her. But he could admit it to himself now that he knew he had almost died. "Is it any different?" he asked, looking pointedly at the castle.