Disclaimer: I do not own the Harry Potter books in anyway, shape, or form.
A/N Someone mentioned that Thebes wasn't in Greece. I didn't make a mistake actually; there was a Thebes in Greece and Egypt. Thebes of Ancient Greece isn't well known but I clearly remember in my history class that the city had an army of gay men and their lovers so they would literally fight to the death! I love history!
Also, I did say I would get it sometime this weekend! Kinda late but... still... deadline made! Mwhahah!
Okay, I'm displeased with this chapter but sadly.. an absolutely boring chapter was needed here to prelude the climax. I don't know when I'll get another installment in because I'm pretty much bogged down with work this month... So please, be patient.
Pairings: Harry/Draco, James/Lily, Sirius/Remus, and a few others.
Harry glared at the greasy man in front of him with absolute certainty that he was going to go rescue Draco or die trying.
"I'm going with you! You old--," Harry started to shout, when Ron and Hermione both nudged him to distract him. It was best that they did this, because Harry was about to really insult Snape, and Snape was already mad as it was.
"You will stay right where you are, Potter! The plan is as it is. I will be going to rescue them along with Hagrid," Snape said.
He had a sick sort of pleasure about him because he was not only beating Harry down, but James as well.
Hagrid then wisely interrupted Harry's next rant. "You three need ter stay here. It's dangerous."
"But Hagrid, I've seen Voldemort before! I've fought him before! I can do this!" Harry relentlessly argued.
Hagrid looked at Harry with seriousness, which was very unlike Hagrid.
Harry felt a slight depression fall over his shoulders.
"Yer weren't with child then Harry. And to the lot of yer, yer not to go a wandering."
Harry sighed and rubbed his abdomen thoughtfully, still unsettled about being left behind. I don't want to give up… but I'll be endangering my child, Harry reminded himself. He looked at the others, and they all seemed to be dispersing around the camp.
Ron and Hermione were still behind him, maybe not ready to back him up as much as pry him away from the now looming and satisfied Snape. Still, they were there. James and Peter had gone off towards the burning fire; Remus and Sirius had tailed them at a fair distance.
Lily had sat down to rest her head, which Snape had conjured an ice pack for.
"Well Potter, I think it's time you skipped along," Snape said sarcastically.
Snape had already turned away, robes billowing in front on Harry's face, and walked towards the clearing.
He'd motioned Hagrid to come with him and from there he'd done the instructing, Harry imagined.
"Harry..." Hermione said with a concerned expression settling in her brown eyes. Ron looked more like he was going to be reluctant if anything to whatever Harry was about to say.
It was just as well; Harry was planning on something rather drastic.
"You both know I'm going right?" Harry said, not bothering to hide his intentions. He had stepped back from his rigid stance but it hardly changed his rigid decision.
"Harry, Hagrid said--!"
"Are you sure that's a good idea, mate?"
"Do you know how dangerous it could be for the baby?"
Harry closed his eyes and rubbed them to make sure his friends had not just given him a headache. He heard Hermione sigh and Ron gulp. They were deciding in their own minds what to do.
"I figure you'll need some help, right, mate?" Ron asked. Harry opened his eyes and smiled at his redheaded friend. Ron grimaced back, but was obviously going to be coming along.
"Ron!" Hermione said, as if he were going to say anything else, " Are you two brainless? This isn't our own time; it's not as safe here, Harry! Harry aren't you—"
"Hermione, I know! I still want to do this, though. And you know, maybe my luck will hold out longer? I'm not going to endanger my child, okay? It gives me enough trouble already," Harry interjected.
"Oh, and how do you plan to make it any less dangerous?" Hermione said sceptically with a hand on her hip.
Harry turned towards the fireplace and pointed at dear old dad.
"Ask them to help," he said with a confident smirk.
Draco's rubbed off on me, hasn't he? Harry silently wondered to himself as Hermione blinked, once, twice and then…
"Well they certainly are reckless enough," she commented.
She took her hands off her hips and searched within her robe's pockets. Ron glanced at her and nudged her gently. Hermione looked up and asked, annoyed, "What is it, Ron?"
Ron didn't hesitate in his response, even with Hermione's annoyance. "What are you going to be doing?"
"Making sure you idiots don't destroy yourselves."
Harry could only grin at her response.
Harry glanced over at Snape, who had already started to leave. Hagrid looked back at Harry with his beady, warm eyes and smiled. Harry smiled back, hoping he wasn't as see through as some believed him to be.
"Hagrid must be staying back to keep and eye on you," Ron commented and laughed along with Harry at the irony. It was indeed irony, because even when Harry was being watched, everyone knew he was going to do it his way.
"He's going to be going soon, Snape will probably want someone there to help him get the others back here," Hermione explained, searching her pockets more furiously and muttering under her breath. She obviously wasn't finding what she wanted.
"Can't he do that with magic on his own?" Ron asked.
"Ron, stop staring at Hagrid. He'll get suspicious," Harry whispered. Why this made the two of them start to snicker conspiratorially will never be known.
"Of course he can, but one wand can only do so much. Even Aurors need more than themselves around to protect themselves," Hermione explained, "Oh where is it!"
"What?" The two boys looked over at Hermione as she dug down deep into her robes.
"I thought, just to be on the safe side, to bring along some sleeping draughts and other potions," Hermione responded. She must have been worried about having lost these potions, because she was now frantically looking for them.
"What other stuff did you bring, Hermione?" Harry asked; his interest aroused.
Hermione exclaimed an, 'Ah-ha!' and pulled out a small vial, the label reading flesh eating.
Harry and Ron looked at Hermione with an identical sort of awe-filled, horrified expressions.
"Hermione, why the bloody hell did you bring that!" Ron asked.
Harry couldn't even think of a good response or question to ask Hermione, so he stayed silent.
Hermione looked at them with a neutral expression and said, "It was for emergency reasons," as if it were a normal, everyday potion to bring along with her.
Ron and Harry were flabbergasted, because while it was a handy thing to have in the situation they were now in, it was plain weird for her to have brought it along in the first place.
"Very emergency reasons," Harry replied. Hermione didn't ever respond to him on that one.
"Well Harry, Ron, aren't you two going to invite the others?" Hermione asked. Harry turned over to see Hagrid gone, figuring that was why Hermione reminded them about their 'plan'.
"Yes, I guess we are," Harry said. He grabbed Ron by the sleeve of his shirt and dragged him along towards the fire. It was time to put their juvenile delinquency to the board game.
James was quite happy to keep his distance with Sirius and Remus, but even James had to admit that he couldn't stay away from his two friends for long. But until James' will broke down, he planned on sticking stubbornly to a hesitant conversation between him and the others.
James glanced over towards Lily, hoping she was okay. She had told James to leave her alone earlier, because she needed to rest. Watching her beautiful face sleeping could content James for eternity, of that he was sure. She must have had the headache of a century, but still she held her own before falling asleep now; she was incredibly brave.
James thought it might attract him to her even more.
Sadly, his thoughtful gaze was interrupted when Harry sat down beside him, his friend Ron finding a seat between Remus and Peter. "What are you two up to?" Remus spoke first when everyone else fell silent.
"Harry's decided to go on a crazy rescue mission," Ron responded.
Harry didn't look persuasive, he wasn't smiling, and he didn't seem to be planning on saying anything to attempt to get the marauders interested in helping him with a fiasco.
"Oh and what would this mission include?"
Remus and Sirius were looking up at… James turned around and saw Lily Evans standing behind them. She was holding the conjured icepack to he bruised head and staring at Harry with stern emerald eyes. James wondered how she managed to get up so quickly without wincing; in fact, he was wondering how she managed to get up at all because she was looking so drained.
Harry glanced up at her and didn't bother to hide beneath a sheepish grin. "It includes helping the others. I doubt Snape's brilliant idea, whatever it was, will work," Harry reasoned.
Lily lifted up one red eyebrow. "And why is that?" she asked.
Everyone turned to Harry among the fire, the orange dancers flying up in front of him, for his answer. James would have to say he agreed with Harry, any plan of Snivellus' was doomed to failure.
"Voldemort isn't holding them hostage for no reason. He's not going to let them go, even with Snape's convincing strategies," Harry responded. Lily, well, the whole group excluding Ron, seemed to be a bit confused.
Harry sighed and looked at Ron, who shrugged. No one else seemed to be able to clue into the silent conversation between the two, but James figured it had concluded after a series of gestures between Harry and Ron ended with Ron shaking his head in approval.
Harry took in a deep breath and started to explain, "Voldemort wants me. I go, they stand a chance of living. It's as simple as that."
Harry didn't look too troubled about this truth but Lily and James, really, looked concerned for the boy.
"What do you mean he wants you?" Sirius butted in, earning himself the group's attention. Harry slowly gazed up at his future-godfather and wrung his hands together before continuing.
"He wants to kill me."
Harry was surprised at how many collective gasps he got from the Marauders. Lily smacked James upside the head when he asked, 'what do you mean that son of a Dark Wizard wants to kill a 16 year old?'
James shouted out in alarm and massaged his head, while Sirius gave her a thumbs-up and laughed into Remus' sleeve.
"Remus, smack him upside the head for me," James commented, his first signal that he was going to accept Sirius and Remus in an intimate relationship. Remus shook his head while hiding the smile trying to force its way onto his lips.
It took a moment for the teenagers to regain the serious tone they had started out with.
Lily tried again; sending painful messages to James to keep his mouth shut, by courtesy of her fingernails, and asked, "Why would he want to kill you, Harry?"
"A Prophesy that says I will be the wizard born to kill him," Harry said in an uncomfortable manner. He shifted on the logs that had been set up around the fire as everyone registered what he had said.
"Oh bloody hell!" Sirius called out, looking shocked. James watched his son and wondered why his son, of all people, had been chosen for something like that. James couldn't understand why Voldemort, who was gaining more attention as he wreaked more havoc among the wizarding world, would fear someone so young as Harry. It was almost laughable to James.
Remus looked more engaged in anything being said than Peter was. Remus had his elbows placed on his knees, and his eyes were going from one person to the next as they spoke, tallying it all up in his head.
Peter was sitting there waiting for James to say something.
"So you…" Lily was saying as Harry started to speak as well. Lily became quiet when Harry had spoken.
"I—Look, I need your help with this. Ron, Hermione, and I can't do this with just the three of us," Harry said.
"We did once," Ron disagreed. James looked at the freckled redhead questioningly. There was an uproar among everyone sitting around the fire and James shared some looks with the other Marauders that clearly said they were all as stumped as he was, yet amazed at the same time.
"What!" James shouted in an outraged tone, asking the question everyone had been thinking. All eyes had turned to Ron for explanations. Remus' eyes had widened a bit and Sirius had shouted, 'You're joking!' to Ron.
"Yeah but Ron, Voldemort was considerably weaker then…" Harry doubtfully said. Ron shrugged when Harry reminded him about the different circumstances both times had.
"You faced Voldemort?" Sirius asked Ron, staring pointedly at him. Ron took a minute to bask in the glow of being recognized. His back went from hunched to tall and proud, as his expression became one of boasting.
Peter was watching everything happen at once and his reactions were slow because he obviously couldn't make up his mind on what to say without much inclination as to what he should do.
"Yeah but really, it wasn't much—" Ron said, as if he really wanted to downplay his achievement. James had a feeling the fellow had a very conceited side to him.
"Yeah, but that bloke is crazy—" Sirius interjected, among a few whispers Peter and James were having. Lily was looking steadily annoyed, because now Harry and Remus were joining their voices with the chaotic assembly and it was just too loud.
"Will you all just, shut up!" Lily shouted over their heads.
Everyone in the group stopped their chatter and looked her way, behind James. James craned his neck upwards to look at her vivid green eyes. Oh boy, she looks angry, James thought. He knew that turn of the mouth and that fire in Lily's eyes; it was usually directed straight at him when he asked her out.
"I guess we'll be going along with you then." Lily said, and simultaneously volunteered the marauders for some more mischief.
James wasn't too keen on this sort of mischief though; he valued his life. What Harry, and now Lily, were proposing sounded like suicide.
"What?" Sirius said.
"Are you sure, Evans?" Remus asked.
"If this guy is so set on killing Harry, is it really a good idea to hand him over to Voldemort on a gold platter?" James queried. Lily looked down at him with, not distaste, but she was telling him 'you're an idiot'.
James wasn't sure how, but she was.
"We're not handing Harry over to anybody, Potter. It was you who called Voldemort the bully, now wasn't it?" Lily told him.
"Well yes… But still—" James started to reply when Sirius talked over him.
"James, we can save Snivellus." James looked up at his… (Friend)… as Sirius leaned closer to the fire in James' direction.
"And that's a good thing... why…?" James asked. He looked very confused; he was unable to grasp anything good about saving that stupid prick.
Sirius lost it when he gave it up to Remus, didn't he? James thought.
"Think of the humiliation he'll suffer when we remind him we saved his arse from nearly certain death!" Sirius said, convincing James finally. James shared the mischievous grin Sirius wore. Thoughts of Snape's distorted, angry, red face always brought a little happiness to James' mind.
"Well… If that's the case…" James cunningly said. Sirius nodded along with his companion in crime, and plans to make life a little harder for Snape were floating around in their heads. Remus looked at his two friends with a raised eyebrow until he gave a small smile. If there was one thing that would always connect the two, it was pranks.
"I guess we could… As long as Sirius and Remus stay focused," James said, eyeing the couple.
Everyone stared at James for a few seconds, Remus rubbing Sirius' back to keep him calm, and Harry blinking towards his father with slight disbelief. Lily rolled her eyes at James and snapped at him, "Oh grow up!"
"Shut it, James, now let's work on a plan to tie Snivellus up once we rescue the greasy git," Sirius said. James then shouted, 'Lets go!' and stood up.
Lily pushed him back down by his shoulders though. "Hold it James, we have planning to do. We won't be going rushing into things, now will we?"
Harry was very amused when James looked dejected and Lily shared a smile with him.
James frowned and shut up, letting the others talk about what they were going to do without the grown ups around to help. James wouldn't stay shut up forever, though, he planned to get a lot of his say in for this crazy idea.
Review Please! I know there was only two scenes but I had to cut it off here for event/pages reasons -.-. I think this story is going to be finished soon honestly, but not too soon!
Thank you to all reviewers, I appreciate your reviews a lot :)