I hope you enjoy this chapter as much I as I did writing it.

I do not own Harry Potter. I did make a WII character based off him though. XD

Chapter 15

Third Person POV

James ran with bloodlust in his eyes through the castle, following the small light that bobbed ahead of him from Raston's wand. He'd crossed the line by insulting his parents like that. And he'd had the gall to say James didn't love them? He was going to pay.

And James was looking forward to it. He was looking forward to giving Raston what he had coming to him, for making him pay for last year. He didn't even care if he ended up in Azkaban at this point. He wanted revenge.

He tripped over a fallen piece of armor and pitched forward, turning a somersault on the ground and jumping up to continue his pursuit without missing a beat.

A hallway behind James Sirius ran, his heart hammering with fear. He had to get to James and to save him…it was all planned…Sirius couldn't let anything happen to James. James was all he had left…his own family hated him, Mr. and Mrs. Potter were dead…all he had left was James, Remus, and Peter. He wasn't going to let James get himself killed.

Sirius kept his wand tip lighted and held it up high to cast the light as far as he could. He saw the armor lying in the hall and jumped over it, not missing a beat as he continued after James and Raston.

Downstairs in the entrance hall, Remus, Marlene, and Mary had knocked the rest of the Death Eaters unconscious and tied all of them up. Mary went around and checked all the teachers, fearing the worst due to their opponents. She was pleasantly surprised when she found that all of them were alive and didn't seem to be badly hurt.

Remus looked around, noticing for the first time that neither James nor Sirius were there. Panic levels rising, he looked around again. "James? Sirius?" he called out loudly. Marlene and Mary both started looking around.

"Hey, what happened to that Death Eater who had the fedora?" Marlene asked. Remus paled considerably. If Bellatrix had been there, why not Raston as well? And if he was missing along with James and Sirius…He didn't want to think about it.

"James and Sirius are in trouble," Remus stated, thinking of who's turn it was to carry the map that night. Normally it would have been Peter, but without him there it would have gone to Sirius. He cursed softly.

"How are we going to find them? This place is huge," Marlene commented. Remus frowned. He knew he could use the same tracer spell he had used the previous winter, but that had been with Lily's help. And he hadn't practiced it since. Dumbledore had told them that the spell could have dire repercussions if done incorrectly.

But what choice did he have if he wanted to save two of the only people who had ever accepted him for what he is?

Remus walked over to where Bellatrix was tied up. She was now bound in actual rope and gagged as well, but the plastic snakes Sirius had used were still scattered around her. And wherever Sirius was, James couldn't be far from. He picked up one of the plastic snakes. Sirius always had had an active imagination.

"What are you doing?" Mary asked, coming closer.

"Finding Sirius and James," Remus said. "Let me concentrate a moment."

The two girls watched silently as Remus concentrated, holding the toy snake with one hand and his wand with the other.

Xx

Raston smiled maliciously. His plan was working perfectly. James had fallen right into the palm of his hand, and was even helping Raston to close his fingers around him. He always finished his assignments, and this one would be no exception.

He could hear the boy chasing after him. They were probably far enough away for him to have no help. Raston stopped and turned, holding his wand at shoulder height. It was all coming to an end.

The boy's footsteps grew louder and he rounded the corner, coming to a screeching halt when he saw Raston's position. A fierce glare was plastered on his face. He raised his own wand for battle.

"You're going to pay for everything you've done," he said viciously.

"I bet you're all talk. You don't have the guts to hurt me," Raston said. James spit on the ground.

"Try me."

He fired a spell at Raston, which the Death Eater deflected easily, responding with an offensive spell of his own. James sidestepped and let the spell go wild, shooting another spell at Raston. Raston deflected it again and fired another spell.

"It was easy you know, to kill your parents," Raston said, deflecting another poor spell from the boy. "Quite fun too. You should have heard your mother begging for mercy…screaming for it, on her knees," Raston said, starting to take steps closer to James. James' glare had let up as Raston's words got to him, but he was still holding his ground against him. "And your father…Hah! I've never seen a weaker man!"

"Shut up!" James said, forgetting magic all together and running forward to tackle Raston. The Death Eater, caught off guard at the muggle move, fell to the ground with a hard thud, his fedora flying off his head. James' wand lay on the ground as he repeatedly smashed his fist into Raston's face. A loud crunch resounded throughout the hall as Raston's nose gave, and blood started pouring down his face. James wasn't satisfied with that, and he kept smashing his fist into Raston's face, gaining a sick pleasure as he caused the man pain.

"James!" Sirius' voice rang out loud and clear. "What are you doing?" Sirius ran up next to James, trying to put a hand on his shoulder to calm the boy down. He was afraid to get close though for fear of being hit by James' wild throws.

"My parents were not weak!" James yelled. "My mother would never beg for mercy! She died with dignity!" Over and over, up and down, up and down, James smashed his fist into Raston's face. He did it blindly, having shut his eyes to block out the cruel images Raston's words produced in his mind. He could feel tears forming in his eyes, which only made him hit Raston harder.

"James, that's enough…I think he's unconscious…" Sirius said uncertainly. He wanted Raston to suffer as much as James did, but he didn't want to watch as his best mate became a murderer. The Ministry would never let him off if he killed Raston like this. He'd be sent to Azkaban for sure.

But James didn't hear Sirius' words. He methodically kept brining his fist down upon Raston's face, his hand covered with the other man's blood. Sirius held his hands out uncertainly, not sure what to do now.

Finally Sirius just grit his teeth and grabbed James' arm as he pulled back again. He stopped James fairly easily, which surprised him considering how venomously James had been attacking Raston.

James' shoulders started shaking, and Sirius realized immediately that he'd started crying. He pulled James off Raston and dragged him over to the wall, sitting him down so his back was to it and they could watch Raston.

James put his head in his hands, his knees bent to his chest. Sirius sat down next to James, putting a hand on his shoulder.

"That damned bastard…" James said tightly. "He deserved that, every punch."

"I think that was overkill James. But I commend your actions," Sirius said. James smiled, his eyes still closed. He dropped his right hand, the one that had been remodeling Raston's face, and draped it across his knees. He flexed his fingers and winced.

"I think I did something to my hand," he said, genuinely surprised. He opened his eyes and looked at his hand, surprised at all the blood on it. He flexed his fingers again and winced again. "Yeah, definitely did something to my hand."

Sirius stared blankly at James for a moment and then glanced over at Raston, who still hadn't moved, and then back to James. He shook his head.

"It was worth it though," James said. Sirius rolled his eyes and leaned his head back against the stone wall. "Merlin I think it's already swelling," James commented, sitting forward and arranging his legs like a pretzel.

Sirius looked at James' hand, which he was turning this way and that to get a better look at.

"If you broke your hand beating his face in, I'm going to laugh so hard I might break a rib," Sirius said with a straight face. James started laughing himself, the tension of the evening fading from the atmosphere.

"It was still worth it," James said proudly. Sirius rolled his eyes and looked at James, seeing pure hatred in the boy's eyes as he looked at Raston. "Do you think I killed him?" James asked quietly.

Sirius looked over at Raston again. His form was very still, his face a bloodied mess in what little light they had. "I don't know. I hope to Merlin you didn't."

Without a word the two got up and walked over to Raston, James picking up his wand with his good hand along the way. Sirius knelt down next to him to check for a pulse.

Before either of them could react, Raston leaped up, upper-cutting Sirius in the jaw and grabbing a handful of James' shirt collar. He glared at James with enough malice to fuel all of England for a month.

"You're going to pay for that," Raston said in a dangerously low tone, his voice marred by his damaged nose. He dragged James down to the ground, smashing his head against the floor and causing James to see little owls flying around his head. The right side of his glasses was crushed in the impact, some of the pieces going in to cut James just under his eye.

Sirius got to his feet, rubbing his jaw, just in time to see James be smashed against the floor. He went into autopilot mode, tackling Raston from behind. The two tumbled head over heels to the wall. Raston was in front of Sirius and he jabbed his elbow into Sirius' jaw, knocking the teen's head into the wall. Sirius tightened his arm around Raston's throat.

Raston reached into his cloak and drew his knife. James lifted his head, still dazed, and glanced over at the two. He saw the flash of the knife in the dim lighting, and his heart froze.

"Knife!" he yelled, hoping Sirius would understand in time. The dog animagus did. He pushed Raston away from himself, but unfortunately closer to James. James rolled over a few times to distance himself from Raston, and also rolling farther away from his wand. Raston threw his knife at James.

James had nowhere to go. He was already flat on the ground. There was only so much room in the hallway before he hit the wall. There was only one direction the knife could go in. James couldn't avoid it.

So he raised his right hand and allowed the knife to implant itself hilt deep in his palm, the blade protruding from the back of his hand. He grit his teeth, feeling the pain of the new wound but refusing to acknowledge it.

Raston bent down and picked up James' discarded wand, his own having been lost in the hall awhile ago. Sirius was stunned against the wall, watching James carefully. Only too late did he realize that Raston now held a wand while neither of them did.

He did the only thing they could do in this situation. He leaped forward, clasped his hands together and smashed them into the side of Raston's head, causing the man to crumple to the ground, ran over to James and lifted him to his feet and started dragging him down the hallway.

"He won't stay down for long, we've got to get you help," Sirius said. "I know I hate him, and that you hate him, but I also know we can't kill him. But he'll kill us," Sirius said. His eyes were darting everywhere as he tried to explain why he was running. It wasn't like him to run. He didn't understand why he was running. But he was running all the same. "How's your hand?"

"It hurts. A lot," James said through gritted teeth. The fingers of his right hand were twitching, causing his hand to flare up in unnecessary pain.

Sirius nodded, realizing it was a really dumb question of him to ask. They turned down hallway after hallway, the only sound accompanying them the sound of Raston in pursuit behind them. Raston fired a spell behind them, the spell flying between their heads, just narrowly missing either one of them.

Instinctively, they opened the first door they could find and slammed the door shut behind them and continued running. They didn't realize until they were halfway up the stairs that they were in the Astronomy Tower.

The two froze and looked at each other, able to see each other's faces clearly in the light of the moon. It was too late to go back. They heard the door open below them. The only place for them to go was up.

Xx

Several floors below the Astronomy Tower, Remus, Mary, and Marlene ran through the halls, using a basic tracking spell to track Sirius. Remus had forgotten there was no Disapparating or Apparating inside of Hogwarts, so they had to follow his wand's instructions as they ran through the castle.

A gut feeling in Remus' stomach told him something bad was going to happen. Something was about to change forever. He just couldn't decide if it was good or bad.

Xx

On the tower, they immediately stepped to either side of the door. Their plan was to trap Raston on the tower as they ran back downstairs. How this was going to be accomplished, they weren't quite sure.

They heard Raston coming up the stairs, his steps slowing as he came closer. James and Sirius made eye contact with each other and nodded once. James' hand still really hurt, but he was making a major effort to ignore it.

He thought about pulling the knife out and using it against Raston, but the thought alone of removing the knife was pretty painful.

"Knock knock," Raston said behind the door before the door was blown off its hinges and fell over the side of the tower. Sirius and James watched it, praying to all deities that they wouldn't be following that door.

Raston stepped through the open doorway. Sirius acted first and tried to club Raston on the side of the head again, but Raston was prepared and blasted Sirius in the chest, sending him into the wall of the tower and almost over the edge. He fell to the floor of the tower, unconscious.

James leaped onto Raston's back then and reached around with his good hand for the wand in the Death Eater's hand. His other arm was wrapped around Raston's neck, simultaneously strangling him and sticking him with the knife. James got a hold of the wand and tried to rip it out of Raston's hand, but Raston jerked it out of James' grasp.

Raston backed up to the edge of the tower wall, to the point where James was nearly over the edge. James tightened his grip around Raston's neck, cutting off all oxygen supply. Raston staggered forward, and James was flipped over Raston's back to land hard on his own on the ground.

He coughed at the impact but rolled onto his hand and knees. Raston massaged his throat and pointed the wand at James. James froze where he was.

"And this is where we say goodbye," Raston said.

"Goodbye," James said, leaping up at Raston and grabbing the hand that held the wand. Raston fired a spell instinctively, and it hit the wall next to the door. James backhanded Raston in the chest with his right hand, screaming out with the pain it caused in his hand. Raston was stunned to say the least at the method James had used.

Stunned enough that James could wrench the wand out of his hand. His other hand was pinned to Raston's chest by the knife. A dark stain started spreading down Raston's cloak. He stared at James, incredulous, and took a step back. The wall of the tower only went to his thighs, so it wouldn't be hard for him to be flipped over the edge.

And with James' hand pinned to him, James would fall with him. He would die, but he would take James down with him.

"Nice try, but I'm not out of tricks yet," Raston said, letting himself fall over the edge. James was dragged forward to the edge. He bent down so his side hit the wall.

The knife twisted as Raston flipped, gauging a bigger hole in James' hand and causing the boy to emit a cry of pain. For a few moments, the only thing that kept Raston from falling was the knife stuck to his chest. James wrapped his fingers around the hilt in his palm and jerked back, pulling the knife from Raston's chest.

Raston fell to the ground without a sound.

James stumbled back against the wall next to the gaping hole of where the door used to be. He cradled his poor hand, trying not to scream in pain. He took deep breaths, and his sight tunneled. The pain from this one wound was incredible. How much blood had he lost from it? How hard had Raston hit his head against the floor in the hallway?

Tears of pain rolled down James' cheeks, and he let himself fall into a blissful numbness, where the only thing that existed was a black void.

Xx

Remus, Mary, and Marlene had reached the final floor of the castle, breathing hard. They could see the door to the Astronomy Tower was open. The three of them could only see that as a bad omen. They ran up the steps, taking them two at a time.

On the tower, they found James and Sirius, both unconscious. Raston was nowhere to be found, and Remus cautiously looked over the side of the tower. Far below, he saw some crumpled mass. He quickly looked away. Mary and Marlene were levitating James and Sirius, and Remus led the way back downstairs, holding a lighted wand alight to lead them to the Hospital Wing.

End Chapter

I'm really upset that I had to kill Raston off. Like, you can't even begin to comprehend how upset I am that I killed him off. But the story never would have ended if I didn't.

The only chapter after this is the epilogue, which also makes me sad. I'm just in a very sad mood right now.

Make me feel better and review? Pretty please?