She's the Girl | A Marauders Love story

Chapter 58

Missions and Maladies

Hailey bit her fingernails, tapping her foot. James and Sirius had left on a mission for the order, promising to be back by 11:00. two hours after they had promised they would return, Hailey was waiting up for them. The clock ticked in the background, and Hailey's thoughts wandered.

I could have volunteered. With the three of us, nothing could have gone wrong. But I just had to stay home, didn't I? It was selfish.

Hailey was broken from her thoughts by the jiggling of the doorknob. She held up her wand, ready to defend herself if it wasn't James or Sirius. The door opened, and Remus's head appeared. Hailey sighed and put her wand down.

"James isn't back either?" Remus asked. Hailey shook her head and sat back down.

"What could they have possibly gotten themselves into? They've been late before, but never hours late."

Remus sat down next to her and ran a hand through his hair.

"They're probably fine."

"But they might not be, and I can't stand not knowing."

Remus nodded. Hailey stood up and put a kettle on to boil.

"Do you want anything to eat? We have some leftover cake."

Remus shook his head.

"I'm alright. It's awfully dark in here, though." He said, looking around. Hailey shrugged.

"I wasn't really focused on it. We can turn some lights on, if you'd like." She offered. Remus shook his head.

"I don't mind it."

The phone rang, and Hailey practically ran to it.

"Hello?"

"Hailey?"

"Marlene, thank Merlin. I thought it was going to be St. Mungo's."

"James hasn't gotten back, then?"

"No. Sirius either. Remus is here with me. You can come over if you'd like. We can all have some tea." Hailey offered.

"I think I should stay here, just in case. If they haven't come back in an hour, call me."

"Alright. Thanks for calling, Marlene."

"See you."

Hailey hung up and turned back to Remus.

"No news, and Edgar isn't back either."

"If Dumbledore sent them on some random mission without letting them contact us, I'm going to have words with him."

Hailey nodded.

"I'm already sick of him putting everyone on the line unnecessarily. And everyone treats him like a god, when he's really just a regular wizard that got good at magic. He shouldn't be in charge of the Order, someone qualified to lead should be."

"How about if James and Sirius aren't back by tomorrow, we storm Hogwarts and overthrow Dumbledore?" Remus suggested. Hailey chuckled, unable to fully laugh and enjoy herself.

"If they aren't back by tomorrow, I am going to cause serious problems for the people in charge of this stupid mission." Hailey said, falling onto the couch.

"This is awfully pathetic of us, isn't it?" Remus asked. Hailey looked at him. "I mean, Sirius and James are out there possibly risking their lives, and we're here crying over our boyfriends."

"Fiancé." Hailey corrected quietly.

"Pardon?"

"We got engaged, a couple days ago." She said, lifting up her hand.

"Congratulations. I guess that makes it a little less pathetic on your part, then."

"Still pretty pathetic."

The sound of keys on the other side of the door broke Hailey and Remus from their trance, and within a second, they were on their feet, wands pointed at the door. The door knob turned, and Hailey's grip on her wand tightened. Two figures walked in, their faces hidden in the dark, and took their shoes off, seemingly trying to be quiet. One of them reached for the light switch, and flipped it on. James and Sirius stood in front of them, both looking a little worse for the wear.

Hailey dropped her wand and ran to James, jumping up and wrapping her legs around his waist. She hugged him tightly, feeling James wrap his arms around her and pull her close. She pulled away slightly and kissed him, cupping his face in her hands.

"Alright, that's enough." Sirius said. Hailey pulled away from James, still in his arms, and hit his chest.

"I thought you were dead! Why didn't you call? I wouldn't have minded if you would have just told me you would be out late."

James sighed.

"Dumbledore asked us to help some people on a different mission. I wanted to call, but he said there wasn't time."

Hailey turned to look at Remus, who rolled his eyes.

"That man drives me nuts sometimes." She said. James nodded. Hailey noticed a particularly bad looking gash on his face. When she looked at Sirius again, she noticed he also had some bad cuts.

"Alright, let's get you guys fixed up."

She grabbed the first aid kit and a rag and got to work, taking care of their various cuts and bruises.

"How did you manage to get beat up this bad?"

James shrugged.

"You should see the other guy." He joked. Hailey rolled her eyes.

~~~~~~~

Hailey flipped through the file in front of her, adding her signature when necessary. There was some kind of commotion on the other side of the door, but she wasn't really interested. It was probably some family member that wanted to see a patient and was making a fuss. She dipped her quill, about to sign her name, when the door opened.

"Hailey, you might want to see this." Anna said. Hailey stood up and followed her towards the source of the noise. There was someone on a stretcher, blood surrounding them, and healers of all types rushing to take care of them. Hailey couldn't see the face of whoever was injured, but noticed that they were still holding their wand tightly, and were covered in dirt as well as blood. She turned to the healer next to her.

"Do you know what's happening?"

"Someone came from a fight, there was an unfamiliar curse used on them that caused deep cuts all over their body, and no one can find a counter-curse."

Hailey nodded. She saw the injured person fall over from their sitting position, seemingly unconscious. It was only then that she saw the red hair and recognized the face of the victim.

It was Lily Evans.