Simple Twist of Fate

Chapter 6: Hey You! Up In the Sky! Learning to Fly!

A/N: Well, I got a little bit over zealous when I said that I would get into a little bit of Christmas in this chapter. Then again, I wasn't expecting the muse to take the plot in this direction. I'm sorry to say that there is a little less Harry and Hermione in this chapter, but a lot more James, Lily, Sirius and Remus. Of course, Harry and Hermione will still have some moments, but the focus is on the plot, rather than the fluff this time around. Well, I hope you all enjoy!

P.S. I go back to school on the 17^th of January, so my work habits will probably be cut down a bit. I will be working on the story as much as I get the chance, but this will be my first semester away from home, so I would like to take the time to enjoy the whole college experience. However, I'm having a lot of fun with this story, so I will be gladly continuing it when I can.

***

Seeing Sirius and Remus was just what the healer ordered. They both helped Harry talk through his suspicious of Snape and got him to believe that Snape wasn't really out to help Voldemort, although Sirius was a bit less convincing. It was also nice for Harry to spend some more time with his little sister. She wouldn't be coming to Hogwarts for two more years and he really did miss her. Before Hermione came along, they were the best of friends.

Before Sirius and Remus left, they did take him aside and give him a similar warning that his father gave him a few weeks earlier. Harry couldn't help but wonder what all the fuss was, if there was “nothing to worry about.” All of these warnings were beginning to make him wonder if there really was nothing to worry about.

Another thing that was on Harry's mind of late was how great it was to have Oscar Entwistle on his side now, if only for Malfoy's reaction. Harry was trying to decide what was more rewarding; finding out Harry made the Quidditch team or finding out that Entwistle was friends with a Blood traitor and a Muggleborn. “ENTWISTLE! WHAT THE HELL DO YOU THINK YOU'RE DOING!?!”

“Walking to class with my friends... rather than walking to class with a `boss.' I'm done being your minion, Malfoy.” Entwistle shot back as he continued walking to Defense Against the Dark Arts. In the weeks that followed Halloween, there was a huge change in Oscar's personality, so much that Professor Quirrell decided to cut down his punishment to only two detentions to be given back to back. He'd only need to waste one Saturday.

And of course he wouldn't have to have one the day of Harry's first Quidditch match as everyone in the school wanted to see that one, including Quirrell. “Harry, you'll do fine… honestly, I don't know why you listen to Malfoy.” Hermione put down the paper that had a wizard drawing of Harry falling off his broom and breaking every bone in his body on it. She did have to admit it was quite an impressive drawing, but resisting the urge to study it, she balled it up and tossed it aside.

“Because he's right. I've never flown on a broom where everyone on the opposite team wants to make you fall of your broom. That's a lot of pressure. Sure, I can find the snitch easy enough, but there's so much I have to dodge.” Harry was playing with his food the same way he was on the morning of tryouts.

Hermione couldn't help but snicker a bit at the sight of Harry being this nervous over a Quidditch match. He was the person who was supposed to defeat Voldemort and she was a little bit scared that he couldn't get over a little game of Quidditch. Then again, she had never really seen a match in her life.

“You know, Harry, we'll be there making sure no one unfairly tries to hex you. Believe me, it's a lot more comforting having Hermione Granger on your side than Vincent Crabbe or Gregory Goyle… or Pansy Parkinson… or Millicent Bulstrode… or Blaise Zabini… put together” Oscar laughed a bit at his house's collective stupidity, causing Harry and Hermione to join in. To their surprise, Ron and Luna also soon followed. Luna was somewhat impartial, but Ron took a little bit to warm up to Oscar being a friend. His dad was always telling him about how bad the Entwistles were, so it was only natural that Oscar wouldn't be his favorite person in the world.

The group froze up as Professor Snape walked towards them and stopped behind Harry and Hermione. “Good luck today, Potter. I trust you won't let your teammates down. It would be most… unfortunate if something… happened to you.” He spoke in the softest of voices before walking away to join the other Professors at the head table.

Hermione shot Harry a very knowing look that confused Ron, Oscar and Luna. “What is it?” They all asked, almost in unison.

“Nothing... It's just something Snape said a few weeks back. It's not important.” Harry brushed it off as he continued to pick at his food.

It was a cold November day when they stepped out to head towards the Quidditch Pitch for the first match. Normally, the regular students didn't show up until a half hour before the match, where the teams were required to be there an hour before. However, Hermione, Oscar, Luna, and Ron made sure to accompany Harry to make him feel a bit more confident. “You'll be fine, Harry.” Hermione told him once they were right outside the Gryffindor Locker Room.

“I sure hope so… you'll be in the front row?” He asked hopefully.

“And cheering the loudest.” She added, giving him a hug and a quick kiss on the cheek before leaving him at the door. “Good luck.” They all wished him and walked away.

Gathering all his Gryffindor courage, he took a step into the locker room where he was met by Oliver Wood, Fred and George Weasley, Angelina Johnson, Katie Bell, and Alicia Spinnet. “You're late, Potter.” Was all Wood said before he showed Harry his locker. “Harry, this is where you will keep everything related to Quidditch. It's the safest place for it because only Gryffindors are allowed in here. It can't be easily bewitched.”

Suddenly, there was a knock at the door. “It's alright, I'm here for Harry. I'm his father.” Wood cautiously let him in, looking for Harry's approval. Harry gave Wood quick nod, giving him permission to fully let him in. “Harry, we're all up in the stands rooting for you. Sirius, Remus, Carolyn, Christopher, your mother, they all found a seat close to Hermione and everyone… I just wanted to give you this… It's not much, but it's better than one of those school brooms.” James gave Harry the most magnificent broom he had ever seen in his life.

“Dad…”

“No, Son. It's okay. Just knock them dead. If you lose, Snape would never let me hear the end of it. Good luck.” And with that he was gone. Harry turned around to look at his team and saw that they were all beaming at him.

Fred and George both walked over to Harry so they could get a closer look at his broom. “Oh. A Cleansweep! This one's better than my broom!” Fred exclaimed.

“And my broom.” George replied.

“Put together, if I do say so myself.” Alicia sarcastically shot in as she adjusted her uniform a bit.

“Alicia, darling, you slay us!” George put his hand over his forehead and pretended to faint.

“One day you'll admit that you're in love with us…” Fred put his arm around her, causing her to push him away.

Harry laughed a bit and then began to put on his uniform. He knew that the biggest danger he faced were the bludgers and that with Fred and George on the team, he was at least safe from them. They had such a connection. “Oh um Harry, if we have an off day… it's not our fault.” Fred put his hand on Harry and pretended to be sympathetic.

“Alicia's rejection it just leaving us completely distraught. I don't think we can go on.” The whole team laughed at both Fred and George, well everyone but Oliver.

Oliver didn't look pleased at all. “This is no time for jokes, this is crunch time people. You know, I've had the pleasure of being on this team for four years and I would go as far to say that this is the best team I've worked with. Sure we lost Charlie Weasley, Arnold Darwin and Deanna Mendelson, but I think this team has the ability to go on and win the House Cup. Something we haven't ever done in my time here as a player. Now, play hard team… I have a good feeling about this one.”

After Oliver's pep talk was over, the team as a whole walked out of the locker room into the stadium of screaming fans. Harry hadn't really expected such vast crowds when he first became seeker, but here it was. The whole school was there, including all the teachers and probably several parents of students on the two opposing teams. Before Harry could even make another thought, he was up in the air searching for the Golden Snitch. He couldn't even remember the whistle blowing.

After about a half hour and still no sign of the snitch, the score was 110-60 in favor of Slytherin. Harry could just see Snape's crooked smile across his cold, pale face. The Slytherins were lucky. They didn't have to replace anyone this year, but too bad for them that next year they'd have to replace over half their team next year. Two chasers, their seeker and one beater were all in their 7^th year. Next year, the team would be in shambles.

Suddenly, Harry felt something large fly passed his face, knocking him a bit off of his course. “Watch out, Harry. A little closer and we would have had to train a new seeker.” George yelled, chasing after the bludger and knocking it towards Marcus Flint, the Captain of the Slytherin team. He was the youngest person on the team, but he was made captain so they wouldn't need a new captain too next year.

After another half hour, Harry decided to trick out the other seeker by doing a couple dive bombs, making them think that he saw the snitch. Neither of them was very successful. That was a move he had learned from Charlie and sadly, this seeker had played against Charlie fairly often.

Just then, out of the corner of his eye, he saw a glint of gold sparkle. Rather than jerk over and speed towards it, he slowly turned and gracefully made his way towards what he thought was the snitch. As he got closer, he confirmed that it was in fact the Golden Snitch and he began to speed towards it. But, before he could reach the Snitch, the broom he was riding began to shake violently.

“Oh my God, Harry!” Hermione shrieked. “Mr. Potter, what's going on?” Hermione looked over at Harry's family and saw that all of them had their wands drawn, trying to steady him.

The spells weren't working properly, but with all of his own strength, he continued to move towards the snitch and before he lost all control, he reached out and grabbed the snitch with his right hand, almost falling off his broom. “Yes!” Harry shouted to himself, before clutching the wand for dear life.

Out of nowhere, Dumbledore walked up to James, Lily, Sirius, and Remus and began to speak into James' ear. In all of the confusion, Hermione tried to decipher what he was saying. Unfortunately she was only able to understand two words: “He's here.”

What did that mean? She really wished that Dumbledore would speak louder, but suddenly she froze. “Oh God.” Before she could react, the teachers and adults began to evacuate the students.

“Hermione, go back to your common room.” Dumbledore commanded in a harsh voice that she never heard before. “This isn't safe.”

She turned up to face the old headmaster and glared at him. “I'm not leaving, Harry. Not a chance.” Oscar, Ron and Luna turned to Hermione shocked. They had never heard her, nor did they ever expect her to ever defy authority.

“Albus, I'm not leaving either, I'll keep an eye on her. Who knows she could be a bit of help.” James smiled down at Hermione without breaking his concentration on his son. Dumbledore nodded and looked over to Sirius and Remus.

“Are both of you fit for battle?” They both nodded and began to follow Dumbledore before a green energy jet hit the stands near them, blowing them up. All of them looked down and saw a small group of Death Eaters blasting away at everything that moved.

“STUPIFY!” Lily, Sirius, Remus, and Dumbledore bellowed almost in unison, knocking out several of them. “Minerva! Contact the Ministry. I need as many aurors as they can get here as fast as they can.” She nodded as she ran back into the booth where she could use the floo network.

Amid all the chaos, Hermione, Lily and James did their best to steady Harry, but it was no good. Whoever was cursing the broom, was a very powerful wizard and they all shuddered to think that it may have possibly been the Dark Lord himself. “Lily! Your daughter's calling for you back at the school.” She looked at James and he nodded at her allowing her to go back to the castle to console her other children. “James, are you okay.”

“I'd be a hell of a lot better if I didn't have these damn Death Eaters blasting Killing Curses at me while I'm trying to save my son.” James' voice seemed strained to Hermione, making her more than a little bit worried that his magic would start to cut out and Harry would be left to fend for himself.

Quirrell nodded and shot a green curse towards a Death Eater that was closing in on them, making him double over. “I'll cover you… now, Miss Granger, what are you doing here?”

“She wouldn't leave his side…” James gave a bit of half smile as he patted Hermione's shoulder with his free hand. “Albus said the bastard was here. What do you make of that one?”

Quirrell shook his head. “In all my years of teaching here, if I've learned one thing, it's that Albus Percival Wulfric Brian Dumbledore is never wrong and when is wrong… he's still never wrong.”

James let out a short laugh, until it was stifled when he caught sight of his very fears personified. Standing on the opposite sides of the stands was none other than Lord Voldemort. “Quirrell!” James pointed towards Voldemort and Quirrell quickly caught on.

“Dear God, protect us.” Quirrell was at a loss for words, but then took his wand and pointed it towards him. “What do you say we end this right now? AVADA KEDAVRA!” Quirrell screamed, almost louder than he intended, sending a green jet towards Voldemort. Unfortunately, Voldemort was expecting it and he redirected the curse towards Harry making it hit is broom, blowing it up on contact.

“NO!” Hermione screamed.

James looked flustered as if he were completely out of ideas. “Hermione… the levicorpus spell…”

“I'm not familiar with it.” Hermione said with sheer panic in her voice and face.

“Doesn't matter. Just point your wand at Harry and say Levicorpus. That should help. Quirrell, keep anything that bastard shoots away from Harry.” Both Quirrell and Hermione nodded at their instructions and got into place.

“LEVICORPUS!” Both James and Hermione shouted, slowing Harry's fall down before he hit the ground with a large thud. “ACCIO HARRY!” James barked, making his son fly towards them.

Once Harry reached his arms, James hugged him tightly, looking for a response. “Dad… I got it… I caught the snitch.” He spoke before going out cold.

“Quirrell… I've got to get him back to the school… Cover us...” James patted Quirrell on the back and began to run towards the castle with Harry in his arms. Without looking back at the battle at all, he made it back to the castle where he found Lily, Carolyn and Christopher waiting for them. “We've got to get to Poppy.”

In haste the whole group ran towards the Hospital Wing. “Poppy… please, my son.” All she did was nod and put him on one of the beds.

“James, dear… he'll be fine in my care… please just wait outside.” All of them gratefully acknowledged and took a seat on the floor outside.

They waited for what felt like hours before anyone spoke and to their surprise it was Hermione. “So that's what he looks like… I wasn't sure what to expect… he was so… inhuman.”

James snickered a bit. “I have trouble believing that it was ever human. But Albus assures me that it still is. Despicable… going after a boy.”

Hermione was going to question it further, but she decided to leave it alone when she saw how much hate it brought to James' voice. She glanced over at the clock and saw that barely any time had passed, but it still felt like hours. She would have so much rather taken all of the blows than see her Harry hurt like this. Seeing him hurt like this did in fact hurt her. She knew it wasn't the magic that made her sore as she was running towards the castle; it was seeing Harry limp in his father's arms.

After about an hour, James got up and decided that he was going to go have a look around and scout out the rest of the castle. Once he was gone, Lily turned to Hermione and saw the distress in her face. “You really care about him, don't you?” Lily asked Hermione sweetly as she tried to lull both Carolyn and Christopher to sleep.

“More than anything, Mrs. Potter. I have other friends, but none of them come close to Harry. We connect on a different level.” Lily smiled a bit at Hermione. She too remembered what it was like to have a friend like that, being a Muggleborn.

“Yes, I too had a friend like you do with Harry.” Lily slightly mused over telling her who and once she realized both her children were sleeping; she gave in. “His name was Severus Snape.”

Hermione's eye widened at the new revelation. “No!”

“Yes… he was a lot different when he was younger, but age changed him… much like it changed James. But it was the opposite. James changed for the better and Severus for the worse. If things had ended up differently, you could have been best friends with Harry Snape.” Hermione coughed, half out of humor, half out of complete and total disgust. “But, you can't tell Harry. He'd flip.”

Lily and Hermione spent a little bit more time girl talking before James and Remus came walking up towards them with Sirius balancing him between them. “It got away. The bleeding bastard got away.” Sirius grunted in a strained voice. “If I ever see it again, I'll kill it.”

“My dear, Sirius… you need your rest.” Remus spoke softly as he transfigured a small bucket in the corner into a large comfortable chair. “Now sit.” Rather than argue with his friend, he followed the order and sat down, but continued his little rant.

James shook his head and sat down next to Lily again. “This is madness… we lost thirteen aurors, and a few students and teachers were injured. Katie Bell being the most severe. Damn it.”

He really didn't need to explain it all the injured as all of them were soon passing by them on their way to the hospital. Fortunately, none of the students really looked all that bad off, more shaken than anything else. Like James had earlier started, Katie was one of the most badly injured. Fell off her broom after it was hit by a curse aimed at Harry, but it appeared as if she would be alright.

“I got a piece of him! I showed all the Death Eaters than their master can still bleed.” Professor Quirrell laughed as he was being guided to the hospital wing by both McGonagall and Snape. Neither of them was exactly in the best of spirits, not that anyone could blame them. McGonagall looked as if she had just seen a ghost and Snape even looked a bit grim. Well, grimmer than usually.

After a few moments went by, Dumbledore walked up to the small group huddled together in the corner. “Mooney, Padfoot, and Prongs… could I see the three of you in my office. Lily, I'd invite you, but you seem a bit occupied right now.” Dumbledore said with a half smile and a twinkle in his eye, seeing that both her young children were asleep in her lap and Hermione was in the process of falling asleep on her shoulder.

The three marauders nodded, stood up and followed Dumbledore towards his office. When they arrived, they were met by Alastor Moody, Kingsley Shacklebolt, Bill Weasley and a female with pink spiky hair that they didn't recognize. “Bill Weasley! How are you, my boy?” James exclaimed taking his had and firmly shaking it. “I didn't know you became and auror.”

“It's a fairly new endeavor, Mr. Potter. I started training back in September, when I began to realize that the war was only picking up steam. Now, I think I'm just lucky enough to be doing this job.” His tone went from somewhat happy to grim very quickly and James could sense the same feeling all around the room.

“Of those who were sent, these are the only survivors.” Albus explained, causing James to go into a bit of a panic. This had to have been the largest single loss in the war's history. They just weren't expecting it, they couldn't have.

James shook his head and looked at both Sirius and Remus. “Well, what's the story?”

Albus' twinkle came back and pointed to the girl that they didn't recognize. She couldn't have been any older than Charlie Weasley, who was just about to turn nineteen, probably a trainee. “She is. She reverted and took several curses that were aimed directly at your son, even a cruciatus curse. James Potter, Sirius Black, and Remus Lupin, I'd like you to meet Nymphadora Tonks.”

With brightness in their faces, they all most gratefully thanked her. “It was nothing, just doing my job, sirs”

“Nymphadora, I was an auror once, but it was never in our training to take curses for another. It's hard to fight if you're dead.” James stated matter of factly.

Tonks squirmed a bit at the thought of being dead. It wasn't exactly something that she had though about when she had taken up the training to become an auror. “Please, just call me Tonks… I'm not a big fan of Nymphadora.”

Without fear of ruining the brighter attitude that had been created, Alastor Moody began to speak. “We should have seen that coming. With Harry here, there is no reason we shouldn't have expected You-Know-Who to not be far behind.”

“Why what's wrong with Harry?” Tonks asked, breaking the conversation when they all turned to each other debating whether to tell her.

James nodded at Dumbledore and then began to speak. “Well, there was a prophecy made before Harry was born that said the one with the power to vanquish the Dark Lord would be born as the 7^th month dies. Neither can live while the other survives. Voldemort has spent a lot of time making sure the prophecy doesn't fulfill itself.” James explained to the young auror, making the whole room besides Dumbledore and the Marauders shiver as he used Voldemort's name.

“Then we need security around the school.” Tonks stated before Moody or Shaklebolt could say anything otherwise. “If you two knew about it, why wasn't this put in place the second he got here?” James was beginning to like Tonks. He knew that when he was her age, he never would have dreamed of speaking to her superiors like she did. Maybe lives would have been saved if he did.

Both Moody and Shacklebolt nodded. “I agree. People need to be put in place, but we took a hit today. If we want people here, we'll have to sacrifice people at the office.”

“Then let me back in.” Everyone turned to look at James in a state of shock, especially Remus and Sirius. “I can work in the office as well as anyone, just as long as my boy is safe.”

Sirius smiled a bit and patted his friend on the shoulder. “Mrs. Prongs won't like this one bit.”

“On the contrary, Padfoot… If this protects our son, than I'm sure she'd let me do just about anything… so Kingsley, where do I sign up.” With James's stubbornness, Sirius and Remus too decided that they would enter the fold. The one thing holding Remus back was the fact that he was a Werewolf, but Shacklebolt figured that they could work around that in someway.

“Lupin, I think we could send you out as a semi-free agent. I'll set you and Tonks up together. I'm sure you could learn a thing or two from each other. Potter and Black, you'll be stationed at the London Headquarters, but no promises you won't be required to go on some missions.” Everyone nodded at their newly given assignments and decided that they would all meet at the Headquarters in a week to finish up all the logistics of their new plan. By the time their conversation was over, James, Remus, and Sirius decided that it was time to go back and check on Harry.

When they arrived at the hospital, they saw that Christopher and the girls were all asleep, so rather than disturb them, they went into see if Harry was awake. “Dad…” Harry had a very groggy voice, but to a father who thought he had lost his son that day, it was the most beautiful thing he had ever heard in his life.

“I'm here, Harry… how are you feeling?” James said with tears forming in his eyes. He grasped his son's had tightly and to his happiness, Harry returned it.

“Been better… really sore.”

James smiled down at him and ruffled his hair with his free hand. “That's to be expected, just relax; everything is going to be okay.”

Harry sat there silently for a while, but then suddenly a light went off in Harry's head causing him to jerk a bit. “Hermione! Is she okay?”

James was a bit taken back by his question, but then nodded. “Remus… could you bring in the others?” Remus gave a half bow and stepped out. A few seconds later, the rest of the company came rushing it with Hermione leading them. James was very amused that she grabbed his free hand, rather than letting Lily have it.

“You gave us quite a scare, honey.” Lily cried as she brushed some hair out of his face.

They all turned their attention towards Hermione, whom they saw was sobbing into Harry's chest. “Harry James Potter… never, ever do that again.”

“Don't worry, `Mione… I won't be trying to do that ever again… but the good news is… I caught the Snitch before all the chaos. We won.” Harry gave a weak laugh and pulled the Snitch out of his pocket where he had stowed it so he could hold on to his broom better. “But Dad… your broom.”

James shook his head adamantly. “Nope. That's nothing to worry about. I'm just happy you're safe… You can thank Hermione for that one. A bit of quick spell work probably saved your life.” Harry gave Hermione's hand a squeeze, making her blush a bit.

“Wouldn't have been anything, if your Dad didn't teach me the spell first.” Hermione blushed, causing James to shake his head again.

“All I did was tell you what to say. You did all the spell work… all I know is that I couldn't have done that at your age.” For the third time in a span of ten minutes, Hermione blushed again and looked down at the floor.

For a good half hour, they all stayed there by Harry's side, until Madam Pomfrey kicked them out, saying that her patients needed rest. “Lil, we better be going… We can't stay over night here and I trust Hermione with Harry's care.”

To James' surprise Lily agreed and the left after Hermione bade goodbye to Carolyn and Christopher with a friendly hug. The second they all left, Hermione ran back up to the hospital wing and to her surprise Madam Pomfrey was waiting outside of room. “Ah, Ms. Granger… Harry was asking for you. Now, normally I wouldn't allow this, but he's been through so much… I can at least grant him this,”

Hermione smiled and entered the room with the school nurse, quickly walking towards Harry's beside. “What is it, Harry?”

“Nothing important. He responded simply. “I just wanted someone to keep me company, someone to talk too. Everyone else is still out cold.” Harry laughed a bit and then took Hermione's hand.

The bookworm smiled to herself a bit. “So what do you want to talk about? We have a quiz in charms coming up on Wednesday.”

Harry rolled his eyes and let out a bit of a laugh, before he realized that it hurt to laugh really hard. “Nothing magical, please. Let's just talk about normal stuff… Muggle stuff… like what your parents do for a living.”

This time it was Hermione's turn to laugh. Everything was different around Harry, so sometimes she felt stupid to talk about non-magical things, but she would greatly oblige him. “Well, both my parents are dentists now, but that wasn't always so. My Dad was in dental school at the University of Rochester in New York… the United State when he attended a big rock music concert called the Monterey Pop Festival in California. He was always a musician, but that kind of pushed him to pursue it. Well, to his benefit, the bass player for a musician named Jimi Hendrix broke his wrist before the show, so my Dad being in the right place at the right time, took his place.”

“You may be surprised at this, but I do know Jimi Hendrix. Some people I used to hang out with were fans of his. I've probably have heard all his albums at least once.” Harry smiled as she brightened up.

“Well… I'll have you know that my Dad played bass on his final album. He went on to be a pretty respected session musician. He played with Bob Dylan on a few of his seventies albums, Jackson Browne on his first four albums. Not just bass either. He plays guitar, piano, organ, mandolin, banjo, along with bass. And he sings. He used to sing me lullabies when I was a little girl. His real claim to fame though is being the original piano player for Bruce Springsteen's band. And he did that until September of 1979. When I was born.” Hermione smiled proudly at the fact that her father quit his passion because of her. She used to feel pretty guilty, but now she knew that it was because he loved her so much.

Harry looked a bit confused at Hermione's last statement. “Isn't your sister seven years older than you? Why didn't he quit with her?”

“Because she was an object of his rock music… The result of a fly by affair with my Mum. Later he'd realize that he wanted to settle down, so he married my mum and then had me.” Hermione smiled again and gave Harry's hand a loving squeeze.

Harry then drifted off to sleep, not before thanking Hermione a thousand times for staying with him and just talking like normal people.

***

Down in London, James was finally telling Lily about his application to become an auror and to his surprise, for the second time that day, she agreed with him whole heartedly. “James, our children are the most important things in the world to me… this is meant to protect them. I'm all for it.”

“I'm glad you think so, Lily, but I must say that I really fear for the future. This little stunt that Voldemort played today… I shudder to think what's going to come next.” James took off his shirt and got into bed next to Lily.

Lily bit her lower lip much like Hermione did when she was nervous. “I fear the same thing, but not only will he have to deal with the chosen one now, but also the marauders… they're a force to be reckoned with.” Lily gave her husband a big smile. The true strength behind their marriage is that they refused to get old. Sirius and Remus helped see to that. No matter what they would always have fun.

“Ha! I think you're mocking me.”

”Could be…” She kissed his ear and began to nibble a bit on the lobe. “Let's not worry about anything tonight… let's just have some fun. SILENCIO!” She pointed here wand at the door before casting it away and kissing her husband full on the mouth.

***

A/N: There you have it! Pretty full chapter if I do say so myself, and I think this is my longest yet. Now, isn't it a bit ironic that I say I suck at action, yet this chapter is kind of one big action scene? So yeah, the steaks get raised a bit higher this time.

Next chapter we will have Christmas and also a little bit of an aftermath.

Before I leave this be, I wanted to ask you one thing. I was thinking of having Katie Bell in kind of a Cho-esque roll through out the story. I think she would work a lot better than Cho given the circumstances. Well, let me know what you think about that. I look forward to your reviews.

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