A/N: Not really sure what the title of this should be, so any suggestions would be appreciated. Standard disclaimer: just borrowing the characters for my own warped sense of creativity.
Chapter One
It started with a tinkling glass, the sound of ice hitting the tumbler at ten o'clock in the morning. It was awfully early to be drinking, but James knew his father kept unusual hours, so ten was more like five o'clock in the afternoon for him. James yawned, tired still from his own late hours with Sirius. James passed the door to Sirius' room, knocking once. Sirius drug himself out of the room, the look of sleep still on him.
"Hey," Sirius grunted with his hair wild and unkempt from the night of tossing and turning. He never slept well anymore. None of them did. You just never knew when a Death Eater was likely to burst into your home and start murdering folks. Even Sirius was vulnerable when he slept, though he would never admit to it. He may have been born a Black, but he was a Potter by choice.
"Dad's home early," James said. Sirius nodded and the two trudged down the stairs barefoot. It was already too early in the summer for them to resort to grunts. They usually waited until mid summer to grunt at each other. Sirius and James would resolve to understand each other with those grunts.
"Good morning boys," Mrs. Potter greeted them as they entered the dining room. She was as lovely as ever, even having a seventeen year old son. She had thought she had made a mistake only having the one child to put all of her hopes and dreams into, but she had done the right thing. She couldn't imagine running a house with James, Sirius, and any other children. She liked to be needed, but she equally liked to work on her research.
"Morning Mom," they both said. Mrs. Potter nodded appreciatively. She didn't appreciate the grunting of male communication and had never learned to understand it. Sirius and James took their seats at the table, eying the stack of papers in front of Mr. Potter on the far end of the table.
"How'd it go, Dad?" James asked as he looked at his father. He looked at the slight scruff along his jaw line, a day's growth of beard.
"Ah, well, son," Mr. Potter said grinning as he scratched his chin. "You know I can't very well discuss ministry stuff with you two. You are both barely of age, you know."
"Dad, seriously," James said. He knew his father wouldn't talk to him about the work that he did at the ministry, though. He never did. It was just fun to ask, though.
"What are your plans this morning?" Mrs. Potter asked as she placed a plate brimming with food in front of each boy.
"Ah, well, we were planning on sitting around the pool," Sirius yawned. "Nothing much more than working on our tans."
"But we don't have a pool," Mrs. Potter said with a confused look on her face. Sirius grinned and pulled out his wand. He did a little flicking motion with his wand and through the dining room window, a pool sunk into the emerald green grass.
"Don't worry, we will fix the grass at the end of summer," James promised quickly as his mother looked out into their back yard. Mrs. Potter turned and looked at him with her arms crossed, a smirk on her face.
"Be sure you do, or you will plant every blade of grass by hand, boys," Mrs. Potter said. Sirius laughed, knowing as much as Mrs. Potter tried to be stern with them, she really was a big softy when it came to her two favorite boys. "Just because you can do magic doesn't mean you should be careless. I'll need to call the gardener and tell him not to come for the rest of the week, so that nothing is amiss."
"Honey, do you really think Javier would notice? He ran the hose over again last week," Mr. Potter asked as he looked up from his copy of the Daily Profit.
"He's blind, but he'd notice a pool, dear," Mrs. Potter said as she sat down with her own cup of hot coffee. "Anyone we know?"
"George Ursula and Booboo Cheeky," Mr. Potter said quietly. "Remember we met them at the wizard convention last year?"
"Were they the alternative couple?" Mrs. Potter asked as she mentally ran through everyone she met that night.
"Yes, the ones that had the matching Dragon Skin suits," Mr. Potter said. "They were found dead in their condo, and the Brandt family has gone missing."
"Terrible," Mrs. Potter said shaking her head. Mr. Potter agreed. It seemed like more and more people were disappearing or dying as the days passed.
"It's that He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named," Mr. Potter said shaking his own head. "We have been forbidden to even say his name, it's just snow balling. No one seems to know why he is doing the things he is doing. Some say to take over the ministry; others say it is to wipe out all of the muggle born citizens."
"I can't believe that there are people out there that can't stop him," Mrs. Potter said as she leaned forward on her elbow.
"Ma, he is wicked powerful," James said with his mouth full of food. She made a face.
"Don't talk with your mouth full, James," Mrs. Potter said quickly, barely looking at her son. "We are just a couple of weeks into the summer and it is too soon for you to lose your manners."
"Sorry," James said after forcibly swallowing.
"He's right, Mom," Sirius said after making sure he had nothing in his mouth. "He's supposed to be the most powerful wizard of his time."
"That's what we hear," Mr. Potter said shaking his head. "I don't know how Phil Perkins plans to deal with this, and Cornelius Fudge is nipping at his heels to get Phil's job. I was out for lunch with Phil the other day ago and this very topic came up. He's getting too old for all this, he told me, and I am thinking new blood like Cornelius might be beneficial."
"No, really? Phil's not even one hundred yet!" Mrs. Potter exclaimed.
"With all the stress, he looks closer to two, though," Mr. Potter said wearily. "It really ages a man."
"We're going to go outside now," Sirius said as James and he rose from the table with plates in their hands. They placed the empty plates into the sink.
"Do you really think that they'll replace Mr. Perkins with Cornelius Fudge? He is such a sniveling idiot!" James asked Sirius in a hurried whisper as they headed out to the pool.
"I hope not," Sirius said as he glanced back at the modest house. "Your dad really seems worried about it, and I bet Voldemort would love for such a spineless man as Fudge as minister. We would better serve all those non-pure blooded witches and wizards by offing them now."
"Jeeze, you are always trying to off people," James laughed as the two of them peeled their shirts off their bodies.
"Keep your shorts on," Mrs. Potter warned from the window as they removed their sweat pants.
"Mom, really, there is nothing wrong with a healthy bit of nudity," James said. He decided maybe she had the right idea and he and Sirius decided to leave their undershorts on, especially when they knew Mrs. Potter would be around.
"It's not like we are gay for each other," Sirius said quietly as he laughed and shook his head.
"I think our term `heterosexual life partner' really scares the dickens out of her," James said as he leaned his head back against the side of the pool. "She's still holding the faith that one day I will get married and give her some grandchildren."
"And will you?" Sirius asked curiously.
"Who knows?" James replied shrugging. He dipped his head under the water too cool the heat that was rising quite quickly in his cheeks.
"You're thinking of her, aren't you?" Sirius asked.
"No," James lied.
"Oui, you are," Sirius teased.
"You learn one French word that sounds perverse and you never stop, do you?" James laughed. Sirius laughed.
"You learn `perverse' from your lady love and you toss it around whenever you can, so don't ride me about my French," Sirius joked. "Just because it was the only thing the Bella Decouix ever said to me last year doesn't mean it is the only word I know."
"You sicken me," James said with feigned disgust.
"This coming from the man who has been pining for six long years over a girl you will never have a chance with," Sirius said.
"I will," James said as he looked to where Sirius was looking intently. "It's too early for owls from the school, isn't it?"
"Yeah," Sirius said as the two of them climbed from the pool. Sirius conjured them both towels as the owl flew to a halt, landing on the fence post. A letter was tied to its leg. James and Sirius looked at it curiously as Mrs. Potter exited the house in a quick fury.
"This can't be good," James whispered as Mrs. Potter pulled the letter free of the bird. It promptly took off, not even waiting for a response. Mrs. Potter read it over quickly.
"James, I want you and Sirius to go straight up and get dressed," Mrs. Potter said quickly. "We are leaving in five minutes. There has been an attack, or what appears to possibly be an attack, on several of your housemates from Gryffindor."
James and Sirius bolted up the stairs and within a matter of minutes they joined Mr. and Mrs. Potter in the study where Mr. Potter's fireplace hook up to the floo network was. Neither boy liked traveling by any method but flying, but they knew that Sirius' motorbike and James' broom flying through the air would not be a sight that the muggles would be accustom to seeing.
"Where are we going?" James asked as he noticed his father was clean shaven now.
"We are going to floo to the ministry," Mr. Potter said. "You three will head over to St. Mungo's to check on your classmates."
"So, was it really an attack?" James asked. Mr. Potter shrugged.
"Dumbledore seems to think so," Mr. Potter said. "I have never seen him to be wrong before."
The four of them used the floo network to arrive at the ministry. Mr. Potter promised to catch up with them once he was done getting debriefed by the minister of magic, and the three, with Mrs. Potter leading, headed toward St. Mungo's. They were not surprised to see how many Gryffindor students were already there. Remus Lupin and Peter Pettigrew were already there, along with Frank Longbottom, the fifth person that shared in their room. Alice Keating, Frank's girlfriend and Lily Evan's best friend, threw her arms around James.
"It was awful! Simply awful," Alice wailed. James patted her back confused and slowly pulled back.
"No one told you anything, did they?" Frank asked as he looked up from the floor.
"We were just told to come," Mrs. Potter said quickly as she looked over at Mr. and Mrs. Longbottom.
"James, Lily was driving the car," Alice wailed. "Everything was fine, but then it wasn't. It was as if the car came to life, as if it had a mind of its. I was in the passenger seat next to her, and her parents were behind us. Lily's parents are dead."
"No, what? How?" Sirius asked as James sunk into the chair closest to him.
"The car, I don't know. It just exploded. Out of thin air, it exploded. Dumbledore is in there with her now," Alice said as she nodded to a set of double hung white doors that stated No Access. A cold chill hung on the air.
"Is she ok?" James asked quietly as his mother put her arm around his shoulder.
"We don't know," Mrs. Potter said, confirmed by Mrs. Longbottom nodding.
"I wasn't in the car when it happened," Alice said sniffling. "Lily spelled me out of the car just seconds before it exploded. All I got was this horrible case of road rash on my hands when I hit the ground." James looked at Alice's hands.
"Thank god, dear, that you are ok," Mrs. Longbottom said as she patted Alice's shoulder. "Mr. and Mrs. Evan's passing is a tragedy, yes, but you and Lily are alive."
"Professor McGonagall," Sirius said standing as the woman exited through the double hung doors.
"I must say, I dare not expect that any of you will be permitted back here anytime soon," Mrs. McGonagall said apologetically. "Lily Evans has requested her privacy at this time, and I think she shall be allowed the courtesy."
"Naturally," Mrs. Potter said as she stood. She touched James' shoulder. "We should go."
"But, I want to see her," James said quickly. "I need to see that she is alright."
"Is there anything you can do, Minnie?" Mrs. Potter asked hopefully.
"If I let you just peek in on her a minute, just to rest in your mind that she is indeed fine, then you will be satisfied and go?" Professor McGonagall asked quickly. James nodded quickly.
"Our little secret, right?" James asked standing. He glanced back at the worried faces of the others before following Professor McGonagall through the forbidden doors. Whereas the waiting room was loud and hectic, the hall was stark and silent. James strained to hear of life beyond the doors, but even their footsteps fell silent on the tiled floor.
"Here," Professor McGonagall whispered as she nodded to an open door. James took a deep breath and held it as he looked in through the open door.
Lily was in bed, turned away from the door, looking at Professor Dumbledore. She was wearing a white hospital gown, the ties fastened at her neck and low back. The blanket covered her hips and all points south. Her hair was loose, splayed on the pillow. Lily reached to her face to brush that meddlesome strand that refused to fall in line with the other hair. A cast was fixed to her wrist, a gift from the muggle hospital she had been taken to first.
"The green light you saw, Lily, was from the Death Eaters," Professor Dumbledore said quietly. His eyes looked away from Lily, meeting James' eyes for a second, before returning to Lily.
"I did my best," Lily whispered. James barely recognized her voice. It was thicker, deeper with the tears that seemed to be threatening.
"You did marvelously, Lily," Professor Dumbledore said quietly. "You kept them at bay long enough to save Alice and yourself. Your parents would have been proud."
"Does Alice know?" Lily asked.
"That your parents were already dead before you sent her from the car? I don't know," Professor Dumbledore said as he touched her hand. "I do know that many of your friends have flocked here to see you."
"I don't want to see them," Lily murmured. "I don't want to see anyone right now."
"Understandable," Professor Dumbledore said calmly. "If you don't object, I will have the arrangements taken care of for you and your sister."
"She's going to hate me," Lily said. She laughed mirthlessly. "I mean more than normal."
"Deep down, I'm sure your sister knows how hard you fought to keep your parents safe, Lily," Professor Dumbledore said. "I will arrange for your sister and you to relocate to your aunt's house for the summer, and we will see you back next year."
"Professor," Lily asked as Professor Dumbledore stood.
"Yes, dear?" he replied, standing there.
"Do you think the Death Eaters killed my parents to punish me for being a muggle born witch?" Lily asked. Professor Dumbledore smiled softly at her.
"I think that the Death Eaters kill with extreme prejudice," he replied. "But, to answer your question honestly, I think that they fear your power and wish to take you out of any possible equation. I'm deeply sorry for your loss, Lily Evans."
"Ok," Lily said quietly as she pulled the blanket higher on her body, her back still to the door. She didn't watch Professor Dumbledore leave; instead she focused on the blank white wall of her hospital room. Professor Dumbledore nodded at James as he exited, and the two men continued down the hall in silence until they were nearly at the door.
"Lily's going to need her friends now more than ever," Professor Dumbledore said. "Perhaps you can try to be for her the friend she needs?"
"I'll try," James promised. Professor Dumbledore nodded, smiling, and patted his shoulder.
"I know you will, my boy," Professor Dumbledore said as the two rejoined the others in the waiting room.
The funeral for Mr. and Mrs. Evans was a few days later, and all who were at the hospital attended. James, Sirius, Remus, and Peter stood off from the adults as they all watched the caskets lower into the ground. Dressed in black, Lily and her sister Petunia stood with their Aunt Anne and Uncle Joe. Lily kept her head lowered; she didn't acknowledge those around her while dirt was tossed on the caskets. Her sister, though in recent years hadn't gotten along well, clung to Lily for support. The two girls wept silently, Lily forcing the tears from her eyes and face with her the palm of her hand, as if the act of crying was indecent.
"Thank you for coming," Lily murmured in a monotonous voice as she shook hands of other mourners, offering her cheek to familiars who kiss. James followed Sirius in line.
"If you ever need anything," Sirius whispered as he kissed her cheek. She nodded.
"Thank you Sirius," Lily murmured. She forced a smile. "Your coming here means a lot to my family, and to me."
"We are deeply sorry for your loss," James said as he hesitated before leaning forward and kissing her cheek.
"Always trying to push limits," Lily said with a tearful smile. "I'm grateful, thanks."
"You know me," James said before they moved on to allow for others to pay their respects. James and his friends huddled around the snack table, watching as Lily embraced Alice. The cast was gone from her arm, but her arm was still weak from the non magical break.
James intended on talking to Lily again before he left, but he never could get her alone quite long enough to speak to her. Usually one of their friends would come up to offer an arm or a shoulder to hold on to. James frowned as he thought how scattered her thoughts were when she accidently asked him if he wouldn't mind getting her some tea, and calling him Severus.
"Sorry, James," Lily said quickly as she realized her mistake. She shook her head. "I haven't been sleeping much and really, I'm not myself."
"No problem," James said through gritted teeth. Secretly he fumed that she could make such a mistake, especially since Severus Snape hadn't even thought to attend the funeral. Snape could stake claim to knowing her the longest but he couldn't be bothered with something as meaningful as the funeral of her parents.
"Where is Snape?" James wondered aloud.
"I guess he's not coming," Lily said as she bit her bottom lip slightly. She shrugged and took the tea from him.
"Probably for the best," Sirius offered. Lily looked at him haughtily and walked back towards Alice and Frank.
"Way to go," James snapped.
"What did I do?" Sirius asked as Mrs. Potter signaled for them to leave with her. James shot Sirius a dirty look as they stood and left. James stole one last look at Lily before he departed, committing her face to memory like no other time. She took that moment to look at him, smiled one of her rare smiles, and returned her focus to Petunia, who had begun to wail loudly.
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