Chapter 1
“I’m so sorry James.”
Those were the last words James heard his best friend Peter say after betraying him. After two decades of friendship where they would hold each other up when one fell, would embrace each other in the happy moments, would laugh together at something inane, that was all Peter could muster.
James Potter understood now more than ever with stark clarity that he would die and he could accept that. He considered himself a relatively adaptable person, sure, dying wasn’t necessarily on his to-do list but he supposed he had time that night. However, Lily and Harry were also just upstairs.
That was what James could not accept.
James thought he ought to have thanked Peter for those four meaningless words because he had the time to slam the door in his face.
He only had a moment to process his crumpled face quickly being replaced by the cherry wood of the door before turning back.
“Lily, RUN !” he shouted.
“James?” Lily shouted upstairs.
The doorknob turned ever so slowly but James apparated upstairs, right into Harry’s nursery. Lily’s white-noise machine was so blaringly loud in the room that she didn’t even hear James’ silent thump into the room until she turned around and knocked straight into him.
His face was frantic, eyes wide but alert, his entire body was tense and he felt electricity sparking under skin, like a tripwire ready to burst.
“James, what-” she said nonsensically.
He didn’t even allow her to finish that sentence as thudding steps on the stairs grew louder. He took Harry from Lily’s grasp, ready to apparate them all out when the door burst open and Voldemort was there all pale translucent skin that pulled taut over his protruding bones. He must have been handsome once but he looked sickly now as his ghastly appearance was accompanied with bloodshot eyes. His cloak gave him the appearance of a Dementor as he raised his clawed hand.
Before anything could happen, Voldemort shot a hex at James, rendering his feet immobile and his voice silent, not allowing him another chance at escape. All he could do was tighten his arms around Harry, pulling him in closer than before, angling away from Voldemort.
He was unable to turn on his heel, unable to take them all away in a flash- James Potter was unable to save the day.
“Lily, I do not wish to make this more difficult than it needs to be. Step aside” he said in a cool, oil-slick voice.
James fought against the spell. It felt like ropes that dug into him the more he tried to fight it. His arms were burning from the strain and he was yelling despite no sound erupting from his rapidly fraying vocal chords.
“No” was all Lily said. Amazing, brave, and fearless Lily managed to shut the elusive Voldemort down with a single word abd ge paused, as if not understanding how someone could possibly deny him of what he desires.
“I will warn you once more. Move aside now or you will lose your life.”
“Kill me then because I am not moving” Lily shouted.
James felt a weight in his palm. He momentarily paused his shouting to open his palm where a necklace was resting. It held considerable weight as it seemed to have been made of pure gold but it tingled as if imbued with magic. The crystal inlaid in the crescent centre seemed to be swirling with life as misty liquid sloshed around within it.
Almost two weeks ago, Dumbledore stopped by to ask James for his Invisibility Cloak to ‘study it’ and James had readily agreed. In exchange, Dumbledore offered him a creation of his own that he had apparently tinkered with saying it would help him if he ever found himself in a “regrettable situation.”
This was quite a regrettable situation though it didn't explain its' sudden appearance in James' clenched hands.
Lily had turned herself towards James, reaching to him to grip his arm, apparently readying herself to die.
“Avada Kedavra!” the dark Lord shouted.
For a moment they all paused as he cast the Killing Curse.
Then many things happened in tandem in that moment like a perfect symphony.
The air crackled with magic and the smell of sulphur filled the room as a green hex shot out of his wand, aiming right for them.
Lily cowered just slightly as she prepared for impact whereas James turned with her, cradling Harry inwards so as to protect him.
The spell meant to hit Lily had shot into James’ open palm, whether by its own volition or by an external force he didn’t know and the necklace shattered, sending a bright blue light flashing into the otherwise dim room and a loud ringing noise emitted, making him feel like his eardrums had burst.
Lily and Voldemort screamed in tandem.
Then suddenly an overwhelming sense of pressure squeezed James, Lily, and Harry, into a void. They were whooshing through darkness, a sense of falling and floating simultaneously assaulting them, their bodies shrinking and stretching. It was endless and momentary.
And as fast as it started, it stopped.
James slowly opened his eyes, still feeling Lily’s iron-grip on his upper arm. He looked at her and saw her familiar green eyes looking back at him and they both openly sobbed. He hugged Lily tightly who embraced him back with equal fervour as they tried to fathom the fact that they were still alive.
They made it out.
But it was at that moment that James noticed an absence and froze instantly.
Harry’s empty blanket fell weightlessly to his lap. He scrambled around but Harry was nowhere to be seen in the silent room.
They were still in Harry’s nursery, it was still dark outside but the wall had been blasted through, a large crater letting the moonlight into the room. The walls had scorch marks and there was a layer of dust and ash covering the area but besides that, the room was the same.
“Where’s Harry?” Lily croaked.
“I- I don’t know” James rasped, voice still hoarse, his throats burning from the words.
He jumped to his feet but couldn’t see Harry anywhere, alive or otherwise.
“Fuck where is he?” James half-shouted, pacing and running a hand through his hair.
They both ran out of the room to the rest of the house but it was silent. The Halloween decorations had been taken down and there was a layer of dust covering the home. The air smelled stale here, as if the house had been in disuse.
“ Accio wand” James whispered but his wand wasn’t there.
Lily tried and also failed to find her wand.
They looked at each other for a long moment, eyebrows drawn together and concern etched into both of their faces as they frowned.
“How long were we out?” he asked and Lily didn’t know.
James didn’t realise that they were both still crying, seemingly unable to stop as they couldn’t find Harry and the confusion and stress of the entire situation was overwhelming.
“Did Voldemort take him?” Lily asked.
“Maybe I- that’s the only explanation” James ran his hair through his hair as he grabbed a cup and drank water from the tap, needing to hydrate his fraying throat. The water tasted dirty and he didn’t know whether it was the cup or the pipes that were the problem. He distinctly remembered being the one to do the dishes last night.
“So the Fidelius doesn’t matter anymore?” Lily inquired to which James nodded because he had already found them anyways, it didn’t make sense to stay there but he had a feeling they would have left regardless, all sense leaving them where Harry was concerned.
“We need to go to Dumbledore,” he nodded, rushing over to the floo.
The floo powder was dark green, nearing black, in colour, characteristic of expired floo powder but it should still work though the transport would just take longer than it usually would.
He entered with Lily before speaking clearly, “Dumbledore’s office.”
They didn’t move. The typical green flames didn’t even ignite as they stood there, frozen in place.
They stepped out.
“Why isn’t it working?” Lily asked, examining the bag as if she could find the answer within it.
“Maybe something happened and he turned it off?”
“James, what happened downstairs?” Lily suddenly asked, looking up at him.
James felt despair coursing through him once more as the events caught up to him now that he could process them. He rubbed the heel of his palm into his eye as he felt hot tears of betrayal burn anew as fresh tears threatened to spill.
“Pete did it. He told You-Know-Who where we were.”
Lily gasped, bringing up a hand to her mouth that had fallen open in shock. “No, he would never” she said weakly.
“He apologised. He fucking said I’m sorry, I can’t believe” he choked out and the noise was visceral. He felt genuine pain recounting the moment.
“Does Peter have him?” Lily asked.
James stomped over to the floo, “Peter’s” he threw a handful of powder into the hearth forcefully.
No flames.
“What the fuck” he shouted again.
“Maybe Bathilda’s is working” Lily said, grasping James by the arm, dragging him outside.
He sighed and followed as he stepped out into the warm air. It was uncharacteristically warm for an October evening and the moon hung heavy and full in the air. James had the moon cycles memorised for ages now for Remus, he distinctly remembered it being a thin crescent that night.
He put those thoughts aside from now, following Lily down their path to Bathilda’s who only lived one house over.
As they knocked on the door, they received no response. It was late but they were sure she’d forgive them for this extenuating circumstance.
After two more knocks, they were rapidly growing impatient.
James tried the handle then and to their shock, it was open, so James pushed it open with some force and the door creaked loudly as they stepped into her house.
It was an absolute mess there. There was a hole through the ceiling going up through the second floor to the roof, a cavernous hole gaping to reveal the night sky. Dust and shattered pieces of wood littered the floor and the house also didn’t appear to be lived in, the smell of mildew and must filling the house.
James lifted an arm to cover his nose against the smell but Bathilda was nowhere to be seen.
“Maybe he came after her too” Lily pondered and James had to unfortunately agree, feeling horrible for the poor woman who had always been kind to them.
The floo was caved in with bricks so it wasn’t an option even if they wanted to try though and her floo powder was nowhere to be seen.
James gasped then, “Sirius!”
Lily nodded and they ran back.
They didn’t notice the gold-plated plaque that hung on the fence just outside their house, honouring James and Lily Potter.
The floo still didn’t work, despite James knowing for a fact that Sirius had the floo set up in his flat with Remus in London.
James was exasperated now. His sweat was mixing with the soot that covered his body and clothes and Lily’s eyes were bright as she was similarly covered in ash and her hair was falling out of the bun it had previously been in. Both of their clothes were ripped but it wasn’t enough to distract them from their mission, finding Harry.
“Why isn’t it working?” Lily ground out.
“Potter manor” James shouted, throwing the powder haphazardly.
Green flames spluttered to life, guttering for a moment before stabilising, awaiting occupants.
They looked at each other for a moment before racing in and they were whisked away to the home they hadn’t stepped foot in for almost three years.
The manor was silent and dark as they stepped out. It was empty as if abandoned and James was wildly confused. He knew the manor was still occasionally used as an Order meeting spot and their friends would still stop by for one reason or another.
James wondered if they were the only people alive on Earth since everywhere they looked seemed empty and abandoned.
“Lily” was all James could manage.
“Haris” was all Lily whispered in return. Harry’s true name.
They named Harry after James’ grandfather. ‘Haris’ was an Urdu name, meaning ‘guardian angel’ or ‘great lion.’
What would they do now that they didn’t have their lion cub.
“This is so frustrating , I still don’t entirely get what happened with You-Know-Who” he said, still unsure about using his true name or title.
“I don’t even know where our wands are? Or why the manor looks like it’s practically falling apart, the family magic should still be sustaining it, we’ve only been gone for a while?” James said, looking put out at the state of things.
“Let’s just go back and knock on doors until we figure something out” Lily sighed.
“And let everyone know we’ve been hiding there for forever, what if one of them tells ‘him’ and he comes straight for us?” he asked pointedly knowing that they could never be too safe.
“Okay Peter is not an option, Sirius and Remus are unknown, and Dumbledore’s office is unavailable. We could go to one of the safehouses?”
“What if we end up compromising them?” James retorted, unable to transition out of Auror mode.
“Okay what do you suggest then, we don’t have very many options” she threw her hands up, pinching the bridge of her nose.
“We could go to Frank and Alice’s, they were under protection too weren’t they?”
“Yeah but they went into hiding too?”
“Possibly but Mrs. Longbottom might be able to help us, she might have been their Secret Keeper I’m sure she still lives there” James shrugged.
Again, they used the floo.
Again, they ended up in an empty home though this one was not as decayed as it seemed. It looked comfortable and lived in, the sconces in the kitchen emitted a soft yellow glow that gave them some measure of comfort.
“Guess she’s not home” James sighed.
Lily slowly stepped out of the floo as she analysed the room and James just followed behind. She stopped short upon seeing a note on the table and she picked it up, slowly reading the scrawling script across it aloud:
“ Hey H,
We should definitely meet up at the Three Broomsticks soon. Also let me know when you’re free, I have some plants that could definitely brighten up Grimmauld Place-. I'm sure it’s quite dreary being there alone.
Hope to hear from you soon, say hi to Ron and Hermione for me.
-N. Longbottom”
“Who’s N. Longbottom?” James asked.
“What that Mrs. Longbottom’s name?”
“Wasn’t it Muriel?”
“I thought it was Nora?”
“Nuriel?”
“Mora?”
“This is pointless” Lily snapped, “Let’s go to Grimmauld, she’s clearly there.”
“Grimmauld? What the fuck? Why would we go there?”
“James, this is the only lead we have. The Blacks died anyway, at most we just get another empty house” she reasoned.
James heaved a long sigh, “I’m scared Lils.”
She stepped closer, “I know James, but we need to find our boy” she whispered.
The flames glew bright as they went to Grimmauld Place.
____
The receiving room was cold and dark but that was kind of Grimmauld’s default appearance based on Sirius’ and Regulus’ descriptions of this place.
He remembered all the late night conversations he’d had with Regulus about Grimmauld. The way he looked as he recounted the numerous horrors he had faced at the hands of his parents.
He had to revisit the topic of Regulus at another point in time as it still hurt whenever he picked at that particular wound.
They stepped forward and the house was quiet.
As they ventured deeper into the house, James was able to really see the house and connect it to all the ghosts of his past. It was not a suitable home for children as the air sat oppressively on his shoulders.
As they entered the kitchen, they heard a rustling noise and they both paused, looking at each other before continuing deeper into the house. Their wands were still missing so all they really had were their fists and each other.
As they turned the corner they saw a small elf hunched up in a corner, digging into a cupboard.
James dug into the recesses of his mind before he said, “Kreacher?”
He heard a thunk before the elf crawled back out of the cupboard. The old elf’s skin hung in folds as his ears drooped almost comically to the floor. He must have had a perpetual frown on his face as his face wrinkled in such a way but at the moment his jaw was wide open and his beady eyes nearly popped out of his head.
“J-James, Mr. Potter J-” the elf seemed to short circuit.
“You’re Kreacher right? Sirius- er- Regulus’ elf, I’m James” James reintroduced himself amicably, knowing the elf was temperamental.
“You- Harry-” he froze.
“Harry?” Lily spoke up.
“What do you know?” James asked at the same time.
The elf gaped at them for a moment more before it promptly passed out.
“That went well,” James drawled.
“He’s the only one that knows about Harry,” Lily reminded.
“Well then,” James said, sitting on a stool, “We’d better get comfortable while we wait.”
Lily peered over his shoulder, “He made soup” she mentioned a bit offhandedly
“I could go for soup,” James shrugged.
And so they had soup while they waited for the elf to wake up and tell them what the hell had happened and where Harry was. The soup was good, if a bit cold. James wished his wand now more than ever.
The elf remained slumped on the floor but Lily had put a pillow under its head.
“I don’t think anyone lives here, I mean just look around” Lily glanced around and shivered as if the house gave her the chills.
“Then why’s Kreacher still here?”
“He’s probably still tied to the House.”
“That’s a lot of soup for one elf,” James pointed with his spoon.
“Maybe he made it in bulk” Lily pointed out to which James gave a weak huff.
The sky was turning grey and the clock pointed out that it was almost four in the morning at this point.
As they sat in silence, they suddenly heard a loud crack of apparition and they both froze, abandoning their soup to find the source of the noise, all caution be damned.
They turned towards a sitting room just off the kitchen and found a boy had apparated in. He was a few inches shorter than James, broad shouldered with a bit of a stocky build. His hair was just like James’ as it stuck out in odd angles sitting atop an angular face that closely resembled James’ with the prominent nose and golden brown skin. His circular glasses sat askew on his face in front of bright green eyes that looked dazedly around the room.
Both James and Lily gaped at the kid that just blinked back at them.
“Holy shit” he slurred, drawing out the words.
“Who are you?” James asked quite seriously.
“No way” the kid laughed before stepping past them.
“Excuse me, where are you going?” Lily raised her voice just slightly as the kid went up the stairs.
“Never getting into a drinking contest with Malfoy again” the man grumbled heading up the stairs, the sound of a door shutting not far behind.
“Did we wake up in an alternate universe where everyone is crazy or what? ” Lily grew increasingly incensed by the minute