Disclaimer: You may notice that I have taken bits and pieces of J.K. Rowling's writings from Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows pg. 344 of the US edition. Let it be said that I am not J.K. Rowling, nor do I claim to be. I am just one who loves to play in her world.
A/N: For your enjoyment and pleasure I give you the first chapter of TRUE DESTINIES!
Thanks goes to Blue Leah for being my wonderful Beta!
Chapter 1
Lily:
My babies had just enjoyed their second Halloween tonight, but this one would be the first that they could truly appreciate, since today they had just turned fifteen months old. Every night James and I thanked the stars that we had another day with our precious children after hearing the terrible prophecy from Professor Dumbledore. A prophecy meaning that Lord Voldemort could attack the twins or Neville Longbottom at any time.
I watched as James tickled my baby boys. Harry and Evan have my almond-shaped, emerald green eyes but every other bit of them is simply James through and through with the jet-black and impossibly messy hair. It warmed me to see my three favourite boys playing together, because really, no one can call James a grown up when he whines worse than my babies if he gets so much as a scratch on him. But I looked at the clock on the wall and see it is almost seven which is Evan and Harry's bedtime.
'All right boys, it's time to say goodnight so we can tuck you into bed.' I said as I picked up Evan and put him firmly on my hip even as he squirmed, trying in vain to get back down on the floor. James obligingly bent and retrieved Harry and we made our way upstairs struggling to keep the twins from slipping from our arms.
We made our way to the nursery and dressed the boys in matching baby blue pyjamas with their monograms sewn on the front. Every night James and I played a game when dressing the boys, who could finish dressing their charge first and tonight it was I who won the challenge.
'Hah! I won! I won! I won! I won!' I chanted as I swung a giggling Evan in my arms. 'Now later tonight when the boys are asleep you are at my mercy. Now what do you suggest it be hmm?' I said saucily, giving James my best sultry wink, which was very overdone in my opinion but from his reaction I wasn't as rusty as I thought.
After giving both of my babies a kiss on their foreheads I tucked Evan into his cot. I watched as James gulped auditable as he quickly laid Harry down next to his brother and fixed their bedding. I silently summoned two bottles of milk from the icebox downstairs and James took them from me and placed a warming charm on them before giving them to the babies. He pulled me into the hall. All took place in a matter of minutes.
'Now what were you saying about me being at your mercy?' he asked as he trailed kisses down my cheek and throat. I purred with contentment as I attempted to melt into a puddle at James' feet.
Maintain security Lily! Lock up the house! My more responsible part of my brain cried out as I tried fervently to ignore it. I sighed as I pulled away from the most wonderful man that I had ever met.
'We need to make sure the house is completely secure before we do anything more James, but don't worry your pretty little head, because when you get back upstairs the real fun can start. But if I were you, I would best hurry dear, because I might just accidentally fall asleep.' I said as I ran my fingers down his face and rested my hand over his heart and then up again. I abruptly stopped the motion and stepped away from him so that he could not reach me.
James paused for the smallest moment but then quickly dashed downstairs quicker than a whip.
'You are the worst tease of all, Mrs. Potter, but don't worry, you won't be so cocky when I get back and we'll see who the winning champion is when everything is said and done.' he called behind him.
I laughed throatily as I made my way the bedroom that we shared together. The floor was completely covered with clothing since I had not gotten to the laundry today, thanks to the twins keeping me on my toes constantly. It was earlier this month that they had finally mastered the art of running. By the time I pulled Harry out from the icebox, I had to go and recue Evan from toppling a heavy shelf of books on top of his head. But since we have gone into hiding James has been here to help me reign in the wild monkeys that two twin boys can be. It is most nights that I feel as if I could fall asleep where standing and sleep for ages without waking.
I laid my wand on the bedside table to pull out my nightgown out of the bureau when my thoughts were shattered as I listen to a most feared sound filling the house. A humongous blasting sound accompanied by a laugh froze me to the spot where I stood. Another voice jolted me into action.
'Lily, take the twins and go! It's Him! Go! Run! I'll hold him off!' I hear my beloved husband, whom I may never see in the flesh again. I pray to anyone who may be listening and ask that we can live through this night. I don't have long to get to my babies so I hurry to their room and lock the door behind me to block the evil outside.
I cringe as I hear a bang and a loud thud. I can't let my imagination wander because all I can afford to think of is my boys that are screaming at me to save them, which I will even if I have to die for them.
I run to their cot, put Evan and Harry at my feet, and plunge in my pocket for my wand, coming up empty. I feel my face drain of colour as I hear that horrible laugh on the landing of the steps; which means no chance to grab my wand from the side table of my bedroom. That means no Apparating away from this nightmare. I am without wand, so I have nothing to shield with other than my body alone, but it will have to be enough.
The door explodes and I fall to my knees to shield Harry and Evan as best as I can. I am grateful that though they are still screaming I see they have not been hit with any debris from the wooden pieces scattered around the room. In my mind I register I have been cut in several exposed places by the wood from the door, but I ignore it as I see Voldemort glide closer to me and my babies.
'Not my babies, please not my twins!' I scream. The chorus of screams echo in the small room, but Voldemort isn't moved at all, not one jot.
'Stand aside, you silly girl… stand aside, now.'
'Not Harry and Evan, please no, take me, kill me instead –' I plead. This is the end and I can't think of anything that I can do now but beg.
'This is my last warning –'
'Not them! Please… have mercy… have mercy… Not my babies! Not Harry! Not Evan! Please – I'll do anything –'
'Stand aside. Stand aside, girl!'
I can see his patience waver and I brace myself for death. The thing I know is coming for me, but instead of Avada Kadavra I hear Crucio, the torture curse. Pain is all I feel. My body does not have blood running through me, no it is only pain; throbbing, stabbing and endless pain is all I sense and time holds no meaning. In my mind a picture of my family is what I see and that is all I try to think about. The image of my wonderful family is the last thought I have until the shadows claim me and I am gone… gone… gone.
The night was crisp and darkness settled while not a thing stirred as the end of another month fell upon the outskirts of Godric's Hollow. The Potter's Cottage sat in a lane where it was the only one in a long stretch.
Perfect, thought Lord Voldemort. He strode up the pathway and laughed when he reached for the handle, finding it locked. Pathetic. A lock to keep out Lord Voldemort? Impossible.
He lifted his wand and pointed it at the door sending a strong blasting curse at the door. It banged loudly. The door hit the wall with enough force that the doorknob crushed a hole and was now tightly lodge into the wall itself. The tall wizard stepped through the threshold and laughed as he saw James Potter frozen inside the doorframe of what could be their kitchen. He smiled devilishly as the impudent boy raised his wand and yelled up the stairway.
'Lily, take the twins and go! It's Him! Go! Run! I'll hold him off!'
As though he can defeat me when I am ready to fight this battle and win, thinks Lord Voldemort, and he laughs at the notion. The boy has escaped me before, but not this time. I will bind him and then collect his family and kill the babies and bring their useless bodies to him and then he will beg me to kill him and I will because I am a merciful person and I won't prolong his suffering.
Quickly he magically bound the boy and banished him into the wall, not caring if a few bones broke in the process. He grinned when he saw the boy slide down the wall and leave a trail of blood.
Hurrying, Lord Voldemort climbed the stairs and heard scuffling in the room just off the staircase. Impossibly simple and it would not even be nine before he leaves and the Potters' all dead. He laughed at the ease of his plan. He blasted the obstruction out of his way and saw Lily Potter fall to her knees protecting her bothersome twosome. The screams were deafening and it only served to irritate the Dark Lord even more.
The Mudblood was in the way but Lord Voldemort would be kind and give her a chance to save herself, but if she wouldn't move then death would be least of her problems.
She begged for the life of her children but that would not do, no not if he was to rein as ruler of both Magic and Muggle Worlds he would have to dispose of the troublesome babes. Giving her one last chance to save her own life is a difficult thing, but if she does not move then he will have to take it into his hand and crush it out of her.
'Not them! Please… have mercy… have mercy… Not my babies! Not Harry! Not Evan! Please – I'll do anything –'
'Stand aside. Stand aside, girl!' So be it then, Lord Voldemort thought as he whipped his wand and cried, 'Crucio!'
He smiled as the girl writhed and screamed. His arm tingled as the magic ran down into his wooden yew wand. He held the whelp under for what was at least a half an hour and then stunned the girl so that she and her precious husband could both have the pleasure of holding their dead baby boys; he grinned at the prospect, but now down to business.
The two brats were sitting up against their inert mother and Lord Voldemort lifted up his wand and faced the boys. They both had stopped crying awhile ago and were now craning to look up at his face; the one on the left was sniffling but the one on the right stared straight at him, as though the boy was looking into the very depth of his soul.
The look unnerved him, it was the same kind of stare that Dumbledore had always had, and it was the one that Lord Voldemort chose, the one who dared to impede upon the greatest wizard since Salazar Slytherin.
'Avada Kadavra!'
The sickly green curse shot out of the wand and hit the infant directly on his forehead, though the boy did not get hurt other than a small scar, but the house wasn't as lucky. One side of the roof above the nursery was blasted off the room entirely but that was the last that Lord Voldemort saw before something completely unexpected happened.
At the next second the spell reversed and hit him in the chest and a pain as man has never known blossomed from the point where his heart rested, swimming through his body. The intensity of the pain he felt was indescribable. He was split, torn and divided from his own body, and yet he yet lived, but only in a cloudy fog that quickly flew out of the ruined house, into faraway lands planning a return that no one would see coming.
Harry was hit by the killing curse and when it made contact a lightning shaped scar appeared on his forehead. When Voldemort swept from the room the young boy collapsed from exhaustion.
Evan crawled to his brother's side, for he didn't like the twin's sudden drop of energy so he lay next to Harry and placed his forehead against Harry's, which the two brothers were face to face, like a mirror image.
When Evan's head touched Harry's a small flash of green light sparked and the boy was given a small lightning scar that was horizontal across his forehead instead of vertical like his twin brother's.
The twins were to be connected more so than any set of identical twins to ever be on the earth and yet they did not both have Horcruxes stored into their tiny beings. They were from now on to share the ability to speak without words to each other and both would be to understand the snake language Parselmouth when speech was something they could fully comprehend. But it would be years into the future before they would discover these talents that they now are now in possession of.
Albus Dumbledore sat in his office happily sucking on a lemon drop when an instrument on his desk showed the same sickly green colour as the Unforgivable curse Avada Kadavra, for this was its very purpose, to detect the killing curse from within the Potter Cottage (or wherever Dumbledore set its sensors). Albus barely stopped himself from choking on the Muggle sweet and stood quickly on his feet leaping into action at once.
He rushed to his fireplace, grabbed Floo Power, threw it into the fire, and watched as the flames blazed green. 'Bathilda Bagshot, Godric's Hollow!' He called. 'Albus!' shouted the partially deaf witch when Dumbledore's face appeared suddenly in her front parlour. 'What is the meaning of this Floo call? Are you doing your usual checking of the Potter wards?'
Albus looked sombrely at Bathilda and said, 'May I trespass upon your home only long enough to go through to the Potter's? I fear time is of an essence and I do not wish to be delayed.'
'Yes Albus, come right through, be quick about it and don't let this old lady get into your way. If it is the Potter's, then there is not time for this nattering about!'
'Thank you for your hospitality,' said Dumbledore. He hastily stepped through the green flames and in no time was walking to the Potter's Cottage. He stopped short when their home come into view.
It was apparent that the Fidelius Charm had been broken and the house was displayed for all to see. The front door was blown nearly off its hinges and was only standing because of it being deeply imbedded in the wall.
Taking cautious steps, Albus surveyed the destruction around him and noticed the immobile form of James Potter. Before he could move toward James he heard someone coming to the house and he quickly turned his back to the prone figure, facing the open doorway. The someone running to the house was a harried looking Sirius Black, but he wouldn't manage to see anything other than a wand pointed directly in his face thanks to the quick reflexes of the great wizard Albus Dumbledore.
Sirius:
I sat in my kitchen drinking some of Ogden's finest when I heard the alarm James and I set to trigger if ever the Potters' were attacked. Since the sensors were tipped off it was now time for me to check on them to see what had taken place and to make sure Peter had not been killed for giving the location of the house.
Letting my Auror instincts take charge I raced to the front yard and Apparated to Godric's Hallow. I found a site that made my heart stop and it took me a moment for my legs to start working again.
The front door wasn't where it was supposed to be. The nursery the Maruaders with Lily's help put together had completely lost its roof. I was afraid of what the rest of the house looked like, but the fact that my godsons were in trouble took precedence over anything else. Using the last of my Gryffindor courage I threw myself toward the house and heard someone else. Crossing my fingers that it was James, I plunged through the doorway only to be prevented to go any farther by a wand thrust into my face. The owner of the wand was none other than Albus Dumbledore.
'Hey Dumbledore, I need to see if James is all right.' I said trying to make my way into the house. Dumbledore only gave me the most hated stare that I'd had ever seen on the old wizard.
'I don't think that it would be wise of you to enter that cottage, Mr. Black.' Dumbledore said sharply.
'I need to see if… if… James is… alive.' I said trying not to let the panic overwhelm me. 'I know what you think, but I didn't betray James and Lily, I would never do that! Either Peter was killed for the Potters' address or he has been the traitor from the very beginning.'
For half a tick I thought that Dumbledore would attack me, but then my words seemed to penetrate his concentration. I was relieved when the wizard lowered his wand and said, 'Sirius, before I let you go any farther, I must first ask you to answer me with complete honesty as you look straight into my eyes. Is that agreeable?'
I nodded. I had nothing to hide and everything to lose, so it was only logical for me to tell only the absolute truth.
'What made James and Lily switch Secret Keepers, if that is what has happened, and if yes, what was the reason for the deception?'
I sighed in relief; that was any easy answer but hard not to feel plagued by guilt.
'Everyone knows that I would do anything for James because we're brothers in everything but blood. I thought that with logic on my side, if any Death Eaters decided to attack they would attack me and leave Peter alone and with Aurors at my disposal I could have help and Peter could get away without being detected as the real Secret Keeper. I convinced the Potter's of what I thought would be a foolproof plan and then we put the plan into action, but I didn't know that it would backfire so spectacularly.'
As I recounted my story I saw that Dumbledore nodded several times at the logic of the proposal I had presented to the Potters. He asked me a few more questions until I insisted I must go and investigate the situation before we continue the interview. Together we walked back to the front step and he let me pass him as I walked into the Potter's home.
The first thing my eyes fell upon was the sad form of my best friend and the horrific line of blood he left stained on the wall.
'James!' I yelled, leaping over the utter destruction and quickly severed the chords trapping my brother while assessing the injuries collected, as I was taught in my Auror training.
'Head wound but no concussion, Thank Merlin,' which I certainly did thank Merlin or anyone else that might be listening to my gratitude. Even though Dumbledore probably knew everything I could possibly tell him I think he understood that my talking was simply me just trying to calm myself by stating the facts in my best Auror voice, 'I think he was just knocked out cold. Let's see what his side of the story is.'
I levelled my wand at James's chest and said faintly, 'Rennervate.'
In an instant James was on his feet but unsteadily as I had to grab him before he toppled over from the sudden vertigo he felt.
'Whoa there James, just take it slow until you are completely in control.'
James snaps his head in my direction and asked, clearly surprised, 'Padfoot! How did you get here? I was just fighting Voldemort just a moment ago!'
I shook my head, 'No James, you were hit with a Incarcerous spell and Voldemort doesn't seem to be here at the moment, but Dumbledore and I were just about to go and see Lily and the boys –'
I didn't get to finish my sentence before James remembered one of the reasons for his need to hurry, and when I brought up his family he abruptly legged it up the stairs three at a time making it up there in no time at all. I quickly follow and was not surprised to see Dumbledore keep up a fast clip despite the vast age difference.
We arrived in the remains of what used to be a handsome Quidditch themed nursery. James's expression was easy to read; I knew that he was torn between the twins and Lily.
Dumbledore took things into his own hands by nudging James in the direction of Lily and he himself went to the impossibly quiet pair of twins with their foreheads touching. I walked behind Dumbledore examining them as well.
'Lily's has signs of being… being… tortured.' That is all James is able to say before he entirely breaks down in sobs as he pulls the unbearably still form of Lily in his arms and holds her tightly to his body and cries unchecked.
I turned away from the intimate scene and bent down taking Evan into my arms to examine the funny scar that now resides on his small head.
'It looks like a lightning bolt but only it's horizontal instead of vertical.' I said as I swept away the boy's tuft of hair out of the way. I looked up to see Dumbledore holding Harry and analysing the scar on Harry's forehead that is exactly the shape of a lightning bolt. Interesting. I wondered at the significance of these new scars the boys have acquired at the hand of Lord Voldemort but now is not the time to think of that, I need to report to Ross Brenin, the Head of the Auror Department, and get some people over to keep the Muggles from seeing this mess.
I gently laid Evan in the cot that has somehow stayed totally unharmed during the events of the night and I walk over to my best friend.
'Hey James? I need to talk to Ross Brenin and I think I should take Lily in to St. Mungo's to get her checked out, okay?'
James was still crying, which is a very rare occurrence indeed but he heard me and understood the logic of my words. He gingerly lifted Lily up and placed her into my arms. With a flick of my wrist, Lily and I were gone. Next stop, St, Mungo's.
James:
After Sirius left with my tortured and stunned wife I collected myself enough to trudge over to the cot where my boys laid next to each other. Turning to Dumbledore I asked what he thought of it all, but he spoke before the words even formed in my mouth.
'As of right now, I cannot say who Voldemort has chosen but it is evident that both have been affected by Dark Magic. I suggest you go to a safe house and I will send word for you to tell you of my conclusions of who is the one with power enough to vanquish Voldemort. When you were indisposed I cast a spell on the boys to examine the exposure they had to Dark Magic and I will now take my leave so that I may further examine them at my leisure in my pensieve.'
'Thank you Albus, you know I have great faith in your abilities. I think I will go and take my boys to Sirius's flat and we'll all bunk together until I can find a more permanent place, and be sure to tell me when you have your deductions made and we can talk about it more then.'
I feel old, I thought, my every bone is crying out for relief.
'James, perhaps you would permit Poppy to come and fix your wounds you and then help you move Harry and Evan to Sirius'? It would relieve me so if I knew that you were well taken care of.'
I nodded. I didn't think that I could even pick up Harry in order to change his nappy, let alone Evan's as well.
Dumbledore nodded in satisfaction and sent a Patronus Charm out into the night before turning to leave. 'Do take great care, James, though the enemy be gone,' he said pointing a pile of black robes I had failed to notice until now. 'It does not mean that evil will not attempt to get revenge for not only your survival but most especially your sons' survival as well.
With that Dumbledore left with a small pop and I was left with the physical remains of the man who tried to murder my family, the bane of my existence. I was not alone for long before I heard a loud POP behind me and whip around with my wand firmly clenched in my hand ready for anything. I lowered it when I saw it was only Madame Pomfrey with an impressively large bag and I sat when she insisted it was for the best.
The only seat was the rocking chair given to Lily by her mother and it was the very one that Lily had been rocked in when she was just a new born infant. I sniffed away the heavy feeling of helplessness and was successfully distracted by Madame Pomfrey as she fixed the gash on the back of my head, giving me just one dose of Blood Replenishing Potion and thankfully deemed me healed, entirely set to rights.
When she finished with me she was adamant that I did not move out of the rocking chair since I would only be in the way. I watched as she lifted Harry and Evan from their cot and put them both on the floor side-by-side. She casted a diagnosis spell over them. Harry seemed to have exhausted his magical core a bit and had Evan but not as much as Harry.
After wrapping both babies in blankets Madame Pomfrey laid them temporarily back into the cot and turned back to me.
'Well I don't have anything for that but being young their reserves will quickly remedy on their own, so the only thing left to do is to get them to proper housing for the night and make sure that they get eleven to twelve hours of sleep tonight. But remember to not neglect yourself either,' she said sternly. 'Because you have to get at least nine hours of sleep and I will know if you don't, so be sure to get that amount or I will be back in the morning to give you a dose of the Dreamless sleep potion that I will administer to you personally.'
And without so much as a parting wave the Medi-witch was gone with a swish of a cloak and another loud POP as she Apparated away.
It was when a group of loud Aurors came up the stairs that Sirius appeared and helped me take the boys back to his small, but liveable flat that resided in the lesser crowded London area. Before Sirius had arrived I had prepared a holdall with clothes enough for a few days for the boys and I, so when he was ready to leave I held onto Evan with one arm and the carrier in the other. When we got back to his place I positioned the babies' cot into Sirius's spare bedroom and settled Harry and Evan down into it. I watched for a few minutes but then left and shut the door firmly behind me.
'Did they say anything about Lily when you took her to St. Mungo's?' I asked anxiously. Sirius shook his head despairingly. 'No, they don't like how she hasn't responded to anyone, especially when I tried talking to her for a few minutes before I had to leave for the ministry, but then maybe it was only because everything was happening so fast though, so don't give up hope.'
I winced at the poorly concealed lie Sirius fed me, so instead of saying anything I crept silently back into the spare room and changed into my nightshirt. I fell into bed, asleep before my head hit the pillow.
Unnamed Ministry Worker from the Department of Magical Accidents and Catastrophes:
I walked into the Potter's house and saw the wreckage the Dark Lord caused and I hoped he would soon return, so that he would see how loyal I was and how he would reward me when I return him his wand. It was too bad I would not be able to stay within the Ministry but I must think of my life first. It would not please the Dark Lord if his wand was found, especially by the wrong people, so it was soon that I would have to fake my death and then I would search everywhere I could for my Lord.
THE NEXT DAY
James:
Sirius and I were about to leave for Peter's house so we could deal with him accordingly, but I had to leave my children with Alice Longbottom, the wife of a fellow Auror Frank Longbottom. I knew she was safe since she had been one of Lily's best friends at Hogwarts.
Nodding to Sirius that I am ready, we both raised our wands together and spun on the spot. We appeared in front of a dingy shack that was Peter's hideout. Together Sirius and I crept up to the door, knocking lightly, not wanting to scare our slippery friend away, but not wanting to take him completely by surprise.
We planned the capture of Peter and I gave Sirius the signal to start us off. He signed back and said in a panicked voice, 'Peter? Peter? Are you in there Peter? I just heard about James and Lily being attacked! Please let me in so I know you haven't died too!'
As Sirius talked I crept into a nearby bush. I saw the shack door open slowly and then saw Peter's face appear in the crack. I longed to hurl myself at him but I restrained myself, just barely, as I watched Sirius coax Peter out of his house.
'Hey Pete, how did Voldemort get James's address last night if you're here and you aren't dead either?'
The process was delicate but luckily I was recording the entire thing with my wand.
'I… I… I really don't know!' Peter squeaked. I didn't know how I never saw through Peter's pitiful little show, but that didn't matter, the only thing that mattered was getting the stinking traitor into jail so that I can sleep at night knowing the turncoat was locked up tight.
'Are you sure Peter? If you tell me I think I might be able to sneak you out of the country and no harm to you! I know you'll never believe me, but I've been secretly serving the Dark Lord too under my little brother's name Regulus Black, you never even saw my little brother did you Peter?'
'Er… no…' Peter said uncertainly.
'Tell me Pete, when did you first start giving the Dark Lord information about the Order and all the stuff about the Potters? I'd really like to know, you see?' Sirius was a master at wriggling the Gen out of witnesses or guilty petty criminals; something I sometimes envied, but today I was very grateful that it was him that was good at it and not me.
'I … er… started passing information just out of Hogwarts actually, because er… Lucius Malfoy let me join in with his group when you guys were abandoning me more and more that year, so I got the Dark Mark and have been serving the Dark Lord ever since.'
'Wow Peter, that's impressive,' said Sirius with his Cat-caught-the-Canary look. 'You've been serving Voldemort longer than I have! I haven't even served him for a year! Congrats Peter, you've just wasted nearly five years of your miserable life serving the most wretched man on this earth!'
Peter blanched and was just about to turn into his rat form when I whipped out my wand and did my part by stunning my so-called best friend.
We took Peter's incarcerous-ed and stunned form to the Ministry and happily turned him in. I gave the confession that Peter had unknowingly given to us. It didn't take long for the right forms to go through and Peter was quickly shipped off to the wizard prison Azkaban.
All the way to the Longbottom's house I couldn't stop grinning. I was so happy after picking up the boys we all went to St. Mungo's and visited Lily for a little bit. She was in the Spell Damaged ward, but not permanently since it was still so unclear what condition she was in and also because she hadn't stayed awake for more than twenty minutes at a time.
When we arrived Lily was again asleep on her bed, but I talked to her anyway and told her the wonderful news of Peter's easy capture and gave her a play-by-play of how Sirius tricked Peter into confessing the truth of his treachery. It pained me to see my lovely wife so lifeless but at least she was alive and hopefully on the mend.
After spending an hour or so at St. Mungo's, I reluctantly left my other half and towed a screaming Harry and an equally noisy Evan back to Sirius's flat. I just barely put the boys down for a kip when Sirius came barreling through the door looking wild and unkempt.
'What is it Sirius?' I asked. 'What has happened?'
He just shook his head in shock and after several minutes of imitating a goldfish he uttered just three words that tipped my world for another loop.
'Azkaban… Peter… Escaped…'
* * * * *
It was about a week later that Dumbledore Floo'd with a conclusion and that I was to come at once.
I came through his fireplace dusting myself off with Evan in toe and Sirius followed carrying Harry in his arms. After the attack on Halloween I had told Sirius everything. He now knew about the Prophecy and all that that had encompassed it thus far.
'Ah James, thank you ever so much for coming to my office straight away and I hope we can convene without delay.' Dumbledore said as Sirius and I settled on two chairs and started making bubbles appear with our wands, trying to entertain the two unruly fifteen month olds.
'After several trips within my pensieve I have measured the pulsings that came from Harry and Evan's scars almost a fortnight ago and I noticed that the pulses coming from Evan's are much more prominent than Harry and that leads me to believe that Evan is the celebrated boy-who-lived.
'Remember James, that in time we must train young Mr. Potter because when Voldemort returns, for he will I have no doubt, he will not rest until Evan lay dead at his feet. But do not look so troubled James, when the time approaches Evan will save us from this great evil and we shall all have cause to celebrate. As members of the Order we must remember that it is hope that shall defeat the evil forces that attack from within and from without, for when we lose hope, despair can claim us faster than any curse in the world ever could.
'Those are my findings of much studying. Do you perhaps have any questions for me?' Dumbledore asked peering at me intensely.
I shook my head, my mind in a fog. I couldn't think clear enough to form any questions and Sirius didn't say or do anything more than struggle to keep Harry and Evan properly contained.
'I have told you of my findings and I, at the moment, do not have anything else to add to it, so I would ask that you would please shut the door behind you when you leave my office. But James,' I stooped down to pick up Evan in my arms. 'Remember, my office is but a second home to you if you so desire it to be so, so do not be a stranger and come see me when you have anything you would like to talk about. It will always be open to you or any of your family members.'
Having been clearly dismissed, Sirius led the way down the moving staircase and I struggled to keep Evan and my emotions closely in check.
