From This Day Forth

by HallieU

R/R please. I lost all of the reviews when I was chaptering it. I was too impatient. Four years after leaving school, the marauders face new challenges before they can witness their fairytale ending.

1. Default Chapter

FROM THIS DAY FORTH

Part 1

Chapter 1 - Plans

A tall man with unruly blue black hair, and bespectacled sapphire blue eyes sat at a desk chewing his pencil. If there was one thing James Potter hated about his work it was all the paper work that had to be filled in. He crumpled up yet another piece of paper, and was staring at a blank wall, looking for inspiration, when the door to his apartment opened to admit a stunningly lovely girl.

"Are you still at it?" she asked. Lily Trevallion knew of her fiancé's hate for planning. He was all for spontaneity, but in their situation, planning could mean the difference between life and death.

"I thought they paid people like Ellie to do all of this stuff." he complained.

"I'll let Ellie know you said that when I next see her." Lily replied amused. Eleanor Silver was one of her best friends, and was renowned for her tactical prowess. "Besides, she just plans the over all strategy. It's up to us to improvise."

"Well if I don't get this finished soon, that's exactly what we're going to be doing." James growled.

"If you let me help.." Lily left her statement open. As James' partner, it was actually part of her job to be in on the planning. But their immediate superior, Horace Thump, was rather chauvinistic in his attitude. Were it not for orders from the Ministry of Magic, Lily suspected that she would be consigned to what amounted to pencil pushing.

"I suppose what Thump doesn't know won't hurt him." James grinned at her. Long red hair was twisted off of her face in an untidy ponytail, and emerald green eyes were full of energy. She bounded over, and thudded down on his lap, examining the mission statement in front of him.

"'Rescue Paul, leading tactician, from Voldemort's Welsh lair.'" she read. "It's a bit sketchy on details. Where exactly is this lair?"

"That, Lily my lamb, is a wrap in mystery." James informed her.

"Since when was I your lamb?" she asked.

"Minor slip of the tongue." the words were an apology, but the tone was not. "Any ideas oh great high genius."

"James?"

"What?"

"Shut up." Lily sat, her brow wrinkled in concentration. "Have they located this lair?" she asked.

"Yes. But we aren't getting any information on its whereabouts until we come up with a plan."

"Right." Lily nodded briefly. "I reckon the best solution would be to waltz in, get Mr Militaris, and waltz out."

"I don't think that's quite what Thump had in mind. Try something serious."

"That was serious."

"Lil, do you want to die?" James asked her. "That has got to be the most stupid idea I've ever heard in my life."

"James, think about it. It's so obviously not going to happen. No one in their right mind would do it-"

"Exactly."

"-so no one would be expecting it." Lily continued blithely, ignoring him.

"In a weird, twisted way that actually makes sense." James said, slowly. "Can you honestly see Thump going for it?"

"We can but try." was the honest reply.

"Right, so we go to wherever this place is, apparate in, find Militaris, and apparate out, hoping for the best."

"Spot on. Only we go disguised as death eaters, otherwise we're a tad too obvious."

"I gathered that." James told her wryly. "Thanks hon."

"Now you see, if Thump actually gets it in to his thick skull that I am actually good at what I do, we'd be all right. Sadly, he has this strange misconception that the only reason they let me in was because Dumbledore can't resist a woman who flutters her eyelashes, so he gave me a good reference. The cheek of it! I've never fluttered my eyelashes in my life!" Lily was incensed.

"It's more Cee or Flick's route. You're too much of a prig to do it."

"You take that back, James Potter, or I'll make you!"

"Oooh, I'm scared!" was his sarcastic reply.

"You should be." Lily countered.

"Lil, if you can't take the truth.." James told her.

"It is not the truth."

"It is." James said.

"Isn't." Lily disagreed.

"Is."

"Isn't."

"Isn't."

"Is."

"There, see. You admitted it."

"That's not fair." Lily complained.

"I don't believe you fell for that. It's got to be the oldest trick in the book!" James crowed.

"Get on with your paperwork." Lily told him.

"Lily?"

"What?"

"I hate paperwork!"

Chapter 2 - The Marauders

Eleanor Silver sat on the window seat in her pretty bedroom. The room was elegantly decorated with white and pastel green, and had a marvellous marble fireplace for a centrepiece. But Ellie wasn't interested in the decor. She was intent on the path.

The old marauders were meeting up today for dinner. Ellie wasn't sure quite what 'dinner' would entail, but she'd willingly volunteered to host the event. Lily, Felicity and Cecelia weren't in a position to host rowdy parties, all living with small children, and no one in their right mind would ask the boys to organise anything of that calibre. Suddenly, a tall girl with exceedingly long, wavy black hair and an English rose complexion appeared on the path. The figure hurried to the door, as Ellie hurried down the stairs.

"Cee!" she exclaimed as she threw the door open. Cecelia Hall was Eleanor's best friend. But the Cee in front of her was a far cry from the Cecelia of their schooldays. In three years Cee had grown up considerably, and had gained a chic that made her unrecognisable to those who did not see her regularly.

"How're you doing Ellie? Am I the first here? Why am I not surprised? I spoke to Lil and Flick earlier, and they said they'd probably be late - apparently they're meeting James and Sirius first, and then coming here, and Flick said not to put too much hope on the boys actually remaining sane for a whole evening." Cee had a muggle father, and Lily was muggle born, so both girls had access to a telephone. As Flick lived with Lily, the three girls often used the rather useful muggle accessory to communicate with each other. "When are you expecting Remus and Peter?"

"Remus - dead on seven. You know what he's like - side-tracked isn't a word in his vocabulary. Peter - when I see him." At that point the door bell chimed. In the doorway was Remus Lupin, light brown hair neat as always. His eyes flashed and he greeted Ellie and Cee.

"Hello! Am I late?"

"No. I was early. You're on time. The others aren't here, and therefore, they're late."

"Right. Thanks." Remus said, dubiously. Sometimes understanding Cee was harder than it seemed. Once again the bell rang, and Remus opened it to a group of four people, laughing a chatting merrily.

"The hoards are here." he announced, doing a passable impression of a butler.

"Stop it!" Ellie exclaimed. "You've spent way too much time with those two clowns!"

"You mean Lily and Flick?" Sirius said wickedly. Sirius Black was tall, dark haired and had deep set eyes of darkest brown.

"There he goes again." Felicity Evans hit him. The two of them were a couple, and their relationship was explosive to say the least. Well what would you expect of a relationship that began with Flick slapping Sirius, Lily had once said to James, who had remarked on it.

"Don't mind me asking," James said, in a serious tone, "but do we have to spend all evening in the hallway with our coats on?"

At that, they shrugged off their outdoor gear and moved into the sitting room of the grand house.

Lily, comfortably ensconced in an armchair, James at her feet, began the conversation.

"Flick and I met Marge Dursley yesterday." she began, with a wicked grin on her lips.

"Petunia's sister in law?" Cee was immediately interested. All of them knew of the aminosity between Lily and her elder sister. It was quite hard to miss. "What was she like?"

"Well," Flick began, "all I can say is I'm glad we're not related." Lily glared at her.

"Sadly, I am. She's awful."

"I'll say." Flick agreed. "She's hopeless. No sense of conversation, and she actually had the audacity to say that she could tell Kat wasn't any relation to Petunia. Apparently Petunia's got more class. She then went on to say, and this was to Lil's face remember, that every family had a bad egg, and it wasn't Petunia's fault that Lil had turned out the way she did. She knows absolutely nothing about her."

"Actually, Pet told her that I was hopeless, and unemployed, which is why I still live with mum and dad at my age, and all I was good for was bringing in waifs and strays for Mum and Dad to look after."

"Your sister really doesn't like you, does she." Remus said wryly.

"You have to ask that question?" Flick countered.

The evening continued pleasantly. Peter arrived just in time for the meal, and after dinner they had a rowdy game of charades. Boys against girls. By the end of the evening, all of the girls had laughed till they cried at the boys' antics. All in all, it was a qualified success.

Chapter 3 - Amy

Several doctors worked on the paediatrics ward at St Samuel's Hospital for Supernatural Illness. And all of them were good at what they did. But ask any of their patients who their favourite doctor was, and there was only one answer - Dr Evans.

Felicity Evans was the youngest doctor working in the hospital, the best of it's kind in Britain. Her vivacity and flair for life were infectious, and her ready smile brightened her small patients' day. The first thing on her daily plan was to visit Amy Militaris, a five year old who was critically ill. The little girl had been an inmate of the hospital for six months, and she had a particularly deep rooted affection for her young doctor.

"Hi Amy! Where's your mum?" Flick asked. The child in the bed would have been very nondescript were it not for the gaunt face and sunken hazel eyes.

"Mummy went to get a drink." the voice was surprisingly strong and sweet.

"I 'spect I'll see her later." Flick told the child. "What about your Daddy?"

"Daddy's gone away." Amy said, sorrowfully. "He went out on Monday and didn't come back. Mummy's upset, I can tell. He will come back though won't he?" she was pleading for reassurance.

"I don't know sweetheart. I hope so." Flick, as always was brutally honest. At that moment a woman entered the room.

"Hello Debbie." the hospital favoured an informal approach, and Mr Miltaris and Flick had become good friends. "If you'd like to, then we can go to my office, and talk about Amy's treatment," she saw Amy frown, and continued hurriedly, "once I've talked to you, I can let her know what's going on."

"Okay." Mrs Militaris was resigned, and followed Flick to the small office that the young doctor inhabited.

"Amy said your husband had gone missing. If he isn't coming back, then I think you need to tell her." Even though getting involved in patients' private lives wasn't advisable, Flick took an interest when she felt it affected her patients welfare.

"He'll be back." Debbie was firm. "I just don't know when. He's a tactician at the ministry. I got an owl, apparently he's been kidnapped."

"No!" Flick was shocked. "Do you want to talk about it?"

"I didn't know counselling distraught parents was part of your job." Debbie said. "Besides, I couldn't say. It's top secret, I don't want to jeopardise him."

"Look, Debbie, if this has something to do with the Anti-Voldemort faction, you can trust me. My sister and I are orphans thanks to him. She was eleven months old when he murdered my father and stepmother. Believe me, there's no one out there that could possibly hate him more than I do."

"So why aren't you an Auror? You must be intelligent enough, if you're a doctor." Debbie's point was valid.

"I couldn't go into something that risky. I'm all Kat's got, and I didn't want to risk her being left alone. And I was more suited to medicine than being a heroine."

"I'm going to trust you, simply because I have to tell someone. Paul, my husband, he's been taken prisoner by You-Know-Who and I'm petrified that Amy and I will never see him again. The ministry assures me that he'll be fine. A couple of Aurors are already on the case, but I've seen their profiles. They're awfully young. Apparently, they were both doing Auror work when they were still at school, and Trevallion - at least, I think that's his name - is particularly good at getting out of sticky situation with Potter's aid."

At the mention of a Trevallion and Potter, Flick had caught her breath. Surely there couldn't be any other Trevallion and Potter combinations in the Ministry. But Debbie Militaris had said that Trevallion was male.

"I don't suppose you know their Christian names?" Flick asked.

"No. Why?"

"My friends, James and Lily work together at the ministry, and the description fits them."

"Perhaps it is them. Are they good?"

"The best." she picked up a photo from her desk. "That's them."

"They look to be a bit more than partners to me." Debbie Militaris commented.

"They're engaged." Flick explained. "But don't worry. It won't affect their work. Now, on to-" before she could finish her sentence, Sirius Black entered the room.

"Sirius! What are you doing here? More to the point, who let you in?"

"A few nifty tricks Jimmy boy taught me. Muggle stuff apparently."

"Look, I'm in the middle of talking. Can you wait?"

"Not really. I'm looking for someone by the name of Militaris. Amy Militaris. I was told you know where she is."

"Perhaps I can help." Debbie entered the conversation. "I'm Deborah Militaris, Amy's my daughter."

"Sirius Black. I'm here on orders from the ministry." he turned to Flick. "How much do you know?"

"She knows everything. Right down to who got the case."

"Marvellous. In that case, I don't have to worry about details. Flick, Lily said our mate Voldie would probably go after Amy. Apparently she's a valuable bargaining chip. So our illustrious leader-"

"Lil or James?"

"James, apparently, but I reckon it's more likely to have come from Lily. Anyway, I've been told that I'm now an official bodyguard. All right?"

"Debbie?"

"Fine by me."

"Room 9. Oh, and Sirius?"

"What?"

"Don't wreck the joint." Sirius grinned at her, and then left.

"Right, now, Debbie..."

Chapter 4 - Rescue

"Shhhh!"

"What?!" James hissed at Lily.

"I thought I heard something." she informed him.

"Lil, we're in the middle of a Welsh moor, of course you heard something. But that something is almost definitely not human." Sometimes Lily's air of caution got on James' nerves. Not that she cared. There was a thud.

"Get down!" she hissed, and silently the two of them dropped on to their stomachs. A tall man came into view, and then disappeared.

"Crivis Nod. At least we know we've got the right place." Lily commented. "Are you ready?"

"As I'll ever be - Are you sure this'll work?" James wasn't 100% sure of Lily's plan.

"Nope." she replied, happily. "But it's our best shot." and with that they apparated away.

Lily and James were on their mission. Rescue Paul Militaris from Voldemort, and get out as fast as possible. It was risky, the worst case scenario was a long and painful death. But the young couple wasn't where they were in the Ministry for nothing. The group of Aurors they were part of consisted of the best Aurors in the business. And Lily and James had turned stealth, subtlety and deception in to artforms.

* * * * *

Earlier that day, Sirius had been with Felicity and Amy at the hospital. And one thing that patients had been quick to notice was the young mans gift at creating bedlam.

"I think you've got a rival." Debbie Militaris had said to Flick one day.

"What do you mean?"

"Amy's rather taken with your young man. At least, I'm guessing he's yours."

"Sirius? Just about. Not that I know why. Do you know, he was one of the best students in our year. You don't think he cursed me or something?"

"Why?"

"Because no one in their right mind would want to spend time with him. Sirius' idea of romance is infesting the house with spiders."

"We all have crosses to bear." Debbie had laughed. But Flick could see how the little girl appreciated his company. He made her laugh, and Flick was the first to admit that her brand of medicine worked much better if taken with a large dose of laughter.

"What're you two up to?" she asked.

"Sirius is going to turn Nurse Sesses' hair green." Amy giggled.

"Good for Sirius." Flick replied, without thinking. Geraldine Sesses was possibly the most annoying person Flick had ever met. "You can't do that!" she exclaimed, realising what Amy had just said.

"Why not?" Sirius asked. "You did it to Snape loads of times!" Amy looked at her doctor questioningly.

"Who's Snape?" she asked.

"It doesn't matter-" Flick began, but Sirius cut her off.

"Our mortal enemy." he told her, grinning wickedly. "Felicity's a bit more fiery than she lets on. She was always doing things to him."

"Cheek!" Flick exclaimed. "You were worse!"

"That, my dear, is because I was the master, and you were the apprentice."

After hitting him, Flick turned to Amy.

"Don't let him contaminate your mind." she told the child. "He used to have detention every night of every term. It got to the point where we didn't plan anything for the evening because either he or James or Remus or Peter - some of my other friends - would be in detention."

"Cool!" Amy exclaimed.

* * * * *

Lily and James had made it as far as the prison wing of the lair. Lily was proficient at Charms, and before long, she had them blending in with everyone else. Getting keys for the cells, on the other hand, would be a bit harder.

"We'll have to snatch them." James told her. It's the only way."

"That's all well and good." she informed him, "but what if they've got some kind of security system we don't know about?"

"We don't stick around and ask questions. We leg it." James said, brusquely. "You ready?" The two of them had done this before. She'd create a diversion while he got the keys.

"Does it matter?"

"Nope."

Ten minutes later and they had keys.

"You took your time." Lily said, cuttingly.

"Had to find the right bloke, and get them off of him. And when they're on his belt, it's not as easy as it seems." He nodded at her. In silence they began looking into the cells. It broke Lily's heart to see the state of some of the prisoners, and if she were in charge, then they'd all be free. But she wasn't in charge, and so Paul Militaris would be the only one to escape the torture that Voldemort's supporters inflicted on decent people.

"Over here." James called softly. Lily peered into the cell he was gesturing to, and saw a middle aged man, desolate and alone. James unlocked the door.

"Paul Militaris." he said.

"Not again!" the man exclaimed. "How many times do I have to tell you! I don't know!! And even if I did, I wouldn't let you in on the big secret."

"We're so glad of that." Lily said gently. "Luckily for you, we are in on the big secret, and I'm betting we know. Are you ready to go? I'm Lily, this is James, and we're leaving this joint about now. I'm guessing you want to see your daughter again."

Once they were out of the cell they could apparate away to the lodgings that James and Lily were using for their Welsh stay. Once they were in the cottage, nursing cups of tea, Lily explained everything.

"I expect Sirius'll be keen to meet you." she concluded. "From what I hear, he and Amy get on exceptionally well. We'll stay here tonight, and go back to the ministry tomorrow. You can go to the hospital from there."

The lights were smothered, and three very weary souls took to their beds.

Chapter 5 – Kidnapped!

Even though Paul Militaris was now safely back at work, Amy was under constant guard. Voldemort did not take kindly to defeat, and those at the Ministry felt that it was in her best interest to protect her. Hospital staff had grown used to seeing Sirius Black in Amy's room, the two of them laughing at some private joke that inevitably resulted in mischief of one form or another.

Two weeks after Sirius had turned up, Flick walked into Amy's room and got another surprise.

"'On the bottom shelf?' repeated Mrs May, her own needle flicking steadily in the firelight. 'Near the floor?' 'Yes' said Kate, 'but I looked on the floor. Under the rug. Everywhere. The wool was still there though. Just where I left it.'"

"Lily?" Flick exclaimed in astonishment. For there, in a comfortable chair by the bed, sat her red headed friend, huge book in her hand. Which was about as different as you could get from Sirius, who sat on the bed and taught Amy all sorts of 'useful' things to get her into trouble.

"Hi Flick! Sirius and James went off on an assignment. Remus has some time off." Remus was Sirius' partner, "and I took pity on you and Amy and suggested that the two of them take this together. Which means that when I get back, they'll have blown up the entire building, but never mind. I'm here for a week, then Remus and I are off to do something, and Peter will stay with Amy. We were just reading The Borrowers weren't we Amy?"

"Lily says it's a muggle book." Amy explained. "She read it when she was little."

"I expect she was a bit bigger than you, though. Is your mum coming today?"

"She said she'd come and see me this evening with Daddy, but she's working today." Amy explained calmly.

"Great. Well, I'll do my professional bit, and then I'll leave the two of you to it. Only, I might pop back at lunchtime to have a gossip with Lily. Is that all right Amy?"

"Yep." the child agreed readily. She was enjoying the company of her young doctor's friends. Sirius had made her cry with laughter, and Lily had introduced herself and her book that morning. Amy, a bookworm, thanks to her time in bed, was gleeful at this chance to extend her literary knowledge.

So, for a week, Amy came to know Lily Trevallion. And during that week she found out that her doctor lived with the pretty young woman who was fast becoming her friend. And one day, Flick brought Amy a surprise.

"Kat!" Lily exclaimed, hugging the small child with the strawberry blonde curls and cobalt blue eyes. Katherine Evans was four years old, and as full of mischief as her sister had been at that age. And she was curious about the girl that Flick said Lily had been spending so much time with.

"Hello Lily!" she turned to Amy. "You must be Amy. Flick says you're really nice, and we'll get on really well."

"Well, I'll leave the three of you to it." Flick said, reluctantly. "I've got an appointment with Geraldine Sesses."

"Poor you." Lily said, sympathetically. She'd heard of Sirius and Amy's prank, and how Nurse Sesses now rated Flick Evans as her number one enemy.

Kat and Amy were soon the best of friends, but to their dismay, Lily had to leave all too soon.

"Couldn't you stay, and this Peter man do your job?" Amy pleaded.

"You're nicer than Peter." Kat added. She disliked Peter Pettigrew. He was too weak for her liking. Sirius she adored, Lily she idolised, she'd happily giggle with Cee and Ellie for hours, and James came high on her list of favourite people, but Peter she couldn't stand.

"Kat, Amy, you know I'd love to say, but I promised Remus I'd do this with him. And Sirius will be back soon."

Reluctantly, the girls let her go, and Peter took her place. But disaster struck before she could return. The morning she arrived back at the ministry after a strenuous assignment with Remus, James gave her some unwelcome news. As was usual, she entered his apartment, and saw him studying paperwork.

"Is that our next assignment?" she asked. "What is it?" James stood up and walked over to her.

"One I'd rather had never arose." he told her. "You might want to sit down." Lily did as she was told, and he joined her on the couch.

"It's another rescue mission." he explained. "But we need specialist help for this one. You, me, Sirius and Remus. And Felicity."

"Flick! Why?"

"Peter got sick a couple of days after he started guarding Amy. Some other guy took his place. Unfortunately, he was a Voldemort supporter. Kat and Amy are in Voldemort's hands."

"Right." Lily said, looking at him, eyes large. "Why Kat?" It was the last question he was expecting.

"Flick says the two of them had been playing with each other every day. Kat was there when he took Amy, so he took her too."

Lily looked at James, looked at the ceiling, and then rested her chin in her palms. Because, she knew that it was bad. Very bad. And for once in her career, she wasn't sure exactly what she was going to do about it.