I'm a sucker for tragedy. Forgive any mistakes I've made. The idea was just one I couldn't pass up.

The scent of the flowers was sweet enough to give James Potter a headache. He would never understand why Lily loved that particular blossom, but he would continue to buy them regardless. With a little sigh, he pushed his glasses back onto the bridge of his nose and continued walking down the street that led to the little flat he shared with his best friend Sirius Black.

Normally James didn't pay attention to the Muggles that passed him on sidewalk, but a distinct chill raced down his spine. It was the primal sense of nearby danger and realizing that made James more alert than usual. His grip tightened on the wand in his pocket as his hazel gaze swept from face to face, looking for someone he might recognize as a foe. He found one such face and felt a wave of anger course through his veins.

Walking down the sidewalk in the opposite direction was a man dressed in black from head to toe. The coat he wore hung off his hunched frame and his pallid face was contorted in frustration. He was looking for something, but for the life him James couldn't figure out what the hell Severus Snape would be looking for in this part of London.

James drew the wand from his pocket the moment Snape caught sight of him. Much to Potter's surprise though, Snape kept his hands in his pockets and shook his head. A moment later, he ducked into an alley and, with his wand at the ready, James followed.

"Jumpy, are you Potter?" A bitter amusement was etched into Snape's features as he stared at his old schoolmate.

James frowned and kept his wand trained on his long-time nemesis. "What do you want, Snape?"

"Just out for a stroll."

"Likely."

Silence engulfed them, letting the sounds of the city swell up in a bustling crescendo that only further agitated James. His grip tightened on the flowers and the wand.

"I saw in the Prophet that you're getting married," Snape finally said. Hatred burned in his dark gaze. "Congratulations."

James' brow furrowed all the more. He could feel his heart pounding in his chest with his uncertainty. "I don't need blessings from Deatheaters."

"There are a lot of things that a lot of us get that we don't need," Snape spat. "And a lot of things that we don't get that we do need."

"Come off it, Snape. Lily doesn't want you. She wants me."

"For being such a brilliant witch, she can make some very stupid decisions."

James grit his teeth and glared at Snape, his hazel gaze boring into black. To hex or not to hex?

"You don't deserve her," Snape said after a moment. His statement seemed smug, as though he knew something that James did not.

At that, the bespectacled man snorted. "And I suppose you do, Snivellus? Due to all the great works you've done for this world? Done for her?"

Snape's face darkened. "I've done more for her than you could ever hope to."

"By calling her a Mudblood and running off to the Dark Lord to be his pet?"

"Don't pretend you understand my motives, Potter."

"It doesn't take a genius to, Snivellus. Cowardice isn't a hard concept to grasp."

"Don't call me a coward," Snape growled between gritted teeth.

James smirked. Severus was as easy to goad into a fight as he had ever been, and if he attacked first then James would be justified in using an Unforgiveable on him.

"Coward."

The word had barely left his lips before Snape attacked with a startling swiftness. James deflected the sudden attack the best he could. Instead of catching the Sectumsempra in the chest, he caught it in the shoulder. James cursed and shot a hex back at him.

Snape, despite his anger, was much more prepared for the counterattack. He deflected it with a simple flick of his wrist.

"How is it you think that Lily met up with the Dark Lord three times and never died?" The voice that rumbled out of Severus' chest was deep and malicious as he sent another curse hurtling towards Potter. "Do you think it was your quick thinking? Your resourcefulness?"

The flowers fell to the grimy alley as James wiped blood off his lip and threw another useless spell at his rival.

"Potter, do you believe yourself to be her knight in shining armor?" James was hit with another spell that bloodied him up all the more. "The best thing that ever happened to her?"

At that James drew in a deep breath and spat a glob of crimson onto the ground.

"Yes," came his defiant reply.

Snape's nostrils flared with his hate and for a moment James truly thought this might be the end for him. "You're wrong, Potter."

"How do you figure that?"

"You will never love her like I do."

James faltered as the words rang in his ears. That wasn't the truth at all…was it?

The sound of Severus gritting his teeth in rage was audible. It would be so easy to kill the useless lump of flesh that was James Potter, but that would achieve nothing but further securing Lily Evans' hate of him. Releasing a long breath, Snape disapparated with a pop, leaving James to a thought that would haunt him for years to come.

War brought inescapable dark times upon everyone and so the glimmers of joy were greedily seized whenever possible.

Though they had only stayed at their own home in Godric's Hollow, Lily had insisted on dressing Harry up in the Muggle tradition for what she considered his first Halloween, though it was technically his second. James leaned against the doorframe of the bathroom and watched as his wife cleaned the painted whiskers from Harry's cheeks, and swap his little lion's costume for his pajamas. A warm fondness filled James at the scene. For him it was another stolen moment of happiness.

The entire time, Harry fought his mother, seemingly not wanting to be taken out of his costume yet. James laughed at the scene.

"He'll be a Gryffindor if there was ever one to be sorted," he said proudly.

Lily gave her husband a tired smile and handed the half-clothed baby to him. "Here, take your brave at heart son and try to tire him out. He's taken the fight right out of me."

"I don't think there is soul in existence who could truly do that."

With a warm laugh, Mrs. Potter leaned forward and stole a quick kiss from James. He smiled and toted Harry in the living room, sitting down in the floor with him as Lily took a seat on the couch. With a little effort, James managed to fully fasten his son's pajamas before he took his wand from his pocket and began to conjure little scenes on the carpet for Harry's amusement. They were of the same tales his parents had told him when he was a child.

A fire crackled to life in the hearth just a few feet from where James sat, making him start at the sudden sound. Immediately both Potters turned their wands on the fire in preparation of a fight. He relaxed when he recognized his best friend's face staring back at him.

"Prongs!" Sirius slurred a bit on the 's'. "Prongs, old man, Hagrid's got a gift for you. A photo album."

James smiled. He had always been amused by his best friend when he'd had a little too much firewhiskey. "Thank him for us, will you?"

"Certainly," Sirius replied, nodding towards his godson who was trying his best to catch one of the tiny conjured actors still dancing on the carpet. "How's my boy?"

"Energetic."

"Ha! Just like his old man and godfather."

Lily simply smiled at the exchange. She never condoned Sirius's drinking during such serious times, but James couldn't blame his best friend. There were often times when he wished he could drink to drown out the world too.

"Say, Prongs, I'm still checking on Wormtail on Wednesday. Do you need me to relay any messages?" Sirius asked, looking back to James.

James scratched the back of his head in thought. "Not that I recall."

"Just give him our love," Lily provided.

Sirius nodded. "Can do. Well, I didn't mean to intrude. I just…I just had funny feeling and wanted to check on you all."

"That's perfectly fine, Sirius. Thank you for your concern."

"Don't mention it. That's what family does. We look out for one another. Well, good night Prongs, Lily, Harry. I'll see you all later."

"Good night, Padfoot."

"Good night, Sirius."

"Gooowoo Sirrus."

Sirius crowed with proud laughter. "You hear that, he said my name!"

"Almost," James said with a chuckle. Reaching out, he pulled his son in his arms and kissed his temple. "Tell Uncle Sirius good-night, Harry."

Harry made a flapping motion with his arm that knocked his father's glasses off his face.

Again, Sirius laughed and told the Potters good-bye before the fire died and his image was gone. James replaced his glasses and handed Harry to Lily. She kissed his cheek before she began to bounce him on her knee. In response, Harry cooed with happiness.

The coos gradually died down as Harry fell asleep in his mother's arms. Smiling the entire time, Lily carried Harry up to his nursery and tucked him into his bed. James watched her go from the foot of the stairs. A few moments later Lily rejoined him and wrapped her arms about his shoulders with a tired sigh.

Neither said anything as they held each other. Silence was too precious a luxury to give up when offered in both the middle of a war and raising a child.

The entire house shook with an ear-splitting blast that made both Potters stumble. Lily's face drained of blood as she stared up to her husband with wide green eyes.

"We've been betrayed," she breathed.

James was on his feet in a moment, pushing Lily up the stairs. "Lily, take Harry and go! It's him! Go! Run! I'll hold him off."

Lily's eyes watered at what his words meant. Without looking back, she took off to retrieve her son.

His wand was forgotten on the table when he had fixed his glasses earlier in the evening. It didn't occur to James in his rush of thoughts that he might need it. His only objective was to give his family time to escape. The door before him splintered, making his heart race all the more. The last thing he did was draw in a deep breath and accept his inevitable fate with a straight back and chin lifted in an uncowable defiancy.

"Avada kedavra!"

James Potter fell against the nearest wall and to the floor with the pictures he'd knocked loose. The glass in the frames shattered, but the smiling faces continued to move about where they haloed his messy black hair. The force of the curse had knocked his glasses from his face and into the floor. The crunch of glass and wire under Voldemort's foot was a sickening metaphor for what had happened to the glasses' owner.

The corners of his mouth were turned down in a deep, hateful frown as he stalked through the house trying to find his true goal.

Never in his entire existence had James felt as helpless as he did as he watched the dark wizard burst into the nursery where Lily had fled to. He didn't think that ghosts could get sick, but he was starting to reevaluate that assumption.

"Lily Potter, you don't have to die," Voldemort announced. His features lightened for a moment, but his wand remained trained on the Widow Potter. "You have friends in high places. Just give me the boy and you can go free."

Lily shook her head, tears pooling in her eyes. She stood between Voldemort and the crib, blocking Harry from sight with her body. "Not Harry…Not Harry, please not Harry."

"Stand aside, you silly girl." By the low voice, the Dark Lord was clearly not imbued with the grace of patience, but for some strange reason continued to hold off his killing curse. "Stand aside now."

Tears streamed over her fair face as she continued to deny him.

"Not Harry, please no, take me," Lily begged. "Kill me instead."

Voldemort watched her cry with amusement. She was such a weak, pathetic creature with no good sense of self preservation. It was almost enough to make him laugh.

"Not Harry! Please…have mercy…have mercy."

The word "mercy" seemed to trigger something in the wizard, and set him to laughing wildly. A brilliant flash of light consumed the room, temporarily staining the walls green. Lily screamed as the curse hit her full in the chest. The torturous noise cut off abruptly and was followed up by the sound of her body slumping to the floor.

Harry's wails grew all the louder as he kicked and failed in his crib. He wanted something soothing, something that would counteract the chaos going on about him that he couldn't understand, but clearly sensed. The sounds broke Lily's heart as she watched the horrifying scene from the side of her equally helpless ghostly husband.

Voldemort's steps were quiet on the thick carpet of the nursery floor. He laid a hand on the edge of the crib and leaned over to look down on the great adversary that had been prophesized for him. A cruel smirk curled his lips as he studied the red, scrunched up face of the baby. He wanted to memorize this moment, the moment where he became unstoppable.

Raising the yew wand, he pointed it at Harry.

"Happy Hallowe'en, Harry Potter," he said tauntingly as another green light filled the room.

Something went wrong though. The scream that filled the room was not the high, distraught noise of an infant. It was the sound of an unexpected demise, of confusion and anger. It echoed about the nursery walls which were obliterated in the backfire of the killing curse.

Voldemort was reduced to little more than a wraith. He wasn't dead, yet he was far from being alive. With an enraged howl, the smoky haint tore from the falling Potter house and into the night, leaving an unconscious, scarred child in its wake.

The confusion was evident in the spirits who looked to one another for the answer to what had just transpired.

"I don't know," Lily replied to James' unasked question.

His brow remained furrowed for several long moments before he dredged up a long-forgotten memory.

"I do," he said. "It's old magic. Ancient, in fact. My mum told me about it when I was a boy."

Lily looked up to him expectantly and he in turn looked to her.

"Love conquers all."

"Love," she mused, looking back to her son. "So simple a thing as love."

James shook his head. "It's far from simple, but it is the answer."

The words that Severus Snape had shouted at him in a dank London alley came back to him in a rush.

"You will never love her like I do."

A pain struck James in his heart. Lily's love had saved their son, but his had not saved her.