A/N don't own. I hope you enjoy this one-shot (for now).
Lily was laughing as her twins were once again doing everything they could not to be separated. She should be frustrated, seeing as she had been trying to have them sleep in separate beds, but they were just too adorable.
Her wand was out, just in case, but she knew that Nathan wouldn't let Harry fall as he levitated his brother to his bed. She was glad that nothing had changed. They were both exceptionally good at controlling their magic, and they were getting better everyday.
Harry landed safely in his brother's bed and both closed their eyes to go to sleep. They had never been any trouble as long as they were together. They slept through the night, they ate their food, they smiled and laughed and were her everything.
She walked towards their now shared crib and gently covered Harry with the blanket. She tucked them in while she sang a song even when they were already asleep. She loved singing to them both, it made her smile, but they smiled as well in their dream, and that was what made her sleep well despite the attack on her family last night.
She watched her boys for another hour, seeing them get closer as they rolled over until the eldest had his arm around the youngest. She could've stood there for another hour, but the wards flared, so she went downstairs with her wand drawn.
She found her husband sitting on their new couch, facing him was Headmaster Albus Dumbledore.
The man had changed since she last saw him. The twinkle in his blue eyes when they'd met had disappeared since the war had started. It was back now. It made him look younger and happier. He looked like he no longer had a care in the world, she didn't like it, not with the threat to her sons.
Her husband was quiet, which was probably the result of something the Professor had said, otherwise he would probably be busy entertaining their guest with some story.
"Ah, Mrs. Potter, how are you?"
James turned his head towards the doorframe, where she was standing. A hesitant smile and sad eyes made her brace herself for whatever their guest had to say.
"I'm well, Professor, what brings you here?"
Lily took a seat next to her husband and stared at Dumbledore intently as her husband placed his arm on her shoulders, rubbing small circles with his thumb.
"I have been asked by the ministry to identify the Boy-Who-Lived."
"I see."
And she did. She'd known that she wouldn't be able to keep it quiet that one of her boys had vanquished Lord Voldemort, but it had been worse than they'd imagined.
The press had found out after three hours, and the Daily Prophet's front page had given one of their sons that ridiculous title. She knew that this question would be asked, but she'd never thought that Dumbledore would bent to the will of the Ministry.
James pulled her closer to him and she glanced at him before returning her attention to the other man in the room.
"Do you mind?" he asked while already standing up. It had been months since anyone had said no to him, all relying on his experience from the war with Grindelwald. But these two boys were her sons, and she wasn't going to let them be separated by fame because one of them had killed a man.
"No," she whispered.
James' hand held hers delicately as they both looked up to the now unwanted guest. The man had frozen for a second before speaking.
"You have to understand, dear girl, that this is the only way, the prophecy says.."
Husband and wife stood up and blocked the door that let to the second floor.
"We know what the prophecy says, but our sons know who it was that defeated Lord Voldemort, and unless they tell us, they will be the only ones who know of which boy the prophecy speaks." James said furiously.
"Riddle may not be dead, Professor, but neither of my boys will ever stand in front of him without the other. You claim that 'the power he knows not' is love, and I think that you should realise that these boys are brothers, and that to each of us family means everything. "
"I understand that both of you are concerned about the consequences, but I will report my findings to the Ministry, I have no choice."
"You will just guess without seeing either of them, and let the other live his life wondering why he was not good enough, what if you guess wrong?" James shouted.
"You have a choice," Lily spoke for the first time since her refusal.
"I went to countless Order meetings, and you refused to let us use lethal spells. You told us that we had to do what was right, not easy. You're the one making that mistake now. I can't let you do this."
Lily let a tear slide as she drew her wand and disarmed the Headmaster of Hogwarts. Not having suspected that she would ever refuse him anything, Dumbledore let the wand be taken from his hand.
"James, check on the boys, I want to speak to the Professor in private."
James, knowing that his wife wanted him to protect their sons, should she fail to convince the Headmaster, kissed her cheek and went upstairs.
"I know what I hold in my hand, Professor, and I know that the cloak you gave back to James at the beginning of this meeting is not a regular cloak. Power is a dangerous thing in the hands of your enemies, but even more dangerous in the hands of those whom you consider friends."
She looked at him with sad eyes. She used her own wand and a tray with vials floated towards the man.
"These are all of the memories that you collected about Tom Riddle, and I think that we have reached the same conclusion."
"Please, Lily, I ask you not to seek for them. If he notices that they're gone.."
"He is a spirit right now. He has fled the country - probably Europe - and that means that there is no reason not to look for his Horcruxes. I will find them, Sir, and destroy them well before my boys are grown men and fighting a battle that should not be theirs to fight."
"I'm going to tell James and Sirius and Remus and possibly Frank and Alice, and we're going to destroy them one by one."
"It is crucial that as few as possible know, my dear. Let me do what should be done."
"You don't understand, Professor. I would've have died for my husband and our sons if it had been necessary yesterday, I would do anything for them. So you're going to swear an Unbreakable Vow that you will not tell anyone about Harry or Nathan until I give you permission, or I will not let you leave tonight."
"Lily, it doesn't have to be this way."
"It has to, you've given me no other choice."
The six-year-old Potter twins were playing in the garden when their mother called them. Both raced to the kitchen and hugged her legs.
"Mom, we did it!" yelled an exited Harry as he and his brother grabbed her hand and pulled her towards the garden.
They pulled her towards the ground and took their own places on the grass. Nathan and Harry faced each other and smiled as they looked at the ball in the midst of the triangle.
Nathan grabbed the ball and held it high above his head. He concentrated and suddenly let the ball go. Instead of falling to the ground however, the ball floated midair. It slowly moved towards the centre of the small group and froze there.
The boy started making circles with his ring finger and the ball slowly started spinning in it's place.
Harry closed his eyes and the colour of the ball changed from blue to green. The colour kept changing and changing until there was no way to separate one from the other.
Lily watched proudly as the brothers used their magic in the same way she had when she was still a young child. The boys always planned their new trick before they went to sleep, and spent their playtime in the garden trying to actually do it.
They always played with their magic and it made their parents prouder everyday. They had never asked it of them, but the boys didn't mind anything that had to do with magic. Both thought of it as the best game in the world, and that they enjoyed it made her smile just a little brighter.
The brothers promptly stood and started levitating the ball towards each other. When they caught the ball they changed its colour and levitated it back to their brother.
The ball suddenly launched itself into the air and both boys promptly forgot the toy as they ran towards their dad, who was watching with a laugh on his face.
"So, which of you two did it?" Headmaster Albus Dumbledore asked the brothers as they sat by the lake with their backs turned to him.
"Does it matter, Professor?" Nathan asked curiously.
"I guess it no longer does, but will you indulge in satisfying an old man's curiosity?"
"One of us defeated him while the other had his back. It doesn't matter which of us played what role. We couldn't have done it without each other, and that is the only answer that I feel comfortable giving, Sir."
"I'm glad that I got to know the both of you," Albus relented as he made his way back to the castle.
As he stood near the entrance of the castle he heard a voice from behind him.
"Do you regret that I didn't let you choose all those years ago, knowing what you know now? Knowing what they've become and what they've been through."
"Would you have killed me, Lily?"
"Look at them, Professor, and tell me that it was wrong of me to protect them at all cost."
The students were sitting side by side at the edge of the lake, watching Fawkes fly and sing a melody like no song they knew. The phoenix landed on their touching shoulders and went quiet for a moment before taking flight and resuming the song.
"I admit that I will spent the last of my days wondering of which of your sons the prophecy spoke, but I'm glad that you didn't let me find out, it is better this way. You raised wonderful boys, but I have to ask; Do you know which of your boys saved us?"
"I told you once and I will again. Harry and Nathan are the only ones that know, and that is a secret neither of them wants to share, and I wouldn't want it any other way" James Potter said as he snuck up behind his wife.
The trio watched as the saviours of both worlds transfigured a rock into a ball and changed the colours of the rapidly spinning toy while it rose higher and higher until it disappeared into a cloud, both lying next to each other in the grass, watching the stars that lit up the dark sky.
A/N This was an idea that has been bothering me for weeks. I adore wrong Boy-Who-Lived stories, but I detest the way that sweet and caring Lily (who died to protect her son in cannon) suddenly turns into a neglectful and horrible mother to little Harry and James who turns back into an arrogant and spiteful man who detests one of his sons, Lily would never allow that. Therefore I'm considering writing a story where James keeps the custody of the boy who lived and Lily leaving with Harry, because that is a plausible, if slightly improbable plot. I'll think about it…. I hope you enjoyed this