Hey there :) So this is a really short one-shot that I wrote after being inspired by my Beta's marauder's fic that she's working on :) It was an idea that interested me and I hope you enjoy it :) Please read and review xx

Betrayed

The last happy thought that went through James Potter's mind was simple and true: he loved his wife and son. Yet, as he watched them wander towards the stairs, the next seconds of his life contained his most painful realisations.

BANG!

James heard the front door blast off its hinges and the sound of the explosion rang through him with finality.

He was here.

James' heart, which had felt so light and content earlier that night, froze in shock and then began pounding strongly; coursing icy blood through his veins. His eyes widened in disbelief, his throat was suddenly dry and his entire body felt clammy. This was fear like he had never experienced before, not for himself but for his family.

For a split second he was still, until his disturbed brain and staggered nerves clicked into action, and he mustered all his energy to turn his fright into courage.

James shouted at Lily to run, hide, as he himself hurried towards the source of the noise. He was agonisingly aware that it would be last time he spoke to her for he remembered that he had left his wand in the living room where he had been playing with Harry mere moments before.

While he raced down his house's hallway, which seemed a thousand miles long, a thought echoed in his mind. How had they been discovered? It was impossible and incomprehensible to James. And this complicated question lead to an equally horrifying one: Who had told him? But this time, James knew the answer. Wormtail.

What had happened?

Had he been captured and tortured by You-Know-Who? Had he been forced to give up his friends when threatened with death? Was he still alive?

But all this couldn't be true. Wormtail had been at his own hideout – strictly told to remain there on Dumbledore's orders. This made no sense.

It was only when James saw the pale white figure, draped in a deep black cloak and looked into his bright red eyes that were like slits, did he know the truth. Those cruel eyes conveyed to him, with a malicious glee, that he had relied on the wrong person and his murderer had wanted him to know that before he was killed.

And James, who loved his friends and trusted them with everything he had, felt his heart shatter and the air disappear from inside him. It was beyond excruciating. He had been betrayed. James had never felt more lost or alone as he stared unbelievingly into those pitiless eyes.

There was a distant scream and a flash of green light burst around him.