"The one with the power to vanquish the Dark Lord approaches ... born to those who have thrice defied him, born as the seventh month dies ..."

Voldemort watched the last spark of light among the ashes in the fireplace flare briefly and die. Now the only light in the room came from his servant's wand, a faithful servant, whose tidings brought Voldemort's future into focus. A prophecy had been made about Lord Voldemort, and his bloodless lips smiled at the thought. Such was his importance that the very Fates bent around him. He had been given one final task to accomplish before immortality. He would find this child, kill it, and nothing would halt his ascendancy.

But what to do about his servant? Should one who has heard a weakness of Lord Voldemort, however trifling, be allowed to live? Voldemort's skeletal fingers caressed his wand. However... he would need a Death Eater to find this child, one aware of the import of his mission.

"Rise, Severus," said Voldemort. The man before him rose on legs that trembled from maintaining a kneeling pose for so long. "You have done well. You now have the opportunity to serve Lord Voldemort. I will entrust you alone to carry out my orders on this matter. And when I have disposed of this child, you shall have power such as you have never dreamed."

Snape's eyes glittered in the wandlight.

...

"C'mon Lily, or we'll be late," James hollered in the direction of the stairs.

"I'M COMING." James grinned at the equally loud retort. A few seconds later, Lily appeared at the top of the stairs, face as red as her hair. Each step she advanced towards him was punctuated by a snarl, "Arrogant... toerag... see... how long it takes... you... to... scrub... off... werewolf blood."

"Sorry love," said James, arranging a penitent expression on his face. He couldn't maintain it though, and succumbed to a grin. "But if you'd just ducked when I told you to, you'dve been clean as a whistle." He pulled her in for a kiss before she could retort, and when they broke apart he touched his forehead to hers and murmured, "but then I wouldn't have had to help you in the shower."

James chuckled as Lily flushed, but her voice was dry, "So I can tell Padfoot it's your fault we're late then?"

James blanched as he saw the time, and said, " Quick, or we'll never hear the end of it." He released Lily, keeping hold only of her hand as they disapparated together.

James caught Lily as she tottered on Sirius' doorstep. Times being what they were, even Sirius had bowed to pressure and allowed McGonagall to secure his new house with the strongest spells available.

The sound of a revving motorbike announced their arrival. James saw Lily cover her ears and grimace over the noise of Sirius' novelty doorbell. As the last of the revving died away the door was wrenched open by a beaming Sirius, welcoming light spilling out around him. "Hello Lily, Prongs," he said, standing back and waving them inside, "Come on in."

"Creative doorbell Padfoot," said Lily, smirking up at him. James laughed as Sirius engulfed her in a hug.

"Yeah, I thought it would suggest to any Death Eaters that show up that they should make a quick getaway." Sirius turned to grip James' arm as Lily smoothed down her disheveled hair behind him. "Wormtail and Moony have almost finished the Butterbeer." He looked between them, leering. "What were you two newlyweds doing to make you so late?"

James bit back a sharp retort. He was getting sick of Sirius' bawdy jokes in the three months since his marriage. He was saved by his wife punching Sirius' arm and saying, "If you must know, Padfoot, we had to help the Ministry get rid of a pack of werewolves in Knockturn Alley."

Sirius' jovial expression was wiped away quicker than you could say 'Scourgify'. He drew back and looked them over. "That's the second time you two have gone off without the Order. Were you hurt?"

"We didn't have much choice Padfoot," said James, squaring his shoulders. "We were in Diagon Alley when the Ministry tried to evacuate everyone." James met Sirius' gaze levelly. "They'd been tipped off about an attack on Gringotts. Probably Death Eaters having a bit of fun."

Lily shivered.

"Crouch wouldn't let us anywhere near Knockturn Alley, even though we told him Dumbledore had been expecting an attack through there. Said he had it under control." James rolled his eyes. "But Edgar Bones let us through - lucky he's Ministry and Order of the Phoenix, or Voldemort would be Minister already."

James held up his hands as Sirius opened his mouth, "Leave it, Padfoot. We're fine, we won and Dumbledore agrees we did the right thing. It's not like you and I have stayed within the protection of the Order every time we fancy a fight."

Sirius grinned, but James didn't return it. Fresh out of Hogwarts they had been reckless in provoking You-Know-Who's supporters, culminating in their motorbike being chased by both the Muggle police and Death Eaters. Amusing as it had been to see the Death Eaters splatter themselves over the policecar, James didn't relish the memories of Dumbledore's – and Lily's- reaction.

"I wasn't going to say anything about it Prongs," said Sirius, shaking his head, "I know the pair of you can take care of yourselves. I was just going to tell you not to mention it around Moony." Sirius lowered his voice, "He's a bit down, and you know how sensitive he is about mentioning werewolves and You-Know-Who in the same conversation."

"What's the matter with him?" said Lily, frowning.

"Dumbledore got wind of a new player among the werewolves. He'd been doing a pretty good job of reasoning with them and the Ministry until Greyback appeared. Greyback's beyond reason – out for all the blood he can get, Wizard or Muggle." Sirius sighed and ran a hand through his shaggy hair.

Lily looked horrified at the news. James took hold of her hand and squeezed it. The gesture helped him cover his own alarm. "Has You-Know-Who recruited -," started James.

"Not as far as we know, yet. Dumbledore had a chat with Moony last night. He's been low ever since. I think - "

Sirius was cut short when Peter opened the door at the end of the hall. He was a short man, and his nose twitched when he saw the three of them standing by the front door. "Hello Prongs, hello Lily," his eyes slid up and down Lily's figure. "You look lovely as ever. Aren't you going to come in? Moony and I want to hear all the news too."

"Hello Wormy," said Lily, moving forward and tactfully drawing him into the kitchen. James and Sirius were left alone in the hall.

Sirius made as if to move but stopped and slouched against the wall, avoiding James' eye. "Prongs, send a patronus to me next time, alright?" He let his breath out shakily. "If anything happened to you or Lily I couldn't live with myself."

James clapped him on the arm. "Thanks Padfoot." He knew how much it took for Sirius to admit to any sentiment. "We were lucky you know. I thought for a second today she was going to get hurt." He remembered the split second's fear, and how his body had turned stiff – too stiff to reach Lily in time. "But you know Lily, faster with a hex than..." James didn't realise he had trailed off; a common occurrence when he thought about his wife.

"Than Snivillus with a curse for you?" finished Sirius, folding his arms. " C'mon, or Wormtail will be out here again looking for us."

The two made their way into the kitchen. Remus was sitting by the fire, curls of steam rising from his robes. Lily had taken a rocking chair beside him and was bouncing it up and down on the balls of her feet while she talked with Remus. Peter bustled around, fetching plates for cauldron cakes and Butterbeers for the arrivals.

"Hello James," said Remus. His smile was genuine but strained.

"Hello Moony," said James, going right up to his friend and clapping him on the shoulder. Close up, James could see dark circles and weary lines around Remus' eyes. They disappeared for a second when Remus gripped James' forearm in return, smoothed out by the pleasure Remus always showed when he was included in the camaraderie.

The group was soon settled around the fire. Between Sirius and James the food disappeared in short order. James relaxed in the company of his friends - family really.

Lily and James made no mention of their day. Instead James teased Lily about her desire for a cat when the two of them couldn't even keep enough food in the house for themselves. Sirius and Remus amused the group with stories of their pranks on Alastor Moody. Sirius took credit for giving the Auror a new mantra, 'Constant vigilance!'. Peter was the perfect audience, quick to prompt his friends for more tales of their outrageous deeds.

The night wore on, time passing unheeded by the laughing group. Despite everything; despite the war and the deaths and the fear each day brought, James had something the Death Eaters could never touch. A place where he could be himself, friendships that would never die and a beautiful wife to share love with him forever.