The beginning of the end

Lily Potter entered the small, cosy living room to see a beautiful sight befall her eyes. Her husband, James Potter, sat smiling with their one year old son Harry, who was giggling madly and raising his fists as if to catch the colourful smoke that his father created from his wand. It was Halloween night and the small family had been in hiding for six months now, hiding from the most evil wizard of all time, who, for some unknown reason, wanted to kill their perfect one year old son. What kind of monster would want to hurt a perfectly innocent child? When Albus Dumbledore told the Potters the news it shattered their hearts into a million pieces, at the thought of their precious son, their only son, being killed. James and Lily both knew that they would do whatever they could to save their son's life. They knew that even an incarnation of death himself would never stop them from protecting our son.

"It's Harry's bed time now Jamie" Lily told him from the doorway.

James quickly scooped up Harry and handed him to Lily with a smile, she heard him throw down his wand and yawn loudly as she walked into the small hall way of their cottage. Smiling down at her precious boy she didn't hear as a gate creaked outside of the house and the next thing she knew she heard the back door swing open and James come sprinting into the hallway without his wand. Panic set in as she held her child closer to her bosom in fear.

"Lily, take Harry and go! It's him! Go! Run! I'll hold him off-"

The words cut at Lily's heart and she knew that her husband was about to die... but no, she couldn't think of that, she had to protect Harry. Lily quickly started to scramble up the stairs with Harry in her arms. A cold, merciless laugh could be heard and green light flashed throughout the house.

"James!" Lily screamed scrambling into Harry's small nursery. "James!" She cried. "Please James!" She cried again and again, she couldn't lose James. Lily knew that she couldn't live without James.

Fear ripped at her heart as she held Harry in her arms trying to lodge things against the door of the nursery. Lily would not let this man hurt her child. She couldn't believe that she didn't have her wand, she couldn't believe that this was happening! Peter! Peter had betrayed them all. Their friend had brought about the deaths of her husband and her son; she cared nothing for her own life now.

The door burst open and Lily Potter stood bravely with her son in her arms looking into the terrifyingly cold face of Lord Voldemort. She quickly dropped Harry into the cot behind her and threw out her arms, trying to shield him from view.

'Not Harry, not Harry, please not Harry!'

She looked into his cold red eyes, her own wide trying to beg him to leave her son alone. Lily couldn't let him kill her son.

'Stand aside, stand aside you silly girl... stand aside, now...'

Did he really think that she would let him harm her son? Did he really think that any mother would stand aside and watch as their child was killed to save their own life? Who would ever think that? It had never been clearer to Lily in that moment that this man, this monster, had no concept of the power of love, had never felt love. She now understood why he could do the things he did without felling remorse. He was born cold, she thought. He had already killed her husband, the only man that she had ever loved, the only man that she had given everything to. Lily would not let him kill Harry, she would not let him kill her son. The love she felt for her son and husband filled up her whole being as she continued to beg for him to kill her instead and begging for mercy.

'Not Harry, please no, take me, kill me instead-'

'This is my last warning-'

'Not Harry! Please... have mercy... have mercy... Not Harry! Not Harry! Please –I'll do anything!'

Lily begged and begged for the monster not to kill her son, but he just stood, unwavering, determined to rid the world of a pure and innocent life. She would not allow it. He could kill her but she would never allow him to kill her only child.

'Stand aside – stand aside girl-'

Lily did not waver as Lord Voldemort stood in front of her raising his wand, she saw some sort of decision made in his eyes, as though he did not wish to kill her but thought it would be best.

A million different memories came back to her as the green light of the killing curse flashed before her own vivid green eyes and hit her square in the chest like a racking ball.

She was three and she and her sister, Petunia, were playing with dolls... She was ten and she was swinging on a swing in the local park, she jumped and landed gracefully on the ground to the amazement of her sister, whose eyes alight with green envy... she was eleven and aboard the Hogwarts express sitting in a compartment with two boys across from her, her eyes filled with tears and Severus came in... She was at Hogwarts and the sorting hat was on her head telling her that she should be in Gryffindor... She was running along a corridor at school laughing with Severus at her side, smiling widely as they each shot sparks of light at each other from the end of their wands for enjoyment... It was her fifth year and she was stood in front of James, anger coursing through her as he arrogantly bullied Severus who had fallen to the floor, Severus uttered the word 'mudblood' and ended their friendship forever... It was the end of her sixth year and James walked into the common rooming grinning his famous grin at her, happy light dancing in his eyes and she realised for the first time that she had been in love with him for years... It was her seventh year at Hogwarts and she was back on the Hogwarts express with her head girl badge attached to her robes, smiling proudly and James came in with the head boy badge pinned to his own chest, they smiled at each other and her heart skipped a beat... It was October and James and Lily's first date, James was spinning her around and then they stopped, anticipation mounting as he leaned in slowly, taking her face in between his hands and kissing her softly, their first kiss...flashes of their seventh year... The end of their seventh year as they are about to get onto the train together and James gets down on one knee, Lily's hands fly to her mouth as he announces his never ending love and asks her to marry him, her excitement as she screamed out a yes... the wedding day, Sirius grinning handsomely at James' side as she walked down the aisle decked out in white, holding tightly on to her father's arm... The impact of each of James and Lily's parent's deaths as they held each other and cried on separate occasions... James' excitement as he kissed her stomach and said hello to their unborn child... Holding Harry in her arms for the first time, James' arms around them both, happiness dancing in his eyes as he looked down at her and his first born son... Flashes of the first year of Harry's life, his first words, the first time he walked and his first birthday... The death of the Prewetts... The death of the Mckinnons... Friends lost to the cause... Dumbledore telling the married couple to go into hiding because he wanted their child and finally... Earlier that evening, the happiness she felt as my son played with her husband, James and Harry filled up her vision before everything went black.

Lily lay face down and deafening silence surrounded her, she thought for a moment that she was alone but then she heard something large stir next to her but this thought seem utterly ridiculous, she wasn't even sure if I was there so how could something else be? Lily lay there for what felt like a long time... or no time at all and it came to her that this must be real and that she must be real. As she thought this she became aware that she had arms, legs, a body and eyes and as she realised her eyes opened to find herself lying on a hard flat surface, completely naked. She thought of this with embarrassment and wished that she were clothed. No sooner had she thought this when a white dress appeared next to her. She moved in swift motion and noticed that in shock that she had feeling. The floor that she had been lying on was neither white but neither cold nor warm, just simply there. Lily stood quickly and put on the white dress, forgetting about the presence she had felt before until she heard an appreciative cough behind her.

'Yano Lil, I preferred you without that dress on.'

Lily spun around quickly, or slowly, time had little meaning here, and her hand flew up to her mouth in shock. Before she could catch up with the movement of her actions she had flung myself forwards into the arms of her husband.

'James!' Lily screeched kissing every part of him. 'Oh James... James... I thought I had lost you.' She chocked out.

'I've told you before my beautiful flower, you will never lose me.' He whispered before catching her lips with his own.

'Wait' she said when he had finished kissing her. 'What about Harry! Where's Harry?' She demanded, James' brow furrowed slightly.

'I don't know Lil, but we'll find him.' James promised her and even though the apprehension was still there she felt a little better.

'What is this place?' Lily asked looking around.

It seemed as though they were in a large white church, here and there she could see the church pews and now again snatches of window.

'I don't know Lily. I guess this must be the afterlife, huh?' James said in a, what would be light tone.

'I thought there might have been more people here.' She muttered to James and she saw him nod slightly.

'At least we've got each other though?' He asked.

'We would have always found each other Jamie, in any dimension.' Lily told him smiling.

'That's true my love. What do you suppose we do now?'

Lily went to reply to James but as she opened her mouth she noticed a dark shape coming towards them. The figure was huge and seemed to glide, a billowing black cloak shrouded the figure and Lily wanted to scream but it seemed get lodged her throat; words completely failed her as she started at the figure with wide-eyed incredulity. James grabbed her hand and squeezed it slightly, he too was looking at the figure in alarm.

'Peace friends.' The black cloak told the two of them as it stopped about ten metres away. 'I am here to take you into the next life but first you have a choice. You can choose to move on, as most pick or you could be one of the select few that choose to be a ghost and walk the world for the rest of time.'

James and Lily didn't even have to look at each other to know what their decision would be.

'On' she told him simply, though she had to ask a question that had not ceased to burn in her mind since she got there. 'But where is Harry? Where is our son?' she asked.

'Your son survived.' The figure said simply.

'He... What?' Lily gasped. 'How... how did he survive?' She was completely thrown and apparently so was James.

'It will all be explained if you continue on Mr and Mrs Potter.' The cloak told them in whispery voice before disappearing into a white light.

Lily's eyes were blinded by the light so she closed them and when she opened them again she realised that they had moved from the white room and now seemed to be sat in a huge field. She turned to James with wide eyes and he looked at her and smiled.

'It's going to be ok.' He whispered, putting his arms around his wife. 'I'm so sorry I couldn't save you Lily, I'm so sorry that we had to leave our son.' She could see the tears in his eyes and the pain as well.

'It's ok Jamie. It's not your fault, there is only one person to blame for this and it is not you.' He smiled at her lightly and let her go, but not completely for he claimed her hand again and gasped as he looked around.

'Mum... dad...' he chocked out and Lily turned to see what he was looking at. In the large field, underneath a small beech tree stood four people, the couples deceased parents. Lily smiled widely and tears filled her eyes. James and Lily looked at each other and then quickly ran to where their parents were standing and engulfed them into their arms.

'I've missed you.' She murmured to her parents who were tightly embracing her.

'We've missed you too Lily-bean.' Her father whispered, tightening his arms around her. 'We are so proud of you.' He told her with tears in his eyes. Lily let both of her parents go and turned to Mr and Mrs Potter, engulfing them in a hug as well.

'I can't believe this.' She said to them quietly. 'This is wonderful.' She told them honestly.

Although she was worried about what had happened to Harry, she felt a strange happiness to be away from the mortal world and back with her parents. Lily knew undoubtedly that she would miss her son, ache for him even but she was happy that he was alive and she wanted him to have a good life, even though James and she could not share it with him. She hoped that her son would know that they would always be with him, always watching and protecting him and they would see him again one day, she was sure of that.

Just as this thought came into her mind seven books appeared under the beech tree that the family converged next to.

'What are these?' She asked, none of the family had an answer. She started forward and picked up the first and thinnest book, she read the title and gasped, dropping it on to the floor.

'Lil, what is it?' James asked, starting forward and picking up the book for himself. He gasped also and turned around to face their parents before saying.

'Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone.' They all stared back at him with shocked expressions.

'What do you think it means Jamie?' Lily whispered to my husband, who still stood in shock.

'I don't know Lil, maybe they're books of Harry's life?'

Lily gasped. 'We can know about his life!' she exclaimed excitedly.

Their parents were also excited.

'This is excellent.' Dorea Potter shouted excitedly. 'We only get so see so much from here, it will be fantastic to hear about our grandson.'

'I agree with Dorea.' Rose Evans said grinning at her daughter and son-in-law whose faces were alight with happiness at being able to hear about their son.

'Same!' both Charlus Potter and Michael Evans exclaimed together, before grinning at eachother wickedly.

'Ok, let's do this!' James said in excitement.

We all sat underneath the beech tree and James opened to the first page of the book and started to read.

This is the first chapter for my new story 'ON', it'll be a 'reading the books' fic, done a little differently. I decided to start from the last moments of Lily and James to add a little more depth and emotion, and I thought it would give a good insight to what I think would be happening inside Lily's head as old Voldy comes to kill her family.

The fic starts off with just James, Lily, Charlus, Dorea, Rose and Micheal (I gave the parents name, i'm not sure if they're actually right but hey, I think they work!) but they are joined in the second chapter my a few deceased members of the Order. As the book reading progresses they will also be joined by the main characters that are killed in the books so that could get quite emotional. I'm still going to be working on my other fic, Wishing upon a dog star, so updates may sometimes seem a little slow, especially since my exams are coming up and i've just got a new job but have no fear, I will update eventually!

Please, please, review if you love it/hate it, I love feedback whether it is good or not and I hope you like my take on the reading of the books.

Enjoy my loves!

Forevertruex