The Watchers
They had become the watchers on that terrible Halloween.
"Lily, it's him! Take Harry and run!" She kissed him one last time and fled up to her son's room.
"Stand aside Potter. I only want my dues."
"I will not let you pass!"
"AVADA KEDAVRA!" His last thought as the green light flashed towards him was 'I love you Lily.'
The door burst open on a cheerily decorated room. A woman clutched a baby, sobbing, while she fumbled with the window. A broom lay at her feet.
"You cannot escape," he hissed.
"Then you'll have to kill me," she snarled.
"With pleasure. AVADA KEDAVRA!" He cackled with glee, knowing that his prize would soon be unprotected. He wasn't expecting the spell to rebound and hit him in the middle of the chest as hard as if a giant had stepped on him.
The young woman lay moaning and sobbing on the floor, her red hair covering the child beside her when two men about her age came in.
"Lily! You're alive!" the light haired one exclaimed.
"What's the use?" she sobbed, lifting her head to stare at the two men through very red and puffy eyes. "James is gone!" She shrieked and threw herself back onto the floor. The dark-haired man gently lifted the child from beside his mother and took him downstairs to the kitchen to find a bottle or a jar of food.
That was the night that Lily lost almost everything worth living. James had been her rock. He was the reason she hadn't lost it years before after The Attack.
They had been visiting Lily's parents for a baby shower for Lily. Petunia had come and the sisters had made up after years of enmity. Petunia may not have always gotten along with her brother-in-law, but as he wasn't present, she was fine. About halfway through the party, there were a series of pops in the kitchen. Lily excused herself and found James, Sirius, and Remus standing by the table.
"What's going on?" Lily asked.
"One of our spies reported an attack to be launched against you to be commenced in a few minutes," James explained. "Come on. We have to get you out of here."
"But what about my parents and my sister and all of my Muggle friends? How are we supposed to evacuate them?"
"I don't know, Lils. I'll take you home and Sirius and Remus will stay here if anything happens."
Just then, there were pops and screams from the living room. Lily ran back in instinctively. She pulled her sister and most of her friends into the kitchen where there were Portkeys waiting. As she went back, she felt a blinding pain, like white-hot knives all over her body. The Cruciatus Curse. Through teary eyes, she saw her parents fall and screamed even louder. James picked her up after stunning the Death Eater who had cast the spell, releasing Lily. He Apparated home and put her on the couch.
Lily got up a few hours later and went to bed. She seemed to be fine, other than being sore.
She woke up the next morning in a pool of blood and screamed for her husband. They Apparated to Mungo's fearing the worst.
It was true. Elayne Meredith Potter had died before ever being born.
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Lily and Harry moved to a small home in a Muggle neighborhood at the insistence of Remus, who knew that Lily had to be kept away from the home with so many memories of her husband. She raised Harry with help from Remus and Sirius, though every time he said "Dada?" she had to leave and cry. She had a picture from their wedding face down on her bedside table. She couldn't look at it without wanting to die, and she knew that she would never accept his death and move on.
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There were times when she could barely look at Harry because of the striking similarity between him and James. When Harry was six, Remus and Sirius moved in after an incident that solidified their jobs as the watchers.
The young boy clutched a mirror with bloody hands.
"SIRIUS!" he screamed into it. A face wavered into view.
"What is it Harry?" he asked kindly.
"It's Mummy!" the boy yelled. "Look!" He turned the mirror to show a woman sprawled on the floor of a bathroom in a growing pool of blood.
"MOONY!" the man yelled over his shoulder. "WE NEED TO GET OVER TO LILY'S NOW!"
Sirius arrived directly in the bathroom. He healed Lily's wrists and Apparated to St. Mungo's to get her Blood Replenishing Potions.
Remus arrived in time to see Sirius leave with Lily. He took one look at the puddle of blood and went to find Harry. He washed the boy's hands, told him Mummy would be all right, and took him to Diagon Alley for ice cream. Instead of taking Harry back to his own home, they went to Remus' cottage. By the time a bed was made up for him, Harry was already asleep. Remus tucked Harry in and made himself a mug of tea to help him stay up until he heard from Sirius.
"Moony?" Remus jumped at the sound issuing from the mirror beside him.
"How's she doing?"
"She's in pretty bad shape, a few more ounces of blood and we'd have lost her. How's Harry taking it?"
"He's asleep. With any luck, he won't remember this."
"I hope that for his sake. Once Lily gets out, I think we should stay with them, at least until we know she's stable."
"Sirius, I don't think that's gonna happen. It's been five years and she still has every picture of him covered. Harry told me that sometimes she can't even look at him. I vote that they move in with me so I can keep an eye on Lily. You should come too. You know Harry'd like that." Remus knew that mentioning Harry would get Sirius to do almost anything.
"I'll think about it."
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Lily, Harry, Remus and Sirius did end up living together, but they got a bigger house that would fit them better. It adjoined the Weasleys' property to the west and Harry got to know all of the boys and Ginny very well. Lily gradually got better. She still had her bad days, but with Molly there to talk to, she became more like herself, though no one ever saw her smiles reach her eyes. Ron and Harry became the best of friends. They met Hermione in their Transfiguration class when Harry was partnered with her and was having trouble turning his match into a needle. She helped him, and later Ron, and the three soon became inseparable.
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The summer after Harry's third year was particularly bad. It didn't even start out as usual with Sirius and Remus meeting him at Platform 9 ¾ with a Portkey to go home. Instead, Mrs. Weasley took him to the Burrow along with her five. She offered no explanation other than Sirius and Remus were busy. From the look on her face, it had to do with Lily. Remus came over the next day to get Harry.
"Moony? What's going on?"
"We just had a situation, that's all."
"Did Mum try something again? I know it would have been their fifteenth anniversary yesterday. Is that why Mrs. Weasley took me home?"
"Harry, you know your mother isn't very stable and yesterday she was saying that she'd had a dream about your father coming home and, since you look so much like him, we didn't want her thinking that you were James. So, Sirius went to the Burrow and asked Molly to keep you there until your mother got better."
"Oh. Can I see her now?"
"She's asleep Harry. We called a Healer to make sure she was all right and just confused and he gave her a sedative that would make all of this seem like a dream."
"Is she gonna be all right?"
"We're not sure. The Healer is going to be here in a few hours to administer a few psychological tests. If she doesn't check out, your mother may need a stay in the psychiatric ward at St. Mungo's for treatment. Would you mind spending the summer at the Burrow? Even if she is allowed to stay at home, your mother's going to need constant care. Sirius and I think it would be best if you weren't here as it might confuse her."
"That's fine."
Harry gathered up most of the stuff he would need and flew over to the Weasleys'. Molly understood completely what was going on and had explained to the children that they were to leave Harry alone about that. Most of the summer was spent playing Quidditch on good days and doing homework and playing chess on ugly ones.
Lily had to spend a month at St. Mungo's, but when she got out she was doing much better.
There were only a few really bright spots to that summer. One, Harry could finally beat someone other than Hermione at chess without any help, and two, he and Ginny started dating. The brothers weren't very happy about this, but since it was Harry they decided they wouldn't kill him unless he did something really stupid.
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Hermione had heard Harry's story and felt bad for him since he had lived in such a sad house, so she was a little apprehensive to meet Mrs. Potter over Christmas in their sixth year.
"Moony? Padfoot? We're here!" Harry called out. Hermione laughed as Sirius came sliding down the banister. With the ease of practice, he went flying off and landed perfectly before Harry, giving him a huge hug.
"So this must be Hermione," he said, bowing gallantly over her hand. "As you may have guessed, I'm Sirius Black, also known as Padfoot, Harry's godfather."
"Where's Remus?" Harry asked.
The smile instantly left his godfather's face. "He's with your mother."
"She hasn't tried something again, has she?"
"No, but you know how she is around your father's birthday. Why don't you show Hermione her room? I'll go talk to Lily and see if I can get her to come down."
Harry levitated his and Hermione's luggage up the stairs.
"Don't you get in trouble with the Ministry for doing that?" she asked anxiously.
"Nah. There are three overage Wizarding folk in this house along with house elves. They can't tell who cast the spell."
"What did you mean about your mother trying something again, Harry?"
"Well, Mum still hasn't and probably never will get over Dad's death. When I was six, she slit her wrists and Sirius barely got her to Mungo's in time. The only reason he got to our house fast enough was because I walked into the bathroom just after Mum had cut herself and called them on the enchanted mirror. That's why they live with us now. They watch Mum to make sure she doesn't try to kill herself again."
"I'm sorry Harry."
"It's all right. She's been getting better since we moved here after she was released from Mungo's, though she does have her bad days, especially now since Dad's birthday was December 19." He opened a door with a flick of his wand. "Here's your room. The bathroom's through that door. I'm across the hall, Remus is a few doors down with Sirius next to him and Mum's at the end of the hall."
"Thanks for inviting me Harry."
"No problem. By the way, we can expect the Weasley clan to show up day after tomorrow for Christmas Eve and we go over there for Christmas Day."
"The Weasleys live nearby?" Harry gave a small smirk at the thought of his two best friends' feelings for each other.
"Yeah we share the border to the west. Their house is about a four-mile walk through the woods. We can go later if you want."
"Maybe. Won't it be too late in the evening by the time we get there?"
"Not if we fly."
It turned out that they didn't go to the Burrow because Lily decided to come down for dinner. Despite Hermione's obsession with S.P.E.W., she was fine with the house elves serving them as she quickly noticed that they were all wearing matching uniforms that were actual clothing and not the usual toga made of a towel or pillowcase.
Hermione had been shocked when she saw Mrs. Potter. She knew that Harry's mother had only been twenty-three at the time of the attack, making her only in her late thirties now, but she looked much older. Despite this, she was still a very beautiful woman with thick red hair and the famous emerald eyes that she shared with her son. Throughout dinner, Hermione noticed that she hardly ever looked at her son for more than a few moments, focusing more on the others present. She also had an air of tragedy about her, and even though she laughed at Sirius' jokes with everyone else, her eyes didn't light up the way her son's did when he was happy.
Lily asked the standard questions about how school was going and Harry responded by talking about school in general and some of the students attempting to become the new school pranksters and failing. This of course brought on Sirius and Remus reminiscing about their time as the Marauders, but it didn't last long after they mentioned James.
Harry and Hermione stayed downstairs watching a movie after dinner.
"Harry, I don't mean to pry, but why didn't your mother really look at you?" Harry didn't respond, but pulled out an album and opened it to a specific page. "Isn't that the picture Ron took of you and Ginny last week?"
"Look closer. It's a picture Padfoot took of Mum and Dad around Christmas of their sixth year, right after they started dating."
"So you just remind her too much of your father?"
"Something like that."
"How do you do it?" Hermione asked.
"Do what?"
"Live in such a sad place and yet be the type of person that you are."
"I don't know. Sirius provides all of the comic relief around here. He and Remus raised me mostly since I was six."
The next day they flew over to the Weasleys' to spend the day. Hermione had only ever met Bill and Charlie once at the Quidditch World Cup and was shocked at how Harry acted around them. At the Potter's, he was the only child and was on his own a lot of the time. At the Weasleys', he was treated as a seventh son and brother.
When they arrived, all of the men in the family were outside, either playing or watching a game of Quidditch. As soon as they were seen flying in, the players landed to talk to them.
"Is Ginny inside?" Harry asked after greeting everyone.
"I wouldn't go in there Harry," Ginny said, having come out just in time to hear Harry's comment.
"What's going on?"
"The Delacours are here to discuss the wedding."
"I thought Fleur and Bill were getting married this summer."
"They moved the date up to the third of January. Fleur's pregnant."
"So I take it all of the men are out here because most of the Delacour women are veela?"
"Pretty much. Dad's the only one allowed in there 'cause he can keep his head." There was a faint pop and a beautiful couple appeared on the lawn and headed for the house. "They've been doing that all morning." After a few minutes, smoke began pouring out of an open window. "Oh not again! I guess they hadn't heard about Fleur's condition yet either. Hermione, would you come in with me so we can see if Mum needs any help?"
"Why all the fuss? It's not like they weren't planning on getting married."
"The Delacours are a noble family," Charlie explained. "They don't approve of the couple doing much before the wedding."
"Bill was in so much trouble when her parents found out," Fred added gleefully.
"Yeah, his mother-in-law-to-be went all beaky on him and started throwing fireballs at the fireplace. Mum's happy though, 'cause one of 'em hit Bill's hair so it's short now." George, along with his twin, seemed pleased that they weren't in trouble for once.
The rest of the Christmas vacation went well with the usual gathering of Weasleys and Potters at the Potters' house for Christmas Eve and at the Weasleys' for Christmas Day. New Year's was somewhat new this year with the twins giving a fireworks show. There was also a subtle jab at Bill and Fleur with a portrait of the couple made of sparks and as it was starting to die, Fleur's belly got larger.
With the wedding coming up, Lily seemed to be happy as Molly had her helping to set up. Also, Lily did the bride's and bridesmaids' hair and makeup along with Ginny and Hermione.
Once the ceremony was about to start, though, she was nowhere to be found.
"Mum?" Harry called. He was in the forest between their houses. She gave no answer, but Harry heard sobbing coming from by the lake. "Mum?" he called out again. He saw her sitting in the snow under a weeping willow, we he thought was appropriate.
"Harry?" She sat up and looked at him full on for the first time in several months.
"Mum, what's wrong?" he asked, sitting beside her and putting his arms around her shoulders to stop her shivering.
"Everything seems to remind me of your father, from you and Ginny to the circumstances of the wedding."
"What do you mean?"
"Fleur being pregnant and the wedding being moved up." She paused, seeing that her son appeared confused. "Your father and I were meant to get married at Christmas, then I found out I was pregnant with your sister."
"What happened to her?"
"We were attacked when I was about five months along and I miscarried. You were a miracle baby because my Healer told me that after what happened with Elayne, I wouldn't be able to have any children," she explained, starting to get teary-eyed again, "but then we had you and it seemed that nothing could ever go wrong again." Her face seemed to collapse at all of the sadness she had gone through. "Then Peter betrayed us."
"How did we survive Mum? Most of the stories say that no one could survive one of his attacks."
"When we first went into hiding, your father and I did some research on protective charms. We found one that claimed to protect against the Killing Curse, though it had never been tested. Supposedly, if someone sacrificed him- or herself for a certain person, the curse would rebound upon the caster, killing them even if they have some sort of backup plan. They can't even try to duck, the spell just follows them."
"So basically, Dad died so we could survive?"
"Pretty much. Dumbledore also told me that the Horcruxes exploded, so we know he's gone for good."
"Horcruxes?"
"Fragments of Voldemort's soul that assisted on his quest for immortality."
"Oh."
Harry and Lily stayed there for the rest of the day. When Sirius and Remus found them, Lily had fallen asleep and her son had his arms around her and his head was resting on hers.
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After that, there were very few episodes. Lily was almost back to how she had been before James' death, except she would stay in her room two days a year, his birthday and their anniversary.
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After graduating, Harry and Ron were signed on as Seeker and Keeper, respectively, with British National and they went on to the semifinals of the World Cup that year and they won the next, Britain's first win in over a century. They both continued to play for many years. They played with the team for fifteen years, the longest contracts for any players. Ron went on to become manager of the team, and Harry went back to Hogwarts in time to teach his oldest, Jake, Defense Against the Dark Arts.
Harry and Ginny got married three years after Ginny graduated and Jake came not long after. Denise came the next year and Catherine six years after that.
Lily entered her role of grandmother joyously. She lived with the couple in their house and Sirius and Remus got kicked out to finally get their own place.
No spell was ever invented to slow the passage of time, and so Lily Denise Evans Potter died peacefully in her sleep at the age of ninety-two.
She had been having this dream for quite some time. She was in the house at Godric's Hollow, searching for something. When she caught sight of herself in the hall mirror by their room, she was twenty-three again and she would wake up, generally to a grandchild coming in or the smell of Ginny's cooking.
This time though, she didn't wake up when she looked in the mirror, but continued on through the house. When she opened the door to their room, she saw James standing in the middle of the room, waiting for her.
The End