Halloween

The day started off really well.

James and Lily carved pumpkins, while Harry crawls around them, trying to eat the seeds. James smiles, scooping his son up and spinning around, giggles bubbling their way out of Harry's mouth. Lily finishes carving her pumpkin, and taps it with her wand. The edges of the cut out start to glow a blueish white, and she turns, holding it up from James and Harry to see.

The doe carved into the pumpkin shone brightly, and James grinned, reaching over to show her his unfinished pumpkin, the stag only carved halfway.

Lily laughs, and takes Harry from his father, swinging him up into the air.

They dress up in their shabbiest, oldest robes, Lily pulling a pointed hat over her hair. They keep their wands in their hands, because who is going to know they are real? It was Halloween. Nothing is real on Halloween.

They dress Harry as a black cat, something that confuses James, but amuses Lily, so he goes along with it.

The moment they step out of the house, they are tense. Anything could go wrong. James shook his head, and nudged Lily, whose hold had tightened on the baby in her arms. He nodded towards the street and grinned, grabbing her hand. Lily sighed, smiling, allowing James to tug her out to the street, already swarming with children.

They move from house to house, filling a flowered pillow case with candy, smiling when people cooed over Harry, stiffening when people complimented their costumes.

By the time they made it back to their house, Harry's face was smeared with chocolate, and his small hands incredibly sticky. Lily carefully removed his costumes, while James ran the bath. Getting the squirming toddler into the water was an ordeal, and both James and Lily were soaked by the time they were finished. They wrapped Harry's small body in a towel, carrying him to his room, and getting him ready for bed.

Harry yawned as Lily pulled orange, pumpkin patterned pajamas over his head, and he looked up at her, green eyes sleepy. James came and stood beside her, and Harry lifted his arms to his father. James gently pinks him up, rocking slightly as he carries him over to his crib, laying him back down and pushing a small stuffed black dog into his arms. They watched as his small eyes closed, and crept out of the room, closing the door softly.

James and Lily curl up on the couch, talking softly.

"Today was a really good day." James said, linking his fingers with hers. "I love you."

"And I love you. So much." Lily whispered back, resting her head on his shoulder.

And they fell asleep, there on the couch, marveling at the fact that they were alive and together, just enjoying each others presence, knowing they were safe.

They slept for an hour.

Only an hour, and then their door was blown in.

James couldn't understand.

He couldn't understand, as Lily scrambled up the stairs, as he stared into the bright red eyes of Lord Voledmort.

He couldn't understand, because he knows Peter. Peter would never give them up. That wasn't even an option.

Peter couldn't have betrayed them. Betrayed Lily. Betrayed Harry. Harry, whose birth he was there for. Harry, who he held, moments after he was born. Harry, who smiled at him for the first time two days later.

James stood at the bottom of the staircase, listening to Lily shoving things against the door to Harry's room. and his head is spinning. He knows, knows, the only way they could've been found, and yet refused to believe it. He needed to hear someone say it, someone else.

So he asked. "How did you find us?"

Voldemort cocks his head to the side, examining James. The man, barely out of his teenage years, the father to the only person who could bring his downfall. He can see how scared James is, but he can also see the defiance, he can see that they only way he would be able to get past James, is to kill him.

"Pettigrew." He said, and he can see something shatter within the man before him as he raises his wand.

James doesn't even notice the wand being raised. He's too lost in thought that his best friend gave them up. Gave them up to a man that wants to kill them. To kill Harry.

As soon as the door flew open, Lily knew, and if she could get her wand on Peter right now, he wouldn't stand a chance.

While James was breaking apart inside, while that bright green curse flew toward him, Lily was barricading the door to Harry's room. No wand. Only her standing in the way of the man who wanted to kill her son. She hears James body hitting the stairs, and footsteps following, climbing them, and she chokes back a sob. She can't cry. Not now. Not until Harry is safe. She won't let this man, this monster, take her baby from her.

He already took James. He already tore her apart. She wasn't going to let him have Harry.

Not if she had anything to say about it.