Disclaimer: Characters/wizarding world belong to J.K. Rowling.
.: CHAPTER ONE :.
Of break-ups, Maps and forgotten lockets
Four Months Earlier…
It was 6 a.m. Lily Ana Evans knew that even without actually opening her eyes. She had trained herself years ago to wake up at 6 every morning, even without an alarm. But she let her eyes flicker open anyway. She knew right away that she wasn't in her own room. Her room at home was decorated in shades of green and had moving posters of her favorite Quidditch teams and pictures, letters and postcards from her friends and family; the room she was in was largely undecorated, save for a few books lying on a simple ash desk. It was a boy's room. And not just any boy – it was Lily's boyfriend's room. Actually, soon to be ex-boyfriend.
In two days, she was heading back to boarding school where she, as a witch, was studying magic, but somehow she had yet to tell Devon that things were over between them. She hadn't intended to put it off for so long, honestly, but every time she had tried to tell him she wanted to end things, she hadn't been able to find the right words.
Words didn't fail Lily too often, but break ups really weren't her thing. Well, she supposed they probably weren't anyone's thing, but she was especially bad at them. She always felt guilty afterward and she never knew what to say to make the situation less awkward.
Truthfully she hadn't even meant to end up with a boyfriend. Devon had started out as a summer fling, a college boy she had met while out with her Muggle friends from her childhood. After quite a bit of flirting, three dates and a half a handle of vodka, she had ended up in bed with him and two weeks later, in a relationship. At first it had been nice to date a Muggle – she didn't have to teach him how to use a telephone or have to explain the rules of football. She could talk about her family freely, and about her interests in Muggle theater and music. But the truth was, as much fun as it had been dating someone who knew nothing about her world, she was dating someone who knew nothing about her world.
Actually, if Lily were being entirely honest, it wasn't even that he was a Muggle. He was a good guy: smart, funny, generous, gorgeous as hell, but there was just something about him that didn't inspire the passion she had always dreamed true love would hold. She knew it was only a matter of time before they would have broken up, even if she didn't have to leave for school. In fact, she was just saving him some of the inevitable pain by ending it sooner rather than later, she reasoned, reminding herself that she did have to break up with him.
She slowly got out of bed, careful not to wake him, and silently got dressed. As she searched for her right shoe, she half-seriously debated leaving him a break up letter, maybe even having her owl Artemis deliver it while he was still sleeping. She looked over at his still body on the bed, his brown hair tousled, his chest rising and falling gently with his breathing, his chiseled face at peace.
It was almost as if the heavens above were spiting Lily for her cowardly thoughts of sneaking out without a proper goodbye, but Devon, feeling Lily's gaze on him, stirred. Lily muttered a string of curse words under her breath as she finished buckling her sandal. His eyes opened and he groggily turned toward her.
"Lily?" he asked softly, blinking at her. His eyes fell on the clock on his nightstand. "Jesus Lily it's 6 a.m. Come back to bed."
Devon, in spite of his inattentive state, seemed to pick up on the fact that she was hesitating. He willed himself awake and pulled his body into a sitting position.
"What's wrong?"
She smiled at him, pained. "Devon…" She paused as she gathered her wits and tried to figure out what to say. "I have to go."
"Home?" he asked slowly, trying to digest what she was saying.
"I'm going back to school in two days."
Devon looked at her as if she had started speaking Greek or grown a third eye. She waited for him to process what she was saying.
"Is that your way of breaking up with me?" he asked finally. "Because it sucks."
"No!" Lily automatically responded and then mentally cursed her insatiable need to avoid disappointing people. "Well, yes," she finally forced herself to say. "But it's really because of my own issues," she hurried on.
Devon was looking at her incredulously.
"Seriously?" he asked.
"I just… I can't be in a long distance relationship," she said. "That's not what I'm looking for. Another time, another place, maybe…" she trailed off.
Even if he wasn't a Muggle, she wasn't lying about the long distance aspect. She didn't believe in long distance relationships. They were always more trouble than they were worth.
He was speechlessly staring at her. Lily couldn't help but wonder if he would have been taking the news in quite the same way had she not thrust it on him as soon as he'd woken up. She was almost glad he didn't have more to say; it made a little easier to be the one doing most of the talking.
"I'm so sorry," she said. She took a step forward, as if to touch him or hug him, but she thought the better of it and stepped back. "Goodbye Devon."
And she walked out of his apartment before he could even say anything.
As she reached the street and began her short trek back to her parents' house, she stopped and looked sorrowfully back at the apartment she had just left. She half expected him to come to the balcony and throw a box of her stuff out on the street but she knew that was just the post break-up "adrenaline" (or whatever hormone was in charge of post-break up emotions) talking; her life wasn't a trashy chick flick, and she hadn't even left anything at his place for him to be able to do that.
She tried to shake her emotions off. It was nothing a hot shower and her mom's delicious cooking wouldn't cure. Then when she got back to school, she could have a proper wallowing session with her two best friends that consisted of copious amounts of butterbeer and Honeydukes chocolates.
With thoughts of her mother's pancakes and pictures of Hogwarts, Alice and Emma floating around in her mind, the ten minute walk passed by especially quickly.
-:-
Lily sat in front of her grandmother's old dresser and solemnly stared at her reflection in the mirror. She had always been a little pale but during the summer, light freckles dotted her nose and cheeks. As a child, she had spent hours with home remedies trying to get rid of them, but nowadays she let them be. They always went away on their own a few months into the school year.
Growing up, Lily's hair had been a bright orange, earning her the nicknames of carrot top and ginger. However as she aged, the flaming red had mellowed out into a deep auburn, a hair color she had always envied on her mother. She had grown sick of hearing it, but everyone she knew told her that she looked exactly like her mother – except for her eyes. She had her father's emerald green eyes.
In terms of her personality, she was a mixture of both her parents. Her father and her were both stubborn, determined, stood firm in their beliefs and had an insane love of anything chocolate. But while her father was rather mellow and tended to avoid confrontation, she had inherited her quick temper from her mother's Irish roots. Where she got her fearlessness, no one knew.
Lily sat brushing her wet hair aimlessly for a while. She didn't know if it was just the morning's events with Devon, or the fact that she was leaving home in two days or something else entirely, but for whatever reason, she felt like breaking down and crying.
But nothing ever came of crying, she had learned that years ago. So she pushed back her tears, loosely braided her hair and went downstairs.
She snuck up behind her mother who was drinking tea at the kitchen table and wrapped her arms around her.
"Morning mother," she said lightly, kissing her mother on the cheek.
Her mother turned around and smiled pleasantly at Lily. Her smile faltered as she caught sight of Lily's face. In the way that mothers just know when things aren't all right with their children, she just knew that Lily was upset.
"What's wrong darling?" she asked, pouring Lily some tea.
"Nothing," Lily insisted, trying to smile. Her inability to discuss her feelings was something else she had inherited from her father. Her blatant display of emotion on his face was from her mother.
"Lily," her mother said. "Talk to me, what's wrong?"
Lily sipped her tea and debated telling her mother what was bothering her. If she didn't say anything her mother would probably continue pestering her. And if she told the truth, she would probably be in a lot of trouble. Lily hated lying to her parents for no reason though so she settled on a half-truth, one that didn't involve her being out of the house all night.
"I ended things with Devon last night," she said finally.
Her mother frowned. She hadn't liked Devon. Strangely enough it wasn't that she didn't approve of Devon for being a 19-year old college boy, but rather the fact that he was a Muggle. She had been very bothered by the fact that Lily had lied to him about her entire life to be with him.
"Lily, we've gone to great lengths to protect your secret," she had said over and over again. "I don't want you to throw that all away if you're not even serious about this guy. What if he writes or calls Mallory Creek asking for you? What if he finds out the truth?"
But Lily kept assuring her that things would be fine, that she would get out of it before things got too complicated.
"I understand that must have been hard for you," her mother said, leaning over to stroke Lily's hair. "But it's all for the best Lils."
"I know, it's just that…" Lily searched for the right words to explain how she was feeling.
"I know you feel like you left him with so many questions and no answers but that's what your life is going to be like if you choose to date someone who doesn't have your special gifts," her mother said, understanding completely without Lily having to say a single word.
"But I don't want to be restricted in that way!" Lily said, finally getting to the root of what was bothering her. "I don't want to have to only date wizards because I'm scared someone's going to find out my secret!"
"No Lily, I'm not saying that at all," her mother countered immediately. "When you're a little older, when you can actually use magic and make your own decisions… If you meet someone then who you think you want to pursue a serious relationship with, maybe even want to marry someday, you can tell him your secret. But now, when you're still underage and living with us, where we have an obligation to protect you and your secret, I just don't think it's a good idea. You should be dating people that you feel comfortable around, that you can be yourself around, your real self."
Lily's mother had honestly not told her anything that she didn't already know, but just being able to talk to her about it made Lily feel as if a huge weight had been lifted.
"What am I going to do without you at school?" she asked, leaning over and pulling her mother into a tight hug.
Her mother just laughed. "Obviously be completely lost," she joked. "Now come on, let me make you breakfast. What do you want? Eggs? Toast?"
But before her mother could actually make any breakfast, they heard the doorbell ring. Lily and her mother exchanged glances.
"Who's here at 7 in the morning?" Lily asked suspiciously, hurrying to the living room to see who it could be. When she reached the living room, her father had already opened the door and standing in front of her were her sister and quite possibly the largest man she had ever seen. Her father stepped back to let them in.
"Tuney," Lily said in surprise.
Petunia, her older sister, had pretty much stopped speaking to Lily since she had turned 11 and received her Hogwarts acceptance letter and therefore pursed her lips and ignored Lily's greeting.
"What are you doing here so early Tuney?" her father asked, looking warily at the large man who shook his hand and grunted something that Lily couldn't quite make out.
"Where's mum?" she asked instead of responding to his question. "Mum?"
Lily's mother hurried to the living room, surprised.
"Petunia!" she greeted with a surprised smile. "What a lovely surprise!"
Petunia impatiently dragged them all into the living room and made everyone sit down while she herself remained standing next to the big, beefy man with little neck.
"Mum, dad," she started. Her parents exchanged worried glances. "Vernon and I are…" she paused for dramatic effect, "engaged!"
She waited expectantly, but her parents simply sat there, shell-shocked.
"Congratulations!" Lily finally said, breaking the silence but her parents continued to remain silent, exchanging bewildered looks. Petunia ignored the fact that Lily had said anything at all.
Her father finally cleared his throat and said, "Uh, Petunia, not that we're not happy for you, but, er, can we talk to you for a moment. Alone, please?"
Lily immediately took the cue and asked Vernon if he would like some tea in the kitchen. Petunia looked disgustedly at Lily but nodded for him to go along with her. Lily led the way to the kitchen.
"Tea?" she asked, reaching for a cup.
"No thanks," he said gruffly, seating himself at the table.
Lily put the cup back and stood awkwardly, taking him in. Lily prided herself on being a fairly good judge of character and there was just something off-putting about the guy.
"So you go to university with Petunia then?" she asked conversationally. Her mother had told her that Petunia had been seeing some boy named Vernon for a while now but she hadn't had a chance to meet him.
"I did, but now I work for a company called Grunnings," he said, puffing out his chest proudly. "We make drills."
Lily smiled weakly. "Interesting. So how'd you two meet?"
"In an economics class."
"Oh, that's nice."
Vernon grunted in response. He didn't seem like he wanted to continue the conversation so Lily refilled her own cup of tea and sipped it. She wondered what her parents were saying to Petunia. However, much to Lily's surprise, Vernon started talking again.
"Petunia told me you both don't get along," he said, almost tauntingly. "That's a shame, huh? I'm very close to my sister and she adores Petunia."
Lily wasn't at all surprised that Petunia had been badmouthing her but she was surprised at Petunia's familiarity with his family that he was hinted at. She was almost slightly offended that she hadn't even met the guy, while his sister had already met and grown close to Petunia. Regardless of their personal feelings toward each other, Lily had expected that Petunia would at least bring the guy she was seriously dating home to meet her entire family before just announcing their engagement.
"We drifted apart when we went to different schools," Lily responded curtly.
"Ah yes, different schools." He sneered slightly.
Lily frowned. "What's that supposed to mean?"
"Oh, nothing. Petunia told he where you go. Where you really go to school."
Lily started. Petunia barely liked hearing her talk about Hogwarts and she hated any mention at all of magic. She couldn't imagine that she was going around running her mouth off about her being different.
"Where I really go to school?" Lily asked, feigning innocence. "You mean Mallory Creek."
"She told me that was just a cover story, to make sure no one asks any questions about your abnormalities." He was definitely sneering at her now.
Lily sat unmoving. She wondered what was going to happen to her if Vernon indeed found out about the magic world. She knew Muggles weren't supposed to know about magic; her friend Emma, whose father worked for the Ministry, had told her that they had entire departments dedicated to making sure the magic world remained hidden. She didn't think the Ministry of Magic would take too kindly to having her sister's fiancé running around blurting out the truth to everyone.
"Yes," he jeered, a cruel smirk on his face, "Petunia told me that you actually go to Madam Georgiana's Secure Center for Incurably Criminal Girls!"
Lily was dumbfounded. "What?"
Lily was completely astounded that Petunia had gone to such great lengths to make sure that her fiancé, and probably his family, looked down upon her for going to some imaginary school for what seemed like insane children. She knew her sister didn't like her, but to make up stuff?
Petunia, though not stunning, was by no means unattractive, and could have had her choice of suitors. Vernon was quite possibly the last person in the world that Lily had expected Petunia to want to marry, both in terms of looks and personality.
A part of her wanted to storm into the living room and hit Petunia for this Madam Georgiana's business, but another part of her just felt sorry for her sister. She had always expected that one day Petunia would get over her jealousy that Lily had been chosen to attend Hogwarts while she hadn't and they could go back to the way things had been for the first 11 years. Lily, who simply hadn't wanted to accept the fact that her sister hated her, was completely floored by the sudden insight that her sister did in fact loathe her.
Vernon was nearly dancing with glee as he noted the reaction on Lily's face at his confession, which he wrongly assumed was indeed a result of this "Madam Georgiana" business.
"Cat got your tongue?" he taunted.
Before Lily could decide what to say, her parents and sister walked in. Lily quickly tried to wipe the emotions off her face; Vernon maintained the smug look. Lily resisted the urge to kick his smile off his face.
"Vernon," Lily father said tiredly, appearing to have aged about ten years. Lily hadn't ever seen him look as weary and old as he did in that moment. "May I speak with you for a moment?"
Vernon stood, and wiping the grin off his face and replacing it with a more respectful look, followed Mr. Evans out the door.
Lily glanced at her mother who was angrily cleaning the kitchen counters. She was a stress cleaner, a habit both Lily and Petunia had inherited from her.
Petunia was sulking in one corner of the kitchen. Evidently the conversation with her parents hadn't gone quite as well as she'd hoped. Though Lily was still stunned by the newfound knowledge of exactly how much her sister hated her, she couldn't simply stand by and let Petunia make, what Lily was sure was, the biggest mistake of her life.
"Tuney," Lily said softly, approaching her. Petunia shot her a dirty look. That didn't deter Lily in the least. "Tuney, I'm happy for you, I really am," Lily said earnestly, "but are you sure he's the right guy for you?"
"What do you care?" Petunia retorted with a snort.
"Petunia, I'm still your sister!" Lily exclaimed. "I still care about you."
"I don't really care what you think," she said coldly, brushing past her.
"Petunia, come on," Lily persisted, following her. "You're young and you're beautiful, you can have any guy! What do you even see in him?"
Petunia spun on her heel and faced Lily. "You wouldn't understand!"
"Try me!" Lily challenged.
"He is an incredible guy. Just because you can't get past the way he looks—"
"How dare you insinuate that I'm superficial," she demanded in a low voice, cutting Petunia off. "You should have seen the way he looked at me when he told me about Madam Georgiana's whatever bullshit school you made up and told him I attended."
Petunia, for the first time since she'd burst in the door, looked fearful. She gathered all the hatred she had in her 21-year old heart and channeled it towards Lily.
"Shut up!" she yelled and stormed out.
Lily made to go after her but her mother put an arm on her shoulder and held her back.
"Let her go," she said resignedly.
Her mother sat down abruptly at the table and started blankly ahead and a wave of emotion suddenly washed over Lily as she realized that the events of the day had affected her mother just as much as her. For the second time in two hours, Lily wrapped her arms around her mother, rested her own head on her mother's and fought back tears.
James Harold Potter couldn't sleep. His eyes snapped open and suddenly he was wide-awake. He tossed and turned restlessly but it was futile—he just couldn't seem to go back to sleep. He groggily sat up and reached for his glasses; he was nearly blind without them. He squinted at the clock beside his bed and swore loudly. It was 6:35 a.m. The only time he ever woke up that early was probably Christmas morning. He sighed and dropped back down onto his mattress, staring up at the ceiling of his room.
James' room was quite the opposite of what was expected of a stereotypical teenager's room. It was impeccable – not a single book was out of place, or trouser thrown casually over the chair or piles of dirty laundry in the corner. No, he liked things to be neat and organized. Off to the side of his room, his trunk was packed with clothes, schoolbooks and broom, ready for his return to Hogwarts later that day. His sheets were a deep red to match the Gryffindor banners and pictures of him and his teammates dressed in their House colors, holding the Quidditch Cup on his wall, all things his mother had insisted he put up. He had a small bookshelf beside his bed that contained a small collection of fiction books that hardly anyone knew he owned. If it got out that James Potter liked to read, it would destroy his reputation at school of never having cracked open a book.
James thought the rumors about that he, Sirius and Remus, two of his best friends, never studied were absurd. He didn't know anyone who could just do magic. Even Lily Evans, one of the smartest witches in their year, spent hours and hours pouring over books and charts. Not that he would ever openly admit to her that he thought she was one of the smartest people he knew. No, he preferred to maintain a healthy level of animosity and competition with Lily Evans.
Ah, Lily Evans. She was an enigma, that one. James honestly had never been so mesmerized by anyone in his life. He remembered their very first meeting, six years ago so clearly. Even then, she had been absolutely stunning. It was the first day of classes and he had accidentally run into her as they both rounded a corner at the same time. He remembered standing and staring at her for a full 30 seconds, taking in her orange hair, bright green eyes and freckled face as she too stood in front of him, shocked. He had never seen a more beautiful girl in his life. And in that moment, he'd wanted nothing more than for her to know who he was. He opened his mouth and what came out was, "Watch where you're going carrot-top."
He had no idea what had possessed him to say it. He had fully intended to apologize profusely and introduce himself, but somewhere from his brain to his mouth, the words had gotten lost. And to his immense surprise, the 11-year old girl, instead of bursting into tears, coolly retorted with, "You first, four eyes," and brushed past him.
James, not even caring that he was late for class, had turned around and watched her walk away, amazed. He couldn't wipe the goofy grin on his face for the next two hours that even McGonagall had been worried some older kid had put a cheering charm on him.
Six years later, their insults had certainly improved, but their attitudes hadn't changed in the least. James would continue to pick fights with her and Lily continued to be vexed by him. He received no greater pleasure than when he was doing something detention-worthy and she loved nothing more than being the one to catch him in the act and get him into trouble. Somewhere down the line, their enmity had turned to school and suddenly they were competing for the best marks. James had certainly done well in school before but competing with her just made it that much more imperative that he do well. James never missed an opportunity to gloat when he did better than her and she never missed a chance to get him back by shutting him down publicly.
In his fourth year, James had a brilliant idea. He decided to announce in front of half the school that the reason that he and Lily had yelling matches was because Lily was in love with him.
"Don't worry Lils," he'd said with a wink. "I'll take you out. Go on, go out with me."
She had been livid. She hadn't even waited until the crowd had cleared before hexing him senseless. She'd lost 50 points for Gryffindor and received her first ever detention for that. He had ended up in the hospital wing covered in boils with a bloody nose and a sprained arm.
He didn't know what it was about her that drove him insane and made him do crazy things. He just got a thrill knowing that she didn't react like that to anyone else. He, and he only, knew how to push her buttons and get a rise out of her.
James' stomach grumbled loudly. He glanced back at the clock. 6:53. Groaning, he got out of bed. He couldn't believe how traitorous his body was being by waking him up so early on his last day of vacation. He walked downstairs, still in his pajamas, and walked straight to the kitchen. He was raiding the pantry when his mother walked in, shocked.
"James?" she asked, surprised.
He stuck his head out. "Hello mum."
She looked confused. She usually had to threaten him out of bed at 9 a.m. to ensure he was on time to catch the Hogwarts Express every year. "You are aware this is before noon, correct?" she asked.
"Couldn't sleep. I'm starving though!"
Mrs. Potter sighed. Boys.
"I'll make something," she said, gently shoving him out of the pantry. She eyed his hair. "You need a haircut."
He ran a hand through it, messing it up even more. "Muuum," he whined.
They had the same conversation every time he went back to Hogwarts. His mother insisted on trimming his hair before leaving and somehow he always ended up looking like he hadn't even had his haircut.
James' hair was, at best, uncooperative. His black strands stuck out in every which way and any action done on it, magic of Muggle, had no effect whatsoever. He got that from his father's side of the family. He looked more or less like his father. They both had the same lanky build, same hazel eyes with light flecks of green and they even wore similar shaped wire-rimmed glasses. Even their personalities were alike. They were both hotheaded and tended to think with their heart more than their head. People often turned to them naturally for leadership and both had a burning passion to help others. Mrs. Potter often joked that she sometimes wondered if James even had any genes from her side of the family.
"Go find your father," his mother directed. "He wanted to talk to you before you left."
James frowned but he walked to his father's study and poked his head in.
"Dad?" he called.
His father was sitting at his desk, frowning as he read a letter. Mr. Potter looked up in surprise. He quickly looked at the clock on his desk, which showed that it wasn't even 7 a.m. yet.
"James?" he asked. "Come in. Is everything ok?"
"Just couldn't sleep," he said, letting himself inside.
Mr. Potter seemed to be considering something and finally made up his mind and heaved a sigh.
"Very well, this is good. There's something I need to talk to you about. Shut the door."
James' heart skipped a beat. For a fleeting moment he wondered what kind of trouble he was in; his father never asked him to shut the door to his study unless he wanted to discuss some kind of punishment for something really bad he had done. He racked his brain wondering what he could have possibly done. He and Sirius, his best friend who was currently living with them, had snuck out on Sirius' flying motorcycle, but he hardly thought his dad would be punishing him a week later, especially since they hadn't even been flying the motorcycle. They'd just wanted some air, to get out of the house for a bit after his mother had made them spend the entire day cleaning.
Mr. Potter laughed as he saw James' hesitation.
"You're not in trouble, son," he assured him. "It's just some important Ministry business I want to discuss with you."
James was torn between apprehension and pride at having his father entrust him with important business. Mr. Potter was head of the Auror Office at the Ministry, which meant that a lot of the time he was assigned dangerous tasks. He kept his family apprised of what went on at the Ministry but generally preferred to keep the specifics of his job private. But if he was choosing to share it with him…
James loved keeping situations light with jokes and pranks, there was no doubt about that, but he could be absolutely serious when the situation demanded it, as he suspected this one did. He didn't belittle what his father did for the Ministry or what difficult duties were assigned to Aurors. In fact, he had already spoken to McGonagall about his future and he fully intended to join his father at the Ministry as an Auror after graduating. James took a seat opposite his father and looked at him directly to show that he could be trusted; his father's eyes bore intensely into his own.
"James," Mr. Potter said, adopting a serious tone. "I want you to promise me that what we discuss will stay between you and me."
"Of course," James said immediately. He was the master of keeping secrets and he was prepared to do anything for his father if it meant assisting him with his job.
"Good," Mr. Potter said, his gaze unwavering. "Now I am going to give you a package that I need you to transport to Hogwarts. It needs to be delivered to Professor Dumbledore and Professor Dumbledore only. That is very important."
James nodded. "What's in this package?" he asked, his curiosity piqued.
Mr. Potter hesitated for a moment, but finally settled on the truth. "A locket. It belonged to Godric Gryffindor."
He reached in one of the drawers of his desk and pulled out a small square box wrapped in plain brown paper and tied with a string. He undid the packaging and pulled out a locket no bigger than a snitch, attached to a thin golden chain. The locket itself was gold, encrusted with rubies and was engraved with a fancy G, no doubt for Gryffindor.
James was dying to know why, if it was so important, he couldn't just give it to Dumbledore himself. He asked his father just that.
"It's complicated, James" he responded vaguely. He removed his glasses and rubbed his eyes. Then he seemed to think the better of his answer and elaborated. "There are some people after it, some very bad people. We think it's best if someone takes it to him under the pretense of a priceless family heirloom."
James frowned. He looked away from his father and his gaze wandered to the window behind his father's desk. He could see their back garden out the window, a large expanse of lawn covered in birch and apple trees. A soft summer breeze was blowing through the apple blossoms. There was a black falcon sitting in one of birch trees just outside the window, ruffling its feathers importantly. He had a million questions for his father. Who were these bad people? And why were they after a centuries old locket? Did the locket have any special value? How had his father come in possession of the locket in the first place? But he swallowed all the questions back.
"Are you sure you want to trust me with this?" he asked finally.
Mr. Potter put his glasses back on and reached out to touch his son's hand. He squeezed it hard and looking directly in his eyes said, "I'd trust you with my life, son."
His father had never spoken to him in this manner before. James was quite touched.
-:-
As always King's Cross Station was packed with hundreds of young witches and wizards who were eagerly awaiting their return to Hogwarts and the chance to catch up with their friends after months of separation.
Mr. Potter had pulled James away right before they'd left Godric's Hollow and given him the locket, which was safely back in its brown paper packaging. It was almost hard to believe that the unassuming package held something that even the Ministry wanted it in Hogwarts with Dumbledore.
"Don't forget," he warned as James slipped the package in his trunk. Mr. Potter had thought it would be best if it were safely locked inside James' trunk until he got to Hogwarts. James could then grab it before he got off the train. Mr. Potter smiled down at his son and pulled him into a hug, surprising him.
"Have a good term, son."
His mother's goodbye was much more emotional as she extracted promise after promise from him on the station.
"Promise you'll write as soon as you get to Hogwarts."
"Yes, mum."
"And promise me you'll get a haircut!"
James rolled his eyes. "Yes, mum."
"And promise me you'll stay out of trouble," she said sternly.
"Mum," James said exasperatedly.
She wasn't having any of that and glared at him. James gave in. "Alright, I'll try," he said noncommittally.
"Oh James, be careful," she said, wrapping her arms tightly around him. Nearly a whole head taller than her, he had to stoop down to hug her properly.
"I will," he said, giving her one last squeeze and a kiss on the cheek. He smiled and waved at his parents one last time before finally boarding the train.
The whistle blew, signaling that the train was about to depart, and there was a sudden flurry all throughout the station as students scrambled onto the train. James dragged his trunk to the back of the train, searching for any sign of his best friend, Sirius Black.
"James!"
James grinned brightly as he caught sight of his best friend Sirius waving him over. Though Sirius had spent his summer holiday at the Potters, he had boarded the train earlier under pretense of finding seats; as much as he appreciated everything the Potters had done for him, he still wanted to allow them time to say a proper goodbye to their son.
Peter Pettigrew, the third member of their group, was already in the compartment. As Sirius helped James stow his belongings, James caught up with Peter.
"How's your gran Pettigrew?" James asked.
Peter scowled. "Still living," he said sullenly. James and Sirius burst into laughter.
Every year Peter's family dragged him to Leicester for most of the summer, insisting that he had to visit his dying grandmother. Each year, when he returned to school, she was still breathing and healthy as could be for a 93 year old.
"You should take Priscilla Westerly up there and just go at it," James suggested. "That sight alone should do the trick!"
Peter blushed a bright red at the thought of doing anything at all to Priscilla Westerly, a Ravenclaw he'd had a crush on for the better part of a year. He hadn't yet even worked up the courage to have a conversation with her out of class.
"Oh come on Peter," Sirius chided. "You're going to have to talk to her a some point."
He'd been pushing him to initiate contact with the girl since he'd discovered his friend had a thing for her, which made Peter anxious to no end.
Sirius Black was never one to shy away from confrontation, especially with a girl. With dashing good looks and a charming personality there was no shortage of girls fawning over him, a fact that he both knew and used to his advantage. Like James, he had dark hair, but his think waves framed his tanned face more elegantly. Sirius' eyes were a blue-gray that often bore an intensity that gave him the appearance of looking right through people. And while James preferred a clean-shaven look, Sirius favored a five o'clock shadow that he felt made him look more mature. James thought he was an idiot but the ladies seemed to side with Sirius.
Sirius, unlike James, had no qualms whatsoever using the girls who threw themselves at him. Most girls were convinced that they were the one to tame his ever-wandering heart but he had no intension of settling down, especially not while still in school.
Peter, on the other hand, was worse with girls than he was at potions—and he tended to go to the hospital wing once every other week due to a potions related injury. In fact, no one had known who he was until he had started hanging out with Sirius, James and Remus, the three most popular boys in school.
His friends had always been a source of insecurity for Peter. At only 5'5" he was nearly a whole head shorter than James, Sirius and Remus. He had short blond hair, watery blue eyes, a weak voice and a generally quiet disposition, preferring to remain on the sidelines instead of the center of attention. Though not unattractive, his small features didn't hold a candle to James, Sirius and even Remus' bright faces and dazzling smiles.
"Oh come off it, Sirius," James chided, already losing interest in the conversation. "Leave the boy alone. He'll talk to her when he's ready."
"I'll do it this year!" Peter promised eagerly, not wanting to be dismissed, but the two other boys had already moved on.
"So," James said grinning deviously at Peter. "Sirius and I finished the sketches for the Map!"
He pulled what looked like an old piece of parchment out of his robes and spread it out on the seat beside him. Peter eagerly watched as James pulled out his wand, tapped it and said clearly, "I solemnly swear I'm up to no good."
Black lines began to appear on the parchment, drawing and connecting themselves to reflect the different passages, rooms and staircases found in the castle itself. It had taken the four of them the better part of a year to fully explore and make accurate sketches of all the hundreds of different pathways found within Hogwarts. In fact, because of just how big the school was, they'd had so many scraps of parchment of different areas drawn by each individual that Sirius and James had been forced to spend half their summer piecing together all the different scenes. It had been sort of like a massive puzzle and once they'd managed to figure out how the drawings fit together and where they overlapped, they'd had to retrace the entire thing onto the Map itself. Then, Sirius had put a nifty little charm on it that made the lines appear and connect themselves across the Map.
However, with no library books and no real motivation to work just yet, the Map soon lay forgotten, their attention redirected toward the food trolley's many sweets and Peter's new pack of Exploding Snap. They had all but forgotten about Remus Lupin, the last member of the exclusive group, until he walked in to their compartment about halfway through their journey.
Remus was the tallest of the four boys, standing at 6'2" and had sandy hair that was always just a little too long. In fact, he usually looked just a little shy of being put together, giving him the appearance of constantly running late. He seemed tired, as he often did, a side effect of his extremely painful monthly transformations into a werewolf. When he opened the door to their compartment, he was already in his Hogwarts robes, Prefect badge pinned to the front. For troublemakers like the four boys, there was no worse betrayal than one of their own having been made a Prefect and forced to not only follow rules, but also to uphold them.
Remus, much to the dismay and confusion of the boys, had been made a Prefect the previous year. The boys suspected that Dumbleore had made the decision hoping that having Remus thrust in a role of responsibility would lead them to adopt better behaviors. Instead, they had merely seen it a challenge to overcome before continuing on with their regular mischief.
"Remus!" the boys cried, leaping out of their seats. Sirius pulled him into a hug while James ruffled his hair and patted him on the back.
"Good of you to join us mate!"
"Oh you have no idea how awful it's been in there," he said, collapsing into a seat and rubbing his face tiredly. "Half of them are giant duds."
Remus caught sight of the Map and James immediately brought him up to speed him of their progress. Remus looked longingly at the Map and his friends.
"I wish I could stay and work but I have to go back soon," he said ruefully. "They think I'm in the bathroom. It would be a little suspicious if I didn't go back."
"Maybe if you don't go back they'll think you drowned in the toilet," Sirius voiced.
"Right because that's the natural conclusion to jump to when one doesn't show up from claiming to be in the restroom," Remus retorted sarcastically. "They might as well think I peed myself to death."
"Well either way, you probably wouldn't have to be Prefect anymore," Peter chimed in.
"Wonderful, I'll kill myself to avoid being Prefect."
"You know if you do a bad job, they might just sack you," James volunteered.
"Is shoddiness your solution to everything Potter?" a cold voice commented from the open door.
The four boys turned their attention to a skinny boy with slicked back black hair, a long hooked nose and sallow skin. Sirius and Remus immediately pulled out their wands while Peter fumbled with his robes trying to locate his and James hastily stuffed the open Map out of sight. James then stood up and lazily drew out his wand, his hazel eyes glittering.
"Snape," Sirius drawled. "Still haven't washed your hair I see."
"Maybe we ought to help him with that," James suggested and shot a jet of water out from his wand, hitting Snape directly in the face. Snape spluttered as the four other boys laughed. Snape fished out his own wand but before anyone could do anything further, the compartment door slid open yet again and a skinny redhead stepped in, frowning disapprovingly at the sight in front of her. Lily Evans.
James' hand immediately jumped to his hair and he messed it up even more than it already was. A lazy smirk crept across his face.
"What's going on here?" she demanded immediately. "You ok Sev?" she asked Snape but he didn't reply.
"Better watch your attitude or you might find yourself losing more than just House points," he threatened before turning on his heel and walking out.
Once Snape was out of sight, he turned to Lily. "Well, well, couldn't resist waiting until the feast to see me, huh Evans?" he drawled.
"You'd think, wouldn't you?" Lily deadpanned.
"Don't worry, I've been thinking about you too," James continued on with a quick wink.
"Something in your eye Potter?" she replied, unimpressed. "You lot better get dressed soon," she warned them. "We're almost there. Remus, a word please?"
Remus put his wand away and followed her out. A moment later he poked his head in with a dejected expression.
"I gotta go back up front," he told them with a heavy sigh before disappearing.
True to Lily's words the train did appear to be slowing down. As Peter and James crammed the last of the sweets they'd bought from the food trolley into their pockets and Sirius grabbed all three of their robes from their trunks.
As he changed into his Hogwarts robes, James had a nagging feeling that he'd forgotten to do something. It wasn't until he was safely in one of the Hogsmeade carriages, sitting across from Alice Prewett and listening to her talk about how thankful she was that they didn't have to carry their trunks up to Hogwarts themselves that it finally hit him. He'd forgotten to take the locket out of his trunk before leaving the train.
A/N: I am SO SO SO sorry. I know there are no excuses for a ONE-YEAR delay but I promise I won't abandon this story. I have planned out quite a few chapters (at least 15) so at least there's that. I'm going to try to put up at least one more chapter within the month. Reviews are greatly appreciated! 3