A/N: The OC in this chapter is Jasmine Black, Sirius' cousin and Harry's godmother.

"What do you say, Potter?" Voldemort repeated in a whisper, face livid with anticipation, waiting for James to make his decision.
James opened his mouth, trying to remember how to speak. Desperate to find a way out of this mess, James voiced one of the first, less complicated, thoughts he could think of.

"Why should I trust you?"

Voldemort's malicious grin turned into a scowl. "Are you calling me a liar, Potter?"

"So what if I am?"

Eyes flashing, Voldemort stood hastily and pressed the blade above James's Adam's apple, so he could feel it gnawing at his jaw.

"So what if you are, Potter?" Voldemort inquired. "So what if you are?"

James's eyes traveled to the handle of the snake dagger, held by the hand of the monster that had destroyed his family, his breathing guarded.

Regaining his composition, Voldemort sat again on his Dark Mark throne, and withdrew the blade from James's neck.

"Either way, Potter, precious Harry will die, so the question remains to be, will you really do anything to keep your wife alive and well?"

Defeated, James looked up at Voldemort. Did he really have a choice when the lives of his wife and son hung in the balance as they did?

Voldemort grinned.

James had been given a Portkey and an address, one that Voldemort, apparently, couldn't get to himself: 4 Privet Drive.

As James staggered through the streets of Surrey, with the sheathed dagger hidden within the hem of the worn cloak that covered his bruised and beaten body, he looked up at the crescent moon, grateful it was night; he had forgotten how bright the moon could be, let alone the sun.

Privet Drive came into view as James clutched his side, his once fit body unused to any physical activity.

His thoughts again wondered to Lily, it killed him to leave her, but that absence of a certain feeling in his stomach led him to believe that Voldemort was keeping his promise... for now.

Probably only to make sure I do kill Harry, James thought darkly.

Number four, there it was. Stumbling up the walkway, James braced himself for what would happen when he pounded loudly on the door. He was going to meet his son, for the first time in fourteen years.

But one thing James was certain of, he wasn't going to kill him, he could never kill him; he only had to buy some time... for Lily.

In the kitchen of Number Four Privet Drive, Harry Potter was talking with some of the members of the advance guard when a loud banging was heard on the door.

"What was that?" Remus Lupin muttered.

"I'm betting it was someone at the door," Jasmine Black answered lucidly.

"Well thanks for letting us know, Auntie Obvious," Nymphadora Tonks said.

Alastor 'Mad-Eye' Moody's magical blue eye zipped to the door as his normal beady one widened in shock. "Dear Merlin... "

The other nine witches and wizards looked in the direction of the door, Moody wasn't one to be put in shock easily.

Jasmine pulled out her wand and crept over to the door, blocked from view to all but Mad-Eye. Wand at the ready, Jasmine flung open the door. "STUP--"

The guard heard her stop in midcurse. Withdrawing his wand, Remus headed over to see what happened, followed by everyone else.

"Jas, what-?" Remus looked and saw exactly what had caused Jasmine to stand dumbfounded, mouth hanging open, and wand still poised: James Potter panting harshly as he held himself up with the side of the house; the same James Potter said to be dead for fourteen years.

Harry stood, gawking at his father like everyone else. "Dad?"

James's eyes darted up, unfocused, at the direction of Harry's voice. He opened his mouth to say something, but he was drained of energy. His eyes rolled back into his head as he fell forward through the open door.

Remus lurched forward and caught his friend before he could hit the ground.

James awoke to the sound of talking voices in the next room in a room he'd never seen before. He forced his tired legs to take him to the door the voices were behind, and James found they were talking about him.

"So you're positive it's really him?"

In The Kitchen of 12 Grimmauld Place

Sirius Black was sitting with a huge grin plastered on his face, eyes ready to form tears.

"Of course we're positive! We wouldn't have even been able to get him in if he weren't," answered Jasmine, her feet on the table and chair tilted back, obviously happier than she'd been for a long time.

Remus still sported an unbelieving, yet blissful, expression as he thought of the missing Marauder returned to them.

Harry, however, still had yet to say a word, or even move, since arriving at the Order of the Phoenix Head Quarters and reuniting with his godfather, Sirius. He was sitting next to his best friends, Ron Weasley and Hermione Granger, as he fought the feeling in the pit of his stomach, making him feel so happy he wanted to shout for joy and yet be sick all at the same time.

His father wasn't dead.

But that fact also caused his nerves to shatter. What could he say to the father he couldn't even remember? What if his father didn't like him? What if he woke up to find this had all been a cruel dream and he was still stuck at Privet Drive? But another question forming in Harry's mind gave him a bit of hope. If James was alive, did that mean Lily was too?

"Harry, you ok?"

Harry looked up to see the three Marauders looking at him concernedly. He nodded a few times, still slightly shaking and nervous, scared as anything. "Yeah, it's just... I mean... I never...-"

"Don't worry about it," Remus said with a reassuring smile.

"I guess we'll let you all alone," Mad-Eye announced, his magical eye spinning madly in its socket. He jabbed a thumb at the door. "He just woke up."

A/N: So was that what you expected, more or less so? How about for the next chapter?