Chapter II: Fetching Evans
The afternoon sun was shining low in the horizon when James, flying on his broom, landed in front of the Evans' home. Mrs. Evans answered the door. Her smile disappeared upon seeing him and James was reminded of how much she was like Petunia, in looks and in temperament. Except for her hair. "Good evening, Mrs. Evans. Is Lily at home?" Her eyes narrowed as she replied, "Isn't it a bit late for a visit, James?" Only she ever called him that. All the other Evans called him Potter to his face. "I need to talk to her," James said earnestly, "it's extremely important."
"She's not here. I'm sorry to have to tell you this, James," she said, not looking sorry at all, "We don't want you to come visiting Lily anymore. I think you're a bad influence on her."
They stared silently at each other for a moment, each unwilling to yield to the other, before James said, "If that's what you wish, ma'am, but first let me talk to her." Her expression, once civil, turned to anger. "I told you she's not here!"
James was about to make an equally angry retort when a loud cough interrupted them. Mr. Evans approached his wife and, with a hand on her elbow, said, "Now, now, dear…" he stared meaningfully at her and added, "let me handle this." He then turned his kind eyes to James and said, "Now son, what is it you want to tell Lily?" James paused for a second, wondering whether he should tell him. He had always liked Lily's father. Where Mrs. Evans was aloof, he was always warm and welcoming. But James worried that they might panic if he told them that their daughter was in mortal peril and decided to let Lily do the explanations. Finally, he said, "I can't tell you, sir. I think it's best if I tell Lily first." Mrs. Evans gasped in indignation. "Audacious!"
James was losing his patience. If he had to go through this in every muggle-born home in the village, he doubted they will ever be able to escape from Voldemort. "Sir, I haven't got time to argue with you! I need to talk –" A flash of flowing, red hair behind the couple caught his eye. "Lily!"
An astonished Lily Evans' appeared from behind her parents "Potter? What is it?" James breathed a sigh of relief then said, "We have to talk."
Turning to her parents, she said, "Why didn't you tell me I had a visitor?" "Lily, go back inside," Mrs. Evans commanded her, "We've told you before, we forbade you to continue dealing with the likes of him."
Lily rolled her eyes in exasperation and replied, "And I've told you, mother – my work requires that I do deal with the likes of Potter. It's not like he comes here merely to see me." (That's not entirely untrue; James thought wryly) "Potter keeps me updated on developments in our campaign. He conveys important messages from Dumbledore and the other members. When he says he needs to see me, I can't take it blithely." She prevented any more protests from her mother by coming out into the porch and closing the door.
Amusement lit her entrancing, green eyes as she said, "Sorry about that, Potter. She likes you, really; only, she's convinced you're going to ask for my hand in marriage." Her smile faded as quickly as her mother's upon seeing his grave expression.
"You're in danger, Evans. Voldemort plans to come here by nightfall and murder all the muggle-borns in your village."
"Who told you that?"
"We haven't got much time," he replied, avoiding her eyes. "You have to hurry and help me gather the others. We need to transfer you all to another location."
"How did you know about this?" she insisted. James was forced to look at her, imaging how her beautiful face would fold upon hearing his answer. You asked for it. "Severus Snape told me earlier this afternoon."
She looked aghast. "So he really is a Death Eater?"
"I'm afraid so," James answered gently and consolingly, expecting the inevitable tears. But Lily only shook her head sadly. When she looked back at James, there was a determined expression on her face. They began walking out of the Evans' driveway; Lily shouted: "I'll be back in a bit!" to her worried parents who had by now opened the door again, demanding that she get back inside.
"Have you alerted the other members?" she said, as they sprinted down the street.
Without slowing down, he answered, "I have sent patronuses to Sirius and the others but we do not have much time to wait for them. We need to gather all the other muggle-borns in your village. How many are there in this place?"
"All the wizards in this village are muggle-born."
"Blimey, no wonder Voldemort zeroed in on this place. How many?"
"There's at least fifteen excluding me," she replied, "ten of which are underage." James grimaced. Too many.
"What's your plan?" she asked, sensing his predicament.
"Well, we obviously cannot let a bunch of kids fight Voldemort and his minions and we'll most probably be greatly outnumbered anyway so I reckon the best plan would be some sort of escape."
"We need something better than 'some sort of escape'," she retorted. "Are we going to apparate them all away from here? What about their parents and the other muggles? Voldemort wouldn't think twice of murdering everybody who gets left behind in this village."
James thought the same thing before he came here, trying to come up with a plan that'll somehow transport them all away from that place and save the other muggles from Voldemort. A stroke of inspiration came to him when, upon coming up to his room to fetch his invisibility cloak, he glanced upon a poster of the Montrose Magpies on his wall. "I'll explain later. Right now we need to assemble everybody."