Disclaimer: Harry Potter and any and all related official materials are the property of J.K. Rowling
As James stood staring at their burned out husk of a cottage, a dozen panicked thoughts raced through his mind. What happened here? What's going on? Where's Harry? But even as his pounded, even as his pulse raced and his breathing became ragged, he noticed things: the blackened wood was not smoldering, there was no scent of smoke in the air. Here and there, green plant life was growing up over several places of fallen beams and crumbled stones. Slowly this began to sink into James's mind, enough for him to realize that whatever had happened to his house had happened a long time ago.
James bent down to his sobbing wife. "We need to go Lily, we can't stay here." Taking Lily's arm, he lifted her to her feet, and began to lead away. As they stumbled down the street, James glanced at a nearby house that had its porch light on and spied a muggle newspaper on the step.
"Lily, I need you to stay for a moment, okay? Here, lean against this and I'll be right back." James spoke softly in her ear as he gently set her against a nearby lamppost. Turning, he trotted over the fence separating the street from the house yard. Pulling his wand from an inside pocket, ( a small voice at the back of his mind wondered that he even had his wand, but he ignored it. ) James pointed it over the fence, towards the paper, and muttered Accio! The paper rose into the air and floated swiftly into James's open hand. Stowing his wand, James moved quickly back to the street light where Lily sagged. Standing where the lamp would allow him to see, James opened the paper, scanned its heading, and nearly dropped it. Frightened and confused, he stared at the date at the head of the paper.
1 July 1995
My God, James screamed inside his own head. 1995?! What's going on? Why is it 1995? How did fourteen years just vanish?
"Lily, my God, Lily. Look at the date. Oh God, look at the year!"
Lily shuffled forward enough to see the top of the paper. When she saw it, however, James had to move quickly to cover her mouth before she let out another scream. He clamped his down over her lips, dropping the paper as he did so, and followed her down to the ground as her legs gave out and collapsed beneath her emotions.
"Oh James! Oh God, James! Fourteen years! Where have we been for fourteen years? Oh Harry! Where's Harry? What's happened to my baby?"
James pulled his wife close. "Shh, Lily, its alright. We'll figure this out. I'm sure that Harry is fine. Sirius would not have let anything happen to him. Neither would Remus or Dumble... dore..." His voice trailed off as a thought struck him. "Dumbledore!" He nearly shouted.
"We have to go see Dumbledore!"
"What?" Lily whispered.
"We need to see Dumbledore. He can tell us. If anyone will know what's happened to us, why we look older, why the house is destroyed, where our son is, he will."
James pulled lily to her feet, though her emotional turmoil made this a difficult task as her sagging legs didn't seem able to completely support her weight. Finally, he managed to get his wife to a standing position. "Come on, Lily." He whispered in her. Then, pulling her close to himself, James Disappirated with a loud CRACK!
Editor's note: i know this chapter is short. the next one will be about 700 words or so. if you have any opinions or suggestions, please review.
