James watched in shocked horror as Sirius fell to the ground. He'd heard the curse that was uttered - caedo viscus. It was one of the more deadly curses known to wizardry that was not considered an Unforgiveable. It literally killed the organs inside the body, slowly spreading its poison as it went through the system. If a victim didn't receive medical attention within five minutes there was no hope, and even when help was reached in time, the odds of surviving were still quite low.
He quickly summoned a rock that was a few metres in front of him, casting the portus charm on it, along with the necessary code and password to get Sirius through the wards of St. Mungo's. James could only pray that he had acted fast enough, and that the healers would be able to save his friend. With a final worried glance at his friend, who looked like death warmed over, he tossed the self-made portkey to Sirius who was instantly swept out of the fight. Realizing that there was nothing else he could do for his friend, James returned to the fight, a noticeable change in his fighting style. James Leonard Potter was angry.
Whilst covering his back from cowardice Death Eaters that sent spells from behind, James quickly joined Albus as he fought at least four people from all sides. Noticing the help Albus' noticeably dull eyes regained a bit of its infamous twinkle, subdued though it was, at least it had returned.
Both men covered the other's backs as effectively as Sirius and James had done, not more than ten minutes before.
They had a very similar fighting style, transfiguring objects around them to act as shields whilst they sent curse after curse at their weakening enemies.
When James had been in his second year at Hogwarts, Professor McGonagall had noticed that James had a natural talent for transfigurations. Minerva had commented that she had not seen anything like the talent he displayed in all her years of teaching. This led to the headmaster getting intimately involved in tutoring James in the fine art. The people that had known of the arrangement truly believed then, and still did believe, that after Albus had finished teaching the craft to James he would only be second to one person in that particular talent, and that person had been his Mentor.
The two men were finally able to defeat the four people that had been tormenting Albus, it was only after the fourth man had fallen that James noticed that most of the other Death Eaters were either restrained, incapacitated, or had fled.
"It seems we live to fight another day." The words sounded callous, but James was alarmed to hear the weariness in Albus' voice.
"The key word being live, let's just be glad that we're alive." Whilst speaking these words, James' features paled. "Sirius", he whispered weakly.
Hearing the despaired whisper Albus' eyes quickly swept the battlefield, trying to ascertain where the more rambunctious Marauder was at. Worry plagued him as he searched each face, unable to find the man he was looking for.
He turned to the panicking James, afraid of the answer he would receive.
"James, what happened, where is Sirius?"
James lifted trembling hands to his face, trying to wipe away the fatigue he felt. He swiftly told Albus what curse had hit Sirius, he couldn't think of anything except the last glance he had had of his friend. He had truly looked dead.
"Go to St. Mungo's James. I'll handle things here." Seeing that James wanted to argue Albus lifted a hand, effectively stopping any argument. "There's not much for you to do here James, go and assuage your fears regarding Sirius. We owe you for the help today." Albus said the last part very earnestly; he realized that he was indebted to the other man for coming to their aid.
"It's my job Albus, and I was glad for the little I could help." James thought back on the battle, realizing that he made some difference that day, it was however whilst thinking about the battle that he remembered the traitor that had been exposed. His hands clenched as he thought back to that moment where one of his best friends had been exposed as one of the enemy.
Albus noticed the change in the other man, saw the clenching of hands and jaw, and realized that something else must have happened as well.
"James?" Albus spoke the name softly, feeling slightly uneasy, something he rarely felt.
"Pettigrew!" The name was spat with such venom that Albus took an unconscious step backward. Before he could question the statement James continued.
"He was fighting. We didn't know it was him, but Sirius sent a cutting curse at him, Merlin he chopped of his arm with that curse, but we didn't know. He was wearing a mask, he was sending bloody killing curses at us and others, he was… no he IS a Death Eater…" Albus couldn't believe what he was hearing. Timid Peter Pettigrew, a man believed to be afraid of his own shadow, a Death Eater? It wasn't possible.
"Are you certain James, you say that the person you were fighting was wearing a mask, perhaps he had just resembled Peter?"
"Bloody Hell Albus, it was Peter okay! He had red hair, he was short, he was a bit pudgy, and you know what, we still didn't see! We didn't see for all these years! He was my friend, my kids call him Uncle Peter for Merlin's sake, and all this time, all these years he's been in league with the man that we pledged to fight and destroy. All these years he's been having me for a fool! They call him Uncle Peter!"
Albus had been surprised at the initial outburst, James Potter rarely swore. It was difficult to keep up with James' ramblings. It was however clear that he was convinced that one of the Death Eaters that had fought in the day's battle had been Peter Pettigrew, but Albus still wasn't sure what had led the man to this conviction.
"How is it that you are so certain James?" He was slightly afraid that the question would only spark another ramble, however Albus was surprised at the answer the man gave.
"He turned into his rat form. Right after Sirius had chopped of his arm, he turned into that gawky, dirty rat. I would recognize him anywhere, just as I would Sirius, even Moony has some distinguishing traits. He turned into the sneaky, traitorous, cowardice rat he is and ran away." Albus paled at the news. He had learned of the Marauder's Animagus forms a number of years earlier, they had remained unregistered, seeing as their forms were invaluable spying aids.
"This is very distressing news James, but we will deal with it later. I will call an emergency Order meeting for this evening. I am so sorry to even suggest this, but it would probably be best if you cut your holiday short. We will need all the help we can get in the coming days, and you and Lily are invaluable." James gave a curt nod, relating that he understood the message and agreed with the other man. They quickly parted ways after that; Albus went to assist the others and assess the damage, whilst James apparated to the outskirts of St Mungo's.
Lily had no idea what it was that she had experienced during the Dragons' mating ritual. The one moment she had been watching the two amazing creatures, the next thing she knew fog surrounded her, and she could barely recognize the Dragons through the haziness.
After a couple of seconds had passed, images flashed in front of the fog. She could see James grabbing her in a hug, the reception desk at St. Mungo's to their right. James however didn't look injured in the slightest. The next was an image of her son, but he looked a bit older than present, he had an expression of intense concentration on his face, before a magnificent white light erupted from his wand.
Other images flashed by, each faster than the previous.
A boy and girl, who could only be Harry and Hazel, featured in many of them, but the images were of them at different ages. Some of the images were awfully disturbing. One of the pictures featured a glimpse of an older Harry lying on the ground, blood pouring from beneath his head. Another where Hazel was crying hysterically, at least she thought it was Hazel, but she had been a lot older, probably at least twelve.
Other images were of Lily and James, many featured them smiling proudly, but on some of the images it was clear that they were worried or angry, however the ones that frightened her most were the images of her James with grieve covering their features. She had never seen anybody that looked as broken as the two of them in those images.
The last image hovered in front of the fog for at least two seconds, it was of the two of them, arms around each other, with both Harry, who was probably almost eighteen, and Hazel, who had to be a bit older than fourteen, standing next to them, smiles on all their faces, no grieve, worry or anger in sight.
It was this final picture that left Lily with a smile on her face, for with it came the knowledge that no matter what they had to go through in order to get to that point, they had a magnificent future to look forward to, and that they would get there together.
