Visiting the headmaster

James, Lily and Remus arrived in front of the Three Broomsticks in Hogsmeade. While Lily vanished the piece of rope that they had used as a portkey Remus and James quickly looked around for any potential danger. But the streets seemed to be deserted. Of course, it was still rather cold here in Scotland, although it was officially spring by now.

They were a bit late for their appointment with the headmaster, and so they immediately started walking towards Hogwarts. Only two days ago Dumbledore had sent them an invite, apparently he wanted to talk about Voldemort's horcruxes. In the last two years Remus had practically lived in Lionfire Hall, more specifically in the library room. In fact… a month ago he had simply sold his old apartment after he realised he had not been there for over two months straight.

And so the three of them had came to Hogsmeade together. The Longbottoms and Blacks should already be there by now. Earlier today they had brought Neville and Susan to Lionfire Hall. Death eater activity had dropped down to almost nothing after they had delivered the Lestrange family and Crouch junior to the ministry, but still they chose to gather all the children at Lionfire Hall on days like today. They all knew that Timmy, Jenny and most importantly the wards would keep them safe enough while their parents were out.

They hurried to the chill spring temperature and soon enough found themselves in front of the gargoyle that guarded the headmasters office. Classes were still in session, so there were no students that could overhear James muttering: 'Acid pops.' to the statue.

Inside they immediately noticed that the usually small office had somehow grown enough to house a long table with four chairs on each side and one on the head. Obviously, Albus himself was sitting on the last chair. The Longbottoms were on the left side and Sirius was on the right. A quick glance through the office showed that Albus' normal desk, Fawkes and his perch and the tables filled with all kinds of magical instruments were moved to one of the side walls. But there was no sign of Amelia.

And so after a few quick greetings James first question was: 'Sirius? Where is Amelia?'

Sirius waved impatiently: "She did not want to leave the ministry. Lucius Malfoy is trying to get cosy with minister Bagnold again. And although she seems to distrust him just as much as we do Amelia felt she had to be there."

James nodded. Recently Amelia had been promoted to be one of the minister's bodyguards. A position that was often seen as a fast track to a position as head auror or even head of the department of magical law enforcement, DMLE for short. Even two years ago, when Crouch Sr. was 'promoted' from the DMLE to a much less prestigious department after his son was revealed as a death eater her name had already been mentioned for both of the top jobs. But in the end some people considered her too young, so instead of her two more experienced men were chosen. Both were not that far away from retirement though, and sometimes Amelia was already thinking about possible reforms she could start if she got one of the positions.

He still remembered how furious she had been when Lucius Malfoy and several other rich purebloods had been cleared of all charges after Voldemort's death. Everybody knew they had not been imperiused, but galleons were a justice on their own. James and the others had decided to pretty much ignore the ministry after that, instead they decided to focus on their own plans. But Amelia still wanted to change the corrupt ministry to a better organisation. He had to admit that it was a worthy goal, although he sometimes doubted if it was realistic.

Still, today the ministry was not the main subject. And Albus got everybody's attention by saying: 'I believe I finally know enough about horcruxes to make some educated guesses about what Voldemort can do.'

When he did not immediately continue Frank was the first to say: 'That is good news I guess?'

'In a way.' Albus slowly replied, 'It does not really bring us any closer to actually finding and destroying them. But that will be my next avenue of research.'

'We know Albus.' Lily smiled, 'But I admit that I am curious to learn more about those horcruxes first. To me, they still do not make much sense.'

James and Sirius both nodded impatiently. In the last two years both had mentioned a few times that they did not understand why it took so long to research some magical artefacts. But apparently there was not much literature about them. Beside that, it was not like the headmaster had nothing else to do. Albus abruptly started talking again: 'Yes, I will ignore the part about the creation of horcruxes. I am sure none of you ever wants to make one. And even if you do I will not be the one to tell you about them. Let me just say that murder is only the first step. And not even the most evil step at that.'

They all looked at each other, somewhat wondering about what other acts would be even more evil than murder. But nobody asked about it and the headmaster continued: 'I am afraid that there are no material requirements to the creation of a horcrux. Which obviously makes our quest much more difficult."

'Huh?' Sirius eloquently asked.

Albus chuckled: 'What I mean to say is that almost everything can be turned into a horcrux. Coins, artefacts or just random pieces of clothing. Even living beings have in the past been used as horcruxes, although obviously it is not that effective. After all, if the carrier dies from old age or sickness the horcrux will fade as well. Only creatures or items filled with light magic, like Fawkes over here for example, can never be used as horcruxes. Looking back to that Halloween I believe that green cloud was trying to turn you into a horcrux James.'

Next to him both Lily and Remus gasped. James just looked surprised, he realised that he had not read enough about the horcruxes to realise the full danger. So he just said: 'Well, that makes me twice as happy that my wonderful wife got me out of there in time.'

'Same here.' Lily eagerly agreed.

'Definitely.' Alice agreed as well, 'I take it the problem you mentioned is that there is no way to narrow down the search for horcruxes now?'

Albus slowly nodded: 'It would have been much easier if a horcrux could only be made out of a certain material. I believe that right now I will have to find out what kind of items lord Voldemort would choose to use as horcruxes. It is too early to say anything, but I already have some vague ideas.'

James was not the only one that wanted to complain about the headmaster's vague reply. But they had all learned that it would not help anyway, so he just asked: 'So all you discovered is that you have to start researching something else?' As soon as he said it he realised that it sounded rather impatient, apparently Lily thought the same for she forcibly kicked against his leg.

Albus just smiled, if it was in reaction to James' words or his pained expression was a bit unclear: 'Well, there is a bit more. I learned that right now Voldemort should be floating around as a kind of a wraith. There are basically two ways that he can use to return to a corporeal body. Actually, there are three, but since Nicolas destroyed his philosophers stone there are only two reasonable options left.'

'He actually did destroy the stone?' Frank asked. Most of them were still surprised at the idea that someone would willingly destroy such a wondrous item. But the headmaster seemed to think it was perfectly normal. Of course, the man thought that the bright purple robes he was wearing right now were perfectly normal as well, but still…

'Yes, he did. He and his wife are now slowly aging and will eventually move on to the next adventure. Anyway, as I said, this leaves only two options for the dark lord. The easiest way would be to sacrifice one of his horcruxes. With a rather simple ritual the horcrux would disappear and the dark lord would be back in the flesh so to speak.' Albus explained.

'So even if we can not find the horcruxes he would eventually die if we destroy his body often enough?' Lily wondered.

Albus hesitated: 'In theory yes. I believe that even Voldemort can not make an unlimited number of new horcruxes. However, there is another way for him to return. It involves a much more complex ritual that includes a very complex potion and some special ingredients, but I believe the dark lord will try this at first since it would not require him to sacrifice one of his precious horcruxes. I admit that I was unable to discover what exactly those three special ingredients might be, although I learned about one of them. I believe you still do not want me to discuss this with professor Snape? He might be able to name the other two ingredients.'

Lily and the marauders exchanged a silent communication. Although Lily and Albus had always said that they trusted Snape there was still a bit too much history between the three marauders and Snape. Beside that, James simply did not trust people who knew that much about the dark arts. Frank and Alice had also argued that they preferred to keep the prophecy and everything that was involved with it on a 'need-to-know' basis. Eventually Lily said: 'We still want to keep Severus out of this. However, if you can breach the subject in some way without mentioning the prophecy, William or any of us it is fine with me.'

They all nodded, some more reluctantly than others. Albus thoughtfully frowned a few seconds before he continued: 'There might be a way… some of my connections recently informed me about a dark spirit roaming through the forests of Albania… I meant to discuss it with Severus. Anyway, the one ingredient I did discover that is involved in the ritual is blood from an enemy.'

'That should be easy enough for him to find. He made more than enough enemies.' Sirius concluded. But on James' other side Lily turned very pale: 'Please tell me that does not mean Harry!'

All heads snapped back to the headmaster, who looked very serious now: 'In theory Sirius might be right. But I am afraid that if Voldemort puts enough stock in the prophecy to try and attack Harry he will want to use his blood for this ritual as well.'

James was the first to reply: 'It does not really change anything. We already knew that we should protect Harry from Voldemort, this just gives us another reason.'

'Yes, of course.' Albus nodded in agreement, 'However, I was hoping you would not spread too much details about those protections.'

'Why not?' Lily asked, 'There is no way that I will allow that madman to get to Harry.'

'Oh, I fully agree that Harry should be protected at all costs.' Albus quickly agreed again when faced with Lily's fierce expression. 'However, I do hope that Voldemort will wait for Harry to enter Hogwarts. He might think he has a chance to get him inside the halls of this school, so instead of sacrificing a horcrux he will wait. Or at least, I hope so. Obviously, if everything works out alright he will soon find out that he does not stand a chance of getting Harry out of this school. And then he will have to sacrifice a horcrux. But it will give us much needed time. I only ask you not to spread any stories about how you will make sure that Harry has extra protection even in Hogwarts.'

James and Lily looked at each other before James slowly nodded: 'I do not see any problem with that. So that would mean Voldemort will rise again during Harry's first year? I mean, as soon as he discovers that he can not get to Harry he will most likely just go and get one of his horcruxes.'

'That is a possibility at least, although I am not sure how he will get the horcruxes while he is only a wraith. After all, I guess they will be well protected.' The headmaster agreed, 'Beside that, I have some ideas about how we might distract him a bit longer.'

Of course, he did not care to explain those ideas. After a short silence Alice asked: 'So what are you going to do now?'

'My plan is to talk with people who know Voldemort, or more specifically Tom Riddle.' Albus replied, 'I hope that I will be able to learn enough about the man to deduct what items he would prefer as horcruxes.'

James tried to understand how the headmaster wanted to do that. But he had to admit to himself that he had no idea. So eventually he just said: 'I wish you good luck with that. I guess that in the meantime we will keep doing our own duties.'

'Yes, of course.' Albus nodded, 'How is that progressing anyway?'

James grinned: 'Maybe you should come and see for yourself sometime.'

'Maybe I will. I have to admit I am curious to see what kind of progress you achieved.' Albus replied cheerfully.

A/N: So, the first big jump in time. A little more than two years have passed between last chapter and this one, and things are slowly developing both inside the ministry and around James and the others. I hope you like how I offered Voldemort a few options to restore himself to a body. I could not really find anything about how horcruxes allow someone to do it, but I figured there had to be a way. They would be a bit useless otherwise.

Another 16 reviews. I should hire a secretary or so…

Katzztar: Yeah, although as you can see Amelia is still rather fanatic about her job;) But still, one of the best parts of writing up an alternative timeline like this is the way characters are altered through the different events.

Stonegnome: Thanks for all your reviews. I figured I'd reply to all of them at once. I am going to work in your considerations, always nice when people think along:) And I have to admit I was intrigued by your reply to chapter three. About if Voldemort was one of the orphans saved by Kevan and how it might be a reason for the killing curse malfunctioning. It was not the angle I was working on, but it could be an interesting idea for another fanfic sometime. Although there is the minor problem that the killing curse did work on James and Lily in canon. As to your last review, those breachers are very rare and expensive. So Voldemort simply did not have one in his pocket when he first attacked. Most likely it took him a few days to actually get one.

Anon: Still, story wise it should at least be possible for Lionfire Hall to be attacked;) But of course, four silly death eaters were never a serious treat.

I-Angel92: So, where the 190 minutes enough?;) Thanks for reviewing and good luck for if you start that Harry Potter fanfic!

Mohan143: Sadly he managed to buy his way out of prison again. Still, there is time enough to get him what he deserves;)

Ty rose: I guess it would be confusing if you missed a chapter yeah:) And as I said before, it is very nice to play around with the characters like this. James and Lily are of course pretty much open characters since they never were around much in canon. But Amelia, Sirius and the kids are interesting to work with. I mean, they have to be different from canon since some major events turned out differently, but I still want their canon qualities to shine through.

Autumngold: The ward breaker was a one time use item, so it is not really worth keeping anymore. I never thought about if they earned anything for the defeat of Voldemort (I assume you mean him;)) and his top minions. I guess it makes sense, but let's just assume that James never really cared about the reward since the Potters are rich anyway:P

ILikeComps: Yeah, in canon he never really grew up. Mostly because after his youth he spend most of his time in Azkaban. Now that he avoids that and has a child and wife he might turn out different. Although I can hardly imagine him without his antics every now and then.

Serena Bluemoon: It might have been a bit rushed yeah. But since she is Sirius' wife now she will be around quite a lot. She already noticed something was going on. And since she is a rather sharp auror she is bound to find out more, this way they made sure she would work with them instead of worrying about their plans and reaching wrong conclusions.

RRW: Yeah, Neville and his parents really were lucky that time. As for Hermione… give it a couple chapters:)

Dogsby: Oh, I did not mean my last reply to you as some universal truth about wards. I just wanted to explain my vision about wards and how I will use them in this story. I guess some kind of invincible ward scheme could be fun, but there won't be any in my story (near invincible is a totally different thing:D). Also, I think my characters would try to kidnap me if they read this. Lily would just force me to make the ward invincible ;)