The Mistake

By JalendaviLady

Timeline: Beginning a few days before Halloween 1981.

Summary: One single mistake can change history forever. The change does not have to be for the worse, however...

Characters: Severus Snape, Lily Potter, James Potter, Sirius Black, Remus Lupin, Albus Dumbledore, and assorted others

Pairings: James/Lily (story is not pairing-focused)

Warning: Deathly Hallows spoilers, including things that will be revealed in the Part 2 movie.

Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter.

Chapter 10: In The Hospital Wing

Five seconds after Dumbledore opened the door and James took a step into the Hospital Wing, Lily had her arms around his neck.

It had only taken that long because she'd been on the far side of the room, looking out one of the tall windows.

"JAMES!"

He wrapped his own arms around her, holding her close and pressing his face down into her shoulder, suddenly very aware of just how close he had come to death in the last half an hour.

If I hadn't already been in the fireplace... If I hadn't looked out the window right then...

He had defied Voldemort in the past, of course. They both had. But never alone, and usually at a distance.

Denying a written request to enter a Dark Lord's service, no matter what illustrious ancestor's crest adorned it, was entirely different from blowing up a house in his face.

And James Potter was quite sure that he had blown up the house. If his magically-induced momentum was anything to go by, the cottage in Godric's Hollow might not have a roof anymore. It certainly did not have the rooms that had been near the chimney anymore, and the fireplace itself was likely brick powder mixed with pulverized mortar now.

He almost wished it were safe to go back, if only for the sake of knowing what the upward limits of Floo Powder were in combat. The normal handful caused a slight breeze, but what did the whole jar do?

Not that the Wizarding world particularly needed a replacement for black powder, but since the stuff was ubiquitous in magical homes anyway... Given his 'job' was being an independent Defense expert for the Order with no official ties to the Ministry, he couldn't help but wonder.

Lily was the first to push away. "You got everything?"

"Down to the smallest hair. He doesn't have a way to use Polyjuice Potion against us."

She relaxed against him. "Good."

James heard Dumbledore slip back out and the big heavy doors close behind him.

Sirius was walking over now, Remus following him with Harry held against his shoulder. Both men had been in Madame Pomfrey's office.

(One of the sadder aspects of Remus' lycanthropy was that so few Wizarding mothers – both witches and the Muggle wives of wizards - would let him near their children, even at this safest part of the month. Remus was a natural with children, but he got so few chances to show it.)

"Got out just in time," he told Sirius as he hugged Lily again.

"Who came?" Remus asked.

"He came himself, alone."

Lily was sobbing into his shoulder with apparent terror at how close she'd come to losing him, Remus was quiet but his eyes were filled with worry, and Sirius was talking under his breath.

"We could have had him. If there had just been enough time to contact Crouch, or get members of the Order in position there..." He trailed off into minor cursing. Remus was kind enough to tuck Harry's shirt collar over the boy's ears, trying to keep the child's fifth word from being something Lily'd never forgive any of them for.

"I dumped the entire jar of Floo Powder on the fire." Lily tried to calm herself and Sirius stopped his stream of complaints at the universe. "I think I probably singed him a bit."

"'A bit'? James, that was almost a new jar!" Lily fretted.

"And judging from what I've heard about Dark Marks," Sirius added, "he's angry."

It was then that James noticed the sound coming from beyond Madame Pomfrey's office. It wasn't exactly a moan or a groan, but it was certainly from the same general exclamatory family.

He suddenly understood just what the shriek he'd heard in Dumbledore's office had been – the Order's escaped Death Eater spy, paying a price of pain without warning for James' humiliation of his former lord.

Voldemort's action, but James' responsibility nonetheless. A man who had already been tortured that very week had felt pain from nowhere without known cause because of something he, James Potter, had done.

(It was becoming strangely easy to accept the fact he felt pity for a Death Eater, but after hearing that shriek... whoever it was deserved pity.)

"So, who do I owe for the lives of my family?"

Sirius seemed suddenly uncomfortable. "Um, mate, you might not want to..."

James looked his friend in the eye. They were both purebloods and had both been raised with the knowledge of old Wizarding traditions they would be expected to follow as adults.

This was one of them.

"Who do I owe?" he asked again. "For my life, and my wife's, and the only child of my line, the last of my House's name?"

Sirius' eyes widened slightly.

That's right, Sirius. The House of Potter is one generation away from being extinct in the male line, and as far as Nature's Nobility is concerned, we already are.

Lily sighed. "James..."

Remus was very quiet.

"Who do I owe?"

Lily took Harry from Remus and the three friends walked the length of the room.

James was very aware that Sirius and Remus had gotten in front of him and were just tall enough that he couldn't quite see past their heads to get a good view beyond Madame Pomfrey's office door.

She was sitting there in her desk chair, and if James was not entirely mistaken she had braced herself in anticipation of whatever might be about to happen.

No matter. The Malfoys and Lestranges did not have a monopoly on following Wizarding tradition, and the Potters owed a debt.

"Who do I owe?" he called out. "Who do I owe for my life? For the life of my wife? For the life of a child barely walking, the last of my forefathers' line? Who do I owe, for I, James of the House of Potter, wish to repay the debt? Name anything, and it shall be considered."

Sirius flinched.

James thought he saw in the corner of his eye the movement of Remus pulling a camera out of his robes.

Madame Pomfrey stood, wand out.

James was struck with the thought that whatever was about to happen was not going to be pleasant.

Someone stirred on one of the beds, and a not entirely unfamiliar voice asked, "'Anything'?"

Can't be...

Remus' camera went 'click'.