Chapter 14

James, Lily, and Peter were all at headquarters looking over some maps when Mad-Eye Moody stumped in, looking bad-tempered as usual.

"Potter! Got an assignment for you."

James looked up. He had been on missions before, but he had never been singled out for one. "Yeah? What's up?"

"Some aurors found a Death Eater trying to Imperiuse Amelia Bones."

"So…what do they need me for?"

Mad-Eye rolled his normal eye in a direction opposite his bright blue one. "Come on, boy…Amelia Bones. What they got handcuffed up there isn't so much a Death Eater as a sea urchin. She cursed the smithereens out of him. They need you to change him back so he can be questioned. They said, 'If anyone knows how to reverse bizarre magic, it's James Potter.'"

James had to admit they had a point. He looked at Lily. "Want to come?"

"Oh, yes. I've got to see this."

Well, thought James, he was right. He was standing in front of a pulsating purple blob with no distinguishable head and a number of tentacles shoved into black robes and a Death Eater mask. He wasn't entirely sure where to start, but he figured he had better ask Amelia what exactly she had cursed him with. He didn't know where Amelia's office was, so he was wandering around, wondering if he should ask somebody, when he heard loud noises coming from where he had just come. He ran back almost straight into a jet of blue light. He managed to dodge it and dropped to the floor, looking for Lily. She was crouched behind a desk firing stunners at the three Death Eaters who had just emerged from the lift. He crawled over to her and joined her in firing spells, shouting over the noise, "Is it a rescue attempt?"

She shook her head. "Assassination." It was only then that James realized that two of the Death Eaters were keeping the Ministry workers and aurors at bay while the third was trying to kill the purple blob. It was only repeated shield charms cast by the aurors and the Death Eaters' bad firing angle that kept it alive.

There were two loud bellows, and two red-haired men charged in from opposite sides of the corridor, attacking the Death Eaters from the side. One of them managed to stun the man on the left, but with a swipe of his wand, the center Death Eater killed his unconscious comrade, then whirled on the redhead who had stunned him, and killed him almost as easily. The other redhead was now dueling with the Death Eater who had been trying to kill the blob, and the aurors were moving in. The central cloaked man grabbed his companion and disappeared into the lift just as the remaining redhead dropped to his knees, bleeding profusely.

Mingled cries of "Block the exits!" "Get some healers in here now!" and "What the bloody hell…?" replaced the cacophony of the battle. James let out a long breath and pulled Lily into a hug. She was bleeding a little on her arm, but other than that seemed unhurt. Slowly, they got to their feet to survey the damage. The blob had definitely been killed- apparently it had been hit with a reductor curse and was now sprayed over several desks. Two aurors had been killed, and four more had been injured but seemed to be in no immediate danger. James walked over to the two redheads and felt his stomach contract: it was Gideon and Fabian Prewett. They had both been Order members who worked here in the Ministry. James had not known them well, but in their brief encounters at Order meetings they had both been very nice to him. Fabian was still alive, but it looked like he had been hit with some kind of cutting spell that the healers were having difficulty patching up. Even as he watched, Fabian's eyes closed and he lay still. Feeling like he couldn't stay there any longer, James grabbed Lily, and they immediately left to apparate back to headquarters.

"He must have known something important, and they were afraid that if we figured out how to make him right again, we could give him Veritaserum and make him tell. That's probably why they killed their own man once he was down: couldn't be bothered carrying him out and didn't want him questioned."

The Order was having a quick conference. The Death Eaters had not been stopped, and they needed to figure out where they had gone wrong and where to go from here.

James ran a hand through his hair. "What I don't understand is how they knew we had a Death Eater in the first place. I only got there about five minutes after he was caught- they can't have been missing him too badly. And there's no way he could have sent any sort of help message in that state. It looks to me…" He hesitated. "It looks to me like we have someone passing information either from inside the Order or the Ministry."

James refused to let Lily do her shopping alone, what with the constant disappearances and her being a Muggle-born. She did not like this arrangement, insisting that she knew how to duel just as well as he did, but he said there was safety in numbers, so one January morning found him tapping the brick in the back of the Leaky Cauldron with a Lily who was hopping on the spot to keep warm. Diagon Alley was quiet and tense, and people were continually glancing over their shoulders. James wished they wouldn't. He was nervous enough already without having to witness everyone else's paranoia.

They entered Gringotts first. There was only one other customer inside: a stout woman surrounded by three rowdy boys who she was trying and failing to keep close together. She was holding a small child and what looked like the eldest boy was holding another. All of them had flaming red hair. James didn't spare her much of a thought, but Lily paused, looking thoughtful, and approached her.

"Excuse me, ma'am? Are you Molly?" James had a sudden burst of understanding.

The woman looked surprised. "Yes, I'm Molly Weasley. Have we met?"

"No, I don't think so. I knew your brothers, though- Gideon and Fabian. They worked with us in the Order."

Molly's expression had stiffened, but she nodded.

"I'm so sorry. We were there. I just wanted to let you know that if it hadn't been for your brothers, we both would probably have died."

A tear was traveling down Molly's cheek, but her hands were too full to do anything about it. Lily took a tentative step forward and gave her a small hug.

"Thank you," said both women at the same time, then gave each other the same shy smile.

"You have beautiful children," said Lily.

"We think so. So much so, we've got another on the way."

James was thinking that all that this woman needed was another child, when he noticed Molly and his wife sharing the same smile again…a smile with just a little bit too much understanding to it.

His eyes widened, and after saying a quick "It was lovely to meet you" he pulled Lily out without visiting their vault.

"Did you just…? I mean, are we…? Are you…?" He pointed at her stomach, and she nodded, a huge smile on her face. "Great Merlin's earwax!" yelled James, practically pulling his hair out, then gathered her into a bone-crushing hug. She then dragged him down the steps and into Madam Malkin's to begin picking out baby clothes.

A/N- I enjoyed writing this chapter a lot. :-) Who knew that Harry and Ron's first meeting was prenatal? It's all JKR's