This chapter was the first chapter to be written after OotP came out, but was uninfluenced by the happenings of the book.

This chapter is also the first INTERLUDE chapter in this story. It is focused on Lily rather than Harry. A lot of history into the Potter family is provided along with a set up for some very interesting events that will eventually unfold.

Last chapter we had a guessing contest over the original name of Chapter 13! xdiamondsxarexshinyx guessed right! It was Drinks & Dreams. She's going to have her name randomly placed at some point in the story, whee!

I also had an anonymous review asking about the Harry pairing in this story. For the most part, there will not be one single Harry pairing. He will have dalliances with a few girls (he is a teenager after all), he won't have a romance at all - as his story is bigger than that. :)

Harry Potter and the Wish of Life

Chapter 14 (Interlude I)

A Mother's Loss

The Previous Night

Lily Potter lay in bed, eyes open as she listened to her husband's comfortably patterned breathing. Her hands clasped the deep blue covers closer as she stared morosely up at the ceiling, the soft coos of their owls echoing from the adjoining living room. The laughter and voices from the celebration of their win over Beauxbatons had calmed and everyone had made their way to bed. The clock chimed two and Lily rolled to her side.

She couldn't sleep.

Thoughts were rushing through her head at an alarming speed. Thoughts of Voldemort, of her family and of the ever constant sense of dread she had clawing at her heart. It had been like this for as long as she had been married. The threat of her family being pulled out from underneath her; the threat of losing all that she loved. And if there was anything Lily believed in with her whole heart, it was her love for her family. Yet, it was this very love that kept her awake many nights, worrying and fretting over the three boys in her life.

And it was this love that always took her back thinking about the fourth boy that had been in her life so many years ago.

A young, twenty year old Lily Potter lay reclining on the doctors chair, her legs in a very uncomfortable position as she awaited the entrance of her family doctor.

"James! Don't touch that!" She scolded, causing her husband to abruptly drop the small contraption he was holding.

"Aw, Lil." He pouted childishly, "I was just looking!"

She blew a strand of auburn hair out of her face, "Oh James, honestly! I mean, what kind of example are you going to set for our son?"

"Aha!" James crowed, "our son? So you admit it! The Potter genes are going strong!"

Lily laughed at the face he made and shook her head. For the entire course of her pregnancy James had been convinced their child would be a boy. Lily had persistently dashed his dreams, saying it could be either. She did this mainly to both be a foil to her dramatic husband as well as to get the pleasure in seeing his exasperated expressions. In reality, she had always secretly fancied the idea of a brood of mummy-adoring little sons. "It was just easier to say that rather than son - slash - daughter, James! You're impossible!"

"Impossibly handsome, yes." He flirted, leaning over her prone form for a warm kiss which she happily accepted.

"Now you two," Dr. Jacobs boomed jovially as he entered the room, "You already have one on the way, no need to start making another!"

Lily flushed. She still felt like it was taboo to speak of the enjoyment they got out of their marriage. Afterall, they were barely out of their Hogwarts uniforms! Yet, in times of war men and women married young. They also die young! The depressing voice (that sounded an awful lot like her sister) inside her head was quick to remind her. Shaking the dark thoughts away as the Healer set up the needed equipment, Lily turned bright eyes onto the man. Lily had refused any magical testing, very afraid of any potential affects toward the baby. The muggle equipment was familiar to her and in these times of upheaval, familiar was good.

As he began the ultrasound, James clasped his wife's smaller hand in his own as their eyes fixated onto the moving black and white images flashing across the monitor.

"So, I've decided Lil'." James began in an off-hand fashion,"Our son'll be named Alexander."

"Or Alexis if we have a girl." Lily added, smiling at her husband's grimace.

"Planning on more than one, then?" The doctor asked.

"Well …" James looked at Lily.

"Yes. Eventually at least. We figured we'd take turns with naming. James gets the first go. I'd love to have another baby, a boy named Harry after my Grandfather. It's always been a favorite name of mine. I really love the name Ethan as well ... gosh, it's hard. To be honest, I've never really thought about girl names -"

James grinned, triumphant. "I knew it! Lily, we'll have a brood of little Potter boys. I bet we'll have an Alex, Harry AND Ethan!"

Lily scrunched her nose at her husband but her protest was cut off by the Healer's smile. "Well, at least today, you have your Alex." Dr. Jacobs pointed to the screen.

"A boy?" James' eyes were wide behind his glasses, "A boy?! I knew it!" He cheered, dancing around the room.

A boy.

Lily beamed.

"Hey chubby checker!" Sirius greeted as he walked into the Potter's kitchen, immediately opening the cupboards in search for food.

Lily groaned, her stomach round and her face flushed with the glow of motherhood. Eight months pregnant and it was the middle of the summer. She was far from feeling beautiful. She was a bloody beached whale. "Sirius …" She warned.

He grinned disarmingly and tossed her a small flower in a peace gesture. "Now, now. Don't be all cross at me! I'm just the best mate who hangs around to provide you boring parents with comic relief."

Lily raised an eyebrow, "Yeah, with your face." She broke her deadpan as Sirius clutched his heart. The wiz-vision in the room gave a small hum and both occupants turned to see the images that flashed across the scroll. A stern faced wizard broke the news:

"Reports are coming in that You-Know-Who has struck again, Angela Wood, Gryffindor Alum, was found dead in a field near Surrey. Exact circumstances are unknown but no signs of torture have yet been -"

The scroll blanked and Lily and Sirius both looked up at James who had a very hard look on his face. "No need for you to watch that sort of stuff now, Lil. You don't need that weight on your shoulders."

Lily sighed, her eyes already flooded with unshed tears as she thought of Angela Wood, who had been head girl when they had been first years.

"Are you staying, Padfoot?" James asked.

Sirius gave the couple a sad smile, "No, it's almost curfew - I just wanted to let you know that we have Auror training at six tommorrow, not seven."

James nodded, "Yeah. See you later baby-brother!" The fond nickname brought a ghost of a smile to Sirius' handsome face as he vanished.

"Who'd have thought that the tiny weed of a kid I practically adopted as a baby brother at Hogwarts would end up a good few inches taller than me?" James pondered out loud, posing the usual indignant question over Sirius' stature. Lily gave him a look. Talk like this was common among the Marauders: it was an attempt to reaffirm some sense of security and familiarity. This Voldemort character was becoming more and more powerful and it seemed that he was attacking all pureblooded families that refused to join him. James was especially on edge as he and Lily were both heavily involved in the ministry and with his father being the former Minister of Magic, it seemed only time before Voldemort would turn his snake slits onto their fledgling family.

"Come on Lily, how about a rousing game of cuddling accompanied by one of those silly muggle movies you like?"

She made a face at James as he tickled her side. "Alright, Potter – but only if you don't try anything-"

"Don't worry darling, I wouldn't risk you sitting on me-"

"JAMES! You are so dead-" Lily yelled, pushing at her husband as he laughed and ran off into the lounge.

Oh, Alex, you're going to love your father. Lily thought, smiling despite herself, a hand caressing her round stomach, just as I love you more than anything.

"James! Attack on the ministry!" The patronus had appeared at the Potter's shortly after midnight. James had left in a rush, promising to be back as soon as possible. Alone in their manor, Lily had taken up time by looking through old photo albums, though her stomach churned in worry.

There was a knock on the door and with much difficulty, Lily raised herself up to answer it. As she walked to the door her eyes strayed onto the clock.

2:12A.M.

Curfew was at midnight. It was a poor security precaution, but existed nonetheless. The only people who would drop by were … well, no one would at this time. Both Sirius and James knew how to apparate past the magic shields cast around the house.

Another knock.

Alexander kicked.

Lily began to breathe hard.

A third knock, louder this time.

Alexander kicked again.

"Shh, Alex. It'll be okay sweetie. It's nothing to worry about. Mummy's here. Mummy loves you." She ghosted her hand over her baby bump.

A fourth knock, this time accompanied by murmurs.

"Oh my god." Lily turned and ran to one of the entrances that lead to a secret passageway in the walls of the mansion.

The door was blasted open.

"Avada Kedavra!"

Lily turned. All she saw was the gnarled, twisted face of Voldemort and the rush of green light toward her. The clock next to her fell with a crash as she realised she too was falling, the ground meeting her body with a sickening thud.

Blood was pooling around her. Things were becoming fuzzy.

She always thought the killing curse was supposed to be a clean cut death. Everything hurt though … and so much blood….

"She's not … baby … first …"

"Leave her. She was pregnant." Voldemort started, "A mother."

Was pregnant? No…that was wrong, she thought vaguely, she is pregnant.

"YOU!"

It was James. He would make sure Alex was okay. Their precious, precious Alex.

"I'LL KILL YOU!"

Voldemort and the death eater accompaniment turned and vanished. The room quickly filled with the voices of others and Lily continued to stare blankly at the ceiling as she felt James next to her. Lights were shimmering all around now, and Lily briefly noticed that her husband had fallen to his knees so quickly that they were surely to be bruised.

"Lily! Oh god, darling! Lily! Lily!"

A shaky hand moved to touch his face. It was covered in her own blood. Why did everything feel so empty? Why wasn't she dead yet?

Why wasn't the baby kicking?

Alex?

Lily turned her head so slightly to see the old clock, shattered. It's hands frozen at 2:58A.M.

"…Alex? …"

2.58 A.M.

It was very fitting that she would be looking down at her son at this moment. Running a hand through Harry's hair, Lily sighed.

That night the killing curse had killed her baby and not her. She had overlooked the fact that the spell kills the first life it comes in contact with. Not realising this and also forgetting that her baby would be the first life the curse would hit, she had turned to face Voldemort that night. And he had died. Her baby had died.

Lily and James had grieved deeply and when months later Harry had been conceived, Lily had been determined to protect him with her life. Just as Alex had saved her life, she would save Harry's.

Her beautiful son. Dead.

And when Harry had been attacked by Voldemort.

God.

She was always not able to help.

His prone body.

The blood gushing from the smooth scar that now adorned his forehead.

Lily shuddered.

Next time, she decided, next time she would sacrifice herself for her sons. For her husband. For Alex.

"I love you Harry-bear." She whispered, kissing his forehead and watching fondly as he stirred, a soft, "Mama?" on his lips.

"Yes, go back to sleep, honey. It's okay."

He was solemnly asleep in moments, and Lily crept out of his dorm to go downstairs and check on her other beloved son, Ethan.

Things were strange now. Harry was acting different and Voldemort was becoming even more aggressive. Things were happening fast.

Lily's heart hardened. She wanted to kill Voldemort. Kill him for what he did to her, to Alex, to James, to Sirius, to their family. She would bide her time, but she would make a difference. All four of them would, in fact.

And if it came to a fight between Voldemort and one of her loved ones?

She'd be in the middle.

What was is that Voldemort had said then, that day of terror so long ago?

"She's a mother."

Damn straight.

TO BE CONTINUED...

Poor dear Alexander Potter. So, what was all that with the dark mark in Harry's cup? Is someone going to die … and what's up with sacrificial Lily? …. Dum dum dum dum!

Love you guys! If you are enjoying the story, PLEASE take the time to REVIEW and let me know your thoughts/theories/analyses! It's your feedback that gives me motivation to keep writing!