Chapter 35

A Path to a Prophesy

James could hardly believe that Christmas break had been over for a fortnight when he was sitting on his bed, back in the heads dorm, writing an essay for charms. Apparently all of the professors thought that the best way for them to study for NEWTS was by giving them so much homework they couldn't breathe under the piles of it. They had so much homework he and Lily were splitting the head rounds into seperate shifts so they could each get a chance to do everything they needed to do.

As if homework wasn't enough James was nervously contemplating what he was suppost to say to his future wife, now that he had recieved the acceptance letter from the ministry. He hadn't told her of his ambitions yet because he wasn't even sure he was going to be accepted.

His time to think about it was abruptly cut short however as she came into the room with Alice in tow.

"James, help me talk some sence into her!" she practically shouted.

James looked between the two of them astounded. They never argued.

"Er, I don't know what she did that was senceless." he said raising his eyebrows at the look of indignation on each girls face.

Before Lily could continue Frank and Sirius slid into the portrait behind them. Both of them looked nervously between the girls and then fleetingly at James, before sitting down on the sofa opposite him.

Lily pulled Alice farther into the room and let the portrait close behind her.

"She applied for the effing Auror department! In the middle of a war! And if that isn't bad enough, so did these two prats!" Lily said, her voice dripping with anger, and if he wasn't much mistaken, barely conceled fear.

"I mean c'mon, it is like they want to die. Tell them how stupid it is. Tell them they are being bad friends. If anyone knows what he can do you and Sirius do. Help me make them understand." she said imploringly, letting go of her best friend and throwing herself into James' lap nearly in tears.

"Err." was all he could say as he gave Sirius a silent plea for help.

"Lilikins, think about it. We do know what he can do. That's why we are joining, we want to see this stopped. I want to make him pay for taking my only family from me." Sirius said softly as he stood and knelt before James, who had his arms wrapped around the hiccupping girl.

She sat up in his arms and turned to look at Sirius.

"Tell him Jamie, tell him they are going to get them selves killed and that they are going to...James what is that." she said as she spotted a shiny silver envelope laying on the arm of the sofa.

It was infact the same envelope she had just taken out of Alice's hands not minutes before. She reached for it and grabbed it before either of the boys could react. Staring at the lettering on front, the tears she had so valiently held back just moments before came spilling out of her eyes. IT felt like her whole world had caved in.

"Did...Did...did they accept you?" she said softly.

Dreading the answer, but already knowing the answer, after all what job would turn down the head boy, the best transfiguration student in twenty years, the best defense student in Merlin knows how long. For Merlin's sake he could hold two professors off with his sheild charm.

He placed his fingers under her trembling chin, forcing her to look into his eyes as he spoke to her.

"Lils, I need to do this, you have to understand. The four of us, we need to do this. I didn't want to tell you this way, I waited because I did not think I would get in. Lily, he killed my parents, the only family I have, besides you Sirius, Rem, and Pete. The only blood family I have. Lily, I can not marry you and have babies with you and not try to make this world safer for you. What if it is you next time? What if we have a beautiful little girl and to get back at me for "unpurifying the Perevel line he takes her, and kills her. Your baby, my baby, he will kill you too, eventually he is going to try to recruit me, and Sirius, and Alice and Frank. We are all purebloods, and all are the very last of our line. He already killed Regulus, Sirius is the last heir to the Black name. He is going to come for us Lily. We will not be on his side, it is with him, or against him. You have to understand that." he said pleading with her.

Tears poured down her face as the image of all of her friends, her fiance lay dead on the ground in front of her.

"No one had ever lived after facing them James...No one, how can you expect me to be ok with facing losing you?" she cried before burying her face in his robes.

Sirius looked sadly up at James and placed his hand in the center of her back while James ran his fingers throguh her hair and rubbed the side of her face.

"Lily, we are going to face him whether we are aurors or not, he is going to come for us." Sirius said.

"We have always known that. Remmy too, we can not run, we can not hide. He will not run, we will not hide. But we will not give him hopes of us joining him. He will always know that we stand against him. And we will stand together. Until we can't anymore." he finished as she lifted her face and looked at him.

"What is Vin going to say? Do you really think she is going to be ok with this?" she demanded.

Sirius shrugged before answering.

"She isn't ok with it. In fact she isn't sure she wants to be involved with it at all. I am giving her a few days to process it all. This is a huge deal, but I will not let her live unprotected, if we take him out than the woman that I love will be safe, no matter who she chooses to be with. I should say both of the women I love, I love you too Lil, as a sister of course, but I love you too, I couldn't bear seeing him hurt you, or seeing you cower beneath him. I won't let it happen, and you are deluding yourself if you think that Jamie would. C'mon Lil, you can't tell me you didn't know this was where the two of us were heading after school. We have always despised the dark arts. We will never bow down to it."

James was nearly floored with the intensity of her eyes as she turned her face back to him. Her eyes were alight with emerald flames as she spoke to him.

"I love you more than life itself. If you go and get hurt or die because of him I swear I will find a way to bring you back just to kill you. Both of you. And on my honor when we have children if you two raise them to be arrogant, quidditch playing, trouble making kids with this hero complex you both seem to have, you will pay. I promise." she said before kissing him hard on the lips.

He smiled as he pulled away and began to kiss the tears off her cheeks, trying to catch them before they fell. He barely noticed the other three leaving quietly, this was an obvious, we need to be alone moment.

"I would never dream of going against your order, future Mrs. Potter." he said softly, looking directly into her hypnotizing eyes.

"Lily, I will never leave you. I promise, I will not die, I will not pass unless I know we are going together or you are already there. I will never leave you alone. Never. I promise."

"But Vol...Voldemort.." she stuttered through her still falling tears.

"Voldemort himself could not pull me away from you. I will stand between you till the very end, and I will survive, I will not go unless you are going with me. Death robed as a man could not separate me from you. I love more than I have ever loved anything. You Lily, you are the only reason I am doing this. I need to know that you are going to be safe. If he is to come for you, I will know and he will not make it out in one piece." he whispered before kissing her jaw gently.

"Show me, please, I need to be with, right now." she sobbed.

He knew exactly what she meant, and exactly what she needed, he needed her too. Talking about losing her was near unbearable and she wasn't the one going into the war, he knew she had to be terrified. He hated being the reason for her tears. He would do his best to be the reason that her tears were gone.

He stood up with her in his arms and placed her on the recently vacated sofa. Easily he pulled the hairband from the back of her head, allowing her tresses to cascade over her shoulders and back. While kissing her face and hair he removed her school robes and began to unbutton her shirt. This was going to be a slower evening. There would be no rush to undress, or to start.

This evening held kisses and whispered I love you's. tears of fear, words of comfort. They held each other and talked, there were a few smiles and many tears wiped away. This was the evening that they both vowed. Neither of them would live with out the other. From this moment, if one died, the other would follow after, for they would die protecting the other, they would never be alone again. Their vow was sealed with kisses, carresses, and moments so intimate and full of sheer love that the man James was vowing to save her from, could never begin to imagine the power between their bond.