Okay, so I don't know how many of you watched Harper's Island (probably none), but I was watching a YouTube video recently and was like – wow, Jimmy (portrayed by C.J. Thomason) could be Sirius…random thought for the day.

Also, thanks for the reviews! Wonderful as always! This wasn't up as fast as I would have liked, but I wanted to make sure the emotions of this chapter were right.

Enjoy!


Part II: The Plan

Lily stood at the doorway to the living room watching James sit by the fireplace. He stared into the flames, as if believing that someone would enter their home, someone unexpected. She closed her eyes for a brief moment, knowing what had to be done.

She knew James wouldn't like the fact that she had spoken to Severus Snape. James hated Snape above all else and her speaking to him would go over very badly with her husband. But, perhaps when he heard about what Snape had said, he wouldn't explode quite as much; perhaps he wouldn't yell quite so loud.

"James?" she asked, leaning into the door frame and crossing her hands over her chest. He turned to her with his hazel eyes clouded with worry. Even though the meeting had been many days before, the words still settled in his head - twenty to one, a huge disadvantage for the Order.

"What is it, Lily?"

It was in that moment that she almost didn't tell him. A simple "never mind" was already forming on her lips, but she needed to tell him.

She walked over and sat down beside him on the couch, taking his hand in hers. It was rough, callused from fighting and brandishing his wand on so many occasions. She turned to him and found fear flooding his eyes. He was scared by her actions, but she couldn't comfort him because she was too terrified to put on a brave face, although she was trying.

What Severus had told her had now fully sunk in. Voldemort was after her son, her one year old son. Voldemort, the most powerful dark wizard of the time, wanted to kill a baby because he believed the child had the abilities to destroy him while Dumbledore thought the child was Neville Longbottom.

Truthfully, Lily hoped it was Neville Longbottom as well, but she would never say those words aloud.

"Lily," James pressed, wrapping his arms around her and pulling her close. "What is it?"

She curled up at his side and he pulled her into his lap. While wrapping her arms around his neck, she realized this was something they hadn't done since they were in Hogwarts, scared after the attack on Hogsmeade where they had escaped Voldemort for the first time. She leaned her head on his shoulder, blinking a few times before starting her tale.

"James, I ran into Severus Snape in Hogsmeade," she whispered, so quietly she was unsure whether he heard her or not.

That is, until she felt his grip tighten, his chest constrict, and his muscles clench. He looked down at her, a small amount of rage fighting the fear for space in his eyes. "Did he hurt you?" he hissed. "Because if he did I will kill him."

She shook her head. "No," she breathed, wondering if it was a lie. Severus hadn't hurt her physically, but his words had terrified her. "He didn't hurt me."

They were quiet for a moment. Lily looked up at James and saw him waiting patiently, wondering what had happened between her and Snape. "He told me something."

He sighed and pulled her closer to him. "Well, let's hear it," he said, although his tone told her he wouldn't believe a word of it because it had come out of the mouth of a Death Eater.

Taking a deep breath, she turned to the fireplace so she didn't have to look into James's eyes. "He said Voldemort knows of a prophecy that was made a year and a half ago. It spoke of a boy who would be able to defeat him." She paused for a moment and turned up to him. His eyes were twinkling in anticipation at the prospect of the war ending. "Don't get excited yet," she warned.

James nodded, his eyes immediately darkening. "What's the catch?"

"The boy would be born as the seventh month died to parents who have defied Voldemort three times," she replied, her voice hardly louder than a whisper. "At first Voldemort thought the seventh month meant July, but now he's not so sure."

James closed his eyes and when he opened them again he was glaring at the flames of the fireplace. She knew she didn't need to explain it to him; he already knew what she was implying. Instead, in a voice similar to that of a snake, he asked, "How?"

Out of context, how could mean many different things and this thought made Lily wish she didn't know what was going on. But, she did, and therefore she knew that how meant how Voldemort found out about Jamie's unusual birth. "We didn't tell anyone!" James hissed suddenly, clearly frightened as his body fell limp. "We didn't even tell Dumbledore!"

"I know," Lily replied softly, untangling herself from James's arms, which were only loosely wrapped around her. His face fell into his hands. Then, she stood and nearly broke down at the sight of him. "The spy-"

"No!" James interrupted, shaking his head and looking up at her pleadingly. He was breathing heavily as his entire world crashed down around him, and Lily could do nothing but watch and cause more pain onto him. She felt tears forming in her own eyes as she thought about what she had to say.

She bit the inside of her cheek to keep her emotions in check so she could be brave while James came to terms with what was happening. "Severus said the spy is one of us. He thinks Sirius or Remus," she started tearfully, but James quickly stopped her.

"No," he forced out angrily. "It's not them!" He shook his head vigorously. "How do we know that Snape isn't just trying to get you all wound up? He is a Death Eater after all!"

Lily turned around to look out the window at the night sky. She had thought about this, but came to the realization that Severus Snape was doing this for her well being. He wanted to protect her, as he always had, and she couldn't ignore the warning he was giving her if she could protect her family with it. He was risking his life by alerting her to Voldemort's plans.

"I trust him, James," she said, wrapping her arms across her body and not looking at him.

He scoffed behind her. "I don't," came the blunt reply.

"He said he would tell me if he knew who the spy was. He swore!" she cried, trying to make James see that Snape wanted to help her.

He looked up at her with a hardened expression. "Was it an unbreakable vow?" James asked. When she shook her head, he frowned. "Then, it's just empty promises."

"I believe he wants to protect me," Lily said, turning around to face him. His eye caught hers and they looked at each other for a moment before she spoke again. "And if he wants to protect me than I can use his hints to protect Jamie."

James shook his head. "Unless he's lying."

"You're being unreasonable!" Lily exclaimed, knowing that he wasn't. She had struggled with the same feelings, knowing that one of their friends had turned to Voldemort. "I know it's hard, but it all makes sense! The spy must be one of our friends because they are the only ones who know about Jamie besides us. There is no other way for Voldemort to find out."

She sighed and sat down in one of the chairs by the window. "As much as I don't want to believe one of our friends is feeding Voldemort information from the Order, I have to protect Jamie and Logan," she whispered. "I can't sit around and do nothing while Voldemort wants to kill our son."

There was a long pause. James didn't say anything in response and instead looked down at the floor. Lily waited for him to answer, letting everything sink in. After what seemed like hours of silence, James looked up slowly. "What do we do?"

This is where Lily had always gotten stumped when she attempted to think after James had gone to bed. What was there to do? They could tell Dumbledore the truth about Jamie so he knew the prophesied child wasn't necessarily Neville Longbottom. Finally finding her voice, she asked, "What is there to do?"

James ran a hand through his hair. "Well, we need to find out who the spy is," he said quietly, his face contorting with his feelings, ranging from upset to angry to betrayed. "And, when we do, we need to get the traitor away from the boys."

The gears began to work in his head and Lily could nearly see them. It was almost as if they were back at Hogwarts again and he was figuring out a prank to pull on the Slytherins. He closed his eyes and began to mutter to himself. Then, his eyes snapped open and he looked at her.

"What?" she asked.

He smiled sadly. "We'll just have to see how loyal to you Severus Snape truly is," he said softly. "I have an idea."

Lily stood from her seat and walked to James. He looked up at her and took her hand. "What would you expect someone to do if he was being chased?" Lily didn't know what he was getting at, so she just furrowed her brow and he continued. "He would go into hiding, right?"

"You want us to go into hiding?" Lily asked. She was confused for a moment. "Like, leave the country?"

James shook his head. "No. If Voldemort's after us, we're going to need to go into deep hiding and running away is going to do nothing. He'll be able to find us. Instead," he said, standing up and walking to a book shelf. He scanned the bindings and, finding the book he was looking for, pulled one out. He skimmed the pages and then brought it back to Lily.

She took it in her hands and looked down. "The Fidelius Charm," she read. She'd heard of it before, back in her NEWT level charms class. She had actually thought about it. "James, this is complex magic. Plus, we'd need a Secret Keeper and at the moment we don't know who to trust."

"If Snape is telling the truth," James said, taking the book back and closing it, "he will tell you who the spy is."

"I don't see how going under the Fidelius Charm will help us find the spy," Lily replied. "Honestly, it seems a bit risky."

James set the book down on the table and took her shoulders in his hands. "We wouldn't go under it until we knew it was safe and who to trust, but we would pretend."

Lily's eyes widened, seeing what he was thinking. "Tell everyone something different?"

A smirk found its way onto James's features. "Yep, tell each Marauder another Marauder is the Secret Keeper and see what gets back to Voldemort. If Snape finds out who the Secret Keeper is and he wants to protect you, he'll tell you. Then, when he does, we know who gave away the information."

"And then we know who the spy is," Lily finished.

"Exactly," James said.

A loud cry erupted from upstairs and the two walked up the stairs, still talking about James's idea. "Don't you think it's a bit dangerous?" Lily asked. "What if Voldemort decides to go after the fake Secret Keeper?"

"Hopefully, we've talked to Snape," he shuddered, "before that time."

Lily shook her head. "Perhaps we could just ask each of them to be the Secret Keeper and have Severus keep an eye out to find out what Voldemort hears? It would be less dangerous for the others."

"I don't think that would work," James said as they entered Jamie's room. James took his son in his arms and gently rocked him in his arms. The child's tears began to stop falling and his eyes began to close once more as his father whispered in his ear.

Once Jamie had fallen asleep in his father's arms, James continued. "Lily, if the traitor tells Voldemort that he's going to become the Secret Keeper, they'll just work together. If they have to find the Secret Keeper to get the location, they might enlist other Death Eaters," he whispered, as not to wake Jamie, who was still nestled safely in James's arms. "As much as I don't want to put my best mates in danger, this is the only plan we've got and we don't know when Voldemort's going to come, so we have to work quickly."

Lily nodded. "I suppose you're right."

James placed Jamie back in his crib and then turned to Lily. "It's the only plan we've got," he repeated, although Lily didn't know whether he was trying to convince her or himself.


So, tell me what you think!

Did I get the emotions right? I tried to imagine what James would react like if Lily was telling him all this. I figured he'd come to his senses about the spy (and how it's blatantly obvious that it's a Marauder) once he thought about keeping Jamie and Logan safe. I'm still not entirely happy about it, but I think it may just be one of those chapters...

Review!