Happy Tax Day to my fellow Americans! The rest of you, have a good Monday!
James didn't remember what he said to Dumbledore, when the man finally came to talk to him.
Well, that wasn't entirely true. He knew that he told the headmaster that Voldemort came for he and Harry and Lily. He said that he tried to distract Voldemort; told Lily to "Take Harry and run!" but that the evil wizard just laughed and cursed him. He didn't remember anything until he woke up in a destroyed house with Hagrid. He wasn't focused on his words, just on the steady pressure of McGonagall's hand in his and Harry's mostly-cheerful babble.
He knew that the jet of light had been green. He knew it.
How had he survived?
Something to think about later. Dumbledore had called for an emergency Order meeting, and had very politely asked James if he could be there. Minerva quietly rebuked Dumbledore, but James stopped her. One did not refuse the Headmaster of Hogwarts, after all.
They called the meeting at the Longbottom's home. It was chaos at first: Neville and Harry ran round between people's legs, people shouted questions, others held private conversations, loved ones reunited. Hestia and Elphias muttered quietly in a corner. Mad-Eye scowled into his hip flask and prodded Augusta's supper suspiciously. Alice was still pale and drawn, and seemed close to tears the entire night. Not a surprise. She had been close with Lily.
Dumbledore arrived with the rest of the faculty who were Order members just as Alice started chivvying the small gang of Order children out of the room. The chaos, if anything, multiplied. People shouted questions, each clamoring to make their voices heard.
"Dumbledore, is it true?"
"Has he gone?"
"Are the Potters all right?"
"Is You-Know-Who dead?"
Dumbledore held out his hands and a tense silence spread over the assembly.
"Thank you," he said. "First, to answer the question you are all asking, yes. Voldemort seems to have gone."
People muttered to each other, but Moody barked, "What d'you mean, he seems to have gone?"
Dumbledore sighed. "That is not yet clear, Alastor. I shall be looking into it with all the resources at my disposal."
Somewhere in his mind, James registered that this must be Dumbledore-speech for I haven't the faintest bloody clue.
"The next order of business," Dumbledore said loudly over the hubbub, then waited for the noise to die down again. "Thank you. The next order of business is that although we do not know exactly what has happened to Voldemort, we know what led up to his disappearance. Professor McGonagall, if you would please report."
Minerva stood. "At approximately eight-thirty last night," she said, "He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named attacked yet another home - the Potters. He entered, and cast the Killing Curse on each of the occupants."
"Get to the point, woman," Moody growled, though not unkindly.
Minerva shot him a glare over her spectacles. "For reasons still unknown, he was unable to kill James, and it seems that when he attempted to kill Harry, the curse rebounded. He is gone."
"And Lily?" someone asked hopefully.
She did not speak, but only shook her head.
The muttering increased. The words Secret-Keeper and Black and traitor seemed to be the most popular words.
"We are still searching for Sirius Black and Peter Pettigrew," Dumbledore said. "Mundungus and Kingsley are on their tail now, and have informed me that they have nearly caught up to them." He sighed softly and seemed to age fifty years with the exhalation.
"Next," Dumbledore started, but then stared at the lynx Patronus which had just materialized.
"Black en route to Azkaban," it said in Kingsley's deep, slow voice. "Pettigrew dead. Unknown number of Muggles killed." It disappeared.
There was silence for three seconds, and then the room erupted into shouting questions. Dumbledore had to release a loud bang, complete with purple smoke from his wand before the crowd was silent.
"Thank you," he said. "Obviously we do not know what the next step will be, although the evidence points to prison. Will someone please inform Mrs. Pettigrew?"
"I'll do it," volunteered someone, but something finally clicked in James' mind.
"Sirius isn't the traitor," he blurted.
People stared at him. He ignored them.
"Professor Dumbledore - you have to believe me - it was Peter, he was the Secret-Keeper - it wasn't Sirius..." he faltered at Dumbledore's worried gaze. "I'm not lying," he said angrily.
Minerva leaned over to Dumbledore and muttered something. James couldn't hear exactly what she said, but... "I am not Confunded," he snapped. "Or concussed either," he added for good measure.
"My dear boy, we cannot be certain of that unless -"
"SIRIUS IS NOT THE TRAITOR," James bellowed, aware that he was making a scene and absurdly grateful that Harry was upstairs with the other Weasley children. "IT WAS PETER PETTIGREW ALL ALONG, WE SWITCHED ON PURPOSE - IT WAS WORMTAIL'S IDEA, HE'S THE ONE YOU WANT, SIRIUS IS -"
He was abruptly Silenced, and when he tried to undo the charm on himself, his wand was yanked from his hand by an invisible Expelliarmus.
"Get 'hold of yourself, Potter," Mad-Eye said, in exactly the same tone he used on trainee Aurors. "We don't know anything yet, and this ruckus isn't going to solve anything."
James took several deep breaths, but nodded. Moody shoved his wand back in his hand, and he undid the Silencer. "What do I have to do to convince you," he asked in a voice that was deliberately not a shout.
It turned out that what James needed to do was submit to a very lengthy Legilimency session with Dumbledore and several mind healers, consent to questioning under Veriteraserum, and endure a motherly scolding from Minerva before anyone was close to convinced.
His next step was to convince the legal system, a task which could take several months, he was informed by an apologetic Arthur Weasley. The Weasleys weren't officially part of the Order, not with so many children at home, but Arthur was sympathetic and unofficially served as an additional point of contact with the Ministry.
Hang on, Sirius, he thought at his best friend. Hang on. I'm coming for you.
Thanks as always to Shelllessturtle!
I'm going to keep the Monday posting schedule as long as I can. However, when I run out of new chapters to post, there'll probably be a bit of a break in new chapters. I write ahead, and I don't want to write something in chapter 15 that I need to change in chapter 26 (or whatever). I'm still writing this thing every day, though, so hopefully it'll be a short break!
Thanks for the follows and comments! They're like a hug wrapped in a perfectly brewed cup of tea served alongside warm chocolate chip cookies and they make my day. Keep 'em coming!