James saw himself through the dementors, shivering under the cloak as he walked deeper into the forest. But something was… off. His nose was a tad too short, his skin was a shade too pale, and his eyes were green instead of brown. In addition, his glasses were a rounder shape than his usual rectangle and he was wearing something he had never even seen before.

No. it wasn't him, James realized as the boy walked on through the fog. It was just someone who looked almost exactly like him. It was... his son.

The boy kept a straight face, but his hands shook and his eyes looked panicked. What was he doing?

James watched as he stopped and pulled a small, golden object out of his pocket. A snitch. He brought it to his mouth, whispering words into it that James couldn't hear. The snitch opened up, revealing a jagged stone that sat within its borders.

Within a few seconds, people appeared around the boy in the forest. The first to appear was… himself? James saw an image of himself standing in front of the boy. The two of them did look remarkably similar. Down to the exact height and hair. But… what was happening?

He watched as… Sirius? Sirius appeared, nearly as vivid as James saw him in real life. Only, a different hue.

Next came Moony, too happy to be seen in a scene this sad.

Then- Lily. her smile was wide as she took him in, somehow knowing already that he was her son. She hugged him, and the boy looked as if this might be what broke him.

Lily pulled back far enough to look into his face and said quietly "you've been so brave."

James saw the strange, faded image of himself take a step closer.

"You're nearly there. Very close. We are… so proud of you."

No. were they saying what he thought- no.

"Does it hurt?" the boy asked in a small voice and everything in James screamed to make it stop. This miserable, fucked up scene that wouldn't stop playing out before him.

"Dying? Not at all." Sirius replied and James wanted to scream at him "quicker and easier than falling asleep."

"I didn't want you to die," the boy said in a tone that was almost panicked, like he just wanted them to know so badly that it hurt.

James didn't know what to do. He didn't know how to deal with the pain inside of him. He was dead. He was dead and his son was standing there, fatherless, about to die, not much younger than James was now. How long had James been dead in this vision- in this dream?

"You'll stay with me?" he asked, looking sadly into James's eyes and watching as he answered

"Until the very end."

The boy walked through the forest, heading forwards, flanked by the group of people that had so selfishly let themselves die and leave this poor boy alone.

The small party arrived at a camp full of all the old death eaters that had always been around, mixed in with a few others. James's blood boiled as he saw that even though he and everyone else that could have protected his son were dead, but Bellatrix and Lucius were still going strong.

"I thought he would come…" voldemort muttered "it seems i was… mistaken."

"You weren't." the boy dropped the cloak and the stone at once, the visions of James and everyone close to him disappearing as the stone slipped from his hand.

And then, James tried to scream, but it was no use. He could do nothing but watch as voldemort's cry echoed through the trees and that green light hit the boy's chest…

James woke, a broken scream locked in his throat. He didn't know what he had just seen. He didn't know why that scene had played out before him, but he knew it was real. Somehow, he knew that was the fate his son faced. It wasn't only the prophecy that made him think that. Something about the dream seemed too real to be fabricated.

James couldn't help himself, he sat up slowly against the pillows in the dark bedroom and let the tears come.

He had failed. He hadn't even technically become a father yet, and he had already failed his son. The son that was going to fulfil the prophecy and face voldemort, but… lose. Was that how it was supposed to end? It didn't matter. James didn't give a fuck how it was supposed to end, he couldn't let it end like that. But he could do nothing to stop it. He was dead by the time it happened.

More tears streamed down his cheeks as the full reality of the dream hit him. James couldn't even tell if his son was of age yet when that terrible green light ht his chest. When his own son surrendered to voldemort alone, in the dark.

Part of James wished Lily would wake and comfort him as another sob racked his body, but the rest of him wanted so terribly for her to stay asleep. She was worried enough. She already feared what James now knew would happen and he didn't want to make it any worse. Even if the hope he gave her that everything would be alright was false, he had to try and give it to her. That was what he had promised to do officially the day they got married, and unofficially years before that; he would always protect her, no matter what.