I don't own Harry Potter n shit, neither do I own the Madness Combat series by Krinkels. I also don't have a concrete idea of pairings, so take the ones shown as a grain of salt.

Chapter 3

Lily walked out of the meeting room in a foul mood, one that only worsened when she noticed James speeding up to catch up to her. She still could not believe it. Her beautiful face twisted into a snarl as she recalled how she stumbled upon correspondence between orphanages and her husband in the Americas about Harry Potter. She glanced back to see that James was still trying to catch up to her, so she stopped, turning around furiously.

"Stop James, just stop. I don't want to speak to you right now, I don't even want to see you," she spat, "There's no apology that I will accept from you. I can't believe I ever trusted you and Dumbledore, I can't-"

Her voice cracked as sorrow crossed her features.

'Oh Harry, how could I have let this happen to you,' she thought tearfully. Deep down she blamed herself as well. She knew that contact with Harry would be a horrible idea. The wizarding world was told that Harry Potter had died and if a single person ever found out that he was alive, living with muggles as a squib, there was no telling what could happen to him. Yet still, she should have checked on him somehow, she should have made sure he was safe. But, she didn't. She placed her trust in her man-child of a husband and a senile school headmaster and paid the price. They lost her baby boy and were none the wiser as to where to find him.

James could only stare it has feet shamefully, wishing he could come up with something, anything to bring his lost son back, to fix this mess that had steadily been growing a rift between him and Lily.

"I'm not going back to Potter Manor, feel free to explain to Michael exactly why," she finished angrily, eyes shining with unshed tears.

As she stomped out of the Ministry, glad to notice that James had not followed her, she could only think, think of the possibilities of what could have been. What if she had made sure to have someone watch over her son? What if they had simply hidden Harry from the world in the manor? In the end, her illogical thoughts consumed her. She knew that none of those solutions would work, Harry would have been too large a target, defenseless. The Potter family had many enemies amongst the most affluent and powerful of the noble pureblood houses. There had been at least 6 different break-in attempts to the Potter Manor by various wizards and witches during Michael's childhood, most likely hired by some pureblood family looking to get revenge for the defeat of the Dark Lord.

Of course, none of it could be traced back to the people responsible. The ones they captured had their memories scrubbed with only a location in mind for if they managed to capture or kill one of the Potter family members to collect payment. There wasn't a single iota of information about the identity of their employers.

She sighed to herself as she entered an apartment she had decided to rent as she could not bear to sleep in the same house as James after the debacle he and the Headmaster had caused. She didn't even want to eat, so she simply collapsed on the couch and cried.

-!-

I am a linebreak

-!-

James could only wander to the floo in a daze. Sirius walked to his side uncertainly and James remembered that he didn't tell Sirius about what happened at all. He was too scared of being judged like Lily judged him after the disaster was discovered by her.

Sirius opened his mouth hesitantly, "Look mate, I don't know what happened to make Lils that mad, but, I reckon you must have made a huge blunder. Don't think about it too much; people make mistakes all the time. She'll get over it, you remember how you guys started back in 2nd year?"

James gave his old friend a thankful smile.

"You're right, thanks Padfoot," he muttered.

Of course, James was incredibly doubtful that Lily would forgive and forget on this matter. However, he was desperate for anything to make his guilt go away and to find something to latch onto, something to blame, anything but himself.

'Sirius is right, everyone makes mistakes. I know what I did was bad but even Lily makes mistakes too. We both trusted Pettigrew, that rat, and that caused You-Know-Who to attack our house! She has to forgive me, this tantrum she's going through isn't helping with anything at all. It's certainly not helping us find Harry faster,' he thought, his face showing an annoyed frown.

If there was a single thing James was glad about, it was that Lily had not spread the news of his failings. She knew that they would need James' and Dumbledore's reputation to fight the Dark Lord and if she exposed what they had did, their reputations would be tarnished. It would be far tougher to combat the Dark Lord with Wizarding Britain against the leaders of the light, after all.

James appeared in Potter Manor from the floo with a flash of emerald flames. As he poured himself a drink of tea, and steeled himself to explain to Michael why his mother wasn't coming back to stay with. He trudged upstairs, and after taking a breath to prepare himself, knocked on Michael's door and entered.

The first thing he saw was Michael scrambling to yank his pants back up and the second thing he saw was the rather animated photo of a model in skimpy clothing decorating the pages of what he recognized to be the Witch Weekly magazine.

James coughed embarrassedly as he slammed the door shut.

"Get your damn pants back on son! I need to talk to you about something," James yelled. It was best if he just forgot that the last 5 seconds happened at all.

As James was busy purging his mind of what just happened, Michael yelled, "I'm decent now dad," in a suitably bashful voice.

James opened the door door, pinching the bridge of his nose.

"Look Michael, I just wanted to let you know that me and your mother... well, we had a bit of a disagreement. She's not going to- uh- stay with us for a while," James started haltingly.

Michael just stared at him blankly, not saying a single thing.

James coughed, and he could feel the heat rushing to his face, this had to be in the top 10 most embarrassing moments of his life, up there with being caught peeping on Lily in their seventh year by Severus Snape of all people.

"Right then, that's all, I'll see later. Make sure to pack your things, we'll be heading to Hogwarts Express tomorrow," James shuffled out of the room awkwardly, glancing to see Michael looking at the magazine shamefully.

Michael let out a sigh of relief, and as he thought he was in clear, the door cracked open a second time.

"Oh, and next time, lock the damn door," James growled out, religiously averting his gaze from Michael's face, before slamming the door shut again. He had to eat and then attend another Order meeting at 12 Grimmauld Place after all.

Michael could only let his face fall into his hands with a groan. What an embarrassment.

-!-

I am a linebreak

-!-

Harry entered a spacious living room, following behind Bellatrix Black, and despite himself, he found his eyes occasionally gravitating towards her well shaped posterior through her robe. Of course, given that he was wearing sunglasses, even if Bellatrix turned around, she likely would not have been able to tell that he was sneaking glances.

Well, that was what he thought until Bellatrix gave him a brief knowing smile as if to tell him, 'I know you're looking,'

"Kreacher!" hollered Bellatrix.

With a pop, a very old and disgusting looking house elf appeared in the room, bowing to Bellatrix.

"Kreacher is here mistress," the house elf replied, and Harry immediately found himself slightly disgusted by the groveling creature in front of him.

"Please, make us something to eat for lunch please," Bellatrix answered, sitting down at the table.

With a nod of assent, Kreacher disappeared.

Bellatrix motioned for Harry to sit as well, and he gracefully lowered himself into the offered seat.

"So tell me, what do you actually plan to do," Harry asked her calmly.

She frowned at him thoughtfully, "I don't know what you mean,"

"You and I both know that you're not one to sit in the back, planning out all these different strategies, and patrols, and deal with the numbers. You're a woman of action. You don't let others do the work you think you should be doing," he said, looking at her carefully.

"And how would you know how I am? We've barely met," she drawled, raising a perfect eyebrow.

"Don't lie to me," Harry frowned, "I could see it in your posture, hear it in your voice as you and your aurors talked plans in that meeting room,"

Bellatrix paused for a moment, before she straightened up.

"Fine, you got me, I don't plan to just be strategizing from the back. We're too limited by the laws. Getting a warrant to storm a pureblood's ancestral home for suspected sympathies with the Dark Lord? Ha! You'd have better luck winning the muggle lottery. No, I think that we need need to be able to take the battle straight to them!" she spat.

"Good," Harry replied neutrally, "You're willing to fight your own fights, I admire that,"

Bellatrix actually paused and blinked in surprise to his response.

"I'm surprised, most people I've met just treat me like I'm some kind of pretty flower they need to keep watch over,"

Harry found amusement in that statement, and his lips quirked up.

"I forget that Wizarding Britain is a bit... behind on the times. In America, we are far more accepting of women pursuing their ambitions and the like. I assume that this country doesn't take too kindly to their women being independent?" asked Harry quizzically.

Bellatrix gave a very unladylike snort, "That's a bit of an understatement. You should see my sister Narcissa. Her husband, that poof Lucius Malfoy, has her by his side like a trophy. She was the brightest witch of her year, powerful, a genius in runes. Now? All she does is fawn over her idiot boy, Draco,"

This time Harry full out laughed in amusement. And, Bellatrix laughed along with him.

"I had heard rumors that the head of the Malfoy family touched little boys, of course there is no proof..." Harry smiled at her.

Bellatrix found herself drawn to his sense of humor and his lack of prejudice against women that most wizards from Britain had. Even the all-accepting Dumbledore seemed uncomfortable that women like her and Amelia were in positions of power.

They ended up talking with each other for the rest of the lunch before Bellatrix had to leave and take care of her duties as the Head of the DMLE. Privately, she was quite disappointed as she left, wishing she could spend more time with him. This thought surprised her, but she shook it off quickly.

'Come on now, old girl. It's not as though you fancy him or anything. Although, he is quite handsome, I wish I could see his eyes...' thought Bellatrix. Now just realizing that he had never once taken off the sunglasses he wore, even despite the fact that they were indoors. She rationalized it, thinking it probably had some magical purpose to enhance sight.

Harry found that Bellatrix was quite a delight to talk to. She was a skilled dueler from her own words and Harry could tell she could be dangerous when she wanted to be. She had graciously allowed him to have free reign while in her home, so long as he stayed away from her room, of course.

Instead of exploring, he waited for Bellatrix to leave before he stood up and promptly disappeared from the house in a burst of black and red flames.

-!-

I am a linebreak

-!-

Lily sniffled one last time as she pulled herself together, standing up to attend the Order meeting.

As she quietly entered 12 Grimmauld Place, she could hear James and Dumbledore speaking already. Clearly, James' voice was loud and abrasive as usual whereas Dumbledore's was soothing and calm.

"Can you believe it Dumbledore?! One man, that's all that the Americans sent to us! I can't believe their audacity," Lily heard.

"Calm down now James, I'm sure that the Americans have a good reason. I've heard from different sources that the Americans have had their own share of disasters recently,"

"And I suppose that means they need every single wizard and witch in their country then?! Even you have to admit, this is outrageous, Dumbledore I-" James voice broke halfway through as Lily walked into the room, she immediately sighed in her mind, knowing James would likely try to approach her again. She noted that the Longbottoms, Sirius, the Weasleys, Shacklebolt, Lupin, Snape, and a few others had already made it and were really only waiting on her.

She smiled in greeting to Severus, something that he returned in kind, and she could immediately see the affection in his gaze. She knew that Severus still loved her, but she could not return his feelings.

James looked like he wanted to say something to Lily but she gave him a warning glare, something that Snape took great pleasure in as he reveled in the greeting he got from Lily, one that James clearly did not receive. James knew it to, evident by the jealous sneer he directed towards Snape.

Lily was shaken from her warning look to James by Dumbledore's voice, "Lily, welcome to the meeting. Now, I've heard just about everyone's opinion about this American and how the Minister has seen fit to allow him free reign. What do you think my dear?" Dumbledore asked kindly.

Lily used to think the world of Dumbledore, but everything had come crashing down when she learned that Dumbledore had left her son on the doorsteps of the Dursleys.

She resisted the urge to tell the old man that bugger off and said, "He's powerful. To what extent, I don't know. But the way he carries himself, he's been through war, of that there is no doubt. Even when he looked like he was zoning out during the DMLE's senior auror meeting, I could tell he was watching each and every one of us, as if he were searching for weaknesses," Lily said seriously, shivering as she remembered how unsettled she was when she felt his gaze flick over her. Even though he wore sunglasses, she could just tell he was analyzing her specifically.

Dumbledore leaned in speculatively, a twinkle in his eye, "Do you think he's dangerous to us?"

Lily shifted uncomfortably as all of a sudden, everyone was focusing on her.

"I don't know, if the President of MACUSA's recommendation is to be believed, he will be a great help to us," Lily replied after a moment of contemplation.

Dumbledore nodded thoughtfully, before turning to address the order normally once more.

As the Order of the Phoenix discussed matters, not a single one of them noticed an eavesdropper. Hidden in shadows outside of the room, one Jebediah Christoff sat, blending into the shadows, listening in. Despite the Fidelius Charm protecting the location of the building, there he stood.

The discussion lasted perhaps another half hour, before the fireplace in the meeting room burst into flames, revealing the alluring face of Bellatrix.

"Dumbledore, there's a Death Eater attack on Diagon Alley right now, and I loathe to admit it, but we need all the help we can get," Bellatrix said urgently, a crease in her brow. She didn't like having to rely on this old man to help her, but the auror corps were still not at full strength, and she didn't truly know who she could trust, even in her own department.

Everyone in the room got up quickly, all of them preparing to disapparate to Diagon Alley.

"Understood, we're on our way to help right now," said Dumbledore alertly.

As everyone began to leave, Dumbledore stopped one Arthur Weasley.

"Have you made sure that the Department of Mysteries is fully secure, Arthur?" asked Dumbledore sharply.

The Head of the Weasleys blinked before stating, "Yes, I've made sure there's still daily and nightly patrols, even if I still don't know why you specifically want it guarded,"

"I am afraid I cannot tell you why, it's best if no one knows," Dumbledore responded regretfully. Arthur nodded along since Dumbledore was to be trusted, he had bested the Dark Lord Grindelwald and had ended the war. He clearly knew what he was doing. Then, the two disapparated as well.

Harry lingered only until after they left before he too disappeared in a flash of black fire.

-!-

End of Chapter 3

-!-

A/N: I'm not doing any lemons, I don't fucking know how to write them and I'm pretty much a novice. I just felt like I'd try putting some of my ideas onto paper/digital paper or something. This is probably utter trash but I'll keep updating it if people like it I guess. If you like it, leave a review so I know it's not stinky ass monkey doo-doo. I left it off at a cliff hanger because I don't know how to write fight scenes and I need to read a bunch of different fight scenes to see how other people do it.