A/N: If you recognize it, it's not mine.  That having been said (again), here is the longish awaited next chapter! Hope you guys aren't too disappointed…

Chapter 23: Inspiration

Unfortunately, James did not find the same jovial sight that Sirius did.  Instead, he saw something that made his eyes grow wide with amazement.  He stood there, for what seemed to him like hours, nodding and mumbling to himself. 

Everyone was staring at James and wondering what he was seeing.  Lily even tried to gently tap his shoulder to get his attention, but it didn't work.  "James," she whispered.  "James?" 

Suddenly James closed his eyes for a moment and then shook his head.  "Sorry," he muttered.

"Did you see something?  Anything good?" Remus asked.

"I think so," James said, smiling weakly.  "We'll see what good it does."

Lily was eyeing him as if she knew exactly what he was up to.  "Just promise to be careful, knowing you, you'll try to accomplish whatever the mirror showed you.  Be very careful with it, ok?"

"Of course I will, Lil. You can bet your life on that," James said.  He gently kissed Lily on the top of her head.

"Well, look at that," Remus said, turning back to the mirror.  Peter was standing in front of it, standing tall and beaming with pride.  "Oy! Peter! What do you see in that thing?"

"What? Oh, n-n-nothing im-important," Peter stammered, assuming his usual slouched position.

"You looked like you were having a pretty good time there," Sirius said.  "Finally got laid?" He winked at Peter before yelling  "Ow! Watch it" a second later, when Jem smacked him.

"Ignore him, Peter," Jem said apologetically. 

"I know," Peter replied.  "He's al-always been like that."

"So what did you see then?"

"Just getting p-p-promoted and p-praised by my… boss," he said stupidly.

"Come on, Lil," James said.  "It's your turn."  Taking her hand, James led Lily in front of the mirror.  Lily looked as though she was dreading what she might see, but a soft smile spread across her face once she looked up.  "What is it?  What's there?"

"It's us, James… and Harry."

"Harry?" Peter asked.

James waved his hand impatiently, not taking his eyes off of Lily.  "We've decided to name the baby Harry if it's a boy.  What are we doing?" 

"Oh, James, he's so handsome!  Even if he does have you hair…" she giggled.  "Graduating from Hogwarts, with all of us there… you and me…" Lily began to choke on her words.  A lump had formed in her throat.  "And our parents… our whole family gathered there congratulating him and us…" Her eyes had misted over and she turned away from the mirror, walking into James waiting arms.

James stroked her hair and kissed her head.  "We'll get there, you'll see," he whispered.

"It looked so perfect," she whispered back.

"And it will be."

"That is the most darling thing I have ever heard and seen!" Jem sobbed.  She pulled out a handkerchief and blew her nose.  "You two are so sweet."  She gently hit Sirius with the back of her hand.  "Why can't you be more like him?"

This, of course, caused Lily to start laughing.  "You don't want that, Jem.  Trust me."

James pretended to be offended and everyone had a good laugh.  They forgot the melancholy feelings that had been in the room seconds before.

"What are we all doing in here anyhow?" Sirius asked.  "There's a party going on out there, and it's for you two.  Hadn't you best return to the rest of your guests?"

Lily nodded and James said, "You're right.  Let's have some fun!"

And that's exactly what they did for the rest of the night.

The next morning, Lily woke up to the sound of a gentle tapping on the bedroom window.  She opened her eyes and was surprised to see a delivery owl there with a copy of the Daily Prophet in its beak.  Careful not to disturb James, she crawled out of bed and opened the window.  The owl flew in and dropped the newspaper into her hands.  She took 3 knuts from the top drawer of the dresser and dropped them into the pouch on the owl's leg.  Once that was done, the owl promptly flew away.

"What was that?" James groaned.

"Just the Daily Prophet delivery, honey.  Go back to sleep."

"Why is the Prophet coming to our bedroom window?  Shouldn't it be delivered to the back door, like it usually is?"

"I was wondering the same thing," Lily told him.  She carefully unfolded the paper and her question was answered. 

Lily fell onto the bed, causing James to jump upright and catch her.  "What is it?" he asked.

"Look!"

James took the paper from Lily and began skimming the headlines.

Daily Prophet

Special Edition

Ministry of Magic Finally Apprehends Catherine Lestrange, by Rondah Lapine.

"Oh my god," James whispered.  "After an embarrassing loss for the Ministry of Magic," James read aloud "sources at the Ministry tell your very own Daily Prophet reporter that Catherine Lestrange, one of the first followers of You-Know-Who, has indeed been apprehended once again.  Hopefully our diligent Ministry officials will do a more impressive job this time in keeping her in custody.  Her husband, Edward Lestrange, was captured earlier this year and sentenced to a life at the hands of the Dementors of Azkaban.  No doubt a similar fate awaits his wife."

"Go," Lily breathed.

"But-"

"James, go.  I know you want to be there.  Don't worry about me I'll be fine.  Just go."

James kissed Lily on the cheek and jumped out of bed.  He hurriedly put on a set of robes and just as soon as he said "Goodbye," he disapparated.

Lily curled up on the bed and clutched James's pillow to her chest.  "Please let him be alright, please. We need to get through this…" Tears filled her eyes and she cried into his pillow.

James apparated right into Sirius's office.  "When were you going to tell me?" he demanded.

Sirius shook his head.  "I didn't find out about it until about 10 minutes ago either.  This was all Frank's doing. So calm down, and let's see what we can find out, ok?"

The two of them headed down the hall toward Mr. Ocran's office, but when they got there, he wasn't sitting at his desk.  Instead, the head of the department, Mr. Crouch was sitting, looking through some papers.

"What are you doing here?" James asked, somewhat exasperated.

"I will ignore your improper tone, Mr. Potter, given what has happened.  Also, I will ignore the fact that you are here when you were expressly told not to be.  To answer your question though, Mr. Ocran has been relieved of command.  He no longer has a job here at the Ministry."

"Why the bloody hell not?" roared Sirius.

Crouch's eyes grew wide with disbelief.  "What did you say to me?"

"You heard me.  Why the hell was Ocran fired?"

"Managerial differences," Crouch spat out.  "And you could stand to lose that attitude, Mr. Black, if you know what's good for you."  He stood up from behind the desk and slammed a file shut.  "I expect that you would like to be in the room for Mrs. Lestrange's sentencing." 

Sirius and James could tell that he wasn't expecting them to answer, so they simply followed him out of the office and through a narrow passageway that led to one of the Ministry dungeons.

When Lily saw that Catherine Lestrange had been captured, she was relieved for two reasons. First was the obvious reason that the person responsible for the death of her sister-in-law would finally be brought to justice. Second, knowing that James would be occupied at the Ministry with the details of Lestrange's trial, Lily decided that this would be the perfect, if not only, opportunity for her to see Dumbledore and deliver the message Severus had asked her to.

Quickly throwing a coat on over her clothes, Lily apparated into Hogsmeade, which was the closest location to Hogwarts. Once there, she snuck up to the Shrieking Shack to take the shortest path she could think of onto the school grounds: via the Whomping Willow. Making sure that she had something to hit the knot on the tree with to freeze it, she quickly made her way through the old passageway.

Once Lily got through the Willow, she quickly walked up to the castle's front doors. Once inside, and judging by the sounds she heard, Lily concluded that everyone much be in the Great Hall for lunch. She found her way there instantly, the doors echoing throughout the room as she pushed them open. Unfortunately, as she did so, everyone in the Hall fell silent and turned their heads to look at her.

Lily could feel the tears stinging the back of her eyes, but she did her best to blink them back. Somehow, through all of this, she managed to make eye contact with the Headmaster, who nodded at her knowingly before standing and whispering something to Professor McGonnagal, who looked shocked and even raised a hand to her mouth before nodding in response to whatever Dumbledore had told her. Dumbledore then excused himself from the head table and walked over to Lily, ignoring the curious looks and questioning whispers circulating the Hall, and gestured for her to follow him.

While leading Lily through the various hallways, Dumbledore remained silent, which Lily was most grateful for.  Once they reached the entrance to his office though, he broke the silence by stating "Raisinette," to which the wall replied by opening up and allowing them to pass through.  Dumbledore opened the door to his office and gestured for Lily to sit down.  He then walked around his desk and found his own seat.

"I had a sneaking suspicion that you would visit me today," Dumbledore told her, "and that is why I stayed behind, even though the Ministry asked me to attend the Catherine Lestrange trial.  I trust that James is there, however?"  Lily lowered her eyes and nodded.  "Well, perhaps now we can discuss certain things that we could not in his presence.  What is it that has brought you to me today?"

"Severus.  Severus Snape," Lily said.

"I was very afraid that those would be two words to come out of your mouth," Dumbledore sighed.  "What have you heard about Severus?" 

Before Lily knew what she was doing, she told Dumbledore all about her encounter with Snape in Diagon Alley. 

"And he handed you this address before he disapparated?" Dumbledore asked.

"Yes, sir."  Lily was near tears.  "He sounded horrible, as though he was expecting to be attacked at any moment."

"No doubt he was, Lily.  I expect that James has told you what your friend has been up to this past year, correct?" 

Lily looked up at Dumbledore, genuinely confused.  "What do you mean?"

Dumbledore sighed and shook his head.  "It seems that Severus has made the mistake of joining the forces of Voldemort.  Judging by his actions though, both concerning you I might add,  he has seen the error of his ways.  I will do as he wishes and meet him here."

"Are you sure that's wise, sir?  If he really is in league with Voldemort…"

"I will be able to take care of the situation, I am sure.  It all will turn out right, I promise you," he told her soothingly.  "You had best head home though, I'm sure James will be requiring your support once he returns."

Lily nodded and began to rise from her seat.  A thought then crossed her mind though, causing her to sit back down.  "Professor?"

"Yes, Lily?"

"You said that Severus's actions both had to do with me.  Did you mean that time when I was in the hospital?"

Dumbledore nodded solemnly.  "I told you that it was he who brought the potion that cured you, as well as who it was who wished you harm."

"I remember," she whispered.  She then raised her gaze to meet Dumbledore's.  "Do you think he's trying to make things right?"

"One can only hope for as much.  For now, leave him to me.  Go home, and get some rest."  Lily couldn't help but notice that the twinkle had returned to his eyes.  "We would all like for you to deliver a happy, healthy baby."

Lily smiled for the first time since their meeting.  "How did you know?"

"I have my ways, just as you have yours.  Hagrid will escort you safely into Hogsmeade, where I presume that you will return home from."

"Yes, thank you."

"Of course, Lily."  Dumbledore stood, and Lily did the same.  She turned to leave the room, but quickly changed her mind.  Before leaving, she wrapped her arms around Dumbledore in a big hug.  He held her to him for a moment, kissed the top of her head, and then released her.  "Thank you," he said. 

"I'll see you soon," Lily told him.  She then started to walk out of the office.

"Lily?" he called after her.  "Never underestimate the power of love.  It can do wonders," he smiled.  "And be sure to send an owl to your Gran.  She misses you!"

Lily grinned.  "Thanks again," she said, just before leaving his office for good.

As promised, Hagrid met Lily by the castle doors and escorted her back to Hogsmeade.  They then said their goodbyes after Lily both insisted that Hagrid come for tea one day soon and promising to visit with the baby once he was born. 

Lily received quite a shock when she apparated home.  James was actually there already, and he was fit to be tied.  Furniture was overturned, paper and bits of parchment were scattered all over the place.  There was even shards of glass scattered over the floor.

"I take it things didn't go so well?" Lily asked calmly.  James couldn't even answer her.  The only noise he made was a sort of grunt.  Lily reached out to touch him, but he quickly pulled away.  "James, talk to me.  Please?"

James looked up at his wife and immediately fell to the floor, holding his head in his hands.  Lily ran over to him and wrapped her arms around his shoulders.  She could feel him shaking in her grasp, from an odd mixture of rage and suffering. 

"I'm sorry," he whispered.

"No, no…" Lily said, beginning to rock him back and forth.  "It's alright.  Look."  She pulled out her wand, and with a simple flick of her wrist, everything was back to normal.

"It's not that, Lil.  I'm sorry for everything…"

"What do you mean?" 

"For getting you involved in this… everything that's happened, it's my fault!"

"That's not true.  If it's anyone's fault, it's mine.  I'm the one who Voldemort is after.  If anything, I'm the one to blame for our losses…"

"No," James said sternly.  "If I had just been more prepared, then none of this would have happened."  His expression suddenly changed.  "You weren't there.  You didn't hear her…"

"What happened?"

"Crouch actually was going to give her a chance.  He was going to give that bitch a second chance.  Said he would go easier on her if she would give information about her fellow Death Eaters and the whereabouts of Voldemort.  Of course, she refused.  She insisted that she would never betray him, that she would die for him.  She even said that she believed he would save our world… bring our kind back to the power that is rightfully ours, she said.  Can you believe that?" 

"And Crouch?"

"He sentenced her to Azkaban, naturally.  Personally, I think she should have received the Dementor's Kiss straight away, but he didn't decree it, but she will rot away there, just like her husband and every other piece of treacherous vermin that crosses to the Dark Side."

Lily sighed and nodded her head.  "I know, honey, I know," she said.  She then lifted herself up off of the floor and offered her hand to James, who took it and pulled himself up as well.  "Come on," Lily sighed, "Let's get you off to bed."

"Lil, I'm really not tired… just upset."

"Even so, I think it's best.  I'll make a sleeping potion for you.  Maybe when you wake up you'll feel better."

James woke up at 4 am with a start.  As if by some sort of reflex, he jerked himself up, so that he was now sitting.  He fumbled around clumsily for his glasses with his right hand and for Lily with his left.  When he didn't feel her lying beside him, he really started to worry.  He grabbed his glasses and put them on, looking frantically for his wife.

"Lil?" he called nervously.  "Where are you, baby?"

"You're up!" Lily breathed.  She was standing by the bathroom door and James noticed she was gripping her stomach.  "It's time.  St. Mungo's.  My water broke."