It was pure terror beyond anything he had imagined. In front of him lay the corpse. It was impossible! And yet here it was in front of his own eyes! Murdered by his innocent mother's hands. She hesitated to harm a fly?…

"What have you done?" he whispered. It seemed Elena had heard him, yet she ignored him. She stabbed the table, sobbing hysterically. James reached out. "Mother," he whispered.

"What?" she screamed, turning around, knife still in her frail, chubby hands.

James knew what he wanted to say to her. But he couldn't seem to be able to get it out. This was the sort of thing that happened in books. Muggle movies. She began moving towards him slowly, the knife poised in one hand, the wand in the other, ready.

"It's all your fault," she spat, in a hoarse whisper. "It's all your damn fault, James Potter!!"

"Mother what is this about?" he said. Was she still angry about his father? "Daddy?"

"Daddy?" she yelled. James jumped, taken by surprise. "You still think he's your daddy, don't you?" a malicious smile formed on Elena's lips. "You bastard!" James stared. His own mother had just called him a…

"Your father was a rapist! And you…" she pointed her finger at him. James licked his lips, afraid of the revelation that was about to come.

"I have a binding spell put on me, boy." She grinned, and just as suddenly broke out in some sort of maniacal fit of giggles. James considered calling the Ministry. But, he decided, he would finally know the truth, and they would only ruin it. Did he really want to know it, though?

"The binding spell," she continued, breathless, "wore off when that son of a bitch died. I killed him, did you know that?"

"That's not possible, don't blame yourself, Volde—"

"Voldemort? Is that who you think killed him? It's a simple spell! Anyone can do it! Morsmordre! That's the magic word!" James stared with wide eyes. His mother…killed his father…? This was definitely a dream.

"No!" he yelled, willing himself to wake up. "Wake up! Wake up! Wake up!" he muttered to himself.

Elena seemed to be enjoying it.

"James," she said happily, "do you want to know who your mother is?" She didn't wait for him to answer. "Elizabeth Bottom."

"You deserve that piece of filth you've fallen in love with, because you are part of that filth!" she said.

"No!" he said out loud. Without warning, Elena began flying toward the ceiling.

"James!" she screeched. He wasn't aware that he was doing wandless magic, he was just willing her to go away…anywhere, just…away.

She flew faster.

This wasn't happening. He would wake up in a second. Whining to Lily about the exhausting trip back to The Hollow.

She flew even faster.

Everything was ok. James closed his eyes. Letting go of this tension that weighed upon him. His mother, his dead father, his problems. His mind wandered back to the Hogwarts days. He was with Lily that day, behind Hagrid's hut, sharing the woolen cloak. He opened them, and nothing had changed.

No, no, no!

There was a sickening thud. James looked to the direction of the noise. Elena Potter lay there, utterly dead. He looked at his hands. He did it. He gazed up at the dome-shaped ceiling that rose high into the air. He'd murdered his mother.

Lily grimaced. The room was stuffy and smelt of marijuana and minty alcohol. James had yet another row with his mother. She only heard muffled yells this time, so did not know really what the conversation was about. She was sure, however, that it was something trivial enough to let them blame each other without feeling guilty about it. Damn the Minister for dying. She sighed aloud, wondering if she was stuck with them for life. Sure, every family was dysfunctional, atleast she had heard people saying it, having never been part of one, but she felt this was going a bit far.

Would they seem like a family to a stranger? She would stand out so much, with her copper hair and green eyes. It would contrast much with Elena's blonde, pale and regal figure.

Lily noticed something. James looked nothing like his mother or father, the Minister.

James looked like…

No, that was impossible. Lily looked at his figure in peaceful slumber. He was leaning his head lightly on her shoulder. She recalled her memory of…wait, that was impossible! As if sensing her stiffen, James stirred awake. He yawned as the thunder rumbled relentlessly beneath their feet. The room lit up with the light of the lightning through the glass window. A man lit another joint and the pair shifted; a few withery looking old women shuffled noisily. There wasn't a storm like this in almost a century.

"Oh where are we?" James asked, rubbing his eyes.

It had hardly been fifteen minutes since Lily's last coherent thought about the rain.

"You're awake, are you?" Lily said, yawning at the sight of him.

"Are we still in Spain? I had this horrible dream that I was yelling, and my mother'd locked me in with the dementor's and it wouldn't bloody stop raining and…" James' voice died in his throat. His eyes fell on the large glass window across the room. It was now properly hailing.

Scanning the room, he noticed the weak old men, with skin wrinkled on their shrunken bones. Their hair was grey for those who had any. In the light, their eyes were so hollow and so lusterless that James thought they were—

"They do like dementor's don't they?" he heard Lily say, "Not that I've ever seen one, just imagined, you know?" Her voice was soft and mournful.

"Why did you get us to this place, James? Where the hell are we?" Lily asked in a panicked tone.

"Oh…" he paused, thinking of a lie, or just an excuse that could hold her off long enough. "I don't know…yet."

Lily sighed dejectedly. Why wouldn't he tell her?

"Let's go," he said, grabbing her hand so tightly as if he was scared to leave her. They went up the creaky wooden stairs to a small, decrepit door. James knocked and Lily was so surprised by the person who opened it that she could hardly sustain herself from launching herself at him. James, on the other hand, only just stumbled through the doorway in a preternatural state. He felt so depressed. What was he supposed to tell Lily? She was the only one who trusted him. How innocent she was! The dry, burning feeling made it's way to his throat and he gritted his teeth. She was the only one who didn't hate him. What would he ever do if she were to leave?

"It was an accident, Cornelius," Dumbledore said a few miles away at the Potter cottage.

"But, Albus, Hogwarts was supposed to curb his powers. Accidents such as this don't occur to Hogwarts graduates—and Head Students no less! This was intentional!"

"It is only an indication of the Power. I will have no more on this topic. Clean up this mess, and make sure these people," he gestured to the magi-forensic wizards, "Remember nothing of this." Fudge muttered something in protest, but at the sight of the Headmaster's eyes, was silenced instantly.

"What do I tell them?"

"Honestly, Cornelius," Dumbledore retorted, "Can you do nothing by yourself?"

"Yes, sir, I certainly will." Dumbledore's eyes twinkled solemnly and he promptly disapparated to lot beside the Black Forest, just a short distance away.

*

"Remus!" Lily squeaked as she entered his old flat. He easily picked her up and embraced her, but kept his eyes on his best friend.

"Where's Sirius?" he asked them.

"Dunno, haven't seen him since James's party," Lily answered. James sat himself on the sofa. Noticing the miserable look on his face, Remus asked Lily if she knew what was wrong. She shook her head, biting her lip. There was a knock at the door.

"Hold on, I'll get it," Remus said and fearfully unlatched the wooden entrance. Dumbledore stood there, surprisingly dry, with a grave look on his face.

"Professor!" James said, "Please don't let them take me, it was an accident!" Dumbledore raised a withered hand in the air.

"It's ok, James, no one is taking you anywhere." He looked immensely relieved, and Lily and Remus glanced at each other, puzzled. "I do, however, want you to tell your friends, they must be worried." James started in protest, but before he could say anything, he was interrupted by a gust of wind.

"James!" came a voice from the doorway, "I just heard, man, are you okay?" Lily recognized the voice as Sirius, and she was surprised when he embraced her boyfriend as if someone had just died.

"You mean…" James began, "you mean you don't hate me?" Remus watched, as confused as ever.

"Of course not, Prongs. I don't think you did it on purpose."

"Yes, James," Dumbledore added, "I do believe that what you did may have even helped more than it harmed."

"ENOUGH!" They turned toward the voice. Lily.

"James Potter, you are going to tell me now what the hell is going on 'ere!"

"I killed my mother," he began, and recounted all the events from the house elf murder to his parentage. He did not leave out the part about Lily, because Dumbledore would obviously know if he was lying, and he had to say everything, just in case.

When James was finished, a thick silence enveloped the room. Remus was wondering about how all of this would be covered up, Dumbledore about how to console James, and Lily…about where she had heard the name Elizabeth Bottom before.

"James," she said, "Do you know this Elizabeth person?"

Lily thought she saw a flash of guilt in James's face, and sure enough, he hesitated a bit before he spoke. "Ashley's mother."

Of course, this meant nothing to the other three inhabitants in the room, but Lily's face suddenly became white and ashen. Even in the dim lit apartment, with only a flickering tubelight in the corner for it's entirety, James could see that it meant something to Lily. It was a very big something, that apparently became a bigger something as she hurriedly began to flee the room. James made no attempt to stop her, and when Sirius and Remus did, Dumbledore only laid a restricting hand upon each of their shoulders.

Toni, or Ashley, was Lily's only friend. Her only true friend in the world, in her lifetime. Ashley had lied to her. Ashley did not trust her, even when they saw each other at James Potter's birthday party. Surely, she could've told her then? So James was an illegitimate child of the Minister of Magic, and Ashley was his half-sister. Everyone had family issues? Was she really that bad that no one could trust her with anything?