Disclaimer: All people and places belong to J. K. Rowling.

Life Had Just Begun

By Terra

Chapter Twelve: The Cruelest Month

The lion and lamb went and soon it was April. It rained constantly. A light drizzle covered the days and nights, casting the light grey and making the sky dark. My parents used to call such days "Azkaban Days" because they say that it is charmed to be frequently like that in the wizarding prison. I hope it's true.

It was the sixteenth of April. For the past week or so, I had been feeling a little off-color. I tried to hide my general state of ill comfort but Lily and Sirius had begun commenting on how unhealthy I looked. I laughed it off but only because Lily had enough to worry about. So what? I scolded myself when thinking upon my general sick feeling, I've had spells of feeling this way and they came and went away without any reason why so there is no reason to head to a doctor now. I guess I tend to avoid medical attention at all costs because doctors remind me of my childhood spent in bed for days or even months on end. I wasn't about to spend my adult life that way.

I was reflecting on the term "Azkaban Days" when someone knocked lightly on the wall of my cubicle. Surprised at the polite intrusion, I turned around in my swivel chair to face whoever was intending to speak to me. It was Arthur Weasley.

His face was ashen, as if he had just seen a ghost and he was trembling slightly. "Am I disturbing you?"

"Not really," I replied then asked, "Are you okay?"

"No, I'm not. I'm sorry for this but could you do me a favor? If you don't have the time, that's fine."

I was stunned at this request. I wasn't extremely good friends with Arthur, he was Lily's friend after all, so naturally I wondered why he was asking me for favors. "I suppose I may have the time. What's the problem?"

He seemed to be at a loss for words. He quickly shook his head. "Not here. This has to be private. I'm sorry but you know that conversations can be overheard in here."

"Alright," I replied, confused out my mind as I got up. What did he want me to do that required this much secrecy?

He led me out of the Office to a secluded hallway some distance away. He closed his eyes and rubbed the bridge of his nose. "I don't know how to tell you this. I'm in shock myself." He took a deep but shaky breath and opened his eyes. His voice trembling, he said, "You know Virginia?"

"Yes, she was married to... your cousin." I didn't want to say Percy's name in case that would upset him further.

"She's... she's... dead. Dead."

My jaw dropped. "You're kidding."

"No," he replied in a would-be calm voice. "No, she's dead. Found her this morning."

"You found...?"

"Her literary agent. She called him last night..." he seemed to trying very hard not to get emotional as he continued, "said... she was done with her latest work. Wanted to... to conference with him... so she said."

"Was she murdered?"

He shook his head and put his hand to his mouth, looking as though he was going to sick. "No," he answered tremulously, "she... she... h-h-hanged herself."

I had to brace myself against the wall to prevent myself from falling down. "No way. There's no way she..."

He nodded. "She left a suicide note. She left a suicide note, a short story, and two poems on her desk, very neatly arranged. Oh, and her requests for... the arrangements..." Arther choked up.

I could barely breathe. "Arthur," I demanded softly, "I still don't understand what you need me to do."

Arthur closed his eyes and took deep, calming breaths in order to compose himself. Once he was somewhat gathered together, he explained, "I have to bring... her widower in from Azkaban. I'm his closest living relative so this is my duty. I want someone to inform Molly... and the kids." He closed his eyes and muttered softly, "She just saw them three days ago. That's the last time any of us saw her alive. I can still see her kissing the boys on their foreheads good-bye. She knew it was the last time, she knew." He swallowed thickly. "Anyway, this is going to be very public. Virginia was famous and her death will be all of the world's papers. I want my family to know beforehand. Could you... do that for me, James?" I nodded. "Thank you. This means so much to me."

"I'm so sorry, Arthur," I responded. "She was a good person. I didn't know her all that well but I could figure that much."

Arthur smiled briefly and then said, "I have to go get my cousin now. Thank you again."

"I'll go now... to tell your family," I added softly. Arthur nodded and walked away. With a gulp, I Apparated.

*** ***

The Burrow was a bustle of activity. The Weasley children were all playing with each other or, in Bill's case, studying. Bill was sitting on the faded couch as he read a used Mathematics textbook. Charlie and Percy were involved in a fast and furiously aggressive game of catch although the two seemed to be intent on just pelting each other with the rubber ball with pastel geometric shapes on it. Fred and George were building with blocks, obviously trying to see how high they could make of a row of blocks before it fell over. Robert was also on the faded couch with Bill, sitting in a bassinet, neutrally staring at all the activity.

"Once upon a time," Bill said to Robert, who was staring at him for the moment, "there was a number four. Four was unhappy because it wanted to equal twenty. So it had a mysterious buddy named blank. So, one day, your big brother Bill had to figure out what blank's true identity was. Blank turned out to be... five..." Bill said as he wrote on a piece of paper with a quill. "Once upon another time, there was a number eight and it wanted to equal eighty. So, it got a buddy named blank, too." Robert made some sort of gurgling, whining noise at this. Bill answered, "Yeah, I see what you mean, Robert. Not many names in the math word. People like naming their kids blank. Maybe they're all on the witness protection program." Robert cooed in response. "Very good point. You should write to the math book people and correct them."

At this point, Percy crashed backwards into my legs with a yelp as the ball bounced off his forehead, the ball landing sharply in Robert's lap. Robert screeched at the ball and Bill batted it away. Robert let out one last tiny yelp of discomfort before returning to staring at the lanterns in the room.

"Hi, Mr. Potter," Percy greeted with a giggle as he lay on the floor.

"Do you want to play with us?" Charlie asked, retrieving the ball from the ground.

I shook my head. "I need to speak with your mother. Is she here?"

Bill hollered, "MUM! MR. POTTER'S HERE TO SEE YOU!" Robert began to shriek. Molly ran into the room, saying, "Bill! Don't scream your lungs out like that! Scared the daylights out of Robert!" She picked up the screaming child and laid him over her shoulder, bouncing him as she asked me sweetly, "Sorry, James, I wasn't expecting guests."

"That's alright," I muttered. "Arthur sent me here."

"Well, out with it."

I took a glance at the room. The Weasley children were all so young. I didn't know how young children could survive in light of the current conditions. I barely know how we adults survive. "Molly, I think the children should leave the room."

Charlie groaned in response. "Why do we always have to leave the room?"

"Bill, take your brothers upstairs and..." Molly began.

"Mum," Bill said sharply, "I'm nearly old enough to attend Hogwarts. I'm not a kid anymore! I want to hear this. Charlie can take everyone upstairs."

"I'm not a kid neither!" Charlie protested.

"The pair of you!" Molly interrupted harshly, "hush! Bill, you may stay. Charlie, I want no arguments. Take your brothers upstairs this instant."

"Bill gets to do everything…" Charlie whined but Molly gave him a glare and he fell silent. With a long-suffering sigh, she placed the dozing Robert in the bassinet and waving her wand, sent him upstairs as Charlie dragged the three younger boys behind him.

Once the four boys had disappeared from the landing and seemed to be progressing upwards, Molly sat down on the couch beside Bill, who was now sitting straight up and set his book aside. She offered the nearby chair for me to sit in which I did as she said, "Well. The children are gone, what did Arthur send you here for?"

I didn't really know how to put it. I couldn't just say, "Hey, remember that aunt you had? Well, she hanged herself last night so she's dead! See you later!" Not exactly the most tactful thing I could say. "Um…" I muttered awkwardly.

"What'd Dad want?" Bill asked.

"I don't really… What I mean is… I don't know how to explain this…"

"Don't tell me Arthur's dead!" Molly cried.

"No," I answered, "not that."

"Is he being sent to Azkaban? Because if it is, it must have been that bloody…"

"No! Arthur's fine. That isn't what I'm here for."

Molly sighed in relief. "Well, I can't think of anything worse at the moment. What could be the matter?"

"Um… Molly… Bill… do you know Virginia?"

"Uncle Percy's wife?" Bill asked. "Well, of course we do. She invited us over a few days ago."

"Why? What's wrong with Virginia?" Molly inquired.

I could barely speak. Why didn't I just say to Arthur that I was busy? I didn't want to be the harbinger of doom. "I'm so sorry… but… she's dead."

"No," Molly answered, "she's not. She can't be dead." I nodded to show that yes, she can be dead. "But we just saw her just days ago." Bill seemed to have just gone into shock.

"They found her this morning, Molly. She was already dead."

"But how? Why? Who?" She stammered, "Who would do such a thing?"

"She did it herself," I said sadly.

Bill replied, half-screaming, "She killed herself?!"

Molly took a breath. She apparently had forgotten that Bill was still there. "Oh, Bill, it's alright…"

"No, it's not!" Bill protested, now starting to cry, "Why did she do that?"

"I don't know, dear. Maybe she was unhappy, Bill… I really can't say."

Bill hiccuped as he continued, "I can't… believe… it! She… killed… Ron! She just… killed him! He… didn't… didn't… even… get a chance!"

"Ron?" I asked.

Molly put her arms around Bill as he cried. "I think he means that sequel she was working on. You know, little Ron Seannings. She was saying recently that she was planning a sequel. Continue the story and so forth."

I had never really thought about that. Virginia was an author, after all. Who knows how many stories were yet to be written? How many characters had yet to live out their lives on paper? These would never come to fruition. All these lives in her head were cut short. I guess the death of an author is equal to an imaginary massacre.

Bill seemed to disagree with Molly's evaluation. He shook his head and said, "Not him! Not that Ron!"

"I have no idea what you could mean. The only other Ron I can think of is how she used to call Robert Ron. There is no other Ron, Bill."

Bill pulled himself out of his mother's arms and explained tearfully, "It was supposed to be a surprise! She was waiting for the right moment and it never came. She told me… that night that Robert was born. It was our little secret."

"Bill, I have no idea what you are talking about," Molly answered softly. "What was the surprise? Her story? What was it, dear?"

Bill's chin trembled for a few moments that felt like hours. Finally, he wailed painfully and leapt into his mother's arms, stuttering, "She was… she was… going to… have a baby."

"Oh my God," I whispered. "Did anyone else know?"

"Just me… her… and I think her friend Jenna, I don't know. She said… she said… the other day… when we went over… that I was going to be allowed… allowed to tell… on the sixteenth… I didn't ask why! I should've asked why! But I didn't! And now she's dead!" He sobbed and hiccuped into his mother's chest. "She was going to name it Ron and everything!"

Molly pulled Bill in tightly and shushed him, rocking back and forth. "Oh, Bill, oh my child. I'm so sorry. This isn't your fault, Bill. Oh, my sweet dear, don't cry. Don't cry. Don't cry. Don't cry. Shhh…"

Severely shaken by this new information, I rose weakly from my chair. "I better be going, Molly. I'm sorry about… everything."

"James," she said, not looking up, "Could you tell Arthur about what Bill said? It might be relevant to the Aurors, who knows."

"I'll do that. If I can. Good-bye, Molly. Good-bye, Bill."

"Good-bye, James," Molly answered as Bill whimpered weakly.

*** ***

"Can you tell me where Arthur Weasley is? It concerns Virginia Weatherby," I asked an employee in Arthur's office.

"He's with Frank Longbottom. Try the Auror's Hall," the young employee replied, startled at my interruption.

I sprinted to the Hall that I usually wished to avoid. I managed to grab an Auror who led me to an Experimental Charms laboratory. "She isn't in St. Mungo's because we have no idea if anyone went near her body before she was found or she merely added something to herself as revenge on a cruel, harsh world," the unknown Auror explained. When I raised my eyebrows in disbelief, he added, "Can't be too careful. Besides, we can't let a prisoner from Azkaban just walk around in a hospital. As soon as he sees the deceased, she'll be transferred and he'll go back to his cell."

"Are they really putting dementors in Azkaban?" I asked since the prison was brought up.

"That's none of your concern." He indicated a lab and nodded, growling, "In there. Have a nice day." With that, he swept off to return to whatever he was doing. Taking a breath, I opened the door and stepped inside.

The laboratory was not very large. There were no decorations on the walls but there were burn marks and pockmarks on the walls from past experiments. Frank Longbottom, looking stern, was to my left while Arthur Weasley and Percy Weatherby was to my right. Right in front of me was a single table with Virginia Weatherby's corpse on it.

It was strange seeing Virginia lying rigid on a cold metal table. She was laid out flat on her back, staring sightlessly up at the ceiling light. Her brown hair fanned out behind her broken neck, marked with a red rope burn. Her arms were at her sides and her engagement and wedding rings had been removed. Her dark blue velvet dress robes clung to her body and made her deathly-pale skin looked even more ghostly, as if she had already transformed into a spirit. Here lay a woman who had been so full of energy and life, who had pretended to be friends with Father Christmas, who had cherished little children, who had seen the good in even the worst situations, who had been so full of love for everyone. She was gone, her life snuffed out from despair.

The cause of her despair was different since I had last seen him. Percy Weatherby was wearing thin, grey Azkaban prison robes. His wedding ring had also been removed along with his watch. He was a touch paler, slightly more thin than he usually was but that was to be expected. His eyes, however, showed no remorse, no pity, no grief. His expression was of boredom and distaste, like one who goes to the opera and then realizes that not only do the actors fail to perform well but the play is that one that was seen before.

"James," Frank Longbottom asked, perplexed upon my entrance, "is there something you need?"

"Um… I just went to the Weasleys, and the oldest, Bill, told me something that I think you may need to know."

"Continue."

"Mrs. Weatherby was pregnant."

There was dead silence, deader than the person in question. All the men stared at the stomach of the corpse. Finally, Percy remarked, "Ah. That makes a little more sense."

"A little more sense?" Arthur demanded, "Your wife is dead! She was carrying your child! And all you can say is 'that makes a little more sense'?!"

"I was wondering," Percy replied smoothly, "why she bothered at all. This is her revenge on me."

"Her revenge?" Frank questioned.

"Yes," he replied in a bored tone, "She realized why I was so insistent on having children. Seems I succeeded, after all. So, in retaliation, she killed herself which kills the child."

"Why did you want children?" Frank asked.

"It was part of my Master's plan. A superior race of pure-bloods. That was the only reason I married her." He frowned slightly at the corpse. "Pity. This would have been much more effective if I actually gave a damn about her. It's not like I actually loved her or…"

Percy didn't get to finish his statement because Arthur, enraged, slugged him on the mouth. Percy collapsed from the blow, spitting blood. In utter shock, he stared up at his older cousin, who was shaking from fury.

"Arthur…" Frank said, trying to soothe the situation.

"You bastard… you damned bastard! How can you stand there and just say that? This woman is dead! Your child is dead! Have you no heart? Does nothing touch you anymore?"

"What does it matter to you?"

"She was part of my family! You two are part of my family!"

"What meaning does 'family' have, Arthur? That hare-brained ideal that your father, my uncle, always clung to? It doesn't exist, Arthur! It never has and it never will."

"Percy, you don't truly believe that, do you?"

Percy rolled his eyes. "My God! Arthur, how can you do so dense? What benefit can all those children bring you? The only one with any notion of ambition is Percy, your four-year-old, in case you're losing track..."

"Only because you placed it there!" Arthur growled, "I should have known. I thought you were trying uplift him, make him reach for higher goals as I did for you, but now I see he was just a pawn..."

"What did you ever do for me that I wouldn't have done for myself? I knew from the moment I was born that I would surpass my disgraceful heritage! You were just a convenient tool, that is all."

"I let you in my house, I took care of you when no one else could spare a minute, I let you near my children!" Arthur was shaking with anger, his eyes bulging as Percy continued to mock him from the floor, his lips still bleeding.

"Now, now, Arthur, don't make yourself angry. What would your precious children think of their father screaming his lungs out?"

"Don't you talk to me about how to raise my children!"

"You act a lot like your father, you know. So protective of all of you..."

"Don't you dare speak of my father..."

"Why not? He was my uncle, after all. But all the love in the world couldn't save his children, could it?"

"He tried!"

"He tried and failed miserably!" Percy shouted back in scorn. "Pathetic man. Like father, like son. Even the family's the same. Hope to God you don't have a girl because Mabel was born first and we all know what happened to her, right?"

"Shut up! You have no right to bring her into this!"

"Of course, she didn't go until Sirius had her, along with every other boy over the age of thirteen. I wonder how much he paid. The standard or did he add a tip like a good Prince would?"

"Don't you drag that boy into this argument!"

Percy ignored him, sighing in nostalgia, "Yes, I was twelve. We were in that grand warehouse and there was that huge bang. Sirius was dripping in blood and brains as if he had bathed in it. He must have opened the door as she pulled the trigger..."

"You're disgusting! Bringing those two into this mess!"

Percy scoffed, "It make me sick when I think of how great our family was and how low we now wallow. You may be content down there but I will move up. I have moved up. You think I can be stopped? You think my Master can be stopped? You foolish, naive man."

Arthur seemed to be struck dumb, slowly swinging his head from side to side. Finally, he looked down again of Percy, and muttered, "Who are you? What are you?"

"A wiser man than you."

"No, Percy, I understand more than you think. The Weasley family fell because of corruption, you forgot that. Our great-grandfather no longer understood right and wrong. You may think I have no ambition, that my father had no ambition, but that is far from the truth. My father never made it very far but he got far enough to get me this far and I will never get much farther from here but my children, I swear it now and forever, will surpass me. That is how we will return to former glory, Percy. Through slow, steady hard work and determination, not by selling my soul to a heartless man."

Percy laughed hard, throwing his head back behind him. "Would you die for your children, Arthur? Would you be so brave with an interrogator?" Percy slowly stopped laughing and flicked his eyes towards me and smiled. The dried blood on his lips made him almost demonic. But, then again, maybe that was because he already was. "Speaking of fathers defending their children," he drawled calmly, "How are you, James Potter? Still mourning?"

"I'm getting by," I said through clenched teeth. The air was beginning to stifle me.

"Oh," he groaned with mock sympathy, "poor thing. I heard that you and your father hadn't spoken for six years before he died. Tomorrow never comes, does it? Ah, well. My father died when I was very young, I don't even remember him. I hear that in cases of murders, discovering the culprit usually helps with the healing process." He paused to allow me to answer but I didn't want to encourage him. He went on, "Wouldn't you like that little mystery solved? Because I know who did it, who laid that final blow. Aren't you the tiniest bit curious?"

"I know who. A Death Eater."

"Well, obviously. But which one? Oh, I'll be generous, I'll tell you. Me. I did it. Oh, he was very brave. We asked him to convince you to join us but he wouldn't hear of it. His final words were very poetic, almost Shakespearean. He was truly proud of you. He was behind your every move. He loved you deeply. His defense was so touching. It nearly brought a tear to my eye." As he said, he pantomimed brushing away a tear off his cheek. "When he proved useless to us, I decided that you two should be reunited at last," he said full of mock caring. He then began to laugh.

A wave of emotions filled me instantly. Anger at Percy, sadness over my father's murder, and joy that even in jaws of death he still clung to his morals when most would have faltered. I never before realized that my boring, ordinary father had possessed such hidden inner strength. Tears stung my eyes. Why did it take his death for me to realize who my father really was?

"James, you may go. Thank you for informing us," Frank Longbottom ordered me over Percy's squeals of glee.

Before turning to go, I took a long, last look at Percy Weatherby, burning him in my memory. I can still see him, sitting on the floor, his lips crusted in his blood (but who knows whose blood lingered on his hands?), his horn-trimmed glasses reflecting the overhead light, his red hair slightly overgrown and swaying as he laughed, his Azkaban prison robes hanging flatly on his thin frame. Every detail I memorized, every detail I detest. This man killed my father. He laughed at my grief. A woman, a gracious, glorious woman, lay dead on the table beside him along with their dead child and he did not even show pity.

"I hope you rot," I hissed.

Percy stopped laughing and smiled at me. "My Master will come for me. I will be rewarded." He smiled more broadly and added, "Stay well, Potter, stay well." He began to laugh again as I spun on my heel out the door.

I went back to work but I didn't really get much done. My dizziness grew worse and I just kept seeing images of Virginia as a schoolgirl, Virginia during interviews, Virginia at the last Christmas party, and then seeing her stiff body.

*** ***

How I managed to Apparate home without Splinching myself, I have no idea. By the time I returned home, I couldn't even see straight. I was so dizzy that I felt like I was falling over backwards. My eyes kept slipping in and out of focus and if I looked too long on an object or concentrated too hard, I saw double, triple, or sometimes quadruple. I felt weak and shaky and my skin had bursts of chill and shocks of heat interchangeably. I could barely breathe; it was a labored chore. Most of all, I wanted to throw up.

When I Apparated into my sitting room, nearly on top of a table which I stumbled into, the nausea was more pronounced. Sirius was in the room and greeted me with a cheery, "Welcome back." Once he turned around to face me, his face dropped. "James, are you alright?"

Dots floated across my vision and the scene before me started turning white. "I'm going to faint."

"James?" Sirius ran around and held my arms in order to drag me to the couch but I pushed him away, screaming, "No! Go away! Leave me alone!"

Finally, my body reached a decision and I knew I was going to vomit. With a final push, I darted clumsily up the stairs, flung open the door, and reached the toilet not a moment too soon as I gagged and immediately heaved.

I heard Sirius pounding up the stairs. In between my spews, I pointed my wand at the door and shut it. "Get out!" I choked out before my voice was lost again. "Go away!"

"James? Are you okay?" Sirius' voice frantically demanded.

"Leave me alone!"

For ten solid minutes, I regurgitated. After I was done, I must have passed out for a few moments because I lost time between my vomiting and my lying on the tile floor. I only felt slightly better after all my retching. I was having another cold spell and I shivered weakly.

"James?" Lily's voice requested sweetly. "Are you in there?" I didn't have the voice to respond. "I'm coming in, James. Okay?" She paused for my refusal. Even if I had had one for her, I couldn't have made it. The door slowly opened and Lily stuck her head around to find me. Once she discovered me lying on the floor, she opened the door fully to let herself in. She sighed at the toilet as if it was being naughty and flushed it. She kneeled beside me. "James? Can you hear me?"

"Yes," I barely whispered. "I'm cold."

Lily nodded. "Is there anything you want?"

"Mouthwash." Lily stood awkwardly and went to the medicine cabinet. She filled the little cup with the green liquid, placed that on the counter, and bent down to lift me up. My knees buckled and my head swam.

"Are you sure you can do this?"

"Have to get the taste out," I gasped. Biting her lip, Lily lifted the cup to my mouth and the mouthwash slipped in. It took me great energy to shake my head to swish it around but I managed it. Once I felt I had enough, I spat it out into the sink. Lily ran the water and filled up a cup for me to rinse my mouth, which I did.

Once that was done, she dragged me to the hallway closet to gather a warm blanket. She draped it over my shoulders and asked, "Would you like to lie down in the bedroom or downstairs on the couch?"

"Couch is fine." I buried my head in her shoulder. "Stay with me."

"Of course."

We stumbled downstairs and Lily made a detour to the kitchen to find a large mixing bowl in case I threw up again. Retrieving that, she laid me down on the couch and made to sit in the chair.

"Can I lay in your lap?" I asked weakly.

Lily nodded. She gently lifted my upper body so she could sit down as I laid my head in her lap. She removed my glasses and set them on the table. Sighing, she began stroking my hair. It was very quiet. Only the clock ticked and the fire crackled. The little baby squirmed and kicked.

"It's kicking," I muttered.

"I know."

"You show more when you sit down."

"Mm-hm."

My mind strayed to Virginia again. This should have been her life. Percy should have been delighted. Percy should fawned over her. Percy should have loved her.

"I love you. You know that, right?"

"Of course. I love you, too."

"And I love our baby."

"I always tell myself that I carry around a little piece of you everywhere with me."

"But it's you, too."

"I know but I already carry around myself."

I reflected on that. Did Virginia think along the same lines? That she was carrying around a little Percy everywhere? "Do you like carrying me?"

"What do you mean?"

"Does it make you happy?"

"Why do you ask?"

"Virginia's dead," I replied bluntly. Lily's hand stopped stroking.

"Oh," she answered sorrowfully. "How? When?"

"She hanged herself. They found her this morning." Tears ran down my face. "She was pregnant."

"Oh," Lily moaned softly, wiping away my tears. "That's awful."

"I had to tell the little Weasleys when Arthur had to go collect... her widower. They're so young and innocent, Lily. I never realized how awful this all was until I had to tell them something like that. Bill's the oldest and he's only ten. Ten, Lily. He was the one who told us about Virginia's pregnancy." I was too weak to properly cry, instead the tears flowed down like rivers. "He just kept crying and wailing. And then Percy, Percy Weatherby that is, didn't even care. He looked bored by all this. He never even loved her. How can someone do that? How can someone be that cold?"

Lily shushed me and wiped my face. "It's alright. It's over. I'm here."

"That could have been you, Lily. Lying cold and dead with a dead baby inside you. She's just dead. That's it. The happy, perky author friend of Little Finger is a lump of cold flesh." I choked up, not from vomit but from tears. "She's never going to read that story ever again, Lily. Father Christmas' sleigh bells will never ring at her command ever again. That party was the last time anyone heard her read that story. All those little children. All those little Weasleys." Lily shushed me again but I broke out into a weak sob, "He killed my father!"

"Who?"

"That damned bastard Percy Weatherby! He killed my father... and he laughed! He mocked me and he mocked him as his dead wife lay on the table in the very same room! He told me... told me... how my father loved me. He loved me! He loved me!"

"It's alright, James. It's alright."

"My father loved me!" I scarcely speak through all my sobs. "My father loved me! He was proud of me! We hadn't spoken in years and he still loved me even when they threatened death! He loved me! He loved me!"

Lily started to cry as well. "Yes, James. He did. He loved you. He always did."

"I never got a chance to make peace with him! He was so brave! Why didn't I come back to him? I didn't know! I didn't know! I never got to tell him! I love him, too! I'm so sorry! I want to say I'm sorry but I can't!"

"Shh... James, it's alright. He knows you love him. He knows you're sorry. He's watching over you now. He still loves you. He knows and he understands." I had run out of tears so I shakily breathed. "James, it's alright now."

I shook my head. "No, it's not."

"Shh... for now, this moment, everything is fine. We can save our troubles for another moment. But not now."

"Lily?" I asked weakly, "Promise me that if something happens, you won't do what Virginia did. It's not worth it. You'll hurt so many people."

"I won't, James."

"Promise me. Swear to me. I want you and the baby to live even if I'm not there. Swear it, please."

"I solemnly swear that I will continue to live if anything should happen to you."

At this point, I was struggling to keep my eyes open. I was still chilly but I knew that I would warm up soon enough. "Lily," I mumbled, "I'm going to sleep for awhile. You don't have to stay if you don't want to."

If Lily responded, I didn't hear it because I remember nothing else.

To Be Continued...

Author's Notes: Yes, I'm quite evil. I didn't originally plan for Percy and Virginia to be important characters, much less a major Death Eater and a suicide victim respectively. The name "Weatherby" is from the books, Mr. Crouch calls Percy that by mistake. I remembered that he called for "Weatherby" when he was talking to the trees about his wife and son, who are either dead (wife) or not supposed to be talked about (son). So, I I wondered if there had been a Percy Weatherby there working under him at the time when his son was not in prison and his wife was still alive. Of course, I had to wonder where he went so he mutated into the Death Eater you see in the story. "Lenore", obviously, is the dead lover in Edgar Allan Poe's "The Raven". The interactions with "Robert" are based on interactions between my brother's and my experiences with my nephew (to whom this fic is dedicated to). Molly's scene was really easy to write, I must say. This situation is totally in her element. The chapter title is based on the phrase "April is the cruelest month" said by T.S. Elliot. In case you didn't figure it out, this chapter is set in April (I only say it at least three times) and I'm... pretty cruel, I guess. I can't type because I sliced my middle finger on my left hand so this took me twice as long because I couldn't type some letters in and then I would have to go back and correct it. So, that's my end of the bargain. Come on! Review! Flame! Something! E-mail questions at destinyplot@lycos.com and please try to leave an e-mail in your review so I can write you back and I always write back. Trust me. See ya later!