Author's Note:  I'm baaaaaack!  Aren't ya'll soooo ecstatic?  And THANK YOU for the beautiful reviewers!

            For some odd reason no one seems to like Amos that much.  Gee, I wonder why.  (J/k, I know why no one likes him.)  Trust me, I would gladly just kill him off already, but I put him in the story for a reason, okay?  He's going to play a major part later.  Right now, he's kind of a minor character.

And speaking of the Diggory's, this story was not going to be AU but doing the math, it's going to be a little AUish for the Diggory family.  But that isn't that important—who cares about them anyway?  J/k!!!

Disclaimer:  As usual, I don't anything that you recognize from Harry Potter.  It all belongs to the lovely and talented Jo Kathleen Rowling.  The only people I own are Anette (but she's not in this chapter) and Reagan Caldwell (She's only mentioned in a paragraph I think in this chapter).

My Demon Child

Chapter Five:  Anguish over Amos

            On the next Saturday, Lily could be spotted rummaging through her closets looking for something suitable to wear.  In a few hours, she'd be with her darling Amos on a casual date, but she wanted to look her best.  At first, James was a little uneasy about the whole thing.  Lily assumed it was because he didn't want to risk her being spotted.  After about an hour argument, James decided to let Lily go.

            "Honestly, you're like my father or something," Lily said while rolling her eyes to him.

            She was able to go under the conditions that a.) She'd have to go in a disguise and b.) James would have to go also to keep an eye on her.  He wasn't going to be sitting with them at their table or anything.  In fact, he had his own date that he was going to accompany to the Three Broomsticks.

            James's new girlfriend was Reagan Caldwell, and Lily knew nothing about her.  James didn't talk about her much, but Lily was used to this behavior.  She remembered back at Hogwarts when James went on a "dating spree" that he only talked about his love and sports life, but never about the individual girl.

***

            "Ugh, I look absolutely horrible," Lily groaned as she and James walked into the Three Broomsticks.

            There was a warm, comfortable glow about the place.  It was getting dark outside, but in the inside the lamps were turned on, and there was a wonderful aura of butterbeer in the air.  Lily didn't spot Amos right away because she was too absorbed on how her disguise looked on her.  She had on the same brown wig from when she snuck out into Diagon Alley the previous Tuesday, and James forced her to do some fancy charm work on her face so she would look completely different.  Her face was now more thin and gaunt, and at one point during her magic, she accidentally added extra wrinkles to her complexion so she looked like a fifty-year-old still trying to look young.

            "Oh, there's Amos now," Lily whispered to James as she spotted Amos walk into the building and getting a table.

            "Go then," James prompted.  He tried to keep a straight face when Amos saw Lily in her disguise and saw him grimace.  Through his weak attempt, he whispered into Lily's ear, "He's going to think you're byoo—tiful."

            Lily stepped on James's foot and made her way towards Amos's table.  She quickly said, "Amos, it's me.  James forced me to disguise myself so no one would recognize who I am."

            Amos breathed in a sigh of relief and smiled.  He said, "Don't worry, no one is going to recognize you."

            "Ah, shut up," Lily smiled.  "I know I'm prettier than all of this."

            They ordered two butterbeers, and while sipping them away, they began to talk.  Amos tried to think of a subtle way to talk about the other woman, but he was too thick to say anything.

            "Uh, so…" Lily smiled.  It was then she noticed James greeting another woman.  She was extremely attractive with straight, long, dark brown hair.  She had a thin face, but her wide smile and dimples made up for it.  It seemed as if she were a model or something, because she was extremely skinny and was almost as tall as James—and James was tall.

            Amos cleared his throat and said nervously, "Well, L—Lily dear, um…hmm…we need to t-talk a-a-about the wedd—ding ."

            "Are you okay?" Lily asked him.  "Lately, you've been stuttering a lot—"

            "Well, I just get so nervous around you," Amos said quietly.

            Lily laughed out loud and cried, "Why?"

            "Well, when you were gone," Amos's cheeks began to go red—this was it, he was going to finally say the truth!—"You have to know that I grieved so hard.  You have no idea!"

            "Oh, honey, you don't have to talk about that," Lily soothed.

            "Yeah, I do," Amos interrupted, "because, well, our wedding—I kind of—I'm already—"

            "Let's talk about something else," Lily firmly stated.  She was scared about what was going to be on the other side of that sentence, and if he was cheating on her, she didn't want to find out right then.

            But you need to find out right now.

            Oh no, 'the voice of reality' is back.

            Now is the perfect time to mention that other woman you saw—he presented the topic anyway!  Just ask….aren't you getting married to him?

            Yes, so I shouldn't be interrogating him—

            Yes, you should be interrogating him!  For the truth!  Ah, for God's sake, Lily, ASK HIM!  IT'S KILLING YA!

            "AmosIwasinDiagonAlleyandIsawyouwithanotherwomanwhowassheanswermenow!" Lily bellowed in one breath.

            "P—pardon?" Amos asked tensely.

            Lily took a deep breath and repeated, "Amos, I was in Diagon Alley and I saw you with another woman.  Who was she?"

            When Amos didn't answer after five minutes, her look became cold.  She could just imagine how she looked, a fifty-year-old wanting a twenty-something-year-old to fall in love with her.

            "Who was she?" Lily repeated with a voice full of malice.

            Amos mentally kicked himself.  To himself, he thought—She's presenting the subject!  Now is your chance to tell her the truth!  But Amos said nothing.

            "Amos—WHO WAS SHE?" Lily exclaimed.  She didn't care if a couple of people was staring at her looking at her as if she was some kind of freak.  She wanted an answer, and she was determined to get one.

            But she never got one.

            After another moment of silence, Lily stood up from her seat cursing with rage.

            "You are going to have to answer me sooner or later," Lily said tersely while getting up from her seat.  "Mark my words, honey.  This night was rubbish.  Have a lovely evening Amos."

            She stomped over to James.  Her expression was full of anger and anguish towards Amos, that James looked a little shocked at her.

            "James, I'm going to go home—you can stay here with your date.  I'll see you later," Lily said quickly, and she walked out into the night so quickly so that James couldn't stop from leaving.

            Since it was still summer, the night wasn't that cold.  She decided to walk home cause she thought that perhaps she could walk off her fury.  Through her irritation, she didn't notice her wig flying off.  It was an uncommon sight to see an old lady walking, and all of a sudden her hair just flew off with the wind.  But in place of her fake her was real hair; shiny, dark, violent, red hair.

            And it was to Lily's unfortunate fortune that someone had seen her, and recognized who she was.

***

            Lucius Malfoy and Severus Snape just happened to be in Hogsmeade on that Saturday evening.  They were standing in front of Dervish and Bang's waiting for Lucius's wife, Narcissa and some of her friends, to meet them there.  Then they would apparate over to the Malfoy Manor and have one of their boring, little dinner parties while discussing about how many Muggles they tortured that day.  Well, that was just a guess.  Who knows what death eaters talk about if you're on their opponent's side?

            "How much longer must we wait?" Severus asked with resentment in his voice.  Of course, he loathed going over to the Malfoy Manor, but it wasn't like as if he could choose what he could do under the commands of both Voldemort and Dumbledore.

            "Patience is a virtue Snape," snapped Malfoy, "and although we don't really care for those petty virtues, they're good comebacks at Muggle-loving fools."

            Severus mentally swore when he saw an old woman—about fifty or so—walking by.  She looked as if she was talking to herself angrily.  Her arms were folded, and he was reminded of Frank Longbottom's mother.  The only thing she was missing was the vulture hat.  However, Severus soon found out that it wasn't some old lady, because Lily Evans was not old.

            A gust of air came, and it blew the old lady's hair away—to Severus and Malfoy's shock.  But in place of the ragged brown hair were locks of deep red.  The name Lily came into Severus's mind straight away, and he said out loud, "Lily?"

            "That's the Mudblood Evans girl!" Malfoy exclaimed.  In one swift move, he took out his wand and shouted some fancy curses (A/N:  sorry, but can't think of any 'fancy curses' at the moment.) and easily caught Lily within his grasps.

            "Oh my God," Severus gasped.

            "I'm apparating to Voldemort," Malfoy said quietly so no one but Severus could hear.  "You—follow me when Narcissa comes, okay?"

            And with that, Lucius Malfoy disappeared with a struggling Lily, to leave a failed Snape behind.  Under his breath, he muttered, "Potter be damned.  You can't be trusted with anything, can you?"

***

            Lily arrived in the all too familiar evil headquarters in the all too familiar corridor towards Voldemort's all too familiar room.  The death eaters guarding the door saw Lucius, his dark mark upon his arm, and the struggling red head.  With smiles, they let him enter.

            Voldemort was there already dressed in his usual black robes to conceal his looks.  He cringed at the sight of Lily, but at the same time felt immense satisfaction.  He forced Lily to sit down on a chair and had her tied down and gagged.  He put his hands together in a steeple like form and laughed quietly.

            "Lily, hello again," Voldemort grinned.

            Through her failed attempts because of the gag, she sputtered "I hate you!" but only muffles of sounds were heard.

            "Malfoy, good work," Voldemort continued, "Even my best death eaters couldn't track her down—but you managed to get her very easily, eh?"

            "Yes, very easy indeed," Malfoy smiled with pride, although he knew it was only by luck and total coincidence that he and Lily were at Hogsmeade on the same night.

            "Now, now," Voldemort said.  "How's life been suiting you since you escaped?"  He snapped his fingers, and the gag came loose, dangly around Lily's neck.

            "It was a hell lot better than bidding my time here," Lily gasped.

            "I will not take in such words.  You have a bad tongue there, Lily.  No one did ever like you.  I guess I'll be doing the whole world a service by killing you right now," Voldemort smiled with glee.

            "Are you sure?" Lily asked shrewdly.  When she saw the attention you got from Voldemort, she continued, "Because, I mean, I have something you want."

            "I've gotten over that business," Voldemort snapped, "and you're not pregnant.  We saw your last pregnancy test, it was negative—"

            "And yet, the truth is positive!" Lily laughed.

            Voldemort looked at her intently, and Lily had the vaguest idea that he was reading her mind.  But she didn't know how he could.

            "She's telling the truth," he hissed to Malfoy.  "Take her back to her old room.  Lock her up in there.  Lily, welcome back."

            Malfoy sniggered and grabbed Lily by her upper arm, making it very painful for her.  She staggered toward the door, and reluctantly walked with Malfoy out.

            In the next corridor, where there was no one and it was deserted, Lily wailed out in pain.  It wasn't because of Malfoy's firm grip, but because of that all too familiar pain in her womb.  It was that same feeling from Diagon Alley.  Her surroundings became blurry, and her head became heavier.  There was a kicking inside her stomach, and she submitted down to her knees.  She started to scream for the pain to stop, for everything to be normal again.  She wasn't aware on what was happening outside her body, all she concentrated on how to make the pain stop.  Also, her vision had gone immensely worse, and she couldn't see anything.  She rolled around in pain and agony, until everything became black.

***

            "All flustered and clammy," one voice of a stranger said.

            "That can't be too good for the baby," a female voice added.

            "Ah, who cares about the kid, it's corrupted already anyway," a gnarly voice grunted.

            Lily opened her eyes and saw she was lying on James's living room couch.  She was surrounded by blankets, pillows, and lots of strange people she didn't know, and was extremely comfortable.

            "What is going on?" she asked groggily, just noticing that she was drooling in her sleep.  She quickly wiped away the saliva and saw about thirty people crammed into the living room.  They were all sitting on chairs, and only a limited amount were sitting Indian style on the floor by Lily.  She saw James, Sirius, and to her immense satisfaction, she saw Remus Lupin and Peter Pettigrew!

Remus—brown haired, stressed, but nice man—and Peter—short, plump, blonde, and clumbsy—both smiled and waved at her.  She felt so happy to see them;  it was the same feeling as when she had seen Sirius for the first time in two years.  She recognized some other people like the Prewett's, Longbottom's, and Snape.  But there were so many people, and she was so tired, that she didn't feel like saying hi to them all just then.

When she saw Dumbledore at the head of the room standing up, she realized that she must have been at a meeting for the Order.  She guessed that for this particular meeting, it was being held at James's flat.  It was then she spotted that James was sitting right next to the couch she was resting on, right next to her head.

"Ah, Lily is awake!" Dumbledore proclaimed as if a royal child was born.  "How are you feeling?"

"Tired," Lily said through mid yawn.  "What happened?"

"Ask Potter," Severus sneered.  "I'm sure he knows, since you're in his custody after all."

James gave a look of daggars at Snape.

Dumbledore sighed and said, "I do not believe that this was of the fault of James.  I do think that this is of the fault of Lily, actually."

"What?  Okay, someone, tell me what happened," Lily stammered determinedly.

"You don't remember a single thing?" the gnarly voice asked.  She craned her neck over and saw Mad-Eye Moody, his regular eye facing her and the weird bulging eye going haywire.

Lily strained her memory and said, "Voldemort caught me, and I was going to be taken to my old room, because he—oh no.  Voldemort knows!  He knows that I'm pregnant!"

"At least you were not captured," Dumbledore said, trying to sound positive.  "I believe that's the second time you've escaped Voldemort, now isn't it?"

"But how?  What happened?" Lily questioned.

"I came," Severus said greasily.  "And frankly, I'm sick of saving you, you ingrate."

"Snape!"

"Sorry, Moody," Snape spat.  "but I arrived and caused a diversion.  Amidst the commotion, I apparated you back here where an emergency Order meeting was called for when Dumbledore found out you were gone."

"How did you know I was gone?" Lily asked to Dumbledore.

"I put a tracking charm on you," Dumbledore explained, "but all it does is tell me if you've been captured or not."

"And how is my being captured my fault?" Lily persisted.

            "Because you are so caught up in your freedom that you haven't realized yet that you're freedom is still very limited," Dumbledore replied briskly.  "I hate to see you cooped up like this, but you can't be doing rash decisions out in public just yet, even if you are in disguises.  And it was very unwise for you to go to Diagon Alley to shop or storm out of the Three Broomsticks without James."

            James whispered to Lily, "Sorry, had to tell him everything Lils—"

            "But now that everything is in order, and Lily is safe, there is really no point in this meeting," Dumbledore said to everyone, "but we will still continue.  Now, I think, would be a good time to present—"

            However, Lily went into a fit.  She rolled off the couch clutching her stomach wailing in pain again.  It was the same pain, same feelings, and the same dizziness as she felt before those two times she went through this.  After about a half hour, it all stopped, and Lily laid twitching.  She hated to go through these periods of agony.  She didn't know why she had them, and it was always during those period of pain that she seriously considered abortion.

            Dumbledore looked grave.  Some members of the Order, including James, helped her onto the couch.  Dumbledore retrieved something from another room;  it was a white, stone basin.  It was a pensieve.

            "Yes, now I think this would be a good time to present this particular memory," he said hoarsely and quietly.  Lily laid in sweat with baited breath with suspense to see what she was about to see.

            "Severus?  This is your pensieve after all—"

            "Yes, sir," Severus said in a more calm tone.  He walked over to his pensieve and racked through his memories until he found the one.  He bade the memory to rise for everyone in the room to see.

            An old, brittle woman was standing in the middle of a circular room.  She was draped in shawls and necklaces, and her eyes were heavily hooded.  She looked ancient, but there a mist of venerability around her.  In a dark, deep, hoarse voice that Lily would never think would be an old woman's voice, she said—

            "THE DARK LORD WILL RISE AND BE MORE POWERFUL THAN IMAGINEABLE TO CAUSE HAVOC AND HELL TO THE WIZARDING AND MUGGLE COMMUNITIES.  HE HAS ONE WEAKNESS THOUGH, A WEAKNESS THAT WILL BE BORN TO A WOMAN WITH RED HAIR AND EMERALD EYES.  THIS WEAKNESS OF THE DARK LORD WILL BE BORN TO EVANS, AND WIL LGROW TO HAVE POWER TO RIVAL THE DARK LORD…THIS CHILD WILL BE BORN WITH A POWER UNIMAGINEABLE TO THE DARK LORD…AND WITHIN THE WOMB, THIS CHILD BE STRONG TOO…"

            The memory disappeared back into the pensieve, and Snape took his seat again.

            "That woman was Voldemort's Seer who died shortly after her prediction was made," Dumbledore said.  "Voldemort tried to get hold of her great-granddaughter, Sybll Trelawny, to see if she could confirm the prediction, but he has not been able to contact her.  But as we can see, Lily is holding Voldemort's child, who should have power to rival the Dark Lord's.  So, now all we have to do is sit and wait for the child to be born, grow up, and kill Voldemort."

            "Gee, it sounds so easy," James said with an irritable look.

            "Dumbledore, these 'flashes of pain' I'm having," Lily started.  "Was that mentioned in the prediction?"

            "Yes," Dumbledore answered.  "However, I do not believe that it is a side effect of your pregnancy.  I think that because your child has the blood of Voldemort, it could be violent, even in the womb, and the violence is sparked whenever Voldemort is violent himself."

            "I would hate to be you right now, Lily," Sirius grinned.  Lily stuck her tongue out at him.

***

            It was around eleven that night.  Everyone but the original Marauders and Lily had left.  Lily remained on the couch sipping hot cocoa.

            "You okay?" James asked.

            "I'm all right," Lily sighed, looking intently at the game of wizards chess Sirius and Remus were playing.  Peter looked nervous at the game.

            "Relax Wormtail, no one's going to die in the game," Remus muttered.

            "Really?  Then I don't want to play this game anymore," Sirius joked.

            "Wimp," Remus whispered.

            Sirius peered his eyes Remus and said darkly but in a playful manner, "What did you say to me?  You did NOT call Sirius Black a wimp!  Ah, you're going to have pay with your knight!"

            "Huh?"

            "Bishpo to D-5," Sirius sniggered as Remus's knight was thrown off the chess board.  "I'm better at this game than I thought."

            "You were just lucky!" Remus exclaimed.

            "Oh stop fighting!" Peter wailed.  A tear actually escaped his left eye.

            "Oh my dear Lordy Peter—are you crying?" Sirius exclaimed through laughter.

            "Ah, ickle sensitive Wormtail," James cringed.

            They all started to burst out laughing as Sirius conjured up some butterbeer.

***

            Voldemort was angry.  This was the second time that Lily had escaped from him right under his bloody nose, and he wasn't going to let her get away with it.  But now, he couldn't kill her.  He had to get his hands on that child—his demon child, in fact—and use that child against her.

            "Stupid mudblood, worthless piece of filth, vermin," he muttered under his breath. But no matter what he said, it wouldn't change anything.

            All hope was not lost for him, however.  When Lily left, he had gained two new pieces of information when he was reading her mind.  He had found out that 1.) Lily was pregnant and 2.) She was living in London.  So he had decided to make London his next target for his death eaters.

***

A/N:  I didn't put much of any of the Marauders in here, did I?  Sorry!  Next chapter is going to be a little bit more darker.  Now that your eyes are all sore from reading the computer screen, let it hurt just a bit more and review!