Author's Note:  Hello my peoples!  Haha, I'm real hyper right now.  I just came back from swimming, and there's like all this adrenaline stuff in me that's keeping me all happy and stuff.  All right, I'll shut up.  Now, there are some people I need to talk to…

To Wo Ai Ni16, I just want to say thank you!  You've always written nice, long reviews and have always been so nice!  You're always helping me out and encouraging me!  I don't usually write out personal messages to reviewers unless I have to, but I thought I should for you cause you are so incredibly cool!

To 'Confuzzled' I'm real sorry you got confused on their ages.  I know I'm not always the most precise and informative person in the world.  Um, let me try to clear up the confusion.  Lily and James are both 20, but since Lily's been cooped up with Voldemort her mind kinda got all messed up and she thought she was 26.  I don't remember typing up that James was 23, and I'm real sorry!!!  They're both 20 no matter what else I typed up!

And to my other reviewers, THANK YOU!  I've been thinking if I should do personal thank you's from now on….hmm, I'm still thinking…

Disclaimer:  Everything you recognize from Harry Potter belongs to J.K. Rowling.  Got it?  Good.

Author's Note:  Okay, to tell the truth, the only reason I put in James's "supposed" death is because I had to find some way for Lily and James to escape from Voldemort three times each as it said in the fifth book.  So it's not going to be that big of an event.  Or maybe it will, maybe I'll find some kind of way to expand on it.  But I have my own plot to carry out, or read on!

My Demon Child

Chapter Seven:  The Rash Action of You-Know-Who

Knock.  Knock.  Knock.

"Bugger off, won't you?" Lily hissed silently to the door.

Lily stood up from her rocking chair, which had once belonged to Dumbledore's grandmother, and walked slowly as possible to the door.  The only thing that kept her from sitting peacefully was the annoying, persistent, knocking.

This room was nothing compared to what James had provided.  Dumbledore was kind and almost like a grandfather to Lily, but with all his good deeds, it just wasn't the same.  Lily had received a vacant room at Hogwarts because being under Dumbledore's custody meant living at his residence, which was Hogwarts.  It was more like an echoing box.  The walls were of stone but were lavished in portraits and tapestries.  It looked more like a sixteenth century cell than a modern day bedroom.  Everything was covered in rugs and carpets, and almost everything was somehow related to magic.

Lily's bed, for example, always shook and quaked at five: thirty in the morning.  It was rather annoying.  But Lily liked her bed all the same.  If she was nice to it, her bed would compliment her hair even if it was greasy and unbrushed.  It was a canopy bed without a canopy.  She felt like a princess here.  An ancient princess.

Lily opened the door and saw to her surprise, Anette.

"Anette?" Lily said.  It was around lunch time, but Lily hadn't gone down to the Great Hall or anything.  In fact, she was still in her night dress.

"Hi, Berna—I mean, Lily," Anette smiled.  "I just thought I'd drop by cause I heard you were living here now.  You know…"

"Don't you have class?" Lily inquired.

"Not for another hour," Anette replied.  "I'm all caught up on my homework and had nothing to do.  That's why I came to visit you."

Lily nodded.  And then it hit her to have some etiquette and opened the door wider.

"Did you want to come in or anything?  It's a bit cramped, sorry, I wasn't expecting anyone—"

"Oh, it's all right," Anette said gratefully.  She walked in, and to Lily's frustration, sat in the rocking chair.

Lily took a seat on her bed and tried to think of something to say.  "I forgot you still went to Hogwarts, that's why I was a little surprised at seeing you just now."

"Oh, right.  I'm in my seventh year now, so I'll be out of here soon enough," Anette said.

Lily surveyed the young girl.  Her blonde hair was in a bun with strands of hair escaping while framing her face.  Her eyes looked almost watery, and she looked so pitiful.  It seemed so unnatural.  Lily had always thought her to be some kind of ditz, but maybe Anette was still mourning like Lily.

"Are you okay?  You seem a bit down," Lily said.

"Do I?  Everyone's been saying that," Anette said hastily.  "Had a nice summer?"

Lily raised her eyebrows at her quickness to change the subject.

"It could've been a lot better," Lily sighed.  She remembered all the times she cried, all the times she succumbed to her stomach pains, and that one time Amos had told her the truth about his feelings about their engagement.  But Lily didn't feel like disclosing such information to a teenager and smiled weirdly.

"Ditto.  Mum's in St. Mungo's now.  The Death Eaters completely screwed her up," Anette said in a fierce voice.  Her voice was firm, and her eyes looked as if on fire.  "I swear, I'm going to kill them all."

"Good, cause I'm in no state to kill them myself," Lily said while stretching across her bed to grab some spare robes from the other side of her bed.  She put one on so she looked more casual.

"Right.  Of course.  Is it nice being back?  You know, in the wizarding world?" Anette questioned.

"Heavens, yes, it is!" Lily exclaimed.

"It must be horrible with You-Know-Who," Anette whispered.  She drew her knees towards her and hugged herself.  Her eyes with closed shut as if trying to block out sunlight or something.  To Lily, this looked most unusual.

"Anette, are you sure you're all right?"

"I'm fine," Anette said firmly, but her eyes remained closed.  "Lily, the reason I came here is because I want to, you know, talk, about, about what happened before."

"Huh?" Lily said stupidly.

"When James was kidnapped," Anette blurted out.

Lily just stared at the young woman.  How serious was Anette about James?  Wasn't it just some little crush?  Of course no matter what she would feel some remorse for him, but was it this bad?

"How close were you and James?" Lily asked, her eyes narrowed.

"We were just neighbors, nothing more," Anette said sadly.  "I had this major crush on him, but it died down after a while.  But I was always perky around him.  We had no special relationship, like he had with you—"

"We had no special relationship either," Lily interrupted, "We were always just friends."

"Not uh," Anette grinned evilly.  "You're not Bernadette Groper, you're Lily Evans.  Everyone in the wizarding world knows you now.  And I know more about you than you think.  My brother, Frank, told me all about him and James when they were at Hogwarts.  You and James dated before, didn't you?"

"It meant nothing.  It was absolute rubbish.  We were just wasting our time," Lily said hastily.  But as she spoke these words, she recalled all those giddy feelings she used to feel when he was around.

"Sure," Anette said.

"Listen, he's dead, there's no use on talking about this," Lily said sternly.

***

"What in the name of Merlin are you doing, Padfoot?" Remus asked in a deathly tone.

"They'll be here soon to get Prongs's things, but they don't understand that we're not 100% sure he's dead," Sirius said while munching on some potato chips.  He had taken out a lawn chair and placed it in front of James's flat door right smack in the hallway.  He had charmed the door to remain locked and spit at any people besides himself who tried to open the door.

"So you think by charming a door and sitting in front of his door is going to stop trained Ministry members from retrieving his stuff?" Remus said quite amused.  He leaned against the opposite wall and folded his arms.  "You always were stubborn.  And loyal, like a dog."

"I take that as a compliment," Sirius snapped.  He held his chips out and said, "Hungry?"

"Nah, those things have too much grease," Remus refused.

"Ah, you're right.  We see Snivellus enough times at the Order meetings," Sirius chuckled.

"But honestly, I don't want to believe he's dead either.  But everything points to it—"

"Lily was kidnapped for two years and everyone thought she died, but she's been alive and healthy, hasn't she?" Sirius pointed out.

"That's because there was a prophecy made about her.  Do you think there's a prophecy out there made about James?"

"You know, Moony, I don't get why you're giving up so easily.  It's only been two months—"

"I'm not giving up easily!  I still can't believe that he could be dead!  Do you see tears on my face—?"

"Boys don't cry."

"Padfoot!  I'm just being open."

"You're being open that James is dead!" Sirius exclaimed.

"Because that is very plausible, Padfoot.  But I'm not saying he'd dead either."

"You don't make any sense at all Moony," Sirius said irritated.

Remus sighed and looked at James's door.  He shook his head, but his frustration didn't wear off.  After about a couple of minutes, he said, "You know what?  You're right.  I'm not making any sense.  Black, replicate that chair.  I'm boycotting with you."

"Atta boy," Sirius laughed.  He whipped out his wand and conjured up another lawn chair.  Remus sat down, and together they ate potato chips.  They were a happy, little party, but things would change once the Ministry members would arrive.

"And it's not boycotting, it's, ah, protesting."

"Same difference," Remus smirked.

"So, do you know when the Ministry members are coming?" Remus asked.

Sirius shrugged.  He said vaguely, "Soon."

***

"Lily!" Amos exclaimed the next morning.  It was cold, foggy, and six in the morning.

Lily was standing on Amos's front porch.  She had on a dark blue coat, brown leather pants, red scarf, and red beanie to cap it all off.  Her face looked pale and her teeth were chattering.  However, she looked defiant and furious.  Her arms were wrapped around her stomach, which Amos noted, was now more rounder and conspicuous.

"Hello, Amos," she said firmly.

"Oh, um, I didn't expect you here so early in the morning—hey!  What do you think you're doing?" he exclaimed as Lily let herself inside.  It was nice, warm, and quaint, and Lily was grateful for the change in the climate.  She seated herself on a green couch and took off her beanie and scarf.

"Sorry hun, but it's kinda cold out there," Lily said offhandedly.

Amos was dressed only in boxers and a bath robe that was tied very messily.

"What are you doing here?" Amos asked severely.

"Amos, if anyone should be talking in that tone, it should me," Lily glared.

Amos wiped his brow and asked, "Does anyone know you're here?"

"Oh, Dumbledore said I could come here.  In fact, he was the one who gave me your address.  But I'm not staying with him forever.  No, when the Ministry finds another good auror, I'm moving in with him or her."

"Lily, why are you here?"

Lily stopped her rambling and dug into her pocket.  Her pocket was deep and full of odd trinkets that it was a while before she got what she needed.  She pulled out a beautiful ring.  It had a gold wristband with a giant diamond perched on it.

"You gave this to me years ago when you first proposed," Lily said, trying to jog back his memory.  "And now, since you think that we shouldn't get married, I'm reluctantly giving it back to you."

She reached over and grabbed his hand.  She opened up his hand and put the ring in his sweaty palm.

"What went wrong?" Lily asked very slowly and very quietly.

Amos stared into her green eyes and gulped loudly.

"We're going to be talking for a while, aren't we?"

"Oh, you better count on it."

***

            "You know, Potter, last week it was officially announced that you've been dead for two months," Voldemort laughed.  In the small torture chamber, he peered over at the limp body of James.  His clothes were tattered and he had a cut lip.

            "Is it really worth it?  I mean, you're youth is being reduced to absolute nothingness for one stupid Mudblood who thinks you're dead as well," Voldemort said.

            "Hold on," James panted.  "The whole wide world thinks that I'm—that I'm dead?"

            "Yes, they do," Voldemort replied.

            James brain began to think hard and logically.  Without a back glance or anything of the sort, James said quietly but steadfastly, "Then, I guess there's no reason to hide the truth from you."

            "What?" Voldemort asked, shocked.

            "I'll tell you where Lily is.  I'll tell you where she lived.  But, in return, you'll let me free, right?"

***

            "Okay, so far, this is what I know.  I was kidnapped and you mourned for me for about a year.  Then, the rest is absolutely blank," Lily started.  "So tell me the rest."

            "Well, I—I—"

            "Get on with it!"

            "You see, I met this other woman—"

            "Oh, great!  This is a classic soap opera!  You met this other woman!"

            Lily stood up in rage and ran her hand through her hair.  After about a couple of minutes of just absentmindedly playing with her hair, she realized that James used to do that.

            "So, tell me," Lily hissed.  She started to advance on him, making him hopeless in her shadow.

            "Is she pretty?  Talented?  Does your grandmother like her?  Were you dating her even when I came back?  Why didn't you tell me before?  Have you hugged her?  Kissed her?  Slept with her?  Once you two get married, are you going to have kids?  Wait, hold on—are you two going to get married?"

            "Stop interrogating me Lily."

            "Sorry," Lily said somberly.  She retraced her steps back to the couch and fell on it.  Some tears started to pour from her eyes, but she remained calm.

            "Lily, honey—"

            "Oh don't 'honey' me," Lily snapped, "because now you have a new 'honey!'  Its just my luck, isn't it?  Kidnapped, humiliated, raped, pregnant with Voldemort's kid, James dies, and now my engagement is off cause someone just had to fall in love with another someone!"

            "Is there anything you want me to do?" Amos asked sympathetically.

            Lily looked at him.  Her eyes were now moist, and the tears were just streaming down.  Their eyes locked, and Lily said monotonously, "Yes.  I want you to give me that ring back and say you love me."

            Amos hung his head.  He opened his hand to reveal her ring.

            "If you want, you can have it."

            "No.  Go sell it.  Burn it.  Do something with it so I'll never have to see it again."

            Lily leaned back in her seat and folded her arms.  She wanted to leave, but she didn't want to look like a coward.  Her eyes lingered around the house.  Her eyes fell on the fire place and the mantle above it.  It was adorned with photographs that were moving.  One particular one hit her hard.  It was on a cruise ship of some sort.  Amos was on it.  He was beaming, and his right arms was wrapped around…her…

            She wasn't 100% sure, but her hunch was impossible to ignore.  She stood up and walked stone like toward the photograph.

            "Lily…what are you doing…?"

            "Yeah, so she is pretty," Lily muttered.  She could really feel her tears now.  They were stinging.  She had to get out.

            "Uh, I might come back later or owl you some time," Lily said in a hurried voice.  "But I really have to go now."

            Just then, the fireplace was illuminated by green fire and an old man's face appeared.  Lily gave a little scream but managed to calm down.

            "Amos, you ready?  We've been waiting for nearly ten minutes now!" he exclaimed.  He had a small mustache and a distinct chin.  All of his hair was gray, but that wasn't saying much as he was practically bald.

            "Merlin!  I forgot, sorry, I'll be right over.  Let me just put on some—some other clothes, and I'll be back," Amos said.  His voice was panicky, and he was running fast as he raced down the hall towards his bedroom.

            "Who are you, Missy?" the old man asked, his face now pointed to Lily.

            "I'm Lily Evans, sir," she said quietly.  "What's wrong?  What's happening?"

            "Oh, Miss Evans, I see.  Sorry I have to be the one to tell you, but today a select number of Ministry members are going over to the late Mr. Potter's flat.  We have to clear it up," he explained solemnly.

            Lily's eyes widened.  The other day when she had visited his flat to say her last personal good bye, she wasn't able to do it with Amos coming over.  And now they were taking his stuff?  Without a last good bye or anything, she bolted out of the house and hailed a muggle taxi cab.

***

            For the first time since arriving at Voldemort's head quarters, James was sitting quite normally on a chair across from Voldemort.  He looked thin and tired, but overall a lot better, considering his treatment for the past two months.

            How did Lily ever survive this?  For two years too!

            "You are sure that's where she lives?" Voldemort said, his teeth bared.

            "To the best of my knowledge, yes," James said promptly.  He folded his hands together in a steeple like formation.

            "Hmm…I'll send some of my death eaters there real soon," Voldemort murmured to himself.  "And if she's there, I'll release you."

            James's eyes widened and quickly said, "No, I told you where she is, release me now!"

            "Ah, but you could be lying," Voldemort smiled.

            "I'm not lying!" James exclaimed.  "You even put a truth potion on me!"

            "It's just an extra precaution," Voldemort added half-heartedly.

            James mentally cursed himself.  He was never going to get out this way.  Once Voldemort would reach his flat, he'd see that Lily didn't live there anymore and he'd be forced to another torture session.

            As if reading his mind, Voldemort said coolly, "And if you were lying, I won't torture you.  I'll do something more quick and clean."

            James's eyes widened.

***

            When Lily reached the flat on the fifth floor, she thought she was too late.  She was too panicked to absorb the familiar atmosphere.  But she needn't have worried, for when she reached the door she saw that the six Ministry members were blocked outside of the door.  She couldn't help but giggle at the posts Sirius Black and Remus Lupin were at.

            They were both seated in lawn chairs cool as could be.  Lily also noticed that two of the Ministry members were covered in saliva.

            "Hey Lily darling," Sirius said when he spotted her.

            "What's going on here?" Lily demanded.

            "They're trying to take James's stuff, but we're still convinced that he's alive," Remus replied.

            "What?  You think he's alive?  Do you have proof?" Lily asked all too quickly.  Her spirits rose, but they drastically fell too as Sirius said, "Of course we don't have proof he's alive!  We're basically just kinda hoping for the better, you know?  But we both think that it's way too early for him to be proclaimed dead."

            "So he may have been kidnapped and he hasn't been seen for two months, but what does that mean?" Remus said hysterically.  "Just put up a missing persons ad!  But we shouldn't say he's dead just yet."

            Lily couldn't resist a smile and hugged them both for a long time.

            "Well, you two look like you've been putting the Ministry members off for quite a while, so can you keep up the good job and let me inside?" Lily asked hopefully.

            "Why, certainly good lady," Sirius said in a gentleman-like manner.  He leaned back in his chair to the door and said, "You can let in the redhead."

            The door opened obediently, and Lily was allowed entry.

            She allowed the familiar scene to soak in.  The living room was getting a little dusty, but no one had been in it for quite a while to tidy it up.  Lily randomly picked up some items to examine them.  She did this throughout the whole flat right to her room in the back.  Lily hadn't noticed that her robes that she had bought at Diagon Alley when she had snuck out a while back was still in the closets.  They were starting to crease here and there, but Lily hardly cared. 

            It was just then that there were two distinct pops! from the living room.  Lily wondered who had just apparated in and carefully and quietly edged down the hallway.

            "Potter said she lived here," one stranger said.  Lily dared to look and saw two people robed in back, hooded, and masked.  They were death eaters looking for Lily.  But what had shocked her was that they said 'Potter.'

            "It looks empty to me," the other person said in a deep voice.  "He was lying.  Absolute filth, that Potter.  I hope the Dark Lord tortures him bad tonight for his lying.  Come on, let's go."

            "She might be in another room though.  Come on, let's go.  You go search the kitchen.  I'll search the bedrooms."

            Lily started to breathe heavily.  She didn't know what to do.  If only she had James's cloak!  But she had snuck it out the day he was kidnapped, and to her surprise, he may just be alive.

            She wanted to call for help, but she knew she would be spotted right away.  She was in no state to hit and run;  Lily knew about the weight she was gaining.  Sweat started to trickle down her face as she heard one of the death eaters go her way.  Lily hurriedly walked into her bedroom into her bathroom and closed the door with a soft click that no one could hear.  She took out her wand and charmed the door to be locked.

            There was a tiny window in the bathroom, but she wouldn't be able to fit through it.  She doubted if even a small child could fit through it.  The only thing Lily had was her wand, and there was no way of escaping.  She decided all she could do was try to curse her way out.  She figured that they wouldn't try to hurt her since she was pregnant.  Then it dawned on her…

            I'm pregnant.  I'm not allowed to apparate or disapparate, it's unhealthy.  I can't be cursed or harmed in any other way either, it's unhealthy!  Stupid death eaters, what are they playing at?

            Lily started to hum loudly so that the death eaters could hear her.  Soon enough, she heard footsteps enter her bedroom.  To her shock, she jumped a little when the door knob to the bathroom rattled.  Lily got ready and stuck her wand in front of her.

            She heard a distinct voice say, "Alohomora!"

            And she was ready when the two death eaters were there, their wands pointing straight at her.  But Lily's wand was pointing straight at them too.  Lily guessed that they were just too shocked at her quick defense that they didn't do anything but let her stun them with a quick "Stupefy!"

            She stampeded to the hall outside to Sirius, Remus, and the Ministry members.  They were shocked to see her sweaty and tired.

            "Lily?  What happened?"

            "Death eaters," Lily said through pants.  "They're stunned—"

            Everyone dashed into the room and quickly found the two cloaked men.  Lily followed them and said, "But these death eaters, they're of no importance.  But James, he's still alive.  I heard them say so.  Where's Snape?  He can tell us where he is, we have to save them!"

            "Hear, hear," Remus chanted.

            "See, you official naïve people?  I told you that he's still alive," Sirius smirked.

***

            The sand in his sand glass was running low.  There were only a few grains of sand remaining.  Voldemort turned and bared his wrath on James.

            "Do you see that sand glass?  It's a sand glass for twenty-four hours.  My death eaters are still not back with Evans.  You filth, you liar, you cost me precious followers," Voldemort said angrily.  He whipped out his wand and pointed it at James.

            "No, no," James said.  He was now scared out of his wits, he knew what was coming.  He was shaking his head, sweat was trickling down…he had been foolish throughout his whole life.  But he had always been lucky, so how in the name hell did he get here?

            "Don't, please," he whimpered tirelessly.  "I didn't know this would happen, I thought that—"

            "Well you thought wrong, Potter," Voldemort sneered, spitting on the word 'Potter.'  Voldemort straightened up and tried to look majestic, but it didn't matter because James's attention was on Voldemort's wand.

            So this is it.  Great, just great, Potter.

            And out of malnutrition, frailness, but most of all, fear—the one thing James had always denied himself of having—he fainted.  James had never pictured his death to be like this.

            "Avada Kedavra!" Voldemort shouted.

            The few grains left in the hourglass ran out.

***

Author's Note:  Now, you know the routine.  Review!

*IF YOU WANT TO KNOW IF HE'S DEAD, READ ON!*

Don't worry, James isn't dead.  He dies later, we all know that, right?