Forever Yours

Chapter 22

Hogwarts

Days turned into weeks, weeks into months, and still there was no sign of another test. And to be honest, everyone was glad. Everything in the magical world was in upheaval. Seems like since their test, Voldemort had been getting more vicious with his attacks. Death Eater raids happened daily, and muggle torturing was a frequent 'amusement' for the Death Eaters, which resulted in the never-ending activity within the walls of the British Ministry of Magic.

Lily had quit her job a few months ago – a month after the test – and decided to be a housewife. Within the few months that she worked after having Harry, she found that she couldn't. She didn't like the feeling of leaving her son with someone else so early in his life. And it wasn't as if James didn't make enough money to support them.

Harry's birthday came, and Lily was shocked. It'd already been a year since she gave birth to her son. For some reason, it just didn't seem like it had been that long already.

By the time Harry's birthday came, he could walk on his own – although it wasn't great distances. He could say 'Mama', 'Dada', 'Siri', 'Nonna', 'Papa', 'No' – which every kid seems to learn at an early age – 'Up', and 'Please'.

And he was a spoiled little boy too. He had enough toys to fill up his own toyshop, and somehow, in his one-year-old mind, knew how to play his parents to get what he wanted.

He now had a full head of hair, and to Lily's amusement, it was exactly like his Fathers. Jet black and messy. And his eyes were the same exact shade as Lily's were. It was sort of spooky to look into them, and see her own reflected back at her. But he was also tall for his age, already reaching a little bit past Lily's kneecaps.

And he loved absolutely loved to get into trouble. Any kind of trouble at all. Lily had a feeling that she and James were going to be paid back ten fold for all of the terror that they caused on their parents. She wouldn't be surprised to say the least.

~*~

"When are you going to visit Dumbledore?" Kayla asked Lily one morning as they walked around Diagon Ally with their children latched on their hips.

Hermione inherited Sirius' chocolate brown hair, but her eyes were a little bit lighter than Sirius' chocolate ones, looking more like a honey color. And she had gotten bit too. At one, you could already see that she'd grow up to break the hearts of boys everywhere. And Lily knew with a weird sense of finality that she'd have her Mother's curves, and sensuality, while she had her Fathers sense of humor.

"I don't know. Every time I plan to do so, I end up forgetting to go. But I do know that I really need to go and ask Dumbledore about that test, even though it's already been three-four months," Lily sighed as she gazed into the windows of the shops.

"If you want, I'll watch Harry," Kayla offered. She too had decided to give up her job in order to take care of her daughter. Although she missed the action, and doing things that didn't require cleaning and cooking, Kayla knew that, she wouldn't give up what she did for anything. She was a part of her daughter's life, and that is how she wanted it. She didn't want her daughter to know her as well as Kayla herself knew her parents – not at all.

"No, I think that I'll take him. Dumbledore always loved children," Lily smiled remembering how he used to always play and tell her stories when he'd visit her father during the summers.

Kayla nodded, grabbed Lily's arm, and dragged her into a clothes store. "I need more clothes. I'm finally losing all of the weight I gained from having this one here. Unlike you who lost it all within a month or two," Kayla scowled.

Lily laughed. "I know, don't you just hate me?"

"Actually, since you ask, yes, I do," Kayla sniffed before laughing.

Lily shook her head and laughed as her friend looked for her clothes.

~*~

Three weeks later, James, Lily, and Harry all stood outside of, the towering stone castle gazing up at the battlements and many, many towers.

"God I missed this place," Lily commented as she turned in a circle, getting a full look of the Forbidden Forest, the Lake, and the Giant Squid, who happened to be playing around with some of the kids on the shore at the moment, and the castle itself.

"I know me too," James agreed as he looked at the place that he had called for seven years of his teen life. "Almost all of our memories were made in this place," he said as he grabbed her hand with one of his, and hitched Harry further up on his side.

"Dada!" Harry squealed as he was jiggled.

James looked down at his son and laughed. "Harry!"

"Dada!" Harry screamed back, giggling.

"You two are two of a kind," Lily laughed as she watched her son and husband interact. James absolutely doted on Harry, and it was sweet to watch. You could tell just by the look in James' eyes that he loved his son just as much as he loved Lily. Meaning with everything that was in his body.

"Hey! Thank you." James smiled.

Lily rolled her eyes and began walking up the familiar steps towards the Main Entrance of the castle. "Never change, baby. Never change," Lily smiled and looked over at him.

"You couldn't do so if you tried," James told her with a fake solemn face.

"Dork."

"Beautiful."

"Idiot."

"Intelligent."

"Clown."

"The Love of my Life," James shot back with a smile, knowing that he just won.

"And you're lucky for that too," Lily retorted with a smile.

As they reached the front doors, they opened, revealing a corridor that would lead to the Great Hall.

"Lets see. If I remember correct, it's lunch time right now," Lily calculated as she glanced down at her watch and mounted what looked like miles of stairs.

"Food!" James exclaimed in excitement.

"You and your food," Lily teased.

"Hey! I happen to eat very little food. Sometimes," he amended when he saw his wife's look. "Alright, once in the while," he tried again. "Okay! Okay! I always eat a tower of food!" he admitted.

"I know you do. I have the pleasure of cooking those towers of food that you're talking about," Lily reminded him and opened the doors of the Great Hall with a smile.

"Lily! James!" were some of the cries from the third years up who remembered them from when they attended Hogwarts. Lily laughed and waved, heading towards the Head Table.

James trailed behind his wife, and stopped every now and then to talk to someone that he knew.

"James," Lily called out with amusement in her voice. He loved to talk to people, you had to hand him that.

"Oops," was the sheepish reply.

"He's hot!" a few of the girls started to whisper, causing Lily to laugh.

"Look at this James. You don't even go here anymore and you still have admirers!" she teased.

"What can I say? I'm good."

"Sure you are," Lily deadpanned before turning to Professor Dumbledore. "Can we talk to you when you have the time, Sir?"

"As long as I get to hold little Harry there," the Headmaster agreed with a nod towards Harry.

"Of course!" Lily chirped. She had missed her old Headmaster she realized with a jolt. His twinkling blue eyes, his humor, his wit, and to be honest, she missed talking about how she accomplished her pranks with him too.

"Very well. Head up to my office. I assume that you know where it is still? You and your husband after all have been there more than anyone else that I can think of," he smiled.

"I still know this castle like the back of my hand Sir," James said with pride.

"And now I'd expect him to turn over his hand and ask 'what's this?'," Lily stage whispered to a chuckling Headmaster.

"Hey!" James shouted in resentment.

"What?" Lily turned around with a coy smile.

"You're mean!" he pouted.

"Thank you."

"I missed having you guys here," Professor Dumbledore laughed. "The password is Lemon Blue."

Lily nodded her head and turned towards the door.

"Oh! It's nice to see you again Minnie!" James said before chasing after his wife, leaving a red Professor McGonagall in his midst.

"I thought that we got rid of them two years ago!" Most of the professors groaned as they watched the Great Hall door wryly, expecting the rest of the group to barge through the door.

"Apparently not," Professor McGonagall groaned and was tempted to bang her head on the table. James Potter and Lily Evans – now Potter. Back at Hogwarts. She could only imagine the trouble that they'd cause while here. And then the next generation of Potters! God help them all.

~*~

Lily sat down in the familiar mahogany, blue and silver office and gazed around. It was hard to believe that she hadn't been in this office for close to two years. If she had still been in school, she would have been in here at least seven times by now. And it was only October!

"Harry, don't touch!" Lily reprimanded as he went for one of the containers in one of the shelves that Dumbledore left open.

Surprisingly enough, he actually stopped. Lily blinked in surprise. He had stopped!

Just then, she saw James get up and walk over to him and mutter something beneath his breath and realized that he had used a spell on him. So much for the miracle! Lily thought with a shake of her head.

"Ahh . . . such an energetic little one you have there," the smooth tones of Dumbledore's voice sounded from behind Lily as he entered his office.

"You can say that one again," Lily muttered.

James picked Harry up, brought him over to Dumbledore, and situated him in the elder mans' lap.

"Wadapadbapapa!" Harry spoke as he flailed his arms, and then tucked his thumb in his mouth haughtily.  

Dumbledore laughed and looked up from the child to its parents.

"What's wrong?" He asked as he bounced Harry on his knee.

"Well, you see, we sort of went through this test – " Lily begun, only to make James take over the rest of the story.

Dumbledore sat in his chair, looking at Harry and making faces at him, all the while nodding at what James was saying. 'How can this man do so many things at once?' Lily wondered.

"- and we just wanted to know what you thought about all of this," James finished with a gust of breath.

Dumbledore looked up from Harry and sighed. "What you guys went through is a testing of your loyalty to one another. You Lily," he said with a nod in her direction, "was given the chance to have everything in your life that you had ever wanted. Everyone that you love still alive. And yet, you refused, knowing that he'd set you against your friends and family. This test was a test to determine if you all are strong enough to fulfill the Prophecy. If you had not been, you all would have been dead," he explained calmly.

"So you're saying that that was the only test that we will receive?" Lily asked.

"Yes, it is. The next time something like that happens, you'll be fighting to save lives," Dumbledore sighed. He was starting to feel his age. At 124, he wasn't a young wizard anymore.

"So you mean that something is going to happen?" James questioned.

The older wizard nodded his head sadly. "Yes. The fate of the rest of the world will lie in your hands. The six of you must defeat it.

"As you know, Lord Voldemort is gaining power, and gaining it fast. I do believe that he is after you six, and your families," Dumbledore admitted.

"W-What do we do?" Lily asked after a stunned silence.

"I suggest that you find a secret keeper. But in the end, it might not be the smartest thing to do. Some believe that the power within a baby is more powerful than a full-grown wizard. But the decision is yours to make Mrs. Potter."

Lily thought about it for a few minutes. "We'll think about everything, if that is okay with you, and get back to you as soon as possible," she said.

Dumbledore nodded his head. "If anything, little Harry could stay here with me," he offered with a smile as he gazed down at the now sleeping toddler.

"We'll think about it, sir," Lily repeated.

"Okay."

James then rose out of his chair and picked up his son, settling him in his arms.

"It was a pleasure to see you again, Potters," Dumbledore smiled as he got up.

"You to Professor," Lily said, returning the smile. "But if you don't mind, we need to get Harry home and put to bed."

"By all means," he said with a gesture to his fireplace. "Floo home."

Lily nodded and handed James some powder as he stepped into the fireplace.

"It was nice seeing you again Professor!" Lily yelled as she began her journey through the Floo network.

"Let us only hope that we'll be able to see each other again in a couple of years in person, whether than at your grave," Dumbledore sighed after he knew that she could no longer hear.

He was truly scared that two of his best, most inventive students were going to die before it was their time.

~*~

Authors Notes:

Hello all! I'm sorry. I sort of deleted – or lost – one of them, the first version of this chapter. I must say that I liked that version better, but this the one that I could find. I'm sorry!

I hope that you liked it. I know that it was sort of short, and all it was was mainly details, but it's needed for the next chapter, so it was mandatory that I get this up.

Tell me what you think!

Mistress del Mare