AN: Yay! A battle! (sort of, not really)

~~

The door to The Three Broomsticks opened, letting in a fresh blast of winter cold. Madam Rosmerta raised her head, and saw two familiar faces beaming back at her.

"James!" she exclaimed. James smiled. Madame Rosmerta rarely called students or former students by their first name, but she knew him and Sirius quite well, seeing as they would sneak off campus to get a butterbeer every once in a while.

"Miss Evans!" she continued, with a cheerful smile. James stole a quick glance at Lily. "It's Mrs. Potter now," she said.

Madam Rosmerta looked taken a back. "Well that didn't take long, now did it?" she said, winking at the two. "What can I get you?"

"Two butterbeers, thanks Rosie," James replied, handing her a handful of galleons.

Together they walked off to a small table in the back. James held out the chair for her, and Lily had to keep a laugh from escaping her. James Potter - polite?

Lily gave him an amused look before sitting down, but he kept his face grave and stolid as if he were preparing for a funeral. Lily sat in silence and watched James as he started picking lint off the tablecloth.

"What is it, James? I know there's something on your mind," Lily said finally. He didn't say anything. Lily rolled her eyes. "I can see the wheels turning in your head - however slow they may be."

James finally allowed himself a small smile. Lily relaxed - it was nothing serious. "What is it?"

After a short while, he heaved a sigh. "I'm a father," he said, looking at the table as if he'd never seen anything like it before.

Lily smiled - she almost laughed. "Yeah."

James continued to stare at the table as if memorizing the patterns stitched into the cloth.

"But don't go blaming me," she said, grinning broadly. "it *is* partly your fault." What Lily was intending to do, she'd succeeded at - James finally looked up from the table. He looked oddly amused and incredulous - clearly shocked by what she'd said, and the fact that it came from her.

Lily shook her head. "You're a father. What's wrong with that, now?" James grew serious again. "I don't know. Nothing. Everything." He looked into her eyes, his face showing a faint panic. "What do I do?"

"What your father did for you," Lily answered, hoping it made sense. It sounded like a good enough answer for a question she hadn't an answer to.

James nodded, the panic subsiding, but his eyes remained wide. Madam Rosmerta came by with the drinks, gave a startled look seeing James's abrupt change of mood in the past five minutes, shrugged, and walked off.

"Well," Lily said, tasting her butterbeer. "All we need is a name."

"Harry," James replied immediately. Apparently he'd already given a lot of thought to this.

"Harry?" Lily exclaimed, trying (and failing) to hide her disgust. "What kind of a name is that?"

"Hey," James replied defensively. "Harry happens to be a fairly popular name."

"Yes, well. Perhaps we should think of something more original?"

"Like what?"

Lily pondered briefly before replying, "Micheal."

"Micheal?" James echoed. "You call that original?"

"Well I suppose you have something better in mind?"

"Yeah," James said. "Harry."

Lily rolled her eyes. "We're getting nowhere with this," she said exasperatedly.

"Well, there's something you've got right," James muttered.

Lily eyed him sharply. "Alright," she said briskly with a look reminiscent of McGonagall. James wasn't sure whether to meet her with an equally testing glare, or cower back in fear.

"Well, then we'll just have to solve things the Marauder way," she said giving James a coy look.

"And how's that?" James replied.

"We'll make a bet," she replied simply.

James grinned. Now she was speaking his language. "What's the bet, then?"

Lily opened her mouth as if to say something, but stopped short. She really didn't have a bet ready in her mind. At that moment, Peter stumbled into the pub, his face clearly showing raw fear and panic. He was mouthing wordlessly, and his eyes were wide as if he'd done something terribly wrong.

"What is it?" James asked, standing up.

"Leave!" Peter whispered urgently.

"Peter, what - ?" But before James could finish, Peter had Disapparated.

"What was that about?" Lily asked, her eyebrows knotted in concern.

"I don't know," he replied, his voice trailing off as he thought.

He felt another blast of cold air shoot through the pub, almost sounding like a collective gasp. He could almost hear screams around him - but he figured it was only his memories haunting him. . .

"James," Lily breathed.

"Hmm?" he grunted, only half-listening.

"James!" Lily whispered desperately, her voice breaking in fear.

The pleading, terrorized voice she had taken on caused James to break out of his reverie. That, and the feeling of the tip of someone's wand being pressed into his back.

He stiffened, paralyzed by the fear that was starting to spread throughout his entire body. Forgetting to breathe, he turned around slowly. What met his eyes was so horribly familiar, he felt his heart stop.

It was the man who'd killed his family a year ago today, come back to finish his work.

He wasn't going to blow up the pub, no. Not a mass murder of every muggleborn in Hogsmeade - but a deliberate murder of one single person. Lord Voldemort saw him as his primary target at that very moment, and there was nothing he, James, could do to get in the way of what the Dark Lord had laid out for the day.

This was a planned murder, no doubt. And he was merely a pawn cornered by a castle.

He managed to glance sideways at Lily, who was gazing fearfully at Voldemort, silent tears streaming down her blanched face. Everyone else had fled the pub, leaving broken glass behind.

"Hello, Potter," he said.

James couldn't even manage a sound. *Leave, Lily. Just leave.* He looked again at Lily, who (no wonder she'd been sorted in Gryffindor) had her wand out, at the ready.

This Voldemort noticed as well, and a simple wave of his hand took care of this. One wand out, and another in the opposite hand at his side, Voldemort spoke to James again.

"Anything you'd like to say before I kill you?" James noted the cruel amusement hidden in these words.

Only one thought occurred to him at the moment. "Dumbledore," he said, and the awful, twisted smile left the Dark Lord's face.

"Dumbledore will defeat you, whether I am alive or dead." He heard Lily inhale shakily. *Leave, Lily. Now.* But she would not leave him without dying first.

Voldemort lifted his wand, his blood-red eyes blazing with pure hatred. James closed his eyes and thought fleetingly of Harry, and whether he would have looked anything like him had he been born.

But the words that reached his ears were not the words he'd expected to hear.

"Crucio."

His eyes snapped open when screaming filled his ears, but he felt no pain. The Dark Lord was looking straight at him, but his wand was pointed somewhere to his right.

That's when James realized it was Lily screaming, and not him.

Some incredibly reckless feeling akin to courage stirred inside of James. He brought out his wand - his intent being to kill - also aware that this was an insanely stupid thing to do, because - next moment - he, too, was without a wand.

Voldemort, his hands becoming quite full - having to carry three wands - tossed James's and Lily's behind him. Lily's screaming and wailing was abruptly halted by a series of choking sobs and moans of pain.

Voldemort's wand turned to James once again. "It'll be quick, Potter. Although, I can't guarantee it will be painless," he said. "Die now, or watch her suffer first."

James - coming to a desperate measure of improvisation - finally resorted to his remaining power. His heart pounding like a raging stag, James ran forth towards Voldemort - great antlers erupting from his head.

The antlers hit his opponent right in the chest, digging into his ribs. The Dark Lord was launched backwards, but otherwise not injured at all.

"James!" Lily cried. According to her perspective, narrowed by pain and confusion, her husband had left her alone in a pub with a stag and a Dark wizard.

Driven by an anger so intense, it was almost unfamiliar to him - Prongs reared back, ready to finish his opponent off.

By now, Voldemort had gotten over his surprise, and his wand was back out. Before the stag's hooves could land, it was thrust backwards away from the Dark Lord.

Losing his concentration as his head cracked on the edge of a table, James let his animagus form drop.

Lily was halfway standing, looking down at James - or rather, the animal that had turned into James. Overcome with an exhausting confusion, she fainted. Voldemort stepped up, towering over James's huddled figure.

James closed his eyes, all hope leaving him, but instead of hearing the curse that would kill him, he heard several shouts coming from the door to his left.

He opened his eyes, and (with immense relief) saw familiar faces rushing into the deserted pub. In stepped about half of the Order, led by Frank and Alice Longbottom.

Half a dozen death eaters were bound and levitated, floating before Caradoc Dearborn, who was guiding the unconscious bodies along.

James glanced back to where Voldemort had been, but found there was no one there. The bloody coward had fled from his own scene.

~~~~~~~~~~

"You're lucky Peter notified the Order," Remus said gravely, shaking his head. Sirius was scratching his chin with the tip of his wand, staring off into space, and Lily was asleep on the couch of their own home, with Rebecca sitting beside her, holding a waking potion.

"But he knew about it before anything even happened!" James said with increasing exasperation.

"Blimey," Sirius said with awe. "Who knew he'd really be that useful?" Remus laughed lightly, and Lily stirred.

James exhaled loudly, giving up on his accusations. To be honest, the idea of Peter turning against them seemed rather absurd. Yet there was something odd. . . James couldn't put his finger on it.

"Frank and Alice knew what to do, of course," Sirius said, quickly changing subjects. Remus nodded. "Seeing as they'd faced him twice before."

"What about the death eaters Dearborn brought in?" James asked, his memory returning.

"Oh," Sirius said, his face falling. "Them." Remus was laughing. "The truth is, Frank and Alice caught all of them. Sirius here was a bit disappointed.

"Dearborn was merely an escort. I think he's watching the gits while they wait in London for their trial."

Lily stirred again after swallowing the potion, and her eyes fluttered open. "Where's James?" she demanded instantaneously. Rebecca nodded her head towards James. Lily shot up.

James was smiling at her, but she didn't smile back. "Where'd you go?" she asked.

James hadn't expected that. A hug and kiss, maybe - a small greeting at the least. "I didn't go anywhere," he answered.

Lily was frowning, looking around at everyone's concerned and curious faces. "But you left me, you were - "

"I was with you the whole time," James replied firmly - afraid of where this was going.

"But - but no. No, the deer!" she said, her eyes growing wide with remembrance. "The deer! You weren't anywhere, there was just some ruddy deer!"

"She's out of it," Rebecca said fearfully, shaking her head slowly.

"I am not!" Lily objected. "I know what I saw," she said, her accusing eyes blazing green, and shooting back at James.

James sent an uneasy glance at Sirius - who shrugged, and then at Remus - who was shaking his head emphatically. The truth was, if their secret got out about their illegal escapades during school, Remus felt he would be held accountable for it. This, of course, was not true.

*Honestly,* James thought. *The man has too much of a conscience.*

"Well?" Becca and Lily prodded in near unison. They seemed to have noted the silent interchange between the three.

"Padfoot," James said - addressing Sirius, but looking warily at Remus, who dropped his face in his hands. "You first."

Sirius nodded, thought fleetingly of the giant black dog inside of him, and the two girls gasped when they saw that same dog take the place of Sirius.

"Padfoot," Becca mused. The dog held a paw up, showing beneath it a padded foot. Lily turned numbly to her husband, her mouth hanging open. "And Prongs,"

James nodded, and took his majestic form as well. Lily's breath caught in her lungs as she began to stand up, staring back at the tall creature.

"James?" she asked quietly, tentatively reaching out her hand. When she saw that the deer - or stag, rather - did not protest, she gently stroked between the eyes. The stag snorted, and rubbed his nose against her hand. Her open mouth formed an awed smile.

"It *is* you, isn't it?" she said with wonder.

The stag nodded, and turned back into James. Lily stepped back, but James took her hand, and pulled her closer.

"And you?" Becca asked Sirius, who turned back into his human form, nodding.

"Peter's a rat," Remus said quietly from the corner, rubbing his temples with two fingers.

"But - " Rebecca began. "Why? Why go through with all of this? It could have gone drastically wrong - "

"It's my fault," Remus said with disgust. "They did it for me."

James looked at him sharply. "It was our choice. We did it to help him when he transformed."

Remus shrugged miserably.

Lily nodded in understanding. However, all too soon, that familiar green blaze that James feared so much returned in her eyes. "And you didn't tell me?" she asked testily.

James sighed with a deep foreboding. Any minute now, she was going to explode. "We - we didn't want anyone telling Dumbledore or McGonagall," he began desperately.

"Oh, and that's what you thought I'd do?" she replied with an odd sort of haughty triumph.

Becca glanced at Remus and then to the quarreling couple, and Disapparated. "Sorry, mate," Remus said miserably. Sirius conjured a bowl of popcorn, but Remus pulled him up from his chair, and they both Disapparated.

"Come on, Lily. It was at least third year."

"Third year, huh?"

"Yes!"

"And what does that have to do with anything?"

"I didn't know you back then!"

"Well, you should have known me sooner," Lily snapped.

"I know you now!"

"Yes, and something had to slip before you'd even tell me!" Lily cried.

"Look," James said finally, his voice hoarse from yelling. "You want to know exactly why I didn't tell you sooner?"

Lily cocked her head to the side, her hands on her hips. "Why?"

"Because I knew you'd blow up on me like this," he said, lowering his voice, hoping hers would lower as well.

Lily stopped short. She knew she couldn't deny this, because - technically - she had just blown up on him.

James sighed, relieved that this was finally going to die down.

Lily looked miserable. "Damn you, Potter. You always have to get the last word."

James was taken aback, but otherwise took it as a compliment.

"And you know what's worse?" she said after a moment, turning to him sharply.

"What?" James asked, afraid of what could possibly be worse. But instead of pointing out another of his faults in an attempt to revive the small war, she smiled. James could tell she was trying to hide it, and look angrily at him, but to no avail.

"I actually sort of like the name Harry."

~~

AN: Review, and you just might win the lottery! If you don't have a ticket, then review anyways, and you just might find one in your pocket! *checks pockets*

Nixiy: I just LOVE your reviews! Almost as much as I love my precious Dorito sandwiches! *hugs dorito sandwich* It's good to know my story can still be cute while being dark. *beams proudly*

Nikki: No, Remus and Rebecca aren't dating. . . yet. . . Yes, I know, they are a bit slow and clueless when it comes to that, and for some reason it's making me laugh really really hard. Yay, Return of the King!