(Note from the author: These are not my characters, my world, or my situations. They all belong to J. K. Rowling, and are protected by copyrights.)

(Warning for readers under 13: This is rated PG-13 for scary moments and violence.)

It seemed like winter flew away from them. The night of Marlene faded, the sounds of laughing from Christmas deafened, and the sight of snowflakes were blinded by the new sight of spring. It was a cycle that never faltered. Long after the war was over, whoever won, they would still be carried through life by the seasons. Voldemort couldn't even stop the seasons.
Remus thought about this from the window of Headquarters as he waited for the meeting to begin. It was April. It was beautiful.
What had he been doing a year ago? James and Lily had just gotten married two months prior. Probably on top of the world.
Six months from this day he would be turning twenty. God, when had he gotten old.
"Whatcha lookin' at, Moony?" Peter asked, peering his head over Remus's head of sandy brown and white hair to look out the window.
"You see that bee?" Remus said, pointing at a small tulip sitting next to Moody's sill, "That bee relies on the flower for his food, and yet the flower relies on the bee for reproduction."
"Really?" Peter asked, squinting from behind his large glasses, "I don't see anything."
"They couldn't survive without the other one," Remus said, "They call it a mutual existence. It's funny how it's such a simple idea, and nature can follow it . . . and yet we can't. Humans are too complicated to have coexistence."
Peter shrugged, "Well, would you rather be stupid than complicated?"
Remus didn't answer, and just sighed and turned back from the window to look to the living room, where they sat. Waiting.
Something had happened, he knew it.
"Hey," Sirius said, sitting down on the other side of Peter. He had his motorbike jacket on. He loved that bike. He took it everywhere. Polished it. He probably had even named it.
"Did you just get here?" Peter asked, turning to talk to him.
"Yeah," Sirius said, "A little trouble with the cloaking device. Going to have to take it in again," he added offhandedly.
Why doesn't he just get a new one? Remus thought to himself. But he didn't say anything. He just nodded in agreement, and made no comment.
The room was slowly filling up. A chair had been removed from the rows and columns of twenty five, and had been replaced with an empty space. Alice and Frank avoided looking at that space as they walked to their seats.
Remus had gotten there early. And then Peter had meandered in. Peter's job must have been going well, because he was wearing brand new robes and a new silver watch. Remus looked at his own robes. He had had them for about two years now. They were shabbier than ever.
He looked back at Alice and Frank. Alice was getting large. Very large. She must be in her sixth month. Speaking of pregnancies . . .
Where was Lily?
"Are James and Lily here yet?" Remus asked quiet, composed. His voice didn't sound shaken. His face didn't seem haunted. He was Remus. Just the way he always was. They didn't know . . . didn't care . . . about the bees and the tulip outside . . . about how it still pained him that James hadn't talked to him civilly for a good four months. They had stopped caring a while back.
Sirius looked at him, sort of surprised that Remus was talking, and nodded, "Yeah. They are. Why?"
"Just wondering," Remus said, going back to the window to stare at the flowers. The dew of the morning was still set ontop of the petals, beautifully painted by nature. Perfection. Something that humanity would never have.
"All right, all right," Moody said, making his way up to the front with Frank now behind him, "We have an emergency on our hands. Let's cut to the chase, shall we? The giants are crossing the English Channel as we speak."
The loud muttering ran through the room, and Remus felt himself being tugged back into the room.
"What?" Sirius barked, "That's not possible . . ."
"Oh, it's very possible," Moody said.
"Well, then let's get moving!" Sturgis said, starting to stand, "We've got to stop them . . ."
"There is no possible way to stop the giants, Podmore," Frank said solemnly, "There are too many of them. By dawn tomorrow they'll be on our coast, and by evening on Wednesday, they'll be in the countryside."
"There are hundreds of them," Moody said, "And they're all on Voldemort's side."
"What is he planning to do with them?" Benjy asked. Benjy had grown, and so had everyone else. The children that had been recruited had grown. The men that had stood proud had tall had lost color in their hair. Sirius looked at Benjy quietly, slowly remembering what James had said. They all did have a scar.
"What do you think, Fenwick?" Moody said bitterly, "Cause destruction, just like in France and Germany and all of the other places they had to stampede through to get to us. All of us are going to try to cut them off at the major ports on the eastern coast. We leave in an hour, and we will join the Ministry officials in an hour and a half. You all have sixty minutes to say your goodbyes and return to this room. This excludes you, Alice. And you, too, Mrs. Potter. I will not gamble the lives of your children for this. Frank, James, you are free to go."
Frank nodded, and Remus scanned the room to see James. He found him, sitting next to a rather plump Lily, looking very determined. Lily looked horror stricken. Not at the fact that the giants were on the loose, or that her husband would be in combat in an hour or so, but at the fact that she would not be there with him. That was Lily, though. She never liked to get left behind.
Frank gave a quick look to Alice, and then turned to Moody. Quietly, he said something aside to him, and then Moody nodded.
"A wise choice, Longbottom," Moody snarled, and then looked to the rest of them, "As for the rest of you, we ship out."
And then Moody left through the door leading into the entrance hall, leaving everyone in a state of shock. Frank walked to Alice, and embraced her. Remus knew what he had muttered to Mad-Eye. He would not be joining them.
He's a father now, Remus thought, He has as much responsibility as Alice does.
He looked back to James, who stood, helping Lily up. James kissed Lily's face, and then rubbed her stomach. Remus recognized the look in his eyes. It was the same look that James had when he had ventured into the tunnel every month. And the same expression that he had when he signed the contract.
Sirius stood, and he and Peter walked over to the group. Remus felt himself slowly following them, hiding behind the taller stature of Sirius. Sirius was growing his hair out again, he noticed. And Peter's hair was thinning already. How old was Peter now? His birthday had been in January. He must have been nineteen now.
James and Lily acknowledged them as they drew forward, and Lily looked surprisingly at Remus.
"Better get going then, hey?" Sirius said, putting an arm around Lily. Her eyes did not leave Remus, though.
"Yeah," James said, and then gave Lily one more kiss, "Let's go."
Remus stopped. Any sort of urge that he had had to apologize to James directly faded in an instant.
"You're going?" he started.
James looked at him, and his face fell, "Yeah, I am. It's my duty. I'm a member. I have to go."
"Your duty is your family," Remus said quietly.
Sirius and James gave Remus a look, and then James said, "And if I don't go, then there won't be any family to protect. I would appreciate it if you would stop making judgement calls on every little move that I make."
Remus didn't answer, but watched him quietly from behind Peter. His thin lips were pursed into a firm line, and his brow was furrowed. Yet he did not say anything.
"I'll see you soon," James said, grabbing his cloak from the back of the chair, giving Lily one last kiss, "We'll go out to dinner when I get back. I promise."
Sirius gave Lily a reassuring slap on the back as James followed Peter and a mute Remus out of the room and after Moody.
"Don't worry," he said, "I'll watch him. He'll be coming back."
"I know," Lily said, returning the pat on Sirius's back, "I trust you."
Sirius nodded, and then ran out of the room, pursuing the three boys that had gone before him. And Lily and the Longbottoms were left alone in the living room, watching the backs of their friends disappear from sight.

The house was empty when Lily returned to it. She hadn't wanted to stay at Headquarters any longer. Frank and Alice had also gone home, and they had said that they would keep in touch with her until the group returned. They didn't know how long or short that would be. Or how many of them would return.
She sighed, placing her wand on the front table in the entrance hall, and quietly, making her way into the living room, still toying with her scarf which she wore over the top of her cloak. Her stomach was bulging from underneath her clothes, and she could already feel the baby truly kicking now. It wouldn't be long until Harry arrived, and she could get back to her regular size. Her feet ached as she sat down with an "oof" in the chair in the parlor, and tried to reach for her feet to massage them. Her ankles were so swollen.
But it was all worth it. She was going to have a child. She was going to be a mother.
And James would be a father.
Because James would return. And so would Sirius. And Peter and Remus. They would all come back. They wouldn't let any of each other die. They would keep themselves alive.
They would be leaving soon. It had only been an half an hour ago that they had dispersed. They were probably all there already, but they still had an half an hour.
She wondered what James was doing.
She hated being at home. She should have been with them. She felt like a burden.

How her father would hate her now, knowing that she was at home sitting on her rear end.
She remembered his face when they told him about the baby. Petunia was pregnant herself, and married now to a man named Vernon. She had wanted their children to grow up being the closest of cousins, and she could imagine her and Petunia right now, sitting together in this room, laughing and conversing. Sadly, she knew that that would never happen. Petunia hated her.
Her mother had thought her too young, but had supported her. And her father . . . oh, her father went through the roof. He said that she was throwing away all of her talent and all of her aspirations to become a housewife. Housewife was a curse word in her father's mouth, even if he had married one.
Creak.
A creak had come from the front door. Someone had opened it. Lily froze, and quietly stood. James wouldn't be back by now. Must be the Longbottoms.
"Alice?" she called out, as she opened the door, "Are you okay?"
But Alice wasn't there. The door was wide open, and exposing her to the winds outside. A thunderstorm seemed to have started.
Lily felt a strike of fear as the lights flickered on and off, and finally failed.
"Stupid storm," Lily said, reaching for her wand on the front table. Her hand searched in the darkness for it, but she couldn't find it. It was gone.
Her heart beat faster in her heart, and she froze where she was. Someone was in her house. Something . . .
"Don't move," a voice came from behind her, "Don't move a muscle. Or I'll kill you."
Lily felt her own wand being jabbed into the back of her skull. Her eyes grew wide with horror, and she looked straight outside to the pouring rain. She could see the trees and the sidewalk, all being covered in puddles.
She could make a run for it.
"I come with a proposition from my master," the voice continued, "My master is very interested in your husband."
"James . . ."
"Now, think of this more of a threat than a choice," the stranger said, jabbing the wand closer into her skin, "My master doesn't like your kind. And he was very disappointed in your husband when he chose you for a bride. Yes, that's right. He knows all about you two. You must realize that my master will not let you live. You are a Mudblood, daughter to two filthy Muggles. Your child will be a half breed. Your husband weighed down by garbage like you as his wife. Therefore, we shall have to kill you."
There was a quiet pause, as the attacker took Lily's hair in his hands, and wound it around his fingers, "Unless, you persuade your husband to join us. If my master gets what he wants, he will not kill you."
"James will never turn," Lily said bravely, "Now let go of me."
"I'm sorry, it isn't that easy," the voice came, "No one defies the Dark Lord. No one. Especially you, my little Mudblood."
The wand slowly moved from the back of her head to her right temple, and she felt her blood become ice. She was going to die. And Harry along with her.
No. That could not happen.
That would never happen.
Harry would not die.
With a cry like a warrior, she dug her fingernails into the skin of her attacker, and grabbed the wand away from him. She kicked him down to the floor, and pointed her wand at him, her green eyes sparking with fire.
"Avada Kedevra!" she screamed, and the green light shot out of her wand, and through the heart of the man. Slowly, the lights turned on again, and the attacker's face was revealed.
His name was Wilkes. She recognized him immediately. His face was one that was plastered underneath Voldemort's all the time. One of the top supporters. She had killed Wilkes.
She felt sick.
Holding her mouth, she rushed past the dead body of the Death Eater, mask unseen, and up the stairs to the lavatory. She was going to lose all of her dinner.
Leaning over the toilet, she shakily returned to a standing position, and pulled her hair out of her face. She had almost died. And Harry, too.
God, this is what Moody meant.
How could she have been so selfish?
She looked at herself in the mirror, and saw that she was crying. There was a dead man in her entrance hall. Her and her son had almost died.

Harry had almost died.