(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.)
(Note from the author concerning the rest of this story: This is how I envision the end. I have taken clues from the books and the movies to compose the finale to this story. Please understand that this is how my story will end, and that every author and every reader is going to have a different adaptation of Halloween, 1981. This is this author's take on it. I did not write why Remus was accused, why they didn't see Peter for what he was, or why Dumbledore didn't trust Sirius. It is all part of Rowling's world (when I, personally, would have seen it was Peter right away. Don't know about the rest of you, but it's sort of obvious the way that she set it up. We have two adorable characters, and then a little . . . oh, what is his animagi animal again . . . that's right . . . A RAT!). We all have different ideas on why James and Sirius acted the way that they did, but this is how I wish to interpret their actions. Please respect that, and I hope you enjoy the last few chapters of this story.)
(Note from the author concerning misspellings of important spells: Also, I apologize for the misspelling of the Killing Curse, once again. I understand that I am incapable of spelling it correctly. There's some sort of road block in my brain. Lol.)
The cabin was covered in leaves of autumn as Lily walked to the front porch of Remus's home. There was a large wood pile to the left of her, set up against the wooden wall. A rusted axe stood in a tree stump, and it looked like it hadn't moved for quite a while. Lily had been here only a few days ago, but now she had to return.
James was late.
That night she had had a horrible dream, reliving her experience at Headquarters. She had thought she had been lost. They had hit her from behind, and Sirius had grabbed her in his arms.
"Lily! Lily, wake up!" he shouted, trying to pull her up onto the second floor from the marble ruins, "Lily, come on. Come on, wake up!"
Lily could feel her own hands clawing at his skin, and herself spitting into his face and cackling loudly. There was nothing she could do to stop it.
"Black traitor!" she laughed, "You'll never see your friend again!"
"Lily, come on," Sirius said, grabbing her from under the arms, and heaving her over the side of the ledge, "Come on, Lily . . . We have to find James . . ."
"Who is that?" a whispered voice came from the corridor ahead of them, and Lily raised her wand.
"Crucio!" she said, and two bodies fell, screaming. Emmeline and Sturgis. They struggled and wriggled with pain, and Lily could do nothing but stand and watch.
"Vance!" Sirius said, rushing to Emmeline's side. But Lily had already grabbed him by the collar, and threw him aside with the brute force of twenty men. Sirius fell against the wall, and caught himself before landing on the floor. He raised his wand, and shouted, "EXPELLIRAMUS!"
Lily's wand went flying, and she glared at him.
"How dare you, you . . ."
"Come on now, Lily," Sirius said, "I'm not going to fight you. Get a hold of yourself. Come on."
Lily had then heard Voldemort's voice from down the hall. Mudblood wife and mutt child . . .
And she thought now that it was at that moment she gained control. She knew she had to save her family.
Family seemed to be an important thing to all of them. It was now, to James. There had been a change in him in these past days as they tried to find a house and place charms and curses on it to keep them safe. They were actually leaving tomorrow for that beautiful Muggle two story on the outskirts of James's paternal town. They were packing up, and shipping out. James said he had a Secret Keeper, and she would be performing the charms on him tomorrow night.
She had gone back to Professor Flitwick at Hogwarts yesterday, trying to learn all of the complicated ways of the charms, how to pronounce everything correctly, and how to put it to use. James said she always had a knack for charms, and therefore he trusted her to perform the spells. Before leaving yesterday, to say goodbye to Peter and Remus, he had told her who the Secret Keeper was to be.
She had almost died.
"I know he's your best friend, James," she said, "But Dumbledore said that we shouldn't choose him . . ."
"I don't care," James said, "I trust him."
And so, without any acknowledge to her wishes, Sirius Black had been named their Secret Keeper.
They would be dead within a week.
Sirius had never shown any support to Voldemort, but people changed over time. But James had just stood there, and said, "Why can't you trust him?"
"Because I've seen what he's capable of, James," Lily said, "I know what he can do."
"But haven't you ever looked into his face . . . into his eyes . . . and just see that you can tell him anything? That you could hand over your life to him, and you'd be okay? He gets that look to him, and you know that everything will be all right."
"I've seen a look on his face," Lily said, "But it isn't a good look. His eyes get dark, and he looks dangerous. I've seen that look enough times."
"No," James said, shaking his head, "No, not that one . . . it's different. It's this look of complete understanding. Like no matter what happens in the world, he'll still be there helping you through it. It's loyalty, Lily. He has loyalty to me and to you as well. You just have to trust him."
But Lily knew she would never trust him. Yet, for some reason, she went along with James's plan. Somehow she didn't stop herself from screaming and demanding that the job went to Remus.
Remus had promised her that he would take care of James. He had put up with so much of James's arrogant ways that it wasn't a surprise that he walked out of their conference the other night. She thought he would have done it a lot earlier.
But at least James said he was going to say goodbye to them both last night, and he had left that evening of the day before. The problem was, he hadn't come back home, and Lily was starting to worry, now that it was around noon of the next day.
She had gathered Harry up in her arms, and started out for the Lupin residence, all of those miles away.
Now she was here, and somewhat confused by the lack of life in the small little forest. Almost everything was silent, and nothing was moving inside of the house. Harry's cold breath could be seen as she crunched through the leaves, and she bounced him on her hip as she stepped onto the porch, and then to the front door. She looked at the makeshift sign that stood there.
JE NE MOURRAI PAS
"I will not die," Lily whispered to herself, and Harry laughed.
"Die!" he giggled, "Die! Die! Die!"
"Shh, Harry," Lily said, and then knocked on the door, "Remus? Are you in there?"
There was a clatter of pots, and some muttering from inside as someone flew out of the back of the house and ran to the door. Quickly, the door flew wide open, and Remus stood there, in his house robes.
"Lily . . ." he started, and Lily smiled innocently enough as Harry smiled at this familiar face.
"Ree-ree!" he squealed, and Remus gave a small grin to the boy.
"Hello, Harry," he said, and then looked back to Harry's mother, "Did you want to come in?"
"Actually," Lily said, hoisting Harry up farther on her waist, "I was sort of wondering if James was here."
Remus was caught off guard at this question, and he furrowed his brow, "Um . . . No, Lily. James usually doesn't come here anymore," he said, as if she were a little slow.
"He said that he was coming to say goodbye," she said, as Remus led her into the front room, "We're leaving tomorrow night, you know."
Remus stopped in his tracks, in the midst of shutting the door, and he looked at Lily as if not catching her words, "What?"
"We're leaving tomorrow night," Lily said, "Didn't someone tell you?"
Remus, now looking to Harry, and then to the thin air, shook his head, "No. No they didn't."
"They didn't?" Lily said, confused herself.
"For how long?" he asked, as Lily set Harry down on the wooden floor. He stood up on his small legs, and waddled to the side of a chair.
"Until the war is over," she said, and then looked to Remus, "So James didn't come?"
"No," Remus said, "No one came."
Lily saw the slumped, defeated figure of Remus, and something broke inside of her. She had seen this person suffer so much, mostly due to her own husband's stupidity. And now his only family was leaving him . . . leaving without telling him . . .
"I'm so sorry," she said, grabbing him close to her and embracing him in her arms. Remus, taken aback, slowly returned the embrace, and they stood there together, not saying a word. They both knew what the other was feeling.
James Potter had done this for the last time.
It was later that night that James returned home to Sirius's small flat. Lily had spent all night waiting for him, after tucking Harry into bed. She had thought of all the things she was going to say to him upon his return, and had memorized somewhat of a speech for him to hear.
The speech included her telling him off for treating Remus like a piece of dirt, for acting the way he did, for blindly believing in a man like Sirius Black, for putting his family's life in danger by not going into hiding in the first place, and of course for not thinking of either her or Harry when making decisions that concerned all three of them.
All of these things were racing through her head as the front door of Sirius's living room. Lily was waiting in the extra guest room, where she and James had slept for the past few days. She could hear Sirius snoring from the room next to them as James quietly entered the bedroom, and took out his wand. He pointed it to the candle on the bed table, and said, "Lumos" in almost a dead voice.
He thought his wife was asleep, but as soon as the candlelight burst to life, he saw her eyes, glaring at him . . . her left eye twitching.
"Lily . . ." he started, and Lily threw a pillow at him.
"You didn't go to Remus's house to tell him," she said, "First you treat him the way you did, and now you don't say goodbye!"
"I . . ."
"You are a complete ass!" Lily shouted, not letting him speak, "You never consult me on anything! You tell me you're going somewhere, and I spend all day worrying about you! I spend all day wondering where in God's name you might be! We were supposed to be preparing for tomorrow! We were supposed to be together! You might be off and lost or dead or . . . how am I supposed to know you're all right when I don't even know where you are?"
"Lily, I . . ."
"And I went to Remus's today, James," she said, "I saw him. And he's crushed. You killed him, James. And if he dies because of that . . . thing . . . inside of him while we're gone? . . . I'll know how it took control of him. All of his friends are turned against him. Especially the one he thought he could count on!"
"He's the spy, Lily!" James shouted out, raising his voice for the first time. Lily looked as if she was going to add something, but she was silenced by this last comment. She just stared at him, in disbelief. It seemed the world was crumbling around her, falling down into ash.
Remus. The spy.
It was impossible.
It was completely impossible.
"He couldn't . . ." Lily started, almost choking on the oncoming tears.
"He is," James said, very calm and not raising his voice, "Sirius and I have suspected it for a while now. We didn't know what it was, but we knew something was wrong."
"But he's . . . he's our friend . . ."
"He'd kill us if he had the chance," James said, "We know it's him. He doesn't care about any of us anymore."
"That's a lie!" Lily argued, "It can't be him! It's . . ."
"Me?"
Both of them looked to the doorway, where Sirius now stood. He was leaning up against the doorway, his arms crossed. His expression wasn't one of anger or sadness, but of understanding. He nodded, and said, "That seems to be the general concensus through the community."
Lily turned her emerald eyes to Sirius, and James could see the candlelight flickering in the oncoming tears that now had started down her pale cheeks, "No. No, I . . . it's not Remus. It has to be someone else. It's not . . ."
"Lily, he's a werewolf," James said.
"But . . ."
"I had a dream, Lily," Sirius said, "And in the dream, Remus was marking Harry's door for Voldemort."
Lily screamed, and fell back onto her bed, her head in her hands. Remus . . . good Remus . . . the one that would kill Harry if he could? She couldn't believe that. She just couldn't . . .
"We're all three together in this," James said, as Sirius drew nearer to the bed, "We're not going to let anyone get left behind. Forever alive, Lily. Remember?"
"I remember," Lily whispered, not moving.
"I swore to you, Lily," Sirius said, "To protect your son. And to protect you. That's what I am. That's my job. I'm Harry's godfather. And I will always be there to protect James and his family. Please trust me, Lily."
It wasn't like Sirius to beg, and all Lily could do was wipe her eyes, sit up to face the two boys, and weakly nod.
"We're a team," James said, "And Voldemort can't break that. He can't kill us as long as we stay together. We're going to beat him. And we're going to live."
"Forever alive," Sirius said, touching Lily's hand. James set his on top of Sirius's hand, and the three of them sat there, bound by two of the most fragile things in this world.
Trust and hope.
October 24, 1981.
That is what the calendar read on the wall in Dumbledore's office. James sat in the chair that he had been placed in that night, when Snape had been here. But now it was only him and Dumbledore, sitting once again in the office that he had gotten to know quite well.
The world was falling apart, and yet Hogwarts stood proud and tall. It hadn't changed since his days here with his friends. It now pained him to think of those times. How blind he had been to think he could trust Remus.
"You wanted to speak with me, James?" Dumbledore said, waking him from his reverie. James looked to the old Headmaster, and nodded.
"Yes," he said, and patted a sack that lay next to his chair, "Yes. I wanted to see you before tonight."
"Is everything in order, I hope?" Dumbledore asked.
"Yes," James assured him, "Lily's ready to perform the spell, and Sirius is willing to help us. Peter and Remus won't be there, and we'll be gone by tomorrow morning."
"I hope that you also understand that no one is to be told the secret. Only Sirius will know where you hide. The Order will not be able to assist you in any way, and your friend, Mr. Pettigrew, will not know where you are. Only Sirius."
"I understand."
"You will be informed by Sirius when the war is over, and when it is safe to return," Dumbledore said, "We have already arranged a Secret Keeper for him."
"Thank you," James said, and then lifted the sack to his lap for Dumbledore to see, "This is what I wanted to see you about. I wanted you to . . . to do me a favor."
"What sort of favor would that be?" Dumbledore inquired of him.
"To hold onto my things," James said, "Just in case . . . well, my will is in here. Along with a key to my vault at Gringotts, and another key for Harry is in there . . . Along with a few photographs that I don't want ruined, and . . . and a little bit of money from my parent's legacy for Sirius . . . they would have wanted him to have some of it . . . and my father's cloak."
"You're entrusting me with your father's cloak?" Dumbledore said, as James handed him the sack.
"Yes," he said, "Yes. It's all for you to take care of until I get back," James said, "Please, Headmaster. I have no where else to send it."
"James, don't you think that Sirius would take better care of it?" he said, as if he were testing James.
"Yes, but . . . I know it will be safe with you," he said, "And when Harry comes here to school, and if I'm not . . . if I'm not able to give him what he needs . . . please take care of him. Please, Headmaster. Please help him be happy. Give him my cloak, and give him my money . . . and please just let him be happy."
"I will love him as if he were my own, if that case ever comes to be," Dumbledore said, "I will treat him as if he were James Potter's son himself."
James smiled sadly, and then watched as all of his precious belongings were set behind the desk, and Dumbledore folded his hands on the desk as if going back to business.
"I don't want you dwaddling in thoughts of death, James," he said, "You are a very wise and very resourceful young man. And I believe that you will survive this war. All of your family. Do not worry. We have secured your house, and Voldemort will never find you. I promise that he will not."
"Thank you," James said, and Dumbledore nodded.
"Your father would be very proud of his son."
(Note from the author concerning the rest of this story: This is how I envision the end. I have taken clues from the books and the movies to compose the finale to this story. Please understand that this is how my story will end, and that every author and every reader is going to have a different adaptation of Halloween, 1981. This is this author's take on it. I did not write why Remus was accused, why they didn't see Peter for what he was, or why Dumbledore didn't trust Sirius. It is all part of Rowling's world (when I, personally, would have seen it was Peter right away. Don't know about the rest of you, but it's sort of obvious the way that she set it up. We have two adorable characters, and then a little . . . oh, what is his animagi animal again . . . that's right . . . A RAT!). We all have different ideas on why James and Sirius acted the way that they did, but this is how I wish to interpret their actions. Please respect that, and I hope you enjoy the last few chapters of this story.)
(Note from the author concerning misspellings of important spells: Also, I apologize for the misspelling of the Killing Curse, once again. I understand that I am incapable of spelling it correctly. There's some sort of road block in my brain. Lol.)
The cabin was covered in leaves of autumn as Lily walked to the front porch of Remus's home. There was a large wood pile to the left of her, set up against the wooden wall. A rusted axe stood in a tree stump, and it looked like it hadn't moved for quite a while. Lily had been here only a few days ago, but now she had to return.
James was late.
That night she had had a horrible dream, reliving her experience at Headquarters. She had thought she had been lost. They had hit her from behind, and Sirius had grabbed her in his arms.
"Lily! Lily, wake up!" he shouted, trying to pull her up onto the second floor from the marble ruins, "Lily, come on. Come on, wake up!"
Lily could feel her own hands clawing at his skin, and herself spitting into his face and cackling loudly. There was nothing she could do to stop it.
"Black traitor!" she laughed, "You'll never see your friend again!"
"Lily, come on," Sirius said, grabbing her from under the arms, and heaving her over the side of the ledge, "Come on, Lily . . . We have to find James . . ."
"Who is that?" a whispered voice came from the corridor ahead of them, and Lily raised her wand.
"Crucio!" she said, and two bodies fell, screaming. Emmeline and Sturgis. They struggled and wriggled with pain, and Lily could do nothing but stand and watch.
"Vance!" Sirius said, rushing to Emmeline's side. But Lily had already grabbed him by the collar, and threw him aside with the brute force of twenty men. Sirius fell against the wall, and caught himself before landing on the floor. He raised his wand, and shouted, "EXPELLIRAMUS!"
Lily's wand went flying, and she glared at him.
"How dare you, you . . ."
"Come on now, Lily," Sirius said, "I'm not going to fight you. Get a hold of yourself. Come on."
Lily had then heard Voldemort's voice from down the hall. Mudblood wife and mutt child . . .
And she thought now that it was at that moment she gained control. She knew she had to save her family.
Family seemed to be an important thing to all of them. It was now, to James. There had been a change in him in these past days as they tried to find a house and place charms and curses on it to keep them safe. They were actually leaving tomorrow for that beautiful Muggle two story on the outskirts of James's paternal town. They were packing up, and shipping out. James said he had a Secret Keeper, and she would be performing the charms on him tomorrow night.
She had gone back to Professor Flitwick at Hogwarts yesterday, trying to learn all of the complicated ways of the charms, how to pronounce everything correctly, and how to put it to use. James said she always had a knack for charms, and therefore he trusted her to perform the spells. Before leaving yesterday, to say goodbye to Peter and Remus, he had told her who the Secret Keeper was to be.
She had almost died.
"I know he's your best friend, James," she said, "But Dumbledore said that we shouldn't choose him . . ."
"I don't care," James said, "I trust him."
And so, without any acknowledge to her wishes, Sirius Black had been named their Secret Keeper.
They would be dead within a week.
Sirius had never shown any support to Voldemort, but people changed over time. But James had just stood there, and said, "Why can't you trust him?"
"Because I've seen what he's capable of, James," Lily said, "I know what he can do."
"But haven't you ever looked into his face . . . into his eyes . . . and just see that you can tell him anything? That you could hand over your life to him, and you'd be okay? He gets that look to him, and you know that everything will be all right."
"I've seen a look on his face," Lily said, "But it isn't a good look. His eyes get dark, and he looks dangerous. I've seen that look enough times."
"No," James said, shaking his head, "No, not that one . . . it's different. It's this look of complete understanding. Like no matter what happens in the world, he'll still be there helping you through it. It's loyalty, Lily. He has loyalty to me and to you as well. You just have to trust him."
But Lily knew she would never trust him. Yet, for some reason, she went along with James's plan. Somehow she didn't stop herself from screaming and demanding that the job went to Remus.
Remus had promised her that he would take care of James. He had put up with so much of James's arrogant ways that it wasn't a surprise that he walked out of their conference the other night. She thought he would have done it a lot earlier.
But at least James said he was going to say goodbye to them both last night, and he had left that evening of the day before. The problem was, he hadn't come back home, and Lily was starting to worry, now that it was around noon of the next day.
She had gathered Harry up in her arms, and started out for the Lupin residence, all of those miles away.
Now she was here, and somewhat confused by the lack of life in the small little forest. Almost everything was silent, and nothing was moving inside of the house. Harry's cold breath could be seen as she crunched through the leaves, and she bounced him on her hip as she stepped onto the porch, and then to the front door. She looked at the makeshift sign that stood there.
JE NE MOURRAI PAS
"I will not die," Lily whispered to herself, and Harry laughed.
"Die!" he giggled, "Die! Die! Die!"
"Shh, Harry," Lily said, and then knocked on the door, "Remus? Are you in there?"
There was a clatter of pots, and some muttering from inside as someone flew out of the back of the house and ran to the door. Quickly, the door flew wide open, and Remus stood there, in his house robes.
"Lily . . ." he started, and Lily smiled innocently enough as Harry smiled at this familiar face.
"Ree-ree!" he squealed, and Remus gave a small grin to the boy.
"Hello, Harry," he said, and then looked back to Harry's mother, "Did you want to come in?"
"Actually," Lily said, hoisting Harry up farther on her waist, "I was sort of wondering if James was here."
Remus was caught off guard at this question, and he furrowed his brow, "Um . . . No, Lily. James usually doesn't come here anymore," he said, as if she were a little slow.
"He said that he was coming to say goodbye," she said, as Remus led her into the front room, "We're leaving tomorrow night, you know."
Remus stopped in his tracks, in the midst of shutting the door, and he looked at Lily as if not catching her words, "What?"
"We're leaving tomorrow night," Lily said, "Didn't someone tell you?"
Remus, now looking to Harry, and then to the thin air, shook his head, "No. No they didn't."
"They didn't?" Lily said, confused herself.
"For how long?" he asked, as Lily set Harry down on the wooden floor. He stood up on his small legs, and waddled to the side of a chair.
"Until the war is over," she said, and then looked to Remus, "So James didn't come?"
"No," Remus said, "No one came."
Lily saw the slumped, defeated figure of Remus, and something broke inside of her. She had seen this person suffer so much, mostly due to her own husband's stupidity. And now his only family was leaving him . . . leaving without telling him . . .
"I'm so sorry," she said, grabbing him close to her and embracing him in her arms. Remus, taken aback, slowly returned the embrace, and they stood there together, not saying a word. They both knew what the other was feeling.
James Potter had done this for the last time.
It was later that night that James returned home to Sirius's small flat. Lily had spent all night waiting for him, after tucking Harry into bed. She had thought of all the things she was going to say to him upon his return, and had memorized somewhat of a speech for him to hear.
The speech included her telling him off for treating Remus like a piece of dirt, for acting the way he did, for blindly believing in a man like Sirius Black, for putting his family's life in danger by not going into hiding in the first place, and of course for not thinking of either her or Harry when making decisions that concerned all three of them.
All of these things were racing through her head as the front door of Sirius's living room. Lily was waiting in the extra guest room, where she and James had slept for the past few days. She could hear Sirius snoring from the room next to them as James quietly entered the bedroom, and took out his wand. He pointed it to the candle on the bed table, and said, "Lumos" in almost a dead voice.
He thought his wife was asleep, but as soon as the candlelight burst to life, he saw her eyes, glaring at him . . . her left eye twitching.
"Lily . . ." he started, and Lily threw a pillow at him.
"You didn't go to Remus's house to tell him," she said, "First you treat him the way you did, and now you don't say goodbye!"
"I . . ."
"You are a complete ass!" Lily shouted, not letting him speak, "You never consult me on anything! You tell me you're going somewhere, and I spend all day worrying about you! I spend all day wondering where in God's name you might be! We were supposed to be preparing for tomorrow! We were supposed to be together! You might be off and lost or dead or . . . how am I supposed to know you're all right when I don't even know where you are?"
"Lily, I . . ."
"And I went to Remus's today, James," she said, "I saw him. And he's crushed. You killed him, James. And if he dies because of that . . . thing . . . inside of him while we're gone? . . . I'll know how it took control of him. All of his friends are turned against him. Especially the one he thought he could count on!"
"He's the spy, Lily!" James shouted out, raising his voice for the first time. Lily looked as if she was going to add something, but she was silenced by this last comment. She just stared at him, in disbelief. It seemed the world was crumbling around her, falling down into ash.
Remus. The spy.
It was impossible.
It was completely impossible.
"He couldn't . . ." Lily started, almost choking on the oncoming tears.
"He is," James said, very calm and not raising his voice, "Sirius and I have suspected it for a while now. We didn't know what it was, but we knew something was wrong."
"But he's . . . he's our friend . . ."
"He'd kill us if he had the chance," James said, "We know it's him. He doesn't care about any of us anymore."
"That's a lie!" Lily argued, "It can't be him! It's . . ."
"Me?"
Both of them looked to the doorway, where Sirius now stood. He was leaning up against the doorway, his arms crossed. His expression wasn't one of anger or sadness, but of understanding. He nodded, and said, "That seems to be the general concensus through the community."
Lily turned her emerald eyes to Sirius, and James could see the candlelight flickering in the oncoming tears that now had started down her pale cheeks, "No. No, I . . . it's not Remus. It has to be someone else. It's not . . ."
"Lily, he's a werewolf," James said.
"But . . ."
"I had a dream, Lily," Sirius said, "And in the dream, Remus was marking Harry's door for Voldemort."
Lily screamed, and fell back onto her bed, her head in her hands. Remus . . . good Remus . . . the one that would kill Harry if he could? She couldn't believe that. She just couldn't . . .
"We're all three together in this," James said, as Sirius drew nearer to the bed, "We're not going to let anyone get left behind. Forever alive, Lily. Remember?"
"I remember," Lily whispered, not moving.
"I swore to you, Lily," Sirius said, "To protect your son. And to protect you. That's what I am. That's my job. I'm Harry's godfather. And I will always be there to protect James and his family. Please trust me, Lily."
It wasn't like Sirius to beg, and all Lily could do was wipe her eyes, sit up to face the two boys, and weakly nod.
"We're a team," James said, "And Voldemort can't break that. He can't kill us as long as we stay together. We're going to beat him. And we're going to live."
"Forever alive," Sirius said, touching Lily's hand. James set his on top of Sirius's hand, and the three of them sat there, bound by two of the most fragile things in this world.
Trust and hope.
October 24, 1981.
That is what the calendar read on the wall in Dumbledore's office. James sat in the chair that he had been placed in that night, when Snape had been here. But now it was only him and Dumbledore, sitting once again in the office that he had gotten to know quite well.
The world was falling apart, and yet Hogwarts stood proud and tall. It hadn't changed since his days here with his friends. It now pained him to think of those times. How blind he had been to think he could trust Remus.
"You wanted to speak with me, James?" Dumbledore said, waking him from his reverie. James looked to the old Headmaster, and nodded.
"Yes," he said, and patted a sack that lay next to his chair, "Yes. I wanted to see you before tonight."
"Is everything in order, I hope?" Dumbledore asked.
"Yes," James assured him, "Lily's ready to perform the spell, and Sirius is willing to help us. Peter and Remus won't be there, and we'll be gone by tomorrow morning."
"I hope that you also understand that no one is to be told the secret. Only Sirius will know where you hide. The Order will not be able to assist you in any way, and your friend, Mr. Pettigrew, will not know where you are. Only Sirius."
"I understand."
"You will be informed by Sirius when the war is over, and when it is safe to return," Dumbledore said, "We have already arranged a Secret Keeper for him."
"Thank you," James said, and then lifted the sack to his lap for Dumbledore to see, "This is what I wanted to see you about. I wanted you to . . . to do me a favor."
"What sort of favor would that be?" Dumbledore inquired of him.
"To hold onto my things," James said, "Just in case . . . well, my will is in here. Along with a key to my vault at Gringotts, and another key for Harry is in there . . . Along with a few photographs that I don't want ruined, and . . . and a little bit of money from my parent's legacy for Sirius . . . they would have wanted him to have some of it . . . and my father's cloak."
"You're entrusting me with your father's cloak?" Dumbledore said, as James handed him the sack.
"Yes," he said, "Yes. It's all for you to take care of until I get back," James said, "Please, Headmaster. I have no where else to send it."
"James, don't you think that Sirius would take better care of it?" he said, as if he were testing James.
"Yes, but . . . I know it will be safe with you," he said, "And when Harry comes here to school, and if I'm not . . . if I'm not able to give him what he needs . . . please take care of him. Please, Headmaster. Please help him be happy. Give him my cloak, and give him my money . . . and please just let him be happy."
"I will love him as if he were my own, if that case ever comes to be," Dumbledore said, "I will treat him as if he were James Potter's son himself."
James smiled sadly, and then watched as all of his precious belongings were set behind the desk, and Dumbledore folded his hands on the desk as if going back to business.
"I don't want you dwaddling in thoughts of death, James," he said, "You are a very wise and very resourceful young man. And I believe that you will survive this war. All of your family. Do not worry. We have secured your house, and Voldemort will never find you. I promise that he will not."
"Thank you," James said, and Dumbledore nodded.
"Your father would be very proud of his son."