Author's Note: This chapter just doesn't seem to get along with me. This is the second repost I've done. Fortunately for those who've already read it, only a minor character's name is changed and that's explained in a later AN.

Augusta

Disclaimer: If you can trace it back to the Harry Potter world or the Guiding Light world, it does not belong to me.

Chapter Two: The Funeral

James was deeply thankful that it was drizzling rain the day of his funeral. It gave him the perfect excuse to keep the hood of his cloak up. No one could be allowed to recognize him- dead men generally didn't turn up to see themselves put in the family crypt. Lily had been buried the day before, in a common grave among her father's family. He had gone, but had stayed too far off for any of her mourning kindred and in-laws to notice the 'stranger' intruding on their privacy.

Dumbledore was here, calmly moving around through the milling mass of his family. For all of the man's morals and high-mindedness, he still had enough hypocrisy in him to act the part of the grieving friend. James wished he hadn't come, but it wasn't as if he was going to be doing much talking- he just so happened to be a woman lying in a casket! If the woman who was being entombed under his name hadn't been Morgan, he would have found it damned amusing.

" Hush, Lizzy, darling," he heard a soothing voice say, not far to his left. Remus stood there, holding a sobbing Elizabeth against him. " Hush, hush." Little Regina, upset by her mother's crying, wrapped her thin arms around her father's knees and started crying in good earnest too. Remus looked like a man being pecked to death by chickens.

" What're we going to do without him?" Elizabeth asked, her voice muffled by Remus's robes. "Anne's not in the state to take care of herself, never mind take James's place, and me!" That brought another bout of sobs. Most of the people around her were looking awkward, as if they wanted to say something but didn't know what.

He looked around. Anne was standing near the front, accepting condolences in the widow's place. She looked old and half out of her mind with grief. The black mourning dress didn't suit her. There were some who looked at her contemptuosly, and some who wouldn't meet her eyes. James knew why. His best mate, Sirius, had been arrested in connection with his murder. Anne and Sirius were married, and Anne was expecting a baby. There were some who no doubt thought Anne had been in on it, and many couldn't get past the stigma attatched to the wife of a convict. He wished there was something he could do for his sister, but there was nothing, in his circumstances.

All his friends and family were there-even India, he was surprised to see. His eldest half-sister had left home when she was nineteen and never looked back. His family were not given to shows of affection, but now...they didn't want physical and emotional contact with each other, they needed it. They were hugging, crying on each other's shoulders...he had never thought to live to see it. His mother's family had much less stiffness in their embraces and much less restraint with their tears. The Wrights didn't care that anyone saw them mourn the loss of one of their own. James realized he was still watching Anne-trying to memorize his twin so he could always remember her for the rest of his long life-and made a sudden move toward her before he remembered himself when he saw her face. Anne was sitting poker-stiff, her face blank, tears pouring down her face. In all the years, he had never seen Anne cry.

Her jaw dropped and her lovely dark eyes widened. Her mouth moved, and he knew her well enough to read her lips. James? She had recognized him. Ignoring all protocol, she half-ran to him.

" James?" she whispered. " Is it you? Am I dreaming?"

" It's me," he said. " Oh, Anne, I'm so sorry- I didn't know Dumbledore had you believing I was dead until it was too late-"

" I don't care, it's you, oh, my brother-" she threw her arms around him. " I knew you wouldn't leave me."

" I'm going to have to," he told her. " I have to leave after the funeral. It's Morgan in the coffin, Anne. She died and Dumbledore pulled a ruse on Hagrid and Sirius to make them believe it was me. Sirius wasn't the traitor-it was Peter."

" Peter!" she hissed. " James, he's being acclaimed as a national hero for trying to duel with Sirius this morning and getting blown to smithereens! I've had ten women call me a Death Eater and accusing me of conspiring with Sirius to murder you and Lily and Peter!"

" To hell with them. You'll know the truth, Anne. I'll be in this place in America-this Springfield-but I'll always be with you here-" he touched his head- " and here." He touched his heart. She caught him in another hug, and this time he thought his ribs were going to break.

" I'm no more on being sentimental than you are, but oh God, I love you," Anne murmured. " We have to tell Elizabeth. We can't have her go on thinking you're dead." Without waiting for an answer, Anne raised her head and called over, " Elizabeth! Come over here, it's Cousin Thomas! He's come back from Denmark for- to see us." James couldn't help but admire his sister. There was no way that anyone could tell she didn't still 'know' he was dead. She was also very clever. Dumbledore had been giving the two of them funny looks, but he relaxed, now. They did have a cousin named Thomas who they were all extremely fond of who had come here today for James's funeral. Dumbledore could dig till he died and find no proof that James had disobeyed orders and left Hogwarts or that he had let his sisters know he was alive.

Elizabeth made a brave attempt to smile when she got to them. " I'm glad you could make it, Tom-" she started, then gasped when she saw his face.

" It's all right, Liz," Anne whispered hastily. " It's really James, he's alive-Dumbledore faked his death. It's Morgan who actually died."

" Oh my God," Elizabeth whispered. " I can't-"

" What you can't do is tell anyone who I am, Isabella," he told her. That appeared to be what made her believe him, by her face-he had always called Anne Annamaria and Elizabeth Isabella, a tribute to his years in Italy. "Don't tell anyone-not even Remus. No one can know I'm still alive."

" Why not?" Elizabeth demanded. " If the old man wants you dead, we can deal with him, James."

It was Anne who explained. " The Enemy-Voldemort-believes James is dead, Liz. If James is dead, then Voldemort will not move against him. Yeah, little Harry overthrew Voldemort, but for how long? Harry's the one who'll save us, but he won't be able to do it without James, and you can stake your life on that."

" Oh, God," Elizabeth groaned. " This is way out of my league."

" Just go on acting the part of the mourning sister," James told her. " I won't be able to see either of you again before I go, so-" he struggled with the words for a moment. " Goodbye and I love you both," he said stiffly. Elizabeth started crying again.

A priest stepped up near James's coffin. " I believe it's time to begin," he said in a reedy voice. James was startled to recognize it as belonging to Father Edward, his confessor.

" I have to go-I'm supposed to speak first," Anne said. " Don't leave without speaking to me again." She let go of his hand with the utmost reluctance and went to the front.

Father Edward ran through the ritual prayers, then asked, " Is there anyone who would like to speak?" Anne stood and went over. She was pale, but composed.

" You all know that James was my brother," she began, her voice cracking a little. " Some of you might not have known that we were twins. I knew, the other night, as soon as he was dead-I felt it." Anne straightened her back slightly and looked around at them all with a hint of contempt.

" We here all know that my husband was the Judas who betrayed my brother and Lily to their deaths. There is nothing I can do to avenge that wrong- the Ministry has already arrested him. As for the murderer himself, though..." Anne's face crumpled. She snatched her glove off and laid her thin hand on the coffin.

" I'll swear here before you all," she said fiercely, " that I will not rest until everyone who owed allegiance to Voldemort is dead and in hell where they belong! And if Voldemort himself ever returns, I'll deal with him in kind! My brother was always there for me, no matter what, even when it meant risking his own life, and he loved me as much as I loved him. I'd be some kind of sister if I wouldn't stick by him now. James, you'll be avenged or I'll be dead trying." Anne looked straight at him when she said it. She sat down without further comment.

Elizabeth went up after Anne. " I-I don't really know what to say," she began uncertainly. " I mean, you all know I loved my brother- we all did." Elizabeth hesitated, then went on. " Our family-well, you know about our family's problems. We Potters haven't earned the most desirable reputation, but even when we were little, James always wanted to change that-it made him do some things that if he hadn't been our father's son would have gotten him disowned. He let me marry Remus, let our mother come out of mourning for our father years too early,protected Anne from her ex-husband, worked with the Ministry and Dumbledore, married a Muggle-born, that sort of thing." Elizabeth gave a small, shaky laugh. " James shocked and infuriated every person in our family-and he was what held us together." She paused, searching for words. Lizzy had always been shy, never a eloquent speaker. "Before the War, our family was like an expensive vase, whole and making a good display for anyone who saw it. Then, the War came and it was like someone threw that vase onto cobblestones, shattered it to pieces. We couldn't be the way we had always been, and it broke us. We didn't know how to change. The pieces were all fitted back together, though, and James was the glue that held them all together. I-I don't know what we're going to do without him." She had started to cry yet again. "I know they say it'll get easier with time, but I don't know. I'll always miss him, I can guarantee that much. I'm not good at speaking in front of crowds, so I hope you'll all forgive me." She hurried back to her chair.

James smiled grimly. People could surprise you, sometimes. He wouldn't have expected that kind of speech or such an apt similie from Elizabeth, though he couldn't testify to the truth of the metaphor. Phillip went after Elizabeth. He was sobbing so hard that James, as far from the crypt as he could get, couldn't make out his words. Phillip had always been a 'gentle giant', for lack of a better term-the primary reason their father had put James in Phillip's place in the succession. He gave a longer monologue than his half-sisters, and a good many people patted him on the shoulder on his way back to his chair. Teresa was cool and to the point, saying very briefly that he'd be missed.

No one would ever think such a devoted older half-sister as Resa would have tried to stick a knife in my ribs more times than I can count, he thought sarcastically. Teresa wanted power, and he was or had been in her way. He feared for Harry, but there was little he could do but hope Dumbledore would protect the boy from her.

Remus spoke of their long friendship, and Dumbledore said something, James wasn't sure what. He hardly cared what the old hypocrite said anymore. What use did a 'dead man' have for a man's words, anyway? He was thinking crazy, but it didn't matter. Nothing much did, now. There was nothing left to carry on for.

Father Edward was just about to begin the formal ceremony when India stood. " I want to say something," she said loudly. Remus grabbed her by the arm, but she shook him off and marched to the front. James frowned a little. India was a nun, but that was hardly a habit she was wearing. She also had an uncharacteristically ugly look on her face, and her neck was too long and her hair too pale. Was it even India? That question was not long in the answering.

" Not many of you know me," she said. " My name's Petunia Dursley. I'm his sister-in-law." She jerked her head at the coffin. " It was my sister you buried yesterday. I've had their stupid freak brat dumped on me without a pence to pay for his keep, and I'm sorry to break up the nice little sentiments from his beloved family and friends, but there's only one thing I want to say to James Potter: You got what you deserved, you bastard! If there was any justice you and my freak sister would have gotten worse!" Dumbledore jumped in front of Phillip in the very nick of time to keep Phillip from probably wringing the stupid woman's neck. Two of his cousins had grabbed her-she was apparently trying to kick 'his' coffin over. " I'll have my say!" Petunia screeched, jerking loose from Henry and Robert and falling backwards into the tomb.

" You just had to have the last word, didn't you, you son of a bitch?" Petunia demanded of the coffin. I always do, James thought. Petunia stared down her nose at everyone, then stomped out.

" I don't care whose sister she is," Phillip was saying with barely controlled fury. " I am going to make sure she knows whose brother she was insulting, and that she never forgets it!"

Poor Phillip, he thought. Always so eager to defend me. You can't defend me anymore, bro. I've grown up now.

" I cannot allow you to harm Mrs. Dursley," Dumbledore said, still calm. " Please sit down, or I'll have you removed. As you are one of the pallbearers, that would be most inconvenient." Phillip sat, murder plainly on his mind.

Father Edward looked rather shell-shocked. " If there are no more speakers," he wheezed at last, "then let us go on." He began the prayers. James bent his head, but didn't pray. It would have been unnatural, to pray for your soul at your funeral. Then, with no further reason to delay, Phillip, Remus, Dumbledore, and Anne performed one last service for 'him' by easing 'his' coffin into 'his' tomb and sealing it. The crowd began to disperse, with Anne and Elizabeth requesting to be alone with their brother. Dumbledore went into the house for a drink. James laid low until he was sure it was safe, then went to his sisters.

" That was the wierdest thing we've ever done," Anne said fervently.

" I have to go, girls," he told them. " I think I can stay in touch, though. Anne, d'you think you could reach me across the Atlantic Ocean?"

Anne grinned. " Child's play, darling. I could do it in my sleep."

" Dumbledore probably won't block us much longer. He won't think we can talk across that much distance. "

" I agree," Anne said.

" You two mean to outfox the Fox?" Elizabeth asked skeptically. The Fox was his family's name for old Dumbledore.

" Right on the money, Lizzy honey," James told her. " Don't worry about it-we've pulled it off before." He put a hand on each of their shoulders. "Remember, no matter what, we're still the Unholy Trinity. No one and nothing can keep us apart forever. We'll meet again." He allowed them both to hug him, then disapparated back to the Hogwarts gates and managed to make it back well before Dumbledore.

" Your funeral was an interesting affair," Dumbledore remarked. " Your sister-in-law can be quite vehement when she's roused, not to mention profane."

" That would be Petunia," James said. " She's always the same. What happened?"