Chapter Three

Godric's Hollow burned. The flames were leaping high into the night sky. While most of the right and left wings of the house burned, the middle section of the house was as yet flame free. Rather, the house shook with falling walls and sunken floorboards. The Order members apparated to their designated spots and just stared at the destruction. It was utterly horrifying to see that beautiful house fall in such a manner.

Sirius saw the house burning, the heat from it searing his face. He closed his eyes and bowed his head. Lily and Harry were dead and it was all his fault. If it were not for his plan to make Peter the Secret Keeper, the two of them would still be alive. This is my fault, mine.

Remus stared at the flames and wanted to curl in despair. He couldn't believe this had happened, that Lily, his pack sister, and Harry, the pack cub, were gone. He wanted to throw back his head and howl like the wolf he was, wanted to shout that his pack had been broken. They were gone.

James apparated into the spot a second behind Sirius and Remus and saw the destruction. His home burned.

"Oh God, please, please," He whispered, the destruction in front of him sliding like a dagger into his heart. But, no matter, he had to get in. James knew, without any doubt, that Harry was still alive and still inside the house. He could not, would not, let his son perish amongst the flames after Lily's sacrifice. He started running to the gates, and didn't pause even as he heard the shouts after him.

With the wards down, James had no problem apparating into the other side of the gate. He paused in front of the burning house, the fire so hot that he could feel it heating his skin. He took stalk of the areas that were burning and the areas that he could apparate into, and quickly said a spell that would douse him with continual moisture as he went in. James quickly apparated into the main hall in the middle part of the house and looked to the right wing, where he knew his son would be. "Oh god, Harry, hold on, I'm coming, I'm coming!"

The walls were burning and the bag smoke was beginning to clog the hallway. Holding his arm to his face, James ran into the nursery, blasting the door down and running inside.

There, in the crib standing up against the railing was Harry, screaming his head off. The walls were all aflame, all the furniture also aflame and quickly falling down around them. On the floor, in front of the crib, was Lily's dead body. James didn't allow himself to think about it, just leapt over the body to reach the crib.

"Harry, thank god, Harry." James reached into the crib and grabbed his son, opened his shirt, and placed his son inside his shirt so that his hands were free. "Hold on now, da's got you, just hold on Harry." The baby's voice quieted a bit, though James hoped it wasn't due to asphyxiation.

"Okay, now we've got to get out of here!" James quickly knelt to the body on the floor and turned it over. He couldn't let himself think of this body as his wife, because if he did, he would never be able to do what he had to do. He was going to apparate all three of them out of here and he needed all his concentration to do so. One usually could not apparate extra people, but it was possible with the greatest concentration and skill. What James had to do was make it seem as though Harry and the dead body were extensions of his own body, so that when he apparated, it would be as though he was apparating his entire body out of there. James had never tried it before, but desperate situations called for desperate measures.

It was difficult. James' mind kept feeling the wrists he was holding on to and kept picturing Lily, the time when he held her wrists to measure them, the time he placed a bracelet on her wrist, the time he…No! "Concentrate damnit, concentrate," he told himself "This is not lily, you do not feel wrists. What you do feel is a long body that will become extensions of your arms. Concentrate, concentrate!"

James was faltering and he could feel the heat crowd around him, the dark smoke closing in. He knew that in a minute or two, they would be completely surrounded and James would have to leave Lily there. Harry, his son, was alive and James had to make sure that he stayed alive, even if he had to leave Lily behind. But, he had one more minute to try. Come on, it's an extension of yourself. Concentrate!

Harry suddenly let out of a sound, a cross between a whimper and a groan. Just then, James felt his son place a tiny palm against his heart, his little hand warm and soft. He opened his eyes and stared at Harry, who was gazing up at his father with calm green eyes. James hadn't noticed in his rush before that his son now had some sort of lightening bold scar in the middle of his forehead. But, just then, the house gave a massive shudder and James couldn't contemplate anything else. He felt a surge of magic go through him, and he didn't know if it was his own or, wondrously, if it was Harry's. Without questioning it, he grabbed hold of Lily again, closed his eyes, visualized them as one, and, with the magic surging through him like a tidal wave, he apparated. A second later, the walls, weakened by the fire, crashed down and the room imploded.

Sirius and Remus were frantic. James, the fool, had decided to rush headlong into the burning inferno and had apparated inside. No back up, no plan.

"I've got to go after him, I've got to help!" Sirius shouted to Remus, but Remus pulled him back.

Sirius turned to snarl at him, but Remus pointed to the house, shouting, "Sirius! Look! The fire is spreading to the middle part of the house, right where the nursery is and where James probably apparated to! We have to control the spread of the fire, to give James a chance to get to Harry!"

Sirius saw what Remus meant and nodded. They apparated to the same spot that James had apparated to in front of the house. Together, their wands out, they pointed to parts of the house and shouted, "Acqua Maxima!" Water poured out of their wands and shot to the spots where the fire was spreading the fastest. The other Witches and Wizards, seeing what the men were trying to do, quickly ran to position themselves around the house to use the same water spell.

Sirius and Remus heard Dumbledore appear at their side. Sirius shouted, "He's in the right wing!"

Dumbledore, his eyes blazing, pointed his wand at the right wing, the area of the house where the structure seemed to be most likely to fall apart. He pointed his wand and said, "Mortorum balancia!" The walls of the house that was about to collapse stilled though fire continued to blaze. Dumbledore was holding on to about ten walls and the two end sections of the building, making sure that the whole of it didn't collapse inward, hoping to give James a chance to reach the nursery. There was no way that they could hold it off much longer. Hurry James, hurry!

Just then, the house gave a massive shudder. The house was collapsing and there wasn't enough magic to forestall it. "NO!" Sirius screamed.

The fire blazed larger and overcame the magic. The present members of the order scattered back from the destruction. Remus clamped an hand around Sirius' arm and dragged him back, his werewolf strength controlling the other Marauder.

"Remus, wait! I can do this, I have to get to James!"

"NO SIRUS! The house is collapsing, we have to get out! You'll burn!"

"NO! James!" screamed Sirius, trying to fight off Remus' hold.

But, just then, they heard a loud CRACK! It was a very sooty James cradling a silent baby inside his shirt and a dead body clutched in his hands.

He collapsed on his knees, letting go of the body and wrapping his arms around the baby, rocking back and forth, whimpering, whispering, "Oh God, Oh God, Oh God."

The others were running, knowing that they had to get themselves away from the fiery house, but James seemed incapable of moving from the spot. But it was still too dangerous to be so close to the fire and the smog.

Remus cursed, "God Damnit! We need to move NOW!" As he was physically the strongest because of his wolf-curse, he picked up Lily's body in a fireman's carry, while Sirius grabbed James' right arm, jerked him upright and dragged him backwards towards the gate. Dumbledore had already gone ahead to blast the gates so that they could reach safety unhindered. They were just in time, for at that moment, the house gave a giant explosion, the flames reaching thirty feet outward, the light illuminating the surrounding area, gave a massive groan, and finally collapsed inward.

When they reached the area outside of the gates, James dropped to his knees, still clutching Harry inside of his shirt and staring at the house that he and Lily had lived in. He was still in shock, so the destruction of the house didn't seem to penetrate his conscious; he stayed on his knees just dazedly staring at the destruction.

Remus laid the body on the ground and only then got a good look at the face. He reeled back feeling nauseated. "No," he whispered, "no, no, oh please no." It was Lily, beautiful Lily, whose face was pale and green tinged. Her face looked as beautiful and as peaceful in death as it had in life. She looked, he thought, like she was under a sleeping spell and would wake up any moment now.

Remus heard a sound to his right, like an animal's whimper. Turning, he realized it was Sirius, also staring Lily's body, his eyes haunted and ravaged by grief. He looked as though the weight of the world had settled on his shoulders and nothing could remove it.

James had also turned at Sirius' groan and saw what he was staring at. Lily. His wife, his beloved. He finally stared at her beautiful face, so still and silent, no animation left in it. She was gone. The pain was unbearable. James threw back his head then and howled with his sorrow and rage, an animal expressing its grief at the death of its mate. The brothers of his pack joined in, expressing their own grief at the loss of a loved one.

James heard and took comfort in their presence, and hung his head, tears streaming down his face, his grief overwhelming. His tears wet his son's head and the baby squirmed inside his shirt. Harry had been remarkably good since they had apparated out of the burning building. The baby had been so quiet that everyone had forgotten that he was there. When Harry finally moved, protesting the position of his body inside James' shirt and the tears wetting his head, his father pulled his head back with a start.

James stared down at his beautiful little boy, his eyes the same color has his mother's, and wrapped his arms around the baby, rocking back and forth. He kept murmuring assurances to the baby, even though it was more for himself than Harry.

"Shh, it's okay, son, it's okay. I'll take care of you, everything will be okay. Mommy..," his voice broke at that, but he continued, still rocking Harry, "Mommy is gone now, but I'm here. I'll always be there, Harry, no matter what. I promise this to you now. I'll never leave, no matter what. Shh, shhh.." James kept repeating the words like a litany, his voice breaking over and over, his tears mingling with the words.

Sirius dropped on a knee on James' right and put his left hand on James' shoulder, lending him support. He gripped him hard and hung his head, breathing hard, silent tears coming down his own face. Remus sat down on James left and gripped his left shoulder, lending comfort and strength. Tears glittered in his eyes as he stared at the house, then at the body of Lily Potter, lying in front of them on the ground. Nothing would be the same again.

Sirius shuddered and gasped, "I'm so sorry, James! So..very…sorry. This is all my fault, my mistake. If…I…hadn't talked you into switching Secret Keepers.." He couldn't go on, his voice clogged with his guilty and sorrow.

Dumbledore, who had apparently been giving instructions to the others, finally interrupted them. "Gentleman, we must leave this place. There is no doubt that the Ministry will be arriving here any moment, with them, the media. We cannot allow the Death Eaters to know that anyone survived the fire. We will go to Hogwarts."