Mr. Potter took in a long breath and Lily had half a mind to yell 'Spill it already!', but she thought better of it. "James is a very successful Quidditch player and you, Lily, are one of the smartest witches of our time. The Ministry has a suspicion that this 'Dark Power' as they call it is after successful families."
"But why the successful families?" asked Lily still very confused.
"They figure it would scare and weaken the rest of the wizarding world if they are able to destroy the successful and powerful wizarding families and kind of blind them from all else that happens around. We cannot let this happen!"
"But why us? I mean, there are plenty of other successful wizarding families in Britain," Lily protested, refusing to believe what she was hearing.
"As I said before, it was just a suspicion that they might be after you. That is why we are here, to protect you until these evil days pass away," Mr. Potter finished.
"Don't forget, Lily, you married into a wizarding legend. Potter is a very highly thought of name, one full of riches, power, and fame," said Mrs. Potter.
Lily hadn't forgotten about the Potter name and what it meant to be a Potter. "I hadn't forgotten about what it means to be a Potter. I just never would have suspected this."
"We Potters have our friends, and yet we have our enemies as well, just like everyone else. We are lucky to have very powerful and loyal friends, but very unfortunate to have powerful and deceitful enemies," said Mrs. Potter.
Lily nodded. "Does James know?" she asked.
Mr. Potter shook his head. "No, we were going to tell both of you tonight, but it seems our plans have been altered," he said.
!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
"Why the hell do I have to be a Potter?" James grumbled as he climbed into bed.
Lily sighed. He had taken his parent's news worse than Lily had. "James, they weren't even sure if we were going to be the next target!"
"Being a Potter means something in society, being descendents of Godric Gryffindor and all," he sighed as he flopped onto the bed.
"What?"
"Yeah, we Potters can trace our roots back that far. I don't know why it means so much to people, I suppose it is all of the money that has been inherited and then repassed throughout our family line," said James.
"But why us? Why not go for the descendents of Slytherin or something?" Lily asked, flopping onto the bed next to him.
"There are a hell of a lot more people that can trace their roots back to Slytherin than to Gryffindor. Besides, if you didn't know, you have officially met the only living Potters and the Potter family is supposedly the only family living now that can trace back to Gryffindor," sighed James.
Lily was surprised, but it did make sense. James never spoke of his cousins or aunts or anything. "What happened to them all?" Lily asked, hoping that James would get upset at her for asking.
"Killed. Every. Last. One."
Lily sat in silence.
"Remember back in sixth year, there was a month that I never asked you out and no one could ever find me at night?"
Lily nodded slowly. She remembered it perfectly, how could she forget something like that? She had become somewhat concerned about him when he suddenly stopped annoying her. So one night she followed him out of the dorm and up to the Astronomy Tower where she watched him pace around the balcony. Lily had followed him there every evening without him knowing it.
"Well that was why."
"How?" Lily asked quietly.
"Riddle. I will never forget his name. He got all of them at once at a reunion over our spring holiday. Still have no idea why actually. People say he was mad at the world. I think he was just crazy, being from Slytherin and all," James paused to regain his thoughts. "I did some research on him. He left Hogwarts about 3 years before we entered. He was prefect and head boy. He won numerous awards for school services. He seemed like a normal person and, as far as I could tell, he had no reason to revolt against the world. It also said that he was able to trace his roots back to Slytherin. It was possible that he had heard the tales of how Gryffindor treated Slytherin so he wanted to kill of his last descendents."
"Oh," was all Lily could say.
"For some reason he got away that night and no one has heard of him since. I suppose he thought he had gotten all of the Potters, for whatever reason he wanted to. But he hadn't. He missed my parents and brother who were vacationing in Paris at the time, and of course me, who was at Hogwarts."
"James, I...I...I never...knew..." Lily stuttered.
"You weren't supposed to know, I didn't want to scare you away from me. But I suppose it is better that you know now," he sighed.
Lily looked at her feet. "I wouldn't have left you if you had told me before," she said softly.
"Really?" said James looking at her.
Lily sighed. "I guess I kind of knew a little bit of what was happening to you at that time in our sixth year."
"How?"
"I used to follow you up to the Astronomy Tower, every night. I was probably the only one who knew where you were going every night. You used to talk to yourself, but I never got close enough to hear exactly what you were talking about," Lily paused for a moment.
James looked up at her and smiled weakly. "Why didn't you say anything before now?"
"Well wouldn't you think it was odd if this girl that has always hated your guts suddenly decided to be nice to you?" Lily snorted.
James shrugged. "I was 16, I probably wouldn't have noticed actually."
Lily laughed. "True, but I had to keep my cool and continue on with the way things were going. I was going to talk to you if you kept going to the tower, but then you snapped out of it."
"Yeah, Sirius does know how to cheer people up," James laughed. "But I would have cheered up a hell of a lot faster if you had said something."
"Well I was really going to, but I didn't know what to say. I thought that you would have gotten mad at me if you had known that I was following you," Lily whispered.
"You had been going to school with me for almost six years and you didn't know that there is nothing in the world that you could do to make me mad?" laughed James again.
Lily shrugged. They sat in silence, collecting their thoughts, until Lily spoke again.
"Well now I know why we are somewhat of a target," she said.
"I hope nothing happens to us," said James.
"Me too," Lily said as she cuddled into James.
"I don't think that I could go through that again," he sighed.
"Well now you have me by your side, James," said Lily smiling up at him.
"Yeah," James said, squeezing her shoulder, "I have you by my side."
!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
"Bye mom and dad! Lily, Rose and I are going to Lily's parent's house," said James as he walked over to the jacket that was to be used as a portkey.
"James, are you sure that this portkey is going to work?" Lily asked James.
"Of course! Dumbledore set it up, didn't he?" James laughed.
"Yes..." said Lily.
"There is no other way, Lils. Hurry grab a hold of the sleeve," he said.
There was a jolt and Lily's world started to spin. She closed her eyes so she didn't get sick and held tighter onto Rose, thanking the stars that she was asleep. They landed softly in the Evans' living room and Lily heard the clatter of a breaking tea cup. "Lily, is that you?" a voice called from the next room.
"Yes mother."
"Where are you?" she asked.
"In the living room mother," said Lily as she dusted herself off.
"Oh there you are! Oh and you brought little Rose along as well!" said Mrs. Evans.
"Can we sit down mother? Portkey travel isn't exactly agreeing with me at the moment."
"Of course sweetie," she said seating her self on the couch.
Lily passed Rose to James and they both sat down across from Lily's mother. "Where is dad?" asked Lily.
"Working, but he should be home really soon," sighed Mrs. Evans. "How is the family now that Rose is part of it?" she asked.
"Much more interesting," said James.
Mrs. Evans laughed. "Yes, life is always more interesting with children. A lot more exciting too, I must say."
Just then Rose's stuffed owl came shooting through the open window behind the couch and landed on James shoulder. Mrs. Evans gasped in shock. "What on earth..."
"Don't worry mother, it isn't real. This is one of the perks of raising a child in the wizarding world, the toys are much better," said Lily.
"What exactly does it do?" her mother asked, still looking unsure.
"Well it has a certain enchantment on it so it follows Rose everywhere she goes and never gets lost. I ran out and bought it the second day that she was at our house as she showed an odd interest in Ashes, our post owl," James explained.
"It looks so realistic," gasped her mother again.
"Magic does do the world some good, mother," Lily laughed.
"Wait until your father sees this!"
James used all of his energy to keep from laughing out loud. They were having a conversation about a stuffed owl. But, he supposed that Mrs. Evans had never seen anything like it as she was a muggle. In fact, he would have been worried if she had.
Lily's father arrived and the conversation turned, much to Lily's distaste, to her sister Petunia and how well she was doing at her new house with Vernon. They lived out in Surry, thankfully no where near Sirius, in a small brown house that was, according to Lily's parents, the perfect place to raise a family. "...really Lily, you should go and visit sometime. Rose still hasn't met her aunt yet," said Mrs. Evans who, shortly after, received a glare from her husband.
"Rose has already seen all of her aunties, haven't you Rose?" said Lily looking down at Rose who was looking up at her and playing with her hair.
"So you did go to see Petunia?" asked Mrs. Evans, completely missing the point.
"No, when did I say that?" asked Lily, nonchalantly.
"Well you just said that Rose had gone to see all of her aunties," coaxed her mother.
"Yes, I know I said that."
"Well that means that you must have seen Petunia."
"No, it doesn't. I declared a long time ago that Petunia was not going to be Rose's aunt, or have any relationship with her what so ever," Lily said firmly, smiling deviously down at Rose, who smiled slightly. "See mother? She smiled when I said that Petunia was never going to play a part in her life," Lily laughed.
Mr. Evans put his head in his hands as he listened to his wife trying to change Lily's mind. James also assumed the same form as Mr. Evans, wondering why Mrs. Evans didn't just give up. No one can argue with Lily and win, as James had found out on countless occasions.
"Why don't we show Lily the addition that we added onto our garden, Katherine," suggested Mr. Evans in attempt to change the topic.
Mrs. Evans looked flustered. "Well, alright, I suppose. Right this way," she said leading them out the back door.
!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
"Peter, if you don't do this, I'll find someone who will and you'll have to suffer the consequences."
"But my lord..." Peter squeaked.
"I know that you have connections with them, but it is time to decide where your loyalties truly lie. You had to have expected this sometime. I think it is one of the only reasons I agreed to take you into my services. You are extremely well connected Peter Petigrew and now you must use those connections to our benefits," his master cackled.
Peter drew in a long breath and nodded his head. "Good, good, Peter. I knew you'd see it my way."
"How long do I have to complete this?" asked Peter cautiously.
His master pondered this thought for a moment before answering, "As long as it takes and NO mistakes Peter."
Peter nodded and left the cold room.
!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Remus broke the bond that connected Amy's lips to his with great difficulty. Amy sighed reluctantly easing her grip on Remus. "It's getting late," Remus whispered as he looked into Amy's soft blue eyes.
"So," Amy replied moving in for another kiss.
"So I should be going," replied Remus after letting Amy give him a soft kiss.
"No you shouldn't," Amy said nuzzling her head under his chin.
"I have to Amy, believe me, I wouldn't be going if I didn't need to," Remus said softly as he took in the smell of her hair. She had gotten new shampoo since their last date, Remus concluded when he smelled strawberry instead of the usual vanilla.
"I no, I just don't want you to leave," Amy whined.
"We will see each other at Sirius' 'house warming party'," said Remus looking down at Amy.
"I s'pose," she sighed.
"So, I can go?" Remus teased.
"I never said that," Amy laughed.
"I can't stay here forever."
"Why not?"
"Are you making this hard on me on purpose?"
"Maybe, is it working?"
"I recon it is."
"So you'll stay."
"I never said that."
Amy sighed. "Well I s'pose I should let you go then, shouldn't I?"
"Yes, you should," said Remus.
"Like the old saying, 'if you love something, let it go. And if it comes back it's yours, if not it never was'," said Amy as she stood up and drew in a deep breath. "And I love you, Remus Lupin, so I am letting you go."
"I'll be sure to come back because I love you too, Amy Stephens."
!!!!!!!!!!!!
A/N- Well now you know why the Potters are staying with Lily and James. I decided to be nice and not leave a cliff hanger, but I was originally going to cut off the very last sentence. So...yeah...until next time...leave a review...
"But why the successful families?" asked Lily still very confused.
"They figure it would scare and weaken the rest of the wizarding world if they are able to destroy the successful and powerful wizarding families and kind of blind them from all else that happens around. We cannot let this happen!"
"But why us? I mean, there are plenty of other successful wizarding families in Britain," Lily protested, refusing to believe what she was hearing.
"As I said before, it was just a suspicion that they might be after you. That is why we are here, to protect you until these evil days pass away," Mr. Potter finished.
"Don't forget, Lily, you married into a wizarding legend. Potter is a very highly thought of name, one full of riches, power, and fame," said Mrs. Potter.
Lily hadn't forgotten about the Potter name and what it meant to be a Potter. "I hadn't forgotten about what it means to be a Potter. I just never would have suspected this."
"We Potters have our friends, and yet we have our enemies as well, just like everyone else. We are lucky to have very powerful and loyal friends, but very unfortunate to have powerful and deceitful enemies," said Mrs. Potter.
Lily nodded. "Does James know?" she asked.
Mr. Potter shook his head. "No, we were going to tell both of you tonight, but it seems our plans have been altered," he said.
!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
"Why the hell do I have to be a Potter?" James grumbled as he climbed into bed.
Lily sighed. He had taken his parent's news worse than Lily had. "James, they weren't even sure if we were going to be the next target!"
"Being a Potter means something in society, being descendents of Godric Gryffindor and all," he sighed as he flopped onto the bed.
"What?"
"Yeah, we Potters can trace our roots back that far. I don't know why it means so much to people, I suppose it is all of the money that has been inherited and then repassed throughout our family line," said James.
"But why us? Why not go for the descendents of Slytherin or something?" Lily asked, flopping onto the bed next to him.
"There are a hell of a lot more people that can trace their roots back to Slytherin than to Gryffindor. Besides, if you didn't know, you have officially met the only living Potters and the Potter family is supposedly the only family living now that can trace back to Gryffindor," sighed James.
Lily was surprised, but it did make sense. James never spoke of his cousins or aunts or anything. "What happened to them all?" Lily asked, hoping that James would get upset at her for asking.
"Killed. Every. Last. One."
Lily sat in silence.
"Remember back in sixth year, there was a month that I never asked you out and no one could ever find me at night?"
Lily nodded slowly. She remembered it perfectly, how could she forget something like that? She had become somewhat concerned about him when he suddenly stopped annoying her. So one night she followed him out of the dorm and up to the Astronomy Tower where she watched him pace around the balcony. Lily had followed him there every evening without him knowing it.
"Well that was why."
"How?" Lily asked quietly.
"Riddle. I will never forget his name. He got all of them at once at a reunion over our spring holiday. Still have no idea why actually. People say he was mad at the world. I think he was just crazy, being from Slytherin and all," James paused to regain his thoughts. "I did some research on him. He left Hogwarts about 3 years before we entered. He was prefect and head boy. He won numerous awards for school services. He seemed like a normal person and, as far as I could tell, he had no reason to revolt against the world. It also said that he was able to trace his roots back to Slytherin. It was possible that he had heard the tales of how Gryffindor treated Slytherin so he wanted to kill of his last descendents."
"Oh," was all Lily could say.
"For some reason he got away that night and no one has heard of him since. I suppose he thought he had gotten all of the Potters, for whatever reason he wanted to. But he hadn't. He missed my parents and brother who were vacationing in Paris at the time, and of course me, who was at Hogwarts."
"James, I...I...I never...knew..." Lily stuttered.
"You weren't supposed to know, I didn't want to scare you away from me. But I suppose it is better that you know now," he sighed.
Lily looked at her feet. "I wouldn't have left you if you had told me before," she said softly.
"Really?" said James looking at her.
Lily sighed. "I guess I kind of knew a little bit of what was happening to you at that time in our sixth year."
"How?"
"I used to follow you up to the Astronomy Tower, every night. I was probably the only one who knew where you were going every night. You used to talk to yourself, but I never got close enough to hear exactly what you were talking about," Lily paused for a moment.
James looked up at her and smiled weakly. "Why didn't you say anything before now?"
"Well wouldn't you think it was odd if this girl that has always hated your guts suddenly decided to be nice to you?" Lily snorted.
James shrugged. "I was 16, I probably wouldn't have noticed actually."
Lily laughed. "True, but I had to keep my cool and continue on with the way things were going. I was going to talk to you if you kept going to the tower, but then you snapped out of it."
"Yeah, Sirius does know how to cheer people up," James laughed. "But I would have cheered up a hell of a lot faster if you had said something."
"Well I was really going to, but I didn't know what to say. I thought that you would have gotten mad at me if you had known that I was following you," Lily whispered.
"You had been going to school with me for almost six years and you didn't know that there is nothing in the world that you could do to make me mad?" laughed James again.
Lily shrugged. They sat in silence, collecting their thoughts, until Lily spoke again.
"Well now I know why we are somewhat of a target," she said.
"I hope nothing happens to us," said James.
"Me too," Lily said as she cuddled into James.
"I don't think that I could go through that again," he sighed.
"Well now you have me by your side, James," said Lily smiling up at him.
"Yeah," James said, squeezing her shoulder, "I have you by my side."
!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
"Bye mom and dad! Lily, Rose and I are going to Lily's parent's house," said James as he walked over to the jacket that was to be used as a portkey.
"James, are you sure that this portkey is going to work?" Lily asked James.
"Of course! Dumbledore set it up, didn't he?" James laughed.
"Yes..." said Lily.
"There is no other way, Lils. Hurry grab a hold of the sleeve," he said.
There was a jolt and Lily's world started to spin. She closed her eyes so she didn't get sick and held tighter onto Rose, thanking the stars that she was asleep. They landed softly in the Evans' living room and Lily heard the clatter of a breaking tea cup. "Lily, is that you?" a voice called from the next room.
"Yes mother."
"Where are you?" she asked.
"In the living room mother," said Lily as she dusted herself off.
"Oh there you are! Oh and you brought little Rose along as well!" said Mrs. Evans.
"Can we sit down mother? Portkey travel isn't exactly agreeing with me at the moment."
"Of course sweetie," she said seating her self on the couch.
Lily passed Rose to James and they both sat down across from Lily's mother. "Where is dad?" asked Lily.
"Working, but he should be home really soon," sighed Mrs. Evans. "How is the family now that Rose is part of it?" she asked.
"Much more interesting," said James.
Mrs. Evans laughed. "Yes, life is always more interesting with children. A lot more exciting too, I must say."
Just then Rose's stuffed owl came shooting through the open window behind the couch and landed on James shoulder. Mrs. Evans gasped in shock. "What on earth..."
"Don't worry mother, it isn't real. This is one of the perks of raising a child in the wizarding world, the toys are much better," said Lily.
"What exactly does it do?" her mother asked, still looking unsure.
"Well it has a certain enchantment on it so it follows Rose everywhere she goes and never gets lost. I ran out and bought it the second day that she was at our house as she showed an odd interest in Ashes, our post owl," James explained.
"It looks so realistic," gasped her mother again.
"Magic does do the world some good, mother," Lily laughed.
"Wait until your father sees this!"
James used all of his energy to keep from laughing out loud. They were having a conversation about a stuffed owl. But, he supposed that Mrs. Evans had never seen anything like it as she was a muggle. In fact, he would have been worried if she had.
Lily's father arrived and the conversation turned, much to Lily's distaste, to her sister Petunia and how well she was doing at her new house with Vernon. They lived out in Surry, thankfully no where near Sirius, in a small brown house that was, according to Lily's parents, the perfect place to raise a family. "...really Lily, you should go and visit sometime. Rose still hasn't met her aunt yet," said Mrs. Evans who, shortly after, received a glare from her husband.
"Rose has already seen all of her aunties, haven't you Rose?" said Lily looking down at Rose who was looking up at her and playing with her hair.
"So you did go to see Petunia?" asked Mrs. Evans, completely missing the point.
"No, when did I say that?" asked Lily, nonchalantly.
"Well you just said that Rose had gone to see all of her aunties," coaxed her mother.
"Yes, I know I said that."
"Well that means that you must have seen Petunia."
"No, it doesn't. I declared a long time ago that Petunia was not going to be Rose's aunt, or have any relationship with her what so ever," Lily said firmly, smiling deviously down at Rose, who smiled slightly. "See mother? She smiled when I said that Petunia was never going to play a part in her life," Lily laughed.
Mr. Evans put his head in his hands as he listened to his wife trying to change Lily's mind. James also assumed the same form as Mr. Evans, wondering why Mrs. Evans didn't just give up. No one can argue with Lily and win, as James had found out on countless occasions.
"Why don't we show Lily the addition that we added onto our garden, Katherine," suggested Mr. Evans in attempt to change the topic.
Mrs. Evans looked flustered. "Well, alright, I suppose. Right this way," she said leading them out the back door.
!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
"Peter, if you don't do this, I'll find someone who will and you'll have to suffer the consequences."
"But my lord..." Peter squeaked.
"I know that you have connections with them, but it is time to decide where your loyalties truly lie. You had to have expected this sometime. I think it is one of the only reasons I agreed to take you into my services. You are extremely well connected Peter Petigrew and now you must use those connections to our benefits," his master cackled.
Peter drew in a long breath and nodded his head. "Good, good, Peter. I knew you'd see it my way."
"How long do I have to complete this?" asked Peter cautiously.
His master pondered this thought for a moment before answering, "As long as it takes and NO mistakes Peter."
Peter nodded and left the cold room.
!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Remus broke the bond that connected Amy's lips to his with great difficulty. Amy sighed reluctantly easing her grip on Remus. "It's getting late," Remus whispered as he looked into Amy's soft blue eyes.
"So," Amy replied moving in for another kiss.
"So I should be going," replied Remus after letting Amy give him a soft kiss.
"No you shouldn't," Amy said nuzzling her head under his chin.
"I have to Amy, believe me, I wouldn't be going if I didn't need to," Remus said softly as he took in the smell of her hair. She had gotten new shampoo since their last date, Remus concluded when he smelled strawberry instead of the usual vanilla.
"I no, I just don't want you to leave," Amy whined.
"We will see each other at Sirius' 'house warming party'," said Remus looking down at Amy.
"I s'pose," she sighed.
"So, I can go?" Remus teased.
"I never said that," Amy laughed.
"I can't stay here forever."
"Why not?"
"Are you making this hard on me on purpose?"
"Maybe, is it working?"
"I recon it is."
"So you'll stay."
"I never said that."
Amy sighed. "Well I s'pose I should let you go then, shouldn't I?"
"Yes, you should," said Remus.
"Like the old saying, 'if you love something, let it go. And if it comes back it's yours, if not it never was'," said Amy as she stood up and drew in a deep breath. "And I love you, Remus Lupin, so I am letting you go."
"I'll be sure to come back because I love you too, Amy Stephens."
!!!!!!!!!!!!
A/N- Well now you know why the Potters are staying with Lily and James. I decided to be nice and not leave a cliff hanger, but I was originally going to cut off the very last sentence. So...yeah...until next time...leave a review...