Chapter 55 The Question of the Day

October 1980

Lily stretched and pulled herself out of her chair, wandering over to look out her bedroom window. Twilight had fallen, and beneath the flat people hurried back and forth on their way home from work, their coats buttoned against the October chill.

It was nearly dark inside the flat as well; Harry had gone to sleep about an hour ago, and Lily had taken the opportunity to curl up for a nap as well. She'd learned from three months' worth of experience that it was wise to sleep when Harry slept.

Glancing at the sleeping baby, Lily almost couldn't believe that it had only been three months' worth of experience. Already it was difficult to fathom a world without Harry in it. Everything she and James had done, said, or thought in the past three months had been in some way centred around Harry.

James had been able to take a short leave of absence from his job, so for the first month and a half of Harry's life the three of them had been together almost constantly. Together, she and James had faced the late-night feedings, nappy changings, bouts of crying, and all of the general emergencies, real or imagined, that came with having a new baby. Lily was willing to bet that she and James combined had slept a total of ten hours during that first month, a wager Sirius would willingly have backed her up on. In fact, he seemed to enjoy teasing them about their fixation.

"Stark raving mad, the pair of you," Sirius had declared flatly last week when he'd come in unannounced and caught Lily and James bouncing round and round the sitting room in an elaborate ploy to make Harry laugh.

Shamefaced, Lily and James had both put an end to their respective Bouncing Charms and came to stand near Sirius, neither of them daring to meet his eye.

Harry, on the other hand, had laughed more uproariously than he ever had over his parents' impromptu bouncing and stretched his arms out to Sirius, whom he adored. In fact, Harry had taken to laughing and putting up his arms every time Sirius came into the room. Slightly jealous about this, James had been going to even more elaborate (and often stupid-looking) lengths in the past few weeks to elicit the same reaction from Harry in an effort to prove that he was just as funny as Sirius was.

Not that James, or Lily, for that matter, had ever worried about looking stupid before. They both regularly pulled the most ridiculous faces imaginable to amuse their son, played Peek A Boo and Pat A Cake with abandon, and collapsed into slumber whenever Harry took a nap. Somehow, Lily and James always seemed to manage to get just as wet as Harry during Harry's bath time, and they made Harry's stuffed toys tap dance for him every night when they put him to bed.

True, Lily reflected, having a new baby did rather tend to kill the romance. But in an odd way, Lily felt closer to James than she ever had before. At times, James completely abandoned his slightly arrogant persona in his quest to be a good father, and Lily was seeing sides of him that she hadn't known existed. Unsure of herself and scared by the idea of motherhood, Lily had relied on James much more heavily than she'd ever done before, and James, just as scared as Lily but confident in their abilities nonetheless, had managed to reassure her. James had been right there with her while Lily adjusted to the hectic schedule and late-night feedings, had thrown himself headfirst into this parenting business and managed to make it all fun and exciting and terribly funny. Lily felt that it was largely because of James that the past three months had been amazing as the three of them had adjusted to life together.

Or it had been amazing until two weeks ago, anyway. Lily and James had been lying on the floor applauding Harry's attempts to roll over when there had been a knock at the door. Reckoning that it must be Sirius or some or all of Harry's grandparents, James had pulled himself up and flung the door open carelessly.

"Come and see what Harry's – Remus?!" Lily had heard James exclaim. She'd immediately shot to her feet to see.

And there had been Remus, still standing framed in the doorway. He'd seemed older after his travels; his face was more lined than Lily remembered it, there had been the merest hint of grey at the temples of his sandy hair, but it was something in his expression that made the real difference. Some almost tangible hint of all of the pain, emotional and physical, that he'd gone through in the past months, and Lily hadn't quite known what to say to him; for the first time in nearly eight years of friendship, Remus had seemed like a stranger to her.

Then Remus had smiled, almost his patient, kind smile of old. "Lily," was all he'd said, but he'd sounded the same, and that had made him seem like a bit less of a stranger.

"Remus," Lily had smiled back at him. "Welcome home. Come in; you don't have to stand in the corridor, you know."

"Yeah," James put in, finding his voice at last. "Come in. Er – sorry, mate, it was just a bit of a – surprise – to –"

"It's all right," Remus had said, cutting off James' explanation. "I've been gone for nearly six months, and I show up at your door without any warning….It's perfectly understandable that you'd be a bit surprised."

So Remus had come in, and after a half-hour of very stilted small talk and questions and answers about Harry, James had finally worked up the courage to ask Remus where he'd been.

"Everywhere," had been Remus' reply, and he hadn't been exaggerating. Immediately after leaving London, Remus had made his way through Europe, briefly visiting France, Germany, Italy, and Spain before venturing east to Hungary, Bulgaria, Albania, Turkey, and Russia. He'd spent about two months in Eastern Europe before venturing into the Middle East and Southeastern Asia and then eventually Africa, where he'd learned more about lycanthropy from a community of wizards there. In fact, he'd learned a great deal about it in all of his travels.

"Then I stopped in Ireland to visit - Kathleen's - family…..and now I'm here," Remus had finished his story.

Both Lily and James had avoided Remus' eye; Lily had picked Harry up off the floor and James had made a big production of helping her. It was the first time that Kathleen's name had come up in the conversation, and Lily and James dreaded what would inevitably come next.

"What are you planning to do now?" Lily had asked at last into the silence.

"I don't know," Remus had shrugged unenthusiastically. "I thought I might just – work with the Order for a bit, figure out what I want to do with the rest of my life. Spend some time with all of you, and with my family – I'd have gone to see them straight away, but I had to come here first, I had to know –" Remus swallowed hard. "Do you know anything more about what happened to Kathleen?"

Immediately, Lily's eyes had shot to James;' it was highly unlikely that Moody and Dumbledore would want Remus to know about Kathleen's conversations with Moody. But looking into Remus' solemn face, Lily felt that they owed it to him to tell him what they knew.

James had apparently been thinking something along the same lines, because he was the one who said it. "The only thing we've learned is that Kathleen had been trying to find out who the Ministry and Order spies were when she died."

"What?!" Remus had gasped, what little colour he'd had draining from his face. "But how – did you find her notebooks?"

"No, Kathleen had told Moody what she was up to; Moody said the first time she mentioned it was about a year ago," Lily had answered that one, studying Remus carefully. Remus had always been rather difficult to read, preferring to keep his emotions more or less to himself. But it had been virtually impossible to deduce anything from his expression that day, even more difficult than it had been previously. Remus' face had gone oddly and carefully blank.

"I see," had been Remus' only comment to that news. He'd left shortly after, his deadened, blank expression still in place. Lily and James had seen him sporadically since then; Remus did appear to have some interest in Harry and in seeing them, but he never stayed long and said little of importance whenever he came to the flat. Clearly Remus was still struggling, and Lily was very much afraid that he was losing the fight…

Lily shook herself from her reverie. She couldn't stand to think about Remus for very long; it was too painful. Pushing the thoughts from her mind, Lily glanced round her. Twilight had faded to dusk while she'd been lost in her thoughts; it would be completely dark soon. A quick peek into the cot revealed that Harry was still fast asleep, though he wasn't likely to remain that way for long. Lily stretched; frowning slightly. James ought to be home soon, unless he'd gotten tied up with some sort of raid or something, in which case he could be hours. Aurors tended to keep mad hours at the best of times, but with the current warlike state of the wizarding world, those hours had grown increasingly ridiculous……

It was a noise that distracted Lily from her thoughts this time, a soft sound that seemed to be coming from the sitting room. Quickly she drew her wand and tiptoed toward the door. It could of course be James coming home from work and trying to be quiet so he wouldn't wake them up. But years of experience had taught Lily to be cautious, and she moved into the sitting room with her wand drawn, swinging the bedroom door almost shut behind her.

A swift survey of the sitting room, kitchen, and dining area revealed that the flat was empty of anyone besides Lily and Harry. Lily breathed a sigh of relief and started to put her wand away – when there it was again, that sound, only louder this time and coming from the front door.

Hardly daring to breather, Lily trained her wand on the door as she moved toward it to investigate. She stopped only inches away, listening. Someone was there on the other side of the door, meddling with it. Lily could hear whispered incantations and the slight rattle of wood as each spell hit the door and failed. Lily smirked; the anti-tampering charm she'd put on the door was sound. It had the endorsement of the entire Classified Charms and Spells Division, after all.

Lily moved carefully back from the door toward the bedroom, considering her options. She'd never heard of a wizard burglar before, but apparently it happened. A friend would have knocked and Death Eaters would have burst in; they'd never been overly concerned with discretion. She could of course summon help from the Ministry, but this didn't seem to qualify as either a magical catastrophe or Dark magic, and as far as Lily knew there wasn't a wizard equivalent of a police force. It might be quickest to simply call the Muggle police, Lily reasoned. They did have a telephone in the flat, after all, and Lily was suddenly glad that she'd insisted on keeping it, despite Sirius' loud protests every time the phone rang….

Sirius. Lily almost groaned at her own stupidity. Of course! It must be Sirius pulling some sort of prank. Irked now, Lily spun on her heel and marched back toward the door, fuming. She was going to let Sirius have it for scaring her like this; serve him right if she DID call the police….

A slight movement caught the corner of Lily's eye as she went, and she glanced briefly toward the windows, expecting to see some sort of bird or something, but she stopped dead and stared at what was actually there. Lily let out a harsh gasp that reverberated through the silent room.

Death Eaters. A cloaked, hooded Death Eater stood on the ledge at each window, masks gleaming in the near-darkness. Drawing in deep breaths, Lily turned slowly in a circle, looking in vain for any unguarded exit. But there wasn't one. A masked face stared back at her from each of the sitting room and kitchen windows, and Lily was willing to bet that there were more waiting outside the door.

Knowing that she was onto them, the Death Eaters gave up their pretense of secrecy. Those stationed at the window began to taunt and jeer at Lily, their faces grotesque, and the door rattled loudly, the incantations ringing audibly throughout the room.

"Scutatus!" Lily shouted, waving her wand wildly at the windows and door. She turned and ran down the corridor, her feet flying over the wood, one thought filling her mind. She had to get to Harry, and they had to get out. It was as simple as that.

Knowing that the Shielding Charm would buy her only a few seconds, Lily skidded to a halt in front of Harry's cot and scooped him up, wrapping an extra blanket hastily around him. Harry fussed over being awakened so unceremoniously, but Lily did her best to muffle the noise, all the while pleading with him to be quiet under her breath.

"It's all right, Harry, Mummy's got you. We need to be very quiet now, shhh, shhh, it's all right…"

Lily, her wand at the ready, grabbed her keys and hurried down the corridor into the guest bedroom. It was a tiny room at the very back of the flat, but it was the only potentially unguarded place where she and Harry could access the fire escape.

The Death Eaters were beginning to penetrate the Shielding Charm; sounds like gunshots filled the air as the Death Eaters' spells cracked the windowpanes. Lily prayed under her breath that the Death Eaters wouldn't be able to get through her spell in time, would dismiss the guest window as too small, wouldn't understand about fire escapes….

It had been just a bit too much to hope for. A Death Eater peered in at her from the guest room window, his eyes showing his surprise. He opened his mouth to shout for his compatriots, but Lily brought her wand sharply up.

"Reducto!" she said firmly, pointing her wand directly at the Death Eater. The glass shattered as the Reductor Curse hit it, and the Death Eater's shout of surprise faded away as he fell out of sight.

Lily drew in a deep, shaking breath and clutched Harry to her as she swung her leg through the small window. She could hear the Death Eaters calling out to one another now, their voices excited.

"What was that?"

"Somebody go and see."

"They aren't going to get out, Lucius. We have the Mudblood cornered!"

"We can't take any chances," Lily recognized Lucius Malfoy's voice. "We dare not return to our master without that baby."

Lily eased herself and Harry out onto the ledge, trying to make as little noise as possible. She stumbled a bit, and for the barest instant, Lily was afraid that she and Harry were going to pitch headlong over the side.

Picking up on his mother's terror, Harry began to wail with more gusto. "Shh," Lily whispered, pressing his face into her shoulder. She began to pick her painstaking way round the corner of the ledge to the fire escape. Behind her she could hear shattering glass, and the Death Eaters' shouts of triumph as they breached the flat.

Knowing she had only a few more seconds of reprieve, Lily lunged for the ladder and started to climb down awkwardly, using only one hand to climb and the other to hold onto Harry.

"There!" a voice bellowed above her, and somehow Lily climbed faster, bumping and banging herself on the ladder as she went.

"She's getting away!"

Jets of sparks rained down on Lily in a steady stream. Lily threw herself down the last portion of the fire escape, skipping as many rungs as she dared. The ladder shook with added weight as three Death Eaters started down after her, pausing occasionally to shoot another spell her way.

"Impedimenta!"

"Somebody go to the bottom of the ladder!"

"Stupefy!"

"STOP HER!"

Lily dropped the last few feet to the ground and sprinted toward her car. Choruses of loud pops sounded all round her as the Death Eaters Apparated to the street. Lily ducked as hexes whistled over her head.

"Get the baby!" one of the Death Eaters screeched. Lily put her head down and kept going, her eyes on the car……..

And finally she was there. Lily unlocked the door with shaking hands and threw herself and Harry in, slamming and locking the door. The driver's window shattered with some sort of spell, but Lily didn't stick around to let any of them reach the car. She stomped down on the accelerator and squealed into the street, the Death Eaters behind her growing smaller and smaller in the mirror.

"Morwenna! Open up! It's me, Lily! PLEASE open up!"

Morwenna frowned as she hurried to the front room, wondering what in Merlin's name had brought Lily and a crying Harry to pound on the door of her flat.

"What are you –" Morwenna's voice died away as she caught sight of her friend. Lily's face was pale and her eyes were wild, her red hair in a mad snarl all round her head. She held onto Harry as though her life depended on it, her hands trembling erratically.

Morwenna held the door wider, and with a last desperate glance over her shoulder, Lily stepped in. "Bolt the door," she told Morwenna, "and Seal it. We'd better do the windows too –"

"Lily," Morwenna interrupted, "what's happened?"

"I need to use your Floo Powder and your fireplace," Lily explained, still shaking. "Harry and I need to get to the Hog's Head; we need to get messages to James and to Dumbledore –"

"Of course," Morwenna interrupted again, doing her best to be soothing. "I'll help you do all of those things, but tell me what happened first."

"The Death Eaters came to my flat to attack Harry," Lily explained in a rush. "We climbed down the fire escape to get away. I came here because it was the least obvious place to look for me – you only recently got this flat, and I knew that they'd know to look at Sirius's, and – We've got to get Harry out of here; it isn't safe here."

"Why would they attack Harry?" Morwenna sank into a chair, stunned. "He's only a baby."

"I don't know," Lily shook her head. "But Dumbledore might. I've got to get to the Hog's Head; it's where Order members are supposed to go in case of an emergency."

"We'll leave just as soon as I get cloaks for us and a blanket for Harry," Morwenna replied, taking the jar of Floo powder from her mantle.

"'We?'" Lily asked. "But – the Order –"

"I said we," Morwenna called over her shoulder as she went into the bedroom, "and I meant it."

James sighed and stretched his aching muscles as he and Sirius stood in the lift on their way up to Sirius' flat. It had been an extremely long day, and James wanted nothing more than to go home and curl up in bed with Lily and Harry. But Sirius had wanted to talk to him about something that he claimed couldn't wait, so here James was. Some days were more difficult as Sirius' best friend than others.

'What's this all about anyway?" he asked as they stepped out of the lift and into the corridor.

"Er – loyalty," Sirius replied evasively, groping in his pocket for his wand. "Some people are concerned about the people you're trusting."

"'Some people?'" James raised a brow. "Is this some sort of intervention –" James stopped speaking as they rounded the corner and found the door to Sirius' flat ajar. Exchanging a quick glance, James and Sirius drew out their wands and trained them on the doorway as Sirius kicked the door open

"Bloody hell!" Sirius exclaimed as their eyes registered the sight in front of them.

Sirius' flat, never the tidiest of places under the best of circumstances, had been completely and utterly trashed. Parchment, books, and clothes littered the floor, furniture was tipped over, and every door had been pulled open. The curtains had been pulled from their rods; even the kitchen cabinets hadn't been left untouched.

Searches of the bedroom and bathroom failed to turn up anything but more of a mess, and James and Sirius came to stand in the middle of the sitting room, making a pointless attempt to determine if anything was missing.

"It's not like I even have anything valuable," Sirius grumbled. "Bloody stupid burglars; they've just wasted their time and mine –"

"Message," James interrupted, indicating the owl that hovered outside the window, tapping its beak on the glass to gain their attention.

Quickly Sirius opened the window and accepted the message, then tore it open, his eyes scanning the page at a furious pace.

"What is it?" James wanted to know. "Don't tell me this is someone's idea of a joke, because that's about the most idiotic, unoriginal –"

"Order emergency," Sirius replied, handing James a second envelope that bore his name on it. "We have to report to the Hog's Head immediately."

"What's happened?" James frowned, tearing open his own envelope.

"Doesn't say," Sirius sighed disgustedly, glancing round his flat once more. "It'd be nice if just for once Dumbledore could be a bit less cryptic."

"Why can't I go back to my flat?" James asked sharply.

"Huh?" Sirius stared at him, not comprehending.

"What happened at my flat that I can't – I have to go home," James said, shoving his parchment at Sirius.

"James –

"Come directly to the Hog's Head when you receive this, do not return to your flat.

"Dumbledore"

Sirius read the message aloud. "I dunno mate, we'll have to go and – stop that!"

Sirius snatched James' wand away as he raised it, preparing to Apparate. "What if Lily and Harry are there?" James demanded. "What if something happened to them?"

"Nothing's happened to them," Sirius waved his friend off impatiently. "Besides, you know as well as I do by now that Dumbledore's always right, so you might as well just save yourself some time and a round of 'I-told-you-so's' from me and come along to the Hog's Head now like the note says to."

James scowled but raised his wand again instead of replying.

Sirius smirked as he raised his own wand. Sometimes James was all too easy to manipulate.

Sirius and James reappeared in front of the Hog's Head seconds later, making sure that their hoods were pulled low. Inside the pub, the few patrons paid them no mind as they strode over to the barman.

"Downstairs," he grunted under his breath, swiping at the bar with a grimy cloth.

James and Sirius exchanged another glance at this, but made their way through the storeroom in silence.

"Things must be bad; he didn't even wait for us to use the pass phrase," Sirius whispered. "Not that I can exactly remember it…."

James didn't respond to Sirius' attempts to lighten the mood. Normally he would've added a few rejoinders of his own, but until he knew his wife and son were safe, James didn't particularly feel like laughing.

They reached the underground door, but before James could open it a familiar voice stopped him in his tracks. "Just a minute, Potter," Moody's voice growled. "Come with me. Go on in, Black. The others haven't arrived yet, but you can keep Miss Marchbanks company."

"Morwenna?" Sirius frowned in puzzlement, but did as Moody had asked.

"Moody, I have to speak to Dumbledore," James said as Moody led him back towards the stairs. "Where's Lily? And why can't I go home?"

"Dumbledore'll be in in a minute," Moody replied gruffly. "He'll explain everything to you."

To James' surprise, Moody stopped in front of the wall close to the stairs. Raising his wand, he traced an invisible rectangle on the wall in the rough size and shape of a door. A thin line of golden light appeared in the wake of Moody's wand, and suddenly there was a door.

Putting his wand carefully away, Moody twisted the knob and opened the door, gesturing James inside. Hesitantly James stepped inside, and Moody shut the door behind him.

"James!" a voice exclaimed, and James let out a loud "Oof!" as an unexpected weight slammed into his chest with considerable force. Finding himself blinded by a familiar cloud of fragrant red hair, James felt a tremendous weight lift from his shoulders. Lily was all right.

"Thank Merlin you're here," Lily was babbling, clutching at him tightly. "I've never been so happy to see anyone in my entire life –"

"Lily," James tried to move Lily far enough away from him so that he could see her face, "are you all right? Where's Harry? What's happened?"

A familiar squeal answered one of James' questions for him, and he glanced over Lily's shoulder to see Harry lying in a makeshift cot, reaching his arms up to his parents.

"I'm fine and Harry's fine," Lily said, reluctantly loosening her grip enough for James to move them over to the cot.

"Hello, mate," James grinned at Harry and scooped him up, much to the baby's delight. "Bit late for you to be up, isn't it?"

"He slept for hours after it happened," Lily explained, leaning over to kiss Harry. "I guess he isn't tired anymore."

"After what happened?" That horrible sick feeling was returning to James' stomach. "What in the bloody everlasting hell is going on here?"

"That is indeed the question of the day."

Lily and James spun round to watch as Dumbledore glided into the room, seated himself at the desk, and gestured to two other chairs. Lily and James glanced uneasily at each other but complied, Lily holding Harry in her lap.

"Lily, James," Dumbledore began, "I am afraid that I have something to tell you."

Author's Note:

The prophecy is out! Poor Harry. It's enough to make me want to steer that bus with Peter's name on it towards Voldemort as well…

As always, thanks for the reviews, everyone. I really do appreciate your dedication to this story, even when it takes me a while to update it.

There were other things I wanted to say, but, as usual, I seem to have forgotten them. That's what happens when you write late at night like I do.

I'd better go to sleep; till next time!