Chapter 9- A ... Feeling:

Three in the morning. And for the fifth time that night, James heard the distinctive sound of his son's crying, followed by a low, tired groan next to him. He rubbed his eyes and turned his head to look at Lily, who was staring unblinkingly at the ceiling, huge shadows underneath her eyes.

"Didn't you sleep?" He asked her.

"Fifteen minutes." Lily murmured dully, turning round to face him as well. "He can't be hungry, I fed him less then an hour ago!"

"I'll go get him, you have some sleep."

James got up groggily and made his way to Harry's bedroom. The baby was lying on the crib, his face red from screaming and his little hands clenched, moving very quickly up and down. James picked the baby up and cradled him in his arms, Harry stopped crying almost at once and looked up at his father, his hands and feet still moving at a very fast rate. James checked the baby's diapers, which turned out to be dry.

"What's wrong with you?" He said frowning down at Harry. "You can't be hungry and you're not wet. You should be asleep." Harry moaned softly, one of his little fists in his mouth. He was sucking on it expectantly. James tilted his head. "Oh no! No more feeding for you until at least five o'clock. You need to let your mum and me sleep for a bit too, you know?"

But as it turned out, Harry wasn't in the mood for sleep at all, and it was way past four o'clock before James made his way back to bed. He was satisfied to see that Lily was asleep for a change. He lay next to her for a while, but soon realised that he wasn't up to sleeping anymore. He got up again, went downstairs and sat on the living room couch. Why was he feeling defenceless? Something was not right about the lingering silence in his house, he tried to shake these thoughts out of his mind, he must be getting paranoid...No, there was something about the way the wind didn't make the branches of a nearby tree tap the window. And now it came to it, why was Lily's dream catcher not ringing softly? He felt oddly vigilant and he somehow didn't think it would be a good idea to go to bed just now, not with his wife and child sleeping upstairs. He walked slowly to the bottom stair and sat down on it, pulling his wand out as he did. A good half-hour passed in silence before James finally dozed off.

James was startled out of his sleep by someone moving toward him. Quick as a flash, he was on his feet and had sent a spell in the person's direction. His spell missed Lily by mere inches, blasting a nearby china object. Lily turned to stare at him, utterly benumbed. James lowered his wand; trying hard not to imagine what would have happened had his aim been accurate.

"Sorry." He muttered. Lily crossed her arms and continued to glare. "I just... couldn't sleep." He finished lamely. She looked at the spot where he had been sitting seconds before.

"It's no wonder you couldn't sleep." She said finally.

"Yeah, well..." said James sheepishly, running his hand through his hair, she pulled it away.

"Is it too much to ask you to leave you is hair alone?" Then she surveyed him. "Come to think of it, you might look better with it smooched. Goes with your dishevelled appearance."

James laughed, but stopped when his eyes met Lily's; her face was etched with concern.

"James, what are you doing here? You haven't slept properly in days. Dozing off on the stairs isn't going to improve you're back spasm. You're going to get sick!"

"Come off it Lil, I'm not five."

"No." She said, moving closer. "But I still care about you. I'm worried. Why are you here?"

"I just-" Said James, feeling slightly stupid. "I had this..."

"Feeling." Lily finished for him, nodding. "Go to bed, James. Get some sleep."

"I'm really not tired, Lil. I think I'll just help you-"

Lily snatched his wand from him and pointed it at him. " Go and get some sleep or I'll hex you!"

"Are you going to let me finish any sentences today?"

"GO JAMES!"

"I'm NOT tired!"

Even Dumbledore would have shrunk at the look that Lily gave James now.

"Go and get some rest or I'll shut you out for a week! I mean it James. You give it a try!"

"My mother would have been so proud of you. No really, congratulations! In two years of marriage you could give her a run for her money!"

Lily continued to point his wand at him.

"Fine!" He said irritably. "Fine! I'm going."

He was about halfway up the stairs when he turned back to face her.

"Can I at least have my wand back?" Lily raised an eyebrow. James nodded. "Didn't think so..."

"Wake-up James, wake-up!"

James had barely slept for an hour when he felt his wife shaking him awake once more. He groaned loudly, and covered his head with a pillow.

"Ok, now that's just cruel." His voice sounded muffled. "You send me to the comfort of my bed and then you won't even let me enjoy it! I take back what I said about you being like my mother, now you're just being Sirius!"

"Shut up and listen!" She pulled the pillow off his head; his hair was sticking out in all possible angles. "Please!"

"What?" said James, turning around aggravated? "You're so bossy-" He faltered when he saw the look on Lily's face. "What is it? What's wrong?"

Lily bit her lip, looking scared.

"What happened?" James said urgently. "Where's Harry?" He got up so fast, he forgot that he was wrapped on the blanket, and fell flat on the floor. He stumbled to his feet again, one leg still wrapped on a blanket, but he wasn't paying attention to that.

"Well?" He urged her, "Are you going to tell me what's going on?"

Lily, who had been watching James with an almost entertained expression on her face, snapped back to reality.

"I was going to go outside to take out the trash and I couldn't open the door. So I went round through the living room door and that was jammed too. I forced it open, and it turns out that I don't think I was the first one to try and do so. Both doors were tampered with. That-" She paused and took a steadying breath. "That feeling you told me you had... It just came back to me."

James frowned. "Someone tried to get into the house?"

Lily nodded; she looked panicky now. "It's not- Oh James! You don't think it's him, do you?"

James shook his head. "Can't be." He said. "He would have been able to blast himself in. Besides, I'm pretty sure that whoever it was must have tried to sneak in. That's why they gave up when they couldn't get past the door. And they tried both doors. Voldemort himself wouldn't come over to our house just to sneak in. He wouldn't have to." The obscure feeling brought by the silence in the house came back to James. "That's odd..." He muttered.

"What is?"

"The silence..."

"Silence?"

He sat on the bed next to her and looked straight into her eyes. "What struck me tonight was the fact that everything was too quiet. I couldn't even hear the wind. It was just placid. But that can't be right, can it? If a person is trying to break in, then total silence would just give them away."

Lily considered this for a moment. "Maybe..." she said slowly. "Maybe they wanted to hear what was going on in the house."

James's eyes widened. "A Spy!"

They sat in silence for a moment, and then a diversion in the form of Harry's crying brought them both back to reality. Lily started getting up to go tend to Harry, but James pulled her back by the arm.

"I wasn't the only one who noticed." He said. "Harry did too, he was unsettled. I know he felt it also. We're going to run this by Dumbledore."

Lily nodded and proceeded out of them room, her face white as chalk.