Before it Began

By. SkyQuill

Summary

James knew he was in love at first sight, but what would it take for Lily to love him back? Read their story leading up to their deaths and discover the dangers they faced and the loves and friendships they shared.

Disclaimer

I do not own most of the characters and places or anything else that may seem familiar. J.K. Rowling has the exclusive claim to this as well as the general plot that formed this fanfic.

Chapter 36: Talisman of Hope

"Lily stay back." James said cautiously as he pulled his wand out and moved slowly to the door. He gave his wand a flick to stop the alarm from ringing and find out the identity of the intruder. "Kenneth?" he exclaimed in some surprise as he found out who it was.

"Ask the security question." Lily reminded him nervously, "Just in case."

"Right." James nodded. The couple then waited several anxious seconds before a loud knocking sounded on the door. "Kenneth is that you?" James called.

"Yeah!" came the muffled response. Lily's heart jolted to hear the panic in his voice.

"What is your lifelong ambition?" James asked, reciting the security question from memory.

"To have a succesful career in quidditch and then move to South America to teach at the wizarding school there." he said hurriedly. "Now open up, it's urgent!" James tapped the doorknob with his wand, undoing all the charms and spells.

"What's the matter?" Lily asked immediatly, moving to stand beside James. Her eyes swam with worry as Kenneth was revelaed to have a very dishevelled appearence.

"What happened?" James asked sharply.

"It's Calli'," Kenneth panted, "A death eater...he came...crucioed me...I think he took her."

"A death eater!" Lily asked dumbstruck. Kenneth only nodded.

"Contact the authorites Lily." James ordered, moving to help Kenneth to a seat. "Did you hear who the death eater was?"

"Brian? No that wasn't it...Briac. Yeah, she called him Briac." Kenneth affirmed. James strained his memory...why did that name sound so familiar?

Lily chose the moment to hurry back into the sitting room. She looked positively faint.

"They've dispatched aurors to the flat, and there's more coming here." she informed the two men. "Kenneth, do you know who the death eater was?"

"Some bloke named Briac." James said promptly, before Kenneth could answer. Lily's eyes widened with horror.

"Briac?" she whispered, completely dumbfounded. Kenneth nodded mutely, distress apparant on his face. "Oh merlin," she muttered. "James, that was the name of her ex-boyfriend."

'The one who attended Durmstrang?" James clarified, gravely realizing where he had heard the name before. Lily nodded soundlessly. "Figures. Lils, come sit on the couch, you need to rest. I've got to alert Dumbledore as to what's happened."

"Good thinking." she murmered, collapsing on the couch. She covered her face with her hands and felt the tears start, No, no, no...no, how could this have happened?

For the third time that day, the intruder jinx went off and Lily slowly got to her feet to turn it off.

"The auror's are here James." she called weakly, after affirming who it was. She opened the door wearily to two wizards and one witch. Frank Longbottom was among them.

"Lily." he said nodded his head and patting her arm lightly. "It'll be okay, we'll find her." Lily tried to smile at his reassurances but failed dismally.

"Kenneth is over there." she muttered, gesturing the couch. Kenneth was already being interrogated by the witch.

"We'll have to take him back to the ministry for further questioning." Frank explained as James reappeared by Lily. "You've informed Dumbledore already? he asked, lowering his voice so they would not be overheard. James nodded,

"He's already sent some of the Order to check it out once the aurors have finished. He's really worried though." he reported. Lily felt distraught,

"Why now?" she asked tearfully. "And she was a pureblood, they had no reason to hurt her."

"That might be exactly why they took her." Frank explained gravely. "She's one of the few remaining purebloods. You-know-who will want her on his side." Lily tried to ignore the despair welling up inside her. "Anyhow we'd better take him back to the office," Frank jerked his head at Kenneth. "We'll contact you the moment we hear anything. Stay safe, and I suggest you be the one to tell Alice and the others."

"Will do." James agreed. "Come on Lils." and he led her back to the sofa. They waited until the aurors and Kenneth had filed out before resetting all the security charms. "I'll go put on some tea." James offered Lily, who was staring into nothingness. "Why don't you alert the girls?"

"Okay." Lily said softly. Quickly she conjured two individual patronuses and sent them off with a message for Cadence and Alice. Within minutes, another one of the security alarms was going off, but this time as a result of the floo network.

"Identity?" Lily asked with her wand raised.

"Miss. Cadence Summers, Mr. Sirius Black, Mrs. Alice Longbottom." replied a montone voice from nowhere.

"Access granted." Lily said clearly. The flames in the fireplace immediatly turned green as her friends came spiralling into the grate.

"Lily!" Cadence wailed, tears pouring down her face. "What happened?" They both embraced.

"Is Calli' okay?" Alice asked, her voice quiet with fear. Lily shook her head helplessly, unable to contain her emotions any longer. She broke down into a fresh set of tears.

"We don't know where she is," Lily explained as best she could through her sobs. "It was Briac, her old boyfriend. He was a death eater and he kidnapped her."

"No!" Sirius said dumbstruck. He cursed vehemently and stormed into the kitchen to find James. Lily couldn't blame him, Callidora had been something like his second cousin twice removed or something.

"What about Dumbledore?" Alice asked desperately, her face also glazed with tears. "Can't he do something?"

"He doesn't know a thing about why it happened, or what they would want with her." James answered, startling them all briefly with his abrupt apperence. He handed out cups of tea to everyone. Lily took one gratefully with her shaking hands. "The order and the aurors are looking into it."

"Poor Calli'." Alice said softly. Cadence's sobs grew louder. Sirius walked over to her and put his arms comfortingly around her.

"It'll be okay." he said, evidently trying to sound confident. Cadence didn't seem convined for her crying didn't cease. James sighed and went to sit beside Lily.

"All we can do it wait." he said resignedly. Lily leaned her head against his chest and closed her eyes sadly. How much waiting would there be?

000

Albus Dumbledore paced in his office, light blue eyes unfocused as he recalled recent events. Just minutes ago he had recieved the disturbing news that a pureblood witch had been kidnapped by Voldemort's supporters. Gravely, he realized it was just another event in a chain of recent misfortunes.

As he walked repeatedly past his desk, his pensieve sat serenly upon it, swirling with the ghosts of his thoughts. It's silvery colour matched it's owner's hair. Even as Dumbledore ran a mental list of all the things he must do, and have the Order attempt, he couldn't help but keep his mind from what had happened the previous fall.

It had been a slightly chilly night when he had agreed to meet a witch who had applied for a job at a teaching post. Sibyll Trewlawney. Although he was not much inclined to continue the subject of Diviniation, he had decided to meet her out of courtesy.

He had been surprised by her that night, however, when after a rather unsuccessful interview, she had gone into a rather trance like state. Most intriguingly, the woman had then proceeded to relay to him a prophecy, and a most alarming one at that.

"The one with the power to vanquish the Dark Lord approaches... Born to those who have thrice defied him, born as the seventh month dies... and the Dark Lord will mark him as his equal, but he will have power the Dark Lord knows not... and either must die at the hand of the other for neither can live while the other survives"

Even now as Dumbledore paced in the serene silence of his office, he could not help but hear those words echo around his mind repeatedly. After Trewlawney had made the prophecy, he had made sure to immediatly hire her. He had to be sure no one else would try to pry the memory from her mind. Even with these precautions though, she had still been overheard. Partly anyways.

With grim resignation, Dumbledore sat down at his desk, thinking of the spy that had been lurking outside the door. Though he did not know for certain that they were sided with Voldemort, he had his suspicions, and his suspicions usually turned out correct.

Even more bothersome had been the news James Potter and the rest of his gang had brought him sometime previously in the year; news that, Lily Potter, and Alice Longbottom were indeed with child, and the death eaters knew.

Dumbledore sighed and Fawkes immediatly flew over and landed on his shoulder. He patted the phoenix absent-mindedly, weighing his options. There were three witches as far as he knew, that were due to have a baby at the end of July, or the beginning of office. However, only two of those sets of parents had escaped Voldemort three times.

Even with lethal information, he could not do anything, and this was what worried him the most. He had no way of knowing just how much of the prophecy Voldemort had gleaned, and even then, he had no way of telling what use Voldemort would make of that information.

His only choice was to keep his spys in place and hope that they would be able to retrieve that valuable information. Until then, he refused to bother the Longbottom's or Potter's with the worrying news. They had enough on their mind with everything going on.

He would have thought them safer had the two families not found themselves at Voldemort's fury during that year. It had been the third time each couple had escaped him, thus, setting the danger of the prophecy in stone.

Fawkes crooned, bringing Dumbledore out of his heavy thoughts. He sighed as he gazed at the bird in affection. Only with hope could he protect the chosen child; even if hope was hard to come by in these dark times.

000

The days following the attack on Callidora passed slowly and rather uneventfully. Cadence had moved in with Sirius for the time being, and the aurors were questioning everyone who had known Calli'.

Distressing as the investigations and lack of news was, Lily could not help but be slightly happy at the news that arrived at the end of June.

Petunia had sent news, albeit very brief and hostile, that she had given birth to a healthy baby boy on the twenty third of June. (Lily had privately laughed at the announcement of the child's weight.) Despite that fact that she would likely never come to know the child, Lily still felt a prickle of pride knowing that she was an aunt to the littlest Dursley. Dudley, the letter had said his name was.

James was somewhat less enthused, but used the event to his advantage in means of cheering his wife up. Life had not been quite the same with Callidora's disappearence, and Lily really could not afford to go into depression so close to the birth of their child.

Kenneth was not faring well at all since Calli' had been kidnapped. Alice and Frank had invited him round for dinner a few times, but it wasn't long until the man stopped doing anything at all. He quit the quidditch team, and when July first arrived, with not a clue regarding the kidnap, he left for South America leaving instructions for the aurors to contact him their if they found out anything.

Cadence was still quite shaken by the event, but her nature refused to succumb to it. So lively as she had always been, she quickly forced herself back into a usual routine, including work with the hippogriffs, and rather public, snogging sessions with Sirius. He seemed rather glad to provide her with a suitable distraction from her worries.

And so as the summer moved onwards, the rest of them continued with their lives. The Order and aurors were still looking but hope of finding her was steadily declining. Lily tried to assure herself that time was no factor in the odds, but even she had to admit, it didn't seem likely they would ever see their friend again.

Once again, Voldemort had taken life from their midst, scarring them all. And even as his reign made way for the ever oncoming darkness, Lily and James felt a talisman of hope glowing in their hearts. And that talisman, was due as July began fading away.

Author's Note: Alright, I know I implied that this would be the chapter of the birth's, but there was too much information to cram in and I kindof want that chapter to be special. Like, a whole chapter to itself, you know? So anyways, I promise it will definitely be next chapter, and that it will be up quickly. In fact, I am writing it right now, so hold tight, and please review!

I also apologize for the shortness of this chapter, but I thought it necessary.