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 39: The Changing Fates
On the way home, Lily and Harry stopped at Diagon Alley. Lily had initially purchased a new wrist watch for James, but considering the research she had just done, decided she may as well add something to the gift. As she traipsed past the heaps of snow that lined the streets, Harry sleeping soundly in her arms, she looked around for a jewellery store of sorts.
"Aha!" she whispered triumphantly as she spotted a small shop crammed between two other, larger ones. The cracking bronze lettering on the front of the building read, "Muggle and Magic Gems". Lily eagerly entered the shop, extracting her notes for assitance.
"Hello." said a middle-aged witch from behind the counter. She had stringy, brown hair and dull, brown eyes. She was wearing a name tag that read, Alynne Renwood. "Can I help you?" she inquired politely.
"Yes actually." Lily replied, scanning her notes quickly. "I'm looking for something with ruby, and something with malachite." She checked her notes again, "Oh and maybe some quartz crystal." The witch named Alynne surveyed her customer curiously as she listed her requests.
"Right this way." she finally said once Lily had finished speaking. "We've got a nice selection of semi-precious stones over here. Did you want muggle stones, or magically powered ones?" Lily followed Alynne over to a display case full of various bright, glittering stones. She considered the issue for a moment.
"Muggle, I suppose." she decided, thinking that she'd rather magically empower them herself.
"Right-o." Alynne said. "Here is our ruby selection, and the malachite's a little to the left. I'll show you our Quartz supply afterwards." Lily nodded and examined the various pendants and stones set inside the glass. The rubies glowed slightly red as the light caught them. After contemplating the selection for a while, her eyes finally fell upon a gold ring, with ruby inlaid. She felt her breath catch,
"That one." she said in a hushed voice, pointed to it. Alynne summoned a key to her with her wand and unlocked the glass display case. She lightly removed the ring and gave it to Lily to see.
"That one's about fifteen galleons." Alynne explained. "Made of pure gold, and one of the more valuable rubies. It's a bargain at that price." Lily scowled slightly, a bargain eh? Still, this ring gave her a good feeling, and she really felt she needed it.
"Fine, but only if you throw in one of the chains with it." Lily shrugged, gesturing to a large supply of chains which hung on the wall. Alynne considered this for a moment then nodded,
"Fine by me." she agreed. Lily smiled and slipped a gold chain from off a hook. She then turned her gaze to the malachite and felt her eyes immediatly drawn to a pendant. It was a small, circular piece of malachite with an ancient rune carved onto it. Instantly, she wished she had taken Ancient Runes back at Hogwarts.
"What's it mean?" Lily asked breathlessly, her grip around Harry's slumbering body tightening.
"Oh, that's just the rune Ihwaz." Alynne said carelessly. "It's the rune of defense, corresponding to the magical number, thirteen and the yew tree."
"The rune of defense?" Lily asked, feeling that it could be very useful in her efforts. "What does it do?"
"Well it's long been linked with death, but in actuality, it simply means the continuacy and endurance of past life. It also helps in saftey against attack, and is a weapon of defense." Alynne continued to explain non-chalantly. "Would you like to see it?" Lily nodded mutely, thinking of how perfect this stone would be for Harry's protection...
"Thanks." Lily said softly as she delicately took the pendant and let it dangle from it's chain. A shiver seemed to run down her spine as she held it and Harry awoke immediatly. Rubbing his sleepy eyes with his uncoordinated hands, he spotted the malachite and made a lunge for it. Lily smiled as her son took it in his hands and tasted it curiously. "How much for this piece?"
"Ten galleons." Alynne answered. "Would you like me to ring those in for you?"
"Sure." Lily replied, gently removing the chain from Harry's eager mouth. "Oh, but first the quartz."
"Right you are." Alynne said, leading them to yet another section. Harry squealed in delight as he layed eyes on the wide selection of brightly shimmering crystals.
"Is there any that could be shaped?" Lily asked, examining a particarly jagged one.
"Oh yes, it's a simple spell really. The only stones you can't reshape by magic are diamond, amber, pearl and moonstone. So those would be quite fine." Alynne informed her.
"Right." Lily mused. "I'll take this one then, I think." She pointed to a rather long piece. It was exactly the right shape for her intended purpose. Alynne nodded happily and took her purchases to the counter.
"That'll be thirty galleons and two sickles please." she said, quickly adding up the total. Lily ignored the guilt she felt at the elaborate cost but dug the coins out of her money pouch nonetheless.
"Thank you, ma'am. Have a nice day, keep safe." Alynne said briskly, gladly accepting the change and handing Lily her purchases.
"Thanks." Lily answered as she exited the shop, "I intend to." Without wasting another second, Lily swept up the street and back to the Leaky Cauldron where she and Harry were whisked home in emerald flames.
000
Later that evening, as Harry was sleeping soundly upstairs, James and Lily enjoyed a romantic dinner. It was the first time, in a long time they had been able to enjoy each other's company in such peace. Lily almost wished the night would never end.
"So what did you and Harry end up doing today?" James asked, as they finished the last of the dishes with magic. Lily smiled, thinking of all that had taken place.
"We went to the Hogwarts library. Oh James, you won't believe everything I learned there." Lily explained, eager to share her knowledge with her husband. James came up behind her and kissed her in the crook of the neck,
"Not all boring book talk, when there's so much else we could be doing..." He raised an eyebrow suggestively and Lily had to fight back a giggle.
"James, it's not boring at all. Let me explain and then we have the rest of the night to do whatever we please." Lily said firmly. She beckoned James to follow her to the living room where they both curled up on the sofa.
"So what is it you're so eager to tell me?" James asked, looking extremely impatient. Lily immediatly launched into an explanation of the days events,
"I researched into the process of making amulets and got a few things for them, and I discovered several interesting rituals used by the natives of north america. There's this one called the Fideler Ritual, and i was thinking maybe it could be used on people. It's used for hiding things, and so if Voldemort were after, say, a certain member of the Order, we could easily protect them." Lily gushed. "Also," she lowered her voice nervously, "I read into Horcruxes and discovered an ancient spell."
"Horcruxes?" James asked in complete bewilderment, trying to soak in all his wife was telling him. "I've never heard of them."
"Well, most people haven't, i mean, it's an awful thing really." Lily informed him, her voice low with forbidding. "It's when someone, well, mutilates their soul and hides it in something. This way, they can't really die if their own body is killed."
"But that's good isn't it?" James asked. "We could use it in the Order, it would be really useful!"
"No James!" Lily exclaimed aghast. "It's an evil thing... You can only do it by killing someone, and souls aren't meant to be torn apart. It would make you...well, demonic almost. You musn't breathe a word of it to anyone."
"I won't." James muttered, looking very shocked. "That's awful...imagine what Voldemort would do with that knowledge. We know he loathes the idea of death."
"Yeah," Lily agreed, then added in an undertone, "Hopefully he doesn't know already." James and Lily remained silent for a moment, contemplating the odds of that possibility.
"Dumbledore will have seen to it. "James finally stated with confidence. "He must know almost everything." Lily shrugged,
"Anyhow, seeing as it is Valentine's Day.." she said, gazing into his eyes, "I did pick something up for you...and Harry, but i'll get to that in a minute."
"But you already gave me the watch." James mused, something unreadable dancing in his eyes. Lily gently removed the ruby ring from her pocket and held it out to James.
"It's made of ruby." she explained. "It protects the one you love, therefore, I am giving you the protection of my love for you." James took it, peering at it closely, looking touched beyond belief.
"Thanks Lils." he said breathlessly. He kissed her passionately, and when they broke apart, Lily spoke up again,
"I let it simmer in a potion with balm of gilead, angelica, camphor and other substances...All are highly protective and camphor will boost your occlumency skills. I've also applied liberal charms to it."
"I really can't tell you how much this means to me Lily." James said, looking awestruck.
"You don't have to tell me anything." Lily said, the corners of her mouth twitching. James smirked at her,
"Hang on just one second, who said we were done exchanging gifts?" Lily smiled, feeling pleasent surprise course through her veins.
"Oh?" she asked softly. James pulled out a small box of black velvet. He handed it to her wordlessly, and Lily opened it, not breathing. Inside, laying on the plush velvet was a gorgeous ring. It had a silver band, and in the centre, was a brightly gleaming amber stone.
"How did you know?" she whispered, slipping it on to her finger, tears forming in her eyes.
"Know what?" James asked, clearly confused.
"James...amber is used to purify the soul, heart and mind...It's perfect. It's also a stone of connecting..." Lily explained, awestruck. James shook his head,
"You and your research." he muttered, though not sounding bitter at all. Lily kissed him lightly,
"Thank you." she whispered. James smiled at her. Lily cleared her throat and cleared her mind. She wanted to tell James one last thing before they settled down.
"I was thinking," Lily said, choosing her words carefully. "What if I used these amulets, to make sortof a, well, reverse horcrux?" Lily hastened to explain herself as a dark shadow crossed James's face. "Reverse, like, i wouldn't have to..do someone in. I was just thinking, what if i charmed these so that, if, well, one of us were ever killed, a bit of our soul would enter the other amulet."
"What do you mean?" James asked, clearly not following what she was saying. Lily sighed and removed the malachite pendant from her jean pocket. She showed it to James.
"I'm going to brew this in Agrimony, to deflect negative energy, and give it to Harry. It's a stone for protecting children against evil. The rune on it is for defense. I thought, that I could somehow charm it, so that if one of us died, our soul might enter Harry's pendant." Lily explained cautiously. Even she didn't know how she planned to achieve it, but she knew she had to try. It seemed a good enough idea.
James bowed his head in thought, "That seems like a...good idea." he said, "But it would only work for Harry's, wouldn't it?" Lily frowned at him,
"Why?"
"Well, it would be much too complicated magic to send your soul to both amulets, i'm sure it will be hard enough with one, if it's even possible." James told her patiently. "You said amber purifies the soul? Then it would be perfect to channel your soul to Harry's amulet."
"But what about you?" Lily asked, wide eyed, realizing that amber was the perfect tool.
"Lily, I promise to do everything in my power to keep you and Harry safe. This is a mere precaution, will you just work on that for the time being?" James said, his voice set with resolution. "Please?" Lily contemplated it before nodding,
"I suppose."
"Good. Now that all this talk of darkness is out of the way, I believe we had plans..."
"Did we?" Lily said, feigning a faulty memory. "Im afraid you'll have to remind me Mr. Potter." James raised an eyebrow as he pulled her closer,
"Gladly."
000
As ever, the week seemed to fly by with the usual amount of violence, war, and rare moments of peace. Even the returning summer warmth couldn't overcome the cold chill the demontors emanated. Lily thought she would have been rather depressed what with James always at work if it hadn't been for Harry. She spent every spare moment with him, teaching him new words, playing with him. He could crawl now, and he and Neville would often play together when Alice stopped by.
Lily also began to take on some Order work. She had explained some of her discoveries to Dumbledore and he had placed her in charge of providng various means of defensive practices. She had already charmed a load of Apache tears and had a ready supply to hand to those who had lost loved ones. Although they couldn't take away the pain of the loss, they did help the families move on and take protective measures. As well, she had been brewing large supplies of potions with camphor added to it. Already they had majorly aided in the fight against Legilimens. Death eaters were having to work twice as hard to extract the information they desired.
To add to this success, Dumbledore promised to look further into the Fideler ritual, agreeing with Lily that it could be quite useful for hiding those targeted by Voldemort. He had also acquired the assitance of Professor Flitwick from school, and his brother Aberforth in the matter.
Lily had also taken on some more personal projects. She had taken the quartz she had bought and shaped it so that it could work as a handle around the lower bit of her wand. It amplified the magic of her unicorn hair wand core immensely, seemingly chanelling the energy into the stone before shooting the spell. The first time Lily tried it with the quartz, was a simple summoning spell. She had been calling Harry's toy broom over when the force of the spell caused the broom to completely knock her off her feet. After that incident, she had been sure to excercise more caution in her spells.
Everything would have seemed to have been going rather well, excluding of course the violence and war incidents. Harry's first birthday came and went with Lily finally relenting to let Sirius take him on a quick spin of his motorcycle. Harry was delighting and couldn't stop giggling for hours afterwards, although Lily wasn't sure whether or not this was a result of the ride of the giddiness cake they had fed him. Life was as good as it could be in such a time.
000
"How fares the mudblood and her blood traitor pal?" Voldemort asked viciously, pacing the gloomy interior of their hideaway. Peter cowered at the vengeance in his voice,
"F-f-f-ine my lord. The children will have aged a year by now." Peter blurted, fear echoing in ever syllable of his voice. Voldemort fixed him with his malevolent, red eyes.
"Has either shown any unusual powers?"
"N-n-n-o, my l-lord." Peter stuttered, cowering as Voldemort laughed mirthfully.
"Pathetic. And I suppose you've not suspected which one the prophecy indicates?" Voldemort asked harshly, though he seemed quite unconcerned about the issue.
"O-of c-c-c-ourse not." Peter whimpered. "B-but woudln't it b-b-e the p-pureblood?"
"Crucio!" Voldemort cried quite unexpectedly. Peter immediatly fell to the floor, writhing and shrieking with pain. When the first was finally lifted, he lay there, curled on the floor, sobbing.
"Get up you scum!" Voldemort spat angrily. "You underestimate mudbloods. Dirty, and as unworthy as they are, I myself have been cursed by a muggle filthy blood. It is in the halfblood I think that lies our chosen."
"P-p-otter's kid?" Peter whimpered, his face now radiating pure fear and despair. "S-s-urely no-" He was forced to stop speaking as the cruciatus curse hit him again. This time, however, the pain did not last for as long.
"You're not doubting your allegiance, are you wormtail?" Voldemort hissed menacingly. Peter shook his head frantically, pressing himself againt the wall of the dirty room in attempts to put as much distance between himself and his master as possible. "Don't lie to me!" Voldemort snapped. "I always know...always." He let his voice drop to a tone much softer.
"M-my lord, how can I-I be of a-a-ssitance in yor pl-a-ans." Peter asked, pressing himself to the floor at Voldemort's feet now. He let fear direct his actions now. Voldemort sneered downwards at him,
"Ready yourself. Tonight we shall meet with the others, and announce our plans. The Potters shall not live past the next full moon." Voldemort answered, his voice cruel and cold. In his burning, crimson eyes blazed anticipation. The fates were shifting, and the times changing. With the prophesized one out of the way, domination would come in a bloodbath.
Author's Note: Sorry if this chapter was a little boring, just preparing for what we all know is about to happen...It probably won't be next chapter though, the one after that maybe. I've had to do so much research for the last few chapters. But like i said, it's all going to be very important in the 'sequel'. Anyways please, please, please check out the forum for this story. Hope you enjoyed and i'll update soon.