Chapter 3

Vita Vinculum

Meetings of any form before eight AM should be illegal, Lily thought irritably. Leave it to Petunia to schedule the meeting with the estate lawyer for 7:30 in the morning the day after the funeral. Lily woke at six AM feeling ten times worse than any hangover she had ever had. The first night without a dreamless draught had not been pleasant. The nightmares had prevented her from sleeping soundly for any period of time, and all the crying over the past couple of days had left her feeling like she had a bad head cold. It was all amplified by the knowledge that she had buried her parents the day before. And now she had to listen to their last wishes.

Mercifully, the will was fairly simple. Everything had been left to Petunia and Lily. The only problem was this required Lily and Petunia to actually cooperate and speak with each other. They did it all before the lawyer, since neither trusted the other to keep their word. Their parents' savings would be split equally between them. Lily granted Petunia the rights to the money from the sale of the house; she really wouldn't need Muggle money for much longer anyway. Finally, with both sisters signing the legally binding document, they left in silence.

James was still sleeping when Lily entered her bedroom. She couldn't help but smile at his sprawled figure on the cot. The blankets were pulled half way down, exposing his bare chest. One leg stuck out awkwardly from beneath the sheets and his arms hung over the edges of the cot. It was a minute before Lily realized she had been staring at him, and quickly chastised herself for it. But for all her self admonishing, she couldn't repress the memories from the night before. Of waking up from the nightmares to always see his worried face hanging over hers. His night couldn't have been that much more restful than hers; no wonder he was still snoring.

Lily quietly finished the very last of the packing. She flicked her wand at her bed and the sheets, pillows, and quilt all folded themselves neatly and soared into an empty box. She was going to leave all the furniture behind. It was too much to pack, even magically. When she found a flat of her own she'd splurge for some new furniture; besides, she couldn't go through her entire life with pink and white flowered furniture.

A tapping noise at the window caught Lily's attention, and she turned to see the same owl from the night before hopping around on the small sill. Lily let him in and he flew immediately over to James, nipping his finger rather hard.

"Ouch!" James bolted upright in the cot. "Bloody bird, what'd you do that for?"

Lily couldn't help but laugh, and it felt surprisingly good. The owl dropped its newspaper on James' stomach and flew back out past her. James sat groggily in his cot, pushing the blankets off farther. Lily blushed as she caught sight of his boxers (they had golden snitches printed on them, by the look of it.) It had been too dark, and she too exhausted, to have noticed what he was wearing every time he woke her from a nightmare.

James noticed his lack of coverage too, and pulled the blankets back up to his armpits. Why did his face feel hot? It wasn't like it was the first time Lily Evans had seen him in his knickers. Padfoot had once dared him to strip naked in the middle of the common room while loudly humming The Stripper, and a marauder never chickened out on a dare. Of course, he had been under the effect of a fair amount of butterbeer. He had never reached the point of being naked anyway. Lily had put the full body bind on him the minute he slipped off his pants, scolding him that he'd make the first year girls go blind. She could really hurl the insults when she wanted to.

He summoned his clothes over to him and dressed under the covers. Once fully clothed, he emerged from his makeshift bed, clutching the freshly delivered newspaper in one hand, while the other rested on his loudly rumbling stomach. Lily laughed at him again from the same spot near the window.

"Come on, I'll find you something to eat."

"Don't worry about me yet," James replied. "I want to know how you are, after having to go…"

She cut him off, "I'm better than I was. Taking it day by day, right?" She flashed a weak smile before continuing toward the door in order to make breakfast. "Anything news worthy happen?"

James unfolded the paper as he followed her out into the hallway. "The ministry thinks they caught one of Voldemort's followers."

"Thinks? Shouldn't they know?"

"Claiming he was under the Imperius curse, not that it matters. He's on his way to Azkaban now."

Lily shuddered. "Don't you think they ought to be absolutely sure he's guilty before sending him off to the dementors?"

"Turning into a humanitarian, Lily? In all likelihood he was roaming around torturing Muggles and threatening halfbloods."

"I know, it's just," she shuddered again. "Everything I've ever heard about these dementors, they just go beyond creeping me out."

"But they're the best prison guards the Ministry could ever hope for," James responded. "As long as you don't intend on getting yourself thrown into Azkaban, the dementors actually make life better."

Lily moved over on the stairs to let her sister pass on the way up, but Petunia had stopped to glare at them both. "Be careful what you say," she finally hissed at Lily. "Vernon could have overheard you!" She gave one final huff before marching the rest of the way upstairs.

Lily just shook her head and rolled her eyes. "I don't know what she is complaining about. Vernon didn't hear us, not that it wouldn't have been hilarious if he had, and she'll just forget everything she heard by tomorrow anyway."

After breakfast, Lily and James retreated back to Lily's room one final time. James took care of his cot with one simple sweep of his wand. Lily, however, remained next to her stripped bed, fingering one of the bed knobs while she absently stared out the window. She was leaving for good, never returning. Her parents weren't returning either. She didn't want to say good-bye, but the choice wasn't hers. It didn't matter how powerful of a witch she was, there were some things than even magic couldn't fix.

"I wish I could just mutter 'reparo' and have all the pieces of my life glue themselves back together. But the most important pieces are beyond the reach of the spell, and without them I don't think I'll ever be whole again."

"You won't feel this way forever," James whispered, moving as close to her as he could without actually touching. "That hole you feel, you will never forget that it's there, but it will heal, little by little. It'll take time, more than just months, believe me, but it will get easier."

Lily didn't reply, but moved as if she were going to lean into him, but then, with a jerk, pulled away and grabbed a box. "We had better get these downstairs. We can floo them to your place?"

James nodded, still in shock from what he thought had almost occurred. He picked up a box and followed her out the door. They set them down in the living room, near the unlit fireplace. "You know what, James? I really don't feel like doing this the Muggle way. Petunia is the one forcing me to move all my things out, so I think she can deal with several dozen boxes being flown down the stairs, don't you?"

James knew enough not to answer the rhetorical question, and instead watched in awe as the fiery red head in front of him raised her wand and called, "Accio boxes!"

A second later, a whole line of boxes came zooming down the stairs. Lily directed them into neat piles with her wand. A half a second later, Petunia came thundered down the stairs, looking murderous.

"Hello Petunia, come to stay good-bye?" Lily poked her wand at the fireplace, kindling a roaring magical fire. She knew she shouldn't enjoy this as much as she did, especially since this would likely be the last time she saw her sister in a very long time. Lily, however, knew that if she didn't leave like this, she would leave in tears, and she wouldn't let Petunia see her cry.

Petunia seemed to be speechless from anger. She tried to say something, but her mouth simply moved in uncoordinated jerks.

"James, Apparate ahead and light the fire at your place, then just pop your head into the fire and let me know when you're ready and I'll start flooing the boxes to you." James simply nodded again and Disapparated, thinking Lily's grief had caused her to lose it.

Meanwhile, Petunia found her voice. "What do you think you are doing?" she spit.

"You asked me to pack up my room," Lily replied in a falsely sweet voice. "And now I'm going to floo the boxes over to James' house to store them until I get out of Hogwarts."

"But…you can't…Vernon…if he sees…"

Lily, however, ignored the angry ranting of her older sister and turned back to the fireplace, where James' head bobbed in the flames. "Everything is ready," he told her before his head disappeared with a pop. Lily bit down the urge to smile broadly as she heard Petunia gasp behind her. Her sister would get over it.

Lily took a large fistful of floo powder, tossed it into the flames and waited until they turned green before pointing her wand at the flames and incanting, "Continuum Potter House." With a sucking noise, the flames began to swirl into the magical portal. Lily levitated the first box and directed it into the green flames, sending it spinning into the floo network. Lily continued this, keeping her back to Petunia, who had now fallen silent. Lily focused on moving the boxes, without thinking about the reason she was moving the boxes.

Finally, as the last box containing her former life spiraled through the fireplace, Lily turned back to Petunia. However, Petunia wasn't alone anymore. Vernon stood next to his wife, looking like a deer caught in headlights. The Statute of Secrecy flashed through Lily's mind and she momentarily panicked. She hadn't meant to reveal her secret to Vernon, but simply to annoy Petunia.

"I'm going to go now," Lily mumbled, wishing she hadn't been so rash about using magic. "I don't suppose we'll see each other again, so,yeah. Um, I know you are taking care of the house and everything, but I'll make sure to contact the Ministry of Magic and have the house taken off the floo network. Don't want any unwanted wizards or witches accidentally flooing in, right?" She laughed slightly as tears suddenly jumped into her eyes for some unknown reason. Had she wasted the last days she would likely have with her sister? "Well, good-bye then." She turned and walked into the flames, leaving Petunia to explain to a very confused Vernon the abnormalities of her younger sister.

When the spinning stopped, Lily found herself in a very large room. The fireplace was easily big enough for her to step out of without having to duck, but the fireplace was the last thing she was thinking of. The room in front of her confirmed what she already knew about James, that his parents were rich- had been rich- she corrected herself, now James was rich.

The stones paving a six foot diameter around the fireplace gave way to rich, dark hard wood floors. The walls reflected a deep forest green, and the furniture looked as if it would have been at home in a palace. There was a large tapestry on the opposite wall, on which was embroidered a large Potter family crest with the family tree spreading out below it. Lily had forgotten James was a pureblood. From the looks of the rooms that peeked through the doorways on either side of her, the Potter House was more like the Potter Manor. She wondered vaguely if he had a house elf.

"I'm sorry it's a bit dusty," James mumbled as he noticed Lily's eyes transfixed on the large house. "It's empty now, and it's hard to clean while at Hogwarts…" Well, that answered the question about the house elf.

"Don't worry about it," Lily heard herself mumble. She remained mesmerized by the house. Finally, collecting her senses, she ended the spell on the fireplace and sank softly into one of the large armchairs in front of it. It was surprisingly comfortable. "Do you think you could make me some tea before we go back to Hogwarts?" she asked quietly. Now that the shock of the Potter Manor was over, Lily had returned to the melancholy state she had left home in.

James returned shortly with a tray containing the tea. He handed Lily her cup, then took his and settled into the identical arm chair on her left. He looked at her strangely for a few seconds, but didn't ask what was bothering her.

"Vernon saw," Lily finally choked. But that was only half of what was bothering her. "And Petunia will be furious and that will prevent us from ever reconciling." Her vision was blurry again from the tears. "I don't really hate her," she finally sobbed. "And now I've blown my last bit of time with her, when I should have tried to fix things, at least for the sake of my mother's memory. Instead, I had to flaunt the magic, just to get a rise out of her, and now I've lost my parents and my sister."

James' cup clinked as he set it back down on the tray. Within a second he had moved the few feet necessary to embrace Lily. "Don't be sorry you used magic. You're a witch, you were born a witch, and if your sister can't accept that it isn't your fault. She should be proud of your abilities, not contemptuous. She didn't try any more than you to mend the rift. You have a family at Hogwarts. You're the most popular girl in Gryffindor, and you have friends who love you for you."

"And I didn't even tell them why I wasn't in class. Madam Pomfrey lied for me, and I told Professor McGonagall to tell my friends the truth only after I had left for the funeral. I'm a horrible person!"

"If you're a horrible person, then so am I," James reasoned. "At least you had Professor McGonagall tell your friends. I've kept my parents' death a secret from all but five or six souls. I'll stride confidently into the Dark Forest, wrestle with the giant squid, and play chicken on a broomstick, but I won't admit to everyone that I've suffered a personal loss. You're not the horrible person Lily, not by a long shot."

Lily stopped crying, and sniffed a few times before asking very quietly, "can I ask how they died?"

James pulled his arms back and crouched silently for a few minutes. Lily feared she had been far too nosey. Finally, James answered slowly, as if trying to remember in the least painful way. "They were sick: had been for a long time. And there are things even magic can not cure. Mom was diagnosed first, and Dad not long after. I was only a third year, and they hid it from me for as long as possible. Dad even dragged himself out to play Quidditch with me in the summers. Eventually they couldn't hide it anymore. I was getting suspicious anyway. They told me the summer before my fifth year- over dinner; it was bizarrely casual. That must have been the dam holding it back, because they started progressing much faster after that. They were old as well, even for wizards. They had lost hope of ever having children when I was born. You were right, all those times you called me spoiled. When Sirius moved in last summer they were practically bed ridden, but they were still so supportive. They were purebloods, but they didn't hold with the absolute divinity of blood purity. They welcomed Sirius with open arms. They knew what the Black family was like. I knew they didn't have much time left, so it wasn't a huge shock when McGonagall called me into her office midway through September to tell me they were gone. That's why Sirius and I were gone for a week."

"McGonagall told us that you two had been in a bad broomstick accident during Quidditch practice and had to go to Saint Mungo's. Half the school thought you were dead. You came back with cuts and bruises all over!"

"It was set up. We used charms to make it appear as if we had just recovered from near fatal injuries. It was Sirius' idea really, and I don't think he minded all the attention and fawning he got from the girls afterward."

Lily very much wanted to blurt, 'and I imagine you didn't mind either,' but bit her tongue. Instead she asked tentatively, "so your parents died at the same time?" She couldn't help but find that a little odd, that the disease would kill them the same day.

James nodded. "You might find this convoluted, I know I did when they first suggested it. But my parents loved each other, which, for a pureblood marriage arranged by their parents, is not a common thing. But they truly did love each other, and they knew they were both dying. My coming of age removed the worry of what would happen if they both died before my seventeenth birthday. They decided they would like to die together, that it would save me from having to go through two separate funerals. There is an old spell, Vita Vinculum, that bonds two lives together so that when one dies the other dies. I know it probably sounds ridiculous, but they really wanted this, so I gave them my blessings."

"I don't think it's ridiculous," Lily breathed, her eyes misty. "I think it's one of the most romantic things I've ever heard. If you both must die, who wouldn't want to die with the one they love?"

A/N: It's so easy to make my day, just click that review button!