Title: Light
Author: Amelia Bedelia
Chapter Four: First Kiss AUTHORS NOTE: You guys review quick!!! I posted the third chapter this morning and I got about fife more than I said that I really wanted!!! BUT I'M NOT COMPLAINING!!! It is fine to have more reviews than I asked for! The only thing I'm pointing out is that I got fifteen reviews – in about five hours!!! Amazing!!! I even had someone ::coughsnowlilycough:: review twice for the same chapter! :) And just in case any of you are wondering – these first seven chapters that I will post have already been prewritten. That's why they've been posted so quickly. After the seventh, it might get a little slower – but my typing's getting a little quicker!!! Yay! (And neater!)

Well, a lot of you had predictions for what might happen in this chapter. Some were right… Some were wrong… Some were borderline…

Well, let's see who's right…


Chapter Four: First Kiss

Holy Shit, James thought. This can't happen to Lily's family. Not because of me.

In the front doorway of Lily's house stood, none other than, Lord Voldemort himself. No death eaters, no "sidekick," just Lord Voldemort.

Quietly Lily and James had snuck in through the back door without being seen. James and Lily had their wands out and were hiding behind a staircase up to the top floor of their house. Listening, Lily and James had started to panic. Mostly Lily, though. James had already been through this once before in his life.

*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~Flashback~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

It was James' third year and he had just gotten home for summer break. It was nearly dinnertime and James had just walked into their kitchen. He was about to sit down when he remembered he had left his watch in his room.

James' family wasn't like most wizarding families. For example: James' and his parent's bedrooms were in the basement while old childhood toys and other previous "forgottens" were kept on the top floor.

As James ran to his room he heard a knock on the door and he stopped at the steps. He closed the door with only a small crack left open and began to eavesdrop like normal. James had quite a talent at eavesdropping. He always had plenty of practice when he was a child and Ministry officials came to talk to his father and also had a lot of practice at school with his best friend, Sirius. What? He had to know when there were pop quizzes, didn't he?

His father opened the door and gasped while James saw his mother come into view as well. She, too, gasped. James wanted to know who was at the door but didn't budge from his spot.

"Good evening," a voice hissed.

James watched as his parents backed up and pulled out their wands. Finally, the visitor's face came into James' vision. He had to control himself so he wouldn't scream from fright. James had seen this face many times before in the Daily Prophet but never in person. The man in the doorway had two glinting eyes and slits for nostrils. This was the kind-of face that would haunt every human's dreams and turn them to nightmares. It would - well, you get the picture. It was a scary, ugly, snake-like face.

The face in the doorway was that of Lord Voldemort.

"Where is the boy?" he asked.

"What do you want with him?" his father asked, bravely.

"You know," he whispered malevolently.

His dad hesitated and then ran to the stairs leading up to the top floor. "Run James!" he called, creating a diversion. "Run! He's here!"

Voldemort raised his wand and shouted the death curse. "Avada Kedevra!" James had just witnessed his father's death. All of the air had been sucked out of his father's body and he fell, painlessly, to the ground. His mother gave a cry and ran over to her husband's lifeless body.

"No," she moaned over and over. "No, no, no…"

"Now, if you would please excuse me. I have some unfinished business. Don't think he could've gotten far by now," Voldemort said, walking upstairs.

"No!" His mother yelled. "I won't let you get him! Not even over my dead body!"

James couldn't take it anymore. He couldn't watch his mother die. He just couldn't.

Without a sound, James snuck down to his room and grabbed his broomstick. He threw open the window and flew out.

Nearly out of the yard, James turned around and looked back at his house. Quietly, he flew around to the front of his house avoiding all windows. Slowly, James popped his head up and looked through the kitchen window. Then, instantly, wished he hadn't.

Both his mother and father lie next to each other, dead. Voldemort had just come down the stairs, mad that he didn't find James.

James had been glad that his father tricked Voldemort. Otherwise, he wouldn't have gotten away.

Then it hit him. He might've gotten away if he did tell where I was.

Looking one last time at his parents, James noticed a face looking right back at him with murder written across it.

James straddled his broom and flew as fast as he could. He left his house, his block, and his city behind as he flew to Platform nine and three-quarters.

He stood and pounded his fists on the boundary between the muggle world and Platform nine and three-quarters. Trying not to panic, James thought of every spell he had ever heard of. After a few minutes of serious thinking, he had it.

"Foraminis," he muttered. He walked through.

The spell James had used was one that his father had used when James was a young boy. He had a meeting with Dumbledore once and needed to get through the barrier for a train to Hogwarts. (Their floo network had gotten temporarily disconnected because of a virus sent around in a ministry fireplace by accident.) James remembered begging to go with and getting to sit at the front of the train with the driver.

When James was on the other side he ran over to the empty train tracks. Again, James sat atop his broom and followed the tracks straight to Hogwarts.

Once he got there he opened the doors and flew to Dumbledore's office. Every now and then he would hear shouts from teachers but none were that of Dumbledore; therefore, James didn't stop.

Once he had reached Dumbledore's office he jumped off his broom. Five feet from the gargoyle, Dumbledore stepped out and looked curiously at James.

"Mr. Potter, it's the summer holidays," he said with a small smile. "You are supposed to be with your family and -"

"No!" James found himself yelling. "No! It's all wrong! This isn't supposed to happen to me! I'm just a kid…" James had backed up against the wall opposite Dumbledore and slid down in a heap. Soon James began to cry with his head buried in his hands.

"Hush," Dumbledore whispered. "Let's go up to my office. You can tell me all about what happened there."

Slowly they made their way up to Dumbledore's office. James broke down in sobs again in the chair opposite the desk.

"James, what happened? Why are you here? How did you find your way here?" Dumbledore asked, all of the questions rolling off his tongue until James spoke.

"I - they - dead!" he gasped, trying, unsuccessfully, to hide his tears.

"James, calm down. Who's dead?" Dumbledore asked, dreading the answer.

"Him." James spat out the word like it was a deadly word. "Him," he repeated again. "I swear on their graves I'll get him someday!"

"James! Listen to yourself!" The mad glint in James' eyes had dissolved. He looked into the face of his headmaster. Immediately, James shrank back into his chair and started, once again, to cry with his shoulders shaking.

"I'm sorry," he whispered. "Sorry, sorry, sorry."

"No, don't be," Dumbledore said. "Now, start from the beginning when you're ready."

Taking a deep breath, James told the story; his story.

After telling Dumbledore everything, James had finished crying. Dumbledore now spoke.

"James, you are strong, brilliant, and brave. Tonight you have shown all of your strengths together plus much more; much, much more. Now, James, you can not stay here for the summer. You may stay at a friends' if they permit it -"

"I'll stay with Sirius," he immediately said.

"Then I shall write to them. Shall I tell them what happened or would you like to tell them yourself?" Dumbledore asked.

James hesitated. "I'll tell them."

"Alright."

"Professor Dumbledore, sir?" James interrupted before he stood. "I have a question."

"Then, by all means, ask it."

"Well," James sniffed, "Voldemort - when he came to my house - he wanted me. Why me?"

"Mr. Potter, you have gone through quite an ordeal tonight and deserve to know why. Therefore, I shall tell you."

That was the night James Potter learned who he really was.

\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\End of Flashback/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/

"What do we do?!?" Lily whispered frantically in the dark, jerking James awake from his daydream. Daymare, he thought miserably.

"Well, let's wait."

"Wait?!? Are you nuts? We have to do something! I am not just going to wait here while he goes and - and -" James saw tears prick in the corners of her eyes. He knew what she was thinking. He had thought that same thought before.

"So, we meet at last. William and Christine Evans. What a pleasure," came a low hiss in the hallway.

"Alright," James whispered. "We'll go around in the kitchen and cast the - er - leg-locker curse."

"Leg-locker?"

"Do you have any better ideas Evans?"

"We could stun him or take away his wand or something."

"He's too strong. He could just push those easy spells away. Now, if we work together we could get the spell to work -"

"- and the leg-locker curse isn't easy? Come on! We'll take his wand!" Lily complained.

"Ok, expelliarmus remember."

"So," Lily whispered, "this is only a small chance we get? No back-ups?"

James swallowed. "No back-ups."

Slowly, Lily nodded. Turning, she walked around into the kitchen without letting Voldemort see her. James followed.

"Who are you?" they heard Will bravely ask. "What do you want?"

"Oh, yes, you are muggles. How could it have slipped my mind?"

"Come on, Potter. It's sooner or later," Lily whispered.

"Okay," James said, swallowing. "On three then. One."

"Two," Lily whispered.

"Three!"

"Expelliarmus!"

In an instant, Voldemort had turned his head and watched both Lily and James pull his wand from his hand and let it fall on the floor, just barely feet from Petunia who cowered away. Voldemort, however, only tripped backwards a bit instead of being slammed into the wall behind him.

"Well, you two have accomplished something greater wizards than yourself have not. You two, indeed, are very," Voldemort laughed, "very different. Not like many witches or wizards even. You two kids have stood up against the strongest wizard ever!" he said, raising his voice. "I can see things will be different from now on." Voldemort held open his hand and his wand flew straight back. Then with a small smile and a pop, Voldemort disappeared.

Immediately, Lily relaxed and ran over to her parents, hugging, kissing, and hugging them all over again.

"Who was that?" her mother asked.

Lily's face became serious. "That was Voldemort," she said and James' eyes locked on her. She was the - well, he had to count. There was himself, Sirius, Remus, Dumbledore, and his parents. That meant that Lily was the seventh person James had ever heard to say Lord Voldemort's name. And, in this case, that was a lot.

"Who?"

"Lord Voldemort. Normal witches and wizards are too scared to actually say his name so they call him You-Know-Who or He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named," Lily stated.

"Well," Petunia huffed before running up to her room, "you're not exactly normal, are you?"

James, his mind still reeling from the events that had just occurred, stood dumbstruck at Lily. He and Lily had just saved that - that - bitches' life! That was how she was going to repay her sister? It was enough when Petunia would make fun of wizards and witches in general but it was too much when Lily just took it all without blinking. Her parents didn't even do anything about it! They only comforted Lily.

"Er, I'll be right back - honey," James said and ran upstairs.

It was good that James saw how the doors on the outside were decorated. Lily's had to be plain because she was never around. Petunia's room had to be the one across the hall and with tiny flowers around the door.

James turned to Petunia's door and knocked.

"What?" she screamed.

He opened the door and saw Petunia sitting on her bed holding her pillow, cradled against her chest. "What do you want?" she hissed.

"I want to know why you're such a - a -" he searched for a word in his mind that he would be able to say aloud without her screaming at back at him.

"A muggle," he finished lamely. "Why can't you accept Lily for being who she is? She's a witch. Big deal! I'm a wizard!"

"So?" Petunia shouted back bravely. "You're a freak too!"

"Technically, in the wizard world," James said, making up half of this as he went, "muggles are considered freaks from our point of view. But, you know. You better be happy that's all that Lily thinks of you. That you are a freak." James had made this up and hoped that Petunia would never tell Lily he said this. "Just imagine what might happen if there wasn't an underage magic limit." James grinned nastily at the thought of Lily playing tricks that normally she'd play on James.

"What is that face for?" she asked, getting scared.

"Oh, nothing. Just Lily and I learned some pretty bad spells and curses at Hogwarts." Petunia winced. "Nasty, they are," James finished.

"But - but - she said you'd get in trouble if you do ma - ma - magic," Petunia forced out.

"Well, I take it Lily doesn't talk about me much around here does she?" James grinned. This is so easy. Like taking candy from a baby. "You see, my friends and I don't follow any of the rules. We're called the Marauders. We pull pranks on innocent people and break as many rules as we can! Hell, we've been out of bed so many times that we know Hogwarts better than the teachers!"

Petunia looked as though he were about to wet herself. That'll do it, James thought satisfied.

"Anyway, don't make fun of Lily like that again. I will find out. I know where you live." With that being said, James turned around and left, closing the door behind him.

With a satisfied grin plastered on his face he walked into Lily's room and grabbed his Shooting Star, then stopped.

What did you just do? He thought.

I just stood up for witches and wizards everywhere!

No… came that small voice in the back of his head. You just stood up for Evans.

No I didn't! he thought back. Why would I do that?!? I don't like Evans, remember?!?

Yes you do, the voice stated calmly. You have all along!

"I have not!" James yelled desperately. I don't like Lily - no - Evans!!!

I love to tell you this - I told you so…

James blocked the thoughts and ran downstairs, clutching his Shooting Star.

"Er- Lily!" he said, spotting her on the couch between her parents. "I need to go back to school."

"Um, okay. Hold on." Lily stood up and walked over to the front door with James. She looked at her feet. "Thanks," she mumbled.

"For what?" James asked with a sly grin on his face.

Lily looked back up. She wasn't angry. She looked as though she was struggling to find the right words that she wanted to say.

James looked over Lily's shoulder and saw her parents watching them. Putting on an act, James leaned over and kissed Lily. A quick, soft, tender kiss. With that, he left a confused Lily and her peeping parents. Her parents ran over to Lily once the door closed behind James.

"My baby's all grown up!" She heard her father say distantly and her mother whisper, "do I need to have that talk with you?" but she continued to stare at the spot James had been previously standing in. Soon her confusement shifted to anger.

He stole my first kiss.


AUTHORS NOTE: So, how did you like it? I hope it's not too cliffie!!! I've had many people comment about my cliffies… Not to mention any names

REVIEW SECTION:
Mystical Obsessions: Thanks! I'm glad you think that my story's brilliantfantasmerrificwonderfulsplendid!!! :) Thanks for reviewing!!!
Snowlily: Ok, I took pity and updated!!! Did you like the next chapter? I hope you did!!! I have one comment about all of my cliffhangers – first, all of the chapters I have so far were prewritten and they were from last year in November I think. I'm sorry they're so cliffie!!! I don't think there's anymore major cliffie's anymore – no wait, I think there's one on the next chapter. Sorry! But thanks for reviewing!!!
Lucia Dreams: Thanks! And thanks for reviewing!!!
Hazelmist: You're funny! I love reading your reviews! I quote, "YOU MUST GET THE NEXT CHAPTER OUT SOON! I thought we agreed on this. CLIFF HANGERS ARE A BAD THING!" I started laughing out loud! I will probably have one or two more cliffies soon but I don't think they're too bad as the others. (I think…) Thanks for reviewing!!!
Hpfan1750: Thanks you!!! Thanks for reviewing!!!
Kitty Prydew: I'm sorry it was Voldemort – but I didn't kill her parents! Are you happy with me? I hope so! But thanks for reviewing!!!
Roxycanadian2002: So, did you think James was a good actor this chapter??? Hmm… Thanks for reviewing!!!
Plush Appeal: Thank you! Thanks for reviewing!!!
Wild Heart: Thank you! Maybe I won't be so evil this time. Maybe… Thanks for reviewing!!!
Fallen Faith Angel: Sorry about the cliffie! I've been telling everyone this – the first seven chapters you read of this story I wrote last November-ish. I think there will probably be only one or two more cliffies between then. I don't know about the rest of the story, though. But thanks for reviewing!!!
BastsCleopatra: Thanks! I'm glad you like it!!! And thanks for reviewing!!!
Buggy-Such: I was wondering if you would notice you'd already read this chapter! So you thought that they were going out when you read it earlier? Wow! That's weird how you can take one chapter and put it in another story (on purpose or by accident…) and it changes the whole meaning! Strange… Well, thanks for reviewing!!!
AprilSkrutin: Thank you! I hope you keep reading!!! Thanks for the review!!!
Silent-Wishes: Thanks! Hope you liked the chapter! Thanks for reviewing!!!
Young Golden Unicorn: You know what, I was about two seconds from posting this chapter – but I think I'll add your review! So, am I updating quick enough? And I'm really glad you like both of my stories! Thanks for reviewing!!!

NEXT CHAPTER: Lily talks with her mom, I think, and James remembers something at Lily's house…

Let's see, if I can get to about thirty-five total, then that'll be about ten reviews this chapter! Thanks everyone! You've all been the best reviewers – Seriously!

Until next time!

Yours truly,
Amelia Bedelia