"What now?" Professor McGonagall said, with a hopeful look in her eyes.

"It's done. This is the end. We won." Harry said. He swayed on his feet. His eyesight started to get blotchy.

"Well done, Harry, well done." He heard Professor Dumbledore say before he blacked out completely.

---END FLASHBACK---

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"I woke up in St. Mungo's about five days later." Harry said. His voice was hoarse from all the talking.

Lily was silent through the whole thing. Sirius1, who hadn't heard all the details, was pale.

"Merlin, Harry…" Sirius1 whispered.

"True Gryffindor, you are!" James exclaimed. His heart was bursting with pride. His son got ride of Voldemort.

"But I can't believe Snape is teaching Hogwarts. Must've been torture." Sirius said pitifully.

Harry and Ginny nodded, but Hermione hesitated.

"Oh, come on, 'Mione, you're not a student anymore!" Harry said exasperatedly.

Hermione hesitated, "Oh, fine, he was a horrible bloody git." She said finally.

The rest grinned at her.

"How did you get all the silver?" Lily asked curiously, gazing at his hair and his eyes.

"I'm not so sure, but I think it's the after effects from the duel- and with that silver mist stuff." Harry answered.

Lily nodded and rubbed her face with her hands, "Oh- wow… this is so… brilliant. But a little overwhelming, to be honest."

Harry nodded with understanding, "Yeah, I didn't expect you to be too, er, I dunno, really."

Lily laughed lightly. "It's just weird… I'm you Mum… It's even weirder that Potter's your dad."

"Hey, I'm not a bad father! Am I, Harry?" James asked.

Harry shook his head in amusement.

"See!" James puffed out his chest and Lily rolled her eyes while Ginny giggled.

"So, Mrs. Potter, how are you feeling about James being your Mr. Potter?" Sirius asked Lily.

"Call me that one more time, Black, and you're dead." Lily growled, fingering her wand.

Everyone laughed at Sirius' paling face and the sound of his gulp down his throat.

"I'm serious, Evans, how are you feeling?" Sirius asked.

"Well, Black, of course you're Sirius." Lily said, smirking at the pun.

Sirius rolled his eyes and grinned.

"It's odd, having a son at age 17 and him being 18. And… a husband, knowing who he is… and that it's James Potter- no offense, or anything." she added, looking at James.

"None taken."

"But, I'm going to make the best of it, I guess," Lily said with a weak smile, "Besides, this isn't an every-day thing."

The door opened and Dumbledore came in. "Did you set things straight, Harry?"

Harry nodded.

"Ah, good. But before you go, I must warn you all, do not speak about this freely. Things can always get worse." Dumbledore warned them. They nodded solemnly. Dumbledore perked up, "Good! You may all leave now."

Before they left with the Portkey, Lily said to James cautiously, "Th-this doesn't change anything, Potter."

James paused for a moment, and Lily was ready for something cheeky to come out of his mouth, but surprisingly, he nodded slowly. Before she had a chance to say anything, they were transported to the Potter house with the Portkey.

Maria and Henry were both asleep on the huge, overstuffed couch by the warm crackling fire when they came back.

"Oh, how cute!" Hermione cooed softly.

Both Sirius' snorted softly and James rolled his eyes, but Remus and Harry grinned.

"C'mon, guys, let's go to sleep! I'm tired!" Ginny whined quietly.

"Quit your whining! You'll wake the neighbors!" James said with a wide grin.

Ginny suck out her tongue at him and he stuck his out back at her. Somewhere inside, Lily felt a pang in her stomach. It didn't feel like a good pang, but she dismissed it.

"Let's all get a mug of hot chocolate and go to sleep." Harry suggested quietly.

They all agreed and tiptoed to the kitchen.

--

They were sitting at the counter in silence, sipping their hot mugs of hot chocolate, when all of a sudden, Harry dropped his mug and it fell to the floor with a crash, and broke. Harry clutched his forehead and disappeared with a crack.

The rest stood up at once.

"What happened?" Lily asked immediately, worried to the bone. Her motherly instincts kicked in.

"Where's Harry?" Ginny said, her bottom lip starting to tremble.

"Don't worry, Ginny, he'll come back. He always does." Sirius said, putting an arm around her to comfort her. He gave her a small smile, but inside, he was worried and scared to Merlin's grave.

"All we can do is wait…" Hermione said quietly.

They all nodded grimly.

-MEANWHILE…-

Harry felt burning pain on his scar, and the next thing he knew, he was somewhere else. He looked around him and saw tables and chairs. Harry was behind a counter, so he couldn't see much, but he could tell he was at The 3 Broomsticks. No one was there and the chairs were stacked up on the tables. The lights were dimmed. He heard voices.

"Silly girl, you should have known not to run. He will always find you. Come, he has a punishment ready for you," a cold voice said.

"No!" cried a determined voice. It was a female's voice, "he didn't even know I was still alive until I showed up a little while ago! He doesn't give a damn about me, you know that. He's pathetic."

"Rayenna, you come here right now or I will make you!" spat another icy voice.

"No way in hell," the girl's voice said defiantly. It was Raye!

A Death Eater lost his patience and muttered a curse at her. She let out a small scream.

Harry closed his eyes in concentration and when he opened them, they were silver.

He whispered 'Stupefy' at both Death Eaters and they both fell to the ground, stunned. He walked out from behind the counter cautiously.

"Harry!" Raye gasped. "What're you doing here?"

"I really have no idea." Harry said.

"Are- are they dead?" Raye asked uneasily.

"No, just stunned. C'mon, I'll take you to the Potter's house for now, and we'll go to Hogwarts afterwards." Harry said, holding out his hand. It was then that he noticed a huge, deep, gash on Raye's left arm. It was bleeding heavily. "That's a nasty cut you've got there," he commented casually.

"I'm fine," Raye said hastily. She wiped some blood away from her arm and grimaced.

Harry noticed she wasn't in her Hogwarts robes, but in a casual pair of jeans, a fur coat, and a pair of black combat boots. Raye took Harry's hand, and he found that it was ice cold.

"Sorry," Raye said, smiling apologetically, gesturing toward her cold hands.

Harry smiled and waved it away, "Nah, it's alright. I always get cold hands after running into a couple of Death Eaters… wait- except that one time, it was too fast, so I didn't-"

Raye rolled her eyes, "Harry, just apparate- please."

"Oh- right." Harry said sheepishly. He concentrated and with a light pop, they appeared at the Potter's kitchen.

"Harry! Raye?" someone cried instantly. Harry turned around and saw them all sitting where they were before.

"What happened, Raye?" Sirius1 asked in concern, eyeing her cut with worry.

"I'm fine." Raye said impatiently, wiping some more blood away from her wound. She winced.

"I'll fix it for you. My Mum's a Healer, and she taught me a few things." James suggested.

Raye nodded slowly, "Thanks."

"Who were they! I'll curse their arses off!" Sirius said angrily.

"Calm down, Sirius, you know you can't do that." Hermione said, rolling her eyes.

James got some medicines to treat Raye's arm and started to wipe away the blood around her arm. Once he got it cleaned, he lightly put some pale yellow gunk on and slathered it around the cut. Then he got an elastic bandage and wrapped it around Raye's arm.

"There. You're going to have to keep that on for a couple of days, though. You'll be fine. Nothing too serious." James said with a smile.

"Thanks," Raye said gratefully.

"No problem." James said with a shrug.

"Raye, what happened?" Sirius1 asked again.

"I was at Hogsmeade-" she began.

"What were you ding at Hogsmeade? It's well after hours." Harry said, raising an eyebrow.

"I simply felt like going. Anyway, I went to The 3 Broomsticks and it was empty. I didn't know it had closed so early so I looked around some shops. I went back to get to Hogwarts, but the stupid Death Eaters got there. They threatened me and all that rubbish. Then they lost their patience and, well, hurt me," Raye said, fingering her arm, "then they both hit the ground. I saw Harry coming out from behind the counter."

"How did Harry get there?" Lily asked. Everyone turned to look at Harry.

"Er, one minute I was fine, and then my scar burned like hell. Then- I guess I apparated, or something, to The 3 Broomsticks where Raye was." Harry said with a shrug. "I don't really know how."

"You two must have a connection of some sort." Hermione stated. Her fingers were jittery and Harry knew she was itching to run to the Hogwarts library and research on it.

"Merlin, it's 6:30 already!" Ginny exclaimed.

"Raye, you can sleep here if you want to." James offered.

"Er-" Raye said.

"But all of the bedrooms are full with Lily and Ginny sharing one," Remus said with a frown.

"Oh, yeah…" James said, faltering.

"She can sleep in my room," Sirius offered loudly.

Raye raised an eyebrow.

"Without me in it, of course," Sirius said quickly, biting his lip as his face turned slightly red.

"Looks like young Padfoot here has got a crush on Miss. Elddir," Remus whispered to James and Harry. They both nodded and smirked identical smirks.

"Right, then. Sirius can sleep in my room. Let's go." James said, jumping off his chair.

Hermione brandished her wand and gave it a little wave. All the mugs were sparkling clean and put themselves away in the cupboards.

They all went to their bedrooms. Around 3 o'clock in the afternoon, they awoke. Together, they went downstairs.

Sirius couldn't help but notice Raye's pajamas. She bravely had transfigured a piece of parchment into a peach colored slip. She put a transfigured satin robe over it. Harry eyed Ginny's white tank top and her navy blue short shorts with great interest. And of course, James' eyes widened at Lily's emerald green colored spaghetti strapped silk top and black shorts.

James, Remus, and Sirius all had muscle tees and cotton plaid pajama pants of Gryffindor colors. Harry and Sirius1, on the other hand, chose to go shirtless, with dark colored sweats on.

Once they were all downstairs and in the kitchen, James read a note aloud:

James,

We've gone to work. We don't know when you all will be getting up, but it looked like you had a rough night, so we didn't have Dolly wake you. Set up some lunch or dinner- surely you wouldn't wake up in time for breakfast. Your dad's got Auror duty for the ministry overnight, and because of that, I have to stay at St. Mungo's in case any Aurors on duty gets hurt, so I will be staying overnight as well. We apologize that we cannot be here tonight. Stay out of trouble- Oh, sometimes I wonder why I even say that.

Love,

Mum and Dad

Remus chuckled, "She's right. It makes no sense to tell us to stay out of trouble."

They grinned.

For breakfast, they had some sausages, eggs, bacon, and toast even though it was past lunchtime.

"So, what are we going to do today?" Ginny asked while they ate.

"I don't think we should do Wandless Magic today. It's far too late and we don't have much energy." Harry said.

The rest nodded in agreement. They were all tired from yesterday.

"So, what exactly are we going to do?" Ginny asked again.

James shrugged, "Whatever we want, I guess."

"Well, we went to Hogsmeade the day before…" Remus said.

"I know! Let's go ice skating in the pond!" James exclaimed.

"It's dangerous and I can't skate very well," Lily protested.

"Padfoot, Moony, Wormtail, and I always go there to ice skate during the holidays, and it's perfectly safe! And I'll teach you to skate." James said.

Lily looked at everyone helplessly, and sighed, "Oh, alright."

Everyone cheered. James transfigured everyone's skates except for himself, Sirius, and Remus. They had their own pairs because they went ice skating every winter. James transfigured the guys' skates into black hockey skates and the girls' skates white figure skates.

They put on their coats or cloaks, scarves, and/or mittens. Then they put on theirs kates.

Harry and Ginny skated slowly together, discussing a bunch of nothings with each other, and smiling. Raye, Sirius1, Hermione, and Sirius all skated together, just talking. James was teaching Lily how to skate. The other were secretly looking at them from the corner of their eyes.

"Okay. The most important thing is balance." James started.

"Right. Balance." Lily repeated, nodding.

"Second most important thing is to have fun." James said.

"Right. Have fun." Lily said, nodding again.

"Next, is falling."

"Right. To fall- wait, fall?" Lily asked, confused.

"Well, you can't learn if you don't fall, right?" James said.

"Right, it makes sense, I guess," Lily said thoughtfully.

"Alright. The physical part," James said, "How you skate is by counting. One, two, three. One, right, two, left, three, right. You get it?"

"Yeah," Lily said with a nod.

"Lily, relax. You're so serious about this. Just relax and have fun." James said, smiling slightly.

"Okay, whatever," Lily said reluctantly, relaxing as much as she could.

"Ready to hit the ice?" James asked brightly.

"What! No way!" Lily exclaimed.

"I'll be with you the whole time. I won't let you fall. I promise." James said solemnly. He went to the edge of the ice and held out a hand. He and Lily had chosen not to wear gloves.

Hesitantly, she took it. Her hand was shaking slightly with nervousness, but James' was warm and a bit rough from Quidditch. Lily's hand felt delicate, tiny, and fragile in James'. James felt his stomach fluttering uncontrollably as she gripped his hand hard.

Slowly but surely, she edged onto the ice. Lily tensed when she was fully on the ice. James felt her tense up and squeezed her hand in reassurance.

"All right. Right foot first. Glide," James said. Lily stiffly moved her right foot farther ahead of her left. Then she scooted her left, making it aligned with her right.

"I did it!" she said quietly, but triumphantly.

"Yeah, you did!" James said, smiling at her accomplishment.

Lily noticed that it wasn't that famous lopsided cocky smile. It was a genuine smile.

Lily quickly glided her right foot front, but slipped. James quickly put his other arm around her so he caught her before she fell.

"Thanks," Lily said breathlessly.

James smiled slightly. "I'd never let you fall."

Lily raised her eyebrows. "I thought you said that falling was important."

"But I'm here to catch you before you hit the ground. You still made the wrong move and started to fall, but not all the way." James said. He looked a bit confused at what he said. Lily shrugged.

James helped Lily for thirty more minutes until Lily said, "I think I can do it by myself now."

"Are you sure?" James asked doubtfully.

"Yes, I'm sure. Now go watch me from the other side of the pond with the others, alright?" Lily said with a small roll of her eyes.

James nodded and let go of her hand reluctantly. He skated over to the others at the other side of the pond.

"You're a good teacher." Remus commented lightly.

"Of course I am," James said knowingly.

Remus rolled his eyes.

"Look, she's skating!" Ginny exclaimed.

Lily was skating. Very well, too. She made a spin. Then she started to skate towards them, but after she skated a few feet, she fell right into the pond.

"LILY!" James roared, mortified.

He skated to Lily at top speed; it was amazing. To him it felt like hours getting there, but it was really just 5 seconds. Without a second thought, he jumped right in the pond. It was ice cold that he almost went into unconsciousness. He searched for Lily frantically. Where was she? The water wasn't very murky, but she couldn't see much. He swam deeper into the water. He searched for Lily, trying to feel for her with his hands. At last, he gripped onto an arm. He pulled her up with great difficulty. The water had soaked and absorbed into her coat. He pulled and pulled up. James was progressing slowly. His lungs began to burn because of the low oxygen. He kept swimming up, holding Lily's waist with one arm. If she was dead, he didn't know what he would do. Finally, he broke through the surface, gulping in as much air as he could. Everyone was huddled around the small hole. James pulled Lily up first. Then he pulled himself out of the water. His body shook from the cold as he conjured a thick blanket, wrapping it firmly around Lily's form. He picked her up and carried her to his house wordlessly. Everyone followed closely, not uttering a word.

---000---000---000---000---

Another chapter done. I don't know when this story'll end. Not in a long time. I think. This was a bit boring, I think… maybe? Hmm. I dunno… it's up to you guys. Hope you liked it, though. Well, please review!