James had been ordered out of the Hospital Wing the moment he'd placed Lily onto a bed both by Madam Pomfrey and, most surprisingly, Marlene. He'd expected nothing less of Pomfrey but Marlene should've understood, then again, a moment after James had been sent out, he was joined by Sirius.

"What the fuck happened?" Sirius asked him and there it was. The wave of guilt came crashing over James as swiftly as a collapsing building and James had no words.

"I — I tried to tell her — is she going to be okay?"

"You were supposed to have her back like I have Lily's when you're not there."

"I—I did," James stuttered. "Sirius-"

"You didn't!" Sirius bellowed. "You didn't and if anything happens to her or the baby … I'll never forgive you."

James tried to reach out to stop Sirius from turning away but he shrugged James off and walked away leaving James alone. James didn't know what was worse; seeing the face of a betrayed brother or seeing the back of that brother as he walked away.

James had nothing left to do but sit in the corridor and wait. Eventually, Sirius came back and sat a firm five meters away from James and yet no news came from inside the Hospital Wing. There was nothing to do but sit and hope.

The doors opened after an eternity and Marlene poked her head out.

"James," she said softly and James scrambled to his feet. "Lily's in a deep sleep — a coma — she doesn't have any fatal injuries so it's just a matter of her waking up."

"Can I go see her?"

Marlene shook her head. "We're still working on a lot of patients. I just thought you'd like an update."

"Marls," Sirius croaked from his position on the floor but Marlene shook her head. "I don't have any news on Ella yet. Madam Pomfrey's looking after her." James heard her name being shouted and Marlene closed the door to dash back to a patient leaving James and Sirius alone in the corridor once more.

Sirius knew it had been an eternity sitting in that hallway because it wasn't possible for time to move so slowly. When Marlene stuck her head out and ushered him into the Hospital Wing, he knew what was going to happen. He knew that Marlene or Madam Pomfrey would say that the baby had died. There was no explanation for how he knew, he just did and yet knowing could never have prepared him for those words.

"I'm so sorry, Sirius." Marlene's hand on his arm. "Ella went into premature labour and despite our best efforts we couldn't stop it. Ella gave birth to a little girl at 10:36pm. She was stillborn."

The words rocked in his mind, the rocks getting bigger and bigger the more he thought about it like a crowd of people running starboard to port over and over again, the ship rocking creating small waves and then larger and larger and larger. It was only a matter of time before he drowned.

He had a daughter. Stillborn. He was going to be a dad and then he wasn't.

"Where is she?" he managed to ask, pushing past Marlene and pulling open the grey curtain.

Ella, awake and looking more exhausted than anyone had the right to, sat up in bed cradling a tiny bundle of blankets and rocking and his heart shattered in a way he didn't know it could.

He sat on the edge of the bed with Ella and looked down at his daughter's tiny face. She was beautiful. She had Ella's mouth with a shock of black hair on her head and her skin was so pale.

"Isn't she lovely?" Ella's voice cracked and Sirius pulled an arm around her.

"Like her mummy," he agreed, softly, doing his best not to cry.

They sat for an age staring at their daughter. Sirius wondered about the life they should have had. He wished he'd gotten to see her cry and open her eyes. He wished there would be a future with her.

"We should — we should name her," Ella said eventually.

They spent half an hour tossing names at each other, almost forgetting that their baby was dead until they settled on Alaia Dearborn Black.

Her name, Sirius realised. A gorgeous name but a name she'd never get to say aloud. They wouldn't get to sit with her and teach her how to pronounce the syllables. They wouldn't get to teach her how to write the letters. The only place the name would leave a legacy was in a cemetery yard. It would be written on a grey headstone with the date April 13, 1979 and that was the only purpose the name would serve because this little person who was too small, would never get to use it.

She was dead.

Tears streamed out of his eyes and he buried his face in Ella's shoulder as she too cried and hours later Madam Pomfrey came to take the baby away and Ella lost it. She screamed and cried and begged for her baby until Madam Pomfrey coerced a sleeping potion down her throat.

Sirius stumbled out of the Hospital Wing and saw James still sitting on the floor, head between his knees. He looked up at Sirius. Sirius could tell he'd been crying and Sirius knew he shouldn't be a bastard. Knew that Lily had been hurt too and James was just as terrified as Sirius was. Knew, deep down, that it wasn't James' fault. But he was angry and upset.

James stood to talk to Sirius but he cut off whatever James had been about to say.

"I have a daughter. She's dead."

"Sirius, I'm so, so sor-"

Sirius' fist collided with his face before James could finish the sentence. James rubbed his jaw and asked, "Did that make you feel better?"

No, no it didn't.

She felt all kinds of gross. Her mouth was dry. Her stomach felt weird. Her muscles felt stiff. Her head was pounding. She knew where she would be if she opened her eyes because she'd been in this state before. She'd be in the Hogwarts Hospital Wing being attended to by Madam Pomfrey.

She flickered her eyes open, determined to wake up and the blinding daylight scalded her eyes making her shut them. She opened them, more slowly this time and the dizzying daylight tuned into the background and gave way to the Hospital Wing, to James dozing in a chair by the bed, to grey curtains around her bed hiding her from nosy students, most likely.

"Ja—James," she coughed, her mouth too dry to talk. He lifted his head, eyes snapping open and she could tell he'd been crying so she smiled softly and squeezed his hand. I'm okay.

Relief washed over his face like the sun washed over a brand new day and he kissed her hand and wept. The crying attracted Madam Pomfrey who promptly shooed James away so she could perform the necessary tests and Madam Pomfrey's diagnosis was that she was going to have a bitching headache for a few days and her muscles would be sore. Fantastic.

James came back with gifts from the Kitchens and Lily was grateful because the weird stomach feeling was because she hadn't eaten in three days — that's how long she'd been out for — and suffice to say, she was starving.

"How are you feeling?" He asked, setting the tray down on her legs. "I was starting to worry you'd never wake up."

She shrugged because she hurt all over and she really didn't want to think about it. "Is everyone else okay?"

James turned, running a hand over his face — never a good sign — and shook his head.

"Who?" She asked softly, scared of the answer.

"Ella … she lost the baby. Bellatrix did something to her and the baby didn't make it."

"No," Lily gasped, a hand covering her mouth. "Where is she?"

"Sirius took her home this morning. She's not doing well."

"She just lost her baby, of course she's not doing well. What about Sirius?"

"He hasn't spoken to me."

Lily stared at him as though he'd grown two heads. "What do you mean?"

"I mean, he thinks it's my fault. This shiner," James pointed to his bruised jaw, "Sirius. Can't say I blame him." He looked away from her and she tugged on his hand to get his attention back.

"But it's not your fault! It was them."

"Bellatrix," James said her name like a curse. "She's a heartless bitch. Absolutely insane."

"She did it on purpose," Lily realised. "To get at Sirius."

James nodded. "I never should have let her come with us down to the first floor. One of us should have made sure she stayed out of it."

"She knew the risks, James. She wanted to come. And if I had gone with her, Sirius could've been killed. If you had gone with her, I could've been killed or Emmy or the twins or Peter, Alice, Frank, Kingsley." Lily shook her head. "It's no one's fault but Bellatrix Lestrange's."

James settled on the edge of her bed, his hand covering hers and he looked at her, smiled and said, "You should eat."

But who could eat in times like these?

This was Remus' chance. Haley had stepped out to grab some things from Diagon Alley and post a letter to her brother back home and Remus had decided to stay behind, feigning that he was too tired from the full-moon. In truth, he'd really wanted to read the letter she sent to her brother.

The premonition, as she'd called it, had been playing on Remus' mind since the party and Haley had refused to take it seriously. He could tell it had been playing on her mind though. With the muttering in her sleep that he couldn't make sense of.

"It's nothing, I promise! Just some silly nonsense that my seer genes spit out. Bet you've never met a seer who was a werewolf." She said it like a joke but that phrasing also had Remus more suspicious. A seer who was a werewolf. She identified as a seer first which had to mean she really didn't think it was all nonsense.

But she kept brushing it off as nonsense and Remus' intuition was telling him otherwise because in the dead of the night after the party, Remus had woken up and she'd been furiously writing in her journal which she hastily packed away upon realising he was awake. It made him think she was hiding something.

He knew it'd be an invasion of privacy but if it concerned his friends, he was willing to take the risk. He started rummaging through her bags until he found the brown journal and flipped it open. He was careful not to sit there and read the thing like a book, he wasn't that cruel. He was just flicking through looking out for any mentions of premonitions or prophecies.

He found the entry for the night of the party.

Remus is asleep and thank Merlin for it. I can tell he's weirded out by the bit of the prophecy that slipped out of my mouth when I shook Lily's hand. I couldn't help it though, it was so intense when I touched her and I was lucky I was able to stop at all.

The full prophecy was:

First of the four … the doe protecting her fawn … she will provide the power the pack needs to protect the fawn … nor evil, nor dark, the first in a Millenia … the Powers That Be shall grant her the power …

Lily has to be right in the middle of it all. And if she's the doe that probably means James is the stag and they'll probably have a child one day. I have no idea what that child has to do with the Dark Lord though.

Matt will have ideas I'm sure but I already know what he's going to say. Get closer, keep your mind clear when interacting with them. Maybe that's why I never got a premonition around Remus, my mind is definitely not clear when I'm with him-

Remus stopped reading there not because he wasn't interested — he was very interested — but because this wasn't just snooping for snooping's sake. He wanted information and he got it. If he wanted to know how she felt about him personally, he'd ask. He didn't want to betray her trust in that way and read her feelings before she was ready to tell him.

He did a search spell on the journal for any other mentions of a prophecy and it flicked to a page dated March 12th, 1979.

I'm doing it. I'm going to Britain to see if I can find out more about this prophecy because Matt was right. If this prophecy is really about the You-Know-Who I have a duty to find out as much as I can about it. I'm nervous to be going, I've never been to Britain before and with the current state it's in, it's definitely not safe but I have to. This prophecy will turn me mad if I don't.

She moved on from the prophecy after that and frustrated Remus flicked through trying to find a mention of the prophecy but it wasn't in there. Frustrated he used a copying charms to make exact copy's of the two journal pages he needed — obscuring everything he found irrelevant — and then packed everything away the way he'd found it. He hid the two pages in his own rucksack.

He had to keep her close and if she's having prophecies about Lily, James and Voldemort maybe it was worth it to open up more about why he was here. By the time, she arrived back, he'd decided. If he opened up to her, she might open up to him.

"I have something to tell you," Remus said.

"Yeah?"

Remus cast a noise muffler charm on them so no one could understand what they were saying and she looked in concern.

"This is serious then?"

"Yeah. It's about why I'm really here. I'm here on behalf of Dumbledore to see if the werewolves have been approached by the Death Eaters and to assess the mood of the community."

"To see if we'd join the Death Eaters?"

"Yeah."

She looked puzzled. "Well, then you're in the wrong underground."

"Er, what?"

"Fenrir Greyback has started a cult of sorts, his own community, the premise being that werewolves should be allowed to express our 'natural' states."

"I'm familiar with Greyback's views," Remus said dryly. "How do you know about this?"

"I'm a werewolf in a dangerous city. I did my research."

"Do you know if they have been approached by Death Eaters?"

"If the Death Eaters were to start anywhere with the werewolves, best bet would be there but I don't know if they have. They should visit here soon enough. They go recruiting every couple of weeks. Last I heard, they'd sent people to Edinburgh."

Remus nodded, trying to take this all in. He had a decision to make. Stay here and wait until they come recruiting, or go to them. Haley slipped her hand into his and squeezed tight.

"If you go, I'm coming with you."

Remus squeezed back not knowing if her words made him feel elated or terrified.

Being held hostage in the Hospital Wing was torture. It was one thing when you lived in the castle and it was another when she was supposed to be at work. It was also frustrating when a friend lived in the castle and knew Lily was injured and yet refused to visit her.

She'd taken to escaping the wing during the day, perusing the library stacks and it sort of felt like coming home in a way. The old familiarity of the quietness of the library. She went when students were in classes, the library would only be splattered with the odd seventh or sixth year who had a free period.

Mary had hugged Lily upon bumping into her in the corridor.

"I heard about your accident and was absolutely mortified to hear of it!"

No one knew there had been Death Eaters in Hogwarts. Everyone had been told that after a maintenance spell gone wrong, a few corridors had collapsed and the stone in some corridors had been damaged. Lily's 'accident' story had been that she'd fallen through the sixth and seventh floor's upon visiting Professor Flitwick for a possible Professor's Aid position.

"Oh, thanks Mary. Pomfrey's holding me hostage. A total overreaction but the school needs to cover its grounds I suppose."

"There's a rumour going around that the maintenance gone wrong is a cover up and there were actually Death Eaters in the school."

"Is there now?"

"Mmhmm. You wouldn't happen to know anything about that?" Mary's dark brown eyes twinkled with mischief.

Lily shook her head with a smile. "I wouldn't know a thing."

"I'm glad you're okay, Lily."

"Thanks, Mary."

Lily found herself in the 'Ancient Magic' section on the first day. She checked out Bathilda Bagshot's History of Ancient Magic since James had recommended it and had read more than two thirds of it in two days. Marlene thought she was going clinically insane because, "I don't understand how you can read so much so fast."

"But isn't it fascinating? The weakest witch or wizard in ancient times would have been twenty times more powerful than Dumbledore!"

"That's not even possible."

"It is because wands weren't invented back then! Back then wizards and witches had to learn to channel their magic through themselves and they used special crystals to amplify their power."

"Wandless magic is difficult, I doubt the whole wizarding populace could do it."

"It's history, Marlene! Wands weren't invented until 382B.C by the Ollivanders. But Ollivander's were created as a way for young children to more quickly master magic. Looks like everyone got lazier and lazier as Ollivander's gained popularity but wands were just a parlour trick back then. Marlene, this could help us if we could learn what they knew back then!"

"Lily, even if what you're saying is true … no one has practiced ancient magic in thousands of years."

But Lily was already considering the best places to visit that would have those kind of records because there had to be records somewhere. There had to be historical findings that had been found by historians, things that outlined rituals, spells, potion recipes, practices and beliefs.

She asked Sirius when he came to visit, auspiciously when James wasn't there but she'd get to that later. It wasn't always best to push Sirius and she knew he was hurting.

"No one really knows a lot about the ancient magicks," he said truthfully. "Best bet to start would be at Ollivander's though right? I mean they were founded in ancient times and there's gotta be records or something that might be useful."

"That's what I was thinking. But I'm talking big and old libraries in the wizarding world."

"Oh. Well that's easy. You should start in the wizarding community in Plovdiv, Bulgaria."

"Bulgaria," Lily repeated.

"Yep. Oldest city in Europe and I believe their wizarding community dates back the same too and they do have a huge library, Biblothecia. Most famous library in the wizarding world."

"They named their library 'library' but in latin?" Lily raised a brow.

"They were simple people, Lils. Wizards typically are. I wouldn't be surprised if Hogwarts used to be a farm with a lot of warty hogs on it."

Lily put it onto her list and then asked for more.

"There's the library in Paris and Egypt would be worth a look too. The Library of Alexandria burnt down with everything in it but the ancient Egyptians were known for magically boobytrapping pyramids. I'd suggest tracking down some curse breakers I've heard they can have some pretty unbelievable stories."

"The Library of Alexandria is muggle," Lily said.

"That's what the muggle's think but actually it was both."

Lily had never been more upset over a library burning down. The things the Library of Alexanderia would have possessed, the knowledge … she shook her head at the wasted potential but added Paris and Egypt to the list.

"Where else?"

"New Knossos — that's the major Greek wizarding community. They've been around for ages, pretty old city considering it's got 'New' in its title but the old city was even older and I believe it's a tourist attraction for muggles."

Lily added it and a dozen other places Sirius recommended to her list before moving on to the elephant in the room.

"How's Ella doing?"

"Terrible. She won't come out of bed."

"And how are you doing?"

"Shit."

"Eloquent."

He looked at her and then ran a hand down his face. "It's like one moment I was going to be a dad and then, then I wasn't. A part of me is relieved and another part is devastated."

"That's understandable. The baby wasn't planned and none of us are in a position to be having kids. But it's also okay to be sad and hurt about it."

"We named her Alaia."

"That's a beautiful name."

"I punched James in the face," Sirius blurted.

"I saw." She waited for him to say something but he didn't. "Sirius, he feels terrible. He knows he should have done better but Sirius, Ella refused to leave. We gave her so many opportunities to get out of the castle or to just stay out of the action but she wouldn't listen, probably because she was too worried about you."

"I know. I know he did his best. I'm just-"

"Angry."

"It'll pass."

Lily nodded accepting that's as good as she was going to get with him today and they chatted a little more before Sirius announced it was time for him to get back home. Lily dived back into her research and before long she was returning her book and checking out another three in the library much to the chagrin of Madam Pince.

"You aren't a student anymore."

"Are you implying education is only for students, Madam Pince?"

Madam Pince seemed shocked by Lily's retort and Lily figured she'd been hanging out around Sirius and James too long.

Marlene entered the Dearborn-Black flat with her arms full of bagged groceries and started unloading them in the kitchen. The flat was quiet. Sirius wasn't home and Ella hadn't left the bedroom since she'd been discharged two nights ago.

Marlene fixed up a plate of toast with jam and some tea and headed for the sombre bedroom. The curtains were drawn shut so not even a sliver of light came in and Ella was hiding under a thick quilt. The room had a stale smell to it and after Marlene had set the plate and cup on the table she performed a quick air freshening charm to circulate the room a little.

"Honey, I brought you some food. Jam toast and peppermint tea." Marlene set about tidying the room. Folding some clothes from the floor and piling strewn cushions against the wall. "Lily's gone off her rocker. She's reading all about ancient magic and thinks we should all learn to do wandless magic. Everyone's getting together tomorrow at Hogwarts to discuss the battle. Why Voldemort was there and who that Tom Riddle guy was. If you want to come. It might be good for you to get out a little. Madam Pomfrey can check on your wounds too. Up to you."

"Marls," Ella whispered just when Marlene was about to leave.

"Yeah?"

"I don't know what to do."

Marlene went back into the room and lay down next to Ella. "You don't have to know yet."

Marlene lay with Ella until she fell asleep and when she quietly snuck out of the bedroom, Sirius was in the living room tweaking his bike.

"Hey," Marlene said softly. "Ella said about seven words to me today."

"Progress, I suppose," Sirius said and then gestured to the kitchen. "Thanks for the restock by the way."

"You're welcome. Are you coming to the gathering at Hogwarts tomorrow? I told Ella about it."

"I doubt she'll come."

"I know but I've spoken to a psychologist — a muggle doctor on mental health issues. They said that keeping someone who is in a depressive state in the loop will help nudge them into wanting to get involved in things. It'll be a good sign if she asks how it went, even if she herself doesn't come."

"Oh," Sirius said. "Should I do that too? Just keep her in the loop about everything?"

"It'll help. She won't feel out of the loop and will find it easier to include herself when she's ready. But remember, this won't be an easy or quick thing. It could take days or weeks, you just have to be patient."

Sirius nodded. "I really appreciate this, Marls."

"Nonsense. It's nothing."

Marlene kissed Sirius' cheek before departing in the fireplace to go back to St Mungo's.

Everyone had gathered around Lily's bed, with Lily sitting in her bed cross legged with a piece of parchment with her own notes in front of her. James sat at the opposite end, also cross legged and everyone else sat around. Marlene was standing in front of the blackboard they'd wheeled in so they could create their own detective mind-map to try and figure out the mysteries of the Hogwarts Attack.

They'd all just finished recounting their own version of events, each taking notes to piece together what had happened. James, the Prewett twins, and Emmeline were exhausted. They'd been running all over the castle the last four days fixing any and all damages done during the battle and as such were wearing 'maintenance' robes. Marlene was also dead tired as she was doing extra hours in the Hospital Wing to help Madam Pomfrey as well as her usual hours at St Mungo's.

"Bellatrix said they weren't only here for the book and quill," James frowned. "But what else could they have been here for? And why didn't Voldemort show up on the map?"

"And did anyone even see the Tom Marvolo Riddle guy?" Peter asked.

"Maybe the map's losing it?" Marlene suggested.

"The map isn't losing it," Peter said frustrated. "It's in perfect working condition, I tested it myself. There's a hundred reasons why he might have shown on the map but no one saw him."

"Invisibility cloak or charm," Lily pointed out.

"Animagus," James suggested. "Could have literally been a fly on the wall."

"Polyjuice potion," Lily added.

"Metamorphmagus," Sirius contributed.

"We get the point," Gideon said, "but that doesn't help us find out who he is."

"Okay then what?" Marlene asked. "Where do we go from here? Why didn't Voldemort show up on the map if it's in perfect working condition?"

"Voldemort couldn't have gotten into the school that quickly," James repeated for the billionth time.

"But Voldemort wouldn't be his real name, right?" Sirius pointed out. "No one names their kid 'Lord Voldemort'."

"I-" James paused. "That's brilliant."

"So what?" Lily asked. "Voldemort is who? Riddle? Riddle's not even a pure-blood name. Neither is Tom. Ever met a pure-blood who didn't have a weird as fuck first name?"

"I have a normal name," James pointed out.

"Yeah but you're more of the exception than the rule. I mean look at your parents."

"She's right. Riddle's not a pure-blood name. I don't even know of any half-blood's by that name," Sirius said. "And extremist blood purists do name their kids fucked up names. Marvolo is definitely something pure-blood. But Tom and Riddle? No way."

"But why does it sound familiar?" Lily tapped her fingers against her leg trying to remember what she just couldn't put her finger on. "The diary … what's the name on the diary again?"

"T.M. Riddle," James said, sitting up straighter as a massive lightning bolt went off around the room.

"Oh my god!" Lily exclaimed.

"Holy mother of fuck," Marlene cursed.

"So what? Are we saying we have Voldemort's diary?" Sirius asked in wonderment.

"If not Voldemort's … we have to assume Riddle is close to Voldemort. Very close. Maybe even important to him."

"We should start research on Riddle, now that we know his full name."

"Should we start with Hogwarts records?" Marlene asked.

"Probably be the easiest," James agreed. "I can get mum to get them out of the Ministry's archive. Last hundred years should do right?"

"I mean, how old even is Voldemort?" Peter asked and everyone looked around stunned. He was their biggest enemy but they hadn't ever considered how little they knew about him.

They were going to change all of that and fast.

Calling their informal meeting to an end everyone hung around for a half hour socialising. Marlene was the first to head off because she had an early shift at St Mungo's the next day. Then the Prewett twins left. Then Sirius and Peter until it was just Lily and James.

"Do you think we'll figure all of this out?" Lily asked quietly.

"We won't stop until we do." He kissed her temple.

"We were supposed to be in our new flat by now and you were supposed to be a break-out Quidditch player."

"We'll move into the flat next week."

"Yeah," she agreed but deep down she wished that they were in their flat celebrating James' break-out Quidditch game. She knew he'd have been buzzing for weeks if he'd gotten to play. He'd have done her head in re-telling every play, every throw, every goal, even every foul but Lily wouldn't have minded because he'd have been happy. Instead they were in a hospital wing discussing a fight and trying to find out mysteries of the enemy.

"I love you, James."

"I love you, more."

"Love you, most."

Sirius sat on the edge of the bed. Ella was awake but she'd barely said two words but he was taking Marlene's advice and told Ella all about the meeting. He made sure to stress that Lily was doing fine and Madame Pomfrey was just being overly cautious.

"All right, babe, I've got to go and meet Remus. There's food in the oven if you're feeling hungry just warm it up. I could get it for you now before I leave if you want?" He asked but she didn't respond so he just bent down to kiss her forehead before leaving.

Sirius didn't have to wait long before Remus showed up in Trafalgar Square. They went off somewhere more quiet in silence. Sirius didn't know why Remus was keeping silent but he was glad that he was.

"Something happened, right?" Remus asked the moment they were out of earshot from other people, not even bothering with a greeting.

"Yeah, something happened," Sirius sighed, running a hand over his face and sitting down on a milk crate. "Sit down, Remus."

Sirius told him everything. The battle, their conclusions, their next steps. He broke down when it came to telling Remus about the baby and he hated the pity on Remus' face.

"I'm so sorry," Remus said.

"I know. It's life, right?" He sniffed and wiped his face before looking up at Remus. "That's our update, I suppose. You got anything for us?"

Remus shook his head. "Don't get mad but I confided in Haley about what I'm really doing in the werewolf underground."

"Remus!"

"I know but I have a reason which I'll get to later. She told me of another community being run by Fenrir Greyback. If Voldemort was going to approach the wolves, he'd start there."

"I'll pass that on to Dumbledore. Now why did you blow your cover with Daniels? I don't think it's really wise bringing your girlfriend into this."

"Despite my feelings for her, I think it is wise to keep her close. Do you remember the weird premonition thing she had when she shook Lily's hand at the party?"

Sirius didn't even bother to try and remember. Two Death Eater events had happened since the beginning of that party and Sirius' mind had been running in circles since. "Not really."

"Well she did and she brushed it off but I don't know. I had a weird feeling about it so I did some digging. I found this." Remus pulled out copied pieces of paper. "She says here that she's travelled to England because of a prophecy she had about You-Know-Who." Remus shuffled the papers around and pointed, "Look, that's the full prophecy she had the night of the party."

Sirius grabbed the page and read aloud, "first of the four … doe protecting her fawn … she will provide the power the pack needs to protect the fawn … nor evil, nor dark, the first in a Millenia … the Powers That Be shall grant her the power … I have no clue what any of that means, Remus. You know I think divination is a bunch of bullshit."

"I don't know what it means either but she knows something and she talked about a pack and if Lily signifies the doe, and there's a fawn …"

"James and Lily have a baby one day."

"And that child needs protecting," Remus stressed, pointing out the section about the 'doe protecting her fawn'. "She has to know more. We have to find out what the original prophecy was and why exactly she came here. We need her close but I don't think we should tell Lily and James about this yet. I already tried to tell Lily and she didn't seem too open to the idea. Besides, there's no point worrying them over a hypothetical child in danger."

"Okay, okay but what do I tell Dumbledore then?"

"Just tell him that Haley's trustworthy and that I thought we could cover more ground together."

"Fine, but I swear Remus if she happens to be a spy or a bag of crazy I will kick your arse and tell you I told you so."

"Yeah, I know. Tell everyone I say hello and that I hope everyone's okay after the fight."

"Will do, Remus. Look after yourself, yeah? Next person to meet you is Marlene. Corner of Badminton and Georgia. 10AM, two weeks from today."

Remus nodded and they hugged briefly before Sirius apparated out.

James closed the door to the apartment, he'd been on standby waiting for a bunch of furniture Lily had ordered via Owl to come through the Floo. He'd stacked it all by the back wall per Lily's instructions and was now heading home. He'd been planning to visit Lily but Marlene owled and said Lily had fallen asleep.

"You're moving in then?"

Sirius was standing in front of his door. James could tell he hadn't been sleeping well. He had the same bags under his eyes that he'd have at the start of the school year before he moved in with the Potters.

"Yeah, as soon as Lily gets the all clear from Pomfrey."

"What day? I can help you guys move all your stuff in."

"Tomorrow."

"I'll be there."

Sirius went back inside and James supposed he was forgiven. It may have seemed as easy as one, two, three but James knew this was how their friendship, how their brotherhood worked. Sirius could be mad at James for as long as he needed and when he was ready, James would be there with open arms and vice versa.

"Men," Lily scoffed upon hearing James' recount the next day as they packed Lily's things up.

"We don't have to talk everything to death, love. He was upset and mad so he punched me."

Lily rolled her eyes again. "You two need to learn to communicate." She was buttoning up her cloak, sitting on the edge of the bed.

"Merlin, Lils, are you taking the whole library with you?" he asked as he lifted her bag off the end of the bed.

Madame Pomfrey had finally relinquished Lily's observation period and Lily could not wait to get out of Hogwarts fast enough if only to pick Fleamont and Euphemia's brain on ancient magic since she'd just about tapped out James and Sirius'.

"Just the important ones," Lily said defensively. "You know I've heard Bulgaria is a lovely place to visit."

She had almost thirty books on her list to read and she'd only made a dent in the books about the actual history of ancient wizarding communities. True to Sirius' word, Plovdiv was the oldest city in Europe and it hosted the oldest wizarding community in Europe.

"We're not wasting our honeymoon on research," James said firmly.

"Who said anything about research?" Lily asked. "I'm just a huge fan of Bulgaria."

"You don't fool me, Evans. You're researching ancient magic and Bulgaria has the oldest wizarding community in Europe."

"Curse you," Lily muttered before grovelling. "Please! Can we please go to Bulgaria!"

"Lil, we have two weeks away from the madness that is this war. Let's enjoy it. I don't want to be holed up in some old library reading."

"Ok, I hear you but it's the oldest wizarding library ever! It has over two million books dating all the way back to 1400AD — a whole fifty years before the first muggle book I may add!"

"Okay that does sound awesome but no. We're having two relaxing weeks somewhere nice like Italy or Greece. Somewhere with a beach."

"Oh, there's a nice island in Greece. Crete."

He came around and pressed a kiss to her lips before pulling away and staring at her dead in the eyes. "Love, do you think I'm that stupid?"

She sighed, her plans at conning James into a more productive rather than relaxing honeymoon thwarted, and wrapped her arms around him. "I've lost honeymoon destination choosing privileges, haven't I?"

"Oh yeah," he agreed pressing another kiss to her lips. "Come on, let's get you home before my mum murders me. Mum's going to be completely overbearing, by the way. She considered having me sleep in a different bed so you could get some proper rest."

Lily pouted. "I really hope you talked her out of that one."

"I did … I think."

"That doesn't inspire confidence," Lily said truthfully.

James shrugged, hanging a scarf around Lily's neck. "You know I'll just-"

The Hospital Wing doors burst open with a half dozen teachers surrounding a levitated patient. Madam Pomfrey rushed out of her office at full speed and towards the teachers and patient.

"What happened?" Madam Pomfrey asked and there was a bubble of frantic talking from the teachers, so loud and jumbled that even James and Lily didn't understand a word of it.

James and Lily glanced at each other before rushing over to see if they could help.

"Is everything okay?" Lily asked.

"A student has been attacked," McGonagall announced.

"Petrified by the looks of it," Madam Pomfrey added.

Lily looked down at the student and gasped. The student was utterly frozen. It wasn't a student Lily recognised, definitely no-one from Gryffindor, but he was either a first or second year which broke Lily's heart. He was so small and he looked so frightened. His eyes wide with shock and his mouth stretched open as though he'd been screaming.

"Where?" James asked. McGonagall gave them the whereabouts and they were off, wands in hands and map being opened. "I solemnly swear that I am up to no good."

They approached the first hall corridor to find it flooded. They splashed their way through not caring about the water and James squinted at the map trying to read it as they ran.

"Any students where they shouldn't be?" Lily asked.

James slowed to help focus but couldn't see anything out of the normal. "There's no one."

Lily grabbed James' hand. "Look."

He looked up and stared. On the stone wall in front of the girl's bathroom was a message written in blood. Mr Filch's cat donated the blood unwillingly by the looks of it. He was strung up on a wall lamp, blood trickling out of his tail and he was so still Lily thought he must be dead. She almost felt sorry for Mr Filch. But the cat wasn't the most disturbing thing. The most disturbing thing was the message on the wall that would send chills down anyone's back.

"The Chamber of Secrets has been opened. Enemies of the heir … beware."