Author's Notes: Here's another chapter. Hope you guys like it. Don't forget to review.

The salary i get from my day job is my only source of income. I have never made money from Harry Potter. JK Rowling and all her other beneficiaries get all of it, sadly.

Chapter 9

James had been waiting outside the Savoy on a clear night. He was wearing a hoodie and jeans and nobody bothered to give a second look at him. His luggage was in a local motel near Kings Cross. He had been waiting for a quarter of an hour, when he saw a black-haired, green-eyed girl approach him. She looked alert and discreetly signaled him to follow her. James looked around to see if there was somebody following her. Once sure that she was unfollowed, he fell in tow behind her. She crossed the road heading towards Waterloo bridge and walked towards Kings' college. She kept walking until she reached a church, the St Clement Danes church. James doubted if the church would be open at this time, when he saw the girl turn sharply to the right. He saw her entering a green colored establishment called 'The Edgar Wallace'. James looked around to ensure nobody was following them and then entered the diner. He was greeted by a searing kiss from the girl upon entry.

"Merlin, I have missed you." She exclaimed.

"And I you. Boy, you surely are a sight for sore eyes." He laughed for the first time in two days.

"I was already scared since you had not reached out for the last 2 days. Then your letter came. I had to make sure you were ok."

"Why are we here?"

"I felt this place was inconspicuous enough. We have a lot to discuss."

"Yes, we do. Let's get inside."

They spoke to the concierge for a private booth. Once they were properly seated. James took the chance to clearly see Lily's face. It was tear-stained. She looked pale. He reached out for her hand and held it tight hoping to calm her nerves.

"It's alright Lily. We are together now. We will be leaving the country three days from today."

"I need to know what happened at your meeting with Grandpa."

"I don't want to lie to you Lils. You will not like the conversation."

"I will be the judge of that. You better tell me everything in detail James Potter."

James knew what happened when she became all fiery like this. He hated this situation. He had thought over the past two days on what he will tell Lily. There wasn't a pre-planned storyline that was decided. He had replayed the conversation in his head over and over again. He had been thrust into a place where he would bear all the brunt of Lily's ire in a few days. He had considered telling her the truth. He didn't owe the old man anything. She meant everything to her at the moment. After a lot of thought, he had come to a decision.

"Lily, from what I understood, a muggleborn marrying a Black isn't a good thing for the family in the current situation. It would paint a bulls-eye on everyone from the family. Your grandfather doesn't want that happening."

"We already knew that. He said he would never take away my free will. Not after what happened with Bella."

"I went over the entire conversation myself. All he cares about is the safety of his family. A muggleborn doesn't feature in his plans for that. Not when a self-proclaimed Dark Lord who preaches pure-blood supremacy is prevalent in the country. He said he has potential suitors lined up for you."

"So he had you followed. What does he think he will do? Have you killed? Why have the meeting then?"

"I think the intention was to scare me off. Clear intimidation tactics. I told him clearly that it wasn't going to happen. I wouldn't give up now, not when we have everything planned. We have a way out. Unless of course, you no longer want to associate with me."

"You've got to be kidding me. I come here at this point to meet you and you question my intentions. How dare you?" Her temper was rising.

"I need to do this Lily. For your sake, if not for mine. You will be hunted once we are out in the wind. You will be ostracized by this community. I doubt if you could meet your parents or anyone from the family after this. You have always been around luxury and comfort. You will have to give that up if you come with me. I might not be able to provide you with everything you have wanted in your life. There is a lot at stake here. I need you to be sure about taking this step." James tried to reason.

"Don't I know all this? Haven't we discussed all of this in the past? My last hope had been grandfather. Do you know what Bella said to me before her wedding? She said, if you get an out, take it. She didn't want the same thing to happen to me. And he said he respected my decisions. Amazing way of showing it. I am a Black, and a Black always stands up for themselves. I won't let anyone control my life. Are you listening, James Potter? YOU ARE STUCK WITH ME. REMEMBER THAT." She pulled out her hand from his."

James needed to diffuse this immediately.

"You know that I will be ever grateful to you for sticking with me. I can't imagine a life without you at the moment. We are in this together. As I said in the letter, nothing changes. We are scheduled to board the 0800 AM flight to New York on Saturday. But there is one thing that I wanted to ask you before that."

"I am very pissed off at you right now. So finish whatever it is that you want to ask."

James got out of his seat and walked over to Lily's side. He sat down on his knee and took her had into his again. Lily was still seething in anger.

"From the time I saw you on the train back in our first year, you were always an enigma to me. Whenever, I saw you in classes or anywhere else in the castle, I always wanted to get to know you, become closer to you. My thoughts would always return to you every night. It would be years later before I realized, that I had fallen for you. And guess what, you are still an enigma to me. Would you give me the opportunity to decipher this enigma for the rest of my life?"

He had taken out a ring from his pocket. A solemn piece, with a single diamond. Not too fancy, but he had selected this one after going through many items.

Lily's eyes were filled with tears. The anger had been replaced by love.

"Of all the times you could have proposed to me, you chose this moment. I don't know if I should be angry with you or just kiss you. Of course, Yes. I will marry you, you idiot." and pulled him into a deep kiss which lasted longer than any of their past ones and was filled with such a passion which they had never felt in their life before. They both realized that their relationship had reached another level.

Once the kiss ended, James held Lily's hand to adorn the ring.

"It isn't a ring suitable to enough for a princess of the Black Family. I just hope that it will remind you of our undying love."

"You didn't need to do this now James. We could have waited until we had proper jobs. I am not going anywhere, you know."

"No Lily. I had to do this now. After the talk with your grandfather, I felt I would never see you again. I don't want to lose a single moment with you. If it was in my powers, I would marry you right now."

Lily seemed to mull over her thoughts.

"Are you hungry. We should order something or they will chuck us out."

"Famished. You are right. We better order."

What followed was one of the best dinners of James' life. It wasn't that the food was delicious. But the company made it better. He thanked his stars for the day when they shined on him to bring this angel into his life. Once done, they cleared the bill and ventured outside.

"James, I want you to hold my hand. We are apparating to a place I know."

"Where?"

"Trust me on this. I know what I am doing."

"Alright."

They walked to an empty alley and vanished from the spot, with none the wiser.

The couple appeared out of thin air in a village called Godric's Hollow. The girl took the lead and led the boy down a street full of houses.

"Where are we Lils?"

"A village called Godric's Hollow. You should have heard about it. It was the birthplace of one of the founders of Hogwarts."

"Wait, this is where Gryffindor was born. The place where the first golden snitch was developed."

"The one and only. We are here to meet Mr. Turnpike. He will help us on some things."

Wheels started turning in James' head. He was amazed at the similarity between grandfather and granddaughter. He understood where they were going. He had been skeptical about Lord Black's conditions. But this was a gift horse staring him in the face.

He was pulled away from his thoughts by Lily stopping in front of a cottage. She walked over to the front door and knocked thrice.

It was a while before a middle-aged man opened the door. He had a wand in his hand which was pointing at both of them.

"Who are you and what are you doing here at this goddamn time?"

"My apologies, Mr. Turnpike. My name is Lily Black and if you wouldn't mind, we would like to have a conversation with you about something."

The name Black changed the man's demeanor towards them. A few moments later, the three were seated in the living room and were joined by the man's wife. Tea was served.

"So decided to elope, have you? Arcturus wouldn't be happy about this."

"I am sure he wouldn't be. But James here and I are in love and want to get married. We don't want people to know about this and hence can't do it publicly, lest some unsavory people come and ruin our special moment."

"And you want me to conduct the wedding?"

"Yes, I want you to officiate the wedding and I want it to happen right now."

"Lils, can't we wait till tomorrow morning at the least?"

"No James. Your words earlier put me into thought. If they are tracking you, then I am sure they will try and track me. I have been away for roughly two hours now. We need to get this done before they realize I am missing. And this might be one of the places they might check as Mt Turnpike here officiated both Cissi and Bella's weddings. Also, this is our way of putting out a statement that we do not care for either blood supremacy or the establishment."

"If you wish so, Lils. Whenever you are ready, I am."

"If you both are sure, we can get it done. So where would you like it done? Here or the backyard?

"The backyard sounds fine to me." James said

"The backyard it is. Lily, my wife will help you with modifying your clothes. James, if you could come with me."

Lily walked away with the wife. James and the officiator both entered the parlor. The man poured two glasses of fire whisky. Before James could deny, he spoke up-

"Drink it up. You will need it."

"Have you done something like this before?"

"Yes, I have. I have officiated quite a few of this kind. But this one's different."

"How so?"

"Because I spoke to the girl's grandfather and was directed by him to assist in any way possible."

James almost spat out his drink

"What?"

"You heard me right. This wedding is happening with the blessing of Arcturus Black. You didn't think he wouldn't make plans now, did you? I have known the man for close to three decades now and consider myself one of his closest aides. Now, let's get you cleaned up and ready for the big moment."

James was left speechless.

A few moments later, James and Lily were standing opposite each other in the backyard of the modest cottage in Godric's Hollow. James was dressed in transfigured dress robes. He looked like a vicar in the attire. Lily was dressed in a light pink wedding gown. She looked like an angel in James' eyes. The officiator started the proceedings.

"Lillian Black, wilt thou have this man to be thy husband, and wilt thou pledge thy faith to him, in all love and honor, in all duty and service, in all faith and tenderness, to live with him, and cherish him, in the divine bond of marriage?"

"I do"

"James Potter, wilt thou have this woman to be thy wife, and wilt thou pledge thy faith to her, in all love and honor, in all duty and service, in all faith and tenderness, to live with her, and cherish her, in the divine bond of marriage?"

"I do"

"Then, I with the power vested in me, hereby announce you as man and wife. Congratulations both of you. You may now kiss the bride."

And James did just that. What the newly wedded couple missed was the white glow of light surrounding them. Magic itself had accepted this bond of souls.

The officiator and his wife were surprised at this. Such occurrences were rare in the modern day. It merely meant that the couple were exceptionally compatible with one another and that this union would benefit the world of Magic in days to come. He would make sure that Arcturus is aware of this fact.

The night later would be one of joy and bliss for the newly wedded couple as their wedding would be consummated. Both unaware that a terrible tragedy had struck their family. A tragedy they wouldn't be privy to for another few days.

Up North in Scotland, a herd of centaurs were stargazing. One of them pointed out-

"Venus and Jupiter are unusually bright today. A monumental change is in the making."

"A new path to salvation for this land is approaching near." said another centaur.

The leader spoke up - "We need to celebrate this omen. Make the necessary preparations."

Another centaur opined- "What about Mars?"

"His influence is waning when compared to the other two. There will be peace soon."

The others were satisfied and went about with their preparations.

Earlier in the day, Albus Dumbledore had been interviewing a candidate for the vacant Divinations post in his brother's establishment, The Hog's Head. He hadn't been satisfied with the candidate and was considering scrapping the subject instead. That was when the candidate had gone into a trance like state and uttered -

"The one with the power to vanquish the Dark Lord approaches...

born as one to the union of pure love,

born as the seventh month dies...

and the Dark Lord will mark him as his equal,

but he will have power the Dark Lord knows not...

and he will usher the world into peace and prosperity...

A sacrifice forming the cornerstone of a new civilization...

the one with the power to vanquish the Dark Lord will be born as the seventh month dies..."

Dumbledore knew that this was a true prophecy. He now needed to ensure that the lady remained safe. He had hired the woman before leaving. What he didn't realize at that moment, a copy of the prophecy had formed into a sphere in the 'Department of Mysteries'. The wheels were already in motion.

-End of Chapter-

AN: Yes, i changed the prophecy, as the Potters didn't face off Tom Riddle thrice. The next chapter will deal with the next step the Potters take. Chapter 11 will detail the birth of the Potter kids and they will become the main focus from either Chapter 12 or 13. Daphne will enter the story around chapter 16.

Constructive Criticism is welcome. Next update will be out this weekend. Thanks for dropping by.