Summer, 1984

James Potter sat at the kitchen table, sipping his tea as he scanned through the newspaper. He frowned at the new Werewolf: Prevention, Protection, Regulation and Control Bill suggested and introduced by Dolores Umbridge. While her words sounded all prissy and perfect, James knew the act would only deprive and isolate werewolves, who were marginalized as it is.

"HARRY JAMES POTTER!" A seven year old Arianna Potter screeched as Harry burst through the doors with her Quidditch figurine in his hands. He giggled madly as he snuck under the kitchen table and hugged James' legs. James hardly had the time to give Harry a quick smirk before Arianna came bursting in.

"Where is he?" She asked, hands on her hips.

"Who?" James asked innocently.

"Your son!" She cried, throwing her hands in the air. "Come on Uncle James, you know where he is."

James grinned at her pout and discreetly pointed at the table, "I don't know what you are talking about, Anna. What did he do this time?"

Arianna grinned at James, "Oh never mind!" She said taking her seat next to him. "I am sure I will find him eventually."

"OW!" Harry cried and scrambled out of the table rubbing his arm. "That hurt."

"Oh! Harry!" Arianna cried looking surprised, "I didn't know you were down there."

Harry narrowed his eyes and huffed crossing his arms. "You helped her." He stated giving James an accusing look.

James shrugged, "Dad-1, cheeky monkey- 0." He said cheekily.

"Fine!" Harry said unhappily, "I will go live with Uncle Sirius. He likes me."

James snorted, "Sure, go ahead. You would be running back home in half a day. The way that man lives!"

Harry grinned triumphantly. "I am telling Uncle Sirius you said that."

"Godfather's pet!" James exclaimed, sticking his tongue out at his son. "Now, why did you steal Anna's figurine?"

"I was trying to fix it." Harry said sincerely.

"My figurine is perfect." Anna trilled, "I like her the way she is."

"No, she isn't!" Harry exclaimed, "Gwenog Jones plays for the Holyhead Harpies now. Her robes are all wrong."

Arianna snatched her figurine from Harry's hand and looked at it, "Hmmm…" She said thoughtfully, "You are right. Uncle James, will you please fix it?"

James tapped his wand at the figurine as Alexandra Potter bustled in. "Anna, Harry. Are you ready? Neville has already sent three owls since morning."

The two children nodded enthusiastically, before jumping down their chairs.

"Now, I want you children to listen up good." Alexandra Potter said, giving both the children a stern look. "You will not fly indoors. Great Aunt Augusta and your Aunt Alice cannot chase you around the house, so no troubling them."

The children muttered their agreement; Alexandra gave them a look just to be sure before giving James a grin. She took her seat opposite to him, as Arianna ran out to return her figurine to her room.

"You know, I think they know that Aunt Augusta and Alice are not to be troubled." James said quietly.

"Yes, we are doing something right with them but still, I would like to remind them to be careful, children are easily distracted."

James nodded going back to the paper and frowning at the bill.

"What has got you so worked up?" Alexandra asked.

"This new Werewolf Act proposed by a ministry worker, it would limit Remus' chances of employment."

"Oh!"

"I don't get it!" James ranted, throwing the paper down, "Why don't they understand that werewolves are victims! That they had lives before any of this happened to them and that they deserve to live that life!"

Arianna looked at James thoughtfully, "Maybe if we had some influential people speaking up for werewolves, they might be forced to reconsider."

"You think Sirius and I could pull such a support?"

"I don't know, maybe you should try."

James was about to give his thoughts on the subject when two things happened, the children burst into the kitchen, ready to go Neville's house with Sirius' patronus on their heels.

"Pettirew sighted. Cokeworth. Come quick." Sirius' voice filled the kitchen as James jumped to his feet.

"Dad." Harry stuttered scared at his father's demeanour.

James' expression softened as he looked at his scared son. "Hey, bud."

"Is this the bad man again?"

"Yes." James sighed.

"Don't worry Uncle James. I know you will catch him and give him to the dementors soon." Arianna said giving him a hug.

"Yeah." Harry agreed, "I hope the dementors give him a stomach ache when he goes to them." He added following Arianna's gesture.

"Harry!" James chided him gently, "It's bad to speak ill of people. No matter how bad they are we must not stoop down and think bad of them, okay?"

"Sorry." Harry said hanging his head, "Will you be back by tonight?"

"I don't know. I will try, okay?"

Harry nodded and followed Arianna out to the visitor's room.

"I hope you find him James." Alexandra said, giving him a hug.

"I hope so too." James said.

"I know you don't agree to this and I don't expect you to, but I hope that you would give up this time if you don't find him. It tears Harry apart every time you go out to chase Peter."

"I know. I know but I can't rest till I find him and put him away."

"I understand that. I really do. It's such a difficult position to be in."

"Yeah. I will talk to Harry when I get back. You should get going too. You have to drop them off before going for work."

"Yeah. I will see you later. Bye James." She said, reaching up to kiss his forehead.

James sighed and disapparated to Cokeworth. He landed unsteadily behind what looked like an abandoned house. The house originally belonged to the Evans family; this was where he had come with Lily once they decided they wanted to get married. Petunia and Lily had been against selling the property after their parents' deaths, so the house remained under their name and decayed. Lily had brought him to this broken down house after their engagement. She believed that her parents' memories were alive here. She had cast a stasis charm on the house that day.

One look inside and James knew, her stasis charm was wearing off. Silently, he waved his wand on the house before using a locator spell to find Sirius. He was surprised to realize that Sirius was standing near the front of the house.

"Sirius! Remus!" James called, reaching the front of the house.

"Any news of him?" He asked as he neared his friends.

"None." Remus replied.

"How did you know he was here?" James asked.

"I was at work a little early today when we received an owl." Sirius said, "It was an anonymous tip saying that the person had spotted Peter near the bridge on the river. I scanned the area ever since I got here, but there is no trace of him."

James nodded trying to hide is disappointment.

"Hey." Remus said, putting a hand on James' shoulder, "Maybe it was a hoax letter. We don't even know if Peter survived the retribution from the Ex- Death Eaters. They weren't happy with him either."

Sirius and James nodded, "Let's get out of here. It looks like a local marketplace has developed nearby, look at the number of people here." Remus said looking around. The neighbourhood had changed since James last visited it, more and more houses had given way to small stores and people were trickling in from all sides.

As the three friends stepped out on the pavement, several things happened at the same time. There was a blast and James, Sirius and Remus were thrown in different directions. James flew back and fell on the porch steps of the old Evans residence, a jagged piece of broken glass embedded in his chest.

From where he lay with blood pouring out of his mouth, James watched horrified. There was a crater in the middle of the road and dead bodies everywhere. James pulled his wand out from his pocket and tried healing himself, but he kept coughing blood out. It was a deep wound. He wheezed, his vision swimming, trying to wrap his head around what had just happened.

Before he lost consciousness, he heard Remus and Sirius' voices. Footsteps approached him, he could hear Sirius's horrified voice moaning a string of "No. No. No. No. Please, James. Not him. Please. No. No. Don't worry, we will get you the hospital. Hey, stay-" James couldn't hear another word.


Sirius and Remus apparated James to St. Mungo's immediately. It was healer Davies who reached them first

"What happened?" He asked, "What did he do this time?"

"Nothing." Sirius snapped, "We were at Cokeworth. We were about to return when there was an explosion. We were thrown back and a jagged piece of glass got embedded in his chest, he tried healing himself but the wound looks deep."

Healer Davies nodded before carting James off into the emergency room. Sirius turned to look at Remus, whose exposed skin was filled with several cuts along with a broken nose.

"Let's get you fixed up too, Moony. Come on." Sirius said with a sigh, over the years he had learnt to stay calm during such situations.

It was Andromeda Tonks that treated both Sirius and Remus. While Sirius kept up his friendly behaviour, Remus maintained a stony silence, answering only when questions were directed at him.

"Okay, what's wrong with you?" Sirius asked as soon as Andromeda left them alone. "What are you thinking about?"

"This explosion couldn't be a coincidence." Remus said quietly. "Do you think we were lured there-"

"-by the rat so that he could do us in and get done with it?" Sirius asked finishing his question. Remus nodded mutely.

"Yeah, that crossed my mind when I saw the piece of glass and the gash on James' chest."

"What do you mean?" Remus asked curiously.

"There were no other pieces of broken glass on the porch. Don't you remember?" Sirius asked, "It was the old Evans residence. Lily told us, they never used barbed wires or broken glass to protect their home, so where did the broken glass come from?"

Remus stared at Sirius, eyes wide. "You mean Peter stabbed James?"

Sirius nodded his eyes on fire. "I swear to Merlin, Moony. I will wring his sorry neck with my bare hands! I would take up Azkaban for killing that rodent."

"You don't mean that, Sirius." Remus said quietly, "And this attack changes things. For three years we have tried to track Wormtail down and we failed. Now, he lured us out to a location he knew, James wouldn't destroy even if his life depended on it and attacked us. He is getting bold; this puts all of us at risk, most of all Harry and James."

"I know, Remus. I know!" Sirius said, "But I would die before I let anything happen to any of you. I have made that mistake once, I won't be able to live with myself if I lose one of you to him." Sirius broke off to look at the person who had knocked softly on the door.

"Hey." Alexandra said, stepping into the room. "I heard you guys were in here. What happened?"

"Wormtail." Sirius growled, his eyes glittering dangerously. Remus kept a calming hand on his shoulder, as he explained the entire series of events to Alexandra, including their theory that Peter Pettigrew wanted to kill them all for good measure.

Alexandra stared at them wide- eyed. "When will this end?" She exclaimed, wringing her hands in frustration. "I thought, with him gone we could live with some peace. That Harry and Anna would be safe but no!" She said pacing the floor angrily, "Hasn't Pettigrew done enough? Hasn't he already taken away Lily from us? What does he want now? That- that- I wish he dies and rots in some sewer!"

Sirius and Remus looked at Alexandra with a mix of pride and solidarity. They nodded in unison at her before turning to healer Davies who had stepped in to inform them that they had managed to heal the wound and that James was recovering well.

"Why wasn't James able to heal himself?" Alexandra asked healer Davies, "He knows enough healing spells."

"Yes, and from the looks of it, he tried them too but there was some kind of substance on the glass, it prevented him from closing the wound." Healer Davies replied, his brow furrowed, "We had to apply dittany as well as pump in a couple of healing potions and a blood replenishing potion to close the wound."

"What kind of substance?" Sirius asked.

"We don't know, we don't have the piece of glass. We need it to know for sure."

Sirius nodded, "Okay, I will get it."

Someone asked them to step out of the crime scene as Sirius and Remus approached the Evans house. On getting closer, Sirius realized that these were a couple of fellow Aurors.

"Frank, Dawlish. What are you doing here?" Sirius asked in surprise.

"What do you mean, Black?" Dawlish asked, "That crater there was created by a curse, but you already know that, you were here when that happened. Anyway, we are here with the magical reversal squad."

Sirius nodded. "Any news on who did this?"

"Pettigrew." Frank said, "We found his robes, wand and finger on the edge of the crater. Looks like he blew himself up."

"What?" Remus asked looking alarmed.

"Yeah. As of now, Peter Pettigrew is dead. Scrimgeour is going to announce this by lunch. We are closing his file." Dawlish said.

"What?" Both Remus and Sirius screamed together.

"You can't do this!" Remus exclaimed, "He obviously played a trick to make us believe that he is dead."

"Exactly!" Sirius added agitatedly, "He stabbed James with a lacerated piece of glass after the blast. He could not possibly be dead, if he did that!"

"This is new." Frank said with interest, "Where is this piece of glass?"

"That's what we are here for." Remus said. "The wound wouldn't close up because the shard was laced with some anti-healing substance. The healers wish to examine the shard for traces of the said substance."

"It's not here!" Sirius called, kicking the rubble on the porch. "I remember dropping it here, but it's gone." Sirius said angrily as Remus and Frank neared.

"Godric Gryffindor in Heaven! How could I be this stupid?" Sirius said angrily, pulling his hair.

"This is bad." Frank told them. "Fudge will not listen to any arguments. He is hell bent on painting a rosy picture. He would rather have people believe that Pettigrew is dead than admit that Pettigrew is deranged enough to kill a dozen muggles and cut-off his own finger to stage his death."

"So, now what?" Remus asked slowly.

"Now, the ministry officially won't be engaged with hunting down Pettigrew." Moody said; materialising next to Sirius who jumped, "Have I taught you nothing Black? CONTANT VIGILANCE."

Sirius ignored Moody's words, "What do we do now?"

"Nothing." Moody said his electric blue eye scanning the area.

"You can't be serious!" Remus exclaimed, "He is dangerous, we have to find him."

"And all of you are stupid." Moody said simply, "How long have you hunted for him? He chooses to show himself at the end of three years to stage his death. How will you find a dead man?"

The three young wizards said nothing.

"Let him believe that we believe him." Moody said, "Let him relax, let him be confident that he has successfully fooled us. He is bound to make a mistake in his confidence. That's when we catch him."

"So, basically we do nothing till he shows himself?" Frank asked.

"Yes." Moody growled.

"Brilliant." Sirius said, "I would like one of you to convince James with this plan."

"Potter would have to listen, or endanger his life. I do believe that he is not a fool." Moody snapped.

Remus nodded, "I think that's all we could do for now. Come on Sirius, let's go back to James, he should be coming around now."


"So, you mean to say that Moody wants us to sit tight, till the rat makes a mistake?" James asked his voice deathly calm.

Sirius and Remus nodded.

"HOW CAN HE EXPECT THAT?" James roared, "That rat is the reason why my wife is dead, why Marlene, Fabian and Gideon and several others are dead! He is the reason, why Harry doesn't have a mother and he wants me to sit back and relax?"

"James, calm down." Remus said sternly, "Do we have any other option? The ministry has officially declared him dead, we can't use ministry resources to look for him now. Wormtail has vanished from the face of the earth. We can't search for every rat in the country to find him. We can't even be sure that he is in the country. How will we find him?"

James couldn't find an argument so he glared at the walls instead.

"Prongs." Sirius said quietly, "We want him caught, as much as you do. But we don't have any options, maybe we should leave him be. Let him believe that we are convinced of his death." James opened his mouth but Sirius held his hand up, "That doesn't mean we stop looking or being on our guard. He could attack us, though without his wand, it would be difficult for him to do so but still. We keep an eye open, two can play this game."

James nodded but before he could say anything, Harry burst through the doors with Arianna and Neville at his heels, followed by Alexandra, Frank, Alice and Augusta. They skidded to a halt near his bed, looking at him worriedly.

"Psst. Uncle Remus." Harry whispered, looking at his father fearfully. "Are we allowed to touch him?"

"I can hear you, you know." James said, as Harry jumped. "And you are allowed to give me a hug."

Harry didn't need telling twice, he climbed on the bed and gave his father a tight a hug, Arianna and Neville followed suit.

The conversation soon floated to the attack, Harry snuggled up in his father's arms, as his cousins sat with his Uncles Moony and Padfoot, playing exploding snap. Throughout the visit, James' hand would softly touch Harry's hair or back, as if to assure him that he really was fine.

"Can't I stay here with you, please?" Harry whined, as Alexandra mentioned that it was time for them to go home.

James looked at Alexandra who shook her head and then at Harry's pleading eyes. He was so much like Lily. He shrugged, "I guess, you could. It would make me feel better."

Alexandra sighed before ushering Arianna out.

"So, what do you want to do?" Sirius asked Harry.

"Is it true, that the bad man is dead?"

James, Sirius and Remus exchanged looks. "We don't know yet, Harry." Remus said gently, "The ministry thinks he is, but we can't be too sure."

"Will he come back to hurt all of you again?"

"We don't know." Sirius said, "But don't worry, I won't let anything bad happen to any of us."

"Good. I won't either. I will fight him." Harry said pulling out an imaginary sword and swinging it in the air.

James didn't know whether to be sad or proud by this statement.

"You won't have to Harry." Remus said, ruffling the little boy's hair affectionately. "We are pretty good fighters ourselves."

"You are the best and the bravest, Uncle Moony."

"Hey!" Sirius exclaimed, "I thought I was the best and the bravest."

Harry giggled and stuck his tongue out at Sirius.

"Why you little fawn!" Sirius said with a grin, as he picked Harry up and swung him around in his arms. The room was soon filled with Harry's delighted shrieks and Remus and Sirius' antics. James settled back on his bed and watched his son with his best friends. His hand groped the side of his blankets, wishing that Lily was holding his hand as they watched their friends and son together. He closed his eyes and tried to remember what it felt like to hold her hand. He could remember the tingling in his fingers when her hands touched his, but he couldn't remember their warmth or softness.

Hands much smaller, softer and warmer than Lily's held his hand, James opened his eyes to look into her eyes. "Dad, please don't scare me again." Harry said, his eyes sad and close to tears, "I don't want you to go away too."

"I promise, I won't leave you." James said kissing Harry's hair, as the little boy settled on his chest. Harry hummed the lullaby that Lily had taught him and James felt his eyes getting heavy too, soon enough, James had lost himself into dreams filled with Lily's laughter and memories.

AN: So, you know what to do. Read and Review people. And if you like what you read and are new here, don't forget to follow/favourite me or the story or both.

Waiting for your reviews.

For anyone who is wondering, Alice recovered from the attack, but one of her legs lost all sensations and so she is paralysed. Frank recovered marginally well, but he had to undergo a nerve-correction surgery to stop his hands from shaking continuously and even then, his hands shake every now and then. Both Frank and Alice have white, wispy, dead hair.

Happy Reading

Much love

The fishes