Chapter 3: The Potters' Last Will and Testament

AKA The 'fuck you' contingency

A.N: This was initially supposed to be posted with Chapter 4 in one go, but our muse refuses to cooperate… may be short, but it has an easter egg, who can spot them, earns themselves a virtual cookie. As i keep saying, all criticism is encouraged and appreciated. :3

Disclaimer: previous applies still

The next 2 days passed a little too soon for James' liking. Not only he tossed and turned all night every night, but every movement shot hot flaring pain through his still mending arm. He'll need to have this looked at soon. Why he didn't do this immediately, he would never know. Luckily, one of their neighbours had some Healer's training. He dressed as fast as his arm allowed and made his way towards the door. Just as he was about to exit, he heard steps coming down.

"I'm going out to see Mrs. Farrow," James told his wife, who was coming down to get Harry's food. "You did a good job patching me up last night, but I need to have this arm fixed," he said as he was rubbing his splinted right arm, "if I'm to protect my son."

"Fine. But don't be late. We need to make some amendments to our will. Just a couple of precautionary measures, to set our affairs in accordance to our talk." Lily kept her no-nonsense tone she had since that night.

"Okay, okay." James winced as another white hot flare shot through his arm. He didn't seem to hear what Lily said. Donning his Cloak, he opened the door and stepped outside. It was overcast, as always, the wind only slightly blowing, barely rustling the leaves of the rowan tree (Rowan Tree = symbol of protection) in the front of their house.

James walked all the way to the other end of Godric's Hollow and entered an unassuming little garden. Mrs. Farrow, the village healer, was an old hunchbacked crone. However, she was known locally for her extensive knowledge gathered in the decades of service in St. Mungo's Hospital for Magical Maladies and Injuries, on duty in the Janus Thickey Ward. James knew she would be able to patch him up in no time.

"Mr. Potter… the epitome of health and fitness… you, have not crossed my doorstep in years." the crone said even before James could announce his presence.

"I don't mean to impose, Mrs Farrow," he said stowing the cloak in his coat, "but I am in need of help. And fast, since these are dangerous times. I was trying a new spell and it seems to have backfired." He raised his splinted arm. The crone hobbled close to him and grasped his arm. She removed the splints and, squinting her eyes, she examined every bit of the arm.

"This is no regular wound," Mrs. Farrow said, "or at least, not the result of a common spell, be it offensive or defensive." She pulled his arm closer and, to James' surprise sniffed it. "I don't know what you did or how, but…" She tried to sniff his left arm.

"But… what?" James asked, visibly shocked.

"But I am afraid you won't be able to cast any spells with that arm ever again." James expression was one of sheer horror. "You might even be able to catch a Snitch. A wand would be only a stick in that hand."

"W-why?"

"In all my years in St. Mungo's, I have not seen anything like it. For lack of better terms, it would seem the magic… died in that arm." The crone released his arms and hobbled towards a potions cabinet. "All I can do is mend the bones and the muscles, so you have full functionality." A couple of moments passed in an awkward silence.

"It's better than nothing…" James said, somewhat resigned, "and I still have my left arm." He opened and closed his left hand a couple of times. "Do it."

"Then drink this," Mrs. Farrow said as she handed him a tiny blue bottle. "Shouldn't take long." James drank the contents of the bottle.

An hour later, James arrived back home, the right arm fully healed. The only difference was that the wand was now in his left pocket. He'd decided not to let Lily know about what the crone had said. At least of this, he could keep control of.

"Dropped off Harry at Bathilda," Lily said as she was fixing her auburn hair. "She said she'd keep an eye on him for a couple of hours. I see your arm is better," she continued as she was putting on her cloak.

"Where are you going again?"

"Told you before you went out. WE are going to get our will… ammended. Sent an owl to Xan, who agreed to help."

"But… Lily, do we really have to?" James whimpered, his tone still weary after that night's events. He was pulling uncomfortably at the collar of his Muggle shirt. His visible discomfort had Lily rolling her eyes. James rubbed his mended arm, still sore. He reached for his wife's hand, an appeasing gesture. Or so he thought. Lily apparently abhorred the feel of his touch now.

"We have talked about this, James. It needs to be done, the sooner, the better, whether you believe me or not," she replied. "Not that you have a choice," smacking James' hand away from her. "I need to make sure that Harry can NOT be manipulated through your family's estate or by your political allies, especially the Headmaster. This is not up for negotiation." James saw there was no talking to her. He let out a huff.

"Fine. Tell me again what IT wants me to do," he said, eyeing the bracelet on his wife's right wrist. Lily closed her eyes for a mere second and took a deep breath.

"The Witchblade does not want either of us to do ANYTHING," she replied. "Or, to be specific, nothing that would jeopardize its chances of being out and about."

"So you say." Lily simply ignored the interruption.

"I, on the other hand, have been thinking that we should name our Secret Keeper in our wills."

"Why would we do that?" James asked.

"It should keep any imbeciles from jumping to conclusions. Should we die, they need to know who to look for."

"And what kind of imbeciles are you thinking of?" James retorted.

"Bartemius Crouch." Lily said flatly. James huffed and rolled his eyes.

"You got his number alright."

'Is the man called Crouch that prone to jumping to conclusions, little one?' the voice of the blade asked out of the blue. Lily threw on her cloak and put on a notice-me-not charm on it.

"Stop stalling, James. you know I am right.."

Lily walked out of the house, James threw his own cloak back on and followed. As soon as walked outside the boundaries of Dumbledore's wards, they Disapparated. Lily took advantage of the silence to bring the Witchblade up to speed.

'Crouch made it legal for law enforcement to use illegal magic to bring in offenders, no questions asked.' Lily explained. 'He encourages swift executions and skips steps in the legal process for expediency's sake, basing his judgements on little to no viable evidence. I never want him interested in me or you.'

'If he does anything, we will kill him little one.' The Witchblade sounded very confident.

They Apparated in the Leaky Cauldron's back alley, just at the entrance of Diagon Alley. It was just as windy and wet as the day before. A confident Lily strode towards Gringotts Bank doors, pulling the hood of her cloak closer around her face, not to remain anonymous, but to stave off the rain. James followed closely behind his wife as she walked in. As soon as they were in, he ducked behind a column in an alcove right next to the entrance, removed his cloak. He then joined Lily, who removed her cloak as well.

"Mrs. Potter, I did not expect to see you back so soon," Xanthos said as he approached them.

"Xanthos, I was hoping you would be able to assist me and my husband."

"Mr. Potter. My name is Xanthos," the goblin introduced himself with a slight bow of his head. "How may I be of service?" he asked, looking at James. Lily however took the lead.

"I think it would be best to talk privately," she said.

"Certainly. We can go into my office." Xan turned, walked down a dimly lit corridor and entered a small room, sparsely decorated, save for a desk and three fairly comfortable chairs. James spotted a copy of the Daily Prophet on the desk, dated October 29th. He eyed the title of the main article. It read Minister Bagnold orders Auror protection detail to guard Hogwarts, Dumbledore declines aid. James smiled to himself. He snapped out of his reverie when he heard Lily speak up.

"We need to make some alterations to our wills," she said, giving the goblin a parchment. He skimmed it for a minute.

"So, Mr and Mrs Potter," Xanthos huffed as he read through the list Lily had handed him, "You want to enter our Lifestone monitoring program." James nodded. Xanthos watched as the human tried to stop himself from reaching to take his mate's hand. To anyone else, it would have been awkward to watch, but to the old goblin, it made no diference. Human interactions, outside banking, were none of his concern.

"Xanthos, if the contracts permit, we would like the monitoring to be just a small part of a contingency we want instated in case the Dark One, or any of his acolytes, end our lives." Lily started with no small degree of deference. The young woman's tone apparently struck a chord with the old goblin.

"Very well," Xanthos said, picking up a simple black feathered quill and a roll of parchment, ready to jot down notes. "And may I ask what the full extent of this contingency is?" Lily drew in a breath and started outlining her plan.

"After we enter the Lifestone monitoring program, should EITHER of the stones go dark at any point within the next 36 months, Gringotts is to send a copy of both our wills to the following people: Minerva McGonagall, Frank Longbottom, Augusta Longbottom, Amelia Bones and Alastor Moody."

"Why these people specifically, Mrs Potter?" Xanthos asked, not raising his eyes from the parchment.

"Professor McGonagall is James' mentor, Frank is James' partner in the Auror Corp, Augusta still carries a lot of weight with the whole Wizengamot and not a lot of its current members are crazy enough to anger her, Amelia and Alastor are people whose integrity is impossible to question." James nodded in agreement. "As mentioned before, this is a contingency - it's more about the numbers than the significance of the people. Still their past and current positions do not hurt, nor does the reputation these people carry." Lily replied. Xanthos nodded and took it all down.

"And after this action is taken?" James smiled in an eerie way.

"Shortly after dispatching the wills to the aforementioned recipients, the Potter vaults are to be placed under lockdown until told otherwise by either of us. Should you not recieve any word from either of us within 72 hours after one of the stones goes dark, Gringotts is to move everything, except for 50 thousand Galleons, to a new vault. Access to the new vault is to be granted by proof of belonging to The House of Potter by blood test and by providing a password we'll give you now."

"The password being..." James looked to Lily.

"Pick one." Lily thought for a moment.

"Devotionem nullam, Nullum jus jurabo!" she said with a grin. Xanthos lifted his eyes from the parchment and raised an eyebrow.

"Any reason for those words in particular?" the goblin asked.

"Both me and James are weary of this war, so we decided to make sure the Potter wealth will not be squandered on the war effort by any side. Therefore, whomever should raise claim to the contents of our family's vault should show no allegiance to any side and should not be bound by any oath superceding his duty to the House of Potter." Lily's tone was flat. James sat in his chair, nodding in approval with his wife's instructions.

"Bold words. It will be done per your request." The goblin seemed impressed.

"That's not all, Xanthos." Lily drew a breath and continued "If… if both of us die, the wills are to be read within 12 hours of the lifestones signalling our demise. Even if you have to read it to just one person. Also, Chief Warlock Dumbledore is barred from the reading, and may not accept bequeathments on anyone's behalf." Xanthos nodded, writing it all down.

"Wouldn't he be able to invoke a pre-emption right, as the head of the Wizengamot," James interrupted, sitting a little straighter in his chair, curiosity showing on his face. Lily looked a little startled.

"Rest assured, neither the Ministry, nor the Wizengamot hold no power over Gringotts since either institution's inception," Xanthos explained. "The wizarding world entrusts us with their wealth and the goblins are to protect it as we have done for hundreds of years. However, we hold to our right to be governed by none other than our own kind. There is a Department within your Ministry that handles the liaison with The Nation, but, again, it does not have any regulatory power over the Goblin kind. Consider this bank an embassy. All that happens on our premises is our jurisdiction, unless we decide to defer it to your Ministry."

"I admit, I have never thought of it that way. Fair enough," James said as he sat back. The goblin turned back to Lily.

"And the money removed from the Potter vault? Do you want it invested?" James nodded.

"Yes, we have talked about it," Lily said. "There is a list of Muggle companies at the bottom of the list. Stick to them, unless their value drops below 50% in 3 months. Small ammounts at a time." The goblin nodded his assent.

"Who is to be notified of the secret vault?" he then asked.

"Tell no else one of its existance for the time being. Our son is to be informed, in person only, on his 17th birthday or if he is emancipated. The key to such a vault is to be put in vault 687, in a blood-locked granite chest that is to never be removed unless the password is given verbatim by him."

"Anything else?" Xanthos asked.

"That should about cover it," Lily said, looking at her husband. James returned to his role as a bobble head, nodding in approval and staring out the window. Xanthos sighed.

"The contingency is to be implemented immediately, should the Lifestones change state, I presume?" the goblin asked

"Yes," Lily nodded.

"This is quite a tall order, Mr and Mrs Potter," the goblin said. "It will take up to 6 hours to set up the Lifestones and it is quite draining on your core."

"That shouldn't be a problem," James said. "We've both been through worse."

"Oh, there is one more thing," Lily intervened. "A schooling provision should be added as well. In the event anything happens to both of us, our son's guardian is to be selected from this list," Lily said as she handed a small piece of paper. "They are the only ones to have access to Vault 687, from where they will be able to withdraw no more than 400 galleons every 2 months for Harry's expenses, except for school tuition, which is to be transfered automatically on August 25th of every year."

"Should the balance of the vault drop below 12 thousand Galleons, the money from the secret vault is to be transfered to refil the 50.000." James added. "No account statement is to be sent unless the password has been given beforehand." The old goblin nodded in agreement, as he tallied up the changes.

"The fee for all these special transactions is…" Xanthos started to say, but James raised a hand.

"Take the appropriate fees in advance and add 1000 galleons for the trouble of implementing so much in a short ammount of time." Xanthos stopped and looked at the human. His body language spoke of conviction beyond what the old goblin thought him capable of.

"Of course" he said. "In that case, we should get started on the Lifestones. This way, please," the goblin said as he walked out the room. As soon as James was alone with Xanthos, he stopped him.

"A word, if I may," James said. "Remove the amount Lily added to vault 687 on her parents' death. Put it into a new vault, under the name Evans. Add to it, an approximate ammount equaling interest since that time, minus taxes and vault rental fee."

"As you request, Mr. Potter."

Little over six hours, both of them Apparated in the outskirts of Godric's Hollow. Lily stopped by Bathilda's house to pick up Harry, while James checked the wards. Everything seemed in order. It was time for a bit of peace and quiet.

October 30th 1981

The Friday before Halloween looked much like the calm before the storm. The sky was still overcast, but the rain has stopped just enough to allow a couple of stray rays of sunshine to peek through the clouds.

Even though she had left the house these past weeks, Lily never felt more cooped up, since she never actually got a chance to spend enough quality time with her son. She decided to risk having a bit of fun. But first, she had to add a precaution of her own.

'I have a request for you,' she said.

'I am yours to command. as you well know,' the Witchblade replied.

'You've seen everything that happened these past couple of days. Hell, you've felt everything I have felt, including the mounting stress,' Lily continued.

'A trifle, compared to that of my former partner. Such is the life of war,' the Witchblade said, sounding somewhat amused.

'You might accustomed to it, but I am not. I want to unwind and spend time with my son.' Lily stopped and sighed. A few moments later, she continued. 'Here is what I ask of you. Should you feel any immediate danger or threat to me and Harry, would you be able to react of your own accord and neutralize the threat to the best of your abilities?' She hated having to ask this, but she knew her limits.

'You must know that would mean I would be taking control of your body.'

'I expected as much. Can you do that?'

'With your permission only,' the Witchblade said solemnly.

'But you are to act of your own accord, only in the aforementioned situation. Once the immediat danger has passed, you are to relinquish control back to me. Are we in agreement?' Lily asked. The Witchblade was silent, as though it was considering the request. 'Are we in agreement?' Lily asked again.

'Yes, of course,' it finally replied.

'Then you have my permission.'

Lily then walked into her son's room. Harry was sitting on the floor, playing with a small centaur-like toy. It scampered across the floor, only to be caught by little fingers. Lily smiled and watched her son chase the little centaur all over the room. A couple of minutes later, the tiny toy found refuge under the dresser, next to Harry's crib. Before the boy could crawl after it, his mother picked him up. He teared up a little bit.

"Hey there, big boy. Don't worry, mama's gonna get that centaur back in no time." Harry's frown changed into a huge smile. He put his arms around his mother's neck and gave her a quick kiss and hug. "I know, you must be just as tired to be locked up as me. Now," she said, as she picked up his toy broom stick from the middle of the room, "why don't we play outside for a while?" Lily dressed Harry up for the cold weather and took him downstairs. She thought of letting James know she was stepping out with their son, but, when she was about to enter to the study, she saw him hunched over a couple pieces of parchment, quill in hand. He looked deep in thought, so she decided not to bother him. After all, she didn't need his help, she had a stronger partner close at hand.

The rowan tree provided just enough shade and coverage from the drizzling sunshower. The sun was barely strong enough to pierce the clouds, but it was enough for the young boy to enjoy his mock flying to the fullest. Lily was not much of a flyer herself, but she did take proud in Harry's prowess. She needed to thank Sirius for the present. She remembered that, the first time he played with the toy broomstick, he inadvertently smashed the hideous vase Petunia had sent the previous Christmas. Shortly after that, James said he'd be a great Quidditch player.

As Harry kicked the ground to gain altitude, almost reaching for the lowest branch, barely touching the leaves, she recalled another funny memory. Though their cat might not have thought of it as such, as she ended up stranded on the roof being chased and poked by little Harry.

'Anything the matter?' the Witchblade asked, noticing the slight change in her demeanor.

'I just remebered we have a cat… however, I haven't seen her in a couple of days. You wouldn't happen to have any way of tracking it for me, would you?'

'I may be an admirer of felines. Alas, I have no way of finding it. Unless it wants to be found. I do sense anyone else in the house, other than you and your family.'

'She's a proud mouser, you won't find no mouse or rat for half a mile. I am sure she would turn up eventually,' Lily concluded, still a little apprehensive. If the blade couldn't sense her, something must be wrong. She then turned her attention back to Harry and his antics. She didn't notice the front door opening, nor her husband walking out.

James had his eyes on the three envelopes in his hand, still considering not sending them. But, in his current state, did not have that luxury. He seemed oblivious to everything, until the flying toddler almost bumped into him, missing his head by less than an inch and causing him to stumble backwards a couple of steps. His wife trying to stifle a laugh and barely managing it.

He was about to scold Lily for being careless enough to bring Harry out into the open, but as soon as he got close to her, a slight nausea overcame him as he felt a piercing gaze fall upon him. It couldn't have been his wife, but her eyes were glued to their son. Nothing set off the wards, so there was no intruder anywhere nearby. Old Batty Bagshot might have been a bit repulsive, but this was definitely different. A red glimmer drew his attention to his Lily's right arm.

As James looked closer, he noticed the ruby, which normally looked like a regular jewel, sprouted a cat like pupil. He was about to reach for his wand and warn Lily, but he stopped in his tracks. The jewel blinked at him, sending shivers down his spine. He was suddenly reminded of its power. Yes, much of what that… thing… could do was still unknown, but, if he was to go on what it did to him alone, keeping his son safe for a couple of hours longer should be a cinch. And they did have the added benefits of the wards giving them enough time to get to cover, should they need it.

"Easy there, sport," he said, as he dodged out of his son's way, "you're still a little young for the Plumpton Pass (Quidditch maneuver). Let's stick to regular flying for now." Harry just giggled and wizzed by.

"Heading out?" Lily asked.

"Just to the post office," James replied, showing the envelopes in his hand. "Need to let Sirius, Remus and Peter know we might need them soon. That thing," he said nodding towards the bracelet, "might be strong, but we still don't know the full extent of its power. Better to be safe than sorry."

"Fair enough." Lily turned her attention back to Harry, as James threw his cloak on and walked out the garden gate.

The post office was a short walk from the village center. right next to the church. He entered the small front room and was surprised to find only three owls available - a dark brown barn owl, a red speckled tawny and a grey little one.

'You should do just fine,' he thought. 'You don't want to draw attention, do you?'

He pulled out the small pieces of parchment from within the envelopes and read them once more. He had to make sure his friends knew he needed them. All of them had the same message. It read:

Marauders,

Prongs is down with a bad hoof, doubt he'll be able to catch any Snitches anytime soon. I think the company of Padfoot, Moony and Wormtail would do some good. As for the Snake, we don't have any idea where, but the woods are getting thicker and more and more claustrophobic. I'm sure Prongs would feel safer, having his former pack around.

What do you say? Will you do it? For times sake?

Prongs eagerly awaits your reply.

J.P.

A.N: Next chapter we hope will beat 10k words, and will be THE HALLOWEEN, a.k.a the night voldie goes bye-bye :3… warning ahead for excess of exposition and probably a little foul language and physical torture….. in the end, what is a little dismemberment between friends? :-D