Untitled (to be decided when I see where this story is gonna go)
By: SleepyAngel
Chapter One: The Second Son
The house was more terrible inside then it looked outside. It stunk like charred
wood and burning flesh, but she tried to ignore that and think of where her sister had kept
her son. Lily had visited them with James once, when she was still very pregnant with
Harry, and they'd been treated like gnomes: annoying and unwanted persons. Petunia and
Vernon had barely spoke to them, both with a mix of emotions on their faces, between
disgust and fear. Their own son had just been born, a big pink faced boy with wisps of
blonde hair growing. The couple loved him fiercely, and wouldn't let the Potter's touch
him. But Lily vaguely remembered Petunia carrying their son upstairs before Vernon
shooed them out the door after thirty minutes of uncomfortable conversation.
Lily wiped her eyes free from the tears that came with the disappointment of never
getting to be friends with her sister again after she'd gotten into Hogwarts. It hurt
everytime she had looked at Petunia, who'd turn a hurt back to her, as if by being a witch
it was betraying to her family. But Lily had given up after one year of that treatment,
finding better friends with her new classmates.
Lily searched the home, from the living room to the closet, leaving the memories
to try and face the future of Dudley, the baby she'd seen once so long ago. She didn't
know why it was important; maybe it was making up for the lost years of her sister's
coldness, maybe it was a way to show her sister she really did love her, maybe she just
wouldn't want her own son in the same situation. All she knew was that she had to find the
upstairs.
The stairs were barely recognizable, but she found them after stumbling through
the smoldering hall. The steps shifted and threatened to fall when she hesitantly put a foot
on them. Lily looked up the flight, wishing she had made James do this. Then, a second
later, she rushed up the stairs, not caring that they broke after her foot had left each one.
She looked back, but ignored the sick feeling of there being no steps left. She'd just have
to Apparate, though that made her feel worse. Having always hated magic that she had to
perform using her own body as an experiment, she much preferred the Muggle way of
stairs and trains. At least flying on a broom was safe.
There were four bedrooms that met her as she gazed at the upstairs. Lily randomly
picked one and went in it, finding a room filled with child's toys and extra things a baby
didn't need, but spoiled ones got. She left the room and listened for a second, to hear weak
wailing. Running, she burst through one door that seemed untouched by the choas all
around it, but obviously lived in. From a corner of the room, the crying continued.
Leaping over to land on the Dursley's bed, Lily peered into a baby's bassinet. A pink-faced
round child screamed back at her, obviously pleased to have an audience. Lily smiled and
picked up the baby Dudley.
"Sh, sh. Don't cry, baby. I'll get you out of here," she whispered and cradled him.
His crying became less, as if he was getting weak, and he finally fell back to sleep.
Carefully, Lily carried him out of the door, closing it as if she might disturb some one
inside, and walked back to the place the stairs started. Only there were no steps left.
Biting her lip, Lily planned her choices. She could call out, risking people finding
them and questioning why they were inside number four Privet Drive. She could Apparate,
risk messing up with all the pressure and fear she felt, and end up leaving half her body
and Dudley behind. Or she could jump. Surpringly, her last idea seemed her best.
With a deep breath, Lily leapt off of the landing. She breathed again when she hit
the floor below, without waking the baby in her arms. Before she could get up from her
crouch on the floor that she used to absorb the shock of the drop, she heard something.
Looking up, she noticed that the upstairs was shaking, trembling with the unexpected jolt
of her hard landing. Before she could even think, she got herself up and tried to run for
safety, realizing that wouldn't work. Frantically, she searched for a hiding spot, and, seeing
a cupboard, dove for it. She made it just as the floor collapsed. Lily and Dudley stayed in
the cupboard under the stairs until the shaking and noise stopped. Luckily, Dudley slept
through it and Lily hoped the rest of the neighborhood had too.
She slowly opened the door of the cramped room, rocking the baby with her free
arm. He kept snoring and she walked out when she saw that nothing more would fall from
the upstairs. Lily felt her throat close, causing her breath to stop, as she walked towards
the door. This was saying that there was no saving her sister and brother-in-law, this was
saying that she had been defenceless against Voldemort again. Like the time he had-
She shook her head from the thought and opened the door to the cool, fresh night.
James looked up as he heard the door creak and came out from a tree's hiding
place. He had been watching Harry, who was awake but didn't utter a cry, even as they
heard crashing inside the house. Lily and James were lucky for such a quiet child,
especially in the time of greatest desperation that the wizarding world had ever known.
Lily looked like the living dead, walking slower than a snail's crawl, face pasty white.
"Lily!" he cried as he approached her, though the cry was barely audible. He saw
her eyes come up to meet his, so dull. James nearly tripped over his feet as he saw that.
He'd always thought of her eyes so lively and dancing, not deathly and hopeless. His
unoccupied arm was around her before he could stop it.
"It's-it's so...so..." Lily gulped as she tried to speak through her tears. She only
used one arm to hug him back, her chin resting on his shoulder. James stroked her red
hair, knowing it would be little comfort.
They stood forever on the moonlit grass, holding each other, barely noticing all the
owls flying above them, the animals still cautious since the defeat of the darkest wizard
had just happened scarcely a day, or maybe long hours, before. James couldn't stop his
grip, it was too easy to keep holding on. Everything else was crashing away from his
grasp, and he had to believe that there was something he could still touch, something he
could still love. He wished for the simple days of youth when all he and his friends cared
about were tricking the teachers, or finding a new hallway, or talking to Lily when they
were still in the crush phase of love. Those days were so precious now, when all seemed
lost, even with Voldemort gone.
The thing that broke the two's embrace was the sudden squall coming from Lily's
arms. Stepping back from a daze, Lily stared at the bundle of blankets into the round face
of Dudley Dursley. Her eyes misted, thinking that his crying was the most beautiful sound
in the world. Anything that proved Voldemort hadn't completely succeeded was sweet.
With his cousin getting all the attention, Harry decided it was time to stop being
quiet and let his own wails disrupt the night. The parents' of the baby looked up from the
child in each of their arms and into each other's eyes.
"Are you sure we're ready for parenthood with two?" James asked, slowly rocking
Harry in a soothing, lulling motion. His crying subsided and his baby eyes strained to see
the other baby. Lily tilted the big Dudley enough for the two to get a good look at each
other. They must have liked what they saw, because the night was silent again, both
children drifting into sleep. It was that easy to mend a slight pain.
Lily's clear, green eyes shone with unfallen tears, or maybe a slight victory won in
her heart. "We'll have to be. I will not abandon this child. Dudley is now our son just as
much as Harry is."
By: SleepyAngel
Chapter One: The Second Son
The house was more terrible inside then it looked outside. It stunk like charred
wood and burning flesh, but she tried to ignore that and think of where her sister had kept
her son. Lily had visited them with James once, when she was still very pregnant with
Harry, and they'd been treated like gnomes: annoying and unwanted persons. Petunia and
Vernon had barely spoke to them, both with a mix of emotions on their faces, between
disgust and fear. Their own son had just been born, a big pink faced boy with wisps of
blonde hair growing. The couple loved him fiercely, and wouldn't let the Potter's touch
him. But Lily vaguely remembered Petunia carrying their son upstairs before Vernon
shooed them out the door after thirty minutes of uncomfortable conversation.
Lily wiped her eyes free from the tears that came with the disappointment of never
getting to be friends with her sister again after she'd gotten into Hogwarts. It hurt
everytime she had looked at Petunia, who'd turn a hurt back to her, as if by being a witch
it was betraying to her family. But Lily had given up after one year of that treatment,
finding better friends with her new classmates.
Lily searched the home, from the living room to the closet, leaving the memories
to try and face the future of Dudley, the baby she'd seen once so long ago. She didn't
know why it was important; maybe it was making up for the lost years of her sister's
coldness, maybe it was a way to show her sister she really did love her, maybe she just
wouldn't want her own son in the same situation. All she knew was that she had to find the
upstairs.
The stairs were barely recognizable, but she found them after stumbling through
the smoldering hall. The steps shifted and threatened to fall when she hesitantly put a foot
on them. Lily looked up the flight, wishing she had made James do this. Then, a second
later, she rushed up the stairs, not caring that they broke after her foot had left each one.
She looked back, but ignored the sick feeling of there being no steps left. She'd just have
to Apparate, though that made her feel worse. Having always hated magic that she had to
perform using her own body as an experiment, she much preferred the Muggle way of
stairs and trains. At least flying on a broom was safe.
There were four bedrooms that met her as she gazed at the upstairs. Lily randomly
picked one and went in it, finding a room filled with child's toys and extra things a baby
didn't need, but spoiled ones got. She left the room and listened for a second, to hear weak
wailing. Running, she burst through one door that seemed untouched by the choas all
around it, but obviously lived in. From a corner of the room, the crying continued.
Leaping over to land on the Dursley's bed, Lily peered into a baby's bassinet. A pink-faced
round child screamed back at her, obviously pleased to have an audience. Lily smiled and
picked up the baby Dudley.
"Sh, sh. Don't cry, baby. I'll get you out of here," she whispered and cradled him.
His crying became less, as if he was getting weak, and he finally fell back to sleep.
Carefully, Lily carried him out of the door, closing it as if she might disturb some one
inside, and walked back to the place the stairs started. Only there were no steps left.
Biting her lip, Lily planned her choices. She could call out, risking people finding
them and questioning why they were inside number four Privet Drive. She could Apparate,
risk messing up with all the pressure and fear she felt, and end up leaving half her body
and Dudley behind. Or she could jump. Surpringly, her last idea seemed her best.
With a deep breath, Lily leapt off of the landing. She breathed again when she hit
the floor below, without waking the baby in her arms. Before she could get up from her
crouch on the floor that she used to absorb the shock of the drop, she heard something.
Looking up, she noticed that the upstairs was shaking, trembling with the unexpected jolt
of her hard landing. Before she could even think, she got herself up and tried to run for
safety, realizing that wouldn't work. Frantically, she searched for a hiding spot, and, seeing
a cupboard, dove for it. She made it just as the floor collapsed. Lily and Dudley stayed in
the cupboard under the stairs until the shaking and noise stopped. Luckily, Dudley slept
through it and Lily hoped the rest of the neighborhood had too.
She slowly opened the door of the cramped room, rocking the baby with her free
arm. He kept snoring and she walked out when she saw that nothing more would fall from
the upstairs. Lily felt her throat close, causing her breath to stop, as she walked towards
the door. This was saying that there was no saving her sister and brother-in-law, this was
saying that she had been defenceless against Voldemort again. Like the time he had-
She shook her head from the thought and opened the door to the cool, fresh night.
James looked up as he heard the door creak and came out from a tree's hiding
place. He had been watching Harry, who was awake but didn't utter a cry, even as they
heard crashing inside the house. Lily and James were lucky for such a quiet child,
especially in the time of greatest desperation that the wizarding world had ever known.
Lily looked like the living dead, walking slower than a snail's crawl, face pasty white.
"Lily!" he cried as he approached her, though the cry was barely audible. He saw
her eyes come up to meet his, so dull. James nearly tripped over his feet as he saw that.
He'd always thought of her eyes so lively and dancing, not deathly and hopeless. His
unoccupied arm was around her before he could stop it.
"It's-it's so...so..." Lily gulped as she tried to speak through her tears. She only
used one arm to hug him back, her chin resting on his shoulder. James stroked her red
hair, knowing it would be little comfort.
They stood forever on the moonlit grass, holding each other, barely noticing all the
owls flying above them, the animals still cautious since the defeat of the darkest wizard
had just happened scarcely a day, or maybe long hours, before. James couldn't stop his
grip, it was too easy to keep holding on. Everything else was crashing away from his
grasp, and he had to believe that there was something he could still touch, something he
could still love. He wished for the simple days of youth when all he and his friends cared
about were tricking the teachers, or finding a new hallway, or talking to Lily when they
were still in the crush phase of love. Those days were so precious now, when all seemed
lost, even with Voldemort gone.
The thing that broke the two's embrace was the sudden squall coming from Lily's
arms. Stepping back from a daze, Lily stared at the bundle of blankets into the round face
of Dudley Dursley. Her eyes misted, thinking that his crying was the most beautiful sound
in the world. Anything that proved Voldemort hadn't completely succeeded was sweet.
With his cousin getting all the attention, Harry decided it was time to stop being
quiet and let his own wails disrupt the night. The parents' of the baby looked up from the
child in each of their arms and into each other's eyes.
"Are you sure we're ready for parenthood with two?" James asked, slowly rocking
Harry in a soothing, lulling motion. His crying subsided and his baby eyes strained to see
the other baby. Lily tilted the big Dudley enough for the two to get a good look at each
other. They must have liked what they saw, because the night was silent again, both
children drifting into sleep. It was that easy to mend a slight pain.
Lily's clear, green eyes shone with unfallen tears, or maybe a slight victory won in
her heart. "We'll have to be. I will not abandon this child. Dudley is now our son just as
much as Harry is."