Word count: 1519

Chapter 2

The police station seemed different now that she was on the other side of it. Lily knew Sirius had the same feeling. He and James had worked here since they had been accepted two years ago, and Lily had often visited them, but it was the first time they found themselves interrogated as witnesses of a crime and not as the investigator or as a simple visitor.

She was very grateful for Sirius' presence, because that meant she had at least one person with her who wasn't sending her so-called hidden pitying glances. Of course, she knew it was because he was just as destroyed by this loss as she was. He had known James for all his life and though they actually were cousin, they had grown up more as brothers than just cousins.

Right now though, they had been separated for the interrogation. Sirius hadn't seen the body and when he had searched her house for whoever had killed James he hadn't found anything. His coworkers had asked him a few questions, and then he had been free to go. Of course he had decided to stay, in order to see if the team working on the case had found anything and also because he didn't want to feel useless.

Lily was still shocked but she was also the one who was their best lead for now. She had found the body – though the officers working on the case had told her that since it had disappeared they would have to identify who the blood they found belonged to – and when she had told them that the murderer might have still been there when she entered the house, they had begun to question her thoroughly on every little thing she had seen.

She was absolutely freaked out because she had fainted for around half an hour, during which her husband's body had disappeared, and there was no proof apart from the blood and the message on the wall that said a crime had been committed there. There were no signs of a break-in on the doors and no one had heard anything, but then no one ever heard anything.

Finally the questions ended and she was allowed to leave. She stopped in front of James' desk on her way out, her gaze fixed on a photo of their wedding that stood there.

"Come on Lils', you can't stay here," Sirius said as he gently moved her toward the exit. "I'll take you home."

Lily laughed humorlessly. "What is a home Sirius?"

Her friend looked taken aback by the question, but he answered nonetheless. "Somewhere you feel safe?"

She nodded slowly, and spoke again. "Yes, but not only. I think home is where the heart is, and my heart just isn't there anymore. Plus, how could I ever feel safe there ever again after this happened?"

The elevator stopped and they exited it without another word. They left the building and stepped in the busy streets of London. The afternoon sun gave a sort of orange glow to their surroundings. Usually Lily would have smiled at the beauty of it, but now the only thing she could think of was how unfair it was for the world to keep on turning. Her heart ached like it wanted to crawl out of her chest and tears were burning behind her eyes but she didn't want to break in the middle of the street.

"Hey, are you alright?" Sirius must have noticed, because there was concern in his eyes as he stopped walking and stood beside her.

"I'm fine," came the automatic answer.

"No you're not," he stated as he wrapped an arm around her shoulders. "You know, I live not far from here. You could stay there for the night… I'll stay on the couch, it doesn't bother me."

Lily gave a half-chocked laugh. "If this is what you stay to your conquests it's a wonder you have so many. Don't worry, I'm fine."

"I'm serious Lily. If you don't want to go back, my door is always open for you."

"And I am too. I think, I think I need to go back. You know, I feel like if I don't do it now I'll never have the courage to..."

"I'm sorry," Sirius blurted out, startling Lily out of her sentence.

"For what?" She asked, confused.

"For everything. I'm sorry. I feel like I should have done something, like I should have been there for him, for you… I should have been there to do something."

"It's not your fault, you know. There's nothing we could have done. Hell, there's nothing I could have done and I was there," Lily retorted.

"But James is like my brother and you're family. I should have felt something! I should have known something would happen…"

"Was there any reason for you to think that something like that would happen?" Lily asked, raising an eyebrow.

"Well no, but I should have…"

"Then there is nothing you could have done." She looked at him, and she saw the anguish in his eyes. "I forgive you Sirius," she said, sensing those were the right words to say.

"Thank you."

"You're welcome."

They walked in silence until they reached Lily's car.

"Do you want me to go with you?"

Lily looked through her open window at those words, and a soft smile appeared on her lips as she shook her head softly.

"I don't think it will be necessary. You said they cleared the house, right? I'll be fine. You take care of yourself though Sirius."

"I will. I'll see you soon Lily."

And with that Lily closed the window as Sirius stepped back. The drive back home was quick – the house they had chosen wasn't really far from James' workplace and there wasn't much traffic.

She parked her car and for the second time that day she stood on her porch searching for her keys. Only this time she wasn't humming any song and she wasn't looking forward to what was on the other side of the door.

Finally, she stepped into the big house thankful that at least whatever damage there was wasn't in her immediate sight. Entering was difficult enough; she couldn't imagine how hard it would be for her if the first thing she saw was the crime scene.

It was time to eat, but she didn't have the heart to eat anything. She wasn't hungry, and she had the feeling she wouldn't be able to stomach anything anyway. Instead she sat on the sofa, burying her head in the plaid James always used. His smell was still there, and she already dreaded the day she wouldn't be able to smell it anymore.

She didn't know when she fell asleep like this, but when the sound of her ringing cellphone woke her up night had fallen. For half a second, she wondered why she wasn't in her bed and why her husband wasn't asleep beside her, and then the events of the day came crashing back down on her.

She felt about to cry, but then another ring tore her out of her depressive thoughts. For someone to call her in the middle of the night, it was either important or a false number. She didn't really know what she was hoping for. If it was important, then it might be information about what had happened to James, but did she really want to hear that they had found his body lying somewhere? A false number might be safer for her heart… Well, anyway she had to answer.

She got up quickly, and by the third ring the phone was in her hand, a too familiar caller ID flashing before her eyes. Her heart suddenly in her throat, she flipped it open and put it against her ear.

"Hello? James, is that you?"

Only silence answered her and she looked back at the caller ID. It clearly was saying James Potter, but that was impossible. The phone had been in the room, with his body – it had been what brought her there in the first place – and James was dead, he couldn't be calling her.

Her resolve strengthened and she put the phone back against her ear.

"Whoever is there, this isn't funny!"

And then it wasn't silence anymore. There was breathing on the other end and then a voice.

"Lily?"

The voice was so familiar it hurt, but hearing it now was impossible.

"James?" She asked nonetheless, hating herself for letting hope show in her voice.

"Lily, is that you?"

"Yes, yes it's me. James, what's happening? I don't understand, I thought you were dead?"

Silence again, and then a shuffling sound.

"James?" She asked anxiously.

"Sorry, but James isn't available right now. And whether he will be again is entirely up to you," said a man's voice that definitely wasn't James'.

"Who… Who are you? And what have you done to James?"

"Me? My name is Voldemort. As for what I've done to your precious James? Nothing yet, but as I've said, that depends entirely of you…"

AN/ So, what did you think of that? James isn't dead (I couldn't kill him, it's only the beginning after all) and Voldemort appeared…

Sirius and Lily's talk was probably one of the hardest things I ever wrote, but I quite like how it turned out in the end.

Please tell me what you thought!

This was written for the As Strong as We Are United Competition (song) and the Color of the Rainbow OS Challenge (Orange).