I aten't dead yet ;) I'm just busy. I think some people wanted to see Lily and James. I finally decided to try.
Also, I've added some footnotes in the Snape chapter.
II(:
Lily and James Potter (and Voldemort, sort of, only not really)
There was a flash of green light and rushing sound that someone might compare to Death on invisible wings(1) and James Potter fell to the floor. As deaths went this wasn't a bad one, really. He got up and looked down at the body that had until a few seconds ago been him. Then he turned to see Lord Voldemort walk past the body and up the stairs to the room where James's wife and son were hiding. There was nothing he could do. He should have defended himself, even though death was inevitable, just to give them a little more time. But it was too late now.
JAMES POTTER? a voice said. James turned around. He had looked Death in the face before, but never quite so… literally. It was easier to be brave when it was only a metaphor. And yet he wasn't really frightened. This probably had something to do with not having a body, although James wasn't sure, since they there had been no Biology classes at Hogwarts.
'Yes,' he said 'That's me.' He hesitated a little before asking 'What's going to happen now?'
WHAT DO YOU BELIEVE? Death asked.
'Oh,' James said 'That's… er… nice. And what's going to happen to them?' he asked.
Death reached into his black cloak and produced what looked like an hourglass. He looked at it for a moment.
I'M AFRAID I STILL HAVE SOME WORK TO DO HERE.
'Not Harry and Lily,' James said 'Please, don't take them!'
He had died to save them. He had sacrificed himself so that they could live. If they die now –
There was a noise from upstairs. A woman's scream and a baby's cry.
I'M SORRY, Death said.
'You bastard!'
I'M JUST DOING MY WORK, Death said apologetically I DON'T KILL AND I DON'T SAVE LIVES.
James followed him upstairs.
XXX
THIS IS MOST UNUSUAL.
It certainly was. Three bewildered ghosts hovered above the ruins of the house. Baby Harry was still screaming and, more importantly, still alive. Two of the four lifetimers were now filled with a blue light.
'What's going on?' the ghost of Lord Voldemort asked indignantly 'Why isn't the boy dead?'
The Potters and Death ignored him. Lily looked over the Grim Reaper's shoulder at the lifetimers.
'Both of them?' she said.
SO IT WOULD SEEM, Death replied.
'What about the prophecy? Didn't it say one of them must die?'
THEY BOTH WILL, Death said EVERYONE DOES. NOT TONIGHT, THOUGH.
'I will not!' Voldemort exclaimed 'I cannot die!' he declared. The fact that he currently appeared to be dead did not seem to bother him much.
ABOUT THAT, MR. RIDDLE, Death said, finally turning his attention to the Dark Lord, YOU DO REALISE THAT YOUR BODY HAS BEEN DESTROYED, DON'T YOU?
Voldemort was too shocked and angry to even notice what he had just been called.
'Do you really think this can stop me?' he hissed 'You cannot take me! I've got six Horcruxes!' he shouted. Lily and James gasped at this point. 'I am immortal!'
Death glanced once again at the lifetimer labeled 'T. M. RIDDLE'.(2)
AH, he said, THAT EXPLAINS IT. ALTHOUGH IT WOULD BE MORE PRECISE TO SAY YOU ARE BOUND TO EARTH.
'I don't care what it's called! I can't die!'
I AM AFRAID THIS IS GOING TO BE A SAD, POINTLESS EXISTANCE, Death warned him, BUT I SUPPOSE IT COULD BE ARRANGED –
'I'm not going anywhere!' Voldemort screamed, and with that he glided away. He would have stomped, but that's a bit difficult when you are several feet above the ground and don't have a body.
I WAS ONLY TRYING TO HELP, Death said innocently, NOW, WHERE WAS I? He turned back to Mr. and Mrs. Potter. AH, YES. ARE YOU READY?
'Do we have a choice?' James asked.
NOT REALLY.
'At least we're going together,' Lily tried to comfort her husband 'And Harry's going to be all right, isn't he? We saved him.'
YES, Death agreed as the light in Harry Potter's lifetimer turned into something that resembled slightly bluish sand. He swung his scythe twice and the ghosts began to fade.
(1) Although Death himself normally prefers to appear silently a moment before he is needed and his usual means of transport is, in fact, a horse.
(2) Probably in order to annoy Voldemort.