Potter's Lament
April 27th 1998, Potter Manor
James awoke with a start. He was remembering the events of the Halloween night almost eight years ago, where his son, Harry, had destroyed Voldemort.
-Flashback-
James and Lily arrived at the Headquarters of the Order of the Phoenix. They had placed their trust in Dumbledore to lead them through this war, and an urgent meeting had been called tonight. After urgently stating that they were needed, James and Lily had left their two children in the care of Lily's parents back at Godric's Hollow, although it was more to have security that their children wouldn't walk outside in the middle of the night than anything else, the children having gone to sleep a lot earlier. Sighing as they entered, they were greeted by hugs from Molly Weasley. "Your here, good. Dumbledore is just through in the kitchen. We've been waiting."
"Sorry Molly, but we were waiting for Lily's parents to arrive." James explained, and they were led into a small, dirty looking kitchen, where the rest of order was sitting, including his two best friends, Sirius Black and Remus Lupin.
"Hello Lily and James. Please sit." Dumbledore said, with a twinkle in his eye that was enough to annoy anyone after they saw it enough.
"Thank you Headmaster."
"I've told you to call me Albus you two."
"Well, it wouldn't seem right." Lily said.
"Can we get this started please?"
"Oh shut it Snivillius." Sirius said, smirking at the Potions master.
"Both of you please be quite, we need to get on with this." Remus said, trying to hold a smile off his face at his friend's antics.
"Thank you Remus, now Snivill... I mean Severus has some information for us." Albus said, hoping no one noticed his slip-up, nut the marauders seemed to notice, and hid sniggers behind their hands.
"Yes, the Dark Lord has a spy who he says can give him the information of the location of the Potter's hiding place."
"What!" James almost shouted, drawing looks from everyone at the table. "There's only one person who knows that and he is sitting ... holy shit he isn't here."
"Who isn't James? Sirius is there." Dumbledore asked, looking at James like he had lost his mind.
"Sirius isn't the secret keeper, it's Pettigrew." James said, getting more and more worried by the minute. Suddenly, he and Lily staggered, being caught by Snape and Sirius respectively.
"The wards have been breached." Lily said, and dragged James with her to the door, stepping outside and apperating away.
James quickly rushed at the burning structure of their home in Godric's Hollow, entering the door. He gasped, as he saw both of Lily's parents dead at the door, having both gone to open it. He shook his head, and ran up the stairs, hoping that the twins were still alive. He burst through the door of their bedroom, only to see the twins giggling with each other and playing with ash from the floor. He smiled at the pure innocence, then remembered why he was here and stared in shock at the ashes that used to be Voldemort.
-End Flashback-
It was declared afterwards by Dumbledore that it was Harry who defeated Voldemort, but there was no real sign of anything being done to him. Harry and Amelia seemed to be playing as usual, and Dumbledore suggested another ward to look after the three of them.
-Flashback-
"What do you mean?" Lily asked Dumbledore, who was currently in the kitchen of Potter Manor, drinking tea.
"The ward will protect three of you. I will find somewhere to keep Amelia safe for the time being until we are sure that you are safe."
"Very well, she has always been the more troublesome of the two."
"Lily, how can you say that? We can't abandon one of them." James said, outraged about how Lily was not even thinking about the effects on their daughter.
"I will make sure she is safe James, trust me." Dumbledore said.
-End Flashback-
How he wished he had not trusted Dumbledore that day, he should have fought harder for his daughter. He walked into the kitchen and found a copy of The Daily Prophet on the desk, along with a note. 'See me immediately, McGonagall.' He wasted no time in running to the floo. He had been keyed in to the wards years ago by Dumbledore, as the castle was frequently used for meetings and such. "Hogwarts, Headmaster's office." he said, and the green flames enveloped him.
Dumbledore was not having a good day. He was getting a verbal battering from McGonagall, and then James Potter had to go and come out of the floo. "You wanted to talk to me McGonagall." James said
"Yes James, just read that." McGonagall said, handing James a newspaper.
"Why are you giving me this?"
"Did you not read your paper this morning? Front page, I think you'll find it interesting." She said, glaring at Dumbledore.
Potter child adopted by muggles
Today, Josiah Bartlet, muggle Governor of the State of New Hampshire in America confirmed that he had finished the adoption process for a young girl.
The girl, formerly Amelia Lily Potter, is the only known surviving member of the Potter family, who disappeared along with her family after the attack by Voldemort in 1991, was abandoned by her relatives after a visit to America last year. She has been looked after the Governor for 10 months, even going to a new school during that time.
The appearance of the twin sister of the Boy-who-Lived is sparking new rumours that the Potters are still alive after disappearing a few weeks after the defeat of Voldemort, along with the Boy-who-Lived. We can only imagine what came over the Potters to force them to abandon their child in the States. However, we at the Daily Prophet wish Amelia Bartlet well.
"I don't believe it," James said, staring in shock at the headmaster in front of him.
"I'm sorry James."
"Sorry doesn't cut it old man. You said you would keep her safe, and she was abandoned in America, I fail to see how that qualifies as safe."
"I had left her with Lily's sister. I thought that ..."
"You left my daughter with Petunia! She hates magic, who knows how she treated her."
"When I visited Amelia was fine."
"I doubt she was. I am going back, I getting Lily and Harry, and we are going to reveal ourselves to the world. Then, we will get our daughter back." James said, before storming over to the floo.
April 28th 1998
Potters Alive
Yesterday, James and Lily Potter were sighted with their son, Harry, the Boy-who-Lived in the Ministry of Magic. Their reasons for being in the Ministry are unknown, but this reporter believes that they are trying to get back their daughter, Amelia Bartlet, after she was adopted yesterday (See Daily Prophet issued April 27th), especially as they were whisked away by International portkey to an unknown location. Before entering the Ministry, James Potter was kind enough to grant me an interview. When asked about where they have been and why their daughter is in the US, he had this to say;
"The reason why we were hiding is in case of any reprisals by remaining Deatheaters. We were hidden under a charm, but it only held three people, so we gave Amelia to a man we trusted, who would also tell us when it was safe. Unfortunately, we were let down by him."
This reporter is shocked that trust can be so poorly misplaced. We at the Prophet wish good luck to the Potter Family in future endeavours.
April 29th 1998, Home of Josiah Bartlet
Amelia was happy. She was certain that this was the best time of her life so far, apart from her birthday last year, the first one that she had truly celebrated. They were once again sitting down for dinner with Leo, who had been around, as they prepared for announcing that they wanted to run. The meals were spent with a few questions about school and things, followed by a long chat between her father and Leo. As they were finishing their starter, the doorbell rang. "Will you get that Amy?" Her father said.
"Yes dad." She said, and hopped down from her chair, before reaching the door. She opened the door to find a man with scruffy black hair and glasses, a miniature version of said man, and an older copy of herself.
"Hello, we were wondering if we could speak to Josiah Bartlet." The man said.
"Of course, if you would like to sit in the living room, I'll send dad in." she said, and the three entered the living room.
James, Lily and Harry sat down in expensive looking chairs, and were about to talk, when the girl who answered the door came in again. "Sorry, what are your names?" she asked.
"I'm James Potter, with my wife Lily and son Harry." he said. He was too busy looking at Lily's face of shock as she looked at the girl to see her face of horror at the names she was told, and rushed off. "What are you looking at?" he asked Harry, who was laughing as quietly as he could.
"That girl looked like mummy." he said, and went back to looking around. James sat stunned, wondering how he had not seen it before. It was true of course; the girl did look a lot like Lily. His thoughts were interrupted by the door opening once again, and who he assumed was Josiah Bartlet walked in.
"Forgive me Mr Potter, but I was eating, but this is important. Your rising from the dead as it were as my daughter in shock." he said, the annoyance detectable in his tone. James was about to shout at him, before seeing Amelia behind Bartlet, he toned his outraged speech down a bit.
"Sir, I thank you for looking after Amelia for us, but I must ask you to return her to us."
"No."
"I'm sorry?"
"I said no, Mr Potter. You disappear for seven years, leaving her with people who abandoned her in a foreign country, then expect me to give her straight back to you, so you can just do the same again? I said no."
"We were in hiding from Deatheaters; we could not reveal ourselves in case we were killed."
"But Amelia was perfectly safe. No sir, you just could not be bothered to protect her, and what are Deatheaters?"
"Mr Bartlet, you have to understand we just want our baby back." Lily said, tears starting to form in her eyes.
"And anyway, you can't keep her now. You adopted her on the assumption we are dead, and we're not, so."
"I can choose where I want to live, and I like it here." Amelia piped up, annoyed at being talked about like she was not in the room.
"I, I understand." Lily said, "But please, let us know how she is doing."
"I will Mrs Potter." Jed said, standing up. They shook hands, and the Potter's left, James holding Lily as she burst into tears.