Next chapter! Some people said that the last one was too short, I hope this is a little better, its not that much longer, but I tried!
Also, all my others started with a quote, but I couldn't think of anything that might be sort of relevant or related possibly. So no quote. A quick question, in the other chapters, were the quotes good, or just silly and a waste of space being there? I'd like to know your opinions, especially on characterisation. Did I get it ok? Was rather worried in this one. Hope you enjoy the chapter, and please review. As always concrit is most welcome, and thanks to everyone who has reviewed so far.

James and Lily stood back to back in the middle of their kitchen, their hands hanging limply at their sides, fingers barely clinging onto their wands. Tears were frozen onto their pale faces, leaving shimmering silver trails on their cheeks, and feeling as if ice cold hands had gripped a hold over their insides.

'He's not here...' Lily whispered, her voice cracking with emotion.

James couldn't speak; couldn't turn around to comfort his wife, couldn't move even, he was locked in place, unable to move a single muscle. His son. His and Lily's child...

'What are we going to do?' Lily's voice was weak and faint, a sound which James didn't like to hear. Lily was always strong.

They had run, panic stricken, from room to room, Vanishing all in their way to try and find their Harry, James had even began to wrench things out of their places with his bare hands like some sort of frenzied animal. But they could not find him.

'James, we have to find him.' Lily seemed to be talking, but James wasn't even sure he could hear properly, his senses seemed to have sank away into the ground beneath his feet, he could no longer feel where or even what he was. He was sinking, sinking away into a dark hole full of nothing, he could feel nothing.

'James!' Lily's worried voice suddenly brought him slowly back to life. She was shaking his shoulders, eyes full of tears.

'Oh, Lily, I'm so sorry.' He murmured, finding his tongue again as he wrapped his arms around her. He needed to hold onto something to grip something, just to make sure he could feel, to make sure this was real, just to make sure he was alive.

'Where can he have gone?' he stammered awkwardly, 'Do you think he...'

James couldn't finish the sentence. He did not even want to think of that horror. Lily suddenly became stiff in his arms; her silence told him that she was trying not to think the same.

'What do you think happened here?' he asked, trying to rid himself of the horrid picture that was forming in his mind. 'How did he find us? I thought Dumbledore said he wouldn't get in.'

'The Charm must have been broken,' Lily said, pulling away from him. 'Someone must have told him... something must have happened...' she tailed off, seeing the look in his eyes.

'Told him?' James echoed, his fists clenching as he realised what that must mean.

'Look, James,' her voice was soft and comforting, despite what was happening. She pulled him to look at her. 'It could have been a number of things. For all we know they could have tortured it out of him. He could be dead. It won't have been Wormtail's fault, he would never do that to you.'

He listened to her reasoning, and his muscles relaxed. It was probably the truth, James knew that Peter would never betray one of his friends, they were like brothers to him, he would never even dream of purposely hurting any one of them. No, he would not jump to conclusions; he was not Sirius.

He immediately felt a pang of guilt for doubting his friend, but it was replaced in a instant when their situation returned to his mind.

'I have to find him.' He said.

Lily nodded. 'We should get to Dumbledore. He will know what to do. He will be able to explain.'

We? James registered the word briefly. There was no way he was putting Lily in danger. No again. Not after last time.

'You can't leave the house.' James told her, shaking his head. 'This could be a trap.'

'A trap?' she echoed him, a slight tone in her voice that under normal circumstances would have made James back away, but these were not normal circumstances.

'To lure us out of the house, to get us out of our safety zone.' He said. 'When we're away from it, they could pounce. I'm not putting you in danger.'

'We aren't going to be in danger.' Lily said. 'We're going to Apparate to Headquarters. They can't get to us there. And anyway, they wouldn't dare come to where Dumbledore might be, and where his protection is.'

'There is no we about it,' James said firmly. 'And I am not going to Headquarters,' he added with a growl.

'There is a we about it, James.' Lily argued. 'I will not be left at home to do nothing.'

'Fine.' James said shortly. 'I'll get Sirius to come here to protect you. Or you can go Balthilda's.'

'Oh really?' Lily's voice was laced with irony. 'And what will you do?'

'I'm going after my son. And when I find him, I'll tear Voldemort limb from limb with my bear hands, along with anyone else who's hiding him!' he shouted.

'You can't do that, James!' Lily exclaimed. 'The Death Eaters –'

'Damn the Death Eaters!' James cut her off. 'I'm going to do everything I can to get my son back! I will not give up on Harry!'

'Neither will I!' Lily shouted back, her eyes flashing dangerously. 'But I'm going to do it the clever way, instead of rushing after him without a second thought like some brawny oaf just to get myself killed as soon as I get close enough for him to reach!'

She was breathing heavily, adrenalin coursing through her, but slowly, she calmed.

'James,' she said quietly, almost sadly. 'I can't lose you as well.'

James couldn't speak. The look on Lily's face was terrible.

He closed his eyes, and felt his heart pumping madly in his ears. He wanted to scream, but he knew that Lily was talking sense. What good would it do Harry, running after Voldemort, just to fall like a puppet cut from its strings, useless and broken?

'I'm sorry, Lily,' he said, opening his eyes, his breathing slower, his heart rate calmed. 'You're right. I can't do that. I'm sorry.'

She nodded in a dignified fashion.

'We should go to Dumbledore.' She said.

'Yeah.' James agreed, though with the tiniest hint of reluctance in his voice. 'He'll know what to do.'

'Do you think it's safe?' Lily motioned to the door.

'I think so.' James said, quiet and reassuring. 'We haven't been attacked yet.'

He looked at her, and she smiled a weak smile that did not reach her tear stained eyes.

He gripped his wand in one hand, and took Lily's small hand in the other, and together they opened the door and stepped out into the bright sunshine.