"So that's everything then…we're ready?"
"As ready as we'll ever be."
They stared at each other, unsure of what there was left to do. It was she who reached out first and touched him. It was he who reciprocated. It was she who left his house in the dead of the night to take her place in bed next to her husband and started counting down the hours until she would be free.
xxxx
Lily paced the living room of her house with her son in her arms. Tonight was the night. She had ensured James would be out on a mission, leaving her alone to enact the plan. She didn't know how much James knew and wanted to leave him out of it. Severus should be arriving any moment. She heard the pop of apparition from the kitchen, but when she entered the room, it was not Severus standing there staring at her but James. His eyes were dark and angry.
"I know what you're planning Lily. I know what you and your precious lover are planning."
"I'm sorry James. It's the only way."
"No. You're mine and I won't let you go."
"James, I was never yours, not without magical manipulation."
"It was the only way I could have you."
The realization hit her.
"You're the one who found out about Severus and I and told Dumbledore."
"Yes."
"You bastard. You knew what you were doing all along. You tricked me into being your wife."
"I won't let you leave. I'll see you dead before I see you leave me."
He raised his wand to curse her when a green light hit him from behind. His body collapsed to reveal a black cloaked figure in the doorway.
"Severus."
She blinked a few times.
"You killed him."
"Yes"
He hadn't planned on it. He had seen James raise his wand at her and he had just reacted.
There was already one dead body. Their plan was falling apart before it had even begun. They were both pacing now. Severus stumbled a little and grabbed onto the wall for support. The killing curse had taken a lot out of him. It would be some time before he could use any magic at all let alone magic powerful enough to stop the Dark Lord and time was one thing that they did not have. The clock chimed. They both walked up the stairs to the bedroom where her child lay sleeping, oblivious to the fact that his father had just been killed.
Lily was the one to speak the thought they both were thinking.
"If James knew what we were planning, do you think he told Dumbledore?"
The windows shook in their frames, both Lily and Severus froze. The air seemed to vanish from their lungs. The baby in the crib started crying and Lily picked up her son and rocked him in her arms.
Each second seemed to take an eternity to roll by as they waited for the inevitable. Only a small lamp lit the bedroom where they new waited. Severus stepped back into the shadows, hoping to conceal himself and take the Dark Lord by surprise.
The plan, the plan they had spent months meticulously detailing had been thrown out the window. James was not supposed to show up because James was not supposed to know about the two of them. Severus was not supposed to expend all his magic on the killing curse before Voldemort even arrived.
The plan needed both of them and all their combined magic. They had researched an alternative, one that Lily could perform by herself in case he was killed first, but it was very risky and involved a very dark spell. He had not taught it to her, not wanted her to use it. There in the shadows, Severus made up his mind. He would simply fight the Dark Lord with whatever he had, even if it was only fists and a short knife at the moment. It wouldn't help much and he knew it, but he would lay down his life if it had the faintest chance of protecting his love.
There were footsteps downstairs and he closed his eyes to take a deep breath. When he opened them, Lily was staring right at him, wand raised.
"I'm sorry Sev, I can't let you do something stupid."
He instinctually raised his wand to cast a spell to block hers, but even that little bit of magic had not yet returned to him.
"Stupefy," her soft voice cut through the dark room and he collapsed into a heap in the shadows, aware but powerless to do anything but watch the scene unfolding before him. Lily had always known him too well.
She kept her wand trained on the closed door, willing her breathing to slow. Even if she was terrified, she needed to at least appear in control. There was an eerie calm in the room now. Harry had miraculously stopped crying and squirming and now lay still in her arms. She felt like her heart would stop when the door finally slowly creaked open, revealing a dark figure silhouetted against the light of the hallway. He stepped into the room and addressed her.
"Give me the child."
"No," she said in a braver voice than she felt.
"Give me the child and I will let you live."
"No. I will die before I let you touch him," she said, holding her child closer to her.
Voldemort quirked his head to one side, as if studying her for a few moments. She started chanting words that he did not recognize, words that she had copied from Severus' book and studied every night until she had them memorized. These were words that she had hoped to never use, but had prepared for anyways….only as a last resort. She watched and the beam of green light came toward her and moved her arm to shield her child, never missing a beat of the incantation. She closed her eyes as the light intersected with them, lips still moving. She felt it wash over her like a powerful wave knocking her under and pulling her along the ocean floor. When she opened her eyes, Voldemort was gone and she lay in a tangled heap with her child on the floor. She shakily pointed her wand into the darkness of the corner and released her spell on the man who lay there. He got up at once and rushed over to her.
"Lily, how could you?" He whispered, caressing her cheek. They were words that would have been angry if he had not been so relieved that she was alive.
"Can you honestly tell me that you would not have tried to take on the Dark Lord without any of your magic?"
He could not.
She started to check her child over to make sure that he was really, truly all right. She brushed his hair away from his forehead and gasped.
"Severus," her voice said shakingly, "what is this? This scar? It's not from the spell I cast."
Sure enough, there was a lightning-bolt shaped scar on her son's forehead. Severus took out his wand, and finding that his magic had returned enough to cast small spells, started casting some diagnostic spells that Lily could not identify.
Finally, the spell glowed green and Severus paled.
"What is it?" Lily said in little more than a whisper.
"Voldemort…when he died…turned Harry into a horocrux." He glanced at Lily to make sure she understood the impact of his words. He was unsure whether or not she would have learned about horocruxes in her work for the aurors. By the panicked expression on her face, he guessed that she had.
"It's not his only one. I had heard rumors that Regulus Black had discovered one, that there were many, but I hadn't believed the rumors, I hadn't thought he was powerful enough…until now."
"So he'll be back."
"Yes. It will take some time for him to regenerate, maybe a decade even, but he will be back."
"And he'll come after Harry."
"No, not right away. Harry has protection from him now. Your magic is protecting him. Voldemort will know that in order to kill Harry, he'll have to kill you first."
She picked up her son.
"So we'll go on with the original plan, we'll all vanish and let people believe that Voldemort killed us."
She turned to leave the room, but Severus grabbed her arm gently.
"Lily, you don't understand. By making your son a horocrux, Voldemort didn't just give Harry the power to kill him, he established a connection between them. I know that a lot of this is purely theoretical, but there has been a lot of research done on the subject. When Voldemort returns, as he gets stronger, he will be able to see what Harry sees, be able to connect with Harry's mind. If you run with Harry, no matter where you go, he will find you."
She turned to look at Severus and stared into his eyes as if searching for an answer. She knew the answer of course, she knew what needed to be done, she just couldn't bring herself to say it out loud. Finally Severus spoke the words.
"The only way for Harry to keep his protection against Voldemort, is for you to leave and for him to grow up believing you are dead."
She choked back a sob. The thought of leaving her son was almost too much to bear.
"Lil, it's the only way for you to protect him, for you to ensure his survival."
She nodded and reluctantly set her son back down in his crib, kissing his tiny forehead and trying to memorize the face that would be so much older by the next time she saw it.
"Lily, we need to go, Dumbledore will be here any minute and you know he won't let you leave if he knows you're alive."
"I'm leaving, but you're not coming with me."
"Lily, I…"
"No, listen to me closely Severus. The only way I'm leaving my baby is if I know there is someone to protect him. As soon as I leave, you will go to Dumbledore and beg him for forgiveness. Tell him that you loved me and want to seek your revenge on the Voldemort when he returns. Tell him you'll be his spy and teach at Hogwarts. Dumbledore will help protect Harry from Voldemort until Harry is ready to take him on himself. After Harry is ready, take your revenge on Dumbledore. It's safer if we have no contact until this is all over. You'll send an owl to find me when Voldemort is dead."
Severus nodded. He wanted so badly to go with her, but him staying was the only way she would leave her son under the protection of the wizarding world as she went to live as a muggle.
"Ok. I'll do it."
"Swear it to me," she demanded with a resolute look in her eye.
"What?"
"Swear to me that you will protect Harry."
"I swear."
The house shuddered again as the front door was blasted open. Dumbedore was there and they only had a matter of seconds.
"I love you," he whispered and pulled her to him for one last kiss before they apparated with two quiet pops in opposite directions.