Summary: Two and a half years ago, James Potter's life ended when his wife was captured and declared dead. After intense mourning, his friends forced him to move past it, and resumed living without Lily. But an anonymous tip that brings Lily home sends his life into a tailspin once again.

Disclaimer: I own Penelope but that's pretty much it. I'll let you know on the rest. So, until further notice, JK Rowling owns pretty much everything in this fanfic except the plot, which isn't entirely mine either(see dedication).

Dedication: The idea for this fanfic is from the case of Lt. Commander Michael Scott Speicher, a United States naval pilot, who has been missing since January 16, 1991. His status has been changed from Killed in Action to Missing in Action. This by no means is a representation of his life, only of a presumed dead soldier. This is for all the soldiers who haven't made it home yet.

Author's Note: Revised 5 May 2003

*~*~*

The Haphazard Ruse

Once settled in a waiting room, James went through periods that felt like hyperventilation. When he started gasping, he received odd stares, and took a trip to the little wizard's room to dunk his face in a sink, receiving more odd stairs when he returned.

"Did you, er, fall in?" Penelope asked, looking torn between tears and laughter.

"I wish." James answered sourly, plopping into his seat once again.

"Maybe you should-"

"I strongly discourage any medical suggestions at the moment, Penny.  In case you don't remember, I'm a fully qualified physician myself."

"Alright. I think you need some alone time. I'll go check my charts."

"You do that." He snapped, and regretted it, but refused to apologize, because that would be utterly against his character:  James Potter did not apologize. He continued talking to himself for a little bit, until someone told him to shut up, and then took to mentally berating life. After all, why did it have to be so bloody confusing? He had finally moved on, and started a new life, as far away from all memories of Lily as possible(he had even considered marrying a good Muggle girl), and now they had finally found her. Of course, he wanted her to be alive, but then again, he didn't want her to be alive, as confusing as that was.

He loved Lily.

He loved Penelope.

He was married to Lily

He was married Penelope.

Lily had-

"James? Buddy? You there?" Sirius Black, his best friend, cohort in crime, conspirator in all things, was standing in front of him, looking worried.

"Hi, Sirius, what brings you to this waiting room from Hell?" James stood, surprised, when he saw Sirius wearing a night camouflage suit worn by Aurors and Hit Witches and Wizards, one of the same variety as Lily had left the house in the day she never returned. Until now, Sirius had never let James see any of them again.

"Lily brought me. I was on her rescue squad." He cracked into a huge grin, "We brought her home." Sirius briefly hugged James, who sighed in relief, and looked highly troubled. "I know this is hard for you. But look at it this way, even if you don't want her to have life with you, at least she has life again."

"Yeah…life again." James repeated, closing his eyes and trying to imagine what she looked like. He was scared to note he didn't know for sure anymore. When he had married Penelope, he had obligingly boxed the majority of her pictures, as had his friends, but he would still unexpectedly run across one now an then in the most unlikely of places. He always thirstily drank in her image, before packing it way, knowing he had to get past her. James had always had a clear and sharp mental image of her, but now he couldn't quite remember the shape of her eyebrows, or the tilt of her eyes.  He was very aware, though, of when he hadn't wanted Lily to have life without him.  James still had that small box full of the last few of her personal possessions.

"She's a real trooper, not many women could live through almost three years of Voldemort's captivity." Sirius had swung an arm around James's shoulders and started leading him, which James didn't immediately notice.  At a certain point, the human mind looses much of it's awareness and ability for comprehension, and it works only on maintaining itself and the body to which it belongs.

"Where are you taking me?"

"To see her. And you are going to pretend you still love her every bit as much as you did the day she was taken. You will NOT mention Penelope. And you will act like everything is just brilliant. If you don't, I will personally beat the crap out of you, even though you are my good friend. This is because Lily is also a good friend, only she has been an evil wizard's prisoner for the past two years and eight months, and she expects to have a loving husband waiting for her."

James was too pensive to point out Sirius has been one of the people to push him into a new existence, so continued to be led until an actual thought process occurred. "Shouldn't she be treated right now for wounds or something?"

"Well, that's the weird thing about this whole incident." Sirius opened a door in explanation, revealing a thin figure sitting on a bed, her back to them.

James was very confused when he saw a figure clad in an emerald silk kimono with endless waves of red cascading down her back to pool on the mattress, and if the dorsal view gave any indication, this lady was a healthy one. "Did you get the wrong room?"

"Nope.  This would be your wife."

The woman turned at the voices, and the two were met with one of the most stunning sights. They were looking now at an honestly beautiful woman, but not beautiful in the normal sense. The perfection and coordination of pieces that make some people gorgeous weren't what gave her beauty. Instead, she looked like an animal that had been dealt some injustice that it could never forget, and lived in quiet sadness. She had the look of a woman who had been pampered often and much. Her skin was paler than either of them had remembered it to be, her eyes were larger than before. And now, there was a small, coiled snake drawn near her right eye. And, most notably, Lily looked sad.

She didn't speak when she saw them, and didn't show recognition other than allowing her gaze to rest slightly longer than James. She faced the window for a very long time, before she turned around again to see them standing there, upon which she held out her arms, as if to have sticks of firewood placed in them. Sirius nodded, and motioned for James to follow him out.

James now felt an even greater turmoil now. He didn't guess much what had happened to her, his imagination went straight to one thought and stayed there. "Can you fix her?"

"I don't know. I figured she would recognize you." Sirius stopped at a desk, said something to the woman there, then waited. "She loved you, James, I thought if anything could survive what she did, her memory of you could."

"Here, Sirius. You know the rules, don't leave her alone." The lady had returned with a pile of blankets. As they walked down the corridor again, James saw there was really a toddler in those blankets.

"Who is that?"

"We don't know, but she calls Lily Mummy."

"What?"

"Yep. We're not limiting access to her, this kid is the only person Lily has said a word to."

"Christ, that's…" James trailed off, not really having an accurate description.

They entered Lily's room again, and Sirius placed the sleeping child in her arms. She glided around the room for a bit, singing softly. "Sonno, sonno, il mio angelo piccolo. Nel sonno, siete sicuri. Sonno, sonno, il mio angelo piccolo. Nel sonno, siete liberi. Sonno, sonno, il mio angelo piccolo. Nel sonno, vivete. Sonno, sonno, il mio angelo piccolo. Nel sonno, non ci è timore. Sonno, sonno, il mio angelo perso piccolo."

"That sounds familiar." James said, pondering the thought.

"I thought the same." They continued to watch her, entirely spellbound with the foreign image. The child awoke eventually, and murmured a tired, "Mummmmmy?"

"Yes, precious, I'm here." Lily twirled with the dark-haired girl some more.

"Where are we?"

"We're safe now. You don't have to be scared anymore. We're home?"

"This is your home?"

"No, no I don't. But I expect we'll get to leave here soon enough, and then we'll find a home, just the two of us."

"And I can have a kitten? You promised a long time ago I could have a kitten if we ever got loose."

"Yes, Celeste, you can have a kitten." Lily opened her nightstand drawer and removed and elegant brush which she used on the girl' straight black hair.

"She isn't even planning on going home with me." James said, looking very shocked.

"Blow to the ego, eh? At least things ought to be more convenient in the Penelope area, right?"

"I don't know. I just don't know. My life is nuts right now, and I need to owl in for work today, I'm obviously not going. This is just too insane. Do you know where I can get some coffee around here?"

"Down the hall, turn right, then turn left."

"Thanks." James left the room, thinking so many things at once none of this thoughts were comprehensible.

Lily is home…She is alive…She has a child…She doesn't know me…She doesn't talk…She looks great…She has a tattoo…She lived with Voldemort for over two years…She has a child…I still love her…Oh…My…God…I…Am…In…Trouble! He sunk even further in trouble when he spotted Penelope at the coffee machine, filling her hospital mug.

"Did you see her?"

"Uh huh." James nodded.

"And? I heard some crazy stuff. Is it true she has a little girl now?"

"Uh huh. She looks really good." In all honesty, she did look really good, other than the whole tattoo thing and the apparent depression.

"Annie said she has a snake on her face, but she doesn't have a Death Eater's brand."

"I wouldn't know about that. She's different, not like she used to be.  Lily was always so happy about everything, but she looked so sad."

Penelope hugged James. "She was You-Know-Who's victim for nearly three years, James. Of course she is different, anybody would be. It would be weird if she wasn't."

"I guess you're right."

"Of course I am."

Maybe Penelope should be explained. She was a rather brilliant doctor, a children's doctor to be more exact. She, too, was a witch, but unlike Lily and James, she had attended Beauxbatons in France. Penelope was slight in stature, and her blonde hair hinted slightly of possible Veela blood, though no one knew for sure. She and James had met when James walked in front of a car in Muggle London, and she being a doctor, did what she could for him.

It had been the last time James went to Muggle London, and it was the beginning of his new life without Lily Evans-Potter.

Author's note: The song Lily sang is in Italian, the words are Sleep, sleep, my little angel. In sleep, you are safe. Sleep, sleep, my little angel. In sleep, you are free. Sleep, sleep, my little angel. In sleep, you live. Sleep, sleep, my little angel. In sleep, there is no fear. Sleep, sleep, my little lost angel. Sorry if the translation isn't entirely correct, I don't speak Italian, if anyone does, I would love it if you would tell me the accurate translation. And this was supposed to be in the back seat, but I really like the idea, so I'm working on it quite a bit. Thanks to all my reviewers, I really appreciate your comments. And since I love it when other author's list their reviewers and I get to see my name, I'll also list my reviewers: Scarlett*eyes, jain62088, dolphingurl, torifire126, everblue3, Hanna-chan, LaughOutLoud, reader, princesslucy91, Rainfire, Dark Fire, Eleanor, The Elfin Child, NattyNatterz, One Bright Star, and ljpottafreak