Author's note: Okay sorry this is so late, to make up for it I'm posting another chapter tomorrow! There are two reasons why this is so late, the first reason, I'll cover in my second a/n at the bottom of the page. The second reason is because this is a huge chapter, plot wise, and I wanted it perfect. I also needed to write part of the next chapter before posting this one since I might have had to change some things as I wrote. Okay so that's three reasons...Read on and ENJOY!

Chapter 30

The memory faded as James walked out of the living room and up the stairs. Everyone waited as a small room, painted a sage green with cream colored trim came into view. A small cream colored cot lay in the corner, a wooden rocking chair next to it. Lily sat on the edge of the chair watching little Harry sleep peacefully. She cupped her hand on his small head and smoothed his baby fine hair down, but it popped back up relentlessly, which made her smile sadly.

Harry's light snoring made the older people smile. He was a very cute baby after all.

Harry watched as James walked over to Lily and crouched down next to the cot. They sat in silence for several moments.

"Lily," James whispered. "We need to talk, why don't we go into our room. Albus is staying downstairs for now. He agrees we need to talk in private before we make a decision."

Lily showed no recognition that she'd heard him, she only continued to stare at her child and pet his head affectionately. A slow tear fell onto her cheek and she closed her eyes. She stood up and James held her tightly. He had enough forethought to wave his wand over the cot and silence any noise they made.

She sobbed onto his shoulder very hard for several minutes. Finally, her cries slowed and she pulled away slightly. James had cried a little as well, and when she saw his tears she wiped them away with a sad smile.

"What a pair we make," she muttered. "I don't want to leave him right now. He's okay with a silencing charm over him for now, right?" she asked. He nodded and conjured a love seat for them to sit at.

"My first question is this, what do you think we should do? My second will be to ask you to justify your reasoning," James said. Harry looked shocked, and glanced over at his father in real time. Who shook his head and nodded towards his younger self. The meaning was clear, pay attention and will talk afterwards.

"I never realized you were so literal and forward, James. Aside from trying to get me to go out with you at least," joked Lily. Minerva chuckled lightly from the corner as did the current Lily.

"Well, I do like to think that I'm growing up, dear. But you're avoiding my question," he reminded her. She sighed.

"I don't know what to do, James. My first opinion is that it's too crazy. My second is that we don't even know the whole plan yet, how it will work, and the basics of how we'd survive. So, I guess I'm just worried about leaving our son for so long. I love Sirius and Remus, but…long term I just don't like the idea of them raising Harry. What happens if when we are woken up, he doesn't even know who we are? What if we wake up and we find out he died, or got married and had kids and wants nothing to do with us? I don't think I can handle that James," said Lily sadly. James held her and rubbed her back slowly.

"I don't think we'd have to worry about Sirius and Remus. Harry would be fine with them. I also think that they would raise our son to know who we were…are. I don't think I could do this without telling them we were okay. If he dies while we were asleep, I guess we…well I don't know what we'd do. Kill Sirius?"

"Hey!" said Sirius, who was standing next to Harry, who laughed loudly. James chuckled as well.

"Sorry mate, it was meant to lighten the mood," said James quickly. Sirius grumbled and went quiet just in time to hear Lily's next comment.

"But James…what if he hates us?"

"He won't, darling. He's our son, it will definitely take a long time, but sooner or later I'm sure we'd become close again. What we have to decide is are we willing to put our lives on hold indefinitely for our son's well being." Lily sighed as a few tears escaped.

"Think about it this way dear heart, on one hand we die tomorrow. On the other we live. Harry will one day have his real mother and father to love and care about him, and to be a family with him. Personally, I like the second hand's option. My self-preservation is kicking in, and it doesn't like the first hands plan." Lily slapped his arm lightly but a smile played across her lips briefly before disappearing.

"What happens if we wake up and find out Sirius and Remus couldn't care for him. He'll get sent to some awful orphanage, or worse, to my sister. He could grow up hating us for 'dying' and then he finds out we were alive the whole time, and that we went along with the plan. He'd hate us," she said.

"That's just a risk we'll have to take dear heart. It's one I'm willing to take. I would rather our son be alive and well and hate us, than dead and…well, dead is pretty final."

"James, I'm seri—I'm not kidding around. Please don't joke right now," she said.

"Wow, you two took those Sirius/serious jokes Siriusly didn't you?" asked Sirius, grinning. Lily, James, and Minerva all groaned. The younger aged people all chuckled but paid attention to the memory.

"I know, Lily, you know I joke around when I think the mood is too dark. But I think my point was made. We just have to trust Albus to make sure Harry is taken care of by people we trust. If he hates us, then he hates us. There's nothing we can do about it, but move on and try to help him understand why we chose this, and if he's determined to hate us, then…our baby will go on with his life and we'll move on with ours, hopefully seeing each other on holidays, but if not then…there's nothing we can do about it."

James and Lily sat and cuddled on the love seat together watching little Harry sleep while the memory faded.

As the fog cleared around the group they saw the living room again. Albus was sitting in the same place reading a novel titles Godric by Frederick Buechner. It was fairly new and still sitting on the coffee table. It was a Muggle novel and he was intrigued at how they new of Godric Gryffindor. A few pages into the story, he realized that it wasn't the same Godric, but it was still an interesting story.

James and Lily arrived from the stairs and walked across the room and sat on the couch.

"Interesting novel, this book. Muggles are so intriguing sometimes," said Albus as he closed the book and set it aside.

"Never did get to finish that book," muttered the present day Lily. James and Sirius chuckled.

"What have you two decided?" asked Albus casually. They shared a look and James spoke.

"We'd like to know more about the whole plan before we make out final decision," he said. Albus nodded.

"That's quite fair. Why don't I start at the beginning. You know the reason why I came here. You two were killed and Harry was left an orphan. Your sacrifice, Lily, saved his life and sent Voldemort to…well, I'm not sure where, but he was no longer in a physical form I'm guessing. I am saddened by the fact that the hero of the world right now is alone without his family. This plan allows a similar sacrifice to be made, while letting you two live to be able to join Harry in the future when Voldemort is finally vanquished and gone from the world forever.

"The sacrifice involves several ancient spells that combine your life essence, and your willingness to sacrifice part of your life to save your child. It is in actuality a blood ritual, or blood protection that takes your blood in Harry and uses it as a shield against evil for a period of time. In this case, until you awaken again. As long as you, Lily, are in this magical coma your blood that lives on in Harry will protect him.

"It's a very complex spell that you almost need to understand the basis of ancient spell creation to understand exactly how it works, so even I find it hard to understand the…technicalities of the underlying spell work. But it is proven to work.

"What it does is first it measures the willingness of the person making the sacrifice, and the severity of the situation. In this case, Lily, you will need to have no doubt in your mind that this is what you want to do, or it will not work and the situation is in itself, dire enough to merit this ritual.

"The next step we would have to specify that the spell is to protect Harry James Potter from the Killing Curse sent by Tom Marvolo Riddle on October 31, 1981. The spell will then make sure that if this situation happens, which it will, the spell rebounds onto the caster, but it will only work this way once. The more precise the day, year, and time along with the names of the people involved the more accurate the spell.

"For instance if, say Tom decides to wait until the early morning of November 1st, the spell would probably not work, since the day October 31st, 1981 is so specific it would only work from 12:00 am to 11:59 pm of October the 31st, 1981. But, if we were to say, October to November 1981 the possibility of Tom coming at 12:01 am November 1st would be covered and the spell would work. Do you understand?" asked Albus. James had a slightly dazed look on his face as he struggled to keep up.

Lily thought for a moment and asked, "But you said the more specific the spell the more accurate it is. What happens if just saying October or November 1981 isn't specific enough?"

"Ah, good question. When I said the more specific it is, I should have used an example of a vague reference that would still work. For example, if someone were to say, 'Protect Harry James Potter during the span of 1981 from a Killing curse sent by Tom Marvolo Riddle,' the spell would work just fine. Leave out a name or a type of spell and the less strength the spell can use. Having a full name of the Protected, and the Opponent gives very specific details and is a valid way to use the spell, but add a spell and it gets more specific, add a year, month and so on. Does that make more sense?" he asked.

They nodded and James opened his mouth and closed it, then opened it again and asked, "You said the spell would work until Lily woke up again, but then you said the spell would only work this way one time. Sounds a little contradictory to me."

"Well, in essence because you put a time limit on when this part of the spell would work eventually that specific part of the spell dies out after the last day, minute, and second of the protection. But there are more parts to the spell as I will continue in a moment which will last much longer. As long as necessary." James nodded his understanding so Albus continued.

"This second part, which specifies the time and days of protection requires three blood sacrifices, of only a single drop of blood. One from the protector, Lily; the caster of the spell, myself; and a third party, which the Protector cannot know whom the blood belongs too. I have obtained that sample and brought it with me tonight, so there is no need to bother anyone else. Since you are not allowed to know who, please don't ask specifics about this part because if you guess the donor, the spell is void." James butted in for a second with a question.

"Could you tell me who the third blood donor is? What significance do they have to the spell?" he asked. Lily nodded.

"James, Lily cannot know this or she'll start guessing who the person could be. If she would consent, I can place a spell on her for a few moments so she could not hear or see my lips move and I can answer your questions to an extent." Lily looked at James and then at Albus.

"I consent. If James approves, I'll go along with it with no questions asked," she said. Albus nodded to her and waved his wand over her.

"She is now deaf and dumb to an degree where she is unable to understand what we are saying. Your first question I cannot bluntly answer, even to you. It would risk the spell too much if Lily were to read your expression and guess. But I will answer the other question. The third blood donor is the person who might protect Harry after the spell. It is able to switch people if, say the donor cannot physically tend to their part of the obligation, in this case caring for Harry. So, the third donor isn't a definite, set in stone as the Muggles say, rule," said Albus quickly. James nodded.

"My next question is, can a werewolf act as blood donor?" he asked. Albus thought for a few moments.

"Good question," said Harry from the corner.

"I guess your trying to deduce the donor?" asked Hermione quickly.

"Thanks, and I already figured it was Sirius," said the current James. "Process of elimination says Peter is out for sure. If a werewolf can't donate, then Remus as well is out, that leaves Sirius…or me. But I didn't donate so I know it wasn't me."

"Mate, if he took blood from me, I don't know about it James," said Sirius ominously. James gasped, looked at the old wizard, and muttered, "That bastard!"

Everyone looked at him and then back at Albus Dumbledore, almost willing the past James to ask the question the current James had already deduced.

The quick conversation died as Albus spoke again.

"No, a werewolf cannot act as donor. It would corrupt the spell too much, I believe."

"Okay, my next question is does the donor have to know they are donating?"

Everyone held their breath waiting for the answer. Albus looked at James and took a deep breath.

"Yes, they do need to know. Blood unknowingly given in a ritual like this almost always reverses the spells potency."

Gasps rang around the room. Harry reached over and punched the wall he was nearest, but being insubstantial, his fist went through the wall and he stumbled for a moment.

"That right bloody bastard! Who the hell did he use as donor!?" shouted Harry. Hermione was looking from Harry to Albus, and back. Suddenly, it dawned on her, but she held her expression in check. She'd tell the group after the memory, but at that moment Albus was about to talk again and she felt like they needed to hear the rest of his speech.

"Shh, listen to what's he's saying!" she said above everyone else.

a/n 2: Okay so the second reason, life...college homework and papers/essays, all caught up with me last week. Not to mention work, and financial aid problems at school. But i think i should be good now. To make up for the lateness, i'm posting again tomorrow once the chapter is finished and polished. Since i have about a 7 hour work day tomorrow and i can be online and using my computer the whole time, the chapter shouldn't be too hard to finish. Well, after i finish my Logic homework...but it's just a worksheet so...psh, easy peasy! Can anyone guess who the third donor is? Next question, why does it have to be that person? Hmm... I also want to add, i know i don't have the present day characters reacting to a lot, but think of it as they are paying attention to the memory and they'll discuss and show their reactions afterwards.

Lastly, Please only review once per chapter. if you want to send a friendly reminder to update, email me, or PM me. The info is on my profile! I am going to start deleting repeat reviews that only say update soon or something similar. Just email/PM me to motivate me! Don't abuse the review button, i've been getting spam reviews, all from Anonymous reviewers, and i don't want to have to block anonymous reviews, i enjoy them too much!

Please REVIEW!!! thanks!