Chapter 31

After Albus' revelation and Hermione's perceptiveness the others quieted down to hear the rest.

"Well, if that's that James, and you don't have any more questions, I'll take the spell off Lily, then?" asked Albus. James nodded absently and Lily was lifted of the spell.

"James, do you trust what he said?" she asked immediately.

"Yes. Firstly, since I know you'll wonder," started James before the older wizard interrupted.

"James, do not give her clues. It could ruin the whole thing," said Albus sternly.

"I know, I was just going to tell her the answer to my last question. It doesn't give her a clue other than what the answer is, and I know she'll wonder about this and it could affect how she feels about doing the whole thing." Albus thought for a moment, and then nodded his consent. "Dear heart, I asked if the donor has to know if they are donating, and the answer is yes, they have to know they are donating their blood for this."

Lily sighed in relief. James was right, this was something that she'd worried about.

"Now, I should continue. We haven't much more time, we still need time for you two to decide either to do this ritual or not, and then the time to actually perform it. I covered the first part, the second part, and now I'll cover the third with you.

"The third part of the spell is what protects Harry for the duration of the time you are in a coma. The majority of the ritual's power is concentrated in this part of the spell because it is usually the part that lasts the longest. Though possibly the most simple part of the actual spell work.

"What I would do as the caster is state the purpose of this part, perhaps I'd say, Lily Evans Potter sacrifices her life to be in a magical coma for the protection it will provide for her son, Harry James Potter, until such time as he awakens her. This part doesn't need so many specifics as the second part, and it does not need a blood sacrifice. Merely the sacrifice of being placed in the coma works. It is also able to stand alone and not need to be paired with the other parts of the spell, which is how I'll be placing the coma on James as well."

Albus looked thoughtful for a few moments before nodding to himself.

"There is a fourth part of the spell that is optional. If you so choose, I can tie Harry's Life Force to yours. What that means is, if Harry dies during the war, you too will die as well. Otherwise without this part, if he dies the spell is automatically stopped and reversed and you wake up on your own. If you choose this and Harry dies, the tree of you will move on at the same time. This is a hard decision so I want you two to discuss it and decide together, because I will only do it one way or the other. I will not split you up."

James and Lily both looked at each other and he nodded towards the stairs. She sighed and stood up.

"We'll be right back," said James to Albus who nodded and picked up the book from before.

As the two left the room the memory faded.

The current James spoke as a new memory came into view as James and Lily entered the room from the stairs.

"We both agreed on not doing the fourth option. We thought about it but we wanted the option to be open so that we could have kids again in the future, not that we would want to replace you Harry, we just decided that we wanted to have faith that you'd survive. Taking the last option was like…"

"James?" said Lily. He looked at her. "Shut up. We decided to not partake in the last option. The reasons aren't important, just that we didn't. Pay attention," she finished.

James rolled his eyes but went silent. Harry smiled and turned towards the living room.

"What do you mean we can't leave a small note behind for Sirius and Remus? What will they think?" asked James loudly. Little Harry had woken from his nap and was sitting in Albus's lap playing with the long, white beard smiling and giggling when Albus reached over and wiggled the end of his beard under Harry's chin or in his small ear. Albus was smiling and chuckling as he played with the child.

"James, if I were to let Sirius and Remus know that you and Lily are indeed alive, they won't act as if their two best friends had just died and they became guardians of a child overnight. Of course they'd miss you, but in the long run they cannot know. What would happen if they told Harry before it was the right time? He would want to awaken you and then the sacrifice is null and void. Don't you want Harry to be as protected as possible? Telling them leaves open the possibility that Harry could find out too soon. I'm sorry, but a note is out of the question." Albus smiled sadly at James' broken expression.

"James, I can understand the reasoning behind your idea but it just can't work. Are there any more questions?" he asked them.

"Yes, sir. You said earlier that there was no other option for one of us to stay behind and raise Harry. Why is that? It seems like you would only be putting James under for no real reason. Why can't he stay and raise Harry alone? Or with Sirius and Remus?" James looked at her and thought for a moment.

"May I answer that?" he asked Albus. Lily looked a little shocked, but Albus's twinkling eyes and slight smile gave him the right of way to answer.

"My thought is this, what would happen to Lily and Harry if perhaps I would die before the end of the war? Lily would be in a coma, helpless, and Harry would be, essentially, alone. To put both of us in a coma guarantees that Harry has both of us when Voldemort is finished.

"Another idea that just came to me, Harry obviously isn't going to be accomplishing this very soon, I'm guessing about twenty years maybe before we'd have to wake up. That's a long time to be alone and a single parent. I would hate it if I became friends with another single mother, and…betrayed you at some point. I agree with Albus, it has to be either both of us, or neither."

"Well said, James. That is precisely why. Does that answer your question, Lily?"

She nodded and the conversation moved on to the protection of the house.

"It gets pretty boring and I think we ended it around here. The last memory is the actual spell work and ritual being done," said Lily quietly. She was watching herself cuddling the young Harry as he squealed while she changed his nappy. Harry smiled as he watched her do almost the same thing he had done only the day before with Teddy in front of her as she woke up.

Her past self blew raspberries on the little boys tummy and he giggled insanely. He sat up and she reached down for him and pulled him into her arms and hugged him tightly.

"I love you so much, my little prince. Mummy loves you. I love you, baby," she said sadly. Harry looked at her and frowned.

"Mummy go?" he asked her as he tilted his head to the side.

"No, Mummy's not going anywhere, baby. I just want you to know that I love you and I always will, no matter what," she said back. He placed his tiny hands on her cheeks and looked her in the eyes.

"Ah luh mummy. Mummy no go," he said. He was getting distressed at the tears in her eyes.

"Did…Harry, did you just say you love me?" she asked astonished. Harry had only had a basic understanding of speech still. He could say mummy and dada, Ha-ee was his own name, Pa'oo meant he wanted to play with Padfoot, no was a big new word for him, and then meek meant milk. Otherwise, he hadn't really said much that made sense to adults.

"Ha-ee luh mummy," Harry said firmly. James was watching with a huge grin on his face and tears in his eyes as he walked over to them.

"Harry, that's great! Good job, baby! Now say you love dada," he prompted.

"Ha-ee luh mummy," Harry said again with a grin.

"No, Harry say you love dada," said James.

"Luh mummy," was the only response. James looked down hearted. But Lily just laughed.

"Harry, you're hurting daddy's feelings. Don't you love daddy too?" Lily asked with a smile.

"Ha-ee luh dada. Ah lum mahk da Pa'oo. MOO-EE!" shouted Harry after a few mumbled gibberish words.

James was dancing around the room in a weird, excited, happy dance.

"He said he loves me! And he said Moony! Wait till I tell…" James' happy dance halted suddenly. The mood in the room dropped suddenly when James realized he might never speak to his friends again, or at the very least not for a very long time. He slumped to his spot on the couch, his excited mood disappearing faster than a chocolate cake did in front of Remus.

"Albus, I don't know if I can do this without at least seeing them one more time, maybe in someway be able to say goodbye. I just don't know," said James looking defeated.

The memory faded leaving the watchers saddened.

"Moony. I never even got to say good bye," whispered James with tears in his eyes.

a/n: sorry if this is shorter than you'd like, i was surprised with a pop quiz before class...basically a friend who has the same class and teacher came to see me at work today and told me that our teacher had given them a "pop quiz" during class and we were to expect one during class later. SO, long story short, instead of writing another chapter while at work, i did homework and studied...i'm such a...good student. I almost said nerd...but that's a given, i don't have to do homework to be considered a nerd...just being myself gets that accomplished! LOL. It's about 1 am right now...i promised another chapter and by joe i have it done and posted now! Now i can sleep! yay! I worked really hard on getting this chapter done, so Please review! Let me wake up to reading your wonderful reviews! Thanks!