"Professor McGonagall?" Remus questioned, closing his book and standing up.

McGonagall looked up after she finished sweeping the soot off of her robes, smiling slightly when she saw her old pupil standing ahead of her. "Mr. Lupin," she greeted before looking around the rest of the living room. "Is James or Lily home?"

"Lily is upstairs in bed, late shift at the hospital tonight. James let me in when he left for the ministry late this afternoon," Remus said.

McGonagall considered this.

"Professor, if you don't mind me asking, why are you here?"

"It always seems as though the news I have for the Potters ends up coming to you first, Mr. Lupin," McGonagall said, recounting the night she called on them a few months back. "But very well, I wished to inform the Potters of an event that unfolded tonight, and before you ask, Harry is not in the direct line of danger, not yet anyways. You never know, he has the same knack for trouble as your Mr. Potter did it seems."

Remus chuckled slightly at that last comment, coughing to cover it as McGonagall gave him a stern expression. "Right, yes, er, James and Lily," he said, scratching the back of his head, trying to figure out the best plan of action. "I'll just go and wake her, she hasn't been asleep for too long."

McGonagall nodded curtly, sweeping across the room to take a seat on the couch while Remus ran up the two flights of stairs to James and Lily's room.

He couldn't believe that he was in this situation, again. Remus felt sick for his two best friends who seemed to just get the short end of the stick for just about everything concerning their son. He paused just outside Lily's door, deciding that it was best not to go rushing in and scare her awake.

"Lily?" he said, knocking as he opened the door slightly. He poked his head into the dark room that remained that way for only a moment until Lily flipped over and turned her bedside lamp on. He watched as she sat up, looking first to James' side of the bed before glancing towards the door where her eyes smiled when she saw him.

"Remus, hi, when did you get here?" she asked groggily.

"James let me in probably just after you fell asleep, figured I could borrow some of your books for a couple of hours, enjoy the peace and quiet," he said, shrugging.

"You're always welcome to, Remus. Did you need help finding one?" she said, moving to swing her legs off of the bed.

"Not exactly, no," he said, scratching the back of his head again. "Someone's here to see you and James and since he isn't here, they want to speak to you," he said, rambling, which made the auburn-haired witch giggle.

Lily walked over to the door, and pushed Remus gently out of her and James' room. "Tell whoever it is that I'll be right down, I'm just going to put something on that isn't, well this," she said, looking down at her sleepwear.

"Of course," Remus said as he began his trek down the stairs.

"I'm so sorry," Lily said, rushing down the stairs, trying to calm her bed-head down. "Professor," she sighed, coming to a halt in the entrance to the living room at the sight of Remus and Professor McGonagall sitting on the couch.

McGonagall and Remus both stood as Lily hesitantly moved towards the two of them.

"Out of anyone who would have been visiting, I was not thinking that it would be you, Professor," Lily said, still confused as she took a seat next to Remus. "What can I help you with?" she asked after a few silent moments, smiling slightly, trying to hide her concern.

"I came here to inform yourself and Mr. Potter of an event that occurred at the school this evening," McGonagall started. She looked at Lily, then Remus. "Have either of you ever heard of the Chamber of Secrets?"

Lily turned to Remus, raising a questioning eyebrow before turning back to McGonagall and nodding her head.

"It was rumored that before Salazar Slytherin left the school that he built a Chamber beneath the school that housed a monster that would rid the school of those who were not deserving of a magical education," Remus said, trying to remember the story that he had read once in the Hogwarts library.

"If you were still a student in my house I would award you points, Mr. Lupin," McGonagall said with a slight smile. "But yes, that is the jest of it."

"Why would something that was rumored to have happened thousands of years ago be- no," Lily started to ask, but stopped when everything unsolved itself in her head. "Why now?"

"I'm afraid we are not quite sure," McGonagall said regretfully. "After this evening's feast the students found Mrs. Norris, Mr. Filch's cat hanging from the wall, petrified, and next to a message written in blood that warned the enemies of the heir of Salazar Slytherin that the Chamber of Secrets had been opened. Your son," McGonagall said, looking directly at Lily, "along with Miss. Granger and Mr. Weasley were found standing in front of the wall, having missed the dinner to attend a Deathday Party for Sir Nicholas. Naturally some thought they were guilty but Dumbledore found them innocent."

"So the Chamber of Secrets has been opened?" Remus asked after silence spread over them for a while.

"Mr. Lupin and Ms. Evans, naturally when the rumors came about that there was such a Chamber, both the ministry and the school's Board of Governors, saw to it that the school was searched and never was such a Chamber found," McGonagall said, with a slight waver in her voice. McGonagall stood up, Lily and Remus following her lead. "I just thought I would come and tell you, giving everything that has happened with your young Mr. Potter, you should know about this latest turn of events. Professor Dumbledore also wanted me to pass on a message to you. He wants you to know that he will continue to keep a close eye on Mr. Potter and keep looking into the sealing of the platform barrier and the rogue bludger, along with any other events that might occur. He wants you and James to both be rest assured that Hogwarts is still the safest place for Mr. Potter to be and should the status change you will be the first to know," she concluded before bowing out and flooing away.

Remus looked to Lily who had that same expression on her face that she had had on last year when he woke her and James up to tell her that Harry had gone missing. He moved closer to her, pulling her in for a hug, which she accepted graciously. "Everything will be ok," he said, stroking her hair, trying to comfort her. He held her at arms length from him after a few moments, meeting her gaze. "Harry will be fine, he is yours and James' son after all, and a Gryffindor to boot. You heard McGonagall as well; they will be keeping you in the loop with everything that is going on. And besides, with Dumbledore there no harm can truly come to Harry."

She smiled up at him. "You're right," she said softly. "I'm just going to go….upstairs."

Remus nodded, walking back to the couch to pick up his book, pretending not to listen to Lily's footsteps as she walked up the stairs. He heard her walk from the one stair case to the next and then stop and turn around, walking towards the back of the house. Remus sighed as he knew exactly what she was up to, but chose to leave her be. He went to the kitchen and scribbled down a quick note to leave for James before gathering his books, bundling up, and leaving the note on the stairs before departing.

James sighed as he closed the drivers side door behind him. He leaned against it and closed his eyes, just sitting for a minute, listening to the rustling of the leaves and the engines of the cars as they sped along Knightsbridge Rd. After a few moments he pushed himself off the car and turned to face the house where he knew Lily would be slumbering for another hour or so before she would head to her late shift at the hospital.

He smiled at the thought of climbing into bed next to her, holding her petite frame against him for a while after his long day.

James jogged up the steps to the front door, easily pushing it open and sliding his shoes off, dropping his coat on top of them. He strode towards the stairs, stopping right before them taking notice of a piece of parchment folded up on one of the steps.

Prongs,

Professor McGonagall dropped by to talk to you and Lily, dropped some news on her to say the least. Lily said she was going to bed right afterwards but she's in the office upstairs, probably hasn't slept at all. I'm sorry I couldn't stay, I had work to go to and I figured it wouldn't do her or me any good to try to make her do anything other than what she was doing. Come find me if you need to talk afterwards,

Moony.

James glanced from the note to the top of the stairs where a little light was flooding out from his office. He sighed, changing paths and heading towards the kitchen instead where he rummaged through the drawer under the phone to find the number for Lily's work.

"Hello, Chelsea and Westminister Hospital, 5th floor nurses station, Jane speaking," the voice on the other end said enthusiastically.

"Jane, it's James Potter."

"James it's been a long time since I heard your voice, Lily's been keeping you from us, and your son!"

James chuckled into the receiver. "Yes, I guess she has."

"We will have to change that soon, but anyways, what can I help you with, Lily's not here yet…"

"No, she's here with me. Jane, can you please get someone to cover for her? I just got home and found a note from my friend telling me that she has not been feeling well and has been passed out for quite a few hours now," James lied.

"Oh dear, but yes, of course, no problem. Send my best wishes for a speedy recovery, we'll see you soon then," Jane said quickly, only leaving James a second to say thank-you before hanging up.

James rounded the corner at the top of the first flight of stairs, poking his head into his old office. He pushed it open further when he saw his wife, her beautiful auburn-hair piled messily atop her head while streaks of ink grazed her cheeks as she scribbled onto pieces of parchment and in the books that surrounded her.

He leaned softly against the doorframe before he spoke. "Lils, what's going on? You're supposed to be resting before your shift tonight."

She looked up at him, dropping the papers she had been holding before standing up abruptly. She glanced down at her watch before smacking her forehead with her palm and walking hastily towards the door. "I'll tell you later," she pleaded when he grabbed onto her arm. "I have to go. I have to go shower, and put on my uniform and drive to the hospital, and eat before my shift," she said, listing off every possible task she would have to do within the hour.

"You're not working tonight," he said, rubbing her back, trying to calm her breathing. "I called Jane, she's getting someone to cover for you," James said, smiling slightly. He watched as she took this in but stopped her before she tried to protest. "You're staying here and that's that," he said, covering her mouth with his hand.

He grinned when he saw her role her eyes, admitting defeat. "So can you tell me now?" he asked. "This makes it sound tragic," James said, holding up the note for Lily to see. She raised her eyebrow, questioning. "Remus told me McGonagall came and that you hadn't slept, at all, and that if I needed him to come and find him afterwards."

"Well that was nice of him," she said sincerely.

"He was always the nicest of us Marauders," James said. "Still haven't answered my question though, Lils."

Her green eyes met his for a moment before darting away. "It's not as bad as it sounds, not yet anyways. Professor McGonagall came to tell us that Dumbledore is still watching out for Harry and looking into the events that we mentioned to him, that we had concerns about…"

"We're his parents, it's natural. Go on," he said.

"After dinner tonight, at Hogwarts, Harry, Ron, and Hermione were found in the corridor next to a petrified Mrs. Norris and a blood-written message that warned the school about the…the opening of the, well the er, Chamber of Secrets," she said quickly, slowing down at the last part.

"But wasn't that?"

"Yes," Lily sighed.

"But how did-?"

"They don't know."

"Well what does-?"

"I don't know."

"Well then," James said, running his hand through his already messy hair. "What about Harry?"

Lily sighed. "Dumbledore said that it is not Harry's doing-"

"That's good, but that's not what I meant," James said, taking hold of both her hands and placing them in his own. "Is this something we should be concerned about? Should we bring him home?"

"We shouldn't just take him out of there, not yet anyways. Besides, he's not muggleborn-"

"What does that have to do with this?" James asked.

"Salazar Slytherin only wanted those with all magical blood to be taught there, he was against Muggleborns. If the monster that is rumored to be housed there starts attacking anyone at the school it will be the muggleborns. Harry's a half-blood, he won't be the target," Lily reasoned.

"Ok, so he's safe?" James asked, still skeptical.

"It's Harry, he's never safe," Lily said, a little jokingly but knowing that it was also very true. "I'm going to go shower though, and maybe head to bed early, after dinner. If you want to go see Sirius and Remus you can, I'll be fine here, and I won't be much fun anyways," Lily said, smiling at her husband.

"Can I come with you?"

Lily smiled at him, squeezing his hand before tugging him away from the den and up to the third floor.

"You lied earlier, you are fun," James said ecstatically, squeezing her hand.

She looked back at him, rolling her eyes before pulling him into the bathroom and closing the door behind them.

"James, do you know if the Malfoy's are direct descendants of Salazar Slytherin?" Lily asked, coming into their bedroom, holding a letter.

"That from Harry?" James asked, looking up from his book.

"Yes," she said, passing it to him as she slid into bed next to him.

James read over the letter and chuckled at Harry, Ron, and Hermione's scribbles across the page. "I'll be right back," he said, giving Lily a peck on the cheek before darting out of the room.

He came back a few seconds later, holding a book that looked like it had pages ready to fall out of it. He tossed it down on the bed, jumping on after it. Lily scrambled out from beneath the covers, reading over his shoulders.

"I didn't know we had this," she said in awe of all the charts and family trees and histories that the book had.

"It was Dad's," James said fondly with a bit of sadness in his voice. Lily hugged him tightly from behind.

"I miss them too," she said softly. He turned around and kissed her.

"Here," James said, once they had turned back to the book. He skimmed the page quickly.

"Write back and tell him that although they are very supportive of Slytherin's views, they are not direct descendants, so it couldn't be Draco Malfoy," James said, closing the book.

Lily grabbed parchment and passed it to him, watching as he quickly scratched down his response to Harry.

"Here, I'll take it to Hedwig," Lily said, grabbing it and running down the stairs.

"Hurry back to me!" James yelled, to which she laughed, before he went back to his novel.

"I still can't believe that Dumbledore hired him as a teacher, I mean, look at him!" Harry said, eying up ahead to where Gilderoy Lockhart was striding towards the Quidditch stands.

"Yeah, I wouldn't have pegged him as a teacher when we were in school," Lily said, corking her head to the side, staring at the man.

James just chuckled, clapping a hand on Harry's shoulder as the three of them headed down towards the pitch. James held onto Harry when he saw the Slytherin team headed towards the change rooms, walking directly across their path.

"Are those Nimbus 2001's?" James asked, his jaw dropping slightly.

Harry turned around, looking at his dad before returning his glare to Draco Malfoy who was smirking at Harry while he talked to his own father up ahead.

"Yeah, Malfoy's father bought them for the whole team."

Lily looked between her son and husband, shaking her head in disbelief. "Harry, why don't you go get ready, we will see you out there," she said, smiling as she kissed him on the head.

"Go get'em champ," James said, ruffling Harry's head before he took off to the Gryffindor change rooms. "And get the snitch!" he yelled as an after thought, which made Lucius Malfoy look up at the two of them suspiciously.

"You're not buying the whole Gryffindor team brooms, James," Lily said as he threw an arm around her shoulders and led them towards the stands.

"But-"

"No, those kids can win without them. Buying them new brooms will only make them more like the Slytherin's," she said, knowing that that last point would put a dent in his plans.

"You're right," he sighed, but smiled again as he kissed her forehead, which made her laugh, distracting both of them.

"What?" James asked Lily, when she suddenly jumped for no reason that he could see. He made to keep walking up the stairs, but Lily was stopped in place.

James turned around to see Lucius Malfoy having a glaring match with Lily, whose hand was trapped beneath his ugly snake cane. "Back away from by wife, Lucius," James said, ripping the cane off of her hand and pulling Lily back towards him.

"James Potter, never thought I'd see you again," Lucius sneered.

"Yes well I was secretly hoping for the same thing with you, but alas we're both out of luck," James said in retort.

"Yes, so it seems," Lucius said, almost wistfully, which made Lily glare at him more.

"Well if you don't mind terribly, my wife and I are going to go watch our son win a Quidditch match now," James said, gripping Lily's hand.

"Well aren't we a little confident, Potter?" Lucius said back to them. "You're little Quidditch team doesn't stand a chance next to Slytherin, they won't even be able to catch up."

"Yes, because we all know that the outcome of a game of Quidditch is based solely on the speed of the player's broom, not their ability at all," Lily piped in sarcastically.

"As if you would know, Mudblood," Lucius snarled back. "You don't even know how to properly use magic, much less fly a broom with any ability."

That was it. James pulled out his wand, but Lily beat him to it. "You and I both know that you could not out duel James nor I, so why don't you just move on to your stands, we will move onto ours, and when we win we will try very hard not to shout about it in your face," Lily said, flashing one of her famous smiles that completely contradicted the words coming out of her mouth. James grinned at her before looking back towards Malfoy, snarling.

They both watched as the man stalked off, sensing the presence of some of the school's staff behind him.

"Mr. and Mrs. Potter!" a young voice called out to them just as they started up the stairs again.

"Hermione, Ron," Lily greeted them happily, shaking both their hands, "you can just call me, Lily," she said, smiling.

"And Mr. Potter is my father, I'm just James," James added, ruffling both the kids heads.

"Way to take it to Malfoy!" Ron said, congratulating the duo.

Lily's eyes went wide in response while James chuckled merrily. "Thanks," he said for the both of them before he turned and kept going up the stairs with Ron talking animatedly beside him.

"Mrs.- I mean Lily?" Hermione said, as the two girls continued on up behind the boys. "Were you often called a Mudblood?"

Lily stopped and looked at her, remembering her own school days. "Not at first, no, but as I went through Hogwarts and as the first wizarding war raged on, it became more common."

"How did you deal with it?" Hermione asked timidly.

"I won't lie, Hermione," Lily said kindly. "It hurt to hear that, to think that people were judging me and my abilities based on my blood, something I had no control over. But a couple people taught me that so long as I didn't believe that I was any less of a witch because of who I was born to, that no one else could ever hold my blood status over me."

Hermione grinned at Lily before she engulfed her in a hug, something Lily happily welcomed. Hermione froze when she heard the announcer's voice flood the stadium. She gripped Lily's hand and dragged her up the stairs, which made Lily laugh as she ran behind her.

Lily and James were leaning against the front of the Gryffindor house box, Hermione and Ron right beside them as they looked below, watching Harry and Draco battle it out under the stadium as they chased the snitch.

"Come on, Harry," Lily could hear James continuously mutter under his breath.

"Come on!" he yelled louder, when Draco was finally taken out of the race having tumbled off his broom.

"Go on, Harry!" Lily yelled simultaneously.

"Harry watch out!" they both screamed, having seen the bludger as it approached him from behind.

"Oh my merlin," Lily shrieked, when the bludger made contact with Harry's hand, shattering his wrist.

"He caught it!" James said excitedly a few moments later. Lily grinned at the catch. "Come on," James said, grabbing her wrist and rushing out of the stands.

"Harry," Lily yelled, just as they came up beside Harry, falling to their knees next to him while he cradled his broken arm.

"I think it's broken," Harry said bravely.

"Oh definitely," Lily said, gently holding it up and inspecting it just as the rest of the students and a couple of teachers came flooding out onto the field, surrounding the trio. She began pulling her wand out of her back pocket but was stopped when someone placed his or her hand on her shoulder.

She looked at James and Harry who both looked annoyed at the sight of the newcomer before she turned around.

"Ah, now Mrs. Potter, I can fix this if you don't feel up to it," Gilderoy Lockhart said confidently.

Lily rolled her eyes. "Thanks Gilderoy, but I think I can handle this," she said, smiling sarcastically at the man who looked put off at her turning down his offer.

Lily turned back around to Harry. "Now this might feel a little weird and hurt a bit but the pain will be over in a second, ok?" she said softly.

"Ok," Harry said, holding out his arm for her.

Both Harry and James watched in awe as Lily muttered a few words under her breath, which caused her wand to glow against Harry's skin. Harry gasped a little when he felt the snapping back together of his bones, only to have his smile resurface seconds later when he held his fully functional, and completely unbroken arm out in front of him again.

"Thanks," he said happily, pulling Lily into a hug. She grinned at her son, kissing his head before whispering to him that he should go change and celebrate the win with his team. James concurred and they both congratulated him once more, hugging him, before watching him head off with Ron and Hermione and the rest of the Gryffindor Quidditch team back towards the Castle.

"Is it just me, or have these games gotten a lot more violent compared to when you used to play?" Lily asked as James led them back towards the castle gates.

"I don't think it's the game, I think it's just Harry's luck," James said fondly.

"Or lack there of," Lily said snidely.

"Hey, hey, hey," James said, turning to face her. "Everything's ok, he's fine, you healed him up," he said, reassuring her.

"But don't you think that it's odd that first Harry had a random house-elf in his room warning him not to come back to Hogwarts, and now he's run into a sealed barrier and missed the train that would take him here, and he's now had a rogue bludger set on him?" she asked, skeptically.

"Maybe," James said, running all the events through his mind. "But we can't do anything about it right now, Lils. We have to let it unfold for a while longer before we can attempt to do anything about it."

"Before we have to stop them from hurting him again," Lily said, determined.

"Do you think it's him again?" James asked, piecing Lily's words together now.

"I'm not sure who exactly it is, but someway or another everything in Harry's life goes back to Voldemort and his followers," Lily said truthfully. James held her tighter.

"We will protect him, Lils. Always have and always will," James promised her, and Harry even though he couldn't hear them now.

"Till the very end," she said, hugging him back, as they both looked up towards the castle where the last of the Gryffindor house was making their way through the front door.

AN: I AM SO SO SO SO SO SORRY for being so bad at updating this story. You have all been so wonderful reading every chapter and reviewing and yet I do this. School and life got the better of me but nevertheless it's no excuse. I will post the next chapter within the next two weeks and that's a promise! I'm sorry this chapter isn't as long as some of the others but I'm still in exams till Friday!

Thankyou to all those who have followed, favourited, and reviewed! Please, if you have time, review, I still love hearing what you like, don't like and generally think about the story and where it should go! I truly value your feedback!