Choices

Summary: There's power in all of the choices we make. So, if some of Lily's choices had been different, she and her husband would have lived. But what are the consequences?

Disclaimer: Harry Potter is not mine. The whole thing belongs to J. K. Rowling and Warner.

James didn't understand what was happening. The moment he felt the chill going down his spine, he lost his ability to name what was around him. Everything passed as blurs, as if a weird mist had covered everything around him. He heard Sirius start shouting something about Snape, and then he heard another scream. While the first scream, Sirius' shout, was full of anger, the second was struggled, hurtful, pained, like a trapped animal. It was long, desperate and full of sorrow. If he were in condition of paying attention, James would have noticed he actually knew where that scream was coming from. But as he wasn't, it took him a while to realize that that scream was coming from himself.

The expressions on Albus', Sirius' and Snape's faces were similar: Surprise, a hint of anger, but principally fright. Finally there was silence in the room, for the first time since they had arrived there. James held his hands over his eyes and started whimpering.

Without uncovering his eyes, James rushedly told the other three what happened, what he had felt and what that meant, and then everything became a major havoc. Dumbledore pointing his wand to the silvery objects in his office to turn them on, and they started to spin or emit some sounds and lights, Sirius shouting and Snape sobbing in desperation (which would be a big surprise for James, if he had paid attention).

Not long, though, James understood what he had to do. He had to go to his house, he had to find his wife, and his son. He hadn't been there when somebody invaded his house, but maybe he would get there before something tragic happened. If they were alive, he would fight. He would fight more than he'd ever fought during his whole live, even more than the other three times he fought Lord Voldemort.

If they weren't alive... James couldn't even consider the possibility. Lily and Harry were his life, so, no, they wouldn't die. James would die if they died. So, if he was alive, they couldn't be dead, right?

James would only stop running when he got outside the wards that didn't let him apparate. He didn't hear what Dumbledore said before he left his office, and he surely wasn't paying attention to Sirius shouting his name, as he followed his best friend.

Finally, he got to the border of the forest, outside the protection of the anti-apparation wards. He didn't even feel the nasty feeling apparating, something he got used to, but never liked in any way.

(*) And then he was in front of his house. Or maybe, what had been his house, as this one was a big mass of destruction. There seemed to be some fire in the upper part of the house because the air was filled with the terrible smell of smoke. However, James barely acknowledged all this. The only thing that entered his mind was the horror caused by the image above his house.

An enormous green skull with a snake coming out of its mouth, as if mocking James, taunting him. The Mark. His Mark. James had little time to let the information sink in, as he inhaled and smelled the smoke that was hovering in the air.

Suddenly, the smell changed. It was now earthy. Actually, it smelled much more like grass, but the hint of earth was there. What James hadn't realized, though, was that he had fallen, his face was in fact aspirating the grass of his garden.

"LILY! HARRY!" he shouted, his voice hoarse even to his own ears.

James Potter was in utter disgrace. There would be no other word or expression for it. There was so much pain, radiating from nowhere to every part of his body. He cried as his heart burnt and contracted itself to a piece of nothing more than coal. His cries turned into something more, a scandal of sobs and tears, but his mind was so far away that he just couldn't calm himself down. He didn't want to calm himself down.

Green eyes. Four green eyes he worshiped, lived for, thought about every single minute of his existence. And now he could almost see the light escaping from his precious little emeralds. It would be better not to have sight if he couldn't see those eyes anymore.

The sound of Lily's voice, the first thing and the last thing he heard every day since his life mattered. Harry's giggles of joy, screams of laughter when James tickled him, when James blew a raspberry on his bare tummy. It would be better not to hear if he couldn't listen to their happiness anymore.

A second later, or maybe an eternity, James wouldn't know, Sirius appeared somewhere behind him. If he said something, if he did something, James wouldn't be able to know. He lost all his senses, every power in his body, magical or muggle, concentrated in saving his memories of the two pieces of him that were gone.

"JAMES!" Sirius shouted, holding his best friend's back. He sat on the ground and lifted his friend, putting him on his lad. He felt James cling on to him as if holding for his dear life. "PLEASE, PRONGS, HOLD ON... PLEASE, PRONGS, BE STRONG..." Sirius had a hard time to convince himself to hold on and be strong, as he had never seen James in such grief, not even when his parents died one year after their graduation.

Sirius himself cried softly. He wanted to do about the same things that James was doing, but he kept his mind away from the fact that one of his best friends and his beloved godson were dead. Instead, he focused on his brother in anything but blood that, thanks whatever Deity was watching over them, was still alive. He focused on the fact that this brother needed him, and this brother needed somebody to make him continue living, and kept the grief as far away as he could.

With some effort, James arched his back a bit so that Sirius could properly hug him. Instantly, Sirius felt his shoulder wet. The quantity of tears, of water, coming from his best friend's eyes were inhuman, and yet they kept coming. Hell, Sirius was crying as well, he couldn't hold it, but the tears coming from James' eyes could easily be compared to a river flowing... He muttered some nonsense, trying to get James to calm down a bit, but he knew it would do almost no good.

Eventually, Sirius Black got used to his own sobs, as well as his friend's and the sound of wood burning from the house. That was when he heard a noise. A noise that shouldn't be there, a noise that he wasn't expecting to hear. A sound that went straight from his ears to his heart. Well, he had heard that so many times before that there was no doubt what it was.

The problem was he thought he wouldn't hear that sound anymore. Everything he knew as part of the Order of the Phoenix told him that that was just impossible. Inside the half destroyed house, inside of the ruins that once held his best friend's palace, there was a baby. Crying. But not only any baby crying.

Inside that house, Harry was alive and crying.

Albus couldn't understand what had happened. Their plan was flawless, the Fidelius charm performed by Lily should have kept Tom Riddle out of their home. It should have kept all their enemies out of there, unless Sirius permitted them to enter.

When he saw James... No, wait, the body that resembled James, run from his office, and then Sirius desperately following, his doubts raised more. With a glance at Severus, who had sat in one of the chintz armchairs, crying hard, he left his office in a pursuit for Sirius Black.

They knew there was a spy from Voldemort inside the Order of the Phoenix. That's why he kept from everybody the fact that Snape was joining their side since he told Voldemort about the prophecy, and his former Lord decided he was going to kill Lily Evans. He even acknowledged the suspicion that James and Sirius had that maybe Remus Lupin was that 'enemy within'. But Sirius Black? Hadn't he been informally adopted by the Potters'? Hadn't Albus himself seen Sirius crying like there was no tomorrow when Harold Potter and his wife died?

It seemed impossible to him that James Potter's brother in everything but blood would betray him like that... And yet, that was a war, and everything is not what it seems during a war.

Dumbledore was no thirteen-year-old teenager, but he that night ran like one. He couldn't lose the sight of Sirius Black, principally if he was the spy.

When they finally got to the entrance of the forest, he saw James apparating, as well as Sirius trying to reach the point where he could do it too. A sharp movement of wand and half a dozen well chosen words allowed Albus to prevent Sirius to apparate. Sirius looked to his body in confusion as he couldn't follow his friend.

"Sirius Black..." Albus said, using a simple spell to fill his lungs with air, so he could speak again. "I think we have to talk..."

Sirius turned to face his old mentor. The pain that Albus Dumbledore saw in his frown of a face was enough to make himself stop from doing anything such as cursing the man who was before him.

"Albus... I need to find J-James. I n-need to h-help him... L-Lily... and Ha-Harry..." he stuttered looking deep into Dumbledore's blue eyes, tears starting to fall from his own eyes.

"I understand Sirius... But you can't overlook my concern... Only one person could have allowed Voldemort inside that house, Sirius. And who do you think I reckon as the one who let him?"

Comprehension sunk into Sirius, and Albus could see in his eyes that he understood that the headmaster thought it had been him, of course. James refused Dumbledore's idea for him to be the one to hold their secret place and decided to use Sirius as the keeper instead. But then Sirius had the stupid idea of using Wormtail instead of himself.

"Albus... We didn't tell you, but we decided to use Peter Pettigrew as the secret keeper... He was probably killed as well..." Sirius said, still with tears in his eyes. "You know how to use Legilimency... I'll let you in so you can see..."

Albus whispered 'legilimens' and entered Sirius' mind. Instead of the normal resistance and pushing out he generally felt while doing this, Dumbledore could feel Sirius' mind guiding him inside, showing him his memories and thoughts.

Not too long after, he saw Lily performing the Fidelius charm flawlessly, in the presence of James, Peter and Sirius. But instead of saying Sirius' name, she said Pettigrew's. With a movement of his wrist, he got back to his own conscience.

"Go get James, Sirius. He'll probably need you." he said, lifting the anti-apparating spell. "I'll get Peter Pettigrew myself." He said, seconds before the crack that informed him that Sirius was gone.

His eyes narrowed. It was time to face the spy that had caused so many problems to the order. With a loud crack, Albus was gone.

Sirius couldn't believe it. Actually, he much more didn't dare believing it. Nobody, adult or child, male or female, pureblood or muggle born, would be spared if they got in the middle of Voldemort's path. Surviving Voldemort's wrath alone was virtually impossible for anybody other than Dumbledore. Escaping would be possible, even with difficulties. But receiving his 'visit' and continuing alive? That was so unlikely that Voldemort himself normally casts the Dark Mark even before killing the family in the house...

And yet, the cry was there. Undoubtedly inside the ruins of the house. Sirius stood up, leaving James a bit in his own sorrow, and moved towards the house. Excitement started to grow inside of him, and he eventually started to run towards the house.

The first thing he saw was the blasted door, or maybe, what was left of it, which wasn't much. Pieces of wood were spread all around, but Sirius didn't stop to identify the real state of the living room. He ran up the stairs, skipping two or three steps at a time. As he got to the main corridor of the upper floor of the house, he could already see the room on fire. His heart skipped some beats when he saw Lily's body in front of Harry's crib.

The fire was concentrated on the wall of the door, on Harry's chest of drawers. It would soon start consumating the carpet and reach the point where Lily was.

"AGUAMENTI!" Sirius shouted, pointing his wand to the chest of drawers. The fire was wild, but the steady flow of water soon extinguished it. Sirius knew the danger wasn't over, as he saw the ceiling, burnt and falling apart. Surely, this place would collapse.

He carefully entered the nursery, looking inside the crib. There, sitting and fiercely holding the plush toy Sirius himself had bought, was his little miracle. Harry was crying, and his forehead had a mark in the form of a lightning bolt. As he saw Sirius, he stood up, holding the bars of the crib, and started crying a bit louder.

"Mummy... mummy..." He called. Sirius got him on his arms and hug him as strong as he could without hurting his little godson. Not long, though, he had to part from him, as Harry kept on struggling in his arms.

Sirius looked deep inside does emerald eyes he loved so much. They were scared, but no tears were coming anymore, while his eyes were still let out bittersweet tears. "Pafoo..." Harry said, putting his little hand on Sirius's cheek. Then, the baby turned to look at his mother's body, still on the floor, saying: "Mommy...". And back to Sirius, with eyes that expressed way more than words would ever.

Sirius understood, of course. Harry wanted his mother. Sirius got near Lily, kneeling beside her and putting Harry in front of her chest. Lily was laying on her side, her eyes closed. She looked as though she were just sleeping.

Sirius' heart almost stopped when Harry hold his mother's arm and laid under it, covering himself as if she had put her arm there so they could sleep together. Sirius put his hand on his friend's face. It was still warm. Sirius decided that was too much for him, at that specific moment. He got Lily's wrist to lift her arm and get Harry so he could show James his little baby was alive and well.

Sirius let go of Lily as if he had received a shock, his eyes widened in surprise. He had already stopped crying, but that just cleaned all his sorrow, all the heaviness inside him. In its place, he felt something very similar to fear. And hope. He gripped her wrist again and waited.

Then he felt it again. Pulse.

Peter Pettigrew's hideout was a simple house, miles away from London. It was a magical community, but it wasn't very famous. The place belonged to Dedalus Diggle, and he almost didn't remember having the property, being as rich as his family was, and being such a petty house.

The wards were produced by Albus himself, but even the headmaster of Hogwarts had his doubts that Pettigrew could be found in this insignificant piece of land. The village was used mainly by families which were still growing their own wealth, and, as soon as these families got any better, the would leave for a better land, closer to the Ministry or the principal cities of Great Britain, not ever taking a glance back.

Dumbledore blasted open the door. A simple spell showed him that there was nobody inside the house. Peter Pettigrew was gone. But the fact that he was gone proved his disloyalty. Peter told the headmaster he would stay home during Halloween, and that he would talk to Albus the day after, and the fact that the house was totally clean, he could discard the possibility of Peter having been kidnapped.

Dumbledore went out of the house with his eyes sparkling. If a person who didn't know him saw this, this person would say he was only serious. If a friend saw, this friend would say that he was upset. But if the person truly knew Albus Dumbledore... Someone like Dodge, McGonagall, Bagshot, Flamel, or, why not say, Grindewald... Then this person would be able to say that Albus Dumbledore was angry. Furious, in fact.

He took another glance at the house and decided to leave. But not before casting some mighty traps that he doubted even Voldemort himself could undo. He was enraged, indeed.

James' head felt heavy and full of pain. He was still crying, his sobs shaking his whole body, but no more tears came down from his eyes. He was completely dry. He knew his face was probably horribly wet and red and swollen, and possibly full of snot, but he couldn't care less. They only people to whom he took care of his appearance were dead. Nothing mattered to him.

Some time during his misery, he felt Sirius hugging him, and crying with him. That helped a bit, but his suffering seemed to be endless. Not too long later, he felt his best friend letting him go rapidly. He felt more lonely than he already felt, but couldn't bring himself to ask Sirius to stay.

He continued there, in complete disgrace, moving a little up and down, as if bowing slightly, rocking himself. He didn't know what was happening, and he didn't know how long he had stayed that way. He just... didn't care. Couldn't care less.

An eternity, or maybe a second later, he felt somebody coming to his direction, from the ruins of his former house. He didn't even have time to look up as Sirius stopped running in front of him.

"James, look at me!" Sirius said. But James didn't want to look. "PRONGS, LOOK AT ME, DAMN IT!" he shouted.

Before James could process what was happening so he could look up, he heard a voice. Nothing more than a low whisper, but one he knew very well.

"Daddy..." James jerked his head and found himself staring at two green eyes. His baby's green eyes. Opened and alive. Harry was alive, and was stretching his little tiny arms to get to his father.

James didn't even think. He didn't even feel the change in his sorrow. The change from sorrow to utter happiness. He grabbed his son and held him in a huge, forceful hug. He felt his son's heart beating, and he felt Harry's little arms hold his neck. A miracle, his son was alive. Somehow, tears started falling again. It seems his body had a special reservoir of teardrops for joy.

"Sirius! My b-baby is alive! SIRIUS!" he screamed, laughing. He felt as if he would never let go of his small treasure, that continued alive, continued with him.

"Yeah, mate... But let me tell you... Lily is alive as well..." Sirius said. James stopped laughing and stared at his friend.

"W-What?" He stuttered.

"Lily is alive, Prongs. She's inside the house, I couldn't get her out of there holding Harry. Even to levitate her, I would need to have my hands free. Let's go, buddy. Let's fetch your wife..."

Sirius barely had time to finish speaking. James had already stood and was running towards the house, holding Harry.

Albus arrived at Hogwarts around midnight. He was tired and felt defeated. He understood the whole wizarding world depended on him, but he counted on the prophecy as the key to defeating Lord Voldemort. If the boy had really been killed, that meant... Well, that meant they were back to stage one.

Dumbledore normally didn't drink alcoholic beverages, mainly because of all the problems that those represented in his live, based on his father and his brother. But this time, he would make an exception. A firewhiskey would be marvelous to his inner state, and he would finally be able to control this... fear that was starting to radiate throughout his body.

He got so absorbed into having a drink, that he was actually startled when he entered his office and saw that there was somebody there already.

"Did you discover anything, Albus?" Severus Snape said, his head in his hands, sat at the same armchair he was sat when Albus left. "D-Did you see if sh-she was..." He stuttered.

"Murdered, Severus?" Snape winced, his whole back tensing. "No, I didn't see it, Sirius went there to see what-"

"HE was the one who told the Dark Lord where they were! HE was his spy..." Snape shouted interrupting the headmaster.

"No, Severus. He was not the keeper. Peter Pettigrew was. They thought Lord Voldemort would try to get the information from Sirius, and they imagined he would never consider Peter as the one who actually had it." Dumbledore said, as Snape turned to stare at him.

"IT DOESN'T MATTER! It's still his fault! His and bloody P-Potter's!" Severus snapped.

"You see, Severus..." Dumbledore lost his calm tone and used a harsher tone few have seen. "I don't see anybody else's fault here, except Peter's, Tom's and somebody else's..." Snape's eyes widened. He knew what was coming. "I think, and you have to agree that most times what I think is indeed correct, that if Lord Voldemort hadn't been informed of the prophecy, Lily Potter wouldn't be dead!"

Snape withered substantially, but that didn't keep Dumbledore from continuing. The headmaster rarely ever lost his patience, but the exhaustion of the night, and the loss of pretty much every hope he had made him more susceptible to a mild loss of control. His intelligent eyes sparkled in anger, and his hands were closed into fists.

"If he didn't know about things he shouldn't know, Lily Potter would be safe, happy, free! And I guess, and here let's again use the knowledge that I am normally correct, that Peter's betrayal wouldn't have affected the Order of the Phoenix that much, principally because the only ones who should know about the prophecy were the couples Potter and Longbottom, and myself. And the couples respected my wish, Severus, not telling even their friends about the prophecy. So, I have to rephrase myself. It's not Peter fault either. It's totally, wholly, completely, utterly YOURS!"

Snape looked as if he had been slapped. "I-I didn't mean it... I-I asked h-him to spare her!"

"Oh, indeed, Severus, Voldemort is known for his mercy and loyalty to his minions!" Dumbledore snapped, looking much more like his brother than himself.

"I-I didn't think..."

"I'm very aware of that, Severus..." Albus said, his eyes sparkling once more.

As Snape opened his mouth to say something more, there was a not so soft knock on the door. Dumbledore, who stood by the door since he arrived in the office, simply turned and opened the door. Snape rapidly cleaned his eyes with his sleeves.

Outside the door, there was an extremely happy Sirius Black, his smile reaching from one ear to the other.

"Albus, they are alive! Harry and Lily are alive!"

Snape started crying again.

A.N.2: Here you are, guys, chapter 2. I sincerely hope you liked it! Please, tell me through the reviews or PMs! I'll post chapter 03 as soon as possible, which should be around two days from now... See ya!