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.

Last Chapter

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.

James was living at Hogwarts now. Well, not as much as living, but all his time he spent there, anyway. Dumbledore was kind enough to let him stay in an used classroom next to the Hospital Wing, adapted to be similar to a private hospital room for Lily, with a small bedroom area for James and Harry and a fireplace with armchairs for the visitors.

She had been in a coma since that terrible night, five days before. James didn't trust taking her to St. Mungos, and that's why Dumbledore allowed her to stay at Hogwarts, where Poppy Pomfrey could take care of her.

As it was the beginning of November, the school was full of students. Thus, thinking about Lily's welfare, it was decided she needed a spare room, so she wasn't disturbed by students who went to the Hospital Wing because they had a headache, had fallen from broom, or suffered some sort of magical accident.

James spent all his time there, holding Lily's hand. As they didn't have a house anymore, he didn't have anywhere else to go. Not that he wanted to go to any other place. He'd rather stay there, with his wife and his baby. According to Poppy, Harry was perfect, but the scar, caused by the killing curse, was there to stay.

"You have to go somewhere else... Go to my apartment... You have to take a proper shower and try to relax a little..." Sirius would say, every time he visited, which was every single morning and afternoon after the attack.

"I have already left her once, Padfoot. I'm never going to make this mistake again." James generally said. His mood was terrible these days, and Sirius recognized that James blamed himself for not being there for his wife and kid. Sadly, there was nothing Sirius could do to help his best friend, since he himself was also drowning in guilt for having offered the idea of changing the Secret Keeper. They hadn't discussed the betrayal and the attack yet, because they hoped Lily could explain things better when she woke up.

Harry was staying there as well, of course. McGonagall transfigured a bed into a crib so he could stay with his mother and father. He spent most of his day exploring the room, and everybody tried to be extra careful with him, because he tried to use every chance he had to get out of the room and explore the school properly.

As Dumbledore preferred to maintain secrecy about the whole incident, few people knew about the family that Hogwarts was harboring, so, fewer people visited them. Sirius, the professors of Hogwarts that knew the Potters and Hagrid were mainly the only visitors they received, but Remus also showed up on the third day after they had arrived there.

Remus had been working with the other werewolves to try and get some of them to the Order's side. He almost didn't spend time with the Marauders anymore, principally because making the other lycanthropes believe him wasn't an easy task.

He knocked on the door some minutes after lunch. That was the first day James could force himself to have some soup and that was the day that Pomfrey confirmed that Lily was as healthy as possible and the only thing that was keeping her in coma was an apparent magical exhaustion, so everybody was a bit happier. Harry had been taken by Professor Mcgonagall (who surprised everybody with her abilities with babies) for a tour around Hogwarts, so Sirius simply opened the door.

Their friend was more serious than he normally was, and that meant something. Moony was never as cheerful as the other Marauders, but he usually tried to look as if he were at least a bit sympathetic. This wasn't one of those days. He just entered in the room silently and stopped besides Lily's bed.

"How is she doing?" he asked, coldly. Of course James and Sirius knew why.

James stood up from the chair he was sat on the other side of the bed and moved to stand next to his friend. He didn't miss the slight tension that ran through his friend's body. "She's going to be OK, Moony..." he said, in a lower than normal tone.

Remus slowly nodded, his eyes still fixed on his female friend. They spent some time like this, Sirius and James looking from the floor to their friend, and Remus watching Lily as if she were some kind of a beautiful painting.

"Moony... W-we have to tal..." Sirius stuttered, still standing on the place he was since he closed the door.

"Don't say we have to talk, Sirius!" Remus snapped, still looking at Lily. "We have nothing to talk about."

"Remus, we didn't do it on purpose..." James intervened.

Remus jerked his head up, looking at James for the first time. His eyes showed some fear and a hint of anger, but there was no doubt that the biggest emotion in them was pain. "Oh, yes, James, you accidentally believed that I was a traitor... A bloody spy from Voldemort!" He shouted, his face a frown.

"Moony, we almost didn't see you... We almost didn't spend time with you, and you were always with the... others..." James replied, softly.

"TO HELP YOU! TO HELP THE ORDER! What, did you think I liked it? That they felt like... family?" he spat. "You have no idea what I've been through! I had to deal with those... those animals every day and every night! I had to see the... devil who turned me into this... monster every once in a while! You remember how I used to wake up SCREAMING because of my nightmares with Greyback, and yet I had to see him EVERY... BLOODY... DAY! And what for? For my friends, my only friends, the only people I actually love, to think I'm a freaking SPY!"

Both James and Sirius seemed to have been slapped. Tears were freely rolling from Remus' eyes, his face puce from the shouting and crying.

"I'm so sorry, Moony... We are sorry... I feel like... Like crap for suspecting you... I was... We were stupid in considering the possibility..." James said.

"And yet you did!" He said, hurtful.

"We didn't want to believe it, Moony! We talked a lot about it..." Sirius said.

"I KNOW! That's probably what hurts more! You talked about it! But you never questioned me, you never gave me a chance to explain myself! Hell, I had to hear it from Dumbledore! You didn't have the courage to tell me!" He screamed.

Everybody stayed in silence for a whole minute, Remus panting a bit for lack of air from screaming.

"When did he tell you, Moony?" James asked, softly.

"Today in the morning, when I got here to give him a catch up on the werewolves' steps. He told me... what happened. I told him that it couldn't have been Sirius, he was loyal to you, and that's when he told me that it had been Peter. I again said that wasn't possible, because I would have known if you had used a different Secret Keeper, I thought you would have trusted me with this information as well. That's when I realized. When I asked him directly, Albus couldn't lie to me, and told me the truth..."

"We really are sorry, Moony... I wish there was something we could do to make it up to you..." Sirius said.

"You are our best friend. We are family, and we understand that you are angry. We made a terrible mistake, and screwed everything up beautifully, but we love you... and to be sincere, I'm actually grateful to discover that you're not a traitor, that you're our friend..." James intervened, putting a hand on his friend's shoulder. Remus looked down, but didn't get away from his friends hand. "After this... disaster, I need you more than ever... I know you're angry, and you have all reasons to be, but don't go away from us just now. Lily needs you, Harry needs you... I need you..."

"We are going to pay, Moony. We are going to make it up to you... I'm serious..." Sirius said, getting close to his friend.

"I know you're Sirius, Padfoot..." Remus said, with a tearful grin.

James and Sirius chuckled in relief. The pun represented a good sign. "Hey, that joke is mine!" Sirius said, smiling.

Remus stopped smiling and looked to Lily. "I really am glad they are alright. That you are alright, Prongs..." He said.

Sirius moved closer to his friend, putting his arm over his shoulders. "We all are, Moony, believe me... I'm Sirius!" he said, as everybody chuckled a bit. "Are you hungry?"

"Starving! I didn't have time to have lunch" Remus said, holding him belly.

Sirius laughed a bit. "Alright, let's give Lily some peace. She would probably hex us senseless if she could for screaming while she is sleeping. Let's go to the kitchen and grab a bite." He said, with his arm still over Remus' shoulders, guiding him out. When they were in front of the door, Moony stopped and turned to stare at James.

"Are you coming, Prongs?" James looked to his wife peacefully sleeping and thought for a bit. Finally, he decided it wouldn't be terrible to leave her alone for some minutes.

"Ok, I'll go. If she heard all we said, she might as well wake up and jinx me like there's no tomorrow..." he said, walking towards the door.

Sirius pretended to be whipping the air and made the sound with his mouth. Everybody laughed and James slapped his best friend's shoulder, but not strong enough to hurt him. "Hey! Why am I your punching bag?" Sirius asked.

"Because it's nice to hit you, Padfoot..." James said, chuckling.

"And don't forget that you deserve it, you dog!" Remus said.

The three best friends laughed and James put his arm over Remus', on Sirius shoulders. Sirius rapidly put his other free arm over James' shoulders. And then they walked out of the room, side by side, Sirius in the middle.

The three real Marauders, together, as they should be.

The fifth day of waiting started as any other. Sirius arrived soon after James woke up and the three (James, Sirius and Harry, that is) had breakfast together. Around 10:00 a.m., Pomfrey checked on Lily, and seemed satified with her status by then.

Harry spent the whole morning playing with his plush toys, saved by Sirius and Dumbledore, who went back to Godric's Hollow one day after the attack to try and save some of the things that belonged to the Potters. The journey wasn't very fruitful, mainly because the hole on the roof made it all collapse, basically destroying the whole upper lever of the house.

Dumbledore got the books from the bookcase in the living room, and Sirius got Harry's plush wolf and dog that were in the basement/potions lab, but those were the only valuable savings. According to Sirius, the plush rat had had an 'unpleasant' end, but no further explanation was given.

Remus came over for lunch and the three marauders and the junior marauder, as Sirius now called Harry, had lunch next to Lily's bed. Lunch was uneventful, but it was quite happy, now that there was no suspicion in the air.

Soon after lunch was over, the elves took the table elsewhere, and the Marauders sat on armchairs in the center of the room, with Harry in the middle of the triangle with the coloring books brought by professor Mcgonagall. It was rather amusing watching Harry color the animals, principally because there was a very stressed owl which refused to get back to the page of the book because it was painted blue.

"It seems like he doesn't remember anything from the night, right, Prongs?" Remus said, watching Harry painting a cat green.

"I think he does, Moony." James said. "He sometimes wakes up during the night crying as I've never seen him crying before. He gets very sensitive afterwards, and he asks for his mother for a while before going back to sleep." James sighed. It was clear that he felt frustrated for not being able to help his baby. "I reckon he has some nasty nightmares about that night. And Albus agrees with me..."

The group stayed in silence, still watching Harry play. The owl finally agreed to return, but as soon as Harry saw it, he decided it deserved beautiful purple wings, which make the owl disappear again, much to Harry's distress. Suddenly, everybody heard a deep sob coming from inside the room. James rapidly turned to Lily's bed, but she was still sleeping. Carefully watching his friends, James noticed Remus was watching Sirius with his eyes full of pity. James then paid attention to his other friend and realized, with a shock, that Sirius was crying.

"Sirius, what's the problem, mate?" James asked, kneeling in front of his best friend's armchair. Sirius had his head in his hands and continued softly sobbing. Sirius so rarely cried that the scene was killing James inside. This must have been something extremely big. "Padfoot, you are scaring me, please, tell us what's wrong..."

Without taking his hands from his face, Sirius replied. "It's all my fault! If I hadn't suggested that goddamn traitor as the Secret Keeper, Harry and Lily would be ok, and everything would be fine!"

James' heart swell with compassion. Sirius blamed himself for making Harry cry, and that hurt him so much that he couldn't hold it any longer, so he cried. And when it comes to Sirius, crying showed how deep he cared for Harry. Actually, to say that Sirius cared for Harry would be an understatement. He loved him, like a father loves his son, probably just like James loves his son.

"Hey, Padfoot, it's not your fault... Don't blame yourself, it was that rat's stupidity that created this whole mess! Don't worry about it, Harry is a bit affected by everything because he's a baby, and doesn't understand the everything will be ok... And, because he is a baby, he will overcome this faster than everybody else. Don't worry about him! And..." James looked at Remus. He was afraid of the effect that his words would produce in his friends, since they indirectly decided not to mention the whole suspicion thing anymore. Remus must have thought the same thing, as he nodded slightly for James. "And we are back as family now. All the rotten fruit are far away from us, and we have no suspicion among us, just like it is supposed to be..."

"I know, James, I know... It's just... I still can't believe I was so wrong, and my mistake almost made me lose almost everything I care about!" Sirius said, finally stopping crying and taking his hands from his face. James handed him a handkerchief, which he used to clean his face.

"Padfoot, nobody could imagine it... It's just the way it should be, real friends like us shouldn't suspect on each other..." James said.

"One thing we have to agree, Sirius... Wormtail easily fooled everybody... He was our friend. Gee, I think I even sort of miss him..." Remus said. "I despise Peter Pettigrew. I loathe him, but I miss the Wormtail that studied with us, our prank fella..."

"I have to say, even if he tried to kill me and my family, I also miss my friend..." James said, thoughtfully.

"I guess we will have to find a new marauder, then. We are a quartet, and Harry's part of a new generation of marauders, so I think we'll have to find someone new..." Remus said.

"It's not going to be the same, but it may help..." James recognized.

Sirius seemed a bit better, but he was still uncomfortable. "Lily is never going to forgive me. And she will be right to blame me..."

"And who are you to know what I think about all this?"

Everybody stood up fastly, eyes popping, looking at Lily's bed. There she was, in the same position she was before, half sat, half laid, but her emerald eyes opened and a smile upon her face.

"LILY!" James shouted, running to her bed and hugging her. "I'm so glad you're back baby!" he said, holding her strongly.

Soon enough, they separared and shared a long, deep kiss. "Get a room!" Sirius said. James and Lily separated again, and giggled a bit.

"James, darling, where is Harry?" Lily said, her eyes watching James' hazel ones.

"He's here, Lily-flower. I'll get him for you." James stood up and went snatch his son.

Remus quickly hugged Lily and expressed his happiness for her being back. Sirius shared a long, teary hug with her. As soon as she let him go, she snapped. "Don't you dare trying to blame this on yourself, Sirius Black! This is all Voldemort and Pettigrew's fault!" She spat.

"But Lily..." Sirius started, still looking in her eyes.

"Don't! If you say anything about it, I'll hex you big time!" She said, fiercely, but with a small smile.

Sirius finally relaxed a bit and grinned. Then, all the attention turned to Harry, that, as soon as he saw his mother, started shouting "MUMMY, MUMMY", and didn't stop until James put his in Lily's arms. He hugged her strongly as she hugged him back, tears in her eyes.

"Me and Padfoot will go get Dumbledore. We'll be right back." Remus said, already leaving and pulling Sirius by his arm. Reluctantly, he followed his friend.

"Jamsie, how long have I been out? It must have been a long time, as my son is not letting me go..." Lily asked, still holding harry who had his arms around her neck. James chuckled.

"It's been five days, love... Five long days..." James said, looking at his wife's face, as if that was the sun around which his world revolved.

She sighed, looking down. "That long, huh?"

"Yeah..." James said softly, biting his lower lip. "Lily, life, how are you feeling?" he asked, voicing his concerns.

"Utterly worn out... Do you remember the night of the last exam of N.E.W.T.s?" She asked, facing her husband again.

"The day we had the practical exams of Transfiguration, Charms and Defense? Ugh, that was a tough day..." James said.

"Yeah, I feel pretty much the same, as if I hadn't slept enough and had used every spell I know..."

"Yeah, madam Pomfrey said that you seemed to be magically worn out..." James said.

"Well, I feel fine... A bit tired, though, but I still have my power with me..." She said, finally getting Harry off of her neck and taking a good look at him. James smiled.

"I'm happy to know this, Lily, I was very..."

"James, what is this?" Lily suddenly snapped, her voice struggled and desperate.

"What, love?" James said, confusion in his eyes. Lily pointed to Harry's forehead, her finger shaking.

"Oh, Lily..." James said, looking down, his face a frown. "Albus thinks that that's where the killing curse touched our son... I don't understand what happened that night, because the headmaster decided to wait for you to wake up so that we could discuss the whole thing together. But Harry's apparently fine, he has no damage, according to both Poppy and Albus. But the scar is there to stay." He put a hand on his son's forehead. They sat in silence for some minutes before James decided to speak again.

"Lily... I feel terrible for not being there that night... I mean, I should have stayed, I should have protected you, stayed by your side..."

"James, James!" Lily said, to interrupt her husband. "I'm glad you weren't there, love. God knows how happy I am for Dumbledore's decision of letting you get out of that house. What would you have done if you were there?"

James looked at his wife with curiosity in his eyes, frowning. "I would have protected you. I'd have fought that stupid monster..."

"That's it, darling... You would have tried to protect me, you would have battled against Voldemort. Would you let him get to me?" Lily asked.

"Of course not!" James said, a hint of outrage in his voice.

"So, what do you think he would have done to you?" Lily asked him, softly.

"He... He would have killed me! And that's how it should have been!" James said, standing up a crossing his arms in front of his chest.

"And how do you think I would have felt, Jamsie?" Lily said.

James turned to stare at her, but didn't say anything.

"That's why I'm so thankful you weren't there... There's no doubt you would have protected me, everybody knows that. But you weren't there, and we didn't die! That's what matters. I wouldn't have it any other way. So, please, don't blame yourself like Sirius, and help me pray thanks to God for saving our whole family, ok?"

James sat in front of his wife again and kissed her. Deep and long, with Harry between them, the way it should be.

The door opened with a loud 'bang!' and Sirius, Remus, Pomfrey, Dumbledore, Mcgonagall and Snape entered the room. Sirius laughed as James and Lily blushed and separated a bit.

"Hey, hey! Stop scaring my godson!" He shouted, happily. He went near the bed and snatched Harry, making the baby pretend he was a bird, as Harry screamed with laughter. James muttered something that sounded like 'Sirius' and 'pain somewhere'.

Lily was watching the people who had just entered the room. Her gaze finally locked on Snape, as she narrowed her eyes. "What are you doing here, Death Eater?" Lily said, her voice full of disgust. "Why would you care visiting the family of a Mudblood?"

Everybody looked shocked at the sudden hatred that had taken over Lily. Pomfrey and Mcgonagall covered their mouths with their hands, and Dumbledore and Remus had a grave look. Sirius was oblivious of it all as he was playing with Harry, but James stood up, his eyes fixed on Snape.

Snape himself looked calm and bored, but Lily knew better. He had been her first real friend, from the time she was 9 up to their 5th year, when he called her a mudblood. They had spent roughly 6 years not being friends anymore, but Lily still knew him. Even though they hadn't spoken to each other all this time, except when Snape tried to apologize and Lily ignored him, she was able to recognize the pain in his eyes.

"Headmaster, I think it's better if you take... him... away." James said, still glaring at Snape's direction.

"No, I will not." Dumbledore said calmly. "It's way past the time you let your childish grudges go." he said sternly. "I trust Severus, and I'm telling you that I know for sure he is on our side now. You have to agree that I'm not easily fooled, so trust me on this."

"You are not a Death Eater anymore?" Lily said, paying total attention to her former friend. Snape simply shooked his head.

"He was the one who told me that Voldemort had chosen Harry over Neville. He was the one who make it possible for us to try to protect your family. If he had not come to me, you wouldn't have had the chance to hide." Dumbledore intervened.

"Is that real, Snape?" James said. Snape looked at him, his face a frown.

"Yes." He replied.

The whole room was silent. Even baby Harry was quiet in Sirius arms, who had stopped playing with his godson to pay attention to the conversation. Finally, Lily sighed deeply.

She had tried so many times to forgive him, to understand his side of the story, but all she could think about was the moment he showed her what he thought of her. She had tried to think it was just a reaction, but during her last two years at Hogwarts, she was finally able to see how many other muggleborns he had mistreated and even cursed. She was able to see that the hatred she felt for James was nothing more than his venom, masked by his stories of how 'Potter and his friends had hexed him unfairly'. She came to find out the Marauders only ever hexed Slytherins who would hurt and mistreat other students, and there was a reason why Snape was one their most common targets. She never understood why they didn't inform others of this, but once she actively tried to find information about these events, she was horrified to find out how many people hated Snape and his friends, and how many people were thankful for the Marauders for helping them.

All she could think about was all the stories she had heard about him after her. Of course James would never tell her anything he knew about Snape, as he knew it would hurt her, but Sirius, Remus, and many other Order members didn't hesitate on telling her all the nasty things Snape had done to muggles and other wizards. And it was after this that Lily Potter nee Evans found out she could no longer care about him. That the boy she once loved as her best friend didn't exist anymore (had he ever?). From this moment on, he no longer existed for her, he was but one more Death Eater she had to bring down. If he had changed sides, fine. But she would never trust him. She would never trust any of them.

"Thank you so much for trying to save my family. I always hoped there was some good left in you." She said droningly, while looking at him. She wanted to say more. She wanted to shred him into tiny pieces for killing her best friend, as that man who stood there had nothing from 'Sev'. The words she said were moved by her relief for knowing that her family was safe, and that's why she controled herself not to say all the hurtful things going inside her head. She wanted to say to him that, no matter how much he had changed, no matter if he had changed sides, that would never erase what he had done wrong. She didn't say it, but her eyes, always windows to her very soul, poured those feelings, and she was quite sure he got the message.

Everybody was looking at Lily, so nobody but her saw the single tear that rolled from Snape's right eye. Again, she tried to forgive him, but, once more, she failed.

"Now, we have to talk..." Dumbledore said, surprising every one. "Poppy, if you could check Lily up, we have many things to discuss, principally what happened that night." Dumbledore said, looking at Lily over his glasses. "And there is a new danger that Severus would like to warn you about as well..."

A.N.: There you are, guys, the third chapter. Sorry it took so long, but I've been a bit busy. I'll probably update on Monday with the 4th chapter, and finally I'll show you what happened during Halloween ad the major plot of this fic. This story will cover Harry's whole childhood, up to the moment when he gets his letter from Hogwarts. Then, I'll start a new fic for his first year. Ah, I only update when I have at least 4k words, that's why it might take a while sometimes. But at least you can expect an adequate chapter when it comes to length.

I'd like to than everybody who favorited and followed the fic, believing in its potential! I hope I can create something that you will enjoy! And I'd like to give a super-special-thanks for RedRoseMana, lilalola, Gigi, TeamBlack, kalinzar and all the guests, who reviewed the two first chapters. You guys rock, capital R! Your feedback kept me working! Super-special-thanks!

And for every one reading this, please, leave a review to tell me your feelings about the story! They'll be very appreciated! Thanks! ;D

MSupernatural