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.

Poppy Pomfrey used all her extensive list of spells for examination and finally announced, much for everybody's happiness, that Lily Potter was not only healthy but she didn't need medical care anymore. She informed them that she should have some time to relax, though. Magical exhaustion isn't something that simple, after all.

"Magical exhaustion? Did you actually duel against you-know-who, my dear?" Mcgonagall asked, a little shaken, as Pomfrey left the room. Lily opened her mouth to reply, but didn't get the chance to do it.

"I think we should get to know the whole story so we can understand what happened that night, Minerva." Albus said, his eyes still on Lily's face. "If my humble guess is correct, saying that Lily here fought Lord Voldemort would be an understatement." If he saw the flinches caused by the Dark Lord's name, he didn't show.

Lily blushed and kept staring at her hands. She didn't feel prepared to go through all that just yet. James, who knew her better than anyone in the room, noticed her hesitation.

"Why don't we start from the beginning of the night?" James said. Lily looked at him and he winked, which made she faintly smile. "As you all know, we were hidden, and Albus gave us the idea of using the Fidelius charm so we could be better protected. Then we made the stupid mistake of choosing Pettigrew to be the Secret Keeper."

Sirius lowered his gaze to the floor, but Harry put his little hand on his chin, which made him look to his godson and smile a bit. "Are you really a baby? You seem to know everything already..." he whispered.

"So, on Halloween, Albus asked me to go on a mission… As you all know, I like freedom and I missed my friends terribly, so I ended up accepting-" James stopped. Lily felt what he was going to say, so she cut him before he continued.

"I said that it was an excellent idea, and that ended up being the best choice I made that night." She said. Everybody looked at her, surprise evident on their faces. After some seconds of looking at his wife's face, James understood that was a topic for another conversation and continued.

"So, I got the chance to work a bit and see this git I consider a best friend…" He said smiling. The tension in the room broke a little and Remus even smiled.

"What he fails to express is his undying devotion for said git." Sirius said, grinning. "In fact, Lily, I had to turn down quite a few marriage proposals from him, and not all of them were before your wedding…" Everybody but Snape chuckled lightly. Some jokes to break the tension were not only important, but essential at times like these, so Sirius' antics were very welcome.

"Ya, so, I met my concubine here and we went on the mission, and, when we were back to Hogwarts, I felt the ward being invaded and went home." James said, looking at Lily. That was her part. She sighed but kept her smile.

"I was trying to make Harry sleep when I felt the ward being invaded. I had left my wand in the basement – Yes, I know I deserve some scolding, principally from Moody." She started. Some people half smiled trying to show sympathy, but nobody laughed. That was too serious to be laughed about. Lily sighed again before continuing.

"I tried to escape, but he made it impossible to apparate or use a portkey, so I was stuck inside Harry's nursery." The tension was back, full force. Minerva had one hand covering her mouth, and Sirius and Remus were staring at the floor. A knot appeared in her throat, and Lily didn't know if she could continue, but when James put his hand on her shoulder, she found some strength to go on.

"He finally entered the house and discovered where we were. I didn't know what to do. But then I-I remembered a book I r-read last w-week." Lily started to sob softly, tears running freely on her face. James' hand gripped her shoulder with more strength and she continued. "I started to perform a Light Sacrifice Ritual. One that would protect a person who the sacrificed loved…"

"Wait… Are there any sacrifice rituals for the Light?" Sirius asked. He had had to learn sacrifice rituals when he was a child because of his family, but everything was so dark that even his family was a bit reluctant to comment about it. Now, light wizards using sacrifice?

"What is the concept of Light and Dark that you have?" Albus asked. Minerva smiled. This reminded her of the time when Albus was her teacher. He always made a question before answering another.

Nobody was surprised when Remus answered. He had been one of the best students of the year, after all. "Light magic is free of imposition. It is much more related to will and the idea of not interfering with others. Dark is the opposite. It is based on power, reaching one's objective with all the means possible, including damage to others."

"Very accurate, Remus." Dumbledore said, smiling. "I would give Gryffindor 10 points if you still were a student." Again, everybody but Snape smiled. "That's the simple difference. I have to warn you, though, that the difference between Light and Dark is much more complex, and it's much easier for a wizard to perform Neutral magic instead of one purely Light or Dark. But if we consider the two extremes, it is easier to perform pure Dark magic. It is very difficult to do something without interfering with another person's will." The headmaster looked around with a small smile.

"Okay, but can sacrifice not be considered interfering with another person? If you're killing them?" Snape asked, standing beside the closed door. He had stayed there since he closed it after Pomfrey's departure.

"You may be thinking about sacrifice as something forced." Dumbledore said, looking at him. "But what if the person actually wants you to perform the sacrifice? What if the person, say…" Albus turned to face Lily who was still lying on the bed. "…decides to sacrifice herself?"

There was a huge gawking sound when everybody understood what Dumbledore meant. Before any comment was made, the old teacher continued.

"The problem about Light rituals, and I cannot make you understand how much of a problem this is, principally Light sacrifice rituals, is how volatile Light in fact is. If the person had but a slight hesitance, the ritual wouldn't work. For example, if the person wasn't really willing to give their life, it would becoome an affront to their will, thus turning the ritual slightly Darker, as killing, even if it is yourself, is something naturally dark. I assume you knew that, my dear?" Albus said, still staring at Lily.

"I did, headmaster." She said. She kept her attention to him, afraid of everybody else's opinions. "I was fully aware I was going to die to save Harry, and I've never been so sure of one thing: I would die to save him." Albus nodded, as she sighed. "When I finished the ritual, on my mind, of course, so Voldemort wouldn't interfere, I had to focus on a happy memory: It works similar to a patronus, but to protect Harry instead of me. So I imagined him with his father, grown up, happy, here at Hogwarts..." She smiled, remembering the perfect image. She was completely sure that would be what she would see in an Erised mirror.

Albus chuckled a bit. "Then, I guess Light showed its own ability to work the way it wants. You see, that's why I have always said Light is stronger than Dark. Dark is power, yes, but Light… Light is strong as Dark could never be… I hope we can one day understand what happened. Instead of saving little Harry, Lily's love ended up saving her whole family. Including her, if I may add. It seems that Love ended up being more than enough to complete the ritual. What I don't understand, though, is… where is the sacrifice? The Light would require a sacrifice, even if a not willing one, which means someone would have to die there. You see, the protection happened, but somebody had to die. Fate, if you believe in destiny, had to take somebody, but it would not take its protégées, Lily and Harry, and Lord Voldemort for sure was killed by the rebounding of his own killing curse… Well, a mystery I can only hope to see solved…" He laughed a bit more and lost himself in his own thoughts.

Lily was still staring at her former headmaster. She was so scared of the others' reactions that she wanted to stand up and run, screaming. Suddenly, she felt a drop on her hand, and she tilted her head fast to look at her husband.

Her heart shrunk when she saw he was crying. But it swelled when she saw he was smiling. He nearly jumped on her on a watery hug, when he finally lost all control and started crying loudly, sobbing and shaking his whole body. What surprised her the most was that his weren't the only sobs or cries she could hear. Looking around the room, she saw that Remus was quietly crying and sobbing. Severus looked paler than she had ever seen, his eyes filled with tears. When he noticed she was looking at him, he hid his face in his hands and turned his back to her, but she could see he was shaking a bit, clear sign of deep sobs.

Dumbledore had tears in his eyes, but he was smiling and Lily already knew that, as she had been watching him for the last moments. What really shocked her was when she noticed Sirius and Minerva, both crying almost as loud as James, and that meant something, holding each other in a strong hug.

Ironically, Harry was the only one who was not crying, as Lily herself was crying lightly as well. He was sat on the armchair where his godfather had put him, looking at Sirius and Minerva, face a frown. Lily made a mental note: she needed to scold Sirius for putting her baby on such a high place. What if he fell?

Harry must have sensed that his mother was looking at him, as he turned his little face towards her, and gave her a toothy smile, stretching his little arms and screaming: "MUMMY!"

This snapped everybody out of the crying commotion. Albus' eyes went back to focus, Remus and Snape calmed themselves down, looking around suspiciously, trying to pretend everything was ok and they hadn't cried. Sirius and Minerva let each other go, clearing their own throats and blushing furiously, cleaning their faces with their hands. James stopped sobbing, but kept his hold on Lily.

Remus got Harry and brought him to Lily. As soon as the baby was put on the bed, he put one of his little arms around his father's neck, and the other around Lily's. That way they stayed, until Lily ended up sleeping, still because of the exhaustion caused by the ritual.

This time, everything seemed to be well.

Lily woke up and looked around. James was sleeping besides her and the bed had been augmented so that both of them fit. Harry was in his crib. She looked outside through the window above her bed and saw that the sun was starting to rise, which meant she had slept quite a lot, because she reckoned the conversation hadn't been long enough to go too much into the night.

Lily was extremely happy with the result of the whole conversation the night before. She was scared of her friends not understanding her decision of sacrificing herself for Harry, and she was even more afraid of the possible discussion: Yes, she would do it again. But in the end, everybody seemed to accept her decision, even though she slept before actually listening to their opinions.

She got her wand and finally stood up, after almost one week on the same position on the bed. Surprisingly James didn't wake up. Lily didn't wake up so easily, but James needed nothing more than a small touch to jump awake.

Her whole body was sore, as if she had run a thousand miles, but she knew it was not something physical. She slowly went to Harry's crib and watched her baby sleeping. She paid more attention to the scar and it only made her heart ache. Does that mean that her baby would have died before her, if the ritual hadn't worked? She felt her whole body shake because of that terrifying thought.

She saw Harry's plush toys on the floor, in the center of the room, between the armchairs. She calmed herself down and whispered 'Accio', pointing her wand at the toys. They jumped to her direction and stopped by her feet, but the pain she felt through her entire body was so strong that she gasped a bit too loud and James' head immediately rose from the bed.

"Lily, love, is everything alright?" He said, his voice rough from sleep, but not loud enough to wake the baby up.

She nodded, incapable of speaking. So that was the feeling of being magically worn out? "It's just… I tried to use magic, but my whole body…" She said, as James stood up.

"Oh, baby, I'm so sorry, but you can't use magic for a few days…" He said, enveloping her waist with his arms. He gave her a small peck on her lips and looked back at her, trying to ease her discomfort.

"Magical exhaustion is something dangerous. My father told me that one of his uncles almost died because of magical exhaustion. He went on a coma for about a month before coming to his senses. Apparently, he had to wait for another month before he could use magic again. Ironically, he died a week later because of a spell that went wrong."

A tiny weeping came from the crib. When the adults looked inside, Harry was waking up. James got him and took him to the sofa, where the three Potters spend some time playing with Harry's toys.

Not too long after, someone knocked on the door. Sirius, Remus and Albus entered and seemed surprised to see the three already up.

"Well, it's good to see you are awake." Dumbledore said. "I've been thinking about James' request, and I think it might be fine to let you have breakfast in the Great Hall. After all, you are safe here at Hogwarts…" The Marauders cheered "…but then, I need you to come back here, because not everything that has to be discussed was brought up last evening, and I sadly have some bad news to share with you."

Apprehensive looks took over their faces. Bad news from Dumbledore always meant something terrible: Either someone died or someone would die. Dumbledore smiled.

"Ah, don't worry about it just now. Have breakfast, and enjoy your morning together. We'll discuss our… predicament after breakfast."

Not as happy as they would like, the four adults and Harry the baby went to the Great Hall, following the Headmaster who was way ahead.

If they had something to worry about, it was soon forgotten, as they entered the Great Hall. The enchanted ceiling, hundreds of students talking excitedly, the flags from each house over their tables… Hogwarts never stopped amusing those who entered it.

The marauders and Lily had been students there for 7 years. For 7 years they entered that same room to have breakfast, lunch or dinner. But just entering that room again, about 4 years after the last time, meant something different entirely.

They were basically speechless. And apparently, so were the students, when they saw those four adults and a baby entering the Great Hall. Of course they had some visitors sporadically, but those were famous people.

The attack to the Potters was meant to be a secret. Thus, evidently, everybody knew about it already. The first three days after Halloween, news changed in a matter of minutes. First, all the Potters had died. Then, Harry Potter, the baby of 1 year and three months, was the only survivor. Then, there hadn't been any attacks. Then, the Potters were all Death Eaters and had been attacked by some secret anti-Dark Lord organization.

But finally, the truth was spread. The Potters were much alive, thank you, and there was no sign of where the Dark Lord was. The Potters were hidden, of course, but the fact that Voldemort was M.I.A….

The Potters were loved and hated at the same rate. Some said they were good people that somehow had destroyed the darkest wizard ever to exist. Others said that, in fact, the Potters killed Voldemort and soon they would announce themselves as the next Dark Lords. And there were a few people who said the whole story was nothing but a scheme created by the Ministry.

Knowing all this, Dumbledore decided that they must stay inside Hogwarts, hidden, so as not to be attacked again, either by fans or enemies. But lately, the last 24 hours, to be exact, the truth had been somehow discovered and the initial havoc finally started to cease.

But the moment the Potters entered the Great Hall, every single student turned to watch them. The ones who didn't realize at first who they were were quickly nudged and properly informed.

Silence was absolute, James even saw some students standing up to take a better peek at those people.

Then, someone clapped. Once. And not so strongly, it must be said, but clapped. And soon some other people started clapping, but these didn't stop. And finally the whole room was clapping, which eventually turned into a standing ovation. Almost all Hufflepuff, Ravenclaw and Gryffindor students clapped anxiously. Even some Slytherin politely joined.

Lily and Remus blushed so furiously they soon were puce, dumbfounded by the scene. James and Sirius smiled largely and bowed. Harry, on his mother's lap, happily started clapping his little hands, giggling.

The professors, of course, started clapping as well, even though the shock was visible on their expressions. Dumbledore seemed happily surprised, clapping a bit himself.

"Let's go!" Sirius said, mostly to Lily and Remus, who seemed to have lost the ability to walk. James and Sirius had basically to drag them all the way through to the staff table, where four seats and a baby's chair had been previously arranged. Initially, James and Sirius asked to sit with the Gryffindors, but Dumbledore didn't approve.

As soon as everybody was sat, and the students had stopped clapping, Dumbledore stood.

"I would like to personally thank you all for this warm reception. And I'm happy to see that you seemed to recognize correctly who these people are." He said. "These are the Potters. You may have heard all sorts of stories about what happened on Halloween. Some of them are so far-fetched that I would suggest the inventor to write a book, with all that imagination. But one or two of the stories were so accurate that they impressed, not to say terrified, me." He said. The Great Hall was so silent that even the students' breath could be heard. They were eagerly listening to all the words the headmaster said.

"The truth is… On Halloween, the Potters were attacked. They were attacked by nobody other than Lord Voldemort himself." All the students, and even some members of the staff, flinched. "But, demonstrating a Power that the Dark Lord knows not, they could finally defeat him. I should warn you, though, that he might not be gone forever, no. But he's gone for now, and this is surely something to commemorate. But the most important…" Dumbledore bowed his head a bit, so he could watch the whole room over his glasses. "…is that the power Lord Voldemort couldn't conquer, was none other than Love."

The whole place erupted in new applauses. And then, they finally ate.

Not so long after, the Potters, Remus and Sirius were back to the room next to the Hospital Wing. They were happier than when they left.

"Did you see everybody clapping?" James said, excitedly.

"What? And the standing ovation? That was, like a dream!" Sirius said, bouncing a bit, euphoric.

"More like a nightmare to me…" Lily said, smiling. She and Remus weren't so fond of attention, so the whole thing had actually been difficult for them.

"Ah, guys, that was… AWESOME!" Sirius and James laughed high fiving. Harry giggled on his mother's arm.

They sat on the armchairs in the center of the room, and James transfigured the small chair beside Lily's bed in a big, blue chintz armchair, putting it next to the others, so Lily could join them. Minutes after, Dumbledore entered the room. He quickly locked the door and conjured another armchair for himself, between Lily and Remus.

The headmaster sat. "I may assume you have questions you want me to answer?'

The room got completely silent for a while. "So… He is dead?" Lily finally said, softly.

"Well, he was destroyed that night, I'm quite sure of it… I myself saw the robes he wore next to Harry's crib, when I went there the following day… But if he's dead, I don't know. I'm not sure if there is… humanity enough in him for Voldemort to simply die." Albus answered.

Silence installed again. They looked at each other, wondering who would be the next to say something.

"Does that mean we don't need to keep hiding?" James said, after a while. Lily looked at him. She wanted to ask Albus the same thing, but she just didn't have the guts to actually do it.

Albus Dumbledore sighed deeply, all excitment from earlier gone. Suddenly, everybody in the room knew that not everything was alright, principally because that was the expression Albus wore every time he had something bad to tell the Order of the Phoenix. James reached for Lily's hand and held it lightly.

"Before breakfast, I wanted to tell you something that I was supposed to tell you last night. It's something only few people know. In fact, only me, Kingsley and Alastor, not to mention the people envolved, know." Albus started, tiredly.

"I hope you understand that we didn't want to keep this from you four as a secret, but we decided that things would be easier if you heard this together." he continued. Everybody seemed to understand the gravity of this information. Even baby Harry was silent, playing with his toys, occasionally looking at his parents or the other men. "The day after the attack, there has been another... let's say, event. It was a Sunday night, so everybody was at home, which ended up helping to make this all a big secret."

"You know very well that the prophecy could have been about Neville Longbottom as well, right? But I had already informed you, as soon as Severus told me about Voldemort's decision, that he had chosen Harry. Well, the Longbottoms were hiding, nonetheless. But when you were settled at Hogwarts, and as I knew that Voldemort was gone, we decided that Alice and Frank deserved going home. We informed them, but their house was attacked..."

"NO! NOT ALICE! No, no, no, no, please, not Alice..." Lily started to cry, shielding her face with her hands. The men were pale and didn't know what to say, so James sat on the arm of the armchair and hugged his wife, putting her head on his chest, and his chin on the top of her head.

"Alice didn't die, Lily!" Albus said, gravely. She tried to control herself, but her tears kept on coming. "She and Frank had decided to come visit you that night, so they left Augusta with Neville, and came to Hogwarts. The Death Eaters attacked their house. You know Augusta, she killed two of them and probably hurt the other two very much..." James and Sirius cheered. "... but they ended up killing her."

Silence.

"D-did... D-d-did they k-kill poor Neville?" Remus stuttered.

"No, they didn't. Augusta performed a strong defensive spell to lock baby Neville in his nursery. Of course they could have broken the spell, but that would take a long time, and I think that wasn't their objective." Albus replied. Everybody exhaled. "No, what they wanted to do was send a message. Alice and Frank had just arrived when they felt the invasion, pretty much the same way you did." He said, looking at Lily and James. "Then went home, and I called Kingsley and Alastor. They met in front of the house. Two Death eathers were dead in front of the house..."

"Who?" Sirius asked.

"Rabastan and Rodolphus Lestrange."

"My cousin's husband and brother-in-law..." Sirius said, thoughtful. Albus nodded, but didn't wait for him to continue.

"Two other two Death Eaters, Bellatrix Lestrange and Barty Crouch Jr. - Yes, the son of the Head of the Department of Magical Law Enforcement was a Death Eater - managed to get inside. Mr. Crouch was severely wounded and thus left behind. Bellatrix lost three fingers and apparently some teeth, but she killed Augusta..."

"Poor Augusta... She was an excellent woman. Severe, but good in her heart." Remus said.

"And to imagine that we saw her less than 24 hours before her death..." James said, looking at Sirius.

"Well, at least she took parts of that bitch-hag that is my cousin..." Sirius said with a smile.

"Sirius! We have little ears around!" Lily said, frowning.

"Sorry, Lily, love..." He said, still smiling. "That witch whose job it is to please men." James, Lily and Remus laughed a bit, but Albus kept on serious. Shortly after, he continued talking.

"This is not the point. The reason why I wanted to talk to you about this is what Alastor, Kingsley, Alice and Frank found when they entered the lobby. There was a message on the wall. 'This is not the end. He will rise to his full power eventually. And Harry Potter will be dead. And so will be his family.' That was written on Augusta's blood."

Everybody gasped. "That's... That's just cruel!" Lily cried, covering her mouth with one hand.

"No, Lily... That's not the problem..." Sirius said. Everybody, even Harry, looked at him. He was paler than normal, also convering his mouth with one hand. His eyes were wide in horror.

"Ah, I knew your family would have forced you to study this." Albus said. Even though his words could have been taken as joke, his voice was full of sorrow.

"What does that mean, Sirius?" James said, shaking. Anything from the Black family would be terrible.

"That can be a dark ritual... A vow of some sort... She's crazy!" Sirius said, angrily. "That means she will have to kill you, me, Lily and Harry, or we will have to kill her!"

"WHAT?" James screamed, standing up. "HOW? What happens if we don't kill her, or she doesn't kill us?"

"The ritual will be performed. And we all might die. Or worse, I don't know, it depends on what the ritual is going to claim from us." Sirius said, staring at the floor. James put his hands on his and and Lily stood and hugged him.

"How long?" He finally said. "How long do we have to kill her?"

"The thing is, we don't know." Albus intervened. "The time limit she set was 'He will rise to his full power eventually', so we need to kill her before Voldemort rises to full power."

"But that means that, if she doesn't kill all of us, she will not see her master rise, right?" Remus said

"No, because she holds the magical contract. She can undo it by killing one of the people from Augusta's blood family, that is, her brother Algie, her son Frank or her grandson Neville." Sirius said. "She'll then have to write the cancellation using this person's blood."

Everybody was shocked. The whole thing was terrible. Just when they thought everything would get better!

"You see why we have to keep fighting, right?" Albus continued. "The Order will have to continue and our priority now is to kill Bellatrix. But Harry will have to be safe, as well as Neville."

On the other morning, Lily was discharged. She could perform simple magic without feeling anything but a slight discomfort, but even that would go away soon. She and James packed everything and then they noticed that they didn't have anything. They would have to start from zero again, because they didn't want to go back to Godric's Hollow.

"Do you have any idea of where you are going to live?" Remus asked. Lily and James looked at each other. They hadn't thought about it yet, but that was the time. All the four were standing in the middle of the room which they had used.

"You can live with me, in my apartment." Sirius said. He had a lovely, but very small apartment, a small kitchen, a smaller living room, a tiny bedroom and a bathroom that, according to Sirius, you could 'do business' taking a shower. It was only one street away from the Leaky Cauldron, though. "I could take the couch, you can have the bedroom, but Harry would have to sleep with you..."

"Thank you so much, Padfoot, but..." James bit his lower lip. "I just don't think there's... space enough from everybody, mate..." Sirius nodded, and then smiled.

"I know. I just offered because I'd love to live with you guys..."

"I'm sorry, but I don't have a house to offer to you..." Remus intervened, looking at the floor. "I lived in my parents' house, but I sold it so I could follow the other werewolves. I rented a room in Hogsmeade."

"I'm afraid of it, but you could use Grimmaud Place, as my mother is now at St. Mungus..." Siriu said, carefully.

"No, thank you, Sirius." Lily said firmly. "I don't think I'd feel safe, Bellatrix knows where it is."

"But I can command the wards not to let her in..." He started.

"I appreciate it, Sirius. We do. But no, thank you.'' she said.

James looked down. There was only one more option. And he wouldn't like it, of course. "There's Potter Manor." He said, still staring at the floor.

Everybody shuddered. When James' parents died, he locked Potter Manor and promised himself he'd never step inside of it again. Sirius, Lily and Remus knew it very well, the house was too full of good memories, but James couldn't live with the pain of not being able to see or talk to his parents. He decided to start from zero. He had the money his parents gave him, a big fortune, and he got a paycheck as an auror, which gave him enough not to use any of his initial wealth, and even save some for Harry's future.

Everything he inherited from his parents, including the keys of the manor, was locked inside their vault in Gringotts, which hadn't been opened since the day when the goblins put everything inside. The only contact James had with his past was went his parents elves come to him so he could check on them.

"No, James, we can find another solution..." Lily said.

"No, Lily. It's been 3 years. I need to overcome their loss. And the house is prepared, there's a nursery next to the Master Bedroom, and Blinx and Gally will be able to help us." He said.

"But dear..." Lily started.

"Don't, Lily!" He said closing his eyes. She stopped speaking. "There's no other way, love. I wish there was, but... there isn't. And if you, Padfoot and Moony help me, I'm sure we can do this!"

"Of course we'll be there for you, buddy..." Remus said.

"You're my brother, James." Sirius said. "They were the only real parents I had, and I have an idea of what you're feeling. So I'll be there for you. Count me in!"

Lily just hugged him. He sighed and got Harry. Remus got one of their bags and Sirius the other. They walked out of Hogwarts, facing the horizon, facing a new future.

A new, but not so bright one.

A.N.: There you have! The biggest chapter so far... I know it's not reeeally big, but I wanted to start answering all your questions! If you know HP well enough, you might be able to understand what happened so Lily would live. And I just presented the main plot of this fic, as it goes only up to the moment when Harry receives his letter from Hogwarts. Then, I intend to start a new one, for his first year.

The next chapter will present Potter manor, but I intend to move on with the story, maybe 'till Harry's second or third birthday, I'm still planning. I hope you liked my explanation on how Lily survived, even if it's obviously not complete. And if you want to guess what happened that night, you can PM and I'll tell you if you're correct or not. But of course that will spoil the end. Heehee.

Thank you for everybody who read this so far! I know it's too early to say if this is any good, but I've received a lot of people following the story, so thank you for believing in it! I'm not a review addict, but I like to have feedback, so I can improve my story. If you have any suggestions, questions, anything, please, 'review' it, or send me a PM. I'll be forever thankful!

And also, I'm still trying to find a beta, so excuse any mistakes. I'm reading it again and again, and trying to find these little problems and solve them. Ah, this week, my routine goes back to normal, so I'll have less time to write. But I promise I'll try to update at least once a week.

I hope you enjoy it! ;D

MSupernatural