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

The elf fell again. Bellatrix felt the anger boiling inside her. She threw the whip away, pointed her wand at the elf and screamed "Crucio!". Instantly, the elf started screaming louder, and Bellatrix started laughing again.

What was she thinking about before being interrupted by the stupid elf? Ah, Grimmaud place... Grimmaud place... Suddenly, her eyes flashed. Her mind was illuminated by a brilliant idea. She laughed again, craziness palpable around her.

After some days, life at Potter Manor got easier. It didn't mean it got easy at all, but soon everybody was used to the idea of living there. James' foul mood made some appearances, but he finally seemed to be able to act as if things weren't too terrible and keep his memories out of the way.

Sirius used to visit them almost every day. He would arrive soon after breakfast (sometimes even join them if possible) and stay up to Harry's bed time. James suggested more than once for him to just move in, but Sirius always refused, because he 'loved his shoebox too much'. Remus didn't come around that often, as he was still doing some jobs for the Order, but he visited sometimes. He utterly refused to tell his friends where he was staying, though.

Alice and Frank Longbottom visited the Potters, but not often enough to be something regular. Ever since Augusta's attack and death, they went into hiding again. Lily and James offered them to stay, as Potter manor was unlikely to be attacked, but they refused as well.

So, in the end, much to the family's dismay, they always ended up alone in that big house. But this happened mainly during the night, so things weren't so terrible. What did upset them was the fact that they couldn't go out of the manor. By December, the Wizarding World's initial shock faded, and the fact that Lord Voldemort was gone sank in. There were parties, celebrations, fireworks, more parties and more celebrations to thank the Potters for vanquishing the Dark Lord. So they just couldn't go anywhere, or they would be recognized, thanked, cherished and even have their autographs asked. Owls and owls came in every day, with letters, messages, boxes with presents and other goods for James, Lily and little Harry.

Christmas day wasn't different, if not worse. On the Eve, Sirius and Remus finally accepted to sleepover, so as soon as everybody was up, and they had had their breakfast, they started opening their presents.

"Wow!" Had been James' reaction upon seeing the pile of letters and presents in their living room. It was extremely strange to get letters from people they didn't know, let alone receive presents, but James and Sirius, always two attention seekers, loved this new fame. Remus and Lily, on the other hand, seemed annoyed with the lack of privacy.

"Prongs, mate, if you don't open all these babies up, I'll do it!" Sirius said, his eyes also wide in awe. Remus looked suspicious, though. He got close to Lily and whispered:

"Do you think the Death Eaters could send something foul to you guys?"

She bit her lower lip and held Harry closer, still eyeing the pile of presents. "I don't know…" She said. "James said the wards wouldn't accept anything with dark magic in it, but I know we have to be careful… Mostly, poison and even some hexes aren't defined as dark, but still do damage."

James got one of the presents from the familiar pile, ran to his wife, got his son to his arms, and went back to the carpet in the center of the room, where he sat with Harry on his lap. Sirius, Remus and Lily soon joined them and they let Harry tear his first present: Mini plush quidditch balls enchanted to work similar to the big ones. This present was James'.

"You're trying to corrupt my child and make him interested only in sports, you vile man!" Lily said, laughing.

"Don't you dare start, woman! This is my foal, and thus shall be raised Loving the sport!" And everybody laughed. Harry giggled with the plush bludger started hitting him softly.

The next present was Lily's. She gave him a small golden necklace with a golden heart pendant. It was enchanted to glow in the dark, grow around Harry's neck so he couldn't be strangled by it, and, in the future, when Harry learned how to do it, it would work as a portkey to wherever she or James were.

Sirius' present was another child broomstick, as the first had been lost in the 'accident'. Remus' present was a self-telling story book. Alice and Frank gave Harry a crystal ball that, when touched by the baby, would glow in different colors, informing his parents if he was hungry, tired, thirsty, or these things.

Lily got a little disappointed because her sister didn't send anything to Harry, even though she and James had sent Dudley a new baby bicycle. "Don't worry about it, honey…" James said, in low tone so nobody would hear them. She looked up and locked her eyes in those beautiful hazel eyes she loved so much. "He doesn't need anything from them. And there's nothing they could give Harry that he doesn't have…"

Lily slowly nodded and smiled.

"Wow! This is fantastic!" Sirius shouted, and everybody looked at him. He was holding a broomstick, a new Comet given to him by both Lily and James.

Soon, everybody had opened their presents. Sirius pranked James, as when he opened his present, it was an opened box of Cockroach Clusters. The cockroaches started crawling on his arm, and James, who didn't like cockroaches at all, started shouting and ran away from the room. It took him several minutes to come back and open Sirius' real present, the biggest prank set from Zonko's.

When the pile of 'family' presents had been opened, Sirius and James decided to open the other presents, and Lily and Remus started opening the not-so-small pile of letters. Harry happily played with his balls.

"Okay, one more box of chocolate filled with love potion!" James announced and everybody laughed. They had gotten around 10 so far, and they weren't in the middle of the pile yet. Almost all of these presents were addressed to James. As Sirius was joking saying that the combination of being very handsome, extremely rich, totally cool, a real family guy and one of the saviors of the Wizarding World made the girls' 'panties drop, cherries pop'.

"And there's the fact that he's excellent on the bed…" Lily said, chuckling. Sirius slapped his forehead as Remus and James laughed.

"How could I have forgotten that? And it's important to mention his sizes are very decent!" Sirius said in a girly voice, winking at James with a mischievous smile.

"OI!" Lily shouted staring at Sirius while James and Remus were almost suffering oxygen deprivation so hard they were laughing. She sighed and went back to the pile of letters. "Sometimes, I do worry they had something more than friendship.. Oh, no, another one!" She said, and used her wand to burn the letter in front of her. Not all letters and presents were good. Few of them were actually howlers, they had found two boxes with poisoned chocolate, three envelopes with spells and even one box with Acromantula venom inside.

"Why do they do this?" Lily said, looking down.

"Hey, Lils, don't worry about these bastards… Just see those as some terrible jokes, and have a bit of fun. They surely can't harm us…" Sirius said, patting her shoulder.

"I know… But I fear for Harry…"

"HA! Nothing will happen to Pronglet! I'll protect him with my life, right, Pronglet?" Sirius said, tickling his godson, who laughed.

Lily felt a little better, but didn't lose her cautious look.

"Another marriage proposal for you, James!" Remus said, laughing and holding a pink letter. The fifth so far. Lily groaned.

After Christmas and New Year, things started to go the right way. James finally seemed to have lost the bad attitude. As he couldn't see any danger in it, Dumbledore agreed with James going back to work. His new acquired fame didn't let him do field work, but he was happy enough to be working on tactics or preparing new aurors.

Lily spent most of her day with Harry, studying or brewing potions while he played with his new toys. The fact that James wasn't there let her carry on with her hobby. The only problem was, James got home early, so she couldn't prepare anything that took more than a few hours to brew. Of course she would prefer her husband at home instead of brewing potions, though. He continuously told her that she had every right to brew potions and whatnot, but she always dismissed it. She prefered to say with him instead of in the lab.

During the afternoon, James, Sirius and, to Lily's utter distress, Harry played quidditch. The first few times they played, Harry could only watch. That ended up stressing the boy so much that he started kicking and biting his mother.

So, after James made the field fully protected and secure, either he or Sirius would carry Harry on their brooms. And finally, in the last few games, Harry used his toy broomstick to fly around the field, in hot pursuit to the plush golden snitch. Even though the small ball was quite slow and big, Harry still couldn't catch it, and that frustrated him.

Sometimes Remus would join, and, on the rare occasions when Frank and Alice visited, they and Lily joined as well. The only one who didn't play was Neville, who seemed to detest flying and brooms. He did seem to enjoy when his father or James would carry him.

They all tried their best, but James' team always ended up winning. Even though Sirius was in the team as well during Hogwarts, he had been a beater, and they were all playing as chasers, while the girls were keepers.

This very game, on James' birthday, James and Remus were 150 points ahead when they heard a shout of victory. Looking at each other, they didn't understand who had done it, but when they looked down, Harry was smiling, all his little teeth could be seen, and the plush golden snitch was in his hand.

"MY BOY!" James roared and flew high speed to his son. He grabbed Harry in a bear hug and started spinning him around.

"That's my godson! That's my godson!" Sirius said, dancing on his broom. Everybody else was smiling.

"He's going to be a fantastic player, Lily…" Frank said, smiling.

"Oh, God, not another one…" She groaned, Remus and Alice laughing. When she saw her husband's curious look, Alice said:

"Lily says that James was a… what was it again?" she looked at Lily with a questioning look.

"An arrogant, bullying toerag" Lily replied, laughing.

"Yes, an arrogant, bullying toerag, because he was so good at quidditch." Alice finished, looking back at her husband, who smirked.

"But don't forget that she got worried sick when he was playing." Remus intervened.

Alice and Frank laughed. "Even before she admitted liking him." Alice said, as the four laughed. Lily looked down and saw James, Harry and Sirius laughing.

"That's what I'm worried about… I can't stand seeing someone I love in danger. It was difficult with James, and it will be as difficult with Harry." She said, sadly.

Nobody said anything as Gally appeared on the side of the field and informed them the birthday dinner was ready. The six people and two babies went to the dining room and had a happy meal together. They talked and laughed and ate for a long time.

When they were finally satisfied, the dishes were taken and they started giving James their presents. A new agenda which reminded him if he forgot an event from Alice, a big bag of candies from Honeydukes (no cockroaches) from Frank, a book about transfigurative spells, James' favorite, from Remus and a stone of undying devotion (a very difficult potion to prepare. If you dip a stone in it, it will create a special stone that will allow the owner to talk to his lover just by holding it, no matter the distance between them) from Lily. Alice, Frank and Neville soon left.

After this, Sirius stood up. Everybody got silent, as he spoke.

"Prongs… My present is not here. If everybody could follow me, I'll show it to you." He said. Everybody stood up and started following Sirius. Of course everyone was grinning; this could only mean a prank. Sirius, however, didn't smile. He looked so serious and nervous it was strange to see.

"Pads, buddy, you're not going to prank me with cockroaches again, right?" James said, shivering.

"No, no, Prongs… I'm actually very serious about this." His expression was solemn. The other people's smiles faded, and concern overtook their expressions. Not only wasn't he joking, but he didn't use the pun on his name, which could only mean he was indeed serious.

As they walked, tension in the air, Sirius restarted talking.

"When we arrived here, I felt terrible because of the pain you were feeling. I loved your parents as my parents. Hell, they were my parents way more than those who bore me… And even though I felt pain myself, I know it's not as strong as the one you must be feeling."

James stared at the floor and said nothing. He didn't even pay attention to where they were going until they stopped. James looked up and found himself in from of the locked door on the third floor.

"Did you find a way to open it?" James asked Sirius.

"Yes, Gally told me… You need a password." He answered. He turned to the door and said: "Pottermore." The door opened with a click and Sirius moved aside so James could enter.

It was a long corridor, but that was it. Long, not so wide, and the only furniture was a single armchair at it's end and paintings. As James entered and started walking down the corridor, he paid attention to the paintings. They were all white men, some with messy hair, sometimes black, sometimes red, one or two blond, and mostly blue or hazel eyes. Some looked vaguely familiar and alike.

They all stared at them with stern looks. Some nodded to James, but simply ignored the others. One of the last paintings James was able to actually recognize.

"Uncle Charlus?" he said, eyes wide.

The man on the painting was thin and had deep black eyes. He seemed to be very intelligent, as he nodded a bit, but said nothing.

"Wait, Charlus, as Charlus Potter, your uncle, who was married to Sirius' aunt?" Remus asked, surprised.

"Aye." Sirius said matter-of-factly.

"Wicked!" Remus said.

Everybody kept moving until they all got to the end of the corridor. There, on the left side, there was the last painting, and the biggest of the room. It was clearly very new, as the paint wasn't totally dry yet. But nobody cared about it. There were two people on the painting, a woman and a man. They were both smiling.

She had hazel eyes and a long hair with the same color as Lily's. She was beautiful, and had this European aura around her. Her teeth were perfect and extremely white. She looked as if she were part of some kind of royalty, a princess of some sort. She could easily be said to be 30, or 40 top, but something in her eyes showed them she was way older.

He, on the other hand, had messy black hair, and deep blue eyes in which you could possibly drown yourself. He was beyond the meaning of the word handsome, with his strong jaw and broad shoulders. He also seemed like an authority, but his face showed a lot of compassion. He looked, at the same time, dangerous and incapable of causing harm. He was probably around 45, maybe 50.

It didn't take a second for everybody to know those were Harold and Lucile Potter. James' parents.

Bellatrix entered Muggle London. Or, she'd rather say, left the Wizarding London. One step out of the Leaky Cauldron and she already felt dirty. Filthy, in deed. And the fact that she, Mulciber, Lucius and Macnair had to dress up as other people didn't help either.

Bellatrix Lestrange couldn't help but growl. It's all that stupid, filthy, mudblood of a baby, his damn parents and her pathetic cousin's fault. They would die, that's for sure, but the only thing that kept the Dark Lord's most confident servant happy was imagining them suffer because of a very special selection of spells. The idea of the screams of pain of the little baby would calm her deep. She then smiled.

"Let's get this done already. I want to go home and wash myself with… corrosive potion, probably." She said. Lucius, of course, was the only one who had the guts to chuckle.

They were on a mission, and even though Voldemort wasn't around and Bellatrix had lost three fingers in her fight against Augusta Longbottom, she was the leader. Not that they actually needed one, but she had always been bossy, and no one felt like arguing with her. But even though she was much more than a leader, everybody saw her as an… interim guide, so to speak.

They didn't have to walk long down the adjacent street to get in from of an apartment building. It seemed just like all the others, but the big number 7 on the wall made Bellatrix smile and stop.

"It's here. Let's get inside and prepare a little surprise for your friends."

Lily and Remus had one hand covering their own mouths. James stared at the painting for a few seconds and handed Harry to Lily, turning to face Sirius.

"Did you know about this?" He said, his voice dangerously low. "Did you know there was a painting of my parents here and never told me?"

"No, Prongs, mate. I discovered this room the day we arrived here. And there wasn't a painting here, I made it as a Christmas present for you!" Sirius said.

"But how? The incantations are probably the most complex that there are, I'm sure you can handle them…" James said. Sirius smiled. "but the requirements… Don't you need some kind of magical bound made before death and bits of the person?"

"Yes, son, you need." Harold Potter said, his voice powerful and handsome. "But any person, as soon as they get into the family, gets magically able to be immortalized on a painting. One of our ancestors guaranteed it. I think his painting is the second of the hall. There first is, naturally, his father."

"Why didn't you tell me, dad?" James asked, pain evident on his voice.

"James… Your father told me why. And I agreed." His mother said, still smiling.

"The fact, son, is that… the incantations can only be performed by someone from the family…"

"Wait!" Lily said, before she could control herself. She blushed deeply when all the attention turned to her. She heard a sneer, but it didn't come from the living, nor from James' parents who were smiling at her, but another painting. "I'm sorry to interrupt you, Mr. Potter, but did you say the person had to be from the family? Sirius made the painting, but I'm sure he's not from your family, right?"

"I am, Lils. Do you remember when I and James say we're brothers in everything but blood?" She nodded. "That's real. I was magically adopted by the Potters."

"What? Magically adopted? How can someone be magically adopted?" She asked. Remus took one step forward.

"If the person is 17 or younger, and is either an orphan or disinherited, they can be adopted into another wizarding family, if at least half of its members accept that person." He answered.

"So when Sirius ran away and got himself blasted, he got magically disinherited. I say magically, because, as he is the oldest of his generation in the family, he'll still get everything that belongs to the Blacks the moment his mother dies." James said.

"As if I wanted anything from those bastards!" Sirius said with a sour face.

"Sirius, language!" Both Lily and Mrs. Potter said. While Lucile Potter smiled, Lily blushed again.

"So, when Sirius started living with us, he had a lot of money given by his uncle, but he was magically disinherited. He and James were so devastated that I felt adopting him would be the correct thing to do." Mr. Potter said.

Then, something never seen before happened. Sirius blushed. Not entirely, no, it would be probably impossible for that to happen. But his cheeks got a bit pinky.

"Of course, he couldn't receive part of our belongings, because he hasn't received the other heirdom, and a wizard can only be entitled to receive one heritage… he also refused to call me dad, and didn't get the name Potter, but-"

"Oh, Harold, you're so prolix. You're boring the children to death!" Mrs. Potter said. "Long story short, as there were only five Potters alive by then, and the three of us accepted, Sirius became a Potter."

"He never accepted the surname, though." James said. Sirius was smiling, but still very silent.

Lily was extremely dumbfounded. Remus was smiling, so she knew he knew it all.

"Were you adopted as well?" She asked to him.

"No, my parents were alive. And when they died, I was 18 already." He said, still smiling.

"So, dad, you didn't tell me why you kept this…" James raised his hands to show the corridor. "As a secret."

His father sighed and looked at his son. "You have no idea how difficult it is to create these paintings, James." He said. And then, he continued, as he saw his son opening his mouth. "Don't get me wrong, I'm sure you can do the magic. The problem is, it takes many long days. Hurtful days, because the paintings test you, to see if you deserve keeping the Potter behind. I had to create my father's and my brother's portraits, can you imagine how painful those days were? I had to see their memories… I was tested, I saw all kinds of horrible things they went through their whole lives… And I thought you'd be the one to prepare mine, as only men from the family can do it." He looked down, thoughtful.

"Four weeks of your father's life were horrible, Jamsie. Those were the ones, two for creating his father's, two for his brother's." Lucile said, looking at her husband and putting a hand on his shoulder.

"Sirius himself cried every day." Harold added. Everybody looked at Sirius, but he was looking at the floor. His hair was hanging on the sides of his face, so nobody could see it. "If you paid attention, only men have paintings, and only men should have access to this room. But Sirius apparently didn't care about this– I agree with you, Sirius, that's just chauvinism…" He said smiling, when Sirius whispered an apology. "…so he painted your mother as well. So it was twice harder for him. I had decided to end this tradition, but Sirius decided it had to continue, even if a slightly different way."

James walked over to Sirius and hugged him tight, tears in his eyes. "Thank you so much. I don't even know how I can thank you enough. You're my best friend, my brother. I love you, Sirius Black…"

Everyone smiled. Sirius hugged James back and giggled. "Okay, okay… No need to get all gay. I know you love me." He said. He ended the hug and looked his friend's wet eyes when they separated. "but I love you too, Prongs." He added, with a smile, and hugged him again.

After almost one minute still hugging, Remus cleared his throat. James and Sirius broke the hug, but were smiling. "Mr. and Mrs. Potter, it was excellent to see you again." Remus said.

"You too, Remus" Harold replied.

"Please, come and visit us again, my dear. And don't pay attention to the guys on the other portraits, they also got angry when they saw a woman on this one. We have to change this habit of only Potter men painted, only Potter men visit..." Lucile said, smiling. Harold also smirked.

"Hey, Moony, would you mind going to my place and help me with a boggart? I've got one in the apartment building and I wouldn't like to deal with it alone." Sirius said. He was clearly trying to leave the Potters alone.

"Sure, Pads." Remus said, smiling.

"So, off I go as well. Bye everybody. Mr. and Mrs. Potter. Prongs, mate, happy birthday again. Lily. Pronglet, my godson." Sirius said, waving to the portrait, hugging Lily and high fiving James. He kissed Harry's forehead. The boy was already sleeping, after all that conversation.

"Come visit us, okay, Sirius, my dear?" Lucile said.

"Sure thing." He replied, smiling.

"And, Sirius…" Harold said. "Thank you again for showing me that I was wrong, for your bravery and strength, and for your fidelity to this family. We're very proud of you… my son."

While everyone smiled, Sirius' jaw dropped. Once more that night he blushed. Mumbling incoherent things, he turned and left the room, Remus following him.

"Lily, honey, it's good to see you and James got married." Lucile said, still smiling. "It's a pity we didn't make it to your wedding."

"It was a small ceremony, madam. But I would have loved to see you there." Lily said, also smiling.

"Is that our grandson?" Harold asked Lily, looking at the baby sleeping in her arms.

"Yes, dad. He's almost two. His name is Harry." James said, grinning. His father's eyes widened, and then he smiled warmly.

"Thank you son… He is so beautiful… So peaceful…"

"Just when he's sleeping, Mr. Potter. By the way, I should take him to bed. Bye Mr. Potter, Mrs. Potter."

"Came around tomorrow, Lily, will you?" Lucile said. "I want to know all news that only a girl could tell." Mrs. Potter winked.

"Will do, madam." Lily said, giggling. "Bye love. I'll be waiting for you." She said to James, kissed him and left with Harry, so he could stay alone with his parents.

There was some seconds of awkward silence between the man and his parents on the picture. While Mr. and Mrs. Potter smiled warmly, waiting for their son to say something, James just stared at them, with a somewhat painful look on his face.

"Mum... Dad..." he finally said. There was a lump on his throat, and it almost hurt to speak. "I-I missed you so much..." James stopped looking at his parents and let his gaze go down, so he stared at the floor.

"James..." His mother started, only to be cut by her son.

"I've been through so many things since you're gone! I needed you so bad!" James said, pain evident in his voice. He was still staring at the floor, so the Potters wouldn't know the extent of the pain in their son.

"James, please, look at us." Harold said. James slowly put his head up. "I know it must have felt as though we weren't there for you, but that's not true... We're always with you, even if you can't see us, or we don't answer when you ask us something."

"I know... I just..." James lost his ability to speak. He was now looking at his parents as they just waited for him to continue. "I just... felt terrible... For everything I did..."

"James..." his mother said. "You know, our memories go up to the moment we were, according to the pieces of us that Sirius used. We don't know what happened after, he just told us we both got some silly sickness and died fighting, mainly because of our age... So, we can't possibly know what you did that was so terrible..."

"No, mum, you didn't understand. Near the time you... were gone, I didn't do anything wrong... I don't think I would have continued living if I had..."

"James, quit the drama!" Harold said. He wasn't rude at all, but both his wife and son knew he hated drama. "If you didn't do anything bad near the time of our death..." James flinched and Harold rolled his eyes before continuing. "... then I don't get why you feel like this!"

James whispered something his parents couldn't hear. "What was that again?" Lucile said.

"I-I feel bad because of... what I put you through with my reckless attitude!" he said. James' head went up fast, his face a frown of annoyance when his parents started laughing.

"What?" His mother said, still laughing a bit. "James, dear, you were a child! We don't even remember any bad events! When little Harry grows up, you'll see that the good memories will simply erase the bad ones..."

James looked a bit skeptical. "What were those?" His father said, grinning.

"What were what?" James looked puzzled.

"What moments do you feel guilty about? Tell us and we can forgive you, or scold you, or laugh at you." Harold said.

"Gee, thanks..." James said, looking annoyed, but he felt that was an excellent idea. "Dad... I feel terrible about the day I stole your broom..."

"Which specific time?" His father asked, still smiling.

"All of them, but principally when I was 9 and I ended up falling..."

"Wow, I had forgotten about that one. You broke your wrist right? I was worried sick!" Harold said. James looked down. "But I felt really proud of you. You are natural at flying, son. I didn't say anything because your mother would think I'd be encouraging you to get the broom again..."

James turned to his mother. "The prank Sirius prepared for Snape..."

"Oh, dear, it was so noble of you to help saving him, even if you didn't have to..." his mother said.

"The day I made aunt Dorea fall from the stairs..." At this, Harold giggled.

"Son, I'm sorry to say, but that was my fault. I accidentally shout a hex to her direction..." They heard a loud 'Hey' coming from Charlus', Dorea's husband, painting. Harold bit his lower lip. "It seems I'll have to explain some things to my brother..." 'You betcha!' came from the painting, and everybody smiled.

"The time I dyed professor Larian's hair pink?" James said, but he was still smiling.

"That was actually a good one, son." Lucile said, winking. "That man was vile. You just shouldn't have been caught, that was what angered me the most."

"The Jarvey?" James once had tried to raise a jarvey, the ferret like creature that curse more than a pirate.

"If it weren't so big, I might even have liked the pet." His father replied.

"The time me and Sirius pretended we were dating each other?" James laughed a bit.

"We were not prepared for that, I have to admit. You two were such womanizers..." His mother said, smiling. Then, she looked at her husband. "But to tell you the truth, your father believed it, and even after you said it was a prank, he still tried to catch you, say, in action..." She laughed as Harold blushed.

"Dad! You knew I liked Lily! How come you believed we were gay?" James said, indignantly.

"Well, like your mother said, you guys were always around so many girls, comparing them and announcing how many dates you had... I thought you were kind of... overcompensating..." Harold giggled nervously.

James was smiling, but then his smile disappeared like a flash. Of course that wasn't missed by his parents. Something that really worried him was about to be uncovered. James stared at the stone floor again before speaking.

"I'm so sorry about what I said... on my last birthday." Harold and Lucile tensed. They knew that was coming, but they though James would bring the subject up so soon. They thought he would wait until he had more courage. What they had forgotten was the fact that James was a pure Gryffindor.

They day of James' 19th birthday, the last one that his parents were alive, the three had a big argument. It started out of nowhere, some cheeky answer from James' part, some shouting from Harold's and some rude comments from Lucile's. The argument was per si was not that bad. The only problem was the end of it.

James was so angry at his parents that he said 'I'll go away from you, and I'll never see you again. I'll never step inside this house, and I'll only come back when you're dead, so I get the money that's mine!'. Of course James came around and apologized, but the damage was done. 8 months later, his parents were dead, and James was devastated. That was the thing he regretted the most, the reason he couldn't stand living there, he couldn't, and wouldn't, use the Potter's inheritance.

"James... I-I'm sorry as well..." Harold said. "I shouldn't have shouted at you, and I feel miserable because of that..."

"Son, we both felt terrible... We love you more than anything, you know how important family is for us, and the thought we failed you..." Lucile said, looking down.

James had tears in his eyes. "No... No! It wasn't your fault! It was mine! I was stupid for saying those things. I didn't mean anything, anything really! If I could, I'd give all this... money, this house to have you back!"

"We know that, son. You just lost it, and you were very young. Of course we didn't believe it. It stung at first, but then we soon forgot, because we knew it was nothing from your heart." Harold said.

"To the point our memories are, James, it has been three months since your birthday. Three terrible months in which we felt terrible for doing that to you..." Lucile said.

"Mum, it was my fault! And to me it has been three years. I-I can't even begin to tell you how bad I've been feeling all these years. Do you please, please forgive me? I take it all b-back, I-I want you to just forget it..." James said, tears finally rolling freely from his eyes.

"We do, son. We did already. Let's do this, we all forget what happened. The whole thing was a giant mistake, and we're over it. Deal?" Harold said.

James only nodded, cleaning his face with his shirt's sleeves. They stayed there, looking at each other for a while. The weight on their shoulders was over at last. Not long, they were smiling, and soon James said goodbye, said he loved them and went to bed.

Sirius and Remus arrived at the apartment seconds after they left the Potter manor.

"So, how do you think a boggart found a wizard in the middle of muggle London? I know this is near the Leaky Cauldron and all, but still..." Remus said.

"Well, it's in the mail locker. I bet I received something magical, but, as I don't use the muggle mail, I almost never checked it, so the boggart must have found it." Sirius replied. "Thanks for doing this, by the way... You know how boggarts affect me... because of what they become..." he continued, darkly.

Of course Remus knew, so he just nodded. Once, they found a boggart at Hogwarts in their last year. Remus and James dealt with it easily enough, but Sirius got so scared that he almost entered in shock. Peter didn't even join them.

They stopped at the atrium of Sirius' apartment building and went to the mail lockers, casting some muggle repelling spells and a silence spell. Sirius opened his locker, number 34, and waited on the side. Out of it came a round globe. The moon.

"Riddikulus!" Remus shouted. The globe turned into a balloon losing its air and flying around. Finally, it found Sirius. It stopped in front of him and started to transform. It grew legs, arms and a head, and then it fell to the ground. James' dead body.

"R-Riddikulus!" Sirius cried, but nothing happened. The boggart transformed into Remus' dead body. "Ri-Riddi..." Sirius stuttered. The boggart changed again to Lily's body. "RIDDIKULUS!" Sirius shouted. But even he knew it wouldn't work this time. He couldn't focus on something funny anymore. The body changed once more, and then it was Harry's little body. Sirius finally lost it and started screaming and crying.

Remus was in shock. Seeing his friends dead was terrible, but Harry's body? He rushed and looked at the boggart. It changed again into the moon and Remus screamed at the top of his voice the incantation. It turned into a cockroach. Remus used the spell again and the boggart was destroyed.

He knelt beside his friend and put a hand on his shoulder. "Padfoot, calm down... It was just a boggart. They're okay, they're happy... They're safe at home..."

Remus continued to whisper soft words to Sirius until his loud cries and sobs were nothing but some whimper.

"I'm sorry, Moony...But everything is so recent..." he finally said, cleaning his face with the handkerchief Remus handed him.

"There's nothing to feel sorry about, Pads. It was terrible, I almost lost it myself..." Remus said. They finally stood up and when upstairs to Sirius apartment. Both of them were so lost in their own thoughts that they just opened the door and entered. As soon as they turned on to face the small living room, they found Bellatrix Lestrange smiling, pointing her wand at them.

"Hello, cousin!" She said. Behind her, Lucius, Mulciber and Macnair were also pointing their wands at them.

They had just walked into a trap.

A.N.: Hey guys, sorry about the cliffie. I want to continue, but I think it's better to leave the fight to another chapter, there's a lot of information in this already. Also, when I had to decide a password, Pottermore kept coming, so I just thought, hey, why not?

So, 'Choices' didn't get any reviews in the last chapter... Are you guys enjoying it? Please, give me some feedback, okay? I need to know if I'm having any kind of trouble I shouldn't. Thanks for those who sent me some PMs with their opinions! And special thanks to Quinthar, who always commented about the new chapters and helped me. You Rock, capital R!

I have a question for you. I want to know the readers opinion (I'm not going to create a poll because every time I try, it crashes, and I can't create it. I don't know what is happening...), okay? I really want to know: Who do you think is worse, Barty Crouch Jr. or Bellatrix? Or maybe Lucius? I have some ideas, but I need to know who to use... I'll be waiting for your answer! Thanks!

Thanks for everybody following the story, and those who favorited it as well! I hope you like this chapter!

MSupernatural