The Potters and the Choices Made

Disclaimer: Harry Potter does not belong to me, but to J. K. Rowling and WB. I'm making no money out of this.

"What the f-" Sirius shouted as the owl stopped in front of him. He hadn't seen it entering, so he got quite a scare when he it, and it only worsened when he realized what kind of owl that was. He looked at Lily and saw that she had paled considerably. She looked at the owl and back at him, as if asking him if he knew what it was about. He shrugged, which caused her to bite her lower lip.

The ministry owl hooted and seemed to narrow its eyes at Sirius, reproachful. With his hands shaking, he took the letter tied to its talon and messily tore the envelope.

He swiftly read the letter, frowning a bit halfway through. Lily waited for him to finish nervously, at the same time curious and very worried about the document. She knew well what one of those meant, having received one herself once, and having seen some of her friends receiving them too. He finally finished reading and his face relaxed.

"So? What was it?" Lily asked, after a whole minute of silence during which Sirius only stared ahead, visibly concentrated on his own thoughts. He turned to look at her, holding her gaze.

"My mother died at St. Mungos. A couple of hours ago." He said.

"Oh..." She didn't know what to say, she knew Sirius didn't like his mother, but what should she say? "I-I'm sorry to hear it, I-"

"Oh, don't worry, I couldn't care less." Sirius said, dismissing what she said with a wave of his hand and a small smile while he still held her gaze. "I've lost my mother when Mrs. Potter died all those years ago."

Lily could see that her friend wasn't as cheerful as he tried to sound, but she decided not to press on it. "She was at St. Mungos, right?" she asked.

"Yeah, she has been there since father passed away, basically." He said, finally looking away from her. He took the time to put the letter inside the envelope again as he spoke. "She couldn't take care of herself anymore, and there was nobody willing to take care of her, so she was permanently admitted there. I'm her closest family member alive, so I have to go there and... you know."

Lily only nodded and silence reigned for a couple of minutes again. After a while, Sirius chuckled, earning him a surprised look from Lily.

"I guess I get to spit at her grave, then." He said with a grin. "Or maybe I'll spit on her forehead, that would be nice too."

"Sirius!" Lily chided, but with a tiny smile. She normally would have scolded him for such comment, but she knew he said that just to break the tension. He sighed deeply just as Harry entered the room.

"Mum!" His hair was damp and he wore casual clothes. "Can I make a sandwich for lunch?" He said, oblivious to his godfather's uncommon silence.

"Of course, honey. Just ask Gally to help you prepare it, okay?" She said, with a smile. She then realized something, looking from Sirius to Harry, her smile gone. "Harry, would you mind staying here with Gally while I go to St. Mungos with Sirius?"

Harry only shrugged as he got the things he wanted to put on his sandwich, absorbed by the task ahead. Harry often tried to make tasty sandwiches, but he didn't know what to use, so he generally exaggerated, making strange things such as tuna and banana sandwiches or peanut butter, cheese and strawberry sandwiches. Luckily, Gally was aware of that and would prepare a more normal one when Harry decided Snuffles would enjoy his sandwich more. Lily knew James would be there in a few minutes, and Remus would arrive within the hour, so she felt it was safe to leave Harry with the elves.

"If your dad arrives, please tell him that I went to St. Mungos, okay?"

"Sure, mum." Harry said, his head inside the fridge as he got the tube of mayo and a box of blueberries.

Lily didn't have to worry about James knowing she was going to St. Mungos. She often when there to deliver the potions she had made, so he probably wouldn't be too concerned.

"Lily, you don't have to, you can stay here with Harry." Sirius said.

"I know, but I don't want you to go alone." She replied, holding his gaze. "Harry can stay here with the elves while we go there.

Sirius nodded, murmuring a thanks. They stood up and each gave Harry a hug before using the floo to get to the hospital.

As soon as both of them stepped into St. Mungos, they met James. He had a small on his cheek and saying he was surprised at seeing best friend and his wife entering the hospital would be an understatement.

"Sirius! Lily! What are you doing here? Where's Harry? What's going on?" he said, quickly panicking.

"Prongs! Calm yourself, everything is fine!" Sirius said, grabbing his best friend's arm and leading him to the lift, Lily on his other side. "Harry is at home, we just came here to... sort some things out." he continued, with a smile. James' heart was painfully thundering inside his chest. After the events of that morning, seeing part of his family at St. Mungos scared him.

Sirius pressed the button for the 4th floor as they entered the lift. "What's going on, then?" James asked, a bit calmer. Luckily, it was just the three of them inside the lift. Sirius turned at him and looked inside his hazel eyes.

"It's nothing, really." He said with a low chuckle. "I have just got a letter from the ministry informing me that dear old hag I had to call a mother died." He said, propping his back against the wall of the lift with a grin.

James stared at his friend for a couple of seconds. With one big step, he closed the distance between themselves and held his best friend on a tight hug.

"Hey, there, Prongs!" Sirius exclaimed a bit loudly, trying to push James and break their hug, but he didn't budge. "Prongs, cut if off, man." Sirius used more strength, trying to wrestle his way out of his best friend's embrace, but apparently James was too strong for that. "Jamesie, p-please..." Sirius' voice broke. He inhaled loudly twice before a sob escaped his lips.

Lily watched surprised as Sirius finally hugged James back, crying on his shoulder. "She's d-dead, Jamesie, that old bitch is d-dead! She died h-hating m-me, e-even if I d-didn't do anything t-to her!" Sirius' wails were muffled by James' shirt as the dog animagus clung to his best friend for dear life. James whispered things to him while Sirius finally let it all out, rubbing his back to try to comfort him a bit. Even if it was quite hard for Lily to understand what Sirius was saying, she managed to get the idea for it: Sirius wanted not to care, he wanted to be happy she was dead, but he couldn't.

A couple of minutes later, Sirius calmed down completely, letting go of James. This time, he let go too. Sirius tried to turn around to hide his tears, but James held his arms.

"No," he said, solemnly. "You promised me you wouldn't hide it, remember?" James smiled, reaching his best friend's face with his hand and wiping one of the tears with his thumb. Sirius let out a shaky, watery laugh, and gave James a light shove.

"You soppy ponce." Causing the two Potters to laugh.

"Only with you, Siri." James said, giving his friend a small peck on his forehead. Sirius nodded, becoming solemn again.

"Thanks, Prongs." He said, avoiding looking at his friend's eyes directly. James smiled, patting his arm and guiding him and Lily out of the lift, which had arrived at their destination long before.

Lily loved seeing how close those two were. As she saw them walking slightly ahead of her, James' arm on Sirius' shoulders and Sirius' arm lazily crossing James' back, she couldn't help but think exactly that. They were even closer than most siblings, really. With one look, James was able to see just what Sirius needed, and just how to proceed with him. She knew that Sirius was not as comfortable as he looked, but she would never imagine that he still cared a little bit. And yet, with just a single look, James was able to recognize it and give him the necessary comfort. It was a beautiful thing to see, and Lily was glad they met her husband there... at St. Mungos!

"Hey, wait a minute!" She exclaimed, stopping halfway through to the Janus Thickey Ward. The two men stopped too and turned around to face her, looking surprised. "What are you doing here, James?"

James' expression visibly fell as he bit his lower lip and ran a hand through his messy hair. Lily knew that gesture better than she knew herself, her husband was nervous. He quickly told her what had happened, how he had gotten to the Grangers, how he had started explaining things to them, only to be interrupted by the doorbell. How the little girl had run towards the door and how she had been attacked.

"I got so scared when I saw her being hit by that curse." James said, his head hung as he stared at the floor. Lily put her hand on his shoulder to try to comfort him, Sirius just watched with a pained expression on his face. "It was a green curse, I-I thought..." He trailed off, but the other two were sure of what he had thought.

"What happened then?" Sirius asked gravely.

"Bellatrix saw me. I think she didn't expect to find a wizard there, so she just apparated." James said, still not facing the other two. "If I had been a little faster..."

"You couldn't have known, love." Lily said, rubbing his arm. "Please, don't dwell on it." He gave her a side hug, holding her hip and pressing her close. Sirius still looked sad and angry.

"Why won't my cousin just drop dead already?" he spat, turning around and punching the wall.

"Don't worry, Sirius, we will defeat her eventually." Lily said. He only nodded, not saying anything regarding that.

"So, was the girl okay?" Sirius asked, turning to James.

"I didn't recognize which curse Bellatrix had used." He replied, thoughtful. "I checked and there was pulse, thank Merlin. I brought her and her parents here, we got here a couple of hours ago. The Mediwizards are trying to undo the curse, but, by the time I left, she was still unconscious."

"You brought muggles here, mate?" Sirius asked, surprised.

"There was no other way, Padfoot! They wouldn't let me take their kid anywhere, and I couldn't just apparate with her, could I? Merlin, imagine how scary it would be..." James replied.

"Where are they, then?" Lily asked, looking around. They were on the Spell Damage Floor, so she thought they would be there. As if to prove her point, James pointed towards a door not far from where they were standing.

"That's her room. I asked a mind healer to go there and talk to them, you know, to calm them down and everything. They don't really trust me, but they trust everybody else even less. Only when they were comfortable enough with the healer that I could go downstairs. I was going to firecall you guys to tell you what had happened." James said.

Lily just nodded. "Why don't you two go sort Sirius' things out while I try to talk to them? Maybe someone who understands muggles might help a bit more."

While James and Sirius moved to the Janus Thickey Ward, Lily went to the room James had pointed. She knocked lightly and opened the door. The room was a little bit bigger than the normal ones and it had only one bed, and it had an adjoint room for visitors. James had obviously asked for a private room, something only big, rich and important families, much like the Potters, could do. That obviously upset Lily quite a lot, but she didn't even think about it this time around.

There was a couple sat by a bed in the middle of the room, and they both looked tired and sad. They were probably in their late thirties, which made them almost ten years older than Lily. The bed looked huge in comparison to the tiny little girl on it. Her messy hair was, by far, the most visible thing on her, but Lily was also able to see her little pale face and her eyes closed.

"Mr. and Mrs. Granger?" Lily whispered, loud enough for them to hear, but not loud enough for the little girl to wake up, had she been sleeping. The adults lifted their eyes from their daughter and nodded at her, standing up and following Lily silently to the other room so they could talk without disturbing Hermione.

"My name is Lily Potter, I'm James' wife, Harry's father." She said, taking turns to shake the Grangers' hands. "While it is good to meet you, it's a pity it is in this circumstance."

"We're Phil and Jane, it's nice to meet you." Dr. Granger introduced them.

"We can't thank your husband enough for saving our daughter." Jane added. Her face was a bit red, which made it quite obvious she had been crying. "If he hadn't been there..." She trailed off, the weight of the possibility hanging heavily between them.

"It's a good thing he could help you." Lily said, with a smile. The couple nodded and gave tight smiles which didn't go anywhere near their eyes.

"The doctors-" Jane started.

"Healers, love." Phil corrected not unkindly.

"Yes, the healers told us she is probably going to be ok, but they can only be sure when she wakes up from the induced coma." Lily could tell that, even though Jane was trying to be as strong and confident as possible, she was about to break down. Her husband looked at her sadly, rubbing her arm with his hand.

"I'm sure she will be all right in no time, Jane," Lily said. "There isn't much you can't undo with magic and potions."

Lily visibly saw them tense, uncomfortable with those words. She sighed, motioning for them to sit on a sofa the hospital provided in the adjoint room. As they sat, Lily decided to use a different approach.

"I am a so called Muggleborn, too." She said, holding their gazes. "I mean, my parents were muggles, they weren't wizards. In fact, I have a sister who isn't a witch." They looked at her surprised. "The name we are given, if we can do magic but our parents can't, is Muggleborn. My husband, on the other hand, is the son of wizards, so he's considered a Pureblood. And then, there are those who are born from a wizard and a muggle, halfblood."

"Pureblood and Halfblood?" Phil sounded a little disgusted, and Jane didn't look much better. "What, like breeds? They sort people as they separate horses and dogs?"

"I know it's a bit strange at first," Lily said, biting her lip. "but it's just... You'll find out that the Wizarding world is centuries behind the human world. Having magic to do things freely, wizards are stuck in a medieval world, and some of them are quite happy for it. After the whole witch hunt thing, the Wizarding World hid itself from muggles, but that also kept them away from the changes that happened since then."

There was a pregnant silence for a couple of minutes as the couple digested these new pieces of information.

"How did... how did your parents... well, what did they do?" Jane finally asked. Lily could see this was their main concern regarding their daughter's newly discovered abilities. She smiled reassuringly.

"They gave me the necessary support. They didn't understand this magical world, but they listened and tried their best to keep up. But, in the end, the thing I needed the most was their trust and their acceptance." Lily said, smiling as she remembered her parents. Her expression became a little more sour as she remembered her sister. "You'll come to find that some people choose not to accept wizards in their family, preferring to cut all ties with this person. Personally, I think this is the worst mistake someone can make." Jane and Phil nodded solemnly.

"We would accept and support our Hermione no matter what," Jane said, resolution strong on her voice. "It's just... hard to know what to do, considering we don't know anything about magic and wizards. We just worry about her safety, because..." She bit her lip, her gaze moving to the opened door that led to where her daughter was.

"Do you know why our daughter was attacked like that?" Phil asked, his face stony. Jane nodded, looking back at Lily as the redhead sighed.

"There are some Purebloods who don't accept our presence in their world. It's an old prejudice, but some of them actually try to harm us as a way of segregating us so we give up on our magic. You have to understand, Jane and Phil, that magic is a part of us. Hermione is a witch, no matter how hard she or anybody else tries to pretend she is not." They both nodded, thoughtful, as Lily continued. "It's terrible that something like that happened. When the dementor- I understand my husband explained to you what happened, right?- attacked the school, they were probably targeting my son, but it managed to detect your daughter's magic. That woman attacked you because she thought you wouldn't be able to defend yourselves. My husband went to your house to explain to you what had happened, but we couldn't predict a frontal attack like that, principally so soon. In fact, we're still not sure why it happened so fast."

"You sound as if this was a competition, a battle of some sort." Phil said, looking at Lily suspiciously.

"I'm not going to lie to you, it is something like that." She replied darkly. She didn't want to tell them they were on the verge of another war, but she couldn't just tell them everything was fine with people like Bellatrix roaming around.

"If we... let our daughter become part of this world, will she be safe?" Jane asked, staring deep into Lily's eyes.

"While I beg you to understand that your daughter is already part of this world, I promise you we'll do our best to protect her." Lily replied. "They will all be safe." She added in a whisper, but if it was for the Grangers or for herself, she wasn't sure yet.

For the fifth time that afternoon, the potion changed colour. It was now deep purple, just as it should be. The witch who was in front of the cauldron, stirring, undeniably had a nack for potions. She smiled madly, adding the last ingredient, which made the potion green at first and then finally it became transparent blue, again just as it should. The woman let out a mad cackle, so characteristically hers that anybody who had heard about her could tell she was around just by listening to it.

A soft knock silenced her. She turned to face the door made of solid wood, wondering who had the audacity to interrupt her. She spent most of her time inside her dark room, alone. It had everything she needed, so why go out? She had to plan, she had to find a way to fulfill her ritual, she had to kill the brat before her Lord was back. He would be so pleased, she would be the one to kill the insect that somehow had managed to create problems for her master, and she fully intended to be the one to bring him back. She could, for those reasons, not be interrupted!

"What?" she shrieked, turning back to her potion with a scowl.

"Bella? Can I come in?" Oh, so it was her sister! Her scowl turned into a frightening smirk.

"Come in, Cissy!"

Narcissa Malfoy entered the room. She wore a long, white dress and her blond hair, with one single lock black, was tied into a perfect bun. Bellatrix always liked how her little sister seemed to be the complete opposite of her, when it comes to appearance. There she was, clear as day, from her hair to her clothes, while Bellatrix herself had only her skin as white, her hair and her own dress, whose style wasn't that much different from that of her sister's, being completely black. Of course, she was forever mourning her master's temporary fall. Oh, and the death of her husband, who was a valuable fighter and a loyal Death Eater.

"Bella?" Bellatrix was brought back from her thoughts by her sister calling her name. "I asked you what you were preparing here."

Sure enough, her sister was standing by the cauldron, eyeing the potion with suspicion. Bellatrix cackled madly, oblivious to the way her sister tensed up when she did so. She waltzed her way to her sister's side.

"This, my dear sister, is a gift." She laughed again, her eyes sparkling and her mouth opened wide. Twice clockwise, once counter-clockwise. Twice clockwise, once counter-clockwise. She kept stirring until she saw it: the potion got clearer, finally becoming just like water. Bellatrix swiftly took her wand out, pointing at the cauldron.

"Glacius!" She shouted, effectively freezing the potion. With another swish from her wand, she put out the fire under the cauldron. She smirked. "Now, I just have to wait one week for it to be ready, and then I will deliver this gift."

Narcissa finally recognized the potion. Her eyes widened and her hand shot up, covering her mouth.

"Bellatrix! Do you remember what mother said when she taught us about this?" She shrieked. Bellatrix laughed crazily.

"Oh, you remembered, then? Of course I remember, Cissy. This is exactly why I chose this potion. Do you imagine to whom I'm going to give it?"

Narcissa finally closed the distance between them, getting as close as she could without touching her sister.

"Bellatrix, are you insane? It's the Rosier potion! It is the reason why mother's sister's whole family died!"

Bellatrix's face contorted in fury at being called insane, but then it changed to sport a wicked smirk. "I know, Cissy," she practically spat her sister's name. Bellatrix grabbed her sister's arms and squeezed them with strength, but, surprisingly enough, she didn't flinch. "Now, go take care of your family." she sneered as if it was the most idiotic idea ever as she forcefully dragged her sister through the room and opened the door, throwing her sister out. "Oh, and tell that little brat of yours to keep away from my room, otherwise I might decide to test the potion before sending it." She cackled madly, slamming the door closed noisily.

Narcissa stared at the door for a few minutes before leaving, her face pale and her whole body shaking with fear. However, if anybody looked into her eyes, they wouldn't see an ounce of fear. All they would see would only be resolution and fury.

A.N.: Guys, I can't thank you enough for all the feedback I got for the last chapter. I loved every single review, even those which called me things I'd rather not repeat here! ahaha

I was surprised and very amused when I saw how protective you were of Hermione. I knew she was a popular character, but I didn't know it was that much! Now you know how I feel when authors do the same thing with James! Somehow, he's often the one to be hit with a curse and almost die (or even die *shudder*). Anyhow, Hermione hasn't woken up yet, so the effects of the curse are still there. And to whom do you think Bellatrix is going to send the potion?

Please, if you can spend just some seconds to send me your opinion, it would be awesome. Every feedback means the world to me. I really hope you enjoyed the chapter, there wasn't much in it, but it is progressing. Oh, and sorry for any mistakes. No beta, and all, so I'll have to double check again later.

Cheers!