James, Albus, Devon and Lily had their fourth meeting in the Room of Requirement on Sunday, May 17th, 2020 at 1.P.M. Hogwarts time. The now familiar pattern of Lily holding the door for James, Albus, and Devon and the four of them waiting for that all important locking sound after Lily shut the door held but after that this meeting had an entirely different feeling to it.

The tension in the air was palpable as James, Albus, Devon, and Lily sat down on the long white sofa opened their books to chapter four.

Upon seeing the chapter title of The Roles of Petunia Dursley and Lily Potter in the Life and Survival of Harry Potter, James, Albus, Devon and Lily all felt a strong and unpleasant queasy feeling in their stomachs. The foreboding they had felt the previous Sunday when the Room of Requirement had delivered its ominous note was back and intensified by a factor of a million.

James, Albus, and Lily all felt a mortifying sense of anticipation at the prospect of reading about how Lily had died for Harry. They were dreading how emotionally intense this reading was going to be. Devon, meanwhile, had a nasty fear that he was about to learn that Petunia had hated Harry more than he had realized and/or that Petunia had been far worse to Harry than he had realized.

Yet a fierce determination was present inside all four of them. With their belief in doing these readings totally unshaken, James, Albus, Devon, and Lily were ready to attack this chapter, cope with whatever emotions would come from it, and move on with whatever added knowledge the chapter would give them. As such, they all looked down at their books and read:

...

After Severus relayed what he knew of the prophecy to Voldemort and informed Dumbledore of what he had done, Dumbledore alerted James and Lily Potter to the fact that Voldemort was now specifically after them. Dumbledore advised the Potters to use a Secret Keeper and even offered to be the Potters Secret Keeper himself. However, James and Lily, who were intimately close with Sirius Black, had insisted on using Sirius as their Secret Keeper. Tragically, Sirius outthought himself and convinced James and Lily to switch Secret Keepers at the last minute and use Peter Pettigrew instead. Pettigrew, however, betrayed the Potters and revealed their location to Voldemort. When Voldemort arrived in Godric's Hollow, James had ordered Lily to take Harry and run while he fought Voldemort. James put up a struggle but was killed by Voldemort. Voldemort then moved in on Harry. Voldemort asked Lily to step aside so he could kill Harry. Lily, however, refused to stand aside and begged Voldemort to kill her instead. Voldemort eventually killed Lily. Voldemort then used Avada Kedavra on Harry but for the only time ever, it failed. The curse rebounded, Harry Potter survived with a lightning shaped scar on his forehead, and Voldemort lost his powers. Lily, in sacrificing herself for Harry, had evoked an ancient magic revolving around love which prevented Voldemort from killing him. Dumbledore, meanwhile, put his trust in Lily's blood when it came to Harry. The ancient magic had also meant that if Harry could call any place where his mother's blood dwelled home, Harry could not be killed or touched by Voldemort while at that place. For this reason, Dumbledore saw to it that Harry went to the house of Lily's only remaining living relative, her sister, Petunia Dursley. Dumbledore knew that many of Voldemort's supporters were at large and angry, desperate, and violent, and he had known that Voldemort would rise again in the future. Petunia, as it happened knew of all this. By taking Harry in, Petunia sealed the Charms Dumbledore had placed around Harry and provided a refuge for Harry's safety. Petunia knew perfectly well that allowing Harry houseroom may well have helped to keep him alive. While Petunia never did make amends with Lily, it must be said that Petunia never wanted Lily dead. While it cannot be denied that Petunia was furious and bitter about raising Harry in her household, she also would not have had Lily's son die on her account. If it was a choice between allowing Harry houseroom or risking his death, Petunia would have always chosen the former even if she did so grudgingly. While Petunia's jealously of Lily and subsequent disdain for magic never left her, her treatment of Harry while Harry was living with the Dursleys was actually far worse than her own feelings would have dictated due to Vernon's extreme hatred of Harry. Vernon's hatred of Harry stemmed from his general and natural distain for anything magic or unordinary. Pettigrew, meanwhile, framed Sirius for the betrayal of James and Lily by shouting for a whole street to hear that Sirius had betrayed them. In that same process, Pettigrew had killed twelve muggles and faked his own death, framing Sirius for all the murders. Sirius would spend most of his adult life in Azkaban. Sirius's innocence was not known to most witches and wizards until after his death. Harry grew up in an unhappy environment at the Dursleys where his bedroom was a cupboard under the stairs for most of his childhood years and withholding of meals sometimes used as punishment. Harry, like all witches and wizards, had bouts of accidental magic as a child and this often led to unfair punishment from Vernon and sometimes Petunia as well, Dumbledore knew that Harry would suffer in this environment but as Harry's life and safety were Dumbledore's priorities, Dumbledore never second guessed this decision.

...

James, Albus, Devon, and Lily all had very different reactions to this reading.

James had fallen to the floor in shock. Albus had stood up and looked furious. There was a very menacing look on his face. Devon was deep in thought and his face was unreadable. Lily had burst into tears and had her face buried in her hands. Her tears had a strong burning sensation in them.

"FUCKING TRAITOR!" yelled an enraged Albus, "THAT BASTARD PETTIGREW IS THE REASON JAMES AND LILY DIED! THAT GODDAMN BACKSTABBER IS THE REASON WE HAVE HAD TO GROW UP WITHOUT OUR GRANDPARENTS! JAMES AND LILY MIGHT NEVER HAVE DIED HAD THEY NOT BEEN BETRAYED!"

Albus's shouting had caused James to stand up and Lily's head to come up out of her arms. Albus looked downright scary.

"AND YOU!" shouted Albus, rounding on Devon, 'YOUR NASTY FAMILY IS THE REASON OUR DAD HAD TO EDURE SUCH A HARSH UPBRINGING! PETUNIA KNEW PERFECTLY WELL WHY HE WAS IN HER HOUSEHOLD AND STILL BOTH ALLOWED HIM TO BE TREATED LIKE SHIT AND TREATED HIM LIKE SHIT HERSELF! SO, AFTER JAMES AND LILY WERE BETRAYED OUR POOR DAD WAS LEFT TO SUFFER AN ABUSIVE UPRBRINGING THANKS TO YOUR HORRIBLE FAMILY! THIS IS WHAT I THINK OF YOUR LOT!"

And Albus spit directly in Devon's face and landed a right jab right on his nose. Devon's nose broke instantly and loads of blood came out.

James and Lily were stunned by what they just saw but they also knew Albus to be temper prone. They knew the best solution was to not intervene and to allow Albus to cool off on his own.

This didn't happen for about ten minutes as Albus kept venting about the turncoat Pettigrew.

When Albus had finally calmed down, it was James who spoke.

"I always knew that James and Lily had been murdered by Voldemort and that Lily had sacrificed herself for dad. But I never knew that James and Lily died because they were betrayed," said James, the shock he was still feeling evident in his voice.

"I suspect," said Lily fairly, "That dad intended to tell us the full truth at some point. I also think dad would have been very careful not to give us this piece of information at too young of an age. Dad would have known the shock and anger this revelation would bring and he would have wanted to make sure we were old enough to handle the information. I would guess dad was planning to give us this information once all three of us had become teenagers."

James and Albus nodded, suspecting that Lily was right.

"I'm in shock at the revelation that James's and Lily's deaths were caused by betrayal," said James coldly, "And really, Pettigrew betrayed Sirius almost as much by framing him for several things he had not done: betraying James and Lily, killing twelve muggles, and killing Pettigrew himself. In framing Sirius for murders Pettigrew himself committed as well as for the betrayal of James and Lily and his own "death," Pettigrew put an innocent man in Azkaban for twelve years to save his own skin and allowed the Wizarding World to believe Sirius had betrayed his best friends in the process."

"Pettigrew," said Devon with obvious contempt in his voice, "Ruined a lot of lives by always putting himself first. To betray two of one's own best friends and to frame another into the bargain are almost as a low as person can go. Only murdering one's own parent(s) or child(ren) would be worse."

"And don't forget," added Lily with a fierce scowl, "That Pettigrew really sold out dad as well. The fact dad managed to survive doesn't change the fact that Pettigrew sold him out."

"Lily," said Devon cautiously, "I saw you sobbing when we finished reading the chapter."

"I was," said Lily heavily, "And my tears had such a burning sensation in them it felt as though acid had been poured on me. What always gets to me about Lily's sacrifice is this; Lily didn't just save dad; she saved the entire Potter line by sacrificing herself for dad. If Lily had lived and dad had died, one of two things would have happened; Lily would have either lived out her life as a widow and the Potter name would have died out or she would have remarried and taken her new husband's name so that the Potter name still would have died out. And particularly since I do bear her name, it's always been a very emotionally heavy thing for me to realize that we only exist because Lily willingly gave up her own life for dad's. That neither James nor Albus nor I could exist without Lily having sacrificed her own life is just a really heavy thing to think about."

There were a few minutes of silence and then Lily turned to Devon.

"Devon?' asked Lily, "You seemed deep in thought after the reading finished? What's on your mind?"

"I don't know what to think," said Devon hesitantly, "On one hand, it is indisputable that Petunia treated Harry poorly when Harry was growing up. On the other hand, Petunia knew of the circumstances that caused Harry to be placed in her household. As I have always known that Harry was treated poorly by Petunia growing up, that issue isn't nearly as emotional for me to learn about as Petunia's estrangement with Lily was. But I don't whether I should think worse of Petunia because she knew why Harry had to live in her home and she still treated him poorly or whether to think better of her for allowing Harry houseroom."

"More than one thing can be true," said Lily calmly, "But I personally take the view that beneath all her anger and jealousy, Petunia had just enough sisterly love left for Lily to be willing to see that her son was protected. There are more than a few people out there who would have sent Harry to an orphanage rather than take him in or even have dumped him off in a dumpster. And Petunia was clearly not as bad as Vernon."

"Lily?' asked Devon, "When we first met, I was nervous about meeting you because I knew our fathers had been childhood enemies. I also knew that my paternal grandparents had treated Harry poorly as well. While we've become BFFs and I've become close with James as well, I wonder your opinion on something."

"What is that something?" asked Lily patiently.

"As you know," said Devon, "We have arrangements in place so that I will be visiting your house this summer. How do you think Harry will respond to me?'

"Devon," said Lily clearly, "I know for a fact that dad truly cares about you. I don't know if the fact that you are his first cousin once removed has ever occurred to him. But I know that dad bears no lingering hard feelings towards Dudley, that dad never judges people by their family history, and that dad is always willing to give people a fair shake, and, most importantly, I know that he doesn't see you as Dudley's son so much as he see you as my BFF. You see, dad was the one who was really concerned about your weight problem and how you might not make it to thirty if you didn't correct that. While Janes, Albus, Ginny, and I were eating Christmas dinner with dad, it was dad who gave me the mission to come to you about your weight problem. Dad knew you trusted me beyond anyone else and he believed I was the only person who could get through to you."

"So then?" asked Devon in an amazed voice, "Harry Potter is the person who is really responsible for me confronting and eliminating my weight problem?"

"Well," said Lily slowly, "I can, humbly I say this, take a lot of the credit insomuch as that I knew how to get through to you and I was the one to choose how to motivate you and I was the one who succeeded in making you see how you needed to take responsibility for your own life. And James can take a little credit for convincing you to give up beer. But dad is the one who brought the issue to my attention and gave me the mission to talk to you and help you. He was also the one who provided the sheet of weight loss exercises for me to give you."

"Let me add," said James proudly, "That dad would have wanted you to get help even if he had no idea who you are. Dad cares about kids and cares about people. That's part of who he is."

"I will make sure to acknowledge and thank Harry when I visit the Potter household this summer," said Devon weakly, "It sounds as if it wasn't for his concern..."

There was twenty minutes of silence afire this as they all took in what they had learned on this day.

The silence was broken by Albus.

"Hey, Devon," said Albus with guilt in his voice, "Look, I'm sorry about yelling at you and attacking you earlier. I know you are not a bad person but I kinda lost it in the heat of the moment. I know we aren't as close as you are with both James and Lily so you should be aware that I can have a nasty temper sometimes. I just got really emotional and-"

"That's quite alright," said Devon gently, "Sometimes things are said and/or done in the heat of the moment and you'd just learned something extremely emotional. I understand. Don't worry buddy. My nose can be fixed easily enough. And you won't get in trouble either. Madam Pomfrey isn't big on asking questions. I accept your apology and I forgive you 100%."

Devon offered Albus a handshake and Albus took it.

"These are important readings," said James firmly, "If some emotional flare-ups come along with them, so be it."

Looking ahead in her book, Lily said, "Hey chapter five is titled Why Harry Potter named his daughter Lily Luna Potter!"