DISCLAIMER: I don't own anything to do with the Harry Potter universe. Sadly, because if I did, the cursed child would never have happened.

This follows a very canon-compliant universe (I hope - corrections welcome!). The only unfortunate part is that most canon characters are, therefore, indisputably straight. That's not my personal view of the world (in fact, I spent years out of the Potter universe in disgust of some of JK's views, but then the real world got so bad I've crept back), I am simply a canon-head. I write about the Marauders because I like the story as it is - there's just too little of it.

This particular story is probably the least cannon-compliant fanfiction I've written, in that it's more angsty than what most of my Marauder stories (to be polished) are. Don't get me wrong, I LOVE angsty fanfiction, BUT because I want my stories to be canon compliant and part of the same timeline/universe, there's only so much angst you can have. Usually I try to compensate with fluff.

Why start near the end? Well, because it's a short story that required less rework.

Hope you enjoy! xx

Chapter 1:

It was nearly Christmas, and nineteen years old Lily Potter had a choice to make.

'You'll be alright without me, won't you?' she asked her husband, as he handed her a mug of camomile tea. James Potter laughed:

'And here I was just about to ask the same.'

He leaned forward and kissed her gently. His hazel eyes studied her as he pulled away.

'Listen, Lily, I don't have to go... I can always ask someone else in the Order - there's bound to be someone - and they will understand. Padfoot will understand. You're unwell.'

But Lily saw straight through the lie.

'Gideon is already replacing me. Getting a second replacement is going to be impossible at such short notice. You pulling out just leaves the team one man down.'

Gideon had been available because, strictly speaking, he had already been begging Dumbledore and Moody to let him join, on account of Fabian being part of the mission. Lily understood. James was never really himself when Sirius went on a mission without him.

'It is just a surveillance job - four people is quite frankly overkill,' James said, but his eyes lacked the conviction his voice tried to carry.

'And what if something went wrong tonight, James? What if Gideon, Fabian - or God forbid - Padfoot...'

Lily couldn't finish the sentence, and by the way her husband's body tensed, she knew she didn't need to.

'You would never forgive yourself, and I would never forgive myself either.'

Lily hated being the one to convince her husband to put himself in danger. Especially now.

What if something went wrong? Would James' presence really make a difference, or would it just put the one person she loved - and needed - the most at risk too? But when she had married James Potter, she had married a package deal. Not only did he come with three... complicated... friends, one of which was practically inseparable from her husband, but more than anything, she knew she had signed up for a life with a man that would not have other people risk their lives on his behalf.

James had an incurable hero complex. Lily suspected this was the product of his upbringing. The Potters have an enormous capacity for love, Remus had told her in their sixth year. Even then, not knowing James or his parents the way she did now, she had seen enough to know it was true. Coupled with his (in Lily's view) unfounded belief that nothing could ever defeat him, James was dangerously reckless in his decisions.

And here she was, trying to remind him of the thing she both feared and admired: his inability to say no to danger.

'If it is true that Dolohov is going to be meeting his Ministry spy - that's our chance, and you know it. And Moody is absolutely right in being paranoid.'

'He is always paranoid,' James muttered.

'Yes, for a reason! Voldemort is bound to suspect that the Order is on Dolohov's tail.'

Lord Voldemort was planning something - something that the Order had not been able to get a clear picture of, but which they understood could be another significant step in taking over the Ministry. It included a Ministry insider. Close to Harold Minchum, if the accounts the Order had received were to be believed.

Finding out who this spy was would be a massive win for the Order of the Phoenix. And they needed a win.

'You will be okay on your own?'

'James, it's a stomach bug,' she laughed, despite the misery she felt knowing that she had gotten through to him. Knowing that he would risk his life yet again.

'Just... come back safely, okay?'

Come back, so I can tell you about this supposed stomach bug.

James never made promises he couldn't keep, so he just kissed her again, but said nothing as he left. A moment later, the front door to the house closed and she knew he would have disapperated on the front step.

Lily sighed as she sank back into the pillows of the sofa. The exchange had left her exhausted. Pregnancy did not agree with her.

Her right hand unconsciously rubbed her stomach. What was she doing? She was pregnant, and yet she had not told her husband about it. It wasn't planned, and deep down, she was terrified that he wouldn't want to keep it. Terrified that, despite everything that was going on, despite the danger her small family was in, despite her and James' idea that waiting was better, safer, she did want to keep this child.

A/N:

I know I am not alone in thinking Harry inherited his hero complex from James Potter. Also, bravery takes on all kinds of forms, and I do believe Lily would have pushed a reluctant James out the door, knowing that it would be a thousand times worse for him to stay behind, even if it that would be a million times better for her.

I have, of course, no idea whether the Potters planned for Harry or not, but given their age, their involvement in the Order and the fact that there was a war going on, I feel like they didn't? But that with people dying left right and centre, both have subconsciously been negligent about taking the right precautions.