Chapter 16: Taking stock
"You go first," Lily had said when they'd been left alone in the kitchen, watching Sam and the boy as they sat down cross-legged on the living room rug.
James sighed, but complied. "Alright so… he's not a Death Eater," James said tilting his head to the open door.
Lily squeezed his fingers but didn't say anything.
"You don't seem surprised," he said.
"Well…" she started, quietly. "For one, Anna was right, he did use Voldemort's name, which would be unusual for a Death Eater."
"Unusual, but not unheard of."
"True," she admitted with a nod. "And for another, he showed me his scar."
"What scar?"
"The one from the blood protection spell I was working on before…" she faltered.
…before their Harry died…
"He's got the scar?"
"He does. Right on his forehead. It looks just like the rune, sowilo. It has to be him, James," she said, her tone suddenly pleading. "Nobody knew about the books from your parents' library, and the spell is only recorded on a handful of other manuscripts… Nobody knew!"
James blinked in an attempt to clear the tears that suddenly blurred his vision and grasped Lily's hand in his. He didn't have the heart to tell her that he'd already known, because up to this point, it just hadn't felt real. Earlier in the kitchen, when the boy had said James could do whatever he felt was necessary to ensure he wouldn't be putting his family at risk, he'd cast a paternity spell. But even with the spell surrounding the boy in the bright gold light of a positive match, James had felt that it might have just been a fluke, that the spell had shown him what he wanted it to. Because from the moment he'd laid eyes on the boy he'd hoped, of course he'd hoped, that he hadn't been lying. But now, that scar… Lily was right, no-one had known. And it meant that, at last, he could allow himself to believe.
He swallowed spasmodically and cleared his throat. He didn't know where to go from here.
"What about Vi?" Lily asked, her voice scratchy.
James gathered his scattered thoughts. The change of topic felt a bit like jumping from the frying pan into the fire – though for the life of him he couldn't quite figure out which, out of discussing Harry or Violet, was the pan and which the fire in this particular analogy…
"I didn't get much out of her," he said eventually. "We already knew someone slipped her the diary when she went shopping with Sirius after Christmas, but as to who…"
James shrugged helplessly. He knew Sirius had spent many a sleepless nights piecing together every minute detail, listing every single person he could remember seeing on that particular trip, but to no avail.
"She said the diary had been a boy's. That he'd written back to her. That he'd been kind to her, that he'd listened. That he'd cared." The pit of darkness that had opened in James's heart when she'd said that was too deep, too bleak to contemplate. So instead, he moved on. "She kept calling him 'Tom'."
"Tom… Tom – what was it Harry called him again?"
"Riddle," James replied, trying to ignore the flutter of his heart at the ease with which Lily said the boy's name.
Lily hummed. "Tom Riddle."
"After the Chamber," James carried on when she didn't add anything more, "she doesn't remember much. She said Albus brought her back to his office. That he had the diary. That he'd asked her questions and seemed particularly interested when she told him the diary had wanted to hear all about Harry dying and Voldemort disappearing. She said Albus kept asking her about what the diary already knew and what she'd had to tell him…"
"And what did it already seem to know?" Lily asked.
"She couldn't really remember for sure."
"Right. What else did Albus say?"
"Not much before we arrived. He did make her promise not to speak about what had happened, which I didn't realise."
That had surprised and angered James to a remarkable extent. Who in Merlin's name told a child who'd been through a traumatic ordeal to keep it all to herself?
"I presume you told her not to follow that particular piece of 'advice'?" Lily asked in clipped tones. Angry red patches had blossomed high on her cheeks.
James raised an eyebrow and saw Lily's anger deflate slightly.
"Of course, you did," she said. "I'm sorry. I just can't believe Albus would say that. What was he thinking?"
James shook his head.
"Did she say anything else?" Lily asked after a minute of quiet contemplation.
"Just some things Albus had already mentioned – about her black-outs and the opening of the Chamber."
Lily looked thoughtful. "Do you think we should ask Albus about them? I mean, do we even know everything she did during those times when Voldemort possessed her? Could any of it have a long-term impact?"
"Albus said there shouldn't be any after-effects…"
"But did anyone actually confirm that? I know you gave her a once-over when she got back home, but do you think we should have her see a Mind Healer to make sure?"
James had considered it himself. "I don't think there's any harm in speaking to Vi about it. If she wants to do it, there's a few trauma specialists on the Children's Ward at the hospital."
Lily nodded and leaned back on her chair, and for a while they were quiet.
"There's something that links them, you know," Lily said eventually, startling James out of another gloomy rehash of his conversation with Violet.
'He was kind. He listened,' Vi had said about the boy in the diary. And earlier in the kitchen, she'd mentioned writing about Harry, wishing that he'd be here with them…
That had surprised James beyond anything else. Where Anna and Sam had asked questions, had asked to see pictures of their brother as a baby, Vi never had. In fact, she'd often left the room altogether when Harry had been mentioned. They'd let her be, figuring that when she wanted to know more, she'd come to them – but now James wondered whether maybe they should have tried a little harder to speak to her about it.
"James?" Lily said gently, putting a hand on his arm.
He jumped. "Yes, sorry – something that links them," he said quickly, then paused. "Links what?"
"Harry's scar and the diary. He seemed terribly distressed when I told him Albus hadn't destroyed Riddle's notebook, and his next question was about the scar…"
James turned to the room where the boys sat, their heads together, fully engrossed in their construction game. As if sensing his gaze, Harry looked up.
James hurriedly averted his eyes.
"So where does that leave us?" he asked wearily.
"Let me see," Lily said with a sardonic smile. She ticked each item off her fingers. "We've got one daughter who thought Voldemort's talking diary was her best friend for the better part of six months. One son who's apparently managed to bring our other son back from the dead. And Anna, who for once seems to be the one who's caused the least trouble today."
"I never thought I'd live to see the day," James muttered.
"Oh," Lily said, holding up her last finger, "and let's not forget a prison-breaking nutter who's most likely after the blood of anyone who may have harmed her beloved Dark Lord…"
"Oh yes, of course there's Bella…" In truth, Bellatrix Lestrange's escape had all but slipped James's mind once the Chamber had been brought to the table. "Just another Thursday then, heh?"
Lily gave a snort of laughter.
A/N: Hope you all enjoyed this latest instalment! I'd love to hear your thoughts. Have a good weekend!
