T/W: Mild gore

Chapter Fourteen: The Very Secret Diary

Earlier

James conjured a cloth to cover the remains of Mundungus Fletcher, or rather, what was left of him. From the other corner, he could hear Sirius and Remus going through Fletcher's business ledgers, scouring for clues Nagini might have missed. Although she'd been careful not to leave a dark mark about the house, she worked far from subtle. Fletcher rented a studio above a small shop in Diagon Alley, James wasn't sure she'd left a single piece of furniture intact. He didn't know Fletcher well, but he hoped it'd been quick.

"There's nothing," Remus called from the other side of the room. "She's long gone by now."

In some ways that came as a relief. There was a part of James that felt odd about killing her, she'd grown up with Harry. The two of them obviously liked each other enough, at least several years ago, that they could work together. If he was having second thoughts, was she having them as well? But then there was Fletcher … there was a brutality in what happened to Fletcher that no amount of manipulation could coerce. James had no doubt that she'd have done the very same thing if she found all three of them in that room. And then, Pete—

"Prongs, let's go." Sirius appeared in the doorway, his wandlight illuminating the room in a faint blue. "We don't want to be here when the neighbors arrive to scour the place."

"Alright," James croaked. If they'd just been a few minutes late to the astronomy tower, maybe his friend wouldn't have died …

That's not true, a nasty voice in the back of his head said, Crouch was there waiting for his time to run out. It wouldn't have changed anything. You would have gone into the forest no matter what.

Outside, James felt the cold breath of winter. Overhead he could see flurries of snow starting. He didn't bother drawing his hood, truthfully, he'd have loved nothing more than for a few Death Eaters to show up so he could vent some of that anger onto them.

Sirius and Remus were much more careful to stay in the shadows, especially once they reached the main street of the alley. James saw a massive orange cat trot out from in front of the pet store. He paused, and let the cat brush up against his legs. James reached down a hand to pat the animal. He looked so much like—

"Crookshanks still likes you," a soft voice said. And James felt his world collapse again.

He remembered when Sirius had raced in to tell him that a child crossed the blood barrier under his name. He remembered the hours he'd spent trying to get Harry to talk to him, which in retrospect he wished he'd asked more questions. All of it … all of the doubt, and loneliness the past fifteen years as he desperately searched for them, it crushed him.

Lily Evans looked as beautiful as ever. She'd cut her hair, so that it hung just below her cheeks. He wished she'd just look at him, head on, with those bright green eyes. But Lily seemed ashamed to meet his gaze.

"Prove it," his voice shook. Out of the corner of his eye he saw Sirius and Remus draw their wands. "Prove you're really you."

Lily thought for a moment, she pushed herself away from the wall of the pet shop. James noticed that there was a slight limp to her walk.

"I solemnly swear," she said, making tremendous effort to make eye contact with James. "That I am up to no good." Crookshanks brushed against her leg, meowing indignantly.

"I wanted to find you," Lily's voice broke. "I wanted to see both of you, but I thought if they found me, they'd—Sev is the only one who knows I'm here—"

"Harry thinks you're dead." James hissed, for years he'd thought about what he'd say if he ever got to see her again. But it was all crashing down around him. "Thinks Dumbledore killed you …"

"He'd have been right to," Lily nodded. "I made a horrible mistake, I gave them everything James, and they still took my baby …" Her hand fell unconsciously to her stomach. "I don't—there's a boy traveling with you, isn't there? Tall? Red-hair?"

"How do you know that?" Remus snapped, raising his wand again.

"He followed you." Lily said, searching each of their faces desperately. "I saw Harry and that Riddle girl take him—he's alive—but they're probably at the ministry by now—"

James saw Sirius's pocket glow, and a voice sounded from their two-way mirror.

"We move tonight." Regulus said, his voice had a faint metallic bite to it.

Blood pounded in James's ears. He'd never trusted Regulus for a moment, and now he wanted them to break into the ministry. It was worse than signing his own death sentence, at least in the forest he'd bought Moody time to evacuate. But if Ron and Harry were both there, it was now or never.

"That's it then, we're going." James made a move to pass Lily, but she grabbed his arm.

"I want to come with you—" she said, her arm shaking. "The only reason I've stayed in London so long is so I can see him."

James didn't know how he felt about that. He loved Lily, dearly, and he'd hoped with every fiber of his being that Harry'd been wrong about her betrayal. But now … that meant she'd been complicit in what happened, to some extent at least. And yet she was probably the only person that could understand the way he felt. Grief not for the dead, but for lost time.

"Okay."

James chucked the powder Andromeda gave him into the fountain, summoning a shield to protect himself and the others as it went off with the force of a small bomb. He heard running and shouting, as Death Eaters poured in to see what caused the explosion. Sirius and Remus set off the other traps, James heard the trip wire go off and several Death Eaters shout in pain. Lily summoned a fiery ring around the two of them, the flames reached around like tendrils to stop another Death Eater. He just prayed Regulus knew what he was doing …

Far above, Riddle turned around, shocked by the sudden noise of the explosion. Ron saw his eyes flash red again, and he lifted his wand to perform the curse. It was like a seizure shot through Riddle's arm. Riddle spasmed and fell back in his chair, his eyes rolled back in his head.

Ron didn't question it, he heard the door burst open behind him. Nagini let out an inhuman yell, like nails scrapping against his ears. He darted across the office, seizing his wand and the diary.

"Bombardment," Ron shouted, pointing his wand at the massive glass window. He leapt through the glass, hearing curses nearly miss him as he fell five stories—and stopped. It was like getting caught in invisible puppet strings, Ron halted less than a foot from the ground.

"Run!" Lupin instructed him. Ron clutched the diary and made a break for it towards James and a woman he didn't recognize. He felt the book shake, as if it were trying to fight him off.

"I got it," Ron panted breathlessly. "I got one." James pulled him into the fiery circle. The woman with him dueled quickly, sending hexes flying towards the Death Eaters.

"Are you alright?" James summoned another shield.

"It's the diary, it's another one—" The entrance was so close, but James shook his head.

"We've got to go downstairs; Reg says he can send you home. He destroyed the ones we have to buy some time." James flicked his wand, it was like the marble of the lobby came to life, moving and twisting to make it impossible for the Death Eaters to get their bearings. James grabbed Ron's arm, racing towards another set of lifts on the opposite side of the lobby. Sirius, Lupin and the woman followed after them.

From above, Ron heard another yell as Nagini threw herself out the window. She summoned a bubble of water from the fountain to cushion her fall, transforming herself into a snake. The serpent unfurled itself from the water, slithering angrily across the floor towards the lift. Spells seemed to bounce off of her, hissing melodically as she stuck her head into the lift—

Lupin waved his wand, and Ron heard the chain to the lift unhitch. Before Nagini could do anything, the lift fell. The lift screeched, hurdling them down into the darkness. Ron felt his feet leave the floor; a spray of blood hit his legs. The serpent's head rolled on the tiles; great yellow eyes unmoving. Ron yelled in surprise. The woman next to James waved her wand and Ron felt time slow down. The lift came to a halt before crashing into the bottom level of the ministry.

The corridor was eerily quiet, but Ron could hear commotion in the lift shaft above. They raced down the hall, Ron only had moments to look around and see where they were going. Overhead he saw an illuminated sign that read, "The Department of Mysteries." Another person ran at them from the other end of the hall, he looked like a ghost in the sterile white robes Ron'd seen other Unspeakables wear. Regulus held a charred and mangled locket in his hand, a look of manic glee on his face.

"That's two down!" he said, leading them further into the darkness of the department. "It should buy us some time, but he'll definitely know we're hunting the horcruxes now …"

"Three," Ron held out the book, Regulus snatched it from his hands. He carefully wrapped the book in a thin layer of fabric, Ron saw the book begin to switch violently.

"Perfect, I thought he was lying. I—what are you doing here, Lily?" Regulus asked, as if suddenly aware of the woman's presence. Ron finally knew where he'd seen her before.

"Sev told you then?" She asked, and James looked like he wanted to punch Regulus again.

" 'Course he did," they came to the end of the hallway, standing in a massive roundabout with doors leading in every direction. Seemingly on command, the doors began to spin like a carousel. Ron felt his knees buckle.

"THERE," a Death Eater shouted. They were out-numbered three to one. Lily, Lupin, and Sirius pelted off through a door leading to a room with bright shining orbs, while Regulus, James, and Ron went through another door. Inside was a lab, filled with specimens Ron'd never seen before. A tank in the middle of the room held several floating brains inside. Ten Death Eaters followed them into the room before the door slammed shut, and Ron heard the doors begin to spin again outside.

Regulus and James dueled them, and in the very back Ron saw one of the Death Eaters seize up. His eyes went vacant and he began to attack his companions.

"Goyle, what are you—" one of the Death Eaters said in shock, before his friend hit him with the killing curse. Spells flew across the room, Ron saw a flicker of movement in the corner, before a figure lifted off the invisibility cloak.

"What the hell are you doing, Black?" Harry shouted, sending a spell sailing at the two remaining Death Eaters. "You said you had a plan!"

"I! Am! Improvising!" Regulus yelled back, knocking over the tank of brains. Immediately the creatures unfurled, latching themselves around the face of the closest Death Eater. James made a small noise of shock, from outside they heard more Death Eaters pounding on the door. Harry waved his wand, and it was like the door became welded shut, from the other side Ron heard someone yell in pain as they touched it.

The remaining Death Eater fell, Ron didn't want to know if he was alive or dead. He numbly followed Regulus and Harry as they ran from the room, the brains lifted themselves off the face of the dead Death Eaters, humming quietly as the door slammed shut on them. They must've been further into Regulus's lab.

"Did you get—" Harry asked breathlessly, looking at the small book twitching under Regulus's arm. "Good, that's my end done. Give me the passports."

Regulus reluctantly tossed over two booklets. Harry flipped through them, ignoring Ron and James. Harry's eyes flashed dangerously, and he pointed his wand at Regulus.

"I need the rest—" he said.

"You'll get the other ones," Regulus seemed unbothered by the wand pointed at him. He pulled down on a level to reveal a hidden passage way, narrow enough that they'd have to go in one by one. "Now if you'd kindly ..."

Regulus nodded his head down the passageway, Harry considered his options. The pounding on the door grew louder, he lit his wand and started down the passageway, Regulus, Ron, and James following closely behind. The passageway sealed itself behind them as the Death Eaters broke into the room.

A/N: AHH! RIP Nagini I guess, hope that doesn't come back to bite them :D Please follow and review.