Death Rises At Night

Death Rises At Night

by CharmofLove

© August 20, 2002

Halloween . . . 1981 . . . 10:31 PM

"It's happening."

The wind came and went, pushing fallen leaves through the thick darkness which was the night. One man stood rigidly still, not moving beneath an empty, starless sky. It was Halloween, the year was marked at 1981 and a deciding factor had been put into play.

Severus Snape closed his eyes in mental agony. He took a deep, thick breath and tried to push aside the pain, fear and regret that toyed with his foul disposition this night.

"There was nothing I could do. Too late . . ." he stated bitterly to himself, his words being lost to the silence that surrounded him. He was lucky to be alive to say them. No one was supposed to leave the Dark Lord's fold; no one ever had and if they had even toyed with the idea it usually resulted in an untimely and messy death. But Severus had toyed, oh yes. And he had pushed and he had survived. But at what cost?

"Lily Potter," his voice caressed the first half and practically spit out the last half of the name. "You had to go and marry a fool. A fool who put your life in danger with his ideals, his courage his -" Love? Snape stopped and practically choked. He would never acknowledge it.

'She fell in love with the enemy, left your friendship behind and began something new - complete with a son. You were lucky to have known her, but she could have never have been yours.'

His heart clenched at that foul voice in his head. "Death rises at night," Snape spat out. He looked up to see a barn owl fly over him in the night's sky, it's call strong and piercing. With that sign he left, only to begin again.

* * *

Before Halloween, 1981 . . . in the past . . . before Harry was born . . .

James Henry Potter, arms full of parchments and a heavy book, a broomstick tucked tightly between his elbow and his side, his tall hat falling dilapidated to one side of his head, ran down the steps from the Ministry's branch office and out into the streets of Diagon Alley. His cloak billowed wildly behind him in his frantic flight.

One could say he was in a rush, but that would have been an understatement and, after all, not entirely correct. He was, quite frankly, overjoyed and full of pride. His presentation to the Minister had been a success and it was all he could do to keep from jumping on his broomstick and doing a few hazardous flips around town.

James shifted the materials he clumsily held and slowed his pace as he entered the busy walkways the held shops, restaurants and most of the roving wizarding community.

"Good day there, James!"

"Hello, Mr. Potter."

"Hat's crooked, JP!"

Various friendly voices greeted him as he made his way through the streets. "Yes, yes. Hello! Good day!" James Potter grinned and wiggled his nose rather pointedly, trying to push his round, black glasses back up towards his forehead and his eyes. "Where is he?" he frowned and stopped suddenly nearly causing a hag to walk right into him.

"Watch it, sonny," she growled at him as she hobbled her way around his stagnant form. "Young wizards these days . . . " she muttered as she stomped out of sight.

"Young compared to a hag?" James asked himself frowning. "Right. I feel more like an old man these days," he sighed. This was due in part to all of the work he had been tackling for the ministry and Dumbledore. The magical community was suffering through a rather dirty war at the moment.

Glancing down at his wrist, he noted the statements that made up his personal watch; magically labeled it indicated what all of his Marauder friends were busy doing at the moment (though, thankfully at times, nothing detailed). Prongs (himself) was labeled as 'standing and (impatiently) waiting; Wormtail (Peter) was labeled as 'having lunch in Hogsmeade'; Moony was working on a house elf issue at Elma Fuggs and Padfoot was 'Really late and knowing it!'

"Late as always!" James sighed. He noticed that his arms were rapidly growing tired at holding all of his things without the aid of levitation but he was not in a mood to solve this dilemma with magic. No, Sirius had to be ready to handle the consequences of his actions. And, by Merlin, if James' arms fell off in the process of waiting, well then Sirius would just have to fix them when he got there. If he ever got there. There really never was a guarantee.

"I'm being stubborn," James said quietly to himself, quirking a smile. "Stubborn and stupid," he sighed and whirled around to start to walk off when he collided with someone. That someone was small, soft and gave a surprised, quiet curse at being caught so off guard.

"Oof!" James landed on the stone street, his belongings flying this way and that. He sat where he had fallen, his mind in a daze as he blinked confusedly a the other person who sat across from him.

"I'm sorry, I didn't see you-" he started.

"You really should watch where you're going!" she replied.

"You're a - you're a woman, I mean - " James stuttered as he gave her the once over. Her hair was a light red; it fell past her shoulders in strong, straight locks. Her eyes were emerald green and a small pink mouth completed a delicate face (though unfortunately enough it was formed in anything but a smile).

"And you're just bloody brilliant, you know that right?" the woman stated in response, shaking her head and began to stand gain.

"I'm sorry, I just -" James began.

"Ran into me, practically tackled me to the ground and then babbled on?" she suggested for him, her eyebrows raised.

"I-" James tried again, desperately searching for the right words when it finally dawned on him. "I beg your pardon. I do not babble."

The woman snorted in disbelief as she pushed her cape's hood back up and over her head, covering most of her face.

"Wait, I know you!" James said as he pushed himself to his feet, blissfully ignoring all of his possessions that were still on the ground. "You're . . ." he snapped his fingers together, trying to remember the name of the beautiful girl in front of him.

"No, you don't!" she sated quickly and turned to walk away.

James frowned as he searched for a name, a name from the past. "Lily!" he scooped up his things from the street and then moved quickly to try and catch up with the departing witch. "I haven't seen you since Hogwarts! You've really changed - I mean -" he trailed off, his memories returning to him. "You were friends with Severus. You used to stand up for him when -"

"When you and your lot used to pick on him?" she pointed out.

This wasn't going well.

"I'm James, remember? I was in Gryffindor, on the quidditch team," he supplied.

"I remember you. Who doesn't know you," she stated simply, shrugging. "You used to cause all those problems with your little group of friends . . ."

"We were young; it was never anything personal," James said quietly.

"It never really is," she stated with a perfect smile that made him doubt that there was more than one underlying thought floating around in that head of hers.

"I'm sorry I ran into you, er well literally speaking. I had just come from the ministry and I was waiting for a friend, a very late friend and my temper was- was - " he trailed off.

"Ah," she stated without any interest before turning to leave again.

James' heart pounded. "Wait! Please! Can I make it up to you? Perhaps lunch?" he could have cursed himself. Of all the stupid things to say.

Lily kept walking until she was gone from his view.

"Rejection is never easy," said a rather familiar, smirking voice from behind him.

"Perfect timing as usual," James muttered under his breath before turning around. "Bit late, aren't you Sirius?"

"I was held up with a- with a- anyway, who was that lovely thing?" he asked, the smile stretching even further across his face. "Maybe if she doesn't want you, she'll have me?"

James threw a roll of parchment at his friend's face, "Don't count on it. At this point I think any friend of mine would definitely not be a friend of hers - her choice, of course."

"Who was she?" Sirius asked again, curious.

"Just a girl from Hogwarts," James said quietly.

"Just a girl," Sirius rolled his eyes. "Leaky cauldron then?" he asked.

"As always," James agreed.

* * *

Lily stopped and stood against the outside wall of Flourish and Blotts and took a deep breath to try and calm her racing heart. That was close, too close. If anyone had seen her with James Potter-

Her brow crinkled as she remembered the way he had looked at her and the way she had felt under his gaze, his words drifting in and out uselessly through her ears as he had said the stupid things he had said. Still as handsome as he had been during his days at Hogwarts, obviously he still felt he could charm any girl he chose to tackle.

Lily sighed and pushed away from the quiet area of the shop where she had been standing. "Two different agendas . . . we've got too many important things standing in the way of that," she said to herself. But, somewhere in the back of her mind, there was a definite presence of doubt.

* * *

"Lily? The scrawny one who hit Moony on the head with Severus' cauldron? Not, 'Frilly Lily?!" Sirius scratched his head and stared at James as though he had suddenly turned into a troll. "You fell for her?"

"No, I fell on her, Padfoot! Today! Aren't you even listening?" James glared. "She's changed, she's sort of - sort of -"

"Sexy?" Sirius wiggled his eyebrows as he said this.

"I think there's more to it than that," James smirked. "But, yes that's part of it," he muttered out of the corner of his mouth.

"Part of it. Right."

"Well, you know it was funny that I should run into her today," James said thoughtfully.

"How so?" Sirius asked, sipping his pint of butterbeer.

"There was this file we received from the Minister, on the recent happenings of the deatheaters, who they're currently interested in, and she was on the list."

"What role does she play in this?" Sirius asked, his eyes narrowing.

"I can't say, it's classified," James said quietly. "But, I don't think she - I mean I would hope -" he sighed. "Too many divisions are taking place these days."

"You don't want to get involved then," Sirius said. "You can't; not right now with who you are and the role you may have to play."

James waved his hand to dismiss his friend's statements, "She hasn't done anything evil or unforgivable or-"

"Are we going to debate the pros and cons of this for the rest of the day?" Sirius said glumly.

James glowered.

"Look, I'm just interested in watching your back, James Potter. Any good friend would," he stated. "Especially since the girl with the recent questionable background is walking this way right now." Sirius' hand edge toward the inside of his robes where his wand was hidden from view. No one could take chances these days.

"No!" James whispered. "I know more about this than you do. Just give it a chance," he finished right as the woman arrived at where they sat. "So we meet again!" James smiled up at her.

"You're not going to tackle me again, are you?" she asked hesitantly though there was a trace of humor present.

"I was thinking about it," he turned on the charm. "But no," he shook his head, sorry not right now. No."

"Can we help you with something?" Sirius stated rather coldly and then grunted as James kicked him in the shin from underneath the table.

"Lunch," Lily stated simply.

James drew a blank and Sirius looked as though he thought she were completely mad.

"You blabbered on about having lunch with me," Lily glared. "Or is the offer null and void now?"

"No!" James jumped to his feet, his chair making a screeching sound as it flew backwards across the floor, causing several other customers to wince. "I mean - I'd love for you to join us," he glanced down at a glaring Sirius, "er, me - join me for lunch. Sirius? You don't mind-"

"Would it matter?" Sirius sighed and gave in. He stood and reached out to gently take and shake Lily's offered hand. "Pleasure," he stated. He gave James a warning look before gathering up his friend's belongings and making his way out of the pub.

"That didn't go well. I don't think he enjoyed my presence overly much," Lily commented.

"He's anit-social; hasn't had a date in years," James smirked which caused Lily to give a little laugh and graced her face with the first smile he had seen since they had run into one another. He hoped she'd smile more throughout the day.

They both grew quiet though, neither knowing what to say.

"Why did you come back?" James asked, his curiosity winning out. "I thought you had decided to reject this blabbering idiot."

"Well, I had," Lily pointed out and quickly blushed. "But then I got hungry."

James paused, absorbing her words and then burst out laughing. She quickly followed suit.

"So where will it be then?" James inquired. "You get to choose since I was the one who nearly trampled you and not the vice versa."

"There's this small café - Gretchen Muffindot's -"

"Sounds great," he said quickly. "Lunch it is!"

"But, just lunch," Lily stated nervously as they began to walk. "I really shouldn't be -"

"Oh obviously," James said quietly. "Right. Me neither -"

They chanced a look at one another.

"Not enough time in a day," James offered.

"Other priorities, too many risks-" she stated quietly.

They were quiet again.

James took a deep breath, held out his arm in the most gentlemanly gesture he could think of, "We'll call it a -" 'A What? Date? No, no, no,' his mind screamed.

Lily hesitated, but then gave in and took his arm, "I don't know why I'm doing this."

"Call it an instinct?" James asked, smiling.

"Yes, maybe," she said, thinking. "I'll follow my instincts, and trust you."

"Agreed," James smiled.

But just for today.

(To be continued). . .