Pride and Prejudice

Chapter 6 - No One Opposes Lord Voldemort

As soon as James apparated onto Perrimen Lane, he knew he was too late. Though it was in the middle of the night, he could see everything, illuminated by the Dark Mark that flew above them. His eyes shot upward and his insides went cold as he saw the skull and the snake, their eerie green glow attracting the attention of everyone around. Seconds later he heard several pops around him as Auror's appeared, starting to comb the street and up towards the house.

James stood in shock for several seconds, ignoring the commands and orders that were being shouted back and forth between the Aurors around him. He was only pulled out of it when a hand lay on his shoulder and he gasped slightly, whirling around to see that it was only Sirius.

"Where are the others?" James whispered.

"They're taking Lily home...Look, Prongs, we didn't-"

"Don't blame yourself," James had cut him off quietly. He looked back at the house. "They were supposed to be safe..."

Indeed, the Potters home was quite well protected for any attack, Richard and Samantha being on Voldemort's high target list: Both Auror's and purebloods, both having confronted Voldemort before...

James still had nightmares about it.

"So why aren't you going in there?" Sirius said angrily.

James' anger flared up, but not at Sirius, at everyone else. "I'm not an Auror yet...I'm supposed to keep back..."

"That's bloody bull-"

"No," James cut him off again, his voice still silent. "They're right. I could make things worse."

Neither of them said anything for a while. James could see that Sirius was unsure of how to act in this situation. Luckily, just standing there with him made James feel slightly better, knowing that if the worst had happened, his friends would still be there for him.

"Alpha team, move into the house! Let's go!"

James heard that order and immediately looked back to the house, seeing about a dozen men and women stealthily creeping towards the dark and eerie house that James had always known as home. A sharp pain stabbed in his gut as he saw how destroyed it was. The windows and doors were completely blown out. The siding was scratched up and down, and the carefully tended roof that he had helped fix on numerous occasions was starting to cave in.

Sirius seemed to sense his growing apprehension, because he squeezed James' shoulder slightly, as if signaling that he was still there, still there for him.

But something happened then that no one had been expecting.

A chilling voice resounded through the house, speaking the two most terrible words James had ever heard in his life.

"Avada Kedavra!"

James gasped as he heard a scream sound out, and then stop abruptly, a green light coming from the house cutting it off.

"NO!"

James couldn't wait any longer. It didn't matter that Moody didn't think it was safe for him. It didn't matter that he wasn't a fully trained Auror yet.

That had been his mother's scream. That was all that mattered at this moment.

The Auror's who had been moving towards the house had stopped dead at the cry of the killing curse. James rushed past all of them, his vision growing blurry as he found tears running down his face.

Faster...faster...

Taking the front steps two at a time, he bounded into the house, wand ready, not caring about who or what he would meet, only knowing that he had to do something!

He vaguely heard Sirius' shouts for him to come back along with several other people's cries for him. He did not heed any of them.

The house smelled old and rotten as he flew into it, which was odd considering that his parents were wealthy enough to keep their house in prime condition all the time.

He stopped dead in the middle of the living room. Just under a week ago he had stood here, talking with the Lupin's and Mr. Evans, joking about the stupid pranks he and Lily had done to each other...everything that had seemed to be important then was no longer even a thought in James mind.

He turned to the stairs and was about to step up them before a cruel voice sounded behind him.

"James Potter."

Stopping dead, James felt, for the first time tonight, the hot pain of fear grip at his throat and he gripped his wand tighter as he turned to face him.

Voldemort.

He barely looked like a man, his skin so pale and translucent. His long bony fingers gripped a phoenix feather core wand that had performed more killing curses than any other wand in history. He was taller than James by a few inches, but James was too angry to care about that. He was too angry to care about how he was only 18 years old. He was too angry to care about how he wasn't even an Auror yet.

Voldemort seemed to sense this in his and he smiled evilly.

"So we meet again, James. How long has it been now? Just a little over a year I should think..."

James flinched at the memory. Voldemort had indeed appeared at the Potter's house just over a year ago, during James summer break. Peter, Sirius and Remus had all been there as well. Voldemort came to offer James' parents the Dark Mark.

"It could be your greatest honor," he had told the Potters, both of them with their wands out, pointed towards him. James and the rest of the Marauders stood a little off to the side, unsure of how to act or what to do. James remembered the look on his parents face as they heard those words.

"Oh, greatest honor, aye? To die working for a bloody nutter who calls himself a wizard?" James saw his father move slightly in front of his mother, shielding her from Voldemort's view.

Voldemort's face had then gone into a type of evil pout and he stared strangely at Richard Potter. "Such power, Richard. Such absolute power you hold in your family line. It would be a shame to waste it working for the side that's not going to win."

James's dad cracked then, sending a stunning curse towards Voldemort who dodged it easily, disappearing in a cloud of smoke and reappearing right next to the four Marauders who looked fearful at him.

"James Potter..."

James was snapped out of the memory once again by Voldemort's voice.

"Surely you are not going to decline my offer again? Especially now that you are starting to realize the full potential of your powers..." he paused briefly and James suddenly wondered why no one was coming in to help him. Had Voldemort already gotten all of them?

At once, James was tempted to send a spell towards Voldemort, but this was not the best of circumstances to get into a duel with him. Besides, it wouldn't be a Potter that ended this war. Men like Dumbledore, Moody and people with ambition like Sirius would be the wizarding world's best hope.

"Boy, you sure are persistent," James spat at him. "Can't you take no for an answer?"

Voldemort looked at him with a small amount of mocking pity. "Such a shame that you're going to die as your father did, James. Oh yes," he added, seeing James' face blanch at the mention of his father. "Did I not make it clear?" His face immediately darkened. "No one opposes Lord Voldemort..."

James' temper flared and he raised his wand up, shouting the stunning curse at Voldemort, just as his father had done, but of course, it made no contact. James panicked; he saw no sign of Voldemort in the room anymore, a mere billow of smoke where he had been. He glanced round nervously, his adrenaline running and more tears escaping his eyes.

Without warning, a cold hand grabbed him from behind, twisting his wand hand, causing his wand to drop uselessly to the ground. Wide-eyed, James could barely breath as he felt Voldemort's cold breath near his shoulder.

"Your last chance James..." He whispered to him. "I can make you powerful. In your heart you know that. I can show you power that even Dumbledore does not know of...

"Never..." James gritted his teeth, struggling to get out of Voldemort's grip.

"One of your friends has already accepted my offer, boy..."

James once again felt his insides turn cold. What did that mean? Did Remus or one of them...?

"Yes, Potter. One of your ever so faithful friends is already in my loyal service."

James sucked in a quick breath, his eyes darting around the room, trying not to pay attention to what the dark wizard was saying. Surly it couldn't be true, it just couldn't...

"You can join him in my service..."

James gritted his teeth as he fought for control over his emotions. It had to be a trick that Voldemort was using, a way of getting through James' reasoning powers.

"No," he spat out, angrier than he could ever remember being in his life.

"We shall meet again, James Potter, make no doubt of that. You shall see the truth soon enough, or you will follow your parents into their graves."

Abruptly, Voldemort vanished and James tumbled to the ground, his arm throbbing from where Voldemort had been holding him and his head aching with the knowledge he had just received...

A traitor...

Finally sounds were heard outside. Auror's barged into the house, immediately spreading over the three floors, running everywhere. The first one to come into the room where James was was Sirius, his face white and fearful as he rushed over to his best friend.

"Prongs...? James...James are you alright?"

James turned to look at Sirius, his mind racing. No, it couldn't be Sirius...not Sirius. They would die for each other, ever and always.

Unwillingly, tears pricked at James eyes as the full impact of what had just happened hit him. The whole conversation with Voldemort got pushed aside as he remembered that the Dark Mark was glowing above them and Both James' parents lay dead in this house.

He was an orphan.

Sirius' bottom lip trembled and he was getting teary as well. James knew the Potters had been like parents to him as well. This would not be easy for either of them.

Sirius knelt down on the floor beside James and wrapped him in a brotherly hug. James returned it instantly as they both felt the tears run down their face.

"Brothers...friends to the end," Sirius had told him during their sixth year.

"I'd die for you, you know that?" James had added.

"Same here," Sirius had surprisingly said.

And that night, they each died a little for each other: Sirius loosing some of himself for James tremendous loss, and James loosing a bit of himself for Sirius, who lost a family all over again.

---*---

Remus and Lily both arrived at the same instant outside her parent's house, careful to appear in the woods nearby so that no one would notice them. Peter would have joined them but he made up the excuse that he wanted to stay at Godric's Hollow, incase people came there looking for any of them. Remus admitted that it was a good point and had reluctantly agreed to take Lily home himself.

Remus peaked out onto the street and when he was confident that there was nothing there, carefully started leading Lily towards her house.

"I still don't understand why I can't go back to my apartment," Lily said in an irritable voice. She was still rather sore at Remus for locking her in the closet with James, but it all seemed quite trivial now that they both could guess what James was going through over on Perrimen Lane.

"It's safer for you here right now..." Remus said casually. "Nobody wants you to get hurt."

Lily stopped following suddenly, causing Remus to stop and look back at her.

"Who would want to hurt me?"

Remus sighed and ran a hand through his hair trying to figure out how to explain this to her. Making a quick decision, he grabbed her, pulling her into the darkness of the woods once more and with a swish of his wand, preformed a concealment charm around them so that they couldn't be heard.

"Lily, have you ever heard of the Order of the Phoenix?"

She frowned. "Dumbledore founded it, didn't he? To fight against Voldemort?"

Remus nodded glumly. "Well, certain members of the Order feel that the attack tonight could trigger more attacks on other people...including you."

Lily raised a skeptical eyebrow. "Why? What are you not telling me, Remus?"

Remus had never been that good of a liar, especially to Lily. They had both been good friends throughout their last two years of school and learned to trust one another. Lily knew this as well so she patiently waited for him to crack.

"James is a member of the Order," he finally blurted out.

Lily looked taken aback at the revelation and she took a slight step back. "James? Are you serious?"

Remus glanced around nervously, deciding to just get the explanation out quickly. "They're afraid that since James still cares for you that Voldemort will attack you to get back at James even more."

As soon as he said it, Remus felt the blood drain from his face. That was not what he had meant to say...

Lily's eyes widened at the words and she quickly grabbed Remus before he could get away.

"What do you mean, James still cares about me?" she said with a hint of anger.

She must think I'm nuts, Remus thought to himself as he frantically tried to figure out something to say.

"It's not my place to say, Lily..."

"Why would Voldemort want to hurt James?"

Remus silently scolded himself for letting her have so much information.

"Once again, Lily, it's not my place to say..."

Lily dropped his wrist, sighing heavily as she realized that Remus wasn't going to tell her.

"You're a good friend, Remus."

Remus looked at her with all the apology he could muster. "I'm just trying to protect you, Lily...and James."

He noticed Lily bit her bottom lip slightly as she heard James' name.

When she didn't reply, Remus got out his wand, removing the concealment charm. Then, grabbing her wrist, quickly lead her up to the front step of her parent's house. When they reached it, he unlocked the door with his wand and finally turned to Lily who seemed to be having some internal conflict with herself.

"Lily?"

Her head snapped up slightly and she managed too look him in the eyes. "Yeah?"

"Everything's going to be okay. You know that, right?"

She gave him a worn smile. "A lot of people say that Remus...but it's becoming harder to believe."

"Why?"

Lily sighed and Remus could tell that she was still not sure about the answer to that question herself.

"It's complicated..."

"Life is always complicated. That's why you have friends."

She shot him a shy look. "You're my friend, right, Remus?"

Remus shrugged. "I guess that's how you could describe our relationship."

"You're James' friend too, right?"

"What are you getting at?" Remus asked her with a smile.

Lily waved it off, "Never mind...People have my important things to worry about..."

They were both silent for a moment.

Remus frowned and put a hand under her chin. "You don't have to be afraid..."

"But I am..." a small tear slid down her cheek and she hurriedly reached up to wipe it away. Remus wasn't quite sure whether she was referring to her relationship with James or with the War against Voldemort. "I'm afraid every day. Every time I walk into the wizarding world I remember that I'm muggle born. I remember that there's some pshyco killer out there that wants me dead. I remember the look on James' face when I broke up with him. I remember what it felt like to kiss him. I remember when my sister spat in my face, calling me a freak and storming out of the house, never speaking to me again..."

More tears continued to fall and she didn't reach up to wipe them.

"I remember everything...everything that I don't want to..."

"Irony is a man's worst enemy, especially when it comes to matter of the heart or matters of life and death..." Remus thought he sounded stupid saying that but she seemed to relax a little bit and wiped the remaining tears out of her eyes. "We can't always change what happened, but we can do out best to make sure they never happen again."

"What about things you can't control?" Lily said quietly. "What about...what about other people in your life?"

Remus hesitated. He was the last person who should be answering these questions for Lily, but it seemed he was the only person she wanted to hear from.

"My mom used to always tell me to make sure that any person I came in contact would leave my sight a better person than they were before. I've tried to live true to her council since I went to Hogwarts."

She raised an eyebrow. "James and Sirius?"

"Well, I kinda failed with them," he admitted.

She laughed shortly, sniffling a bit. "Thanks Remus. I needed that."

Remus managed to give her a confident smile and leaned down to give her a quick kiss on the cheek.

"Take care of yourself, Lily..." he threw his hood on and gave her a wink before turning. "We'll be in touch."

He started off back towards the woods but stopped when she called out to him.

"Remus?"

He turned with concern.

She hesitated a moment, then finally said, "I want to help..."

He let out a relieved breath. "When do you turn 18?"

"Three months."

That was good, since Remus would become a member in about two and a half.

"Remind me then," he winked at her again and continued on his way. Upon reaching the woods, he turned back once more and saw that she was just closing the door. He waited until he heard the bolt lock click before disapperating back to Godric's Hollow where, hopefully, James, Sirius and Peter would be waiting for him.