Fate

Chapter 20 - A Second Chance

He wasn't usually late. Even the great Sirius Black managed to find time to hold to his promises. And James Potter considered this a big promise. The more they just sat there in Dumbledore's office, the more worried James was becoming. He glanced over and saw that Harry was also quite worried; the boy wouldn't even sit down. Neither of the other groups had even so much as reported back, and from James' own experience, that usually meant the worst.

No, he didn't want to think about that just yet.

James looked over to his right where Lily sat next to him, little 'Harry' in her arms who was now wide awake and seemed to be interested in the funny faces that all the portraits were making at him. At least it was keeping him occupied. James jumped at the chance.

"So," he said smoothly, putting an arm up around Lily's shoulders as she raised an eyebrow at him. "What are you thinking about?"

Rolling here eyes, but still in a rather melancholy mood, Lily laid her head on James' shoulder. "Believe it or not I wasn't thinking about you."

"Really?" It was James' turn to raise an eyebrow. "And just who were you thinking about?"

Lily smirked, "I was thinking about Sirius...and Remus?"

"Ah, I see. Triple timing me, are you?" James said with a chuckled, reaching out to grab one of Harry's flailing fists and watched with fascination as his son's tiny hand curled reflexively around one of his larger fingers.

"You know me," Lily said and James could tell she was smiling, "a regular scarlet woman."

"You just have to make sure Sirius and Remus don't find out about one another. Sirius gets awful jealous, not to mention Remus would die from a broken heart."

James' heart considerably lightened as he finally heard Lily laugh. He loved hearing her laugh. If he could, he would work his whole life to get her to laugh.

"And then there's the problem with Emily and Arianna," she joined in the teasing. "When are you going to break it to them that you're still actually in love with me?"

James felt himself becoming more and more relaxed as they fell back into their familiar bating of one another.

"Well," James leaned back dramatically and stretched. "I suppose I should do it before Sirius and Arianna's wedding. I don't know if Arianna would still have the guts to run away from the alter like we had been planning."

Lily laughed again but was cut off by the door being flung open and a very out of breath Sirius and Remus rushing in. James jumped up instantly and he saw Harry cross his vision, running right up to Sirius and Remus. James was sure that Harry would have given them a hug if the two older men hadn't looked so terrified.

"What's wrong?" Harry blurted out. "Why are you late? Where's Arianna?"

"She's gone..." Sirius blurted out, looking as if he was about to pass out and kill someone at the same time. "He must have found her!"

James muttered off a few words which Lily smacked him over the head for before he looked back up. "That rat...I guess Voldemort decided to let him live after all."

"Where are the others?" Remus asked carefully, finally shutting the door behind them and guiding Sirius to a chair before he collapsed.

"Ah, we don't really know," James admitted. "We've been waiting for a good two hours. Dumbledore left about an hour ago to try and get some answers, but we haven't heard from him since."

Both Sirius and Remus looked rather worried by that news, but mostly Remus. "You mean Emily's not back yet?"

James winced at the desperate sound in his friend's voice, managing to shake his head discouragingly.

"I'm glad you guys are back at least," Harry's timid voice broke in and at once both Sirius and Remus turned their attention to Harry. James watched with mixed feelings of fascination and jealousy as he saw Sirius give Harry a bear hug and Remus ruffle his hair, both of the men offering encouraging words and getting Harry to smile his small little smile that James had seen on his face a few select times. That boy had grown up with no father. His son had grown up with no father. The thought still didn't seem to be processing in James' head.

He turned again as Lily squeezed his hand comfortingly, as if sensing what he was feeling.

The moment once again ended quickly as the floo behind them suddenly flamed into life, Dumbledore's head popping up suddenly and scaring the wits out of most of the people in the room. 'Harry', however, found it quite amusing and clapped his hand with excitement.

"Albus!" James jumped up again and Remus, Sirius, Harry and Lily immediately followed, all of them crowding around the fireplace.

"Did you find them? Are they okay?" James continued.

Dumbledore's eyes focused on Sirius and Remus, something akin to relief in them. "Well I am pleased that this Remus and Sirius were able to get back in safely, though I assume they have told you that Miss Moore has been taken by Cetus Black."

Sirius rattled off another swear word and James could tell that he was having trouble controlling his temper.

"This, however is not the worst of it I'm afraid. I was able to get some contacts from the Order up in Scotland. It seems that our other Remus and Sirius, along with Miss Fairchild have completely disappeared."

No one seemed to know what to say, so Dumbledore continued. "It seems Miss Fairchild's hotel room was broken into by someone-"

"Three guesses who," James heard Sirius mutter behind him.

"-and they were taken." Dumbledore looked terribly depressed as he spoke and James saw the pure exhaustion in his eyes. As much as James wanted to press for more, he instead said the exact opposite.

"Albus, you're exhausted. You need rest," he pleaded.

Dumbledore shook his head. "We all need rest James, every single one of us has not slept for the past two days and that is not exactly the best thing, but it was necessary."

"But we have to do something!" Sirius fumed. James turned around and saw that Remus had collapsed into a chair and was staring silently at the wall. Sirius, on the other hand, was clenching his fists tightly, his muscles twitching with nervous energy that was so akin to his character. "I know where my father has Arianna! The only reason I didn't go get her straight away is because I knew we needed to meet up."

"Sirius, please," Dumbledore cut him off. "We do them no good by rushing headlong into the fight. Remember back to your younger years when you learned those lessons and try to stay calm."

Dumbledore's little speech seemed to calm Sirius down a bit, though he was still clenching his fists.

"James." James turned as Dumbledore spoke his name. "I do need rest. It appears that I'm not as young as I always thought I was." Both of them cracked a smile. "I have plenty of people working right now to get me the information we need, but I think it would be advisable for all of us to at least try to get some sleep tonight if we are to be prepared for trying to solve this pickle we've gotten ourselves into."

James didn't think he had ever head Dumbledore use the word pickle. It would have made him laugh if the line hadn't reminded him of how exhausted he really was.

"Everyone can stay in the guest rooms at Hogwarts, as with Peter loose and most likely already with Voldemort, there aren't many safe places right now."

He paused to take a deep breath and James felt a pang of fear at how old Dumbledore was starting too look.

"I will be flooing there within the hour, but I advise you to all go to bed as soon as possible. I don't know exactly when we're going to have to make our move, but get in as much rest as you can."

He then turned to Sirius and Remus who both looked dead on their feet, the exhaustion they were feeling obviously manifesting itself as well. But along with it, James saw the determination that had been with both of them slowly leak out of their expressions. It seemed they were both having similar thoughts, but Dumbledore knew just what to say.

"The knowledge that you have brought with you is going to be vital to getting both these young women back alive. Cetus will not harm Arianna until he has a chance to confront Sirius about it and Emily still has 'Sirius' and 'Remus' with her, wherever she is." He looked at both of them smartly.

"Do not think that you have made a mistake in coming back," he said suddenly, making all three time travelers look up at him in surprise. "I have been doing some thinking about your predicament, and yours as well, Harry. When next we get the chance, I will want to meet with the three of you to discuss some of your options and some of my theories on the matter."

And with that his head disappeared in a wisp of flame, leaving everyone shell shocked in front of the fireplace, none of them quite sure how to handle what had just been told of them.

Finally, James straightened up and turned to Sirius. "I expect you still remember where the guest rooms are around the castle?"

Sirius nodded half heartedly, Remus nodding as well.

"A few are occupied, but the one on the fourth floor behind the painting of the mountain is open, as well as the one next to it behind the mirror."

Sirius nodded again and James winced again at the pain that he saw in his friend's eyes, his much older friend's eyes. He reached up, laying a hand on Sirius' shoulder. He opened his mouth to offer some words of comfort, but found himself, instead, pulling Sirius into a hug again, holding him tightly and feeling a few tears fall from his own eyes as he heard Sirius sniffle slightly.

Pulling back he repeated the hug with Remus. Lastly, he turned to Harry and at once the teen jumped into his arms, holding him tightly.

"G'night dad," Harry whispered. James wasn't sure he was supposed to hear it, but just incase, he didn't react to it and just pulled away, leaving room for Harry to reach over and hug Lily.

"Sweet dreams, Emeralds," she said as she pulled back, kissing him on the cheek which made him smile a bit more before he gave them both one last look and headed out of the room, Sirius and Remus following behind them.

As soon as they descended the stairs, James reached down, grabbing Lily's hand tightly in his and, after making sure she had a tight grip on 'Harry', lead them both to their guest room.

The winding halls and dizzy staircases of Hogwarts would always be a source of joy for James. As he lead his family through the old building, he couldn't help but smile as he thought of the past, of the easy and wonderful life that they had experienced in these halls.

Neither of them spoke and even 'Harry' remained thankfully quiet through their trip. When they reached the second floor and came to the familiar painting of Godric Gryffindor, James smiled at the old man's cheerful face.

"Ah! James and Lily! Wonderful to see you again! Need a place to crash for the night, do you?"

Lily even smiled and James wrapped his arm around her waist. "If you don't mind. The sword in the stone."

Gryffindor grinned at them and bowed slightly as he swung open, opening the doorway to their regular rest stop if they had to stay at Hogwarts overnight, which was becoming more and more of a habit. James had discovered this room only in his second year at Hogwarts and he and Sirius had declared it their favorite, thought James had declared it his and Lily's when they got married. It was furnished in lovely dark reds and gold, perfectly suiting to his family's Gryffindor heritage.

Lily ducked into the side room quickly to put 'Harry' to bed before dropping off herself. James walked up to the large bed and sat down on it gently, relishing in how comfortable it was and how tired he was. As usual, he found a pair of pajamas in the dresser and was just finishing buttoning his shirt when Lily entered again, 'Harry' dozing off in her arms, already dressed in little gold footsie pajamas. The outfit also came with a hood that made 'Harry' look like a lion, but he always refused to keep it on his head. Lily smiled up at James and held his son towards him.

"I thought maybe you wanted to say goodnight," she said with a little bit of hesitation. James tried to hid his surprise, and reached down, gently plucking 'Harry' out of his wife's arms and cradling him close to his body, not taking his eyes off of his small and innocent face. Harry's face flashed into his head and he wondered how this perfectly beautiful, innocent and naïve child could become a teenager with such sorrow, fear and pain in his expression.

James gently leaned down, planting a soft kiss on 'Harry's' cheek before handing him back over to Lily who gave him a hesitant smile before disappearing back into the adjoining room.

James didn't move from his spot until she came back and Lily looked at him with worry, walking up to him hesitantly. "James? Are you alright?"

"What?" James jerked out of his daze and looked down at her. "Oh, yes, sorry, just dozed off there for a moment." He managed a smile. "I must be pretty tired."

Still looking suspicious, Lily went over to the dresser and quickly put on her nightgown before going back over to him and leading him to the bed. Sitting him down on it, she took his head in both her hands and made him look at her.

"Do you want to talk about it?" She asked softly.

"Do you?" James said back, knowing what her answer would be.

"Of course I do...I just didn't know if you were comfortable enough yet."

James leaned back against the headboard, pulling a pillow up so his head wouldn't hit the wall and Lily leaned back with him, both of them staying silent for a few moments.

"He called me dad," James finally whispered.

Lily reached up brushing some of his unruly hair out of his face, her eyes filling with tears.

"Yes, he slipped yesterday and called me 'Mum'," she grinned slightly. "He stopped himself quickly, asking if it was okay if he called me that..."

They both fell silent again until James broke the silence a second time.

"When we were in seventh year," he started, holding Lily around the waist, "After we had finally started going out...this may sound crazy, but I actually sat down on several occasions with Sirius and had some good one-on-one chats with him about our lives in the future..."

He looked down at his wife and saw that she was still smiling through her tears. "You were in all of our chats, on my side of the chat, of course...I knew I wanted to marry you, I mean, I had known that since fifth year. Sirius was pretty obsessed with Arianna by that time as well so we got into a lot of talk about marriage and families...children..."

He finally felt a tear drop down his face, but he didn't reach up to wipe it away and blinked back the others that were threatening to fall. He chuckled. "We both...we both wanted to be dad's real bad..." He shut his eyes. "Sounds crazy, right? James Potter and Sirius Black, fathers...we had some good laughs about it, but so many times we tried to imagine what it would be like to have children...I was a little more serious about it than Sirius. After all, he and Arianna had been on and off in their relationship for years and he was probably more focused on getting out the 'I Love You' than thinking about family life..."

"And then you said yes..." James felt Lily snuggled closer to him, but he didn't look down at her. "I know I've told you this before, but the day you told me that we were going to have a baby was probably one of the happiest days of my life..."

James reached down, wrapping his arms around Lily who still remained quiet and comforting by his side.

"I had it all planned out, me and Sirius. His thrill of having children died down a bit, but when we found out that Harry was coming, Merlin, we planned out that whole boy's life, down to his position on the Gryffindor Quidditch team, and the person he would marry..."

"Who he would marry?" Lily finally spoke up. "Did you have a list?"

"Well, not exactly. We narrowed it down to one after going through the requirements that we had listed."

"Which were?" James heard her yawn.

"Gryffindor, strong family, spunky, pretty...redhead, of course." He kissed the top of Lily's head lovingly.

"And you found a baby with these qualities?" Lily shook her head in disbelief.

"Well, we mostly looked at the families of the baby's."

"And who was the lucky girl?" She yawned again.

"Well, it took us quite a long time, but then we heard that that big family of redheads, what were their names? Weasley? I think that was it. Anyway, they had a pack of boys, but finally had one girl, about nine months after Harry was born."

"James, sweetheart, I love you to death, but arranged marriages were outlawed in the seventeenth century."

James shrugged, unconcerned. "Well, you know me and Sirius..."

Lily smiled against his chest. "Yes, I do. Sorry, go on..."

"Yeah, well...we did have it all planned...then we heard that prophesy-" Lily's hand tightened on his shirt, "-and instead of making me more worried, it just made me more determined that my little boy would grow up in the best way possible..."

Another pesky tear trailed down his cheek.

"With both his parents....with his great 'uncles' and 'aunts', going into Gryffindor and making some good friends...living as normal as possible..."

He closed his eyes against the barrage of tears that started to trail down his face. A moment later, he was surprised to feel someone lightly kissing his cheeks where his tears were and opened his eyes to see Lily's beautiful eyes mirroring his own. Without a word, he leaned forward, capturing her lips in his, once again knowing that he could never get enough of the feeling of kissing her. It was a sweet and simple kiss, and when he pulled back, Lily leaned her head against his chest and he wrapped both his arms protectively around her, both of them feeling each other's racing heart.

"Did you see his smile, Lil's?" James whispered. "It doesn't reach his eyes....And his posture...he never stands up straight, as if he's got the fate of the world on his shoulders..." he stopped and reached down, burying his face in Lily's red hair. "Well," he mumbled, "I suppose he does, doesn't he?"

"Yes," Lily replied softly, "he does, James."

"I glad," he realized suddenly, "That he at least had Remus and Sirius. They're good guys, even if Sirius isn't exactly the best role model."

"Glad or jealous?" Lily contradicted, pulling up slightly to look her husband in the eye. "I saw you earlier this evening, when Remus and Sirius came back. He ran to them, not to you."

James opened his mouth a few times to reply, but couldn't think of the right thing to say. Lily pressed a finger to his lips.

"James, neither of them are trying to replace you. They can't replace you. Can't you see that? Don't you ever notice how Harry's eyes light up when he sees you or when you talk?"

"It's the same with you..."

"Well, yes. I expect that growing up with only Petunia as a mother figure would give him some want to see me as well, but James..." she put both hands on his face again, making him look at her. "You were not replaced, and neither was I. He's never known us. He's never even known real parents, as far as I can tell. He's given us - We've just gotten a second chance to be parents to him. If this plan works out, every single thing you planned for Harry can come true, down to the fiancé, but only if Harry loves her," she added with a small smirk.

James' eyes searched his wife's face, wondering for the billionth time how she could always make him feel so good whenever she was around. He leaned forward again, kissing her a little harder this time and pulling her tightly towards him. Her hands moved from his face up to his hair and she played with it ideally as they kissed, his own hands strong and still around her waist as he relished in the moment.

"I love you," he mumbled as they finally pulled apart.

"I love you, too," she whispered back.

They both sunk down into the soft covers and fell asleep quickly in one another's arms, the tears still falling down their cheeks.