In the Next Life

Authors note: This is set just after James' and Lily's deaths.

----- -----------------------------------------------------

'It's not fair! It wasn't going to end like this! We were supposed to watch him grow up. He's only a baby; he can't defend himself let alone keep himself alive. He's never going to know his family, he's real family. Why can't he grow up normally with a loving family?'

James didn't know what he was saying. He was yelling for the sake of it.

He didn't know where he was either. He knew he was dead, but that was it. He had never been more scared, worried, confused or upset in his whole life.

He was somewhere, but there were no walls and he was positive he was walking on air. The only thing he could see was white mist - everywhere.

Flashback:

James walked over to Lily and Harry on the couch. He seated himself next to Lily and shifted Harry so he was sitting on both of their laps.

'James?'

'Lily?'

'Is he going to find us?'

'I don't know. I'm not sure if I want to.'

James heard the front gate swing open. He turned his head to the window and in one stride he was looking out the drawn curtains.

'They are coming. Run, Lily.'

'What happens if I never see you again? I love you so much James, I would die for you.'

'I love you too. I will hold him back. If I don't survive, hide at Hogwarts. Remember I love you both. I will always see you in the next life. Go, Lily. Take Harry and run!'

With one last look at her husband, Lily ran up the stairs to her son's bedroom, placing charms on the walls as she went.

Lily wasn't to know, but Voldemort had risen to power much higher than any dark wizard had ever reached; only one thing could save her son now, and that was love.

'James?'

'Lily?'

----- -----------------------------------------------------

"Oh, thank god I found you!" Lily ran into James' open arms, starting to cry at the memories of that night.

"When I was talking about the next life, I didn't expect us to meet up so soon," James laughed, though it was a sad laugh.

"I'm so sorry; I did everything I could to save Harry-"

"Honey, if he was dead, wouldn't he be here right now?" James whispered into Lily's ear.

James could practically feel Lily fill with hope and happiness.

"Yes, you're right. But, how do we know he didn't go somewhere else?"

James never got to answer.

James' whole world went black. He could feel a tugging sensation on every part of his body. He felt dizzy and nauseous - but he never let go of Lily.

As suddenly as it started, the darkness stopped. But it wasn't much better. James was momentarily blinded by a burning white light.

When James found his vision again, he saw a sight he would never forget.

Lily was just starting to open her eyes as well.

But that wasn't just it.

They were in a room - a familiar one: one that had freshly painted baby-blue walls, one that had a navy crib in the middle, a crib that held a baby boy; Lily and James' baby boy!

"Harry!" Lilly screamed and ran towards him - ran right through him.

Lily stopped and turned around. She waved her hand around - slowly lowering it until it, again, went through the crib.

James ran over to her. He went to put his hand on the crib but, like Lily's, it went through.

"What's happening?" James asked rhetorically.

But Lily wasn't listening. She was staring at a body - her body - lying on the floor at the base of the bed.

"I knew we were dead, but this is just...random!"

"You got it there..." breathed James as he walked in and out of the door - without opening it.

James and Lily turned as a man ran through the door. Unlike James and Lily, he had to open it first.

"Oh no, not you too," whispered Sirius Black as he turned over Lily.

Sirius let a few tears fall before he swept up Harry and walked back out the door.

"How did you survive that horrid man? You are just a baby!" whispered Sirius to Harry as he exited the house, James and Lily following.

"Sirius, can you hear me?" shouted James. Sirius gave no response.

But the baby stared right at him.

James and Lily followed Harry for the next 24 hours - that meant watching Sirius give up Harry under HUGE peer pressure and mind messing, listening to the conversation between McGonagall and Dumbledore, crying (Lily) when Harry was left with Petunia and getting angry (James and Lily) when Petunia and Vernon thought about leaving him.

----- -----------------------------------------------------

For the next eight years, James and Lily watched over Harry carefully, but it wasn't until Harry was ten, did he really start needing their help.

James and Lily would help Harry by keeping Harry out of too much trouble when he needed it. But, as I said before, they didn't really need to help until Harry was ten.

----- -----------------------------------------------------

'Oi! Four Eyes, come over here, we need to use you as a punching bag.'

Dudley had been tormenting Harry for as long as he could remember.

At the moment, students were happily eating their recess and not-so-happily dodging Dudley and his mob.

'Why don't you use your face, it's big enough,' said Harry, a little too loudly, walking away.

'Why you little piece of scum!' Dudley and his cronies launched themselves at Harry.

Harry did the only thing he could - he ran. He ran as fast as his scrawny legs could carry him. He ran around C block and onto the basketball court, dodging players.

'Watch it!' yelled the deputy as Harry crashed into him.

'I'm sorry Sir. I'm really sorry,' stammered Harry as he picked up his briefcase.

Before the deputy could respond, Harry had raced away.

Dead end...

Harry whipped around - Dudley and his followers were closing in. The only way out was up and Harry was pretty sure he couldn't fly. Garbage bins were lining the wall behind Harry, filled with rubbish...

'C'mon Harry, you can do it, don't let those nasty boys get to you,' whispered Lily, watching the encounter from up above.

'Lily? Where are you?' called James - Lily and James could get very lost in the white mist.

'Over here Jamie!' she called back, never taking her eyes off Harry.

James found Lily quite quickly considering...

'Is that rascal causing Harry trouble again?'

'There is no way out! Do you think we can help him?'

'I'll try!'

James shut his eyes and pictured being right next to Harry - surprisingly, it happened.

'Lily, did you see that? Did you, did you......Lily?'

James looked around; where was Lily?

'I can see you James but I can't get down with you! Do you think you can help Harry all by yourself?'

'Of course I can! I am a Marauder and always will be.'

James bit his tongue and pulled out his wand. He pointed it at Harry and yelled 'Wingardium Leviosa'.

Harry had been running towards the garbage bins - now he was on the roof, sitting contently.

The deputy came around the corner, frog marching a boy who was holding exactly ten pieces of rubbish and looking very annoyed.

'Sir, he climbed up there. We were trying to tell him to come down but he wouldn't. He threatened to throw rocks at us!' squeaked Piers Polkiss, recovering from Harry's strange escape.

'Is this true?' yelled the deputy, pointing a finger at Harry.

What was Harry supposed to say? 'Sorry, sir, I flew'? He didn't think so.

Just as he was about to think of a clever explanation, the deputy started walking towards him.

'Detention, every afternoon from now until Friday!' he yelled.

'But it's Monday,' yelled James. Then, a thought came to him.

Yes, you guessed it - the deputy's pants fell down and he tripped over.

Sadly enough, a rock happened to be there - something sort of like the rocks Piers said Harry had.

'James! That was a stupid thing to do! Our Harry is now in deep trouble! Why didn't you think? I should-'

James was back up wherever he was before, with an outraged Lily.

'Shut up, Lily!' James bellowed. 'Stop criticising me for everything I do wrong. I'm not perfect! All your life you have never really trusted me-'

Lily stormed off in a huff before he could finish, tears in her eyes. James immediately regretted yelling, but how was he supposed to know that the deputy's pants would fall down and he would trip over? OK. Bad question.

'Lily, come back. I'm sorry.'

'Come on Lily.'

'Will you forgive me?'

'Please talk to me.'

'Don't make me come in their and get lost...'

'Are you lost?'

'Lily? Are you there?'

Lily wouldn't answer. James decided to go find her.

Mist: annoying!

Getting lost: refer to Mist!

'Come on Lily. I know you're mad but I said I'm sorry. I really can't find you and I'm starting to get freaked out....Lily?'

James took a left turn at the next clearing in the mist, still looking for Lily. He was starting to get very worried indeed.

'Lily, please answer me, honey. I am really sorry. I hope you realise that I never meant to hurt your feelings. I know it was a stupid thing to do. But, how was I supposed to know that he would get in worse trouble.'

No response.

'Please Lily, I love you. You know that I do. Answer me?'

Still, no response.

'Please Lily, just talk to me,' he called out as loud as he could.

But he kept walking even though there was no answer.

He walked around in circles, up and down, he tried running into mist, he even tried retracing his steps, but, still she didn't appear.

James walked around for what felt like hours - but, really, it was years.

----- -----------------------------------------------------

Harry Potter never knew his parents - of course, you already know that!

He didn't know what they looked like, what they liked, what they didn't, what they did as a job, who their friends were...so many things he didn't know...

Most of all, he didn't know if his parents loved him.

Sometimes he would blame them. If they hadn't been in that car, they might still have been alive today, looking after him instead of his horrible Aunt and Uncle. He might not have had to put up with Dudley and his cronies, face the angry neighbours, wear hand-me-downs or even live in England.

How could they leave him like that, leave him alone and upset. Was the driver drunk when they crashed? Who was the driver? Did they abandon him before they left? Did they not care?

Sometimes he would blame himself. Were they driving home to get to him? Were they going out to get something for him? Was he such a bad baby that they had to abandon him? Could they afford him?

He had tried asking, but that lead to less food and free time. There were no pictures or any evidence at all of their existence. Did they even know he was alive? I mean, what if he was swapped at birth and the substitute died? It was crazy, but it could happen! But if he was swapped at birth, he would still have a family somewhere, right? Maybe they would have loved him.

But the reality was: Harry could only go on what he had been told, as little as that was. They were probably looking down on him from wherever they were.

That was what kept Harry sane all those years. The fact that they probably did know he was alive and they probably did love him, kept him in reality.

----- -----------------------------------------------------

We all know what happens next. Yes, Harry goes to Hogwarts, finds out about his parents, has his first ever friends, enjoys school, joins a Quiddich team, gets into trouble...a lot.

But what did he think? Was he happy with this change? Did he enjoy being thrown into a world of the supernatural where one of the greatest conflicts is reaching its peak?

I can tell you now; Harry treated Hogwarts like home the moment he got there. He had never been good at math or English let alone any other subjects - at Hogwarts, that didn't matter.

He found a knack for Defence against the Dark Arts, a knack for being bad at potions and a knack for finding things.

One thing he found brought him closer to his family than he had been in a long, long time.

It's something maybe you and even I have thought not too important for Harry, but it meant a lot to him. The time when he saw his parents.

----- -----------------------------------------------------

Lily had been walking around for a countless amount of time. She was scared, worried, angry, emotional, upset, annoyed, irritated, nervous, frightened, sad and bored.

James had been feeling the exact same way, but he was way more bored than Lily.

----- -----------------------------------------------------

Harry pulled off his invisibility cloak and stepped up to the Mirror of Erised. He didn't know what to expect, he had never seen it before. The writing around the outside frame said 'Erised stra ehru oyt ube cafru oyt on wohsi'. What did that mean?

Reading it backwards, it read 'I show not your face but your hearts desire'. What did that mean? Maybe it meant he was going to be shown what he wanted.

Looking down, Harry saw his reflection. But that wasn't all. There were other people there. Harry twisted around to look behind him. No one there. He kept turning around until he remembered what the mirror had said.

'Mum...Dad?' he whispered. They both nodded and smiled at each other.

Harry couldn't be happier. He really did look like his father but with his mother's eyes. He could tell that he was going to be tall if he continued to look like his father. James Potter must have been over six foot. If Harry was to look more like Lily Potter, he wouldn't reach much further than five foot.

Harry couldn't believe he was actually seeing his parents. I mean, he had never seen pictures.

Searching his memory, he could only just remember them. Not images really, but feelings. Love, happiness...

And somewhere in there was fear. Harry briefly wondered if his parents had known Voldemort was coming for them. Most likely they did, but had they had plans for him?

Harry stopped thinking these thoughts when other people started appearing in the mirror. They all looked similar to James Potter, but none of them really looked like Lily. He didn't see the Dursleys either.

Harry was overwhelmed with emotions - both positive and negative. This was his family. His. He would treasure this moment forever...

----- -----------------------------------------------------

Lily was ecstatic. James was back and Harry was with them. Sure, there was the problem of the mirror, but still, they were hers. Her husband and her son.

And behind them was her parents-in-law and the rest of the 'tribe' as James liked to call them.

Lily regretted many things. She regretted never giving James a chance until their last year at Hogwarts, not trusting him for a while after that, and being nervous on her wedding day.

Every bride has her fears as well as the groom. Her friends had tried to convince her that she was doing what she wanted, but she had never been 100% sure. Not until after the wedding had she realised her mistake.

James was everything she could possibly wish for.

But Lily never regretted having Harry. He was a quiet baby and a good natured one. He had her eyes as well - bonus!

As Lily looked down on Harry, she wished more than anything that she could tell him that she loved him...

----- -----------------------------------------------------

James couldn't be luckier given the circumstances. He had his wife back again and his son to admire.

James could tell Harry was going to be just like him.

Harry had messy black hair, glasses and was quite tall. Of course, James had been taller than Harry at his age. Harry had Lily's gorgeous green eyes as well as a dislike for purposely getting into trouble.

But Harry still was a mischief maker. He was out of his dorm after hours and had just been under James' invisibility cloak, hadn't he?

James' next objective was for Harry to find the Marauder's Map. He remembered the days when he, Sirius, Remus and Peter would cause so much mischief.

Moony, Wormtail, Padfoot and Prongs...Moony, Wormtail, Padfoot and Prongs...James felt sad when he thought of the Marauders.

Smart, productive, clear-thinking Remus - probably looking for another place to work because his boss had found out his 'furry little problem' as Sirius had called it.

Sirius...where to start? Sirius was the brother James had never had. His family wanted nothing to do with him so James' family had taken him in. Sirius with his good looks and his bubbly personality. Sirius would have taken revenge on Peter for his treachery.

Peter. Stupid, stupid Peter. How could he? The only friends he had he had to go and betray. If only James had been nicer he might have turned out good. Stupid, stupid Peter...

James wished the betrayal he received would never affect Harry.

----- -----------------------------------------------------

That night, Harry felt emotions he never though existed. He wondered if they even had names.

The only thing Harry wanted to prove - to truly know - was if he was still loved...loved in the first place.

If he had only looked back towards the writing on the mirror frame.

If only he had read what it now said...

'We love you and we will never stop'

----- -----------------------------------------------------