Five glasses filled with an amber liquid were raised high over a long wooden table, touched together, then brought back to their owners' lips and drained of their contents. A few seconds later, the glasses were placed back on the table with dull thunks.
Sirius Black wiped his mouth with the back of his hand, then grinned at the young woman seated across the table from him. "How about another round, Lily?"
"I think you've had enough mead for the night," replied Lily Potter sharply, tucking a few loose strands of her dark red hair behind her ears and glaring reproachfully at her friend's empty glass. However, the ghost of a smile played at the corners of her lips, proof that her scolding was more friendly than anything else.
"Oh come on, it's Halloween, let Padfoot have his fun!"
This remark came from the tall, thin man with round glasses and untidy black hair sitting next to Sirius -- James Potter. His wife's glare immediately swiveled over to him the moment he spoke, but it softened noticeably as she said, "You've had enough to drink yourself, James!"
With a sigh, Remus Lupin shot Lily an imploring look from underneath his sandy bangs and said quietly, "Leave them, Lily. We all deserve some time to relax, especially with Voldemort on the run and our lives in danger."
A quiet squeak came from the far end of the table, cutting off whatever remark Lily had been on the verge of uttering. Four gazes flicked over to the short, rather plump man who had made the sound.
"What's wrong, Peter?" asked Lily, her eyebrows knitted in concern.
"I don't think saying his name is necessary!" said Peter Pettigrew, wiping his brow nervously. "It makes me uneasy and...and..."
"Oh get over yourself, Wormtail," said James lightly. "What good are we to the Order if we're too scared to even refer to the wizard we're hunting down by his name? Say it after me: Vol...de..."
"James!" exclaimed Lily warningly before he could finish his sentence. "That's enough; Remus is right; let's just enjoy tonight and not think about...him."
"Hear, hear!" said Peter, sounding immensely relieved.
Remus gave Lily a tired smile; then, as if to show support for her suggestion, he said to her, "Why don't you bring Harry down?"
Immediately, Lily's eyes brightened. "Oh! That's a good idea, I'll go --"
"I'll do it!"
Lily looked at Sirius, surprised. "You want to go get Harry?"
"Yeah, can I?"
Lily narrowed her eyes at Sirius suspiciously. He smiled innocently back at her. However, the mischievous sparkle in his grey eyes -- the one Lily had come to recognise easily after spending a large portion of her childhood with him, James, Remus, and Peter -- warned Lily that her friend had something up his sleeve.
"He's not going to do anything to Harry," said Remus soothingly, for he had noticed the wary expression on Lily's face. "He knows all of us would kill him if he did, and even Sirius isn't stupid enough to risk that happening."
Everyone around the table laughed. Remus was right; they all felt as though James and Lily's son, Harry, might as well be their own as well.
"Fine, fine," said Lily, throwing her hands up in mock defeat. "Go ahead Sirius, but I'll be watching you!"
Sirius bounded up from his chair, his shaggy black hair flopping into his eyes as he did so. "Be back in a minute," he said cheerfully before disappearing up the narrow stairs of the Potters' house.
"Anyway," said James quickly before his wife could start complaining about Sirius and his rowdiness, "Dumbledore reckons we've nearly got Avery."
"I still can't believe he became a Death Eater," said Lily sadly. "I still remember when I helped him in Potions back during our sixth year..."
"That's your problem," interjected James in an accusing tone of voice, "you're too helpful! And because of it, you helped out the bad guys too, like Avery."
"James, none of us could have known..."
"Nevertheless, Moony, we can't be too good to people these days. They'll take advantage of us in an instant."
"Guys," said Peter suddenly, pointing out the kitchen window, "look, it's snowing."
Lily turned her head to look in the direction Peter was pointing. For a second, she could have sworn she saw a shadow pass across the darkened window, but then it was gone and she brushed it off as her eyes playing tricks on her again.
"It's beautiful, isn't it?" she said softly, smiling as she watched thick white snowflakes drift past the window. "James, remember the first time we went to Hogsmeade together? It was snowing just like this."
"Of course I remember, Lily," James chuckled. "I also recall Sirius chucking a snowball at you and you hexing him before I even got the chance to pull out my wand to do it myself." He glanced at Lily, his hazel eyes sparkling with admiration. "So much for you being a defenceless creature I had to protect!"
"Remus, remember when we tried to count all the times James said Lily's name in sixth year?" said Peter, a wistful expression on his round, beardless face. "We gave up after a few hours, didn't we?"
"Wait just a second!" said James indignantly. "You were counting the number of times I said Lily's name? Without my permission?"
Remus laughed hoarsely. "I don't know what made us think it was actually possible to keep track anyway. I might still have the sheet with all the marks on it at home."
"You'll have to show that to us someday," said Lily, amused. "Or just bring it out when we go to your house for Christmas this year. It is your house this year, isn't it, Remus?"
Remus nodded. "Then Peter's for New Years Day, right?"
"Yes," said Peter. He suddenly looked nervous. "But I don't know if it's going to be --"
"Got him!"
Peter was interrupted by the return of Sirius, who was carrying Harry -- except Harry didn't look quite like himself anymore.
He was still wrapped in a thick layer of blankets, sleeping peacefully and seemingly unaware that he had just been removed from his crib. However, where Harry's head should have been sat a minute pumpkin with holes for eyes and a jagged line for a mouth.
"SIRIUS BLACK!" shrieked Lily, having been the first one to notice Harry's transformation. She leapt to her feet, pushing her chair over backwards in the process, and rushed over to Sirius. "WHAT HAVE YOU DONE TO HIM?!"
An alarmed expression crossed Sirius's handsome features. He anxiously looked down at Harry then back at Lily, saying, "You mean he's not supposed to look like this?"
Lily stared at Sirius, her face red with anger and her mouth open in horror. After a few seconds of ringing silence, she managed to stammer, "Fix this right now!"
"I -- I don't know how, I thought..."
"Give him to me!"
Without waiting for a response, Lily snatched her son from Sirius's arms and pulled out her wand. Raising it, she opened her mouth to mutter an unmasking incantation, but before the words could leave her mouth, Harry's pumpkin head transfigured back into his real one with a tiny pop.
The Potters's small kitchen exploded with laughter. Bewildered, Lily looked around to find that the four men were all doubled over, shoulders shaking from laughing so hard.
"This isn't funny!" exclaimed Lily, hugging Harry tightly to her. The noise had woken him up, and he was now struggling to extract himself from his blankets and figure out why his sleep had been so rudely disturbed.
"Lily, calm down, it was only temporary," said James through chortles.
"I noticed," said Lily through clenched teeth. "You, however, are a father, and you shouldn't be laughing if you see your son with a pumpkin for a head!"
When Lily's words did not silence her husband's laughing, she sighed heavily and rolled her eyes. Most young men matured after the age of seventeen, but James and his friends would forever be boys inside. Knowing that attempting to change this would be a hopeless cause, Lily said, "So who wants to hold Harry?"
By the time Sirius, Remus, and Peter stood up to leave, the snow outside had stopped falling and the smooth, starless night sky was spread out like a thick layer of black paint over clean, white canvas.
Peter was cradling his right hand in his left as he stepped onto the doormat, for Harry had, rather ferociously and unexpectedly, bit into the poor man's thumb when it had been his turn to hold Harry. At that point, Lily had decided it was time for Harry to be put back into his crib upstairs, and despite the earlier pumpkin-head incident, she had entrusted Sirius to do the job.
Now, the five friends gathered before the front door to bid farewell to each other. James and Lily stood side by side, their hands entwined, watching Sirius, Remus, and Peter shrug on their winter cloaks. An air of gloom hung in the air, for neither of them wished to see their friends leave.
"Are you sure you don't want to spend the night?" said Lily desperately to no one in particular.
"Now, now, Lily," said Sirius, straightening up and wagging his finger at her, "I know you can't get enough of me, but honestly, having me stay the night might make Prongs a bit jealous."
Lily swatted Sirius's arm and laughed. "I'm being serious! Remus, Peter, what about you two?" she added as James and Sirius began to playfully argue about who Lily found more attractive.
"Sorry, I can't tonight," said Peter squeakily as he glanced nervously over his shoulder at the door. Lily frowned; he had been doing this every ten seconds for the past five minutes and, when questioned about it, had not given an answer.
"I can't either," said Remus quietly. "Listen, Lily, can I have a minute?"
"Sure," said Lily, confused. She followed Remus out of the hallway and back into the brightly lit kitchen. "So what is it?" she asked once they had seated themselves across from each other at the round table.
"I have a really bad feeling about tonight," said Remus in a low, urgent voice.
"What?"
"I...something's not right."
Lily stared at Remus, confused and frightened. She knew Remus was not the type of person to joke about such things, but at the same time, she couldn't imagine why he would say that. The image of a dark shadow fleetingly surfaced in her mind, but she shook her head firmly and chided herself for being paranoid again.
Remus sighed. "I don't know. Just...forget I mentioned it."
"No, Remus, this is serious. What are you talking about? Do you think...do you think he found us?"
"I don't know," Remus muttered. "I mean, only Sirius knows, and he would never betray you and James..."
Lily felt a twinge of guilt. Sirius had strongly urged her and James to switch their Secret Keeper to Peter at the last minute, and so they had. He'd also warned them not to tell Remus, for the less people who knew, the better. Nevertheless, Lily had still felt uneasy when handing the slip of paper with Godric Hollow's address written on it to Remus earlier that day -- not just because she felt she was keeping a big secret from one of her closest friends, but also because she had lied to him and told him that Sirius had been the one who wrote the note.
"We should get back," said Remus quickly.
"Yes," agreed Lily, relieved that Remus had decided to be the one to terminate the conversation. Standing up, she left the kitchen with Remus in her wake. However, she was still unable to shrug off the uneasy feeling Remus's words had left her with as she joined up with James and the rest of her friends again.
"You'll stay out of trouble, won't you?" said Lily reproachfully as she hugged Sirius good-bye.
Sirius grinned wolfishly back at her. "I will if your husband here does too."
Lily sighed, then said good-naturedly, "Well, there's no hope of that happening." She then turned to face Peter and smile at him. "And you, you watch who you talk to!"
Peter nodded. Reaching out to clasp one of Lily's hands in his, he said solemnly, "No matter what, we'll always be close, right Lily? I mean, you and James have known me since day one, haven't you?"
Lily blinked, but did not comment on the grave tone of Peter's words. Instead, she hugged him too and said kindly, "Of course, Peter. Both of us love you and appreciate everything you've done for us very much."
Peter's small blue eyes filled with tears, and he said in a trembling whisper, "Thank you, Lily. You don't know how much it means to me."
Before Lily could question Peter's oddly sentimental behaviour, James was tapping her on the shoulder and reminding her firmly that their guests needed to return to their homes. Lily, however, held up a finger to signal one more minute as she moved over to where Remus was standing.
She placed a hand on his shoulder and looked up at him. His light blue eyes held her gaze, and she couldn't help but notice how they were filled with worry and uncertainty.
"Don't worry, Remus," said Lily softly. "We'll be fine. Just take care of yourself, that's all we want from you."
"I don't know if that's possible in times like these," sighed Remus, but he laid a hand over Lily's and squeezed it comfortingly.
"Your place for Christmas?"
For the first time that night, Remus's face was lit up by a genuine smile. "I wouldn't miss it for the world."
At this, Lily finally returned to James's side. She rested her head on his arm lightly and watched sadly as, one by one, their three friends walked out into the cold night. Peter was the last to leave, and just before he closed the door behind him, he shot one last look of despair at Lily, as if he wished to tell her something he couldn't.
When James and Lily were finally alone, neither said anything to the other. Instead, they retreated into the warmth of their sitting room together, their hands entwined and each lost in their own separate thoughts.
It seemed as if only a few minutes had passed since Sirius, Remus, and Peter had departed when the sound of someone pounding on their door reached James and Lily's ears. They were both still in the sitting room when it happened.
Almost as if he had been expecting it, James jumped to his feet. For a fleeting second, confusion crossed his features, but then terror and understanding darkened his eyes. Picking up his wand with his right hand, he grabbed Lily's arm with his left and pulled her close to him. Fear was prominent in her green eyes, for she too knew what was happening.
"Lily --" he started to say, but he was cut off before he could continue his sentence.
"POTTER!"
The name was screamed by an unnaturally chilling voice. Then, they heard the front door of their house explode, followed by the unmistakable sound of the swish of a cloak. Both Potters turned to stare, horrified, at the tightly shut door between the sitting room and the hallway, each knowing what was waiting for them behind it...On the other side of that door stood death...
"James --"
"I love you," interrupted James, and he kissed the top of Lily's beautiful dark red hair and held her as if waiting for the world to end around them. "I love you so much, Lily, but there's nothing we can do now...still, I'll protect you to the end..."
Tears streamed down Lily's cheeks as she grabbed onto James's shirt and held onto him as tightly as she could. "James, don't leave me!"
James closed his eyes and shook his head. When he opened them, his eyes were filled with a sense of urgency Lily had never seen in them before.
"Lily, take Harry and go!" he choked out. He had her arm in a death grip; but, with apparent great force, he managed to pry his fingers away and take a step back. "It's Him! Go! Run! I'll hold him off --"
Lily never heard the rest of James's sentence. For her son's sake, she forced herself to tear herself away from James and turn away. Blinded by her tears, she had already stumbled halfway up the stairs when she heard the door to the sitting room burst open. For a second, she faltered in her step, but then she let out a sob and forced herself to keep running up the steps.
Once upstairs, Lily threw the door to Harry's room open and scooped him out of his crib, cradling him close to her breast, all the while shaking violently and unable to block out the sound of voices, screaming, breaking glass issuing from downstairs...
And then as she turned around, she found, with a thrill of dread, that the doorway was blocked by a tall, cloaked figure. Red eyes flashed maliciously from beneath the man's hood, and the same chilling voice she had heard downstairs spoke to her: "Give me the boy!"
"Not Harry! Not Harry! Please -- I'll do anything --"
In a few seconds it was all over, and all that remained in the ruins of Godric's Hollow was a tiny baby boy, wrapped up in blankets and crying loudly as he rubbed the lightning bolt-shaped scar on his forehead.
Miles away, Remus was just bidding farewell to Sirius and Peter. As he prepared to apparate back home, he was stopped short by a sharp stab of pain somewhere in his chest region. He gasped out loud, and his hand flew up to his breast. Wheeling around, he stared at Sirius and Peter.
Sirius, too, seemed to have experienced the same oddity. He was wincing noticeably, and when he saw Remus turn around and look at him with the same pained expression, he immediately turned to face Peter.
Peter seemed to be frozen to his spot. A look of utter horror had dawned upon his chubby face, and his eyes were wide, staring into space, as if he were unaware of the presence of his two friends. And then, he spun around and disappeared without another word.
Suddenly, the realisation of what had happened hit both Remus and Sirius in very different ways. Neither could explain it, but they knew.
"You --"
"No, Remus, it wasn't me!"
Remus had pulled out his wand and was pointing it at Sirius's heart. Pure disbelief and hatred were etched into the tired lines of his face. "They trusted you!" he growled.
Sirius's face, having been drained of every last drop of blood, had become so pale that it was almost the exact colour of the untouched snow behind him. He shook his head jerkily; then, before Remus could utter a word, he too apparated away.
So Remus was left alone in the vast expanse of freshly fallen snow surrounding him. He took an uneven step forward and found himself unable to proceed. Thus, he dropped down heavily on both knees and buried his face in his cold hands in despair. Though his sorrow had by now become him, however, Remus could not even bring himself to cry.
The next day, the front page headline of the Daily Prophet blared the words, "LILY AND JAMES POTTER FOUND DEAD BY THE HANDS OF YOU-KNOW-WHO, PETER PETTIGREW MURDERED BY SUSPECTED SPY SIRIUS BLACK SHORTLY AFTERWARDS."