Chapter 31: Thrice Defied
Lily proudly ran her hand over her expanding belly. Only one month to go now before she and James became parents. It was a strange feeling, that in only thirty days she would be a mother. She smiled to herself and settled into the sofa to read her book.
She and James had sold their flat and moved into a house soon after the wedding in November. Everything she had ever wanted in life she now had: the most wonderful husband in the world, a beautiful home to share, and a baby on the way. It was a dream come true. The only problem remaining was that the war with Voldemort meant normal life was hard to manage. Every other day there were reports of more missing witches and wizards, and deaths were becoming more frequent all the time.
Lily fiddled absently with the engagement and wedding rings on her finger. James had inherited the diamond engagement ring from his mother, but as she hadn’t left a will, the Ministry had taken it for death tax and James had had to enlist Dumbledore’s help in getting it back.
The front door opened and a voice called out, “Lily? It’s me.”
“In the living room,” she replied, putting her book back down on the arm of the sofa and sitting up just as James entered, looking tired and stressed, but smiling widely all the same.
“How was your day?” he asked, bending down to kiss Lily tenderly and sitting down next to her.
“Oh you know, didn’t do much. Relaxed mainly.”
“Glad to hear it.”
“How about you? What happened in your shift?”
James sighed. “We’re not getting anywhere at the moment. It’s really frustrating for everybody concerned. Even Dumbledore says…. Well anyway, let’s hope we have more luck tomorrow.”
“What’s Dumbledore been up to recently?” Lily asked. “I haven’t seen him in ages.”
“Well, he’s got the school to run, hasn’t he? I often forget he’s headmaster at Hogwarts, what with all this … it’s seems like forever since we were there … well anyway, last I heard he was holding interviews for a new Divination teacher.”
“What happened to Professor Palmer? I quite liked him.”
“Not sure. He was old though, probably retired.”
Crack.
Kingsley appeared in the room. He looked hassled and worried. “Sorry for the rude intrusion. It’s urgent. Minerva and Remus “ no time to explain. We need you James.”
James stood hastily. “Remus? What’s happened to him?”
“He’s fine “ come on!” Kingsley grabbed him arm and made to Disapparate, but Lily shouted, “Wait!”
“Lily, we have to go!” James said.
“Not without me.”
“Are you crazy? You’re eight months pregnant! There’s no way I’m letting you come.”
“He’s right, Lily. You should stay.”
“Think of the baby!”
“I am, James! I’m not letting this baby’s father go into battle without me knowing if he’s safe. I wont bring him up alone!”
“Look, we don’t have time for this!” Kingsley interjected angrily. “James, just let her come or we’ll never get out of here.”
“Fine! But you’re to stay out of harm’s way. A million miles out of harm’s way.”
“I wont even approach the danger. I promise.”
“Right, let’s go!” Kingsley put his hand over their upper arms and gripped tightly. “Is this safe for a pregnant woman?” he asked.
Lily nodded.
“OK then. One, two, three-“
The three of them turned on the spot and into the crushing darkness. They appeared in a dingy alleyway that smelt of old food and cats. Lily wrinkled her nose, frowning. “Where are we?”
“Near to where we think Minerva and Remus are being held hostage,” Kingsley answered, striding forward immediately. James and Lily followed.
“Hostage?” James asked. “Kingsley, what’s going on?” They turned left out of the alleyway, and continued down a narrow street, lit dimly in the evening night by lights from the houses and shops on either side.
“They were captured a while ago,” Kingsley continued. “Caught off their guards. Minerva managed to send her Patronus to Dumbledore before they must have taken her wand. He sent me to get reinforcements, but I don’t know what his plan of action is.” He turned right down another, narrower, street. “We’re almost there now…I think.”
They turned right again into a small square, with houses looking down on them on each side. Kingsley smiled as he spotted a figure leaning against the railings of one of the houses. “Ah, just where I left him. I’m back, Sirius.”
Sirius strode towards them purposefully. “Good to see you, Prongs. Even if it is to save Moony’s backside. Again.” He patted James on the shoulder. “What’s she doing here?” he added in an undertone that Lily heard nonetheless.
“Don’t ask,” James warned, rolling his eyes at his wife's stubbornness.
Kingsley looked left and right, as if deciding which way to go next. “This way,” he said suddenly, striding across the grass until they reached the other side, where a small alleyway appeared out of the darkness between two of the houses. “It’s down here. Quietly now.”
Lily took James’s hand and they followed Kingsley down the narrow, damp alleyway.
“Hold,” a voice called out from the darkness. Lily could make out a wand, but she couldn’t identify the person to whom it belonged.
“It is I. Kingsley. I’ve brought reinforcements, Albus.”
Dumbledore lowered his wand. “Good. Alastor has just arrived; he’s surveying the perimeter. I’ve almost broken through the barriers. Just give me a moment, and I’ll “ Lily? What on earth are you doing here? This is no place for an expectant mother.”
“That’s what I told her!” James protested. “She’s““ but one look from Lily and he changed his tone. “I’ll look after her, Dumbledore. There’s no dissuading her.”
“Well, in that case, let’s get going. I think I know how to break through. It’s definitely this house here on our left where they’re being kept. Voldemort is in there, and““
“He’s here?” Kingsley asked. “This is his base?”
“Oh no, Kingsley. This is far too lowly a place for Lord Voldemort to call his stronghold. It is the house of one of his Death Eaters. Merely a prison camp, for the time being. Now, come.”
He proceeded to walk slowly forwards, the fingers of his left arm tracing the bricks on the wall as he went. He was muttering some incantation, but Lily couldn’t make out what it was. He stopped just before they reached the end of the house. “Here. There’s a door here on the other side. We just have to work out how to open it from the outside…” He twiddled his wand between his fingers absently as he pondered.
“Aha!” he proclaimed suddenly, having apparently decided something. But what it was he had decided, Lily couldn’t tell. He pointed his wand at the brick wall and the shape of a door was illuminated briefly, blinding them all in the dusk, before it became the same dull, dank shade it had been before. It then dissolved as if turned to liquid, disappearing as it hit the ground.
“After me, I think,” Dumbledore said, holding his wand aloft and stepping over the threshold. He paused. "Alastor will keep vigil out side, but I think we need another to guard this entrance. Seeing as you are hardly in a fit state to battle, Lily, and by the worried glances your husband keeps sending you, it had better been you.”
Lily nodded. She was starting to regret her insistence that she join James on this particular mission, anyway. The baby was pressing on her bladder so that she needed the toilet badly.
Dumbledore continued on his way, Sirius and Kingsley close on his heels. James gave Lily’s hand a squeeze. “If anything happens, I want you to run and leave me here. No, Lily,” he demanded as she tried to argue. “You and the baby are more important to me. Besides, I’ll be fine. It’s only Voldemort, right?” He laughed weakly at his own foolishness, before kissing Lily on the forehead and following the others into the darkness of the house, the entranceway sealing itself off as he did so.
***
It was cold out in the alleyway. Lily slid down onto the ground against the wall. She should have brought a coat, really, but there hadn’t been any time. There was never any time in these circumstances. One call and you were off to save someone, or to hunt someone down, or to fight to the death. That was why she had to come. She couldn’t let James go without her knowing whether he was ok. There was too much at stake.
She wasn’t much better off out here in the cold, though, she thought bitterly to herself. There was no noise coming from within the building, and as such no way of telling what was going on. What was being done to Remus and Minerva? And what was so important about their capture that had brought Voldemort to this house? Was it mere coincidence?
Lily hugged herself for warmth, her teeth chattering as the minutes trickled by slowly. Surely something should have happened by now? Five minutes passed, then ten, then -
A bang erupted from behind her, and she was thrown forwards as the force of the explosion blasted part of the wall apart above her. She scrambled to her feet, luckily unhurt but shaken and called out, despite the danger, “James!” There was no answer.
More shots of light escaped through the windows in the floor above, but Lily could only wonder at what was happening up there. A figure collided with her suddenly and she screamed in shock.
“Who’s that?” a gruff voice demanded.
“Alastor? It’s me! It’s Lily!”
“Lily Potter? What are you doing here? It’s dangerous!”
Lily disregarded his concern. “What’s going on?”
“I’m just about to find out.” And with that, he enlarged the hole in the wall above their heads with a blast of his wand, so that it stretched nearly to the ground, climbed through it, and disappeared into the dark house, no doubt following the signs of battle.
Lily paced up and down by the hole in the wall, battling with her urge to follow Moody into the house and find James and the others. But she knew she would be putting the baby in even greater danger than she already was by being here. So she waited.
He wasn’t gone long. Mere minutes later, two bodies scrambled out of the hole. Lily couldn’t immediately identify who they were, but then a voice shouted “Lily!” and Remus was upon her, clutching her desperately. “James - he’s coming, Lily, he told me to tell you!”
“Thanks, Moony, I “ who’s that? He’s bleeding badly.”
The other body was lying sprawled across the ground. Remus stared. “Sirius? Are you alright?” But Sirius didn’t answer. “Sirius!” Remus repeated, crouching down and feeling his pulse. “He’s alive. I don’t understand, he was fine as we were running down the stairs…”
Lily pushed Remus aside and felt around in the dark for signs of injury. As her hand reached the left side of his chest, she felt a lot of a wet, hot, sticky substance. “He lost a lot of blood. We need to move him in case the others run over him. Help me, Remus!”
Together they lifted Sirius’s limp form and carried him towards the front of the house, where they placed him in the shadow of the garden wall so that he couldn’t be seen. Lily then stemmed the blood as best she could with her wand and cleaned up the wound. “Where are the others?” she suddenly demanded of Remus. “What’s going on?”
“Too much. They burst in a few minutes ago and Sirius grabbed me and we ran, but the others are still up there. James only had time to shout to me to tell you that he was coming.” They made their way back to the hole in the side of the house and watched hopefully for signs of the others. They were surprised, therefore, when another three people came hurtling towards them, not from inside but from the back garden. Minerva looked pale and shaken, but otherwise OK, and Alastor was supporting Kingsley, who was limping.
“Are we all here?” Alastor asked. “Where’s Dumbledore?”
“Where’s James?” Lily called out desperately. “Why isn’t he with you?”
“We got separated. We were cornered by six Death Eaters and only just managed to escape out the back window. James must be duelling Voldemort, with…” He stopped at the look on Lily’s face. “With Dumbledore,” he finished, putting emphasis on the last word. “He’ll be alright.”
“James!” Lily called out, but Remus was pulling her arm.
“Lily, we have to go. Right now. They’ll be after us.”
“No! I’m not going anywhere. You told me he’d be right out!”
“Yes, but-“
“JAMES!”
“Where’s Sirius?” Kingsley asked, and Remus took him over to where Sirius was still lying unconscious. Kingsley called over to them. “I’m taking Sirius back to Headquarters. Lily, come on, you have to come with us.” When Lily didn’t answer, he spoke to Remus. “Get Lily, we’re getting out of here. GO!”
Remus rushed to Lily and grabbed her arm, pulling her towards Kingsley. She struggled. “James!” she called out. “I can see him!”
Sure enough, he was running down the corridor in the house, towards the hole, where he jumped through and into Lily’s arms. He didn’t stop for long, but broke free. “He’s coming Lily. Voldemort. Dumbledore told us to go. We have to go, all of us!”
Lily saw Kingsley nod and Disapparate with Sirius over his shoulders and Minerva by his side. James pushed Lily towards Remus. “Take her home, Moony. Alastor and I will wait for Dumbledore.”
He had his back to the hole; he didn’t see what Lily saw. A dark figure rushing towards them, wand raised, poised to kill. Lily raised her own. “Expulso!” she yelled, and the wall exploded once more, causing rubble cascade over them all and to block Voldemort’s path.
They all ducked and ran with their arms over their heads as the bricks kept coming: the house was falling down. Lily thought briefly of Dumbledore, of whether she might have killed him with the explosion, but decided he was far too clever to let a house falling down finish him off. All she could do was hope he was ok. As they reached the front of the house, James took Lily’s hand and they turned on the spot, into the familiar suffocating darkness, vanishing from the scene.
***
Sirius’s chest wound kept him unconscious for a few days, and bed ridden for a week. He had lost a lot of blood, despite Lily’s attempt to heal him. Kingsley’s broken knee was healed almost immediately upon their return to headquarters. Many of the others had suffered bruising or slight concussion from the blast when Lily had forced the wall to explode, but they were minor injuries that were easily fixed. It was a lucky escape for all, especially the baby, who, after James had insisted upon calling a Healer once back in Headquarters, was deemed perfectly healthy.
Two more weeks passed, and the date of the birth drew nearer with each one. The 30th July saw James and Lily sitting on the sofa in their living room, listening to the wireless for news of more deaths, disappearances, and escapes from Azkaban. There came a knock at the door. “Who is it?” James called out, taking his wand out of his pocket as a safety precaution.
“Sirius,” came the muffled reply. James immediately got up and went to the hall to let him in.
“Lily!” Sirius exclaimed as he entered the living room. “Look at you, you’re massive!”
“Thanks” she replied sarcastically. “Just what every girl wants to hear…” but she was grinning. “So what brings you here? Shouldn’t you still be recovering?”
“Nah, I’m fine. Besides, I come bearing news. Frank and Alice have finally had their baby: early hours of this morning apparently. It’s a boy.”
“That’s brilliant news! She was almost two weeks late,” Lily said.
“The next generation is upon us... Scary,” Sirius interjected. “We don’t have an excuse to act like idiots anymore.”
“There’s always an opportunity to act like idiots, Padfoot,” James laughed.
“Has he got a name yet?” Lily asked.
“Neville, I think.”
“Neville Longbottom,” James remarked, trying it out. “Sounds like a strong name.”
“I hope I’m not far behind Alice, this is getting very uncomfortable,” Lily said, easing slowly back onto the sofa.
“Don’t worry,” James said. “Only a week to go.”
“Speaking of which,” Sirius put in. “Have you finally decided on a name yet? Or are you still running round in circles?”
“Well, it’s a tricky business, naming a child.”
“Which is why I have a solution. How about we cut to the chase and just call the baby Sirius. Strong, solid name, you can’t go wrong.” He was smiling slyly. “Let’s face it, it’s a sexy name.”
“What if the baby’s a girl?” James asked, raising an eyebrow.
“A girl? I hadn’t thought about that…” He stroked his stubble in consideration. “Well, if it’s a girl, you can call her Remus.”
James roared with laughter. “Moony will love that. Miss Remus Potter. Has a certain ring to it.” They laughed again.
Lily’s stomach lurched suddenly and she grabbed her belly. “James,” she called, but he was still laughing. She tried again. “James?”
“Miss Remus!” Sirius chortled, both of them unheeding.
“JAMES!”
They turned their heads. “Yes?” James asked, taking in Lily’s pale face and quickened breathing. “Is it the baby?”
“It’s coming. It’s time.”
Love Conquers by dumbly_dorr
Chapter Notes: Yet more danger looms for James and Lily, and for the Order, with Voldemort in the prime of his reign of terror. Thanks for all the positive support for the last chapter, I really appreciate it. After this one, there are only 2 chapters left!