“That’s my house,” Lily replied with an edge of panic in her voice as she looked towards a house up the street, one with a large looming skull and snake floating above the roof. James eyes popped open as Lily opened the door to his car, getting out, and started running down the street.
“Lily! Lily, wait!” James yelled after her. He stepped on the gas, propelling the car forward, catching up with Lily just outside the house. James hopped out of the car, running up to stand next to her on her front porch.
Lily placed her hand on the doorknob, hesitating as a thousand different thoughts run through her mind. What did the sign mean? Were her parents okay? Is this why Petunia never showed up at King’s Cross? She wasn’t even thinking about the dangers that may lie inside, just that she needed to see her parents.
“Lily, wait,” James said, grabbing her other hand to stop her from entering the house. “What if it's, what if whoever put that mark up, is you know, still in there?”
She hadn’t even thought of that. “If this was your house and your family, what would you do?” she asked.
“I would have already been in the house,” James answered truthfully, seeing her point.
“Plus, you’ll come with me, right?” she asked again, looking up into his eyes.
“Lead the way,” he replied, pointing his arm towards the door.
Lily gave a small smile. She took another look at the door, it seemed normal enough. Untouched. She tuned the doorknob gently, entering the house.
The house was in complete disarray. Furniture was up ended in their sitting room, papers strewn carelessly across the floor. Some furniture lay in several pieces spread across the room, a large chunk of wall missing, no longer separating the next room from this one. The house was eerily silent, no noise coming from the kitchen, as it would have if her mother had been home. No noise from the television, her father yelling at the football game on it.
Lily had never heard it this quiet.
“I’m guessing this isn’t how this room usually looks,” James said with an attempt at humor that went unnoticed.
Lily stepped farther into the house cautiously, James behind her. She peered around. She looked up the stairs, listening for any movement, but no noise came. She glanced into the dining room, the cabinets hastily thrown open and her mother’s best china on the floor.
“Mum? Dad? Tuney?” she called out, pausing between each name as she made her way towards he kitchen.
Lily looked around the kitchen and saw it was completely destroyed, just like the sitting room. As though someone was looking for something.
James looked at Lily’s face, the look of pure shock and fear was a new one that James had never seen. Condescending, yes. Angry, yes. Happy, though a new one, yes. Shocked and terrified, never. He looked down at the floor to find a handwritten note, he picked it up.
Lily it read in a loopy handwriting,
Went out for a bit. Be back soon.
Love,
Mum and Dad
James looked up to see that Lily had left the room while he had read the note.
“Lily?” he asked as she appeared back in the doorway to the kitchen.
“They’re not here,” she said, relief and uncertainty mixing in her voice.
“I think they are okay though,” James said, holding up the note.
Lily quickly scanned over the letter, her body visibly relaxing. “So, whoever came and did all this, were here when my parents weren’t. That’s good, I guess, unless my parents didn’t write the note.”
“But what were they looking for?” James asked, trying to distract her.
“I don’t know,” Lily whispered, staring off into space, obviously thinking.
“Listen, Lily,” James started, snapping Lily out of her trance. “Maybe we should get out of here. What if they come back?”
Lily obviously hadn’t thought of that, by the look on her face.
“Especially if, well, what if,” Lily paused then said what she had been thinking since seeing the mark outside her house, "they were looking for me?”
Before James could respond, there was a polite knock on the door. Both of their heads turned to look in the direction of the door.
“Should we answer it?” Lily asked in a whisper.
“I don’t think it matters. They already know that we are here. My car’s out front, remember?”
They heard the door creep open, the steps of a person on the floor in the entry way, and the gentle closing of the door. Lily froze; James pulled his wand out of his back pocket.
“Miss Evans? And Mr. Potter I presume by the Mustang out front?” a familiar voice said as the foot steps neared the kitchen.
“Dumbledore?” James mouthed to Lily.
“Ah yes, good,” Dumbledore said as he entered the kitchen and saw the two, visibly relaxed.
“How do we know it is really you?” James asked before he could stop himself. “Auror parents,” he added as an explanation.
“True, very true,” Dumbledore responded. “Ask me a question.”
James thought for a moment then asked, “What was the first thing that I ever said to you?”
“I believe it was, ‘I like your beard professor, is it real?’” Dumbledore chuckled.
“It’s him,” James said positively.
“You actually asked him that?” Lily asked, incredulous.
“I was eleven, give me some credit,” James replied.
“James, Lily, can this be saved for a moment when time is not of the essence?” Dumbledore injected politely.
“Sorry,” Lily answered.
“Now, do either one of you know what the Dark Mark above this house means?” Dumbledore asked.
“It means that the nutter who has the Slytherins chasing him like a freaking god was here. Very recently,” James replied, deathly coldness resonating through his voice.
“I’m afraid that it is a very real possibility and that is why we need to get both of you out of here. Obviously they might come back because they did not get what they came for,” Dumbledore answered solemnly.
“What were they looking for?” Lily asked.
“You,” Dumbledore said simply. “Or at least more information about you.”
“What do you mean they were looking for me? What have I ever done?”
“Well, in the views of Lord Voldemort, a powerful Muggle-born, should not grace the world with their presence for very long,” he put nicely. “Unless, that is, they are willing to join his side.”
“He wants to kill Lily?” James incredulously asked.
“All Muggle-borns really, but the powerful ones are the people he is starting with. He first will try to get you to join his group of followers, and if you refuse he will try to kill you. I believe he will try the same with you as well, Mr. Potter. Which is why I am here. You cannot reside in a Muggle neighborhood unprotected while not at school. We need to move you. Now,” Dumbledore said simply.
“Move me? What about my family? What if they come looking for me here again?” Lily demanded.
“They will stay with your grandmother for the time being, while a Fidelius Charm is placed upon them.”
“And that’s safe? What if the person with the secret gives them up? It’s not exactly fool proof,” Lily inquired.
“I assure you, I am a very trustworthy person, Ms. Evans. Unless of course, you wish to be the Secret Keeper? However, if they did find you they could then have your family as well.” Dumbledore waited for her to shake her head. “Well, what we need to do now is move you,” Dumbledore said, getting somewhat annoyed at all the questions.
“Am I going to my grandmother’s house as well?” Lily asked, wanting to see her family.
“No, you and James are going to get into his car and go to his home. I’ve contacted his parents and they have agreed to let you stay at their estate for the holidays off from school until the end of your seventh year. It will be easier for you if you can stay in contact with the Wizarding World.”
“Lily’s staying at my house?” James asked, not believing his luck.
“Yes, Mr. Potter. Now, you both need to leave. You need to be inside Potter Manor before sundown, otherwise you will not be protected by the charms I have placed around the manor.”
“Uh, sorry, but Potter Manor?” Lily asked.
“Miss Evans,” Dumbledore said in a slightly condescending tone.
“Yes, yes, we are going,” James said grabbing Lily’s arm as the three of them walked out of Lily’s home.
Lily and James climbed back into the Mustang and Dumbledore Disapparated on the spot.
“Potter Manor? Seriously?” Lily asked as he began to drive back down the road.
“Yeah, it’s been in my family for ages. Almost a 1000 years, someone had to give it a name in the meantime.”
Lily laughed a little before turning serious, “I can’t believe that Dumbledore is playing hide-and-go-seek with me and my family.”
“Don’t worry Lily. I’ve always been a kick-ass hide-and-seek player,” James assured her.
Lily couldn’t help but smile.
*******
"Okay, come on Malfoy, obviously no one is here. Let's just go," Severus Snape rationalized as Lucius Malfoy walked through the room, leafing through a stack of papers before discarding them haphazardly upon the floor.
He couldn't believe that they were in her house. One, he couldn't believe that he actually got to step foot into Lily Evan's house. He had had many fantasies over the last seven years about the circumstances under which he would first step into Lily's house. She would announce her love for him and he would come to meet her parents. She would invite him over to study but much studying wouldn't get done. Secondly, he couldn't believe that he was here to kidnap Lily Evans, or if she wasn't around, her parents and sister. He was secretly glad that Lily hadn't been home. This way he wouldn't have to show her what he was becoming.
"You still don't get it, do you Snape?" Lucius answered viciously, snapping Snape from his thoughts.
"What don't I get, exactly?" he shot back
"If we don't come back with her, her parents, or something telling us where they went, it's our heads on the chopping block. It's us that will be put under the Dark Lord's Cruciatus Curse not the little Mudblood. Understand now?" Malfoy sneered as he continued to root through drawers and cabinets, Snape standing stationary nearby.
Malfoy looked up to see Snape standing in the doorway, not moving or helping him.
"Snape, if you don't help me, I swear I'll curse your head off. You want to prove your allegiance to the Dark Lord? Keep looking," he demanded.
Snape had agreed to join this "Voldemort"'s side. In Slytherin, it was the only way to be accepted. And he wanted to be accepted. Ever since the fact that he was on the tract to become a Death Eater had become rather public at Hogwarts, things between Lily and he hadn't been the same. She hated him, absolutely and thoroughly hated him. Almost as much as she hated Potter, which hurt, really hurt. And now she was becoming friends with Potter instead of him. What had the world become? He had tried to talk to her but nothing seemed to work, she was clearly avoiding him. He was just going to have to get used to it.
Snape glanced up the stairway across from the living room, getting an idea. "I'll go search her room, maybe she left something up there," Snape said and Malfoy grunted his approval as he threw open the china cabinet, plates and cups crashing to the ground.
Snape made his way up the stairs passing what he assumed was Lily's parents’ room and then passed another room with fashion magazines spread about. Neither of those were what he was looking for. He knew he had found the right room when he saw several moving pictures placed around the space.
The room was simple, plain, and it made it obvious that someone did not live here yearlong. The bed looked as though it hadn't been slept in in weeks; there was no rubbish in the bin and personal affects were scarce. He opened her wardrobe, looking inside to find nothing but a few pieces of clothing. Nothing there he could give the Dark Lord. Snape went over to her desk, rifling through the drawers. He was looking half-heartedly; half-hoping that he wouldn't find anything so she would be safe, hoping he would so that he would be safe. He stopped looking when he found a picture.
He saw Lily's face smiling up from the picture. He frowned when he saw it was a picture of her arm in arm with that damn Liam Burke. Man, was he an idiot. Strutting around the castle like Potter, thinking he was the best, that he was a shoe-in for Head Boy. It did nothing in Snape's opinion of him that he had been dating Lily for almost a year. Snape absolutely loathed Burke. Not as much as Potter, but close enough.
He kept the picture in hand as he looked around the rest of the room. You could tell that Lily didn't like being there. No personal touches at all, very neat. No one would have wanted to spend much time there. Snape sat down on her bed, still glaring daggers at the Burke in the picture who was laughing along with Lily. Snape took the photo in his hands, ripped it into pieces, and threw them in the bin.
All of a sudden, he heard Lucius screaming his name.
"Snape! Snape! He's calling us! Get down here!"
He ran down the stairs, into the kitchen to find Lucius staring at his arm, the Dark Mark.
"What do we do?" Lucius asked Snape, a hint of fear evident in his voice. Snape was slightly pleased with himself that he wasn't panicking as much as Malfoy was.
"Cast the mark above the house," Snape answered quickly. "That way, she'll know exactly who is looking for her."
Lucius nodded his approval and he and Snape ran outside. Lucius raised his wand arm up and wordlessly launched the skull and serpent into the sky. They both took a moment to look at it.
As they waited to Apparate, Snape couldn't help thinking about the group he had just joined. Doing this, meant he was officially one of them. Lucius had told the Dark Lord that this should be his initiation, proving that he was against Mudbloods and Muggle-lovers alike. He still didn't know how he felt about it, but it looked as though now, he had no choice. Now that he had chosen his side, he just hoped the Dark Lord believed that his actions in Lily's house were enough. Lily was gone, out of the picture. This was going to be his life now.
Learning To Live by MarauderWannabe
Chapter Notes: Sorry for the obnoxiously long wait. Three more chapters are written and off to the beta. Enjoy.