Lily was sitting at the kitchen table with Albus Dumbledore when she heard a crash as someone came into the house. They both jumped up, pulling their wands out at the same time, and rushed towards the front of the house.
As Lily approached the four men, all she saw was James covered in blood. “James!” she screamed as she ran to him.
“It’s not mine,” he reassured her, “it’s Moony’s. He was caught by a spell. Padfoot, help me get him to the couch.” As they dragged the unconscious Remus to the couch, James noticed the white-haired and bearded man standing in the centre of the room.
“Albus, what are you doing here? Has something happened that we don’t know about?” James asked.
“No, nothing has happened apart from this. I came by to keep Lily company while you were gone. It seems my being here is a good thing.” Albus nodded towards Remus.
“We need to stop the bleeding. Then we can see what damage was done. What spell did this? Who did this?” Lily questioned in a rush.
“It was the same spell Snivellus used on James that day by the lake and…” Sirius paused. He knew that when he finished, Lily’s eyes would go dark with sadness. Though he hated hurting her, she had to know. “It was done by the same person.” As expected, Lily’s eyes bore the pain and sadness they always did when Snape’s name was mentioned.
“Severus did this?” she asked Peter. “Did you see him do this?”
“No, we were set upon from behind. I didn’t see who it was. But it could have been him. One of the two of them could have been Snape,” Peter answered her honestly. “I think the other one was Karkaroff. It sounded like his voice when they were joking about killing ‘the werewolf’.”
Lily turned to Sirius. “See, there is no proof it was Severus with him. I am not defending Severus, but you don’t really know who did this.”
“Ah, my dear Lily, that is where you are wrong. Prongs and I had just watched Snape and Karkaroff enter the house we were watching seconds before we heard Peter Apparate nearby.”
“Who did this isn’t of importance. We just need to take care of it. Now, Sirius, if you would be so kind as to go and fetch some warm water to clean Remus’ face. James, can you find some bandages? Peter, when we are through, I will need a complete report from you.” Albus Dumbledore looked at each of the men in front of him. He knew they would stand here arguing over who did this in their hatred for Snape, so it was better to give them something to do to distract them while he and Lily took care of Remus.
James and Sirius rushed off to do as they were asked. Even though they were no longer students of Professor Dumbledore, they would always do whatever he wanted without question. It was a habit ingrained in them over the seven years at school and in the past year while working with him in the Order.
As Lily and Dumbledore worked to stop the bleeding, James and Sirius questioned Peter in the kitchen. There was no doubt who had cursed Remus, nor any doubt what curse was used.
It was an hour later when Lily and Dumbledore joined them. Worry was clear on Lily’s face, but there was something else there, fear. James knew she was thinking that it could have been him who had been hurt.
“Lily,” he said to her as he pulled her onto his lap, “don’t think that way.” At her questioning glance, he chuckled briefly. “I know what you are thinking. It could have been me. But when has my cloak ever let me down? There was no way I could have been spotted under it.”
“James, there is a first time for everything. I know we are all only doing what needs to be done, but I can’t help but to worry.” Lily laid her head down on James’ shoulder and gave into the tears that had been threatening ever since she saw the damage done by one well aimed curse.
“Lily,” Sirius began, “we have used this cloak for years. It has always kept us safe and hidden.” With a glance towards Dumbledore, Sirius continued, “No matter when or where we used it, in whatever circumstances, we have never been detected whilst under it. And you know we did some pretty crazy things in school.”
“But “ but it’s never been tested, really tested against dark magic, has it?” Lily questioned.
Sirius looked at James who gave a slight nod of resignation. Sirius knew the story of their last encounter with Death Eaters would only increase Lily’s worry, but she had to know that the cloak would protect them.
“Let me tell you a story. I don’t think you are going to like it, but it proves the cloak can protect us.”
He watched as Lily looked from him to James. James gave her a small smile then turned his attention to Sirius. When Lily also looked at him, he began his story.
“You remember last week when we went to follow the rumours of Death Eaters in Aberdeen? Well, we found them. They were terrorizing a group of Muggles on the outskirts of town. From under the cloak, James and I fired spells at them.
“They responded by firing spells back towards us though they didn’t know exactly where we were. Every spell that should have hit us dead on was stopped by the cloak.” Pausing, Sirius looked directly into Lily’s shocked eyes. “It didn’t matter what spell it was, nothing got through the cloak. James and I sent for reinforcements and continued to do what we could to protect the Muggles.
“The Death Eaters soon tired of the game and Disapparated. Now, before you get mad at James for not telling you, he had planned on telling you everything, but when we got back here, you were feeling well. So we didn’t tell you.” Sirius sat back in his chair and waited for the explosion. He knew Lily well enough to know she wasn’t going to accept the excuse as to why she wasn’t told.
It was therefore a total surprise when Albus Dumbledore spoke. “You didn’t tell me the whole story when you made your report. You never said the cloak had repelled curses from the Death Eaters,” Dumbledore said intently.
“No, we didn’t think that it was all that important to the mission. Or had much of a bearing on what had happened,” Sirius said. He didn’t understand why this was so important.
“Everything that happens when you are on a mission matters. What if you trust in James’ cloak and it fails? Or the Death Eaters realise how you are avoiding being seen or cursed? It all matters.”
Sirius felt as if he was back in school and about to be given detention. While he understood what Dumbledore was saying, he couldn’t help but get the feeling there was more to his questions than Order business.
Sirius saw Lily look at James and then at him. Standing up, she walked over to him. She bent down and looked him directly in the eyes.
“If you ever, ever withhold information from me again, I will curse you into oblivion, Sirius Black. Do you understand me?” she asked. Though her voice was soft, the threat came through loud and clear.
“Yes, I understand, but…” Lily placed a finger on his mouth to stop him from speaking.
“I am only going to say this once,” she warned and stood up, looking at each of them in turn, her gaze even resting on Remus who had just entered the kitchen. “If a single one of you lies to me again, you will wish you were facing the Death Eaters instead of me.” When she finished her threat, she stormed out of the kitchen, slamming the door behind her.
“I think I missed something,” Remus said, bewildered. “Who was daring enough to lie to Lily, and why?”
“We didn’t lie exactly,” said Sirius. “We didn’t. We just didn’t tell her everything.”
"Remus," James said, "come and sit down. Are you feeling okay?"
Remus walked over and took a seat at the table before saying, “ I feel fine. Wormtail, you want to tell me what in the hell happened?”
Peter, who was looking shocked and scared at Lily’s outburst, shook his head as if to clear it. “We were attacked by Death Eaters. I took you to that little park where Prongs and Padfoot were stationed. They helped get you back here.”
“It was Snape and Karkaroff. James and I saw them moments before we heard Wormtail Apparate into the park,” Sirius added when James didn’t say anything. “Prongs, you okay?”
“I think I’d better go talk to Lily. If I’m not back in a half hour, run for your lives.” James got up and rushed out the door after Lily.
“I wouldn’t want to be him right now,” Sirius joked.
“If there is nothing else you boys forgot to tell me, I need to take my leave of you. There is something of importance that I need to review.” Dumbledore stood up and after nodding to each of them, left the house out the back door. They heard the distinct crack as he Apparated away from the cottage.
“Okay, who is going to tell me what is going on? What had Lily so upset?” Remus asked.
“I’ll tell you. In trying to reassure her about the cloak protecting James, I told her about last week.”
“Padfoot, you’re an idiot,” Remus said, shaking his head.
Believing in the Cloak by mudbloodproud
Chapter Notes: I wish to thank my wonderful betas for this chapter. Azhure and Olivia (social loner). Many thanks to both of you for getting this back to me in time to submit.