Chapter Ten

It didn't take Lily long to track Rose down. She was back at their desolate childhood house.

It had been a year now since Lily's parents had died, and the bitterness of their execution being called a 'freak tornado' by the Muggles and half the wizarding community still hadn't left her. More so, she knew it was her own fault. She hadn't taken enough precautions in hiding them. She should have known, what with her being in the Order, that they would be targets. That's when the war became personal, nothing else mattered, and she devoted all her energy to trying to win a painful war of magical attrition.

Rose was sitting on the floor of her bedroom, surrounded by littered memories of the past. Lily peered over her shoulder at the photograph in her hand. It was of her and Rose, they were maybe six, eating ice cream. Rose's face frozen in a laugh, Lily smiling despite the fact she had ice cream on her face, which, if memory served her right, had ended up there when she'd tried to wrestle her cone away from Rose. Rose had always wanted what Lily had, even when they were children. It was with bitter melancholy that Lily noted nothing had changed.

"You were always the pretty one, the one with the stunning smile, the one who made Mum and Dad proud," Rose said. She didn't move, simply seemed to sense Lily was there.

Lily swallowed. "Yes, well. You did that to yourself."

They both continued to stare at the photograph, neither moving for a long time.

Finally, Rose looked up at her. "I'm sorry, Lil. Really I am."

"What for, Rose? For stealing my ice cream? For sleeping with my husband? For destroying my life?"

Rose bowed her head sombrely. "For everything. Especially for James."

"So he knew it was you then?" Lily snapped.

"Yes."

"I don't believe you!" Lily yelled down at her, as if screaming at her sister would make it less true.

"He knew it was me. Knew it was me this past year."

Lily felt her anger grow. It hadn't even been just the once. James had betrayed her, sleeping with the enemy in more ways than one. That was, if Rose was telling the truth, and, frankly, she no longer knew who or what to believe. Everything was turning into one immense lie. Lily wasn't having it any longer, no more would she roll over and just take it. It was time for some answers. Time for the truth.

"Drink this," Lily said, shoving the vial at her sister.

"Why should I do that?" Rose asked, realisation dawning on her face as she read the label between Lily's clenched fingers.

"Because for once in your life you're going to do something decent for me. I want the truth. I want to know for once I'm getting the truth."

Rose looked from the vial to her sister then back again. She surprised Lily by plucking the glass from her fingers, uncorking it, and downing the lot without another word.

"Happy?" Rose asked, but the moment the word left her mouth her eyes glazed over and her eyelids flickered. The empty tube fell to the ground next to her.

"Not particularly," Lily replied angrily, even though she knew Rose wouldn't react to anything except a question under the influence of Veritaserum. She drew a deep breath before speaking again. She needed to test Rose, to make sure it was her, to make sure the potion had worked.

Lily glanced back at the photo, nodding at it. "The bunny," she said, looking at the soft toy cradled against her chest, "What was its name?"

"Fluffy." The dullness of her voice sent a shiver up Lily's spine.

"And what did you rename it when you stole it from me?"

"Hugo. He was my only friend." Despite Rose's monotone, for a moment Lily felt sorry for her.

So, it was Rose.

Satisfied for now that her plan was working, Lily moved on to her real questions. "Did... did James know it was you, did he know it was you he was," Lily drew a deep, calming breath, "having sex with?"

"Yes." Her answer was immediate, and Lily now knew what she'd thought – she'd dreaded – was indeed the truth.

"How do you know he knew?" she asked desperately, maybe there was a mistake, maybe–

"Because he sent me Owls. He called me Rose. He saw the Dark Mark."

No, there was no mistake. It was true – James was filth, as bad as he'd been at Hogwarts. She should have known better. Lily suddenly felt very, very stupid. Stupid for ever doubting that he hadn't slept with Rose, stupid for having married him, heck, stupid for even agreeing to go on that first date.

"For how long, Rose? How long has this affair been going on?" she pressed on, though she didn't know why. It didn't really matter. James Potter had lied, he'd cheated, and then lied some more. Their sham of a marriage was over.

Rose's eyelids flickered again. "For over a year."

Lily just shook her head. She wasn't going to cry, there was no point.

"And you are pregnant? With James' baby?"

"Yes."

"Why, Rose? Why would you do this to me?" Lily whispered, as if talking quietly Rose wouldn't hear her. Lily didn't expect an answer, but she got one anyway.

"At first I did it to get back at you, you and your perfect life. Then I fell in love with him."

Rose was in love with James. Lily could feel her heart wrenching apart again, partly for herself, partly for her sister. The memory of him shrugging his shoulders at Rose as she'd desperately looked to him for help when Lily had exiled her from Godric's Hollow ripped through her.

As she paced the room the whole situation suddenly sunk in. And Lily felt oddly at ease with it. She was calm, almost too calm.

"Does You-Know-Who know all of this? That you're pregnant with James' baby?"

"No." Rose's eyes came into focus for a moment, before glazing over again. "He'll kill me when he does find out, me and the baby."

Lily's rubbed at her forehead. She asked her next question with her eyes clenched shut. "What are you going to do now?"

"I don't know."

Lily sat there, dumfounded. So many things were running through her head. In a matter of days she'd gone from being reasonably happily – well not happily, but tolerably – married, to ...well...this, whatever this was.

There had to be an explanation, there had to be something else to it. This couldn't be the truth!

Then she realised that she had made one very big oversight. She had no real proof that Snape had even given her the real potion, Rose could just as easily have been pretending. After all, they both worked for Lord Voldemort, who was to say, after all this time, that Snape still hated Rose, that he wasn't working with Rose in this grandiose fabrication of the truth? Rose could fairly easily fake the symptoms, Lily didn't doubt for a moment that, in her time with Lord Voldemort, Rose had seen the potion used many times. Lord Voldemort – that gave her an idea.

"What is the Dark Lord's name, Rose?"

Rose's eyelids flickered quickly, their usually emerald irises now a dull green. "Tom Riddle."

It hadn't been the name she'd expected, she never thought of Voldemort, that monster, as Tom Riddle, and certainly no Death Eater would dare to call him that, not if they valued their lives.

What did it matter what she called him? What did any of it matter? Her sister had been telling the truth.

She looked at Rose. Then she looked at her sister's belly again. At Godric's Hollow it hadn't been visible, but here her bulge was huge. The baby must be due anytime now; she must have been hiding it from the world. Rose had done it again, systematically torn apart Lily's life, destroyed everything.

"I don't care what you do, Rose Evans." Lily stopped her idle walking, and pushed passed her sister to the doorway with every intention of storming out and slamming the door hard. "Your Dark Lord can have you. I... I wish you were dead!"

*****

Lily didn't know why she even went to him. As she'd held the letter the owl had brought her, his words practically begging for her to see him, she knew she shouldn't. Two weeks had passed since she had spoken to Rose, and now she was trying desperately to bury everything from her past, all the hurt, all the pain, behind her. Yet, all the same, she found herself in the same shadowed walkway in Knockturn Alley, her footsteps echoing on the cobblestones as she approached the dark figure of Severus Snape.

"Lily!" His voice was filled with relief. His hand reached out to her, but without her even saying a word, he drew it sharply back as if she'd burnt him.

"What do you want?" she snapped.

He looked her over, from head to toe, making her uneasy. Seemingly satisfied, he spoke quietly, so quietly Lily had to step closer to hear him. "I've come to warn you. The Dark Lord... he wants to kill you, you and your baby!"

"My ba–" she began, then stopped. So Rose and James had carried out at least part of their plan to delude others into thinking it was Lily's baby, they had just missed one vital step – Lily knew the truth. "Well, that's so kind of you to warn me, Snape," he recoiled at her use of his surname, but Lily pretended not to notice, "but he wants to kill a lot of people. Big deal."

"You don't understand! The prophecy.... He thinks it means your son! He thinks he has to kill him in order to live!" He was pleading with her, begging her to understand. Even his eyes showed a sparkle of life, a hint at the Severus she knew – had known.

So Rose had given birth to a boy. Lily found it mattering little to her. "Prophecy? What prophecy?"

Snape rubbed angrily at his forehead, as if trying to place his thoughts in some semblance of order. "He thinks it means he has to kill your baby, or your baby is going to kill him."

"A baby is going to kill him?" Lily laughed out loud.

"Lily, I'm serious. Please, you have to listen to me."

Something in his voice, in his face, made her suddenly sober.

"Come away with me. Bring the baby, I'll keep you safe. We can start over somewhere, somewhere where he can't find us, where–"

For a moment, she was tempted. How easy it would be to say yes, to go back to how it had been when they were younger, just her and Severus and nothing else mattered – but she was no longer a child, she had responsibilities, responsibilities she couldn't just shrug off. It seemed as if the fate of the entire wizarding world rested on her shoulders. "No, Snape. I can't just walk away from all my friends, leave them to be butchered by Death Eaters." She paused and looked at him darkly. "You might not have such a problem with that, but I've lost too many people already. I do not intend to lose any more."

And with that, her decision was made. She might not like Rose very much, but she was still her sister. And her little boy, he was her nephew.

A plan began forming in her head. She turned to leave, then paused and looked back over her shoulder at him. He looked pained. She told herself she didn't care.

"Oh, and you might want to tell dear Dark Lord that my sister is dead. We wouldn't want him thinking she was late for your next meeting, now, would we?"

"Lily! Please!" She could hear it in his voice, his desperation.

But with a loud crack, Lily Disapparated.

*****

It had taken two days, two days without sleep, without resting, but Lily had finally managed to locate Rose. Through word of mouth, rumours garnered from not-so-pleasant characters in Knockturn Alley, and a bit of luck, finally she found her holed up in a tiny room at the Hog's Head.

Lily banged loudly on the door, but there was no reply. "Rose! It's Lily!" She thumped again on the door, knocked so hard it hurt her fist.

The door cracked open. Emerald eyes, the mirror image of her own, peeked out into the corridor, terrified.

"Quickly," Rose said, glancing anxiously up and down the hallway and pulling her sister inside.

Lily took a moment to survey the room. Then she saw him. Lying in his cot, fast asleep, was a baby. A baby boy with the same dark, messy hair as James.

Lily crept over to the cot and watched him sleep, watched his chest rise and fall, his eyelids twitch occasionally. Saw his tiny heartbeat pulsing beneath his top. And then she knew she'd made the right decision.

Like stepping out of someone else's embittered life, Lily shivered as icy cold prickled across her shoulders and down her spine. Tears welled freely, blurring her vision of the sleeping infant. In that single moment, in an instant more real than any other she had ever known, Lily, cheated wife, betrayed sister, rose above all the wrongs ever done to her. She stood tall, pushed back her shoulders, and sniffed back the tears that no longer needed to fall. She stared at the Hog's Head's mangy curtains, stared at nothing; she stared at her future. She was resolute, she was lucid. She had grown up.

"You're to come back to Godric's Hollow, Rose. I'll look after you."

It was a proclamation. A cessation of hostility. Rose was her twin and she would look after her.

"But Lil, the Dark Lord, he wants to kill us! He wants to kill Harry!"

"No, he wants to kill me and my baby," Lily informed her, but without any malice. "The Order have fed the information that you have been killed," she swallowed thickly, "to his most loyal followers."

Rose hung her head. "I'm so sorry, Lil, I just didn't know what to do. I had to keep Harry safe. I couldn't just let him take him.... So I told him you were pregnant, I hid my condition from him...."

Lily closed her eyes, waiting for the anger she would once have felt at Rose sacrificing Lily's life for her own. But it didn't come. Nothing mattered now except keeping her little, helpless nephew safe. But, she knew now why Severus – Snape – believed it was her, Lily, that was pregnant. Oh, Severus! Where was he now when she needed him?

"As we speak, your Dark Lord believes you are dead," Lily spoke, hoping Snape had dutifully relayed the message. "But you're to come back to the house with me – with me and James - and we will all keep Harry safe."

Lily watched on in amazement as she saw her sister's eyes fill with grateful tears. "Oh, Lil, thank you!"

Lily held up her hand to stop her. "And in return, you will give the Order all the information you have on He Who Must Not Be Named."

Rose grimaced.

"Do you really want your son growing up in a world ruled by him?"

Rose looked past her sister at Harry's sleeping form. "All right, I'll give you everything."

*****

And so they returned to Godric's Hollow. After a lot of not-so-pleasant discussions, James Potter finally grasped the Quaffle, took some responsibility, and worked with Lily's plan. She'd made it clear to them that this arrangement was just until the end of the war, until Voldemort was gone and she would know the baby would be safe.

As far as the outside world was aware, nothing was awry. Lily and James Potter were happily married, and now they had a son, one Lily had kept hidden for his own safety. Little Harry James Potter. He looked like his father, though he had her sister's eyes. No, her own eyes. Definitely Aunty Lily's eyes. There was no hint of malice in the boy, and even at this early stage Lily knew, with her help, he wouldn't turn out like his parents.

And though it pained Lily somewhat to see James and Rose so happy together, the time she spent with her new nephew eased it all considerably. Lily couldn't say she was happy, but she knew what she was doing what was right.

*****

Lily sat at the kitchen table next to James. It felt odd, sitting there, pretending life in the Potter household was normal, though not as weird as it had to start with. At least now there was a purpose.

Baby Harry bounced on Lily's lap, tugging happily at her hair, not a worry in the world. No knowledge that there was a war waging outside, not the foggiest that his mother wasn't his mother at all, but his aunt. No idea that, even as he gurgled away, Voldemort was hunting him down. Hunting down dear Harry, Lily thought, hugging the boy tightly. Just a little baby, not hurting a soul.

"You can't use me as the Secret Keeper," Sirius told them.

"Why not?" Lily demanded. Trust Sirius to shrug responsibility at any given opportunity.

"Because he'll know it's me, it's too obvious."

He had a point, she realised. To everyone, Sirius was the Potter's best friend, but even Sirius had no idea what was going on behind the closed doors of the Potter house at Godric's Hollow.

"Then, who do you suggest?" Lily snapped.

Rose had already offered. Lily had found the idea laughable. As much as her sister claimed to have changed, and yes, she had been good to Harry, she was a very good mother, Lily wasn't sure for one moment that her sister would hold up under pressure.

"Peter Pettigrew."

Lily had contemplated that suggestion for a moment. Peter Pettigrew. The years since school had not done him any justice; he'd simply turned into a larger version of the simpering lad who'd worshipped the ground James and Sirius had walked upon at Hogwarts. He did indeed seem like an unlikely choice of Secret Keeper. Though Lily doubted he too would stand up to the pressure should he be forced to give away their secret, she doubted very much that anyone would ever suspect him.

"Fine."

James nodded, reaching out to ruffle his son's dark hair. "Okay then. Peter it is."

And with those words, Lily and James sealed Harry's fate.

*****

Lily stood at the sink, washing up the day's dishes, lost in thought. She'd always enjoyed Halloween, it was possibly her favourite celebration, but tonight's party had been limited to the two cans of spaghetti left in the cupboards. No one had been to the shops in weeks, no one dared. When had life got this complicated?

She nearly jumped out of her skin when warm arms wrapped around her waist, lips landed on the exposed flesh of her neck and a deep murmur in her ear informed her, "Meet me in the bedroom in five, I'll get the Ice Queen out of our hair."

"Is that what I am?" Lily hissed, turning around so quickly that James Potter had to grab at the bench for stability.

"What – Lily? I mean, I knew it was you, I thought..."

"Don't bullshit me, James Potter. You know what? If it weren't for Harry, I'd have you hung!"

"What's going on?" Rose asked, glancing nervously between Lily and James as they glared at one another.

Lily looked from Rose to James and back again.

"Nothing," she finally said. There was no point. In time, Rose would learn what James was like, but right now was not the time to be starting arguments, not with Lord Voldemort out there hunting down Harry. But she needed to get out of here, to have a break from them for a while. "I'm just going to get some milk. Harry's not had anything but water to drink in days. It's not good for him," Lily said, grabbing her purse from the kitchen table.

"Okay," Rose replied, dropping herself into one of the kitchen chairs. "Can you get me some cigarettes while you're out?"

Lily nodded, pulling on a large green cloak. "Want anything?" she asked James.

He shook his head. "Lily, look. Don't go out like this, I mean like that. Take the Invisibility Cloak."

"You lent it to Albus," Lily told him, pulling the hood lower over her face.

Lily stepped outside the door and immediately froze. There, standing under the large oak in the backyard, was a tall, thin, black-hooded figure. It was the bloodied appearance of the whites of his eyes, though, that had Lily dive back inside the house and click the door quietly shut. She leant back against the frame, breathing deeply.

He couldn't have seen her, it was impossible. The house was under the protection of the Fidelius Charm.

Out the corner of her eye, she caught James and Rose springing apart, but right then, she couldn't have cared less what they were doing.

"He's out there."

"Who?" James asked dumbly.

"Someone in a cloak," she blurted out. "His eyes were awful! He has the most hideous blood-red eyes!"

Rose froze to the spot.

"But how?" James reasoned. "He can't know we're here, someone must have told him...."

Lily and James' eyes both turned on Rose. "I didn't tell him!"

"You... you did!" James barked.

"No, she didn't," Lily said quietly. "She couldn't have. Peter is our Secret Keeper."

"Peter?" Rose asked, her voice rising in a squeak. "Peter Pettigrew?"

"Yes," James said. "I don't know how he did it, but he must have broken through the charm somehow...."

"Pettigrew has been reporting to the Dark Lord for over a year!" Rose cried out.

"Why didn't you tell us?" James rounded on her, glaring down over her.

"I thought you knew!" Rose's eyes bulged, and she bolted from the room. James looked as if he was about to go after her.

"Never mind that, we've got to do something, we've got to–" Lily peeked back out the window. "He's coming! Quickly!"

James stepped up to the window beside her. "Lily, take Harry and go! It's him! Go! Run! I'll hold him off–"

Lily scrambled for Harry's bedroom, but even as she bolted down the hallway, the entire house was bathed in a flash of green light, filled with the deathly echo of the Killing Curse, and then a dull thud of dead flesh hitting tiled floor.

"Save me, Lily, please." The voice was no more than a whisper as she entered Harry's room. And there, curled in a ball in the corner, was Rose.

"Get up on your feet, Rose Evans, and for once in your life take responsibility!" Lily snapped at her. "You owe it to me. You owe it to Harry!"

Rose looked terrified, but, slowly, she rose to wobbly feet.

"Better," Lily muttered. Then all was still. The complete lack of sound unnerved her.

With her heart thumping loudly in her ears, Lily waited, wand drawn, pointed at the door.

The bang came out of nowhere. Light flooded the room, giving her just enough time to side step the door as it flew of its hinges and into the room.

Voldemort paused, only for a moment, taking in the two sisters. Lily tried to disarm him. Rose cast the Cruciatus Curse at the same time, but he deflected them both, the spells rebounding on them. As Lily's wand flew across the room, Rose crumpled to the floor, screaming in pain.

"So," Voldemort spoke, and the hissing sound that accompanied his voice chilled Lily to the bone. "You dare to betray me..."

He looked at them both, then turned to Lily and smiled. "Rose."

She saw him raise his wand, saw the look of triumph. "Avada–"

"No!" Rose flew across the room, placing herself between her sister and Voldemort. The flash of green hit her square in the chest. Her body hit the floor, lifeless.

Lily forced herself to look back up, to face Voldemort.

She saw him surveying Harry's cot, his grotesque face twisted in a demented smile.

"Not Harry, not Harry, please not Harry!"

She flew across the room, shielding Harry from him with her body. As disgusting as she found the sight, she forced herself to look him the eyes, those terrifying, blood-red eyes.

"Stand aside, you silly girl ... stand aside now." His voice made her shudder, but she didn't waiver.

"Not Harry, please no, take me, kill me instead–"

He kept approaching, kept reducing the small space between them. Without her wand, Lily had no choice. She hit him, punched him with her fists. Again, and again, but it made no difference. She grabbed hold of him, tried to pull him away, tried to take his wand, but it was all in vain. He tossed her away from him like a rag doll.

"Not Harry! Please ... have mercy ... have mercy...." She scrambled back to her feet, placing herself between him and Harry once more.

"I warned you Rose, you could have been spared. Silly girl. Avada Kedavra! Avada Kedavra!"

And she crumpled to the ground. She felt as if she were dying, that these would be her last moments. Her breathing had stopped, her world became painfully quiet.

In the distance she could hear a cold, cruel laugh. She could see Voldemort standing above her, standing over Harry's cot, could see the look of twisted triumph on his face, could see him, but could not move, could not breathe. It didn't matter, it was too late. With two quick curses he had killed them both. She was dead, Harry was dead.

Then, as her eyes faltered, she caught sight of the most amazing thing: Voldemort crumpled, the room spun and finally he vanished into nothing but vapour.

And then everything went black.