Chapter Text
Lily and James had spent the past twelve years watching over a few different people. One might look in on them and wonder, why these people? For, these people led particularly troubled lives.
There was the boy with the scar like lightning, messy dark hair and glasses that had been broken several times over.
There was the girl with hair like living flame, eyes so green and piercing, and the quickest mind around. Always scheming, always planning, observing, tucking facts away for future use.
These two happened to be brother and sister, which made it easy to look after them in the summer time. Their parents had been murdered by a psychotic killer, but when the killer had turned on the boy, he had failed to kill him. The boy became famous, while the girl was forced to live in secret, hidden away. They had had a hard life since their parents deaths. Their aunt and uncle had taken them in and had not been kind. No, they were abusive and cruel.
There was a man, who had been locked away for a crime he had not committed. He had been forced to spend years in a prison cell, having the happiness drained from him with every waking moment.
There was another man, a werewolf. He was shunned by society, forced to travel, searching for work, in debt, for years and years.
And, there was a rat. A rat who lived in the company of nine red-heads.
The werewolf found work, at the school in which the red headed children, the boy and the girl attended. The locked away man escaped. The man turned dog, the rat turned man. And Lily and James watched as everything played out.
They forgave their friend, when he said, “Guilty.” He was guilty. His crime had been to give up Lily and James to the murderer who killed them. But still, they forgave him, because he had been their friend. They would never love him again, they would not welcome him to death with open arms. But they forgave him.
The dark haired boy and the flame haired girl, they were the children of Lily and James. They were Harry and Emma.
They were watching Harry and Emma now.
Harry and Emma were at their aunt and uncle’s house again. For the summer. And their cousin, Dudley, had been forced onto a diet. So of course, the aunt, Petunia, and the uncle, Vernon, had decided to feed Emma and Harry less than Dudley, to make up for the diet. That meant, Emma and Harry were being starved.
Harry was curled on the small bed, trying to ignore the hunger. Lily and James had watched him write to his friends a few hours before, asking them to send food.
Emma was scrunched into a corner, whispering frantically, clutching a telephone to her ear.
Lily and James knew her to be talking to her very best friend, Draco Malfoy. They could see him too, despite the distance that stretched between Emma and Draco. It appeared to Lily and James as though he was just in the next room over.
He looked completely furious by Emma’s words, furious and a little sad. She looked worried and hungry, so very hungry.
Emma hung up the phone and Lily looked away. James was pinching the bridge of his nose, just below the rim his glasses. Both of them looked pained to be seeing their children suffering. It hadn’t been the first time and it wouldn’t be the last, but it still hurt to watch.
“Lily,” James murmured, grabbing his wife’s hand, “It’ll be alright. They have fantastic friends, their friends will save them.”
“I know! I just wish I could, I wish we could.” Lily breathed. “I wish they could have gone with Pads and Moony.”
“I do too, but Wormtail has made that impossible.” James growled.
“That wasn’t his intention,” Reasoned Lily.
“No, his intention is to bring Voldemort back to life and have our son killed.”
“He is afraid. He was never brave, like the rest of us.”
James sighed and sat, massaging his temples, “I know, I’m just worried about what he’ll do. Fear makes us desperate and rash.”
“He is becoming brave, you saw it just as well as I did. He was put in Gryffindor because of his capacity for bravery. Proclaiming himself guilty to spare Pads displayed that.” Lily said.
“Or it’s part of some bigger scheme.” James scoffed.
“James,” Lily argued, “He could have escaped at any time. He waited until after the trial, why would he have done that, if not for Pads?”
“Our babies are growing up without us,” James said sadly. Lily made her way over to him and wrapped her arm around his waist. He rested his head on her shoulder. “Harry’s going to be fourteen soon, and Emma will be thirteen, only a short while later.”
“They’re so strong, they’ve gone through so much,” Lily murmured.
“I know.” James said.
“And if the prophecy is anything to go by, it’ll only get harder.”
“I know.” Repeated James.
“And I’m scared, James. I love them, and I miss them, but I don’t want to be reunited with them anytime soon.” Lily’s voice broke.
“I know, Lil’. I’m scared too. But, like you said, they’re strong, they can face anything that comes their way.” James soothed his wife. “They’ll make it.”
“But, will they still be the same, on the other side of this?” Lily asked.
“No,” James said, “They’ll be better.”