Chapter Text
Lily Potter nee Evans felt incredibly blessed, regardless of the fact that she and her family were forced into hiding. How couldn’t she, as she watched James Potter play with their two beautiful children, laughter filling her household. Of course, she did wish she could take her children out trick-or-treating, something even James and Sirius had been looking forward to ever since she had told them she was pregnant, even more so with twins.
Alas, it would have to do for her little children to be running around the home in their costumes. Her little boy, Harry, was dressed up as a knight, while her sweet little girl was dressed as a princess.
Which had been James’s idea from the beginning. Saying that his princess should be a princess, which had Harry jumping in to join the theme. She wondered as they got older would they always dress similarly on Halloween, as it was the only time the twins could match quite well.
Though Lily had put her foot down when James had tried to get a bright scarlet dress. Elara had Lily’s auburn hair, and it would clash terribly, but James insisted not green, because of Slytherin colors.
Which was absolutely absurd, but she relented and they decided on a wonderful deep blue, and it seemed Elara was enjoying the outfit.
Yes...she was very much blessed, even though she could think of things to make this better, once of which was Voldemort being no more. But given everything she knew, she wouldn’t change a thing.
Not when all of those moments led up to her having a wonderful husband, and two perfect children.
But of course...all good things come to an end.
Truthfully, Lily couldn’t remember much about the end of their Halloween night, when everything happened. Mostly just because everything was such a blur, and everything happened so fast…
She had just been putting her twins down for bed, when she heard James shout, a thud, his voice claiming he’d deal with the elder Potter later, and entered the room. He told her she would be spared if she moved. But, clearly, Voldemort was never a parent, not a mother. She refused, begged him not to touch her children, mentally cursing herself for leaving her wand in her room!
Now here is where the blurr began. She remembered begging him some more, pleading, before being thrown in to a wall, a spell hitting her, and pain...oh so much pain. She remembered a flash of green, herself screaming, when there was a brighter light and then there was darkness.
The next thing she knew, she was being shaken awake, her husband’s face being the first thing she saw, followed by Sirius Black standing by the crib, the children screaming, and everything came back.
“My babies!” She croaked out. “My babies!”
“They’re safe, Lil,” James said, the relief in his voice. “And Voldemort, he’s...gone, somehow,”
Lily tried to scramble up, dizziness following her, and James helped her up, helping her to the crib. Sirius was trying to coax Harry to let him touch him, but the year old boy was just clinging to his sister tightly, who was also wailing away. Lily gasped as she saw the scar on her baby boy’s forehead.
“What…” She began to ask before quickly looking at her daughter. “And Lara?”
“Wrist,” Sirius said. “I saw a quick glance at; same shape. No idea how they got it,”
“We can figure that out later,” James said quickly. “Right now we need to get to Dumbledore, get somewhere safe. Words going to get out soon that something happened to Voldemort, and that he failed to kill us. His Death Eaters might try and find us. Our house isn’t safe anymore,”
“But...Peter,” Lily said, looking at her husband and best friend.
“Later,” James told his wife, gently squeezing her hand. “Sirius, go in our closet, there’s a suitcase on the floor, grab it. Lil, I’ll grab the diaper bags, you get the babies somewhat calmed down,”
“Constant vigilance!” Sirius called out in an effort for a weak joke, turning and leaving the nursery.
Lily resisted the urge to roll her eyes. Truthfully, they hadn’t thought about packing any emergency bags until Moody came barging in one day and started packing for them, shouting “Always be prepared!”
Sirius had found it funny, though he did point out it was a bit of a mouthful before Moody flung a pillow at him screaming. “CONSTANT VIGILANCE!”
Needless to say, some people weren’t thrilled at the catchphrase that kept being shouted so often.
Still. Moody had been right. As usual.
Lily reached forward with her hands, gently rubbing her baby's arms softly, shushing them softly. She doubted they would get truly calmed down any time soon, but at least they’d know their mum was there.
James grabbed the diaper bags, making his way over, cooing at his children softly as he reached for his wailing daughter, lifting her up and setting her on his hip, gently rubbing her back before looking at his wife.
“Still dizzy?” He asked softly.
“A little,” Lily answered. Truthfully, her bones and muscles were still aching with the spell that had been cast on her. “As long as we don’t travel by Floo right now, I should be okay...but James, where are we going to go?”
“We have a few safe houses we can go to,” James said. “We can stay at one of them until we hear from Dumbledore. Plus, I’d like for you to get some rest, maybe take a potion to help you feel better,”
“Okay...so which one first?” Lily asked, reaching for Harry, mimicking the motions that James had done for Elara.
“The Burrow,” James said.
“Absolutely not!” Lily exclaimed. “Molly has six children, and one on the way. We can’t risk them like that!”
“Lils, it wouldn’t be long,” James soothed. “We’ll be there two hours tops, maybe three, and that should be enough time before everyone finds out what’s going on, and by then, we’ll be gone to another. They wouldn’t have volunteered their home if they didn’t want to. And you know Molly is well aware of the risks, especially what happened to her twin brothers,”
“James…”
“Lil, right now, their home is remote for miles. Their closest neighbors, The Lovegoods, and the Diggroy’s are a great stone throws away, no one is going to see us. That’s what we need right now. Look, I promise, if anything seems off or suspicious, or there is even a hint of danger, we’ll leave,” James promised her, looking at her seriously.
Lily looked up at her husband before sighing, nodding, and she rested her head on his shoulder for a brief moment before righting herself. “We better go then,” She said.
James nodded, heading in to the living area, where Sirius was waiting for them. “Where are we heading?” Sirius asked.
“The Burrow,” James answered. “Just for a few hours, but I need you to go and grab Moony and meet us there,”
Sirius nodded, handing Lily the suitcase. “Be careful,”
“We will,” Lily said with a nod. “You stay safe, too, Padfoot,”
With a small pop, the tiny family was gone.
Molly Weasley was so stranger to loud noises. It pretty much came with the territory when you have six children, one on the way, and a husband who enjoyed tinkering with Muggle things. Not to mention when you had twins that were dead set on causing as much mayhem as possible…
That being said, considering they were at war, she had learned quite quickly to tell the difference between loud noises. Urgent, bad news, or just general nonsense.
The banging on her front door was urgent, causing both her and Arthur to sit up in bed, quickly...well, her husband quickly slid on his dressing gown. She was heavily pregnant, so more waddled after her husband after pulling her own dressing gown on. As they quickly walked, most of her children opened the doors to their room, peeking out curiously. Thank Merlin Ron was a heavy sleeper.
“Mum…?” Her oldest, Bill, asked hesitantly.
“Go back to bed, all of you,” Molly commanded. “It’s probably just an important message,”
Not waiting to see if her children did as she said, they made it downstairs where they could hear screaming children outside the door.
“Who is it?” Arthur demanded to know. One could never be too careful, and using children as a ploy wouldn’t surprise him.
“James, and Lily Potter with their kids,” James answered.
Arthur frowned and Molly whispered to him.
“I thought they went into hiding!” This could mean a great deal of things, and more bad came to her mind than good.
“What did you and Sirius prank me with in my sixth year? And Lily, what did you give me for my birthday before you went into hiding?” Arthur demanded.
“We gifted you some of those Muggle chattering teeth things and enchanted them to chase you around, trying to bite your ankles,” James answered.
“A toaster,” Lily answered.
Arthur opened the door, taking in the sight of the family, quickly ushering them inside, though Harry and Elara kept crying.
“What’s happened?” Arthur asked before wincing as Ron started crying loudly. “I’ll get him,” He quickly went up the stairs, and the group heard. “Your mother said go back to bed! Go!”
“We’re so sorry,” Lily said. “We won’t be here long, a few hours at most,”
“It’s okay,” Molly said soothingly. “Dumbledore put some small wards around the house. We’ll know instantly if someone who isn’t on the list shows up. Come, sit, sit, let’s see about getting these little ones to settle,”
Lily smiled at Molly. She had always liked the plucky, generous witch. She set her suitcase down, walking over to the sofa, sitting down, and went back to rocking Harry back and forth, making comforting, soothing, noises, as James did the same. Slowly, the Potter twins began to settle, and Arthur came back downstairs, just as James sent his Patronus to send Dumbledore an update.
“Ron just needed a quick changing,” He said. “His music box is on, and he started dozing off as I changed him. What’s happened? I thought you four were in hiding,”
“Hang on,” James said softly. “Sirius and Remus are meeting us here, they shouldn’t be too much longer,”
Sure enough, a few minutes passed and another knock was heard on the door, and Arthur went over to it, repeating the actions he had done with the Potters, opening the door once Remus and Sirius proved it was really them.
“Thank goodness, you’re okay,” Remus sighed in relief. “What’s going on, though? Sirius won’t tell me anything except that you four were okay after an attack,”
Molly’s eyes narrowed as she heard a soft creak, holding up her hand. She stood up, waddling away from the group and to the staircase. “I said you boys better go to your rooms and stay there, or you’ll all be in time out, and have your toys taken away, especially your toy brooms!”
Quickly, soft thuds were heard as doors closed, and Molly sighed, waddling back. “Thank Merlin this one is a girl,”
Once she sat down, the Potter’s informed the others what had happened, causing Arthur and Molly to gasp.
“He’s...gone? He’s really dead?” Arthur asked. This was amazing news...finally...things could settle…
“Don’t know,” James said with a shake of his head. “Seems it. I’m more worried about Peter...he was our Secret Keeper…”
“They...had to have tortured it out of him,” Remus said, though there was a lace of doubt in his voice. “Truth serum…you know he hated pain,”
“It’s impossible,” Lily said softly. “Neither Imperious, Truth serum, or even torture could make a Secret Keeper talk if they were set on keeping it secret. That’s how the spell works. They have to willingly, voluntarily, give up the information,”
“I can’t-” Sirius started to roar but was shushed by the rest of the adults in the room. “I can’t believe him! He betrayed us! He betrayed you! That’s it! I’m going to find that rat bastard and kill him!”
“You will do no such thing, Sirius Black!” Lily hissed out, her eyes flashing dangerously. “That’ll get you landed in to Azkaban, and you’ll be playing in to his hand. No, we’ll get our own justice. Only a small handful of people knew where we were, and knew who the Secret Keeper really was,”
“And if he was working for Voldemort...we’ll know that too, and he’ll be locked away,” James said. Really, he was furious with Peter, knowing what the did, even though part of him was still in denial. But the proof was there…
“I just...can’t believe it, Peter, of all people,” Remus said with a shake of his head and a sigh. It was true that their smallest friend of the group tended to find his courage once he was with them, but he never dreamed of Peter betraying James and Lily…
“Well, believe it,” Sirius scowled. “I’m just so pissed at myself. This never would’ve happened if I had been the Secret Keeper...I should’ve said yes instead of insisting on Peter,”
“I think,” Molly said softly. “That you should just be thankful everyone here is alive and well, considering the alternative,”
The group was silent, save for the small noises the Potter twins made, and finally James spoke. “Yes,” He said softly. “Things could’ve been much...much worse,”
The group fell silent once more, for several minutes, before Molly spoke. “I’m going to make some tea,” She said firmly, and began to waddle towards the kitchen.
“Molly, would you like some help?” Lily offered.
“No, no,” Molly said firmly. “Your babies need you, stay there,”
“At least let me help carry everything, Molly,” Remus said as he stood up, following Molly in to the kitchen.
Time passed for the adults in silence, the twins finally falling asleep, and only the small clinking of tea cups were heard once Molly and Remus brought them in. Lily made sure to keep an eye on the time, and soon, two and a half hours passed. They would need to leave soon.
What finally broke the silence was a soft knock on the door, and Arthur went to the door, asking once more who it was.
“Albus Dumbledore,”
Arthur froze for a moment before steeling himself, asking a question only he could know, waiting for the correct answer. It was received and Arthur quickly opened the door, allowing him in.
“What happened?” The Headmaster asked, and the family told their tale once more, Sirius jumping in when it was his turn.
“I see…” Dumbledore said softly.
“Is he…?” Arthur asked softly.
“Gone? Yes,” Dumbledore said with a nod. “For good? No, I do not think so…”
“What? How?” Sirius demanded.
“I have some theories…” Dumbledore said. “I am still searching, but as soon as I have the answers, I’ll let the Order know,”
“But what about Harry and Elara?” Lily asked. “How is this even possible?”
“Ah...that, too, is something I think I must ponder on,” Dumbledore said. “Though I think it may have to do with a magic so powerful, so old, that one weilds yet doesn’t know how to control it, nor should they, really,”
“And that’s?” James asked.
“Love,” Dumbledore said simply, his eyes sparkling. “Now...I believe the news is spreading about Voldemort, as we speak. However, I do feel it will be safer for your family, James, Lily, if you remained in hiding for a while longer, until we can capture most of the Death Eaters and until things settle down,”
“Agreed,” James said with a firm nod.
“Then we should go,” Dumbledore said looking to the heads of the Weasley family. “Thank you for housing them,”
“It was a pleasure,” Molly said with a nod. “Now go, so you and your family can be safe,”
“Still, thank you so much, Molly,” Lily said to her with a smile, a mother to a mother.
“Just take care yourselves and your little ones,” Molly told her with a smile. “Though...once things settle, would you mind bringing the twins so we could have a playdate? My twins are close in age, Ron is the same age, and little Ginny here will only be a year behind,”
“I’d love that,” Lily told the woman with a smile. “We’ll make it happen as soon as possible,”
Lily couldn’t help but feel certain, as they said their goodbyes and gathered their things, that they had just made some more family friends. She had always known the Weasley’s of course, but now…
She just knew they would be family to them, and they would feel the same