Chapter Text
Old Name: Growing Up (part I)
New Name: The Beginning
Rewritten: 12/Feb/2016
***
“Conversation,” = Parseltongue
‘Conversation,’ = Thoughts
‘Conversation,’ = Tom
“I don’t trust him, James,” said Lily, putting down her sleeping child into his crib. “I know that he’s your best friend, and that you trust him… but I just don’t.”
James always praised his wife for being rather perceptive, even if it came as a hindrance later on. He found that she would say what exactly was on her mind, regardless of who it was about, but she was also gentle and caring.
“He pushed us to make that change,” she continued, fussing about with her son and his blankets that lined the crib. “I have no idea why he would even want to be our Secret Keeper. Sirius was by far the better option, or even Albus himself.” Sighing, she stood up and glanced out the window, which had droplets of water racing down it. “I love you, James, perhaps more than you know, but now that we have Harry, I must protect him, James, I must.”
James knew deep down that his wife was correct, in almost every single point she had made in the last few minutes. He debated whether he should speak or just let his wife continue to rant and get it all out of her. He chose the former.
“I’m an Auror, Lils, you know that I have training –”
“You are, and you do,” said Lily, her voice soft. “But You-Know-Who knows more spells and curses then we could ever attempt to learn.”
James took a rather large stride forwards, closing the distance between them in two quick strides, towards his wife and wrapped her into a warm and tight hug, one that she should feel safe in.
“It’ll be alright,” he soothed, kissing Lily’s forehead. “I trust you, Lily, more then you’ll ever know. Albus contacted me recently –”
“He did? What did he contact you for, James?” asked Lily, her bright green eyes surveying her husband eagerly.
“– and he informed me that there might be a traitor in the Order,” continued James, as if his wife never spoke. “At first we assumed Remus, due to his status as a werewolf and such as being a dark creature.”
He noticed the scowl on his wife’s face and he chuckled light-heartedly, “calm down, Lily. You of all people should know that I’d never judge or throw out Remus because of that, but we had to do our rounds and figure it all out before we mentioned it to anyone else.”
“I see. And who did you suspect?”
“Too many people, Lily, too many people.” he trailed off, with a sigh.
With a three month old son, he could hardly afford to mess around with things like this, his wife had retired from her very minor position as a field healer for the Order and her part-time job at St. Mungo's Hospital for Magical Maladies and Injuries. He knew that the latter for her was a very big thing as she always wanted to help people, help them live and breathe as she did herself.
“Do you think that Dumbledore is being entirely honest with us?” he threw out quickly, wondering if it was worth the upcoming battle over how trusted he was.
Scowling, Lily turned and locked eyes with her husband, “you shouldn’t talk about Albus like that, James,” turning away, she continued with typical Gryffindor bravado. “He did everything that he could have to help us get through the tough pregnancy I had with Harry, and even then protect us from threats.”
“I know, but –”
“– and then of course allowing us to miss a few Order meetings so that I could rest and relax, as he did with Alice and Frank.”
“Yes, but –”
“– he didn’t have to give us any time off, James, yet he did,” finished Lily, a rare determined look in her eyes.
Flicking a few strands of dark red hair from her face, she shifted away from her sleeping child and husband.
“You know, I may floo Severus and invite him over for a nice cup of tea,” said Lily, shifted around in her pocket for something. “Perhaps he can tell me something about what’s going on.”
James had patched up things, very minoring, with his old school nemesis. He never really hated the man during school, he was just a kid and found pranking to be a good way to blow off steam. The constant rejections from Lily did him in the head.
Even then, he didn’t exactly enjoy spending anytime with Severus. He opted to spending time with his son or in his study preparing things for work.
“I’ll be inviting him over in a moment,” said Lily, shifting out the door. “Would you like me to ask Sirius to come over, or are you fine moodily brooding in your study?”
“I’m fine, enjoy your time with Severus,” muttered James, watching his wife flash a bright smile and then listening to her footsteps as she softly walked down the stairs.
He stood there, completely still, for just a few minutes listening to his wife speaking through the floo. He glanced down and glanced at his sleeping son, his light in a dark world. Not sure what he should do, he cupped his face into his hands and let out a very long, yet quiet sigh.
“I’m not sure what to do, Harry,” he muttered softly to his son, not that he would be hear, or understood.
It really was a hard choice, one that he had hoped that he would never have to make. He could stay here, in this very house, which was rather well protected, even from the Dark Lord or he could pick up his family and move away to a new place and just wait out the war.
It was a highly selfish thought, and he knew that, as his friends would be fighting and he would be hiding away like a coward.
The wards that surrounded their current home in Godric’s Hallow were almost as good as the ones at Hogwarts, it was impressive. But this was one of few houses that the Potter family had, opting to only have a few instead of like a few families who had more houses then they had sense. Even if Peter did decide to betray them, if he was the traitor, the large assortment of wards should stop anyone trying to harm them. Sadly, he had very little knowledge on the subject, as he never studied it.
“Don’t worry, Harry, daddy will protect you and mummy, just you wait,” he said softly to his son. He extinguished the light in the room and fled to his study, preparing to go over a few notes.
Lily realized that the floor to Severus’ house was disconnected and she sighed. Pulling herself upwards, she made her way towards the small table in the sitting room and began to look around for an inkpot and a quill, which was oddly vacant from its usual perch near the parchment.
Once she had found some, she quickly wrote a letter for Sirius and Remus, knowing that the two would be together or they’d find each other, saving her the effort of writing out two letters, even if she could duplicate the letters.
Pulling out another piece of parchment, one that was reserved for more formal letters as this was all that she could find, she began to pen a letter to her best friend. She held only the highest amount of appreciation possible for Severus, and it was because of his actions that allowed her and James to sort of make leeway with the man. As soon as Severus learned that Lily was at risk of losing Harry mid-way through the pregnancy, Severus had done everything that he could to assist her with potions, and tips that he had learned over the years. She knew that Severus had no intention of ever having a child of his own, because he only ever seemed to have one love interest, which she felt slightly bad for, but she did help the man to try and move on.
✧
Lily Potter
Thursday, 15/10/80
Dear Severus,
I would like to apologize in advance if this letter finds you at a bad time, the floo just so happened to be down, or disconnected. I assume you have once more forgotten to pay your bill for having the floo connection open, as usual.
I have made a fresh batch of tea and biscuits, and I know how much you love both, despite your outward façade of sneering and scowling at anything that may appear to be cheerful.
James will most likely be out or hiding himself in his study, trying to figure out something that he refuses to even inform me about. I have an inkling that he’ll leave though, he needs to visit Sirius and Remus tonight and will not take no for an answer, from either of them. Actually, you’ll find that he wishes to visit Sirius, and that Remus will just be there, as the man is pretty much a shadow for Sirius, not that I fault the man for it.
Harry has already fallen asleep, not that I believe his little act of sleeping so early, so I doubt that he’ll be asleep for much longer as he never falls asleep this early, and I can prove that with pensieve memories. I think that he was just putting on a show or was slightly tired, so he fussed to get a nice twenty minute nap so that he wouldn’t be grumpy. Such a smart child.
I apologize in advance (I know that I said this on the first line), if you’re in the process of brewing and my owl finds you in the potions room or lab (as you tend to call it) and sits on your counter, staring intimately at you and your potion ingredients. She’ll never cause them harm, she watches me brew occasionally, or at least, she used to.
Don’t even bother starting with your typical ‘owls don’t belong in a potion brewing room’ tirade, you know that she’ll never listen to me in that aspect.
No need to reply to the letter, just come over whenever you can. The wards will allow you to enter without much hassle.
Oh, and please allow my owl to have something to eat and drink, she’s getting old.
Regards,
Lily Potter
She allowed the letter to dry for a few minutes while she actually got the tea ready, no point in lying about that. She noticed that her owl was already in the sitting room when she returned.
“Hello there, girl,” she cooed at the feathery fiend, as James called it. “Feel like taking a letter?”
The owl hooted in obvious displeasure at being asked such a moronic question.
“Please take this to Severus Snape, who lives in Spinner’s End. You know the exact location of his house, I assume.”
She watched as the owl flew out of the window the moment she had attached the letter to its leg. Her happy musing was distracted when some bad thoughts came to mind, bad thoughts she had to tell Severus before he found out from someone else.
Severus was attempting to improve on a potion that he had invented shortly after he had graduated from Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. Despite the fact that he was the youngest potions master in many centuries, he wasn’t have any luck with it.
He heard a soft tapping against his window and he scowled, throwing down the ingredients that he was chopping finely and walked with a sneer on his face to meet the bird.
“A letter for me?” he said with a confused expression, seeing as not many bothered to actually owl him letters. “Go on then, you cretin, go drink some water or something, you look tired.”
An angry hoot was his reply from the bird.
Moving towards the single armchair, that looked worse for wear, he slumped into it, the letter in hand. He read the letter at a quick pace and smiled at the contents, a very rare smile that was quickly concealed when he realized what he was doing.
He had a reputation to uphold, after all.
Standing up to shoo away the bird, he realized that it was already gone, not wasting time sticking around for him to even give it a reply.
Not wasting any time, he quickly retrieved his coat from a nearby hanging hook and placed his potion in a stasis, which would most likely ruin it, not that he cared, it was a failed attempted anyway. The moment he stepped outside the chilly October air sent chills up his spine. He began to walk towards the apparation point on his property; he kept his mind clear and set off at a brisk pace, his feet crunching the damp grass below his shoes.
He let out a long breath as he apparated towards Godric’s Hollow. He landed across the street from the Potter house; he kept his features blank as he walked towards the front door. Before he could even knock on the door, Lily burst out and wrapped him in a tight hug.
“Thank you! Thank you!” cried Lily repeatedly, pulling away from the almost one-sided embrace she sent him a warm smile. “Please come in. I’m so glad that you came, you have no idea.”
Severus couldn’t help the small smiled that graced his usually scowling lips. He followed her in and sat in the sitting room, the floor had a large assortment of toys thrown around in it.
He was about to speak when he heard a noise, clearly coming from upstairs.
“Sorry about that, I’ll just go and grab Harry,” said Lily, darting from the room with the speed of a vampire. “Be right back,” she threw over her shoulder.
Sitting down on the comfortable sofa, Severus glanced around the room, looking at the details as if he would remember their position for all eternity. The sofa that he was currently sitting on was positioned in a way that the warmth from the fireplace would instantly cover the sofa first, which then of course, the warmth would spread out to other parts of the room and finally end up in the dining room.
He knew that Lily didn’t exactly employ the use of a house-elf and she did a majority of the cleaning herself, seeing as all it took was a flick of a wand to clean up.
His eyes instantly sought out the small bookcase that was covering a blank wall and he scanned their titles, which appeared to be mostly books on various charms, but it was mostly potion books.
It wasn’t long before the sound of a child, travelled down the stairs.
The noise caused him to begin musing silently on what had happened over the last few months, as the entire situation was a miracle. Never would he have thought that speaking to lily in the Order a few times would have been enough to rekindle an almost broken friendship that was teetering on the edge, much like a pool that had no way for water to be turned off.
A lot of people assumed that their friendship ended due to the fact that he had called her a Mudblood after he was humiliated by James Potter, perhaps that was the best way that it got around, but he, and the other Slytherins, knew better.
Severus was already dabbling in Dark Arts before he was beyond his third year, and Lily never faulted him for it. But it was when he started to hang out with future Death Eaters that their friendship took a massive turn for the worst.
“Sorry about taking so long,” said Lily, unaware that she had just broken a rather long thought train. “Harry wasn’t sure whether he wanted to sleep or actually get up and roam around. As you can see, after a bit of coaxing, he chose the latter.”
Severus watched in amusement as the child attempted to pull his mother’s hair. “That’s quite alright, Lily,” he said softly, not wanting his normally rough voice to startle the child, who looked like he was far too fragile to be anywhere near him. “I entertained myself with your books, quite a collection you have – are you alright, Lily?”
“Honestly?” said Lily, almost sadly. “I have no idea if anything will work out as it has been planned. I don’t know what I should do about the situation, neither James nor I are certain of doing anything that has a risk to it.” She sighed and flicked her head back, adjusting Harry in her lap. “We made Peter our Secret Keeper, and ever since it happened, I have had this nagging feeling that it was a terrible mistake and that it could cost us our lives.”
This was news to Severus, in the last Order meeting, one that Peter was suspiciously absent from, it was suggested discreetly that he was a traitor. Of course, he himself had suspicions, but Dumbledore knew about this, no one else knew about his spying on the Death Eaters.
“James trusts him, which should be enough for me, but I just don’t feel secure knowing that he can pass on the secret of our home to anyone, especially You-Know-Who,” she paused, thinking. “Peter was never very loyal, I feel that he was only placed in Gryffindor because he lacked any notable traits from the other Houses. He has no Hufflepuff loyalty. No wit from Ravenclaw, and he’s far from ambitious.”
“I’m not sure about him myself, but I’ve never seen him around you know where,” said Severus honestly. “He’s either the biggest secret ever, or the trust is misplaced.”
“Peter used to tattle to Minerva frequently when we were in school, even though she would pass it off, she gave the boy an odd frown as he told on his supposed best friends.”
Severus had heard about that one from Lily more than once, and it seemed to be her go-to argument against anything Peter Pettigrew.
During his musing about Peter, he hardly felt extra weight be added onto his body. When he glance dup he was looking deep into baby blue eyes, which belong to none other than Harry Potter.
“Forgive me, Severus,” said Lily, standing near the door. “I’ll make you some tea and then I’ll be right back.”
Leaning back, Severus studied the baby, who was rather small, and thin, especially for his age. He knew at this moment that Harry wouldn’t be as tall or well-built as most children. Whatever happened during the pregnancy caused something to go wrong with the child’s growth, or something. No one was able to put a finger on what happened. Just that it was an extremely close call.
“I’m pretty certain that the smell of tea relaxes Harry,” a voice called from the kitchen. “I assume he inherited that little trait from me. Just another of my amazing qualities that he will grow up with – better than coffee though.”
Severus joined in the laughter.
“How many lumps of sugar?” a pause, “I seem to have forgotten. Earlier today I was standing around, in front of the bookcase, wondering what I was doing.”
“Really, your absent-mindedness is truly character building, Lily. I’m positive that Harry will inherit that one from you too.”
Lily stepped into the room, holding two teacups. “I’m sure he’ll take offense to that,” she set one down in front of Severus, but just out of reach from tiny hands, “trust me.”
“I assume that your stubbornness will most likely follow it,” he couldn’t help but add.
The room filled with genuine laughter after that last statement.
“Have you found any work yet?”
“Not yet,” said Severus, his facial expression just the same. “Despite the fact that I’m one of few potions masters, I feel like work just isn’t coming. The Dark Lord has all but ruined the chances of holding a career in that field as he destroyed most, if not all, the imports from ingredients for the rarer potions.”
A silence filled the room, besides the noise that Harry was making.
“Perhaps it’d be wise to accept the position that Dumbledore offered,” he continued, aware that he held Lily’s attention fully. “I’d have to wait for Slughorn to retire, I assume that it isn’t that far away, he’s getting old.”
Severus took a quick sip of his tea, making sure to be extra careful, that way he didn’t spill any on the now squirming Harry.
“That’s an excellent offer, Severus,” said Lily happily. “He told me to apply for a job as a teacher for Charms when Flitwick retired.”
“I’m sure little Harry would be done with school and beyond by the time that happens.”
Lily snorted into her tea and took a quick sip. “It really is fantastic, Sev, you deserve it. You’re highly talented at potions, and I have no doubts in my mind that the next generation will benefit greatly from your teachings.”
“I honestly don’t have the patience to teach people,” he muttered honestly, not wanting to dive in the subject. “I expect people to know the exact same amount that I know, I’ll never be able to change that.”
Lily let out a sigh, not wanting to go back to the previous topic, but it still pinched at her mind and made her head hurt. She had to get it out.
“As I was saying before,” she begun, “and I really hate talking about this, as it feels so wrong. I do believe that Peter will betray us to You-Know-Who, without a question, call it mother’s intuition. I believe that Peter will inform You-Know-Who that we’ve got a child, and that’s what will be used against us, he’ll strike when we’re unprepared.”
Severus nodded along, listening and attempting to soothe the ever worried Lily. Eventually the son of the distressed mother joined in with the distress and began squirming rather fiercely.
“– I know that it may seem stupid, but I know that we don’t have enough money to outright buy a house. Even if we did that, we wouldn’t be able to afford the other costs involved.”
“What about the Potter Manor?” suggested Severus, wondering why the small Potter family just didn’t live there. “I’m sure that it’d be far more secure than being here, right?”
“James never got the location from his parents,” said Lily, a thoughtful expression on her face. “When James got married to me, his parents allowed us to live here and they moved back to the manor, while we kept in touch, we were never able to actually go there.”
That made sense, as he had no idea where Prince Manor was either, although it was supposedly more of a mansion than a manor. Not as quite old or as ancient as families such as Potter or Malfoy.
“We could dip into the Potter fortune a little, but we made a vow that we’d never use that and that we’d use our own money,” said Lily, once more examining her hands, rather than meeting anyone’s eyes. “I’d rather not touch it at all, though.”
“I believe that everything will work out in the end,” said Severus, holding Harry firm. “You’ll just have to trust me on that, Lily. I don’t doubt that both you and James are natural fighters, not just spell or battle wise, but also survival wise. I’d sooner give up making potions then admit to anything less than that.”
“I appreciate it, Severus,” said Lily, almost tearing up. “I mean it, Severus. I have no idea what I’d do without you.
Severus rubbed his temple slight, there was no headache or any pain. He just felt a little self-conscious.
“I just had a thought,” he said, drawing out the suspension. “Have you ever thought about moving to a place more secure, closer to Hogwarts which means closer to the Order and closer to Dumbledore. I saw a nice house in Hogsmeade just the other day, in fact it was for sale and came with a few things I believe that you’d like. If not for you or James, perhaps for Harry?”
Lily placed her cup of tea down on the table, which slightly wobbled in the process. She made sure that she never met Severus’ eyes, instead, she decided to focus on the wobbly table.
“I assume that in order to buy a home in Hogsmeade, you’d need to buy a shop as well, and I assume that would cost quite a hefty sum that would make even the richest families vaults a sizable dent.”
“You’re correct in that assumption.”
“But they have some of the best security and wards every known, due to the power from Hogwarts seeping into Hogsmeade. There’s a reason why You-Know-Who was never able to touch Hogsmeade.” Lily muttered softly, her eyes still focusing on the table. “It also drove the prices sky-high when people realized it.”
“Well,” said Severus, shifting Harry onto the sofa next to him, instead of his lap, which was now numb. “I don’t want to try and manipulate you into wasting money and buying one, but perhaps there’s a method to get a property for cheaper than usual.”
“I’m not sure,” she said half-heartedly. “I think it would be better to just remain here and lay low. If we owned a shop, or appeared to be in Hogsmeade frequently, he’d grow suspicious, especially with how we escaped his clutches and then he could turn on you, and I’d never want that.”
“Hm, yes, I can see your concern,” said Severus. “I think having one, but appearing to be just visiting and make a huge display of that would be a good idea. Why not just go down regardless and have a look, even if you don’t bother, it’ll be good for you to get out. I know you’ve barely left the house since you were informed that the Dark Lord was searching you.”
He knew that Lily would enjoy the house, it was her style, from what he had learned over the years.
“And how is the man that owns the property, you speak fondly of the house as if you’ve seen it yourself.”
“The man is simply a male form of Molly,” said Severus with a light chuckle, which sounded foreign from his mouth. “He’s very friendly, yet professional.”
Lily nodded along, her bright green eyes focused on the forum of her sleeping son, who had somehow shifted from being asleep on the sofa next to Severus, to being on his lap once more. The scene was so surreal.
“You do know that Harry loves you, Severus,” she said, smiling. “Despite the fact that he’s only a little bit over three months old, he knows who you are. He knows his stuff. You’re one of few that he’ll fall asleep on or near without much of a fuss about where he is. Sirius is the only other that can get him to sleep that isn’t in his crib, and that’s because he can turn into a dog and allows Harry to tug on his fur, almost painfully and cuddle up on it.”
Severus was about to scowl at being compared to that mutt, but was stopped when lily began to speak again.
“He also inherited my genius for potions,” she paused, laughing. “He often watches me brew potions. In three months I can assume he’ll begin making his own potions.”
“I dare assume that’s nothing short of a blatant exaggeration,” Severus muttered with a laugh. “At three months? No six month old child would be able to make a potion, and this is coming from someone who was making potions before I could even run.”
Lily laughed, her smile pretty much reaching her eyes.
“I guess it was,” she said between chokes of laughter. “Don’t tell James, not that you would, but I think that Harry will take after me more than him. He looks a lot like me when I was a baby, at least from what I can remember.”
Before Severus could even think of a jab that he could use against his former nemesis, he was pulled from his thoughts when a slight pain spread over his left forearm. Hissing, he looked up and met worried green eyes.
“I guess the almighty Dark Lord would like to see me,” he muttered bitterly, sarcasm dripping from his words like a waterfall.
Lily’s expression went from amused to concerned in half a second, she instantly stood and began muttering about the fowl Dark Lord.
“Be careful,” she said, watching her friend with a slight motherly care, one that could put Molly to shame. “I mean it Severus. You may act like you can go against the rules and survive. If you must, tell him something about us, hold your spy status well.”
“You need not fret, Lily,” he said softly. “I have done this for many years, and I’m not about to falter now.”
He was just about to open the door when he heard his name being whispered.
“Please, if anything happens to James or I, take Harry and raise him as your own.”
“You’ll survive this,” said Severus, an air of certainty around him. “What-ifs aren’t the way to live, Lily.”
“Please,” she said softly. “It’s not like that, I just need to know that if everything goes pear-shaped, you’ll come get him and raise him like You-Know-Who would expect. Out of everyone, Harry is the most important.”
Severus felt an odd feeling, even with the slight tinge in his arm, something felt off.
“Lily, you’ve never been so morbid before,” he muttered, more to himself than her, but he knew that she heard. “Take some rest and talk to Potter, I’m sure he’d help raise your spirits. The Dark Lord’s popularity is dwindling, his madness is causing a few to become wary. He will fall.”
“Good, good…”
“Now it’s your turn to promise me something,” he muttered, his right hand gently caressing his left forearm.”
“Anything,” said Lily. “Anything at all, Sev, and I’ll do it.”
She studied her friend intently, her green eyes taking in everything, from his posture, to how his teeth were slightly gritted, and even the fact that he looked almost defeated at what he was about to say.
“I don’t want Harry to know that I took this,” he gestured to his left forearm, “ever, unless I feel like he should know. Maybe, the war will be over within three years and that’ll be enough for him to grow up safe and never have to worry about Death Eaters or my previous mistakes. I would like to tell him myself, about the fact that I made a few mistakes and rashly jumped into the first thing that I thought off, which was a bad idea.”
Lily let him ramble, it’d be cruel to cut it off, but eventually he gave out a hiss and frowned, beginning to walk again.
“I’ll see you soon, Lily,” he said and then paused. “Take care.”
Lily watched him leave, the moment the pop from the Disapparition occurred she let out a very small sigh and closed the front door, aware that her son was now awake and staring at her with his baby blue eyes. Slipping past her curious son, she made her way towards the bookshelf and allowed her hand to blindly hover before striking at a book, which made Harry laugh.
Setting the book down, she quickly cleaned the mess that she and Severus had made not even ten minutes ago. She knew that James should be back sooner rather than later, most likely with Sirius and she didn’t want the house to look messy. That was of course if James had actually left and not just sitting around and decided to eavesdrop.
She finally took her seat next to her son, who was now looking at the bookshelf and the book in her hands with keen interest. She realized almost instantly that she had chosen a book on charms, which tended to be a constant issue, as her hands sought out books on charms, as if on their own. She sent her son a quick motherly smile, especially when she realized that her son was eyeing the bookshelf with interest, as if wanting to get up and study the thing.
It was at that moment that she realized that her son had never really seen a book being used before.
She felt like she had somehow neglected her child, as magical children grew and developed faster than Muggle children. James had told her his first word was almost months before her own and he was walking before she could even crawl around.
James entered the sitting room about thirty minutes later with an odd expression on his face, which soon morphed into a smile when he saw his wife and son pretty much curled up on the sofa reading a book together, not that Harry was reading.
“Teaching him young, I assume.”
Lily jumped sky-high, Harry must have felt the jolt of fear through her as he stared at her oddly.
“Hello dear,” she said, focusing back on the book. “No harm in teaching him charms, after all, he’ll inherit my talent in it.”
James laughed, shifting towards the sofa, smiling, “I do hope that our little Harry wasn’t too troublesome, after all, he is the son of a Marauder.”
Lily made an acknowledging sound, not really caring what was said as she was far too busy pointing out things to her son.
“I spoke to Sirius and Remus, both agreed with us, well, they mainly agreed with you and not me, but no one needs to know that.” James muttered with a very light and airy chuckle, which sounded odd coming from a man’s lips, as it seemed as if it came from a teenager. “Sirius said he removed that!” he growled, stalking off towards the floo to drill some sense into his best friend.
“I spoke to Severus before, he wasn’t able to stay long a she had some important business to attend to, one of his potions in fact.”
James turned to face Lily, who had spoken rather suddenly, her eyes still on the book.
“He gave me an idea,” she continued. “He informed me of a house in Hogsmeade, I’m not exactly sure where it is, but I know that it’s there and I’m going to take Harry along with me guised as a shopping trip.”
“Sounds great, dear,” said James sweetly, the curse seeping deeper.
“If Peter does come over tomorrow, I don’t want Harry to be here when he arrives,” she said, trying not to laugh at her husband. “That may thwart his plans slightly.”