The New Marauder

Five

The only good thing about Forks, Washington, James had seen was the abundance of trees to hide behind. The thought of changing into a stag had crossed his mind until Lily reminded him how some Muggle Americans loved to hunt, ecstatic at the idea of mounting his antlered head on their wall. So, after four hours of traveling in that god-awful Muggle contraption that seemed like it could have killed them at a moment's notice, James and Lily found themselves hidden behind the treeline in the backyard of a white house.
When Lily suggested staying inside the car to wait for the cop and Orion to arrive, James disagreed, hoping the fresh mountain air would calm his nerves better than the claustrophobic death machine ever could.
"Maybe we came too early," Lily said, looking at the dark house and empty driveway. "Kids are still out trick-or-treating; maybe they aren't done yet."
"Possibly," James agreed with a sigh. "How long did you want to wait?"
"What time is it now?" Lily asked quietly, hope fading a bit.
"Eight fifteen," James answered after calculating the time change using the watch his father gave him when he turned seventeen.
"We have maybe a couple of hours before we have to return. If we don't see him tonight, then we can try again," Lily suggested, rubbing her hands together to keep warm.
James nodded solemnly, hoping to catch just a glimpse of his nephew to ease the fury of his departure. The good news was, now that they had the address, he could come back at any time to check in on Orion.
As James stared at the old-looking Muggle house, a sense of envy took hold in his heart. Not for how Sirius's brother lived, but because the Squib inside that old white Muggle house got to hold his nephew every night and had watched him grow day by day. Meanwhile, all James got was an empty crib and small reminders of not only his sister but his nephew. Every minute of the past year, he felt the stabs of sadness turn into an ugly green monster and he did not have the answer on how to make it stop.
"James," Lily whispered, hitting him on the arm repeatedly. "James, look."
Moving his eyes away from the house, he watched the blue and white Muggle contraption pull into the gravel driveway, lighting up the outside of the house he had just eyed. Without thinking, James grabbed Lily's hand and walked around the yard, sticking to the treeline. Something in him wanted to be closer to his nephew.
"Do you think that's them?" James asked quietly, moving forward to get a better look.
Taking another step, he saw two male adults—one dressed up as a poor imitation of a vampire holding a bag, and the other in a Muggle police costume—get out of the car.
"All I'm saying is, you should have known how they would react, Theo," the police officer said, laughing as he opened the back door and bent down to reach inside.
The vampire called Theo let out his own laugh while walking around to the opposite side of the car. "I thought it would be funny; I didn't expect to almost get banned from the Reservation."
With attentive eyes, James watched as the police man stood up, and his heart picked up at the small child dressed in what he could only describe as a frog suit, holding a weird-looking shield on his back, adorned with wooden sticks crossed in an X.
"What is he wearing?" James asked his wife quietly, not noticing the small pop of a stick breaking under his foot that echoed through the quiet night.
"Maybe he's one of those heroes from the comics," Lily answered just as quietly. "They were really popular with the Muggle boys before I went to Hogwarts."
"Superhero," James scoffed as the two adults made it into the house.
"Now that we've seen him, I think it's time to get back to Harry," Lily suggested, feeling an uncertain feeling settle in her gut.
"We've barely got a glance, Lils," James protested as Lily stepped in the direction of the Muggle car they drove here. Yet, neither saw the auror standing in the window looking at the two of them fighting through the dull light reflecting off the full moon.
"Our son is at home, James—"
"And Orion is here. He's right there, Lily," James pointed to the White House desperately.
"I knew you wouldn't settle for just a quick glance," Lily sighed defeatedly. "We have to go home, maybe—"
"Maybe take this conversation inside?" A new voice interrupted the bickering couple. Both James and Lily jumped and turned around at the sound of Saranna's sudden appearance. "Or out here, I wouldn't mind breaking a few laws tonight if it means keeping that boy safe."
"Who are you?" James demanded, pulling out his own wand while stepping in front of his wife.
Saranna took her time to take in the tall lanky man with messy jet-black hair and wearing glasses that looked crooked on his face in the dark. After a moment, it clicked in her mind why he looked so familiar to her. "Are you fucking kidding me?" She growled, taking a bold step forward. "Please tell me you are not actually this fucking stupid."
"I'm sorry, what?" The redhead asked, peeking out from behind her husband.
Saranna let her wand arm drop in exasperation and turned to the house. "Let's go," she called out over her shoulder, not waiting for them to follow. James and Lily Potter somehow found them, and she knew wasn't getting any answers by standing outside in the cold.
The confused couple looked to one another before turning to follow the woman who seemed to have the attitude of Mad-Eye and McGonagall put together. Either way, they were more than fine with getting closer to the small one inside they had been desperately missing.
Walking up to the house, James felt his palms becoming slippery as his nervousness grew to a new height. He couldn't help but worry about the pain it would cause him if Orion didn't recognize him or Lily. What if Orion didn't want to see him, or what if he did want to see them and refused to let them leave? How could he walk away from his sister's kid like that? Maybe Lily was right and they should have left when she suggested it or possibly never have come at all.
James was so stuck in thought that he failed to see that the woman who accosted them had stopped on the steps in front of the door with her hand outstretched. "Wands now," she ordered a little too calmly.
"You can't think—"
"I can, and I will," Saranna interrupted him. "You're either failing or refusing to acknowledge the situation you have found yourselves in, Mr. Potter."
"What are you on about?" Lily asked worriedly. "He's our nephew—"
"Who is currently under the protection of MACUSA at the moment," Saranna cut her off sternly. "The both of you Apparated into the country illegally, breaking not only the International Law of Apparition but also risking the International Statute of Secrecy when you decided to flagrantly steal a car in a swarm of No-Majes. So you can either hand them over, and we can have a conversation, or I can call my friends, and they can take you to the Ministry in New York, which is where you should have gone in the first place to avoid a situation like this."
James's confused look turned into a glare as his hazel eyes held the  emotionless cool grey eyes of the one standing between him and Orion. "Here," Lily offered her own wand, placing it gently in her palm. "James, the goal of coming here was to make sure Orion was safe from a distance. We failed in doing that, so give her your wand so we can get the answers we need and go home to Harry."
"I give you this and you will take us inside?" James asked after a moment of thought.
"That is where we are heading, Mr. Potter," Saranna responded icily.
"Fine," James sighed, placing his own wand in her hand.
With a curt nod, Saranna turned on her heel and led them through the front door of a small two-bedroom house in Forks, Washington.

Meanwhile, the streets of Godric's Hollow were filled with happy children, magical and Muggle alike, running around with their friends going house to house, hoping to fill their bags with candy that would last for days on end. Truthfully, it was one of Mary Selwyn's favorite holidays next to Christmas. She loved to watch the children dress up as their favorite characters run around without a care in the world. Yet none of these happy children knocked on the front door of the cozy cottage she sat in while watching over the one child she loved as she would her own.
In the tiny nursery at the top of the stairs in the cottage, she watched her godson sleep blissfully, aware of the danger that the seer Dumbledore talked to wrapped him up in. When she thought about how awful Voldemort was with his bigoted ways and disgustingly cruel acts on the Muggles he despised, she couldn't help but wonder why he felt threatened by a mere baby. There was no rhyme or reason for it, yet that wouldn't stop her from defending that baby with everything she had if the Death Eaters came knocking. Not that any of them would unless the mistrust that soaked The Order with paranoia is warranted, which she hopes is just the result of almost eleven years at war. But if it is warranted, then they lost this war long ago.
It was when Harry first stirred from his sleep that Mary Selwyn put down the old potions book and stood up worried he might have had a bad dream instead of being alerted by the creak of the small garden's gate as she went to soothe her godson, hoping to ease his worries and help him go back to sleep. It wasn't until the opening of the front door in an almost too silent manner did the hair on her neck lift in warning.
Within a flash, she set Harry down in his crib and barricaded the door. After that, she dove for her small bag full of books in search of her wand. It took ten precious seconds for the horrid realization to wash over her. Remus had packed her wand in his bag before they had left their home, to come here, the bag he took with him when he left. She was too focused on seeing her godson that she hadn't thought to grab her wand from him.
Mary's trembling hands covered her mouth to hold back choked sobs, in order to stay as quiet as she could in hope that whoever in the cottage might just turn away when there was no one downstairs. Her eyes turned to meet the beautiful green eyes of her nephew just as the footsteps from the hall started to ascend the stairs causing Mary's heart to plummet.
"I'm sorry, Harry," Mary whispered through the tears that cascaded down her cheeks. "I'm so sorry that I failed you, my sweet boy." She cried, reaching through the bars of his crib to smooth the tears gathering in his own eyes. "I love you so, so much, never forget that."
Gazing into those vivid green eyes, all she could think about is how she's the only thing in between whatever is coming and the one she vowed to protect when she accepted her role as godmother. Mary tore her eyes away from his and ripped the lamp off the dresser as she stood up to face the door. No matter what, she would fight to the death against what's coming through that door.