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Alice portkeyed into the Granger home and was drawn as if by a magnet to the sound of children's laughter. There she found her son and godson playing with two other children, the tears sprang to her eyes at thoughts of what could have happened to both of them ran rampant through her mind. Neville noticed his mum, dad and gran standing there and shot over as fast as his little legs would carry him, he was soon engulfed in a hug by his parents as a clearly emotional Augusta spoke. "Lord Potter, the house of Longbottom owes everyone who was there last night a debt of gratitude it could never repay."
James put a stop to those thoughts immediately. "Miss Longbottom, no debt can exist between friends. If the situations had been reversed, Frank and Alice would have done exactly the same as we did. We're just all delighted we got there in time to be of assistance, never forget the Longbottoms took down two of the death eaters in that room. We seem to be specialising in lucky escapes recently."
Neville was now busily introducing his new friends to his family as Emma was just about to get the kids lunches ready. She offered the adults a cup of tea and Lily went with her into the kitchen to lend a hand. They were working well together when Alice entered. "Hello again Emma, our first introduction was in rather trying circumstances. Your daughter is such an adorable little girl, she already has those three boys dancing to her tune."
This got a chuckle from Lily, "You don't know the half of it Alice, Hermione probably saved all our lives. She's also going to be a very powerful witch when she gets older."
Alice put her arm around her best friend, "How are you really doing Lily? I assume it was your charm that got rid of that monster?"
Lily could only nod, the power of speech temporarily blocked off by the strong emotions coursing through her. She didn't want to turn into some crying female, she had fought by her husband's side on more than one occasion. The dam finally broke though as Lily now had fat tears streaming down her cheeks. "Yes it was me and it's eating me up Alice. My sister is lying dead and I can't shake the feeling I set her up so my son could live. What kind of person does that make me?"
Alice could see her friend really needed to let this out. "It makes you a mother! While that psycho bitch was torturing me all I could focus on was protecting Neville, your summoning him to safety gave me the strength to put the crazy bastard down. If I had died saving my Neville then I could have crossed over content, knowing you would raise him as your own. You wouldn't have hesitated to do the same for Harry!"
This got another nod from Lily as Alice continued, "Dumbledore put us in this position with that blasted prophecy, it's beginning to look as if he engineered the full thing. We took him at his word and that's beginning to appear like a really bad mistake."
Emma's arm now snaked its way around Lily as she tried to offer her perspective on the situation. "Lily, you have to believe Alice on this or it will eat you away into nothing. I would step in front of a bullet to save my Hermione, if I also knew she would be well taken care of I would think that was a fair exchange."
Lily was really breaking her heart now. "Her funeral is tomorrow and we can't go in case death eaters show up."
Alice had some better news for her best friend. "I think it will be safe for you to go. The Lestrange brothers were pumped full of veritaserum with every death eater they named being arrested, the rest will face the same treatment."
This brought a gasp of disbelief from Lily that Alice understood, she tried to provide an answer. "Barty appears determined to end this war, he also has Dumbledore in his sights. All our children will be able to grow up in safety and not know what a dark mark is, I would have given my life for that outcome!"
Emma tried to get through to her young friend. "Lily, what you have here is survivors guilt, I think you need to go to that funeral tomorrow and make peace with your sister. I'll take care of the boys until you get back, Neville is welcome to stay here as well if you want to accompany her Alice?"
Alice nodded in agreement, she'd never met Petunia but would be there to support Lily.
Lily actually felt better for getting that out in the open, she would go to the funeral tomorrow and say goodbye to her big sister. Emma almost drew a smile with her next quip.
"Now if we don't get this food out there soon, we could have a riot on our hands. Dudley doesn't like to be kept waiting on his grub!"
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