TogetherShe felt heavy. Like invisible straps were pinning her down. Something soft seemed to be covering her from her chest down. Am I dead? She wondered vaguely. She could hear voices, but they were too soft to made out the words. She was suddenly aware that someone was holding her hand.
She tried to open her eyes, but couldn't. She tried to speak, but only a faint grunt emerged from her lips.She felt someone's grasp on her hand tighten.
"Lily?"Again, she tried to open her eyes and this time she succeeded. At first she could only make out blurry shapes but after blinking a few times, she saw someone who she thought she would never see again.
"James?" she whispered.
"Yeah,"Tears began to fill her eyes.
"I - I though y - " but James put a finger to her lips before he reassured her .
"I almost was," he said softly.
"But I heard - I heard Voldemort cast a killing curse on you,"
"He did, but I dodged it. Instead, it hit the wall, which collapsed and landed on me. The Healers only released me last week."
"What day is it?"
"November 16,"
"So I've been here for two weeks?"
"Two weeks and two days, actually,"
"Harry...Where's Harry?" she asked urgently as she tried to sit up.But James moved from his chair to the edge of her bed as gently put his hands on her shoulders to hold her back.
"He's fine. He's been with Sirius since the night we were attacked."
"What about our house?"
"Nearly totally destroyed. Like I said, Harry's been at Sirius's since the attack and I've been there since my release."
They were silent for a few minutes before Lily asked, "So Harry didn't have to be hospitalized?"
"No," even James sounded amazed,
"Sirius said the Healers checked him over, but he was fine...He just has a lightning bolt scar on his forehead, but other than that, they said he's perfectly healthy."
"So our son is the only one to have ever survived the Killing Curse?"
"Yeah, you should read the papers. 'The Boy Who Lived', they're calling him. Hundreds of people have been gathering outside the hospital, hoping to see him...and us. Their hasn't been a day that's passed since the attack that we haven't been on the front page of The Daily Prophet. And still, nobody knows how Harry survived..."
Lily tried to remember what had happened...She remembered Voldemort using the Cruciatus Curse on her...she remembered being stabbed with the dagger, and how Voldemort had said she would watch her son die...but she couldn't remember anything after that.
"So is Voldemort gone? For good?"
"That is an extremely difficult question to answer," came a new voice.James and Lily turned around to see none other than Albus Dumbledore walking across the ward in St. Mungo's Hospital for Magical Maladies and Injuries.
"How are you feeling, Lily?" he continued kindly.
"Exhausted,"
Dumbledore smiled slightly as he drew up a chair from midair.
"Now as to your question...Is Voldemort gone for good? The majority of the wizarding population thinks that young Harry has brought a permanent end to Voldemort's reign of terror and that he is dead.
"But there are a few, and I include myself, who do not believe that we have seen the last of Voldemort. But for now, we can all sleep a little sounder in our beds knowing that we will at least have a nice long vacation from war."
"Professor," James began,
"there is something that I still don't understand. How did Harry survive?"
"Have a theory, but before I share it, I would like to hear Lily's version of the attack,"
"I don't know, she's only just woken up - "But he stopped when Lily lightly put her hand on his.
"It's okay James," she said as she sat up in bed. As she did so, she felt a sudden pain in her lower abdomen, but she ignored it for now. She told James and Dumbledore all that she could remember.
"... but I can't remember hardly anything once I after being stabbed and thrown to the floor..."Dumbledore looked at her thoughtfully for a moment, his blue eyes twinkling, before he asked,
"Did you maybe say some kind of incantation of a spell?"Lily was silent as she stared at the edge of her bed. She suddenly remembered something new. She had said something, but what?
"Yes," she said quietly.
"Right before he tried to kill Harry...But I don't remember what..."James looked bewildered, but Dumbledore had a knowing look in his blue eyes.
"I thought so," Dumbledore said,
"I believe that Harry survived because of love. Lily, you nearly gave your life in the slim possibility that your son could live. Voldemort gave you an option to live - yet you refused. That, and the spell you performed while near death, gave Harry a protection, a protection I believe will last for quite some time."Silence greeted Dumbledore's speech while both Lily and James plunged into thought. But thinking just made Lily's head hurt, so she switched gears.
"I want to see Harry," she said, breaking the silence.
"That can be arranged," Dumbledore said serenely.
"I had told James and Sirius that it would be best if Harry stayed out of the public's eye, but I think it would be alright if he comes in for a short while.
"Well, I must be going, I must get back to my students...they have been even more restless than usual...goodbye, James, Lily,"
He nodded politely to each of them before leaving.
"Do you want me to get Harry now?"Lily beamed at him.
"That would be great...but first, I want to ask you something"
"Anything,"
"What happened to Peter?"
"They found him. He killed twelve Muggles trying to escape, but they got him.
He confessed to being our secret keeper and selling us out. They held a trial and they gave him a life sentence in Azkaban."
His voice was filled with bitterness, and Lily couldn't blame him.James kissed her before he left.
She bit her bottom lip as she scooted down in bed, getting more comfortable. Even now that she and James had been together for five years.She was staring into space, thinking about James and Harry, when she heard someone walking into the ward.
She turned slightly to see Emmeline Vance, in her bright green Healer's robes, smiling at seeing Lily awake. Emmeline had been a few years ahead of her and James in school, but once they all joined the Order of the Phoenix, she and Lily had become pretty close friends.
"I'm glad to see you're my Healer," Lily said as Emmeline approached the side of her bed.
"I'm glad to see you alive, to be honest," Emmeline smiled.
"So how did you manage to get rid of all the paparazzi of yours...?I haven't seen them away from your bed since he was able to get out of his own."
"Oh, they'll be back," Lily laughed,
"Jame's going to get Harry so I can see him,"
"That's wonderful," but, this time, her smile didn't quite reach her eyes. She became very serious as she sat down next to Lily's bed.
"What's wrong?" Lily asked with concern.
"Lily, you know just as much as I do how close you were to death...you're lucky to be alive, really..." Emmeline looked sadly into Lily's eyes.
"The dagger that Voldemort stabbed you with...it been coated in what would have been deadly poison if Sirius and the other Aurors hadn't found you so quickly."
"What are you trying say, Emmeline?"
"The dagger nearly cut you in half, Lily."There were no words. Lily stared at Emmeline before asking,
"S - so what does th - this m-mean? There was a slight knock on the door
"Come in," she said as she hastily wiped her eyes as an Auror came in.
"Mrs. Potter? Your husband and son are here to see you."Lily was about to ask why they needed permission to come in, but Emmeline seemed to read her mind.
"Oh yeah, I don't know if James had the chance to tell you, but the Ministry has set an Auror to guard this ward as long as you're here."
"He left that out," Lily replied.
"Oh, they can come in," The Auror nodded before James, carrying Harry, came into the room. Emmeline let herself out, smiling at James as she left.Even with the highly upsetting news that she had just received, Lily beamed as she saw her son
."Mama!" Harry said, smiling, as he and James approached her bed.James gave Harry to Lily and said,
"He's really missed you,"Lily hugged her son close as she nearly broke down in tears again. Once she loosed her grip, she ran her hand over his jet black hair - her feeble attempt to tame the uncontrollable hair he inherited from his father. As she did this, she saw the lightning bolt scar that James had told her about. She lightly ran her finger across it, glad to notice that it didn't hurt Harry.
"How are you doing?" James asked.
"I'm okay," But she wouldn't - no, couldn't - look him in the eye
."You know, you never could lie to me,"
Lily gave a bleak laugh, more out of exasperation than anything.
"You're right..." She kept her eyes on Harry.
"I spoke with Emmeline, my Healer, while you where gone,"He nodded.
"I know she's your Healer. Dumbledore made sure that she was because she's in the Order and she won't leak stuff about your condition."
Finally, Lily looked at him, still cradling Harry. "Did she tell you, about-?"Slowly, James nodded.
"She did,"Lily looked at Harry again, who yawned as he leaned against his mother.
Once again, tears fell down her cheeks.James looked sadly at her as he sat next to his wife and wrapped his arms around her as she cried on his shoulder.
"You know, I was upset too," James began,
" now, I'm just glad that you're alright.? The three of us are still together, and that's all that matters,"
"Thank you," she said softly as she smiled at him.James was right...they were together..and for that moment, nothing else mattered.