The Life that Never Lived ? (Goblet of Fire)

THE PARTING OF THE WAYS

In my research to find a Dr. Who thing for the last chapter, because my dedicated friend had insisted there should be at least one in this book, I came across the fact that the chapter title to this is in fact an episode title...fun fact!

HPHPHPHPHPHP

Lily could still feel the unease living in the room. They were all exhausted, though it was only the middle of the afternoon. It was the emotional drainage of having to hear everything Harry had to live through in his life, and always feeling like it was never going to get better. As she sat there staring into nothing, still trying to come up with some kind of answer to understand why Harry had to somehow magically summon their ghosts for help, she finally came to the conclusion, "they could have made that graveyard Unplottable before the night started."

"Eh?" James murmured, still slumped in on himself and cursing the weight of the world on his son.

"Err, Voldemort could have instructed that whole graveyard been made Unplottable before the night began, as well as the house he was staying in. It's such a small area I doubt the Ministry would notice that on their radar, and it would explain that horrid mess."*

James sighed, but didn't argue the point, none of them did. It was a good answer, but the amount of forethought, and the one who would have had to put that curse up, hardly made that feel better.

Still, they'd had their moment of peace, a kick back to reality as they got their chances to air their grievances and talk about what they'd heard, which always helped even a bit to make this all seem more understandable. So she picked this book back up, and went to hopefully the last chapter.

Sirius frowned lightly, it was hard to imagine that look.

James almost felt a real smile again, it was good to know you could always trust McGonagall.

Harry suddenly cocked his head to the side as he thought back over all Crouch had told again, and a sudden hope tried to grapple within him. Jr. himself had just admitted he'd seen the existence of Pettigrew, and if Sirius' testimony wasn't enough to say he was alive, could this man's be? He forced himself not to say anything about it, not only because he felt no settling feeling that even slightly indicated he should be hoping for this, but also because he remembered all the rules and restrictions around this Veritaserum potion that implied while all of this was true under the potion, none of it would hold up in court where it really mattered. If though...if that could possibly happen, Harry just knew everything that happened tonight would be worth it...except Cedric.

Lily crooned again, she was now convinced she'd never feel comfortable letting go of her baby again with everything he'd been through.

James wriggled around in both appreciation someone was doing that for him, and the ever present longing his name couldn't be used in any other tense other than past when it came to his son.

Sirius was wriggling in his spot so much he was going to dislodge his cushion from beneath him, and still he didn't care. He knew he'd be going crazy up in that office, not having any clue what was going on, and most of all where Harry was! He knew the answer and he was still feeling tormented over his pup!

Lily was wishing that she didn't have to read now, so that she could pass the book along to someone else and hum in his ear that everything was going to be okay. James was keeping him fairly well distracted though, occasionally leaning over and giving him a small poke, or murmuring some stupid little comment or joke in his ear every few moments to keep his attention distracted just like he always did for Sirius whenever his terrible fate had come up. Harry was clearly enjoying the attention, so she couldn't bring herself to stop what was working even if she wasn't the solution.