Living The Destiny's Path

Old Endings and New Beginnings

It was one of those evenings Lily knew that she would never forget, though she wasn't sure why. It started out just as any other:
she and James ate dinner together, cleaned up, and headed into the sitting room, lit a fire in the grate and lounged on the couch. It was late by the time they decided to go to bed.
Just as they were about to head up stairs, an urgent voice called,

"James! Lily!"They spun around to see Professor McGonagall's head in their fireplace, looking very frantic.

"Death Eaters were in the castle! Bill Weasley's seriously injured and no one knows where Albus-"

"We're on our way." James interrupted her.

"We'll Floo to the hospital wing."

McGonagall nodded briefly before she disappeared.

XXXX

Moments later, James and Lily came bursting out of the matron's office and into the hospital wing. Everyone was gathered around one bed.

Under Madam Pomfrey's arm, they saw Bill lying unconscious, his face nearly unrecognizable. In fact, the only way Lily knew it was him was from his long red hair.

The inner Healer in Lily suddenly burst.

"What happened?" she asked Madam Pomfrey, who was dabbing a harsh-smelling green potion at his wounds.

"He was attacked," Ginny answered, "by Fenrir Greyback."

"But it wasn't the full moon," James said as Lily moved closer to Bill.

"I doubt that Bill will be a true werewolf," Remus said, but that does not mean that there won't be some contamination. Those are cursed wounds. They are unlikely ever to heal fully, and - and Bill might have some wolfish characteristics from now on."

"Dumbledore might know something that'd work, though," Ron said.
"Where is he? Bill fought those maniacs on Dumbledore's orders, Dumbledore owes him, he can't leave him in this state-"

"Ron - Dumbledore's dead," said Ginny.

"What?!" cried out James, Lily, and Remus in unison

"Snape killed him," said Harry bitterly, "I was there, I saw it. We arrived back on the Astronomy Tower because that's where the Mark was...Dumbledore was ill, he was weak, but I think he realized it was a trap when we heard footstep running up the stairs. He immobilized me, I couldn't do anything, I was under the Invisibility Cloak - and then Malfoy came through the door and disarmed him-"

Hermione clapped her hands to her mouth, Ron groaned, Luna's mouth trembled, and tears began to spill from Lily's eyes.
"-more Death Eaters arrived - and then Snape - and Snape did it - The Avada Kedavra." Harry couldn't go on.

Everyone sat in strickened silence until Professor McGonagall entered that ward and said that Molly and Arthur would be there shortly. Harry then told McGonagall what Snape had done.

A few people wondered out loud why Dumbledore had always trusted Snape to begin with.

"I'd love to know what Snape told him to convince him." said Tonks.

Surprisingly, it was Harry who answered.

"I know," he said as everyone turned to look at him. "Snape passed Voldemort that information that made Voldemort hunt us down." He looked directly at his parents. "Then Snape told Dumbledore he hadn't realized what he was doing, that he was really sorry he'd done it, sorry we were attacked."They all stared at him.

"And Dumbledore believed that?" James said in utter disbelief.Lily however, didn't speak. James turned to her, but his incredulous look quickly changed to worry when he realized how pale she was.

"Lil?" he asked.She looked up at him, her breathing becoming uneven.

"He was the - the one who - who overheard-" but she fell silent.The people gathered in the hospital wing began telling the events of the night, but Lily took very little notice.

She could remember quite vividly when Severus Snape had joined the Order. It was a few months after Harry was born. None of the Order, particularly James and Sirius, were thrilled, and all were suspicious - and rightly so; from the information they dad, Snape was a Death Eater.

But no one questioned Dumbledore when he insisted that Snape was spying for, not on, them. No one, but James and Sirius. Lily soon lost track of how many times they persisted that Snape was still on Voldemort's side. But she dismissed it - thinking that an old school rivalry was clouding there judgement.But now they knew the truth. Snape was the one who had overheard the prophecy. Snape was the one who had condemned her family. She realized that there must never have been a real choice for Voldemort when it came between Harry or Neville.

It had probably been the proudest moment of his life when Snape had the perfect opportunity to bring James Potter's life crashing down by making his infant son the target of the Dark Lord.

Lily was jarred out of her thoughts when Molly, Arthur, and Fleur rushed into the ward. The next thing she knew, Fleur was asserting her love for Bill and that she was still going to marry him. Then, Tonks was practically screaming at Remus, saying that she didn't care that he was a werewolf and Remus, being the discreet man that he was, did not give her a straight answer. But Lily had a feeling that Tonks had finally broken through.

XXXX
Three Weeks Later -

James, Lily, and Harry arrived at the Burrow as guests for Bill and Fleur's wedding. The back yard was full of white chairs that faced a white archway, intertwined with gold flowers.

Nearly half of the seats were filled.They sat next to Remus and Tonks. Lily and Tonks had just begun talking when Ginny, looking quite pretty in her pale gold dress robes, approached them. Lily noticed that Harry was determinately not looking at her.

"Um, Lily? Mum need to ask you something," Ginny said, slightly nervous.

"Alright," Lily said, standing up and following her.Once inside, Ginny headed for the stairs. Lily, slightly confused, gestured toward the kitchen and said,

"Where's...?"

"I didn't bring you here to see Mum." Ginny said very quickly. She took a deep breath and continued, "Fleur is crying and locked herself in my room. She won't let me or her sister in. I didn't know who else to get."Lily blinked.

"Okay, I'll see what I can do."She followed Ginny up the stairs until they reached a blonde girl dressed in pale gold who was pacing outside of a closed door. Ginny and Gabrielle fell behind Lily as she knocked on the door.

"Fleur, it's me, Lily. Can I come in?"There was no answer. Lily pulled out her wand, unlocked the door and turned to Ginny and Gabrielle to say, "Just give me a minute alone with her."

Lily entered the room to see Fleur sitting on a small stool in front of a mirror. Her long blonde hair was pulled back in an elegant bun; she looked absolutely stunning in her white wedding gown. But when she look up to see who had entered the room, her eyes were puffy and red.

"Go away," she said as she hastily wiped her eyes.Lily went to her side and soothingly rubbed her shoulder.

"Fleur, it's perfectly normal to get a bit nervous before you get married......."

A/N Heyy guys!!!!! Ik this chappy was short, but don't worry, next ones will be pretty long.

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