The Potter Twins and the Order of the Phoenix {5}

20. Nightmares

"I gotta say it's hard to be brave when you're alone in the dark, I told myself that I wouldn't be scared, but I'm still having nightmares" ~ Nightmares, All Time Low

Rain patters softly against the windows of the Potter cottage in Godric's Hollow, the sky above a stormy grey colour. James loved the rain - well, he hadn't always loved it, but since that fateful day that he and Lily shared their first kiss by the lake at Hogwarts, rain soaking through their robes, he adored it. 

But the rain wasn't what bothered him. Why was he here? And how on earth was the cottage in such good condition? The last time he was here, it was half destroyed, covered in ash and death. Yet it now it appeared untouched, by time and Voldemort's hand. He ventures deeper into the house with extreme caution. He jumps when he hears a slight thud from behind and spins on his heel, only to see their cat leaping down from his vantage point. 

"What's got you so shaken?"

He turns on his heel again and looks straight into the living room where he had once felt so at home. He remembers playing with the twins when they were babies, blowing smoke from his wand to keep them entertained. 

"Dad? Dad?"

His eyes pull focus on Haylee sitting on an armchair, reading a Muggle book that Lily probably would have lent to her if things had gone differently. The Lord of the Rings, James remembers Lily reading that in the Gryffindor common room...

"Haylee," he says breathlessly, taking a few uneasy steps towards her. 

"Are you all right?" she asks, setting her book aside. The closer James gets, the more he notices that something is...off about her. She's curvier than he remembers, and her face is fuller, healthier, almost. And most of all, the infamous lightning scar on her forehead is missing. 

"What happened to your scar?" he asks, stuttering as he motions helplessly to his own head. 

"Scar? What scar?" she asks, screwing up her nose. "Do you mean Harry? He's got that tiny scar on his head from when he crashed his toy broom into that vase. Are you sure you're all right, Dad?"

James nods weakly, looking around the room wearily; what on earth is happening?

"Oh," Haylee says suddenly, a smirk curving onto her lips. "You've been out to town with Padfoot, haven't you?" She giggles slightly, shaking her head. "Don't worry, I won't tell Mum."

"Mum?" James chokes. "Lily. Where - where is she?"

Haylee shrugs slightly, and twists in her seat to lean over the back of her chair. "Harry!" she closes out, earning a distant grunt in response. "D'you know where Mum is?"

Harry's head pops out from the kitchen, his black hair hanging "Oh, hi, Dad," he says breezily. "She was upstairs, last I saw," he replies, nodding.

Feeling panic rise up in his chest, James runs a hand through his hair. "All right, upstairs, Merlin's beard."

He bounds for the stairs and leaps up them, skipping multiple steps (and almost tripping) in his frantic nature. He flings the door to their bedroom open and stumbles inside, once again breathless. 

"James!" 

And there she is, perched on the side of the bed with her grey flickered hair pulled up into a ponytail. 

"What's got you in such a state?" she asks, eyeing him sceptically. He drops to his knees beside her, a sob escaping his mouth as he grips her hand desperately, latching on as if for dear life. 

"I lost you," he mutters tearfully. "I thought I lost you forever, I - I - "

"Lose me? You could never lose me," she says, a soft laughing escaping her.