Harry Potter One Shots

(2) That One Night

All rights belong to the author, kingspensieve

He didn't understand what was being said; he only knew that Albus Dumbledore was still talking. The funeral was dragging on. So many people had talked already. Everyone seemed to have something to say. He had an almost overwhelming urge to check his watch; it felt as though he'd been standing there for hours. Of course, time didn't really matter that much anymore, not to him. He just wanted to take his son and go home...to whatever home there was left.

It had been a week since James had come home to find his world broken on the nursery floor of a dark house. The front door had been just barely opened, and he had been able to hear Harry's cries from the yard. Upstairs, Lily lay on the floor in front of the crib, eyes unseeing, covered in debris from an unidentified blast. It had taken several minutes for him to process. He'd not been able to react to Harry. The only thing that he knew was that Lily was gone, and there was nothing he could do to bring her back.

Eventually, he'd been able to pull himself together long enough to Floo Dumbledore. The headmaster had arrived soon after with Healer Severus Snape. All around James, the Order was being mobilized. Sirius was hunting Peter; Snape was managing the postmortem exam; Death Eaters were slowly being rounded up. Things were happening, but James just sat in a corner and held his son.

Now, here in the cemetery at Godric's Hollow, he stood between Remus and Sirius and waited for all of the attendees to leave. He hadn't been able to hold back tears, so Sirius had a grip on his shoulder while Remus rocked a sleeping Harry. On Remus's other side stood Snape. The man looked almost as bad as James, jaw clenched against the flood of emotion. He stood together with the other three. Unfortunate, really, that it had taken such a tragedy to bring them to the same point.

Finally, Dumbledore stepped away from the grave and made his way over to them. Everyone followed him over to James to shake his hand before they left for the Apparition point. After what seemed like a thousand people, it was only the five of them left standing there.

"Well," sighed Dumbledore, "I should be getting back to headquarters. I believe the ladies have prepared a lunch for everyone." He laid a hand on James's arm. "Take your time, James. They'll keep it warm for you. I shall see the rest of you soon." With that, Dumbledore strode off towards the Apparition point. The four watched him disappear before any of them moved.

James left them to go sit on the bench by Lily's grave.

Sirius took a deep breath and turned to the other two. His eyes rested on Harry for a moment before he spoke. "I'm, uh, I'm just going to wait here with him for a bit," he said, "Anyway. I'll make sure he actually, you know, comes back to headquarters." He paused for a minute, looking very much like there was something he couldn't quite bring himself to say. "Okay, look," he directed this towards Snape, "It's sort of a new day for everyone. I thought we might could say clean slate and start over. You've been nothing but helpful the past week, and even though we've been civil for years, it just seems useless to continue with the tension. You're a Healer, not a Death Eater, and you were Lily's best friend, so...yeah..." He trailed off again. He looked extremely uncomfortable, and Remus just looked between the two.

There was a rather long pause in which Sirius shifted and Snape stared blankly at him. Then, Snape nodded slightly and said, "Truce, Black. Fair enough." Sirius let out a relieved breath and turned to go stand near James. Snape and Remus quietly left the cemetery and Apparated away.

Harry had woken from the jolt of Apparition and was rather upset at the abruptness of the landing. He started to sniffle and cry again; he'd been doing that a lot lately, always asking for his mother. It had gotten to the point that James had to pass him to one of the others to explain again and again.