Piece By Piece

Chapter Three: Tour the Ruins

      "IT'S POTTER! CALL FOR BACKUP!!"

      James jumped at the voice and turned around. A few meters away stood three Death Eaters; one standing in front of the other two. James figured he'd been the one to make the call. Reflexively he stuck his arm out to shield Lily, who he then noticed was already in front of him with her wand in one outstretched hand and the other shielding him. 

      When the Death Eater in front saw how they'd reacted, he sneered. "Aw, does Big Bad Potter suddenly need his girlfriend to keep him safe?" 

      "What do you want with me?" James asked, stepping forward.

      "As if you don't know," The Death Eater retorted. 

      James was confused. He turned to Lily. "Is this something else the Ministry's been monitoring?"

      "No..." She looked just as confused as he felt.

      "Oh don't play dumb," The Death Eater scoffed. "And don't try anything heroic either. In minutes this place'll be swarming with Death Eaters; this time we'll bring you in. It's over."

      James noticed that while the Death Eater had been monologuing, Lily had somehow figured out exactly what was going on. She looked at him with a mixture of surprise and horror. The next thing he knew she'd grabbed his hand and began to sprint away from the Death Eaters. It took him a few seconds to register what had just happened, but the shouting and hexes that came from behind them jerked him back to reality. His brain began to work on autopilot; telling his arm to take out his wand and fire shield spells and hexes back at the Death Eaters who were now hot on their tails. 

      Lily was doing the same but had become quickly distracted by the new Death Eaters that had just arrived in front of them. Out of the corner of James' eye he saw her fling hexes and other defensive spells in rapid succession, practically bowling over the new arrivals. If they weren't in mortal danger, James would have made a comment about how feirce she looked. She kept them running until they were well out of reach from their pursuers; then James felt her jerk him towards her and with a CRACK the scenery around them changed. Lily nearly collapsed onto the cold floor that was now beneath them, dragging him down with her.

      James' immediate concern was Lily. He rolled over to where she lay down, mostly unmoving. "Lily?!" He shook her to see if she'd move. When she didn't, he got to his knees and picked her up, cradling her in his arms. He brushed the hair out of her face. "Are you alright?"

      She looked scared and exhausted, but nodded. "Sorry that was so sudden. I knew we had to get out of there before their backup arrived."

      "Don't apologize," James said, now smiling. "That was badass. You saved both of us by doing that."

      Lily smiled and pushed herself out of James' arms. They began to look around. From what James could see, where they were looked  like the Ministry; but it was too dark for him to see anything properly. He lit up his wand and held it out in front of him. When he swept it around, everything the light touched looked damaged or, worse, completely decimated. When he turned around, Lily was staring at him; she looked just as confused as he was. 

      "What do you think happened here?" James asked, gesturing to the space around them.

      "I have no clue," Lily said, looking around again to make sure she had taken them to the right place. "But whatever it is... it's bad. Like, apocalypse-level bad. I'm sure that the Ministry's been attacked before but this... this is different. We need a plan."

      "Yeah," James agreed; his voice was quiet and withdrawn. The gears in his head were turning.

      "James?"

      "Back before you started running," He began, crossing his arms and looking back up at Lily. "You looked like you knew exactly what was going on. Like why that Death Eater said he was looking for me. Why? What did you figure out?"

      Lily hesitated. "I didn't recognize the Death Eater who was talking to us, but I did recognize one of the two behind him. It was Rodolphus Lestrange."

      "Rodolphus?"

      "Mhm. And we both know he didn't die in 1981; so there's no way he would be there if we were..."

      "Dead?"

      "Yeah, I guess. And then when we were running I saw Fenrir Greyback come in as part of the backup. And..." Her voice trailed off. She stared at her feet.

      "Lily?" James stepped closer; he could see that she was holding something back. When she looked back up at him, he could see tears filling her eyes.

      "I thought it was weird that the Death Eaters were so interested in you  specifically. But when I recognized Lestrange, it clicked. They called me your girlfriend instead of your wife because they weren't really talking to you."

      "What?"

      Lily took a moment to collect herself. When she spoke, her voice was quiet and shaking. "Think about it. Who could people mistake you for and has been a threat to the Death Eaters since before he was born?"

      James felt his face go pale. He knew exactly what she meant. "Harry."

      Lily nodded but couldn't speak.

      "They're still after him." James said, his voice nearly breaking. He stepped forward and pulled her into his arms. She wrapped hers tightly around his waist and buried her face in his chest. They stood like that for a few minutes until Lily broke the silence. 

      "On the bright side," she said, craning her neck to look up at him. "It means he's still alive and away from them."

      "It means we need to find him." James replied. "But how?" 

      "We could check Grimmuald Place, Hogwarts," She offered, pulling back to hold him at arms' length. "Anywhere that could act as a safe house for him."

      James nodded. His thoughts spun through his head at thousands of miles an hour. If he knew more about his own son he would know where to look. But he didn't; he knew next to nothing about Harry, and he beat himself up about it every day. And on top of that, it looked like the world was going through some kind of apocalypse-

      "Wands down! Hands up!"

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A/N:

      Hey guys! So I fudged my promise a little bit- I didn't have a ton of work today and HAD to get this idea out to y'all. I know this chapter is actually a bit shorter than the last one; but the next will DEFINITELY be longer. This time, though, it actually probably won't be out until the end of the week because of school. In the meantime, feel free to comment with questions, feedback, or just to say hi! I hope you liked reading this chapter as much as I did writing it. Happy trails!

Best,

the_fandom_bookworm