Chapter 2: The First Defiance (Part 1)
James' heart froze within his chest when Voldemort called him out so calmly. There goes his daring rescue plan, wrought upon the element of surprise. From beneath his Invisibility Cloak, James looked between Voldemort's thin and towering figure to Lily, slowly getting to her feet. Thinking quickly, he backtracked until he was behind Voldemort to quietly remove the cloak, hoping that Voldemort's sources, whoever they were, failed to mention his prized possession.
Lily's eyes widened as he appeared and Voldemort must have noticed because he turned around, still fingering his wand patiently in front of him.
His thin lips curled into a facsimile of a smile at the sight of James standing so boldly before him. "Ah, Mr. Potter. How good of you to join us without that silly cloak of yours."
Damn. James thought to himself.
Voldemort nodded grimly, apparently not expecting a response and turned away from them momentarily, looking off at the opposite wall of the eerily empty platform, the scarlet train still lining one side. Shooting a confused look at Lily, she hesitantly walked towards James, fully expecting a curse to fly at them at any moment. But, none came.
"You are no doubt wondering why I have not killed you yet. Why you still live when I know that you have fought my followers so vehemently already during your time at Hogwarts. Why should I seemingly spare a mudblood and the foolish boy willing to sully his pure and noble blood?" He turned and began to pace before them, his eyes flashing red with passion. "Well I will gladly tell you."
"You have many faults. Countless and innumerable, surely. Yet from what I hear, I would be willing to look past them. To mercifully let you live because beneath the errors in your ways, you could provide an invaluable use to me. You are both talented, undeniably. You are eager and determined. Qualities that make any good soldier, no matter which side you are on. But your true value lies in the fact that no one doubts whose side you are on."
He stopped his pacing and turned to face the pair head on. James and Lily both gripped their wands fiercely, yet the idea of facing the most powerful dark wizard of their time made their beloved wands feel like little more than twigs.
"No one would doubt that you chose the losing side, even if you were to furtively change your loyalties and become a spy. If you do this–and do not even think about double crossing me, for Lord Voldemort always knows–but if you swear your loyalty to the right side, I will look past your… failures, I will even allow your youthful and naive relationship, and let you live."
"What do you say? A simple request for two spared lives. That is all I ask."
Lily scoffed and shook her head slightly. James still didn't respond, trying desperately to think of a way out of this.
Voldemort's narrow eyes flashed scarlet. "She laughs. She laughs when I have been so kind, but you, Potter… you know what I can offer. You have tasted power in your school days. I can offer you even more of the same glory. You have experienced the thrill of both regulated power and of unmanaged power–"
"When I was a bully, you mean?" James interrupted. Lily grabbed his arm as a warning.
"When you felt what it meant to approach your full potential. Your full influence!"
"Thanks, but I'll pass," James replied, his voice dragging with sarcasm.
"You dare defy me! You dare disregard my merciful offer–"
James suddenly raised his wand at the pillar behind Voldemort while simultaneously grabbing onto Lily's wrist and dragging her down into a crouch. The pillar exploded, debris flying in all directions, but Voldemort had expected something rash. Something foolish. He instantly fired back, though the deathly green curse flew just above their heads, singing the top of Lily's hair as she was pulled beneath its path.
Without waiting to see Voldemort's reaction, James lunged randomly to one side, dragging Lily with him and pulled the Invisibility Cloak over them both before jumping in another random direction right as a crater burned into the stone floor where they had been. James froze beneath the cloak with Lily, both of them lying uncomfortably on the ground, ignoring the pain in his stomach from landing on his side. He didn't dare to move a muscle in case the sound told Voldemort which direction he had leapt in while under the Cloak. Lily was breathing heavily beside him, her legs drawn up as tight as they could be.
"Do you really think that you can hide from me? It is only us here, there is nowhere to run," Voldemort said.
A pillar behind them exploded and they flinched from beneath the Cloak, though thankfully their terror held them at bay from releasing any sounds. Almost immediately following, something seemed to swoop low over them, as if casting them in shadow.
"That is a true Invisibility Cloak, Potter. Yet another value you could bring to my team. Your bravery would be rewarded, but not this blunt stupidity." Voldemort's voice had lost the soft tone, taking on a hard edge in his annoyance.
James tapped Lily lightly on the wrist and painfully slowly, they rose to their feet, still in a crouch, just as another pillar exploded from somewhere to their right. "Now," James whispered in her ear and they began to zig-zag towards the fireplace as curses were fired randomly above their head and at their feet. Though miraculously, none landed other than one catching the back end of James' trainer.
James scooped up a handful of floo powder from the container at the base of the fireplace and pushed Lily onto the logs before throwing down the powder and leaping to get one foot into the green flames as he began to spin away. The last sight that he glimpsed of Platform 9 ¾ was heavy stone debris falling in front of the fireplace, blocking the last exit out.
Far more abruptly than he could remember, the spinning sensation ended. James stumbled out of the fireplace, tripping over Lily and just managing to catch himself before falling face down on the glossed wooden floors.
"James!" His mother's worried cry instantly lifted from out of the crowds. Before he had a chance to take a breath, Euphemia slammed into his chest and wrapped him within her arms. "Oh James, you're okay!"
He sighed, the exhaustion slamming into him like the Knight Bus. "I'm okay."
"What happened? What took you so long? Remus said that you were going to be here ten minutes ago! We were worried sick and—"
"I know, I know, Mum," he said, cutting her off before she grew too hysterical. "I'm sorry, but I'm okay. We're okay."
She held him at arm's length and scanned him as if needing to assure herself of the fact with her own eyes. Then she turned to Lily and repeated the process all over again.
"What's been happening here?" James asked, rubbing one hand over his chin as Sirius, Remus, and Peter saw that he had arrived.
"Other than worrying that you were dead, you mean?" Remus asked.
"Yes, other than that."
Remus glared heartily at him, crossing his arms while Sirius filled him in. "We've sent all the non-injured people home with some of your Mum's spare potions for calming nerves and all that. Remus's parents are off checking on their friends now that they know he's safe. Peter's parents are still around here somewhere. The aurors sent a few extra people to help the injured and they're set up in the foyer, sending people home as soon as they've been checked and are cleared."
"But nothing from the Order?" James asked, his voice dropping.
"Nothing," Peter said.
"Odd." James turned to hide the fact that his heart had just dropped. "And where's my Dad?"
"I think he went off to the Ministry before we got back to make sure the aurors were aware and probably to yell at some officials for letting this happen," Sirius said nonchalantly.
"What happened to—"
"And Ria's family? Did someone tell them?" James asked instead, his eyes straying to Lily, now swarmed by his Mum, Dorcas, and Marlene.
"Yeah, one of the aurors left a few minutes ago," Remus said somberly.
"That's good, that's good." James nodded distractedly.
"So… are you going to tell us what kept you? You seem really shaken up," Peter asked.
James turned back towards his friends, his eyes wide. Shaken up was an understatement. Every nerve in his body was on edge, his heart was pounding with adrenaline, and his legs were so shaky that if he stood for too long, he would surely collapse. He ran a hand through his hair and swallowed heavily, trying to process what had happened himself. "We got stopped by Death Eaters while we were trying to get Ria out and then Voldemort came and offered us jobs as spies in exchange for our lives."
Remus blinked, stunned, and Peter gaped openly.
"What the hell?" Sirius cussed.
James sighed and began to explain the entire ordeal as quietly as he could, meanwhile Lily was doing the same thing for Marlene and Dorcas while Mrs. Potter went off to find a potion to clean the gash in the back of her head.
"Let's get out of this mess for a bit. You need to sit down," Dorcas announced, taking Lily by the hand and frog-marching her and Marlene upstairs, winding through the people still present. Silently, the four wizards followed close behind and the group found themselves safe within James' bedroom walls.
