Prologue

Clutching Harry to her chest, Lily silently pressed herself against the wall as Voldemort swept past. Even hidden beneath the invisibility cloak, she didn't dare move until the Dark Lord was halfway up the stairs, intent on making his way to the nursery.

A muffled sob tried to escape her at the sight of James' lifeless body lying on the floor, but Lily held it back, determined to escape alive. She hurried into the kitchen, pausing just long enough to grab up both wands from the table - along with a device she'd put together just the day before. From upstairs came the sound of infuriated yelling and crashing, stating very clearly that Voldemort was hunting a bit more violently for her and Harry.

Lily rushed outside, activating the detonator in her hand as soon as her feet cleared the back gate.

Instantly, the house behind her exploded, the three bombs hidden in the walls tearing it to pieces within seconds and filling the surrounding air with flaming shrapnel. Lily was nearly bowled over from the force of the shockwave, and felt a few bits of flying metal nick her as they went by. For a brief moment, she'd have sworn hearing an anguished, furious scream, but the woman passed it off as her imagination - not even Voldemort could have survived that blast.

Leaving the boundaries of the now-burning property behind, Lily apparated away the instant she'd cleared the protective wards. She pulled the cloak back closed, then took a few minutes to calm both herself and the stressed infant in her arms.

Around them were rows of rather plain muggle houses, all appearing exactly the same, down to the paint schemes and flower boxes. It wasn't Lily's first choice of hideaways, but after being so clearly betrayed by Peter, she was reluctant to trust anyone in the Wizarding World at the moment. With slow, hesitant steps, the woman approached the house that matched an address she'd made sure to memorize months before: Number 4 Privet Drive, Little Whinging, Surrey.

She took a moment to take off the invisibility cloak, wrapping it up into a shimmering bundle that she clutched with the same hand supporting Harry. Then, it was a simple matter of reaching up and pushing the doorbell.

A few minutes later, there came the sound of irritated muttering as someone approached the door. "What?" Petunia snapped as she pulled it open, only to freeze in shock upon seeing who it was.

"Tuney," Lily softly pleaded. "M-may we come in?"

Only the fact that she was still stunned and running on automatic manners had the horse-faced woman stepping back, giving her long estranged sister room to enter. Then, almost as if a switch had been flipped, she returned to her normal state.

"Why are you here?" Petunia hissed, scanning the street outside before closing the door. "I've said it time and again, I don't want to- to- Lily?" Her angry tirade faded away at the absolutely broken expression on her sister's face, tears silently coursing down and soaking the top of her singed sweater. "What is it?"

"He's dead," she finally managed to whisper. "James is dead."

Petunia struggled with her conflicting emotions for a few minutes before finally letting out a resigned sigh. "I'm sorry." Numbly, Lily just nodded, and allowed herself to be steered in the direction of the kitchen.

"Don't think I'm being friendly," Petunia warned her as she got a pot of tea started. "Because I don't want to know. Not what happened, or what's been going on, and certainly not what you plan to do now. All I need you to tell me is whether I ought to expect any more of those freaks to show up at my door."

"I wouldn't have come here if there was a chance of being followed." Lily said quietly. "In fact, there's a pretty good chance they'll think we're all dead..."

"Why?"

"I blew the house up, to kill the monster inside. It's all gone."

Petunia paused. "You blew up- well, I hope you haven't come here looking for charity, because Vernon and I-"

"Just one night." Eyes going distant, Lily tried to reassure her. "Just until morning. I c-can't trust anyone besides you right now, Tuney." Reluctantly, the other woman turned to face her.

"I'd like to know what I did to deserve that particular honor." She sniffed, trying not to let the confusion show through.

"I know we've fought - that you can't stand me anymore - but if nothing else I know you wouldn't try to kill me."

"And you can't say the same for any of your freaky friends now?"

"I don't know," Lily whispered, the tears making a reappearance. "I don't know. One of them betrayed us - I can't decide right now if the others would or not."

Petunia set the teacup in front of her, sighed, and carefully eased Harry out of her sister's arms, tutting at the pair of narrow slashes across his right cheek, which had already closed up and begun to scar. "Drink. Clearly you're in no shape to decide anything at the moment. You and the baby can stay until morning, but then you'll have to be gone by the time Vernon leaves for work."

"Thank you, Tuney."

"Don't call me that."

A/N: IMPORTANT NOTICE

This story is part of my HP Round Table Project. Every Thursday, I'm updating a different onf of seven Harry Potter AUs, so that over the course of seven weeks they all get a new chapter (since I have a history of losing inspiration and letting stuff sit stagnant for months at a time). After the first seven week period, I start over, but the order in which these stories are updated changes depending on what was the most popular during the previous chunk of time.

So, if you really like this or one of the others, be sure to let me know!

-Triscribe