It was broken. The beams that once supported the ceiling and the rooms above were cracked like limbs that were unable to heal themselves. Everything was shattered and collecting like dust on the floor. He stepped over a pile of ruble that had not been there the last time he walked across these floors.

"It's not here, is yours?" James bellowed to his wife, who was carefully trying to roam around the second floor, where she last remembered her own wand being.

"No, I don't…" her voice drifted into a silence.

"Lils? Lily?" James said, panic rising in his voice as he raced up the stairs.

He saw her there, at the crumbled opening at the end of the hall.

"H-he's gone, James. Harry is gone," she wept into James shoulder.

The room in front of them had taken the worst hit of the whole house. It had once been a bright yellow room, decorated with tiny owls and other magical plush beings that had amused their small toddler. The crib, which held him in his last moments, was broken, yet it showed no signs of blood. Both windows were shattered, and the ceilings, which had once stood whole, now had holes that opened up to the dark sky above. The night sky reminded James of the enchanted ceiling in the Great Hall at Hogwarts.

"Lily! We need to go to Hogwarts, talk to Dumbledore, figure everything out."

"Yes. Right. Ok." She said, still weeping at the sight. "Do you think…"

"I'm hoping, Lils."

Albus Dumbledore sat in his study late one Sunday evening in the summer after the end of the Triwizard Tournament. The tournament overall would have been considered a success had it not been for Cedric Diggory's untimely death at the end of the Third Task. What made it all worse in his mind was that the Wizardng World for the most part did not know the truth about why he had died—rather the British Ministry for Magic had played it off as a result of competing in the Tournament.

"How long are you going to let this go on, Albus?" Minerva McGonagall sighed as she entered his office, throwing yet another issue of the Daily Prophet onto his desk. "They are making you out to be some sort of baboon driven by power!"

He picked up the Prophet from where it had landed, flicking it out to get a full view of the photo on the front.

"Ah not their best photo yet, but amusing all the same," he said, skimming the page for the latest accusations against himself.

"You have to put an end to this, Albus." McGonagall demanded a little more harshly this time. "We can't let this go on. Fudge has to know the truth before it is too late. What if someone else dies because of his ignorance—we won't survive another war if we go on like this. You have to act, Albus!"

"I believe that Cornelius will believe what he wants to believe and nothing other than that, Minervra. In time he will come around I'm sure of it," he said, stepping around his desk and down to where his sweet bowl sat. "Will you be attending the meeting tonight?"

"Well yes, of course," she responded, a little flustered, "It's not time yet though is it?"

"No, not quite. I myself would quite like to enjoy the meal that the elves have concocted for this evening before I have to step into the chaos that this meeting will likely arouse."

"Oh dear, well yes then a little food might be a nice treat beforehand. Would you like to head down now?"

"In a few moments perhaps, but I feel as though I should remain here for a few moments more. Go on, I'll see you there," he said, waving his hand a little as he did so.

Minerva sighed, before she walked out the door.

The stone gargoyle stepped aside as McGonagall made her way back down the steps from Dumbledore's office. She had made the decision to return to her own office before attending dinner in the Great Hall but this intention was disrupted abruptly by the sound of unfamiliar voices flooding the halls.

"It's this way, Lils," a male voice echoed.

"No, it's this way," another one chimed, this one a little more feminine.

"Don't you think I would know, I was the one who got in the most trouble!"

"Yes, but I had to go to his office weekly as part of my prefect and Head duties, James."

"I'm still telling you it's this way."

The footsteps of the voices began nearing the headmaster's corridor. Minervra, pulled her out her wand out of instinct. The entrance to the corridor where the footsteps could be heard from was dimly lit, and the figures, which had just come into her line of sight, were not distinctive besides that they confirmed that it was a man and a woman who were approaching her. As they came closer, they slowed down upon recognizing McGonagall.

"Who-who are you?" she said loudly, her voice shaking slightly.

"Professor, is that you?"

"Y-yes…" she started but she stopped just as suddenly when she finally saw the identity of the man and woman. Standing in front of her, slightly taken aback, was a man, whose trademark messy black hair and glasses reminded her of a student who she knew was far away from these castle's halls. It was the women though who truly made McGonagall do a double take. She was beautiful with long, slightly curled auburn hair. Her eyes were unmistakably green and they complimented her complexion perfectly. "Lily? James?"

*All recognizable J.K. Rowling Content is fully hers and I take no credit for it. Feel free to post a review if you have some time, and thank-you for reading! Hope to update very, very soon :)