Being thrown into a war at the age of seventeen was definitely not something that James or Lily had ever planned for. After all, James had his life set out to become a professional Quidditch player and Lily would work to help muggles in the Ministry.

Together, they would live in their own peaceful bubble...along with Regulus. Oh, how just the name made both their hearts ache. Their star to their fiery beam of love. The perfect balance for all of them.

Or atleast, James and Lily had believed so. Until the war started, James became an Auror and Lily helped out at St Mungo's. They'd spent every free second trying to understand where Regulus had gone.

Dead. Seventeen years old, dragged into the ranks of Voldemort by his awful family. James broke his hand punching a wall in anguish while Lily held him and cried.

All their friends had tried to help but they had their own problems to help out with. Sirius drifted and Remus updated them with an owl every so often. For a while, the war felt hopeless for the couple to keep fighting, but they had still been Gryffindor's for seven years and could never give up a cause.

Which led them to now. A fire crackling in the hearth, Lily and James cuddled up on a sofa in their quaint little home of Godrics Hollow. The war had ended with Voldemort weakening but no one could find him, an inevitable return impending.

A knock on their front door made James and Lily jump slightly. James shifted and pressed a quick kiss to the gingers forehead, a quiet "stay here" leaving his lips.

Lily, of course, didn't listen and they both cautiously made their way towards the door with their wands in their hands. James swallowed as he unlocked the door, yanking it open and lifting his wand.

Only for it to clatter against the floor immediately. No, there was no way. James looked back at Lily to see if this was a terrible hallucination but she was frozen too. James returned his gaze to the figure. Regulus, ragged and bloody and utterly exhausted, looking older than James knew he was. "You're meant to be dead."