AN So I have read sooooo many Wrong Boy-Who-Lived stories, and I've found some fairly interesting. But you see…. A lot of them are unrealistic and the circumstances under which they happen has to figment. The characters are exaggerated and are obviously made by someone who feels some childish grudge against them and feels the need to discredit them. In other words, people make James and Lily abusive (that in itself is completely absurd and when I see those, I turn away) or Dumbledore manipulative to the point that he might as well be helping Voldemort. I thought I would try my hand at it and see what people thought of what I think is a more realistic version of what happened. Read and Review!
It was cold. Of course it was cold. October in England was always cold. And wet, for that matter. Now, this cold was nothing special. It didn't send any odd shivers down anyone's spine, nor did it create a sense of particular foreboding. It didn't have to; for, in a small house at the end of Godric's Hallow, the Potter family seemed to have a sense of permanent apprehension placed upon them. But tonight felt much like any other cold, October night, so nothing was out of place. And for this reason, Lily and James Potter had, however reluctantly, accepted a mission for the Order of the Phoenix. Because of this, they, once again reluctantly, left their two children, Harry and Samuel Potter, to be watched by the daughter of a couple in the Order.
"—And they should be in bed by eight. There's food in the fridge for you to heat up for dinner. If they get too crazy, just conjure up some bubbles and they'll get distracted pretty easily. They like playing with their stuffed animals, too. And if you have trouble getting them to fall asleep, just turn on the radio. They'll listen to anything." Lily rambled as she nervously pulled on her coat.
"Except Celestina Warbeck." James butted in, receiving a glare from his wife. "Anything but her. They may be one year old, but they have to have some taste. I mean, "A Cauldron Full Of Hot, Strong Love"? That song made me want to rip my ears off."
"Oh, be quiet, James!" Lily admonished, but the corners of her mouth were twitching upwards.
"I'm just trying to get you to loosen up." He mollified. "Michelle's babysat for us before. She knows the gig." Despite this, he turned toward the eighteen-year-old girl. "We'll probably be back around 2 in the morning. When the boys are asleep, feel free to crash in the guest bedroom. I'm sure you'll be knackered by then. We'll wake you when we get home. If anything goes wrong, grab the boys and get to the apparation point in the backyard. Go to some relatives or somewhere safe, but then contact us immediately."
"Of course, Mr. Potter." The young girl smiled reassuringly. "I'm sure the boys won't be a problem."
"Blimey! They better be a problem!" James exclaimed. "They're Marauders in training, for Merlin's sake! If they don't make some trouble, I'd be very disappointed." His wife gave him an exasperated look, but Michelle just laughed.
"Of course, Mr. Potter." She joked while throwing a sympathetic look to Lily.
"Please, it's James. Whenever someone says Mr. Potter I look around for my father."
"James." Lily warned. "We should go. We don't want to be late."
"Certainly, dear." He said, kissing her on the cheek, then sauntering down the front steps to the edge of the enchantments and called out, "Bye, 'Chelle!"
"In all seriousness, Lily." Michelle said, noticing the red-headed woman's nervous glances upstairs. "I'll make sure they're good."
"Of course." Lily forced a weak smile onto her face. "I just don't like leaving them, you know?"
"Lily!" James was still waiting at the edge of the front walkway. "Now you're going to make us late!"
"I'm coming!" She turned towards Michelle and managed a quick "Bye." Before running to meet her husband as they both apparated away.
~0~
"Come one, then." Michelle said as she set the wriggling toddler in his crib. One of Samuel's flailing hands smacked her across the face and she gave him a mock-reproachful look. "Is that any way to treat a lady?" The small boy just started laughing and banging his hands against the bars of his crib. Michelle picked Harry up off the floor and set him in his crib where he repeated the actions of his brother.
"Merlin!" She cried out, and glanced at her watch. "Don't you fellows ever settle down? It's already later than it should be for me to get you in bed." The boys answered by standing up and unsteadily tottering their way towards the ends of their cribs and trying to reach each other through the bars. Michelle tiredly pushed a strand of brown hair that had fallen out of her ponytail behind her ear. She'd spent most of the night chasing them around the house. It had gotten much worse when they'd found the broomsticks that Sirius had given them for their birthdays. No less than thirty repairing charms had been cast to make sure the Potters didn't come home to a house that looked like a bomb had gone off.
She plopped down in an old armchair that was sitting in the corner of the room, and with a flick of her wand turned on the radio. Half and hour later, the boys were fast asleep and Michelle was close to being the same. The soft, pleasant tones of whatever singer was on the radio was lulling her into an easy sleep. She pulled her feet up beneath her and rested her head back. Such a lovely Halloween night… She remembered her parents taking her trick-or-treating in muggle neighborhoods. She smile fondly as she thought of the one year she dressed up in a costume that was a stereotypical witch. If only those muggles knew… The entire night had been an inside joke. Her parents had made so many jok—
Bang!
She shot up, her wand held in a ready position and her feet landing clumsily beneath her. What the Bloody Hell was that? Her heart pounding, she cocked her head carefully to the side and listened. A series of small cracks and soft thuds could be heard. Technically, she wasn't part of the Order yet—her parents had refused profusely—but she'd tagged along on a few missions, so this sound was definitely recognizable. Falling debris.
She inched her way to the door and placed her ear against it, waiting… footsteps. That was all she needed. The Potters wouldn't be home for hours—and they certainly wouldn't have blasted their front door out of the way.
She quickly stumbled backwards and placed as many locking charms as she could on the door. Though, she smiled wryly, that wouldn't do much against someone who preferred exploding doors out of their way. She grabbed both boys out of their cribs and placed an extended-cushioning charm on all of them (She couldn't keep casting it on them, after all, and she didn't want them to get hurt). The quick footsteps could be heard plain as day now, and they were heading towards the room purposefully. Stealth wouldn't be of much use anymore, so she threw caution to the wind.
"REDUCTO!" she cried and pointed her wand at the window that showed the backyard. She could see the apparation point. Now, the only problem was getting there. She shielded the boys as the wall exploded at the same time that the door flew forward. She jumped out of the newly made hole in the wall and a green light barely missed her head. Her adrenaline filled mind couldn't register the shouting of spells or the light, mocking tone, but she knew that she needed to get out of there as quickly as possible.
The cushioning charm worked perfectly as she landed softly on the ground and took off at a run. Funny how her rushing mind didn't take time to distinguish the words of the man chasing her, but when whoever it was—and she was pretty sure she know-who—landed on the ground behind her as she reached the apparation point, she could hear each individual blade of October grass crunch beneath his feet.
A yell made its way through the cold night air as she spun around to apparate away, her destination in mind the first place she could think of—her cousin Greta's who lived in Berlin. As she spun around, she prepared herself for the ghastly sight of the man who people were afraid to speak the name of, but all she saw was green. And as the feeling of squeezing through a tube began, she willed it silently to go faster, because everything seemed to freeze around her.
She was frightfully aware that she was holding two children in her arms as death approached them. But she was powerless as she hugged the two innocents to her, and she felt a small thud in her chest. She knew no more.
Michelle never knew that out of the three that got hit, two survived. She didn't see the curse rebound towards the man who had shot it at them. She didn't know that as her body continued to apparate away, one of the children fell from her arms and back onto the back lawn of the Potter home. She never knew that her body appeared in her cousin Greta's house only seconds later, but there was no sign of another child with her.
No one knew what had become of Harry potter.
I started to add on…. But it didn't sound right. This was the way to end, but you can be sure that another chapter, and some explanations, are coming soon!