Chapter 1 – A Family Torn
July 1981, a date that was forever carved into history by the actions of one steeped in the dark arts of magic twisted to achieve the evil ambitions of a twisted mind, but such magic comes with a price the corruption of one's soul and if the soul is corrupted then body and mind will surely follow willingly or not down such a dark path.
On this night one such individual whose desires and madness grows with every passing day and night, whose body has long since revealed his true nature stares out of slitted blood-red eyes at a house that many of the mundanes or muggles walk past without a glance, with not even a thought towards the residents inside. Most would not see this strange unless you considered the fact that neither postman or milkman provided goods, that the front door never opened and those who reside inside were never seen, if not for the unusual sight of a consistent number of owls both arriving and departing the premises one may even come to believe that the house was indeed abandoned.
Snake-eyes snorted in disgust at the sight of such a normal house in a small muggle village, those blessed by magic were above such mundanes, they should rule above the masses not hide amongst them, such an existence should surely strive for greater and seek opportunity.
"such blindness will cost you dearly, three times I have offered you the chance of greatness, and three times you have defied me and now your son shall suffer for the sins of the parents" the words barely a whisper issued into the night, he truly detested spilling magical blood especially when it belonged to a family with a line as ancient and noble as the Potters, such a family could always be trusted to provide powerfully magical heirs and their loss would echo within the magical world for decades to come. For but a second hesitation flitted across his mind before almost unbidden the words of a prophecy hearld barely a year ago echoed within his mind banishing any remaining doubt that remained.
'The one with the power to vanquish the Dark Lord approaches … born to those who have thrice defied him, born as the seventh month dies … and the Dark Lord will mark him as his equal, but he will have the power the Dark Lord knows not … and either must die at the hands of the other for neither can live while the other survives.'
With the lines of the prophecy spilled from the mouth of Sybil Trelawney echoing in his head, Lord Voldemort's ruby-red gaze once again rested on the small house in the middle of a small mundane village and with flick of his wrist his beloved wand appeared in his hand from its holster, with a soft hum of approval he took his first step past the fidelius wards that protected the property and with a casually flung bombarda flung the front door from its hinges and straight into the face of one curious James Potter who having been alerted by the proximity wards had come to peer through the spyhole to investigate who would have the audacity to visit at this unseemly time of night. For just a second the dark lord who had come prepared to meet fierce resistance from one of the most skilled aurors in the force felt a ridiculous urge to laugh at the extremely humorous sight of James Potter, spread eagled on his back with glasses askew upon his nose and most importantly knocked unconcscious without even having thrown a spell in his defense.
Shrugging his shoulders in an attempt to hide his mirth, he carefully stepped over one Lord of the most Ancient and Noble House of Potter who after all would be waking up with one serious headache and therefore did not require any further humiliation, and entered the house only to immediately fling a shield up in his defense, unfortunately for the dark lord the spell he had used was a shield that only protected against spells and therefore he was quite unprepared for the cascade of water that drenched him from head to toe, in front of him Lily Potter stood with her mouth agape at the sight of feared dark lord Voldemort dripping with water from the vase she was holding in her hands. In retrospect flinging water at a feared mass murder and leader of an almost fanatical cult was in her mind a rather stupid idea and one that should definitely not be advised in any circumstances, the vase did however happen to be the closest thing she had to hand after witnessing her husband James be flattened by the front door and the appearance of said dark lord, this was due to her wand currently residing in the kitchen and herself in the living room. Taking advantage of Voldemort's shock she grabbed her precious Harry who was giggling quite cutely at the strangely dressed man now drenched in water and ran through the kitchen snatching her wand from the countertop as she went before dashing up the stairs and into the nursery locking the door behind and after depositing young Harry in his crib began throwing every defensive and reinforcing spell she could at the door to the nursery whilst also sending a patronus to inform Dumbledore of what would with all probability be her demise.
Meanwhile in the hallway downstairs Lord Voldemort had finished casting a non-verbal drying charm on himself whilst cursing muggleborns and their undiginified physical ways of attacking and reminding himself for the future to use a shield spell capable of defending against physical objects as well as spells.
Making his way to the stairs and ascending in a graceful manner he came across the door to the nursery and using a tendril of magic probed the door for defensive spells, his non-existent eyebrows rose in respect when he detected the numerous spells protecting and reinforcing the door in front of him and his respect rose for the talented muggleborn witch who lay behind it. Retracting his probe and taking one step back before side-stepping twice to the right and gladly taking advantage of the rather significant gap in Lily's defenses that he could only be put down to have been missed due to her panic and casually cast a non-verbal and wandless bombarda maxima straight at the wall to the side of the door which promptly exploded inwards covering the room in dust.
As he stepped into the nursery he took in the sight of Lily Potter once again with mouth-agape either in fear or incredulity at his bursting through her wall with wand pointed towards the door in the middle of what Voldemort could only assume was an incredibly powerful defensive ward that she was only half-way through casting, taking advantage of her shock he sent a chain spell of incarcerous-reducto-stupefy and whilst she was occupied with her protego shield he transfigured the floor beneath her into sand and watched amusedly when both her and a large section of the ceiling (now turned sand) entered the kitchen below the nursery. Satisified that he had bought himself a few minutes he turned his attention to the child before him who due to him would not even see his first birthday, gazing into the child's eyes which gazed back at him with that eery avada kedavra green, sensing the burst of magic which accompanies apparition he stretched out his senses and immediately narrowed his eyes in concern, just entering the premises was his arch enemy Albus Dumbledore whose followers affectionately referred to as the Light Lord, sensing the beginning of an anti-apparition ward and that his time was becoming limited he made his move snatching young Harry from his cot and forcing his magic to break through the still developing ward and apparating away.
Barely twenty seconds later Albus Dumbledore himself strolled into the nursery he had been rushing to Lily's side in the kitchen after casting an enervate on one unconscious Lord Potter who came to groggily when he sensed the warping of magic which signified an apparation and knew that he was already too late. Walking back downstairs he smiled at the sight of Lily and James embracing each other in the living room and for the moment he was merely grateful that the events of the night had not been more deadly, feeling Albus' gaze upon them the couple turned towards him with hope and pleading in their eyes. Sighing inwardly, he prepared himself for what he knew he had to tell them and their reactions.
"Lily, James … I do not know the best way to say what needs to be said and there is no way to gentle this blow, it would appear that Tom has taken young Harry and left" Dumbledore's voice quieted as Lily began sobbing into James' shoulder whilst all James could do was hold her tightly to him. "I promise you I will do everything in my power to find him, but you must know that there is little hope for young Harry now that …" Dumbledore trailed off as James stared at him as if his world had fallen from under his feet, "I … w-we k-know Albus, we k-knew the moment that m-monster arrived that it was o-over" Lily's voice finally cracked under the weight of her sobbing and she let herself collapse into her husband's arms in an attempt to console herself in her moment of loss.
Seeing that no more could be done that night, Albus invited the Potter's to stay at one of the guest rooms at Hogwarts knowing already that they would not be ready to see anyone for many days, releasing a sad sigh Albus stood in the Great Hall staring up at the enchanted ceiling and knowing he was alone, finally let a tear roll down his cheeks in mourning for a childhood torn apart and a family left broken and inconsolable.