A/N: I dedicate this story in four ways – Nivedita Tuli, my best-est friend; brittana lover and LunarWerewolf, two of my first ever reviewers; and to the end of summer vacations. Happy Reading!
It was Halloween. There was celebration everywhere. And it was one of those very rare occasions when Petunia had come to visit her sister, brother-in-law and her nephew, who was just over a year old and just few months younger to her own son.
The two sisters were seated in the living room. They were talking like women usually do, but you could never guess that they had had issues in the past. Issues because Lily was a witch, and Petunia was not.
'... and Mrs. Dorothy, that poor old thing from next doors, a week ago she lost her key and she had to sleep out for two hours before Mother saw her and took her in!' Petunia said with a girlish giggle.
Lily chuckled too. 'Did she find it then?' 'No, they had to call a contractor and get another one made, because she had to get into her house after all, before she realized that the key was stuck in her hair!'
'Oh Petunia! How I wished I could stay with Father and Mother!'
'So do we, Lily. But Mother understands. I told her about that You-Know-Who thingy you said and she convinced Dad. They say that you have to come for Christmas though. Even that Lord person would be celebrating Christmas,' said Petunia with a grin.
'Yeah, like last year he celebrated Christmas by murdering the McKinnons,' said James from the kitchen window.
Petunia paled. 'Why do you have to do this? It could be dangerous! Lily, why can't you run away until everything's safe!'
'Because you're the one who taught me to stand up for good, Tuney. I have to fight. So has James,' Lily said, wishing with her heart that this would all be over soon so she could enjoy life with her parents and family.
Suddenly, they heard the door blast open. James entered and unceremoniously dumped Harry into Lily's lap. 'It's him! Lily, take Petunia and Harry and go! Upstairs! Where's my wand?'
Lily jumped into action. She handed Harry over to Petunia and picked up her wand, and so did James.
'Tuney, hurry, upstairs! He's found us!'
'What! How? And you're gonna let James fight him alone?' 'I can't do anything else. I've got to save you,' she said, tears running down her cheeks.
Petunia took Harry and reached the upstairs bedroom, Lily following her. As soon as the door closed, Lily began stacking the furniture against the door. 'Not that that would stop him for long,' she muttered, crying heavily as she heard sounds of dueling downstairs.
James saw Lily and Petunia creep up the stairs. He was blocking the house from his view. Voldemort was sneering at him, but James felt strangely content and happy. He had no care in life, except Lily and Harry and Petunia. All he had to do was die fighting to save them. Then he would be happy to become their Guardian Angel.
'Get out of my way. I want the boy,' said Voldemort in his chilling voice.
'You know I wouldn't,' James was grinning.
'You don't feel scared? I am about to kill you. Let's atleast see you put up a good fight,' Voldemort was suspicious about this strange, unafraid-type-of behavior.
'You bet,' said James. And then the room was full of light. The two powerful wizards dueled and their spells destroyed everything in the house.
One by one James increased the deadliness of his spells. He set a pack of wolves at Voldemort, who simply waved his wand and they howled in pain as they bled to death. Vanishing the bodies, James shot two variations of the Stunning Spell at Voldemort – one which divided into ten a second before attack, and the other which divided into ten and then joined back into one a second before hitting – invented by Remus and himself.
Voldemort managed to dodge most of the spells but was hit by two. He staggered backwards and tripped on a –
A toy. A plastic broomstick with the name Harry engraved on it. James began to laugh. And laugh hard. He knew he was about to die, but he didn't care. He had led a good, happy life with lots of good friends and a loving family.
Furious, Voldemort got back to his feet and caught James in a rope. Then he shouted, 'Crucio!', and James was screaming louder than he had been laughing. But he managed to throw the curse off.
Grabbing a last chance of humiliating Voldemort and having some fun, he transformed into a stag. A stag by the name of Prongs. Voldemort was surprised, and the stag danced around the room once before galloping straight at Voldemort. His antlers struck Voldemort, and he felt one of his ribs crack.
'Get ready to die!' he said in a high, cold voice.
The stag transformed back into James, and said, 'I think it is better to die human than animal, as you will, one of these days.' James poured all his anger into the last clause.
'Goodbye. You were a brave and valuable person. Pity I had to kill you. AVADA KEDAVRA!
He remembered to smile before dying, as the Marauders had promised each other back in their seventh year. As James' body falls to the ground and Voldemort himself smiles, James gets to know that only three, the brave and loyal ones, were able to fulfill the promise in the future.
The moment Lily heard James screaming, surely under the Cruciatus, she cast a special Blood-Charm over Petunia. 'This will keep you invisible to Voldemort until one of us (she pointed at Harry and herself) lives. I know quite a lot about these types of spells. And I have an idea how we can kill him,' she said.
'You do?' Petunia was very scared after hearing James scream. She now knew what Lily and her husband had been fighting against. And she meant what: not who. She had caught a glimpse of Voldemort and she had resolved since then not to acknowledge him as human. What she would see in a few minutes would assure her that she was right.
'I am coming!' said a high voice in a singsong tone.
Lily wept silently. Both of the women knew that James had been killed. 'Don't leave the house until – until it is safe,' were the last words Petunia ever heard Lily say to her.
The door was blasted open. 'Don't you know how to knock, Voldemort?' Lily felt strangely happy, a bit dizzy, but content. She knew that she would be meeting the person she loved most shortly and the ones whom she cared for would be safe once she was dead.
'You too? I thought I had enough of cheekiness from your husband. Or are you as foolish?' Suddenly, Petunia saw a dangerous side of her little sister. She was throwing spell after spell at the Dark Lord, who protected himself with considerable effort. Petunia had to hide herself in a corner to avoid being hit or struck by the falling rubble.
Lily continued to hold her own for a wonderful while. If there are people as and even more powerful than Lily against him, why is he still alive? Petunia thought. Oh yes, he must have an army of his own too.
Lily made one last, desperate effort to kill Voldemort herself, but he deflected the curse and it narrowly missed Petunia.
'I'm about to die. I know that. But you can't kill Harry.' 'We'll see about that. Now get aside or die.'
She didn't budge. Not that he had expected her to.
'You're all brave people. Shame. AVADA KEDAVRA!' Lily was dead in an instant, and Petunia covered her mouth to stop herself crying out into the night.
'Now for the boy. AVADA KEDAVRA!'
But Harry did not die. Instead, the green light rebounded and Voldemort was gone in an instant. All that remained was smoke.
Harry had defeated the Darkest of all wizards. Petunia was proud of her. She planted a quick kiss on his cheeks and left the house that was completely burned or blasted from every angle due to the dueling. She would remember her brave sister and brother-in-law forever. But she couldn't let any of these dangerous wizards anywhere near her. She would cut herself from the Wizarding World.