A/N: Feel free to PM/review with any questions, concerns, discrepancies or opinions. In fact, I would love to hear some criticism. Especially constructive criticism because, you know, that's the most helpful kind.
A/N 2: I'm not ignorant to the fact Harry Potter takes place in Britain, so if any of you wonderful Brits see something and think 'that's so American it's revolting' shoot me a message or review or something.
A/N 3: Not J.K. Rowling or Warner Bros. Don't own anything you recognise. Quite poor, honestly.
Pertinent Prophecy Presentiments
Chapter 1: Fire Squad
Samhain was a glorious day to be a Dark Lord, Lord Voldemort thought to himself as he appeared out of thin air at the end of a lane before a large house. The magic of Death present in the atmosphere enamoured him to the task at hand, though three murders were trivial in comparison to other things he'd done in years past on this date including creating his first Horcrux. This family had been a thorn in his side up until two years ago but since their son had been born had gone into hiding thanks to that ridiculous prophecy. If it hadn't been for the Snape boy bursting in on an Inner Circle meeting proclaiming that there was information of his downfall he would have dismissed it. Unfortunately, he thought Dumbledore had learned of his Horcruxes and had aggressively interrogated him right in front of his followers, so here he was proving that no one could cause his death. Especially two measly infants. Dumbledore had, intentionally, let it slip that the boy he was currently targeting was to be the more powerful of the two but he knew different. Even if Wormtail hadn't been a spy within the Order of the Phoenix one only had to compare the parents to know it had been a futile illusion. He was grudgingly worried about what the other boy could be in the future and truthfully did not want to put himself in a compromising situation which was why he had ordered five of his most loyal and powerful followers to attack the family this night as well, and hopefully, he would be washed of this situation.
As he approached the house he could see the family comfortably enjoying themselves in the living room through a large bay window listening to the wireless he assumed as they were dancing together, mother, father and son, probably listening to the broadcast there always was from the Ministry Ball. They were so carefree and he could not help but wonder how two families could make the same exact mistake with the Fidelius Charm in forming a ruse and trusting the wrong person with the secret of their location. Ah, Wormtail was actually proving quite useful these days. He would have had immense more difficulty if the Potters and Longbottoms had made Sirius Black and Kingsley Shacklebolt their Secret-Keepers, respectively. But they had both, unknowingly to the other, chosen Wormtail! HA! The best part was no one who wasn't involved knew either had engaged in the deception. Maybe he should eliminate the phonies when he was done here, tie up loose ends and all that to keep Wormtail's cover regardless of how pathetic he was. It was Samhain after all, a little more death wouldn't be amiss. With that thought, he unleashed a powerful blasting curse at the front door completely disintegrating it with a BANG!
The father turned and briefly made eye contact with him before yelling, "Go! Take our son and escape! I'll hold him off!"
Fools his enemies were, had to be to think there was hope, "Good Evening, Mr. Longbottom..."
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There was no way to describe how Sirius Black felt right now, sad, happy, angry, relaxed, lost, inspired and most of all, anxious. Honestly, he had no idea how he felt right now, just he had somewhere to be and hopefully by the time he got there he'd have sorted himself out. That was one of the good things travelling by flying motorcycle, other than being undisputedly awesome, it gave him time to sort through his thoughts like James always said he could on a broom. The death of the Longbottoms, who had been two years above him at school and Aurors as well as involved in the Order, was just the latest they'd had to deal with among their friends but every one lost was a burden without fail, and with Voldemort finally dead hopefully it would be the last. He didn't know what to think about the death of Britain's most feared Dark Lord in centuries at the hands of a fifteen month old kid. Though there had always been rumours that the Longbottoms were descended from the Gryffindors themselves and Alice was descended from a family of spellcrafters, with them being in hiding for over a year and a half now it wasn't unreasonable to think they had dug up some previously unknown old spell or ritual in a family book. Then there was Shacklebolt! Never had he thought there was a chance he would betray the secret of his friends hiding place, even two days ago when they had talked in the Auror Office he had seemed perfectly calm and collected. Finally, Peter was missing from his apartment which was making him anxious, but he hoped that news of the Dark Lord's defeat had reached him first and he had simply gone off to his mother's to let her know. It wouldn't be the first time Wormtail put spending time with his mum over friends.
Regardless he was off to James and Lily's house to let them know the news of their recently deceased friends and national Dark Lord, maybe he would be able to figure things out from there on how to proceed for the next foreseeable future. He knew Albus Dumbledore was off dealing with the elder and youngest Longbottoms, and there had been a call from the Ministry for all Aurors and Hit-Wizards to be on hand in case there was a chance to apprehend any Death Eaters in the fallout from the night's developments. While he was all for catching the bastards, it was a Saturday night and he wanted to spend time with his closest friends, considered them family really considering how he detested his immediate blood relatives. The only exception being Andromeda, a wonderful albeit stubborn woman and middle sibling of his cousins. The woman had disavowed the family in order to marry a muggleborn wizard, although unlike himself she had been disowned permanently by Orion Black, Sirius' father. Sirius himself had simply been relieved of his 'duties' of being heir to The Noble and Most Ancient House of Black, though now that he thought about it, he was not very certain where he sat; with the remaining males in the family, his father and younger brother, Regulus, having died in the course of the Blood War. Hopefully he'd be able to keep his distance. Hit-Wizarding business be damned, he wanted to spend time with his brother in all but blood, the woman who had quickly become a sister to him and their precious son who was his godson.
At the outskirts of Godric's Hollow he maneuvered the large motorcycle onto a road to drive through the village like a muggle. Once Lily had taught him the rules of the road it had made plenty of sense to turn off the enchantments on the bike once he landed so there weren't any muggles seeing a motorbike seemingly appear out of thin air once he arrived at his destination and turned it off. The mix of muggle repelling, extrasensory, invisibility, heightened comfortability, stability and most importantly flying enchantments were quite a brilliant work of magic, it could get him a Mastery in the subject of Charms if it wasn't totally utterly illegal, not to mention that there wasn't much desire to put in all the extra studying for required testing, that's what school was for! Maybe once the war was cleaned up he'd get around to doing it, without a doubt his deceased fiancée Marlene would have wanted him to. Even if she was gone now he was still using his old excuses to explain his behaviour to her memory. Further, it would take his mind off the pain and depression that his life had been immersed in for three months now. Yeah that seemed like a good idea he thought, as he turned the last corner before the Potter's cottage, he could even get Lily's notes from when she got her Mastery.
Suddenly he heard spellfire mixed with an explosion. Shite, shite, shite was the only thing going through Sirius' mind and he spurned the bike on at full speed, as he saw indeed that there was a fight going on throughout his friend's property. He didn't even stop to get off the motorbike: when he tried to apparate off and directly into the yard but was unsuccessful due to wards he slowed as little as needed and jumped off into a well executed roll that had been standard taught in Hit-Wizard Academy, although for a broom instead of muggle machine. At a full sprint he ran to the gate in front of the cottage, noticed it was destroyed as he went through it and immediately tried to assess the situation. There was a body on the ground on the left side of the path to the front door, it was large and bulky though so was neither James nor Lily thankfully, a wide gash across the chest and was surrounded by blood. It seemed that as a direct frontal assault hadn't worked the attackers had gone around back or spread out because the spellfire was coming from that direction and the side to his left. As he approached the body maneuvering around transfigurations and debris to see who it was he noticed the typical silver Death Eater mask and cursed the damned Dark Lord Voldemort, but upon removing it his blood ran cold. It was Rabastan Lestrange which meant his horrid and ruthless cousin Bellatrix Lestrange, who was the most feared witch in Britain, Rabastan's sister-in-law and Andromeda's older sister, was most likely one of the attackers. Instantly, he decided to outflank the attackers and proceeded as stealthily as possible.
Upon reaching the side of the cottage he found someone guarding against exactly what he planned to do, immediately engaging him in a furious and intense duel. The style was recognisable though, clearly adopted from that of an Auror, thus making it predictable and Sirius knew he would be able to find an opening soon. At once several things happened; his opponent attempted to cast a powerful and long winded curse and took a split second too long, Sirius saw him get ready and quickly sent a nonverbal expulso at his opponent's chest which audibly cracked a number of ribs and sent a spray of blood out from their chest, a mocking gleeful cackle sounded from the back of the cottage in triumph and a feminine shriek of horror rang through the night. Sirius knew what that probably meant, James had been hit, which only served to make him angrier and he rushed to the back of the cottage to exact revenge from his cousin and whoever else he found. He was livid and would get them all even if it meant forfeiting his own life. The sight that greeted him was a completely demolished backyard, his cousin and a compatriot who apparently heard him coming from the recent duel.
"Hello little Cousin Sirius! Didn't want your blood traitor friend and his mudblood to be alone in death? So glad to help!" Bellatrix taunted him with her baby voice. Her fellow attacker chortled at that. Her momentary distraction gave an opening though, and the viciousness shocked Sirius.
"CRUCIO!" came Lily's voice from a shattered window and the violent red spell hit Bellatrix's side, causing her to collapse in pain.
Sirius only missed a beat and sent an expulso at the other attacker before he reacted. He figured Lily, who was sometimes a scary powerful and skilled witch, could take on Bellatrix while he dealt with the other. He assumed the attacker was Rudolphus Lestrange, Bellatrix's husband, but wasn't sure due to him wearing the Death Eater mask unlike his wife. Usually Rudolphus used brute force to overpower his opponents with emphasis on The Killing and Cruciatus Curses to put them down.
With an "Avada Kedavra!" the fight was on and Sirius moved to his left more so he could keep Bellatrix in his line of vision and retaliated Rudolphus, he was sure now.
"Fulminis Ictu!" A dreadfully hard spell to dodge, lightning flew from Sirius' wand briefly before a second Killing Curse came flying towards him, allowing Rudolphus to conjure stone to absorb the energy and banish it towards him.
"Reducto" the stone was shattered, "Pulsus" and banished right back, which Rudolphus let hit him in order to get his next spell off.
"Sanguineus fervefacio!" Blood boiling curse, nasty, Sirius thought to himself but quickly dodged to the right while casting.
"Impedimenta! Stupefy! Incarcerous!" Sirius let the well practised spell chain rapidly fly in the hope it would find a hole in his opponent's defences. He wanted this fight over with quick. Unfortunately Rudolphus overpowered the Impediment Jinx enough to be able to dodge the Stupefying Charm, but his left side was caught in the ropes produced by the last spell, his left arm was pinned to his body and legs were tangled with rope. Knowing he was trapped Rudolphus let loose a set of Killing Curses.
Sirius knew he had to end this before he got killed himself so focusing all his anger cast an "Avada Kedavra" of his own. Not expecting his opponent to cast that, a surprised Rudolphus looked at Sirius before the green spell hit him right in his incapacitated shoulder. Letting out the breath he'd been holding, Sirius turned to see an unconscious Bellatrix caught in ropes herself and twitching noticeably.
"Lily?! It's Sirius! Are you okay?" Sirius called out. He quickly made his way to the back door, deftly flicking his wand to check for magic someone might have put up in case they had to fall back. Finding something and deciding not to chance it, he made his way over to the window and vaulted himself through after clearing some broken glass. Only to be met with the sight of the body of his best friend, James Potter.
"No, he's just stunned," he said outloud to himself. "Ennervate!" Nothing happened. "Damnit! Ennervate!" Still nothing. Sirius crashed to the floor and checked for a pulse. When he couldn't find one he felt the world stop and just looked at his brother, his real brother, who had gone through everything with him together. Even before Hogwarts when James would keep him company when Aunt Dorea, James' mum and Sirius' Great Aunt, came to family meetings and showed him not everyone was the twisted backwards bigots his immediate family was. All through the Marauders' time at Hogwarts, running away to his house after fifth year, mourning Charlus and Dorea together, being best man at James and Lily's wedding, the Blood War that followed and the entertainment Sirius made sure to bring James throughout his hiding to protect Harry. Harry. Oh Merlin, Harry was going to grow up without a father, not only that but the most qualified, best person for the job. Sirius himself was never serious, he wryly thought, not like James who could face facts and do whatever needed to be done. Lily would probably be able to make sure Harry grew up to be a strong, brave and smart man like he would with James but it would never be the same. Sirius sat there looking at the face of his friend, completely oblivious to the world around him. He most likely would not have moved for a long time but he heard Lily's voice scream, causing him to jump and brandish his wand.
"Not Harry, not Harry, please not Harry! Please no, take me, kill me instead! Not Harry! Please, have mercy…have mercy!"
Sirius was at the stairs before deep laughter rang out and was halfway up them before the incantation of the Killing Curse was said and he heard a body drop to the floor. As fast as he could he made it to Harry's nursery and banged the door open while rapidly casting, "Stupefy! Stupefy! Stupefy! Stupefy!" four times in case the attacker cast a shield charm. They had, but the third spell shattered the shield allowing the fourth to hit him. Corban Yaxley, who must have been on the other side of the house and slipped unnoticed past him, now occupied the floor next to a limp Lily Potter who still had wet tear stains down her face. Disgusted, Sirius cast another stupefy as well as an incarcerous on the Death Eater and levitated him out into the hall, not worried about him hitting the doorframe on the way out. Looking at Lily Sirius could only think how she would have wanted to do what was best for Harry so pausing to manually close her eyelids and clean the tear tracks, Sirius stood and grabbed Harry as well as the blankets on his bed, it was a cold late Autumn night after all, and promised to something, anything, somewhere to make sure he would be raised to make his parents proud.
"Pa' foo'?" Little Harry warily asked.
Sirius replied thickly, "Yeah, that's me kiddo. We gotta get you out of here. I know where to go."
"Mummy?" Harry pointed at Lily.
It broke Sirius heart but he said, "Uh-huh, but we gotta go. Okay? Worry about Mummy later." With that, he made his way out of the nursery and down the stairs to leave the house. As he did he thought of Wormtail, the fucking traitor! How could he do that to his friends?! Sirius knew something was wrong when he wasn't at his house. Seething but knowing he had another task to take care of first, he promised to seek out the traitor to kill him himself, and enjoy it too. Two amazing people had died tonight because of Wormtail and Sirius wanted revenge. With a glance towards the room James was in, a sight he didn't want nor could see again, Sirius exited the house and quickly walked to his motorcycle, but seeing it significantly damaged continued along the street until he felt he had passed the wards and disapparated with a slight 'pop.'
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Materialising in front of a two story suburban house outside of Bristol, Sirius hoped that the wards wouldn't be anything nasty and have an adverse reaction to Harry, he couldn't remember if he was keyed in or not. Hastily deciding to chance it, because he was planning on only dropping Harry off before hunting down the traitorous rat, he made his way from the sidewalk. Harry just looked around in wonderment, not having been outside very much in his short and sheltered life. Thankfully when they crossed the ward line nothing happened to Harry.
"ANDY! I need your help! ANDY! IT'S SIRIUS!" he called out, approaching the front door he thankfully saw a light turn on. He knocked urgently to make sure the point was across and waited.
A woman's voice came from the other side of the door, wary and strong, "Who's there?"
"It's Sirius, Andy! And I really need your help. Now, please! I've got James and Lily's son with me!"
"Oh no, is he hurt?" came a reply, Andromeda was a Healer after all, "just to make sure, what did Alphard give me the last time both of us were visiting?"
Despite the circumstances Sirius couldn't help but be amused by that, "A case of spiced rum for 'a job well done spurning the family.' Now open the Merlin damned door, witch!"
Andromeda Tonks opened the door to Sirius, revealing her curly dark brown hair, an aristocratic noble face along with sharp grey eyes and tall slim body wrapped in a bathrobe. In fact, if not for the robe Sirius could not have guessed she had just gotten out of bed. Proceeding to usher him inside to a living room she asked, "What happened, Sirius?"
"James…" He took a shuddering and fortifying breath, "James and Lily are dead." In an instant, her wand was pointed directly at his head. Sirius thought what would cause that for a second before it clicked, "Wait Andy, wait! It was Peter! He was the Secret-Keeper. Not me! Just let me explain! Please!"
"Why don't you slowly set Harry down and then sit somewhere I can keep my wand on you?" Andromeda said stoically.
Sirius slowly and in such a way that Andromeda could see exactly what he was doing at all times set Harry down so he was sitting in an armchair, still wrapped in blankets, and proceeded to sit on a couch next to it with his arms spread out eagle over the top. "You need to understand that we didn't know who to trust, people dying all the time and there was obviously traitors within both Albus Dumbledore's Order and the Aurors. With You-Know-Who and his Death Eaters targeting the Potters and their hiding spots continuously being found, I convinced James and Lily that I could be a decoy. I know I can handle myself. So we used Peter as the real Secret-Keeper while anyone else, including the traitor, would come after me… Oh my god it's my fault! MY FAULT!" He sobbed, looking at Andromeda with a contorted look on his face, "I practically gave them to the Death Eaters!"
Andromeda hit Sirius with a silencing spell and hissed, "We have multiple young children here. Keep it down."
But Sirius just looked at her and motioned for her to cancel the spell, which she did. "I only came here to get Harry to you, I know you can look after him. Please. I'm going to go kill that filthy rat!" With that, he jumped and went to the door, blocking a Stupefying Charm from Andromeda, made his way to the sidewalk and end of the wards and was gone.
Harry, who had been silent during the confrontation, just looked around and asked "Pa' foo'?"
Andromeda sighed, flicked her wand at the door to close and lock it, "Yes Harry, Sirius is being a stupid, brash idiot and I need to contact the Aurors."
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