by anime_angel2000
Scratch, scratch... He awoke with a start. He had heard fingernails scraping against...something... He sat up and groped for his glasses. Pulling a robe over himself, he stood and gazed down at the red-haired goddess still lying there. In her arms a small boy slept. He leaned over and kissed them both, then walked to the stairs.
Each step seemed louder than the last, and his heart seemed to sound throughout the small corridor. Once comforting wall pictures now loomed with sudden foreboding. His ears suddenly picked up a noise below him. There was more than one pair of feet in the house.
He reached the bottom of the stairs and looked around the pitch-black room. "Lumos," he muttered, and the tip of his wand lighted the room. His eyes went immediately to a shadow that was staring at a picture of his son. The figure turned around. Deathly pale skin shone in the light. Red eyes gleamed. It smiled, and fangs glinted. "Hello, James."
She sat up slowly, hearing voices in the hall. One was very familiar. The other was strange, scratchy, and cold. "Voldemort." She stood, took her son in her arms, and fled down the small wooden steps.
" Damn you, Voldemort. Get away from my house. You are not welcome here." James repeated. "Dear boy, don't you realize that I don't have to be invited into a house? I am more powerful than any of your puny spells," The dark lord replied. "Does that explain your coming here on foot?" James retorted. The red eyes narrowed, and James could see the anger flashing in them. He knew that there was fear in his own. "Avada--" "Don't you try that in this house, Voldemort--" "Kedavra!" His body lurched with pain. His mind grasped for his soul as it was ripped from his body. A rushing sound came. It became louder. The pain was leaving. He followed the noise. It took him away from the pain...
Lily screamed as he fell, lifeless, to the floor. "You," she spat. "You killed him!" She whispered, still not believing that her husband lay at her feet, dead. "I did." The cold voice replied. "But I'll let you live. Give me the child." He pointed at the boy, now wide-awake. His green eyes stared into his mother's face. A pair of eyes just like his own looked back, filling with tears. "No," she whispered. "Not Harry. You can't have him." "Give him!" He commanded. He advanced toward Lily. "No!" She screamed. She backed up, and scrambled over a chair. "No!" She repeated. "Take anything. Kill me instead! Not Harry! Please no!" She was sobbing now.
Voldemort touched his wand to her. "I'm sorry I have to do this," he said, and in that instant, he knew he was. But almost as soon as the feeling of guilt came to him, the Dark Powers forced it out again. He muttered the words and Lily fell. Now for the boy... "Avada Kedavra," He said. Nothing happened. "Avada Kedavra!" He yelled. The green light that had surrounded the boy snaked along Voldemort's arm and seeped into his skin. "No!!" He screamed as his powers left him. He fell, barely alive, just a shadow, and slithered out of the doorway.
A tall man ran through the doorway. "James, I heard the screaming and--" The man stopped. His face paled as he took in the sight. His dearest friend lying, dead, his wand shattered into a thousand pieces, strewn across the floor. Lily, her now cold arms wrapped around the boy... Harry. He was alive! Sirius crouched over Lily's body and carefully removed Harry from her protective embrace. He took him over to James' body. "This, boy, is your father. He is wise and noble. Just like you will be someday. But you'll never see your wonderful father..." with that, he broke down completely. He sat, rocking the baby in his arms and sobbing. Hagrid stepped through the doorway.