Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter.
Forever Silenced
By: ChoCedric
James and Lily Potter were sitting in their living room by the fire, snuggled against each other. It was Halloween, and while many families trick-or-treated around their neighborhoods, the young couple knew it was not safe at all to take their young son out. To tell you the truth, it wasn't safe for any family to go out, but things were especially dangerous for the Potters.
About a week ago, the Fidelius Charm had been performed on them, for they knew that Lord Voldemort, the darkest wizard in a century, was after their son, Harry, because a prophecy had been delivered by Professor Trelwaney stating that Harry would be the one to destroy him. Both the Potters were stricken at this news, and vowed to keep Harry safe.
So here they were, at Godric's Hollow, simply waiting for the war to be over. Their secret-keeper, Peter Pettigrew, was currently in hiding himself. He was one of James's best friends, and Lily had become very fond of him too. He had vowed to never tell anyone where the Potters were located.
"I hate this," James murmured into Lily's neck suddenly. "I hate all this hiding. I just want this war to end."
"It'll be over soon, James, I know it," Lily said, but deep in her heart, she dreaded each day of this restlessness.
James sighed. "I love you, and I love Harry," he said with every bit of honesty he had. "I'd do anything for you two."
"I know you would, and I will do anything in my power to keep you and Harry safe as well," Lily promised wholeheartedly.
Suddenly, the lights flickered on and off in the Potters' house. James leaped to his feet, drawing his wand. "Lily, something's wrong!" he cried in panic.
The stillness of the evening was broken as the door burst off of its hinges and flew open. "Lily, take Harry and go!" James screamed. "It's him! Go! Run! I'll hold him off ..."
"James, NO!" Lily shrieked. "You'll die!"
James hurriedly gave her a hug and kissed her on the lips. "Think of Harry," he said frantically. "I'll be okay. Just think of Harry. I love you."
"I love you too," Lily said tearfully. Knowing that she could do nothing but obey her husband's words, Lily sprinted up the stairs to the nursery while James ran into the hallway to face Voldemort. As she ascended the stairs, Harry's frightened cries assaulted her ears.
As she entered the nursery and stood over her precious young son's crib, she couldn't believe it had come to this. Peter had betrayed them. They had both known there was a spy in the Order, but never had they suspected it was Peter. Anger and sadness engulfed Lily then; Peter had given them away. The quiet, unassuming little man had harbored hatreds no one had understood, and now the Potters were going to pay with their lives. All the protections they'd tried, all this charm work, was going to be in vain. The secret was broken. They were doomed.
The sounds of fierce fighting came from downstairs, and Lily knew that James and Voldemort were dueling. Please, James, please be all right, she prayed to every deity she could think of. Please, please don't get yourself killed.
But it seemed as though her prayers were in vain, for she heard a thud and a high-pitched cackle of laughter. With an agonized cry, she knew her husband was gone. The boy she'd spent so many years hating, but ended up loving, was dead.
The next thing she heard was Voldemort climbing up the stairs. Lily had barricaded the door so that he couldn't come in, but she knew her spells would only hold him off for a few minutes. She wanted to Disapparate, but the wards prevented her from doing so. She could only hope now that her death would be quick and painless, for she'd give her life protecting her baby.
When Voldemort entered the room, he had a maniacal smirk on his face. "And a good evening to you, Lady Lily," he said mockingly. "May you present your son to me?"
"Never!" Lily screamed, tears springing to her eyes as she stood protectively over the crib. "Not Harry, please not Harry! Take me, kill me instead! Have mercy, please, have mercy! Not Harry, please not Harry, please!"
"Stand aside, silly girl, stand aside, now!" Voldemort bellowed. "Let me have the boy and I shall grant you life!"
"No!" Lily sobbed. "Please, not Harry! Please have mercy!"
"I do not grant any mercy! Petrificus Totalus!" Voldemort screeched, and the next thing she knew, Lily was on the floor by Harry's crib, stiff as a board. She was able to do nothing to protect whatever Voldemort would throw at him.
"Why hello, there, Harry Potter," Voldemort sneered as he peered into the crib at the baby, who had tears streaming down his face. The fear in his emerald eyes was painfully apparent." Your destiny is to defeat me, but I shall stop that before it ever happens. How could a pitiful boy like you ever stand a chance against me?" And he pointed his wand at Harry, crying, "Crucio!"
Lily couldn't even scream as she watched her beloved son writhe in his crib, letting out heart-stopping screams of agony. Voldemort smirked maliciously down at her. "Ah, no begging?" he drawled. "It's because you can't! The Petrificus Totalus has locked your mouth shut! Are you enjoying this, Lady Lily?"
The screams seemed to tear a hole into Lily's heart. Please, make it stop! She pleaded silently. Please, I'll do anything to make it stop!
Finally, after what seemed like an age, Voldemort lifted the spell off Harry. Looking straight into Lily's emerald green eyes, he pointed his wand at Harry again. "Say goodbye to the savior of the wizarding world," he taunted. "Avada Kedavra!"
Lily was paralyzed with numbness and horror as she watched the green light wash over her baby boy. The crying stopped, and he went limp and terribly, terribly still.
"Finite Incantatem!" Voldemort shrieked, taking the spell off Lily. "Thanks to Wormtail, I am now victorious!" And before Lily could run at him, he grasped something around his neck and cried, "Portkey activate!"
And he was gone.
On trembling feet, Lily walked towards the crib and picked up Harry in her arms. She knew, from just one look at him, that her beautiful, prospering, cooing, joyous little baby was gone. His lifeless, emerald green eyes were staring, staring, staring at her, drilling a nail into her heart. They had fear in them, fear so huge, fear that would be forever frozen on his young face.
And Lily burst into huge, racking sobs. Her tears soaked Harry's messy mop of black hair and his sweet little face, and she knew she had failed. She had had no right to be a mother; she hadn't done the one thing she'd promised, she hadn't protected her only son.
Sobs shaking her body so hard that she could barely walk, she descended the stairs and found James on the floor at the bottom. She noticed, though, when she looked into James's eyes, that they weren't empty like Harry's. They were not blinking, but they had a strange look in them. Lily knew at once that Voldemort had stupefied James and kept him alive as well, kept him alive to survive the horrific cruelty of losing a child, one of the worst traumas you can ever go through.
"Enervate," Lily choked out through her tears, and the moment James came around, stared at Lily, and looked into his son's lifeless and fearful face, he let out a pure scream of anguish and leaped to his feet. "That ... that ... that BASTARD Peter!" he screamed. "He's killed my son! NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!" Collapsing into sobs, he fell into Lily's arms, the two of them holding each other with their dead son between them.
"J-J-James," Lily sobbed hysterically. "I tried, I t-t-tried, Voldemort Petrificus Totalussed me and made me watch as he cast Crucio on him, and then he just ... killed him! He then left by Portkey, the coward! I'm a failure, I failed our only child, James, God, I'm so sorry, I'm so, so sorry, what've I done, oh God, James, no, no, no, no, no!"
Through his own racking grief, James tried to whisper to her that she hadn't failed, that she did the best she could, while all the time he was feeling the most disgusted with himself that he had ever felt. His blind trust in Peter had cost their son his life, and as he clung onto Lily, still looking into his son's empty eyes, he knew that things would never be the same again. Harry, the last hope for the wizarding world, and above all, James and Lily's light, their joy, their happiness, was forever silenced.