A/N: Hey Guys, you're probably surprised to be seeing an update on this story since it was complete ages ago. I've decided in the case of this story at least, to forsake my name and actually do an edit on the story. Basically I'm following in Hollywood's footsteps and doing a good old fashioned reboot. I read it back to myself recently and there are quite a few things I'd like to do differently or not do at all, so I thought rewriting it would make me feel just a little bit better about it. Not to mention I've grown as a writer since I started this piece (on paper) more than a decade ago. It's my first every fanfiction so it has a special place in my heart, not to mention I really love the overall story line, so I want to keep it but I want it to reflect my growth. I am posting it in the original story rather than posting a new one because I don't want to lose all the reviews that had been posted on the original. I hope you will all still enjoy this story when you see the changes (hopefully you'll enjoy it even more).

Song for this chapter: Fishin' by Takenobu

APOV

I was sitting at his desk flipping through the book he had penned with his dear friend Flammel about the many uses of dragon's blood. So far it had been a fairly uneventful Halloween at the castle but sadly I had eaten too many lemon drops this evening and there was very little hope of falling asleep while still wired on sugar.

My attention was drawn from my book by a soft-spoken female voice calling to me. At first my mind was thrown back in time, seeing the sweet smile of my sister as she spoke to me from her bed, but then I had the frequent and still heartbreaking realization that she was gone. Instead my mind wandered to her portrait and the mixed feelings I'd had when we'd installed the charmed large version of it in the home of Lily and James so we would have a chance to rescue them should the secret keeper fail.

It had been nice to have a way to bring them through to the Hogshead in just moments, but it had involved not only having to work with my brother who absolutely despises me, but to ask something so important of Arianna when I was already so indebted to her was the most painful. Hearing her voice however was startling.

My eyes shot immediately to the small portrait propped on the desk that had been empty for months now. My heart began to slam against my ribcage when I saw Arian present in her frame once more looking terrified.

"It has happened Albus!" she said quickly. "The Secret Keeper has given up the location, and he has found them. I was away from my frame for mere moments, and that was all it took for them to miss their opportunity to escape. I'm so sorry."

"You are not to blame Arianna," I told her quietly. "You are never to blame. What is happening?"

"It was destructive whatever is was that he did," she said in a wobbly voice. "There is still at least one child alive, I could hear cries from my frame by the fireplace. It's as if an explosion has taken place however, and I believe the house will collapse soon."

I was on my feet before she finished speaking, sweeping my cloak up from the back of my chair and throwing it over my shoulders as I went.

"Is Tom still there," he called over his shoulder.

"No, he has gone," Arianna told him with the tiniest of smiles in her voice. "I arrive in my frame at what I suspect was his explosive departure that threatens to level the house despite the eerie calm that has fallen other than the crying child."

"Please be waiting at the Hogshead to let Hagrid through," I instructed as I flew toward the open door to my office and began descending the stairs.

RHPOV

I had been sleeping when Albus began pounding on my door. I could see the weariness in his eyes when I opened the door with my crossbow in hand. He didn't ask, but I could see him wondering if I always opened the door that way in the dark, and I thought about telling him yes during a war like this I did and would continue to protect myself and the school in anyway I could. But he didn't ask so I didn't say anything, instead I allowed him to push the bow down so it was not aimed at him.

"Hagrid, the Potter's have been attacked," he told me grimly. "I have it on good authority that the house has been severely damaged, and that a rescue mission to save the children is in order."

"Only the Children Albus?" I asked, feeling the hairs on the back of my neck stand up as his words hit me.

"My source did not say for sure, but she gave me the impression that James and Lily did not make it," he told me softly. "I have emergency business to attend to in relation to Tom Riddle. Can you please retrieve Bianca and Harry and take them to Number 4 Privet Drive in Little Whinging?"

"'Course Albus," I told him, my chest puffing up at being given such an important task.

"Go to the Hogshead," Albus explained with a nod. "Arianna's portrait will tell you what to do. I shall meet you at the children's new home later this evening."

"Yes sir," I nodded, propping my crossbow against the wall before stepping out into the darkness and pulling the door closed behind me.

The walk from the castle to the Hogshead seemed far too long, and my feet far too heavy as I walked toward what must be the end of the world. How could it be true? The Potters gone? I couldn't bear the thought, and the idea of soon seeing the evidence shock something deep within my chest. I could feel my eyes burning as I marched the beginning of a new world, but I fought not to let my tears fall.

I was surprised to find the door to the seedy bar open and a lone candle burning in its holder at the center of a table near the door. Sitting at the table was Aberforth Dumbledore, but tonight he had no smile to share with me as I stepped inside. Instead he simply stood from the table and gestured with his arm for me to follow.

"Prepare yourself for a strange walk tonight," Aberforth said tiredly as he lead me up the rickety staircase that I had never had reason to climb. "The tunnel is imbued with magic so you will not be crossing the full distance, but it will still take some time. This is the only way into the house without the Secret Keeper telling us the address, though guarding the portrait hardly seems to matter now does it?"

"How's it work?" I asked when we came to a stop in front of the tall portrait of a young woman that must be the Arianna Albus spoke of.

"All of Arianna's portraits are linked," he explained, his eyes locked on the young woman. "Two of them are full sized like this, and between them is a passage that a person can cross through. The others used to be in the old Dumbledore home in Godric's Hollow, but Albus moved it into wherever the Potters are staying before the house became secret kept."

"So I jus' go through the picture?" I asked, reaching out to run my fingers over the very solid canvas.

"No you go through the tunnel behind it," Aberforth said with a shake of the head.

He grabbed the edge of the frame, and pulled the portrait away from the wall revealing a tunnel with dirt-hewn walls that visibly swelled large enough to accommodate my berth. I spared one last bleary eyed glance over my shoulder at Aberforth and then I climbed into the tunnel. There was an other worldly light within the tunnel that kept it from going pitch black when the portrait swung shut behind me, but it was still darker than I would have liked.

The walk through the tunnel felt like it took days or even years, though my watch said I had only walked for a few minutes before the ground beneath my feet shifted to an incline. As I climbed the hill that had been created I felt a change in the air. It began to grow warmer and it was filled with the smell of smoke and dust. I began to grow nervous of what I would find on the other side of the portrait when the smells began to process in my mind. Was the house on fire?

Finally the tunnel ended and I was confronted with a wall that was a really a door. There were tiny lines of light seeping through the edges of where the portrait met the wall. I pushed it lightly on it, and the portrait swung open revealing a scene of destruction that stole the air from my lungs. Furniture was overturned, walls were caving in on themselves, and rubbles was strewn across the floor.

None of that was as hard to look at as the sight of where the front door should have been. The door had been blasted off of its hinges and it was lying on the floor, half concealing two bodies. I bit my lip against the wail that threatened to break free when I recognized who as lying there. It was plain as day that James had been holding Bianca when he went to answer the door. Perhaps he had assumed it must be a friendly visitor since the house was secret kept?

Now he was face down on the floo, his glasses hanging off his face, his eyes wide and staring without life in them. It hardly seemed necessary, but I still touched his neck to check for a pulse. Of course there was not one, and my eyes wandered to the tiny girl with a crop of auburn hair. Her eyes were closed and she looked as if she were sleeping. Except for the fact that she had sustained some sort of injury to her back, and the cloth of her jumper had been soaked through with blood. My fingers shook as I pressed them gently to her tiny throat.

I could no longer hold the tears at bay when I did not feel a pulse. I threw myself bodily away from her, wailing my grief at the loss of such a young life. The house gave and eerie creak as I stumbled blindly up the stairs toward the sound of Harry crying. My mind was torn between the horror of Bianca not surviving and the depressing truth that Harry was still alive and all by himself. What were they going to tell him if he ever asked about what happened to his family?

Seeing Lily sprawled across the floor of the nursery was equally as painful as the sight of James, and this time I did not bother to check for a pulse that I wouldn't find. Instead I went to the crib, that was mostly intact though it had scorch marks on the outside. I picked Harry and his blanket up, and looked toward what he had been staring at and saw that there was a huge hole blasted in the wall and I could see the night air outside.

A spark of light in the distance caught my eye and I watched in rapt attention listening to the sound of an approaching growl. It took longer than it should have for me to put together the pieces that I was hearing Sirius Black's motorbike approaching. I stumbled out of the nursery and back down the stairs. I tried not to look at the sight of Bianca and James on the floor as I shuffled awkwardly out of the house without stepping on the door in any way.

I heard the bike touch down in front of the house as I came down the front steps. He didn't have any problem seeing us, so the spell hiding the house must have fallen. I hoisted Harry into a better position and then I crossed over the yard to meet a distraught looking Sirius who was climbing off the bike.

"What's going on?" he asked, his eyes darting between me and the house. "What is this?"

"They're gone," I said as gently as I could. "Harry's all that's left now."

"This can't be!" he cried, growing more upset by the second. "It isn't possible."

"I'm 'fraid it is," I sighed. "I checked them myself. They're dead Sirius."

"I can't… no," Sirius stuttered.

"I have ter take Harry here to Albus now," I explained. "Are you going to be okay?"

"No, this will never be okay," he said before turning to really look at me for the first time. "You've got to take him to Albus? You should take my bike. I won't need it anymore."

"Sure ye will," I told him shaking my head.

"No I've got something to take care of, you should use it tonight," he said with a shake of his head. "Let's get Harry bundled up and you can take him to Albus. We both need to get out of here before the muggle authorities show up, it should be one of the obliviation squad to handle this situation."

"All right," I said, not sure what to think of how quickly he was cycling through different emotions. "It'll be faster tha' way."

Sirius took the blanket from me and quick as he could pulled Harry out of my arms and bundled him up so all you could see was his face. He had a determined look in his eye as he pulled out his wand and cast a series of charms on the sidecar before placing Harry inside. He cast one more charm and shield appeared over the top of the sidecar and then he turned to me.

"Okay, that should keep him from moving around, and keep him nice and comfortable until you get where you're going," he explained. "Be safe Hagrid. I'll see you around."

"See yer," I nodded and I climbed onto the bike and kicked it back on with a roar of the engine and I pushed off throwing the bike into the air with the pair of us and headed off toward Surrey.