'Political Power comes from the tip of a Wand.'

Lord Voldemort, Modern Wizarding War and Strategy, 1976

(Prohibited by the Ministry of Magic, under 'Maintenance of Social Cohesion Law, 1968'. Ownership only permitted with a Ministry License.)

Lord Voldemort gently pushed opened the Potter's front door, and stepped inside.

As soon as he crossed the threshold a great keening alarm began to ring.

'Shit.'

He heard a feminine voice from past the door on his right, and not half a second later the door was propelled off its hinges by a powerful curse, stopped a few inches from his face by a small movement of his wand.

'James, take Harry and run!'

He flicked his wand to the left, and the door followed, revealing to him the living room of the Potter's. Lily held her wand out in front of her, face tight, hand shaking, while James had grabbed the baby and was turning for the rear door.

Voldemort walked forward into the room and immediately began his assault on Lily. For a few seconds they cursed each other in silence, wands flickering almost too fast to see, bursts of colour impacting shields, but it was a foregone conclusion. Lily Potter was a skilled duelist but what could she do to an unbound Wizard of Voldemort's power?

'Expelliarmus.'

Lily's wand was sent flying across the room.

'Surrender now Potter and you will be spared, the world will always have a certain space for a pure blood Witch like yourself.'

'Fuck off you sociopath.' Lily replied as she ducked and moved.

Voldemort sighed as the killing curse traveled from his wand to strike Lily as she dove.

He did not delay. He moved toward the rear of the room, stepping over the Potter's corpse as he did, and then out the door and up the stairs, after James Evans.

The Dark Lord did not have to guess at where James was as he reached the top of the stairs, he could feel power emanating from one of the rooms.

Opening the door he was presented to the sight of a crib surrounded by an intricate network of runes and symbols, and James Potter nee Evans holding a runed knife to his wrist.

'Ah James, I feel like you are going to do something terribly foolish my boy'

'Don't 'boy' me, you lunatic!' James growled knife point gently digging into his skin. 'I will do whatever I must to defend my son.'

'The child will die regardless of what you do Evans, I'm sure your ritual is well made, but do you truly think it will stop me? Hundreds have died before me, all confident that this time it would be different.'

'My name is Potter.'

'Ah Wizards and their Witches, where would we be without them? Severus sends his love James.'

'Don't you speak of him!' James spat.

'Both he and Pettigrew intervened to ask that I spare you, which did not make a great deal of sense to me, I always offer Wizards a chance to lay down their wands'

James' hand tightened around that knife 'Have you forgotten that you struck down Longbottom without a moments hesitation barely a month ago?'

Voldemort paused for a second. 'Ah yes, a mistake. This war makes monsters of us all, some days I feel like I almost forgot why I started it in the first place.' He paused 'Let us end this.'

He flung the Killing Curse toward the crib, James stabbed into his wrist and ripped downward, and then there was only white and a great terrible noise, like the world ripping in half.