"Lily, take Harry and go. I'll try to hold him off!" James pushed his wife through the door and slammed it behind her before she could protest. She ran up the stairs, desperately hoping that somehow they would all come out of this alive. Scooping her infant son from his cradle, she heard a defiant cry and a high, cold laugh which stopped her in her tracks. James…? Green light illuminated the world, streaking under the door. "James!" The world ended as she stood screaming. She tried to summon her Patronus but all the happiness was gone from her heart. She looked down at the blanket-wrapped bundle in her arms, and wondered what he would be like when he grew up. Picturing him at Hogwarts, surrounded by friends, she summoned the last reserves of her magic. Expecto Patronum! The great silver doe ballooned from the end of her wand and waited expectantly. Hoping against hope that this would work, Lily placed the child on the creature's back and whispered in his ear. "I love you, Harry James Potter." To her relief, the spell seemed to support his slight weight. A chillingly familiar voice spoke from the door.
"How touching. Unfortunately, I can't imagine there will be many family reunions." Looking up in horror, the mother instinctively moved in front of her child. "Stand aside, girl. Stand aside!" Goodbye, Harry. She nudged the doe towards the window and it took off, flying across the Potters' small garden towards safety. A pale hand threw her aside as its owner rushed to the window and pointed his wand at the rapidly retreating silver target. As a jet of green light began its journey towards her son, Lily leapt in front of Voldemort. "You make me angry, girl." A slash of his wand and the determined expression on Lily Potter's face froze. She crumpled and the Dark wizard returned his gaze to his spell, not expecting to see it rushing back in his direction. It hit him full in the face and he dissolved into emptiness.
--
The dishevelled young man crouched behind the hedge had watched all this in horror. As the doe galloping across the grass passed him, he raised his wand. A second streak of silver and peeled off at a tangent. "Keep the boy safe," he muttered. "She'll want him back." Almost out of sight, Lily's Patronus began to fade. No. His own cut across the field and bowed its head to the original, as if receiving instructions. As the doe disappeared, the child was carried off. No! If the Patronus was gone, then its caster was… No. She's just so unhappy about James, that's all it is… She can't be- He noticed then the eerie green light illuminating his quivering hand. He looked up, disregarding the falling masonry as he desperately searched for her, for some sign that she was still alive. The Dark Lord mustn't see him. Surely he should have left by now? He could wait no longer. He ran towards the remains of the house.
Stumbling into the living room, the first thing he saw was the lifeless body of James Potter. He didn't stop. Running into the kitchen, the dining room, up the stairs, he frantically opened doors and cupboards in the hope of finding her alive. He could almost see it, he wanted it so much. She would fall into his arms, distraught, trembling but above all breathing. He threw open the door to the master bedroom and felt his heart turn over. The entire end wall had been blown away and there, half-dangling over the edge of the ruins, lay his Lily. He pulled her towards him, dislodging more pieces of brickwork, and held her close. He had promised. They had both promised. They had failed him. And he… he had failed her. Oh God, Lily… Lily… I am so sorry. He lifted her gently and laid her on the bed, closing her eyes. She could have been sleeping, except for the expression on her face. At least they would know. They would know she had gone down fighting…
Returning to the living room, he dragged her husband into a more comfortable-looking position on the floor. Then he left the house without looking back. Passing the garden gate, he turned on his heel and was gone into the night.
--
A motorcycle crashed out of the sky, thudding into the grass. Sirius Black dismounted and raced inside to find his best friend slumped, wide-eyed and unseeing, against an open door. "James! No! …Lily?" He ran upstairs and stopped in the doorway, bewildered and grief-stricken. Lily was dead, he could tell just by looking. She looked horrified, but her eyes were closed and she had been laid out on the bed as if she was just resting. Sirius' mind was reeling. Since when did You-Know-Who treat the bodies of his victims with respect? But then, with James and Lily dead, nothing made sense any more. And where… Harry. Little Harry. No, he couldn't be dead too… He ran to the cot, tossing aside blankets, scrabbling at the mattress. He wasn't there. Pettigrew. You'll rue this day, rat! Rushing from the house he collided with a massive form. "Hagrid. They're dead, they're both dead… Find Harry if you can – if he's not-" He gulped. "If he's alive, take my bike and get him somewhere safe." At the gate he turned on the spot and disappeared.
"Dead?" Hagrid repeated dumbly. "They can't jus' be-" His face fell and he rummaged in his moleskin overcoat. From a pocket he pulled a disgruntled and dishevelled-looking owl and some parchment. From another, he pulled three dog biscuits, a key, a quill and some ink. Hurriedly, he unfolded the parchment and began to write.
--
A silver phoenix glided gracefully down to land in front Severus Snape, who was wandering through Hogsmeade, rain streaking his face. The beak opened and spoke with an old man's voice. "Severus. You need to come to my office, straight away. Bad news, I'm afraid. But the Order are assembling." Snape sneered at the bird as it vanished. So the Order were assembling? That could only mean one thing. The Potters were dead and Dumbledore wanted to pretend it could all be turned into a positive thing for the side of the good. He pushed open the door to the Hog's Head. The night the Dark Lord conquered the Potters was certainly a good night for a drink.
--
There was complete silence in the Headmaster's office at Hogwarts. A shabby looking man was curled into a ball in the corner of the room, practically howling in his grief. Around the Headmaster's desk stood an assortment of teachers in stunned silence. The only absentee was the new Potions Master. Minerva McGonagall, Deputy Headmistress, had always thought that he was a dubious choice for the job, but tonight she was too preoccupied to say anything. A giant of a man was hovering apologetically near the window, sniffling into a hankie the size of a tea towel. Albus Dumbledore cleared his throat. "I'm afraid, despite all our precautions, we seem to have been betrayed. Sirius Black-" The shabby man sat up. "No! Not Sirius. There's been a mistake." "-Sirius Black and Peter Pettigrew are both missing. As you well know, Remus, Sirius was the Potter's Secret Keeper and therefore the only person who could possibly have led Voldemort-" Everyone in the room flinched. "- to Godric's Hollow tonight. I believe Peter, knowing this, may have gone after him."
--
Snape fell in through the front gate at Spinner's End and stopped short. There was a bundle on his doorstep. Or were there two? He shouldn't have had that last Firewhisky. Either way, it couldn't stay there. What was it? He glanced down and looked into the sleeping face of James Potter. "Potter!" He slurred. "Right, you're coming with me." He stumbled back out of the gate and disappeared.
--
"With the Potters dead, I think it would be wise to increase the protection around our other family of Aurors with a young son – Frank and Alice Longbottom. But I'm going to need Rubeus and Remus, if they're up to it, to come with me to sort things out at the house. Everyone else who's not already meant to be keeping an eye on things at the Longbottoms' can go home. Get some sleep."
--
Snape clambered over the Potters' wall and staggered towards the ruined house, muttering to himself. "Bloody Potter… Can't just die and be done with it, can you? Have to turn up on my doorstep as a bloody baby with a cracked forehead, don't you? And meanwhile, she's never bloody coming back, is she? Never." He placed the bundle carefully onto a pile of rubble and was about to wander unsteadily off again when the child murmured softly and opened his eyes. Severus blinked and peered in to look more closely. "You're not James… Lily's boy? She sent you to me? Why would she-?" He looked around as a party of people appeared at the gate. With one last look at the boy, he ran.
--
The tabby cat's tail twitched as it whisked down an unfamiliar Muggle street, ignoring the rat scurrying across the pavement ahead. However, the sudden, loud emergence of a pale, dark-haired man with a wand from a side alley caused the cat to slip under a car, eyes fixed keenly on the action now unfolding. A flash of light stopped the rat in his tracks as he transformed back into a man; a man the cat recognised. Peter Pettigrew.
"You traitor – you betrayed them. They're dead, Peter!" Black was yelling. "Dead!" The smaller man stammered a reply. "S-S-Sirius, you can't think – as if I would betray my-" "Your what? Your friends, you worthless worm! They were your friends, and you sold them out to Voldemort!" Black snarled. Pettigrew flinched. "I had no choice… He has powers you couldn't imagine… You're not going to tell Dumbledore, are you? Don't friends keep each other's secrets, Sirius?" The taller man almost hit him. "Of course I'm telling Dumbledore! You forfeited all claim to friendship when-" There was a flash of light and the car was lifted away from the cat as a huge explosion rocked the houses. When the cat righted herself again, it was to see one man on the ground and one, bleeding, pointing a wand at her face. "Obliviate."