It Should Have Been.
Halloween had always been a special holiday for James. When he was little, he would go to Diagon Alley with his parents and go trick or treating. When he went to Hogwarts, the evening was spent with his friends causing mayhem. When James and Lily got together, they spent their first Halloween together. It was the first night they told each other they love one another. When baby Harry was born, James couldn't wait to take Harry to Diagon Alley to bring his own traditions around with his son. Shortly before his first Halloween, they were forced into hiding. Sirius was made their secret keeper; after all, Sirius would guard this secret with his life!
Weeks before their last Halloween, Sirius had a stroke of brilliance: switch the secret keeper to Wormtail. Sirius was closer to James and Lily, so he was the obvious one; Wormtail was small and unassuming. Before Sirius left that night, Padfoot and Prongs updated the wards around the family home in Gordrics Hollow. It was up to Peter now to keep the secret.
When James woke up on October 31st, his first thoughts were of Harry. Even if James couldn't take Harry out of the house, he could still make the holiday special. He conjured black paper into bats to fly around the living room; he transfigured a pillow into a large stuffed spider for Harry to pummel. Little things that wouldn't be too scary. As Harry grew more accustomed to the spider and the bats, he seemed to really be enjoying himself. James had felt a small burst of pride for finally being able to pass on one tradition when they were stuck in this house: he had made Halloween important.
As the night wore on, James and Lily laughed while watching their precious boy chase the smoke James made come out of his wand. Lily had only gone into the kitchen to fix Harry's late night bottle when the security alarms went off. As both parents looked at one another in fright, James had only one thought in his mind: it should have been Padfoot.
It should have been Padfoot
James shouted over his shoulder as he ran to the front door: "Take Harry and go". He knew they didn't have much time, and their boy needed to be safe, his Lily needed to be safe. Lily wanted to argue, but she knew it would be fruitless; James was always so set on being the martyr. James faced the door and felt Lily's hand give a quick squeeze on his shoulder as she ran up the stairs with their baby. As James looked for his wand, he knew he had left it in the living room. There was no time to grab it as the door was blown open.
It should have been Padfoot.
They had been betrayed by one of the closest people to them.
It should have been Padfoot.
James could only registered the raise of the wand. He didn't have anything to fight back with. He only had his hope: his hope that Lily was able to escape and that their son would survive. Then, the flash of green light.
It should have been Padfoot.
Hey guys! Thanks for reading! I got this idea off of Tumblr, so the general idea comes off of whomever posted it originally! All the characters belong to JK, and not I sadly.
