Tragedy – The Fall of the Potters
By Bathilda Bagshot
When asked about the Potters, often times the first person people think about is the boy-who-lived Harry Potter. It only makes sense to think of the vanquished of the Dark Lord, right? A select few may even spare a thought for his parents James and Lily Potter. How they were the epitome of what parents should be. Past that, though, only few of us remember the rest of the Potters and how they contributed in the war against You-Know-Who.
Even before the war, the surviving Potter family was small. Before James and Lily married and young Harry was born, there were only six of them. The eldest was Henry Potter, the only one of his generation that was still alive. He didn't really play much of a role in the war with You-Know-Who, but he played the groundwork and was a large role model for his two sons. His political beliefs in the first Wizarding War laid the ground work for the future Potters.
The first wizarding war was a war that spread into the muggle world, something that a lot of wizards didn't care about. The minister of the time, Archer Evermonde, decided that it would be political suicide for him to decide to sent Aurors and Hit Wizards as aid for the muggles. In an official statement he said "The muggle world's affairs are not our problem. We need our forces to be dedicated to the defense of our people. Even if we had men to spare, I would not send them. Such an action would be a breach of the Statue of Secrecy."
He was correct, of course. Had the wizarding world decided to interfere, there would be a large chance of magic being revealed. But Henry Potter still spoke against the minister's decision. He claimed that "We need not send wizards into major battles, just send them into small raids and a couple of medics. Surely we could send Obliviators to do the rest." While his point was valid, the minister refused to change his mind and the muggles continued without aid.
Two years later, Charlus Potter graduated from Hogwarts and immediately joined the fight. He was an extremely talented wizard, both talented and powerful. At one point it is rumored that he fought of six of Grindelwald's followers in defense of some children until reinforcements could arrive. He even went toe to toe with Grindelwald, though neither of them won that fight. In the end the enemy feared him for his brutality and his battlefield motto "May you have ten times the punishment for your crime."
The younger brother, Fleamont Potter graduated towards the end of the first wizarding war, a mere 16 days before the legendary duel between Albus Dumbledore and Gellert Grindlewald. Instead of joining his brother on the battlefield during the last days of the war, Fleamont decided to start his own business, eventually inventing Sleekeazy's Hair Potion. The sale of this potion nearly quadrupled the family's already extensive wealth.
In 1921, Henry Potter stepped down from the Wizengammot. Next in line to take the Potter family seat was Charlus Potter, but he denied the position stating that he was, "more into solving his problems with blood than with words." He did appear at Fleamont's first Wizengammot session to congratulate him. Many Wizengammot lords had a laugh when Charlus handed Fleamont a bottle of firewhiskey after the meeting saying, "I came prepared."
A couple of years later, both of the young men found a woman to settle down with. For Fleamont, there was a young witch named Euphemia who had fought in the first wizarding war. Before their marriage Euphemia made it clear that she would be unable to have a child due to a rather nasty injury she sustained in a fight in 1915. This news brought tears to Fleamont's eyes, but, feeling such strong love for his girlfriend, he took a knee and proposed changing the couple's tears from sad to happy.
Charlus Potter made an extremely controversial decision when he announced his marriage to one Dorea Black after apparently courting her for years. People were shocked to hear that the light family of the Potters would unite with the dark Blacks. But Charlus then told a classic love story that made their hearts sore.
Apparently, Charlus Potter sustained a terrible injury when he took a curse meant for Dorea's brother, Arcturus. Feeling he owed the Charlus a debt, Arcturus took him to his sister, a healer that was becoming well known throughout the wizarding world for her success rate. There Charlus met Dorea and, through the months of healing, he fell in love with her. Though he left to return to the battlefield, they stayed in touch until one day, after the war's end, they reunited.
The Potter family lived in peace for 39 years until Charlus and Dorea Potter emerged from Saint Mungo's holding an adorable baby boy. The newly dubbed Heir James Potter grew up in Potter Manor with his grandfather, aunt, uncle, and parents. None of the Potters were willing to leave Potter Manor and, considering its vast size, none of them needed to.
Just before the Potter heir went to Hogwarts, though, the wizarding world sunk into war once more. The Dark Lord and his Knights of Walpurgis began to strike terror across the land with their campaign of pureblood superiority. At first, none of the Potters paid him any mind, thinking that the Aurora could handle it. It wasn't until James reached his fourth year that the Potter family began to join the fight.
Charlus Potter did what he did best, fight in the front lines. He was feared by the Knights of Walpurgis and the Dark Lord himself didn't want to fight him one on one. In fact, You-Know-Who only crossed wands with Charlus twice. The first time, ended in a draw, though the rest of Charlus' raid team did not fair so well making him retreat. The second time, Charlus was nearly killed, but he succeeded in his mission.
Meanwhile, Fleamont worked to counter You-Know-Who's political movements that were spear headed by families like the Lestranges, Nott, Rosier, and Avery. The combined efforts of Fleamont and Albus Dumbledore successfully stopped several laws from passing.
Their rebellion did not go unnoticed though. He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named publicly gave the Potter family a single chance to back down. In response, Charlus went to a meeting with the Dark Lord. At that meeting Charlus pretended to think about joining them for a bit of time before he snapped of a severing curse towards He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named's head. Unfortunately, the Dark Lord ducked, but the curse still beheaded someone. The Lord Lestrange, You-Know-Who's second in command at the time, was killed off. Charlus was then forced to retreat after being torn to shreds by the Dark Lord in retribution.
It took two months for He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named to find an opportunity to retaliate. Even then, he dared not make an appearance himself because, with the Potters sticking together, he would not win in a raid against them. Instead, he and the newly dubbed "Death Eaters" went on a raid of Diagon Alley on the same day as the Potters' annual ball. Charlus Potter was called into battle and Dorea Potter went to help out at Saint Mungos, knowing that they would be needing a lot of help. When the strike team arrived to counters the Dark Lord and his forces, the dark immediately retreated. Charlus realized the trick and quickly returned to Potter Manor.
While he and his wife were away, He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named had sent a single man to infiltrate the ball. He wore a glamor over his face until he finally shook hands with Fleamont and Euphemja Potter. At that point, Fleamont noticed the glamor and snapped his wand at the wizard. He was revealed to be infected with Dragon Pox, one of the wizarding world's most deadly diseases. Seventeen witches and Wizards were infected, including Fleamont and Euphemia. Only Fleamont and two others survived.
Heart broken by his wife's death and overwhelmed by a need for revenge Fleamont stormed out of the hospital and attacked the Dark Lord's stronghold. He managed to take out three men, including the elder Mulciber (who had a son at Hogwarts) before He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named arrived and cut him down personally.
Henry Potter, who was reaching 100 years if age, had a heart attack upon learning of his youngest son's death. He was pronounced dead three days later. Within a week, the Potter family was cut in half, going from six to three. The remaining Potters were devastated and seemed to disappear from the war for a while.
When James finally graduated from Hogwarts Charlus Potter rejoined the war effort alongside his son. Charlus fought for one year before he decided to stay at Potter Manor with his wife. James Potter, trained by his father and the legendary Auror Moody, began a very successful career as an auror.
Shortly after his father's retirement, James proposed to Lily Evans, a muggleborn whom apparently had scored the highest NEWT score in a decade. The ceremony was small because the Potters were large targets at this point and were taking no chances. Their security paid off though, as the wedding was uninterrupted and James and Lily went on their honeymoon somewhere.
Their trip was cut short, though, when three days later James received a distress message from his father. The newlyweds rushed back to Potter Manor only to find it razed to the ground. The bodies of Charlus and Dorea Potter were found layed out in the center of the ballroom surrounded by various body parts. It is unknown who exactly was killed and injured, but the Potters had evidently put up a large fight before being struck down.
Whereas the death of Fleamont caused the Potters to retreat, the death of Charlus and Dorea caused then to fight harder. James and Lily Potter were a force to be reckoned with and were in several notable fights, three of which included a battle with the Dark Lord himself. But then they received a surprise and went to visit Saint Mungos in secret before disappearing from the war completely. No one was sure why they left so suddenly and were plagued by fear because of it. Even more so when Frank and Alice Longbottom disappeared the next day.
Somewhere around three months later, their reasons were leaked and the world learned about the coming Potter Heir. The rest, they say, is history. The Dark Lord went to Godric's Hallow and only one person was left alive. The boy-who-lived, Harry James Potter who, due to being the last of his line, was pronounced the lord of his house.
We may not know where he is now, but until he returns, let us remember his ancestors. Do not forget to honor the people who live on through young Harry. May Henry Potter, Euphemia Potter, Fleamont Potter, Dorea Potter, Charlus Potter, James Potter, and Lily Potter rest in piece with a part of our hearts.