It was rather a chilly night to be in October. A tall, black-haired man waved his wand. Puffs of coloured smoke ejected from his wand, and pieces of shimmering, colourful ribbons flew onto the floor.

A blacked-haired baby boy at around one year old laughed, stumbling on his feet and waving his fat fists, as if he were trying to catch the smoke. A red-haired girl of three giggled, 'Do that again, daddy, do that again!'

'Now that's quite enough, James,' an elegant red-haired woman appeared at the door, saying with an edge of disapproval. 'It's late now and the kids need to sleep.'

'Oh mommy, please, just another minute!' the red-haired little girl pleaded.

'No, Clarie, not now,' said the mother sternly. 'You've had enough and it's time for you and Harry to go to bed.'

James sighed, as he scooped up Harry and hand him to his wife Lily. Lily held Harry with one arm, and spared one hand to take a scowling Clarie.

James threw his wand on the sofa and stretched, yawning. Suddenly the door burst open with a bang. James sprinted into the hall, terrified at the sight of the white, snake-like face of lord Voldemort appearing at the doorway.

'Lily, take the kids and go! It's him! Go! Run! I'll hold him off-'

Voldemort laughed, in his high, cold voice. He raised his wand-holding arm lazily and pointed at the back of James, who was running to fetch his wand, and shouted, 'Avada Kedavra!'

The green light filled the carpeted hallway, it lit the pram pushed against the wall, it made the banisters glare like lightning rods, and James Potter fell like a marionette whose strings were cut…

Lily screamed on the upper floor, but she was sensible enough to know she still had the duty to protect the kids. She got all she can get, boxes, chairs and etcetera to barricade the room.

Inside the room, she took Clarie to the back of the cot and hid her well. 'No matter what happens,' she said, with a trembling voice and there came a thundering bang and noise of falling items, 'You must stay behind the cot and make no sound.'

Clarie nodded, and she saw tears trailed down Lily's face. 'Don't cry, mommy, don't cry,' said Clarie, holding out her hands to wipe her mother's tears, though she didn't understand why her mother was crying.

Lily forced a brave smile. Just then with another loud bang, the door flew open. She saw it, the terrifying white face. She put Harry into the cot and murmured something. Then she stood between the kids and Voldemort and said in a quavering voice, 'Not Harry, not Harry, please not Harry!'

'Stand aside, you silly girl… stand aside, now…'

'Not Harry, please no, take me, kill me instead…'

'This is my last warning-'

'Not Harry! Please… have mercy… have mercy…'

'Stand aside - stand aside, girl-'

His wand had been pointing at the baby. Harry wasn't crying, in fact, he looked at Voldemort with great interest, as if thinking the intruder was his father, hiding under the cloak. Voldemort's thin lips suddenly curled into a smile and moved his hand sideways. The mother thought her child was spared, but with another brilliant flash of green light and Voldemort's cry of 'Avada Kedavra!' the mother fell on the floor, her eyes stared at the ceiling blankly, dead.

Clarie, hiding behind the cot was terrified. She saw the whole scene through the bars. She saw the foul face turned to her brother, studying Harry hungrily. The intruder stepped towards the cot and Clarie trembled with fear, and Harry's happy expression broke into a cry, as if he realised the intruder wasn't his father after all. The intruder's face frowned with rage, and once again, he yelled, 'Avada Kedavra!''

Green light filled the room, a loud bang blew off almost half of the house and Clarie couldn't help herself from screaming. Once the green light faded she forced herself to look, and through the bars she saw a black, cloaked figure lying on the floor moaning, 'no… no…'

Then a gigantic snake slid through the ruins and remains of the house, and escaped through the hole on the side of the house. The black figure on the floor started to fade, like evaporating water, and some kind of grey smoke rose from the figure floated out of the house, accompanied by a hissing, fear-bringing unknown language.

For quite a while, Clarie froze at where she was, petrified of what she had seen, and flashbacks of scenes she just saw passed through her eyes. The house was silent, she couldn't hear Harry's cry, nor her mother's kind whispers to her, nor her father's mighty laugh, she didn't know her parents has gone, gone… she thought they would approach to her any moment, comfort her …

Before long she heard heavy steps on the stairs coming up. 'No, no, James… Lily…'

Clarie quavered harder than ever. Peeping through the bars she saw the most gigantic person ever, kneeling on the floor by the cot. She couldn't hear Harry making a sound.

'Harry! There yer are, little boy… c'mon…'

'Leave my brother!'

Clarie yelled, and with great courage she stood out, her little heart determined to protect her little brother.

She saw the face of the new intruder: a face almost covered all in hair, only the eyes were to be seen. The giant was holding Harry in his arms.

'James? No, no! Lily! Clarie! Harry! '

A new voice joined, and to Clarie's relief, she knew that voice. A tall, handsome man in black sprinted into the room and shocked by the scene of the place. 'No… Lily…' he croaked.

'Sirius!' Clarie yelled with relief, ran across the room and hugged her godfather.

'Clarie!' Sirius kneeled down and held the little girl. 'What happened? What was going on here?'

Clarie did not utter a word, and instead she started off sobbing. Sirius hugged the poor kid, and turned to the giant. 'Hagrid, let me take Harry, I'm his godfather-'

'I'm sorry, Sirius,' the giant Hagrid said. 'But I came to take Harry. Dumbledore's orders, yeh must understand... '

'Then I have to take Clarie, at least, please let me take her, Hagrid…'

Hagrid hesitated. Then he said, 'Dumbledore didn't said anything about the little girl, maybe yeh can take her to a safer place… I dunno…'

'Many thanks, Hagrid,' he stood up and took Clarie. 'Take my motorcycle, Hagrid… I won't be needing it anymore…' Silent tears trailed down his face, and he took Clarie out of the house and disappeared into the dark.