A/N: This is my first published foray into HP fanfiction, although i've got 3 more at or over 9k words. I wanted to explore the world of Harry Potter where Dumbledore's 'Greater Good' doesn't go exactly as planned, though frankly I've only got up until year 2 outlines. There are hundreds of thousands of HP fanfics on this site so I doubt what I write will be truly unique, but I strive to at least make it interesting. Best wishes and good reading
-Venu3374
The headquarters of the Order of the Phoenix were never quiet.
It was something that had always irritated Lily, little enough to seem petty if she complained about it but irritating enough to get under her skin. She needed quiet to do her best thinking and planning, and there were always at least a few people coming and going. Since she couldn't have quiet, she chose to move. Pacing was almost as good as silence for thinking some days, and today she needed all the help she could get.
After months of urging and not-so-subtle hints about their safety, the Potters had finally agreed to move from the well-warded grounds of Potter Manor and hide under a Fidelius charm. Lily had argued against the decision time and time again, citing the known strength of their home's wards vs the tenuous safety of the Fidelius charm's secrecy, but after Dumbledore revealed the full contents of the prophecy to them she'd finally relented. In a week they would disappear from the public eye entirely into Godric's Hollow, and hopefully she could get a full night's sleep without nightmares of death eaters bursting through their front door and killing her husband and son.
She wandered through the hallway containing the spare bedrooms used by Order members when not on assignment, not really seeing anything specific as she was caught up in her own thoughts, and smiled slightly as she heard the her husband's voice. She followed the sound to one of the open rooms and smiled at the sight she found there. Her husband was holding Harry on a transfigured table as he tried to change a dirty diaper while her son wriggled like a fish to make the task as difficult as possible. Every time James would get close to putting the new diaper on Harry he would roll to the side, avoiding every attempt by his father to corral him, and slip the diaper out of place again. Sirius was no help either, having chosen to spectate from beside the table instead of help his brother in all but blood. As she entered the room Sirius glanced over at her, eyes dancing, and looked back at James.
"Your reinforcements have arrived Prongs. You might want to tag in the expert."
James looked up with obvious relief as Lily walked over, and nodded down at their son.
"Little devil is slipperier than a greased snitch. A little help?" She suppressed a laugh as Harry rolled to the side yet again and kicked out playfully, his foot catching James' cheek as he lost his concentration.
"You know he gets it from you, right?" She asked playfully as she nudged him out of the way. James's faux-wounded look was summarily ignored as she looked down at Harry, who babbled happily at his mother. Lily reached down quickly to tickle his exposed stomach for a second making Harry giggle as he squirmed, then grabbed the edges of the diaper. With an expertly practiced move she quickly wrapped the diaper around him while he was distracted. Harry blinked at her for a moment as if surprised how quickly he'd lost his battle, but broke into a wide smile as she leaned down to kiss his nose. As she straightened up she looked at the two men.
"We need to downstairs. The meeting starts in less than ten minutes." As James and Sirius moved towards the door Lily kissed Harry again before muttering a quick sleeping charm and placing him in the nearby crib. Once he was safely in place she began moving her wand quickly erecting a set of warning and protective wards over the crib.
"Don't you think that's a bit much Lils? I mean, we're in headquarters. It's probably safer here than at home." She felt James' arms come around her waist from behind and leaned into his embrace for a moment before answering.
"It wouldn't matter if we were behind the strongest wards in the world. I worry every time he's out of my sight." Her husband remained silent as they spent a moment staring at Harry, then tugged on her lightly. She turned to follow the silent reminder, and after one last glance walked out of the room.
The meeting was, like so many of the recent ones, an exercise in frustration. The Order, for all it's self-proclaimed mission of combating Voldemort's death eaters, was doing very little. They knew he had roughly 40 or 50 wizards under his command to their 30 or so, but not who they all were. This, combined with the reactionary nature of their recent activity had left them on unstable ground in any encounter, and it was all overshadowed by the major point of contention they all had.
Dumbledore refused to change his order not to kill any death eaters.
While definitely outnumbered, by and large the Order members were better fighters. Their numbers contained a large fraction of aurors and skilled spellcrafters, but they were handicapped by a leader that repeatedly refused to change his rules of engagement. Their enemies were throwing lethal curses in every encounter, and they were stuck using stunners. When this combined with the ever more common 'imperius curse' defence so many of the death eaters had taken to using morale was beginning to fall. When the same man you stunned trying to rape a muggleborn witch was stunned again a week later trying to kill a muggle family, only to get out both times by claiming imperius control, resentment begins to breed. There was even talk amongst some of the more militant members of bucking Dumbledore's leadership and 'taking the gloves off'. The worst part was, Lily couldn't blame them. If they'd killed the death eaters they faced instead of stunned them there would be less than half as many by her count. The idealism she'd graduated with was rapidly waning in the face of the atrocities those monsters had committed and her desire to protect her family.
She'd stayed behind as the meeting began to break up, intending to speak with Dumbledore about a few more details of the Fidelius. As the room cleared she began to walk over to Dumbledore only to pause as she noticed him speaking to Peter. Her husband's friend had been pulling long hours lately, something about a new job, and in her less charitable moments she would admit she was glad the man wasn't around much. He reminded her too much of his animagus form: skittish and underfoot. As she walked over she heard him speak.
"I trust your new job has been treating you well Peter?" Dumbledore's grandfatherly voice was unmistakable. Peter looked down sharply for a fraction of a second and rubbed his left arm, and Lily's eyes narrowed as she moved closer.
"Y-Yes, it has. The hours are murder though." His mouth turned up in a smirk for just a moment before his expression faded back into the wary alertness that seemed to be his natural.
"That is good to hear my boy, I know times have been difficult for you." Dumbledore glanced down at the arm Peter had rubbed then looked back up, eyes twinkling. "Is your arm troubling you? It is not so late that Poppy will have left her infirmary yet." Peter looked up in surprise for a moment, his eyes going wide before he answered.
"No! Just a pulled muscle from working yesterday. Nothing to worry about." Dumbledore merely nodded. Before he could say anything else Moody called out from the corner to get his attention, and Dumbledore took his leave. Peter didn't bother to acknowledge the older wizard as he turned and walked away quickly, heading towards the front door. Her suspicions aroused, Lily silenced her footsteps and followed walked up the stairs to the second floor. She slipped into a sitting room with a window facing the front door and disillusioned herself as she looked out just in time to see Peter exit the building. He looked back at the headquarters for a moment before glancing around to see if he was alone, and then pulled out his wand. As Lily watched he raised his left arm and held it out in front of his body before pulling his sleeve up and placing his wand in the center of his left forearm. A loud *crack* later his body disappeared, leaving a shocked and disgusted Lily frozen in the upstairs window, her mind stuck on what she'd seen on his arm.
Peter Pettigrew had a Dark Mark.
"Are you absolutely sure it was a Dark Mark?"
Lily sighed in frustration at the question, asked for at least the fifth time in the last ten minutes. On the one hand she could see how difficult it was to believe that such a close friend had turned traitor, but constantly rehashing what she'd seen wouldn't get them any closer to a plan or change her recollection. She was pacing back and forth in the sitting room of Potter Manor in front of James and Sirius, both of whom had taken seats in some of the squishy armchairs that were scattered around. Her husband and Sirius were still in a state of shock over what she'd seen, but Lily was slowly talking them out of it.
"I know what the Mark looks like Sirius, god knows we've seen it too many times during the last few years. Peter pulled up his left sleeve and it was clear as day on the inside of his right arm."
James shuddered slightly as he hung his head.
"I just can't believe he would join them. I mean, we've been friends for years, and he would condemn my son and wife to die for some idiotic racist tripe? Why?" Lily walked over to him and squeezed his shoulder in support as she heard the pain in his voice. She'd never been particularly close to Peter, having much more in common with Remus or Sirius, but her husband looked at all of the Marauders as family. Peter's betrayal would leave scars that would be a long time in healing.
"It doesn't matter why the rat did it." Sirius spat the word rat as if it was a curse. "All that matters is what we do now. You were supposed to go under the Fidelius but with Peter turning traitor there's no way that'll be safe now. He'd sell you out to his new master, and if you switch secret keepers at the last minute he'll suspect you know about him and run for it. Worse, if you catch him Voldemort will assume either me or Lupin are the new secret keepers and hunt us down."
They were interrupted by the wards signalling someone apparating to the designated spot in the front yard, and Lily rushed to the window to see who it was. Her lips curved into a relieved smile as she saw Remus' familiar silhouette walking up to the door and moved to open it. A quick hug later and she had pulled him inside to the sitting room, where he immediately picked up on the tense atmosphere.
"What happened? Your message said it was an emergency, is everyone alright? Where's Peter?" He rattled off quickly while scanning the room. His anxious expression softened fractionally when he noticed Harry in a Silenced crib in the corner, but didn't fade entirely. Before Lily could answer any of his questions Sirius spoke.
"The rat's turned traitor." His voice held no warmth for his former friend, only an icy rage that Lily had hoped never to see again. Sirius had always been the most temperamental of the four, his hard upbringing leaving mental scars that sometimes peeked out from below his normal cheery demeanor. Sirius would be the first to laugh, but break his trust or push him too far and you could see something of the famous Black temper in him.
Remus' face went from anxious to sheet white at Sirius' declaration, and he turned to James and Lily. Lily walked him through what she'd seen that night, talking calmly and clearly to minimize the effect on Sirius' temper, and when she was finished handed Remus a glass of firewhiskey.
"We were just discussing what to do now. We can't go under the Fidelius like we planned, even without Peter as the Secret Keeper the death eaters would know what happened and be searching all our friends and family to find out who it was. I won't put others at risk like that." Lily finished. While she'd been talking all three men had finished their drinks and grabbed another, and she made a mental note to cut them off if the drinking got out of hand. Horrible revelations or not, these decisions needed sober minds.
"We need to tell Dumbledore. We've known there was a traitor in the Order for a while, just never who. He can help you figure out what to do next." Remus said, but Lily shook her head slowly. Both James and Sirius looked at her curiously as she picked up her own mostly-untouched glass and took a sip before speaking.
"I don't think we can trust Dumbledore, at least not totally." The shocked silence was absolute save for the crackling fire, but she pushed on. "Before he left Peter was talking to Dumbledore, and he asked Peter about his 'new job'. Peter was rubbing the inside of his left arm at the time, and Dumbledore even offered to take him to the Hogwarts infirmary to get it checked out. Peter nearly panicked when he said that, but Dumbledore never pursued it. Someone as experienced as Dumbledore, someone actively looking for a traitor, would never have missed such obvious clues." Lily took another sip before looking up again. "The only thing I can think of that fits what I saw is that Dumbledore knows that Peter is the spy, and is keeping him around on purpose. I just don't know why."
The reactions were varied. James downed his entire drink in one gulp before putting down the glass so hard the table shook. Sirius looked lost, his eyes darting back and forth as he went over every interaction he'd had with the aged wizard since he'd joined the Order, looking for daggers in every conversation. The one that caught Lily's attention the most, however, was Remus. His glass sat unnoticed in front of him, his eyes staring but seeing nothing as he mouthed words faster than she could read. It was a scene she'd seen most often during exam time at Hogwarts as Remus pulled the answer to a seemingly impossible problem from nowhere, fitting facts together in a way that had always surprised the linear-thinking Lily. As she watched his expression began to turn darker, more feral until she could see a hint of yellow in his iris, and when he finally snapped out of his daze there was a moment where all she could see was the wolf, not the man. It passed, but whatever caused momentary slip of his normally iron control scared her more than the wolf peeking out.
"That utter bastard." Remus snarled out, his voice roiling with contained rage. He shot to his feet in an inhumanly graceful movement and began pacing, and Lily noticed he'd moved between Harry's crib and the rest of them. His outburst finally shook Sirius from his daze and pulled James' attention from the fire as they all stared at their werewolf friend, but it was Lily who broke the shocked silence.
"What is it Remus? What else did Peter do?"
Remus didn't stop pacing, but he did slow down as he shook his head and glanced over at them.
"Not Peter. Dumbledore." The growl was back in his voice at the mention of the elderly wizard. Through the haze of his anger he saw the confused glances coming his way and looked down. It took another few moments to push the wolf down enough to answer, and was made even worse by the fact that both he and the wolf were in agreement for once.
"And either must die at the hand of the other for neither can live while the other survives." Sirius and Lily continued to look at Remus in confusion but all the blood drained from Sirius' face.
"He wouldn't." There was both a plea and a denial in his voice as he looked at Remus, begging to be told that the man they'd held up as their best chance against the darkness wasn't as dangerous to them as the enemy. Remus, however, was unflinching as he spoke.
"What is Dumbledore's favorite phrase? The 'Greater Good' is just a nicer way of saying the end justifies the means. What's one life against thousands?" Sirius' face still held traces of his pleading expression while both James and Lily would have fallen if they hadn't already been sitting down. Lily's gaze moved over Harry, still asleep in his crib, before returning to Remus.
"You really think Dumbledore would kill my son just to fulfill some bullshit prophecy!?" Her voice rose to a screech at the end. While the existence of seers was a known fact in the magical community Lily had never met any, and all the research she'd done had convinced her that prophecies were, by and large, a waste of time. It was far more common for the subjects of a prophecy to cause the events to happen trying to stop the prophecy than for anyone to accurately use them to any advantage. The thought of someone trying to kill her son to fulfill the nonsensical ramblings of some random 'seer' was pushing her towards a sort of furious hysteria.
"No, but I think Dumbledore would engineer the resolution of the prophecy so that he no longer feels restricted by it." James' reply surprised all three of them, and he sighed as they focused their attention on him.
"Ever since Dumbledore heard that prophecy the Order has been on standby. He's resisted all attempts to plan large operations and curtailed most of the smaller ones to the point where we're just watching the death eaters act. I think Dumbledore believes that as long as the prophecy is in play there's no point in attacking Voldemort, and no way to win the war. If he points Voldemort at us either something happens to Voldemort and we win, or Voldemort kills us and Dumbledore can act without restrictions." The others were silent as he spoke, his words putting the lack of action over the last months in a disturbing new light. The crackling of the fire was the only sound as their thoughts all turned towards the sleeping infant in the corner and the prophecy that painted a target on his back.
"So what now? Do we disappear, or try to expose Peter?" The disillusioned tone of James' voice made Lily's heart ache, and Sirius's words only made it worse.
"Even if you expose Peter, then what? Nobody will believe us about Dumbledore, hell even we don't know for sure. I think the only definite thing is that the Fidelius plan is scrapped."
"Or not" Now all the attention was on Lily.
"You want us to go into hiding at the mercy of a traitor and a man who might be setting our son up to die!?" James asked incredulously. Lily's nod in response only confused him more, at least until she turned to face them and explained.
"We know the prophecy says that only Harry can kill Voldemort, and vice versa. That means that if we go under the Fidelius that for the first time we have an idea of where Voldemort will personally show up. Instead of responding to a raid we actually have a chance to set a trap." The audacity of trying to trap the most powerful dark wizard in the country struck them all temporarily dumb, allowing her to push on.
"As long as Voldemort and Dumbledore think Harry under the Fidelius we control the setting. Voldemort won't bring too many people with him, he wouldn't want to explain why he needed so many people to kill a baby, and that means he'll be at a disadvantage." Remus' expression began to turn thoughtful as Lily spoke.
"Harry doesn't have to actually be there either as long as Voldemort thinks he's there. Transfigure something to look like a baby in a crib as bait and the entire house could be rigged as a trap. Maybe some kind of explosive potion or something." He paused as a thought struck him.
"How do we deal with the prophecy?" Lily's questioning glance was matched by both Sirius and James, although the other 2 men had a healthy dose of confusion over the whole quickly-developing affair.
"I know divination is an...imprecise art, but the two most powerful wizards in the country believe this prophecy, and it says only Harry can kill Voldemort. Combine that with the rumors we've heard out of Voldemort's camp of his supposed 'immortality' and there's a real possibility that he might survive any trap we set." Both Lily and Remus were frowning now, but James's expression was resolute.
"We don't need to kill him." He looked at his son as he spoke, his voice steady. "If we assume Voldemort is immortal and that only Harry can physically kill him, then we need to disable him some other way. Just because he can't be physically killed, however, doesn't mean he's unbeatable. Replace the explosive potion with something like an aerosolized Draught of Living Death to knock him down, and we can obliviate him into a drooling husk." His expression sharpened as his voice took on a vicious note. "Immortal or not he's no threat to anyone as a mindless idiot. After we obliviate him we transfigure him into something innocuous, a pebble or something. Voldemort just disappears."
The atmosphere had shifted from the initial depressed tones towards a more hopeful feeling as the plan began to seem more and more possible, but one major obstacle remained.
"Dumbledore obviously believes there's no chance for us to beat Voldemort, otherwise he wouldn't set up something like this in the first place." Lupin said. "There's a chance that he'll still try and set up Harry to die, assuming that as long as Harry wasn't the one to kill him Voldemort will come back somehow. Not to mention that every death eater in the country will be after you if word gets out that you were the last targets he went after." He glanced at the crib for a moment before facing his friends again. "You might consider going into hiding to get away from both of them. If this works the death eaters will be leaderless, and we can use Voldemort's disappearance after attacking you to push for a more aggressive stance in the Order." Sirius and James both nodded, but Lily was still concerned.
"Where would we hide though? Dumbledore has enough leverage with the goblins to get a list of the Potter properties and leaving the country leaves too much of a paper trail. He's smart enough to look for things like fake passports and we're too well known to hid in any magical community. Glamour charms aren't foolproof and any mistakes would out us." A decade of being exposed to Dumbledore's influence on the British magical community had left Lily very wary of his capabilities in that arena. Dumbledore had had over 4 decades of hero's accolades to build up his reputation, and she was rapidly coming to suspect that he would go to great lengths to see the prophecy fulfilled. There wasn't anywhere she could think of in magical Britain safe from his influence.
"Go muggle." Sirius' suggestion was a surprise mostly because of his lack of exposure to muggles. James had spent some time in the muggle world with Lily's parents and at his wife's side, but Sirius had had almost no exposure to that world. He noticed the surprised looks his friends were giving him, and shrugged.
"Dumbledore may be a half-blooded but he's spent almost all of his time for the best part of a century in the magical world. Add that to the fact that, from what Lily's said the muggle world has changed enormously in the last century, and he's as clueless in the muggle world as I am. I wouldn't have the faintest idea how to find you outside magical Britain, and the death eaters are likely even worse off which makes it your safest bet, as long as James can keep from making a fool of himself." The last was said with a wry smile and pulled light grins out of Lily and Remus while James shot a hex at Sirius that caused his hair to try and strangle him. Lily took a moment to savor the momentary break in the tension before using her own wand to release Sirius, who looked pleased that his attempt at levity had worked. With the two jokers back in serious mode Lily turned to James, eyebrow raised.
"It would keep us safe from pretty much everyone who wants to hurt us." She said as she looked at him. There was a brief moment of silence as she watched her husband weigh the pros and cons of disappearing to the muggle world before giving her a lopsided smile.
"They'll most likely declare us dead if we pull this off, what with us disappearing and Voldemort on the loose. If we transfer the contents of the Potter vault to Katibisi the Ministry won't be able to track any of it, and we were going to lock down the Potter properties anyways with us going into hiding. Since the lockdown can only be lifted by a Potter by blood or marriage while at least one of us is alive even if the ministry declares us dead and tries to pass the inheritance on there's nothing they can do." It always surprised Lily how well James could plan on the fly. It was him, more than anyone else, that kept the marauders from being caught when one of their pranks backfired. If not for him their discipline record would have been miles longer than it already was.
With their plan beginning to take on a semblence of order Lily walked over to the crib and looked down at her son lovingly. Despite all the chaos surrounding his short life he slept peacefully, and she vowed she would do whatever it took to ensure neither Voldemort nor Dumbledore changed that.
"The things I do for the Greater Good" Dumbledore thought as he sat in his office in Hogwarts, going over his war plans. The death eaters had been relatively quiet lately, normally a sign that they were building up for something big, and Dumbledore was sure it would happen after Halloween. Tom had always had a penchant for theatrics, a trait that had only grown with his rebirth as a dark lord, and killing the 'prophesied child' on Samhain would appeal to him. Dumbledore could only hope his foresight in keeping the Order's combatants mostly benched would ensure enough of them were in fighting shape for whatever happened afterwards. With Tom no longer protected by the prophecy's aegis Dumbledore could begin his campaign to strip away his immortality and power.
"With Tom's defeat magical Britain will be safe from such catastrophic change once more." Dumbledore thought as he mentally reviewed the Order's forces. He spared barely a thought for the Potters, unavoidable casualties of war as they were, and less than that for the mournful stares Fawkes sent his way.
Godric's Hollow was an old wizarding village, one that hadn't seen a muggle inhabitant since long before the Statute of Secrecy came into effect. The small cottage that Dumbledore had cast the Fidelius charm over was set off the main thoroughfare but not quite at the outskirts, and the academic in Lily was constantly amazed that they could be sitting so close to so many families and yet remain completely concealed. More than once she'd seen someone come within inches of the barrier without giving the slightest indication that they sensed anything.
Currently only she and James were in the cottage, Harry having been spirited away with Lupin to the muggle home in Crawley they'd purchased through Katabisi bank under Lily's maiden name. Although James had taken a leave of absence from the auror department when they'd gone under the Fidelius Sirius had stayed on the force, reckoning that an inside man would be more useful in the long run than an extra wand on-site. With the cottage already rigged with a series of modified muggle military gas bombs filled with a modified Draught of Living Death absorbable through the body's mucous membranes and her son safely hidden away in a world the death eaters had little to no understanding of there was very little for Lily to do besides brood. Samhain was a bigger holiday in the wizarding world than the muggle one, and even with the ever present atmosphere of fear caused by the death eaters there were signs of celebration in the Hollow.
"And instead of celebrating with the rest, I'm waiting for a madman to break down my front door so I can bomb him." She muttered under her breath.
"We're waiting, love" James's voice came from behind her as she felt his arms circle her waist from behind. She leaned into his touch as they stared out the window, glad for his presence. They both had a bad feeling about today, a chill they couldn't shake like someone walking over your grave. The tension of living while constantly on the lookout for Voldemort had nerves on edge, and Lily found herself touching James more and more often to reassure herself that he was alive and well.
"It'll be tonight I think." She said, not looking at James. She felt his head nodding behind her, and a part of her was relieved he shared her fears. "We've prepared as much as we could. If the gas bombs don't take him down the mines Remus planted should at least give us time to get away." James tightened his arms around her but didn't answer.
"I'm scared." She whispered just loud enough to be audible. The sun was completely down now, the lights from celebrating households sending strange shadows in the night. Lily hadn't had a good night's sleep since they'd come to the Hollow, partially from worrying about Harry and partially from fear for her husband and herself. The exhaustion was taking a toll, but the double cracks of apparition at the edge of the ward barrier sent a spike of adrenaline through her blood and brought her fully awake.
"He's here." She said unnecessarily, as she'd felt her husband tense behind her.
"There" He muttered softly, indicating a patch of shadows near the front gate. At first she couldn't make out anything in the darkness, but as her eyes adjusted the silhouettes of two figures became clearer. As they came closer to the cottage she could make out the outline of the most terrifying thing, not even a wizard really at this point, that she'd ever had the misfortune to lay eyes on accompanied by a familiar squat outline.
"He only brought the traitor with him? He really must not have wanted an audience for this." James muttered darkly as Voldemort and Peter made their way towards the front door. They'd planted the explosive mines all around the property, but the gas bombs were located only on the first floor of the house. They weren't sure if Voldemort's inhuman features were more than skin deep or how many men he would bring, so they'd hedged their bets on the knockout plan. The fact that both figures were walking straight across the minefield gave Lily hope that their backup plan was undiscovered, and that Voldemort's disdain for all things muggle was working to keep their trap hidden.
"We could do it, right now." She heard James mutter as he stared at the ground around Voldemort's feet. "One button and Voldemort's dead…." His voice trailed off as he stared at the man who had killed so many, both friends and strangers, but Lily squeezed his arm and shook her head.
"Even without the prophecy we don't know if he'd die James. I know he's an arrogant sod but he's also one of the most skilled wizards alive. If he did find a way to guarantee his own immortality….we can't take the risk, not with Harry's life in the balance. Stick to the plan." The mention of his son had the intended effect on her husband, and he nodded sharply as they watched the two figures approach the front door. With the entire first floor about to be filled with dangerous gas neither Potter wanted to set foot downstairs, but the firm knock on the front door surprised them both.
"He's actually knocking!?" Lily whispered incredulously while fighting down a hysterical giggle. She could see a similar shocked look on her husband's face as they both wondered what to do, and pointed down at the front door while shrugging. All of their plans had assumed that Voldemort would follow normal death eater tactics and barge inside, so the show of even minor courtesies was...unsettling. Neither Potter moved as the knocking came more insistently, but both stiffened when a high-pitched voice came clearly from downstairs.
"It is impolite to keep your guests waiting Mr. Potter."
Lily shivered and clutched James's hand in a vise grip he gratefully returned as they heard Voldemort speak. His voice, like his body, seemed unnatural, an abnormally high pitch for a grown man and was all the more disturbing for it. Lily raised her free hand to her lips in the universal sign for quiet as she looked at James who nodded in agreement. Neither one of them thought they had any hope of taking Voldemort in a fight, and the farther away from him they stayed the better.
A disappointed sigh was clearly audible from downstairs as they waited, and that abnormal voice rang out once again.
"You of all people should be aware of the rules of hospitality Lord Potter. Your confidant has so graciously extended your invitation for this Halloween night, and to leave us sitting in the cold can only mean that something is amiss. I fear I may have to force entry to ensure your continued health." His tone was jovial at the end as if enjoying a personal joke, and both Potters could feel their hair raise as a wave of magic washed over the front door. Whatever spell Voldemort had used easily overpowered the locking spells and wards on the front door in moments, and the moment they'd both been waiting for had come. Neither dared breathe for fear of alerting Voldemort to their location,
The door opened.
The sound of calm, measured footsteps came from the front hallway heading towards the main living area, followed several seconds later by a second set of quicker erratic steps. They passed through the living room into the kitchen at a measured pace, then came to a stop next to the hallway leading to the guest rooms and other floors.
"You told me they would be here Wormtail." Unlike before the high-pitched voice was quiet, forcing Lily to strain to make out the words. James raised his wand as the steps stopped near the center of the first floor.
"I assure you my lord, Dumbledore has ordered them not to leave the house, there is no way-" The spell James used was so simple it didn't even need movement. A weak ball of force, barely enough to knock a cup or bottle over, flew from the tip of his wand. It headed straight for the laundry chute that connected the each floor to the basement laundry room and slipped inside as it headed for its destination on the first floor. The ball impacted on a concealed pressure plate at the base of the stairs, setting off a series of interlinked devices primed with explosives designed to spread their attached containers of modified Draught of Living Death as quickly and widely as possible. There was a moment just after the spell where James feared he'd missed or the bombs had misfired, and then a loud *whumpf* sound came from below and he a small trace of grey mist drift up the stairs.
Each second that passed felt like years as the couple waited for the gas downstairs to disperse, and neither dared move as they listened for any miniscule sound from the first floor. The pounding of their hearts was the only sound either of them could hear. Finally after several minutes of panicked stillness Lily released her death grip on James's arm and slowly straightened up. James followed her a moment later, both taking great pains to make no sound, and crept to the stairwell. When he looked down at the ground floor he felt a sense of wonder at the sight that met him.
Two figures were laid out on the floor below him, to all appearances dead and still. What had James shaking his head slowly however was the fact that the larger figure, a man he'd once classed as a brother in all but blood, was laid over the terrifying form of Lord Voldemort pinning him to the ground. The incongruity of someone the entire country feared pinned under someone like Peter… well nothing could have convinced James more firmly that their plan had worked. He looked at Lily with a growing smile as they both walked down the stairs and stopped right in front of the two figures.
"It worked" He breathed reverently, only to flinch as Peter's chest rose shallowly. When neither figure moved he let out a shaky breath and turned to Lily.
"We can't take a chance of him waking up. I'll call Sirius and Remus. You know what to do." Lily nodded as her eyes took on a hard look. James stepped to the side as he pulled out his communication mirror and Lily stopped in front of Voldemort's head, wand out. She looked down at the man that had put so much fear into so many and had a fleeting moment of sadness for all the good someone with that much power could achieve before pointing her wand between Voldemort's eyes.
"You will never touch my son" She whispered fiercely. Each hair on her body rose slightly as she focused every bit of her magic into her wand for one spell.
"Obliviate"