Chapter 1 Once upon a midnight dreary

October 31st 1981

"You mean to tell me that Dumble-He Who Must Not Be Named is looking to kill our son?" James scoffed. Professor Riddle sighed, "Unfortunately yes, my network was able to gather intelligence that clearly tells us Dumbledore is looking for blood." Lily walked into the room at that point and stared in shock, her mind on the tiny baby that was laying in the crib at that very moment. "Lily, join us won't you?" Professor Riddle asked politely, gesturing to the tea that was slowly cooling. "S-s-sure", she stumbled over her words trying to find the right thing to say. James wrapped his arm around Lily's shoulder as she took her seat on the couch next to him. Riddle sighed deeply and set his cup on the table, "I wouldn't ask this unless it was absolutely necessary, but we have to move you, tonight". Lily looked slightly shocked, and a tad indignant, "Harry has been asleep for the better part of 3 hours now! I refuse to wake him!" James chuckled at his muggle-born wife and calmly said "Darling Lily-flower, we have magic, you know, with the wands and the sparks?" Lily glared at him and James shied away from her slightly before chuckling softly. Riddle watched the couple interact and wished that there was another way to handle this situation, but the reports were far to reliable and much to urgent to be ignored. "Please, i urge you follow me and we will move you to a safe house-" "We?!" James looked at Riddle incredulously "Who is We?" "James, I am quite certain that you remember your friends from school, Remus Lupin and Sirius Black?" Riddle waved his hand at the door and standing there in the rain, shocked that the door opened on its own, and holding a hand up to knock stood Sirius and Remus. "Prongs!" Sirius practically tackled James to the floor in his haste to hug his mate "Padfoot have you gone barmy? Harry is asleep!" James laughed as he pushed his friend off and stood up straightening his glasses. "Where is Peter?" Lily asked, her smile not quite reaching her eyes during the reunion. "Yea where is Wormtail?" James asked looking to Sirius first. Sirius suddenly found something extremely interesting on the ceiling and Remus just sighed. "We found out that he turned, I'm sorry James, Lily, I'm just glad we found out now rather than later..." he trailed off, finding the same spot on the ceiling just as intersting as Sirius had. "You mean to tell me-" James started, but Lily cut him off, a tad bit too violent for James' liking, "Leave it, he only followed you three because he couldn't find any other friends". At that moment both James and Lily's wands vibrated and a soft cry could be heard coming from the second floor. "I'll get him" James smiled at Lily as she sunk into the couch, a relieved smile plastered on her face. A few moments later James returned, carrying a wriggling blanket. Sirius immediately junmped up from the floor and rushed to see his godson. "Pa'foo?" a soft voice asked and Sirius' eyes lit up immediately, as did the rest of the room. "Did you hear that!" Sirius practically yelled, "He said my name first!" after practically dancing around the room Lily gave him a sharp glare that immediately brought back visions of a certain Scottish Professor, and Sirius clamed rather quickly. "That's right little guy, thats Uncle Padfoot" James wispered softly at Harry, who just looked up at him, his emerald green eyes alight with wonder. Remus chuckled softly, but he looked at Harry with a certain longing that wasn't missed by Sirius, who slowly made his way over and in a hushed tone said, "We will tell them after this all blows over" and slowly intertwinned his fingers with Remus' and squeezed gently. Remus nodded and his shoulders felt a little lighter. A sharp cough brought everyone back to the present, "Perhaps we can have this little renunion when we are in safer places" Riddle smiled softly, his brown eyes sparkling. "Yes, you're right, Moony, Padfoot, pack up mine and Lily's things and Lily can get Harry's room", "Where are we going to go", Lily asked, stopping halfway up the steps. "The Longbottoms have agreed to take you in, and if I recall they have a son who is the same age as Harry" Riddle stated camly. Lily nodded slightly and continued up the stairs, followed closely by Remus and Sirius. "We cant live our whole lives in hiding Riddle" James said softly, allowing the sound of Harry's soft breathing to filter from the blanket. "I know", Riddle sighed for what seemed like the umpteenth time since he had recieved the news this morning "And we are trying to find an alternative, but for now you will just have to-". He wasn't able to finish his sentence because at that moment the door was blown off it's hinges and came crashing into the room. With a quick silencio on Harry's blankets, Riddle banished the door back in the direction it came. "Riddle" a low voice drawled through the dust "I wasn't expecting you to be here" "That was youre first mistake Albus" Riddle said while trying to silently motion for James to get upstairs and grab the others. "AVADA KEDARVRA!" the low growl became louder as a flash of green light sped towards Riddle, who was able to bring the coffee table in front of him to intercept the killing curse. "Incareous! Petrificus Totalus!" were the next words out of Riddles mouth followed almost silently by "Stupefy". Magical ropes flew from Riddle's wand towards the darkly clad wizard standing in the doorway, although they were easily disolved like they were merely chalk on a chalk board. The following spells forced Dumbledore to duck and sidestep at the same time, and impressive display of agility for a man who was pushing near eighty years old. Rapid spellfire followed, destroying the living room and the dining room beyond. "Give in Albus, you know you will not win this" Riddle calmy said as he batted aside a particularly nasty looking curse "They are long gone by now, and you have no hope of catching them, they have been moved to a secure house and I am their secret-keeper, you have been warned" and with those last parting words, Tom Riddle, greatest Headmaster Hogwarts has ever seen, Apparated away as another killing curse split through the air where he had been standing. An almost ear pericing scream filled the night air around Godrics Hollow as the Dark Lord Albus Dumbledore promptly blasted the quaint little house to nothing more than rubble.


10 Minutes earlier

"Where are we going to go", Lily asked, stopping halfway up the steps. "The Longbottoms have agreed to take you in, and if I recall they have a son who is the same age as Harry" Riddle stated camly. Lily nodded slightly and continued up the stairs, followed closely by Remus and Sirius. Once they reached the top of the stiars, Sirius practically jumped on Remus' back, earning him a disapproving look from Lily that he just smirked at. Remus rolled his eyes and started to apologize but he was interrupted by Sirius, "Lils, I know you think that I, that we should grow up, honestly, we never really grow up, we just learn how to act in public" he finished with a lopsided grin that reminded Lily eerily of his dog form. Throwing her hands up but with a smile on her face she said "Fine! But keep the horseplay down please? I don't really want to rush either of you to St. Mungo's becuase you couldn't control yourself", and with that she walked down the hall to Harry's bedroom. "She really needs to loosen up" Sirius mumbled under his breath as he and Remus walked into hers and James' room. After checking the flower pot next to the quaint fireplace to ensure that floo powder was present and usable, both he and Remus waved their wands and the room started packing itself. "She only has your best interests at heart love", Remus said as he moved closer to Sirius. Sirius chuckled softly and pulled the werewolf into a hug that could be mistaken for a brotherly hug if it hadn't been finished with a not so chaste kiss. "And this is why I love you Moony" Sirius grinned. All of a sudden there was a loud bang from downstairs and both SIrius and Remus were on high alert, SIrius' Auror Training taking over and Remus allowing Moony near total control. At the sound of hurried footsteps on the stairs, both wizards drew their wands and pointed them at the door, their steady hands not giving away their frayed nerves. James burst into the room in a near panic and before he could say two words Sirius had him pinned against the wall and Remus had his wand in James' face. "What was the nickname we came up with for James Potter at the end of our third year? "Remus growled, his normally green eyes flashing a dark amber color. "S-s-Sir Hexed Alot!" James stammered, drawing in a ragged breath as Sirius let him down and Remus removed his wand. "Read this" he said slightly panicked as he thrust a peice of parchment into Sirius' hand "And wait for Lily and I before you leave, but we have to go NOW!" If it hadn't been under such dire circumstances both wizards would have laughed at the speed with which James left the room. As it was they quickly finished packing the room and had pushed the trunks through the fire place when James burst through the door, Lily hot on his heels, holding Harry close to her as they shut the door. The house seemed to vibrate and the vague sound of spellfire could be heard coming from downstairs, but none of the four paid it any attention, their only focus being to get Harry, LIly and James to safety. The fire place roared as Sirius grabbed a huge handful of Floo Powder and threw it down yelling "Roux Fromage!" and practically pushed everyone through the fire place just in time as the house seemed to crumble under Sirius' feet as he stepped into the fireplace and was wisked away, landing with a soft thud on the soft carpet.