A/N: Just a quick thank you note to the wonderful CodeRomance for the briliant ideas and amazing Beta job...
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Night fell over the small village of Godric's Hollow and children could be found running around in their Halloween costumes, ready for a night of fun and mischief with family, friends and neighbours. Yelling and laughter echoed through the streets as the boys and girls ran from door to door craving their annual batch of sweets. Not even one house was skipped. None… except for Number 7, North Main Street.
Potter Residence, truth be told, wasn't accessible to just anyone. James and Lily Potter lived in Number 7 along with their one year old son, Harry. They were considered some of the best Aurors the Ministry of Magic had seen in years. They had just moved into the house a week prior due to security reasons. They were hiding from one of the most evil and sadistic Dark Wizards in history: Lord Voldemort. Only a week ago, contradicting "common" knowledge, the Potters had made Peter Pettigrew, one of their oldest and dearest friends, their Secret Keeper as means of an old and powerful charm: the Fidelius.
Tonight, despite the circumstances, was an exciting night for the Potter family since it marked young Harry's first Halloween - not the first in his life, but the first he'd be able to enjoy. So, to celebrate, some friends who were in on the Potters' secret were invited to a small and discreet party.
Inside the house, a medium sized, slim, red-headed woman could be found in the kitchen, finishing up the night's meal with a slight frown across her face. Lily Potter was getting angry…
"James? What is taking you so long?" she called at her husband who had gone to change Harry at least an hour ago.
"James?" called Lily yet again when no response was heard.
Still, no answer came from the upper floor.
That did it…
"James Andrew Potter, you answer me right this minute!"
It didn't take twenty seconds for the man to come through the kitchen door carrying little Harry in his arms. A somewhat fearful expression across played across his face. James Potter knew better than to cross his wife when she was angry…
"Gee Lils, you try and change him when he's moving around like an overexcited puppy. Hey, what was that for?" He demanded when Lily smacked him on the head…hard.
"Don't talk about your son like that!" said Lily, smacking him again. Then, focusing her gaze upon her son, the young mother took him in her arms and started praising him with teary eyes. "Oh, just look at my baby boy! He looks so handsome in his new costume." Harry was wearing a little pirate outfit, completed with a little plastic sword that the boy was holding in his hand.
"Bang" was all the response she got as the little guy took a swing at his father.
Just then, the fireplace erupted into green flames and three men stumbled out of it dusting the soot that covered them as they arrived.
The first one was tall and had a somewhat regal posture. His shoulder length black hair was, just like his beard, neatly trimmed. The second man was just the opposite. Though also tall, he had a tired stance and a haunted look. In spite of his fairly young age, some white hairs were already sprouting in his head. The last one was a short, fat man with blond hair and a rat-like face.
"Siwi!" cried young Harry in excitement to see his godfather for the first time in the past week.
"Hey Kiddo! How's my godson this magnificent evening?" asked Sirius Black, as he took the boy from his mother's arms. "Lily, my darling, you look more beautiful every day." He said, finishing his praise by taking her hand and kissing it.
"Oi! Why do you always have to flirt with my wife when you stop by?" asked James in mock outrage. Then, laughing madly, went to his friend and shook his hand . "Padfoot you old dog! Moony, Wormtail!" he said shaking hands with his other friends.
"Prongs how are you?" asked both Remus Lupin and Peter Pettigrew. They moved to greet Lily as James replied. Peter timidly shook Lily's hand, while Remus kissed her on the cheek.
After the usual pleasantries, they all went into the sitting room and sat themselves down in a somewhat uncomfortable silence until Lily got fed up and snapped at the new arrivals from where she sat with Harry in her lap.
"Oh, for Merlin's sake, would you just start talking?" Everyone in the room, except baby Harry who was yet again trying to hit James' head with his sword, cringed at her tone. They, too, knew not to play with Lily Potter's temper.
It was Remus who began…
"Well, as you know, we just arrived from another Order meeting and the latest news isn't good, not good at all."
"Well there's something new," interrupted James sarcastically, but a quick glare from his wife refrained him from continuing.
"As I was trying to say, things are not looking good. There's been another werewolf attack. He just set them loose in a small muggle village in the North! Thirty-one people have died and many more are in mortal peril!"
Both James and Lily gasped and the woman just hugged her son a bit harder into herself.
"Yes, it is quite repulsive. We do have some other, more disturbing and personal news though. Dumbledore just received confirmation this afternoon. Gideon and Fabian Prewett were killed some time last night. Word has it they were attacked by no less than five Death Eaters. They fought like heroes to their deaths."
Lily started weeping and James put his arm around her. They weren't very close to the two brothers but they had talked with them two or three times after Order meetings and knew they were good people.
Sirius took hold of the conversation from this point.
'There's one other thing." He sounded nervous and fearful. "Dumbledore says our spy gave him a report today in which he mentioned that Voldemort (Wormtail jumped from where he sat at the mention of the Dark Lord's name) has some sort of plan and has been incredibly happy for the past week. I don't like this. I said it at the meeting and I'll say it again: he's plotting something and it has to do with you both" he said looking at Lily and James.
Wormtail jumped once again in his chair but no one took notice as they had more important issues than the nervousness of their friend.
"Well, let's not talk about war or death right now. Tonight is Harry's first Halloween and we will not be moping around. So if you'll please proceed into the dinning room I will put dinner on the table," said Lily with a tone that made them see it was pointless to argue. She passed Harry to James and disappeared into the kitchen.
Dinner was a loud and fun affair, mostly due to the fact that Harry couldn't stop laughing at his godfather's antics. The mood around the table became more relaxed.
After Dinner everyone returned to the sitting room where they talked and played pranks for a couple of hours. Wormtail, however, kept a very solemn and regarded attitude. He was jumpy and nervous and by 9:00pm persisted he had to go home, insisting his mother shouldn't be alone for too long and he refused to stay any longer. Just before he jumped to the fireplace to floo home, he turned back to look at James and Lily, who were momentarily distracted with young Harry, shook his head and proceeded to the floo network with a cry of "PETTIGREW MANOR," before disappearing into the green flames.
After Peter's early escapade, no one was in the mood to party anymore so Sirius and Remus went to their joint flat, leaving the Potters alone.
"Is he asleep?" asked James as his wife joined him in the couch.
"Yes. He fell asleep before his head even hit the pillow. He was so tired, my poor baby," she told James. Lily cuddled into her husband and closed her eyes as he embraced her.
"Too bad the night ended so early," James said in a voice that told her the night wasn't over yet.
She decided to go with it.
"Yeah," she said with a shrug, leaning more into his embrace.
"I'm not tired though, maybe we should do something…else," he said waggling his eyebrows at her.
"Whatever do you mean?"
"Why don't I show you?"
"Why don't you?"
With that, he crushed his lips to hers and kissed her as he hadn't done in years. He kissed her as if her lips were some sort of antidote to venom he had running through his veins. As his hand came up her leg to rest in her thigh a great siren like sound could be heard all around the house. Immediately James got up from the couch and made his way to the window. What he saw made his blood freeze.
"Lily it's him! Take Harry and run, I'll hold him off."
"No! I can't leave you alone with that monster. I'll stay right here and fight by your side!"
"No, please, just do as I say. Harry's more important. Take him and run."
The look in his eyes left her with no choice. With one last quick kiss that held all the love and fear they felt for each other Lily ran up the stairs. The door to the nursery had just closed when the front door exploded. James immediately turned to Auror attitude and started throwing every hex, jinx and curse he had in his arsenal to the lone figure that had passed through the doorway.
But, it wasn't enough when battling Lord Voldemort in a duel…
"You're pathetic, Potter. As are the armaments you try to use against me," said Voldemort in a slow mocking tone as he shielded, with no apparent effort, from every attack thrown by James.
"You won't take them. I'll die before I see you touch my family."
"And die you shall, James Potter, along with your son. The Potter line ends tonight. And what a shame it is, such an ancient and respected pure blood family, though contaminated by that mudblood you call a wife and that spawn you try to protect."
"Impedimenta, reducto, stupefy. SHUT UP! Don't even dare talk about my family, you bastard!"
Seeing the blind anger James was falling into, Voldemort took his shot. With a quick and wordless 'Reducto' that took James by the shoulder and thrown him against the wall, Voldemort knocked out…no killed, as he saw it in that moment of decision, his enemy.
With the head of the family out of the way Voldemort hurried up the stairs and moved to the door where loud wails could be heard. A bludgeoning spell later, his target was in sight, until Lily Potter stood in the way…
"Stand aside you silly girl! Stand aside now!"
"No…please, not Harry, anyone but him!"
"Out of my way! Stand aside and I'll spare your life!"
"No, I beg you! Not Harry! I'll do anything if you spare him!"
"Stand aside, now! I won't say it again!"
"No! Not Harry… take me instead!"
"You asked for it…Crucio."
Lily fell to the floor twisting and screaming in pain. For a full ten minutes the curse was kept, and when lifted all Lily could do was cry. No muscle obeyed her commands to move.
"You see? Your pathetic little stunt brought you nothing but pain. You're nothing but a silly woman. Did you really believe you would turn Lord Voldemort away from his prey? Did you really believe you could save him?"
"Plea…pleas…please."
"Enough of this!" He turned his attention to the crying baby. With a heartless and sadistic pleasure he pointed his wand at the infant. "At last."
"Avada Kedavra."
Sirius Black apparated to the outskirts of Godric's Hollow with a heavy heart. After arriving at their apartment, Remus had gone straight to bed leaving Sirius alone thinking about the night's events. Tonight had been fun, in spite of the rough start, when they had given Lily and James the latest news about the war. Harry and his magical laughter had improved the mood quite a lot, making way to a true Halloween, one of laughter and pranks. However Peter's behaviour had been confusing to say the least. He had been jumpy all night, not to mention distant, not participating in any of the conversation or pranks. Peter had never been a joker through and through, but when with James, Remus and Sirius, he usually allowed himself some joking around and fun. Wanting to know what was wrong he flooed to Pettigrew Manor to find that Peter had come home only to exit the floo and apparate away without a single word to the mother he was worried to leave alone for too long.
So here he was, making his way to Number 7 in fast pace praying to every known god his gut feelings were wrong.
As he arrived at the edge of the gardens his heart fell to his stomach. The front gate was on the ground like it at been blown away by a spell. As the word spell echoed through his mind, he started running as if his life depended on it, through the front garden and in the front door. What he saw made him sick of the stomach. His best friend, his brother in all but blood, lay on the floor against a wall covered in blood and clearly dead. As he made way to his friend, tears running across his face, he heard it:
"Enough of this…Avada Kedavra."
A sudden explosion occurred in the nursery and he intuitively knew, his best friend wife and his beloved godson were dead. He had nothing left, except revenge. He would kill Peter and revenge the loss of his family.
Just as he started to run to the front door a wail was heard from the upper floor. Harry was alive.
He stopped for a few seconds in shock, and then as, he caught up with the events of the past few minutes, set himself to action. Immediately he sent a message to Remus and Professor Dumbledore telling of the attack, leaving out any details, and then ran to the nursery to see his godson.
The place was a wreck. The window wall had collapsed, luckily to the outside, as well as part of the ceiling. Harry was up in his crib holding onto the bars as he cried. He had a cut on his forehead. In front of him, on the floor, was Lily, alive! Beaten up, and apparently exhausted but alive. He couldn't believe it, just two minutes ago he thought he had no family and now here were Harry and Lily. If only James… 'No don't think of that!' he chastised himself as he came and took Harry in his arms and crouched over Lily.
"Sirius," her voice was almost a whisper, "how could he know? How could he find out? Did he kill Peter?"
"Shhh, Lily you need to keep your strength. Help is on the way."
As if on cue, a shout of misery and despair erupted through the house, followed by several ones of surprise. Remus and Dumbledore had arrived, he was sure of that, who ever else were with them, he didn't know. He didn't need to know, he realised. Lily and Harry needed to go to St. Mungo's to make sure they were alright. He wouldn't rest until a healer said they were alright.
"Upstairs, hurry!!! Lily and Harry need to be looked after immediately!" he cried for the people downstairs.
With what sounded like a herd of hippogriffs coming up the stairs in a hurry, Remus in the front, followed by Albus Dumbledore and Minerva McGonagall.
Albus went directly to Lily and started running his wand over her body, speaking a swift whisper in which he didn't seem to stop to breath for a full two minutes.
When he stopped, he looked directly to Sirius, who was cleaning Harry's wound with a corner of his sleeve, with a serious expression and said, "I believe she'll be fine, given time. I want her to go to St. Mungo's though, for I am no healer and want her to be checked over by a professional. I already sent Hagrid ahead with James; how he'll turn out I cannot tell though. He was in a critical condition and has a difficult battle to fight ahead of him."
"Very well, I'll…'" something clicked in his brain "Prongs is alive?" 'How was it possible?' He had seen his best friend no more that fifteen minutes ago dead in front of him! 'Could it be true? Was his "brother" going to make it?'
"Yes, he is. We'll need to get Lily and little Harry, as I can see he is hurt too, to St Mungo's though. There will be a time to talk and I'll need a long one with you Sirius but it is not now. The Potter's health is the most important thing at this moment."
After placing a now unconscious Lily in a stretcher he levitated, Dumbledore pointed his wand to a piece of wood on the ground and with a quiet 'Portus' that wouldn't be heard if it wasn't for the silence that reined the destroyed room and took the piece of wood in his hand. "Gather around the Portkey and we'll be on our way. Minerva if you'll be so kind as to touch Lily's stretcher so that she isn't left behind?" McGonagall did so. "We'll be on our way then," with a quiet "Activate," they disappeared in a flash of light just as the first muggles began to venture inside the house to see what had happened.
James Potter opened his eyes to find himself lying in a room he hadn't seen before.
Looking to his right, he saw his wife sitting in a comfortable looking chair watching their sleeping son as he lay in her arms. She was so focused on Harry that she didn't even notice that James was awake. Harry, James realized, had a bandage in his forehead. All calmness left James. His son was hurt.
"What happened?" he immediately regretted his attempt at screaming for two reasons: his throat was so dried it hurt to speak, and a much bigger pain cut through his shoulder as he made to move up. "Ouch! Son of a…"
"James Potter, don't you dare finished that sentence! Do you want your son to end up with a mouth as filthy as yours?" When she finished her outburst, Lily placed the now very much awaken Harry at the foot of the bed and hugged her husband for dear life, sobbing to his chest.
"Oh James, I was so afraid," she kept repeating over and over again.
"Calm down Lils, you know Harry isn't fond of seeing you like this." In fact the youngling was making his way to his mother weeping as he kept saying, "Mummy, Mummy."
Lily caught him in a hug in an attempt to sooth her distressed boy.
After she was settled back in her chair with her emotions relatively under control, much for the sake of her son, James started talking.
"What happened? The last thing I remember is being hit by a spell and being knocked against the wall."
"Well, he came up the stairs and into the nursery right after," she said trying not to cry. "All he wanted was Harry, he kept trying to make me get out of the way, but I couldn't James. I just couldn't let him kill our baby!" She made a pause and took deep breaths before continuing. "Then he put the Cruciatus on me, oh I'm fine now, James." She said as he made to interrupt. "When he lifted the curse I just couldn't move, all I could do was cry as I knew I had failed and he would kill our baby. He mocked me about it then, saying I could never have been able to stop him from getting to Harry. Then he…he…"
"What did that bastard do?"
"He attacked Harry with the Killing Curse."
A long silence followed Lily's statement.
"How…how is Harry here though? It's impossible! No one ever survived it!" said James when he regained the ability of speech.
"Albus has a theory. But he wanted you to be awake when he shared it."
"Okay. And you, Love? Are you alright?" He asked anxiously.
"I'm fine. The Healers did a bunch of tests on me when I got here, more than enough I should say," James couldn't help but smile at Lily's distaste for hospitals and medical exams, "and don't give me that smile James Potter," she scolded half-heartedly with a small smile of her own.
She got quiet then and seemed to be pondering something.
"Something you want to tell me?"
"Well, the healers did find something. Nothing bad, I promise." She said quickly when he had gone as pale as a ghost.
"What is it, then?"
She took his hand and placed it in her belly.
"James, I'm pregnant."
