I own nothing except what you don't recognize. Oh, I wish I did though.
If it's my keen invention you'd like to destroy
I'll withstand your best shot; I've got the right toy"
October 31, 1981. Godric's Hollow.
Lilly Potter knew that Voldemort was going to kill her, but she could not really bring
herself to mind. She had been living on borrowed time since she was 22…the first time, and thus
had been ready to die for nearly an entire lifetime. She had heard the death of her life mate, the
only person to whom she had exposed her true past, and who had not turned her away, despite
her fractured psyche. Her heart had broken and she had heard the ominous laugh that she
remembers so well from her worst nightmares, but she was unconcerned; she was about to die
anyway, the Queen wouldn't matter.
"Not Harry! Kill me instead!"
"Move aside, silly girl!"
"Take me instead; not my baby!"
Her sharp green eyes were piercing as they came to rest on the form of the enemy that she and
her husband had fought so hard to defeat. Lord Voldemort would never admit it, but those eyes
unsettled the Dark Lord as they darkened; along with the 'light witch's' hair, which went from
brilliant, almost blood red, to the red-brown of old blood as the man finished the incantation that
would take Lilly's life.
"Avada Kedavera"
A flash of green light and Lilly died with a malicious grin gracing her beautiful face. Voldemort
ignored the expression and turned his attention to the baby who had been prophesied to destroy
him. Once again he intoned the killing curse, not expecting the flash of black/white light to
engulf the infant, reflecting the curse onto him and expelling his soul from his newly destroyed
body. The baby cried out as a tiny piece of black soul latched itself to the child, sinking into the
lightning bolt shaped scar and disappearing. The baby fell silent after that, his brilliant green
eyes closing slowly as he fell into the deep, restful slumber of the truly innocent.
Lilly looked on in fury as her son was taken from his designated godfather, Sirius; the
man reluctantly giving the child to the half-giant before running after the man who had betrayed
them. She watched, angrier than she had been since she was a teenager as Dumbledore left her
precious son on the doorstep of her hateful, adopted sister and her fat fuck of a husband.
"Finally used up all our lives, have we?"
Lilly turned to look, her eyes glowing slightly even within the incorporeal body of her ghostly
form.
"You're still as mangy as ever, though I cannot say I am not relieved to see your grin.
What are you doing here Cat?"
"Not all is as it seems Alice. Your time is over, and your son will grow up in a house
devoid of compassion. The beloved son that you created with your love will grow up, unloved
and abused."
"You are not telling me anything that I do not already know! I understand. I just wish that
I could do more for him…"
Lilly looked at her old friend and staunch companion, infuriating as he could be, and a mad smile
graced her face.
"Cat, you can watch over my son, can you not?"
Cheshire looked so satisfied, his grin stretching impossibly further than normal, that a small tinge
of discomfort hit Lilly, now unused to the antics of the Cat.
"Well, I can watch over your son, but be warned. Wonderland is within a dream's reach
for your son, connected to him by the blood that flows through you both. The man who attacked
you this night left a mark on him that we can be rid of…once the boy is old enough to reach
Wonderland, though what damage it will have wrought on his mind is uncertain. It is possible
that what he will face there will be worse than anything you ever faced on your quest to destroy
the Red Queen."
"We will have to take that chance. Will you protect him Cat?"
Cheshire nodded solemnly, as solemnly as possible while still wearing his trademarked grin
anyway, and Lilly nodded in return, feeling the pull to move on and follow her husband to their
next 'great adventure'. The cat watched as his oldest and dearest friend faded from this plain,
much like the cat himself was wont to do, and mourned silently for the friend that he would miss.
He was not able to mourn for long, but that was fine with him…when friends died you lived for
them and the cat had made a promise that he was not going to break. Cheshire's golden rod eyes
lit upon the child once again, watching as the bundle shivered in the cold night air and he sighed.
The foolishness of humans had never ceased to amaze him; leaving an infant on a doorstep on
the first day of November was idiotic at best, criminal at worst. The cat looked into the bundle,
his eyes alighting on the scar that was glowing a malevolent red in his eyes, and his grin waned
slightly. This child would have to face so much in order to live half of the life his mother had
made for herself. She had fought her way through her own fractured psyche and then, was
allowed to start over and live a full, wonderful life. Her son would have it much harder, but all
the cat could do was wait and see…