A bright blue light filled the room and slowly died away before it
was replaced by another bright blue light. The small baby giggled and
wiggled his toes as the "funny lady" chanted and once again, blue light
filled the room.
"Lily?"
Lily didn't hear her name called and continued to cast spells. Every time, she would point her wand at the giggling baby. The boy reached up for his mother's wand and laughed as more blue light surrounded him. He found his mommy's game to be very funny.
"Lily? Are you up here?"
Lily cast yet another spell and bent down to kiss her son on the forehead. The door opened and Lily let out a startled gasp.
"Lily, why didn't you answer me," asked James. "What are you doing?"
Lily stumbled as she tried to make her way to her husband. She had drained a lot of her energy in casting the multiple spells. James caught her and held his trembling wife close. He gently ran his fingers through her fiery hair.
"You're frightened," said James. It wasn't a question. He could tell. Hell, even he was frightened.
"James, I have a bad feeling. I can't explain it. I'm afraid that he…he…that he will come and hurt Harry."
James hugged Lily and gently kissed her neck. Lily let a few tears fall and tightened her grip on James. She breathed in his scent, almost afraid that this would be the last time she ever held him.
"Lily, nothing is going to happen. Trust me. Trust Peter."
"I really think that we should have convinced Sirius to be our secret keeper. I'd feel safer."
James inwardly agreed. He would have felt a lot safer if Sirius had agreed to be the secret keeper, but Sirius was right. Who would really believe that the Potters would choose Peter over their closest friend? It was a brilliant ruse, if Sirius said so himself. No one would suspect Peter.
Harry grunted and made an irritated sound. As his parents moved closer, the green-eyed boy crossed his eyes and made a strange expression. Lily recognized that look and quickly pulled away from James and darted out of the room.
"It's your turn!"
"HEY!" Lily giggled and fled the room, leaving her husband and son to enjoy the wonder that is a baby's diaper.
Twenty minutes and several diapers later, James came downstairs carrying a grinning Harry. James was covered in baby powder and Harry's diapers were lopsided and held together with tape. Lily pulled out her wand and with a quick swish, removed all of the powder from James. Harry seemed to pout after his living work of art was cleaned. He huffed and began reaching for his mommy.
Lily smiled gently at her squirming son and took him from James. Harry quickly settled and soon found amusement in fiddling with Lily's long red hair. She sat down on the couch with Harry in her lap. James soon joined her.
"Lils, what's wrong?"
After going to school with her for seven years and living with her for over two years, James had learned to read her expressions. Though she was smiling, her eyes were showing a different emotion. Lily had the most expressive emerald eyes. James had never seen eyes like hers before and was quite surprised when his son was born with eyes the exact same color as his mother's.
"James," she whispered, "I keep feeling like we'll never see each other again. I keep feeling like my happiness is gone. I wish…I want our lives to be normal again."
Harry whimpered as he stopped playing with his mommy's hair and began watching his parents. He could tell that they weren't happy and that made him unhappy.
"Pafoo! Pafoo!"
James smiled and patted down Harry's messy black hair.
"You know, Lily, he's right." Lily looked at James questioningly. "What we need is old Padfoot to cheer us up."
"But James, you know that we can't have any visitors."
"I know," he replied. "Accio green photo album!"
James pointed his wand in the direction of the bookshelf and summoned the green photo album. He grabbed it and set it between himself and Lily. Opening the album, he began shuffling through the pages.
The Potters only had two photo albums in their house. After hearing that Voldemort was after them, Lily had insisted that one album go to Hogwarts' gamekeeper Hagrid, and the other five went into their vault. The vault held the Potter's wedding album, school photo album and numerous baby albums. Sirius had gone photo crazy after Harry was born. He wanted to show the world that James was a father and that he was a godfather.
James smiled as he sifted through the photographs. There were so many of him, his friends, Lily and of course, Harry. He soon found a photograph that he was sure would make Lily happy.
It was a Halloween picture from a year ago. Harry was only a few months old in the picture and was sleeping peacefully in Remus' arms. Lily was frowning at James who had charmed her hair to change colors randomly. Sirius was shoving as many cookies and cauldron cakes as possible into his mouth until his cheeks were so puffed out that he looked like a chipmunk. Peter would look over at Sirius and duck every time Sirius shoved another Halloween treat into his mouth. It was a happy time for the Marauders, Lily and Harry.
Lily began to laugh as she looked at the picture. Sirius' photographic self, sensing that he had an audience, was now shoving cakes into a protesting photographic James' mouth. Lily's attitude improved as she watched the picture.
Sirius always knew how to cheer Lily up. He may have been a royal pain and short tempered, but he was always kind to Lily. They had dated in their fifth year in school. She had never dated before. Sirius was always the perfect gentleman with her. They had dated for over four months, a record for Sirius who had never dated anyone longer than a month. Then one day, he broke up with Lily. They didn't speak for a week and then, one day they had a talk about what happened became very good friends. Sirius was always the one to remind the Marauders when Lily's birthday was, he was always the one to cheer her up, and was always the first to defend her from the Slytherins.
"Pafoo! Pafoo!" Harry giggled at a different picture in the album. It was of Sirius standing next to his motorcycle. He winked and flashed his most dashing smile. He seemed to be enjoying the attention that little Harry was giving his photograph and began revving the engine of his bike. Luckily, for Lily's ears and sanity, no sound came from the picture. Why Sirius had such a fascination with that bike, no one knew. He called it a "chick magnet." Lily called it "an accident waiting to happen."
Harry yawned and James checked his watch. It was almost seven in the evening.
"Are you sleepy, Harry? It's almost bedtime, isn't it?"
"He's doing so well," Lily said while smiling. "You wouldn't believe the horror stories some of the older witches told me about babies."
"You didn't have to deal with the last horror he produced," James joked.
"Oh, is the big bad Auror too scared to handle a baby's diaper? My word," she laughed. Lily lifted Harry up and cradled him gently in her arms. "You were lucky tonight. I've had to deal with a lot worse."
"Worse? How could THAT get any worse?"
"You should see what happens when he has diarrhea."
That shut James up. Diarrhea was not a laughing matter when adults had it. At least adults could sit on a toilet. The only thing that a baby had was that one little diaper. James shuddered. His parents embarrassed the hell out of him when they told Lily about what he was like as a baby. They brought up the infamous "diaper story" about James and, to his horror, had pictures. If it hadn't been for Lily sitting right next to him, James probably would have gone ballistic. Instead, he sat red-faced through their entire story while Lily looked at all the baby pictures and going "awwww."
Harry yawned again and smacked his lips. Lily smiled warmly at her 15- month old son and carried him upstairs. James returned the photo album and followed his wife into Harry's pale yellow room He watched her gently lay the baby down in his crib. James smiled and, with a flick of his wand, made the Quiddich mobile move. He and Sirius had bought that mobile, claiming that if Harry was going to be a star Seeker, just like his father, he needed to be introduced to the wizard sport at an early age.
Lily began to sing softly as she started placing stuffed animals, including Harry's favorite stuffed wolf, a gift from Remus, next to him. Her long red hair cascaded over her shoulders and onto Harry's cheek as she bent over to kiss him good night. Harry closed his beautiful green eyes and went to sleep, but not before grabbing a handful of his mommy's hair.
"James," she whispered. "James, I can't get up."
James smirked and walked over to the crib. He peeked over the side and his smile grew wider.
"Awww, so sweet. I think I should leave you two alone," he whispered back.
Lily frowned and grabbed James' scarlet robes.
"If I can't leave," she pulled him closer to her, "you can't leave."
"This isn't comfortable, Lils."
"I know."
"Why don't you just wake him up and get him to let go?"
That idea was instantly squelched by Lily's glare. Waking a baby that had just gone to sleep was a very bad idea. Who knew how long it would take to get Harry back to sleep?
Luckily, for the both of them, Harry released his mommy's hair and grabbed onto his wolf doll. Lily released James and quickly straightened, making sure that Harry could not grab onto her hair again. Both she and James moved back towards the door and silently watched Harry sleep. They didn't know how long they stood there quietly before shutting off the light. They then returned downstairs to clean up what was left of dinner and straighten up the house.
It was surprisingly dark outside. The weather report didn't mention anything about a storm. A light wind caused some branches to knock at the side of the house. All around Godric's Hollow, people were celebrating Halloween.
"Happy Halloween, Mr. Potter."
"Happy Halloween, Mrs. Potter," he replied. James kissed Lily gently on the lips and held her close. Both were a little depressed this Halloween. This was the first time they had ever celebrated without their friends. It frightened them. Would they have to celebrate Christmas without Remus, Sirius and Peter? They didn't know how long it would be before Voldemort was caught, if he was ever caught. That was the trouble with being in hiding and relying on a Secret Keeper, once you went into hiding that was it. No one is supposed to know where you are, except for your Secret Keeper.
The Potters stopped reading the Daily Prophet months ago. Every day, there was a new article about torture and murder. Lord Voldemort and his Death Eaters were targeting both Muggles and wizards. The Potters were among the most recent targets because of James' success at being an Auror. Rumor had it that Lord Voldemort himself was going to personally kill James.
It was almost ten when James and Lily finally decided to go to bed. Though they were both only 21, their days of staying up past midnight were over. Parenthood had conditioned them to go to sleep early so they could be well rested when the baby woke.
They were half way to the stairs when they heard a thump. Lily looked questioningly at James.
Then there was another thump. It came from the door.
"James," she whispered.
Another thump and the lights in the house flickered.
James pulled Lily behind him and motioned for her to go upstairs. He then reached into his pocket and pulled out his wand.
Lily slowly backed up and reached for her wand. Her hand trembled as she touched the smooth wooden wand. She didn't realize it, but she was holding her breath. She dared not breathe for fear that, if she did, whoever or whatever was outside the door would hear her. She could hear her heart pounding in her chest.
The thumping stopped and everything became quiet. Lily looked down at James, waiting for the tenseness in his shoulders to disappear. It scared her to see him this tense. What scared her even more was the way he was standing and holding his wand. She knew that he was a top-notch Auror, but she had never seen him in action.
'So this is what he looks like before going after Death Eaters.'
"Lily, go now." James' voice was calm, but had a sense of urgency. "Go, get Harry and leave."
"What do you mean? It…it was nothing…just the wind…"
There was one loud thump and then the door blew off its hinges. The lights in the house went out.
"It's him! Lily go! Run! Take Harry and run!"
"JAMES!"
"I'LL HOLD HIM OFF! JUST GO!"
Lily stared in shock at the tall menacing figure standing where the door used to be. She didn't want to go. She didn't want her husband to die. But she couldn't leave her son unprotected. She took one last look at James. He spared a brief moment to look back at her and mouth "I love you."
"I love you, too," she mouthed back before running upstairs and into Harry's room.
Harry was already awake and crying when Lily entered the room. He had tossed some of his stuffed animals onto the floor and was clutching his wolf doll closely. Lily raced over to him and tripped over one of the dolls. The house shook and a scream drowned out Harry's crying. Lily lay there on the ground and felt her heart stop. She knew that scream. She had heard that scream once during a Quidditch match when a bludger had slammed into James, nearly knocking him off his broom and breaking his arm. Tears slid down her cheeks.
"James…"
Harry had stopped crying and was now whimpering. Lily pulled herself up and stumbled over to the crib. She felt like she was going to faint right there. All that went through her mind was James.
"Momma…"
That simple word brought Lily back. She couldn't faint. She couldn't break down. She had to keep Harry safe. She bent over to pick up her son. She was going to keep him safe from…
She stopped halfway between the crib and her son. She suddenly felt very cold. Lily closed her eyes and hoping that when she opened them, she wouldn't see him.
"Step aside, girl."
Lily turned and stared into the cold white face of the most feared Dark Wizard in history, Lord Voldemort.
"Not Harry! Please, not Harry. Have mercy!"
"STEP ASIDE!"
Harry hiccuped behind her and continued to reach for his mother.
"Momma."
"Don't kill Harry! Take me instead! Have mercy!"
"Step aside you silly girl," Voldemort screamed.
"I won't let you hurt him," Lily threatened. She pulled out her wand and stood in a dueling stance. No one was going to hurt her son, not if she had anything to say about it.
"EXELLIARMUS!"
Lily felt her wand fly from her hand and the sheer force of the spell slammed her into the wall. Her head swam and she soon fell into unconsciousness. Her last thought was of her son.
Lily couldn't hear her son cry and didn't see Voldemort cast the Killing Curse on Harry. She didn't hear Voldemort's horrified scream as the curse rebounded off of Harry and strike him. She didn't hear Harry's cry of pain.
"Lily?"
Lily didn't hear her name called and continued to cast spells. Every time, she would point her wand at the giggling baby. The boy reached up for his mother's wand and laughed as more blue light surrounded him. He found his mommy's game to be very funny.
"Lily? Are you up here?"
Lily cast yet another spell and bent down to kiss her son on the forehead. The door opened and Lily let out a startled gasp.
"Lily, why didn't you answer me," asked James. "What are you doing?"
Lily stumbled as she tried to make her way to her husband. She had drained a lot of her energy in casting the multiple spells. James caught her and held his trembling wife close. He gently ran his fingers through her fiery hair.
"You're frightened," said James. It wasn't a question. He could tell. Hell, even he was frightened.
"James, I have a bad feeling. I can't explain it. I'm afraid that he…he…that he will come and hurt Harry."
James hugged Lily and gently kissed her neck. Lily let a few tears fall and tightened her grip on James. She breathed in his scent, almost afraid that this would be the last time she ever held him.
"Lily, nothing is going to happen. Trust me. Trust Peter."
"I really think that we should have convinced Sirius to be our secret keeper. I'd feel safer."
James inwardly agreed. He would have felt a lot safer if Sirius had agreed to be the secret keeper, but Sirius was right. Who would really believe that the Potters would choose Peter over their closest friend? It was a brilliant ruse, if Sirius said so himself. No one would suspect Peter.
Harry grunted and made an irritated sound. As his parents moved closer, the green-eyed boy crossed his eyes and made a strange expression. Lily recognized that look and quickly pulled away from James and darted out of the room.
"It's your turn!"
"HEY!" Lily giggled and fled the room, leaving her husband and son to enjoy the wonder that is a baby's diaper.
Twenty minutes and several diapers later, James came downstairs carrying a grinning Harry. James was covered in baby powder and Harry's diapers were lopsided and held together with tape. Lily pulled out her wand and with a quick swish, removed all of the powder from James. Harry seemed to pout after his living work of art was cleaned. He huffed and began reaching for his mommy.
Lily smiled gently at her squirming son and took him from James. Harry quickly settled and soon found amusement in fiddling with Lily's long red hair. She sat down on the couch with Harry in her lap. James soon joined her.
"Lils, what's wrong?"
After going to school with her for seven years and living with her for over two years, James had learned to read her expressions. Though she was smiling, her eyes were showing a different emotion. Lily had the most expressive emerald eyes. James had never seen eyes like hers before and was quite surprised when his son was born with eyes the exact same color as his mother's.
"James," she whispered, "I keep feeling like we'll never see each other again. I keep feeling like my happiness is gone. I wish…I want our lives to be normal again."
Harry whimpered as he stopped playing with his mommy's hair and began watching his parents. He could tell that they weren't happy and that made him unhappy.
"Pafoo! Pafoo!"
James smiled and patted down Harry's messy black hair.
"You know, Lily, he's right." Lily looked at James questioningly. "What we need is old Padfoot to cheer us up."
"But James, you know that we can't have any visitors."
"I know," he replied. "Accio green photo album!"
James pointed his wand in the direction of the bookshelf and summoned the green photo album. He grabbed it and set it between himself and Lily. Opening the album, he began shuffling through the pages.
The Potters only had two photo albums in their house. After hearing that Voldemort was after them, Lily had insisted that one album go to Hogwarts' gamekeeper Hagrid, and the other five went into their vault. The vault held the Potter's wedding album, school photo album and numerous baby albums. Sirius had gone photo crazy after Harry was born. He wanted to show the world that James was a father and that he was a godfather.
James smiled as he sifted through the photographs. There were so many of him, his friends, Lily and of course, Harry. He soon found a photograph that he was sure would make Lily happy.
It was a Halloween picture from a year ago. Harry was only a few months old in the picture and was sleeping peacefully in Remus' arms. Lily was frowning at James who had charmed her hair to change colors randomly. Sirius was shoving as many cookies and cauldron cakes as possible into his mouth until his cheeks were so puffed out that he looked like a chipmunk. Peter would look over at Sirius and duck every time Sirius shoved another Halloween treat into his mouth. It was a happy time for the Marauders, Lily and Harry.
Lily began to laugh as she looked at the picture. Sirius' photographic self, sensing that he had an audience, was now shoving cakes into a protesting photographic James' mouth. Lily's attitude improved as she watched the picture.
Sirius always knew how to cheer Lily up. He may have been a royal pain and short tempered, but he was always kind to Lily. They had dated in their fifth year in school. She had never dated before. Sirius was always the perfect gentleman with her. They had dated for over four months, a record for Sirius who had never dated anyone longer than a month. Then one day, he broke up with Lily. They didn't speak for a week and then, one day they had a talk about what happened became very good friends. Sirius was always the one to remind the Marauders when Lily's birthday was, he was always the one to cheer her up, and was always the first to defend her from the Slytherins.
"Pafoo! Pafoo!" Harry giggled at a different picture in the album. It was of Sirius standing next to his motorcycle. He winked and flashed his most dashing smile. He seemed to be enjoying the attention that little Harry was giving his photograph and began revving the engine of his bike. Luckily, for Lily's ears and sanity, no sound came from the picture. Why Sirius had such a fascination with that bike, no one knew. He called it a "chick magnet." Lily called it "an accident waiting to happen."
Harry yawned and James checked his watch. It was almost seven in the evening.
"Are you sleepy, Harry? It's almost bedtime, isn't it?"
"He's doing so well," Lily said while smiling. "You wouldn't believe the horror stories some of the older witches told me about babies."
"You didn't have to deal with the last horror he produced," James joked.
"Oh, is the big bad Auror too scared to handle a baby's diaper? My word," she laughed. Lily lifted Harry up and cradled him gently in her arms. "You were lucky tonight. I've had to deal with a lot worse."
"Worse? How could THAT get any worse?"
"You should see what happens when he has diarrhea."
That shut James up. Diarrhea was not a laughing matter when adults had it. At least adults could sit on a toilet. The only thing that a baby had was that one little diaper. James shuddered. His parents embarrassed the hell out of him when they told Lily about what he was like as a baby. They brought up the infamous "diaper story" about James and, to his horror, had pictures. If it hadn't been for Lily sitting right next to him, James probably would have gone ballistic. Instead, he sat red-faced through their entire story while Lily looked at all the baby pictures and going "awwww."
Harry yawned again and smacked his lips. Lily smiled warmly at her 15- month old son and carried him upstairs. James returned the photo album and followed his wife into Harry's pale yellow room He watched her gently lay the baby down in his crib. James smiled and, with a flick of his wand, made the Quiddich mobile move. He and Sirius had bought that mobile, claiming that if Harry was going to be a star Seeker, just like his father, he needed to be introduced to the wizard sport at an early age.
Lily began to sing softly as she started placing stuffed animals, including Harry's favorite stuffed wolf, a gift from Remus, next to him. Her long red hair cascaded over her shoulders and onto Harry's cheek as she bent over to kiss him good night. Harry closed his beautiful green eyes and went to sleep, but not before grabbing a handful of his mommy's hair.
"James," she whispered. "James, I can't get up."
James smirked and walked over to the crib. He peeked over the side and his smile grew wider.
"Awww, so sweet. I think I should leave you two alone," he whispered back.
Lily frowned and grabbed James' scarlet robes.
"If I can't leave," she pulled him closer to her, "you can't leave."
"This isn't comfortable, Lils."
"I know."
"Why don't you just wake him up and get him to let go?"
That idea was instantly squelched by Lily's glare. Waking a baby that had just gone to sleep was a very bad idea. Who knew how long it would take to get Harry back to sleep?
Luckily, for the both of them, Harry released his mommy's hair and grabbed onto his wolf doll. Lily released James and quickly straightened, making sure that Harry could not grab onto her hair again. Both she and James moved back towards the door and silently watched Harry sleep. They didn't know how long they stood there quietly before shutting off the light. They then returned downstairs to clean up what was left of dinner and straighten up the house.
It was surprisingly dark outside. The weather report didn't mention anything about a storm. A light wind caused some branches to knock at the side of the house. All around Godric's Hollow, people were celebrating Halloween.
"Happy Halloween, Mr. Potter."
"Happy Halloween, Mrs. Potter," he replied. James kissed Lily gently on the lips and held her close. Both were a little depressed this Halloween. This was the first time they had ever celebrated without their friends. It frightened them. Would they have to celebrate Christmas without Remus, Sirius and Peter? They didn't know how long it would be before Voldemort was caught, if he was ever caught. That was the trouble with being in hiding and relying on a Secret Keeper, once you went into hiding that was it. No one is supposed to know where you are, except for your Secret Keeper.
The Potters stopped reading the Daily Prophet months ago. Every day, there was a new article about torture and murder. Lord Voldemort and his Death Eaters were targeting both Muggles and wizards. The Potters were among the most recent targets because of James' success at being an Auror. Rumor had it that Lord Voldemort himself was going to personally kill James.
It was almost ten when James and Lily finally decided to go to bed. Though they were both only 21, their days of staying up past midnight were over. Parenthood had conditioned them to go to sleep early so they could be well rested when the baby woke.
They were half way to the stairs when they heard a thump. Lily looked questioningly at James.
Then there was another thump. It came from the door.
"James," she whispered.
Another thump and the lights in the house flickered.
James pulled Lily behind him and motioned for her to go upstairs. He then reached into his pocket and pulled out his wand.
Lily slowly backed up and reached for her wand. Her hand trembled as she touched the smooth wooden wand. She didn't realize it, but she was holding her breath. She dared not breathe for fear that, if she did, whoever or whatever was outside the door would hear her. She could hear her heart pounding in her chest.
The thumping stopped and everything became quiet. Lily looked down at James, waiting for the tenseness in his shoulders to disappear. It scared her to see him this tense. What scared her even more was the way he was standing and holding his wand. She knew that he was a top-notch Auror, but she had never seen him in action.
'So this is what he looks like before going after Death Eaters.'
"Lily, go now." James' voice was calm, but had a sense of urgency. "Go, get Harry and leave."
"What do you mean? It…it was nothing…just the wind…"
There was one loud thump and then the door blew off its hinges. The lights in the house went out.
"It's him! Lily go! Run! Take Harry and run!"
"JAMES!"
"I'LL HOLD HIM OFF! JUST GO!"
Lily stared in shock at the tall menacing figure standing where the door used to be. She didn't want to go. She didn't want her husband to die. But she couldn't leave her son unprotected. She took one last look at James. He spared a brief moment to look back at her and mouth "I love you."
"I love you, too," she mouthed back before running upstairs and into Harry's room.
Harry was already awake and crying when Lily entered the room. He had tossed some of his stuffed animals onto the floor and was clutching his wolf doll closely. Lily raced over to him and tripped over one of the dolls. The house shook and a scream drowned out Harry's crying. Lily lay there on the ground and felt her heart stop. She knew that scream. She had heard that scream once during a Quidditch match when a bludger had slammed into James, nearly knocking him off his broom and breaking his arm. Tears slid down her cheeks.
"James…"
Harry had stopped crying and was now whimpering. Lily pulled herself up and stumbled over to the crib. She felt like she was going to faint right there. All that went through her mind was James.
"Momma…"
That simple word brought Lily back. She couldn't faint. She couldn't break down. She had to keep Harry safe. She bent over to pick up her son. She was going to keep him safe from…
She stopped halfway between the crib and her son. She suddenly felt very cold. Lily closed her eyes and hoping that when she opened them, she wouldn't see him.
"Step aside, girl."
Lily turned and stared into the cold white face of the most feared Dark Wizard in history, Lord Voldemort.
"Not Harry! Please, not Harry. Have mercy!"
"STEP ASIDE!"
Harry hiccuped behind her and continued to reach for his mother.
"Momma."
"Don't kill Harry! Take me instead! Have mercy!"
"Step aside you silly girl," Voldemort screamed.
"I won't let you hurt him," Lily threatened. She pulled out her wand and stood in a dueling stance. No one was going to hurt her son, not if she had anything to say about it.
"EXELLIARMUS!"
Lily felt her wand fly from her hand and the sheer force of the spell slammed her into the wall. Her head swam and she soon fell into unconsciousness. Her last thought was of her son.
Lily couldn't hear her son cry and didn't see Voldemort cast the Killing Curse on Harry. She didn't hear Voldemort's horrified scream as the curse rebounded off of Harry and strike him. She didn't hear Harry's cry of pain.