Soldier of the Dragon
Prologue
Godric's Hollow, British Isles
Earth
October 31, 1981
"Aurora, how did James and Lily talk us into watching Harry for the evening again?" asked Remus for the tenth or twentieth time that evening.
Aurora Sinistra rolled her eyes in exasperation as she answered yet again, "We're watching Harry because James and Lily are meeting with members of the Muggle government to let them know the latest news about the war. Now as for why it's the two of us and not Sirius and his current girlfriend or Peter is because Harry can't stand being near Peter and Sirius is too interested in getting into the robes of whoever he's dating right now." Looking over at Remus and seeing he was about to ask why exactly it had been them who were chosen to watch Harry she said, "Who better to watch him Remus? A free-lance Auror who is as good as most of the high ranking Aurors and an Unspeakable aren't people to take lightly, about the only person we would have trouble fighting is Voldemort himself."
Shrugging Remus stood up and walked to the kitchen. Entering he put a pot on to boil water for some tea and asked, "Do you want anything Aurora?"
"Some of Lily's Chai Latte tea and biscuits."
Looking through the cupboards he found the package of tea and decided to try it for himself as well. Setting the tea on a tray he found a package of biscuits and put some on a small plate then put that on the tray as well. Getting the water that just finished he picked up the tray and walked back into the living room and set the tray down on the coffee table. Pouring the water and tea mix into a cup he was preparing to take a sip when he noticed that it seemed unnaturally silent and went cold as he realized what it meant. Putting the cup down quickly he stood up and pulled his wand, turning to Aurora he said, "Grab Harry and get out of here quick. Voldemort's here."
Aurora fought a quick debate with herself before running up the stairs to grab Harry and activate her emergency port-key. As she reached Harry's room and reached into the crib to grab him she heard a cold high voice hiss, "Reducto" followed by Remus screaming in pain as the spell impacted and exploded part of his body. Picking up Harry Aurora grabbed the locket that was her emergency port-key and said the trigger word, but instead of feeling the tugging on her stomach that signaled a working port-key she felt a slight jerk without going anywhere. Paling she tried apparating and only popped back in the same spot. 'Dammit Peter betrayed us all.' Setting Harry back into the crib she drew her wand and prepared to start casting every spell she knew to protect Harry and slow Voldemort down as much as possible. Unfortunately she wasn't prepared for the door to simply disintegrate or to dodge the body-bind spell that followed.
Voldemort stepped into the room and looked at the woman he had just hit with a body-binding spell. 'Some of my followers will enjoy her, but before they get to play with her I must kill the child.' Waving his wand he levitated the woman and leaned her against the wall. "Now you shall see the failure of your leader's precious prophecy." Flicking his wand towards the child he calmly said, "Avada Kedavra." Turning back to the female he was about to grab her and activate his port-key when a large bolt of raw magic hit him in the side and destroyed his body.
Aurora struggled harder as she saw the Dark Lord's arm move to point his wand at the son of her best friend and co-worker, but when the green light of the killing curse stopped and became a white bolt of raw magic as big as Harry she stopped struggling and watched amazed as Voldemort was hit and disintegrated. After the body of the Dark Lord disappeared she felt the magic sustaining the body-bind evaporate. Somehow staying on her feet after the removal of the spell she stumbled over to the crib to check on Harry only to discover that he wasn't there. Panicking Aurora nearly tore the room apart looking for Harry and when she didn't find him she grabbed her wand and started casting every locating spell she knew of, getting no results she ran out of the room and down the stairs to use the Floo and alert the Ministry as to what had happened. Jumping the last step she turned as she landed then started to run through the door to the living room when she tripped over Remus' body. Paling she cast the only medical spells she knew then pulled off a charm from her necklace and grabbed Remus while squeezing the gem in the center.
Healer Grayson was enjoying what for the first time in months was a quiet shift when a pair of people when dropped in the emergency area by what had to have been a Ministry assigned port-key. Rushing over he recognized both of them as having started Hogwarts in his seventh year. One he knew was a close friend of James Potter and the other was Lily Potter's closest friend. Pulling his wand as soon as he reached the pair he started casting diagnostic spells and was relieved that the woman he now recalled the name of was only suffering from disorientation, though he paled dramatically and shouted for help before casting a levitation spell on the man and rushing him to the emergency rooms
Aurora stood up carefully as the last bit of dizziness from the port-key wore off and apparated to the Ministry atrium then rushed to the elevators to get to the Department of Magical Law Enforcement. Reaching the right floor she ran out of the elevator and almost slammed into Alastor "Mad-Eye" Moody. Taking a deep breath Aurora said, "Voldemort attacked the Potter's and Remus is in St. Mungo's with a missing arm. On top of that Harry's missing after somehow destroying Voldemort's body."
Moody grabbed Aurora's shoulders and asked her in a gravelly voice, "Are you certain that the Potter's son destroyed the Dark Lord's body?"
Aurora nodded then said, "Unless there was someone else in the room under some unknown type of invisibility who could reflect the killing curse somehow."
Potter Family Grounds
Luthien
November 1, 3033
A red-haired man was jogging up the path to the front door when he spotted a bundle sitting right outside the door. Slowing he looked around cautiously trying figure out if whoever had left the bundle was still nearby watching. As he approached he was startled when the bundle squirmed, stepping up next to it he carefully shifted the bundle to reveal the face of a very young child. When the child's eyes opened the man was even more surprised to see that the child looked like a mix of himself and his wife. Picking the bundled child up he ran into the house and yelled, "LILY!"
A dark-haired and green eyed woman came running out into the entry hall and said, "What is it James? I'm in the middle of making breakfast."
James shifted the bundled child up slightly to show her the face. "I thought that this might be important enough to disrupt that since this looks like a child we would have had if we could."
"He's so cute! I'm off for the rest of the week so I can go get clothes and other baby supplies." Lily said while cooing to the baby.
Shifting the child James held him out for Lily to take, "Lucky you. Unfortunately I drew the short straw and have to take the beginning Mechwarriors through the simulators this week."
Lily took the baby and kissed James. "There's coffee and pancakes in the dining room. Now go get ready for work."
Twenty minutes later James had gone through the last of his morning routine, eaten, and left for work. Lily watched James drive off then grabbed her keys and headed out to the garage. Looking around she found the child seat that they had bought when Lily discovered she was pregnant almost two years ago right before she had miscarried and was told that she could never have another child. Smiling sadly as she grabbed the child seat she turned to her car and strapped the seat into the back and carefully placed the baby in and strapping him in. Getting in she started the car and headed out to the Imperial City to buy things for the child she had become very attached to in the short time he had been there.
That evening after dinner James said,"I know you want to keep him but what do we tell both of our families if we do? Beyond that we live in the Draconis Combine, orphans and adoptions aren't exactly something they like here."
"I know that James, but if we give him up then he goes through the child services system and most likely ends up as a menial worker after he reaches legal age. If we keep him we can keep both of our families' traditions of service in the military, besides neither of our families can exactly do much about it if we adopt him since there aren't any others who can have children in either family."
Sighing James asked, "Think your friend Dr. Heizman or however it's pronounced would be willing to do a discrete DNA test so we could try finding his parents? If we can't then I have no problem with keeping him as our own."
"She won't have any problems with doing that, after all she owes me for getting her out of trouble with the Yakuza on the last planet we were stationed on. I bought everything we'll need to take care of a child for a month or so while I was out." Lily sighed and softly said, "I hope we can keep him."
The next evening after Lily had taken the child to visit her Doctor friend for a check-up and testing she was cooking dinner when the vid-phone rang. Picking up the handset she saw the face of her friend appear n the screen. "Hello Liz. I have to admit that I wasn't expecting to hear from you this quickly."
Liz grinned and said, "I wish I had time for pleasantries Lily. Is James there yet? I need to talk to both of you."
"No he won't be back for another half hour. How important is this discussion?" Lily asked wearily.
Staring with a blank expression at her close friend Liz answered, "Extremely important Lily."
"Do you want to come here or would it be better for us to go to your office in the morning?"
Liz looked thoughtful for a moment then answered, "I'll be there about the same time as James."
James entered the house a while after Liz had hung up to find Lily still staring at the vid-phone screen. Walking up behind her he was about to shake her gently when he heard a knock at the door, walking over he opened it to see Lily's doctor friend. Raising a brow he asked, "You have any idea why Lily's sitting catatonic staring at the phone?"
Liz just looked at James and shrugged while thinking, 'If she's catatonic before even hearing what I found then it's a good thing I bring my field kit with me everywhere I go.' "You want to snap her out of it while I go try to prevent whatever she was cooking from burning too much more?"
James looked torn between taking care of the food and snapping his wife out of her current fixation. Caring for Lily quickly beat the demon of his stomach into submission and James went to carefully bring Lily back to the conscious world while hoping to avoid getting hit for whatever reason she comes up with this time.
Entering the kitchen Liz looked at what was in the oven and sighed when she saw that the roast Lily had been cooking was more like jerky then what it should be. Shaking her head she set the roast in the fridge while rummaging through the freezer and pantry looking for something semi-healthy and quick to cook. Just as Liz found a frozen meal she heard a yelp that could have only come from James after having awakened Lily, grinning she put the meal in the microwave and walked out to the dining room where James was rubbing the side of his face while tenderly poking at his ribs on his right side. Giggling Liz said, "You might want to try doing something besides shaking her or poking her side if you want to avoid being smacked next time James."
Lily snickered at what Liz said before she realized who had said it. "Are you going to tell me what was so urgent now or is it something that you're going to try and hold off on telling us?"
Taking a deep breath Liz sighed and said, "I did the DNA test like you asked and have some good news to tell you. The boy is your son, though I'm not sure how he can be since unfortunately Lily can't have any children."