James fitted the little bow to Jazmin's head then smiled as she reached up and tried to tug it off while he admired her little Fox costume[1]. She giggled at the sensation then held her arms out. "Dada!"
He grinned and picked her up, kissing her nose then saying, "Let's go show mummy!"
In the children's nursery, Lily was giving Harry a cool bath. He had a minor case of wizard's flu that was defeating the medicines they had in at the moment. In the morning they'd send a house elf to get the supplies she would need to brew the cure.
So now instead of the Potters taking their twins dressed as a Fox and a Hound to the Potter halloween party, James was going to take just their daughter.
Lily took her from James and gave him a soft kiss that addled his brain momentarily when she decided to shove her tongue into his mouth and press herself against him.
"Hello sailor," she said, pulling away, admiring his 'costume,' the actual captain's uniform worn by one of the few wizards of the Potter line that had decided to join the muggle's military in the early nineteenth century. When he had returned to the wizarding world after thirty years at sea the uniform had been placed under stasis wards in the Potter vaults as well as the significant amount of treasure he had taken from the Empire's enemies.
"That's captain, wench!" he finally uttered to her amusement. Her costume was still a secret to her husband but she had related it was very sexy. She had seen an episode of a show from America hosted by a woman named Elvira, Mistress of the Dark and had immediately chosen that idea, watching the show over and over until she had been able to perfectly transfigure one of her gowns into the dress she wore. It would probably have shocked her father-in-law but the man adored her, especially for how she had so mellowed James.
"When you get home, I'll be dressed quite wenchy," she teased, running her free hand across his groin, grinning as she felt it twitch.
She covered Jazmin's face with kisses then handed her back. "Tell your dad I said hello. And say hi to Pupfoot-" Sirius's new nickname due to a small incident with a reverse-aging potion during an arrest "-for me."
He kissed her again then headed for the backyard and the small spot in it where one could apparate out.
Albus finished the arithmantic equations upon the fidelius charm-which had required a two month long immersion back into arithmancy with Nicolas Flamel's help as well as the creation of two new runes and disproving one theory and elevating two hypotheses to theories-but he had done it. The fidelius was even more powerful than they had believed. He could hide the Potters and the Longbottoms in plain sight with them being their own secret keepers he now knew, Sirius would no longer need be in danger for the whole world would forget the two families, not just where they lived.
He looked at his calendar. Samhain. For the next twenty-four hours his students would be celebrating the end of the harvest even if they no longer did so. When he was at school, this was the day students would be preparing to return to school having been at home helping with the harvests of their families and villages. World War I and industrialization had changed that.
He decided it could wait one more day.
He pushed his research away and took out his wand, waving it and sending the parchment and etched sheets of tin to his bookshelf.
Standing and stretching, he groaned. This was one of those days where he felt a century old. Which I am, he reminded himself.
Chuckling at his little self-revelation, he tucked his wand away and headed down to see how the preparations were going.
Passing a window he saw the four eternal bonfires were roaring away some twenty feet in the air and moved closer to the window to look. He smiled. Each house of students were out, listening to their heads of house. He pulled his wand and gave a little twirl. He could now hear Minerva telling a story to her Gryffindors and even the house-parents-a young married couple hired to act as advisors-and the handful of staff that had also been in Gryffindor were focused on her tale with rapt attention. As he listened, he realized it was her 25th anniversary of being hired and made a note to have a whip-around with the rest of the staff for a suitable gift.
"-strode through the fire, his robes catching aflame but he cared not," she said, dramatically pausing. "He closed upon his once friend, wand in hand, his heart heavy, knowing that this would likely be the last time they met."
He smiled a little wider though his heart was heavy. While he would have stopped her from telling the tale had he been near, his students hearing of his battle with Gellert Grindlewald-even highly fictionalized-was quite likely a good thing to hear in these dark times. Just this morning he had had to inform a pair of students their father had been murdered and their mother badly injured.
He continued down and stepped out, stopping to look up, smiling at the snow as it lightly fell. Snow on Samhain. Always a sign of good test scores he had found.
His foot touched the ground and he felt a thrum of power from the ley lines that intersected under the school.
Sirius had had a strange feeling all day. He had ignored it much too long, he finally decided and abandoned his own plans for the day when he realized it was Samhain-no longer working with James and off the job as an Auror, he had taken to working on his Mastery of Transfiguration when not working as an infiltrator and spy.
His fingers ran across scars on his arm, each line a marking for a dead Death Eater with the lines with barb at the end signifying those he savaged as Padfoot.
Sirius disappeared from where he stood and reappeared outside the small village Wormtail was hiding in, a small hamlet outside of Paris called Chemillé.
He was just outside the other animagus' home when French Aurors appeared. He shifted into Padfoot's form and huddled out of the way. Since Sirius was no longer an active Auror his apparating into France was a fairly significant crime, especially in these dark days, Sirius mused.
The Aurors gave up after an hour and Sirius scowled. There was no more time for looking for Pettigrew if he wasn't at home.
He knocked on the door and waited then gave the Marauders' knock. Nothing. Scowling in annoyance, he disappeared, this time appearing in Nottinghamshire to the apparition point just outside the wards protecting the Potter Manse. He yawned mightily as a pair of centaurs lowered their spears and nodded politely. "Hello Sirius of House Potter. Welcome home."
Sirius smiled at that. While He wasn't technically a Potter as his father hadn't legally disowned him yet-he expected to hear it was done in the will, he was a Potter in all but name.
"Thank you. Where's my bag?"
A house-elf that was also working the apparition point snapped her fingers and a satchel appeared in her hands. "Here Master Sirius."
Sirius went into a small room off to the side and changed into his costume for the Potter Samhain Ball, the 123rd in a row and the 272nd one.
When he stepped out, a handful of guests were arriving, one of the women looking his Billy Idol costume up and down then sending him a very lascivious wink before taking her date's hand and continuing on. Sirius made note of her costume in hopes of cutting her off from her date to find a closet.
Clan Chieftain Somerled Potter took his granddaughter from his son and smiled as she tried to shove her fingers up his nose. "Shame Harry's sick, there're a few people here that Lily would have liked to meet."
"I was thinking I would go home in an hour or so and let her come."
"Excellent idea. Looking forward to seeing her costume this year," Sirius said, walking up. He took Jazmin from the man and said, "Hi dad, Prongs. My little Jazzy!"
She giggled and kissed him back when he kissed her cheek. "So what did Lily decide on this year? Last year's costume was very hot."
"My wife," James said mock-angrily.
"your wife, his daughter-in-law, my fantasy," he teased back to Somerled's laughter.
James rolled his eyes then looked around. "Speaking of in-laws, where is Marilee?" His mother-in-law.
"Dame Longbottom-" the mother of the current head of the Longbottom family "-wanted to discuss something with her. I believe it was something about baking."
"Ah Wizards Potter and Black," a wizard said, approaching.
The two Aurors and the Clan Chieftain turned to see who it was and saw Erikard Clancy approaching, a former hit-wizard who had begun working as a wardcrafter when Voldemort had come upon the scene and his Death Eaters proved him not to be a Political Entity only.
"Clancy!" Somerled said. His rank allowed him to be much more familiar than his son would be in greeting. "How are you? Work is good I expect?"
"Very busy. I almost didn't take Samhain off but decided an invitation from you was worth a few lost galleons. Ah, one of the little Potters," he said, stroking her cheek for a moment. "Where's the heir?"
"He's at home with a bit of a case of Wizard's flu."
Sirius and Erichard both looked a little shocked. Though Sirius knew Harry had begun showing signs of using his magic at-will already, to catch wizard's flu before age eight or nine was shocking. Neither had ever heard of a child being that powerful as to catch it before they were even a toddler. "Ah, my heir," Somerled said happily.
"Yes, quite intriguing," Clancy admitted. "Have you attempted to quantify his ability yet?"
"No. I likely will soon though. He's been summoning Lil's cat to him for a couple months now. We usually treat him for a cat scratch or three a week."
They all chuckled at that.
Their little confabulation ended and the Potters and Black went to mingle with their guests.
James took Jazmin back from the woman who had been holding her and looked at his pocket watch. A few minutes after ten. He felt terrible about not spelling his wife for the evening but his duties as a Potter had taken more time than he had thought they would. Even with their society in the middle of dealing with terrorist factions other business had to go on.
He was about to pass Jazmin off to her grandmother so the woman could take her to the nursery in Thorseby hall when he felt a trill of pain. His wards on Potter Cottage had just been torn apart.
He dropped to his knees in pain as Sirius rushed over from where he had been standing.
"The wards," he grunted when his father got to them. "They're gone!"
He pulled himself up with Sirius's help, handed his now crying daughter to his mother-in-law, then ripped through the family wards on the Potter Manse, apparating back home.
Albus winced in pain. One of his alert wards had been ripped through. He took a small notebook from his pocket and flipped it open to the only black page inside. Written on it in blood-red letters was the name Potter. This ward was designed to specifically inform him of one wizard's magical signature being registered, one Tom Marvolo Riddle's.
Albus stood from where he had been sitting, roasting marshmallows with some of the Aurors stationed at the school and called for Fawkes.
The Phoenix appeared and the old man reached up, grasping the tail feathers, calling out "The Potters's cottage!"
They disappeared in a flare of gold flames.
When Albus appeared outside Potters's cottage, flames were wicking out of the roof above where he knew the nursery was and his face drained of blood, turning his slightly mahogany tan skin tone as pale as a ghost's skin tone.
He was about to walk in when James, Sirius, Remus, and Somerled appeared, wands out in battle stance, a pair of men behind Somerled, the hereditary holders of the Clan Potter sword and shield-While the Potters had come from the Highland Clans and were often some of the best magical warriors, they had also fought as the mundanes did with sword and shield, showing that even with crude steel and wood they were a force to be reckoned with, killing off the men of most other Highland Clans when they began converting to Christianity and had attempted to forcibly convert their clan[2].
"Albus?"
"I just arrived when one of my wards was tripped. One that would inform me that VOldemort had entered. But how? Was not Sirius-"
"No, we used Pettigrew as the secret keeper. No one would think to harm him when Sirius was believed to be it and always out and about," James said woodenly.
Somerled turned to his shield holder. "Go. To the Ministry. Tell the Lord's Wizengamot representative that Pettigrew is a traitor to the Crown[3]."
Albus watched the man nod then turned back and saw James had already entered the house while Fawkes was flying in circles above the flames, faster and faster. He watched in utter fascination as the fire seemed to detach from the building then disappear as the magical bird consumed it. "I always learn something new about you," he said softly.
Inside the building he found ashes in a pair of black robes with the Slytherin crest on them while James held his wife's dead body, crying. Sirius was holding his crying godson and showing the boy's grandfather the wound on his forehead. It had a green glow, the same sickly color of the Avada Kedavra curse. They turned to Albus who moved forward and began some of the more esoteric diagnostic spells he knew. "We must take him to Hogwarts. I will retrieve a specialist I know. Somerled, if you can retrieve Amelia Bones and her partner?" The man nodded and he and his sword carrier disappeared. "Sirius, Remus, if you would alert the other members of the Order? I need them at Hogwarts." They nodded and disappeared. "James, son, let us prepare her for the rites."
James looked at the old man and eventually nodded. "Yes."
"Take your son to Hogwarts, I will wait here for the Aurors and arrange for the preparations."
James nodded and took his son. Harry hugged his neck tightly and cryingly called for "Mama!"
"Mummy's gone on to the next adventure," James whispered, choking on the word next.
Aurors Bones[4] and Chilus appeared outside the home, led by Somerled. They couldn't see it but Somerled was able to lead them inside where the two began immediately investigating. Albus gave Amelia his story and the events of the day he had gleaned then cast a lightening charm on his former student's mortal remains and carefully lifted her.
Fawkes flew into the room and the three disappeared in a flash of gold.
Amelia sighed. This was her fifth crime scene of the day and the fourth murder. Be glad it's only one dead, she told herself and turned to see Chilus looking at her with great confusion. "These are-these are HIS robes!"
"I know. He's gone," she said, not adding the for now the Headmaster had quantified it with.
Before she could stop him, Chilus had sent off his Patronus three times with messages.
She growled but he was the senior Auror.
Amelia finished the diagnostic spells. There was, of course, no proof, aside from the body, that the killing curse had been used-twice it seemed, the second completely ineffectively(?!)-but there was proof of two wand signatures used: Voldemort's and someone else's. By the order of the Potters and the Headmaster, Peter Pettigrew was wanted for this crime.
Amelia looked around the home, noting Lily Potter's wand was on her bedside table-she made a note to knock it into her just born niece's head that a wand is always with you-though she didn't fault the woman, she had been living under a spell that made their home invisible. They should have been safe and their son was ill, she would likely have left her own behind if she knew it would do no good while soothing a child, especially a toddler sick with wizard's flu (wizard's flu in a toddler, her mind boggled). The cottage was beautiful, even in its partial destruction.
She felt a little jealous. Her own home was a few rooms in the old Charnel House in Ossuary Cove in Wales, the ancestral home of her family after coming back from privateering in the early nineteenth century. It was large and comfortable but the Potters were very well to do she knew. They owned at least nine homes, the majority of the land upon which Hogsmeade sat, and rumor had it two islands.
Albus scowled. He received all three daily papers, the Daily Prophet, the Circadian Soothsayer-which was as nearly a tabloid rag as the Daily Prophet but had interesting daily puzzles like the periodical the Lovegoods put out though not as fiendishly difficult as theirs, and the Albion Astrologer-which was the most competent of papers and owned by the Potters though they didn't have anything to do with its running: all three had variations of the same story. The Daily Prophet was calling Harry the Boy-Who-Lived, the slayer of Voldemort. The Soothsayer had gone with He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named's-Conqueror. The Albion had gone with something simple: Gotcha!
While they were all basically factual-though the Soothsayer and the Prophet were as usual highly embellished, the information shouldn't have been released. he wanted to know who had released it and as the current vice-warlock on the wizengamot he was going to make sure whoever did lost their jobs and did time in the high security level of Azkaban[5].
Students began to arrive for breakfast and he pushed the papers away, watching them pile in. Though it was a sunday and most students would normally sleep in, the majority of students awoke early and swarmed the dining room the day after Samhain began in hopes of getting first crack at the much anticipated first harvest foods, especially the pumpkin waffles and baked cinnamon-apple pancakes.
His copy of the Sunday Sage-another periodical owned by the Potters which was a harder hitting news magazine-arrived and he flipped through it as Minerva arrived. "What happened last evening?"
He pushed his papers towards her and forked two of the pumpkin waffles onto his plate, covering them with blood orange syrup.
"Oh my gods!" she gasped louder than she meant, causing students and arriving staff to look her way.
"Whe-where're Harry and Jazmin and James?" she asked softly.
"Here, in the parental rooms." For when students were injured badly enough that parents were informed which was rare, even with the war on. If the parents felt the need they could come and stay while their child was healed. Few rarely did though it was quite common for a parent to stop by at least once or twice during an extended healing process. "The Order is dealing with many things that need dealt with. I spoke with the Chief Warlock earlier. He's going to begin arresting every known or suspected Death Eater. But I fear for his will to prosecute."
"What of Lily?"
"We'll have the ceremony today after lunch. Normally it would be done on Thoresby grounds but James is reticent about moving the twins too much for now. I offered them the use of the castle until they're ready to move back to Thoresby.
"As you know, their home was under the fidelius. I spent most of the past two months studying it and have created a number of variants. I am able to cast it on a person's name-which I had planned to do today to protect them but allow them to leave Potter Cottage-allowing someone else to be the secret keeper. Would you be willing to be the secret keeper? For them?"
"Of course I will," she said vehemently.
Students papers began to arrive and the first to get it read it, gasping aloud, yelling out what he had read.
The students began to question him loudly and he stood, drawing his wand, sending out a percussive blast that silenced them all quickly.
"Yes, it is true," he began to lie. "Voldemort is dead." He in fact doubted it due to Riddle's utter fear of death, he would have pressed towards so many of the old methods of extending one's life. "Yes, Lily Potter is dead. And yes, Harry Potter survived the killing curse."
"The Boy-Who-Lived!" whispers began percolating through the crowd of students. Albus hid his scowl at the term.
Sirius shifted from his Padfoot form and looked at his godchildren, sleeping then ruffled both their hair and turned to see James was snoring softly. He nodded and moved out of the room to find Remus sleeping on the couch. When Voldemort had been courting the werewolves, Remus had done something fairly dumb. He had made an unbreakable vow to never support Voldemort to his friends.
"Wake up Moony!" he said, kicking the couch he lay on.
He rolled off, groaning. "Ow!"
Sirius chuckled as Moony cursed him.
"The Sword and Shield of Father's are watching this apartment," he told him. "We can go get breakfast."
Moony nodded as he stood, tugging his robes straight. "What the hell are you dressed as?"
"Billy Idol. Lily's favo-he used to be Lily's favorite musician. Sexy look, right? I got two different women in my room during the party and had the Chinese Ambassador's wife give me a handy."
"You're a degenerate sexhound," Moony muttered but smiled. "I actually had an encounter myself," he admitted as they walked. "Merilee Syndrome."
Sirius walked into the wall when he snapped to look at him. "Moony!" She was a disgustingly famous singer who was popular with the younger singers due to her subject matter: she often sang about relationships with Dark Creatures and other magical creatures like Werewolves or Centaurs. "Has-has she really been with a centaur?"
"She said no. And the fact she bled when I had her, well, I might have been her first." There were spells and potions to reform the hymen fairly easily though the spells were power intensive and the potions were time intensive. He had his own room at Potter Manse as well but rarely stayed there due to all the silver in the place-silver mines and occamy eggs were the backbone of the Potter wealth.
"I am so proud of you," Sirius said, slapping him on the back.
They were a little shocked to find celebrations happening in the great hall until they saw a paper. The death of Lily, Voldemort, and the survival of Harry had already been reported. Then they heard the term Boy-Who-Lived and both grimaced.
Albus and Minerva gestured them up to join them at the staff table.
"James and the twins still asleep?"
"Poppy gave them a sleeping draught," Remus answered Minerva.
Somerled watched his men stream into Hogwarts grounds. Every employee, clansman, or indentured servant-a practice he hated but if someone was willing to do so, he would bring them aboard and try to work them out of his debt as fast as they could handle-numbering greatly beyond the current 11-18 student population of 217 (half what it was when he was a student), 47 taking post-graduate classes[6], and 33 in various stages of pre-ministry training: in total he had 932 men coming in and all 144 house elves that worked for or were owned by the Potters.
He turned and looked at the waiting pyre[8], his daughter-in-law swathed in bandages of purest white, 7,777 galleons[9] worth of items to be sacrificed in her honor, 777 white lilies upon the pyre, the flowers a sign of purity and innocence attained with death.
The students and visitors began to take their places around the pyre silently, watching James Potter and Sirius Black-Potter as they held the Potter twins so that they couldn't see the pyre or their mother's body on it.
When everyone was in place, Albus stepped forward, resplendent in his white robes[10].
James looked over and fought back the urge to smile at his father holding his mother-in-law, patting her back awkwardly as she cried into his robes.
He looked over the sea of white with hues of black and grey[11] then turned his attention back to Albus who had turned to look at his phoenix sitting on a stele the groundsman Hagrid had spent all night carving and crying over. The Potters were some of the nicest people he had ever known after Albus Dumbledore, the giant had informed the Headmaster. Albus had made a mental note to have some monogrammed handkerchiefs made up as this years christmas gift to the half-giant.
He turned back to the crowd and began to speak.
"Today we are gathered to give our final farewells to a hero of the Purity War-" A number of students looked incensed at that, mostly upperclass slytherins and a Ravenclaw or two, Albus noticed. The term Purity War was used by two of the most popular periodicals, mocking those who believed that power grew from the purity of one's blood "-whose sacrifice-"
James tuned out his friend's speech, concentrating on his wife's remains, watching her hair wave due to the wind.
Then he realized a significant amount of time had paused when he saw Fawkes fly towards his wife and settle on the pyre next to her. He watched in bemusement as the bird's color began to lighten to pink then white and then the pyre ignited.
Albus flicked his wand, keeping the smell of burning flesh from actually being smelled by those in attendance. There was no need to traumatize the youngest that had decided to attend.
James watched his wife's body consumed by the white hot flames, returning her to the world.
He hugged Jazmin a little tighter than he meant to and she said "Owie daddy!"
"Sorry little one," he murmured and kissed her nose.
A/N: This story takes place in my AU mentioned in Drabbles and occasionally in the orphanage of lost prompts.
1: This is their costume choices because Fox and Hound was released the summer before Harry's parents die in canon. it's also now a reference to the hilarious Larceny, Lechery, and Luna Lovegood.
2: In this universe Christianity is very much the big bad. And I don't really get the christian overtones of the Harry Potter series (which if you don't see them, you're just not paying attention. Nor do I understand the christians who hate the series). Nonetheless, the reason Christianity-in fact most Abrahamic religion aside from Judaism-in this series is hated on is due to the witch burnings(I'm going to have power levels of magicals make it impossible for EVERY magical to perform a flame freezing charm so in fact not all could have easily escaped the burning times). Judaism isn't hated on due to Jesus being a wizard and his being the 'king of jews.'
3: Normally I despise how everyone is a lord, they're all part of the wizengamot, and yatta yatta. That's all bullshit. In this series, there are two wizengamots like there are two Houses. The House of Commons and the House of Lords. The magicals have the Common Wizengamot (50 members) and the Lords' Wizengamot (49 members: 42 hereditary, 7 honorary) members. The Lords have no veto power-technically-or law passing powers. Their jobs are to debate the merit of laws that are introduced by the Common court, make suggestive changes, pass it back, then look at it again. Once they're satisfied with the law they send it back with their seal of approval. If they don't approve, it can be passed but only if 49 of the fifty members of the wizengamot-which must include the Chief Warlock-vote for the passing of the law and half the members immediately stepping down and unable to be re-elected for seven years.
As for the crown thing, that is used in a lot of fics as well and makes a lot of sense. Even though they're separate, they had to get permission from the crown at the time to do so. Perhaps there's still a magical advisor to the crown as well? We shall see (it's likely).
4: Usually I hate how every person is interconnected in the past, no one uses OCs unless they're self-inserts or mary-sues or whatev. I think this time it's a bit warranted. Her relatives are members of Dumbledore's Order which he knows she can be trusted.
5: Instead of a castle as most write it as or the fairly cool looking triangular building in the movies or a rectangular tower in one books cover, I envision it as a steppe pyramid with the only entrance being the pinnacle, the stones of the building ancient and blackened, dead vines covering the building, and only a few meters of beaches around the prison itself-perhaps a mile on each side?
6: When I read that JKR said that a magical was fully trained when done at Hogwarts and looked at the classwork available up til sixth year, it showed just how weak their society is. So classes will be greatly changed. NEARLY EVERY job will have a 1-5 year training program, there are three post-graduate training schools, and the ministry maintains a training program for its new employees in a number of buildings in Hogsmeade[7].
7: Hogsmeade will also have some serious changes to it since it's much too much a tourist village and not a student village for relaxing in. The Number of Hogsmeade weekends will change as well, 3 in third, 4 in fourth, and so on until seventh when any seventh year can go into the village after classes or any weekend as they're the ones looking for work or preparing for their new jobs and so on.
8: WHY WOULD ANYONE BURY A BODY WHEN INFERI ARE SO EASY TO MAKE? SERIOUSLY, GRAVEYARDS FULL OF MAGICAL BODIES MAKE NO SENSE. Cremation makes so much more sense when you know some dark wizard or some fucking pervert (Like Severus Snape[actually I'm shocked I've never seen a fic where he brought her back as one for sexy times though i've read a few where he's defiled the Potter graves]) could easily bring the corpse back to do god knows what with it.
9: In this universe, galleons are worth one seventh of an ounce of gold. At the time, I think an ounce was worth about 350 US Dollars so each one is worth 50 USD or 26.75 GBP. There's a website called FXTOP dot com that has a historical currency converter that I expect to use a lot. Five pounds per galleon is such a terrible conversion, it's quite obvious she's terrible with maths(also, why shorten mathematics as math?!). So, yeah, he's sacrificing a LOT of stuff. Dunno what specifically, perhaps it'll be a later plot point.
10: White is the sign of Death in ancient Egypt and contemporary Asia. It's the sign of innocence, rebirth, and purity in Western culture.
11: In the series, student robes(not uniforms like in the movies though I do want to have students have the choice between them, probably starting third year?)start as black and as they move upwards towards seventh year, their robes get progressively lighter until seventh years where white robes or any color they want, though since they're at a funeral, white is the required except for the sixth and younger years, they're just wearing their daily robes.