THE CHOSEN ONE


Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter and the other characters; they are the property of the amazing J. K. Rowling. I am merely playing with them. No money is being made by the means of this fanfiction.


A/N: Here is the second part of the prologue. Be ready for action, blood and gore; some angst. Read at your own risk if violence offends you.


Prologue: Part II

Families Ruined


Last chapter:

Sybill Trelawney makes a prophecy about the vanquisher of Dark Lord Voldemort, Snape overhears part of the prophecy and relays it to Voldemort; Dumbledore tosses up the idea of hiding under the Fidelius to both the Potters and the Longbottoms; Voldemort makes plans for attacking and killing the prophecy boys.

On with the chapter then…


Death Eater Headquarters

Unknown Location

17 May, 1981

Morning time

It was a long night for the Dark Lord, he had spent the whole night awake sifting through his vast magical knowledge and poring over books stolen from a number of old families; but his work had paid off.

Lord Voldemort had finally readied a dampening device strong enough to dampen the effects of the wards around Potter Manor to almost negligibility. It was not strong enough to dampen extremely strong wards like the Ministry building, Hogwarts or even Azkaban but it could reduce smaller wards like those on pureblood manors to almost nothing.

He was about to call his inner circle members when a medallion given to his spy inside the pathetic Order of The Phoenix buzzed notifying him that the spy wanted to meet him in their usual spot. Lord Voldemort disapparated without a sound even as a pale Evan Rosier rushed into the throne room only to see his master Disapparating.


16 May, 1981

Late Night

Hogwarts Dungeons

Albus Dumbledore, the leader of the light, Supreme Mugwump, Chief Warlock, Headmaster of Hogwarts, Leader and founder of the Order of the Phoenix, and many more titles had called an Order meeting to discuss the recent events and discuss security of the two most targeted families.

One by one the Order members started filtering in looking haggard; the recent months had been extremely hard on the Order as the forces of the dark had torn through their ranks, suspicion of an spy in their midst were running rampant and Moody's paranoia was on its highest. So, it was no surprise that the paranoid old auror had fired off a curse as soon as the group of five loudly laughing friends entered the chamber.

The curse was batted away professionally in the direction of Moody himself by one of the members with the others providing cover and firing off curses of their own in Moody's direction.

Dumbledore flicked his wand to dispel all the magic going on before a full-blown fight could take place as Moody looked at his students approvingly.

"Good to see you lot remembering what I have taught ya; remember, CONSTANT VIGILANCE" moody thundered in praise as Sirius Black and James Potter rolled their eyes at him, "I saw that." Moody muttered at their antics but the group just chuckled with even Dumbledore joining in.

With the mood of the group sufficiently lifted Dumbledore started the meeting with mundane reports on the movements of werewolves, vampires and other dark creatures allying themselves with Voldemort. There had been an increase in the attacks countrywide in the past few months and as a result the Order was stretched quite thin; even the Ministry had now legalized the use of lethal force against the Death Eaters. This was a decision the Order was split upon with the younger crowd and Moody supporting it vehemently while the older people like Dumbledore, McGonagall, and others opposing it.

With the mundane dealt with, the meeting moved on to the more interesting topics.

"I have information to believe that Voldemort is going to target the Potters and the Longbottoms exclusively." Dumbledore began but was forced to stop as a cacophony of voices broke out.

"OVER MY DEAD BODY!" Sirius thundered. Remus looked paler than usual while Peter looked very uncomfortable as Molly Weasley gasped loudly.

"What information are we talking about, Albus?" Moody questioned very quietly so that no one apart from Dumbledore could hear him.

"My goodness!" McGonagall clutched her heart.

Waving his wand to cast a canon-blast charm after a trio of booming "SILENCE" did not quieten the Order members up, Albus continued "As I was saying, I have information to believe that Voldemort is going to target the Potters and the Longbottoms exclusively; I have talked to both the parties in regard to this threat and have suggested the Fidelius Charm to hide them.

"Mr. and Mrs. Potter have accepted this and they have seven days to choose a secret keeper while Madam Longbottom has denied using the charm." Again he was interrupted as shouts broke out against the Longbottoms' decision but Dumbledore quieted them by holding his hand up.

"We must respect their decision and I have already erected my best protections around the ancestral Longbottom manor. Alastor, I need you to devise a security detail for the Potters and the Longbottoms so that we can be alerted swiftly in case of any attack." Dumbledore said and Moody nodded.

"Are there any more reports?" Dumbledore asked. No one spoke.

"In that case, this meeting of the Order of the Phoenix is now dismissed." He spoke and walked away looking deep in thought.

One by one the Order members started filtering out till only the marauders, Lily and Moody were remaining in the room. Moody walked towards the group of five where Lily was explaining the Fidelius to Sirius and Peter.

They straightened as he reached them and looked at him attentively. "Potter, Black; you will be the security detail at your manor, this is your official mission as well." He barked.

"Lupin, Pettigrew; you two carry out your missions as usual." He barked when the two remaining Marauders looked like they wanted to speak as well and glared at them until they nodded. With that he limped out leaving the group of five friends in the dungeons.

"So Lily-flower, Prongs; you two started on a little sister for Prongslet yet?" Sirius asked with a twinkle in his eyes.

Lily blushed while James looked uncomfortable but said 'no' nonetheless.

"That didn't look like the case when I stayed over last weekend; the sounds you were making, poor little Prongslet will be traumatized for his life." Sirius spoke with a broad grin fully enjoying the tomato-red faces of his two friends as Remus and Peter guffawed loudly.

Still laughing the party parted ways and went away to their respective abodes. Although the mood was lightened by Sirius' joke, if one looked carefully they could see that Peter's face showed more anxiety than even Lily and James'.


Peter's Apartment

London

Same night

Peter returned to his apartment in London after the Order meeting and immediately headed to bed to try and clear his thoughts, his betrayal of his friends was like a cloud on his mind and he yearned for the return of carefree days of the school, filled with pranks, laughter and just worry for grades in exams.

After nearly an hour of furious thinking to try and find a way that he would not have to betray his friends and convince the dark lord to go after the Longbottoms, sleep finally claimed the Rat Animagus.

Peter woke up the next morning with a slight idea, albeit a lame one, but if he played his cards right James and Lily would be safe. He touched the medallion given to him by the Dark Lord and donned his Death Eater robes before taking the secure floo to the meeting place.

The Dark Lord arrived at the meeting place just as the floo flared to life, Peter stumbled out of the floo and at the sight of the Dark Lord quickly scampered to him in a deep bow and kissed the hem of his robes.

"What news do you bring, rat?" Voldemort hissed and Peter nearly wet himself from the venom in his master's voice.

"Master, the muggle loving old fool knows of your plan to go after the Potters and the Longbottoms; he has proposed to hide them using the Fidelius."

"Hmm, anything else?"

"There is only seven days before the Potters go into hiding, the Longbottoms have declined." Peter squeaked carefully avoiding eye contact with Voldemort.

"Interesting information; you don't happen to know anything about the protections around the Longbottoms' house, do you?" Voldemort remarked and Peter jumped at the opportunity.

"Dumbledore has put some wards around their manor and has secured a security detail for them known to only that old auror Moody, apart from that thy have completely defensive wards which should not be too much to take down." Peter replied eager to redirect Voldemort's attention to attack the Longbottoms instead of the Potters.

"You have done well, rat; in fact you have done exceptionally well." Voldemort said finding no excuse to torture the pathetic rat for he had done a better job than even the Dark Lord had predicted.

"Thank you, master." Peter cried bowing down and kissing the hem of Voldemort's robes and returned to his apartment through the secure floo before the Dark Lord could change his mind.

Voldemort pondered the information given by the rat for a while before a grin grew on his face, a plan already forming in his cunning mind; he too disapparated to his headquarters sending a signal to his Inner Circle to be ready for a meeting.

Voldemort's Base

Unknown Location

Voldemort Apparated into his throne room without a sound and found his Inner circle already waiting, ready for the meeting.

"We will attack the Potter Manor tomorrow." He spoke and the death eaters cheered a little. "Abraxas." He called and a tall, blonde man stepped forward bowing low and saying, "Yes, my lord."

"You will lead the attack; take any death eaters you wish; do not fail me." Voldemort finished the last in an impatient hiss.

"Of course, my lord." Abraxas said nearly shivering with fear; amongst the death eaters, his son Lucius Malfoy sat a little straighter in his seat.

"Yaxley." Voldemort ordered and a short, brown-haired, middle-aged man with pale blue eyes stepped forward bowing low and waiting for his orders as Voldemort stared at him for a few moments with his scarlet eyes trying to make him uncomfortable. Yaxley resisted his urge to squirm or flinch as he held the Dark lord's gaze.

Final, Voldemort spoke, "You will take a group of recruits and run interference with the aurors and the Order during our mission. Hit muggle villages but wait for the aurors to arrive before causing any serious damage. Engage them and keep them distracted. We cannot afford to have the aurors arrive and ruin our main plan of the evening, can we?" Voldemort hissed obviously pleased with Yaxley's performance in his last mission.

Yaxley bowed low and walked out of the chamber after kissing the hem of Voldemort's robes to recruit death eaters for his mission and prepare them to acceptable standards.

Next evening

"Abraxas." Voldemort called forth the team leader from his inner circle as they met for the pre-mission meeting, "Have you considered which Death eaters you would command for tonight's mission?"

"Yes, my lord." Abraxas said and bowed low before calling forth, "Lucius, Bellatrix, Rodolphus, Rabastan, Dolohov, Snape, Robert Lestrange, Mulciber and Rookwood."

"Explain your reasoning, Malfoy." Voldemort hissed staring the man down. He likes the men who could think for themselves, not overly so; but enough that they can plan and execute orders to his expectations.

"The Lestranges are good duelists, they will help subduing the Potters and any guards they can have. Mulciber and Rookwood have prior knowledge of the manor's wards and will provide us cover after taking the wards down. Dolohov, Snape and Lucius will look out for any back up the order might have and provide us with time to bring the Potter brat to you, my lord." The Malfoy patriarch replied giving a deep bow in the end.

"Astute as always, Abraxas." Voldemort praised; "Now, this is something that would help with the wards; just put it at the edge of the wards and it would help weaken them immensely." Voldemort said giving the man a pendant which was glowing faintly. He had worked on this the night before.

"Thank you my lord; this trinket will help in our mission immensely." Abraxas said giving another bow and kissing the hem of Voldemort's robes before returning to his place in the circle.

"Prepare yourselves; failure is not an option in this mission. Dismissed." Voldemort boomed and the inner circle scurried away.

When he was alone once again, he turned and called forth one of his most trusted lieutenants, Evan Rosier Sr.; he had plans for the Longbottoms when the Order was busy with the Potters and other diversions.

Elsewhere

Immediately Afterwards

The atmosphere outside reflected the turmoil in the soul of one Severus Snape perfectly. He had just returned to his apartment at the Spinner's end after the meeting of the Dark Lord's Inner circle and was chosen for a raid against the Potters.

One one hand he had the opportunity to kill Potter, who had made his school years hell with his bullying friends, that murdering psychopath Black, that filthy werewolf Lupin and that coward Pettigrew; while on the other hand he was just about to attack Lily, his first friend and he 'love' of his life.

He did not know what to do. He had asked the Dark Lord to spare her life as his reward for obtaining the prophecy but the dark Lord was not even going to be there in today's raid. He would have to make sure that she would be unharmed. But how?

Here he got an idea, he would go to Dumbledore; apparently, only he was the one feared by the Dark Lord himself; he would make sure Lily is safe; Snape would just have to ensure her safety for today.

Summoning a piece of parchment he wrote a letter to his old Headmaster asking for a meeting in Hogsmeade and posted it using express delivery in the Post Office at Diagon Alley.

Dumbledore's reply came just as the time for raid was nearing; there was just enough time for Snape to don his DE robs and make a quick visit to the village and disapparate to the DE Headquarters immediately afterwards.

Snape put on his best scared face, a feat made considerably easier by the use of Occlumency, and Disapparated to Hogsmeade.

He arrived to a raging storm with lightening flashing immediately as he arrived. He did not even have to use Occlumency to plant the impression of fear on his face as the thunder was obviously magical in nature created by Dumbledore's arrival.

"Don't kill me, lease don't kill me." Snape begged as Dumbledore appeared in a furious mood as was obvious by his stony face and the tightness around his eyes and lips.

"You know very well Severus that I believe in giving second chances." Dumbledore spoke to placate his fear.

"You have to save Lily, the dark Lord believes that the Potter child is the one mentioned in prophecy." Snape said.

"That is a result of your own actions. What do you want from me?" Dumbledore spoke.

"I already asked the Dark Lord to spare her life; I just want to be sure." Snape squeaked.

"You disgust me, Severus; tell me, what of the child? Would you be able to lie with yourself if Lily's child died due to your actions; would she ever forgive you if she knew?"

'She would never know; and I don't care about the child as long as she is alive; she would come around, I am sure.' He thought but spoke, "Hide all of them then, today is going to be a raid against them." He supplied to hasten Dumbledore's decision.

"Is Voldemort going to be the one to lead?" Dumbledore asked interested by this revelation.

Snape cringed a little at the Dark Lord's name but spoke, "No, the Dark Lord had another business he needs to attend to."

Just then, the dark mark on his arm burned in pain and he clutched it, "I have to go now, the Dark Lord calls." Snape spoke and Apparated away.

'Another business, Tom; what could be more important to you than eliminating the prophecy child? The Longbottom boy! He is going to attack there using the Potters as a distraction.' Dumbledore's mind raced fast and he sent a patronus message to Moody, The Longbottoms and Apparated himself away to the Longbottoms' home.

Voldemort's Headquarters

Same time approximately

Voldemort rubbed his medallion given to the spy inside the Order of the Phoenix and waited for his arrival. Pettigrew portkeyed inside the throne room after a few seconds and bowed deeply. "My Lord." He said in greeting and waited for his orders.

"Rosier is going to lead a team to Longbottoms' Home shortly; you will go with him in your other form and scout out the area for who are the defenders there; report bah to me immediately." Voldemort hissed.

Pettigrew sighed in relief, his master was not going to attack the Potters, he nodded quickly and bowed once more before turning into his Animagus form of a brown rat nicknamed 'Wormtail' by his friend Sirius and scurried out of the room looking for Rosier.

Longbottom Manor

Dumbledore, Moody and most of the order including more than a few notable aurors were in the sitting room of Longbottom manor which was magically expanded to make room for all the people gathered. Dumbledore had relayed the information of an impending attack by Voldemort himself on the manor and now Moody was forming a plan to capture at least a few death eaters and if possible, end this war here and now.

"Okay, Robards; take the best warders and put an anti-transport ward around the manor; make it so that it can only allow people in but they can't go out. Once they get in, modify the wards not to let anyone else in." Moody ordered and Gawain Robards walked ou of the room followed by Diggle and Doge.

"Albus, you take on the dark tosser as soon as he arrives; rest on me; engage any and all Death Eaters, we are playing for keeps here." Moody barked.

"Now, now Alastor; you know everyone deserves a chance to redeem themselv" Albus began to say but was cut off by Moody mid-sentence.

"We are not winning this war by stunning them, Albus; tell me, how many fighters have we lost in the past months? We don't even get to keep the prisoners we stun due to mass portkeys. I say we kill any and all that arrives, close the huge gap between us and them a bit." Moody barked. During his rant, there were a lot of attempts to speak by various members of the Order but no one dared interrupt him

"I have made my opinion perfectly clear on this matter." Albus spoke with finality in his voice and it was clear to Moody that he would not listen to anyone else.

"Very well; aurors, you have been given orders to use lethal force, keep them in mind or I will make your life hell in the office." Moody barked to the gathering. The aurors shifted nervously, they did not know who to follow, the best auror to date or the defeater of Grindelwald.

"Well, what are you waiting for? Let's meet them outside; Frank, Alice; you stay in, if anyone gets in, kill them." Moody ordered and the party moved out with Frank saying, "Alice and mother can handle anyone who gets in, I am going to fight."

Moody shook his head and walked outside behind the younger man drawing his wand in anticipation.

They had been waiting in a crescent line for about ten minutes when a large group portkeyed in but no Voldemort in sight. As the fight begun with shouts of 'Avada Kedavra' and a variety of curses lighting up the night with a multitude of colours, no one saw a fat rat scurrying away from the manor and disappearing after three failed attempts due to the wards.

Potter Manor

A group of ten people wearing black robes and masks portkeyed outside the Potter manor's impressive wards. One of them quickly took out a pendant from his robes and put it on the ward boundary and waited for a sign. Two other waved their wands in complex patterns and monitored the strength of wards.

Inside, five friends were relaxing after a dinner party. Lily Potter was singing her son, Harry James, to sleep while the lord of the house, James Potter was laughing at some joke. Two of his best friends, Remus Lupin and Sirius Black were laughing too though Sirius looked a bit red in face while the fifth occupant, Amelia Bones, four years older than any other in the group, was impersonating a tomato if the colour of her face was anything to go by.

This was because James had finally taken his revenge on Sirius by getting Remus to spy on Sirius and his girlfriend Amelia; and he was now milking the opportunity to embarrass the couple to the full.

He was about to start another joke when he felt the wards getting weaker through the head of the house ring on his finger. He frowned and said, "Wards are getting weaker. We are being attacked." He cried in warning as the strength of the wards continued to decline.

"How much time?" Lily and Sirius asked at the same time.

"Twenty to thirty minutes tops." James replied frantically.

"Activate the secondary wards; I will contact Moody; Lily, contact the order." Sirius cried as he started to wave his wand in well-practiced pattern to message Alastor Moody.

James too was muttering chants quickly as he activated the second layer of defensive wards while Lupin and Amelia drew their wands and waited for further orders. Usually, they were the most level-headed persons in the group but after the danger to Harry became known to him, Sirius had matured quite a bit and it was clearly on display now a he kept a clear head and reacted to the situation quickly.

After nearly five minutes when no message came back, the group decided to meet the death eaters outside in a move to surprise them. "Lily, please stay back, we will message you if we are outnumbered." Sirius spoke and Lily looked like she wanted to argue but James did not give her any time to rant as he spoke, "Leave it, Lily; the wards are just five minutes from getting down, Harry comes first." Lily nodded reluctantly and took position inside the manor.

The four defenders raced out and James dropped the primary wards to further surprise their attackers. They were soon engaged by the ten attackers and even vastly outnumbered; they met their attackers with equal, if not greater, vigor.

In an attempt to eliminate the last male black and secure the vast fortune for their respective families; Abraxas Malfoy and Robert Lestrange attacked Sirius from the start. Also seeing his most hated enemy, Snape too pounced upon Sirius at the first opportunity. Seein her blood-traitor of a cousin, Bellatrix Lestrange too attacked Sirius, cackling madly as he ducked and dodged and shielded in an attempt to save himself from the four-on-one situation he was forced into.

Ames, in his duel with the Lestrange brothers, saw Sirius surrounded and quickly sent a message to his wife as Amelia and Lupin were in no position to help as they were each battling two on their own too.

Lily rushed to Sirius' aid and fired a cutting curse at one of his attackers. The curse hit his mask and it shattered to reveal greasy, limp black hair and a pale face of her friend of a long time, Severus Snape. "Sev…" she gasped in shock and froze.

Abraxas turned to their new attacker and saw 'the Mudblood wife of Potter', seeing his opportunity, he fired a dark curse at her that she shielded just in time; some effect seeped through, though and Lily cried out in pain clutching her stomach.

Hearing her cry of pain, Sirius saw red and managed to fire a piercing curse at Abraxas' chest following up with a Reductor at Bellatrix and Robert. Seeing Snape standing with his and in Lily's direction, Sirius quickly disarmed and stunned him as he rushed to her side. Snape was shocked to see Lily attacking him and then getting hurt, so he could not react to Sirius' curses and fell limp after being hit by the stunner.

"Lils, are you alright?" Sirius asked as soon as he reached her all the while shielding them from Lestranges' fire.

"I'm fine." Lily replied after catching her breath and ignoring the pain engaged Bellatrix as Sirius started to duel Robert.

James was managing to hold his own against the Lestrange brothers fine enough and was managing to fire curses of his own in between them. Amelia had her hands full with Rookwood and Lucius and though she was a rather skilled duelist, Lucius was quite skilled while Rookwood's unknown spells were making it difficult for her to get on the offensive. Lupin was doing fine against Mulciber and Dolohov due to his werewolf reflexes, he had managed to hit Mulciber with a cutting curse and stunned him as Dolohov was disoriented by a prank spell.

Voldemort's Headquarters

Peter Pettigrew portkeyed in the throne room from the Longbottom Manor and quickly relayed the information of the fight there to the Dark Lord.

"Master, most of the Order is at the Longbottoms'; Dumbledore is there too." Peter squeaked.

'Hmm, that muggle loving old fool is at Longbottoms'; going there has a great chance of failure, Potters will be an easier target at the moment.' Voldemort planned and quickly ordered Pettigrew to brew some potions as it was the only thing the rat was good at.

"Very good, Wormtail. Leave, I will need a batch of blood replenishing potion in the morning." Voldemort ordered and dismissed Pettigrew to keep him out of the fight at the Potters lest he betrays himself out of some twisted sense of loyalty to his friends.

'Pathetic Gryffindor.' Voldemort thought as took a group of death eaters, just in case, and portkeyed Potter's ancestral manor.

Potter Manor

At the manor, the fight was going well in the favor of the Light side. Sirius had gotten the better of Robert Lestrange due to better reflexes and younger age. The Lestrange patriarch now lay dead as an effect of a Reductor to the head. James had subdued Rabastan and was gaining the upper hand on Rodolphus. Lupin was faring well against Dolohov; Mulciber lying stunned, disarmed and bound a few feet away from him. Amelia had managed to subdue Lucius by some spectacular dual wand wielding and was in the process of wining her duel against Rookwood.

Lily, on the other hand was not faring that well as Bellatrix was a very skilled and fierce duelist and Lily was injured too. She clutched her stomach again and vomited blood as Bellatrix sensing opportunity fired off a Cruciatus curse at her; Lily's screams of pain were like a song to the witch as she cackled but to her detriment, Sirius too heard Lily and rushed to her aid firing curses at top speed, his eyes darkened with rage.

It was an evidence of how good a duelist Bellatrix was that she had little difficulty in keeping up with Sirius who was one of the best duelists the Order had; Lily' cries of pain had also reached James' ears and he quickly stunned Rodolphus and rushed to his wife who was now vomiting blood and shaking uncontrollably.

"She needs help, Prongs; take her and go. Contego!" Sirius cried shielding his friends from Bellatrix's furious assault.

James nodded and carried Lily off the battlefield into the manor and tried to floo off to the resident Hogwarts healer, Madam Pomfrey. He couldn't as the death eaters had put an anti-transport ward of their own around the manor closing off all means of transport, so he started to tend to Lily's wounds and sent a message to Moody.

Free from the distraction of shielding his friends, Sirius turned his full attention to his cousin Bellatrix. Both Blacks were equally matched as the slashed and waved their wands in air looking like they were holding swords emitting jets of light in place of wooden sticks. Curses equally dark and lethal flew between the cousins and were either dodged or shielded; as the duel increased in ferocity, the air around them crackled with electricity and a thunderstorm could be heard in the distance.

Amelia Bones finished off her opponent Rookwood after overwhelming his shield with a multitude of stunners and rushed off to help Sirius while the duel between Lupin and Dolohov was almost at a standstill.

Longbottom Manor

The group of the death eaters tasked to attack Longbottom manor was met with more than an adequate defence and the battle started with a bang with green jets of the killing curse and red and blue of bone exploding spells and stunners primarily fired off by the groups. The firefight soon turned into individual duels with Dumbledore attracting the attention of Parkinson and Nott who attacked the old headmaster with intentions of gaining favor from their lord.

Moody was systematically finishing off Eric Rosier by a trio of piercing curses to his chest and head when Evan, Eric's father joined in the duel in a vain attempt to save his son's life. He fought like a man possessed and managed to land a dark cutting curse on the auror who twisted in time to lose only a part of his nose to the curse. Evan's cry of happiness was cut off by the green of Avada Kedavra and he too lost his life.

Due to a vast numerical advantage on the Order's side, the fight soon ended in their favor with more than ten death eaters dead or otherwise captured while the rest portkeyed away once they were out of the range of the ward.

Moody was just checking the ropes on a captured Gibbons when a stag patronus materialized in front of him. James Potter's frantic voice said "Attack on the manor, Lily hurt; need help now!" Moody had not had the time to react to the patronus as the fight was still going on despite the Order on the winning side for the most part.

Abou after five minutes when most of the death eaters had fled, another patronus materialized in front of Moody in the shape of a badger, Amelia Bones' frantic voice shouted; "Voldemort at the Potters' need help. NOW!"

"Robards, you are in-charge here; Voldemort at the Potters', let's go people." This was a frantic shout by Moody and was heard by most of the Order and they disapparated quickly taking down their anti-transport ward.

Potter Manor

Amelia was halted in her tracks when a group of four more death eaters arrived in space between her and Sirius via a portkey. She quickly fired curses at the new additions with both her wands and had drawn their attention successfully. Lupin, seeing this quickly threw a marble at Dolohov, the throw enhance with werewolf strength, disoriented Dolohov enough for Lupin to stun and bind him, and he too rushed off to help Amelia and even the odds a little.

On the other side, Bellatrix got a cocky smirk on her face and started dueling Sirius with renewed vigor; taken aback by the renewed ferocity in his cousin's assault, Sirius missed the arrival of Dark Lord via portkey. This was, however, not missed by Amelia who quickly sent a messenger patronus to Moody informing him of the new development and rushed off to help Sirius belatedly realizing that Lily and James were trapped inside.

Sensing no way to get the attention of the dark lord to herself other than outright attacking him, she shouted "AVADA KEDAVRA" mustering up all of her hate against the snake like man. This got the attention of Sirius and Bellatrix as well as that of Voldemort who stopped in his tracks and conjured a marble slab to intercept the killing curse.

Bellatrix, enraged that a 'blood traitor bitch' would attack her master engaged Amelia while Sirius tried to stop Voldemort from entering the manor. Lupin took advantage of the momentary shock amongst the death eaters to stun and bind two more, another one previously defeated by Amelia, thus evening the odds.

Sirius was on his last legs both physically and magically inside one minute of the start of his duel with Voldemort; half of which the Dark Lord had spent trying to convince him to join their noble cause. Just as Sirius' defeat was becoming imminent; Moody and Dumbledore Apparated in, Dumbledore intercepting a killing curse in Sirius' way by levitating a branch thus getting the dark lord's attention.

Voldemort and Dumbledore started to duel while Moody tried to help Amelia against Bellatrix when the rest of the order from Longbottom manor arrived tilting the fight in the favour of the light side by a huge margin. Seeing this, Voldemort Apparated away, Bellatrix too activated a linked portkey to take away herself and her still alive comrades leaving order and dead death eaters in the manor's grounds.

"Lily is hurt badly, she needs Madam Pomfrey immediately." Sirius shouted after Voldemort disapparated. Hearing this, Dumbledore moved with an astonishing speed to the manor and sent Lily to Hogwarts infirmary while giving the others orders to move to Hogwarts and take the dead bodies to the ministry.

Hogwarts

Though most of the fighters suffered numerous minor wounds and injuries, Lily and Sirius were the worst off; Lily had been hit by an ancient dark curse and though she had managed to shield herself partially, she would not be able to give birth anymore as some of the effects had seeped through her hasty shield. She would have to spend around a week in the hospital wing.

Sirius, on the other hand had many broken bones and he would have to spend almost two days inside the hospital wing as he was magically exhausted and he needed to regain his strength for the healing potions to work to their expectations.

Order headquarters

Hogwarts dungeons

"We have gathered here today to discuss the events of the previous night. You all know very well that both Potters and the Longbottoms were attacked in their manors yesterday. We had anticipated the attack on the Longbottoms and were able to react to it accordingly. The result of the attack being ten captured death eaters, among them notable names being, Travers, Gibbons, Jugson, Parkinson, Nott, Avery; dead death eaters include Evan Rosier Sr., Eric rosier, Evan rosier Jr. this was a huge victory for us though I do not condone the use of lethal force by one of our own." Albus said, looking at Moody on the last part; moody for his credit just rolled his eyes and muttered something unintelligible heard only by James who chuckled loudly.

"The attack on the Potters, though, was unanticipated and I must commend misters Lupin, Black, Potter, Miss Bones and Mrs. Potter for their brave actions in meeting the death eaters with adequate force and defending the manor successfully." Dumbledore continued but at this point huge applause broke out from Fabian and Gideon Prewett. "Yes, yes; we applaud your courage. Voldemort too made an appearance there but fled when his defeat became apparent once Alastor and I arrived on the scene with most of the order."

"As a result of the attack, Lord Malfoy and Lestrange both lost their lives in addition to Lord Montague; we have also captured five death eaters, important names among them being Crabbe, Goyle and Nathan Greengrass." Again applause broke out despite the somber mood in the wake of twin attacks.

"What I want to know is tha despite asking for help to both aurors and the order, why did anyone not come till the fight was almost over?" James asked angrily.

"That I can tell you, laddie; apparently Voldemort gave Yaxley orders to distract aurors from the two attacks; most of the Order was busy at Longbottom manor so we couldn't come to help you." Moody explained.

"After the search of the areas around both Potter manor and Longbottom manor, we found this trinket lying at the ward boundary at the Potters." Moody said laying the pendant given by Voldemort on the table for most of the order to see.

"What is this, Alastor?" McGonagall asked.

"I do not know, but from what I have gathered from my tests, this can absorb strength from the wards." Moody explained.

There were some shocked gasps at this as muttering broke out at the revelation of a device that can weaken the wards.

"Albus may be able to tell us more about this." Moody said in a questioning tone towards Dumbledore.

"I may, given time." Albus replied. "Mr. Potter?" he asked James who was looking deep in thought.

"This explains a lot, actually;" James began. Dumbledore and Moody both raised their eyebrows in interest and he continued, "The wards at the manor started to weaken dramatically; that was when we knew we were under attack. It took very little time to weaken them to almost negligibility"

"Interesting information, Mr. Potter; I will examine this and will be able to answer a few more questions in a couple of days." Dumbledore said on a question of whether it would be able to harm Hogwarts' wards.

"In the wake of the attack, I ask Mr. Longbottom once again if he consents to hide in the Fidelius charm." Albus asked.

"I think mother made her opinion clear on this matter last time; the answer is unchanged; this attack was repelled successfully and as will be any further ones, we will not allow that monster to dictate our lives." Frank replied with conviction and confidence lacing his tone.

Albus heaved a weary sigh at this; he knew Dame Longbottom could not be swayed once she made her opinion.

"Very well, this meeting of the Order of the Phoenix is now adjourned." Albus said and the order left one by one, some members clapping James and Lupin on the back. Only Moody stayed behind.

"How did you get the information about the Longbottom attack, Albus?" Moody asked once he was certain that they were alone in the chamber.

"A repentant Death eater gave me the information." Dumbledore replied reluctantly.

"And he didn't know about the Potters?"

"No."

"Who is he, then?"

"…"

"Tell me, Albus or I will pull the answer out by a whole gallon of Veritaserum if I have to." Moody threatened fingering the truth potion vial in his robes.

"Severus Snape."

"Snape? Snape? Of course he did not know about the Potters; you know the rivalry between those four, don't you?" Moody asked incredulously.

"This war is bigger than any petty rivalries from their childhood; and Snape has my complete and unwavering trust." Dumbledore roared.

"Only yours." Moody snorted. "I can just imagine the reaction once Potter, or worse Black, hears about this."

"You will not dare tell them anything." Dumbledore thundered.

"I won't but you are making a big mistake. I hope that it doesn't come back to bite us in the bollocks." Moody said and walked away.

A week later

Godric's Hollow

The Potters, Sirius Black and Albus Dumbledore were all standing outside a pretty two story cottage owned by the Potters in the village named after Godric Gryffindor.

"Wonderful place." Dumbledore commented seeing the cottage which indeed looked beautiful. Sirius nodded as if to emphasise the point.

"Sirius is going to be the secret keeper?" Dumbledore asked after a few minutes more of reminiscing about his childhood here in this very village.

"Yes, he is." James said.

"Very well, then; Mr. Black, please stand here; now I will cast the charm and you will get the knowledge of the secret phase, only you will be able to give it away, willingly; no way to force it from you. Write it on this parchment when I am finished." Dumbledore explained pointing Sirius to stand in the space on his right side.

Dumbledore concentrated hard and started chanting in an unintelligible voice waving his wand once, twice, thrice over Sirius' head. The cottage disappeared from the view of the Potters as Sirius shook his head, only he and Dumbledore could still see it as he was the Secret-Keeper and Dumbledore was the caster of the charm.

Sirius wrote the secret phrase on the parchment and passed it to the Potters who shook their heads in amazement as the cottage sprang into view.

"What about Harry?" Lily asked when Harry only looked confused as James pointed 'home' to him.

"Ah right," Sirius said and took Harry in his arms and whispered; "There, little Prongslet; your home is at Godric's Hollow." And Harry giggled when his 'home' sprang into view.

"Well done, Mr. Black. I must go now, I have many pressing matters." Dumbledore said and Apparated away as the remaining four went inside and celebrated a little.

30 August, 1981

Around two months had passed since the Potters had went into hiding at Godric's Hollow; in this time, the Order had suffered heavy losses in form of Edgar Bones and his wife Samantha, the McDougals, the McKinnons, the McGonagalls except Minerva. Even Sirius had suffered from no less than seven ambushes in the past two months and the only reason he survived was due to the incompetence or occasional arrogance on part of Death Eaters and his own dumb luck.

It was due to the same reason that he was visiting Godric's Hollow today. Soaring in the sky with his flying motorcycle, one of his most prized possessions, he reached the picturesque village and took a moment to admire the scene before him; then he plowed on with his motorcycle towards the edge of the town where he landed it and finished the rest of the journey on road.

Knocking on the door heavily, he was answered by a female voice demanding, "Who is there?"

A giggle could be heard from the other side and Sirius rolled his eyes before answering, "I am Sirius Black, sex-god, marauder extraordinaire, an Animagus who goes by the name Padfoot."

The door swung open to reveal Lily Potter as the one who opened it, in the background James could be seen catching Harry after throwing him up in the air.

"Hey Pads, what brings you here today?" James asked.

"Pa'foo, Pa'foo." Harry clapped giggling madly.

Sirius ruffled his godson's hair and answered James' question with a heavy sigh; "I was attacked earlier today, got away luckily; but the death eaters mostly know by now that I am the secret keeper. I am not afraid of them, no, but what if they torture me, use Veritaserum on me, I am afraid that I would break and give it away."

Lily and James' faces were showing anxiety and frustration of being cooped up inside the house for far too long. "So what do you suggest?" James asked handing Harry over to Lily.

"We switch; there has to be some spell, we switch to another, they will all think that I am the keeper, no one would anticipate it; it would be the perfect bluff. Lily can do the spell, she is the best at charms out of us all." Sirius told them.

"Okay Padfoot, I will look into my books about this; contact you as soon as I find it." Lily spoke while James looked like he wanted to object.

Sirius nodded and the three spent the rest of the evening catching up on the news of the outside world.

28 October, 1981

"Found it!' Lily Potter cried happily, she had found the charm required to switch the secret keepers after constant research of nearly two months. She always loved an academic challenge and it was one of her highest accomplishments as she had created the charm herself from a modification charm. Not to mention, it was the only thing that kept her temper in check after being cooped up for months.

"Wow Lils, you are the best; I will go contact Padfoot." James cried excitedly kissing her on the lips.

He sent a patronus message to Sirius telling him about the news. They were rewarded by the loud roar of Sirius' motorcycle within five minutes of messaging him.

"I swear, that motorcycle of his is going to kill him one of these days." Lily muttered as James answered the door to let Sirius in.

"Lily you found it!" Sirius exclaimed as soon as he stepped inside sweeping her in a tight hug and swinging her around in the air.

"Put me down Sirius." Lily shouted laughing happily as James chuckled and Harry clapped.

"So, who are we going to switch to?" James asked once Sirius, Lily and Harry had calmed down from their hysteric laughter, he still did not like the idea one bit.

"Peter." Sirius said as if it was obvious.

"Peter?" James and Lily echoed.

"Yeah, Peter; Lupin is out on Order business." Sirius explained. 'And not to mention he has been acting rather suspicious.' He thought. It was one of the major points of contention between him and James in the past months; with Lupin's status as an unemployed werewolf, not to mention the rumors of a spy in the Order's ranks; everyone was suspicious of him. Sirius especially, as Peter liked to point out some things to him.

"Okay, we do it tomorrow." James sighed tiredly.

The next day they did the spell with Peter's consent and sealed their fate.

Too busy celebrating and laughing, no one noticed the devious gleam in Peter's eyes. Voldemort had been able to win him over completely to his side in previous months.

Voldemort's Headquarters

Peter Pettigrew was deposited on his rear in Voldemort's throne room by the special portkey given to him by Lord Voldemort. He righted himself and dusted his rear off and walked cockily towards the dark lord. A Cruciatus ensured that he gives proper respect to his master. He bowed deeply, kissed Voldemort's robes and bowed once again looking at the dark lord expectantly.

'Foolish Gryffindor; thinks he would get me to ask him.' "Crucio" the red jet struck Peter on the chest and he immediately howled in pain curling on the floor in a fetal position. Voldemort ended the curse after a minute.

"Master, I have the Potters' location." He whimpered.

"And…" Voldemort prodded.

"The Potters live in Godric's Hollow." Peter cried noticing his lord's eyes flashing in anger for drawing it out.

"Well done, Wormtail; well done, indeed."

Peter bowed again and scurried out of the throne room before Voldemort decided to torture him anymore.

That night Godric's Hollow played host to the most feared dark lord in history. He spotted Potters' cottage; admired it from afar and put an anti-transport ward in half mile radius around it; no one would interrupt him in his quest to immortality.

Halloween, 8 p.m.

Godric's Hollow

Voldemort Apparated inside his anti-transport ward without any sound. He proceeded to walk to the cottage that housed one of the boys that could bring about his downfall swiftly without any delay. Reaching the cottage, he took a moment to sneer momentarily at the foolishness of Potter to marry a Mudblood and further believing in his so called friends to save his life. He will pay today.

James Potter was playing with Harry with Lily watching on when the front door of his cottage was blasted with a loud bang.

"Lily, it's him; take harry and run. I will buy you time." James shouted running to intercept Voldemort and to give Lily time to run to safety.

Lily cried and took Harry in her arms, she rushed off to Harry's nursery and tried to Apparate; she wept again when she couldn't. Sending off a message for help to Albus and Sirius; she proceeded to cast every ward she knew around the nursery even as the sounds of the battle downstairs ceased abruptly.

James met Voldemort in the hallway and fired off a piercing curse followed by a cutting curse without giving Voldemort any time to react. Voldemort shielded against the curses and sent his own volley of unforgivables which was either dodged or intercepted by James. As it was, James was not completely on the defensive the whole time. He matched Voldemort's attacks with his own, even chipping in with unforgivables when he could. But the sheer intensity of the duel was able to tire him out physically and magically and about three minutes into the duel, James was hit by a Crucio enough for Voldemort to end his life with a killing curse.

The dark lord proceeded to the stairs and was opposed by a number of wards, some which were done masterfully. It took him a mere two minutes to undo the wards put up by Lily Potter, an impressive feat considering his immense magical power and knowledge. He blasted open the door to a room that looked like a nursery and was met by a wand wielding Lily Potter. He disarmed her with a mere flick of his wand but Lily Potter still stood glaring at him with nothing but hatred in her emerald green orbs.

Remembering his prize to Snape he said, "Stand aside girl, I want only the child."

"No, not Harry, please; kill me instead. Please." Lily pleaded.

"Stand aside, stand aside silly girl."

"No, please; have mercy. Leave Harry."

"Avada Kedavra."

The green light of the killing curse hit Lily directly over her heart and she crumpled on the floor, dead.

Sirius Black got a message from a patronus shaped as a doe; "Voldemort here. Help!" Lily Potter's frantic voice shouted.

"Peter, you mother-fucking traitor bastard; I will kill you." Sirius shouted as he shrunk his motorcycle and Apparated to Godric's Hollow. He was met by an anti-transport ward so he enlarged his bike again and kicked it to life thundering towards his friend's cottage at top speed.

He saw the dead body of his brother in all but blood on the floor against the wall, his hazel eyes opened in death. He closed them hastily and made his way upstairs quickly as he heard a thump of another body hitting the ground.

A few more tears fell from his stormy grey eyes as he thought; 'Lily, James; forgive me, it's all my fault.' Climbing up quickly he drew his wand and saw a bald head and shouted "AVADA KEDAVRA"

Voldemort was gazing at the lifeless body of Lily Potter when he heard a shout of "AVADA KEDAVRA" from the stairs; turning around he was presented with the sight of his favored curse racing towards him.

"Ah, so the blood traitor mutt shows his face after all." He chirped as he intercepted the curse with a conjured block of marble.

"Stand away from my Godson you mother-fucker." Sirius shouted as he and Voldemort began to duel in earnest.

After about a minute of throwing and shielding curses of the darkest variety; Voldemort muttered "Dumbledore" which was heard by Sirius due to his enhanced hearing a, gift of his canine Animagus form.

"You live another day, blood traitor; I will deal with you next time." Voldemort said and disapparated. Sirius tried to follow him but Voldemort was almost a master in the art and eluded him easily. Blinded by rage and grief, Sirius vowed revenge on Peter Pettigrew and tried to track him down trusting Dumbledore to keep Harry safe.

Longbottom Manor

Voldemort Apparated in front of Longbottom Manor seething in rage from his failure in killing Harry Potter. He waved his wand once and the air around the manor lit up in many lights, taking apart the wards forcefully with three spells fueled by his rage, he stormed into the manor and killed a wand wielding Frank Longbottom without any delay.

Alice Longbottom put up a good fight but was met by the sake end as her husband. Voldemort then tried to find the baby and reached out with his senses, he found his target two stories up and without any delay stormed up. Performing the spell to create his seventh and last Horcrux on Slytherin's sword after killing the prophecy child, he looked at the Longbottom heir with hatred in his eyes and said "Die, Longbottom. Avada Kedavra."

The green light erupted from his wand and reached the forehead of the sleeping child where it struck and was reflected upon the shocked dark lord. His body and the sword of his ancestor disintegrated as a result of the magical backlash as the manor suffered huge structural damage; the soul of the dark lord, already unstable after the ritual to create a Horcrux, tore apart and latched on to the only living being inside the manor, young Neville Longbottom, who was hailed as the boy-who-lived and identified by a lightning bolt shaped scar on his forehead.


The Longbottom line was nearly ended except from Augusta who would become the guardian of the Boy-who-Lived and live under the Fidelius as a result of the attack. Sirius Black was captured and taken to Azkaban by DMLE after he was accused of betraying the Potters and killing Peter Pettigrew along with thirteen muggles by a single curse. Albus Dumbledore's testimony of Sirius being the secret keeper of the Potters playing a very large role in sending the dog Animagus to Azkaban without even a trial.

Barty Crouch Sr. lost his prestige and power in the ministry when his son Barty Crouch Jr. was found at the scene of torture and murder of Fabian and Gideon Prewett along with death eaters Rodolphus, Rabastan and Bellatrix Lestrange. All four were sentenced for life in Azkaban for publicly siding with Voldemort and a number of other crimes.

Minerva McGonagall would take care of young Harry Potter, the son of two of her most favorite students of all time, for a week before Albus Dumbledore would convince her to let Harry live with the Dursleys as his only living relatives; leaving the child sleeping on the doorstep with a letter explaining the events of the previous week as well as a stipend of a thousand pounds per month.

No one would know the location of young Harry Potter who was one of the candidates of being the vanquisher of dark Lord Voldemort. The wizarding world would soon forget about their almost saviour as they would go on to celebrate the end of reign of terror of Lord Voldemort after nearly eleven years by Neville Longbottom, the boy-who-lived.


A/N: So, how was it? I thinks I bollocksed up the last part of the chapter which came out a bit choppy and rushed but damn, that was the longest chapter I have ever written with 9k+ words.

Read and review or Voldie's spirit will come to haunt you in your dreams and if you daydream enough, it may well become a reality!