A.N: Second Chapter! Dearly hope you enjoyed the first!
Utterly Golden.
Chapter Two: Life and Death. Love and Fear.
Longbottom Lodge, Kent; October 31st, 1991, 8:40pm.
James and Lily Potter had been rather anxious to leave their home, what with the Dark Lord Voldemort after their blood, but with some pressuring from their friends they agreed to attend the Longbottom's annual Halloween dinner they held. It felt good to get out of the rather stifling cottage, the constant enclosure had been driving them stir crazy. Most of what made up the Order of the Phoenix came to the scrumptious dinner, except of course the select Professor's of Hogwarts who had their own feast to attend.
Longbottom Lodge was a comfortable and warm place, with it's warm tones of reds, creams and yellows, as well as it's comfy seats and an always crackling fire. Everyone was chatting and laughing happily, trying to forget the losses that happened in the war and ignoring the heavy and suffocating sad hopelessness that threatened to consume them.
Alastor Moody was having a hushed conversation with Aberforth Dumbledore, their gruff voices in low tones. Elphias Doge, Dedalus Diggle and Sturgis Podmore were having a jovial and slightly drunken conversation about a story involving a hag, butter, a Cleansweep 2 and a sneakascope, best to stay out of it. Rubeus Hagrid was discussing the best way to grow over-sized pumpkins with Frank Longbottom. James Potter, Lily Potter, Sirius Black and Remus Lupin were all reminiscing about their Hogwarts days, even though it was only a few years ago, yet such a lifetime ago. Those were the times full laughter, love and impossibly dreamlike promises. Not like the bleak future that was now steadily looming on the horizon.
The four had been just laughing too much and too loudly for it to be real laughter, when a small whistling alarm suddenly sounded, such a non-harmful sound yet it caused every occupant to fall deadly silent. Moody and Aberforth already tired and drawn faces had hardened into blank, emotionless stone. Doge, Diggle and Podmore sobered up almost immediately, their slurred voices trailing off distantly. Hagrid and Frank's animated voices caught in their now dry throats. Alice Longbottom froze in the doorway of the dining room, her glass plate that held a delicious looking double, chocolate fudge cake clattered to the ground, cake splattered everywhere.
But it was the laughing four which had the most unusual reaction too the strange sound, their laughter had died, it now echoing hollowly around the room. And they stared, they stared at the simple, platinum band that rested on James' tanned and calloused right hand's index finger. It was glowing with a harsh and bright red light, and also seemed to be emitting the weird and curious alarm. Lily's near whispered and utterly heartbroken voice broke the silence like a shard of Alice's shattered glass cake plate, it didn't matter how quiet her voice was.
"The wards...the wards..." That was all it took, those four brokenly whispered words. The three still young Marauders jumped harshly to their feet, their chairs fell clumsily behind them, but no one paid them any mind.
They near sprinted out of the room, Lily following closely behind. The four frantic young people almost flew out of the forcefully opened oak door, running blindly down the narrow gravel path. Sirius reached the gate first, his superior legs helping him run faster. He didn't even bother opening the gate, the dark-haired man just vaulted straight over the 3ft iron gate, the other three following their example. To outsiders they would have looked like they had bounded straight out of thin air, though they really weren't bothered with such trivial things at the moment. They all felt the freedom of their magic and now they were out of the restricting wards, they didn't waste time either.
They were sucked out of Kent with four resounding sharp, whip like cracks.
Godric's Hollow; 8.50pm.
James, Lily, Sirius and Remus appeared again with the same sound they left with, all four of the young wizard's looked around hastily before obviously figuring something out because they started sprinting towards the South of the town. They didn't stop, they didn't hesitate, they didn't stumble, they just ran and ran and ran... and finally, finally, they reached the wrecked cottage. And they stopped, horrified at the sight before them, and it was most horrific indeed.
The top left side of the once lovely home was caved and still crumbling in, the ruined roof was lit with sickly green flames, creating a cursed and hellish glow against the seemingly endless black sky. It made up for the lack of Dark Mark in the sky, which was odd. They were sure they would have seen it up there, mocking and nauseating, sickly green and slithering, taunting them with the death of their loved ones. But no, it wasn't there, only the vile glow of the burning flames, which frankly was just as bad, but still... odd. They clutched their wands brutally, their footsteps were now careful and near silent.
"Sirius, send a Patronus to Dumbledore." James murmured as calmly as possible, but his voice was tinged with fear and apprehension.
Sirius just nodded and flicked his wand. A large, brightly illuminated dog, remarkably Grim like, appeared excitedly into the air. It's tail was wagging and it's tongue was hanging expectedly. An incantation was muttered inaudibly before the silvery white dog sprinted into the dark night, leaving a trial of glimmering silver mist behind it, before it to dissipated into nothingness.
"Should we...go in? Or do we wait?" Remus asked to nobody in particular anxiously.
"We...we should...go in. Yeah...go in." James stammered, his normally confident and loud voice now meek and small.
The other three nodded shakily but determinedly. Lily took the first step timidly, the men followed. Then the shock was overcome and they launched themselves hastily towards the house. The made their way past and over the blown open and desolated doorway and stumbled clumsily past the entrance and kitchen.
They haphazardly halted when they came to the stairway. Four pairs of eyes stared, just stared, in dread and terror at the frigid and empty body of Daniel Evans. His eyes were still wide in partial terror, his lips pale blue and frozen, his once lively, scarlet hair now a muted and a muddy red-brown. A half-scream half-sob wrenched itself through Lily's coarse throat, her already weak knees buckled underneath her. Her knees cracked sorely on the wooden unforgiving floor but she didn't care. That pain was nothing compared to utter devastation and agony she felt at seeing her father, the man who had raised her from birth, lying on those steps, cold, lifeless, sombre and dead.
Lily shakily crawled her way over to her dad, her tremulous and pale hands clawed out desperately towards the dead man. Her hands crawled behind his heavy head and wound their way into her father's thick hair, though now it felt oddly thin and stringy. Her other hand rested on his chest, just above his not beating heart. Lily stared at her dad's pallid but somewhat peaceful face, crystalline tears fell down porcelain cheeks. Her violent sobbing had stopped but she was still shaking terribly. She felt James' comforting hand on her shoulder and she relaxed somewhat. She bent her head down, her wave of captivating scarlet hair tumbling over her trembling shoulders and hiding her devastated face from view. Lily pressed a cherishing and tearful kiss to her father's icy and ashen forehead and scatteringly whispered, hardly audible.
"Love.. you...Daddy."
Lily lightly pressed her fingers to her father's eyelids and let them flutter close gently, never to open again. The four friends bowed their heads in respect to a great and brave man, until they heard a distant but definitely there cry, the cry of screaming child. The three gentlemen and one lady looked at each other in numbing disbelief and blind hope. The married couple, the renegade Black heir and the werewolf made hast up the stairway, stumbling and tripping all the while.
"James! Lily!" The resounding voice of Albus Dumbledore travelled up the stairs, his normally calm and serene voice urgent and loud.
"Upstairs!" James shouted back with oh so delicious relief.
They stopped just adjacent to the destroyed doorway, fearful and nauseatingly anxious of what they may find. Albus' pressing and hurried footsteps were heard before he appeared in navy blue robes with obnoxiously orange crescent moons around the hems, looking more haggard and anxious they had ever seen him. Even in battle he was composed, composed but ferocious.
"Are you all right?" Albus asked with great concern, his bright cerulean eyes lacking there usual twinkle.
"As all right as can be expected. We were at Alice and Frank's when when the ward alarm went off." Remus assured the old but powerful man. Said old man sighed as if a great weight had been lifted off his shoulders.
"Lily, I saw...I'm so sorry." Albus offered his condolences to the distraught woman, who just nodded minutely.
"Have you went in?" He asked while nodding towards the nursery.
"Em...not yet no." James stammered, his light russet eyes behind wire rimmed rectangular glasses were downcast and filled with heartbreaking despair.
"Would you like me to...?" Albus asked softly with empathy and understanding in his clear as day eyes.
James just nodded in consent to the request, so Albus came forward with careful but secure steps. The sliver bearded man picked his way carefully through rubble, disappearing into the crippled and broken nursery. Time was of no significance to the four young friends, minutes or months could have passed and they would've not known or cared for that matter. Interesting how when people get pummelled with great emotion, positive or negative, in a short amount of time, time itself seems to become an inconsequential and pointless thing. Something so utterly insignificant that you wonder why anyone really cares to count minutes, or days, or weeks, or months, even years. So it could have been any amount of inconsequential time before Albus' voice, now tinged with a curious fascination and slight relief broke the burdensome silence the friends stood in.
"It's safe to come in."
The four glanced apprehensively at each other before they shuffled urgently into the nursery. What met their eyes was shocking but not unpleasant, well three-quarters of the sight that is. Albus had moved and cleaned away most of the direct rubble and rock to the side of the room or let it fall out the gaping hole in the side of the house. To Lily's and the men's continuing horror, Rosemary still lay dead and silent to the world, her arms crossed across her chest and her eyes closed forever to the world. Burned and torn silk black robes lay in a crumpled heap atop a pile of ashy and sickly pale dust hardly a foot from her resting place. The bone white yew wand however seemed to be missing however, and in their shock they never saw the dirt brown rat scuttling under the cumbersome rubble with the wand between it's equally dirty mouth.
And the best sight, the most wonderful and joyfully exquisite sight, was of the squirming but silent baby girl in the Headmaster's arms.
She was alive.
Their baby girl was alive with hardly a scratch on her. James and Lily rushed forward in a frenzy to get to their daughter. Albus happily handed over the baby girl to her distraught parents. Lily hugged Violet to her body in a motherly and relief filled hug, she went to kiss her forehead but stopped when she noticed the curious cut on her baby's forehead, she had never seen a cut like that before. Lily's bright eyes glanced questioningly towards Albus' cerulean ones. The esteemed man sighed heavily in mixture of regret, relief, question and defeat.
"It's seems...that little Violet is the child of the Prophecy. I have come to the most logical explanation I can, and with the evidence, the burned cloak that is soaked in Voldemort's magical signature, the lightning bolt cut and the residual magical shock wave energy around Violet. It again seems that Violet is the first ever person to survive the Killing Curse." The old man explained quietly.
Lily clenched her eyes shut as more hot tears stung in her eyes and James gazed down at Violet with a mixture of shock, relief and grief. Sirius and Remus were much the same as the couple.
And the five extraordinary people stood there in a thoughtful silence and they quietly cried for Daniel, a man who faced death for his granddaughter and for Rosemary, a woman who wouldn't step aside. And for Violet, a baby girl just 15 months old, a girl who was so loved and cherished that she just had to survive. For as Rosemary said, she had a destiny and she was going to be utterly golden because of it.
