Harry ran through the door of the house he hated more than anything. His foot hit something though and he stumbled to the floor. Harry turned around to see over what he had fallen.
It was aunt Petunia. She was lying lifelessly on the floor. Her eyes were still open and staring at Harry.
"Aunt Petunia!" He shouted. As much as he was scared of her, he didn't want anything bad happening to her. He ran over her body and shook her. Her body was limb, not reacting at all at being touched. She wasn't breathing. "Aunt Petunia!"
Harry tried to pull her up, but even her arm suddenly felt so heavy. What had happened? Harry couldn't see any wound or blood. How could she be… dead?
He screamed, tears running down his cheek. "Please. I'm sorry." He pleaded, but the stern woman just kept staring with empty eyes.
Then another scream startled Harry. Phemie. Brushing his tears away, Harry pushed himself up again. His legs were shaky, and his stomach felt queasy.
Just as Harry wanted to move away from Petunia, Peter came running into the room. He was carrying Dudley in his arms.
Peter needed a few moments to realize that the body on the floor was his wife and that it was Harry standing over her.
"What have you done!" Peter shouted at the boy, drawing his wand out. "You will regret this, boy!"
Before Harry could say anything to defend himself and tell the man that he had nothing to do with the death of his wife, Peter swung his wand and threw Harry across the hall way. Harry's back and head connected with the wall painfully. Harry needed a moment before his dizziness disappeared. He had hit his head hard and almost puked as he had somehow managed to stand up again. Peter was gone. He had fled the house bringing his son and himself to safety.
Harry stumbled towards the kitchen, where Phemie's scream had come from. He had to help Phemie! She was his only friend after all. He entered the kitchen, where James was fighting against three men with masks and black robes. Death Eaters, Harry assumed. Those people must be the Death Eaters James and Sirius had talked about. Caspian and Phemie were arm in arm standing behind their father. Caspian was holding his wand protectively, but not doing anything. Behind them was lying another lifeless body. Sirius, Harry realized in shock. They had killed Sirius as well. No, he couldn't be dead. He was just unconscious.
Harry's knees started trembling. He felt like he would puke any second. He liked Sirius, a lot actually. Why would Death Eater attack them? He looked to James who was struggling against those Death Eaters.
It was apparent that James was overwhelmed in the fight. A curse almost hit him, but Harry interfered. Wordlessly and wandlessly he had created a protective shield around James.
Confused James looked around until his eyes met Harry's. Not waiting for a reaction from the man Harry positioned himself next to James and started to attack the Death Eaters with forks and knives, which magically flew out of the cupboards. James silently accepted the help and continued to shoot various hexes towards the Death Eaters. Harry's shield worked well, no curse could hit them. His attacks on the other hand were rather pathetic. Not a single item had hit any of the Death Eaters and one Death Eater had even laughed as Harry had tried to hit him with a pot with green salat and carrots inside.
"Harry, listen to me." James began between two attacks. He was out of breath. "Take Sirius' wand. If somebody attacks you, point the wand on them and say stupefy. Bring Caspian and Phemie to the living room and floo home. Protect my children. I will fend those Death Eaters off until you are gone."
"What about you?" Harry asked. James looked already tired. Petunia was dead, so was Sirius. Harry didn't want the man to die. James wouldn't be able to fight all those Death Eaters by himself.
The man didn't answer instead he just blocked a curse, which had almost hit Harry. Then he levitated Sirius' wand from the man's lifeless hand and pressed it against Harry's chest.
"Run!" He ordered and pushed Harry towards the door. "Caspian, Phemie, follow him!"
"Remember. Stupefy!" He shouted after Harry as the children ran out into the hall way.
"Daddy." Phemie screamed as she saw that her dad didn't follow them but continued to fight the Death Eater. Caspian just dragged her by the arm and Phemie almost fell as she stumbled behind her brother.
Another Death Eater stepped between them and the living room. A red light flashed out the wand, but Harry built up a shield in time. He could feel that Caspian and Phemie were now hiding behind him.
"Stupifay!", Harry yelled at the man, but nothing happened.
"Stupefy!" Caspian shouted too pointing his wand at the man in the dark robes. The Death Eater deflected the spell easily with a shielding charm. Harry could hear a muffled chuckle behind the mask. Anger built up in Harry. How could this man laugh? Two people just got murdered, the little girl was crying, and this man just laughed at them.
"Stupify!" Harry tried a second time. This time he was focusing on getting the pronunciation correctly. A powerful red light shot out of the wand in Harry's hand. It hit the shield of the man and created a buzzing noise throughout the room. The red light didn't stop streaming out of the wand. Harry could feel that the man's shield was losing its resistance. Then suddenly, the shield disappeared, and the red light hit the man. He got thrown across the room and he had lost his consciousness before he hit the floor again.
Harry took Caspian, who was gaping at Harry, by his hand and pulled him and Phemie into the living room towards the fire place.
"How did you do that?" Caspian asked after he had found his voice again. Harry pushed him and Phemie into the hearth.
"Later." Harry replied. He took some of the floo powder and put it into Caspian's hand.
"Floo home with your sister." Harry requested. "I will get your dad." He looked at the two children, who stared back at him with wide eyes. They were so different from him, Harry thought. In their whole life, never had they had the need to protect themselves from anything. James and Lily had somehow despite a war kept them from any harm. Harry on the other side had been forced to protect himself ever since he was a toddler. First there had been his chubby cousin Dudley, who had bullied him, then there had been Petunia's shrieking voice, which had attacked him with spiteful words, and of course there had been Vernon, who had confused Harry with a punching bag. Later, on the streets Harry had to fight against other street kids and policemen. Even simple things like hunger and the cold had turned into almost deadly battles for Harry. For Harry this felt just like any other battle.
"Everything will be alright." Harry lied to comfort them. In this moment, Harry felt so much older than both of them.
Caspian just nodded. With shaking hands, he threw the floo powder into the fireplace and said "Potter Manor" as clearly as he could. But nothing happened. There was no green fire, not even a single sparkle. In panic Caspian took the bowl with the floo powder and tried it another time. Phemie and Caspian were both still standing in the fireplace.
"Do you really think, that you could escape that easily?" A female voice asked. Startled the kids turned around. Four more Death Eaters entered the living room. In the front was a woman. Clearly, she was the leader of the little group. She took off her hood and removed the mask. She had curly black hair, which made her look crazy. Or maybe it was her eyes, which made her seem like a lunatic.
"True Gryffindors." She commented, "So naïve."
She had her wand drawn and pointed it towards their direction.
"Grab Potter's son." She ordered to the other Death Eaters. "Don't kill the other kids. The dark lord wants to bargain with Potter, killing children will not help the cause."
They moved towards the children, but then hesitated.
"Which one is Potter's son?" One of them asked.
"The ginger!" The woman hissed annoyed. Harry could feel that Caspian grabbed Harry's shirt tightly in fear. Phemie was hiding behind Harry too. It hurt to hear Phemie cry. They couldn't defend themselves. They counted on Harry.
Harry gulped heavily. He took a step forward the men.
"I'm Caspian Potter." Harry told them and tried to sound confident. "Not the other one. That's Dudley. My cousin."
For an outsider it might look that Harry was incredibly brave. The truth was that Harry had to fight the urge to run away with all his willpower. There was this painful tension on his bladder and Harry thought that he would relieve himself any second. Harry wasn't brave, he was scared shitless and about to piss into his own pants.
"He's lying." The woman answered angrily, her voice high and nervous.
"He does look like Potter, Bellatrix." One of the Death Eaters argued with the woman.
Bellatrix studied Harry for a moment.
"Malfoy had said that Potter's child looks just like his mudblood mother." Bellatrix countered, but there was confusion apparent in her voice.
"He has his mother's eyes." Another of the Death eaters pointed out.
Before Harry could react, Bellatrix pointed her wand at Caspian and shouted, "Crucio!"
Caspian immediately fell to the floor, screaming in pain. His limbs were twitching in all direction. Caspian wasn't aware of any of the surroundings anymore. He seemed to be lost in a world of pain.
"Stop it! Stop it!" Phemie pleaded behind Harry's back. Bellatrix raised an eyebrow at her.
The curse stopped, and Caspian went limb. Caspian didn't lose consciousness, but his breathing was laboured.
"Girl!", Bellatrix said to Phemie. "Tell me who is your brother is. Or the boy will endure another round of the Cruciatus curse."
"He is." Phemie murmured pointing at Harry. Harry turned to Phemie and smiled sadly at her. Her eyes were puffy and red from crying. There was a desperate and apologetic look in her eyes. Harry didn't really feel betrayed though. It was his lie from the begin with. He winked at her accepting her silent apology. Of course, the little girl would protect her brother, her own flesh and blood.
Harry stepped towards Bellatrix. His short, sad smile was gone again. "She is right. I'm her brother. I will go with you, if you leave them alone." He tried to sound determined, but his voice was shaking.
Bellatrix studied him for another moment. Her mouth turned into a vicious smirk.
"You are a brave one, aren't you? Almost like a Potter." She laughed. "But you are not Potter's son. I can tell that the girl is lying."
She turned her gaze towards Phemie again. "Not very Gryffindor at all from you." She remarked. Her laugh was almost hysteric now. "Maybe you will be the first Slytherin in the Potter family, girl."
"Grab the ginger boy." She repeated her command to her follow Death Eaters. The men marched in unison towards Caspian, who still hadn't recovered, but Harry stepped between them. 'Protect my children', James had asked. That was what Harry was going to.
"Stupify!" Harry yelled, knocking two of the surprised Death Eaters of their feet.
"Crucio!" Bellatrix cursed in return, but her spell was blocked by a shield. "Crucio!" She yelled again, but the curse got deflected again.
One of the two Death Eaters, who was still standing, cursed "Stupify" back at Harry. It didn't even feel like a wind brush for Harry as the curse hit his shield.
Bellatrix eyes were wide. "Who are you, boy?"
"Caspian Potter." Harry lied again.
"Liar!" Bellatrix screeched. "Crucio! There is no protective shield against the curse! Who are you? How are you doing this? Crucio!" She yelled frantically. Her curse hit Harry's shield again. "Crucio! Crucio! Crucio!" Harry didn't have time to counterstrike. Everyone of Bellatrix curses hit Harry's shield hard and he had to use all his strength to not let the shield go.
"Caspian!" Harry shouted desperately. "Get up. Get Phemie out of here."
The other boy scrambled to his feet, still shaking.
"I can't, Harry. I can't." He cried. "How? Where to?"
"Run, when I tell you too." Harry ordered firmly. While still holding his shield wandlessly Harry focused to prepare one last curse. "Curcio!" He yelled back at Bellatrix. But instead of making her scream like she had make Caspian scream, she just got knocked off her feet.
"Run!" Harry yelled before using his next curse.
Caspian took Phemie's hand and ran towards the door. But before he even reached it, the other Death Eater apparated next to the two running children and caught Phemie by the collar. He lifted her up and held the struggling girl in his arms. Just as he wanted to curse Caspian with his wand, Harry intervened and ran in front of Caspian protectively.
"Leave them." Bellatrix shouted to the man. "It's time that we leave. The Dark Lord wanted either of the Potter children. The girl will do."
Phemie was crying and trying to get out the hold, but it was pointless. The man was big and strong and Phemie a small six-year old girl.
Bellatrix went over to the two Death Eaters, who were still unconscious. Then before Harry could do anything else, they apparated away.
"Phemie!" Caspian shouted desperate, running to the spot where they were just standing a second ago. "Where did they go?"
Shaking Harry followed Caspian and stopped at the place, where Bellatrix had been standing. He could still feel her magic. He could feel how she had apparated away.
"I can follow her." Harry stated after thinking for a bit.
"What?" Caspian asked exasperated.
"I feel, where they went. The magical trace is fainting, but if I go now, I think I can apparate after them." Harry explained briefly.
"Take me with you!" Caspian pleaded, but Harry just shook his head.
"I will bring your sister back." Harry promised as he disappeared into thin air.
Sorry for ending the chapter with another cliffhanger! I will update the next chapter in a few days though.
I hope you enjoyed this chapter. Thanks for all the reviews.