Disclaimer: This world, people, and most of its events were created by JKR. I have added an OC and some AU elements.

A/N: Some important canon events get discussed and described directly and in a round about way in this chapter and the next couple of chapters. If you need a refresher, the events discussed here are most clearly described in Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's (Philosopher's) Stone, HP and the Prisoner of Azkaban, and HP and the Deathly Hallows.

"Emily!"

Emily looked up from cutting an apple for her daughter to see the Headmaster's head in her fireplace.

"Yes, Headmaster?"

"I have a young patient that Hagrid will be bringing to you this morning. He's a rather odd case, and I think a thorough exam by someone who has had your special studies would be valuable."

"Certainly, do you know when he'll be here?"

"I'm not sure. Hagrid will bring him soon and then he is under orders to take him to his next destination. I hope you can work without keeping him too long."

"Yes, I will."

"And, Emily, I want your report to be verbal, only. When you are finished, I need you to come to my office and report to me and only to me."

"Yes sir."

"Thank you, Emily."

Albus Dumbledore got up from his hearth side and returned to the middle of his office.

Severus Snape's face was buried in his arms, the whole of him slumped between the Headmaster's desk and the chair he was sitting on. "I didn't know what he was asking. I thought it was just a throwaway question to make sure I was still on his side. It's not that hard to find the name of the town where you spent most of your youth, Headmaster."

"Yes, it can be easily looked up in several histories. It sounds as though he merely wanted you to confirm a detail of what his other informant told him. Perhaps James and Sirius were a little too clever in the wording of their spell. And after you alerted me, you followed him to Godric's Hollow?"

Severus sat up. "I wanted to do...something, but all I could do was watch. He walked down the street and stopped and suddenly a cottage appeared. I hid in the shadows across the street and James came to the door. The fool didn't even have his wand! How was he going to protect himself or his family without even his wand? The Dark Lord hardly said the spell out loud and James was gone. And then he reached Lily. He told her to step aside and she refused. She screamed for him to have mercy on the baby and then there was that flash of green and she was silent. There was one last flash of green and I heard his scream, and then the baby started to cry." Severus buried his head in his arms again.

"The Aurors showed up right after that and you came directly here before they saw you?"

The head on the desk nodded, and a sound like a wounded animal was heard.

"It appears, Severus, that he tried to honor the request he thought you made."

There was a shrug.

"It also appears that Lily's sacrifice, made possible by that request, has beaten the Killing Curse."

"It's my fault they're dead."

"Only partly, and only because it fell to you to be the one who carried the message. In allowing you to play that part, I am as much at fault as you. Don't forget that one of the Potters' friends is the true traitor. Someone told your other master about the babies born in late July. Someone told your other master how to find them. You cannot blame yourself for this."

A knock was heard at the door. Professor Dumbledore looked up and spoke quietly. "I suspect the next act of this day is now about to begin. I will be at the Ministry as soon as I can, Severus, but it may be late tonight."

Emily looked up at Hagrid when he handed her the baby. She had only seen this child once before, when she had held him as he was being born. She knew who he was instantly. "Hagrid, where are this child's parents?" she asked.

Hagrid choked and mumbled out, "Dead. Killing Curse."

"Both of them?" she whispered. Hagrid nodded.

Emily teared up. Two of the liveliest people she had ever known were now forever gone. Then she reflected that the Dark Lord must have lied to her after all. Finally, she saw an injury on the child and remembered that she had a task to complete. Professionalism took over.

When Emily was done with the exam, she re-dressed the baby, remembering the first time this child had been bathed and dressed, by her own hands. She then held him to herself, whispering the motherly words of comfort that she knew his mother would say if she could. She recalled the way the father had taken his son from her hands and then turned to put him in the mother's arms. She kissed him one last time and wrapped him securely. When she finally handed him to Hagrid, she saw again the looks on the young parents' faces as she and the assistant left the birthing area to give them privacy.

She watched Hagrid to the front door of the school with a hand over her own belly. The baby had gotten quite active over the past few days. Emily felt a twinge of something that was definitely not a kick and not quite like a contraction. She rubbed the spot where the pain was and sighed. Pregnancy involved such odd little discomforts, sometimes.

She remembered going into the waiting area and telling Sirius, Remus, and Peter that it was a boy. The three had surrounded her and hugged her as if she had given birth to the child. Sirius had picked her right up and swung her around. Remus was more restrained but the smile in his eyes showed how deeply his delight ran. Peter had given her a quick hug, as though unsure how such a thing was done, and then suddenly had run off. Emily found that she ached for the pain those brave and impetuous men must be feeling today. She turned and started her long climb up to the Headmaster's tower.

"I've come to report, Headmaster." Emily was sitting in the chair her husband had vacated less than an hour before although she didn't know that. She hadn't seen Severus since he had been called to the Dark Lord's side the previous evening.

"You are no longer my student, Emily. Please call me Albus. So you examined the young patient?"

"I couldn't believe what the diagnostic spell told me. The child was definitely hit by Avada Kedavra."

"There's no doubt?"

"None whatsoever."

"His mother somehow protected him. Voldemort was going to let her go free but she refused to step aside and he decided that he was forced to kill her."

"He was going to--?"

"Yes, I'm not sure why." Dumbledore tried not to look directly at Emily. She looked directly at him.

"I know why," she said, quietly.

"It's not necessarily the way it looks, Emily." Now he did look directly at her over his glasses. "Meanwhile, protected as Harry was by his mother's love, when Voldemort tried to kill him, the curse rebounded and it was Voldemort who fell down, dead."

"He what?"

"His body is dead, Emily. However, I'm not sure he's gone, and I was hoping your findings might shed some light."

Emily recited as if telling a supervising Healer about an interesting case while her mind absorbed the respite this gave to herself. "The child has a wound, shaped like a lightning bolt, on his forehead. The apparent cause of this wound would be the failed Killing Curse." She leaned over Dumbledore's desk and lowered her voice. "I don't understand this wound at all. When I probed it, the child's eyes turned red and I nearly dropped him. It's almost as if something were living in that wound. It will scar over, but I'm not sure if it will ever fully heal. In all other respects he's a perfectly healthy fifteen-month-old wizard, right on the developmental milestones for a child of his age."

"That's what I wondered. I will thank you for your assistance, Emily, and let you get back to your charming daughter."

A/N: Thank you for reading! Thank you to reviewers allycat1186, debjunk, and excessivelyperky, and special thanks to beta reader Mark Darcy.