Disclaimer - I don't own harry potter. This story is my own work but might draw inspirations here and there from the hundreds of fanfiction stories i have read. If anything seems similar it is not intended. I borrowed some of the cliches that i enjoy reading into my story though i intend to give them my own spin. Happy Reading.
Chapter 1 How It All Started
Those are dark times. Times when happy moments existed only in the safety of home, the dinners and sit arounds. Common people are terrified to go outside while children are not allowed to. The streets are mostly empty. Food is relatively scare and people make do with what they had, eating food grown in their yards, living off bread and butter. They didn't have anything to do , mostly they used to sit around the dinning table discussing the horrors happening outside, praying and hoping it wouldn't come to them. It is one such relatively peaceful night, a young couple are arguing in the middle of the night, it's one of those arguments that make the neighbours take a peek into the household, and oddly enough, nothing seems to be disturbing the peaceful night outside, there is no house so to speak, let alone the voices of it.
"This is what i am talking about, i know you trust your friends with your life, i'm just saying to consider this if things go south, if we plan this decoy- " lily was trying to convince her husband that it is not about trust.
"We can't leave this country lily." James cut her off. "what would we do outside, we are potters for god sake. i know, i know. I don't believe in all the pure blood and half blood propaganda, but the name of potter mean something in this country, i can't leave everything behind and go live a recluse life, it feels too much like i am running away, it is hard enough hiding in this tiny home as it is, leaving my manor and my parents."
"What do you have to lose. we can be back when everything passes, i am scared James, you have heard how the prophecies work, the headmaster himself seems resigned that worst will come to pass, that is the thing about prophecies, they either get cancelled out, meaning one of the people involved, in this case it includes our son, becomes- becomes unable to fulfill the prophecy or it comes to pass as sort of self fulfilling, there is no middle ground, and dumbledore seems to be hiding something, and i can't get rid of this feeling that something is terribly wrong" lily rambled and started crying unable to console herself.
James pulled her close and put his hand around her shoulders, hugged her close, he needed that comfort from her as much as he wanted to comfort her. He has been on edge this entire week, he is seeing bad omens everywhere since morning, dumbledore seems busy with something and they haven't met since three weeks, his friends are on the run and he is sitting alone with his family unable to do anything to fight the darkness that is scaring his wife and is out to harm his son. For the first time in his life, he felt helpless, alone and if he truly admit to himself in his heart, a little scared, not for himself, but for the safety of his lovely wife and baby harry, who is but a year old, an innocent boy. Thoughts about harry playing with his small broomstick brought a smile to his face, he rubbed a weary hand on his face, another hand comforting lily, who stopped crying and is staring silently into the fireplace, as though it held all the answers. He watched lily silently, her eyes tired and wet, her beautiful face dull, it broke his heart.
"There has to be another way" said James. "This monster is trying to kill my family, the Griffindor blood in me is boiling, wanting me to go after this sick asshole ,with everything i have and kill the bastard once and for all or die trying. It is hard for me lily ,this, whatever it is you are asking me to do"
"I know", lily said, calmly. looking James in the eye. James waited to see if she would say more, but she didn't, she went back to looking in the flames.
James sighed.
"our family owns a private estate in Portugal, near the coast of Atlantic. my parents and i used to visit there for vacation, when i was young. maybe we can go there first, america is too soon, i need to plan. Is that okay?" He said finally.
lily hugged her husband and planted a kiss on his cheek, with tears in her eyes, she said "Thank you". They stayed like that for a minute.
Finally James shuffled, "Come now, lets go to sleep, we have a big day tomorrow, packing and lots of stuff to do" he said.
They both stood up, cleaned up the place, lily went to washroom to sprinkle some water on her face,she stared in the mirror, perhaps a little too long, wondering. she finally came back and is about to go upstairs to bedroom to check on harry before going to sleep. when she stopped at the foot of the stairs, James is standing behind the curtain, slightly crouched, he already pulled out his wand and is silently watching something outside from the window. He noticed lily coming and when lily is about to ask what, he raised his hand to signal silence.
She walked silently to the window turned and took a peek, a tall hooded figure is standing exactly opposite, their home, he seems to be staring intently at the house. It is hard to tell whether he is able to see the house or whether he is just a random death eater that somehow followed James here and is trying to keep watch. The hooded figures face is completely masked and nothing can be discerned but somehow she is feeling dread and a shivers ran down her spine. The kind of magic that keeps her on edge, who ever he is, he is a strong wizard. She pulled out her wand in one swift motion and waited herself, she watched her husbands face who is on extreme alert, he too must have sensed the aura. The figure started walking slowly towards the house, until he stood outside the gate.
lily's wand hand shivered a bit, she started fearing the worst, her thoughts are racing, 'It's not possible' 'They can't see us right?, we are under the fidelius, the charm is casted by the headmaster, she knows how capable dumbledore is' 'No way James friends would turn on them right?' 'did the monster torture peter?' 'or has peter turned?'
The figure pointed his wand at the gate, it opened with a click. He knows the secret!. There is no other protection barrier between them and the trespasser now. That is the drawback of using a fidelius, no other protection barriers can be casted on a place that is magically hidden, hiding in and itself is considered protection , so no protection charms work, magic works in subtle ways. lily knows that. lily also knows that they have a fight before them, her instincts are thinking of ways to end this fight with as little effort as possible, she doesn't want to disturb the neighbourhood and wake up harry. She is hoping, praying that HE isn't here, because if he is- . "No" lily told herself. The figure came close to the front door, and lily and james noticed the lower part of the figure's face in the porch light. It is him!. The snake like nose and face are unmistakable. Voldemort is here.
"He is here", James whispered in horror. He looked at lily, fear written on his face, it scared lily. They didn't even have time to react let alone call for help, this is completely unexpected, headmaster said they have a spy amidst the deatheater ranks, but not a single warning. He doesn't have time to mull on them now, he knows what he has to do, he schooled his features, "He is here lily, Go, take harry and run, i will stall him". Lily didn't even protest, she nodded her head and ran upstairs, 'i will stall him' these words are running on her mind, she is going to lose James tonight, she knew that, she didn't even said a proper good bye. She schooled her features, she is not about to lose her son too. Voldemort is going to be sorry he even had the thought of touching her son. If her son is destined to kill Voldemort, so be it, she is damn well going to do everything in her power to protect her son.
BANG. The front door blasted open, lily's vision filled with flashes , she didn't even look back and she reached the top floor. She opened the bedroom door and found harry awake, and turning. He looked so beautiful. He inherited her eyes. Emerald green, which looked more beautiful on her sons face than her. Tears sprang up in her eyes, she already felt the apparition wards being placed by Voldemort when she is running upstairs, she knows they are too late, she can't break the wards, it'll take time, time she doesn't have. She need to act quick. She voiced an incantation, that she's has practiced before, she had hoped it wouldn't come to this but she has no choice, she hoped her son would understand. she wished she would have written a letter explaining this to him, why she had to do this, so that he can read when he grew up. It's too late. She felt the incantation working and magic taking effect. she love subtle magics like these, magic without flashes and bangs. The charm she just casted worked in a strange way, it can be used against a common enemy, one that will hurt both her and harry, her intention to protect harry at all cost even with her life is what powers the magic, it casts a protective shield, protecting harry's soul with hers. She studied it may a times she is desperately hoping it would work, it had to work. She felt strangely calm, she dropped her wand, she doesn't need it anymore, she dropped down on her knees touched harry's face, cheeks and kissed him. She heard James shouting and bangs downstairs. Everything feels surreal. With a thud, the sounds and flashes stopped, she closed her eyes and hugged harry one last time, tears dropping down her cheeks. She stayed like that until the door opened, she quickly let go of harry turned to face the monster, he is still hooded, he didn't even seem tired after all the fight.
"Not harry please" she pleaded. " spare his life, he is a child please" she said she stood crying with her arms to her side knowing he would strike her any minute and the protection charm would be complete. The creature said "Move aside little girl" , lily stared in confusion, he is trying to spare her life, why?. no no no it doesn't work that way, he cannot spare her life, "No" said lily. "Move aside now!. I won't ask again " replied the snake like voice with urgency and anger pointing his wand at her , she eyed her wand she dropped below, her arms still stretched to her sides and said "No, you cannot kill my son. I-" "Avada kedavra" Voldemort said, she didn't even finish her thought, a flash of green light emitted from the wand and lily's body fell to the ground lifeless.
Harry was standing on his crib watching, he watched his mother fell to the ground, he stretched his arms towards his mother hoping she would hold him again who laid motionless. He looked back at the figure. who is pointing a stick at him. Voldemort eyed the boy, thinking, accessing both stood silent and finally he said the dreaded words that sealed his and harry's fate, slowly with a smile twisting his face as though relishing the moment "Avada Kedavra", a flash of familiar green light emitted from his wand, harry fell back into his crib because of the force, the deadly magic came rushing towards harry's with the intent of sucking out his soul when the green flash did something unexpected, it ricocheted back hitting Voldemort with a bang even blasting the roof above him, everything happened so quickly and in gave time to react. Voldemort emitted a scream and his body dissolved into smoke. The smoke tried to escape the pain it is feeling, circled the room, smoke filled the room for a few seconds before the smoky figure flew off , outside into the chilly wind and from there to who knows where.
As for harry, he started crying in his crib, not understanding anything that is happening, he fell asleep after sometime. Not knowing his fate has been sealed, the prophecy decided to be self-fulfilling and it chose harry potter as the other recipient, one recipient being Voldemort himself, no one knows how these things happen, how fate chooses the recipients and how this form of magic works, but one thing is certain, The boy is born for a reason. So is lord Voldemort. And both are going to play their part in changing the foundations of the Wizarding world forever