December 27, 1992
"Expecto Patronum!" a voice cried.
Something silvery white plunged into the dementor. The creature drew back sharply. Callie gasped at the sudden rush of air. She coughed, falling forward and catching herself with trembling hands. Her stomach heaved; bile splashed onto the stone beneath her.
The door of the cell clanged opened and three figures rushed in. A silver stag charged the dementor, holding it back. Two of the figures crouched beside Sirius and the other knelt by her.
"Are you hurt?" her brother's voice demanded.
Relief washed over her. "James." She whispered his name like a prayer. She coughed again before lifting her face, eyes searching for Sirius in the pale light. "No, but Sirius-"
"You idiot!" a voice that sounded suspiciously like Regulus shouted. He pulled his wand out frantically and began a spell. Slowly, the blood on the floor seeped back into Sirius' body. There was a moment of stillness. "Come on, you dramatic oaf!" Regulus muttered. "Open your damned eyes."
Sirius drew a sharp breath and lurched forward, coughing violently. His body was tight as a coiled spring. He retched onto the floor.
Regulus didn't miss a beat. He sat back quickly to avoid the sick, but his words were sharp. "I told you time and time again that that woman was no good, but did you listen? No! What good it is having a spy if you won't listen to him!?"
Sirius laughed weakly. "Good to see you, too, Reg." His voice was hoarse. He leaned back against the bars again and pushed a hand under his shirt, feeling the healed skin and muscle. "We've got to go now."
Remus sighed in exasperation. "For Merlin's sake, Sirius, you almost died. Stay still."
Callie felt the chains around her wrists and ankles break. She pushed them off, ignoring the rough chafing where the metal had bitten into her skin. "He's right; we need to home now. Harry's in danger."
James turned sharply. "What!?"
Callie remembered what Snape had said. The Dark Lord is on his way to Godric's Hollow to kill the Potter child. "James, he knows! He knows where Harry is!"
James shook his head, but his face was pale. "That's impossible. We have a secret keeper."
"McKinnon sold us out," Sirius said, pushing himself up. Remus started to protest that the wounds weren't totally healed yet but Sirius cut him off. "We have to move now." He bent and collected his wand from the floor.
James disapparated immediately, quickly followed by the other four. When Callie arrived on the Potter's lawn, she saw James already charging into the house. Beside her, Remus swore before charging after him. She stepped forward to join them, but Sirius' hand, still sticky with blood, closed around her wrist and held her back. "Stay here!" he barked.
"Are you crazy-" she started to argue, but Sirius cut her off.
"I said stay!" She only saw his eyes for a second, but they burned bright and hot. He let go of her wrist and ran into the house.
Callie stood still for a moment, long enough for Sirius to disappear into the house and the deafening silence of the night to dawn on her. In the frigid, December air, nothing made a sound. All was still as the grave. Then, she felt it. The familiar pull. The quiet hissing noise, like a breath of wind, but sharper. A Horcrux. Nagini.
The devil truly was in Godric's Hollow. There was no question who she would find inside the house.
Callie forced her legs to move, to run. To jump over the threshold. To climb the stairs.
"Lily!" James screamed from above her. She reached the landing just in time to see Sirius grab him by the back of the collar and shove him against the wall, narrowly avoiding a jet of green light.
Callie reached the top of the stairs, the tension of the moment making her heart pound. Voldemort stood before them in the tidy bedroom, swathed in black robes, red eyes flashing in the light. His wand hand twitched but stayed at his side. His eyes wandered over the group in the doorway, passing over each of them before snagging on the youngest Black.
"Regulus," Voldemort hissed, "come here." Regulus didn't budge. Voldemort frowned. "You would disobey your master?"
"You're not his master," Sirius snapped, and the tension broke. A vicious curse burst from his wand, and all became a chaos of flashing light and shouts. Spells flashed and ricocheted off the walls. Everything happened too fast. One moment five people were fighting the most powerful dark wizard to walk the earth in a small bedroom. Next moment, the back wall was blown outward and Voldemort jumped through. Something long and thin shot from the room and wrapped around Voldemort's foot as he tried to fly away. Lily yanked him down with the spell.
"We can't kill him until that snake is dead!" Callie yelled over the din.
Regulus heard her and nodded. "I'll kill it."
Callie hesitated before nodding. She glanced at Harry under the bed. His green eyes, scared but determined, peered out at her. "Stay there!" She jumped down into the yard with the others.
Voldemort stood in the middle of a semi-circle, firing curses at the four people fighting him. Lily's red hair fanned behind her like a flame, her face set in determination and fury. James' glasses flashed from the light of the spells swirling around them. Sirius was getting in too close, he was being reckless, and he'd get himself killed. She joined the fight, hemming Voldemort in from behind. A green flash cut through her hair as she ducked. She prayed to Merlin no one would get distracted.
Suddenly, a jolt shot through Voldemort. He froze for a fraction of an instant. Next moment, Regulus was running down the lawn, a bloody basilisk fang gripped in his left hand, screaming, "TAKE HIM OUT!"
The first killing curse came from Sirius' wand. The ugly jet of green looked wrong lighting up Sirius' bloody features as it streaked toward Voldemort. Somewhere in the back of Callie's mind she heard his voice echoing across the years. Shoot to kill.
The next one came from Regulus. Every spell that missed was instantly replaced by another, all the same ugly green with the same ill intent. Callie formed the words, tasting metallic on her tongue, a jolt of burning electricity stabbing through her hand as the killing curse shot from her own wand.
James, Lily, and Remus still fought, but not one killing curse came from any of them. The best of us, Callie thought, as she let the darkness of the curses take her and the killing curse became easier to fire.
Not a one of them touched Voldemort. He seemed to absorb them all as he returned fire. He didn't look corporeal. Not even Callie could touch him.
It struck her like a load of bricks. She wasn't the chosen one. They couldn't kill him.
At the same moment, something unexplainable happened. A blast of some dark energy radiated from Voldemort. His entire form was lit up in emerald light for a fraction of a second. Then his hand went limp. His wand fell to the grass. His body followed it, falling in a heap of black robes and thin flesh.
Sirius didn't wait for an explanation. He unloaded another fatal curse into the Dark Lord's back. This time, it landed. Nothing happened.
Beside Callie, a scream tore from Regulus' throat. Blasts of light shot from his wand. Voldemort's robes caught fire, then went out in a flash of red. He raised his wand to fire another curse, face drawn into an expression of purest fury.
Sirius was the first to move. He grabbed Regulus' arm, struggling with him as Regulus fought to keep hold of his wand. James joined a moment later, restraining him from behind.
"Stop!" Sirius barked. "We need a body! We need proof!"
Callie hoped they took their proof and hung it from the highest tower of Hogwarts for the world to see. A ruined shell of a slain monster.
The fight went out of Regulus as quickly as it had come. He dropped his wand to the ground, body following as he dropped to his knees. His eyes didn't leave the corpse.
"Who fired that spell?" Remus demanded.
They all glanced at each other. No one took credit. Then, as one, they turned and looked into the house. Harry Potter stood in the gaping hole on the second floor, wand hand shaking, still pointed at the spot Voldemort had stood moments before.
Lily was the first to move. She disappeared into the house. A moment later, they saw her clutch Harry in a tight embrace.
On the ground, Regulus stood. He closed the distance between himself and Voldemort, deaf to Sirius' weary warning. Everyone watched as he bent over the body and pressed the tip of the basilisk fang into the chest, pushing until it was nearly buried. Crimson flowed from the wound and washed the snow.
Slowly, Regulus straightened. "He's dead." His voice sounded strange and faraway.
No one spoke for a long minute. They stared down at the body in disbelief.
James was the first to break the spell of silence. "It's over? Just like that?"
"Yeah," Sirius answered. "Just like that."
Regulus' faraway gaze drifted to Sirius, coming back into focus as his eyes landed on his brother's chest. "You bloody idiot! Your wounds have opened again!"
Sirius looked down and saw the fresh blood seeping through his shirt. He merely pressed a free hand to the wound.
Remus took a deep breath and let it out. "Someone needs to tell Dumbledore."
"Someone needs to take the body to Dumbledore," Regulus insisted.
No one wanted to touch the thing, much less move it.
When no one volunteered, Callie sighed. "I'll do it," she said. "Just… let me check on Harry first."
Regulus nodded took hold of the body, dragging it to the back porch. When Remus asked what he was doing, Regulus simply replied that he wasn't about to let that thing out of his sight. Remus turned to Sirius and demanded he sit down and let him reseal the wounds, but Sirius said not until he'd made sure Harry was alright. Remus argued that he should least stop the bleeding so he didn't scare Harry further. Sirius rolled his eyes and admitted that his friend may have a valid point and grudgingly let himself get cleaned up. After Remus was satisfied that Sirius didn't look like a creature from a horror film, they went upstairs.
Harry was still wrapped in Lily's arms, face buried in her shoulder, shaking violently. James knelt, hugging them both, telling Harry quietly that it was going to be okay. Sirius paused in the doorway and the three of them watched for a moment before entering. Remus produced a hearty block of chocolate from his pocket and handed it to Harry. He sat on the floor with them.
Sirius ruffled Harry's hair and sat on their other side. Callie mended the back wall to keep the cold out before joining them on the floor. No one spoke for several minutes.
"You saved our lives," Sirius said quietly.
"I know," Harry replied, eyes slightly glazed. "That's why I did it."
Callie's heart broke. Harry was only a child. Twelve years old was far too young for anyone to bear the weight of killing another human being, even if that human being wasn't really human any longer. She set a hand on his shoulder and squeezed it gently.
"Where did you learn that curse, Harry?" she asked.
Harry sniffed. "On the train, my first year. It was the one Snape fired. And you were all using it, so I thought…"
James and Lily exchanged a glance. Lily pressed a kiss into her son's cheek and held him tighter.
After a while, Callie gave Harry a squeeze. "I've got to let Dumbledore know what happened."
"For god's sake, take Regulus," Sirius said. "He's far too restless here."
Callie nodded. James pulled her into a quick hug before allowing her to leave.
After a long while, Harry mentioned that he was hungry. Everyone took that as an excellent sign, and they all went downstairs. James and Remus took Harry to the living room, piled blankets on top of him, and sat on either side.
"Where's Minerva?" Sirius asked Lily in a low voice as he followed her into the kitchen.
"Staying at the Weasley's, thank Merlin," she answered. She pulled ingredients from the fridge. "Are you alright? You look pale."
Sirius forced a chuckle and nodded. "Yeah, Lils, I'm fine." He took the knife from her trembling hand. "Go with Harry; I'll handle this."
Lily stopped for a moment, leaning against the counter. Sirius thought she might be about to cry. "Voldemort knew where we were," she whispered.
Sirius felt a pang as he remembered Marlene. The eyes he'd once thought so beautiful full of pain as she'd sided with Voldemort. He tried to speak, but found his throat too dry. He swallowed hard and tried again. "Lily… I'm sorry. I'm the one who suggested McKinnon-"
"Stop," Lily interrupted. "You stop that right now, Sirius Black, or so help me…" She trailed off. Her eyes filled with tears and she looked away to master herself. "It wasn't your fault. She made her choice. And Merlin knows this hurts you more than…" Her voice caught in her throat and she brought her hand to her mouth.
Sirius wrapped his arms around her and pulled her close, letting her cry. He found that comforting her eased the burning anger in his chest, turning it to molten sadness. He supposed the later was better long-term.
Lily sniffed. "Is she…?"
"She's alive," Sirius answered. "I don't know where."
She poked him in the chest. "Was she the one who did this to you?"
He forced another weak chuckle. "No; Snape was. Caught me by surprise, otherwise he'd never be able to get the best of me."
Lily sniffed again and pulled away, wiping her eyes on her sleeve. "She never did have the best of you, you know."
"Thanks… I think."
"How are things going with Callie? I know you were panicking when she went missing."
Sirius sighed deeply and ran a hand down his face. "Yeah. I've had funner days."
"But she's okay," Lily reminded him. "Both of you are."
He nodded. "Yeah." How he was going to face her after all of that was another story. "Actually, Lily, I… I asked her to marry me."
Lily's face lit up in delight. "You did!? Sirius, that's amazing! What did she say!?"
He chuckled at her excitement. "Well, first she said she needed to think it over, but she accepted just before she was about to be killed, so I guess that's a good sign. I don't know if that still stands, though."
"Yeah, you might want to figure that out." Lily beamed. "What are you doing standing here talking to me? Go snog her!"
"That can wait."
"Snogging can wait? This war really has done a number on you, Black; you've gone and grown up on me."
"Me? Never." He pulled flour and sugar from the cabinet. "Seriously, though, get out of here. Harry needs his mum."
"Alright. But I better have a kitchen when I get back!" She brandished a spoon threateningly. "And you'd better snog your fiancé something good."
Sirius snatched the spoon from her and grinned. "James does not deserve you, you know that?"
"I do." She poured a glass of water. "Firewhiskey's where it usually is. Don't overdo it."
Sirius watched her leave before turning back to the ingredients. Firewhiskey did sound promising. He stopped his hand half-way to the alcohol. No. He needed to appear composed and strong when the Ministry showed up.
The Ministry. They'd want to know exactly what happened and they'd have records of who fired Unforgivable Curses. Harry's life would be changed forever. He could never go back to being just a kid.
Sirius poked his head into the living room. James, Remus, Harry, and Lily were all squashed onto the couch, their backs to him. James glanced back and Sirius caught his eye, nodding at Lily then back in the direction of the kitchen. James stood and tapped Lily's shoulder on the way to meet Sirius.
"What is it?" he asked in a low voice.
Sirius took a deep breath. "Your twelve-year-old son just killed the greatest dark lord in the history of the bloody world. The Ministry is going to want to know what happened."
Realization dawned in James' eyes. He cursed. "What will they do to him?"
"I don't know. He used an Unforgivable, so technically, he could go to Azkaban." He paused, watching James take in his words. "It could be bad for you and Lily, too."
A flash of red hair and they turned to see Lily. Sirius reached behind her and closed the kitchen door as she asked what was wrong. James explained the situation. Lily let out a sharp expletive, making Sirius smirk in spite of the gravity of the situation.
"But he killed Voldemort. That's got to nullify whatever else he may have done!" Lily's eyes flashed in anger.
"Look, I don't know. I don't know the procedure for something this out of the ordinary."
"We tell them we don't know who fired it," Lily said. "We tell them we were all firing the curses and we didn't see which one landed."
Sirius shook his head. "If the prophesy comes out and anyone with half a brain looks at the story, they'll think Callie did it. And I am not putting that on her after everything she's been through to end the war."
James swore. "Dammit, I forgot about that."
"There's also the problem of Harry's wand."
"I'll snap mine and say it happened in Azkaban or something. I had to use Harry's."
"Harry killed him, though," Lily argued.
"I think Harry should get a say in this, too," Sirius argued.
"You're asking a twelve-year-old boy to make a life-changing decision."
"Yeah, I am. Look, if it hadn't been for a lot of really brave people, Harry could be dead. He could be an orphan. He could be anywhere. I think he deserves to know what he's facing."
"I agree," James said.
Lily sighed. "Fine. But we don't have much time before Dumbledore gets here, probably with the Minister in tow."
The doorbell rang. Lila glanced around at the group, took a deep breath, and opened it. "Dumbledore," she greeted. "Minister."
"Is it true?" the Minister demanded. "He's dead?"
"You saw the body with your own eyes," Callie said, stepping into the room and standing beside Lily. "He's dead."
"And who-?"
"I believe the question of who is to blame would be better discussed after we've all had a chance to let the shock settle," Dumbledore offered. His bright eyes were fixed knowingly on Harry. "There are more pressing matters to attend."
Sirius frowned, sensing a cloud over what should be a happy occasion. "Such as?"
Minister Bagnold took a deep breath. "The downfall of He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named must be reported. People need to know. The Daily Prophet must be informed, as must the Ministry as a whole." She paused for a moment and looked at each one before her. "The world owes you all a greater debt than can ever be repaid. However, there is still the matter of Azkaban."
"What about Azkaban?" Callie and Sirius asked at the same moment.
"It seems that every person who had been help in Azkaban has managed to escape," Dumbledore replied. "The prison is empty."
Sounds of frustration and disgust filled the air, but Sirius' snap carried above the rest. "What about McKinnon!?"
"Gone," answered Dumbledore calmly.
"We've no idea where," the Minister added. "They've simply disappeared. Unfortunately, the fall of Voldemort does not mean instant peace. I'm afraid the fight isn't quite over yet, and it won't be until the Death Eaters are rounded up." She turned to Sirius. "I want you to do it. I'm appointing you Head of Magical Law Enforcement, effective immediately."
Sirius stopped. Callie took a step back and looked at him in surprise. James, Remus, and Regulus' eyes went wide, and Lily and Dumbledore smiled proudly. Sirius cleared his throat. "Minister, I'm flattered, but I really think I'm the wrong choice. My decisions are horrible-"
"But you get results," she finished. "And you're not a politician. We need that if this is to be done quickly. Voldemort may be dead, but no one will be able to sleep at night without his army collected and locked away."
Sirius hesitated. "I'll consider it," he relented, mostly for the sake of ending the argument. He was tired and he wanted the ordeal to be over, at least for a while. Still, he couldn't help adding, "But if I take it, I'll run the branch my own way."
"I'm counting on it. Now where did he die?"
The rest of the night and well into the morning was spent going over and over the events that led to Voldemort's downfall. The horcruxes, the raid on Malfoy Manor, the rather unsavory way they got information out of Lucius Malfoy, Marlene's betrayal, and the fight at the Potter's home. Bagnold and Dumbledore listened with rapt attention. By the time they left, it was nearly midday.
Lily made a quick lunch and brought it to the living room. The news had reached over the radio that Voldemort was dead. The country would be celebrating. Fireworks, parties, all the celebrating no one could freely do for the last decade. But in the Potters' house, no one wanted anything more than a meal and rest.
"Will you take the job?" Remus asked Sirius over a sandwich.
Sirius chuckled mirthlessly. "I don't want to." He glanced at Callie meaningfully. "I want to go to Paris."
Callie remained quiet. James stepped in. "I think you should. You're a bloody brilliant Auror and there's no one better. Paris can wait."
"I am blood sick of putting my life on hold for these people!" Sirius snapped. "We've been in this stupid war since we got out of Hogwarts, and I'm done with it."
"We should see it through to the end," Remus said.
"You Potters and your stupid dedication," Sirius muttered. He took a breath and let it out. "You should know that if I do this, there will be changes in staff. Namely, yours."
"Pardon?" Lily said.
"You've been stuck here for twelve years," Sirius said. "You're getting fat. And Remus needs a steady job that'll keep him out of trouble." He winked at his friend.
"I am not getting fat!" James argued. "I'm fit as the day I won the Quidditch Tournament, thank you very much."
"I mean it," Sirius said. "I need people I can trust. Either you join me, and you, too, Remus, or someone else can have the work. Period."
Remus sighed and shared a look with James. Even the weariness couldn't hide the excitement in his eyes. "Well, he's not giving us much of a choice, is he?"
"No, I guess he's not." James' face split into a grin. "Alright, Padfoot. We're in."
Sirius nudged Callie's knee with his. "What about you? Feel like coming back to the Office?"
She merely shrugged. "Well, I can't until the school year ends. I can't just drop out from teaching mid-year; McGonagall would have a fit."
"And after that?"
"We'll see."