HARRY POTTER AND THE HIDDEN THREAT
CHAPTER 1: WHAT'S PAST IS PROLOGUE

Potter Cottage

October 31, 1981
11:45 p.m.

BAM!

Peter Pettigrew crawled behind his master in his rat form as he entered the Potter Cottage through the massive hole where the door used to be.

Tonight was the night. After being a spy for the Dark Lord for the past eight months, he would finally reveal his true allegiance and make James and Sirius pay. It had been extremely easy to apply that compulsion spell on Sirius to make him suggest the change of secret keepers. Even though James and Lily were slightly hesitant about it, they ended up making the change without much argument.

They were trusting fools.

"Ah, James," Voldemort stated conceitedly as he strode into the house. "How are you, old friend?"

Peter scurried his way around the Dark Lord and saw James standing on the stairs.

"I'll be better once you're dead," James growled.

"It's not polite to threaten your guests, James. And besides, it's not even wise to do so when you don't have a wand."

James looked into the living room where Peter spotted his wand on the arm of the couch. James glanced back at the Dark Lord and then once again at the living room before leaping over the rail of the stairs.

Unfortunately for him, the Dark Lord was ready for that.

Almost lazily, Voldemort flicked his wand and cast a white spell that hit James mid-air, causing him to crash violently onto the hall floor.

"I didn't say you could leave!" Voldemort said patronizingly as he smirked at James's petrified body. "Why don't we go upstairs? It would be rude to keep Lily waiting."

Once again, Voldemort flicked his wand and levitated James behind him as he made his way up the stairs with Peter following behind, still in his rat form.

BAM!

"Please," Peter heard Lily's voice pleading as he made his way into the nursery room. "Please, not my sons. Take me! Kill me! Please!"

"Unfortunately, I can't do that," The Dark Lord said before violently moving his wand, throwing Lily across the room and pinning her to the wall besides James's petrified body. "I'm afraid I have made a promise not to kill you." He shot her a vile smirk. "However, that doesn't mean I can't make you watch as I kill your sons and husband."

"NO!" Lily gave an agonizing scream before she was silenced by the Dark Lord.

"Pettigrew!"

Peter finally changed into his human form after his master exclaimed his name. He sniggered at his old friends. Lily immediately started shouting soundless obscenities at him while James couldn't do anything but look at him with murder in his eyes.

"Yes, master?" he asked, kneeling in front of the Dark Lord.

"You have done well, Pettigrew. After tonight, I'll make sure you have anything and everything you could ever dream of."

"Thank you, master." He kissed the hem of his robes before looking up.

"Now, while I have my fun, start looking around the house for anything useful we can… expropriate."

"Yes, master." He stood up, bowed, and left the room.

Peter made his way to the master bedroom and started scavenging the room for anything valuable he could find. Unfortunately, he knew that James had given the invisibility cloak to Dumbledore, but he was sure there had to be other valuable things he could steal.

He searched around the room for less than a minute before it happened.

BOOM!

Peter was blown backwards off his feet, and he crashed against the wall that was right behind him. He groaned out in pain and rubbed the back of his head as he groggily made his way back towards the nursery.

When he got there, he nearly dropped his wand in shock.

There was a giant hole in the roof of the nursery. James and Lily were lying on the floor, unconscious. The room was filled with the sounds of both toddlers crying and in front of the crib was his master's white, yew wand on top of his black cloak.

He picked up the wand and pocketed it before he leaned over the crib. There he saw the twins (who were still crying). The one on the left was wearing a maroon jumper with the letter 'N' and had a bright red, lightning-shaped scar.

"Shit!" Peter exclaimed as the reality of his situation crashed down on him.

He was a dead man. He had just revealed himself as a Death Eater and not minutes after when he had done so, the Dark Lord had been blown to pieces. He looked at James and Lily as he palmed his own wand nervously. He could kill them and leave, go to Dumbledore, and tell the headmaster what happened. Since they decided not to tell anyone about the change of secret keeper, Dumbledore would assume Sirius was the traitor, and Peter would easily get away with it.

It would be his and Dumbledore's word against Sirius.

He drew his wand and raised it at his old friends, the Killing Curse right on the tip of his tongue, but he stopped himself. He didn't know how his master had died, and he wasn't exactly eager to get himself blown up by some obscure magic as well.

He paused, thinking. Then, a wicked grin crossed his face. If there was anything he was good at, it was memory charms.

He quickly made his way towards the two Potters and knelt in front of them before pointing his wand at James.

"Obliviate! Sirius Black is your secret-keeper. He graciously accepted the responsibility and never suggested switching secret-keepers at the last minute. Peter Pettigrew isn't and was never your secret-keeper. He wasn't here when the Dark Lord attacked, you haven't seen him since he visited a few weeks ago."

He repeated the spell with Lily before he stood up, his wand still pointing at Lily.

"Enneverate." He whispered and as soon as the words left his mouth, he apparated just outside the house.

After waiting for about a minute, he sprinted towards the house and entered through the hole in the wall.

"James! Lily!" Peter shouted with a panicked voice so perfect he had to refrain from smirking in satisfaction. "James! Lily!" He shouted once more as he made his way upstairs.

"Peter!" He heard Lily call back just as he was about to enter the nursery again.

"Lily! I'm here!" He cried as he entered the nursery. "What happened!?" he asked, feigning panic as he saw Lily kneeling over James's unconscious body.

"V-V-V- He was here, Peter. I don't know how he found us. He attacked us and- Harry! Noah!" She immediately got up and ran towards the crib and Peter took this chance to cast a silent enneverate on James. "Oh, thank God!" He heard Lily whisper in relief as she attended to the twins.

"Peter?" James asked confusedly as he slowly woke up.

"James, I'm here. It's okay." Peter soothed him. "You're all okay."

James immediately looked relieved and hugged him. "Thank Merlin."

"How did he find you!?" Peter asked the two of them after he pulled back from James. "I thought this place was under the Fidelius!"

As soon as he said that, James slumped to the ground as if he was hit with something. He could see his friend reaching the conclusion he had devised and decided to give James a small push.

"No! Sirius could never! He would never betray you!" He exclaimed before turning to Lily. "Lily, tell him!"

As he expected, Lily was silent and looked as betrayed as James. Peter was doing all he could to contain his glee.

"He betrayed us," James said in a barely perceptible voice. "He betrayed me."

"James! He could never!" Peter said with fake anxiety. "He's our brother!"

"He was my brother… and he betrayed me," James growled. Peter could almost see the rage building inside him.

The three of them were startled when they heard the sounds of a motorbike pass over the house and land. Peter instantly recognized it as Sirius's motorbike, and he wasn't the only one.

It's showtime, Peter thought to himself.

"James, let's not jump t-"

He was interrupted when James growled and pushed him out of the way. He heard him go down the stairs before he looked at Lily, she looked just as enraged as her husband.

Perfect!

Peter got up and sprinted downstairs and out of the house, where James stood, looming over Sirius's stunned body. He was surprised - he had expected James to shout and yell, or for the two of them to get into a spell fight right away. It seemed as if James's cold fury had made him choose to not take any chances and stun Sirius without giving him a chance to explain himself.

As much as Peter would have liked to see the two fight and for James to kill Sirius, this was much cleaner.

"James…" He asked tentatively when he reached his side. "He would nev-"

"HE DID!" James shouted. "There's no other way! He was our secret-keeper and the only person who could tell anyone about the location!"

"I… I'm sorry. I just… I can't believe he would betray us." Peter said in a sad voice.

"He did," James said with a cold, hard tone. "And I'm going to make sure he pays for it."

St Mungo's Hospital for Magical Maladies and Injuries

November 1, 1981

9:25 a.m.

"Fascinating," Dumbledore whispered after he and Lily had told him what happened.

"Albus, how did Noah even survive? I saw it." James gulped loudly. "I saw him cast the killing curse at my son before everything went to shit. How is he still alive?"

"I believe this is connected with the prophecy," Dumbledore said carefully.

"You told us about the prophecy, but you never told us what it said," Lily angrily said. It was the main reason why they had to go into hiding under the Fidelius, yet they still didn't know a word of it.

Dumbledore sighed. "I didn't tell you because this prophecy needed to be kept a secret from as many people as possible. If you had told Sirius Black, and he had told Voldemort, it would have been disastrous."

"Can you at least tell us now?" Lily asked with a steely tone.

Dumbledore looked reluctant before nodding.

"The one with the power to vanquish the Dark Lord approaches... born to those who have thrice defied him, born as the seventh month dies... and the Dark Lord will mark him as his equal, but he will have power the Dark Lord knows not... and either must die at the hand of the other, for neither can live while the other survives..."

Silence followed those words as James and Lily tried to grasp what this meant.

"So… Noah was the child of the prophecy? He killed V-V- him?" Lily asked in a hopeful voice.

"Yes… and no," Dumbledore said gravely as he closed his eyes. "I'm afraid Noah is the child of the prophecy. Voldemort himself marked him with the scar he will have for the rest of his life. However, he isn't dead… Noah just banished him temporarily. One day, Voldemort will return, and Noah will have to face him. He will be the only one who can stop him."

"What should we do?" James breathed, feeling a sense of dread settle over him .

"Right now, Noah deserves a normal life. He deserves to live a normal childhood just like any other child. There will come a time when he will have to prepare, but that will be later. Right now, he should live a normal life."

"But what if V-V- You-Know-Who comes back soon! Shouldn't he prepare? Shouldn't he start training as soon as possible?" James was nearly hysterical as he stood up from his chair.

"James, if we were to do that, Noah wouldn't be able to live a normal life after he fulfils his fate. I promise you that I will take him under my wing the moment I sense that Voldemort will return, but it won't be any time soon. He saved the wizarding world, the least we can do is to make sure he gets to actually live his life."

"He's right, James," Lily said quietly. "It wouldn't be fair to Noah."

He slumped back on his seat dejectedly before and the other two adults turned to look at Noah who was sleeping in the crib nearby.

Nobody bothered to look at the other crib in the corner of the room. The crib where Harry Potter was sleeping.

Thank you, WH Rutledge, Proton6, and MasterChaos1 for beta-ing this chapter!

Since my muse for ALAYWM is dead atm, I decided to start this new, long project. Because why not, it's not like I have enough things to do. Anyway, WBWL fic with Slytherin! Harry and Slytherin! Hermione. I'll try to avoid the usual tropes or subvert them, and I'll try to make things different from canon and have interesting and complex characters.

I was inspired to do this since I read Prince of Slytherin. It's also a WBWL fic with Slytherin! Harry and it's honestly the best fic I've ever read. You should go read it if you haven't.

This was just a small prologue to set things up in terms of why Sirius is in Azkaban. I just saw a comment that accused me of stealing. I do admit that the idea of Peter using the obliviate is from PoS. If anyone is looking to send hate comments, then it's up to you. I'd just like to point out that TSM himself commented on this chapter of my fic and said that he was cool with me using his idea of Wormtail obliviating the Potters.

However, I only did this because I wanted Sirius in Azkaban. I didn't use the same plot points that TSM used, and I never said the obliviation was permanent like TSM did in PoS. This fic will be very different from PoS and I have my own original plans and ideas for later.

If anyone is looking to send hate comments, then it's up to you. I'd just like to point out that TSM himself commented on this chapter of my fic and said that he was cool with me using his idea of Wormtail obliviating the Potters. And I'd also like to point out that I did credit him.

I just thought I should address that. This fic will be very different from PoS, it's not based on the PoS world but reading that fic inspired me to try and do a WBWL canon rewrite and expand on canon in my own ways.

Next chapter we meet jump to September 1st, 1991 where we'll meet Harry, Hermione, and the other big players from the fic.