Halloween 1981 was a dark night in Godric's Hollow, though no one could tell why. Earlier forecasts spoke of a day with light lasting well into the nighttime. However when the night actually came, the light left as if it had never come. A dark and gloomy atmosphere filled the air with a sense of dread. Everyone from the children to the adults could feel it, though most children attributed it to the spooky Halloween atmosphere.
Parents began ushering their young children inside, filled by an unexplainable fear about something. What it was, they did not know. Something just felt... off. Fear had taken hold of them all, and its grasp was tight. As kids eagerly regaled their guardians with stories regarding which houses gave the best candy, the bustling village of Godric's Hollow emptied just as quickly as it had filled. Windows were shuttered and bedtime came earlier than expected for everyone involved. Something was not right.
Putting his wand away, Lord Voldemort let a ghastly grin overcome his face. He could afford no distractions, not on the day of his greatest victory yet. No one could interfere with the day He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named truly rose above all the mortals surrounding him.
The compulsion web over the village did its part. Muggles should not interfere with the business of their superiors. Now with all possible problems safely tucked away inside of their houses, fearing him as they should, he could take care of his newest problem.
That prophecy could become his undoing. He was Lord Voldemort, the heir of Slytherin! He was the warrior who'd reshape Britain in his image! There was no one who could match his power. Even Merlin himself could not dream of defeating him in combat.
And now, this challenger presented a unique challenge to him. As a baby, they would be unable to pose any threat to him. But if they were allowed to grow older under the Light Side's mentorship, they'd become a nuisance unlike anything he'd ever been faced him.
As much as it pained him to end the line of a once proud Pureblood house, it must be done. The child must be killed. Under no circumstances must that child be allowed to live and prosper into a warrior even threatening to rival his power.
He strode up to the house, his cloak billowing behind him in waves. It was relatively quaint for a family belonging to such a rich and powerful house. They probably assumed he'd never expect them to live in this kind of house. If that was their intention, well he could say they did not do a very good job at it. The house looked a little too well-kept in his eyes to be run by Muggles. There was also the magic residue pouring off the house in waves. This wasn't the work of one Muggleborn child, this obviously belonged to a family.
A sinister grin formed on his face as he opened the door. The first thing he saw was James Potter yelling back at his wife "LILY! Take the kids! I'll hold him off!"
The grin turned into cruel laughter which mocked James "You believe yourself a match for Lord Voldemort?" James growled and raised his wand at the Dark Lord but was sent into a wall. The impact weakened the wall's support, sending part of it down on James. It effectively immobilized all but the Gryffindor's head, removing him from the fight.
Not bothering to finish off the defeated wizard, Voldemort moved upstairs. Searching for magical signatures, he tracked them down to the nursery where Lily Potter was standing in front of two kids in cribs. He could hear sniffles coming from one but didn't care in the slightest.
Ignoring the instinct to blast this daring Muggleborn into the farthest reaches of oblivion, Voldemort remembered his promise to Severus Snape. He may have not been a man of great virtue, but he was a man of his word when it came to his subordinates.
Putting a twisted smile on his face, Voldemort blasted the witch's wand away as he made a move. "I believe we have reached an impasse" he said as her wand laid out of her grasp, leaving her unprotected. "I'll let you decide... give me the boys or your life."
Lily sneered at the Lord, defying him like she had done before. "Never."
She dove for her wand, grabbing it and twisting her body to get a spell off at the Dark Lord. She could end this war... if only she was faster.
Voldemort saw her actions unfold and reacted appropriately, sending her through a wall and into the outdoor yard of the house. She landed on her back, the wind knocked out of her. Her wand was sent flying away once more, leaving her utterly defeated like her husband.
Watching her through the hole in the wall created by the woman, Voldemort cackled and one Incarcerous later, Lily Potter was done. She could now enjoy the pleasure of listening as he killed her children.
Turning his attention to the children before him, he examined them. The prophecy spoke of one child, not two. One of these children would become his rival. The other would most likely become the other's trusted confidant and lieutenant, a brother in both arms and blood.
Which boy his rival was, that was unknown. Being twins made deciphering who it was difficult for him, meaning the best solution was simply eliminating both. He had a 50% of picking the wrong child. Better to kill one more child now than to be killed later because of a mistake.
It was a pity though. The boys could've become useful soldiers, if they had been given the chance to grow. He could always just take them and mold them into his perfect soldiers. His heirs, to help inspire fear and inject youth into his army.
Alas if the boys ever discovered their true heritage, the entire plan would fall apart at the seams. Maybe if the situation were better, then this plan could take shape. Perhaps another day.
But now, for which to start with... a simple decision but yet it stumped the Dark Lord. He was going to kill both anyway. Why did the order matter? He could not explain why, but it did.
Both boys were different, however they were still bore the signs of being twins. Their facial structures were similar and at this young age, they were indiscernible. Yet the boys had their unique spots. One had these hazel eyes which bore kindness and ignorance, emotions that felt out of place in the war-torn Britain. The other felt hardened, with eyes painted a vivid green. The green-eyed one had black hair, reminding him of the elder Potter he had beaten into a wall. The one with hazel eyes also had black hair, but it failed to match the dark hues of his brother. It was obviously the influence of Lily Potter there.
The Dark Lord watched the young boys. Together, they could form a formidable duo. They fit together snugly. Even as one who never truly knew love, he could tell that they cared for the other.
Pointing his wand at the hazel-eyed boy, he was amazed to see the hardened green eyes moisten in response. "Insolent brat, do you not want your brother to die?"
Part of him pitied the boy. To die at such a young age was a terrible thing, and to see your brother fall before you was even worse. Believing this to be an act of mercy, he pointed his wand at the other child.
His vicious smile returned as Voldemort uttered the killing curse, dooming the green-eyed child to a terrible fate "Avada Kedavra."
Those were the last words the Dark Lord heard.
It was a scene of chaos that Albus Dumbledore found when he entered Godric's Hollow. All the Muggles had seen nothing, with the Fidelius Charm protecting the family from sight. However that didn't make the scene any less worrisome.
Entering the yard with his friend Minerva McGonagall, the deputy Headmistress to his Headmaster, both were first drawn to the tied-up Lily Potter. When the ropes were removed, she simply gestured to the open hole in the wall.
"Minerva, you and Lily go find James." Albus said before running up to the nursery. The two women went after him before diverting their path to free James from the debris covering him.
In the nursery, Albus immediately ran to the boys. They... they couldn't be dead right?
He was pleased to find both breathing and well, with Harry asleep and Noah looking around worriedly. He followed Noah's line of sight and found a wand on the floor. Picking it up, he knew whose this was. It belonged to the Dark Lord which could only mean...
"The Dark Lord is dead" Albus whispered softly, hope finally returning to his voice. There had been so many losses. The Bones, the Prewetts twins, Marlene McKinnon, Minerva's brother Robert Jr, they were all gone. He had failed to save them from the wrath of the Dark Lord.
And now, a baby did what he never could. Voldemort was gone, for now at least. All the losses, they weren't just signs of his failure. They finally meant something. They had finally died for something, instead of for everything he had tried to do. He should've helped Tom earlier. He could've advocated for greater force earlier. He should've stopped this war earlier.
A tear leaked out of the aging wizard's eyes but was quickly wiped away when Minerva, James and Lily all came running in. Seeing the wand Dumbledore was holding, Minerva gasped "Does this mean..."
"He is gone." Dumbledore simply said, allowing himself to let out a small smile.
Minerva gasped, but with a happy ring to it. James and Lily meanwhile connected their own dots in their heads on what had happened. "He was defeated by one of Harry and Noah?"
"Yes. When he tried to kill the boys, the spell backfired and killed him instead. One of them saved us all," Dumbledore confirmed, smiling fondly at the two boys. They were just over one, but now carried a accomplishment that would live with them their entire lives.
Lily and James looked over their children, both the sleeping and the awake one, before jumping to the farthest conclusion in Dumbledore's mind "Noah defeated the Dark Lord!"
They pounced upon their child, rocking him, whispering about how proud they were of him, trying to show their pride to a one year old. Minerva just looked at the child in awe, shocked that a toddler saved them all.
"He must've defeated the Dark Lord!" Lily exclaimed "After all, Harry was sleeping! Imagine that, our Noah defeats You-Know-Who just to protect his baby brother!"
"May I check on him? To see if he is alright after this ordeal? His magical core may have suffered damage after defeating the Dark Lord" Albus asked to the Potters. He was not sure if Noah had defeated the Dark Lord or not. If the power Voldemort knew not of was indeed love, then either of the boys were candidates to be their savior.
The Potters rejected his request however. Magical core tests had a reputation for being damaging towards a child's core. A test reported a pureblood's family's heir as a very weak wizard. He was only a lowly powered wizard, not much better than a squib. Instead of accepting the more logical reasons for this, they instead chose to blame the core test. Their connections saw to the core test gaining the reputation of a very dangerous spell, though it was never explicitly outlawed.
With that said, the Potters scurried off. They were most likely off praise Noah, like they thought the boy deserved. He also smelled like he needed a change, so there was that.
Albus could see why they assumed Noah was the savior. Him being awake made him a much more likely candidate to have been present. It had been proven that asleep children were unable to perform accidental magic on a great scale. They have been seen doing some small things like summoning stuffed animals and amplifying their voices. The magic required to defeat Voldemort would not be something a sleeping child could produce, no matter how strong they could be later.
The only thing left to do was to alert everyone else of Voldemort's defeat. They had been saved. The Light finally outshone the Dark.
But yet, something tingled at him. Was he forgetting something? Then it hit him after a moment: Harry.
He raced to the crib, grabbing the forgotten brother. His parents probably forgot him after the craze that was Voldemort's defeat. He should bring him down to them.
However... if he had the boy here, with no parents watching, he could perform the spell. This wouldn't hurt Harry, so nothing of consequence would come of this. It would give him insight into which boy would have to be prepared to defeat Voldemort when they were older. Of course, they must be given the chance to enjoy their childhood first. They were only children after al.
Preparing his wand, Albus Dumbledore cast the core test. He watched as the spell silently hit the young Potter child, and after a moment, came back up. Instead of the yellow or green that usually accompanied children, it was red.
The way the core test worked, was that it had two facets. It could show a child's power level at the moment and show how much of his magic had been used up. It scanned the score and then displayed a color, on a red-yellow-green gradient. Red meant low or zero, yellow was halfway and green was full. If a child recently did accidental magic, they were usually lower on the spectrum. That pureblood child's weak power levels had been discovered due to his power level appearing as a red (signifying weak) and his "magic tank," as it was unprofessionally referred to, being shown as a deep green.
Harry's power was shown at a bright yellow, stronger than normal for a child of his age. But the current amount of magic in him was low, a deep red. If the power was this low that could only mean accidental magic, which meant...
This was the child of the Prophecy. This was their savior. This was the Chosen One.
He had to tell Lily and James, so they knew the truth! They couldn't just praise the wrong child! He couldn't let this standby, not when all this fighting and blood was spilt. He couldn't let Harry not get the credit for it!
And yet, part of him was halting. Part of him said not to go, that he could let this happen. For that Greater Good that Gellert and he used to spoke about. The real savior of the Wizarding World, hiding in plain sight. It would fool everyone and when Voldemort finally returned, they would have their trump card.
He could let Harry not get the credit, for now. One day, this child would save them all. And then, he could get the credit he so rightly deserved.
Picking up the young child, Albus Dumbledore took one last look around the destroyed nursery before rejoining the Potter family, the defeat of the Dark Lord still fresh in the air.