A/N : Hope you guys enjoy this alternate ending to that fateful Halloween night! This is a one-shot, but if there are takers, I might develop on it a little.
All recognizable characters are sprung from the mind of J K Rowling, and though I would love to be her, I am not a rich blonde.
How a 'Mudblood' Defeated the Dark Lord
Lily Potter had been restless the whole day. Something was wrong, and her husband, James, was being the usual clueless person he was. When she had told him about her uneasiness earlier, he had shrugged it off and promptly blamed it on the weather. Then, he had given her a pepperup potion, kissed her on the cheek, and sent her straight to bed, claiming that she needed rest. So there she lay, awake but tired on her bed, thinking.
For about a month now, her life had been close to living hell. She hadn't been out of the house or made a single potion(she would have to open the window to air the fumes out). And since James was being irritable(for lack of fresh air and flying time), they had been quarreling at every conversation. Dumbledore said that Voldemort was after them. Of course, being the secretive man he was, the Potters had no idea why or how Voldemort would even want to kill them. It might've been the fact that she and James had escaped his clutches thrice, but still unlikely that he was targeting them only for that reason. They were now under the fidelius charm, and only a few people knew about it- Sirius, Remus, Dumbledore and Peter. Lily wished she could have told Severus, but James objected severely, saying that the 'greasy git' was a Death Eater, and would sell them to old Moldyshorts in a week. It was true, but Lily would have liked her best friend to be in on the secret, and truth be told, she missed him.
But still, she would endure. She would persevere for the twins' sake. Her beautiful children- Harry and Mirabella. Lily still remembered the day they were born. The sun had been shining brightly, the sky a perfect shade of cerulean blue, and the fresh scent of juniper hung over the air, making her nose tingle. It was easily the happiest day of her life. The twins were born healthy and normal (at least by her standards). And all had been reasonably calm (aside from the war of course) for about 14 months. James had been ecstatic, as had she. He had picked the name Harrison James- Harry for short and she had picked the name Mirabella Aella. And so, they had arrived home with the twins, ready to make a lifetime of memories. The twins proved a mighty challenge to raise right from the beginning. Both were intelligent, powerful and had begun exhibiting accidental magic from the time they turned one. Lily also suspected that they were parselmouths- not too long ago, a burmese python had mysteriously found its way into James' side of the bed, and when James woke up screaming, it had slithered away peacefully, as if all it had wanted to do was prank him. With James and Sirius around as influences, she knew the twins would wreak havoc on Hogwarts when their time came.
Suddenly a cry sounded from the nursery. Lily sighed. A mother's job was never done. Upon walking into the friendly yellow room, she found Harry pulling his sister's hair, and Mira, for all the innocence that her green eyes portrayed, had Harry's stuffed stag in her hands. Lily gave the stag back to a slightly teary Harry and admonished him for pulling his sister's hair. She then turned and told Mira not to take her brother's things without his permission. Satisfied with the results (they had returned to playing something suspiciously close to a reenactment of a Marauders outing) Lily walked out of the room only to hear the door being blasted open, and James yelling to her, 'Take them and go Lily! It's Moldyshorts! I'll hold him off!'. Lily ran back into the nursery, wandlessly locking the door and piling practically all the furniture against it. The only thought in her head was to protect her children.
Meanwhile, James was having the time of his life, cheekily insulting what must be one of the most dark wizards of all times. If only Voldemort had a sense of humor. Then James might have gotten away with calling him a noseless vol-au-vent without any toppings. Or hair. Dodging a strangely bright stream of green (probably fueled by Voldemort's rage at the vol-au-vent comment).
"Hey Moldy?!", James asked, while rolling under the dinner table to avoid a rather nasty purple curse. "Why don't you have a nose? What happens when you have a cold? Like, is it two runny… face holes?"
Voldemort growled. How. Dare. He. "Crucio!", he yelled, actually catching James with it for once. James writhed on the floor, screaming out in pain, but his Auror reflexes kicked in the second he was released from the curse, allowing him to twist away from a second bout. He quickly ran into the family room where he had last left his trusty mahogany wand, happily grabbing it. At least he could try to defend himself now.
Pointing his wand, James belted out at the top of his voice, "Hey Moldy! Knock knock!".
Voldemort paused. The idiot in front of him had absolutely no concerns for his self preservation, and was trapped. He might as well hear this one out. If it was good, he might just recruit the idiot under the imperius curse to do his dirty work and clean his feet. Entertainment never hurt either. He was also low on servants he could torture and kill ruthlessly whenever he was bored. 'Who's there?', he asked in a high cold voice. James started. He hadn't expected the mold to reply. 'You know', he said. Voldemort fell for it and said the ultimate line- 'You know who?'. James couldn't help it. He started laughing.
The Dark lord, the ultimate snake, and the most moldy, noseless person he had ever seen had just referred to himself in the manner that everyone did, all because of a lame joke. Voldemort growled. It was a good joke. But it was one he fell for. Not to mention highly insulting to his pride. 'Let me grace you with the punchline', he said. James' face never fell. The next stream of green light did not miss, and he lay dead with his last smile still etched upon his face.
Upstairs, Lily had placed the children inside a cupboard. Voldemort had sealed every mode of emergency transport from the house. The next best thing was to hide the children and try to defeat him by herself, in the hopes that he might have mercy. He appeared upstairs inside the nursery, blasting through the door and hurling furniture everywhere, just as Lily was closing the cupboard door.
Her red hair whirling as she turned, Lily sent an overpowered reducto towards the Dark Lord, followed by several stunners. If she could get him to leave the room, perhaps she could try to lock it (like she should have before). Quietly chastising herself for compromising the safety of her children, Lily continued sending hex after hex, jinx after jinx, in an attempt to overwhelm Voldemort who was flicking her spells aside in what seemed to be a nonchalant manner. But Lily knew better. The only reason Voldemort (she refused to be scared of a silly made up name meaning 'theft of death') wasn't attacking her, was because he couldn't get in a hex otherwise. Unfortunately, she wouldn't be able to keep her barrage of spells up forever, even with the extra rush of adrenaline (not to mention the pepper up running through her veins from earlier). She needed a plan. Slowly inching forward as she continuously cast, Lily discreetly grabbed a vase from the dresser.
It was amazing how much muggle methods were undervalued when they worked so well. So much for the pureblood movement. The vase crashed into Voldemort's skull, instantly rendering him unconscious. Obviously. He was a 55 year old man with practically no soul. And literally no 'superior' wizard thought much about their physical health. She levitated the unconscious Voldemort out of the nursery, and out of the house, stunning him 2 times for good measure. Along with an incarcerous. And a petrificus totalus 'cause why not?
Standing back, Lily admired her handiwork. What should she do next? She certainly couldn't leave the most evil wizard of the generation alone. And she couldn't exactly just stay with him either. She had to get her children to safety, and she already knew James was dead. There was only one option.
Steeling herself, Lily pointed her wand at the unconscious wizard, holding it with both her hands so as to steady it. She knew she could never find it in her heart to willingly cast the killing curse, so she chose the spell which Severus had created on a sunny afternoon spent in the Hogwarts School Library.
"Sectumsempra", she whispered. And she stood there and watched him bleed out, surprised to find that he bled red. She almost expected black. Or a toxic green. And as he died, a gray shade emerged from his body, and it was at that moment that she knew, Voldemort would be back. She had crippled him for now, but he would return soon. For the vile, despicable man had made a horcrux or possibly two.
But now was not the time for that. She rushed back into her house to retrieve her children and her husband's body. She had to get to Dumbledore or everyone would assume Sirius to be a Death Eater.