We all watched that… creature… he did not look much like a man… descend on the Potter's home. I knew this had to be, I knew we had to let him… but I understood in that moment how Uncle Harry could be so self sacrificing. Anything, even your own death, is better than watching someone else be…
Uncle Harry looked after Voldemort helplessly. "Voldemort is going to kill my mum and dad and there's nothing I can do to stop him."
Uncle Draco looked at him a moment. "That's not true."
Scorpius looked disapprovingly at him. "Dad, now is not the time . . ."
Albus understood what Uncle Draco meant. "There is something you could do… to stop him. But you won't."
Uncle Draco sounded almost in awe. "That's heroic."
Aunt Ginny took Uncle Harry's hand. "You don't have to watch, Harry. We can go home."
I buried my face in Scorpius chest and sobbed while Aunt Aly rubbed my back.
Uncle Harry was in tears as well. "I'm letting it happen . . . Of course I have to watch."
Aunt Hermione, one of the toughest witches I ever knew, also sounded like she was crying. "Then we'll all witness it."
Uncle Ron agreed. "We'll all watch."
"We are here for you Harry." Aunt Aly said. "And your Mum and Dad."
I knew it was starting. I heard the man from earlier… Uncle James.
James shouted. "Lily, take Harry and go! It's him! Go! Run! I'll hold him off . . ."
No! Please! I am not strong enough for this…
There was a blast, and then a laugh. That laugh held no joy, no kindness.
It made me never want to laugh or smile again.
"You keep away, you understand?"Uncle James was shouting. "You keep away."
For Merlin's sake man! Your WAND! I wanted to shout.
But I knew he could not go for his wand. History says he had left it upstairs.
Voldemort cast his spell. That horrible killing spell that leaves no chance for recovery. Just death in its wake.
"Avada Kedavra!" Uncle Harry flinched as green light flashes through the church.
I had turned around. I would watch this. They were as much my family as Uncle Harry's. I was also letting it happen. I couldn't have stopped him, but I wasn't even going to try.
I had a responsibility to watch this.
Albus took Uncle Harry's hand. Uncle Harry grasped hold of it. He needed it.
Albus whispered. "He did everything he could."
Aunt Ginny rose beside him and took Uncle Harry's other hand. He leaned into them, they were holding him up now.
I leaned in to Scorpius. I no longer cared how it looked and I needed him right now.
Uncle Harry sobbed. "That's my mum, at the window. I can see my mother, she looks beautiful."
I saw my Aunt Lily in the window. She looked so fierce and protective. I knew Uncle Harry… baby Uncle Harry… was right behind her.
There was the sound of banging as doors are blasted off.
He was destroying their lovely home.
Aunt Lily could be heard pleading. "Not Harry, not Harry, please not Harry . . ."
Voldemort could not be seen but we could hear him. "Stand aside, you silly girl . . . Stand aside, now . . ."
Aunt Lily was begging now. "Not Harry, please no, take me, kill me instead . . ."
Voldemort once again commanded. "This is my last warning…"
Why was he trying to give her a warning? He had not given Uncle James one…
" Not Harry!" Aunt Lily sobbed. "Please . . . Have mercy . . . have mercy . . . Not my son! Please — I'll do anything."
But Voldemort had given his last warning. "Avada Kedavra!"
And it was like lightning passed through Uncle Harry's body. He was sent to the floor, a pure mess of grief.
And a noise like a shrunken scream descends and ascends around us.
And we just watched.
And slowly what was there is no longer there.
And we were looking at the ruins of a house. A house that had undergone a vicious attack.
Aunt Aly was grabbing the window sill. Her face tense and… expectant?
"There he is." She whispered.
And I saw Severus Snape enter the house. I heard the screams of grief and regret tear through the ruined house.
"He loved you, you know." I took Aunt Aly's hand.
"And I loved him." She squeezed my hand. "So much."
Hagrid walked through the ruins. Professor Snape fled out the back door and in to the night.
Hagrid's voice could be heard in shock and denial. "James?"
He looked about himself. "Lily?"
He walked slowly, unwilling to see too much too soon. He was entirely overwhelmed.
And then he saw them, and he stopped, and he says nothing for a good long time.
"Oh. Oh." Hagrid cried out. That's not… that's not… I weren't… They told me, but… I were hoping for better . . ."
The sound of a motorcycle roaring broke the profound silence that followed.
"Sirius…" Uncle Harry suddenly looked back up.
"Where is Harry?" Sirius shouted after seeing the bodies. "Give him to me, I need to take him…"
"No." Hagrid said firmly, towering over the other man. "Dumbledore says I am to bring him to his… to him." We knew where he would be taking Uncle Harry, but he would not tell the man he thought had been responsible in part for this carnage.
"I am his godfather!" Sirius snapped angrily.
"Take it up with Dumbledore." Hagrid said firmly.
"Here." Sirius got off the motorcycle and tossed Hagrid the keys. "Take the bike… I have… something to do…" We all watched him leave. The next twelve years would not be kind to him.
Hagrid looks at the bodies and bowed his head. He mutters a few words, and then he took some crumpled flowers from his deep pockets and laid them on the floor.
"I'm sorry," he apologized. "They told me, he told me, Dumbledore told me, I can't wait with yeh. Them Muggles are coming, yeh see, with their flashing blues and they won't 'preciate a big lummox like me, would they?" He let out a sob. "Hard though it is to leave yeh. I want yeh to know… yeh won't be forgotten… not by me… not by anyfolk."
And then we heard a sound. The sound of a baby snuffling. Hagrid turned towards the sound, walking with more intensity now.
We could still see him through the blasted out walls.
He looked down and stands over the crib. Which seemed to radiate light. "Well. Hello. Yeh must be Harry. Hello, Harry Potter. I'm Rubeus Hagrid. And I'm gonna be yer friend whether yeh like it or not. 'Cos yeh've had it tough, not that yeh know it yet. An' yer gonna need friends. Now yeh best come with me, don't yeh think?"
"He was my first real friend." Uncle Harry smiled through his tears.
As flashing blue lights fill the room giving it an almost ethereal glow he lifts baby Uncle Harry gently into his arms.
And then, without looking back, he strode away through the house.
"Couldn't we at least…" I choked back a sob… "Sirius… couldn't we…?"
Scorpius looked at me and shook his head. "Croakers Law. We can't, Lils, you know we can't. You know what mucking about leads to."
I nodded. No one would appreciate it if we brought back that horrible world.
"I know… I just wanted…" I looked at Uncle Harry helplessly.
Uncle Harry smiled at me. "Sirius would have liked that you wanted to save him. But Scorpius is right. Things happened… well, they all led to Voldemort's defeat. We have to… let things play out."
I couldn't save Sirius for Harry. We couldn't save his parents.
"What use are we then?" I shouted. "No one gets saved. No one gets… I couldn't even save one…"
I collapsed to the floor.
Aunt Aly gently smoothed back my hair. "I had a boyfriend before I dated your Uncle Draco. His name was also James." I remembered her talking about James, I didn't know they had dated though. "He was more than just a boyfriend. He was one of my closest friends. Not my best friend. That was always Draco."
I couldn't help but glance at Scorpius. "Yeah… I get that…"
She smiled lovingly at me. "James… he knew when he collapsed that tunnel… we had mapped them all see, he knew that when it went down… that there would just be no way back… but he did it anyway. Sirius, he expected to die when he left here. He was given more than a decade of additional life. True, most of it was brutal and terrifying, but those years they allowed Sirius to see Harry. To love Harry. Sometimes… well, sometimes that IS a win. It IS a save."
While she had been talking to me, Uncle Draco brought Delphi back down from the ceiling.
I may not be a hero, but another world showed me given the right circumstances I would make a damned fine villain.
And that was just what I was going to do now.
I walked over to Delphi and leaned way down. "You never went to Hogwarts, so you don't know. They studied what was left of Voldemort. He didn't even have the physical attributes necessary to produce a child. And he was too greedy, too ambitious to want one."
They were lies. I had no way of knowing if any of this was true. It didn't matter. I am Slytherin and we use our words as weapons.
The look of hatred and horror on her face were good, but not good enough.
"You are nothing more than the child of a Lestrange and a Black. Rodolphus' daughter. And he didn't want you either. He lied and told you that you were the daughter of some other man."
I saw tears roll down her face. Better.
"In that other world?" I continued the lie. "Everyone knew there was no chance you were his. You were just a poor sad little creature to be used by men much more cunning than you. You were a joke. A feared joke." I knew I had to keep some thread of honesty. "But a joke none the less."
The look of hatred she leveled at me almost stopped my words. If this woman had a wand or a voice, I would have been dead.
She shook her head in denial.
"Oh yes," I let out a mocking laugh. "And now you will rot in Azkaban, the pitiful little girl that no one wanted. Unless they were paid with a big pile of gold."
I could see… physically see… the moment I broke her. And it was… glorious. I never thought I could be the type who would revel in the misery of another. But she had tortured me. Tortured Scorpius. And tried to murder Albus.
"You were nothing before." I sneered. "And now you are even less. I hope that warms your nights in Azkaban."
"Lils…" Scorpius whispered behind me, horrified at what I had done. I forgot I had an audience.
I looked up. Those who weren't looking at me with shock and horror were looking at me with sympathy.
Except for Uncle Ron. He looked at me with compassion… and understanding.