The Dark Side of Sacrifice: A Harry Potter Fanfiction
Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter or any of its associated characters: all rights belong to JK Rowling. I do not own any crossover references used throughout the story: all rights belong to their respective creators. I do own any OC spells explained at the end of a chapter.
Plot: Lily never trusted Dumbledore. She knew their deaths were inevitable. But just because they had to die, for the old man's games, it didn't mean her son had to perish: not before he got the chance to rise up and reign over all who followed him!
Author's Note: So, in a VERY weird, if somewhat-cliché twist to the norm, this idea is heavily inspired by a dear friend's amazing Dark-Lord Harry story, as well as other little titbits and fun thoughts that have been roaming around inside my mind. At the same time, it features something I've worked with before, but on a new, definitely-Dark spin that, hopefully, leaves my readers hungry for more.
And, as always, if you don't like it, don't read it.
Recommended Reads: Dark Lord Potter, Trickshot, Damaged Raven, Apex and Silver King by JustBored21, Harry Potter: Lord of Darkness by AngelSlayer135, Kill me if you can by PercyPendragon3, Harry Potter and the Prince of Slytherin by The Sinister Man, The Rise of a Dark Lord by LittleMissXanda, Dark Lord Potter by loverofeevee, The Young Lord by SlytherinDarkHarry, Harry Potter: The Apex God by spartankiller117, The Downward Spiral Saga – Harry Potter and the Homecoming, Harry Potter and Salazar's Legacy, Harry Potter and the Year of Broken Chains, Harry Potter and the Return of the Lost, Harry Potter and the Dirge of Hope and Harry Potter and the End of War – by BolshevikMuppet99, and Child of Azkaban by Fire and Starlight
Key Pairing: Dark-Lord Harry/All-Female-Harem
Other Pairings: To be determined
Normal Speech
'Thoughts'
'Mental Speech'
/Parseltongue/
Chapter 1: I Wasn't Born Yesterday
It's no longer safe, he'd said.
You must go into hiding, he'd said.
I have a plan, he'd said.
Trust me, he'd said.
'Ah well…three-out-of-four isn't bad.'
At least, that's what Lily Alexandrea Potter nee Evans thought to herself as she looked down at the cute, beyond-innocent, not to mention central focus of a light in her otherwise dark-infested life that was shining out from the face, body and – when they were open – enchantingly-beautiful emerald-green eyes of her only son, her heir and her reason for living, Harry James Potter.
Unlike Lily, the baby boy was fast asleep, clutching his baby blanket in one hand while the other had a pudgy thumb stuck halfway down his gullet as he sucked on it sweetly, like a lollipop. His small body twitched on occasion and shifted in his sleep, but, other than that, he didn't awaken from the embrace of the Lords of Sleep and Dreams.
"So beautiful…" whispered Lily, a lone tear rolling down her cheek as she whispered, "So precious…so innocent…"
"Come to bed, Lil," said James Potter, earning a silent, unseen scowl from Lily as she heard a note of playful suggestiveness lacing his words, which told her that sleep was the last thing on the horndog's mind. She also didn't need to turn her head to know that, unlike Lily, James was standing there, completely naked, as though he expected her to ravish him before they'd even left her precious little angel's bedroom.
Hadn't he realised by now, after nearly destroying her body once before – and, in the process, nearly destroying the sweet, adorable little boy who was now lying, sleeping soundly, before her – that she was never going to give him such pleasures again, especially not now they had to trust in the word of a lying, deceitful, two-faced megalomaniac who might as well be wearing a sign saying hey, I'm Albus Dumbledore: come and off yourselves. Don't worry: it's all for the Greater Good?
Dark Sacrifice
Yes, it was true.
On the surface, Lily wore a public face of Light-sided, heroically-driven tendencies that followed, respected and trusted in the gospel of the Light Lord, Albus Percival Wulfric Brian Dumbledore, and his band of Not-So-Merry-Men, otherwise known as the Order of the Phoenix.
She also played the role of loving housewife, caring Mother and supportive spouse who would rather focus on her family than the death wishes brought on by the missions that Mr Dumbledore – aka the Chief Warlock, Supreme Mugwump and all the other BS he claimed to have earned – to the point where, as far as anyone else was concerned, she was settling down, with no ambitions to rise above her station.
Just what those dick pure-bloods – as well as that change-a-phobic, Control Freak bint, Molly Weasley – expected of someone like her.
Dark Sacrifice
But, behind the smiles, the bright green eyes, the lovey-dovey remarks and even the supportive faces, Lily Potter had kept a secret: one that silently loathed Albus Dumbledore and his bullshit about the Greater Good, hated, with a vengeance, the Order of the Phoenix – save a very small group, all of whom knew of her true mask – and detested – to the point of envisioning their deaths as she privately pleasured herself – anyone who claimed that she was nothing but a mere, pathetic Mudblood and someone who should learn her place.
Well, they were half-right.
Lily knew her place, all right: it was right here, at the side of her beautiful boy, watching him sleep and, as he grew older, helping him become the best he could be and then, if it was what he wished, making himself better.
But that wasn't going to happen.
Not while Albus Dumbledore believed he had a noose, and a leash and collar, around Lily and James' necks.
Well, one out of two wasn't bad…
Dark Sacrifice
In truth, Lily's true mask had been pulled off, revealing the real witch underneath, when James' love for Lily had cost her the chance to give her beautiful boy any loving, caring siblings.
And why?
Because Albus Dumbledore had insisted that Lily accompany James on yet another life-or-death encounter with the Death Eaters, and their Master, Lord Voldemort; in the ensuing battle, Lily had been struck hard by a curse from a masked Death Eater, leaving her body in a world of agony.
By the time the Healers had caught up with them – meaning by the time Dumbledore said it was safe to have her sent to St Mungo's, under armed guard by members of the Order, no less – Lily had been horrified to discover that too much time had passed to save her uterus.
Even worse, her beautiful baby boy, her beloved angel, was struggling for breath, for life, and for health in his Mummy's belly.
They had two options, according to the Healer: they could supply Lily with a potions regime that would save her uterus, but, within a week, she would lose her little boy – seriously, what sick minded individual would think THAT was an option? Oh yeah, Albus Dumbledore, most-likely, as Lily had thought to herself afterwards.
Or, there was an alternative: they performed the magical equivalent of a C-section, which would save Harry, but at the cost of Lily being able to have any more children.
While Lily sobbed, knowing her life would be ruined and changed with either option, her tears of sorrow turned into fiery tears of rage when she actually heard James insist that they wait until he'd consulted Dumbledore on their options. She also overheard him saying something about cashing in his debt with, as he said, Snivellus, to ensure Lily was child-rearing-capable within a week after they had to sacrifice the thing in her gut.
The thing!
Just hearing those two words, and from a man who had claimed and vowed to love, honour and obey her in all things, no less, had left a darkness, a sickness and a fury burning deep inside of Lily and, even as James left to consult his master, wagging his tail like the good DOG he was, Lily all-but strangled the Healer and the Medwizards in her grip as she growled at them in an almost-possessed manner.
"I don't care if it costs me my future children…just put my beautiful child in my arms, safe, sound, happy, breathing and alive and do it fast!"
Dark Sacrifice
Naturally, when James returned to find Lily nursing their newborn son, her body weak from the Caesarean Ritual, but alive and, as was evident by the way she was happily feeding her baby, even healthy; still, when he found her like this, James was confused, but pleased as punch.
He even kissed Lily, pecked their son's brow and, when he went to ask about naming their boy, Lily beat him to it, already knowing that Mr Albus-Dumbledore-Is-God would have likely named their child James II or, worse, Albus rather than listen to Lily's advice.
"His name is Harrison…Harry, for short…and he's so beautiful, isn't he, honey?"
Oh, James agreed that Harry James was beautiful – a choice Lily went along with, if only because she would ensure her boy never had to answer to his middle name, which meant he was Just Harry, and that was all that mattered – and he even wept a few tears whilst thanking the Healers for doing a good job – a good job? They'd rescued his firstborn heir from certain death: not put up an extension on the house!
But, when he then went to leave to deliver the news – not surprisingly, starting with Dumbledore, seeing as how Lily's first visitor not an hour later was the old bastard himself – James missed the look in his doting wife's eyes as she watched him go, before she looked down at her beautiful child, whose only concern, at that moment, was his empty tummy and the warmth of Mummy's embrace.
"Never again, you selfish prick," Lily vowed, kissing her baby boy's brow as he suckled softly from her.
"That is the last time you will ever be able to touch me…much less think you can decide what's right for my son!"
Dark Sacrifice
And, for fifteen months, Lily stuck to her guns.
First, she made it clear to the Order that she was done with missions and risking her life; she would devote all her time to raising Harry and loving him, while James could go and, as Lily told him, play Captain America – a reference James didn't understand, no surprises there – all he wanted.
Second, Lily made certain that her baby boy was going to grow up safe, strong and loved, starting with getting her oldest of friends, James' best man and brother-in-all-but-blood, Sirius Black, to swear a vow of guardianship and protective fealty, as well as the other vows expected of a magically-sworn-in godparent.
Not to Lily's surprise, James challenged this because he had wanted to name Dumbledore as godfather, but Lily soon wore him down, though, to her amusement, she had a very strong suspicion that the oral session she gave him that same night before he agreed on getting Sirius to swear his vows might have had something to do with it.
She also chose her own sister-in-all-but-blood – since she wouldn't trust her actual sister to take care of a pet rock, much less her boy – Alice Longbottom as godmother, which was a reciprocated decision as Alice chose both Lily and James to be the godparents to her son, Neville.
After going through the motions, Lily also made sure that nobody, not even James himself, got a chance to come near her precious little boy with anything, other than a toy, a bottle or a clean nappy in their hands.
This went infinite-tuple for Mr Greater Good, who seemed to be annoyed with how resilient Lily's will was, now that she was a Mother.
Still, it wasn't long after Lily took control, and made sure that her son was safe and happy – and, as the very-often sights of her breastfeeding him, even when people came to visit, much to some peoples' dislike, proved, very well-fed – that life took a darker turn.
And why?
Because word reached James' ears, and Lily's, by extension, of a prophecy that Voldemort had heard and, now, he was targeting them.
Three guesses who it was that delivered that news to the Potters.
Hint: his initials are the opposite of BC…
Dark Sacrifice
'Funny that there's a prophecy and yet, he didn't bother telling us what was in it,' thought Lily, tucking Harry's baby blanket closer around him as she heard a sigh of inevitability from James before he left her alone with their son.
And what was James' response to the threat against their son?
'Oh, of course, we'll trust you, Master: you're Albus Dumbledore. Why wouldn't we? What's that? Yes, I agree with you: my son's blood-oath-sworn godfather isn't trustworthy; oh, he claims he would die for Harry, but, I agree, Master, he's a Black and what Black isn't evil? What? You nominate a guy with a rat Animagus form who is always conveniently absent when the old crowd get together? Genius, Master; oh, can I have a treat? Woof-woof; Baa-baa! More, Master; tell me more of your genius!'
"Mama?"
Suddenly, Lily jerked as she heard her son's soft voice cut through her mental rages; looking down, she saw Harry sitting up in his crib, his eyes wide and shining brightly before, as Lily smiled at him, she saw him reach up to her.
"Aww…I'm sorry, sweetie; did Mummy wake you? Come here…Mummy knows what you need…"
Within seconds, Harry was in her arms and at her breast, suckling softly while Lily looked to the door to his nursery.
Once again, James proved to her that he was a blind fool!
Dark Sacrifice
Anyone with half-a-brain, or even less than that, could tell that Albus Greater-Good Dumbledore was a man – read: monster – on a mission: one that, she wouldn't be surprised to learn, had started with that tragic attack on Lily when James had actually needed the old man's counsel to decide the fate of their son and his bloodline.
In fact, Lily didn't say it aloud, but she had often wondered exactly who it was that had fired such a devastating curse at her in the first place.
A flash of greasy black hair and a seriously-unhealthy, borderline-stalker-like visage suddenly flashed across her mind, especially when, not long after that attack, Lily also remembered how this certain someone had suddenly become a spy in Voldemort's ranks, working for the Order at great risk to himself – preached Albus Dumbledore!
And James?
James had accepted this, even though this same someone was His Public Enemy Number One – ranked even higher than Voldemort – and had been ever since James was young and naïve and daft and an egomaniac and…dear Merlin's ghost!
Sometimes, Lily honestly wondered why she married the prat in the first place!
So, while James drank the Albus Dumbledore Kool Aid, Lily went another way: one that required her to devote less than half her time to studying the lore, searching the resources and finding any way to get one over on the prat and his old shepherd.
As for the other sixty percent of the time, she devoted all of that to Harry, even going as far as sleeping in his nursery, albeit sparsely, to be sure he was still breathing and that nothing and nobody could threaten her precious boy.
In the meantime, she planned.
Dark Sacrifice
Lily knew it was only a matter of time before Wormtail betrayed them – the guy was as trustworthy as Snape was greasy, a stalker and a guy with a fetish for redheads combined – so, when she wasn't doting on the only light in her life, Lily was looking for a way to not only stick it to her loving husband and his wise master, but, at the same time, protect her baby, even from the worst kind of fates.
This led her to a very dark discovery: one that seemed to come to her via an anonymous benefactor; one who seemed to be able to get through their Fidelius – which was a very small number of people, comprised of Wormtail, James, Dumbledore and, of course, her baby boy's loving dog-father, thanks to his oaths, so that narrowed down the suspects to…one – and also seemed to know how driven, maybe even obsessed Lily was with protecting her boy.
When she found the gift, Lily had been scared at first, but only at first, as she found a message with it;
I think I might have found what you're looking for.
But, before you go ahead with this, ask yourself:
WHAT ARE YOU WILLING TO SACRIFICE FOR HARRY?
Ask a stupid question…
Lily was prepared to sacrifice anything for her baby, and she knew it.
And, apparently, so did her benefactor because, two days later, a second parcel, complete with everything Lily needed to deliver unto him this protection, was delivered to her.
The first one, meanwhile, had been a short list of things that Lily would need to do, along with the details of what she was going to have to do to protect her only son.
The second parcel had everything that this…this very old, very powerful and very risky ritual needed.
It was so risky that Lily had even needed to place charms around Harry's nursery, just so James wouldn't see what she was doing and, in his blind delusions of loyalty to Mr Twinkly-Eyes, report her and risk their son's life even more than he already had done.
Dark Sacrifice
Closing the door to her son's nursery – and not even bothering to show any emotions at how she heard the faint, rhythmic groans of bedsprings, which told her that James, once again, sought to please himself, literally – Lily looked down at her child before, smiling sadly, she kissed his brow one more time, whilst she drew her wand from inside her nightgown.
"Revelio…"
A ripple of magic suddenly filled the nursery and, as Lily looked up, she saw them: all around the room, from her baby boy's crib, to the curtains, to the walls, the ceiling and the floor, a series of runes had been engraved all around Harry, each one at equidistant points from the others, with the one on his crib taking centre-stage, like the pentagon at the heart of a five-pointed star.
With the exception of the rune on Harry's crib, the others had been carefully painted onto the walls in a familiar red liquid substance, which, even now, shone and pulsed around the room, while the rune on Harry's crib shone like a red flare.
"Good boy," whispered Lily, looking down at her happily-feeding infant, "Eat it all up, sweetie…it's all for you…it is all only ever going to be for you!"
"Love Mama," whispered Harry, his voice garbled by the milk he was drinking, but Lily understood him all the same.
For the next several minutes, Lily watched and listened as her precious soul filled his tummy with Mummy's warmth, even going as far as pushing his head against her bosom, as though he sought to eat her and not just her liquid treat. Lily didn't bother pushing him away, not even when she felt his new baby teeth scraping against her.
She had sworn to do everything for him and, as the ritual demanded, she would even bleed for him.
All she needed was one…more…
Suddenly, Lily's eyes snapped up when a Caterwauling Charm sounded from outside the nursery, accompanied by a crash as something hard hit the floor. Seconds later, the redhead's emerald-green eyes narrowed as she heard something that, in a very strange way, she had been waiting for ever since this whole shit-storm began.
"LILY! IT'S HIM! TAKE HARRY AND RUN!"
But Lily didn't run.
She also knew James wouldn't stand a chance: oh, sure, he'd once been a great and terrible force, apprenticing under Alastor Moody himself in the Auror Corps and being a Champion Duellist who could have studied under Lily's mentor, had he given himself the chance.
But, now?
He was a weakling, an insect, a mewling quim.
And, as the flash of green visible beneath the nursery door soon indicated…
A dead dog.
And all thanks to Albus Dumbledore.
'But he will NOT win,' Lily promised, moving towards Harry's crib before, as she heard the telltale creak of the stairs outside her baby's nursery, Lily bent down, tucking Harry into his blanket once more before, stroking his soft, chubby cheeks, she smiled at him.
"Harry…you are loved…so loved…Harry, never forget…Mama will always love you…Papa will always love you…and soon…my precious boy…my little Prince…you shall be safe…be strong…and know that you are always going to be loved…adored…worshipped…"
Then, as she kissed Harry on his forehead, Lily heard a click behind her.
A flick of her wand vanished the runes, hiding them from the person she knew was going to be there.
Once the runes vanished, Lily quickly cut her hand, before sending the blood onto Harry's brow, where it shone like the runes around him for only a moment, before darkening and becoming stamped on his brow.
In a form that held the shape of a bolt of lightning…
'There,' thought Lily, letting her wand drop to the floor, where it seemed to fizzle up and burn as it touched the ground.
'It's done…all right, you pathetic child…come and kill me…but I promise you…my son…will not…die…'
Dark Sacrifice
Moments later – and a very convincing plea from Lily in the process – a green flash filled the nursery, as Lily Potter died screaming her son's name.
As she died, seemingly without a fight against the evil that had just murdered her, the same green flash lit up in little Harry James Potter's eyes, like bolts of green lightning, similar to the bolt that now adorned his brow.
Barely a minute later, a second green flash lit up the nursery…
And a scream, like that of the Devil himself being tortured by some greater and more-terrible force, tore through Godric's Hollow before, as the green flash and the scream faded into the ether, the darkness of the night, Halloween Night, no less, was broken once again moments later.
When the home of the Potter Family exploded in a powerful blast of fire, shadow and Dark Magic.
One that, had there been any normal people in that house, none would have survived.
However, there was one survivor…
And, as the years to follow were going to prove, he was anything but normal…
Wow, talk about intense and mysterious: it looks like Dumbledore's so-called advice has just been put through the blender on frappe, but what will this all mean for the sole survivor of such an intense magical event?
Exactly what did Lily do to her only son, not only to protect him from Riddle, but to give Albus, James and their friends the finger, even from the afterlife?
Keep Reading to Find Out
Next Chapter: In a quiet little corner of average, normal suburbia, there lives a monster: one that is only satisfied when it is playing with its toys, feeding on their fear and growing stronger because of it: the kicker? This monster…is an eleven-year-old boy…well, as of today, he is, anyway…
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