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Disclaimer
Everything, every location, every character belongs to JK Rowling, Bloomsbury Pub., Warner Brothers or whoever might currently hold the rights of Harry Potter. There are exceptions- The title is taken from a John Steinbeck novel and the Life Shield Charm and the transmitter owl are mine. I swear, I don't make money out of this.
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East of Eden
by Clio
Spring 2001
Chapter 3:
Holding the dawn
Dumbledore touched the crystal orb with the tip of his wand. "Redde imagini de October 31st, 1981"
The orb began to glow golden. Then the picture of a room became visible. Obviously the transmitter-owl was sitting on a window-sill on the ground floor of a small house. They were looking into some kind of entrance hall.
With a start Harry noticed a man in muggle clothes, who was coming down the stairs boisterously. Although he had never seen him alive he recognized his father at once. James Potter was obviously going to answer the door, because he shouted "I'm coming! What's the point of a secret keeper if you keep stopping by?" as he moved towards the entrance.
As soon as James had unlocked it, the front door burst open. In came two cloaked figures with black hoods drawn over their heads and masks made of a silvery fabric covering their faces.
Death Eaters!
The first one immediately pressed his wand tip against James' neck and hissed: "Where is your son, Potter! "
James' eyes bulged. Then, despite the wand at his throat, he screamed at the top of his lungs: "LILY, TAKE HARRY AND RUN!!"
The Death Eater immediately let go of James, spun around and raced up the stairs to the upper floor, where he suspected Lily and the boy to be. Halfway up, he stopped and bellowed at his companion: "Kill him!" Then he continued his way to the second floor.
The remaining Death Eater turned towards James, who was drawing his wand. "Expelliarmus!" the Death Eater shouted and send the wand flying across the room. James himself was thrown against the wall from the power of the spell. Two framed photographs fell down and smashed on the floor. Dazed, James looked at the Death Eater, who was now slowly approaching him.
The other man muttered under his breath "My pleasure, Potter," and with an uppercut that could have stunned an ox, he sent James into unconsciousness. He paused shortly. Then he gave James a kick in the ribs for good measure, and turned to rush up the stairs in pursuit of his companion.
The image in the orb changed. The owl was flying to an open window on the first floor, and Harry could see a tidy living room now.
The walls were lined with book shelves. In the center of the room was a blue sofa, and next to it, a wooden baby crib. A piano stood in one corner of the room - the cover was opened, ready to play. In front of the piano lay Harry's mother, struggling to get up from the floor.
It seemed that the Death Eater, who was now leaning over the crib, had simply pushed her out of the way. Focused on his task to kill Harry, he hadn't even bothered to bind or disarm her. With the high pitched laugh of a lunatic he placed his wand on he forehead of the child in the crib, who was sound asleep despite the turmoil around him.
Voldemort didn't notice his companion coming up the stairs behind him. The second Death Eater nodded briefly at Lily, who had her wand already pointed in the direction of the crib. At the same moment the Dark Lord cried out a triumphant "Avada Kedavra!" they simultaneously cast their protection spell.
"Clipeus versus! "
For a split second the air around the baby glowed golden, but then the whole room seemed to explode in green light. Immediately "Avada Kedavra!" boomed through the room again, and a second flash of green light followed the first one like an echo. An unearthly cry, which resembled the inhuman shriek of an animal in pangs of death, made the window pane quiver and burst.
Harry instinctively closed his eyes and drew back from the orb. Eventually the sound had died down and Harry dared to watch again. At a first glance the living room looked like a hurricane had just gone through it, but besides shards of glass and splintered furniture it appeared to be empty.
Then Harry saw that Voldemort was gone. His mother and the Death Eater were both lying on the floor, apparently swept from their feet by a great magical force. The Death Eater, half buried under a book shelf, was the first to move. With a groan he got to his feet and peeled the silvery fabric of the mask off his face.
Harry gasped. He was looking into the face of Severus Snape.
It was the unlined face of a young man, almost still a boy. The hair was short, and the younger Snape was sporting a well trimmed beard, but the fierce black eyes and the hooked nose could not be mistaken. He was bleeding from two deep cuts on his cheek and above his eye, where pieces of flying glass had hit him. Confused he looked around until he spotted Harry's mother.
Lily was lying limp on the floor under a white cover, which at the first glance could be mistaken for snow. At a second glance the cover consisted of shreds of paper - ripped journals, sheets of music, unread bills and pages of books torn apart by the collision of contrasting magic. The whole floor was covered with them.
"Lily!" Snape croaked and staggered through the chaos towards her. He dropped down on his knees by her side.
Lily's face was white like her paper cover. Her eyes were closed and her mouth was pressed into a thin line. Blood was trickling from her nose and ears. Snape stared at her in horror. Then he gingerly placed a hand on her neck to check the pulse.
"Gods, Lily!"
In response to the sound of his voice the child started to whimper weakly in his crib.
Lily opened her eyes. "Harry!" A moan escaped her mouth. Obviously she was in great pain. "My child, what has he done to my child, Sev? "
Snape got up without a word and went to the little boy. The baby was bleeding badly from a deep wound on his forehead, just in the spot where Voldemort's wand had been touching him. The whimper dyed down as suddenly as it had begun, and when Snape reached down into the crib, the baby didn't respond.
"What is it now? " Snape waved his wand over the child. "Enervate!"
Nothing happened.
"ENERVATE!" Again nothing happened. Snape glanced quickly over to Lily, who looked at him with wide eyes.
"Do something!" she pleaded.
Snape took his wand between his teeth and placed his trembling fingers on the tiny chest of the child. He pressed the ribcage down hard four times.
Again he moved his wand over the baby. "ENERVATE, damn it!"
This time the baby stirred. Snape let out a string of swear words before he touched the child's bleeding wound with his wand. "Asclepio!" The wound stopped bleeding immediately and the toddler began to wail loudly in pain.
"Bring him to me, will you," whispered Lily.
"It's all over now." Snape said to the baby with a forced smile on his face and pocketed his wand. Then he leaned over the crib to lift the boy up.
A roar rang through the room. " NO! Don't you dare to touch him, Death Eater!" Snape straightened and turned towards the direction of the voice.
In the doorway stood James Potter, who had regained consciousness. His face was pale and he was holding on to the doorframe for support, but his wand was firmly trained at Snape.
A/N: Thanks to everyone who reads this story and a big hug to all reviewers! Your positive feedback was overwhelming! I never thought I could do more than getting the attention of a handful of readers. And now there are you people out there and you actually like my plot. You should know that you made my day, when I was checking for my story at work earlier today and found all these reviews there. I almost fell out of my chair. Thanks again.
Special thanks to:
Lily Daniels: Snape has all reason to be nervous!
sidewinderUNI: I like Snape, too, but I don't think he is a very likable person for Harry or any other of his students.
nagh, cuckoo: I'm not a patient one either. That's why this chapter goes up although I'm not 100% satisfied with it yet.
Rosmerta, Qaera, Majhdr: I came up with the plot while studying for my masters exams. I originally worked it out to entertain myself during my study breaks and to keep my mind away from pondering on chemistry formulas.
Alphie: Yes, the Godric's Hollow Mystery. I was just tired of waiting for the next HP book to come out.
Sphinx: You make me blush (you all do BTW). I like Steinbeck's novels a lot, too! I can only recomand to read them, although I must admit, that I had some scenes from the movie in my had while working on the story. Oh, and where did you get the idea this will be a Snape-redemption story??