Avada Kedavra!

Lily stared around at the walls of the backyard in crazed panic, tears blinding her eyes.

Avada Kedavra....

He was dead. James was dead. Her will to live was gone. She looked down at Harry's frightened green eyes through a haze of tears. Not even for him. She couldn't. Her knees buckled under her as she sank to the ground, a teardrop rolling down her cheek. It was over. It was all over. James was gone. In a few moments, she would be too. The world would have ended.

Harry was just a baby. Voldemort would kill him with a flick of his wand. Her baby. James' legacy.

A blind, impotent rage filled her. Voldemort mustn't, MUST NOT get Harry.

She had made a promise to James. She would not... could not break it.

Slowly she got to her feet. Setting Harry on a chair in the dim, starlit backyard, she stood at the door, almost willing Voldemort to come out. From far away, she heard the sound of Muggle children calling "Trick or Treat?!" She could not believe that they trod on the same ground.

Voldemort confidently, almost lazily entered the kitchen. Lily again felt sick, and her resolve weakened. A shuddering sob escaped her, and she was painfully reminded of her first and last visit to Azkaban.

"Not so brave now, are you?" Her warm woollen coat could not keep the coldness of the voice from chilling her. The red eyes bored into hers. She nearly turned and fled in fright.

Then Voldemort turned around, and looked casually at the body lying spread-eagled on the hall floor. Lily's stomach twisted in anger. All fear left her. She was going to die. She'd known she was going to die at Voldemort's hands the moment she'd entered the Order of the Phoenix. But she would not die shivering in fright. James had taunted her for not being a true Gryffindor. She would prove him wrong, although he'd never know.

"You murderer," she said evenly.

"Crucio." His voice was steady and disinterested. The world rolled familiarly off his tongue.

Lily screamed. The hot waves of pain coursed through her body, and she fell on the ground, twitching and jerking convulsively. Even through the screams filling her mind, she could hear Harry's frightened gurgle.

Abruptly Voldemort stopped. "You still have a chance, you know. Your foolish husband held firm. You can join the Death Eaters. You'll have your own life, and more importantly, your son's."

Lily did not think it necessary to answer. Another Cruciatus cruse hit her, and she dissolved once more into the familiar realms of blinding pain.

"Give me the boy."

She wouldn't let him take her son. She understood vaguely that Harry was very important to him. "No," she gasped.

Again, again, and yet again, he threw the Cruciatus at her, till she was crying on the floor, her strength gone.

"I want Harry."

Maybe he'd listen, maybe he'd understand... Maybe a stone would bleed... "Not Harry, not Harry, please not Harry!" she cried desperately. With the last of her remaining strength, she stood across the door, propping herself against the doorframe.

"Stand aside, you silly girl," he said coldly. "Now!"

Her legs crumpling, she sank to the floor. "Not Harry, please no! Take me, kill me instead! Have mercy, please, have mercy!"

"Move aside!"

She was dying. Dying, cowering on the floor, unable to save her son. She must stop him somehow, but she didn't have the strength to hold her wand. A flash of memory... Dumbledore saying something... Old... Dying... And then she knew.

"I'll die before I do." How easy it was to summon up the courage. How easy to decide if two lives should be lost or one.

"Avada Kedavra!"

The flash of green light sped towards her. Life ebbing out, her corpse fell to the floor. Finally she knew what it was like to die.

Voldemort was now free to remove the last obstacle in his way to total power. How easy it had all been! He looked at the baby boy, pale, surprised, and curious.

"I can almost feel sorry for you, my body," said Voldemort softly.

"Avada Kedavra."