Chapter 12: That Dreadful Day

After practice that morning, Harry still had his classes ahead of him, but as soon as they were over, he headed to Dumbledore's office. No one came with him. They thought it was better to leave him alone this time. He knocked softly on the office door. Dumbledore quickly answered.

"I was expecting you to come today, Harry," Dumbledore said, inviting Harry inside. They sat down at the desk and Harry handed Dumbledore the eye and the ear. "Now, Harry, you are sure you understand what you are about to see?" Harry nodded. He was afraid if he opened his mouth it would say no.

"Very well then," said Dumbledore. He put the eye and ear on the desk and tapped them three times with his wand then whispered, "Refelate!"

The two black pieces on the desk sprang into action. They both jumped off the table and over to the wall, where they each lodged themselves. A picture began to form; it started small and out of focus, but it soon got larger and clearer. Harry thought it was like a Muggle filmstrip or projection. He watched closely. Soon, the picture had grown so big, it felt like he was inside it. It was just like being inside a memory, as he had been a few times before.

The wizard monitor had taken him to a small house. The picture was of the living room of the house. The clock on the wall showed it was eight o'clock in the evening. A man, who Harry recognized to be his father, was sitting in the living room reading the newspaper.

Harry could hear footsteps upstairs, and the picture had split in half. The second picture was obviously a baby's room. A woman was putting a baby in the cradle. The baby must have been him, and the woman, his mother. The window in the room showed the outside of the house where it was raining heavily. Harry heard the rain beating lightly against the roof of the small house. Lily finished putting the baby to bed and turned out the lights in the room. The second picture only showed darkness. Harry turned towards the other screen.

Lily came into the living room and sat down next to James. "It's starting to thunder," she said. "I hope Harry doesn't wake up."

James nodded and looked out the window. Harry looked, too. A streak of lightning lit up the street. He could have sworn he saw a dark figure standing in the street, but by the time the next bolt struck, it was gone.

James went back to reading the paper and Lily picked up a magazine from the side table. There was a knock on the door. "Wonder who that is," said James.

"Maybe it's Sirius," replied Lily. James put the paper down on the coffee table and went to answer the door, but Harry couldn't see that part of the room. Upstairs, baby Harry had begun to cry. Lily went to see what was wrong. The light turned back on in the second picture, but it was only Lily rocking baby Harry back to sleep. Harry looked at his mother longingly, but he tore his eyes away when he heard the noise coming from the first picture. He looked back to it.

James opened the door, but Sirius was not the one standing there. It was Lord Voldemort. Harry gasped, even though he was not surprised.

"Lily, take Harry and go! It's him! Go! Run! I'll hold him off!"

The door burst open in a flash of yellow light. Lord Voldemort stood there. He laughed a very cold, high-pitched laugh. He was grinning. "Ah, James, good to see you," he said, falsely pleasant.

"What do you want?" James spat.

"I want Harry. Bring him to me."

"You can never have him!" shouted James. He pulled out his wand.

"Are you refusing me, the most powerful dark wizard alive?"

"You'll never get Harry!"

"I'll do anything I want! Now step aside, or I'll have to kill you, too!"

"Fine, kill me, but you'll never kill Harry."

Voldemort sighed. "As you wish."

James looked like he was about to do a spell, but Voldemort was faster. "Avada Kedavra," he whispered. James heard and knew there was nothing he could do. A green flash came out of Voldemort's wand. James hit the floor, dead. Harry just stared. Then he realized something else was going on in the other room.

Lily had heard James's shouts from upstairs. "Harry, be quiet; he'll find you!" Lily whispered, but Harry did not stop crying. Lily did not know how long James could hold him off. After a few minutes, she heard a cold, mirthless laugh. "James!" she breathed. She knew Voldemort was coming, but she didn't have anywhere to hide.

The door of baby Harry's room burst open. "Hello, hello, Lily. Are you going to give Harry to me, or do you refuse like your husband?" Voldemort sneered.

"What did you do to James?" she screamed.

"He is dead." Voldemort smiled.

Lily gasped. "No, no, no!"

"Now give me the boy!"

"Not Harry! Not Harry! Please! I'll do anything!"

"Stand aside. Stand aside, girl!"

"Why do you want him? What are you going to do?"

"The stars have shown he is destined to kill me. I can't let that happen, now can I? I have to kill him first."

"He's just a baby! He can't kill!"

"If I get him out of the way now, he can't get me later. Now hand him over!"

Lily stood her ground, stalling until she could think of a plan. "How did you find us? I know Sirius would never tell!"

"Ah, but what you do not know is Sirius persuaded James to change to Peter Petigrew at the last minute. Thought he would be too obvious. Another thing you did not know is that Peter was my spy."

"No!" said Lily.

"Yes! And if you're done stalling, could we please get on with it? Give me the boy!"

"Not Harry, not Harry, please not Harry!"

"Stand aside, you silly girl…stand aside now!"

"Not Harry, please no, take me, kill me instead! Not Harry! Please…have mercy…have mercy!"

"Lord Voldemort never shows mercy," he hissed. He turned on her with his wand. Using the same curse as before, Lily was dead.

"There's no one to protect you, now, Harry," said Voldemort. He walked over to the cradle where Harry was still howling, even louder now. "You know, it's a shame I have to kill you. You'd make a pretty good dark wizard, with the right training. Well, I can't have you growing up and killing me, so goodbye, Harry."

Voldemort pointed his wand at Harry. "Avada Kedavra," he whispered. A bright green flash jumped out of the wand and hit Harry's forehead, leaving a small lightning shaped scar. Then, for some unknown reason, the spell bounced back to its creator. Voldemort shrieked and vanished with such a powerful force, the house around him was destroyed. It crumbed and fell down, like an ancient ruin. When this happened, the monitor was either dislodged or turned off and both pictures went blank.

Harry couldn't remember getting back to the common room that night. He was shocked by what he had seen. Dumbledore had given him an envelope with a letter from Sirius, but Harry had not opened it. He woke up the next morning and it took him a while to remember what had happened.

"Hey, Harry," Ron said shyly.

Harry got up and was about to dress when he realized he was dressed.

"You were pretty beat last night," said Ron.

"Yeah," Harry agreed. They went down to breakfast. Ron didn't ask Harry what he had seen and Harry didn't tell him. They sat down with Lauren and Hermione, but seeing Harry's face, they left him alone. Harry was quiet for the rest of the day.

That night in the common room, Harry spoke. "Do you guys want to know what I saw?"

"You don't have to talk about it if you don't want to," said Hermione quickly.

"I'll feel better if I do." So Harry began to tell exactly what he had seen on the monitor.

"Where are the eye and the ear now?" Lauren asked.

"Dumbledore gave them back to me along with… Hold on! I'll be right back!" Harry dashed up to his dormitory and came back with the letter from Sirius. He read it to himself, then passed it around for the others to read it.

Dear Harry,

I know you have just seen the pictures on the wizard monitor. As Dumbledore may have already told you, I did not think you were ready to see it yet. However, Dumbledore thought you were, and so I gave it to him to show you. Then I wrote this to tell you what happened from then until I was put in Azkaban. I'll write it exactly as I remember it, and believe me, I remember it well.

I was riding in on my flying motorcycle to check on you. Hagrid had already arrived. He had rescued you from your house, and then it had crumbled. I looked around and gasped. I told Hagrid, "Give Harry to me, Hagrid, I'm his godfather, I'll look after him."

"No, I have me orders from Dumbledore. Harry's to go ter his aunt an' uncle's."

"No, please let me take him. Lily and James wouldn't want them to raise Harry."

"I'm sorry, Dumbledore's orders."

"Oh, alright. But here, take this." I pointed to my motorcycle. "I won't need it anymore."

Hagrid nodded and climbed onto the motorcycle. It made noises as it took off into the sky. Hagrid made sure Harry was warm and safe then took off for number four, Privet Drive.

I only had one thing on my mind after that. Get Peter. It was Peter's fault my best friend was dead. Peter's fault you were being sent to live with Muggles. I had to get revenge.

It took about a week to track Peter down. I started where I had seen Peter last, and asked around until I was given the information I wanted. Peter was hiding. Lord Voldemort had gone to the Potters' on his information, and he had now vanished. The Dark Lord's supporters weren't too happy with Peter then.

I looked around the hiding place I told Peter to hide in when he was the Secret Keeper. Peter was there. I pulled out my wand, but kept it behind my back.

"What did you do?" I yelled.

"I don't know what you're talking about!" said Peter innocently.

"You killed Lily and James!" I said.

"I did not! Why would I?" Peter shouted.

Muggles in the street were looking now, but I didn't care. I was going to kill Pettigrew. I cornered him. "You are a liar and a spy. I don't know why I didn't see it before. You killed James, and now I'm going to kill you," but before I could, Peter whipped out his wand.

"Lily and James, Sirius! How could you?" he shouted. The Muggles stopped to look on. Peter pulled out a knife, but instead of plunging it into me, he chopped off his own finger. Then, he whispered a spell and the street blew apart. I quickly whispered a shielding spell, so the curse wouldn't kill me. The spell did kill thirteen Muggles standing around. Peter transformed into a rat and ran off into the sewers.

Muggles were screaming now, and there was a huge crater in the middle of the street. I stood there, looking at where Peter had been standing. He was gone. A piece of his finger was lying on top of some bloody robes. I began to laugh. Peter had committed a huge crime! He was going to Azkaban for sure! I had gotten my revenge.

After a few minutes, the Hit Wizards from the Ministry of Magic came to get me; I was still standing in the street, laughing. The laughter did not last long, however, when they told me where they were taking me, Azkaban. I had "killed" the Potters, Peter Pettigrew, and thirteen Muggles. I argued, but it did no good. No one believed me.

I believe you know the rest of the story? You were dropped off on your aunt's doorstep with a note, and the next morning she found you when putting out the milk bottles. You can take it from there.

I know the memories on that monitor were painful, they were for me, too. But you cannot change the past. I tried to get revenge on Peter, and look what happened to me. Voldemort's prediction never came true, maybe it will someday…

Sirius

When everyone had finished reading the letter, Harry said, "Voldemort's prediction did come true. I was Voldemort's downfall."

"That's not the whole prediction," said Lauren. "He said you would kill him!"

Harry opened his mouth wide. "If he doesn't kill me first."

"Oh, come on! Professor Trelawny's predictions are never right! What makes you think the Death Eaters' prediction is?" said Hermione.

"The Dark Lord is a lot more powerful, and a lot smarter than Professor Trelawny," said Ron.

"But Professor McGonagall said it's the most imprecise kind of magic there is! There's no proof that it will actually come true!" Hermione argued.

"We won't know for a while," said Lauren.

"Well, I guess it's time to turn in for the night," Hermione said, getting up and stretching.

"Yeah," agreed Lauren.

"Harry," Ron whispered, as the girls went upstairs to start getting ready for bed. "I have to tell you something." He looked around nervously, first making sure that Hermione and Lauren had gone into their dormitory and had shut the door, then looking around to see who else was in the common room. The only ones still awake were Fred and Angelina, who were talking quietly by the fire. Maybe he was imagining it, but Harry thought that, ever since the Yule Ball last year, those two had been spending a lot more time together. He even noticed them holding hands during Quidditch practices. Ron didn't have to worry about them because they were paying too much attention to each other to notice that Ron and Harry were still downstairs.

"When you were at Lupin's, I saw something I think you should know about."

"What?" asked Harry, yawning.

"Well, I was working on that moon chart for astronomy late one night, and I guess I fell asleep in the common room. But then I heard some footsteps and I woke up. I hid behind the table; I don't think she saw me. But she headed out of the portrait hole and I followed her. Do you know where she went? The first floor girl's bathroom!"

"Who?" Harry demanded.

"Lauren! Who else?"

"Maybe she just had to go to the bathroom," Harry mumbled sleepily.

"Harry! Wake up! The first floor bathroom is a little bit far to go to the bathroom in the middle of the night!"

Harry jerked awake.

"She must have been going to the Chamber! I didn't go in, but I think she saw me following her," Ron continued.

"Ron, that's crazy. Why would Lauren go down to the Chamber of Secrets? Anyway, she couldn't even get down there because she's not a Parselmouth. It was probably a dream."

Ron pondered this for a minute. "Yeah, it must have been. Sorry, guess I wasn't thinking."

And the two boys went off to bed.