"
" : talking
/… / : thinking
Chapter 2 : When everything changed.
It had been a wonderful day. Harry, Lily and James went to a park in the Muggle world, ate a picnic there and then skated all afternoon until they could not move. It had been very funny to see his mother cheering his father and making fun of him every time he fell on his rear.
Some people would think that at the age of 15, Harry would be more likely to prefer going out with his friends. He did enjoy it but he also enjoyed spending time with his parents. They were so full of energy! And they could be very childish sometimes; so childish in fact that Harry had the impression that he was the adult.
He also enjoyed spending time with his parents because his father was often out to work and it was sometimes difficult to see him.
James worked in some kind of society related to both the wizarding and Muggle world. In fact, he owned buildings in the latter.
So you could say they were very rich, but they did not show it. Harry's mother had always preferred simplicity.
When they had come back home, James had received a call that obliged him to go out for work again. Lily and Harry had been a little disappointed as they were supposed to have a quiet family dinner, but they resigned themselves and made James promise that he would come back as soon as possible.
After dinner, Harry and his mother decided to play chess.
That night, the nightmare took place.
~*~*~*~*~*~*
They had been playing chess for an hour and a half near the fireplace. They always played very slowly. They liked to chat between each move, about the weather, a movie, music or even food.
They took their time to think about their next move and the whole strategy of the other player, which was the opposite of professional players who have to be quick and efficient. That was one of the reasons why James rarely played with them. He said their slowness drove him crazy.
So, as Harry was thinking about his next move and sipping his butterbeer, his mother asked him, "Severus is your secret love, isn't he?"
Harry spat all the butterbeer in surprise on the chess board.
"Really, Harry! That's disgusting! Where are your manners?!" his mother exclaimed as with a flick of her wand, everything went back to normal.
"What did you just say?" Harry stuttered.
"I asked you if Severus was your secret love."
"OF COURSE NOT!" he roared.
"Harry, you are so sweet. Do you really think you can hide something like that from your mother? I saw the way you look at him when he's not looking in your direction; I saw the blush that appears on your cheeks when he is physically very close to you. I'm not blind you know."
Harry sighed. "All right, yes, it's him," he answered, defeated.
"Thank you for being sooooo honest my sweetie. So, when are you going to tell him about your love?"
"I don't know, what do you think of ……NEVER?!"
"Why? He has the right to know!"
"But he'll surely laugh or what's worse, pity me, saying that it's just a crush and that I should find someone else. Besides, I saw him with another man last year."
"Really? It's not like Severus to bring his "supposed" boyfriend when he's working… Besides, it was last year! They may have broken up by now! What did the man look like?"
"From a distance, I only saw that he was almost as tall as Severus and had short slick blond hair, brushed back on his head. His clothes looked very expensive."
As Harry was describing the other man, Lily stopped dead in her tracks. Her eyes were fixed on the chessboard as if she had realized something and her cup of tea was near her lips but did not touch them.
"Mum? Is there something wrong?" Harry asked.
She did not answer.
"Mum?"
"CHESS!" she suddenly exclaimed.
"What?"
"It's chess! I'm going to win!"
"Oh no! Not again!" and with that the young wizard turned all his concentration back to the chessboard, oblivious to his mother's strange reaction.
Lily was relieved to see that she had succeeded in avoiding answering her son.
~*~*~*~*~*~*~
Fifteen minutes later, they heard some noise coming from outside. Lily suddenly tensed.
Seeing her reaction, Harry tried to reassure her, saying that it must be one of the three cats they owned.
But then the front door crashed open, and they could see that in the doorway stood…
"SIRIUS?!" Harry shouted.
"No, Harry, it's not him! I don't recognize his magical signature," his mother whispered.
"Oh…. Very clever I see. Good evening Mrs Potter," the man looking like Sirius said in a low voice. "And it must be young Harry," he said looking at the young man.
"Who the Hell are you?!" Lily demanded.
"My, my… aren't we a little nervous?" the man chuckled.
"GET OUT OF MY HOUSE!" she shout.
"How rude! What about the rules of hospitality?" the man continued.
"To hell with hospitality!"
"It's not something you say to a man who came with some friends whose wands are directed towards you and your lovely son," the Sirius-like man said that putting an emphasis on 'lovely', and as other masked people entered the room.
Harry shivered. He had recognized them as the dreaded Death Eaters and it looked like there
were ten in all.
"You sick bastard! Don't you DARE touch him!" and with that, Lily quickly pointed her wand towards Harry and muttered a spell. There was a bright flash of light that faded quickly.
"Now you won't be able to harm him."
"But what about you dear Mrs Potter?" the man enquired. And then curses and hexes seemed to come from everywhere.
Lily dodged them all, creating a barrier. She responded with an attack that knocked at least six of her opponents to the ground, blasting out a part of the house. The three others kept hexing her, but to no avail.
Harry could do nothing but watch. He was paralysed, he could not help his mother as his wand was in Hogwarts (the teachers only gave them written assignments and not practical ones).
He could not abandon his mother alone either, even though she kept shouting at him to do so. Every time he refused she shout, "STUPID GRYFFINDOR!"
He was trying to understand. Why was this happening to them? His family wasn't a danger to the man!!
Harry was also amazed by his mother's magical power. How could he have never noticed it before? Her magical was so strong! And it seemed endless.
Meanwhile, the leader of the attackers just stood there and watched too. Little by little, the image of Sirius faded and the appearance of a man in his forties replaced it. He had brown hair and red eyes.
"Tom Riddle!" Lily shouted.
Harry, too, recognized the man who was also called Voldemort, the infamous Dark Wizard.
Riddle turned slowly towards Harry, his wand at the ready.
Despite the flood of curses she was blocking, Lily saw it and in a desperate attempt to protect her son even more, she concentrated all her powers and aimed a deadly curse at Voldemort.
There was a blinding red light that knocked Harry unconscious.
When Lily opened her eyes again, Riddle had disappeared and the remains of the death Eaters were on the ground.
She was completely drained. She knelt down near her son, putting a hand on his chest to make sure he was alright.
She heard a light noise and turned quickly, her wand raised.
"Lily?" It was Peter Pettigrew, one of James' friends. He came near her and asked, "What has happened here?"
Lily turned around, her back facing him and just said, "Please, call the Aurors, Peter."
The only answer she received was a whispered, "I'm sorry, Lily".
She felt the worst of the Unforgivable Curses hit her and the last vision she had was that of Harry sleeping quietly.
*********
When Harry woke up, he was lying on a bed.
He opened his eyes slowly. His head was slightly pounding. He put his hand on his forehead and felt something strange, there was now a scar above his right eyebrow. It was shaped like a lightening bolt.
The world around him was completely blurred but he was certain about one thing, it was not his bed. It was twice the size of his own and there were curtains surrounding it.
As he was trying to understand how he had landed in an unknown bed, memories suddenly
struck him, the chess, the discussion with his mother, the attack and the man who had looked like Sirius… It was Voldemort!
/Mum!! Where's mum?!/ He thought in panic.
He opened the curtains and jumped out of the bed but then stopped.
In front of him stood a man and it was… "SEVERUS! What are you doing here? Where am I? What is this place? And where is my mother?!" he exclaimed in one shot.
"Calm down Harry, everything will be explained," Severus answered quietly.
"But where is mum?" Harry asked, worried
"Everything will be explained later," Severus repeated.
There was a knock on the door and then it opened, revealing James Potter. His face was ravaged.
"DAD!" Harry rushed towards him and leapt into his arms.
"Are you okay?" his father asked.
"Yes, yes. What is this place? Where's Mum?" Harry asked again.
Hi father's eyes filled with tears. He looked so broken. Harry understood but could not admit it.
"Harry," James whispered, barely controlling the trembling of his voice.
"No, no…"
"Harry, I'm so sorry… but your mother… your mother is… gone." And with that last word, his father cried openly.
"No….. NO! YOU'RE LYING! SHE CAN'T BE DEAD! SHE WAS TOO POWERFUL
FOR THAT! I SAW HER BEATING ALL THOSE DEATH EATERS!" Harry shouted, crying at the same time.
"I'm sorry, I'm so sorry my son…" James could only say those words again and again.
"No, no, no…" Harry sank to his knees. He was sobbing uncontrollably now.
James held him in his arms while Severus just stood where he was, his face unreadable.
As Harry's sobbing slowly lessened, his father helped him to regain his balance and stood. Still holding him, he said, "There is one last thing you have to know before leaving this room."
Harry looked at him, his red and puffy eyes questioning him.
James pulled his son out of his embrace. He took a little bottle from his pocket and drank it in one.
Little by little his appearance seemed to fade away. Five minutes later, another man stood in front of Harry.
Harry could only stare, and stare, and stare, his eyes not believing what he was seeing.
The man was Lucius Malfoy.