Chapter One:
Halloween 1981
Lily, James and Harry had been in hiding for a week. It had been quiet, too quiet. Lily knew something was going to happen today, she knew James felt it too. Harry shifted restlessly in her arms, which made her even more nervous. He was extremely sensitive to magic, dark and light alike.
"I'm putting Harry in his crib," she told him.
"Okay," James replied in a croaky voice. As she tucked Harry in, she felt a twinge in her stomach.
She looked down and said, " You can't wait to join your brother, can you?"
She patted her tummy lightly then leant over and kissed Harry on the forehead.
"Try to sleep my sweet son," she whispered, rocking his crib gently but it didn't seem to make any difference, Harry seemed to get more and more restless.
"Mama. Bad man here," he whispered. Lily let out a cry then she heard James yell for her to grab Harry and run.
James' POV
I saw the flicker of wand light outside the window from the corner of my eye. I saw him, hood up, walking towards the house. I yelled for Lily to grab Harry and run, as I ran into the hall. He burst through the front door, took one look at me and yelled, "Avada Kedavra."
I barely had enough time to call upon my Mage powers and create a shield. The curse weakened greatly as it came through the shield but only just enough not kill me, only comatose me. I knew then I would not see my son or wife again for a long time.
End James' POV
She grabbed Harry and ran. She looked over her shoulder and saw Voldemort was giving chase.
'No! He's killed James,' her mind screamed.
She let out a cry as her foot caught under a tree root. Before she could get up he was standing over her.
"Give me the boy."
"Never!" she tried to get up but she had twisted her ankle and it refused to take her weight.
"Don't try to run from me girl."
"Why do you want him dead?" she yelled.
"He's Gryffindors Heir. The only one who can stop me."
'How can he know? The spy must have told him. I have to play dumb.'
"How can he be Gryffindors heir? He's your grandson, you're Slytherins Heir."
"Don't play dumb with me child
you were the first to realise he was Heir of both. I will not have my blood
mixed with that of Gryffindor. Now move!"
"No father, I won't. If you must kill someone, kill me."
"Lily stop being stupid. Move aside."
"Kill me," she screamed at him, "Not Harry! Not Harry! Please–I'll do anything!"
"Stand aside – stand aside girl!"
"Never! Kill me!"
"So be it," he growled.
"Powers of Slytherin, protect my son and I," Lily whispered as she, like her husband, called upon her mage powers.
"Avada Kedavra!" exclaimed Voldemort.
Lily felt the curse weakened as it passed through the shield. She collapsed into a coma.
***
Saturday 4 April 1995Maia sat in the waiting room of London Private Hospital. It was the place where she spent most of her time, hoping that one day she'd get the call that her parents were waking up. They'd been in comas for thirteen and a half years now. Her thoughts then turned to her Great Uncle Phillip. He had died just a week earlier and it gave her the feeling that something was going to happen. At that moment a young nurse Maia had known for a few years came skidding up to her.
"Maia something's happening. This could be it," she told her. Maia gave a squeal and ran with the nurse to the room her parents were kept in. For the past month there had been signs of them waking. Both had started to breath without machines, their pulses had become normal and some nurses had claimed the two would react to temperature and light changes.
As Maia skidded into the room, a doctor was speaking to the head nurse, "He seems to be ahead of her in the process of waking up but we should see some extreme changes within the next few hours."
"Doctor?"
"Ah Maia. I have some good news. They both seem to be waking. It's a damn miracle if you ask me," he told her.
"Is there anything I can do?"
"Just talk to him. Your voice should act as a guide for him to return to consciousness."
It worked. Within 6 hours both James and Lily had regained consciousness. Not many people survive long-term comas so Lily and James' awakening was a medical miracle.
Tuesday 1 July 1995 (3:30 pm)
Vernon was waiting beyond the barrier. Mrs Weasley was close by him. She hugged Harry very tightly when she saw him, and whispered in his ear, "I think Dumbledore will let you come to us later in the summer. Keep in touch, Harry."
"See you, Harry," said Ron, clapping him on the back.
"Bye, Harry!" said Hermione, and she did something she never done before, and kissed him on the cheek.
"Harry – thanks," George muttered, while Fred nodded fervently at his side.
Harry winked at them, turned to Uncle Vernon, and followed him silently from the station. There was no point worrying yet, he told himself, as got into the back of the Dursleys' car.
As Hagrid had said, what would come, would come…and he would have to meet it when it did.
***
3:36 pm
Ron and Hermione stood side-by-side as they watched Harry disappear down the road.
"Do you think he's going to be okay?" asked Hermione.
"I hope so. But I have this funny feeling something's going to happen…soon," Ron replied.
"Yeah, I have the same feeling," she said before turning to look at him, "Well, I suppose I'll see you in a few weeks."
He just nodded, his eyes boring into hers unable to let go. She felt the same thing, but after a few moments she leant forward, just brushing her lips against his before kissing him just on the corner of the mouth. For the second time in a minute she didn't want to pull away but forced herself to. She muttered a small 'goodbye' before she turned and walked away.
As she entered the car park she saw her limousine parked to the left.
"Hermione!" her Muggle friends Megan, Shane and Bryan yelled, as they rushed up to greet her.
"What are you guys doing here?" she asked slightly breathless after being crushed by the three.
"Don't you remember?" said Shane
"You did make a big fuss before agreeing to it," alleged Bryan
"I don't know how you could forget about the makeover," smiled Megan. Hermione gave them a funny look before realization dawned on her.
"I can't believe I forgot and you guys remembered."
"Well, come on. Your appointments in half-an-hour," Megan said pulling her towards the limo. The chauffeur came forward to greet her.
"Good afternoon, my lady," he said politely but with a cheeky smile. Hermione returned the smile before she flung her arms around him.
"Jeremy! I missed you so much!" Hermione exclaimed. Laughing he kissed her on the nose. Then Jeremy who had known Hermione since she was a baby saw it, in her eyes. Outside she was smiling, laughing and nothing seemed wrong but inside she was depressed, even anxious. He gave her a questioning look, she just mouthed, 'I'll tell you later.'
"Come on Jeremy. I have an appointment to get to," said Hermione putting on an extremely posh voice. He smiled and nodded before they headed off.
***
3:37pm
Ron just stood there as Hermione walked away. 'She nearly kissed me,' he thought before his mother called his name gaining his attention.
"Ron, I just told the others that there are some things I need to pick up from Diagon Alley so we're going there before we head home. We'll meeting your father and Percy at the Leaky Cauldron for dinner," she told him. He nodded, and then followed his family to where their portkey was hidden. He didn't see his mother and sister share a smile.
4:44 pm
While Mrs Weasley, Ron and the twins went around buying supplies, Ginny went to the alley's pet store.
"Hello dear. Just back from school then," greeted a middle-aged woman behind the counter. Ginny nodded. "Looking for anything in particular?"
"Actually I was thinking about a cat," Ginny replied. The woman showed her many cats, including one's that had arrived only recently but after a while a box rocking and meowing nearby caught her attention. She went over and crouched down beside it before asking what was inside.
"It's a lioness cub. Frankly I'm not sure anyone's going to take her. She's a stowaway," the woman replied. Ginny lifted off the lid and the little cub jumped out onto her knocking her onto her back.
"Are you all right dear? Has it hurt you?" the woman asked concerned. Ginny replied with a giggle when it started licking her.
"Oh you poor thing. You just wanted to get out," Ginny stood up the cub still licking her, "How much is she?"
"Like I said dear, she's a stowaway, you can take her. The company that I get my stock from refused to take her back and technically she's not mine to sell."
Ginny decided then and there to take the little lioness. She brought a collar with a bell and a leash before leaving.
She met her family just a few shops up.
"Hey Gin is that a Kneazle?" asked Fred as he spotted her.
"No she's a Lioness. The poor woman in the store was so afraid of her that she gave her to me when she saw I wasn't."
"Ginny do you know how big they get?" Mrs Weasley asked a tad unsure of what to think about a big cat in the house.
"Don't worry Mum. By the time she gets big enough to do any real damage, I'll have graduated from Hogwarts and living in my own house. Anyway she could keep the gnome's out of the garden," Ginny replied giving her mother a pleading look. She saw her mother soften a bit but it wasn't till a few moments' later when the cub gave a yawn and snuggled up to Ginny that she finally agreed to let her bring it home.
4:48 pm
The five Weasley's were on their way to the Leaky Cauldron when Ginny happened to look up and saw a hooded and masked figure disappearing from the edge of the rooftop of a shop. She quickly grabbed her mother and Fred and pulled them into Ollivander's.
"Ginny what are you doing?" Molly asked surprised. She didn't reply to her mother.
"Mr Ollivander? Are you here?" she called out. The old wizard popped his head around the corner.
"Ahh, the Weasley's. How may I help you?"
"Could you contact the other shopkeeper's and warn them there are Death Eater's on the rooftop's?" Ginny asked hurriedly. Mr Ollivander looked at her surprised from a moment before he hurried to the window. Surely enough he spotted two Death Eater's on the roof of the shop opposite. He gave her a quick nod and disappeared to the back of the shop. Ginny handed the lioness cub, which she had named Ker, to her mother.
"Take the boys and follow him," she told her.
"Ginny where are you going?" Ron asked.
"I'm going out there to warn people," she replied.
"Not with out me. We'll warn more people if I go with you," he countered. She thought about for a second, he was right. If she was to take anyone with her it should be Ron. He was more adept to fighting. She nodded and they left, ignoring their mother's protests.
They didn't get a chance to warn anyone before the first curse came from the rooftop. People started screaming and running into shop's to get to safety. Others fought back along side Ginny and Ron. The Death Eater's stayed on the roof, giving them the upper hand. It wasn't long before people were dieing after being hit by the killing curse but still all the Death Eater's were unharmed. Well, it seemed that way until both Ginny and Ron had the same idea. Summoning brooms from the Quidditch shop they took flight. The Death Eater's hadn't anticipated this, especially not from children and where quite stunned. Ron took one side and Ginny, the other. The Death Eater's were disapparating and apparating to get away from the pair. This went on for a few minutes until Ron's broom was hit, though luckily a Death Eater who had fallen with him softened his fall to the ground but Ron's rolled out of his sight. A Death Eater with a silver hand. Ron realised immediately after they had regained their breath that it was, Peter 'Wormtail' Pettigrew. Wormtail weaved a little, dazed by his fall but seemingly uninjured. Ron aimed a kick at Peter's head but missed by only centimetres when Peter ducked at the last second. Peter tried cursing him but Ron had ducked behind a stack of crates. Ron grabbed one of the crates throwing it at Peter, then a second and third, each striking Peter on the head or shoulder and greatly pissing him off. He sent a Reduction Curse at the fourth crate, with Ron's wand, as it came towards him, causing it to explode. The most of the splinters, large and small found themselves buried in Ron's left side, chest, arm and thigh. He barely managed to hold in a scream of pain. Peter thinking that he had killed Ron went to check and duly found Ron right fist connecting with his jaw, with a loud smack! Ron grabbed his wand back then grabbed Peter's hood and swung him head first into the wall. The third time Peter's head connect with the wall he fell to the ground unconscious. Ron bound him then collapsed by his side no longer able to ignore the great deal of pain he was in. The next thing he heard was a high, cold laugh that made his blood run cold.
4:51 pm
Ginny saw Ron fall but she was too far away to help him. When she saw he was okay she continued to fight on. Moments later she suddenly found that she couldn't breathe though no spell had hit her, but she knew why. It had happened barely a week ago at the third task, the moment Voldemort was once more embodied. She coughed up a small amount of blood before she heard a high, cold laugh that made her blood run cold. Voldemort stood watching the battle from the top of Gringott's Bank. She didn't hesitate for one moment; she landed and took off her cloak, revealing black knee-high boots and a short, dark green dress. A sheathed dagger was strapped on her left thigh. She rose up on the broom again and saw that the Dark Lord had a sword hanging at his side. Looking around, she saw a Death Eater who was also carrying a sword. She flew at him, turning her broom at the last moment and swatting the man in the face. She grabbed the sword then turn towards her next target; she went flying straight at Lord Voldemort.
He saw her coming just in time to dodge away; she landed, poised to fight.
"You really think you can take me on, girl-child?" he laughed. She didn't answer but struck at him with the sword. He only just managed to unsheathe his sword and parry the blow. She didn't think she just attacked, taking his attention away from the people in the alley below. With every minute that passed, her attacks came faster and faster, making it hard for him to block them. He needed the distract her. Catching her sword to one side he kicked out catching her shoulder and making her stumble, then he attack but she disappeared. Kneeling down one side she swept a foot under his feet, making him fall on his back. Sweeping down with her sword she went for a killing blow but he only just managed to block it.
"Who ever trained you, did well. I haven't had a challenge like you in years child," he commented.
"Know this Tom Marvolo Riddle, if Harry doesn't kill you, I will," she whispered.
"I don't doubt it. How do you know my real name?"
"Ask Lucius about a girl and a diary," she hissed. Voldemort's eyes flashed with a spark of fear. Lucius had already told him about that. But what Voldemort hadn't told Lucius was that he'd put a curse on the diary, one that would turn the person whose soul he was stealing into a demon. The girl that he was fighting was a Demoness.
"Not totally," she replied to his unasked question, " There's still a little human left in me."
He stared at her, unmoving for a moment longer before he gave an evil smile, "Well let's just see if your blood still runs red, Demoness."
He swept the sword at her legs but she jumped it then back flipped away.
Attacking, defending, the sparks flew each time their swords met, Him, all that mattered was distracting him, stopping him, maybe even killing him. Ginny became so focused on Voldemort that she ignored all of her surrounding. Something she began to regret when she found he'd managed to catch her on the corner of the roof.
She let her sword fall the three floors into the alley below, and lifted her hands in defeat. Now becoming more aware of her surroundings and realised the other fighting had stopped. The Death Eater's had stopped to watch her and the Dark Lord duel, as had the people in the alley. She heard the collective gasp as the sword hit the ground. She saw Voldemort aim a strike at her and she jumped. She heard her father scream her name as she caught the corner of the roof and swung her feet to meet the wall. She used her momentum of her fall to spring back upwards, flipping over Voldemort's head as she pulled her dagger out. She landed behind him as she swept the dagger across his back, leaving a deep, diagonal gash. His cry of pain came out in a choked gasp as he fell to his knees and only just managed not to fall off the rooftop.
One of the nearby Death Eater's, Lucius came running to his rescue, jumping from the roof of one of the nearby buildings, onto Gringott's. In a short moment while Ginny was distracted he unsheathed his own sword and left two deep cuts on her right arm and one on her right leg. She hissed in pain before striking back but missing. Lucius went for the kill but Ginny kicked out and knocked the sword out of his hand. He swung out with the heal of his palm and caught her near eye then again on her cheek. She lashed out with the dagger and struck his upper arm. He hit her face again on the other side and her injured leg gave way.
He didn't try to strike her again, he just run to his injured master and ordered the other Death Eater's to retreat. Ginny lay slightly dazed for a few seconds before she rose to her feet. She sheathed her dagger and picked up Voldemort's and Lucius' sword's before she hopped onto the broom and flew down into Diagon Alley. Down into her father's waiting arms and the cheering crowd.
4:56pm
Percy and Arthur Weasley arrived at the Leaky Cauldron by Floo powder to find it in total chaos. A total stranger grabbed Percy by the shoulders, "You have to run! You-Know-Who and his Death Eater's are here! Run!" Before he disappeared by Floo.
"Molly and the kids are in there," Arthur whispered in horror. He and Percy went running into the alley. They were half way down the alley when Percy spotted Ron, sprawled against a wall, eyes closed, next to a bound Death Eater.
"Ron!" Percy screamed running to him. Ron half opened his eyes and gave a weak smile, "Are you okay?" Percy asked in a harsh whisper.
"Yes. I caught the one that did this to me," Ron replied tiredly, indicating Wormtail.
"Ron where are the others?" Arthur asked his shivering son as he took off his cloak and placed it over his bleeding son's injured side.
"Mum and the twins are safe, they're in Mr Ollivander's Shop," Ron replied.
"And Gin…" Arthur started asking Ron but Percy interrupted.
"Why aren't the Death Eater's attacking?"
A sudden clang of metal on the pavement near Gringott's was the answer. The three looked up to see Ginny standing right in the corner of the roof of the bank, arms raised in defeat as the Dark Lord went for a killing strike at her. But before he could get close enough she jumped.
"Ginny!" Arthur screamed jumping to his feet and running towards the bank. Then, to his shock she grabbed the roof and flipped back up and over the Dark Lord's head, slicing down the monster's back with the dagger she had had sheathed on her left leg. He fell to his knees and only just managed not to fall off the roof. A Death Eater came to his rescue and a short furious fight ensued between Ginny and the Death Eater. Arthur watched in horror as the Death Eater, whom he recognised as Lucius Malfoy, cut deep gashes twice on his daughter's right arm and once on her right leg. Ginny managed to land a strike on Lucius' shoulder before he struck her three times in the face. When she fell to her knees, Lucius moved past her to his Master's side and called a retreat. The crowd around Arthur burst into relieved cheers as he ran to his daughter as she flew down into the alley on a broom she had with her. Arthur looked at her for a few seconds not knowing what to think. She, his tiny 14 year old daughter, had just fought the Dark Lord and Lucius Malfoy and survived, with a few cuts and bruises only inflicted on her by Lucius. He swept her up into a relieved hug as he heard Molly call out to him.
Percy delivered Peter Pettigrew to the Ministry. Arthur, after seeing that the rest of his family was delivered safely to St Mungo's, returned to the Ministry also.
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