Note from Nikki
Well, here it is. The end at last! I know many of you are sighing with relief. I am not satisfied with this story. I think it was going pretty well until my Dad's accident. Somewhere in all of that mess, I lost sight of what I had planned for this. I'm sorry that it didn't come out as well as I'd hoped! But I would like to thank the few people who stayed with me through all of this! You're all wonderful. I'm taking a break from fanfiction for a little while. I'm focusing more on my original stories. If any of you are interested, go here: will write more Harry Potter in the future! Just not for a little while! Thanks to everyone! I hope you enjoy. . .er sorta enjoy this last chapter. Thanks again!
To the Reviewers
Noa9: You have been wonderful! You've supported me through everything and I really, really appreciate it. You're a great person and I always looked forward to your reviews. Thank you for everything! Please let me know when you write a story! Love ya! hugz
HiddenFlame42: Heya hun! I don't even need to tell you how much I absolutely love you. You're so great girl! You've stayed with me through all the ups and downs that I have been through both in my personal and writing life. Thank you! Please get your Harry Potter story back up soon! I really am looking forward to reading it! I love you!
WitchHeart: Oh there is no words to express my thanks to you. You are always so wonderful with your reviews. They are long, detailed, and fun to read. I love how you dissect everything about every chapter. It really helped me a lot. Thank you for being such a great person! I'm going to miss your reviews! Thank you!
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Sirius took a drink from his tankard and leaned back, feeling very satisfied. He'd been hiding out for nearly a week now and tonight was Halloween, or so the Muggles referred to it. He had walked into the Leaky Cauldron through the streets of London and found it highly amusing to see little witches and wizards and other various supposedly frightening shapes.
Perhaps it was this reason why Sirius was feeling so discomforted. He had continued to feel worse as the day went on and he couldn't quite put his finger on it.
"You look mighty troubled," the bartender commented.
"Mm," Sirius agreed, taking another drink.
The discomfort only seemed to increase. He felt the sudden need to check up on Peter but he couldn't figure out why. Shrugging, he pulled the mirror out from inside his robes. He and Peter had discussed using the Headquarter mirrors if they needed to speak with one another. Sirius didn't want to be a pest but he couldn't help the way he felt.
"Peter," Sirius called into the mirror. Nothing happened. Sirius frowned and tried again, "Peter!"
Still nothing, only a gray haze clouded the mirror. That could only mean that Peter's mirror was broken. Sirius rolled his eyes. Trust Peter to break the mirror only one week after he really needed it. Sirius thought that he ought to just go check on him anyway, just to give him peace of mind. He wouldn't mind saying hello to Dorcas again, either.
So Sirius finished his drink, paid the bartender, and left the bar. He mounted his motorbike and began making his way toward Godric's Hollow.
--
Dorcas smelled the refreshing scent of the forest, filling her lungs with the fresh evening air. She had decided to go for a walk, back to the waterfall where Gideon had proposed to her. She stepped over fallen logs carefully and made her way to the sound of falling water.
Everything was so serene, it was a relief and gave Dorcas a sense of escape. Everything had been hectic lately. Dumbledore had been unable to find a formidable place for Headquarters and Dorcas had been summoned to two Death Eater meetings.
Both meetings had been nearly the same. Voldemort was intent on searching for the Potter's and the reward would be beyond belief for the one who found them. Dorcas had only smiled, knowing that they would never find them at all.
Finally Dorcas reached the clearing and she went and sat on a rock by the water's edge. She sighed sadly. "Oh Gideon," she whispered. "I'm so lost without you."
The only answer was the sound of a bird flying away, chirping madly. Dorcas frowned. The forest had suddenly become unexpectedly silent.
"He can't hear you," a cold voice said.
Dorcas felt the inside of her body shrivel up with fear. She stood abruptly and turned to face the source of the voice. She knew who it was. She didn't need to turn to see Voldemort standing behind her.
His face was deathly pale, his eyes were bloodshot red. He wore his regular black robe and dark hood and the feeling of fear suddenly filled the clearing. Standing by his side was the mysterious short man that Dorcas couldn't place.
"Master," she said quickly, bowing. She wasn't sure what was happening but she had a bad feeling that it wasn't good.
"Or am I?" Voldemort asked with rage.
Dorcas had never felt her heart thump so rapidly against her chest. She had never felt this type of overwhelming fear and sense of. . .sense of something horrible about to happen.
"I-I don't know what you mean, My Lord."
"Indeed," Voldemort replied icily. He raised a single hand and indicated the small figure. "Why don't you reveal yourself, my friend?"
Slowly the short man stepped forward and Dorcas waited with baited breath. He slowly slipped off his hood and revealed himself as Peter.
"No," Dorcas whispered, horrified.
"Yes," Peter replied, grinning oddly.
"Y-you can't be," she choked, taking an involuntary step backward. Peter could not have been the spy. He wasn't strong enough, he wasn't smart enough. But Dorcas' mind was telling her to believe it. He was really standing there before her, he was really grinning at her in that awful way.
"Yes, I can," Peter said. "I told you not to get on my bad side but I'm afraid you did."
Dorcas felt sick to her stomach. "You betrayed the Order! You betrayed your own friends!"
"You don't even know the half of it," Peter laughed.
"Peter has just given me some very interesting news Dorcas," Voldemort said quietly. "He seems to think that you have been betraying me for quite some time now. Is this true?"
Dorcas was suddenly filled with an unexplainable calm. She was facing death and she knew it. There was no hiding from it. There was no way to escape. Her powers were that of a child compared to Voldemort and she didn't even dare oppose him. So she decided to do the one last thing that she could do. Be honest.
"That's right," she said, raising her chin proudly. "I have been sneaking behind your back. What have you to say to that?"
"You disappoint me Dorcas," Voldemort said furiously. "And you will have to pay for your disgrace."
Dorcas laughed. She actually laughed! "You think death frightens me anymore?" she whispered.
"Death is a very frightening thing," Voldemort said coldly.
"Just because you fear it doesn't mean that I do," Dorcas replied, feeling reckless and brave. "You've taken everything from me, why should I care?"
"Peter did inform me of your little wedding to Gideon. Most unfortunate I chose that night to kill him."
"It's over," Dorcas replied abruptly. "Go ahead. Kill me. I'll join him now."
"As much as I hate to give your filth the honor," Voldemort said angrily. "I will have to do so. I don't have time to torture you as is my wont."
"Why is that? Do you have an important meeting to attend?"
Voldemort actually smiled and Dorcas' attitude faltered. What was he playing at? What was going on?
"I actually do," he replied, in an almost cheerful voice. "The Potter's are expecting my company."
Dorcas felt her face fall. "You're bluffing. You have no idea where they are."
"I have received information of the Fidelious Charm being used," Voldemort said. He was slowly drawing his wand out and wasn't removing those horrible eyes from Dorcas' face.
"And?" Dorcas whispered, hoping against hope that he didn't know what that meant.
"I am very familiar with the curse. I believe a Secret Keeper is used, isn't that correct?"
Dorcas shook her head slowly. "You won't find him," she whispered. "You never will."
Voldemort shook his head back at her. "No, I don't believe you understand. Care to explain Wormtail?"
Peter nodded and stepped forward. "Sirius wanted to create the perfect plan. And he did! He made me the Secret Keeper, Dorcas. We changed without telling anyone. Imagine my joy and surprise. . ."
"You lie," Dorcas hissed, feeling very scared all of a sudden.
"Godric's Hollow," Peter said smiling. "They lived next door to you."
Dorcas stopped breathing. She remembered. Images came rushing back to her mind, images of Lily and James' house standing right next door to hers. On Godric's Hollow.
"You treacherous bastard!" she screamed.
Peter laughed alongside Voldemort. "We are just on our way to visit them! I wish you could stick around to see their reactions. I'm sure they'll be very surprised."
Dorcas tried to Disapparate but found that she couldn't. She wasn't afraid of her own death but she couldn't let James, Lily, and Harry die. Tears began to slide down her cheeks in fear, frustration, and anger.
This only caused Voldemort to laugh all the harder. "I can promise you one thing," he said, advancing on her. "I'll let the woman live, Lily, that's her name, isn't it?"
Dorcas did the only thing that she could do. She turned away from him and began sprinting toward Godric's Hollow as fast as she could, desperate to tell Dumbledore, to tell anyone.
"Turn to face your destiny!" Voldemort called.
Dorcas paused, her breathing rapid. Slowly she turned.
"No," she whispered. The green spell hit her directly in the chest and she fell to ground without a single utter of sound.
Her body was lifeless, her eyes were open but glassy. No breath escaped her lips and no mark scorched her body. Dorcas had finally met her death in the same clearing where her husband had been killed a little over a year ago.
--
Dorcas Meadowes could not have known that Voldemort would kill Lily and James Potter that very same night in Godric's Hollow. She could not have known that Sirius Black would be blamed for the murder that he would never commit and be imprisoned for 12 years in the dread fortress Azkaban. She could not have known that Peter Pettigrew would have been marked in history as a hero, a brave, intelligent man worthy of recognition.
Dorcas Meadowes did not know that little Harry Potter would defeat Voldemort on that night of her death, becoming the only known person to survive the Avada Kedavra curse. She didn't know that Harry would grow to be a brave young man and that he would one day begin a legacy of his own.
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A/n: Well, there it is! The end! I could have gone into detail about James and Lily dying but I figured that this story isn't about them. It's about Dorcas. And she's dead so I shouldn't go too far passed that. Thanks to everyone who has read this story and stuck with it! You are wonderful! Thank you!