Chapter 34: The Darkest Night (part 3).

Remus hurried down the stairs and turned left, his right hand holding his wand tightly. He cursed loudly at the wall in front of him that seemed to come out of no where. Turning backwards he cursed again when he faced another wall "What the hell's going on?" he growled.

His heart racing he passed another hallway and climbed another set of stairs. The walls around him groaned loudly and the candles were slowly wavering, creating shadows all around him. He felt wrong, the entire place felt wrong. He knew he had to hurry up, the entire place was about to collapse.

The walls around him groaned when he reached a large wooden door and he froze in his place when he realized the place he was standing in front of. It was James and Lily's living room. It was the last room he saw in this house before he stopped trusting his friends. His lips curled into a bitter smile, it was the rat's fault. He fed them all with lies and they believed him because he never hurt a fly.

He heard the footsteps behind him before he saw anything. Out of no where, Lily Potter appeared before him, smiling softly. His breath caught in his throat when she hugged her son tightly, smiling broadly at him.

"Lily…" He whispered and for a moment she seemed to stare straight at him.

His eyes watered and he blinked them, trying to block the tears.

She was gone.

Behind the closed door, he heard glass shattering into pieces.

Rose stood quietly as she held her father's gaze. His tall frame towered above her and he curled his lips in what seemed like a smile. She waited for him to speak, preferring to concentrate on her powers for a while. She gave her wand to Harry, hoping that the young wizards would be able to escape, but she was quite aware of the fact that they were standing behind her, still gaping at the scene in front of them.

Her father opened his arms, welcoming her. "My daughter." He said. "It's been long since we saw each other."

"Indeed." She said quietly. "But you can hardly blame me for it." She smiled. "After all I was…detained…"

The death eater laughed. "You haven't changed, my daughter. Your tongue was always faster then your mind. I don't think you can find a way out of here with your mouth."

"I do not seek a way out of here." She said. "Not for me." In the corner of her eyes she saw Harry and Hermione moving slightly, trying to reach for the door.

"Hermione, come on." Harry whispered, trying to pull the witch after him without making too much noise.

"Harry, we can't leave her. She doesn't have a wand."

Harry looked at the death eaters who stood in the center of the room. Rose Lupin was standing right in front of her father, blocking him from any curse Harry might hit him with. He couldn't chance hurting her. Hermione's mother…

But there was another death eater in the room. Harry aimed the wand, if he could only get his wand then Rose could grab it. He concentrated, feeling the magic flowing from his fingers to the wand. "Expelliarmus!" He shouted.

The curse seemed to move very slowly and Harry was so focused on its course that he bearly heard Hermione's cry. "Harry! Look out!" He was pushed to the ground a second before a green light hit him.

One of the windows exploded and the room was suddenly too quiet. One of the death eaters was on the floor, his hand still clutching his wand. Rose's father stood in the middle of the room, his daughter was sprawled in front of him on the red carpet. He laughed, aiming his wand at her.

"That was very good, my daughter. I didn't know you could do wandless magic."

"I was aiming for you." She sneered.

"Do you think you scare me, little one?" He asked softly. "You are nothing but a traitor. Betrayed your blood for a half-breed monster. Did you really think you could keep your secret? That no one will know you're having his child?"

"No one knew." She spat. "We told no one."

"You told your friends. In those dark times one must choose his friends wisely." He approached her, kneeling beside her on the floor. "One might never know who are his true friends, until they reveal their true face."

"Peter Pettigrew." She whispered.

"Yes." He smiled. "Wormtail was very helpful, it was all a misfortune really." He laughed suddenly. "You were not supposed to give birth so late and the Potter wife shouldn't have given birth so early. Fate seemed to play with us all." His smile turned into a frown as his hands closed around her neck, pressing hard. "You should have died on the day you chose to disobey me, you should have died on the day that monster planted his seed inside of you. Did he mark you as his own, my beautiful daughter? Did he bit you?"

Rose struggled, her hands clutching his own, trying to break free from his grip. She coughed violently, desperately trying to breathe. Her vision was starting to fade and she blinked her eyes, trying to remain conscious. From behind her she heard screaming.

"NO!" Hermione was on her feet before she could think. She rushed towards the couple on the carpet, not caring that she is only a teenager and that she had no wand. Within a second she was pulling the death eater away from his daughter, he sneered at her and pushed her away, sending her flying backward to the ground. "Harry, do something!" She screamed.

"Where is your mate now, sweet Rose? Will he not come for you?"

"Harry!" Hermione screamed.

Harry collapsed to the ground clutching his head tightly. The searing pain made it impossible to see anything. All he saw was a bright light that treathened to blind him. He heard Hermione scream, heard footsteps coming towards him. Someone pulled him on his feet from the collar of his shirt. "Harry Potter." A voice spoke in his ear and Harry groaned when he recognized the voice.

A loud explosion shook the room and the blinding light was suddenly gone.

"Crucio!" Remus Lupin spoke the curse with so much hatred in his voice that Harry was momentarily shocked. But the moment was soon over when he broke free from the hand that grasped him.

"Wormtail…" He hissed.

Behind him, Rose's father was shaking on the floor, the effects of the curse still affecting him, his body jerking on the floor, his eyes wide open and unfocused. Remus hurried towards his wife, pulling her into his arms. "Rose…" He shook her gently. Her face was pale and cold and he shook her again. "Wake up, Rose."

"The Dark Lord is coming, Potter." The short man whispered, aiming his wand at the young wizard. Harry lifted his own wand when the house suddenly shook and they fell to the ground. Another window shattered beside them and Harry screamed when he felt the glass hitting his arms.

The entire world seemed to spin on it's axis and Remus fought a feeling of nausea when the room kept shaking. "Hermione, are you alright?" He shouted, steadying the young witch as she crawled towards them. Hermione nodded her head, unable to speak.

The racket around them was overwhelming; the walls were shaking and groaning. The windows shook and Remus pulled Hermione to the floor when another one exploded.

The shaking stopped.

Someone was running towards the living room.

"Lily!" James Potter screamed. He rushed towards the living room and pulled his wife's arm. "Lily, he's here."

The red haired woman stared at him. "But, James, the Fidelius charm…"

"He betrayed us." James's lips curled into a bitter smile. "Lily, take Harry and run. You have to go! I'll stall him."

"James! No!" Lily held his arm.

"Lily, you have to. You have to get out of here." James' face looked very young when he looked at his wife. "You have to save Harry."

"I can't leave you." Lily's eyes were very bright but she didn't let the tears fall.

"I'll be right behind you." He said softly, caressing her cheek with his hand.

An explosion shook the house and the two wizards looked in the direction of the front door.

"He's here."

"You're not planing on joining me, right, James?" Lily asked softly and James blinked his eyes.

"Some things are worth dying for, Lily."

She nodded her head and the footsteps draw nearer.

"Now, take Harry and go." He watched as his wife took off, running towards the stairs that led upstairs.

"Harry, don't look." Remus spoke softly and Hermione hid her face in her hands.

But Harry couldn't look away, his father's lips were fixed in a thin line as he stood in the middle of the room and waited. His wand was clutched in his hands and his eyes were blazing. They all waited.

"Harry!" a choked voice broke the silence and Remus leaped on his feet. Harry shook his head and then collapsed to the ground when the crucio curse hit him. His eyes rolled backwards as the pain hit him. His muscles contracted violently and his hand clutched the wand that was still in his hand. For a second his mind cleared and he screamed the only word he could think of.

"Stupefy!" He heard someone hitting the floor and the pain disappeared immediately.

"Harry? Are you alright?" Remus kneeled beside him and Harry turned his head to watch his father dueling with Voldemort. Behind him stood a dark figure and Harry shuddered.

"He was here." He whispered. "Wormtail watched my parents die and didn't do anything."

"Remus, we have to go."

The werewolf turned his head to look at his wife. She leaned heavily onto Hermione, her right hand clutching her father's wand. Her face was paled and her throat was heavily bruised. Her voice was hoarse and she coughed violently.

"Harry, let's go. You don't need to see this." Remus pulled the younger wizard's arm.

"Wormtail, we have to take him with us. We have to clear Sirius' name." He whispered.

Rose nodded and cast a spell to bind the man's unconscious body. The house shook again as she lifted the man above the ground.

"NO! I will not let you take my daughter from me!"

Rose and Remus turned to see the death eater standing in front of them; another wand aimed at them. "Harry, Hermione, get out of here." Remus said. "Get out!"

"No, we won't leave you here." Harry answered and Hermione nodded clutching his hand.

"I would rather kill my own daughter. I will not see you taint her blood once more."

"You're mad!" Rose shouted. "Leave us be, you never wanted a part of my life before."

Remus moved towards him and the tall man moved backwards. Remus' lips curled into a satisfied smile. "Are you afraid of me? Are you afraid of the big, bad werewolf?" His eyes turned fierce gold and the death eater took another step away from him. He aimed his wand at the death eater, his eyes hard as steel. "I would gladly kill you now." He whispered.

"Remus, no!" His wife reached to his arm. "Don't kill him. His place is in Azkaban."

"After everything he's done?" Remus growled.

"I won't have you turning into a killer." She whispered.

The house shook again as James Potter started screaming his body shook from the intensity of a cruciatus curse.

"Harry, we have to do something." Hermione whispered. Another window shattered and Rose screamed when her father fell to the ground, a large piece of glass sticking out from his throat.

"We'll never make it on time." Harry screamed as the house shook again.

"You can stop it!" Hermione screamed suddenly. "This is your house. You have to claim the house!"

"What?" Harry screamed, watching when the floor suddenly disappeared in front of him, creating a large gap between them and the older wizards.

"Harry!" professor Lupin's voice seemed very far away. "You have to get out of here! The place is about to collapse!"

"I'm not leaving you here!" Harry screamed determined although he knew that the gap between them made it impossible for the other couple to get away.

"Harry! You're the Potter's heir. The house is yours, maybe you could break the charms."

Harry raised his wand, swallowing hard. "I'm…Harry Potter and…I claim this house as my own…" The wand in his hand shined bright and prayed it would work.

The shaking seemed to worsen but Harry could have sworn he saw many other people standing next to him. He could have sworn he saw Mr. Weasley standing in front of them and professor Snape was trying to reach towards professor Lupin and his wife but they all seemed like they were fading away.

He heard Voldemort laughing, the sounds washing him like a bucket of water. He watched with horror as the last window shattered to pieces, sending the one man he considered a father to the floor together with his wife, the glass cutting deep into their bodies.

Voldemort was whispering something and a green light shone trough the room.

The shaking stopped and Harry looked at his father as he fell to the ground, his eyes wide and empty. Voldemort kept on laughing.

Harry blinked his eyes. His father's hazel eyes were suddenly very much alive and he gazed at him, recognition dawning in his face. James Potter smiled, and breathed his last breath.

"Dad!" Harry screamed and rushed forward, his father's body slowly fading.

"Harry!" He bumped into a solid body and raised his head to see Arthur Weasley. "Oh, thank Merlin, you're alright."

"What…what's going on?" He whispered, staring at the lited room around him. Dozens of aurors stood all around the room, all looking at him in wonder.

"I wish I could explain."

"Quickly, we must get them back to Hogwarts." Harry turned as he heard Snape's voice. "Madam Pomfrey, will take care of them."

"Make sure there are no more death eaters in the house." one of the aurors said softly and the wizards walked out of the room.

Harry swallowed hard, his eyes focusing on the place his father's body was. "Harry?" he felt Hermione touching his forearm and found himself clutching her to him, his arms wrapping her tightly. She seemed surprised at first but she held him back.

He couldn't stop it even if he wanted to. His eyes filled with tears and he sobbed violently. He cried for all the times he didn't before. He cried for his parents and for Sirius, cried for Remus and Rose and Hermione.

But for the first time in years, he didn't feel so alone.

Again, I'm truly sorry. Life seemed to get in the way…

Please REVIEW and let me know your opinion…

Bell.