Things Worth Dying For

Chapter 4: Why Didn't I See It?
31st October 1981

Peter shivered as he requested an audience with Voldemort. Here, at last, was his chance to redeem himself. He had long since been at the wrong side of Voldemort's wrath. But after tonight, he was going to be the Dark Lord's favourite. After all, he, Peter Pettigrew, was the only one who was able to hand him the Potters. It was a narrow escape out of the hiding place Sirius assigned for him. He only hoped no one would discover his absence until it was too late.

"You have information for me, Pettigrew?" The high cold voice sent chills down his spine. He took a deep breath to steady himself. He had to do this, for his future.

"Y-Yes my lord," he squeaked.

"And?" Voldemort was impatient to get this over and done with. Pettigrew was beginning to be a liability. He might have to get rid of him soon.

"The Potters have made me their Secret-Keeper, my lord."

A ringing silence followed this announcement. Then Voldemort started to laugh a high, cold, mirthless laugh.

"Excellent, excellent! A stroke of brilliance I wouldn't have expected of you, Pettigrew. Now, at last, the Potters are cornered." He chuckled. "All because they trusted the wrong person! Whatpossessed them to use Pettigrew, I wonder? No matter, no matter. So much the better. After all these months of trying to get rid of these irksome people, they are finally at my mercy. When did they made you Secret-Keeper?"

"L-last w-week, m-my l-lord," he whimpered. This was not good.

As he expected, Voldemort flew into a rage. "WHAT? AND YOU WAITED UNTIL TODAY TO TELL ME THIS? ARE YOU SO STUPID YOU CAN'T EVEN THINK? I NEED TO KILL THAT STUPID BOY IMMEDIATELY! CRUCIO!"

Peter writhed and shrieked in pain on the floor, begging, pleading at his master to stop, to spare him, in spite of Voldemort's continual shrieks of "FOOL! YOU CAN'T EVEN REPORT TO ME IMMEDIATELY WHEN YOU WERE MADE SECRET-KEEPER? AND I THOUGHT THAT, BEING IN GRYFFINDOR, YOU WERE SUPPOSED TO HAVE BRAVERY? WHAT IS THE USE OF HAVING COURAGE TO FACE YOUR OLD FRIENDS BUT NOT ME, YOU MASTER, LORD VOLDEMORT, WHOM YOU SWORE ETERNAL LOYALTY? I WILL TEACH YOU WHAT PAIN TRULY IS!" It was for a full ten minutes before Voldemort lifted the Cruciatus Curse. "No matter," he whispered. "I will deal with you when I come back. You stupid man. To think I could have gotten rid of the Potter boy for a whole week, delayed because my servant was so stupid he'd waited for a week to tell me the Potters' hideout. Well? Where are they?" he demanded irritably. "Or is the Cruciatus Curse not enough to loosen your tongue, you useless worm?"

Peter lay panting on the cold floor, gasping, trying to catch his breath. He forced himself to repeat the address of the hiding place where his friend, James Potter and his family currently reside. The Marauders were his friends and his family, once upon a time. Now, he realised that there was no right or wrong, those idealistic fools. There was only power. And whoever was able to protect Peter Pettigrew would be the person to whom he would swear eternal allegiance.


Sirius arrived at Peter's designated hiding place, killing the engine of his favourite motorcycle. He'd decided to check on Peter before he himself went into hiding. As he walked in, he felt a strange prickling down his back. Something was wrong. Seriously wrong.

Peter was gone.

He started to panic. Had the Death Eaters found out about the switch so fast? He didn't even tell Dumbledore, the leader of the Order of the Phoenix, that James and Lily didn't use him as Secret-Keeper. So how could the Death Eaters know? Had Peter already been dragged off and subjected to torture?

That's when he started realising something else, something that alarmed him further. Everything was orderly. There wasn't even a sign of struggle. Nothing was out of place. Which, given the present circumstances, was extremely out of place. Then it hit him. Peter had betrayed them all. He was the spy. Not Remus. And now his stupidity had delivered his brother on a silver platter to Voldemort. How blind he had been!

"Shit!" He needed to get help immediately, and he needed Dumbledore now, more than ever. "Expecto Patronum!" he shouted. His silvery-white Patronus erupted from his wand and streaked off into the darkness. Without a second thought, he hopped back onto his flying motorcycle and took off in the direction of Godric's Hollow.

That little bastard, he thought savagely, he is so going to get it when I get my hands on him… I'll make sure that he is thoroughly unrecognisable when I'm through with him… I only hope that I'm not too late… Oh Remus, forgive me for suspecting you just because of who you are… James, Lily, I'm so sorry for endangering you and Harry… We never even gave a second thought that Peter might not be the person we always thought he was… Bastard… Sneaking rat!


Dumbledore was poring over paperwork at the Headquarters of the Order of the Phoenix when a Patronus in the shape of a dog came in. It was from Sirius. The message within the charm unfurled itself.

Professor Dumbledore, James and Lily are in trouble. Sirius.

He stared. Did this mean Voldemort found out about the Fidelius Charm? But… how? The secret wasn't supposed to be made known to the Dark Lord… It was supposed to keep the Dark Lord from finding out the Potters' whereabouts… unless… unless the Secret-Keeper divulged it. But Sirius was their Secret-Keeper. He was a strong, capable, not to mention an extremely loyal wizard. His regards for James were sincere. Could he have accidentally told the spy without knowing? Or was he tortured by Voldemort? His blood ran cold as he considered another possibility. Was Sirius the spy? If Sirius Black was indeed the spy, why would he contact him? James and Lily are in trouble… Something was definitely fishy here. Did Sirius meant to lure him to Voldemort? Yet… the urgency of the message…James and Lily are in trouble…

He needed to help the Potters first. He can worry about Sirius later. First and foremost, he needed to get backup and assemble a rescue team, if he wasn't too late. He raised his wand and thought "Expecto Patronum!" preferring the advantage of his non-verbal spells. A silvery-white phoenix erupted and took flight immediately, calling all members of the Order of the Phoenix for help. Their only hope was threatened, their hope for the magical world's future, and the long term happiness of the magical people.


James and Lily were relaxing by the fire in the living room. Caring for a one-year-old toddler was very energy consuming, even when they both had gone AWOL or MIA from their jobs for a year now. Whenever they had the chance, they savoured and cherished these few moments of peace and quiet before Harry would start crying for something or another again. Quality time together was very hard to get by, especially with Voldemort still hot on their trails.Voldemort. Damn him.

James squinted his eyes. He had been staring absentmindedly out the window, and he thought he saw something… moving? What, or who, was that? It can't be. A shadow was approaching their house. Wait… Could it be Professor Dumbledore? What was he doing at this time of the night, especially in these dangerous times?

Curious, he got up and went to the window to get a better look. To his horror, he saw two tiny dots of red. It was Voldemort, striding purposefully in the direction of their house, with his wand outstretched.

Peter. They had been betrayed.

He swore under his breath. He shouldn't have trusted Peter, that slimy rat. May he rot in hell, he cursed silently.

In a flash, he had his wand out while shouting, "Lily, take Harry and go! It's him! Go! Run! I'll hold him off –"

Lily didn't question him. She knew he would do this, to stand up against Voldemort, protecting his family. She knew that he would do anything to save her and Harry. And she loved him all the more for that, though she knew in her heart that they might never meet each other alive again. She stumbled out of the living room and into the nursery, just as the door burst open. James attempted desperately to duel with him, buying more time for Lily and Harry to flee, but it was only a matter of seconds before the high, chilling voice laughed and screeched "Avada Kedavra!"

The sound of James's body hitting the floor stunned Lily. She quickly scooped up Harry, but it was too late. Voldemort was advancing towards them, wand out.

Lily was seized by a wave of inexplicable fear that she forgotten she could Apparate. All she knew was to shield her son from Voldemort, shrieking, "Not Harry! Not Harry! Please – I'll do anything –"

Voldemort seemed to find this extremely amusing. How touching… When after all this I'm still going to kill the boy… He merely said, "Stand aside – stand aside, girl –"

What? Why did he wanted to kill Harry so much but would spare her? But she wouldn't let Voldemort so much as touch Harry. No way, not over her dead body. He was all she had left now that James was dead.

She cowered as he advanced towards them. "Not Harry, not Harry, please not Harry!" She pleaded. But she knew it was no use. Voldemort wasn't famed for his compassion. He was the Dark Lord, after all.

Voldemort was beginning to get impatient. He hissed, "Stand aside, you silly girl… stand aside, now…" He would have to take this foolish woman's life if she didn't move soon. He didn't want to risk seeing the Aurors. He just wanted a quick, clean job. She was wasting his time. Besides, all this taunting and verbal duels were what allowed the Potters to escape him three times so far. But not this time. Oh, no! He had his own future to think of, rather than giving way to his liking for sneering and insulting this Mudblood like he always did.

Lily was desperate now. She couldn't let her son die. In a valiant (and, according to Voldemort, foolish) effort to save him, she laid down her life for her son. "Not Harry, please no, take me, kill me instead – Not Harry! Please… have mercy… have mercy…"

Voldemort started laughing a high, cold, cruel laugh. Mercy? What was mercy? He certainly didn't have that word in his entire vocabulary. Fine then, he would gladly help her die! Whatever it was, he just needed to kill the boy. The boy was the real threat. If she wanted to die, sure, he could help her. "Avada Kedavra!" For a second time that night, a blinding flash of green light was seen shining out of the manor at Godric's Hollow. Lily's emerald eyes closed forever in death, with her arms still encircled tightly and protectively around her son.

Little Harry started crying as Lily fell to the floor. Voldemort advanced towards the innocent one-year-old boy with a crown of his father's jet-black hair, his eyes the same shining emeralds as his mother's. "This is the boy who would be my downfall? Well say goodbye, darling," he cooed in a mock baby voice, "cause you're not going to stand in my way as I take over the world!" Voldemort sneered. "Avada Kedavra!"

Harry cried even louder as he felt a searing pain in his forehead. The curse had rebounded back to Voldemort. He was forever protected by his mother's sacrifice for him, a protection that flowed through his veins because Lily had died so that he could live. Voldemort's red eyes widened with shock as his own curse hit him. He experienced pain beyond pain, pain so intense that couldn't even be described. However, protected by his Horcruxes, he could not die. The seventh part of his soul was merely ripped from his body as a result of the Killing Curse. Greatly weakened without a host body, he fled Godric's Hollow just before it was completely destroyed, vowing that he would come back one day and finish off the last Potter, eliminating the last stumbling block in his plan for world domination.

The Potters' house at Godric's Hollow collapsed, burying, in their midst, two of the greatest wizards and witches of all times, who had risked themselves to save the baby now crying harder than ever as he lay helplessly in the middle of the ruined house. James and Lily Potter had not known that, because of their sacrifice, they had managed to earn fourteen years of peace for the magical world before Voldemort would rise again. By their selfless act, their son now fulfilled the terms of the prophecy Albus Dumbledore had heard, that day in the Hog's Head. Harry James Potter was the only one who would ever be able to defeat Voldemort now. He was the only person who ever survived the Killing Curse. He was called the Boy Who Lived. He would soon be known as the Chosen One. Because he was loved when Voldemort was not.

James and Lily had known the dangers of joining the Order of the Phoenix and fighting an active battle against Voldemort, yet they had consciously laid down their lives, not only for their son, but for the greater good of the magical world. And for that, they were saved. They may be dead, but would never be gone. And Harry would always be loved, forever and beyond.

Finis –