Under My Skin
Chapter Two
A Fight to the Death?
Sirius arrived home a moment after he left-- he had nearly gotten off in the wrong fireplace. His lingering queasiness reminded him of why exactly he disliked Floo travel in the first place. The wizard shrugged his cloak off nearly all the way upon stepping into his flat, but stopped midway.
Peter had acted funny earlier, Sirius thought, frowning a bit.
Unknown to everyone with the exception of Lily, James, Sirius, and Peter, Sirius had persuaded them to change their Secrete Keeper last minute. It wasn't as if he didn't wish to risk his life for his best friends, but choosing Sirius as the Secrete Keeper was just too obvious. No one would suspect Peter because, well, he'd never been too close to James, or any good at magic really.
Peter could have been under the Imperious. Sirius' stomach gave a jolt. Who knows what might happen?
With that thought in mind, Sirius headed outside. He retrieved his wand from his cloak pocket and tapped what was seemingly air near the building's side. A ripple of shimmering light emerged from his wand, and where empty space had been now was filled by a large motorcycle.
Moments later, he was off, towards Peter's. He desperately tried to ignore the strange feeling that something was about to happen...something bad. No, horrible.
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James stood in between the stairs and Voldemort, wand at the ready. He didn't care what happened to himself, just let Lily live! He thought over and over. Let Harry live, let Lily live, let Harry live...
It was all up to him. He had to at least hold of this heartless monster until Lils could escape with Harry to safety. Suddenly Voldemort let out a high pitched laugh, and it rang through James' brain, and the Auror could feel his blood turn cold in his veins.
"James, James, James..." Voldemort tsked. "We meet again," he said lightly, as if he were dropping by for tea. This made his once cold blood boil, and James growled with anger.
"Leave my family alone, Voldemort!" he said through clenched teeth. Voldemort found this funny.
"Leave your family alone? You think you can protect the boy?" he asked, moving forward a step. James stood his ground. Minutes had already trickled by; Harry and Lily had to of escaped already...They just had to of...
"Leave!" James yelled. "Flagrate!" Fire shot from his wand and bound Voldemort. But the Dark Lord didn't even flinch. With one lazy flick of the wand, the flames were sent flying in all directions, setting the couch and coffee table ablaze.
"Avada Kadevra! Expelliarmus!" Multiple spells shot from James's wand, but each was easily deflected and sent flying off in another direction, nearly demolishing the whole sitting room within moments. It had been at least ten minutes, they had to be gone, James thought as he ducked to avoid being hit by the Cruciatus.
James let out a laugh, panting and bleeding a bit from somewhere around his temple. "You've wasted your time, Voldemort. They're gone by now!"
Before James' laughter could die down completely, Voldemort's took it's place, sending a shiver down James's spine. What was so funny? Why wasn't Voldemort angry that he had lost his chance to kill Harry...? This wasn't right.
"James Potter! Did you really expect me to be as stupid and tactless as to not plan beforehand? I knew you, being the tragic hero you are, would try and hold me off. But...ah, listen James. Just listen,"
Although James didn't want to listen, because a dreadful knot of fear had formed in his stomach, he didn't speak. After a few moments he heard what he'd been terrified of.
Lily hadn't been able to escape after all. Harry's cries were heard distantly above them. Voldemort had trapped them in the house.
No, James' frantic thoughts whirled around. No, this isn't happening, this isn't happening, this isn't--
"Oh, but it is, dear Potter. You've failed your son." he told James, as if he'd been listening in on James' very thoughts.
James was in shock. They were goners unless James could take Voldemort down himself. He had to, had to.
"No I haven't!" he roared, sending another killing curse at him. Voldemort moved an inch or so to the right, so the curse flew into the fireplace, sending shattered bricks in all directions.
"I daresay you have," Voldemort replied coldly, and flicked his wand. His curse hit James full on, who had been temporarily caught off guard.
He dropped to the ground, writhing in pain, grinding his teeth to keep from letting out a scream. Voldemort didn't hold him under the Unforgivable for too long. The reason was unknown to James. He was merely focused on standing up as quickly as possible.
They stood, staring at each other for a moment. James refused to back down, to give up. Another cry from upstairs seemed to actually give him more backbone. He had to fight, he had to win.
And so the Auror began firing more and more spells at the monster, curse after curse, occasionally ducking to avoid one that rebounded or one of Voldemort's. The Dark Lord seemed to be enjoying himself, as if James were his appetizer before Harry, the main course.
It was as if Voldemort had begun to tire of this 'game', and he finally began to make an effort to take down James. He smiled wickedly and sent a curse at James. It hit him in the chest, knocking him off his feet and temporarily unable to work his lungs.
Voldemort walked slowly, taking care to step over bits of burning wood. Finally, he stood over James and stared down with the cruelest look on his face. "I could kill you here and now. But I've got a better idea..."
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Lily went back upstairs as her husband ordered, clutching Harry tightly to herself as she ran.
Once upstairs the witch grabbed a fistful of Floo powder and threw it in the roaring fire in her's and James' room. The flames grew emerald, but as she went to walk straight into them, the fire seemed to reject her and Harry.
Trembling slightly, Lily tried to shush her child as he began to let out loud whimpers.
"Shhh, Harry, it will be ok, it will be alright..." she tried to reassure him, but even if it had worked on Harry, nothing would ease her own anxiety and fear.
The windows, of course had been blocked as well, and the antiDissapparating charms were still up. She was trapped up here...Harry was trapped.
The mother and son now sat huddled in Harry's room. The door was magically locked, but Lily already knew that wouldn't stop Voldemort. James would have to.
But Lily also knew one other thing for a fact. She would give up her own life in a heartbeat if Harry could somehow keep his.
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Sirius arrived at Peter's small house in great haste, and didn't even bother to turn his bike off. He swung his leg over it and walked to the front door in great, long strides.
Using his knuckles, Sirius practically pounded on the wooden door anxiously. He waited. And waited. And waited...
His knocking continued for nearly five minutes before Sirius, growling, cast a simple unlocking spell and walked in.
"Wormtail! Wormtail?" he called into the dark home. "Lumos!"
Any other time, Sirius wouldn't really truly care if Peter had disappeared. But his behavior earlier was quite suspicious. Sirius knew he had to look into this. It could easily be absolutely nothing, but it could also be...
No, he thought fiercely.
"Peter?" he called out again. He wasn't home obviously.
A moment later, Sirius mounted his motorcycle with a sigh. He was able to turn and head towards home when he felt the most peculiar sensation in his stomach. It was followed shortly by a sinking feeling, and without another thought, Sirius took off. He had no idea where he was going until he began to see familiar street signs. He was heading back towards James' house.
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A better idea. James shuddered at what that might mean. As soon as his lungs began to function again, he let out a long hiss of breath.
"Ah yes...a curse I have been working on for quite some time. You know of the only Killing Curse, Avada Kadevra. Well, I have taken it to myself to create another. You see, as I watched people die under Avada Kadevra, it did not seem like they suffered enough as they died," His laugh was cool and hollow, eyes fixed intently on James' slightly crumpled form.
James struggle to get to his feet. After a bit of hard struggling he achieved this goal, and stared straight back at Voldemort, chest heaving.
"Yes, it looked nearly peaceful," he continued, twirling his wand between two fingers. "I want such a thing to change. This curse took quite a lot of hard work and time on my part, Potter. You should be grateful to be the first to experience it. Although it will be the last thing you do experience."
James attempted to lift his wand. To protect himself, to throw off what Voldemort sent at him. But he didn't have any energy left; he had used up his last just to stand. He had failed his family…
"Interfectum!"
A/N: Ah! I meant for this to be longer but I'm so sorry. The chapters WILL get more lengthy, I promise! And I had more time then I thought I would to write, so I was able to update this only a few days later! Cool, right? If all goes as planned chapter three should be up sometime this weekend, since I'll have a lot of time to write then. But please don't get so used to me updating every few days, especially with school getting harder and chapters getting deeper and long. I wouldn't want to let you down!
"Interfectum" means something along the lines of 'kill, destroy, slaughter' in latin. . Thanks for the reviews! Even if you didn't review, at least I know people are reading it by looking at my stats page lol! Lurker, you guys are so appreciated too, but if you could take a minute to leave a review, I'd totally love you forever!
Review responses:
Conscience15: Thanks :3 I will try my best to keep this original! Keep giving out pointers, I love getting them! Keep reading and if you continue with these helpful reviews that would be awesome 3
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