Important A/N at end so don't forget to read it.

Fierce Determination

Chapter 2

"Alright, Harry, you're 'It' so close your eyes and count to one hundred. And no peeking this time!" Eight year old Annabelle Potter explained to her twin brother. "Let's go Emily." She said before grabbing the hand of her best friend Emily Lupin and running off into the woods behind Potter Manor.

When they had gotten so far into the woods that they could no longer see the Manor, Emily suggested that they split up and they both took off in different directions. Once Annabelle was no longer visible, Emily took off at full speed to get to her favorite hiding place. Both Harry and Annabelle had strictly forbade the use of her Werewolf enhanced speed, but what they didn't know wouldn't hurt them, or her for that matter.

Two minutes of running full speed had put a lot of distance between her and the Potters ensuring that no matter what she wouldn't be found by Harry. Being 'It' just wasn't fun for her because, she was almost as good a tracker as her father is and could hunt them down by their smells.

Emily was nearing the edge of the Potter's property, when she heard a scream from off in the distance. Normally she would put this off as Annabelle being found by Harry, but it just wasn't one of those screams. Annabelle was in trouble. Of this she was sure. Forgetting about the game, she took off running top speed in the direction the scream had come from.

Harry had counted to about fifteen before he had run inside and grabbed his father's Cleansweep 5. He wasn't allowed to be on a broom without supervision, but what he had in mind was worth it. They had all been playing Hide 'N Seek in these woods for the past two years and so far Emily had only ever been found three times. All three times were when she had fallen and hurt herself. But, not this time. Not even Uncle Remus could outrun Harry on a broom.

By the time he had managed to sneak inside and grab the broom without his Mum seeing him—his Dad had seen him, but only gave him a sly smile and a wink which he had happily returned—it was already past time for him to go looking for them. By this time Annabelle and Emily would have spit off and Emily would be running at full speed. He knew that she always cheated like that, he wasn't stupid.

Running full speed to the edge of the woods, Harry jumped on his broom, without stopping and flew full speed ahead, weaving in and out of the trees. Within seconds he was to where he could no longer see his home, and knew this is where they would have split off. Annabelle would have run to the right, and Emily would have went to the left. Girls, they're so predictable. He thought to himself as he took off to his left after Emily. He had barely gone anywhere when he had heard Annabelle's scream. He had barely heard it, but he had heard it and quickly reversed direction to see what was wrong with her.

He had flown at top speed for about thirty seconds before he realized that he could have already flown past her and not known about it. Slowing to almost a stop, Harry strained his ears waiting for Annabelle to let out another scream.

What he heard was a man's scream of "You Stupid Bitch!" from slightly behind him and to the right, followed by what had to be a hard slap and Annabelle's whimpering.

Not even thinking about it, Harry took off in the direction it had come from. Not three seconds later he saw the source of the guys voice bending over his sister and performing a spell that made her go stiff. Harry let out the loudest battle yell he could manage before flying straight at the stranger. The guy had barley managed to get turned around before Harry bowled into him at full speed.

The stranger fell backwards and to the ground, gasping for air. Harry lost control of the broom and flew sideways into a tree, snapping the broom in half. All Harry wanted to do was lay there and cry until someone came and helped him, but he knew that he was too far into the woods for anyone to hear and it would be an hour or two before his Dad and Uncle Remus came looking for him. Also, there was the fact that he had just hurt the stranger, not incapacitated him.

Harry tried to get to his feet, but the pain in his side was just to much and he was unable to. The stranger, however, was on his feet and making his way to Harry, wand in hand. Harry struggled in vain to get to his feet one more time and managed to get to his knees before the stranger pushed him back down with his foot.

The man leveled his wand between Harry's eyes and had an incantation on his lips, when out of nowhere a blur tackled the man to the ground and started punching him rapidly in the face. Her eyes had turned from their normal brown to that of yellow, and had Harry known what the word meant he would have said they looked feral. Harry had never been more relieved in his life to see Emily than he was at this moment.

His relief quickly turned to horror as he watched the stranger push Emily off of him and fire a spell at her that shot lots of little, silver spikes at her. Several hit her in the face, imbedding themselves in her skin, others hit her in the neck and chest, as still more hit her in the arms as she brought them up to protect herself.

Even as the first spike had hit her, Emily had started howling in pain, screaming at the top of her lungs and bawling. Before the spell had even ended she had fallen to the ground, writhing in pain. She attempted to dig the spikes out of her flesh, but once her finger came in contact with the silver spikes, they would sizzle and smoke and she would have to pull them away. In a matter of seconds she was unable to even lift her arms to attempt this and so just laid there moaning and whimpering.

"Normally," the stranger said as he ended the spell, "I would a filthy half-breed like yourself suffer in the pain until you die. But, since you are so young I will take pity on you end your suffering."

Unbeknownst to the stranger, Harry had forced himself to his feet, fueled by the need to help his friend. As he was getting to his feet his hand came upon a rock the size of a softball. Digging up what part of it laid underground, Harry gripped the rock as tightly as he could and snuck up behind the stranger. Reaching back with all his strength, Harry swung the rock underhanded, between the man's legs and into his private place.

The reaction was instant and exactly what Harry had hoped for. The man howled in pain and dropped to his knees. Harry wound up again and this time brought the rock across the side of the man's head. If Harry had been a little stronger, the man surely would have died. Instead, he just slumped to the ground unconscious with a hairline fracture in the skull and a badly bleeding head. Harry dropped the rock and was at his friends side in an instant.

Harry didn't know much about werewolves, just that they changed during the full-moon and that silver was highly dangerous, and could easily kill them. So Harry immediately began to dig what he would later claim to be hundreds of spikes the size of Galleons, but in reality was only seventeen spikes the size of Knuts.

When he had finished digging the spikes out, he had hoped that she would bounce up and be her normal self again. Instead she managed a feeble 'thanks', before losing consciousness. Panicking a little and not knowing what to do, Harry ran to his sister's side hoping that she could figure something out.

"Belle, get up. You have to help. Emily got hit with silver and now she won't wake up. What do we do?" Harry asked quickly, shaking his sister.

"Mmmm, mmm. Mmm mmmmm." was all he got out of his sister. That's when he recognized what spell she was under. His father had done it to him before and there was no way out of it unless the counter-charm was performed.

Running over and picking up the strangers wand, Harry ran back to his sister before he realized that he could not remember what the counter-charm was. It had been over a year since he father had performed the spell on him. All he could remember was that it started with an F.

"Umm. Finish!" Harry shouted waving the wand frantically. To his amazement it actually worked.

"You idiot! I told you to just leave me here!" Annabelle chided him as soon as she stood up.

"Really? Cause all I heard was Mmm Mmmm." Harry replied sarcastically.

"Shut up! There isn't enough time for your stupidness! We have to get Emily to Mom and Dad, Now! Pick her up and put her on your back!" Harry would have normally done the exact opposite of what his sister told him to do, but the situation was now desperate.

The pain in his side completely forgotten, Harry managed to get Emily onto his back with his sister's help before setting off at a slow, but steady trot in the direction he knew his house to be in. Annabelle led the way, the strangers wand in hand. What she planned to do with the wand, Harry had no idea. She knew as much magic as Harry did—which was none—but she had insisted on carrying the wand.

By the time their house was within site, Harry felt as though he would drop dead at any moment from exhaustion, but pressed on nonetheless. Annabelle had ran ahead to get their parents. Harry could hear her shouting for them as she ran along. Before Harry had even exited the woods, Uncle Remus was by his side, scooping Emily off his back and into his arms.

"What happened?" Remus asked him in a desperate voice. Harry was too out of breath answer and just collapsed to the ground, panting for air. "Harry! What happened?" Remus shouted, frustration taking over.

Luckily, Harry was saved from answering as his sister caught up along with his parents and Aunt Carrie. Carrie was at Emily's side in seconds, Harry's mother bent over him to check him out.

"We were playing Hide 'N Seek when some guy appeared out of nowhere and attacked me. Harry came and ran the guy over with his broom after he used a spell on me that wouldn't let me move. Then Emily tackled the guy and he shot silver spikes out of his wand at her." Annabelle explained for Harry.

"Silver!" all the adults shouted as one.

"We have to get her back to the house." Lily shouted. "If we don't clean the wounds out, and fast, she could become poisoned. And then..." she let whatever else she was going to say go.

Remus lifted Emily into the air with ease and carried her to the house. Likewise, Harry's father carried him back to the house when it became obvious that he wasn't getting up on his own. When they made it into the house, Harry was taken into one room while Emily was taken into another. Annabelle attempted to enter the room with Emily, but their mother told her that she would only be in the way and then shoved her out the door.

"How are you doing?" Annabelle asked Harry sullenly, as she came and sat beside him.

"I'll be fine in a couple minutes." Harry lied. In truth, the pain in his side was coming back tenfold.

Soon Harry's father and Uncle Remus came out of the room, James carrying a vile of a red potion. "Here Harry, I want you to drink all of this." he said before Harry could question them as to Emily's well being. When Harry finished the last drop he began feeling the effects of the potion. All traces of his fatigue were gone along with the pain that was throbbing in his side. He also became more alert and aware of his surroundings. "Do you feel better?" his father asked him.

"Yeah! A lot. What was that potion, Dad?" Harry asked curious. All the potions his mother gave him when he was hurt or sick made him sleepy, but this, with this he felt like he could play for hours on end and never get tired.

"Never mind that now. I want you to show Uncle Remus and me exactly where you guys were attacked. Okay?"

"Sure. Follow me." Harry said jumping off the couch and hurrying towards the back door.

"Whoa. Slow down there Harry. I wanted you to stick real close to me. If I say run, I want you to run back towards the house as quickly as possible. Okay?"

"Fine. Let's go." Harry said impatiently. He didn't know why, but he burned with anticipation and energy. He felt if he didn't get out and run as fast as he could, he would explode.

"Harry. I mean it. If I tell you to do something, I want you to do it immediately. Do you understand?"

"Yes, Dad, I understand. If you tell me to do something, I'll do it. Can we go now?"

"Yeah. Let's go. Remember, stick close to me." With that Harry, his father, and Uncle Remus headed out the back door. Annabelle had tried to follow, but their father had held up a hand, forestalling her saying that she needed to stay here and help their mother should she need it. It was a very sullen Annabelle that sat back down on the couch.

Harry set off at a fast walk, James and Remus keeping up with him quite easily. As the got further into the woods Harry realized that he was almost running all out and wanted to go faster. When he was sprinting as fast as he could his father clamped a hand on his shoulder and forced him to slow down. Soon, though, he was running again and his father had to force him to slow down. Four times this happened, and four times his father had to tell him to slow down. Eventually they made it to the still unconscious form of the stranger.

"Jonathan?" James asked aloud to no one in particular.

"You know this piece of shit?" Remus asked, the hatred evident in his snarl.

"Yeah. At least, I thought I did. He works under me in the Auror division. He is—was a good kid. I never expected this from—wake up Packer!" James cut himself off kicking the man hard in the stomach. "I said, Wake! Up!" James shouted, emphasizing the last two words with a kick each.

Harry took a few steps away from his father. He had never seen him act like this before. And his Uncle Remus, the look on his face was scary. He could see the white knuckled grip he had on his wand and could tell that he was restraining himself from attacking the man.

"Ennervate." James said waving his wand at the unconscious man who blinked and groaned his way to wakefulness. "Just what the hell are you doing here Packer?" James asked coldly when the man was aware of his surroundings.

"James?" the man gulped. "I had heard that someone was going to attack your children, so I came to protect them."

"He's lying Dad! He's the one who attacked us!" Harry shouted.

"You little shit!" Packer shouted and lunged at Harry. He must have been seeing double because he leapt about a meter to Harry's right. When he landed on the ground, Remus kicked him hard in the side.

"Try it again and it will be ten times worse." Remus growled at the man.

"Oh, if it isn't the werewolf." The man said as he got his wind back. "I take it that the 'sin against nature' is your daughter. Tell me did she die yet?"

Remus's response was to grab the man by the throat with both hands and lift him into the air. After a few seconds of Remus choking the man James decided to interfere. "Alright Remus let him go." Remus ignored him. "Moony you don't want to stoop to his level. Let him down."

"James, this bastard almost killed my daughter. He would have killed Harry and Annabelle if he got the chance." Remus said, not letting the man down who by now was turning blue.

A red light shot from James's wand and hit Remus in the arms who dropped the man in a yelp of pain. "What are you doing James? He deserves to die!"

"I know he does, but that isn't our decision to make. That's why we have a government for. He'll get what's coming to him. We'll play up his attack on my daughter. The wizarding world will be calling for his blood by this time tomorrow for daring to attack the girl-who-lived. Help me get him back to the house first." James said turning back to the man named Packer.

"Why? You don't want him knowing the location of your house!" Remus said incredulously.

"He knows too much, Remus. He could blab to the world about Emily being a werewolf, then there'd be a lot more trouble than I care to deal with. Let's just hope your wife still remembers how to Obliviate people. It's been little over 9 years since she last did it. She was never any good at it to begin with though. People kept ending up thinking they were roosters." James explained before stunning the man.

"James, not to correct you or anything, but Carrie is the best Obliviator that the Ministry has and she went back to work about 5 years ago." Remus corrected.

"I know that. You know that. He doesn't know that though." James explained. "Come on. Lets get moving." Ten minutes later they were back at the house facing an extremely pissed off looking Lily Potter. "Hello Honey. How are you doing?"

A/N: Alright its time to explain some things that wouldn't have fit correctly in the story.

Remus:To start with, Remus had disappeared in December before Harry and Annabelle were born because he found out that his girlfriend was pregnant with Emily, who was born on Sept 1 after Harry and Annabelle so she will be in Harry and Annabelle's year at Hogwarts. James found him a couple months after the Potters were attacked and he forced all three of them to come back. Remus and Carrie are not married in the wizarding world, because it's illegal, but are married in the muggle world.

Carrie: she is an original character. Here's a little about her background. She was a Ravenclaw in the same year as James and everyone and is also a pureblood whose parents were killed in her 5th year by Voldemort. She graduated second in her class behind Lily who has been her best friend since they met on the train ride to Hogwarts first year. Her and Remus dated throughout sixth year but he broke it off with her at the end of the year and ignored her until they met again at James and Lily's wedding and she was pregnant, because of a failed contraceptive charm about two months later. She became an Obliviator after school, took three years off when Emily was born and went back to doing that.

Emily: another original character. Daughter of Remus and Carrie, obviously. Not affected as badly as Remus during the full moon because she wasn't bitten, but she still does suffer. Best friends with Harry and Annabelle, comes over to their house everyday with or without her parents and whether they know it or not.

Sirius: he was convicted of killing twelve muggles and Peter Pettigrew with a single curse. Thrown in Azkaban without a trial and believes to this day that all of the Potters are dead. Only person who knows the truth about Peter but too depressed to tell anyone. Harry, Annabelle, and Emily have no idea that he even exists. James was too hurt by his supposed betrayal to even mention him. Neither do they know about Peter's existence.

You may be wondering what kind of parents would let 8 year old children run around in the woods by themselves. Well, all three of them have tracking charms on them so if they ever got lost they would be able to be found very easily. Another reason is that the Potters own over 500 acres of land so nobody should be on their land. Also, their house is unplottable and everything except the Fidelius so no one knows they liver there except their closest friends. So they should be perfectly safe, which is obviously flawed logic.

If you have any other questions that I may have missed in this A/N feel free to E-mail me or just ask in a review and I will reply as soon as possible.