AN: And so I bring to you all the next chapter of my HP fic! This chapter's longer than the last, and I think it was very well written. So sit back and enjoy:
Chapter II: One flame down
Many miles away, the sun was setting, casting an eerily blood red glow on a large castle that sat over looking a large lake. Inside the castle a tall gray haired woman was striding down a corridor. Stopping in front of a statue of a gargoyle, she said, "Flossing stringmint." The gargoyle jumped aside, and Minerva McGonagall started up the revolving stairs and to a door.
Knocking, there was a pause, and a voice inside said, "Enter." McGonagall came in, sighing.
"Albus, I hate to bother you, but I've gotten word from one of the students that Hagrid may have a Nudu cub down at his house. Now, I know you are a great friend of Hagrid's but frankly, you've got to draw the line somewhere!" Getting no response, she looked around, not seeing the headmaster at first. "Albus?"
"Over here Minerva." Glancing over to a corner, she saw that the Headmaster of Hogwarts was standing at the window, arms crossed and Fawkes perched on his shoulder as he stared out at the setting sun.
"Albus, are you alright? Has something happened?" she asked worriedly as she moved across the room, ignoring the the sleeping headmaster portraits to stand next to Dumbledore. Looking at her, Fawkes chirped a greeting. Up close, McGonagall was worried by the unusually grave look that was on the Headmaster's face, being used to the twinkle that seemed to always be present in his eyes.
Sighing, Dumbledore turned to McGonagall. "Not as right as I wish I was Minerva. I seem to feel as if a horrible thing shall befall one of us tonight..." He moved past her to site behind his desk, on which three red candles sat, two tall and one smaller one, all burning with a golden flame.
"But Albus, what do you mean? All of the Order members are currently safe and accounted for..." McGonagall's eyes widened. "Unless that's changed. Oh my Albus, is someone..."
Once again, Dumbledore's face was lit by the disturbingly blood red sunlight. "Thankfully no, but I have a feeling that may change. May we pray that it doesn't..."He sighed again, watching the candles flicker, before turning to the Transfiguration teacher.
"Minerva, I want you to go to the Order's headquarters and round up as many of the members as you can. I will cover for you here if someone asks."
"Of course. May I ask why?" Dumbledore didn't look up, only continued staring at the flames.
"Tell them to keep an eye on things, watch out for any strange Death Eater behavior tonight."
"Of course, right away Albus."She turned to leave, before looking back once more.
"Don't worry Albus, we'll all be fine in the end won't we?" Dumbledore only intertwined his fingers and leaned forward onto his elbows, still staring at the flames.
"We can only hope Minerva, we can only hope..."
Meanwhile back at the Potter cottage, outside, only two or three late trick-or-treaters were left, while inside, a quiet family moment was taking place. James sat in his favorite armchair in front of a roaring fire place while Lily sat on the floor with Harry playing peek-a-boo.
"Where's Harry, where's Harry...There he is!" Laughing at Harry's cute squels as she tickled him, Lily looked over at James. "Hm, he's got such an intelligent look in his eyes James, I'd say he's gonna be a banker at Gringotts..."she said with a wink.
James put on a false offended look and held his hand over his heart. "How dare you Lily! No son of mine is going to be a banker! He's going to be a star Quidditch player like his father!"
"Why on earth would he want to be in such a barbaric sport?" Lily joked, before holding Harry up eye to eye. "Yes, I see great things for him. He's gonna make great friends, get great grades, be a Prefect..."
"Get in a bunch of trouble, almost get expelled, be a hit with the ladies. Just like his old man." James smirked at Lily's own fake offended look. "What? It's true!"
"Come here you!" Reaching out, she grabbed one of his legs and yanked him off the chair and down on the floor next to her and Harry.
"Hey, what was that for?" James demanded kiddingly. Lily grinned wickedly, before picking up Harry and advancing on James.
"Come on Harry, tickle attack daddy!" James eyes widened in mock fear.
"No, not that, not that...!"
Meanwhile, a block away, the last two still excited trick-or-treaters were arguing with their tired parents about wether or not to finish this last block. But the argument was suddenly cut off as a loud CRACK echoed through the empty street.
"What was that?" the father asked looking around. Hearing footsteps, he called out "Who's there?"
He got his answer quickly as a tall thin figure emerged from the darkness in front of them. Taking in the person's height, dark cloak and the strange pale snake-like mask the man wore, the wife demanded, "Aren't you a little old to be trick-or-treating?"
"Yess, I suppose I am."The man replied as a bright green light illuminated the dark night then faded.
Voldemort shook his head as he stepped over the 4 fallen bodies. "Stupid Muggles..." he muttered then set off down the street towards the cottage.
Back in the cottage, James was laughing hysterically as he was under the onslaught of tickles brought on by his wife and son, when suddenly, he heard the front gate creak. Sitting up quickly, he gazed towards the door.
"James, what is it?" Lily asked, quickly seeing that James was now dead serious. James quickly shook his head, motioning her to be quiet before standing and grabbing his wand off the table.
"Lily,"he asked quietly, as calmly as he could, "has anyone said they were stopping by at all tonight?"
Lily's eyes widened in fear. "N-no, not at all...James, do you think it's..." He motioned her to be quiet as they both now heard footsteps coming up the front walk. They sat tense there as the footsteps stopped in front of the door, and they heard and saw the knob jiggle. They heard the person mutter a spell and saw the the glow, but the door stayed firmly locked and shut as the voice made what sounded like a cetain four letter word.
"Grab Harry and get back., now..." Lily quickly picked up Harry and backed away.
"But James, what about you...?" James only shook his head, motioning her to move further back as the door exploded inwards. James was thrown back by the force of the spell, colliding with the couch and sending it backwards. Lily screamed, as Harry started wailing.
Coughing from the dust, James shook away the cobwebs as he peered at the figure now stepping across the threshold and standing now on the inside of the entryway. The figure looked around at the destroyed room, before pulling his hood down, revealing his horrible face.
"Potter, after all we've been through,"Voldemort hissed, "you lock me out? Why, I'd think you aren't happy to see me..."
James glared angrily at Voldemort as he stood up, wand clutched in his hand. "You've killed way to many of my friends, why the hell would I ever be happy to see you?"
"Hm, pity. But you can rest assured, you will be joining them. You and that Mudblood wife of your have produced a threat to me, and I will not stand to let him live!"
"You bastard, you watch your language! Expelliarmus!" Voldemort's eyes narrowed, and with a casual flick of his wand, he blocked the spell.
"Come now Potter, you wish to beat me with a 2nd year spell? You must do better then that. Like this for instance. Sectumsempra!" Voldemort brought his wand down in a slashing motion. James screamed in pain as blood sprouted from his mouth as several large cuts slashed across his chest.
Stumbling backwards, James dropped to one knee, his breath coming out in sickly gasps. "Heh, picked that one up from an associate of mine." Voldemort smirked as he raised his wand and pointed it at James
"James no!" Lily screamed, bringing Voldemort's attention up to the other members of the household. Voldemort's eyes narrowed as he focused on the baby in her arms, and then a grin spread across his face. With amazing speed, Voldemort jumped over James and was advancing on the two.
"LILY! HARRY! Graghh,"James painfully pulled himself to his feet and pointed his wand at Voldemort. "ACCIO VOLDEMORT!" He watched with brief happiness as Voldemort jerked backwards, then dived out of the way as he flew past to crash through the window and onto the lawn beyond.
"James, are you..." Lily hurried forward to help him, but James held up his hand as he heard Voldemort grunt and start to get up outside.
"No Lily, take Harry and go! Run, I'll hold him off-"
Lily's eyes widened and filled with tears."But James-"
"No, don't worry about me! One of us has to make sure he can't get to Harry! GO!"Lily looked frantically between James and the rising angry form of Voldemort outside the shattered window.
Then she finally looked at the still bawling Harry, before setting a determined look on her face and nodding. She and James shared one last painful look good-bye, then she turned and disappeared.
James watched her go, before struggling to his feet and facing Voldemort as he lept back into the house."Potter, you do not know how greatly annoying you truly are, do you? I would have considered sparing you earlier, but now you will die." James said nothing, only straightening fully and staring Voldemort down.
"I may die now, but I will live as long as I know that one day, you will fall Voldemort. And for that I am willing to die as long as my friends and allies oppose you and stop you from ever getting Harry."
Voldemort only gave him a satisfied smile."Pity that it was one of your friends that ratted you out." James eyes widened as a green light enveloped him, and he knew no more...
Miles away, Fawkes crooned sadly as Dumbledore gasped and hung his head as the first of the candles' flame flickered and disappeared...
I think that's the perfect way to end this chapter don't you? I think it was perfectly done, and I hope you do to. For those of you who were wondering, a nundu is like a giant leopard creature a friend of mine found in Magical Creatures of the world and where to find them. R&R and I'll have the next and maybe finally chapter up soon!