Just outside Hogwarts- Harry Potter
"Sir, everything is set up." Harry didn't respond to Applebe. The man was young, though talented, and he quivered as he awaited a response. Harry instead looked out into the distance, through the thick fog, to the glowing light of Hogwarts. Even now, even all these years later, he couldn't stop the feeling of awe that came across him even as he glanced at the majestic building. Another feeling too came, nostalgia, for the only home he'd once known. He turned away towards Applebee.
"Send me Deputy Auror Weasley." He'd often found, in times of high pressure, that seriousness and propriety prevented hysteria.
"Yes sir," the young man jumped at the chance to leave Harry and ran to the tent where the aurors were busy trying to work on a plan. However, all plans they'd so far come up with would take days to put in place- the removal of Hogwarts wards would take several skilled curse breakers days to complete- if they were lucky.
"Dad?" A voice called from his pouch. He ripped out the mirror and held it in front of him.
"Jimmy?" In the faint light he saw the flash of charcoal hair. His eyes focussed upon the mirror and his heart both sank and rose. It was not his eldest features, whose chin was now stubbled with hair, but that of his youngest son.
"No, Dad," Albus said quietly, "it's me, Lily too."
"Daddy," she called from behind Albus.
"Oh thank Merlin you are okay," Harry said, sinking in relief. "Are you safe?"
"We're fine Dad," Albus said curtly, "everyone is. James found a way to evacuate us, we're all still in the castle, but safe."
"James did?" Harry breathed, James was okay. James was safe.
"He saved us all, he and Fred and that lot."
"Oh Dad," Lily said quietly, "they stayed to fight so we could get away, they wanted Jimmy, Dad."
"We are doing all we can to get through the wards."
"James is going to bring them down," Albus said in absolute certainty. "He went to get Uncle Neville."
"Neville is okay too?"
Albus nodded. He looked downright murderous, and Harry had a feeling it was he who Albus was furious with.
"I'm so glad you are safe," Harry breathed again. He had been convinced that one or more of his children would be dead before he could reach them.
"Thanks to James."
"And when you last saw him, James was alright?"
"He was alive," Albus said after a long pause.
"I'm going to get you out, all of you, alive."
"They've got Teddy as well," Lily said, twirling her hair around her finger and biting her lip. "They'd cursed him, oh Daddy he was the one holding James!"
"Imperious, then," Harry mused. Things were clicking into place, he'd probably found something out just after he'd arrived at Hogwarts and for his troubles he'd been cursed and enslaved for the last five months. Poor Ted. Poor Victorie. But that didn't explain one thing, why was there a file on Higgs? Ted must have suspected him… how did he know? "Who is with James?" He said urgently.
James had overheard Jonathon Higgs, Terence's son. But he knew that Terence had another child…
"Dan, Fred, Aalaa and Maddy," Albus counted off.
"And Alison," Lily said, "Alison Higgs."
"The Slytherin?"
"James' girlfriend," Lily said with a small excited smile. "She's really nice."
Of course. Harry couldn't help but feel like a fool, how could he have missed so much? How blind had he been? James had fallen out with his friends over a girl, and as Ginny had said this girl had been a Slytherin and the others didn't trust her, that James had become withdrawn from his friends because of her.
And if James suspected that Higgs' family was involved in terrorism he would want to tell somebody. And who better to tell than the older brother who worked with the aurors.
If only James had told him. If only James had felt he could talk to him…
"Sir?" It was Applebee.
Harry looked into the brave but terrified faces of his youngest two children. Who had seen their school fall, their teachers turn on them, their brother held to ransom while their other brother was cursed and abused… and he had hoped he could spare them all of this. "I love you, we need to keep this line open and I need you to tell Applebee everything you can. I am so proud of you both. I promise you, I will get you all out of there."
"Love you dad," Lily said sadly, her eyes filling up.
"Stay safe."
Harry pressed the mirror into Applebee's hands and closed his eyes briefly. He released the mirror and stepped back.
"Ron!" He called, "I think we can get the bastards."
Slightly outside the dungeons- James Sirius Potter
Hope is a strange feeling. When it is absent, the world is dark, dank and dead. With it, one feels they can take on the world. Ted was back on his side, their side, they'd, after only a few moments of trouble, managed to free Neville and Zabini (both of whom had seemed only moments away from murdering each other).
"So, what's the plan?" James asked as they jogged up the stairs two at a time. His ribs were healed but twinged just enough to remind him they'd moments earlier been broken.
"The plan, Potter, surprisingly, does not require you," Zabini said with an air of pomp importance that caused James to colour.
"I'm not being funny, Professor," James said in mock-sweetness. "But it rather seems you need all the help you can get."
Out of the corner of his eye, he saw Ted cover a grin with his hand. Neville however had no qualms about embarrassing Zabini for he quaffed loudly. "Right you are, my boy. Right you are. I'll have to get the wards I'm afraid, they will not respond to anyone else. The rest of you should help the children in the Great Hall."
James gulped and looked down. In the excitement, and terror- not to mention the terror, in saving Ted and Neville and Zabini, he'd forgotten about his friends, who were fighting for their lives in the hall above. Fighting not only against other students, but against powerful witches and wizards far older and experienced than themselves. He could only hope that they'd be in time to turn the battle in their favour.
As they reached the top of the last staircase, James stalled, just beyond he could hear the crackle, smash, bangs and screams. Whether the screams were of the bad guys or his friends he couldn't know. Here in this staircase, he was just beyond knowing the fate of his friends, who was alive and who was dead. What was that thing Hermione had once said? Schrodinger's cat. If you don't know for certain, then both possibilities exist in tangent. Or, as James had said at the time, open the damn box and find out for yourself.
So he opened the box.
His feet skittered as he ran into the Entrance Hall, he was directly behind Neville and Ted. Zabini had vanished. His own wand was warm in his hand and he could almost feel it whispering encouragement to him. Ted roared and ran into the Great Hall, after who, James couldn't see.
He could see a flash of blonde, and then- his heart stopped- Fred, falling backwards silently. Maddie screamed and the man advanced.
"Oi, morons!" James yelled from across the way, loud enough to get everyone's attention. He raised his wand in front of his face and curled his lip. "Come and have a go, if you think you're hard enough."
"Potters,' he heard a derisive voice whisper behind him, and he knew, without looking, it was Zabini slinking in and out of the shadows heading towards his fallen friend.
"He's mine!" Cleese yelled, stomping forwards, her face cut and bleeding. James wondered which one of his friends had delivered that blow.
"James!" Alison yelled, he refused to be distracted and glared into the cold, dark eyes of his transfiguration teacher. No wonder he always had bad marks in Transfiguration…
"Expelliarmus," James cried. Cleese snarled, and, simply, stepped to the side. James could see Maddy checking Fred, he couldn't see Dan anywhere, or Aalaa, he felt Alison step towards him, her small hand encircled his as she squeezed.
"Little James Potter, I did so want to make your Daddy watch you die, but nevermind, I will have the pleasure of him finding your body," her wand snapped forward and a pulsing white light shot towards him, Alison's own wand jabbed out, a shield erupting over them both. The shield fizzed and crackled under the intensity of the spell, but it held.
"You can't hide under that forever," she cackled madly, looking nothing like their strict and reserved Transfiguration teacher.
"We can't, no," James said hotly, "but we don't need forever."
She laughed more freely now, her wand spinning fire from her wand wrapping around them both and Alison's bubble shield. Alison was sweating under the strain of the spell, her wand arm trembled as she fought to keep it raised. He knew James raised his own wand and thought, 'protego,' his own shield wrapped around them both, weaving into her cracking shield, enveloping them both in their combined power. Under the onslaught of Cleese's attack even his power was not enough under the continued assault. Suddenly, he knew what they needed to do. He poured himself into the spell, his love for Teddy, for Alison, for his family trapped below. Love had once saved his father, maybe it could save them too.
It wrung, more powerful than any magic he had ever used before, around the shield, filling in any gaps, patching their magic together, his magic, and hers, joining, becoming one.
"James, it won't last forever," Alison panted, "Fred's hurt, he needs help… I don't know where the others are, there was a blast, we got separated."
"Nevile's gone to stop the wards, we just have to last till my dad gets here."
Tears slipped from Alison's eyes as the pressure forced her wand to shiver and drop a fraction. "She's too powerful."
James arm too was feeling the strain, his injection of power had come at its own debilitating cost. He was weak all over, shaking like he would after a long, hard Quidditch match. They were both exhausted and defensive spells were harder to cast and maintain that offensive. But could they win in an offensive battle?
As James' tired brain could see it, they had two options: they could maintain the shield until Cleese broke it down, they would then have to fight for their lives with no energy or magic; or they could break the shield now, and fight, fight for their lives, fight for each other. Fight till they win, or die. James knew which he'd prefer.
"We have to stop the shield," Alison said desperately. "It's the only chance we have."
"On three?" James said, gripping his hand in hers ever tightly. "One."
"Two."
"Three," James cried, breaking the shield and letting go of Alison's hand. He ducked to the left, she to the right, shocking Cleese who was just about to send another curse at them. James circled towards the left, as Alison did to the right. It was harder to fight this way, there was a greater chance of hitting each other. On the other hand, Cleese had shown that she had brute strength; it would be harder to maintain the ferocity of her spells if her attention was split.
"Avis," Alison cried, a legion of beautiful birds appearing, circling around her head and tweeting.
"Bombarda," James cried, Cleese jumped to dodge the explosive curse which then blasted into the Entrance Hall doors with an explosive bang.
At the same time, Alison cried, "Oppugno" and the birds that had been circling her head sedately turned into vicious dive bombing fluff-balls which pecked viciously at Cleese's arms and face as she attempted to bat them off.
"Finite Incantatem!" she eventually cried, the birds vanishing mid peck. Her arms and face were bleeding and part of her hand looked like it had lost a fight with a meat grinder.
"Colloshoo!" James cried, grinning in victory as Cleese's feet stuck rather steadfastly to the ground.
Cleese roared, and sent a blasting curse at James, which he had to lunge to the side to avoid.
"Tarantallegra," he panted, but he missed Cleese and hit Alison instead, her feet moving wildly even as she toppled to the ground. She stopped the spell but had to roll as Cleese sent an unforgivable her way.
"Expulso," James said desperately. Again, and with ease, she sidestepped it.
"And here I was thinking you were Harry Potter's son," she crowed, stepping towards him, without looking she blasted Alison, who was trying to regain her feet. Alison was blown backwards, landing with a heavy thud. She didn't move. James said nothing even though he wanted to cry, to beg for Alison's life. He was more like his father than she thought. "I knew I would enjoy killing you, Rat, but I didn't know I would enjoy it this much," with a casual wave of her wand that James tried, and failed, to block his wand was in her hand. Still, he did not move or speak. He knew he only had to last seconds or minutes longer. "Ah, I see, you have faith, faith that your father will swoop in and save the day."
"It's not faith. I know."
"And I know that it will take days to get through those wards," she said smugly. She didn't know, she didn't realise, that she had been outsmarted.
"Not if the wards are removed."
She stilled, her face frozen in some sort of mad glee. "Oh my dear boy, perhaps you are more intelligent than I believed. How very clever of you," she simpered, stepping towards him, he flinched but refused to move, even as her hand rose to cup his cheek.
"Face it Cleese, you've lost," he snarled, smacking her hand down.
"I suppose it depends," she said thoughtfully, "on your definition of winning, doesn't it?" she asked with a manic smile. "After all, I have you, my dear one, and that's all I really wanted."
"Then kill me," he said furiously.
"Oh I will, then I will find that Wolf of yours and rid the world of his abomination too."
James gulped, "Teddy is not an abomination, bitch, but you sure are."
"You dare," she said, grasping his chin harshly and pulling him towards her. "How very Gryffindor of you."
He fought out of her grip and she released him, but not without scratching his face painfully. "Time to die," she threw her wand up yet again, circled it through the air, James waited, in horror struck suspense. His lungs seized, he tried to draw breath but no breath came. He was suffocating, as though an elephant was above him, crushing him. He fell to his knees and grasped helplessly at his throat as though he could remove the invisible vice from around his neck. "Goodbye, James Potter."
His vision had turned black, he could hear nothing but the pounding of blood in his ears. He fell to the ground, the pressure refusing to release. He couldn't think, couldn't feel- he was going to die, here on the floor, seconds before his dad and the aurors arrived. He fell to the ground.
Harry James Potter- Hogwarts
The wards had broken suddenly, but they'd responded within minutes. His heart was in his mouth as his feet thundered up the steps to the great hall, Ron was beside him, he didn't need to turn to feel the steady, calm presence of his friend. A step into the entrance hall was a step back in time. Destruction was everywhere. There was no sign of James, or any signs of life. He had to keep moving, James would be here somewhere, he'd be safe, he had to be, there could be no other choice. A bang came from the left, and his feet were moving before his brain caught up.
As he tripped around the corner, his ears ringing with the explosion that had rocked the room, his eyes met his son's, the hazel clouded over. Harry knew, knew without a shadow of a doubt, that his son was dead for there was no life in those eyes. The good humour, glint of mischief, the steel of determination. All gone. His son was dead.
His vision blacked over, but his wand was ready. After all this time, fighting was as natural as breathing, there was no need to think. With venom, he swung curse after curse at the laughing woman, his body unable to comprehend anything other than his own fury. He wanted her dead. He wanted to kill her. He wanted it to hurt like he was hurting. He focussed upon her, and only her, there was no other way. He knew she was no match for him on an ordinary day, but right now he was distracted. If he lost his focus, he would never get his revenge.
"I told him you'd be just in time to see him die," she snarled at him, her lip curled, "his faith in you was wasted." Her putrid face was smeared with dirt and a steady flow of blood dripped from a cut on her face. She seemed to shine demonically in the torch light, the evil in this woman rising like a monster. Her true being revealed after all this time, a woman they had all trusted...
Harry didn't waste time on words, instead he ducked her blasting curse and instead sent ropes at her feet. She tripped over and landed heavily on her wand arm. He strode forward purposefully.
She sliced her wand through the air and he gasped as the flesh of his thigh was ripped open. The physical pain was nothing in comparison to the turbulence that rocked within. It would not stop him now.
He loomed over her, she squirmed like a cockroach at his feet. His wand raised threateningly.
"Do it," she hissed, her eyes jet-black, "kill me like I killed him, do it." His wand twitched as blood rushed to his ears, his body trembled. "Avenge your boy, Potter!" His eyes found the body of his son, Ron's wand flashed as it twisted over James. Hope jumped inside him, perhaps… maybe… "You are weak Potter, just like your son, he begged for you, he begged for you to save him-"
Before he could fight it, the image of his son battered but brave, the image from the photo burned into his conscience. Steel in his son's eyes as he stared out knowing he would die. The thought of his son's agonising cries for him as she snuffed the life out of him… his son begging.
He met her eyes, his warring mind bent open before he could stop it and she pushed image after image into his head.
James flying through the air, diving for the quaffle a streak of red…
"No."
He recognised the hall of St. Mungo's, a Christmas tree stood at the end of a corridor and he suddenly knew when this was, and what had happened after…
"James," Fred said harshly stepping forward and into James' space, his body almost vibrating in anger. "You are not your father. You WONT ever be Harry fucking Potter. Stop pretending that you are trying to save the bloody world and face the fact that you are a fucking disappointment." James stepped back, his entire face closing and Harry's heart ached with the need to step forward and hug him, no matter that this was a memory…
The image melted again. His son, crying, his entire body wracking with sobs.
"It'll be okay, James," a blonde whispered, "you're not a disappointment."
And again, reforming into one of the private rooms in Hogwarts. A shell of a figure lay in the bed. Harry's heart lurched when he realised it was Ted. "Cl- Cleese," Ted gasped. "Run! Leave, run!" James jumped up, and Harry watched as Cleese unseen slinked into the room. Harry screamed, but nothing came out.
"Sorry," James sobbed, "Sorry." He turned to leave, and Harry's heart was in his mouth, afraid of what he'd see next. James put his hand on the pouch at his neck...
"Well, well, well…" A voice drawled from the shadows, "this makes things easier, doesn't it?" The curse hit him before he could move, he yelled in pain as he tumbled to the ground.
"Stop," Harry cried, trying to push her out of his head with all his might, but part of him wanting to know more, wanted to see his son's last moments alive. Surely that was better than never seeing him again…
For a second his mind cleared and he saw her cackling face, heard the roar of the dying battle. Then it was gone.
They were in the hall, the students were screaming. He walked from around the teacher's table light as air. Cleese held his son in her claws, his head hanging limply. Harry strode, heart hammering, till he stood in front of Cleese and James, ignoring the roar of the students.
James' head raised, and Harry gulped at the look of sheer bravery and determination. Pride rose up inside him at the sight, his ghost-like hand reached out to cup his cheek, passing through harmlessly. Harry turned and faced the students. He saw James' friends, standing tall in the centre of the room. His eyes found Lily's terrified ones, he watched as his innocent little girl cried openly. He searched for Albus, startled by the look of pure hatred that marred his face. A look so ugly it did not belong on his sweet middle child's face.
An explosion rocked the room and Harry saw James lurch forward and away from Cleese towards Dan. James' friends supported him, protecting him with their bodies.
He knew now, he didn't want to see, he didn't want to watch what she'd done to him. He wanted to kill her. He wanted to burn the heart out of her. Tears fell from his eyes and he tried to push away the image, desperate to find that empty space, to clear his mind…
The image formed, and he knew he was going to see it. He stood exactly where he was in real-life, but instead of Cleese at his feet she stood menacing, not facing him but facing…James.
"I can't," he gasped unable to stop Cleese's torturous picture show. "Please…"
James stood, desperate but sturdy facing his former teacher. His eyes skittered over to a still form behind Cleese before meeting hers again.
"Time to die," she said softly. Harry saw James straighten his back, his jaw rose as he faced her. Every inch a Gryffindor, every inch a good, brave man. Harry shook, he fell to his knees and gasped. He wanted nothing but to swap places. 'No,' he whispered, 'No, No…'
He saw her wand move, "Goodbye, James Potter." James stiffened, then gaped, his mouth opening in horror and desperation. Tears rolled down James' face as Harry crawled forward, watching as his son sank to his knees and he saw his eyes glaze as he fell to the ground with a thud. His chest still. His eyes open. James Potter was dead.
"No!" he said in fury, his anger doing what he'd been attempting, the image cleared, and he gulped air as he shook upon his knees. She slashed her wand, and he rolled to avoid it, yelling as it seared his side.
"Enough!" he yelled. His heart thudded like a stampeding rhino, he needed to end her. To end her here. He jumped to his feet, mindless to the pain his body was in. She lay unable to move her wand arm trembling as she stared at him in hatred. He started to move forward, his wand raised, the unforgiveable on the tip of his tongue.
He stopped.
His son needed him, Albus and Lily needed him, he needed to do his job, he needed to be Head Auror. He had to do the right thing, he had to stop this. So, with great reluctance, he stunned her and span around heart in his mouth. He raced to his son.
Ron cradled James in his arms, like a babe, his face shining wetly as he rocked his Godson. Bile rose in Harry's throat as he caught sight of James' face, which was a mess of blood and dirt. Ron shook as he held him, "Harry-"
"Give me my son," Harry said in desperation, pulling his boy into his arms. James' eyes were half shut, the whites shining in the dim light. Harry sat on the dust covered floor, surrounded by destruction and havoc, with the body of his eldest draped into his chest. "Is he-?" He couldn't finish the question. Grief welled up inside his chest. He let out a choked sob, then another, almost suffocating from the weight of the pain.
Ron's shaking wand swung over them both, "he's alive Harry, he's alive. I don't know how- but he's alive, I think I lifted the spell in time- we need to get him to a medic."
"He's alive?" Harry asks in astonishment, blinking heavily. "You saved him while I battled her."
"He needs a medic and now, his trachea is compromised, and he will die if we aren't quick," Ron said grimly. His large freckled hands pawed at the small bag strapped to his side, his hand sinking into it an unfathomably long way before withdrawing a Auror medical field kit.
"What- what do you need me to do?"
"Hold his hand and watch his breathing," Ron ordered. The sounds of battle had died around them, the aurors had won.
"Ron, he's going blue."
"I'm going to insert a surgical airway, it'll keep him breathing until he gets to a healer." Ron withdrew a thin tube and waved his wand, it floated, Ron hastily tapped his wand over James' neck which glowed brilliant blue momentarily. Ron pushed back his hair with a shaking hand. He tapped the tube and it inserted into the skin between the collarbones with a hiss. James' chest began to rise and fall more evenly. "It's pumping air into his lungs, I didn't want to incubate-," Ron muttered almost to himself, "I thought there was probably too much trauma."
Harry sighed in relief when the blue slowly receded, "Thank you, thank Merlin," Harry said shakily, drawing himself up, "Ron- I need a medic and I need to know what our losses are, the children-"
"I know Harry, you can count on me," he jumped, far more spry than a man of his age should, and disappeared.
"Always," Harry muttered, not sure whether his friend caught it or not in his rush. There would be time later, time to thank his friend properly. To ensure that Ron would never again feel useless or unappreciated. Just as there would be time to tell James just how proud he was of him.
James shifted, his eyes cracked slowly. They opened again, full of confusion and pain.
"Hey," Harry said softly, ducking to ensure he was in his son's sight. "You're safe." James tried to grab his throat. "That's to help you, we need to leave it there for now." James' face screwed up, but Harry couldn't know what he wanted and even if he did, he had no answers. "Ron has gone for help, and to get the others. You don't need to worry, everything is fine." James shut his eyes heavily, wetness leaking freely. "I am so proud of you, Jim. So very proud."
James didn't reopen his eyes. Harry's calloused hand stroked through the dirt and blood encrusted hair, memorising the planes of his son's face through the crust of war and death. He shook as he rocked, unable - for even a second- to take his eyes of the rising and falling of his son's chest.
