Cassandra Lovegood was an oddball – perhaps even more than her husband, Xenophilius. She had been gifted with a penchant for prophecy. But where most seers and oracles used riddles and opaque metaphors to deliver their visions, Cassandra was much more straightforward. She called a spade a spade. Most wizarding folk didn't like this; they preferred their prophecy in flowery rococo style, with a half dozen possible interpretations that usually canceled each other out.

Lily Potter was also an oddball. Despite being a muggleborn, she was the envy of other witches: brilliant, beautiful, kind and very talented. But she had the bad habit of challenging authority and sticking up for the underdog – things that those well-bred pure-blood princesses would never be caught dead doing. So while she made deep friends, she also made equally deep enemies.

Lily had known Cassandra throughout most of their Hogwarts years, and they'd been friends despite being in different houses. Both were very talented at charms. Lily didn't have a lot of patience for prophecy, and Cassandra didn't have much of a head for disciplined or scientific pursuits; but they were both compassionate and friendly, and saw a good soul in one another. They kept their personal passions (aside from Charms) mostly to themselves, unless there was something dangerously urgent: Lily would warn Cassandra if her potion was going to explode if she carelessly added the wrong ingredient; and Cassandra would warn Lily of school bullies and wannabe-Death Eaters whom she foresaw lying in wait in deserted corridors, planning to "teach that jumped-up mudblood a lesson."

James Potter and Xenophilius Lovegood were crazy about their girlfriends, but didn't much care for each other. James thought Xeno was nutty; Xeno thought James was a spoiled bully. As both couples became more deeply in love, Cassandra and Lily saw less and less of each other, especially after leaving Hogwarts. Once the war started in earnest, they lost touch altogether.

It was when Lily's baby Harry was almost a year old, that she heard again from her old friend. While Owls couldn't have found her through the Fidelius charm on her cottage, Cassandra had the foresight to use a Fwooper, which had no such problem, to carry the message. It read:

"Dearest Lily,

I'm so sorry we've been out of touch for so long. My little Luna is now six weeks old, and I find that my emotions and my gifts are heightened. I am sad to say that I can clearly foresee that I won't be around to see my sweet daughter grow up. I am also alarmed to say that the same thing could happen to you if you don't make drastic changes very soon.

I foresaw You-Know-Who appearing at your door on All Hallows' Eve; breaking in and killing James; then finding you upstairs protecting your son, and killing you too to get to him. Something about the baby stopped him, though, and sent his shade away for ten years. But I saw little Harry grow up as a scrawny orphan, besieged, belittled and bullied. I know you would want to prevent these things, except for You-Know-Who being defeated!

At times I can "program" my gifts, and see how things would develop if one thing were changed. I imagined two changes: you three staying alive, while You-Know-Who still is destroyed. In my subsequent vision, you all are out of the house, and something muggle that you know about, but You-Know-Who doesn't, defeats him.

I couldn't see what it was exactly, but I know it should work somehow, if you put your great brain to work at it. I'd hate to see my old friend to die, even for a good cause, if there were a way to prevent it, and still sustain the good cause.

Hope this helps! Remember, even if you don't believe it, you have nothing to lose by taking precautions. Please recall the incident with Severus in 7th Year, and consider that my visions are, in fact, usually reliable."

Love and Blessings,

Cassandra"

Lily put the letter on the kitchen table, her face pale and eyebrows raised. Cassandra had known exactly what button to push; that prediction had come true just like Cassandra had said, and heeding it would have saved a lot of heartache.

Lily took about ten days to research, plan, and write out a scenario that could fit the facts. She then went to visit her parents, who put her in touch with her dad's cousin, a retired army officer who had served in Suez 25 years earlier. She brainstormed with him, and visited with him five more times to work out details. Then she worked out a series of charms that would dovetail his expertise with her own.

When October 31 came around, Lily called James into the kitchen. "I want you to go pick up Sirius, take him to his Uncle Alphard's house, and all of you get piss drunk."

"But Lily dear, you always hate it when we do that!"

"Tonight you have a "Get out of jail free" card. I want you away because I have some "special research" planned. You'll want to be away too."

James' face turned white; she was right. He never liked to be around when Lily was doing her "special research." He had been changed into many odd things, some of them not even alive, when she was experimenting. He wiped his forehead, grinned, and said, "Anything you say, Dear!"

Once James was safely out of the house, Lily went up to the master bedroom, and transfigured two pillows to look like a sleeping Lily and James; simple charms made their chests rise and fall, and produce soft snoring sounds. Then she returned to the kitchen, to the deep-freeze-charmed storage box, and pulled out a 24-pound frozen turkey. She used a defrosting charm, and proceeded to stuff the bird with her cousin's "special stuffing," mostly consisting of Semtex – a plastic explosive similar to C4 and PE4.

She then took the bird upstairs to the nursery, where little 15-month-old Harry was sleeping peacefully in his crib. Lily then placed the turkey in the crib next to Harry, and cast her own variant of the Geminio charm to make the turkey into a duplicate of little Harry – including the sound of breathing. Then she stuck a blasting cap onto the turkey's cold forehead, and another under its pajamas over its cold heart. She trimmed a few strands of the baby's hair, and stuck them over the forehead enough to conceal the blasting cap. Then she covered the turkey with a blanket, picked up little Harry in another blanket, then doused all the lights except for an ever-lit candle in a sconce in the upstairs hallway. She kissed little Harry, and, after closing up the house, apparated with him to her parents' house, where she settled in for the night and waited.

At midnight, Voldemort himself arrived at the cottage, accompanied by Peter Pettigrew. Seeing the house was quiet, he sent the rat animagus in first, using his stealthy form, to check out the house. Once Peter reported back that everyone was asleep, Voldemort let himself in quietly, silenced his footsteps, and climbed the stairs. Looking in at the master bedroom, he silently hissed, "Avada Kedavra!" The pillow people stopped moving and snoring. "All too easy," Voldemort smirked.

He then made his way to the nursery, and approached the crib. He pointed his yew wand at the baby, and with an evil sneer, whispered, "Goodbye, Harry Potter!" and then