***This is a double update! Please read the previous chapter first.***
Warnings: Cosplaying, smuggling of dangerous items and great minds think alike.
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Halloween.
Rin had encountered this event before, during her stay in London in her past life. Markets selling Halloween trinkets and snacks, carved pumpkins displayed on the streets and children asking around for candies. Upon hearing James's brief explanation about Halloween, it seemed like Halloween in this world was pretty much the same.
In her past life, children often dressed up as the stereotypical wizards and witches, with pointy hats, lanterns and mount brooms. Apparently, in this world, those were actually an imitation of wizarding dresses centuries ago.
So when James said he was going to dress little Anna in a cute ancient-style witch dress, Rin was expecting a pointy hat, a robe and a mini-broom.
Not...not a magical girl costume.
"Arthur gave it to me right before the lockdown," James said to his wife as she turned the costume around and inspected it. It was a pink dress with a puffy medium-length skirt and white frilly ends, coupled with a pink round hat and a pair of fake white wings. "Apparently it's part of an ancient Japanese witch costume set with his son's pink wand toy,"
"This is…"
"I know right? The ancient Japanese witches sure had a strange fashion sense."
"No, it's...I think I've seen this on TV, the last time I visited my house," Lily frowned in thought. "It's from a modern Japanese cartoon."
"Cartoon? You mean the moving pictures drawn by Muggles?"
"Yeah. I could be wrong, though."
"Hm. How did the Muggles know about the ancient Japanese witch attire, though?"
"...I highly doubt it's what the Japanese witches had worn in the past. Don't just blindly believe Arthur's muggle analysis. Remember the Mickey Mouse fiasco?"
"...Right. Well, strange fashion sense aside, I do think it'll look cute on lil' Anna."
"You have no right to say anything about fashion sense, but I agree. Go get the camera; I'll dress Anna up."
James went downstairs while Lily carried Anna to the bedroom. Unfortunately, the two didn't realise their own daughter was desperately shaking her head in horror.
(...Well, at least the costume was 100% decent. And if wearing it made her parents happy, then so be it.)
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Aware of Peter Pettigrew's betrayal, Rin was sure that the Death Eaters would pay her house a visit sometime soon.
However, her parents did not know that, and there was simply no way she could let them know about the inevitable attack. Rin couldn't just write on the floor with her crayons and make her parents believe that she was some genius baby prophet, without revealing the reincarnators' true identities. So far, only Remus and a strange member of the Order of Phoenix named Alastor Moody had given the traitor suspicious glances, but even then they remained sceptical.
Rin couldn't rely on the adults to ensure her family's safety, so she decided to be prepared for the worst.
Cue her secret weapons: traced legendary Mystic Codes and Noble Phantasms disguised as foam toys, brought to you by the Emiya twins.
Rule Breaker, Azoth dagger, a couple of Black Keys, and many other anti-magic daggers. James was suspicious that the Weasley younger twins kept giving his daughter gifts, but luckily he let little Anna keep the seemingly-innocent Muggle toys. The Potter couple would've had an aneurysm if they knew their own daughter was stockpiling explosives and anti-magic weapons disguised as baby toys.
Apart from the traced weapons, Rin also had her trusty Gandr shot and simple magecraft spells, even though she hadn't tested them on magical beings of this world. There were also runes, but it was hard to draw them correctly with crayons and a chubby baby hand, so she had to pass.
Furthermore, due to the limitations of her current body, Rin and the Emiyas could only come up with one strategy: throw whatever traced weapons and Gandr shots at the enemy on sight. Rin despaired at the simple and totally unreliable plan, but there was nothing else a reincarnated baby could do to stop Death Eaters.
In addition, despite the intel from Saber, Rin had no idea when and how would the Dark Lord act. As the head of a large and powerful terrorist organisation, Lord Voldemort was known to be an excellent dark wizard and an intelligent strategist. Knowing the Potter's true address, perhaps he would order his trusty Death Eaters to kidnap Harry and assassinate the rest. Or if he was paranoid and ruthless enough, Rin supposed he could nuke her home using some destructive spells and be done with it. She had secretly reinforced her house ever since the lockdown in case Lord Voldemort did exactly that.
But the esteemed Dark Lord did nothing of the sorts, no. For whatever reason, Lord Voldemort thought it was a good idea for himself to come to the Potter residence by blasting through the front door.
"Toot toot tooooot!"
"Bang! Bang bang!"
Immediately, the fearsome Dark Lord was greeted by the shrill sound of trumpets and explosions of confetti, as if he just arrived at his own surprise birthday party. In the living room not far from the front door, Rin, who was so high-strung over their impending doom, yelped and shot a Gandr at the sudden commotion. Spluttering, the Dark Lord failed to block the Gandr shot as it hit his right arm, and his wand was flung off his hand.
"Aaarrgh! What the fuck -?!"
"What was that?!"
James rushed into the hallway and found the Dark Lord covered in confetti.
There was a pause. The bespectacled man didn't know whether he should laugh or scream. It might just be a prank, but today was Halloween and not April's fool, and the Voldie in front of him seemed so real…So James couldn't help but snort.
"Y-you dare!" Lord Voldemort hissed in anger and wandlessly summoned a fiery snake to blast the damn house to kingdom come.
"Fuck! He's real?!" James quickly took out his own wand to retaliate.
Fortunately, Rin's Gandr shot was still effective in this world as unbearable pain shot up through Lord Voldemort's right arm, breaking off his already-straining concentration. The fiery snake died before it could even form fully. Rin took the chance to throw Black Keys at the Dark Lord's shadows, pinning him in place while James shot a Confringo at him, bullseye.
"Lily! Take Harry and go to the kitchen!" James hollered as he swooped his daughter up. He didn't expect his Confringo to actually hit, although judging by the scream, the Dark Lord was not dead yet. James wanted to go back and shot a couple more blasting curses, but he couldn't afford to underestimate the Dark Lord, especially in a one-vs-one fight with Anna in his arms.
After making sure Anna was safe and sound, James carried her over his shoulder and dashed towards the kitchen, not noticing the unmoving Dark Lord nor the foam toys Anna threw at the enemy.
Roaring in anger and pain, Lord Voldemort wanted to chase after them. Yet for some reason, he could not move. He was about to call his Death Eaters through the Dark Mark when the little girl in a pink frilly dress on James Potter's shoulder threw a few things at him. Lord Voldemort wandlessly summoned Protego in reflex, but the first few objects bypassed his shield effortlessly and nicked his body.
This time, the Dark Mark vanished into thin air, the Protego charm dissipated and his anti-teleport barriers went down.
"What?!"
Lord Voldemort only had a second to watch the Potter family escape through a portkey, before the world exploded.
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The next morning
"...Merlin's balls," Alastor Moody blurted out as he stared at the taped-off Godric's Hollow, which was now in complete ruins. He turned to the equally-befuddled James Potter, the owner of said ruins. "Did you set explosives around your house or something?"
"...No. Only confetti balloons," James shrugged when Moody gave him a dumbfounded stare. "We were about to have a Halloween party."
"...And you invited Voldemort?"
"No. He just visited for the Trick-or-Treat," James deadpanned, before glowering in rage. "Pettigrew, you fucker."
Moody grunted in agreement. The Fidelius charm was a strong, tracking-proof barrier, but it required a very trustworthy ally to be the Secret Keeper. The idea of Sirius being a decoy was brilliant, but Moody thought he should've voiced out his suspicion regarding Peter Pettigrew when they were discussing the charm. It was partly James Potter's fault for not telling the Order about the change of the Secret Keeper, but then again the Order was not supposed to be fully trusted either.
"We're lucky Remus gave us the emergency portkey," James confessed. "He must've done something for it to bypass Voldemort's anti-portkey."
Oh? Moody would have to ask the details from Lupin later. It would be a massive boon for their side, though he would have to be careful about it. Wouldn't want another repeat of the fucker Pettigrew.
"The explosion, though," James frowned in thought, before shaking his head. "I only shot a Confringo at him, but the timing was off and it shouldn't have exploded that violently. We're not suicidal enough to plant explosives in our house."
"Perhaps, it was Voldemort's spell gone awry," Moody said. "Or your daughter's accidental magic."
But...there was something niggling at the back of his mind. The Dark Lord was a powerful wizard, not only because of the amount of magic he possessed but also due to the skills he had. The idea of Voldemort miscasting a spell was as laughable as saying Merlin is a lass. It could be that Voldemort was distracted when he casted a blasting curse, but the extent of the explosion made no sense. What wizard would cast such a wide-ranged attack in a confined space with him in it?
Accidental magic, on the other hand, was volatile enough to cause an explosion. But Moody had never seen an accidental magic that could down an entire house, especially at such a right timing. Perhaps, due to the stress, Anna Potter decided that Voldemort was a threat and her magic responded to her will?
A memory rose into his mind, of little Anna Potter drawing on the Longbottom Manor walls with that muggle wax quill. It was during the last Order meeting before the Potter went into hiding, and Moody was passing by when he saw what the toddler had drawn. A bright red and yellow flower, strangely drawn over a tiny house.
Moody mused for a moment, before shaking his head. Nah. That would be silly.
But the evil smirk the girl had shown him did make him grin in return.
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Shirou is not the only pro at making weapons explode, it seems.
Also, I do not know when I will update my fics again. Since I could only write during holidays, I often lost my writing momentum. Sorry about that. I will not abandon my fics, however, unless stated otherwise in the summary or in my profile.
Anyway, thanks for reading and have a safe Happy New Year!