Chapter Sixty-Six
Harry's breath caught.
His Uncle Sirius hit the floor.
Cool, grey eyes stared straight through him.
Gone was the love, the laughter that was always there whenever Harry looked at him.
The eyes were empty.
Just like his dad's.
His soul gone, just like his Uncle Sirius had once told him.
Dead.
Harry sobbed, his whole body shaking as he lifted his eyes; away from his uncle and back up at the monster who had done it, who peered down at him, lips drawn back in the scariest smile that he had ever seen.
He wanted his mum.
Heard himself whine as he lifted his arm, trying to cower lower, while the monster lifted his wand once more; eyes glinting as he spoke the very same words that had just brought his uncle to the ground.
"Avada Kedavra!"
The same bright green light burst forth.
Different, though, this time. It grew brighter, fuller, almost filling the whole room and the intensity of it made Harry flinch and squeeze his eyes shut.
He heard a scream but it wasn't his own.
The floor trembled and the walls shook, creaking and then growing louder, a roar so deafening that Harry wrapped his arms around his head, over his ears, pressing his face into his knees so he didn't have to hear or see anything more.
Convinced that the world was surely ending as everything around him shuddered and fell.
Death Eaters were everywhere.
It made no sense.
Dumbledore had assured him mere hours before; the safest place was here. Even if the Dark Lord had learned his location, had pitched a guard, they still could not be certain. They still couldn't see the cottage that sheltered them.
The Fidelius Charm was absolute.
Death Eaters couldn't get to them, here.
Then, why were dozens of them stationed outside the building?
The Dark Lord would not assign so many, would not give such an order unless there was real reason to do so. Unless he expected that, soon, the enchantment would be broken. Soon, they would be able to get to them.
Something was happening.
Something was wrong.
"Regulus."
He jumped, startled, when a hand clamped down on his shoulder, grasping him tight.
"Severus! What are you – How did you get in?"
Severus didn't answer. He didn't have to. Both the situation outside and the Death Eater robes he wore answered the question for him.
"We have to go. Now."
Severus turned, urging Regulus along with him.
"Go? What's happening? Dumbledore said –"
"Circumstances have changed. Lucius has come across information that implicates your brother."
Regulus froze, stopping in his footsteps; "Sirius?"
"There's reason to believe he is under interrogation as we speak. The Dark Lord is quite confident that his resolve will break." Severus backed up his statement with a nod at the window, at their old master's evident confidence.
Regulus shook his head; "It won't. He wouldn't."
"Would you be willing to bet Malachi's life on that?" Severus raised an eyebrow.
Regulus swallowed.
"Let's go." Severus turned on his heel; "I checked. The fireplace is connected to the floo network. People may not be able to floo in here but we can get out."
"What about Sirius? Does the Dark Lord have him? For sure?"
"I don't know."
"But what if he –"
"The Order has been dispatched. They'll do whatever they can."
Regulus drew in a breath, pushing his panic aside – it wasn't the time for worry – going to head for the stairs, beginning to call up for Malachi.
He stopped in his movements when the first wave hit him. A cold, gripping sensation that centred and travelled up his left arm and, then, a searing burn that sent him to the ground with a yowl as he grasped at it, feebly; different and more intense than any call, any summons he had ever felt.
Scorching and searing and burning hot and cold against the skin, so powerful he thought his arm might tear itself apart.
And then it stopped.
Suddenly gone.
Regulus drew in a steadying breath, pushing himself up to his knees from where he'd fallen, catching sight of Severus; also on the ground.
His friend composed himself quickly, getting to his feet and meeting Regulus' eyes. There was uncertainty in both of them.
It was not typical.
Only once before had they ever felt it.
Only once before had the Mark burned that way; hot and cold.
Neither spoke. They didn't dare, even, to hope.
It was impossible.
Regulus reached down for his sleeve, tearing it up, while Severus turned and headed to the window; pulled back the fabric that draped across the glass.
The Dark Mark was red, not black.
And it was fading.
"Regulus."
He went, allowing his sleeve to fall back down, meeting Severus' eyes as he reached him, before he looked past him; out at the grounds.
The Death Eaters were disapparating.
Each and every one of them. All of them had felt it.
Severus stepped back, the curtain falling across the window once again as he did, exchanging a glance that showed the same bewilderment that Regulus felt.
Both of them wondering what the hell had just happened.
Because it just wasn't possible, that the Dark Lord could have fallen once more.
The street was eerily quiet.
Not a soul in sight.
Except for them.
The Order.
Lily hurried in the direction of the house, to Harry, but was stopped abruptly by someone grasping her tight by the arm, pulling her back.
"Lily!"
Remus.
She shot him a look, trying to yank herself free; "Let go of me, Remus."
"We don't know what's going on in there."
"The place is deserted! There's a chance they're not even here yet."
"Or Death Eaters might have already been here. Taken Black to a more secure location," Kingsley Shacklebolt spoke up.
That was hardly a reassuring thought. Lily tried to pull herself free once more; "We're wasting time."
Moody spoke up; "Lupin's right, Missy. For all we know this whole thing could be a trap and Black's just the bait."
"My son is in that house."
That was all she needed to know.
Kingsley spoke up, giving out orders; groups to the left, to the right, take the rear.
Lily headed up front, not waiting until the Auror finished speaking, Remus close on her heels; "Lily, wait."
They approached the gate, hurrying in quickly, and she strained to hear but not a sound emitted from the house. The windows all barricaded, the shutters pulled closed across them all, so neither could see in; not a glimpse of who or what was going on inside.
And then they felt it.
A shudder, low in the ground beneath their feet.
It happened quickly.
The shudder growing to a rumble, as the house suddenly trembled and shook before, with a gasp, she and Remus were throw backwards, far, far from the building, and to the ground as the house blasted outwards, tearing itself apart with a roar that reverberated throughout the street.
Arms came up to protect themselves, as debris flew out and upwards, raining down upon them until they found themselves beaten and surrounded by it; tearing at the fabric of their robes and ripping and bruising their skin.
Only half the house was still standing when the last of the debris hit the ground, Lily's arms lowering to take in the sight. The destruction.
Her blood ran cold.
"Harry!"
She scrambled to her feet, stumbling over the rubble, falling more than once, twice, as she attempted to make her way to the house.
She was close, very close, when a cloud of smoke shot down from the sky; hit the ground in front of her and a Death Eater suddenly materialised mere inches from her face.
Lily froze, mind still lost in a haze of blind panic, a desperation to get to her son, and then she was hit and sent flying backwards once more by a spell that hit her square in the chest.
Flying backwards until her body collided once more with the rubble; her head striking the debris and her world going black.
"Lily!"
Remus struggled to his feet, shaky steps towards where she had fallen, going to check on her, to make sure she was alright. She had to be. She just had to.
If Sirius and Harry had been in that house…
The thought could barely be completed, the grief that followed would surely cripple him, and then he was suddenly faced with an opponent of his own. Death Eaters apparating in at all sides, as if it had been a trap, after all. And Remus could only hope it were true, that it was all a ruse, and the house blowing apart was all about them, the Order, and nothing to do with Sirius.
That neither he nor Harry were inside when it happened.
Remus fired first; a spell that was barely blocked, for he hit them hard, never meaning a curse more in his whole damn life.
The Death Eater fired back.
All of them did.
A ferocious battle quickly erupting in the night; every Order Member and every Death Eater, out in the open, tearing into one another. Light and screams and jeers filling the air as they all staggered across the rubble.
"Crucio!"
"Avada Kedavra!"
Remus stayed close to Lily.
The battle was ferocious and the intent to kill never greater; the bright green lights of the Killing Curse firing forth several times from all directions, taking one another down. The Auror's too, not just the Death Eaters, all seeming aware that something had happened here, this night.
And this was the final showdown.
"Sectumsempra!"
It got him, only just, skimmed him right across the face and the side of his head, the blistering pain making him cry out and reach up; hand coming back down covered in blood, which he barely registered – there was no time to – firing out a returning curse within a second.
"Globus ignis!"
The curse got his opponent, engulfed him in flames, sending him to the ground with a bloodcurdling scream; lethal, deadly. The Death Eater would be dead within seconds. Remus flinched, took a step back, but he didn't end it.
He knew, with each passing second that Sirius did not come to his side; the truth sinking in hard. Sirius was dead. They had killed him.
Harry too.
That little boy. Innocent. Pure. And oh-so-loved.
Both had died tonight.
His stomach tightened, a sickening twist as grief gripped him, then. Unable to ignore it if he tried. It would have brought him to his knees if the adrenaline from the fight wasn't coursing through his veins and he gripped his wand tighter, eyes landing on another Death Eater, as pain and fury took over, more intense than he had ever felt in his life.
He stepped forward with a cry, equal parts rage and anguish, before he sent another curse flying forth; realisation of the deaths of Sirius Black and Harry Potter driving him on.
The battle was brutal.
Death Eaters and Order Members falling fast.
No goal in mind but to kill.
To end this.
"Sectumsempra!"
"Einlatus!"
Rage and grief drove him on, firing curse after curse, barely throwing up a defensive shield of his own; entirely on the offensive. A side of himself he never gave into. Not when he could help it.
But the driving emotions made him reckless, easy prey; one on one was fine. But another joined, then, taking advantage of his weakness; his one track mind. Two on one and struck him from behind, sending him to the ground; he fired, taking one of them, but he was still down.
"Crucio!"
The agony of it matched the grief; making him writhe and cry out, and it was almost a release to do so. To scream. He'd never felt more like screaming.
And then it stopped, the Cruciatus but not the pain.
Remus stayed on the ground, eyes on the Death Eater above him, chest heaving with each breath.
The opponent lifted his wand and pointed it straight at him but Remus felt no desire to fight anymore, to live.
They were all gone.
"Avada keda –"
The Death Eater was suddenly struck; hit the ground with a thud.
Lily was there then, stepping over the body; she reached down, taking him by the hand and pulling him to his feet with a rough jerk.
"What the hell are you doing, Remus?"
There was the fire, the flash in her eyes – so very Lily – and also betrayal and fury that he would do that; that he'd just lay down and die while she went on fighting.
She turned her back on him, raising her wand and carried on.
He followed.
He always followed.
Wand gripped tight as a new wave of determination came over him; throwing out curse after curse, joining her, and he and Lily fought back to back, like they would always do, back then. He and Sirius and Lily and James and Peter.
Except, now, it was only the two of them.
It was impossible to tell who was winning.
No one would win.
All would fall.
The fight wouldn't end until all were lying dead on the ground.
Pops started sounding all around them.
Aurors.
Those not part of the Order.
They came in from all sides, just as the Death Eaters had done before them.
Outnumbering them.
Joined the fight but they didn't fight to kill; the goal seeming to be to subdue.
Remus heard one of them, when the first Death Eater was apprehended; "You are under arrest."
What?
Confusion rippled throughout.
Momentum lessening, somewhat, even as they carried on duelling. Eyes caught by the proceedings, the capture of Death Eaters, the declaration of arrests.
"Voldemort has fallen."
Remus looked over his shoulder, meeting Lily's eyes; both seeming entirely uncertain if what they were hearing was true. If it could be true.
How could that be?
Voldemort wasn't here.
He was surely cooped up safe in the sewers or something.
Death Eaters began disapparating; those not dead or apprehended.
Disappearing but not before one yelled it out, wand pointed to the sky;
"Morsmordre!"
The clouds above morphed, the familiar spectre of the skull in the sky, snake slithering forth from its mouth, as the last of the free Death Eaters vanished.
Ripples of confusion carried on amongst those left behind.
Lily didn't entertain it.
She didn't care if it were true, not in that moment. She didn't care that Voldemort had fallen.
All she cared about was her little boy, somewhere within these walls, this rubble, as she stumbled across it to the door, tearing it open, easily. Any locks that had been placed upon it seeming to have ceased, to have died with the caster, and she felt herself shake with the thought.
Sirius.
Lily hurried into the room, feet unsteady, even when the ground leveled out; Remus on her heels.
There he was.
Sirius Black, on the floor, on his back; body twisted sickeningly, unnaturally, and his lifeless eyes staring upwards.
Dead.
She felt Remus' hand on her shoulder, gripping her tight, and she wasn't sure if he was holding her back or if he was offering comfort or if he was seeking it for himself. Heard a strangled gasp escape herself but she couldn't give in to grief, not yet, her eyes scanning the room, frantically, and she staggered further in.
"Harry." Her voice came out as a rasp, a croak; "Harry!"
There was only silence.
Lily stumbled to Sirius' body, hand reaching down for a second, a touch to his face; still warm. She turned on the spot, desperately, her world crumbling; eyes settling on the rubble further away.
She made to step towards it, as Remus sunk to his knees, fingers going to Sirius' neck. Forehead touching to his.
And then she heard it.
A whimper.
Lily turned, sharp.
Hurried towards the sound. Pushed back the chair in the corner of the room, eyes settling on the small body that had wedged itself into the space between the furniture and the wall.
Harry.
So small.
Curled up tight.
He looked up at her; eyes red and watery and haunted.
"Harry."
It came out as a gasp.
Harry's lower lip trembled, as he stared up at her, looking so incredibly lost and afraid, his voice a murmur; "Mum, Uncle Sirius."
A sob escaped her then.
She dropped to her knees, gathering him in her arms and he gripped her tight; his body trembling against her.
"Mum." Trembles gave way to wracking sobs and she held him tight, unable to help her own, as she murmured against his hair, comforting words and apologies and expressions of love, as she pressed her lips to his hair, his cheek, holding him close.
Lily felt Remus kneel behind her. His hand reaching out, stroking the side of Harry's head, and her little boy drew back, meeting his eyes. Looking back and forth between them as he drew in shaky breaths.
Lily ran her hands over him, checking for injuries, reached up to touch his face and brush the hair back from his head.
She stopped.
Reached up again and ran her fingers through his fringe, pulling it back, her eyes resting on the only injury, the only mark she could find upon him.
A lightning bolt scar on his forehead.
"How is this possible? How could the boy survive when both Black and the Dark Lord have fallen?"
"Magic, Severus. It is always magic."
"Don't talk in riddles, Headmaster. Do you know what happened?"
"My knowledge is broken, not entirely certain, but I could venture a guess from the little I have managed to learn tonight. I only glimpsed very briefly into the boy's mind when the Order reconvened, for I did not want to cause further distress."
Silence.
"Well?"
Severus' patience was wearing thin.
"It seems that Sirius Black died when he placed himself between Voldemort and his Godson; refusing to stand aside and save his own life."
"You have always asserted that he would do so."
"Yes. But the circumstances, in this case, were entirely different to what I – or anyone – could have predicted. Sirius did not just refuse to stand aside, no; Voldemort offered him a choice. His value to him having been secured when he became Secret Keeper to his brother's location."
Severus said nothing. Waited for further elaboration.
"This was a very unique position, one which has never been seen before – not that history has yet recorded, that is – what would happen, if a man or a woman were to choose to die for another, to be willing to, even in such a hopeless circumstance. Even when they may choose to live.
Sirius Black could not have known what his actions would mean. And by doing what he did, the pure, unconditional love that Sirius had for his Godson meant that he was able to evoke a very rare, very powerful form of magic; his sacrifice granting Harry Potter a protection against that which sought to harm him."
Severus crossed his arms across his chest, as Dumbledore continued to speak.
"When Voldemort then turned the Killing Curse upon the child he believed to be a threat to him, the spell rebounded; killing the caster of the spell, instead. It is Old Magic, my boy, the kind that has not be seen in a very long time. A thing of myth, almost."
Severus turned away, digesting the words.
Both knew very well what this meant.
The boy may have been granted this protection; he may have lived. Truly, the first and only to ever survive the Killing Curse.
But Harry Potter was not safe.
The Dark Lord was not gone. He would return, the remaining horcruxes would see to that. And when he did, when he rose again, Harry Potter would supersede even Regulus Black as his most wanted.
Targeted.
Marked.
"You don't seem surprised."
"Severus, I am more than a little surprised by this turn of events. Especially considering how desperately everyone involved sought to prevent this very event from happening."
"And what event is that?"
"The marking of Harry Potter."
Severus pursed his lips together; "Something you did not see fit to caution me of."
"Ah." Dumbledore's eyes twinkled; "I was quite confident that you would quickly learn of it from someone whom I did see fit to caution."
Severus glowered.
"If you knew that the Dark Lord would choose his own opponent, would target and make them his rival, then why did you not act sooner? Why did you not act at all? Even when I insisted –"
"Because, Severus, as I asserted many times to both yourself and to Mrs Potter, the worst response that any of us could have made at the time was to act in any way which validated the contents of the prophecy. To do so would only have forced Voldemort's hand, action in itself making the prophecy come to be."
"How so? We did nothing!"
"Not true. By going to the Department of Mysteries that night, by seeking to destroy the prophecy rather than doing as suggested, merely keeping it from Voldemort's hands and choosing to disregard the possibility of it, the very actions set into motion the chain of events which have led us here. Regulus Black's discovery and the ensuing hunt leading Voldemort to Sirius Black, whom Regulus had turned to, consequently, putting him face to face with the child whom he would never have had reason to meet."
"Is that supposed to offer comfort, Dumbledore? That Lily's own actions have led to this?"
"I was not aware that words of comfort for Mrs Potter were what you sought to find from this meeting with me."
Severus glowered, feeling his temper flare.
Dumbledore went on; "Prophecies are a peculiar thing. It is often the case that attempting to prevent them, by believing in their assertions, leads to the very events being set in motion in the first place. Had Lily refused to believe or act on it, had Voldemort simply dismissed it as nothing, then we would not find ourselves here. When it comes to prophecies, Severus, ignorance truly is bliss."
Severus' temper left him then, his fury snuffed out instantly; replaced only with shame. The meaning behind the man's words was clear.
It was not Lily's actions that had put the events in motion.
It was his.
The very act of just speaking it, revealing the prophecy to either of them, had led to this.
"Culpability will get us nowhere," Dumbledore said, his tone suddenly reassuring, as if reading his mind; "The actions of everyone have led us to this; not the actions of one. The blame of a single person is entirely futile. Indeed, considering how all have fought against it, how everything has unfolded, each and every one of us only doing what was rational, what was instinctive to us...Well, Severus, what else could one conclude but that it was all simply meant to be?"
Severus shook his head.
He didn't believe in prophecies.
He didn't.
Utter nonsense. And the absolute bane of his existence for almost a decade, now. Something he didn't even believe in, himself, tearing their lives apart.
But, then, what other explanation was there.
Because Harry Potter was not the chosen. He was not the boy that the Dark Lord had sought.
The Dark Lord had gone after Neville Longbottom first.
Harry Potter was overlooked.
But events aligned, choices and actions of all coming together, leading each and every one of them down this path; all pointing to the same damn thing.
It didn't matter what any of them did.
It was always Harry Potter.