The Ruins of House Potter

Chapter 1: The End and Beginning

By Jamnaz79

Notice: I do not own Harry Potter. I do not claim to own them or anything to do with any of the characters or products associated to it. I do not take any payments for this work and only do this for fun and enjoyment.

Albus Dumbledore was very proud of himself. He had figured out a perfect defense for the prophesied boy who would vanquish Voldemort! It was imperative that the Longbottom child would grow up healthy and safe. For despite the dark times caused by the Dark Lord, there was now hope!

It was a recent prophecy that had been foretold to him by a young woman wanting to become a new Divination's teacher which gave that hope. She named that a child born at the end of July to parents who had thrice defied the Dark Lord would be able to vanquish him. This blessed child would have the ability yto end the war someday and kill Voldemort. Now if nothing else there was a way to end the war, unfortunately it would be years till the boy would be ready. A few decades were far too long but what choice did that have? A stalemate was better than having the child die, after all who ever heard of a newborn child able to defeat a monster with the power of Voldemort?

So it was the plan of Albus Percival Brian Dumbledore, Leader of the Light, to have the Longbottom child protected. He had spoken to Frank and Alice and they had agreed to go into hiding. A rare Fidelius charm was placed over the residence and he had advised the boy's godmother, Lily Potter nee' Evans to be the secret keeper. It was the perfect plan for two reasons.

First the Potters had recently gone dark and darker in the war. After Potter Manor had been burned down killing Charlus Potter, while Dorea Potter nee' Black was driven insane under the Cruciatus curse. The poor woman was still in St. Mungos and nobody was certain when and if she would ever fully recover. The results of that confrontation had seen James quit the Aurors and his band the Marauders were killing off Death Eaters instead of capturing them. Now instead of capturing and rehabilitating the men and women who had unfortunately fallen to a darker path he may lose the Potters themselves to the same path. So this was the perfect chance to have them removed from the possibility killing off more magical blood. After all there were far too few Purebloods left in England to allow that blood to be spilt.

The second reason the idea was perfect was not only was Lily a moderating influence on James. The young woman was absolutely brilliant at charms. In fact she too would place the Potters under the Fidelius charm and hide their presence from the world. So not only would the Longbottom's be hidden away from being found but their own keepers the Potters would be as well. So as long as Black, their most likely choice would not reveal the information where the Potters were the Longbottom family could not be harmed. It was the perfect plan.

He had even convinced James to help continue to finance part of the war against the dark while he was in hiding. The young man felt bad about going into hiding and not being able to fight. It had been easy to turn that around on the young Lord to get him instead to help finance to at least support the effort if he couldn't fight. Not to even mention that their three year old son, Harry was already supposedly showing remarkable power. It was important to protect the next generation of magicals in Britain after these dark times after all.

So the plan was perfect they only needed to hold out for a decade and it should resolve itself. He was certain he could manipulate Tom to the point that the young man would give up his foolish dark path and see the light. If not the Longbottom boy will be forced to complete the prophecy to save the world.

~~~ RoHP ~~~

5 Months Later

Albus Dumbledore appeared before a pair of houses in Godric's Hallow. He had found it amusing that the Potters and Longbottom families had actually hidden under two houses right next to each other. He had considered the idea originally and felt it was an amusing twist. Plus it gave a chance for the two families in hiding to spend time together. They were supposedly close friends. But, now at looking at the destruction it was obvious that it had been a mistake.

Both the Potters and Longbottom houses were in ruins. The Longbottom's had one full wall blown out and destroyed in addition to the door and a number of other items that were damaged. According to what Hagrid told him when he set the man for the boy the place was in ruins. Frank and Alice must have put up a good fight. Unfortunately both of their bodies had been recovered and clearly dead.

Unfortunately also that a Longbottom House elf grabbed little Neville before Hagrid could take him and popped away with the child. Albus was sure he was already in the hands of Augusta and the woman would never let anyone near him again. He had already tried to contact her repeatedly but found the floo blocked and house had become unplottable.

So Albus turned towards the ruins of the Potter's house. Slowly he walked through the shattered doorway into the main room. The room was splattered with blood and fore everywhere. Dozens of transfigurations were laying in every direction destroyed, some partially transformed back into their former furniture. This was obviously the work of James. He must have put up a good fight considering the large amount of damage. There was even an arm that was cut off that looked suspiciously like Tom's robes.

In fact he found James body dead, his eyes closed and wand placed over his chest. The young man was cut in numerous places but his body whole. A grimace touched the lips of Albus as he watched the young man taken far too soon. The loss of the Ancient and Noble House of Potter would be a devastating thing, while the family was staunchly neutral they were always at the forefront of the battles against Dark Lords going back generations.

He carefully stepped around the body and continued towards the stairs. His eyes ran continuous burn marks, shattered brick and walls with holes in them. The steps were charmed when he placed his foot down that pain shot up his leg from electricity. Whatever charm Lily had placed on the steps was so strong it was still in effect even after her death hours before. Albus pulled out his wand and with a finite incantatem ended Lily Evans last spell.

Once up the stairway he walked down the hallway past a few rooms till he came before young Harry's room. Once again he felt the presence of magic active in the household. This time though it was far different. He could feel it pulsing strongly flowing around the doorway and chamber for little Harry. His old eyes narrowed as he closely looked over the doorway and noticed small etched runes, hundreds and perhaps thousands carved painstakingly carefully into the walls of the room. The detail and finely planned runes were so carefully done that they could have given a team of Gringotts curse-breakers fits for years.

A sad sigh escaped the lips of the old man as he looked down at the young woman lying on the floor in a puddle of her blood. She was far too young to have died this way, her throat slit and a dagger lying next to her still covered. She must have given up the secret of the Longbottom's when she had no choice. Despite all of the hard work and planning, all of the sacrifice Lily Potter gave up the chosen one to the Dark Lord. How could he have miscalculated? He figured she would have died before she would give up the boy surely; he was her magical godson after all. Why did this happen?

He was about to turn around when the answer popped up his head from under the covers of the bed. The messy black hair so like James he looked like a miniature of the young man whose body was downstairs. Only the difference of the eyes which were all Lily was able to be seen. The boy's eyes were red as was his noise, most likely from crying immensely. His little bottom lip trembled as young Harry looked at the old man, "Momma go away because bad man."

Twin feelings of sadness mixed with hope filled the ancient man. He saw before him the next generation of the Potters, the ancient family would live and hopefully continue an important magical family line. But, at the same time this poor young man had been forced to witness his own mother die before his eyes. Who knows what effect it might have on the child someday, he would need a loving home. The Potters were gone but Lily at least had some relatives left.

Albus plastered on his best grandfatherly gaze at the little boy and held out his hand. He was careful not to enter the room, whatever the wards did they were powerful enough to keep little Harry safe when Voldemort had been here, "Come here Harry. I will get you to somewhere safe."

The little boy looked at the old man that he had seen talking to mum and dad before. His large emerald eyes blinked a few times then slowly he climbed down from the bed. His little hands held onto a stuffed black dog toy in his arms tightly as he wandered over. Out the bed after him walked a white fluffy Persian cat behind Harry. When the little boy reached him Albus would sweep up the little boy and cat and transport them to Hogwarts. The next day he would have Hagrid drop little Harry off at the doorstep of the Dursley family with a letter so the boy could have a loving family to look after him.

It would be eight years later that Albus would again see little Harry. He would be far different then the kind hearted little boy that he took from the ruins of the Potter's cottage. The old man didn't realize the hell he had condemned little Harry to that night.

Author note: The idea would be a dark harry story. I think he might start at Hogwarts and then end up Durmstrang. Harry is 2 years older than the boy-who-lived – aka Neville. I was thinking of making the Potter's also disliked because they "went dark" during the war and killed a number of Death Eaters. Not to mention ended up giving up the Longbottom's secret. Most of the world wouldn't realize what happened only know that the Potters were responsible for the boy-who-lived being attacked. In the end it would be an abused Harry that turned to a dislike almost hatred of muggles. When he learned about what happened to his parents and the reaction of the world he would have a heavy dislike everywhere. Any thoughts on it?