Lily's Sacrifice
Lily Potter looked out the window of the kitchen into the dark night. No one could see her inside, but she could see out into the village of Godric's Hollow. She sighed. They had been protected by the Fidelius Charm for nearly two months, about the same amount of time since she had spoken to Severus. That seemed like an eternity ago. Every day seemed to crawl by when you weren't allowed to leave the house.
Dragging her eyes away from the window, she walked into the living room where James was playing with harry, making rings of smoke come out of his wand. She smiled at the scene; she and James had their ups and downs and fights like every other couple but at the end of the day, she loved him, and she loved Harry.
"James, it's time for Harry to go to bed," she said walking over.
"Aww, come on Lils," James whined, "Just five more minutes."
Shaking her head, Lily lifted Harry who struggled to get to James.
"Say goodnight to Daddy, Harry," Lily said.
"Da! Da!" Harry cried.
As she began to walk towards the stairs, she heard a sudden click of the door. She froze. No one except their Secret Keeper knew where they lived.
"Lily, take Harry and go! It's him! Go! Run! I'll hold him off!" James' shout awakened something in her, and without pondering on the fact that this would probably be the last time she'd ever see him, she ran upstairs.
She looked around desperately, trying to find some way to escape, but the house was warded too well. Well if she couldn't make it out alive at least Harry would. She looked at the Portkey around Harry's neck. It was a silver necklace with a picture of her and James inside it. He was coming closer. The Portkey still hadn't activated. "Come on, come on," she breathed.
There was a loud bang as he entered the room. She quickly put Harry in his crib and spread her arms wide in front of him, as if hoping to shield him, all the while willing the Portkey to work.
"Not Harry, please not Harry," she begged.
"Stand aside, you silly girl... stand aside, now."
"Not Harry, please no, take me, kill me instead -"
"This is my last warning -"
"Not Harry! Please ... have mercy ... have mercy ... Not Harry! Not Harry! Please - I'll do anything ..."
"Stand aside. Stand aside, girl!"
A flash of green light, and she was gone. The Portkey still hadn't activated.
Voldemort stepped up to Harry, who had begun to cry. "Avada Kedavra!"
Then Voldemort was gone and just before the unstable bit of soul could latch onto the only living creature in the room, the Portkey activated. The boy vanished, and the piece of soul was destroyed, with only the waif that was now Voldemort escaping the destruction of the house.
Far away, Severus Snape sat reading in his quarters at Hogwarts after the Halloween feast. He had adjusted quite well to teaching, managing to intimidate his students sufficiently. His mere presence brought a hush upon his classroom and so far, he had far fewer Potions injuries than Professor Slughorn ever did.
Just as he put down his book for a moment to take a sip of coffee, a sudden flash of light, accompanied by a loud wail, caused him to jolt up, making the coffee spill all over the table. Swirling around, Severus drew his wand, expecting either Aurors come to arrest him or Death Eaters come to take him to the Dark Lord for treason. Instead, he was met by the sight of a small child who was sobbing softly.
He blinked a few times. What was a child doing in his quarters? Looking at him closely, Severus saw that the boy had a tuft of jet black hair, a curiously shaped scar lightning bolt scar on his forehead and familiar bright green, almond-shaped eyes. Lily's boy.
Severus looked at him curiously, a feeling of dread pitting in his stomach. He remembered his meeting with Lily quite well, having replayed the scenario in his head many times over. But if the boy had been in life threatening danger…
"Tinky!" he shouted out.
Immediately, a house elf popped into appearance. "Yes, Master Severus, sir?" she squeaked.
"Tinky, take this child to Prince Manor," he pointed to the boy, "And take care of him until I get there."
"Yes Master Severus," the elf said bowing. With a snap of her fingers the boy was lifted up and they both vanished with another pop.
Severus hurried up to Dumbledore's office, ripping his left sleeve up as he reached the gargoyle. The Dark Mark had faded. Heart pounding wildly, Severus barked out the password (Sugar Quill) and stepped onto the staircase which would lead him to Dumbledore, and perhaps some answers.
"I thought…you were going…to keep her…safe…"
"She and James put their faith in the wrong person," said Dumbledore. "Rather like you, Severus. Weren't you hoping that Lord Voldemort would spare her?"
Snape's breathing was shallow.
"I can't locate her boy, but I believe he lives."
With a tiny jerk of the head, Snape seemed to flick off an irksome fly.
"He has her eyes, precisely her eyes. You remember the shape and color of Lily Evans's eyes, I am sure?"
"DON'T!" bellowed Snape. "Gone…dead…"
"Is this remorse, Severus?"
"I wish…I wish I were dead…"
"And what use would that be to anyone?" said Dumbledore coldly. "If you loved Lily Evans, if you truly loved her, then your way forward is clear."
Snape seemed to peer through a haze of pain, and Dumbledore's words appeared to take a long time to reach him.
"What – what do you mean?"
"You know how and why she died. Make sure it was not in vain. Help me find and protect Lily's son."
"He does not need protection. The Dark Lord has gone – "
"The Dark Lord will return, and Harry Potter will be in terrible danger when he does."
There was a long pause, and slowly Snape regained control of himself, mastered his own breathing.
"Lily, too, made me promise to protect the boy. He is currently with one of my house elves in a safe place."
Dumbledore let out a sigh. "Please explain to me how that came about, Severus."
As Severus related to him what Lily had told him about the Portkey, Dumbledore slowly nodded in understanding.
"H-how did he survive, Dumbledore?" Severus asked through shaky gasps.
Dumbledore surveyed him carefully over his half moon spectacles before finally saying, "I believe that the charm Lily placed on the Portkey was much too specific. Had Voldemort progressed directly to the boy before killing Lily, the Portkey would have no doubt activated. As it is, Lily's sacrifice protected the boy from a true life threatening situation."
"Then why did he arrive when he did?"
"Alas. We can only guess, we may never know. Take care of the boy for tonight, Severus. Bring him to me tomorrow."
"No! I can't. Especially not Potter's son"
"I believe you made a promise to his mother, Severus," Dumbledore said sternly. "Tomorrow I will make other arrangements for the boy."
With a jerk of his head, Severus swept out of the room, his robes billowing behind him.
At the age of eighteen, soon after his graduation from Hogwarts, Severus had inherited his family home, Prince Manor. It had been quite a shock for him since his mother had been disowned from her family, however he later found out that his grandparents had had no choice but to leave it to him since they had no other relations. With it he had also inherited two house elves.
Severus had told no one about this home, preferring to live at Spinner's End and leaving the manor as a kind of safe house. This was the first time in nearly two years he was entering it.
He was exhausted by the time he reached the manor. The pain of Lily's loss had numbed him to the point where he felt that even if the Dark Lord popped up and Crucioed him now, he would probably feel nothing. He still couldn't believe that Lily – his Lily – was gone. He would never again hear her tinkling laughter or smell her sweet flowery scent or see her beautiful bright green eyes.
No. Those he would see. The boy. What was he to do with Lily's son tonight? He was in no emotional state to take care of himself let alone a baby. Already, he had left the boy alone with his house elves for much too long. However, when he got back, the boy was sleeping soundly on a sofa with both house elves keeping vigil.
After dismissing the house elves, Severus picked up the boy and took him upstairs to his own rooms where he quickly transfigured a crib from an old wardrobe and placed the boy into it. He fell into a dead sleep the moment his head touched his pillow.
A/N: So this chapter is kind of like a transition but I hope it clears some details as to why the Portkey didn't take Harry away when Voldemort first entered. Basically, in this AU version, Harry is not a horcrux and the seventh (or is it sixth?) piece of soul is destroyed. That's what it means by 'a life threatening situation' because Harry had to die in canon to get rid of the piece of soul. Anyway thank you to those who reviewed. It's really encouraging. Duj: I totally agree with you. Lily seems to be horrible to poor Sev, but remember we don't know the whole story of their friendship so it's hard to judge. Also, while writing this, I had to keep in mind that Sev loved Lily which means that he can't be too angry at her even if he wants to. Hule: I personally love Lily and Sev fics but for this story, Lily staying alive simply wouldn't fit since Sev has to take care of Harry and keep his promise to Lily.
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