A/N: Thank you for all of your encouraging reviews! They are great motivators! I am so sorry that I have been a lump on a log and not published. Everything has seemed to be getting in the way, cars breaking down and such. But alas! Here it is, the end to one cliffhanger and the beginning of another. I tried to make this one a little longer than my chapters usually are to make up for it. I thought of splitting it up, but it is too cohesive to separate. I need to make one tiny disclaimer to keep from being sued. Towards the end, I bring up the infamous book five prophecy. That is word-for-word, JKR. The prophecy is all her and not me. I should hope that you all would know that considering you are reading fan fiction, but you never know.
This is all I have written so far, but I am coming up on a few major keystones in the story and then the ending probably within like the next ten or so chapters. What I am getting at is that my days of postin multiple chapters in one night are over. Instead I will try to do weekly posts of longer chapters to make up for it. I appreciate your patience in this! Much love to all.
Remember, Reviews are fuel for my inspiration fire!
Without further ado.....
Everyone in the area fell silent in a moment of shocked disbelief, frozen in a state of fear. Dumbledore had fallen? How was that even possible? The thought swirled through everyone's heads and seemed to click for everyone at the same moment as a low rumble of talk began to filter through the crowd. Some shouted disbelieving protests. Some broke into tears at the loss of the only half effective leader that the Anti-Dark Arts movement had left. Some simply sat looking lost and confused.
"Everyone!" James tried to bellow over the crowd, few but the ones closest to him heard.
"SILENCE!" Sirius boomed. His voice magically magnified in the small room caused everyone in the room to fall into immediate silence.
"We need to regroup back at the castle!" James shouted. Everyone seemed to snap back to sense at his words. "I will go out onto stoop and signal when it is clear for you to apparate to safety. Anyone who is trained and able, please find someone who isn't. Minerva? Is there a safe place for us to apparate to? We don't have time for portkeys."
She seemed to think for a moment and, to everyone's great surprise turned to Harry. "Mr. Harry Potter?"
"Yes, ma'am?" he replied startled.
"You are aware of a secret passage into the castle, are you not?" He nodded and she pressed on, "What kind of fortifications are surrounding the passage you and Mr. Weasley used to get into the castle?"
"Erm…there was one Deatheater posted at the entrance to shop that it was under and another making rounds, but aside from that…" he said embarrassed by all the eyes that were suddenly on him.
"Then we will be apparating straight into the basement of Honeydukes—"
"Excuse me, Professor, but not all of us know what the place looks like," Mrs. Weasley piped up. "We run the risk of being splinched."
"Well noted," The haggard professor looked around the room. "How many of you know the location well enough to apparate to it?" Immediately the hands of Fred, George, James, Lily, Sirius, Harry, Ron, and Hermione's hands went into the hair. "Very good. Now, everyone that is either unable to apparate to the location or unable to apparate alone please pair up with one of those individuals."
"Wait!" Hermione said suddenly. Everyone looked in her direction. Suddenly in the spotlight, she blushed and put on her most perfect student-answering-a-question-in-class voice and said, "They have people checking the store for signs of traffic. If we all go into the basement all at once we will draw attention and someone may see where we are entering!"
A shiver ran through the crowd. It was well known that Deatheaters could summon the dark lord in an instant with the Dark Mark.
"Then we will go in pairs," Lily spoke up, grief and worry etched in her voice. "Those who know the way will have to make multiple trips." She leaned heavily on Sirius as she added, "Disallusionment charms couldn't hurt either."
Agreement lighted onto everyone's faces and they just stood looking at one another for a moment.
"Please, don't wait until Merlin rises!" Fred said sounding exasperated. He pulled Tonks to him, tugged her to the stoop, and dissapperated.
"Yeah, let's go!" George said pulling his Mum by the hand and disappearing with a loud crack.
Other soon began doing likewise, pulling younger people with them. Harry looked around when a smaller hand grasped his to find Adam looking up at him with wide eyes filled to the brim with unshed tears. "Are we going to die?" he asked.
It was the first thing he had said to Harry in months and it nearly broke his heart. Kneeling next to young boy, he put the hand not desperately clinging to Hermione's on the young boy's shoulder. "Not tonight," he said, wishing he could say more without having to lie.
Adam seemed reassured, and nodded trying to look braver than he felt. Harry stood and shared a look with Hermione that was asking the same question. He gave her a one armed hug of reassurance as they watched people Disallusioning themselves and there tagalongs before they fully disappeared with a pop.
Hermione moved to stand next to Ginny, but Harry held fast to her hand pulling her back. She turned looking at him in confusion of moving bodies. With a quick yank he pulled her to him in a bone crushing hug momentarily dropping Adam's hand. "I love you," he mumbled into her hair kissing her on the forehead before he turned quickly to stand next to his youngest brother pulling out his wand and whispering the charm to make the boy invisible. She reddened and dashed in the opposite direction tears welling in her eyes.
James and Lily appeared on the stoop moments before the pounding began on the door. It was more like the blast of a cannon making the door frame creak and groan. Dust drifted down from the ceiling. "All clear everyone!" James shouted above the blasts. "Get out! Now!"
Immediately, Hermione and Ginny were gone. Harry breathed a sigh of relief as he watched them go. George reappeared and held out his hand. David grasped tightly to George's arm and screwed his eyes shut as tightly as possible moments before the overstressed door fell right where they had been standing.
The remaining four stood there, frozen eyes fixed on the glowing light that was fighting its way through the dust. Shadows began to fill the hole in the wall that had once been the door. A mutter of voices filled the room as curses.
"DUCK!" Harry yelled forcing Adam painfully to the floor. Red light filled the room leaving scorch marks in the wall paper when it hit. In The falling dust, Harry saw his mother's figure crumple as he pushed James out of the line of fire.
"LILY!" James yelled.
"NO!" Harry cried out helplessly.
"MUM!" Adam screamed momentarily trying to crawl to her side. Harry had to practically climb on top of the kid to keep him in place as he fought to find his wand among the debris.
James was doing the same thing as the dust settled around them leaving solid figures where there had only been shadows.
"Expelliarmus!" a voice hissed and James's and Harry's wands flew out of their hands and clattered to the ground.
Desperately searching for the wand, James barely noticed when a tall thin figure with snake like features came floating through the door. Adam's eyes became wide with fear hiddens safely beneath his invisibility spell, knowing who was silhouetted in the doorway. As soon as he found the slim piece of wood in the debris, James looked from his downed wife to his sons across the hall. Catching his son's eye, he mouthed the word hide his eyes wide with terror as he muttered the Nox under his breath. Immediately, the foyer fell into darkness and Harry covered what felt like his youngest brother's mouth and dragged him around a corner. He knew he should be looking for his own wand in the darkness, but fear froze him as the lights came back up.
"Well, well, well," the high pitched voice muttered as he lazily flicked his wand at James sending his wand careening out of his hand once more. "Who do we have here? Ennervate!"
Lily's eyes blinked several times before she realized where she was. With the flick of his wand, the woman rose into the air before him screaming and twitching with pain.
"NO!" James bellowed, launching himself forward only to be caught in the stomach and thrown back by one of the Deatheaters.
"No, no," Voldemort leered. Lily's frame went limp, her breath coming in and out in gasps as tears streamed don her face. "Move and she dies."
James froze his face red with anger, his fist clenched at his sides.
"What a coincidence! You two are just the blood traitor I wanted to see. Your mudblood wife is a bonus. Tell, me where are the kids?"
"Let her go," James whispered dangerously.
"Oh-ho!" He flicked his wand at Lily and she began to convulse. Her screams echoed around the room. Separated from the action by a mere six inches of wall, Harry wrapped his arms tighter around his little brother's invisible frame that was desperately trying to run to his mother. With the same abruptness, he cries stopped only to be followed by the most pitiful sobs. Harry felt tears fall down his own cheeks, echoing those of his mother. "Now, are we ready to listen?"
James said nothing as he nodded in agreement watching his helpless wife cry.
"Very good," Voldemort hissed, dropping his wand to his side. "I don't have a lot of time. It's busy work keeping the vermin of the earth like your wife here under control.
"But you see, earlier this afternoon I was checking up on some precious items of mine and discovered something very interesting. One officious old man has been very busy meddling with things that he ought not to have meddled with." He paced around Lily's floating form to stand next to James who was shaking with visible anger. "This is no problem, I can simply make more. But you see, before I killed our busy bee, I took a trip through his mind.
"It was beautiful, he truly was brilliant. Too bad I destroyed it." The deatheaters sniggered behind their masks.
"You see, our favorite headmaster, was privy to details about a prophecy that I thought was taken care of nearly seventeen years ago when I killed two young parents and their bouncing baby boy."
"How will taking Lily help you?" James asked impatient with the Dark Lord's candor.
"It won't," he whispered in James's ear befor circling him predatorily. "See when I told you that bit about how lovely your wife looked while she slept, I was simply studying the curiosity that is your family. I thought of simply killing all of you then and there. After all, why would the old man go through the trouble of hiding you for sixteen years if you or one of yours were unimportant? But I am a patient man, Potter—deadly patient.
"When I finally realized, what Dumbledore was doing right under my nose, I saw the opportunity to find out what he was hiding from me." He paused for dramatic effect. "Do you want to know this very interesting prophecy?"
James's jaw clenched tighter.
"'The one with the power to vanquish the Dark Lord approaches...Born to those who have thrice defied him, born as the seventh month dies...and the Dark Lord will mark him as his equal, but he will have power the Dark Lord knows not...and either must die at the hand of the other for neither can live while the other survives....'" he hissed into James's ear.
Immediately, James's face paled, but still he said nothing.
"Part of this prophecy was already known to me. It is the reason that I killed the Longbottoms and their wee son just over fifteen years ago. There is no one in this world more powerful than me in this world. I am the God of this dimension. All fear and serve me!" He shouted these words so harshly in James's face that he spittle sprayed the man.
"But it seems that Dumbledore thought that all these years it was not the Longbottom boy who held the power to kill me. He thought it was your son, one Harry Potter!"
Around the corner, Harry's jaw dropped open and his grip on Adam momentarily relaxed. Astonished, Adam looked up at his shocked brother with awe and admiration as if the boy on the verge of manhood had just sprouted wings. He started to say something, but Harry quickly caught the question in his hand before it could escape the boy's mouth, giving him a warning look laced with ill hid fear.
"This is impossible, of course. No one could hope to defeat me, let alone a single solitary boy." he laughed and his deatheaters chuckled with him. "However, if this boy was the old man's secret weapon, I think it only right that I," he stepped directly in front of James once more and hissed, "Remove the threat."
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