Chapter 23
"So, is everyone clear of the plan?" Harry asked quickly, he had just explained what had happened to those Auror members who had already arrived. There was a chorus of yeses from the crowd, who sounded like bored school children.
"I don't understand how you can be so rash about this Harry," Hermione asked quickly, "How do we even know where James is!?"
"An old dog can't learn new tricks," Harry said simply, "He'll have taken them to the place he took me in my fourth year, as some kind of way to show how 'supreme' he is. To punish me."
Hermione looked sceptical, but stayed quiet, she knew that this was their only shot.
"So, we'll all fly on our brooms to Hogsmeade, before apparating to the Little Hangleton graveyard, okay," Harry said quickly, "We'll aim to get the kids back without any trouble, we aren't prepared to fight yet."
Everybody nodded, before mounting their brooms, and Harry set off quickly at the front, leading the way over the Hogwarts grounds towards the tiny village of Hogsmeade, which had a huge black crater where Dervish and Banges had once been. The night was clear and crisp as an apple, and the February wind was bitingly cold as they flew. The mountains around were lit up by the near-full moon, which was just shadowed by a few wispy clouds.
They got to Hogsmeade quickly, and touched down on their brooms. There were 14 of them, Harry, Ginny, Ron, Hermione, George, Angelina, Arthur, Molly, Luna, Neville, McGonagall, Kingsley, Bill, and Charlie, each was experienced in battle. Harry gave a quick nod to them all, before drawing out his wand, spinning on the spot, and apparating, thinking only of the eerie graveyard where he had been only once before, and planned never, after tonight, to visit again. The other members of the Order followed suit, each drawing their own wands and apparating.
James, Lotte and Fred were sitting on the ground, no one had yet realised that they had arrived. There was a single light on in the house on the hill, and James took that to be the place where the Death Eaters were hiding. All he needed was for his friends to be distracted for a moment, and he could run up to the manor, run to his death. It was getting colder by the moment, and the wind was whipping the dead-looking branches of the trees around them. It was bitingly cold, but the three friends sat separately, not speaking, but thinking of how they could get out of this mess.
Lotte was hoping for James to see sense and not try to kill himself.
Fred was hoping for an adult to come and take them home to Hogwarts.
James was hoping, wishing, for a distraction.
Two out of three got their wish. There was suddenly a loud 'crack', as a tall man with messy black hair appeared out of thin air about 10 meters from the three teens. Another 13 figures appeared soon after, and they began to search around the graveyard for their missing children.
"James? Fred? Lotte?" the call made all three of them jump at the same time. James had got his distraction, Fred, his comforting adult.
"Mum!" Fred recognised her voice straight away, "we're over here!"
There were several heavy footfalls, as the 14 adults came sprinting towards the children like a heard of buffalo. James took his chance, he pulled out his invisibility cloak, and pulled it over himself, and through the commotion of their arrival, he was unnoticed. There were hugs all around, and it was several minutes before anybody noticed that James was gone.
"James?" Ginny said confusedly, "James, honey, where are you?"
But James couldn't hear her, as he was already on his way to the Riddle House.
"He must have had that damn invisibility cloak on him," Ron said angrily, "He's pulled a Harry on us."
"Since when had 'pulled a Harry' been an accepted term, Ron?" Harry said irately.
"Now is not the time to worry about this," Ginny said, on the verge of tears, "Harry, our baby is missing! Why would he run off like that?"
Lotte and Fred exchanged glances, as if having a telepathic conversation, "We know why." they said at the same time, and the adults all turned to face them, mouths open.
"Well, then," said Professor McGonagall sternly, "Spit it out, Miss. Hallam!"
"Well, James-is-sort-of-a-Horcrux-and-he-thinks-he-needs-to-kill-himself!" she said in one breath, but everybody heard her as if she had shouted it to the heavens.
"WHAT!?" Harry's voice was the loudest of all, "Why didn't he tell me? Of course, it all makes sense! His visions! That's why they've been happening! How could I have been so stupid? All the signs pointed towards it!"
"He didn't want anyone to know," Fred said quickly, "I think he's gone up to the house to get one of the Death Eaters to kill him."
"But that simply won't work!" said Hermione agitatedly, "after nearly 30 years of knowing me, still no one ever thinks things through! None of the Death Eaters will kill James if he is a Horcrux, that's practically putting a death sentence on their master!"
"Maybe not all of them know, Hermione," Arthur said wisely, "You three said that with the Horcruxes before, almost nobody but Voldemort himself knew about his Horcruxes."
Everyone was in stunned silence, not quite knowing what to do with themselves.
"Well," Molly said abruptly, "we can't just sit here can we? We need to go and save my grandson!" And she turned on the spot, and apparated to the one room with a light on.
James was panting heavily as he ran up the steep, grassy hill to his death. The ground was wet with dew, and he had to be careful not to slip and lose his cloak. He had a plan, he had a vision. He needed to find a less-important death eater, and get them to kill him, as punishment for his father's idiocy. He pushed open the old door of the Riddle house, and it creaked loudly, immediately signalling his arrival. He took of the cloak, he needed his killers to see that it was him, and tucked it into his pocket.
"Did you hear that, My Lord?" a gruff voice spoke from a room upstairs, "Its him! it's the Potter boy!"
"Which one?" a high, cold voice spoke, one which was all too familiar to James, "The green-eyed or the brown?"
"Both," the first voice spoke again, it too was familiar, but James couldn't quite place who's it was, "if the Portkey worked properly, both boys should have been in contact with it at the time of departure."
"Good," Voldemort said quietly, "Good. Now, who shall go to greet our guest?"
"I will sir," said a new voice, "it would be an honour to serve you!"
"Okay, you go, Creevy, but remember, we aim to kill the green-eyed, stun the brown eyed, we don't want to kill little James."
The was a grunt of recognition from Creevy, and James realised with a jolt that this was Dennis Creevy, his old Defence Professor. James put away his wand, he wouldn't need to defend himself, as Creevy would stun him before he had a chance. The creaking floor-boards of the stairs sounded like a ticking clock to James' ever-confused mind. Tick-Tock, Creak-Creak, counting down his final minutes of life. If he could persuade one of them to kill him, and end this madness.
The short man came to the bottom of the stairs, and stood face to face with James, "Hello, Potter. Where's your older brother, then?"
James was highly confused by this, had he been mistaken for Albus? If so, this was good, as they would probably kill him. Kill Voldemort.
"Dunno," James said, in his best Albus impression, "must have run off somewhere. Are you taking me to see Moldy or not?"
"You dare call the Dark Lord such an unspeakable name?" Creevy hissed angrily.
"Yes, I dare," James said proudly, "He's going to kill me anyway, right?"
"Pretty much," Creevy said sarcastically, before stunning James into quiet oblivion.
"Ah, good," the chilling voice of Voldemort spoke as James slowly opened his eyes, "our visitor has awoken."
James slowly got to his feet, drawing his wand, if he wanted to play Albus, he would have to play his part convincingly, "What do you want from me?"
"I believe you have heard a certain prophesy made about the son of one Harry James Potter, young Albus," Voldemort said slowly, as if dangling bait, "Tell me what you know."
"That its about me," James said nervously, trying not to slip up, "that you're going to try and kill me, but instead, I'll get a scar like dad."
"HA!" Voldemort's laugh was less of humour, but more of utter insanity, "You think I will not be successful? You think that Daddy will come and save the day, young Albus?"
"No," James said quietly.
"Then, you think that you will be able to fight me off?" Voldemort laughed again, "With your superior magic?"
There was a chorus of laughter from around the room, and James spotted the man whose voice had been so familiar, Professor Baddock. He glared meaningfully at him, as if to say, 'I've known all along'.
"We are going to kill you, Albus Potter," said Voldemort slowly, "and when we have, we will capture your big brother, and lock him up forever. Make sure he comes to no harm, of course, you'll know why."
James decided to play dumb on this one, "No, why?"
"You mean your brother hasn't told you of my great plan?"
"No," James said again, "we don't speak often, actually."
Voldemort looked agrily at Professor Baddock, "Baddock here told me that you and your brother were very close, Albus," he said, his voice dangerous and silky, "do you mean to tell me that he, my most faithful servant, was lying?"
James nodded, and Voldemort's red eyes flashed angrily, "Well then, I will no longer require his services. Avada Kedavra."
Baddock's body dropped to the ground like a Marionette, his life-less eyes rolling into his sockets, as so many of James' family members had done before him, by Voldemort's hand.
"And now, Albus Potter," Voldemort said slowly, "I will dispose of you, as I disposed of both your namesakes. Avada Kedavra!"
The jet of green light shot towards James like a bullet, but never hit him. Something got in his way. Something, someone, fell to the ground at his feet, lifeless as Baddock had been. Another family member killed at the hand of Voldemort. Another grandmother.
AH another cliffie!! i'll upload the next chapter over the next few days, but for now PLEASE REVIEW!!! i really need your ideas/support for my story... my aim is 35 reviews before i next update....tell me what you think of the death at the end, or even just my writing style
love you all Mirandoo
P.S. Please read my sequel story A World of Fragile things, which can be found on my profile. It's about Lily Luna Potter's 4th year at Hogwarts, but does feature James and Albus too... review that too if you want