Chapter 25
James could once more feel the cold wooden floor of the old Riddle house on his face. It was oddly quiet, so James knew that something must have happened to Voldemort, or else his family would be dead. James opened his eyes to slits, and glanced around, he was surrounded by members of his family, and he smiled to himself.
"James," Ginny said worriedly, "James, honey, are you okay?"
"Fine," he said croakily, and tried to sit himself up, straining with the effort. Every muscle in his body ached painfully, and he groaned in pain.
"Cool face-gear," said Ron, glancing at James' scar, and Harry frowned at him. James' hand reached up and touched his scar, it was a thin bump tracing his forehead.
"Thanks Uncle Ron," James said, now standing up, he groaned again, and Harry's hand rushed to his shoulder, supporting him as he wobbled slightly on his feet.
"Is he dead?" James asked shakily.
No one needed to ask who 'he' was, and the members of the order glanced in the direction of Voldemort, who was unconscious on the floor, nobody could tell if he was alive or dead. Or had he ever truly been alive? Had he maimed his soul so far that it had rendered him practically dead? He was surrounded by his death eaters, each had their head bowed so deeply towards their master that James couldn't see his face.
"No," said Harry, and his face looked pained, "Just knocked out. Someone'll have to finish him off, now the Horcrux is gone."
"How do you know its gone?" asked George, asking the question everyone was thinking.
"That's how it went for me," Harry replied, and there was a moment's silence, before a low hissing seemed to erupt from Voldemort's mouth.
"James Potter!" he said, voice dangerously silky smooth, everyone knew that this was a terrible sign, "What have you done?"
"No," Harry screamed, "You won't kill anyone else in my family!"
"I never mentioned killing James, Harry Potter," Voldemort said coldly, "after all, I never wanted him to die in the first place."
Harry looked as though he might have gone and punched Voldemort, but was stopped by James, "Don't bother dad," he said, "He's just pissed because he thought I was Albus."
There was a succession of 'What!?'s from James' family, and Voldemort hissed a slow snake-like hiss, "You think you fooled me, James Potter?" he laughed hysterically, "You think you a foolish fourteen year old boy, could fool me, the great Lord Voldemort?"
There were a series of laughs from around the death eaters, but they sounded more out of fear than of amusement.
"Well," said James, taunting the dark wizard, "My dad fooled you when he was seventeen."
"James," said Harry in a warning tone, "James be careful."
"Don't worry, dad," said James, "He wouldn't dare hurt me."
"Dare?" asked Voldemort, "Dare? You think I wouldn't dare? I have killed so many before you James Potter, hundreds, thousands of people! And now, you can watch your family killed at my hand, just like your father did," he said slowly and silkily, raising his wand towards Ginny.
"No!" shouted James, "That's seriously unwise, after all, you did trust me with your life, Mr. Riddle."
"Mr. Riddle?" asked Voldemort, "You dare call me by the name of my father?"
"Well," said James, as if falsely considering it, "I suppose you dared putting some of your soul inside me, so I thought I could dare do something you didn't want me to do. You know, return the favour?"
"Enough!" said Voldemort, "Enough. This must end, James Potter. You must end!"
"Fine," said James, "Do your worst Moldy-shorts!"
"Avada Kedavra!" screeched Voldemort, and there were cries of protest coming from behind James, cries from his mother, his father, his aunts and uncles, his only grandparent… As the green light sped towards him, James cowered behind his hands, it was all he could do, this was the end, after everything….and then, the green bullet never came, the horrible impact, and the end of the world never came. The curse shot back at Voldemort, as if repelled by some invisible barrier, a glass bubble surrounding James' body, and the ancient wizard tumbled backwards. His red-eyes rolled back into his head, and it was certain that he was never coming back.
There was an awed silence, as no one quite knew what had happened, didn't know what to say. The curse had so nearly hit James, but had bounced back, without him even trying to protect himself. The order members stared at James, who looked close to fainting, and then at the death eaters.
"Wow," said Ron quietly, "If you'd told me twenty years ago I'd see Voldemort die, twice, I'd have told you you were barking!"
There were several nods of agreement from around the room, and even a slight chuckle from Uncle George, before Harry stunned the remaining death eaters, "Sorry, just a precaution."
"How?" said James slowly, "How on earth did that just happen? It hit me! The curse hit me!"
"I have no bloody idea," said Harry, putting his hands on his head, "but I think that you and I, James, need to have a chat. Ron, go with Kingsley and take that pile of scum to the ministry, and tell them of Voldemort's death. Everyone else, go home."
No one needed to argue, and gradually the adults began to leave, first Ron and Kingsley, who apparated away with the death eaters. Then George and Angelina, who went to find Fred and Lotte in the grounds of the house, Arthur picked up Molly's body, and muttered something about apparating to the Burrow, Bill and Charlie went with him. Neville and Luna went to Hogwarts together, saying they would tell everyone about Voldemort, McGonagall walked out without saying a word. And finally Ginny and Hermione said they would go to find Albus, Lily, Rose and Hugo, and take them back to Grimauld place. Leaving Harry and James alone in the creaking old Riddle house.
"So," said Harry, "Who was it?"
"Your dad and Sirius," James said, without needing to ask what his dad meant, "They seemed nice."
"They were," said Harry sadly, wrapping an arm around his son's shoulder.
"Hurts, doesn't it," said James, and Harry nodded slowly in agreement, "I don't understand how that happened?"
"Which?" asked Harry, "Meeting your namesakes, or surviving the killing curse, because I only have experience in one of those things."
"The killing curse part," James said, "I understand the first time, Grandma died to save me, but the second time, I should have died!"
"No," said Harry, "I knew you wouldn't."
"How?"
"Because that protection your Grandma gave you will last until you're of age," said Harry, "That's what happened with me."
There was silence among the father and son for a few moments, and without saying a word, they begun to walk together out of the building, and into the deserted grounds. It was now entirely black outside, as the moon had disappeared behind a cloud.
"Do you not want to know why Voldemort tried to kill me in the first place?" James asked his father.
"I was thinking about it," said Harry pensively, "but I think I know how."
"Really?"
"He thought you were your brother," said Harry simply, "You turned your eyes green through accidental magic, meaning the prophesy was about you all along."
James nodded slowly, and Harry stopped walked, placing a hand on each of his sons shoulders, "I'm sorry James." he said quietly, "If I hadn't been so blind, so stupid. None of this would have happened, and grandma would never have died."
"'snot your fault, dad," said James, "I thought it was Albus too… and you know as well as anyone that I would have had to die anyway."
"I know son," said Harry, and the two continued to walk together in silence.
"Will everything go back to normal now?" James asked his dad, "Will people come back to school and stuff?"
"Maybe," Harry said thoughtfully, "These things take a while to cool down, you know. You'll have to deal with the press too."
"Ugh," James said simply, he had enough of them just being Harry Potter's son.
"You'll be okay you know, James," Harry said, "It'll calm down, you can be a normal boy again."
"Dad," said James, "I don't think a Potter can ever be just a normal boy."
That's me done :( I'm actually really sad, but you can read the AMAZING sequel, A World of Fragile Things, which can be found on my profile.
Love you all, xxxx
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