November 1

12:30 am

Lily, James, Sirius and Dumbledore all appeared outside the Potters' house in Godric's Hollow. The hall was in shambles.

"Oh my gosh! What happened?" asked Sirius.

'Voldemort definitely did not blow up the hall," said James sarcastically. Then he brightened. "Hey Padfoot, it means our plan worked!"

Lily grinned. "Good thing I moved everything from the hall to the attic!"

"Lily, you're a genius!" said James.

"I know," she said. "Let's go rescue Voldemort."

A quiet sobbing was coming from above. They all exchanged a look.

"Do you think that's Tom?" said Dumbledore.

"Oh yeah, I just remembered! It probably is. Also, when we go upstairs, let's all say 'Wassup, Tommy boy," okay?" said Sirius, snickering,

"Sure," said James.

"Alright," said Lily.

"YES WAY!" said Dumbledore.

They all blinked.

"What? I like him just as much as you do."

They all apparted to the nursery. And together they yelled, "WASSUP, TOMMY BOY?"

Voldemort blinked. What on earth? How had they gotten there? Hadn't they put anti-disapparition charms on the house? Wait. How did they know his name? Ah, of course. That meddling Dumbledore. He breathed deeply to regain his composure.

"YOU STOLE MY BEST FRIEND!" yelled Lily.

"YOU STOLE MY BROTHER!" scowled Sirius.

"YOU STOLE OUR BEST FRIEND TOO!" screamed James.

"Tom. I am very disappointed in you," said Dumbledore.

He blinked. That was confusing. He mentally sorted out the cacophony of words. 'You stole my best friend' was obviously Severus. Severus might have hidden it, but he, Voldemort, was well aware that there was more to that friendship than 'an acquaintance'. Then 'You stole my brother' was definitely a Black. It couldn't be Potter, because as much as Potter was his honorary brother, he was still alive, well and on Black's side. Then Regulus? Regulus Black? Sirius Black's brother? He wasn't aware that they were still on good terms with each other. Or were they? And then 'You stole our best friend too' was…Fabian? Gideon? Benjy Fenwick? He wasn't aware of any 'best friends' of theirs who were Death Eaters. And then he remembered what Peter Pettigrew had once said to him: 'I know the Potters rather well…' He sighed at what Dumbledore had said. Of course. He was always disappointed in him. He'd never fallen for his tricks and he'd always been extra-cautious around him. Of all his teachers, Dumbledore had never trusted him, and even turned down his job application.

"WELL, DUMBLEDORE, YOU LEFT ME UNEMPLOYED, WHICH LED TO THIS!" he screamed in the former transfiguration teacher's face.

Everyone blinked. The three younger adults all turned to face Dumbledore with puzzled looks.

Dumbledore sighed. "Tom, you had already embarked on the wrong path when you had come to apply for the Defense Against the Dark Arts job." Sirius, Lily and James all blinked again.

"So is that why we never had a DADA teacher for more than a year? You cursed the position? YOU COST US OUR EDUCATION!" yelled Lily back in his face.

"ENOUGH!" said Dumbledore loudly in a rare moment of anger. "Tom, this ends here and now. Whatever your intentions may have been, wrong though they were, the suffering and unrest that you've had the Wizarding World in is plainly wrong. I am giving you one more chance, Tom. Do you give up? If yes, you will be peacefully taken to Azkaban. If not…then we duel." The Potters (and one honorary Potter) raised their wands.

"You cannot defeat me. I, who have gone further on the path to immortality than any other being. Bow to death, Dumbledore."

Sirius, James and Lily stayed in the background, ready to jump in if required.

"I will not," stated the greatest wizard to ever live. He raised his wand. "EXPELLIARMUS!"

At the same time, the Dark Lord cried "AVADA KEDAVRA!"

Two brilliant jets of red and green light respectively collided in the middle of the room in a spectacular explosion. Voldemort broke off the stream of light connecting both wands and roared in anger. A fiery snake flew through the air towards Dumbledore, who promptly transfigured it into a swirling ball of air, trapping the Dark Lord inside it. With another roar of fury, Voldemort blasted apart the ball of wind and it shattered so hard that all of the protective charms the other three had put on themselves and the room exploded, taking with them most of the rest of the room. Lily dived under the table as the lights and fixture shattered and James transfigured a metal shield covering himself and Sirius. Dumbledore had been quick enough to put up another magical shield with Protego Maxima. As the dust settled around them, the four of them looked up only to see empty space. The Dark Lord had escaped. Again.

Lily repaired all the lights and ignited them with a wave of her wand. Dumbledore made a sweeping motion that caused all the broken pieces of miscellaneous objects from around the house to float up back into the air and back into place.

"Well," said Dumbledore, and for the first time, Sirius noticed how very old the Headmaster was, "Sirius, will you go and alert the rest of the Order? This house isn't safe anymore, James, Lily, please move all of your belongings to a safehouse for now."

"You guys can come to my house," said Sirius.

"Thanks, Padfoot," said James gratefully.

"Anytime. The Potters gave me a home when I needed it, so…"

"It's nothing, we all enjoyed it," said James. He and Lily got to work with the packing, which was substantially easier with magic.

"Sirius," said Dumbledore, "Bring back everyone who was supposed to be on a mission. You can go over to Frank and Alice's first, and get them to help you. We'll have the meeting at the Longbottoms. Get Remus too, but make sure you aren't sighted by any of the werewolves. We will also need Arabella. Once all that is done, send a Patronus to Hogwarts to get Minerva, and ask her to get Harry with you."

Sirius mock saluted. "Yes, sir." Then he turned on the spot and disapparated.