October 31, 1981
"Get Harry and run!"
Lily Potter tore up the stairs. Ducking into the bedroom she shared with her husband, she yanked open the nightstand drawer and, just as quickly as she entered, sprinted out the door and across the hall. A spell sizzled just over her shoulder, so close she could feel the lethal energy slide past.
"There is no escape." A dread, familiar voice spoke in a low hiss that somehow resonated throughout the small cottage.
She was shaking violently, adrenaline and terror coursing through her. Her fear was so great, Lily fumbled the vial when she removed the stopper, crying out as the shining golden liquid spilled out of the small vial. 'No! Not now!'
Falling to her knees, she desperately attempted to push the potion back into the vial, even scooping some of the quickly dissipating magical solution onto her fingers and jamming them into her mouth.
The sound of spellfire from the first floor abruptly cut out.
'This can't be happening!' she thought frantically. Not after more than an entire year working with renowned researchers in multiple fields. Lily had devoted practically every conscious moment since they went into hiding, erased the Potter fortune and nearly drove her and James to divorce in implementing this plan. Months and months of preparation, all laid to ruin because she panicked.
The stairs creaked.
Tearing her eyes away from the shimmering stain over the rows of Futhark runes, cuneiform symbols, and hieroglyphics carved into the floor, Lily pulled her wand from her sleeve. Potion or no, she'd run out of time.
Despite the incredible intricacy of the layered etchings below, there was no complex incantation or wand movement. A tap of her wand and a single word in Attic Greek was all she needed to do. All she could do was hope she was capable of initiating the cascade.
Harry gurgled happily, the commotion of battle having awoken him inside his crib. Lily wanted so badly to gaze upon him, to hold him in her arms once more, to tell him she loved him, that she was sorry, and…
And to say goodbye. But there was no time.
This was the solution to the fundamental problem of absolute protection Lily had posed to every expert of sorcery and magic James' gold could hire. Their proposal was layers of ancient magic, the most potent representations of shielding and safeguarding from magical civilizations near and far. Activating the outer ring - Olmec hieroglyphics - would open up the system Lily and her advisors had designed, each layer cascading into the next, combining into a ring of the most potent defence in history. Or so the designs predicted.
The doorknob turned, the hinges squeaking as the door swung open.
Unfortunately, it was all theoretical. The amount of energy required to activate a runic system this diverse, this complex, this chaotic was beyond any witch or wizard. Attempting to do so would be fatal; theory doesn't have limits, after all, but people do.
This is why the potion was so essential. With their vault emptied, Lily sold her wedding ring to obtain a single dose of Felix Felicis, barely enough for one hour's effect. The power of Liquid Luck might - might - be enough to successfully initiate the shield and to survive.
"Step aside, girl. You know why I've come."
Lily crouched down, picturing the way James held her and their son the day he was born. She'd see him again soon enough, but first she had to guarantee Harry would survive. She whispered the activation and tapped the first hieroglyphic.
There was no light, no signal that the system was engaged. Lily had activated wardstones in the past, was familiar with runology. Here, though, no visible sign of activation could be seen.
Instead, unimaginable pain flooded her being. Every drop of blood burned like acid, every cell pulsied in agony. She collapsed to the ground, vision going gray and her muscles seizing, limbs jerking to and fro uncontrollably.
Voldemort's blurry form paused above her. He might have spoken, but Lily could only hear her own screams. It felt like her body was coming apart, an awful tearing sensation consuming her. He stepped over her, extending his wand towards her son.
A flash issued from his wand tip…
And then everything went black.
"How can you be sure?"
"I spoke with Gringotts just yesterday and confirmed it." Sirius paused, then looked meaningfully at his cousin. "But that could change with every day that passes."
Andromeda pursed her lips, staring across the table. "Your plan is ridiculous. There's no way it will work."
"Have you got a better idea? I'm all ears."
"I've been disowned far longer than you have. Grimmauld's protections-"
"-Won't kick in if you're invited inside. Disowned or not, you've got Black blood in your veins, and the wards will recognise that. Uncle Alphard confirmed it to me a few years ago."
"And you think Walburga is going to ask me in for tea?"
"You? No." Sirius' lips twitched, holding in the grin fighting to plaster itself on his face. "But dear Bellatrix? That's another story."
Andromeda shook her head, but despite her frustration Sirius knew she'd do it. His offer of clemency once he assumed the Black lordship was too powerful for her to refuse, all the more so since Ted's law office was vandalised by pureblood supremacists.
For her husband's and daughter's sake, his cousin would murder his mother.
"Alright. I'm in."
"You won't regret it. Now, we need to discuss timetables. I want to take over the family vaults and properties as soon as-"
A sudden and immediate thought silenced him, echoing around inside his mind with increasing urgency. "Sirius?" Andi asked, once it became obvious he wasn't going to finish his sentence. "Is everything alright?"
The Potters reside at Stargazer Cottage in Godric's Hollow. A secret, one he had no business knowing.
"I've got to go." He ran outside and apparated the moment he cleared the Tonks's wards.
The small two-bedroom home James had purchased when they went into hiding was missing most of the second floor, wreckage still crumbling to the ground below. The front door had been blown off its hinges. Sirius entered and took in the scorch marks burned into the walls, the deep divots gouged into the floors, the wrecked and smoldering furniture.
He tried to brace himself, but even so a wrenching sob broke free as he took in the shattered corpse of his best friend. Sirius dropped to his knees alongside James, carefully closing his open eyes before cradling his body.
Gradually, his tears diminished, and as the lancing pain of his grief retreated rage came roaring in to fill the void. "It should've been me," he mumbled, looking down at the frozen expression of terror on the face of the man who'd saved his life innumerable times.
Of course Wormtail had failed them. Whether it was willing or not, his betrayal was all too predictable. Sirius had begged them to allow him to guard their secret, but Lily knew better, and James was nothing if not devoted to his wife. And so Lily got her way, the same as when she decided to burn through the Potter fortune, the same way she effectively banished Remus from the Marauders.
A hitched cry cut through his bitter recriminations. It- it couldn't be! Gently returning James to the floor, Sirius hurried up the fractured stairs, navigating the gaps and chasms in the ruined cottage. The interior wall of Harry's nursery and the entire master bedroom had been blown apart, but standing upright in his crib was Sirius' godson. Whole, hale, and by all appearances healthy.
Sirius took a step forward, pausing as the toe of his boot impacted a bone-white wand lying on the floor beside a charred black outline. The entire nursery was coated in soot and ash, except a ring around Harry's crib that remained pristine and untouched. He carefully made his way over, lifting his godson out of the crib and holding him tightly, marvelling at the way he seemed entirely unharmed.
No doubt a product of the mysterious prophecy, Sirius decided as he walked back towards the destroyed nursery entrance. He knelt down and picked up the white wand, snapping it in two, then breaking it once more against his thigh. Never again would this wand be used to deal death.
A croak sounded behind him, and he nearly dropped the baby as he spun around and whipped out his own wand. Lying there, near the edge of where Harry had performed his miraculous act of magic, was Lily.
It was no surprise he hadn't noticed her before now. Like the rest of the upstairs, she was coated in a layer of black ash, most of her hair burned off and her robes in shreds.
"rr…eee…" she mumbled, staring in the crib's direction. "ayy-... ree."
Without speaking a word, Sirius examined her more closely. Her startling green eyes, the same ones she shared with her son, appeared colourless, a pale and ghostly gray surrounding dilated pupils. She'd been blinded, he realised, whether at Voldemort's hand or from Harry's unknown power, he couldn't say.
Lily continued to moan piteously, trying and failing to raise herself to her knees. He sent a silent diagnostic charm at her, noting her wounds were mostly superficial. Naturally, the one at fault for this disaster would be the one to survive.
He clenched his jaw, staring at her with disdain. The injustice stung deeply. None of this would have happened if Lily hadn't interfered. He and James had been proven right in the most predictable fashion, but it was his best friend who'd suffered for her mistake. And because of her, his godson lost the chance to grow up with his father.
Sirius knew what he had to do. His plan with Andromeda, initially undertaken to provide James with a stopgap after Lily bled through the Potter vault, would instead finance a correction. He was going to set things right, going to make certain Harry learned to properly harness his prophesied power. Sirius would make sure Harry grew up to be a wizard equal to his father.
Decision made, Sirius enclosed his godson within his cloak and turned his back on Lily, cautiously making his way down the stairs.
For James, he thought, focusing on a destination and apparating away into the night.
In the Daily Prophet a day later, buried beneath the headlines of the Dark Lord's attack on the Potter family and subsequent disappearance was a small article noting the death of the Walburga Black, and the ascension of her eldest son to head the family.
A/N: I'll be drawing a lot from a DnD player's guide called "Chaos Magic: Wild Sorcery" for this fic. I wanted to do one more 'epic Hero's Journey' type story (similar to A Simple Act of Vengeance), and this idea sort of popped into my head. I've got the first three chapters written already, so I'll put them out over the next few days. We'll move through Harry and Hannah's childhood fairly quickly.
This is going to be a more 'free-flowing' fic. I'm not going to worry about things like chapter length, just going to try and have fun with it.
Stay safe, healthy, and happy! ~Frickles