I DO NOT OWN HARRY POTTER OR ANY OF THE CHARACTERS IN THIS FANFICTION. ALL RIGHT GO TO J.K. ROWLING


- 2 Months Later -

Lily knew something was going on with James, he seemed more distant than he had previously which was not to be unexpected, except Lily knew what it was like when James was grieving. He would hang onto those he loved most and never let go, he would be with her constantly as he had been when his mother and father died, afraid that if he let go then she would join who he was greiving.

But yet, James, if anything, was drifting further and further away. She knew he was sneaking out during the night when she was supposedly asleep, but she didn't know what he was doing, she had tried asking him, but it would never end well and always dissolve into an argument. She had a very good guess about what it might be and she knew what the catalyst to this change was. He had started sneaking out about 2 months ago, right after that night.

She also knew that he and Sirius were no longer as close as they were during school, or even 2 months ago for that matter, and she had a feeling it was due to Sirius' choice in spells. Sirius was a Black, and the Blacks were infamous for their dark curses. When James gets back from his nightly excursions and thought Lily was asleep, she would hear him muttering about dark magic and the plight it was to the world. He would go on and on about his goal of wiping the stain that was dark magic, and those who practiced it, out.

Lily had a more pragmatic view on the whole situation, especially since they were currently in a war, feeling as if magic was merely a tool and it was up to the user to decide how to use it. It was the people who were good or evil; not the magic. James disagreed with this and she knew that so kept quiet as the stress of the war was more than enough for the 2 of them. Forget about the stress of raising twins. She didn't want to add a strained relationship on top of all her other concerns. Neither of them did so they agreed to disagree for the time being.

Lily had always wanted to be a mother and she would do anything for her children, but at the moment she was just sitting on the couch, with Harry walking slowly over from the other side of the room whilst Toby was sleeping, curling into Lily's side to try and get as warm as possible. James was supposedly visiting Sirius but Lily had her own suspicions of what James was getting up to, but that was for another day.

It was October 31st, otherwise known as Halloween to the muggles. Lily however preferred the wizard's version: Samhain. It had a deeper meaning and was more spiritual as it was traditional to perform a ritual on this day and she always felt more connected to herself and her magic afterwards so she always made a point to perform the Samhain Ritual.

Lily looked over to the clock on the wall to see it was just before 7pm. She wanted to start the Samhain rites at 8pm and it took a while to prepare everything so she stood up and started taking the children to their beds.

As she walked up the stairs, Harry was clinging to her leg like a koala with a surprising amount of grip strength even though he was being wandlessly levitated to keep him from falling. Toby was in her arms still asleep trying to snuggle into her, still seeking the warmth that came from her.

She stopped halfway up the stairs to look down at her 2 children and she felt the hold that grief had on her lessen. It had been her children that got her through the grief thus far and they were still continuing to do so. No matter how deeply rooted the grief was in her soul, just knowing that despite having lost one child, she still had two children to whom she could give all her love to. It was small moments like this one that made her realise just fortunate she was to have two children who she would sacrifice everything for.

She smiled fondly, a warm fuzzy feeling was burning in her chest as she resumed her climb up the stairs into the twin's room. She first put Toby down into his cot and tucked him in with his favorite green blanket. It was the same colour as Lily's own eyes and was given to him by James to 'remind him what it's like to look at the most beautiful colour eyes can have.' She chuckled to herself remembering the blush she had when she heard James say that. No matter how much she disliked James sneaking out, he was still overly romantic and she loved him with all her heart. She give Toby a good night kiss on the forehead and walked over to the other side of the room, now hearing snoring for two places in the room only to look down and see Harry's peaceful face leaning against her shin with a slight bit of drool now staining her robe.

"Right, up you get." She said as she lifted Harry up into his crib, tucking him in with the same-coloured blanket, also giving him his good night kiss. She saw the blanket curl up close to him all the way to his chin. She already knew both Harry and Toby were going to be powerful wizards but seeing accidental magic whilst they were asleep made her wonder just how powerful they would be one day. "Sweet dreams both of you." She said softly as she made her way to the door, gently closing it behind her.

She went through to her bedroom and moved all the furniture to the side. She went over to her trunk to get the components of the ritual, which consisted of fruits, grain, and other farming products. They were normally for sale around this time however growing them yourself ensured that they were fresh and of a higher quality assuming you were careful. All rituals were illegal in Wizarding Britain bar the Old Rites, which were still heavily frowned upon by most as they were considered 'dark.' Lily thought that was ignorant as the Old Rites always gave and never took. At least, never took anything you didn't willingly sacrifice which is why the grain and fruits were important as the ritual only took material objects and did not harm your mind, body or, soul. Samhain was a time when Magic itself was generous and blessed those who took part and as a thank you to Magic, sacrifices were made to it. The Samhain celebration was known as one of thankfulness and protection and could provide a basic protection against illnesses, such as Dragon Pox, Spattergroit, or even some muggle ailments, to help see you through the Winter.

Lily started drawing out the ritual circle, taking her time to make sure everything was done correctly and to the highest standard possible. It took her about 20 minutes before she finished drawing her ritual circle, she double checked all her runes and when she was satisfied they were all drawn correctly she placed each component on the circle in it's position gently, making sure to show Magic the respect it deserves. Once everything was in place she moved outside the circle and placed her wand and emergency portkeys as well as her enchanted jewellery on top of the drawers in her room. She always found she got the best results from the ritual without anything magical on her. She then moved into the middle of the circle and sat down, crossing her legs. Lily closed her eyes, opened herself up to the ambient magic in the air, and started to chant.


Lord Voldemort apparated to the edges of the intruder charm that had been set up around Godric's Hollow and started to dismantle it. He knew that this was where the Potter's were staying as his spy Wormtail had told him as such. He knew that they were under a Fidelius Charm, and he also knew the wording of the charm. Lily Potter had been uncharacteristically foolish when she phrased the secret stating that James and Lily Potter were residing in The Potter Cottage in Godric's Hollow.'

He had, of course, scouted out Godric's Hollow after finding out this information. He knew that the mudblood and her husband were not as idiotic as some of his servants believed them to be. He knew that they would have set up alert charms so he had scouted them out and knew where the boundary was. However, he did not want to expose his spy by attacking them needlessly when there was another way of getting to the children. If James and Lily Potter died then the secret would no longer be in effect and thus the house would become visible to everyone.

That was why he had arranged for a raid on Wormtail's residence as he knew that if one of James' precious marauders were in danger he would come rushing to save them like the Gryffindor he was. He knew that the half-breed was out of the country and that the blood-traitorous Black had enough wards on his home to delay even him, the Mighty Lord Voldemort.

He had instructed his Death Eaters to target James and Lily during the raid, thus allowing the secret to be broken and him to gain access to the prophesied child without revealing his spy, who was proving to more useful than he would have expected from a cowardly man such as Wormtail. During said attack, he was waiting in this current spot, extending his magic to feel if the Fidelius Charm would fall or not. When he felt through his Dark Mark that his servants had to retreat and his plan had failed. He had been most displeased with the attack party and had made it known to the survivors.

If Wormtail not only was the target of another attack but also survived said attack, that would raise some unwanted eyebrows from the Order as most knew he was not a competent fighter. Since that plan had failed he decided to go with plan B. He decided to wait however, as he knew Magic was very powerful and he could think of no better day than Samhain to provide his reign with protection from an up-jumped half-blood.

The Order was not making spying easy however as they had compartmentalised and when he found out about his he had second thoughts about how useful his spy would be. Only Dumbledore and a select few others knew of everything the Order was doing. Luckily for himself, one of those chosen was James Potter and James, being the foolish, mudblood-loving imbecile that he was, still told his precious friends everything allowing Peter to continue to serve him faithfully.

He was brought out of his thoughts when the charm fell and would no longer alert the mudblood of his presence. As much as he hated mudbloods he had to respect the skill and power that Lily Potter held. He did, after all, invite her and her husband to join his ranks and pledge their allegiance to him.

He knew it would only be Lily Potter and her children in her house tonight as Wormtail had informed him of James Potters new habit that he had developed after his unborn child was killed. Wormtail had sworn to him that he would distract James as he knew that dueling both Potters would delay him long enough for Dumbledore to join them and that was something he wanted to avoid at all costs if possible.

He had never been further than this so he cast a disillusionment charm on himself and started walking down the street to the Cottage he could see about two hundred yards away. The street was quieter than he would have expected for a muggle area. He remember growing up, how all the children would act around Samhain, or Halloween as his younger self used to call it. Those filthy muggles always knew how to disrespect important times of the year. He was surprised when he did not see anyone out in those silly costumes children seemed to like so much. As he was walking, he was further surprised by the lack of wards. The fools fully trusted their friends and it would be their downfall. His 'friends' knew that they were not equal to their lord and so if their lord withheld information from them, they would not dare question it. Wormtail did not even need to ask about information as James did just give it freely to him and then that information would be further passed on to himself allowing him to further his campaign.

As he approached the final stretch, he could feel the secondary alert charm around the house. He cast an anti-apparition and anti-portkey charm over the house. He was aware that Dumbledore could travel by phoenix, but he was sure he would be quick enough to finish before he could arrive.

As soon as he cast those wards, he saw movement from the upper floor window. He cursed. He checked that he had not triggered the alert charm; he had not. Yet somehow, he had been detected. He did not expect Lily Potter to be taking part in the Samhain rites but that must have been how he had been discovered as she would have felt the change in the ambient magic with the wards being erected so close to her.

Stealth was now off the table. so he decided that taking down the alert charm was not worth it. He made his way over to the door and sent an exploding hex towards the door. The door flew off its hinges and landed on the stairs with a thud. 'Homenum Revelio' he cast silently and instantly he knew that there was three people upstairs. Perfect, Wormtail had kept his promise and James Potter was not home yet and so it would only be the mudblood and her children.

He vanished the door that was impeding the stairway and started to make his way up and into the room where he knew the children to be. He unlocked the door and opened it slowly. Making sure he had his wand raised ready for any attack. He knew that the mudblood was resourceful and would use any means necessary to defend her children.

What he did not expect was to see her wandless and kissing her children on the forehead having just moved them to the same side of the room. She must have known that no one could stand against the might of Lord Voldemort so decided to have her last goodbyes whilst she could.

She turned around and had a look of pleading on her face. She tried to cover her children with her body. "Not my children... not them. Please, anything but them." She begged.

"Stand aside and you shall be spared." He replied, barely concealing his disgust at such pitiful begging. He would never normally even consider sparing anyone who opposes him, much less a mudblood who opposes him. But Severus had asked him to spare her. Why? He did not know, he could only presume that Severus desired her or wished to personally kill her for some slight. Either way it did not matter, he cared little why he was asked, but Severus was a good servant and let it be known that Lord Voldemort rewards those who please him.

"No, please... anything else... just not them. Kill me instead, just not…" she continued to beg.

"Last chance to step aside, you need not die tonight" he vowed.

"Have mercy… please… not them…"

Voldemort had had enough of the mudblood's pathetic begging so he raised his wand, "Avada Kedavra" he cast and watched as the green light hit her and she slumped to the ground. Dead. If Severus had an issue with him killing her he will just have to keep quiet. He gave her a choice which is more than most people can claim to be given.

He made his way over to the cot that she had been protecting only to see a set of hazel and green eyes staring back up at him. The green eyes at the front of the cot watching in morbid fascination of what just happened. of course, he did not understand what had just happened but he knew it was not a good thing for him. The hazel eyes were at the back of the cot, looking directly into the red eyes of Voldemort as if challenging him to kill him.

He focused his attention to the hazel-eyed child. Wormtail had told him that the youngest one, the one the prophecy spoke of, had auburn hair and hazel eyes. He raised his wand to the head of the infant. "Avada Kedavra" he muttered quickly.

The green light enveloped the room and he saw out of the corner of his eye the dark haired one reach out towards him with the angriest face a one year old could muster. If he had time he would have scoffed at the futile attempt at resistance but he got distracted when suddenly the bright green light started getting brighter.

The curse rebounded and moved too quickly for Voldemort to do anything and suddenly all he felt was pain.

Pain was everywhere.

Pain was everything.

He now knew that his horcruxes worked. He could feel his soul being ripped from his body and he knew he had been outmanoeuvred. How a pathetic mudblood had done such a thing he did not know. But he never was one for self-disillusionment and knew when he had been defeated and having to rely on his horcruxes was a defeat.

He looked around to see that the room was a mess, clearly his own spell hitting him had caused an explosion of some sort. He presumed that the children would have died in the explosion but if not the building should collapse fast enough to kill them.

And so, knowing he was currently defeated and in more danger than he ever had been. He fled.


Authors Note

Again, thank you for reading, I hope you liked it, I did update this chapter fast and will warn you that my update schedule will not be this quick nor consistent. Once more, any reviews/feedback is appreciated no matter what it is.