I DO NOT OWN HARRY POTTER OR ANY OF THE CHARACTERS IN THIS FANFICTION. ALL RIGHT GO TO J.K. ROWLING
- October 31st 1981, 7pm –
Peter Pettigrew had received specific instructions from his Lord. He knew his actions will have caused the death of two innocent children, as well as their mother who happened to be one of his best friends. But he would have a place at his Lord's side when it was all over. He would be alive and that was what mattered to him. He knew it was cowardly, but he didn't really care about that, after all what good is bravery if you are dead.
He had informed his Lord of the location of the Potters as well James Potter's new habit of personally seeking out and hunting those he thought were Death Eaters. Peter would be lying if he said he wasn't scared of James finding out about the Dark Mark that was visible on his forearm. James, like most other people, knew that you had to take the Dark Mark willingly and if he were discovered having it, he knew he would likely be killed by James, Marauder or not. Especially since that night 2 months ago.
Peter had been instructed by his Lord to distract James Potter for the evening whilst his Lord carried out his task. He did feel guilty about what his actions have led to, if only a tiny bit. Peter was aware of the alert charms around their house and knew that if one were triggered, which he knew his Lord would not do as his Lord was powerful enough to both detect and dismantle them, James would rush off back to his house to early and possible jeopardise the plan.
The information about the Potters he had already provided would spare him, but he wanted to further secure a spot in his Lord's ranks and prove how useful he could be. Sirius Black was known as one of the deadliest fighters within the Order of the Phoenix and if Peter could be the reason for his demise, he would be sure to have a high-ranking place within the new world his Lord would bring to fruition.
Nobody, not even Dumbledore knew that Peter was the Secret Keeper, everyone thought it was Sirius Black, all except Siris himself, and James, who was standing opposite him looking at information on Death Eater movements that Peter had provided. Of course, they were all inaccurate but accurate enough to a degree it wouldn't raise suspicions if the leads didn't turn anything out.
He knew what he had to do to secure a position. "I'll be back in a minute," he said to James as he headed down the corridor and to the bathroom.
He opened the door and locked it behind him; he looked up to see himself starting back at him in the bathroom mirror. He was nervous, he did not mind admitting that he could feel the sweat starting to gather on his hands. James Potter was a powerful wizard but he was not a very experienced Occlumens so he was hoping that that, along with the fact that James believed Peter was a friend, would allow him to modify his memory.
He turned the tap on and splashed some water in his face. He grabbed a towel at the side and dried his face off, stood up nice and tall and slowly opened the door. He walked down the corridor and took his wand out; right as James turned around to see him, he cast, "Obliviate."
James' eye turned cloudy as Peter chose which memories to leave alone, alter or remove entirely. Eventually he decided he had done enough and ended the spell. He had expended a lot more magic than he expected doing that.
James blinked. He looked around to see Peter hunched over slightly as if he was tired. "Are you okay Wormtail?" he asked curious as to why he looked as if he had just cast a dozen spells in a row when all he had done was walk down a corridor.
"Yep," he said offering no further explanation. "Anyways, what's your best guess on who their next target will be?"
"I reckon it will be against Amelia, she's driving the Ministry as hard as she can, and I doubt He is a fan of it," James replied, he had thought a lot about who the targets were going to be so that the Order could subtly assign a protection detail on those who would be targeted.
Peter agreed, and they kept talking and theorising over the newest batch of information that had been gathered.
Suddenly James felt the intruder charm around their house go off. His head immediately shot up, eyes wide.
Peter seeing this also looked up, confusion marked on his features. "Everything alright there Prongs?" he asked in a very shaky voice.
"No, the inner intruder alarm has gone off but the outer one hasn't, I'm going to go," he replied quickly, checking himself over for his important items.
James saw Peter's eyes go wide for a fraction of a second before they returned to normal. "I-I-I'm sure i-it's just Padfoot or… or someone else," he replied.
"I still don't like it, I'm going, are you joining me?"
"U-Um yes…I don't see why not," Peter said as if trying to sound confident. "Let me just get my emergency portkey." And with that he ran out of the room.
James waited for about 30 seconds before deciding that he had left it long enough and would go with or without Peter. "Peter, you are taking too long, I'm going!" he shouted down the corridor only to see Peter turn round the corner, red in the face from running.
"Okay, sorry that took so long, it fell down the side and summoning it wouldn't work."
"Well come on let's go," James said as he tried to apparate into his front garden. It didn't work. "That's weird," James muttered to himself. He could feel his heart start to race a bit as well as his adrenaline spiking. He closed his eyes and tried again this time about 20 feet outside his garden.
He felt the familiar compressing of appartion and opened his eyes only to see his house had suffered from a massive explosion. Almost the entire top floor was missing as well as half the bottom floor. He could see fires burning on anything wooden. The frame of the upper floor was all that was left standing. "NO!" he shouted out as he ran into the house barely registering the crack of appartion next to him.
He should have known that Black would betray them, he had seen him using dark magic and knew that it was only a matter of time before he joined Voldemort like the rest of his despicable family.
James ran through the empty doorway and conjured water from his wand to put out the fires as he ran up the stairs. When he got to the top, he saw that the interior walls were also destroyed. He ran through to the children's room.
A child's cry sounded from the far side of what used to be a room. James breathed a huge sigh of relief as he ran to the source of the noise. He saw the cot, on its side with the top against the only standing wall on the upper floor. Some of the tiles from the roof were balanced on the bars of the cot. He quickly vanished the tiles and levitated the cot the right way up. He looked inside it to see that Toby was sitting down with a hand covering the right side of forehead. He darted his eyes around to locate Harry. He was lying face down on the cot, completely unmoving.
His arms moved over to him, without thinking, and turned him face up. James' fingers were already checking for a pulse. It was faint and slow, but it was there. He breathed another sign of relief only to hear a sob from behind him.
He turned round and saw Peter couching down over a leg sticking out of the rubble. "J-J-Ja-James… I-I'm so sorry," he said in between sobs.
"LILY!" James cried out as he moved to where Peter was in a blink of an eye. He cast a blasting hex towards the rubble, not caring if it causes more damage to the house; if it could even be called a house now.
He paused. She wasn't moving, she couldn't be dead though. She was Lily Potter; everyone knew how powerful she was. She couldn't be dead. He reached out to touch her forehead. Cold. He couldn't believe it. He refused to believe it. His wife, the woman he loved and had tried to date for a decade was dead and it was all Blacks fault, as well as whatever Death Eater scum he had told to come here.
Tears started rolling down his cheeks as he started at the still open eyes of Lily. He dropped his wand as he used both hands to turn her head to face him. The bright green of them seemed to have dulled. He looked up to see Peter also with tears in his eyes. He looked to her hand only to see she didn't have a wand in her hand. His heart surged.
Of course, it would not have a wand. It was a fake body to trick anyone who came to check. Lily was still alive. Immediately his mood got better. Peter had started walking around the rest of the rubble.
James went back over to his children and gave them the single longest hug he could remember. "Do you know where mama went? Dada needs to know where mama went." The children, of course, didn't answer and just looked at the unmoving, fake, corpse of Lily.
The hug was interrupted when he heard Peter's voice ringing through the wreckage, "James, you need to come here."
James frowned, what could Peter want from the other side of the building? He put his children back into their cot and walked over to where Peter was standing. On the floor of what was his bedroom he saw Lily's wand. At least, what was left of it. It had burn marks all over it, half the bottom was missing, and the tip was snapped off. But James knew what the wand looked like. He could even see a shine from the middle where the core was positioned.
His delusion broke. Lily was dead, the body was not a trick, it was real. He crouched down onto the floor and started sobbing into his hands. He did not know how long he stayed there for, but it felt like forever. The familiar feeling of grief dug its claws even further into James as he was forced to reconcile the fact that the love of his life was dead.
He opened his eyes; his head was too heavy to lift so he was staring at the floor. He looked at the charred floor, the house would never be able to be recovered. If he even wanted to live here any longer, he would have to demolish it completely. He wiped the tears from his eyes only to look closer at the scorch marks. Except, they were not scorch marks, he looked down and saw that it was black chalk. The type used during the Samhain ritual.
Lily had taken part in the Old Rites ever since Black had introduced her to them, she had tried to get him to take part too, but he always refused. They were, after all, rituals and rituals were dark by nature. He only tolerated Lily doing them as he knew it allowed her to feel more connected to herself as a witch. That was the one positive he would give the Old Rites, after them your magic would sing out as if celebrating. Or so he was told.
James paused as he skimmed back over his thoughts, Black had introduced Lily to the Old Rites and as if trying to corrupt her was not enough, he had to go and tell Voldemort their Secret. When he next saw him, he would make sure he killed him.
The cry of a phoenix filled the air around him, allowing hope to fill the hollowness that his grief caused within his heart. For just a moment the grief subsided until the song ended and his mood plummeted back down to rock bottom.
He looked up to see Dumbledore standing on the other side of the wreckage, James would guess he was checking to see who had lived.
"James," Dumbledore said when he saw he was moving, "Thank Merlin you're okay. What about the children, are they alive, unharmed? Where are they?" James was surprised how frantic he sounded. Dumbledore wasn't frantic, he was the epitome of serenity and calmness in the face of all.
"Yes, but Sirius, he betrayed us, he was our Secret Keeper."
Dumbledore visibly relaxed once he heard the children were okay. "And he will face swift justice for what he has done, I promise you that my boy. There is a silver lining to this situation, Voldemort has been defeated, how I do not know but I have a strong suspicion that this is where he fell. Lily – "James hung his head; tears were threatening to spill from his eyes "– was the reason for his defeat. As you know, Voldemort came here for the children, so it is imperative that we get them to safety in case some of his followers seek to finish what their master started. With your permission I can take them to Hogwarts, I promise you that they will be safe there"
"Sorry, did you say He came here, personally?" James asked incredulously.
"Now is not the time, my boy, I will explain everything. But first, where are the children. It is imperative that we get them to safety."
"O-Over there," James said as he raised his hand to point at the cot. "I- I will go to H-Hogwarts shortly, I just need… I need more time"
"Of course, my boy, take as much time as you need, it is perfectly understandable to need time after what you have just gone through." With that, Dumbledore moved over to the cot, took one child in each arm and apparated out.
James stayed there, for what felt like an eternity but was probably only about 5 minutes. He had lost track of where Peter was, but that did not matter. His wife was dead, and James, once again, swore revenge on all things Dark. He would personally get retribution for what they had done to his family.
"James?" he heard a voice ask from the doorway. He knew that voice, that was not a voice he wanted to hear right now. He looked up to see Sirius Black, with a look of grief possibly equalling his, he did not fall for it, however. He knew who had done it.
"Come to finish the job your master started?" James spat, not willing to look into Black's eyes
Black's face turned to confusion, "James, what do you – "He didn't get to finish before James launched himself at him.
Black crashed to the floor; James was on top of him with his fists raised above his face. Black clearly didn't expect James to be so quick in his grief so was unprepared. Or, so James thought as he was blasted off Black and into a pile of rubble, knocking him out.
When James next opened his eyes, he couldn't see Black anywhere, but he could hear voices downstairs. What they were saying he couldn't make out, but there were voices, nonetheless. He jumped up onto his feet and ran over to his wand. Picking it up and running down the stairs and to where he could hear the voices. When he got there, he saw Black send a spell, most likely a dark curse, at Peter, whose eyes widened. James thought he saw a tiny smirk appear on Peters face but that must have been a trick of the light.
When the spell hit the entire house shook from the force of the explosion. "NOOO!" James shouted as when the fireball caused by the explosion, he could no longer see Peter. Black had just killed Peter. James couldn't believe it. Black had betrayed their trust to such a degree that he had almost lost both of his children, he had lost his wife and one of his oldest friends.
"Sirius, put your wand down now." The voice of Albus Dumbledore rang through the building with such authority you completely forgot the grandfatherly aura he seemed to radiate. Instead, it was replaced by the man who singlehandedly beat Grindelwald in a duel, the man who Voldemort feared, the most powerful wizard in recent memory.
Black had a look of betrayal on his face. He looked confused and hurt, but it wouldn't fool him. He knew Black was his Secret Keeper and just like the rest of his family had been corrupted by the Dark Arts. He dropped his wand, clearly in a sign of surrender. Dumbledore immediately summoned it to him.
Black was opening his mouth as if to speak when a familiar red light left the tip of Dumbledore's wand. It connected to Black, and he slumped to the ground.
"I'll take him to the Ministry, I will meet you back to Hogwarts," Dumbledore said as picked up a bit of rubble, pointed his wand at it the handed it to James. Seeing James' confused expression, "It's a portkey."
James nodded, not trusting himself to be able to produce words at this moment. He reached out to the rubble and as soon as he touched it he felt the uncomfortable pull associated with a portkey and was suddenly in the headmasters office at Hogwarts.
He looked up and saw that all the portraits were asleep, James doubted that they were actually asleep but at this point in time, he was apathetic to the world around him. Fawkes was sitting on his perch, crying out in hopeful bursts allowing James to feel just that tiny bit better with each note. He looked around, Dumbledores collection of eccentric trinkets seemed to keep expanding it seemed.
Next to the stairs that go further into the office, was a cot. James forced himself to walk over to it, looking down he saw both children sleeping peacefully, not knowing the severity of what had just happened.
"James my boy, please, sit down." He heard a from behind him. How Dumbledore kept sneaking up on him he didn't know, but that didn't matter at the moment. "I need you to tell me everything that has happened tonight"
So he did, he told him everything including how he was personally going out to hunt Death Eaters. "I'm going to kill them; I'm going to kill them all for what they did to my family" he vowed.
"James, I do not think that is the course of action that Lily would like." James looked up at Dumbledore as if he had been shot by one of those muggle guns Lily had told him about. "What I mean, is that she would want you to raise the children first and foremost. They have already lost their mother; they do not need to lose their father as well. So, I implore you to not throw away your life in righteous fury but instead, raise your children to the very best of your abilities. Raise them to be something Lily would be proud of."
"Okay" James muttered, "I'll do it, I'll make Lily proud," he vowed. As much as he hated Dark Magic, Lily came first, Lily would always come first.
"I'm glad to hear that my boy. However, there is a slight issue," James' head snapped up. "No no, nothing to worry about too much, but I have lived a long and busy life, that comes with learning magical abilities few even know of. For example, I can sense people's magical presence and I'm deeply sorry to have to tell you this, but Harry's magical presence has diminished drastically."
"What- How drastically? How does that happen? What does that mean? Will he recover?" James asked without taking a breath.
"As you know, both Harry and Toby have very active accidental magic, it is my honest opinion that Harry may never be able to produce accidental magic again, forget about focused magic," Dumbledore said solemnly.
James was stunned. This had got to be the worst day someone could experience. Tears were filling his eyes again, blurring the entire room. Or was it the grief dulling his senses to such a degree he was struggling to see.
"However, I'm afraid to say that there is more; I can sense dark magic all over him. It is my theory that when Voldemort entered your home, Lily sacrificed herself to save her children. This is incredibly ancient magic that is rarely invoked. I can only presume that Voldemort used The Killing Curse on young Toby, and it backfired, and he hit himself with his own curse. When he was hit by his own spell, an explosion of dark magic was released. It is my belief that Voldemort must have undergone a ritual that would disable whoever defeated Voldemort out of pure spite. In this explosion it would seek out the nearest magical life source and latch onto it, draining its magic until it is little more than a squib."
"You said defeat…. Not kill," James stated uncertainly
"You are right, I do not believe Voldemort to be dead. Tom Riddle, the name he was known as whilst he was a student here, had a brilliant mind. His attention and determination were unwavering and if anyone could find a way to cheat death, I believe it would be him."
"So, my wife died for NOTHING! Is that what you're telling me?" James asked, fury bubbling just under his skin.
"Absolutely not," Dumbledore said as if he were appalled by the very idea of a pointless sacrifice, "I do not know what state Voldemort is now in, but I can guarantee you that it would not be desirable for anyone, it is quite possible that he may come back in 10 years, possibly 100, possibly never. However, people know he has been defeated. I have heard reports that at least over 50 people have been released from the Imperious Curse and that the Dark Mark has greatly diminished. It would not be an understatement to say that Lily's sacrifice has saved Wizarding Britain, possible the Wizarding World." That calmed James down. "However, it was Toby that survived The Killing Curse, I'm almost certain that this feat will be known by everyone in Wizarding Britain within the next week. No doubt the entire Wizarding World will have heard of it before the end of the month. Death Eaters will almost certainly try and kill him, so you need to make sure he is safe. He is now the greatest symbol of hope against the Darkness."
James nodded his understanding. "He will be as safe as I can make him, I can promise you that, As soon as I can, I will get an emergency portkey for him made."
"Now, about where that would take him, I have an idea. Lily's sister is still alive with a child roughly Toby's age, correct?"
"Yes" James said, confused as to where this was going.
"Well, Lily's sacrifice, as I said, was ancient magic. However, it was also unknowingly blood magic and an incredibly powerful form of it at that." Dumbledore must have seen the discomfort in James' face about Lily using blood magic, "Don't worry, Lily wasn't delving into the Dark Arts, yes Blood Magic is banned for being 'dark' but only because the vast majority of Blood Magic is used to do unspeakable things. It can produce some of the most powerful protection spells possible and that, my boy, is what Lily did."
James still didn't like the idea that his wife had used Blood Magic, knowingly or otherwise but it didn't matter now. "Ok, you have an idea otherwise you wouldn't have brought up Petunia or that Whale of a husband she has."
"Very well, it is my idea, which you can refuse, that we send Harry to live in the muggle world with Petunia. Since Petunia and Lily share the same blood, the protections would protect that house better than any other ward could."
"Okay, that makes sense, it would be cruel to raise him here if he doesn't have magic, especially when Toby is going to be famous worldwide. How do you know that they will take him in?"
Dumbledore's eyes got that twinkle in them that they were known for, "Leave that to me my boy."
"Can you let me say goodbye?"
"Of course, I would never deny a father to see their child."
James stood up from the chair and moved to the cot. He picked Harry up and kissed his forehead. He looked over to Toby and saw a lightning bolt shaped scar on his forehead. "Dumbledore, what is that scar on Toby's head?" James asked slightly panicked.
"I don't think it's anything to worry about, I believe it is a sign of Lily's protection on the boy. Once again, it is only a theory, but I think that that is the position that Voldemort's curse struck Toby and was rebounded." James relaxed after hearing that. "I will leave you with them," Dumbledore said as he took out his wand and conjured a bed for James. "Sleep, please, no one will disturb you, I promise you that."
James did just that, transfiguring his robes into something more comfortable and lay in the bed, hanging onto his children like they were his tether to life itself.
The next morning, both James and Dumbledore took Harry, who was bundled up in his favourite blanket in James' arms, to 4 Privet Drive, the house in which Petunia and her family lived. James thought the entire street looked incredibly dull, each house was the same and there was no variation whatsoever. Dumbledore had already gone over last night to explain the entire situation to them and offered them something to agree to take Harry in.
They knocked on the door and waited. About 5 seconds later James was greeted to the face of Petunia. "You – "she started before Dumbledore raised his hand, cutting her off.
"Now is not that time, We are not here to stay, lots does need done in our world I'm afraid, but here is Harry. I implore you to treat him as your own and if odd things do start happening around him, please tell one of us, we would like to know. As I told you yesterday, I doubt he ever will be able to produce magic, but miracles happen." Dumbledore's eyes started twinkling again.
"Of course, now get out." Petunia replied stiffly, reaching out.
James took this as his cue and gently placed Harry in Petunia's arms
"As I told you last night Petunia, Lily died a hero, you should be exceptionally proud of her."
"Whatever you say" she said.
"I'm sorry for wha – "James started but was cut off when Petunia slammed the door in his face.
"What a pleasant woman," Dumbledore said without a hint of sarcasm in his voice, which just caused it to sound incredibly sarcastic.
"If I hear that he is mistreated in anyway, I will go and get him. I know how they treated Lily so your incentive for taking him in must have been good." James said as they walked away from the house.
Harry opened his eyes. He may only be one year old, but he knew he was in somewhere new. It smelled different, looked different and most of all felt different. He did not know how to describe it, but this place felt more boring.
He tried to reach out and grab onto something, but there was nothing there. He started crying, waving his arms around. That was when something on his hand caught his eye. In his right palm was a big red lightning bolt-shaped scar.
Authors Note
So, I am sorry for going such a canon start, well, as much as it can be with this trope, but as I have said, this is my first fanfiction and I would like to have a solid base to work off of, in this case the 7 books. As we go along things will change and deviate from canon, when? I don't know.
I don't know if this is anywhere else but Toby is the BWL, however Harry has the Horcrux of Voldemort in his scar. I know that the lightning bolt is the Sowilo rune, which is protection so I thought it would make sense that wherever the Voldemort attacked would be defended by the rune, Since the AK to Toby was a one time thing, the scar will fade but will always be there, Harry's however will be constantly red and inflamed looking like it is in canon as the soul is a constant attack, not a one time thing.
The reason that Harry has the scar on his hand is that when Voldemort basically died, Harry was closer and reaching out towards him. This means that the closest magical being was Harry, specially his hand. Obviously the piece of Voldemort's soul located in the hand was treated like an attack so that is why the scar is there. Dumbledore missed this as he only magically checked the boys, not physically checking them.
The reason that Harry's magic was weakened was that, Lily's blood sacrifice does a huge amount of protection of Harry, keeping him mostly safe from the Horcrux, but it is Voldemort's literal soul that is attacking Harry. Lily, even with the help of the blood magic, is not powerful enough to keep the Horcrux completely at bay, so Harry's own magic is fighting against it as well. Obviously, as Harry grows, his magic becomes stronger whereas Voldemorts Soul will stay stagnant, magical strength wise anyway. This means that Harry will still be magical, duh.
I hope that cleared up any question's that you had about this chapter, if not feel free to review with a question of PM me.
Once again, reviews, no matter how critical, are always welcome and thank you for reading this far.
