Chapter 1
The night was still. Eerily so, almost foreboding of what was to come. But Lily and James didn’t notice.
“Jamie, I thought we had agreed on the pumpkin costume this year! I let you have your ghost last year,” Lily was saying.
“But Lils, think about how hilarious it would be. Imagine Remus opening the letter and finding Harry dressed as a werewolf. But not an actual werewolf! What muggles think werewolves look like! It’s perfect!” James was speaking passionately, gesturing with his hands.
Lily was smiling and shaking her head fondly at her husband’s antics. She was regretting telling him that muggles had their own idea of what werewolves would look like if they were real.
“But Jamie, imagine doing that next year, when the full moon’s on Halloween! That would be even more perfect.”
“Oh, come on Lils! It’s-” James was interrupted by the gate swinging open hard.
All the blood drained from his face immediately.
“Lily, take Harry upstairs. I’ll take care of whatever this is.”
Lily quickly complied. “I love you, James” she said.
“I love you too, Lily.” He kissed her quickly before gesturing urgently for her to go.
In his haste to get to the door, he forgot his wand and opened the door unarmed.
Voldemort stood before him, wand raised.
“Lily! It’s him! Take Harry and run!” He called up the stairs.
Voldemort was quick. He cut a jagged line across James’s chest making him scream out before blasting him backwards into the fireplace behind him. James hit his head hard on the mantle before crumpling into the coffee table, hitting his head again. He was knocked out cold.
Voldemort sneered at his body before making his way calmly up the stairs, oblivious of the fate that awaited him.
---
Sirius got to the house as soon as the alarm on his wand went off. He had set it up so he would be informed the moment something happened.
Nothing could have prepared him for the sight before him. The house was quiet, more than it had ever been. The door had been blast aside and there was a chunk missing from the wall where the nursery had been.
Sirius stepped in and held his breath. Then he saw him. James’s body was lying on top of the crushed coffee table, a pool of blood under his head.
The sight made all the breath rush out of him. He crumpled to the floor sobbing. “James!” he screamed harrowingly.
He started moving towards his best friend’s body. In that moment, Harry started crying in the nursery. Sirius immediately shot up and took a deep breath, trying to calm his sobs.
Harry.
Harry was alive.
Sirius shot up the stairs and stopped in the doorway to the nursery. Lily lay lifeless, her hand outstretched as if she was reaching for Harry, even in death. Sirius gently closed her eyes and kissed her forehead. He moved past her and scooped his godson out of the half-destroyed crib and into his arms, hushing him softly.
Sirius ran his finger across the lightning scar now covering his godson’s forehead and frowned. What did that mean?
Sirius heard heavy footsteps from downstairs and quickly drew his wand, holding Harry close with his other arm before slowly creeping down the stairs.
“Hagrid,” he greeted in relief, lowering his wand when he saw the kind half-giant in the doorway. Hagrid quickly turned away from the sight of James’s body to face Sirius.
“Sirius,” he nodded, “Dumbledore sent me ter take Harry. Poppy needs ter check 'im over.”
Sirius nodded. “Please, take my bike. It will be quicker. I have something to take care of.”
Hagrid took Harry and Sirius apparated away, leaving the cottage in unnatural silence once more.
---
Poppy and Minerva arrived at the cottage half an hour later. Dumbledore had sent them to retrieve James and Lily Potter's bodies for a proper burial. As they stepped through the doorway, Minerva’s breath hitched. The sight of James’s body in front of her made her knees buckle as her wife gently helped her to her knees.
“I’m sorry, darling,” Poppy whispered into her ear, “I’ll let you take care of him, I’ll go to Lily, alright?” she kissed her temple before making her way silently up the stairs.
Minerva quickly moved to kneel beside James’s body. Her hand trembled as she moved his hair from his face. She tried shifting him to his back, grasping his shoulder. He whimpered.
That stopped her in her tracks, her breath hitching. Had she imagined that? She shifted him again and he whimpered again. She quickly checked his pulse just to be sure.
“Poppy!” she yelled, her tears now being tears of relief, joy, elation, “Poppy, he’s alive!”
There was running down the stairs before Poppy appeared. She quickly pulled out her wand, casting a spell to run diagnostics as Minerva levitated him to the couch and cast a stabilizing charm on his neck and spine to avoid further damage to his head.
“He has a concussion and he's lost a lot of blood,” Poppy said. “I don’t know how he’s survived this long without medical attention, it’s a miracle.” She quickly cast a stasis charm on the cut on his chest and forced a blood replenishing potion down his throat.
“What’s important is that he’s alive. Lily…?” Minerva trailed off. Poppy looked at her grimly and softly shook her head, visibly holding back her tears. “I’m sorry, love.”
Poppy took a deep breath. “Nothing to be done about it, but I can help James. Will you help me take him to St Mungo’s?”
“No. No, don’t take him to Mungo’s. You know as well as I do that the Ministry is corrupt and there’s dozens of Death Eaters still on the loose," Minerva begged. "We don’t know how long it will take for them to be detained or even if they’ll all be arrested. He’ll be killed in a day when word comes out that Harry's survived. Take him to Hogwarts, let me speak to Dumbledore, please.”
Poppy quietly shushed her and kissed her softly. “Of course, love. I’ll set him up in the private room next to my office, alright?” With that, Poppy used a portkey to take James to the hospital wing while Minerva made her way to Dumbledore’s office.
---
“Minerva, back so soon?” Albus turned to face her when she came in, his half-moon spectacles reflecting the glow of the floating candles scattered about the office.
“Albus, I came immediately.” Her hat was askew, and her face flushed with urgency. “James. He’s alive.” She rushed out.
“Where is he?” his quill stopped mid-stroke as he looked at her with an unreadable expression, though his eyes betrayed his interest.
“In the hospital wing, Poppy’s tending to him as we speak.”
Albus rose to his feet, his expression grave. “Who else knows of this?”
Minerva shook her head. “Only us three. I came straight to you. I was wondering if you could contact—”
“No.” Albus’s interruption was firm. “No one must know he’s alive. Not yet.”
Minerva frowned. “But Albus, surely—”
“You are just as aware of the danger the knowledge of his survival poses to him. That is why you brought him here, is it not?” She nodded reluctantly in reply. “Minerva, you and I both know Death Eaters are still being detained as we speak. It will take months for them all to be arrested. Until Mr Potter is well enough to keep himself safe, he must remain hidden.”
“Of course, Albus,” Minerva replied a little dejectedly, She had wanted to at least inform Remus of James's survival. “I’ll ensure his presence is kept secret. What about Harry?”
Albus sighed heavily. “I was going to give him to his relatives in Surrey, as you know. But with Mr Potter alive…” he trailed off, stroking his beard as he considered the implications.
Minerva stepped closer. “Albus, please. Give him to me.”
Albus arched an eyebrow in curiosity. “You, Minerva?”
“Yes,” she nodded quickly, her voice insistent, “James is… a dear friend. He will want his son close as soon as he wakes. And Harry should be with someone who cares for him until then, not with those dreadful relatives of his.”
Albus regarded her carefully. “You still have classes to teach, Minerva. I cannot, in good faith, allow you to take him. We could entrust him to Alice and Frank—”
“No!” Minerva surprised even herself with the vehemence of her tone. She took a deep breath to compose herself before continuing, “Albus, please. Poppy can watch him while I’m in class. I’ll take care of the rest. James won’t take well to being separated from his son when he wakes, surely you see that.”
Albus regarded her for a long moment, his blue eyes studying her face. Finally, he nodded. “Very well. You are right Mr Potter is very… volatile, shall we say, when it comes to those he cares for. But I must insist this arrangement remain temporary. Mr Potter will decide what happens next when he wakes.”
Minerva sighed in relief, her shoulders sagging slightly. “Thank you, Albus.”
He nodded solemnly in reply. “Ensure no one else learns of Mr Potter’s survival.”