Halloween part one
October 31,1981, Godric’s Hollow, 5 pm
The Potter family were sitting in the living room. Lily Potter was sitting on the couch half reading a novel, but mostly focused on watching James play with Harry on the floor. As she watched them play she grew quite sad that she couldn’t take Harry trick or treating. She comforted herself by telling herself that Harry won’t remember it when he is older. As she tried to focus back on her novel, she interrupted by James.
“When are the boys coming, again?” James asked, for the sixth time that night. It wasn’t that he didn’t love his wife and son, he just hadn’t seen their friends in almost three months. He was anxious to see them again and make sure that they were safe.
Lily turned towards James, and gave up on her novel and put it on the table. “The boys are coming for dinner at seven, right after the order meeting. Which started about five minutes ago at five. Though Remus said that Dumbledore wanted to talk to him privately after the meeting about his mission. Sirius is likely to get out of the meeting early and might get here before Pete, but he is just as likely to be later than Remus as well. Pete will most likely be the only one that shows up at seven”, Lily stated as James started creating bubbles with his wand to entertain Harry.
“That is if Pete doesn’t cancel on us, yet again”, James said. Referring to the last six times that Pete was supposed to come over. Of their friends, Pete was the one that they have seen the least of since that went into hiding. He had only seen Harry once since he was born and that was one or two times that they had seen him since going into hiding.
Before Lily could respond, there was a knock at the door. James and Lily looked at each other, Sirius was supposed to be getting out of the meeting early but the meeting only started 15 minutes ago. “Well it looks like Sirius is even earlier than we thought”, James stated.
James sat his wand down on the table next to Lily’s wand and walked over to answer the door. Upon opening the door he was surprised to see not Sirius, but Peter. James lit up “Pete!” , he exclaimed, “Come in. We haven’t seen you in ages. I thought you weren’t coming by until later. No matter. How are things going? Are you staying safe?”
As he was saying this Peter, he did not come in. And that was James first clue something wasn’t right. The second clue was that Peter was fidgety and looked anxious. James knew that that was Peter’s guilty look. And then there was the final clue: the slight hissing sound coming from the dark behind Peter. It took James about five seconds to realize what was happening. He turned back to face Peter and looked him directly in the eyes, hoping that he was wrong. That Peter wouldn’t betray them, but he wouldn’t meet his eye. And he knew it was true. And then without taking his eyes off Peter, without taking his eyes off the enemy, yelled “Lily! Take Harry! Run!”.
Lily didn’t think, she just grabbed Harry and took off up the stairs. As she got to the top of the stairs, she heard someone push their way into the house, followed by a small crash. But she didn’t pause to listen further; she kept going till she reached Harry’s room. When she and James moved into Potter Cottage, they chose to put the ward key into Harry’s room. They did this in case of emergency so that they could grab Harry and unlock the wards at the same time. And thus allow them to apparate out of danger. It was only once she had reached Harry’s room did she realize she didn’t grab her wand as well. She was trapped. Peter had betrayed them, James was most certainly dead, and she and Harry were next.
As soon as James heard Lily start running, he turned his attention to the man with Peter. The far more dangerous of the two. Peter was unlikely to even cast a spell his way, but the other man meant his death. But when he looked at him it was hard to tell he was even a man in the first place. He was a tall man, with skin so pale he looked almost translucent and his blood looked black beneath his skin, which added a slight glow effect to his skin. He had no hair to be seen, not on his head, his forearms, or the part of his chest visible in the deep neckline of his robes. His nose looked as though someone had smashed into his skull. The tip of his nose was the size of a small pebble and about where the middle of the bridge of the nose normally was. He had no bridge. And it looked as though the nostrils were stretched from where they normally start to where the tip-off his nose laid, creating a look of slits rather than nostrils. He had a thin mouth with a smile that showed too much teeth. And his smile was made even more disturbing but his teeth. They looked like polished ivory, glittering white, but the effect of perfect teeth was ruined but the sharp points that they ended end. Below his lips lay a sharp jaw and beside his sunken nose lay high, aristocratic cheekbones; the last vestiges of his mortal beauty. But perhaps the most disturbing thing about the man, was not his translucent skin, or his sunken nose, or even his sharp teeth, not the most disturbing thing was his eyes. They were a deep crimson, that shone like fresh blood in the light. But James stood his ground and looked directly in the man’s blood red eyes, as he pushed his man into the house. The man lifted his wand and with a flash of green, James fell forward, dead. His last thought was of his wife and son, and how he hoped they got away.
Lily looked up, someone was on the stairs. She grabbed Harry again and hugged him tightly into her chest. They were at the end of the hall now. Lily put him down in his crib, they are at the door now. She bent down and kissed his head, and whispered “I love you, baby”.
The second the words left her lips, the door was blasted open. Lily turned towards the door and put herself between Harry and the intruder. When the intruder said, “Stand aside girl, and I will let you live”.
This confused Lily, letting her live. Her! She was a muggle-born and a member of the Order of the Phoenix. She was everything he hated, everything that he was against, and he was willing to let her go. But then she realized what that meant. What he was here to do, what he was here to do. It wasn’t to kill her or James, he wanted to kill Harry. She knew what she had to do, so turned to Harry and whispered an apology.
The man laughed and said, “Smart decision, now stand aside”, but he was mistaken Lily wasn’t apologizing she was giving up and letting him kill Harry. She was apologizing because she knew that Harry was about to become an orphan.
She turned and said, “Not Harry! Kill me! Not Harry!”.
And the man laughed again, “That was your only chance. Now you will both die. It’s a pity that the house of Potter had to end”. And out of his wand burst a green light and Lily Potter laid dead at the foot of Harry’s crib. Her last thought was an apology for leaving Harry alone.
The man stepped over the body of Lily and looked down at Harry in his crib. “Finally,” the man said. And he pointed his wand at the crying baby that just lost both of his parents and smirked. But this as the green light erupted out of the man’s wand, and a second brighter light of a golden color engulfed the youngest Potter. The golden light absorbed the green light and then pushed outwards, capturing the man and turning him to dust, before dissipating. Peter stared at the spot where his master used to be, before realizing the light had once again engulfed Harry. This time the light didn’t move in one direction, it went in every direction.