Chapter 1
Chapter 1
Lily Murphy was nervous. Her relationship with James was getting really serious and he lately had been asking her non stop about meeting her family. And it wasn’t that she didn’t want him to meet her family, they were wonderful and she loved them very much. It was just that she hadn’t told him about the whole ‘Murphy’s Law’ business yet and was scared how he’d react.
Ever since she was born, she’d become an expert at dealing with and solving disasters. Between both her father and two brothers, a day of peace was never an option. Her early days of accidental magic didn’t help of course. Until she got her Hogwarts letter that is. She would get a school year’s worth break from her family’s curse, which at first was a relief, but soon she’d grow to miss her family and the chaos that followed them.
One thing that was extremely helpful when dealing with Murphy’s Law was Rapero, though only used on private destruction so nobody would find out about magic. It was actually the first spell she learned. The second she found out she was a witch she asked anyone she could about learning a spell to fix things. It was hard for a first year but she got it down pretty quickly knowing how useful it would be.
She was currently with James in the common room. They were the only ones there at the moment, relaxing and cuddling on a coach. Lily sighed, James would find out eventually, especially if they had a boy in the future. So she turned to look at him and said softly, “Hey, you free for christmas break?” This was their last year at Hogwarts and she knew it was a bit much to ask for him to spend his last Christmas break over at her house (specifically her house), but he didn’t need to stay the entire time if he didn’t want to.
“Um yeah, I guess,” he answered a bit confused, before adopting a smirk, “Do you finally want me to meet your family?”
She nodded, disconnected herself from him by sitting up, and looking him in the eyes, “Listen, James. There's something important I need to tell you first.”
James hummed in response, tilting his head slightly.
“I know you’re expecting a normal muggle family,” She wrung her hands anxiously. “But my family is...different than the average muggles…”
“Huh? How so? Have you secretly been a pureblood this whole time?” He added playfully.
Lily laughed softly, “No, but it is sort of like magic,” at James’ confused look she continued, “You see, my great great great grandfather- on my father’s side- was Sheriff Murphy, or otherwise known as, the original Murphy's Law.”
“Murphy’s Law?”
Lily nodded, “It’s a muggle law that dictates that ‘Anything that can go wrong, will go wrong.’”
He furrowed his brows, “So your family has some guy who made a saying, why does that make you guys so different? You famous or something?”
“Wellll, kinda, but not the way you’re thinking. Murphy’s Law isn’t just a saying like most people think it is. It’s real.”
“What do you mean?”
“Sorry this is just hard to explain,” Lily sighed, “Basically anything that can go wrong in my family, will go wrong. Comedically so. Like broken vases, broken glass, stray boulders, failing anvils, bodily harm for anyone who comes near us…”
James laughed, “Ok, now you’re pulling my leg. There’s no way that’s a thing unless it’s magic.”
“Well we’re not exactly sure what it is, per say. It’s not magic though, probably something about negative probability ions or something.”
“First of all, no idea what negative probability ions are. Secondly, if this is true why haven’t bad things happened around you all this time.”
Lily blinked, surprised she had forgotten to say, “Oh, Murphy’s Law only affects the Murphy men. Us girls just had to live with their bad luck.”
James looked at her silently for a moment before saying slowly, “So you’re telling me your family is under a muggle curse that makes bad things happen to them and those around them, and it only affects the men?”
Lily considered for a moment, “Um, yeah, basically.”
“This is a prank isn’t it.” he replied blankly.
Lily groaned and fell back against the coach.
--------------------
Lily and James stood in front of an average, plain looking suburban household. It was a grayish white with balck roof tiles, and a nice front door patio. Lily remembered when she was eight and her mum tried to put out potted plants and one of those swing chairs to decorate. After many vase explosions, ripped up cushions, and the chair breaking, she had stopped trying to decorate. It was a good decision, but sadly it left the patio looking always a bit empty. Though, interestingly enough, there was a wind chime hanging up. ‘Looks like Mum was feeling risky,’ mused Lily.
“Well no time like the present!” James said walking up to the door, ready to knock.
Lily stopped his hand before he could, “Listen, James, I know you don’t believe me about Murphy’s Law, but be careful, alright? I don't want you getting hurt.”
James took her hands in his and said softy, “Don’t worry. Everything is going to be alright.” She gave him a weak smile in return.
Finally, James knocked on the door. There was a second of silence before they heard the sound of glass breaking. Lily clenched her jaw and pushed James behind her. He gave her an exasperated look but didn’t say anything.
Then the door flung open and what looked like an on fire cannonball rolled out. Lily calmly stepped out of the way. James looked at it with wide eyes.
Then, a 16 year old Martin Murphy, ran through the door chasing after it with a fire extinguisher. Without stopping, he yelled behind him, “Hey, Lily!” and kept running.
The two watched him go, James in shock, but looked back when they heard another crash. The wind chime had fallen and was laying on the floor in a million pieces.
“This doesn’t prove anything.” James shook his head in disbelief.
Before Lily could respond her father walked up to the door with a big smile on his face, “Lily! It’s good to see you!”
She smiled and hugged him, “Hey Dad,” they separated and Lily gestured towards James, “Dad, this is James Potter, my boyfriend.”
Her father reached out his hand and James clasped it in his own to make a firm handshake.
“Nice to meet you, James.” he smiled, “You’ll have to excuse the mess, we had a bit of a Murphy’s Law incident just a few minutes ago while my wife was making dinner. Speaking of which,” he turned to Lily, “You did tell him about Murphy’s Law, right?”
“Of course, Dad. Don’t worry,” she replied, then rolled her eyes, “James didn’t believe me, though.”
James shrugged, and her dad laughed, “To be honest, can’t blame ya! I wouldn’t believe it either if I was you. Well, anyway, let’s get inside, shall we?” He moved out of the way and James and Lily stepped in. Right as they all got in the house, the door came off its hinges and fell down, landing face down on the porch.
“Don’t mind that! Happens all the time!” The oldest jinx laughed and they all continued on inside.
The inside of the house had mostly plain light brown walls, though you could see some scorch marks here and there from constant fires and explosions. The living room and Lily’s bedroom were the only rooms with carpet, the rest of the house had titles out of fear of spills and accidents (plenty of which still happened in both areas). Luckily as they walked past the living room, Lily didn’t see anything especially gross or weird staining the dark gray carpet. For now at least.
There were barely any decorations, only one family photo hanging up in the entrance hall and that was about it. With three Murphy boys in one household, it was nearly impossible to not have something in the house broken by the end of each day. Sometimes the house itself wasn’t safe with crumbling walls and broken windows. They replaced all the windows in the house with unbreakable glass (which still only had about a 70% chance of working) and no one was allowed to open them unless all the boys were out, in fear of anything destructive flying in, or even out of the house.
The three got to the kitchen and Lily smiled. There her mother was, cooking up some mashed potatoes and corn. She was facing away from them and didn't hear them come in, so to get her attention Lily smirked and said, “Mash potatoes? You’re feeling a bit risky tonight aren't you, Mum?”
The woman turned around in surprise and smiled joyfully, “Lily! Oh how good to see you!” They hugged, “It was the least messy food I could think of for a first impression dinner.”
“I’ll bet some ends up on the ceiling by the end of the night.”
She laughed, “Or on somebody’s head!” She then turned to James, “Oh hello, you must be James. Lovely to meet you!” They smiled and shook hands.
“Well, I’ll go get Joey while you set up the table,” Her dad cut in, “Hopefully he isn’t stuck in his room again. I haven’t heard any crashing from upstairs so this shouldn’t take too long.”
As he walked away, James looked at the two Murphy girls and asked, “Stuck in his room?”
She and her mum laughed and Lily responded, “Yeah, sometimes Murphy’s Law prevents the boys from leaving their rooms or even just the house.”
James shook his head, “Still not sure if I believe this whole thing.”
“Well not that’s it’s magical, but you are a wizard,” Her mum pointed out, “Murphy’s Law surely can’t be the craziest thing to you.”
James shrugged and was about to say something before her mum interrupted, “Quickly! Set the table before they come downstairs!” She handed Lily and James some plates and went to get cups.
Lily nodded and got to work, they didn’t need any more broken glass.
Just as they finished, her father and Joey came back downstairs. She and Joey hugged and said their hellos.
“Hello, mate,” Joey shook James' hand, “Nice to meet you.”
James smiled, “Nice to meet you too.”
“Are we going to wait for Martin to get back or-” before Lily could finish, Martin ran back into the house and to the kitchen. His hair was disheveled and his shirt a bit torn, but he was overall ok. Sporting a carefree smile, he too got to hug his returning sister.
Finally, after all the craziness, they all sat down at the table and grabbed their servings.
“So, James,” Her father started off the conversation, “Tell us about yourself.”
James blushed a little under the watchful eyes of all the Murphys, “Oh, there’s nothing much to say really. I’m from a pureblood wizarding family...I play Quidditch…”
“Oh, that flying game Lily told us about?” Martin tilted his head curiously.
“Yep,” James nodded. He went over some of the basics of Quidditch and both Martin and Joey listened attentively. They had wanted to play sports when they were younger, but it was a bit too dangerous for themselves and the other players. Martin tried soccer for a while and even won a game, but it didn’t really work out in the end.
“Wow, that’s so cool,” Martin said when James finished, “I wish I could play sports.”
James looked at him confused, “Muggles have sports, don’t they?”
Lily chuckled, “Of course, but it’s just too risky to pair sports and Murphy’s Law together.”
“I still don’t believe you about that.”
“You don’t believe in Murphy’s Law?” Joey interrupted, “Lily did you explain it right?”
“Of course I did,” Lily answered exasperated. Joey was two years older than her and they always bickered with each other. Martin, a year younger than her, sometimes got in the middle, but not often.
“Well then he ought to believe it! I get when new neighbors or classmates don’t understand, but they get around to it eventually. He’s a wizard! This shouldn’t surprise him!”
Their mother shook her head disapprovingly, “Joey be nice!”
“Ah, no it’s fine,” James said, “He’s got a point. I guess I just find it weird that a family of muggles is under some sort of magical curse…”
“Well,” her dad hummed, “I wouldn’t necessarily call it a curse, but I understand where you’re coming from, kid. But don’t worry, by the end of the break, you’ll believe. They all do.”
While that last part did sound unnecessarily ominous, it was true. The next two weeks were full of absolute chaos and disaster. It took only two days in for James to admit defeat and believe in Murphy’s Law.
----------
Four years later and they were married. They invited everyone, family and friends alike to the celebration. The Murphy’s, who moved to England when she was just a baby and moved back to America a few months prior to the wedding, came all the way across the sea. Lily really appreciated it, knowing how hard traveling was for them.
To prepare the other guests for their arrival, they told those closest to them, (Sirius and Remus), the truth about Murphy’s Law, but to avoid too many questions, they told the rest of the guests that someone had jinxed the wedding site and it was too short notice to fix it or change areas. And overall it went great. The first half of the wedding went off without a hitch, they got through the vows and their ‘I Dos’ before anything bad happened.
Right after the, ‘you may now kiss the bride,’ the cake exploded everywhere. Someone sitting right next to the cake got startled so badly that they fell over in their chair which knocked over the person next to them, and thus creating a domino effect that had everyone on the floor covered in cake pieces. It didn’t take long before everyone was laughing together and a few wizards took out their wands to get everything cleaned up.
So, yes, overall, Lily Murphy Potter’s wedding was a success.
------------
About eight and a half months after that, Lily and James were sitting in on an Order of the Phoenix meeting. Voldemort and his followers were starting to rise in power and Dumbledore was laying out plans and strategies for everyone. He was also worried that they might get attacked.
After everyone was dismissed, Lily and James floo powdered home and went off to their bedroom. It was getting late, but Lily chose the coach instead of the bed.
“Honey?” James asked, “Aren’t you tired?”
Lily sighed and rested her hands on her pregnant stomach, “I am, but I don’t think I’ll be able to sleep with all the stuff on my mind.”
James sat down next to her and put an arm around her shoulder. She snuggled up to him and they relished in each other’s presence.
Then, without warning, the light above their bed fell and crash landed onto their bed, breaking it apart, the nightstand spontaneously caught on fire, and the vase on the other nightstand tipped over and smashed into a million glass pieces.
Staring at the wreckage with wide eyes, the two were silent for a moment before Lily whispered in awe, “We’re having a boy!”
James looked at her, “What?”
Lily laughed and grinned, “James, it’s Murphy’s Law! We’re having a boy!”
“Oh my god,” He blinked but then laughed along with her, “We’re having a boy!”
They embraced and kissed, worries forgotten for a moment. But their joy was interrupted by the increasing smell of smoke. Quickly they whipped out their wands to put out the fire and use a Rapero on the broken objects.
Looks like they’d need to Murphy proof the house soon.
-------------------
Truly what can go wrong will.
Little Harry Milo Potter was one years old, and it had been one insanely eventful year. A baby wizard with accidental magic and Murphy’s Law? A recipe for disaster if there ever was one. James and Lily were constantly on their toes, putting out countless fires, using countless Raperos, and trying desperately to keep their baby safe from himself.
They sometimes had Remus or Sirius look after the boy (not Peter though, he wouldn’t do well with Murphy’s Law, they decided) to ease up their load. And, although it was hard, neither would change anything for the world.
When they were asked by Dumbledore to go into hiding, a feeling of dread washed over Lily and hadn’t left since. Lily and James revised their will, just in case. She was terrified something would happen to her family. And, sadly, those fears were to be proven true.
It was October 31rst, and Lily was just putting little Milo to bed. She smiled down at him and reached out a finger. He grasped it in his tiny baby hands and gigged.
“You know, Milo,” She whispered to him like she was spilling a dark secret, “Your father wanted to name you Harry, but I wanted Milo,” she sighed dramatically causing the baby to giggle some more, “I guess we both won in the end. Harry is your first name. Milo is your middle nam-”
She was interrupted by a crash downstairs, and she would’ve just ignored it, crashes being fairly common, but a feeling deep in her gut told her it was different this time. It was not Murphy’s Law that caused that crash.
She grabbed her wand and held it out in front of her, pointed at the door. Harry quieted down, somehow sensing that something bad was happening, and not the usual type of bad.
The door creaked open and in stepped the Dark Lord himself. Lily’s grip on her wand tightened.
“I take it my husband is dead then?” Lily forced out, only keeping herself from crying out of sheer force of will and the tense situation.
Voldemort looked around the room condescendingly, “Smart girl. Now hand over the child.”
She shook her head, “Over my dead body.”
It was then that Voldemort smirked, “Gladly.”
There was a scream, a flash of bright green, and then deathly silence.
Stepping over Lily Potter’s dead body, Voldemort looked down at the baby who was prophesied to be his downfall. Once more he raised his wand, the words ready to come out, but stopped when part of the ceiling came down from above. He quickly dodged out of the way of the falling debris. Voldemort shook his head, dismissing what had just happened.
Again, he raised his wand, but was distracted by parts of the floor caving in. He just barley jumped away in time before he would’ve fallen through the floor.
“Enough!” he growled, “Time to end this.” One last time he pointed his wand at the baby, who stared at him with an unreadable expression.
Anything that can go wrong, will. But not always for a Murphy.
When the house was searched hours later, all they would find was a crying baby and his two dead parents. No Dark Lord in sight.