11A curvy twenty-one-year-old stood in front of the cottage window, watching the children laugh and run in the bright light of the full moon. It was Halloween in Godric's Hollow. The young red head, Lily, held her young baby boy close to her chest.
Halloween has always been her favorite time of the year ever since she had been a young girl. It was always supposed to be a time of laughter and joy. Instead, it had been a time of nightmares shortly after graduation.
A dark lord that goes by the name of Lord Voldemort had been silently gathering power while she had been in school. Then, the war had started in earnest within three months into her fifth year. Her parents had been one of the first ones killed.
She still missed being able to call them with her rune protected phone during her Hogsmeade weekends. They had died in the winter of '77 in a "Gas explosion." Lily snorted. Yeah, a gas explosion had raped her mother and tortured her father until he lost his mind, then finally killed him.
It had been James losing his parents just weeks earlier and the two of them comforting each other during that winter that started them dating.
Lily glanced down at Harry's peaceful sleeping face as she thought back to how much had changed that year. He had still pulled pranks, but they became softer. More for laughs instead of punishing those he had thought had gone dark. There were many times, he had included himself in his pranks.
Lily snorted and started bouncing her baby when he started to stir after she stopped swaying to shift her feet. There was a time that all four of the Marauders had pranked all the Great Hall into singing and dancing to Taylor Swift 'Shake it off'. The look on Lucius's face after shaking his hips like an Indian belly dancer and hitting a high soprano still made her chuckle to this day.
Lily thought back to why the Potters were hiding in their little known and little used spell. The Fidelius Charm hid a secret within a person's soul. The secret couldn't be forced from the secret keeper in any way but to be willingly given. She just hoped Wormtail was safe. He wasn't exactly the bravest of people and could easily break under torture.
She hoped to be able to see her son's second birthday. They had only made it to Harry's first Halloween on luck. Herself and James both faced Voldemort three times since they had graduated three years ago.
Lily watched from her curtained window as the children laughed. They ran from house to house while their parents watched with smiles on their faces. She only wished that she could share that experience with her son.
"Damn you, Albus. How could you let the prophecy out to Voldemort?" Lily mumbled under her breath. "You had the power and knowledge to stop the spy and you just let him go. Stupid fool!"
Dumbledore had told them that there was a prophecy shortly after she had found out she was pregnant about a child that could defeat the Dark Lord. They didn't believe in divination but knew a prophecy does sometimes come true. The only one who is guaranteed to come true is prophecies that are forced to come true. Those were called self-fulfilling prophecies.
They, personally, didn't believe in this prophecy until they heard that Voldemort already knew part of it. Now it didn't matter if the prophecy fits either of the two children that they knew fit, their son Harry or their friend's son Neville Longbottom. There were only two children that fit the part that they were told.
Suddenly a strong male arm wrapped around her waist. The scent of summer storms filled her nose as she felt James cuddled her closer. James knew what she was thinking when she was standing with her son like that in front of the window.
"Lily flower, I don't like this situation much, either, but Wormtail will keep us safe." The older gentleman held his wife close as they watched their son sleep in Lily's arms.
His messy black hair fell, just like his father onto his forehead. The young boy had his mother's more rounded face but had his father's sharper nose. His bright emerald eyes were hidden under his lashes as he snoozed peacefully in his mother's arms.
The young mother gently adjusted the sleeping one year old in her arms before she responded to her husband's words.
"I hope so James, I hope so."
She cradled the one-year-old to her chest as she pecked her husband on the lips. "I am going to put Harry to sleep in his nursery. I will be right back."
James couldn't help but watch Lily's hips sway as she left the room with their son before he let out a sigh. He felt that something was wrong, but he didn't know what. He just had to trust that Dumbledore knew what he was doing.
James turned away from the window and started to walk into the kitchen to make dinner when the door behind him blew out. "Damn it."
James reached for his wand when he remembered he left it on the couch in the living room. "Lily! Take little Harry and run. It's Voldemort. He broke through the charm. I will buy you some time by holding him off." He transformed into his Animagus form to gouge the bastard with his twelve-point rack.
Thankfully the front hallway they were fighting in was large enough that it didn't impede him when dodging the first few spells that Voldemort threw his way. Every time he charged; he would have to dodge out of the way of a flame spell, but Voldemort couldn't hit James with a spell either. Like with all things James's luck ran out. One of the Bombarda blew up the plaster from one of the side walls, causing his hooves to slip.
When James lost balance, Voldemort cast his signature spell. The green light of the Avada Kadavra curse splashed against James's chest.
As James crumpled, he was forced back into his human form. When Voldemort stepped over the dead body of James, he missed the light golden glow that enveloped the fallen body before fading away.
Lily heard James's panicked shout and the sounds of things breaking as she rushed into Harry's nursery. She shut the door and cast as many sealing and reinforcement spells on the door before she grabbed her silver bracelet and gave the password. After waiting for a second for the portkey to activate. When it didn't activate, she silently cursed. She then tried to apparate. When she found she couldn't leave from apparition she then tried to open the windows but found that they were all sealed shut. She couldn't leave from broom either. From the looks of the situation, she was going to make use of her last resort to give Harry a fighting chance to survive this battle.
"Sirius, you better keep your head and take care of your godson."
She started to cast the spells necessary to start the ritual. She focused on the steps that she had remembered from the Potter ritual tome. She saw the green flash from underneath the door and could feel the emptiness in her heart. She now knew that James was dead and that she was now the only thing holding certain death from her son.
Her spellcasting chant sped up as she heard the heavy slow footsteps of the dead man walking. Lily finished her ritual chant when she could see Voldemort's shadow underneath the door.
She turned towards her son and held him for a second and kissed him on top of his head. She could now see Harry's green eyes open to look up at her from his crib in curiosity.
"Harry, I want you to remember one thing for me baby. Mommy will always love you. Remember that this for me. Mommy loves you baby. Mommy will always love you." She turned back to the door of the nursery when she felt her protections being attacked and got into a defensive stance in front of her son with her wand up at her shoulder height.
The door blew into the nursery and Lily deflected all the shards of wood back at the attacker. Voldemort stalked into the room. He flicked his wand to destroy the flying woodchips coming towards him.
Voldemort's black robe contrasted sharply with his pasty white skin and his blood red eyes shined malevolently as they looked upon the mother and child that were trapped within what he knew would be his final resting place. With the speed of a snake, he magically ripped the woman's wand from her hand and flung it into the hall behind him.
"So… you thought that you and your half-blood son could escape and rise your hand against me. Foolish woman. Today the prophecy will never be fulfilled for I shall kill the chosen one. Be thankful that someone has asked me to stay my hand against you, for I am a merciful lord. Stand aside and you shall be spared. Fight me and you shall be killed."
Lily stood defiantly in front of her son. This is the final step in the ritual to protect her son. Her life and love shall forever more protect her son from Voldemort or his followers.
"I shall never stand aside. Take me but do not kill my son."
Voldemort eyes gained a sudden flair of anger before he had smothered it. "I will ask you again since my follower has been loyal to a fault. Stand aside little girl and you shall be spared. I only want the boy. You can always have another child."
Lily's green eyes became flints of emeralds. "You must not understand the love that a mother has for her child if you think that I will ever step aside. You can kill me, but you will not kill my son."
Voldemort's countenance became a snarl before he growled out his last request. "I will ask you one last time since I am a forgiving lord. Step aside, girl, and you shall be spared. I only want your son."
The air became heavy with power when Lily's eyes began to glow the same color as a killing curse. "I will not step aside. You can kill me, but you shall never touch my son."
Voldemort didn't respond to her statement. Instead, he had cast his signature curse. The green light of the killing curse flew from his yew wand and splashed against the /
Lily's last thought as her spirit left her body was 'this is it my baby boy. Mommy will always be with you and love you.'
Voldemort missed the dull golden glow that first enveloped Lily's body then her son's form. He callously stepped over the fallen mother's body to stare down at the one-year-old.
"Mummy."
Harry had tears fallen down his face as he watched his mother crumple in front of him before he looked up at the killer's glowing red eyes.
Voldemort almost crooned down at his chosen target. "Poor baby Potter. You miss your mother so much don't you. Well, you shall be joining her soon. Avada Kadavra!" The green curse flew true towards the child when a golden shield surrounded him and stopped the curse a centimeter from his skin. Harry's eyes glowed golden and he let out a blood curdling scream. The shield blew out and flung the killing curse three times as fast back into Voldemort's face. Within seconds his body was vaporized and the wall behind him was blown out.
Harry's golden eyes slowly faded back to his normal green and he started crying out for his mother to wake up.
Within minutes an older male with long silver hair, crescent moon glasses, and sparkling purple robes appeared in the room with a loud crack. He sneered down at the fallen body of Lily Potter. "You and your husband should have just given me what I wanted, Lily, and I wouldn't have been push to this point."
Dumbledore strode to the crying child in the crib and gave him a cruel smile. "Soon my little weapon, I will have exactly what I want." With a loud crack Dumbledore turned and disappeared.