Memories (A Harry Potter Story)

[starphoenix]

Before I post, I'd like to warn any readers that this story contains HUGE spoilers, so if you haven't read at least past the whole third book, then I don't recommend that you read this. However, if you have, you may find it quite interesting..... the story revolves around James and Lily Potter...... well..... you'll see.... oh, and if you're wondering.... I wrote this before I read The Order of the Phoenix, so that's why I don't mention alot of things that came up about their past.....

MEMORIES: A Story of James and Lily Potter



The sky was bright and sunny in the mid afternoon of a warm October day. Small puffs of white clouds floated aimlessly across the peacock blue sky and into the horizon, which was lined with, iced top mountains.

James Potter stood out on their house porch, looking around through his round spectacles, when he saw a dark owl coming rapidly towards him. Within seconds the owl landed on the railing that lined the porch and hooted.

“Hmm,” said James, taking a piece of parchment off the owl and petting him as he opened the letter. He unknowingly put his hand in his hair and ruffled it. A habit that had started in his early years of Hogwarts.
“What’s that?” asked a voice from behind James. James looked behind him to see his wife, Lily holding their baby Harry, her brilliantly green almond-shaped eyes glittering. He stared at her long auburn hair cascading down her thin back for a moment before speaking.
“I’m not sure,” said James, rolling out the parchment so that they could both see what it said, “It just came…”

Dear James and Lily,

I am hoping that this letter reaches you quickly, for this is really urgent. I sent this owl in mid afternoon; he should have reached you by at least mid afternoon. This letter, however, is regarding Voldemort-

“Oh no…” said Lily quietly. They read on,

One of our faithful spies, Severus, has tipped us off. It’s happened! Voldemort has found you… He seems to be planning his actions… This very important, James and Lily… I fear for your lives… he knows that you’ve been working as an Auror… Please come here as soon as you can. I’ve spoken with Remus and Peter, they’ve already arrived and Sirius is on his way from London. Remus has brought something to my attention, we think we have a way…

Sincerely,
Albus Dumbledore

P.S. I’ve sent Hagrid; he should be there soon. You’ll need someone to look after Harry for the short time that you’re here.


“Why would he be after us? Doesn’t he know of the other Aurors? I mean… unless he’s after us for something else…. But what could it be…….?” Lily trailed off. She holding Harry closer to herself, her long hair blowing softly off her shoulders as a breeze came in.
“I’ve no idea, Lily… I thought that he was after the actual ministry members, not at the aurors….” said James, shaking his head and looking at the letter, “But we’d better get going…”

Just as James folded the letter in half and placed it in the front pocket of his shirt, a deep and husky voice sounded from the front of their house, “Oy there?” it said.
“It’s Hagrid…” said Lily and walked through the house to open the front door where Hagrid stood.

“Hello, Hagrid.” James said as he walked through the house and towards the front door.
“”Allo, James, an’ Lily” he looked at Harry, whose was snuggled in Lily’s arms, “And you, littl’ ‘Arry.” He poked Harry playfully with one of his large fingers, which Harry grabbed and giggled a bit.

“Wha’ a littl’ cutie,” Hagrid said, smiling through his thick beard, “Anyway, Dumbledore sent me ‘ere. Blimey, he was all flustered an’ not ‘imself t’all.”
“I suppose not,” James said, pulling on a jacket, “But we’d better get going Lily. Give Harry to Hagrid,” he noticed Lily’s uneasy look, “Don’t worry, they’ll be fine!”

“”Ere, I’ll take ‘im.” Hagrid lifted Harry out of Lily’s arms and smiled even more broadly, “Well then, off yeh go then, we’ll be jus’ fine ‘ere.”
“Thanks very much for coming,” Lily smiled, “We really appreciate this, on such short notice. We didn’t even know we were going until just a moment or two ago.”
“Don’ worry abou’ it!” Hagrid insisted.

James nodded and closed his eyes. Lily followed suit and within seconds they had disappeared into thin air, leaving Hagrid alone with Harry. When they opened their eyes they were in Hogsmeade, the village that stood right outside of Hogwarts.

[starphoenix]

“I don’t think that we’ve ever apparated to the right spot so well,” said James, with an impressed tone.
“It’s too bad that it’s Saturday,” said Lily who was looking around at the crowded streets from the platform beside where the Hogwarts express came in. “It’s so busy here…Oh, there’s the carriage!”

A horseless carriage pulled up to the platform. Lily and James stepped onto the carriage, which rolled away at once. After a short and somewhat bumpy ride through the Hogwart’s gates and up to the castle, the carriage stopped and they stepped out.

James looked around and smiled, he hadn’t been to Hogwarts since his own graduation. He looked out into the distance a bit and saw the Quidditch pitch, empty, but standing tall and proud as it always had.
He stared at it for a moment and remembered what it was like to be flying out there, when Gryffindor had won the Quidditch cup after many years of narrowly losing it.

“Look at that! 70 points to Ravenclaw and 60 points to Gryffindor,” said the commentator, “Ouch, close one there! 10 more points to Gryffindor, they’re tied! Look at that, the Gryffindor chasers are really going at this one! And look! Potter’s seen the snitch!”

James remembers zooming towards the snitch, wind rushing through his hair, the sky bright and clear with just a small chill of wind on his face. The Ravenclaw seeker saw the snitch and sped up so that he was right behind James. He’s close. James stretches out his hand to catch the snitch, diving towards the ground at whiplash speed (diving was always his specialty), its only ten feet, five feet, two feet… And….

“POTTER”S GOT THE SNITCH! 150 points awarded to Gryffindor! 220 to 70 for Gryffindor! GRYFFINDOR WINS THE QUIDDITCH CUP!” the commentator yelled into the megaphone. The crowd exploded with cheers and applause. The rest of the Gryffindor team flew to James, yelling and cheering for him, for their team… they’d won! The team sank to the ground and James held the Quidditch Cup, glowing with pride and glory.

“James?” said Lily’s voice, interrupting his memory of the glory he felt when winning the Quidditch cup. Lily seemed to notice this,
“It was great, wasn’t it?” she asked, “Winning the cup? I remember watching. Must have been the most exciting game I’d seen.”
“It was amazing Lily,” James said, still staring at the Quidditch pitch, “It was the most wonderful feeling I’d had out there on the pitch… probably one of the best part of being here at Hogwarts.”

“James! Lily!”

James and Lily looked around to see Sirius running towards them, his dark brown hair flapping slightly. He not smiling as he usually was though.
“There you are!” he said, stopping in front of them, “Dumbledore wants to see us in his office. I’ve just arrived.”
“We just arrived too, actually,” said James shaking Sirius’ hand.
“Do you know what this is all about?” Sirius asked, anxiously.
“He said it was about Voldemort, in his letter.” Lily explained.
“We should probably go and see what’s going on then,” Sirius said, and started walking up to the castle. Lily and James followed, they were curious to see exactly what this whole meeting would involve. James didn’t want to tell Sirius that Dumbledore had told them about the fact that Voldemort was after himself, Lily and Harry, he thought he’d better wait for Dumbledore to explain.



James and Lily walked beside Sirius in silence for awhile, towards the entrance hall. Students walked around them, heading to their dormitories and the library. James supposed students were off to do homework and play games like Wizard’s Chess (his personal favorite) and Exploding Snap. It was, after all, Saturday afternoon.

“My gosh,” said Lily, looking at the students, listening to their conversations and laughter, “I’ve forgotten how much fun this place could be!”

James and Sirius agreed. They walked a few steps more and found themselves beside the large trophy shelf that sat in the entrance hall for everyone to see. James stepped up for a closer look and smiled, looking at the Quidditch plaques. One of plaques had James’ name on it, commemorating his years as a Seeker for Gryffindor. He remembered him being awarded that, right after Gryffindor’s win for the Quidditch cup.

They walked on and at last they reached the stone gargoyle, which was the door to Dumbledore’s office. Sirius stepped forward and said, “Cockroach Clusters,” which was the password and the stone gargoyle sprang aside to let them in.
“How’d you know that?” asked Lily.
Sirius chuckled, “It’s Dumbledore, Lily. He always uses names like those, and cockroach clusters are his favorite!”
James smiled and laughed for a moment, forgetting why they were there, “He probably told you before.”
Sirius smiled, “Actually, Remus told me. He was here earlier today and I met him on the way out to see you.”

Once they stepped into the doorway they heard the stone gargoyle move into place and then they waited as the stairs rose to another doorway, which they opened. At last they had reached Dumbledore’s office.
“C’min, c’min!” said a voice that sounded like Dumbledore, and James figured, it probably was.

James opened the door and looked around. Dumbledore sat behind his desk, his pet phoenix Fawkes was on his knee. Remus and Peter sat in the chairs to the side of the room an at once they stood up to greet them.
“James, Lily,” said Remus, holding out his hand, “How are you? How’s your son, Harry?”
“We’re fine, just fine, Remus. Harry’s doing well, he’s with Hagrid.” Said Lily, hugging Remus after he’d shook hands with James.

Peter stepped forward, James noticed that he was rather shaky for some reason. “Hello, James!” he said in his high-pitched voice.
“Hi, Peter.” Said James politely, “How are you?”
“Oh, I’m fine.” He said, and turned to Lily, “How are you, Lily?” he gave her a short hug and stood back.
“I’m good, Peter.” She said, smiling.

Dumbledore stood up and greeted everyone in the same fashion yet his eyes were dark with some sort of sympathy as he looked at James and Lily. James had never seen Dumbledore’s eyes like that.

“Now,” he said, clapping his hands together, “Could you all please have a seat?”

James and Lily took the two seats in front of Dumbledore’s desk, Peter and Remus resumed the seats that they’d had before and Sirius sat on the edge of Dumbledore’s large desk so he could see Dumbledore, James and Lily.

“As you’ve read in your letters,” he started, looking around at them all pointedly, “This meeting was urgent. James and Lily already know what’s going on… somewhat, anyway.”
Dumbledore paused and Sirius looked at James but didn’t say anything. He hesitated before speaking again. James noticed that he seemed to be put off telling them off something else, but why would Dumbledore hide something from them? They were, after all, in the same league.
“Now,” he said, leaning forward in his chair, his bright blue eyes twinkling, “You all know well enough by now that Voldemort-“ across the room Peter shuddered at the name.
Ignoring this, Dumbledore continued, “Voldemort has been after the ministry members that have been working to protect the muggle society as well as – er – anyone who deters him. But with some new found information…” He paused before continuing. “It seems as though he’s now aiming his anger at the Aurors of the ministry, which would include you, James… and you, Sirius.” He looked at the two of them in turn.

“So far he’s managed to find some of the aurors and kill them, but people didn’t string that together with the fact that me might actually be after them, not just killing them by chance.” he shook his head sadly. “Right now I’m here to warn you of the dangers that are coming. Particularly to you Sirius and especially James, Lily and their son… who’re already in grave danger.”

Sirius spoke out at that, looking at James and Lily worriedly, “What do you mean they’re already in grave danger?”
“I’m afraid that Voldemort has done some picking around, there seems to be a spy among us… but besides that, he’s figured out that James is one of the top Aurors and I’m sorry to say that he’s now after them in particular.” Dumbledore’s blue eyes were still dark as he explained. He put up a hand to silence Sirius, as he was about to say something,
“Even you, Sirius are in danger. You are a rising Auror and if Voldemort figures this out he may just come after you too, especially if he knows that your in close connection the Potter family.” Dumbledore said.

“But how can we prevent this?” asked James, “Can we hide?”
“You cannot hide on your own, he’ll be able to find you-“ Dumbledore was interrupted by Remus.
“You have to use a charm,” he said softly, “A fidelous charm.”
“Precisely,” Dumbledore stood up and began pacing back and forth behind his desk.
“But how does this… this fidelous charm work?” asked Lily.
“It involves a well trusted person, and I intend on performing this charm today, as a matter of fact.” Dumbledore replied, “How it works is that you have this charm performed onto you, James and Harry. It hides your whereabouts so that you don’t have to leave your home.” He explained. “
What happens is, is that once the charm is performed then anybody wishing harm to you cannot find you. Although any of us can still visit you, we could not tell anyone where you are, for only the ‘secret keeper’ can release such information. Voldemort could even press his face against your very window and never know you’re there.”
“Secret Keeper?” asked James blankly.
“Ah, yes,” said Dumbledore, stopping and looking at James, “The Secret Keeper. Now, in order for the charm to work you must entrust the secret of your whereabouts within one living soul that you trust more than anyone.”
James was about to say something but Dumbledore started to talk again before James even got the words out, “I know who you’d like to be your secret keeper,” he looked at Sirius, “You want Sirius to be. I completely understand that but yet, under circumstances I believe that it would be better if the secret were to be left in the care of myself, since Sirius is also in much peril. I believe it would be better for me to be the secret keeper for your family.”

James seemed to be giving this much thought as he didn’t say anything for a long time, he looked at Lily who also seemed to be considering what had just been said and when she looked up, James knew that she agreed with his line of thought,
“We think that maybe Sirius should be our secret keeper.” Said James, and Sirius looked at him, surprised.
“But James-“ started Dumbledore,
“I know that Sirius would never give us up, he’d die before giving us up. And besides, you say Sirius is in danger anyway, so he must lie low. Nobody would know but us.” James said, looking at Sirius who nodded.
“I just think that maybe it would be safer if the secret lie on someone who wasn’t in as much danger.” Said Dumbledore.
“Voldemort is as much danger to you as he is to me or Sirius,” said James softly but firmly, “I appreciate the offer, but I think we should have Sirius be the secret keeper. After all, he is Harry’s godfather.”

Dumbledore surveyed them through his half moon spectacles. The room was quite silent for a moment. Finally, he nodded in understanding, “Well, naturally,” he said, “I thought you’d want Sirius as your secret-keeper. Now, as for the charm, I’ll tell Sirius how to do the charm and he will accompany you back to your house where the charm is performed. Then, only you, your family and Sirius will know your whereabouts.”

James and Lily nodded. “Well then,” said Dumbledore, looking at Sirius, Remus and Peter, “You three should come with me. We’ll take a walk and leave James and Lily to talk.” The four of them walked out of the office and shut the door.

The two of them sat there for a moment, in silence, thinking about what to say. James stood up and looked around. He looked at the right side of the room and noticed a shelf; on top was the old sorting hat. He looked at it for a moment, the thoughts that raced through his mind stopped as he remembered when he slipped it on.

All eyes were on him as he sat on that stool, waiting for the hat to choose a house for him. He crossed his fingers under his dark robes, hoping that he wouldn’t go to that dreadful Slytherin house he’d heard about from his father.
The hat remained silent for a moment and then it spoke, quite suddenly. “Tough, you are, tough. Hard to place, many hand picked qualities of both Gryffindor and Slytherin yet…” the hat remained silent for a moment, “Brave, proud you are… but I suppose that maybe this should suit your skills” the hat said and paused for a moment before yelling, “GRYFFINDOR!”
An enormous relief swept over James as he hopped off the stool and ran over to the Gryffindor table that all cheered. He sat down next to another boy who’d been chosen for Gryffindor earlier on in the sorting.
“Hello,” said the boy, “I’m Sirius, Sirius Black,”

James smiled as he looked upon that hat, thinking about how he and Sirius had become instant best friends. Little did they know, them being innocent first years, that they’d be the most clever trouble makers the school had ever known and that eventually, they’d be known as the cleverest pair of wizards that the school had taught.

But, James supposed, they should be. They’d invented numerous items, including they’re clever invention of the Marauders Map which Remus and Peter also had a part off. The map was lost one night when they were out in the castle, and is yet to be found. They even learned to be animagi (they could turn themselves into animals at will), which wasn’t something to boast about, since they were doing it illegally.

They did however, have their reasons for this; they were trying to help out a friend, Remus. They’d found out that he was a werewolf and decided that they should help him. Since they couldn’t keep him company and protect him as humans, they turned to animals. Peter as a rat, Sirius a great black dog and him, James, a stag.

“Lily?” James looked around at her; “Did you ever know how much of a trouble maker I was in school?” he smiled, easing the tension that they were feeling.
“Oh,” she laughed a bit, “I had a bit of an idea, but I’m sure that if I knew all of it back then, I’d have never gone out with you!” she punched him playfully in the arm.

James laughed and looked back at the sorting hat, so many memories kept going through his mind, everything from his first day of classes to finding out that Remus was a werewolf. Finally achieving the ability of becoming an animal at will and to asking Lily out for the first time.
“You know,” he said, “It’s incredible how one item can bring back a river of memories.”
“Well,” she smiled, “Isn’t that how life goes? Just think, one day Harry will be starting Hogwarts. He’ll be coming into those doors, looking around in amazement. Being sorted into houses, and finding a best friend like you did.”
“I wonder if he’ll be into Quidditch at all?” James wondered, “Wouldn’t that be amazing, if he ever became Seeker?”
“It’s in his blood and since he’s your son I’m sure he’ll make a superb Seeker, and you know that he’ll want to try and be just like you. What boy wouldn’t want to?”

James smiled, “How come you can always do that?”
“Do what?” she asked.
“Just… just be you?” he hugged her tightly and suddenly all the thoughts, and worries washed back into his mind. Apparently, they did with Lily too.
“Oh, James!” she said, worriedly, “What if he finds us? What are we going to do?”
James didn’t say anything at first; “He won’t find us, Lily. Like I said, Sirius would die before giving us up to anyone. We’re going to be safe. You, Harry and me… we’re going to be just fine.”


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There'll be more coming soon! Read and reply! Thanks!

[starphoenix]

well..... I do see viewers, but no replies.... i dunno if anyone's reading! well.... i s'pose i'll post the next bit...... after this there should only be one more! if your reading, please reply to let me know i'm not doing this for nothing....

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James and Lily left Dumbledore’s office and met him with the others in the Entrance Hall. They walked over to them, weaving in and out of students that were walking towards the grand hall. By the time they got to where the others were, students had stopped coming, the grand hall looked to be filled for dinner. Only the odd student lagged behind the others.

“Well,” said Dumbledore to Lily and James, “We’ve got this all sorted out, for the time being. I’ve told Remus and Peter, here, that this will be the last time that they see you for awhile, until Voldemort is brought down. It’s best to not have people traveling to and from your house much. Leads less attention that way.” He noticed their uneasy look, “You know as well as I, that once he is on someone’s trail he won’t stop until he gets what he wants. There is really no point in hiding it but you also know, as well as I, that the Aurors are growing ever closer to finding him and defeating him.”

James and Lily nodded, Dumbledore stepped up to Lily and hugged her, “You’ll be fine,” he whispered in her ear, “You and your family are going to be alright.” He then turned to James and shook his hand, then embraced him into a brief hug.

“Thank-you, Albus,” said James, smiling, “I don’t know what we’d do without you around.” Dumbledore smiled, his eyes were bright blue again and they twinkled; but didn’t say anything.

James turned to Remus who his shook hands with also and hugged and then in turn, also hugged Peter. “I’m sure we’ll see each other again soon,” he told them, “Who knows, maybe next week we’ll be having a barbecue like usual!” Both Peter and Remus smiled.

“I’m sure we will be,” said Remus, “I’ll bring the steak!”
“And I’ll bring the salad,” said Peter, “Though, that’s unless Lily beats me to it! She makes the most delicious Caesar salad that I’ve ever tasted!”
Lily smiled and hugged Peter and then Remus but said nothing, she had a fear that if she opened her mouth to say goodbye that it may just be the last one that she’d ever say to them.

“I suppose that we should be off then,” said James, looking at Lily and then to Sirius who’d stood back and watched all that had happened quietly, “Hagrid will be becoming a bit anxious soon, I think.”

“I think that Hagrid’s taken a real liking to Harry,” said Dumbledore, his blue eyes twinkling, “It seems to me that Harry will consider him to be like a big brother!”

James and Lily smiled. They gave one last handshake and hug to everyone before departing with Sirius. As they walked from the castle, James put his arm around Lily, comforting her. Soon enough they reached the front gates, where beyond that they could apparate back to their house.

Without a word said all three of them closed their eyes, once passed the gates, and immediately returned to the front hallway of Lily and James house. Upon opening their eyes they saw that Hagrid was sitting with Harry in the living room, showing him a gnome that they’d found outside.

“Oh!” said Hagrid, standing up and nearly throwing the gnome off him, “Your back! I was jus’ showin’ ‘Arry ‘ere a gnome from your garden. Funny littl’ creatures they are! I’ll jus’ go and put ‘im back outside!” Hagrid walked through the hall, making loud thumps as he went along, and went into the back yard to the Garden

Lily walked into the living room and picked up Harry who was wide-awake and seemed to be very happy.
James looked at Sirius, who had a very somber expression on his face, “I suppose that we’d better just do this, there’s no sense in wasting time.” James said.
“Yeah, but we’ll wait for Hagrid to leave…” said Sirius.

“I see,” said James, he turned and walked into the living room and sat with Lily and Harry. Sirius followed and sat in an armchair across the room, staring at the ground nervously.
“James, do you think this is a good idea?” he asked, “I mean, me being your secret keeper? Are you sure you shouldn’t use someone who is less likely to be found out as the secret keeper? Dumbledore said that he’d have Remus and Peter help conceal where I am, but still…”

James stared at him for a moment, “It’s not that I don’t trust Dumbledore,” he said softly, “It’s just that, well, we’ve been friends since first year and it just seems to fit! But I will say, however, that if something happens, if Voldemort figures out where you are then do anything necessary to prevent him from catching you… don’t put yourself in danger for us… this is just a precaution… I’m sure that if you stay on the run, he’ll never find you.”
Sirius stared at James’s expression, which was pure worry. He was sure that even though James was barely showing it, the thought of his family being in danger was torturing him. He nodded to James.

Hagrid had shown up at that point. “I let the littl’ tyke go, and I’d better be off then.” He said, smiling.
James stood up, “I walk you out, Hagrid.” He said.
“Alrigh’,” said Hagrid, “Bye Lily, and ‘Arry.” He then looked at Sirius, “And nice to see yeh, Sirius! When yeh get the chance, come to me cabin at ‘Ogwarts and ‘ave a drink, we need to catch up!”
“Nice to see you too, and I’ll come soon. I’d like to hear about that troll you wrestled out of the grounds the other week!” said Sirius, standing up and shaking Hagrid’s hand.
Hagrid smiled and winked, “’E was a tough one, ‘e didn’t want to give up! But I’ll tell yeh more soon!” he walked out with James.
They heard James telling him that Dumbledore would tell him about what the meeting was about when he arrived back at Hogwarts. The front door shut with a click and Hagrid was gone. James came back in and sat down with Lily and Harry again.

“I guess that we can do the charm now. Hagrid’s gone.” Said James.
“I guess so,” said Sirius, who was still obviously uneasy.
“What do we do?” asked Lily.
“You don’t really need to do anything, except to stand up…and…” Sirius paused, also standing up. One they all stood; James and Lily (who was holding Harry in her arms) and Sirius in front of them, Sirius pulled out his hand and held it tightly in his hand.
“And,” he continued, “You need to concentrate on your family, your love for one another and how you wish for nothing but safety for each other.”
James and Lily nodded.
Sirius closed his eyes and concentrated, remembering about how Dumbledore told him to do the charm.
“Fidilious Infantino!” Sirius said. Although there were just these words uttered, the charm took much more then that. It involved concentrating very hard on the people he was wishing to protect… he had to remember why he wanted to protect them, why they needed to be protected.
A blueish light filled the room for a split second and then sank down into Sirius. The charm was finished.
James and Lily looked around; their house was the exact same as it was before the charm was done (they weren’t sure what exactly to expect from the charm). Lily picked up Harry and set him down on her lap as she sat on the couch, James joined her.
Sirius also sat down, and closed his eyes. None of them seemed to know what to say. After a long silence though, Sirius opened his eyes and stood up, “I’d probably better go. I’ll check up on you guys in a few weeks, I’ll be here on Halloween. Just lay low and try not to leave your house often, if possible. Your house is the only safe place there is for you guys.” He said.

James also stood up, “Thank you.” He said quietly.
Sirius nodded and hugged James, and then hugged Lily and kissed her on the cheek. “Good luck, guys. And I’ll see you soon.” He said and left the house.

*******

The days passed by slowly; the warm days of early October drifted into cooler days and breezes. It seemed like a year had gone by when only a few weeks had, as the day of October 16th came.

Lily and James had still heard no word from Dumbledore or Sirius containing information about Voldemort. They hadn’t seen Sirius since he’d performed the charm for them and they rarely left the house unless absolutely necessary and it was always James who went.

Remus was busy with the ministry, where he’d gotten a job after concealing his secret about being a werewolf. He was sent to Egypt on word of an attempted robbery of the Gringotts in Cairo, that needed to be investigated. Peter lived in London, also working with the Ministry but at the Diagon Alley Gringotts where it needed extra protection against the Death Eaters.

Voldemort, however, wasn’t as easy on, as others were. He was still trying to figure out the whereabouts of the Potters, and had received word of one of his Death Eaters being a spy from Voldemort’s own spy that held a special place in the workings of the Potters. Albus Dumbledore (Voldemort found out, from his faithful spy) told the Potters about his plans, spoiling them. What Voldemort was dying to find out was, who the Potter’s secret keeper was, and he had a pretty good idea who that might be. Sirius Black.

On the day of October 30th, Sirius Black was visiting Peter Pettigrew when an owl flew into the window, for Sirius.
“What’s this all about?” Sirius asked, taking the parchment that was tied on the owls foot, off. Peter shrugged and walked over to see what the letter was, it was from Dumbledore.......


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more soon!

[Kitty]

good fanfic so far. i like it, keep it up! :D

[overagain]

That's really good! i can't wait to read more, when did you start writing it?

[MidgetNazgul2]

KEEP GOING! :D!

[starphoenix]

thanks alot guys! it's great to have you reading..... actually, i started writing this in June 2002..... is was done in a matter of days.... though, since then.... i've changed little bits, added a few things here and there..... anyway, here's the next bit. after this there should only be one more.

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Dear Sirius,

Severus has just informed me of a matter of much importance! Voldemort knows, Sirius, he knows its you! He was telling the Death Eaters that they were to find you and bring you to him. He’s desperate and he’ll do anything to get the information he needs. Sirius, I hope this finds you in time. Get out of where ever you are and leave the country, go to a far off place where they won’t find you! You need to leave, now! Hide by any means necessary!
-Dumbledore

“That doesn’t sound like him at all,” said Sirius, frowning at the letter, yet, somehow he knew that Dumbledore was right, he needed to leave. But what good would it do to leave? The Death Eaters would search high and low for him anyway…

Sirius thought for a moment, he remembered his conversation with James. He looked at the letter again and then quickly looked up at Peter, a strange expression on his face. “We’ve got to switch!” he said quite suddenly.
“What?” Peter asked, confused.
“If Voldemort finds me, who’s to say he can’t get the information by force… lots of force. If I’m not the secret keeper, and then he can’t get the information and James, Lily and Harry are safe. There isn’t enough time to argue, I’ve got to switch to you!” Sirius said urgently, “He’ll never suspect you as the secret keeper, he’ll think I switched to Remus or even to Dumbledore.”

Peter stared at him, “Let me get this straight,” he said, “You want me to be Lily and James secret keeper? But…”
“Don’t argue,” said Sirius, “It’s got to happen this way. It’s the only way to make sure that they stay safe! Voldemort is on my tail now, and if… or when he finds me he’s going to force the information out, he won’t kill me because I won’t tell him. He doesn’t do that, he’ll use the imperius or cruciatus curse or maybe even a truth potion… but you see, if I’m not the secret keeper then I can’t tell him where they are!”

Peter seemed to be considering this deeply and he nodded, “Your right.” He said, simply, “Your right…”
“I’ll make you the secret keeper, now,” said Sirius, pacing back and forth, “And then I’ll leave, I’ll stay in the country for a few weeks and hide and then I’ll come and check on you. If you’re ok, then I’ll leave the country. But you can’t tell anyone that we’ve switched; or else it will spoil the whole idea of them still believing that it’s me. Not even Remus.”

Peter nodded, “Ok…” he said quietly.
Sirius took out his wand, “I hope this will work…” he moved so that he was directly in front of Peter and said, “Switchi Secrentino!”

The blue ball of light that had gone into Sirius when the charm was first done came out of his body and Sirius felt an empty feeling. The ball of blue revolved in mid air for a moment before going into Peter the same way it did for Sirius. The charm was done and Peter was now the secret keeper.

“I’m going to leave,” said Sirius, he looked sort of sad, “But I must say, Good Luck and lie low, like I did. Hopefully, they won’t find out it’s you, so long as I stay hidden and they think its me. Even at that they still won’t think its you. Go and see James and Lily on Halloween, tell them about it… I was supposed to go there, but… well, under the circumstances…. I guess that I will see you in a few weeks.”
Sirius left Peter’s house, not turning to see that look that gleamed in Peter’s eyes as he shut the door, no longer knowing where James, Lily and Harry were, no longer knowing if they were safe, or if they weren’t. This disturbed him, but he knew it was the only way.

*****************

The week- days passed by quickly; Sirius remained hidden and safe while waiting for the time to see if Peter was all right. A day before the second week’s end, Sirius decided that it’d been long enough and he’ better go and see if Peter was still safe, he assumed that Peter would be at his home, still lying low.

Sirius traveled quickly, reaching Peter’s house in only a few hours. He knocked on the door, and nobody answered. “Peter,” he said, still knocking, “It’s me, Sirius!” Still no answer, Sirius got worried. “Peter?” he said again and opened the door, which was unlocked.

He walked inside and looked around, everything seemed normal, no mess, and no nothing. But Peter was gone. Sirius sat down and thought for a moment, everything seemed normal as he thought of things, where Remus was, the whereabouts of James, Lily and Harry….
Sirius looked up suddenly, as if poked hard and shocked. He knew where James, Lily and Harry were. “This can’t be right,” he said, starting to panic, “If I know where Lily, James and Harry are… that means that the charm is broken…” he thought and then his eyes widened. “They can’t have got Peter, nobody would know we’ve switched… and…” Sirius nearly put his fist through the wall as the next thought raced through his mind, “Peter sold them out! Peter’s the spy!”

He immediately left Peter’s house and traveled as quickly as he could towards the Potter’s house, nightfall had set and the streetlights had come on. Sirius transformed into the great black dog he turned into when needing to travel quickly. He knew that he needed to get to their house as soon as he could, something was wrong. He raced to his hide out and gathered his flying motorcycle.

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Sorry that bit was shorter but I misjudged how long I wanted the posts, and if I kept going then I'd have to just post it all..... I'll leave the last bit until tomorrow... or.... soon.....

[Laterose]

This is good, really good :D

[starphoenix]

thanks! alrightly, i'll post the last bit now, i think.

**********************


Meanwhile, at the Potters house, James had just sat down next to Lily after he’d send a package to Dumbledore.

“I don’t think I’ll be needing this anymore. I’m sure that you’ll find a use for it.” James said in his letter.
He had taken his old invisibility cloak that he’d found when he was in Hogwarts and sent it to Dumbledore to take care of.

When he sat down, Lily took out an old photo album, and they sat looking at their old wedding pictures. Lily had just put Harry to bed while James sent the cloak to Dumbledore, and for the first time since the charm was performed, they were laughing and smiling as if nothing were wrong at all.
“Look at that one!” said Lily, pointing at one with James and Hagrid. Hagrid’s arm was around James shoulders his hand was ruffling up his already untidy hair.
“And that one too,” said James. It was a picture of Dumbledore and Lily dancing across the floor of the hall that they’d had their wedding in.
“He’s a pretty graceful dancer you know,” said Lily, smiling and looking at the moving picture, “Yet, that beard kept getting all tangled up!”

James laughed, “That was the best day that I’d ever had, except of course when Harry was born.” He said, “Oh, and a close tie is when Gryffindor won the quidditch cup!”
Lily smiled, “We’ve had a lot of good times!” she said, “With everyone, Sirius, Remus and Peter… I wonder how they’re all doing anyway?”
“I’m not sure. I wonder why Sirius hasn’t come by at all? I hope he’s all right…” James said, worriedly.
“I’m sure he is,” said Lily, “He’s probably just hiding out… that’s all.”
“I suppose so,” said James, frowning.
“I’m going to go and check on Harry, I think. I’ll be right back.” Said Lily and walked up stairs.

James stood up and walked over to the window, the sky was clouded over and the full moon was half showing. He stared into the front yard for awhile, unaware that there was somebody there. When that someone moved, James snapped out of his daze with a nasty jolt and stared harder. That someone looked familiar, and dangerous.

“It… it can’t be…” he thought to himself, thinking that it was none other then Voldemort. “How can it be? Sirius wouldn’t sell us out, he’d die before telling Voldemort where we were! He would, I know it…”

The figure moved slowly towards the gate to the fence and opened it slowly, stepping inside. A sudden realization came to James as he heard footsteps coming downstairs from Harry’s room, “Sirius didn’t sell us out, he must have… feared that he was found out? Or… or what…” James thought, raking his brain and suddenly it came to him… “He must have switched…. But to who?”

Lily walked in, “Harry’s asleep-“ she stopped, looking at James’ expression, “What’s wrong, what are you staring at?” she followed his gaze and gasped.
James didn’t say anything for a moment as Lily figured out who it was, “Oh no… no! James, how can it be!”
James turned and faced Lily, looking into her fearful eyes, “Lily, take Harry and run! You may still have a chance! I have to hold him off… take Harry and run.”
Lily’s eyes filled with tears as they bored into James’s eyes, “James… I…I can’t leave you here…”
James held Lily by the shoulders, staring into her scared eyes. “Lily, you’re going to be ok! It’s too late to argue now; he’s here. You need to take Harry…” James said softly, taking Lily’s hands in his and staring into her eyes, “I love you…” he kissed her softly.
Lily stared at him for a moment, she nodded and said, “I love you too…” and at that she ran up the stairs and into Harry’s room. Just as the footsteps from Lily stopped, James heard the hissing voice of Voldemort at the front door, saying, “Alohamora…” to open the door.

James had just entered the front hall, holding his wand at his side, when the door burst open and Voldemort stepped inside, shutting the door behind him. His eyes flashed when he saw James and he smiled, a vicious smile. “James Potter…” he hissed.

James glared at him, anger boiling inside.
“Nothing to say, have you?” Voldemort said in an oily voice, “It’s what I expected from someone like you. Yet, I feel pity, and I’m going to give you a choice.”
James still didn’t say anything, he was too angry.
“You can either die, a quick and easy death right here, in front of me or you can serve me. You should be grateful, I don’t give many this choice, and you could be a very valuable asset to me.” Said Voldemort in his snake like hiss of a voice.
“I’ll die a slow and tortured death before serving filth like you.” James snarled, still boiling with anger.

At that, the expression on Voldemort’s flat and ugly face converted into complete disgust and anger. “So be it,” he said, “A slow and tortured death, you say? Well, I don’t have time for slow, but tortured, maybe.”

James raised his wand as Voldemort pulled out his, they stared into each others eyes for a moment and at exactly the same time each one attempted to hit another with a spell.

“Expelliarmus!” James shouted.
“Crucio!” Voldemort yelled. The spells hit each other and rebounded, James own spell came back towards him and he had to duck. Voldemort used this chance to redo his spell.
“Crucio!” he said again. James fell to the ground with excruciating pain, unaware of his screaming. Even though the spell only lasted nearly ten seconds, to James the pain seemed to last forever, he found himself wondering what life would be like without the pain.

Voldemort stopped the curse and sneered down at James in pure hatred. He let out a long hollow laugh as James stood before him, glaring, with blood running down his forehead from hitting his head on the ground when hit with the cruciatus curse. “Bravery!” he said, after he’d stopped laughing, “What an interesting trait. It’s a shame it couldn’t be given to someone who was worth the trouble. I’d have never figured that someone like you would have been naïve enough to make Peter Pettigrew your Secret Keeper!”
James stared, shocked. It was Peter, Peter had sold them out… but why would Sirius switch to him… and then it came to him, and he retorted, “I would have never thought that someone like you would be stupid enough to think of Pettigrew being the secret keeper. My, my… I thought you were smarter then that.”

Voldemort’s expression turned into a frown of unmistakable anger. “Good-bye, James Potter,” he hissed, and raised his wand.
Before James could do anything, Voldemort yelled, “AVADA KEDAVRA!”

With a bright flash of green light, James’s life flashed before his eyes. The first time he held a wand, when he first arrived at Hogwarts and met Sirius, their years of fun and cleverness from school work to being animagi. Meeting Lily and asking her out, seeing the smile and the happiness that crossed her face. Feeling the glory of winning the Quidditch cup, the feelings at his graduation that came not too long before his wedding, one of the most joyful days of his life. But most important of all, Harry being born and James knowing that he had a son, one that he loved very much and would do anything to protect.
A loud thump sounded and James lay on the floor, his brown eyes wide open, his body untouched except for the marks of the cruciatus curse. He was dead, and Lily and Harry didn’t have an escape.



Upstairs, Lily heard a thump on the floor after a bright green flash and she collapsed to the floor, holding Harry in her arms. “No…” she whispered, tears streaming down her cheeks onto Harry’s thin black hair.
She looked up, startled as footsteps started coming up the stairs. Lily looked around frantically for an escape but there wasn’t one… so she stood up and still holding Harry she raced to the door and slammed it. Knowing that it wasn’t going to stop him she stopped and turned towards the crib, tears still coming down her cheeks for her lost husband, whom she loved so much for so long, and for the fact that she couldn’t protect Harry.

Then, with a crack like a whip, the door burst open and Voldemort stood, in the doorway. His tiny eyes darting around and looking venomously at Lily and Harry who stood in front of him. Lily set Harry in the crib and stood in front of it, she pulled out her wand.

“Stand aside, you silly girl.” Said Voldemort’s cold and harsh voice.
“Please… leave Harry alone! Just take me instead! He’s just a baby!” Lily pleaded, fresh tears pouring out of her eyes.
Voldemort let out a long a cruel laugh, “Step aside, you silly girl!” he repeated.
Lily stood her ground, but said in a pleading voice, “Please… please have mercy… he’s just a baby! Haven’t you done enough already?”
Voldemort laughed his cruel laugh again but this time his eyes bored into Lily’s, instead of looking at Harry. “Step aside or I’ll have no choice but to kill you!”

Lily looked behind her for a split second as Harry began weep a bit, then she looked back at Voldemort who had raised his wand, she still didn’t move.
“Fine.” He said coldly and taking one last look at Lily, he said the same words that James had heard for the last time, “AVADA KEDAVRA!”

Lily felt a cold rushing feeling, all she could see was a bright green light, yet through that light she saw her life flashing before her eyes as James life had done and Lily realized that she was going to die.
In what was a fraction of a second she saw everything from getting her letter to Hogwarts and finding out that she was a witch, to coming to Hogwarts and finding a New World. The time when James asked her out, the feelings that she’d had inside for him, the joy of graduating along side James and to their wedding, which was the best part of her life up to that point. But, like James one thing stood out, most of all, it was giving birth to Harry. Feeling the love that came at once for him and knowing that he would have a beautiful life like they did.

Lily fell to the ground, a soft mist pinkish rose from her and went into the air, landing on Harry, yet Voldemort didn’t notice this, his eyes were now fixed right into Harry’s and he didn’t care about anything else, he only knew that he need to kill Harry… He pointed his wand tip at Harry’s forehead and whispered, without hesitation, the same curse that killed Harry’s parents.
“Avada Kedavra…”
A flash of green light surrounded them but Harry didn’t fall over dead, he sat in the same spot, a small cut forming across the right side of his forehead like a lightning rod. Voldemort shrieked with pain, piercing the eerie silence around them. The green light swarmed around his body and then it was gone, and Voldemort fell to the ground, his body disappearing into ashes. Almost at once, however, the dust rose and formed into a humanly shape and flew off down the stairs, through the closed door and into the night.

James and Lily Potter lie dead. Harry sat in the crib, unaware of what was happening. And Voldemort was gone… his immortality left him to be less then human, less the ghost, but not quite dead.

************

Nearly a day had gone by, with the house untouched. News of a sudden change in events had spread quickly through the country, people were beginning to realize that Voldemort was gone… vanished. Dumbledore became worried, with not knowing how it happened, so he sent Hagrid to check on James and Lily (they’d remembered their whereabouts, making Dumbledore realize that the charm was broken). He wondered what happened… if Sirius was indeed the secret keeper… but maybe something happened…. He just couldn’t imagine Sirius selling out his best friend in the whole world. He gave Hagrid orders to send an owl with to him with the information… and Hagrid followed these orders.


Hagrid came to the house, and reached their door. It was closed. He opened it and walked inside, stopping nearly right away. James lay on the floor in front on him. Hagrid stared at him for a moment, horrified out of his mind. He kneeled down and shook James but he didn’t stir, James was dead and Hagrid knew it. Holding off tears he walked upstairs slowly, dreading what he might find.
As he walked into Harry’s room his attention went immediately to Harry who was crying. He picked him up to calm him and then looked at the floor beside the crib. Lily lay there, as James lay, dead. Hagrid gasped for breath and walked out into the hallway, tears streaming down his cheeks. He looked at Harry and noticed the cut on his forehead, “Blimey, wha’ ‘appened ‘ere?” he said out loud, his deep husky voice was mournful.

Right away, he walked to the spare room, holding Harry in his arms and wrote a quick, but sloppy note to Dumbledore, telling him what he’d found and sent it away with the owl, hoping that their owl was as quick as Dumbledore always said it was. Not knowing what to do, he sat there, holding Harry in his arms, staring out the window. Hours passed, and Harry was still sleeping, and Hagrid wondered why he didn’t wake. Night was falling and finally, Harry woke. Hagrid pulled out a bit of bread he’d had in his coat and fed it to Harry but ripping it to small pieces.

Soon, Hagrid saw the outline of an owl against the sunset, flying towards them, he stood up, putting Harry down, and waited for it. The owl flew in the window and dropped a piece of parchment, before eating the left over bread on the small table in the room.

The letter read:
Dear Hagrid,

… It’s a horrible day… I can’t believe that they’re gone.
Hagrid could tell Dumbledore was shaky when he wrote this…)
We do, however, need to take immediate action. I’ve spoken with the Ministry and Professor McGonagall about this… we’ve decided that you need to take Harry and met me in Little Hangleton, at Number Four, Privet Drive. That’s Harry’s Aunt and Uncles… it’s the only family he has now… please take him there, as soon as you can get out of there. I’ve sent Ministry members, they’re on their way. … A very sad day, indeed.
~Dumbledore

He folded the parchment, and picked up Harry. He walked down the stairs and looked up, surprised. Sirius had come. He was standing, his mouth gaping at James who lay on the floor. Sirius was in disbelief.

“He can’t be… dead…” he said, staring at James, “And… and Lily?”
Without hearing what Hagrid was about to say, Sirius ran upstairs and stood in Harry’s room for a moment, gasping for breath as Hagrid had done, but Sirius was worse. He stumbled back down the stairs and sat down on the bottom step. “Lily… and James… they’re dead…” he whispered, he put his head in this hands and Hagrid noticed tears coming down his cheeks slowly.
“It’s all my fault…” he croaked, looking up at Hagrid.
“It’s no’ your fault… its nobody’s fault…” said Hagrid, frowning and placing a hand on Sirius’s shoulder.
At first Sirius didn’t say anything, he seemed to be staring hard at Hagrid, and seemed to notice Harry for the first time, “Harry’s alive? But… but how?” he asked with his eyes wide but tears still leaked out.
“I don’ know!” said Hagrid, “I jus’ go’ ‘ere and there he was, sittin’ in the crib with this cut on his forehead.”

Sirius stared at him for a moment, “Give Harry to me, Hagrid.” He said, the tears had stopped coming but the expression on his face was still tragic, “I’m his godfather, I’ll take him.”

“I ‘ave me instructions from Dumbledore.” Said Hagrid, “’e told me to bring ‘Arry to Little Hangleton, ‘e needs to live with ‘is Aunt and Uncle, I think. Dumbledore says he’ll be safe there.”
“But Hagrid, I should take him… James and Lily would have wanted me too.” Sirius argued, yet his voice was still unsure.
“Sorry, Sirius,” said Hagrid, “I ‘ave me orders and I’ve got to keep’em.”
Sirius nodded and sighed, “Well… at least take my motorcycle… it will get you there faster. Keep Harry safe, okay?” he said.
Hagrid looked at him funny, he knew that Sirius loved that bike and never loaned it to anyone, he looked at Sirius suspiciously.
“Look,” said Sirius, “Dumbledore must have his reasons and since I can’t protect Harry, you should at least get there faster. It’s not safe here, you need to get out of here as soon as possible. There may still be Death Eaters about.”
Hagrid nodded, “Wha’ abou’ you?” he asked.
“I’ll be fine, I need to do something… I have to find someone.” He said, looking out the door.

Hagrid nodded again but didn’t say anything, he gave Sirius a sudden hug and then left quickly. Sirius heard his motorcycle take off into the night. He looked at James again and a few more tears came down his face, “I’ll get you Peter…” he said, anger now coming up from the deep sadness he was feeling, “You’re going to pay.”

**************

[starphoenix]

Damn! can't ever post it in one....

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*************************

At once Sirius set off, narrowly avoiding the Ministry members that were now showing up in the town and heading to the Potters, to investigate what happened. Sirius spent the night traveling back to London where he was sure Peter would be, he somehow thought that Peter would be at his house gathering things to get out before Sirius came.
Sunset came quickly and Sirius was in the neighborhood of where Peter lived in London. He came down the street where a tall brick building was and looked around, when he turned Peter was standing in front of him, blocking his way down the street.

Sirius was overwhelmed with anger, he nearly ran at Peter but instead he just stood there, staring at those watery eyes, the ones that looked into Voldemort’s when he sold Lily and James out.
“How could you?” Sirius croaked his voice dry and harsh.
“How could I? Peter sneered, “You were the secret keeper, you transferred to me. I didn’t ask you too.”
“I ONLY TRANSFERRED TO YOU BECAUSE VOLDEMORT WAS ON MY TAIL! HE WAS AFTER ME AND IF I SWITCHED TO YOU, I FIGURED HE”D NEVER THINK A WORTHLESS PIECE OF VERMON LIKE YOU COULD HAVE SUCH A JOB, SUCH A RESPONSIBILITY!” Sirius yelled, completely outraged.

Lights were turning on in houses and people were coming out to see what was going on. They all looked to be muggles and they moved closer, to hear what this whole fight was about.

Peter glanced around before whispering, “It’s too bad that nobody else knew that we switched, otherwise this wouldn’t work…”
Sirius stared at him, completely confused and outraged.
Suddenly Peter started to sob, a fake sob, but people thought it was real and they gathered closer, “Lily and James… Sirius… how could you?” he sobbed, looking at Sirius with pure hatred. Sirius returned the look and shook his head, whispering, “I don’t know what your talking about you worthless piece of-“
“LILY AND JAMES!” he sobbed, “Sirius…. Why?” at that Peter put his hand in his robes but Sirius was to quick and realized what he was doing. Sirius pulled out his wand in a flash but didn’t get a chance to do anything.

With a great blast and loud boom, Sirius covered his eyes with his arm and when he looked back to where Peter was, he was gone. A large hole was in the street and several muggles lay dead around it, the ones who’d witnessed this from nearby looked at Sirius in horror. They thought that he’d killed them all by cursing Peter and the rest of the people around him.

Sirius stared at the hole, a piece of a finger lay nearby making Sirius want to vomit but he took his eyes off it. Sirens sounded in the distance and suddenly muggle police were coming and grabbing Sirius. Almost at once, however, people were apparating around them, the Ministry of Magic police. They told the muggles that they handle this and came to Sirius, looking at him in disgust.

Sirius tried to say something but no sound came out, he went wordlessly with the ministry and glanced back. Other ministry members were modifying the memories of the muggles, after interviewing them. Sirius knew what would happen to him, though; he was being taken for trial and would be sent to Azkaban. There was no evidence of him and Peter switching, Lily and James were dead, and the muggles heard what Peter was yelling. Sirius realized what his fate would be and shivered.

And so the story begins…

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The End! I wish it could've been longer to write, i woulda liked that..... but my idea didn't last that long.... i might write another fanfic about james and sirius' times at hogwarts tho.... not sure yet.... anyway, I hope you guys liked it, i liked writing it... so tell me what u think, ok? thanks!

[hpk37067]

Very cool. Perhaps you should write about how Voldie got to power and the such. That would be cool.

[starphoenix]

good idea, maybe, but i think first i'll be working on an original story. Anyway, thanks for reading, and i'm glad you liked it.