Chapter 3 The Prophecy Begins

October 31, 1981

It had been along year and a half. They went under the Fidelius Charm soon after the babies were born. Sirius had been their Keeper until a month ago, but he was being followed and worried that he would be tortured into revealing where they lived, so they asked Peter to take over. He was ecstatic that they chose him.

Now it was Halloween and they had a wonderful day celebrating. The boys were happy that they got candy and the Potters were setting up for the Dinner with the Dead. It was late at night and they were just about to take a nap when they felt the wards fall. The children started crying; knowing something bad was going to happen. The older Potters now knew Peter had betrayed them. Either he was the spy or he was tortured to reveal the Secret. James was going with spy, because no one knew they had switched, so there had been no reason for Voldemort to target Wormtail. It was the way they planned it, so if Voldemort was here than they had been betrayed.

"Lily, he is here. Take the boys and run, I'll try and hold him off," the male Potter yelled over the scared and crying boys. He pulled his wand and stood in front of the stairs, hoping that his wife and children made it to the nursery where they should be able to Portkey out. They had set it up so that the emergency Portkey would go through the wards from a certain spot in the nursery, as long as no one had set up additional wards.

Lily ran up the stairs one child on each hip, just as the front door blew open. She sprinted to the nursery and tried the emergency voice activated Portkey, but it didn't work. Peter must have informed Voldemort of their plans, confirming he was indeed a spy. Damn him. She put the children down in one crib, away from the door, so they would both be behind her when she confronted Voldemort. She would face death before she abandoned her children. She knew if she died protecting them, they would hopefully be safe. It was a sad thought, but one that was necessary for the survival of her babies.

They had set the spell up in the nursery just in case this had happened. Frank and Alice found it in their Family Grimoire. It was a chancy spell, that only had a forty percent chance of working, but if it would save the children, then they would do it. The Longbottoms had the same setup for Neville. Neither family had let anyone know this part of the plan, not even their best friends.

She stood in front of her children and waited wand in hand, she couldn't let the Dark Idiot know she wasn't going to fight. Well, she would to her best to protect her children before she gave up her life, but she held no illusion that she would win. She listened intently, hoping against hope that her husband survived.

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James was fighting Voldemort, he knew he wasn't as powerful as this so called Lord, but he'd try and hold him as long as he could to give Lily time to activate either the Portkey or set up the spell. He and Voldemort had been exchanging spells for five minutes now, the living room was marred with scorch marks, and the younger man had been backed half way up the stairs. Cursing Peter for his treachery, he stood his ground. He would die before he would let this mad man kill his family.

Voldemort sent a blasting curse at James and it missed, but it did hit the wall beside him. James tried to get out of the way, but he knocked his head into the railing when he ducked and fell unconscious to the floor. The self-named Lord, not caring whether the man was dead or knocked out, walked right past him—he was here for the children. He had a prophecy to stop. He went up the stairs to where he could hear the toddlers crying.

Lily stood in front of the crib when the evil man entered the room. "Not my children, please take me let my children live," she begged. It was part of the spell you had to ask for your child's life and offer yours instead to activate the spell. It was all about intent.

"Stand aside, you stupid girl, I only want your children. Stand aside." Voldemort motioned for Lily to move aside so he would have a clear shot at the twins.

"No, not my children, I'll do anything, but spare my babies." Of course, Lily didn't move. She would never abandon her kid, though she was shocked that he was giving her the option to move. She had to wonder why, but now was not the time.

"You foolish woman, I would have spared you, Avada Kedavra," yelled the Dark Lord and Lily fell to the floor. "Severus asked that you be spared, more like begged, for your and your husband's life. He said it was so he could get his revenge on your husband, but I knew he was lying. No one lies to the Dark Lord; his screams were well worth it. I was going to let you live and then kill you in front of him. But, you had to interfere and now your whole family will pay the price," Voldemort said to Lily's corpse, as her soul watch with mournful eyes, knowing there was nothing she could do now, but hoping the spell worked.

The Dark Lord then turned to the suddenly silent toddlers. "Which one was to be my downfall, hmmm? Well no matter, I will just kill you both and then I will kill the Longbottom child. Avada Kedavra," he stated, pointing his wand at Harry, since he was closest.

As soon as Lily's body hit the floor large green dome formed, yet in his confidence Voldemort paid no attention to it. It surrounded the boys, protecting them from the worst of the curse and the debris caused by the backlash of the two different strands of magic meeting.

Harry received a lightning bolt wound on right side of his forehead from the diverted curse and Gary received a V shaped one on the left from parts of the crib. The spell had gone through the shield and then, after causing Harry's cut, reflected back and hit Voldemort causing his body to turn to ash, leaving only a robe and a wand.

Both boys passed and the dome dissipated.

A small girl-like figure, who was dressed in a frilly pink dress, with shiny black dress shoes and white knee socks, had watched the whole thing. Her name was Death, or Sally depending on the day, and she knew that without their mom these boys would have a horrible life. She had seen that there would be many trials for the boys and they needed a fierce protector to stand up for them. Not that James was a bad sort, but without his wife to beat down his arrogance, he would be too good of a provider to them and they would grow up spoiled and arrogant and the Wizarding World didn't need that. No, these tots needed their mother.

Sally asked Lily's soul if she was willing to pay a price to keep her boys safe. The dead mum agreed immediately. So the embodiment of Death took Lily's soul and put it back in her body. She then modified her memory to show that Voldemort cast a cutting curse on her abdomen and then Sally cast the curse to make it real. Lily will never have more children, putting her soul back had to have a price.

The little deity then turned to the twins and gently stroked their foreheads. She ran her finger over the wounds and made sure they would both be recorded as cursed. There was no way that she was going to let that old man know who the chosen one was.

"Don't worry, boys," she stated after kissing both foreheads. "I'll be here to help you in this life. Fate dealt you a bad hand and I'm going to teach you all I can to make it better. While there are some things I can't change, this is not one of them. If it had not been for the prophecy, you both would have lived happy lives and never would have faced ole Voldyshorts. So it is okay for me to step in and make sure you die when you are supposed to and not when the prophecy decides. We will stand together until you don't need me anymore and hopefully that will be enough for you to win."

Now one would have to ask, why these boys and not the thousands that suffered all over the world? Well, Sally was only drawn to those who were touched by prophecy and death, or she would help everyone she could. As it was, there were hundreds of children she was helping all over the world. It was good to be a deity. She could be wherever she wanted at the same time.

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Downstairs James was groggily getting off the floor. He leveled himself up on the remains of the railing and tried to remember what was going on and why he was on the stairs. It took him a few seconds then he remembered Voldemort attacking. Getting up from the floor, he ran up the stairs to see how his family faired.

"Lily!" he yelled desperately, not hearing any movement in the nursery, "Lily, answer me, please!" He made it to the room and saw that his whole family was lying down as if dead. He hastily ran to Lily since she was covered in blood and waved his wand over her prone body. The diagnostic spell showed she was still alive, so he cast a healing spell on her and tried to stop the bleeding. It took three times before it stopped, so he cast a spell to wake her. "Rennervate," he incanted and with that Lily woke.

"My babies! How are my babies?" she screamed hysterically as she scrambled up off the floor. She quickly turned to the crib. "Please, Please, let the spell have worked, please let my babies be alive," she begged to Gods unknown, as she cast the diagnostic spell on the crib hoping to see both boys alive. "Oh, thank all that is holy, they're alive. Rennervate," she cast on Harry, who then woke crying. Then she cast it on Gary, and he also woke crying.

"Thank Merlin," the exhausted man stated as he came from behind and looked at his family. He noted the robes on the floor, but decided not to point them out just yet. He was tempted to kick them under the crib, but came to the conclusion that they would be better left there for the Aurors. He turned his eyes back to his wife.

"I'm so glad you are safe, James. What happened to you? I heard you fall and feared the worst," she said as she turned and looked at her husband to see if he was wounded. Her eyes roved over his faces and she patted his chest and arms to make sure they were there and unharmed. She had never been so scared in all her life.

"Okay, sweetie, shhh, calm down. I hit my head on the railing trying to avoid a blasting curse," the messy-haired wizard said as he grabbed her hands and kissed the knuckles. Then he reached over and picked up Harry, who was the quietest of the boys. "It's over. Here, I'll take Harry; it won't take long to call St. Mungo's," he offered, trying to keep his own calm. He needed to make sure they were okay, but he didn't want to deal with a hysterical woman on top of everything else. Not that he blamed her, but he had to deal with his own near death experience.

Lily took a deep breath and turned to the crib. She picked up Gary and checked him over. "I am so glad you are okay. Yes, please, take Harry, and see if we can get a healer. Their wounds seemed to have stopped bleeding, but I want them looked at anyway. We won't be able to leave until the Aurors come. I'll bring Gary down in a minute. I need to close that cut, and he needs his nappy changed," she babbled, saddened and happy at the same time, emotions overwhelming her logic. Plus, her desperate need to make sure her family was okay. She turned to hand the crying Harry to her husband.

"Please, come down as soon as you can I want my family where I can see that they are safe," James said, trying to calm his overwhelmed wife, while rocking Harry in his arms.

Lily nodded at her husband's words, took another deep breath and carried Gary to the changing table. Seeing that his wife was calming down, James left the room. He carried Harry on his hip and went downstairs. He put the quiet child down in the playpen they had set up for the boys by the window, so they could see the trick-or-treaters in costume walk by the house. He dragged it closer to the fireplace, threw some Floo powder in and called for St. Mungo's.

"Hello! Anyone there? I need a healer here. We were attacked by You-Know-Who," the desperate father called into the green fire.

"How bad are you all hurt?" was the first question asked when a nurse hurried to the fire.

"We're mostly fine, but my wife was hit with a cutting curse, my children have been hit with an unknown curse. They both have wounds on their heads. Please, send someone as soon as you can. We're at Honeymoon Cottage in Godric's Hollow. The house is under a Fidelius and the healer needs to read that paper before he comes." He handed a piece of parchment that had the address written by Peter through the Floo to the receptionist so they could get past the charm. He then he removed his head, stood, checked on his son, seeing Harry was still fine, he grabbed more Floo powder.

He then called the Auror department. "Hello we have been attacked by You-Know-Who. All the adults were knocked out and we have no idea what happened. You-Know-Who's robe and wand are in the nursery, there is no sign of him. We need someone to come and investigate. We're at Honeymoon Cottage in Godric's Hollow. The house is under a Fidelius and the Aurors need to read that paper before he comes," Again giving them the address written by Peter. He then moved away from the fireplace giving room in case someone came through. He picked up Harry and rocked back and forth to keep him calm. It also settled James' nerves to have one of his sons in his arms, mostly safe.

James heard a noise in the front of the house and held up his wand just as Sirius came running through the broken door, panting. He saw James comforting one of the twins, he couldn't tell them apart yet, and Lily coming down the stairs with the other boy.

"Oh, thank Merlin, you're alright. I was so worried when I couldn't find Peter. He was supposed to meet me tonight and he never showed. I went to is flat and most of his stuff is missing. What happened? Where is You-Know-Who?" the frightened young dark-haired man asked, his wand raised in the air, as if he was going to fight to the death for who he considered his only family, even if they weren't blood related. James had been his brother since he was sixteen when he had run away from home to the Potters.

"We're not sure. We were both knocked out. The boys seem to be fine, but for the wounds on their head. There's a robe and a wand in the nursery, but we don't know what happened," James said, still rocking Harry.

"We're waiting for the Aurors to come and do some testing so we'll know what happened," Lily said in a calming manner as to not alarm the children. It had taken a few minutes of normal motherhood duties to calm her down, but now that she knew her family was all alive, if not well, she was doing better. "I'm hoping that when the Aurors are done you and James, would go rat hunting, the little bastard of a coward. I can't believe we trusted him. I hope he fries in the deepest pits of Hell. If I find him I'm going to cut off his bits and make him eat them." Her bright green eyes lost focus on the revenge she was plotting for the man they all trusted.

"Lily, I never knew you had it in you to hurt someone like that," Sirius said, not noticing the disbelieving look on James' face. Her husband knew just how vicious his wife could be. "Of course, we'll go rat hunting. It will be my extreme pleasure, to hand you that sniveling idiot, just so you can cut his bollocks off. Just don't make me watch, okay?" he said with a vicious, yet thoughtful, gleam in his eyes. Revenge would be sweet.

"That man put my children's lives in danger, if I get my hands on him, he will wish for death. And I'll make it last a very, very long time. You wouldn't believe all the non-magical ways to torture someone. I've read many a novel, which have given me great ideas and if I catch that rat. He'll feel my wrath," Lily bit out through her gritted jaw, clutching her child as close as she could without harming him.

A noise came from the front of the house and all the adults put the children down and pulled their wands. They took a stand in front of the playpen. The children started crying again, now that their parents weren't holding them.

Hagrid came through the front door with tears on his face. All of the Order knew where the Potter hid, just in case something like this happened. He had been told by the Headmaster that Lily and James were dead. This was why he now looked on in shock, at the three adults standing together, wands pointing straight at his head. He could see both boys were also alive, if not completely well.

"Lily, James, I'm so 'appy to see yer alive. Dumbledore told me yeh was dead. I was to take Gary to 'ogwarts and 'arry to your sisters, Lily. Now, 'm not sure what ter do. Why are yeh standing next to that traitor? I would've thought yeh would hexing 'im not standing next to 'im," the confused man said as he scratching his rather bushy beard. While Hagrid was a good man, he was very simple. Give him an order and he would move mountains to see it through. If something negated that order then he took a minute to come up with a different plan.

"Why would Dumbledore think we were dead? How did he even know we were attacked? And why in the name of all that is Holy would he want Harry with Petunia? She hates magic and she hates me. What the hell is he playing at?" Lily fired her questions to the poor half-giant, keeping her wand on him. She loved the man, you couldn't find a gentler soul than Hagrid, but she would be damned if he was taking her children anywhere.

"Sirius was a decoy. We traded with Peter so that Sirius would be the target of the Death Eaters. We let everyone think that he was the Secret Keeper so Peter would be safe. That rat betrayed us and I'm sure he is the spy and not Remus," James looked shamefaced to Sirius. "We're going to have to apologize to Moony for thinking he had gone dark," he told him. Sirius looked mortified and only nodded his head in agreement.

"Dumbledore wanted the children to go to a safe place. 'E wanted me ter collect them and get them ter safety. 'E figured yeh all to be dead. Not sure why 'e thought that. Great man Dumbledore, but now seeing as to 'ow your alive, I'll just be going back to report the good news. 'E can come and see for 'imself that I'm not needin' to take the little 'uns anywhere," the gentle giant said, keeping his hands in the air as to not anger Lily any more than she already was. You could see he was genuinely happy that his friends weren't dead, albeit very confused as to why Dumbledore thought they were.

"Yes, you go and tell Dumbledore that we are alive, and he's not taking my children anywhere," Lily spat as she lowered her wand. She didn't put it away, just lowered it to her side. She knew Hagrid was mostly immune to magic, but she could Accio a knife to her hands and cut him if she had to. The men lowered their wands as well and stayed ready in case they were needed to protect the family.

Just then the fire blazed, causing the wands to come up again, and a healer came through. "I am Healer Wrights. We got a call that you needed a healer. Who needs me the most?" the healer asked, pulling a bag from his robes that contain an emergency kit full of potions. Then he noticed the wands pointed at him and raised his hands.

The adults lowered their wands and Lily took over, "Check the children first, I'm not sure what they were hit with, but they are both wounded on their heads. Then when you are done I need to be checked, James closed the wound, but I don't know how much damage was done. Then James hit his head earlier this evening so you might want to check him as well," she said as she watched Hagrid move towards the door.

"I'll just be goin' then. I'll tell Dumbledore that all is well 'ere. Yer take care now," Hagrid said as he left. "Good to see yer alive an' all," he finished lamely as he walked out the ruins of the door.

The fireplace blared again and a man in red robes came through. "I'm Auror Roberts. We got a report that there was a fight with You-Know-Who. Can anyone tell me what happened?"

"We were sitting down enjoying the night. I felt the wards being attacked so I told Lily to take the boys and go upstairs where we had set up an area for an emergency Portkey to work. You-Know-Who blasted the door in and we fought. I hit my head and passed out," James explained and then waved to Lily to take up the explanation.

"I took the boys to the nursery to try and escape, but the Portkey didn't work. So I put them the crib and activated a spell we had set up to keep them safe. You-Know-Who came in and told me to step aside, not sure why," she said suddenly thoughtful. She shook her head and got back to the explanation, "He then cast a cutting curse," she waved to her cut-up and bloody shirt, "and I think I passed out due to the pain. When James woke me up, the boys were unconscious and there was a robe and wand on the floor. No sign of Voldemort anywhere. I don't know what happened after I was knocked out," Lily finished keeping her wand ready with all these new people in the house.

"Okay, I'll go upstairs and check out the nursery. I would like to know what the healer finds though," Auror Roberts said as he made his way to the stairs, observing where James fell. James and Sirius followed to make sure that James could answer any questions.

Both men came back down the stairs, after being kicked out by the Auror. The healer gave his report after examining everyone. "I don't know which boy was hit. But one of these little guys was hit with a Killing Curse. The residue is on both of them, but other than that they seem in good health. I have the wounds all sealed. Unfortunately they will have curse scars. Other than that they are both in good health," he said, trying to make the frightened young couple feel better with some good news. "The bond between them is growing at a good rate. It is what more than likely kept them alive, this night made it much stronger."

The healer continued as he turned to James, "Mr. Potter, you're fine. That bump on the head didn't do anything but render you unconscious. Mrs. Potter," he said bringing his attention to the only woman in the room, "I cleaned up the area of the cutting curse, however, there was damage to your uterus and you will not be able to have any more children. I'm sorry, I can only hope that you will be happy with the two you have," he said as he put a consolatory hand on Lily's arm.

Lily somehow knew this was going to happen. "It's okay," she said a bit mournful, then looked at her boys and smiled. "I'll just have to spoil these little guys more than I was going to. I'm just glad they're okay. I'd pay any price for the safety of my family. Thank you, Healer Wright. I know you're probably very busy right now. So thank you for coming as soon as you did," she said, as she escorted the healer to the Floo, pleased that her family was safe and alive with no real lasting damage, well except for her uterus, but she could live with that.

"Not a problem, I am just glad everyone here is alive. It is not always the case as you know," The healers said as he was leaving. And with those parting words he Floo'd away.

The Auror was upstairs looking at the remains of Voldemort and trying to find out what had happened after Lily was knocked out. She went upstairs to let him know what the healer had found, hoping that it would help explain things to him. Once that was explained the Auror figured he had a better idea of what happened. "There's a lot of magical residue in here. There's the spell you and your husband set up to protect the children, there's the cutting curse that you were inflicted with and there are signs of the Killing Curse being cast twice. I think the curse missed the twin that was on the left hand side, and hit the one on the right. Do you remember which child was where?"

"Yes. Gary was on the right and Harry was on the left. They both have head wounds that will scar so the healer doesn't know which one was hit," Lily replied. She had a feeling that he was wrong, but she wasn't going to correct him. She and James made a vow that no matter which one the prophecy spoke of the boys would grow up the same. They didn't want one boy targeted over the other so they were going to have to do some damage control to keep the boys out of the spotlight. If it came to the press they were going to have to give a statement that they didn't know which boy had been hit, that it was the Longbottom family spell that kept them alive and that they were just happy that everyone survived.

They, as parents, would do everything they could to prepare their children for what was coming. "Thank you for your time, Auror Roberts, like I told the healer, I know you're really busy at this time. Hopefully, now that Voldemort," she said, ignoring the flinch, "is gone we'll have some peace."

"I hope you're right, Mrs. Potter. I'll see myself out, I'm done here. I took everything that was You-Know-Who's, so the room should be safe. I know if it were me though, I'd be looking for a new place to stay," said Auror Roberts as he shook Lily's hand, turned and then left the room and started down the stairs.

Lily followed him out and agreed with him by stating, "Oh, we'll be moving as soon as possible. I won't tell you where, there are Death Eaters still at large so it will have to be a secret. You can owl us if you need any more information, as long as there is no spells on the parchment or the owl, then it will find us."

"Thanks for that, Mrs. Potter. I'm glad to see your family is okay, Mr. and Mrs. Potter. You did the right things calling for us. You have a pleasant rest of the evening." The Auror tipped his hat and left via the Floo.

After everyone, but Sirius had left, Lily fell to the sofa, hoping that this long evening was over. She was about to suggest to James that they go to a hotel for the night, when there was a loud pop. Lily turned in her seat, wand at the ready. When she saw who it was, she groaned.

Dumbledore was here.