CH 41

Amelia quickly refills her glass from the bottle and downs another quick shot.

"Lily stands between the crib and Voldemort. He tells her to stand aside and she refuses. She begs Voldemort to kill her instead of Harry. Voldemort tells her - he's promised her to - to Severus. Lily is furious but still doesn't move. He then kills her. Peter Pettigrew is standing cowering in the doorway.

"With Lily now out of the way he says something about Harry being the one prophesised to kill him. He fires the Killing Curse at Harry. Then it's blank.

"When Harry wakes up or comes around, it is to the sound of Severus Snape sitting on the floor holding the body of Lily, sobbing, and rocking it back and forth in his arms. Harry makes a sound and stands up in his crib. There's a fresh wound on his forehead. He begins crying.

"Snape, hearing the crying, lowers Lily's body back onto the floor and quickly stands up. He draws his wand and aims it at Harry. His arm is shaking, whether it's from grief or fury, we don't know. There's a sound from downstairs outside. It's the sound of a large motorcycle approaching. Snape flees the room.

"We then see Hagrid enter the room. He's crying. He picks up Harry out of his crib and says a few words trying to calm him down. He then carries Harry downstairs, where we see James's body on the floor just inside the blasted off front door of the cottage. Hagrid pauses for a moment to take a sad look at James before exiting the cottage.

"As Hagrid is walking away from the cottage down the front path, we see Sirius Black climb off the motorcycle and approach. He's distraught.

"Hagrid tells him James and Lily are dead. Black looks horrified and heartbroken.

"Black tells Hagrid to give him Harry and that Harry is his godson. He also mentions he is sworn to protect him.

"Hagrid refuses and says Dumbledore instructed him to take Harry directly back to him. Black hesitates for a moment, hands Hagrid a set of motorcycle goggles and tells Hagrid to take 'his' bike. And that he will go after 'the bastard' responsible.

"Hagrid gives a nod and mounts the motorcycle that Black had apparently arrived on. He tucks Harry, by the looks, into a large inside pocket. Harry is blinded by this, but we hear the motorcycle roar to life and rev away. "Is there anything of importance I missed?" she finishes.

"Only that it was clearly Pettigrew who betrayed the Potters; not Black," replied Cygnus with a snarl. "And Black said he was 'sworn to protect Harry'. If that's the case, Black couldn't have betrayed the Potters, as it meant he would have broken oath."

With a little sad voice from where he was sitting on the edge of the bed, Harry asked, "So, that little fat man wasn't Sirius Black?"

All four adults suddenly looked at Harry as if they'd forgotten he was there.

As Isabel rose from her chair, walked over to Harry, sat on the bed alongside him, and wrapped him in her arms rocking him gently, Cygnus said in sad but angry voice, "No, Harry. Thatwas Peter Pettigrew. Sirius Black was the man who arrived later on the motorcycle. Trust me on this, I knew both men quite well."

"As did we," said the other adults.

"And what is also apparent is that Severus Snape knew the attack was going to take place on the Potters," snarled Madam Longbottom. "Why else would - that man say he had promised Lily to - Severus?"

"Further evidence to that was that Snape appeared to be the first on scene immediately after it happened. And, that he'd been there for a little while before Harry woke up again," said Cygnus. "It was well known in Slytherin that Snape was absolutely smitten with young Miss Lily Evans. He'd had his eye on her since the sorting. When she began dating James during Sixth Year, he was both enraged and heartbroken. It turned him into a very bitter individual." "What is more informative is that the Potter adults weren't the target," said Amelia. "V..Voldemort was specifically after Harry. And that there is, or was, apparently a prophecy involved that says something along the lines of Harry will kill Voldemort."

"More questions," said Isabel from where she was comforting Harry. "How did Dumbledore know to send someone? Was he, in some way, monitoring the Potters? And, if so, why was he monitoring them?

"Why did he send Hagrid; a man unable to even use a wand? Why didn't he go himself? After all, Dumbledore was apparently the only person He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named feared. And whydid Hagrid say Dumbledore instructed him to take Harry directly back to him?" "There's my smart Ravenclaw," Cygnus said, almost automatically while his thoughts were clearly elsewhere.

While she was listening, Amelia had a small muggle notebook in her left hand while writing with a muggle pen with the other. "Those are all other questions that hadn't occurred to me, Isabel. Thank you," she said. "Any more?"

When she received three negative responses she closed the notebook and dropped it and her pen back into a pocket of her robes. Then drew the phials out again. She stood and scooped the memory back out, placing it back into a phial, before restoppering it.

"The next memory I have from Harry must have occurred a few hours later," she said, pouring another memory into the pensieve. "This one occurs as Hagrid is carrying baby Harry into the infirmary at Hogwarts." "Turning to Harry, she asked, "Do you want to join us for this one, Harry?"

Straightening himself up and away from the comfort of Isabel's arms, he said, "No. Thank you, anyway. I'll keep watch again."

"Do you want me to stay out here with you, Harry?" asked Isabel.

"No, that's okay," he replied. "I'll be okay from here on."

With a hesitant ruffle of his hair, Isabel moved to stand with the others around the pensieve again.

Once again, the four dipped a finger into the bowl and Amelia tapped the rune. Once again their faces took on the glazed look Harry thought of as 'The lights are on; but, nobody's home'.

They returned less than fifteen minutes later. With a frown, Cygnus said, "Why didn't Dumbledore discover Harry's so-called 'curse scar' was, in fact, a partial possession by a soul fragment? He's powerful and knowledgeable enough to have been able to recognise it straight away. And then whydid he insist on Harry being taken the next day to the Dursleys. He should have been taken to the Longbottoms at the first available opportunity."

"The second half of that becomes apparent with the next memory," said Amelia. "I do not know the answer to the first, though."

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