Halloween

A crash down the hall followed by wailing was no way to start a morning. All had been nice and quiet with the exception of the occasional giggling from a toddler before the disruption. Now that same toddler sat in the middle of the floor, surrounded by scattered flowers, a small broomstick, and a very wet, very unhappy cat.

“Harry!” The toddler paid his name no attention as he continued to cry. He had, after all, just crashed his tiny broomstick into a small, spindly table and sent the vase of flowers flying. The cat seemed to have had enough. It moved to hide behind an open closet door, sulking.

His mother hurried around the corner and she leaned down to pull Harry from the wreckage. The tears slowed as he snuggled closer to her and she rubbed his back gently. “Are you okay? Did you have a crash?” She looked down at her flowers, strewn across the floor, and the sopping cat that was poking its head out from behind the door now that the wailing had stopped. It wasn’t hard to figure out what had happened.

Harry’s head emerged from Lily’s arm and he looked down at his toy. With a look up at his mother, he started to squirm and reach for the broomstick. Lily laughed and reached for the wand in her pocket. “Just scared yourself, did you?” Still smiling, she gave her wand a flick and the flowers and vase returned themselves to the once again upright table. The cat looked at her hopefully as she set her son down.

“Just like your father,” she said with a chuckle and then turned her wand on the cat. It was clearly used to this kind of treatment and sat very still as Lily gave another little flick to dry its fur. With a quick flick of its tail, the cat scampered down the hallway, obviously trying to avoid another bath.

Little Harry Potter picked up the small broomstick and climbed onto it. It started to hover, barely two feet in the air and Harry giggled. Lily smiled at her son. “Uncle Sirius is so proud of you,” she said. “Mummy told him how much you like the broom he sent you for your birthday. He thinks you’re going to be a Quidditch player just like your dada.”

“Think he’ll nick Snitches from the broom shack and act like a prat like his dada did, too?” a voice asked from behind Lily.

Lily laughed, taking her watchful eyes off her son long enough to turn around and kiss her husband. “I certainly hope not. You were a right git when you were younger.”

James knelt down and watched Harry hover around the hallway, a smile making the corners of his eyes crinkle behind his glasses. “He really is a damn good flyer. A natural, you know,” he said to his wife while Harry turned his broom into the living room. The cat yelped and scurried across the hall into the dining room.
“Don’t go giving him a big head before he even knows what a Quaffle is,” Lily chided as she returned her wand to her pocket. “The last thing that school needs is another Potter boy with an ego bigger than his cauldron.”

James smirked and leaned back against the doorframe, crossing his arms, as he watched his son push the tiny broom to its max. “I didn’t have a big head. My body just hadn’t caught up in the growth spurt.”

Lily rolled her eyes. “Whatever you say, James. There’s a reason Remus got the shiny badge and not you or Sirius.” At least between the trouble-makers, Remus had been the least delinquent.

“You think Sirius and I wanted one of those things? They put all sorts of expectations on you when you get one,” James said. “Besides, I pulled it together.”

“Only because I wouldn’t date you otherwise,” Lily replied, a sly smile on her lips. She’d been less than fond of James for their first few years at school. He just hadn’t known how to give it a rest.

“And I think that turned out best for me anyway,” James said. He kissed his wife on the tip of her nose. “So, what’s for dinner, anyway? I’m starving.”

Shaking her head, Lily put her wand back in her pocket and turned towards the kitchen. “We haven’t even had lunch yet,” she called over her shoulder. “Good Lord, you haven’t changed at all.”

Another resounding crash echoed from the living room before Harry started to wail once more. “I’ve got him,” James called and he turned towards his sobbing son. “We’ve got to work on your depth perception, Harry…”

The afternoon passed as Lily decorated the living and dining rooms with tiny, floating lights and flickering jack-o-lanterns. Even though no one would see the decorations but the small family, the decorations helped Lily to feel as though things were closer to normal than they really were. It would be nice to pretend that, just for one night, the most dangerous and deadly wizard in history wasn’t on the hunt for them.

The sunlight was beginning to fade and as Lily put the finishing touches on the decorations, she looked out the window to see the parents across the street sending their little ones out in their costumes to run after their candy. Lily just wished she had a reason to dress up Harry.

“Is dinner ready?” James called as he brought Harry downstairs from his nap into the festive room. “I could eat an entire hippogriff.” Harry reached for the floating lights while James took in Lily’s work. “It looks great in here,” he said with a smile. “You outdid yourself.”

Lily smiled, nodded into the dining room, and they began to walk. “Well thank you. What did you break?”

James feigned innocence. “I’m sure I don’t know what you’re talking about. When have I ever tried to compliment my way out of trouble? I always own up to my mistakes.” He dropped Harry into his high chair and fastened the toddler in.

Lily gave her wand a wave and candles flickered to life around the room. “Oh, I don’t know. There was the bookshelf the first day of transfiguration.”

“An accident.”

“Perry Pulford’s broomstick a week before the Quidditch final our second year.”

“It’s not my fault he got confused and flew into that tree.”

“Professor Binns’ globe in fifth year?”

“I tripped.”

“Mmmhmm,” Lily hummed. “I’m sure that’s exactly what happened five minutes before an exam.” She spooned a helping of shepherd’s pie onto James’ plate. “And the trophy cases during sixth year?”

“It was dark.”

“And why you were out after curfew, you’ve still never told me.”

“Now, Lily. Don’t you think if I’d broken your mirror because I slipped with a book in my hand and the book went through the mirror I’d tell you instead of putting the effort into trying to hide it?”

Lily sighed and broke up pieces of the pie fore Harry. “Did you at least clean it up?”

“Of course I did,” James responded, his mouth half full of the savory dinner. “I’m not that irresponsible.”

A few moments passed as the family ate, an occasional mew breaking the silence along with the scrape of forks on plates. Finally, Lily asked, “Have you heard from any of the Order lately?”

James shook his head. “Not since that letter from Sirius last week. He really wants to come visit, Lily. You’re sure having him over would be a bad ide-“

“Dumbledore’s the one who told us our best chance was to only have a Secret Keeper. And even then, it was Sirius who wanted us to use Peter at the last minute. He thought it would be less obvious,” Lily said, shooting down the idea. “James, I miss him too, but it’s too dangerous. He might not be Secret Keeper, but imagine if someone sees him here repeatedly.” Another moment passed before Lily asked, “Has Sirius said anything about Remus?”

James shook his head. “Nothing new, just that he still doesn’t trust him like he used to. They talk, but it’s never about anything of any importance.”

Lily shook her head. “I just can’t imagine Remus doing anything to betray the Or-“ She cut herself off midsentence and was very still. “Did you hear something?” James stopped eating to listen, but the only sounds were shrieking children outside enjoying Halloween and Harry giggling as he played with his food.

James shook his head. “I think it was just the trick-or-treaters. Let’s talk about something else.”

The conversation turned to the possibility of getting another cat and what life would be like when they could let Harry be like one of the muggles on Halloween. Once Harry had finished what he was going to eat of his dinner, Lily cleared the table and James took Harry upstairs to put on his pajamas.

“One day we’ll dress you up as a pumpkin, too,” James told Harry as the baby kicked at his father, resisting the blue pajamas James was attempting to wiggle onto Harry. “You can run around and pretend you’re one of the muggles. how does that sound? Free candy and some little Halloween pranks.” Harry stuck his tongue out at James and grabbed his feet, giggling.

“You’re something else, Harry,” James laughed. “More your mother than me, luckily.” James picked up the toddler and took him back downstairs. A little playtime before bed never hurt anyone.

James sat down on the couch with Harry and said, “Alright. Which colors shall we do tonight?” He pulled out his wand and began conjuring puffs of colored smoke while Harry giggled and swatted at them. This was one of Harry’s favorite games. He’d try to catch the puffs, but the puffs would evade him. Every time Harry thought he’d caught one, it would disappear, confusing him. Then another would appear and he would try to catch that one. The cat looked up from where it was curled up on the chair, looking vaguely interested in what was going on before it yawned and went back to pretending to be asleep.

Lily came in from the kitchen, and smiled. “Come on, Harry. It’s time for bed.” James scooped up the toddler and handed him to Lily to take upstairs before he threw his wand down on the couch, stretched, and gave a yawn of his own.

The door burst open. James ran into the hall, his abandoned wand still on the couch. “Lily, take Harry and go! It’s him! Go! Run! I’ll hold him off!” Lily’s heart was pounding. She couldn’t get to the door, so she just ran. As she pounded up the stairs, she heard a cold voice downstairs cry, “Avada Kedavra!”

Lily felt as though her heart had been ripped in two. She knew what was downstairs. Her husband, spread-eagled on the floor, his glasses askew, probably with a look of terror on his face. The cat had probably run, protecting itself. She had to fight back the tears that were prickling and fighting their way to spill over.

Harry was starting to whimper, wanting his father to come and find them. They were playing a game and James was taking too long. As Lily slammed Harry’s bedroom door, she swore she heard Voldemort laugh.

“JAMES!” she screamed, her voice cracking. She threw open Harry’s window, hoping for an escape. But even if she jumped, she couldn’t jump with Harry, and Apparition had been made impossibly inside the house. Outside, the passing children and their parents had no idea that, yards away from them, a family was about to be murdered. An innocent baby and his loving mother and father. Lily barely realized that she was still screaming for James.

Harry looked around, curious. He had no idea that he no longer had a father, and more than likely was about to lose his mother as well. Harry looked almost curious at the game his parents were playing. Who was under the cloak? Was it Uncle Sirius?

There was nowhere to hide and outside the door, Lily could hear footsteps on the stairs. He was coming. Lily tried pushing heavy objects in front of the door: Harry’s dresser, a rocking chair, but she knew it had to be useless.

Finally, Lily held Harry tight, nowhere to hide him. She stood tall, a tear falling down her cheek, as the door swung open and faced the tall, looming figure in front of her. She could see his long, white, spider-like fingers twirling the wand, a slight smile playing on the lips that were peeking out under his long hood. Lily dropped Harry into his crib behind her and threw her arms open to shield him. She wouldn’t let this monster take her son.

“You need not die,” Voldemort said, his voice a high whisper. “It is not you I want. Just give me the baby. Give me Harry and your husband will not have died to protect you in vain.”

Lily shook her head, her hands beginning to shake. “Not Harry, not Harry, please not Harry!”

Voldemort began to cross the room, his long robes billowing behind him. “Stand aside, you silly girl...stand aside, now.”
“Not Harry, please no, take me, kill me instead –“ Lily felt herself starting to break down. She couldn’t lose her son. He’d barely had a chance to live, barely seen the outside. There was so much of the world he needed to explore.

“This is my last warning –“ Voldemort began to cross the room, his cruel, red eyes shining out from under his hood.

“Not Harry! Please…have mercy…have mercy…Not Harry! Not Harry! Please – I’ll do anything –“ Lily had lost her husband. She wouldn’t lose her son, too. The tears that had been prickling at the corners of her eyes were now streaming down her face. Her thoughts turned to James, downstairs and dead, unaware that his wife and child were about to meet the same fate.

But then she started to remember. Her first kiss with James, so innocent, so unexpected. They had been sitting in the common room, talking, when Lily decided he had finally grown up. When James had put his hand on hers, she didn’t pull it away like she had in the past. When he scooted a little closer, she did the same. When he pressed his lips to hers, she pressed back. It had been perfect. Lily, at the time, couldn’t think of anything better…

…The scene in her mind changed. She and James were walking down to Hogsmeade on their first date. She could hear Sirius, Remus, and Peter giggling like the girls she was friends with behind them, but she ignored them, focused on the boy next to her. They went to the Three Broomsticks and drank butterbeer. They walked to Zonkos and looked at all the ways James and Sirius could cause havoc. They walked to Honeydukes and bought enough candy for a month…

…Now they were out of Hogwarts. Lily walked into the park where she had promised to meet James and saw hundreds of twinkling lights. Peter scurried over and handed her an envelope, telling her that she needed to open it before she went any further. Lily, thinking Peter was losing it a bit (did he look thinner and a bit aged?), opened the envelope. Hundreds more of the little lights flew out and scattered, decorating more of the park. Lily smiled and kept walking. Remus handed her another envelope, this one with even more lights. Finally, Sirius handed her a much smaller envelope. This time, she read a letter from James. The letter talked about his favorite memories of her and all the reasons he loved her. When she was done reading, she looked up and saw James, in the middle of the fairy lights, holding out a little box…

…Sirius stood next to James in a small church in Godric’s Hollow while James said his wedding vows and Lily fought to hold back tears. The small group of wedding guests clapped and cheered as James pulled Lily close and kissed her…

…Lily was telling James that she was pregnant…

…James was decorating Harry’s room…

…Lily was telling James it was time…

…James handed Lily her son. His hair was black, like his father’s, but his eyes – Lily smiled. He’d gotten her eyes. He was so perfect. Lily didn’t care what her sister said about Dudley, Lily thought Harry was the most perfect baby the world had ever seen…

…Sirius and James were playing with Harry and his new toy broom. James kept telling Harry how he would play Quidditch for Gryffindor as Harry crashed into the couch…

“Stand aside. Stand aside, girl!” Voldemort was so close. Lily started to open her mouth to yell for help, to scream for anyone who would – or could – possibly help her. Wasn’t there anyone around who would help her son? Her brave little boy who had yet to cry?

A flash of green light and Lily fell.

Harry still had yet to cry. It was dada under the cloak. He would make the room light up again. They had to finish their game. Harry liked the pretty lights. Then, he knew, his mummy would jump up and laugh and then it would be time for bed.

But then, baby Harry saw the face under the cloak. This wasn’t his dada. He finally broke down and started to cry. Why wasn’t his mummy coming to protect him? Why was she still on the floor? This wasn’t fun. This was scary. He needed her. Where was dada? Why hadn’t he come upstairs? Why wasn’t he helping them?

“Avada Kedavra!”

Another flash of green light and the scary man screamed and was gone.

And Harry was alone.