The murder of James and Lily Potter

October 31st, 1981 8:00 p.m.

She was humming, always humming. Her long auburn hair swirled around her shoulders as she plucked a baby boy out of the bathtub. Beside her, standing near the door, stood a toddler girl, wrapped in a towel. The little girls' hair was plastered to her head, though auburn curls were beginning to form in the back, sticking up like duck feathers.

"Dishes are done," A young man appeared at the door, wiping his hands on his trousers. The woman turned to smile at her husband as she wrapped their son in a towel.

"Mummy says bedtime," the little girl pouted up at her father, who beamed at her. He reached down and scooped her up, cuddling her to his chest, not minding that she got his shirt all wet.

"Daddy says story time first for the birthday girl," he told her and tickled her until she laughed. The young couple carried their children into a small nursery and dressed them in their pajamas before placing them in a crib they insisted on sharing. A little toddler bed lay forgotten in the corner.

"What story do you want to hear tonight, Hally?" The man asked as he browsed a small bookshelf under the window.

"Babbity!" The little girl cried urgently.

"Of course, anything for our birthday girl, Harry, what say you?" He turned to look at the little boy.

"Ba!" Harry chimed in gleefully, clapping his hands.

"Go on and finish your letter, Lil, I'll read to them tonight," the man told his wife, who grinned and kissed each child and her husband before disappearing into the bedroom across the hall.

The man sat down on the floor beside the crib and read the children their favorite bedtime story, just as he had many nights before. He made them laugh, as always, in the beginning when he used different voices.

The laughter of her little family could be heard in the other bedroom, where Lily was sat at a small desk penning a letter to an old friend. She never minded, because she knew her husband, James, always toned it down toward the end of the story, lulling the children into sleep.

October 31st, 1981 – 9:00 p.m.

Sure enough, James came in several minutes later, running a hand through his short curly black hair, making it stand up on end.

"Mind if I go catch the last of the match on the wireless for a while?" He asked, stifling a yawn.

Lily laughed. "Sure I don't mind, but don't think for second you won't be fast asleep within ten minutes."

James laughed and shrugged his shoulders before heading down the stairs of their small cottage home. She heard him flick on the wireless, the soothing crackle of the commentator and the distant roar of the broadcasted crowd.

Times were so dark, it was comforting to hear something so simple as the sound of a Quidditch match and the quiet snores of her husband.

She lost herself in her train of thought while she described the comings and goings of her little family, though she was afraid there wasn't much to comment on, since they had been living such a secluded life as of late.

A crash interrupted her.

October 31st, 1981 9:45 p.m.

"LILY! IT'S HIM! HE'S HERE! TAKE THE KIDS AND RUN!" James frantic voice shouted from downstairs. She tensed up, panic lacing her heart, before she ran out of the bedroom. At the top of the stairs she could see the flash of green light, the thud of a body hitting the floor.

Sobbing, she ran into the nursery, locking the door behind her, though she knew it was futile. They had been too late, too comfortable.

Hally and Harry had awoken in the commotion. Harry was crying and Holly was racing toward her mother, frightened.

"Hally, hide in the closet," Lily pressed a trembling kiss to her daughters head, ushering her into the wardrobe in the corner. "Just like our games of hide and seek. Good girl, you be quiet for Mummy, stay right there. Mummy and Daddy love you so much."

Lily went to Harry in the crib. "Mumma loves you, Dadda loves you, so much, so very much. Everything is going to be okay." Tears were rolling down her face as she stroked his cheek, comforting the crying baby.

"Mummy?" Hally's lip trembled as she peered through the crack in the door.

"Shh, my love, don't be afraid. Just stay right there and hush now, just close your eyes. Can you do that for Mummy, can you squeeze your eyes real tight?"

Hally whimpered but squeezed her eyes shut.

The door exploded open, and Lily shrieked, turning to shield the crib desperately, her arms wide.

"Please don't hurt him- please take me instead, please don't hurt Harry!" Lily pleaded, sobbing.

"Stand aside you stupid girl," a cold voice ordered.

"Please! Not Harry, not my Harry!"

"Enough! Avada Kadavra!"

The same green light that had taken her husband now took her, and she fell to the floor, a burst of bright white light shooting from her chest as she fell, rebounding around the room.

The cloaked figure ignored her, raising his hand and pointing it at Harry, unaware of the shaking figure in the wardrobe, squeezing her little eyes shut.

"Avada Kadavra!"

Everything exploded.

October 31st, 1981 – 9:43 p.m.

Somewhere, in an office, an old man with a long white beard sat at his desk.

He was startled when a sobbing man entered the office, angry and hysterical, he knocked over a book shelf of delicate looking artifacts, shattering everything.

"Severus—" the old man stood up, alarmed.

"Li-Lily is d-d-d-dead! You - you promised! You promised me she would be s-s-s-safe!" The man, Severus, sobbed, his lank black hair swinging into his face as he grieved.

"What of the children?" Albus paled.

"I d-d-d-don't k-k-know, ssssurely they aren't—" Severus choked. "Hally…h-how did this happen?"

"Lily and James placed their trust in the wrong people," the old man sighed, rubbing at his temples. "What matters now is that the right people get to the scene."

An owl flew in from the window, dropping a note on his desk. He plucked up the note and read it quickly.

"Sirius Black is at the house, he says the children are alive," The old man stood up and gathered his cloak, but Severus was already racing into the fireplace in the corner, disappearing in a cloud of colored powder.

The old man sighed and disappeared with a loud CRACK.

October 31st, 1981 10:00 p.m.

"I am taking them both," The handsome man declared, reaching for the two children that had been taken from his arms moments ago.

"I'm afraid that is not possible, Sirius," the old man sighed. "I have already made arrangement for the children."

Sirius grew angry at once. "I am their godfather, I should be the one to raise them for James and Lily."

"Despite the fact that you are absolutely useless," a voice growled from the doorway. Sirius and the old man turned to see Severus entering the bedroom, dressed in black billowing robes. The man stalked toward the children in the arms of the old man, his hand reaching out to smooth the red curls on the toddler girl.

"What are you doing here, Snivilus?" Sirius spat at him, pushing the other man aside angrily angrily, "You are the last person that should be here! This is your fault, you Death Eater scum!"

The old man placed the children back into the crib, pulling out his wand. In the corner, Lily's body lay covered with a sheet.

"I have always protected Lily, which is more than you can say, Black!" Severus roared back, their chests bumping against each other. The little boy began to cry and the older girl reached out with her short stubby arms and hugged her to him, though her eyes remained wide and shocked.

"ENOUGH!" The old man thundered. "This endless pissing war between you both has gone on quite long enough! Time is at the essence tonight, and decisions must be made!"

The two men separated at that, though they continued glaring at each other.

"The children need to be separated," the older man sighed, moving over to pick up the little boy. He held the boy, who had quieted, though tear tracks still glittered down his slightly sooty face.

"Harry here is marked on his forehead, a mark we do not yet understand, if we ever shall," the old man said, referring to the little boy. "This mark is not easily hidden, and as such, he will be need to be kept away from the wizarding world until he has reached age for school, as I am not certain what state our world is in just yet."

"And where will you send him?"

"Lily has a sister, non-magical, and married with a child."

"No! Absolutely not!" Sirius bellowed growing angry.

"Albus, you cannot send that boy to her, I have seen what she is like as a child, she is unfit," Severus protested as well.

"It is done. I have had contact with the woman and stressed to her the importance of providing young Harry here the best possible care, and she understands her duty," Albus said firmly. "Hagrid is on his way now to take the boy."

"What of the girl?" Severus turned to look at the little girl in the crib. "What of her?"

Albus sighed and turned, prying the boy from his sister's arms before he handed Harry off to Sirius. He turned once more to look at the little girl, studying her sadly.

"Hally, I am afraid, somewhat understands what happened here tonight. You can see it in her eyes, the loss of innocence already. She knows her parents are no more," Albus murmured.

"Hally?" Sirius spoke to her, his eyes swimming with tears.

"I closed my eyes for mummy," the little girl trembled, "she didn't want me to see."

"Albus, what do we do to help her?" Severus turned to him desperately. "Surely we can alter her memories, make her forget this."

"I wish it were that simple," Albus sighed, "But the mind is a fragile thing, and one so young as this? It could be even more harmful than the memories of this night. Hally will remain in the wizarding world where she is already comfortable, and we will try to give her some sense of normalcy."

"So with whom will she stay?" Sirius frowned.

"I can take her," Severus said, a pleading tone in his voice.

"She does look so much like Lily, doesn't she," Albus picked up the little girl and stroked her red curls, "but she has James' eyes."

"Sir, let me do this, let me care for her. She will be safe with me," Severus reached for the little girl.

"Severus, dear man, I am afraid Hally cannot go with you either. Your work for me is not yet completed, you cannot walk amongst His followers with a child suddenly, especially one that looks like her. Her young life has been spent mainly here at home while her parents are in hiding, the world knows that Harry was being hunted by Voldemort, they do not know that their eldest child survived tonight."

"So you mean to tell me that Harry will be a legend in the world, and Hally will go on as if she died?" Sirius spat. "James and Lily did not die so that their children could be separated and alienated from each other!"

"We honor them by ensuring their daughter still has a shot at a normal life, something our sweet Harry is still not guaranteed," Albus sighed. "And I have just the young couple to help us."

Severus bowed his head, turning to stare out the window, or the large hole in the wall where the window had once been.

"Arthur Weasley's youngest sister, Guinevere, married Kingsley Shacklebolt, the auror and a good man. The couple is returning from abroad, the Americas, and have found themselves unable to bear children, though they desperately want to. Young Hally will blend right in as a relative to the Weasley's."

Sirius turned away from him, holding Harry to him.

"I am aware that James and Lily wanted their children to live a quiet life as removed from the war as possible, but as it stands, the world now knows that Voldemort was defeated by the little Potter boy, and they do not know the second child has survived. It is best it stays that way."

"But she had a part in this, too!" Sirius roared, which caused both children to start crying. "You want to keep them apart? They have never been apart! Hally is James and Lily's daughter! You have no right to take that from her!"

"My hands are tied!" The old man roared back, growing frustrated with the whole situation. "I do not understand yet what her role is in all of this! What I am certain of, however, is that Hally Potter remains unthreatened and protected by the secrecy of her survival! The greatest gift we can give her is this prolonged protection! Kingsley and Guinevere have assured me that she will know her true family history, and James and Lily, and surely Harry, will not be forgotten."

Sirius was silent as he handed Harry back to the old man, but rage burned in his eyes. He turned and began to leave the room, "you disappoint me, Dumbledore."

Severus Snape sat alone in his room three nights later, surrounded by discarded fire whiskey bottles and sticky glasses. A photo of a young boy and girl waving to the camera lay at his side, worn and clearly cherished.

Scratching at his window pestered him, and he ignored it in his drunken depression. His beard was growing in itchy, his hair was mottled and stuck to his head, and he wreaked of sweat and alcohol. When the scratching was incessant, he flung the window open, smashing the glass, to allow a familiar large bird to swoop in lazily.

It was covered in fiery plumage, elegant, and it rested on his bedpost and cast a slightly disapproving eye at the wreckage before him. A note was dropped onto the crumpled bed.

Long shaking fingers opened the letter, and he recognized the spiky writing of Albus Dumbledore.

They'll call her Jamie Lee Shacklebolt.

AN:

This story has been long over due. I received some positive feedback from the snippet I posted: The Phoenix and The Raven and from Endgame. You can read them both, but you may find spoilers…so perhaps not. Anyway, here it is. My brainchild that has been swirling around in the ol' noggin for like three years.

A couple of notes: James and Lily became pregnant while they were in their 7th year, pre-marriage. Hally Jane Potter was born October 31st, 1977 (Halloween). They kept it quiet, as the war was already in full swing, and only a handful of people had seen Hally in person. James and Lily believed that as long as Hally was kept sheltered, she would not be a target. Harry James Potter was born July 31, 1980, and again was kept home often like his sister. On the night of October 31st, and Hally's fourth birthday, 1981, Voldemort came to call…and the rest is history.

I have taken liberty and given Arthur Weasley a sister and Kingsley Shacklebolt a wife, named Guinevere.