Thrice Denied

Lily Potter held her fifteen-month-old son on her lap, playing a game of patty-cake with him. He gurgled happily and clapped his hands along with her. Lily laughed, tickling him on the stomach. He writhed and squealed, delighted.

The living room was basking in the warm light of mid-afternoon. It was the warmest day they'd had in weeks; it was October, after all. Lily was curled on the couch, smiling with child-like joy at her son. She loved being a mother.

James watched from the doorway, smiling gently. Lily's hair was braided down her back, exactly like the first time he had seen her on the Hogwarts Express. She had grown up since that ride when they were eleven years old. She had hated him then. Her brilliant green eyes, which Harry had been so lucky to inherit, were shining with laughter.

James pulled out his wand and made a ball of light sweep across the floor. Intrigued, the baby twisted out of his mother's grasp and slid to the floor, toddling towards it. James kept it a step out of reach every time… or at least, he tried. Harry fell over face first and landed on top of it, extinguishing it entirely.

Confused at where the light had gone and unhappy from his fall, Harry started fussing. James and Lily simultaneously crossed to him, but Lily reached him first, scooping him into her arms and hugging him to her chest. He quieted almost immediately.

James sighed. "Okay, it's my turn now. You've had him all day."

She smiled infuriatingly and hugged her son closer. "Yes, but that's because he won't go to you. He likes me better."

He wrapped his arms around her waist and kissed her. "I like you better than he does."

Harry squawked a loud protest at being squashed between his parents and squirmed down, heading for his toy box. They smiled at their young son's antics, watching as he pulled out a ball that was bewitched to bounce, roll, and come back on its own. James pulled his wife over to the couch, where they sat and watched Harry play.

Later that night, Lily put a pot of water on the stove to boil for spaghetti. Harry played happily at her feet. James was in the other room, reading a book entitled Quidditch Through the Ages. He had read it his first year in Hogwarts and continued to read it at least once a year.

Lily poured the noodles in and turned the heat down. Picking Harry up, she took him into the other room and sat on her husband's outstretched legs. Harry crawled across James' stomach and tried get the book from him, and when his father tugged it out of his tiny hands, he began to wail angrily. James gave up and let him have the book, and Harry promptly proceeded to try to eat it.

Lily looked at her husband. "I forgot to get candy. The Muggle kids will be going Trick-or-Treating tonight."

"What's tonight?" James asked, coming out of his reverie.

"It's Halloween. All Hallows Eve. Día de los Muertos in Spanish, or if you prefer, the Irish say Oíche Shamhna."

"Show-off," James muttered good-naturedly, wincing as Harry tore a page out of the book and crammed it into his mouth.

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Lily tiptoed down the stairs, skipping the third from the bottom (it squeaked). James was playing Exploding Snap on the coffee table. He looked up as she entered. "Harry asleep?"

She nodded.

"It's about time. You're not very good at making him go to bed, are you?"

He was joking, but she found this a good excuse to bump the table as she walked past it. James' tower exploded, narrowly missing his eyebrows. "Thanks a lot," he grumbled, gathering up the scorched cards and beginning again.

Lily sat down beside him, curled up, and gazed at her husband. Words could give only an inadequate description of her feelings for him. He was as handsome and intelligent as he had been the first time they had kissed.

Once the cards had exploded for the fourth time, James gave up and peered through the curtains at the driveway.

Lily panicked when the blood drained out of her husband's face. She was already halfway up the stairs to her son's room by the time James had scrambled off the sofa and yelled, "Lily, take Harry and run! I'll hold him off!"

Lily knew what was happening, even though she hadn't seen what James had. Peter had betrayed them. He was here.

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"Lily, take Harry and run! I'll hold him off!" James shouted, but she was already up the stairs. James pulled out his wand and held it tightly, his hands shaking. He knew, as well as he knew who was walking up their driveway, that he would not live out the night. But he would go down fighting, trying to defend his wife and son.

He locked the door, knowing that it wouldn't be much of an obstacle for him, but every second he could stall his death was another second for Lily to find a way out. Casting a quick Imperturbable Charm on the door, he went through a mental list of every spell he knew, wondering how to exploit each to his advantage. He may not expect to live, but he was going to stay alive as long as possible.

The door crashed inwards, nearly crushing James. He sidestepped quickly, and then he looked up.

A tall hooded figure stood silhouetted by the full moon. James tightened his grip on his wand as the newcomer stepped over the threshold.

"James Potter," his voice was high, cold and menacing. "We meet at last."

"Aye, my Lord, that we do." James knew he sounded braver than he felt. That was a good thing. Oh, Lily, please hurry. I can't last long.

"Are you ready to die, Potter?" he asked softly. "Because you know you can't win."

James shrugged. "Maybe I can't. But I might just get lucky." But I probably won't, Lily, so you have get out of here.

James knew that Voldemort wasn't about to follow the rules of a wizard's duel. Or maybe he would have. But James wasn't about to.

Without warning, a jet of red light shot out of his the wand that had been held at his side. Voldemort called "Protego!" and the spell bounced away from him.

"You want to fight then, Potter? Very well. I shall give you the fight of your life... or maybe of your death."

"Bold words, for one who has a chance of dying here along with me," James spat. Go, Lily, go! Get Harry out of here!

"But why are we even having this conversation, Potter? Let your wand do your talking."

James put up a shield just in time to block a red jet of light from Voldemort's wand. He sent back a Full-body-bind Curse. Not that a petty hex would stop a wizard as powerful as the one before him, but he hadn't exactly learned how to do the Unforgivable Curses in school. He knew that in order to perform one, he would have to mean it; he would have to want to kill. James was almost positive that he couldn't do that.

"Dying nobly trying to save your precious family won't help, you know,"Voldemort hissed.

James proved himself wrong. His heart burst with love for Lily and Harry, and he wanted nothing more than to save them. Still blocking the stairs, he shouted "Crucio!"

The bolt of light hit Voldemort in the side. James blessed his luck, but it didn't last long. He didn't have the power to hold it. His wand dropped.

Voldemort stood, panting slightly. "Is that the best you can do, Potter?"

"It was pretty good, if I do say so myself," James retorted, silently cursing his weakness.

"You are arrogant, boy. And for that, you deserve to die."

I love you, Lily. And Harry. Know that.

James wasn't ready for the force of the next spell. The green light shattered his shield and struck him squarely in the chest, and his body crumpled and fell. James Potter was dead before he hit the ground.

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Lily heard the footsteps on the stairs: slow, methodical, beating out her death march. She was sobbing now, fumbling with the window latch, but it refused to budge. There was no way out. She knew James was dead; he would never have let Voldemort up here alive. Harry was whimpering in his crib. He knew that there was something wrong.

Oh, Harry, how can I tell you this? Your father's dead, and we're going to die, too, and I can't find any way out! Harry, I love you! How can I let you die like this?

She didn't say it, of course; Harry wouldn't be able to understand. Abandoning the window, she lifted her son into her trembling arms and held him close, breathing into the black hair he had inherited from his dad.

James, I'm so sorry. What can I do? You're gone now, and I have no way to save that which you died for.

She returned Harry to his crib and withdrew her wand just as a looming, cloaked figure rounded the corner into the room.

"Hello, Lily." His voice was high-pitched and cold, cold like steel, likeice. Not like James' voice, so warm, so loving. James, I failed you.

"We meet at last, face to face."

"You're going to kill me, so get on with it."

"There's no need for you to die, girl. I just want the baby."

James, help me be strong!

"Then take me, too. Don't kill Harry. Please, don't kill Harry."

"Stand aside, girl!" he spat.

How can I let you die, Harry, die like your father did trying to save you? Oh, please, James, help me…

"No." Her last word was cold and defiant. She was ready to die trying to save her son.

Harry, I love you. I'm coming James. And we can walk through the fields of eternity together.

"Avada Kedavra!"

There was a flash of blinding green light, which struck her in the stomach. Harry began crying as he watched his mother fall and the tall figure turn its wand on him.

James was dead, trying to buy time for his family. Lily was killed trying to save her son.

And Harry?

He survived.

Because of his father's strength, he grew up strong.

Because of his mother's love, he continued to breathe.

Harry Potter. The boy who lived.