So here it is - the much awaited Pelipogue!!
Hope you enjoy it.
Epilogue
James Potter was sitting in the lounge room with his son, Harry, on his second anniversary. He was using his wand to entertain the small boy, making small puffs of different coloured smoke erupt from it, and the little boy was trying to catch them in his hands. The look of amazement on his face when the smoke disappeared in his fingers was enough to make anybody smile. Anybody except the man who know walked up to the house, unknown to its three occupants.
Lily Potter now entered the room and announced that Harry's bed was ready. Emitting one more puff of smoke, James threw his wand onto the couch and picked up his son, handing him to his wife. Then he yawned.
As Lily walked up the stairs, she thought she heard the creak of the gate, but then decided she must have been hearing things. After having a child, you picked up every little sound that was made, and even some sounds that weren't made. She shook it off, but then she definitely heard something. It was the sound of the front door opening and James running out to the hall.
"Lily!" James called. "Take Harry and go! It's him! Go! Run! I'll hold him off -"
But James Potter never finished his sentence. As James looked into the cold eyes of Lord Voldemort, he was remembering the time, just the night before his wedding. He'd gone on an Order mission without telling Lily. But James had had to go... his best friends were all fighting, and he wanted to be with them. He'd cast a spell into the night, and it had hit Voldemort's best fighter. In a panic, Sirius grabbed the arms of him and Remus, and disapparated back to his house. He vowed that he'd never again go on an order mission in his life. He wouldn't do that to his Lily.
Lily heard the high, cold laugh of Voldemort as a flash of green light illuminated the house. Tears now filling her eyes at the death of her husband, she ran the rest of the stairs and put Harry in his cot. Then she turned around as Voldemort entered the room, and Lily looked into his face once again.
She had looked straight into that face twice before. Once was on her fisrt mission for the Order of the Phoenix, and she'd been duelling alongside her best friend, Alice Prewett, now Longbottom. The fighting had stopped, and she had wondered what it was that had made it so. The next thing she knew, she had been looking into that pale, cold, snake-like face.
The second had been the time her other best friend had died. Voldemort had placed her under the Imperius Curse, and ordered her to kill Nikki, her best friend. But she had refused, and Voldemort had given up... until he came into the Healing Tent himself, and Lily had been two seconds too late disapparating Nikki out.
Now, she was looking into his face for a third time. She had no wand, but she did not need one. She had once read of the Ancient Magic of Love... If she could sacrifice herself for her child, maybe Harry would not have to die. She threw her arms infront of the cot her child was in, now screaming in confusion more than anything else. What had happened to the puffs of coloured smoke?
"Not Harry, not Harry, please not Harry!" Lily begged of the figure in front of her. Harry put his head up at the sound of his name, and stood up, thinking that his mother wanted him.
"Stand aside, you silly girl... stand aside, now..." The voice was shrill, piercing, and Harry did not like it. He screamed louder than before.
But Lily was confused. Voldemort, a hater of muggle-borns, was telling her that she could stand aside and save herself. Why would he do that? Unless... Snape? No, why would Voldemort listen to a slime-ball like that?
"Not Harry, please no, take me, kill me instead -"
"This is my last warning." Voldemort rolled what seemed to be his eyes. Another victim he would have no pity for, another victim that begged. This was nothing new.
"Not Harry!" Lily begged. "Please... have mercy... have mercy... Not Harry! Not Harry! Please – I'll do anything -"
"Stand aside – stand aside girl -" Oh, what was the point? Voldemort thought to himself. He could have forced her away, and respected the wishes of that amateur... what was his name? Snail? Snake? Snape – that was it. But he really couldn't be bothered arguing with this mature twenty-one year old woman any longer. Her husband had died, her son was about to die. Wouldn't it just be easier for her if she died as well? Was this Voldemort caring?
The green light filled the room, and baby Harry laughed, thinking that it was just another part of the show... until his mother fell to the floor infront of him, and he cried even more. This wasn't funny anymore, he wished to shout, but his mouth could not form the words.
Voldemort pointed the wand into Harry's face, very carefully. This was the murder that would make him unstoppable – the one that he had been working his whole life towards, and he wanted to see this little boy's life end. Taking great care not to blink, he opened his mouth as the child began to cry even more.
"Avada Kedavra," he said, and watched the green light illuminate the boy.
And then – nothing. Voldemort was nothing. Then he could see again. He looked between the bars of his cot, and watched the snake slither across the floor. But the child had been in the cot. What was he doing there? He rose up, finally realising, in a fit of rage, what had happened. But he could do nothing. He glided out of the open window and watched the crowd assemble beneath. And somebody rushed into the house.
**
"No," Sirius cried, as he took in the lifeless form of his best friend. "No, he can't have." He stayed there, wanting to make sure that his friend hadn't just fallen asleep in the hall... then he heard crying. Somebody was crying, up in the nursery.
Letting go of his dead's friend hand, he rushed up the stairs. The nursery was a mess, boxes and toys everywhere. But what drew Sirius' eyes first was the form of the person he had known for years as Lily Evans, now Potter, limp and lifeless on the floor. "He did," Sirius yelled, rage consuming him. How could that rat be such a... well.. a rat? It was only to be expected, thought Sirius.
The cries brought him back to where he was. He walked over to the cot, and put his arms around his godson. No child should have had to see what he had just seen. Nobody should have. And poor little Harry James Potter would never remember his parents. The only memory of them he would have of them was the two of them falling to the ground, lifeless. The poor kid would probably have nightmares about it for weeks.
And Lily, sacrificing herself to save her son. Nothing ever showed a greater love or bravery than that. Sirius had to admire his two best friends. Which brought his mind back to the matter of the rat. He took Harry out of the house just as the roof collapsed in on itself with a resounding crash. He ran straight towards his motorbike – the muggle one that he had charmed to fly – and bumped into the half-giant figure of Hagrid, the Hogwarts Gamekeeper.
"Sirius," Hagrid said. "The boy. I've been tol' to take him to Dumbledore."
"He's my godson, Hagrid," Sirius told him, his voice thick with tears. "He's the only piece of them I have left."
"Dumbledore tol' me that he nee's to go to that good-fer-nothin' sister of hers... something about an Ancient Magic."
"He's my godson."
"Sirius, Dumbledore was very strict abou' this. I'm to take him to Dumbledore."
Sirius looked up into Hagrid's face.
"I'm sorry, Sirius," he said.
"Take my bike," Sirius said, passing the small bundle and the keys to th gamekeeper. "You'll get there faster. I've got something I need to do anyway. I'll see you around, Hagrid."
Without another word, Sirius disapparated, and Hagrid got on top of the bike.
Meanwhile, Sirius was apparating to an old acquaintance's house: Peter Pettigrew. After all those years of being their friend, James and Lily had decided to swap to Peter as their secret keeper. And just a week ago too. They hadn't told anybody about the switch, not even Remus.
Sirius knocked on the door three times. Bursting out of the cat door came a rat, trying at full speed to get away. Sirius put his foot on the rat's tail, and watched Peter Pettigrew transform back into himself.
"What have you done, you cowardly … thing that calls himself human!"
"I haven't done anything," Peter said.
"And that's why you came out of your cat door a rat, isn't it?" Sirius yelled. "They were your friends, and you betrayed them to You Know Who!"
"The Dark Lord was very persuasive," Peter cried, making it look like he'd been framed. "I couldn't help myself."
"Only his followers call him 'The Dark Lord'," Sirius sneered. "You're a pathetic excuse for a human being. Get out of here and never come back!"
Peter ran down the street, but, finding his way blocked by nosy neighbours, he turned around to face Sirius, who had raised his wand. "This is for Lily and James," Sirius said, as Pettigrew put his two hands behind his back, one holding his wand.
Trying not to show any pain, Pettigrew silently cut off his finger. If he was going to frame Black, he had to leave some part of himself behind. As Sirius opened his mouth, Pettigrew squeaked "Avada Kedavra!", his wand pointing to the crowd behind him. Before the flash of green light was gone, Pettigrew had transformed back into a rat, and had disappeared.
Peter stayed there for a little while, as the ministry officials came and arrested Black, who had not stopped laughing since the spell had been cast.
"You only left a finger!" one of them spat in Black's face. "You're a monster!"
Sirius looked at the man, and just laughed.
"Take him to Azkaban!" the man yelled. "And never let him out!"
Again, Sirius did not stop laughing, even when he made eye contact with the rat on the side of the street.
When Pettigrew had seen all he needed to see, he ran far away, until he reached a lopsided home, with what looked like too many stories for a rat to go all by himself. There was a lopsided sign out the front of what seemed to be a broom shed, and it read 'The Burrow'. Pettigrew smiled to himself. There was a freckled boy out the front of the house, playing with his many brothers. The rat made a beeline for the boy, and Percy Weasley, who was quite adept at spotting unusual things, picked up the rat, and took him in to his mother.
"Mummy!" the young Percy called. "Mummy! I found a rat outside, and it's missing a toe! Can we look after it mummy?"
"Yes, of course you can Percy," his mother replied, but her mind was on other things. She was reading the front page of The Daily Prophet, the wizarding newspaper. Peter had to see the cover, just to know what made the woman so distracted.
You-Know-Who is No More!
Late last night, we received a statement from Albus Dumbledore reading that You-Know-Who is gone. This comes after what muggles living in Godric's Hollow described as an explosion.
"The house, right on the very edge of town, that was the one that got blown up," an eyewitness reports. "It's funny, I never really noticed it before now. Seemed like a nice house."
Ministry officials were soon on the site, and claim the house belonged to Lily and James Potter, and their son, Harry, who were under the protection from You-Know-Who from the Order of the Phoenix, for reasons unknown. Unfortunately, the bodies of James and Lily were found in the hall and nursery respectively. However, Harry is missing, believed to have been taken to family elsewhere by Albus Dumbledore.
Other reports state that Sirius Black, Harry's godfather, betrayed the family to... (more page 9)
Excellent, thought Peter. Sirius had been framed for what he had done, and now he was in Azkaban.
A few days later, another news article stated that Sirius Black had gone after Peter Pettigrew to frame him for the death of the Potters. While in the process, he had managed to kill thirteen muggles, and all that was left of Pettigrew was a finger. Peter smiled to himself. The faking of his own death had been a success.
It wasn't until many years later when somebody connected the dots of Pettigrew's finger, and 'Scabbers' the rat missing a toe.
I hope you sort of liked that epilogue... I thought it was a nice ending to the story, even if it was sad.
Seriously, I cried writing this.
Anyway, thank you so much to everybody that followed this story: added it to alerts/favourites, checked their emails everyday to see if I'd updated, checked the site everyday.... reviewed!! I love you all, and I hope you don't hate me.
Hey, here's an idea, why don't you read some of my other stories... especially Miserable at Best, which is set in the Marauder's era, but it follows Snape... It's a one-shot.
But it's up to you.
Love you all
From Gabi xxx