This Harry Potter story was written for fun. All rights belong to the wonderful lady (JK Rowling) who gave the world Harry Potter to read and enjoy.
This is a story about Harry Potter and his origins. The goblins are good guys, wizards are prejudiced, and Dumbledore is a manipulative so-and-so. There will be a HEA ending but I am not certain what it will be as I am writing the story now. The first nine chapters are complete, and I want to publish them.
Note: Chapter 1 and Chapter 2 in this story FORCED their way into the story line after I had written chapters 3, 4, and 5. This plan that James, Lily and Sirius concoct is very dark, and it wasn't where I thought the story would go. But it demanded to be written.
Chapter 1 Origin of a Wicked Plan February 1980"I feel sorry for Frank and Alice," Lily confessed to James as they lay in bed. It was a cold winter's night and they snuggled underneath the covers to stay warm and to dispel the lingering sadness from dinner with Dumbledore, and Frank and Alice Longbottom.
"Just like Dumbledore to lay out the bad news just before dinner. I don't think Frank or Alice were able to eat a bite. But I agree with Dumbles, the Dark Lord will hunt them down and kill them and their kid," James agreed.
"Do you think Dumbledore told us because he thought we were pregnant too?" asked Lily.
Squeezing his wife tightly, James said, "No one knows that we can't have kids. And it's both of us – you and me so no one can blame you."
Lily Potter pulled closer to her wizard – if the fault lay with her alone, James could cast her aside without trouble. She was pleased that their love seemed strengthen by their shared bareness.
"And I killed the bastards that cast the spells at us," James reminded her. "Took them over an hour to die."
There was silence for a long time as the winter night slowly passed. Finally, Lily asked, "What if we were able to kill him before he can find Frank and Alice?"
"Kill the Dark Lord? Hunting him down doesn't work. We lost…"
"But what if he comes to us?"
"What have we got that would make him come here?"
"Like the prophecy says, we are a couple who have defined him three times," the witch reminded her husband.
"But we don't have a child due at the end of July."
"That's a technicality," Lily said. "I could crack the foundations of Hogwarts with a spell primed with enough power. If we can get the Dark Lord to come to us, a battleground of our choosing, I can create a spell that will kill him."
"Tell me what you're thinking…"
*(+++++)*
In early August, the Daily Prophet made the announcement of the birth of Neville Francis Longbottom on 30 July and the birth of Harry James Potter on 31 July. The Potter baby was born at home and the birth certificate was lost in the paper shuffle at the ministry. But his name appeared in the registry at Hogwarts though no one thought to look.
*(+++++)*
November 1980Frank Longbottom hugged his wife as Lily Potter made a fuss over Neville, their little angel.
"He is adorable, Alice!" Lily assured her friend and they spent fifteen minutes talking about baby clothes and toys before Frank directed the conversation into a new direction.
"Now, tell us about your plan to end the Dark Lord."
James and his wife exchanged glances before Lily began a long discussion on her work in arithmancy to generate the power to overcome rituals, rings and spells that were wrapped around the Dark Lord.
Alice summoned a house elf and ordered it to bring several books from her personal library.
"I found these in the Ministry's lockup," the Auror explained. "They were confiscated from Amos Rowle when he was arrested."
Lily handed the baby back and looked at the books on multiplying the power of a spell.
"Great," James growled. "Now she's got new books to read this weekend."
*(+++++)*
March 1981James wadded up the parchment from the Wizengamot; he had no intention of attending a court case where another Deatheater would be fined and then released. Dumbledore insisted on giving Deatheaters a second chance while more and more of the members of the Order of the Phoenix perished. Just last week, the Prewitt twins died in an ambush.
He was glad that he and Lily had taken the precaution of making the blood donations at Gringotts. Hidden under stasis spells in the Potter vault, if anything happened to them, Sowsbreath had the authority to perform a blood adoption with a suitable child to become a Potter. It might be a century or more, but the Potter name would return to Magical Britain if he fell in this war.
*(+++++)*
Frank watched as his wife stared out the window onto the lawn of Longbottom Grange. She was lovely even though the worry of Neville's future haunted her.
"I won't fuss, but I hoped for a smile when I exited the flue," Frank said. "Mother is keeping Neville in her wing of the house tonight, so we could be alone."
"Yes, I remember, and I shall give you my full attention tonight," Alice replied after she turned and smiled. "I do love you Francis Longbottom. With my whole heart and soul, I love you."
The usually stoic Auror beamed with happiness, "I love you too, Alice. You know this with every touch of my hand, every glance, and every kiss."
The witch stepped close to her husband and took his hand, leading him to a nearby table with an open book.
"Lily and James are planning to invoke a powerful magic to destroy the Dark Lord," she said before motioning toward the pages before them. "And in all the discussions of magic, there is the caveat that when powerful magic is summoned, there is always a price exacted."
"The Dark Lord's life… of course," her husband replied.
But Alice shook her head, "He dies but Magic itself will demand a payment… a life sacrificed for a life taken. That is why we believe that the afterlife requires us to pay for our actions in this life."
"Do you think Lily and James will suffer because of this magic?"
"Yes, and we will also because we agree to it."
"But Neville…"
"I know. And I am willing to pay whatever price that fate and magic charge against us if it means our baby lives."
*(+++++)*
July 31, 1981 Birthday PartyIn the cottage in Godric's Hollow where the Potters hid underneath the fidelius charm, the couple sat in the dining room with a table covered with birthday presents for their 'son'.
"Even McGonagall sent a gift!" James mused as he glanced over the packages. "I didn't think the old puss had a heart."
"There's one from Alice and Frank!" Lily said, lifting a stuffed bear from the table.
"Well, they know to keep up appearances," James reminded her. "Their boy is the reason we're going through with this scheme."
Lily snorted, "Maybe that's the excuse you and Padfoot use but the challenge of pranking the Dark Lord and Dumbledore is what convinced you two to help me."
"You're right," her husband conceded. "I just didn't know faking having a kid was so much work. Everyone wants to see a picture… everyone volunteers to babysit."
"Everyone wants to babysit him…" Lily repeated.
*(+++++)*
"We've discussed this for months now," James argued with his wife. "You have constructed an incredible, powerful spell that will strip away all of the Dark Lord's protections and kill him. It's a work of genius! The Unspeakables will be knocking down our door once this is accomplished."
Lily nodded – her latest ambition was to become an Unspeakable at the ministry. She'd won the heart of James Potter over all the other girls at Hogwarts, and now she would take her place in the Unspeakables at the Ministry.
"But will the Ministry understand the spell had to be powered by two deaths?"
"We don't tell anyone that part," James said. And while Lily looked concerned, the wizard smiled and assured his wife, "I am certain the Unspeakables do stuff like that all the time."
"We need to decide soon; who do we sacrifice to power the spell?" asked Lily. "They need to be real, living wizards."
James grinned, "I know lots of Slytherins we can use."
"No, the Dark Lord would recognize them."
"But he might kill 'em anyway. He gets pissed off and kills his Deatheaters from time to time."
Lily and James exchanged ideas of acquaintances and enemies for several minutes before she seemed to make a decision.
"One of the sacrifices must be a child – the child we've let everyone think we had last year."
James grimaced. "Can it be Malfoy's kid? I hate that man."
"No, we'll not risk kidnapping Lucius and Narcissa's child." Lily shuddered, "That woman makes me… I always put myself with my back to a corner when she's in the room."
"Let's ask Padfoot about people with kids…"
*(+++++)*
Padfoot arrived with muggle takeout for dinner. Once the meal was finished, the three magical plotters began their discussion on how to approach the next hurdle in their plot.
"So, you need a real baby to complete the spell," Padfoot said after Lily explained. "That sucks… Where are we gonna get a kid? Does it have to be a magical kid? Muggles have plenty of kids lying around we could pick up."
"Yes, Pads… It needs to be a magical boy less than two years but more than one year."
Even though Sirius Black publicly denounced his family's dark ways and fought for the 'light' against the Dark Lord, he was still a member of the Black family and had a cold heart. When the problems with his parents grew too terrible to bare in his teenaged years, the Potters took him in and he did love his 'brother' James, but he cared nothing for other people.
His current sweetheart was a beautiful woman and he'd begun her education in the bedroom with great success but then she began the 'time for an engagement' refrain. And while it would infuriate his mother to become engaged to the half-blood McKinnon girl, Padfoot was not ready to be collared. Her father and brother acted offended and demanded that Sirius do the right thing. Her squalling nephews drove him mad during that last visit…
"I might know of a kid…" he offered with a smirk on his lips.
"Who?"
Sirius stared directly into the eyes of his best friend and said, "We'd have to kill the rest of the family…"
Lily and James paused before James said, "In for a knut, in for a galleon…"
"When do we do this?" Sirius asked.
Lily frowned, "We have to wait until Dumbledore says the Dark Lord is getting close to finding us."
"That's going to be cutting it close…"
Lily frowned and asked, "Do you want to take care of a baby for a long time?"
*(+++++)*
October 5, 1981Albus Dumbledore greeted James Potter as the man stepped from the fireplace flue and into the headmaster's office at Hogwarts.
"James! It's good to see you. How is your lovely wife?"
"Lily is good, Headmaster.
"And your little boy?"
After a year of practice, James kept the image of a sleeping baby in his mind as he lied, "Harry is good; growing like a niffler."
"Ah, children are our future…" Dumbledore continued, maintaining his grandfatherly image.
"You asked to see me…"
The headmaster's face turned sorrowful as he explained, "My sources tell me the Dark Lord is desperate to find your son now. He killed two of his own Deatheaters who couldn't provide him with the information just this week."
"Any idea who died?"
"No, but Sirius must be most careful as your secret keeper!"
"He is," James replied. "Do you think the Deatheaters will target Sirius?"
"Without a doubt!" stated Dumbledore. "If they catch him, he's as good as dead."
"We need to make someone else the secret keeper then."
Dumbledore nodded, "Someone that no one would suspect. Someone who is quiet and not likely to be seen… like a mouse."
*(+++++)*
October 21, 1981The morning after the Deatheaters killed the McKinnon family, the Daily Prophet raised the level of tension across all of magical Britain.
'Dark Lord Targeting Neutral Families!'
The McKinnon family was 'dark' but neutral in the contest between the Dark Lord and his Deatheaters against Dumbledore and his Order of the Phoenix. But the Aurors reported the entire family was sealed inside the magical house and incinerated by the powerful spells for fire cast from three different wands. The McKinnons, their two grown children, daughter-in-law, and three grandchildren died in the fire.
*(+++++)*
October 24, 1981With the baby in the house, Lily realized she did want at least one child. The stinky nappy to the side, the laughs and smiles from the little fellow touched her heart.
"Don't get attached," James said from the doorway to the nursery. "You know…"
"I know, James. I just wish we…"
James Potter came and took his wife into his arms as she held the McKinnon brat. "We'll adopt our own in a year or two. Your plan is perfect – we'll take a year to mourn 'our' dead son, and look around for a good prospect…"
"Yes," Lily nodded. "We will stick to the plan! The Dark Lord will die, and we'll be heroes. Dumbledore proved you can turn defeating a dark lord into being the leader of magical Britain."
"That's the Slytherin in you coming out again," James said. "Put the kid to bed and then I will show you how much it turns me on for you to go all Slytherin in your planning…"
Little Henry McKinnon fell asleep quickly under the napping spell cast on him by Lily Potter. He looked for his brother and sister from time to time, and he missed 'Momma', but he was warm, fed, and held enough.
*(+++++)*
An owl arrived at lunch with news from Dumbledore. James read the note aloud, "The Dark Lord continues to search for your location. There have been three attacks on Sirius that I know of – I urge you to change secret keepers. My sources tell me the Dark Lord will find you on 1 November. He will make the effort on Samhain to find your secret and visit you the following night."
"The first of November. That's not long, but the change to Peter is safe if Dumbledore doesn't even know," Lily said. "I just don't trust him…"
"Who? Peter?"
Lily took a deep breath, "Sometimes I don't trust Dumbledore's methods and I never will trust Peter Pettigrew."
As usual, James dismissed Lily's concerns about his friends. They agreed to cutting Lupin out of their lives after school – his 'furry condition' would keep him from long-term, suitable employment, and James didn't want to have to support the man for his entire life. Sirius agreed, and Peter didn't care – so long as he wasn't dropped. He'd survive on the crumbs that fell from the table set for James Potter and Sirius Black.
*(+++++)*
Later in the day, Sirius Black came to visit once again, and the three plotters made their next move.
"The spell requires two persons be sacrificed before it will launch," Lily explained. "The child is one. Who do we use for the other?"
"Get someone to come babysit for the whole day… How about one of the neighbours?" suggested Sirius.
"No," James said. "There'd be too many questions asked about 'Harry' then. It needs to be someone we haven't talked to in months."
"Peter?" Lily suggested; that pureblood wizard always made her skin crawl. "He's the secret keeper and can come here anytime."
Sirius and James grinned. "Lovely idea but he's part of the Order so he'd realize something is off when we're gone on 'business' that hasn't been discuss with Dumbledore."
"I know… What about Moony?" Sirius exclaimed. "Last time I talked to him, I had to make up all kinds of reasons why I couldn't get together with him."
"What's he doing now?" Lily asked but her husband and best friend both shrugged.
"What does any werewolf do?" scorned Sirius.
"He creeps around the woods and chases deer," James joked.
In the end, Lily and James sent Remus a letter asking if he could come babysit for them on 1 November. They would be gone from lunch until after midnight on a secret mission and Sirius would be with them.
In correspondence over the next week, the owls carried letters back and forth to Moony to cajole his agreement to stay with Harry on the afternoon and evening of the day after Halloween. On October 28, James sent the final letter with the map and the secret to their location.
*(+++++)*
Albus Dumbledore spent an additional hour considering everything he knew about the Dark Lord and the prophecy – the chosen child was Neville Longbottom, that was for certain. But then James and Lily announced the birth of their son – no one knew they were expecting. And for the past fifteen months, they declined to bring the child forth for anyone to see.
'I despise when amateurs attempt to plot around me!' he decided. 'Their plots are clumsy, and things never work out like they think they will.'
'Now if only they'd make Peter the secret keeper, Tom could reach them and end this farce!'
*(+++++)*
Page 19