DISCLAIMER: This story is not about religion or religious circumstances. The title is misleading, but I assure you, no religious references shall be made.

Year 5, HARRY POTTER AND THE ELEVENTH COMMANDMENT

…ooOoo…

Prologue – A perfect night for an escape

A breath in, a breath out.

Let's go through the facts again, thought the young man. One body, downstairs. No sign of physical trauma, high amounts of magical residue. Most likely cause of death, Killing Curse.

A breath in, a breath out.

Carpet indents in living room and stairs reveal three sets of footsteps, four if mine are included. All of them going upstairs, none going back down.

A breath in, a breath out.

Noise coming from one single room in the whole house. Adult male, sobbing. Crying baby, asking for a mother that… that will never respond again. Unbidden, a single tear fell from the boy's eye, both closed in concentration. Dear god Lils, I'm so sorry. I was too late.

But if I was here when that son-of-a-bitch came, I'd be dead too. Then who'd take care of Harry?

Sirius. Severus. Lily's friends, the Longbottoms. Sirius's cousin. Anyone but me.

You're family. Lily believed that, that's more than enough.

Family first.

The young man's eyes snapped open. Family first, he agreed with himself. His head turned slightly from his position against the wall, his left hand reaching for the grip that stuck out from under his right shoulder. He moved quietly, patiently, his clothes rubbing against the wall but making no sound. His hand pulled on the grip as he got closer to the open doorway, his eyes flitting from the wreckage that he could see from his position-

A glance backwards, towards the open hallway that lead downstairs, where the body of Lily's husband still lay, cold and unmoving. He liked James, but he still didn't think that anybody was worth of Lily. Nobody, not even him.

Eyes on the target, he reminded himself. He was almost to the open door that led into the nursery. His nose cringed slightly at the smell of the Dark magic residue that was filtering through – it screamed of pain, hatred, rage, shrieking in his mind about how it was going to reap, tear, KILL-

His eyes narrowed. The sobbing in the room hadn't subsided, not one bit, and the babe's crying was only making the whole scene worse, throwing off his senses. The boy was powerful, already channeling power and magic into his voice in his desperation, calling for his mother, even though she would never come.

But I am, he thought. I'm coming Harry, you'll be safe, I swear you'll be safe, I just have to take care of this asshole who won't shut the fuck up!

He reached the end of the hallway. His hand tightened on the grip in his left hand, and with a strange fluidness that spoke of grace, death and practice, he moved into the room. It was as if everything slowed down, the man that was crouching over a body in the center of the room blurring in its speed as it spun, a wand snapping from under a sleeve, but the young boy was quicker, a silver rod pressed against the man's temple while his right hand grabbed the man's wand hand.

Silence in the room, the man's sobs abruptly cut off by the boy's actions.

"You know that this is," said the boy, pressing the gun against his head, "and I'll tell you this – you won't make it. Even with a nonverbal spell, you won't make it. I'll spill your brains all over this floor, and Harry over there will see his mother's ex-best friend die right in front of him. Drop the wand, now."

A second passed before the man with greasy black hair followed the boy's command, his black eyes impassive and cold, but cracked, showing all the pain and self-hatred inside of him. The wand he dropped didn't make it to the ground, stopping a few inches from the floor before flying up and into the boy's back pocket.

"Stand up," said the boy, "keep your arms forward and your hands open where I can see them." The boy nodded at the far wall. "Move over there, back to the wall, slowly."

The man followed his command, the boy's eyes trained on him as the Death Eater moved up against the nursery's wall with no complaint. The boy's eyes glanced from him to the baby who had gone silent in his crib, little Harry looking at the proceedings in curiosity.

His eyes then moved to the unmoving body on the floor, and his knees buckled, even as he kept the gun trained on the Death Eater, switching it to his other hand.

"Oh, Lily!" he said, his free hand grasping her own, begging for a response but getting none. "I'm so sorry!"

"Don't you dare lay your hands on her-!"

"Shut the fuck up, you ignorant piece of Death Eater shit!" snapped the boy, his head looking at the man with narrowed eyes. "I swear to- Severus Snape!?"

Snape's eyes narrowed. "I have never met you before, how do you know my name?" he asked.

The boy hesitated before putting his gun away. "Lily sent me a picture," he said, looking back at Lily's body, "around five years ago… it was a picture of just her and another young man, standing in front of a house with a little garden full of lilies and petunias and nightshades. She looked happy in it, both of them did, but the young man next to her grew up without that happiness, I can tell."

Snape had lowered his hands after the boy put the gun away, but hadn't moved from his position against the wall. Wise, considering how fast he'd moved when he entered the room. "Who… who are you?" asked Severus, his eyes betraying little emotion.

"I don't know, Severus," said the boy, looking at Snape in the eye, "you tell me."

For the first time that night, emerald-green eyes met surprised black.

"Lily… Lily told me you were dead!" said Snape.

"It was what she was led to believe," came the answer, "up until she found a small book containing baby pictures of her younger brother. Her parents – my parents – they told her that I'd died in childbirth, that I hadn't made it, but it was all a lie. A damn good one, considering that I had both a birth and death certificate, but a lie nonetheless." The boy shook his head, before smiling sadly at Snape. "I'm sorry, but I guess I should present myself. Officially, I mean. I'm Anthony, Anthony Evans-Bennett. But you can call me Tony."

Snape narrowed his eyes. "Lily told me you were named after a flower," he said.

Tony's face became embarrassed at that. "Well… my second name… it's Nightshade," he said.

Snape's eyebrows went up. "I… do not know what to say to that," he said. "I also find your claims quite hard to believe."

Tony shrugged. "So did I when Lily told me," he said, looking back at his older sister's body. "Perhaps one day I'll tell you the story over a beer. But right now, there's more pressing matters to deal with."

Snape looked back at the body in front of them. "Indeed," he said, "I don't know how it happened, but it seems that whatever magic Lily performed has saved the life of her son while claiming that of the Dark Lord."

Tony looked up at that, his eyes meeting Harry's. "I… figured as much," he said, his eyes not moving from his nephew's as he stood up, stepping over Lily's body and walking towards the crib. "Hey," he said, his hand moving of its own accord towards the babe's face. Unbidden, a second smile flitted across his face as Harry giggled at the appendage. Tony's smile was replaced with a frown as he looked at the boy's blood covering his forehead, so with a small flick of his finger, Tony lifted the blood away and dumped it on the crib's mattress.

What he saw made him catch his breath.

"Dear god," he said, looking from Harry's scar to Lily's body, "oh dear god, no!"

"What is it?" said Severus, who had moved away from his spot, but Tony was already moving, running out of the nursery. "Evans-!"

"Stay with Lily!" he yelled, "Stay with her, and keep touching her! Whatever you do, don't let go of her!"

Severus yelled something back, but Tony ignored him, running into a room that was across the hall from the nursery. He burst in to the Master bedroom, with a small desk in the corner and a large bed dominating most of the space. He ran towards the desk, but after opening and closing a couple of drawers he realized that the desk was James'. He straightened, looking around the room in a blind panic with his eyes scanning every detail, every nook and cranny.

Dammit lils, where do you keep them!? He thought, Every godsdamned woman on this planet has a vanity, where's yours!?

His eyes landed on the closet. He jumped across the bed, landing in front of the door and ripped it open.

Fuckin' magic, he thought as he looked at a space that realistically should not have fit into the house, considering it was at least two or three times the size of the living room downstairs. Lily's vanity alone took up a quarter of the place, but that wasn't the point, no, the point of Tony's search was the small necklace that was literally the centerpiece of Lily's collection of jewelry. It flew off of the vanity and into Tony's waiting hand, the young man running as soon as it hit skin.

Severus looked up from his position next to Lily, her hand grasped in both of his as Tony rushed back into the nursery. "What was-?"

"No time, Sev," interrupted Tony as he quickly kneeled next to his sister across from Severus. "Give me a sec, I'll explain-" He held the necklace, and with a frown, the clasp holding an emerald the size of a bottle cap broke with a crack, freeing the stone within. "There we go," he said, grabbing the stone and pressing it against the hollow of Lily's throat.

Immediately, the stone glowed with power.

Tony slowly moved backwards, his eyes staring and unbelieving. "Holy shit," he said. He looked up at Snape, who was looking at him with an unreadable expression. "Sev… she's alive."

Silence. Tony looked back at his sister. "Dear god," he said, "I didn't think you'd do it, Lils, but holy shit, I… shit, this complicates things. It doesn't help that your kid, my nephew, inherited the gift, but on top of that you went ahead and made a Horcrux… a Pure Light Horcux…"

"Lily would never do such a thing-!"

"There's a difference between the shit your Dark Lord's done and the one Lily made!" snapped Anthony, his eyes filled with anger as he looked at Severus. "Lily's was designed with protection in mind, not immortality. She literally bound her soul to that of her son's so that she would always be with him, always stand next to him for as long as he breathes, so that whenever he was in danger he would never be alone!"

"I still find that very doubtful-"

"I couldn't give two shits about what you think, Severus, but that's the truth," said Tony. "Regardless of what I think, however, things must be done, right now, to ensure that my sister's sacrifice isn't in vain."

Tony narrowed his eyes as he stared into those of his companion's. "You love her," he said. "And don't try to deny it," he said, predicting the man's incoming denial, "I can see it in your eyes, and I heard it when I came in. You can't fool me, trust me on that one. So, right now, you have a choice. I can shoot you, because quite frankly you know way too much right now; or you can help me, and by proxy, help Lily survive this night. So which one is it? Just remember, I still have your wand."

Severus didn't hesitate to answer. "What do I have to do?" he asked.

Tony gave him the same swiftness with his answer. "I need you to remember your fall from grace," he said, "I need you to remember what caused you to fall under Voldemort's ranks. I need you to cast three spells. And then I need you to walk away from this house and leave me here with her, and to never come back."

"Why can't you perform the spells?"

"Have you seen me use a wand in the whole night?"

Severus Snape looked from his secret love to the young man he was starting to hate and back. He closed his eyes. "What spells do you require?" he asked.

"A stasis spell, a Human Replication transfiguration, and a Memory Extraction charm," said Tony as he pulled the former Death Eater's wand from his back pocket and handed it back to its owner. "The stasis spell on her – she's basically in a coma anyways, it's just a precaution – and then take one of her hairs and use it for the transfiguration spell. We need a double, a body to be buried in her place. And then… I need your memories of tonight."

Snape hesitated for a few moments before he nodded. "Very well," he said. Brow frowning in concentration, Severus waved his hand over Lily's body a couple of times, a small stream of power flowing from the wandtip to the body, covering it in a thin veil that could barely be seen. "Done," he said, "her status won't change until the spell times out, which should be in a day or so."

"Good," said Tony, before moving to pick up his sister from the floor, "grab the hair and get to work on the transfiguration, we're running out of time."

Severus did so, and once Lily was secure in Tony's arms, he moved out of the room, feeling Snape's eyes on his back.

Dammit Lily, couldn't you have shaved off a couple of pounds before you did this? He thought as he went down the stairs and into the living room. Tony gave James' body one last glance before moving on, carrying his sister into the small kitchen and through a small door on the side, the door opening on its own as he approached. Tony walked into the small garage, his eyes moving to where he knew the light switch was located.

The switch flipped, light streaming from a small electrical light on the ceiling and landing on the roof of a 1967 Ford Mustang Fastback Super Snake.

"Dad's car, Lils," he said. "I hated their guts for what they did to me, but I have to admit that I liked his car. A lot. Thanks for taking care of it for me."

He moved to the passenger side, opening the door with his mind and slipping Lily into the seat, buckling her up and making sure she was safe. A glance to the dashboard revealed the keys hanging from the steering wheel, and Tony nodded, satisfied.

"I'll be right back," he promised, touching the gem at Lily's throat, smiling when the gleam intensified, "someone's gotta get your kid and bring him with us."

He stood up and closed the door, turning around to walk out of the garage-

Only to lift his hand in alarm and pushing the unfamiliar wizard about to curse him back into the kitchen. Tony threw himself over the car's hood, quickly moving to the driver's side of the car and getting in. Turning the key, the car's engine turned on with a roar, and he quickly put in in reverse and stepped on it, blasting through the garage door and out into the street. Tony kept it in control, spinning it and shifting from reverse to first gear at the exact moment that the car was pointed in the direction he wanted so that when he stepped on the accelerator again he conserved all the momentum and didn't lose a bit of speed. And not a moment late as the wizard he'd pushed with his power emerged from the garage and started shooting spells at him, a monster of a man joining him from behind the house and shooting spells as well.

With a frown, Tony took off, driving the street and looking back at the house. I'll be back for you, Harry, I swear, he thought, I'll be back for you one day. Severus Snape, I hope you realize that tonight must remain between the two of us. Be smart, will ya?

If the man had any brains he'd stop the transfiguration spell and leave the house immediately as soon as he heard the commotion. Or maybe he'd leave it incomplete or something. With the real body missing and an incomplete doppelganger left behind, along with little Harry in the house…

They're going to think I'm a necromancer, he thought as he turned the corner, the tires screaming as he drifted. Funny, that's actually better than anything I'd hoped for. So maybe tonight didn't end up as well as I'd hoped, but not as bad as it could've gone. "Eh, we'll see," he said out loud. "But now, time to make a list of the stuff I didn't do.

"Brought Harry with us. Bad one.

"Left behind a doppelganger. Negligible.

"Made sure there were no witnesses. Fuck." This changes things, he thought. Okay, so maybe things were lift in pretty bad shape.

He glanced at Lily's unmoving figure, her head slumped on her chest as if asleep. "Sister of mine, you're going to hate me when you wake up," he said, "but…

"We're going to have to vanish for a while. A long while."

…ooOoo…

Ok, people – NOW I have a real plot for this story. Welcome to the final, and 90% overhauled version of the Eleventh Commandment. This version is going to be a flat M rating, mostly because that just gives me free reign on the content. I'm not going full dark, but there's going to be some heavy shit in here. Oh, and cursing. Possibly sex. Blood, definitely.

…Yeah, it won't be pretty. You've been warned.