The Streets of New York

Streets of New York

by Madeline Elster

Prologue - Certain Circumstances

There was a house deep inside the woods of Godric's Hollow where a small family lived. Few men knew of it, and even fewer could visit. So far, the Potters were doing a good job keeping themselves secret. Lily always stayed indoors and looked after her two year old, Harrison; her husband James made his outings sparse, always accompanied by an escort. They didn't own a car, nor did they have their own phone or receive any mail from anybody. Communication with the Potters could only happen when those select few who were allowed to visit did. Usually the visitors gave the Potters money and information about the man they were hiding from, T.M. Riddle.

Riddle and his gang were taking over New York City. Any gang that stood in their way had two options: Give up their interest freely and join Riddle, or have their parts scattered all over New York state. What most of the gangs did was obvious; the thought of having one's head thrown over the side of the Niagra Falls while their hand was being eaten away by fish in the Hudson wasn't a pleasing thought to most. Harrison Granger's gang had been one of the few that actually withstood the thought of dismemberment and had survived Riddle's takeover... So far. Before Riddle, Harrison Granger was the most powerful of all the Irish gang leaders in New York City. His interests were many, his power immeasurable. When That Nut From Chicago came blazing into New York City, scaring the living daylights out of some legit gangs, Granger knew he'd found himself all too capable a rival.

Granger was close to losing the battle with Riddle before James had made a wise mistake in systematically killing important people in Riddle's criminally organized business. Now Riddle wanted Potter's blood A-S-A-P. Hadn't James been a blissfully married father, he would've stuck it out, fought Riddle to the death, out of his loyalty to Granger; but even Harrison Granger himself thought that was a foolish idea. Knowing what horrors an enraged T.M. Riddle could to do a man and his family, Granger wasn't taking any chances. James was too important a member of Granger's gang to be so easily accessible to torture and death. So Granger hid him, Lily, and little Harrison.

Yet again, James was still too important a member of the gang to be left idle while a great gang war was going on. Granger couldn't afford to have his most skilled soldier sitting on the sidelines, even if it would have pleased Lily Potter immensely (it took a lot to please Lily Potter, anyway). Since the age of seventeen James Potter had been Granger's top soldier. His hits were precise, clean, and hard to trace - just the way Granger liked it. Just the way anyone would like it. No one was even able to suspect that a hit was even connected in any way to Granger. Therefore, in their ignorance, gang leaders thought of Granger as a respectable man of great ethic. To be completely honest, Riddle's only clue on who killed his bookkeeper - among other dead people - was based on pure paranoia.

James always thought he was lucky to meet up with Granger when he was a kid in Brooklyn. Granger, who took him in as a son, taught him all the tricks of the trade, and in return Granger gained all of James' love, respect and admiration. Even in marriage, and even still in deep religiousness, he reserved a great deal of loyalty to Granger. He named his son after him, when most people would've named their own children after themselves. James never once regretted ever associating with himself with Granger, even if it meant now that he had to be cut off from the world (though hit men by nature never truly were attached to the world). Lily was another story.

She'd always been told to stay away from the Bad People. They were no good sinners who could never be saved, and associating one's self with them meant immediate damnation. As a child, Lily was frightened to cross paths with a gangster much like a child would be scared of the boogie monster. Her mind started to drift from the Evan's strict religious legislature when she matured. At 16 she began to wander the streets more often and found herself innocently mingling with the Bad People. Oh, so Sirius Black and James Potter didn't seem the damned type: They were normal, seemingly, and went to church every Sunday, like good Christian boys do. But they also weren't stiff and scared like Lily's parents, and that made her quite interested in the two - especially in James, a scrawny, short, hopelessly deprived looking boy with wide brown eyes behind thick glasses and uncontrollable black hair. Why anyone would like him, no girl knew, much less Lily, who pondered day and night about her attraction to him. He looked as if the greatest harm he could ever do to the world was to die suddenly on the street in front of a bus in the middle of Broadway. She never considered the possibility that James Potter killed older men after finishing his homework. He was too sweet of a harmless boy to do that.

Thus all people become disillusioned in things they hold dear, and the lovable image of James Potter, innocent church boy, shattered when Lily saw him pointing a large gun to the owner of a food store she went to regularly. Perhaps she was too shocked to do anything, even think twice about loving him, and before she knew it she was walking down the isle one second and on her back, giving birth, another. Somewhere between then and now she realized she'd sacrificed her whole life, even her family, just to be with the very man who now had her secluded from the rest of the world.

In the Potter's secret hideaway, dialogue between the couple was sporadic, and typically centered around house and financial concerns. It worried James that his wife was so silent and cold towards him. Lily was one of the most wonderful things ever to happen to him. He'd been loyal to her from the start, never raised his hand against her nor thought about another woman when he met her. James would have given her all of the things God created if he could just know she was happy. And then reality would set in and he'd know that nothing he could do would make her truly happy. It was just too demanding to ask of a woman to be happy when she was married to the mob.

James sighed and folded the newspaper he had been reading. Lily was knitting on the chair across the room, keeping an eye on Harry as he played with his toys on the floor. James opened his mouth to speak, but Lily, being as sharp eyed as she was, stood up quickly before giving him the chance to even draw breath before speaking. "I'm going to give Harry his bath," said Lily frigidly. Little Harry was afterwards swept off the carpet and whisked away into the bathroom, away from James' sight. He sighed again and sank deep into the chair. All good things must come to an end.

Rain was pouring down outside, and the sky was black from night. The living room was dimly lit as it was, and James could just barely see the lettering on the newspaper. In the bathroom the sound of running water could be heard, and little Harry trying to have a conversation with his limited vocabulary. James could also hear faint noises from outside that he merely assumed were woodland creatures wandering about - Or perhaps Granger was giving him an unsuspected visit. Either way, James paid no heed to it. He stood up took the newspaper with him to the kitchen. A nice, cold drink would help cure what ailed him. The sounds outside were drawing closer.

James treated himself to a shot of whiskey that was stashed in the cabinet beside the refrigerator. He didn't drink much, only did so during social occasions or when he needed to relax a bit. Even then he didn't drink too much, at least not as much as his colleagues did. Sirius was a fountain when it came to alcohol, and only recently did his other friend Remus get into drinking. Those two had their reasons, though, and James wasn't about to critique them. He put the shot glass into the sink for Lily to clean afterwards. Somewhere in the house a door creaked. He took one last look at the newspaper before discarding it in the trash bin by the door.

There was a short distance between the kitchen and the living room. By the living room was a hallway that leads to the front door. The wall separating the living room and that hallway were cluttered with family photos, most of them of Harry. Harry as a newborn, Harry eating, Harry taking his first steps, Harry playing... Harry with his parents, one of whom looked as if she'd rather be elsewhere. James acknowledged that this wasn't the greatest image of a perfect family, but he was trying. By God he was trying. One of these days, James thought as he walked abnormally slow from the kitchen to the living room, one of these days he was going to find a way to make Lily love him. One of these days he was going to find a way to make Harry's future secure. One of these days he was going to get out of this gangster mess, settle down, and live like a normal man.

But that day never came. T.M. Riddle was standing in the doorway of the living room to make sure of that.