Hallows Eve

Nestled in a small valley, in the midst of a small town, sat a house. Its walls were made of stone and ancient trees guarded its entrance. Vines crawled up the cracks in the stone all the way to the third floor. No lights were on inside, no sign of life was visible to those who could even see the house at all.

The sun had long since set behind the mountains and night sky was filled with stars. Dark shadows seemed to creep around the foundations of the house. It was Halloween night, but even that did not explain the aura of fear and doom that penetrated the small town.

Outside the house a short, squat figure sat waiting, staring at the house, listening for voices and watching for any sign of movement. He knew that the time had finally come; this was the night that he would be rewarded. So he waited in the darkness.

Inside the house a man and a woman sat close together, staring out of the second floor window, also watching and listening. The woman held a child close in her arms, clutching him as if his life depended on her constant crooning and kisses on the forehead. The man also reached over every few seconds to touch the child's cheek or smooth down his hair.

"I can't stand this anymore, James," the woman whispered. The man turned to look into her bright green eyes, only a few inches from his own as she went on. "I can't stand not knowing if I have minutes or hours left to live. I can't stand the thought that..." The man quieted her by kissing her chastely on the cheek.

"We've been over this so many times. This is the only way. Only our sacrifice can insure Harry's life, and through him, the end of this whole mess."

"I know, I know," the woman's eyes filled with tears. "I just can't stand the thought that we are purposefully turning our son into an orphan."

"You don't know that we will be. Only one of us has to die."

"And the other stand by and watch while the Dark Lord tries to murder our son? Face it James, there are too many uncertainties, our plan isn't foolproof. The only way to be sure the spell will work is for both of us to die."

"Please let's not have this conversation again, not now. Right now I just want to know that my wife and my son are here with me, even if it is the very last time that they ever will be." And quiet descended once again.

Outside, the short man was getting impatient. Did his master not understand that they must act at once, before anyone noticed his absence and raised the alarm? But of course, his master did understand, which was why he now heard someone coming up on the path to his right. Sure enough, his master came into view and the short man ran out to meet him.

"There it is!" he said, pointing, "Number 31, Godric's Hallow." Immediately his master smiled.

"I see it. Go keep watch, and whatever happens, don't show your face." The short man nodded and suddenly seemed to start shrinking, until all that was left was a rat, which still sat watching, just as the man had done.

Voldemort drew out his wand and started walking toward the front door.

Inside, the man stood at the window while the woman stood by the stairwell, listening.

"I see something," the man whispered. Their eyes met in the darkness, both full of determination and fear. "He's here."

Downstairs a door creaked slow footsteps sounded. James ran over to his wife and kissed her breathlessly. "Are you ready?" he asked. She nodded. "I love you so much."

"I love you too." He leaned down to kiss his son as well, and then hurled himself down the stairs. The woman took a deep breath, making sure she remembered every aspect of the part she knew she now had to play, kissed Harry one last time, laid him down in his crib, then followed her husband down.

Already James stood, wand out, face to face with the tall, white-faced creature. "Whoever you are. Get out of this house. You aren't welcome."

The red lips opened in a chilling laugh that carried through the house. "You know perfectly well who I am and why I am here. Hand over the boy, and no harm need come to you or your wife."

James turned around, and true to the part they knew he had to play, seemed surprised to see her there. "Lily, take Harry and go! It's him! Go! Run! I'll hold him off!" She turned and ran back up the stairs. Part one had gone perfectly. Voldemort believed that they had no idea that he was coming that night, and he knew exactly where Harry was. Downstairs, she could hear James leading Voldemort away from the stairwell as they had planned.

A door somewhere burst open and the sounds became more muffled. Then the sounds abruptly stopped. The woman stood there, breathing hard, not knowing if her husband was dead or alive. She heard footsteps again and called out, "James?" true to her part. But now she saw that the flaw she had always seen in her plan had happened. If James was dead then Harry already had the protection that he needed to repel Voldemort's attack, assuming that James had even had time to say the binding words of the spell. But if he were somehow still alive, or if he had died before he could speak... She made her choice then and there. Even if the protection was in place, she couldn't stand aside and watch her son be hit with the killing curse.

And before she could think about what she had decided, the pale face appeared, devoid of any human emotion, eyes fixated on the crib that the woman was standing in front of. I must show my fear the woman thought to herself. He must not see my purpose; he must not understand my words for what they really are.

Voldemort lifted his wand, and the woman screamed. "Not Harry, not Harry, please not Harry!" He must think that all I care about is my child's life. He mustn't suspect the ancient magic we have set in place...

"Stand aside, you silly girl...stand aside. You don't have to die tonight, and neither did your husband. Now, stand aside!"

"Not Harry! Not Harry! Please--I'll do anything!"

"You know as well as I do that I have to kill him, or I wouldn't be here tonight. Now stand aside!"

"Not Harry, please! Have mercy...have mercy..."

And now he started to laugh, a high, cold, shrill laugh that chilled her to the bone. For a moment the woman thought that he had caught on to her plan. But instead he said, "You are such a child. When you are fighting with your husband and friends to protect you, you are brave. But when you stand here alone, with nothing between you and death, you whimper like a baby."

It's time; I must say the words to finish the spell now, while he is still confident...

"Not Harry, please no," she drew a deep breath and closed her hand around her wand, "Take me, kill me instead!"

"If you insist..." And as Voldemort spoke the deadly words, Lily Potter knew that is was done. It had all paid off in the end, all the risks they had taken, the lives that had been spent, including her own. She knew that even now, as her soul left her body, and she saw the black veil looming before her, a strong shield stood around Harry, a shield that had taken months to set up, a shield that had been activated by her final words. When Voldemort stepped over her body, and turned his wand on Harry, and said the deadly words, the death would not be Harry's, but Voldemort's own. Voldemort would be vanquished forever, the prophecy would be fulfilled, Sirius would raise Harry, and Harry's life would never be threatened again.

Voldemort stepped over the dead body of Lily Potter, and laughed as he pointed the wand at her son. "Avada Kedavra!" he shouted, but when the green light hit the child, it did not kill him and go dark. The light continued to grow brighter and brighter, and suddenly there was pain... pain beyond pain... he was dying... But the Dark Lord had made his own preparations, and as the house crumpled from the force of the energy he exerted, his soul split in two, the child started to cry, and a pale spirit sped from the house. He wasn't dead, but he wasn't alive, and he would return, greater and more terrible then ever he was.