Godric's Hollow: The Night When Everything Changed

The day started off like any other day for Lily and James. Lily woke up early to feed Harry and James had smoked a Muggle cigarette. James stood on the porch with his Marlboro cigarette in hand and watched the sun slowly rise. Dumbledore had assured them that if they stayed in hiding long enough, Voldemort would make his move and they would be ready for him. They could go off into Diagon Alley and spend their galleons on Harry. They could sit in a park and watch the sun rise and set. They could do whatever they wanted. But not yet.

Sirius came over as usual around 9 in the morning. Ever since Peter had become the new Secret Keeper, Sirius had been less paranoid about being seen in Godric's Hollow.

"Hey Lily," Sirius said sweetly as he bumped into Harry's nursery and placed a tiny kiss on her cheek. "Another day in hiding shall not be so bad when you have......ME!"

Lily laughed softly and scrunched her beautiful eyes. She was gorgeous, Sirius had to admit. If James had not gotten to Lily first, Sirius was sure he would have captured her heart. She brushed her hair back with one hand as Harry held his own bottle and looked up at them.

"Hello little Harry," Sirius said quietly as he leaned down and scooped up his frail godson in his arms. Harry let out a loud giggle as he allowed his bottle to drop to the floor. Lily coughed as she leaned down, picked the bottle up, and held a white towel to where some milk had spilt out. "How's little Harry doing today?" Sirius smiled brightly at Harry and Harry giggled back at him. Sirius held Harry in the air over his head and made small "whoosh" noises as he imitated a plane for Harry. Harry continued giggling as Sirius brought him back securely in his arms and kissed his forehead.

"Sirius," James acknowledged as he entered the room to kiss his wife. Sirius nodded his head as he continued playing with Harry. "Lily," he whispered to her. "There was a tip off this morning. Anounymous. That Peter is being threatened."

"Dumbledore will take care of Peter," Lily answered softly. "Dumbledore will not let Peter get harmed at all."

"I hope."

***

Sirius, Lily, and James spent most of the remainder of the day talking. They talked about the wedding. They talked about Harry's future. They talked about Voldemort. They talked about their parents and their family. They talked about everything.

Around 5, Sirius decided to go out to pick up a dinner. He came back not much later with a bag full of chicken and mashed potatoes. They sat around the kitchen table and continued talking and laughing as Harry threw mashed potatoes everywhere.

"Yes, well, that was not my fault," James was saying. "You were the one that egged me on. I would not have done that to Remus had you not told me too. Kind of a shame though. Remus loved that book. But I think the squid liked it more."

Sirius barked out his laugh and Lily gracefully chuckled as she tried to force a spoonful of potatoes down Harry's throat.

"Well there was that one time you took the Snitch," Sirius started, "and Peter nearly wet himself everytime you caught it. And then when you-"

Sirius suddenly stopped talking and stared around wildly.

"What's going on?" Lily asked quietly. Even Harry had stopped moving to stare around.

"There's someone here," Sirius said slowly as he rose to his feet. "You three go up to Harry's room. You put him in his basinet and you stay by his side. Arm the spells."

"And where are you going?" James yelled after him as he moved to clean things up.

"Dumbledore," Sirius simply said as he burst out of the house and started his motorcycle. Soon, the sound of the motor faded away and Lily took up Harry and walked up the stairs. James sat at the table and scrubbed away mashed potatoes.

Lily was only to the top of the stairs when the door burst off its hinges with a flash of green light. James bounded up the stairs and was halfway to Harry's room when the Cruciatus Curse hit him square in the back.

He screamed and screamed. His body twisted and turned and moved against his will as cold laughter grew louder and louder in his head.

"LILY!" he screamed as the curse was removed. "TAKE HARRY AND GO!"

"James," he taunted. "Give me the boy and I'll let you and Lily go. Give me him."

"LILY!" James screamed again. "RUN! GET OUT OF THE HOUSE! NOW!" James stood from his spot on the stairway and moved a few slow steps upwards. "LILY!" he screamed again weakly. He took another step up the stairs.

"James," he taunted again from the bottom of the stairs. "Give me the boy. Now!" Heavy footsteps slowly came up the stairs behind James. "Give him to me. And I shall spare you." James shook his head wildly as he reached the top of the stairs and turned down the hall. The door stood open a crack and he saw Lily kneeling next to Harry basinet. She sobbed against his small body.

"Lily!" he yelled again. He tripped over his own footing. The footsteps came up the stairs faster and were directly behind him as he stood up again.

"Does this mean you will not give up your son for your life? For your wive's life?"

"Never!" James screamed as he stepped closer and closer to the door. Lily had stood up and was staring through the open door crack. There was no way out of the house. James reached for his wand. But it was downstairs in the kitchen.

"Avada Kedrava!" Voldemort yelled and James body crumbled to the ground and moved no more. Lily screamed and Harry started crying. "Now Lily," he said softly. "Give me the baby and I shall do no harm to you."

Lily opened the door. "NO!" she screamed. Voldemort lifted his wand again.

"This is your last chance Lily Potter," he said as he moved closer and closer. He stepped over James. "GIVE ME THE BOY!"

"NO!" she screamed for the last time as she slammed the door shut and leaned against it. It blasted apart and she fell forward on the ground. She screamed shrilly as she quickly gathered herself and laid her body over Harry's basinet.

"AVADA KEDRAVA!" Voldemort screamed and Lily slumped to the ground as James had. Her hand was latched onto the soft blue fabric lining the basinet and she pulled it down with her. Harry seemed to float on air as he tumbled out of the broken basinet onto the floor next to Lily. Harry screamed and cried as if he knew what came next.

"AVADA KEDRAVA!" Voldemort screamed with a hint of evil laughter in his voice. The spell hit Harry in a vivid green jet of light. But immediately, it turned itself on its maker and hit him squarely in the chest. An earsplitting scream filled the air as the man who was the most powerful wizard fell into a crumble of robes and tissue. The house shook and everything tumbled into darkness.

***

Sirius rode as quickly back to the house as he could. His bike protested as he drove the speed to its maximum point.

"C'mon!" he urged the bike on. As he approached Godric's Hollow, his bike seemed to let out a small sob as he did also. There was smoke. Everywhere. Lily and James' house was gone. Replacing it was a gigantic pile of rubbish. He flew down sharply and landed on the black ashy pavement with a THUD.

"LILY!" he screamed into the darkness of the night. "JAMES!"

There was no answer and he collapsed onto the ground crying. "Lily, James, Harry," he said again. There was a noise and his head snapped up. A baby? There was no way that Harry had escaped the ruined house. But he listened and indeed, it was a baby crying in the distance.

Please be Harry, he thought to himself. He stood up quickly and followed the sound. Lying in a pile of burnt clothes and pillows was a small child. It was Harry. But he was hurt. His forehead. Sirius ran to Harry and picked him up quickly. The baby abruptly stopped crying when it saw Sirius. Sirius slipped Harry beneath his cloak against his body for warmth. Suddenly, there were large footsteps behind him and he reached for his wand.

"No nee' Sirius," Hagrid said. "Dumbledore sen' me t'fin' lit'l Harry 'n' brin' 'im bac'. Han'd 'im over."

Sirius looked down into Harry's eyes and turned around to face Hagrid. Hagrid had huge tears dripping down his face and his nose seemed to empty itself into his beard. His cheecks were bright red and his clothes seemed wrong, as if put on in a hurry.

"Here you go then, Hagrid," Sirius said as he handed Harry over to Hagrid's care. "You know, take my bike. It will get you to Dumbledore faster. I don't need it. I won't be needing it. I have something else to do."

"Very well," Hagrid said with an odd glance. And he was on the bike and off within a few short moments.

"I have something else I need to do," Sirius repeated to himself as he took out his wand and marched along the road towards the Muggle town.

***

"HOW COULD YOU PETER?" Sirius screamed with his wand brandished at the jittery man. Peter had his hands behind his back. Sirius knew there was a wand there. Sirius had to take Peter's life before he used the wand. "HOW COULD YOU? I TRUSTED YOU! THEY TRUSTED YOU!"

"You do not understand the pressure placed upon one's self when the Dark Lord stands before you demanding the Potter's on a platter...it is difficult. He would have killed me." He hopped from one foot to the other nervously, yet he had a small smile playing on his lips.

"THEN YOU SHOULD HAVE DIED AS ANY OF US WOULD HAVE FOR YOU!" Sirius screamed at him. "AND DON'T YOU SMIRK AT ME! NOW DIE!"

Sirius screamed his last words and raised his wand, but Peter was too fast for him. He had already triggered a spell behind his own back and had dissapeared into the open sewers as the rat he really was. Sirius was blasted back several feet as Muggles started screaming. He couldn't handle it anymore. He stood up and laughed at Peter.

"You may have gotten away," he said crazily as Muggle fire trucks pulled up to the gruesome scene, "but I will get you back some day." He laughed and laughed. Suddenly, there were wizards all around him and the Muggle fire fighters had gone back into their trucks.

"Black!" Mad-Eye Moody yelled. "Black! Stay calm! Drop your wand and slowly step away from it. Do it or we will have to use our own wands against you!"

Remus Lupid Apparated in front of Sirius.

"Sirius! Why?" he screamed at his friend. "Why Lily and James? Why? Just drop your wand while you can. You've done enough damage!"

Sirius continued to laugh, but quieted suddenly as Remus yelled at him. Didn't Remus understand? It was Peter. Sirius threw his wand to the ground and Remus jumped forward at him. They were both on the ground suddenly and Remus seemed to growl in his ear.

"Do not move," Remus said as he fumbled with Sirius's arms behind his back. Sirius was rolled over sharply as his arms were tied and was pulled to his feet. There was Moody, and Fudge, and Remus. And many others who he simply did not know. Everyone from the Order was there. The Longbottoms. Ahh, Alice and Frank. How they cried for Lily and James. There was laughter.

And Sirius almost let out a shrill scream when he discovered that the laughter was still pouring from his own mouth.

"Quiet Black," Fudge commanded as he was pulled towards a large black truck. But he continued laughing and only stopped when Remus approached him again.

"It was Peter," Sirius said craziliy as he paused his laughter to whisper in his friend's ear. He continued laughing as they pushed him into the black van and closed the doors.

He continued laughing all the way to Azkaban.