The End

Disclaimer: they aren't mine; I'm just playing with them.

A/N: this takes place eight/nine years after HBP but without DH happening. This took me a while to actually get out properly and I think DH actually helped me to finish it although the ending isn't exactly brilliant. The parts that are in italics are things that he is imagining whilst on the way there, they don't actually happen.

Warnings: this does mention rape but its really subtle and when my sister read through it for me she didn't notice it but this is just incase you do.

The end.

All he could smell was blood. And death. The overwhelming stench was becoming stronger with each step toward their house. He dreaded to think about what he would find. Bodies all over the place. Blood dripping from the walls. The room stained crimson from the rising sunlight being filtered through blood soaked windows.

Images flashed through his mind and shrill pain filled screams rang in his ears as he tried not to think about what he would find at the house. He could see them being dragged from their beds. He could see them being brutally awoken so that their murderers could see them put up a fight if they had it in them, see them beg for the pain to stop, to see them all beg for death as the pain steadily became more and more unbearable.

They would have made the youngest watch as the rest of her family were slaughtered around her like animals before, she too, could finally die. It wouldn't have been quick or painless. It would have taken all night for the five of them to die. Slowly and painfully. Anyone who had been forced to watch would have been driven mad.

It was driving him insane just thinking about what could have happened. All he loved most killed for the amusement of some fucking Death eaters. They would have chosen his family because he had refused, so many times, to become what he had feared becoming for most of his life; a monster. They would have chosen his family because of all the times he had spied on Greyback and his pack for Dumbledore and The Order.

He could picture little Freya. She was his youngest, only four, and had never understood about the war both her parents were fighting in. She was the one the Death eaters would have made watch. He could see her messy sandy brown curls dark and matted with her own blood. Her amber eyes open and devoid of the usual light they contained. Her face would be free of cuts and bruises, a mockery of the rest of her small body, which had been shred to pieces, unrecognizable. All the blood drained from her frail form in a pool which turned everything it touched red and then black as it slowly dried. She would have been made to watch her mother, her sisters and her brother die.

Their mother.

His Dora had always been so full of life; she'd probably saved his life by not giving up on him after Sirius' death. She was one of the few things that had kept him going, even when he'd been pushing her away. She would have been the first to die simply because she would have put up a fight that might have actually taken out a few of the Death eaters. They would have disarmed her so she was vulnerable. And then they would have given her to Greyback. To them that would have been poetic justice. He knew his Dora. She would have begged them to take her but to let their children go. And they would take her. Again and again, passing her amongst themselves as if she was nothing more than a toy, until she had no energy to fight them, but to just lie there with tears pouring down her cheeks. They would have granted the first half of her request, but not the second. They still wanted the children. And knowing his Dora her last words would have been to the children, words they would have heard her say hundreds of times to them in the past; "I love you."

Tears were pouring steadily down his face as he turned the corner with only one more street left to bring him to where he lived. He could clearly see the dark mark from where he was and could not help the small shiver that ran down his spine at the sight. Even from five streets away, where he had first seen the sign, he had known it was above their house. What about little Ellie and Purdita? Their eldest two. They were already looking forward to going to Hogwarts even though they had another three years left before they could attend.

He could see them both lying together as they had millions of times in the past looking for the entire world as if they were just sleeping. But they were unnaturally still, their chests not rising and falling, their small frames still in all the blood. Out of the two of them Purdita would have fought back the most, she was so much like her mother in attitude and was not likely to go without a fight, even at such a young age. Ellie wasn't as frail as she looked (as her brother had found out the hard way) and was capable of fighting if she needed to but she had a way of accepting things calmly and he saw no reason that even at eight years old she would not have treated her death any differently.

He was nearly there now, just a few more yards and he would be at the front gate to their house. The smell of death almost had him retching but he didn't stop for a moment, still desperately clinging onto the impossible hope that he might be in time to save at least one of them. His thoughts turned to his only son.

He could see little seven year old Sirius in the corner curled in the fetal position covered in, not only his own, but his sisters blood as well. He was more sensitive than his sisters with most things and this would be one of those times. Dora had thought to name him after his dead best friend and it couldn't have been more fitting as he looked almost exactly like his namesake. When he was in his natural form anyway, he had inherited his mothers morphing abilities and liked to test out new colours and style all the time.

He was at the front door now, his breath shaky and his wand out just in case. He pushed the front door open quietly and walked into the living room. It wasn't how he had he had pictured it. They were still alive but they were all beyond help now. The Death eaters had left them half dead knowing that nothing could be done and it would only crush him even more to watch them die together and not be able to do anything about it.

He moved to Dora who opened her eyes and attempted to smile up at him but it came out more like a grimace. He cradled her head in his lap, careful not to hurt her any more than she already was. His tears were landing on her face and washing streaks of blood away. He lifted his wand and Dora clamped a hand down on his wrist shaking her head. "I know, love, I know," he cooed at her softly stroking her cheek and she released his wrist again.

All of their children where still alive and were watching them tears also running down their faces. He looked at all four of them. "I'm sorry if this hurts, I'm only going to move you." With a few waves of his wand their children were cradled against them gently, in positions that wouldn't hurt them anymore than they already had been. He touched Freya's cheek lightly and tried to smile at her when she turned her face into his hand. He had a feeling though that it came out more of a grimace.

"Tell us a story Daddy?" Perdita asked her voice trembling.

"Which one do you want?" he asked them, trying to keep his voice steady. When they had picked which story they wanted he started to talk, his voice low like it had been so many times in the past when telling them bedtime stories. He was aware that Dora was watching him whilst he did so, her eyes also brimming with tears. A few moments after he had started to tell the story he saw Ellie's eyes slip shut and her breathing stop. He placed a soft kiss on her forehead and murmured a soft goodbye in her ear before continuing with the story. Sirius went next and he repeated the actions but this time Dora found the strength to stroke his cheek. His tears were falling faster and he wondered if, after this night, they would ever stop.

He had just got to where the prince had found out that the princess needed to be saved when Perdita sighed and shut her eyes. He let out a little sob as he kissed her forehead and when he pulled back he felt a small cold hand slip into his. He looked down at Freya and gently squeezed her fingers before carrying on with the story. His little Freya managed to hold onto until the end of the story before letting go, her hand going limp in his. After kissing her he looked down at his Dora, her cheeks now stained with tears as well as blood. He lightly ran the backs of his fingers over her cheek.

"I'm so sorry," she choked out and if he hadn't know it was her he would never of recognized her voice, it was so weak and full of anguish that it nearly broke what was left of his shattered heart. He wiped some of her tears of her cheeks for them just to be replaced.

"It wasn't your fault," he murmured to her kissing her lips. "I should have been here." He told her and she shook her head bringing his mouth back to hers. He could hear her breathing becoming more laboured and he let out a small whimper of fear as he knew what it meant. "I love you, more than anything." He told her, kissing her again.

Dora reached up to stroke his cheek and she whispered back, "I love you to, and thank you." Before he had a chance to ask her what for her body feel still in his arms. He sobbed, brokenly into her hair for what felt like hours though was probably only a few minutes when he heard a noise behind him.

He didn't even bother looking. He knew it was a Death eater, could tell instantly by the way they walked that there was a least two of them and that one of them was Pettigrew. He grasped his wand and stood facing them. He knew that they would kill him, and he found that the thought of dieing didn't bother him now that everyone he loved was already dead, but he was going to take Pettigrew with him. He had never killed anyone before this, at least not unless it was in some kind of fight, he usually just stunned the Death eaters so that they could be taken in for questioning. He shot the killing curse directly at him and Pettigrew was so shocked that he didn't even move out of the way of the killing curse which hit him straight in the chest.

And then he knew nothing.