Chapter 61: Halloween
Both Amelia and Moody have not been happy by Rick’s revelation of the prophecy. The content was baffling them. That a newborn baby would have the power to defeat the greatest Dark Lord in History? That was ridiculous. Fate was being a bitch in Moody’s opinion. Either they would suffer years of Voldemort so Rose could be old and strong enough to off him which wasn’t acceptable because there wouldn’t be anyone left to save or the prophecy pointed out to something else. What? They didn’t know. Regardless both Amelia and Moody made an oath of silence, understanding how dangerous the knowledge of the prophecy could be in their enemies’ hands.
Moody went back to the prison to make a report he would give the Order tonight. After what happened the previous night, he knew Dumbledore would summon everyone for a meeting. The veteran Auror got plenty of information from the inmates regarding Voldemort’s business. Waging war cost money and shutting down his money supply would weaken him.
Rick and Lily convinced both Amelia and Marlene (who had woken up) to live in the manor while they were away. The manor was protected to hell and back and perhaps only Gringotts and Hogwarts were safer. Just like Amelia, Marlene wanted revenge for her family. She was the only one left. Her and her baby. It was thanks to the growing life inside her womb that Lily made the blonde change her mind about any plans she had in mind. Unsurprisingly, that had been a more difficult ordeal than it was for Amelia.
When the sun set, the Potters left for the Hogshead inn since it was the default location for emergency meetings. Having a look around Rick noticed that half the Order members were not present. Some were late he had supposed while the majority was dead. Another thing he noticed was Sirius dejected and drunk. Had Lily not stopped him he would have killed the man where he was standing. Or rather staggering. She led him away to Frank and Alice instead whose mood, like everyone else, was in their socks. Rick and Lily (but also Amelia and Moody) had agreed to keep Marlene's survival secret. In the eyes of everyone, she had died along with the rest of her family which provided another layer of protection for her. After all, you never look for a person you’ve killed.
When Dumbledore arrived the whole order observed a minute of silence for the departed. It was a solemn moment that drove home even more the fact that they were losing the war. By wiping out three Ancient and Noble houses in one night, Voldemort was making a point. No one could stop him. The battle of North-Hampton had really been a fluke. Everyone who opposes him will die. The meeting started afterward and Albus wanted a report on everything.
“I barely escaped with my life, Professor. The packs won’t join us. Despite the wolf-eazy pills being affordable for everyone, they refuse to fight for the side that heavily discriminates against them. And I’m talking about the most neutral ones here, those not under Grayback.”
“A pity. Kingsley?”
“The DLME is still a mess. Crouch is obsessed with finding Death Eaters no matter how but most of the time we make a raid there is nothing. The ones we catch and put in cells are released for lack of proof or broken out. They don’t know anything either. At this point, I think the Death Eaters have infiltrated the department. I can’t trust any of my colleagues or Veteran Auror because the information about those raids is only limited to us. What is worse is that Crouch suspects it and tried some misinformation to find out who the leak is but it failed.”
“This can’t go on, we need to do something, Professor! He killed Marlene! He killed Edgar! Their whole families! How many more of us have to die before we really start fighting back. They give us no mercy, I say we don’t give them any either!”
“Sirius, this is not the way to-”
“We wouldn’t be here if Wald hadn’t missed in January.”
“James!”
“It’s childish and unbecoming behavior like that which got you disowned in the first place, Dodderidge. Now let the adults talk.” Rick shot back and turned to Dumbledore “After last night's events, Lily, Rose and I are moving out of the manor. While its location is not well known and its defenses great, it can be found by digging in the ministry’s archives.” He wasn’t able to say ‘Potter Manor’ because of the Fidelius and not being the secret Keeper but it didn’t matter, people would think of another manor. After all, being Lord Potter and Black he had a few of them.
“Cowards!”
Rick ignored James and kept talking. “We found a small cottage not listed in the archives. We’re moving in tonight after the meeting.”
Remus was immediately interested. “Where? I’d like to be able to visit my goddaughter.”
“West Country. You’re free to visit her whenever you want, Remus.” Lily replied with a small but soft smile.
When the meeting ended, Rick and Lily quickly left back to the manor. They had a last supper with the whole family and said their goodbyes. Lily did her best to not cry when she had Rose in her arms but failed.
“Remember, don’t go believing we’re dead without checking the tapestry first.” Rick reminded everyone.
“We won’t.” replied Marlene.
“If we’re late for our report… Send a patronus to Remus and Andromeda to meet you somewhere and give them access to the Manor.”Immediately realizing something, Marlene pulled out her wand and a silver blue mist began to form at its tip which surprised everyone. Focusing more she cast the patronus again twice before her familiar tiger took shape.
“I… had to use another happy memory. The two of you better live because the prospect of raising our kids together is the only thing that allows me to use my tiger. And I love my tiger. I’ll bring you back just to kill you again if…”
The blonde witch was taken into her best friends’ arms for a show of support. They knew that when she was able to make a corporeal patronus at first it was from a happy memory of her childhood with her family. Later she used the memory of Sirius telling her he loved her. With recent events however she couldn’t use those anymore hence why she had failed. That Marlene had to use a memory of a potential happiness spoke volume about her current frame of mind.
“We won’t be away long.” Rick said and pulled away from the hug to hold his daughter one last time before leaving. “Daddy and mommy are going away for a bit. Be nice to Grandma and aunties, okay? And to Suzie. She needs all the friends she can get.” The cute yawn the little redhead gave him made him think she didn’t care one bit in the world. In his opinion, this was good. He wanted a life free of worry for Rose. After kissing her brow, Rick handed her to his mother.
Taking Lily’s hands they left the manor and apparated away to Godric’s Hollow. They worked as fast as they could to finish the wards. Putting wards on top of a bunch of them already installed with ward stones was easy and took little time. The whole ground work was already there. Making them from scratch however was more difficult and time consuming however. It needed to be calculated perfectly and drawn perfectly. It was a very difficult month for the Potters. They took turns being awake and asleep. Ricks was awake the night while Lily the day. They had a six hour sleep cycle which still allowed them to be awake at the same time for a few hours. During that time they took a small walk to be seen with a bundle in either arms. An enchanted and animated doll that anyone looking at would see a sleeping baby.
The point was to be seen and hoped that someone who would recognize Rick would talk about seeing him here. When they noticed that the magical were pretty isolationist and thus even before Voldemort’s rise, they changed tactics and invited Remus for afternoon tea. Rick was hoping that their friend would divulge their location to the people he trusted the most with his life, which among them was Peter Pettigrew. He was almost certain their former classmate was the rat in the order.
After a discussion about their magical defense, Rick had an idea out of the blue.
“Why are we limiting ourselves to magic?”
“What do you mean?” confusion was obvious on Lily’s face who had a cute frown.
“Lily, we’ve come this far by using magic with muggle knowledge. Why not use more rudimentary muggle weapons?”
“... Such as?”
“Guns?” he half-asked, half-stated. “I mean, think about it. A bullet is a hundred times faster than a spell. You can dodge a spell, you can’t dodge a bullet. Voldemort will certainly not expect to be attacked by a gun. Nor will he have the speed to react. We could enchant the bullets with a piercing hex or an explosive one. It’s a simple carving rune.”
“... That… could work.” She seriously considered it. “But I thought… The wards are here to capture him because he’s protected by fate, Rick.”
“I know but… I can’t help but want to fight for our Rose. Kill him myself so she doesn’t have too. Part of me also… Well… not, don't believe in the prophecy but believe that fate can be altered. That while fate and free will are not mutually exclusive we can use the later to affect the former while not trying to take control of the prophecy. And it’s really vague. A power that he knows not but Rose has?”
“Dumbledore said he thought it was love. Our love for her, remember?”
“Yes but it’s still really vague. How does this love manifest? Perhaps… Perhaps us being ready to do anything for our baby girl is that power? We could be the weapons to put him down?”
“... I don’t know.” She stayed silent for a moment, thinking about it. “You’re right it’s too vague. Maybe you’re right, you’ve always been better in divination than I am.”
“Regardless, it costs nothing to arm ourselves with guns for added protection. We just need to know where to get-”
“My sister.”
Rick was surprised by Lily’s interruption. “Petunia?”
“Yes. She chose to keep my father's hunting rifle when he passed away. For her husband, he has a small collection I believe.”
She got up from Rick’s lap she had been in and went to the entrance of the cottage.
“What are you doing?”
“I’m going to pay them a visit.”
“Now?! Lily, it’s almost super time.”
“That’s why I know they’d be home. We can’t dally dally with this.” she replied putting her coat on.
“You don’t even know where they live.”
“They live in Little Whinging, Surrey. A simple point-me spell will do the trick.”
“Lily, are you s-”
“I am. I won’t be long. One hour or two at best.” she replied putting her hand on his cheek.
Sighing, Rick agreed with her. “Take the cloak with you, it will be easier for you to do magic and not be noticed. In any case, be careful.”
“I will.”
She gave him a smile, went on the tip of her toes and pecked his lips. Once she had the invisibility cloak after summoning it she went through the door, picked a rock at her feet and made it a portkey to her destination which she activated. Once gone, Rick closed the door and went to sit on the sofa. The hardest part of this stake out was to fight the boredom. Wondering what he could do to pass the time, he chose to go to the open kitchen to cook dinner for when Lily would come back. He was chopping tomatoes in little dice when he felt the wards broke and the backlash resulting. The entrance door exploded and he saw Voldemort, wand pointing forward. Unholy fury on his face.
Rick was quick to recover and drew his wand. He dove to the ground when Voldemort aimed a killing curse at him. So far everything was going to plan. Almost. They had lured the wanker inside the cottage which had been the whole point. The good news stopped there however. He hadn't been supposed to tear the wards down with brute magical strength. They were supposed to fall, that was part of the plan, they were decoy after all. They were not supposed to do it in one go. Rick would have used the time needed to take them down to activate the real ones the moment Voldemort entered the house. He needed focus for that or Lily to do it. Unfortunately he had neither on hand, too busy fighting for his life.
“Your resistance is futile, Potter. You will die tonight. You will pay for defying Lord Voldemort. You, your mudblood and your half-breed child.”
Rick summoned a pan in front of him to take another killing curse in his stead.
“Kill me. Go ahead. You’ll never know where they are!” he retaliated by magnetizing heavily the ground at Voldemor’s feet. Everything metallic and not bolted to the floor went straight to the man, which included the whole silverware in the kitchen. It didn’t work. It was to no avail, Voldemort waved his wand around and banished everything back to Rick who had to once again dove on the ground. Except this time Voldemort caught him with a disarming spell and soon enough got him stuck against the wall, his feet not touching the ground.
“Then I’ll kill you after ripping the information out of you. This will be very painful and I will enjoy every moment of it. CRUCIO!”
The blood curdling scream Rick let out was ignored by the people of Godric’s Hollow for no other reason that today was Halloween. Screams to scare children and people alike were bound to be heard from time to time.
In the meantime, Lily had been searching for her sister for the past half an hour. Apparating from one point to another until the wand in her hand pointed to another direction. It was tedious but she had no other way to find Petunia. Little Whinging was a big town, a very big one, and Lily wondered if she hadn’t made a slight miscalculation. An hour later, she finally arrived in the suburban part of the town. Popping in on a street called Private Drive, she knew her sister lived inside one of those houses. A few point-me spells later and she was on the doorstep of number 4. She rang the doorbell and soon enough the door opened to reveal Petunia.
“Good evening, Tuney.” Lily greeted with as much joviality as she could.
Her older sister’s face turned into fury at their sight. “You! What do you want?!” Even though Lily had given up on having any kind of relationship with Petunia, and resented her a bit, it still hurt to see that expression on her sister’s face.
“Just borrow dad’s old hunting rifle and I’ ll be out of your hair.”
“Pet? Who is it?” The voice of Vernon came from inside the house.
“I promise, Tuney. I wouldn’t be here bothering you if it wasn’t important.”
“Pet? Who’re you talkin- Oh, it’s you. We don’t want you here, go away.” Vernon said as he came to the entrance and saw Lily.
“As I told Tuney, I just want to borrow my dad’s hunting rifle.”
The married couple exchanged a glance then Vernon grunted. Petunia opened the door and let Lily inside, while her husband went up the stairs. She didn’t invite her sister inside beyond the lobby. They stayed there in silence, looking at each other. It was so uncomfortable that Lily tried to make small talk.
“How’s my nephew? Dudley, right?”
“Yes and he’s doing well.”
“...”
“...”
“I gave birth to a daughter late July. Named her after mom.”
“Lovely. I’m sure mom would have appreciated it.”
“...”
“...”
The awkward silence was interrupted by Vernon climbing down the stairs and handing the rifle to Lily with a box of cartridges.
“I better not have the police show up on my doorsteps to-”
“Unlikely.”
“Why do you even need it? You don’t hunt. You hate hurting animals.” Petunia’s curiosity got the best of her.
“Not the nazi kind.”
““What?!””
“There is a war in the magical world… Imagine… Nazis with magic trying to wipe out everyone who doesn’t have magic or magical parents. Just because they think they are the superior race.”
Vernon nearly spat. “Freaks, all of you.”
“There are good and bad people in both worlds, Vernon. Magic doesn’t make you good or bad, it's your choices that do. I do understand that magic makes you uncomfortable though. Anyway, the big Hitler? He’s powerful. So powerful that nobody can defeat that toe-rag. But he’s also extremely arrogant and we think he would disregard a simple muggle rifle as something that wouldn’t threaten him.”
“And why would you-”
“Fight him? Would you help the Nazi, do nothing but hide or take arms against them?” she was asking the both of them.
“Take arms of course. My father fought bravely during the war to put an end to them. It was the right thing to do.” Vernon replied.
“Then you understand why I’m part of the resistance. I’d rather fight than be killed for what I am, or worse, be enslaved.”
“... I can respect that.” Her brother-in-law’s words surprised her a bit.
“Can you… How does it work?”
Vernon sighed and took back the shotgun as he called it (correcting Lily who called it rifle). He showed her the basics: how to load the gun, how to aim and shoot and how to be mindful of not aiming at someone if you were not ready to shoot. Once done he handed the shotgun back to her and Lily thanked him for his help. Just as she was about to leave. She turned to Petunia and couldn’t help but give her a few parting words.
“I know we don’t like each other, Tuney. Not like we used to. You’re my sister though and I want you to know that… I love you. Despite everything.”
She went outside and put the invisibility cloak around her, disappearing from everyone’s sight. Using the same rock she had used to get to Little Whinging, she found herself at the entrance of the Cottage she had left two hours prior. Her heart was filled with fright when she realized the door of her temporary home had been blown up. When she heard her husband scream his heart out, her first reaction was to panic. Voldemort was here and probably torturing the love of her life.
“WHERE ARE THEY?!”“AAAAAAAAAAAAAARRRRGGGGHHHH!!!”
Panic led to a burning anger. Anger filled with hate. Opening the shotgun in her hands, Lily loaded it with two cartridges. Slowly, still under the invisibility cloak, she went inside the cottage, trying to not make any sound. The shotgun was her only resort. If Voldemort was inside and torturing Rick, she knew that every magical defense had been useless. She also knew that she wouldn’t be a match with her wand against Voldemort.
Following the screams’ origin she entered the kitchen, where she saw Rick on the ground. She knew he was bleeding from the blood on the floor but she didn’t know from where. Voldemort was in front of him condescendingly looking down. She got closer, slowly, very slowly, to make sure she wouldn’t miss.
“The more you resist, the more I will make them suf–”
The Dark Lord’s head exploded in blood and gore. His body falling on its knees first then on top of Rick.
“Rick!”
Not caring one bit about the sharp pain in her shoulder she now felt as a result of the shot, she went to assist her husband.
“L-Lily.” Rick’s voice was weak.
“It’s alright! I am here. You’re going to be alright.” she said as she tried to push away Voldemort’s body.
The odor of rotten egg and the whistling sound of some gas being free drew her attention away from her husband. Looking up, she saw that her shot had damaged the gas pipe, filling the room. Her eyes widened when she saw the flame of the stove being on. Immediately she summoned the cloak and Rick’s wand then apparated outside the cottage with him. That was the right choice to make as five seconds later the half house blew up in flames.
“Lily. Call for… For…” Rick asked her as he tried to get up. “Albus, Amelia, Moody. We… we need to act fast.”
Using her wand she summoned three lions which left in different directions. Once done, she supported Rick by holding him from the side and they went to their closest neighbour, Bathilda Bagshot. An old witch who was already old when Dumbledore was young. Fortunately for the married couple, the woman was at her window, curious of what had happened. She saw them and quickly went down the first floor of her home to welcome them inside. Lily put Rick on a seat and looked at his injuries.
“You’re going to be fine. The cuts are not that deep but it’s Dark Magic. They will leave scars.” she said, having cut his sweater and the T-shirt under it to see the damage.
“As long as you don’t find me hideous. He mostly used the Cruciatus.”
“Here, dears. That will do you some good.”
Bathilda had brought them tea which she put on the small table nearby.
“Thank you Mrs Bagshot. Although… I think… I’d need something stronger.”
“Don’t you worry, I put a bit of Ogden’s finest in it. Merlin knows you both need it by just looking at you two. What happened?”
“I’d like to know too.”
The three house occupants turned around to see Dumbledore enter the house followed by Amelia and Moody.
“Hello, Bathilda. It’s a pleasure to see you, despite the circumstances.”
“It better not be one of your foolish games, Albus. I thought you were done with those.” the old woman replied with an unhappy frown.
“I give you my word, it’s not.”
“He was here. Voldemort.” said Rick who was beginning to recover.
“Don’t say his name!” the old woman screeched.
“He’s dead.”
“I blew up his head.” Lily said with a grin, while still working on closing Rick’s wounds. Moody’s whistle made her grin even more.
“Good job, lass. Eh! Can’t wait to see what the death munchers will say when they learn a muggle-born killed their Dark Lord.”
“They’d probably deny it.” said Amelia.
“Probably.”
“Albus…. We… We need to get in contact with Minister Bagnold. Now.”
Lily protested on the spot. “Absolutely not! You’ve been tortured for who knows how long! You need to rest!”
“Lily, we need to stick… to the plan. Otherwise they’ll get away.”
Scrunching her nose in clear disapproval, Lily finally agreed. Rick was right, they needed to hit now before the news of Voldermort’s demise reached his followers. Before they could scatter.
“What plan?” Albus inquired.
“Rounding up all the Death Eaters. Especially those from the inner circle. We already have many in custody but we need to have a talk with the Minister so she can retro-actively authorize some things. And immunity for our spy in Voldy’s rank.” Lily explained.
“Spy?”
Rick spoke up this time. “It’s a long story that we’ll need to tell to Bagnold, so you’ll have to wait a bit, I’m afraid. Just... Get us an emergency audience.”
Dumbledore didn’t like not being in the loop one bit but Rick seemed to have a well prepared plan so he went with it.