Prologue
LILY
“Lily, it’s him! Take Harry and run!!”
I froze. No, no, no, no…not him. Please spare my family.
“Lily! Go!! I’ll hold him off!” James yelled again as he sprinted into the hall where the front door had just been burst off its hinges with a huge bang. I suddenly remembered that both our wands were left in the dining room, on the other side of the house.
James, I love you. I thought desperately as a sprinted up the stairs, my baby boy in my arms. Harry was first priority. I had to make sure he was safe. I made it to the top of the stairs but I couldn’t help but turn and take one more look into the hall. The door was lying on the floor with a tall figure in a long, black cloak with a hood standing on top of it.
James glanced back at me. There was no fear in his eyes; they were filled with the bravery and courage of a true Gryffindor. But there was love there too, the love he felt for me and for our son. My eyes filled with tears and before I could blink them away, James turned away from me, to face our intruder and enemy. The man we had been fighting and escaping since school. Lord Voldemort.
I realized I was frozen again on the top step. I forced my legs to run into the small room on my left. My body was drenched in fear and they moved stiffly. Just as I was entering Harry’s nursery I heard a cold, high voice say, or it was more of a hiss, the two words I dreaded hearing.
“Avada Kedavra”
No, no, please let James live. Please, he can’t have died. I begged in my head as the tears in my eyes spilled over, but the words were useless, I knew that. James had been fighting for me ever since we started at Hogwarts and he died fighting for me—not only for me, but also for our tiny boy.
I started barricading the door and cursing myself for not having my wand on me. We knew there was a chance of this happening. We knew he might decide to come for us. But not really for us, for Harry, though we had no idea why.
I turned and ran from the door to his cot, placing Harry gently there and then stood in front of it, with no idea what I was going to do. The window was too small and too high up and without my wand, there was no escape. I could hear Voldemort climbing the stairs. We were trapped.
I leaned down and whispered into Harry’s ear, “I love you Harry, my darling. And daddy does too. You’re going to be a great man and an amazing wizard someday.” I gave him a kiss on the left of his forehead, the tears now pouring down my uncontrollably. Harry just looked back at me with his big green eyes and I envied him. He had no idea what was going on, he didn’t know that his life, and his parent’s lives were ending in a matter of seconds. He reached up to me with his tiny hand and touched the tears running down my cheeks with a tiny frown.
I kissed his finger tenderly as I heard Voldemort through aside the door and everything I barricaded behind it. I turned to face my fate.
