
Posted originally on the Archive_of_Our_Own at https://archiveofourown.org/
works/9893711.
  Rating:
      Explicit
  Archive Warning:
      Major_Character_Death, Underage, Graphic_Depictions_Of_Violence
  Category:
      M/M
  Fandom:
      Harry_Potter_-_J._K._Rowling
  Character:
      Bellatrix_Black_Lestrange, Albus_Dumbledore, Fred_Weasley, George
      Weasley, Ginny_Weasley, Harry_Potter, Hermione_Granger, James_Potter,
      Lily_Evans_Potter, Lucius_Malfoy, Luna_Lovegood, Minerva_McGonagall,
      Molly_Weasley, Neville_Longbottom, Remus_Lupin, Ron_Weasley, Severus
      Snape, Sirius_Black, Draco_Malfoy, Original_Character, Peter_Pettigrew,
      Voldemort
  Additional Tags:
      Slash, Explicit_Language, Chan, Sexual_Content, Spoilers, Action/
      Adventure, Alternate_Universe, Drama, Mystery, Suspense, Romance
  Collections:
      HPFandom
  Stats:
      Published: 2006-12-10 Words: 3107
****** Past Perfect ******
by AncientzDream [archived by HPFandom_archivist]
Summary
     The ending of a brutal war and the death of Voldemort leaves the
     Wizarding World in a state of recovery and almost idyllic peace. What
     would Harry's future hold if his past had been closer to perfect?
     Various Pairings/AU/Slash & Het/Powerful!Political!Harry
Notes
     Note from SeparatriX, the archivist: this story was originally
     archived at HP_Fandom, which was closed for health and financial
     reasons. To preserve the archive, I began manually importing its
     works to the AO3 as an Open Doors-approved project in August 2016. I
     e-mailed all creators about the move and posted announcements, but
     may not have reached everyone. If you are (or know) this creator,
     please contact me using the e-mail address on HP_Fandom_collection
     profile.
Author’s_Note:Welcome to the fruits of a months worth of writing during the
National Novel Writing Month Challenge! I hope you enjoy my most recent
creation. Cheers!
 
A_note_on_pairings:Various and sundry pairings will occur through the course of
this story. I will make a notation at the beginning of each chapter if it
contains a note worthy pairing.
 
Disclaimer: The Potter ‘Verse belongs to JKR. I make no money. I’m just
borrowing the boys and girls for a little fun before I dust them off and put
them back where they belong.
 
Thoughts & Mental conversations
Letters, etc
 
“Love of two is one
Here but now they're gone
Came the last night of sadness
And it was clear she couldn't go on
Then the door was open and the wind appeared
The candles blew then disappeared
The curtains flew then he appeared...”
- Blue Oyster Cult “Don’t Fear the Reaper”
 
A young woman paced restlessly in the living room of an obviously wealthy
family, her red hair swirling around her tall and slender form like visibly
lashing tendrils of her discontented emotions. Turning startlingly bright green
eyes on her dark haired husband when he entered the room, she attempted to
smile for him and managed only a tremulous shadow of her usual happiness.
"Something is very wrong, James. Peter should have been here by now if he was
going to make it. Please tell me our fears were all for naught…I don’t want to
believe he would do some thing so vile…"
Stepping in to embrace his wife, James Potter held her tightly and buried his
face in her soft red hair as her sense of foreboding infected his own mood.
Rubbing her back with both hands, he shook his head and used the action to rub
his cheek against hers. It wasn’t supposed to be like this, he thought. We were
supposed to live to be an old married couple with a houseful of grandchildren.
"I wish I could say what you want to hear, Lils, but…we have done everything in
our power to keep them from finding us. If they come, we'll fight. Now, let's
go look in on Harry. You'll feel better when you see that he's up there in his
bed, safe and sleeping like the baby he is."
"Yes, you're right…" Lily froze when a familiar knock sounded on the door. She
started to smile a little and took a step towards the door, only to pause
because she could feel the power of the evil man who stood on the other side
with the one they had called friend. Shaking her head in silent denial, she
fought down the urge to scream with frustration and bone deep terror. "No, not
now…it can’t be happening so soon…He's here, James!"
"Take Harry and go! You have to try to get out of here!" James shoved her
towards the stairs when she shook her head and started to protest. "Dammit,
Lily! Go! Run! I'll hold him off as long as I can!"
Choking back a sob, Lily kissed James briefly but fiercely and turned to
stumble from the room. Angrily swiping at the tears that threatened to blind
her, the young Witch took one last look at her husband and ran up the stairs
towards her son's room.
"I love you, James," she whispered and shut the door to her child's room behind
her before moving to look down at him. A door burst open with the deafening
roar of a powerful reducto followed by the sound of a cackle of high-pitched
laughter and she flinched visibly. "I'm so sorry, baby…I'm so sorry…"
Shielding himself from the destruction of the front door, James faced down the
fearsome wizard who stood framed by the ruined remains of the doorframe and
felt his hope sputter and begin to die when he looked past him and saw Peter
waiting just behind him. The rat-like young man stood wringing his hands as he
always did when he was nervous about some thing and James snarled at him.
"How could you betray us, Peter?" he whispered and focused completely on the
intimidating presence of Lord Voldemort. "Get out of my home, you bastard!
Reducto! Expelliarmus! Reducto!"
"Admirable sentiment though it may be to protect one's wife and heir, you will
not stop me," Voldemort stated calmly while swaying gracefully out of the way
of his opponent's spells. "Crucio!" he snarled and was more than happy to
settle in for a good duel, no matter how brief. “Praemium Somes! Agon Verbero!
Animus Intorqueo!”
Dodging and shielding as best he could, James fought to give his wife time to
escape the house with their child. Beyond caring about any repercussions he
might face regarding his choice of spells, he retaliated in kind. He was going
to make the bastard work for it even if it was the last thing he ever did.
Peter ducked out of the way of his next round of spells with a frightened
squeak and he allowed himself a small moment of satisfaction.
“Nex Pulsus! Igneus Cruor!” he cried out even as he ducked and shielded against
Voldemort’s next volley of spells. The force of his own spells did damage to
the interior walls but did not punch through as he would have expected and a
cold feeling of dread began to fill his chest. They sealed the house and the
alarms didn’t go off…that little bastard! “Chalybs Partes!”
Arching an eyebrow at the surprisingly dark volley of spells he was avoiding
from his now visibly desperate opponent, Voldemort smirked and focused on the
man’s rhythm of movement and patterns of avoidance. Shielding against a high
velocity spray of dagger like shards of metal when James cast his last spell,
the Dark Lord nodded to the younger man and cast his own volley. "Senium
Ventus. Pectoris Iuguolo. Crucio!”
Darting out of the way of the first two debilitating or fatal spells, James did
exactly as the more seasoned duellist expected and dodged directly into the
path of Voldemort's Cruciatus curse. Tensing when he saw no way to dodge back
away from it, James screamed and fell thrashing to the floor.
Amusing himself with the man’s screams for a brief moment, Voldemort shook his
head and released the spell. He wasn’t here to toy with these people; he was
here to destroy them. Waiting until James was half way to his feet and about to
look up at him before bothering to cast one last spell, he took aim and spoke
the last two words James Potter would ever hear.
“Avada Kedavra.”
The pain stopped abruptly and James struggled to get back to his feet, hazel
eyes going wide as he looked up expecting to see his opponent and saw only the
familiar green light that was death. He fell limply back to the floor, his wand
rolling free of his now lax grip.
!!!! !!!! !!!!
Running up the stairs as the front door exploded open behind and below her,
Lily darted into her son’s room and paused only a moment to look down at him
before tugging at the windows in an effort to get even one of them to open.
When they refused to budge, she tried every opening and cancelling spell she
could think of before stepping back with a cry of frustration. Frantically
trying the windows again, Lily stepped back and took aim at the nearest one so
that the unlikely but now anticipated ricochet would not hit her or Harry if
they truly were in a Sealed house as she had come to believe. There hadn’t been
nearly enough sounds of damage to the structure below for the kinds of spells
she assumed were being cast and that worried her a great deal given what was
duelling with her husband just a flight of stairs away.
.
"Reducto!" she growled and ducked down when it bounced away from the window
without even hitting it and hit the opposite wall with much less force than she
would have hoped or expected.
"Bloody hell! Damn you, Voldemort!!" Turning this way and that, she looked for
any other way out of the room other than the stairs she had used to get there
and moaned her despair. James screamed for several long moments and then Harry
started to cry, shrill pain filled wails that sent an icy cold shiver of fear
down her spine even as the shock of no longer being able to feel James through
the ritual bond and the surge of magical energy that signalled his death left
her swaying and disoriented. Stumbling over to stand between the door and the
crib that held her child, Lily drew herself up tall and waited for the
inevitable as tears ran unheeded down her pale face and the love of two became
one.
!!!! !!!! !!!!
Stalking up the stairs like he owned the home he had just defiled, Voldemort
heard the cries of the child and smirked viciously when the bedroom door opened
obediently under his wordless and wandless command. The first thing he saw was
Lily standing between him and his goal and, inexplicably, he paused.
"Not Harry! Please not my little boy," Lily pleaded the moment the door had
begun to swing open and showed her the face of her tormentor. All she could
hope for at this point is that there might be some shred of decency in the dead
heart of the evil man who stood before her. Barring that unlikely event, she
poured all of her hope and love and being into the belief that the ritual had
indeed worked as planned. She might die, but in doing so, her son would live.
"Don't kill Harry! Please - I'll do anything -"
"Stand aside," Voldemort growled and advanced despite the young woman’s
resolutely raised wand. "Stand aside, you silly, foolish girl," he snarled when
she shook her head and defiantly stood her ground with an expression liken to
that of a lioness defending her cub. Enraged by her defiance, he finally struck
with his usual neat efficiency despite the unfamiliar feeling of regret that
killing this girl inspired.
"Out of my way! Avada Kedavra!"
Not even bothering to defend herself, Lily turned her head and looked at her
son one last time as green light flared in the room and her vision went black.
Lily Potter never felt her body hit the floor.
Looking at the black haired, green eyed child that lay in the crib a few meters
away, Voldemort contemplated taking the child and twisting him into the heir he
would likely never have. Annoyed by the even more strident screams of the boy
child and suddenly filled with the certainty that the child would betray him if
he kept him near, the Dark Lord turned his wand on the child he knew in his
darkest heart of hearts would be the one to bring him down and said the two
words that ensured his end.
"Avada Kedavra," he whispered, his yew wand aimed at the heart of a fifteen
month old toddler. Green light flashed out towards the baby boy and every
detail in the room suddenly burst into stark relief as a dark green and black
aura filled the room and intercepted the Killing Curse half way between the
Dark Lord's wand and its intended target.
“What..?” Staring in stunned disbelief at this unexpected and unexplainable
phenomenon, Voldemort stood rooted to the spot and struggled against the
suddenly crushing force that gripped his tall, slender form and lifted it from
the floor. He felt himself being jerked forward and fought frantically to
escape the green energy he was abruptly yanked into. He screamed and went
abruptly silent as his life force was ripped from his body. An explosion of
magical energy shattered the Sealing that had been cast around it and rocked
the small cottage to its very foundations, leaving most of the remaining
structure smouldering and barely intact.
Writhing from pain in his scorched and splintered crib, Harry James Potter
whimpered and cried weakly while blood ran down his forehead and onto his pale,
tear streaked face.
!!!! !!!! !!!!
In London, Sirius Orion Black paused in the process of getting ready to go to
Godric's Hollow when a wave of foreboding made him go cold. Uncertain where the
feeling had come from, knowing with a gut certainty that the source had
something to do with James, Lily and Harry, he rushed to the coat cupboard and
grabbed his heaviest jacket on his way to the door; he made it two steps
towards the door before the first death hit him through the ritual bond and
sent to his knees with a wail of loss as the bond was severed violently.
Lily's death followed before he had even begun to acknowledge James' loss and
he slumped forward, wracking sobs holding him where he had fallen. Face wet
with tears, he cried for the emptiness he felt and almost welcomed the oblivion
of unconsciousness that hit him like the Knight Bus when the oath he had sworn
ripped at his magical core for the power it required to save Harry’s threatened
life.
!!!! !!!! !!!!
Pacing restlessly in the potions lab at Hogwarts, Severus Snape knew that
something had to have gone wrong. Voldemort had sent out a summons, held back a
mere handful of his inner circle after a brief rallying speech about ending the
war that night and then sent everyone else away.
He had immediately rushed to Hogwarts to report to Albus so that the Order
could be alerted to the impending threat of violence. The older wizard had
assured him that everyone would be safe before sending him down to the safety
and quiet of the labs and he now wondered if anyone had been sent to warn the
Potters and Longbottoms that the attack they had feared might now be occurring.
A numbing wave of despair rushed up to fill his thoughts just before he was
dropped by the deaths of his friends and Severus Snape started to scream when
the magic they had wrought dragged at his own magical essence, followed by the
nearly fatal effects of the death throws of the Dark Lord. Comatose and wracked
by periodic convulsions, he lay sprawled on the cold stone floor as the
carefully hidden Mark on his forearm faded and disappeared as if it had never
been.
!!!! !!!! !!!!
Laughing with the Auror twins Remi and Etienne in their flat in Paris after a
long day of information gathering and political manoeuvre, Remus felt the long
distance distress of his Pack-mates and sobered abruptly. His instincts
screamed for him to go help his pack mates while his human mind made the
assumption that what they had prepared for had come to pass and focused on
protecting his companions as much as he could in case there was magical
backlash.
“Remus? What’s wrong, Mon ami?” Etienne reached out to pat the suddenly very
serious and worried looking werewolf on the shoulder, only to frown when the
slightly younger man drew away and shook his head vigorously. “Are you ill? I
know it isn’t the moon…”
“Something bad…my pack…” Sliding out of his seat to kneel on the floor, Remus
flinched as if he had been struck physically when James’ death filtered through
the bond. Reeling from the loss of the man he considered his Pack Leader,
oblivious to the two friend's who were trying to help him when the death of his
acknowledged Pack Alpha’s mate sent his system into shock, he threw his head
back and loosed repeated mournful howls, only to shriek as the final strike
against Harry stripped him of most of his magical reserves and left him curled
on the floor in a shuddering, unconscious ball.
!!!! !!!! !!!!
An alarm went off in the office of one Albus Dumbledore and the elderly wizard
turned a grim gaze to the device. Studying it for a moment, he sighed heavily
and shut it off with a wave of his hand.
"It is done," he whispered and wondered for the first time if he had made the
right choice in choosing to set the events into motion that had culminated with
this night’s events. "Whether it truly was the only way to see Voldemort’s end
or not." Rising, he turned to the fireplace, threw in a bit of floo powder and
called out a destination before sticking his head in the fire.
"Hagrid's Hut! Hagrid!"
"Albus! Wha’s wron'?" Hagrid asked, dark eyes wide with the surprise of the
older man's abrupt appearance in his fireplace. "'As somefin' 'appened?"
"The very worst has come to pass, my dear boy. The Potters have been betrayed
and Voldemort attacked them this very night. I need you to take the port key I
gave you and go investigate the cottage while I get as many Order members
together as possible in case there is another attack."
"A'cours' Albus! ’M goin' na'!" Hagrid fumbled in his pockets before coming up
with a large disc that looked woefully small in his hands. "Is it truly the
wors'?" the half-giant asked timidly, eyes already filling with tears over the
loss of people he had considered the best of friends.
"I fear that it is, Hagrid, so hurry! The faster we know the true outcome, the
faster we can organize and muster our defences!" Albus urged and backed out of
the fire to sever the communication. Shaking his head, the white haired wizard
pulled a medallion from under his robe and whispered a short phrase to summon
the members of the Order of the Phoenix to Hogwarts. There would still be Death
Eaters to mop up even if Tom had been properly eliminated.
!!!! !!!! !!!!
Rallying himself through some force of will he hadn't thought he possessed,
Sirius staggered to his feet and swayed dizzily. Fumbling for the heavy leather
coat that lay at his side and the wand he kept hidden in its inner pocket, the
Marauder stumbled drunkenly from his flat and down the stairs to his
motorcycle. He lacked the magic and physical energy to concentrate sufficiently
for anything other than getting down a simple flight of stairs and doubted he
would have even been able to apparate.
Slumping over the 'fuel tank' of the magical motorcycle once he had managed to
get his leg far enough over to actually sit on the bike, he panted and slowly
levered himself up to sit properly so he could start the bike and get it
moving.
"I'm on my way, Pronglet," he muttered and roared away into the night.
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