Rising Darkness

A small note of explanation: I have taken some liberties with canon and have made James and Sirius Aurors.  I know what you’re thinking….if it takes three years to become an Auror and they die three years after leaving Hogwarts, how is that possible?  I have decided that since there is a war raging, they have stepped up the training program.  Reasonable, no?  So there is no confusion, this skips back to a year and a few months before the prologue, to directly after Harry was born.

Chapter 1- First Strike

Harry Potter and Neville Longbottom.  Both only a week old, neither, of course, having any idea of their importance.  He hoped the parents had, at least for a short time, allowed themselves to bask in the joy of having a new baby, had allowed themselves to forget the fear that hung over them.  He had tried to give them reassurance and hope, but they knew- their children had been born into dark times, and Albus Dumbledore knew there were darker times to come.

The wizarding world was crumbling around them.  The Ministry was in disarray, trying to hold itself together while Aurors were being killed as fast as they could be trained, no one knew who to trust, and it was all the old Minister of Magic could do to hold off outright anarchy.  While the worst of the destruction and terror was concentrated in , there was no doubt that Voldemort was gaining supporters abroad.  The Dark Mark had been sent up over murders in and in , and but still the foreign ministries refused to take action, pretending they didn’t know what the killings and the ominous mark meant.  Death Eaters tortured and killed indiscriminately, magic or muggle did not matter, and as fear spread Voldemort gathered supporters, those who were not dedicated to his cause perhaps, but hoping to come out on the winning side.  He showed them no more mercy than he did his enemies.

The students in his school often thought he knew everything, and tonight the Headmaster wished wholeheartedly that he did.  He wished he could know which of these children was the one in the prophecy, which one was chosen.  Alone in his office, staring into the fire, Dumbledore felt every one of his many years.  They had to fight, and so they would, but it seemed the survival of their world rested on the future of two innocent children.

………………………………………………………………………………………………

Sirius Black stood several feet back from the cradle, eyeing it suspiciously. He’d never really been around babies, and as far as he could tell, they were likely to start screaming at any moment, and Lily had said she’d hex him into oblivion if he woke the baby.  Occasionally, a small gurgling sound could be heard. Finally, he took a few steps closer, peering at the baby- no, at Harry, he had a name now- and reflected that he certainly was very small.

He had been honored, and more touched than he cared to admit, when James and Lily had asked him to be Harry's godfather, and he intended to do the job properly. He stuffed his hands in his pockets.

"Hello,"he finally said. "All right Harry?" Feeling slightly stupid, he continued. "I'm Sirius, I'm also your godfather, so I figured we should have this little talk. I know you can't talk, because you're a baby, so you can just listen." There was no argument, so he went on. "I really don't know what your Mum and Dad were thinking, making me your godfather. I mean, to tell you the truth, Remus would be far better at this sort of thing. He's very responsible and reliable. But they asked me, and so I want you to know Harry, I'm taking this seriously. Your Dad, he's a great guy, but even more than that, he's like a brother to me. Closer than a brother really, and that's important. I know you have no idea what kind of world you were born into, but it's a scary place right now. Of course your Mum and Dad are brilliant, talented people, and they'll do a good job of taking care of you. But if it ever happens that they can't, that's what I'm here for, to take care of you and protect you. And I promise I will, to the best of my ability.  I promise Harry."

One-week-old Harry stared back at him with those remarkable green eyes, and yawned.

"Well, I can see you find me riveting." He grinned. "I'll also take you out and get you drunk on your eighteenth birthday, but don't tell your Mum I said that." He winked, and then touched Harry's cheek for a moment, and left the nursery, closing the door softly, feeling pleased with his first man-to-man talk with his godson.

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Finally, finally, finally Harry was asleep.  James turned off the light and wandered back downstairs.  He had known it would be exhausting these first few weeks, but James was practically sleepwalking at work.  And as he came into the living room, he smiled at Lily, fallen asleep on the couch in the ten minutes he had been putting Harry to bed.  She must be exhausted, but she was beautiful.  He leaned over and smoothed the hair back from her forehead and then gave her a gentle shake.

“Hm?  Harry asleep?”

He collapsed on the couch and pulled her against him.  “Yes, he’s asleep.”

“Good.”  She sighed and rested on his chest.  “How are you holding up?”

“Fine.  You’re the one home all day.”

“I don’t mind.  It’s been nice.  I just wish…” she hesitated.

“Wish what?” he prompted.

“I’m so worried all the time.  That something’s going to happen to him.  That they’ll find some way to get to him.  Are the wards strong enough?  Are we careful enough?  Even when I do sleep I keep waking up and wanting to check on him.  Why does it have to be our baby?  Why Harry?”

“It might not be.”  That was small comfort, but it was always in the back of their minds.

“I wouldn’t wish it on Frank and Alice either.”

“No,” agreed James.  “But if it means Harry is safe…”

“Are we doing enough?” she whispered.

“We’ll do whatever we have to.”

They were silent for awhile, taking what small comfort they could from the closeness and the slow steady rhythm of each other’s breathing.

“Lil?”

“Hm?”

“Is he too young to have a broom?”

“James!”

“Sorry.”

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Sirius slumped into a chair at the Potters kitchen table and yawned.

“What’s that for?” James muttered irritably.  “Not like you have a baby keeping you up at night.”

“Not that I know of anyway.  Out late.”  He accepted a butterbeer from James.  Although it was only , they were both dead on their feet.  The deaths among Aurors had risen to the point where Crouch had decided it was due to insufficient training, and started putting everyone through their paces again.  The entire Auror division was in agreement that Crouch, who had never been in the field, had no idea what he was talking about.  No amount of training could even out the odds when you were one person facing five Death Eaters, but then none of them wanted to get involved in the politics either.

“You had a date last night, didn’t you?  How’d it go?  I have to live vicariously through you now,” James asked, and then winced at an “I heard that!” from Lily in the next room.

His best friend yawned again and then shrugged.  “Went fine, until she threw me out.”

“Why’d she throw you out?”

Another shrug.  “Too intimidated by my good looks and charm.”

“She said that?”

“Well, she said that I was ‘an immature wanker who wasn’t capable of an adult relationship.’  I was paraphrasing.”  He picked up the butterbeer and ignored James’s expression of mixed amusement and sympathy.  It as all very well to discover the right person for you in fourth year and have her realize three years later that you were completely right, but not everyone was so lucky.

James started to say something, but suddenly broke off, tensing, and reached for his wand. 

“What is it?”

He saw the immediate shift from relaxation to awareness; James’s face was set in cool determination.  There was no panic, just acceptance of something that he had been expecting.  “Someone just tested the wards.  The first is down.”  They both moved for the windows, staying out of sight, as James called in a firm but calm voice “Lily, get Harry.”

A quick glance into the kitchen and she moved up stairs without asking questions.  She knew better than to argue with her husband’s intuition when it came to this, two years as an Auror had sharpened his senses and taught them both to trust even vague feelings.  You know more than your mind thinks you do, Moody had pounded into his head.

Harry was peacefully asleep, and as she picked him up he gave a small whimper of protest that threatened to turn into a howl if his mother did not let him go back to sleep immediately.  Lily already recognized that when he screwed up his face like that he was about to really start screaming, and she sighed.  “Oh Harry, I’m sorry about this.  Silencio.”

“How many?”  Sirius asked, staying out of sight behind the curtain.

“I see three.”

“Reducto!”  And the magically reinforced door shuddered under the impact but didn’t give way. 

“Guess they’re not muggle salesmen, hm?”

“Get back!” James yelled, the door wasn’t going to withstand another curse, and glancing over his shoulder, her saw Lily and Harry disappear, literally.  He felt a rush of pride that his wife had just, in a few seconds, cast a charm that would take most wizards days to figure out, making both herself and Harry invisible.

“Reducto!”  Came again from outside and the door splintered, sending shards of wood across the kitchen. 

“Stupefy!”

“Expelliarmus!”

They both struck at once, and while the stunner missed, one of the Death Eaters’ wands flew away through the air, leaving him disarmed and open to James’s “Petrificus Totalus.”

Sirius grinned, James had learned and perfected that hex in first year and it remained one of his favorites.

“Diffindio!”  They both dodged but landed on their feet.

“Incendio!”

The wall of flames forced the Death eaters back from the door, which had been Sirius’s intention, they did not want to fight trapped in the kitchen.  There had been four of them, they now saw, and with one down, the odds were not too bad.

As James rushed out the kitchen door, a jet of red light flashed over his shoulder from Lily and the Death Eater nearest him crumpled to the ground.  Two against two, not bad.  Knowing Sirius was right behind him, he dodged an Imperius curse, rolled, and landed on his feet, all the while keeping an eye on the Death Eater.

“Crucio!”

“Reverto!”

The spells collided in midair, causing a shower of sparks that lit up the night sky, and his opponent threw himself flat on the ground to dodge his own cruciatus curse that James had sent back at him.  Not looking to see if he’d hit him or not, James ducked behind two trash cans, which immediately turned into an enormous fireball. 

“Wingardium Leviosa!”

Whatever his opponent had expected, it had not been that the trash cans would attack him, and with a shout, he barely got out of the way.

“Expelliarmus!”

“Impedimenta!”

“Protego!”

“Crucio!”

The spells flew over the small backyard, bouncing off shields and colliding in midair.  James just had enough time to register that Sirius was fighting with Bellatrix Lestrange, her mask had come off, and he was making her angrier and angrier as he taunted her.

“Is that the best you can do?” he yelled at her, dodging an Imperius curse.  Her face twisted in fury.

“Avada Kedavra!” she shrieked.

He barely missed it, it came so close he felt it sizzle the hem of his robes.  Too close.  Well, if she wanted to play dirty that was fine with him, he wasn’t afraid to use unforgivables.

“Crucio!”

She threw up a shield, but not quickly enough, and she fell back, screaming in pain, but holding the curse left him too exposed, and he immediately ducked behind the low stone wall that separated the Potters’ garden from their neighbors.  Unfortunately, it gave Bellatrix time to spin around to throw “finite incantatem” at the man James had petrified, and it became two against three again.

“Imperio!”

“Reverto!”

It came from the house behind him, and Sirius could only silently thank the still invisible Lily as it was immediately followed by another “Stupefy” and the man collapsed again as James cried “Stupefy” at the same time and caught the Death Eater square in the chest.  Bellatrix apparently considered her odds, realized that someone had their backs from inside the house, and didn’t like her chances.  She dove for the Death Eater nearest to her, and disapparated as she seized him.

James picked himself up and looked at Sirius, who was examining his robes as though his biggest concern in the world was getting dirty.  Their eyes met, in grim satisfaction.

“So it begins.”