Chapter Text
“Avada kedavra,” the snake-like man hissed, the green of the killing curse heading for Hartley Ignotus Potter. It hit the emerald eyed toddler in the left eye, changing the color from emerald to a red wine tint. Jeremiah was screaming bloody murder, and when the serpentine wizard saw that the younger twin was unharmed but for the ocular color change, he turned his wand to the screaming baby, incanting the same spell. He intended to take a more hands-on approach with the first boy, but wanted to silence the caterwauling first, since it was giving him a massive headache. A sudden rush of power engulfed the older twin and the curse was turned back onto its caster, obliterating the evil magician where he stood. However, the impact of the spell against the shield shattered it, and a small bit of the curse got through, impacting against the child’s forehead and scarring Jeremiah with a cross-like shape.
James and Lily Potter weren’t home when Voldemort decided to target the twins. They had an important function at the Ministry that they just had to attend, and didn’t want to drag two restless babies along with them. So they asked their friend, Peter Pettigrew, if he would watch the twins whilst they went and networked with the rich and snooty, taking Sirius and Remus with them. Lily had become a bit of a crusader after the babies were born, and saw every public gathering as an opportunity to expound on the virtues of muggleborns and creatures, using Remus as a shining example of a ‘tame’ werewolf. The lycan saw no insult in her efforts; he was just glad that his infirmity didn’t prevent his very best friends and chosen pack from accepting him, warts and all.
Unbeknownst to the Potters, Black and Lupin, Pettigrew was firmly in the Dark Lord’s pocket, and had been used to spy out the lay of the land for him ever since the Marauders and Evans had graduated from Hogwarts three years earlier. The ratlike man was attracted to the overwhelming power of Voldemort, and wanted to shelter in that for as long as he could. Now, however, he watched, mouth hanging open in shock, as all his hopes and dreams for safety and acceptance were blown apart by the twins’ accidental magic. The Dark Lord’s wand rolled away and Peter swooped in and snatched it up, following the bit of ectoplasm that was what was left of his savior as it drifted out through the hole in the side of the nursery.
What seemed like hours later, but was only forty-five minutes, another person entered the home, taking the stairs two at a time in his haste to check on the little boys and the other occupants of the little cottage. Sliding into the babies’ room, he stopped dead at what he saw. On the floor in front of the two cribs was dust and clothing, and the man peered closely at the robes, trying to see to whom they belonged in the dim light of the waxing crescent moon. Ebon eyebrows flew into his hairline as Severus Snape realized that he was staring at what was left of the Dark Lord. He took two large steps up to the cribs with one end against the wall, peering closely at the toddlers within them.
Jeremiah was still screaming, and there was a sluggish runnel of blood dripping down his forehead from an odd marking scored into the flesh there. Hartley was deeply asleep, almost as if he’d passed out, and nothing Snape could do would rouse the child. The fact that the toddler was still breathing was the only thing that reassured the Potions Master that the boy was all right. Of the Potters, the mutt or the wolf, there was no sign. He didn’t know how long he stood there before noises from downstairs alerted him that the occupants were home, and he frantically looked around for a place to hide. It was too late to apparate out, since he didn’t want to alert anyone that he was there, so he found some debris in a corner under which he could hide, and he cast a disillusionment charm and some Auror-level masking charms to prevent detection. Settling down, he waited with bated breath to see what would happen when the Potters discovered the destruction.
“I really think I’ve made some progress with some of the purebloods,” he heard Lily say as she and her husband ascended the stairs. Another set of footsteps indicated a third person with the couple, and Snape suspected that Albus had come with them, though he couldn’t figure out why. “If I can just get them to donate to my charity…” The woman’s words trailed off as she turned on the nursery light and finally caught sight of the devastation. Emerald eyes instantly went to Jeremiah first, as he was the oldest and the rightful Potter heir. She noticed the sluggishly bleeding wound on her baby’s forehead and darted forward, tripping over Voldemort’s robes in the process. She murmured nonsense words to the crying child, soothing him into quieting before she looked at her other son, sleeping soundly in the other crib.
“Is that...is that Voldemort?” James asked incredulously as he stared down at the pile of ash and burnt clothing.
“I don’t see a wand anywhere, but that’s the customary clothing he chooses to wear,” Albus explained with a frown. He looked from Jeremiah to Hartley, thoughts clicking over in his brain, before his blue eyes brightened and he smiled widely. “Jeremiah must have prevented Voldemort from doing whatever he’d come here to do,” the old man remarked cheerfully. “I know that the prophecy was leaked to him, so he must have come here to kill the prophecy child. That he was turned back in such a way, and with the mark on young Jeremiah’s forehead, he must be the Savior of the wizarding world and vanquisher of the Dark Lord Voldemort. He is the Boy Who Lived!”
“My heir,” James gasped happily. “Of course it would be the oldest boy to be the prophecy child. He’s a true Potter, all right.”
“What about Hartley?” Lily asked curiously, barely glancing at the sleeping child in the other crib as she hugged her Jeremiah closely. “It doesn’t look like he even woke up during this whole mess.”
“Kill the spare,” Dumbledore replied flatly. “It’s patently obvious that Jeremiah has all the power necessary to fulfill the prophecy. If Hartley grows up in Jeremiah’s shadow, he’ll grow to resent his older brother and could bring Darkness into the family. You would be doing him a mercy to get rid of him. You could claim that Voldemort killed him first, and when he turned his wand on the older twin, Jeremiah’s righteous anger at the death of his little brother brought his powerful accidental magic forward and eliminated the threat, but it was too late to save Hartley.”
The three adults left the room, Jeremiah wrapped securely in Lily’s arms, forgetting about the silent, sleeping child that they’d left behind. “Are you sure that’s wise Albus?” Severus could hear Lily ask as they descended the stairs. “We might not be able to convince everyone that Hartley died during the attack.”
“It’ll be fine,” was the last thing that Snape heard as he carefully extricated himself from the debris and approached the occupied crib. He looked down at the boy inside, dark eyes unaccountably sad at the thought that his once best friend would so easily agree to murder one of her own children.
“I guess I didn’t know her as well as I thought I did,” he whispered as he reached into the crib and extracted the sleeping Hartley. The toddler stirred slightly before snuggling into the Potions Master’s arms, almost as if he belonged there, and with a fond smile, Severus activated the emergency portkey that Lucius had given him after they graduated. ‘If you ever need a place to hide, where you won’t be found, use this and it’ll bring you straight to the manor. My home will always be your home.’
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November 3, 1981
The Daily Prophet
YOU KNOW WHO DEAD!
Jeremiah Potter Savior of the wizarding world!
Rita Skeeter, reporter
It is my great privilege to report that He Who Must Not Be Named is dead! Late on the evening of Samhain, whilst James and Lily Potter were attending a soirée at the Ministry of Magic, You Know Who entered their fidelius-protected cottage at Godric’s Hollow and assassinated Hartley Ignotus Potter, the younger twin of James and Lily Potter. Enraged at his younger brother’s death, Jeremiah James Potter rose up and sent the maniac’s own killing curse, which he’d fired at the elder child, back at the man, destroying him and saving all of wizardkind. The Savior of the wizarding world, the Boy Who Lived has rescued us all from certain death and enslavement at the feet of that maniacal, insane wizard, and I, for one, am exceedingly grateful for his efforts.
My gratitude is tempered, however, with sorrow that an innocent had to die in the crossfire. I interviewed Hartley’s godfather, Sirius Black, and this is what he had to say. “It breaks my heart that both of the twins couldn’t have survived the attack. My godson was a wonderful, loving child, and if I had known that he was going to be attacked that horrible night, I would have stayed home, instead of attending the party along with James, Lily and Remus. The cottage was under a fidelius, with Peter Pettigrew as secret keeper, so now we know who let that bastard in to kill the children. I say this to you, Pettigrew. There is no rock under which you can hide that I won’t find you. I know you well, old friend; death is coming for you.”
Pettigrew, as many of you might not be aware, was one of four students attending Hogwarts in the seventies who called themselves the Marauders. The other three were Sirius Black, Remus Lupin and James Potter, and they ruled the school, pranking whomever they wished with impunity. Severus Snape, the youngest man to attain a potions Mastery and the pride of the magical world of the UK, had this to say. “I was a frequent victim of the Marauders’ bullying ways, simply because I was a Slytherin and a friend to Lily Potter, whose name was Evans at the time. They always did their level best to humiliate me in order to separate me from Lily, but it was a prank during our OWLs year that completely destroyed our friendship. Lily offered to help me, because that prank had exposed the lack of care my parents were supposed to provide me, and I lashed out at her in my embarrassment and humiliation. I begged her forgiveness for the words I used, but the offense went too deep, and we never reconciled.”
When asked about the death of their youngest child, he told me, “I know of no magic that could turn aside a killing curse, so I find it odd that one twin perished that night, but not the other. I also know that the killing curse doesn’t leave a single mark, yet the surviving boy has a crucifix shaped scar on his forehead. Where is the proof that the other twin had perished? All we have is their word for it, backed up by Albus Dumbledore who, I suspect, has an ulterior motive for spreading this wild tale.” Those are very good points that professor Snape had brought up, and questions this reporter would like answered, as I’m sure my readers do, as well.
“Well, his ‘death’ is set, and there will be questions to both the Potters and Dumbledore for the unbelievable story they're bandying about,” Severus told Lucius and Narcissa after reading the article aloud. “Now we can be assured that Hartley will be safe from them for the foreseeable future.”
“What are we going to do with him?” Narcissa asked quietly. “We can’t leave him on their family tree. I’m actually surprised they haven’t checked that yet and figured out that Hartley’s still alive.”
“They’ve been too busy hailing the other one as a ‘hero’,” Lucius drawled with a sneer. Hartley was in the nursery with Draco; they’d locked eyes as soon as Severus brought the little boy home, and became instant friends, and wanted to spend all their time together. Hartley would sometimes cry for his mum and dad, but Severus, Lucius and Narcissa would come in immediately and soothe the toddler’s loneliness, until he finally adjusted to his new circumstances. Quietly, he told them that Jeremiah got all the attention all the time, and he often felt alone and neglected, except when ‘unka Pa’foo’ would come by to play with him. “But you are right, darling. We’ll need to remove him from their family tree, and we need to use someone that’s part of our circle, but distant enough so that they don’t cause any suspicion.”
“Well, we can approach Zaphira and Ehno Zabini, and see if they would like to adopt Hartley,” Severus suggested quietly. “They’ve never been blatantly supportive of the Dark Lord, so they might be neutral enough not to raise any suspicions.”