A Different Halloween

Chapter 16

-oOoOo-

Lily shot straight up in bed screaming, the whole house must have heard the haunting cry of 'Petunia!'

James was once more trying to comfort her when she appeared to get control of herself, "We need to get over there as quickly as possible."

He was about to object when Lily interrupted him. "I need to go too! Don't look at me like that James, they will be more inclined to hand that baby over to his aunt than his uncle." They had an audience by this point and it was to one of them that Lily spoke next. "Emma, I hate to impose on you more..."

Emma was standing at the door in her nightdress, along with Dan, Remus and Sirius who had all responded to that scream. She didn't give Lily time to finish, "Go! Dudley will be welcome here and of course we'll keep an eye on Harry until you get back." Both Grangers headed straight for their daughter's bedroom to check on the kids as the other four got ready to leave.

Lily appeared so exhausted just by getting ready that James had to apparate her to the little park at the end of Privet Drive, they were soon joined by Sirius and Remus. All four were bathed by the flashing lights of the police, ambulance and fire brigade vehicles that appeared to be breeding like cockroaches. A British Gas Emergency Response van also added its lights to the macabre carnival ahead, they were soon having to push their way through the rubbernecking crowd.

There was also an auror presence as James and Sirius recognised a face or two, Sirius headed off to gather information from them while Remus canvassed the crowd. James had a full time job just keeping his wife upright, first sight of the house they had visited yesterday had Lily's legs giving out. It was only when Remus returned with some news that Lily appeared to come back to life.

"Dudley's alive and currently in a neighbour's house while they work out what to do with him, he's in number seven."

They shoved their way over to the house and knocked on the door, only for it to be answered by a policeman. Lily pushed right past him and the policewoman currently holding the child fared no better. The female officer was left with little option but to relinquish her grip on the toddler as the crying woman wrapped her arms around Dudley. Her male colleague though had correctly read the situation. "Can I assume you are related to the child?"

James was left to answer as Lily grieved for her sister while holding the precious boy. "We're Dudley's uncle and aunt, my wife here is Petunia Dursley's sister. We've just arrived and rushed over here on hearing the child was pulled from the building, can you give us anymore details?"

The policeman reckoned there was no harm in giving the basic details that most folk standing out on the street already knew. "We found both Dursleys dead and another man in some sort of strange robe badly injured. We have suspicions there may have been a fourth person present but have found no trace of them yet. The gas supply has been shut off to the entire estate and the team from the gas board are currently searching for the breach."

Sirius arrived with some more news that he quietly passed on to James and Remus, "It would appear a certain dark lord is no more. One of his death eaters was also in the house, a certain Snivellus finally showed his true colours. I can't think how else his master would have found out about Petunia, even the rat didn't know any more details than Lily had a sister. Snape knew her though, didn't he?"

The marauders didn't know she'd been listening but it was Lily who answered. "Yes he did. We grew up together and we were still friends when she married Vernon. I can't believe he would sell us out?"

It was Remus who quietly answered, "We thought exactly the same of Peter, ten years of good friendship wiped out in an instant."

Both police officers suddenly realised they had something to do elsewhere and left the house, the group then found themselves joined by Barty Crouch. "Is this the child responsible for ridding the world of the dark lord? Is it really a muggle?"