To be a Slytherin

Part 1

It was nearly midnight as the Dark Lord stalked through the streets of Godric's Hollow. He knew that at this hour, the Potter family would definitely be home. And, he needed them to be home. After all, he was planning on killing their child.

The house was dark except for two lights, both upstairs. He hadn't noticed the house when he had come through the Hollow a few days prior, but that was the strength of the Fidelius charm for you. Now that he knew the address of the Potter's house, it was easy to find. He walked towards the house languidly, knowing that they wouldn't have time to escape.

As soon as he used Alohamora to open the door, James Potter appeared at the bottom of the stairs. "Lily, get Hecate out of here! I'll hold him off!" The young man pulled his wand and pointed it at the Dark Lord. "Not another step," he commanded. Or tried to command him. Unfortunately, Lord Voldemort wasn't going to listen to him.

"James Potter. It's a pity you always defy me. You would have made a wonderful Death Eater. You're good at magic, and no one would suspect Gryffindor's pretty boy. Unfortunately, you stand in my way. Every. Time. That means that I'll have to kill you. I'm sorry, Potter." With those words, the Dark Lord fired the killing curse off at James.

Lord Voldemort then went up the stairs to where Lily was trying to wrap her daughter in a blanket. Hearing him come to the doorway, she spun around and stood protectively in front of the crib.

"Please," she begged. "Leave us be! We have nothing left. Leave us alone! Won't you stop this meaningless killing? In the end it won't have done anything to help your cause."

Voldemort smiled caustically. "Of course it will. It will make everyone realize just how powerful pure-bloods are. And believe me, we are powerful. Now, get out of my way, woman, or I'll kill you and the baby."

"You will not harm her!" Lily yelled at him.

"Don't say that I didn't warn you," Voldemort snarled, aiming his wand at Lily. "Avada Kedavra!" With his words, a jet of green light shot from his wand.

Lily slumped to the ground, the life gone from her body. "How pathetic. She didn't even try to get out of the way of the curse. Now, for you, child."

The one-year-old blinked up at him in curiosity. The Dark Lord pointed his wand at the young girl, but she didn't recognize the threat the move held. She reached out and grabbed the end of the wand, squealing when flowers bloomed from the tip she was gripping.

"It is unfortunate that you were born to the Potters," Voldemort told her. "You could have become a very powerful witch if you had the chance to grow up." He pulled his wand from the baby's grip and aimed it at her head.

Voldemort fired off the killing curse expecting to watch the girl die. Instead, the spell backfired, destroying his mortal body. "What how could this have happened?" He cried out in despair as his soul was cast out of the small house.

Thirty minutes later, Severus Snape rushed into the house. The man was concerned when he found James' body on the floor, and distraught when he found Lily's. "Why? WHY?" he screamed. "He said he wouldn't hurt you!" As he sobbed over the woman's body, the young child in the crib merely stared at him.

"Severus, what are you doing here? I thought that you would be at Hogwarts preparing for tomorrow's lessons." Dumbledore's words did nothing to shake Snape out of his grief.

"He killed her! He said he wouldn't harm a hair on her head, and he killed her! I thought that Potter would at least be able to keep her safe, but no! How could this have happened? Lily!"

Dumbledore sighed. I'm getting too old for this. "Severus, I can help you get revenge, but first we need to put Lily, James, and Hecate to rest properly." The child made a curious sort of noise, causing them to both look at the baby in the crib. The two men were startled to see the toddler staring back at them.

"How are you still alive?" Severus questioned.

"Magic!" the baby chirped with a small giggle.

Dumbledore and Snape turned to each other. "Did she just say?" Snape questioned.

Dumbledore nodded. "I believe that she did. That is quite strange. I was under the impression that she had just started speaking words like Mama and Papa." They looked back at the girl to see her climbing out of her crib.

When she reached the top of the little wall around the crib, she jumped off. Both of the Hogwarts professors cast a cushioning charm on the ground beneath the baby, but it turned out to be unnecessary. About a foot and a half off of the ground, she caught herself with magic.