Hogwarts with the Marauders (II) [OLD]

EPILOGUE

EPILOGUE

The couple were wrapped in a single coat, hurrying down the cobbled streets of Godric's Hollow, giggling excitedly as they neared the Potters' home. Not even bothering to knock, the man grasped the golden door-knob and swung the door open, calling "HAPPY HALLOWEEN!" into the house without a care in the world of who he woke up. ("Harry'll still be up, Alessia, it's Halloween! We told James and Lily we'd be dropping by.")

There was a ringing silence and the two looked at each other.

“Sirius?” whispered the woman, Alessia, softly as she rubbed the engagement ring on her left hand, “did James mention anything that would insinuate they were going out tonight?”

“Not that I remember.” Sirius replied in a whisper equally as soft. He took out his wand, surprised at how steady his hand was despite the fear he was now feeling. “Let’s look around.”

The two separated, Sirius saying he would check out the kitchen and surrounding hallways while Alessia said she would creep around upstairs. Both said, “Lumos,” at the same time and opened a door.

Sirius walked with light feet, careful not to make any noise as he whispered, more to himself, “James… This isn’t funny, Prongs, really.”

“OUCH!”

Sirius froze, pointing his wand to the ceiling,

“Ale, you okay?”

“Yes, I just stepped on a piece of glass, that’s all!” she called back.

“Where would the glass have come from?” Sirius inquired, desperate to keep her talking. Alessia’s voice soothed him.

“Lily or James probably dropped a plate, or something.” Alessia assumed, now moving around over Sirius’ head. Her footsteps suddenly stopped. “Or Harry was having a nice little ride on that broomstick you got him for Christmas and he broke the small, stain-glass window of the nursery.”

Sirius rolled his eyes as he pulled back a door to see a closet.

“If he did, it was in no shape or form my fault, I simply–”

Her scream cut through Sirius’ words.

“Alessia!”

“I’m alright!” she answered loudly, her voice slightly uneven. “Just – Just don’t c-come up here, p-please.”

“Alessia…” Sirius said warningly as he slowly left the kitchen and made his way to the bottom of the stairs. “What did you see?”

By the time he found her in the nursery doorway, she was as pale as a ghost and tears were streaming freely down her face. She looked like she was about to faint and Sirius would have to, now seeing what was inside the room: James Potter, lying face down on the carpet; Lily was a little further away from him, clutching the bars of an empty crib.

“Where’s Harry?” he asked hoarsely.

This snapped Alessia out of her trance and she looked around, looking lost.

“I-I don’t know. M-Maybe –”

She and Sirius said the name at the same time: “Dumbledore.”

“Why w-w-would,” Alessia steadied her breathing and tried again, speaking quickly to get all the words out, “Why would the Order move only Harry’s b-body?” She burst into tears, leaning on Sirius for support, her shoulders shaking.

“Maybe the Order stopped Voldemort before he could get to Harry,” Sirius found himself saying, though his voice felt hollow. His heart ached, his limbs felt weak as he stared down at his best friend and his wife at his feet. “Maybe Harry’s still alive.”

Somehow, though they couldn’t remember doing this, the couple ended up back in the cobbled streets of Godric’s Hollow, sitting down on the front steps of the Potters’ home. Alessia was leaning on Sirius’ shoulder, and though she had stopped sobbing, tears were still slowly falling down her pale face.

“B-But, Sirius…” Alessia said suddenly, her brow furrowing as she lifted her head off of his shoulder to look at him, “I thought you were their Secret Keeper.”

“No,” answered Sirius, rolling his eyes as if this was the most obvious thing in the world, “Remember? We changed it to…”

Sirius trailed off. Of course, she wouldn’t remember; only Sirius, James and Lily had known who the true Secret Keeper was. He made himself a mental note to apologize to Remus when he next saw him for thinking he was the traitor and he kissed Alessia forehead, murmuring, “I’m sorry we didn’t tell you who it really was, the traitor could have been anyone.”

“Wait,” Alessia began, but Sirius was already tearing down the streets, his grief replaced by anger as Alessia followed behind him calling, “Who was it, Peter or Remus? Sirius!”

“WORMTAIL!” Sirius roared as he saw the traitor, lumbering down a neighboring street. At the sound of his old nickname, he froze and turned around, looking extremely innocent and out-of-it. The nerve of him! “WE TRUSTED YOU, PETTIGREW!”

“Sweet Merlin…” Alessia murmured, placing a hand on her heart as she stopped next to Sirius. She, too, was suddenly angry. “How could you, Peter? After everything?!” She felt in her pocket for her wand, but found it was not there; she had left it at home, but she didn’t care at the moment.

“How could you say that to me, Alessia?” Peter yelled back, and now the eleven Muggles on the street were stopping, too. “Sirius is the traitor! I CAN’T BELIEVE SIRIUS BLACK BETRAYED THE POTTERS!”

And then it happened: a curse was on the tip of Sirius’ tongue; Alessia lunged at Peter; Peter’s wand moved and a sudden blast of white light was felt, the Blasting Curse, throwing everyone back. Peter was no more, and unknown to Sirius, he was now scurrying down the sewers as a rat and would be in hiding for the next twelve years.

“Alessia, love, are you okay?” Sirius muttered gladly, thinking Pettigrew had been killed by his own curse. He was oblivious to the eleven other victims lying dead a few feet away. Alessia was all that mattered to him. But she didn’t answer as he crawled over to her. “Alessia?”

The Ministry of Magic employees arrived on the scene a second later, dragging Sirius away from Alessia’s limp body and claiming they heard Pettigrew proclaim the truth, that Sirius had betrayed the Potters and Sirius had killed him. It would be off to Azkaban for him, and there would be a remembrance ceremony for the twelve Muggles caught in the attack. It was unknown to them that one of these so-called Muggles was a witch who had forgotten her wand by the name of Alessia De Luca.

A/N: That's it! That's the end. It's been an amazing ride, but I'll be truthfull and say I'm glad it's over. I added the picture on the side because it amused me. :P Another fan fiction will be coming out soon, Marauders era again. For now, especially those who read TDTA, but everyone really, remember the name Anthea Grey. ;)