Silent Magic, Silent Stone-A Harry Potter AU

The Boy Who Lived

Lily Potter entered the room. She saw James, her husband, with Harry, her son. James was making puffs of colored smoke erupt from his wand for the amusement of the small black-haired boy in his blue pajamas. Harry was laughing and trying to catch the smoke, to grab it in his small fist. "Hey, James. I'm going to put Harry down for bed." Lily brushed her hair out of her eyes. James scooped up Harry and handed him to Lily. James threw his wand down upon the sofa and stretched, yawning. Lily left the room, holding the baby. 

Lily watched, petrified, as James came sprinting into the hall. A pale man with dark hair strode into the hall.

Lord Voldemort.

His once-handsome face was flat and snakelike, with only two slits for nostrils. His eyes, once dark, were red like blood. His skin, once fair, was gaunt and sallow. He slowly drew out his wand.

"Accio James's wand!" Lily shouted. She then threw the wand to James, who caught it with an elaborate flourish. James was always like that.

"Lily, take Harry and go! Go! Run! I'll hold him off!" Lily hesitated for a second and then ran.

Hold him off! He laughed before casting the charm.

"Diffindo!"

Red light filled the cramped hallway, it lit the pram pushed against the wall, it made the banisters glare like lightning rods, and James Potter stumbled, shrieking in agony, his right shin separated from his body. He stopped screaming quickly, clutching his stump of a leg, whimpering. 

Lord Voldemort waved his wand again, and the light filled the hall, but James Potter dove out of the way. His pants tore, and blood poured out of the deep wound on his left leg. He had lost a lot of blood; he would die soon. The floor was covered in a red puddle. Lord Voldemort lifted up the hem of his robes as he walked around the puddle of blood.

He could hear Lily screaming from the upper floor, trapped, but as long as she was sensible, she, at least, had nothing to fear. Voldemort climbed the steps, listening with faint amusement to her attempts to barricade herself in. How stupid they were, and how trusting, thinking that their safety lay in friends. 

The Dark Lord forced the door open, cast aside the chair and boxes hastily piled against it with one lazy wave of his wand . . . and there she stood, the child in her arms. At the sight of him, she dropped her son into the crib behind her and grabbed her wand.

"Petrificus Totalus!"

"Stand aside, you silly girl . . . stand aside, now." He blocked it with a lazy flick of his wand.

"Not Harry, please no, take me, kill me instead —Protego!"

"This is my last warning —"

"Not Harry! Please . . . have mercy . . . have mercy. . . . Not Harry! Not Harry! Please — I'll do anything —" She flicked her wand and the boxes she had used to block the door piled between them. Another flick and they turned to stone

"Stand aside. Stand aside, girl!"

The green light flashed around the room but was blocked by the boxes; Lily started to weep.

"Abscondeo!" Lily had put a bubble around herself and the crib.

Voldemort flicked his wand again and the bubble disappeared. Another flick and the boxes moved away. "Crucio!" Lily Potter shrieked in pain, but it did not matter.

The child had not cried all this time: He could stand, clutching the bars of his crib, and he looked up into the intruder's face with a kind of bright interest, perhaps thinking that it was his father who hid beneath the cloak, making more pretty lights. But it was not, and Lily Potter's screams were becoming louder.

He pointed the wand very carefully into the boy's ear. He flicked his wand once and a loud bang echoed around the room. He wailed a few times. Voldemort did not like that, but soon the child stopped, confused; he could not hear the wails; he was deaf.

Voldemort repositioned his wand into the boy's face. He wanted to see it happen, the destruction of this one, inexplicable danger. The child began to cry: It had seen that he was not James. He did not like it crying, he had never been able to stomach the small ones whining in the orphanage —

"Avada Kedavra!"

And then he broke: He was nothing, nothing but pain and terror, and he must hide himself, not here in the rubble of the ruined house, where the child was trapped and screaming, but far away - far away. . . .

Lily Potter stopped screaming but lay on the ground, shaking. The house was in ruins. Her son was screaming, but she couldn't stand.

She laid on the floor for a time - how long, she did not know - until she heard a -

BANG!

- from downstairs. More noises followed, including a scream. Lily hauled herself into a sitting position.

BANG!

The door fell down.

A giant stood in its frame, and in his arms was an unconscious James.

"Lily! Wha' are yeh doin' down there?"

"Hagrid!" Lily tried to haul herself up but failed.

"Lemme help yeh, Lily. Wha' happened?"

"It was. . . . him, Hagrid."

"Not You-Know-Who?"

"It was, Hagrid. He used the Cruciatus Curse on me."

"Surely not! Lily, we need to get yeh to Sain' Mungo's! Yeh and James. Where's Harry?"

"He's over there," Lily pointed at the crib. Hagrid hauled both Lily and Harry in his arms.

"Can yeh Appara'?"

"No," Lily had to restrain herself from rolling her eyes.

"Well, I've got a motorcycle out back. Let's go."