While Lily Potter had excelled in potions, she had been a charms prodigy.1 Her husband, James, had been as skilled at transfiguration as she had been at charms, and the two of them had competed for top honours in Defence against the Dark arts.2 James had struggled in Ancient Runes, which had come naturally to Lily, and so it was that she took the lead in researching protective measures when they learned that Voldemort3 was targeting their infant son. The accepted wisdom is that there is no defence against the killing curse, and having faced him three times, both knew the “unforgivable” curses to be particular favourites of his. There was no doubt in either mind it was this curse they needed to defend their son against.
The Potter family was an old one, the first recorded magical Potter was from the twelfth century, which is respectable, even in wizarding terms. What is not well known that they had inherited the legacy of the Peverell family. If you asked the Blacks or the Notts, or even the Macmillans or Longbottoms, you would probably be told that the Gaunts were the heirs of the Peverells. The Potters, very quietly, knew better.4 The eldest Peverell brother had died, murdered in his sleep, childless and thus without an heir. The Gaunt family has always claimed to be descended from both the Slytherin Family and the Gaunt family, and have used the Peverell ring and Slytherin’s locket as proof of this claim. Their claim is that the ring is a signet ring, which might hold some weight if it had come from Antioch, the elder brother, but not from Cadmus, the middle brother. To those who truly know, it is the cloak, not the ring, that goes to the heir of the Peverell family, as it is the third son, Ignotus, who alone lived long enough to have and raise children. Following in Ignotus’ footsteps, the Potters allow the Gaunts to claim credit as the Peverell heir. Let them paint a target on their backs. The Potters have something far more important - the Peverell library that, like the cloak, can be used to protect the family.
In the muggle world, scientists share their results, each building on those who have come before. The magical world works quite differently, which perhaps explains why it so often stagnates. In the magical world, families hoard knowledge and share it out with schools like Hogwarts only when there is a clear benefit to do so, usually a quid pro quo between some of the great families.5 The Potters may be just barely old enough to be respectable, but the Peverells are ancient. The Potters have eight centuries of accumulated knowledge; the Peverell family was old and famous when it ended as the Potters began. No one outside the family knows how many centuries of knowledge the Peverell Library adds to the Potter Library. It is this combined Library that Lily had at her finger tips, using magical access (to keep the actual Library secure and hidden), as she and James fled with Harry from refuge to refuge before finally settling behind the fidelus. And after months of research, she had something. It was massively theoretical. Nothing quite like it had ever been tried. But it should work. It came a hideous cost, but nothing was more important than Harry’s survival. She talked it over with James, and they both agreed. The stage was set. If the worst came to the worst, if the fidelus failed them, if somehow they were found, … each wrote letters, left in the family vault, so that hopefully Harry would grow up knowing something of them no matter what.
James was playing with Harry in the living room. Lily came in, and took Harry off to bed. James felt the thin thread of magic they had left snap as the gate opened. That would only happen if someone unknown, unexpected entered the property, something that should not happen, could not happen, unless Peter had betrayed them. The worst had come. It was time to play his part. It would take consummate acting, or Voldemort would suspect something. He dropped his wand on the couch and stretched as if he suspected nothing
- as if he felt safe, secure. When the door burst open, he charged down the hall, yelling for Lily (as if she did not already know and were not already drawing the necessary runes on Harry), leaving his wand behind as if by accident. He had to move fast. If Voldemort had any time at all, he would realise that the idea that James would forget his wand was ridiculous. But the expected flash of green came, and James let it. Let his sacrifice, walking (well, running, but same thing) willingly to his death, power the protection Lily was even now preparing.
Lily finished drawing the runes on Harry, using her saliva, so that they would not show, so that Voldemort would have no clue they were there. It was hair raising work, it would be so easy to make a mistake because just as he could not see them, she could barely tell what she was doing as well. Fortunately it only took a couple of runes across his forehead. As the door to the nursery burst, like the door to the house had moments before, she placed herself between the crib and the monster bent on destroying her family. She begged for Harry’s life, trilled that they had guessed right. Voldemort had promised her to that creep who had once been her friend, Severus. She would have her chance. As expected, Voldemort lost patience, and the green light flashed. She felt unbelievable pain as her soul was ripped from her body. James’ sacrifice was not, however, in vain. She did not pass on. Her soul, invisible, untainted by the dark magic that she had steadfastly refused to use in life, continued to “stand” between her son and the monster. As the green light flashed again, it hit her, not Harry. But she was already dead; it could not kill her again. It bounced back, and hit Voldemort.
That was when it went wrong. It did not kill him. It shattered his soul, which was tainted, unbelievably tainted, by unbelievably dark magic, and so was visible as a dark cloud. Much of the shattered soul reformed and fled. One sliver however struck her, pushed her back, and together they fell immaterially against Harry. The runes that attracted her, that helped anchor her to form the most effective shield for her son, now worked against her. The shard, eager to take control of her son’s body, hijacked the runes. It was all she could do to stay in between - to ensure that the shard could not possess her son. A battle of wills and of magic began.
Per my initial notes, one of the key aspects of this universe is that I was fairly mathematical about magic. Thus the most pivotal characters need a breakdown of their abilities. See the author’s notes on power levels.↩︎
See the author’s notes on power levels.↩︎
See the author’s notes on power levels.↩︎
See my notes on [Culture/Harrypedia/culture/)↩︎