Chapter Text
A whisper, the floating of a voice. One's secrets spilling over to the next, lapping like waves, shimmering as if they'd been shrouded in moonlight. A canary man's flinty voice lilted in the air. "James and Lily Potter... Godric's Hollow." The streets were illuminated by white LED lamps, bouncing off the leaves on the trees as the last of the birds' choir sing their final notes. The streets were deserted, abandoned by the merriment of children in their sugary heaven. That sickly sweet scent that trickled into the slits replacing his nose was almost enough to deter him from his goal. But no.
Knock. Knock. The door of the Potters. No answer. And so, like someone with a perversion towards houses, he blew the door down. Already in the corridor, James was on guard, hair and eyes rugged and enflamed.
"Exp-"
"Avada kedavra!" One down. Two to go.
Step. Step. Up the stairs. The wallpaper running under his fingers, snagging at every crevice. On the landing, to the left. A woman, singing, her infant looking up at her from the cot. Perfect. The woman looked up, horror and fear pooling into her eyes. There was a struggle, her hopeless, fickle words about love, useless, like everyone else he had killed.
"If you want him, kill me first!" Her iron, stubborn temperament not in discord with her hair of running fire. All her vowing to protect him, and for nothing.
Two down. And the last one... The last one presented more of a challenge. Wafts of a smell, one typical of babies so young, drifted past, long enough for him to catch it. Finally, this chance was his. It never could have been easier.
"Avada kedavra!" But nothing happened. Nothing happened. Why wasn't it working? The green was flashing before his eyes, and he was feeling what everyone else did before they died, that feeling of despair, that feeling of- No consciousness. No nothing.
He was broken.
He was gone.
Barely.
Et victimas manere.