On the final night of the First Wizarding War, two men and one woman sat around a roaring brazier in the heights of Hogwarts Castle. The eldest of the two men and indeed the eldest member of the company in general was a practically ancient man, as thin as a stick but with an impression of great strength regardless. The most striking aspect of his features was a long silver beard tucked firmly into his belt, but one's eyes might also have been drawn to his crooked and misshapen nose or gentle blue eyes. This man was relaxed in a large maroon stuffed armchair, one hand absently stroking an impressive golden and red bird while he spoke with the other members of his company. His voice was gentle.

"You shall have to tell the Minister, Alastor that I cannot tell him where the Potters are. It is beyond my abilities, or indeed my rights to do so. I can, if he wishes put in a good word for him with the actual secret-keeper but I regret to say that I doubt the use of such an action."

The other man, Alastor smirked or at least tried to. Due to the number of scars he bore including one that had taken out a third of his nose, it resembled more of a grimace. Impressively this seemed to cause him little issue, though the injury that had taken out one of his legs was another matter. Of course, anyone seeing the man would not have noticed this any of this at first, because the strange electric eye that occupied one side of his face was a far more interesting feature.

"Old Bagnold won't be pleased, Albus" barked Alastor; "She's been hounding me to get the Potters under auror protection ever since You-Know-Who started showing this 'strange interest' in them."

"Then she's a fool" said the woman sitting upright in the third chair; "If the aurors discover where James and Lily are hiding, then You-Know-Who will in short order. If she thinks that the Ministry hasn't been infiltrated-"

"I know that" replied the scarred man, "But her faith in Barty is more than mine. Even with the productive methods brought in by him, at least a third of the Wizengamot is in his pockets or quietly supporting him or too weak-willed to do anything, ever! And all the other departments are the same!"

"Raging about it won't help the situation, Alastor" replied the woman; "Only action will ensure his defeat and his followers' expulsion."

Alastor grunted and responded, "I would say my capture of Dolohov counts as 'action'."

The woman who had questioned him continued to look stern, though her eyes showed amusement. She was a rather tall and prim lady in appearance, with her dark and tied-up hair only confirming that impression. Even her green crocked hat and green tartan robes did not diminish the suggestion that crossing this woman was a very bad idea.

"Do you have any further ideas, Albus?" she asked, turning her attention to the bearded man with the bird; "Even with the recent damage to You-Know-Who's operations – yes, thank you Alastor – he still outnumbers the Ministry and I assume the Order as well, though you and I have agreed not to discuss the membership. We cannot continue for long if the recent losses continue."

Albus smiled, eyes twinkling as ever. "As it happens Minerva, I have a few. I have been in contact with the Potters and we are currently discussing how to proceed in that matter – as I have previously stated, I sadly cannot tell you why they are so important; only that they are. I have, with Alastor's aid advised Barty on several matters and Millicent on several more in person. Between them, I hope to separate Voldemort from many of his supporters: first those giants who have not been slain by the Ministry's counterattack; then the werewolves who in many cases I suspect can be convinced to cease their actions by improving certain laws and repealing others – which naturally should have been done prior, though we mustn't dwell on the past – and then finally the Death Eaters themselves. Many will have to go to Azkaban I am afraid, though I believe a large amount of them will defect once Voldemort's support is known to be slipping. Thankfully the Inferi have been dealt with for the time being, though we will have to remain vigilant, naturally."

"In the meantime, I suppose you have no issues with the aurors doing what they should?" Alastor questioned.

"Not at all" the elder man replied, "While I disagree with Barty's tactics, he is indeed right that sometimes lethal force is required. It merely is not my right to administer it, but then again I am not a member of the government."

"Not from lack of ability" Minerva said loyally; "The Wizengamot and the public as a whole would be happier with you in that position. I doubt even Bagnold would even protest."

"And that is precisely why I must remain out of power, Minerva" Albus replied, "For once I was in those high halls, who would deign to remove me?"

Any further conversation was interrupted by the sudden whistling of a strange silver instrument, sat with many more of its kind on several desks and in several cabinets near the front of the room, away from where the men and woman were seated. With a loud and faintly vulgar noise, the 'lid' of the object flew open to release an unsettling green gas and the faint smell of liquorice. Judging by the flash of shock on Albus' face, this was not an expected thing.

It took Albus ten minutes to reach the edge of the grounds, by which point the entire affair at the village of Godric's Hollow was over. Hagrid, the bearded giant of a groundskeeper had endeavoured to join him, while Alastor and Minerva had left separately to assess the situation in the Ministry. The groundskeeper stumbled slightly once Albus had finished apparating, but the elder man was already purposely striding towards the cobblestone cottage that now stood before them. He was relieved to see that the building appeared almost entirely undamaged, although the front door had been blasted off its hinges and now lay smoking in a bed of roses. He was further relieved to realise that his worst expectations of the attack had apparently been unfounded, for the couple and child he had feared for were most definitely not deceased. Indeed, they stood before him arguing loudly with another man, while a very smug cat sat licking itself at their feet.

"Sirius, I want to break Peter's neck just as much as you, but we can't go after him straight away!" barked the first man, a tall and thin figure with messy black hair and a large scar on his cheek that his wife was busy fussing over. In his arms was sat a baby with the same hair, who looked rather put out at all the arguing (or possibly due to not being the centre of attention). He was sat on a wooden lawn chair, that had apparently been dragged over from a set of them a few metres away.

"If we don't go after Peter now, he'll have escaped!" whined Sirius, a larger fellow with a longer mop of dark hair and a short aristocratic beard; "How then will we find one rat in all of Britain!" He laughed, a harsh bark with the faintest twinge of madness around it. "Assuming he hasn't fled to the continent already!"

"I don't think even he's desperate enough to flee to France" muttered the first man.

"James!" corrected the woman, "Be polite…" She was a gorgeous vixen in appearance, with thick red hair and a set of bright green eyes shared by the baby. "…and stop fussing! This scar's proving a right pickle already without you messing around. What did You-Know-Who even get you with?"

"I don't know!" muttered her husband; "I was too busy charging him to ask what spell it was."

Albus held back a cough of surprise when he noticed the bloodied figure in a dark green robe lying face down in another flowerbed. He settled for clearing his throat; a sound that caused all three of the people before him to jerk to attention with their wands drawn. They were quick to relax when the recognised him however, with the woman revealing her first smile of the day.

"Professor" they chorused.

"And Hagrid" grinned Sirius, noticing the groundskeeper coming up behind Albus.

"Lily, James, Sirius" the Headmaster said; "Might I say how greatly relieved I am that you are all alive, along with little Harry. I confess I feared the worst when I received note that Voldemort had entered the property. But apparently, my fears were misplaced."

James (the first man) looked bashful. "I'm as surprised as you are, Professor. After what happened in mine and Lils previous encounters with him, I was sure we'd both be dead in minutes." He paused and gestured to the bloodied figure. "But…"

Albus walked over to the corpse and kneeled to inspect it, ignoring the protests from his back. He was most perplexed by the large wounds in the corpse's stomach, though his confusion did not stop him from pocketing the long white stick still clutched in a pale hand. He straightened up and turned back to the gathering. "By virtue of Sirius' presence, I assume I am correct in my assumption that he wasn't the secret keeper?"

All three of them nodded, with Sirius himself spitting onto the ground. "No" he growled; "I told James and Lily to make Peter it, because no one would expect him over me. Of course, now it turns out we should have suspected the little traitor!"

"He'll get his just deserts" said Lily, with a vindictive frown; "He can go to Azkaban with the rest of his kind – maybe he'll appreciate their friendship more than ours."

"How did you do it?" asked Hagrid, with disbelief evident on his face. When everyone looked at him, he clarified; "Kill You-Know-Who?"

"I would appreciate an explanation for that as well, though I must congratulate you for achieving something even I would have struggled to do" said Albus, who with Lily's nod of permission moved in to cast his own charms on James' mysterious scar. What he found was unnerving, though he was very much unsure of why.

James in the meantime looked even more bashful and handed Harry off to his wife – just in time for the cat to spring onto his lap and settle down for a nap. "It wasn't…that is to say…I didn't…uh." He mumbled to himself for a moment, before Sirius leaned down and gave him a smack on the back of the head. "Ow! Fine then, I'll give my best reckoning of what happened! Did you have to do that?"

Sirius smirked.

"You-Know-Who arrived just as Lily and I were preparing to put Harry to bed" James began; "We – obviously – didn't expect this, so I told Lily to take Harry and run while I tried to hold him off for as long as I could. Unfortunately, I had left my wand in the other room."

Albus raised an eyebrow. "I wouldn't tell that part to Alastor, else he'll be very upset" he said.

"Yeah, I know" James grumbled; "Anyway, since I didn't have a wand I decided that charging You-Know-Who was my best chance of holding him off. Since it made sense at the time, I turned into Prongs to do that – which worked, apparently!"

"Prongs?" Albus questioned.

"His Animagus, a stag" Lily answered; "All of them are one, bar Remus naturally; Sirius is a dog and Pettigrew is exactly what one would expect."

James continued his story: "I could see him trying to mouth something (probably the killing curse) but managed to get to him before he could finish saying it. After that, I think he tripped over ginger here-" He gestured at that sleeping cat. "-and fell over, long enough for me to change back and start pummelling him. I probably didn't need to bother as it turned out, since the antlers did most of the work."

Albus and Hagrid stared, before they both began to chuckle loudly. The former rose to his feet and clapped the sitting man on the shoulder. "I can assure you that I did not expect this day to go by in that fashion -" he said, still chuckling; "But I am relieved that it did! Come! I believe we should take you to Saint Mungo's to get that scar checked out and make sure the rest of you are okay. Then, we – or I, if you would prefer to rest – can break the news to the waiting public."

-6 Hours Later-

YOU-KNOW-WHO SLAIN IN ATTACK ON POTTER HOUSE!

JAMES POTTER CREDITED AS VICTOR, CONGRATULATED BY MINISTER!

CAT REVERED AS HERO BY WIZARDING WORLD!

One Chapter at the moment, but more will come.

Just be sure to ignore the Erumpent in the Room...