Disclaimer: I am not J K Rowling. I do not own Harry Potter.

Note: The following is a short one-shot which occured to me whilst taking a break from revising a completely unrelated discussion between Miss. Potter and her account manager for 'St. Potter'. As a reminder this one is rated 'M'.

That very morning, she and James had been discussing (rather vocally at times) baby names.

Now here Lily Potter was, staring down the end of Lord Voldemort's wand, unable to floo out of a house which had been supposed to be a refuge but was now a trap.

"Move away, woman. I'm here for just the boy."

Voldemort was lying, Lily knew. He had been here for James, too. She had heard him speak the killing curse and known her husband was dead.

And he could have just cut her down, caught wandless as she was, where she stood.

But he had not. Not yet.

Lily would have done anything to save her son Harry. She would have kept herself between the Voldemort and Harry, pleaded, begged, anything to try and slow him down and for possible help of any kind to arrive. Even if she died she could probably arrange to fall in such a way as to cost Lord Voldemort time to move her body.

But this wasn't just about her and Harry. This was about someone else too, because Lily knew she was pregnant. She was far enough gone to be able to feel movements inside her, and James had joked she was getting big enough fast enough for it to be twins.

She licked her lips to try and plead, but Voldemort looked like his patience was rapidly unwinding and he might forget whatever reason he was sparing her thus far.

Lily Potter felt a faint fluttering sensation right now in her stomach. If it had been just her own life at stake… but fate wasn't fair.

Lily Potter stepped aside.

She saw the green light of a killing curse go past, and saw the heart-rending sight of Harry stop moving, and she felt tears run down her cheeks.

And then she felt numbness and saw the red flash of a stunner.

Author's Notes:

I've taken the liberty of assuming the Dumbledore of this Alternate Universe never told the Potters about Trelawney's prophecy, given how tightly he's indicated as controlling information in canon. I can imagine him having given the Potters a half-truth along the lines of 'Voldemort's really angry about you, having been defied by you thrice now, and he wants to make an example of you which will leave none in doubt of his power or ability to bring misery to his enemies', without going into the details of what Voldemort's reasons for hunting the Potters actually are... In consequence, the Lily in this story has no idea that Harry could be anything in the bigger (impersonal) picture of things, and she's faced with just a very nasty choice where if she dies to try and buy Harry a few more seconds for any hypothetical cavalry to arrive, it's not just her going down to that one killing curse. What reason does she have to believe/trust Voldemort will leave her alive? Well he hasn't killed her thus far, and I imagine Voldemort would have a reputation for killing you straight-out as soon as possible if he actually wants you dead. I have the impression that canon Lily at least is prepared to entertain the notion that Voldemort's prepared to let her live if she tries to bargain with him to take her, not Harry.

As regards the ending of this story, Voldemort had promised Severus Lily, and I assume that having dealt with Harry, he'd stun her to take her prisoner, to present her to his servant and show what a magnanimous master he is, who keeps his word...