Bull pen 01 – Clones

This is the first chapter of a story that I've been working on for a while now. James and Lily survive that Halloween, but everyone thinks they were killed since Albus meddled in their plan to use the prophecy against Voldemort. This story is currently up to Chapter Fourteen. This is only a working title.

Send in the Clones

A/N – This story begins on October 31st 1995 with a prologue that begins on the same night in 1981. Almost everything that you know about canon that occurred prior to that moment has happened and will be incorporated into this storyline. 'Almost' and 'that you know' being the key.

Everything recognizable within the Harry Potter universe is the property of JK Rowling and various corporate entities, and to them I offer my humble thanks for presenting the world with such a diverse and interesting framework. No copyright infringement is intended.

Finally, it's very rare that I can point to the actual inspiration for a work, other than the Harry Potter canon novels of course, but this one was inspired by the ff user The Emerald Doe. Well, actually the profile page for that reader. However, if you find you dislike this story or its concept, the fault is entirely mine.

Exactly two clones were harmed in the writing of this story. Ok, technically any harm to them came before the prologue, but since they were never really aware/alive, they didn't/couldn't mind.

And though Albus wouldn't agree, the things related in this story that stray from canon are all for The Greater Good. (The Greater Good – copyright 1898 by Albus Percival Wulfric Brian Dumbledore and Gellert 'Gef' Grindelwald, all rights reserved – remember folks, it's not officially The Greater Good if it isn't capitalized)

Prologue – Bait and Switch

2215 31 October 1981- Number Seven Peverell Place, Godric's Hollow

As a brief golden flash surrounded the ginger witch that his minion desired, Lord Voldemort watched without emotion as the green energy of his killing curse struck down the foolish girl. Dismissing the effect that had occurred when he had killed both her and her husband, he decided that it was one more of Dumbledore's inadequate protections that had done nothing to prevent him from taking their lives. Shrugging off the value that Snape had placed on her, he turned his attention to the toddler standing in the cot.

"I'm not certain what hopes the old fool placed with you, but this should convince him to end his futile resistance," Voldemort chuckled as he watched the dark-haired toddler shaking the side of his cot, his emerald green eyes blazing as he stared at the lifeless corpse of his mother.

"Though it would demoralize those fools more if I simply took you, killing you and the Longbottom brat will show Dumbledore and the Ministry exactly how costly it is to resist the inevitable."

Pointing his yew and phoenix wand at the child, he took a deep breath and quietly intoned, "Avada Kedavra."

The last thing Voldemort saw was a golden nimbus around the child and the green beam rushing back at him.

As his body disintegrated from the violent release of his soul drawing energy from the various soul anchors he had created, the clothes the Dark Lord was wearing fell to the ground and his wand clattered to the floor of the nursery, rolling towards the door leaving the room silent as the crying abruptly stopped.

A swish of fabric, and a tall wizard in multi-coloured robes, with a long white beard and twinkling eyes appeared in the corner of the nursery. Shaking his head wearily, Albus Percival Wulfric Brian Dumbledore sighed.

"Tom, we'll have to speak about this one day, but at least now you have a chance."

Walking over to the now silent child, Albus smiled as he leaned over and examined the cut on the child's forehead, the only mark on him from Voldemort's Killing Curse. Conjuring a binky, he offered it to the child and smiled as the infant stared at him.

"There, there, Harry. I know you don't understand, but this was necessary if I'm ever to have a chance at redeeming my old student from the Dark."

Smiling beatifically, Albus Dumbledore, the only living holder of the Order of Merlin, First Class, Headmaster of Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, and currently Chief Warlock of the Wizengamot, laid the child down in his cot and cast a series of spells on the infant.

"Your parents would object most vigorously, but I really need to bind your magic beyond the normal bindings that you already have." Continuing to smile as the boy stared up at him with those emerald eyes that were the exact match of his now dead mother's, Albus shrugged.

"The prophecy says that you'll be the one to enable Tom's defeat, but I need you to make him mortal, not destroy him once he returns. Finally facing his fears, his mortality, he should be willing to turn from the Dark and return to the Light, and your death will accomplish that."

Casting a shield over the cot, the aged wizard began casting a few blasting and other hexes around the room, making it look as if a great struggle had occurred. Dumbledore then turned and picked up the yew and phoenix feather wand that his former student had dropped. Turning towards the door, he pulled the invisibility cloak around him and headed down the stairs

His descent down the stairs of the cottage went unmarked by the pudgy wizard with ratlike features who was peering into the cottage, listening for continued sounds of conflict from upstairs.

Just as Peter Pettigrew stepped into the sitting room, a thin orange beam of magic struck him in the forehead and his eyes glazed over.

"Peter," Dumbledore's voice began, soft and comforting, "you followed your Lord up the stairs and saw his killing curse rebound from young Harry Potter and strike him down. Voldemort's body disappeared and all that are left is his cloak and his wand."

Seeing the absentminded nod from the traitor, Dumbledore smiled and continued.

"You're going to take and keep Lord Voldemort's wand until he returns. You need to hide yourself, because Sirius Black will be looking for you to punish you for betraying the Potters. When you eventually make your way to Devonshire, you can use your animagus form to hide out in Arthur Weasley's household as a rat. One of the older boys will surely adopt you as a pet, and you can snoop around to hear information regarding your Master so you can help him return."

Pausing for a second, seeing the expectant look on Pettigrew's face, Albus smiled coldly. "You need to make people think you are dead, and that Sirius was the traitor so no one will be looking for you." Seeing the slow nod from Pettigrew, Albus picked up a small peppershaker from a nearby shelf and turned it into a portkey. Placing the peppershaker and the wand in Pettigrew's hands, Albus spoke one last time.

"Go to London, and wait for an opportunity to confront Black before you disappear. Then make your way to Ottery St. Catchpole and join the Weasleys and wait for word of your Master."

As Albus touched the peppershaker with his wand, a blue light pulsed and the traitor was gone.

Smiling, Albus pulled the cloak over his head to await the arrival of Sirius Black.

Deep below the cottage, in a cellar hidden by a separate casting of the Fidelius that was unknown to Albus Dumbledore, a faint golden light pulsed slowly as a moonstone glowed with the rhythm of a human heartbeat.

In the faint illumination from the large gemstone set into the crown of a staff that was thrust into the floor, two bodies lay on stone tables, resting peacefully and waiting for the energy in the stone to reach the proper point. Due to events above them, specifically the meddling of Dumbledore with Harry's magic, they would wait much longer than anticipated.

Chapter One – Hope Returns – Better Late than Never

23:25 31 October, 1995 – Number Seven Peverell Place, Godric's Hollow, the cellar

As the light pulsing from the moonstone set atop an oaken staff thrust into the floor of the cellar finally reached the proper intensity, a pair of beams of blue energy stabbed out of the gem and poured energy into smaller moonstones that had been set into bracers surrounding the left wrists of the two individuals on the stone tables. As the energy struck the last of the twelve stones on the bracers, a shimmering field dropped from around each of the bodies and a blue corona of energy spread from their wrists to envelope them totally. Their eyes popped open simultaneously and they began to breathe for the first time since they had arrived in the cellar.

Sitting up slowly, Lily Potter shook her head and grimaced. "Nowhere in that tome Perri sent us did it say that I'd feel like I was Albus' age after we were revived," she snarked as she looked over at her husband.

"She warned us that the longer that the reactivation was delayed, the more pronounced the effects would be." Shaking his head, he took in a deep breath and stretched. "I still think we should have had the wards set to bring Harry down here with us. We could have had Padfoot take care of him down here rather than take him to my parents' place," James answered, rolling his shoulders and sliding off the edge of the stone table.

"Starlight, I know you don't like the thought of it, but we need to assign an elf for the cottage," he continued looking around. "Never noticed how dusty the place was."

"Prongs, will you quit harping on that," came the amused reply. "I was wrong about house elves, and I admitted it back in school when we covered them for our NEWTS. Service is necessary, and if your mum and Pellinore want to assign one of the junior elves to keep this place up, you won't hear a peep out of me." Smiling at the smirk on her husband's face, Lily picked up her wand and gave it a flick. As glowing numbers appeared in front of her, she frowned.

"11:30." Shaking her head, Lily shrugged wearily. "It took fifteen minutes longer for Harry's magic to fill the gemstone than we thought." Looking over at James, her eyes widened at the look of panic on his face. 'What is it?"

"Take another look at the display from the Tempus spell," he replied in a quiet voice. "A bit more than fifteen extra minutes has passed."

Turning her attention back to the glowing numerals, Lily's eyes widened as she looked at the final numbers in the string. While the month and date were the same, according to the display hanging in the air between them, the year was 1995; fourteen years, one hour and forty-five minutes after the Dark Lord came crashing through their wards.

"I must have made a mistake with the tempus spell, a side-effect of switching with the clone. There's no way it took fourteen years for Harry's magic to fill the crystal to a level to bring us back," Lily declared. Closing her eyes in thought, she shook her head. "Even with the distance between here and Wales, there shouldn't have been more than a minimal degradation of the power signature over that distance."

"As soon as he felt the wards fall, Padfoot would have been on his way," James mused looking at the dust on the horizontal surfaces of the cellar in a new light.

"He wasn't going to be that far away, especially since we all agreed it was very suspicious that Peter was 'out of town' this weekend. Wormy wasn't the brightest fairy light on the tree, but he knew that betraying the underlying cause of the Fidelius would have triggered a reaction in the wards the first time he set foot on the property after telling Voldemort. Fortunately for us he never realized that we would know the minute he betrayed us." His eyes darkening in anger, James glared off into the distance.

"I refuse to believe that Wormy got the drop on Paddy."

Pulling out the pendant she was wearing, Lily stared at the gems that decorated the goblin-silver disk. "All three of them are alive," she answered holding the disk so her husband could see it.

"Wormy's gem is still black, that shows he went through with the betrayal." Seeing the disbelieving look on James' face, she smiled bitterly. "I know, both of us ending up mostly dead was a good clue, but this confirms it."

Tapping the garnet that had blackened when their friend had betrayed them with her fingernail, Lily mourned the loss of their friend, even if it was through his own betrayal.

The thought of lost friends brought a disturbing snippet of her conversation with Voldemort to mind. Dreading James' reaction on a subject that was already touchy, she took a deep breath.

"I don't think Wormy was the only one who was responsible for our betrayal," she said slowly. Seeing the shocked look on his face, she quickly added. "It wasn't Paddy or Moony; both of their gems are fine." Looking back down at the calcite that signified Sirius' life force, she furrowed her brows. "Though there's a faint discoloration to his, almost the colour of an obliviation."

Seeing the 'get on with it' look on her husband's face, she sighed sadly. "From what Voldemort was saying, he wasn't looking to kill me and he mentioned something about disappointing one of his minions when he cast the curse at me." Seeing the blank look on her husband's face, she chuckled.

"Prongs, you know that there's only one Death Eater out there that would care whether or not I lived or died." Seeing his face harden, she nodded. "Sev is mixed up in this, somehow."

"If he's still alive, we'll kill him later," was his reply, his voice clipped and terse. "How's Harry?"

Touching the emerald set into the center of the pendant, she frowned. "He's in pain, not great but it's constant. Also his magic is weaker than I would have expected." Shaking her head, she turned and allowed the pendant to orient her as she concentrated on her connection through the stone.

"He's north and east, and the distance is pretty much spot on for him being at Hogwarts." Seeing that James was about to announce they were heading there, she held up her hand.

"Not without information we're not. If we've been gone fourteen years, everyone thinks we're dead. If our 'plan' didn't work to come back right away, there's a chance that our provisions for Harry in the event of our death didn't either."

"Padfoot or Moony?"

"On Halloween, Sirius would be the best choice," Lily replied. Touching the calcite that pulsed in time with Sirius' heartbeat, she concentrated as she closed her eyes. Whispering the trigger for the sending spell, she felt the gem pulse once and then resume its previous pattern.

"If he's wearing the ring, then he'll hear my message. If not, then he'll see my patronus and he'll know to come here." Taking a deep breath, Lily watched her husband for a moment. "All right there?"

"We'll know as soon as Padfoot shows up," was James' reply. Looking around the small cellar of the cottage, he waved his wand and the stairs to the outside rematerialized. "Might as well head up and wait for Paddy in the moonlight." Grinning at his wife, he waggled his eyebrows.

"Want to snog while we wait on him?"

"James, be serious…" Lily began before breaking out in laughter. When she finally got herself under control, she took his hand and headed for the steps. "Stop acting like Sirius and let's wait outside for him. We need to get to the bottom of this and quickly."

Walking up the steps, Lily smirked as her hand slid down her husband's back and she pinched him on the bum.