Over my Dead Body

A/N – Just a little something I wrote because it doesn't make sense to me that Lily and James heard the prophecy, found out that Voldemort was after their son, knew there was a spy in The Order, and still thought their best option was to hide.

"Over my dead body!" James roared, unable to keep his cool for a single moment longer.

He and Lily had come to Hogwarts at an urgent summons from the headmaster and were seated in his office. Dumbledore had just shared the prophecy with them and his suggestion that they hide under a fidelius charm. Unfortunately, as James reaction violently demonstrated, they were not convinced it was the best option.

"That's probably what it will be too... this is madness Albus, it can't possibly be the only or the even the best solution!"

"I'm afraid it is quite true, I've had it from a very reliable source that He-who-must-not-be-named has heard part of this prophecy and believes it to apply to your son. He is quite determined to ... do away with him before he becomes a threat."

"And this is your solution to that, you want us to hide?" Lily demanded, nearly hysterical now.

"The fidelius charm will keep your family quite safe."

"Really? And what about our secret keeper? I'm sure you think they'll be quite safe too?" was James' response.

"And the rest of our friends too," Lily added, "Once Voldemort knows we've hidden under a fidelius charm he'll kill off our friends one by one until he either finds our secret keeper or forces us out of hiding to protect our friends from being picked off one by one."

"We are all already in danger, my dear," Dumbledore calmly (infuriatingly calmly) replied.

"I won't have it," James replied, "I love my son, Dumbledore, too much for this. Is this the orders grand plan then? Either wait for a baby to grow old enough to off Him or pray for a miracle? It's rubbish, we have to be able to do better than this."

"I don't see what else we can do," Dumbledore began, but Lily quickly interrupted him.

"The prophecy said, "and he will have power the Dark Lord knows not", well maybe that power is having parents who love him so much they will do anything for him."

"The prophecy also states that Harry will be marked as the equal of the Dark Lord and that either must die at the hand of the other. I'm afraid it must be Harry."

"I thought you said that Voldemort believed it but that we didn't have to? Isn't that the whole point of us trying to hide in the first place? Didn't you say that there are thousands of prophecies underneath the ministry of magic that never came true and that this could be one of them?"

Dumbledore opened his mouth to speak again but Lily cut him off, "It's pointless arguing about this, the only way HE will ever get anywhere near Harry in order to "mark him as his equal" is if it literally is over our dead bodies and that outcome is simply not any more acceptable to me than our son being the one to shoulder the burden of killing this mad man. There has to be another way and we have to find it."

Dumbledore pursed his lips, "There is only one other option that comes to mind and, frankly, I don't expect you to like it any more than the alternative."

"Just spit it out Albus, let us judge for ourselves." James asked.

"It would involve setting a trap for HIM... if we choose unwisely for your secret keeper ... He will come to you, and we can be ready for him."

"How exactly would we go about choosing unwisely?" Lily asked sceptically.

Dumbledore leaned forward and gazed at them silently for a moment before speaking, "We know that HE has a spy amongst our ranks, but what is not widely known is that I have narrowed it down to your three best friends James."

James sprang to his feet, "WHAT! That is not possible!"

Dumbeldore nodded sadly, "I'm afraid so"

Lily looked worried but added, "I must admit that I had noticed a certain pattern to the information being leaked too. It had to be one of the four of you and, since I'm certain of your innocence, that means it had to be one of your friends."

James now rounded on his wife, "and you didn't tell me?!"

"I still wasn't entirely convinced, so much of it could have come from other sources... especially if there was more than one spy, which is a possibility... and they're my friends too, I didn't want to believe it. I still don't."

James face remained mutinous but he sat down, "fine, so one of my friends is a traitor, how is that in any way helpful?"

"You said yourself, Lily, that whoever was chosen as the secret keeper would be in very great danger."

"Yes," she replied hesitantly

"It therefore stands to reason that whoever was asked to take on the role would be naturally hesitant to do so."

"Unless they had no reason to fear HIM," James finished with a tired sigh.

"Precisely" Dumbledore acknowledged, "So, another option would be gather your friends to you and tell all three of your troubles, whoever is the least reluctant to take on the role is our spy and should be the secret keeper you use. Myself, some other trusted members of the order perhaps, and your remaining friends shall then stay with you, disguised perhaps through transfiguration or some other method, and then when He comes for your boy we ambush him. "

"Does Harry have to be there, it's not possible to hide him somewhere else?"

"He will be the secret kept, I'm afraid there is no work around for that."

James and Lily looked at each other then at their baby son, who slept soundly in his carrier by Lily's feet.

"Ok, I guess we'd better call the Marauders then."

As the reader might guess it was Peter Pettigrew that was chosen in the finish for the role of secret keeper. None of his friends seemed eager for the job, and James hoped that this meant Dumbledore was wrong, but Peter put up the least objection and agreed finally agreed with very little persuasion. So when Voldemort came for the Potter family that night he was hopelessly outnumbered and only took three brave souls with him. All present that night received an Order of Merlin first class and all were aware that Voldemort was not really dead, they had seen the remains of him flee the scene. Less than a ghost but still very much alive.

Prepared as they were for the eventual return of the Dark Lord the group was able to determine, within a short space of time, how it was that He had been able to escape Death. The Horcruxes were then located and destroyed by competent Aurors, as is proper, and Voldemort was never seen again.

Peter Pettigrew spent the next five years living in sewers as a rat, unable to show a whisker in the wizarding world as everyone now knew that he was a traitor and a rat animagus. Sadly, or not so much depending on your perspective, the other sewer rats did not take kindly to him. He did not know their customs and refused to mate with any of them. He was set upon by a group of them and killed, unable due to the space constraints of the sewer to transform back to a man and fight them off. It was a fitting end for the traitor but sadly provided no closure for the Potters, who spent the rest of their days wondering what had happened to their once friend and half terrified that he would show up at any moment and try to harm them or their family.

Harry grew up healthy and loved and no more famous than any other child of the group of people who were responsible for the downfall of Voldemort. His school days were of course still interesting but they were bound to be, He was still Harry Potter after all and therefore still a magnet for any trouble that was going around.