Guardian Angel by Fairycatcher1

In a small house in Godrics Hollow, a man was at his desk working.

"James! I need to talk to you!" came from the fireplace. James looked up and saw a face. "Severus." James walked over to the fireplace and squatted down.

"What's up?"

"Voldemort's coming! You have to leave!" James Potter looked up from the fireplace in alarm. The wards around the house had just gone off.

"I think he's already here."

"GO!"

James needn't be told twice. He ran up the stairs to the nursery where Lily and Harry were.

Lily was in the nursery reading a book in her PJs. James remembered the day he got her the I LOVE NY shirt. He prayed that they would have many more days like that. He seriously doubted that though.

“Lily! Voldemort is coming!” James gasped when he reached the nursery door.

"But how?"

"Peter must have betrayed us! Take Harry and run!”

“No James, I won’t leave you!” Lily said adamantly.

“Lily, please” James begged her.

“No! I won’t leave you for anything”

“Please Lily, do it for Harry then”

Lily hesitated. James took the opportunity to take Harry out of the crib and put him in her arms. “Lily, leave for Harry. You need to protect him! I will go and distract Voldemort while you take Harry and run!”

James looked toward the nursery door in panic. He could hear the front door open.

Lily looked to the sleeping Harry in her arms and James frantic face. “James, I will never forgive myself for this but I will do it for Harry.” Lily said sadly

“Hurry! Voldemort is coming up the steps! Take the secret exit by the crib!” James and Lily kissed swiftly. James kissed Harry on the head. Lily ran to the crib and put Harry down. By now Harry was awake and was watching everything with a horrified look on his face.

Lily grabbed the carpet hiding the door and pulled. Before she could enter the hidden staircase, the door to the nursery blasted open. Voldemort walked into the nursery, red eyes flashing, and looked at the family. He smiled and said “James, Lily, how nice to see you.”

James put himself in front of Lily and Harry. He looked at Voldemort calmly said “Tom, how nice to see you too.”

Voldemort grimaced at him and snapped, “I am not here to talk. Give me the boy or I will kill you.”

“Never! Over my dead body! Lily, take Harry and run!” But Lily never had the chance to run, for she was stuck on the spot, scared for her family.

“Now James, I really don’t have time to talk. I am so busy. People to torture…kill. Very time consuming.”

James didn’t answer him. Voldemort narrowed his eyes and said, “I guess we will have to this the hard way. Oh, how I love this way. Crucio.” James fell to the floor, screaming and convulsing. Voldemort watched with satisfaction before canceling the curse.

“James, I have grown tired of your noble ideas it is time for you to die. Avada Kedavra!” James fell to the floor, dead.

Lily finally snapped out of her paralysis and began to run to the trap door.

Voldemort closed the trapdoor with a lazy flick of his wand. “Now Lily, you really don’t want to die do you? You don’t have to, just give me the boy and I will leave you alone.”

Lily put Harry by his crib and turned around to face Voldemort.

“Not Harry, not Harry, please not Harry!”

“Stand aside, you silly girl … stand aside now…”

“Not Harry, please no, take me, kill me instead-”

“You silly girl… you have no clue what this is about, do you? I am not here because you refuse me...though others will think that is why. No, I am here because of a prophecy…one that states I must kill Harry Potter… only then can I rise to power.” Voldemort began to laugh.

Lily stood her ground. “I will not let you kill my son!”

Voldemort narrowed his eyes. “Very well…Avada Kedavra!”

While the death curse speeded towards her, Lily briefly wished that there was a way she could help her baby boy and that Severus could be the one to find Harry. Lily closed her eyes; sure she would never open them again.

Lily opened here eyes in surprise. She had an even bigger surprise when she saw her body. Lily looked around. It seemed as if time had frozen. Lily suddenly shivered. The killing curse was halfway through her body. Voldemort was frozen, wand still pointed at Lily’s chest. Lily saw Harry looking at the scene with a mixture of horror and sadness on his face. Lily, her heart filled with dread, looked down. Her hands were transparent and had a shimmering glow to them. Before she could go to a mirror to inspect her new ‘body’, booming voices rang out.

“Lily Evans.” The voices seemed to come from all corners of the room. Lily screamed. She felt as if her ‘body’ was being ripped to pieces by the voices.

The voices softened. “Lily Evans, do you know who we are?”

The Lily thought. It then came to her. “The Powers that Be,” she breathed, awed. They rarely showed themselves to a mortal, and it is a great honor to talk to them.

“Correct.” Came the amused reply. “We heard your prayer and have decided to fulfill it. Go and look in the mirror.”

Lily walked toward the mirror and gasped. She had grown two large, flowing angel wings.

"Protect your son. He is the Savior of the world." The Powers that Be told her.

"Go to him. You know what to do" The voices faded away.

Lily heard a gasp and turned around quickly enough to finish seeing the killing curse go through her body and watched the light leave her eyes. Time had started again. Voldemort then turned around and faced Harry.

"Now...to fulfill the Prophesy and solidify my rise to power...Avada Kedavra!"

Lily cried out and dove towards Harry, covering him with her body. She felt the killing curse hit her body and bounce back to Voldemort. Voldemort screamed once and crumpled to the floor. Lily looked at the body and saw Voldemort’s spirit rise and fly through the window. Lily looked at Harry and gasped. The killing curse had not left him without a scar. A thin, jagged lightning bolt was etched onto his forehead. Harry whimpered with pain. Lily kissed him on the forehead, hoping that something would happen. Something did. The wound, which had been bleeding a bit, stopped bleeding and closed up. Harry ceased to whimper and looked up.

"M-mum?" came the little voice, filled with worry.

"Shhhhh don't worry honey. I got you. Mummys here."

Harry closed his eyes. Then he opened them up again. "Dada?"

"Oh sweetie, Daddy's not here right now."

"whe he come?"

Tears filled Lily's eyes. "Oh baby, Daddy went somewhere and he won't be coming back soon. You will see him, though. But it will be a very long time" Lily prayed that it would be a very long time because she knew that one day, Voldemort would return.

"Mummy bye-bye?" Harry asked.

"I don't know, sweetie. But no matter where I am, you will always be my baby."

Harry snuggled up to her and closed his eyes once more and fell asleep. Lily carefully stood up and walked over to the crib. She grabbed Harry's favorite blanket, and gently wrapped it around the sleeping baby. She then walked over to the mirror and looked at herself once more. But something had changed. Her white wings had turned the deepest black, with a greenish shine to it.

"You think that you would walk away from the killing curse without a scratch?" The Powers That Be had come back.

"Well...yea." answered Lily.

"Well that is not the case. To save the Savior-" *oh, the irony in that* though Lily *saving the Savior* "-You had to give something up. We have no choice in this matter. Your 'scratch' is not being able to enter the after place, or go 'through the veil' as you mortals call it, until your wings have turned white. For that to happen, you must watch over the Savior as his guardian angel until you have protected him long enough for your wings to turn white.

Lily felt torn. She rejoiced in being able to stay with her son, but was in agony at not being able to see her husband and all her friends who had gone through the veil before her. She pushed that away and said, "I will protect my son until he is safe. You have my word."

"So mote it be" whispered the Powers that Be and then they were gone.

Lily then walked into the office, grabbed a piece of paper and a pen, laid Harry down in her lap and began to write.

To whom may find my darling son, she began
You are now looking upon the only Potter left in this world. My son. I chose you to take care of Harry and trust that you will do so. But, as a warning, I am my sons Guardian and will be with him until he no longer needs me. Under no circumstances are you to give my baby to my sister. She hates magic and would most likely hurt him. I am entrusting my son to you. please watch over him in ways that I cannot. When he is old enough to understand what happened, please tell him his 'Mummy' is going to be with him until he no longer needs me. If you are not Severus, please give him the letter enclosed. Only he can open it and you wouldn't want to find out what happens if you try to open it and are not Severus. Also, please tell Dumbledore that Voldemort is not dead, and that his spirit lives.

Lily

Lily then opened a drawer, extracted an envelope bearing the name 'Severus Snape' and gathered Harry into her arms and went back into the nursery and sat down. She looked over at her dead body and soon was deep in thought.

Not long after, Harry began to whimper, then cry. Lily, to help calm him down, began to sing a lullaby.

"Hush-a-bye,
Don't you cry,
Go to sleep ye little baby.

When you wake,
You shall have,
All the pretty little horses.

Dapples and Grays,
Pintos and Bays,
All the pretty little horses.

Way down yonder,
In the meadow,
Poor little baby crying mama.
Birds and the butterflies flutter 'round his eyes,
Poor little baby crying mama."

Harry calmed down and was soon sleeping peacefully. Lily the heard a sound and looked up. Her face lit up with joy, for it was Severus who was walking towards the house. She stood up, carefully put Harry on the chair in the nursery, set the letter on top of him, and waited by the side for Severus to come and discover her son.

&&&

Severus Snape trembled slightly as he entered the house. He knew that all three of them were dead, and he wasn't sure at how he was going to deal with losing his only friends. He walked up the stairs, dread filling his heart. He walked into the nursery, and immediately saw James and Lily’s cold, lifeless body. He broke down and clung to the two bodies, sobbing. Lily looked on with sorrow. She reached out to touch him, but her hand passed through him. He shivered, as if he had felt her hand. Once he had calmed down he looked around and saw Harry on the bed, sleeping. He walked over, amazed and awed that this little baby boy- his now dead friend’s son- had defeated the Dark Lord of the century. He noticed the letter, and when seeing Lily’s handwriting on it, dropped it in horror, but then composed himself and picked it up and opened it. He read the letter, his hands trembling. He dropped the letter, looked around in hope and said, "Lily?"

Lily walked over to him, and gave him a big hug. He stood there startled. Then a big grin lit up his face. "It is you!" he exclaimed.

Lily ran over to the office, grabbed some parchment, and a pen. She ran back to the nursery to find Harry in Severus' arms. Lily smiled at them. Then she haphazardly scribbled: Yes, it is me. I am so glad you are the one to find Harry. She then thrust the parchment at Severus, and watched with glee as he grabbed the parchment and read it. He looked around and said, "H-how...w-what... please explain!"

Lily grabbed the parchment and wrote: Dumbledore. We need to talk to him.

Severus nodded, gathered up Harry, and the three departed the small house in Godrics Hollow.

$$$$$$$$$$$

Dumbledore looked at Severus, then at sleeping Harry, then back at Severus. He wondered how he was going to tell the most feared person in all of Hogwarts that he needed to go and see someone about his mental health. Severus, one of the few people who could read Dumbledore’s emotions, sighed. “You don’t believe me, do you?” He asked. “Well, I find this…predicament…highly…unusual.” Dumbledore said, choosing his words wisely. Lily watched this confrontation worriedly. She knew what would happen if Dumbledore didn’t believe Severus: Harry would go to the Dursley’s and would be abused, ridiculed and neglected, while she could only help with the injuries, not the neglect.

“Lily, could you please hand me the letter you wrote and please write something for the Headmaster that only he knows about you?” asked Severus calmly. Lily smiled. Leave it to Severus to save the day. She pulled the letter out, handed it to Severus, watching Dumbledore gasp in surprise as the letter seemed to appear out of nowhere, and grabbed another piece of parchment out of her pocket, grab a pen, and write on the parchment: I am the heir of Ravenclaw and Hufflepuff. She then gave it to Dumbledore. Dumbledore read the parchment, the twinkle in his eyes coming back faster than thought possible. “Well, I never would have believed this possible, but then, we are living in a magical world where even the impossible is possible when someone puts their mind to it. But, I am sure that there is more to the story than what little Severus has told me. If you would please write what happened, and I will then help you as best as I can.”

Lily nodded, but then remembered that they could not see her. She grabbed the parchment from Dumbledore’s hands, who was holding it out for her. She began to write. James running up the stairs…their heated argument…Voldemort…James dieing…her confrontation with Voldemort…The Powers that Be…watching herself die…Saving Harry…realizing that she couldn’t see all those who had passed before her…. Tears began to fall down her cheeks as everything came back vividly…. Once she had finished writing, she gave the parchment to Severus, backed into a wall, slid down and began to sob. She sobbed for her husband…her son…herself…the life that she wanted that had now become only a dream…. Soon Harry woke up to the sobs from Lily. He struggled in Severus’ arms, yelling, “Down!” When Severus finally put Harry down, he crawled over to Lily, asking, “Mummy? Why you cwy?” Lily gave Harry a watery smile, picking him up to cuddle him. Her wings then folded around Mother and Son, protecting them and keeping them warm.

Severus watched as Harry crawled over to the wall, and realized that Lily was there and crying. He watched as Harry was lifted into the air, and then just disappears into thin air. “Harry?” He said, worried.

Lily looked up at the worried call of ‘Harry?’ She then realized that her wings could keep her son from view. She opened them, and watched as Severus breathed a sigh of relief. Lily murmured to Harry, “Why don’t you go back to Uncle Sev, I’m alright now.” Harry nodded, then went back to Severus and demanded that he be picked up. As Sev complied, Dumbledore looked up at Severus and said, “This will cause a great many complications. If Harry does not go to the Dursley’s, he will have nowhere to go. He will then become a Ministry ward and will be manipulated by Fudge.”

Lily sighed, grabbed another piece of parchment and wrote: I wish Severus to be the Guardian of my child. She gave the parchment to Dumbledore, who read it and said, “My dear Lily, you are truly a brilliant witch. Why, I never thought of this option.” Dumbledore held out the parchment so that she could write a response to the reaction of Severus. He then looked at Severus. Severus looked back confused. Then comprehension dawned on his face, along with panic. “No, no no no! It can’t be me! I’m a Death Eater! What would the public say? What would the Ministry say?” “I am sure that we can smooth all these things out, Severus. You never seemed to care before on the opinions of others, why start now?” asked Dumbledore. “Because this is the Boy-who-lived Headmaster! Not just someone, but THE ‘Savior’ of the Wizarding world!” Lily quickly wrote: Severus, I know that this is a big step, but you are the only one, apart from Dumbledore, and he’s to busy with the school, to watch my baby and be able to tell him what REALLY happened! Please Severus, I’m begging you. Lily handed the parchment to Severus, hoping that he’ll take her words seriously.

Severus looked at the piece of paper for a very long time, thinking everything out. He finally looked up and said, “Alright, I’ll do it.” “Wonderful!” exclaimed Dumbledore. “Now, I have the papers right here. If you could sign here Severus?”
Once Severus had signed all the necessaries, Dumbledore looked up from the documents.

“You do know my boy that the Ministry could take Harry away from you. But,” Dumbledore held up a hand to quiet Severus when he cried out in dismay. “But, there is a solution. I know of this spell that originates from Wales. It is called cynewidiad tadogi, which basically means “change father” It basically takes the genes from the biological father and replaces them with the genes of the new father. It also allows more of the mother to come out. The Ministry can’t do anything about this because to perform the spell, you would need the consent of the mother. I would gladly perform the spell. If, of course, Lily agrees." finished Dumbledore.

Lily grabbed a piece of parchment and wrote: Severus, I hope that you agree with this because I would LOVE for you and Harry to be father and son. You would need to tell Harry of James of course, but we could work that out later.

Lily handed the parchment to Severus, who read it, nodded gravely and said to Dumbledore, "I will do it." "Wonderful!" exclaimed Dumbledore.

"Severus, could you come here and keep hold of Harry? Good, good. Now, on the count of three I will perform the spell. Ready? yes? Alright now...one...two...three...cynewidiad tadogi!" exclaimed Dumbledore.

Severus felt a warm tingling go through his body. He looked down to see Harry's whole body shifting and changing, until it was still. Severus' mouth hung wide open. He was looking at a little version of him, but with definite signs of Lily. The chubbiness that Harry had had from James was now gone. Harry had high cheekbones, no chubby cheeks. His eyes had slanted upward, giving him an exotic look. There were red highlights in his now smooth and silky hair. He was happy to note that Harry had not inherited his nose, but his mothers.

Severus' gaze wandered around the room, not looking at anything in particular. His eyes passed a corner, and almost immediately went back. There, leaning against the wall, looking at Severus and Harry with tears in her eyes, was Lily Potter.