You've waited, you've wondered, and at long last....it's here! This will most likely end up being my longest fic of all. It's an AU about how things would have been if Tom Marvolo Riddle (AKA Voldemort) never existed. If you don't like how I wrote this...too bad, DON'T FLAME!

Now, it must be noted that the latter two scenes in this prologue (the pumpkin patch and the easter scene) are based off of two drawings done by the talented 'Irishgirl982' from Deviantart. You can find her and more of her lovely Harry Potter drawings at http : // irishgirl982 . deviantart . com / The two drawings I spoke of are entitled 'James, The Easter Bunny' and 'Marauders at the Pumpkin Patch'. They can be found at http : // www . deviantart .com/art/James-The-Easter-Bunny-31891878 and http : // www . deviantart .com/art/Marauders-at-the-Pumpkin-Patch-22139754 . Again, thank you Irishgirl for allowing me to use your art, it was very inspirational. Thus I devote this entire story to you my friend! Enjoy.

Now, for the legal crap. I don't own Harry Potter, J.K. Rowling does. I don't own the two drawings, Irishgirl982 does. The only thing I do own is this fic in and of itself, cause I typed it up myself.

Prologue - A New Beginning

"Morsus Redigo," the medical witch whispered as she waved her wand across Lily Evans-Potter. Lily's breathing immediately took a, slightly, less sharp tone. It was late July and the Potters home in the little village of Godrics Hollow was about to see the birth of a new Potter. Lily lay on her back in her bedroom. James was off to the side, holding her hand and grinning from ear to ear. Two medical witches were present; one, opposite of James, holding her wand over Lily, and the other, directing Lily and awaiting to catch Lily's child. The blinds on the windows had been closed so as to give Lily some privacy. Several lamps were lit, however, to make up for the lack of light.

"Come on Lily, just another push, you can do it!"

"UNHHHH," she moaned, "I'M TRYING TO, CAN'T YOU SEE!" Lily was hysterical. Even though the witch had enacted a Pain Reduction Spell, it wasn't enough. It had been nearly an hour since her labor had begun, and she was more than ready to end the pain.

To her side James gave her hand a gentle squeeze and gave her a small peck on the cheek. "Come now darling, is that any way to treat your doctor?" Lily shot him the dirtiest look he had ever seen. "If your not going to do anything constructive, then GET OUT!" Lily's last two words had been spoken with such emphasis that the newborn finally came out.

The medical witch muttered something unintelligible that caused all the blood and fluid on the babies skin to disappear. Wrapping it in a cloth she handed it to Lily. "Say hello to your son." James whirled around quickly to the witch looking dumbstruck. "D-Did you say…son?" The witch smiled and nodded. Laughter soon ensued as he ran out to tell the crowd that waited anxiously outside of their bedroom. The crowd consisted of friends and family from both James' and Lily's side. As he ran out, still wearing a dumb smile, he closed the door behind him and waited for a few seconds to build the tension, as was his way. Finally his best mate Sirius cried out, "Well? What the hell is it?"

"It's a boy!"

Immense cheers and applause erupted throughout the house. James' parents came over and hugged him, asking if they and Lily's parents could go in and see him. James nodded and walked over to his friends: Sirius Black, and Remus Lupin (Peter Pettigrew was off traveling, studying plants of both the magical and muggle sort).

Sirius walked over to James and gave a friendly punch to the shoulder. "Congratulations mate, now your fully indoctrinated into the Worldwide Whipped Association," he teased, "From here on out its nothing but long nights of answering the brats every whim, shoving more food in than he can spit out and changing his diapers every few hours. You know, Mr. Mom kinda stuff." Remus snorted in approval. James took on a look of mock hurt and sniffed, after which he said, "Well if you most know it takes a real man to pull off a pink apron." Then the four of them burst out laughing.

James led them to the bedroom where the grandparents were staring at their grandson. "So what are you gonna call the little tike," James' father said. Lily looked at James and the two said together: "Harry Potter; Harry James Potter."

----

A year later, in early October, James, Lily, Harry, and his two uncles Remus and Sirius were out in a pumpkin patch. James had one arm wrapped around Lily while the other held one of the two pumpkins they had picked. To his right were Sirius and Remus respectively, the latter holding the second pumpkin. Atop of Sirius's shoulders sat one-year-old Harry, screaming in glee and clutching a fist full of Sirius' hair in each hand. Had it not been for the difference in eye color and the fact he wasn't wearing glasses, Harry appeared very much the mirror image of James. His hair was just as black, thick and messy as James' was.

"Heh, I think the kid wants me to walk faster," said Sirius as he motioned with his head to Harry, who was pulling on his hair.

Lily grabbed the pumpkin out of James' arm and said, "Well perhaps a little race is in order. First one to that bush wins," she said before apparating along with Remus over to the bush. Raising her wand up she motioned the two men to position themselves. A second later she loosed a volley of red sparks up into the sky, and the race was on. Technically James had the advantage since he wasn't carrying anything, but Sirius was a lot stronger than James, and had more endurance, plus the fact that Harry's hair pulling was starting to irritate him gave him a greater push. A minute later and the race was over, and both men were huffing and puffing rapidly; Harry, on the other hand, was in Lily's arms, still laughing from the exhilaration of it all.

"So…so who…won?" asked James.

Lily walked over to his side and gave him an apologetic smile. "Sorry sweaty, looks like Harry's faster than you."

Remus smiled and said, "Are you sure? From where I sat it looked pretty close to me."

"Ah but that's where these keen eyes of mine come into play. I see things that no one else would have seen."

Sirius just chuckled and said, "Maybe you should have been a Seeker. 'Bet you could've given James a run for his money."

All five of them laughed at this last comment.

----

Four years later and the five of them were out in the woods behind the Potter's home. Remus was with Harry, who was in the midst of searching for Easter Eggs. Sirius and Lily stood behind the two, struggling to put the finishing touches on James' costume.

"Do I really have to do this?" asked a pained James. Although he wore a long sleeved muggle shirt and jeans (as did the rest of them) he also wore pink makeup on his nose, black lines on his cheeks, and fake bunny ears on his head. Altogether he looked like a cross between a human and a rabbit.

"Come on James, I promise this will mean the world to Harry," Lily begged. It had been her idea to dress James up in this fashion, although she had wanted him to wear the whole costume, not just the makeup and ears. Sirius just looked from James to Harry and gave the former a sly smile. "Yeah, like Lily said, it would damage the poor kid to not see his dad make a complete fool of himself!" Sirius loosed a malicious chuckle and shoved James forward. James tripped on a rock in the ground, which caused Harry and Remus to look back. Remus looked at James quizzically while Harry looked at James as if a joke had been spoken that he didn't understand. James smiled sheepishly and said "Happy Easter" to Harry. Harry merely responded by asking, "Why's daddy wearing bunny ears?"

Sirius fell to the ground laughing.

End Prologue

Whew, wasn't that fun? Chapter one is roughly half way to a third done. If any Peter Pettigrew fans are reading this, sorry I didn't have him in here but rest assured he will be in the next chapter. Till then...Pax Tecum!