Harry Potter and the Pursuit of Significance
Summary:
Neville is the boy who lived and Frank survived. Harry's parents were not so lucky, but did manage to save Harry. He ends up in an orphanage, where he receives little affection or care, but he thrives at school and on the sports field. He is praised by his teachers, coaches and team mates. Harry develops a burning desire to become someone significant. He must be the best, no matter what. Harry's goal is to rebuild the Potter empire and make a name for himself in the wizarding world. With such an ambition, he is naturally sorted into Slytherin.
A.N
Obviously not mine but rather JKRs.
The plan is for this story to eventually reach novel length. The pairings are not finalised, but at this point I intend to involve Fleur and Daphne. Harry will not date both simultaneously though. This is my first story so please feel free to give constructive advice if you have the time and the inclination.
Chapter 1:
Lord Voldemort surveyed his inner circle Deatheaters by the flickering firelight. They knelt on the hard floor, dead still as they waited for their Lord to instruct them. He let them kneel a little longer, watching for a sign of discomfort or impatience to punish. Seemingly satisfied for the moment, he addressed his lackeys. "Tonight we exterminate two families who have insistently fought against our inevitable victory. I will personally supervise the missions. Wormtail has only been able to provide us with the general location of the bloodtraitor Potters. It is a muggle area, and too few muggles have faced our wrath in the past few weeks. We will purge some more of the world of their filth, along with the Potters, when we burn the whole street with fiendfyre"
Voldemort smirked at the uncontained glee on Bella's face, she was a delightfully vicious creature. Snape looked distraught by the news, although he desperately tried to hide his emotions. He had begged Voldemort to spare the mudblood and give her to him as a slave. Voldemort had tortured Snape for a good half hour in an attempt to cure him of his disgusting love of the filthy mudblood. Evidently Snape required further motivation to forget about her. He would be carefully watched during the Potter mission to see where his true allegiance lay.
"After we watch the Potters burn, we will assault Longbottom Manor. After destroying their wards, I will kill the youngest Longbottom personally while his parents watch. Then you shall play with Alice while dear Frank watches on. We will end the Longbottom line and further our cause as we march ever closer to our victory. Take a portkey from the desk and activate on my command."
Twelve dark figures appeared soundlessly in a small park. On Voldemort's command, the figures spread out, moving into position while he laid anti-apparition and anti-portkey wards over the area with assistance from Bella and the Lestrange brothers. Floo connections for the area had been blocked by a ministry contact a few minutes ago. Voldemort smirked as he imagined the Potters burning alive. He gave the command and Fiendfyre rapidly engulfed the street. The deatheaters soon had to retreat, unable to control the raging inferno. Voldemort, however, added more power and stepped into the midst of the burning black beast, untouched by the demonic flames. The deatheaters watched in awe and waited silently as screams ripped through the night.
James and Lily Potter frantically worked at breaking the wards blocking their escape but the two of them alone simply couldn't match the power of Voldemort and his lackeys. The intensity of the fire was overwhelming as it consumed the house protections and greedily tried to consume the last of the Potters. "It's no use James, their wards are too strong! We have to get Harry out of here!"
"How Lils? Everything is blocked. There is no escape!"
"I have an idea, keep the flames away from me and Harry as long as you can. I need more time!" James nodded and strained to control the flames, tears flowing as his heart was torn by the horror of this situation.
Lily desperately started chanting and waving her wand around a sleeping Harry. Five minutes later flames roared barely centimetres from the Potters whose clothes and skin were already partially charred. Sweat rolled down James' screwed-up face as he focussed on keeping the brunt of the heat from his precious Lily and Harry. Lily finished her chant, hugged Harry tightly, and touched a rune on Harry's head with her wand. The sleeping Harry was whisked away to safety at the nearest safe house, a muggle home where there were limited wards to overcome and limited physical distance. Lily tearfully looked to James, clearly exhausted, but also triumphant.
James leaned down and passionately kissed her and held her close. "I love you Lils. And I will see you again soon." Lily sobbed against his chest, and James' heart broke all over again. He carefully maneuverered his wand to point at Lily from behind her back and thought "Stupefy." She collapsed against him and he quickly cast the spell at himself as well. The two of them were immediately incinerated.
Harry awoke in a neatly-kept garden but had no idea how he got there or where he was. He had been dreaming about flying on his toy broom. He looked for his Mummy but couldn't see her. He called for his parents as best he could at just over a year old, but they didn't come. Crying now he crawled off down the street while calling for his parents. A dog viciously barked at him and he crawled away as fast as he could until he couldn't hear the creature anymore. He wailed and wailed until he saw a children's park.
He crawled to the jungle gym and curled up into a ball under the slide. He soon passed out from exhaustion and awoke in the morning as a police officer lifted up the scraped, bleeding, filthy and slightly charred child and rushed him to the hospital. The investigation into the strange child and his parents lead to a dead end as nobody recognised him. In a perfectly normal home in Little Whinging, the Dursley family followed the slightly bizarre news story with detached interest, Petunia tutting over the unkempt state of the child. Finding no new leads, the boy was consigned to a children's home in London, and the police case to the back of a filing cabinet, never to be solved by Muggle law enforcement.
...
The assault on Longbottom Manor had run very efficiently. With the aurors and the Order of the Phoenix attempting to stop the Fiendfyre, the entire inner circle as well as a group of twenty senior deatheaters unravelled the wards. Voldemort had discretely spent many weeks investigating the wards and effectively shredded them with the concentrated collective power of his chosen team. The wards fell with a horribly high pitched whine and Voldemort entered the house with his inner circle while the other lackeys guarded the grounds.
A quick spell revealed that only Alice and Neville were in the house, magically barricaded in the nursery. Voldemort hissed in annoyance at the additional delay and started assaulting the barricade. A few minutes into his assault he heard shouts and spell fire from outside, rapidly drawing closer to the house. He heard Dumbledore's amplified voice "You are outnumbered and outmatched Tom. Flee while you have the chance or come face me. Prove your power in front of your deatheaters or leave while you have the chance."
Voldemort snarled in rage. He sent his inner circle to face the meddling old fool and renewed his attack on the warded barricade. With a shout of triumph he ripped through and burst into the room. Alice attempted to shield young Neville but Voldemort didn't have time for her pathetic pleading. Green light flashed and she crumpled to the floor. Voldemort quickly strode to Neville's crib and smiled for a second in triumph before ending the last possible threat to his reign.
But something went wrong. Voldemort was thrown from the room, screaming in agony. His body slowly vaporized as his spell rebounded and he was forced to flee as a mere wraith. Dumbledore appeared at the top of the stairs in a flash of red flame, just in time to witness the flight of Britain's Dark Lord. Frank raced past Dumbledore into the nursery and mournfully cried out as he saw his wife's lifeless form. He froze in shock though when he heard Neville cry. He held Neville to his chest and wept in relief and simultaneous grief. The wizarding world's celebrations began not even an hour later.