[DISCLAIMER: No, I'm not Rowling, so NO, I DON'T own Harry Potter]

Prologue:

1980, August 21st

It was a relatively quiet evening at Godric's Hollow. James and Lily Potter were relaxing in the living room, having finally put their son, Patrick to bed. Lily sighed tiredly and glanced around, having a feeling that there was something she forgot to do. Suddenly the couple heard whimpering from the kitchen. Both frowned and went to see what the source of the sound was. And came across the older son – Harry. James glanced at Lily with a frown on his face: "Lils, didn't you say that you carried the kids to bed?"

His wife blinked, equally confused: "Jamie, I took Patrick; you were supposed to bring Harry." For some reason James couldn't remember himself saying that, but he shrugged and took the child to his room.

1981, January, 15th

Albus Percival Wulfrick Brian Dumbledore, headmaster of Hogwarts school of Witchcraft and Wizardry studied the twins. Patrick had his mother's red hair and freckles and was the younger but bigger child. Harry, the Potter heir, was small for his age. He had flawless pale skin, black hair, but not as wild as his father's and Lily's emerald green eyes. He glanced at the nervous parents and smiled: "Well, it seems that Patrick here is the one the Prophecy speaks of, though we can't really be sure at this point."

James gulped, feeling suddenly scared. He was one of the best Aurors, yet this Prophecy meant that one of his boys would be involved in the War. He found it rather disturbing, especially since Lily and Albus seemed to be rather pleased: "How can we know if it's even about one of them? I talked to Sirius a couple of days ago, his cousin Narcissa gave birth on July 30, just like Alice Longbottom did. This child could even be a muggleborn for all we know! And why are we so sure that the Dark in question is Voldemort?" He took a long breath and closed his eyes, trying to figure what this Prophecy would mean for his family and especially for his heir, Harry.

1981, October, 31st

It was just before midnight when James felt the wards come down. He knew what it meant and vowed to do all he could in order to buy Lily some time to run with the children. He barricaded the door and yelled: "Lily, take the kids and run. I'll hold his as long as can. Hurry!"

Upstairs in the nursery Lily Potter was trying to get her younger son to go to sleep, when she felt the wards crash and heard James' yell. She scooped Patrick and ran out of the room. She was almost at the apparation point, when she heard Harry cry. Sheу froze in horror. On one hand she felt Patrick was more important, but that would mean leaving Harry to be killed. After a moment of hesitation, she hurried back and was about to pick up her elder son, when a thump was heard downstairs. She knew what it meant and her heart squeezed painfully, knowing that her husband was dead. This cost her the necessary moments, as suddenly the nursery door was blown of its' hinges. She quickly placed Patrick in Harry's crib and drew her wand.

Lord Voldemort smirked when he saw Lily in front of the children: "Step aside, foolish woman and you will live…" The hissed words made the witch shiver, yet she didn't move. The Dark Lord shrugged and with a casual 'Avada Kedavra', Lillian Potter's dead body fell to the ground. The tall serpentine looking wizard stepped closer to the crib and studied the twins the same way Albus did before him. Harry was quiet, almost asleep, while Patrick was bawling loudly. The sound was more than just irritating. Voldemort pointed his wand at the child and snarled: "Avada Kedavra!" What happened next is the big mystery, but when the green flash was over, both boys had scars and only a pile of ash and a wand was left from Voldemort. Harry sported a lightning bolt scar on his left shoulder, while his younger brother had the same scar on his forehead.

Both boys were fast asleep, when Albus Dumbledore entered the room. The vanquisher of Grindewald couldn't decide if he was sad of happy. On one hand Voldemort was dead, at lest for some time, but the price was high.

1981, November, 1st

"Albus, really, we cannot leave Harry here. These people absolutely hate magic!" – said one Minerva McGonagall. The Transfiguration professor had no idea why her friend and mentor wanted to leave the child with such vile people and thus tried to figure it out – "Why can't the Weasleys take in both boys?"

Headmaster Dumbledore, who had already performed a rather dark ritual, meant to transfer magic from Harry to Patrick , leaving Harry himself a squib, if not dead, could not tell this to Minerva and so said: "Now, Minerva, Patrick is the Boy-who-lived, I'm just trying to make sure Harry here gets a normal childhood and doesn't grow up to be jealous of Patrick." The scottish witch didn't look convinced, but she knew there was nothing she could do, except watching over the child and making sure he does indeed get to have a normal childhood.

[A/N: And that's it for now. The next chapter will also be with wide time-gapes, since it only serves the purpose of showing you in what ways this is different from the canon story.]