A/N: This is a Severitus piece, with DM/HP, but not slash. (See if you can guess what I mean!) Enjoy, and please review so that I know to keep writing this.

Prologue

James Potter stumbled down the hall to the door. It was two o'clock when the loud banging at his door had awoken him.

"Last time I ever fall asleep on the sofa," he grumbled, trying to massage that kink that had developed in his neck. He felt around for the switch on the wall and turned on the lights. Now that the apartment was illuminated, he could locate the front door. If it's Padfoot or Moony, I'll kill them, he thought, pulling open the door. To his great surprise, it was neither of his best friends, but a scarlet haired woman. Her hair and cloak hung limply from the rain, but her eyes flashed a brilliant green.

"Lily? What—?"

"James, I need your help," she said. Her voice was trembling, and he noticed for the first time that there were tears running down her face.

"Of course, Lils, come inside," he said, helping her in. He took the cloak and draped it over the nearest chair as they walked to the living room. "What's the matter?" They sat down on the sofa, Lily looking down at her hands.

"I just, didn't know what to do…"

"Lil, what's happened?" James said firmly. "Are you alright? Did that greasy—"

"No, James, he didn't do anything to me," she replied. She looked up at him, emerald eyes seeming to bore into his very soul. She looked desperate and frightened, and it was all he could do to refrain from pulling her into his arms. "James, I…I'm…pregnant."

"Oh, Lily," he said, finally giving in to his protective instincts. "Oh, Lils, I'm so sorry…"

"I don't know what to do, James. You know what he'll do if he finds out. It'll risk everything! His life, mine, Ariane's…"

"I know, Lily, I know." He gave her a reassuring pat on the back before releasing her. "Did you name it Ariane?" She nodded, a faint smile brightening her sorrowed expression. "Lily," James said, taking a deep breath, "I know how to help, but it's going to hurt him. You have to be ready for that."

"I'd rather have him hate me forever," she said, fresh tears pouring from those green pools, "than die for me."

Chapter One

Harry opened his eyes slowly. It was still dark in his room, but he could make out the blurred shapes of his wardrobe and the desk. He reached out a hand to grab his glasses of the desk, and put them on. The world came back into focus, just in time for Dudley to emit a loud snore in the room next door. It was this early morning time that Harry had come to enjoy the most over the past month at Number Four, before his so called family woke up, when he had his thoughts for company. His sixteenth birthday was only a week away, and that was when Moony would come take him to the Burrow. The Weasleys were his favorite family in the world, and to get to spend the remained of summer with them was going to be heaven.

Of course, he had almost thought about turning down the offer. With Voldemort out in the open now, and searching for him, Harry feared that his friends were already in danger. Guilt clinched at his heart, and tears came to his eyes. He had been crying a lot lately, over Sirius, his parents, the nameless hundreds murdered by Voldemort… And it was his responsibility to rid the world of that snake faced bastard. But how? What was this mysterious power of his that would help him? He was just a teenager – how was he supposed to bring down the most powerful dark lord in over a century?

Damn that prophecy anyhow. It came from Trelawney, for Merlin's sake! No, that was a stupid excuse, Harry thought to himself. He had seen her make true predictions in front of his very eyes. Oh, she was real enough when she wanted to be, the old fraud.

He remembered the letters he had received, from Ron, Hermione and Remus. They had all been worried that he would fall into depression over Sirius's death. But they didn't understand that he had been dealing with guilt over Voldemort's actions for a long time now. No, Harry wasn't depressed, he was angry. He had decided, just a few days ago while he was being pinned down and kicked by Dudley and company that he was going to work harder, train, and make himself strong enough to fight back. He wasn't going to let anymore of his family get hurt, or anyone at the hands of that monster. Once that was done, then he wouldn't let himself grieve for his family, but not before.

If only he were bigger, he thought wistfully, or more powerful magically. Harry was pretty sure that there wasn't anything he could do to improve his powers. He had tried, using his books that he had hidden away under the loose floorboard, to practice upper level spells. But it was as if there was something blocking his magic – he would call on it, but it simply did not respond. To make it worse, he was finding fewer and fewer moment to practice. Since Dudley had begun his boxing, he had only gotten stronger, and more bulky, this time with muscle. Harry was pretty sure that he was, in fact, shorter now than he was at the end of term. His arms and hands had been getting slimmer, though that could be all of the yard work Aunt Petunia had him doing…

Harry sighed and sat up. He had been frustrated with his magic and his height. He needed to get away from here, he reasoned, and get back to the magical world, where he belonged. Then, everything would sort itself out.

Quietly, Harry crept out of his room and down the hall to the bathroom. The Dursleys didn't lock him in at night anymore, out of fright for Moody, but they had made up for it with more chores and less frequent meals. He flicked on the bathroom light, and looked in the mirror. And gasped.

That couldn't be right, he thought, blinking his eyes. His hair was now brushing his shoulders, curling in large waves, when just yesterday it had been his normal, short mop. As he pulled the hair in front of his face to examine it, he noticed that his finger nails were longer as well. What the hell was happening? The Dursleys would freak if they saw him like this – these changes were obviously the result of some sort of magic. He'd be punished for sure… Frantically, Harry dug in the drawer for the nail clippers and his Uncle's mustache scissors.

A few minutes later, he disposed of the hair in the bin, and checked his appearance critically. His hair was a little worse for the wear, but it was short again. There was something about his face that was different though… he looked more carefully at every feature. Were his lips fuller? Yes, that was what was different… I look feminine! he thought miserably. Feminine did not go with the new image he wanted to make for himself, powerful Light wizard capable of taking down the forces of darkness…

Uncle Vernon's alarm went off. Harry turned off the light in the bathroom and snuck back into his room as quietly as he could. The Dursleys may not lock him in his room, but they certainly didn't want to think that he was awake and roaming the house while they weren't.

Several days later found Harry lying in his bed, watching the alarm clock. It was his birthday ritual, to wait up for the clock to read midnight. He had left his window open for the owls that were sure to come. Tomorrow morning, Remus was coming to fetch him. Harry couldn't wait. He and Remus had exchanged letters almost daily since the end of term. They had both lost their remaining family, and found comfort in each other. While Moony would never replace his godfather, the werewolf was finding a special place in Harry's heart reserved only for his closest family.

Only four minutes and he would be sixteen. His stomach cramped unpleasantly. It had been doing that all day, strangely. At first, Harry thought it was simply hunger cramps, but he had snuck an apple from the kitchen earlier and they hadn't gone away. He rubbed his stomach, trying to soothe it. He had woken up every day the past week to find his hair and nails longer than they should have been. Yesterday, he could have sworn that his eyes were getting rounder too. He looked a lot more like his mother now, he thought, flipping through the photo album of his parents. This was part of his birthday too, looking through the old pictures of Lily and James Potter. There were a few pictures that Mooney had sent him of himself as a baby, riding around on Padfoot while his mother looked on with a smile. He had had curly hair as a baby…

Another cramp hit him just then, and he nearly doubled over. Something was wrong…

The grandfather clock in the sitting room downstairs chimed midnight.

One…

The cramps got worse, and Harry did double over onto the bed, holding his stomach.

Two…

He felt his skin heating up, suddenly, as if he had been moved over a fire.

Three…

His legs began to hurt. The pain shot up through his shins…

Four…

and hit his hips, where the pain worsened.

Five…

Then through his stomach… Merlin, it hurts! Harry thought, his eyes shut tight, cringing.

Six…

His chest felt as if it was on fire, his skin itched and he felt as if he were being stretched in many different directions at once.

Seven…

The stretching, the burning, the pain…

Eight…

He felt something liquid between his legs, and his last thought before he fell into darkness was, "Great, now I've wet myself."

A/N: Don't forget to review people!