Hey, everybody! There's something that just wouldn't leave my thoughts so I decided to write it. I hope you all like it and tell me what you think! Thanks for reading!
Disclaimer: I don't own Harry Potter no matter how much I wish I did.

Harry gasped for breath as he ran through the forest. It was too dark; he couldn't see, but he could hear the loud shouts and snapping of branches behind him. He should have known better. He had made a stupid mistake and said Tom's name by accident. Yes, it was an honest mistake, but he should have known better. People can't afford to make stupid mistakes during war; that's how they wind up dead.

He had been running for days now. Every time he thought he had given them the slip, they'd show up shortly after, and he would have to disapparate to a different spot and pray they wouldn't find him this time. The only theory he had as to how the Death Eaters were following him so easily was that they had somehow managed to hit him with a tracking spell of sorts shortly after he had said Tom's name. It was extremely likely. The fight following that forbidden word had been a blur. He could have very easily been hit with a tracker.

Harry didn't even know if his friends were still alive. The Death Eaters had caught Ron during the first day of running. Although the boy was the most athletic one of the trio, he wasn't the fastest and, as a result, got hit by a stray stunner. They caught Hermione shortly after. She and Harry had disapparated to a small town in France that Hermione had once visited. They had stopped to make a trans-Atlantic portkey in hopes that they would get some relief in America, but the Death Eaters found them before they could leave. The last thing Harry saw of Hermione was her wide, terrified, brown eyes as she shoved the portkey in his hands and whispered a quiet 'good luck' before activating it. Harry prayed to whatever god there was that they were still alive.

A startled gasp left his lips as his foot caught and painfully twisted on a tree root causing him to come crashing down to the forest floor loudly. Harry scrambled to get up, but the shouts were already upon him before he could even stand. A sharp kick to his ribs pushed him onto his back, and he stared blankly up at the Death Eaters surrounding him. They had already taken so much from him; he wasn't going to let them enjoy his terror.

The man who had kicked him, Rodolphus, his mind quietly supplied, smiled down maliciously at him. Harry wasn't frightened by his display but grudgingly admitted that the rotting, yellow teeth, matted hair, and ragged robes he was wearing did make him look as terrifying as his wife. Too bad Harry had already been through so much that things that scared most people wouldn't scare him.

"Time's up, Potter. The Dark Lord wishes to see you now," Rodolphus said with that same deranged smile. The comeback on the tip of his tongue was quickly forgotten when the Death Eater put the tip of his wand to his Dark Mark. Blinding pain seared through his head, his scar pulsing with his heartbeat. A scream tore its way out of his throat before he could stop it. The Dark Lord was coming.

Harry James Potter woke up with a strangled scream. He quickly sat up and scanned his room looking for any hidden foes. There were the same scarlet walls that he had seen all his life. There were his posters of the Falmouth Falcons, his favorite quidditch team, and the Weird Sisters. His eyes lingered over the pictures of his family. 'See,' the voice in his head drawled, 'You're home. Not in the middle of a battlefield about to take on You-Know-Who. Get a grip.' His breathing began to calm as he relaxed. He was right. He was home. Everything was fine. It was just a nightmare.

The door to his room slammed open, smacking against his bedroom wall. Harry jumped and immediately let the residual adrenaline from his nightmare take over. He flipped over the edge of the bed and pointed his wand at the intruders.

"Harry, are you alright!? We heard screaming-" a loud male voice called out before abruptly stopping once he saw Harry hiding behind the bed. Harry blinked a couple of times before wincing slightly and lowering his wand. He hadn't been prepared for them so soon after a nightmare. If he had, he wouldn't have reacted the way he did, but here he was, taking cover behind his bed and pointing his wand at his parents like they would attack him at any moment.

An impatient sigh snapped Harry out of his thoughts. "I thought we were over this, Harry. You said you were doing better." his dad said, frustrated. Harry flinched back and burrowed into the small space between his bed and nightstand. Although James was standing in his doorway in his old, ratty pajama bottoms and a thin, blue bathrobe, he truly looked imposing when he was mad. His hazel eyes seemed to glow, and his hair seemed messier than usual.

"Oh, hush now, James! We'll talk about this later!" his mother exclaimed as she pushed past him before rushing to Harry's side, "Are you alright, sweetheart?"

Harry blushed and nodded hesitantly. He hated the way his mother talked to him sometimes. It was like she saw him as this weak, porcelain doll that needs to be protected. He almost hated it more than the way his father talked to him sometimes, all impatient and frustrated. Almost.

"Mummy?" a small girl in pink pajamas, clutched a teddy bear tightly to her chest as she rubbed the sleep from her eyes, "Did Harry have another nightmare?"

Harry flushed even more at the statement. He was never going to live this down. Lily quickly abandoned her post by Harry in order to pick up his little, three-year-old sister. "Yes, sweetheart, but Harry's doing much better now. Aren't you, Harry?"

Harry mumbled a response and slunk down to the floor, the bed blocking his face from view. Lily sighed. "Come on, darling. You can talk to Harry tomorrow. Let's get you to bed."

Harry listened to her fading footsteps as she walked to his sister's room. He stared down at his hands and waited for the other shoe to drop. His father sighed loudly before sitting down on Harry's bed to look at him. "Harry, we've talked about this. Your dreams aren't real. You are perfectly safe at Godric's Hollow. You have to get over this ridiculous fear, Harry-"

"I can't stop my nightmares, Dad," Harry snarled, "And if you dreamed what I dreamed, you would be scared too."

James sadly watched his son for a moment. Harry looked worse than usual. He was ghostly pale and had large, dark circles under his eyes. James reached down, careful to keep his hands in Harry's line of sight and gently pulled his son back up onto the bed even though he was sixteen years old and far too old to be picked up like a child. He hugged Harry tightly to his chest and pulled the soft, Gryffindor blanket that covered the bed over their laps. "It's okay to be scared, you know," James finally whispered, "I just worry about you. These nightmares keep getting worse, and nothing we try to do helps. I hate this. I hate the fact that I can't protect my own son when he so desperately needs it, and it's killing me. Merlin, Harry, you have no idea how much I just want you to be safe and happy."

"They're getting better," Harry muttered, "It's not like I get them every night." Harry hoped the lie wasn't too obvious. He did have the dreams every night it was just a matter of remembering them. It didn't matter how hard he tried sometimes, the memories seemed to fade away, making him unable to recall any specific details about them, but always leaving a dark sense of foreboding with him. The only time Harry could remember things clearly was whenever he was panicking and, sometimes, he would get faint feelings about certain people and places that made no sense. In fact, the one and only time his dad had taken him to work, he had burst into tears when the passed the Department of Mysteries during his 'grand tour'. That was the last time he had gone to the Ministry. The only time the memories would actually rush to his aid instead of making him feel like an idiot was when he was in a fight or panicking. His instincts would heighten until after the end of the crisis when the memories would fade away again into a blurry haze of pain and suffering.

James pulled him closer and kissed the top of his head. "I know. I just worry about you."

Harry nodded slightly, not knowing what to say to his father in order to stop him from worrying. He waited for a few minutes, but when it became obvious his father wasn't going to return to his own room, Harry forced himself to relax and feigned sleep. James sat quietly for a few minutes, making sure Harry wasn't about to enter another nightmare before carefully slipping out from behind Harry and tucking him into bed. "Sweet dreams, Harry," James whispered before silently leaving the room and shutting the door behind him in the hopes that it would keep out whatever noise his younger brother and sister would make when they woke up in the morning.

When the door clicked closed, Harry's eyes popped open. Like he would actually fall back to sleep after a nightmare like that. It was absolutely horrible. It… It…

Harry paused and groaned. He had already forgotten what had happened. Harry scrunched his eyes closed, trying to remember the dream. All he could remember was an overpowering fear and a blinding pain. After that, it was completely blank. Harry's eyes snapped open, and he growled in frustration. Throwing off his covers, he stalked over to the messy desk in the corner of his room. He quickly opened the second drawer, dumped the miscellaneous junk out and took out the fake bottom of the drawer. He snatched the black, ragged journal and practically flew back to his bed. He had to write everything down before he could forget what little he did remember.

Harry flipped through the many, many, many entrees. He had had the nightmares for as long as he could remember. When he was little, he would always go running to his parents after one of them, wailing for them to save him. As he grew older, he wouldn't wake up screaming for help, but he would always tiptoe into his parents' bedroom and curl into bed between them. That all changed when Julian was born. Harry was nine at the time, and his parents were already getting tired of his frequent nightmares. Things were becoming extremely tense with his parent's emotions fluctuating between worried and frustrated. Then Lily found out she was pregnant. Things changed overnight. Instead of worrying about the odd nightmares Harry had developed over the years, they focused all their attention onto the new baby, what they were going to name it, what the nursery was going to look like, and who would be the godparents. At first, he had been overjoyed at the thought of a younger brother, but as the weeks went by and his parents continued to ignore the fear he had for his nightmares, Harry began to dread the oncoming baby. If his parents were focused this much on the baby without it being born, how bad would it be after it was born? Harry even stopped going to them after a nightmare when Lily threw a fit and demanded he slept in his own room and get over his fears. Although she had apologized the next morning, and Harry knew her emotions were all over the place because of the pregnancy, he couldn't bring himself to trust them again. He slowly began to resent the baby that had turned his family against him.

But the hatred didn't last long. As soon as little Julian Alexander Potter was born, he knew he could never hate the tiny treasure. With his large hazel eyes, dark, ruby curls, and cute button nose, Julian wormed his way into Harry's heart, and Harry knew he would do anything to protect the little boy. Julian was quiet and sweet in a way Harry had never seen before. It was obvious his little brother took after their mother instead of their father because he was brilliant. Harry taught him how to read by the age of two and Julian was already having bouts of accidental magic by the age of two and a half. Lily and James were ecstatic about their little prodigy. Harry didn't even bother to remind them he had started performing accidental magic at six months old. It wouldn't have mattered.

Two more years went on in this went on in this fashion until he turned eleven. Then just like a switch had been flipped his parents remembered him again. They were so excited for him to go to Hogwarts. In fact, they were so excited, they threw Harry a large surprise party for his eleventh birthday. That caused one of the worst days known to man.

The problem with surprise parties is the people throwing the party have to convince the person they're throwing the party for that there isn't a party. Lily and James did that a little too well. They barely even talked to Harry the week before his birthday, and when they did, they only snapped at him for not doing his chores. By the time his birthday had rolled around, Harry was convinced his parents had truly forgotten his birthday. Surprisingly that didn't bother him too much. His parents had forgotten about him many times after Julian was born so why should he be surprised they forgot him on his birthday?

But since it was his eleventh birthday, Harry decided he was going to do something special even if his parents weren't. He got up extremely early the morning of his birthday (six-thirty a.m., which was unheard of in the Potter household), grabbed some money he had managed to save over the years and sneaked into Julian's room. They were going to go on Julian's first outing in the Wizarding World. Harry quietly and carefully picked up the sleeping two-year old who woke up immediately and smiled happily at his old brother. After grabbing changing him out of his pajamas and grabbing his diaper bag, Harry slipped out of the house, waving off the wards, and crept down the street. Harry quickly made sure he was alone on the street before calling his magic to his fingertips, a trick he learned when he was little when he wanted to shock somebody. A loud bang filled the alley as the Knight Bus appeared in front of him. Harry only allowed himself a small smile of success before he boarded the bus and ordered it to go to Diagon Alley.

At home, his parents had decided to get up early as well. They carefully slipped downstairs, not wanting to wake Julian or Harry, and began decorating. They quickly began to fill the room with colorful balloons and streamers (and so what if there were more red and gold than any other color). Lily enchanted large, sparkling letters to hang from the ceiling that said 'Happy Birthday Harry!', and began to make an extravagant breakfast of all Harry's favorite foods while James began to quietly usher guests into the living room.

At that same moment, Harry was wandering around Diagon Alley in amazement. He had never been there by himself; his parents were always too worried he would have an adverse reaction to something to let him go anywhere by himself. Julian was giggling happily, amazed by all the pretty colors. Harry made his way to Ollivander's, not bothering to hurry. His parents wouldn't wake up until eight so he had an hour and a half to enjoy his freedom.

He entered Ollivander's with a bright smile. He was finally going to get his own wand. "Well, Mr. Potter, I didn't expect you to be here so early," a voice called out from behind one of the many shelves.

Harry had to hide his skittishness. He had one of his feelings again. Something in his dreams had happened here. Harry shook his head. He wasn't going to let his dreams ruin his day.

Ollivander came out from behind the shelves, pushing his glasses up his nose to get a better look at Harry. His eyes paused on the wiggling boy in Harry's arms. "Ahhh… This must be the young Julian Potter. I must say he looks like your mother. Where are your parents may I ask?"

"They're getting the rest of my supplies," Harry lied.

Ollivander nodded sagely before wandering over to a shelf. "How about we get started? Which arm is your wand arm?"

"Uhmm… My right?"

Ollivander pulled out a box. "Try this one. It's rather like your father's. Mahogany wood and dragon's heartstring. Good for transfiguration."

As soon as Harry touched the wand, Ollivander snatched it back. "Nope. That won't work. Try this one."

That is how thirty minutes passed. Harry went through forty-eight wands before he finally found his wand, an eleven-inch wand made out of cherry wood and unicorn hair as the core. Supposedly, it was good for healing. Although there was a slight feeling of wrongness, Harry forced a grin and conjured up some bright lights that played around Julian's head. The little boy laughed and swatted playfully at them. Harry was having the best birthday he ever had, and he wouldn't let those stupid dreams ruin it.

Meanwhile, at Godric's Hollow, most of the guests had arrived. Lily and James had decided to keep the party small and intimate, only inviting people they considered family (It wasn't because Harry didn't have any friends. No, not at all). It was just Harry's parents and the Marauders and their families. Remus, Sirius, Peter, and James were getting caught up on their various jobs as they set up the last of the decorations. Lily and Marlene Black née McKinnon, Sirius' wife, were comparing their children's 'terrible twos' in a corner of the room while Marlene and Sirius' four-year-old son, Regulus, ran around the room.

Lily looked at her watch and excused herself from the conversation to go and check on Julian. He usually cried around that time of the morning, and it was odd that he hadn't made a sound all morning, especially with the amount of noise from downstairs.

"JAMES!" a shriek disturbed the group in the living room.

Lily rushed down the stairs and barreled into James. "Julian's missing!"

James' face grew deathly pale. "Could he have crawled out of his crib somehow?"

"No, I enchanted it so that he couldn't have gotten out by himself. James, somebody had to lift him out. Someone was in our house!" Lily said in a panic.

"Did you check on Harry? Maybe he has Julian," James tried to placate her.

A shaky smile appeared on her face. "You're right. That's probably where he is. I just panicked like an idiot. Everything is probably fine."

James nodded reassuringly and led her upstairs to Harry's room. They were not prepared to see the empty bed. They ran through the house searching for their two children. After having everybody search the house and the grounds twice, they panicked and did the only thing they could think of. They called the Order of the Phoenix.

While Lily and James were running around the house in a panic, Harry ended up in Diagon Alley's best toy store looking for a toy he could get Julian. "What do you think, Jules? Do you want a stuffed animal or a game?"

The little boy in his arms giggled happily and pointed at the piles of stuffed animals.

"Wise choice," Harry said with a chuckle.

He searched through the piles and piles of animals until he found the perfect one. "What about this one?" Harry asked his brother, as he held up a bright red lion.

Julian squealed happily. "Kitty!"

Harry chuckled. "It's a bit bigger than a kitty, brother," He said as he checked out. It was time to go home.

Godric's Hollow was a mess of activity. The Order members were crowded into the tiny living room talking over each other trying to question the worried parents.

"Enough!" a voice called. Dumbledore pushed his way in front of the couple, "Do you have any idea where Harry and Julian could be?"

Lily and James shook their heads. "No, I don't think they could even leave the house by themselves. The wards shouldn't let them."

Dumbledore nodded seriously. "Somebody must have taken them, then."

"Do-Do you think Death Eaters could have done it? Because of the prophecy?" James tried to keep a brave face, but everyone could see the terror that lay just below the surface.

Dumbledore's eyes lost their twinkle. "It's a possibility. They may have wanted to get rid of the only other person who could fit the prophesy."

Lily paled dramatically. "So, they could- they could be…"

"We will do everything in our power to find them, Lily. We'll all look for them," Dumbledore said determinedly. The Order members around them nodded resolutely.

Harry cheerfully walked down the street to his house. He watched Julian play with his new toy and smiled. Even if his parents forgot it was his birthday, at least he had this moment of freedom with his brother.

Harry stopped when he saw his house. All the lights were on. Harry gulped. Maybe he could sneak into the house without his parents noticing. He carefully crept around the house and through the back door.

Harry paused in shock at the large crowd that was in the house. Had his parents invited their friends without telling him?

"What's going on?" He asked loudly, trying to be heard over the all the adults.

As soon as he spoke, everyone stopped talking. The house grew silent. Slowly the crowd turned to face the boy standing in the doorway holding his brother.

"HARRY!" Lily wailed as she picked him up and hugged him close to her, "Where have you been?! Are you okay?! Are you hurt anywhere?! Somebody get Severus here!"

Harry squirmed in his mother's arms. "I'm fine, mum! Let me go!"

James pushed his way through the crowd. "Where have you been, young man?"

Harry flinched at his tone of voice but didn't let it affect him too much. He had heard it many times over the past two years after a nightmare. Harry took a deep breath and squared his jaw. He had had been having a great birthday and he wasn't going to let his parents ruin that for him.

"Out."

"Out?" James' voice was dangerously quiet, "Out? Out where?"

"Why should I tell you?"

The Order members awkwardly looked at one another before they decided they needed to leave before things got ugly. The house emptied out rather quickly only leaving James, Lily, Sirius and his family, Remus, and Peter.

James' face began to turn red. "You should tell me because I'm your father, young man! Now where have you been?!"

Harry jutted out his chin. "Diagon Alley."

"Y-you took your brother to Diagon Alley. By yourself," James muttered in shock. Lily was ghostly pale and swaying slightly. Marlene came up behind her and helped her sit down on the couch.

Harry glanced nervously at his parents. This was not the way he had expected his parents to react.

James seemed to get over his shock. A fiery look entered his eyes. "WHAT THE HELL WERE YOU THINKING?! YOU COULD HAVE BEEN HURT?! WHAT ABOUT YOUR BROTHER? WHAT WOULD YOU HAVE DONE IF HE HAD GOTTEN HURT? WHAT THE HELL WERE YOU THINKING?"

Harry flinched and stumbled back. His father never yelled at him no matter how angry. "I went to get my wand," Harry mumbled, "I thought Julian would like Diagon Alley."

"And why," James growled, "Did you not wait for us?"

"You forgot. You forgot it was my birthday," Harry whispered, "You weren't even supposed to know we left. You never get up this early. We would have made it back before you noticed."

Just like that all the fight left James. "You actually thought we forgot?"

Harry shrugged. "Well, you've been really busy with Julian, so I thought maybe…"

Lily whimpered and flung herself at Harry, hugging him and Julian tightly. "Oh baby, we could never forget you! I'm so sorry for making you think that! I'm sorry, sweetheart; we should have never become so busy with Julian that you felt forgotten."

And so began one of the most awkward birthdays Harry had ever had. After his revelation, everyone was extremely quiet and morose. Even Sirius, who blamed himself for not being there for Harry to turn to and Remus, who was Julian's godfather. Nobody talked for the rest of the day, trying to process everything that happened early that morning. Harry locked himself up in his room with Julian and refused to come out while the adults debated whether or not this was an occasion Harry needed space over comforting. The only one who was truly happy was Julian, who was playing with his new lion he had named, Leon.

The months leading up to Hogwarts were awkward for the Potter family. Everyone was walking on eggshells. James and Lily didn't want Harry to feel like he was being ignored, but they wanted him to get over his nightmares. The only person Harry could stand to be in the same room was Julian. At least Julian didn't bring up his nightmares.

Then Harry went to Hogwarts. He was excited. It was supposed to be his new start, a place where his parents couldn't baby him and he could finally make some friends. Except it wasn't. Hogwarts introduced a whole new set of problems Harry hadn't foreseen.

Even before he boarded the train, it seemed as if everyone knew his name and not in a good way. Everyone knew about the scaredy-cat Potter who was such a baby his parents wouldn't let him out of the house. Harry was crushed when nobody wanted to be friends with him. Once again he was an outcast.

The sorting only made things worse. He was terrified when he first put the hat on that it would want to put him in Hufflepuff. Not that there's anything wrong with Hufflepuff. He just couldn't imagine how his parents would react when they heard Harry had ended up in Hufflepuff. His parents were Gryffindors through and through, so anything else would be an insult to their name. Instead, the hat suggested the inconceivable. It wanted to put Harry in Slytherin.

Harry had not expected that at all. The Slytherins would eat him alive when they found out about his nightmares; he just knew it. Not to mention how his parents would react. His father had told him stories upon stories about how evil the Slytherins were. Harry tried to reason with the hat, saying he wasn't fit for the house, but the hat claimed he was more ambitious than he knew. Harry barely convinced the hat to put him in Gryffindor after five minutes of arguing with it.

Harry became an outcast at school. The very first night in his dorms, Harry had one of the worst nightmares he had ever had in his eleven years. His screams woke everyone in the Gryffindor Tower. Word spread quickly through school that the Potter boy was a freak, a baby, a scaredy-cat. Gryffindor shunned him, saying he wasn't brave enough to be in their house. He became the lowest of low, constantly picked on by the Neville, Seamus, and Ron. Harry spent most of his free time running from the Boy-Who-Lived and his posey. He never wrote back to his parents to tell them what was happening at school. He didn't want them to know or fight his battles for him.

Halfway through Harry's third year, his mum gave birth to his little sister, Ivy Moira Potter. Harry was immediately called home to meet the little bundle of joy. As soon as he saw her, Harry knew he would do anything for her. She had the same fly away hair that he had as a baby and green eyes, only her eyes were grass green whereas his were a dark emerald color. Harry was lost to her as soon as she smiled, showing off a dimple in each cheek.

Harry shook the memories from his thoughts. No use dwelling on old memories. Especially memories from three years ago.

Harry put the pen to the journal and began to write.

July 14th, 1997

All I remember is fear and pain. I was terrified of something; I can't remember what. Right before I woke up, I can remember a horrible pain. It was worse than anything I've ever felt and left a raging headache when I woke up.

That's all I can remember from the dream, but when I woke up I was out of breath and screaming. Maybe I was fighting someone or running in my dream and got caught. And when my parents barged into my room, I reacted on instinct and flipped over the bed and pointed my wand at them. Am I fighting someone in my dreams? If so, why? Why me of all people? It's not like I'm important. I'm nothing.

—HJP

Harry flopped back into bed, clutching his journal. He stared blankly at the ceiling, exhausted. He hadn't had a decent nights sleep since he could remember. His eyelids flickered to half mast, covering his now dull green eyes. Maybe this time, Harry could sleep without dreaming. Maybe this time, the nightmares wouldn't haunt him. Maybe this time….

So? Good, Bad, Ugly? Let me know in the comments below! Okay, I'm going to give you a little bit of a background here. Basically in this universe, Voldemort went after the Longbottoms instead of the Potters, making Neville the Boy-Who-Lived. So Lily and James were able to stay alive and have a large family. Harry is just about to turn sixteen. Julian's seven, and Ivy's three. There's a little bit of background without spoiling the rest. Hope you enjoyed it!