Lily Evans had frustrated James Potter from day one. He always knew she was the one for him, yet she persisted in turning him down every time he asked her out. Well no more! On the night of the full moon, James Potter, 7th year student of Hogwarts School for Wizardry and Witchcraft, but more importantly 17 year old pureblood, snuck out of his dorm with his friends to take care of one of their own, a werewolf. After taking him to the Shrieking Shack, he slunk off into the Forbidden Forest to find a spot he had set up for that night. He offered the Moon Goddess his blood, knowing and not caring that this ritual was considered Dark. He spoke the necessary words and the Moon Goddess spoke back.

"Mortal, why do you call upon me?"

"Oh Goddess, I wish to seek your assistance. I love Lily Evans but she does not love me. Please, Goddess, make her fall in love with me."

The Moon paused, contemplating. "I will do this if, in return, you give me your first-born child."

Thinking nothing of such a promise if it meant Lily would love him, James agreed. "I will give you my first-born child."

"So mote it be," acknowledged the Moon, sealing the deal with magic. That night, Lily Evans discovered the Marauders with Remus and fell in love with James for being such a wonderful friend that he would help a friend who was turned into a Dark Creature rather than persecute him. The two of them were married at the end of that year and Lily became pregnant with a son they decided to name Harrison James. When the boy was born, their perfect lives fell apart. He was born with white hair, grey eyes, and pale skin.

"Whose son is this, Lily? He couldn't be mine; he looks nothing like either of us! Tell me whose he is!"

Lily cried and pleaded with her husband, insisting that Harry was his, that she had had no one else. James was in about to curse her when he recalled that night he made a deal with the Moon. I will give you my first-born child. His words echoed in his head and he dropped his wand. "I made a deal with the Moon Goddess…"

Lily, terrified, asked "What deal?"

"Harry is Hers. She let you love me and I let Her have our first-born child! He is not ours at all!" James threw himself to the floor and cried in shame and misery.

Lily was horrified. She begged with him to stop saying it, to claim this child, to love him as she loved him. James could not be consoled. He wept for the loss of this child, and in his tears, the Moon saw the course she must take. That night, James received a dream. It was not one of James's own creation, but of the Moon's.

"James Potter. You promised me your first-born child, and yet you now do not wish to give him to me."

"Great Lady, I love him. He's my son, and I love him. Please have mercy. Don't take him away."

"Though you have taken from me the one thing I have desired, a child of my own, I will not take him from you yet. You may keep your son, and make him know that while he is yours, he is also always mine. My son will grow up to be proud and strong, as any child of mine should, and when his flesh and spirit separate, he will join me, forever."

"Great Goddess Moon, you are truly kind. I will raise him to be the best he can be. I promise to keep him safe and happy for all my time with him."

"That is all I ask. Goodbye, James Potter. Harrison will be protected whenever I am in the sky."

The dream ended as suddenly as it began and James stood and woke his wife. "Lily, the Moon spoke to me. Harry is ours until the day he dies. As long as the moon is in the sky, he is safe. He's ours. He doesn't look like us though. How could he possibly be explained to everyone? You know that Voldemort would be after him if he knew."

Lily placed a hand on her husband. "James, I didn't take ancient runes for nothing. I'll create a runic spell that uses his own magic to hold a glamour that makes him look like us while hiding the runes from anyone who could see them. Harry will look just like he would if the Moon had not claimed him."

For two days, Lily worked on the runes, until the equation was perfect. She slit open hers and James's palms with a ritual dagger and let blood drain into a glass bowl. Then she dipped the dagger in the blood and traced the runes onto Harry's skin, just above his heart. Then she and James placed their hands on Harry's face and pushed their magic into the spell, making Harry's magic surface and absorb the runes. The small scratches lined in blood disappeared, as did the white hair, pale skin, and grey eyes.

In their place were unblemished tan skin, dark hair, and emerald eyes. Harry looked just like them. The spell would hold, and nobody but James and Lily knew that he was not the same.

The next few months passed quickly, as the young couple were sent into hiding by the Prophecy. They ran and hid so much that they were greatly relieved when Dumbledore suggested a Fidelius Charm instead of running. They thought for a while about making Sirius their Secret Keeper, but decided that it was too obvious. They settled on Peter and kept this decision from everyone until the day the charm was performed. They called Peter and Sirius to the house at Godric's Hollow and said that they were going to settle down there for a while, and that they believed it was Remus who was giving away their location every time they settled somewhere. They told Peter that Sirius had to pretend to be Secret Keeper while Peter was the real one, or else Peter could be targeted.

Peter and Sirius agreed to the plan and the charm was performed. They lived a normal life until Harry was 15 months old. On Halloween night, 1981, Voldemort attacked the Potters and attempted to kill the boy prophesied to defeat him. His Killing Curses struck down James and Lily easily, but as he raised his wand to Harry, the Moon shone brightly. As the curse hit the boy, Harry turned an unearthly white and it rebounded with a bright green light. The last thing Voldemort heard was a terrible woman's voice saying "You will not harm my son."

The young boy cried as he toddled about his home, trying to wake his mother and father. He was scared, and his head hurt. Then peace came to his tired mind, as he wandered outside into the soothing moonlight. He didn't move as Sirius picked him up and put him on Hagrid's bike to take to Dumbledore. The man would be arrested for killing Muggles later that night. Dumbledore, seeing the scar on the little boy's forehead, left him on his Aunt's doorstep with naught but a note to explain why he was there. Harry stayed calm the entire night, until the sun started to peek over the horizon and the moon disappeared. He awoke cold and hungry, and was not well received by his Aunt or Uncle. For years they starved and overworked and talked terribly of him, only letting him outside during the day. They said that being out at night was freaky, and for years Harry saw very little of the moon that he always felt watched over him.

Then came the letters.

There were hundreds of them, all addressed to him, and each upset his relatives more and more. They went into hiding not unlike his own parents had, and when the huge man broke down the door, it was all Harry could do not to scream. When the story came out, though, Harry was furious. His own relatives had lied to him all his life, and called him a freak for having magic, a gift that anyone would want. Harry was about to let his mind wander to the horrible things that his magic would let him do when he heard a woman's voice in his head, soothing him. "Little One, do not harm them for their fear. They do not understand your gift, and they fear what you could be. To harm these mortals without Gift would be like harming a child who threw rocks at a snake that was protecting its nest. They know nothing of you, only of the things that your Gift could do."

Harry relaxed his magic, looking out the window at the moon. He knew that the voice that spoke to him was never wrong. He wouldn't hurt his relatives.

Harry went with Hagrid that night and became fascinated by the world that was now open to him. He knew that he never wanted to leave this wondrous world where he was not looked down on but looked on as equal to everyone else. He had magic just as much as any of them, and he was accepted. Even now, though, Harry felt like something wasn't right. He ignored the feeling for now, though, because he wanted to have a normal life at school.

Harry decided right away to do his very best at school. He knew that as "Boy-Who-Lived," as his title was explained to him, he would be in the eyes of everybody who mattered. His chance to figure out exactly how they wanted him to behave came when he ran into the rude boy in the robe shop. If he was that snooty he had to be rich, and he implied that he was from an "old wizarding family," so his parents must be really important and know how somebody important is supposed to act. So, when the rich boy told him his name, Harry replied "My name is Harry Potter. It was good to meet you. I hope we'll be in the same house."

When Harry came to the Hogwarts Express a month later, he immediately sought out the people who stood out. He knew that wizards wore robes, so he looked for somebody wearing them. Honestly, he wasn't sure why his aunt and uncle thought he was stupid. He felt pretty smart for coming up with this, especially after he saw his friend from the robe shop, Draco. He ran over to meet the grey-eyed boy, smiling. Draco smiled back.

"Harry, you're here! See, Mother, I told you that I met him. Harry, come on. We can't wait too much longer to get on the train or the other kids will get all the good seats!" Draco rushed Harry over to greet his parents then rushed him to the train. The blonde seemed so excited that Harry didn't want to tell him that he had chocolate on his chin. Thankfully, his mother did that.

"Draco, dear, you have chocolate on your chin. Wipe it off and have a wonderful year! Don't forget to write!"

"Ugh," Draco muttered, "Parents… They're always pointing out the most embarrassing things, don't you think?"

"Mmhm. My aunt and uncle do it all the time. They just do it because they want to make me look bad. They hate magic."

Draco looked at Harry, dumbstruck. "You live with people who don't like magic? But… You're the Boy-Who-Lived! Everybody thought you were away learning how to fight in case another Dark Lord came around! You probably don't even know magic yet, do you?"

"Nope. Well, I talked to a boa constrictor at the zoo once, but I don't know if I could do that again or not. All my other magic was on accident."

"Do you have any idea what you just told me? Never mind, just don't tell anyone about the snake thing. It could get you in trouble with some important people. I have a plan Harry. Do you want to hear it?"

"Yes," Harry said, surprised at what this boy his own age seemed to know that he, himself, wouldn't have even guessed. "I want to hear your plan. What is it?"

Draco grinned at him, looking for a moment like the red-headed twins Harry glimpsed teasing their mother outside the train. "I'm going to teach you all the things you need to know about polite society, politics, and the Wizarding World. You can tell me about the muggle world and everything I need to know to get around in case I ever get stuck there. I figure that if I grow up to be Minister, I'll need to know all about what the muggleborns think that we purebloods don't know. Deal?"

Harry beamed at his friend. "Deal! So other than not mentioning the incident with the snake, what do I need to know to start Hogwarts? What are the houses and how do you get sorted into one? You mentioned them, so I want to know what I meant saying that I hoped we were in the same house."

Draco spent the rest of the train ride to Hogwarts teaching Harry what, exactly, he needed to know to fit in at Hogwarts, or at least to not get in trouble with anyone. Harry, for his part, decided to make friends with a muggleborns who could help him get muggle things to Hogwarts to teach Draco about. With a little argument, Draco agreed that it was an acceptable plan, as long as he was still Harry'sbest friend. No muggleborns could take his place if Draco had a say in it.

All too soon, the train pulled up to Hogwarts and the boys were told to get into boats. Harry and Draco shared with two large boys who seemed rather stupid, but loyal to Draco. Draco called them Crabbe and Goyle when he introduced them. The ride passed quietly on their part, though another boat nearly capsized because a boy named Neville dropped his frog in the water on accident and tried to retrieve it. Harry thought that was silly. If the boy had just kept the frog in a terrarium where it belonged, it wouldn't have escaped, and if he had reached over any further, Neville would've fallen out of the boat. Harry commented on that, and Draco laughed. He assured Harry that not everybody will be that stupid in the Wizarding World, and that the boy was probably just awkward because he was growing and it was affecting his confidence, making him do silly things. Harry decided that he would have to talk to Neville later and make friends, since he looked the sort to need them.

As Harry thought this, he realized the boats were turning a corner, and he looked up. In front of him was one of the most majestic castles he'd ever seen, the others being mere pictures taken by his family on their No-Harry-Allowed vacations. This, he thought, was the best place in the world. Exiting the boats, Draco, Harry, and the bodyguards, as Harry now referred to Crabbe and Goyle, came to a huge door that swung open as Hagrid knocked. A stern-looking woman with black hair and emerald robes stood there, and she led the group of first-years to an empty chamber beside what must be the dining hall. She stopped them there and looked at them for a moment, then opened her mouth to speak.

"Welcome to Hogwarts."