Prologue
Voldemort slowly climbed the stairs of the small house in Godric's Hollow, healing slash along his left arm that had nearly severed the limb. James Potter had put up far more of a fight than he had expected and had caught him unaware with a runic ward placed under the sitting room of their home. Clearly they had prepared for this fight even while they had faith in their friend Peter Pettigrew. Voldemort could respect that but it hadn't stopped him from burying Potter under the wreckage of the nearby furniture. After a brief minute in which Potter made no movement Voldemort considered him incapacitated and moved on. He had other targets tonight and could not afford to waste energy.
He moved cautiously, checking every corner of the house as he proceeded to the second floor and the Potters he knew were hiding there. He had placed an extensive amount of Anti-Disapparition and Anti-Portkey wards up before entering the Potter's home and with a brief probe of magic every few seconds he know no one had brought them down. He had even had the Potter's home disconnected from the Floo Network. Tonight was a crucial night for his plans.
Tonight was the night he would acquire his future apprentice.
As he moved, he cast a variety of complex charms and detection spells on the walls, floor roof and even lights of the hallway, marveling at how thorough the defenses were. If he had been anyone except Lord Voldemort he could have died ten times over in this hallway alone.
Lily Potter had always been a Charms genius, amplified by her extensive forays into ancient runic languages. It had been her that had created the Fidelius Charm, something that had caused no end of trouble for Voldemort when memories of entire buildings began vanishing from the memories of his followers and even himself. His attempts to recruit her had failed and no assassin had been able to approach the Potter family without being taken care of in the most merciless of manners by either James' battle prowess or Lily's traps. He had faced the duo three times on the field of battle and three times they had escaped him.
Tonight there would be no escape.
He reached the door at the end of the hallway and reached to open it, finding it blocked by something behind it. How very trivial. A wave of the wand and the door vanished, along with the dresser behind it. Standing there was Lily Potter in front of a trio of cribs, each containing one child. Voldemort felt a rushing excitement. In one of those cribs was his apprentice, someone who would one day bear witness to the Dark Moon. The other two were unnecessary and would be eliminated once Voldemort had what he came for. It would not do to leave something that could be a problem in the future.
But before that, he had to deal with one Lily Potter who was watching him carefully, yet defiantly.
"Lily Potter…" Voldemort hissed, twirling his wand casually. "I truly enjoyed the viciousness you displayed in your own home. Very few people would attempt a blend of the Bardass and Futhark runes. I find myself quite impressed."
Lily's eyes widened slightly but she made no movement. "Thank you. I find myself with a lot of free time while in hiding," she replied.
"Indeed. I often find the active pursuit of knowledge stimulating to my own mind, especially in the field of ancient magick. Have you ever tried to decipher the runes of the Pict? Quite intriguing I assure you."
Lily made no response. She was having a hard time believing Voldemort was acting so casually. If he wasn't going to attack then why had he come?
"However, what has interested me of late is a different field altogether," Voldemort continued. "That of divining the future. Or, more precisely, Seer-spoken prophecies. Ah, I see you know what I speak of." Lily had tensed at the word prophecy.
"I have no idea what you're talking about. Divination if a very imprecise branch of magic," Lily bluffed. If Voldemort truly knew the prophecy then this night would likely end with one of their deaths.
"Those blessed by the Moons' light, born at the descent of the seventh month," Voldemort recited. "Surely you understand what I am saying? I have simply come for my own."
Lily had paled as he spoke. He knew. She edged closer to the center of the room, knowing the climax would happen any minute now. "They aren't yours, Voldemort. I won't let you have them."
"Surely you misunderstand me," he rebuffed as he lifted his wand and focused it on her. His eyes were focused now, casual demeanor gone. "I have come for my apprentice. The others are of no concern to me. However, I feel merciful tonight. Let me gather my apprentice and leave. As a token of goodwill I will allow your family to live. Even your husband is alive downstairs, if unconscious."
Lily wouldn't hear a word of it though. She flick her own wand out of her sleeve, to the narrowing of Voldemort's eyes. It was coming, she thought to herself. Voldemort lifted his wand, patience gone and with a muttered incantation brought it arcing down. Now!
Lily Potter pressed her wand to the ground as the pale white wand arced through the air. A series of bright silver diagrams appeared on the floor of the room under Lily's feet. The walls pulled away from them, the floor fell out from under them. In the blink of an eye, Voldemort and Lily looked as though they standing in the cosmos themselves, separated only by the glowing patterns between them. There was a huge concentration of light above them but below them was only a void, a deep dark abyss.
As the whistling green spell came for Lily a platinum dragon shot down from the light above and spread its wings in front of her, shielding her from Voldemort's view. The dragon braced itself against the wicked light of the Killing Curse, pushing back even as it pushed forward. With a mighty roar the dragon threw the spell to the side, a resounding gong ringing through the air at the impact. The spell vanished, leaving just the dragon standing there unmoving.
Voldemort was momentarily stunned. He didn't recognize these runes or where he was and was at a loss at how the Killing Curse had been stopped. His hesitation lasted but a brief moment though. He began to draw upon his magic, preparing to onslaught the red-haired witch with all the power he could muster. She was resourceful and would have been an excellent Death Eater but was proving to be too much of a threat to his campaign. She needed to be put down, quickly.
A black light began to shine under Voldemort's feet and he glanced down to see an image of a five-headed dragon snaking from the abyss and wrapping around his legs. He felt a tight constricting pain and immediately diverted his attention to this new threat. He blasted spell after spell out of his wand, faster and more powerful than most wizards could even imagine but the dragon didn't slow. Within moments his legs and arms had been restrained by four of the five heads, with the last hissing vehemently at the platinum dragon guarding Lily Potter.
Lily stepped around her shield as Voldemort struggled with his bonds. She walked to the center of the space where a grey set of scales had begun to glow, coalescing into being. The scales placed themselves in the center and Lily began to chant.
Voldemort's attempts to free himself increased tenfold. He recognized these words, had read of them in forgotten texts years ago. Words of pleading with the oldest of the gods, those who had walked the Earth long before the current age. This was a plea of balance, an offering of oneself to gain something of equal value. In a moment of horrified realization he realized what Lily Potter would offer and what she would ask.
Her life for his.
With a roar of fury Voldemort's magic exploded and washed over the five-headed dragon, pushing it, commanding it to bow to his whims. He threw his entire being into wrestling with this darkest of creatures, Lily's chants resounding in his ears as he fought. With one almighty push he forced himself free of the dragon and began to move towards Lily, who had not reacted in the slightest to his victory. As he raised his wand to strike her down the platinum dragon again stepped between them, raising its wings. Even as Voldemort shifted targets to the dragon, the five-headed dragon rushed past him, engaging the platinum beast in battle.
Voldemort rushed past, feeling the smothering power in the air as he attempted to reach Lily before her chant could be completed. Just before his stream of spells connected with her body, Lily's eyes snapped open and in a deep voice far unlike her own Voldemort heard, "The bargain has been struck. Light for darkness. Love for Hate. The Scales are in balance."
A wash of light, incredible agony and Voldemort's vision faded to black.
8 Years Later
The three Potter children were in the sitting room late one night, listening to the crackle of the fire while they each pursued activities of leisure. Harrison, messy black hair and intent green eyes, was laid back on the couch and reading one of his mother's old spell books. Although she had lost her magic that Halloween night so long ago she had kept all of her old school things for her children. Rose was sitting at a nearby table immersed in her own tome with a quill in one hand, taking notes on a piece of parchment with perfect script. She occasionally lifted a hand to move her long red hair behind her ear or flip a page but her note taking hardly slowed. Damien was lounged in a window seat, gazing out at the stars on this exceptionally clear night. Harrison could see the reflection of his brother's face on the window, hazel eyes framed by glasses, watching the night sky peacefully.
They had been like this since their parents had left them to their own devices and retreated to their study, preparing for work in the case of James and continuing research into magical theory in the case of Lily. Even having lost her magic Lily's love of the magical world had not diminished and she doggedly pursued her studies despite her obvious handicap.
"I've never seen that before…" Damien was the first to break the long silence.
Rose glanced up from the tome she was reading and looked at him quizzically, the scratch of her quill pausing for the moment. Very few things pulled Rose from her reading but not knowing something was always one of them. Harrison paid no attention and flipped to the next page of his own book on hexes, ignoring his brother's inane comment.
"There's a silver moon out tonight," Damien said excitedly as he suddenly pressed closer to the glass. "It's much bigger than the white one." He had always enjoyed watching the night sky, something neither of his siblings had been interested in. They always had their noses in a book down on Earth, preferring the accumulation of personal knowledge over the wonders of the world itself. But he had never before seen more than one moon in the night sky.
As he puzzled over it, Damien's comment had finally grabbed Harrison's attention. "What do you mean, 'silver moon'?" he asked his brother as he lifted his eyes from his book, then mentally cursing himself for taking the bait. Damien had always had an inclination for mischief, taking after their father and his friends. Although his pranks were always in good nature and engineered to make everyone laugh Harrison often found himself becoming increasingly annoyed by his brother's seeming lack of propriety and constant disruptions of his studying. They were attending Hogwarts in a few years and Harrison would accept nothing less than being the best of the class.
"The silver moon," Damien said, responding to his brother's question while pointing out of the window. He had grown used to Harrison's irritable nature over the years. Harrison set his book down and walked towards the window, certain Damien was pulling his leg. Rose followed suit, judging this to be more important than the book on Transfiguration she was reading. "It's right there, above the trees near the lake."
Glancing out the window in the direction Damien was pointing Harrison saw nothing. He heard Rose inhale sharply next to him as she leaned closer to the window. "What is it? Do you see it?" he asked her.
"There is no silver moon… But I see a red moon, over there above the trees. Amazing…" she whispered softly.
Harrison pressed himself against the glass to see but caught no sight of a red or silver moon, only the normal small white one. With an irritated huff he backed away from the window.
"Very funny. Try not to waste my time with these jokes," he said sharply, moving back to his book. Damien had even gotten Rose in on this one, which was impressive considering how hard it was to pull Rose away from her books, even for eating.
Damien wheeled around. "I'm not lying! There's a huge silver moon out there!"
Rose glanced at him before looking back out the window. "There may not be a silver moon, but why didn't you mention the red moon?"
Damien scrunched his eyebrows. "There is no red moon. That doesn't even make sense. Maybe you can't see it clearly from inside," he said as he headed for the front door. Despite his reluctance Harrison felt compelled by his curiosity to follow his sibling. Rose moved past him, apparently also eager to see her 'red moon' more clearly. Surely this was just a prank by his siblings, right? As much as he wanted to convince himself of this, he had rarely seen Rose so excited.
Throwing on a cloak and shoes they went outside into the brisk autumn air. Tonight was very quiet, the birds and insects remaining silent. The wind blew softly against their bodies as the three Potter children walked around the side of the house with the window they had been looking out of. After the attack on their home nearly ten years ago James Potter and Sirius Black had hired contractors to build them a small two-story house in the country, complete with runic ward scheme and other advanced charms to help keep the house hidden from the majority of public knowledge. The Potters had become famous the country over after the Dark Lord Voldemort's defeat that night and had needed somewhere to have time to themselves.
"It's there," Damien pointed, staring into the night sky in the direction of a dirt path that led to a small but clean lake the Potters sometimes came to when the weather was good. However even with Damien's clear direction Harrison couldn't see what had his brother so excited. He turned to Rose only to see her also staring into the night sky, this time in another direction towards the tree line. Her face looked enraptured and her eyes were closed as though something was gently caressing her face. And was that a red tint he saw on her normally white skin? Backing away towards the house Harrison chanced a look at Damien and found him in the same state, but shining a brighter silver than the small moon in the sky could possibly warrant.
Harrison was beginning to get angry. "I've had enough! This joke has gone on for too long. I don't know what you thought you were trying to pull with this stunt, pretending there were more moons in the sky." His siblings didn't react to his words at all. With a snort Harrison wheeled around. He would go back to his book and put this nonsense behind him.
And then he saw it, directly above the Potter house. A void in the sky where no light passed through. Darker than even the night sky behind it and looking like an eye gazing upon the world was clearly a black moon. Harrison's gaze was caught on this moon and it filled his body with a warmth he had never known, filling from his toes to the very tips of his fingers. It was harsh and soft, raging and yet smooth. He saw the world being covered in the dark rays of the moon before he closed his eyes and embraced the feeling coursing through him, holding it, caressing it, making it his own.
It felt as though voices were whispering in his mind, telling him of all he could accomplish, all he could gain. Nothing was beyond his ability with this power. He knew that should he call, even Death itself would respond to his summons. He would rise, gain knowledge and make those of fame, those like the great Warlock Albus Dumbledore, the Alchemist Nicholas Flamel and the Dark Lord Voldemort look like mere insects. He would surpass wizards and witches and all magical beings. People would fear and revere his name as his due. With this power at his beckoning Harrison Potter would become a legend.
Harrison Potter would become a god.
AN:
This is a story idea that I've been sitting on for a while. As one might have noticed it pulls a lot of things from the Dragonlance books. However, I will also take artistic liberties in order for it work properly (such as each Potter child seeing a different moon). The Voldemort/Lily encounter was something I pulled out of absolutely nowhere so I feel pretty good about my ideas flowing for this story (though it also could use a lot of work). Any constructive criticism would be much appreciated since this I believe this story has a bit of potential.