The night Lily and James Potter were murdered, their baby boy was left alive. When the Dark Lord fled, the little baby was left crying in his cot, pleading for his mother to wrap him in her arms. Crying for his father to play a game with him. He did not understand why they lay motionless on the floor. It was many hours until a half giant Hagrid, picked up the baby boy and carried him away, onto the back of a flying motorcycle lent to him by a friend. But what would have happened, if Hagrid had run into trouble before leaving to hand the boy to Albus Dumbledore? What if the baby boy was lost?
What if, a childless man and woman, both of the Wizarding world, had heard the baby crying in the bushes by the road?
In a world where Harry grew up with magic. In a world where he never knew about his parents. In a world where his godfather Sirius, due to the troublesome encounter with Hagrid, had never been imprisoned in Azkaban. What if, over the years, The Boy Who Lived, was thought to be dead? In a world…of twisted fate.
PrologueThe sounds of a baby crying for its mother rang out in the quiet street. Woken from their sleep, Joseph and Mary-Grace Bartlett, two members of the Wizarding world, went out into the street to try and find the source of all the noise. Mary-Grace gasped when she saw the little baby boy wrapped in a blanket crying under a bush.
"Oh, you poor thing!" she gasped, picking up the baby and cradling him in her arms. His crying hushed as she gave him her finger to hold.
"How do you think it got here?" asked Joseph, looking around, "There haven't been any babies born recently in the neighbourhood"
"Oh Joe, for years we've prayed for a child of our own, perhaps our prayers have finally been answered" said Mary-Grace
"Perhaps they have" mused Joseph, gently stroking the boy's hair. He frowned when he saw a scar on the baby's forehead, "Look Mary-Grace!" he exclaimed
The scar was unlike anything they'd ever seen. Shaped like a lightning bolt, it was still fresh.
"What happened to you, you poor thing?" cooed Mary-Grace.
The baby was staring up at her with vivid green eyes, as if knowing something she didn't.
"Lets get inside," said Joseph, ushering his wife back into the house. Mary-Grace spent no time wasting and made a makeshift bed for the baby by lining a washing basket with soft blankets. Carefully she lay him down and watched as his eyes closed and he fell asleep. Joseph came up behind her with a cup of tea. She took it gratefully.
Joseph sighed, "Mary-Grace, don't get too attached, we don't know if he still has a family or not. I don't want to see you upset if we have to return him"
Mary-Grace didn't take her eyes off the sleeping child, "What kind of family would leave him to die?" she asked bitterly, "We can't leave him. He needs us…and we need him" she finished, looking up at her husband
Joseph looked at the baby. For so long he had wanted a child, just as much as his wife. The longer he thought, the more he wanted to claim the boy as his son.
"I'll make the call to the adoption centre," he said. His wife beamed and hugged him lovingly.
Joseph left and returned in about fifteen minutes, scratching his beard, "The agency said if he's not claimed or reported in a week, he's ours. We'll just have to go down to London tomorrow and sign some papers"
He put an arm around his wife and couldn't help but smile.
A week later, the baby had not been taken back and finally Joseph and Mary-Grace could have a baby of their own.
"What should we call him?" asked Mary-Grace as she and her husband stood in their beloved new son's room as he slept in his cradle.
"It's entirely up to you darling" smiled Joseph
Mary-Grace thought. The way they had found him had been a miracle. It had been on the same night another miracle had been performed. The death of the Dark Lord. A little boy had miraculously defeated him, but had been reported dead soon after. What had the little boy's name been?
"Harry" she whispered
"Harry?" her husband questioned, then nodded as he understood, "Perfect"
"Our little Harry" smiled Mary-Grace