October 31, 1981
Severus Snape and Lord Voldemort arrived in Godric's Hollow exactly as planned. As the pair approached the small cottage occupied by Lily and James Potter and the new baby, Harry, they were met by a set of Wards that they did not expect to encounter. James came racing out of the cottage with his wand drawn and Lily followed him out shortly after with young Harry in her arms.
"James, what caused you to rush out of the house so. . ." Lily froze as she looked upon Severus Snape and Lord Voldemort. James, completely oblivious to Lily standing behind him, turned to face first Snape, and then the Dark Lord.
"What are you doing here? You know very well how protected this cottage is," exclaimed James.
Both Snape and the Dark Lord replied, "Why, to see Harry of course."
James shouted back, "There is no way you creeps are getting anywhere near my son!"
"Your son! Lily, you haven't told this fool yet?! Potter, Harry is not your son. He. Is. Mine," growled Snape.
"Shut your mouth, you lying SON OF A BITCH! If you're here under the delusion that you are Harry's father, I suppose he's here because you named him the Godfather. Too bad that would never hold since I am his father and I named Sirius Black as his Godfather," James retorted.
At that Lord Voldemort interjected, "I am Harry's Godfather, so named by both Severus and Lily. The only reason your appointment of Black as Godfather was not instantly rejected was because of your claim as Lily's husband." The Dark Lord chuckled at the very idea of Sirius Black as young Harry's Godfather before adding, "to further prove to you, James, that I am telling the truth, I, as the true Godfather of Harry James," he paused for the moment as if thinking of the correct name to use before turning to Lily and asking "did you give him the name of Potter?"
Lily, still slightly surprised at the turn of events, responded slowly, "I gave him the name Prince as it is still a Pureblood name and Severus thought it best that Harry have part of his name as he would be staying here with James and I most of the time."
At that Voldemort turned a quick glance towards his most trusted spy that said we shall discuss this at another time and continued on with his proof to James. "As I was saying, I, as the true Godfather of Harry James Prince, do hereby revoke all claims to guardianship that one Sirius Black holds as named Godfather by the adopting father." As the Dark Lord finished his statement, two magical contracts appeared, one sped off in search of Sirius Black and the other towards Gringotts.
Much to Serverus' surprise, James sent him flying from the property with a burst of magic from the wards. An anger stricken Lily set Harry down on the porch, shot a glare at James and ran toward a now unconscious Severus Snape. Infuriated at Lily's reaction, James cast a flinging hex at his wife, causing her to smash her head on the fence with enough force to cause irreparable brain damage. Lord Voldemort cast Enervate at the Potions Master and looked James straight in the eye before stating, " You, sir, are a sorry excuse for a human being and exactly the type that my Death Eaters and I plan to rid this world of."
Blinded by rage James started to wildly fire off hexes and curses. One of the curses was a very poorly aimed and controlled diffindo and hit Harry in the forehead with the edge of the curse. As the blood started to well on Harry's head, Voldemort faced an enraged James with a calm and deadly glare, "Severus, your son is injured and there is nothing that you can do for Lily. I am afraid this worthless sack of meat in front of us has caused her to be brain-dead."
As Severus stood, the anger and venom of his words were tangible as he spoke, "You shall pay for what you have done. CRUCIO." With that he flicked his wrist and James was under a Cruciatus that could even rival the Dark Lord's. When he finally lifted the curse, James was still shaking from the pain.
As James laid there in pain, both physically as a result of the Cruciatus and emotionally because of what he had done to his wife, he knew there was only one thing he could do; he had to rid the world of the spawn of Severus Snape. With the last of his strength, he gathered all his hatred of the man and pointed his wand toward young Harry, the killing curse ready on his lips, "Avada Kedavr. . . . ." was all he got out as a louder "AVADA KEDAVRA" was heard striking him dead. James thought he was being sneaky and clever with this plan but the Dark Lord had much experience with that particular curse and so saw it coming a mile away.
Severus ran to tend to his son as Voldemort walked over to the limp body of Lily Potter, she was not dead yet but was in for a long and painful life due to brain-damage. Voldemort looked at his most trusted Death Eater who nodded in an unspoken agreement; Lily needed to be given a quick end to her painful suffering, with that the Dark Lord pointed his wand at her "Avada Kedavra," he whispered as the green light raced towards the young woman and ended her suffering.
When Voldemort finished with Lily, he walked over to his godson and readied himself for his gift to Harry now that his claims as Godfather were official. He told Severus to vacate the property and act as if he was arriving because he gained information of a possible attack. After the dark, both in magic and looks, wizard left his side the Dark Lord knelt down next to Harry and started to transfer the Parsletongue gift to him.
Severus was hiding in the shadows when Albus Dumbledore Apparated onto the property. Dumbledore surveyed the grounds of the cottage and saw the lifeless forms of Lily and James Potter. Continuing his search of the grounds Dumbledore found a helpless Harry staring down a green light coming from the wand of Lord Voldemort. Reacting on instinct the leader of the light cast a powerful banishing hex at the Dark Lord knocking him away from Harry just as the green light left his wand. Fearing he was too late to save the boy he sent a spell not many knew at the Dark Lord but the Dark Lord was not to be caught unprepared, he cast the strongest protego he could manage and severely drained most of the power from the spell. The curse that was intended kill the Dark Lord and seal his magic in the form of a ring only separated the soul from his body with his magic intact but unusable. To Dumbledore and all who surveyed the scene, the spell appeared to have worked because the Slytherin Family Ring fell to the ground before the Dark Lord's body.
It was only once Dumbledore moved to pick up his son that Severus stepped out of the shadows. "Headmaster, I would appreciate it if you would hand me my son." Walking towards the man Severus picked up Harry and turned to go back to Hogwarts.
"Severus if you could meet me in my office after you have tended to your . . . err . . . son? We have much to discuss." With that said, the Headmaster of Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry Apparated back to the grounds outside of Hogsmead and walked up to the castle.
Wanting to delay the inevitable meeting for as long as possible, Severus decided to drop by Lily's relatives and give them the unfortunate news. Two hours and several shots of Firewhisky later, Severus made his way to the office of Albus Dumbledore ready to fight for his right to continue to teach at the school and care for his son.
Within ten minutes of the supposed private meeting that was also attended by Minerva McGonagall, Severus was ready to hex the old coot. "I shall say this once again Albus, Harry will not be living with those muggles. as I am his father, he shall stay here at the castle with me and learn about the Wizarding World as all young Purebloods should."
"Severus, I assure you it is for his own good that he lives in the muggle world until it is time for him to come to Hogwarts for his schooling. The boy survived a Killing Curse with nothing more than a scratch."
As a complete surprise to both Severus and Albus, it was Minerva who spoke next, "Albus, do you really think it wise to separate a child from his father?"
"Minerva, don't tell me you believe Severus' claim that Harry is his son. Harry is surely the son of Lily and her husband James," Albus stated calmly.
Severus fumed at the old man's blind faith in the integrity of marriage, "If you still don't believe me call Poppy in and have her administer a paternity test. Once that proves to you once and for all that I am Harry's father, he will be staying here with me and there is nothing you can do short of firing me and finding another Potions Master in the middle of the term and finding one who can control the Slytherins as well as I do." With that said, he strode over to the fire place and tossed in a pinch of Floo Powder and called out clearly, "Hogwarts Hospital Wing," the flames shone a bright green and Severus placed his head in the fire. "Poppy!" he called out. "Poppy, we are in need of your assistance in the Headmasters Office to settle a small dispute."
As Poppy stepped out of the fire place, Severus explained the situation and she happily agreed to help clarify the situation. After casting a charm on Severus and then a similar one on Harry, she compared the results and came to the conclusion that he was indeed Harry's father and had full rights to care for him.
"Well then Albus, I await your answer on my earlier statement, am I still welcome in this school as its Potions Master and Head of Slytherin House? If so, I shall be going to my quarters to prepare a living space for Harry and my classes for the next week are cancelled. If not, I shall take my son and leave the premises immediately," with that said, Severus awaited the old man's answer.
"Severus, my dear boy," Severus had to consciously hold back a shudder at this hated grandfatherly attitude, "you know as well as I that Hogwarts would suffer greatly without you as her Potions Master. Furthermore you also know that I could never find another person who could instill fear in the students as you do with a single glance, let alone control the Slytherins. So in answer to your question, yes, you can stay here with Harry," Dumbledore finished speaking and Minerva had a tear in her eye as she left the office.
Severus left the Headmaster's office with Harry in his arms and headed for his private rooms in the dungeons. He set up a nursery area in the corner of his office so he could look after Harry while he was grading tests or marking essays. After he was done preparing his quarters for Harry, he set the baby in his crib and rocked him to sleep. Once Harry was fast asleep, Severus prepared for his first morning as an active father and went to sleep.