Disclaimer: I am merely playing with other people's creations, I don't own the game/book/anime/TV-show I am borrowing from, nor am I making any money with this. I am writing for fun and practice, as fan-fiction to be shared with others if I feel like it.

Chapter 1: Prophecy Denied

It was a chilly evening at the end of October, and Halloween was upon the people once more. While the mundane people celebrated in a variety of ways, the real witches and wizards cowered in their homes while hoping to not see any black-cloaked strangers approaching their doorstep. The death-eaters were terrorizing the lands and only a few people dared to fight back to begin with, and then they were further hampered in their efforts by a sudden revelation of a prophecy about the one to defeat Voldemort emerging.

Lily Potter nee Evans considered prophecies to be only good as warnings of possibilities. Having to step out of the war with her husband to care for her son was certainly not a bad thing in some ways, but it also left her feeling isolated and alone. It made her feel worry what might happen if Voldemort came after them, and all the promises that the headmaster Dumbledore tried to offer meant nothing to her. The man had dropped the ball too many times in her opinion, and the refusal to accept that the death-eaters were beyond redemption was a bitter conflict between her and Dumbledore, one where her only ally seemed to be Alastor Moody, even her husband seemed to believe Dumbledore's word that they shouldn't become as bad as death-eaters were.

It infuriated and that chilly evening she felt it was about to become their death. She had her reasons to distrust divination, having a minor talent in it but not a full blown oracle's talent. James and the others did not know, but she had seen glimpses of things in the past, some of which came true, some of which never did. Fate was only an excuse for the weak-willed, and there was no future but one they made for themselves. She had picked this up early on, and believed in a heartfelt manner.

When Sirius suggested they change their secret keeper to Peter Pettigrew, Lily Potter smelled a rat. She had a brief vision of her own death before Harry's crib right after Sirius had brought the suggestion up, and James had accepted the offer without consulting her. So now they were waiting for death, but she wasn't going to let the death claim herself. Her husband refused to believe that Albus Dumbledore would have left them in a trap waiting for the enemy, and her husband also refused to believe that Sirius' behavior was strange when he showed up, almost as if he was Imperioused.

It fell down to Lily to make the preparations, and she knew she would only be able to use them in a limited area. So she had set out to prepare for the coming of the dark lord, and intent to prove the prophecy yet another false. The Ministry housed hundreds of prophecies, of which more than nine tenths had failed to ever come to be, but the ministry kept housing them in the belief they were just talking about something that would come later in time rather than meaning the events that had transpired close to their making, but different enough to invalidate them as false prophecies.

So that evening when she heard the crash from downstairs and James' shouting, she felt the wards snapped around them holding them securely in place like rats. Peter had betrayed them, and her vision felt dangerously close to becoming reality. Yet Lily Potter planned to stand at the threshold and defy the fates once more. She had proven them false time and time again, so she moved ahead, her wand in the sleeve of her shirt, the preparations complete.

The door was slammed open and Voldemort stood there, facing Lily and holding up his wand at her. "Get out of the way!" He snarled, the lizard-like, twisted and mutilated face inspiring only loathing and fear in people. Voldemort had destroyed his own body through a number of rituals to enhance his power, and to further strengthen the horror he could created with his mere presence. Lily wasn't intimidated though, she thought the man was pathetic and wasn't shy about showing it either.

"No. Activate." The shocked look on the dark wizard's face was worth the effort, as the portkey carpet beneath the man snapped through the anti-apparition and anti-portkey wards. Lily and James could not have escaped, they were not keyed on those death-eater wards. Voldemort, however, was keyed into them and even if it wasn't a portkey the dark lord made himself, they did not deny him exit. So as the portkey activated those wards meant to trap the Potters in parted to let their master out, before vanishing a moment later as the dark lord's death broke his magic.

"Nobody can say I don't give even an unpleasant guest a warm welcome now." She smirked slightly, thinking back at the vacation that she and James took in Sicily shortly after getting married. It was a short one, but she was impressed by the sight of Stromboli, the volcano on the small island in the Tyrrhenian sea. She had been a fan of Tolkien's writing, and sending the Dark Lord to Rule them All to his demise through a portkey and a volcano seemed only fitting to her.

"We're going to have to leave now though. I am sorry Harry, but dad wasn't willing to listen to reason, and there was no time to get him to safety too." She lifted her young son silently from his crib, a sad look upon her face. Her relationship with James Potter hadn't been the storybook ending to a teenage romance, but she had cared for him and he had loved her, but his inability to see reason past Dumbledore's claims had soured their relationship on some levels. She would mourn him, but his death did not crush her as she had feared it might. The possibility of death at Voldemort's wand had always been there, and she had prepared to deal with the sorrow. It would still hurt greatly, but there were things that she needed to get done.

Gathering what meager possessions of note there was around the place, Lily held her son tightly while activating the second portkey on her own person, vanishing from the nursery room leaving it empty, abandoning the house still hidden under the Fidelius charm but with its door kicked open and no longer secure.

==== Prophecy Denied ====

Albus Dumbledore looked at his spy laying on the bed with some concern. Severus had arrived with his emergency portkey, pale as a sheet and with beads of sweat coating his handsome face. Albus Dumbledore wasn't sure what could have rattled Severus up like that, the dark haired potions master had held stoic even through the worst of odds before. He had returned tormented by the dark lord's own torture curses, and still looked better than he had this time around.

"Well, Severus, do you feel well enough to tell me what happened?" Albus spoke in a grandfatherly, concerned tone of voice, but smiling in a friendly manner to reassure the man that everything would turn out well. Hogwarts was the safest place in the British Wizarding World after all, and would even stand up to the dark lord. Although he hoped quietly it would not come to that, the children would be at risk if it did.

"The Dark Lord set out alone to carry out a mission of great importance. He said to prepare for celebration on his return, but several minutes after he left a crippling pain struck everyone at the dark lord's hideout. The dark mark twisted and pulled, and it was like my body was on fire for several seconds before finally the mark began to fade. It is not entirely gone, but half of what it used to be." Severus raised his arm, his skin pale and clammy from the torment he had been going through, but the serpent and skull symbol on his arm seemed to have become a fair bit less prominent than it had been just a day ago.

"Curious." Albus nod his head slightly but frowned faintly. "Please rest as long as you need to, I will have to check what has happened, but I believe seeing the mark fade is a good sign. Perhaps we are free of him, perhaps we are not, but seeing the dark mark weakened gives me hope the dark days are ending."

As Albus Dumbledore walked out of the infirmary he left a pensive spy behind, but Albus Dumbledore had to move quickly if things had happened the way he expected. With James and Lily dead, young Harry would be in need of a new guardian. The will that James had made named Lily and Harry as the heirs of the Potter fortune, and with Lily dead it would all fall into Harry's hands.

Meaning that if Albus Dumbledore took Harry in under his wing then the Potter fortune could be put to use in the service of greater good. Unfortunately there was a section on the will about Sirius Black, but sealing the will would solve that issue, and Sirius had been the obvious pick for their secret keeper, so if he mouthed off he would vanish faster than he could say 'Quidditch'.

Heading outside, he knocked on the door to the ground's keeper's hut and waited for a moment. The door was pushed open by a large, calloused hand of a small giant of a man. Hagrid was one of Dumbledore's loyal followers, and the perfect man for the job he had in mind. "Aah, good evening professor. Didn'a expect to have company. D' ya wan't to come in?" He moved a bit out of the large doorway, but his large body still blocked more than half the doorway.

"Thank you, but I cannot, not right now. Hagrid, you know how James and Lily had to go into hiding after Voldemort began to hunt for them, do you not?" His voice serious though gentle, he saw the large man sniff and rub his eyes. "Aye, I heard it was 'cause they had you-know-who trying to off them, for showing him up again an' again."

"I have reasons to believe that their precautions may have failed them tonight. I have a port-key here I made for the street their house is on. I need you to drop by and see if they are alright, or if something has happened. If something has befallen James and Lily, I want you to get young Harry and keep him safe. I will meet you in Little Whinging, in Surrey. Just head for Privet Street there."

Hagrid looked saddened by the news that James and Lily might be dead but accepted the old sock that Dumbledore was offering, vanishing from the grounds. Dumbledore let out a short sigh and closed the door to the hut before one of Hagrid's pets decided to wander off onto the grounds. Hagrid was a good lad at heart but a little too stubborn about the cute beasts he saw several monstrous creatures as. Well ,perhaps for a half-giant they were kind of cute since Hagrid was tough enough they weren't a real threat to him, but Albus certainly didn't want to see them run amok at his school.

==== Prophecy Denied ====

Peter Pettigrew didn't know how things could have gone so badly wrong in such a short period of time. He had been spying on Dumbledore and his sycophants for a good while, revealing their plans to the dark lord and trying to supply enough information to be important. He was never a really talented wizard, he was never a popular person, and he was never the one that the witches wanted. The promises of power and respect, or at least fear and submission had fuelled his greed and lead him to willingly take the dark mark.

That decision had now come to haunt him as he still felt like his arm was on fire, whimpering with tears in his eyes as he sought to make his escape along the streets. He had received his greatest chance to please the dark lord when he received the surprise offer to become the Potters secret keeper, and after revealing it to the dark lord he believed he was set. Instead, he had narrowly avoided having his bollocks hexed off by an irate Bellatrix who was screaming about the way their marks had reacted.

In fact, had Pettigrew not had the common sense to immediately apparate away he might have been at the business end of her wand, and she enjoyed those pain curses she cast far too much for him to wait and see which one she'd put him under. That meant going back to the death eaters was out at least until the dark lord returned. This was not how he envisioned his evening ending, not at all.

"Peter, you foul rat!" Peter had time to hear the shout and turn to face an enraged Sirius Black, before he had to quickly duck his head to avoid being stunned then and there. Damn it all, how had Black tracked him down? Oh right, he had needed to stop by his apartment to retrieve his emergency funds and felt too tired to apparate again, at least until he recovered a little. He didn't want to splinch himself after all.

Yet the furious visage of Black told him that his options were to risk it and maybe lose a leg, stay and try to convince Sirius it wasn't him (and he wasn't sure if the hot-head would listen) or perhaps he could use the bit of cunning he had learned over the years. After all, peeking on girls was easier if you could shift the blame to Sirius who could be expected to do such a thing anyway.

"How could you Sirius, James and Lily are DEAD because of you!" Behind his back, Peter sent a blasting curse to the street, kicking up dirt and stones into the air to try and mask his swift transmutation to his animagus shape, a snap-like cutting charm severing one of his fingers to give 'evidence' he had died there. Before he could slip away though the blast's heat ignited a gas-line beneath the street he had blasted and the smoldering sparks met with flammable gas.

The resulting explosion threw Black back a fair bit of way, and sent Peter's scorched rat arse into the air. The landing was painful and he felt like his whole body was scorched, but the fur had at least isolated it somewhat. Looking ragged and haggard, he slipped away in his present shape.

Meanwhile, the nearby Aurors rushed in to investigate, finding a smoldering crater at the street, several dead or injured muggles about, and one dazed Sirius Black laying there, his wand snapped and partially scorched, the man's outfit seeming to be smoldering as well. An overblown blasting charm, they figured, and seeing as he appeared to be the only wizard present, Sirius Black was slapped into magical restraints before he could even voice a protest.

A quick interrogation of the nearby muggles revealed the earlier conversation, before a bit of obliviations was performed and the muggle emergency services left to deal with the 'unfortunate gas leak resulting in explosion' that the ministry was going to claim it was. It was during that time that one of the junior aurors found the smoldering finger that had once belonged to Peter Pettigrew. The goblins would test it so they could be certain, but it seemed that Sirius Black had not only betrayed the Potters but decided to kill one of his former schoolmates as well.

Before the night was done, Sirius had already been shipped off to Azkaban, silently whimpering how sorry he was and that it was all his fault. Bartemius Crouch's and Albus Dumbledore's signature on the order to incarcerate Black for life had barely had its ink dry before it had been carried out.

==== Prophecy Denied ====

Gringotts was relatively quiet, with the threat of death eater raids looming over people. Only a handful of people were there to talk with the tellers, so few paid any attention to a red-haired woman making her way towards the head-teller, and those who did averted their gaze soon after. Just a mother with her child in her arms.

"Excuse me, I would like to talk with my account manager Sharpblade if he has a moment of time. Should I wait or is he unable to meet with me anytime soon?" Lily believed in politeness, and the goblins were bankers. They didn't need groveling nor a lot of casual conversation, but they were treated rather poorly by most purebloods which soured their opinion of witches and wizards. So treating one politely without overdoing it tended to get a bit better reaction.

Looking up at her the head teller briefly asked for the key, and examined it a moment before handing it back. Nodding slightly, he gestured for her to follow along, leading her to a hallway towards the managers offices. Staying silent for that time, the head teller stopped in a comfortable waiting room and spoke seriously. "I'll see if Sharpblade has time, please wait here."

Most wizards demanded to be taken to their account manager immediately, regardless of what they might be doing. Lily had avoided doing that, and had gotten James to usually avoid doing that as well, and there had be a lot less service charges on their accounts. That didn't mean the goblins were their friends and allies, they were just better clients because they didn't act like a spoiled brat with the people that handled their finances.

Of course, the fact was that Lily had shown some keen insight in investing that James had considered funny but hardly mattering with the amount of money the Potter accounts already contained. The goblins had seen the fact she had managed to increase the amount of money on her personal account a fair bit where as the Potter vault had only gained interest on their old investments which were not paying as well as they used to. Of course, the Potter vaults had a lot more money in them and their investments were extensive, but they were left as they were ever since James's grandfather stopped his investing.

"Ms. Potter? Sharpblade will see you now." The goblin that approached him was not the head teller but a younger one. Lily nod her head and politely followed after, having been waiting less than five minutes and already getting to see the account manager was quick service compared to some places, yet the witches and wizards would be infuriated to have to wait. Perhaps being muggle-born and used to having services take a little bit of time had its advantages.

As Lily was shown into the account manager's office she saw the large shield on the wall with two crossed goblin warblades behind it. Their account manager might be a banker, but he was also a capable warrior as was most of the goblin race. Showing a measure of respect but also making sure they held respect for her in turn made things a lot easier in her experience. "Manager Sharpblade." She nod her head lightly. "Ms. Potter." The manager nod his head in turn, a pile of paperwork laid down a bit aside on a side table.

"Earlier today, Voldemort attacked my husband and killed him. He no doubt planned to kill me as well, but fell to one of my contingency plans. Portkey and a volcano." Her expression remained calm but she saw a moment of amusement and delight on the goblin's face. "That sounds like a tale worth recounting later. Would you be willing to subject that memory for examination via pensieve?" As soon as he had asked, she drew the wand to her temple, pulling out a copy of the memory. Offering a small vial for the memory quickly, the goblin waited for her to place the memory into the vial and add a stopper to it before nodding.

"Thank you. Now, on the matter of James Potter's passing, Gringotts does hold the original will, but the circumstances in it detail the plans in case both you and James were dead. His personal instructions in case he perished while you and Harry survived were simple and clear. You assume regency of House Potter until the heir, Harry, is twenty-one and ready to assume his seat. You hold the Potter seat in Wizengamot as the proxy, or you can name another for that position if you wish."

Lily already knew this and nod her head slightly, knowing that the goblin laws demanded that Sharpblade explain this to her even knowing she already knew. It was a matter of legalities and she did not want any of the old families try and argue about it later on, so this session was necessary for that reason alone. Of course, having delivered a copy of the memory to the goblins was an insurance in its own manner. If someone else questioned events that had taken place, the goblins could show their copy and nobody questioned a goblin-verified memory. Even Pureblood lawyers had to begrudgingly admit that the goblin authentication trumped theirs.

"Normally the Potter family regent or guardian cannot sell any of the property, nor cancel long-standing investments, or even access the main financial vaults. They are allowed access to a vault where the interest and income from various investments is deposited, which is the primary Potter money vault, but the actual Heritage vault and the Ancient vault remain sealed from them. However, James Charlus Potter granted you full control of those assets, stating a reason that 'should situation get even worse, I want my family to be able to leave Britain and retain their wealth'."

While James had been reluctant to even consider it Lily had spoken about the possibility of leaving Britain, going to America, Australia, or somewhere else that was suitably far from Britain. She had also considered abandoning the name Potter and taking up residence somewhere else in Europe. France, Germany, Italy, she could learn a new language fairly fast without magic, and with magic it would be ridiculously easy to accomplish. While James was not willing to 'do a runner' like that, he had agreed that if he died and Lily felt the situation required it, she should be able to leave with Harry. For that reason, James had opened the Potter accounts to her so.

Even if Dumbledore had marched in the bank with paperwork naming him as Harry's Guardian and demanded access to the vaults he could not have touched anything else than a regent could have, because the Potter family was one of the most Ancient and Nobles, and they had guarded their position zealously in the past. They had some former House Black members in their lineage too and that paranoia had carried through for a few generations in the past, leading to such binding contracts as well as even bindings on the Head of House to avoid any one poor Head from ruining the family entirely.

Of course, regents and guardians were also expressly forbidden from trying to negotiate marriage contracts on the family heirs, because such matters could only be decided by a Head of House and were never permitted to be under someone else's control. Such acts had caused the loss of some of the original twelve families that helped form the Wizengamot, and the ones that remained had taken the lesson to heart.

"While controversial in going against the traditional Potter manners, the reason was deemed valid given the state of affairs and being the last surviving line of the House. Gringotts has recognized you as the Regent Majora of House Potter, and the Guardian of Heir Potter until he reaches the age of twenty one, or seventeen should you consider him ready to assume his role at that age." The goblin finished with a serious expression, while Lily nod her head slightly.

"While Voldemort may have met his end by portkey, there are still many that believe the pureblood tripe he was spewing about that would seek to harm Harry and me here in Britain. I am also reluctant to trust my child's safety to Dumbledore who remains the headmaster of Hogwarts and was unable to protect us from harm previously as well. I am planning to move away from Britain and would like to transfer the Potter fortune with me. It shall remain in Gringotts, for our trust in the bank has not been shaken, but we need it moved to another branch at our destination country."

Sharpblade nod his head slightly. He could transfer alongside the accounts, he had a few accounts to watch over but none as big as the Potter accounts, and bringing in a sum like that to another branch would see him welcomed openly there and likely to attract some good contracts with new families over time, or gaining contracts from older families who's manager might pass away. The fact the money stayed in Gringotts even if it was moved between branches made him quite agreeable.

"As for the Potter properties, I would like to place them under heavy wards for now as they are not in use. The House at Godric's Hollow should be sold, there's too much painful memories involved with it now. I have taken care of my husband's funeral arrangements prior to my arrival here, as well as had our family house elf pack everything of personal importance with us to a trunk."

Again, she was met with a nod from a thoughtful goblin who smiled slightly, seemingly pleased. "You have prepared well, and though I imagine the weight of your loss on your shoulders may be felt you carry yourself with pride and dignity. You have my respect Ms. Potter, and I will make sure your requests will be carried out to your specifications as quickly as possible. Now, Gringotts has branches in a number of countries, but where exactly where you hoping to leave?"

Lily Potter drew a long breath as she thought back at her original plans, the many destinations she had considered, and the eventual decision. She had hoped that Dumbledore and James were right, that they were safe. She had hoped that Sirius was right about changing to a new secret keeper that others wouldn't guess so easily. She had hoped that the little strangeness in Pettigrew's behavior back then was nothing of concern. She had hoped everything would turn out alright.

Reality wasn't that nice, and she had hoped for the best while preparing for the worst. Dumbledore was making too many mistakes and James had unfortunately come to see the old man as infallible, as had many other purebloods. Lily had been raised by muggles who had seen the harm a single man could do from a position of power, and thus she had prepared. She had been hesitant about switching from Sirius but he made a good case about it, and they seemed hard-pressed to trust poor Lupin, given the rumors all werewolves were signing in with Voldemort at the time. Pettigrew still seemed like a really bad option.

Personally she thought she should have held the secret to where the Longbottoms were hiding as well as having Alice hold the secret where the Potters were hiding. Though the secret keeper was not supposed to remain under the same Fidelius too long, a weakness in the spell that prevented her from just being their own secret keeper as she has originally hoped to be, she had seen no harm in two different groups holding one another's secret safe.

Dumbledore had not let her get her way, stating it would only take one careless mistake from one family to ruin them both, one unfortunate mistake with someone under a death-eater imperius and everything would collapse to pieces. James had accepted it as wisdom while Lily had seen it as the old man wanting to dismiss an idea that didn't come from him originally. The old man seemed to think he had the answers to every question and nobody else could do the same. They were all just school children in his eyes, probably.

End Chapter

A/N: Alright, I've had real life interrupt my writing for a while, with a writer's block formed by recent events. I am getting over it, and starting with this.

For this story, I have no serious pairings in mind, though considering "Lunar Harmony" later on, or possibly an OC companion for Harry. I may entertain the notion of a Harem story at some point, but am not sure if I want that for this story.

I am writing a bit similar to Broken Wand, Broken Chains but I hope to expand the writing more than just having snippets from here and there in the story on this attempt. Still, I try and explore different angles to tell the story from and different characters to express their views.

Still, I am considering this to have tags for 'Another School', 'Powerful Harry' and 'Non-Horcrux Harry'.

Right now, I am considering Harry going to a) America, b) France, c) Italy, D) Germany, E) Australia. I even tossed in a few possibilities like F) Japan, G) Egypt, and H) South Africa. Plenty of places have a lot of potential, and some are more over-used than others, but not for a bad reason.

Not planning on doing a cross-over in this but not entirely opposed to some ideas there either for some story perhaps.