Summary: What if James and Lily Potter had defeated Voldemort on that dreadful night? What if Harry lived a normal life with a real family? This is what I think it would be like..

Author's Note: I don't own all of these characters; only the ones that you don't recognize from JK Rowling's Harry Potter books.

Chapter # 1

Old Friends

Ten-year-old Harry Potter lay awake in bed as he often did. He looked at his Quidditch clock. It read 11:59. The broomstick on it ticked silently by the second. Harry sighed happily. Twenty more seconds and it would be his 11th birthday.

He thought about his birthday while he waited for the clock to strike midnight. He was turning 11, old enough to start at Hogwarts, which he already knew he was going to. He had been put down on the Hogwarts' list since the day he was born.

Harry was having a big party. His father, James Potter, who played Quidditch for England, had invited his whole Quidditch team and their families. Harry was friends with a lot of James' teammates' kids. He was also having his two best friends over; Derek Black and Jake Lupin, and some friends of his mom's. Derek and Jake's parents were old friends with Harry's mom and dad.

The clock struck midnight. Harry was 11 years old. Then, with a sigh of happiness, he let his eyelids flutter shut and drifted off into a joyful sleep

"Vake up Harry! It's ur birfday!"

Harry groaned and rolled over. His 3-year-old sister Rebecca was jumping up and down on his bed excitedly. She looked like a miniature Lily Potter with her wavy red hair and shining green eyes.

"Go away Becca," Harry mumbled pushing her off the bed. She wore a hurt look for a moment, then broke into a grin and skipped happily away.

There's no bugging that kid, Harry thought as he slipped into baggy shorts and a Quidditch t-shirt. Harry lived for Quidditch; he was absolutely obsessed. His whole room was decorated with Quidditch things, which included his Comet 360 broomstick. James Potter made a lot of money playing Quidditch, and the Potters lived in a huge house. James didn't buy the house though; he inherited it. It was called Godric's Hollow, and had once belonged to Godric Gryffindor, one of the 4 founders of Hogwarts. Harry was the heir of Gryffindor, but that didn't stop him from being worried.

"What if I'm sorted into Ravenclaw?" Harry asked as he entered the kitchen for breakfast. James was reading a letter that the Potter family owl, Starlight, had just delivered, and Lily was tickling Rebecca, and they were both laughing merrily. Harry loved hearing his mother laugh. The Potters' house-elf, Rose, was making Harry's favourite breakfast, bacon, French toast, and fried eggs.

"Good morning Harry! Happy birthday! What was that you were saying about Ravenclaw?"

Harry sat down between his parents. His mom gave him a warm smile. James had messy black hair, hazel eyes behind his gold-rimmed spectacles, and a mischievous grin. Rebecca ran over to him and he picked her up and sat him on his lap with ease. James had lots of muscles from Quidditch, and he was the best Seeker of his time! James was like a big kid. That's what Harry loved about him. He was so. . . cool.

"I said," Harry repeated. "What if I'm sorted into Ravenclaw?"

"You're the heir of Gryffindor Harry!" James laughed. "Of course you will be sorted into Gryffindor!"

Harry wasn't completely convinced, but he said nothing more on the subject and dug into his breakfast.

"I just got a letter from the Blacks," James said, trying to get Harry's mind off of houses. "They're coming half an hour early for the party, so they'll be here around 11:30."

Harry glanced at the clock. It was 11:04! He was normally a slow eater, so he ate his food as fast as he could, and finished at 11:21. He hurried up to his bedroom.

"Do something about that hair of yours Harry! It's too messy!" Lily yelled after him.

"Ahh Lily dear, he has hair like mine. It's impossible to flatten. Besides, the girls love that look. They were all so jealous of you when we were dating."

Harry stopped on the stairs. He loved hearing stories about when his parents were at Hogwarts, especially the ones about all the pranks James and his friends pulled.

"Oh I remember that," Lily agreed. "They all said that I stole you from them. But of course, most of the guys weren't too happy about us being together either."

"Too true," James chuckled. Harry ran up the rest of the stairs to his room and tried hastily to clean it up a bit. At 11:46 the doorbell rang, and Harry rushed downstairs.

"How's my favourite godson?" Sirius Black asked. Sirius was Harry's godfather, James' best friend, and father of Harry's best friend, Derek Black. Sirius had dark brown hair, mischievous chocolate brown eyes and an evil grin. Derek looked a lot like him, evil grin and all, except he had his mother's curly hair and blue eyes.

Derek's mom, Jenna Black, had curly blonde hair, a beautiful smile, and dark blue eyes like a night sky. Kailah, Derek's 6-year-old sister, had straight blonde hair, hazel eyes and her mother's smile. But today she had her arms crossed over her chest and she wore a stubborn look. Jenna looked helplessly down on her daughter, and then smiled warmly at Harry.

"I'm fine, thanks for asking," Harry replied, leading Sirius and Jenna into the living room. It was painted gold and scarlet, with a crackling fire off to one side. Lily always said it looked like the Gryffindor common room.

Derek and Harry headed up to Harry's bedroom, with Kailah tagging along behind them.

"Go play with Rebecca," Derek snapped, slamming the door on her face. They listened to her retreating footsteps.

"What's wrong with Kailah?" Harry asked as they took a seat on his bed.

"Oh she saw something she wanted when we were shopping for your present, but Mum and Dad wouldn't get it for her," Derek explained with a shrug. "So who's coming to the party besides us and the Lupins?"

"Some old friends of my mom's and the England Quidditch team," Harry told him smugly.

"What! The England Quidditch team is coming here!" Derek exclaimed in amazement.

"Yep," Harry grinned. "And their families. Their kids are really nice too."

Harry and Derek got into a long conversation about Quidditch. Just then there was a knock on the door. Derek answered it, and in walked their other best friend, Jake Lupin. His father's grey eyes sparkled, and his mother's blonde hair was brushed perfectly a top his head. Jake joined into their conversation, and soon an argument about the Quidditch World Cup broke out. Derek thought England would win, and of course so did Harry, but Jake seemed to think Germany had much more skill.

"TRAITOR!" Derek screamed, shoving Jake out of the room and locking the door. Harry and Derek rolled on the floor laughing as Jake banged angrily on it for them to let him in. Finally, after about 10 minutes, Jake's 19-year-old step-brother Aaron came up and unlocked the door with his wand.

Jake scowled as he walked in, and Derek and Harry continued to chuckle at the incident.
Just as Harry was about to close the door, a girl their age walked in. She was tall and slim with long, straight light brown hair and a shy smile.

"Hi Harry," she said, smiling slightly. Harry grinned at her. Melody was a really nice person, and a really good friend, although he kind of liked her as more than that. He didn't have serious feelings for her of course, it was just a harmless crush.

"Hi Melody! These are my best friends, Derek Black and Jake Lupin. Derek, Jake, this is Melody Williams. She is a muggleborn witch and she moved here 2 years ago. Her mom was friends with my mom when they were little. She will be starting her first year at Hogwarts too."

"Hi," Jake said politely. Derek jumped up and shook her hand vigorously. Harry grinned at Melody's shocked reaction.

"Well, I just thought I'd come up here and say hi. Harry, your Mom told me to let you know that there's food out and that. . .um. . . the Quidditch team has just arrived. Is that right? Quidditch?"

But none of the boys bothered to answer her- instead they nearly knocked her over in their rush to get downstairs. Jake wanted food, Harry wanted to see the Quidditch team, and Derek, well, he wanted both.

Melody regained her balance and watched the boys go. Derek and Jake seemed nice- and kind of cute- but Melody preferred Harry. She'd had a bit of a crush on him for a while now. He didn't know this of course, and she didn't plan on letting him know. It wasn't as though she planned on acting on her feelings- they were only 11. It was just a harmless crush.

Author's Note: Hey! This one's just by Gryffindor Girl for now. Slytherin Girl might help later. I'll try to upload more chapters as soon as I can, but if they are this long it might take me a while. This is my first story fic, so please review. I'm open for suggestions! If you review my story I'll check out yours (if you have any) and review if they interest me. Thanks a bunch!