PROLOGUE
Godric's Hollow was unusually quiet for Halloween Night. Doorways up and down every street were decorated with carved pumpkins and ghoulish decorations, but there was not a trick or treater in sight.
A crack, almost like thunder broke the silence. A hooded figure, dressed all in black, appeared in the village centre. They stood for a moment, taking in their surroundings. A door to their left opened and they raised their head, three drunken men stumbled out. The stranger shook his head, they were not the three people he was looking for, not tonight. They sang merrily as they swayed off down another street. The stranger smiled beneath his hood and took off in the opposite direction, sticking to the shadows. Tonight was the night.
An old, thatched roof cottage stood at the end of a small country lane just outside of the village. The curtains were drawn, hiding the inhabitants from the outside world. Through a small space in the curtain partings, a slender woman with vivid, shoulder length red hair was sat on an old, patchwork sofa. Next to her, a baby with a small mess of dark hair and emerald green eyes was smiling and laughing at the man in front of him, producing colourful bubbles out of a long, thin stick.
The little boy yawned, stretching his small limbs above his head. His mother smiled. Her speech barely audible through the thick glass of the windows.
"I think it is time for someone to go bed, don't you agree, James?"
The man on the floor nodded, bracing himself before he stood up. He was a tall man, lean, but muscular. His dark, messy hair was the same as the baby's.
"Agreed" he said, smiling at the woman, "But only if we both get a bed time story!"
The woman laughed. "I swear, sometimes it's like I'm raising two children instead of one!" she replied, picking up the baby and standing to face her husband. The little boy rested his head on his mother's shoulder.
"Lily, you love it. You know you do! That's one of the many reasons you're head over heels in love with me, my boyish charm!"
Lily stared at James skeptically, but could not do it for long before smiling and shaking her head.
"You know I love you, but I'm not sure being in love with a child is entirely legal. Now say goodnight to your son and go and check the charms are still working."
James grinned as he kissed his wife and son on the forehead and bade them goodnight. Lily carried the baby from the room and out of sight.
The stranger lowered his hood. 'How quaint,' he thought. 'At least they will have some happy memories of each other before I kill them.'
Drawing his wand, the stranger walked towards the front door. He whispered something intangible, and it swung open.
James Potter ran into the hallway, his face colourless. He looked up to see Lily standing over the bannisters, her mouth hung open in horror.
"Lily, take Harry and go! It's him! Go! Run! I'll hold him off!" James shouted, going to grab his wand.
The stranger laughed, flicking his wand and disarming James.
"You're a fool, Potter. You honestly believe you can defeat me, Lord Voldemort?" he sneered, stepping into the porch, cocking his head and smiling coolly at the frozen-in-fear figure before him.
"It's a shame, you and your wife would have made excellent Death Eaters. But your desire to, what's that phrase? Do 'good', was too strong. I admire it, in a way. But a fool must die a fool's death."
James looked up to the banisters one last time, mouthing "I love you both" before turning to face Voldemort, he struggled for a moment against the curse binding him and he was free. He lunged for his wand.
"Not so fast! AVARDA KEDAVRA!"
The green light filled the cramped hallway, it lit the pram pushed against the wall, it made the banisters glow like lightning rods, and James Potter fell like a marionette whose strings were cut. Above, Lily Potter let out a dry sob, running back to her son, and barricading them inside his room.
Voldemort tutted, stepping over James, and looking down at his lifeless body.
"Such a shame." He murmured, taking to the stairs.
He glided down the hallway, his cloak billowing slightly in the windless air. He raised his wand, and blasted open the door, ignoring the scream from within.
He was greeted by a woman standing firm in front of a crib which held a small boy in blue pyjamas. His lip curled maliciously as he stared at the baby. This, thing, is supposed to be my downfall? Impossible.
He looked up at the woman who was trembling, but holding her ground. Admirable, just like her husband in the face of death.
"Step aside. It is not you that I desire dead." He spoke calmly, lowering his wand slightly.
Lily shook her head violently. "You killed my husband, I will not let you kill my son too, and you'll have to go through me first."
The room got significantly colder, and Voldemort's smirk faded. He stepped forward, but Lily still held her ground.
"You would really rather die alongside your husband and son?" he questioned, observing her intently. "How peculiar."
Lily stared down Voldemort, still trembling as she spoke, her voice breaking. "Not Harry, please no, take me, kill me instead —"
"This is my last warning —"
"Not Harry! Please... have mercy... Not Harry! Please — I'll do anything!"
"Anything?" Voldemort replied, his smirk returning. Lily nodded, stepping back slightly and reaching down to hold onto her son's hand.
"I suppose if you'll do anything… Death is nothing to you. AVARDA KEDAVRA!"
And with that, Lily dropped, almost in slow motion, to the floor, her emerald green eyes still glazed with tears.
Voldemort shook his head.
"Stupid girl, she needn't of died, I could of offered so much better than a husband and son." He looked to the baby, who was starting to cry.
"At last…" he muttered, raising his wand once more. "The prophecy was wrong, I shall remain, forever… Nothing, no one can stop me, not even this infant…"
For the third time that night, Lord Voldemort raised his wand, pointing it straight at the baby's forehead.
"AVARDA KEDAVRA!"
Silence. The cool air was paralysed in the gloomy, almost too dark night. Church bells rung in the distance signalling the turn of midnight, a sleepy village undeterred by the events that had just happened.
Smoke billowed from the second floor of the Potter's cottage. A huge hole had appeared in the roof, and despair clung to the air. Nothing could be heard for a moment, until the crying of a small child began to ring through the air.