Disclaimer- I do not own these characters. JKR does. And the first scene of this chapter is taken almost directly from DH, but with a few changes of course ;)
Chapter #1- That Fateful Halloween
The night wet and windy, two children dressed as pumpkins waddling across the square, and the shop windows covered in paper spiders, all the tawdry Muggle trappings of a world in which they did not believe… and he was gliding along with that sense of purpose and power and rightness in him that he always knew on these occasions… not anger… that was for weaker souls than he… but triumph, yes… he had waited for this, he had hoped for it…
"Nice costume, Mister!"
He saw the small boy's smile falter as he ran near enough to see beneath the hood of the cloak, saw the fear cloud his painted face then the child turned and ran away… beneath the robe he fingered the handle of his wand… one simple movement and the child would never reach his mother… but unnecessary, quite unnecessary…
And along a new and darker street he moved, and now his destination was in sight at last, the Fidelius Charm broken, though they did not know it yet… and he made less noise than the dead leaves slithering along the pavement as he drew level with the dark hedge, and stared over it…
They had not drawn the curtains, he saw them quite clearly in their little sitting room, the tall, black-haired man asleep on the sofa in his glasses, holding the small black-haired boy in his blue pajamas…
A door opened and the mother entered, smiling down on her husband and son, her long, dark red hair falling over her face. She lifted her son up and carried him out of the room, leaving her husband sleeping peacefully.
The gate creaked a little as he pushed it open, but the Potters did not hear. His white hand pulled out the wand beneath his cloak and pointed it at the door, which opened silently. James Potter did not stir… he was tempted to kill the man then and there as he slept, harmless, but he pulled himself away… the boy was his first priority, then he could deal with the father. He must remain focused…
He could hear Lily Potter singing her son to sleep, not knowing what danger was approaching her… but as long as she was sensible she, at least, had nothing to fear.
She spun around when she heard him enter the room, probably expecting to see her husband. At the sight of him she screamed, dropped her son into the cot behind her and threw her arms wide, as if this would help, as if in shielding him from sight she hoped to be chosen instead…
"Not Harry, not Harry, please not Harry!"
"Stand aside you silly girl… stand aside now…"
"Not Harry, please no, take me, kill me instead…"
"This is my last warning…"
"Not Harry! Please… have mercy… have mercy… Not Harry! Not Harry! Please—I'll do anything…"
"Stand aside—stand aside girl…"
He was growing impatient now. Normally he would have killed her instantly… but what threat did she pose? Besides… Snape had begged him to spare her. He understood why—she was quite attractive for a muggleborn. So he stunned the hysterical woman and she fell away from the cot, leaving the path to the boy clear.
The child had not cried all this time: he could stand, clutching the bars of his cot, and he looked up into the intruder's face with a kind of bright interest, perhaps thinking that it was his father who hid beneath the cloak.
He pointed his wand very carefully into the boy's face: he wanted to see it happen, the destruction of this one, inexplicable danger. The child began to cry: it had seen that he was not James. He did not like it crying, he had never been able to stomach the small ones' whining in the orphanage—
"Avada Kedavra!"
And then he broke: he was nothing, nothing but pain and terror, and he must hide himself, not here in the rubble of the ruined house, where the child was trapped and screaming, but far away… far away…
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James Potter awoke to the sound of his son's crying. He yawned and stretched, wondering what was the matter, until he saw the front door standing ajar… that couldn't be right…
"Lily?" he yelled up the stairs. There was no answer. He was just lifting himself off the sofa when he heard the two words that would haunt him for the rest of his life coming from upstairs.
"No!" he shouted, snatching his wand off of the coffee table and sprinting to the source of the noise. It couldn't be true… the Fidelius Charm was in place, Peter was in hiding, and he knew that his friend would never, ever betray them. Would he?
His question of Peter's loyalty was erased from his mind as soon as he entered Harry's room. He pointed his wand in every corner, waiting for Lord Voldemort to jump out at him… but he was nowhere in sight.
Harry was screaming in his cot, but he seemed unharmed. Lily, on the other hand, lay lifeless on the floor. The killing curse must have been pointed at her. But then where had Voldemort gone?
James knelt down next to Lily, tears pouring down his face, and gathered her in his arms. He cursed himself for being asleep, unable to protect the love of his life. And now she was…
She stirred. He nearly dropped her in surprise.
"Lily? Lily are you alive?" he asked desperately, his heart pounding at this little glimmer of hope. Her eyes fluttered open.
"Oh my gosh Lily, you scared me so much," he moaned, tears still streaming down his face. "What happened?"
She was shaking. He tightened his hold around her. "It's okay, we're okay now," he assured her.
"It- it was him James. The charm was br-broken. He came into the room and I dropped Harry into his bed, and I- I begged him for mercy. He kept telling me to get out of his way. He didn't want to kill me James, he only wanted Harry. So he stunned me and then…"
"He stunned you? Why wouldn't he have just killed you?"
"I don't know James. He was only interested in Harry," she said. "I- I tried my best to protect him, but I couldn't. I didn't even have my wand…"
"I know, I know, it's okay," he whispered, stroking her hair. "But I heard him perform the killing curse, I know I did. I thought he had killed you."
"It must have been at Harry," she choked. "I can't remember anything after he stunned me."
"But Harry's fine," James said, letting his hold on Lily go and getting up to comfort his son, who was still crying. He gathered Harry in his arms. "How can he be fine?"
Lily shakily stood up and went to see for herself. Harry stopped crying at the sight of his mother and father looking down at him.
"But what's this James?" she asked, brushing Harry's bangs to the side. There was a thin lighting-bolt shaped scar on his forehead. "He didn't have this before."
"I don't know," James replied, thoroughly confused. "But I do know that it's not safe for us here anymore. We need to go see Dumbledore."
Author's Note: Okay, so I started this story almost five years ago under a different name. But looking back, it really wasn't all that good, seeing as I was 11 years old at the time. So I've decided to just rewrite the whole thing, completely change the characters and the plot to fit with all the information gathered from the series (when I started writing, there was no prophecy and no Horcruxes). So I hope you like it, and please please please review!!
