A/N: Hello, everyone. Vampire Moony, here! Just to let you know I AM NOT PLAGIARIZING this story from ShadowThestral. That was my other account on here, and I kinda forgot the password. Anyway, this will be the new Family Issues. I will take the original chapters, and add a little more here and there. I will release a chapter a week. I have already started on the chapters following where I originally ran short. So, replace your original links, and get ready for some reading!

Disclaimer: I always forget to put these in my other story, and I'm sure you've read enough of them to know I don't own Harry Potter or any of the things you see in the books. I'm sure I'll put some original stuff in which I'll own, but not right now! Some lines in here are from the third book.

Chapter 1: Green Eyes meets Red Eyes

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October 31, 1980

"Group A, get ready to begin the distraction," hissed the ice cold voice, "Group B, wait for the signal... Now!"

The Deatheaters in Group A quickly spread out through the little village of Godric's Hollow, setting fire to the houses and shops. They stunned and cursed anyone running out of their houses and were in such a large number, they looked like a mass of darkness descending upon the poor little town. The villagers were easily being contained since they had attacked after most had gone to sleep, but the size of the force was mostly meant to fight the Aurors that would no doubt show up soon.

"Group B, follow me and prepare for a fight!" shouted the voice again, and the Deatheaters left behind quickly headed towards the largest estate in the area. Lord Voldemort led the group himself, keeping to the shadows, so their presence would not be discovered until it was too late for Portkeys and Apparition. Too late for the forces of Light to realize the Deatheaters were not all in one group.

The grounds were extremely large and lush in appearance and style, as any respectable pureblood estate should have been. Lovely willows with low hanging branches were littered off the sides of the well-kept flowerbeds, and if one looked closely, they could just make out a little swing hanging from a large yew tree near the back of the building. The building itself seemed to loom tall and intimidating from the shadows, a beacon of light to hopefully be extinguished soon.

Lights were quickly being thrown on inside the house; they knew the Deatheaters were there.

"Alohamora!" shouted the head Deatheater, quickly stepping inside the house and just as quickly being taken down by a Stunner. The Dark Lord let the rest of the Deatheaters pile through the front door before stepping inside himself. He could just hear voices from the first landing.

"Lily, take Harry and go! It's him! Go! Run! I'll hold him off-"

He heard end tables and objects of fragile nature being knocked over and assumed she was running further away from the fight. He just let out a high- pitched laugh of grim amusement. So they wanted to play cat and mouse, eh? No matter, not for them in the end, anyway.

"Come on out, Potter," he whispered as he signaled his men to hold their fire, "Come out and face me stiff-backed and proud, the way your father died."

A tall, thin man with black, messy hair and fierce hazel eyes stepped out from the alcove he had been shooting spells from and raised his wand, pointing it at his opponent's heart. If that was not the way to get a Gryffindor's hackles raised… it worked every time.

"Nicholas Potter was a better man than you'll ever be, you poor excuse for a wizard!"

The older man laughed again, and said in a low hiss, "Let's find out how well he taught you then, James Potter!"

Meanwhile, Lily was racing through the house to Harry's nursery on the third floor. They had just been enjoying the evening in, and finally put Harry down to bed when she thought she had heard noises. Lily remembered standing next to James at the window and watching the village being lit by grim fires, wondering how many more would die in this horrible war. Then they had left Harry when the wards alerted them to the presence of people wearing the Dark Mark. Her heart reached out to her son.

'Oh, God, let Harry be safe tonight!' she prayed.

She burst through the nursery door just as a flash of bright, green light filtered through the stairway, making her stop dead. They got James. They got her husband. They got Harry's father... Harry! She ran over to the closet in the room, grabbing the emergency Portkey they had set up for an occasion like this, tripping over various toys on the floor in the darkness. But when she tried to activate it, it felt no more magical than any one of Harry's magical toys. Cold shivers ran up her spine; they had cut off her only means of escape. She could hear the voices reaching the third landing, coming down the hallway...

Lily ran in front of Harry's crib as the snakelike man walked into the room, flicking on the light switch next to the door. He beckoned one of the Deatheaters behind him forward.

"Take everyone downstairs and wait for me. This shouldn't take long, Lucius."

"Of course, my Lord." Lucius Malfoy gathered up the Deatheaters and they descended back down the stairs. The Dark Lord known as Voldemort turned his red eyes back on the red haired, green eyed woman standing in front of her sleeping son. The man had to give her credit, like all the mothers he had killed. They cared naught for their lives, but would stand to protect their children against a force that could make fully-trained Aurors soil themselves.

"Not Harry, not Harry, please not Harry!" she pleaded. "He's no threat!"

"Stand aside, you silly girl... stand aside, now..."

She shook her head while her entire body shook, tears streaming down her cheeks, "Not Harry, please no, take me, kill me instead-"

The cold man simply raised his wand to meet her chest, "Stand aside and escape, or I'll simply have to kill you first!"

"Not Harry! Please... have mercy... have mercy..."

The man simply laughed in a bemused way and watched through a flash of green light as the lady fell to the floor as though a rag doll, lifeless. He then turned his attention on what lay inside the crib.

The baby boy named Harry Potter was just waking up, blinking bright, emerald green eyes through a mess of unruly, black hair, and in the costume of a black cat. Those inquisitive eyes looked up at this odd stranger with the red eyes who was looking down at him, slightly smiling. Well, the baby could see nothing wrong with a smiling person, and smiled back, cooing and burbling at this red- eyed man. Voldemort, eyes slightly widening in surprise, chuckled slightly as little Harry Potter pulled himself up with the bars of his crib so as to see the man better.

"Yes, hello there, child," said Voldemort. "My name is... Tom."

The child screwed up his face in concentration, and then looked up at the man, "Tom."

Voldemort chortled again, pulling out his wand, "Very good, Harry. My name is Tom, and I'm here to send you to where your father and mother are now. I wouldn't leave a thing like you to be lonely, not an intelligent little creature like you." The wand tip began to glow faintly. "Do you like magic, Harry? Look into the light and go to your mother and father." He softly whispered, "Avada Kedavra."

After the dust settled and the light was gone, one could just see the Dark Lord, back pressed against the window, and a now crying Harry Potter. The man just looked at where he had been, right where the green light had been a moment before. He thanked himself for keeping up such good reflexes, and turned his attention toward the crib, walking slowly to it in astonishment. Voldemort just looked down at this small, bawling infant, amazed. How had this child blocked the Killing Curse? It was impossible for such a tiny thing! He knew that even with all the precautions he had taken against death, he would still have been ripped from his body.

Harry, rubbing his eyes and opening them, saw the red- eyed man and slowly his crying turned to sniffles. Through his black fringe, a livid mark rather like a lightning bolt stood out, slightly bleeding.

He raised his arms up as though to wanting to be picked up and again managed, "Tom."

And "Tom" couldn't have been more torn. Here sat before him an enemy to the dark and evil, a child of an opponent. He had killed so many before him with hardly a thought. What made this boy so special as to escape Avada Kedavra? Tom could clearly see the power this child had, a power he could harness. All he had to do was take the boy and raise him in the ways of darkness. A powerful heir. He had to leave; he could hear the Aurors and main force of Deatheaters reaching the end of their battle. He had to decide.

Reaching down into the crib, he picked the tiny Harry up, green eyes meeting red. He pulled out his wand, whispering, "Sleep now." After sending the baby into a spell- induced sleep, he wrapped the child in a conjured blanket of black silk and headed downstairs, setting things on fire with his wand as he went.

"Deatheaters, meet back at the base!" He touched his own Dark Mark on his wrist giving a warning to the fighting ones outside. In a swish of cloaks, they were gone.

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"Lord, I must advise against it!" said Lucius Malfoy quickly, bowing his head in respect. "Everyone will be looking for him when they don't discover a body! It is not safe!"

"Crucio!"

Lucius' screams filled the living room of the base. It had been only a half hour since they had left Godric's Hollow, and he had just informed his followers of the recent development of Harry. He explained his ideas of raising this obviously powerful child into an heir as dark as he. 'A good thing Severus got caught in the attack, the little spy,' thought Voldemort. 'He would have immediately told Dumbledore. Oops, forgot about Lucius.'

He took the curse off of the blonde man and watched as his minion returned once more to a bow at his feet. With all that screaming, it was probably best Harry's bassinet nearby had a Deafening charm on it, as least for now.

"I am keeping the child, Lucius. However, taking into account your thoughts of the search that will take place, certain precautions will be made." Precautions he had already planned to take, anyway, that he had planned while settling Harry down back at their base. "The child will be placed under a Glamour Charm to change his appearance until such a time his appearance won't matter, and he will always be kept under supervision if he is to leave the house for any reason. Suspected spies will not be told of the child's true identity."

Lucius looked up at his master and nodded, "Of, course, my Lord."

Voldemort looked suddenly thoughtful and spoke after a minute, "Lucius, you've recently had a child, is that correct?"

Lucius looked startled at the question, "Why, y-yes, my Lord, a boy whom Narcissa named Draco. Quite a number of us have recently had children."

"Good, good. Harry will have company of his own age eventually. Of course, that's another thing to take care of once the time comes; he cannot be called Harry in public. I shall think of a name and suitable appearance. It seems, my Deatheaters, that this war shall be won by us yet."

Little did they know that people were already searching for Harry...

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"Hagrid! Please help me! I've got to get through! I've got to get James and Lily and Harry out! Let me go! I have to help!"

The large man named Hagrid, though crying himself, continued to restrain the young man in his arms. He had been told to keep the entire crowd back, but the lad in his arms was taking all his strength.

"Calm down, Sirius, calm down."

Sirius managed to get out his wand and Stun Hagrid before anyone could stop him, however, and ran into the smoking rubble that was half an hour ago his best friend's house. He burned his hands as he dug through the rafters and plaster, tossing aside everything he picked up, desperately searching for anything. He felt a gentle hand on his shoulder and turned quickly to look into the face of his other friend, Remus Lupin, looking heartbroken and more worn than the full moon two nights ago would leave him normally.

"Sirius, it's too late," the werewolf sighed, slowly pulling Sirius up.

"No!" cried Sirius through sobs, "No! It's not too late! We can find them, and they'll be okay!"

Voice cracking in anguish, Remus continued, "They just found Lily and James' bodies ten minutes ago, Sirius; they're gone…"

"Then Harry! We can't leave him in the rubble! We can't leave him!"

Remus just let out a choked sob as he pulled something out of his pocket and handed it to his friend, "They found this near Lily. They... they never found his body..."

Sirius looked down at the little baby blanket he had given Harry for his birthday, the one that had been covered in black dogs with blue eyes. It was supposed to protect Harry like Sirius would, but now, as he looked at the slightly charred blanket and a crying Remus, he realized he hadn't been there for Harry, and he'd never get the chance again...

It gave the two Marauders no happiness or sense of justice when Peter Pettigrew had been sentenced and convicted of betraying the Potters. They never once moved as Pettigrew was dragged off to prison by two hooded Dementors calling for their help. They didn't feel any sort of despair when the search for Harry was called off. They didn't feel anything, and it was with heavy hearts that they retired to Hogwarts, not to be seen outside its walls even as the dark hand of Lord Voldemort gently reached across the land.

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A/N: Yes, I know, depressing end. Don't yell at me! Sirius and Remus are my two favorite characters, and I would never ship Sirius off to Azkaban! Next chapter will be a lot of fun and lifting of the heart. Oh yeah, please review so I can hear your opinions and thoughts. It does help! Thank you!

(November 17, 2003)

EDIT: So, what do you guys think? I basically just went back through and filled in a little more detail or emotion. It won't make the already-short chapters much longer, but then I don't mind shorter chapters. Much easier to read in my opinion.