AN-This is another older story that I found floating around my hard-drive, and finished off the first part. This is not going to be a 'pairing fic', but focus on the relationship between Harry and his family. I've never written Mycroft, and I'm a bit nervous about it, but we'll see what happens. Please don't expect rapid updates on this one, I'm going to be working on this in between the stories that I already have in motion.

Much thanks to njchrispatrick for helping with the summary and listening to me whine about this.

Feedback is always appreciated, as is constructive criticism.

Disclaimer-I own nothing. No copyright infringement is intended nor implied, and no profit of any kind is being made on this work of fanfiction.

Prologue

Lily Evans pressed her hand to her head as she sat up, bile rising in her throat.

"Oh god," She said softly. The hotel room around her was spinning, and she could only hold her eyes open a few seconds before she clenched them shut again in self-preservation, but she knew one thing for sure: she was not in the hotel room that she should be in.

"Dammit, Petunia," Lily groaned aloud, swinging her feet onto the ground and hoping that she didn't step on anything too...gross, in her trek for the bathroom (and hopefully the aspirin that had to be there.) "I never should have listened to you."

The door opening and closing behind her echoed in her head, and she blinked open bleary eyes to paw through the small case sitting on the counter. It was black, and non-descript, and Lily didn't care as she pulled random bottles and things out until her fingers wrapped around the bottle of parcemetol and she dry swallowed three. She left the contents of the bag strewn around the counter, figuring that by the ache in her lower half they had already been as close as two people could be, why not go all the way.

The redhead tiptoed out into the main room, gathering her clothes and slipping into them as quietly as she could, glancing at the pale body still asleep on the bed. He hadn't stirred, and she breathed a sigh of relief as she slipped on her heels from the night before and slipped out the door without a word.

A quick step into a camera less broom closet, wand clenched tightly in her fist (she had never been more grateful that she had decided to take it with her, not caring what her snooty sister thought for once) she apparated home.

This was the last time that she followed Petunia anywhere. Ever.

"Late night, Lily?" Petunia asked snidely as Lily reappeared in their hotel room. The red head just grunted and fell face forward on to her shabby and uncomfortable hotel bed. She had arrived in one piece, and that was all that mattered. She hadn't left any important bits behind in a splinching accident "I'll take that as a yes."

Petunia looked as fresh as a daisy, a smirk on her pinched face as she stared at her younger sister.

"Oh get stuffed, Pet." Lily grumbled, pulling her pillow over her head, "Why did you let me drink that much?"

"Oh, I tried to cut you off, but you insisted on drinking the night away. Disappearing on my hen night, I guess I can't expect anything more out of you."

Lily winced and sat up, raking a hand back through her firey hair. Petunia, despite her smirk and harsh words, was hurt and Lily knew it. This was supposed to be their grand reconciliation moment, but she was ruining it. It seemed she could never get anything right when it came to the two of them. They used to be so close. "I'm sorry Petunia, I didn't ruin anything for you, did I?"

Petunia sighed and shook her head. "No, you didn't. Daliah was there, and she made sure I enjoyed myself. I guess I should just be glad you didn't make a scene."

The two sisters began to pack in silence, Lily opening and closing her mouth as she tried to find something that would smooth over things, make it all go away, but she couldn't.

"Let's go home, Lily, I have a dress fitting at two."

Lily looked down at the letter in front of her, written on plain notebook paper instead of parchment, and took a deep breath before folding it into a tiny square and attaching it to the bird waiting for her to make up her mind. The seventh year watched her owl fly from the owlery, heading towards the home that got easier and easier for Lily to leave every year.

"Lilly? Lily are you up here?" James' voice echoed through the small room and Lily turned, forcing a smile as the Head Boy popped his head into the owlery. The two had been dating since the beginning of the semester, Lily was surprised at how quickly James had changed, but she wasn't sure if he would be up for this. School boyfriends weren't usually willing to raise their girlfriend's love child.

"Here James." She smiled wanly, her hair pulled back in a simple ponytail. She knew she wouldn't be able to hide what was going on for much longer, she was already filling her uniform out more than she ever had before. James smiled, and crossed the room to wrap his arms around her. Lily pressed close, inhaling the scent that always seemed to cling to him, and wondered if this would be the last time she would ever smell it.

"Why are you hiding up here, love?" James asked quietly, pressing his cheek to the top of her head as they both stared out the window. Hogwarts was quiet beneath them, a lazy Sunday keeping most of the students (and especially the seventh years that needed a break from the N.E.W.T.S testing that was rapidly approaching) in bed or in the library. "I thought you were studying in the library with Susan?"

Lily sighed, pulling away from him to pace across the room.

"James…" She tried, but the words caught in her throat and she wasn't able to keep going. How did she say this? It wasn't like they were together when it happened, but still….

"Lily?" he asked quietly, catching her by the elbows as she paced past him and pulling her close again. His grip wasn't tight, she knew she could break it if she really wanted to, but it let her know he was there. "Lily, what is it? You've been acting distant for weeks. Talk to me, sweetheart. Please?"

He stared down at her, his hazel eyes concerned, for her, and Lily broke.

"James, I'm pregnant." The words fell out of her in a rush, and she bit her lip as his mouth dropped open.

"What? But we, I mean," He blushed, and Lily would have teased him if this had been any other time, "You know what I mean!"

Lily nodded. "I know, James, I know. But," She shrugged and smiled a bit at herself, "things happened over Christmas Break and, well, I'm pregnant."

James raked a hand through his dark hair, making the strands stand up more messily than normal, and sighed.

"What are you going to do?"

Lily bit her lip, and walked away from him again. He let his hand fall without trying to stop her, and that sent a shot through her heart. He was pulling away from her, just like she knew he would. She would be dealing with this alone.

"Mum and Dad have been owling daily asking the same thing. Adoption, term...termination," She stuttered over the word, "am I going to keep it? I don't know James, I really don't."

"Lily…" James headed towards her with his hand raised. She smiled, but it was false and they both knew it.

"James, I'm eighteen. I'm an adult in the Wizarding World, but I don't know how to raise a child. I don't even have a job, and I'm a muggleborn, getting one high enough to support us, it wouldn't be possible here." The same words she was speaking had been going through her head over and over again since she saw the little pink line on the stick back in February. "I'll have to leave, if I...if I keep it."

And she would. Unwed mothers were frowned upon in Muggle London, but in the Wizarding World? There was no shame greater, as far as Lily could see.

"No, you won't." James said, framing her face with his hands and slamming his mouth over hers. He kissed her like he was drowning, and she was the last pocket of air he would ever see, it was desperate. They were both panting when he pulled away, but his eyes were boring into her fiercely. "Marry me."

Lily felt her mouth drop open, but it didn't matter.

"Wh..what?" She asked, feeling like she was trying to think through molasses. "James, what are you talking about?"

"I thought I had just proposed, do I have to have the ring now? I don't have a ring but I'll get one, I promise" James babbled. Lily laughed, her heart swelling.

"James, did you not just hear what I said? I'm having another man's child," Maybe he hadn't understood what she said, it wasn't something that was easy to wrap your head around. He shook his head, and kissed her again.

"I don't care, Lily, I really don't," He said fiercely, "I have loved you since the moment I fell into you in the boats, and this isn't going to change that." He pulled back, and looked down at her stomach. He couldn't fully see the bump there, but he pressed a hand to where he thought it would be. "We can be a family, the three of us. Just say yes?"

Lily looked up at him, biting her lip until she was sure that it would bleed, and stayed quiet.

She could say yes, she could let James give her his name, give her child his name, and make life a lot easier for herself. Any sane woman would do it. It wasn't like she loved the father of her child, hell even four months later she couldn't remember his name or his face. Petunia had no idea who he was either, or she said she didn't.

Lily didn't know anymore, Petunia had changed since she met Vernon Dursley, and it wasn't a change for the better.

No, she didn't love the father of her child…

Lily looked up at James, his face so earnest and his hand still warm against her skin where her child was growing, and smiled.

No, she didn't love the nameless man, but she could see herself falling for James. One day.

"Yes."

Mycroft Holmes watched from the shadows as the newly wedded Mr. and Mrs. James Charlus Potter walked joyfully down the steps of Saint Richard's Cathedral in Surrey. He fixed his eyes on her, red hair curled around her face and bright green eyes bright with happiness, and his hands tightened on his umbrella as he studied her.

He had thought….he had heard, through sources, that Lily Potter was pregnant. Far too gone for it to be her husbands. He had thought (hoped? In the deepest part of his mind perhaps) that their chance encounter had resulted in something he had not planned when he walked into that east London flat nine months ago.

But seeing her now, it was not possible.

His sources must be wrong. It was the first time, and it would be the last.

Mycroft turned to go, the door to his car already opened, but froze. The scion of the Holmes family turned and watched the happy couple duck into their own waiting car, watched the door shut behind them as well wishers and happy family members tossed rice in the air and shouted after them.

"Congratulations, Mrs. Lily Potter." He whispered into thin air, tapping the point of his umbrella against the ground once before he pushed sentimentality aside and climbed into the waiting car without looking back.

"Onto Buckingham, then?" Charlotte (for today, at least) asked quietly from the seat next to him, and he nodded without a word. The car moved smoothly away from the curb, and Mycroft pushed away all thoughts other than the meeting with Lizzie he was running abysmally late for.

This was for the best, he told himself.

He did not need a child in his life, he had enough complications as it was, what with Sherlock acting like Sherlock and keeping the British Government running. A child, an actual child, would just be one more complication that he could do without.

And, after all, caring was not an advantage.

Lily smiled down at the baby she held in her arms, and wished that she didn't know what she knew.

"He's going to be fine, Lils, I promise." James said, running a careful finger down the center of Harry's nose as he sat carefully on the bed next to her. "Albus has a plan. We'll be well hidden, He will never find us."

Lily nodded.

"I just don't think using Sirius is the best idea, James." She said quietly and he groaned. "I know, you trust him, I do as well, but….everyone knows that, James."

Her husband opened his mouth, and she knew he was going to come at her with the same arguments and reasoning he had since they concocted this crazy plan. "No, James, hear me out. Everyone knows Sirius is your best friend, The Dark Lord included. The first person they are going to go after is Sirius, and you know it. We need to pick someone else, someone no one will think of."

James frowned, and nodded. She breathed a sigh of relief, at least he was willing to hear her out now. That was more than he had been willing to do in months.

"Albus says Sirius is the best choice….."

Lily rolled her eyes and tried not to scowl. Albus, Albus, Albus, she was tired of hearing that name. They had been married less than two months, and it already felt like there was a third person in the relationship.

"Sod Albus, James." She snapped, and James reared back almost if she had struck him. Lily loved the man, but sometimes he could be blind to the intentions of everyone around him, especially Albus Dumbledore. "We need to pick someone else. You need to pick someone else, if not for me, than for Harry. I'm not going to leave our son's life up to chance."

"Lily, I would never put Harry in danger, but Albus…"

"Albus is not his father, James. You are. And you have to do what is best for him." Lily said. She knew it was a low blow, but she would protect her son no matter what it took. James sighed, raking a hand back through his hair again. It was a nervous tick, and Lily knew she was getting through to him.

"If not Sirius, then who? I don't know anyone else we can trust." James said quietly. He pushed himself off the bed, and began to pace the floor of their bedroom. Lily watched him for a few minutes as she tried to think. James said quietly. He pushed himself off the bed, and began to pace the floor of their bedroom. Lily watched him move for a few minutes as she tried to think.

"What about Remus?" She ventured, but James shook his head.

"No, not Remus. He's a werewolf."

"What?" Lily blinked at him as she spoke. James flushed, but stood by his words.

"He's a werewolf, Lily. I love him like a brother, but who knows what influence the wolf has on him! I won't put Harry and you at risk, even if he may not tell."

"Why do I think Albus is behind that reasoning?" It was a rhetorical question. "Why not Peter then? No one even really remembers him, let alone that he is your friend."

James grinned and turned to stare at her. "Lily, you are a genius!" He bounded across the floor to her, flopped on the bed, and wrapped his arms around Harry and her. Harry cried as he was squeezed, but James just tickled him until he was laughing instead. "Peter is the perfect choice! I'll just tell Albus…."

"No!" Lily shouted, and James and Harry both froze and stared at her. "No, don't tell Albus. If we tell someone, it will be one more person we have to trust to stay quiet. We tell no one, not even Sirius. Not even Albus. We'll all be safer this way, James, don't you see?"

He nodded, slowly, and reached out to take Harry from her.

"Okay Lily, okay. I'll put Harry to bed, you…get some rest."

Lily watched them go, her boys, and leaned back against the pillows behind her. They would be safe in Godric's Hollow by the end of the week, and soon this whole thing would be nothing but a nightmare.

She couldn't wait to put it behind her.

Albus Dumbledore sighed as he stood on the corner of Privet Drive, waiting for Hagrid to arrive with baby Harry.

The aging Headmaster had hoped that things would turn out differently, Lily and James didn't deserve the death that they suffered, but now…at least now their world had a hope.

Harry James Potter.

Albus contemplated the baby as he waited. Minerva was a silent shadow next to him, and he wished that she had chosen to stay behind like he asked. He didn't need any more witnesses to this than he had to have.

Petunia Dursley. He remembered the girl, remembered the letters she sent to him begging to join her sister at Hogwarts, and remembered how much he hated having to write each and every rejection over the years until the letters finally tapered off and disappeared. It was always hardest, for those left behind.

"I can't believe you, Albus," Minerva hissed quietly from his side. "I've watched these two all day, you'll not find worse guardians than them!" The Scottish burr in his Deputy's voice told Albus just how upset she was, but he just gave her a sad smile and shook his head.

"They are the only choice, Minerva. He needs to grow up away from the fame and pressure that will surround him in our world. He needs time to have a normal childhood."

She shook her head and glared at him harder. "Not with these people, Albus. I saw their son, Harry's cousin, kicking his mother all the way up the street screaming for sweets! They will ruin him, if they are given the chance."

"They are his blood, Minerva, and that is most important. He will have a connection to his family, they will keep him safe."

Albus thought, hoped, that the blood wards would take. It was a complicated spell, one he had only performed a handful of times, and it was never certain to be effective.

But he had to try. Harry had to be safe.

"Blood isn't everything, Albus, and you know it!" Minerva was winding herself up to a real lecture session, and Albus had never been happier to hear the roar of Sirius Black's motorbike than he was at that particular moment. Minerva could strip the paint off the walls with her tongue if you gave her enough time.

"You told Hagrid to bring him!"

"He was the only one able to, Minerva. You know that." He wasn't, but Albus couldn't trust anyone else.

Harry was warm in his hands, moments later, when Hagrid landed on the quiet street with a roar. Albus wasn't sure where the man had gotten the motorcycle, Sirius Black wasn't one to let go of things easily, but it didn't matter.

"Let's put this mess behind us, Harry will be safe and sound with his aunt by morning." The boy didn't stir in his arms as he crossed the street and bent to place him carefully on the steps. The letter he'd carefully written earlier in the evening he tucked deep into the blankets around the child, making sure that an errant wind wouldn't pick it up and blow it away.

It had everything they would need to know, everything they needed to be wary of, while raising the Boy Who Lived. If anyone found out where Harry was, Albus didn't want to think about what would happen.

No, Harry must be kept safe, and this was the best place for him.

Albus was sure of it.

The elderly man straightened, feeling every one of his advanced years, and looked at his employees. "Well, we must be off. There is a lot to do before the sun rises. Minerva, Hagrid, I shall see you back at the castle."

He disappeared with a quiet pop, the street lights flooding back on.

"I hope you know what you are doing, Albus," Minerva muttered to thin air, giving Hagrid a short nod of her own before her form shrank and twisted into a small tabby cat. The feline sniffed the air once, before disappearing behind the hedges.

Soon enough, the baby was left in the silence. He would stay alone, until his aunt's scream woke him the next morning.

Harry Potter would live in misery, for the next five years.

I know the end of this was a bit much like the book, but leaving Harry on the doorstep is one of those scenes that don't need much rewriting.