Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter

Author's Note: There were several things that I needed to change in the plot. Sorry for restarting the story again, but much of the general plotline is similar. MAJOR CHANGE: I decided to introduce the Founders earlier and twist Harry's past.

Prologue

In the Maternity Ward #1 on the last day of July at midnight, Grand Duchess Lily Potter nee Evans was lying on a hospital bed breathing heavily as her concerned husband perched on the chair beside her. The nurse came back a few minutes later with two blue bundles, her white shoes click clacking towards the anxious couple eager for news. "Well?" asked Lily breathlessly.

The nurse smiled and said, "Congratulations, Grand Duchess! You have two fine healthy boys here,"

Lily smiled gratefully as her husband piped up.

"Identical twins?"

"I'm afraid not, Grand Duke. They don't have the twin bond,"

James' face fell for a second before lit up again. "I'm a father," he said aloud in awe.

Just then, his best friend Duke Sirius Black bounded into the room followed by their other friend Remus Lupin. The three formed the infamous Marauders that had haunted the Hogwarts secret passageways, but a member of their group was missing. A week ago, Dumbledore had fed Peter Veritaserum and a quarter of the Mauraders was deemed a Death Eater and escorted to Azkaban. It had been a dreadful week for the group after they had learned one of their best friends had turned traitor on them.

"Hello, Prongsie boy!" said Duke Black rather loudly as he bounced energetically on his heels. Sirius' grey eyes suddenly caught sight of the nurse and his eyes popped out. "My, my, what a cute nurse we have here, James. I'm disappointed in you; you should have been romanticizing her rather than watch your wife give birth," grinned Duke Black playfully.

The nurse blushed at that, and Lily turned her emerald eyes on Sirius.

"Sirius Orion Black, you get back here!" screamed Lily murderously as the Duke in question backed away slowly backed away slowly.

In all the mayhem that ensued, the nurse was quite captivated by Lily ordering her husband to kill his best friend. Absentmindedly thinking back to the birth, the nurse froze. Did the tuft of black hair appear first, or the red hair? The girlish screams that emitted from Sirius' throat caught the nurse's attention again and she hurriedly scribbled down 'First born' under Marx William Potter. They would usually have used a potion, but the potion would have taken quite a while and it was midnight already.

"What will you name the second born, Grand Duchess?" asked the nurse respectfully

Lily paused, and then her emerald swivelled to meet your youngest son.

Emerald met Emerald.

"Name him..." Lily licked her lips nervously, "Name him Harry Alberik Lux Potter, Earl of the Aurum Mons,"

"Lily...? That was supposed to be the first born's name," asked James uncertainly.

"Oh, shut up James! We agreed that I could name them whatever I wanted," declared Lily.

The two twins lay side by side blissfully unaware of that momentous event in time as they listened to the woman who had fed them but smelled really bad scratch away. Little did they know that both their fates had been sealed forever. Yet as a passerby gazed on at the scene in Maternity Ward #1, they would think 'What a perfect family. And those two twins are absolutely adorable. The children are so lucky to grow up with such lively parents,'

Chapter Two

It had been happening all too soon... all too fast...

James lay stunned, useless against the fight that was ensuing between his wife and Voldemort. He knew that Lily wasn't as strong in the mortal world, though, and that she had been tainted for too long. Lily was too weak to go up against Voldemort and expect to win. Especially after her pregnancy.

Their one month old sons lay behind their mother. Neither of them were crying; they were watching the 'pretty lights' with a horrible fascination.

Suddenly, their youngest gave a cry. The sickly green shade of a Killing Curse had frightened the one month old raven haired babe, and he had begun to wail for his mother. Lily froze for a split second too long...

He could still hear her fall; feel her shock and love as his wife had gracefully tumbled backwards. Her auburn curls had swayed in the glowing light. For a split second time, her face had seemed at peace. She looked as if she was sleeping, ready to awakened.

For a split second.

Then Harry, the one who was responsible for his mother's death, had quickly crawled away.

The raven haired toddler crawled away. How he had learned to crawl was beyond James' ken, but Harry had moved away from his falling mother just as Voldemort had shot a second curse the exact same shade towards Marx. A golden shield had erupted in front of Marx then.

Dumbledore had explained it all. The shield was one of the rarest shields of all. It could block any spell, even the dreaded Killing Curse. But, the shield was made purely out of love. Love for the intended recipient of a spell with malicious intent. Harry couldn't have casted the shield. Only one other person could have at that moment; the lingering love of a dying Lily Potter for her son.

Harry had fainted then. James would continue to wonder why for years to come. Marx, on the other hand, was smiling happily and clapping his hands as the golden shield rebounded the green jet of light towards its caster. Slowly, comically, Voldemort crashed to his knees and crumpled onto the ground. His body disappeared then, and all that was left was his shadow like robes.

James could remember his clear shock and horror at the scene that had unfolded in front of him. How... why... why did his wife have to die? Unconsciousness had overtaken him then, a brief respite for the pain and anguish he had been feeling.

He remembered what had happened when his best friend and enervated him.

"James, James are you alright? Please mate, wake up," begged a far-away voice.

No... he didn't want to leave. Something would go wrong if he woke up then, James just knew it in his heart. He tried to shake his head. He wanted to go back to sleep. Never to awake again.

"James, think of Harry! A-and Marx!" wailed the same voice.

Surprisingly, the affection James used to feel for Harry had dissipated, but his love for Marx had grown tenfold. What had happened? He couldn't remember... he didn't want to remember. There was one other name that had not been said. One name that could have gotten to perhaps consider waking up. That name – what had it been again?

The voice was incessantly babbling again. One word stood out to the unconscious James Potter.

"...Lily..." the name of an angel. Lily.

Pain shot through him then, and surprise at how much his mind rebelled against hearing that name ever again. Never again.

He needed to find out what had happened...

So James Potter made the worst mistake he had ever made in his life. He decided to wake up.

The pain hit him then, and the memories. Oh, the memories of that night. It brought him down to his knees. If only... if only Harry hadn't cried. If only he hadn't been stupefied. If only...

His entire life could be brought back from the brink of disaster with an 'if only'...

***

A four year old Harry Potter had woken up to the beam of bright sunlight that pierced through his windows. At least, he thought he was four. It was his twin's, Marx Potter's, birthday today. Since they were twins, logically that meant he was four today too, right?

Not that anyone ever bothered to answer his concerns.

It was all because of that night. That night that made his brother so annoyingly famous and the icon of the Light for the Wizarding World. He was their Saviour, their Chosen One or whatever rubbish they were printing nowadays. The prophesy (or at least parts of it) had been made public so that Marx could be announced worldwide as not only the Boy-Who-Lived, but the Saviour of the Wizarding World.

As far as Harry was concerned, that miraculous Killing Curse could not have been blocked by a month old babe. It just was not possible. When Harry had learned to read by himself and through the House Elves' tutorage, he had made it a point to research shields and wards. The only shield to ever have been known to withstand the Killing Curse had been created out of love. Pure love from someone else who was in contact with a wand and was not under the influence of any spell the instant the Killing Curse had been fired. That meant it was impossible for Marx to have created the shield himself. The only logical person who could have done it was Harry since his father had been stupefied at that point. Voldemort would count too, actually. It was just highly improbably for Voldemort to have created the shield, and so had been taken out of the picture.

His mother... now that was an interesting thought. Perhaps his mother could have done it. The Killing Curse wasn't as instantaneous as everyone thought it was. If Voldemort had even been slightly distracted while casting the curse, his mother would have had a few minutes while her soul struggled to remain in her dying body. Maybe she had had enough mind power and love (not to mention knowledge of that particular shield) to cast the spell. Not that Harry knew his mother very well. Any picture he had of her had been taken away by his father. His father never talked about his mother with Harry, or anything really.

James Potter was a distant, cold stranger to his youngest son because the one thing Grand Duke Potter could not forgive his Heir Presumptive was that single cry the night his wife died. Harry didn't know this; he didn't really know much about what had happened that night except what was common knowledge among the wizarding world. (Presumed) Fact: 1) Voldemort had killed the late Grand Duchess Potter; 2) Voldemort had fired a Killing Curse towards the Potter Heir Apparent; and 3) Said Potter Heir Apparent had survived the above curse, methods unknown.

With this new thought in mind, the four year old toddler with fly-away raven hair turned down one of the long, elegant corridors in Potter Manor that arrived at the Potter Family Library.

Ever since Harry Potter had discovered the wonders of reading, the Potter Family Library had been his haven away from his cold father, obnoxious brother, and the Wizarding World in general. The truth about that night had been distorted; only the Grand Duke knew the entirety of the night along with Hogwart's famed headmaster Duke Albus Dumbledore and Harry's godfather, Duke Sirius Black. Those three men had kept their mouths shut where that atrocious night was concerned.

There must be something there though. The Potter Family Library was world famous because of a very good reason. Its book were self updating so the recent edition was always available. It covered several hundred floors inside a rather tall tower (the inside had been charmed to expand; thus the several hundred floors) and every book since the Library had been established was available there.

Harry never found out the truth about what had happened that night. What he did find out was that the rumours of a deep underground cavern below the Potter Library were correct. The Library had a hundred floors above the ground; no more and no less. All other floors descended downwards into the deep basement. Of course, the basement wasn't really a hundred stories deep; magic had been involved in the construction of the Library.

The library was organized with the oldest books since the founding of the Library at the very bottom and the most current ones in the top 100 floors in chronological order, oriented around the date of the book's first publication. Later editions, although published later, could always be found next to the original however. It is rumoured that the Potter's had been bequeathed Merlin's works. It is not common (but available) knowledge that Gryffindor and Slytherin had been Merlin's apprentices. However, that they had been, and their family line had kept their works. The Potters had been descended directly from Gryffindor (the heir to Gryffindor had one sole child; a daughter. That daughter had married a Potter, and the rest, as they say, was history).

The underground chamber was said to contain Gryffindor's original works, copies of Slytherin's works, half of Merlin's original tomes and copies of the other half. The heir to Slytherin had long been lost ever since Slytherin left Hogwarts after his legendary fight with Gryffindor. Suspicion falls on the Black line, however, since it is the only family known to practice the Dark Arts in the Seven Ancient Wizarding Houses.

Harry had never set off into the library with the intent of discovering the underground chamber. He just did. The four year old had wandered down to the oldest books in the deepest floor of the library. Harry Potter was on the first floor of the Potter Library (the ground level floor is level 598). Each floor contained a little over a centuries' worth of knowledge in books. The first floor was known to be one of the smallest ones since books were rare in the first hundred floors or so. The printing press had only been invented in the 1500's; before then, books were written by the author's hand or copied out by monks.

However, (almost curiously similar to how you enter the Room of Requirement) Harry had taken way too many books for a four year old to handle. Clutching the three heavy tomes in his hands, Harry had paced around nervously looking for the familiar sight of a study table on the First Floor. Unwittingly, he had paced thrice in front of an obscure portrait of Godric Gryffindor and the portrait had enlargened into a door.

Harry blinked, staring at the intricately carved door in front of him in shock.

What had just happened?

One moment it hadn't been there; the next second, it had appeared. What was going on? Harry had neglected to notice the portrait of Gryffindor before, and so warily approached the door.

Though still a child at four years old, he was an independent one and voracious at reading. The Gryffindor bravery also ran through his veins, and so reaching as high as he could he managed to turn the doorknob, and pushed the door open.

What he saw shocked him.

Although very young, Harry had already read Hogwarts: A History. The words were hard to understand, and so it had not been unusual to find the four year old wandering around the grounds with a dictionary and his current tome in hand. Therefore, when he saw Godric Gryffindor in the flesh as he opened the mysterious door in the library, Harry did what everyone else would have done.

He fainted.

***

Godric Gryffindor looked up as his hourglass ticked down to zero. Finally, someone was going to open the bloody damn door! He was bored out of his mind!

A tiny slip of a boy who looked about three peered in hesitantly. He had Rowena's emerald eyes but his own black, unruly hair. The boy must be his next heir, then! Godric rose to stand up and greet the boy. Usually Rowena would have done this, but she was busy with her own heir so she said she would greet her primary descendant later. It wasn't fair, really. Rowena always sent him to do the grunt work.

Pushing those thoughts aside, Godric stood up in his brilliant scarlet and gold robes and smiled at the boy. The boy, his eyes wide with shock (strange, not fear?) stumbled backwards a bit before fainting dead away. Godric sighed impatiently. That was what happened all the time when the new heir discovered his little room. Really, must they find out so young? Oh, how he hated his old master at that moment. The cheeky devil!

Hoping Rowena would come soon, Godric hurriedly gathered the boy up in his arms and placed him on a couch. He raised eyebrow slightly at the books the boy had had in his arms. Wardes and Shieldes Of Olde Magicke was not a book Godric would have recommended for a young boy to read.

Sighing, Godric settled down on the couch before looking fondly at the book he had written. Why did Godric always get the one that faints?

***

Quick Clarification:

The only places the Founders can appear in without being in an 'ghost' form (which they detest) are Avalon, Camelot and any realms not found on Earth. The only earthly place they can stay in without their body deteriorating are their designated 'rooms' (created by Merlin) where they first meet their new heirs. They usually don't spend much time in those rooms though.

Sorry the first chapter is so short. I'll be introducing Ginny, Draco, more of Harry's life and the Wizarding World in general the next chapter.

Plead: Reviews! I need to know whether this new beginning is better than the old one!