A/N: For anyone who is reading my other story: Harry Potter and the Fellow Champion, don't worry! I am not abandoning it, I just had this idea in my head for the past week and had get it down on paper, so to speak. Anyway, I've recently found and read a bunch of stories about James and Lily coming back from the dead and I liked them and then found an abandoned one about how they never died at all and that is what gave me my initial idea. I wanted to write a story where we find out that they never died but lost contact with the British wizarding world when they thought Harry was dead. This allows us to keep majority or the canon events and only shifts to AU when I want to. This will be a Harry/Ginny story. As always, I do not own anything to do with Harry Potter though I wish I did.

The morning of July 31st dawned bitter sweet for James Potter. Looking over at his wife, still asleep on the bed next to him, he couldn't help but reminisce about the events that transpired almost 15 years ago. Lily began to stir several minutes later. She gave him kiss before realizing what day it was too, causing her to give him a sad smile. He knew she was reliving the events of that night along with him.

Lily was in the kitchen working away while James played with 15 month old Harry by conjuring multicoloured bubbles with his wand. Dropping his wand on the couch he stood up and carried his son into the other room towards his wife. Suddenly a loud crash echoed through the house alerting the Potters that someone had broken down the door.

"Lily! Take Harry! He's here! He's found us! I'll hold him off!" James yelled handing off Harry to his mother. As soon as he saw them heading for the stairs he turned to face the threat to his family, hoping to buy them some time. The adrenaline and fear coursing through his system making him momentarily forget that he didn't have his wand. Next, a sight he had been dreading since the moment they had been forced into hiding was before him. Voldemort glided into his living room with a twisted smile, firing an unfamiliar nonverbal spell in his direction. Everything went dark.

When James came to, he was still in his living room and it appeared to still be early morning. Remembering what had been happening before losing consciousness he quickly staggered to his feet calling for his wife. He started up the stairs with a feeling of dread before falling to his knees with a cry of anguish when Lily's still form came into view. He shuffled into his son's nursery, not noticing the blackened state of the room, only have eyes for the woman before him. He grabbed her cold hand as he sobbed. He nearly had a heart attack when she groaned, realizing she was not dead, he helped her into into a sitting position.

"James?" She asked hoarsely, her eyes fluttering open and beginning to focus on him.

"I'm right here honey," he responded attempting to sound reassuring.

"Where's Harry?" He finally began to notice his surroundings including the decimated crib making him feel ill.

"I… I don't know." With that Lily became alert and began looking around the room too. Her eyes focusing on the crib she let out a broken sob. The two parents sat there holding each other for who knows how long. James would never know if it had been minutes or hours. Finally admitting what he hadn't dared before, "I don't he… he," his began to crack, "could have survived whatever did this." He gestured around at the damage while he spoke causing them to break down in a fresh wave of tears.

"I don't want to be here anymore," Lily eventually said quietly, "I need to get away from this."

Understanding her feelings exactly, James stood helping his wife to her feet. Holding her tight, they began to descend to the main level of the house. James knew they needed time to get away and grieve for a while. Thinking for a moment he had an idea. He knew it would hurt their friends considerably and possibly ruin their future relationships with them but he knew it was what they needed. He set his plan in motion by transfiguring two nearby objects to resemble their corpses, so that no one would come looking for them until they were ready to come back. He took Lily's hand again to apparate away from their home for the last time…

His musing was interrupted by his bedroom door opening. James and Lily looked up to see the smiling face of their nearly 14 year old daughter, Ashley Potter. After Harry's death, James and Lily had travelled around, never staying in one place for too long, that was until she found out she was pregnant again. They finally settled in and got a home in the United States, keeping to themselves, even from the local magical community. When Ashley reached the age of 11, they decided to homeschool her, afraid of facing their old friends after so many years.

Everything was about to change today though. Ashley, after being homeschooled, was ready to enter her O.W.L. year early. After much discussion, they had decided that it was best to get proper instruction at Hogwarts. It was time to return to the land of the living and face their old friends. James had set up an international portkey to take them to London. They were going to head to Diagon Alley and then attempt and get Ashley enrolled in their old school. They knew that it would be a long process, including a probable visit to the ministry of magic, but he knew they couldn't stay hidden forever.

**.**

Ashley Potter was ecstatic about the day's events. She was finally going to England to see where her parents grew up and this year she would get to finally attend Hogwarts! Her dad had told her stories about all the pranks he had pulled during his times at the magical castle, much to her moms dismay. Walking into the kitchen her good mood sobered slightly when she saw a picture of her older brother on the wall. She knew today would have been his 16th birthday. Her parents didn't speak about him often and all they had really told her was that he had died in an accident before she was born.

She always wondered what it would have been like to grow up with a sibling and if they would have looked alike. The only thing she noticed in the few baby pictures her parents had was that they had the same eyes. Ashley actually looked a lot like her mother yet her hair was more brown than red. She never asked many questions about it to her parents anymore, noting their sad expressions when she had before especially around his birthday or Halloween.

Her mood wasn't to be dampened for long though as she again focused on how her dream of attending Hogwarts would soon be coming true. After eating a quick breakfast, she went back to her bedroom to finish packing as they would be staying in London until she started school in September. When she returned to the kitchen, she noticed her parents standing around an old muggle wrench with their bags. Realizing this must be the portkey, she gathered around and grabbed on after her father finished counting down.

Ashley had never travelled by portkey before and therefore was not expecting the discomfort. She felt a tugging in her navel before they were whisked away as if spinning at high speeds. Several times throughout the journey she thought she would fall off yet her hand seemed to be stuck onto the wrench. They landed suddenly in an unknown alley and she began to fall to the ground, severely dizzy, before her father caught her. When she again regained her balance, they exited the alley to find themselves on a regular muggle street before heading into a dingy looking pub called the Leaky Cauldron. Her mother headed off saying she needed to check in and to meet her back here for a late lunch.

"Remember, like I explained before, since we have been gone for so long we need to get a few things cleared up at the Ministry of Magic therefore we are using fake names for the room for now. No one should recognize me yet. Just act normal but don't mention our last name for now," he said in a serious voice that was uncommon for him. Nodding in the affirmative that she understood, he began to lead her out the back door of the pub. He tapped a sequence of bricks on the wall of the back patio which quickly began to shift and form into an archway. Looking out on the newly formed path, she couldn't help the gasp that escaped her lips at the sight before her.

**.**

Walking down Diagon Alley with his daughter, James couldn't help but feel excited. The nervousness surrounding their return had started to die away when he realized he was finally going to see his child off to Hogwarts. Of course that should have happened years ago when she was 11 and a year earlier when Harry would have started but he tried to not dwell on that. Though they had remained mostly separated from the American magical community, Ashley already had robes and a wand. James and Lily had known they wouldn't be able to access their vaults until they had their situation cleared up with the ministry but James had gotten a steady job in America since the birth of his daughter.

Walking along the path, James found that they were subject to many stares and questioning glances. Several times people rushed over as if to say something only to walk away looking confused. It was like people recognized him but he knew that shouldn't be the case, everyone should think them dead for almost 15 years. Ashley seemed unaware of the people around her, too caught up in looking at the different shops.

James lead her over and they entered Eeylops Owl Emporium to make good on his promise that Ashley could have her own owl when she started at Hogwarts. As soon as they entered the dimly lit shop full of many cages of different shapes and sizes, she squealed in excitement. Running around the store, peering into each cage, she finally stopped and was staring into one with an awed look on her face. Hurrying over to see what his daughter had found, James paused when he saw the large black owl inside the cage.

"That's the one," she whispered, largely contrasting with her earlier loud and bubbly voice.

"How much?" He asked after turning towards the shopkeeper and motioning to the cage behind him.

"25 Galleons," she replied. She scoffed at his indignant expression, "they're just as rare as Snowy Owls and are priced accordingly." Though still a little miffed at the price he handed over the gold, knowing his daughter, she already had her heart set on that one.

"That's an early birthday present," he informed her to which she only smiled happily in response. Suddenly he felt a pang of loss thinking about what he had just said and remembering what day it was. These thoughts were quickly replaced when he saw a brightly coloured shop with a sign reading Weasleys' Wizard Wheezes. "Come on, let's go check this out."

Entering the shop, he was amazed. It reminded him of Zonko's in but this place obviously had better selection and more unique products. They had things he had never heard of like Extendable Ears and Skiving Snackboxes. He knew as a teenager, the Marauders would have loved this place. He could only imagine what they could have accomplished with an arsenal like this. Suddenly, he heard a loud shout of "Harry!" from somewhere in the shop and he couldn't help looking around wildly. Shaking his head as if to clear it, James knew that just hearing that name, even after all these years, through him off his game. He needed to get a grip on himself.

He felt a hand on his shoulder and he spun quickly look into the smiling faces of two identical twin red haired young men. Their smile disappeared slightly when they took him in. "Sorry Sir," one said.

"We mistook you for someone else we knew," the other continued.

"That's quite all right," James said amicably. Based on the sign outside and what he knew of the Weasley family, who were famous for having red hair, he continued, "Is this your shop?"

"It is good sir."

"We are here to service all of your pranking needs," with this they got a dangerous glint in their eye.

"I was just looking around. I can't imagine what it would have been like if this store was around when I went to Hogwarts. There used to be a group of pranksters at Hogwarts who liked to call themselves the Marauders. They pulled some good stuff back in the day," James used his many years experience of lying to teachers to keep a straight face but he he was not expecting the looks of absolute awe on the twins' faces.

"You knew the Marauders?"

"Well I guess you could say that," Ashley started to giggle beside me. She knew the truth after the many stories her father had told her growing up. He shot her a look to make sure she knew not to say anything. The twins then began rambling on for several minutes about what they knew of his childhood group, eventually shoving several products into his arms, free of charge, just for knowing their heroes.

When he finally escaped the store, arms laden down with a few more boxes than before, he finally let out the chuckle he had been keeping in. He hadn't thought that the Marauders legacy would have lived on for so long. Ashley began pulling him over to another store which he soon recognized as Quality Quidditch Supplies. James was happy that she had taken after his love for the game but she hadn't had much practical experience flying. Lily was always against teaching her how to fly but he had managed to sneak her out at night a few times.

When they came to rest in front of the huge window display, James was just as engrossed as Ashley when looking at the latest models. He had been out of the loop and wasn't sure which company currently had the best broom. Focused so intently on the information he was reading through the window on the different brooms, James didn't initially notice the whispers that had broken out in the crowded street around him.

Suddenly, a strong hand grabbed his arm and began to pull him back. Spinning around he still couldn't see his assailant who was still pulling him back causing him to stagger along. Though, he did notice that the majority of the crowd was now watching the middle of the street where a woman with pink hair and auror robes was escorting what looked to be a young couple. He couldn't make anything else out other than the girl had long bright orange hair that strongly reminded him of the two Weasleys he had met earlier. Ashley was also stumbling along with him as she had already been holding his hand when James had been grabbed. He was finally shoved into a narrow alley between the buildings and held up against the wall at wand point. He gasped in shock when he looked at the man holding the wand. Though it he looked many years older, and his face was a lot more haggard, James would recognize him anywhere.

"Moony?" He asked before he saw the bright red light of a stunning spell and everything went dark.

A/N: Please let me know what you guys thought of the first chapter by leaving a review. I have always loved the idea of Harry having to meet his parents and them then having to deal with the fact that their little baby is all grown up. I also really want to write Ginny meeting James and Lily as well. Not sure how often I will update this story as I am currently writing another as well, but I will do my best!

UPDATE (30/07/2015): One of my reviewers thankfully pointed out a mistake I made with Ashley's age. I've come back and fixed it now but it shouldn't really effect the story at all.