A/N: this is my first fic so don't judge, and i know some of this isn't actually possible, like the stunning spell and such, but it makes for a good story. And by the way i am american, but i'm using british english for authenticity. enjoy :)

How James & Lily Could Have Survived

There they sat. Their small little family. A boy who was in love with a girl. A girl who loved him back. And their little boy with bright green eyes and unruly black hair. Life wasn't perfect, but they were together, and they were safe.

Until he came.

James was using his wand to make puffs of smoke in front of Harry and the little boy in bright blue pyjamas was trying to grab them out of the air. Lily walked in, her hair falling over her shoulder, shielding the right side of her face. Lily thought she saw something outside the window as she walked in the living room, but she figured it was nothing. James put his wand down and took Harry out of his lap, handing him to Lily, to put Harry to bed.

Suddenly, the front door was blasted apart, and a man wearing a black cloak, holding the most recognizable wand in the wizarding world stepped in the house.

As he saw Voldemort cross the threshold into their house, James knew the Fidelius charm had broken. His first thought wasn't that Peter had betrayed them, or that he wanted to run, it was Lily and Harry.

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

James ran in front of Voldemort to give Lily time to escape. He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named gave him a look of disbelief as if to say, "You think you can hold me off? You don't even have your wand."

Yes, in his haste to protect Lily and Harry, James had forgotten to pick up his wand from the couch. This thought came to him as a burst of green light was shot at him. James realized he was being shot at not a moment too soon. He jumped out of the way, but as soon as he did so, Voldemort had shot a Stunning Spell at him.

"I'd rather not spill pure blood," Voldemort spoke in a high, cold voice.

The Dark Lord then stepped over James' frozen body, headed to the hastily barricaded room Lily was hiding in with baby Harry. James couldn't do anything. He couldn't save them.

Lily heard James' body drop and her heart broke. He was gone. The boy she loved was gone. The boy who would do anything for her was gone. But she had to protect Harry. She had to push past the grief and keep her baby safe.

She heard his footsteps from behind the poorly barricaded door. She forgot her wand. She forgot her wand! He burst in the room, and when Lily saw him, she put Harry in his cot behind her and threw her arms wide.

"Not Harry, not Harry, please not Harry!"

"Stand aside, you silly girl . . . stand aside, now." His cold voice rang through what was left of the room.

"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!"

Lily saw a look of frustration on You-Know-Who's face, and watched it turn into a sneer of success and excitement, not unlike one she had seen on Severus' face during their rather violent past encounters. She watched as his hand holding his wand raised and pointed at her. She knew it was over. Yet there she stood, still trying to protect her son, while looking into the eyes of death.

"Avada kedavra!"

But the curse didn't hit Lily.

It hit Harry.

He had stood up in his cot and Voldemort aimed his wand at the boy and blasted him with a green light.

But Lily heard her son cry. She saw him crying as hard as his little body could. Harry was unharmed. Except for the lightning shaped scar on the right side of his forehead.

But where was Voldemort?

Oh my god.

His lifeless body lying on the ground of Harry's nursery. Voldemort was dead. Voldemort was dead. Voldemort was dead! But how?

Suddenly James burst in through the threshold.

"James!?"

"Lily!?"

"James you're alive!?"

"Oh my god," James said, "he's dead."

"James you're alive!?"

"You thought I was dead?"

"YES YOU IDIOT!"

"He only Stunned me!"

"Oh thank god."

James then looked at Lily with worry in his eyes. Hazel met green and James spoke.

"What do we do?"

Lily moved to pick up their screaming child, and said in a quiet voice to James, "Get Dumbledore."

James nodded and sent his patronus to Dumbledore, and then went quickly downstairs to fetch his and Lily's wands. When he returned, Harry was still crying, and Lily was looking around for his dummy. James gave Lily her wand, and she summoned the dummy as James attempted to heal the strange cut on Harry's forehead.

James stopped trying to heal Harry's face and looked down at the body of the most infamous person their world had ever known. Lily looked up too. They knew they were both thinking the same thing.

"How?"