A.N. Harry Potter is not mine, but I am happy to play with the world and see what happens. Enjoy!

Last Second Gamble

July 31, 1981

Lily sighed, she just wanted to have an enjoyable day celebrating her son's first birthday. The words of prophecy still ringing in her ears. Lily Potter looked at her pride and joy, the small black-haired green-eyed little boy playing with a large black dog. "Padfoot please be careful with my son, you already about destroyed the sitting room last week!" she declared in exasperation.

"Lils, they are fine! They can't do anything that we can't fix." Came from the love of her life James Potter as he came and gave her a hug. As the dog-man turned back into his humanoid form Sirius barked "I never cause any problems or make a mess!" Earning a glare from the red haired matron of the home. "Well.. er.. maybe I will just umm tone it down a bit," Sirius meekly declared.

Lily walked up and took her son from the man's arms. "Come here my precious baby, Mommy won't let this mangy mutt corrupt you-". "I resent that!" "-anymore than he has already tried. I just know you are going to be a good son and follow in your momma's footsteps." Harry just giggled.

Flashback

"Lils, he is beautiful, he must take after you!" James declared lovingly. "He looks just like you James, except those eyes, they are like mine, but what should we name him?" stated Lily. "Well how about Harry?" James replied.

"No, I don't want my son with that name, just look at him! He deserves something nobler, how about Harrison?"

"I love it Lils, Harrison James Potter… but can I call him Harry occasionally, Harrison could end up being a mouthful all the time?"

"I suppose that will be fine"

End Flashback

She walked with Harry playing with her long red hair towards her husband and made eye contact with him letting him know they needed to wrap things up. James picking up on his wife's need stood up and announced " Thank you Padfoot, and Moony for coming for Harrison's birthday, I know it's hard to do much with the war and all but I'm so glad that my brothers in all but blood were able to make it. I do wonder where Wormtail is, but I'm sure he just got busy and couldn't make it. However, Lily and I got some word from Dumbledore today that has given us a lot to think about. I'll try to let you know what all is going on later but for now we need to retire."

"James, Lily, you know if there is anything at all that we can do to help just tell us and we will" stated Sirius with Remus nodding in agreement.

"Anything at all, James you've done so much for me as it is and Lily you have never judged me for my condition so whatever I am able to do please tell me and I will do what I can" Remus said passionately.

"We will, but for now you two just do your best to stay safe. You are my brothers, I don't know what I would do without you two." James finished as they flood away to their respective homes.

Later that night while lying in bed, little Harry already asleep in his crib, Lily turned to James, "Honey, I'm so scared. If Dumbledore is to be believed than someone else overheard part of that bloody prophecy which could get back to that mad man. That will put a target on our Son's back and I couldn't bear anything happening to him James. What are we going to do?!"

"Lily, we are going to be okay, Harry will be okay. We have already stood against him a few times, and got away with little to know harm, we can do it again. As you know Albus believes that we should go under fidelius, the idea has merit you know? We can just get Sirius to be our secret keeper, you know he would never betray us-"

"But James that would put Sirius is danger! If anything would happen to him it would almost be as if we condemned him ourselves if he were to get caught!" interrupted Lilly.

"I know dear, it isn't what I would prefer, but you know the situation calls for some more desperate measures if we are to keep our son safe."

"I know, I just wish that there was another alternative that could keep us all safe… James, I guess we can go ahead and go through with this, but I'm going to do my best to find something whether is an old ritual or spell that can keep him safe or even if I have to develop something myself. You know I came across some pretty old tomes in my time as an unspeakable, not to mention anything that we may have in the family books. You know as well as I that the Potter's and the Peverell's both dabbled in all types of magic from the darkest it to the lightest of them. If there is anything at all, I can probably find it there."

"If anyone can find it, I know you can Lily. I wish that my mum and dad were still here so that they could help us, though, I'm not sure how much mom's family magic would have done to help. Uncle Charles and aunt Dorea may could help but I don't know where I would be able to find them with us looking at going into hiding and I would ask Sirius but you know how he is about the family."

"Thank you, I'll let you know if there is anything that you can do. In the meantime just do what you can to keep us all safe."

"I love you Lily and we will get through this." Said James as he hugged her close to him.

"I love you too James" Lily whispered back.

As the months began to slip by, Lily put everything that she had into her research with James having to occasionally plead with her to get some sleep so that she wouldn't stay up late into the night. He could see that it was exhausting her but he didn't know what he could do to help her. He had already worked out the details of the fidelius which they had made Peter the secret keeper after Dumbledore saying that he would be the least likely of the Marauders to be looked at for the role. Dumbledore cast the charm himself in early August allowing them to slowly start getting used to the changes in lifestyle. James was trying to keep himself busy between playing with Harry and doing what he could to stay in shape while making sure he was around to give Lily a hand if she needed it. It was hard on him seeing his wife looking more and more tired and stressed when one day in late September she came running into the room while he was playing with Harry on a toy broom that he had gotten him.

"James I found it! I found something that should be able to possibly block the killing curse! All I have to do is alter the arithmetic equation to account for-"

"Woah, slow down Lils and take a breath" smiled James.

As Lily began to explain what she found being a sort of combination of multiple rituals across between a few different family tomes and a couple of obscure ones found in some of the old books borrowed from the unspeakable department, James' smile slowly grew until he was beaming with hope.

"Lily! This is amazing, if we can get this to work than our boy will finally be safe from that wanker!"

"I know! I better get back to work, this spell won't work out itself!" and with a quick hug and kiss to James, she hurried over to Harry and said "I'm going to get this for you my sweet, Momma won't let you down." Looking back to James she stated, "James we need to prepare ourselves for the worst, as in what if we don't survive but Harry does. He needs to know who he is and where he comes from as well as what our hopes and dreams may be from him and his family history. He will need to know what his place in the world is if we aren't there to guide him."

"Of course Lils," said a troubled James. He didn't want to think about a future that wouldn't have him with his son or one that his son would have to grow up without knowing the love of his parents. He just hoped that this letter precaution would end up being unneeded. Preparing himself for bed he tried dispelling the lingering thoughts from his mind looking at his son that he would do anything for if that meant keeping him safe. "I will protect you Harrison, no matter what, I will protect you."

October 31, 1981

In a town called Godric's Hollow, a family was sitting in a house that nobody seemed to notice was even there, the parent's playing with their dark-haired son. They were seemingly happy with their little who was squealing in delight whenever his father would pick him up and move him around in the air as if he was flying while the mother looked on happy at her child's apparent joy. The only sign that anything may be wrong was if you looked at either of the parent's you could see the signs of stress around the eyes and the subtle indications of fatigue in their movements. The Potters had been in hiding for months now, not really having the opportunity to leave their self-made prison. Out of seemingly nowhere, James turned to Lily with fear in his eyes saying the two words that made her world seem to start crashing down around her, "The Wards."

"Lily take Harry and get away from here, please, I will do my best to hold him off and catch up." James hurried out.

"James I can't he must have placed wards of his own," Lily replied. "James the spell isn't finished, I don't know if it will work right now."

"We have to try, if we do nothing, he will die. At least with this he may have a chance. GO!" he yelled.

With tears in her eyes, Lily took what possibly may be the last look at her husband ever. Grabbing Harry from James, she ran up the stairs and placing him in his crib with his blanket with the letter to him placed within the folds. As soon as she had him settled, she began chanting only stopping in the appropriate places to take a breath, eyes never once leaving her son despite the sounds of conflict coming from below. Finishing, she bent down to give her son one last kiss saying, "I love you son, I did everything that I could. Be safe, and be the best that you can be in life."

Turning around, she heard footsteps coming up the stairs. Bracing herself for the possible confrontation and how she could possibly keep Harry safe, she quickly dried her eyes and watched as the door slowly opened. Emerald meeting red, a vision of imminent death entered the room.

"Stand aside and I will spare you." A slippery voice full of meaningless promises stated.

"And let you kill my son? I would never!" Lily rebutted throwing a cutting curse hoping to catch him off guard.

Batting the spell away, the figure known as Lord Voldemort began to laugh "Well no loss for me, Avadra Kedavra!" As the green light connected with the red haired woman's chest, the image of life slowly left her eyes. Approaching the crib holding the supposed source of his possible downfall. "And here he is, this mere baby that is going to match my power? Well too bad you will never have the chance. Avadra Kedavra!"

When the green spell connected with the child, a miasma of colors began to swirl around him seeming to absorb the spell of death. As the emerald began to mix into the vortex, it began to spin faster and faster becoming a blur of motion. Almost as soon as it began, it stopped then seemed to converge into the baby causing him to disappear in a flash of light.

October 31, 1961

Walking out of St. Mundo's Hospital, a black-headed vision of beauty turned to her equally haired husband with tears in her eyes. "I'm so sorry Charlus, I know all you ever wanted was a heir and I wish I could give you that. I don't know what else I could do provide you that."

"It will be fine Dorea, we will figure something out, but my dear, you are all that I truly need in my life. I know I may seem a little disappointed right now, but please just give me a little time and I will be as right as rain." Charlus said while hugging her close.

While trying to collect themselves, a mediwitch ran out to them, "Excuse me sir, ma'am did you not say your name was Potter?"

Turning to face the woman, Charlus responded "Yes, that is us, what can I do for you?"

"Sir we just had a child brought in to us from Godric's Hollow, all he had on him was a blanket and within the blanket was a note addressed to a Harrison Potter. There is nobody that appears to be looking for the child which leads us to believe that there is no family for him except maybe you two."

Looking at his wife, she motioned to him that she wanted to talk to him in private. "Ma'am if you would, please give us a moment." Turning to Dorea he said, "What is it dear?"

"We should go look at this boy, if he doesn't have a family, maybe we can take him in and in a way it will be me giving you that son that you deserve."

"But dear, we don't know if he has a family or not, for all I know they are still looking for him!"

With tears in her eyes, Dorea pleaded with her husband, "Please Charlus, let us just look at him and if worst comes to worst, we take care of him until his family finds him. Can we at least go see him please?"

Knowing that he could never deny Dorea for long while she was giving him those eyes, he turned to the mediwitch and bade her to take them to the child. Reentering the building they were taken up a couple floors and through a few winding hallways to a room at the end of the hall. Walking into the room, they saw a woman watching over a crib with a little boy with emerald eyes and black hair, reading a child's story to him. The mediwitch that lead them to him said "That's him, that's the child that was found."

Mumbling a thank you, Charlus looked at his wife who had already started towards the child lying in the crib. Picking her up to look at him closer, the baby smiled and slowly started drifting off to sleep. "He is beautiful Charlus, he almost even resembles you a bit. "

The woman that had been sitting with the child spoke up, "If you are his family, you should open this letter and see if you can maybe figure out why he was all alone." Shortly after handing Charlus the letter, she left the room to give them their privacy. Seeing that his wife was staring at him pointedly, he opened the letter.

To my dear son Harrison "Harry" James Potter,

My sweet boy, if you are reading this letter than you already know that the worst has happened. That your father and I weren't able to hold off the Dark Lord Voldemort. Know that he came after you due to a prophecy spoken to Albus Dumbledore. He wouldn't tell us the entire contents of it, but this is what he told us. It said,

"The one with the power to vanquish the Dark Lord approaches…

Born to those who have thrice defied him, born as the seventh month dies…"

Unfortunately this narrowed it down to you and one other. You having been born on the 31st of July, 1980 and Neville Longbottom (your god brother) being born on the 30th of July of the same year. As a result your father and I went into hiding using a charm called the fidelius to keep us hidden. We had a friend of your father's a man named Peter Pettigrew was what was called the secret keeper, which meant, we couldn't be found unless he specifically told him. So as you now know, he must have betrayed us to the Dark Lord. We should've just trusted your god father Sirius Black (who we hope will be taking care of you if Alice Longbottom, your god mother, is not able to) to be the keeper, but Dumbledore convinced us that Peter would be less likely to be assumed which is true. Remus Lupin, the last of the Marauders, also known as your father and his group of friends/pranksters) is a werewolf and unfortunately we thought that he might not be trusted due to the Dark Lord recruiting many of them, with that maniac Fenrir Greyback being the primary one. That being said, I still don't believe that he would have turned his back on us, but it's too late to change that now.

So knowing that if you were going to have to read this, that your father and I weren't there, we wanted to make sure you knew your family history. Your father is James Fleamont Potter, son of Fleamont Potter and Euphemia Potter nee MacMillan. The Potter family has a rich and very long history that you are the heir of. It is what is considered an Ancient and Most Noble house which is only rewarded to those of high wealth and a long history. Back in the time of the founders and beyond, it was initially called Peverell, but changed it due to people looking to hunt down the family for items of myth called the Deathly Hallows which was associated with the family. The MacMillan family also has a rich history and holds the same status as the Potter Family being an Ancient and Most Noble House. I am what is considered a muggle born, or born to two Muggles. Evans is my maiden name. That being said, James always thought that I could have been adopted due to not having any resemblance to my sister or parents, I was never able to ask before they died. That and I have this ability to speak to snakes, which is called Pareseltongue, which your father believes is only something that can be passed down through the family lines. That being said, with the war and then us going into hiding, I haven't had the chance to go to Gringotts and get my blood tested for my ancestry. You may want to do that someday.

I know this is long, but I had a couple of months to think about everything that I wanted you to know. I hope that you have a long and successful life. I want you to push yourself to be the best in all that you do. If that is school, I know you will be smart enough to be at the top of your class, if you want to duel I hope that you push yourself and practice hard to be the best that you can be. If you follow your father and play quidditch, I want you to fly well and show people that you deserve any accolades that you may earn. Finally, I hope that you present yourself well in society, I hope that you never allow anyone to disrespect a person in need. Always treat women with respect and never look to start fight unless you intend on finishing it. Be brave, be cunning, be smart, and be loyal to those who earn it. You can do anything you set your mind to, just be willing to put in the time and work to get there.

This is James now, I just wanted you to know that I love you son and as your mom already said, I hope you push yourself to be the best that you can be in life. I know that I played many pranks in my time at Hogwarts and I fully expect you to get your fair share of pranks in as well, I also want you not to make some of the same mistakes I made. Be humble, be courteous of others, be kind, and be helpful to those who need it. Never bully, and don't allow others to do it if you can prevent it. I unfortunately was a cocky git the majority of my time at Hogwarts and it almost cost me the chance to be with your mother. My friends and I were relentless with our pranks towards a man named Severus Snape and it ended up becoming so bad that we played a prank that almost got him killed. Please never be that way, it is something that I will always regret. That being said, even though I spent a lot of time pranking (most being harmless), I also made sure I did my due diligence and graduated at the top of my class only a couple of places after your mother. We were head boy and head girl our seventh year which allowed me to finally win her over, of course that was after proving that I could be serious about things. I became an Animagus in my fifth year with Sirius and Peter to help with Remus' furry little problem and was quite gifted in transfiguration as a whole. Not to mention your mother became a charms and potions mistress, you have all of our strengths wrapped in one so I know the potential for you to be great is there, all you have to do is push yourself and achieve it.

Now this letter seems to have become more of a book, but in all reality, we could never write down everything that we want to say to you. We just hope you always remember that we love you and that we hope that you are raised with love and happiness in your life because that is what we would have done our best to provide for you. Never fear that you may betray or disappoint us, just know that we will always love you no matter what you do. We will always watch over you from the other side, so always remember that we are with you. We love you Harrison James Potter.

Love,

James Fleamont Potter, Lord of the Ancient and Most Noble House of Potter

Lily Clarise Potter nee Evan's, Lady of the Ancient and Most Noble House of Potter

Closing the letter back up and meeting the eyes of his wife, Charlus took a calming breath and remained silent. His head running over all the information that was contained in the letter. This child was somehow his older brothers grandchild, but from the future and had a Dark Lord out to kill him. Opening his mouth to speak, his wife cut him off, " We should adopt him."

"Dorea are you sure? Maybe we should tell Fleamont and let him take him, it is his grandson after all."

"No, he is already on in years and he has James to look after. He will never be able to do as well as a job at raising another as he would like to. We can raise Harrison here as our own, blood adopt him if you would like to make him our legitimate heir, though I doubt that he would change much if at all with your blood being in him already. As far as James is concerned, we can raise them to where they can become friends with Sirius as well. We can teach him how to wield his future position as head of his house and help him prepare for this supposed Dark Lord. Please Charlus, considering what we learned earlier today, it's almost like it was meant for us to receive this child and to raise him." Dorea pleaded.

"Well, if you really want this, who am I to deny you this? What about his parentage, will we ever let him know?-"

"Of course we will, just when he is old enough understand, maybe by the time he is ready two go to Hogwarts or maybe after. We can cross that bridge when we get there."

"Okay dear, well lets go home."

Looking at the little boy that was sound asleep in her arms, she whispered, "I will never be able to replace your mom, but I will do my best to live up to the standards that she would want for you. I promise I will love you as if you were my own."

Turning to follow her husband she felt a sense of excitement looking forward to actually having the chance to be a mother after all.