If I owned Harry Potter Hermione and Harry would be together and Neville would get more love. I obviously own nothing.

Prologue: The Duality of Love Ritual

October 31st, 1981

Fog slithered along the ground, slipping and sliding between wet blades of grass. A silence smothered the sleepy village of Godric's Hollow, occupants making their way from the dinner table to their beds as the sun drifted out of sight and the moon came to take its place. Everything was peaceful as the villagers said goodnight and all was well - except for in a tiny cottage just on the edge of the village.

It was dim inside the cottage, all electrical lighting turned off leaving only a circle of candles to light up the nursery. Lily Potter sat in the floor as she fingered her way through an ancient tome, rereading the highlighted parts and checking her runes.

"Lily, are you sure about this?" James Potter asked, crouching behind his wife to look over her shoulder at the book. Lily pushed back a lock of red hair and nodded.

"Yes. This ritual might save Harry's life! I'm willing to try it."

"But, Lils... This ritual doesn't seem... right. I mean, a kiss of nonchalance and importance? A hug of relief and worry? A glance that says everything and nothing? What is any of this suppose to do?"

"Love is the greatest magic of all. Dumbledore said so."

"Yes, but Dumbledore is a few sandwiches sort of a picnic, if you know what I'm saying."

"James, if there is even a one percent chance of saving our son, I'm going to take it! I thought you felt the same way!"

"I do, Lily-pad, I do. It's just that... sometimes it feels like we're running out of time. And if our days are numbered, I don't want to waste precious hours preparing and executing rituals that are a bunch of bollocks."

"I get it, James. I can feel the clock running, too. That's why I do these seemingly pointless rituals. Because we're running out of time to save him. He-Who-Should-Not-Be-Named will find us and I won't be able to live with myself knowing I hadn't done everything in my power if the time comes and He wins. Even if the rituals is something as stupid as twirling around yelling 'Abracadabra! Hocus-pocus!' I'll do it! I'm desperate, James." Lily didn't notice her husband flinch at the made up word that sounded so much like the killing curse. Her green eyes were filled with tears so everything was blurry. James sighed and looked towards the crib pushed against the wall where there son, Harry James Potter, was quietly babbling to himself.

"Okay. Lets do this."

Lily stood up with the tome tucked snugly under her arm and James straightened before quickly kissing his wife on the temple. Then he crossed the room to the white crib and picked up his son before walking back to Lily and taking her hand. Together, the family entered the circle of candles and runes.

"We just have to follow the instructions, as silly as they may be and we should all be protected from anything that wants to harm us," Lily said. She looked into James' hazel eyes and asked, "Are you ready?"

"Yeah, let's do this." Lily gave a nervous smile which turned into a weak laugh as Harry, still in his father's arms, reached over to play with a lock of her hair. She softly worked her hair out of his grasp. She couldn't be distracted. Clearing her throat, Lily began the Duality of Love ritual.

"Heart to heart and souls entwined, united may our magic combine." A slight breeze swirled around the room though there were no windows opened and Lily gave a shuddering breath.

"A kiss of nonchalance and importance to give everything we mean to each other reinforcement."

Lily molded her lips to James' with hesitance. Despite their rocky history she loved this man with all her heart. The only thing she loved more was the baby squished between them. James was her rock and Harry was the reason she fought to survive. She poured everything she felt into the kiss but did not deepen it. The ritual called for nonchalance. It was just another kiss between husband and wife. Reluctantly, Lily pulled herself away from James and together the young adults kissed their child on his cheeks, causing the baby to giggle and squeal. He was so innocent, so ignorant about what was going on.

"A hug of relief and worry to acknowledge that when our arms are together we hold no fury."

Lily embraced the two important males in her life. Yeah, she was relieved that they were still alive but everyday she worried about the day where that fact may change.

"And a glance that says everything and nothing, connecting the windows to our souls and confirm all we are becoming."

Lily looked into James' eyes once more, blinking pass the tears that were welling up again. There was no way she could say nothing in that shared glance but there was too much to say to be able to say everything. Then her eyes drifted to Harry, her sweet baby boy. She took in his shock of black hair and his wide green eyes. Even at the age of one he looked so much like his father but those eyes - those eyes were hers.

"With an act of protection may we all be safe. Equals, united, protected. With one sacrifice we will all survive." Then Lily took a deep breath and launched into the chant she had practiced many time beforehand. It was not in English but in some old language long forgotten. Each word was made of sharp lines, like runes, and it had taken Lily a month to get each pronunciation right but now the ancient words flew out of her mouth without a mistake. The wind came back, more powerful and distressing to Harry who began to whimper. The candles went out one by one and by the time Lily was done, Potter Cottage was completely dark.

The Potters stood in silence as the wind dissipated, waiting for a sign that the ritual had work. Just as Lily was about to give up hope a burst of pain exploded in her chest, right over her heart. She gasped and put her hands on the throbbing spot as James let out a grunt and bent over, clutching Harry tighter. Quickly, Lily pulled down the neckline of her shirt and gasped again, this time from shock. Right over her heart a black mark was printed on her skin like a tattoo. James had undone the top buttons on his shirt with one hand and Lily could see that the same mark was on his chest too. It was the shape of a heart.

"James, it worked!" Lily yelled, relief washing over her like a tsunami. But James wasn't smiling.

"Uh, Lils?" Lily looked to where James stood. He had unbuttoned Harry's onesie to reveal is chest. His tiny, unblemished chest. "Harry doesn't have a mark."

All at once the relief washed away, quickly being replaced with a heavy boulder of panic and disbelief that settled in her stomach.

"What? No," Lily whispered. "I-I know we did the ritual right. We had to have done it!"

"Lily, come down."

"Calm down? James, this ritual was to protect Harry, not us! Why wouldn't he be marked!?"

"Listen, we have no idea what these hearts mean. We don't know a lot about this ritual. How about we go downstairs, have some dinner, and then contact Dumbledore about this, okay?" As he spoke James pulled his wife into a hug. Instead of hugging him backs, she took Harry from his arms and held him tight while leaning her head on James' chest. Then James stepped back and took Lily by the shoulders. He guided her out of the nursery and to the kitchen, flicking on lights as he went.

"Do you feel like cooking?" James asked. "I could go out to fetch us something." James and Lily both knew that James wasn't offering to cook because he was terrible at it. The last thing they needed was for him to burn down their sanctuary.

"James, it's dangerous out there."

"I'll use a glamour, okay? No one will know it's me." Lily took a deep breath. After the failed ritual she didn't feel comfortable having James put himself in unnecessary danger but she was worn out and couldn't let her family go hungry. They had been missing too many dinners due to excessive worrying.

"Go. But please be careful." James kissed her head and headed towards the front door. He'd put on the glamour when he got to the restaurant after apparating there.

Lily put Harry in his high chair and reached for her wand, too tired to fix him a bottle or get the baby food the muggle way. However her pocket was empty. She remembered James and her discarding their wands on Harry's changing table while preparing for the ritual. They must've left them there.

Lily began to head towards the front door. She needed to stop James before he left without his wand. But before she could leave the kitchen she was frozen as James' panicked voice called to her.

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

Lily froze as she made sense of his words and her world came crashing down but it was only a second before her training kicked in. She twirled around and yanked Harry out of the chair, thanking Merlin that she hadn't strapped him in. Then she turned towards the stairs and headed back to the nursery where her wand and a fireplace was.

~ • ~

And so our story begins. In her nervous state Lily Potter made a mistake. While she preformed the Duality of Love ritual correctly, she did not use the right version of it. So when James sacrificed himself for Lily and Harry the uncompleted ritual did not work enough to save Lily from Voldemort's curse. However, when Lily sacrificed herself for her son and preformed an act of protection, she was physically close enough to Harry for the ritual to save him but not her.

The Duality of Love ritual would not be completed for another 16 years.

This story is also available on Archive of our Own under Princess_of_the_Pen and on Wattpad under Princess-of-the-Pen