Premise: We are told that when James went to face Voldemort on the night he died he had left his wand behind. But what if he had taken it instead?

Chapter 1: Survivor

Something felt wrong. Very wrong. None of the magical enchantments that surrounded the house in Godric's Hollow had been triggered, yet James Potter could not shake away the nasty chill that ran down his spine. Slowly he moved to the window of his baby boy's room and peaked beyond the curtain, letting out a terrified gasp as he backed away, "Lily," he said in a quiet, but stern voice, "it's him."

"It can't be," Lily said as she stood up and pulled the young Harry tight to her chest. A wave of fear ran through her like cold wind. She and James had defied the legions of the Dark Lord so many times, but for Voldemort himself to appear on their doorstep was something else entirely, "Peter wouldn't…"

"No one is saying anything about…" he cut her off from completing her thoughts of betrayal, though he stopped himself at the sound of the front door swinging open a floor below. With no time to waste, James turned to Lily and put his hands on her shoulders, "Lily, remove the enchantments and disapparate with Harry. Find some place safe."

"But he'll kill you," she protested as a tears started rolling down her cheeks, knowing of the sacrifice he intended to make.

James cupped his wife's face in his hands and wiped away her tears with his thumbs, "Maybe, but we can't risk Harry's life," he knew the risks involved with him intercepting the greatest known Dark Wizard of all time, and it pained him to think that this may be the last time that he was ever going to see his son and his beautiful wife. But the possibility of his loved ones because of his inaction was far a more terrifying prospect. He kissed her on the lips, unsure if the wetness was from his wife's tears or his own before reluctantly letting go. "Lily, take Harry and go!" he stepped back, "Go! Run! I'll hold him off!" He shouted, making Lily back away slightly from the shock at his aggressiveness.

With no time to waste, James picked up his wand from where he had left it and charged out of the bedroom when he saw the Dark Lord himself standing at the bottom of the stairs, his features obscured by a rain-soaked black cloak. Smart enough to know not to let Voldemort get into his head by use of cunning words, James threw a volley of powerful stunning spells at the wizard.

But the dark wizard shielded himself from each and every one with a laugh, "James, James, James," the man said in a soft, cold voice, "I thought you of all people would know better," Voldemort then raised his wand and fired a killing curse at James.

Knowing it could not be blocked with any sort of shield spell, James wordlessly conjured a silver shield and put it between him and the flash of green light. While it had protected him from the effects of the curse, the force behind the spell was enough to shatter the shield and blast James against the wall, temporarily incapacitating him.

With an unseen grin on his face, the Dark Lord slowly walked up the stairs and steadied his wand towards James, intent on performing the killing blow, when he heard a woman's voice casting spells to disenchant the house. "No," he said with a hint of worry behind his words and he started running up the stairs. Getting a hold of the Potters in their own home took an incredible amount of work, and if the boy managed to make it to safety he knew his chances of locating him again were slim.

He burst through the door and, with no time to waste, cast another killing curse at the first thing he saw. Without a sound the young Lily Potter crumpled to the floor and her wand fell out of her hand and rolled away. The Dark Lord looked frantically around the room for the boy, afraid that his mother had already found a means by which to help him escape, when he heard a low hiccup from the crib. Growing impatient and afraid that members of the Resistance would soon show up, he grabbed the blanket from the crib and pulled it away, revealing a baby hidden beneath with a terrified expression on his face, "Oh dear Harry," the Dark Lord said in a gleefully sadistic tone, "to think that the prophecy says that you, a mere infant, could somehow be the chosen one," he smiled and held his wand to the boy's head, "But it looks like there is no one here to protect you," he took a short moment to relish in the moment before taking a deep breath to utter the words that would, in his mind, finally make him unstoppable, "Avada Kedavra!"

Having managed to pull himself together, James pushed himself off the ground and limped to Harry's bedroom in time to see the flash of green light that would take his son's life. Seeing his wife and son dead at the hands of this monster brought out something terrible in James. Blinded by fury, he raised his wand and aimed it at the cloaked figure, "Avada Kedavra!"

Believing that he had just killed the only person who could ever hope to defeat him, Voldemort had looked upon James as if the man's curse would somehow backfire. But when the spell hit him, Voldemort screamed in agony as something entirely unexpected happened. Because of his horcruxes, which were still a secret even to his most loyal of followers, the killing curse did not perform as it normally did. Instead, Voldemort and James watched as the Dark Lord's body started disintegrating.

James could not explain what it was he saw that night. It was unlike anything he had ever seen, and as Voldemort's body turned to nothingness, he swore that he saw something, something not quite human escape. But the image was quickly shoved out of mind as he crawled to the lifeless body of his wife. Feeling pain unlike anything he'd ever experienced before, James reared back his head and let loose a terrible scream of agony that would have dropped even a Banshee to its knees.

He was found several hours later, alive but in critical condition, in the crumbled remains of his house, holding the dead Harry Potter in arms.