Harry looked at the cottage in front of him. It was small, but cozy. It wasn't nighttime here. It was a fairly nice day outside, chilly but with blue skies and fluffy clouds. It was hard to believe that the wizarding world was in distress when Harry looked at the little cottage.

The door opened and a woman walked out. Harry hid himself behind a tree in the nearby forest. His mother heard the rustle and looked fearfully around to see what had caused it, but saw nothing. Harry watched her play with the baby for a long time. She bounced him on her knee and kissed him on his nose. James Potter came out a while later, and lay down in the grass next to his wife and took Harry in his hands. He held the baby up in the air with one hand and pulled out his wand with the other. His father mumbled something and a little green dusty poof came out and held the baby in mid-air. The baby giggled wildly.

"James! Be careful with Harry!" Lily scolded, but smiled at her infant son.

"I'm being careful!" James insisted. Lily glared at him.

"I swear! I live with two children!" She exclaimed. James laughed and looked at his wife.

"Lily dear, we only have one kid, Harry, remember?" He said. Lily rolled her eyes and looked heavenward.

Harry averted his eyes from his parents and looked into the forest. His parents were exactly as he had imagined them. Caring, but with a sense of humor. They lay there on their lawn, happy to the last day. Harry repeated these words quietly to himself.

"Happy to the last day."

James and Lily were gone when Harry looked back at the cottage. He could see his father's silhouette in the kitchen window, cooking, and his mother's reading the paper. He couldn't see himself, but Harry hardly cared about that. The smell of baking bread came wafting out the half open window. Harry's stomach rumbled. How was he going to have food? His stomach rumbled again.

Harry turned from the house and headed into the woods. He walked around for a while looking for something that looked edible. After a while he found a bush with some type of berry on it. He picked one and examined it carefully. It looked harmless enough. He popped it in his mouth.

It didn't taste all that bad. It was kind of like a mix between a raisin and a strawberry, sweet with a little pang of bitter. He had a few more and decided that was enough. He could conjure some water if he got thirsty later on. He didn't have to worry about making a fire, that could be done without any trouble.

The sun set and the night became colder. The kitchen light was turned off in the cottage and another was turned on at the side of the house. Harry situated himself so he could see anything that might be happening. His mother was putting the baby to sleep now. She set the infant Harry in his crib and rocked it back and forward, singing a lullaby.







"Hush now my baby,
Be still love don't cry.
Close your eyes
As I rock you to sleep.
Sleep and remember
This sweet lullaby
And I'll be with you
While you dream.
And I'll be with you
While you dream."





Harry blinked furiously to get the tingling feeling beneath his eyes to go away. A single tear dripped down his cheek. He walked back into the forest and found a place to curl up for the night. He had horrible dreams that night.




He was walking through the cottage and came in on the scene that Harry had had nightmares about before. His father's dead, limp body sprawled out on the floor, his wand in his hand. Voldemort was smiling wickedly in the corner of the baby's room, as Harry's mother was trying to keep composure and protect Harry all at the same time.

"No! Not Harry! Please, spare him! Please!" She cried, blocking the crib with only herself. Her wand lay on the floor on the other side of the room.

"Stand aside you stupid girl," Voldemort said forcefully.

"Not Harry! Please! Not Harry! He's only a child!"

"Stand aside!"

"No!" Lily Potter screamed in between raspy sobs. "No! I won't let you harm him!"

"Stand aside, you stupid girl! Save yourself! Stand aside!" Voldemort yelled.

"Take me instead!" She cried and straitened herself up and spread her arms strait out to the sides.

"Fine! Have it your way." Voldemort said, wearing a bemused smile. "Avada Kedavra!" He pointed his wand at his mother and there was a green flash. The body of Lily was thrown right through the window of baby Harry's room. The infant started to cry loudly. Nobody came to comfort him. He cried louder. Voldemort laughed and rounded on the baby boy.

"This job is as good as done." He mumbled to the little infant. "Sweet dreams, Potter. Avada Kedavra!" He said almost lazily. A flash of green light, and Voldemort's screams of pain echoed through the silent neighborhood of Godric's Hollow. Everything was silent now, except for the baby's loud crying. The house caught fire and the baby started crying even louder.

Harry was now standing outside the burning house. Even out here Harry could here himself crying from inside. A low rumbling sound was coming from the sky. Harry looked up and saw a large flying motorcycle coming down from the sky. It landed and Sirius Black jumped off of it and ran towards the burning house.

"NO!" He yelled when he saw Lily's dead body sprawled out on the grass. He collapsed onto the ground and dissolved into tears. "Why? Why? Why?" He said and hit the ground with a fist. The baby started howling now. He was being neglected and it was really hot in his room. Sirius lifted his tearstained face off the ground and listened to the baby's racking sobs. He jumped through the broken window and returned holding Harry in his arms. The baby stopped crying. Sirius put Harry down on the ground and jumped through the window again, this time heaving out the dead and partially burned body of James Potter. He let the remains of Voldemort burn down with the rest of the house. The massive form of Hagrid had appeared out of nowhere it seemed and was now holding Harry.

"Hagrid! Where are you going with him?" Sirius asked, running after him.

"Dumbledore." Was all Hagrid said.

"Hagrid, can't I have Harry? He's my godson, I should get him, shouldn't I?" Sirius pleaded. Harry had a large cut in the middle of his forehead that Sirius hadnt noticed before. It was shaped like a lightning bolt.

"I'm sorry Sirius, but I have orders from Dumbledore." Hagrid said and swelled up with pride, but he to had tears leaking out of his beetle black eyes. He started to walk into the forest.

"Hagrid! Take my motorcycle. I won't be needing it anymore." Sirius said. Hagrid spun around.

"Thank you. I'll return it to you, no need ter worry." Hagrid said and forced a smile.

"Good luck Hagrid." Sirius said as Hagrid revved up the engine of the bike. It rose (with some difficulty) into the sky and disappeared into the night. Sirius cast one last sad look at the bodies of James and Lily Potter drew his wand out and then he to disappeared.



Harry rolled over in his sleep. He had another strange dream, although this might have been caused by sleeping on the ground and having and up rooted root sticking in his side.



He dreamed he was in a large room, filled with people crying. Hermione stood at the front of the room at a podium and Cho and Ron were crying in the first row of benches. The dream Harry walked over to them and tried to comfort them, but they didn't seem to here him or even see him. Harry noticed that directly behind Hermione was a large wooden chest. A coffin. Harry suddenly wondered who had died that had meant that much to all of these people.

Harry woke up in a cold sweat and he didn't know why. He looked around for what had disturbed him besides the root but couldn't find anything. He saw in the moonlight a large spider walking towards his parents' house. Harry, without hesitation, stepped on it. He shuddered, hoping that the spider hadnt crawled on him.

Dawn was starting to creep over the housetops of Godric's Hollow now, making it look like a picture in a storybook. It was rather cold outside, but Harry didn't mind too much. People were moving around in his house. He could see his dad's thin outline in the kitchen window, stretching and yawning and he saw his mother go to wake the baby up. She came back, holding the sleeping bundle against her shoulder.

"He woke up crying last night James." Lily told her husband. "It was your turn to check on him, but I ended up doing it." James looked up at her.

"Oh, I'm sorry hon. I didn't mean to. I was just really, really tired." James said and yawned. Lily put her free hand on her hip. "I love you!" James added hastily and Lily cracked up.

"I love you to," She said and put the baby down in the high chair. Harry sighed and decided to take a walk in the woods. It was still freezing outside so he figured some jogging might warm him up. He was just about to start running into the forest when there was a loud pop from behind him. Harry spun around to see what had happened, startled.

A very short girl with black hair was walking up the path to his parents' house. Harry's stomach sank. It was Cho. She rapped on the door a couple of times. Harry quickly hid himself behind a tree as the door opened slowly.

"Can we help you dear?" Harry's mother asked. She had her little boy resting on her shoulder, and he was trying to get away from her to see who the visitor was.

Cho took a deep breath before she answered. "Yes, I hope you can. Have you seen a teenage boy about yae high"- she pointed about five inches above her head- "with black hair, green eyes and glasses? He's my brother and we can find him." Cho was an amazing actress. Harry's mom thought for a moment.

"No, I'm sorry," She said. Cho burst out crying. "What's wrong?"

"We- we just miss him at home." She sobbed. Lily put a free hand on Cho's shoulder. "What's his name so if we see him, we can give a message?"

"H-Harry, and my name is Cho." Cho said. Mrs. Potter nodded to show she understood. "Thank you." Cho walked away when she closed the door again and headed into the forest. She walked past Harry without noticing.

"Funny seeing you here." Harry said flatly. Cho jumped and whipped around to face him.

"Harry!" She said breathlessly. She ran over to him and gave him a hug that Harry did not return. "Oh thank god you're safe."

"Why did you come here Cho?" Harry asked. Cho released him from her strong hug.

"To take you home." She said timidly, as if Harry was going to slap her. Harry did not slap her; he only gave her the look of death.

"No. I'm not going home. I came here for a reason, and I'm not leaving until I've done what I came here to do." Harry said coldly. Cho looked desperate.

"Harry, you have to come home! You can't face You-know-who alone! He's way too strong, I mean you can pull it off in the present maybe, but he has full power now! You wouldn't stand a chance." Cho said. They were walking now.

"Cho, I'm not going to die. Voldemort even said so. You just go home now and I'll see you in a week or something." Harry snapped.

"Harry, you believe him? You think You-know-who would actually pass up a perfect chance to kill you, like this? You think he actually was going to give you a week to figure out how to kill him? Why would he give you the chance to kill him, when only just got his body back?" Cho said. Harry stopped walking abruptly.


"That's the problem with everybody at home. Everybody so concerned about my decisions and me. It's my life! Let me spend it how I want to!" Harry cried and threw his hands up in the air. Cho stopped walking to.

"Is it wrong that we don't want you to die?" Cho asked.

"No, that's all fine and peachy, but I'm not going to die now. I'm not going to die for a long time, so I wish everybody would mind their own business." Harry scoffed. Cho looked at Harry, shocked.

"Harry! You don't get it do you? Your parents are going to die tonight! He-who-must-not-be-named tricked you again!" Cho cried. Harry looked away from her.

"How do you know all of this?" He asked.

"Dumbledore told me a bunch of stuff before I left Hogwarts, Harry." Cho said. "Including you being Merlin's heir." Harry sighed.

"It figures, but I'm not leaving. There is nothing you can do to stop me." Harry said.

"I could curse you." Cho pointed out. Harry raised his eyebrows at her.

"And I can block it." Harry said.

"Not if I take your wand!" Cho snapped and made a grab for Harry's pocket. Harry stepped nimbly out of her reach.

"I could also set your hair on fire, but I don't think it'll get that far." Harry said.

"I should hope not!" Cho exclaimed. "Harry, as your girlfriend, you really should listen to me. Let's get away from here while we still have time." Harry rolled his eyes.

"Cho, as my girlfriend, you should listen to me. Get out of here. I can handle this on my own." Harry said.

"How will you get back without the picture of temptation?" Cho asked and put a hand on her hip.

"Because you'll leave it here with me. I'll come back when I'm done here. Go." Harry said forcefully. Cho shook her head.

"No can do, Harry. You see I promised Ron, Hermione and Dumbledore that I would bring you back. I can't leave unless you come with. What do you say?" Cho said.

"No." Harry said flatly and began to walk away. Cho followed him reluctantly.

"Where are we going?" She asked after an hour of silence.

"I am going on a walk. You are following me." Harry snapped. Cho grumbled something under her breath. "Something you'd like to tell me?"

"I just said that you were being stupid." Cho said bitterly. Harry glared at her.

"Don't say things when you don't know what you're talking about Cho. It's a bad habit and will get you nowhere in life." Was all Harry said. Cho looked offended and they talked no more. They reached a little stream in the heart of the forest and sat down. Harry and Cho ate in silence, listening to the rushing water. It was quite peaceful actually.

A little while later Harry stood up and walked at a quicker place back towards his parents' house. Cho was jogging to keep up with him. She was concerned. Harry never had ever acted like this to her before. It was unnerving.

"Harry, you don't really want to stay for this, do you?" Cho asked once the house was in view again.

"I'm not here to watch, Cho." Harry said.

"Harry, what will happen if you don't succeed in killing Voldemort?" Cho asked.

"I'll most likely die." Harry said. Cho grabbed Harry's hand and squeezed it.

"Harry. Let's go." She said gently. Harry looked away from her.

"I-I cant." Harry said.

"Why not?" Cho said.

"They're- they're right-there." Harry choked out. Cho let go of his hand and hugged him instead. Harry hugged her back.

"Harry, what happened- happened. You shouldn't mess with time like that." Cho said and stroked his crazy hair. "You would lose. You would die."

"But- but couldn't I just- just warn them or something?" Harry whimpered. Cho hugged him tighter and shook her head against his chest.


"No, Harry. No you can't. That would be messing with time. You can't do it." She said. Harry broke the hug and slumped down against the tree.

"But Cho- they're going to - they're going to die!" Harry sobbed his head in his hands. Cho looked away from him, to give Harry a sense of dignity. Cho felt sorry for him. He looked so small and sad crying on the ground for his soon to be dead parents. Cho couldn't help treating him like a very fragile glass doll, if he dropped he would shatter. It was sad, but true. Cho dropped to her knees next him and put her hand on his.

"Harry let's go home." She said. Harry shook his head.

"Not yet. Give me ten more minutes." Harry said. He looked up, but he wasn't looking at Cho, he was looking past her at his parents who were outside again, playing with the baby. Cho's eyes filled with tears, but she blinked them away. She had to be strong. Harry was going to want to stay here forever, but that couldn't happen. Cho formed a plan in her mind.

She leaned forward and hugged Harry with one arm. With her free hand she grabbed the picture of temptation. She touched it with her thumb and they disappeared from Godric's hollow. James and Lily didn't even notice. Neither did Harry.

After a rush of colors, Harry and Cho were suddenly in the third floor corridor on the left. Harry broke their tight hug and looked around him.

"We're back. You tricked me." Harry said and wiped the tears from his eyes. He was shaking, not with anger, but with grief. His cheeks were tearstained and his eyes were red and puffy from crying. He stood up straitened himself up and walked down the hall, the click of his boots echoing behind him.



~ ~ ~



Harry walked into the common room. Hermione jerked awake as the portrait hole closed. She looked up and saw Harry making his way across the room. He looked terrible. He looked like he'd been- crying. Hermione stood up.

"Harry?" She asked hesitantly. Harry jumped and looked over at her. He had been crying. His cheeks were tearstained. Her heart melted for him. He looked away from her and headed into the boy's shower room. Hermione shook Ron awake.

"Whassamatter?" Ron asked and yawned.

"Harry's back." Hermione said. Ron was awake now.

"Really? Where is he?" Ron asked.

"He just headed into the showers. It's a good thing, he looked terrible." Hermione said.

"What happened? Was he bleeding? Limping? Missing a limb?" Ron asked urgently.

"Nothing that extreme. Looked like he was crying." Hermione said sadly. Ron looked shocked.

"Harry, our friend, Harry Potter- crying? I don't think so. Guys don't cry." Ron said.

"I wouldn't be so sure." Hermione said. Harry walked out of the showers, looking much cleaner, but miserable. He jogged up the stairs.

"I think I'll go to bed now." Ron said casually, but Hermione sensed what was going on.


"Don you even dare ask him what happened! I don't think we have to ask him to figure it out." Hermione said forcefully.

"Okay, okay!" Ron said. "Goodnight Hermione."

"Goodnight Ron." Hermione said and she too went up to her dorm. The first thing Ron noticed was Harry's silhouette hunched over his photo album. Harry reached up and wiped his eyes. Ron recoiled. Guys didn't cry. This wasn't right. And it was Harry who was crying! Harry was really brave, why would he be crying? Had he lost his touch? Ron fell asleep with un-askable questions in his mind.

Harry carefully closed the album again and set it down in his trunk. Silent tears dripped down his cheek as Harry fell asleep.



"Harry! Wake up! We have to go to school!" Somebody said and shook him. Harry opened one eye.

"I don't want to go to school." Harry said.

"Neither do we, but we aren't complaining!" Ron said.

"That's the difference between you and me. I am complaining." Harry said and rolled over. "Tell them I'm sick. I'm not going."

"Yes-you-are!" Hermione said. She was attempting to pull Harry out of his bed and was failing miserably. Harry was way too strong for her.

"No, Miss Granger, he's not." A voice said from behind them. Hermione let go of Harry's arms and he rocketed back into his pillow. Dumbledore stood at the doorway of the dorm. He smiled at them all. "Harry deserves a day off, you understand don't you?" Hermione and Ron blushed and then nodded. "Enjoy your day off Harry." Dumbledore left the room in the swish of a cloak.

"Yeah Harry. Have a nice day." Hermione said.

"See you at lunch or something." Ron added. They walked out of the room. Harry rolled over and fell asleep.



"Ron, what's wrong with Harry? Did he say anything to you last night?" Hermione asked.

"Nope. I have no idea what's wrong with him. I did see him looking at that photo album though." Ron said.

"Poor guy." Hermione said. Ron rolled his eyes; still unable to believe that Harry, of all people would cry.

"I bet he's just putting us on." Ron said. Hermione scoffed.

"You know what Ron? You need to accept that guys can cry. I bet you would cry to, if you had gone through what Harry has." She snapped. Ron looked mildly offended. Hermione secretly thought this made him cuter. She smiled at Ron. "But let's talk about something else."







It seemed as if Harry would never carry on a conversation again. Try as Hermione and Ron may, Harry would only answer their questions in short sentences and a shake or nod of the head. He must have talked a lot to the team though; they had plowed Ravenclaw and Slytherin in Quidditch.

The match against Ravenclaw had to be one of the strangest Hermione and Ron had ever seen. The two seekers showed off their best moves to each other the entire time. It had ended when Harry was trying to show off the speed on his Firebolt. He took his hands off the broom for more show and all of the sudden the Golden Snitch was in his hands. Cho wouldn't talk to Harry for a week after.


It was one night a week later, that Harry had a very disturbing dream. He was once again in a room filled with death eaters. Voldemort was in the middle of the circle, talking to Snape.

"Severus. How is Potter? Damaged? Sad?" He asked Snape urgently. Snape was smiling oddly.

"Oh, my lord, even better, manic-depressive! He wont even barely speak to his friends!" Snape said. Voldemort grinned.

"My plan has been more than successful, my friends." Voldemort now addressed the Death Eaters. They grinned wickedly and chuckled. "The day will soon be here. I will kill Harry Potter, and this time I will not fail. He won't know what hit him." And then Harry woke up in a cold sweat his scar searing with pain, his eyes clouding up. He had never heard Voldemort sound that menacing. It scared him.





Hermione grabbed Harry's arm as he tried to sneak past them in the common room a couple of weeks after the dream and yanked him into a seat.

"How was advanced D.A.D.A. today Harry?" Hermione asked kindly.

"Uh- fine." Harry answered. He couldn't help feeling like he was being interviewed whenever he was around Cho, Hermione and Ron. "I think I'm going to find Cho. We need to have some words."

"Why?"

"I think I'm going to brake up with her." Harry said thoughtfully. Hermione looked shocked. It was the most he'd said to them all week.

"Why? You were such a cute couple!" Hermione said. Harry scoffed.

"My point exactly. She isn't trustworthy, and she wont listen to anything sensible I say." Harry said. "I just can't stand it anymore. See you." He walked out of the common room.

"That was almost a conversation," Ron said, his eyes wide.

"No kidding." Hermione agreed. "Why is he breaking up with Cho? They were a really good couple. You saw the way they looked at each other at the beginning of this year. It was cute."

"Yeah. What you said." Ron was not looking at Hermione; he was instead looking out the window, where Harry and Cho were walking. "Whoa- Hermione look at this." Hermione made her way over to Ron and looked out the window. It was like watching a muted soap opera. Cho and Harry sat down on the grass. Harry started talking and was moving his hands as he spoke to further describe his points. They stood up and hugged. When they broke the hug, Cho ran away crying. Harry looked up at the sky and shrugged. He started walking over to the lake. Hermione and Ron exchanged glances.

"We'd better go see what he's up to." Hermione said, "We can't have him drowning himself in the lake." Ron nodded and they pulled on their cloaks and walked out side. Harry sat at the edge of the lake looking at the reflection of the moon on the lake. The sky was clouding up and was promising a good rain. Hermione pulled her cloak tighter around herself as they neared the lake. Harry looked up at them as they sat down next to him.

"You must be freezing." Hermione said, looking at him in only his robes.

"I hope it rains." Harry said in a far away voice.

"You are crazy. It's below freezing out here! Let's go it before we get hypothermia." Hermione and Ron stood up and offered Harry a hand to help him up.

"Yeah- it is really late," Ron added. Harry nodded and stood up.

"I'm tired." He stretched his arms above his head and started walking towards the castle. Rain started patting softly down on them. Harry half grinned. They walked under the shelter of the outer trees in the Forbidden Forest so to protect their heads from the falling rain.

A small pop came from somewhere behind them. Nobody took any care of this noise; it was probably just the snap of a broken branch one of them had trod on. Oh, how wrong they were.

Harry fell to his knees. His scar burst out in a pain he had never felt before. A high, cold laugh echoed strangely into the inky blue night.