Chapter 1

The Boy Who Survived

Sunlight brought life to the small village of Ottery St Catchpole. A charming little place, it had all the rural attractions of a common English Village. Those attractions, though they would not seem so to those who did not live there, consisted of a post-office, a meagre but useful shop, and old toy shop and a little café were the locals gathered for tea and gossip. In the centre of he village was a statue made up of four otters that were happily playing in a pond. To the keen eyed wanderer, they would take note that the otters interacting with each other but also pointed in four different directions.

The west facing otter pointed out of the village, to the main road that would take you far and away from the quiet place. If you headed east, you'd find yourself near a collection of houses, where the people of Ottery St Catchpole lived. The North path was barred by a rusty wooden gate which had a sign on it that read_ "Private. Do not enter." Beyond which was the vast forest of Catchpole that if walked through, would lead to Otters Pond, a wide stretch of water that was once a keen fishing area. Sadly, though, for some strange reason, none of the locals ever felt the need to go there. In fact, some can't even remember it existed.

The south path was of no interest to the locals either. However, if you were to wander down the long winding lane, you noticed the tall grass that didn't move in the wind and towered over even the tallest of people. There were several cut off points, small paths that would lead up to the most fascinating looking gardens for which the locals of Ottery St Catchpole studiously ignored. If they hadn't ignored it and looked beyond the strangeness of these gardens, they would encounter the most extraordinarily shaped houses. It was the final house at the very end of this long, winding path where our story begins.

In comparison to the other houses – for instance, the one shaped like a rook from a chessboard that had floating pumpkins in the garden – this house was quite normal looking. There were two floors, three bedrooms, a kitchen, living room, a dining room, a library on the second floor that was hidden inside a closet and a garage that had the door removed and replaced with a solid brick wall and no windows, which hid the giant cage inside. The front garden was something of a spectacle. It was so neat and tidy with many flower beds that held the most curious collection of plants that no normal person would have ever seen before. The bushes and shrubs were trimmed neatly and had little creatures living in them, who were hiding from the only occupant in the garden. A short, stout, white cloth wearing creature with pale brown skin, big green eyes, floppy ears and a long nose. This was Dobby, The House-elf.

Dobby proudly belong to the Potter family. Abandoned some time ago when his former Master was killed in a terrible, albeit intentional murderous incident, Dobby found his way to Lily Potter via a mutual friend of the family. His main duties were to keep the house clean and safe, tend to the garden – which was something he saw as more of a reward than a chore – take every Friday off, even if he didn't want to and most importantly, protect Lily Potter's son, Harry. A duty that he took very seriously.

It was while tending to the Bowtruckle family that had taken up residence in one of Lily Potter's trees that Dobby heard a voice calling out to him. "Dobby, Help!" Dobby's ears perked up like a dog's ears and in recognising Mistress Potter's voice, he instantly clicked his fingers, disappeared then reappeared inside the Potter's kitchen in less than a second.

"Dobby is here, Mistress Lily!" He announced. He his fists balled up ready for any kind of danger that would present itself upon his arrival. Dobby was always ready for a fight should he be needed to take part in one. Admittedly, his size wouldn't prove useful in any kind of fist fight, but his magical skill was very good since he'd been taking lessons on protection, from Remus Lupin. With a small sigh of relief, Dobby saw no danger other than this morning's breakfast.

"Dobby, I've told you, quite possibly, over a thousand times to stop calling me Mistress!" A little stressed, Lily still made sure to speak to Dobby with kindness. She also made a valid point of making sure it didn't sound like an order. House-elves loved being ordered around. This made for a strange working relationship since the Potters had never once, not ever ordered Dobby around. Lily disliked the idea of having what she called, "A slave," in her house. And so, she treated Dobby as a member of the family who suffered from O.C.D. It was this love and care that made Dobby adore serving the Potters. Doing so without a single complaint.

"Dobby will attempt to stop sometime this century, Mistress." Dobby promised in a cheerful tone that he reserved only for his family members. He noted that Lily was dancing back and forth at an alarming rate. She was preparing the table for several people instead of just the usual two. Dobby didn't like to eat with his family, he felt it was rude and despite Lily asking him to join on several occasion, he still refused. "Will Master Remus be joining us for breakfast?" He enquired, getting to work on helping Lily set the table and cook the food.

"Yes." Lily replied, taking a breather. Dobby wondered why she never used magic to make meals. The lack of it seemed to make it a very stressful task for her. "Neville is as well. Augusta has errands to run this morning. I promised we'd take him with us to Diagon Alley." Lily had a soft spot for Neville Bottom and was very pleased when he and Harry had grown to become best friends. Neville's grandmother was something of a tyrant when it came to Neville. She was a highly formidable woman who, although would be the first to deny it, happily stood guard over the Lily and her son. She was also very hard on Neville and so Lily felt it was her responsibility to spare Neville of Augusta's badgering as often as she could. Lily was so comfortable with Neville's presence in her life that she didn't even flinch when the front door opened, and the round faced boy let himself in. "Wipe your feet, Neville. Harry's upstairs!" Lily called out when the door shut. "Yes, Mrs Potter. Thanks Mrs Potter. My Lupin is here as well, Mrs Potter!" Neville seemed to get louder towards the end of his sentence.

"Mrs Potter. Mistress Potter." Lily muttered, watching as Dobby took complete control of breakfast prep. She looked up expectantly at the kitchen door and waited for Remus to pop his head in. When he came into view, she asked. "Since when did we get so old that the young felt the need to not use our first names?"

Remus, who chuckled and removed his robe to place it on the back of his usual seat, simply shrugged. "I think it happened sometime after we turned…"

"I think you'll find that I'm not nearly as old as the number you're about to say, Remus." She interrupted him, giving a very stern and warning look.

"Sorry…Mrs Potter." He said with a grin. The death glare he received from Lily had him backtracking a bit. "I trust that Harry is upstairs busy preparing for school, for that is the only reason I've ever seen Neville move so fast."

"Yes." She replied. There was some grit in her voice when she spoke. "Severus," she said the name in annoyance, "decided to give him the entire spells, charms and potions list for this year."

"Oh dear." Remus fought to keep from laughing, any amusement in this would have led to more glaring. Still, it amused him. A gift like this could only mean that Harry's room was now in complete disarray.

And sure enough, that was the case when Neville had reached the top of the stairs, found his way to the room that had a sign on it saying, "Harry's Room." He pushed the door open and stepped in without invite. Harry's room was larger than most boys rooms. A handy extension charm allowed for more space, which was definitely a good thing. He slept in a double bed, not a single. Next to the bed was a long desk with many drawers and was covered in pieces of parchment, ink, quills, pictures and many books, instruments and magazines. Next to the desk was a stand with a bird cage sitting empty on top of it. The occupant was out for her morning hunt. There was a large closet for clothes, a door that led into a bathroom, and finally a large green rug in the middle of a wide open space. This space was often used for pacing and thinking. The wall straight across from the space was covered in bits of parchment that held long explanations of different spells and potions. Diagrams had been written directly onto the surface of the wall and forgotten bits of parchment were crumpled on the floor in front it. Neville had become used to this kind of thing and when he looked up to see Harry Potter, with his jet black, messy hair, round glasses, green eyes, fully dressed and ready to go, Neville simply chuckled and said. "Your mum is going to kill you."

"You as well if you don't clean up before breakfast." Harry replied, not looking away from the wall of spells. It had been called the wall of spells sometime in the middle of the night, hence the three giant pieces of parchment that were placed at the very top with the words "THE WALL OF SPELLS" written across them.

Neville caught sight of himself in the full-length mirror next to Harry's closet. There was a twig in his hair, his clothes were covered In dirt, which managed to make it to one of his large front teeth. Neville had a talent for Herbology, something that was often encouraged by Lily and damned by Neville's grandmother.

"She's already seen it." Harry informed Neville, grinning. "I think she knew it was coming." He added, chuckling as he leapt from the bed and hit the floor in a single bound.

"Yeah, but what even is it?" Neville asked, taking a cautious step closer to the wall and trying to make heads of tales of the different scribbles.

"That, my friend, is every spell, incantation, charm, potion, jinx, curse and subject matter for our entire first year of Hogwarts." Harry replied, pouring a sense of wonder into his words. "With a few extras thrown in for the fun of it. All curtesy of Severus Snape."

"He gave you all of this?" Neville asked, disbelieving such a thing could happen. "He's a teacher. He's not supposed to give you answers!"

"Sev? Give me answers?" Harry laughed and rolled his yes. "Please. He gave me the list and nothing else. I did all of this." He said, waving his hand over the wall.

"You've learned all of this?" Neville couldn't stop his mouth from hanging open. He was used to Harry being much more clever than him, but this was taking things to a whole new level, in Neville's mind, anyway.

"If you'd come over yesterday, you would have been able to help me with the Herbology stuff. Mum's already had a go at me for not taking an interest in it." He said, happily pointing at the un-opened Herbology book in the corner where it had been so obviously discarded. "What a Potion Mistress for the Ministry needs Herbology for, is beyond me."

Neville had wandered over to the untouched Herbology book and weighed it in his hands. "It's an interest subject. Besides, the more she knows about Herbology, the safer her…"

"Neville." Harry interrupted, walking over to place his arm round Neville's shoulders. "My friend. My very best friend. As much as I would love to hear your speech about how Herbology is the best thing since Hilly Henry of the Holyhead Harpies had her clothes singed off by flames and she flew naked to catch the golden snitch, and I will accept that you love it, even hope to one day teach it at Hogwarts like you've always dreamed. I will never. Not in this lifetime or the next. Ever see a need for it."

Unimpressed as he usually was with Harry's lack of interest in Herbology, Neville gave his best friend a playful shove and inspected the second of the wall that Harry titled "D.A.D.A" and asked, "What is all this?"

Harry smiled excitedly and said, with gusto. "Defence against the dark arts. Looks like the professor is going to be throwing some vampires at us this year." He chuckled when he saw Neville flinch back from the picture of a vampire. "Severus doesn't like him much. Then again," Harry frowned. "Severus doesn't like any defence against the dark arts teacher unless it's him." He chuckled.

"What's the Flippendo Knock-back jinx?"

"Standard and very lame stunning spell. They teach it to all the first years. Luckily, Peter taught me the Protego Shield charm. Says it will deal with anything basic. He also said that I had to learn any curses, spells and hexes by myself. That's when mum hit him with a spoon." He laughed again.

"I noticed that Remus is coming with us today." Neville said, trying to be conversational. Neville, like Harry, was very fond of Remus. However, his presence usually meant that Lily was worrying about something. She worried often about Harry. Even more so than normal mothers would worry about their children.

"Yeah, I think if she pulled it off she would have Remus, Severus and Peter there." Harry huffed and rolled his eyes. "You know how she gets. I can't for a second what Peter would do if anything bad happened." Harry teased, making Neville laugh. "He's good with protection spells but he even admits that duelling isn't his strong point. He was always a bodyguard during the war."

"Still, though." Neville said, attempting to inject some more life in the conversation. "Only two more days and we'll finally be there." The excitement of their impending departure to Hogwarts always made the atmosphere electric. Granted, there was something else on Harry's mind that he was looking forward to even more.

"And only a couple of more hours until I can get my wand." Harry grinned, there was a possessive glint in his eyes. It wasn't the power he was most looking forward, no. For Harry, it was the started of something special. A seven year long training session in which he would devote his whole life to becoming an Auror. This new obsession he saw as a calling was brought on a few days ago when his mother had taken him for a walk to discuss the nature of Harry's father's death.

It was the day after Harry's 11th birthday. Presents were put neatly away in his room, the food was all eaten, the house clean from the party and it was just – for once in a few times- Lily and Harry. She had woken him early and made a point of having a quick breakfast. they dressed in a form fitting clothes designed for hiking and running and took the to forest. The spells that Lily had cast during the first weeks of coming to Ottery was the reason that no Muggle would enter the forest. Since her arrival it had become home to a group of centaurs who disbanded from the herds that resided in Hogwarts's Forbidden Forest. A few other creatures, including mermaids who lived beneath the pond were not strangers to the Potters. These creatures today, however, gave the mother and son a wide berth. They were aware of what Harry was to be told today.

"You're getting faster!" Lily breathed. She had taken Harry on a run straight through the forest, something that they often did together. They climbed to the top of a hill that looked out over Otter's Pond and both collapsed side by side, red-faced and puffing heavily. "Strong as well. You took that climb really well."

"I'm still trying to figure out what I did wrong this week." Harry breathed. He rattled his brain and couldn't think of anything that might warrant one of these trips. Lily only ever brought Harry to the top of the hill when she wanted to scold him or teach him a life lesson.

"You've done nothing wrong!" She said, exasperated. Harry had put up a good fight before going on the run, swearing blind he hadn't done anything wrong. This week. He'd made a point of behaving and not getting into trouble on the lead up to Hogwarts.

The sarcasm shone through like the sun. "Really sounds like it, doesn't it." He teased.

"Harry." Lily sighed and placed her hand on his. "I wanted to speak to you about your father."

"Dad?" Harry questioned. What Harry knew about James Potter had come only from Remus, Peter and his mother. He knew that Severus and James had not got on well as children and so there was little information there that would be positive from Severus. Remus and Peter had spent 11 years telling Harry stories of James Potter and the many idiotic, dangerous a downright stupid things he had done in his life. One thing he gathered from all those stories and the few his mother told was that his father, James Potter was both brave and loyal. Something that Harry strove to be as well.

"I've kept the reason he died from you for a very long time because I felt that you weren't ready for it." Lily told him, no longer looking at his face. Harry was used to her being serious but never this serious. "I still don't think you're ready, but I can't let you go off to Hogwarts not knowing what really happened. So, I shall let you decide if you are ready."

Was he ready? Harry did wonder this and every part of him desperately wanted to know why he'd lived a life of only surrogate fathers. Remus, Peter and Severus were all amazing in their own way but like Neville, Harry had never known what it was like to have a real father. He'd asked of course. Wondered, even thrown a few tantrums in his time because Lily worked so hard to keep Harry safe and she never told him why. He wanted to know. However, having the information offered made it difficult to accept. He simply looked up at Lily, who was waiting patiently with her eyes on him, and nodded.

It was a truly difficult thing for her to do. Lily had only spoken of what happened that night to one person. Recounting it for Harry was only made a chore because of the weight of such a secret being kept for over a decade. She told him in detail of what happened when Lord Voldemort came to Godric's Hollow on that fateful night. How James Potter fought bravely but was overcome by the far superior opponent. She told him of those last few minutes when she thought that all else had failed and how it was Severus who had come to save them. It surprised Harry to learn that Severus once been part of Voldemort's inner circle, under the orders of Albus Dumbledore. A new respect for Severus developed when Harry learned that it was Severus himself who stopped Voldemort from killing him and Lily.

"But…" Harry struggled for words after the story was over. He had never seen Lily so sad before. Rarely saw her cry and now, wrapped in her arms wished he could make her pain lessen. "But why did he come after us?"

"To this day none of us, not even Dumbledore has been able to solve that mystery. All I know is that we were betrayed by someone your father trusted very much. And that ever since that night, we have all, myself, Remus, Severus and even Peter have worked very hard to give you a quiet, peaceful life."

"You're worried that I'll be in danger when I go to school, aren't you?"

She smiled sadly and nodded. "I know I shouldn't. Albus Dumbledore is the one wizard that Voldemort always feared."

"But, Voldemort is gone, right?"

For that, Lily had no answer to give Harry. He was left wondering two things that day. Why of all the people did Voldemort choose Harry above all others to come for. What was it that made him so special? The second thing was to wonder if Voldemort was still alive. And if Voldemort were alive, how would Harry feel, knowing there was someone out there who wanted him dead?

The fear of this did not penetrate his heart. Finally, Harry had someone to blame for his father's death and no mystery about himself would cloud the fact that there was only one course of action to take. If Lily had spent every day of her life protecting Harry, guiding him and keeping him safe from the wizarding world and the dangers in it. Then Harry swore that he would survive them. He swore in the darkness where no one could hear him that he would spend every moment of his life training as if Voldemort himself were breathing down his neck.