Read Author's Note at the end.

Chapter 1

(Third Person perspective)

It was a cold Halloween night in 1981. The small cottage of Godric Hollow was bustling with activity as Lily and James Potter had just returned from their first night out since they had gone into hiding. It had been a wondrous evening, but they had been nervous to leave their only one year old son with his godfather and honorary uncle for the evening. It was dangerous times in Magical Britain, but just because the family was on the run from a nearly unstoppable mad man did not mean they could just stop living. Their opportunities to get out of the house were far and few in between, so they had to take every opportunity that was presented to them.

Sirius smiled at his godson happily when he handed the sleeping child over to his mother, "He was a good little pup tonight. Hardly fussed at all after we gave him a few minutes to get used to you two being gone. Are you sure you don't want to go out again next weekend? Moony and I would be happy to watch over him?"

Lily offered the man a grateful smile, but shook her head as she cradled her baby close to her chest, "No thank you Padfoot. James and I had a marvelous time being out in public again, but truth be told all we could think about was Harry, and the possibility of something going wrong. We really appreciate you two though."

James chimed in quietly over her shoulder in clear hopes of not waking his sleeping son, "Seriously mates I owe you both a drink when this is over."

Sirius looked pained at his words. They all knew this war was a long way from being over. In fact it was more likely if it continued at this rate defeat was nearly certain. The Ministry was days away from falling at this point, and not even Dumbledore seemed keen to confront the Dark Lord with a hope of winning, "Have you thought more on what we discussed before Harry's birthday? I still think fleeing the country is our best bet. Please Prongs at least consider it. It would be the safest thing for Harry I think."

Lily looked pained at the reminder of the conversation, and James looked like he had swallowed something particularly bitter. He sighed before he responded, "We really have put some thought into Padfoot, but its hard. Leaving our home behind, and we may not get along well with Lily's sister, but we still wouldn't want the Death Eaters to use them to get us back here. At least while we are close we can provide some sort of protection to her family. They have a little boy, you know."

Padfoot exhaled before saying, "Then let's move them too Prongs. We put the Black and Potter resources together and our whole family could just disappear. We can wait this out and see if Voldemort is going to win or not. If he does we cast a new Fidelius charm and buy an island in the middle of the Ocean to live out our lives. Give us time to raise Harry, and give him the abilities to protect himself."

Lily and James exchanged looks at this, and she gave him a nod, "Maybe he's right James. Is any of it worth our lives? My sister may be hard to convince, but maybe we should try."

"I trust Wormtail. I think we are just as safe here as we are anywhere. We all made promises to Dumbledore too, and our other friends. What about Frank and Alice? The Order? Can we really leave it all behind?" The man ran a hand through his hair trying to keep his voice down for Harry, "But I do see all of your points, Pad. Give us some more time to think about it. Will we see you both in a few weeks? That way we can celebrate your birthday properly, yeah?" James asked with a hope of something more cheerful to end their night.

Sirius sighed, and brought the man he saw as his brother into a hug, "Of course mate. We will see you soon."

The man hugged Lily after that while James and Remus embraced each other. When all the farewells were done the other two Marauders returned to their own safe havens where they would spend the remainder of Halloween reminiscing on better days. Perhaps had they known what would happen just a few hours later they would've stayed, and attempted to put up some sort of fight together, but that would've only led to more bloodshed.

A few minutes before midnight a middle aged man with great power strolled through the gates of Godric Hollow. He looked upon the home of what had always held such pure blood and great power for centuries with much respect. He did not wish to wipe out the Potter line, but he knew he had no choice, they could not be convinced to leave the conniving leader of the lights side, and they held such idiotic loyalty to a man that would sacrifice them like pawns.

Tom Riddle sighed as he plunged into the great abyss of ancient power. The wards bowed to his presence without even a struggle. They recognized him as a secret holder of the properties Fidelius Charm, which meant he could walk in completely unopposed. With a flick of his wand the front door shot open to reveal a startled young man in his early twenties, fresh out of Hogwarts if the Dark Lord wasn't mistaken, such a pity it was to make such pure blood flow.

"Listen to me James Potter, put your wand down, you know you stand no chance against my power. I will not ask much of you, just that you put your faith in me. I will not ask you to even fight for me, just to lay down your wand and stay out of this war, it is not between you and I, but between myself and an old fool. All I need in return is to place blood magic on your son, it will do no harm to him. I will make a wizard's oath on it. You know the prophecy and we can prevent it, there is no need for such bloodshed."

Riddle knew the Death Eaters would not appreciate letting one of their longtime rivals and auror James Potter walk away, but the Potters were connected to a house almost as old as his own, the house of Peverell. Voldemort respected pure bloods very much, and he did not want to end such an ancient and noble line.

James Potter refused to lower his wand however, "Albus Dumbledore is the greatest sorcerer to ever live. I will never waver in my faith in the light, just like my father and his father before me. I will not hand you my son. Bombarda!"

Half the house ripped apart with the amount of power the heir to the Peverell family poured into his single spell. Voldemort lazily however threw a shield in his defense, and began transfiguring the created debris to form into dozens of weapons. He heard the young man shout over his shoulder, "Lily protect Harry upstairs, now, run!"

At the corner of the house Tom Riddle saw a flash of red hair dart up the staircase furthest from the door, but his years of dueling taught him to never take his eyes off of his opponent. The dark lord was quickly running out of patience for the young pure blood however, "This is your last chance, my next spell is on the tip of my tongue, don't be a fool!"

James Potter barked, "Go to hell! AVADA KEDAVRA!"

If the dark lord didn't train so many hours in his childhood to avoid nasty curses he would've been a dead man...well temporarily a dead man. If someone would've told him the Gryffindor golden boy would cast the darkest spell known to wizarding kind at him, he would've laughed and crucio'd them till they couldn't breathe. But here they were, and James Potter was using unforgivable curses. Voldemort didn't hesitate after seeing that, without any further words being said, a sickly green light shot from his wand and killed the auror with such speed he didn't even have time to blink.

The Dark Lord sighed and began to move up the stairs with haste, he knew Dumbledore would be upon him at any moment with dozens of capable fighters, then the game would be over. He saw the room with a small light on at the end of the hall and heard a baby faintly whimper. With a controlled banishing charm he blew the door off its hinges, cutting straight through every ward Lily Potter attempted to put up. When he walked into the baby's room his heart vaguely clenched. A young mother wasn't even going to raise her wand to him. He steeled his nerves however and moved forward, "Lily Potter, you taint the fine lines of a great pureblood family, that however is insignificant compared to the task I have set about tonight. Stand aside and both your son and yourself may live. To that I would be willing to swear, I will not give you a second chance like I did for your husband."

With that the girl broke into sobs cradling her lightly sobbing baby as if it was her last lifeline. She gently grabbed a picture of herself and James Potter and slowly met the Dark Lord's eyes, "Only in death will we be united. I will not hand my child over to you willingly."

Faster than expected she transfigured the picture into her wand and blasted Voldemort in the shoulder with a powerful reducto curse, the Dark Lord managed a faint shield, but it wasn't enough to make the curse obsolete. Lily Potter was already speaking another charm when the Dark Lord shot his wand forward, "Imperio."

The woman instantly relaxed, and dropped her wand. The Dark Lord shook his head, "Your life is only spared because you were promised to a man who has done me a great service. That is the only reason you live. Now place the boy back in the cradle, and step aside."

The woman was clearly fighting his curse tooth and nail, but Voldemort merely pushed his will over hers, and she shakily placed her son back into his bed, and slowly stepped away. The Dark Lord let out breath of air as he approached the baby, "It wasn't supposed to be this way. They call me a dark man, the evilest of our kind, but I wasn't always this way. I was once a caring young man, but the muggles turned me into this, they made me crave blood and power, I am sorry. But I won't give up, I have come too far now, I will be immortal, I will finish Albus Dumbledore, I will remake the world in my image, and I swear to you your death will not be in vain. Goodbye Harry James Potter."

Then those innocent green eyes connected with his dark brown eyes and he somehow knew the curse wasn't going to come out right. In the future he would look back on this moment thinking it was the best mistake he ever made, "Avada Kedavra."

It was near a whisper and the green light that came out of his wand connected with the young child's forehead, yet it did nothing. The child screamed as if the Dark Lord had destroyed its favorite toy and not his entire body. The only proof that Voldemort had cast a killing curse at the boy was a short lightning shaped scar that went curved down his forehead. Voldemort stared in awe at the boy. He quickly ran medical diagnostics on the infant, his heart rate was through the ceiling, but he was alive, and his magical aura was visible. Something never seen in a child before. The Dark Lord couldn't believe it, the boy had survived the killing curse from him. He thought about the lessons he learned as a boy that was all about intent, but knew that was not the problem. He needed the boy to die, and he had summoned the necessary ferocity for the curse to work. Something extraordinary had happened, and he was desperate to know what.

With multiple waves of his the man did a test on the room and found the very reason why he survived. He could now clear as day detect the blood magic of Lily Potter. She hadn't been able to finish, he recognized the ritual, had she finished it would've killed him, but he interrupted her just in time. Now the boy was alive, and a potentially powerful threat. The Dark Lord looked at the boy who was crying for his mother who merely stared with blank eyes. He knew it would only be justice to take the boy's life at this point. He raised his wand once again, but there were several faint pops in the distance. He pointed the Phoenix feather wand straight at the boy's heart this time and he heard people enter the house. His hand began shaking, the footsteps were becoming louder and faster. On a last second decision the Dark Lord cast the most powerful disillusionment charm he knew over himself and the woman while moving to watch the scene unfold in the corner. Two young wizards entered the room with an old man behind them. Young Sirius Black and Severus Snape were there with a much older and senile Albus Dumbledore. Sirius Black was a sobbing mess as he fell to the floor observing young Harry Potter. Snape however was searching everywhere for something, and it didn't take the Dark Lord long to deduce who, "She isn't here Albus!"

Dumbledore ignored the man, however, as he began sweeping the room checking it for magical signatures, then he studied the young boy with great curiosity before deciding, "Severus look at the boy. He has a lightning bolt scar of the likes I have never seen. Magical diagnosis indicates the impossible, can you find the same discoveries in which I have?"

Severus was barely able to tear his eyes from searching every nook and cranny of the room, but managed to do so and then uncharacteristically gasped, "It is impossible headmaster, the Dark Lord's magic must be over running this room with power."

Sirius, who was forced to drink a calming draught by the headmaster, looked at the scar with anger, "I have never seen such foul magic before. It may not have been the killing curse he was hit with, but the Dark Lord obviously failed to kill him and ran away when we arrived."

Snape scowled, "The Dark Lord would never run, if he decided to leave the child alive it was with reason."

Sirius perked up, "You don't think that young Harry could've deflected the curse through something Lily did perhaps? Maybe that was why he took her with him? I can't think of any other explanation. Where else could she be?"

Snape studied the child and the room once again, his eyes impossibly lingering on the area the Dark Lord stood with the woman,, "It is possible, I can see no other explanation as to why the Dark Lord would leave the child alive, and take Lily Potter with him. it was his whole purpose of slaying the Potters on this night."

Voldemort had his wand poised, preparing to strike both Black and Dumbledore if he needed to, but there was no need just yet, he wanted to see how this played out. Dumbledore then spoke clearly, "The Dark Lord is still alive. The Pr-...The signs are he fled upon our arrival, the detonators you and Remus created were ingenious Sirius. Making it sound like many apparators had arrived on the scene may have saved young Harry's life."

Sirius calmly stated, "I will take Harry and set up a Fidelius in one of the Black properties overseas, Albus we should've never let Lily make one of us the secret keeper. You can be mine, I have the utmost faith that you will not give away the boy or myself."

Dumbledore nodded his head slowly, "That is an excellent idea Sirius, but first you must go hunt down Mr. Pettigrew and find out if he is alive. We need to know if the Potters were given up willingly or not. He was privy to many order safehouse locations, as well as our defensive strategies. His location is paramount."

Sirius and Snape both exchanged strange looks as even Young Tom Riddle was scratching his head at the stupidity of that statement. Sirius spoke first, "Headmaster with all due respect my first responsibility is to Harry, I need to take him out of here, before the Dark Lord returns with back up."

Snape then voiced his agreement, "I will hunt down Pettigrew and drag him to headquarters myself headmaster. If anyone might know the location of Lily it will be him. Black is right for once...He must protect the boy he is our only hope."

Dumbledore scratched his beard as if he was considering it, but Tom had seen this impassive face many times, he knew there was a larger plan beyond all of this. When Dumbledore spoke, he did so with finality, "Lily and I put very powerful blood wards up at her sister's home when the three of them went into hiding. Harry will be safe there while you hunt Pettigrew, I must insist Sirius, you may be the only one who can find him."

Sirius then spat, "We can't send him with the muggles, they could kill him, Petunia hates magic."

Voldemort flinched at what sounded like a rather familiar environment to his own raising. The Dark Lord prayed to whatever may be above that he hadn't doomed this child to a fate worse than death. Severus then spoke to the Headmaster, "I am doing my best not to make a habit of this headmaster, but again the mutt speaks sense. Pettigrew is a below average Wizard. I can track him down and kill him if I must. Petunia Evans is the worst of muggles, she nearly beat Lilly to death one summer when she came home with so much hatred towards magic."

Dumbledore waved his hand dismissing the complaint as he picked up Harry, "I will give Harry to Hagrid for now. He will be safe at the Dursley's that I can assure you. Sirius you must begin the hunt of Peter Pettigrew immediately, the faster you can track him down and discover what has happened the sooner you can start your new life with your Godson. Severus, I think you should return to the Death Eaters base of operations and discover what has become of the Dark Lord, perhaps he is injured and that could allow us to create an offensive. We must make haste gentlemen if the order or the light is going to survive this devastating blow. The Potters were amongst our most powerful allies, we must protect the Longbottom's now as well. They are our last hope of great power. Let us make haste."

Before either of the men could argue, or before Tom Riddle could prepare the curse he was going to hit Dumbledore with he disappeared. Sirius blinked and then turned to punch the wall with all his anger, "MERLIN BE DAMNED! He did it again, Snivellus, he didn't even listen to us. He just took him and disapparated, the hell with our opinions!"

Snape sighed, "I understand your frustration Mutt, but the Headmaster is our leader and he is going to make some tough decisions we may not understand to ensure the lights survive. We must trust him. I will see what I can find about Pettigrew and race you to him, I will kill him if I have to get the information on her whereabouts..."

Silence overtook the two Wizards and the Dark Lord watched in morbid fascination. Sirius then whispered, "We may have different reasons for looking, but we are going to find her. Prongs wouldn't rest until she was found, and I will honor that. We have to do it for Harry as well. He is going to need his mother if she is still.."

The young animagus couldn't even finish the thought but Severus understood the sentiment. The Dark Lord was not known for taking prisoners. The dark haired potions master sighed, "I will do everything in my power to find her. You have my word."

Sirius nodded, "I know you will. We all knew you really cared about her..It's why we left you alone in your seventh year, she really cared about you..."

The man couldn't react much to the Black scions words as his worry for her was immense. Eventually he found some words, "She is the only person I ever...I was such a fool in school to say the things I did to her. I can only hope I can make it right again. For what it's worth I am sorry Black, Potter wasn't all that bad in his later years... I would never admit this again, but he was beginning to grow on me...He was a gifted wizard..."

A silent bond was made between these two men, not friendship, but a bond nonetheless. With no other words to be said they quickly departed from the house to each take part in separate missions. The Dark Lord ended his disillusionment charm as he felt the last magical signature disappear. Looking back on those moments he should've struck Albus Dumbledore in the back, but if he was speaking truthfully the failure of his darkest curse shook him. He wasn't so sure his curse would've taken down the most powerful light Wizard in hundreds of years. After all, it had only been moments before when it had failed to kill a baby. In his studies he recalled the anger and passion the curse needed to work, and wondered if his brief moment of hesitation to kill the child was the reason for its failure.

One thing was clear though. Dumbledore is working the chess board once again, and young Tom Riddle was determined to stop him no matter what it took. There would be only one way to do it too.

(A/N) Hello everyone, and welcome to the remastered version of the Dark Lords Rising. I put this story online nearly 8 years ago, and while I think it was some of my best story telling it was definitely not my best writing, so I have returned to retell the story with some new twists and turns. I tried doing this on Wattpad, but honestly I got bored with it when I was just updating the grammar, and decided the story needed some more changes to make it worth reworking. The biggest change you may have noticed is that Lily Potter in this story did not die like in the original, or not yet at least. Stay tuned and see how that will influence the makings of this story.

Obviously for those who have been keeping up with my more recent writings I have a lot going right now, but mostly because I have a LOT of time to write. So don't worry this won't take from my other stories. In fact the Survivors is creeping towards the end at least from where I left the completion of Chapter 30, and so is the Rise of House Neptune which will end with the Last Olympian. The only story that has a long way to go is The Cost of Freedom, and since everything is getting bi-weekly updates I have plenty of time to get around to all of them, and keep giving you all timely updates so try not to worry.

As for when this story will be updated...honestly I don't know. Sometimes you may get updates once a week, or every other week. I will try not to go more than three without bringing you an update, but this one will not be on a consistent schedule right away. I can tell you the next chapter will come next Thursday however, so not too long to wait, and until then, Mischief Managed, and I will see you next week. Cheers!