Disclaimer: You know, if I actually owned these amazing characters I probably wouldn't be sitting here and typing out this crazy disclaimer saying that I didn't own them. I'd most likely be typing furiously away at the keyboard to get out the 6th book...do I look like I'm doing that? No. So I guess that means that I don't own anything! Not even this overly used plot!
All Hallow's Eve
James and Lily Potter sat in their living room, huddled by the fire. It was a cold night, that fateful day before Halloween. Lily was cradling a small child in her arms, her sparkling emerald eyes looking down on ones exactly like her own, her fiery auburn hair cascading past her shoulders. James was looking down at the baby as well, tickling the small figure who had the exact same hair as he did. The wind outside blew and made the branches of nearby trees groan. The pitch darkness didn't help to sooth the poor child as he wailed in terror of the night. Lily rocked back and forth, trying to alleviate the baby to no avail.
The fire suddenly whooshed off. James groped in the suffocating darkness for his wand. Lily realized hers was in the nursery. "Lumos," he whispered and as the wandtip lighted, he realized it could only mean one thing.
"Lily, take Harry and run! It's him! I'll hold him off," James yelled. His wandtip glowed dangerously as he prepared to duel with Voldemort. Lily scooped up Harry and fled down to the nursery. She smiled slightly at James' valor. How her had changed since fifth year...
Flashback
James was playing with the Snitch, letting it fly about a foot away before seizing it again. Peter (that little rat!!) was watching and applauded every time James made a difficult catch. Sirius finally asked for James to put it away when Snape arrived.
"All right, Snivellus?" James asked loudly.
Snape reacted quickly: dropping his wand, he reached inside his robes when James shouted, "Expelliarmus!"
Snape's wand flew twelve feet into the air and plunked on the ground a little ways behind him.
Sirius laughed and pointing his wand at Snape, he said, "Impedimenta!" Snape was knocked off his feet. People turned to watch, some apprehensive, some entertained.
Lupin was studiously regarding his book while Wormtail (the traitor) watched hungrily. Severus lay there, panting while James and Sirius walked forward, wands at the ready. James looked over his shoulder a couple of times while messing with his hair
"How'd the exam go, Snivelly?" James asked.
"I was watching him, his nose was touching the parchment. There'll be great grease marks all over it, they won't be able to read a word," Sirius said viciously.
End flashback
She frowned and cut off the unpleasant memory. She had never expected to become Mrs. Potter. She fled to the nursery, the farthest place from the living room, and where her wand was. She knew why they were being chased. Not just because James was an Auror, not because Lily worked in the Department of Mysteries, not because both of them were in the Order of the Phoenix, no. Their lives were at stake because of their baby, Harry Potter. He was part of a prophecy that Sibyl Trelawney had made. Harry would defy He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named many times before eventually one would kill the other. They had to protect from being killed as a child.
Lily heard a thump downstairs and footsteps gliding up the steps. Those weren't James' confident ones. It had to be Voldemort. She grabbed Harry and her wand and prepared to Apparate, anything to keep Voldemort at bay, who appeared at the doorway.
"Expelliarmus!" he shouted, grabbing Lily's wand which had flown to him. She backed away from Voldemort who was advancing towards her and shoved Harry behind her.
"Step aside, girl. I don't need to kill you, just your baby Harry," he intoned, his silky voice slipping past each word.
"No, anything but Harry! Please!" Lily pleaded, all dignity forgotten.
"Move aside." Voldemort smiled evilly as he watched Lily beg for Harry's life.
"No, please, leave Harry alone, take me instead!" Lily cried, desperate. She had remembered the most ancient charm in the wizarding world.
Flashback
"It is dark times out there. You can never avoid Voldemort. However, if you love someone so much that you would die for them, there is a chance. If you love them to the death, they will live at the price of your death. Remember that, if there is no more hope, love and die," Flitwick sighed, his eyes misting. "Class dismissed for the last time."
End flashback
Lily knew it was her time. Voldemort grinned evilly, "As you wish."
He raised his wand, all thirteen inches of yew and phoenix feather, and yelled, "Avada Kedrava!" and a speeding emerald-green laser-beam flew at her.
That was the last thing Lily Evans Potter heard and saw as she slumped down in the cold clutches of death.
Voldemort advanced on Harry James Potter, watching him bawl for his mother. "Avada Kedrava!"
The emerald beam speeding at him didn't faze Harry; he just cried on. However, the beam of light zipped back towards its owner, striking him straight in the chest. Voldemort shrieked in pain as he disappeared into a ghost of himself and fled away. Hagrid appeared moments after. Seeing that the baby was alive, he let out a whoop of joy that was instantly stifled, gazing upon the still forms of Lily and James Potter.
Wizards all over toasted to the health of Harry Potter. No "To Lily and James Potter, who sacrificed themselves for their son." Just "To Harry Potter, the boy who lived." No one truly understood James' determination to let his wife and son live, as no one understood Lily's love for her son, keeping him alive as she died.
James and Lily Potter watched Hagrid fly Harry to the Dursleys'. "And so it begins," Lily sighed, gazing down at the world they loved. They knew the pain Harry would endure, living in a household where no one loved or cared for him. And they cried, wishing that their son didn't have to experience it. But he had to, and there was nothing they could do about it.
And the rest, as they say, is history.