It was well past midnight when a tall man dressed in a long black cloak swept up the path towards his destination. A small cottage on the outskirts of a small village. Nothing significant about it on first glance. But the man knew differently. He knew that the house called Godrics Hollow was very important to him. Upon entering the house, he heard a loud crash from above stairs as the occupants realised the wards had been broken. Swiftly he climbed the stairs and threw open the doors with a wave of his wand.

Two, fairly terrified people spun round to face him.

"Well Tom, I see you found us. How long as Peter been one of yours?" The man sneered at him.

The tall man threw back his hood and laughed.

"Potter you fool. Wormtail has been in my service for many years." He smirked to see the other man go white with rage. The woman put her hand on the mans shoulder to calm him.

"No army of followers tonight Tom?" She watched with satisfaction to see him flinch at the name.

"Unnecessary. I can quite dispose of you myself, and will take great pleasure in the act."

Even before he had finished his sentence the man had sent a spell towards him. Tom looked at him with derision as the spell was absorbed into the shield surrounding him.

"Did you really think you would be a match for me Potter?" Tom asked, and before the man could retort he shouted "AVADA KEDAVRA!". The man fell lifeless at his feet. The woman, tears falling from her eyes, backed away with her wand pointed at his heart.

"Now, where is the boy?" Tom asked menacingly.

"He's not here." She answered him defiantly. Tom reached out towards her mind but was met by a tall, thick, black wall that he could not penetrate.

"Well, well. Quite skilled aren't we. No matter, I will find him and you will have died for nothing." Her eyes widened.

"All this was for him?"

Tom grinned maliciously and once again shouted "AVADA KEDAVRA!" He swept from the room as she fell to the floor. As he was leaving the house he turned and raising his hands, roared, "INCENDIO!" As the entire house went up in flames he disappeared into the night.

Several minutes later, Albus Dumbledore and a team of Auror's arrived at the house. They looked on in astonishment as the flames grew higher and higher to lick around the bottom of the Death Eater symbol that floated above the house.

"Why is it white?" A junior Auror asked. "I thought they were green."

Dumbledore looked at him grimly.

"It is white because this was no Death Eater attack. This is the work of Lord Voldemort himself." The men around him gasped.

"Why would he do this himself? What made it more important to him?"

Dumbledore looked sharply at the man. What was it the Voldemort had wanted enough to do it himself? He pushed those thoughts to the back of mind and concentrated on what had to be done. "Come, we must find what is left."

The next morning over a hundred miles away in a small bungalow in Cornwall Sirius Black was standing watching his one year old grandson when he got a fire call from his old headmaster.

"Sirius?"

Siri headed over to the fire and greeted the floating head.

"Good morning Sir."

"I am afraid it is not a good morning today. Last night there was another attack."

Sirius sighed and hardened his heart towards another loss of one of his friends.

"Who did we lose?"

"Lily and James."

Sirius' mouth dropped in shock.

"No, it…it can't be true. What about the secret keeper? How could they get to Peter!"

"I believe that Mr Pettigrew has been in the service of the Dark Lord since his later years at Hogwarts. I received notice late last night that my wards around Godrics Hollow had been breached and after called a team of Auror's we headed straight there. Unfortunately by the time we arrived the house was in ruins with Voldemort's personal Dark Mark hovering over it."

Sirius collapsed into a chair by the fire. It was all too much to take in. Two of his best friends were dead and another had betrayed them to the Dark Lord.

Albus' voice interrupted his thoughts.

"Sirius, you must take refuge somewhere out of sight. He could come for you and also for poor Harry. You must go into hiding, at least for the time being." Siri nodded, not really taking in what the man was saying.

An hour later Sirius had taken Harry and they were on their way to a safe house. At least, that was the plan until they were attacked by once again, Lord Voldemort himself. As Tom appeared Sirius looked at him in shock. He held up a small blue sock, obviously belonging to Harry.

"A simple tracking spell. My, my, what do they teach you at Auror training these days?"

"How to kill sadistic bastards like you!" Sirius snarled whilst activating the alarm that led straight to Dumbledore's office to alert him that they were in trouble.

"How touching, and all to protect little innocent children like young Harry there. Now Black, just hand him over and your death will be less painful." Sirius tightened him grip on Harry whilst he searched frantically for an escape route.

"What on earth do you want with Harry? He's just a child!"

Tom smiled disarmingly and without time for Sirius to respond he pulled out his wand and yelled the killing curse. Sirius fell to the floor with Harry cradled in his arms. Tom walked closer to stand over the child. Without a second thought he shouted the same curse at the young boy. The jet of green light sped towards the child but disappeared in a ripple of light on touching him. Harry looked up at the man standing over him and fixed him with a piercing gaze from his brilliant green eyes. Voldemort faltered and took a step back. He shouted the curse again at the child with the same effect. Tom's mind raced at what was before. This child at just over a year old had enough power not only to defeat him but to destroy him completely. With a loud crack he apparated away, not to be seen for the next decade. Once again, just a few minutes too late, Dumbledore and a team of Auror's arrived. The Head Auror spotted Harry and picked him up as two others apparated away with Sirius' body. Harry was handed to Albus who looked at him with a sigh. At the Auror's questioning look he just smiled and apparated away to Surrey.