Disclaimer: I don't own HP. The original universe and works belong to JKR.

Chapter 4

In her state, she did not notice that his face was just a bit sharper, his eyes a slightly different shade of green and his dark hair flowed in slightly more order; just small differences in a face so similar to the son that she had lost. Her pulse sped up and her heart started beating faster. She could hardly believe her eyes and yet she wanted so much to believe what she saw. To ignore the facts and just wrap her arms around him and forget that she had ever lost her son.

………..

Another 5 years…

Harry Potter pushed a few strands of stray hair out of his face as he peered out from behind a corner, his lightning bolt scar peeking out from under his fringe. He and James were currently carrying out their latest prank involving one Sirius Black, a lot of flour and a handful of bombs that would set of various hexes when stepped on. Their efforts were rewarded a while later by an agonized yell, followed by angry swearing as a very unhappy Sirius Black stumbled through the doorway. He was covered from head to toe in white flour and was limping slightly after being hit by a jelly legs curse. With a squeal and patter of feet Harry took off at a run, James following not far behind, father and son laughing their heads off in glee.

"Got you padfoot!"

"Why you little imps…." Sirius yelled as he stepped into yet another trap, a coughing hex this time, as he sputtered trying to get his words out.

"Now, now James…," said Lily as she appeared at the doorway with a smile. "You shouldn't be teaching Harry your pranks. God knows you were bad enough in your time."

"Why Lily, I've got to pass on the family tradition! Harry's gonna be a marauder just like his father," turning to Harry he said "Wait until you get to Hogwarts, son. Padfoot and I will show you all the tricks and secret pathways! We'll make a marauder out of you in no time."

Indeed Harry would soon be going to Hogwarts in a year. He was pretty excited as he had heard heaps about the magical school from his father and godfather and no little amount of those stories were about their grand exploits and adventures. He wondered how it would feel like to sneak around the passageways at night, exploring the secret pathways leading to Hogsmeade and the Shrieking Shack. What an adventure it would be thought the 10 year old boy. He had even read the entire "Hogwarts, a History" although it proved to be a bit more of a bore compared to his father's tales.

His thoughts were interrupted as Sirius pounced on him and started pummeling him in the stomach. "Take that, and that, that will teach you to mess with the great Sirius Black!" Harry laughed as he and his godfather rolled about in the grass.

"It was dad's idea!" Harry yelled out indignantly, giggling as Sirius started a tickling frenzy. This was the sight that greeted Remus as he walked into the Potter home that afternoon. A grown man lying in the grass on top of a younger boy, both laughing and rolling about, covered in leaves and dirt and flour in Sirius' case, they made a rather unusual sight.

His Uncles Sirius and Remus would often come around on weekends to visit the family. There were good friends of his parents and Sirius had even been named his godfather. Sirius was an auror like his dad and Remus had managed to get a job in the ministry to do with magical creatures. The rules on magical creatures were still not as fair as they should have been but they were much better now than before. Having a werewolf for a family friend sure helped Harry's perception of magical creatures. He had realized at an early age how much discrimination there actually was against them, unfairly labeling many creatures as dark. His parents had always thought him not to fear them but instead to treat everyone with respect. After all he could never quite comprehend why people would fear so much what they knew so little about. Remus would never hurt a fly and to him being a werewolf was more of a curse then any sort of advantage to be lorded over others. Someday he hoped to be able to change that.

………

Lily and James tucked Harry in to bed that night after a tiring afternoon and Lily gave him a quick peck on the forehead despite his protest that he was too old for that. With a quick smile and a silent 'nox' they shut the door to their son's bedroom. The lion and griffin wallpaper now covered by many posters of various quidditch players and their teams, flitting around in the dark. Unseen dark wings enveloped their little master and wrapped him safe in his sleep.

Harry had been a great fan of quidditch ever since he had gotten his first toy snitch and when he had gotten his toy broom he had been so overjoyed that it had been near impossible to get him of the thing. In many ways, he was different from the Harry they knew before. He was much quicker and could pick up things very easily. He was also easily more perceptive and intelligent. When he was seven he had once stopped Sirius from adding crushed newts into his laughing potion and he had been right, if not proven by the huge explosion that had occurred after Sirius had added it anyway. For a child as young as he was he read an awful lot and by ten he had read all his books for the first three years of Hogwarts. His aptitude for study was astounding unlike James and also he did not sport the usual set of glasses that was almost hereditary among the Potter line.

Deep inside Lily and James knew that this was not their son. He had the same eyes and raven hair but there was much dissimilarity. Even so, every time Lily had looked into those lovely green orbs that tore into her soul, she could not let go of him. James had been more wary of the situation and had at least checked among the auror network for any reports of missing children finding none. Upon seeing the way his wife clung onto the child, he could hardly bring himself to take her "Harry" away from her and had not looked any further into the matter.

After modifying some of the paperwork and adjusting various spells in the family tapestry, the child was more or less Harry James Potter, born on the 31st of July 1981. He was their son and heir and they loved him dearly. Despite it all, there was still the nagging fear that this was just all a dream and something would happen to take him away from them. They were very much aware that Harry was special and attention was likely to follow him everywhere, especially after his near encounter with Voldemort not five years ago.

His unique lightning bolt scar on his head was reminiscent of that incident when he was six. It was a rather strange incident in itself. At the time young Harry had been playing in the backyard beside the woods. He was swiping playfully at the small toy snitch that was hovering around, occasionally catching it just to have it escape again. Suddenly, the wards alerted them to the presence of death eaters in their compound. They had been so terrified that they would lose the apple of their eye again, their dread multiplying as a flash of green light erupted from behind their house. Fearing what they would find, they had quickly rushed to the garden; only to find Harry lying on the grass, a mysterious lightning bolt cut into his forehead. Amazingly he had escaped unscathed.

Lily's eyes had welled up in tears of relief and joy. Her son was alright. No one knew how he had managed to survive the attack. It had been a miracle yet emphasizing all the more how different their little boy was. In the aftermath of the incident, the attacks from the death eaters had been markedly reduced. For a while many had even hailed their son the "Boy who lived" as he had survived a direct encounter with Voldemort. It was even thought that the incident had weakened Voldemort substantially resulting in the reduced death eater activity, adding to his newfound fame of being the "Boy who lived". Some had even gone as far as to name him a savior or possible defeater of Voldemort. In those times when hope was scarce, any ray of light was looked upon with much anticipation that there might yet be an end to this war even if the proposed savior had only been five years old at the time.

However, his parents endeavored to give Harry as normal a life as possible. It seemed unfair to fork the burden of a weary world on such young shoulders. They had waved the incident off as pure luck or a miracle although the cursed scar still intrigued them. Dumbledore had said that it was likely due to very dark magic as any efforts to heal or hide it had failed miserably.

…….

Harry picked a black feather out of his sheets as he got out of bed. It was a rather common occurrence nowadays. He could not remember where the feathers had come from but ever since he was young he would occasionally find them in his bed, or in the grass when he fell asleep under the apple tree in their backyard. Whenever he touched them, he felt an oddly comforting sensation as if they belonged to him. They were soft and silky and the deepest midnight black.

He had once asked his parents what animals had dark feathers and his parents had answered that they were probably from crows or ravens. It seemed that in myth the crow had been a creature commonly associated with bad omens or foretelling death. They had also been said to be descended from demons which were actually fallen angels. Their wings black instead of white as a sign of their crimes.

"And they have great big teeth and eat naughty children who don't let their mothers' give them their goodnight kisses." said James jokingly.

"James don't tell Harry all that nonsense" Lily said while swatting his hand as he reached out to grab a cookie. "That's not true, Harry. Your father is just making things up. Most of the tales are legends and myths and we don't know how true they are."

"Yeah, they tell them to little children to scare them before bed." James added with a grin. "Why do you want to know, son?"

"Do you think humans can produce black feathers?" Harry asked tentatively.

"Now, sweetie, no normal person would be able to produce feathers. After all, we don't have wings. Where did you get that idea from?" asked Lily kindly.

"I was just curious, mum." Harry said with a little smile. "Just thinking that it be cool if we had wings and could fly." he quickly changed the topic.

"Really now…" James said and rambled on about the wonders of quidditch and how one didn't need wings when you could always fly on a broom and how fast the new Nimbus 2005 was.

After that he had not breached the topic again. He didn't like being different. Especially since the incident with the Dark Lord and him being called the 'Boy who lived'. He also knew that his parents were very protective, for some reason. They tried not to be too restrictive, but when he was younger and had gotten lost in the woods by accident his mother had nearly been beside herself in distress, even if he had been found after half an hour. Sometimes when she couldn't find him, she would just spontaneously burst into tears as if terrified that he had been caught by deatheaters or gotten hurt. He didn't understand her paranoia, but he loved his mother and did not think that it would be the best idea to tell her that he was a freak who was suddenly shedding black feathers.

…….

Lord Voldemort had been actively seeking ways to immortalize himself. The last encounter he had had with the Potter's brat had not been pleasant. He had seen a similar child with green eyes and raven black hair five years ago on his first attack to the household. At the time, he would have been rather displeased at the failure of the attack but that was before he had seen the boy. He had looked just like how he'd imagine his own son would have looked like. Those lovely green orbs that were so similar to his Emelyn's and the tousled black hair, an almost perfect mix of his and his wife's features. At that moment, he found he could not kill the boy. Instead, he had left, the resemblance too much for him to bear.

Unknown to him, that boy had died, killed at the hand of one of his loyal followers. The man felt a jealousy and puzzlement at his Lord's actions. He had afterall never seen the Lord act so soft-hearted. He deigned the child to be a weakness and felt that it was his duty to put an end to this hindrance. He had not spent years following a cruel leader to have his goals and ideals put to waste just because of some sympathy his Lord felt by sparing a child. This was just a small hitch along the way and he would dispose of it accordingly.

……..

The next time Lord Voldemort saw the child, he was slightly older and not quite the same although he couldn't quite place the feeling. His features seemed to have changed and yet he did not know of any other son the Potter's had. He seemed familiar, as if it was his very own son. He had been on his way back from an attack to the home of a prominent light wizard near Godric's Hollow, when suddenly he had felt drawn towards a rather homely looking two storey manor. At the time he had not realized that it was the home of his arch enemies. Instead, he had just spotted a little mop of black hair playing in the backyard, chasing a golden snitch. His face contorted in simply joy and his innocent laughter touching a cord deep within his cold heart. This time the feeling of kin was much stronger.

A thrum of magic drew his attention towards the wards of the house. He cursed his stupidity as he realized that he had foolishly set of the wards when he stepped towards the child. Instinctively, he cast the avada kedavra in the direction the child in his haste to leave. He could not let his presence be known. However, as soon as he said the words he saw the ray of green light rebound and raced towards him. He hardly managed to dodge the curse as it grazed his left arm. To his horror the little boy lay on the ground a jagged wound embedded into his forehead. The sound of voices and footsteps distracted his attention and he quickly righted himself and apparated back to his manor. The events of the day lingering in his mind as he felt at his arm where the curse had been deflected back at.

AN: I'm not particularly pleased with this chapter. I redid it several times but i guess this is it. Got back from my holiday a couple of days back. Shopping is fantastic. Anyway, do read and tell me what you think. :)