CHAPTER ONE
THE MIRACLE AT GODRIC'S HOLLOW
Mr. and Mrs. Potter, of Godric's Hollow, were proud to say that extraordinary was another word that meant special and being born special meant you had potential or talent, thank you very much. To say they were one couple who were just as extraordinary was the understatement of the year. They were in fact a wizard and witch.
Mr. James Potter was an Auror, which is what non-magic people, more commonly known as Muggles, would consider a wizard styled version of national law enforcement, their task was pretty much catching and arresting Dark wizards. He was a tall, thin, black-haired man who wore glasses, and his hair was very untidy and it stuck up at the back. His wife, Lily, on the other hand, worked as a Healer, which is what would be considered a nurse in the Muggle world. She was a very pretty woman who had dark red hair and her eyes were a shade of bright green.
Basically, life was good to them both for the two, they had everything they could ever want: a nice home, friends, and family whom they could stay in touch with and a son who was no more than a year and few months old whose name was Harry. But Lily had one small sticky predicament, Lily had an older sister named Petunia, who always pretended that her younger sister never existed, she and her husband, a man by the name of Vernon, had a son too, his name was Dudley, he was, in their eyes, the best thing in their life, they didn't need their son be coercing with the magic types, they were, to them, Lily, James and anyone were, in their eyes, abnormal and nothing but a bunch of menaces to society as they strongly believed, but how wrong they were.
Now on the evening of Halloween of 1981 when our story begins, both Mr. and Mrs. Potter were enjoying a peaceful normal evening handing out candy to children, James was also fidgeting with his wand and making puffs of colored smoke, but little did the three realize, they would soon have an expected visitor, safe to say, this was not a social call in the Potters eyes.
For visiting the village where they lived was the most feared Dark wizard who ever lived: Lord Voldemort.
Sensing the imminent danger, James looked up and handed their only son to his wife, "Lily, take Harry and go! It's him! Go! Run! I'll hold him off!"
This was a big mistake, as James did not have his wand ready for combat, raising his own wand with no difficulty, Voldemort used one of the three Unforgivable Curses, the Killing Curse.
"Avada Kedavra."
Within a few seconds, James laid down on the floor with a loud thud, he was dead. With one less obstacle out of the way, the Dark Lord then quickly made his way up the stairs and confronted the mother, who began to start pleading desperately for mercy.
"Not Harry! Not Harry, please not Harry!"
Voldemort smiled coldly, "Stand aside, you silly girl… Stand aside, now."
Lily still begged, "Not Harry, please no, take me, kill me instead —"
Voldemort wouldn't move a muscle, "This is my last warning —"
Lily, now in tears, stood firm to hold her ground, "Not Harry! Please… have mercy… have mercy… Not Harry! Not Harry! Please — I'll do anything —"
But as Voldemort performed his favorite curse, instead of killing Lily and Harry right then and there, something happened that neither one would expect… for instead of killing mother and child as he intended, the curse rebounded. Gravely wounded, Voldemort barely made his escape and forced himself into hiding to regain his lost strength. Somehow relieved, Lily knew it was luck that she and her son barely survived that night.
Soon afterwards, appearing right in front of her was an old face Lily thought that she had forgotten, appearing before her and James's son was an old childhood friend of hers, whose friendship she decided to end because of years of conflict within him. He had long greasy black hair, black eyes, and wore all black for his set of wizarding robes, he also had a hooked shaped nose. His name was Severus Snape.
Her eyes had a look on her face was filled with both surprise and suspicion, Lily asked, "Severus, what are you doing here?"
With pure calm and sincere comfort in his voice, Snape simply held out his hand, "I have come to escort you and your son to safety, Lily."
"But where?" Lily asked.
"There's no time to explain, we must go."
Without any other option, Lily put her trust in her former friend as they disappeared into thin air, this what Muggles would call teleportation, but it was more appropriately known as Apparition in the Wizarding world. They arrived a few moments later what seemed to be a beautiful and shining castle, to the Muggles, this was just a normal touring site, but to magical beings, this was the best of schools' that money can afford to teach wizards and witches at an early age for seven years, Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry.
Not a moment to lose, the three soon entered the castle and arrived at what appeared to be the statue of a large and extremely ugly gargoyle, which behind its soon to be revealed location was the office of the greatest wizard in all of history that ever lived, the Headmaster of this beloved school and the Chief Warlock of the entire Wizengamot, Professor Albus Dumbledore.
With firmness in his voice, Snape said, "Fizzing Whizzbees."
This was evidently a password, as the gargoyle sprang suddenly to life and hopped aside as the wall behind them split in two. Entering the office, Snape and Lily approached the Headmaster, whose eyes twinkled like stars in the night lit sky. By his side were a few of Hogwarts's other key staff, Professor Minerva McGonagall, Rubeus Hagrid, Professor Filius Flitwick, Professor Pomona Sprout, and Madam Rolanda Hooch.
A warm smile spreading across his face, Dumbledore spoke and wheeled several chairs towards Lily and Snape, "Ah Severus, you have done well. Lily, please, have a seat."
She did as she was told. It took a little over the course of twenty minutes or longer to explain everything to the older man, but afterwards, looks of disappointment and shock laid upon everyone's face.
"James dead?" barked Hagrid.
"A great pity too," said Madam Hooch.
"He was a great wizard," agreed Professor Flitwick.
Snape did not know what to say, as it was common knowledge that he hated James due to the fact he stole the one thing in his life, but as Lily lost her husband and nearly lost her son, the only thing he could say was, with a strong amount of remorse in his voice, "Lily, I'm so sorry, for everything."
Lily, who had been trying really hard to nurse and calm Harry down for what seemed like hours, then turned to look at Snape and found her words, "No Sev, I'm the one who should be sorry, sorry for pushing you away. I never intended for things to go this far. Forgive me…"
"How could I not forgive you, Lily?" Snape replied with a faint, yet sad smile, "You're the only decent thing I have left in this world, as such, I can't afford to lose you."
Dumbledore nodded, a sentimental smile of his own appeared on his face, "I know this reunion has been well earned, but we need to get down to the business at hand." Everyone looked at him, "We all know that Lord Voldemort is gone, but I have a theory that he is not entirely dead."
He started pacing back and forth around his office ever so slowly to think of an idea.
Professor McGonagall raised an eyebrow, "What do you suggest we do, Albus? Harry and Lily can't very well return to Godric's Hollow; it'd be too dangerous."
Dumbledore then returned and reclined his head in his chair, let loose a heavy sigh and shook his head.
"No, I'm afraid not, Minerva. That goes without saying."
He stroked his long beard and began to think, while doing so, he popped a lemon drop in his mouth. He then offered one to everyone in the room, all of whom politely declined the offer. A moment later, the headmaster had thought up his plan through and through.
"I'm afraid at this point, we have only but one option, Lily… Harry must not grow up in a community to be close with his own kind until the right time, instead, we must do the opposite."
Safe to say, the decision threw Lily for a loop, "Are you off your rocker, Albus?" she asked, "My son be raised in a Muggle neighborhood?"
"It is the only choice I could think of, Lily." Lily was about to raise her voice, but Dumbledore had her sit down, "That being said, you can be rest assured that I have decided that both Harry and you will not be raised by your sister Petunia and her husband — Vernon, I believe your letters said."
"Good," Lily exhaled in relief, "I can't even begin to imagine what would've happened if you had."
Dumbledore nodded, "Yes, I would dread the thought just as equally." His face then became firm, "But one of these days, Lily, you and Petunia will have to, as the Muggles say, 'bury the hatchet'. "
Lily gave a simple nod, "I'll do what I can, Albus, but no promises."
Dumbledore beamed at Lily's understanding, "Of course. And I will write her a letter explaining everything that has happened." He then held out his hands, "May I please see Harry?"
"Sure." replied Lily, as she took Harry away from her lap momentarily and passed her son to the elderly wizard.
For the most part, baby Harry appeared to be unscathed, but what took Dumbledore, and everyone else by surprise was what they saw under a tuft of his jet-black hair, over his forehead, they could see a curiously shaped cut, like a bolt of lightning. Taking out his wand, Dumbledore began muttering countermeasures to heal the wound.
"Is that where — ?" whispered Professor Flitwick.
"Yes," said Dumbledore, shaking his head in sadness. "He'll have that scar forever."
"Couldn't you do something about it, Albus?" asked Professor Sprout.
"Even if I could, I wouldn't recommend it. Scars can come in handy. I have one myself above my left knee that is a perfect map of the London Underground." Dumbledore answered as he pocketed his wand, his efforts to heal Harry's scar were less than successful.
"Well, I've done all I can."
He then nodded to the others, except for Snape, to take their leave.
"This young boy will be famous — a legend, Albus —" said Professor McGonagall, pondering the situation at hand, "I wouldn't be surprised if today was known as Harry Potter Day in the future — there will be books written about Harry — every child in our world will know his name!"
"Exactly," said Dumbledore, looking very seriously over the top of his half-moon glasses. "It would be enough to turn any boy's head. Famous before he can walk and talk! Famous for something he won't even remember! Can't you see how much better off he'll be, growing up away from all that until he's ready to take it?"
He nodded again, and so the staff, except for Snape, then took their exit. Turning to back Lily as he gave Harry back to her.
Dumbledore spoke again, "Now before I forget, there's two other details that need to be brought to light." He shrugged with one hand extended, "First off, to ensure what happened tonight wasn't in vain, if Harry is to be raised by you, Lily, he must not know of his true heritage until he turns eleven years old."
"And the second detail?" asked Lily.
Dumbledore looked at Snape, who nodded back, the Headmaster spoke, "It is my wish that you and Severus marry in secret tonight."
"But what if the people in our world should ask where James is?"
"I will see to it an obituary of James is put in place for the Daily Prophet." said Dumbledore, "If anyone in our world also asks, you've remarried in secret to a man named Tobias Prince, a Half-blood wizard, no relation to Severus."
It was a lot for Lily to take in, but in the end, she managed to give and accept Dumbledore's offer.
"I understand."
"Also out of safety, to ensure neither one of you will remember about this ceremony, starting tomorrow, only I will remember this occasion. That said, I will allow special occasions for one or both of you to remember this event. Only then and when Voldemort is finally dead, will hopefully you three be reunited. I make no promises though as anything in the future can change."
Understanding Dumbledore's wishes, Lily gave a small but warm nod of her head. With the vow completed, Dumbledore and Snape then dropped both the now single mother and child off at a small flat, which had everything they could want, including their month's first rent. As mother and son got settled in their room for the first night awaiting all of the new changes that laid ahead in their future, what not one of them realized, is that all around the world they would be famous in a matter of a short time to come.
They also couldn't know that at this very moment, people young and old all over the county and the world were holding up their drinking glasses and saying in hushed voices: "To Harry Potter and his mother Lily — the mother and child who lived."
Author's notes:
* So that was my first chapter of the Sorcerer's Stone, and as always with every one of my stories, let me know what you all think so far by leaving your feedback in the comments area.
* The Harry Potter franchise, its characters, elements and everything else are owned and were created by J. K. Rowling.
* A little trivia here: originally, I was looking to have Hagrid be the one to rescue Lily and Harry, but I changed it to Snape because I love the Deathly Hallows — Part 2 movie scene where he finds Lily's dead body and cradles it.
That said, until the next chapter my fellow Wizards, Witches and Muggles:
I'm M. R. Parkerson signing off…
