James walked into his dad's office over thirty minutes late. "Sorry. Uh, practice went over and -"

"It's alright," said Harry, who was grading reports. "If you were on time all the time I would start to think that you were Hermione's child and not mine. Sit." James sat, and his dad got up, going over to a stone bowl type thing in a corner. "Do you know what a pensive is, James?"

"Um..." James thought for a minute, trying not to feel stupid. "No. I don't have a clue. But I bet it's that thing your standing over."

"How right you are. A pensive is like a big bowl that you can put your thoughts into, then bottle them up so they won't bother you anymore."

"Oh." Harry went over to a closet near the pensive and looked around inside for a second. James couldn't really see in it from the angle he was sitting at, but he guessed that it was probably where his dad kept memories. He brought out several bottles.

"Come here," his dad said. James came, and on the way past glanced in the closet. It was literally stuffed with bottles, stacked on shelves to the ceiling and at least four rows deep. "You wanted to know about my past."He poured a bottle in and let it swirl around. "Might as well start at the beginning. How much do you know about Voldemort?"

James thought again. He knew he had heard it somewhere. "I don't remember a lot, but someone's told me about him."

"Well, he was a wizard, just like you or me. But he wanted power, power over everything. And he would kill anyone or anything that got in his way." He watched the memory for a second, and then continued: "There was this group called the Order of the Phoenix. It still exists, actually, just not as strongly as it used to. Anyway, it was a group of the best wizards and witches the magical community could find, and they banded together to put a stop to Voldemort and all of his plans. But sometimes they got in the way, and then..."

He paused again, for a very long time, so long that James started to feel awkward. But then he continued again: "If there was even a chance that someone could be more powerful than him, Voldemort would kill them. Even if it were a baby. You need to know that, so that you'll understand... Lean against the pensive and look down."

James did so, saw images floating around, and then felt himself falling. He landed on the pavement of a dark street. His dad was already up and walking away. James got up and followed. There was a lot of fog everywhere.

"So, this is someone's memory?"

"A lot of someone's memories," his dad explained. "The only people that actually witnessed it either can't remember or were killed." They entered a house where a young couple were sitting with their baby. The man looked a lot like... oh no, James thought. This is them. The grandparents I never saw. Am I going to have to see them die?

"They can't see us?" James asked.

"No. We're just watching like we don't exist. Well, you wouldn't exist either way. Several more years before you come along."

They just stood there, watching the couple, for a very long time. Suddenly, the man ((you know it's James but if I use the name twice everyone will get confused)) jumped up and went to the window, as if he had heard something. James followed him, also wanting to see what it was. He watched the man look, and then his face got very white.

"Lily... get out of here. Take Harry and run."

"What?" Lily asked, but the look on her husband's face gave her enough information. "No... he wouldn't..."

"Go."

"Peter would never..."

"Go!" Lily clutched her child and, looking more terrified than anyone else, there ran to a door in the back of the room and left.

The man went slowly to the door, holding his wand up as if waiting for an attack. The door opened and a small man came in. "Peter..." A very tall, odd looking man entered behind him. "Why? We trusted you."

The small man didn't say anything. "We came for the boy," the tall man hissed, "not you."

"You'll never get him."

"Oh yes, I think I will."

"No. Never. I'll never let you get to him."

"Fine then." There was a flash of green light, and the man lay sprawled out on the floor, dead. Even though he had expected it, James turned away quickly and felt himself cover his mouth. He looked up to his dad, who had his eyes closed. "Now, where is that child? This is an extreme waste of my time, and if he's not here, Wormtail, then you'll be taking his place."

"He is here, My Lord. I assure you. She can't have gotten far." They walked through the house, checking every door. They found her in a bedroom. "Ah..."

"No!" Lily screamed, poking her wand at them. "Stay back!"

The tall man sighed. "I only want the boy, not you. Now be a good girl and get out of the way. I don't want to have to get rid of you as well."

Lily looked past them and saw her husband on the floor. "James..." she whispered, looking as if she might collapse. She regained her composure. "Kill me, not him. He's only a baby. What did he ever do to you?"

"Something that is too long and complicated that I don't have the patience to explain now. Just step out of the way and it'll be done with."

"No. You can kill me but don't kill Harry. He never hurt you. Me, I work against you everyday. It's me you want, not him."

The tall man sighed again. There was another green flash, and Lily fell to the floor, letting out a horrible scream. James looked up at his dad again. He looked like he could barely handle it. "Now, for this boy." The baby was on the bed, looking around for its mother. "So much trouble over one little..." he laughed. "How did they think that this could ever overtake me? Me! Ha, it's funny. That little thing, stop me? Never, never."

He pointed his wand at the infant, and there was another green flash. This time, however, something strange happened. The green light shot back quickly at the man, as if it had been reflected off of the baby. There was a scream, and then the entire room got so foggy that James couldn't see anything.

"What happened?"

"No one knows."

"Really?"

"Really."

"So, now what?"

"There's more. Wait a second."

The fog cleared slowly. They were back outside of the house, or what was left of it. It had been blown to pieces. James suddenly heard something on the street with them. It was a motorcycle, its rider already running toward the house. James ran after him, anxious to see what had happened.

The man from the motorcycle, who looked a lot like the one that had just been killed but smaller and with messier hair, had fallen to the ground in front of the first victim. "James... I knew he... we shouldn't have... I should have known better... I'm sorry. It's my fault. This is all my fault." He reached out and touched his friend's body, tears falling down his face.

Then a cry was heard from the other room, a baby's cry. The man's head came up again and, looking very shocked, he went into the room. He recoiled a bit at the sight of Lily's body, but then remembered the child. He reached out and picked up the boy, wrapping him in a blanket.

"Harry... How did you...? What...?" He ran a finger over the mark on the boy's head. "Oh my... Don't worry. It'll be okay. I'll take care of you."

"Sirius," said someone behind them. James and Sirius turned. An older man with a long white beard stood in the doorway.

"Sir... I had to... when I found out that... I had to try to stop him. But I was too late..."

"It is okay, Sirius. I'm afraid that no one could have gotten here in time. You know that Voldemort does not like to wait, and Peter knew just where to take him."

"We should never have switched. I thought they'd come after me, and leave them alone. They would never suspect Peter. But he... I swear, if I ever see him again..."

"There is no sense in making threats now. We will find him soon enough, and he will get what he deserves."

"Make sure they don't kill him. Death is too good for him. Send him to Azkaban."

"Of course. But, amongst all this bad news, there is some good news." He motioned to the child in Sirius's arms.

"Yes. At least he'll have a chance." Sirius looked back at little Harry. "Did you have plans for him?"

"I was going to send him to live with his aunt, his mother's sister, and her family."

"No!" Sirius said, pulling the baby closer to him and looking insulted. "Not with those muggles! They'd never understand him. They'll make him think he's a freak. I - I'm his godfather! I should be allowed to take him!"

"You know that you cannot handle a child right now. He will be more protected with his family."

"How? How are muggles going to protect him from death eaters? After what Harry did to their master... They'll blast right through those muggles! If not me... then... Remus? Remus could -"

"Remus is hardly in any condition to handle a child. Harry will be safe with his aunt. There is an infinite amount of magic that you do not understand. I will make sure that he is protected, and that he receives the proper training when it is time. Voldemort himself will not be able to touch him."

"Is it true?" Sirius asked. "Is it true that he's dead?"

"I don't know about dead. Something definitely happened to him though, and I don't think we'll be hearing from him for some time."

"Harry has this cut on his head. I don't know if it means anything. I haven't ever seen anything like it." He handed the child to the other man.

"Ah... So that's what happened." He glanced to Lily's body, then back at Harry. "Very interesting..."

"What?"

"His parents sacrificed themselves for him. They loved him so much that they were willing to die in his place. When Voldemort killed them he didn't know that he was decreasing his chances of killing Harry. By the time he did, there was so much protection from that love alone that it repelled the spell."

"So, Voldemort, the great dark lord, was foiled by... love?"

"Exactly."

"Why did he want to get Harry in the first place? I know that he wanted James and Lily dead, for all they did against him, but what threat was a baby?"

The other man looked as if he knew something, but didn't say anything. "We will need to look into that. I'm sure you'll know when I do."

Another figure appeared in the door, this one larger than the other two combined. "Headmaster..."

"Hagrid, thank you for coming so quickly. I have an important job for you."

"Wha... What happened?"

"I'll explain later. Now I need you to take this," he pointed to the baby, "to this address." He handed Hagrid a paper. "I would take him myself but it is dangerous to apparate with a child, and it would take me all night to go any other way."

"Here," Sirius said, "take my motorcycle. We can enlarge it for you. It goes fast, so you'll be there in no time." He carried little Harry out to the motorcycle and enlarged it. Hagrid climbed onto it and figured out how to make it work.

Sirius looked at Harry again. "I'll come get you. As soon as I can, I'll be there. I won't leave you with those muggles. I'll come for you. I promise." He kissed the baby on the head and then handed him to Hagrid, who zoomed off on the motorcycle.

James felt himself being pulled up, and then he was back in the office. His dad was back in the closet. "He never came for you, did he?" His dad didn't answer.

Notes: I know that it was more Lily than James that saved Harry, but I thought James could use some hero time as well. I fudged it a bit from the story that we know, but it must have happened something like that. And I had to write about Sirius. HAD TO! I love Snuffles and it makes me so sad when I can't write about him. I know some of you might wonder, where'd Harry get a memory from Sirius coming to the house before Dumbledore got there when Sirius is insert correct word here and Harry was too young to remember? We'll just say it came from Dumbledore. I did say in the last story (or the one before that) that Dumbledore left Harry a certain amount of memories, so we'll say it was amongst them.