Chapter 1: A brighter future

Lily

It was supposed to be the happiest times of our lives. I was married to James Potter, a man who I fell in love with in our teenaged years at an amazing school for our kind known as, Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. Together, we had a son named Harry James Potter. We had a house, great friends, and my husband was the second to the last living heir to the Potter Fortune. With James and I being magically gifted as a witch and wizard, it was almost as if we were living in our own little fairytale. If one would analyze our life by those standards, they'd believe we were set for life. But tragically, we weren't.

We were in hiding, from a very powerful Dark Wizard who was so frightening, so powerful, and so evil, the wizarding community were, as a whole, terrified to speak his name. So in fear, they substituted it as He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named or You-Know-Who. It was common for his followers, who were known as Death Eaters, to refer to him as The Dark Lord or Master. His birth name was Tom Marvolo Riddle, but no one dared speak that name either. The name that we all feared, was known as Voldemort. The only person that I knew that called him by that name without fear, was Albus Dumbledore, our headmaster at Hogwarts. James and I, along with several of our friends were few who opposed the Dark Wizard openly. We were apart of an order known as Order of The Phoenix, Albus was the leader of the said order. The reason we were being hunted by the dark wizard was simple. Albus had witnessed the telling of a prophecy that was said to be the only chance the wizarding world had against the dark lord. Voldemort, marked Harry as the Child, openly announcing it, even though there was one other child who had been born the same day as Harry, Neville Longbottom. But he chose my baby boy. It did not mean I wished harm on Frank and Alice's child. But I constantly wondered why my child was given this fate.

There was a spell that was put on our residence that made it invisible, intangible, unplottable, and unreachable by anyone who was not the Primary or Secret Keeper. There was only one person who could divulge the information to where we were and that was a friend named Peter Pettigrew, even if it was common knowledge that Sirius Black, my little boy's Godfather, James' best friend. Everyone believed that Sirius Black was the Secret-Keeper, which he had no problem being the decoy due to his protectiveness over us and our close friends. Life in the quaint and cozy Potter Cottage was actually enjoyable, if it wasn't for the fact we were being hunted.

James didn't want me to leave the property, due to the fear of losing me or Harry. He was the sole provider of our family, taking a great risk to go out into the open of Godric's Hollow to meet with Sirius, Peter, or our other friend Remus Lupin for updates on the war. Remus was having about as much of a tough time as we were only he was under scrutiny for being a Werewolf. He was a good man, but his condition left him unable to get a job and was forced to be considered a "half-breed". Out of the kindness of our hearts, James and I agreed that he would be our financial assistant so that he could have something to live off of and to deliver us money from Gringotts, a wizard bank run by goblins. We were all really working together at that point. Sirius was protecting us by being a decoy Secret-Keeper, Remus was delivering us money so we could go and buy groceries to feed our family while also having money for him to have a roof over his head, and Peter was keeping his head low and was the actual secret keeper. It was a symbiotic relationship that we were all in.

James was highly cautious when he ventured out into Godric's Hollow for groceries or diapers for Harry. I would continue to watch on from the front yard, sometimes with Harry, sometimes with him asleep or occupied in the house. James would always borrow a cart from the local grocer just to get everything in one outing. I couldn't deny that being secluded from the outside world was taxing on us. We were constantly on guard, even if we were as safe as we could get. When we were out in our thirty acre back yard, we constantly looked over our shoulders for danger. When we slept, we slept with one eye open and closely monitored our baby boy. I loved my family. I loved them with all my heart. To save my son and my husband, I'd give my life without a second thought, and that was a fact reciprocated by James. I couldn't recall how many times I cried myself to sleep with James' arms around me because of the danger we were in.

We had made it for several months, having little contact with the outside world save weekly visits from Remus who personally delivered our mail, which was mostly from Sirius or my sister Petunia. Peter had grown distant, which James found slightly odd, while I felt bad for him. Having such a huge responsibility was probably taxing on him just as it was for us. Peter was the least brave of his friends, but he took on the responsibility as Secret Keeper with a courage and loyalty to James.

It was the morning of Halloween. Harry was of course, up before we were. It had took him almost a year, but he had finally gotten used to a sleep schedule. I woke up hair a mess. I looked over to see James was still asleep, because last night was his turn to change and check up on Harry throughout the night. I moved to the bathroom to get a bath. Afterwards, when I was dressed decently, I checked on Harry who was in his crib playing with a plush baby wolf toy. He immediately looked at me as I approached smiling with a half toothless smile.

"Whatchoo doing?" I asked him as I got closer. Being his mother, I always spoke to him in the most loving tone I could. He was my only child, half of my whole world, my little prince. I loved him so much, mere words could not describe it.

"Play!" He said with a smile that melted my heart. "Toy."

"I see that," I said smiling and picking him up and his plush wolf. I walked into the kitchen and put Harry on a mat where he played while I was busy. He was content to give his plush wolf commands by pointing. The toy would walk or float to the desired location. I began to cook breakfast, casting charms to begin the process. I casted a fire starting charm on our cast iron stove and started making dishware I would need to float to their desired positions. Some moved over the flames of the charmed fires on the cast iron stove, while others moved to countertops for use. Wisks, measuring cups, and everything used for cooking began to float around. When I felt everything was out that I would need, I began charming ingredients. I admit that using magic for cooking was probably lazy to muggles, if the knew about this type of deal, but to my kind I was a talented house mother. Casting Charms was one of my specialties. Professor Flitwick, the Hogwart's Charm's instructor was rather impressed by my degree of knowledge and skill in such matters.

Nearly thirty minutes later, James had awoken and came in, wearing warm clothing. He rubbed his eyes under his glasses before giving us a rough vocalization that went like, "grmornin'"

I laughed. "Good morning dear," I said.

"Daddy!" Harry spoke immediately recognizing that his father had walked in the room. The boy always recognized his father's grizzly bear sounding morning voice. The sound of our son's innocent call for attention was enough to wake James up.

"Hey kiddo," James said picking up his son, "How's my little trooper doing?"

"Play!" Harry responded, earning a laugh from his father while I smiled.

"No," I said in the motherly tone someone would have for a toddler, "it's time for bite, bite."

"Bite, bite!" Harry said raising his hands. Bite, bite was the only way Harry understood that it was time to eat. He actually came up with the words on his own after hearing James say it one time after we were in a conversation during dinner one night. The thing about Harry was, he was smart for his age. I remembered him figuring out that Padfoot was Sirius. He called him Pudfoot in both human and his animagus form as well as Surus. I bet he would be a Ravenclaw or Gryffindor. I'd be okay with Hufflepuff too. I highly doubted he'd be in Slytherin because he was just too happy of a baby to be a sneaky snake.

"Okay," James said putting him in a high chair, "bite, bite time." I fixed Harry some eggs and bits of sausage, which his dad fed him. After we had all ate, I charmed all of the dishes to clean themselves and put themselves away.

The rest of the day consisted us listening to the WWN (Wizarding Wireless Network) and playing with Harry. Everything was fine and it was just another day for us. Though I wanted to cook something for Halloween, I decided against it. Instead, we would continue to hope that we would stay hidden. We were putting our faith in Peter.

I hoped it wouldn't be too long before something was done about Voldemort. We didn't want to be in hiding forever. Hopefully, Dumbledore or someone else could finish him off, regardless of a stupid prophecy.

I wanted to see Harry grow up and make new friends, learn magic, and live an ordinary wizarding life with his own family. I wanted to see the excitement in his eyes when he could cast his first spell. I wanted to see him grow up without any worries of someone trying to murder him. It was all wishful thinking.

It was a quiet night. We wouldn't have suspected it to happen if alarms hadn't been triggered. In addition to the Fidelius charm, we had an intruder charm set directly for anyone who wasn't a Marauder or Dumbledore. My heart skipped a beat as fear started to overwhelm me. James and I looked at each other immediately. With us being on the floor playing with Harry and his toys, Harry being between us, we were in a very vulnerable state.

The front door opened in front of us immediately and a cloaked figure stepped through. I could see his dreadful gaze as he stepped into the room. His face was altered, looking similar to a reptilian, his eyes red and his skin white and leathery. Fear came over me as he pulled out his wand.

"Lily run!" James said, "Take Harry and run!" Before I could pick up Harry and James could grab his wand, Voldemort raised his wand.

"Avada Kedavra!" The dark wizard yelled aiming the curse at Harry. James got in front of us. But the green curse bolt stopped about halfway between us and Voldemort.

"NO!" I heard the sounds of Harry's screams. Harry was suddenly ripped from my arms as James and I were knocked back to the sides of the room with Harry floating in the middle like some sort of enigma. "GO AWAY!" I was in complete and utter shock. How was this possible? The bolt continued its path and hit Harry with a clean headshot.

"No!" James yelled in despair.

"Harry!" I screamed.

The killing curse hit the little boy, only it didn't do anything. Voldemort stopped all motion with the exception of throwing his hood off in fury.

"What!?" He growled. Harry was still alive.

Harry held his forehead with both his hands. "Owieee," He uttered with a cry, then looked at the dark wizard. "Bad!" I couldn't take my eyes off of him as the room got silent. A bright green flash exploded outwards in Voldemort's general direction. Anything around Voldemort was completely obliterated as everything in the green energy's path was sent in the same direction of the blast. The green light was so blinding, I had to cover my eyes.

When I did open them, James' eyes and mine met before we looked at our son who was asleep on the ground right where we were before any of this happened. Voldemort was gone as well as most of the front half of the living room and the front gate and partially the street. I ran up to Harry and wrapped him in my arms crying. He was still breathing. James held us both tightly trembling more so than I was.

….

James

My worst fear had been realized when Voldemort had been the one to cross that intruder charm and opened our door. I actually was prepared for death when I jumped in front of my family to protect them. But I wasn't expecting for a killing curse to stop right in front of us like time had been halted and to be flung to the side, along with my wife, by our infant son who took on the curse without any second thoughts. I thought he was dead, but he held his head like he was flicked with something small and insignificant. It took me a moment to process that my little boy had saved our lives and just absorbed a killing curse like it was nothing. When he screamed back at the Dark Lord, his voice carried as well as a rebounding curse that seemed to be magnified several times over and directly aimed in Voldemort's general direction.

The damage had been done, and Voldemort was obliterated. But my son, my wife, and I were still alive. I held the two in my arms as my wife cried in relief. I struggled to keep my composure, but it was difficult. "It's okay," I said trying to reassure Lily, "He's gone."

"I know," Lily said sniffling, "I just can't believe it. Harry…." She trailed off.

"I know," I agreed. It was unbelievable. But I heard something coming from where Voldemort was. In his place, though disconfigured, was a mangled version of Voldemort with a faint outline of green energy. Lily screamed, immediately terrified.

"You think your little brat can defeat me that easily!?" It said in a raspy voice, "You have merely delayed the inevitable. I will be back Potters. And the day it happens, you and your son will be extinguished forever!"

"Depulso!" A familiar voice yelled out. The mangled dark lord turned into billowing smoke, which in turned moved as a single entity out of the building through an open window. Albus Dumbledore was standing in the gates of our front yard.

"Professor Dumbledore," I said in relief.

"My dear friends," He spoke, "Are you three okay?"

"Yes sir," I said looking back at my family, "we are." Soon after, Padfoot and Moony apparated on the outskirts of the ward behind Dumbledore.

"Oh thank god," Moony spoke in relief.

"Prongs, Lily," Padfoot said, "You're okay."

"What have you done Sirius!?" Moony yelled turning on Padfoot.

"What!?" Padfoot questioned, "What are you talking about Moony?"

"You sold them out!?" Moony demanded ready to fire on Padfoot.

"Sirius….." Dumbledore spoke with apprehension, "Why? Why have you betrayed them?"

"I did no such thing!" Padfoot exclaimed, "Wormtail! Peter was the Secret Keeper!" The argument snapped me from my state of shock. The accusation surprised Moony and Dumbledore.

"It's….true," I spoke up in disbelief, everyone looking at me, "Wormtail was…..the secret keeper." One of my best friends who was also one of my groomsmen in my wedding, had betrayed us. He sold us out. "He's the only one who….." I couldn't finish. This betrayal; it had taken a toll on me along with recent events.

"That bloody rat!" Padfoot yelled in immediate fury, "How could he!? How could he betray you two to that…...evil….." He tried to calm himself down. "We have to find Pettigrew and make him pay."

"Calm down Sirius," Dumbledore spoke, "We must keep a level head. Justice will be served. I will alert the Aurors immediately."

"By that time Pettigrew can escape!" Padfoot argued.

"Sirius," Lily spoke up for the first time after wiping the tears away from her face, "Don't do anything reckless." He calmed down a bit as he always had a soft spot for Lily's logic, even if it annoyed him a lot. "The last thing we need is for you to find him and he finds a way to blame you for something you didn't do."

"She's right Sirius," Moony spoke, "Peter has always tried to pass blame on others if he wasn't doing something with you or James. Now that he's been caught, there's no telling what he would do to stay out of trouble."

The thought stirred for a while within Sirius who finally gave in. "Very well…..But don't think for a minute I like this decision."

The group was interrupted by a crying baby. "There there," Lily said rocking her child in her arms, "It's okay."

Harry continued to cry before words could finally be legible in between cries. "Lon-long-bottoms-bad-people-hurt."

"Longbottom?" I asked.

"Shh," Lily said comforting our child, "It'll be okay." It took a moment, but Harry finally fell back asleep.

"Professor!" Lily said, "Harry…...I…..I don't know how to explain it. But…...maybe we should check up on Frank and Alice. You won't believe what Harry did earlier, but he's smart. He knows Voldemort's followers could go after them."

"I will see to it that they are significantly guarded my dear," Dumbledore spoke, "Fawkes?" An explosion of fire and Dumbledore's trademark familiar appeared. "Alert the Aurors of what has transpired." He conjured up a letter for him. "Get this straight to the Auror's office." The Phoenix nodded before taking the letter in its beak and flying off. It burst into flames in the distance. Dumbledore then turned to look at us. "Now…..what happened. How was Voldemort's body destroyed? I surmised that I banished Voldemort's spirit? It is unclear what that was at the moment."

I wondered how I could explain what Lily and I witnessed to them without mucking up the explanation. Then I remembered my father had a Pensieve. "You're not going to believe this," I spoke, "It's hard to explain so we'll just use the Pensieve upstairs."

Lily put Harry to bed before joining us. I extracted my memory of what had happened and allowed Dumbledore and my two friends to view the memory starting from around a minute before the alarms for the intruder charm went off. The memory ended when Professor Dumbledore banished Voldemort's non-corporeal form.

"I believe that what I had banished was Voldemort's very soul," Dumbledore spoke, "Somehow, he has obtained an understanding of dark magic that allows him to freely attach and detach his soul to a suitable living being."

"So he's still out there," Moony asked.

"Yes," Albus spoke, "He still is. But I believe that he was hanging on by a thread. As such, it may be a while before he returns….if he does."

"So we have a limited amount of time right?" Padfoot asked, "And Harry's the only one who can stop him?"

"I'm afraid so," Dumbledore spoke, "Lily. James. I am terribly sorry for your son's future. I wish there was another way. But if anything events so far have proven that Harry is the only one capable of combatting the dark lord. I wish it was not so."

Lily just nodded. "I understand professor," She spoke, "Harry has so much to bear while he's growing up."

"It's going to be unfair for him," I said frowning, "He's barely even one year old and he's already vanquished a dark wizard. There is too much expected of him."

"That is why the load must be lifted," Albus said, "Even if mildly. He needs to be prepared….as much as we want it to happen, he can't grow up being a normal Wizard. Once word gets out that he destroyed Voldemort, there will be peace, for a while at least."

"So what should we do?" I asked him.

"I'm not sure how to proceed," Albus spoke, "But…." Something thundered in the sky. A storm brewed out of nowhere. The group walked outside to see what was going on. We were in the eye of a thunderstorm that seemed to brew out of nowhere. Lightning crackled all over the sky. On this night, a heavenly light shined from above.

Billowing golden smoke appeared in the form of a humanoid that changed every so often into different creatures. "The Prophecy involving your child has begun in earnest. The path to defeating Voldemort will be difficult, even more difficult than one could imagine. I am here to offer advice. To defeat Voldemort and his armies that will rise, wizardry in general will have to advance, methods of teaching will have to evolve, and embracing a lot of customs or skillsets of whom you refer to as muggles is encouraged. Any asset to the future of Wizardkind is encouraged. What you see before you is a rare product of prophetic magic. It is unlikely that I cannot message you anymore. As for who I am. I am an entity of Order, speaking from the Beacon of the Mystic Arts. Harry James Potter has innate magical abilities such as divination, the ability to use wandless magic, and much more magic than your kind is used to. But do not let him consume himself in preparation, sociability is the key to defeating a Dark Lord. His magical education of Wizardkind is important, but he will need further instruction. As such I will send envoys to aid him in instruction. Do not take my words in vain and I wish you the best of luck for a brighter future."

With that, the billowing smoke disappeared along with a dimming golden light and the thunderstorm. It was a lot to take in. Everyone stared at each other in shocked silence. Two major events had unfolded today. The first is that an infant had defeated the loathsome Lord Voldemort and saved his parents, while the second was a strange anomaly of a message from the future to encourage a better future.

"Bloody Hell," Padfoot spoke aloud, "What was that?"

"No idea," I answered.

"I believe…" Dumbledore spoke after pondering for a moment, "We just witnessed a message from the great Doctor Fate."

"The esteemed Mystic who was part of the Justice Guild of America?" Moony asked.

"You'd think he would be careful revealing himself to the muggles." Padfoot spoke with an annoyed look.

"Doctor Fate is not bound by the International Statute of Wizardry Secrecy," Professor Dumbledore answered, "But he, like many in the Justice Guild, have sworn to keep Wizarding-kind a secret, so long as we do not allow ourselves to be revealed and operate under fair laws. But enough about that my friends. It has been a rough night for all of us. We'll have to inform the Order and the Ministry of tonight's transgressions, with the exception of Doctor Fate's message."

I looked at Lily pondering what kind of future our son would have. He wouldn't get to have a normal Wizarding childhood. We'd have to find a way to train him to be better than any other wizard out there. But was the cost of a good childhood worth the price of a tougher training regime? It was an answer I didn't want to know.

...

First Chapter complete. Remember that though the series primary focuses on Harry Potter's franchise, it does have a crossover with multiple other franchises as part of the combined universe of Threads of the Convergence.