Chapter 1: Greater Love Hath No Parent Than This

The front door to the little cottage in Godric's Hollow exploded inward with the force of a bomb, the structure getting completely blasted off its hinges. James and Lily Potter were startled by the intrusion enough to come dashing into the foyer. When James saw who was coming in through the haze of smoke, his eyes went huge and he dove for his wand in the pocket of his jeans.

"Lily, it's HIM! Take Harry and GO! I'll hold him off!" He quickly blocked a hex that came his way from the Dark Lord, engaging and firing back a wicked Stunner, covering his wife enough for her to turn the corner and run up the back stairs. Taking the steps to at a time, she ducked as Voldemort fired curses at her, whipping out her wand and popping off a few hexes herself as she burst onto the landing, which ran lengthwise like a balcony as she sprinted on towards the baby's room. Behind her, she could hear her husband roaring in outrage as he bravely pressed the advance.

Slamming the door to her son's nursery behind her and locking it (despite full well knowing that would be useless against the Dark Lord's power alone), Lily warded the door with protection charms for good measure before dashing over to her son's crib. The home invasion had woken Harry up, and he was wailing.

"Ssssh….. sssssh….. Harry, it's OK….. Be strong now….. Mummy loves you….. Daddy loves you…. Come on, we're going to get out of here…." Edging to the window, she unlatched it, lifting the pane and throwing open the sash. Slowly, she edged herself onto the small patch of roof just below her son's window. The fall air bit into her skin.

Lily peered over the edge of the rain gutter nervously. She could drop down to the ground, cushioning her fall with magic, though the drop was not high enough that she could make the leap without the aid of protective spells.

The issue was, she and her son would be landing on the ground just ahead of their front door, on the walk leading up to it. She could try a Silencing Charm to muffle their escape, but would Voldemort sense her fleeing anyway and fire the Killing Curse at them both as they tried to run? Would she be able to Disapparate faster than the Dark Lord could cast this Unforgivable? Lily wasn't sure, but she would have to try.

Before she and the baby could jump, however, there came a roar from downstairs. Lily whipped her head back, her red hair twisting about like tongues of flame, biting her lip in terror. That scream sounded like it came from her husband.

She made her decision, even if a part of her was aware that it was mad. She crossed the nursery in seconds, threw open the door, and charged onto the balcony landing, Harry cradled in her arms.

James was hunched, doubled over, near the bottom of the stair landing. A hooded Voldemort was slowly advancing towards his subdued, but not quite eliminated, adversary, when his blood red eyes sensed Lily's presence and he lifted his head. Lily couldn't see the monster's face – just his irises glowing.

"Ah, excellent. Thank you, my dear, for being so accommodating. Now, if you would give me the child…."

"NO!" Lily screamed, tears of outrage threatening. "I won't let you!"

"Now, now, Lillian, there is nothing to be done about it. If you would prefer to drop him down to me, I will see to it that it is quick and painless. I shall even leave you and your husband alive. My quarrel is not with you."

Lily didn't believe his accommodating – not for a second. After all, she and her husband had already thrice defied the tyrant. She would gladly go to her death having spit in his eye a fourth time.

When she didn't move, glowering down at Voldemort obstinately, the dark wizard sighed and drew his wand. "I dare not ask again. Stand aside, woman!"

"No….." Lily growled out. "Do your worst."

Voldemort let out another huff of a breath. "Very well, then."

He blasted a Rictusempra hex so ferocious that Lily was blasted back with enough force to nearly flip her over the balcony railing. Certainly, the purple flash was powerful enough to dislodge her son from her grasp, tossing the bundle high into the air.

"HARRY!"

Time slowed down as the bundle that carried her little boy gained loft in a high arc before gravity began to claim it, sending the helpless child down towards the sadist. Grinning in triumph, Voldemort aimed his wand at the moving target.

"AVADA KEDAVRA!"

"NO!" There was a flash of green light, blinding the occupants of the house momentarily. Even as spots danced behind his vision, James nonetheless charged at an armed combatant and hurled his body into a wild dive. By some miracle, he caught the bundle that carried his only son the same way a Muggle linebacker catches a football, slamming onto his stomach nearly at the Dark Lord's feet.

The spectacled man glanced up by slow degrees, expecting for the last thing he saw to be the end of Voldemort's wand pointed in his face, ready for the kill. To his astonishment, however, the Dark Lord was now staggering back, clutching at himself as if injured, even mortally.

There was a scream, yet another flash of light, this time white in color. And when it faded, Voldemort had vanished, as if into thin air.

With a groan, Lily stirred, coming to. Peering over the railing, she saw her family sprawled on the floor of the foyer; heart in her mouth, she pelted down to them.

"JAMES!"

Her husband pushed himself onto his knees, then staggered to his feet. Holding their baby between them, the couple dug through the swaddling clothes, holding their breath even as they knew there was no hope – the bolt of green had hit the infant square on.

To their amazement, they found their son not only alive, but sleeping. The only marring to his perfect little body was an etch in his forehead, shaped like a bolt of lightning. A scar, as a permanent reminder of what he – and his parents – had endured and all survived this Halloween night.

The Aurors were combing throughout the Potter residence in Godric's Hollow. Head Auror Mad Eye Moody approached Lily while his deputies were in the midst of taking down James' statement. The young mother was seated on her couch, rocking Harry, dazed to the point of seeming catatonic.

"The little bairn all right?"

Glancing up at the grizzled Auror, Lily nodded dumbly.

"You're lucky to be alive, Lillian."

"We all are," James sighed tiredly, crossing over to the couch and collapsing onto it, tucking his wife gratefully into his side. The parents gazed down at their son from where he was now held between them with shaky smiles.

"There will be stories written about you lot," Moody warned them. "By the time that one reaches Hogwarts' age, there won't be a child in our world who doesn't know his name. Or doesn't know yours, for that matter. You be sure to raise that lad with pride, but keep him humble.

Smiling weakly, James slung an arm over his wife's shoulder. "We will, Mad Eye!"

Moody nodded, then clopped with his walking stick around the corner into the foyer and out of sight. James and Lily Potter both stared after him.

"We will….."