Disclaimer: All the characters in this story belong to JK Rowling, and I have no rights to Harry Potter.

THE BOY WHO LIVED

Date: 1 November, 1981.

Location: Potter Family Estate, England.

Mr. and Mrs. Potter could say they were not an average couple, thank you very much. They did not live in a manufactured home in a brand-new housing development, with a number on the front lawn to distinguish it from all the other identical manufactured houses. In fact, they had the opposite.

Mr. Potter was a tall, gangly man with spectacles and an easy smile. Mrs. Potter was a tall, graceful woman, with long, red hair and brilliant green eyes. Her smile was as frequent as her husband's, and her laughter was louder. The Potters had a small son called Harry and, in their opinion, there was no finer boy.

The Potters had everything they wanted, but they also had a deep, dark secret.

James and Lily Potter were madly in love, and had been since their fifth year in Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. They were among the best in their year, earning the respect of their fellow peers and their teachers as they left the school. They married the weekend after they graduated and joined the elite Auror Corps to play their part in the fight against the Death Eaters, a terrorist organisation, led by a man named Voldemort.

They were the youngest Aurors in the Corps, but they were by no means their weak link. They had faced Voldemort in combat four times, and came out victorious in all four instances.

The fourth time they fought, Voldemort had attacked the Potters in the house they were in, where James and Lily had fought him to a stalemate. A Blasting Curse cast by Lily collided with another spell Voldemort cast, creating a giant crater in the living room.

Voldemort recovered first, and cast the undefendable Killing Curse on Harry, who was standing on his crib in the next room.

James, Lily and Harry Potter woke up sometime later in a house turned to rubble, with Harry alive and well, with only a lightning-bolt shaped scar embedded in his forehead: evidence that Harry had done the impossible. Their baby had survived a curse meant to kill, a curse one could only dodge, and which had no known magical defence.

Word spread rather quickly, by mouth and owl post, of a boy who lived.

When the dust had settled, the Healers had looked over their baby, and the Department of Magical Law Enforcement had confirmed the death of Voldemort, Lily sat down in the dining room of their old home, the Potter family estate, and read a letter, one they had composed for Harry to read on his eleventh birthday in the unfortunate event they died fighting the Death Eaters.

Dear Harry,

If you are reading this letter, it means that we are no longer with you, and for that, we are very, very sorry. Our greatest wish was to watch you grow up, to see the person you would become, but sometimes fate has other plans.

We want to you to know, above all else, that you were loved beyond measure from the moment you came into our lives. You were our light in the darkest of times, our reason to keep fighting, and the apple of our eyes.

You may have questions, now that you're eleven, about who we are, and about the world you have been brought into. Know that you come from a long line of brave and noble witches and wizards, but also know that your family is not defined by blood alone. Love, kindness and courage are the true markers of a Potter, and we have no doubt that you will embody these quantities in abundance.

As you journey through life, know that we will always be with you in spirit. Look to the stars, Harry, and remember that no matter how far apart we may seem, we are connected by love that transcends even death itself.

Take care of yourself, Harry. Be kind, be brave, and never forget the power of love.

All of our love,

Mum and Dad.

Lily let out a breath she didn't realize she had been holding. She had meant to deliver this letter to Frank and Alice in a couple of days, and she was immensely relieved that Harry didn't have to read this, and that he had parents growing up.

She also wanted to talk to Frank and Alice, but that was a problem for another day. Not when they were so tired, not when they had just returned home.

Lily crushed the piece of paper the letter was written in and threw it into the dying embers of the fireplace as she made her way to the nursery.

Harry was in his crib, turning fitfully in his sleep. James was sprawled in a chair, head lolling to one side, glasses askew, and a bit of drool just beginning to drip from the side of his mouth.

Lily leaned over the edge of the crib and whispered quietly to soothe her baby. James stirred in his sleep, and Lily moved to give him a gentle kiss on the forehead. She gently pried the wand from his tightly clenched fist and rested it on the table next to him.

"I'm not letting it go," he'd said to her that morning. "Never again."

"You'll have to eventually," she'd said with a genuine smile, but she knew what he meant. She, too, felt a deep panic she wasn't sure would ever go away. No matter what happened, no matter how much time had passed, she knew that her fear over Harry would stay lodged in her heart, like a stone that had fallen to the bottom of a lake. It might be smoothed over time, it might be buried by sand, but it would always be there.

She tucked a heavy blanket over James – it was November, after all, and he was bound to get cold in the middle of the night.

Lily went to the master bedroom upstairs and changed into her nightclothes. She sat down on the bed, looking around the large, empty room. They had packed up so many things, and unpacking them once more seemed to be a mountainous task. She looked at the large, empty bed. Sleeping alone seemed like a mountainous task all on its own.

So, she grabbed as many pillows as she could carry and took them into her baby's room. She piled the pillows up on the floor, pulled a blanket over herself and fell asleep, wand clutched tightly in hand.

Author's Notes: This was first written sometime in the summer of 2023, when I read AidanChase's incredible "Harry Potter: Everyone Lives AU". You can call this series of stories my version of that story, but I have changed quite a few things in the story, as I had a few qualms with that fic.

I had no intention for posting this, until I was encouraged by a few friends to do so. This is my first story on the site, so constructive criticism is welcome.

To read the original series of stories that inspired this, search for "Harry Potter: Everyone Lives AU" and you will get the AO3 link for the entire series.