Chapter 1

"Aaand here comes the Snitch-!" James grinned as Harry obediently opened his mouth to accept the final spoonful of his mushy dinner. Lily, gathering up the other plates from the table, just rolled her eyes with a small smile. If anyone dared to doubt that her husband was already grooming their one year old son to become a fantastic Quidditch player, all they had to do was sit in on one of the family's meals to be shown the error of their ways. Sirius thought it was great, while Remus shared Lily's exasperation.

"I'm surprised, James," the man looked up at her teasing tone. "That you seem to be making ample use of the Snitch and Quaffle, but not the Bludgers! Surely our toddler needs to learn what all of the balls are, right?"

"Oh, ha ha." He deadpanned. "Go ahead, insult the only one of us who manages to get Harry to eat his vegetables."

"I wouldn't dream of doing such a thing." The pair got into a staring contest that lasted all of ten seconds before they both broke down giggling. Harry looked back and forth between his parents, wide eyed, until the infant lost interest and instead grabbed at the nearby mop of black hair.

"Ouch!" James yelped, carefully disentangling chubby fingers from his messy locks.

"About time he does that to you too." Lily said primly, taking the opportunity to Summon the last of the dirty dishes to the sink. She then walked back over to the pair and scooped Harry up into her arms, setting her wand down on the table in the process.

"Yeah, now I get why you never think it's as funny as the rest of us do," her husband said ruefully, rubbing at his abused scalp. Before they left the room, James cast the automatic cleaning charm on the pile in the sink, and then started to put his own wand next to Lily's.

Harry babbled something in baby-talk, reaching his hands out again and Summoning his father's wand.

"Whoa there!" Quickly, James got the tool away from the boy, tucking it into his pocket while Lily distracted the irritated Harry. "Heh, maybe we ought to send this kid off to Hogwarts already!"

"Not a chance." Lily tossed back, leading him through the living room towards the staircase. "We've got another ten years until that terrible day comes, and I plan to enjoy every minute of-"

Their alarm sounded.

Both the adult Potters froze, listening with horror as the wards reported a powerful intruder entering their yard.

"How?" Lily whispered, tightening her grip on Harry.

"They must have gotten to Peter-" a thunderous blast hit their back door's ward, and then James was shoving blindly at his wife. "Lily, it's him, go, get Harry out of here!" As soon as he was assured that the woman was racing for the stairs, James turned back to where their intruder was forcing his way inside.

It was, without a doubt, Voldemort himself.

"BOMBARDA!" James shouted, hurling enough magical energy at the evil man to demolish a small mountain. Laughing, Voldemort conjured a shield to absorb it.

"Avada Kedavra!" Instinctively, the instant the first syllable of the Killing Curse was uttered, James copied his son's earlier example and Summoned one of their heavy sitting chairs to the space just in front of him. Unfortunately, the strength of the Dark Lord's spell hitting it sent the piece of furniture flying back and into James.

The last thing he remembered before everything faded away was the distant sound of Lily screaming.

-OSS-

"...ame... ames... JAMES!" Hazel eyes snapped open, and James sat up so fast he nearly slammed his head into Sirius.

"What-?" He choked out, dazed and trying to remember what happened.

"You're alive, mate! I thought I'd lost you!" Sirius' grip on his shoulders helped James to ground himself, as the memories trickled in.

"Oh Merlin - Lily! Is she alright?"

"I don't know, James, I just got here and saw you lying on the floor-" Sirius was cut off as his best friend stumbled upright, heading for the stairs. "What happened? Who attacked?"

"Voldemort, he came in the front door- I told Lily to take Harry and go-" The rest of the words lodged in James' throat as he reached the second floor landing, and saw where the nursery door had been blasted off its hinges. "No... Please, Merlin, no!"

The sound of crying reached him.

"Harry!" James pelted headlong into the room, only to skid to a stop when he saw his wife lying motionless on the floor. "LILY!" For a time, no cohesive thought was able to form in the man's mind, only a storm of mingling emotions. He held Lily's body in his arms, sobbing and screaming by turns. Sirius had staggered past him, to pluck Harry from his crib and try and soothe the baby's wails.

Neither was aware how long they were there, couldn't do anything more that sit in their grief. Eventually, though, someone else arrived in the doorway of the nursery.

James looked up, spotted Severus Snape's devastated face, and saw red.

"YOU!"

Unsurprisingly, the man was promptly sent flying.

"James, wait-!" Sirius started to step after his friend, hesitated when he realized he was still holding Harry, then groaned and charged out anyway.

James had knocked Snape away first with a blasting spell, but then followed him out into the hall and proceeded to grapple with the Death Eater. Before Sirius could intervene, the two of them wound up rolling on down the staircase. He immediately followed, reaching the bottom of the steps just in time to see both mean hoisted up off the ground and held midair.

"What 'n Merlin's name is goin' on here?" Hagrid demanded, looking from Snape to James and back again.

"How dare you come here, you bastard-!"

"-asked him, Potter, I swear I tried to get him to spare her-"

"And yet she's still DEAD!" James roared, sending Snape into silence and himself into a slumped state. "Lily's dead..."

Harry whimpered.

Three heads whipped around to stare at him and Sirius, who took the opportunity to speak up. "Look, James, instead of trying to murder Snivellus as he undoubtedly deserves, we need to figure out what happened to Peter. I didn't see any signs of a struggle when I went to his house, but..."

"But nothing." James growled. "If Voldemort himself came here, then Peter must have sold us out." He suddenly paused, and paled. "What happened to Voldemort?"

"All I saw was a pile of charred robes on the floor."

"Hold yer hippogriffs-" Hagrid cut in, looking astonished as he set both James and Snape back on their feet. "Are- are ye sayin' that the blighter's dead?"

In the following silence, Harry whimpered again. That was when James' gaze finally landed on the red, zigzag line that adorned his son's forehead. He slowly stepped forward, and reached out to brush his finger over it. Harry's face scrunched up with pain and James instantly snatched his hand away.

"...I need to find Peter," he finally said. "Sirius, take Harry back to your flat and keep him safe for me. Hagrid, contact Dumbledore and get him here, see if he can figure out what the hell happened with Voldemort. And you," Snape flinched slightly from James' snarl. "Get the fuck out of my house."

Snape got out.

Hagrid shuffled off to do some illegal magic with his umbrella wand, and Sirius reluctantly grabbed up Harry's overnight bag from where it sat by the stairs before heading out to get on his motorbike. He watched with concern as James left ahead of him, decked out in full Auror gear and looking grimmer than Sirius had ever seen him.

Harry nudged his way into the folds of his godfather's jacket. Prompted, Sirius pulled out a proper blanket and wrapped it around the baby.

"C'mon, Prongslet," he murmured, starting up his bike's engine. "Let's get you out of the cold."

A/N: IMPORTANT NOTICE

This story is part of my HP Round Table Project. Every Thursday, I'm updating a different onf of seven Harry Potter AUs, so that over the course of seven weeks they all get a new chapter (since I have a history of losing inspiration and letting stuff sit stagnant for months at a time). After the first seven week period, I start over, but the order in which these stories are updated changes depending on what was the most popular during the previous chunk of time.

So, if you really like this or one of the others, be sure to let me know!

-Triscribe