DISCLAIMER: All characters and references belonging to Harry Potter belong to JK Rowling. I have only borrowed them for the mutual pleasure of fans and myself. I am making no money off this project.

WARNINGS: M due to character death, violence, and future events of violence and foul language. This is a Lily!Lives, LilyxSeverus(though there will be little focus on this) Slytherin!Harry story

Prologue

31st October 1984

"Get it Neville!" A small boy yelled, his vibrant green eyes following the toy that flew above the children. "Get it or we don't get candy!"

At the mention of candy, the other boy jumped into the air, attempting to get his small hands around the flying plush bat. The toy jerked sideways as the boy swiped it, but flapped its wings harder and flew higher towards the ceiling.

"Harry, Neville, not so loud," A red haired woman said, carrying a small girl on her hip as she walked into the room.

"But Uncle Sirius said we could have candy if we caught the bat!" Harry replied. She could almost hear the whine in the boy's voice as he launched himself off a couch, nearly landing face first onto a wooden table.

The woman pulled a wand from her pocket, throwing a cushioning charm at the table right as her son tumbled into it.

"Harry James Potter," She said sternly, setting the two year old on her feet and walked to her son.

Both Neville and Harry stopped, Harry looked above his glasses as his mother approached.

"What have I told you about running around the house?" She said, kneeling in front of the boy and putting her hands on his shoulders. "And it's not even our house." She admonished.

She turned to the other boy in the room, and he sheepishly smiled at her. "Neville, you know better too."

"Mum..." Harry blushed, looking over to his friend. "You're not supposed to tell him off..."

"Neville! Harry!" A trio of red haired boys ran into the room. The youngest, Ron Weasley, shoved two liquorice wands into the other boy's hands quickly. "There!" He said breathlessly, turning to the two identical boys. "Now you can't have them cuz they do."

Lily stood and smiled at the growing group of children and walked to her daughter. "Let's go find Ginny," She said to the little girl, who grinned up at her mother and grabbed her hand. "Ya!"

Harry waited while his mother and sister left, biting his lip.

"Well," One of the twins said. He was wearing an orange shirt, while the other boy wore black. "Wanna go scare the girls?" They said together.

Ron looked hesitant, as did Neville. "Mum would be angry," The younger red head said.

"It's Halloween." Harry grinned. "We have to."

Fred, George and Harry ran off, nearly knocking Percy over as they shot through the kitchen and into the garden.

Neville followed slowly, and Ron put his head down, hoping his mother wouldn't ask what they were doing.

Harry and the twins hid behind a bush as the other two boys led the two girls into the well-lit garden.

Ginny patted a jack-o-lantern with gusto. The face, in turn, grimaced and inched sideways away from her tiny (but powerful) little hand.

"I saw kitties over there," Ron told the two red haired girls and pointed to the darker side of the garden.

Danielle, the more timid of the two, shook her head. "Scary..." she whispered in her limited vocabulary.

Ginny shook her head and grabbed the other girl's hand and pulled her over. "Kitty?" She called, looking for the cute animal. "Kitty?"

Harry snickered, his hand covering his mouth, as he waited.

"Ready?" Fred (the one wearing the black shirt) said, and the little raven-haired boy nodded.

"BOO!" All three boys yelled, jumping from behind the bush and chasing the two little girls.

Danielle started crying, falling onto her bottom and wailed loudly. The other girl, scared at first, saw her friend crying and looked at her brothers. She kicked George in the shin as hard as she could.

At the sound of Danielle crying, most of the adults ran outside.

Harry watched as both his parents hurried over to his sister and his father picked her up.

He turned and started sneaking away, only for someone to lift him quickly into the air.

"Now, now." Remus said, eyebrow raised as he settled the four year old on his hip. "What do we have here?"

Harry looked down, pushing his glasses up on his nose, as he buried his head into Remus' shoulder. He knew he was in trouble.

A loud explosion blew up a tree in the back of the garden.

At first, the children looked around, confused and surprised.

The adults, however, acted immediately.

Charlie grabbed the twin's hands, yanking them into the house, while Lily, Remus, Alice and Molly collected the rest of the children and rushed inside.

The sounds of dueling wizards erupted into a full battle.

"Take them into the basement," Alice said, handing Neville off to the eldest Weasley boy before pulling her wand out. She stayed at the top of the stairway as the rest made their way down into the cellar.

Remus sat Harry onto the ground. "I'm going back out," He said, fear coating his words as he climbed the stair, wand already in his hand.

"Molly, I can't leave them up there," Lily said. Before she made her way to the first step, the other witch grabbed her arm. "You can't, Lily." She said softly, her eyes darting to the younger witch's stomach and back.

"We can't just leave them to fight alone." Lily whispered back. "Especially with all our children down here..."

Molly's eyes fell onto the little ones.

Bill sat beside his little sister, patting her back as the little girl wiped her eyes. She was terrified, but didn't want to show it.

Percy was whispering with the twins and Charlie.

Danielle clung to Neville's arm as Ron looked pale. He held Charlie's hand in a death grip.

Lily's eyes fell on her eldest son.

Harry's green eyes locked with his mother's. There was fear there, fear and obvious confusion.

"We have to protect them, Molly, at least until the Auror's get here. And if..." she choked on her words, a tear slipping down her cheek. "If that means that something bad happens, then we have to take that chance.

Can you imagine what those people would do to them?" Lily asked, motioning to the young children in the corner of the small room.

Molly sighed, nodding her head. "Bill, Charlie," She said, calling her eldest boys over.

The pair hurried to their mother.

"Now you know I wouldn't ask you to do this if it wasn't important, but I need you to use your wands. Protect your sister and brothers. You need to protect all the little ones until we come back. Can you do that?"

Molly's heart broke as both the boys nodded their heads. They were too young for this, too young to take on such responsibility, but there wasn't any other option.

"Use any spells you can. Anything that you need to."

Both boys nodded again, and watched as the two adults left the room as well.

"Mum's gonna be ok," Bill whispered to his brother. "They'll all be ok... once the Auror's come..."

The house shook, and the angry voices and sounds of spells hitting walls grew closer.

"Protect the door!" James yelled, his voice echoing down the stairs.

Harry's heart beat rapidly.

Charlie and Bill backed up, stepping closer to the group of children.

The young green-eyed boy bolted towards the stairway, past the two protesting boys with wands.

He ran up the stairs and reached for the door handle, flinging the door open.

Harry looked past Alice's legs and spotted his parents dueling.

"Harry!" Neville's mother gasped, turning her head. "Get back downstairs, now!" She ordered.

There wasn't anger in her voice, only terror.

A bright green flash of light caused the boy to close his eyes.

There was a thump on the ground. The four year old opened his eyes and saw Alice lying on the ground, staring back at him.

"Hey," Harry said softly, shaking her shoulder. "What's wrong?" He asked.

"Harry," Charlie hissed, grabbing the younger boy's wrist.

He stopped and stared up into a woman's eyes.

She had messy black hair, and as she stepped over Alice's dead body, looked quite pleased with herself.

"Now here they are," She said in a singsong voice.

Chills went down both Harry and Charlie's spines.

The elder boy yanked the brunette down the stair, stumbling himself as they narrowly missed a hex.

"BILL!" Charlie screamed as he threw Harry sideways and aimed his wand a spell at the witch. He ducked, rolling onto the ground.

Bill aimed a stinging hex at the witch, who (surprised by the second boy with a wand) hadn't protected herself.

She turned sharply to the oldest child. "That's not nice," She said, her lips tight in a rigid smile. "I think I might have to punish you." Flicking her wand, Bill flew into the wall.

She looked around the room, as if measuring and sizing the children up.

Charlie gulped, but held his wand ready.

"I suppose I'll have to take you all." She pulled a long necklace chain from around her neck.

"We aren't going anywhere," Charlie said. He backed up a little.

"Oh, but you are." The woman replied. "The Dark Lord wants you."

As if he had been doused with ice water, Charlie's eyes widened. "No..."

"Now come here, or I'll torture the lot of you."

Bill groaned, pulling himself up and holding his hand on the back of his head. "Don't listen to her..."

She flicked her wand again, and Bill screamed, falling to the ground and convulsing in pain.

Harry launched himself from where he sat and wrapped his arms around her waist, biting her arm as hard as he could.

The taste of metal hit his tongue, the same taste he often got when he put one of his father's coins in his mouth.

The woman yelped, then yanked at her arm. "Let go you filthy little..." She didn't finish the sentence, though. Instead she threw the boy down and cast a curse at the child.

Harry screamed; intense pain washing over him, but it only lasted a moment. When he opened his eyes and looked over, she lay on the ground, unconscious.

"Down here," a man yelled as he ran to the children. "I have the last one..."

Harry looked up. Remus and Frank were behind the Auror's, both bloodied and disheveled looking.

The sounds of his sister and Ginny crying faded. He heard Charlie say something, but the words didn't register.

Darkness crept over the four year old as he slowly closed his eyes.

Before he fell completely into the warm embrace of nothingness, he heard someone whispering to him.

"You need to protect them, Harry. You need to stop him..."

Lily wasn't able to attend her own husband's funeral.

She lay abed in St. Mungos, unable to leave the room

She hadn't lost the baby, and for that she was thankful; but James would never know.

Sirius brought Harry and Dany in to see her a week into her stay.

Harry had seemed quiet, but her little girl was loud as usual. They stayed the entire day, but Sirius had to take them home.

Weeks flew by, and slowly Lily progressed, healthy enough to be released.

It wasn't long before she could do things in her own house, including taking care of her other two children.

She had attacks, though.

The first one had been terrifying.

She had just sat the children down for dinner.

"Harry, don't hide your vegetables," Lily said with a small smile. She handed Dany a small spoon and watched the little girl try to eat by herself.

It had started as a tingling in her fingers and toes. After the children took a short bath, and begged for several bedtime stories, she made her way to the couch in the family room.

Pain shot through her arms and legs. She didn't register collapsing on the couch, nor the screams she made.

A small hand gave her shoulder a shake. The pain intensified and she let a yelp out.

There was shuffling, and she felt warmth against her face from a fire. She heard a panicked voice, then a few hurried steps.

"Lily," a familiar voice said. A cold hand pressed against her forehead. She didn't respond, but cried softly.

Harry watched his mother.

Remus hadn't answered the floo. Harry tried Sirius, but he wasn't home either. He remembered that his mum had told him, in case of emergency, to floo her friend.

He had only met Mr. Snape a few times, and every time the man seemed angry at something.

The man had snapped at Harry when he saw the four year old's head poking through the fire, (how the child understood the concept of a floo call yet was beyond him) but once the boy had said his mum had fallen and was crying, he rushed through the floo.

Lily's body jerked. The man mumbled something and waved his wand over her.

She quieted.

"Go to your room." The man said sharply.

Harry opened his mouth, but closed it. He stood and slowly made his way out of the room.

A mediwitch from St. Mungos stayed in the Potter home the next day.

Severus watched with trepidation as Lily slept on her bed. Her breaths were shallow and pained, but still there.

Danielle's small feet padded against the floor as the little girl walked into her mother's room.

Severus looked at the little girl a moment, unsure what to do.

"Dany," Harry said softly, then walked past the seated man. He grabbed his sister's hand. "Mum needs sleep."

"Hungry." The two year old looked up at her brother.

"Come on," Harry pulled her hand and started towards the door.

"Wait," Severus said, finally finding his voice. He stood, hesitated a moment, then leaned over and picked the three year old up. "I'll make breakfast." He stated.

Harry watched the man walk from the room, who didn't wait for the boy.

Snape slowly became a part of their household, especially after Lily began having so many attacks.

The healers couldn't explain it, only that the lasting effect of the curse must have shorted her magic somehow.

They had to temporarily bind her magic, leaving her without protection.

Sirius and Remus offered to stay occasionally. There were awkward silences whenever Snape was in the room, but they came to a small understanding; when Lily was in the room there were even civil conversations.

Seven months after Evan was born, Lily and Severus married.

AN:

So this is my newest endeavor into the fanfiction community.

First off, I'd like to mention that this story is obviously AU, and is going to be just as violent (if not more so) than the original books.

Also, I'm a stickler for setting stories up properly (after my own previous works have failed so spectacularly) I prefer a well-written story to a quick intro... I am trying to maintain an interesting story though and not make it boring... bear with me please.

I am going to try writing one shots for this story, so if anyone has a one-shot idea, let me know!

As always, constructive criticism is welcome.

Thank you for reading!

Date Posted: 25 August 2014