Author's Note: Hey readers! This story is my first attempt at writing in the alternate universe. It will follow the lives of Harry and Draco as they attend Hogwarts. I will write this story all the way up to fifth year. Hope you enjoy! (And yes, it's meant to parallel the lives of the Marauders). Also, this first chapter is just introductory so of course it's all paragraphs, no dialogues. Chapter two is where story-mode really begins. This is just background information as to what really happened all those years ago.

Disclaimer: Harry Potter is J.K Rowling's property. Thanks!

CHAPTER 1: AS IT TURNS OUT...

On the night of Halloween, 1981, the wizarding world was sure to be doomed. Lord Voldemort was at the height of his power and headed for Godric's Hollow village to kill the boy who was prophesized to destroy him. Lily and James Potter, fearful for their son's life, did everything in their powers to protect their home from the evil wizard. But the Dark Lord was too strong for them. He let himself in anyway and set out to kill them. What he did not know, was that they were already one step ahead of him.

You see, just a few months before, Albus Dumbledore had called Lily and James into his office for a private chat. It appeared to be something top secret because he'd even ordered all the portraits of previous headmasters and headmistresses out of his office so that they couldn't eavesdrop. Nervous, Lily and James listened to what he had to say. And boy, was it good that they had.

Dumbledore provided them with secret, essential information which he warned must not get out. He explained that there was no one else they could trust and so they were not to tell it even to their best friends. Swearing to keep it secret, Lily and James signed up for the mission of their lives. It was then that their quest for the destruction of Lord Voldemort began.

James began to secretly travel, looking for rare magical objects. He tracked down all the ones he could—which took several months to do—and brought them straight to Dumbledore's office where, together, they destroyed them. They were able to destroy all the objects Voldemort had ever created, with the exception of one which they were never able to find. James then took Dumbledore's advice and went into hiding with Lily and their newborn son.

When the Dark Lord showed up on Halloween night to kill them, he did not know that they'd been expecting him. He was ambushed completely and had no idea that they'd spent a good seven months before that night, hunting down his horcruxes and destroying them one by one with Dumbledore. Voldemort was shocked and therefore careless. It took all the strength and might that they could muster, but Lily and James managed to put him off. It wasn't until their son Harry intervened, that things really started to happen.

You see, the children of witches and wizards were not supposed to show accidental magic until much later in their toddler years. Harry's accidental magic that night must have been caused by an intense force that was foreign to both James and Lily, combined with his emotions and fear of the big bad man who'd come to kill him. Whatever the reason, his magic was extremely powerful. Combined with that of James' and Lily's, the three were able to destroy Voldemort completely, leaving nothing but a shred of his black cloak and a snapped wand. It was true that because one horcrux still remained, Voldemort would possibly be able to come back one day. But for now, the wizarding world was safe and free. Indeed, the 31st of October, 1981, was a day no one would ever forget.

And so it was that after this extraordinary event, the Potters became prodigies in the wizarding world. James was promoted to head of the auror office at the ministry, where he worked with fellow co-worker and friend Arthur Weasley. Lily was offered many jobs but preferred to stay at home with Harry. And Harry...he came to be known all over the wizarding world as the Boy Who Conquered. Books were being written about him. Interviews were requested of James and Lily by so many newspapers. On Dumbledore's orders, they occasionally provided some details but mainly kept quiet and peaceful in their little home at Godric's Hollow (which was of course protected by Dumbledore's powerful enchantments).

Their friend Sirius Black served as Harry's Godfather and visited them almost every single week until he finally decided to move back to Great Britain (which he'd left just to get away from his Death Eater family) just to be with them. He now lived above a shop in Hogsmeade Village and worked part-time as a Quidditch referee for a famous team. He was definitely living the bachelor life and having a really good time. But he also loved Harry to death and would do anything for that little boy.

Their other friend, Remus Lupin, was hired by Dumbledore for various teaching positions within Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry (of which Dumbledore was headmaster). Remus loved his job very much and as a result, the students loved him. He would go on to take the post of Defense against the Dark Arts teacher during Harry's first year at Hogwarts. However, things got complicated at the full moon each month because Remus was a werewolf. And so, during some of his worst cycles, he would need a substitute teacher to take over his classes. This was where Severus Snape came into play.

Severus Snape was one of many who absolutely loathed the Potters. A former Death Eater, he occupied the position of Potions Master at Hogwarts. Back in the war, he'd served Lord Voldemort faithfully. However, he had a change of heart near the end of the war and came to Dumbledore for help. He was hired at Hogwarts to teach so that Dumbledore could keep an eye on him. He served as a spy for Dumbledore and shared all of Voldemort's secrets with him. But when Voldemort was killed and Snape was no longer required to serve as spy, Dumbledore did not let him go. In fact, he ordered him to stay at Hogwarts.

You see, Snape was many things. A half-blood raised in an unstable home, a very skilled wizard and a learned student himself, and a brave and determined man. He was also a heartbroken man, and this was because of Lily Potter. They'd been childhood friends but had grown apart in their Hogwarts years. During the war, being on opposite sides made it hard for them to stay in touch and so after a while, they stopped talking completely. It was only after the allegedly fatal night that Snape actually came by to see her. He was then kicked out by James and told to never return.

Lily and Snape did not continue their friendship. But that did not mean that they'd forgotten it. Lily was still very sad about it sometimes but never confided this in James, who was not understanding of it at all. Snape on the other hand, thought about Lily all the time. He wished that he could have been different for her. Because she'd not chosen him, he hated James with all his guts and would come to hate Harry just as much. It was a complicated situation that would not likely be resolved anytime soon.

Because Harry and his parents were the favourite family of the wizarding world, you could say that Harry had a pretty decent childhood. His parents had a fortune and so money was never a problem. His dad was really into Quidditch so he kept Harry practicing (and soon, Harry became quite skillful indeed). His mother valued smarts and so she kept Harry reading. And Sirius was his favourite person in the whole world and so they spent as much time together as they possibly could. Harry also liked Lupin who visited occasionally, but was not nearly as close with him as he was with Sirius. Together, they made the perfect family for the Boy Who Conquered.

However, not everyone was living the good life. The Longbottoms, who were long-time friends of the Potters, had suffered greatly in the war. Alice and Frank endured the cruciatus curse not long after Voldemort's downfall, at the hands of his most trusted Death Eaters. They were tortured beyond grief and were now forced to reside permanently at St. Mungo's Hospital for Magical Maladies and Injuries. Their son, Neville (who was Harry's age), was therefore raised by Frank's mother, who was not a very pleasant woman.

Thankfully, Frank and Alice had made James and Lily Neville's godparents and so they brought him over to their house as much as they possibly could. He and Harry therefore grew up seeing a lot of each other and were fairly good friends.

It seemed that life was finally good for the witches and wizards of Great Britain. They were freed from the Dark Lord whom they'd feared for the longest time. Muggle-borns were no longer in danger and could live freely. And all who'd fought on the rightful side of the war were well rewarded now and living quite comfortably. The other side however, not so much.

The many Death Eaters who'd committed serious crimes were put away and locked up in Azkaban Prison. This included the Lestranges, Crouch, Regulus Black, and many more of Voldemort's closest followers. Peter Pettigrew, who'd been a friend of the Potters, had betrayed their hiding location to Voldemort and so he was locked up too. The Malfoys however, were living quite differently.

Lucius Malfoy had managed to convince many that they'd been cursed by Voldemort into participating in his regime. As a result, they were not arrested or tried for any of their alleged crimes. However, that did not mean that they weren't shunned. In fact, the majority of the wizarding world hated the Malfoys and saw them for what they really were...traitors. This meant that Lucius could not find decent work to support his wife and son. They'd lost all their family heirlooms to the ministry and were forced to survive on the few galleons that Narcissa Malfoy had inherited back when she was a Black.

The hardened living situation sure caused many arguments between the Malfoys, all of which dragged young Draco down as well. He was forced to live among his fighting parents with no one but long-time friend Severus Snape to look up to. Draco spent most of his childhood being ordered around by his mother, dodging his father on his drunken nights, and reading as many books as he possibly could. He never had any friends and could not wait to go to Hogwarts and get away from it all.

It is no question that the lives of these witches and wizards were altered drastically at the downfall of the Dark Lord. Who knows what would have happened if he'd actually survived and the Potters had not? Perhaps, Harry would not have been so lucky as a child, and perhaps Draco would have been slightly luckier. But there is no doubt in that things would not be the same.

This was just a backstory chapter, explaining some essential things. The next chapter is where the story really begins.

Please review. Thanks!