It rained.

However that fact went unnoticed by a young man, seemingly unaffected by a constant downpour. Dressed in midnight blue robes, which cling to his lean frame, he let the raindrops fall onto his unprotected bald head. His skin was unearthly pale, so that blue veins were visible under the skin of his skull. The complete lack of nose, in place of which two serpentine slits were located, seemed to do not affect this man. His eyes were closed, but constantly moving under his eyelids. The man stood proud against another weave of hard rain that passed, unmoving, stilled as a monument of human power over nature. Although quite a few people could argue if he had enough of humanity left in him to be considered human.

The bright lightening flashed somewhere behind a man, and his eyes suddenly opened. The first impression that would come to a mind of any observer would be that electric blue irises strangely stood out of the man's face, but after a few moments of staring in those eyes, said observer would withdraw his former opinion in favor of one, that would complement these strangely enchanting orbs. Those were now left unfocused, as if their owner looked not for something that could be seen with their help.

Red headed woman with enormous belly walked into room containing two cribs, and several trunks filled with toys, courtesy of soon-to-be-uncles; Remus and Sirius. She groaned at the thought of The Marauders trying to corrupt her sons.

Her sons.

With the love and fondness known only to women in blessed state, she rubbed her large stomach. She and James were looking forward to having children. James, she knew, wasn't affected by the fact that as the last Potter, he was supposed to create offspring as soon as possible. He really wanted to have children of his own, and when the news broke that they were having twins, goofy smile was imprinted on his face permanently.

Lily knew that they deserved some sort of a fairy tale, after all those years of quarrelling with each other. James thought similarly, and she realised that between the two of them, their sons were doomed to be spoiled rotten.

Their sons.

She was quite sure about the names she have chosen. Lester and Harold. The names were to be given her sons respectively - Lester for the fist one and Harold for the second one. James was actually quite helpful, providing her with a book which contained most of names given to little wizard and witches. They both agreed on those names, even if it was her who did the actual choosing. But James in his silly "I'll be a father" state wasn't really opposing that much. She knew from the tales of her older friends, that when father is not fully taking part in choosing the names then there may be a possibility that after the birth he would also expect his wife to handle all child-issues. Fortunately her husband was walking-talking contradiction to that rule, reading all those professional parents' magazines, learning along with her how to change nappies, how to feed the little ones and how to be one "James Potter proud father extraordinary". "All for the welfare of my sons"

My sons.

One of whom has to kill or be killed...

The man's eyes returned to their focus. He turned around to look at the wet and muddy path which he used to come here. The path led straight to his shelter, in which the warm stew awaited for the man. He however uncaring about such trivial matters as food, turned back and again let his eyes go unfocused. But he had no time to recall anything else of any importance to him, before soft white light began to appear at the horizon. His gaze again focused, and hard as steel, the man started to go down the path, just as the white light on horizon began to slowly approach his position. The man mentally cursed his own stupidity and began to run, as light, now clearly visible on the night sky, started to become brighter as distance between it and the running man began to shrink. Said man was moving incredibly fast, at least for someone who ran down the hill in the dark forest, barely avoiding trees, trying not to slip on muddy ground. If the man would take some time to look over his shoulder, he would be most likely blinded by the flying ball of brightness that seemed to move effortlessly between the forest trees.

Desperate not to get caught, the man changed his tactics. His eyes flashed most brilliant shade of blue, as he closed his eyelids. Now, that action would most likely have caused any other man to run into a tree, but the bald man seemed to be doing just fine in his attempts to avoid smashing into large flora specimen. His movements accelerated, and his legs were now a blur moving under his waist. The flying ball of light seemed to fall behind because of the strange man's sudden burst of speed. Apparently sensing something, the man opened his eyes, and noticed a small dugout standing at the foot of the hill. His movements' speed decreased, and man still running quite fast stumbled through the open doors, closing them behind. He quickly waved his hand, and with another flash of light from his eyes, the doors locked themselves. The man relaxed visibly, his shoulders sagging with relief. Just before his eyes went again unfocused, he heard voice (which apparently was supposed to be calm, gentle and relaxing), coming from the flying ball of light:

This is Ministry of Magic Detection Probe no. 077. Please calmly remain on your positions!

"4:27 pm , 31st of October, 1981 "

The gentle voice coming from the wand of heavily pregnant Lily Potter filled the room. Her husband James was still in the antechamber, saying goodbye to his leaving friends. Lily thought that it was quite rude of her not to stay to bid them farewell as well, but she just couldn't stand to be with them at the moment. Although that was not their fault (Lily had to suppress a smile at the thought of The Marauders being not guilty of something), but the fault of that damned prophecy. She kept replaying those damn words in her mind "the one with the power to vanquish the Dark Lord approaches...born to those who have thrice defied him, born at the night of the hallowed spirits...and the Dark Lord will mark him as his equal, but he will have power the Dark Lord knows not...and either must die at the hand of the other for neither can live while the other survives...the one with the power to vanquish the Dark Lord will be born at the night of the hallowed spirits."

She had prayed, screamed and cursed the night she along with James had heard those words. She didn't wanted for her child to be forced to bear such a heavy burden. She wanted to just go to sleep and wake up in the world, where the cursed prophecy had never existed. Where she and James could live where they wanted to, without Dumbledore forcing them to live in such a small house. But she knew she would have none of it. Now on the night when the prophecy was about to fulfil, she prayed for the labour to never begin. "Let it be someone else" she said through her clenched teeth. "Someone who will have a strength to help this little child". Now she was sobbing loudly. Loudly enough for James to hear and to immediately come to her

"Lils, honey. I.. I know that you find it hard" He said while hugging closely his crying wife "But we must hope. If not for the labour to not come today, then for the well being of our child. Just think! A saviour of Wizarding world - our little boy! Our own flesh and blood will become a man who will vanquish Voldemort! He will have many people almost worshiping him, when the truth about him being The Chosen One comes out.

He never will have to make hard decisions in his life, he will be provided with most exclusive care both from Dumbledore and Ministry. What else can parent ask for their child?"

Her sobbing subdued to only few tears dropping from her eyelashes, Lily now relaxed into her husband's embrace. He was right - what else can mother want for their child than ensured best care? She closed her eyes tightly and swore to always protect her chosen son, and to provide him with everything he desired. At all cost.

Suddenly, a powerful explosion has shaken the house. James' eyes widened, when protective wards set up by Dumbledore himself went off. Volumes of smoke were raising from the ground level.

"It's Him, Lily! Hide! I'll hold him off!" with that her husband ran downstairs. Lily with determination took her wand from the pocket of her robes, when she heard another noise. Shouts and screams were coming from downstairs, and to her own horror, she realised that they were the shouts of her husband. All of sudden it became quiet. Her heart wrenched painfully at the thought of what might have happened to her James, when the doors to the nursery opened.

On the doorstep stood tall figure in black robes. His serpentine eyes narrowed at the sight of pregnant Lily Potter. Facial expression of Lord Voldemort became one of pure hate. Without any other word, he raised his wand, aiming at young women's abdomen, and shouted, his voice filled with malice.

"Avada Kedavra!!"

Sickly green ray of death shot in direction of pregnant woman. She tried to duck, but her mobility was rather limited. The spell hit her in the stomach.

Or would have hit, had it not been for golden dome appearing in front of young woman's belly. Dark Lord clearly not expecting this, for he stood frozen in place. Which soon became the death of him as the spell rebounded back at the most powerful dark wizard in existence. His eyes had a fragment of second to widen, before the Dark Lord struck by his own spell, have fallen, his body quickly vanishing into the wisps of smoke.

Lily stood horror-struck. She was prepared to join her husband in the land of the dead! Not fully understanding what have happened, she gaped at now empty black robes lying under the doors of her nursery. That was before she heard moaning downstairs.

"James!" she cried, quickly gathering her strength and swiftly, or as swiftly as pregnant woman can move, she came downstairs. Their salon was in the state of complete demolition, but she couldn't care less. There on the cluster of some rubble was her husband. Alive! She came to his side, knelt by him and pointed her wand at him.

"Enervate"

Her husband jerked into consciousness, his eyes falling on his wife. His eyes widened with joy of seeing her alive. The two didn't have any words to express how they were feeling. Quick embrace later, James supported by his wife stood up, looked around at the destruction of his house.

"How we survived? That was Voldemort! We shouldn't be even standing here! Where is he now?"

Lily as fast as she could related his story to her husband. He was staring at her with a wide eyes, but in this deep pools of brown she could see one barely hidden emotion. Pride.

Lily smiled sweetly at her husband who immediately embraced her and kissed her fully. Just as she saw the Order members walking into the house, with Dumbledore on lead, she felt excruciating pain in her stomach and stumbled into James' arms, barely conscious.

Sitting on his dirty bed in his dugout, the man breathed heavily. He stretched his arms, falling onto his tattered sheets. He relaxed a little, allowing his breathing to calm and slow down. Once more he cursed his own stupidity. Quickly he stood up, and reached under the bed. He pulled out old, apparently broken trunk, which apparently held all of man's earthly possessions. He then proceeded to pack al his robes and normal clothes into small backpack. His moves were fast and precise. Almost in no time the man was packed. He sighed loudly once again falling onto his bed, removing his clothes, closing his eyes and allowing himself a few moments of needed sleep. He was sure, that they will be here soon. And because "soon" is rather vague description of time, the amount of time that the man would spend asleep was also rather vague. Not to his liking.

Cries of pain filled the room. Midwife Stonewell ordered everyone to leave. Only Dumbledore and the Potters remained. Everyone else left to spread the news of Voldemort's downfall. Even Mad Eye grudgingly trotted off.

"Now, that was something worth seeing" mused one Albus Dumbledore "Not every day you could see Alastor being ordered around by a medi-witch"

His thoughts were interrupted by another cry of pain. Lily went into labour as Order members arrived, and while listening to the story told by James, he quickly sent for Potter family midwife. Now three hours into labour, Albus could not think of anything else, but the savior of the Wizarding world in the person of one of the Potter's sons. He was trying to think of a way in which they could determine which of the Potter twins was indeed so unique, that he created shield that protected him and his brother along with their mother. He was sure that Lily herself was not the person who conjured such a shield. She was unbelievably skilled with charms, but her defensive skills, while above average, were not sufficient enough to provide her with a way to protect both her and her children. Not being able to think of any magical test that would determine which brother performed such a extraordinary feat of power, the old headmaster resigned himself to the idea of checking the children when they were born.

In the other room Potters and the midwife were preparing for the arrival of the twins. Contractions grew both in frequency and strength. Soaked in sweat Lily was squeezing James' hand in her own, almost breaking his fingers. To his credit, he hadn't cried in pain yet, either because of anticipation that occluded his own pain, or for sake of his wife which needed support. Meanwhile the midwife was bustling around, conjuring strange instruments, casting monitoring spells and giving Lily pain relieving potions. When the contractions became separated by only few seconds she said:

"Lily, on the next contractions I want you to push. Ok?"

Lily not capable of any form of answer only blinked once. When the next contraction hit, she squeezed both her abdominal muscles and James' hand. Due to the muscle relaxing potions, wizarding births were not as painful as muggle ones, which Lily was thankful for, when her first son entered this world. His cries filled the room mixing with Lily's panting.

"Lester Roland Potter" whispered James to his exhausted wife. James took his firstborn son, and looked at spitting image of himself as a baby. The same black hair, the same face. Only his eyes, emerald green were the reflection of his mother in him. Lily had tears of pain in her eyes, but felt nonetheless proud. She sniffed, and let James clean her face with cleaning spell. when next contraction hit, Lily was unprepared for the pain. She screamed loudly, and one look at midwife's face told her that something was not all right. Said midwife hesitated a little before saying:

"There is nothing to worry about. Harry James Potter will come into this world" she smiled reassuringly at Lily, and when the next contraction came she ordered to push.

That little part of her mind that was not screaming in pain noticed the difference in giving birth to her second son. Something was off. And when the pain ended, ensuing silence confirmed Lily's thoughts.

The horror in the eyes of medi-witch frightened Lily greatly.

"What's happening" she whispered, her throat hoarse from all the cries.

The look of fear, and.. "was it disgust" on James' face had done nothing to reassure her. Midwife Stonewell almost mechanically handed Lily ...

... the pile of pale flesh. That's the way they described him. Never having an ounce of baby fat, right after his birth he lacked the chubbiness of a newborn. His bones and ribs clearly visible through his skin, his hands bony and spidery, and not with little fat fingers his parents expected. Instead of slightly upturned cute baby nose he had serpentine slits. Instead of either his father brown or his mother green eyes, his were the most revolting eyes little baby could have. He was a monster. Or maybe one should say, that his parents refused to believe otherwise. Not that anyone disagreed with them. Instead of fairy tale they had horrid nightmare. But not for long of course. They wouldn't want to let others know what kind of freak their son was. Ms. Stonewell was obliviated. Harry Potter was declared stillborn. But he still lived for a few days in the crib, which was transported into most isolated room in the Potter manor to which his "family" moved after the defeat of Voldemort. He was allowed to exist, without food and drink, surviving only thanks to nutrient charm reluctantly casted on him by his mother. He was allowed to exist few days. No more. After all which family would like to take care of spawn of Voldemort.

"James, will you do that?"

"Do I have to now?"

"If you would like to"

He sighted

"Yes, I'd like to"

Lone man with a stroller walked slowly on the outskirts of some small town. He left the stroller just for a while, to go into a shop. He "really" hadn't been expecting it to take so long. Apparently the stroller rolled down, into the river. Police searched the river looking for small body. None was found. James Potter with clear conscience apparated to his wife and son, for late supper.

Harry woke up. Stretched. Looked around. Found the backpack. Hurried out of the dugout, before they could find him. They were searching for Voldemort. They found him. Clearly, they didn't noticed any difference.