A/N: This chapter has been beta read. Thank you, PhoenixProngs.

Chapter 1 – The Potters and a Mortal Party

Harold Potter was a fortunate man for his whole life. He never attended Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry (his father wanted to protect the family from those who wished they join to Dark Lords), but he fell in love with a beautiful Ravenclaw student, Juliet Boyd, and married her in 1958. Two years later, on March 27th, the birth of James Gareth Potter blessed the couple.

James grew into a handsome man. Like his father and many previous Potter generations, he had untidy jet-black hair, but the eyes were from his mother, brown-greenish covered by round-rimmed glasses. As his grandfather, leader of The Marauders, James loved pranks and, to honour him, he used the same nickname, Prongs, and worked hard to become an Animagus. He also had an athletic body, was brave and intelligent.

Harold had decided his son wouldn't study in Hogwarts so, in May 1978, James did his N.E.W.T.s in the Ministry of Magic. A month later, the young man and others started to work in the Department of Mysteries as Unspeakables. It was there James met a very charming redhead witch.

'Hi! I'm James, James Potter. Prongs is my nickname.'

'Hello! My name's Lily Evans, they call me Emerald. I don't remember see you in Hogwarts…'

'I was home-schooled. How was it?'

This meeting stayed in the youth's heads for a long, long time. James could only think about her lovely bright green almond-shaped eyes, while Lily imagined touching his messy hair.

A few months later, the friendship between James and Lily had flourished greatly and they got married in a wonderful small wedding in the summer of 1979. The next year, on July 31st, Harry James Potter was born.

After Lily's graduation in Hogwarts, Albus Dumbledore, Hogwarts headmaster, never stopped sending letters to make Lily join his organization against the dark side, the Order of the Phoenix. Dumbledore drove the young couple insane.

'Hmm…' Lily was preparing dinner when saw an owl fly towards her. 'James, a letter arrived!'

'I bet one knut that it's Dumbledore.' her husband came smiling with the happy baby in his arms.

'You're right, see… It's him again.' Lily said playfully. 'Why doesn't he give up?'

'Because you are a brilliant and powerful witch…' James answered to this recurrent question kissing her on her lips.

'Well, I won't join him. Dumbledore is a manipulative and egocentric old man. He has no scruples... For the Greater Good, he would do anything…'

'At least, he doesn't know we married and had Harry. Lily, can you imagine what he would do with our son due to the prophecy?' the young man wondered, worried about the answer.

'I'm so glad we're Unspeakables. If it was any other way, we would never get knowledge of it and we couldn't prepare ourselves… James, did you invite your parents to come dinner tonight?'

'Yes…'

'And Harry's godfather?'

'Him too. Did you already consider what we should do for Harry's first birthday?' the brunet man said kidding with the nine month's baby.

'I thought in a dinner with us, your parents and his godfather. James, he's just a baby!' she warned him.

'I know that, love…'

Later in that night, Lily and James told to the others about what they knew and their concerns. All the family was willing to continue fighting against the dark forces of Lord Voldemort. They wouldn't show their faces, they would use their nicknames and they wouldn't follow Albus Percival Wulfric Brian Dumbledore. They were The Shadows.

In the next months, the Wizarding World gained hope. In every attack where The Shadows made their presence, the Death Eaters didn't have a choice but to withdraw. The Shadows became an important force against Voldemort and that didn't make Dumbledore happy. He didn´t like them, because they did what his Order of the Phoenix should do. He even tried saying to the Minister Millicent Bagnold that The Shadows were fighting against the Death Eaters so they could take their place. However as much as Dumbledore said it, the Minister for Magic didn't agree with him.

In fact, Minister Bagnold was so happy with The Shadows' achievements that she decided to organize a party on October 31st 1981. Every important family and Ministry's worker was invited to the Halloween's party. There were around two hundred wizards present and it was amazing, the decorations were stunning and the food was delicious, the music was captivating. Suspend in the air were pumpkins and bats decorating the magnificent hall of the Ministry, a band was playing in a corner and there was a space for dancing. The hall had lots of roundtables. Everyone was having a great night.

The Potters were present in the party. They weren't wearing the robes they used as members of The Shadows, but the uniform of the Unspeakables. The younger couple lent the older couple the black robes, which covered the faces, and little Harry wore a baby's uniform of the Unspeakables.

James had an arm around Lily trying to comforting her.

'Marlene… How?' she asked, her voice was barely audible. 'We were best friends in Hogwarts. How?'

'Death Eaters… I believed they killed her and her family, because of her affiliation to the Order of the Phoenix.' Harold told her, while kissing his wife's cheek, seeing that Juliet had met Marlene's mother.

'It's no secret that a traitor exists on Dumbledore's side. He always believed that we should give Death Eaters a second chance. I don't agree with him.'

'I agree with you James… Unfortunately the McKinnons weren't the only ones murdered. People believe Voldemort killed Dorcas Meadows himself. And it was just bits of Benjy Fenwick they found, the Death Eaters mutilated him.' Juliet communicated them. 'The Bones and the Prewetts have also suffered losses.'

The mood was down at that table. Another song started and James convinced Lily to dance. She cleared the tears she had on the face and whispered sounding worried, 'James, do you think Harry can grow without the war's fears?'

'I don't know, sweetheart. But I'm sure that we'll do everything to make that possible. Lily, we could be sitting in our home, afraid and hoping, but no, we fight and fight and we'll never give up.' he told her determinedly.

At the roundtable, Juliet held Harry in her arms affectionately, while listening to her husband telling the baby what he did last week, when she and her daughter-in-law went shopping.

'You should have seen. James put Harry in his toy broomstick and there he was flying, all content. Harry inherited the Potter's genes of flying, he'll better than James. And when our son took him out the toy broomstick, Harry did accidental magic. He probably didn't like to stop flying, so he turned James's hair to green and yellow...' at this point, Harold broke out laughing. 'He'll be an excellent joker as my father was… I laughed so hard. Juliet, you and Lily should have seen it.'

The Longbottoms were at the party too. They were at a roundtable with Dumbledore. Frank's best friends Sirius Black, Remus Lupin and Peter Pettigrew couldn't go to the party. Sirius was with Peter, protecting him, because Peter was the Secret Keeper of the Longbottom's house in Godric's Hollow, while Remus was travelling around the world.

Frank and Alice were wearing their Auror uniforms, while Neville, Augusta and Albus wore their best robes, light blue, dark red and purple. At the same time James and Lily were dancing, Frank took Alice to dance, leaving his mother talking with Albus, 'Albus, do you think it's wise to come here with Neville? After all, a Dark Lord is searching for him…'

'My dear Augusta, you don't have anything to worry.' Dumbledore tried to calm her, 'It's just a night in the Ministry.'

'Don't you think You-Know-Who could use this party, while everyone relaxes, to attack? It's the perfect opportunity to kill my grandson!'

'Neville is safe. I really doubt that Voldemort will appear. We are in the Ministry of Magic…'

How sadly Albus Dumbledore was mistaken. Close to midnight, Lord Voldemort and his inner circle of Death Eaters, about one hundred, attended the party. In a second of panic, people ran to get out of the Ministry and screamed. They also saw multi-coloured lights, specially green and red. Most of the people, guests and Death Eaters, suffered injuries or died, while running or duelling. Whilst duelling, most of the decorations and the roundtables were destroyed. The hall looked like it had gone through more than one attack.

The Potters and the Longbottoms duelled together against Bellatrix Lestrange, her husband Rodolphus, her brother-in-law Rabastan and Barty Crouch Junior, and Dumbledore duelled against Voldemort. The babies, Harry and Neville, were quiet close to a pillar watching the duel of their parents.

Voldemort and Bellatrix released two Killing Curses that hit Lily and Augusta, while Frank and Juliet suffered the effects of the Cruciatus Curse launched by Barty and Rodolphus. Dumbledore quickly returned to duel against Voldemort, after getting rid of the result of an Oppugno Jink in the wreckage of a roundtable. Rabastan, using the shock of Lily's death, hit James with the Killing Curse, while Alice and Harold hit Barty and Rodolphus with Stunning Spells. The pillar, where the babies were, was hit by a Reductor Curse from a Death Eater and the other unknown wizard hit Dumbledore with the Full Body-Bind Curse. Voldemort, seeing his opponent incapacitated, launched his favourite curse, the Killing Curse, directly at Harry and Neville.

A/N : I'm not a native English speaker, so I'm sorry for the mistakes. Although, Alex Lily Potter and xXTheDragonRiderXx, my betas, are doing a wonderful work correcting those mistakes.

I don't own Harry Potter. Harold and Juliet Potter are characters from my creation, such as James's middle name.

In this story Blacks weren't related to Potters in the most recent generations.

Here is my time line of this chapter to those confused:

Around 1920: Harold and Juliet were born

1958: Harold married Juliet

1960: James and Lily were born

1978: James met Lily

1979: James married Lily

1980: Harry was born

April 1981: James and Lily talk about Dumbledore

October 1981: an attack in the Ministry of Magic