Chapter Text
The attack of October 31st, 1981 was considered a miracle: the entire Potter family had survived a horrific attack by Voldemort after a partial prophecy was heard proclaiming a child to be the one to end him. In a rage, he tried to attack Lily and James Potter, and kill their precious son Harry in order to void the prophecy in its entirety and cement his place in the Wizarding World. The attack backfired spectacularly, however. James had managed to conjure an object to block the curse sent his way, but the energy knocked him unconscious for a time while Voldemort went after his wife and son. Lily also fought valiantly and managed some complicated blood magic that, while it incapacitated her, it also rebounded the Killing Curse in order to banish Voldemort. The small family were labeled as heroes, particularly Harry due to the unique scar on his forehead from the ordeal. Sirius found them soon afterward and got them all to St. Mungo’s for healing from magical exhaustion and other minor injuries. After they were released, they stayed with Lily’s parents while their cottage was being renovated from the foundation up. The way it was renovated ensured they would not bring Harry home to a place that traumatized him.
TWO YEARS LATER
The Potters were a very striking family in the magical section of Godric’s Hollow. James was tall and tan with a head of curls that couldn’t be tamed, and a roguish grin that spoke of good times ahead. He had a slight Spanish accent that sent many people into faints when he spoke in school, and he would throw phrases into his vocabulary in Spanish just to confuse his teachers. He wore wire rimmed glasses and squinted whenever he didn’t have them on, as he was quite blind. He was loud and sometimes quite brash but had a heart of gold for his family and close friends that attested to his good nature. His speciality in school was Transfiguration, and as a result of his Mastery work apprenticed under Minerva McGonagall, taught the lower years of Hogwarts whilst she focused on OWL and NEWT level students on top of her Head of House and Deputy Headmistress duties.
His wife, Lily, was a petite woman with a mane of fire red hair that made every single Weasley jealous every time they came to visit. She was generally soft spoken but was quick with her wand and had perfected a number of jinxes and hexes to scare her enemies. James was head over heels in love with her fiery nature when it came to protecting those she loved, and she loved quite fiercely. She was often described as an attentive mother and indulged her son within reason whenever he wanted something. Her speciality in school was Charms, and she was working towards a Mastery with Professor Flitwick while balancing motherhood and keeping James in line. She was rumored to become the youngest Charms mistress and was in talks with the Board of Governors to take over years 1-4 of Charms so Filius could focus on his NEWT and OWL students as well as Ravenclaw head duties, with the various clubs he ran as well.
Harry, their son, looked almost exactly like James: tan with a head of messy curls, but his eyes were his mother’s and he had a distinctive lightning bolt scar on his forehead that no magic had been able to remove. He was a very outgoing child and was friendly towards everyone he met. Well, almost everyone. He told his mummy once that he didn’t particularly care for the youngest Weasley children and their mother, as Ginny just stared at him creepily and Ron tried to take him away from Percy and the twins, as well as being scared of their mother. Despite this, he was close with the other Weasley boys, especially Fred and George. Together, their pranks rivaled the marauders and every time something blew up or they came in covered in strange colors, his father laughed and ruffled his curls while exclaiming “You boys are going to give me and the lads a run for our money when you get to Hogwarts!” Lily would then sigh, shake her head, and send all three up to the bathroom to wash up, James following them to make sure everything got cleaned out of all the crevices. His godbrother, Neville, came over quite often, and they would go traipsing around the forest with Alice Longbottom looking at all the magical and mundane plants for hours on end and would only come home for dinner tired, grubby and happy.
All in all, they were a happy family of three surrounded by the family they chose, as both of James’ parents were dead and Lily’s parents were quite elderly and could not visit all the time. Harry’s godfathers, Sirius and Remus, came over almost every day except for full moons and they took him on lots of adventures. Uncle Peter didn’t come around anymore for reasons Harry didn’t understand, but the looks his parents gave each other when he asked about Peter made him stop asking. (James and Lily were secretly glad of this, because how do you explain to your three year old that his Uncle Peter betrayed them to Voldemort in a way he understood?) That void was quickly filled by Uncle Reggie coming by more frequently with Uncle Sirius, and he eventually brought Severus Snape into the fold. Severus, James, Sirius, and Remus all had a very long talk one evening under the willow tree in the Potters’ backyard, where they all apologized for their actions in school and took accountability for the things they each did. Severus and Lily also had a long talk later that week and he apologized for the things he said their fifth year, and they rebuilt their friendship again. And of course, Harry had many friends in the form of Neville, all the Weasley boys sans Ronald, Luna Lovegood, and Draco Malfoy, as Sirius had been named Lord Black after his grandfather passed. A lot of the Hogwarts professors stopped by, including McGonagall, who insisted that Harry call her Auntie Min. Dumbledore tried to come through once but was firmly barred from the cottage after he tried to take Harry from his parents.
Surrounded by this loving web of family and close friends, Harry grew up a well-rounded child. He was taught the theory of Potions at Uncle Sev’s knee with Draco, and he also started his Astronomy lessons early with Draco, Uncle Reggie teaching them all about the stars, especially in the Black family tree. He was a natural on a broom, threatening to beat Charlie out of the top spot as best Quidditch seeker (which made Minerva so happy when she saw him for the first time and she cried to James that his boy would be the youngest seeker on the team if she had her say). Charms and Transfiguration theory were approached by his parents and of course he continued to learn to be sweet and humble on top of all his other magical lessons. Lily also made sure he was kept up with his maths and history, as she said that they were applicable in both the magical and non-magical worlds.
This small family would soon get another addition to their lives that would quickly turn everything upside down in the best possible way, and despite not knowing what was to come, they could not be happier.