Harry Potter and What Should Have Been

Harry Potter and What Should Have Been: Philosopher's Stone

Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter. J.K Rowling owns the world of Harry Potter.

Story Summary: What would Harry's life be like if James and Lily had survived that awful Halloween's night? How would Harry have turned out if his parents were alive to raise him? If you want to find out the answer to these questions, then I suggest that you read this and discover the answers that you seek.

A/N: I would like to thank The Cheshire Cat for taking the time to beta my work for me.

Chapter One: Attack on the Potters

“Master…the Potters live at 31 Brighton Ct. in Godric's Hollow.”

“Thank you, Wormtail. You shall be rewarded, for giving me the information that I wanted from you.” He leaned back and smiled. It wasn't really a smile, so much as a grotesque imitation of a smile. “You will not be rewarded for how long it took you to give it to me. Now, I want you to go. I shall summon you soon.” He-who-must-not-be-named waved his hand, and the man who went by the name of Peter Pettigrew briefly bowed and slinked away from his master.

“Now, I shall reach my goal. I will remove my only possible obstacle.” With that said, Tom Riddle Apparated away.

After taking a few moments to orient himself after the Apparition, Tom smiled as he walked through Godric's Hollow. Walking with purpose, he made his way through the small village in the southwest of England. Constantly looking at road signs, he quickly found the road that the Potters' were located on.

As Riddle made his way down the street, his red eyes searched the numbers of the mail boxes in front of each home. It didn't take long to reach his destination. He stopped and looked up at the Potters' small cottage. With a small sigh he said, “At last, I shall have my revenge. These two imbeciles have defied me three times, and the price for that will be their undoing. They shall have to witness the youngest Potters' demise.”

As he made his way towards the front door Voldemort withdrew his wand from his robes and quickly placed a number of wards around the area. He was trying to minimize the rescue attempts. Once the wards were in place, he advanced toward the house. Upon reaching the entrance, Voldemort quickly and quietly fired a Reductor curse, causing the door to explode.

At the sound of the explosion James Potter turned to his wife. “Lily, grab Harry, and run for it. Do it now! I'll hold him off,” and he ran to the front of the house.

Lily Potter didn't need to be told twice. She quickly raced up the stairs to the room where their only son Harry, lay asleep in his crib. James, quickly fired a Stupefy towards the spot where the front door used to be, not knowing if the spell made contact or not. He ran and rolled behind the couch,yelling, “If you have come to lay your wand on Harry, then I can tell you that you will regret ever setting foot near this place.”

“James Potter, it is so good to see you again.” Voldemort stepped through the busted doorway, “Why do you say that I shall regret it? I don't want to harm little Harry. I want to kill him.” With that, a purple light shot out of his raised wand. James continued his evasive tactics. “Don't act as if you don't know. The only way that you will reach my son, is if you go through me first,” James said as he fired another stunning curse towards Voldemort.

This time Tom quickly raised his shield, the spell rebounding back upon James. At the sight of the spell being reflected, James ducked and the curse struck the wall, leaving a gaping hole. Voldemort continued, “Actually, Potter, the main reason that I have come here is to show you, and your lovely wife, what the ultimate price of defying me is. This is just a small sample of what I can do.” He sent a Reductor towards the dining room wall that James was hiding behind.

The wall was instantly destroyed by the spell and James was trapped underneath the rubble. Realizing the situation, he tried to Apparate out, but the Anti-Apparition wards prevented it.

Seeing James' attempts to Apparate made Voldemort laugh. “There is no way that you can Apparate.” he waved his hand to indicate the house. “I took the liberty of placing Anti-Apparation wards to thwart your feeble attempts at escaping. But now, I want to have some fun.” With a wicked smile, he waved his wand and uttered, “Crucio.”

James writhed and convulsed on the floor. Voldemort declared, “You know something Potter, I was amazed, and surprised, when Peter Pettigrew informed me that you had made him your Secret Keeper.” At this James, attempted to look You-Know-Who in the eye. Seeing the look of shock on James' face, Voldemort, released the curse, and continued his tirade.

“By the looks of things Potter, it must come as a surprise to you. For the past year, your precious Wormtail has been faithfully spying for me. He has informed me of everything that you and the Order have been up to. Also, from what Peter has told me, I gather that no one even suspected him as the spy. So, what do you have to say to that Potter?”

Seeing that James still in shock, Tom happily said “Luckily for me, you chose Pettigrew instead of Black. Now, I believe that it is time for me to finish what I started.” With a wave of his wand, Voldemort cleared away the damaged wall on top of James.

Once the rubble was gone, Riddle quickly petrified and magically bound James, so that he couldn't get away. Satisfied that James, wouldn't be going anywhere, Voldemort cast Mobilicorpus at James' body and with another flick of his wand, the two of them headed up the stairs to where Lily and Harry were hiding.

While James was trying to prevent Voldemort from laying hands on Harry, Lily had been upstairs in Harry's bedroom. Once Lily had reached his bedroom, she raced across the floor to her young son. Upon reaching Harry's crib, Lily, saw that he was wide awake. Since she didn't have much time she quickly, but gently lifted the infant into her arms.

“Harry my son, with all the love that a mother can give to her child, I offer all of mine to you. I give you my love as a form of protection. If anyone or anything tries to harm you, or if they try to touch you with negative thoughts, they will have it rebound upon them. As part of the protection, the other half of your heart will reinforce it. It will come from the person who you shall give your heart to. Until that day my son, may my love protect you.” As Lily said these words, a bright, pure light engulfed Harry.

Seeing the light touch Harry, Lily knew that the ancient magic had placed a powerful protection over him. After the light had finally dissolved away, she placed her son back into his crib. The door to the room burst open as she pulled her hands away.

She instantly turned around so that she could look the murderer in the face. Before she could say anything, Riddle spoke “Lily Potter, I had thought that I would find you up here. Now that I have found you, I have a gift.” With that, Voldemort floated James' body into Harry's room, “Now, step aside so that I can fulfill my destiny.”

“Voldemort, there is no way that I am going stand by and allow you to harm Harry. You may have beaten James,” Lily lowered her head and her hair started swirling around her face, “but you can rest assured that you shall not get past me.” Lily manoeuvred her body between the cold-hearted killer and her baby.

“For your information, Mudblood, I have beaten your precious husband, but I have also spared him. I want him to witness the price for defying me.” Voldemort dumped James' body onto the floor unceremoniously.

At the sight of James' body Lily cried out “What have you done to him?”

“Your blood traitor husband has just experienced the Cruciatus Curse, and at the moment he is in a Full-Body Curse. I want him to watch what I am about to do. Now, if you don't want to be harmed, I suggest that you step aside.”

“I will not step aside. I am not going to stand by and allow you to harm an innocent child. Actually, if I were you, I would flee from here because if you attempt to harm or touch Harry, I can assure you the consequences will be painful.”

“There is nothing in this world that can harm me. I am the most powerful wizard of all time. Now, stand aside silly girl, or you shall pay the ultimate price.”

“I would die, before I allowed you to touch my son.”

“If it is death that you want, then I think I can oblige.” A slow grin spread across his face. “Actually, I can come up with something more terrible than death for you Mudblood.” With that Voldemort, pointed his wand at Lily and a dark coloured curse struck her.

As the curse struck Lily, she felt a sudden pain in her abdomen. As the pain spread, she knew that Voldemort had just destroyed her reproductive system, and she knew that her unborn child had been obliterated. Lily resisted the urge to break down into tears, but she wouldn't give Voldemort, the satisfaction of seeing her crying.

After the curse completed its task, Voldemort spoke, “How does it feel, knowing that you won't be able to give birth to anymore filthy half-bloods?”

“You may have just prevented me from giving Harry any siblings, but you can rest assured that I will make sure that Harry has everything in life that he needs.” At this, Voldemort's anger reached its boiling point. However instead of casting Crucio at Lily, he just waved his wand. Before she could react, Lily was flung across the room, where she was then bound so that she could witness the death of her son with her husband.

Once he was finished, he moved over to Harry's bed. As he looked into the crib, he saw a little boy who resembled his father. In fact, he looked virtually identical to James Potter at that age, except his eyes were the exact same shade of green as his mother's.

“Harry Potter, it was prophesied that you would have the power to destroy me, Lord Voldemort, if allowed to live. So, the only solution is to destroy you. Good-Bye, Harry Potter. Avada Kedavra!” What took place next surprised James and Lily, but even more importantly, it surprised Voldemort.

As the killing curse streaked towards Harry, James and Lily struggled against their bonds in a fruitless attempt to rescue their son. They were trapped and could only watch as their only child was murdered by this evil man. Just as the curse touched Harry, it rebounded back to Voldemort. Seeing that the curse was heading straight towards him, he tried to leave but he was unable to Apparate due to the Anti-Apparition wards that he had installed on the cottage.

The rebounded curse struck Voldemort in the chest and flung him across the room. He felt himself being ripped asunder as the killing curse destroyed his body. As he writhed in agony, some of his powers were transferred to Harry, unbeknownst to anyone. Voldemort, or what was left of him, quickly fled from Godric's Hollow to a place of safety very far away.

Harry's parents watched in shock as Voldemort was ripped apart before their very eyes. James couldn't believe that somehow Harry had deflected the curse back at Voldemort. Lily couldn't help but cry in relief because the protection that she had given Harry worked.

As they watched what was happening in the room, the curses that were holding them dissipated. As soon as he was free James slowly got up from of the floor and went to see how Lily and Harry were doing. Reaching his wife's side, James saw that she was crying.

Before James could even say a word, Lily spoke. “James, check on Harry. I need to know that he is alright.”

“Lily, shouldn't I check on you first? I need to see if you are hurt.”

“I will be fine but please check Harry.”

“Okay baby, I'll check on Harry for you.” With that James, slowly inched his way over to Harry's crib.

As he reached Harry's crib, James could hear his son's soft whimpers. James, tried his best to get up from the floor, but the effects of the Cruciatus Curse were still affecting him. Since he couldn't get up from up the floor, James said “Lily, from what I can hear, Harry seems to be okay. What we really need is urgent help.”

“Just hang in there James. I'll see what I can do.” With that Lily, slowly got up and made her way across the room to help her husband and child.

After reaching James and Harry, Lily waved her wand to see the exact injuries that James had sustained from Voldemort. The readout that the diagnosis spell gave her showed that he had a couple of broken bones, a concussion and minor nerve damage from the Cruciatus Curse. Lily knew that James would need immediate medical attention. So with a quick flick of her wand, Lily splinted up James' broken bones so that further damage could be avoided while they transported to safety. Once Lily had finished seeing to James, she moved to the crib to check on her son.

As Lily approached Harry, she could hear him crying. Reaching the side of the bed, Lily gently lifted him up so that she could check on him. The readout from the test indicated that he was fine. Although he seemed to okay, Lily did notice that a small, lightning shaped scar on his forehead. The scar confirmed her worst fears and before Lily could even contemplate the consequences of her actions she carried Harry over to where James was located so that they could all get to safety.

At the moment that Lily had James by her side, she picked up a stuffed bear of Harry's and turned it into a Portkey. During the wait for the toy to return to its normal colour, Lily summoned James' wand and the emergency kit, a bag that she had prepared in advance, for any possible situation. Once Lily had James' wand and the emergency bag were in their hands, she quickly placed the Portkey on top of James and with Harry in one arm, she touched the Portkey. Instantly the three disappeared in a swirl of colours. Within moments of leaving the room, the roof caved in.

****

In a twirling kaleidoscope of colour, James, Lily and Harry appeared in the hospital wing of Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. The moment that they appeared, Lily shouted out “Madam Pomfrey! I've got a medical emergency!” At the sound of her cry, Poppy came running out from her private quarters to see what the emergency was. No sooner had she noticed that it was the Potter family, she went into action.

Once Poppy reached the Potters she said, “Lily, can you tell me what happened? I need to I know what to treat everyone for.”

“Poppy, we were discovered and attacked by Voldemort. From what I can gather, James has a concussion, a few broken bones and minor nerve damage from being placed under the Cruciatus Curse. Harry seems to be fine and as for myself I was struck by a dark curse that destroyed my reproductive system along with…” Lily couldn't finish the sentence because, it was at this time that she broke into tears and wept for her unborn child.

Seeing that Lily was now crying, Poppy placed her hand on Lily's shoulder. As Poppy comforted Lily, she also summoned a house-elf and imparted instructions that Dumbledore and McGonagall were needed at once in the hospital wing. The house-elf just nodded, and with a snap of his fingers, he Dis-Apparated.

Albus Dumbledore and Minerva McGonagall had just finished having a private discussion in Albus' office when they were suddenly interrupted by a house elf.

Before Albus could even ask why he was there, the house-elf spoke, “Professor Dumbledore, Twinkie is sorry for disturbing you but Madam Pomfrey says you and professor McGonagall are needed in the hospital wing at once.”

“Twinkie, did Poppy say what the problem was?”

“No sir but she says that Twinkie, is to tell you that you are needed at once.”

“Twinkie please inform Poppy, that Minerva and I shall be there momentarily.”

“Twinkie understands Headmaster.” With a snap of his fingers, Twinkie returned to the hospital wing.

Once Twinkie was gone, Minerva turned to face Albus and said, “Albus, what could be the possible reason that you and I are needed to be in the hospital wing at this time of night?”

“I don't know Minerva but I have a feeling that we shall find the answer. Fawkes can you please fire-flash Minerva and myself to the hospital wing?” Fawkes flew from his perch and landed on Dumbledore's shoulder. Albus indicated that Minerva should grasp the phoenix by the tail; next thing they knew, they were both in the hospital wing.

The very moment that they appeared in the hospital wing, they realized why they had been called. At the sight of who was there, Albus spoke, “Poppy, what has happened to them?”

“Albus, from what Lily has told me, You-Know-Who paid a visit to them this evening. While I don't know the full story, I would like some assistance, so that I can start treating them for their injuries.”

At this Minerva spoke, “Poppy, how may I be of service?”

“Minerva, if you would be so kind as to help Lily get comfortable, I can attend to James.”

Minerva, didn't need to be told twice. She was soon sitting beside Lily and had her arms wrapped around her. They were talking quietly between themselves. Within a few minutes, Lily was able to get up and get dressed into more comfortable clothing.

After Minerva had relieved her of Lily, Poppy turned her attention to James. With a quick flick of her wand, Poppy soon had James lying on top of the bed so that she could examine him. She confirmed what Lily had told her. For the broken bones and concussion, she stabilized him with a wave of her wand. But for the nerve damage, she went to a nearby cupboard and brought out a potion and a goblet that would relieve the lingering pain. After pouring out the dosage that James needed to take, she propped him up so that he could swallow the potion, then she tucked James into bed. He needed sleep to recover from the damage. Also he needed his rest so that the Skele-Gro could replace the bones in James' body that Poppy had removed. The moment that she was finished attending to James' injuries, that she turned her attention towards Lily.

Poppy approached Lily, while gently talking to her. “Lily, you will be delighted to know that I have treated James for his injuries and I expect him to make a full recovery. Now, let's see what I can do for you?”

“Poppy, I am afraid that there is no way for you to heal me. Since Voldemort, destroyed my reproductive system, and my unborn baby, I am afraid that only time will heal my wounds.”

“Even if that's the case, I would still like to examine you. I need to see that you are going to be alright. Now, why don't you climb into bed, and I'll get the examination over with as quickly as I possibly can.” Lily, who knew better than to argue with Poppy, slid into bed, handing Harry over to Professor Dumbledore.

During the examination of Lily, Poppy confirmed yet again that Lily's reproductive system had been completely removed from her body. In order to treat Lily for her injuries, Poppy waved her wand at Lily's abdomen so that she was able to close the wounds from Voldemort's spell. Also she placed Lily on a series of potions to facilitate the effects of the spell. Once she was satisfied that Lily would survive, she turned her attention towards baby Harry, whom was quite happy at being held by professor Dumbledore.

The examination of Harry, didn't take very long. From what Poppy could tell, Harry had no real injuries at all. However she did notice that Harry's magical power was a little higher than normal for a child his age, but she put it down to what he had just been through. After Poppy was happy with Harry, she turned to Lily and said, “Lily, you will be pleased to know that Harry sustained no kind of injury at all, but I did notice that his level of magic is a bit high for a child of his age. Do you have any idea as to what may have caused that at all?”

“No Poppy, I am afraid that I don't know. However, if you don't mind, may I please speak with Professor Dumbledore? There are a few things that he needs to know.”

“I would rather that you didn't but knowing Albus, he would probably insist that you did.” At this she turned to face Albus, and continued, “Albus, I know that you are going to have a chat with James and Lily but I insist that you keep it brief because these two have been through a terrible ordeal. They need time for their injuries to heal.”

“Don't worry Poppy, I'll try to keep the conversation as brief as possible.” With that assurance, Madame Pomfrey returned to her private quarters.

Before Albus began his chat with Lily, he gently handed Harry back to his mother. No sooner was Harry back in her arms, than Lily began to rock back and forth singing Harry's favourite lullaby. While she was singing to Harry, Albus waved his wand and he secured the hospital wing from prying eyes and ears.

Once Albus was ready, he began the conversation with Lily. “Lily, if you are up to it, I need to know what happened tonight. The most important thing that I need to know, how on earth did Tom find you?”

“Albus, tonight Voldemort arrived at our home in Godric's Hollow with the intent to kill Harry. Upon his arrival…” with that Lily went on to describe everything that had taken place. When she finished Albus just sat back in his chair beside Lily's bed and sighed.

He sat in silence for a few minutes before speaking, “There is no doubt in my mind that Tom's power has finally been broken and as a result of that, he has now chosen and marked Harry as his equal. Because of this attack, Harry's life is going to be in grave danger and we are going to have to decide what will be the best course of action. For now, I believe that we shall leave that for tomorrow. You need your rest and I have a few things that need to be seen to. Now, if you will excuse me, I had best be going.” Before he had walked very far, he conjured up a small bed for Lily, to place Harry in, if she so wished.

Once his business was finished in the hospital wing, Albus left and returned to his office. He needed to send messages about what had happened tonight. Little did he know, that word was already spreading fast about what had occurred in Godric's Hollow.

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