Into the Twilight

And God stands winding His lonely horn,

And time and the world are ever in flight;

And love is less kind than the grey twilight,

And hope is less dear than the dew of the morn.

William Butler Yeats

A/N I do not own Harry Potter. I am not making any money off of this. This is your standard disclaimer, anything that you recognize is most likely property of J.K. Rowling. Anything that you don't recognize is probably mine.

Italics – Thoughts

Chapter 1: The Death of Terror

Ever so slowly his eyes fluttered open as a bright beam of sunlight illuminated his face in a beam from the window. Mumbling to himself, the young boy attempted to again reach his blissful world of dreams by covering his head with his black comforter only to be awakened again by the sound of the door to his room opening and soft footsteps approaching his bed. The footsteps stopped at the side of his bed and slowly his comforter was pulled back and a soft voice said, "Come on, Prongslet. It's time to wake up; you know that today is you brother's birthday."

The young Harry Potter rolled over to look at the source of the soft voice to see Remus Lupin, one of his father's best friends from their school days, standing over him. "Remus, do I have to? Just let me sleep," Harry said, "Afterall, no one down there will miss me." Harry muttered this last part to himself with a sad look in his eyes as he pulled the blanket back over his head; although Remus, with his werewolf hearing heard him despite Harry's effort to the contrary.

Remus sighed, he knew of the blatant favoritism that the two Potter parents had for their younger son Mark. Over the four years that he had known Harry, the young boy had always seemed quiet and withdrawn, always considering the consequences of what he was about to do before he did or said anything. He was never careless and despite his young age had already begun to read books on magical theory, although Lily and James brushed this off as a child's attempts to amuse himself by looking at the moving pictures. Despite how much he loved his two friends he could not even begin to comprehend how blind they were when it came to Harry; Remus had seen the boy reading those books and he knew from the look in his eyes that he understood them. Remus quickly blinked and looked around the room finding that he was the only person there. As he made his way down to the kitchen he could hear James lecturing Harry.

"Now boy, your mother, Remus, Sirius, and I are going out to dinner and we are unable to bring Mark along because he is still too young, despite the fact that today is his birthday." James grumbled this and twisted his face into an expression of disgust at the thought of being unable to take his two year old son with him to dinner at a five-star restaurant in muggle London. "Peter was unable to come, and as none of the Order members are available to baby sit you, you WILL be staying here and looking after your younger brother. By Merlin if you break anything in this house, or a single hair on your brothers head is harmed …" James let the sentence trail off as he saw the slightly shocked and what he interpreted as fear appear on his eldest son's face.

James quickly turned around his wife, Lily, walked into the room. "Oh James! Are you sure Mark will be ok by himself. I'm just so worried leaving him alone…" Harry rolled his eyes at his mothers babbling about the safety of his younger brother. You would think that with all the worrying she does about Mark, that I don't even exist. I mean when was the last time that they worried about MY safety when they went out, when was the last time that they treated me like the do Mark, Harry glanced over at his brother to see Sirius in his animigus form rolling on his back entertaining the two year-old. What did I do to deserve to be treated like this, to be ignored, and to receive nothing but their anger. I have done everything I can to make them happy, yet all I ever get is disapproval.

After the departure of his parents Harry had gone to the library of Potter Manor, so that he could spend some time away from his brother and the annoying house elves that his parents owned. Harry slowly started to walk up and down the rows of books in the library attempting to find one that he would understand. After a few minutes of searching he came across Introductory Magical Theory by Madeline Goshwackel. This was the book that he had been searching for, he had spent the last few months reading and attempting to understand the powers that he, his family, and the rest of the Wizarding World had been gifted with. So with his book under his arm, Harry settled himself into a comfy leather chair and prepared for a quiet afternoon alone in the library; without giving a second thought to the fact that he was supposed to be looking after and entertaining Mark.

He knew that he was supposed to watch his brother, but he figured if everyone believed his brother to be so special then he could look out for himself. Afterall he was being entertained by the new quiditch action figure that Sirius had gotten him for his birthday. Sirius never got me anything like what he gets for Mark. My parents think that I'm strange because all I do is read, however, what they don't consider is that they tell Remus to get me books for my birthday. They encourage my reading and when I do read all I receive is their contempt. Harry glanced up from the book that he was reading and looked at the window noticing that it was already dark outside; surprised he checked the grandfather clock in the library and saw that it was 8:30. I guess I better go and put Mark to sleep or my parents will be even angrier with me when they get home. Harry stood up and stretched despite the early time, he was still tired considering he was only four years old after all. The eldest Potter child walked out the family library, slowly working his way upstairs to tuck his brother into bed.

As young Harry Potter was getting Mark ready for bed, he was unaware of the evil that was slowly approaching his house. The Dark Lord Voldemort, the most feared dark lord since the time of Salazaar Slytherin himself, was making his way towards the Potter's home having just arrived from a Death Eater meeting. The Dark Lord was happy that he had found out the location of the family that had been a thorn in his side for many years. If it weren't for Wormtail, I would never have found this blasted house. He quietly thought back to the Death Eater meeting which was held that very night, the one in which he had killed that traitorous bastard Pettigrew, or Wormtail,

Flashback

The Dark Lord glanced down at the ring of Death Eaters which stood in a semi-circle before him. He narrowed his eyes at the one on the end of the left side, "What news do you bring me of the Potters, Peter?" The man known as Peter began to shake and stutter uncontrollably.

Wormtail fell to his knees and kissed the hem of Lord Voldemort's robes. "M…m…my Lord. I have not been trusted with any valuable information as of yet."

The Dark Lord snapped his wound out and shouted "Crucio!" He watched as the pathetic man fell to the ground in agony. "Do not lie to me Wormtail!" He watched in pleasure as the man's eyes widened in fear and horror. "Do not lie, I know of your stupid nickname, and I know why you have it. I also know that you were made the Potter's secret keeper. Do not lie to Lord Voldemort, Wormtail, Lord Voldemort always knows…always. Crucio!" The fat man on the ground began to writhe in unimaginable pain as the cruciatus curse was applied again. "I will ask one more time, where are the Potters?" The Dark Lord all but hissed out the last sentence.

Wormtail gave a great sigh of relief when the curse was finally lifted. "P…Please my lord no more! T…th…the Potters live at…N…Nu…Number 8…G…Godric's Hollow."

The Dark Lord's lips twisted into an unholy smirk, as he raised his wand and shouted "Sanguinus coquere!" A sickly beam of red light with cracks that looked like black lightening shot from the Dark Lord's wand. Wormtail was thrown back from the feet of the Dark Lord to the center of the ring of death eaters, he suddenly began to swat at his skin. The Heir of Slytherin looked upon Peter Pettigrew with satisfaction as he began shriek in pain. Wormtail began to swat at his skin and his body started to turn a bright red color and smoke began to rise off of him. Then, suddenly, his entire body exploded outward and flaming blood shot out and hit a shield that Voldemort had erected. Peter Pettigrew, AKA Wormtail one of the last spies for the Light, had died from the blood boiling curse. Voldemort looked out at his inner circle and said, "Let this be a lesson to all those who would think of betraying me. The Dark Order is for life." With that having been said the Dark Lord apparated out, leaving eleven shaking death eaters in his wake; one of whom was visibly shaken by the display.

End Flashback

The Dark Lord smirked to himself as he reached the front door of the Potter's residence at Godric's Hollow. He raised his wand and muttered, "Reducto", and the door was blown off its hinges smashing into the opposite wall. Voldemort seemingly glided into the house and reached out with his aura and sensed two powers on the upper level. Slowly the Dark Lord began to ascend the stairs and when he reached the top he turned left down the hallway and stopped in front of the last door. With a flick of his wand the door snapped open and he saw a child of about four or five standing over a crib holding what appeared to be a baby. Just as Voldemort raised his wand to end the life of the elder child, the boy turned and looked at him with emerald green eyes. The Dark Lord glanced at the baby and reached out with his aura, and saw that while he would one day be powerful he was nothing compared to what the older boy could possibly achieve.

Harry peered up at the monster before him with his brilliant green eyes; he could practically sense the darkness coming off the figure before him. Harry, enticed by the darkness that he felt, reached out with his hand to touch the black clad demon. Voldemort glanced briefly at the Potter's second child, Mark, and while he sensed a great amount of power he knew it was not the child that he was looking for; the Dark Lord then turned his attention back to the Potter's first born. Voldemort glanced down at the child before him, and stared deeply into his aura. Shocked at what he saw Voldemort stepped back and muttered to the young boy, "You are power young one. Staring into your eyes is like staring into the heart of magic. Even now, I can see all those that you will slay etched onto your soul. I cannot allow a power such as yours to achieve its full potential. You will undoubtedly oppose me due to the nature of your family; I cannot allow a threat to my plans to live."

With these words the monster raised his wand and hissed out the two words that had long ago damned his soul, "Avada Kedavra." With a great whoosh the emerald green light sped out of the Dark Lord's wand and struck Harry who jumped up with a loud cry. Voldemort looked on in horror as the killing curse hit the young Potter but instead of stealing his soul, it awoke a powerful whirlwind of shadows and magic which swirled around the boy, wrecking the room and slowly bringing down the house. With a noise that sounded like the clanging of metal a bright green light shot out of the swirling magic straight for the Dark Lord. Voldemort had no time to dodge as the curse struck him full on in the chest; the pain was unimaginable, much worse than the cruciatus curse. There was no time for Voldemort contemplate what had happened to him as his soul was torn from his body and flung into the world.

Four year-old Harry Potter stared at the charred remains of Voldemort lying before him; something wet began to trickle down his forehead. Slowly, he reached up with his left hand and touched his head only to remove it and discover it covered in blood. This shocked Harry out of his reverie so that he noticed the cries of his younger brother, whom he looked upon with disdain. What a stupid child, he's perfectly safe. Why doesn't he stop that awful noise; of course he won't be quiet, no one has ever told him to be quiet. He always was the favorite, even before he was born my parents barely treated me better than they do now. Harry always knew that his parents liked Mark better, for no reason other than the fact that he, Harry, was the quiet one while Mark, barely two years old, was constantly talking. As he was watching his brother, he barely noticed the house falling down around him; Harry slowly turned around to walk away believing that his parents would still ignore him despite his accomplishment, the destruction of the Heir of Slytherin. The eldest Potter slowly backed away from his younger brother barely escaping a piece of flaming debris falling from the ceiling, but Mark was not so lucky. As he cried out in fear of what was happening around him, he was struck on the chest by a heart shaped piece of glass, leaving what would later be one of the most famous marks in the Wizarding World. Harry looked upon his younger brother one last time before fleeing what had been his home for the first four years of his life and running into the inky black night.

As Harry Potter ran into the night a figure apparated into Hogsmeade. Quickly the black cloaked figure sprinted up the road from Hogsmeade, past the Forbidden Forest and to the front gates of Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. The figure strode through the castle to a statue of a gargoyle and barked out, "Lemmon drop"; slowly the gargoyle began to ascend and the shadowy figure stepped onto the steps that appeared. When he reached the top he opened the door to reveal Albus Dumbledore.

"What is it, Severus?" The venerable old wizard asked. Severus Snape, the Order's spy in the Dark Order collapsed into a chair.

With a sigh, Snape ran a hand over his face and looked Dumbledore in the eye. "The Dark Lord has just left to attack the Potter house, he tortured Pettigrew until he snapped. The two children are going to die." With this information Dumbledore stood up from his desk and walked briskly out of the room.

A/N --- Well there's the first chapter. I hope you all liked it. I'm promising right now that I will not abandon this story and that you can expect regular updates. Please review, this is my first fanfic ever and I would like to know how I'm doing. Thanks.