OK so here we go; my attempt at what may be one of the most overused plot lines ever. That's right, the infamous "James returns from the dead" fanfic. I love reading these so I figured I would give a shot at writing one of my own. Therefore, I am going to try to make this plot as much my own as possible. So this fanfic will take place in Harry's third year, before even Harry knows of Sirius's innocence, but already has heard the story of how Sirius was supposedly his parent's secret keeper. Maybe that'll give it a bit of a twist. Let's see how this turns out shall we?

Disclaimer: sigh Nope, I own nothing…

Chapter 1

All was quiet on the dark street; no living creature was out on the cold night. None, that is, except for a large stag, who happened to be known as Prongs, which was lying in the middle of the deserted street. If anyone had been out on that chilly night they would have found the site of a large stag lying still in the middle of the cold street quit perplexing. But there was no one there.

The stag twitched slightly, and then moments later opened his eyes, a look of utmost confusion evident on his face. He lay still for a few moments, trying to figure out exactly what was going on. A few moments later the stag disappeared, and standing in its place was a man with messy black hair and hazel eyes, James Potter.

James stood up and dusted off his robes, which were dirty from the street he had just been lying in. He looked around and tried to figure where he was and what had happened. Suddenly thoughts came whizzing back to his mind. The last thing he remembered…

The door flew off the hinges, breaking the silence of the peaceful night. It was soon accompanied by a horrible laugh that made the hair on the back of James's neck stand on end. His eyes widened in terror as he realized what must be happened. In a state of panic he turned to his wife, "It's him! Take Harry and run! I'll try to hold him off!" His wife nodded quickly, snatched Harry up from his crib, and rushed up the stairs as quickly as she could.

James's eyes followed them up the stairs before the turned and fixed upon the man who had just entered, Voldemort. He pulled out his wand, as the man entered his house and gave him a cruel grin.

"Well, well, well if it isn't James Potter," said Voldemort in a mocking sort of tone, "so nice to see you. Another cruel laugh filled the air as Voldemort advanced further into the house.

James clenched his teeth, his knuckles turned white as he gripped his wand tightly. He quickly stepped forward and attempted to hit Voldemort with the full body bind. Voldemort, however, simply stepped out of the way and flashed another cruel grin.

"I haven't time to play with you Potter! I am here for the boy, so as much as I'd love to play around I will be finishing you off quickly," Voldemort said. He opened his mouth, as if he was about to cast his spell, but closed it, "Hmmm…perhaps I will use a different spell on you, I think a slow and painful death would be better for you and I have just the spell for the job! Ingetanontas!" he shouted.

James hadn't expected it to happen so quickly. Before he could move out of the way a beam of purple light hit him and sent him flying into the wall. Voldemort laughed one last time before he proceeded up the stairs.

James ignored the throbbing pain he was feeling, despite the pain of being thrown into the wall the spell hadn't seemed to do anything. He quickly changed to his animagus form and charged up the stairs in an attempt to reach his sons room. He could hear his wife already pleading with Voldemort and he hoped he wouldn't be too late.

Suddenly, as James's was halfway across the hall he felt a horrible stabbing pain and fell over. It was followed by more, but he staggered across the hall. As he reached the door near his son's room he collapsed, the pain was too much. He could barely keep his eyes open as he watched the scene in front of him. Voldemort shot a beam of green light at Lily and she fell to the floor. He immediately knew she was gone, and he now had a new reason to cry along with the horrible pain he was experiencing. Voldemort now rounded on his son, but as he shot the familiar curse it seemed to rebound and hit Voldemort. James was shocked, how was it possible that his son hadn't been harmed? But by this point it was too much, he succumbed to the pain and everything went black.

James came back to the present time, whatever that happened to be, and thought this over. He realized his wife had been killed and already he felt the tears forming in his eyes. Then another thought struck him, his son may not have been! He could see the picture so vividly in his mind, the curse had not killed his son but had rebounded and hit Voldemort! But was it possible? What had happened afterwards? He had passed out after that…But he was quit sure Lily was gone, what was he going to do? He felt tears sliding silently down his face as he collapsed onto the cold ground once more, sobbing to himself.

James didn't know how long he had been lying there, sobbing, but by the time he pulled himself together the first rays of morning were beginning to shine. James stood up and scolded himself quietly, "Pull yourself together James, you may have a son out there!" he paused; he may have a son out there. Ignoring that little fact he began to think about his next course of action. He looked up at the street sign, which read Abingdin. He had absolutely no clue where he was.

James wondered something for a moment. He wandered over to a nearby shop window and searched. His eyes met a calendar that was hanging on the wall. Just what he had been looking for! He nearly passed out as he saw the date, which immediately told him he had apparently been dead for 12 years.

Shocked, he realized that Harry may be at Hogwarts! After all he should be (James paused a moment to count on his fingers) 13 by now! His eyes lit up for a moment before he thought of something that made his face fall. He couldn't apparate to Hogwarts; it wasn't possible to apparate onto the grounds. He sighed, he knew what he was going to have to do, and in a flash, the street was deserted once more as James apparated to the place nearest to Hogwarts he could think of.

(OK this part was directly quoted from the third book, pages 265-266)

"AAAAAARRRRRRGGGGGHHHH! NOOOOOOOOOOOOO!"

Harry woke as suddenly as though he'd been hit in the face. Disoriented in the total darkness, he fumbled with his hangings-he could hear movements around him, and Seamus Finnigan's voice from the other side of the room: "What's going on?"

Harry thought he heard the dormitory door slam. At last finding the divide in his curtains, he ripped them back, and at the same moment, Dean Thomas lit his lamp.

Ron was sitting up in bed, the hangings torn from one side, a look of utmost terror on his face.

"Black! Sirius Black! With a knife!"

"What?"

With another pop James found himself at Kings Cross Station, hoping no one had noticed a seemingly dead man appearing out of no where. He looked around, but no one seemed to have noticed anything in the hustle and bustle of the busy station. He breathed a sigh of relief and began walking toward platform 9. His eyes met it, and his casually slipped through when no one was looking.

James looked around; Platform 9¾ didn't look familiar at all. The scarlet steam engine was there, but it was not in use, ready to carry the students to Hogwarts. In fact the whole place looked rather dark and deserted, not at all like what he remembered from his school days! This brought a new thought to his mind, where were his friends? Had they survived too? He hoped they had, but he would have to worry about that after he found his son.

With a deep breath, James looked down the track. He could travel along the tracks to reach Hogwarts! But of course it would probably take him about a week, James thought. He would be moving fare more slowly than the large train, even if he ran in the form of a stag. Of course he was sure it would be safe, the Hogwarts express wouldn't be in use again until it was time for all of the students to leave Hogwarts. Without a second thought, James transformed into a stag, and set off down the rode.

OK, I don't know how that turned out, but I'm hoping it wasn't too bad! Please reply if you find the time because I'd like to know what you thought! Thanks for reading! I'll try to update soon!