As I stood in front of the demolished house, my eyes began to moisten. I was, in no way, ready to face the damage inside of the house. The door was completely blasted off the hinge, and the back half of the roof was blasted off. There were pieces of furniture, pictures, papers, and other items strewn across the front lawn and in all of the trees in the yard. I finally mustered up enough courage to walk through the door into the entryway of the house. There was a stairway directly to my right, and I caught sight of the first horror in this house. I walked about halfway up the staircase and looked down at the lifeless form of James Potter. I can honestly say that I hated James Potter throughout our whole career at Hogwarts: his group of friends, the Marauders, made my life a living hell. However, after Lily agreed to be with him, he changed. It's a complete cliché, but James truly because a better, more levelheaded person. I never became "friends" with him, per se, but I would never wish death upon hum, especially at the hands of Voldemort. My breathing was increasing rapidly as I stepped over James and walked the rest of the way up the stairs. When I reached the top, I paused as I looked at the doorway in front of me. It was obvious that this area was the site of the initial blast. I almost did not walk into the room, because it was going to be the worst experience of my life.

I stood at the top of the stairs for a long time, just thinking of the past I shared with Lily, the woman I considered my best friend. We met as children and instantly connected. Suddenly, I was snapped out of my reverie by a child cry. My eyes opened widely. The boy is still alive? There is not any way that this could be possible. No one, in the history of all wizards, ever survived the 'Avada Kedavra' curse. How did this infant, with no means to defend himself, survive an attack from one of the darkest wizards to ever walk the earth? I heard from many wizards that Voldemort was "dead," which I knew to be false, but I was not expecting this child to be the reason.

I summed up the courage to walk into the room the voice was resonating from. Right in front of the crib, Lily was sprawled out, motionless, on the floor. Her hand was extended through the crib behind her, her last goodbye to her son. I could not control myself any longer. I fell to the floor and wrapped my arms around Lily's lifeless form. I realized about halfway through out Hogwarts career that I was hopelessly in love with my best friend. All I ever wanted was to be with her. When James started "courting" Lily, I became an angry, jealous fool. One day, I lashed out at Lily, and that was the last time that Lily spent any substantial amount of time with me. I realized, too late, that my actions were uncalled for, and I had no way of making up for my actions. James and his friends were no help, either, because they taunted me and made fun of every aspect of my being, which only increased the anger I held within. Eventually, Lily succumbed to James's insufferable attempts to become her partner, and they soon became inseparable. From a distance, I watched as they fell in love, and it broke my heart. I saw how happy she was with him, and James no longer taunted me, and attempted to stop his friends when they tried. I mustered up the courage to speak with Lily and I told her how sorry I was, and that I was glad she was in a good relationship and happy. She decided to forgive me, but our friendship was never the same. I sat sobbing against her form for a long while. My happiness was just taken away from me. I would never here her lovely voice, her contagious laughter, and I would never see her beautiful eyes again.

Once again, the child's cries broke my thoughts. I stood up and dusted my robes off. The baby boy, Harry, was a carbon copy of James, except for his eyes. As I looked into the infant's eyes, I saw Lily, and I realized that I could still have a part of her with me. I also noticed a small, lightning shaped scar on his little forehead. This scar must be the result of the curse Voldemort sent his way. The spell must have backfired for some reason, and caused the blast. I did not understand, however, why Harry escaped with a mere scar on his forehead.

I realized that I needed to get word to Dumbledore about Harry. I conjured my patronus, a doe, and sent a message off to Dumbledore. Harry reached his little hands into the air, so I bent down and lifted him out of the crib. His cries ceased immediately, and he stared up at me. In all of the destruction, I searched to see if there were any sort of toys or pictures or anything of James and Lily's to remind Harry of his parentage. As I was searching, I lifted a large chunk of ceiling of the floor in the corner of the room, and under it was a small toy chest. Inside of the chest, there was one lone teddy bear, with "Mummy loves you, Harry" stitched on the chest. The bear was also holding a broomstick in the right paw, no doubt James's tribute to the toy. After I found the bear, a shimmering phoenix flew into the room. It's large beak opened and Albus Dumbledore's gentle voice escaped, "Severus, this is an astonishing occurrence. You must bring the boy to Hogwarts before someone else discovers him and takes him away. He must be placed somewhere safe, somewhere he won't grow up in danger. I believe that he has a few muggle relatives in Surrey that he could be placed with. I fear that this child will face many obstacles in his life in the future. If he is placed with the muggles, along with many enchantments surrounding him, I believe he will be safe. The Death Eaters have scattered and are now in hiding, but I am sure that there are more than a few that would be willing to sacrifice young Harry. Please, Severus, come to Hogwarts right away. I will allow safe passage for Apparating into the grounds."

What was wrong with Dumbledore? I realized that Voldemort was not truly dead, but I did not believe that there was any way he would return to his human form any time soon, certainly not soon enough to threaten this infant's health. There was no way that I was going to be able to let go over Harry anyway. He was the only remaining link I had with Lily. Deep in my mind, I knew that Voldemort was right, and that there was the possibility of a Death Eater attack, but I would be able to protect him just as well as any enchantment. I wanted to keep him in my life, mostly for selfish reasons but also, because I believed that Lily would expect me to keep her son safe from any danger. I finally decided that I would apparate to Hogwarts, but I was only going to tell Dumbledore that I was taking Harry far away, and there was nothing he could do about it.