Harry James Potter was born on 31 July in 1980. Potter has stated, and others have confirmed, that his parents, Lily and James were part of the first edition of an anti-Voldemort group known as The Order of the Phoenix, headed by the Hogwarts Headmaster, Albus Dumbledore.

According to Mr. Potter, his parents and him were forced into hiding from He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named after rumours that they were being targeted by He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named himself. They were sent to Godric's Hollow, home of the Dumbledores and Mrs. Bathilda Bagshot, author of A History of Magic. According to Potter, there was a Fidelius Charm placed around their cottage, and an old school friend of James Potter's, Peter Pettigrew, was appointed Secret-Keeper. This was, as many say, a bad move by the Potter's, as it turns out, Pettigrew was a spy for the Dark Lord himself. Potter's story goes that when the Dark Lord found out where the Potter's were hiding, he travelled to Godric's Hollow on Hallowe'en 1981 and brutally murdered the Potters, but somehow, Harry survived. Mr. Potter gives his version of how he survived.

"I've been told that it was my mother's sacrifice that saved me. She wouldn't step aside to let [the Dark Lord] kill me, and so [the Dark Lord] killed her first, then tried to kill me. She sacrificed herself, and so Voldemort...sort of died when he tried to kill me. Little did he know that he left a piece of him inside  me."

Confused? So was the interviewer when Potter said that. This is clarified by one of Harry's Hogwarts professor, Mr. Horace Slughorn, who not only taught Harry in his sixth year, but taught the Dark Lord himself.

"See, when someone commits murder, it rips the soul in half, it's a violation of nature. The witch or wizard then has the ability, although excruciating, to place that piece of their soul into another object. [The Dark Lord] did so, apparently, seven times, one of those times was Harry. Also, while the witch or wizard's soul survives in that object, or those objects, they can't really, truly die."