THE DARK TIMES
Harry Potter's story began with another boy names Tom Riddle also known as Voldemort. An excellent student as a boy then grew up to be a man everyone in the Wizardring world fierd and didn't dare stand up to. Here is some accurate information that leads to Voldemorts downfall and Harry's past.
PEOPLE INVOLVED:
There were many people involved in the death of Lily and James Potter, the coming of their son, Harry, and the downfall of Lord Voldemort. For what we know currently follows.
Lord Voldemort - Why, he killed Lily and James Potter is strictly unknown, but there have always been skeptics. One can infer from the clues in the text of the books, that maybe there was a secret that no one in the else in the world knew and Voldemort wanted find out what it was, by any means neccessary.
Lily and James Potter - Fan speculations can only conclude that either Voldemort knew that Lily or James might have been the heir of Gryffindor and thus, wanted to stop any sort of anti-Slytherin force from destroying him, or there was something about the Potters that Voldemort revolted, but not Harry.
Harry Potter - Possibly one of the main reasons Voldemort wanted to kill Lily and James, their child, named Harry was very special. When Voldemort advanced upon him for attack, he was miracously unharmed, and Voldemort's curse rebounded onto himself, taking away his own body, therefor disabling his use of a wand.
Sirius Black - The Potter's life depended on Black, since they had appointed him to be their secret keeper, in which he would risk himself, in order to prevent anyone working for Voldemort to discover what Lily and James were going to do and where they would go.
Remus Lupin - Little known facts actually exist involving Lupin, considering that he wasn't exactly chosen as the secret keeper, but he did do his best to help and Lily and James in any way he could. In fact, Lupin did not have any knowledge of Black's changing duties with Pettigrew, until their encounter with each other in PoA.
Peter Pettigrew - The very traitor to Harry's parents. Pettigrew a member of the James' group of friends. Chosen, at the last minute by Black, as the Potter's secret keeper, he was to protect any information about Harry and his family's fleeing from Voldemort.
Albus Dumbledore - It is strongly believed that Dumbledore had a large part to play in this tragedy. His involvement is still currently unclear, but we can only speculate that he sent Hagrid to help Sirius. According to The Prisoner of Azkaban, he already knew something like this was going to happen or perceived at least. Whether or not he knew if he could help, personally is very foggy.
Rubeus Hagrid - After the incident at Godric's Hollow took place, Black rushed to Hagrid and told him to save Harry by lending him his flying motorcycle and bring Harry to the closest relative, who would turn out to be The Dursleys.
Every character obviously had some involvement in the events of that night, which ultimately had one effect on the other. Below is a gathering of information about the certain and known events of that one night.
ONE HORRIBLE NIGHT:
The story of what actually happened that one night Harry's parents were killed and the defeat of Voldemort is vaguely described, but here are the best facts we could find:
In the last three books, we will hopefully be able to complete this list of events, which were built up by many other ones before it.
HARRY'S SCAR
The power of the very strange lightning bolt-shaped scar upon Harry's forehead remains a mystery. It is a mark of Voldemort's attempted curse and hatred towards Harry and a symbol of Lily and James' undying love for their son.
It is believed that the reason why Harry didn't die that night is due to the love of Lily. She sacrificed her own life to save her own.
"Not Harry, please no, take me, kill me instead — "
AFTER EFFECTS
Even with the defeat of The Dark Lord, the result of it changed only a little; people were still afraid to say his name outloud, and only referred to him as "The Dark Lord", "You-Know-Who", but mainly "He Who Must Not Be Named". Voldemort's followers did leave him in fear of being caught by the Ministry of Magic and they also felt it was their "only chance" at escape from the vile clutches of Lord Voldemort himself.
The Ministry is always looking for any signs of Dark Arts related activity and does their best to put a siege to it, before it becomes something that we all wouldn't want to know about. Luckily, there hasn't been too much Dark Arts activity, thus far.
ORIGINS OF LORD VOLDEMORT
Lord Voldemort wasn't the actual name for the person he once was. It was Tom Marvolo Riddle, which, if you were to pair it up with the same letters, came out to be I Am Lord Voldemort. Riddle was really something of a regular Hogwarts student, but his family was very different. His father, also known as Tom Riddle, left his mother, after discovering that she was a witch.
Because of his anger, Riddle killed his father and eventually finished his seventh year at Hogwarts as a Slytherin student. Once graduated, we can only suspect that he "disappeared" for a short while, before gaining enough knowledge of the Dark Arts. His plans are always hidden from the public and only his most loyal servants will know...
-Lily Potter, The Prisoner of Azkaban, pg.179