On the evening of Hallowe'en 1981, Voldemort arrived at Godric's Hollow and murdered James and Lily; he started with James, who tried to stand up to him; unfortunately he did not have his wand with him and was killed immediately. Lord Voldemort then advanced on Lily, who died protecting Harry. Her sacrifice prevented the Killing Curse from working on Harry. Additionally, her love for Harry became a barrier protecting her son, when Voldemort attempted the curse on Harry, it backfired and instead of killing Harry Voldemort lost all his powers and his physical form was obliterated, but was saved from death by the five Horcruxes he had made up to that point.