A/N: It starts with the scene from the film where the Pevensies are evacuated, but in the long run I'll try to use moments from both the books and the films; I've only opened with the scene from the movie because the book starts with them at the Professor's house where they play hide-and-seek. I've also started with the Pevensies because although this is an OC story, I wanted all of the children to be equal; after all, LWW is about the Pevensies, and so I didn't just want to focus on the OC while ignoring them.

Also, it won't be instant romance; they're children, Peter included as he's fifteen in this fic, so is the OC, Susan is thirteen, Edmund is eleven and Lucy is eight (I think I heard that they were these ages in the film somewhere in a making-of special I watched as a kid). To write an instant "fall-in-love instantly" moment from the very start is just…no.

Anyway, enjoy!

This prologue was written years ago and has been revised but not beta-read or anything :) The first chapter was originally up to the end of the children's first night in the house but I extended it a bit to make it more interesting!

Chapter One

The train station was flooded with families that morning, with parents tearfully bidding farewell to their children; there were many tears from the younger ones, those too young to really understand, and they clung to their parents, whilst the older ones promised their parents to behave, to look after their younger siblings and stay out of trouble. Of those children, four of them were the Pevensie siblings: Peter, Susan, Edmund and Lucy. None of them wanted to leave home, but there was no choice for their mother had arranged for them to be evacuated – she would miss them dearly, but it was a decision she had made to keep them safe from the bombs being dropped on London, from the war.

"You need to keep this on, darling. Alright?"

Lucy just looked morose as her mother fussed with her coat, attaching a label with her name and destination. All of the children in the station were wearing them, and for some reason it made her think of luggage.

"Are you warm enough?" Mrs Pevensie asked, and when Lucy gave a small nod she smiled weakly. "Good girl." With that, she moved to start attaching Edmund's label to his jacket.

Edmund, meanwhile, had been looking around the station with an unpleasant look on his face. "If Dad were here, he wouldn't make us go," He muttered, and he couldn't help but feel angry at his mother; it wasn't fair that they had to leave, at least not to him – how could their mother force them to do this?

His older brother, Peter, glared at him half-heartedly. "If Dad were here, it would mean that the war was over and we wouldn't have to go."

"You will listen to your brother, won't you, Edmund?" Mrs Pevensie fretted; she knew better than anyone that her sons had had some trouble getting along lately, particularly since their father had left.

Edmund looked at her but said nothing. Standing, she took his face into her hands and moved to kiss his cheek; he jerked away immediately, however, pulling a face. She sighed, knowing there was no use in forcing him, and instead turned to her eldest. Unlike his brother, he readily accepted her hug and squeezed her tightly.

"Promise me you'll look after the others?"

"I will, Mum," He agreed, and his voice cracked slightly.

His mother pulled away and took him in properly, smiling weakly. "Good man."

Man. As the eldest, he knew he had all the responsibility; if anything happened to his younger sisters and brother, it would immediately reflect on him. Peter suddenly felt rather overwhelmed by the thought – but he wouldn't let the others or their mother see it. No, he had to be strong for them, had to step up and be a man; he had promised his father he'd do so, after all.

"Susan…" Mrs Pevensie now turned to her oldest daughter, giving her a parting hug. Susan returned it, and her siblings could see that she was fighting back tears over their mother's shoulder. "Be a big girl, alright?"

Susan nodded quickly as they separated, sending their mother a reassuring smile that didn't quite meet her eyes. Looking around at the four of them, Mrs Pevensie had to brace herself.

"Alright…off you go."

The four children picked up their bags and began to make their way towards the train that was waiting by the platform. Peter felt Lucy grasping for his hand and, not wanting to lose her in the crowds, he immediately linked his fingers through hers and began to lead the way towards the nearest ticket collector. Behind them, he heard Edmund snap something along the lines of, "I know how to get on a train by myself!" and tried not to roll his eyes in frustration; for once, couldn't his brother just do as he was told?

Across the station, Peter noticed a young man – probably only a year or so older than himself – dressed in the unmistakable green soldier's uniform. It suddenly occurred to him that if he had only been a few years older – perhaps even just a few months older – then he'd be off fighting in the war too; the thought of being on the front line, holding a gun that he had no idea how to use, frightened him so much that he didn't hear the ticket collector asking for their tickets.

"Peter!" He heard Susan scold, and she suddenly snatched the papers from his hands before presenting them to the clerk.

The woman checked them over briefly before giving a nod. "Alright, on you go."

Peter nodded his thanks to her, still distracted, before leading his siblings towards the nearest carriage of the train. He could feel Lucy lagging, and from the corner of his eye he noticed her craning her head to try and look through the crowds – most likely for their mother.

"Come on, Lucy," He murmured to her quietly, leaning down to move his face closer to hers. "We have to stick together now." Her face crumped, as though she were about to cry, and he squeezed her hand tightly. "Everything's going to be alright…everything's going to be fine…"

They only just made it onto the train in time; as soon as they were all on-board, a whistle blew and the conductors on the platform began to shut the doors. Other children were stretching out their arms through the windows as the train started to move, pulling out slowly, and so Susan looked out of the window on the door to the carriage to see if their mother was nearby; the others did the same just moments later, squinting and searching the crowds.

She was waving goodbye to them, smiling sadly as she watched them go. The four children called out their final goodbyes to their mother as they waved back, even Edmund, who pushed at his siblings so he could see their mother one last time.

Once the train had picked up speed and their mother was no longer visible, Peter took Lucy's hand in his once more and turned to the other two children. "Come on, we should find somewhere to sit." Susan nodded in agreement whilst Edmund just looked at him unpleasantly, and so they headed off down the corridor in search of a compartment that wasn't too full.

Peeking through the sliding doors of each compartment, Peter noticed that one was only occupied by only three other people; two children who couldn't have been any older than Lucy, and a girl who was roughly his own age who was sitting and reading by the window. Deciding it was better than nothing, he pulled open the door and gestured for Lucy to go in first; she hesitated, only for Edmund to give her a harsh nudge to move.

Sending his younger brother a glare, Peter took Lucy's suitcase from her hand and reached to place it into the luggage rack above. As Lucy sat down, Edmund entered after her and roughly jerked away when his brother tried to take his bag; he gave Peter a glare before putting it onto the rack himself and taking a seat as far away from the other children as possible.

Out of the corner of his eye, Peter saw the teenage girl glance over at them with a mix of amusement and uncertainty. He sighed to himself, turning back to help Susan before taking his own seat; something told him that this was going to be a rather long and uncomfortable train journey.

The journey was relatively quiet once they had settled down; the other three children in the compartment made no effort whatsoever to bother the Pevensie siblings, with the two younger passengers looking out of the window and the older girl reading her book silently. It was only once the two young children got off at a stop an hour later and the train began to set off again that Lucy looked to the remaining stranger and decided to initiate some kind of polite conversation to pass the time – it would be far better than spending the rest of the journey bored.

Leaning forward in her seat, she gave the girl opposite her a curious look. "What are you reading?"

The girl looked up, rather surprised when she realized that Lucy – who was clearly the youngest in the compartment – had been the one to speak to her. "Oh…Alice in Wonderland."

Lucy lit up immediately. "I like that book!"

"Lucy." Peter gently put a hand on his sister's shoulder and sent the girl an apologetic look. "I'm sorry if she's bothering you…"

"No, it's fine. I've read this book before anyway, to be honest." She closed her book and turned back to the Pevensies, a small smile on her face. "Do you like to read then?"

Lucy nodded enthusiastically. "Oh, yes! Especially when the sun is out and you can sit beneath the trees…and I love the adventures best, stories about far off places!" She held out her hand and beamed. "I'm Lucy, Lucy Pevensie."

The girl took it hesitantly, though she did look somewhat amused. "Nice to meet you, I'm Eleanor Johnson."

"Have you read The Wizard of Oz?" Lucy asked immediately, and Eleanor shook her head. "You must, it's so wonderful! There's a girl named Dorothy, and she has a little dog called Toto, and…and there's munchkins, and a wizard – oh, and a cowardly lion! Our father reads books to me every night before bed, and…" Her face fell slightly. "He used to, I mean. He's gone to fight, and we haven't seen him for a long time."

"Mine too," Eleanor said quietly. "I'm…I'm sure they'll be fine though." Her voice wasn't at all sure.

Lucy's short burst of enthusiasm seemed to have faded after remembering that her father was far away and fighting in the war, and she slumped back into her seat against Peter's side. There was a long moment of silence where no one else spoke, and then Eleanor quickly turned to gaze out of the window; Susan, being observant, noticed that her face had grown rather pink.

"Do you know whereabouts in the country you're headed?" Peter asked suddenly, clearly attempting to relieve the awkwardness that was present.

Eleanor nodded and tucked some hair behind her ear. "Yes. A professor, I think."

"We're going to live with a professor too," Lucy said, and she brightened slightly at the news. "Maybe it's the same one!"

"Maybe," Susan agreed thoughtfully. "But it's likely that there's more than one professor in the countryside too. I don't suppose you know what your professor is called?"

Eleanor looked to the label attached to her coat for confirmation before answering. "It says that his name is…Professor Kirke."

Lucy looked extremely pleased, and Susan simply smiled politely. "We're going to stay with Professor Kirke too; what a strange coincidence."

The other girl smiled back, somewhat awkwardly. "Yes, it is. At least we'll all know each other before we arrive, I suppose."

Maybe things wouldn't be so bad; with the exception of Edmund, who hadn't spoken a single word since the train had left the station, they all seemed to be getting along well enough. Besides, for all they knew, the war could be about to end – perhaps it would only last for another few weeks if they were fortunate. There were worse situations to be in.

For now, they could only hope that Professor Kirke would be at least somewhat kind.

Their stop consisted of a bare wooden platform and a hand-painted sign indicating the name of the station. In fact, it was so bare that it was completely empty; there was no one to be seen except for the five children themselves. After a few minutes of waiting, they heard the sound of a car horn beeping – it sounded rather close. Hurriedly picking up their bags, they ran down the steps to greet whomever was driving – only for the car to drive past, nearly splashing them with mud and leaving them all looking on in confusion.

Finally, Susan spoke. "The professor knew we were coming."

Edmund fiddled with the identification tag on his coat and squinted at it. "Perhaps we've been incorrectly labelled."

"All of us?" Eleanor asked, looking rather sceptical. He frowned rather unpleasantly.

Suddenly there was a sound from down the road; when they all turned to look, they saw that a pony and carriage were approaching them. Driving it was a rather stern looking woman, and when she pulled the horse to a stop in front of them, she looked down on the children in an almost disapproving way.

Sharing a brief look with Susan, Peter looked up at the woman uncertainly. "Mrs Macready?"

"I'm afraid so," The woman answered wryly, looking down at them and their luggage. "Is this it then? Haven't you brought anything else?"

"No, ma'am," Peter replied, and Lucy nodded in agreement. "It's just us."

"Small favours…alright, load your things and we'll go to the house. Quickly! I'm not waiting around all day!"

The five children hurried to do as she had said, placing their suitcases onto the carriage before clambering on; Lucy was too small to get up by herself, and so Peter lifted her up onto it easily before offering Susan, and then Eleanor, his hand to help them. Edmund ignored his brother's offer of help, and instead struggled to climb up by himself before Peter.

Seeing the seating arrangement, Edmund glared at his brother. "I'm not sitting next to you!" He hissed quietly, and then he turned his attention to his younger sister; she was sat towards the front of the carriage, opposite Eleanor, and he gave her a hard shove. "Move, I want to sit at the front."

Peter looked as though he were about to snap at his brother, and so Susan hurriedly intervened. "Both of you, just sit down! It's just a seat!"

Casting a wary look at Mrs Macready, Eleanor shuffled over to make room for him. "You sit here then," She offered carefully. "I'll sit between you and Peter."

The following ride to the house was extremely quiet; all of the children were too nervous to say anything in front of the rather imposing woman who was driving the horse, and so they just took in the views of the countryside on the journey. It wasn't too long until they reached a large mansion; it seemed to loom over the children as they approached it, about three stories high and seemingly made of nothing but stone and glass windows.

Inside, the house seemed even bigger and more imposing; there were artefacts positioned even in the entrance hall as they walked through the doors, lead by Mrs Macready, and it was all they could do to take it in as she led them up a grand staircase.

"Professor Kirke is not accustomed to having children in this house," She began sternly. "And as such, there are a few rules you need to follow." She turned to face them. "There will be no shouting, or running…no improper use of the dumbwaiter…"

Out of the corner of her eye, Eleanor saw Susan reach out to touch a rather curious looking bust of some kind; intrigued, she moved closer so that she could get a better look at it for herself-

"NO! Touch none of the historical artefacts!"

Both girls jumped, quickly turning to look at Mrs Macready as she glared at them furiously. Peter and Edmund both had to hide their grins; for them, it was a rare sight to see their sister being told off, particularly for something like this.

After a moment, Mrs Macready started to lead them up the stairs once more. "And above all," She continued, her tone rather firm and final. "There shall be no disturbing of the Professor."

The children were then shown to their rooms; despite the fact that it seemed to be a large house, and that there were more than enough rooms for them to have one each, the girls were to share one room while the boys shared a further one down the hall. Edmund looked annoyed at having to share with Peter, but he said nothing – he couldn't while the housekeeper was there – and so he settled for glowering at the floor instead.

"Girls are to sleep in one room, and boys in the other," Mrs Macready instructed severely. "You are to stay in your rooms when asked, particularly when there are guests coming to view the house. Is that understood?"

They all nodded and murmured in agreement, not wanting to cause any trouble or risk receiving a scolding, and then they were left to unpack in their respective rooms. Each room, they found, had a small wardrobe and set of drawers for their clothes; the girls organised the wardrobe into sections for each of them and took a drawer each for remaining clothes, deciding that this was easiest and fair. The boys weren't nearly as organized, however, and Peter and Edmund soon found themselves having a rather heated argument over whose clothes were going where.

"Oh, for goodness sake!" Susan sighed when she entered their room and saw them fighting. "All you need to do is take half the wardrobe each for shirts and a drawer for trousers. It's so simple!"

By the time all of them finished unpacking, it was time for some tea; being in the middle of the war, there wasn't a great deal to eat, and they all found that they didn't really have large appetites anyway – perhaps it was from being in a strange house, or from leaving home, but food was the last thing on their minds that evening. Afterwards, Mrs Macready sent them to their rooms for bed; despite it being somewhat early in the evening still, they all agreed – if only to appease the caretaker – and returned to their rooms.

Peter, Susan and Eleanor, being older, were not accustomed to going to bed this early; Lucy was rather tired and so easy to convince to change into her nightclothes – Edmund, on the other hand, was not.

"I'm not a little child!" He snapped when Peter ordered him to change. "You can't force me!"

Peter straightened up. "I'm the oldest, and Mum left me in charge of you three – and I'm telling you to get ready for bed!"

"Ed, just do as he says," Susan tried to convince him, not wanting an argument to break out. "You don't have to go to sleep, just change."

There wasn't a great deal to do in their rooms, as they soon found out, though the girls' room did have small radio in it. Peter turned it on so that they could listen to it, taking a seat by the window and staring wistfully out at the darkness of the night; Susan had sat on her bed to listen along, not saying a word as she focused on the announcer's voice. Eleanor, meanwhile, had curled up in the chair by the radio, sat with her book in her lap; it was clear that she wasn't reading it, however, due to the fact that she hadn't turned a page. Edmund had left, supposedly to go to the lavatory (though he'd been gone a rather long time), and Lucy was in bed already – though she had yet to fall asleep.

As the newscaster began to talk about the bombings in London from the previous night, Susan suddenly stood and crossed the room to turn the radio off. Peter sent her a look while Eleanor lifted her head at the disturbance; Susan just tilted her head at her brother, gesturing to Lucy. Understanding, Peter gave a nod and jumped down from the window ledge to sit with their sister.

"The sheets feel scratchy," Lucy sniffed, looking up at him.

Susan came to stand at the bottom of the bed, trying to give her an encouraging smile. "Wars don't last forever Lucy," She told her optimistically. "We'll be home soon."

Edmund entered the room then, and he seemed to have caught on with the conversation as he muttered, "Yeah, if home's still there."

His older sister frowned at him. "Isn't it time you were in bed?"

"Yes, Mum," Edmund sneered mockingly.

"Ed!" Peter snapped, glaring harshly at their brother; the younger boy's smirk disappeared, his shoulders sinking slightly. Turning back to Lucy, Peter put a hand on her arm and gave it a squeeze. "You saw what it's like outside, Lu. This place is huge – we can do whatever we want here." He smiled at her, and she managed a small one back. "Tomorrow's going to be great… Really."

When the children woke the next morning, however, it was raining – not drizzle or a light shower, but heavy rain that pelted down against the windows and made it impossible to see outside. It was all too clear that they were not going outside today – it seemed like their day would be long and boring after all.

The girls had woken up first, rather miserable after seeing the weather, and they decided that while the boys were still asleep they would get ready; they took turns in the bathroom down the hall to wash and get dressed – Susan and Lucy first, and then Eleanor. When she returned from the bathroom after her turn, Eleanor found the two sisters seemingly searching the room for something.

"Is everything alright?" She questioned.

"No, we're fine," Susan sighed. "Lucy can't find her teddy, that's all. It's probably still in her suitcase."

Lucy's bottom lip wobbled. "I took it to bed with me, I know I did! I can't find it anywhere!"

"Oh. Well, I'll help you look," Eleanor decided after a moment of brief hesitation. "It can't have gone far, I'm sure."

That was how the boys found them when they entered the bedroom half an hour later; Lucy practically tearing apart her bedding and belongings, Susan looking in each of their bags, and Eleanor on her hands and knees on the floor to peek under the beds.

Peter laughed at the sight. "Something wrong?"

Susan rolled her eyes at him. "Oh, very funny. Lucy can't find her teddy bear, so we're searching for it… Where on Earth could it have gone? She says that she took it to bed last night, but it's just…disappeared!"

There was a moment, a beat of silence, and then the elder Pevensies turned to look at Edmund; he just looked between them, confused. "What?"

"Did you take her teddy, Edmund?" Peter asked, suddenly extremely annoyed.

The younger boy frowned. "No! Why would I want her stupid teddy?!"

"I swear, Edmund, if I find out that you're lying-"

"I'm not! I didn't take it!"

"If you took it, Ed, then we won't be angry," Susan told him, though Peter did already look extremely angry as it was. "If you just give it to us now, then we can pretend that it never happened."

Edmund glared at her, absolutely furious. "I didn't take her blasted teddy!" And he stormed out of the room, muttering under his breath.

Peter sighed and ran a hand through his hair tiredly. "Fine. Come on, we're going to be late for breakfast if we don't hurry – we'll find your teddy afterwards, Lu. Okay?"

Lucy nodded, wiping her eyes as she clambered off of her bed and out of the door. Susan gave Peter a look as she walked past him. "Do you think he took it?"

"This is Edmund – of course he did," Peter agreed as Eleanor stood up to follow them out of the door. "I'll search our room later; he's probably hidden it somewhere."

The rain continued through to the afternoon, much to their dismay, and so they found themselves in one of the sitting rooms after lunch and playing what could only be the most boring game ever invented.

Peter was sat in one of the armchairs, head thrown back and posture slack, while Edmund lay on the floor, looking very much like he was about to fall asleep at any moment. Susan and Eleanor sat on opposite ends of the sofa; Susan had an extremely large dictionary in her lap, and she was reading random words out of the dictionary – the other children had to guess what the definition was, or what language it originated from. Lucy was sat on the window seat, looking despondently out at the grounds through the rain pelting heavily as if trying to come up with an adventure or game to play, but to no avail.

"Gastrovascular," Susan read out slowly.

Peter closed his eyes and made a pained facial expression; Eleanor grinned when she saw it, pleased that it wasn't her word to define.

"Come on, Peter," Susan urged. "Gastrovascular."

Peter sighed, opening his eyes to give her an exasperated look. "Is it…Latin?"

Susan peered down at the giant tome in front of her. "Yes."

"Is it Latin for, 'worst game ever invented'?" Edmund quipped, sitting up as his mouth curled into a smirk. Peter tried and failed to contain his chuckle, and Eleanor had to bite her lip to contain a laugh.

Susan narrowed her eyes at them and slammed the book shut in disdain. "Excuse me for trying to give us something to do!"

"It's nice of you to try, Susan," Eleanor said, trying to be somewhat kind. "But, let's face it, it's a terrible game."

Lucy brightened up at the word, 'game', and she jumped down from the window seat. "Oh, I know - we could play hide-and-seek!" She suggested, going over to Peter.

Peter smirked slightly as his eyes slipped from Lucy to Susan. "But we're already having so much fun." Susan glared at him, clearly hurt.

"Come on, Peter, please!" Lucy begged, and she stuck her bottom lip out in a pout. "Pretty please?"

It was obvious that Peter had somewhat of a soft spot for Lucy, because when he turned back to her he had begun to grin in submission. "One…two…three…four…"

Lucy beamed when he began counting and immediately ran for the door so that she could find a good place to hide; Edmund gave a groan in protest but it was ignored by everyone. Susan rolled her eyes but immediately got up and left the room, Eleanor following close behind and accidentally brushing past Peter as she left.

The house was so large that there were more than enough places to hide – it was just a matter of finding the best one. Susan found a trunk in one of the corridors that was just about large enough for her to fit inside of, and when she shut the lid there was no indication that she was hiding inside of it whatsoever. Eleanor pulled open the first door she saw; it led to a room full of unused furniture, all covered in sheets, and so she crawled underneath the nearest table.

Edmund and Lucy, meanwhile, began to argue over who was to hide beneath a curtain.

"I was here first!" Edmund snapped at his younger sister, shoving her out of the way.

Lucy made a face at him before setting off down the hallway once more; in the distance she could hear Peter counting still, now at eighty. If she didn't hurry, then she would be without a hiding place and lose. Turning the corner and into another corridor, she began to try the doors; the first was locked when she tried to open it, so she tried the next one in the hopes that it might have been left unlocked.

Yes!

Lucy practically fell into the room and closed the door behind her quickly; when she turned, she was amazed to see that the room was almost empty.

Almost empty, that was, except for a large wooden wardrobe.

Reviews are greatly appreciated! :)