Prologue
For some reason, at the end of every summer, Lily Evans always reveled in the thought of going back to school. She had always liked the smell of the newly bought lead pencils as they were sharpened for the first time, just as she enjoyed looking at the glistening colored plastic that coated her new folders and notebooks. She also rather enjoyed determining where all these things could be put in her newly purchased book bag once they had all been gathered together.
But she had to admit that the true thrill for her came when she first acquired her textbooks that first day of school. And afterwards, she would run off the bus with her books in her arms, her book bag and other school accessories totally forgotten. Then, run into the house only to plop them down on the floor in the living room to skim through the material she would learn that upcoming year.
And that was exactly what she was doing now. Only this time, feather quills replaced the pencils and rolls on rolls of parchment replaced the notebooks. There was no newly bought book bag to place all these foreign objects in, just a large wooden trunk with her name scrawled across the top in elegant loopy lettering. And the textbooks currently holding her enrapt attention were not just any ordinary textbooks.
They were Wizard's textbooks.
She was currently leafing through a rather thick book entitled Magical Theory, authored by a man called Adalbert Waffling. She and her sister had laughed jovially at the name of the author; for never before had they heard such an odd name in their lives. But despite the rather comical first impression about this author, Lily found his book quite informative and enrapturing. Hence the reason she was almost halfway done the book, with barely a week to go before her first term started.
Practically shaking with anticipation, Lily finally put the book down and stared ahead at a wall, her thoughts distracted by another chain of thought: Her first term at her new school Hogwart's School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. She was told that it was far different and far more exciting than the public school she had attended for the last five years. Her best friend and both their families had assured her of that fact. And she was direly grateful for that assurance because public school was getting boring!
After all, what else was there to do for an elementary school graduate when you were already the highest in all of your classes (along with your best bud) and had performed basically every practical joke on every remaining teacher in the building? So yes, it was safe to say that Lily was glad to be escaping the mundane public elementary school for the adventurous life of a Wizard boarding school.
She wondered briefly what her new school would be like but then decided against it with an impish smile on her lips as she thought, 'Why not just hear about it first hand from Jeanette?' And with that, she jumped up from amidst the pile of books, potion supplies and cauldrons that had been towering above her head and yelled to her sister, "I'm going over to James' house!"
As she ran through the spacious living room out into the foyer and to the main doors, she could hear Petunia yelling at her to call when she got there. Yelling back to her sister in affirmation, she swung open the doors and ran outside to make the journey to her best friend's house.
Lily peered over her shoulder as her home vanished behind the crest of the hill that separated the Potters' and Evans' estates. Looking forward once again, she smiled happily as she barreled down the hill at top speed, enjoying the rush of air that swept over her sweaty brow and lifted her deep red locks from her neck.
As she came to the bottom of the hill, all her gusto left her and she was suddenly very happy that the Potter mansion was just a few feet from the hill. She stood at the bottom for a few seconds to catch her breath before she started on her way again. This time however, she kept her gaze on the mansion she was fast approaching.
'I hope they're home,' Lily thought as she rang the Potters' doorbell. 'I really want to hear one of Jeanette's stories about Hogwarts.'
As she stood on the porch, she listened carefully for voices or footsteps on the other side of the door and was happy to hear the shuffling of feet. Finally, the door opened and Lily stepped inside, automatically thanking the house elf that had opened the door for her and made her way further into the foyer.
"I will go and fetch Young Master Potter for you Miss." Stated Gletta, the Potter's head house elf, who had just appeared to greet her.
"Thanks," replied Lily easily as she sat herself down in one of the comfy armchairs Gletta had pointed to.
"I shall be back in a moment Miss." Promised the house elf. And sure enough, within minutes, a disgruntled Gletta had returned with a rather grumpy, mud-stained James in tow.
~
"James!" cried his mother's voice earlier that morning from the bottom of the stairwell. "I have to go in to town today to meet my publisher so you, Josie and Jer mind what Gletta tells you, alright?"
"Right, Mum." He had replied from his room on the second floor.
"I don't know exactly when I will be back so you can't go out today with Lily. She can, of course, come here if she's aloud. Otherwise, I want you and everyone else inside this house safe and sound while I'm out, you understand?"
"Yes, Mum." He confirmed, stifling back a yawn.
"Alright then. I'm off!" And with that, she had apparrated out of the house and he had promptly fallen back to sleep.
James' wake up calls during the past two summers had been both abnormally early and abnormally unhappy since his younger sister, Josie, had discovered that during that particular season, her big brother found it incredibly maddening to be awakened at early hours of the morning.
Josie's usual wakeup calls consisted simply of stampeding into James' room while shrieking at the top of her lungs then hopping up onto the foot of the bed and jumping around the unoccupied space around James' groggy body.
But for some odd reason, this morning was different. This morning, James' dear little sister decided to try something new and exciting. He wasn't quite sure what exactly made her try it, but he was sure that if he ever found out what it was, he would eliminate it from the earth.
However, that morning was different because of one little factor. And that one factor was a bucketful of mud which had been carried in by his little sister during one of her demonic wakeup calls and had sloshed all over him as she jumped joyously around his bed.
And the end result left him standing in the spotless foyer decked out in his mud caked pajamas greeting his grinning best friend.
~
Two hooded figures stood facing two eerie glass tubes positioned perfectly in the middle of the chamber. The tubes were about four feet in length and two feet in width. But the odd size of the tubes wasn't what made them eerie, the eerie factor was that inside those two softly glowing tubes…two children were suspended in a blue-tinted liquid.
A young girl about the age of ten or eleven drifted silently in the first. Her wispy brown hair fanned delicately behind her as her pale skin glinted in the blue glow. A simple dress adorned her little frame and it flowed in rhythmic motions along with the water-like substance contained in her tube.
The second tube contained a young boy about the age of ten or eleven. His cropped blonde hair stayed in place atop his head as his tanned skin glinted in the blue glow. A ripped pair of jeans and an oversized T-shirt covered his stocky frame and they, just as his companion's dress did, flowed in rhythmic motions the water-like substance created.
"My Lord, everything will be ready by the appointed time," assured one of the figures standing in front of the children. The second figure just stood stonily in place, his attention directed towards the two bodies drifting almost lifelessly in front of him.
He had acquired these mud-bloods eleven years ago after his Death Eaters had stormed a town in London under his command. He had given the group instructions to find two magical newborns from smuggle parentage with a considerable amount of magical ability in them. And luckily for the group, they had pin pointed babes with the qualities he had specified.
The capture of those mud-bloods had been the first step on the latter leading him to the completion of his new plan. The second step had been to convert a few New Age Wizard Scientists to his cause, which had been done without much fuss. The third step had been the briefing and building of the equipment that was to ensure the mud-blood infants would be sufficiently in his control. And the fourth step, in just another day, would be complete with the long-awaited release of the mud-bloods.
And then finally, the fifth step would begin…
Author's Notes
Hello all! Hope you enjoyed reading the prologue.
Disclaimer
Standard disclaimer applies. Pooh.