A.N: In this story, the Potters are a minor family that stopped being pureblooded generations ago. This won't be mentioned much because it doesn't move the story along, but it should be noted.
CHAPTER 1: Baker Farm
Lily Potter nee Evans became a mother during the largest storm in six years. The hospital was crowded with quidditch enthusiasts or general flyers that had been caught out, each sporting burns, broken bones or fever. The staff were busy enough that only one nurse was present for the birthing of Hannah and Laura Potter.
The new mother was sent home that night, and welcomed by the cheer of Sirius Black and Remus Lupin, both of whom cried when handed an infant. James held his wife tightly and covered her chest, enjoying the feel of her heart beating.
Of the many photographs taken of the family, this moment enthralled all who saw it.
The twins were raised around the other wizarding children of Godric's Hollow, and were placed in child daycare from a young age. Lily was never far however, as she had begun an apprenticeship under Bathilda Bagshot, who lived across the street from the daycare.
As the children grew older, the more time Remus would take in teaching them. With Sirius and James busy as Aurors, and Lily co-writing a book with Bathilda, he found himself with the twins more frequently, and took the opportunity to teach them writing and mathematics. And so it continued until the Halloween of 1985.
Hannah and Laura were downstairs eating a breakfast of eggs and tomatoes with Sirius. Their small feet kicking the air under their seats, occasionally hitting each other or the chair legs. Lily stumbled into the kitchen, her hair tangled and pajamas wrinkled. She kissed her daughters' heads before near hopping to the stovetop coffee maker. The radio was playing softly in the background, going unheard as it spluttered the daily muggle news.
'…ctim has been identified as Amy Addams… seventh… western Engla… indoors'. The radio sound vanished in static and Sirius absent-mindedly turned it off.
"Now girls" Lily said, turning on the burner, "Do you remember what to do today?"
"Yep" the twins chorused around mouthfuls of egg. Sirius laughed quietly and continued reading his paper.
"When daddy wakes up," Started Laura,
"We go upstairs," continued Hannah,
"And spend the day in our rooms,"
"So, you, Daddy and Siri can get ready for the party!"
"Then at 6,"
"Which is nearly our bedtime" Hannah giggled,
"You'll come and get us."
The coffee maker whistled and Lily turned away.
"Make sure you get dressed in those pretty new dresses." Lily added, smiling softly.
James didn't wake up until past 11, which the twins found quite amusing. And as promised, they immediately made their way up to their rooms to hide for the day.
"Girls," Lily called before they closed their door, "Love you."
Hannah and Laura smiled and called back before the door clicked shut.
They had no shortage of activities to do; rotating from exploding snap, to dress up, reading time, to nap time, colouring in, puzzles and dancing back to exploding snap. At 1, James came up to give them lunch, kissed them on their cheeks, and went back down stairs.
The hours ticked away, faster in some places than others, until 6pm saw the girls sitting on their beds in their dresses, waiting to be collected.
Hannah jumped off of her bed and skipped across the floor to join Laura, and started up a game of patty-cake. Not that either of them were any good, having learned from two older girls just the day before. But it was fun and alleviated the boredom that came with late parents.
6.30 came and went, followed by 7.00 then 8.00. The girls were beginning to get tired and hungry, and their patience was waning.
"It's 8.30" Laura whispered.
"Should we just go down? Maybe they forgot about us?"
"Or fell asleep."
They looked unsurely at the door, but a loud stomach grumble erased what remained of their patience. Hannah walked forward and quietly turned the doorknob, Laura clutching her other hand lightly. Together, they snuck out into the hall and looked around. The hall was dark, and no light was rising from downstairs either.
The twins shared a look, and descended the stairs slowly, avoiding the creaky one in the middle. The frond door, they saw, was wide open and hanging off of one hinge, leaves and rain tumbling inside with the wind. Laura squeezed her hand tighter around Hannah's as they crept into the lounge-room. If possible, the room was even darker than the hall and Hannah was afraid to enter.
"Mommy?" Laura whispered.
"Daddy?" Hannah stepped forwards slowly, her eyes adjusting somewhat.
"Uncle Siri?"
There was no reply. The twins stopped their slow walk suddenly when something wet soaked their socks and made their feet sticky.
"Hannah, I'm scared…"
"We should go find someone…"
Hannah pulled her sister closer and retreated to the front door. The front gate was creaking in the rain and the street had never looked so uninviting.
"We should get Mrs. Bagshot" Hannah muttered.
The two nodded to each other, then began to run. They burst through the gate and into the cobblestone street, their feet making small pattering sounds in the wet.
Bathilda lived on the other side of the church, just far enough to have the girls panting and cold by the time they arrived, their legs muddy and dresses wet.
Hannah banged on the old woman's door, "Mrs. Bagshot! Mrs. Bagshot!"
But the woman was quite old and also quite asleep, so the children's cries went unheard. Next, they ran to Magda Jameson's house, who ran the daycare, but she was away in London for a Halloween party.
"We could go to the pub." Laura suggested, and the two instantly began to run.
They ran back past the church and onto the small street that connected to the main road. The rain was harsh, and they were colder now, their throats stinging.
"Is this the catch?" Came a scratched voice. The girls stopped and watched warily as a man walked out from behind a tree, an unlit cigarette hanging from his lips.
"Double for our trouble, too." Said another. The twins weren't able to see the new man before a whispered 'stupefy' knocked them out onto the wet pavement.
_oOoOoOo_
Hannah woke with a sore head. It took her a while to realize that her hands and feet were tied together, and even longer to realize that it was daytime. Laura was asleep next to her, her position mirroring her twins, snoring quietly.
"Tell you what," Came a familiar voice. "I'll let you take both if I can smell your cunt." The man laughed mockingly.
"Or I could take neither, and leave you with two more mouths to feed. £400 is the best offer you'll get"
"What do you think, Jake?"
"£450"
"No, £400. That's my offer."
"£400 and a tit squeeze."
"£400, and I don't inform the police."
"It's not wise to threaten strangers girl, bad for your health."
"Oh, I'm not threatening. I left a letter at home that is to be delivered to the nearest police station should I not make it back. You truly leave yourselves quite open to such protections."
"… Fine. … Adam, get the kids."
Large feet stomped over to Hannah and Laura, before a bucket of cold water was splashed onto their heads. Laura gasped and snapped her eyes open, mouth opening and closing in confusion. The man untied their feet then lifted them by their wrists, hurting their shoulders as the joints stretched.
With a shove, the twins were dropped at the feet of a middle-aged woman dressed in black and brown. Her piercing blue eyes searched the girls, focusing on their now ruined dresses, before she nodded and passed a roll of money over to the men.
"Pleasure doing business with you." The man said, and kissed the air with a pop.
The lady made a disapproving noise from the back of her throat, and ushered the twins up.
"Come along," She said in a voice that left no room for argument, "What are your names?"
They walked along a muddy track towards a car, hidden by a large bush, and never looked back at the two men.
"Er… Hannah Jane Potter" Hannah muttered.
"Laura Lilly Potter…"
The woman hummed and pursed her lips. "My name is Mrs. Baker. Mrs. Adeline Baker. You will address me as Ma'am. I know you must be grieved by the recent death of your parents, but you will be working for my family now, and your grieving will not affect your work. Is that clear?"
The girls couldn't understand half of what Mrs. Baker had said, as she spoke quickly and quietly, but they understood enough.
"Mommy and Daddy died?" said Laura.
"Yes." Was the clipped reply.
"…"
"…"
"We wont ever see them again?" asked Hannah.
"No."
They were put into the back of the car with the doors shut and locked. Mrs. Baker started the engine and sighed, looked back, but remained silent.
The twins didn't really understand death, they were too young for such a concept, but they did understand that their parents were gone, and weren't coming back.
By the time Mrs. Baker had pulled into the drive of a large villa, both Hannah and Laura were blinded with tears, snot spilling into their mouths and down their chins as they held each other tightly. Their small faces scrunched and pained, but they made no noise louder than a sniffle or gasp.
The woman sighed and crossed her arms. "I'm sorry for your loss." She muttered before leading the children out of the car and into a Lodge left of the large house.
_oOoOoOo_
If I concentrate, I can recall every event, every breath that happened on that farm. I don't even have to concentrate particularly hard. The challenge though, comes in not looking back at all. Some doors should never be re-opened, not even in thought.
Yet here I am, looking back with the express purpose of remembering everything that happened.
_oOoOoOo_
The girls were sat on a cushy sofa, stripped and under layers of blankets. Mrs. Baker was long gone, uncomfortable around the crying twins.
"Here we are dears" It was Egraine Filch. She had met them at the door and took the girls, removed their wet dresses and dried their hair. She had run up a case of narrow wooden stairs, and returned with two large nightgowns.
"Mr. Bakers about to go to town, he'll get you some nice little clothes while he's there"
The old woman, who looked to be nearly 70, carefully lowered the gowns over Hannah and Laura's heads, before adding another blanket to the pile. The front door opened with a pop, and two pairs of feet clonked on the wood. A young man and woman entered the open room, one shaking off dirt and the other flour.
"Ah! Are these the new little helpers?" The man said cheerfully. He was tall and pale, with short orange hair and dusted in more freckles than stars in the sky. His broad shoulders hefting a large bag of gardening tools and clippings.
"Yes, and don't you go bothering them now. They've had quite the time." Egraine huffed, pulling her long white hair into a quick bun.
The young woman crept forwards and knelt down, her black hair falling out of her hair net and covering her cheeks.
"Hello there. I'm Mags. I'm the cook here. And that giant over there is Trevor, he's the gardener," Her voice was quiet and gentle, sweet like honey, "We're going to look after you now. Mrs. Baker got you from those bad people so we could do just that. You have no reason to be scared."
Hannah and Laura nodded, and Mags smiled brightly. For a while, there was relative silence. With the adults zipping around from room to room, the twins were left to huddle under the wool and cotton, and after few minutes drifted off to sleep.
The next room over from the lounge-room was the kitchen/dining-room, filled with a long wooden table in the center, surrounded by benches, cupboards, ovens and stovetops. There, Egraine, Mags, and Trevor sat, each holding a cup of tea and small frowns.
"How do we know their parents are dead?" Mags huffed. "Those dodgy sort of people could have snatched them from anywhere."
Trevor hummed and played with a small silver cross around his neck, leaning more heavily on the wooden table.
"And why haven't we just called the cops on them?" The man sighed.
"I've met these sorts before; Gangs looking for easy money. They most likely killed the parents themselves."Egraine sighed, "And we can't go to the police now. They'll arrest Mrs. Baker too. Not to mention their friends will probably come and kill us for it."
"So that's it then? We do nothing?"
"Yes, Trevor dear. We do nothing. Those types will get what's coming though. They always get caught at one point or another."
Trevor looked peeved at the old woman's reply, but he knew it was true. The slavers would get caught eventually, but no one at the farm could have anything to do with it.
_oOoOoOo_
Of the four that Hannah and Laura had met, there were seven other inhabitants of the farm. There was Mr. Simon Baker, husband to Adeline Baker, and the big man in charge. Their three children; Henry, who was four years older than the twins, Mary, who was a year older, and Baby Toby, who hadn't fully seen a year yet.
Then there was Mrs. Linda Kain, who worked as a house cleaner, and her husband, Mr. Andrew Kain. Mr. Kain was the Baker children's Music tutor, and knew how to play near every instrument. He liked to brag about it as well.
Finally, there was old aunty Agnes, as she liked to be called. She was the great aunt of Mrs. Baker, and a permanent source of chocolates and sweets. All skin and bones with a love for pearls and large hats.
The twins leaned that Egraine was the nanny and overall teacher to the children, and as such, took the girls under her strict but kind care. Hannah and Laura's life was not unpleasant on the farm, quite reversed to be honest. They would attend classes with Henry and Mary in the main house, then help either Mags or Linda in the kitchen. If it were a nice day, they would work with Trevor, who would show then how to groom and ride horses.
The two shared a small room in the lodge, with a small round window that looked into a nearby wood. Next to them was Mr. and Mrs. Kain's room, who had made it quite clear that the twins were welcome at any hour – provided they knocked first.
On weekends, the twins played with Mary and Henry, who were both happy for some new faces. The farm was just a little too far away from a school, so the Baker children rarely interacted with new people.