Halloween; one of the busiest nights of the year at St Mungo's Hospital for Magical Maladies and Injuries. The corridors were filled with wobbling witches, who had been found stumbling down the muggle streets of London, wavering wizards, chanting song lyrics at the top of their lungs, and the doctors who were desperately trying to keep their heads amongst the cacophony of magical drunkards.

But not far from this rabble, up one flight of stairs and through a set of double doors was a much quieter ward; the maternity wing. And inside one of the rooms sat Neville Longbottom on the edge of a hospital bed, on which lay his wife, Hannah, who was cradling their new-born daughter gently in her arms. Traces of tears still marked Hannah's cheeks, and her husband seemed to be holding back tears of his own. If only his Gran were still alive, if only his parents were well enough, to see his beautiful daughter; how proud would they have been? He had grown from what seemed like a hopeless child into a man anyone would be honoured to know.

"I was so afraid…" Hannah murmured, trailing off into fresh tears.

"I know," Neville sighed, stroking her hair and touching the baby's cheek. But Hannah seemed to want to get it out.

"I was so afraid that they would tell us she wasn't going to make it."

"It's nothing that serious," Neville chuckled softly.

"Then what is it?" she asked, straightening up.

"I think we're both a little shaken up right now. The doctors said they'll give me a file, so we can look over it tomorrow."

Hannah nodded, pulling their daughter closer to her chest. "Our little Emilia Alice," she smiled, tearfully.

"Alice?"

"Yeah, I reckon your mother's name should be in there somewhere. Or would you prefer Alice first?"

"No, no. Emilia Alice is beautiful, just like her."

Just after Emilia had been born, early afternoon that day, the midwives had noticed something unusual about the demeanour of the child; she would not stop crying. They gave her an extremely mild dose of sleeping draft and took a couple of blood samples as a precaution, all the while Hannah and Neville held onto her, praying that everything would be okay.

When the doctors had returned with the report, neither of them had really been able to take it in. All they wanted to know was if their baby was alright. After hearing that she was just fine, completely healthy, they didn't hear much else. The three of them returned home in the early hours of November 1st, and all was well.

Hannah felt pregnant again that December, and gave birth to a boy, six week premature, the following August. Neville had tried to keep the tension low by pointing out that their children would bother be in the same year when they started Hogwarts, but given what had happened to Emilia, his wife was still worried for their son's health. He was small, but strong, and looked a lot like his sister.

The boy was named William Frank, and he and his sister grew into quiet toddlers, then to curious children. Their parents decided that it would be best to have them be home-school in both magical and muggle studies. They both showed good magical potential from an early age, and were taught to be accepting and appreciative of everyone and everything around them.

At around seven years old, Will became more social, instantly popular with the children of family friends for his caring and calm disposition. And his best friend was James Sirius Potter, the eldest son of Harry and Ginny Potter, from whom he was almost inseparable.

Emilia grew to be a talented young lady, finding a love of music at an early age, though never pursued anything further than the little show that she would put on the stuffed toys in her bedroom. She wasn't nearly as outgoing as her younger brother, and didn't really have any friends aside from him, often hiding behind her parents and shying away whenever someone she didn't know tried to speak to her.

As expected, they received their acceptance letters for Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry during the Summer before they were to begin their first year. Emilia had read over the list of required equipment many times, and often wished that time would go faster, that she could hop aboard the Hogwarts Express and start school the next day. Little did she know that her future wasn't all just fun and games, the way the magical world had been up until that point. What this naïve eleven-year-old didn't know was that you must be very careful what you wish for.