A/N: This is Year 1, based on JK Rowling's "Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone".
Thank you to QueenDementor and Chiruka for beta-reading the story.
Unaware of the chaos in the world beyond what they knew, men and women worked in fields, preparing for the autumn harvest. Cars lined driveways, crops grew in vast pastures, animals lingered as they were raised for dairy or for slaughter. Only a few homes could be found dotting the lands before a large forest that provided refuge for more than just ordinary creatures. Hidden in the trees, a cabin lay secluded from the rest of the semi-rural community. At this residence, a young, odd couple had moved in only a few months ago. They did not keep animals like their neighbors nor did they clear the forest for any reason. This couple had a toddler and an infant, both blissfully ignorant of the terrible events that their kind were suffering from.
The children played on the living room floor while Persephone McKinnon paced nervously, looking a bit like a bothered raven. She was a curvy woman - about average height - with olive skin and blue-black long waves, which she often pinned half of to keep strands out of her face. In the age of the Wizarding War, Persephone had earned some worry creases in her forehead. She froze when her younger child, Alessia, began to sob.
"I'm sorry, Mum," Nikos cried. "I don't know wut I did."
"Don't be sorry, dear," Persephone reassured her son. "She's little. She'll cry over lots of stuff that's not worth worrying about."
"Where's Daddy?"
Persephone hesitated for a moment. "I'm sure he'll be home soon, babe."
He had to be. It was his baby girl's first birthday.
Seamus McKinnon chewed on his fingernails as he sat in an armchair of his childhood home. His parents and brother and sister bickered in front of him.
"... He's after us, Mum. You have to stay here!" Marlene shouted.
"I've lived through worse, my dear. I suppose you've forgotten about Grindelwald?" their mother countered.
Seamus sighed. His brother argued with their father. Amongst the chaos, his anxiety went unnoticed.
The Order of the Phoenix had faced many horrors in the last several years. They had lost so many friends and many lost beloved family members during the War. Combing fingers through his sandy blond hair, he thought of his family.
He knew that months ago, he had gotten his wife, Persephone Savalas-King, now a known blood traitor, and his children away from the dangers of the wrath that He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named unleashed, but he still worried for them. Having met his wife in the Order, he hoped that she and her mother and step-father would be able to escape the consequences of betraying Pureblood ideals. Seamus knew that his own survival was unlikely so he left as soon as he knew they were well-protected. After all, his family's support of Albus Dumbledore was always well-known. He had missed daughter Alessia's first birthday just yesterday, which he bitterly regretted.
Seamus had wanted to move his family into a home where both wizards and Muggles were known to occupy, but Dumbledore had suggested a town near where Lily Evans Potter grew up. The upside was that the home was secluded in the woods. The downside of this plan was that the Malfoys had a house not too far from there. The Malfoys who were suspected to be Death Eaters.
He exhaled again and shifted in his seat to rise when all the McKinnons froze with stunned expressions. The Wards had shattered like glass.
Marlene, the youngest of her siblings, moved towards the door, her wand readied. A dark figure drifted into the threshold a second later. Earth-shaking screams erupted. Then all was silent.
He never heard his daughter's first words. He would never see her walk nor watch her learn to fly a broom nor be there to see her off to school. She was his little girl. And they'd miss all of the joys of being father and daughter.
Persephone lifted her head after these thoughts flooded her mind. "You're sure?" she asked.
"Yes," Severus Snape, the family's Secret Keeper, replied. "I saw it myself."
Four years ahead of Severus in school, she had been a sort of mentor to him. She begrudged herself for abandoning him when she heard who he was befriending. She looked at the man she considered a brother, still trying not to be furious at him for betraying Lily Evans during their school years - for falling in with the Death Eaters. Persephone had been the one to deliver the news to him about the fate of his childhood friend's son and helped him change course, attempting to forgive him - and herself. Her family was alive because this man had proved himself worthy of trust again. If only she had been able to trust her sister not to give in to torture.
She braced herself against the back of a dining chair, allowing herself only a moment to let the wave of despair overtake her, knowing her children needed her strength.
It seemed only hours ago that Persephone learned of the news, but it was days. The Potters. She couldn't imagine her own children being alone the way Harry was now. Lily had grieved the McKinnons' deaths and Persephone had mourned the Potters in a similar fashion, but only when her children had gone to sleep.
In the weeks passing since the fall of the Dark Lord, she learned that her only sister had been deceiving her for years. Eris Savalas-King was now in Azkaban for cursing their own mother… and for so many other unspeakable things.
Persephone desperately wanted to seek out her old friend, Narcissa Malfoy, who had been a year ahead of her in school, but she was sure that Lucius Malfoy was behind one of those masks. She almost as equally sure that Narcissa would be on Eris's side if the former was true. Just as she was about to shake these thoughts, there was a sharp rap at the door.
"I get it!" Nikos called. He toddled over to the door quickly.
"No, honey-" Persephone tried to stop him, but she was too late. They weren't expecting any guests.
The door swung open, revealing a tall, slender woman clad in black with silver-blonde hair in a neat bun.
"Narcissa..."
"Hello, dear," Narcissa said to the little freckled boy near her knees. "May I speak to you alone, Persephone?"
"I suppose so." She ushered Nikos into the living room to play with his baby sister.
The women stood eye to eye thanks to Persephone's heels when Narcissa took the step down from from the front door. Both seemed uncomfortable, backs rigid and gazes shifted. The silence between them seemed to suck the air out of the room.
"How did you find me?" Persephone inquired finally, overcoming her shock and realizing Narcissa could only be here because the Fidelius Charm cast by the McKinnons had allowed Persephone's old Housemate to cross the Wards.
"Severus," Narcissa replied simply.
"I might kill that man."
The quiet washed over them once more. The women studied each other as if expecting the other to start a duel.
"I didn't know about your sister," Narcissa uttered in a controlled voice.
"I apologize for not readily believing you, Cissy," Persephone responded. "Not with the rumors about-"
"I know."
"Are they true?"
"Yes."
"Then why are you here? Severus would never allow you here without good reason. You-Know-Who killed my husband and his family. Surely you know that."
Narcissa dropped her stare and tugged off her gloves without a word.
"Well, at least tell me why you're here," Persephone requested.
"I needed my friend."
"We haven't spoken since our school days, Cissy."
"It's just... No one else knows how difficult it is to be a mother and losing a husband to something so dark," Narcissa hesitated. "And to have a sister in Azkaban."
"Are you telling me you didn't choose that side?" said Persephone incredulously. "You actually prefer me, a blood traitor?"
"I'm not alongside my sister, now am I? Work it out for yourself. You always thought yourself to be so very clever." Narcissa sounded irritated.
"Why should I believe anything you say?" Persephone demanded, her voice raised.
"Use Legilimency on me if you so wish." Narcissa's blue eyes narrowed. "I know you know it."
"Fine," Persephone muttered, silently wishing she hadn't learned the art when becoming an Auror. "Legilimens."
The images shot before Persephone's eyes. Narcissa clutching her newborn son close to her chest in terror. Lucius ranting and raving about how the Dark Lord would triumph. Narcissa looking at her one-year-old son on his birthday, promising that no harm would come to him. The harsh words of evil and prejudice filling her ears. The one time Narcissa attempted to combat what Lucius said, her words were interrupted by a severe slap to the face.
"He beats you?" Persephone met Narcissa's eyes with pain and concern for her old friend.
"Of course not."
"Obviously he's cursed you to say otherwise," Persephone spat, disgusted by what she'd just seen. Her tone became gentler when meeting Narcissa's stare, "I'm sorry for that. I'm guessing he won't let you leave?"
The pain in Narcissa's eyes grew more intensely. "I'm supposed to be with Severus."
"He knows the truth too? And he trusts you with his secret?" Persephone asked vaguely in case he had not divulged where his loyalties lay.
Narcissa nodded. "He's teaching me Occlumency, but I'm not sure it'll be enough. I need to protect my son."
"Whatever you need, I'm here."
Narcissa nodded again before turning towards the door. Persephone followed, holding it open as the Malfoy matriarch crossed the threshold to leave, watching silently as her friend vanished from sight.