*

The rain was coming down in torrents. It had been doing so for the last two hours. It was obscuring the visibility and everything was wet. In this harsh weather, two men stood, and a little ways away was another figure, about one third of their height, wearing a large pink jacket. The men were talking.

"Poor little soul, that Lily is. Voldemort got to her place and just wiped her parents out. The sister, Petunia, was at a birthday party or something. She phoned home right when I got there. She didn't know a thing, but when she finally hung up, the poor seven-year-old broke down. She'll spend the night at that friend's house till we can contact her aunt and uncle. They live nearby," said a tall man with long silver hair and a long silver beard. This was Albus Dumbledore, the headmaster of Hogwarts. He was talking to a young man, around his middle-twenties.

"Voldemort is terrible, Albus. What's worse is that there is nothing in our power to put an end to his unjust doings. What are you going to do about Lily?" asked the man. This was William Potter. He was a famous Auror that worked alongside Alastor, or Mad-Eye, Moody. He had a son that was just around Lily's age named James Potter.

"I'm afraid that's where you come in, Mr. Potter," Dumbledore said, looking at him from over his half-moon spectacles.

"What do you want me to do, Albus?" Mr. Potter asked with a small note of confusion in his voice. Dumbledore raised an eyebrow, and then Mr. Potter understood. "I'm a single man. My wife passed away when Jimmy was just born, Albus. I don't know if I'll be able to handle two toddlers what with my job going haywire at the moment."

"William, in case you don't remember, I was your Transfiguration professor when you were at school. Remember that time when you were in, let me see, fifth year, and just two weeks away from your OWLs?" Dumbledore asked cheerfully.

"How can I not remember? That year was torture," Mr. Potter said, shaking his head. "But what does that have to do with anything?"

"In case you don't remember the rest of it, being a prefect you had more work than the other students, since you had to complete all of your homework, study for the OWLs, and assist the other prefects and the Head Boy and Head Girl as you all planned the upcoming events. Must I also add that the Chamber of Secrets incident had only just blown over?" Dumbledore reminded him. "You got the top score of all the fifth years, and you didn't show any signs of strain."

"Professor, that was ten years ago. This is now." Mr. Potter pleaded. He had called him 'professor' since he was for the moment in sync with his school days.

"And you'll do just as well now as you did then, if not better. It has been nice talking to you. I am sure that little Lily will be cared for well in your hands," Dumbledore said. And then, in a blink of an eye, he had Disapparated.

"Daddy!" wailed the short redhead from a few feet away. She was wearing a large pink jacket that went beyond her knees. The sleeves were also too large, and the whole jacket hung on her as it would on a hanger. Though the hood was up, and visibility through the sheets of rain was not good, Mr. Potter could just make out two red pigtails poking out from under the pink hood.

Sighing, he walked up to the small girl, kneeled on the ground, and put his hand on her shoulder. Lily turned around, and stared at him with round, emerald green eyes filled with tears.

"Oh, Lily," Mr. Potter said. Tears were threatening to fill his eyes too as he stood up.

"Daddy…" Lily asked with her head cocked to one side as she looked up at his face, her puzzlement showing on her face. For a moment, William was reminded of the last time he had walked into a house that had been attacked by Death Eaters. He shook his head quickly, as though he was trying to shake the memory out of his brain, and looked back at Lily.

"Yes, Lily, it's Daddy," he whispered softly to her. She seemed satisfied with his answer, and raised her arms up to him, as though she wanted to be picked up. Mr. Potter bent down, put his hands around her and lifted her off the ground, and walked with her up to his house.

"Don't worry, Lily. Daddy's going to take care of you. Just wait and see. You have a brother too, don't you know? James – he'll be your brother. If only I had a mother for you, Lily. Then it would be perfect." William seemed to be saying this to him rather than to Lily, but all the same, she put her head on his shoulder and her arms around his neck. She gave a large yawn, and closed her eyes.

"Go to sleep, Lily. That's right; go to sleep. Think happy thoughts, and go to sleep."

*

"Jamie, ready or not, here I come!" squealed the four-year-old redhead as she uncovered her eyes and set out to search for her brother.

It had been two years since Dumbledore had left Lily in the care of the Potters, who had accepted her as one of the family. She was a twin sister to James and a daughter to William Potter. Since both kids had been very young when Lily had arrived, they had grown to think that they were brother and sister. It pained Mr. Potter to think of how sooner or later, she would have to be sent back to live with her sister, aunt, and uncle.

"I found you!" Lily giggled as she wrapped her arms around the boy with messy, black, hair and round, silver frames. He let out a laugh too, as he broke the bond between them and set off running down the hall.

"Catch me, Lee, catch me!" screamed James back to her. Neither of them could say the other's name properly. Lily called James Jamie, and he called her Lee – sort of a gender mix-up, wouldn't you say?

They ran through the hallway and down the stairs and then started to circle the small dining table, but at that precise moment, William walked in, and both children stopped their game of tag, ran up to him, and attached themselves to either of his legs. They were barely tall enough to hug his waist, so they contented themselves with a leg for each of them.

"Daddy, you're back!" they squealed together.

"Yes, Jimmy, Lils, I'm home," he assured them. It didn't help their pronunciation that Mr. Potter himself called them by their nicknames – which were kind of like a mixture between their real names.

"Now, now, what's all the fuss about?" a bossy voice came from the kitchen. The owner of this voice was a short, plump, woman with a kind but stern expression. She had a number of fine wrinkles on her face and she was wearing a flower-printed dress with a big apron tied around her waist and a rolling pin in hand. This was Florence, the Potters' housekeeper. She had been hired before Lily had arrived to take care of James and keep house while Mr. Potter was away at work. She had been like a second mother to both children.

"Ah, Mr. Potter, you're home so early today. That is good, very good. Have you finally caught one of those hooded rascals? Oh, good heavens, you must be starving. I'll make some pudding to honor the day," she said happily once she saw him. Turning to the children, she said," Now, you two, mind you behave yourselves while your father's home. He's had a tiring day at work, and stay out of his way. Master Potter, that goes for you too. Take care of Lily."

"Oh, Florence, that won't be necessary. I meant to spend some time with them. Ah, Dumbledore spoke to me today," he said meaningfully.

"Oh, you don't mean that – but she'll have to – but that sister, she's dreadful! I went to make sure she was fine, and she threw her dolls at me! Such a child I have never seen. And to send Li –" she ranted, but Mr. Potter put his hand up to stop her. He gave her a not-in-front-of-the-children look, and she quieted down, her face quite pink.

Lily and James looked at first one and then the other, trying to comprehend what she had just said.

"Where's Lee going?" James asked finally.

"I'm going somewhere?" Lily asked after that.

Mr. Potter sighed and waved to Florence to go back to her work. He walked into the living room and sat down in an armchair, gazing into the fire. The two children followed him in, and with little difficulty, slid into his lap, both of them staring into his sapphire-blue eyes.

"Lily, do you remember the man who came to our house once or twice who had long, silver hair and a beard just like his hair too?" Mr. Potter asked her. He was talking about Dumbledore, but Lily didn't know his name.

"You mean the really old man with eyes like yours?" she asked.

"Uh, yes, Lils, that's him. Well, he's coming today to meet you and me. That's why I came home early today. You'll be nice, won't you?"

"Of course I will, Daddy." And with this, she slid off of his lap and walked out the door.

"Daddy, why doesn't he want to talk to me?" James asked.

"Jimmy, there's something important that I haven't told either you or Lily, and he's coming to tell you that," Mr. Potter said simply.

"Why can't you tell us?" James asked puzzled.

"I – I can't, James, I can't. I'm not the right person. Well, maybe I am, but James, you have to understand that there are certain things that I cannot tell you. There are certain things that must not be told. There are even certain things that no one knows. Please try and understand."

For a moment, James was silent, and stared at his feet, which were swinging back and forth. Then, he looked back at his father with a frown on his face.

"I understand. You like Lee better than me, don't you?" James asked, and with that, he ran out of the room, sniffling silently. William made no movement to stop him, but only stared at James' retreating back, and flinched when he slammed the door.

"Jimmy, if I could tell you that Lils isn't your sister, I would," William whispered silently to himself. He got up slowly, and walked into his bedroom and shut the door.

*

"Daddy, where's Lee?" came James' voice from his bedroom upstairs. It was ten o'clock at night, and Dumbledore had come and gone, taking Lily with him. She had been sent to live with her sister, Petunia, and her Aunt Stacy and Uncle Lawrence. It had taken a lot of time, tears (because she wasn't a Potter), words (from Dumbledore), and explanations (about what must be done), but finally they had persuaded Lily that the transition had been meant for the best.

"Jimmy, is that you?" came the strained voice of William Potter "I thought you went to bed."

"Yeah, I thought so too. But I'm not sleepy anymore. Where's Lee?" he asked again.

"Come down, James," William asked his son. Slowly and silently, James shut his door and waddled down the stairs. His face was stained by a few tears, and there were wet patches on his shirt where they had fallen. When he reached his father, he crawled into his lap.

"James, I told you that I could not tell you everything. But I must tell you this. Lily has gone to live with her sister and her aunt. She will not come back."

"I have two sisters? Why don't Lee and my other sister come and live with us?" James asked. It seemed the most obvious solution.

"Jimmy, you don't understand. Lily has a sister, but not a brother. You don't have a sister. I – you – Lily isn't part of our family, James," William said, before covering his face with his hands. James was shocked. How could Lily not be his sister? She had always been with him. She had called his father Daddy just as he did. Is Daddy not my Daddy either? James thought to himself.

"James, Lily doesn't have a Mommy and Daddy anymore. You still have a Daddy, but she lost both of hers. That's why we let her be in our family. But now she's grown up. You're grown up. So we had to send her back. She has an aunt and an uncle who will be like her Mommy and Daddy. But I can't be anymore. And you can't be her brother either," William explained softly.

"Are you my Daddy?" James asked.

"Oh, of course I am, Jimmy. I love you, and I will never leave you. But there are some things that we cannot control, and that's why Lils lost her Mommy and Daddy. But I will make sure that you never lose me, and I will never lose you either. I promise you that."

William wasn't sure whether or not James understood everything, and James wasn't sure whether he understood everything either, but both of them had come to a mutual agreement that Lily was going to be better off in her new home.

*

"Here we are, Lily. This is going to be your new home. Let's go inside, shall we?" Dumbledore said jovially. Lily sniffed in response.

Dumbledore took her by the hand and walked up to the front door of the large white house. He knocked on the dark green door three times, and the sound of footsteps was soon heard. The door opened, expelling a tall, handsome, woman in her late thirties with short, brown hair and a large smile. Behind her was a blonde girl who looked to be nine years old. These women were Aunt Stacy and Petunia – Lily's aunt and sister.

"Oh, Lily, you've finally come! And what a beautiful young lady you are!" squealed Aunt Stacy as she picked up Lily in a swift motion. And with that, she slammed the door, without a word to Dumbledore at all.

"Well, they seem to be nice, polite people," he said softly to himself before Apparating.

*

A/N: This story is by two authors. We both have separate accounts – Snoopy511 and KoolKitty. Also, we thought it appropriate to mention that some of our chapters may seem as though they have been written in completely different styles. This is because we're each doing alternate chapters. Anyway, thanks for reading and both of us hope you liked the start!