A/N: Thank you all for your fabulous feedback, here is a revised, final version of Chapter 1. Enjoy!
Caged, like an animal ought to be.
Her thoughts rang clearly as she sneered at the small blabbering infant in disdain. What was she supposed to do with it? It wasn't hers - why should it be her responsibility to raise their mess? Her fingers slid over the roughened parchment as she smoothed the letter back into its compact form. She had read the words a thousand times over.
Her sister. Dead.
Her brother-in-law. Dead.
The creature they created, by some act of God, alive but in grave danger.
Brilliant green eyes blinked back at her from behind the holes of the worn plastic laundry basket she had placed upon the kitchen table. There was nobody else to take it from her, the letter stated clearly; however, she couldn't allow it to live in her home with her son and her husband. They were good, normal people and had taken great pride in being so. They couldn't even foist the baby off on an orphanage. If strange things started happening it would most certainly lead back to them. No, that wouldn't do at all.
She would need to bring it back. Someone in their world would have to want the child. She remembered that the husband had no family left after his parents had passed in their 7th year at that God forsaken school. Her sister had been quite distraught and demanded to be allowed to comfort him. Of course, her parents had allowed it and that was the last time she had seen her sister alive.
Their family didn't have any more abnormals as far as she knew. Despite its' displeasing nature, she wasn't about to dispose of the child to a random stranger; she was a better person than that. The woman wondered if there was a will and how she could obtain it; a will would have to have a list of suitable candidates for the thing.
Nearly as soon as she thought it a crisp envelope sealed in bright gold wax appeared before her on the table. She jumped and grasped at her chest in shock before trembling towards the new object. She glared at it as it seemed to giggle at her fear.
Carefully, as if defusing a bomb, she opened the letter.
{The Letter}
Dear Mrs. Dursley,
Per your request, the sealed will of you sister, Mrs. Lily Margaret Potter nee Evans, has been enclosed. Any further inquiry should be directed to the Will Executor office.
She flipped the letter over, looking for a signature, but there was none. All she had to go on was the golden seal of two scales loaded with jewels and coins.
A bank perhaps?
Mrs. Dursley wondered thoughtfully as she opened the second piece of the letter. It was a fairly simple single sheet of parchment with a list of requests written in her sister's tight, rigid script.
{The Will}
On the occurrence of my death I, Lily Margaret Potter nee Evans, do request by blood and magic the following:
All holdings, physical and financial, be passed on to my spouse, James Ignotus Potter. If he is unavailable by death, permanent physical malady, or divorce, all items shall be passed to my eldest heir, H.M. Potter. If my heir is made unavailable by death or permanent physical malady, my funds should be made available to Muggle and Magical charity equally.
If upon my death my heir is below the age of maturity and left without a parent she should be put under the care and guidance of the following individuals (in order of priority), health and acceptance permitting:
Sirius A. Black
Frank or Alice Longbottom
Aquila Bootes nee Blishwick
Under NO circumstances is guardianship to be given to:
Peter Pettigrew
Petunia Dursley nee Evans
Albus P.W.B. Dumbledore
Signed, May 18, 1981, Lily Margaret Potter Evans, Gringotts Bank Private Lounge
Witnessed and sealed, May 18, 1981 Grawgnaw, Gringotts Bank Private Lounge
A smile lit Petunia Dursley's face for the first time since the basket of problems had arrived on her doorstep. She was in the clear! The thing wasn't even supposed to be allowed under her care nevermind expected. She would just contact the bank and they could handle contacting the other guardians candidates to get this sorted.
Mrs. Dursley penned a quick letter addressing the bank and popped it into the post hoping that even without the address it would get to the senders of the will. She waited with baited breath for over a week.
A sharp knock was heard at Number 4 Privet Drive on the 10th of November. Petunia hastily stashed the creature and her basket under the table and behind the yellow checkered table cloth.
Who could possibly be calling?
She opened the door and was greeted with the sight of a tall, slender dark haired woman. Petunia eyed her expensive leather coat and pearl necklace greedily. Her guest seemed to be about 60, with piercing grey eyes that struck her face like a hot iron as she blushed in embarrassment to be caught gawking.
"May I help you, Ma'am?" Petunia greeted neutrally.
"I'm here to collect Helen." She replied easily.
"Who?" She replied dumbly. "I'm afraid there is no one here by that name."
The elder woman smiled and pulled out a long wand of ebony. Petunia's eyes widened as she hastily ushered the woman in before the neighbors could see the odd sight. Suddenly Mrs. Dursley found she was no longer envious of the woman's gems and clothing. Silently she picked up the basket from underneath the table and handed over the drooling, dirtied one year old.
With a short nod, the woman took the child and wrapped her close before disappearing with an audible crack. Petunia collapsed in relief, it was gone.
"Hush, little one." The black haired woman cooed at the infant, "This kind of behavior will not do and neither will this state of dress."
They had appeared in a large, open room delicately decorated in blues, whites, and purples. The floor was a deep mahogany with chairs and tables to match. To their right were four large windows looking out into an open field covered in a light snow. Behind them a large fireplace crackled with a warm flame.
The woman grimaced as she evaluated the babe in her soiled diapers and greasy wavy locks. The child had obviously not been cared for in the past week.
Wretched beings, treating a child thus.
"Kippy." The woman's voice rang out and a small grey elf appeared before her. It's face was wrinkled and framed with wisps of grey and white. It's ears were large and floppy and across it's chest it bore a violet stained toga with silver embellishments.
"Yes Mistress Bootes?"
"Please tend to Helen here. Be gentle, I'm afraid she has had a rough start. When she is cleaned and fed, return her to me. I'll be in the library."
"Yes Mistress, Kippy will take good care of the little Miss Helen." The elf and baby disappeared with a soft pop.
The woman dropped her leather jacket to the floor to reveal a set of silver knee length robes as she headed into a room guarded by a large mahogany door flanked by two stone griffins.
The room was a quaint library with several floor to ceiling bookcases crafted in a dark ebony; their shelves were stacked tightly with many ancient looking volumes. The room had two large bay windows accentuated with deep purple curtains. The middle of the room had a large round table of purpleheart with a dozen matching chairs and a black velvet runner.
Aquila strode past all of this and settled behind a desk of obsidian stone and began to write a letter as she waited for the return of her new charge.
A brown tawny owl flew from its perch on the ledge of the library's window with a letter in claw as a small pop returned Aquila's attention to the center of the room. Kippy presented a much cleaner looking child and disappeared again with another small pop.
"Hello, love." She greeted Helen, who gurgled at her in response. "Let's get a proper look at you."
She held the one and a half year old away from her at arms length. Helen was fair skinned with dark curly hair that wisped around her ears and neck. Her eyes were framed by dark lashes which emphasized the brightness of her almond shaped emerald eyes. She placed the child on the round table.
"Hm." Aquila removed her wand from the sleeve of her robe, "Metiretur"
A tape measure seemed to shoot from the end of her wand and began to wrap around Helen's limbs and torso. Numbers seemed to shoot up like fireworks, which enamored Helen as she stared curiously at the sparkling delights.
"You will be tall, I think." Aquila told her as the measure disappeared. "Hardly surprising considering the stature of your parents and grandparents."
Aquila's eyes glossed over with tears as she thought of Lily. She couldn't believe her little fire flower was gone.
Twenty-one; Far too young.
She remembered the day she had met the Potter.
{Flashback}
A red-headed woman clad in a dark brown robe walked through the aisles of a brightly lit book shop. There were hundreds of tomes scattered amongst nearly thirty bookcases with more teeming over in uneven stacks at the end of the aisles. She was so involved with the book she was reading she wasn't paying attention to where she was going and bumped straight into the shopping Aquila.
"Oh, I'm so sorry." The woman panicked as she picked up the book she had been reading from the floor. Aquila glanced at the title, Blood Magicks.
"That's a rather dark subject to be pursuing in public, Miss?" She replied with a small frown, the girl could be no older than eighteen. The woman blushed and hid it behind her back.
"Potter. Lily Potter." Lily stuck out her hand and Aquila grasped it lightly with her own.
Muggleborn. The witch concluded mentally as she considered her response carefully. The girl was obviously young and seemed to be somewhat clever if she was researching such a complicated topic. It was obvious the girl had also married into one of the oldest pureblooded families in England. Her house of birth, the Blishwicks, and her house of marriage, the Bootes, had long remained on neutral terms with the Potter family. However, they were not known as purveyors of dark magic by any means.
It is very curious a woman of Potter allegiance would find herself in a shop such as this.
They were currently in a grey magic book store located in a lesser known alley off of Diagon. Very few non-purebloods knew of its existence and even fewer light aligned citizens dared step foot in such a place. It was for those searching for abstract knowledge, forgotten arts, and forbidden ones. Aquila found the longer she thought about this Lady Potter, the more she found her intrigue growing.
"Aquilia Bootes." She replied evenly, "That book is sorely lacking in material. Honestly, I don't understand why they would even keep such filler nonsense in this store. A much more enlightening tome would be Heme Bonds by Vladimir the Unsullied."
"T-Thank you." Lily seemed to chew on her lip in thought for a moment before speaking further, "This may seem brash, but I suppose I've never been known for my subtlety," She paused and laughed awkwardly, "You seem knowledgeable about this branch of magic. Could I ask you some questions?"
Aquila nodded her consent and the young witch continued.
"Could this magic be used to protect someone from harm?"
What a silly question. "Yes, that is one of the principles behind it; to link one's life to the other in order to offer protection."
"Even if that harm was fatal? Supposedly unbeatable?"
"Well, I suppose it would depend. Death by curse, physical harm, poison?" Aquila questioned further.
"A curse." Lily seemed to collect her thoughts, "The killing curse."
Aquila choked on her thoughts for a moment. This was never something any witch or wizard had ever contemplated. In order to protect another being from death, they would need to give their own life. Blood magic couldn't be performed unwillingly so it would be impossible to use on somebody unwilling to die in return for the life of the other. Magical beings by nature, especially humans, thrived on secrecy and survival; they lived to maneuver ways to live longer and kill their enemies sooner.
"It would need some serious calculation, however it seems within the realm of possibility. Is this what you seek to do?"
Lily nodded.
"Alone?"
Lily blushed and nodded again.
"Nonsense, you must be absolutely mad. This would take a charms and arthimancy master at least a decade. You are only a child." Aquila explained sharply, "How do you plan to test it? I'm assuming you have never cast the killing curse and are aware of the toll that would take on the soul of a light magic user? Why do you think it is worth it to risk so much?"
Lily began to sob, "M-my husband. He's an Auror and Y-You-Know-Who has placed a bounty on his head. I'm worried he won't survive if I don't do something! He's been placed on desk duty for the next year in hopes that things will calm down, but I just know they'll send him back out there. I can't lose him. I won't."
Aquila questioned her harshness as Lily hastily wiped away her tears and picked up her book ready to run away.
"Wait." Aquila pleaded, her own voice becoming laced with emotion.
She had just lost her own husband to the Dark Lord. Nox had been a quiet man and a truly proper pureblooded wizard. Their only child, Pura - her sweet girl - had died in a Death Eater raid of one of the lesser Wizarding villages where she was working with the poor magical children. Nox had gone to investigate what happened when a second wave of Death Eater's came through to eradicate the town and all left living from the first attack. Her heart, still aching from her loss, made her stop the Potter woman.
"Let me help you. I know quite a bit about the old magicks, my birth family branches off from the house of Black."
Lily seemed hesitant.
"There is no way you will be able to accomplish this in time on your own, please. I know the pain of loss and I would wish it upon no one."
Lily nodded after a moment and they planned their meetings to develop a spell to save a life from certain death.
That had been three years ago and judging by the scar on the poor child's head, they had been successful. Lily had given her life for her daughter, as Aquila had wished she had been able to.
I will give her the life you wanted, Lily. I will teach her as I did you.
Her gaze hardened and she lifted the child up and strolled out of the library with Helen securely in her arms.
End Note: Chapter two in development. Please feel free to comment, follow, review, or PM!