Happy Beginnings and Sad Endings
Harry Potter and all other characters from the novels by J. K. Rowling belong to J. K. Rowling. On the other hand, Alex, Danielle, Chris, and Kylie, being original characters, belong to me.
August 11, 1981
University Hospital, Labor and Delivery Unit
"He is a very beautiful baby, isn't he, dear?"
"Well, of course, he is, love. It's just that the fact that his hair keeps changing color makes me a little nervous." The proud father looked upon his newborn, Christopher, just as his hair turned forest green.
"Well, Alex dear, perhaps our son is a metamorphmagus."
Children's Hospital, Labor and Delivery
Danielle was napping peacefully after giving birth to her only child, Kylie, who was also asleep in the post-natal ward, when she began to have a rather lifelike dream. She actually found herself climbing out of the hospital bed in order to remove her newborn daughter from her crib, after which she returned to her bed and lay down, with Kylie cradled in her arms. When she awoke an hour later, she discovered that her daughter, in fact, was snuggled up to her, lying on her chest.
St. Mungo's Hospital, Labor and Delivery
"Okay, dear, just one more push."
"If you don't quit saying 'one more push,' I'm going to push your ears together."
"Well, that's what they say every time you've given birth in the past."
The woman in labor just rolled her eyes at her husband. "With the number of times I've given birth, I would think you realize I know what I'm doing by now." 'Given how painful delivering a baby is, it's a miracle I haven't already killed him,' she thought to herself.
The midwife looked at her. "I know you just told your husband off for this, Molly, but you do need to make one last push. That way, you and Arthur can finally have this beautiful little girl you've been waiting for."
"Oh, Arthur, our little girl." Molly bore down for one last push.
"Here she comes." The sound of a baby crying suddenly filled the room. "Well it seems little miss Ginevra has a healthy pair of lungs."
Arthur muttered to himself. "Just like her mother."
"Did you say something, dear?"
"I said she's just as beautiful as her mother," he lied.
Molly just looked at him suspiciously.
The midwife spent a few minutes cleaning the newborn child before handing her to her mother and leaving the room. All of a sudden, strange things began to happen. The lights in the room began to dim, while little Ginevra began to glow. To make matters worse, this little girl, who had been born less than an hour ago, began to speak.
"Now, all of the Six have been born, as the three who are born today will join with the three who came before. The forces of Light have arrived, they who shall join in the bonds of friendship and family, to protect the world from the approaching Darkness, and the one who will be marked shall lead them. Now, all of the Six have been born."
Everything in the room returned to normal, leaving Arthur and Molly to stare at their daughter in amazement. Then, Molly spoke up. "Dear, per-perhaps you should contact Albus."
Moments later, Arthur returned in the company of Professor Albus Dumbledore, who was carrying a large bowl made of an unknown material. The elderly-looking man set the bowl on a bedside table and turned toward Arthur and Molly. "Are you familiar with pensieves?"
When both bobbed their heads in agreement, he explained to them that he wished to view their memory of the event that had just taken place and, once they had agreed to allow it, extracted their memories. After examining the prophecy for a few moments, he began to speak.
"I am certain you have many questions you wish to ask; however, for the safety of those mentioned, I find it necessary to do so with a fidelius charm in effect. I, of course, am willing to act as the secret keeper on this occasion. Is that acceptable to both of you?" They nodded quickly. "Excellent. Let us begin." Then, he cast the spell, which would stop anyone in the room, except Professor Dumbledore, from telling anyone anything said.
"Is our daughter in danger?"
Albus looked thoughtful for a moment. "The way I see it, there are two ways Ginevra can be put at risk. The first, of course, is for news of the prophecy she just delivered to get out. That is preventable simply by not providing the Ministry with any knowledge of it, which is the best course of action. The second is if there is another prophecy that leads to her in unfriendly hands. If that should occur, it is unlikely we would ever know about it."
A very determined look flashed across Molly's face. "Well, then, we'll just have to be on guard that people of the wrong sort don't get anywhere near our baby. Now, who do you suppose the rest of the Six are? I'm concerned that one of the others is another one of my children."
"I must say that is a very real possibility. However, increased protection on one will generally result in increased protection for all. As far as the one to be marked is concerned, I am limited regarding the information I can give you. The reason for that is there are two possible young men it could be." He removed a strange looking device from his pocket and looked at it for a moment. "I apologize for this but I have urgent business elsewhere which I must attend to. If you think of any other questions, contact me and I will respond as quickly as I can." He then strode from the room.
Arthur looked at his wife for a moment. "Do you suppose his 'urgent business' involves discovering who the other children are? He seemed to have no ideas of his own as to their identities," he said to alleviate any concern his wife might have over Dumbledore's abrupt departure.
"Oh, o-of course, that must be what he wanted to do. Would you mind taking Ginny for a while, dear? I think I could use a bit of a nap."
"Of course, love. Be happy to."
November 1st, 1981
#4 Privet Drive, Little Whinging, Surrey
After leaving young Harry Potter on the doorstep of the Dursley's home and saying goodbye to him, Professors Dumbledore and McGonagall made their way down the street to the point where they apparated in. "So, Albus, have you had any success determining who the Six are, other than Ginevra Weasley?"
"I am not certain, Minerva, although I think Arthur and Molly were correct; at least one of the Weasley boys is a logical candidate to be one of them. In addition, if memory serves, James Potter's brother, Alex, and his wife were expecting their first child sometime in early August. That would be another way for the Six to be bound by family ties and would account for the identities of four of the Six. However, I can not confirm this because Alex and his family have gone into hiding, just as James and Lily did."
"I, also, have yet to be able to determine whom the other two are, which leads me to believe they are probably muggleborn. If that is the case, we will not find out who they are until they have begun to interact with the others. There were, unfortunately, no births recorded among families of the wizarding world on August 11th last, other than Ginny Weasley."
"There is no record of the other Potter child being born?"
"There has not been yet, though I continue to investigate. Although, if I were Alex Potter, I would have created another identity, perhaps a muggle one, and hidden myself within their society; it does have a much larger population. Well, I must be going. I will see you back at Hogwarts." So saying, he disappeared.
"Why does that man insist on being so… mysterious?"
October 26th, 1991
2:30 PM
"Are you sure you don't mind taking Chris to the movies with you?"
"Of course not, Alex. My daughter would be completely unmanageable without her best friend to help keep her in line."
"Mother!"
"I'm just teasing, dear," she said with a smile. "I'll have him back in a few hours, Alex."
"Thanks, Danielle. Chris, you behave and try not to get Kylie into to much trouble."
"You know, dad, that's one of the reasons that if you look up the word adult in the dictionary, it says see spoilsport," he said with a grin.
Alex laughed for a moment. "I love you too, brat."
Danielle looked at Alex for a moment. "So, you just going to sit around the living room all day?"
Chris leaned toward Kylie and whispered, "Here we go. Single-parents-who-are-next-door-neighbors syndrome strikes again." Kylie bit her lip to keep from laughing. "If they start dating, we could end up being step-sibs; I might have a problem with that. It would keep us from dating each other when we get older."
"Planning for the future already," she whispered back and smiled.
"Well, you are really cute for a tom girl." He smirked at her for a moment. "Or would that be dream girl."
"Not so loud with that around my mum; I don't know how well she'd take the fact that I, like you and your dad, have magic."
"Ready to go?"
"Sure, Mrs. Granger."
"Let's go, mum."
The three of them got into Mrs. Granger's car and made the ten-minute drive to the nearest cinema.
"So what movie do you kids want to see?"
"Any chance of seeing something R-rated," Chris said as he smirked at Danielle.
"There are exactly two chances of that, slim and none." was her response.
"Chris, you should have expected that answer; it is the typical adult response, you know." Kylie gave him a playful slap to the back of the head. "Mom, do they have anything playing that has nothing to do with the real world? You know, like sci-fi or fantasy."
"The two of you like that sort of thing way too much." She looked up at the marquee. "However, it looks like you're in luck. Let's get our tickets."
Just as they stepped up to the box office, they began to hear the sound of a disturbance in the parking lot. When they turned, they were able to see a man dressed in robes, who was waving a wand. Fire shot from the end of it, causing a car to explode.
Danielle began rummaging through her purse. "You two take cover behind the trash can over there." After searching through her purse for a few more seconds, Danielle produced a wand of her own, sighted in on the robed figure and cast a spell. "Petrificus totalis." As the spell hit, the man's body went rigid and he fell forward.
Kylie looked at her mother in stunned amazement. "You're a witch, too?"
"What do you mean, I'm a witch, too, Kylie? Do you have the gift? I was beginning to think you were, God forgive me for this term, a Squib." She then remembered that Chris was present and her expression became horrified.
Chris looked from Mrs. Granger toward Kylie. "Well, now we know where you get it from." He looked back toward Mrs. Granger. "Use a summoning spell to get his wand and I might be able to give you a little help if anymore of them show up."
Danielle was looking at Chris as if he had just grown a second head.
"Mrs. Granger. Listen to me. Just so you know, my dad is a pureblood, my mom was considered a muggleborn and I'm a halfblood. I'm also a metamorphmagus," he said as he changed his hair from black to blond. "We know Kylie is a witch, as well as what's known as a Dreamwalker, which is probably the rarest special ability known to the wizarding world. There have actually been more recorded parselmouths than there have been dreamwalkers. Now could you get me that clown's wand, please? I want to be able to help you if you need it."
She quickly summoned the fallen man's wand and handed it to Chris. "I think it's a good idea if I take the two of you home rather than watching a movie today. I definitely think the three of us should have a talk with your dad, Chris. I had no idea that the two of you were part of the wizarding world."
"We didn't know you were, either. We just figured that Kylie was randomly muggleborn instead of the daughter of a witch."
Deciding that further conversation could wait until she and the children arrived home, Mrs. Granger quickly ushered Chris and Kylie back into her car and sped in the direction of her house.
The scene that awaited them when they returned was one of horror; both Chris's house and the Granger residence were engulfed in flames and Alex was pinned down by spells being cast by three more people wearing outfits similar to those worn by the man at the movie theater.
As the car went past one of the robed figures, Chris stuck his 'borrowed' wand out the window and cast a disarming charm. He was immediately rewarded with the sight of a wand flying through the air. His father was able to take advantage of the surprise caused by the new arrivals and stunned another of his attackers.
Danielle brought the car to a complete stop and threw the driver's door open, wand at the ready but the two conscious men were already fleeing the scene. She quickly moved toward Alex. "Are you alright?"
"Yes, I'm fi-," then he saw what she had in her hand. "You have a wand."
"Yeah, dad, isn't it cool? Mrs. Granger is one of us."
"You should have seen my mom at the theater, Mr. Potter. One of these guys was there and she hit him with a full body bind from fifty feet away, easy," Kylie said, pride evident in her voice.
"Back up a moment. There was one of these men at the cinema?" The sound of sirens in the distance was beginning to intrude on their conversation. "Maybe we should continue this little chat elsewhere, after we deal with whatever authorities are about to arrive."
The condition of both houses had finally registered on Danielle Granger. "No. We've lost everything but the car and the clothes on our backs." She began to cry over the loss of every remembrance of her late husband, who had succumbed to cancer, and Alex's wife, her friend, who had been killed by a drunk driver several years ago.