Thank you all SO much for being patient. I'll write a longer A/N before Chapter One (which, by the way, should be out very soon). I'm sorry this is so short – but it's just the prologue! :) Thanks to The Beta's (Snowlily, ReineDansante, Xaviera Xylira) I hope you enjoy this!

Cheers!

**For clarification: This takes place the night of Halloween, 1981, right after Lily and James have been killed.**

Gwen's Story Prologue

I still remember the world

From the eyes of a child

Slowly those feelings

Were clouded by what I know now

Where has my heart gone?

An uneven trade for the real world

I want to go back to

Believing in everything and knowing nothing at all

"Field of Innocence" - Evanescense

Gwen drummed her fingers on the countertop, wondering where Sirius was. They were supposed to be having a Halloween celebration, and he had stepped out for a minute to "check on someone," and hadn't come back yet.

She sighed impatiently and made herself stand. She would just have her own party, then, since he was off doing his thing, she thought irritably. Thinking the first thing a party needed was music, she turned and flipped on the Wizarding Wireless and heard the familiar voice from her childhood – Kurt Bottlecap was still hosting the night shows.

"- and expect clear skies tonight, with equally as clear skies tomorrow. This weather won't last long, however. Expect clouds to roll in around Wednesday. Now, onto a word from our sponsors…"

Crossly Gwen flicked the Wireless off, wondering why no one played songs anymore, when someone knocked on the door. The young woman stiffened, and grabbed her wand from the table. She slowly made her way into the Wellington Mansion entrance hall and to the front door. She cast a spell that allowed her to see who was standing outside – it was Remus, in a dark cloak, with only his thin, light hair visible.

Her brow creased, but she pocketed her wand. Remus never came by to see them…She opened the door curiously. "Hello, Remus."

Remus looked up blearily and Gwen gasped. His face was twisted with anguish and sorrow, and he stumbled into the house.

"Remus, what's wrong?! Tell me, please! Is it Sirius? He hasn't come back yet! What's wrong?!"

Remus shook his head as if he was in denial, and Gwen felt the breath leave her body. "No," she whispered. "Oh, no, oh, no…"

"Lily and James," Remus croaked, still disbelieving. "Lily and James, Gwen…The house…"

Gwen's heart was thumping so hard against her ribcage she thought it would explode. "Remus! What about the house?!" she screeched, hysteria welling up in her uncontrollably. Tears came to her eyes and her hands began to shake, imagining horrible things. She took his hands and wrung them. "Remus!"

He looked up at her as if seeing her for the first time. "They're dead, Gwen, they're dead."

"No," she whispered, her heart suddenly stopping, dropping his hands, her eyes sliding out of focus. "No…"

"He came tonight. I saw the house and I saw them. They're gone. Voldemort too."

Her voice wouldn't work, and even if it had, she wouldn't have known what to say. She sat down right where she was, and gripped her knees. Her mind had gone completely numb, like when she found her parents were dead...But somehow, somehow this was magnified, horribly magnified…

"Gwen, do you understand what this means?" Remus asked quietly and urgently, wiping his face.

Gwen looked up into his gray eyes, saying nothing. She felt nothing anymore. Nothing else mattered – her sister was gone…

"Sirius, Gwen, Sirius – think."

Her mind, still numb, wasn't processing. "What about him?" she croaked. Where the hell was he? He should be there; he should be there with her!

"Gwen, you must – you must remember…" his voice died out, and he stared down at his hands. "He – he was their Secret-Keeper."

Gwen fell backwards, unconscious before she hit the floor.

~*~*~*~*

Sunlight…Gwen moaned as rays of light awoke her from her slumber. She was about to yell at Sirius to shut the blinds, when she became aware of the fact that she wasn't in her bed. She was on her couch.

And then, then, the memories of the previous evening came flooding back to her, hitting her hard and leaving her breathless and choking. She didn't know how long she sat there, rocking back and forth, crying harder than she believed possible…Harry, Lily, James…They were all gone, all gone – and Sirius…Sirius had betrayed them! But Voldemort was gone, gone for good…Then surely, there was no need for her to be in this world, was there? No need for her to stay here and help with the Order when their goal of vanquishing the Dark Lord was realized?

She stood up so suddenly her vision went black and she swayed in dizziness – but she stumbled forward, rubbing her eyes, not bothering to wipe the fluid off her face. One thought was imprinted in her mind – get away, get away, get away. She raced through the house into the master bedroom, praying Sirius wasn't home and wouldn't come home…Who knew what he would do if he still was running around at large…

Her mind was numb as she threw clothes and belongings into a bag, and grabbed her cloak. She wasn't even aware that she was sobbing, that her tears were soaking her robes. She grabbed her cloak, shrunk the bag, stuck it into her pocket, and raced into the foyer, her wand in front of her, ready to fire at anything that moved. She now was having trouble seeing her way through her tears, but made it somehow to the front door. She flung it open, and then, Gwendolyn Elizabeth Watson did something she had never done before:

Ran.  

~*~*~*~

Second A/N: Just because I'm me, I want to gently point out to those of you who perhaps didn't understand what I meant – "ran" is not literal. I'm sure you all got that, just wanted to clarify…

Ahem. I'll be going now.