Harry Potter crossover with The Dresden Files.
The clock on the wall was an unusual clock. It did not have two hands, rather it had five, each carrying the face of a member of the Potter family. It had been hard to obtain, but Ginny Weasley-Potter had been determined to follow her mother's example.
Lily Potter (junior, of course) was calmly reading a book when it happened. It was a Muggle book; they had proved to be of great fascination to her lately, as they were so very different to wizarding literature. Her parents were at work; her elder brother James was out with practicing Quidditch with his friends. Only Albus was at home, doing all his summer assignments even though the holidays had only just begun.
Lily glanced up from her book when the sudden flicker of movement caught her eye. The hands on the clock had changed. Two of them, the bespectacled image of her father and the flame haired image of her mother, shooting from working, to travelling, to mortal peril. She swore under her breath, staring expectantly at the hands, waiting for them to move. They didn't.
"ALBUS! GET DOWN HERE!" Lily bellowed, throwing her book down and glaring at the clock, her nose pressed against the glass casing.
"I'm busy studying, Lily!" he shouted back.
"GET. DOWN. HERE," she screamed. "I mean it, or I will come up there and hex you so hard-"
There was a clatter as textbooks fell from a desk, and the thundering of Albus sprinting full force down the stairs.
"Alright, I'm here, don't hex me!" he said, glaring at her tragically.
"Look," she said, jabbing her finger at the clock.
"Don't hit it so hard, Mum'll kill you if you break it," he said, peering at it. "Mortal peril? Huh. That happened before, you know, and that was fine. They just bumped into Uncle Vernon."
"Albus, he tried to lock Dad in his car and kidnap him."
"Yeah, well... that's the obese muggle for you. What do you expect me to do, anyway?"
Lily stared from the clock to Albus, and that's when another hand moved; James was now in mortal peril too.
"That's too much of a coincidence. I'm scared, Albus," Lily said.
"Don't be," he said, as the hands with their faces on them also crept from "home" to "mortal peril". Lily's eyes widened and Albus grabbed her elbow, convinced she was about to faint.
"There must be something wrong with it, Lily. We're not in mortal-"
The door burst open and Lily screamed shrilly, twisting free of Albus and lunging for the candleholder, wielding it aggressively at the mysterious figure who had entered.
"Lily and Albus Potter? Please, don't be alarmed," said the figure, coming towards them. His face was scruffy and his coat was unseasonable – a long, black, leather piece.
"Who the hell are you?" Lily demanded, still wielding the candle holder.
"My name is Harry Dresden," he said.
"You're not from here. You sound American. Who are you?" Albus asked.
"I'm a wizard, from Chicago. I help solve crimes. I'm here to protect you, I promise. I know you probably think you shouldn't trust me but honestly, what's coming for you now is so much worse than me. Smells much worse, too."
Albus and Lily stared at each other, wondering what to think of this strange man.
"Alright. Say we trust you for the next fifteen minutes. What do we do?" Albus said.
"Get the hell out of here. Don't take a thing, don't even bother locking the door because that damn thing isn't scared of wood or weak locks. Just run – don't run anywhere you think is safe, because it won't be. Nowhere will be safe."
Lily raised her eyebrows.
"You know what, I think we might take you up on that," Albus said, moving towards the back door. "Come on, Lily."
And so, they ran.