Disclaimer: Any elements of this story which are recognizable as intellectual property of another person, and therefore protected by copyright and similar laws in the country of origin or any other country, prior to the date of publication of said element within this story, is not mine. The rest is. Please assume that this statement is valid for any and all future chapters of this story, too.
Claimer: While I cannot prove, or even claim, that it is not influenced by diverse works of literature and/or other disciplines, including, but not limited to, music, poetry, movies and any other arts, I specifically claim the exact nature of "Terra Arcana" as my idea, although I do not discount the possibility that similar, maybe even nearly identical, ideas exist elsewhere. Should the name itself exist elsewhere, I hereby apologize for my ignorance.
Introductory (and only) author's notice: It has begun. Let's pray that I am able to finish this someday. I recommend reading some of my oneshots so you can get some idea of what to expect. Should you have any questions at all, feel free to leave a review or even a personal message. Should you find any mistakes, I would prefer a personal message, since I firmly believe that reviews should be about content and maybe writing style, not about grammar and orthography. Have fun reading!
Heart of the Eclipse, Book one: Ascent
Chapter 1
Terra Arcana, Medical Realm (human subsection), Solar eclipse
James Potter glanced out of the window, still holding his wife's hand as he did so. This whole day was strange – and it wasn't because he was about to become a father for the first time. Although, thinking about it, that was a strange feeling, too.
The strangest part of the day, though, was... well, the day itself.
It was an unwritten rule, empirically proven by the previous 1579 full cycles – which meant 3158 eclipses – since Terra Arcana was first created, that no child was ever born on an eclipse day. Never. Not once. In any world with linear time, this might be statistically impossible, but somehow, time itself had always ensured that children on Terra Arcana were born either the day before or after, but never on an eclipse day.
Today, though, two would be born, and both would bear the surname of Potter. Twins. Fraternal twins of different genders, at that, which was so rare, they might as well be the first ones. All but a percent of all twins were identical, and even among the few fraternal twins, more than seventy percent were of the same gender. Magic seemed to dislike the thought of twins being different.
These two seemed to be intent on being born during the actual eclipse itself, too.
James didn't know how to feel. Should he feel proud? Frightened, maybe? Eclipses were important, not only because they were the major events by which magicals were able to measure time. Strong magic was at work during both kinds of eclipse, magic with a mind of its own, and any major spellcasting was prone to erratic behaviour as long as the sun or the moon were even partially obscured. Erratic? By the gods, most of it was pure chaos – benevolent chaos, yes, but still chaos!
"James?"
"Yes, dear?"
He looked down at his wife, the love in his eyes clearly visible to all observers.
"Do you still agree with the names?"
James smiled at her. His Lily, always fretting about minor details when nervous.
"Yes, dear, I still agree. Harry James Potter, to continue the naming traditions of my family, and Flora Potter to continue yours, even into a new world."
Lily blushed. She had only been transported to Terra Arcana shortly before her eleventh birthday. Her family's naming tradition was one of the few things she could remember about them.
"Well, not exactly. My family always used the English name of one specific flower, and some kind of Christian middle name, but... Somehow, I feel that Flora will fit her better."
James nodded. That part of divination might be a shady subject at times, but all magicals knew to pay attention to such feelings, just like they knew to ignore any verbalized prophecies. Nothing good ever came from doing otherwise.
"No middle name, though? I'm not complaining, but it is slightly unusual."
His brown eyes locked onto her green ones, which were now slightly glazed with pain. She spoke only four more words before their conversation was finished for now.
"She won't need one."
For a second, James once more glanced out of the window. The sun was clearly visible, as was the slight sliver of the moon which slowly moved to hide it. He felt it already, the magic of the eclipse tugging at his own, though only slightly. The feeling would grow stronger until the moon was perfectly centred in front of the sun.
He looked back at his wife. He knew it then, knew that his children would be born during this magical event. Born in the heart of the eclipse.
His messy black hair became even more so as he shook his head. Where had those words come from?
Terra Origina, Crawley Hospital, Crawley, England, September 19, 1979
Seeing a doctor in a hospital is not, in itself, a rare event. Neither is seeing two of them, even if they are dentists. These two, though, were not in the hospital for anything related to their work – they were there for the birth of their daughter. Their names were Daniel and Emma Granger.
The detail which made this a truly rare event is the fact that the newly born Hermione Jane Granger was magical. This fact was not known to anybody in attendance, but that is not surprising. There was, after all, no magical above age eleven on Terra Origina, much less in Britain, and even among the children the number of magicals could be counted on two hands with fingers to spare.
The detail which made this event absolutely unique is that Hermione was born just before the moon fully obscured the sun in a solar eclipse, which should be impossible, since the new moon would be two days later.
Terra Arcana, Medical Realm (human subsection), Solar eclipse
James gently held his newborn children. Harry had been born exactly at the darkest point of the eclipse, his sister following a short while later.
He was worried. Both children were obviously strongly magical. Their magic, though, felt distinctly like that of the eclipse itself: Heavy, intense and slightly chaotic. Both felt slightly different, but harmonious in a way.
Still, while Lily was overjoyed, James couldn't help but feel worried. He knew, somehow, that the birth of these children had changed his destiny. He feared he might not live long enough to experience the normal seven cycles of parenting, much less any longer than that.
James sighed. He would just have to make the most of whatever time he might have.