1- The boy who lived.
In a modest village on the outskirts of London, on the 1st of November 1981, a long night was only just beginning. Roars of laughter and bursts of firecrackers escaped through the open windows of a single house and could be heard up and down the street, a disturbance the likes of which the old village of Tadworth had never known. Music was playing as loud as the speakers could possibly manage, while inebriated strangers danced and sang loudly together with the utmost disregard for the actual rhythm and lyrics. The smell of a huge feast being thoroughly enjoyed clung softly around the house, which was in fact the only one still buzzing with life at this hour.
Other locals crossed their arms and scowled while peeking out of their windows, mumbling things about how life used to be and how young people were ruining the country. But still, as they did not muster up the courage to cross the street and speak up, the party raged on and the frustrated neighbours marched back to their beds and screwed on some earplugs before going back to sleep. It is a fortunate thing they did, otherwise they would have noticed the unusual amount of owls flying around that night. Well, not really flying around, but rather flying directly at one of the open windows and entering the house without a second of doubt or hesitation. Some owls then promptly returned to where they had come from in the first place, but others lingered about and a few of them seemed to stay, perched on the back of a chair or one of the guests' shoulder.
Much later in the night, after the bottles had been emptied and then accidentally broken, silence started creeping back up the street, gaining ground as various guests left the house. Most peculiar guests at that, as nearly all of them were clad in robes and some of them even had pointy hats screwed onto their heads. Not the funny-party-type pointy hats either, but rather dead serious black cones that were sometimes decorated with shiny stars or crescent moons. In fact, the only two people not wearing robes but more standard jeans and t-shirts seemed to be the ones waving everyone else off. Dawn was just breaking when the last guests left, about as well as can be expected when leaving a party at 6 o'clock in the morning. As their friends trudged and zig-zagged down the street, Samuel and Alice Manish made their way back into their home.
The living room was utterly unrecognizable. The couch, end table and dining table had been pushed aside to make room for dancing, but it had not occurred to the ones responsible that the glasses and bottles might spill and break if not removed prior to the operation. Confetti were absolutely everywhere, as advertised by the cat walking by in disbelief: pink and blue confetti were heavily tangled in his raggedy white hair, and he didn't seem to be able to get rid of them. The ground was filthy and sticky and had turned a very interesting maroon colour, the amount of dishes needing washing was discouraging, and a few of the window curtains had been set ablaze by unwitting smokers. In short, the whole place looked ransacked.
Alice turned to her husband with a grin on her face, just a bit too large to be an honest one. Samuel stared for a while, amused. "Should I take care of it, then?" he asked matter-of-factly. "Unless you want to ruin the mood, I'd say that's a pretty good idea. For once, a little help would be appreciated" replied Alice as she gave him a kiss on the cheek "besides, there's someone I have to check on. Can't believe she's stayed quiet this whole time!"
Sam marched into his study for a few seconds, Alice could hear him rummaging through his desk drawers. He came back a victorious smile on his face, and a wand in his hand. As Alice disappeared from view, he went to stand in the middle of the trashed living room, and gave his wand a wide wave, starting close to the floor and moving upwards. As soon as his hand had started moving, the room came alive. Peanuts and various unidentified food items picked themselves up from the floor and flew obediently into the open trashcan. Plates and glasses gathered themselves into manageable piles and sped off into the kitchen where the tap turned on and the scrubbing brush started doing its job by itself. The furniture returned slowly to its allotted place, hovering gently over the floorboards. Still conducting the whole scene with his wand, Samuel spun around on himself, keeping an eye on the trajectories and behaviour of his household items, ducking when necessary. Finally, when the dishes were clean and put away, and the trash had taken itself out, he lowered his wand, inspecting the living room for unseen messes that still needed fixing. He noticed a generous amount of expensive red wine seeping through the equally expensive taupe-coloured couch. "Tergeo" he said with a flick of the wand, and the wine seemed to jump back out of the couch, drop by drop, and poured itself onto the pavement through the open window. With a final glance around the room, Samuel put his wand away in his back pocket.
"Did you fix the curtains?" sounded a voice from the corridor that led towards the bedroom. "Of course I did, I said I'd take care of it didn't I?" answered Samuel in a self-assured tone of voice while he swiftly got his wand back out and muttered "Reparo" at the burnt curtains. They seemed to flutter for a bit, and then as if with a gush of air, the missing fabric filled itself back in, leaving no trace of the recent burn marks. Putting his wand away for the second time, he walked down the corridor to find Alice walking up to him, a cooing baby in her arms. "There's daddy! Go on now" Samuel grabbed Rhys as Alice handed her over to him. "Hey there baby girl, you missed quite a party!" Rhys seemed unperturbed by this, as she flailed her arms up and down, a clumsy smile on her face. "I still don't know how she got such a good night's sleep, we must have woken up half the village! I told Hestia it was a bad idea to enchant the speakers, what if the cops had shown up…"
Samuel coughed and swung from one foot to another as he answered in his most innocent voice "Weeeell... I may have cast an Imperturbable Charm on the bedroom door..." As he was his wife's eyes narrowing, he quickly added "Just a little one, so Rhys would be able to sleep" in the tone of a scorned child.
"You know I don't like you casting spells behind my back… It's one thing to make chores a bit easier, I won't lie, but… What if people notice and find out? It's bad enough everyone else had their wands out for practically the whole party… And, really, how hard is it to buy a t-shirt and a coat?" Alice said quietly but sternly. She looked straight into Samuel's eyes and he could see her fear.
"I know, and I'm sorry. I really didn't do anything else that you don't know about. Besides, starting today, it's not life or death anymore, I figure we can relax a bit. You-Know-Who's gone, there's no need to hide away anymore. Aaaaand…" he started in a cooing voice as he tickled Rhys's belly "you'll be able to live in peace, witch or not! But just wait 'til you see Hogwarts, best years of my life those were!"
"Well gee, thanks!" replied Alice in a falsely hurt tone, "Besides, you're getting a bit ahead of yourself. We don't even know if she's got magic, she's barely one year old"
"I know. No daughter of mine is going to be a squib!" he said determinedly as he tossed a beaming Rhys carefully into the air, making her choke with laughter.
Alice lovingly watched her husband play with their daughter for a while, lost in her thoughts. She hadn't felt this relaxed in years. It was really over… Changing homes every few months, being so afraid for their lives, for Rhys's...
Although she had not had the slightest idea that magic was real before meeting Samuel, he'd filled her in with great enthusiasm and she had loved it. He was fresh out of Hogwarts at the time, and she had just gotten her DVM. They had fallen in love so fast… And without a second's notice she had given her soul to two very strange things that had seemed to fall from the sky: her husband, and magic. Because how could you not? How could you spend your whole life in dreary, depressing normal muggle life, and not be absolutely awestruck at the sight of your first spell? She had revelled in it, they both had. They both had lived in a perfect little bubble for months on end. But then, things had changed. When You-Know-You had started killing muggles by the barrel, when he'd started torturing half-bloods and muggle-borns… She had gotten scared. Scared of him, scared of his servants and followers, scared of anyone else because how could you know they weren't one of them? She had gotten deathly afraid of magic, of what it could do and how terribly it could corrupt. She had been relieved when Samuel decided it was safer to hide away into rural muggle life. And then when Rhys was born, her fear had made way for panic and anger. Magic would not take her daughter away from her. She had begged Samuel for a zero-magic policy for Rhys's sake, and he'd reluctantly agreed, unless the situation was dire.
And then, just this morning, the owls started coming in. Alice had panicked when she had seen the first one approaching, worried that it would get them noticed. But when she'd opened the letter, firmly intending to find out who had written it so she could give them a piece of her mind, any and all thoughts left her. She stood, empty, the letter in her hand, unable to understand its content.
Dear Alice and Samuel,
I don't know if you've heard yet, and I really hope I'm the first one to tell you because it feels damn good to be giving good news for once!
You-Know-Who has fallen. I'm not clear on the details yet, all I know is that Lily and James Potter were involved and didn't make it, bless their souls. Their son has been placed in the custody of muggle relatives, I heard Dumbledore himself took care of it.
This is real. It has been confirmed by the Ministry no more than an hour or two ago, which is why I took the liberty of writing.
No more hiding!
Arthur W.
PS. I do hope you'll invite me to the celebratory party in the lovely muggle village you're living in!
Next thing she knew, she was screaming out Samuel's name and waving the letter overexcitedly in his face. As he read his face fell in disbelief, until comprehension dawned on him and the past years washed instantly off of him. "Good old Arthur!" he exclaimed in a laugh, "I suppose he sent letters to let family and friends know as soon as possible, even though the news isn't official yet." putting the letter away, he turned back towards a still dumbstruck Alice, "Hasn't changed much since school really, he's always been one for overboard loyalty! I was always unsure as to why he hadn't been sorted into Hufflepuff in the first place…" he said full of lark, before suddenly looking very serious: "We'll have to baby-proof the electrical sockets if he comes around."
They had spent the rest of the day putting together the least subtle party they could come up with, to celebrate the end of their hiding days with a bang. This obviously came very naturally to Samuel but Alice had had trouble letting go of the old ways, and although a few small spells here and there were a welcome help, she still flinched every time she saw a wand. For the sake of the party and the guests, she'd contained her anxiety and had only asked them to not fly off or disapparate from inside the village.
For the first time in years, their future was wide open. They had spent so much time focused on the present, neither of them had the slightest idea what to do with themselves.
Samuel seemed to read her mind, as he sat down on the couch next to her while Rhys entertained her many plush animals in her playpen, "things are going to be good" he said as he wrapped his arms around her. "This is a whole new beginning".