Prologue: Little ones

The night was cold, dark and bleak. On the street of Privet Drive only lights from nearby lampposts lit the pavement, giving the pedestrian sidewalk an almost ominous feeling. However, this completely unscathed neighbourhood had been utterly normal, and had not thought to change otherwise, until that fateful night; for down the street a light disappeared, followed by another. Slowly almost all the lights were extinguished, yet it was not so dark that one could not see the wise wizard whom had extinguished them.

Professor Dumbledore carefully placed his favoured Deluminator back into the pocket of his old grey robe, and glanced around. As the great wizard that he was, he suspected that he was not alone; indeed, he had asked his good friend Minerva McGonagall to meet him here. As if summoned by this very thought, the professor herself slipped from the shadows guised as a small tabby cat, and transformed quickly. The older woman's clear blue eyes met Dumbledore's. They shared a moment of silence, before the former spoke.

'So, it is true?'

Dumbledore shifted his gaze away, and a pained expression came upon his old face. His eyebrows drew together in a tight frown. When he spoke, his tone was full of deep regret, and sadness. 'It is indeed – the good and bad.'

McGonagall shook her head sadly, and turned to look at the house ahead of them. 'What is to become of the boy and girl?'

The old school headmaster managed to smile softly for but a moment. 'The boy – Harry – is to come and live here with his aunt and uncle. However, his sister – Lily – will be put in the charge of one whom I think to be deemed worthy.'

McGonagall looked stricken. '"One whom I think to be deemed worthy'? And this muggle family is by far one of the worst I've seen in my lifetime. We surely cannot leave the Potter boy here.'

Dumbledore shook his head with complete understanding. 'I know of what you speak, Minerva. But this is the only family they have.'

The old woman questioned him again, more demanding this time. Confusion had spread across her face. 'Then why send the girl away? Should we not keep them together? After what they've been through, they need each other.'

Again, the headmaster shook his head. 'Harry Potter, as you will realise, will be a celebrity of our world. I do not wish him to grow up in such conditions and surroundings at that. Therefore he will remain here, until he is ready. Lily, on the other hand, can become accustomed to our world until she herself is ready. Do not fret, Minerva; I have no intentions of keeping brother and sister separated for too long of a time.'

The woman seemed to think a few moments, but knowing that her old friend was usually right, decided against further discussion. Instead, she turned to the sound of a loud motorbike coming closer and closer. Soon, the flying vehicle itself appeared with the noise of its motor rolling down the road. The muggles inside of the houses around them seemed to not hear, or were no doubt fast asleep. As the vehicle neared, McGonagall let out a relieved sigh to see the half-giant, Rubeus Hagrid, turn of the motor and step off the bike. He rolled his giant rubber glasses up his blackened face, and smiled at the two in greeting.

'Professor Dumbledore, Professor McGonagall. Good t' be seein you.'

Dumbledore waved his hand in Hagrid's direction. 'I trust your and our guest had pleasant journey?'

The giant let out a relieved sigh himself and softly petted the bundle that was strapped to his chest. 'Fell asleep over Bristol he did.' He undid the straps, and carefully took the small child wrapped in blankets into his quite capable arms, but quickly passed him onto Dumbledore. 'Be careful not to wake him up.'

After a few moments, the company travelled up the path of number four. Dumbledore carefully rocked the sleeping child in his arms, and felt somewhat concerned when he saw the lightning bolt scar on the baby's forehead. Gently he leaned down and placed the bundle of the doorstep, pulling a letter from within his other pocket. He'd labelled it to the Dursleys, and it explained all of the details of Lily and James Potter's dreadful deaths, and how he wished that they could look after Harry. Yet he did not mention the young Lily. She would be a secret that he knew he could trust only a few to keep.

With that, he placed the letter by the little child's side and stood back up. A sniffle behind him caused him to turn. Hagrid was crying large giant tears, the droplets falling to the floor to form a small puddle. Dumbledore consciously reached out and patted his friend's shoulder. 'We'll see him again, Hagrid. Do not worry about that.' A pause, a blink. 'For now we must turn our thoughts to this little one's sister, and where she will be staying for now at least.'

There was silence a few more moments before the three walked away from the little boy at the doorstep, and left him at his new home. Hagrid mounted his bike, and Dumbledore and McGonagall themselves disapparated away.