Chapter 1.
The World That Lived
Mr. And Mrs. Potter of number 12 Grimmauld Place were proud to say that they were absolutely abnormal, thank you very much. They were quite usually involved with anything unusual, spectacular, or magical. Mr. Potter was an Auror at The Ministry of Magic, which would sound like absolute rubbage to anyone common, so he would usually introduce himself as an office clerk. He was a skinny man, just on the short side of average height, with knobbly knees and a mop of particularly messy black hair. At one glance you might think his looks unremarkable, until you indeed did see that he was marked by a thin, lightning bolt shaped scar on his forehead, above his round glasses. Mrs. Potter was an athletic woman with short, wavy red hair. She wore a good amount of freckles on her pale cheeks, which were usually upturned in a brilliant smile. The pair had two sons named James and Albus, and one daughter, Lily. The three children were, in their opinion, the largest lot of troublemakers one could ever hope to meet.
The Potters had almost anything they ever wanted, the one last thing would be privacy. This was because Mr. Potter had a secret. Privacy, as you may know, is seldom ever granted to anyone who is suspected to be keeping a secret. A long time ago, Mr. Potter and Mrs. Potter were in a war, a war of whose specifics were not talked about, and hadn't been talked about in years.
Our story begins when Mr. And Mrs. Potter walked from the grounds of an enormous wrecked and destroyed castle. The sky was filled with ash, but far away it was a dull blue. The colour was nothing to suggest the strange and mysterious things that would soon be happening throughout the world. As Mr. Potter- but he was called Harry then... As Harry sank onto the green earth one last time, he whispered very softly, and Mrs. Potter-but then her name was Ginny Weasley- Ginny put her ash covered hand on his shoulder.
"Yes, it's really over." she whispered back, and Harry collapsed into her arms, and they both cried. After some time, the two found their feet again, they felt cold and numb.
Nothing terrible was ever going to happen again. The two were collected by their friends and family, and they left that damaged, soot and ashen castle for the last time. A Phoenix's song could be heard from the adjourning town.
For weeks after, it could be observed that there were many strangely dressed people wandering joyously through the crispy streets of London. The air was slowly heating and turning into fine spring days again. A young, rather round man named Dudley was staring in awe up at the sky as owl after owl flew in broad daylight. On the first occasion, he had his breakfast as usual, eggs and grapefruit, at his mother's old kitchen table. He didn't like grapefruit, but he was eating it because his doctor has told him to. He stepped outside only for a moment to retrieve the mail, and the owls were everywhere. The day seemed brighter today, there were scents of spring flowers in the air. A single tear ran down his cheeks at his recognition, and he whispered
"Harry."
That young man went into the town that day to smile at any cloaked strangers he came across, and to shake hands and chat excitedly with unusual people. For it had been almost an entire year since he had said goodbye to another young man he had spent his entire life tormenting. Dudley had spent almost an entire year filled with guilt. Yes, it had almost been an entire year since he had last seen or heard from his cousin, Harry Potter.
Indeed, today was a happy day in which no affected person was concerned with neighborly gossip, or otherwise usual news. For weeks, the night sky was bulging with shooting stars and bright fireworks. Weeks later than that even, Harry found himself in comforts of The Weasley's home. One morning, when he woke, he no longer felt numb, but pleased. He had come to a resolve, and with that he could do anything he wanted for the rest of his life.
It would of course, be a year later still when Harry had made his mind up about how he wanted to spend the rest of his life. After work one day he slipped into comfortable clothes at his home. He then set out again to travel to the Weasley's. Upon his arrival, Mrs. Weasley worried around him, asking about his work, and how he was feeling, and "Oh Harry dear, I so wish you would live with us, it's not good to be alone. Come now, you're practically family." Harry grinned as he refused her offer, and the pocket of his jacket felt heavy as he saw Ginny Weasley's brilliant smile when entered the room. Soon after, Harry would be more than "practically family."
A brown tabby slinked up the steps of Number 12 Grimmauld Place. It was a terribly odd way for a cat to act, sitting so stiffly, waiting. For five minutes the cat sat in the same place, until something peculiar happened. Harry Potter seemed to appear in front of her. He inspected the cat once before letting out a rough chuckle.
"Come in, professor" he said, opening the door and letting the cat in. When he closed the door again, he turned around not to find a cat, but an old woman with black hair, smiling at him, her lips pressed together sweetly.
"Mr. Potter," she began, but was interrupted by the appearance of a beautiful red haired woman striding towards her with her arms outstretched.
"and Mrs. Potter, what a surprise. I'm happy to see the both of you, and congratulations, again." She announced, breaking apart from the hug and pausing to smile at Mrs. Potter's pregnant belly.
"James is?"
"James is at preschool still, and Albus is sleeping upstairs, it's wonderful to see you. Please come in" Mrs. Potter gestured to a large, finely decorated living room, with plush couches and wooden tables. The room held various artifacts of Quidditch, a sport played on broomsticks. A younger Ginny Weasley stood with Harry Potter in a school picture, sweaty and damp, after a victory. They swayed, and laughed with eachother. A particularly recent picture of a young child trying out his new broomstick caught Minerva's eye where it sat on the mantel of a fireplace.
Minerva smiled sweetly at the happy child as she sat opposite to the Potters.
"Well now, I'm sure you're wondering why I'm here?" Minerva raised an eyebrow at the pair, they nodded and smiled encouragingly.
"To business then. As you would have noticed, James and Albus are quite certainly demonstrating natural ability already, having their name on the registry for Hogwarts since birth. No doubt," she gestured towards Mrs. Potter's stomach again, inquisitively.
"Lily Luna Potter" Mrs. Potter anounced, winking.
At the sound of the name, Minerva's eyes watered. She paused for a moment before continuing.
"No doubt Lily will also be as promising. The administration therefore, is attempting to reach certain decisions regarding the childrens education, and the education of their generation." Mr. Potter's eyebrows furrowed, and he leaned forward with his hands clasped between his knees.
"I wish to ask how you plan to bring up these children, will they be attending Hogwarts? If so, we might take more precautions to ensure their safety, and well-being." The professor spoke firmly, and finally looked with an appeasing face.
Mr. Potter cleared his throat. He leaned back against the couch, removed his glasses and cleaned them on his shirt before replacing them and breathing out deeply.
"we don't want them to know. Not yet. We fought this war so so they didn't have to grow up with the same burdens. We think maybe, it would be best to wait until they know who they are, before..." Mrs. Potter put a hand on his shoulder.
"Minerva, the children are already growing up in the wizard world, famous for who we are and what we did. We don't think it's good for them, and our life would never be quiet. It's already ridiculous every time we leave the house, and it's been years! They can't be around that." Minerva nodded sharply, and gave the couple a stern look through her square glasses.
"Agreed. However, the board wishes to give all wizarding children a fair chance. Certain accommodations can be made. No one has divulged quite too much information about what happened that day, and we all want to keep it that way. We think it would be best for Hogwarts, and of course, the children." She took a breath.
"We will work to keep it out of our atmosphere. The board of education will talk over the next few weeks and give our decision to the Ministry. When it is time, they will learn." She seemed wise beyond even the years she had. Just for a moment, light through a window illuminated the rim of her glasses. It was a wink of light, and then it was gone. Harry and Ginny smiled at her.
"Thank you professor, would you like to stay for dinner?" Minerva laughed,
"Oh no, I'm afraid I must be going now. However, I would greatly appreciate it if you would be so kind as to allow me the use of your fireplace? I swear, muggles have something horrible against stray animals." Her expression made her look both bemused and irritated at the same time.
"Oh absolutely, please watch your head, though" said Mr. Potter, straightening up and shaking the witches' hand.
After Mrs. Potter had hugged her and they had exchanged their pleasantries, Minerva dipped her hand into the pocket of her long robe, and pulled out a black fabric pouch. She shook it lightly into the palm of her left hand, and a green sand poured out. She threw the strange substance into the flames of the fire, making a loud crackling noise before the flames turned green. The witch then tipped her pointy hat at the couple, and bowed her head carefully as she climbed into the fire. The Potters heard a distant command,
"Hogwarts, Headmistress's office," and she was gone.