Hey! My first story. Hope you like it
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It was Halloween when Lily and James Potter decided that they were due for a night out. Dumbledore had made the decision that it would be safe enough to hire a muggle babysitter and simply obliviate her when the night was over. Both parents were reluctant to leave their precious Charles, but knew that they needed a short break.
After a lot of consideration they chose Serena, a thirteen year old genius and daughter of one of Lily's family friends. Serena already had a master's degree in science and business from Oxford. She also had a black belt in Muay Thai. The only reason that Serena was doing this job, was as a favor to Lily, who was always a role model to Serena.
There was one thing, however, that neither the Potters, nor Dumbledore had considered. This was that Serena was so smart that she had figured out that there was magic and wizards in the world, and that Lily and James were indeed magical. She had even figured out that someone else who was magical, was probably after the Potters for some reason. So, Serena knew to be quite on guard during this babysitting job.
Happy to finally be able to go out, Lily, James, Remus, and Sirius went out for the night. But before leaving, Lily made sure to explain a few things to Serena.
"Make sure to take care of Charles. If anything happens, hide him and call me or James immediately." Lily said frantically while gesturing to a giggling one year old in the corner. When she did this, only Serena noticed the hurt look to flash over five year old Harry's face.
"And take care of Harry too, right?" Serena said, prompting Lily to remember her older son. A look of disdain flashed over her face when she remembered what she liked to refer to as 'The Accident'. But, not wanting to look bad to Serena, she just gave a small nod, a tight-lipped smile and left.
Confused by this erratic behavior from Lily, she turned to Harry. Serena hadn't seen a lot of Lily since she was ten and Lily was seventeen. But, the few times she did see Lily, she always got the impression that she loved both of her sons very much.
However, the proof of this falsehood stood before Serena's very eyes. Harry had dark messy hair and emerald green eyes. Serena smiled when she noticed that Harry could probably pass as her brother. They had similar features except for his messy hair was black, whereas Serena's was simply dark brown. And Harry's startling green eyes contrasted with Serena's equally startling blue eyes.
Looking past Harry's features, Serena noticed that Harry also looked underfed and was dressed in old patched clothing. There was also what looked like an old bruise on his wrist. Seeing this, Serena was furious. She could recognize what looked like child abuse and in no way condoned it.
When she turned her head to Charles, she could see that he was dressed to the nines in baby clothing and looked quite chubby. She also sneered at the dumb look in his hazel eyes. She noted that Charles had fiery red hair. Serena didn't want to believe this abuse and favoritism, but was too smart to look past it. She vowed to have a long talk with Lily and possibly child protection services.
"Hi Harry, how are you doing tonight? I can already tell that we are going to have a lot of fun!" Serena said cheerfully. Harry looked surprised, but then got a cold look on his face.
"I know you don't want to actually talk to me. Just play with Charles like everyone else." Harry said in a surprisingly mature way. Serena was sad that he already acted so grown up, but at the same time she was delighted to see another genius like herself in him.
"Charles looks perfectly fine playing with that carrot. And I think that it's his bed time anyways. I also think that I need to talk to you about how life is here." Harry looked surprised and got a look of childlike wonderment on his face. She knew to cherish that look because it probably never happens. So, turning, Serena picked Charles up, carried him to his luxurious room, changed his diaper, and put him to bed.
When she went back downstairs she found Harry in the kitchen, sitting with very good posture in one of the chairs. "Have you had dinner yet?" Serena asked kindly. To that, Harry shook his head and looked sad. "Well then, we can talk while I get you some," Serena responded, which made Harry look hopeful. This look made Serena even angrier with Lily. Did she never feed the boy? This anger increased when she noticed that there was no cooked food left out for anyone other than what Charles had just finished eating. "How often do your parents feed you?" The question came softy.
"There are usually leftovers from breakfast and lunch. But Lily and James usually have Sirius and Remus over for dinner, and there aren't any leftovers then. And they are not my parents. They don't treat me like they are, so I refuse to refer to them as such," Harry said with sadness and a touch of contempt. Serena nodded understandingly. She herself had an absentee father named Bill who, even though he had wanted to build a relationship, she refused to call him by anything other than his first name.
"I understand. Do you like pasta?" Serena asked to which Harry nodded. "Good, it's one of the only things I know how to make. And I promise you that whenever I am here I will pay attention to you and make sure that you eat!" Harry looked a bit skeptical but nodded again.
Harry and Serena talked about everything from his life with the Potters to hopes and dreams they both had. Talking to Harry made Serena understand why many people were disconcerted when they talked to her that the age of five. It was unusual to have such an intelligent conversation with one so young.
When it was around 9:30 Serena sent Harry upstairs to brush his teeth while she cleaned up and did the dishes. While she was cleaning a pan, she heard the front door smash and immediately knew that whoever was after the Potters had arrived. Serena used the layout of the house to come up behind the strange snakelike man and hit him upside the head with the pan she was just cleaning, while he was in the hall outside of Harry and Charles rooms.
The only thing keeping Voldemort from being knocked out by what he deemed to be the ferocious, filthy muggle were his horcruxes. But unfortunately, Serena was only thirteen and despite being a black belt in Muay Thai, Voldemort soon overpowered her and cast the killing curse on her.
Harry was watching from the bathroom and seeing what was about to happen, ran and intercepted the curse with his own body. Despite only knowing Serena for a couple of hours, he had already grown to care for her. He couldn't let the one person who was nice to him die. The backlash of magic killed Voldemort and had an interesting effect on Serena, which she wouldn't notice until help arrived. This magic also caused a small explosion that made the house begin to fall apart. When the house was falling apart, some debris hit Charles on the way down and created his famous crest-shaped star on his collar bone.
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I always appreciate reviews and constructive criticism.
