Disclaimer: Let's keep this short and simple: I am not J.K. Rowlings and I don't own any of her creations. That being said, please read on ^.^!

Timeline: Up to the beginning of HBP everything's in accordance with the books. Chapter One is set shortly after they return to Hogwarts for their Sixth Year.


Prologue

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It was the silence that had me sitting up straight on our patch-made bed of leaves and dry grass. Shivering, I drew Mum's old coat tighter around my tiny frame. Next to me Seb stirred.

"Wha-?"

"Shh." He shouldn't talk. I had to listen to the silence. Panic began to rise from the tips of my icy toes, gathering in my stomach and spilling like cold bile into my throat.

Lyra.

She wasn't crying.

Lyra. Lyra.

For months and months and months she had cried, and when she hadn't had any tears left she had sniffled hoarsely, rubbing at dry eyes, only to start crying again. For her bed, for her doll, for real food ... for our mother. Always, even in sleep, her hiccups had become the backdrop to our hidden little life deep in the labyrinth of caves we'd been calling our home for so many months.

Lyra. Lyra. Lyra.

My legs felt like they might give out again when I shakily stood up, reaching over the baby towards Lyra's sleeping place.

She wasn't there.

The shock of it had me up and running, almost tripping over the long, trailing ends of Mum's coat, up and up through the long, winding tunnels. Seb was wide awake now. "What?" He was calling out again, after me. "Vi? What's happening?"

Lyra. Lyra. It was spilling over my lips in an almost desperate scream. For him to hear. For her to answer: "Lyra!"

She was standing at the end of the last tunnel. Her small blanket clutched against her tiny chest, and her thumb firmly embedded between her teeth, she was staring out into the green darkness of the forest in utter silence.

"Merlin, Lyra! Don't scare me like that. What are you doing here? It's cold. You shouldn't be here. Come in. Are you even listening to me? Come in!" I was babbling, almost screaming, tugging at her arm. Teetering on the edge between relief and the last residues of panic.

She turned her unnaturally large grey eyes towards me. "Vi," she whispered, "I saw it, Vi. They are coming for us. Mummy said so. She said so, Vi."

Her words stilled me. "Who's coming, Lyra?"

Her large lashes blinked once. Down. Up. "They!"

Behind me Seb breathed sharply, before grabbing my right hand and Lyra's left, tugging us quickly deeper into the cave.

"Wha-" this time it was me who asked, and Seb who shushed me, pointing behind us. A quick glance over my shoulder had my brown eyes go wide. Between the trees small lights were moving in our direction.

Wandtips. Here and there, their light gleamed off of the metallic surface of silver masks.

While the panic before had been like cold bile creeping up at me, it was now a tidal wave, incapacitating me in its surge. Seb, always the levelheaded one, had more presence of mind. "We've got to go," he whispered into my ear. "We've got to use it, Viola. We've got no choice. We've got to go."

At my right Lyra agreed. "That's what Mummy said!"

She had been too loud. Somewhere down below shouting could be heard. The wandtip-lights were coming closer. Fast.

The panic dropped to my feet, making me run, dripping, stumbling down the tunnels, deep down into the cave. Where the baby was. Where our bags were and where the book was. The book that would save us.

It would save us. I knew it would. Because Mum had said so. And Mum was always right.

Behind us, the shouts were growing louder, and the lights brighter.

There, there was the cave, the bags, my bag.

I was rummaging through it - underwear, the last hard bread, Mum's picture, her wallet, Dad's wand – where is it? Where is it?

The baby had started crying, because Seb had startled him, waking him up too quickly, and too roughly.

Not caring, I turned the bag upside down, letting its contents, all those precious treasures, tumble down onto the cold stone floor.

There it was. Finally.

The cave became lighter, the closer they came to finding us.

They, Lyra had said. They're coming for us.

Death Eaters. The living nightmare that had shadowed our lives for as long as I could remember. That had taken our mum.

"Ready?" I hissed at my siblings, gripping the book in one hand and Dad's wand in the other, feeling them take hold of my coat.

"Yeah," Seb whispered into my ear, "hurry." His voice was breaking at the edges.

The words tumbled over my lips quickly, with a sleepwalking clarity. I didn't know what I was saying. It didn't matter. Mum had made me and Seb repeat them over and over again until we could speak them in our dreams.

And then the familiar tugging feeling of Apparition took hold of my stomach, and we were tumbling through space and time.

Towards safety.

Because that was Mother's last promise.

A world without cold caves and a chronic lack of blankets. A world full of things like sundaes, and chocolate frogs, and brooms, and amusement parks. A world with gentle old wizards, friendly giants, shape-shifting dogs, good friends and so many books that you'd need three lifetimes to read them all.

A world with dads who were there to kiss you goodnight and mums that didn't cry themselves to sleep.

A world without war.


AN: I hope you liked this first taste of my story. If you want to know more don't hesitate to review or PM me ^.^!