Prologue - The Night

The night was cool, with a chilling wind wending aimlessly through the buildings of Over Street. It was late, well past childrens' bedtimes, past the quiet evenings of relaxing adults and past the wild nights of the young. The streetlights illuminated patches of dark and empty streets, creating oases of stubborn light. Far away, echoing through the abandoned streets, a dog barked madly at demons only it could see. Otherwise there was no sound, beyond the sound of the wind blowing past open windows. Through a window, the only window that hung open, a single lonely lamp could be seen. The lamp valiantly penetrated the darkness of the evening, providing valuable kinship to the tired looking woman beside it.

The young woman, Petunia Evans, sat alone in her office, staring out the window at the street below. She caught herself pondering the wisdom of keeping such a late hour, remembering the slowly diminishing sounds of humanity fading into nothingness hours before. She let out a long, drawn out sigh and stared blankly down at the paperwork before her. She was a young woman, barely into the prime years of her life and here she sat, reading thick books about law long past the time that any sane person would be in bed. With a tired expression, she looked up at a framed photograph above her desk. The image made her smile, reminding her fondly of the summers of her youth.

She remembered Hogwarts, the premiere institution of mystic learning in all the United Kingdom. Petunia had hoped all her young life to have the magic required to attend, but her eleventh birthday had come and gone, and her twelfth. She had only just given up hope when the letter arrived, a small parchment envelope lettered in green ink. Her mother refused to let her see it, despite Petunia knowing it was for her, only saddened that it had taken so long to arrive. She had already spent the afternoon packing her things when she went down to eat dinner with her family. She smugly grinned at her sister, Lily, knowing the poor girl would be jealous, as her mother pulled out the envelope and looked around the table.

Hours later, a knocking could be heard through the door to Petunia's room. When she received no response, she slowly opened the door. Ducking a pillow, thrown in rage, Lily walked towards the bed, stumbling across the floor in the darkened room. Petunia remembered sitting up, her face streaked with tears, screaming angry insults at her sister. Freak! Monster! Traitor! Petunia even accused her sister of scheming with the creepy boy next door out of spite. Lily, always the level headed sister, smiled sadly and sat on the bed. She apologized, and even promised to decline the invitation, out of respect for Petunia's dreams. Petunia's rage had evaporated, and was replaced by shame. She demanded Lily attend, it wouldn't be fair otherwise. They argued for what seemed like forever, Lily refusing out of compassion and Petunia insisting out of annoyance. Finally, Lily agreed, but only if Petunia would agree to learn from Lily. Lily would study at Hogwarts, and share the skills that required no personal magic with her sister.

Knowing full well that what they did was illegal, the sisters spent the next six summers together. Lily taught Petunia everything she could about Magical Creatures, History and Potions. She even convinced the Snape child next door to help teach basic defenses against dark wizards. It was during Lily's final year at Hogwarts, while Petunia attended her first year of University, that Petunia finally realized her purpose in life. One of Lily's classmates had a younger brother had been rejected from entry into Hogwarts, because he was unable to use magic. Lily told her sister during the winter holiday, and Petunia immediately empathized with the poor boy, and vowed that no child would be discriminated against simply for not being magical. Upon returning to University, Petunia turned to law with a passion.

Now, here she sits thinking, four years later. She sits staring at the pile of papers and dreading the coming morning, where another terrible day of training would be coming. She glanced once more at the photo above her and she took a deep breath, reminding herself of the encouraging support of her sister. She knew that in less than a year, Ms. Petunia Evans would be entering the legal world as an apprentice, and then she could finally start arguing the case for equal rights under the law, magical or otherwise. With her goal so close, Petunia could not stop now. At least in the long run. For tonight, she couldn't stay awake any longer.

With a sigh, Petunia stood and stretched lazily. With a click, the dim lamp resigned itself to the darkness of night. Slowly and deliberately, Petunia stumbled her way to her bedroom, ready to steal a few hours of sleep from the remaining night. Just as she was about to reach the bed, she heard an angry buzz from across the apartment. Surprised, Petunia could not help but wonder what could possibly drive anyone to visit at such a late hour. Grabbing a robe from the floor of her apartment, she made for the door. Pushing the button beside the door, she pulled open the door and glanced down the hallway. What she saw inspired even greater surprise and confusion.

Coming up the stairs was a man the size of a small mountain and an ancient old man. The pair was strange enough on their own, but Petunia knew these men. They both worked at Hogwarts, and had since her sister had attended. The large one, Hagrid, was the groundskeeper there and was an old friend of her brother-in-law. The old man was easily Petunia's least favorite person. Albus Dumbledore was the stubborn old fool that had denied her entrance into Hogwarts and soundly rejected her pleas to reconsider. His superiority had always infuriated her and she likely would have demanded an explanation for her presence, if not for two things. First, the somber expression that colored both mens' expressions and second, the small package gently cradled in the enormous arms of Hagrid. Her blood froze.

"Miss Evans," Albus calmly met Petunia's gaze. "May we have a word?,"

Keeping her expression neutral, Petunia let the men into her small apartment. As the men walked past her, and into the apartment, she got a closer look at them. Albus carried himself with the quiet arrogance and superiority that she had always known of him. Hagrid, a man she had met only once, looked at her with such pain in his face. He looked ready to cry at any moment, and he looked at her with such pity that it made her dread grow.

"Miss Evans, I am afraid I come bearing bad news," Albus said, his mask of serenity cracking momentarily. "Most terrible news."

Outside the apartment, the sky had barely begun to lighten in the distance. The early morning breeze was cool, but promised a warm autumn day to come. The city was beginning to awaken, and the silence of night began to fade beneath early morning commuters and stubborn birds refusing to leave for winter. The calm serenity of the dawn was harshly interrupted by a terrible wail of pain, issuing out across the street from the last window to go dark.

Petunia had been in shock, listening distractedly as Albus Dumbledore spoke of her sister's family. She listened as he spoke about the monstrous revolutionary, the man who claimed all Britain as his birthright, had come for Lily and her family. She listened as he spoke of James, her brother-in-law, fighting and dying valiantly to defend his wife and child. She listened as he spoke about her sister, desperately defending her baby boy, sacrificed herself to buy his life. She listened as he spoke of the revolutionary, looming over her nephew, ready to strike. There he stopped.

"And then what?" Petunia glared at Albus. "Why have you told me all this? What about my nephew? Why do you drag out his death? To torture me?" She desperately wiped the tears from her eyes.

"No, Miss Evans. I intend no harm. That is where the story ends. No one knows what happened next, only that Voldemort is gone and‚" He paused, and nodded to the weeping giant, who unraveled the cloth wrapped around the parcel. "Your nephew yet lives."

Wrapped in a simple brown cloth was a baby boy. His dark hair in a wild tangle atop his head, and his forehead marred with a wicked gash. The gash did not look normal, it did not bleed and it bore a distinct resemblance to a lightning bolt. Despite the terrible night that the child had no doubt witnessed, he slept soundly, nuzzling closely to the furs coating Hagrid's surprisingly gentle arms. The sobbing giant slowly lifted the child and handed him to Petunia. She gently, as if the child were made of porcelain, accepted the fragile package. Looking up, and between the two men, she took a deep breath, hoping to control her tears.

‚"Get out." Her voice, dripped with pain, desperation and anger. She glared at Albus and glanced at Hagrid.

"Of course, you need time." Albus stood, and placed a comforting hand on Hagrid's shoulder and lead the larger man out the door. "I will contact you in one week's time."

Petunia continued to glare after Albus for ages after the door clicked shut behind him. She held onto her anger at that old fool for as long as she could, but it was like trying to stop the tides with a small bucket. She dropped to her knees, holding the child desperately close to her chest and the dam broke. There she sat, clutching the only remains of her sister, sobbing as the sun began to shine through her windows.