Winter of 2012
"The End of the World"
Potter Manor, Scotland
Winter Solstice, 2012
That year's yule was held at the Potter Manor. Everywhere Alyssandra looked, she saw people elegantly dressed in evening gowns and dress robes. She even saw a round table of Veela's- whom men and women alike were ogling at. (She didn't like how they looked at the Veela's, it gave her a bad feeling.) She took a deep breath to calm her nerves, flatting her own dress. The leotard underneath it shifted uncomfortably and she pouted.
She made the wrong choice of not removing it after their class.
Alyssandra made her way around the huge ballroom, trying to find her parents. The adults all looked nearly the same, tall, imposing, and a tad bid arrogant. She shouldn't really have expected any less. The ballroom looked incredibly beautiful though, the high ceiling was enchanted to look like a deep night sky, and she was pretty sure that she was staring at the Milky Way Galaxy or something. Her mother, Lily Potter, had been working on said ceiling for more than a week, and Alyssandra can't help but feel proud over her charms work- she hoped to do the same someday.
"Ysa-bear!" a familiar boisterous voice yells. Alyssandra jumps, turning around- her red hair turning to green in surprise.
"Padfoot!" she says, grinning, running up to her uncle. He gives her a warm hug. Her Uncle Paddy looked really different- though he always did during formal occasions. His normal attire of muggle clothing was abandoned for a much more sophisticated formal wizarding dress robe. But Alyssandra can still see that he took inspiration from their less-powerful kin. He didn't look too over-the-top nor did he look like someone added wool cloths in a stock pile and knitted them together. Alyssandra meant to say this out loud- but what she said was,
"You look nice."
Sirius tugged his violet-suit, wiping his pants while at it. "Why thank you dearie." he says with a grin.
Alyssandra bursts into giggles. "Have you seen Mummy and Daddy, Uncle Paddy?" she asked, taking his hand. The duo began to walk.
"They were talking to the Tyler's a while ago." he says, looking around.
Alyssandra remembers the Tyler's, they're a nice family, she was pretty sure their head was someone important in the ministry. A rumor Alyssandra heard before, was that the youngest Tyler disappeared moments just after he was born. "Your parent's really did a nice job to this place."
"I know right?" she says. She points upwards, "Look at the ceiling!"
"Ah yes! The ceiling!" he exclaims, looking up "Your mother's work?"
"Uhuh" she nods, "She enchanted it!"
Sirius nods, "She did a really good job" He says. The duo finally sits down by the Potter family table.
"Why are they doing this this year though?" Alyssandra asks, head tilted.
"The usual Pureblood nonsense" he says, shaking his head. "Don't you like balls? Especially with you and your little ballet class? I'm expecting a performance soon enough"
Alyssandra blushes. "I can't!" she exclaims, shaking her head. "I'm not really that good yet" she looks away. "Maybe someday I'll be as good as that show we watched in New York."
Sirius scoffs, "No" he says. "You'll be better."
Alyssandra beams and sees her parents finally walk up to them. Her mother looked amazing, her red hair was tied up in an updo, with a few tendrils of red curls falling down her face. She wore a long red sheath gown that snug around her perfectly, she was also wearing the necklace her father gave her all those years ago. Alyssandra thought her father, who was a simple black dressing gown, paled in comparison. (Though he still looked rather handsome) Both elder Potters, however, were carrying a young Potter twin with them. Alyssandra's siblings, Juniper and Sylvester Potter.
"Hi Mummy and Daddy" she says, smiling. "Hullo Junie, Sylly."
Her parent's smile back at her. "Well hello there Alyssandra" says James, "Sirius."
"Where have you been?" Sirius asked, raising an eyebrow. "You can't just leave a Lady waiting like this." he says, waving an arm to her direction. Alyssandra giggles.
"We were talking to the Prime Minister." Lily explains, taking a seat. She hands over Sylly to Alyssandra in the process. Despite her beauty, her mother looked really tired, Alyssandra can see the strain in her smile. James looked nearly the same. But she always thought he hid better than her mummy did.
Sylly plays with the strands of hair falling to Alyssandra's face. "Wed!" he says, giggling. Alyssandra complies, changing her hair into the same red colour as their mother's.
"And Alice?" Sirius asks, Alice Marlene Potter, Alyssandra's older sister.
"Dancing with Diggory's son." says James.
Alyssandra gasped, her attention wavering from Sylly. "Ally has a boyfriend?"
Lily laughs, "No, no, sweetheart. Cedric-" she says, eyeing James, "is just her friend."
The short conversation they had, however, was quickly put in a halt as a rather short stuffy looking wizard buzzes in. Quickly ushering Sirius and James with him, who reluctantly puts Junie down as he was pushed away.
Alyssandra frowns, thinking the guy was really rude. Despite the huge christmas tree at the back of the Ballroom (with a whole lot of gifts), she really didn't like this year's Yule Ball.
"We're not gonna celebrate New Year's like this, are we?" Alyssandra asked.
"Of course not." says Lily, who now has Junie on her lap. "We'll be having the Weasley's over again" she tells her, "Along with your Uncle Paddy and Moony."
Alyssandra nods to this. She understood why Remus, her Uncle Moony, couldn't attend the ball they held. She didn't really thought that it was fair. She thought that he had a right to be here with their family during Christmas more than the people who attended their ball, even if he was a warewolf.
She didn't really like the thought of having the entire Weasley clan over, however. She found really demanding and bossy.
Alyssandra frowned, "And Harry?" she asks. "I haven't seen him for so long... Is he really okay?" she held Sylly a little closer, pretending she didn't notice the flash of worry that went on Lily's face.
"We'll visit Harry the morning after New Years." her mother says, completely ignoring her other question "and I think it's time for bed" she adds. The twins whine. Sylly squirms.
"Wanna go to bed, Ysa?" Lily asks, Alyssandra shakes her head.
"I just got here." she answers with a shrug, dropping off her question.
"Okay sweetheart, do you want to join Neville instead?" Lily asks, probably thinking that her daughter will end up bored out of her mind if she stayed in the table alone.
Alyssandra makes a face "At the kid's area?"
"Your father set up a mini Quidditch pitch you can play in, along with a few books and toys." she tells her, standing up. Alyssandra follows the suit.
"Well okay." she says. "But Neville Longbottom?"
"What's wrong with Neville?" Lily says, affronted. "Alice and Frank are the sweetest couple I know. Neville also happens to be your god-sibling, Alyssandra."
Girl in question huffs, moving a strand of red hair that was starting to irritate her eyes. "Well, yeah.." she says, "I mean there's nothing wrong with him. He's just really boring."
Lily gives a soft laugh. "You should give him a chance, honey."
Alyssandra pouts again. "Well, okay..."
"Lily Potter?" A man stands in their way. Alyssandra has seen this guy before. This was Malfoy. Her Dad's nemesis.
"Lucius." Lily greets, a protective arm coming down her way to stop Alyssandra from moving forward. Their eyes meet, and she finds herself drawing closer to her mother.
"Young Alyssandra." he gives a court nod, one that she mirrors. "I trust you prepared the event for this evening, Mrs. Potter?"
"I did." Lily says.
"Excellent work, for someone like yourself." He says. Alyssandra frowns, noticing the jab.
"Thank you." Lily says curtly. "Now if you may excuse me-"
"Though I am wondering why there's one Potter child short."
Alyssandra had a feeling that he was talking about Harry, but this is what she says; "Alice is busy somewhere else. Also Mr. Malfoy, I dunno why you're so concerned."
Lily's grip on her arm goes tighter- Lucius Malfoy was glaring at her. "Come Alyssandra." Her mother quickly ushers her away, nevermind how rude it is.
Alyssandra frowns. "I'm sorry.."
Lily shakes her head. "Don't think about it sweetheart."
Her mother opens the door to the kid's area, Junie was already fast asleep on her shoulders and it kinda looked like Sylvester was gonna pass out in any second- her baby brother didn't seem to be affected by what happened.
"Why was being so rude?" Alyssandra asked.
"We have Kingsley Shacklebot just around the corner." Lily ignores her question. (Again) "And call Dipsy if you need anything okay?" Lily kisses her forehead. "I'll tell your father that you're in here. You can mirror Sirius-"
"Okay" Alyssandra says, feeling defeated. "I'll be fine, no need to worry."
Lily suddenly looked very unsure. Alyssandra forces on a smile.
"I'll be fine mummy!" she says, more enthusiastically.
Lily gives her a small smile, patting her by the head. "Well then," she starts, "Junie, Sylly, say goodnight to your sister."
After two heartwarming goodnights, Lily Potter left. Alyssandra pouts, she really didn't mind if she stayed outside. Though, wandering around on her own probably wasn't the best idea. She takes a look of her surroundings, there were actually a lot of kids there. She will admit that she saw a lot more of them being at least 5 years old (which kinda bothered her since she was there as well, but anything to appease her parents). She couldn't wait until she got a little older, by then, her parents would let her stay out at the ball longer.
Contrary to what her mother said, there was actually no Quidditch match going on. All of the brooms were neatly locked and guarded by whom Alyssandra thought was either a nanny or a really young Auror. Out of the corner of her eye, she sees Kingsley Shackelbot, a dear Auror friend of their family, watching all of the kids with his incredibly stoic-blank face. Their eyes meet for a second, and he winks.
Alyssandra gives him a wave. Other than the brooms, there were still a lot of things around that she could kill time with. There was also a shelf of books, but she doubted there was anything there she'd like. She looks back at the door. She really wanted to stay at the ball, despite her rather sudden and weird meeting with Lucius Malfoy.
The kids playing around reminded her of herself back when she was their age. It reminded her of a time when she was never allowed to play with the other children (bar her siblings, the Weasley clan, and Neville Longbottom). She liked the Twins and Charlie Weasley the most as they were the most fun to be around with.
"Hi Alyssandra!" Neville jumps next to her.
"Hi Nev" she replies. "What're you doing here?"
"My parents aren't fans of social gatherings like these." he explains. "I'm not either, so I decided to come up here."
"Well, I'm pretty sure my Dad lives for social gatherings." says Alyssandra. "Though I doubt its for these kinds."
Alyssandra notices the rather heavy-looking leather-bound book Neville was carrying. "Whatcha got there?" she asked.
"Oh!" Neville blushed, putting the book closer to his chest. Alyssandra thought it was rather adorable. "It's the McMayers Guide to All things Herbal in Asia, I found it in the corner over there." He points to the bookshelf. "I think it's rather neat. We don't have this book in the Longbottom Library."
This perked her interest. "Really?" she asks, "What's so special about it?"
"It's limited edition I think," he answers, "It also belongs to your Grandad."
That made sense. Fleamont Potter did create that sleek-hair potion thing a while back. He probably had bought it in one of his trips to the Philippines or Malaysia.
"You can borrow if it you'd like."She offers, "I doubt you can finish the whole thing just tonight."
Neville beams. "Of course! Thank you Alyssandra!" The boy rushes to hug her. Alyssandra lets out a nervous laugh.
"No problem Nevs." she says.
"The books really cool." he babbles. "Your grandad had scribbled notes in everywhere. All potions related. Though I never really gotten the hang of that whenever I helped Gran out." he says. "Also, there's this plant called Dederunt Azul that can- well." Neville gestures wildly to his eyes. "
Alyssandra glared at him. "What's that supposed to mean?" she asks.
"Nothing! I mean- I think both of your eyes are really cool. And y'know, so's this plant. Cause it can turn one of the drinker's eye colour into blue."
"Well I like them both as green and blue, thank you." she sniffs. She never bothered changing them both to the same color. They were special.
"I just thought you'd be interested." he blushed impishly. Alyssandra sighs.
"It's neat I guess." she says. "Listen Nev, I'm gonna go back outside."
The boy deflates almost instantly. "Oh."
Alyssandra almost grimaced. "You can come with me if you like," she says. Neville shook his head.
She grabbed his hand. "You know what, let's go play a game of exploding snap instead."
Neville brightened up immediately. "That sounds great!"
The duo went and set up their game. It took Alyssandra a while to get into the flow of things, as it's not really a game that she played a lot. She much preferred the muggle-game UNO or using the PS4 back in Godric's Hollow. It showed when Neville won the first two rounds. They were in their third when she heard the distinct noise of people screaming from outside the room.
Alyssandra frowned. "What's going on?" she asks.
A bang shook the walls. More screaming. Kingsley stood next to them in an instant.
"We need to get you kids down to the Ward Room." he says, quickly opening up a portrait to reveal a secret passageway. The nanny Alyssandra saw quickly ushered the other children towards it. They had begun crying and it wasn't helping her nerves at all. The nanny's hair flickered from pink to violet.
"Come now, Alyssandra, Neville." says Kingsley.
"But- my family's still out there!" she gasped. She could feel her heart beating against her chest. Her palms have gone sweaty. Neville was frantically looking around with wide eyes, probably thinking that they were gonna get ambushed inside.
A part of her thinks that as well.
Kingsley gave her a firm look "Your parents can protect themselves and your siblings." he says, "You can't. We have to go, now."
Kingsley pulled them both to the passageway, instantly shutting it off as soon as they were in. The last thing Alyssandra saw was the kids room being blown into pieces.
It had been a tiring day. Lily had spent her entire morning and afternoon making sure that the Potter Manor had looked spotless and enchanting. She had spent the last few weeks creating the 'Sky-effect' on their ceiling. She looked at her two sleeping twins, Sylvester and Juniper, as they cuddled themselves to sleep. It took all her willpower to not lay down next to them and doze off as well. She sighed. They were a familiar sight. Just two years ago, Alyssandra and Harry slept in the very same way.
Lily slowly creeped off their conjoined twin-beds. "Rubie?" she calls.
POP! The house-elf appeared. "Yes, Mistress?"
"Watch over the twins for me, please." she says. "Don't let anyone that's not a Potter in. If anything happens, bring the twins to the Ward Room."
The house-elf nodded. "Yes Mistress."
The ballroom was still buzzing alight despite the gruesome hour. It didn't take her long to spot her husband talking to one of the Ministry Officials of MACUSA. He was grinning wildly, laughing along with whatever the man had said. But Lily knew her husband better. The grin he had was forced, and it looked no where near like the smiles he had whenever he pulled a joke or a prank. Or when he was around her and the children.
It was a necessary decision, she reasons with herself. After the war, the Wizengamot needed to eliminate the threat of Death Eaters- the Potter family joining in the Sacred 30 (28, during the time), especially just after Harry being proclaimed as the Boy-Who-Lived, was the push The Ministry needed for them to finally take action.
"Lily!" says James, "I was just talking to Meyers here about your charms work."
"It's amazing!" Meyers exclaims, pointing up to the ceiling. "I can't help but notice how it follows the proper flow of the stars outside. John Meyers," he introduces himself. "I'm in Misuse of Enchantments and Unnecessary Transfiguration back in MACUSA."
Lily shakes his hand. "Lily Evans-Potter," she says. "Potions Master"
"Lily here has plenty of talents." says James, beaming up with pride. "I can tell you now she's who'll continue the family tradition."
"Only because you refuse to wash a cauldron." she says snarkily. A man came up from behind James, whom she recognized was Rufus Scrimgeour, the Head Auror.
"May excuse the couple of the evening?" he asks Meyers.
The man nodded. "Of course!"- and he was off, talking to a new group of people. Promptly making no excuse to socialize any less.
"Something the matter, sir?" asks James, looking the slightest bit worried.
"Our look-out saw a few wizards lingering around your wards." he says, "I assume the Potter Manor has its older wards up and running?"
"It does." Lily confirms. "Will we be expecting any trouble tonight?"
"I hope not" Scrimgeour answers. "But we'll be doubling our rounds just in case."
James nods, "Thank you." he looks at her. "The kids?"
"Alyssandra's in the kids room, the twins are asleep. I'm sure Alice is still dancing around with Diggory's son." she tells him.
"It'll be a wise choice to send them off for the night." says Scrimgeour. "Just to be safe."
Lily frowns. "He's right." she says, "I'll go get them."
James looked more tired than ever. But before Lily could go, a loud bang resonated through the room startling everyone, smoke appearing. Immediately, wands were raised through the air, aiming at where the sound originated. The ballroom went silent in an instant.
"It's been a marvelous evening." a deep, accent-thick voice said. "Nothing less to be expected from the Potters." he says. A man in either his early 30s or late 20s. Long blonde hair slicked to the back, and a modern-muggle looking black suit.
"This is a private, protected gathering." says James, voice echoing through. "I advise you to not do anything you'd regret, and lower your wand."
"Yes, yes." the man says, "But of course, Yule has always been a deep- enriching event in the wizarding world."
"Get him." says Scrimgeour, wand pointed to his mouth like a mike. Aurors gathered around in an instant, going through the crowd to whoever this party-wrecker was.
"Praemium!" he bellows, wand pointing directly to his head. People screamed as his head exploded. His blood going everywhere. Flooding through the floor like a loose hose. Flashes of camera filled the room. James paled in an instant.
"The floors!" he says. Lily was about to reprimand him from caring about the floors of all things when she notices the ethereal light that began to shine on the floor, forming various patterns. Runes.
The walls exploded. People were panicking and screaming, going directly to the fireplaces to floo out. Aurors doing their best to make sure nobody got injured in the process.
"The kids!" she gasped. Then she saw the wall segregating the kids room had been blown to pieces. "Alyssandra!"
"I just got word that young Alyssandra Potter is with Messers. Kingsley and Tonks. None of the children were harmed" says Scrimgeour, wand by his ear. James nodded at him for thanks.
"Lily!" It was Alice Longbottom. "Our Neville-"
"Is in the Ward Room" explains Scrimgeour, he was already moving in action. Stamping through the incandescent lights as it began to filter through the air- though it moved without purpose. The aurors had already gotten rid of the body in the middle of the ballroom and had whisked it away.
"ATTENTION PLEASE!" James voice echoes through the air. People halted, looking at him expectantly. "PLEASE LEAVE THE POTTER MANOR IN AN ORDERLY FASHION. ANY OF YOUR CHILDREN- WHO WERE IN THE KIDS ROOM KINDLY FOLLOW OUR HOUSE ELF, GRAPHITE" the said house-elf popped to existance "TOWARDS THE WARD ROOM."
"Don't you think I don't know what this is Potter!" yells an angry voice, Luther Smith. "I know these ruins!"
"Get that man out of here." James mutters angrily, shaking his head. He clears his throat. "THE POTTERS WILL MAKE AN OFFICIAL STATEMENT OF THIS EVENT BY TOMORROW EVENING. EVERYONE, PLEASE. LEAVE THIS MANOR AT ONCE."
The silence turned into murmurs almost immediately. But they seemed to abide to what he said. More than a dozen of parents held on to Graphite in group-apparation, and even more so had floo'd out through the fireplace. Lily looks at James' pale, stricken-looking face.
"Mum, Dad!" Lily was enveloped to a shaky embrace.
"Alice, go to your siblings." says James. "Make sure they're okay."
Alice looked like she was going to cry. "What the hell just happened?" she demands, half glaring at her father. But James was already off, waving his wand around and muttering a dozen of incantations. A few more wizards (All purebloods- Lily noticed) followed the suit. They kept looking at him dubiously.
Lily grimaced, holding her daughter tighter. "I'll come with you."