Chapter 1: Letters and Hand-Me-Downs

On one cool November night, a bundle was left on the doorstep of Number Four Privet Drive by a rather peculiar looking group of people. Inside of the bundle happened to be two children. One was Harry Potter, a little boy with a wild tuff of dark hair and an odd lightning shaped scar on his forehead. Curled up to his side was his sister, Rose, who had crimson curls and was slightly smaller. They laid sound asleep with a letter beside them, not knowing they were special, not knowing that they were famous, not knowing they would never be normal again. They couldn't know that at this very moment, people meeting in secret all over the country were holding up their glasses and saying in hushed voices: 'To Harry and Rose Potter- the Ones Who Lived!

…

Nearly ten years had passed since the Dursleys had woken up to find their nephew and niece on the front step, but Privet Drive had hardly changed at all. There had been lots of pictures of what looked like a large blond child during different stages of his life. The room held no sign at all that another child lived in the house, let alone two.

Yet the twins were still there, inside of a tiny room on the second floor. This room was once used to keep Dudley's toys and things that wouldn't fit in his first bedroom. Now, it became their bedroom since the two had grown out of the small cupboard underneath the staircase.

Harry lied asleep in the twin sized bed, taking advantage of the extra room since his sister had already awoken. Harry was small and skinny for his age and looked even smaller since he was forced to wear the old clothes of his gigantic cousin. Harry had a thin face, knobby knees, black hair and bright-green eyes. He wore round glasses held together with a lot of tape because of all the times Dudley had punched him on the nose. The only thing Harry liked about his own appearance was a very thin scar on his forehead which was shaped like a bolt of lightning.

Rose stood on top of the small desk, staring outside of the only window in the room. She was even smaller than her brother and was dressed in her Aunt Petunia's hand-me-downs. Long curly dark red hair came down in waves and ended at her waist. She had a heart shaped face with a pointed chin, bright green eyes like her brother, and dimples on each cheek. Rose enjoyed staring out of the window, which became her favorite pastime ever since her and Harry had been locked inside of their room due to a certain vanishing glass at the zoo during dear cousin Dudley's birthday.

"Harry wake up." Rose shook her brother.

"Hmm?" Harry mumbled as he opened his eyes. He reached out for his glasses. "What's wrong, Rosie?" She took him by the hand and pulled him up.

"There some man standing outside of the house," she told him.

"So?" Harry responded. He peeled off his current T-shirt and put on a cleaner one.

"He looks odd," Rose said as she returned to her place on top of the desk. Harry followed her to see what she was talking about. Outside, a tall man stood with shoulder length black hair. He was dressed in a grey suit with a broad brimmed hat.

"He doesn't look like one of Uncle Vernon's friends," Harry added. Rose nodded her head in agreement. The two watched as the strange man walked towards front door, hesitated, and then rang the doorbell. It took a moment for the Dursleys to answer the door, and another for the man to be let into the house.

"I wonder why he's here," Rose stated. Harry nodded in agreement. Downstairs, a rather rambunctious conversation was occurring. Voices were being raised, specifically the gruff yelling of their Uncle Vernon. The twins pressed themselves against their bedroom door, hoping to hear snippets of the conversations. Rose found herself frowning; while the voices were quite loud, they were still too muffled to decipher.

Suddenly the conversation ended. Voices transformed into heavy footsteps up the staircases. Realizing that someone was approaching their room, the twins jumped into action. Harry went to quickly lace up a pair of shoes. Rose changed from the oversized t-shirt that she used to sleep in, into one of Aunt Petunia's old dresses. Outside of the room, the sound of the door unlocking could be heard. Uncle Vernon swung the door open. Next to him was the odd man from outside.

"You have ten minutes with these brats before I call the police," Vernon told the man as he left.

The man sneered at Vernon and entered the room. He closed the door behind him. Harry and Rose stood side by side, holding each other hands as they stared at him. His dark shoulder length hair appeared greasy and he had a rather large hooded nose. His feature seemed to be permanently stuck in a scowl. His dark eyes quickly observed the room from the three dead bolts on the door, along with the cat door, the piles off broken toys on the floor, the small bed that the two shared, to the clothes that they were wearing. Harry's shirt went to his knees and he seemed to be holding up his pants with a piece of rope around his waist. Rose's dress was torn at the bottom and kept slipping off of her small shoulders.

What he saw seemed to have upset the man for some reason unknown to the two children. His jaw was clenched, but quickly recomposed himself. Two pairs of emerald eyes were focused onto him.

"My name is Severus Snape. I am a professor at a school called Hogwarts," the man paused as if he expected them to react to his words. They didn't. The dark look in his eyes deepened. "This school is for students who have certain gifts and talents. And you two have been accepted." Snape was about to continue when he was interrupted.

"Excuse me, sir," Harry said. "I think you have the wrong people, because there's nothing special about us." Snape gave the boy a sour look. Whether he was displeased with being interrupted or by the contents of the statement itself was not obvious to the twins.

Professor Snape's dark eyes poured into theirs. He was thoroughly confused, but hide it well. He reached out and opened the wardrobe and noticed that it too was filled with discarded broken toys. When given the assignment to deliver the Hogwarts letters to the Potter twins, Severus was immediately appalled. He had half expected to find two identical copies of James Potter, spoiled and lethargic, laying about in a grand house, immensely aware of who and what they are. Instead he was met with a horrid purple faced muggle who wanted nothing to do with him and refused to acknowledge the presence of the twins. It wasn't until Severus had pulled out his wand, did the purple faced man led him to the twins. To add to his confusion, he was met with two slips of children who looked like ghosts of their late parents.

"Have you two ever done things that you couldn't explain?" Snape asked them. The line was rehearsed: the customary script that most Hogwarts professors used whenever introducing muggleborns to magic. "Strange things happening when you're feeling angry or sad." Rose looked up at him at that point. Severus had to suppress a reaction. The girl looked so much like Lily, a malnourished tiny version of Lily, that it burned him to his core.

They both nodded their heads at him.

"This is because you two are wizards," Snape said.

"Wizards?!" Harry and Rose exclaimed at the same time. "We can't be!" They continued to speak in unison, a habit that both of them had acquired since they were little.

"Both your parents were wizards as well; you're unquestionably not muggles," Snape told them.

"Muggles?" Harry asked.

"Those who can't perform magic, like your aunt and cousin," He replied, and pulled out two envelopes from his suit pocket. He handed one to each of them. Rose looked at the front of hers. It read:

Rosalyn Lillian Potter, the Small Bedroom, 2nd Floor, 4 Privet Dive, Little Whinging, Surrey

She turned the envelope over and looked at the wax seal. It seemed to be some sort of symbol with an eagle, badger, lion, and snake. Rose turned to look at Harry who was appeared to bewildered. She turned to look at the man who stood before him. He seemed to be about the same age as Aunt Petunia, maybe younger. Yet his features were prematurely aged by something other than time. And there was something strange in his dark eyes. He looked angry, but Rose couldn't figure out why.

"How do we know you're not tricking us," Rose asked suspiciously, her voice barely a whisper. The dark look flickered for a moment, and Snape raised an eyebrow at her. Harry nodded in agreement before saying:

"Yeah, do some magic," With that Snape pulled out a long slender stick. He pointed it at their small wardrobe. With a flick, the closet went up in flames. Harry and Rose gasped in shock.

"Can you do that to Dudley?" Rose asked as a large smile appeared on her face. Snape smirked at the comment. He flicked his wand again and the closet returned to its previous condition.

"So we're magical and we're going to a magical school?" Harry asked, still in disbelief. Snape impatiently nodded his head.

"Where are we going to get these things?" Rose asked. She had open the letter and found the list of supplies.

"From Diagon Alley," He replied. Once again, he received two identical looks of confusion. Something within Severus clenched tightly inside of him again. Lily's children should know what Diagon Alley was. Then again, they should know more than they appeared to.

He pulled out a sheet of parchment that contained directions to the wizarding market. He handed it to Harry.

"A cab will arrive in an hour to bring you to London. Use the map to guide you the rest of the way," Snape said. He hadn't planned to call them a taxi, but he had quickly realized that Hell would sooner freeze over before their purple faced uncle, or god forbid Petunia, would drive them to London. He, on the other hand, had not planned to take them shopping either, nor did he have the patience to do so.

"But, sir, we don't have any money," Harry told the man. Snape pulled out another thing from his suit pocket. A key.

"This will allow you to access your trust fund vault in Gringotts, the wizarding bank," He said and gave the key to Rose. "You will go to Diagon Alley, and then to Gringotts, withdraw money, and purchases your supplies. Along with your supply list are your tickets to Hogwarts Express. It leaves at Kings Cross on September first. Be there before eleven in the morning. I will see you then." Snape surveyed the two children and their lost looks. Not knowing what to say, Snape made his departure. He needed to order them a taxi, he told himself. In actuality, he deeply desired to flee the small room with those twin green eyes, and also have a talk with a certain Albus Dumbledore.

Rose jumped to her feet to follow him, filled with a thousand questions, but Uncle Vernon was on the underside of the door. He slammed it shut right in her face. Rose heard the dead bolts turning and he locked the door again. Loud voices and footsteps were heard once more on the other side. She turned to look at her brother. He was rereading the letters.

"Harry," Rose said, drawing his attention. Striking green eyes met another pair of striking green eyes. "What just happened?"

"I have no idea Rosie," Harry replied. He looked at the map that Snape had given to him. "Do you buy it? Do you think he's telling the truth?"

"I hope so for our sakes, unless the wardrobe lights on fire on its own." Rose huffed.

"Ha, you're a riot," Harry said with a roll of his eyes. They sat down together on the floor, staring at papers in front of them. They read and reread the letters until the image of the strange crest and the Deputy Headmistress's signature was ingrained into their mind.

"In case he's not bluffing, we better get ready for this cab," Harry said, minutes later.

Rose nodded and carefully folded the letter back into the thick envelope.

They sprung to their feet. Harry pulled out a small book bag that Dudley had thrown away and put their papers and key inside of it. They put on their only pair of trainers before Rose went and pulled out a hair pin. She turned to the door and began to fiddle with the multiple locks on the door. A few minutes past before multiple clicks could be heard.

"Yeah, we should leave now," Rose said with a smirk, and opened the door. Harry gave her a huge grin before following her out of the room. They gently closed the door and silently made their way downstairs.

Uncle Vernon and Aunt Petunia were watching television in the living room, grumbling about something. Their backs were faced to them. Dudley must be in his room. They tried their hardest to remain quiet and quick as they left through the front door. Once out of the house, the twins made a running dash to the rose bushes in front of the house. If they could hide there until the cab came, then they wouldn't be seen through the living room windows by the Dursleys.

Half an hour passed, and the twins were beginning to doubt what Professor Snape had told them. Just as Harry was about to suggest they return the house, a black taxi cruised down the street, stopping at Number Four Privet Drive. A balloon of hope swelled within Rose at that moment. Together the twins climbed into the back of the cab, throwing wary glances behind them at the Dursleys' house.

"Off to London, eh?" The cab driver asked.

"Yes, we are sir," Harry responded. His hand found Rose's and gripped it tightly.

"Great city, ain't it?" said the driver.

"I hope so," Rose responded, throwing one last glance at Privet Drive, which they were quickly leaving behind.

Rewritten 5/22/2018 12:29 AM