The Beginning, Middle, and End

For the life of me I cannot remember
What made us think that we were wise and
We'd never compromise
For the life of me cannot believe
We'd ever die for these sins
We were merely freshman

-"The Freshman" Verve Pipe

It's the story everyone knows, but no one really knows. Before "The-Boy-Who-Lived" came the saga of those who lived and died for his sake, and the sake of his peers.

During Lord Voldermort's first reign of terror, many lives were lost on both sides, although many of those stories have never been told. They were the unsung heroes of the war, the fallen soldiers whose names were forgotten not long after they fell. An entire generation fragmented by a force of evil so powerful it can shake the foundation of the world we all live in. In times of such darkness lines get blurry, and relationships falter. Those you once held closest to your heart become the ones you fear the most, whether it be because of your own insecurities or a force outside of yourself.

Before darkness fell on our world, and before our heroes fell, there was a world where children could laugh and learn. A world where death was a fear of the old and unhealthy, not the strong and youthful. A world where boys pull pranks and girls pretend to be princesses. A world where love blooms in the most unexpected places, or in the most painfully obvious ones. A world where pure-bloods and muggle-borns were free to be the best of friends, and where werewolves are accepted into normal society.

This story starts in the early years, before Lord Voldemort was feared, before his Death Eaters had terrorized countless wizards and muggles. This story starts with the friendship of two girls, two girls who are suddenly in the center of a world where all their wildest dreams come true, and where princes really do exist. This story begins somewhere in the middle, with what everyone knows, a death so unbelievable that many are left in denial…

Only one couple were still battling, apparently unaware of the new arrival. Harry saw Sirius duck Bellatrix's jet of red light: He was laughing at her. "Come on, you can do better than that!" he yelled, his voice echoing around the cavernous room.

The second jet of light hit him squarely on the chest.

The laughter had not quite died from his face, but his eyes widened in shock.

Harry released Neville, though he was unaware of doing so. He was jumping down the steps again, pulling out his wand, as Dumbledore turned to the dais too.

It seemed to take Sirius an age to fall. His body curved in a graceful arc as he sank backward through the ragged veil hanging from the arch…

And Harry saw the look of mingled fear and surprise on his godfather's wasted, once handsome face as he fell through the ancient doorway and disappeared behind the veil, which fluttered for a moment as though in a high wind and then fell back into place.

Harry heard Bellatrix Lestrange's triumphant scream, but knew it meant nothing – Sirius had only just fallen through the archway, he would reappear from the other side and second…

But Sirius did not reappear.

"SIRIUS!" Harry yelled. "SIRIUS!"

He had reached the floor, his breath coming in searing gasps. Sirius must be just behind the curtain, he, Harry, would pull him back out again…

But as he reached the ground and sprinted toward the dais, Lupin grabbed Harry around the chest, holding him back.

"There's nothing we can do, Harry –"

"Get him, save him, he's only just gone through!"

"It's to late, Harry –"

"We can still reach him –"

Harry struggled hard and viciously, but Lupin would not let go…

"There's nothing you can do, Harry…nothing…He's gone."

I begin my tale now at the beginning. The beginning for several different people. For each hero has their own beginning, even if their end is all the same.

"Heroes get remembered, but legends never die. Follow your heart kid, and you can dono wrong." –Babe Ruth, The Sandlot

A/N: Just some things I want to clarify from here on out. Only the first 7 chapters will be told from one point of view. After school starts, each chapter will have anywhere from one to seven points of view at once, but I will try to keep it clear. I will be focusing a lot at first on my own character, Adrianne and Lily, but I'm not going to forget about the Marauders or Jena and Chrissy. I really hope to carry this one out through book 5 and beyond to my made up Lupin and Peter deaths. This story will defiantly be dealing with dark themes, and may be mildly sexual and languagey (a word which I just made up to describe it). You are forewarned, lots of death and stuff to come (which is pretty much a given from what I started off with). I hope you enjoy, and please comment along the way to give me encouragement to continue on, and help me fix any problems or writer's block I may have. Also, if anyone has any really good song quotes that you might want me to try and incorporate into my story, I could use the inspiration. And if you can think of anything better than what I have chosen for the chapter then let me know and maybe I will change it. Be warned thought that some of the quotes I am really attached to and have a significance to my story. Also, if anyone is really creative and wants to write me a sorting hat song, that would be wicked awesome and I would love you forever! I am so not that creative, and right now I have the song from Harry's first year as the song, so let's make it a little game! Also, I am taking applications for proof readers which may turn into a co-writership or something like that. Let me know if you are interested in comments.

DISCLAIMER: I do no own any of this nor am I making any profit, this is just my way of passing boring summer nights, and I'm sure eventually it will become another way for me to procrastinate once school starts up again. All names, places, ect. From the Harry Potter world belong to JK Rowling and the publishers ect. and the song quotes belong to their respective artists and the correct rights owners.