(November 2nd, 1981)
For what felt like the hundredth time, the woman glanced down at the small child she held in her arms, tears blurring her vision as the little girl squirmed slightly in her sleep, before burrowing still further into the woman's chest. One tiny hand latched onto her finger at the exact moment that she chose to run that finger against the soft skin of the child's cheek—and that was all it took to have her shoulders shaking in silent sobs, the magnitude of the losses that only seemed to keep piling up around them finally making itself known…
Two brothers, a sister, countless friends—she had watched as each and every one of them left and never came back, fading away one by one until she felt as though she would eventually be the only woman left in the world. Of course, she knew that was not, strictly speaking, true. She had a husband. Sons, and a newborn daughter. She had more than many others that she knew—those who had lost everything and yet still possessed the courage to continue the fight.
Why then, in the midst of her very own home, with yet another child in her arms to care for, did she feel so alone?
The small coo that escaped the child in response to the woman's hand absently rubbing small circles against her back seemed distraction enough, at least for the moment, from further thought, her eyes now fixated on the tiny child as her brow scrunched, and a tiny thumb made its way between bow-shaped lips. A small murmur left the little bundle as she squirmed a bit, likely in the throes of a dream, prompting the woman to duck her head down so that she could place her lips in a gentle kiss upon the infant's brow.
"Take care of her for me, Molly. There's something I need to do."
Those words had echoed again and again in the woman's mind as she held the child in her arms, rocking absently back and forth in hopes of keeping the little thing in as peaceful a mood as could be managed. Without her even knowing it, the young girl's world had been almost utterly turned on its axis, and there could be no going back. No reversing events that would surely throw her on a path that she could never anticipate, not in a hundred years. All that remained was to care for the girl as best she could, along with her other sons, and her daughter…
And if there was one thing that the woman was absolutely certain of, it was that she was more than capable of seeing to it that the tiny girl in her arms felt as loved as was possible, parents or no.
…
(July 4th, 1991)
"Ron! Ron, wait!" Eleven year old Alysanne Prewitt hollered, dark hair fanning out behind her while she ran, apparently heedless of the long stalks of grass that tickled the skin of her legs while she moved. Truthfully, the young girl was rather unperturbed by the sensation, just as the feel of the damp earth clinging halfheartedly to her bare feet as she ran hardly seemed to register, given the rather significant obstacle that she now faced. As was his habit, her cousin had, once again, stolen the book she had been reading, thus forcing her to dart after him so that she might retrieve it before he stowed it away in some hidden corner of the yard with little to no chance of her ever finding it again. It wasn't that the yard itself was that difficult to navigate, of course, that made the things Ron hid to tease her so difficult to locate after the fact—
It was the fact that, if she did not locate it before Fred or George did, they would move it again and again, until even they couldn't remember where they had seen it last.
"Ron, come on!" She hollered again, her breath coming in short gasps as she forced herself to move faster, while her cousin risked a look behind himself and gave her a taunting smile.
"You're going to have to catch me, Annie."
"I can, and you know it!"
"Then prove it!"
With a laugh, Alysanne ran faster still, her eyes widening in both surprise and a thrilled sensation of success as she realized Ron was, in fact, beginning to slow. The momentary distraction provided by his need to taunt her appeared to have taken away at least some of his momentum, thus allowing Alysanne to get near enough to latch onto the fabric covering his arm, one swift tug causing him to come to a screeching halt while she held out her free hand and lifted a dark brow at him in open defiance of his attempt to gain a victory.
"Hand it over, then."
"Or you'll what?"
"Or I'll tell Aunt Molly you're stealing my things again!"
"That doesn't scare me."
"Well maybe it should."
Stunned by the unexpected new voice, both youngsters turned to face the source, blue and grey eyes widening as they realized that they had, in fact, been discovered, in spite of their doubts that such a thing might transpire this close to the edge of the property their home resided upon. Of course, they were well aware that the slight twinkling in her warm eyes was a likely indication that neither of them were in any very serious trouble.
A fact that was made all the more apparent as she seemed entirely unable to keep the amusement out of her tone while she attempted to scold them both for running off in the first place.
"Exactly what do the two of you think you're doing, running off like that before the party? And to think I'd just washed your dress, Alysanne—"
"Sorry, Aunt Molly."
"Don't worry, dear, we can always mend it in a jiffy once we get you back inside," Molly assured, brushing a stray tendril of dark hair away from the girl's cheek, and then turning to face her son, "And you, Ronald, must learn not to take other people's things, mustn't you?"
"But Mom—"
"No buts young man. Your cousin doesn't go around stealing your things, does she?"
"Well—" Ron mused, his purposefully hesitant reply provoking a snort from Alysanne, while she attempted to swat at him without garnering the attention of her aunt. She might have predicted that such an attempt would be thwarted almost before it even began, her aunt's eyes turning towards her once again, while one auburn brow lifted in silent question. For a moment, the three of them remained absolutely motionless, as though each was considering what the other was about to do.
But of course the moment was broken as soon as Alysanne let out a rather poorly restrained giggle, her aunt's arm coming to wind about her shoulders while the other slid about Ron's so that she could turn them and lead them both back toward the house.
"Let's get the two of you cleaned up. After all, it's not every day a young witch in the family turns eleven."
…
Well hello there, darlings! And welcome to the beginnings of an idea that I honestly tried my hardest to resist for a very long time. I had this idea, or at least a portion of it, from way back when I initially read the 'Harry Potter' books, and started watching the movies, but the idea of attempting to take on something that massive was honestly a bit intimidating. Now that I've got a few other stories under my belt, and I've started reading the books and watching the movies again for fun, I just couldn't help but give this little guy a try…so I do sincerely hope that at least some of you find it to be a worthwhile read!
That said, I do have a question to put to you all, namely regarding how the story progresses from here on out. There's a part of me that is considering a time jump of sorts, to get to the events of later books right away (in part because I'm super excited to do so, I can't lie). But I don't want to make the story seem too disjointed and jumpy by omitting the first few books, either. I'm hoping that some of you have some theories you're willing to share? I would, of course, be eager to get your opinion, whatever the case may be!
As always, my heartfelt thanks go out to each and every one of you that takes the time to read this little guy, and give it a shot! I promise I won't always bore you with super long author's notes like this one, but as it's the intro to the story, it was (at least in my mind) needed. I truly cannot wait to hear what you think, regarding the story, Alysanne, and if you would like to see more going forward. After all, I would hate to continue working on something that no one wanted to read.
Until next time?
MOMM
P.S. I have at least tentatively decided that the face claim for Alysanne is Charlotte Hope (she played Myranda in GoT). Hopefully that will make more sense as we go along ;)