Disclaimer (although I'm pretty sure it isn't technically a legal requirement): I'm not JK Rowling. I don't own Harry Potter or any other things to do with the Harry Potter universe.
AN: First chapter of the new rewrite. Hopefully I'll be putting chapters out every other day. Please review.
Hogwarts Castle stood before them. Its firelight shone down from the battlements and out of the arched windows. The Winged Boar Gate held a small gemstone at the top of its arc, the stone glowed a soft golden light and a web of blue light formed a dome over the whole castle. A gust of wind howled through the Forbidden Forest carrying leaves with it. The blue light faded into nothingness. A black armour made of thousands of tiny black scales covered their bodies from head to toe. Their faces couldn't be seen under the armour. The one who stood on the left had three severed heads in a triangle pointing down painted onto their front. Their armour had no gaps for breath or sight but a face had been painted on. It had bright blue eyes and thin grey lips. To this one's right stood another, this one had a nest of three eggs, one ruby, one sapphire, one emerald, with a large white dragon curled protectively around the clutch on their front. The painted face had grey eyes and thin blue lips.
The two stepped through the Winged Boar Gate. They could hear the chatter of a few hundred voices celebrating in the night. The stars whispered above them, howls pierced the night. They walked up the path to the great oak doors banded in iron in three places which marked the entrance to Hogwarts Castle. The one on the left put a hand to each door. The doors shimmered and faded into nothingness. Once they passed through the space where the doors had been the doors reappeared in their place as they had been before. The noise of celebration was much louder, it came from the door to the right. The one marked by a dragon and her clutch raised a hand. The torch braces opened. The torchlight died as the torches struck the floor.
The entrance hall was cast into darkness. The noise that had been made was covered by the noise that the inhabitants of Hogwarts Castle were making in the next room. The darkness began to swirl, slithers of light appeared in the air before quickly being filled by the darkness that was rushing about the room. The one marked by three severed heads took a step backwards, the other a step forwards. The darkness rushed forward and struck the oak door before them. The doors were thrown open with great force, they slammed against the walls inside the room. The pair could see a bright golden light at the far end of the great hall.
Four long tables of students fell silent. A bearded man rose at the table at the far end of the hall and he had not noticed them but rather the golden light in front of him. They stepped out from the shadows of the entrance hall. Stone beasts lined the walls on pedestals and in the corners stood four suits of armour, the like of Muggle knights from when the castle was still young. The bearded man noticed them then. His eyes looked over their bodies and armour, he looked impressed. Even the most prestigious Goblin armourers would be hard-pressed to make armour half as well-crafted as theirs.
The two proceeded forwards in silence, the shadows of the previous room still clinging to the one on the right's back and arms, slowly dripping to the floor and disappearing in the candlelight. When they had come half of the way across the hall the golden light rushed forward, it was a woman made of golden light. Her hair when standing still would have run all the way down her back, as it was it rippled and shone brightly, brighter than the rest of her. She leapt at the one on the left, with the severed head markings who took the young woman into their arms and spun to dispel her momentum before placing her on her own feet and allowing her to hug the other.
The bearded man spoke. "Excuse me. Who are you? What are you doing here?" The pair glanced at him before looking back at the young woman. The man had a white beard and white hair, he had blue eyes that twinkled rapidly and a purple robe with golden stars on it. The one marked by three heads met his eyes and knew the man as fully as the man knew himself. He held a white wand made of elder which showed age, though it was in perfect condition for what it was. Although they had seen the death of people, and of peoples, they shivered when they saw it. It was steeped in the aura of Death.
The golden woman spoke next. "Uncle Carrog, please, for me. Protect him while I can't. Take him to your hearth, give him a place to sleep and to grow and food to eat when he is hungry and water to drink for when he is thirsty, please Uncle." The young golden woman had a tight grip of the one on the right's arm. Tears of golden light rolled down her cheeks as she begged and the very stones of Hogwarts Castle shook in support of her cause. A great thundering could be heard and there was a roar in the distance. The stone beasts that had stood on pedestals had taken foot upon the ground, the woman's eyes had closed. Her magic was lacking in control.
The one marked by three severed heads stroked the golden hair and soothed her. "My niece Cassie, I would help you but my home is no place for a child, sleep, hunger, growth, thirst, these are not things my hearth was built to tame. We cannot care for him as he should be cared for."
"I'll take him when reaches age, and I'll care for him then. It will be only nine years and three seasons. For you that must seem like only a day has passed, you know there shall be no real burden on your part."
"Then let us make terms. I shall take him into my home, set a place for him to sleep and a seat by my fire and I shall raise him as my own. When he comes to you it shall be your duty to provide him with all he needs. Be it dust and ashes, shadows and ice, fire and food. He shall be yours to care for, for all seasons but the summer." She nodded into his armoured chest. The stone creatures returned to their pedestals. The stones of Hogwarts calmed and the doorway of the Great Hall was filled by violet flames. The golden woman faded into nothingness and the two passed through the flames. They too faded into nothingness and the flames died with their disappearance.
They were stood at a small cottage in a large clearing in a forest, the words 'The Hearth' were carved into the doorway above the door arch. A gravel path meandered into the darkness of the trees. Their armour faded away and they entered the cottage. The one who had been marked by a dragon's nest was a woman, the other a man. The man put his hand to the woman's and she saw that the man had seen into the thoughts of the bearded man. The boy that Cassiopeia had asked that they raise was currently in a basket outside number four Privet Drive, his brother had defeated a powerful wizard, it would seem and the bearded man had directed that the family separate the younger twin from them so that he would not divert their attention from the son who had defeated the wizard.
The man went down the hallway and put a hand to the wall at the end. The hallway became longer and a room appeared to one side, a cot rested within. The woman took the cot into another room with a large bed in it. The house continued to be remodelled that night to be prepared for a wizard child and a garden was created behind the cottage to provide food for the child when he needed it.
Albus Dumbledore looked out from his window. The wards around Hogwarts Castle were in perfect condition yet the man and woman had appeared to disapperate from within the wards. For the first time in many years Albus had a new puzzle to play with. He knew he would enjoy playing.