Title: Saving Grace
Author: shattered
Rating: about PG maybe PG13
Summery: What if James had had a sister, a twin? What if there was more to the Marauders than four boys and a map? What if the Malfoys weren't Voldemort followers by choice, if they were forced? What if that force's name was Starling?
Disclaimer: Do I look like a rich, British, ex-school teacher? I am Not JKR thus I don't own any of these characters except those that are the product of my own mind.
AN: Yeah, I'm new at this and I have absolutely no clue if anyone will like this, and honestly if you do like this then tell me or I won't be able to write anymore of it. This is un-betaed, sorry.
Saving GraceIt was your average Surry summer post-midnight morning, this thirty-first of July, crickets chirping, cats prowling, and people sleeping, well most people were sleeping on Privet Drive. To be fully honest it seemed that only one person was awake along the whole of the street, one Harry Potter. Which is not to say that being awake at midnight was unusual for the boy, who was more adult than many of those who held that title, after all how much sleep do you think one gets when they are plagued by nightmares of true evil? Despite the common occurrence of visions of Voldemort and his cruelty that was not what had awakened him this night; no, the woman in his dreams had done that well enough.
In his dream he had been sitting in an opulent, though somehow not extravagant, sitting room staring at the paintings that all seem to resemble him in some way when a woman had walked in. The woman was both familiar and strange all at the same time; she had curly black hair that reached her knees, bright blue eyes that almost reminded him of Dumbledore with their twinkling, her thin lithe frame was set off by the black, red, and gold robes she wore. She had a gently benevolent smile upon her face as she approached. The first words had been hers as Harry was still trying to find his voice.
"Hello, darling," her soft voice washed over him, immediately relaxing him and helping him find his courage to ask her a question.
"Who are you? What is this place?" His questions were so quiet that he almost didn't hear himself but the woman had, and her smile grew for a second before she answered his question.
"I am called Raven and this is a recreation of Potter Manor."
"Umm… what do you mean by recreation?" The woman…Raven chuckled at his expression of confusion.
"This is a picture of a place that I know, that I have recreated in your mind for the sake of this meeting." The voice was still soft and gentle, still had an almost physical feeling of peace.
"Oh," and the head bowed as if to continue considering the explanation that he had been given. "Oh."
Another chuckle greeted his "oh" and his head shot up. Raven let out a sigh and then a shake of her head and a sad smile. "You're adorable sometimes." And Harry gave her a look that said "what are you on?" "But that's not important, we're running out of time, your presents will arrive soon and you have to be awake for that. I need your help, sweetie, I want you to trust your instincts today and every day from now on. Can you do that for me?" She looked down at him with an expression he would almost call hopeful.
"I can try." Somehow he didn't want to let this woman…this Raven down but nor did he want to lie to her, he was torn and did the only thing he could, and he would try.
"That's really all that I can ask of you, isn't it?" Again she looked almost sad. "I have one more thing to ask of you, Harry, precious, remember this: you were loved, you are loved, and you will be loved. You mean a lot to a lot of people, and not just as the boy who lived." Suddenly the wind that he had felt brushing against him through out the entire conversation rose and started to silently pull him towards a door, then right as the door opened behind him she called, "Harry, love," and he stopped moving as she quickly approached, "I love you." And she kissed his scar, something no one else had even touched. "Happy birthday." And he was pulled the rest of the way out the door. He saw it close and then he was awake, bolt upright in his bed.
Suddenly there was a tapping at his window, as he stood up to open the window he noticed that the near constant pain from his scar had lessened dramatically, almost to the point of nonexistent. He opened the window to eight owls including his Hedwig, Ron's Pig, Percy's owl (whose name I cannot remember nor find!!!), the Weasley family owl Errol, three Hogwarts owls, and Remus Lupin's owl. The three Hogwarts owls waited to be free of their burdens then departed through the still open window, it was a little harder to get the package off of Pig due to his not stopping flying around the room, but soon he had all of his messages and presents.
He opened Errol's package first, it contained a birthday cake, chocolate, and some candies along with messages from Mr. Weasley, Mrs. Weasley, Ginny, Percy, Bill, and Charlie. He then opened Pig's box to find that Ron had gotten him two books. His shock at seeing books from his red headed friend lasted for nearly a full minute, then he looked at the covers Checkmate; An Everybody's Guide to Chess and Records and Miracles of Quidditch. At least they weren't textbooks or some similarly studious, that would have been frightening but then again his letter did say that he'd been made a prefect. The next thing he opened was Hermione's which had arrived with Hedwig, he was unsurprised to find that she too had sent him books, The Ultimate Guide to Hexes and Curses and The World's Best Quidditch Strategies, Tips, and Techniques. Same old Hermione books, books, and more books but he didn't mind, what withal the studying he had done this summer and would do after he got his new texts he would be set for the beginning of the year. Hagrid had gotten him a black dragon hide outfit, boots, shirt, pants, and jacket, the outfit looked almost like leather and felt like it too. Dumbledore had sent him what he said was his father signet ring, golden with the crest of the Potter family on it. The next package after that contained a butterbeer and a notification of his partnership in Weasley Wizard Wheezes, and no buts about it or they would serve unto him a public humiliation the likes of which had never been seen before. Sirius and Remus had sent a letter saying that they would be picking him up later that morning and to be ready to leave for the rest of the summer and that he would get his present later.
The last letter he had to open was his Hogwarts letter, which seemed to him when he picked it up to be a bit heavy and a bit thick. He read through the letter completely missing the all important paragraph the first time, it wasn't until he found a full rule list and a prefect badge with his supply list that he realized what he had read meant. He was a prefect. Him, Harry Potter, rule breaker extraordinaire, they had all gone crazy up at Hogwarts, all of them.
Harry looked at the clock on his bedside table twelve thirty-five, man it was late and he was really tired. He looked up when he saw the window shut, then felt the freak wind that blew lightly through the room. He could almost hear a voice in the wind, Raven's voice he fancied. "Go to sleep, Harry, this can all wait till morning. Sleep well… darling." And he went to bed as the wind requested, and somehow even managed to sleep well for the rest of the night, comforted by the dream of a woman who mothered him, loved him, and kissed his scar. He couldn't hurry the morning along so he might as well sleep, it would come in it's own time.
Later that morning Harry awoke to see the presents that he had left scattered across his bed had been somehow stacked on his desk, and that the papers that were previously spread on it's surface had been tidied into another pile. He got up and decided to write responses to Ron, Hermione, and the other Weasleys. After he finished with his letter writing he glanced at his clock and saw that it was seven thirty, he had half an hour to make the Dursleys breakfast. He went to the bathroom took a quick shower got dressed and then went down the stairs to the kitchen.
He started scrambled eggs, as Petunia had refused to comply by Dudley's diet anymore, bacon and toast. He prepared the coffee and let the maker do its stuff, and quickly scarfed two pieces of toast before the Dursley's came down. They rarely let him eat breakfast, or lunch, or dinner for that matter. He then started to put food on plates and by the time he was done Dudley, Petunia, and Vernon were down at the table. As soon as he had gotten all of the food to the table there was the customary, "Boy, get the mail!" And so Harry went to get the mail and brought it back to Vernon and got an order to return to his room in return.
"Umm… Uncle, a friend of Sirius' is coming to pick me up at nine thirty." Harry saw his uncle go pale at the mention of Sirius' name.
"Fine, you won't be coming back here this summer."
"No, sir, I won't." He meekly responded.
"Fine then, go." And with that Harry was dismissed. He returned to his room to pack and by fifteen minutes after nine he was ready. He spent his last fifteen minutes bringing his trunk and Hedwig's cage down the stairs.
At exactly nine thirty the doorbell rang alerting Harry and all others inside that they had arrived. Harry ran to open the door. As soon as it opened a huge, mangy, black dog pounced on Harry, nudging and licking him. "Hey, Snuffles." Harry looked up to find Remus Lupin standing in the doorway smothering a chuckle. "Hey, Professor."
"Harry, I'm not your professor anymore, you can call me Remus, you know." And he smiled down at the boy still under the massive dog.
"Umm… okay, Pro—Remus. Hey, Snuffles, I'm happy to see you to but it's getting a bit hard to breathe, you're heavy." Snuffles the dog immediately removed himself from Harry.
"Ready to go, Harry?" Remus asked while helping him up.
"Yeah all my stuff's here." And he indicated the trunk and cage sitting in the entryway.
"Well, then let's get it all in my car." Here the werewolf picked up Harry's trunk and started to carry it out the still open door. Harry grabbed the cage and started to follow him.
"You own a car? Isn't that unusual?"
"Yes, but I inherited it for my muggle obsessed cousin." Harry recognized the kind of car, an old Triumph Spitfire, he couldn't tell what year, but it was in nice shape. Harry's trunk and Hedwig's cage went into the boot and Sirius lay behind the seats (if anyone has actually seen a Spitfire they'd know that this isn't actually possible but please suspend your disbelief) and Harry and Remus sat in front.
"Oh, that explains it, but this is a nice car and it's in good condition."
"Yeah, it is. I find that having a car can be advantageous sometimes." Remus answered.
"Like when?" Harry asked honestly confused.
"Like when where you're going isn't hooked up to the floo network, or you don't know where you're going, you need to know to Apparate or to make a portkey, or you're going to be near muggles who don't know about magic. After all just appearing and disappearing is pretty suspicious." Harry's once professor explained.
"Oh."
"Let's get out of here." And the sound of a car accelerating was the last of that.
AN: I hope you liked this, and if you did please review, please or I won't keep writing it. Press the little button.
Love to all, shattered