I do not own and will never own harry potter. All rights belong to JK Rowling. All unrecognisable characters are my own creation.
When I was younger my mother would read stories to me. The fire would cackle madly and I would yelp then she would scold the fire as she did her own kin, surprisingly the fire would obey and settle down for the night. Then she would turn to me and my twin brother as though nothing had ever happened and continue the story.
When I was younger I would dream of my own castle with my brother and a big family of five. We would run through the halls and my grandfather would tell us folk tales. My mother and aunt would teach us their ways and father and uncle show us extraordinary things. We would giggle and laugh and fight and live.
When I was younger my brother and I would chase each other through the manor halls cackling as out mother shrieked and father chuckled. We would run to uncle padfoot who would giggle madly whilst uncle moony took photo's of our aftermath.
When I was younger I remember being a family. One happy family.
Oh how wrong I was.
And it all starts with him. We were three when the news we would be elder siblings reached us. Even then i was excited about the prospect of having a little brother or sister to chase, include in our adventures and teach him/her all of the secret corridors we could hide in. I was excited to show him/her my room and how to finger paint, the radio and how to steal our mother's wand without her realising it until much much later. i was excited to teach him/her the latest dance i saw on the telly and how to draw. i was excited to have a new addition to my family so that one day...one day i could have the family of five i always dreamed of.
oh how my dreams were shattered.
it seemed my family forgot to mention the little detail that this baby would be our replacement, because, at times that's what his purpose felt like. be the perfect, angelic child when we were not. and when we were, throw a tantrum on how 'bad' we were so we would get in trouble. At the age of two, Henry Potter was our worst nightmare.
but we adapted. we learnt quickly that to do things, we must be silent, quick and stealthy. we learned how to walk in the dark, enjoy the moments were it was just us two. sometimes 'Uncle' Sev would join us. We didn't see him often because although he was mother's best friend he was also our father's childhood worst enemy.
we didn't mind the animosity he received when he entered the house because he always remembered us.
always.
he had taken us under his wing, smiled at us and on the rare occasion, hugged us. we knew it was hard for him to show affection, Mother had told us. yet we appreciated it all the same.
it turned out our very skill is what led to our doom...as some people put it.
it had been quiet that night. -for five year olds, we were quite observant- Hadrian and i were making our way upstairs, counting each step and missing the thirteenth one as it creaked when you put pressure on it. usually our parents were asleep by the time we started our exploits so we were surprised to see the chamber lit and soft murmurs emitting from there.
a quick glance at Hadrian showed he was just as curious as me. so we crept closer, until our ears were by the door listening to the conversation.
oh how i wish we didn't
i wish we just walked away, turned a blind eye or ignored our sense of curiosity because the news we found in their wasn't how we wanted to be told. if we wanted to be told at all.
in the corner closest to the door Lilly Potter and her Husband were making one of the worst decision's of her life.
"lilly...please. just-just listen to me alright?"
"James Fleamont Potter don't you dare try and persuade me into giving up my children!"
"Lilly! for the love of Merlin, open your eyes! if the...if the prophecy is true then we need to spend time with henry. why don't we give the twins to your sister? Petunia? that way they'll be cared for and...and on their eleventh birthday we'll come and explain things to them?"
"James...do...do we have to?"
"i think so lils. it's only a matter of time before they hate us right now. i mean have you seen the looks of utter contempt they give us? and i thought they were going to care for henry, not rip all his stuff up!"
"...alright. we'll do it haloween, that way it'll look as though we're going trick or treating with them"
"thank you lils"
Mari and Harry shared looks of horror. they were talking about them weren't they?
running to their shared room the twins made a plan. the'd tell Uncle Sev. he'd come pick them up. but how would they tell him? he rarely visited anymore. Would he believe them? Would there be enough time? Haloween was a week away. there was no way he was coming then. he had work.
so that was it then. there lives would end as early as it had begun.
Mari cried herself to sleep that night. what more could she do? but what prophecy? and how had her parents found out they disliked them? it wasn't as though they screamed it over roof tops and they mainly kept to themselves during the day.
she couldn't contemplate on it would just accept her fate of being those three chapters of a book no one read.
On the morning of October 31st the twins shared looks. Uncle Sev hadn't visited. this was just their fate then. the whole morning Lilly looked pale and nervous. her eyes diverting away from the twins faces. she couldn't bear look them in the eyes.
eyes so much like her own.
eyes that would haunt her for the rest of her life.
in the evening she called the twins into the room, getting one last look at them. they were gorgeous, she noted. with raven hair so much like their fathers, stark emerald eyes so similar to her own and full lips. they had button noses and pale skin. they would be heart breakers, she noted.
plastering a smile on her face she began talking. asking them questions. how much did she really know about her children?
'my how you've grown!'
'whats your favourite colour again?'
'really?! a lion? i thought you might like unicorns a bit better?'
she tried to engage conversation but all she received was stiff short answers.
'favourite book?'
'matilda mother. you should know that. you read it to us when we were three.'
it hurt. it felt as if she had been stabbed. she had read it to them when they were three. when was the last time she spent time with them? oh god. she had made a mistake. and now she couldn't turn back. smiling, the ever so fake smile she ushered them out. it was too late to turn back now.
oh how she regretted what she did.
they walked until they reached privet drive.
'just walk over to the door sweetie and say trick or treat. they'll give you candy. i'll wait over here.'
she watched as they silently walked to the nearest house and when they were out of sight she apparated away.
collapsing into the floor she burst into tears until she was able to control her emotions and get up. that's when she got a good look at the house. it was in ruins. she gasped and ran upstairs. voldemort had been here.
she sagged in relief when both her husband and son were safe.
she smiled as she hugged henry but the guilt was eating her up inside.
guilt that would control her when she explained that the twins were killed by Voldemort to Severus.
guilt that over took her at their 'funeral'
guilt that would never leave her.
she just wished her children were okay. all of them.
Mari and Harry waited until their mother left that they started running. they knew one of their aunt's lived here. maybe she would take them?
they knocked on the door. a lumbering man with absolutely no neck and a red face opened the door.
"yes?" he spat
"i-is our aunt here?"
"no!" he yelled before slamming the door shut.
the twins sighed. they had just been officially abandoned.
'On October 31st we were left on the streets to die.
On October 31st Henry Potter defeated you-know who.
On October 31st a second prophecy was unknowingly made.
On October 31st the lives of Marigold and Hadrian Potter drastically changed.
And it all starts with one elderly man taking them to a castle.
-prologue end-