Sirius crunched through the old blackthorn bushes surrounding the Potter's house in Godric's Hollow. He had heard the loud explosion just seconds before...
His breath made little clouds of mist in the dark night sky. He heard someone else sneaking through the night. He figured it was Dumbledore at first. He shouldn't have left his motorcycle by the dirt path! He crunched on.
Sirius saw a big, bulky figure bending over a small, blue blanket. Just to be safe, he darted past the figure silently and hid by the wooden side wall of the normal-looking garage.
As the creature lifted its head, Sirius realized it was only an old chum, Hagrid. He stepped out of the wall and walked up to Hagrid.
"Hagrid," Sirius whispered.
Hagrid jumped, spun around, spotted Sirius, and smiled.
"Hey, Sirius. How you been doin'?" Hagrid cradled the small bundle he was holding. "Little Harry. The only kid the Potters ever had." Hagrid sniffled. "He's so young..."
"Not true, Hagrid." Sirius bent over a small pink bundle and picked it up. "Naomi. The Potters daughter, only a year younger than Harry, here." Sirius rocked it in his arms. She was born just before V-Voldemort..."
Hagrid gasped. "How dare you, Black!" Hagrid's nostrils flared.
"Fear of a name increases the fear of the thing itself," said Sirius wisely. "Give me Harry, Hagrid. I will take little Naomi and Harry to the Dursleys, their closest relatives. It will work until they get ten years old. Then they will be eleven, and that's when they get their letter."
"Oh, no, Sirius. I can't trust you," Hagrid said. "Dumbledore sent me here on special orders to get Harry. I guess even he didn't know about...about Na."
"Uh-huh." Sirius looked up. "My bike is-is by the- the dirt path. Use it."
Hagrid looked at admiration with Sirius. "Thank you." He held the two babies in one arm, mounted the bike with the other, and took off. Sirius watched the roaring engine flare off into the night.
Hagrid finally made it over Privet Drive. He landed directly on the street.
"Hello, Hagrid."
"Hello Professor, sir, Professor McGonagall, ma'am."
"Hagrid, we can't put them both here. It would be unwise." McGonagall plunged into the story quickly. "We've found another respectable family, James Potter's sister. She's very nice. I saw her."
Dumbledore smiled. "Thank you, Hagrid. You may go." He handed Hagrid an address.
"23 Quincy Lane," said Hagrid aloud. He beamed at Dumbledore, bowed and said goodbye, and left.
"Ask for Theresa Green!" yelled McGonagall as Hagrid flew off into the night.
Ten years later, Naomi (Nai) was sitting in a small apartment. Theresa, James' sister, was in the kitchen, boiling stew. Gerald, Theresa's husband, was reading the newspaper. They had no biological kids, only Nai, their niece.
"Nai, honey," called Gerald. "Time for food!"
Nai put down Oliver Twist and reluctantly tramped into the kitchen, where they had the only table, besides the office desk.
They ate a silent dinner. Unfortunately, Gerald and Theresa were poor, because Gerald had a poorly job of a cheating taxer's secretary, and he never got much business. Theresa didn't work. She just stayed home cooking and cleaning.
Nai went to school, public school, because being in a private school meant buying uniforms and paying for tutoring. Nai had nice parents, but they were poor, and she only got to wear one shirt and one skirt every week. She was nice about it.
"Naomi," said Theresa softly, sipping the chunky vegetable and meat stew. "I would like you to know now about what happened to your real parents and why you're being raised by me, your aunt, when you should be being raised by a rich family."
"My father and mother were rich?" said Naomi.
"Well, doing better than us." Theresa started on a dinner roll. "Should we tell her now, Gerald?"
"Yes, honey." Gerald played with his soup and his spoon.
"Okay. Here I go. Your parents, Lily and James Potter, were wizards. They were killed by Voldemort, the most feared wizard for centuries."
Theresa plunged into the whole story. When she finished, Naomi smiled. "Thank you, Auntie. It must have been hard on you."
"Yes, it was." Theresa smiled, tears in her brown eyes.
That day was Naomi Potter's birthday. Naomi slept on her blankets, wishing she had a pillow to rest her head on.
Tap. Tap. Tap.
Naomi jumped up. Then she remembered that Gerald and Theresa were still asleep. Nervously she peeked down.
"Good," whispered Nai. She looked out the window. A handsome brown owl was perched on the tall oak that stood by their apartment complex.
She opened it silently and took the letter from the owl. She closed it, went to the desk, got out the flashlight, and read it, despite Gerald's snores.
It was a letter, from Hogwarts! With a seal, a signature, everything!
Although Naomi didn't know it, Theresa was awake. She peeked cautiously at Nai, smiled, and went back to sleep.
Naomi jumped out of bed the next day, threw on her sweater, and ran to the kitchen.
"Auntie! Auntie!" Nai hugged Theresa. "I got my letter!"
"Yea, child!" Theresa embraced Nai right back and continued stirring her stew, but it was potato this time.
"I love it!" Nai clenched her letter tightly. "I can't wait for September!"
Harry Potter had already gotten his letter last year. At the moment when Nai was jumping around, he was frying bacon and making a hot pot of coffee.
"Get going, Potter!" barked Vernon. "I need my coffee!"
Harry punched the buttons on the coffee maker quickly, his face sweating.
"I want more bacon!" demanded Dudley.
Harry left the coffee boiling and flipped the bacon faster.
"Harry, you need to weed my bluebells!" ordered Petunia, sipping a cup of tea calmly and reading a magazine.
Harry was exhausted, and he wondered where his sister could be, even though he had heard about her, he had never met her.
Nai was walking in nervously into the Great Hall.
"Potter, Naomi!" declared McGonagall.
"The Naomi Potter?" said Hermione. She turned to Parvati Patil.
Parvati shrugged as the hat called, "RAVENCLAW!" "I wonder why she's not in our house, though?"
After everyone was sorted, they had a feast. Nai devoured all the chicken, pot pies, fries, everything she could eat. She had never had so much, for the Greens were nice but poor.
During her second chicken pot pie, a pretty third year by the name of Cho started talking.
"My mother is a banker, but my father was always an excellent wizard," said Cho.
"Shut up, Chang," said a boy by the name of Henry Hargreaves thickly. He was chewing on a mouthful of fries.
"Don't talk with your mouth full," said Cho indignantly. She chewed on her chicken softly.
"Yeah, Harger," barked Cho's friend, Bree. "I'm warning you." Bree sprayed bits of chicken everywhere.
Nai finished her pot pie. Then she grabbed steamed asparagus covered with melted cheddar cheese. She ate and ate until the food disappeared. Then she started on a bowl of chocolate-and-strawberry swirl ice cream. She couldn't stop herself. It was all so good. Once she started devouring, no one could take her away from her food.
When they were finished, Nai patted her mouth with a cloth napkin and left the room with Chloe, a shy, pretty first year. Harmony, a prefect, led the small first years to the Ravenclaw passageway, a bookshelf planted right in the middle of a wall.
"The password is always on the book in the very middle," whispered Harmony. She pointed to a thick, thick book smack dab in the middle of the shelf, weather-beaten and ripped. "Des Rrreeemm."
The bookshelf swung open, revealing a short hallway. Harmony motioned for the first years to go in the passageway.
They walked to the very end of the hall, where there was a wide, open door.
"Here we are." Harmony led the first years through.
It was a big, square room. Some floppy floor cushions and sofas were pushed against a wall. The wall had a big mural on it of the Eiffel Tower. On the opposite wall, there was a large fireplace. Right in the middle were chairs, floor cushions, and low, low tables. On the wall next to that, there were two doors, one leading to the boys dorm, and the other leading to the girls.
"Uh... your trunks are already up there," said Harmony, gesturing toward the two doors. "Come on, girls." She led the girls up a spiral staircase, while the other prefect, Donald, led the boys up the other staircase.
"Here we are, first years," said Harmony. She pushed open a white wooden door with a plaque on it that read, FIRST YEARS.
The girls stepped in. It was a large, square room with five beds, two on one side, three on the other. On one wall was a large wardrobe, and the other wall had a door that led to a bathroom.
"This is wicked," said Nai softly.
Nai got up the next morning reluctantly. The bed had been so soft and warm, compared to the old rags that Nai was used to sleeping on. She couldn't believe that it was all real.
Nai brushed her teeth and hair, washed her face and hands, pulled on a clean set of robes, yanked on her sneakers, and left the dorm excitedly.
It took a while to get down the stairs, because the older years kept loitering and jostling around on the staircase.
When Nai finally got down, she discovered that some older years had been partying last night and left tons of debris and sleepy heads on the chairs, cushions, and sofas. The tables were plenty littered too. Since it was still early, as the good citizen that Nai was, she picked up all the litter, flicked it into the tall dustbins, and walked out happily. Using a handy map that only Ravenclaws got, she found her way brusquely and walked into the Great Hall.
It was just as great as before. All kinds of porridges, bacon, eggs, sausages, coffee, pumpkin juice, and pancakes were set out on tables. She sat at the usual Ravenclaw table, chewing on a strip of bacon.
She spotted a boy with a lightning scar on his forehead, seated at the Gryffindor table. She wondered if it was her brother, her older brother, her biological sibling. Although Nai had not gotten a scar out of it, she had the most opposite features of Harry. She had her mother's beautiful and charming looks, but her father's eyes.
"Look," whispered Hermione, pointing to Naomi. "That's your sister."
"Really?" asked Harry, excited. He sipped a quick sip of pumpkin juice and walked briskly over to Naomi. "Hey."
Naomi jumped. "Hi. Are you Harry Potter?" She got off the bench and stood up. Like Harry, she too was small because she had not been fed well, and she was also skinny.
"Yeah. Are you Naomi Potter?" asked Harry.
"Yes!" Naomi shouted quietly. She embraced Harry. "I've been wanting to meet you, but I was living at our other auntie's house. I didn't have much to eat."
"Me neither. I had to live in a cupboard for a while, then I moved to my – I mean, our – cousin's second bedroom. And they kept ordering me around!" They ended up walking out of the hall together.
"Well, you're lucky you got your own room and a big house!" said Naomi. "I had to share a room with Auntie Theresa and Uncle Gerry. It was torture! He kept on snoring, and we only got to eat beef and vegetable stew every night, except Fridays. On Fridays we had to eat potato soup, which was a little better but not really," added Naomi quickly.
Harry laughed and said, "Well, see you around sis." Even though he called Nai sis, he really didn't believe that Nai was his real, biological sister.
Nai giggled and called, "I go by Nai." She walked out of the entrance hall and up the stairs to her first lesson, Potions.
"Hello, students, Ravenclaws," wheezed Snape, their teacher. He was wearing an ugly black robe. "Sit."
"Oh, no." Naomi thought.