Summary
When Faith arrives at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, she can't wait to begin her education in the magical arts, and she is determined to learn everything she can. However, almost before she even has a chance to settle in, trouble starts in the form of one Edward Wesley. Navigating through treacherous waters of a scheming Headmaster, Inter-House rivalry, and an old archrival to boot, Faith has her hands full!
But when she and her friends discover that someone is out to steal the Philosopher's Stone from the Forbidden Corridor, it will take working together as one House to overcome the challenges set in store for them. But, can Faith survive an encounter with an enemy long believed to be dead?
Prologue
Iris chewed on a thumbnail as she anxiously paced around the living room, her eyes darting to the windows that showed out to the front yard of their house. She had been waiting for her husband, Sirius, to come back home for almost two hours; he had left after dinner because he felt as if something was telling him to go check on their friends, Jack and Brianna, saying that something felt wrong. She had yet to hear back from him and, the thought that something might have happened to her brother, sister-in-law, and thirteen month old niece, made her jumpier than a spooked horse.
Where is he? He said he was only going to check on them and then come straight home! Why is he still there? She asked herself and looked at the grandfather clock that stood in the far corner next to the fireplace.
To the mortal eye, it looked like any normal grandfather clock, tall with a rectangular frame made out of cherry wood, an ornate design of the Black and Porter Family crest on top. The clock face was made of white marble with Roman numerals around the edge of the clock face; two long black strips of metal were positioned to read the time: 8:45 pm. A third, thin strip moved around the clock, marking the passage of time. However, to Iris and anyone with magical blood's eye, the illusion gave way to the real clock face.
This face had four long strips of gold metal, each with the names of the family members; at the ends of each hand, was a picture of the family member it represented. On the edge of the clock face, instead of numbers or numerals, there were words written in black which depicted where each family member was at any given moment of the day: Home, School, Work, Travelling, Visiting, Shopping, Hospital, Hogsmeade, Quidditch, Riding, Prison, and Gringotts.
She, Jinny, and Hope, her and Sirius' fourteen month old daughter's, hands were all pointed at the Home slot of the clock; while Sirius' hand was pointing at the Visiting slot.
"Mistress Iris, you need to calm yourself down, I'm sure Master Sirius has just forgotten the time is all," said a young female voice coming from the kitchen. A second later, a young House-Elf wearing a blue tunic with the Porter Family Crest on the front came into the living room, carrying a tray with the evening tea. "You know how he and Master Jack get when they can visit each other. Why, Mistress Brianna is probably too busy with Little Miss Faith to remind them of the time," she adds as she set the tray down on the coffee table in the middle of the living room.
Iris sighs. "I know Jinny, I just can't help it. Ever since that prophecy was made it feels as though time can come to a standstill and no matter what we do, it feels as though we'll never be safe. I don't know which one is worse: Voldemort trying to get us and my brother's family to join his army, or Dumbledore trying to get us all to follow in his plans for Faith's future. She's just a baby for Pete's sake!" she cried, feeling the full strain of the situation with each passing second.
Six months ago, Iris, Sirius, Jack, and Brianna had decided to go into hiding when both Voldemort and Dumbledore's insistent demands became too much; especially since Voldemort's followers were also targeting Sirius and Brianna more than they did to any of the other Aurors they fought against. Like tonight, Sirius and Jack hadn't been able to hang out as much as they wanted to, so, whenever they could visit each other, they usually forgot the time.
However, Sirius had always sent a message to her saying that he was all right.
Jinny walked up to the woman and placed a calm hand on her mistress' arm. She may have been young for a House-Elf, but she was mature and wise for her age. "Mistress Iris please, I know it's been hard for you and Mistress Brianna, especially for Mistress Brianna who is being persecuted because she is of mortal descent, but the times will get better soon, you'll see," she said, guiding her mistress to the couch in front of the coffee table where the tea sat. "Now, you just have yourself a cup of chamomile tea."
Iris smiled at Jinny. "Thank you Jinny, I'm glad we met you when we did," she said.
Jinny smiled. "Jinny is most happy as well, you and Master Sirius are the most caring of witches and wizards and Jinny will always serve your family until the end of her days," she said.
Iris and Sirius had met Jinny a month before they went into hiding, when they had gone shopping in Diagon Alley; Iris had needed to restock her Potions Lab and had gone into the Apothecary to place her order. Jinny had been watching an energetic three year old boy while her mistress had been talking with another woman. Iris had smiled at the House-Elf who smiled back in return, causing the little boy in her arms to squeal in delight.
Just then, the woman had whirled around and, after grabbing her son roughly from Jinny's arms, had raised her cane as though she was going to hit Jinny. Iris had sent a curse at the cane, causing the wood to explode into a thousand pieces; after cursing the woman to oblivion for being so ignorant that she would beat another living, breathing creature, she offered to take Jinny from the woman.
The woman had accepted and transferred everything to Iris before leaving in a flurry of furs and anger.
Iris chuckled. "Just remember everyone does their fair share of the chores as well," she said, as the grandfather clock began to chime and Sirius' hand moved from Visiting to Travelling. She breathed a sigh of relief. "Good, he's on his way home finally."
"There is a stasis charm on the tea Mistress, so it'll be nice and hot for when he comes home," explained Jinny. "Let me know when you are both finished with your tea, and I will come back in to take the tea away."
"We will Jinny, thank you," replied Iris kindly.
Jinny walked back to the door separating the kitchen from the living room and pushed her way through.
Iris sighed and prepared herself a cup of tea, glad that soon, her frightened anxiety will be over.
The clock began to chime once again, but, instead of Sirius' hand moving toward Home, his hand moved to the Shopping slot.
Must be getting something to give Jinny and I as his way of apologizing for making us worry she thought, praying that everything was all right and that she had just let her imagination get away from her again.
Ten minutes later, his hand moved back to Travelling, before moving to Home.
Iris smiled and moved to get up but then the clock chimed again, his hand moving back to Travelling. What's more, a bluish-green light appeared next to her hand, and then, a long strip of metal, the exact same shape and color as the other four, appeared with the words, Faith Porter-Black written along the strip, followed by a little baby's face appearing on the end of the strip. It was a girl with a mop of mousy-brown hair and ice-blue eyes; Iris noticed something thin and red surrounding the baby's right eye, but she couldn't make it out.
Iris gasped, dropping her spoon. She was soon on her feet and running to the front door, grabbing her wand from off the table as she went.
"Mistress Iris! Mistress Iris, Jinny saw Master Sirius came by the house but then he disappeared! In his dog form!" said Jinny as she came out of the kitchen.
Iris reached the front door, waved her wand over the intricate locking charms, and, once the charms came off, she pulled the door open. She gasped when she saw the sleeping babe, wrapped up in a pink blanket with an envelope tucked into the folds of the blanket, a blue diaper bag next to her.
Iris picked up the child and walked back into the foyer. Now that she held her niece, she could clearly see the cut around the girl's right eye; it looked like a five-pointed star.
"Mistress Iris . . . what is it?" asked Jinny tentatively.
Tears began to form in Iris' eyes as the reality of the situation sunk in. "Jack . . . Brianna they're . . ." She couldn't continue as her voice broke and the tears spilled from her eyes. She was frozen, unable to move or think.
Jinny moved closer and, when she saw the baby in her mistress' arms, her little heart broke. However, there was no time for tears. "Then we must go through with the plan Mistress Iris. For surely as soon as word gets out, Dumbledore will be coming as well," she pleaded.
"Yes . . . yes you're right. I'm sorry, Sirius wrote a letter, we will read that first and then begin the first part of the plan," she said and walked upstairs to her daughter's room.
Jinny picked up the diaper bag and closed the door, waving her hand over the intricate locking charms, putting them back up into place. After checking to make sure that everything was in place, she followed her mistress up the stairs to where the bedrooms were. When they reached the first door on the right, Aunt Iris opened the door and pushed it open.
Inside, the room looked almost exactly as you would find in a fourteen month old girl's room. Bright pink walls with white trim and a rose-colored carpet; the walls were covered in pictures of fairy tales and of family members. Cloth-made words spelling out Hope's name covered the space above Hope's crib which was placed to the left of the door. A rocking chair stood off to the right in the corner, next to a bookcase, while a changing station stood underneath the far window. A chest of drawers sat next to the changing station full of clothes.
When Iris entered the room, she turned left where the crib sat, and laid her niece next to her daughter, who had a mop of black hair and, when she was awake, had the same ice-blue colored eyes as herself, Jack, and Faith. Her family was well-known for having ice-blue eyes and, no matter who married into the family, each child was born with the same color of eyes; it was strange and nobody had been able to explain it.
The two girls made a soft whimpering noise before turning toward each other, their arms draped over each other.
Jinny chuckled. "They'll be closer than twins that's for sure," she whispered, not wanting to wake them.
"I know, I just hope after tonight Sirius and I can keep them safe," replied Iris, grateful that the two girls got along so well. She gently extracted the letter from Faith's blankets and kissed both girls' foreheads. "Come, time is precious right now, and we have a lot to accomplish in so little time."
With one last look at the two girls, Iris and Jinny left the room, each in her own thoughts.
Neither one of them knew what the future held in store for them.
A future that would begin in the morning with the return of someone once thought dead.
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Okay, so here is the first chapter of my new Harry Potter series, I know I know I still have A Troubled Nymph but that is still in the fetus stage right now. Please keep in mind, I like the name Philosopher's Stone better than the Sorcerer's Stone, but the publishers have their own agenda. First this story is following the major points of the story but things will be a bit different as you go along. Also, I'm not giving away why Dumbledore is a jerk in this right now. You will just have to wait and read! Please read and review! No flammers please! Nobody learns anything from those kinds of reviews.
