Prologue

October 31, 2016 ~ 7:30pm

Number 12 Grimmauld Place

"Da-ad!" Lily stretched the word into two syllables. I had to give her credit; She was just as stubborn, if not more so, than me. And she was only five. Harry looked at his daughter lovingly. What I wouldn't give to have Ginny see this.

I sighed quietly. What to do, what to do? It was Halloween night and Lily wanted to go trick-or-treating. I went with her every year. Her and my two boys, James and Albus Severus. This year's trick-or-treat fest was very important to Lily. She had only told me a dozen or so times since the beginning of the month. This was the first year that both her older brothers where off at Hogwarts. I had asked for this day off for specifically for that reason… only to be called in to work by a rookie Auror having a panic attack. My partner, Annikson, and I had spent two hours cleaning up his mess.

"Dad, dad, dad, dad, dad,–"

Unfortunately now I had a mountain of paper work due tomorrow and didn't have time to walk around Grimmauld Place and the surrounding areas. I wanted her to have a fun time tonight, but… what do I do? If only Ginny were –

"Dad, dad, dad, dad, dad, –"

I could call the Mensons… no their muggles. Lately Lily had been having large bouts of accidental magic. Mostly dealing with normal things like calling a cookie to her or floating in the air slightly. It was the dreams that were worrying me. She seemed to be dreaming about dementors; though how she even knows what they are is a mystery to everyone. But who could I call… Oh! I could call Teddy!

"Dad, dad, dad, dad, DAD, DAAAD!"

I jerked my head around to where Lily had been chanting and pacing. Really what five year old paces? She had her arms out like she was walking on a tight rope and looking at the ground with fierce concentration.

"Lily." There was a tone of amusement in my voice as I finally focused on her. "How would you like to go trick-or-treating with Teddy?"

Her eyes lit up and she grinned from ear to ear. She already had her costume on this year: she wanted to be an Olympic runner. Lily had her long red hair up in a high pony tail; said hair was so straight and glossy, that even when motionless it seemed as if an artist had painted a fiery waterfall. She wore nylon pants that buttoned up the sides and a blue tee-shirt with the Olympic rings on it, the back stated 'Team Potter'. Last she rounded off her outfit with her Brother James' dark blue windbreaker that had white stripes going down the sleeves and her sneakers, dear God; they had bright yellow lightning bolts on the sides. I had to admit, she was very cute.

"Let's go fire call 'em now!" she cried with enthusiasm. Lily grabbed my large callused hand in her smaller velvet-like one. She all but dragged me through the door and down the hallway. The pictures seemed to find this hilarious and showed that by pointing and laughing gleefully.

One picture in particular made him raise an eyebrow; he had found the portrait, and three others, in the Potter Family Vault. This one was of the three true Marauders standing under a beech tree on the Hogwarts grounds. They were all in their seventh year and James had already gotten together with Lily. Sirius in particular seemed to get a kick out of the fact that I could never say no to Lily.

"Just like his father, right Moony?" He was standing to the right, his outer school robes discarded and white shirtsleeves rolled up.

"No matter which Potter you are, there's always that one redhead that's got you wrapped around her finger!" Remus threw his arm around the teenager that stood in the middle. James was too busy taking off his glasses and wiping his eyes to comment… or so I thought.

Lily and I were about to round the corner into the living room when my father called out, "Don't listen to them Harry! We Potter men are proud and we don't take crap from anyone… except our women!" He howled with laughter again.

"C'mon, Daddy! You gots t'go faster!" she tugged me into the living room and over to the fire place. The portrait that hung over it was of my parents on their wedding day. My mother looked beautiful in her classic white gown; it had long pointed sleeves and a sheer veil. My father in this one looked much more mature than the one in the hall but he still smiled. Well more like grinned so large and joyously that you thought he had won the lottery ten times over.

I kneeled in front of Lily and she gave me a goofy smile. Laughing I tossed a pinch of floo powder in to the fireplace and called "Tonks' Residence!" I closed my eyes and stuck my head into the green flames. I felt the strange sensation that I was dizzy, when it stopped I opened my eyes to a living room that was not my own. Right in front of the fire place was a sturdy mahogany and beige couch and just at the end of my line of vision was yet another mahogany masterpiece: the grandfather clock. Just then the clock chimed eight o'clock.

"Andromeda?" I called out to the woman at the end of the couch. She looked up and around searching for the person calling her. Andromeda, Andy to her family and friends, was a little forgetful about some things. Those things being that you could contact people from fire places and call to someone across the house. She finds those things improper; she had been a Black after all. "Andy! At the fire!" I laughed at the surprised look on her face.

"Oh, hello there, Harry. How are you dear?" She folded her book closed in her lap.

"Just fine, thank you. Hey I was wondering... is Teddy doing anything tonight?"

"No, he's up sulking in his room."

"Sulking? Why?" Teddy was a naturally happy person; he got it from his mother.

"It's his first Halloween out of Hogwarts. He misses his friends and, of course, Victorien." She gazed up at the ceiling as if to see the teen lying on his bed.

"Well I'm about to help you there. Can I steal him for the night? He can stay in his room here so as to not keep you up waiting." I offered.

"You had me at 'steal him'. The poor boy seems a bit depressed; none of his friends that are out of school are doing anything." She got up off the couch and marked he place in the book.

"What about Brisk? Alan said he wasn't doing anything either." Brisk Frost, Teddy's best friend, was slightly eccentric. He was never quite all there and it wouldn't surprise me in the slightest if he ended up in Africa… and not knew how he got there. Alan, his father, was very supportive: he gave Brisk whatever he needed to complete whatever task he set out to do. Whether it be money, medicine, transportation, or a leave of absence from school.

"Oh Brisk found his way to south-eastern Russia and Teddy and I decided not to ask. He said he should be back about March though…" Andy trailed off with a faraway look in her eyes.

"Well do you think he would object to something fun?"

"Oh Harry, that sounds absolutely wonderful! I'll go get him."

Andromeda spun around and left the room, clipping quietly up the stairs in her house shoes. She had taken to raising Teddy like a fish to water: it was a necessity for her survival. Lost was both her daughter and husband in the war, but she still had a grandson to raise.

I jumped at the sound of loose cannons falling down the stairs. Afterward I laughed openly at the sight of my godson disappearing behind the couch as he fell face first, tripping over something that was probably not even there. His hair turned a shocked surprise bright yellow.

His head popped up from behind the couch and his hair went from a strange yellow/pink combination to a happy gem like turquoise.

"Harry!" true to Teddy's nature, instead of risking another fall he climbed over the back of the couch.

"Ted Remus Lupin! What have I told you about climbing over the furniture?" Andy put her hands on her hips.

"I'm sorry, Grandma. So Harry what did you need? Grandma told me that you had something fun planned. What's going on?" He leaned forward eagerly, grinning. He looked happy but the tips of his hair were gray. He was sad, sad and looking for a distraction.

"What would you say to going trick-or-treating with Lily for, oh I don't know, three hours?" My smile grew when even before I finished he was nodding his head enthusiastically.

"Trick-or-treating with Lily, hmm? What is she this year? I want my costume to match." Teddy was perfect for this. He loved Halloween.

"An Olympic Runner coloured in blue." I wanted to snort at the sceptical look on his face. "No really. Just floo over when you are ready and you guys can head out. Lily's excited." I say his face light up at the possibilities of a sugar high, excited Lily. Oh what have I done?

Fifteen minutes later Teddy came through the floo with a flash of green flames. He also had on a blue windbreaker and, as my daughter calls them, swishy pants. His hair was a natural tawny colour that was his real hair colour. After he hugged Lily he saw her personal touches to her costume and promptly altered his clothes. Now his black trainers had bright yellow lightning bolts on them and the back of the windbreaker said Team Potter.

"Ready Lils?" He said with a mischievous light in his eye.

"Yep, yep! Bye, Daddy, I love you!" She waved as she walked down the side walk towards the lights of the main town.

Little did Harry know that he would not see one of them for eight years.