Title: Surviving
Author: Emma Night
Summary: The entire concept of the Boy-Who-Lived is wrong. Why? Because it was a girl and not a boy. Follow this girl as she makes her entire own way through Hogwarts and all that comes with it.
Chapter Warnings: fem!Harry, Character Death
Rating: T
Disclaimer: I don't any of the things you recognize from the Harry Potter-books written by J.K. Rowling. I do, however, own the plot and this fanfiction.
Chapter 1
Surviving
It was October 31 in the year of 1981 when the story began. The Potters were staying at the Potter Mansion in Godric's Hallow; hiding from their arch-enemy, the Dark Lord Voldemort. Lily Potter née Evans had just put their one-year old daughter to bed and was taking on last look at het beautiful baby daughter, never knowing it would be the last she would ever take.
She looked at the cute mop of unruly black hair that reached just pass her ears; curling in every direction quite happily.
She looked at the pale face with the cute, little mouth and the button-nose; and of course the most beautiful eyes that she had ever seen. They were of a stunning shade; emerald green with slight specks of hazel in them, but only if you squinted. The almond-shape of the eyes only added to the beauty of them.
She looked at the little girl that she and her love had created together. She looked at the little girl that she loved more than everything else in the entire world. She looked at the little girl that represented the apple in her eye. She looked at her and smiled softly before she turned around.
All of the sudden Lily felt a horrible pain going through her body, it was so unendurable that she felt to her knees and clutched her body tight in an attempt to relief the vicious pain. It took her a while to recognize the pain; but as soon as she did, the tears started running. She had felt the breaking of her marriage bond and she knew that it could only mean one thing: James Potter, her beloved husband, had died.
She also realized that this probably meant that Voldemort had entered their home and that he going to come after her and her beloved baby girl next. She scrambled to her feet and tried to find her wand before realizing that she had left it downstairs. The colour in her face drained more quickly than water would drain from an overflowing sink.
She was about to face one of the most powerful wizards in the world and had absolutely no means of defence. Strangely enough she did not worry for her own life, but only for the life of the little girl in the crib behind her. She knew that she would gladly give her own life up in order to protect hers and she knew that that was what it would take.
She was thankful that the Potter Mansion had such an extensive library. And that she had taken the time to read through most of it. The books in the library were mostly really old, some even ancient, and all held rather interesting information.
She clearly remembered the book on the powers of love and how love could form the strongest protection of all if the love was strong enough. The wandless spell would transform her love into an everlasting, magical shield that would be interwoven with the skin of the person whom it was casted on. It was a difficult spell, but Lily felt that she would be able to cast it. She didn't have any other choice.
She began to gather both her magic and her love and forced them to the centre of her body. She tensed the muscles in her arm and began to chant: "Verto meus diligo ut veneficus. Verto facio a contego. Verto protego ut unus ego diligo plurimus. Servo suus , servo suus , servo suus. Servo suus pro totus infinitio. Servo suus ex totus nefas , servo…"
She was interrupted by the blasting away of the wooden door of the nursery. She looked up; a frightened expression making its way onto her face. The spell was broken; it was unfinished and wouldn't ever do what it was intended for. She realized that she had only one option left: begging.
And so she faced the Darkest Lord of the century, looked him in the eyes briefly and felt to her knees. "Please spare my little girl! Please! Just take me in her stead! I'll do everything, but please let her live!" she begged pitifully.
Her begging had sent the cursed man in front of her in a small state of shock. He blinked a few times and then contorted his face into an angry sneer. "Get up from the floor, foolish woman. Do you really believe that begging will save her life?"
Lily hastily scrambled up and put herself between the cold-blooded mass-murderer and her beloved daughter.
"I won't let you take her!" Lily desperately screamed as she made her body function as a shield. Tears of anger and frustration were running down her cheeks as her arms trembled with fear. Voldemort let out a high, cruel laugh.
"You think that I need your permission? You think that I had planned to murder your daughter with your consent? You foolish, impertinent girl," he laughed again, while the red-head didn't move an inch of her body, "I'll give you one last warning. Step aside from the girl and nothing will happen to you."
This time it was Lily that let out the laugh, though hers was not high, nor cruel. Rather it was hysterical and out of control. "You honestly believe that I will let you take her away from me?" she asked the Dark Lord in between her laughs.
Her laughing soon stopped, however, when she saw the deadly expression on her enemy's face. His face was as unmoving as a piece of marble. The unmoving face was frozen with an expression of disdain on its features; he looked at the red-headed witch once and then spoke:
"I gave you the last warning. I was being merciful towards you and yet, you decided not to accept my mercy and even tried to ridicule me," his voice was frighteningly low and had the coldest temperature known to man. Lily unwillingly shivered with fear, but still refused to move. "I will no longer forgive you for your brainless idiocy!"
The snake-like man aligned his wand with Lily's body and let loose the feared green-coloured curse. Lily's eyes widened in shock and she opened her mouth to scream. The curse hit her, though, before a single sound could come forth from her lips. Her lifeless body slumped to the floor, her eyes and mouth still opened widely.
Voldemort stepped forward and kicked aside the corpse with barely noticeable glee. He sneered down at the woman who had defied him four times, had gotten away three times, but had finally met her end at the end of his wand.
He walked to the green-eyed infant and studied her for a bit; trying to find something even remotely interesting. He failed. In his eyes she was just a normal infant, nothing new or special about her.
Nevertheless, he couldn't let her life. This little girl was a trait to his goal, to his war, and most importantly, to his existence. She would absolutely have to be eliminated.
"Avada Kedavra," came the feared whisper of death. The green stream of magic flew towards the crying infant and hit her in the forehead. The crying stopped and the little girl's eyes closed. She slumped backwards and laid still for a moment. The Dark Lord stepped forward to the crib and examined the supposedly dead girl's body.
What happened next was so fast that if one would blink once, they would've missed it. The green light that the girl's body had absorbed, came back out in a sickly red colour. It struck Voldemort in the chest in less than half a second, giving him no chance to escape. It engulfed his body and squeezed the life out of him. It was almost like the Dark Lord was on fire, but it went too fast for it to be fire.
All that remained of the once so powerful Dark Lord's body were ashes. And the little girl that should have died that night was crying out loudly to the empty night.
The following twenty-four hours were an absolute mess. Almost everyone in the Wizarding World was celebrating the end of the Greatest War since Grindelwald and most of them forgot that the person who had caused the end, widely celebrated as the Girl-Who-Survived, was now an orphan without a home.
Luckily, or perhaps not so luckily, there were still a select few people who remembered; namely Albus Dumbledore, Minerva McGonagall and Remus Lupin. Two of these persons were currently in a heavy discussion, while the remaining one was sitting on a cold, brick wall.
"You've got to be kidding me, Albus!" a middle-aged looking man yelled. His amber eyes flashed dangerously and his stance was aggressive. Opposite him stood an old man with a long grey beard and even longer, white-grey hair. The man was completely serene and regarded the furious man with a calm, gazing look. His blue eyes twinkled from behind his half-rounded glasses and he smiled indulgently.
"You know as well as I do that we don't have any other choices, Remus," the old man answered. The answer seemed to infuriate the younger man even more.
"We could follow their Will, instead of going against it!" he yelled.
"That's not possible," came the simple reply.
"Old man..." the angry werewolf growled "You better explain before I lose control". The respected Headmaster sighed deeply.
"How do you think she will end up if he stayed in the Wizarding World? If she grew up with her fame?" he asked, peering into Remus's eyes.
It took the young man a moment to understand what his mentor meant, "You know that wouldn't happen if I took her in," he said softly. His voice already betraying that he knew that it wasn't an option.
"I'm sorry, Remus," Dumbledore said as he laid a hand on his pupil's shoulder. "I have to leave now, I am supposed to meet Hagrid at Privet Drive. You may come along if you have the desire to".
"No, thanks. I have to go find out what they're going to do to Black. I still can't believe he betrayed us..."
Dumbledore remained silent as he walked towards the door of his office. Just before he exited, however, he said one last thing: "Not everything is always as it seems, my dear boy". His voice was quiet and barely reached the ears of the werewolf.
"Hagrid," a relieved voiced sighed, "At last. And where did you get that motorbike?"
"Borrowed it, Professor Dumbledore, sir," Hagrid replied, while getting of the bike carefully, "Young Sirius Black lent it to me. I've got her, sir."
Dumbledore frowned worriedly at the news, but seeing that both Hagrid and the little girl had arrived safely he decided that he would worry about the issue on a later time.
"No problems, were there?" he asked, just to be sure.
"No, sir –house was almost completely destroyed but Sirius got her out all right and we were gone before the Muggles started swarmin' around. She fell asleep as we were flyin' over Bristol."
The old Professor let out a inaudible sigh of relief at the news. Then he bent over the little girl lying in the gigantic arms of his devotee and Professor Minerva McGonagall joined him in doing so. She pointed at the lightning-shaped scar that adorned the little girl's forehead.
"Is that where - ?" she whispered horrified.
Dumbledore was quick to answer: "Yes. She'll have that scar forever," he said sadly.
"Couldn't you do something about it, Albus?" she asked.
"Even if I could, I wouldn't. Scars can come in useful. I have one myself above my left knee which is a perfect map of the London Underground," he stated matter-of-factly. "Well, give her here, Hagrid – we'd better get this over with."
Hagrid obeyed immediately. He handed over the little bundle of blankets over. Asking in a sobbing voice if he could say goodbye, which caused a sad setting to settle over the three adults. It didn't take long before the three had all said goodbye to the little infant.
The long-bearded Professor carefully laid down the little girl on the front step of Privet Drive 4 and put a letter in the folds of her blankets. He stroked the infant's cheek once before silently whispering a wish of good luck.
He turned around and left together with the upset woman, whilst Hagrid left on the borrowed motorbike. None of them knew – had even a clue – that the girl that they just left behind was just about to face the worst childhood one can imagine; a childhood of negligence, violence, fear and hunger.
Neither did the rest of the Wizarding World as they cheerfully raised their glasses to the end of the war and towards their saviour: "To Gabrielle Potter – the Girl-Who-Survived!"
A/N: Hello! This is the first chapter of Surviving. Some of you might find it similar to a previous story of mine, "Her Green Eyes", and that is correct. I recently had a computer crash and lost everything. And because I hadn't advanced very far with the story yet, I decided to just rewrite the entire thing. I hope it turned out for the better!
Now for something entirely different. I'm in desperate need of a beta, so if you know someone who can help me – or if you are that someone yourself – please contact me!
Please leave a review! I would very much like to know what you thought of this first chapter! Hopefully until the second chapter!
Love,
Emma Night