Disclaimer: All Harry Potter characters are the property of J K Rowling. I do not gain any kind of economic benefit from writing this story.
((Hello everyone! This is a Harry Potter fanfiction that I have had in my mind for a while now and I thought I would start writing it now. This is an Alternate Universe where the results of the second war turned out a lot different than the books. How it turned out and the after effects of the second war will be revealed as the story progresses. Anyway, please give it a read and let me know your comments and remarks.))
PS: Sorry for not including the characters' names but I am doing that to avoid spoilers.
"Wake up!" He heard a voice echoing through his head. "I said get up!" The voice was vaguely familiar. Did it belong to his grandmother? One second, the face saying the words did appear like it belonged to Augusta Longbottom. The next second it didn't. "Neville!" The voice called out. Suddenly, he was drowning, gasping, struggling for breath.
He sat up awake with a jerk and blinked. He took a second to wipe off the water droplets on his face. Water? Where did water come from? He wondered and looked at the open window. He noticed that it was raining outside. The man stood up from the bed and slowly walked to the window to pull the glass shut. He sighed and looked out to see a stroke of lightning. He immediately pulled on his robe and walked out of the bedroom to reach the next room before the thunder followed. He opened up the door and stepped in, going straight for the window and closing it shut too. He then turned to the bed and smiled at the person curled up in a ball under the covers lying on the bed. He walked up slowly to the bed and sat at the edge of it. "Sweetie?" He called out and placed his hand on her.
A little girl poked her head out from under the covers to look at him. Her copper red hair contrasting against her sky blue pajamas. The man sighed and placed his hand on her cheek. "I am sorry I wasn't here earlier. I was sleeping." He said and gently kissed the girl's cheek. "How long has it been raining?" He asked. The little girl was afraid of lightning and thunder. He had known that all her life and he was truthfully a little ashamed he couldn't be there at once. The little girl remained silent and buried her head under her covers.
The man smiled and put his arms around her to pick her up. "Come on. You're sleeping with Daddy tonight." He said and carried the four year old in his arms. He slowly walked out of the girl's room and into his own. He laid down on his back with the little girl on his chest, still cocooned in her covers.
Another bolt of lightning struck outside followed by a round of thunder. He could feel her jerk and squeal a little at the sound and he sighed. He rubbed her back to calm her down. He sighed and removed the covers a little to see her face. "Minnie? Are you okay?" He asked and the girl nodded looking up at him. She put her little hands across his broad chest and laid her head down on top of him.
The rain, lightning and thunder carried on for another hour straight. The man continued to stroke the girl's back and comfort her as it did. Slowly the rain stopped and so did the lightning and thunder. He could hear the soft snores of the girl and he felt a little relieved that she was asleep. He however could not sleep. The lightning and thunder and Minnie being scared of it had reminded him of the night he had got the little girl.
He sighed and slowly rolled over without disturbing her and laid her down on her back. He stood up from the bed and walked to the kitchen. He poured himself a glass of water and took a small sip from it. He walked to the living room and sat down on the couch looking at the wall clock ticking by. It would be dawn in an hour or two. He gulped the remainder of the water and placed the glass on the table. He leaned back against the couch and looked up at the ceiling and sighed.
Time flies, especially in a busy city like New York. A few hours later, he was dropping off the little girl in kindergarten. "Hey Minerva!" The teacher smiled and ruffled the little girl's red hair as she ran in. The man looked up at the young and attractive teacher who beamed up at the tall man. She had an eye for him. And no one could blame her. He was good looking. He had brown eyes and curly black hair. He seemed young and he had a not too bad body. Perhaps it was his work. He, however had no such feelings for her.
The teacher noticed that the man was hesitating at the entrance and she smiled at him. "Is there anything you want to ask of me, Mr. Dewitt?" She asked.
"Yes." He said and sighed pursing his lips. "It's about Minerva." He said and looked at the teacher who seemed to appear a little disappointed. "Oh?" She said crossing her arms in front of her chest and looked up at the man. "What about her?" She asked.
"She is afraid of thunder and lightning. Should I be worried?" He asked biting his lip. The teacher chuckled and shook her head. "You are such a caring father." She said with a grin. "There is nothing to be worried about, Ivan. Most kids this age are afraid of something." She said with a shrug and the bright smile plastered on her face. "It will go away as she grows up." She assured.
"Thank you." He said and sighed. "Well, I better get going." He turned around a little but the teacher reached out and touched his arm. "Wait." She said and he turned back to look at her. She immediately withdrew her hand with a soft blush on her face. "I have something to tell you… about Minerva." She said clearing her throat and looked up at him.
"Go on." He said with a smile looking down at her.
"Your daughter is extremely smart. She learned to read really fast and she reads better than the other kids." She said and crossed her arms again. "But she struggles to read what I write on the board."
"What are you getting at?" He asked tilting his head.
"This is just my guess. I think your daughter may need glasses." She said with an anxious look. He appeared stunned for a second and looked down thinking. After a while, he looked up at her again. "Umm… You are right. I'll get her tested." He said.
"My uncle is an eye doctor." The teacher quickly added. "He's really good with little kids too. If you want, I can book you an appointment today evening." She said and blushed a little seeing the man smiling at her.
"That would be perfect Miss Daley. Thank you." He smiled and turned around. "Please. Call me Julia." She said with a grin. "Thank you Julia." He said with a smile and turned to walk away. He started his car and started driving to work. As he was driving, he could not help but think of Minerva getting glasses. He could not believe he hadn't thought of the possibility earlier.
The automobile workshop where he worked was located about half an hour from Minerva's kindergarten. He stood in the garage uniform, almost too big for him, torn at several places and stained with machine oil.
"Wait, you have a daughter? How old?" The bald man sitting inside the manager's cabin chuckled looking up at him.
He couldn't help but roll his eyes and nodded. "Four years old." He said. "And I want to go two hours early today to take her to the doctor. Can I leave early or not?" He said crossing his arms in front of his chest.
The manager laughed and shook his head. "I am sorry. It's just that you look too young to have a daughter. And a four year old one at that." He said and looked him up and down. The man's patience was wearing thin. The manager suppressed his smile and looked up at him. "Alright, you may go." He said and sighed. "But make sure you come to work on Saturday instead."
The man widened his eyes. "You want me to work an entire extra day for leaving two hours early?" He asked.
The manager simply shrugged. "Would that be a problem?" He asked tilting his head.
"Of course it's a problem." He said with a frown. "I can't work an entire day to compensate two hours. That's outrageous."
The manager looked at him and stared at him for a while. He pulled out a cigarette and lit the tip. He smoked it and let out the smoke, looking at the man like a villain from a movie. "Do you know why I hired you for work Dewitt?" He asked with a smirk. "It's because I know fully well that you are not here legally. The papers you gave me for the record are fake. Your name is not even Ivan Dewitt." He said and leaned back in his seat. "Now I don't care who you are or why you snuck into the United States illegally. As long as you work for me like I tell you to, I won't report you to the government." He said and smirked. "But if you refuse… Well then…" He shrugged and breathed in another puff of smoke.
The man glared up at his manager and inhaled deeply to calm himself down. "I'll come to work on Saturday, sir." He said and the manager smiled happily and nodded. He then turned around to walk out of the cabin and into the workplace. He walked up to the car he was supposed to work on and opened the bonnet. He sighed and stared at the engine, a mixture of emotions flooding him. Just then, he felt a tap on his back. It was one of his co-workers. "Hey Ivan. You alright?" He asked and the man nodded. "This came for you." He said and handed him a long thick envelope. The man thanked his friend and slipped the envelope into his pocket.
"Are you sure the doctor won't poke me with a needle?" Minerva asked for what was possibly the hundredth time, her little lip pouted in worry. He chuckled and hugged the girl seated in his lap. "Yes dear. He is an eye doctor. He doesn't use needles." He said with a smile and ran his hand through her hair lovingly.
"Dewitt?" A nurse called out and he stood up with a nod. "Dr. Daley will see you now." She said and he carried Minerva into the doctor's office.
"Can she read?" The doctor asked him smiling at Minerva as he was filling in the details in a form. "She knows the alphabet." He said nodding and smiling, his arms still around the little girl who was now staring at the doctor.
"That's perfect." He said and prepared a chair for her. He put some pillows on top to adjust the height and hung up the chart on the wall. A few tests later, the doctor sat back down in his chair and wrote up a prescription. "What about her mother?" He asked looking up at him.
"She's dead." He said with a sigh. The doctor frowned a little and nodded. "Sorry to hear that." He said and turned back to the pad. "But did she have any kind of eye problem?" Dr. Daley asked.
He bit his lip and thought for a while, not knowing what to say. "Er… I don't remember." He said with a shrug and Dr. Daley nodded, noting something down in his pad.
"Well if your eyesight is perfect, then my guess is that your daughter's mother's wasn't because this is kind of a hereditary condition." He said and looked up at him. "She can correct it with a surgery of course but since your daughter is young, she'll have to wear glasses at least till she's 15."
He nodded a little. "That's alright. I don't want her to have a surgery now anyway." He said and the doctor nodded. He tore the prescription pad and handed it to him. "That's the detail of the glasses. You can buy it from the store across the street. They give discount to my patients. And little kids too."
"Will I look ugly with glasses, daddy?" Minerva asked letting out a yawn as he finished reading her storybook and set it down.
"Of course not honey. Why would you think that?" He asked running his hand through her hair.
"Just wondering." She said with a shrug. "You will look beautiful with or without glasses, sweetie." He said and smiled at her. The little girl smiled and turned in the bed. "Good night daddy." She said and he leaned down to kiss her forehead. "Good night, Minnie." He said before getting up and walked out of her room, switching off the light as he went out.
He walked out into the living room and sat down on the couch. He sighed and looked at the thick envelope in the corner. He reached for the envelope and looked at it once. He let out a sigh and pursed his lips before tearing it open and pulling out a newspaper from inside it. He opened it and spread it on the table in front of him.
The newspaper was the only thing other than Minerva that connected him to his previous life. He looked at the top of the newspaper. The words 'The Daily Prophet' was written on top of it in the usual gothic font. It was dated June 3, 2002- almost a week ago.
He sighed and scanned the paper. The war heroes of the Battle of Hogwarts were still under 'Ministerial protection'. A lot of other news was irrelevant to him. It astonished him to think that the wizarding community he was a part of still thought everything was fixed. He sighed and turned through the pages before spotting his own photo, growling and biting his teeth in an evil manner, looking at the camera. The face was littered with scars and instead of the curly black hair like he had now, the face in the photo had straight brown hair. He ran his finger over the photo and sighed before looking up to read the heading of the article. It was titled 'Ginevra Weasley's murderer still at large'. He let out a sigh and looked back at his photo and the caption below it. It read 'Suspected murderer Neville Longbottom'.
((Thanks for reading. Once again, please leave your comments and reviews so I have the motivation to continue. :) ))