An old, withered man walked down the dark streets, searching the faces of the bodies laying on the ground. He sighed as he looked into tortured, lifeless faces, bodies bruised and cold. Another town of muggles destroyed. He turned to his fellow Order members as they came up to him, sad, horrified faces looking up at him. He sighed once more.
"Albus, what happened? He's never been this…brutal." The voice of the Head of Gryffindor, Minerva McGonagall, spoke softly, yet strongly, to him. He looked away from her and looked around the dark, still fiery town. He turned back.
"Let us search for survivors." They nodded to him, although they knew he ignored the question. None of them would be able to answer, none wanted to answer. They left in pairs, walking down the streets.
=^.^=
It was some time later, maybe thirty minutes, when a large barn owl came swooping down, straight at Sirius Black. The young, dark haired man of twenty one years, held out his arm for the bird, quickly untying the note attached. The members closest to him turned as he gave a yelp of joy and he turned to his fellow school mates, the two of the Marauders, Remus Lupin and Peter Pettigrew.
"I've got to go, Lily's having her son! They want me to be Godfather!" The two gave their congratulations for their friend and the young man nodded before turning on the spot and disappearing with a 'pop'. The two looked at each other before continuing their search for survivors.
=^.^=
The old, withered man by the name of Albus Percival Wulfric Brian Dumbledore walked down the street to the last house, a small white cottage. It's presence was unnoticed by most, the cottage neither impressive nor unremarkable. But the presence of immense darkness emitting from the small little home drew him closer and closer until he stood outside of the small picket fence, a white mailbox with the name 'Granger' painted onto it's side in perfect cursive.
He looked up into the darkened windows from where he stood. The curtains were pulled down, allowing no sight into the house. The yard was neat and once green, though it now held many scorch marks, the house itself seemed untouched. There were flowers of all kinds in neat little beds and pots. The bushes were neatly trimmed. He looked to the small, light wooden door and the body half in and half out. He sighed once more.
He walked slowly through the gate and up to the body. A quick charm allowed him to know of the body's dead status. He straightened and readied himself to turn from the house when a small babies cry echoed into the silent night.
He spun faster than he expected his nearly one hundred year old body was capable of. He stayed silent and waited for another cry. And not a moment later, another cry came, this one softer than the last. He walked swiftly over the dead man, for once not respecting the dead as he walked inside.
His blue eyes spotted the small child, laying in a crib near the empty fireplace. Her hands were balled into fist which she waved around as she tried to move. She gave another cry before Albus could move. He walked swiftly to the bed and looked down into newly changing brown eyes.
The baby stopped her fussing once he picked her up in trembling arms. He held her close and softly cooed to her, trying to calm her. He ignored the shouts of his name from outside as he looked down at the little muggle baby.
What a wonder this child was. The first muggle to survive these raids and she was but a child, not even a year of age. He subtly cast charms to check her health as the baby latched onto his beard with chubby hands, pulling some hair into her mouth and chewing. He chuckled down at her and walked from the house as her health came up fine, perfectly normal for a muggle child. He could still feel a darkness lingering around him as he walked away, but he shrugged it off, figuring it was the residue of the many killing curses performed not a few hours earlier.
He finally lifted his head as Minerva came closer to him, her breath slightly out of place as she walked quickly to him. He looked back down at the baby and cooed once more as she tugged on his beard. His colleague froze in front of him as she watched him play with the baby. The members of the Order slowly congregated around the pair and looked on in wonder at their powerful leader. Finally, as the last members filled in, he looked up from the giggling child and looked into the eyes of his faithful followers.
"Where is Sirius?" He turned to the only werewolf of the Order, Remus Lupin, as he spoke up.
"An owl from James arrived. Lily is having her child and they wanted Sirius to be the Godfather." Albus nodded as the eyes of the werewolf dropped back down to the child in his arms. Albus also looked down at the baby still playing with his beard and smiled as he softly began to speak.
"This is the only survivor of Scattery Island." They looked at him before looking back down to the baby, shocked that the small, fragile muggle baby had lived. She had paused in her chewing of Albus's beard to look at the many faces around her. She whimpered and snuggled farther into the old man's arm and beard, resuming her now nervous chewing, hands tightly clenched in the silver hair.
Albus once more chuckled, though it was a sad sound and he began walking to the small church in the center of the island as Minerva once more began speaking.
"Albus, why would he come here? To Ireland? This is the farthest part of the island from England! What did he want?" He looked sadly to the woman beside him.
"I do not know Minerva. I have the feeling that it will be a long time till I do." The man looked forward once more, occasional cooing down to the little baby. Minerva once more spoke up.
"What is her name?"
"I do not know, though I believe she may be a Granger. I wonder if the church holds birth records…" Kingsley, an auror from the ministry, heard the subtle command and quickly sped forward, jogging into the church as the others waited outside. With a look from Albus, Nymphadora quickly followed the tall black man into the building. Moments later and the pair returned.
"The only person born that would be her age was one Hermione Jane Granger. What did you say you thought her name was?" But Albus was no longer listening, he was looking down at the baby in his arms. Kingsley continued. "She was the last child born here, born September 19th, 1979. She'll be a year old in less than two months."
"But how did she survive? The Dark Lord has never let a muggle live! How could she, a baby live?" But Albus did not talk to her, instead, he directed it at the child now softly whining, wanting food.
"My dear, we will never know what happened, and we will never meet again. You will never know of the family you once had and you will never remember this place. All you will have is your name and that locket. But I know, that what happened here last night, is something never accomplished by many before you, and for that, you will be remembered." The girl had stopped her low whining to look curiously at the old man with sparkling blue eyes looking down at her. She giggled and grabbed hold of his nose as she began to drift to sleep.
The people around him watched in wonder as the baby fell asleep and their mysterious leader chuckled before disappearing. They looked at each other before apparating to the Head Quarters of the Order Of The Phoenix.
=^.^=
Albus appeared in a dark alley on a street called Spinners End. He walked quickly to a well kept brick home, an old woman sitting on a rocking chair staring at him with critical eyes. He smiled softly as he walked up the three, wooden stairs to stand in front of the white haired woman. She waited for him to speak.
"Rose."
"Albus." A long silence stretched between the two friends. They had not spoken in over twenty years, yet they still recognized each other. She, a squib, and he, arguably one of the most powerful wizards in history. But power and magic did not matter, all that mattered was the strength of their friendship. For the continuous surveillance of the young Miss Granger depended upon it. "What do you want?" She finally asked, breaking the silence as she stared at the sleeping child in her friends arms.
"A favor." A silence once more stretched between the two, the tinkling of wind chimes made of multiple different objects swaying in the wind the only sound. Their eyes stayed locked as the old woman, Rose, stood.
"And what would that be?"
"For you to raise this young girl." Her eyes narrowed slightly before she answered.
"I'm over seventy years old. How do you expect me to raise a child?"
"Please."
"That is not an answer."
"It is my only answer. She is the first to survive a raid by Tom and his followers. Her town was raided last night, she was only just found." Rose's eyes narrowed further.
"And do you know who use to live just down the street? He could return at any time." He looked where her finger was pointed. A small, narrow, two story house stood tightly between two other houses. The stones grey and the roof looked to be ready to cave. The windows were covered and the dark front door tightly closed. A student of his had lived there, a student whom had joined Tom. Severus Tobias Snape.
"You do not have to worry about him." He turned and stared into her bright green eyes with his sparkling blue ones. She openly glared.
"You aren't telling me something."
"I know." She sighed and turned away from his smiling, wrinkled face.
"Well, what's her name?" He smiled.
"Hermione Jane Granger."
=^.^=
A/N: Ok, thanks for reading! By the way, thank you Burnedx2 for reviewing! Anyways, I hope you guys enjoyed this chapter!
Note: Scattery Island is a real ghost town, though I tweaked it's history some. The island became a ghost town in 1978 when the last two people(a brother and sister) finally left. The last child born there was 1978. Obviously, since Hermione wasn't born till 1979, I moved that date up one. Also, since Harry was being born the day after the village was attacked, I moved that the last year the place was lived in was 1980.
DISCLAIMER: I DO NOT OWN HARRY POTTER OR ANY OF IT'S CHARACTERS.