Chapter 3: Time Flies
Seven-year-old Lily Evans was walking home from school alone in the afternoon when she saw two boys hiding behind a tree suspiciously. Her home was two blocks away from the school she attended and she had took her hard time explaining to her parents that she could travel to and fro home without their assistance.
The two boys behind the tree saw her and seemed to frown a little. She ignored them and continued walking, nearing the park where she frequented with the neighboring kids. Still keeping an eye on them when suddenly she heard a loud crash in the park. A girl with dark brown hair, who was about her age, crashed her bicycle onto a large trunk at a nearby tree. The bicycle toppled and the girl looked like she injured herself. Lily ran across the park to help her.
"Ouch!" The girl looked like she was about to burst into tears. There was quite a deep gash on her right leg.
"Must be painful." Lily said sympathetically. She touched the open wound and instantly it healed, not even a scar was left.
"Wow, thank you!" The girl replied gratefully, obviously still in shock and amazement what Lily had done.
"It's okay. Please don't tell anyone about this. Thanks. I must go. Bye." Lily smiled at her as she helped the girl up and pulled up the bike for her. With a wave, she grabbed her bag and ran home. It was getting late.
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Helen Potter had brought the three children to a muggle park with cycling track for them to play while she sat at the café that overlooked the park. The three kids had convinced Mrs. Potter that they were old enough to play on their own.
With the adult out of sight, Sirius grinned at James mischievously. They had parked their bicycles beside them and were now hiding behind a large tree trunk and watched Stefanie cycling around the fountain. All they did today was simply meddling with the brakes of Stefanie's bicycle.
"She will attempt to brake soon." Sirius whispered. The Black family had just moved to this new wizarding neighborhood named Godric's Hollow and Sirius had gotten to know James. They hit off instantly and within a month, they were the infamous pranksters around their neighborhood.
"And then it can't work and she'll fall into the fountain." James replied and both boys were laughing in conspiracy. Suddenly James noticed another girl who walked passed them and shot them a suspicious look. He nudged at Sirius who turned and saw the girl but ignored her and reverted his attention back to Stefanie.
CRAASSHH! Stefanie's bicycle crashed onto the tree trunk and fell over, instead of crashing into the fountain, which was the original intention. Nevertheless, both of them gave a high-five and continued watching Stefanie.
Suddenly a redhead rushed towards Stefanie, the same girl as James saw earlier. Her bright red waist-long hair, tied into two ponytails, was swinging wildly behind her. She touched the wound on Stefanie's leg and suddenly the wound disappeared, without a trace of blood left even. The redhead then rushed off in a hurry immediately after that.
James stared at Sirius, awed. Sirius had the same expression on his face as well. Both of them walked towards Stefanie who was brushing some dirt off her leg and getting on her bicycle.
"She's a healer!" James was still stunned by what he witnessed. He had only heard about that from his mother's bedtime stories, now he witnessed one of them, and a very young one in fact.
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Remus Lupin ran towards the playground while his parents were sitting at the far end, watching him. They rarely brought him out and he was ecstatic to go to one of the largest wizarding playground in his neighborhood. Godric's Hollow was a large upper class residential area whereby many influential wizards and witches dwelled in.
There was another girl around the playground riding her bicycle, and two other boys playing around the slides. He turned behind and saw his parents talking to another two adults, probably one of the other children's parents. Most of the kids usually left the park by this time.
It was a night brighter than the others, with a full moon hanging up in the sky. The candle-lit lamppost flickered gently inside its holder. Remus played at the other side of the playground, away from the two boys and closer to the girl with bicycle, climbing up the steps and sliding down.
Suddenly, he heard a strange howling sound coming from behind the bushes not too far away. The leaves rustled loudly as if someone was hiding behind there. He felt the goosebumps at the back of his neck but ignored it and continued playing on the slide.
"AAAAAHHHHHHH!" A loud scream pierced the peacefulness of the park. Remus stood up immediately.
Something leaped out from behind the bushes and towards the little girl. Intuitively, he ran towards the frightened girl who had fallen off her bicycle and sitting on the floor, screaming.
It looks like a wolf. The girl was apparently too frightened to move away.
At that moment, he reached the girl and attempted to pull her away when suddenly the werewolf bit him on his leg.
"AAAHHHHHH!" He yelped in pain. The girl just looked up at him with frightened tears.
He heard his parents shouted a curse at the werewolf and it collapsed instantly and laid motionlessly. Another adult bent down and helped the terrified girl up while his mother made a call and his father carried him up.
"Dad, it hurts." Remus was in pain and tried to hold back his tears.
"T-than-nk y-you." The girl managed to mutter a grateful thank you in the midst of the chaos among the adults.
That was the last thing Remus heard before he fainted and everything went black.
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Arabella jerked and sat up on her mattress. She was in cold sweat. Looking around her, she saw her friends sleeping and assured herself that she was still in the orphanage and not some strange park. Healer? Werewolf? What's going on? Who were those people at the park? Arabella thought and frowned. I have never seen them before nor been to the park. She slowed down her breathing and comforted herself that it was just a nightmare. Little did she know that these six children already had their destiny bound together since birth.