Thanks to: percyjackson42, Colin Creevey, RandomGerman and Cristina for reviewing!

Author's Note: For those wondering Cheryl is locked up in New Azkaban prison for her crimes and that scene took place at the very end of book 5, meaning Sebastian is in the same year as Antonius so will start Hogwarts in the upcoming seventh book

January 1st 1972 (Flashback)

Fifteen year old Aurelius Ashain lay curled up in his massive kingsized bed, sniffing but the well of his tears seemed to have dried up. Not that he felt any closer to sleeping despite it being the early hours of the morning, it was officially the first day of the new year now. He sighed heavily, lamenting it was already off to a bad start. He still didn't feel like sleeping though, instead his dark chestnut eyes roamed around the gloom aimlessly as he rolled onto his back.

He didn't like his room. The shadows bounced off the marble walls ominously, creating dark shapes that had often scared him when he was younger but now just made him feel uneasy. Scared or not, he didn't like creepy dark looking shapes. In general he didn't like the dark, why would anyone like the dark? You couldn't see. It was dull and boring and bland and silent. Especially here, he missed the gentle sloshing of the water from the Slytherin dungeon, it was so relaxing and even in darkness it gave light to his imagination, he could often wonder if this was what fish heard or people on boat. Not here. Nothing. Any sound incited fear not wonder.

He wondered if any of his dorm mates lay awake in their own rooms in their own mansions right now wishing to be someone else like he was, if they were sleeping or doing something else even. He'd heard some people celebrating the new year dawning, he never had. Father had no time for nonsense like that, fun was despicable as far as Aurelius could tell. He wondered what Mary was doing now, his ex-girlfriend she was. She'd graduated Hogwarts the previous year and broken up with him so he had no way of knowing, he worried about her with the war since she was a muggle-born and all. He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named was against them.

Aurelius really wished He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named was allowed to be named, he'd forgotten what they guy was actually supposed to be called. In truth he'd probably zoned out when being told in the first place, Father hated how he did that. Lots of people hated how he did that, it wasn't like he did it on purpose though. He didn't understand He-Who-Must- ugh, that was too long to think. He was just going to call him Tom, he probably had a common name like Tom or Harry or Constantius anyway. Maybe that was why he didn't want to be named, he just didn't like his name but then Aurelius wondered why he didn't just pick a different name. Unless the wizarding world had been the ones to unname him, in which case he wondered why Tom was okay with that.

If he was a Dark Lord who had gone through the process of coming up with a cool new name, he thought he'd be quite upset to just be unnamed. He didn't think he'd make a good Dark Lord though, he liked color too much and he certainly was against killing people just for being different, he was rather against killing people in general. Why did they only ever get Dark Lords anyway? Why not someone nice, a Light Lord? That sounded cool, Aurelius liked that. He wondered what a Light Lord would even be like...

TAP!

Aurelius jumped in shock, falling off his bed and hitting the cold marble fall painfully. He crawled under the bed in terror, his body already trembling fearfully. No, no, no, no, no. Not again, he'd had enough for the night, for a lifetime even but just not again. He lay there a moment shaking, frozen in place as he peered in the direction of the door to look for feet as he listened.

Tap. Tap. Tap. Tap. Tap. Tap.

He scowled in confusion, what was with that tapping sound? Was his mother so drunk she forgot how to open a door? It wasn't like they were a knocking family anyway, he had to knock but his parents could just barge in as they pleased. The house-elves could too, on his father's commands but they tended not to need to with their special house-elf apparating and all.

Tap. Tap. Tap. Tap. Tap. Tap.

It just kept on tapping. Come to think of it, it didn't even sound like knocking on wood. In fact, it didn't even sound like it was coming from the direction of the door. He cautiously crawled out from under his bed and went over to the window, pulling open the thick velvet drapes. He hated them closed but his mother always shut them.

It was an owl, he saw. Pecking at the window to be let in, clutching a roll of parchment in its talons. He fumbled with the latch to let it in, admiring the way it swooped over him. He wished he could fly, he'd always wished he could fly. To just be able to soar through the air and be free, he thought it must be amazing and had always envied that ability. It was why he wanted to be animagus someday, it would be cool regardless to get to see the world from another creatures eyes but damn, he would love to be able to fly. Not on a broom for sport, he didn't like that but to just... well fly, it looked wonderful.

The bird squawked loudly, apparently also not a fan of his zoning out and ignoring the fact it had deposited it's parchment on his bed. It took off as he approached, swooping back over his head and out into the night. He sighed wistfully, oh how he wished he was that bird and he could fly away from here too. Why would it even waste it's time here? Oh right, the letter.

Aurelius turned his attention to the letter, feeling a giddy surge of excitement as his attention shifted for that. He almost never got letters over the holidays, it couldn't be his parents so who else would be writing for him? Was it Mary? Had she changed her mind about dumping him? Was it one of his roommates? Was he finally going to make a friend?

He picked up the paper and his heart did a somersault, already recognizing Mary's very poor untidy handwriting his father would never call acceptable for his name. He clutched the paper to his chest, unable to stop the smile on his face but also trying not to get ahead of himself. Just because she was writing to him, it didn't mean she wanted to get back together. Maybe she... Well he couldn't think of any other reason unless maybe she just wanted to be friends. He could live with friends, he could live with anything. Didn't she know how much he loved her? He'd give her anything, anything she wanted, any amount of money she desired. Anything just to not be alone. He took a deep breathe and unrolled the paper.

Aurelius,

I know I broke up with you and we haven't seen each other in months but it would really mean a lot to me if you could meet me tonight, I'll wait for you outside the gates of your home for fifteen minutes. I know you probably hate me but please, I ever meant anything to you come outside now.

Mary Hawker

She wanted to see him? She really wanted to see him? He skipped over to his closet, practically tripping over his own feed in his rush to get dressed. His clothes all looked the same in the dark, he just pulled on whatever and wondered excitedly what random combination of colors he was now wearing because it usually took forever to pick and-

Dammit! He needed to focus. Focus, focus, focus. Or he might screw up last chance with her and then he'd die alone, he didn't want to die alone. He took a deep breath and ran back into his bathroom, throwing some water at his face to wash away his tears and try hide the fact he'd been crying. Not wanting to be late, he bolted through the long empty hallways and was thankful his room was far enough away from both his parents' separate rooms that the sound of his footsteps was unlikely to wake them.

He knew he should probably be scared but adrenaline flooded his blood, he'd never snuck out of his mansion before to meet the love of his life. It was rather exciting. He slipped out of the back and ran, wishing he could run faster but he was unhelpfully small and skinny for his age. He used the secret spot in the wall to avoid having to open the gate then just ran breathlessly all the way around the wall, also wishing the wall wasn't so damn big. Why did they need so much space anyway? It wasn't like-

FOCUS! he screamed at himself, he definitely had to focus. He skidded to a halt outside the gate, literally in the mud beneath the snow or icy ground, whichever it was. His eyes skimmed the darkness, looking for the light of her wand as he assumed she'd be using Lumos like he would be if he was actually of age like she was. He stood panting but saw nothing, surely she wasn't just standing here in the dark? Unless he feared being caught by his parents.

"I'm here!" Aurelius called out desperately into the night which greeted him with silence, "Mary, I came just like you wanted! I'm here now!"

Silence.

He shivered in the cold night air, wrapping his arms around himself somewhat for warmth. He couldn't have gotten it wrong, the time was about right and she'd said here. Where was she? Had she stood him up? Had she died? Had she just wanted to crush his spirits? What was happening? The silent darkness gave no answer.

"I'm here," he reiterated more quietly but only the wind replied, "Please."

He stood there alone in the silent darkness, hugging his quickly freezing body as the icy breeze glided through him. He felt the hope bleed out for him and the cold numb the adrenaline, making him all the more aware of his own isolation. He fought back the urge to cry, sure the only reason he wasn't already was because he just had been. She wasn't coming, no one was coming and he was clearly the butt of someone's joke again. No one was ever going to come.

He turned to begin trudging back only to hear a cry, he froze in surprise. He was pretty sure that wasn't him, he wasn't yet and he'd certainly learned not to cry loudly. The voice cried out again and he turned back, now he was sure it wasn't him and it didn't sound like Mary either. It cried again. Cautiously, he started to creeping towards the sound through the handful of decrepit trees scattered about. He probably should be afraid again but he was curious and concern that someone might be hurt somehow trumped it, he'd like to think someone would help him if he was injured and crying in the dark for some reason.

"Hello? Who's there?" Aurelius questioned nervously as he drew closer to the intermittent crying until he spotted something.

Basking in a sliver of silvery moonlight - almost as if placed deliberately to draw attention to it - was a rather small basket, the crying was come from it. Had someone left a injured animal here or something? Was this part of the prank? Was he dreaming? This was all very bizarre. He crouched by the basket and peered inside, jolting in shock as he saw it was a baby with a note bearing his name resting on its chest. He shakily picked up the letter, recognizing Mary's handwriting once more and flicked it open.

Aurelius,

Here's your son. Take good care of him.

Mary

Aurelius read the short message several times, the words bouncing off his numb mind and not sinking it. He couldn't comprehend it. She'd been pregnant? He had a child? Why wouldn't she tell him that? He'd have supported her, heck he'd have married her for the sake of the child. And the baby was still crying. What was he even supposed to do with a baby? He didn't know anything about them, he didn't think he'd ever met a baby. He slumped onto the ground beside the baby, the paper falling from his fingers while the baby still cried. He'd have to do something, the poor thing was clearly upset about something.

He looked down at the baby properly for the first time, an identically colored pair of oddly sized and angled dark chestnut eyes red from crying caught his own immediately and his heart just melted. This was his son, his own flesh and blood child. Carefully, he scooped the little bundle of blankets into his arms drinking in the sight of his son's face. He was adorable with his lopsided mouth and big squishy nose, big ears of differing heights that jutted out of a misshapen angular skull all patchy with extremely dark auburn hair the same shade as the waves falling from Aurelius' own skull. The little feet sticking out of the blankets were clubbed with only four oddly placed toes on each foot at random lengths and angles, a little six fingered hand also with oddly lengthen and angled fingers clutched at his hand as the cries came to a juddering halt.

He didn't know if all babies were supposed to look so odd but he didn't care, his son was perfect to him and the instant rush of love he felt was so overwhelming it drowned out all other emotion. He didn't even fear his parents or care this was supposed to be his OWL year, this was his son and he was going to take care of him no matter what they said. He wanted to take care of him and protect him and make sure he was happy, have a better life then Aurelius had had.

"H-Hi," Aurelius stammered out shakily, smiling at his son through tears he hadn't realized had crept from his eyes while the boy just gazed up at him, "My name's Aurelius, I-I'm your... I'm your... I'm your d-d... I'm your dad. That is so weird to say but I'm your dad, I'm really your dad. Y-You can call me 'Dad' if you want."

The baby said nothing although Aurelius didn't think babies could talk, he just continued staring up at his face as if trying to drink in his appearance as intently as Aurelius was. Maybe he was, Aurelius didn't know what babies thought but he liked to think the fact his son had stopped crying was a good sign. He wondered what the baby thought of him, did he like him? Did he hate him? Did he think he looked funny? Was he annoyed he had taken so long to get him? Did he feel the same rush of love Aurelius felt? Was he cold? Was he scared of the dark? Aurelius didn't feel cold anymore, he didn't feel alone with his child. He cuddled his little boy close, wanting nothing more then to hold him close forever and keep him safe from all the cold and shadows of the night.

"It's okay, you don't have to speak. You can listen if you'd like, some people don't like to. They say I ramble on and it annoys them, it used to annoy your mother and your grandparents. My thoughts are rambling like that, do your thoughts ramble like that? Do babies even have thoughts? I don't know, I would assume so even if it's not quite the same. What do you think?" Aurelius said to his son as he glanced back down to him, the baby continued looking up at him silently making Aurelius' smile widen. He was just so adorable, his son who he already loved so much, more then his parents had ever loved him. He swallowed as more tears rolled down his cheeks before lifting his son and kissing his forehead gently, "I'd like you to listen to this one thing though, baby- I really should name you, shouldn't I? Or do you already have a name? Did Mary- No, let me finish my thought."

His son gurgled and Aurelius lowered him back down, rather shakily as the baby was heavier then he looked. The baby gripped at his hand once more with his minuscule six fingered one, his eyes focusing on his face once more.

"I want you to know that I love you," Aurelius whispered to his child the words is parents had never uttered to him, caressing his cheek lovingly with his thumb as the tears rolled down his cheeks, "I want you to know your dad loves you, I love you so much and I only just laid eyes on you like five minutes ago. That's how precious you are to me, you'll always be loved no matter what happens. Don't ever forgot that, okay? If you don't remember a single other thing I ever say, just remember that you're loved. Your daddy loves you."

His son cooed and whinged, fidgeting in his arms as if uncomfortable in the cold.

"Come on," Aurelius decided, unsteadily pulling himself to his feet but continuing to smile welcomingly at his son, "Let's get you inside, you have a whole house to see."