Chapter One
People everywhere
A sense of expectation hanging in the air
Giving out a spark
September 1st, 1979
Maria Nott née Rosier had lost all of her remaining patience that morning when her husband had taken an hour and a half to get ready for the hospital. By the time they got there, she was rushed to delivery while her husband had been escorted to a waiting room. Everyone had told her that her delivery would be quick. Quick and, with numbing and pain potions, easy.
And they were right, to an extent. Within ten minutes of getting to her room, she'd managed to deliver Theodore Anthony Nott Jr. While he was being quickly cleaned up, she set to work getting the other baby out of her - one Emilie Rose Nott.
Of course, Emilie was perfectly willing to do things on her own terms, and only on her terms.
It took another two hours to deliver her, and by the time she had, Maria had gone through a great deal of emotions in relation to her incoming daughter. She was frustrated, tired, irritated, concerned, scared, but by the time Emilie arrived, she felt nothing more than delighted anticipation.
Finally, four hours after her water broke, Maria held her children in her arms. They each had tufts of thick brown hair on their heads, and the sight made her smile. Her husband had fine, jet black hair, and he'd insisted the twins would look just like him. He might have primacy, he might be in charge of how she'd raise them, but at least they looked like her.
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November 19th, 1984
It had quickly become extremely clear to them that the twins were horribly attached to one another.
Theodore Sr. had done everything he could think of to convince his son to ignore Emilie, but Theo had thrown tantrums, cried, and had powerful instances of accidental magic every time he was refused access to his sister. She, truthfully, wasn't much better. As soon as their accidental magic had destroyed a rather expensive painting that was on loan from a friend, Theodore Sr. gave in and brought Emilie in on Theo's lessons.
The lessons started at a very young age, and were on dark magic, blood purity, politics, but when they were lucky, he'd teach them curse breaking. They spent a great deal of their time going over their lessons, and when they were left with Maria, she took them aside and taught them the truth about blood purity. They were always left with the message to never tell their father, or bad things would happen.
Unfortunately, Emilie was fiery. She had a temper that Theo did his best to control - for her own safety, of course - but there were times, like that day, when it was impossible.
Theodore Sr. had come home, ranting about the muggleborn witch that had gained a seat on the Wizengamot through her Ministry job. He was mid-rant during dinner when Emilie's hair began sparking. He finally glanced at the small girl and the way her fist was clenched on the fork she held so tightly that her knuckles turned white. "Is there a problem, Emilie?"
"They're just people," she told him loudly. Theo grabbed her arm and tugged at it, trying to get her to shut up. She just smacked him away and glared at their father. "She's just a person, Father."
"She is dirty blood," he replied in a tone that suggested she was stepping into dangerous waters. "She has no place in our government."
"Well, what would you have her do instead?"
"Emilie, love, eat your peas," Maria interrupted sharply. "This isn't a conversation for you."
"No, Maria, the girl has a question," Theodore Sr. snarled. He looked at his daughter with narrowed eyes. "I would have her killed. I would have all of them killed. Our family is a pure one, and you will learn that."
"She's just tired," Theo said, kicking her under the table. "I apologize, sir. She didn't mean to talk back."
"See that it doesn't happen again," Theodore Sr. ordered. When Theo nodded, he looked back to his wife and continued on his rant.
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Theo closed the door behind him as quietly as he could manage and walked over to the bed. On it sat a frustrated Emilie, holding a book. He climbed up on the bed and poked her. "How bad was it?"
"Three weeks," she replied quietly. "Are you in trouble, too?"
"Not this time," he assured her. "I'll find you some more books when we're out tomorrow."
She nodded and turned back to her reading silently, so he kissed her cheek and slipped off of the bed and out of the room - he'd stay with her, of course, but it would only make things worse if they got caught.
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March 5th, 1985
Things steadily got worse, but no one really realize just how bad it was until that day.
Theodore Nott Sr wasn't young by any means when he married, and by the time they had kids two years after that - after immense difficulty - he was getting up in age. It was when he turned 94 that year that the emotional and mental abuse took a sharp turn to physical.
It started with Emilie. She was, in general, the bane of his existence. She got in the way of everything he did. He wanted one heir and that was it, but the blood ceremony they'd performed to get pregnant had been a bit too successful, and it had been twins. He had hoped they would both be boys, and that was the first time she'd let him down.
Theo's attachment to her also proved to be a problem. Theo was typically a calm, rational boy who took well to his lessons and was becoming exactly what and who Theodore Sr wanted him to be. The issues only began when Emilie was upset. When she was upset, Theo became difficult. He did everything he could to get her what she wanted, and only when she was happy again would he cooperate.
Beyond his son, Theodore Sr found his wife was enamored with the girl. She had flat out refused to allow him to kill her when she had been born, and had even threatened to call Aurors. It had been a calculated decision when he chose to not risk the involvement of Aurors. He could pay them off, of course, but risking that information getting out? He wasn't willing to do that.
Staring at the child in front of him as she glared at him and held an unfamiliar boy behind her, he thought he rather regretted letting her live.
Theodore Sr reached down and grabbed her throat and yanked her away from the boy until she stood at his side. He spoke to her, his tone dark, but glared at the boy. "Is this boy a muggle?"
"Father, he was just selling candy!" she exclaimed, tears rolling down her cheeks. "Theo's gone, I just wanted to play. I'm bored."
"Answer me, Emilie Rose!" he yelled loudly. She winced and nodded silently.
"I won't let him in again," she promised through her crying. "I'm sorry. He won't come over again."
"Damn right, he won't," Theodore Sr said, his voice low and, to Emilie, terrifying. He held the back of her neck with a strong, painful grip and with the other hand, he grabbed his wand and pointed it at the boy.
"Father, no!" she exclaimed. She tried to jump forward to shield him, but he held much too strongly onto her. She watched with mute horror as a green spell hit the boy and he fell to the ground. Her eyes widened in fear and she stared at the boy's body, even as Theodore Sr got to his knees directly in front of her. He grabbed her roughly and made her look at him.
"You will never bring one of them in here again," he whispered. "If you do, I will kill you and the muggle. Do you understand?"
Shaking and crying, she nodded. Finally, he released her. Without a moment's hesitation, she ran out of the room and up the stairs to her bedroom, where she stayed until her mother and brother got home. When they got there, Theo went to her room to comfort her immediately - the twin bond they shared had informed him long ago of the terror running through her. At some point while they were talking, the door was locked from the outside, so they stayed there for hours until Maria came to get them and take them to their Uncle Evan, where they stayed for a week.
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November 23rd, 1985
Over the next few months, things escalated at home.
Maria put herself between Theodore Sr. and the twins often, and it tended to result in being cursed, hit, or otherwise hurt. Theo was typically free of harm unless he got between his father and sister, but it was never bad. Emilie, being as deeply hated as she was, found herself the usual target of Theodore Sr.'s fury. She found herself with broken bones, cuts and bruises, and a few dark curses that Maria would take her to their uncle to fix. Evan did so, each time insisting that she come live with him and break the contract. She never did.
Evan was banned from Nott Manor when he floo'd over in the middle of Theodore Sr. losing his temper. The elder man had sent a very dark curse at Emilie that certainly would've killed her. Evan had put up a blood shield in front of his niece, and he'd taken her home with him until Maria had arrived and begged him to let her come home.
Theodore Sr. had taken to the Wizengamot to keep Evan away from his children. In the end, they'd settled on a restraining order that kept Evan off of Nott property and, nearly always, away from the kids. It had led to a loud fight between Evan and Maria, and she'd been forced by Theodore Sr. to cut ties with her brother.
The issue with that was that Evan was nowhere near finished with trying to protect his niece and nephew. He went to Augustus Rookwood, a senior Auror, and gave a statement of the incidents. Since it involved two Ancient and Noble Houses, the case was thrown up to Amelia Bones, the Head of the DMLE.
The day that news of the case reached Theodore Sr., things escalated once more.
Maria was home with the twins, working on politics - particularly, alliances. All three of them looked up when the door opened and Theodore Sr. stalked into the room, his wand already out and pointed at Emilie. He was in the middle of casting a curse when Maria put up a shield in front of the three of them and jumped to her feet. "Theodore, don't!"
"That worthless bitch has ruined our lives!" Theodore Sr. exclaimed furiously. His hand shook, but his wand was still pointed at Emilie. "Our reputation!"
"She's just a child," Maria insisted. "She's done nothing!"
"Because of her, Evan has gone to the DMLE!" he snapped at his wife. "He is trying to take away my heir!"
Maria stepped forward cautiously, her hands in the air to calm him down. "Please, love, I can handle him. It isn't Emilie's fault."
"If you could control your brother, he wouldn't have opened a case," Theodore Sr. disagreed.
Everything happened very quickly and very slowly at the same time. His anger spiked when he caught sight of Emilie shifting closer to Theo. He stepped to the side to get a clear shot at her. He threw a Sectumsempra at her.
It didn't hit her.
Instead, it hit Maria as she threw herself in front of her daughter. She fell to the ground directly in front of the twins as the spell split her open and blood came pouring out at an alarming rate.
Within seconds, she was dead.
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November 25th, 1985
The funeral was large.
The entire pureblood world was invited, and they all came. The details of her death were swiftly covered up by a fellow Death Eater that worked for the Ministry, who also went to the trouble of using an Imperius to convince Amelia to throw out the child abuse case. By the end of the week, any ministry officials that had known about the case had been Obliviated or otherwise manipulated to forget it.
It was at the funeral that Theo and Emilie were introduced to other children their age. Interacting with other kids wasn't something they did almost ever, but as they were brought to the funeral, they met them.
The first person they met was Blaise Zabini and his mother, Elora. The twins wandered out into the lobby and away from their father, who didn't mind at all. They ran into the Zabinis just as they entered the funeral home.
"Hello, dears," Elora smiled kindly. They'd been told about her - she was essentially a human siren, and currently between husbands. She didn't hold much power, but her family was very old and therefore to be respected. "How are you both doing?"
It was a question they'd been asked numerous times already. Theo glanced at his sister and then back at the woman. "Okay."
"This is Blaise," she introduced, patting her son's back. "He's your age."
"Hello," Blaise greeted, looking bored. He was tapping his leg with the back of his hand rapidly, as if he had been taught to keep still but found it extremely difficult. "Are you twins?"
"Yes, we are," Theo replied. Emilie was frowning at Blaise.
"Have you never met twins before?"
"No. I wasn't sure they were real."
"Where is your father?" Elora interrupted. She looked at them and the way they stiffened slightly and made a mental note of it. Children were the most telling creatures on the planet, aside from Gryffindors.
"Father was with Lady Longbottom, last I saw," Theo managed. His lips were thin, and there was an odd amount of anger in him for being five.
"Come, Blaise," Elora instructed. "You can speak with them later."
Complaining slightly, Blaise stepped away from the twins and followed his mother. She stopped just inside the room and glanced around the make sure there was nobody nearby.
"Blaise, I want you to befriend them," she said.
"They seem boring."
"Their mother just passed," she scolded. "They're sad. You will befriend them."
"Yes, Mother."
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The second person they met was Draco Malfoy and his parents, Lucius and Narcissa. They were essentially royalty in the Wizarding world since the Black and Potter families fell. They were dark aligned, and Lucius had been one of Voldemort's closest Death Eaters along with Bellatrix Lestrange and Regulus Black.
"Hello," Narcissa smiled at them kindly. "We're very sorry for your loss."
"Thank you, Lady Malfoy," Emilie replied quietly.
"Thank you for coming," Theo agreed.
"I'm Draco," the blonde boy shoved his hand out. Purely because he stood directly in front of her, Emilie automatically shook it. His grip was strong for such a young child, and she let out a small gasp of pain when he irritated one of the many injuries Theodore Sr. had given her the day Maria had died. She pulled her hand back abruptly and looked at Theo with wide eyes.
"Are you alright, Miss Nott?" Lucius questioned. Narcissa was looking at her skeptically, having been raised a Black. More than that, she was only a year older than Sirius and had watched him punished and injured over and over.
"She's fine," Theo said, just a little too quickly. "Hit her hand earlier is all."
The small family stepped away shortly after, but they didn't get far before Narcissa grabbed her husband's arm and stopped him. "Lucius, there's something wrong with them."
"She hit her hand, Cissa. It's nothing."
"You heard the rumors," she disagreed sharply. "Evan is not one to move boldly. Accusing one of the eldest Ancient and Noble Houses of child abuse is political suicide. And do you see him here?"
"He was kept away from Maria for lying," he insisted. "I'm sure they're fine."
"Then there won't be a problem if Draco gets close to them," she decided firmly. "Besides, you've yet to begin searching for someone for him, and she seems lovely."
"We've barely spoken two words to her, Narcissa," he sighed.
"Lucius," she frowned at him darkly. "We will protect these kids."
"And if they don't need protecting?"
"Then Draco has two new friends, and there's no harm done."
Shaking his head, he led her further into the room, and she let him. She'd won the argument, and they both knew it.
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Finally, they met two young girls - Daphne and Astoria Greengrass. Their parents, Daniel and Emma, approached them with kind, sad smiles.
"You must be Maria's kids," Emma said in greeting. She looked over them quickly and nodded. "Yes, certainly her kids. You've got her hair and her eyes."
"Your hair is pretty," Daphne agreed, smiling at Emilie.
Daniel offered them a wink and pulled them out of the lobby. As they walked away, Emma leaned over to him.
"I think we'll have to set up a playdate," she informed him. "With everything that's been said about them, and losing their mother, they'll need good female influences."
"Of course," Daniel agreed, patting her hand gently. "We'll set it up soon."
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August 1st, 1991
All of them held their word.
Theo and Emilie suddenly found themselves with four new friends with which they spent a great majority of their time, as time spent at home always resulted in punishments from Theodore Sr. They still had their lessons with him, but also had lessons with Blaise, Draco, Daphne, and Astoria.
It was slightly startling to them to suddenly have so many others in their lives. Their twin bond was a strong one, and they tended to use it to communicate. It was a habit they didn't even realize was there, but suddenly were informed of when Draco had asked them why they were just staring at one another.
Over the years, all of their parents had attempted to get them taken away. Evan hadn't stopped, either. The only times he managed to see the twins was when he conveniently had a business meeting with their friends' parents while they were over.
In the end, Lucius, Narcissa, Elora, Daniel, and Emma had gotten together to talk about the situation. It had been prompted when Theo had been sent over to Malfoy Manor alone and had begun crying in fear that Emilie would be killed. With all of their legal options run out and in fear of the same situation that had gotten Maria killed happening again, the group decided to befriend Theodore Nott Sr. It was how they'd found themselves collectively raising the twins, not with Theodore Sr. but in spite of him.
Theodore Sr. didn't mind. In fact, he'd left them both to jump between the three houses the entire summer. It was a month before school began, and all of the friends had landed in Greengrass Manor to be taken to Diagon Alley together. It was Elora, Narcissa, and Daniel that gathered to take care of all of them, and they all took the floo to Diagon Alley, where they promptly split up.
Draco and Emilie wanted to go shopping for their robes first to get it out of the way, while Theo, Blaise, and Daphne wanted to get their wands. So, Narcissa took Draco and Emilie while Elora and Daniel took Theo, Blaise, and Daphne.
They stepped into Madame Malkin's and Emilie let out an immediate groan. "It's so busy already."
"It's back to school, Nott," Draco rolled his eyes. While Narcissa wandered off to find someone to help them, he stepped up and prepared to be measured. There was a ring of bells that signified someone had entered, but they both ignored it. "Are you going to complain all day?"
"Yes," she answered honestly. She caught his outer robes when he threw them to her and scowled. "I'm not your elf, Malfoy."
"You look like one," he raised an eyebrow at her. She didn't take the bait and just rolled her eyes.
"Draco," Narcissa scolded. "Be nice to Emilie."
"Sorry, Mum."
Narcissa came to stand next to the young girl while Madame Malkin began measuring Draco silently. She rubbed Emilie's back with a smile. "Now, I need to step over to Gringott's quickly. Can I leave you both here without trouble?"
"Yes, Mum," Draco promised. Narcissa's eyes shifted to Emilie.
"And you'll be fine without Theo?"
"I'm perfectly able to be apart from him," she said, careful not to roll her eyes. "I'll be fine. Thank you."
"Behave," Narcissa instructed before stepping out of the shop. Once she was gone, Draco snickered at Emilie.
"She thinks you're going to lose it."
"I'm going to smack you is what I'm going to do," she muttered, crossing her arms. "Careful measuring his big head, Madame Malkin, you might need an extra large tape measurer."
"I'm sure I'll do just fine, dear," Madame Malkin chuckled. The two kids quieted for a moment as she had Draco shift around a bit. There was a tap on her shoulder, and Draco caught sight of her wincing. His eyes shot to the boy that tapped her, and he clenched his hands into fists.
"Hey, don't touch her," he called. The black-haired boy looked at him with wide eyes, and Emilie backed up until she stood next to Draco. When she was close enough, he slipped his hand into her own and gripped it tight.
"Oh I'm sorry," the boy said, looking truly apologetic. "I was just going to ask… I've never been here before."
"Well, where's your Mum? She can help you. Emilie isn't the help."
"My Mum's dead," he said flatly.
Emilie offered him a kind smile. "So's mine. It's fine. Draco's being helped but you can get up and wait. I don't really mind putting it off."
"How do I…?"
She carefully pulled her hand out of her friend's and waved at the small stand next to Draco. "Just stand up there. You don't have outer robes, so there's no need to take them off and throw them at your friends like some people here."
He got up next to Draco and offered her a nervous smile. "Thanks. I'm Harry."
"Emilie," she introduced with a small curtsey. "This is Draco."
"If you've never been here before, then are you a mud-," Emilie reached out and pinched his arm. Hard. He let out a small cough. "-muggleborn?"
"A… what?" he asked, confused.
"Muggleborn," Draco repeated.
Emilie laughed a little. "I doubt repeating it will help him understand, Draco. A muggleborn is a person born from parents without magic. Someone without magic is a muggle."
"Oh," Harry nodded his understanding quickly. "Well, not really. I was raised by my muggle aunt and uncle, but my parents had magic. They died when I was young, though."
"Couldn't you have been given to magical relatives?" she asked in confusion. "I mean, my brother and I- well it's complicated, but after Mum died, Uncle Evan tried really hard to get custody of us."
"I don't… think I have magical relatives."
"Everyone is related to everyone," Draco scoffed. "I think Nott is my sixth cousin or something. What's your last name? I'd bet we know."
"Oh, it's Potter."
The friends exchanged a disbelieving glance.
"Harry Potter," Draco said, unsure. "Really?"
Harry looked between them. "Yeah…"
"Potter," Emilie said thoughtfully. "Well, your grandmother was Dorea Potter née Black, so you're a Black. Her brother was Pollux Black, whose daughter was Walburga- didn't she die recently?"
"Mum said something about her dying," Draco confirmed. "Last year, I think."
"Well, Walburga had two sons. One is dead and one is in Azkaban, but he'd be your closest relative."
"Aside from bloody Sirius Black," Draco scoffed at her. "Who he clearly wouldn't go to, there's Aunt Bellatrix."
"Bellatrix?" Emilie laughed. "He'd be more likely to go to bloody Regulus."
"The dead Death Eater."
"Dumbledore would never put Harry Merlin-loving Potter with Bellatrix is all I'm saying. No, if no one else was available, I'd guess Andromeda. She's light, she was disowned, so her claim to him would be… difficult, but she's certainly not likely to raise him the same way any other Black member was raised."
"Dumbledore wouldn't put him with her, either," Draco disagreed. They'd all but forgotten about Harry in their small debate, and he was staring at them, totally lost. "He wouldn't want him close to that family at all. There's a reason it fell, Em."
"It hasn't officially fallen until you're dead with no heir," she disagreed stubbornly. "You might be right, though. The issue is, there's no other Potters alive."
"Which brings us to the reason Dumbledore must've put him with muggles," Draco waved at Harry.
"Who are those people?" he finally managed.
"Your family," Draco informed him. "Congratulations, you're related to the most messed up Ancient and Noble House there is."
"Ancient and-," Harry blinked. "I don't understand."
"It's okay," Emilie assured him. "I only know all of that because, distantly, you and Draco are cousins, too, and I was there while he was learning about it."
"So you guys aren't related?" he wondered. "He's not your brother, I mean."
"Merlin, no," Draco scoffed. "Her? She's too bloody annoying to survive for more than a week."
"Draco, I've spent months at a time with you."
"And look how it's worn me down."
Emilie took in a breath and resisted the urge to smack him. Instead, she offered Harry a polite smile. "I do have a brother. His name is Theo, and he'll be in our year. He's with our friends getting his wand right now."
Madame Malkin was finishing up with Draco while someone else moved over to help Harry, having just arrived to their shift. Finally, Draco jumped down and Emilie made her way up. "When was the last time I measured you, dear?"
"Three months ago for Lord Black's funeral, I think."
"Shouldn't be too difficult," Madame Malkin muttered to herself. "Much quicker than Mister Malfoy."
"So, what House do you want to be in?" Draco asked Harry, who frowned slightly.
"Well… I don't know. I don't really know much about them."
"Your parents were both Gryffindors," Emilie informed him.
"How do you know?"
"Each House sort of has families associated with them. For Gryffindor, it's Potters and Weasleys. For Slytherin, it's Blacks and Malfoys," Draco said. He puffed up his chest proudly at the end.
"The Bones' are usually Hufflepuffs," Emilie agreed. "And Ravenclaw- oh, I'm not sure."
"They're a picky House," Draco waved her off. "I'm going to be a Slytherin like my parents! My Mum was a Black, so I embody both Houses."
"I'll probably be in Slytherin or Ravenclaw," Emilie agreed softly. "I wish Theo could go first so I can make sure we're in the same House."
"I like the idea of Gryffindor," Harry offered tentatively. "Being brave and all."
"Foolish is more like it," Draco muttered, earning himself a glare from his friend.
"A lot of people go to the Houses their parents were in," Emile allowed. She glanced back when Madame Malkin dropped her hands and stepped down next to Draco.
"Come back in two hours and I'll have these ready," the woman assured them both.
"Hey, sit with us on the train," Emilie requested. Harry looked at them, startled, but nodded. The pair stepped out of the shop, and Draco made a face at her.
"Did you have to do that?"
"Your father will be pleased if you befriend him," she said with a small grin. "If I befriend him, you at least have access to him and a potential alliance when we're of age."
"I'm perfectly content with our friends now," he shot back. The pair made their way toward Gringott's and, despite his irritation, he reached out to grab her arm so they wouldn't be separated. "And you should be, too."
"I am," she shrugged. "He's alone, did you notice?"
"So? Maybe his aunt went somewhere."
"A muggle?" she argued. "Unlikely. He didn't even know what muggleborn means."
Draco looked at her but dropped the subject. They weren't likely to agree, and while he typically enjoyed riling her up, doing so without Theo there was a bad idea.
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