Early afternoon sunlight swept through Flat 203, Salamith's Apartments. The flat was as small as expected. However, it felt airy and open since the few furnishings were all in light and neutral colours. Alora sat at a white desk pressed against a window in the main room of her flat.
Alora had settled in comfortably in new housing. An assortment of papers laid on the table next to the seats in the living space behind the desk. The fridge and cabinets in the kitchenette on the large windows' opposite wall held her favourite muggle groceries. Her few muggle clothes and wizarding robes hung in a small closet in the bedroom. All her toiletries were stored in a drawer underneath the small bathroom sink.
Alora slid a marker into the book she was reading before closing it. It was Monday, the day she would be meeting Lord Rivers. Hopefully, she could plant a few ideas, and perhaps establish an alliance of sorts.
After taking a shower and changing into her cloud grey robe, Alora stood in front of the bathroom's mirror and took one sip of the Ageing Potion. As Alora aged twenty years, her robe grew with her, perfectly adapting to her older body. She threw floo powder into the fireplace back in the main room and called out, "Rivers Manor!"
Alora felt the sensation resembling being sucked down a giant drain, and she felt as though she were spinning and all she could hear was the thunderous roar of being teleported through space. When it suddenly stopped, Alora quickly caught herself to avoid falling. She brushed the soot off her robes and looked up to meet the faces of Lord and Lady Rivers.
The location of the meeting Dominic had planned was a sort of test, in a way. The floo network allowed anyone to enter any public place. But for residences, the floo network generally only let you in if you meant no harm to the inhabitants, and if you have permission. So Dominic was glad that the witch had passed without any problems.
Dominic was a bit surprised upon seeing the witch's bright ocean green eyes and ash-brown locks. He had assumed she would be much older, but she didn't even look thirty. His wife, Cassandra, had been quite shocked when she was told they only had a few days to prepare for a meeting with a great witch.
Dominic composed himself and said, "Good afternoon, Lady..."
"Lady Emrys will do, anything more would be a bit of a mouthful," the witch said with a smile. "Good to see you again, Lord Rivers. A pleasure to meet you, Lady Rivers."
"And you, Lady Emrys," Cassandra replied. Cassandra was quite intimidated by the witch. She was stunning and held perfect poise. She looked exactly like the ideal pureblood lady every house dreamed of making. Cassandra didn't let her emotions show, however. "Should we take this conversation to the drawing room?"
"That would be great," the witch said.
Alora carefully hid her wonder at the beautiful entrance hall. The Rivers Manor was known as one of the greatest manors, on par with the Malfoy, Potter, and Black manors. Alora followed Lord and Lady Rivers across the hall and to the drawing room.
The drawing room was mostly lit by large windows, each with a view of the gardens below. Alora sat across Lord and Lady Rivers on a leather couch when gestured to.
"You have a beautiful home," Alora said.
"Thank you," Lord Rivers replied.
"We are delighted to have you here," Lady Rivers said.
There was a brief moment of silence in which Alora looked between the two sitting across her. She knew exactly what she needed out of this meeting; she just had to say it correctly.
"So," Lord Rivers started, "You were interested in the Neutrals? A negotiation, or agreement perhaps?"
"Well, the reason I requested this meeting with you is that I believe we have common political opinions."
Lord Rivers looked intrigued at this, and he asked, "Oh? And what are those?"
"I am strongly against both the Light and the Dark. I aim to keep the world from bigotry and violence just as much as I aim to keep us from a tyrannical government."
This was marvellous news to Dominic. He imagined that Lady Emrys could have easily aligned herself with the Dark due to her Slytherin line or with the Light due to her Gryffindor line. To have her align with the Neutrals, well, maybe then the Neutrals could be saved.
"We do share our political views," Dominic acknowledged. "You are Neutral, then?"
"No," Lady Emrys bluntly said.
"You are not?" Cassandra confusedly repeated.
"That is correct. I am not Neutral. Neutrality suggests that you are neither helping nor attacking either side in this political fight. In other words, it suggests impartiality. How can you ever expect to stay strong, to achieve anything if you do not take action?"
Dominic blinked. "We are only trying to keep either side from winning," he said, even as his mind automatically began to ponder the issues with his position.
"But that has clearly not worked well. To truly keep both the Light and the Dark at bay, we need goals. We need something to work towards. We need to take action instead of remaining neutral."
Dominic and Cassandra thought over her words for a few moments. She had a point... The Neutrals were now unable to keep the seesaw balanced. But if they could alter the Wizengamot from a teetering seesaw to a three-way fight, assuming they could have a stable stance, then it would keep the world from falling to the Dark or the Light.
Dominic looked over and found his wife's eyes full of agreement. Dominic turned back to Lady Emrys. "I see your point. And it's true that at this rate we will likely collapse. But, such a strong movement depends highly on you. We have never seen you before—well...who are you?"
Yes! This was precisely what Alora had been hoping for. Alora knew that Lord Rivers was an honest and open-minded man. And now he was willing to listen to Alora's ideas after she had pointed out a fault. After what she would reveal to them, they would only become firmer on her side. Alora would be keeping some things to herself, that's for sure, but now it was safe to share her identity.
"It is a bit of a long story, and you may not believe it unless you see it for yourselves. Could we use your Pensieve?"
Pensieves were scarce items. All the current ones had been passed down for centuries due to no one being able to recreate one. Only ten were known to exist in Magical Britain, one at Hogwarts, two in a shop in Diagon Alley, and the other seven in various old families. One being the Rivers.
Lord Rivers agreed, and both he and his wife stood up. Lord Rivers made his way over to a cabinet and pulled the Pensieve out from inside. He brought it over and placed it on a table next to the couches.
Alora stood and walked up to stand in front of the Pensieve. She took her wand out from inside her sleeve and touched the tip to her temple. She brought the memories she wanted to share to the front of her mind and then extracted a copy of the memories with her wand. She placed the memories inside the metal basin, where they formed a silvery substance.
Alora stepped slightly to the side to look at Lord and Lady Rivers. "Go ahead," she said. "These are memories from when I was very young, and it will explain who I am."
Lord Rivers nodded and then reached out to touch the substance. He disappeared in a flash, as did Lady Rivers when she immediately followed him into Alora's memories.
Alora sat back onto the leather couch. Inside the basin, she had placed a few visions, passing them off as just early memories. The first was of Lily and James Potter holding their twin babies, one where they mention both of their names. The second memory she included was when Voldemort attacked Godric's Hollow, ensuring she showed both Voldemort choosing Alora and Dumbledore locking her magic away— declaring Jaxon the Boy-Who-Lived. The third and final memory she included was the Potters abandoning her to the muggle world.
A few minutes later, Lord and Lady Rivers both emerged from Alora's memories. It was plainly evident to Alora that they were shocked .
Lord Rivers opened and closed his mouth a few times, disbelief evident on his face until Lady Rivers broke the silence. "So...the Potters had twins , you're the twin of Jaxon Potter ," Lady Rivers began, physically pulling herself together.
"Who isn't even the Boy-Who-Lived, because You-Know-Who attacked you that night, not Jaxon," Lord Rivers continued.
"That's exactly correct," Alora said, as Lord and Lady Rivers made their way back to the leather couch across Alora.
After they were seated, Lord Rivers said, "So you are the one who vanquished him... and Dumbledore knew... what exactly did he do? Why did he call your twin the vanquisher?"
A glint of anger flashed in Alora's eyes for the briefest of moments before she explained, "The spell you saw Dumbledore cast on me, it was a magical core-binding spell."
"What!? Why? Taking away someone's magic... that's just the worst thing one can do," Lady Rivers looked absolutely appaled at this. Abandoning squibs was one thing, but turning someone into a squib was a whole other level.
Lord Rivers looked equally appaled at this and said, "But why?" He paused. "Surely he must have had some reasoning," he added carefully.
Alora sighed and asked, "Do you know why Voldemort attacked us in the first place?" They both slightly flinched at the name.
"Not really... we just assumed it was because the Potters were resisting You-Know-Who," Lord Rivers said.
Alora leaned back in the couch before beginning the explanation. "It was because of a prophecy. A prophecy made to Albus Dumbledore, which one of Voldemort's Death Eaters happened to overhear. It spoke of a child born at the end of July who would have the power to defeat Voldemort. It said that he would mark them as his equal, and that either the child would kill Voldemort, or that Voldemort would kill the child.
"When Dumbledore overheard the prophecy, he sent my family into hiding for protection, along with the Longbottoms—the two families the prophecy could be referring to. But he also made a decision—quite a foolish one at that.
"He decided that whomever the prophecy referred to, whoever would match Voldemort as an equal, that they would be too powerful. So when he found out that I was the child of the prophecy, he made sure that I couldn't become powerful. He made sure that I would be helpless.
"But as you can see, he failed. I broke out of the magical block and acquired my ladyships."
Some of the initial shock on Lord and Lady Rivers' faces was slightly replaced by anger. "He blocked your magic, just because he feared your power, what you could do with it?" Lord Rivers said in dismay.
"Yes. And it was his greatest mistake. Because now, I don't only want to overcome the Light and the Dark because of their ideals. He has now made a more personal quest. I strongly desire to get back at both Albus Dumbledore and Lord Voldemort."
At the last part of her declaration, they both became suddenly confused. Although Lord Rivers slowly started to understand.
"But he's dead... right? You already killed him?" Lady Rivers asked, growing more uncertain by the second.
"He's not dead. You saw a sort of black mist escape when the spell rebounded. That was him; He's not quite alive, he's weak and vulnerable, but not dead. He will, at some point, regain his strength and come back."
"I did have my suspicions...," Lord Rivers said dejectedly.
Just then, Alora felt her body begin to shrink. The Ageing Potion was wearing off. Lord and Lady Rivers started disbelievingly.
"I-," Lord Rivers attempted to form words before giving up to continue to stare.
"Of course, you're the same age as Jaxon Potter...," Lady Rivers muttered quietly. "But how can you be? I believe that Potter has just turned eight," she spoke clearer.
Lord Rivers shook his head before saying, "You act nothing like what a child does. How are you so mature? So... clever and adultlike?"
Alora let a small smirk shine on her face. "My maturity, cleverness, powerfulness all matches or may even rise above most adults. But as for why, well it is a family secret. I will say, however, that it is for the same reason that I acquired ladyships, and especially this young."
'Well, this is a lot to take in, Lady Emrys," Lord Rivers said. His face showed many emotions, but most evident was the fact that he believed her. And that he appeared relatively willing to change a few things.
"Please, call me Alora," Alora interjected.
Lady Rivers smiled and said, "Then call us Dominic and Cassandra."
A few moments passed in a non-awkward silence before Dominic spoke again. "Your plan then, Alora, is to establish goals, to quit standing aside." Alora nodded.
Cassandra thoughtfully added, "You have enough raw political power just with the seats you hold. Our goals would need to be brought in front of the Wizengamot by you. Then, be backed by the house of Rivers, and the rest of the Neutrals."
"That is what I had thought," Alora agreed.
Dominic said, "As soon as we have agreed on what these goals should be, then we need to present them to the rest of us. I am sure that they will back us in this. And perhaps we could even sway a few houses from the Dark and the Light which stand a bit closer to the edge."
Alora smiled brightly. "You agree then?"
"Yes," Dominic said. "There are a lot of things we have to think about, things to discuss and do, but I agree." He added more as an afterthought, "And this may be the only way to save our predicament."
The three had been so intent in their discussion that they failed to hear the soft opening of the drawing room door.
"Mother, Father, who is that?"
They all wheeled around to face the direction of the voice. A little girl with beachy blonde hair stood in the doorway—her bright blue-grey eyes filled with wonder.
"Estella! I have told you not to enter this room when the door is closed," her mother reprimanded.
As Alora continued to study the girl in the doorway, she recalled seeing the older version of her in her visions. The Rivers family had attempted to stay away from the war. But Alora recalled Estella, unfortunately, getting caught up amidst it.
Dominic turned from his daughter and looked back at Alora. "This is Estella, our second oldest. I believe she is your age..." He left the question unasked.
Alora slightly tilted her head before saying, "Then she will be going to Hogwarts with me in three years." She looked back at Estella who now carried a slightly confused but curiosity filled look. Alora would need allies during her Hogwarts years, after all. Estella would make a good one. Considering that she was the daughter of the leaders of the Neutrals, she would already be respected among their year mates.
Alora made up her mind and smiled at the beachy blonde girl. "Nice to meet you, Estella. I'm Alora."