Helen Lilian Potter decides to use the train in Kings Cross after Voldemort hit her with the killing curse, against the vehement protests of Dumbledore - while trying to stop her and send her back to earth, Dumbledores curse hits Helen and she is thrown of the platform and into the white fog. She awakes in the body of Lady Helen Lilian Malfoy, her counterpart in this world - alternate Helen had been pressured into marrying Draco Malfoy at 16 shortly after her parents and godfather died. Now at 18 the alternate Helen had been turned into a meek and broken trophy wife. She died during child birth, giving life to triplet girls. Helen, now a new mother of three little girls in a different world, with less than sanitary conditions sees her chance to flee and build herself a good life in the death of her husband and his father (his mother already deceased) during the invasion of England and flees with the triplets (Andromeda, Cassiopeia und Narcissa ; nearly a year old), the Malfoy family fortune and her maids to Greece. From there she boards a spanish ship that takes her and her companions to Australia. At the end of the 8 month journey the spanish ship is nearly destroyed in a storm and Helen and her companions go from board at the Chinese port where they start building themselves a new existence
Helens gets the news of the death of Malfoy from a dragon rider – she nearly faints not because of Malfoys death but because she knows what that means for her daughters and her – the Malfoy line was without a direct male heir and so the manor and the title as well as the money would go to the next male relative, sb living in London – she knows she only has a few months if not weeks time to press as much money out of the things she can sell– because after that she would have to remarry and her daughters would most likely be engaged as soon as possible after the funeral and then raised by the families of their fiances – she can't touch the family fortune because she is sure it's monitored by the bankers and the soon to be Lord Malfoy. She confines in Beth, her closest friend and they decide to leave England with the girls – Beth doesn't have close family and the other relatives think of her as a burden.- Because of the upcoming funeral there are a lot of so called friends and family members that Helen never had met before who wish to give her their condolences – the servants have a lot to do - this is the perfect chance for Beth to bring as much small things out of the Manor to be sold as possible – Helens jewelry is going to be the last because her other handmaidens would discover it if it went missing – a lot of valuable flower vases that Lord Malfoy had locked away to prevent their destruction is squirreled away by the seventeen year old male servant Matthew that discovered the plan of the two woman and sees it as his duty to accompany them and protect them – he is an orphan as well – Helen discovers the vault under the drawing room in which they find gold and jewelry, as well as paintings and a few pocket watches.
King's Cross
Silence fell between the former headmaster of Hogwarts and Helen as the young women was mulling over the facts Dumbledore had just given her. In her mind she suddenly saw Dumbledore's actions in the last seven years in a new light, every horrible situation during her school time was one test or another.
Manipulated, her whole life she had been a puppet on invisible strings. From the second the prophecy was given by the fraud Trelawney, until the moment she was hit with Voldemort's killing curse. Every major event was in some way directed by this bloody bastard that was standing in front of her with his benevolent smile.
Said puppeteer was expecting the girl-who-lived to come to the decision to go back and defeat Voldemort, to the, in his opinion, right decision. But said girl-who-lived was tired, Ron's betrayal and Hermione's death were still fresh on her mind. For the love of Merlin, why should she go back to save a world that didn't believe her, ridiculed her, hated her or changed their opinion from one moment to the next and hailed her as their savior!
No she had enough. She wanted to go onward and see her parents, Sirius and Hermione again. No more fighting.
With a resolute nod Helen turned back to the deceased headmaster. "I want to go onward" she stated clearly.
"Of course my dear,… wait what? No, no, no you have to go back! Everybody is waiting for you!"
"No thank you headmaster, I want to meet my parents, I'm tired of fighting.", with that reply Helen made a step to the white Hogwarts express that was parked on the rails of 9¾.
"No you can't, I will not allow this foolishness girl!", the angry spoken sentence was the only warning Helen got before a spell shot in her direction.
Determined to not let this barmy old man force her into another one of his schemes, Helen started to sprint to the train door, while shooting stunners and tripping hexes at the surprisingly agile old man. While turning her head back to her escape passage, Helen missed a tripping curse that was sent to her feet. Said tripping curse was very poorly aimed and instead of hitting her in the back it only caught her left lower foot. The impact made the girl-who lived stumble and with a chocked gasp Helen over the platform and into the endless white.
The last thing she heard was the enraged cry of the old headmaster.
White
While gliding through the endless white around her Helen felt her magic slowly disappear. The one thing Helen could always rely on was now disappearing, was this her punishment for escaping her destiny?
Forever gliding through this whiteness? Without her ability to move or to use magic?
In this endless Helen felt useless and after a near unimaginable time span she started hearing a voice, "I can't, I can't do this anymore, I want it to stop, oh please my lord, make it stop!"
Slowly Helen started to see a scene in front of her. It was as if she was seeing through a dirty glass pane, in front of her there was a big room decorated in a baroque style. On the right side there was a big bed from where the pleading sounds where coming from. Helen couldn't make out every detail of the women's face, but she could see that she was heavily pregnant. And judging by the frantic women around her, she was just giving birth.
Willing herself closer, Helen was now drifting over the right side of the bed. The scene was becoming clearer and clearer and she finally could make out more noises then the frantic pleas of the black haired woman.
"Please my lady, only a few more pushes than everything is over!" a blonde woman, dressed in a brown dress and white apron said while wiping the sweat of the black haired women's forehead.
Strange, Helen could now see everything clearly, just the black haired woman was blurred. Said woman was completely exhausted and turned her head away from her maid while gasping for air. Leaving the scene behind her Helen followed one of the maids out of the room, behind the big double doors she could see the bustling atmosphere of a big household. Maids were fetching towels, hot water and one medicine after the other. The butler and the few male servants were carrying more wood into the house to keep the temperature steady. Through the window Helen could see a snow storm brewing.
The maid that just left the birthing room was intercepted by the grim looking butler, "How are things Annie?".
The harried maid turned to the rigid butler and said, "It doesn't look good. Lady Helen has been in labor for more than three days. She is completely exhausted and the baby doesn't seem to come out.", and with a hasty curtsy she was on her way to fetch the smelling salt.
'Lady Helen?' Helen tilted her head and went back to the first room. Coming closer until she nearly touched the heavily panting woman she looked her directly into the face, and nearly started hyperventilating, that was her! Or well at least a double with her name.
But why was she here? To see herself in another dimension give birth? Yes other dimension, Helen didn't know exactly from where this knowledge came but she knew that this was happening in a different dimension.
Another hour had gone by and her other self slowly was losing her last strength, her breath was reduced to a pathetic wheeze, until she finally stopped breathing completely and her soul began to leave her body. The moment around her froze until the two Helens stood across from each other.
"You are me, aren't you?" the soft voice startled the ex-girl-who-lived out of her musings.
"Yes, I come from a different dimension, I got lost on the way to the afterlife, but yes we are essentially the same, that's why I could come to you, your dying body drew my soul in.", n her mind Helen's thoughts were racing, how did she KNEW this? Was that an afterlife bonus to be all knowledgeable about things pertaining death?
"Ah, and are you going to the afterlife now?", Helens softer counterpart asked.
"No, I can't. I drifted here by accident, and I will continue to drift until another dying counterpart will draw me to her last moments on earth.", the sentence was said bitterly, she just wanted to see her loved ones again, hell even just living again and building a new live would be better than this drifting through whiteness.
As if her other self had read her thoughts she asked, "Would you be able to take my place? It's not a happy life with that accursed husband of mine, but you would no longer drift around, and my baby needs to be birthed and later will need a mother.", at her last comment the newly deceased looked sadly unto her bloated belly, "After all I can't go back any more, so please take my place and bring my baby in to this world!", she suddenly pleaded desperately.
"I can't do that I'm not ready to be a mother I have no idea what to do!" the now panicked ex witch shouted, but looking at the desperate face of her counterpart she finally caved in "I… hmm well okay, I will take your place and take care of your child but I can't promise that I will be a good mother!"
Relieved the other Helen smiled and said, "Don't worry you will be, after all we are the same! But before you take my place I should probably tell you about my life so that you won't be completely unprepared when you take over my role."
Snorting Helen turned back to her other self, "Don't worry, we will just transfer your memories. Thanks to the fact that we are mirror souls we will be able to do this just through touching. Give me your hand, please…" and with that the memories of their respective counterpart was transferred to the other.
Stumbling and rubbing their heads against the upcoming headache, the former Gryffindor started to laugh, "Oh god, figures that I would be married to Malfoy in this dimension, oh what the hell okay,… wait Dragons? This world hast dragons but no magic? Well hell what do you know.", sighing she turned and waved her other self, "I wish you a pleasant afterlife!"
"And I you the best of luck and a satisfying live, even though there aren't any magical beings in this world, goodbye!"
With that she slowly faded into warm light while Helen drifted to the soulless body underneath her, she had a child to birth! With a last deep breath Helen sank into the exhausted body and opened her mouth to take in a deep breath.
Birth
"My lady, oh thank the Lord, you didn't answer for a minute, I thought we had lost you! Please pace yourself it's time to push now."
'Oh fuck' the just breathed in air swished out of Helen when sharp pain ran through her body. It felt similar to the cruciatus curse but the pain was more centered. Oh god and that's what women go through to have children? Helen swore that after this she wouldn't have more, giving birth once was enough! Panting she pushed the exhausted body to it's edge, she would give birth to this damn child and if this was the last thing she would ever do!
"I can see the head, push again my lady, please, it will end soon!", and with a final push Helen felt something leave her body.
The whimper that filled the room brought a smile to Helens face, she did it, her counterparts and now her child was alive!
She fell back gasping for air, relieved that most of the work had already been done by the other Helen, 'Hhm, okay maybe it wasn't so bad,…' she was thinking as she tried to relax her tensed muscles. So when the next contraction hit, she was completely unprepared.
"Oh god, why doesn't it stop?" she asked desperately.
"My lady it looks like you are having twins, please brace yourself, there, breath in and push!", the blonde woman beside her said before she swept her sweat soaked forehead.
'Fucking figures!' while trying to convince her body to comply Helen was cursing her luck, of course she would have twins! Nothing ever went easy for her!
The second child came out faster than the first, it was still an excruciating pain that Helen was feeling but at least it left the new mother with some air in her lungs, not like the first one. Her second child let out a loud wail in comparison to the first one and just as she wanted to ask the blonde woman to hand the two babies to her another wave of contractions hit her.
"What the hell is this? Am I damned to push out children for all eternity?", the loud screamed sentence shocked the maids, that weren't used to their lady's raised voice, for a second before they were back at the side of their lady.
The two children were taken to the adjourned room to be washed.
Clawing at her bed sheet Helens' face turned into a determined mask, this baby was the last that she would be pushing out in her remaining live! And if that arrogant git of a husband of hers tried to touch her again, she would castrate him, noble lord or not!
With a final act of strength the last infant was pushed out and Helen sank completely exhausted into the sheets.
Helen waited for the cry of the little one, but it never came, anxious she sat up again and looked at the brown haired woman who was looking frightened at the bloody little body, "Give me my child", the black haired woman demanded harshly.
The maid let out a squeak and hurried over to the exhausted mother and handled the baby covered in a white sheet over. Whipping away the blood and birth fluids Helen was relieved to see that her youngest was breathing, even though it didn't even gave away the tiniest sound, while looking at the tiny thing she checked the sex of her youngest, a girl. Smiling she wondered what the other two were.
She turned to the waiting maid and asked, "Marianne, do you know the gender of my other children?"
"Ah yes my lady, you have three daughters.", the last part was said very hushed.
Like many others of the maids she expected her lady to be angry or at the very least be disappointed to not have birthed the so desired male heir. But the lady of the Malfoy house just nodded and smiled. Comforted that everything was alright and that she now knew her children's gender Helen handed her tiny daughter back to the maid to be washed and put into clothes.
Helen was drifting in and out of consciousness for the next two hours until she was woken by a reluctant blonde haired maid.
Her name was Elisabeth, but everybody called her Beth and she was one of Helens' handmaiden, her favorite to be exact, "I apologize my lady but, the snow storm prevented the arrival of the wet nurse, and the children,… your daughters are hungry,…"
Tiredly Helen rubbed her hand over her face, right she had completely forgotten that in this century it was normal for the wealthy to leave their children to be fed by wet nurses.
"Please bring them to me Beth, and could you fetch me some water, I'm feeling parched!", relieved the woman left the room.
A short time later Helen was feeding her children for the first time, it hurt in the beginning, but to see them so satisfied and calm was well worth the little aching in her breasts.
Two days later she was finally allowed to leave her bed. The storm had finally broken and two of the male servants had been sent out to bring the wet nurse and her child to the Manor. Helen had decided that a wet nurse was probably a very good idea, she wasn't sure if she had enough milk for her three babies and formula was kind of hard to come by in this century.
Leaving her children with Anne, the oldest of her maids Helen decided it was time to explore a bit. Thanks to the other Helen's memories she had no trouble finding her way through the halls, to be honest it felt like she had lived her counterparts life and not just gained her memories, the only difference was that she didn't feel frightened by her husband Draco Malfoy and her father-in-law Lucius Malfoy as the original of this dimension. To be perfectly honest, those arrogant ferrets were just asking for a good verbal beating.
Of course Helen was completely aware that she couldn't speak and take actions against those two, at least not directly, not in this age and certainly not in this England, but dreaming wasn't forbidden was it?
Still slightly unsteady on her feet Helen moved to the library, a grand room with slightly over one hundred books, a vast collection in this time, a big fire place and two comfortable couches standing in the middle of the room.
Resting her fatigued body on the comfortable couch, Helen looked around the room for something interesting and her eyes landed on the davenport that stood hidden beside a smaller shelf of old maps.
Curious Helen sauntered over to the piece of furniture and tried to open the drawers, every single one was looked. Looking around but not finding a key Helen shrugged her shoulders and wandered to the shelves filled with books. A big tomb with a dragon on the cover caught her interest and for the rest of the afternoon she lost herself in the book, learning about different dragon breeds.
Helen was interrupted only twice, once when it was time to feed the girls and the second time when the wet nurse arrived.
Explaining the changed situation to the woman named Mary, Helen told her that the two of them would take turns. The wet nurse was first scandalized of the idea that a noble lady would breast feed, but saw reason after she realized that she would have had to feed four babies, her own included if Helen hadn't agreed to share the breast feeding.