A/N: I have a few things to clear up for this story. First of all, and all my original readers will already know this; this is a rewrite of Unforgivable Mistakes. I was very unhappy with the quality, characters, grammar, and plot of that story so I decided I needed to completely redo it. I hope this pleases you all.
The only reason I'm posting this chapter now, is because someone complained that I was stalling too much and that I needed to post the story already. I would appreciate it if you would all refrain from saying such things to me, because I do have a life and other stories to complete. That, and most of the people I have subscribed to on this site haven't updated since I added them. Months. Ago! So you have no reason to be complaining.
This chapter is unbeta'd since I have not found a beta yet, so please, ignore the grammar until I have a chance to find one. This is up solely for your enjoyment.
A few names have been changed and pasts tweaked, but those of you just starting this won't notice the difference.
I got Sirius's son and Remus's daughter's pasts from Lady. Whitlock, but I changed the names. I asked her if she minded, but she never responded, so… anyway, Sirius's son's name is that of a constellation, the main reason I'm using it and Remus's daughter's name happens to just be one I liked . I hope you like it, but I will not be updating again until I have the whole plot planned and a beta. So enjoy it while you can.
Despair is the price one pays for settings one's self an impossible aim. It is, one is told, the unforgivable sin, but it is a sin the corrupt or evil man never practices. He always has hope. He never reaches the freezing point of knowing absolute failure.
-Graham Greene
/
Lily and James Potter wouldn't have been able to explain the joy they'd felt when it was discovered that Lily was pregnant. When they found out that they were having twins that just made it all the better and more exciting. And what made that even better was that the experience was going to be shared with four of their best friends. Remus Lupin, Sirius Black, and Alice and Frank Longbottom were expecting also.
Remus and Sirius had both gotten married to very different women not too long after Lily and James had. Remus to none other than Severus Snape's little sister. The fact that Snape had a sibling that was even remotely pleasant to be around or the slightest bit attractive baffled Sirius to the point of absolute confusion. How in the world does that happen? How does one woman give birth to two completely different people? It was madness! No matter though, because eventually Remus and Celeste Snape fell in love. It was like a car crash, sudden and unexpected, but it happened nonetheless. Celeste had beautiful black hair that she always kept in a loose ponytail and impossibly light blue eyes that shone like super novas with innocence and pure happiness. She was just what Remus needed in his life.
Sirius had gotten married to a French witch named Jolie De LaMotte. She always seemed to be on a caffeine high and was way too talkative for her own good. In a way, everyone knew they wouldn't last long. They were just too similar. Jolie was adventurous and daring, she loved a rush. Together, they got into way too much trouble, but they didn't care, or really, they didn't stop to think about the consequences. They just fell hard for each other and that was that, as far as Sirius saw it they were soul mates.
And as it was, Jolie was the first to go into labor, the first to give birth to a beautiful child. They had all hurried to St. Mungos and crowded into the waiting room to support their friends, they meaning the Potter's, the Lupin's, and the Longbottom's. Jolie's curses being spoken in fluent French could be heard throughout the entire building. She had no shame in what she said. When Sirius can bounding it with a little bundle in his hands, a smile so wide his face seemed to be split in two, Lily had squealed so loud that she'd woken James, who'd been sleeping in the chair next to her, with such a fright he fell to a heap on the floor. No one even noticed though, because they were too busy cooing and blubbering to the blue-eyed beauty being snuggled to Sirius's chest. That day, Leo Black was born.
Just a few months after Sirius and Jolie, Remus and Celeste were going through the same thing. Once again they all gathered at the hospital to await the newborn baby's arrival, but this time a deep sense of foreboding was in the air. It was unsure if the child would even live, for you see, due to the dark times it was dangerous to marry any kind of creature, including a werewolf, and a Deatheater had poisoned Celeste with an incurable sickness for doing such. It probably just made it worse that she was Snape's sister. The medi-witches were just trying to get the baby out of her before it was too late and the poison reached it. Many painstaking hours later, an exhausted and mentally drained Remus entered the waiting room with a pink bundle in his arms and tears running down his face. The baby had been successfully saved, but it had been announced that Celeste had only a matter of days to live.
She died three days later with her daughter resting in her loving arms, but she did not die before she was able to name her. Emma Lupin, a teeny tiny version of her mother, was found wailing at the top of her lungs in her mother's cold, lifeless embrace while her father cried helplessly on the floor next to the bed she lied on. Emma's birth was not a happy time.
Alice, although heavily pregnant herself, offered to take care of Emma while Remus attempted to get over his depression. Anyone could see he was incapable of taking care of himself, let alone a child. Of course, she wasn't the only one wanting to take the baby in. Severus Snape too was trying to overcome the grief he felt for the loss of his sister, but he was handling it much better then Remus and was more than willing to take care of his sister's daughter. But Remus would have nothing of it. He blamed Snape partially for his wife's death. Snape was enraged when he heard this, but was unable to do anything about it. Alice and Frank ended up taking care of Emma.
They weren't able to long though, because within the length of a few weeks, both Alice and Lily were being rushed to the emergency room by their frazzled husbands. It had been a shock, to say the least, that they'd gone into labor on the same night, Lily's twins and Alice's boy being born only minutes apart, if even. Lily named her boys Harry and Harris, Harry being the oldest by two minutes, and Alice named her son Neville. Both Harry and Harris couldn't have looked any more different. Harry had a mop of black hair and startling green eyes that almost looked as strange as Emma's pale blue ones, while Harris had a little tuft of his mother's red hair and dull looking hazel eyes.
Neville looked just like his father, just smaller and chubbier. He had these warm brown eyes that looked like pools of melted chocolate and even now shined with friendliness and kindness. He had a decent amount of frizzy brown hair and a few freckles were already visible on his pale skin.
Lily gave the honor of being Harry's godfather to Sirius and made Remus Harris's. Both were quite pleased with the arrangement, even Remus, who was slowly but surely getting better.
A few days after Lily and Alice left the hospital with their newborns Albus Dumbledore, the headmaster of Hogwarts, approached them about a prophecy he believed was either about Harry, Harris, or Neville. He told them that Voldemort, the dark wizard that started the war that was taking place and was bent on killing all muggle-borns and half-bloods to make all of wizard kind 'pure', would most likely target their sons because he had heard part of the prophecy. The prophecy went like this:
The one with the power vanquish the Dark Lord approaches
Born to those who had thrice defied him
Born as the seventh month dies
And the Dark Lord will mark his as his equal, but he will have power the Dark Lord knows not
And with the help of his four friends who stand as strong as a pack
Will stop him of his wrong doings
One must die at the hand of the other, for neither can live while the other survives
If the one with good intentions lives
Then the abandoned ones will bring the worlds that were so long separated together
And all will be at peace
But fail to do so and the one with so much evil will tear the world to pieces
Both families were horrified by this and went into hiding under the Fidelius charm. Lily and James chose Sirius and their secret-keeper and Alice and Frank chose Remus for theirs.
On October 21, 1981 Lily and James went out to dinner while Lily's mother watched over Harry and Harris. That night Voldemort attacked the house and killed Mrs. Evans as she attempted to protect her grandchildren. Mrs. Evans' death was never really touched upon though, for the events that followed it drowned all that happened to the simple muggle out. It's quite sad really, how even her own daughter allowed the memory of her mother to fade with such ease.
After eliminating Lily's mother, Voldemort then went after to the two Potter children, both of who had been lying in their crib at the time. The demented wizard went after the first twin that caught his eye, which just happened to be Harry. Harry, who had been watching his grandmother's death silently as his twin slept on, suddenly let out a loud wail as Voldemort's red, malicious eyes settled on him. The Dark Lord grinned crazily, raising his wand with his long and gnarled fingers wrapped tightly around it, and casted the one spell that would temporarily end his existence. The killing curse hit little Harry and rebounded off of his tiny body, the sacrifice Belle Evans made making itself known. The rebound left a lightning shaped scar on his forehead and incinerated the dark being that had casted it. The force of such strong magic's colliding with one other resulted in a miniature explosion, sending the crib and other furniture to the ground and causing a furious fire to start. As the ceiling burned and weakened, a piece of flaming rubble happened to hit Harris, who was now awake and terrified, right on his color bone, leaving an 'x' shaped cut that would later scar.
Dumbledore and many of the other members of the Order of the phoenix arrived only minutes later, alerted by the many wards surrounding the Potter home. The headmaster went right to the nursery, carelessly stepping over Belle Evans' body and worriedly hurrying to the two children. When he saw the mess of black robes on the ground and the two children caught under the fallen crib, he knew one of the had been the cause of Voldemort's death. He removed the crib and inspected them both. The first thing that caught his eyes was the 'x' shaped scar on Harris's collarbone. After checking Harry and finding nothing on him but a few cuts, the lightning blot one being cleverly hidden by his mop of hair, he assumed that Harris was the savior he had been looking for. He assumed he knew what had happened. Oh what a different story this would be if he hadn't.
Lily and James came minutes later in a state of panic. Lily had burst into tears at the sight of her ruined house, but was soon comforted when Dumbledore came out with Harris in his arms. The headmaster had then held the baby up for all the people their to see and he proclaimed him to be the Boy-Who-Lived, defeater of Voldemort. Both Lily and James were filled with so much pride for their son, a hero, the completely forgot to even ask about Harry, or even look for him for that matter. Only when Sirius came and brought Harry's name up did anyone remember him. He was found, still in the nursery, snuggled up to his grandmother's body, crying profoundly. No one noticed the cut on his forehead.
The next day it was reported that Deatheaters had tortured and murdered Alice and Frank Longbottom for information on their master. Neville was then sent to live with his hard-hearted and broken grandmother.
/
Emma was a Lupin, so the fact that she was smart was a given. In some ways she was even smarter than her father, but that was because she had the drive to be so, and that was not a good thing.
Her father never looked her in the eyes unless it was absolutely necessary and when he did, his own eyes where either filled with sadness or hatred. She knew he despised her, she just didn't know why. What had she done to deserve such resentment? Was she that horrible a daughter? She didn't know, but that didn't stop the hurt from coming, the pure and gripping sadness that consumed her at night when she tried to sleep. Her own father hated her, how was she supposed to deal with that? In truth, she didn't. To get rid of the pain and loneliness she studied and cleaned and read, whatever it took to keep her mind from wandering.
She soon learned that she was going to have to take care of herself to the utter most. Her father never fed her or helped her clean her room; he never taught her how to read or bought her clothes. No, he simply didn't care enough to.
She could feed herself decently by the time she was three, pretty much surviving on messily made sandwiches and unwashed apples. She was too young then to understand she needed to cleanse the apples first, let alone how to work a stove or microwave. The only time she ever eat a real meal was when her father took her to the Potter's and their house elves made her dinner or lunch. Which, she could admit, happened a lot. They went to the Potter's at least three times a week. Sometimes he forgot to bring her though.
Remus loved to pamper and play with his godson Harris, and it caused a physical pain to watch him laugh and talk with Harris when he wouldn't even look at her.
In the magical world, most parents home schooled their children since real school technically didn't start until the age eleven for them. Since Remus wouldn't teach her anything, Emma taught herself. She could read and write better then most first graders by the time she was three, reading being the first thing she taught herself so she could learn everything else. By the age of six she could play the piano and guitar relatively well, and by the time she was eight, she could speak perfect Latin. Her father never noticed though, and eventually she stopped trying to show him. He only ever pushed her away. He didn't care, no one, except Harry, Neville, and Leo, cared about her.
If no one cared about her, why should she stay? She was unloved by her family and unloved by her family friends. No one loved her. She wasn't love worthy. Her anger filled and hurt misted mind couldn't see reason, and so she decided she would leave them all. She would run away.
/
Harry was invisible to his entire family. They might have seen him, but they didn't see much when they did. He wasn't worthy to be apart of their family because he did nothing to become worthy. Lily was a well known and successful lawyer, James was a famous Aura, and Harris was the Boy-Who-Lived. What was Harry? Well, he was just… Harry. Nothing super special, no one really talented, just Harry, Harry Potter. Although sometimes he wondered if he even deserved the name Potter. And other times he wished he wasn't a Potter.
His feelings towards his family were quite confusing, especially to an eight year old boy. Sometimes, mostly when he saw their pictures on magazines or heard people fawning over them, he felt he wasn't nearly as amazing as they were and that he shouldn't be a Potter. But other times, when he was being mentally and verbally abused by his so called 'family' and when his parents showed clear favoritism towards his bratty brother Harris, he wanted nothing more then to change his last name and be apart of another family. He hated his family, that was the easiest way to put. He hated them, and he envied them.
At Potter manor, Harry lived in a simple, small room with gray-blue painted walls and washed out white furniture. All that was in his dank and tiny home was a twin sized bed with shelves all behind it instead of a backboard, a ceiling high bookshelf, and a desk with a wobbly chair to sit on. Honestly, Harry loved his room, no matter how rundown or small it was, it was still his home. It was the one place his horrid family never dared step foot in, it was his sanctuary. He spent hours in that room, reading and drawing, he had a special love for drawing, and he usually ended up eating in there too.
Compared to Harris's room, his was the slums on New York City. Harris loved all thing lavish and gaudy. His room was painted with red and gold stripes running from the ground up. The stripes where thick, only four to five fitting on each wall. He had a four poster canopy bed made up of a silky red cloth and gold thread for the canopy, with a solid red bedspread and red sheets with gold lions on them. He had posters of all the Quiddich teams plastered onto his walls, all personally signed by each and every team member or course, and a huge, fluffy couch positioned in front of a large flat-screen TV. Obviously his color choices where influenced by both James and Dumbledore, who expected him to be a Gryffindor one day. Not a single book resided in the Boy-Who-Lived's room. You know why? Because he was an simpleton. Harris didn't have an intelligent bone in his body, and sometimes, Harry wondered if he even had a brain or at least brain cells.
The hardest time to actually be Harry, in Harry's opinion that is, was Christmas time. Thanks to his family, Christmas was a depressing time for him. He understood that there was more to Christmas than just getting presents or putting up Christmas lights, that's the only reason Christmas time was even slightly enjoyable for him, but Christmas time was also when he was left, forgotten at home while his family went out to Christmas parties, went ice skating together (for the publicity of course), and to cookie swaps. And on the actual Christmas day, he was forced to watch as Harris opened present after present, not only from his parents, but also from admirers, and all he got were six at most. It wasn't the fact that he didn't get much that infuriated him, no, he didn't care about the presents, it's just that his mother and father got so much for his brother, and he only ever got a present from Lily twice in his entire life time. Of course James never gave him anything. James seemed to genuinely hate him, Lily just seemed too caught up in all the fame to really realize she was neglecting her oldest son. That didn't make it any more forgivable though.
On his birthday (Harris's too, or course), a huge party was always thrown, but not for him, for Harris. No on ever came for him, no one ever brought presents for him, and no one ever wished him a happy birthday, except his three best friends of course. Every year, Leo, Neville, and Emma would throw a tiny little party in Harry's room with streamers, food, and punch stolen from Harris's birthday supplies. None of them ever felt guilty for doing it. All three of them bought Harry presents and sang him happy birthday, but still Harry couldn't help but hear all the voices coming from the hundreds of people that came for his brother. One year, when the music for Harris's party got particularly loud and Harry was looking even gloomier then usual, Neville had marched down to the ball room and had blown up the cake. That was Harry's best birthday by far.
Still Harry hated his life. He hated his family and his brother's godfather, Remus, for ignoring him, and sometimes he even hated Sirius. The only reason he had for staying at that horrible place was his three friends. He wanted to leave, with every fiber of his being, but he couldn't leave them. He couldn't just run away and leave them all behind.
/
Neville felt pressured, like he would never live up to the expectation placed on his chubby little shoulders. Sure he wasn't a hero like Harris, but a lot was still expected of him, just in a different way. He was constantly being judged and compared. And it wasn't just because he once had a chance at being the Boy-Who-lived, it was also because his Gran expected him to be just like his dear old dad.
Ever since his parents were murdered and he was sent to live with his Gran, she would constantly, 24/7, watch his every move. If something he did was even the slightest bit strange compared to what Frank Longbottom had done when he was a child, she would slap his little fingers and scold him severely.
He wasn't his father, and his Gran would not accept that. The way Neville saw it, his Gran was having some kind of major psychological problem with embracing her son's death and letting him go. He believed that she was trying to convince herself that since she still had Neville, her son's son, she still technically had her son. If that made any sense. He was able to make this hypothesis after his Gran had called him Frank several times without even trying to correct herself. Frank and been a loud and energetic child, while Neville was quiet and thoughtful, and somewhat forgetful. Augustus Longbottom saw him as a disappointment for this reason. No child wants to be a disappointment.
He only had three friends, Harry, Leo, and Emma. Gran had been trying to get him to be friends with Harris for some time now, but he knew how rude and snotty Harris could be so he ignored his Grandmother's inciting and pleading. Harris milked his fame for all that it was and then some. He was mean and nasty when he didn't get what he wanted.
He had a special relationship with Harry after they both discovered their love for reading. Harry was probably his best friend of the three. They had the same thirst for knowledge. Sometimes, when he could get away from all his chores, Harry would come over his house and they would spend hours reading in a comfortable silence. Leo always joked that it sounded boring, but it wasn't for the two of them. Every year for Christmas they would each choose their favorite book from that year, and give it as a gift to the other. It was a tradition that lightened both of their Christmases.
He had private tutors come to his house, hired by his Gran, to teach him, but he ended up just zoning out when they droned on and on. He only listened when Emma taught him. She was slightly older than him and he looked up to her as his role model. He probably would have looked up to Leo, but Leo didn't take life too seriously, even for a child, so Neville chose Emma. She was one of the smartest eight year olds her knew. She taught him the basics on Latin just after she learned it, and even attempted to teach him to play the piano. That didn't end very well. Even so, he loved learning from her.
His Gran thought his advanced knowledge was outlandish, because Frank hadn't been that smart at Neville's age. After his Gran had uttered those words, he refused to speak to her. Nothing he did was right in her eyes.
He was getting sick and tired of everything. He was sick of how his friends were treated, he was sick of how he was being constantly criticized, and he was sick of not being allowed to be himself around his family. He wasn't going to put up with it any more though. He was going to find a way out of it all.
/
Leo was clever, very clever, he knew. And to say that he knew really meant just that. He was his own kind of clever, his own kind of smart. He saw the world like no one else could. Some would call him crazy, like they did Luna Lovegood, but he was good at making people see the reason in his wacky words while Luna was not. He had one of the most imaginative minds out there, and a creative one too. He wanted to be a writer when he grew, so other people could see what he saw in his thoughts every day.
But to say he was a happy child would be a lie. He was amazing at convincing people he was, but that was just because he inherited his father's acting skills.
When he was just four years old his mother and father got a divorce, and the sad thing about that was he was actually relived when it happened. Not because he didn't like his parents, but because he couldn't take their constant yelling anymore. The fighting was close to getting physical when the divorce was finalized and he was just glad he wouldn't have to worry about getting caught in the cross fires.
And not only that, but he was just so angry on the inside. Angry at his Uncles for how they treated his friends, angry at Ms. Longbottom for her opinionative ways towards Neville, and most of all angry at his father for not doing anything about it! Sure he made sure to give Harry a Christmas present and say happy birthday to him when that came around, of course he always ruffled Emma's hair when she walked by and gave her affectionate smiles, he even tried to boost Neville's self esteem with kind and helpful words, but that's as far as it went. He never played with any of them except Harris, he didn't try to have conversations with them, only allowing himself to say a few words, and he never stopped the Potter's when they said mean and cruel things to Harry. He didn't even try to help Emma out even though he knew Remus neglected her! How could he respect a man like that? Sirius was his father, not his dad. He didn't deserve the right to be called a dad.
He did everything he could for his friends, knowing he had it the best out of all of them, even if that wasn't much. He sent two presents to each of them when Christmas came around, he spent as much time at Potter manor to be with Harry as he could so Harry wouldn't get lonely, he constantly encouraged Neville, and he made Emma smile and laugh as much as possible.
One time, because he knew Emma wanted to know, he asked Sirius why Uncle Remus disliked his own daughter so much. Sirius just started down at him with sad eyes and said that he was too young to understand. But he was wrong. Sirius didn't know how smart Leo really was, how clever. He'd been taught by the best and knew it had to do with the way Emma looked. She looked just like her mother. Emma was just in denial about it.
He had always hated Harry's brother Harris with a passion. Harris was a conceded, self absorbed, little prat who was blinded by his own fame. The prick was always picking on Harry and Neville and pulling at Emma's hair. He tried to make fun of Emma once, but she socked him in the nose and he stayed away from her after that. Emma had a problem with anger and not being able to control. Just one of the perks of being a werewolf's child. Of course Harry couldn't fight back, if he did he'd get punished with no food or a lengthened chore list, and Neville would have gotten the same treatment from his Gran if he tried.
Harris had even extended a hand of friendship his way, saying he was a worthy person to be one of his close friends, since he was a Black and Sirius's child at that, but he had replied that he'd rather 'stick pins in my eyes'. That didn't blow over well with Lily and James. He wasn't allowed back at the manor for two weeks after that.
Now he knew his friends couldn't take the neglect and hatred from their families much longer. They would crack under the strain of it all. He had to help them out some how, he had to get them away.
/
November 02, 1988
Emma stalked soundlessly through the cozy cottage she lived at with her father. Her hands were jammed sullenly into her jean pockets and her shoulders were slumped in an angry manner as she glared at whichever wall stood in front of her. She was walking mindlessly, trying to burn time before her father was ready to got to Potter manor. She was always restless just before they went, impatient to get to her friends.
The cottage they lived in was like a prison to her. It wasn't too small, it was actually a nice size for only two people to be living in, but all the extra space left was filled with the tension and awkwardness that naturally came with living with a father that didn't care about you.
Whenever Remus was home he stayed holed up in his study or in his bedroom. He barely ever spoke to her. Sometimes, when he looked at her, she though she could see regret in his eyes, regret for the way he treated her. But then he'd just continue on with the neglecting and she knew it had just been her imagination. Wistful thinking, she thought.
She sighed in relief when she heard her father open his study's door and the footfalls that followed. She tapped her foot as she waited in the living room for him to come. When he finally did he kept his head down, avoiding her eyes at all costs. She grumbled angrily under her breath and rolled her eyes at his behavior.
Remus pulled down the sack that had the floo powder in it and held it out to her, silently. She glared at him as she grabbed a handful of the stuff and through it in the fire place as she stood in it. Green flames erupted from the ground , effectively eating her up and causing her to feel a flying sensation before spitting her out at Potter manor.
Her face contorted with surprise as she stumbled, tripping over her own feet. Her hands went out in front of her, a weak attempt to soften her fall, but instead she was pleasantly surprised to have landed on something soft and squishy, very squishy. That is until it started screaming and cursing at her.
"Harris!" Lily Potter exclaimed. It seems the Potter family, minus Harry, had been waiting for her father to arrive… and she just squashed the bratty Boy-Who-Lived. Lily scrambled over to her fallen son, pushing Emma off of him carelessly. "Are you ok?"
She helped her son to his feet, handling him as if he were made of glass.
"You should be more careful." James glared at her scathingly. Emma flinched away from him.
"James!" Lily gasped, taking in the semi-scared expression on Emma's face. "There is no need to be so harsh." She smiled comfortingly at her, but Emma just bowed her head down and ran from the room once her father arrived.
She liked Lily much better then James, as did Harry and the others, but she still neglected Harry, so Emma stayed away from her. It was hard to forgive someone for something they do every day.
She ran to Harry's room, not stopping until she was in front of the door, and then flinging it open and jumping inside. Harry and Neville looked up at her in surprise from their spots on the ground. She just groaned tiredly and flopped down on his bed, cringing as the springs creaked.
"You need to get a new mattress." She stated, scrunching her nose up in distaste. "This ones old."
"Well hello to you too, Emma." Harry said sarcastically, rolling his eyes. "And you know I can't. James would never let me."
He never called his parents by their firsts names. It was too informal for their relationship.
"Right, sorry." She replied, sounding regretful. Harry just shrugged.
"I heard Harris screaming, what'd you do?" Neville asked her excitedly. Harry smacked him upside the head. "Ow." The brown haired boy whined.
"I just tripped is all. I accidently landed on him and he screamed like a pansy." Emma explained, ignoring it when both boys snickered at her choice of words. "So I take it Leo's not here yet, Sirius too?"
"Yeah," Harry answered. "They should be here any minute though. You know them, it's like some kind of grown up play date for them. The bunch of inglorious, abusive neglecting parents." He grumbled under his breath darkly, the hate he felt towards the lot of them shining through.
"Hey! They don't abuse us… technically." Emma muttered the last part to herself, hugging one of Harry's pillows to her chest.
"Sure they don't." Neville sneered.
Before they had a chance to say anything else, Leo came barreling in, slamming the door shut tightly behind himself, a tight expression on his face. He stomped over to Harry's desk chair and roughly yanked it from under the desk before sitting on it with a loud 'thump'.
"What happened?" Neville asked.
"Jolie happened! She called dad this morning and said she wanted the good china set. Dad got all worked up and they fought for hours. I now know at least five new curse words. I have major headache." Leo told them, covering his face with his hands. Harry nodded in understanding and Neville placed a comforting hand on his shoulder.
"Parents." Emma huffed, folding her arms exasperatedly.
"You can say that again." Harry agreed, his voice still worryingly dark.
"Don't you sometimes just wish that, I don't know, we could all just run away and forget them all." Neville said, trying to make it sound like the thought had just accrued to him. By the look Harry was sending him he could tell he wasn't doing a very good job.
"Yes!" Leo exclaimed, jumping up from his seat. "I was recently thinking that." He paused, seeming to realize what he had just said and plopping back down. "Sorry." He breathed.
"No, you're right." Emma said, shaking her head at his apology. "We should all leave. Its not like we're wanted here. We're just baggage to them, nothing more, but maybe less. There is no reason for us to stay." Her eyes got watery towards the end of her little speech.
Harry got a very determined look on his face. He stood up and put an arm around his friend's shoulders, giving her some comfort.
"Emma is right." He stated, his voice holding a note of finality in it. "We need to leave. We need to make our own lives and our own futures. We may be pretty young, extremely young, but we'll be fine. We'll be prepared. If we stay here we'll be suffocated and beaten down. We'll make nothing of ourselves. And besides, running away just seems right."
All three of the others nodded somewhat dazedly. They had always looked up to Harry as their leader, he was clever and knowledgeable, just right for the part. If he had faith running away would work out, then so did they.
"Then it's decided." Neville said quietly, secretly happy on the inside. He was finally getting away!
"We'll leave the next time we meet, which should be in two days. We need to be prepared." Harry explained, and then he showed then several wandless spells to help them pack without looking suspicious. (They'd all discovered the ability when the accidental magic they preformed wasn't really so accidental) they practiced until their parents yelled up to them that it was time to go and they all scrambled to the living room, anxious to start packing and preparing. Anxious to have a real life and to finally be happy.
/
November 04, 1988
Leo walked nervously down the stairs of 24 Grimmauld Place. Today was they day he and his friends were leaving. He had butterflies in his stomach, and he couldn't tell if they were the good kind or the bad kind. His friends would be happy and that was all that mattered, though. Leaving didn't bother him that. At least he would be away from Jolie and her venomous words.
The day before he had packed practically everything in his room that would fit into his trunk, and then he'd shrunken it without problem and put it in his pocket. He had packed enough clothes to last three weeks, a toothbrush, a second pair of shoes; his favorite books and several spell books, and some personal items too. He and his friends didn't know how long it would take until they found a place to stay, so he had practiced a charm that would keep them all warm until he was amazing at it, and it would diffidently come in handy.
His dad was waiting for him by the fireplace with a smile on his face. He always smiled like that when they were going to the Potters. After Jolie had left James and Remus had always been there for his father, and it made their friendship that much stronger. Sirius never smiled like to him. Not anymore. In a way Leo was glad he was leaving, but he couldn't shake the feeling that by doing so he would hurt his dad. He didn't want to hurt his dad. Not like Jolie had, but he didn't have much of a choice. If Sirius would just step up and talk to James and Remus and Augustus about the treatment of their kids then everything would have been great.
'It's to late to think like that.' He thought with a shake of his head. He grabbed some floo powder from his dad, making sure not to look Sirius in the eyes, and flooed to the Potter's, taking the first step to his new life.
/
Neville sat waiting in Harry's room for Leo and Emma to come. He and Harry had been waiting impatiently all morning although they knew they wouldn't be arriving until around lunchtime. They were both packed and ready to go. They both had no second thoughts about leaving. Harry's parents wouldn't even care if he left, and Neville now had so much resentment towards his Gran that he didn't care if he hurt her. She should have thought about that before she had gotten all judgmental and cruel.
They all watched in absolute silence as Leo entered, a troubled expression on his face. Neville wanted to ask him what was on his mind, but he got so consumed in his thoughts that he never got around to it. No one said a word. It wasn't an awkward silence because they were all lost in their own thoughts, their own worries. They almost didn't even notice when Emma opened the door and stepped inside, but they all looked up when they heard a sniff.
Emma's eyes were blood shot and puffy and she had a defeated air about her. Harry jumped up and put a protective arm around her once again.
"What happened Emma?" He asked in a concerned voice.
"I snapped, ok? That's what happened. I snapped at my dad-no-my father. He doesn't deserved to be called a dad." She shouted hatefully. "He pushed me, practically sent me flying to ground, when I tried to get him to speak to me. I started yelling at him, I said some pretty bad things… anyway, he said… he said Celeste would be ashamed of me if she saw me today, that I was a horrible child and she would have despised me." She hiccupped as more tears fell from her eyes. "And he said it with such passion that I actually believed it! Is it not enough that he hates, but he has to make me believe my mother would too!" By now she was in hysterics, and all three of her friends were trying to calm her down.
"I'm sorry." Neville said comfortingly.
"He even cursed! He never curses! It's like all the anger he's been keeping pent up bubbled out, and he just let it. You should have seen his eyes! It scared me. My own father scared me." She continued, sounding devastated near the end. Harry tightened his arm around her, his hate getting stringer with each word she uttered.
"Is everyone ready?" She asked shakily, trying to change the subject.
"Yup, we're ready." Jake confirmed. "Now how are we going to give our parents the slip?"
"All we have to do is ask the house elves to let us out and we are home free. Come on they're in the kitchen." Harry said excitedly, a wicked smile overcoming his features.
/
"So what do we do now, where do we go?" Neville asked curiously, breaking the deafening silence. They were all walking down the walkway in a nice little town five miles away from Potter Manor. It had taken them a very long time to get that far, but the adrenaline they felt racing through their veins helped greatly.
"We got to London." Harry said simply.
"Ok, first of all, why London, and second, how do we get their?" Leo asked, a confused look on his face.
Harry shrugged like it was no big deal. He smirked at them all deviously.
"London just feels right. And to answer your second question, we'll be apparating." He said excitedly.
"What!" Emma exclaimed. "How?"
"That's my little secret." Harry taunted her playfully. Emma glared at him and he shivered slightly under her cold gaze. "Ok," he said, clearing his throat nervously. "Everybody grab on." He held out his arm and they all held onto him with tight grips. Then the sensation of being stuffed through a pea sized pipe overcame them and total blackness encompassed their vision. When they landed on cold concrete it was almost a relief. They all sat up stiffly and looked around to see where it was they had landed. It appeared as though they were in an alleyway. In a city. In London.
"You did it." Neville breathed. "You really did it."
Harry just smiled.
For two whole days they just wondered around the city, trying to look inconspicuous, even as eight year old children. They slept at night in secluded places, casting a warming charm on themselves, courtesy of Leo; to keep the autumn chill away. It was kind of fun, like an adventure, but the feeling of hopelessness was settling into the pits of their stomachs. They would be found soon if they didn't find a place to stay.
On the third day, as they were looking for a place to get some food (because they were smart enough to bring a lot of money with them), all four of them were grabbed roughly by a grubby hand and forced into an abandoned old warehouse.
"Well, well, well, what do we have here?" A menacing voice said. "Some lonely little children. Where's your mommy? She leave brats in hopes of never seeing you again?" It taunted.
"What do you want?" Emma snarled, her protective wolf instincts were really kicking in and she looked scary for a eight year old. Harry gripped her arm, telling her to let him handle it.
"Looks like you got some bite." The person said sounding slightly surprised, and very amused.
A man in his late twenties stepped out of the shadows and for the first time they all got a good look at him. He had a scruffy five o'clock shadow, making him appear lazy and uncaring about appearances, and wild electric blue eyes that buzzed with a devilish spark. His hair midnight black was, reaching to his shoulders, and greasy. He had on a loose Football jersey and a pair of ripped jeans with tattered old sneakers. His hands were in his pockets as he looked down at them with a nasty smile. He looked like he could use a hearty meal and a hot shower.
Emma ignored Harry's restraining hand and lunged for the door. He grabbed her arm furiously, not even bothering to look at the other three, who had murderous looks on their faces.
She unconsciously sent an electric current through her entire body. The man cried out in pain and fell to the ground. Then he leaped back up and looked angrily at the kids. He took out a knife and made a desperate slash at them. Harry used wandless magic and sent him flying back wards into the wall. The man slumped to the ground, but made one last attempt to get them by lunging blindly in their direction. Neville used to levitating spell and held him up in the air while Leo magically bound him.
"Never ever threaten my pack, got that?" Emma spat in his face.
Now them man looked sacred, but he couldn't leave. He was frozen in place. All he could think about was how something like this was possible. He had just wanted to see if the kids had any money and if they did he would have taken it. He hadn't been expecting them to be able to do some kind of freaky magic.
"I'm going to call the police and give them a tip about a mugger hiding out in an abandoned building. Hopefully they'll find you before you starve." Leo said tauntingly. He was pleased when the man's heartbeat quickened. He would tell the police exactly where the pitiful was. He wasn't that cruel, but the muggle didn't have to know that.
"Come on guys lets go." Harry said to them.
They all headed towards the door, but they stepped in their tracks when they heard another voice behind them.
"Wow, that was some magic." It said.
They turned to see a nicer looking man in normal clean muggle wear. He didn't send of threatening waves like the man on the floor did. He seemed to want to help them.
"You know about magic?" Neville asked.
The man smiled warmly and nodded.
"I also know a lot about you." He stated. They all stiffened nervously and the man noticed. "I don't mean you any harm and I'm not going to force you to go home. I know what you're home life's are like, and I also know you need a place to stay. I want to offer you that place. I take in young neglected or abused wizards and witches and give them a home. I offer training in all magical departments and help my wards find good paying jobs once they are of age to ensure the have a good life when they leave me. I only want to help." He said with a kind and honest smile.
The idea of a nice home and training enticed them all. Harry knew the offer was Legit. He had always been good at reading other people's expression and seeing their true emotions in their eyes. He wanted to help them, that much he knew.
He looked around at his friends to see them all already nodding at him enthusiastically. He smiled at their obvious excitement.
"We would like to go with you." He said blankly once he had turned back to the man.
The man looked happy and relieved at the same time, a sigh escaping his lips. He took a step closer to them, surprising them all with a hug.
"Come on then and I'll have my wife make you some dinner. By the way my names Roland, Roland Jennings."
A/N: Well there you go. The first revised chapter. I think it's a MAJOR improvement and I hope you agree. I'll tell you know that I have been over my Harry Potter phase for quite some time, and the only reason I'm bothering with this story is because so many people seem to want me to, so I would appreciate reviews. They keep this story alive. I don't mean to sound demanding, but you readers are honestly the only thing keeping this going.
I have lots of plans to make this story better, including less OC's and more cannon characters, so don't worry about that. The next chapter wont be up for a while. This is my Christmas present to you all! Merry Christmas!