A car turned down the street of Privet Drive on a quiet, perfectly normal evening. Usually, this would be a perfectly normal occurrence as cars commonly passed down Privet Drive. However, this was not a perfectly normal instance. Rather than continue on its way down the street, the car slowed to a stop, parking across the street from one of the perfectly normal homes. It was strange, the response of the driver. As a perfectly normal resident of this street would get out of their car and continue on with their evening but, the driver of this car didn't happen to be perfectly normal, nor a resident of Privet Drive.

The driver of the car instead remained in the vehicle, watching the interaction of 5 individuals through the perfectly pressed and open curtains of the dining room of one of the homes. Three of the occupants were enormous. One man, one woman, one boy. The man and woman were red-faced and drinking, while the boy looked bored. The boy was greedily eyeing the food around him, stealing more and scarfing it down quickly when his parents weren't looking. Another adult was at the table- a woman. The driver happened to recognize this thin-faced, boney woman as Petunia Evans, now Dursely. The driver felt herself cringe as she watched Petunia titter over her husband's likely horrible joke, patting his enormous walrus-like hand with her boney one.

It was the final boy at the table that the driver cared about. She felt a giant hole open up in her stomach as she took in the boy. She didnt quite know what she had expected to find when she showed up at Privet drive that night, but it wasnt this.

The boy was skinny… too skinny. His clothes were hanging off of him, as if they were three sizes too large. Obviously they were hand-me-downs from the pig Petunia called her son, but even through that, he looked too boney to be considered healthy for a 13 year old boy. She watched the boy with glasses and jet-black untidy hair pick at a pea on his plate miserably. It was obvious that the boy was miserable at that table, and trying to be anywhere else but in that present moment.

The boy was so lost in his thoughts that he jumped when the enormous man snapped at him, forcing him to get up from the table to fetch more wine, leaving the pig-boy with the opportunity to quickly snatch the rest of the food off the other boy's plate. The black-haired boy came back into the room, handing the man the bottle of wine and enduring what looked to be some sort of insult, before his face fell slightly further at a now empty plate.

The driver felt herself grip the steering wheel so tightly, her knuckles blanched. Fury bubbled up inside of her as she watched the boy's interaction (or lack thereof) with the rest of the dinner party.

The woman shut her eyes and banged her head back against the headrest in anger.

Why had she allowed herself to be convinced that he would have actually been safe here? Yes, he was safe from Voldemort's followers and the others that would hunt him, but safe from neglect?

Why hadn't he just written her back? He could have told her. She would have barged down Dumbledore's door to lift the vow if she knew.

The woman opened her eyes catching sight of her appearance in the side mirror. She paused, unable to look away from the stranger reflected back at her. She barely recognized herself. She looked like a shell of a human being. She had once had long, shiny, and curly black hair complimented with bright blue eyes, containing the laughter and love she once knew. Now however, that younger woman no longer stared back. Now a woman of 33 stared back at her with cold ice blue eyes. Her long black hair was limp, lackluster and stuck out and up at odd angles as if it had never been brushed. The fatigue and exhaustion that was etched all over her face paired with dark bags under her eyes and the still healing cuts and bruises did not help her look like the younger woman she once was.

Adalyn Potter stared at the physically, emotionally, and psychologically exhausted and broken woman reflected back at her.

"You should have done better," she told her reflection, "You could have prevented all of this."

She looked back at the window of number 4, watching as Petunia brought out a large pie and walrus poured the enormous woman what looked to be brandy.

POP

Adalyn glanced at the seat next to her, finding a tall thin man in purple robes now sitting in that seat. He wasn't looking at her, instead peering over his half-moon spectacles at the dinner party across the street.

POP

Movement from the backseat of the car, caused Adalyn to ignore the man for a moment and glance over her shoulder, only to find a prim Scottish woman in emerald green robes looking at her with concern.

"Miss Potter," the woman began, slightly breathlessly, "you look.."

"Fucking horrible?" Adalyn supplied flatly as she turned around, staring at the dinner party once more, "Yeah, I know."

She saw the man turn and stare at her out of the corner of her eye, but she didn't give him the pleasantry by looking at him in return. She didn't think she could cope with that at the moment.

"Did you know?" Adalyn asked, more to the man than to the woman in the car.

The man watched her carefully for a moment before following her eyeline.

"Did I know what, Adalyn?"

"How Harry was being treated here. How miserable he is living with them. That he never wrote back to me…"

"To the first two accusations," the man said calmly, "I admit I did not know the depth to which the boy's misery in this home…"

"Bullshit," Adalyn snorted, cutting the man off, "You knew. You just don't think his happiness is your problem. Your only concern is his safety." Adalyn laughed and shook her head in disbelief, "How ironic that the man who preaches love will always conquer knowing refuses to let a young boy live where he would actually be loved…"

"To your third accusation," the man continued, ignoring the drivers angry words, "He never wrote back to you because he never received your letters to begin with," the man told her calmly.

The driver's head shot towards the older man in stunned disbelief. She watched his calm exterior for a moment before letting out a bitter and angry laugh.

"Because you intercepted them," she muttered to herself, shaking her head, "I should have known. If you weren't controlling all the variables, you weren't comfortable."

The man ignored her comment and instead turned back towards the dinner party.

"Petunia made it very clear when she took her vow that Harry was to have no contact with our world, especially you, until he was of age to begin at Hogwarts.."

"He started two years ago," the driver interrupted once again.

"... If those letters had been intercepted by anyone other than me, it would have sacrificed everything we have done and worked for."

The car fell into silence as the driver seethed, keeping her eyes on the window of Number 4, refusing to look anyone else in the vehicle in the eye.

"I don't see how blocking my communication with my nephew and godson would impact the mission…"

"Don't you see Adalyn," the woman jumped in, "It has everything to do with Potter's safety!"

"Great," Adalyn said as she looked back at the woman, "So you knew as well? So everyone knew, but me? The person his PARENTS put in charge of him if they died."

"The bond of blood spell Lily initiated has protected him more than you ever could have," the woman continued, her voice quavering with guilt and emotion, "You are essential to the Order and to our efforts. If you had been caring for the boy..."

"He would have been loved and cherished, like he should be," Adalyn spat as she turned back around and stared at the dinner party in disgust.

The woman in the backseat fell silent, at a loss of what to say to the younger woman.

The car was filled with a heavy silence for a moment.

"True," the man said, "But, it would have put not one, but the both of you in immense danger. It would put the Bloodline at risk having the two of you together."

"I dont give a flying fuck about the Bloodline," Adalyn snapped.

"Your Bloodline is essential to our final goal," the man reminded her calmly, "You know that we will never have peace if that is broken."

The car fell into silence for a moment. The driver knew the man was right, but she was too angry to care.

"Tell me," Adalyn asked him, "Does he even know I exist? Does he know that I only left him… left England to try to protect him?"

No one answered her, giving Adalyn her answer. She stared straight out of the window, tightening her grip on the steering wheel as she tried to digest the information that the nephew she had been fighting to protect all these years didn't even know about her.

She felt two pairs of eyes on her as she refused to look at anyone.

"I know what you must have gone through to get what I asked of you," the man said solemnly.

"Oh, do you?" Adalyn challenged as she turned to look the man in the eye.

"It was a cross not many could bear," the man continued, unwavered. "With what you were able to gather and the information from my source, we can begin tracing and uncovering…"

"Source?" Adalyn asked as she glanced back at the woman, "What source? Someone on the inside? Other than Snape?"

The woman glanced at the man. Her lips pressed into a thin line as she chose to let him answer her question.

"Yes," the man responded.

Adalyn just stared at the man for a moment.

"So I don't suppose you are going to tell me who I spent 12 years risking my life on a wild goose chase for, are you?"

"Your information will be vital…"

"Who is the source?" Adalyn asked again.

"It would be far too dangerous and irresponsible to share."

Adalyn scoffed and looked straight ahead again, "Of course it is."

"He is deep in hiding," the man told her, "No one, not even Minerva here knows. The risk would be too great."

"So essentially what you are telling me," Adalyn said as she watched tea and even more brandy being poured at the dinner party, "Is that we have two greasy death-eater gits to worry about in the Order now."

"I see you still do not have any trust for Severus," the man noted.

"Nope," Adalyn said flatly.

"Even after all that has happened?" the man asked her with a calm curiosity, "He has still not proved himself to you?"

Adalyn turned and stared at the man, the anger burning in her eyes.

"What do you think, Professor Dumbledore?"

"I realize that you and Severus have some… history," the woman chimed in again from the back.

Adalyn scoffed at the words, shifting uncomfortably in her seat as she tugged the sleeve of her sweatshirt down, "I'd say that's putting it lightly."

"... but he has been an asset. He gave us the tip that Lily and James were in danger…"

"Only because it served his creepy agenda and obsession with Lily," Adalyn interrupted, "No offense, Minnie, but I find it hard to trust anyone anymore, let alone blindly trust a man that only 'saw the light' because it served his own personal agenda."

The man and the woman remained silent for a few moments. The woman wore an expression of guilt and empathy, while the man remained staring at the young woman almost quizzically.

"I think, Adalyn," the man said in a quiet, calm voice, "that you are still hurt from another person betraying you."

The woman in the back seat inhaled sharply as she swore she saw the driver's eyes flash white for a moment as her head snapped towards the man. The woman thought it must be her imagination if the man was only staring at the woman calmly once more.

"I would have never let James and Lily name him secret keeper if I had even a fleeting thought that he was the traitor," Adalyn nearly growled at the man called Dumbledore.

"I never accused you of that," Dumbledore responded calmly, his blue eyes twinkling, "I believe you made him your own secret keeper."

Adalyn looked away from Dumbledore, looking back at the boy in the window. Her energy was leaving her. Her anger was fading as exhaustion set in once more.

"He knew you were the real target, and yet, you remained safe…"

"Albus," the woman said warningly.

"Yeah I did," Adalyn said in a low voice as she watched the boy, "Don't think that I don't wake up every single morning wondering why James and Lily were killed and I am still here when I could have and should have been handed over on a silver platter. I should have leaked the information myself…"

"He would have still gone after Harry," the woman said quietly, "You know that, Adalyn. He had the information about the prophecy…"

"It doesn't matter," Adalyn said quickly, cutting the woman off once more, "I can't undo my mistakes."

The woman pressed her lips together tightly in a thin line, biting her tongue as she watched her clearly distraught ex-pupil bend down and grab an old and worn rucksack from under her feet. The older woman could see the pain and years of clear suffering on the young woman's face as she fumbled with the straps of the rucksack, tearing it open.

The driver put her hand in the bag and rummaged, pulling out a wooden chest. The glass inside rattled as she handed to the man.

"This is the last of what I was able to get," she told him.

The man accepted the chest and opened it, faint white glow emitting from the vials inside.

"All cataloged I assume?" the man asked as he shut the lid.

"Course," the woman said, putting her hand back into the bag, pulling out a worn journal and handing it to him as well. "All my notes."

The man accepted the journal as well, eyeing her carefully.

"Is this the only copy, Adalyn?"

"Yep," Adalyn responded shortly as she put the rucksack down, refusing to look at the man.

The man eyed her for a moment, trying to read the young woman.

"I've done my part. Can we revoke the vow now so I can go get my nephew out of that hell-hole?" Adalyn asked sharply.

The man continued to watch her.

"Yes," he said after a moment, setting the chest and journal down on the floor, "The vow will be amended, not revoked. The rest of the factors still remain."

Adalyn turned and paused, staring at the man.

"Why?" she asked, "He's a part of this. He deserves to know the truth."

"He will know when that time comes," Dumbledore replied calmly, "But for now, he is a 13 year old boy…"

"Shouldn't he know why his parents were killed?" Adalyn asked, "Why he was targeted? Why he lived? Why he will be hunted and targeted until the day Voldemort is gone for good?"

"And he deserves to be a child for as long as he can," Dumbledore told her, "The boy has a way of finding trouble and going rouge, much like yourself and your brother. If we can keep him from seeking out Voldemort on his own and teach him what he needs to know…"

"Harry will never have to face him," Adalyn told him firmly, "I will take him down before that happens."

Dumbledore smiled at her sadly, "I admire your courage and determination, Adalyn."

"It's not courage and determination," Adalyn told him flatly, "It's a fact. I am the one with the gift. Not Harry."

"It doesn't necessarily come down to your gift," Dumbledore told her calmly, "The bloodline and the gift are powerful factors, but the prophecy…"

"The prophecy doesn't mean shit," Adalyn dismissed, "Tons of prophecies are never fulfilled. Most are self-fulfilling, in that people hear them, think they must come true, and consciously or subconsciously make them come true!"

"The fact that Voldemort has put weight in it is the factor here," Dumbledore replied.

Adalyn fell silent. She was at a loss for any other argument here.

"The vow you took to keep the prophecy and your family's bloodline from Harry will remain," Dumbledore told her.

"And if I disagree?" Adalyn asked as she watched dessert wrapping up through the window of Number 4.

"Then the vow in its entirety remains intact."

Adalyn stared at the older wizard.

"But Black…"

"Harry will be at Hogwarts in a few days. Other Aurors can be arranged to protect him."

"The minister himself requested me for this duty…"

"Only because I requested you," Dumbledore told her.

Adalyn stared at him for a moment before scoffing angrily.

"So essentially, you are telling me that I have to play by your rules, or I don't get to see my nephew?"

"I am saying that the vow I asked you to take…"

"More like forced me to take. If I had my way, Harry would have been with me."

"The vow I asked you to take was meant to protect Harry. To protect you. That does mean keeping certain things from him to let him be a child. To not have the weight of the world on his shoulders. To allow him to be as normal a child for as long as he can."

Adalyn sighed and stared at the messy haired boy through the window. Her hand was being forced. But he was more important to her than justice at the moment.

"Fine," Adalyn agreed, "but when the time comes that we have to tell him the truth, I want to be the one to tell him. I think I have that right."

Dumbledore stared at her, his eyes twinkling, "Agreed"

Adalyn pushed up the sleeve of her left arm and held out her arm for Dumbledore to take. The woman in the backseat remained quiet, but felt her breath catch in the back of her throat at the bruises and what looked to be rope burns on the younger woman's wrists, not to mention the cuts, bruises, and scars that covered her forearm.

Dumbledore eyed the woman's arm as well, a sad smile came over his face as he pushed up his own sleeve, grasping the woman's forearm.

"Minerva," Dumbledore said as he turned to the woman in the backseat, "I believe you remember the spell?"

The woman pulled out her wand and pointed it at the grasped forearms, making three golden and glowing ropes appear binding the arms together.

"Do you, Albus Percival Wulfric Brian Dumbledore revoke the vow you asked of Adalyn Elyse Potter on the 31rst of October 1991 concerning any personal contact with Harry James Potter until the time has come?"

"Yes."

"Do you state that the time has come to revoke this part of the vow made on the 31rst of October 1991?"

"Yes."

"Do you, Adalyn Elyse Potter agree with this revocation? And agree to maintain other parts of the vow already in place?"

"Yes."

One of the three ropes unwound itself from their arms before dissolving in mid-air, leaving the two other ropes still around their arms before they faded into nothing once more.

Adalyn dropped the man's arm as she unblocked herself from the seat.

"Great. We done here then?" Adalyn asked shortly, "Because I need to go get my nephew and start attempting to explain why I haven't been in his life for the last 12 years without mentioning the things that will actually explain that topic. So if you two would excuse me?"

The passengers said nothing as Adalyn got out of the car, running a hand through her hair and straightening her sweatshirt before jogging across the street to number 4.

The man and woman watched her bang on the door, pulling out her wand as she did so.

"Do you really think we should let her go in there alone, Albus?" Minerva asked him as she watched the door open and Adalyn force her way inside, "She is obviously going to breach the statue of secrecy."

Dumbledore did not respond. He was watching the young woman storm into the living room her wand in hand, but lowered.

The Adalyn he had known years ago would have waltzed in the house, cracked a few sarcastic jokes and told the Dursely's to piss off. This Adalyn however was different. Filled with such rage, such mistrust, such confusion…

"No," Dumbledore said after a moment, "Adalyn may seem brash, but if there is one thing she has proved more than anyone, it's that she can take care of herself."

So if you all read my last version… this one is obviously going to take a much different route and have a much different vibe. It will be dark, but I think more realistic. I think the book series progressively got darker as Harry grew up and was able to see the darkness in the world, but for a wizarding war, I think major horrors were omitted. This story will be darker. I will cover topics such as mental health, the horrors and violence of war, rape, abuse, torture, ect. Granted, I'm not trying to be a debbie-downer, but I think its not realistic to have people who have been through what some of the characters have been through (Aka Sirius, Remus, Adalyn) and not have baggage or issues that they are desperately trying to hide from others. I want this series to kind of go hand in hand with the books but they are from Adalyn's and the adults POV as opposed to Harry's child-like view of the war and such.

There still will be funny parts, there still will be romance and joy… but I think the horrors they all went through have a lasting effect and won't be magically solved as soon as they are free/back in Britain.

I hope you all enjoyed this chapter. I am excited for what is to come and what I have planned. I will be doing slower updates as life is busy/I want to take my time, so please be patient with me!

Love you all!