The Boy Who Lost It All
Sitting in my office, reading the parchment Minerva set before me, I began to allow my mind to spin backwards through time. For awhile there, I honestly thought there was a chance for happiness in the boy's life. Have you ever thought of what it must be like to be the boy who lived? What am I saying, of course you have, to be famous for killing the most powerful wizard in all the world before your first birthday. But have you stopped to think of what he'd lost to change our lives? He lost the only two people in the world that loved him. He lost everything in a second, lost it all before he could even crawl.
Then, he came to Hogwarts. Everything was changing. The Dursleys came to respect him, no fear him, in such a way that they grew kind to him. He had friends that loved him, friends that would give their lives for him, and almost did, several times. That day sticks out in my head like only yesterday. The day Harry sat before me, the smile on his face, and conferred with me like he would with his father. He told me something that we all knew from the moment she stepped into his life, but he hadn't seen it then. He was in love.
Her name was Kalli Damia, and she was the most stunning child I've ever had the privilege of meeting. Her uncle, Remus Lupin, sent her to watch out for Harry, and in the process started the wheels of destiny in motion. She appeared in the midst of fifth year, and by seventh Harry had fallen so deep he couldn't breathe.
"Professor," a familiar voice jilted me from my thoughts. There before me stood Minerva, her spectacles drawn down to the tip of her nose, and the point on her hat drooping slightly. "The students are awaiting you in the greeting hall."
I waved her away, I didn't care anymore. "Take my place, Minerva. Give them my regards and have them eat their suppers." Minerva stared at me. Never in 200 years had I missed a greetings feast. But tonight my heart wasn't in it.
After she had left me, I sat in silence once again. I had watched Harry mature and grow into a man that I once knew. James Potter. When he'd left the school on that last day, I watched him swing Kalli into the train car and laughingly kiss her. That was the first time I felt it. That sinking feeling in the pit of your stomach, the one that grips you so tightly that you can't even think straight. I tried my hardest to ignore it, but something always brought it back up.
When I got the invitation I knew that everything was slowly moving into checkmate. It read:
Mr. Harry James Potter
And
Miss Kalinda Demeter Damia
Request your presence
On the 3rd of June
Twenty Thousand and Six
To join them in the celebration of their union
You, Albus Dumbledore,
Are a treasured guest,
And will have a special place at the Bridal Table.
Please RSVP ASAP.
I went, of course, and I celebrated with them. I loved them both dearly, and I would never want to miss out on the festivities. But all through the service I felt that stone in my stomach growing larger. Minerva attended with me, and she sat just as silent as I. Harry had asked me to give a speech, and though I felt quite choked up at the pit of my stomach, I rose to my feet and began to talk. To this very day, I don't recall what I said, or why I said it. All I know is Kalli gave me a tearful smile, and Harry raised his glass to me.
After that day the feeling started to fade away, and soon it disappeared completely. Then, one morning, I awoke to the nauseous feeling, and I knew right them that something had happened. Surely, I didn't have to wait long. Minerva came rushing into my office only seconds before I stepped in.
"The Dark Mark!" she exclaimed, much as she had twenty two years before. My heart sank, Kalli had just given birth to twins, Luke and Lara. What would I do with them. If they had lived. Instantly, that nausea welled up inside of me and I wanted to double over. But I stood erect and stared at her. "Minister Weasley is sending her here." I thought my heart would explode from my chest.
"Kalli's alive?" I begged, leaping to my feet. Minerva nodded, motioning toward the window. Kalli Potter is my great-great granddaughter on her father's side. Instantly I felt better, not much better, but better.
Now, as I sit here, staring at the Daily Prophet on the desk before me, I wonder what life for Kalli will be like if Harry doesn't return. I mean sure, Lily didn't have to live with the knowledge that her husband gave his life for her, but Kalli.
I glance up as the door opens. There she stands, ebony hair curled around her deathly pale skin. She's always been my snow white, with ice blue eyes and pink lips. Her eyes are red and puffy, and I can tell she's been crying. In her arms sit Luke and Lara, barely eighteen months, dark hair like Kalli's, green eyes like Harry.
"What do I do?" the first words from her mouth were, and I felt my knees quiver.
Somehow I choked back tears and replied, "Love him. Love him 'til the day you die."
Her ice blue eyes shook and her gaze faltered as she responded, "For much longer then that."
At that moment I felt true regret. How could I have let it happen? We all knew Voldemort was after Harry. If only I had tried one more spell on the house. If only I had done one more circle around the grounds. Even as I thought it, I knew it was pointless. Nothing would stop the wheels of destiny once they were set in motion.
I gave Kalli a room just north of mine, where she could stay for however long it took to find out. Then I took Luke and Lara from her and allowed her to be alone. Setting the twins down on my desk, I looked at them. The third generation of Marauders, without a role model. Tragic. I couldn't teach them as well as I taught Harry, but Harry had help. Harry was born to be a Marauder.
"Boy," I said to Luke. "You will be the youngest Quidditch captain Hogwarts has ever seen."
He looked up at me a babbled a word or two. Lara giggled at her brother and outstretched her arms to me. Beautiful, I thought, looking down at her. "You're going to be a real heartbreaker," I continued to her. Suddenly, I got a flash of Harry giving her to a young man that looked amazingly like Seamus Finnigan. Continuing to look at her, I muttered, "I hope that happens darling. For your sake."
Alone in my living quarters I sit having dinner, silence overwhelms everything, I feel like nothing is around me, I'm alone. Until the fire crackles and Ron Weasley steps through the flames. "I'm sorry to barge in like this, Professor, but it is the only safe way," he said before I could rise to my feet.
"Nonsense," I responded, motioning to a chair. "You are always welcome here, you know that!" I didn't mention that I had been hoping for news of Harry.
But Ron skipped right to the point. "We've had scouts watching the Riddle house since Harry's disappearance," he reported. "Nothing can really be said except that there hasn't been a single movement in the entire house since that night." I motioned to a chair, silently cursing myself for not speaking up long before this had ever happened. "But Finnigan has a hypothesis as to why this occurred," Ron continued.
For only a moment I allowed my mind to drift off. When Ronald Weasley had first come to Hogwarts he had been this freckle faced smart-mouth with no self esteem and five older siblings to live up to, three of which held Gryffindor's highest honors. Standing before me was the shell of that boy, grown taller, with snapping eyes, a cool and commanding air, and he had made himself the Minister of Magic after Fudge's brutal death.
I snapped back to reality. "What's he figured?" I asked, my heart racing.
"He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named wants Kalli to come in search for Harry at the House," Ron replied.
Both of us fell silent as we pondered the appropriate course of action. The flash of brilliance hit us both at the same time. Our gazes met and we grinned. Leaping to our feet we rushed from the room. Up the stairs to Kalli's bedroom, down the secret passage and straight into the living section of the suite. "Get up," I cried, leaping to grab her. "Come along, we have an idea."
I watched as she crossed over the darkened threshold into the Riddle House. Her ebony hair framed that sweet face so perfectly that tears sparked in my eyes. Darkness crowded around her, pressing her deeper into the house, pushing her on. I watched in the mirror before me, watched the shadows play among her eyes. I shouldn't have let this happen, there was something wrong with this plan.
From somewhere in the house I heard yelling, and banging. Kalli must have recognized it, because she turned toward the stairs. Seconds later, I recognized it as well. Harry was upstairs, yelling something down to her. She turned and darted up the flight to the landing and listened. Again, she rushed around and up the flight.
Over to a door she ran, flinging it open. There, tied to a chair was Harry, screaming and shaking is head, stomping his feet. "RUN!" he screamed, staring at her, "RUN! LEAVE! GET OUT OF HERE!"
Ignoring the shouts, Kalli dove to untie him. I watched, my breath baited, as a shadow fell across my grand-daughter. "Kalli," Harry whispered, terrified.
Again, Kalli ignored Harry's warning. As Voldemort drew close enough to breath on her, Kalli turned around. I watched the disdain in her eyes grow to contempt, and the contempt grow to anger. "Back off you bloody son of a bitch!" she screamed at him, whipping out her wand. Voldemort grinned maliciously at her and reached into his robes for his wand.
In a second Kalli whipped around and touched Harry with her wand. He vanished from sight. "Ha," Voldemort exclaimed, "I wasn't him I wanted, my princess!" With that Kalli felt a hand on her arm, and she turned to find Gregory Damia standing with his hand on her flesh. Colette, Kalli's mother, stood just behind him, and four sets of eyes traveled to the cream colored skin of her wrist, where the white numeral sat. The Sign Of The Chosen One which turned charcoal when touched my evil.
It remained white.
Gregory and Colette looked to Kalli in amazement, Voldemort faltered. And Kalinda Potter turned back into Hermione Granger. "Didn't work out the way you planned?" she asked, pointing her wand at Gregory and Colette. "Travelus Magius!" she screamed, and a shock of blue light sparked from her wand.
"Where'd they go?" Harry asked me one day as we sat around the little cottage in the woods.
"Hermione sent them where they can never touch Kalli again," I responded.
There was silence for a moment, and then Harry continued, "How'd you know that was what He was looking for?"
At first I didn't know how to answer him. "Lucky guess," I finally replied.
We sat in silence a bit longer, until Kalli came in with the twins. Harry sat there, a baby on each knee, sipping butterbeer and holding Kalli's hand. As I sat there, watching him I knew. The boy who had lost it all had earned back so much more.
Sitting in my office, reading the parchment Minerva set before me, I began to allow my mind to spin backwards through time. For awhile there, I honestly thought there was a chance for happiness in the boy's life. Have you ever thought of what it must be like to be the boy who lived? What am I saying, of course you have, to be famous for killing the most powerful wizard in all the world before your first birthday. But have you stopped to think of what he'd lost to change our lives? He lost the only two people in the world that loved him. He lost everything in a second, lost it all before he could even crawl.
Then, he came to Hogwarts. Everything was changing. The Dursleys came to respect him, no fear him, in such a way that they grew kind to him. He had friends that loved him, friends that would give their lives for him, and almost did, several times. That day sticks out in my head like only yesterday. The day Harry sat before me, the smile on his face, and conferred with me like he would with his father. He told me something that we all knew from the moment she stepped into his life, but he hadn't seen it then. He was in love.
Her name was Kalli Damia, and she was the most stunning child I've ever had the privilege of meeting. Her uncle, Remus Lupin, sent her to watch out for Harry, and in the process started the wheels of destiny in motion. She appeared in the midst of fifth year, and by seventh Harry had fallen so deep he couldn't breathe.
"Professor," a familiar voice jilted me from my thoughts. There before me stood Minerva, her spectacles drawn down to the tip of her nose, and the point on her hat drooping slightly. "The students are awaiting you in the greeting hall."
I waved her away, I didn't care anymore. "Take my place, Minerva. Give them my regards and have them eat their suppers." Minerva stared at me. Never in 200 years had I missed a greetings feast. But tonight my heart wasn't in it.
After she had left me, I sat in silence once again. I had watched Harry mature and grow into a man that I once knew. James Potter. When he'd left the school on that last day, I watched him swing Kalli into the train car and laughingly kiss her. That was the first time I felt it. That sinking feeling in the pit of your stomach, the one that grips you so tightly that you can't even think straight. I tried my hardest to ignore it, but something always brought it back up.
When I got the invitation I knew that everything was slowly moving into checkmate. It read:
Mr. Harry James Potter
And
Miss Kalinda Demeter Damia
Request your presence
On the 3rd of June
Twenty Thousand and Six
To join them in the celebration of their union
You, Albus Dumbledore,
Are a treasured guest,
And will have a special place at the Bridal Table.
Please RSVP ASAP.
I went, of course, and I celebrated with them. I loved them both dearly, and I would never want to miss out on the festivities. But all through the service I felt that stone in my stomach growing larger. Minerva attended with me, and she sat just as silent as I. Harry had asked me to give a speech, and though I felt quite choked up at the pit of my stomach, I rose to my feet and began to talk. To this very day, I don't recall what I said, or why I said it. All I know is Kalli gave me a tearful smile, and Harry raised his glass to me.
After that day the feeling started to fade away, and soon it disappeared completely. Then, one morning, I awoke to the nauseous feeling, and I knew right them that something had happened. Surely, I didn't have to wait long. Minerva came rushing into my office only seconds before I stepped in.
"The Dark Mark!" she exclaimed, much as she had twenty two years before. My heart sank, Kalli had just given birth to twins, Luke and Lara. What would I do with them. If they had lived. Instantly, that nausea welled up inside of me and I wanted to double over. But I stood erect and stared at her. "Minister Weasley is sending her here." I thought my heart would explode from my chest.
"Kalli's alive?" I begged, leaping to my feet. Minerva nodded, motioning toward the window. Kalli Potter is my great-great granddaughter on her father's side. Instantly I felt better, not much better, but better.
Now, as I sit here, staring at the Daily Prophet on the desk before me, I wonder what life for Kalli will be like if Harry doesn't return. I mean sure, Lily didn't have to live with the knowledge that her husband gave his life for her, but Kalli.
I glance up as the door opens. There she stands, ebony hair curled around her deathly pale skin. She's always been my snow white, with ice blue eyes and pink lips. Her eyes are red and puffy, and I can tell she's been crying. In her arms sit Luke and Lara, barely eighteen months, dark hair like Kalli's, green eyes like Harry.
"What do I do?" the first words from her mouth were, and I felt my knees quiver.
Somehow I choked back tears and replied, "Love him. Love him 'til the day you die."
Her ice blue eyes shook and her gaze faltered as she responded, "For much longer then that."
At that moment I felt true regret. How could I have let it happen? We all knew Voldemort was after Harry. If only I had tried one more spell on the house. If only I had done one more circle around the grounds. Even as I thought it, I knew it was pointless. Nothing would stop the wheels of destiny once they were set in motion.
I gave Kalli a room just north of mine, where she could stay for however long it took to find out. Then I took Luke and Lara from her and allowed her to be alone. Setting the twins down on my desk, I looked at them. The third generation of Marauders, without a role model. Tragic. I couldn't teach them as well as I taught Harry, but Harry had help. Harry was born to be a Marauder.
"Boy," I said to Luke. "You will be the youngest Quidditch captain Hogwarts has ever seen."
He looked up at me a babbled a word or two. Lara giggled at her brother and outstretched her arms to me. Beautiful, I thought, looking down at her. "You're going to be a real heartbreaker," I continued to her. Suddenly, I got a flash of Harry giving her to a young man that looked amazingly like Seamus Finnigan. Continuing to look at her, I muttered, "I hope that happens darling. For your sake."
Alone in my living quarters I sit having dinner, silence overwhelms everything, I feel like nothing is around me, I'm alone. Until the fire crackles and Ron Weasley steps through the flames. "I'm sorry to barge in like this, Professor, but it is the only safe way," he said before I could rise to my feet.
"Nonsense," I responded, motioning to a chair. "You are always welcome here, you know that!" I didn't mention that I had been hoping for news of Harry.
But Ron skipped right to the point. "We've had scouts watching the Riddle house since Harry's disappearance," he reported. "Nothing can really be said except that there hasn't been a single movement in the entire house since that night." I motioned to a chair, silently cursing myself for not speaking up long before this had ever happened. "But Finnigan has a hypothesis as to why this occurred," Ron continued.
For only a moment I allowed my mind to drift off. When Ronald Weasley had first come to Hogwarts he had been this freckle faced smart-mouth with no self esteem and five older siblings to live up to, three of which held Gryffindor's highest honors. Standing before me was the shell of that boy, grown taller, with snapping eyes, a cool and commanding air, and he had made himself the Minister of Magic after Fudge's brutal death.
I snapped back to reality. "What's he figured?" I asked, my heart racing.
"He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named wants Kalli to come in search for Harry at the House," Ron replied.
Both of us fell silent as we pondered the appropriate course of action. The flash of brilliance hit us both at the same time. Our gazes met and we grinned. Leaping to our feet we rushed from the room. Up the stairs to Kalli's bedroom, down the secret passage and straight into the living section of the suite. "Get up," I cried, leaping to grab her. "Come along, we have an idea."
I watched as she crossed over the darkened threshold into the Riddle House. Her ebony hair framed that sweet face so perfectly that tears sparked in my eyes. Darkness crowded around her, pressing her deeper into the house, pushing her on. I watched in the mirror before me, watched the shadows play among her eyes. I shouldn't have let this happen, there was something wrong with this plan.
From somewhere in the house I heard yelling, and banging. Kalli must have recognized it, because she turned toward the stairs. Seconds later, I recognized it as well. Harry was upstairs, yelling something down to her. She turned and darted up the flight to the landing and listened. Again, she rushed around and up the flight.
Over to a door she ran, flinging it open. There, tied to a chair was Harry, screaming and shaking is head, stomping his feet. "RUN!" he screamed, staring at her, "RUN! LEAVE! GET OUT OF HERE!"
Ignoring the shouts, Kalli dove to untie him. I watched, my breath baited, as a shadow fell across my grand-daughter. "Kalli," Harry whispered, terrified.
Again, Kalli ignored Harry's warning. As Voldemort drew close enough to breath on her, Kalli turned around. I watched the disdain in her eyes grow to contempt, and the contempt grow to anger. "Back off you bloody son of a bitch!" she screamed at him, whipping out her wand. Voldemort grinned maliciously at her and reached into his robes for his wand.
In a second Kalli whipped around and touched Harry with her wand. He vanished from sight. "Ha," Voldemort exclaimed, "I wasn't him I wanted, my princess!" With that Kalli felt a hand on her arm, and she turned to find Gregory Damia standing with his hand on her flesh. Colette, Kalli's mother, stood just behind him, and four sets of eyes traveled to the cream colored skin of her wrist, where the white numeral sat. The Sign Of The Chosen One which turned charcoal when touched my evil.
It remained white.
Gregory and Colette looked to Kalli in amazement, Voldemort faltered. And Kalinda Potter turned back into Hermione Granger. "Didn't work out the way you planned?" she asked, pointing her wand at Gregory and Colette. "Travelus Magius!" she screamed, and a shock of blue light sparked from her wand.
"Where'd they go?" Harry asked me one day as we sat around the little cottage in the woods.
"Hermione sent them where they can never touch Kalli again," I responded.
There was silence for a moment, and then Harry continued, "How'd you know that was what He was looking for?"
At first I didn't know how to answer him. "Lucky guess," I finally replied.
We sat in silence a bit longer, until Kalli came in with the twins. Harry sat there, a baby on each knee, sipping butterbeer and holding Kalli's hand. As I sat there, watching him I knew. The boy who had lost it all had earned back so much more.
