A young woman with deep red hair looked at the tiny infant in her arms. She had no idea what to do with the child, and as an orphan she was barely able to take care of herself, let alone her infant sister.

There was hope. She knew the address of her distant cousins in England. At some point they had broken off from the main family due to the fact that the child in question was a squib, and they had respected the request to keep their distance.

That had been a hundred years ago, and the man's great grandson had a relatively stable family from what she knew of it. They could easily support a second child.

The woman knocked on the door. Once, twice. Seeing the infant and recognizing the words she spoke as Russian, the man invited her in. She explained her problem and the fact she could not care for a child without putting it into serious danger. The less people knew of her relation to the infant, the better off they would both be.

Micheal listened to the girl's story. It was evident the two girls were related, and he had heard stories of how tough Russia was for girls trying to raise children alone.

One look at the infant's green eyes and his heart melted. He couldn't let this innocent child be dragged into that mess.

"Alright. We'll take the little one in. Does she have a name?" asked Micheal.

The girl looked rather panicked, as if the idea of naming the girl had never occurred to her.

Micheal gave her an odd look.

"She doesn't even have a name?"

"Our...mother...died before she could give one. I had to fight just to escape Russia, so I wasn't exactly in any state to name my little sister," admitted the girl.

"Our daughter is named Petunia, and my wife's name is Rose. Going with a flower theme, what would you call her?"

"Lily," said the girl without hesitation. The girl was innocent in more ways than her older sister.

"Lily it is. What should we tell her when she gets older?"

The girl sighed.

"Tell her that her real big sister did what she had to in order to keep her safe. That I'll always be watching her even if she can't see me around," said the girl.

"I'm telling you Lils, there's someone watching us!" said James.

For the past two years since they were married, James had felt like someone was watching them. He was worried that it was a Death Eater.

Lily laughed. She had an idea who the watcher was, and knew that they were no real threat.

"Lily, I'm being serious!" said James.

Lily rolled her eyes and said "Where do you sense the watcher?"

"Over in the trees," said James.

Lily sighed and went into the forest.

"You're slipping sister," said Lily.

A slightly older red head appeared from the shadows.

"Hello Lily."

Natasha was Lily's older sister, though she never knew she had been adopted until she was sixteen after a spectacular fight with Severus. After learning Petunia was just her cousin, Lily wanted to meet her real sister.

Imagine Lily's surprise when she ran into Natasha a week before she had to return to Hogwarts.

Flashback...

Lily wandered around the forest near town. She was still heartbroken her best friend chose to join those horrible creeps. Who cared about the bloodlines? If they kept inbreeding like that they were going to have to deal with having children who were never born with magic!

She heard a rustling above her and drew her wand. As far as she knew, the Death Eaters hadn't started targeting first gens just yet. But she did NOT want to be the first one.

"At least my little sister has some sense. Even if you are relying on a training tool," said a voice above her.

Lily spun on her heel to find...a woman only a little older than her with the same red hair.

"Who are you? And why do you feel so familiar?"

"My name is Natasha. And I'm your older sister. Micheal said you had questions when he sent out that note."

"So that's why he borrowed my owl..." said Lily. She had a small barn owl she named Horatio. She had wondered who her father would be contacting when he asked to borrow it.

"I know you have a lot of questions. But I had no choice. It was safer to give you to the Evans family and let you grow up away from my job. And I wasn't ready to be a mother," said Natasha.

Lily and Natasha sat down on some fallen tree trunks and Natasha told her most of why she had to leave Lily behind. Lily was actually quite forgiving...even if learning she wasn't a muggleborn but a Russian Pure Blood had come as a surprise.

Not that she would be parading that fact. She would rather be a muggleborn who knew about modern conveniences than to be dragged into the English pure blood mess. Plus it would make her a bigger target from the Death Eaters who would likely use her as a breeding tool.

Natasha approved of Lily's common sense.

Flashback end...

"Did I freak your husband out?" chuckled Natasha.

"I still don't get why you can't come in for a visit," said Lily.

"We both know why. If people knew you were my sister..."

"They would use me to get to you. Can't you at least come once?"

"Hoping to convince me to meet my niece?"

Lily blushed. So Natasha knew.

"You're her godmother. James thinks I chose Petunia, since I never told anyone about you," said Lily.

"And what of her godfather?" asked Natasha, not at all comfortable with the idea. Even after all this time, she didn't think she could handle raising a child.

And after what had been done to her by the Red Room, her only option was to adopt.

"Sirius is a good man, but responsible does not describe him," said Lily flatly.

"I can't come in...but I can pass on this. It's an old protective amulet from our family. It's considered a 'dark' object by the English because the bigger the sacrifice, the greater the protection."

It was a bracelet that could easily be double-looped around an infant's wrist.

"Wouldn't you need it? Because of your job?" said Lily.

"I think you could use it more. Especially with those idiots running around."

"I really wish you could stay Tasha," said Lily.

"I'll be around little sister," said Natasha. She always was.

It had been six months since Natasha visited. Tonight was Halloween and Lily had a horrible sinking feeling she would never see her sister again. James was in the kitchen while their daughter slept upstairs peacefully.

One moment Lily was reading up on Russian battle magic when the wards slammed down.

"James! He's here!" shouted Lily.

"Go! Grab our daughter and run!"

Lily ran up the stairs, only barely hearing James' death. Seeing the bracelet on the table, she remembered Natasha's words. The greater the sacrifice, the stronger the protection. What could possibly be a greater sacrifice than a mother protecting her child?

Putting it securely around her daughter's wrist, Lily cast the incantation. The bracelet glowed, ready to accept the sacrifice.

Voldemort came in.

"Stand aside foolish girl!"

"No!"

"Avada Kedevra!"

Lily could feel herself dying. So she directed all her love towards her daughter. With her last breath, her sacrifice was absorbed by the bracelet.

Voldemort sneered at the foolish girl, and aimed his wand at her daughter. The bracelet was still absorbing Lily's sacrifice...so when he hit the girl with the killing curse it absorbed everything.

Voldemort had undergone countless rituals in his quest for immortality. The bracelet ripped each and every single one apart and absorbed it.

"No! NO!"

The bracelet absorbed everything...except what little was left inside the body. The backlash of it gave the poor girl a scar on her head.

And in the struggle to keep his life, Voldemort lost the right to be Slytherin's heir. That was passed to the girl.

Natasha looked at the dead bodies of her brother-in-law and baby sister. Seeing as how the bracelet was gone, Natasha knew that her niece had to be alive.

Unfortunately there was no way she could take in an infant. The Red Room would turn her into a weapon. She had barely been able to avoid them learning about Lily's existence!

So she went another route. Lily had given her the key to the Potter vault and had her secretly named one of it's executors. So Natasha gathered all their personal effects, every photo and book she could find, and sealed it up in the 'Evans' vault.

Lily had set up a dummy vault which actually lead to the Romanov family vaults. The key to which would be given to Lily's daughter the moment the goblins picked up on the protection bracelet.

At least Natasha wouldn't have to worry about anyone stealing her niece's heritage or picking up anything they shouldn't. And if she knew Dumbledore, he would leave her with Petunia.

Time to have a chat with her cousin.

Petunia hissed at Natasha.

"Take the brat!"

"You know exactly why I can't. Besides, that senile old goat would know something was wrong the minute I did."

"What do you want?" said Petunia. Vernon had just left for work and she had no idea how she was going to explain this to him.

"The same thing I asked your father. Take her in, raise her as your own. I can't take her because of my work and the fact she'll be in danger all the time. And I won't allow Dumbledore to turn her into a weapon or breeding tool for his cronies. So here's my deal. In exchange for raising her, I'll deal with anything magical. Tell any magicals who ask that your cousin is a witch and is better equipped to deal with... how did you put it? Freakishness?"

"We can't afford a second child."

Natasha rolled her eyes.

"I'll insure the goblins know you're in charge of raising her and that they have to use the muggleborn intermediaries. You'll be given a monthly stipend if Dumbledore fails to do his job right. Fortunately Lily insured I would become her magical guardian if something like this happened."

And boy had that made the goblins pleased. Almost immediately after Black was arrested, Dumbledore tried to seize control of the Potter account claiming to be the girl's magical guardian.

He got a rude shock instead when he learned that the girl's magical aunt happened to have claimed that right almost immediately after the Potter's deaths. The only reason the girl was with Petunia was because the woman had no real stable home and it was safer.

"And these...blood wards?"

"Complete and utter bullshit. So long as the girl always has that bracelet you'll be protected. Do not try to remove it. It's charmed so that only the one wearing it can take it off, and the last idiot who tried to steal it was cursed. Badly."

Petunia paled.

Natasha cast a basic detection charm and frowned.

"Oh that senile son of a..."

"What is it?"

"The bastards cast several wards around the house. I might have to come back here and dismantle or nullify them before they set properly."

She hated dealing with magic. Working as a mercenary assassin was so much easier and to forget she even had magic.

Especially when it came to outdated, and stuffy societies like England.

A month later Natasha visited briefly to undo most of the wards without actually destroying them. They only reason she didn't destroy them outright was because of the alarm wards woven into them. Destroying those so soon would tell Dumbledore something was up.

It was bad enough he now knew Lily had a magical aunt who had already claimed godmother status. And that was enough to block him out of the Potter vaults.

After that, Natasha did the same thing she did with Lily. Watched from a distance. Until the war suddenly restarted anyway.