Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter or any of its characters. I wish I did, but sadly not all dreams can come true waaaahhhhh
SPOILER ALERT if you haven't read Order of the Phoenix or Half Blood Prince. There will only be spoilers in the prologue since the rest of the story takes place during the Marauders time. Anyways, on with the story ;)
Prologue
It was a dull, humid afternoon. The sun was draped in thick, gray clouds, which mirrored Alexa's feelings of foreboding as she strolled along Diagon Alley. It had been years since she had last set foot on said place. A faint smile crept to her face at its familiarity. At first glance Diagon Alley truly hadn't changed much. It was still the cobbled street lined with shops that it had been the last time Alexa had been there. Her spirits rose for a moment until she noticed that the windows of quite a few shops were all boarded up. She wondered if they were remodeling and yet she doubted it. A gloomy atmosphere suffocated the place. Now that the daze of the first impression was gone, Alexa became aware that instead of stopping to chat or admire the shops' windows witches and wizards now hurried up and down the cobbled street constantly turning their heads as if watching their backs.
As Alexa kept on walking along the street she noticed that everyone wore a look of fear and apprehension on their faces. She also noted that the windows of the shops that were still open were covered in purple and gold posters that read "What to do to protect yourself from Death Eaters." Death Eaters… she had heard of them while at Hogwarts. They were a group of dark wizards, the followers of someone who called himself Voldemort. Yet she never imagined they would become such a feared group.
Alexa sighed heavily. "How stupid of me to think that things could stay the same after so many years," she thought as she ran her hand through the many posters stuck to the windows of Flourish and Blotts. She sighed again and the next moment she found herself laying on her butt. She had bumped into someone so hard that she had lost her balance and fallen.
"I am very sorry," she heard someone say.
The stranger she had bumped into was now offering her a hand. "I wasn't paying attention. Please forgive me for my…" Alexa stopped in mid sentence as she straightened herself. The face of the man she had just bumped into was… no it couldn't be, she told herself.
"Alexa? Is that really you?" asked the man whose face mirrored Alexa's look of utter surprise.
Alexa nodded slowly, "Remus? Remus Lupin?"
"Yes, that's me. I never thought you would remember me after all these years," he replied.
"I was about to say the same, " she said with a weak smile. "I see things in Diagon Alley have changed quite a bit since my last visit."
Remus' expression turned grim. "Not only in Diagon Alley. They have changed everywhere… for the worst. Want to grab something to drink at the Leaky Cauldron?"
Alexa pondered about the invitation for a moment and after a brief pause she replied, "Ok, I suppose I have some catching up to do."
"Right then, let's go. It's on me," said Remus leading the way to the Leaky Cauldron. He paused for a moment and asked in an undertone, "do you have your wand ready?"
Alexa blinked. How long had it been since she had last held a wand in her hands? "No, I… forgot it at home," she offered apologetically. "Why, do I need it?"
Remus smiled weakly. "You have been away from the wizarding world for too long. You really have no idea what's going on. Just stay close to me."
In other circumstances Alexa would have declined Remus' invitation but she was itching to know what had been of Diagon Alley and of her old friends. As the two of them made their way quietly through the crowded street Alexa was observing Remus. He looked very pale and thin. Even though he was still young, there were strokes of gray on his brown hair and behind his smile there was a strained look.
With every step that took them closer to the Leaky Cauldron Alexa's heart beat faster. She had a bad feeling. Remus' grave expression and sickly figure told her that she wouldn't like what she was about to hear.
Once the two of them entered the Leaky Cauldron, Alexa's stomach dropped another notch. This could not be the same Leaky Cauldron she had visited years ago. This place wasn't bursting with chatter and laughter. It was deserted but for the owner and an old witch nodding her head on a chair by the fireplace.
Alexa went to sit in one of the farthest corners of the room while Remus got a pair of bottles of butterbeer. As much as she despised the habit, Alexa was biting her nails as she waited for Remus to take a seat and start talking. "So what's happened? I want to hear all about it," she said trying to keep the anxiety she felt off her voice as Remus took a sip of his butterbeer.
"What do you want to know?" Remus asked.
"Well, what's been of James, Lily, Sirius, you and everyone else. Who are these Death Eaters and what in the world has happened to Diagon Alley? Why is it so gloomy now?"
Remus stared at her in disbelief for a moment. "What was the last you heard from the wizarding world?"
"I haven't heard a thing about it since I left Hogwarts," said Alexa with downcast eyes.
Remus gazed at the floor for a while in silence not knowing where to start. "Well, you've certainly missed a lot." He sighed and then told Alexa all about Voldemort terrorizing everyone soon after they had left Hogwarts, about James and Lily's deaths, about Sirius' stint in Azkaban and his escape, about Voldemort's fall and return just a couple of summers ago.
Remus had paused to take another sip of his butterbeer. It was obvious that retelling all of the tragedies that had occurred after Alexa had left Hogwarts was as hard on him as it was on Alexa to hear of them. After all they say that remembering a moment is to relive it. Alexa, who hadn't shed a single tear in years, was now trembling with a knot in her throat. "James and Lily dead? How can that Voldemort person be doing as he pleases? Didn't you say that he is afraid of headmaster Dumbledore? How come the headmaster is letting him get away with all this?"
A tear escaped Remus' eyes. "Because Dumbledore is no longer with us," he said hoarsely. "H-he was murdered a couple of months ago."
Alexa clapped a trembling hand to her mouth and this time she couldn't hold back the tears. Dumbledore had been one of the very few people who had never shown a sign of fear or rejection towards her. Thanks to him she had been admitted to Hogwarts, the one place in which she had ever been happy, even if only for a moment. "And how about Sirius? How is he? They haven't sent him back to Azkaban, have they?" she asked in a mere whisper once the tears had subsided and her voice had returned to her.
Remus ran a hand through his hair and sighed heavily. "I'm sorry, Alexa. He, he died a year ago. His cousin Bellatrix pushed him into the dais in the department of mysteries… the one from which people never come back."
Alexa's mind shattered. She felt as though Remus had just thrust a knife into her heart.
"Even if Dumbledore isn't here anymore we'll keep fighting until we defeat Voldemort and his death eaters. They will pay for all the suffering they've caused," said Remus determinedly as the figure of a young witch with bubblegum pink hair called out to him, "Oh there you are! We've been looking for you."
But Alexa wasn't listening anymore. All her senses had gone numb and her mind was sinking in a thick fog. She mumbled a "nice to meet you" when Remus introduced his fiancé and then a "good bye" as she hurried out of the Leaky Cauldron and out of Diagon Alley. Out of the place that was supposed to bring her happy memories and not bad news. The place that she had always remembered fondly, and now had turned into a living hell. She wandered into muggle London unaware that she had done so. Her feet seemed to be moving of their own accord. Tears were streaming down her face and memories started rushing back to her head.
Author's Note: 'kay the prologue takes place in "present time" but all of the other chapters will take place in the time of the marauders. I know the prologue was really uneventful but the story will pick up, I promise hehehe. We get to meet the Marauders in the next chapter (yay!). Thanks for reading! If you can find it in your beautiful hearts to leave a review for me I will be forever grateful… hopefully I haven't creeped you out by now lol!