A/N 1 From Scorpiodragonfly: As previously stated neither myself nor LaHotes Girl own nor will ever own Harry Potter but we are grateful for the opportunity to play in the world she created. While I know that some fanfic authors update weekly, I cannot promise that I will. I will promise however, I will attempt to update as quickly as I can while LaHote's Girl is tied up with college classes. So without any further ado, on with the story! Thanks for reading and please review!

Change the Fates Design

Chapter 2: Age of Enlightenment

As Jackie led Robert into the living room he noticed several things at once. First he saw his cherub sitting on the floor with two other toddlers actually bubbling with laughter playing with the boys. He could never tire hearing her so happy. The second thing he noticed was the seven adults also sitting in the room. Lastly he noticed the apprehension coming from all of the adults. "Hi I'm Robert, Jackie's husband," he said with an outstretched hand to the nearest adult male.

"It's very nice to meet you Robert I'm James," James said as he stood to take Robert's hand and shook it. "This is my wife Lily, my friends Sirius, Remus, Lucius, his wife Cissy and a longtime friend of Lily's Severus." Each of the men rose and shook his hand while Lily and Cissy remained seated smiling as they each greeted him.

Hermione, hearing her father's voice, looked up and squealed happily, "Daddy!" She got up and toddled over to him hugging his legs. He noticed the two boys got up and hugged his legs like Hermione did while grinning and talking mostly in a language only another toddler would understand.

"Who are your new friends Hermione?" Robert asked as he crouched down to greet the children and hug Hermione.

"Harry and Draco, my bestest friends Daddy," She said matter-of-factly before she took both of their hands and walked back over to the toys they had abandoned to greet Robert.

Lily rose from her seat looking to Jackie, "How about I take the kids into the playroom so we can talk," She asked.

Jackie, understanding that they were going to have a serious conversation nodded, "Why don't I give you a hand," she replied.

Cissy rose and the three women took the children to another part of the house. Entering the playroom, Cissy watched as Jackie looked around for any possible dangers that a toddler can and undoubtedly would find.

"Do you have a child monitor so we can hear them if something happens?" Jackie asked.

"Yes, we have a monitoring system in place," Cissy said with a smile. "They will be completely safe and monitored closely."

Hesitantly she looked around again only for Hermione to wriggle out of her grasp and run over to join the boys. "Well I guess she feels safe with her new friends," Jackie said with a smile. "Okay, let's go back and join the men."

In the living room meanwhile, the guys got familiar with each other, the magicals finding that Robert was really easy to get along with. As the ladies returned to the room Robert remembered the apprehension in Jackie's voice when she called him at work. 'Okay now comes the serious conversation' Robert thought to himself.

"Now will you explain to me what happened earlier?" Jackie asked causing Robert to look at her questioningly.

All of the other adults looked at each other, everyone settling their gazes upon both Lily and Severus. Both nodded in ascent. Lily started off looking directly at Jackie, "This is going to be hard for both of you to believe but please bear with us we try to explain." Jackie looked at Robert then they both nodded their heads in agreement. With a grateful sigh Lily began, "What you saw earlier Jackie was what we call accidental magic. When the boys started fighting over the toy Hermione got upset that her 'bestest friends' were not getting along and her magic responded in kind to cheer them up so they wouldn't be fighting anymore," Now she was watching the Grangers as they took in the information they had been given so far. Seeing them with questions in their eyes instead of disbelief encouraged her to go on. "Do you remember when we were younger and how mean Petunia was to me and Sev?" Lily asked Jackie.

"Yes I do, though I didn't understand why." Jackie replied remembering Petunia calling them freaks and screeching at them. "What does that have to do with what happened today?" She asked.

Lily looked at Severus then took a deep breath then exhaling it slowly before she continued. "I learned at 8 years old that I was a witch from Sev, who is a wizard. I met Sev then and at first Petunia seemed to like him until...well until I had a bout of accidental magic causing a wilted lily that Sev gave me to regenerate itself in my hand becoming alive and beautiful again. I was so surprised then Petunia asked me what I had done. I didn't know but Sev provided me with the answer.

Flashback:

Lily and Petunia were climbing their favorite tree when they saw Severus walking towards them in the field. Lily climbed down the tree greeting Severus. He held out his hand which held a sad looking lily to his friend. "I'm sorry its wilted I tried to get it to you yesterday but you weren't here. So I brought it today." he said quietly. Lily took the flower into her hands looking sadly at it while fervently wishing it was still alive. Right before her eyes it regenerated itself and now looked brilliantly alive and healthy.

"What happened?" Petunia asked Lily anxiously.

"I don't know Tuney, it just changed all by itself." Lily replied looking from Petunia to Severus.

Severus smiled with a knowing look in his eyes. "You made it happen Lily, you brought it back to life with magic," he said with confidence.

Lily looked at him in astonishment. "No that can't be possible. How could I do magic?" she said.

"It is simple," he started, "You are a witch."

"Witched are old and ugly with warts an long hooked noses," Petunia yelled. "Witches are evil even the bible says so!"

Severus shook his head in disbelief at Petunia's statement. At 8 years old he thought everyone knew that neither witches nor wizards, well mostly, weren't inherently evil. "Tuney, she is a witch, I am a wizard and neither of us are evil," he told her. He took a step towards her; she backed away with a look of horror in her eyes."

Petunia stumbled slightly as she tried to take a few steps backwards. Turning on the spot she ran off screaming at them, "I'm going to tell on you! You'll see, Dad and Mum will agree with me!"

End flashback:

Jackie looked at Robert before looking back to Lily then to Severus. She remembered how mean Petunia had become towards Lily for no apparent reason. "Okay," she said, "I remember how mean Petunia got to you. That was shortly after you introduced me to Severus. So you're saying that you are a witch and Severus is an... ummm... a wizard? And everyone else here is..."

"The same, as Sev and I," Lily began, "The thing is, within the magical world its against the law to tell anyone, who is not magical, about our world. Other than what you saw earlier today has anything odd ever happened around Hermione when she was either overly excited or extremely upset?"

Robert looked to Jackie who nodded and said, "Well, a few weeks ago we had friends over who has a young child around Hermione's age. That child is a very spoiled child and refused to share toys with Hermione then had a temper tantrum because Hermione picked up another toy that he wanted. When I went into the playroom I walked in at the same time Hermione got upset and one of the toys launched itself at the spoiled child hitting him in the face, fortunately it was a stuffed animal, a large one that knocked him over from his sitting position on to the floor, he wasn't hurt but he stopped his tantrum."

James started chuckling breaking out into loud laughter along with Sirius' barking laughter and the snickering from Severus, Lucius and Remus. Lily and Cissy were trying to maintain their composure but you could see the laughter in their eyes. Lily finally said, "Yes, that would be accidental magic. I'm sorry for the laughter but I would imagine that when you saw it, after the initial shock, you found it humorous as well."

"I'm a bit confused though, neither of us are magical how is it that Hermione is?" Jackie asked confusion clear on her face.

"Well, there is a theory for that," Cissy began before looking to Lucius for assistance. "Our theory is that there is most likely someone in one of your families that came from Magical Britain."

Lily, knowing that the pureblood families had books that updated themselves magically when another branch is added, spoke up quickly, "James isn't there a book in the library about magical ancestry?"

"Why don't we pick this back up after supper? I'm sure the kids are getting hungry, I know I am." James said.

"Oh my goodness look at the time!" Lily exclaimed. "Would you show our new friends to the dining room while Cissy and I go collect the children."

The dining room was fairly large with a beautiful long oak table with matching chairs but it really looked larger as the table sat 12 easily. Jackie smiled to see three highchairs mixed in amongst the chairs showing her that the children were part of the conversations around them. James led her to one of the chairs, pulled it out for her and helped her sit. Jackie thought that was a show but changed her mind when everyone was in the room and after the children were settled in all of the men did the same for each of the ladies present. 'Proper gentlemen, chivalry isn't dead after all' Jackie thought to herself.

Dinner was served and casual conversation floated around the table with the three children putting their two cents in. Then Jackie asked the inevitable question, "So," she began, "What should we expect for Hermione now?" She looked around the table to the adult magicals.

Looking from one to another then James looked to Lily as she would know what the Grangers would be going through. Lily nodded to them all, she started the ball rolling. "Well, since my parents were in your shoes once I should be able answer most of your questions. Hermione is a very special little girl as she is already a talented little girl. I'm sure you can expect amazing things from her."

"Where is 'Magical Britain'?" Robert asked curiously. "I mean I've never seen anything odd within our community. Everything is normal."

Lucius spoke up, "'Magical Britain' is all around you unseen by those who don't have the knowledge of its existence but as life goes things happen to expose us, non-magical people tend to come up with their own explanations."

"You said something about a theory you believe is the answer to why we, being non-magical, find ourselves with a magical child. Can you elaborate on that theory?" Jackie asked.

Lily looked to James who in turn got up, "Excuse me, I will be right back so we can discuss this better." he said. As he left the room the empty dinner dishes vanished from the table and their dessert of tiramisu appeared on the table. A sudden gasp drew Cissy's attention to Jackie, "Are you okay Jackie?" she asked.

"Oh, my goodness, I think so. I was just caught off guard, the dishes disappeared and then there was dessert right in front of me. I guess getting used to magic is going to take a bit." Jackie replied.

James returned at that moment with a large tome in his hands. Seeing this evidently old tome caught both of the Grangers attention, both being very avid readers. He handed the book over to Cissy knowing this was her favorite research subject, ancestry and genealogy.

Cissy opened the book and started shuffling the pages. "You said your maiden name is Merriweather?" Cissy asked Jackie.

Yes it is, why do you ask?" Jackie replied.

"Well as I mentioned earlier I thought I recognized the name and found I was right. Look here," Cissy said as she handed her the large book, "Do you recognize any of these names?"

Jackie took the book and started skimming the names in front of her and stopped with a sudden gasp. "Robert," she said suddenly. "Look here and tell me I'm seeing things."

Robert looked at the page that Jackie indicated. "Jackie isn't that your grandfather's name and birth date?" he asked.

"How is this possible?" Jackie asked Cissy. "My grandfather never said he had brothers and a sister or for that matter that I have cousins!"

Cissy pointed to a mark on the page next to her grandfather's name. "This mark here means that your grandfather was what we refer to as a squib, or a child from a magical family that has little to no magical power. Usually when a child with no significant magical power is left at an orphanage shortly after birth. It looks like his family raised him to his majority when he was removed from the magical world and he then had to live in the non-magical world. This not a common experience as most feel it is cruel to raise a child around magic but then put out on the street, for lack of a better phrase, and forced to live in a world he is unaccustomed to. Your family obviously wanted him to know his roots just in case a magical child appeared in the family. Is he still alive?"

Jackie looked dumbfounded at first but as Cissy talked the more some things made sense to her. His stories about his youth seemed fanciful to her as a child but now made perfect sense. "Yes he is still alive; actually he is 102 years old. He's out-lived my grandmother by more than 25 years and is still active, healthy and uncharacteristically spry. Is that normal in your world?" was her response.

"Really? 102 years old? Well that is actually quite normal in the magical world. I wonder if, at some point, I or we could meet him. I'm sure he can answer some of your questions regarding your family." Lucius replied.

Robert sat contemplating the conversation when he picked up on one statement, "Would there be any way to track a family line of a child put in an orphanage?" He asked.

"Well, there is but it's usually a long shot. Why do you ask?" Lucius answered his question.

"I was left at an orphanage when I was only a couple of days old. No one at the orphanage knew how I ended up there or where I came from. When I was grown I asked one of the more senior attendants. She said that I had just appeared in one of the cribs. I was adopted by the Grangers who were unable to conceive. I just wonder if maybe that's what happened to me." He finished quietly.

"There is only one way that I know of to determine your lineage but its only done within the walls of our banking system." Remus stated, "if you are interested in taking the chance."

"What do you mean by 'taking the chance'?" Robert asked.

"Well, others have had the same test done and when found they had no magical genes, they had their memories altered. Though I don't think it will happen to you as you have Jackie's family and Hermione herself being magical. It has happened to others that I've known but as I said I think it won't be risky for you." Sirius answered.

Once everyone finished their dessert and got up from the table the children started getting fussy. "Oh dear, I think the children are ready for bed." Lily said.

"I guess it's time to take Hermione home and put her to bed." Jackie said as she picked Hermione up from her highchair. As they left the dining room and started walking in opposite directions Harry started fussing loudly and Hermione let out a screech that sounded like HARRRRY...NO! Then Draco let loose a wail of his own, nearly as loud as Harry and Hermione's. All three mothers stopped dead in their tracks looking back at each other. The children continued to wail until the mothers started walking back toward each other. Only when the children were closer together the wailing stopped as suddenly as it started. They started talking to each other in the lovely language only other toddlers understand. All of the adults looked at each other completely flummoxed.

"Wow, that has never happened before," All three mothers said at the same time. Then chuckling to each other; they took the children to the nursery and went to put the boys in their cribs when they started wailing again. "Now what?" Lily asked.

Well, we could expand one of the cribs and put them all in one, couldn't we? Cissy suggested. Looking more at Jackie for a response.

"Expand a crib?" she started to say when she watched Lily remove what looked like a small branch of a tree and with an intricate movement of the stick and Harry's crib expanded to twice its size. "Wow, you did that with a small tree branch." Jackie said in utter amazement.

"Actually it's a wand; all magicals get their first wand at 11 years old just before they start at their magical school. The same school we all went to." Lily told Jackie. They put all three children in the magically expanded crib. Watching the children snuggle in together the three mothers smiled as they watched their little ones drift off to sleep.

Stepping out of the room, with the lights down low the mothers looked at each other knowing they were going to be close for very long time.

The house at 4 Privet Drive in Little Whinging was anything but normal or quiet. Petunia was trying to put her son Dudley to bed but every time she tried to leave the room Dudley would start wailing. This time when she turned around she saw toys flying around the room. She rushed over and picked up Dudley and decided try to rock him to sleep. She knew what just happened but didn't dare let her husband Vernon know. He hated everything about magic and she knew he would blow his top if he saw toys flying around the room. So she rocked and crooned bedtime songs to Dudley until he finally drifted off to sleep. Petunia gently placed him in his crib. She stood there for a few minutes to make sure he didn't wake up. Petunia knew she had make the much dreaded to call her sister, after how horribly she had treated Lily because of her magic she now had to apologize to her sister and ask her for help.

As she left the nursery Vernon called to her, "You took long enough to put him down to bed. Marge and I had to wait for you to serve dessert!" he bellowed. "What took you so bloody long?"

"Well Dudders wasn't ready for bed so I had to rock him to sleep." Petunia explained. "I'll get your dessert now, Dear."

She brought them their dessert and sat on the end of the couch thinking while they ate and talked. She tried to formulate an apology to her sister that would be as heart felt and sincere. She now understood how her mother felt when Lily started showing signs of magic. At least her mother had her father to help her out. She knew with an absolute fact that Vernon will go ballistic when he finds out. That scared her more than Dudley's accidental magic or having to face Lily's husband and their friends who she had treated poorly in the past. She was suddenly drawn out of her thoughts when Vernon yelled at her for being so stupid she couldn't even pay attention to his and Marge's conversation to know when she was asked a question. "What? What did you ask?" Petunia said.

We want brandy, right bloody now!" Vernon bellowed. Marge sat there just making comments, under her breath, about how stupid and incompetent Petunia was.

She dutifully got them the brandy they wanted wishing desperately she could go to bed. Finally, after several more glasses of brandy Marge decided it was time to go home. She reminded Vernon that her precious little dog Ripper was waiting for his Mummy to come home slurring most of her words while getting wobbily to her feet. She left and Vernon was so pissed from all of the brandy he drank that Petunia had to help him up the stairs being a tall, thin rail of a woman trying to keep the walrus that was her husband upright, she knew that if he even tripped she would pay for it the next day. So she tugged and strained but managed to get him to their bedroom and onto their bed.

The next morning after Vernon finally left for work she went upstairs to their bedroom. She walked over to her jewelry box. She picked it up and carefully pushed on a spot on the bottom of the box. A small compartment opened up, slipping her fingers inside she withdrew a piece of folded paper from the compartment before closing it up. She silently thanked Lily for charming it so it always remained hidden to everyone but her and Lily. Setting the box down she walked over to the bedside table she picked up the phone and dialed the number that was on the small piece of paper.

Lily, Cissy and Jackie were sitting in the solarium watching the children play together quietly. "I have never seen Hermione so happy and quiet." Jackie said breaking the silence.

The phone started ringing. Lily got up to answer it knowing it could only be one person. "Petunia, what's wrong?" She asked when she answered the phone. "Petunia, calm down and tell me what's wrong."

Cissy and Jackie turned their attention to Lily hearing the fear in her voice. "How did she know who was on the phone?" Jackie asked.

"There is only one other person besides you and Robert who has that phone number, her sister." Cissy said quietly while keeping her attention focused on Lily.

"Tuney, slow down please, good now tell me calmly what is going on. Yes, ok you're doing good. Oh dear...yes, yes...okay I'll talk to James when he gets back. Yes, I'll call you back before Vernon gets home, I promise Tuney." Lily said just before she hung up. She turned back to her friends her face was tear streaked.

"Do I have to hex someone for making you cry?" Cissy asked making Lily start laughing.

"No, it's something I didn't anticipate. Of course you know that was my sister Petunia. She has found herself in quite a dilemma. Apparently last night my nephew had a bout of accidental magic." Lily replied.

"Isn't that a good thing?" Jackie asked.

"Not at the moment, my sister, you remember her Jackie; well the man she married is the worst sort of human being. He's mean, abusive and controlling but worst of all, he absolutely hates magic. His opinion of magical people is that we're all freaks. If he finds out about Dudley being magical, Tuney is going to be in big trouble with him. I wouldn't put it passed him to start beating on the poor boy and Tuney. I really don't know what to do. I told her I would talk to James when he..." she trailed off as she heard the sound of the SUV pulling into the drive. "That should be him," Lily said.

"Do you want us to leave so you have some privacy to talk to him?" Jackie asked putting an arm around Lily's shoulders.

"No, this is something the family needs to decide together and like it or not your family now since we can't seem to pry our children apart." Lily said with a small laugh.

A/N 2 from Lahote's Girl: Check it guys new chapter within four days! Hope you guys like this. Please read and review. Look forward to James and Lily's discussion about Petunia's problem next time…

~Lahote's Girl & Scorpiodragonfly