Rare Magic of Empathy
Series Summary: Love, this four-letter word, unlike all other emotions, is sheer complex power. Add an ancient magical core to it and the world tilts at its axis with a single flick of a finger or that's what Lily Potter realized mere seconds before her death. Rarer still is the manifestation of Empathetic magic. Minerva McGonagall knows of such power for she oversees its growth before her eyes but unknown to Albus Dumbledore. Severus Snape, Harry Potter, and Hermione Granger- will taste and be tested by this Magic- as Magical Britain prepares for the second collision of the Light and Dark side. When all hope seems lost, Hogwarts will call for its ancient allies to defend its values and honor.
(It's definitely AU, so you will see greyer versions of many characters. Even minor characters will end up playing pivotal roles. Previously it was called Love Empowered Empathy. Several of you had commented on the old version of this story. That is why you are seeing those reviews. (AuntCori))
Rise of the Cursed Raven
Part 2 Summary: What is it like to live a cursed life, to serve Evil because your every effort to be a better person is overlooked and disregarded. What is it like to live an unloved life? Severus loved Lily enough to feel a part of his own soul shred into pieces, at the sight of her lifeless body. At the same time, he felt rare magic electrifying the air and felt it caress his grieving heart. Perhaps, Lily was still alive, or else why did it feel as if her magic was asking him to remain Hopeful? A tale of smoldering love and of blazing courage. Happiness is often bittersweet.
Disclaimer: I own nothing, but my thoughts of AU and OC, the rest all belong to J K Rowling. This story was knocking its head in my mind for the last decade or so. Finally, I could gather the courage to pen it down, or better type it down. My mind lives in the Harry Potter fanfiction world though my body is still thankfully anchored in the monotonous reality of existence. My stories, ideas, and theories can get indirectly influenced by many of the brilliant fanfiction writers on this site. And I humbly bow to such creative genius who give me much needed literary pleasures to see through the toils of mundane life. Lastly, I don't have a beta, so please be merciful. Reviews would encourage this introvert writer to peep out of her literary closet.
Rise of the Cursed Raven
Prologue
A little after ten, when the Potter family were finally getting their son ready for bed, the quiet street of Godric's Hollow swarmed with Evil Forces. Turning to his minions the hooded leader nodded and watched with glee as the group bowed in front of him and started surrounding the neighborhood. He made sure the ones who had delivered him the message were close enough. Peter Pettigrew quivered besides the new, tall, and lean Potion Master of Hogwarts, Severus Snape. Leaving them, stationed near the entrance, Tom Riddle alias, Lord Voldermot unlocked the door of Albus Dumbledore's memorable childhood home and stepped inside.
Menacing laughter echoed through the night of 31st October 1981. Twice the burst of deadly green lights pierced through the cottage, shredding away its warmth and familiarity. The onlookers behind their Death Eaters masks watched on without flinching. They were quite familiar with the Killing Curse, Avada Kedavra, having cast it so often before.
Then everything went eerily quiet. There was something powerful in the air around the forsaken house, that deterred the death eaters to try to approach it. It hurled them away miles after rendering them senseless. But for one person. Severus Tobias Snape swayed on his feet and crossed the lawn with his heart tied into knots. Chanting under his breath, "Lily, Lily, Lily, be safe! He promised he would spare you".
He couldn't quite remember the rest. All he could recall was how lifeless and cold she had been even in his arms. He didn't remember until much later that it was Remus Lupin and Narcissa Malfoy who had entered the house after him, through the back door. Lupin had dragged him away from Lily's body, while Narcissa had quickly soothed away the wailing baby. Bundling the child, reluctantly leaving him inside his miraculously unaffected crib, they had left. The last thing he saw propped between the witch and the werewolf, through the shadows of the backyard hedges, was the Dark Mark still shimmered above the fateful cottage.
Leaning against his friends, he mumbled deliriously," I didn't feel him in there. There was nothing evil about that Nursery. It was pure and angelic. Like someone had mixed the fumes of Love potion into the very air, I was breathing in. Lily is dead, yet why, why I feel like she is still around. She is still there...Remus, she must be, she can never just go away like that!"
Blinking away his tears, Lupin had shared a look with Narcissa and in seconds they had side along apparated from the backyard of the cottage. The wards of the whole place were down, yet, even the werewolf could tell, something was still protecting it. His senses could make the difference between the wards erected by Albus Dumbledore and this unknown magical force.
When Albus Dumbledore, the Headmaster of Hogwarts and the prime leader of the Light Side, apparated in front of the safe house where he had put up the Potters, he was quite horrified by its ruined state. His fears had doubled when he could feel those ancient wards torn apart and replaced by a dull presence of an unknown magical aura.
Right beside the fences, Hagrid was standing against a huge motorcycle.
"Headmaster, I couldn't go in. Found Black firing curses at the house, trying to break in. I don't quite like the feeling. They were here. But then something happened."
"Hagrid."
"Sirius Black took off, after a rat! Left his motorcycle with me."
Both of them watched, the Dark Mark swirl in the green mist over the rooftop, getting dissolved in the thin air. The gameskeeper of Hogwarts watched the Headmaster approach the house with bated breath.
When Dumbledore asked him to leave right away handing him over Little Harry Potter, the half-giant choked on his words," He survived?! ANd James and Lily? Did you know who kill..." He couldn't quite say the rest, busy watching the wound on the baby's forehead.
Patting his large hand, Dumbledore stroked his beard and offered, "Lily Potter died saving her son. The most dangerous Evil Wizard of our times has vanished without a trace. Harry James Potter has survived with only this little lightning mark grazing his temple. He seems to have a hand in vanquishing The Dark Lord, Hagrid, I think, you shouldn't linger around anymore. The Aurors will arrive at any moment now."
Miles away in an isolated cottage looking off a sharp precipice of a remote and unplottable Scottish sea cliff, a young body tossed and turned in anguish. Caught within the veils of a nightmare that seemed so real and the reality that had kept slipping away…the boy with a mix of auburn and black hair, clenched and unclenched his hands digging furiously into his thick quilts and fur throws.
The blackened walls of the room suddenly started to vibrate, as a celestial glow began forming around the boy, and with rapid succession, unbridled magic pulsated around and about, shaking the cottage to its very foundation. All of a sudden, the boy woke with the strangled scream that even the roaring sea several feet below could not muffle out. Green eyes perched above a prominent nose looked ahead unseeingly into the darkness, tears rolling down a sharp cheek. He muttered frightened, his hands clutching tightly at his heaving chest- "No!" gasping for breath "I can't feel her," then, in utter dismay, "WHY can't I feel her?!" in renewed panic "No, no, no no no no, not him, you will not get him…NO!" He shrieked.
Raw magic, surged at all directions, nearly crashing wildly against the complex network of wards erected around the property. And finally piercing through it short up and met the dark clouds. Thunder rolled and blinding lightning cracked open the heart of the night sky. Not far away, a beastly, roaring fire short up towards the sky meeting the thunder and the lightning in equal prowess. Magic mingled with its ancient predecessor. Then the clouds burst open and drenched everything in pitch-black darkness.
A/N: Got my fingers crossed.