On a cold dark evening on Christmas Eve a small young girl was crying herself to sleep with her legs pulled up to her chest while shaking like a leave. She did not know what she had done again this time to deserve her uncle's wrath. Everything in her body hurt and she was unable to recall a time where she was completely without pain. Her cousin who strongly resembled the fat pink domestic animals on his picture books, which he regularly tore to shreds, was not much older than her but he was vicious and he loved to make her more miserable. He could throw tantrums and get away with it. Usually she was able to feel them coming even if they were minutes away, but her gift was useless, because she was not able to prevent them.
One day he had decided to grace his family with art created with finger paint and had put the colourful impressions on all the walls in the height he could reach giving his parents almost a heart attack. Although he had clearly been the culprit with the colour stains all over his clothes they had blamed Elizabeth for her "ungratefulness" and the horrible art she had created. She had been beaten severely again by her uncle with his brown hard leather belt and she had not been able to walk properly for days and they had even forced her to clean the mess "she had created". Unfortunately she had only made things worse by not being able to clean it properly as Dudley was much bigger than her and she had spread the paint even more.
It did not matter what she did, the blame was always on her and not on her cousin. But what was even worse was that her own parents did not want her because they thought that she was a failure, a mistake. Her aunt and her uncle never became tired of reminding her of that fact. You're an abomination! No wonder your parents didn't want you! You're a waste of space! All these thoughts were flying through her head in remembrance of what her family members were telling her. Why was the world so unjust? Why could she not be normal like everyone else? Why did nobody love her? Was she so unlovable? Why?! she mentally screamed. She wanted a normal family, where she was just as accepted as everyone else, where a mother would tenderly brush over her hair, kiss her good night or just hug her tight when she had nightmares. What would she give to be hugged lovingly?
Her nightmares were unfortunately coming more frequently the older she became. Each time she woke up from one of the countless horrible things that she was experiencing during her dreams she would be ripped out of her cupboard by a furious uncle who would yell at her for waking them and he would continue to beat her until she was sore on her back and on her butt. She had sometimes even accidently wetted her makeshift bed in the narrow cupboard because she was too afraid of waking her monster of an uncle. Most of the time she was scared from falling asleep at all, which resulted in a sore neck and absolute fogginess in the morning as she had not gotten any sleep for days on a row. Because of this she was unable to do her chores like wiping the floors, polishing the silverware doing the laundry with her aunt which meant that she had to sort the different dirty clothes from each other in order to put them in the washing machine. Help with the cooking, clean Dudley's mess in his room, make the beds and if it was done ok, then she would receive something to eat, which was mostly the stuff Dudley did not like. Vegetables and other healthier things, but it was not nutritious enough for her.
Elizabeth began shaking more heavily as her cupboard was right under the stairs and next to the front door which was not enough for keeping the cold outside. She was just lying on an old sheet on a hard wooden board in her cupboard without any blanket to keep away the cold. Petunia had taken the blanket away after she had wetted it once and therefore did not have any right for one.
Hearing the Christmas Carols sung outside and her family celebrating in the living room with a very lively Dudley she hugged her knees more tightly and hoped that there was someone out there who would come to take her away from this hell, because she knew that she was not able to go on much longer like this. Maybe she just should run away. Anywhere was better than here. But she was small, she would not be able to get very far because she did not have any winter clothing and no money to get on the train and there was also the fact that nobody would want to take her in. She was a freak after all and what if strange things would keep happening around her?
In the newly renovated Potter Manor on Christmas morning:
Albus Dumbledore was silently watching the happy family. Harry, his little protégé and saviour of the wizarding world was developing quite well. As he was growing fast he was developing a steadier magical core and he always humbly shared his toys with other children, especially with Neville and Ron. But he was still shielded from any publicity by his parents for keeping him humble and down to earth. It was mostly Lilly, who did this. She did not want him to grow an ego like a certain blonde former Ravenclaw. James and Sirius however loved reminding the little boy how special he was and how much they loved him but there was one thing that strained their marriage.
Lilly, missed her daughter very much, but did not dare visit her because she would not be able to come back without her. She had told Dumbledore several times already that she had a bad feeling about giving her away and that she was sure that he had made a mistake. She had seen that Elizabeth had not been a squib and maybe she had only temporarily lost her magic because of the shock. Who could say that her magic would not resurface? She could not tell how she knew that her daughter was not well, but she had explained to him that she just knew it. This argument was not something that he could count as valuable as she was a mother who desperately wanted her child back. Mrs. Figg, whom he had placed to watch over the girl had not reported anything to worry about so far. Lilly had even screamed at James at one point that they should not have given her daughter away and her husband had begged her to not talk about their daughter in front of Harry. This argument had ended very heated as Lilly had lost control over her powers and all the lights and windows in the Manor had exploded and startled her husband and even Albus. He had known that Lilly was an exceptional witch, but he did not know that she was this powerful. Many pure-blooded families would kill for females with powers like hers and Harry had probably inherited her magical power. Harry, however, seemed not to miss his sister and knowing about a squib sister could become a dangerous distraction, which they could not afford, although he was trying to convince his parents to give him a sibling. He did not like separating this family either, but it was for the common good and therefore had to be done. The individual did not count if the entire wizarding community was free of Voldemort's terror. Harry needed to be prepared and his sister would only have held him back and would have become resentful towards her brother and her family in the long run. That is why she had to leave and he did not regret it one bit.
Looking at her dark haired son unwrapping his countless gifts with shining eyes she could not help but fight back tears. She missed Elizabeth, her little red haired whirlwind and somehow she believed that she did not have the same happy Christmas as her brother. She sometimes had those feelings she could not explain, but all those feelings had turned out correct when she had been younger. These feelings felt as if she sometimes knew about things to come but Trelawney had repeatedly told her that she was completely ungifted with the Foresight and she should stop pretending. She sometimes felt like Troy's legendary Cassandra who had been cursed with the Foresight by the god Apollo, while nobody believed her. The nagging sensation that something was wrong was strongly engulfing her now again and she just wanted to jump up and apparate to her sister's house. It was as if she could hear a very faint voice calling her, but it must have been her imagination. She was probably wishing so hard to hear her daughter's voice that she started imagining it. James called her "feelings" female intuition, but she was not so sure about it. Maybe she had received this gift from her father. Her mother, may she rest in peace, had often told her that her father had been special too, but unfortunately she had never met him herself. She would have liked to ask him why he was not there for them, why he had left them. Was her daughter doomed to repeat the same fate? Should she not know about her family either? Apparently Lily had the same hair colour as her father and she did not even know if he was aware about her. As Petunia had a different father she was so much different. At home they had even talked in a "secret" family language, which resembled English up to a point and she had loved the language, because it had been something only for her family. Sitting next to her on the midnight blue couch was her husband playing slightly intoxicated with one of the scissors to cut open the better wrapped presents. This could not end well. Suddenly, just as Lily had expected, James lost control, and as he was sluggishly trying to catch the very sharp scissors Lily's hand shot out and caught them easily at the handle leaving Dumbledore and everyone else in the room speechless. "James, your wife could have given you a run for your money as a seeker." Sirius called slurring because of the special ale, James, Sirius and Remus had opened earlier.
"You've had enough!" Lily sighed annoyed to a now pouting James while everyone else in the room was chuckling. He knew he had drunken a bit too much, but with Harry in the room he was reminded of his other child. Yes. Dumbledore had told them that she was without magic but he missed her sometimes. But on the other hand he was also free from any prejudice from any other important wizarding families who thought that squibs were a disgrace to the family. With his son having vanquished you-know-who his influence in the Ministry had grown and his family had even received a seat in the Wizengamot which had long been overdue as his family line was also quite old, but had not made it on the list of the Sacred Twenty-eight. Maybe he should try for another child in the new year to come. Maybe another girl, then perhaps she would finally give up the idea of getting Elizabeth back. She had become more persistent to do this in the last two years. Her magical outburst had astonished him to no end. There was no wizarding family which displayed that much power in just one person, so he had landed, as Lilly would say, a Jackpot. Elizabeth was better off in the muggle world without knowing about magic. Dumbledore had told them that she would be fine and he believed him. He was the most impressive wizard in this century and he would begin to teach Harry the basics in the next year, even though it was still very early.
Harry, happily unwrapping his countless gifts was glad that everyone was here to celebrate his favourite festival. His two funny uncles Moony and Padfoot, his parents and the strange familiar old man looking like Father Christmas were here, but he knew that someone important was missing, but he could not remember who. There was a persistent nagging sensation that he had to remember, but whatever he did, he could not recall anyone who could be missing. On his birthday in July he had wished for a sibling, but his mummy was not as round yet, as Ron's mum had been with Ginny. Was the old man here to help his parents for getting a sibling for him? He hoped so, because he felt lonely sometimes. Neville and Ron were ok, but it was not the same. Sometimes he dreamt that he was not alone in his room and had someone who he could talk to at night, when he was supposed to sleep, but there was none. He had asked his uncle Padfoot once how children were made and his uncle had coughed and sputtered and told him to ask his father. When he had asked his dad, he had the same reaction and he had told him that he was too young to know. He had not given up and asked Remus who chuckled because Sirius had already told him that Harry had asked quite persistently. Remus had looked sadly at him, had patted his head and told him to ask his mother. She had questioned him why he wanted to know and when he had told her that he wanted to have as much siblings as the Weasleys because that looked like so much fun, his mummy's eyes had started to water and she had started to cry. With his mum starting to cry he had not dared to ask any further because she looked hurt so it must be something horrible.
He could not believe it! Finally, he had been able to locate them after his father had spirited them away because this marriage had not suited his old aristocratic family. It had been difficult without his much elder wife to calm his vicious temper, but killing his father and his entire family in the space ship had been sweet, especially as the old man had tried to bargain with him for his life about hints about the whereabouts of his missing wife and his step daughter Petunia. The dull little girl had not been anything special, but his regal looking wife with a very spirited temper had always believed in him and had also encouraged him to go against his excuse of a father. Much like his master had done eventually. And she had taught him a lot about passion. Well, she certainly had known about being passionate. Well, he had not yet found his wife, but her daughter, but perhaps she could bring some light into what exactly his father had done to them. He had never really loved Rhea, but she had been an interesting distraction and help to reach his goals and she had known every dirty secret about other politically involved families which had helped him quite a lot so far. This planetary system was far on the outskirts of the outer rim and there was still much unchartered space. He hoped that Petunia was still able to talk basic or at least their Nubian variety because he had only begun to learn the predominantly used language of this planet from one of the protocol droids, which had been sent in secret to catalogue the languages. How could they live in a world as primitive as this? They were light-years away from the beginnings of a hyper drive. He had even changed into one of the clothes from this planet in order to blend in, but he hated it. He was more used to robes now after all. As he was slowly walking towards the small, quaint house, with the crunching of grovel beneath his black shoes, he felt the presence of a Force user! This was the first Force user he had come across on this puny little, underdeveloped, backwater planet. But it was strong and it seemed that the presence was in the very house he was walking towards. This should be interesting. Had his step daughter a Force sensitive child? How could this be possible? He knew that his wife had been, but her parents had decided to keep her with the family and not hand her over to the Jedi order. Her daughter on the other hand had come after her first husband and not been Force sensitive at all because her midi-chlorian count had been ridiculously low. How should she have given birth to a Force sensitive child?
Elizabeth was lying in her cupboard again but this time she was not shivering in fear, but coldness racing down her spine. She was feeling sluggish and extremely tired, but luckily she had not been ordered to do any chores at the moment because she would not have been able to. Her "family" was currently in the kitchen, enjoying their large English breakfast after Dudley had opened all his presents. She had not seen them as she not left her cupboard all morning, but for whatever reason she could picture them in her mind. With her teeth-chattering and the tremors of coldness rocking her body she tried to get some semblance of control of her limbs back but to no avail.
Suddenly, the doorbell rang announcing an unannounced visitor which would create much confusion and show the Dursley's that they were not the perfectly normal family which they tried to display.
"Girl! Get the door!" her uncle called but was interrupted by his slim wife. "No. Vernon. It's probably Mrs. Figg, our old neighbour with some new stone hard cookies. You know how she loves tittle-tattle and when she sees the dirty freak then the whole town knows about her. I'll open the door."
Elizabeth faintly heard the door from the kitchen open, her aunt passing her cupboard, while smoothing out her small pinny and opening the front door which was accompanied by another gust of cold air. But it seemed that her aunt was frozen, because she did not hear any exchange of pleasant words except her aunt's mumbling:"Palpatine" and then a male voice saying something in a foreign language. But what was even more interesting was her aunt hesitantly responding in this language!
The woman standing before him was looking like an uglier version of his wife. Where his wife had had beautiful full blonde hair, this woman before him had dark brown hair and she was much thinner than her the woman she resembled. This had to be Petunia and he could detect some fear in seeing him. That was curious.
"Is this a way to treat your step-father, Petunia." he asked in a gentle voice. He would play nice for now. Coming out of her stupor she stepped aside and responded diminutively: "No. Please come in." What had happened to Petunia to be like this? Rhea would never have allowed her daughter to be like this. She had always spoken her mind about women like his late mother, who had been grovelling behind her husband. He stepped over the porch and sneered at what he was seeing. It looked so primitive.
"Who is it Petunia?" Vernon asked munching his breakfast. "My…My step-father, dear." Petunia stuttered. He probably did not know that they had been placed on this planet with little provisions for themselves and her mother had been forced to marry again in order to keep their mouth s fed as this country had still been resentful against single mothers. Her mother had been very good at suggesting things and luckily quite beautiful despite her age. Therefore she had been able to marry Mr. Evans who had happily adopted both girls as he was unable to produce children due to an infection during his childhood. He certainly had raised them as if they were his own. But why did she have to tell her 1st step-father everything and Vernon did not know that Mr. Evans had not been her father.
As he stepped in the kitchen he saw a big, beefy man with a large purple face without having much of a neck, thick, dark hair, a bushy black moustache and blue eyes staring accusingly at him. Next to him sitting on a croaking wooden chair sat an extremely obese child with watery blue eyes and thick blond hair. Reaching into the Force he found that none of those two could have been the Force user he had felt before. There was hardly any potential in those two.
"You never told me that you have a step-father, Honey Bunch. " The beefy man said to Petunia. "It's a long story, Vernon" Petunia sighed. "He was mum's second husband." Turning to him she asked "Can I get you anything?" but he declined. There was no chance that he would eat anything on this planet. He did not want to catch any food bug. "I want information and I expect to get it know. Time is precious in my position." he said in Basic basking in Petunia's misery who wanted to keep this from her husband.
"What language is that?!" the man she had called Vernon screamed with ever reddening head. Well, it seemed that this one was predestined for an early death through high blood pressure.
"It's my family's secret language, don't worry dear." Petunia tried to calm him, but it did obviously not work and Palpatine had to fight a grin.
"I don't want any freakishness in this house Petunia! It's bad enough that we have your sister's abomination here!" Now that was much more interesting. So there was someone else in the building. It had not been his imagination and it had felt as if he had walked right past it. No! They could not have locked a person under the stairs? Could they?
"We will talk in the living room and don't worry, he was just teasing me." Petunia stated and he almost snorted but followed her to the living room.
As he sat down opposite to his step daughter he put his ambassadorial persona on his face. "No, Petunia. I would like to tell me everything what has happened to my wife after my father has forced you to leave Naboo and where I can find her and why Rhea has married again.
"The last one is simple. This planet was so far behind that she had to marry again in order to support us and she had not dared to tell your family that she was carrying my sister. They would probably have forced her to abort it, although that would probably have been the better solution" she acidly stated. His eyebrows shot up in astonishment. He was a father! This was certainly a surprise, but he still had to decide if it was a welcome one and if Petunias answer was any indication she disdained her sister very much. "She looks different than mum, but she definitely has your hair and she also has given the red hair gene to her little brat."
"You seem to have a strong aversion against your sister, Petunia. What has happened for this to happen? I remember that you wanted to make everyone your friend when your mother was still teaching economics in Theed University."
"She is a freak! That's why!" Petunia snapped and Palpatine could feel her anger. "Everyone is special in it's own way. There is no need to be disturbed, Petunia." he told her condescendingly.
"But she is a witch! Strange things kept happening around her since she was born. We were living in Cokeworth. Hideous little town. Then she met Severus Snape, who had the same abilities and they became best friends. And then she got a letter inviting her to that school to learn magic and she came home every holiday with her pockets full of frog-spawn and was turning tea-cups into rats. But for my mother and Mr. Evans, oh no, it was Lily this and Lily that, they were proud of having a witch in the family! But I was the only one who saw her for what she was: A freak!" Petunia ranted with blazing eyes. My mother died years ago alongside her new husband because of influenza. Mr. Evans, as nice and tolerant as he was, he was a stupid advocate against vaccination and therefore had not allowed her to go against his will. She died because of this. I personally make sure my family is vaccinated in time."
He was sorry to hear that his wife had passed away, but deep down he had already expected it. But the other nugget of information had been much more interesting. Interesting. This planet seems to have Force Users similar to the Night Sisters. If his daughter had inherited his Force Ability then maybe he could learn some extra skills that his master was unaware of. It would immensely aid his gain for power and Darth Plagueis had granted him the possibility to study the dark side apart from what he was teaching him.
"Then she married that man Potter and had twins. She brought us the girl because it had not displayed any power and would therefore never be able to do magic and that's why she gave us the girl to look after. Ungrateful little bitch, that girl. Especially as it is a freak like her family." Petunia ranted further with her voice getting louder by the second. "Is there a possibility to contact my daughter?" Palpatine enquired calmly."No, there isn't!" the woman sitting opposite him scoffed. "She told me that she would contact me if she needed to."
"This little girl would not be the person, shivering in the cupboard under the stairs, Petunia?" he enquired. "How, did you...?" Petunia asked flabbergasted while he carefully stretched his Force senses and was overwhelmed by the sheer power the girl was carrying. She was already as strong as him and he had been trained. Could he take her with him and try to train her differently than the young boy from the Night Sisters. It could be advantageous, having a killer, who was able to blend in with the crowd and who could also move in plain sight like him. Maybe he could force her to go in the public service and help him in the senate. A family member, just like him. Maul, had already proven time and again, that he was not able to blend in properly. He needed to look at her and then he would decide. "I will look at the girl in question, hidden in your cupboard, and then I will decide if I will take her off your hands."
"You can't take her away!" Petunia objected." We receive money for her as long as she stays with us."
Palpatine shook his head:"Well, you will not receive more money, then if the state she is in does not change. You are not so stupid as to believe that she will survive long in her current state." he told her with a hard glance.
"How do you know all this?" Petunia wondered aloud but received a smirking response. "Where do you think your little sister got her powers from, Petunia." He graciously stood up, striding through the kitchen while ignoring the still munching fat individuals in the room he walked straight towards the cupboard where he could feel the little girl. Petunia, followed on his heels.
Opening the small door he saw a small, skinny, red haired girl lying on a makeshift bed, but her Force signature was strong and although she did not look like much, she was still young and could also be molded. If he took her away from these gruesome circumstances she would be indebted to him. He would risk investing in her and training her. Maybe she would be able to pay him back by returning to this planet in order to find out more about the magical world and teach him. And by taking a child in he could also better his name for being "selfless". It was decided he would take her with him.
"Bring me a blanket, Petunia. I'll take her with me!" he commanded and waited for Petunia to return from the first floor.
Carefully wrapping the sleeping, shivering girl into the blanket he took out a small communicator. "I trust you still know how to use this?" he asked by pushing it into his step-daughter's hand. Should my daughter decide to show her face at this pitiful place, you let me know. Guard this with your life, from your husband and your son, because I will be very angry if it is destroyed and you can believe me, Petunia: You do not want to see my wrath." he dangerously hissed, while hoisting the still sleeping little girl and walked out of the front door to begin the long walk towards his hidden space ship. The medical droid had some work to do.
Dumbledore, comfortably sitting in his office suddenly felt falling of the wards around Petunia's house. This meant that Elizabeth no longer considered 4 Privet Drive her home. This probably meant that Lilly had not headed his warning and gotten her daughter back. He had to act immediately, before she could endanger everything he had set in motion for Voldemort's final death.
Who would have thought? Please feel free to comment.