Sunday, November 1st, 1981

5 a.m.

Privet Drive, Little Whinging

Dumbledore apparated to that pretty, and incredibly clean, muggle neighbourhood and patted his pockets, soon finding what he was looking for: a silver cigarette lighter.

However, he wasn't going to have a smoke; when he flicked it open, no fire came out of it, instead the nearest street lamp went out with a little pop.

He clicked it again – and the next lamp flickered into darkness, he kept doing so until the only lights left on the whole street were two tiny pinpricks in the distance, which were the eyes of a cat watching him.

"Fancy seeing you here, Minerva," he said.

And the cat moved towards him, swiftly transforming back into Professor McGonagall.

"You've got to be kidding me, Albus! Will you really leave little Harry here, with these muggles?"

"Yes. I must."

"This boy could live in a loving home with Florence and her boys, but you're condemning him to stay with these people! Severus said they are the worst kind of muggles he's ever seen! They are-"

"The only family Harry has," interrupted Dumbledore.

McGonagall let out an exasperated huff, and the sound of a loud motorcycle interrupted their about-to-happen argument and let them know that Hagrid had arrived with baby Harry.

"Good evening, Prof. Dumbledore, Prof. McGonagall," he reached into his large bag and carefully retrieved a sleeping baby, passing him to Dumbledore.

"Florence got 'im fed and cleaned before I got there. She wrapped 'im tight, like a little burrito, so that he wouldn't cry – she said."

Dumbledore just nodded at him before looking down at the baby, noticing the strange scar in his forehead.

"Please, Albus, take him back to Florence," begged McGonagall.

"I can't do that, Minerva. Florence will marry Severus in the near future, I'm sure of that. And Voldemort will come back someday; we can't have the Boy-who-lived being raised as a son by Voldemort's most prized Death Eater."

McGonagall didn't reply, she just turned around and disapparated without a word as Dumbledore walked to the Dursleys' front porch and laid the baby there, on the floor, in front of the door, with a letter on his blanket.

Hagrid left on the flying bike, while Dumbledore restored the street lights and disapparated.

Delacour Manor

5 a.m.

After cleaning up, feeding and swaddling baby Harry, Florence cried as she watched Hagrid leave the Hospital Wing with him in his arms.

She wanted to take Harry home, raise him with her twins, she had the experience and the financial means – not to mention it was what Lily and James would've wanted.

Nicholas would love having Harry as his baby brother.

James would probably complain at first, as usual, but in the end he'd accept him too.

As soon as the sound of Sirius' flying motorcycle could no longer be heard, Florence asked Pomfrey if she could go home – which the school's mediwitch agreed to, but only after Pomfrey herself sent a letter to St. Mungus, letting Prof. Smethwyck know that Florence had to be away from work for two weeks.

"Can I go now?" Florence asked petulantly, after Pomfrey had sent the owl on its way.

"Yes. And you know all you have to do to get better fast, so take care and call me if you need anything."

Florence just nodded and walked to the fireplace, going home by Floo.

When she walked out of the fireplace in her own home, Florence stared at her silent living room, taking a moment to contemplate the mess of feelings inside of her: sadness, anger, exhaustion, hopelessness... she had lost nearly everything in just a few hours – two friends were dead, other two had been tortured to insanity, Sirius was in jail, Remus was hurt, her godson was going to live with his horrible aunt and uncle, Severus had acted like a jealous teenager and trampled on her feelings, and she had lost her baby.

Florence touched her lower belly and slowly walked upstairs, opening the door to her sons' bedroom and watching the twins sleep.

Two innocent souls, who had no idea the tragedy that had hit their family that night.

I'll do everything to protect you. She vowed, taking a deep breath before leaving their room, going to her own.

She walked into her bathroom, her eyes falling on the pregnancy test vial that still sat on the counter by the sink where she'd left it hours earlier.

Florence unstoppered it and poured its contents down the drain.

"I'm sorry, baby," she whispered, "I'm so so sorry..." she threw the empty vial into the bin and started removing her clothes, trying not to think of anything.

But when she looked down as she removed her knickers, there were traces of blood on hee inner thighs and dark-red stains on the fabric of her knickers as well.

Then she broke into tears again, turning on the shower spray and crying hard as she washed the blood off.

Once she felt clean, Florence walked out of the shower, slowly drying off her body while she chose the comfiest pyjamas she owned to put on.

Then she lay down on her bed – only to find it impossible to close her eyes and sleep.

Memories and feelings filled her mind in a loop of desperation, anger, love, betrayal and abandonment of all hope.

She walked back downstairs, thinking that maybe some tea could help her sleep, since she didn't have any Dreamless Sleep Potion ready.

She stood in front of the kitchen sink, filling up a pot of water to prepare her tea.

"Mistress Florence?" she heard from the corner of the room.

"Hey, Tiff," she whispered.

The elf looked at her for a moment and then cocked her head to the right, whispering: "Oh, no."

"Yes, Tiff. I lost the baby." Florence sniffed, her nose running due to all the crying.

"Go sit down, Mistress. Tiffany makes you some good tea."

Florence just nodded and went to the living room, magically pushing one armchair closer the floor-to-ceiling window and sitting down to look at the village.

Tiffany brought her a large cup of chamomile tea and Florence sipped it, watching as the main street started to fill up. People, still in their pyjamas, were walking outside and hugging one another as the sun slowly rose in the horizon.

Florence closed her eyes, knowing why they were happy – the news of Voldemort's demise had arrived.

The sound of fireworks began and she just kept on watching the celebration, unable to share in their happiness.

"Flor?" she suddenly heard from the stairs, "Why are you here in the living room so early?" Eileen asked as she walked downstairs, "Wait, are those fireworks I hear?" she frowned, stopping by Florence's armchair.

"Yes, Eileen. Voldemort has been defeated," she let her know.

"What? Really? That's amazing! Who killed him?"

"Harry."

"Harry? Harry who?" asked Eileen confused.

"Harry Potter."

"What?" Eileen tilted her head, trying to make sense of that information: "I was about to tell you that Lily never left little Harry here, now you're saying he stopped your father? But he's just a baby!"

"Yes... but my father tried to kill him and Lily protected her son... the killing curse destroyed half of the Potter's house and killed Lily. But Harry survived. My father, apparently, is terribly wounded somewhere; Dumbledore says it'll take him a long time to return, but that he will, someday."

"That's... crazy!" she frowned.

"Yes, it is..." Florence stared in silence at the people dancing and singing outside for a bit, then she told Eileen what else had happened: "So Lily and James are dead, Sirius is locked up in Azkaban because he killed Peter Pettigrew – who was, believe it or not, the Potters' true secret-keeper. Remus is in Hogwarts, hurt, because, after he helped taking Harry to the castle, he went to help the Longbottoms; Frank and Alice were tortured by the Lestranges and Barty Crouch Jr, and they are both in St. Mungus now, with permanent mental damage. Little baby Neville is going to be raised by his grandmother and Harry is going to live with the Dursleys."

"This is... a lot of tragedies for just a couple of hours, Flor..." Eileen was shocked.

"Yes. And I lost my baby," she finished in a small voice.

"What? You were pregnant?" Eileen nearly shouted.

"Yep. I found out just yesterday," Florence smiled sadly, "I enjoyed my baby for a few hours before having him be taken from me," Florence murmured, staring at the empty tea cup in her hands.

"How did that happen?" asked Eileen, sitting on the arm of the armchair.

"My father's Killing Curse destroyed the Potter's house, killed Lily and hit me too. For some miracle, I didn't die, but the baby didn't make it," and Florence felt the tears rolling down her face again. She pulled her legs to her chest and let her head fall onto her knees.

"Oh, my dear..." Eileen hugged her.

"I feel so... empty, godmother. I lost my baby..." Florence was sobbing.

"Does Severus know?"

"Yes. He was there, he was the one who took me to the castle..." Florence paused, anger surging as she remembered what had happened, "He asked me if the baby was his."

"What? Of course it was his! What a stupid question!"

"Well, he actually accused me of sleeping with Remus and him on the same night! So he wanted to know how I could be sure he was the father."

"What? He said that?" Eileen was outraged.

Florence nodded, "I got so mad at him. After all we've been through, he accuses me of being a slut," she paused, sniffling, "I hoped he'd apologise, but he didn't. And now I honestly don't think he will."

"I see you gave him the necklace back."

Florence touched her neck, "I regret doing that. I miss my necklace." It was a physical reminder of their love, and now she didn't have that anymore.

"What did you tell him?" Eileen asked, worried about Florence and angry at her son.

"That the baby was his. And that he I told him to get out of my life." She closed her eyes, whispering: "I just wanted him to apologise..."

Eileen pulled her into e hug. "That's my stupid son. Such a brilliant wizard, but with the emotional range of a six-year-old."

After a few moments, where they just listened to the fireworks and looked out the window, an edition of the Daily Prophet arrived through the Floo Network, landing on the coffee table.

Eileen picked the newspaper up and started reading the front-page headlines:

THE BOY-WHO-LIVED

After the last Halloween night, we can all celebrate the Dark Lord's downfall. During a duel against aurors James and Lily Potter, You-Know-Who lost his powers and vanished. Before he died, he tried to kill the couple's one-year-old son, Harry Potter. No one knows how the baby boy survived. But the Killing Curse cast by You-Know-Who only left a small lightning-shaped scar on the boy's forehead. We're sad to announce that the Potter couple is dead. James and Lily gave their life for their only son. Read more about Harry, the Boy-Who-Lived, on page 9.

"And here they mention Severus..." said Eileen, reading on:

DUMBLEDORE REITERATES: SNAPE IS INNOCENT

Against all the evidences, Hogwarts' Headmaster, Albus Dumbledore, keeps saying Severus Snape is innocent. Snape's a known Death Eater that's been teaching Potions in the School of Witchcraft and Wizardry since last year. Headmaster Dumbledore says Snape no longer supports You-Know-Who, we quote him: "Severus Snape was indeed a Death Eater. However, he re-joined our side and turned spy for us, at great personal risk. He is now no more a Death Eater than I am."

Our new columnist, Rita Skeeter, wrote a small note about Hogwarts Headmaster: "Albus Dumbledore is known from trusting the wrong people, having distasteful friendships and no respect at all for our laws."

Read more on Snape and Dumbledore on page 14.

Eileen put the newspaper back on the coffee table.

"What will you do now, Florence?" she asked.

"Pomfrey's ordered me to stay home for two weeks, to heal. After that, I'll just keep working at St. Mungus. I still have another month at the hospital, until Prof. Smethwyck grants me my title, officially. I want to use that time to try to help Frank and Alice," she paused, hardly believing all of that. "They may never recover... They won't even know who little Neville is," she felt some more tears fall down.

"Mummy?" Florence suddenly heard from the top of the stairs; looking up, she saw the twins there, walking downstairs towards her.

"Hey, my loves," she quickly wiped her tears, "Did you have a nightmare?" She asked when they walked into her arms and sat on her lap, one on each thigh.

"No, mummy. There's people singing outside," said Nicholas, sleepily.

"And there are colourful bombs in the sky," said James, grumpily, "They are noisy."

"Those are fireworks, love. People like to celebrate with them."

"I don't like them, mummy," James whispered.

"Neither do I," Nicholas agreed, hiding his face on her neck.

"It's ok, my sweeties. You're safe here with me. Nothing's going to hurt you," Florence said, hugging them tight, the feeling of their little bodies in her arms making her smile for the first time in hours.

She touched their black hairs and kissed their foreheads, as she blinked away the tears. Soon she could tell they had fallen asleep on her lap and she just sat there holding them, feeling those two little kids help heal her aching heart.