Seven years later…
"I got a letter! I got a letter!" Marie screamed and her little sister, Melanie, ran to see what was going on.
"What kind of letter?" Melanie asked, trying to read over her sister's shoulder.
Marie rolled her eyes. "From Hogwarts, silly. Because I'm a witch!" Marie was jumping up and down with excitement. Eileen and Rich-the girls' parents- rushed over to see what all the commotion was about and Marie waved her letter in the air.
"Oh my goodness," Eileen whispered, her eyes scanning the letter. She and Rich had not been sure whether or not Marie would be accepted seeing as both her parents were Squibs. Marie had never showed very much talent and Eileen worried she would struggle, but she smiled at her daughter's merriment anyways.
"I wanna go to Hogwarts, too!" Melanie cried.
Eileen patted her beautiful adopted daughter's head, "In three years, it'll be your turn, dear." She knew Melanie was going to be a great witch, just like her birth parents had been. Since she was six, Melanie had shown great talent in magic.
"But that's forever. I wanna go with Marie," Melanie whined, her blue eyes staring up at her mother. The first few months had been difficult, raising Melanie. Most of the wizarding community hadn't known that the Potters had had twins-or children at all, for they'd been in hiding when they were born- but once it came out that Harry had stopped He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named, they were plenty of rumors about where he had gone to live. There were also so many rumors about Harry having a twin sister and people speculated heavily about her, but no one ever confirmed Mel's existence. And that was exactly how she and Rich had wanted it.
"You're turn will come, deary," she explained again. "Who wants some celebration chocolate chip cookies?!"
"Me!" Melanie and Marie shouted in unison. Tom-their five year old brother- toddled into the living room as well. "I want some, I want some!" he called.
"Okay, okay, let's get you some cookies," Eileen smiled and ushered her children into the kitchen.
As she passed the cookies out, Eileen thought about Melanie. She had such a kind and loving personality but her temper had a short fuse. Set her off and it might take hours to calm her down. Eileen had never met Lily Potter, but what she had learned about her from Leah White's visits, Melanie took after her quite a bit. Melanie's features mimicked Lily's , but her hair was her father's and her eyes' her maternal grandmother's. She was always small for her age, especially compared with Marie who was much taller than average.
That night, Eileen and Rich were sitting down in the living room reading, when Melanie came out of her room crying.
"What is it, dear?" Eileen asked as her crying daughter ran into her arms.
"I had a, I had," Melanie sniffled. "a nightmare."
"Oh, it's okay, sweetheart," Rich patted Mel's hair.
"It was so scary, Daddy, it was," Melanie whimpered.
Eileen pulled Melanie closer to her big bosom. "What happened in the nightmare, Melanie? Maybe if you tell us it'll make it better."
"Well, it was real scary. There was this man- with a hood. And he almost looked like a snake. And then he pulled out his wand and there was a bright green light," Melanie was sobbing. "And I heard another man. He shouted something and then he fell and his eyes kinda got all glossy. And then there was another green light and a lady screamed real loud before falling to the ground. And oh, Mummy," she rubbed her face on her mother's shirt. "It was just awful."
Eileen looked over at Rich. He raised his eyebrows. They were both clearly thinking the same thing: Had their little Melanie dreamt of the night her parents' had died?