Chapter Text
Halloween 1981, a storm raged outside, flashes of lightning illuminated the stained-glass windows and cast eerie shadows across the apse and alter. In the middle of the Church a dark-haired knave sinks to his knees, his hair falling forward, he clasps his hand fervently to his breast in prayer and intones, “please let it work, protect her, protect them, please!”.
Miles away in Godric’s Hollow the same storm raged. A man’s voice shouted, panicking, “Lilly, take Harry and go! It’s him! Go! Run! I’ll hold him off!”
A flash of green light was seen, followed by a dull thud and the heavy sound of foot fall on the stairs.
A door burst open and there was a cackle of high-pitched laughter.
A red-haired woman shielding a baby in a crib screams, “Not Harry, not Harry, please not Harry!”
“Stand aside, you silly girl… stand aside now!”
“Not Harry, please no, take me, kill me instead, have mercy”
“As you wish” another flash of green light and the woman screamed no more.
Three years later a dark-haired boy cries in a cupboard, not understanding why he was put in there.
At the same time a sandy haired boy shivers with cold after being dragged from the sea by his Uncle and Grandmother.
The dark-haired boy endure physical and emotional abuse as he grows up, locked in a cupboard and starved. Knowing he is not normal, he is different, a freak.
The sandy haired boy grows up knowing he isn’t good enough, so unlike his father, not normal, a freak.
Elsewhere a girl with boisterous hair and fierce intelligence cries on her father’s lap after another day or taunts. A bushy haired bookworm they call her, she’s different, a freak. Later she laughs gaily as her books float towards her whilst her mum and dad look on in awe.
At eleven they find out the reason why their different to the other children. They’re all magical and headed to Hogwarts School for Witchcraft and Wizardry.
In another twist of fate, the three are sorted into the same house – Gryffindor where dwell the brave at heart and become friends. At the end of their first year the sandy haired boy lies motionless on the floor whilst the dark-haired boy and girl with the boisterous hair stand in a room lit by torches, penned in by a purple fire behind them and black flames blocking the doorway leading onwards.
Her voice falters as she asks “But Harry – what if You Know Who’s with him?”
“Well, I was lucky once, wasn’t I” said Harry, pointing at his scar. “I might get lucky again”
Hermione’s lip trembled and suddenly she dashed at Harry, throwing her arms around him and kissing him softly on the lips.
“Hermione!” Harry yelled in shock
“Harry!” miles away the red-haired woman cried as she woke and sat up for the first time in a decade.
With a start the dark-haired man lying next to her also woke and sat up starring at her with love and astonishment dancing in his eyes.
Author Notes
- First set of quotes in italics from Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban by JK Rowling pages 178, 134.
- Second set from Harry Potter and the Philosophers Stone by JK Rowling pages 88 and 208.