Chapter Text

Helena Ravenclaw

Helena Ravenclaw, daughter of the famous witch Rowena Ravenclaw, looked at the endless night sky, alone.

Dead before the sixteenth name, dead before she could have had a second chance at her life. A daughter with yearnings of becoming someone worthy enough to sit beside her mother, to share conversations and see pride in her mother’s eyes.

She never had.

Ghosts were but memories of their former self, emotions that had been buried deep, hopes and dreams that had been torn asunder. But she wasn’t a ghost…

She was a soul, a shard that had been torn apart. It happened to those who had suffered a lot… who had been hurt in ways that magic could not understand.

She could see Harry Potter slowly turning into one quite like her.

The boy sat at the window silt staring at the forest beyond, and yet lost… lost to visions that existed in a world beyond.

Cradling an Otter.

The boy had been here every day since he had first arrived at Hogwarts.

‘Hope, Harry Potter, and you will live again’

The boy didn’t.

She looked at the boy again, his eyes were glistening just like always. They sometimes glistened with unshed tears. She didn’t know what would make him so sad, but it seemed to kill the boy slowly.

The otter whimpered and tried to comfort the boy, but Harry Potter, a child no older than twelve, didn’t respond… the slow touch and the gentle nudge did nothing to comfort the boy.

A single fat tear dripped down from his eye to his cheek, tracing those sharp cheekbones and down… down to the edge of the lips.

Harry Potter gently licked the salty tear and snuggled the otter a bit closer. His hands pulled out a small, beaten-down box and flicked a few switches until a buzzing sound filled the room, and soon enough, a sad voice began singing with high static clouding the words…

Harry Potter, on the other hand, began to enjoy the song, slowly tapping rhythmically along the lines. There was something so fluttery about seeing a boy with streaks of white in his hair and cradling an otter enjoying a song.

The portraits sigh… shhh… shhh… the candles fade…
Old echoes… sh…shhhh… of a spell… shh… once made…
A… clock…shhhh…that… shh…ticks… but sh…. tells no time,
A broken… sh… song that used to rhyme.

Ashes… sh… in the starlight, sh… drifting far away…

She bristled, she wanted to go there… to hug the boy, to ask what was killing him, she wanted the boy to hope… to dream… to live and yet, she didn’t materialise…

The old pain rose in her chest; she had seen something along the lines in Tom… fair Tom who had…

No… no, she wouldn’t think about him. She turned and decided that the other side of the tower would be a better place to be.

Better than wasting away, here.

Harry Potter

A boy a long time ago

His earliest memory was of his family abandoning him, or well, his aunt and uncle. Now that he could make sense of those things, he remembered how well his life had been before his ability had kicked up and he had frightened his aunt and uncle to the point they had abandoned him in this hellhole.

The Orphanage itself was not bad, the housemothers were quite nice, but the Orphanage itself was poorly funded to the point where many times, the Housefather, who was a very old war veteran of the Great War, had to go house to house asking for donations.

But Funding was only one of the long lists of problems that existed.

The orphanage, being poorly funded, had to hold children of all ages, who had to live together. Due to this, it was not uncommon for younger children to get picked off and bullied by older children who had been bullied when they were young. This vicious cycle was toxic, and he did not want to become a part of it.

A part… a feeling inside him told him to stay away… away from children and thus he spent most of his time either reading in the small Orphanage Library or helping the house sisters and when they did not have any work for him, he liked to sit alone under the apple tree which was at the edge of the Orphanage and feed the Squirrels bread that he saved.

He liked to imagine that he was Newton, hoping that he would be remembered for something more…

“Hey, Potty”, taunted a voice.

He ignored, hoping that ignoring the boy might be enough to keep the blonde away from him, alas, the boy had some other plans.

“Hey, Potty, I have heard that house mothers gave you a Jacket on your birthday”, said the redhead boy.

He ignored the surly redhead who had been bullied by the older boys and kept feeding the squirrels.

“I said something, Potty, you will reply”, the boy seethed and pushed him. He felt his head hit the tree trunk with a lot of force.

He clenched his teeth and closed his eyes. The squirrels had scuttled away due to the violence. Left alone, he wished that the boy to go away, away flying like Darth Vader sent people flying as in comics.

He heard the boy laugh… laugh at him, enjoying seeing him in pain. He knew that he could not take on the redhead, who was two years older and had a lot of weight on him. So he curled up and wished very- very hard, just like he had when he had been very young… not that he was old by any standards he was a five-year-old after all, but when he had been young… just a year old he had used his powers to frighten his aunt and uncle, since, then he had not used the powers ever, and tried to suppress the powers because he was afraid- afraid that people around him would think him a freak.

But at this very moment, he could no longer hold that power inside him any longer and felt it slipping from his grip.

That ball of energy, which had been locked inside his mind in a room, burst open like a dam opening its sluice gates, and he heard the laughing boy scream as he heard a very painful crunch.

He flinched and opened his eyes, and saw the boy a dozen feet away from him rolling on the ground, crying in pain.

“You… You are a freak”, cried the boy

He flinched, “Don’t play with fire, Nathan, or you will get burnt”, he said coldly.

He didn’t want to show weakness, but inside he felt torn, perhaps this was why he had been abandoned by his aunt and uncle, he thought.

Nathan got up and ran away as fast as his twisted feet could carry him.

He looked away and, after a moment, once again started to feed the squirrels.

They were his only friends.

Nathan had come for his revenge; with several other kids, he had come during the night when he had been sleeping. Silently seizing him and beating him as his friends grabbed and held him. They had ransacked him, taken away his things, his blanket, his… his only Birthday present.

When he had finally woken up from the beating, he had been too afraid to even complain to anyone for fear of their retaliation, it was not as if he was going to be relocated.

But that was when things started to get worse. First, it had been only physical abuse, they had beaten him, taken his things and made him dance for them, but now they had started abusing him mentally, they called him names, spread rumours of him around the Orphanage and finally, today they had tried to dunk his head inside the toilet.

They hadn’t been successful, but that was a close thing. Worse, the fact was his powers didn’t seem to work, he wanted to force choke them, but nothing had happened after he had tried to imitate Darth Vader, and he never tried again.

He really was not special, he thought sadly. It had all been a fluke. “Hey, Potty, wanna taste my Potty?” taunted one of Nathan’s friends.

He violently shook his head and scampered off before they could pick on him again.

He was alone, blue from the cold because his blanket was taken away, as thin as a stick because he hadn’t been eating well.

A sad life for a child whose dreams were shattering around him and stung him like shards of glass.

Things had really gotten worse, he was an outcast in the Orphanage, and Nathan had seen to that. He had broken him in every way possible.

He closed his eyes and wept silently as Nathan and his friends laughed at the sight of his hair dripping wet with toilet water.

He whimpered and got kicked by Nathan in the stomach.

“No Jedi coming to save you, no Qui-gon for you, eh?”, teased Nathan. He wept silently as Nathan and his fellows laughed.

He felt dizzy, and he coughed and vomited on the bathroom floor.

He, at this very moment, wanted them to pay… pay for everything that they had done to him.

His hatred swarming across his body, he wished… he wished for them to choke, but then he was kicked in his stomach and he passed out.

Not the life of a hero.

He shrugged the thought off and slowly tossed it around in his bed, as another thought came to his mind. Things had not been going well. He was bullied by Nathan on a daily basis now, and he wanted to escape… escape this vicious place which was his home.

He looked sadly out of his window. What had he done to deserve this place? He… he wanted an escape.

He looked at the night sky… it was breathtaking. The moon was in its full glory, and the Orphanage being away from the city allowed one to gaze at the sky, which was scattered around with stars.

Making sure that Andrew, his roommate, who was a three-year-old boy, did not wake, he silently tiptoed out of his room. He did not want to alert Nathan and his friends… he… he just wanted this moment for himself.

A moment for a broken boy.

He wanted to gaze at the sky, perhaps that would allow him to let the thoughts go out of his mind and be peaceful for the first time in months, escape the bullying and experience the same peace he had felt before this had turned so bad, to return to the moment of feeding the squirrels.

To pray to God that his parents were doing well in heaven and to hope… Hope for a better life was all but a dream.

He slowly and silently moved to the gardens of the Orphanage and lay down on the soft grass, looking at the night sky.

He felt relaxed and lost himself in the thoughts that took over his mind.

One day, I will be among them, he thought.

He was woken up by a jolt of pain which shot through his mid-section. He gasped as he got up The light from the sun instantly blinded him, it was perhaps already not bad enough that he could not see without the thick glasses.

He grunted.

“You should not be taking the place of your betters, boy”, snarled a voice which, by the tone, helped him guess the age.

“Leave the kid be, Mathew”, said another voice

“Kid, leave the place before things get bad for you”, the voice continued

“Gah, you are a spoilsport, Eddie”, complained Mathew

“Fuck off”, Eddie snarled at his saviour. It was rare for older boys to protect the younger, most of them were dismissive at best, if not actively taking part in bullying.

“Hrmph”

He quickly got up, rubbing his eyes. At least he had managed to get a good night's sleep and have his peace in a very long time. He exhaled softly and gathered himself up. He did not want to get involved with the elder bullies; Nathan was enough for the moment. He dusted his tattered second-hand clothes and quickly left, not meeting the older boy's eyes.

After a few moments, he heard feet quickly closing in behind him, and he tried to run, but knowing that he could not outrun the older boy, he fell onto the ground and curled up in a ball.

“Hey kiddo, you are Harry, aren’t you?” said the same voice which had saved him, yet he didn’t dare look up.

“Y…yes, I… I am Harry”, he mumbled.

Eddie… he remembered the name of the person who had helped him.

“Oh, do not worry, kid, I am not here to harm you in any way. In fact, I… you remind me of someone… I… I want to help you, kid… Harry”, Eddie said softly.

“I… I…”, his eyes filled with tears.

Was this how older bullies taunted? He asked himself.

“Kid, I ain’t gonna hurt you, come up”, Eddie said, ruffling his hair.

He peered from a small gap between his spindly legs and looked at his saviour. Eddie was a tall Blonde, with a genial smile. He almost felt warm.

“Come here, kiddo, let me hug you.”

He felt his eyes fill up with tears. No one had been this nice except the Housemother, who had left years ago. Before he could make sense of what was happening, he felt himself wrapped in a warm hug. He burst into tears as Eddie comforted him and rubbed his back.

“Hey, now I am here, kiddo, you don’t need to worry”

“Thanks…

“Eddie call… me Eddie, Harry”

“E… Eddie”, he spoke quietly.

“Hey, you are like my little brother, nothing is happening to you as long as I am here”, Eddie murmured.

“R… really”, he asked

“Really, Harry”

It was false…

Chapter Text

Chapter 2

Harry Potter

“Hey kiddo, can ya deliver this package to this guy”, Harold said showing him a picture of a man covered in tattoos.

Harold was a friend of Eddie, both of whom were making him do errands and stuff for them and he was happy to do these for them but with all the weird people he met this made him feel that they were dealing with shifty people and he didn’t like that, Eddie had been a good friend getting him sweets, blankets, books and helped him in studies as well. Not to mention Eddie had helped against Nathan.

He shifted and took the heavily taped package from Harold's hand and kept it inside his bag.

He took the picture and took a good long look at the man. He prided himself on his good memory.

“I shall get this package to him, Harold, can you tell Eddie to come, I want to talk to him”, he said

“Aye, Kiddo I shall. Also, see that no one gets suspicious”, Harold said shiftily.

“I can get things done quietly”, he said.

“Good kid, see that this thing gets delivered”, Harold said.

He nodded and hopped on the school bus which led them to the community school. He was excited for the school or well as much as a six-year-old could get excited.

(Later)

He was doing nicely in school getting good grades and all his teachers liked him.

He closed his eyes and remembered the face of the man; it was distinct and looked around the crowd. He saw a man in a hoodie whose face looked a lot like that of the picture. He pulled out the brick and slowly got mixed in the crowd and slipped the brick inside the pocket of the man and then turned and headed back to his bus. All this happened within moments.

(Later)

“You wanted to talk to me Harry”, asked Eddie

“Eddie, that brick all that stuff what is this Eddie”, he asked

“Harry, it is better you don’t know what I do to make a living, we orphan… we don’t have anyone looking out for us, I… I want money so I can help all orphans, and these days money is hard to come by.”, Eddie said with a sad tone and hugged him.

“It's okay Harry if you feel uncomfortable doing…”

“No, I will…”, his voice trailed off as Eddie’s grip tightened around him.

“Thank you, Harry,”, Eddie said softly.

He knew Eddie was a good guy. He was so kind to him, loved him, cared for him, it wasn’t like the same Eddie would be harming people?

He laughed at the thought, and walked to his room, looking around, and wondering what was the stuff that would be making so much money. Eddie had gotten him good blankets, clothes, he even had a broken watch!!

He shrugged, that was Eddie’s business.

Helena

Watching the boy had become a habit, she had been hearing whispers about him, how the little boy had been segregated in his house, it inflamed her heart to know how the Slytherin’s were besmirching the memory of Salazar, how the castle had now fallen of to bad times.

She slowly drifted in the air, invisible to world, watching Harry Potter complete his homework, listening to Radio, and at times using the battered telescope to watch the stars.

She glided up to him, readying herself to speak, but nothing came out of her mouth.

What would she say?

No, what could she say?

She bristled and once again and turned back, she would be here when she had something to say, something to reassure the boy about. Something that could lift up the boy’s hope and give him dreams…

Something that would create a new path for him… a better one than one that Tom took.

She faded, because it was what she was best at…

Fading…

--

Harry Potter was a sincere child, who was having a better life.

He studied hard, did well in classes, read comics and watched movies with saved pennies.

He loved Obi-Wan and like every child he dreamt of having a G.I Joe figurine…

‘Kids, I hope you all would behave properly as today we are going to have a guest in our class, Mr. Rufus Adams, the district inspector, who will be addressing the rising use of narcotics how to identify them, and how they are destroying our society’, Mrs Dora explained patiently to the class.

And just as Mrs Dora finished, the whole class burst into talk,

‘What will it be like to be an Inspector?’

‘I wanna be an Inspector when I grow up’

‘Me too… wanna work in Scotland Yard’

‘What about you Jamie?’

‘Ha ha ha’

‘What are narcotics?’

‘Nice question kid’ said a booming voice and they turned towards its source and quickly quietened up.

Mr. Rufus Adams was here, the inspector looked as an inspector would, tall, with dusty grey hairs, blue eyes, sharp jawline, well-built body and kind face.

A person whom they could admire, who could be their role model.

‘Tell me children what do you know about narcotics?’

A silence greeted the genial man.

‘I see, perhaps, your parents think that it is inappropriate for you all to learn about the realities of world, but I think they might be just a bit wrong on this part, I don’t want you all to grow up hearing glorified and romanticized tales about this curse called narcotics, a thing which is destroying our society.’

‘Narcotics are substances which induce that is prompt brain into releasing hallucinating feelings and euphoria, they make your minds slaves, as every time a person consumes these drugs, their mind no longer becomes theirs, their bodies stop responding to normal things which bring happiness, they are left without anything… become shells of themselves, until they can no longer stop using it, they spend fortunes, rip apart families and destroy society.’

Everyone sat quite in class, Harry Potter was more than pale, his heart was breaking…

He was in complete denial, no… Eddie won’t do this.

Mr. Rufus was going on about how to identify these drugs, to report the users and general social stuff.

But, Harry Potter, was left in complete shock and denial…

I will confront Eddie; I will not rip apart families… Eddie is a good person; he will see the right thing. Yes, he will see the right thing.

---

31^st of October 1981

It was a cold night as the shadowy figure of a man cloaked in pure dark garments walked in front of the Potter cottage. He could see the house now the hiding place of his equal. Lord Voldemort sneered at the thought.

“Aberto Horribilis”, Hissed Lord Voldemort as the strongest unlocking charm hit the door of Potter’s opening.

Lord Voldemort Stepped inside the house holding his wand of yew and Pheonix aloft, he looked at the house in distaste, Potters would pay the price of defiance today.

Hearing the commotion James Potter walked down his wand aloft his eyes full of sleep as he squinted his eyes to check for the commotion.

Lord Voldemort Smiled that creepy smile as all the colour from the face of James Potter drained off.

“No… No… Peter wouldn’t Peter won’t…”, whispered James Potter his eyes wide and full of fear, body shaking.

“LILY RUN”, shouted James Potter at the top of his lungs and dodged the killing curse sent his way,

“Not my family”, croaked James Potter and both the wizards began to duel.

There was little competition between James Potter and Lord Voldemort. While James Potter was talented he was nowhere even close to Lord Voldemort, but while he couldn’t win against the Dark Wiard, he could try… try to hold him off and hope-hope that Lily could flee with their Children.

“Aberombo”, Hissed Lord Voldemort catching James Potter’s wand arm and with the Bone Breaker and with a sickening crunch the Bone snapped.

James Potter Cried in Pain falling onto the ground, tears coating the face of a father a husband a lover… a broken man.

“I shall Not Kill You, Potter, you shall Suffer and Live Knowing your children died and you were not able to do anything”, hissed Lord Voldemort.

“Morpheus Horribilis”, hissed Lord Voldemort laughing his cruel laugh as he climbed up the stairs blasting each room with the blasting hex and lighting the house up with Fiend Fyre.

Lord Voldemort Cackled Madly as he blew apart the door of the Nursery.

“Please not my children… Please not my Children”, begged Lily Potter as she wept, her silvery tears coating her face.

Lord Voldemort smirked, “You Shall Live and Suffer”, hissed the no-longer Human.

“Please… Please not my Children I beg of you I shall…”, Lily Potter fell to her knees and begged the Cruel man with Red eyes to stop and spare her family.

“Depulso”, hissed Lord Voldemort and Lily Potter went Flying into the wall.

Chapter Text

Chapter 3

How the sad boy came to be

“What!!! You cannot expect this out of me Albus… Harry is barely one… I… I cannot leave him with Petunia”, Lily screeched.

“Lily is right… we are under no circumstances going to leave Harry to Petunia”, James roared

“James you must understand that there is no other way Harry might excel, Sure… he will never lack anything as he lives with you but he would never be able to do anything Magical, it will break the poor boy’s heart and when he grows up… you know… both of you know that there is no work for a squib in wizarding world… I hope you understand, either one of you must leave for the muggle world for the sake of Harry or let him grow up at Lily’s sisters’ house”, Dumbledore finished.

“Petunia… I know I made up with her but I still don’t like it… James is… is Sirius… can Sirius take Harry?”, She spoke her heart clenching.

“Lily… James”, Albus started

She looked at Albus Dumbledore questioningly

“I received news from Remus… Sirius is dead”, Dumbledore said softly

“No… No, I refuse to believe it… I refuse you hear that Dumbledore I refuse”

“James I am really sorry but… he it seems chased Peter and Peter unleashed Fiend fyre which killed both Sirius and him as well as a dozen muggles”, Dumbledore finished.

“We need time Albus… we need time to absorb all this and make such a major decision in Harry’s Life”, she spoke

“Lily I am not forcing you I am suggesting take as much time as you want but do take action before it is too late”, Albus said softly.

“You both are welcome here for as long as you wish”, Albus finished

Both the parents nodded, thanked and left the office, beaten and broken, they had just lost a very close friend and gone through a very traumatic event.

Lily

They had just lost Sirius to that rat. She closed her eyes. She remembered the ratty gleam in Pettigrew’s eyes; it had always made her uncomfortable. But it did not matter now that Sirius was dead.

She looked at Harry, the frailest of her children. He had been a sickly boy when he was born, and now, after the loss of his magic, it seemed like he had lost a lot of life. He no longer cried and played like Jim; instead, he just looked at the ceiling.

She picked Harry up and slowly cradled him in her arms, tears freely dropping from her eyes as she thought about her own time before Hogwarts and how it had spurred Petunia away from her, she looked away, it was not right to keep Harry in the wizarding world If he could not enjoy the magic and only get hurt if he stayed in the magical world, at least as a muggle he might make something out of him. She thought   

James walked inside the living quarters they had been provided inside Hogwarts, his face hanging.

She knew that James was sorrowful, he had just lost his brother in all but in blood and not even remains to bury.

James collapsed onto the bed.

“Remus is furious that we thought him the spy, he is leaving Britain,” James said

She said nothing, it was sad that Remus was leaving them, she heard an owl tapping the window and opened the window, suddenly a dozen more flew in dropping Packages and letters.

Her eyes widened and she kept Harry back in his cot and went to check the packages with her wand drawn.

“James”, she said in surprise as she read the first few lines of one of many letters that now littered their humble aboard.

“Lils?”, he asked in a questioning voice.

“James read these letters”, she whispered.

They had forgotten how large of a thing was that Jim had defeated Lord Voldemort as an infant and ended the reign of terror.

She heard James get up and join her as they sorted all the letters and gifts sent to them, she knew that none of the gifts would be disguised weapons of sorts as Hogwarts wards would detect and reject such parcels, her thoughts on Harry growing more concerning as of the moment when she thought about all the fame that Jim would receive and flinched at the thought.

“This is so great lils all these people they want to help us”, James said suppressing emotion in his voice.

“Look here is a summons from Minister Crouch, it wants us to reward us for the fall of the Dark Lord”, James said

“That is all well and good James but I want to discuss something very important”, she said

“Yes, Lily”, James asked the concern in his voice all prominent as he kept down Minister Crouch’s Letter.

“It’s About Harry”, she said softly.

“Lily, we discussed that we would not be sending Harry away”, James said indignantly.

“James, you don’t even know how hard it will be on Harry and if there is no paper trail of Harry then he might not be able to get assimilated into the Muggle world”, she said hotly.

“So, you just want to give up on Harry”, James cried

SLAP!!

“By gods don’t say that I am not giving up on Harry but allowing him a life of his own, it would hurt him and break him as Jim would be able to do magic and he…”, her voice broke.

“I… I have seen how it breaks people James and If you don’t want Harry to go to Petunia then I will take him and live in the Muggle world”, she continued.

James looked horrified at the thought and immediately spoke

“NO, NO Lily you are not going to leave me alone”, his voice broke

“Harry, are you sure Lily that Petunia will treat him rightly”, James asked

“I… Yes, I think she will”, she finally said after a long pause.

“Then we will talk about it later, and… and talk with Dumbledore… and… and say goodbye to Harry”, James’s voice broke as the uttered those words.

She hugged her husband and kissed James full on lips as James held her in his arms, they both melted into each other’s embrace.

(Some time later)

“Professor Dumbledore,” she greeted the headmaster.

“Lily, James I have a lot of things to tell you”, the headmaster said

“Sure, thing professor though we have made our decision regarding Harry, we will be dropping him off at Petunia’s at the end of this week”, she whispered unable to meet the eyes of the ancient wizard.

“I know that this will not be easy for either of you, but you are doing this for your son.” Professor Dumbledore said

“We know,” James said softly

Dumbledore nodded then after a brief pause said,

“I know that the past few days have not been the best for either of you with all the things that have come to pass, but I must inform you that Jim is now a legendry figure in our society and with that, a lot of responsibility comes on both of you”

This was true she had given it a thought and to her amazement already Crouch was offering James the position of one of the chief Aurors and her in as a part of the foreign delegation, if they wanted to take those offers that was.

“Yes, we have received some letters”, James said

“I am sure you have thought I must ask you both to help me bring justice to some of the more influential death eaters”, Albus finished.

“We will try to help in any way possible sir”, James said

“That is good to hear James though I have one final request or more of news for you Lily”, Albus said

She raised her eyebrows questioningly

“Your friend Severus Snape was my spy and at great personal risk he infiltrated Dark Lord's inner circle and passed on information, I request for you both to forgive that man regardless of what crimes he might have committed”, Albus said

James’s face darkened but he did not interrupt while her face remained impassive, if Severus had not called her a MudBlood then perhaps she would be married to him instead of James but he had chosen those Death Eater friends over her and she would never forgive Severus for that insult, he had forged his path and she had forged her own.

“I will not forgive Severus but I will not try to get him convicted either”, she replied

Albus sighed and looked as if he had aged a hundred years at that very moment. He opened his mouth to speak but then closed it, she looked at the Wizened man questioningly but after a few moments relented and changed the topic.

“We will drop Harry off to Petunia but can you think of some wards which might protect and hide them, after what has happened to Frank and Alice I… I just can’t bring myself to drop Harry like that… not without protection”, she said

Albus nodded his head and spoke.

“I shall look into the matter and come up with some answers by the end of this week”

She nodded her head gratefully and so did James who hadn’t spoken much during their conversation.

“Also, Professor we have been receiving a lot of owls you know… uh we would like to err… want to not be disturbed”, James said

“There are certain wards I shall send a house elf with a book on them which you can use”, Albus replied

“Thank you, professor,”

“You're most welcome”

(Later)

Things had started to improve for their family that was financially, the very thought that Harry would be left to fend for himself was breaking her heart even though she knew that was for the best, but she was a mother and her heart felt as if it was getting wrenched, she could not bear to see her frail little boy away.

Spending most of her time caring for her youngest, hoping that Dumbledore’s theory was wrong.

“I am so sorry Harry, I… I am a horrible mother”, she said softly as she held her little boy tears coating her face, she could not bear to send Harry away, no she should follow him into the muggle world and care for him, this was not right, but James would not… no that was an excuse, she just bought her head down and cuddled Harry, not wanting to think.

“You would grow up to be great Harry”, she said running her hand down Harry’s spine.

(A few days Later)

This was the day Harry would be leaving; James had cried and could not see Harry leave so he had taken Jim and left back for their room in Hogwarts. Leaving her to see to everything from setting up the wards to prepare a story behind Harry’s appearance at Petunia’s house.

Once she had set wards around Petunia’s home, she had managed to prepare a misdirection which was still possible.

With them not being in public after the attack they could announce that Harry was dead and they were mourning him, have a funeral close thing up, she thought.

(In a café at Little Whinging)

She had set up wards and notice me not charms around their place and saw Petunia enter the Roast house in a beautiful dress. Years had done her well; she had managed to graduate from a reputable college with masters in art. Petunia looked at her with a frown.

“Petunia”, she greeted her sister who had been the bigger woman and accepted to raise Harry grudgingly as she might have been.

“Lily”, Petunia replied frostily.

“I… I will leave Harry to you today… I… I hope he will grow out to be a good boy”, she said breaking.

“I… see”, Petunia replied

“Tell him that we died Petunia, tell him that we died… I… I cannot bear to think what he will think of us if he knows the truth”, she said tears leaking from her face.

“He will think and see you all for what you are”, Petunia said

She closed her eyes and took a breath in… it was true though… one of them should have followed and should have raised Harry… but she couldn’t James needed support he had just lost all his friends and Jim… Jim needed them just as Harry did.

“Please treat him as your own Petunia… treat him like our parents treated us”, she said

Her sister just gave her the look and she slowly let go of Harry as she handed her little boy to Petunia who took her son in her arms gently.

She closed her eyes tears leaking and she turned and rushed out of the pub apparated to Hogsmeade.

She needed a lot of fire whiskey a lot of fire whiskey indeed.