- "Is it necessary, Albus?"
- "I'm afraid, Minerva, it's the only way to protect them."
- "Even from their family?"
- "To deceive enemies, it is sometimes necessary to deceive friends. Once Lily and James Potter are healthy, all will be forgiven. As long as they are alive, there will be no shortage of people to attack them, the best way to protect them is to kill them."
- "I have my reservations about that. Surely their family and friends will want to see their bodies, and decide what to do with their remains after the rites."
- "Trust me, I have it all planned out. James and Lily are going to die of a sudden heart attack during their sleep. There will be a mistake in the orders, and the bodies of the Potter couple will be cremated. They will suffer for a while, but they will resign themselves, and friends and family will go on with their lives. Like James and Lily, who will be in a clinic in France, I spoke with the wizard who prescribed the treatment and he agreed to keep quiet about it. He will personally take care of the treatment until they are healthy... Minerva be confident that everything will turn out well, the death eaters and Voldemort's followers will stop looking for them when they hear the news of his death. James donated to Hogwarts, enough for their treatment, I'm sure we can make arrangements to justify that sum. Hagrid has an interesting pet, whose remains are highly prized among apothecaries."
- "I imagine you are referring to one of the creatures that inhabit the forbidden forest. I prefer not to know which one you mean." - Said the witch.
Minerva McGonagall, vice-headmistress, professor, and Head of Gryffindor House walked restlessly in Headmaster Albus Dumbledore's office.
- "What will happen to the child and the Longbottoms? There are also objectives, the two children were born at the end of July." - The Scottish witch questioned.
- "Harry is fine with his uncles, I advised Severus on the protections of his home. The Longbottoms moved into the old family residence, its protections are almost Hogwarts level, and Voldemort chose the Potter heir over the Longbottom heir."
- "Merlin hopes that misfortunes do not happen... At least You Know Who is dead."
Dumbledore was going to correct her but preferred to remain silent and smile in a gesture of confidence. - "I'm counting on you to carry out this plan."
Minerva nodded and her determined expression indicated to the century-old wizard that it was time to act.
.
Sadness was what Severus felt in front of Lily's grave. He left a wreath of asphodel flowers next to the other flowers, several people showed up at the funeral, there was no meeting just a speech in front of the grave the couple shared, Eleanor read a Scottish poem that seemed appropriate: - "You can cry because she's gone or laugh because she's lived.
You can close your eyes and pray for her to return or you can open them and see everything she has left behind.
Your heart can be empty because you can't see it or it can be full of the love you shared.
You can cry, close your mind, feel emptiness, and turn your back or you can do what that person would like: smile, open your eyes, love, and move on."
The funeral was a moving moment for several, after the last goodbye everyone was left alone or accompanied, and there was a series of disappearances, people who perhaps saw each other again during the masses for the soul of the deceased Potters.
From St.Mungo, they reported the death of the Potter couple, an error in the orders caused both bodies to be cremated, and someone who claimed to be from the administration offered his apologies and guaranteed that the person responsible for the confusion was fired.
- "Why weren't we immediately informed of her death? They have many ways to contact us, they were even able to contact Mr. Black and Mr. Lupin, and they are both on the contact list. I can't understand how it could happen." - Eleanor expressed extremely confused.
- "I have no words to give you. I'm sorry." - It was the only answer to any question on the subject. The 'executive' only provided a version that seemed written.
Without much else to do besides file a claim, the urns containing James and Lily's ashes were buried in the Godric's Hollow cemetery, alongside the rest of James's ancestors.
Sirius then raised the issue of Harry's custody. - "I have the economic level to be able to raise him without anything lacking. I will resign from my job as an Auror, without James there is no point in continuing there. You can visit him and he can stay the night here to play with his cousins."
- "Sirius, raising a child is not easy, you will assume a great responsibility, are you sure you are ready? It will change your life, it will take up a lot of your time and you won't be able to do much else for a long time." - Eleanor said calmly.
- "I already considered it and Remus offered to help me, you are there too, right? I can learn and adapt, he is my godson and I want him to be with me. In fact, we're moving into Remus' cabin, it's comfortable for the 3 of us and has a Floo connection. It's a safe place." - Sirius answered.
Eleanor had this conversation alone with Sirius, she had already talked to her husband about it before and he said that the decision was hers.
- "I'm not going to deny that it worries me. But you're right that you can count on us, Harry will always be welcome to stay here when needed. Prepare your home, the child has started to walk and you must prepare the house to avoid accidents. However, we will legally maintain custody of Harry, my nephew can live with you but I will not give you my rights over him. I am his aunt, legally I have more rights than you to raise him, if he lets him live with you it is because I think you deserve the opportunity to try if in 5 years you show me that you are responsible enough to take care of Harry and his interests, then yes, We will talk about you having custody of Harry with documents and everything. In the meantime, any important decisions should be consulted with me."
Sirius had a moment of annoyance, arguing with Eleanor until he calmed down.- "Well, what do you think of shared custody? It would be a solution that would bring peace." - Sirius proposed.
- "Ok, shared custody. I have no desire to continue arguing. My children must be restless by now, Severus has work to do, I am ending this meeting. As soon as you have your residence ready, Harry will start spending time with you, there will be an adjustment period until he gets used to it. You will imagine that the child cannot move so suddenly to another environment, he is already used to my home, and don't forget that he just found out that his parents will not return."
Sirius showed a sad expression and nodded, accepting Eleanor's conditions, who offered a list of safety rules, tips for a balanced diet, Harry's rest schedules, and favorite things, and in short, what he would notice about his nephew. Sirius ended up making fun of her but was grateful for the help so that Harry could adapt to them.
.
Harry James Potter opened his eyes and found faces that he only saw in photographs, his parents were alive watching him with affection. It had to be a dream, there was no other explanation. Before waking up everything was confusing, he felt an enveloping warmth and unexpectedly he felt compressed, then he felt cold, he complained, he had the image of blurry faces and words, and he soon fell asleep due to comfort and fatigue.
All his life he longed for a family, although when he became friends with Ron he was accepted into his family, it was not the same. It wasn't ingratitude, there was just some connection missing.
His parents were murdered when he was over a year old, his aunt reluctantly kept him in her home, he had to pay for his stay there with labor, and they always made it clear that this was not his home.
He learned the truth of his origin along with magic at the age of 11, it was so amazing that he would have wanted to stay in that world and not return every summer to his relatives (Vernon, Petunia, and Dudley). Hogwarts, the magic school that was like his home, was a boarding school that he attended from the ages of 11 to 16. He was unable to attend his last school year because of Voldemort and his insane ambition to dominate the world.
The world-famous dark wizard was obsessed with killing him from the moment Harry was born, there was a period of calm when Voldemort lost his body and was an immaterial entity.
Years passed, in which serious incidents occurred, in the end at the age of 17 Harry had a duel with Voldemort, and after much battle he finally defeated him, having previously eliminated all the anchors and life insurance of the dark wizard.
He had a period of calm after that, healing wounds, mourning the dead, he had ahead of him to rebuild his life, when something unexpectedly hit him and he fell into the shadows.
The sleep was good, beyond the logical restrictions of a baby, it was very pleasant. His parents were what he imagined, his aunt visited them and treated them well, and even Professor Snape visited them, there was Sirius and Remus, also the traitor Wormtail, whom he took the pleasure of dirtying with vomit. Although the dream lasted too long, and although happy, he began to suspect that it was not a dream, there were some inconsistencies and unimaginable facts, for example, his aunt Petunia was kind and possessed magic, he had 2 twin cousins instead of Dudley, Snape was his uncle and not Vernon. Things became increasingly strange, then it was like a bucket of cold water on him, accepting that he was reborn, that he returned to the beginning of everything. He had a new chance, this time maybe his life would be better.
Obviously, due to his limitations, he could not avoid the attack on October 31, the strange thing was that his mother left him in another room, no matter how much he cried and begged her not to leave him, it didn't work. He fell asleep, scared, angry, and confused. This time Voldemort didn't find him, there was no killing curse aimed at him, no lightning bolt scar or splinter of Voldemort's dying soul hidden in a scar.
His Aunt Petunia rescued him from the house and didn't leave him, things moved like a version with very few similarities to how they were before. His parents were alive, hospitalized, but alive, Harry decided to keep up appearances and pretend to believe the lie about his parents' sudden trip.
He heard that he would be living with Sirius, which implied something happened with his parents. Then he cried because his parents couldn't beat their destiny, and in the end, they ended up dead. He distracted his cousins, 2 interesting kids who weren't boring to be with, Liam and Chris reminded him of Fred and George but they were more serene. They played with throwing objects for the dogs to fetch, their fur was so soft, and Harry was delighted with them, and also with the model cats, who would have imagined his aunt making clothes for cats? They moved like models on the catwalk. They were peculiar, even his cat Tabby who used to sleep near him in his home in Godric's Hollow, looked curiously at the pair of hairless cats.
.
In 1982 Igor Karkaroff was released from Azkaban, when Eleanor read the news she thought of the Triwizard Tournament from the fourth book. She hoped not, but if the tournament were to happen, perhaps it would be useful for her children to know how to communicate, some language classes should be taken into account.
Severus had been collaborating with the Order of the Phoenix, actually with Dumbledore specifically, in the end, the headmaster took the possibility of 'Horrocruxes' seriously. He pressured the Hogwarts potions master, and Slughorn had difficulty opening up to the old wizard about a conversation he had with one of his Slytherin students years before. But seeing that Dumbledore suspected that Tom Riddle made a Horrocrux, he decided to agree.
- "I don't feel proud at all... I'm ashamed of... of what that memory shows. I'm afraid that, that day I caused great damage." - The professor whispered, handing over a vial with the silver souvenir.
- "Don't worry, Horace, we all make mistakes." - Dumbledore responded in a sympathetic tone.
In that memory, a teenager Tom Riddle lies to his teacher to obtain the information he wants, he asks Slughorn about Horrocruxes, a way to save a portion of the soul and whose procedure was criminal.
The reason why he took the courage to reveal his secret was because of Lily, one of his best students. One afternoon Slughorn discovered a fish tank on his desk, with a little clear water in it, and on the surface a Lily petal floated, the flower petal sank and shortly before reaching the bottom, it transformed into a little fish. It was a very beautiful magic, amazing to look at, the professor kept the little fish and named him Francis. The day Lily's death was reported, Slughorn saw the fish tank he had in the living room, Francis was moving happily as always, and then the professor knew there was something hidden behind that news.
When the insistent director inquired about the years in which Tom Riddle belonged to his club, he refused to acknowledge that he may have indirectly contributed to a nascent villain. But, when the headmaster's questions revealed that he suspected that a student may have sought to evade death, Slughorn knew about it and after an upset conscience, he decided to prepare for retirement after granting the real memory of that moment. Besides, he didn't want Lily to die, if there was an opportunity to help protect her in some way, that was fine.
After Professor Slughorn's memory was evaluated, the director considered who to entrust with the task of searching for and destroying the Horrocruxes, because he could not completely trust his anonymous informant, a person who wrote an anonymous letter revealing such a terrible truth and did not leave traces to be located. Although in all honesty, Dumbledore did not want to meet her and that is why he did not make an effort to find out her identity, this person took the risk to try to warn him and he sensed that she could belong to one of the families of the members of Voldemort's first inner circle. Otherwise, it was not explained how he knew that Voldemort was a half-blood wizard named Tom Marvolo Riddle, son of Merope Gaunt.
At school Riddle formed a group called the Knights of Walpurgis, these were his first followers, 3 were the most notable and loyal to the ideas promulgated by Riddle: Avery, Lestrange, and Mulciber, these were those he most trusted in Dumbledore's opinion. As in any family, all of these could have had some members who had a different opinion.
Furthermore, the information that Riddle made 5 Horrocruxes and what they were, with their probable location, was very suspicious. It could all be a trap to lure him out and kill him, but what if it wasn't? The author of the letter was very direct and did not detail more than the sensitive information he wanted to give. Dumbledore believed that if he located the informant he could be a risk for that person, the best thing was to provide him with the comfort and confidence of communicating when he considered it necessary and safe.
According to his research, the destruction of a Horrocrux is possible when it is damaged by some extremely powerful magical object, such as the poison of a Basilisk, Demon Fire, or the Avada Kedavra curse. Dumbledore chose Black and Snape from among his students to lead the search, the Blacks were an ancient family that had a strong alignment with dark magic, surely Sirius could obtain information impossible for others since the texts on such dark magic belonged to collectors that they would not admit having said material, and those books from the forbidden section of the Hogwarts library that remained were brief with the information. The most likely thing would be for Riddle to steal the best-explained books.
The choice of Severus was due to the fact that he was the most harmless person among those who openly demonstrated an interest in the dark arts. Harmless in the sense that Dumbledore could have control, he had already proven this during his years at Hogwarts regarding the war that Snape had with the Marauders, also when Snape did not denounce Remus Lupine as a werewolf or report on the almost attack he received during a full moon night. The director was confident that the potions master would not betray the cause, why? For his family. Severus Snape married and had children with the sister of his first love, a woman whose origins would make her a sure target for Death Eaters, and he trusted that Snape wanted revenge on Voldemort for what happened to Lily Evans.
.
The stage of 'the terrible twos' is meant for children to explore and understand their new world, it is the age in which they begin to move more everywhere, and they go through a stage of stubbornness.
However, Liam, unlike other children who ask 'What is that?', wanted to know more and said, "What is this and how does it work?" Severus smiled at the knowledge of this shared trait and made time to explain. To both of them what they would like to know. She contributed but appreciated more when they bombarded Severus with their 'Why? and how?', she liked to admire the patience he had for his children, something he obviously didn't have for strangers.
Eleanor had resumed her studies, she would try to take some free exams to rejoin her degree group, or at least not be so behind with the contents. Taking care of twins was fascinating and exhausting at the same time.
Because the twins were together for so long, they communicated with each other more effectively than with the rest of the family, they learned to read each other's gestures and even had their own language that no one particularly understood. As they are their own source of entertainment, Eleanor began to have time to do other activities such as studying. According to a book this union between twins does not motivate them to learn from the outside world but she saw that Liam and Chris were not closed to their environment, but the opposite.
She taught her twins that they should not put pencils or crayons in their mouths when they were drawing or coloring, yet it turned out to be Harry who helped her make them understand. Eleanor found her nephew sensible for his age, and she didn't think so just because she was fond of the boy, but Harry was calm and understood when a warning was given for his safety. She wondered why anyone would hate him, her concept of the Dursleys was worse than before, if Harry was like that during the 'original line' of the saga, then the Dursleys were shitty people, worse than she imagined.
Faced with childhood fears, pets were helpful, purring cats and guard dogs gave security to the twins when their parents were sleeping. Severus argued that the shadows were from his toys, he checked every corner and section of the bedroom with them to prove that there was no danger. She had no problem with the twins sleeping with them, but Severus said that they should learn to sleep alone, this generated a little debate between them but in the end, they agreed that sometimes it was okay but not always, and there the affectionate magic of pets came in action to help children.
The struggle to get the twins to use the potty, the tantrums, the transition from the crib to the bed, learning to dress themselves... The children made a lot of progress in their development and changes, such as learning to control their sphincter. Both parents were grateful that they didn't have to keep changing diapers. As they grew, their individualities developed, and contrary to the belief that twins should be forced to have different activities, that is, separated, Liam and Chris did not appear to require such intervention. Liam was introverted and Chris more enthusiastic, while one was finger painting the other was hopping around like a rabbit playing nearby.
.
Although it had been many months since Eleanor reported the Horrocruxes, it seemed that Dumbledore was not convinced until his second warning, because Eleanor did not learn until later about Voldemort's search for the Horrocruxes.
At first, the trio chosen to work on the task under the orders of the centenarian magician had to establish a definitive truce between them. His investigation began by searching for information about the mentioned items, the history of the relics was fascinating, Remus and Severus were the ones who delved the most into the references discovered.
They turned to Gringotts Bank, to gain access to Bellatrix Lestrange's vault, the goblins refused and no matter how many requests they sent or the meeting that Dumbledore attended to talk to the highest authority of the bank, nothing worked, so, maybe out of curiosity, a manager asked what the object they were looking for was. After a few days, Dumbledore received the response that Helga Hufflepuff's Cup was not in said vault, this generated distrust then about the information they had that said relic was a Horrocrux.
But regarding Rowena Ravenclaw's Diadem, the Gray Lady evasively acknowledged that it had been contaminated with something dark and was in the castle, after that, they were unable to obtain more information. The search in the Room of Requirement at Hogwarts was titanic, so much so that it ended up being diverted to an expedition of various treasures. The deputy director proposed cleaning that place and tidying it up to make it easier to take advantage of possible useful resources. The sensitive noses were allergic and on more than one occasion they were on the verge of being buried in dusty rugs, chairs, or old clothes.
When they finally found the diadem, they investigated how to destroy the soul fragment without destroying the object, however, they did not discover any way and the historical relic was subjected to the Avada Kedavra curse in the face of resistance, with great concentration the Demonic Fire was used, the which was made by the director. The object was ruined, becoming twisted and unusable.
Eleanor brought a cup of tea to Severus, who had spent hours looking through old books. She read a list that was familiar to her: «~ Diary of Tom Riddle.
~ Marvolo Gaunt ring.
~ Salazar Slytherin locket.
~ Helga Hufflepuff Cup.
~ Rowena Ravenclaw Diadem. »
She knew they were working on the matter, Sirius left Harry with her when the three of them went in search of one of the objects. It was unexpected that some items were not where she thought they would be. Remus, Sirius, and Severus had been very busy, driven by the desire to eliminate Voldemort for good.
- "Any progress?"
- "Not much," - Severus responded, stretching his muscles to relax - "Lucius hasn't found the diary yet, he thinks that perhaps his father hid it when the dark lord was defeated, perhaps in case the Aurors will carry out an investigation, 'without proof, there is no crime'. And the diary could be taken as evidence of his close relationship with him."
- "You shouldn't call him Dark Lord, in which case call him Riddle or Mr. Tom." - Eleanor said next to him, moving her wrist to magically bring a chair closer.
- "It's custom, Lucius uses that name and I ended up adopting it."
- "So, the older Mr. Malfoy continues to deny knowing his location. Maybe it's in some secret compartment, or hidden among Lucius's collection." - She risked guessing.
Severus drank from his cup, feeling a pleasant calm. - "You never know... At least we confirmed that there is an object with dark magic in the Gaunt hut, the enchantments used to protect the hut were extraordinary, I would have liked to be able to study them but it was not convenient under the circumstances. Plus, it was a little difficult for Sirius and me to figure out what the best ways to dismantle the ward network were. Lupin helped with his developed sense of hearing to avoid the vermin and discovered the golden box that contained the ring under some boards. It began to vibrate menacingly as we approached. The problem we faced is discovering the type of curse that the ring has, we only know that it is deadly and very dark. I think that 'Mr. Riddle' used Parseltongue magic, Sirius disagrees because he argues that he would have used it in the cabin's wards, and Remus supports my theory 50%. The effect of using Parseltongue on spells and incantations, or how to detect it, is almost completely unknown. It will be a difficult task of investigation and testing, at the moment the box is sealed and contained in a high-security box at Gringotts." - Severus explained, sighing as Eleanor began to massage his shoulders.
For Eleanor, the theme of the ring was similar to that of the dark lord Sauron in J.R.R.'s The Lord of the Rings. Tolkien, who put some of his power into the One Ring, which was Sauron's only container of power, while Voldemort in J.K.'s saga had 7. He created this Horrocrux without knowing that the stone in the ring was the Resurrection Stone, the second of the three Deathly Hallows, otherwise who knows how he would have used it, perhaps he would have dedicated himself to searching and obtaining all of them. The Deathly Hallows.
Eleanor had a used copy of a book that according to its cover belonged to the ancestral Fortescue family, she didn't know how it got to a sale shelf but it was about the Deathly Hallows. The first time Severus looked through it he said it was a well-done construction of the famous tale, he scoffed that someone gullible like her would be convinced it was true.
Afterward, he made a backup copy that he kept carefully, she knew that although he didn't want to admit it, a part of him believed in History.