*I don't own Harry Potter, InuYasha, or any of their characters. Note: PLEASE READ THE A/N AT THE BOTTOM FOR IMPORTANT INFORMATION
Sirius' heart tore as he saw Hagrid carrying little Ari and Harry out of the now ruined cottage. There would only be one reason why Lily or Prongs wouldn't be comforting their own children, and that was if the unspeakable had happened. As the future he had once envisioned of all of the Marauders watching over the next generation of pranksters crumble into dust, his eyes saw the reason for the heartbreak crawl into the house as the dirty little rat he truly was at heart.
While showing the half-giant how to use the motorcycle he had once upon a time charmed himself just to piss off his bitch of a mother, he kept half an eye on the house for that traitorous bastard Pettigrew. Just as Hagrid flew off towards Hogwarts to make sure the two Prongslets were checked out by a discreet healer, he saw the rat crawl back out of the house.
The face of the last Heir of the Ancient and Noble House of Black contorted into a snarl as inside his heart the Grim howled for the death of the traitor.
Poppy Pomphrey was a woman who had seen many things in her life. As the recently promoted head nurse at Hogwarts, she had seen so many different kinds of magical (and non-magical) injuries and maladies that already it was becoming hard to be surprised by anything.
Yet being handed over a baby boy and a young girl by Hagrid while he tried to gently get through the doorway of the Hospital Ward was new.
"Dumbledore wanted yeh to look over them, make sure that the two little 'uns are alright," he explained sheepishly as she stood there dumbfounded.
Quickly grabbing the baby boy, she had a million questions running through her mind. However, only one escaped her lips. "Who are they?"
As Hagrid's face fell in sadness, the little girl still in his arms answered, "I Awi." Pointing towards the baby boy in Poppy's arms, she added, "Dat Hawwy."
With this answer, Poppy suddenly understood why Hagrid was struggling to hide his tears. "No... Not James and Lily..." she whispered. Having gotten to know them during her first three years under the previous head nurse, she had become quite fond of the young couple.
Nodding, Hagrid said thickly, "Dumbledore's looking for a new home for them since... since..." A strangled sob left him before he could finish his sentence.
As little Ariana patted his cheek in an attempt to comfort him, Poppy looked down at the youngest Potter child in her arms. Noticing a red mark underneath his tiny little black bangs, she shifted him so that she could brush his hair back.
"A lightning bolt?" she wondered, staring at the mark that blazed across his forehead. Not liking how red it was, however, she turned back towards Hagrid. "Stay with Ariana while I look over Harry, Hagrid," she ordered. "You're doing a good job keeping her calm considering..." Taking a deep breath to suppress the tears until she was free to mourn the loss of the elder Potters, she focused on what she knew best. "Let's see how you're doing, little Harry Potter."
Dumbledore had never felt older than he did as he sat behind his desk. After sending a Patronus messenger out to the Longbottoms, he had spent hours helping the Ministry investigate just what might've happened at Godric's Hallow. Frowning as he glanced at his watch, a horrible feeling began to grow. Never had the Longbottoms taken so long to respond...
"What to do, Fawkes, what to do..." he mused to Fawkes, who chirped questioningly from his nest of ashes. "I'd like to follow the Potters' will, but since it was made before I cast the Fidelius charm it makes things complicated. Sirius has obviously betrayed the Potters, Peter's nowhere to be found, Remus is forbidden by law, and I'm starting to fear for Frank and Alice." Looking over at the little newborn phoenix, he finished, "There's nobody else listed in the will as potential guardians that are still among the living."
Glancing down at the letter he had been reading before the events of this miraculous night, suddenly Albus remembered a letter he had once received years ago. While not the first letter he had gotten from a Muggle sibling of a magical student, how Petunia Evans had responded to his standard kind refusal had struck a sad chord in him, reminding him of the actions of his sister's tormentors.
However, it seemed that the woman who had ended up violently rejecting the Wizarding World after being denied a place in it might be the Potter siblings' only hope.
"Maybe Minerva can see if she'd be a suitable alternative- after all, she's a mother now, so perhaps she'd be willing to take her niece and nephew in," he hoped aloud as he sent out another Patronus.
A few minutes after requesting Minerva to inspect Number Four Privet Drive for the day and her agreeing with a confused look on her face, the wards announced Poppy's arrival onto the Headmaster's stairs. Waiting until she knocked upon the door, he bade her to enter.
"Albus, I have the results of the Potter siblings' tests," she announced as she walked in. As his eyebrows rose in inquiry, she continued, "While Hagrid kept Ariana calm I inspected the mark on little Harry's head- there's a rather alarming amount of Dark magic in it, and it's got You-Know-Who's signature."
Eyes widening with alarm, Dumbledore nevertheless asked, "Did you remove it?"
As Poppy shook her head, she explained, "I tried the standard ritual, but it refused to even budge a little. When I tried a charm I once remembered a fellow apprentice Healer had taught me to try and see why, I discovered the strangest thing- there are two distinct magical signatures weaving together to form a barrier around the Dark magic. I immediately recognized Lily's from her time here at Hogwarts, however the second had me confused... at least, until I examined little Ariana."
"Ariana?"
"Yes- somehow, Ariana managed to forge a soul bond similar to what I see in adopted blood-bonded siblings with Harry, and Lily's magic is using that bond to help contain whatever You-Know-Who did to Harry," Poppy finished with slight amazement filling her voice at this complicated piece of magic.
Dumbledore leaned back as he absorbed this sudden revelation. The Potter's Adoption Ritual had turned Ariana into a daughter of the Potter Line, but for her magic to tie her brother to her in a bond that was the tightest siblings could get... and on her second birthday, no less! As Sybill's words of the prophecy drifted through his mind, the elderly Headmaster wondered if this was a sign of what the power that Voldemort knew not could potentially be.
With this ringing through his mind, Albus Dumbledore made up his mind as to where Ariana and Harry could be placed until it was time for their Hogwarts schooling. If the love of family helped little Harry live through the Killing Curse, then it was clear that in order to protect him he must continue to use familial bonds to hide him from those who would surely seek to finish their Lord's work.
"Poppy, would you mind helping Hagrid look after the Potter siblings until I send word that it'd be alright for them to be brought to their new guardians? I trust Hagrid with my life, but two toddlers can still be a handful," he asked.
"But what about the students? Thankfully I didn't have any overnight stays, but that doesn't mean that I won't see students at all today," Poppy responded.
"I'm planning on canceling classes for the day- I know that it'd be hard for the Professors to concentrate after hearing the wondrous news, let alone the students," he announced. "As for any potential injuries due to pranks or fighting, I'll set up a temporary nursery in an abandoned classroom close to the Hospital Wing so that you can still be close by if needed."
"That could work..." Madam Pomphrey mused. "Alright Albus, I'll help out whenever I can."
"Excellent," Albus stated, happy about one item on a rapidly increasing list being removed. Standing up, he wandlessly waved the door open for the school nurse as he continued, "Shall we get things set up?"
Narcissa frowned with worry as she cuddled Draco to her. Her husband had arrived home after his mission from the Dark Lord, only for the three of them to feel a surge of magic. Immediately after, Lucius had clutched his arm while he cried out in pain. Once his pain had subsided, he promptly shoved the left sleeve of his robe up to his elbow as he stared at the Dark Mark... which had surprisingly changed to be a pale shadow of what it had been before.
After a frantic night of Floo calls from amongst her husband's fellow Death Eaters, Narcissa finally had enough and sent her husband to bed, choosing to stay up and tend to any of Draco's needs. Now, she waited for the Daily Prophet to bring news of just what had happened.
Finally, just as she finished feeding her son his breakfast, the owl came. Allowing the house elves to bathe Draco, the Lady Malfoy opened the paper. She gasped in shock at what she saw.
YOU KNOW WHO DEFEATED! blared the headline. Quickly opening the paper, she quickly read through the article.
"Oh, Lily..." she whispered in grief as she saw that her friend had died. However, the statement that her son was the one to defeat him was surprising, considering she knew that Harry was not even two yet. Narcissa believed that it wasn't Harry that had defeated the Dark Lord, but rather something Lily did to protect him.
However, her mind quickly went to her goddaughter, and what would happen to her now. It was time to cultivate her connections and see if they knew what Dumbledore had planned.
After all, even if she couldn't be there for Ariana in person, she was determined to fulfill her duty as her goddaughter's Guardian Angel.
Dumbledore took a deep breath after using the Deluminator on Privet Drive. Making his way to where he knew Lily's only remaining blood relations had settled, he sat down on the wall next to the very familiar tabby cat.
"Fancy seeing you here, Professor McGonagall."
Ariana was both confused and amazed as the big hairy man called Hagrid kept glancing at her and her brother as he rode on Unca Pa'foot's bike. The two of them were in the part of the bike that Unca Pa'foot only ever had occasionally, with their special seats that Mama had placed in there for the two of them (as she gave Unca Pa'foot a look) cradling them. Glancing at Harry, she noticed that he had fallen asleep. That looked nice. If the bike was not so loud, she would've done the same.
Suddenly, her entire body was jolted. As Hagrid got off and reached down towards she and her brother, she saw that Harry was still asleep after that massive jolt.
"Hagrid," came a very familiar voice, "At last. And where did you get this motorcycle?"
Turning around in Hagrid's arms, she joyfully cried out, "Fesser!"
One of her favorite people that she rarely saw waved at her, eyes twinkling above that loooong white beard that she adored playing with. Next to him, there stood a lady who at first looked mad. However, upon seeing Ariana and her brother, her face calmed down into a soft smile.
Ignoring what the older people were talking about, she concentrated on the beard. Sure enough, it zoomed in her hand once more. As she wrapped her hands in the soft texture, she proceeded to wave it back and forth.
Her attention was grabbed when she first felt a very hairy kiss, then felt herself being transferred. Looking up to see that the Fesser was holding her now, she became confused by how sad he looked.
"Fesser?" she asked questioningly. What was happening?
Smiling, the old man quickly grabbed a stick and changed it into a basket. As he lay her in it, Ariana looked over to see the old lady laying Harry right next to her. What was going on?
"Ariana..." the Fesser began as he proceeded to tuck the two in with a warm blanket, "I'm afraid that this is good-bye for quite some time."
"Buh-bye? Why?"
As he untangled his beard from her hands, he explained, "Your Aunt's going to raise you and your brother now, which means we have to go away until you're older."
"Nooo," she whined, both at the loss of the beard and at the implication that Fesser was going away.
As she heard Hagrid sob in the background, the Fesser's eyes dropped two tears. "It has to be this way. Now, however, it's time for you to go to sleep."
"NO, FESSER!" she cried out as he waved his wand over she and her brother. As her vision darkened, she continued to whimper, "Fesser, nooo..."
Soon, however, she saw and heard no more.
It had been a while since he had felt so guilty as Ariana's whimpers finally died down as she succumbed to the Sleeping Charm he cast. As Hagrid and Minerva couldn't help but cry in the background (with Minerva trying to shush Hagrid so that he wouldn't wake the surrounding Muggles), Dumbledore quickly cast the necessary spells to ensure that the blood wards he'll install after Petunia accepted her niece and nephew into her home would work on both of the Potter children instead of just Harry. Once he finished, he also added some Warming Charms to ensure that the two toddlers wouldn't become ill overnight.
Once he finished his spellcasting, he grabbed the letter to Petunia explaining the situation and tucked it into little Harry's side of the basket. Finishing that, he slowly walked back to where the other two were waiting.
For a full minute, the three stared sadly at the basket containing the two Potter siblings.
"Well," Dumbldeore finally said, "That's that. We've no business staying here. We may as well go and join the celebrations."
As the other two agreed and made their own exits, Dumbledore closed his eyes briefly and began to walk away from Number Four Privet Drive. Pausing at the corner, he grabbed the Deluminator and restored the streetlights.
Taking one last look at the basket, he murmured, "Good luck, Harry and Ariana Potter. I wish you the best until we can meet again."
With a swish of his cloak, he silently Apparated, never knowing what the consequences of his placement of the Potter siblings would end up becoming.
Sesshomaru stood in the courtyard of the House of the Western Moon, looking over his gathered subjects. His mother stood to his left while the ever faithful Jaken stood at his right. Seeing his half-brother close to the front along with his miko mate and their children, he took an unnoticeably deep breath.
"People of the West, I summoned you here to give you news," he began. "As you know, three centuries ago my honorable Mother revealed the secret of my twin sister who had been stolen from us when we were just pups, after deeming it safe to finally share the circumstances surrounding the event. However, today, this Sesshomaru is proud to announce that the prophecy has finally begun it's final steps to fruition."
As he smelled the excitement rising, Lady Satori took over, "Earlier, both my son and I felt a Pack Bond being formed. We have since confirmed that this bond indeed belongs to the long lost Princess of the West."
With that, excited howls and cheers rang out through the courtyard. Sesshomaru let it continue for a minute, then flared his youki to force them to be silent.
"Now, this does not mean that we can identify where Kie is," the Lord of the West warned, "The Pack Bond just lets us know that she is indeed alive."
Inuyasha, ever the impatient one, couldn't help but interrupt, "So why'd ya call us over here, bastard?"
Summoning his whip and flicking it at his half-brother out of habit (who proceeded to block it with one of the sleeves of the Robe of the Fire Rat out of familiarity as the miko shook her head at this continued behavior between the two), Sesshomaru nonetheless answered, "We have called you so that we can start searching. To that, we call for volunteers who are willing to help spread out across the world looking for hints of where she might be. It may take years before any hints are found, however, so if one wishes to join the search they must be prepared to deal with many false leads."
"Make no mistake, however," his Mother added, "Should you find a valid lead on where my daughter might be, we will reward you handsomely, with the reward being determined upon confirmation."
As she finished, Sesshomaru looked behind him and nodded at the kitsune who stood behind him. As Shippo stepped forward, the inuyoukai stated, "Those who wish to volunteer must speak with my beta, who will be leading a small team so that we may keep track of any and all news."
"Rejoice, though, for soon the Pack of the West will be reunited once more!" Lady Satori finished, her eyes revealing the hope she surely felt inside.
Once more, the courtyard rang out with cheers and howls. Soon, the House of the Western Moon would once again be whole.
A/N: WHOOO THIS STORY FINALLY GOT FINISHED! And on my birthday too YAY! (The only downside is that it's my 30th birthday. I still feel weird saying I'm 30).
Ok, so this next part is important to the rest of the 'Western Daughter' saga, so PLEASE READ CAREFULLY (and don't be afraid to ask for clarification if needed).
Now, the majority of the reason why I wrote this part of the saga instead of just going 'Ok Kie is now Ariana GO TO YEAR ONE OF HOGWARTS!' is because I wanted to explore reasons as to why some of the biggest plot holes of the Harry Potter series (you know, like how Dumbledore would not push for a trial for Sirius, why Harry was given to the Dursleys instead of his potential godmother, etc) might have begun. It doesn't excuse the fact that J.K. Rowling left them the way they were... but I at least wanted to try and plug them myself with reasonable excuses.
I WILL be doing something similar in the later stories (7 stories focusing on each one of the HP books, with 1 additional story afterward to flesh out the Prophecy stated here in this story), so fair warning! I am planning on keeping this in 3rd person with the focus being primarily on Ariana. However, if need be I will bounce between characters to help flesh out why a certain thing might be happening instead of leaving a plot hole the way it was.
Now, as for Sesshomaru's side- he will NOT have a major role for a good chunk of the series. There WILL be points where he inadvertently affects the plot, don't worry, but the InuYasha side of things will NOT get a major focus until Year 4 with the Triwizard Tournament, with Year 5 being the year where the InuYasha side of things will be more prominent in the story than the HP side of things (since, if you think about it, not much beyond Umbitch and the tension of 'What's going to happen now' actually happens during Harry's 5th year... at least, until the climax of the story).
So, if you're an InuYasha fan reading this story and you're hoping for a ton of InuYasha cameos during the early Hogwarts years, I'm sorry to say that 'The Western Daughter' is not the story saga for you. They'll be mentioned, but not a ton of focus beyond buildup for later years when they WILL be coming more into play.
Now, I'm going to relax for a bit, see if I can't continue the slight bit of work I started on 'X-blade Wielder' (which might be doubtful considering KH3 is coming out in a matter of WEEKS HOLY CRAP IT'S HAPPENING), THEN I'll get started on the next story of the series.
Well, thank you once again for joining me on this tale of Ariana/Kie's beginning, and see you in 'The Western Daughter and the Philosopher's Stone'!