Welcome, nerds. Here's my contribution to the SI-OC trope in the Harry Potter fandom. You're welcome.

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Alice lounged on the couch in the living room, blonde curls pulled high onto her head in a bun and her eyes closed. Anyone else might mistake her to be asleep, but in fact she was listening to the radio that played softly across the room, just barely heard over the sounds of Frank banging pots on the stove in the kitchen and her children cooing at each other in their play pen.

"He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named's latest attack was in a town created by Half-Blood's and Muggleborns three days ago," spoke Sarah Thomas, the Prophet's Radio Anchorwoman. "Reports show that there are 13 dead and a dozen more injured. Entire families have been eradicated, and the Dark Lord showed no mercy for even the children. Those who escaped did so with the help of a recent band of vigilantes known as the Order of the Phoenix. The Order's origins and leadership are still unknown, and while the Ministry and Auror Department are asking for their activity to cease, can it be said that the Order is doing any more harm than that of the people paid to protect us? When was the last time that a team of Aurors showed up in time to an attack early enough to-"

The radio shut off with a click and Alice blinked her eyes open, pushing herself up on her elbows. Standing next to the radio, Frank crossed his arms over his apron, giving her a stern look. Her husband was a handsome man, that was for sure, but the flour on his cheek, the mess on his apron, and his mussed brown hair only served to make him laughable in the best of ways. Alice smiled and raised a single eyebrow.

"You promised to not listen to the radio in front of the kids," Frank sighed, running a hand through his hair.

Alice glanced at her children, still babbling to each other in language only known to other infants and toddlers. They didn't seem to mind it at all, or appear to have even heard a word. Still, she frowned, disgruntled.

"I just hate that we can't be there," Alice said venomously, fingers digging into the fabric of the couch. "I'm an Auror, you're a Healer - we're both part of the Order! We should be out there, fighting You-Know-Who, not- not cowering in the dark!"

Even as the words left her mouth, she knew that she only half meant them. Frank was quick to voice the same.

"We both know that this isn't cowering," he soothed, crossing the room to sit next to her as she threw her legs off the couch. "When the Prophecy was revealed to us and the Potters, we knew that we would have to go into hiding. For the kids. How do you think Lily and James are faring?"

She closed her eyes, tilting her head back. "Probably as well as us, I suspect… I just…"

Frank wrapped an arm around her shoulder, leaning his head onto hers. "I know, darling. I know."

It had only been a five months since they went into hiding, and still Alice hated every moment of inactivity. She and Lily had been forceful in staying to fight for as long as they were able, going into hiding once they had to give birth. Even if they couldn't fight on the front lines, they could be back up. The only bright point was that her daughter was most definitely out of the running to be the prophesized child to defeat Lord Voldemort, due to the wording of Sybill Trelawney's prophecy.

Being under the Fidelius wasn't that bad - or, it wouldn't be if they were able to leave the premises of their home to even go shopping. No, only the select few who knew the Secret could come, and they switched off bringing groceries every week. Only Marlene, their Secret Keeper, Mary, Alice's friend, and Dumbledore knew where the Longbottom house was now.

Suddenly there was a flare of magic in the living room that had Alice instinctively going for her wand, until Frank's grip on her tightened and she saw what was happening.

A stuffed yellow elephant they had bought Christina was floating above their heads from where it had sat in the armchair, right towards the playpen. And sitting inside, propped up without anything even while Neville simply lay on his stomach, was Christina, watching the elephant with squinted eyes and reddening cheeks. A few moments of silence later, the elephant dropped into the playpen and Christina gave a squeal of delight, hugging the elephant close.

Alice realized she wasn't breathing. Frank was near-hyperventilating.

"She just- she just," Frank tried to say. Alice gave him a hearty smack on the back to knock some calm into him, and he sent her an exasperated look tinged with panic. "That was her first accidental magic. Kids don't show accidental magic until they're at least a year old."

Alice tried to stay calm. "And the Dark Lord will mark him as his equal. It can't be Christina. It's just a coincidence."

Frank gave a hysterical laugh, placing his face in his hands. "You think something as simple as a pronoun will stop him? If he finds out-"

"And he won't," Alice said forcefully, grabbing her husband's hands and gripping them tight, making eye contact. "If Christina is the Chosen One, he won't know about it. We tell no one of this. Not even… Not even Marlene."

Frank didn't seem to feel better in the slightest. Neither did Alice. She tried think of any case where a prophecy messed up the wordings in regards to gender, but she had never taken Divination at Hogwarts. Neither had Frank.

As she pulled her husband close and hugged him, while the smell of burnt food wafted into the living room from the kitchen, she swore to Merlin that she would kick Dumbledore's arse if he got the wording wrong.

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The McKinnons were killed five days before Neville and Christina's first birthday. Alice was inconsolable for days, and so they celebrated the twins' birth a week late. The only bright side to Marlene and her family's demise was that is wasn't any of Voldemort's Inner Circle to do the deed, and thus they were granted a swift, painless death. It appeared that the Secret was not the motive, but Alice and Frank kept on swift guard for a month afterwards. With their Secret Keeper dead, the Secret was thus now able to be shared by any in on it.

By the beginning of September, though, they had relaxed a smidge. Enough so that Alice was able to leave her wand out of her sight for more than a few moments, but not enough that she wanted to kids alone in any room, even to sleep.

The news that the Potters had been killed reached them within hours of November First, bringing both elation and grief. It meant that Harry Potter, the Boy Who Lived, was the prophecy child and that Christina and Neville were safe. But it also meant that their life-long friends were dead and a child was left an orphan. It meant that Peter Pettigrew had betrayed them.

Sirius, who had been let in on the Longbottom whereabouts after Marlene's tragic death, showed up only an hour after the news broke. He spoke little of what became of Harry, despite the questioning Alice gave him. He said that Dumbledore had hidden him away, and asked for Frank's ability in tracking spells, well known in the Order.

Frank was barely able to keep Alice from charging off with Sirius to look for the backstabbing bastard, stating that even if the threat of the Dark Lord himself was gone, there were still his followers. Christina and Neville needed them both alive, not just one parent.

Three days later, while Sirius still searched for Pettigrew and made periodic check ins, the wards around their house shuddered. Without pause, Frank and Alice activated the portkeys tied to the onsies their children wore, only a second after their front door was blown in with the force of a typhoon.

Their children would appear in the middle of Minerva McGonagall's desk, Alice knew, and heard the cackling laughter of Bellatrix Black recently turned Lestrange.

(Reinforcements arrived a day too late Minerva had been watching a certain Muggle family all day and well into the evening.)

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Reviews make me write faster. This one's just for fun compared to the more seriousness I apply to Sunlight, so I won't be writing chapters all the time, I'll write when I want and post whenever. However, Reviews do make me want to write when I know people are willing to read. Smooches, nerds.