Melanie shivered as she shimmied out of her clothes and stepped out onto the cool floor. The hardwood floor was freezing. Swiftly she discarded her underwear her jewellery and her hair bobbin and hastily pulled her hand sown linen robes over her head and wriggled to let the folds fall down to her ankles.

Sighing in satisfaction, Mel pulled her hair free from the robe and let it fall free down her back. Her robe was perfect; keeping her warm or cool no matter the temperature. It was a lovely pale blue with gold thread, with symbols and runes of protection and strength woven into the material. Barefoot she left her room and walked out to the landing, shutting the door with her telekinesis.

"Show off" Miranda scolded her as she met her baby sister near the stairs.

"Ah shut it, you're just jealous" Mel teased, pulling a stray piece of hair from under her robe.

Miranda rolled her eyes. She always had envied her sister's powers they both knew that. But she was comfortable with her own, no matter how irritating they were. And Melanie had always been jealous of her power to walk through walls. It was a fair trade off and Mel couldn't 'borrow' powers could she?

Smiling, Miranda smoothed down her emerald green robes that matched the colour of the Taylor girls' eyes. "John's back home so Bríd asked him to watch Megan while we do this"

"Oh good" Melanie nodded. John was Bríd's husband of eight years. He was a Wiccan practitioner but not like his wife or the Taylors in that he had no magick himself, but could tap somewhat into the magick around him. He was a good man and his wife and two children adored him.

"Did you call Jackson?" Miranda asked. The souring of emotion answered her question. "What happened?"

"I'm pretty sure I've been fired" Mel sighed, her feelings mixed.

"He didn't deserve you anyway."

"He didn't did he?" Melanie perked up at that. "I'd like to see him try and do all of the stuff I did for him. Glorified secretary" she trailed off muttering.

"That's the spirit" Miranda walked down the stairs her sister still rambling behind her.

They heard Bríd cooing in the conservatory while the boy squealed over the sound of splashing water. Smiling Miranda poked her head into the room and watched Bríd make faces at the little boy while she towelled him dry. She blew a raspberry onto the boy's tummy making him shriek and giggle helplessly.

"Aww" she heard her baby sister murmur as she took in the scene. Grinning Miranda walked into the conservatory bright and airy despite the overcast day outside.

"Well hi there" she said to bright mischievous emerald eyes.

Bríd brushed her hair from her face and pulled out a roll of fine blue linen. At some point she had changed into her ruby red robe, with symbols of protection woven into the material. "Well I just gave this little fella a nice salt bath and he was so good about it I might give him a cookie after we finish." She tickled the baby's bare stomach and he giggled. Hoisting the baby up, she carefully wrapped him up in the linen, tucking it carefully around him.

"I'll set up the circle" Melanie winked at the boy making him gurgle at her and left the room.

"Has he said anything?"

Bríd shook her head. "Not a peep."

"He asked for his mummy earlier" Miranda's smile faded as sadness crept in. Shaking her head, she straightened. "Are you ready?"

Bríd nodded and got off the couch, gently swinging the baby up in the air, making him laugh. Bríd grinned.

"I think he and Megan will get on well" the older woman approved, holding the baby out to him. His hair was still wet from the purifying bath Bríd just gave him.

Miranda automatically wrapped her arms around the baby and peered into green eyes. He blinked up at her and she smiled. "I think so too."

In the other room Melanie had drawn out a perfect circle with chalk from years of practise and was carefully placing objects on the four cardinal points on the circles boundaries. Each compass point was governed by a specific element and a symbol of the element was placed at each point. The north facing point had a chunk of amethyst. East was air's cardinal point and incense was lit, the smell of sage lingering in the air. South, fire, had a candle burning and west had a silver chalice filled with water.

Miranda sighed at the warm tingling that ran through her at entering their altar room. When non practitioners visited, she merely said it was a study. Not exactly a lie, though it was unlike a study they were familiar with. This was the place they practised private magick. The far wall had shelves laden with their tools and crystals and herbs and the floor was bare of furniture, leaving lots of free space to draw a circle or pentagram. There were no electrics either, simply leaving years and years of energy to permeate the room and the rest of the house, strengthening the wards. Melanie hadn't bothered to set up the altar and in this case they didn't need it.

Bríd sighed wistfully. "I envy you pair. I love this house."

"It's not for sale" Miranda said as she observed the baby's curious eyes, looking around in wonder at the dimly lit room. He was an interesting one she reflected, placing him on her hip as she waited for Melanie to finish sprinkling salt around the circle.

Melanie nodded and gestured towards the circles 'door'-a section of the circle that hadn't been drawn yet. Miranda and Bríd obediently shuffled into the circle and Melanie followed, closing the door behind her and putting the chalk beside the amethyst, sprinkling salt over the door.

Sitting down carefully, the three women formed a circle in a circle, the baby in between them, surprisingly quiet and docile.

"In this time and place we call upon the Goddess and God to our aid" Miranda began. "We invoke the powers of earth, air fire and water to protect and bless our circle. Blessed Be."

"Blessed be" Melanie and Bríd murmured. The candle burned a little brighter and the room became a little warmer.

"We call upon the magick around and beneath us, may it aid us in our quest against the darkness. Blessed Be."

"Blessed Be" the others repeated. The baby was watching with avid eyes. The air around them was beginning to become heavy with magick.

"We call on the magick within us and in every living thing; may it protect and aid us and keep us on the path of gentleness. Blessed Be."

"Blessed Be."

"Lord and Lady we beseech you to lend us your aid in this hour. We come into your circle of protection, into your loving embrace to heal an innocent from dark harmful energy."

Bríd spoke now. "This child has been infected by dark forces, seeking to harm him. I ask for aid in removing what does not belong. I beseech the all loving Goddess to aid in cleansing the darkness and preventing any more harm unto this child."

Bríd pulled out a smooth chunk of clear quartz, one of the best healing crystals you could find. Very gently she let it rest against the cut on his forehead.

"Being of darkness be gone" Bríd whispered.

The boy shifted and moved restlessly. Miranda automatically rubbed his back but for the first time since this morning he began to sniffle.

Melanie tensed beside her and Miranda stiffened as negative emotions started to rise and the air started to crackle. Bríd was unmoving, her eyes closed, her breathing shallow. But then her body froze and her eyes flew open.

"No" she gasped. "No."

"Miry" Mel murmured; Miranda could feel her worry. The boy's sniffles were getting louder and he was squirming on Miranda's lap.

"Here" Miranda held the boy firmly with one arm while her free hand went on Bríd's shoulder. Understanding, Melanie did the same on her other shoulder.

When Miranda shut her eyes and focussed, she saw what Bríd was seeing.

Darkness. Blackness. Pure and filthy blackness that she had only ever seen the likes of in Soul Snatchers or other evil wraiths. It was alive, pulsing menacingly at the light magick trying to pull it away from the boy. Its cold malevolent energy brushed against hers and she shuddered trying instinctively to pull away as its tendrils wrapped around her, pulling, draining. It was trying to take her magick away, pulling on Bríd and the boys, intending to leave them nothing more than desiccated corpses. Dimly she heard the baby shrieking.

"Evil in our midst no longer shall you exist" her sister's voice broke through the haze, echoing in her head. Her baby sister-strong familiar comforting-was right beside, stubbornly refusing to let a little parasite overpower her. Her strength gave Miranda focus and she joined her power to her sister's, ignoring the deadly knife edged leech sucking on her soul.

"Be gone from this time and place, your very existence now erased" Miranda quickly invented, thanking the heavens they had spent so much time coming up with rhymes and inflections to handle sudden situations.

"By the powers that be, we banish thee, for now and all eternity" Melanie's voice was thunderous, spoken from the Goddess herself.

The leech recoiled from their magick instantly, trying to burrow back towards the boy, but it was futile. It writhed and twisted, emitting a high pitched shriek before dissolving in a fine sparkling light.

Miranda abruptly found herself back in the room, sweat running down her spine and her hair plastered to her head. The baby was wailing himself hoarse, tears running down his face as blood streaked from the cut that had reopened from the wraith's forceful removal.

"Our thanks to the Goddess and God" Melanie muttered, getting up and breaking the circle. Miranda didn't know how she could stand, she felt as if her legs would give out if she tried. She tried to calm the baby down but she was having little luck.

"Come here big guy" Mellie murmured, bending down and scooping the boy up. "Miry take care of Bríd ok?"

Miranda blinked and glanced over. The older woman was ashen faced and slumping forward, dazed. She had gotten the worst of that parasite's backlash. Willing herself to move, she rubbed the woman's back until she found the strength to get up and help the other woman out of the altar room, not looking back.

She helped Bríd sit back onto the settee and handed her the lemonade she'd been drinking earlier after sneaking a sip herself. Sugar was always a handy thing to have after a circle.

"Thanks" Bríd blew out and leaned back against the settee. Colour was beginning to return to her face and she wiped her forehead with her red sleeve.

"That went well" she deadpanned, keeping her eyes closed. "I didn't realise how strong that parasite was. I'm just thankful I tried to remove it with you and Melanie."

"Thank Goddess for that" Miranda shuddered at the thought if they had tried it alone. "Have you ever seen anything like that before?"

"Shouldn't I be asking you that question?" Bríd smiled wanly. "I've seen magick overcharge; we've all had that a time or two. The closest thing I can think of is possession from a spirit or demon but I underestimated how powerful that thing was. I think the boy must have some protection magick in him that stopped the thing from harming him."

"What kind of protection magick?" Miranda furrowed her brows.

"The kind that comes with a heavy sacrifice" Bríd said seriously. "It would have to be if it were to stop that parasite from stealing his life away. I'm thinking that his parents may have tried to protect him from whatever attacked them through a blood sacrifice, most likely their own."

"Dangerous magick" Miranda murmured.

"At that point they probably didn't care" Bríd sighed heavily. "Even without the protection the thing still managed to feed off of him. His own magick was starting to wrap around it, like tissue forming around a foreign object, keeping it away from him as much as possible. I imagine it would have had serious long term complications if it had stayed."

"Like what?" Miranda leaned forward. Her powers did not lie in healing like Bríd's. The other woman was far more versed in the specific area.

Bríd's eyes drifted to look out the window. "It would have had affected a large part of his psyche most likely. A large part of himself would be protecting him from that parasite, keeping it from harming him further. More than likely his magick would have been considerably weakened, if he could even perform magick at all since so much of it would be subconsciously protecting him. There would most likely be issues in concentration and emotion. That thing" she shuddered "was as black as night. It would have dampened his happier emotions and deepened darker ones, anger, guilt, rage to a certain extent. I doubt it would have been able to possess him, it wasn't strong enough for that but it would have certainly influenced him in some ways in his thoughts and feelings."

"Just as well it's gone then" Melanie said as she came into the room, still holding the baby. Miranda nearly melted at the sight. The baby had stopped crying though his eyes were still red rimmed and had a cookie in one hand and was busy gumming on that while his other hand was buried Mel's hair, twisting some of the long straight chestnut hair around him almost like a security blanket while he rested his head on her shoulder. It was a gorgeous picture and Miranda smiled at how natural it looked. Melanie would make a great mother.

"Hey cutie" Miranda got up thankfully without falling flat on her face and went over to them. Melanie had cleaned his face and applied a poultice on his forehead, the cloth bundle taped to keep it in place.

"I put the quartz crystal in the poultice to draw out the leftover dark magick and put a salve over the cut" Melanie told Bríd, resting the baby on her hip. "I'm hoping that'll get rid of that it without the cut scarring."

"It should do" Bríd assured her as she carefully got up and joined the group, automatically checking the poultice and smiling at the baby. "Just be sure to throw it in the ocean when you're done to let the sea purify it."

"Will do" Melanie nodded and shifted him around a little as Bríd bent to look at into the baby's eyes.

"You've got a lovely head of hair don't you? John would love to have some of that." Bríd cooed making the other women laugh. John had lost his hair early to his chagrin.

"Well I've got some biscuits and coffee set up in the kitchen as well as some ice cream for our little guest. Are you guys coming?"

Miranda's stomach rumbled loudly and the boy giggled staring at her with large eyes. Miranda blushed and made a face at him while the other two laughed.

"Sure" Miranda gave up as the boy gave her a large sloppy grin. She narrowed her eyes playfully at him. "Now are you going to tell us what your name is yet little man?"

"Pwongslit" the boy told her and handed her his cookie.

"Thank you" making a face Miranda accepted it.

"Well that makes no sense" Bríd announced. "What are we going to call him while you have him?"

"Did you 'hear' his name earlier?" Melanie asked, glancing at her sister who shook her head.

"No and it wasn't mentioned on the note either. Any suggestions?" Miranda asked.

"Going with tradition?" Mel's eyes brightened.

"M names" Miranda mused. "Let's see, Michael, Matthew, Malcolm, Max, Merlin, Murdoch"

"Merlin?" Mel said incredulously.

"Murdoch?" Bríd sounded dubious.

"Have you never watched the A-Team?" Miranda demanded grinning.

"If we're going to adopt him we're not naming him after a crazy lunatic pilot from a TV show" Melanie said firmly.

"I like Matthew myself" Bríd said before Miranda could defend her idol. "John had an uncle called Matthew. It's a good name. It means 'gift of God if I remember right. We were thinking about naming Rachel that if she had been a boy."

"Well that's appropriate" Miranda looked at Melanie. "Alexander for his middle name after Dad?"

Melanie looked far away for a moment before looking down at the boy. He turned big green eyes up at her and she smiled softly. Resistance was futile under that gaze.

"Matthew Alexander" she murmured. "That's a good name huh?"

Matthew stared up at her solemnly before dropping his eyes and resting his head on her shoulder, still wrapping himself up in her hair contently.

"Matthew and Megan" Bríd smiled happily. "That has a nice ring to it doesn't it?"

"Yes it does" Miranda smiled.

"So do we know how old Matthew is?" Bríd peered at the boy.

"Roughly 14 to 15months."

"Hmm. That would put him around Lughnasadh" Bríd muttered to herself. "Not a bad birthday."

"Alright ladies can we go into the kitchen now? My arms are about to fall off" Melanie complained, resting Matthew on her hip. Babies were pretty heavy after a while.

"Oh alright we can talk shop in there" Bríd tousled the boy's hair and smiled at him.

"It's funny" she said to Miranda's quizzical look. "When kids are that age it's great to play with them give them sweets, clothes, toys-and giving them back to their parents at the end of the day makes them so much cuter."

"Hah hah" Miranda rolled her eyes, her lips curving involuntarily.

Bríd just shrugged unrepentantly. "I'm telling you it's great when they're not yours."

Miranda just snorted and followed her sister through the door.

XXX

At the same time, many miles away in an office in Scotland a magnificent fire bird opened its beady black eyes.

It is done.

The path had been diverted. Destiny had now changed course.

Phoenixes were beings of light, of fire. Fire was unpredictable as was destiny. Fire was often used in divination as a method to see the future, because while it was unpredictable and worked for few, it never lied.

As a being of fire, Fawkes could see fate unfurling before him. Every action led to its change, inadvertent or not. A single difference was all it took; someone changing their mind last minute and creating an alternate path, different from the original pre-set course. Like ripples in a pond the changes affected everything; some changing events, others remaining set in stone.

Because of the actions of his bonded, the future had been set to follow the final destination, for better or worse. Albus Dumbledore had laid down the seeds of the future and by his hand the future would unfurl as he wished.

But fate did not take kindly to meddling. His bonded meant well, he was at his heart a good man who cared about the world and its people. But he was blinded by his feelings of superiority and prejudice. He believed only he knew what was best for the world and was not above sacrificing others for the 'Greater Good'. In an alternate world, perhaps his plans had come into fruition but in this world, fate had disrupted his intentions and changed itself deliberately. For better or for worse it was unclear, but fate had denied Dumbledore's attempt at controlling her will. From now on she would be the master of the Chosen One's destiny and had put the child out of his grasp for now.

Fawkes trilled sharply and spread his wings. Fate had given the world another chance to spare it from catastrophe. Now he would ensure that fate remained on her intended course.

And with that he burst into flames, taking the side desk with him that was home to new spinning devices would have shrieked and stopped seconds later. They were consumed by Phoenix Fire; a substance as deadly as Fiend Frye when the phoenix wished it, leaving nothing but ash and splinters.

Albus Dumbledore was at that moment in the Wizengamot unaware of the fact his trinkets tracking Harry Potter had been destroyed, as had the orbs monitoring the wards around Privet Drive, any magic around the area as well as any magic Harry used himself. It would take some time for him to do something about it as with political upheaval, arrests and trials and tribunals, searching for a suitable candidate to watch over Harry near Privet Drive, there was simply no time to spare. By the time the unrest settled down Harry Potter was gone and Privet Drive was devoid of the Dursleys.

XXX

Eugh…collapses into an exhausted heap. Damn it that was hard. Currently suffering from the 'butterfly mind' where I have too many thoughts and ideas running through my head making it really hard to actually write anything. I seem to be terminally ill with the syndrome at this stage.

The next chapter will deal with Dumbledore, the Dursleys and will probably fast forward to later years.

The Wiccan parts of this I made up from using a couple of fiction books and references.