Disclaimer: I only own the plot. Anything you recognize belongs to JKR.
A/N: Well, hello there! TGWSI here, back in the HP fandom with another story. My last ones were awful, and then I wound up getting involved in Percy Jackson, so I took a break. But I'm back. Anyways, let's get down to the story.
Heidi, for all hidden intents and purposes, is the Girl-Who-Lived. Her godparents (Sirius & Pandora) realize this, but the wizarding world does not. She is still the heir to the Potter fortune, but it'll be discussed throughout this story if she'll actually become Lady Potter or not. However, her family does not want her and practically shipped her off to live with the Blacks. I'm still debating if James, Lily, and Evan will all be redeemed, but you can certainly expect Lily to be.
The next topic I want to discuss is the topics mentioned in this story—abuse, LGBT issues, diversity, etc. The wizarding world is still set in a time period where there isn't a lot of acceptance, even though the "Light" is trying to change this. As such, there will be hostility towards a few characters, including Heidi. If you are uncomfortable with these ideas, I suggest you don't read this story.
Other than that, I hope you guys enjoy Every Star in the Sky!
Playlist: The Nights by Avicii (theme song, basically),
-Every Star in the Sky-
-Prologue-
October 31st, 1981
Halloween night was a night that was celebrated greatly in the village of Godric's Hollow. Whether it be by the excited children rushing around in their costumes for trick-or-treat, or the small community of pagans lighting bonfires and having feasts for the beginning of Samhain, it was something that one could say almost lifted the veil between the magical and muggle worlds. Or, at the very least, made the curtain thinner in the village.
In a small but cozy house in the village, a family of four was having a more mediocre celebration. James and Lily Potter watched their two children with fond smiles on their faces. Heidi and Evan Potter, twin siblings, played with their new toys—for Heidi, a muggle witch's hat that was perhaps a little too big for her and a toy broom from her godfather Sirius Black. For Evan, a stuffed wolf and a broom as well, the former from his godfather Remus Lupin. Heidi laughed as she zoomed across the living room, while Evan was perfectly content to play with his new stuffed animal.
Heidi was a wild little toddler, with red hair a shade darker than her mother's (though it was as unruly as her father's) and brilliant emerald eyes, and a love for learning and anything that went fast, hence the broom. Evan, on the other hand, was a tad more quiet and shy, with unruly black hair and dark brown eyes that were almost like a deer's. He also liked to learn new things, but preferred that to riding broomsticks. A perfect blend of their parents, some might say.
James and Lily loved their children dearly, there was no doubt about that among their closest friends. They did their best to raise them properly, giving them gifts but not overly spoiling their children, and already starting to teach them some good life lessons (pranking would be for when they were older, Lily had strictly told her husband). Overall, their family was a close-knit one, and James and Lily were very happy about that fact.
But, all was not well. For, in the village of Godric's Hollow, they were hiding from the Dark Lord Voldemort, a man who wanted to kill Heidi and Evan because of a prophecy made:
"The one with the power to vanquish the Dark Lord approaches…born to those who have thrice defied him, born as the seventh month dies…and the Dark Lord will mark them as his equal, but he will have power the Dark Lord knows not…and either must die at the hand of the other for neither can live while the other survives…the one with the power to vanquish the Dark Lord will be born as the seventh month dies…"
Though Voldemort had only heard the first two lines of the prophecy, he had narrowed it down to three candidates, two of which were the Potter twins. James and Lily had thrice defied him, and their children had been born on July 31st, 1980, though Heidi was born an hour before Evan. But there was one other candidate: Neville Longbottom, the son of Frank and Alice Longbottom, both of whom were very good friends with the Potters.
And so, because of the prophecy, both families went into hiding. James and Lily had used the Fidelius Charm to protect themselves, and at first their Secret Keeper had been Sirius, but then they had switched to one of their other close friends, Peter Pettigrew, since the former had stated that he was too likely to be their Secret Keeper.
Suddenly, there was a large commotion as their front door was blown to pieces. Immediately, alarms went off and James and Lily jumped to their feet, shocked. "Lily, take the kids and run!" James shouted, heading towards the hallway while his wife quickly grabbed a frightened Heidi and Evan and ran up the stairs, into the nursery.
In the ruined doorway, a figure in a black cloak stood. Once he saw, James, however, he let out a high-pitched laugh. "James Potter," he said, amused. "Protecting your family, Lord Potter?" James pointed his wand at the man, but he merely laughed once again. "You can't defeat me, blood traitor!"
"No," the black-haired man replied, sneering. "But I can try. Expelliarmus!"
Voldemort continued to laugh and deflected the charm with a shield, before shouting out, "Stupefy!" James had no time to react as shock went through him, shock at the fact that the Dark Lord hadn't used the Killing Curse, and immediately he fell to the ground. Beneath his hood, Voldemort sneered at the man, before continuing on his way to the nursery.
Lily, meanwhile, had barricaded the door to the nursery with the wardrobes and other heavy objects while she sobbed. Heidi and Evan sat in their cribs behind her, both of them crying slightly, not knowing what was going on or why their mother was so hysteric. Lily rushed back to their cribs and began to whisper as fast as she could, "Mama loves you. Both of you. Dada loves you too. Don't forget that, please don't ever forget that." Little did she know the effect that those words would have.
Suddenly, the barricades were thrown aside while the door, like the front one, blew into pieces. Voldemort stood on the other side, and Lily immediately stood up and said, "Please don't hurt them! Take me instead, just don't hurt them!"
"Step aside, girl," the Dark Lord growled.
But the Potter matriarch didn't listen to him, and continued. "Please, not them. Kill me instead, I beg of you! Just not them—anybody but them!"
"Stupefy!" And, with the spell uttered, Lily dropped to the ground, just like her husband.
"Mama!" Evan sobbed as he began to cry hysterically. "Mama! Mama!"
His sister, on the other hand, gave a look to Voldemort that can only be described as a glare of pure hatred. "You hurt Mama!" she yelled, her green eyes filled with a fury that didn't belong to a toddler. "You a bad man!"
Voldemort looked at the two, contemplating. He would kill both of them, yes, but he wanted to get the most powerful one out of the way. Evan was weak, unwilling to do anything more than cry for his unconscious mother, thinking she was dead. Heidi was fiery, almost like the yin to Evan's yang, and even as a toddler she was willing to yell at the Dark Lord.
And with that, he made his choice.
Pointing his wand to Heidi, Voldemort cackled, "Avada Kedavra!"
The sickly green light immediately struck the girl in the forehead, but instead of dying Heidi let out a scream of pain. And then, the oddest thing happened. The green light rebounded from her as she collapsed, breathing heavily with wide eyes, and went back towards the Dark Lord. He didn't even have time to process what was happening until it struck him in the chest, and his body vanished completely, leaving only the black cloak behind.
But, as the light came spiraling back towards him, it cut off a piece of metal, which went flying through the air and hit Evan on his temple, making a long but thin wound that went from the area of impact to his jaw before the metal landed on the wooden floor. Evan was silent for a very long moment, and for that moment there was no sound at all in the house, before he once again started to cry as his sister sat up and blinked.
Not even an hour later, three men stood in the nursery. Albus Percival Wulfric Brian Dumbledore, Sirius Black, and Remus Lupin stared at the wreckage, since one wall had collapsed completely, and at the three occupants in the room—the still unconscious Lily, the crying Evan, and the silent Heidi. Sirius immediately rushed to his goddaughter and picked her up, and she clung onto him as she too began to cry, but softly.
"What on earth did this?" the man asked, looking up at Dumbledore with widened eyes. "How did this happen?"
"I believe," the headmaster said, his blue eyes twinkling. "That we have one of the twins here to thank." He looked back and forth at the two, but in reality he was looking at their auras. "Ah, I believe we have Evan here to thank."
"Evan?" Remus questioned as his friend tended to Heidi's bleeding wound. The werewolf was too shocked to do much of anything, despite his godson calling out to him. "How could he have done this?"
"That is a question for another time," Dumbledore replied. "But for now, Sirius, Remus, we need to find Peter Pettigrew and bring him to the Ministry for trial."
"I'll do it," came the response from both of them.
Sirius looked ready to argue, but Remus cut him off. "No, Padfoot. I know you want the thrill, but Pandora is seven months pregnant and looks about ready to pop. Your daughter will need you as much as your wife does now. I'll do it. For now, just take care of Heidi and make sure James and Lily are alright, okay?"
At the mention of his wife and future daughter, the black haired man nodded. "Good luck," he said, and the werewolf nodded at both of them before running off into the night.
Dumbledore, on the other hand, took the other portkey he had brought with him—the other one had been used to bring James back to Hogwarts—and the headmaster, Sirius, Lily, Heidi, and Evan all headed to the school's infirmary, where Madam Pomfrey was waiting for them.
Nobody except Sirius, and even then it was a nagging suspicion, knew that Dumbledore had chosen the wrong twin. For, as Heidi drifted off to sleep, the darkness that the headmaster hadn't found in her aura but had in Evan's (caused by the backlash of the Killing Curse) started to grow stronger, pulsing with a sort-of heartbeat. Her lightning bolt scar contained a Horcrux, a soul-shard from Voldemort. But it was looked aside, and the truth would only reveal itself in many years to come. For now, the little redheaded toddler was perfectly fine with sleeping to her heart's content.
November 2nd, 1981
Lily Potter awoke with a start. Her eyes flung open as she gasped for breath, jolting into a sitting position and looking around wildly. Was she dead? Where were Heidi and Evan? Where was James?
"Lily," her husband's voice said, and she whipped her head around to look at him. He gave her one of his signature smiles, and at once she wrapped him in a hug.
"James," she sighed in relief. "Where are Heidi and Evan?"
"They're fine. Pandora's taking care of them," he assured her. "Dumbledore is waiting to talk to us about something—Sirius and him have been arguing about it non-stop since before I woke up. Also, there's…" he trailed off, and she pulled away from the hug and looked at him.
"What?" she asked.
James looked at her, sadness in his eyes. "It just happened today. God, Lily, I woke up only just a few hours ago and Sirius comes storming in, yelling about how fate is never far to him. Lily, Remus went after Peter after he, Sirius, and Dumbledore found us. He chased him down and finally caught up to him in muggle London, but Peter was waiting for him. The bastard blew up the fucking street, killing fourteen muggles. He's dead, Lils. Remus is dead. And then we just got news that last night, some Death Eaters found Alice and Frank and tortured them to insanity! They're gone, Lily, they're gone!"
"Oh," she murmured quietly, before bringing her husband in for another hug as he grieved. One of their closest friends was dead, and another two would most likely spend the rest of their lives in St. Mungo's. It was unfair, it really was. In an instant, it seemed like the world had changed.
"I'm sorry to interrupt," a new voice suddenly said, and both pulled apart to see Dumbledore standing nearby, a small but sad smile on his face. "But, when Poppy told me that the two most precious charges she currently had were both awake, I had to come to see them, as we have much to discuss." With a wave of his wand, the headmaster conjured a comfy looking armchair, and promptly sat down in it.
"Sir?" Lily asked. "What happened? The last thing I remember, Voldemort stupified me."
"Yes," he confirmed. "Poppy had placed the two of you in a medically-induced coma to make sure that neither of you had been harmed further than that, but it turns out we had nothing to worry about. Besides the spells, you two are perfectly healthy. As to what happened after both of you were unconscious, well, Voldemort tried to kill Heidi and Evan." Both of the Potters looked horrified at the thought. "He targeted Evan first, but because of the ancient magic you unknowingly invoked, Lily, the Killing Curse rebounded and destroyed him."
"You make it sound like he's not dead," James interjected.
"I know he's not," Dumbledore said, the twinkle still in his eye. "Alas, we hopefully will not have to worry about him for quite a while. Evan saved his sister and the rest of the wizarding world. Even as we speak, celebrations are being made across the nation at Voldemort's defeat. I believe even the muggles have noticed, reporting owls flying across in broad daylight and some people dressing oddly." At his feign of obliviousness, Lily chuckled. "Nevertheless, the Ministry hasn't done anything about it. The war is over."
"What about Evan and Heidi?" the redhead asked.
"Evan has been declared the Boy-Who-Lived, it's all across the Daily Prophet. The future is still very far away, and when the day does come I will discuss about training. Heidi, as the future Lady Potter, might need some training as well to protect herself, but not as much." The headmaster stood up, and with another flick of his wand the armchair disappeared. "Now, it is about lunchtime, and I will leave the two of you here. Some house-elves will bring you something to eat." He left without another word, and James and Lily looked at each other, hints of smiles on their faces at the prospect that the man they had been going to war with was gone, even if it not forever.
Neither of them, nor the wizarding world or Dumbledore, knew of what the future held. Nobody knew that at the age of three Heidi would be given to her godparents, since Evan "needed to be cared for alone". Nobody knew that the world would forget his older twin in favor of him, and how she would be forced into the shadows for most of her life because of him being in the limelight. Nobody knew that while Evan was given training to protect himself, Heidi was busy either studying all that she could or flying on her broom.
Two very different lives would be lived, it was set into the threads of fate, stitched into their destinies. But, that story is just beginning.
A/N: I wish it was longer, but it's the length that I need it to be before we venture into the actual story and the first arc. But hey, it's a beginning!
I think the idea that James and Lily immediately favor one twin is a little rushed. It would probably be more gradual, until they completely ignore one or give them away, which is why Heidi goes to Sirius and Pandora when she's three (Pandora is not an OC, by the way).
I also like the yin-yang think I set up. Heidi and Evan's different childhoods will reflect on who they are, and even at Hogwarts they'll still complement each other in certain aspects, if not all.
I don't really have anything else to say other than that. So, I hoped you enjoyed and I shall see you guys later for the next chapter!