CHAPTER ONE: THE GIRL WHO LIVED

Alexandra Lily Potter was content.

Two weeks prior, the war against Voldemort and his Death Eaters had ended. Since then, the British Wizarding World had amassed tenfold to rebuild their community. Shacklebolt was sworn in as the new Minister of Magic, Headmistress McGonagall was leading the reconstruction of Hogwarts, and Alex was officially done with the unwanted attention she continually received in the aftermath.

Seeing the mob close in after she received a First Class Order of Merlin was the final straw that pushed Alex to the edge of her wits. Without a second thought, she shot her hands out beside her to grab ahold of the awards' other two recipients, and apparated the three of them away from her version of hell.

It was a credit to both Ron and Hermione when, after taking stock of their new surroundings - a random backstreet of muggle London - simply acted as though they had planned on arriving there in the first place.

"This is perfect," Hermione spoke. She grasped one of both Ron's and Alex's hands more securely in her own and lead the way out of the alley. "I've been meaning to drop by Hatchards." They emerged on a street bursting with people, the area lit up by a rare sunshine beaming down from a clear sky.

Though Alex had been the one who apparated them, Hermione seemed to know precisely where in London they stood as she didn't spare even a glance at the street sign before taking a right.

It took Ron eight minutes into their journey to realize exactly what Alex condemned them to. "Books! Are you mad! I'm not going to a bloody library with you!" He tried pulling away, but Hermione clutched down harder on his fingers, squeezing tight enough to elicit a wince from the redhead.

"Language, Ronald," the brightest witch of her age scolded as they joined a crowd of tourists waiting at a crosswalk. Noting that the light may take a minute or two, she turned her head and glared. "And what do you mean, with me?!"

Ron's eyes went wide, the blue swirling around trying to find rescue in something or somebody nearby. Alex very astutely focused her attention away from the bickering duo and planted it on a small family of three.

A dad and mum appeared to be out celebrating their daughter's third birthday, as the little girl wore a pink shirt with the words "Birthday Girl" and held a balloon with a large '3' adorning it. She sat atop her father's shoulders as he kept one of his hands secured around her left leg and the other curled around his wife's waist. They were looking at the books on display in the windows of Waterstones - a bookstore Hermione was currently telling Ron was nice but didn't have the same atmosphere as Hatchards, to which Ron questioned quite loudly why atmosphere mattered if both places sold the same things, thus starting argument number four of the day - and the sheer joy and happiness on the family's faces tugged painfully at Alex's heart.

Teddy would never get the chance to go out with either his mum or dad.

Averting her gaze, Alex missed as the father's eyes fell upon the trio's passing figures; she missed as his eyes shimmered with recognition, missed as he tugged at his wife's hip, and missed as the family of three began following in Alex's footsteps.

"The No. 1 Ladies' Detective Agency has gotten great reviews, and my mother swore that Memoirs of a Geisha is hands down her favorite piece of literature produced in the past two years, but first on my list is London by Edward Rutherfurd. To this day, I still remember reading his Sarum and Russka novels and falling in love with—"

"London?" Ron scrunched his nose in distaste. "Why would you want to read a book about a city you clearly know like the back of your hand?" The Weasley didn't even wait for Hermione to get in a retort before moving his head to address Alex. "You just had to remind Hermione that she hasn't been able to light read since First Year and Nicolas Flamel."

Alex blinked, still lost in her memories of the Battle of Hogwarts, until she felt pressure on her hand. She glanced down unseeing to where her limb connected with Hermione's, then recognition set in and she looked back up to meet her friend's empathetic smile.

"Ron's right," Hermione continued drawing Alex back to the present. "If you hadn't brought us here, it would've taken me another two days at least to remember my reading list. In any case, Nicholas Sparks recently published another book and I think Ron can benefit from reading it - he could do with learning a thing or two about properly wooing a girl."

Ron had no idea who this Sparks guy was, but understood Hermione well enough to know he had solid reason to protest. "Hey! I got you didn't I?!" When Hermione ignored him, he once again turned his head and cried, "Alex!"

Alex couldn't contain the laughter that burst through her lips, and a smile quickly broke out on her face. She loved these guys, wouldn't have lasted half as long as she has without them. So smirking at her first friend, eyes dancing with glee, she responded, "Hermione does have a point. Remember your first date - you managed to get the entire DA to help sneak you and Hermione off Hogwarts to go on what you called, 'a romantic getaway date Hermione was going to love', and where did you take her?"

Ron's ears burned red, but he pulled on his Gryffindor bravery and argued, "The Chudley Cannons were facing the Falmouth Falcons! They were favored to win!"

"They didn't," Alex pointed out, "and you ended up getting both you and Hermione three weeks of detention with Umbridge. Probably the worst first date in the history of first dates." She turned to address Hermione, "Why are you with him again?"

Hermione groaned, hiding pink cheeks under her mane of hair. "Let's not get into that right now—"

"Hey!"

"—and honestly, Alex," she continued over Ron's protests, "You enjoy reading almost as much as I do! Why are you even complaining about this trip?"

Alex grinned, "The keyword there being alm—'"

John Christopher Noble was happy.

Two weeks prior, the war against Voldemort and his Death Eaters had ended. Since then, the British Wizarding World had amassed tenfold to rebuild their community. Kingsley was sworn in as the new Minister of Magic, Headmistress McGonagall was leading the reconstruction of Hogwarts, and John hadn't been able to stop smiling since witnessing Voldemort's death firsthand.

Once upon a time, John Noble had been a First Year at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry when James Potter and Lily Evans entered into his life. It was his first week of school and not only was he living away from his parents for the first time, but he was also the only muggleborn in the Gryffindor First Year boy's dormitory.

He had been a quiet kid back then, isolated from his roommates' discussions about their favorite Quidditch teams and other magical terms he hadn't known at the time, and felt so defeated after butchering his and his partner's potion for Professor Slughorn that he arranged for a meeting with Professor McGonagall; he was going to ask to be sent home because obvious the faculty made a mistake in accepting him.

Then a pretty redheaded girl pushed her way into his life while dragging a messy black-haired teen beside her. Before he knew what had happened, he had been stolen away in the middle of the night and brought to a place ruled by hundreds of short, skinny, bald-headed beings with pointed ears - 'house elves' he was later informed. Those following three nights were some of the best he ever had. The redhead, Lily, shared all sorts of information about the magical world she said she wished she had known when she was his age - from telling him Hogwarts had owls available for any student to use to send letters, to giving him her First Year potion's textbook all marked up with helpful tips; and the boy, James, taught him how magic wasn't something to be frightened of but rather something that was intrinsically joyous. When the Gryffindors had their first broomstick flying lesson, John surprised his entire year by pulling off some impressive flying maneuvers - courtesy of James - and not only earned the respect of many of his peers but also gained him a best mate in Kingsley Shacklebolt.

Three years later, John was a fourth year when the news reached Hogwarts that Voldemort had been defeated - felled at the hands of a girl not even two years old. He had heartedly joined in the following celebrations, him and Kingsley drinking their fair share of Butterbeer tankards, only to mourn after discovering their savior was orphaned in the attack - James and Lily Potter killed before reaching the age of 22. Kingsley and he made vows that Christmas: they would become aurors to defend those who couldn't defend themselves, to shield other children from losing their families.

Flash forward 13 more years and John found himself one of the aurors called to the scene when a Hufflepuff named Cedric Diggory appeared dead during the closing ceremony of the Triwizard Tournament. He was one of two who stood guard over Alexandra Potter's recovering body in the Medical Wing as Fudge argued with Dumbledore over the accusation that He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named had been resurrected.

Cornelius Fudge may not have believed the 14 year old, but John remembered her parents, recalled how Lily taught him a spell to help organize his notes and how James tried to teach him how to flirt with girls. After a lengthy discussion with Kingsley, the very next day John handed in his badge and took his burgeoning family across the pond to Virginia. The friends once vowed to shield children from losing their families. Call him a coward, but he was going to do everything in his power to ensure his daughter wouldn't grow up parentless, even if that meant running.

He doubted his intuition that first year when no alarming news sounded from Britain, but then the Dark Lord's face greeted him one morning from the Salem Tribune. He went home that night and hugged his little baby girl tight.

About two years later from the posting of that frightful news article, Kingsley reached out to him. "We need you. I need you."

His wife understood why he had to go back - how he needed to at least try - kissed him goodbye and took both herself and their two-year-old daughter to Hawaii. His family would be half way across the world from Britain, and John still didn't think it was far away enough.

The Battle of Hogwarts raged long and brutally. John was reunited with dozens of his old classmates and lost large handfuls of them in the hours that followed. During the small ceasefire, he heard the Dark Lord state that if Alexandra Potter was given to him everyone else would be spared; he never in his wildest imagination believed headstrong Alex Potter would give her own self up. It was a whirlwind of mindless fighting after that, before out of nowhere, the Girl Who Lived lived up to her moniker and faced off against He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named in the middle of the Great Hall. He could only watch as the 17 year old casted a disarming spell, of all things, and somehow managed to kill the Dark Lord where he stood.

John had been one of many who had sank to their knees and cried in the aftermath.

It was because of James and Lily's daughter that John could now celebrate his own daughter's third birthday in his and his wife's hometown. It was because of the actions of Alex Potter that Lily Ann Noble would be able to grow up without having to constantly look over her shoulder. Thus, when John realized that it was indeed Alex Potter heading to the same store as his family, he resolved to thank her.

He never got the chance.

One moment he watched as Alex joked around with her friends then, after a mere blink, he watched as a car crashed headfirst into the building on his left. He blinked again. The car lied directly over where he last saw the famous trio.

What followed was a second of absolute stillness. John stared at the tail end of the car, the only part of the vehicle still visible as the other half had buried its way into the interior of the building. What just happened? Then the world erupted into sound, the first being his wife's scream as she quickly pulled Lily into her own arms and backed several steps away from the scene.

John felt out of his body, watching as people in the general vicinity yelled. Some witnesses fled away from the site, some stood frozen still, yet none moved toward it. None moved to help.

He acted on autopilot after the realization. He pulled his mobile from his jacket, dialing 999 and informing the authorities a major accident just occurred on Piccadilly Street near Hatchards, telling them at least three people needed immediate medical attention - probably more. He dropped the phone when he found the accident's first victim.

Ron Weasley, John absentmindedly told himself as the familiar red hair pulled at his memory. The boy's body lay crumpled beside the backdoor of the car where it met brick; blue eyes gazed out cloudy and unfocused, a neck tilted in an abnormal angle. The ex-auror was too late; all he could do was close Ron's eyes.

He found Alex next. She was under the car, her left leg pinned below a back tire and her right splayed in a distorted angle. John made out what could only be her femur bone before quickly focusing his attention on her face; it was all cut up from the accident, blood mixing with gravel, and it was the girl's brilliant green eyes that sustained the most damage. If only she had inherited her mother's perfect vision instead of her father's. John knew that even if she managed to pull-through, she would never be able to see again.

Slowly easing his upper body underneath the car, he hid his wand from outside view while casting a diagnostic charm to figure out where to begin. At the results, his faint hope extinguished. As an auror, he had been medically trained to mend cleanly broken bones, to halt life-threatening blood loss, to heal an injured person well enough to buy time for proper healers to arrive and take over. Alex had sustained too many internal injuries. No matter what John did, the Girl Who Lived Twice wouldn't last more than another minute.

Lying there beside her, he laid one of his hands gently atop one of hers and bowed his head. He apologized for being too late, for not acting sooner, for not joining the fight against the Dark Lord earlier, for the whole world who seemed against the idea of the girl ever getting a happy ending. Eventually his apologies turned into thanks - the thanks he meant to give minutes before - thanks for the freedom she brought to millions of people, for stepping up when no one else would, for defending a world she had every right to leave behind.

His voice broke when the ambulance finally arrived. Easing his way out from beneath the vehicle to make way for the paramedic who quickly took his place, John didn't have the heart to tell the man that it was too late. Alex Potter had ceased breathing minutes ago.

He looked around then, taking in the new scene. Police had blocked off the sidewalks, and three ambulances blocked off the road. Ron had been moved into a lying position on his back with a white sheet covering his entire body. Red stains glimmered in the sunlight.

Two paramedics rushed a stretcher through the building's front doors and to the closest ambulance. The person who lay upon it wasn't the last third of the trio - Hermione. He gazed back to where the front of the car still lay hidden on the other side of the wall, if she had been pushed through… He ground his fingernails into the palms of his hands.

The ex-auror needed to step away. He needed to send word to Kingsley to let the Minister know of the tragedy of the day. He needed to…

No. John swallowed hard. First, first he would allow himself a few minutes. He would allow himself time to bury his head into his wife's arms and cradle their little girl close. Because sometimes, sometimes the world only proved to be a cruel and heartless place.

CHAPTER TWO: THE MAGIC-LESS REALITY