Prologue ~ The Girl From Ilvermorny

For a long time, I thought I was just a simple normal witch that was learning the magical arts at one of the greatest wizarding schools in the world - Ilvermony School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. I've been at the school for four straight years and not once did I ever think of leaving, until yesterday morning. I actually thought I would be starting my fifth year at a great start since last year was an absolute nightmare. In my defense, I did not know that spell would make that griffin as big as the castle. Thank merlin headmaster Alister didn't take things seriously and decided not to expel me. Professor Thornburg, the thorn that's been stuck on my side since day one, was surprisingly one of the few that sided with me as well. For a herbology professor, she sure knew how to scare people with just one screaming plant.

Back to my story - I had just woken up earlier than usual in order to get a good head start in packing before my little brother since he completely sucks at it. Brothers, am I right? While I was packing, I couldn't help but notice the smell of... tea? My parents were never really the tea type and prefer coffee far more than other hot drinks. I just stick with hot coco. I snuck downstairs as quietly as possible as not to wake the baby. A.K.A. our annoying live-in house elf. He's not really ours. He's actually a free elf. Dad took him in after he was saved during his visit to the Ministry of Magic in the UK as the representative of the MACUSA. He never told us what he was saved from. He just said that the elf was just there and had his life saved by my dad. The elf has kept his promise in protecting us from danger.

The first time it happened was against a werewolf during our camping trip. I guess I am pretty grateful to him for that, but I just wish he'd stop treating us like we're his owners. He's a free elf for crying out loud! "Mom! Have you seen Sammy? He's supposed to help me pack his bags!" I cried out in frustration as I ran half way down the stairs. "Have you tried his closet?!" mom calls out from the kitchen, most likely making our last minute breakfast for the ride to school. Which basically means her accidentally messing up spells and causing a mess. Speaking of messes- KABAM! I think she just made another one. "Valerie! What did you do now!?" I could hear dad shouting from his private room. I jump when the wall suddenly open in behind the stairs and watch as dad angrily marches without taking notice of my presence.

"Uh oh..." I just walked back up and pretended that I did not see anything. I literally didn't but if you have a dad that has the temper tantrum of a five year old, then you know why I want to avoid getting caught in the line of fire. Once I got to my brother's door, I stared at the sign on his door change from 'Please knock!' to 'No fugly troll sister's allowed!', causing me to draw out my wand and instantly erase the letters on the sign and unlock the door. Only he would cast a spell that would make the doors lock if I was nearby. Rolling my eyes, I opened the door only to see an enchanted water balloon fly straight towards me. I would have been hit if I hadn't ducked instinctively when I felt something was off. And thank god I was right or that water balloon filled whatever potion he put in there would have hit me in the face.

Standing up straight, we look back as the portrait of grandma starts dancing uncontrollably. I turn back to him with a raised brow. "Seriously? We already have a spell that forces someone to dance." I take my wand out and point it at him, much to his horror. "For example. Tarantallegra!" With one wave of my wand, my poor little brother finds his feet moving around uncontrollably. Even when he sat don't to stop his feet just continued to tap all over the place. "Alright I get it! Just stop it Alex or I'm telling mom!" he threatens. That's something that I will not take lightly. The last time I used magic on him as payback, he got away with what he did and had mom confiscated my wand for the entire summer! Rolling my eyes, I reluctantly undo the spell, setting the prankster free.

"Yes! You know you drive a pretty hard bargain sis," he smirks as he goes back to his suit case. I roll my eyes and cross my arms, asking in a sarcastic tone, "And that makes what you do to me fair? Don't you think dad will be furious once he finds out that you entered his personal study and took Great-uncle Newt's suitcase?" "Ha ha! Very funny but-" Sammy opens the suitcase, dumps a bucket of meat inside then proceeds to lock it before the creature's cry was heard. "A good magizoologist, such as myself, deserves the best from the old best! I'm sure dad and Grunkle Newt will understand!" I snort at the term, "Grunkle? Where did that come from?" He explains in his usual dramatic mannerism, "You know! A combination of great and uncle mashed together? It'd be too boring to call someone great-uncle all the time, especially when you barely meet the man to respect him like that."

He did have a point there. We've only met the old man once and that was when he came by to drop his suitcase to us. We wanted to give it to his grandson, but he was still in school so he had to keep it somewhere now that he's retired. Sammy plops himself on top of his large luggage to close it shut and interjects, "Like how you used to call grandma, mam-mam." I turn red and yell, "I did not!" "Yes. You did," he asserts much to my annoyance. "Samuel! Alexis! Your ride is here!" mom calls out, accompanied with sound of heavy footsteps. Wide eyed, we both stare at the old suitcase then at each other. I smile creeps up as Sammy grabs the bag and backs away in fear. "You wouldn't dare..." Oh I did. I quickly grab the bag and ran out of his door. "Mom! Dad! I got something to show you!" I call out in glee as I run towards the stairs.

"No! I don't want to be held back on my first year!" I just laugh and continued to run. All of the joy I had in telling on Sammy went away when I was greeted with a horrible sight below the stairs. I stop and nearly drop the bag. Sammy grabs it and was about to say something until he notices how dead quiet the house was. Looking down, he gasps when he see's the exact thing I do. There were two men wearing dark cloaks and a mask; one had dad pinned to the wall and the other holding their wand to mom's neck. "'Ello my pretty little darlings!" the deep British accent sent shivers down my spine when a third person stepped into the house. This time without a mask on. The woman gives us a very deep bow, low enough to make it seem like her face had touched the floor.

"What's Cruella doing in our house...?" Sammy whispers over to me, which earned him a smack to the back of his head. 'Damn it Sammy!' She must have heard as she was quick to draw her wand out, which I did too in defense. "Now let's see," hums the lady as she turns her back on us to face our parents. "Which one of you would most likely... what is it you Americans say? Take the bullet?" She goes from mom, to dad, then to us. I pulled Sammy back and stood in front of him protectively. Dad tries to move as he cries out, "Don't you dare touch my kids! I'll cast a curse on you if I have to!" She raises her hands up in the air and said dryly, "Oh I'm so scared! Don't use the killing curse on me!" Sammy hasn't learned anything about Curses yet, but I have, and not once has it been mentioned in class of anyone surviving whenever that spell is cast.

"Now why would a good daddy like you know how to cast one of the three unforgivable curses?" That's a good question. How does he know? "Oh that's right! You were one of us, weren't you love?" I look down at him in bewilderment while Sammy takes my hand, frightened and confused at what's happening. "Didn't you know? Your daddy here isn't American, he's a born and raised English man!" she announced for all to hear. "Dad?" Sammy said as I look down at him with confused eyes. One of the laugh and spoke is a thick irish accent, "You sure they're your parents! I almost thought you two were adopted or somethin'!" Adopted? We can't be, right?Having enough of this, mom suddenly bites the hands of her captor and grabs his wand. "Stupefy!" she cries out.

The man freezes and falls to the ground. Dad takes this chance to slam the back of his head against the person and force his way out of his grasp. Dad takes his wand back to cast a spell on one of them. "Alarte ascendare!" The man flies straight up, hits the ceiling and comes crashing down with pieces debris falling on top. Before the woman could do anything, mom was quick enough to cast a spell on her that caused her to fall. "Locomotor wibbly!" Sammy gaps in awe while I just stood there as mom and dad run up the stairs. "C'mon!" Dad roughly grabs my hand and drags me to safety. Mom picks up Sammy and his suitcase, but not before performing a glacius spell on the three to make sure none of them get back up. The wall opens and leads us straight to dad's study.

Since we live in a neighborhood of no-mag's, dad wanted to be sure no one would stumble upon dad's work by accident if someone were to decide to rob our home. Dad let's go for me to go inside with Mom and Sammy following behind not long after. After being placed back down, Sammy immediately rushes over to me as our 'parents' try to figure out how to get us out. "We have to do it Hannah! We have to send them to him so that he won't ever get their hands on him!" dad starts, a slight bit of British slipping out. Mom argues as readily holds her wand up, "There's no way your friend and protect these two from situation she placed them in the day she disappeared again. We can take them Martin! I'm an expert at dueling and you used to be an auror!"

"You know why!" This was the first we've ever heard him raise his voice that loud before. If those people were close to the hidden entrance they would have easily heard him through the cement walls. "They're death eaters not the highly trained witches and wizard you sparred with! One wrong move and you'd be dead where you stand!" Mom cringes, knowing that there's no way she can ever win in an argument with dad when he's pissed. Sighing, dad gently holds her hand to make her lower her wand. "You know it's time they knew Hannah - the truth." "Truth?" I repeat the last part in confusion. Just as they were about to tell us, a sudden force slams against the wall and makes all of us lose our balance. "The cauldron!" dad cries out when he see's it fall and roll away from the fireplace.

He moves it further away with mom running over to the fireplace and taking the small pouch that was hung. She quietly motions us to come closer when the voices of the three 'death eaters' were getting closer. I've only gone through the floo network twice for the simple purpose of searching for school supplies before we found a shopping district that was easier to access. Sammy still hasn't traveled through it yet. Each time mom or dad tried to get him to come with, Sammy gets so nervous he throws the powder at us and runs for it. Mom opens the pouch immediately gives me some floo power. "You and Sammy go ahead," she instructs, her voice shaking as she continues, "I want you to go to the place called 12 Grimmauld Place. Once you're there, look for two men named Remus Lupin and Serius Black, they'll tell you everything you need to know."

The blast from the other side of the wall was strong enough to create a hole large enough for the death eater's to peer through. Dad suddenly appears at my side and give me my broom. "I know I promised Sammy to teach him how to fly... but it seems you'll have to do it till then." The wall finally gives in and explodes. "Go now!" he orders, pushing us into the fireplace as mom prepares to hold off the death eaters. "Mom! Dad!" I held Sammy back with one arm - tightly gripped onto the floo powder . Blinking my tears away, I firmly stood in place and cried out, "12 Grimmauld Place!" Reluctantly throwing the floo powder down, I painfully watch as mom was successfully struck down, then my dad next when he tries to reach for her. But what happens after they fall makes my blood run cold.

A girl - with long, thick shiny dark hair, thin lips, dressed in all black and wore a silver face mask - shoves past the two death eaters that blocked the doorway and flashes us an cruel smile. "Sectumsempra!" I pulled Sammy into my arms and turned my back to the Death Eaters. What happened after getting hit by the unknown spell became a blur.

Me: Must we do this?
Av: Of course! This shows a nice interaction between you and your characters!
Me: Well I find that stupid. Besides, you're not a character from a book or show. You're a real person.
Av: ...
Me: What?
Av: I'm just realizing how close our author names are.
Me: And you bring this up because?
Av: Well your name is Ava and I'm Avery. If ever, our nicknames are Av. And Vermillion is a shade of Scarlet.
Me: What are you implying...?
Av: Nothing! *Starts whistling*
Me: Ugh... just to let my readers know, I'm completely clueless about Harry Potter when it comes to the books. And I know it's bad to rely on the movies that don't depict everything every Potterhead's have read by heart. I've just started reading the first book.
Av: BORING~
Me: Come again?
Av: Listen, most fanfiction writers don't refer to the book for a reason. You know how fucking hard it is to remember that many things in one book!?
Me: You refer to manga's whenever you're too lazy to watch an episode for your works.
Av: That different! They're-
Me: Picture books that resemble coloring books?
Av: ... I hate you.

In his dream, Harry found himself in an unknown street. He thought at first he was in London until he heard the voices of a couple that walked past him - they sounded American and by the looks of it, acted like them two with the way they both dress and act. It was strange to see Americans up close. Not long after, he heard screaming from a nearby house. What surprised him was that no one hard heard or taken notice of the loud noises that followed after. A sudden urge to go to the source of where the noises were coming from. Somehow Harry knew where he was going, so by the time he got there - he was there to witness three death eaters being attacked by whoever's inside. "RUN!" he heard voices echo from inside to where he stood. Everything seemed to move at a slow pace.

Harry - although cautious - walks into the house to find one death eater covered in ice, another petrified, and one with ceiling debris on top of him. Harry wanted to marvel at the sight only to snap his attention at the voices that were heard ahead of him. Two blurred figures were running inside to what seemed like a secret room. Once they were inside, his eyes were glued to who was standing at the entryway - a girl whose grey eyes had entranced him to the point of nearly forgetting time ever existed. One of the death eaters breaks free from the ice and casts a spell, but not before the room was sealed off by a man who Harry guesses is the girls' father from how loud he was in ordering the three to step back. "Get the girl! The Dark Lord needs her!" the woman hisses while freeing her companions.

Harry tries to stop them but their bodies easily go through his hand like dust. Pulling his hand back, Harry follows after the three and reluctantly watches as they try to break down the walls that separated them from the family they were chasing. Once they were successful, Harry could only hear shouts from both parties as spells were cast and orders were thrown. "Mom! Dad!" it belonged to a child's voice. Before the dream could continue, he was abruptly woken up by a sudden quake that shook the entire room. He sits up the moment the quaking ceases and glances over to his best friend, who was unsurprisingly still asleep despite the fact everyone else in the home are definitely awake given the loud shouts that were heard below. Hermione suddenly barges into the room, a worried look very apparent in her eyes as they wander around the room if anything was in disarray.

She lets out a relieved sigh when she see's Harry was awake, but her face scrunched into a scowl upon seeing a certain red head still sleeping without a care in the world. Harry remains quiet as Hermione marches over, grabs on of his pillows, and swiftly hits Ron's head without an ounce of hesitation. "Ow! Bloody hell Hermione, what was that for!?" Ron demands, upset at the rude awakening. "Just checking to see if you were still alive after the earthquake," she told him dryly, earning a small chuckle from the other boy as Ron rubs his head. After she stomps out of the room, Ron immediately questions Harry, "What quake?" Harry was about to answer until he heard shouts coming from downstairs - which is curious as eat the farthest side of the.

"Both of you get down here now!" they hear Hermione, whose voice sounded a bit hysterical. Harry was the first one to jump out of bed and run out of the room, leaving Ron behind to gather himself, confused as to what in the world was going on downstairs. Running down as fast as his legs could carry him, something inside him was pestering him not to go further and just wait for Ron, but then he couldn't. He didn't know why but he just couldn't. Once he was at the bottom of the stairs, Harry was greeted by chaos. Molly cries out, "Get your father! Now! I don't care if he's still at work! They're here!" "Who's here?" his voice alone was able to break the tension that was filling the room. "Harry!" She quickly walks over to him and grabs his wrist. "Listen. I need you to grab whatever clean sheets you can find."

"Mum! One of them is waking up!" Fred shouts while George was busy helping with whoever it was that was waking up. "Oh dear!" She completely forgets about the boy and runs straight towards, which was something he'd never see the middle-aged woman do after many years of knowing her. Curious, he follows as the twins, Hermione, and Molly gather around in a circle. And what he sees startles him more than the first time he met the dark load himself in person. "Alex! Wake up, please!" a boy desperately pleads for his sister only for them to fall on deaf ears. Hermione tries to stop him, "Calm down. She's going to be fine." He violently shakes his head. "No she's not! I saw what that spell did to her!" The blood drained from Molly's face when she touches the girl's black sweater and finds it damp.

"Someone call a healer! NOW!" Molly cried. Fred and George leave to do so while Ginny and Hermione brought the child away from from the scene. Finally registering what's happening, Harry turns to run back up the stairs to follow Molly's instructions, running into Ron in the process. "Bloody hell, Harry! What's going on?" Harry was about to explain until he heard screaming from behind his back. Both boys turn around to see Molly trying her best to hold the girl as she begins to thrash around in pain. The two rush over to aid her. Ron holds down her right arm as soon as he drops to his knees. Harry was about to do the same until he gets a closer look at the girl's face, freezing up as he recognizes her being the girl he saw earlier in his dream.

Ron notices Harry's strange hesitation. "Harry!" He motions his head to the girl. "A little help here, mate?" Harry snaps out of his trance and grabs her arm - caught off guard at her surprising strength despite her petite body. "Molly! I came as soon as I-" Arthur nearly bites his tongue soon as he runs in and sees the three on their knees. Molly jumps to her feet and runs over to her husband. "You have to contact Dumbledore. Actually anyone! They're here so something must have happened to them!" "AAAAHHHH!" the girl's cries only grew louder. She eyes flew open and fell upon Harry, distracting him for a moment. There was absolute fear in her grey eyes. This allowed her to slip her arm out of his grasp. He expected for her to make an attempt at escape as she would have mistaken them as her attackers, but instead, she grabs his arm.

Please... don't let take them him away... A voice spoke in Harry's head, most likely her's. He's all I have... please... please... Harry felt this sudden urge to protect the little boy. However, before he completely fell into the trance until Arthur places his hand on over his shoulder. "Move aside Harry," instructs the man, gently pulling him up as Miriam Strout comes into view with a bottle of red liquid in her hands. Ron steps away and goes over to the where the girls were. Molly appears at Harry side, escorting him away when she catches him staring at the girl. "Come now dear. Why don't you sit down with the others? I'm sure that poor boy must be scared." After finding the others in Ginny's room, Molly leaves them so she could deal with what's happening in the other room.

Both girl were on either side of the boy while Ron was at Hermione's. Fred and George were trying various tricks to distract the boy. The boy sees Harry and immediately stands up, demanding, "Where's my sister? Where's Alexis!?" "Samuel sit down..." Ginny was able to get Sammy to sit back down, but that didn't stop him from giving Harry a heated glare. "Don't you ever touch my sister again... You and period head over there," he threatens, earning surprised looks from girls and snickers from the twins. Ron on the other hand looked about ready to make a snarky comment at the boy but was given a look to stay down by Hermione who sensed his hostility. Harry taps the twins' shoulder and gestures them to move out of the way. They do so as Harry steps forward and crouches down to level himself at Sammy's height.

"Samuel, right?" The boy tries to keep his frown. "My name's Harry Potter. We didn't really mean to hold down your sister. We just didn't want her hurting herself or anyone else by accident before the healer arrives." His eyes went so wide Harry swore the boy's eyeballs would pop out. "You're Harry Potter!?" He looks all around the room. "That means you're Hermione Granger, Genny Weasley, the infamous Weasley twins-" He points out to ever other person in the room then pauses at Ron. "Oh no... Ronald 'Snape hates your butt' Weasley?" Sammy covers his mouth and immediately apologizes, "I am so sorry! I just don't like it when boys get all grabby with my sister!" "It's fine. Wait- What did you say? Snape hates my what?" Everyone bursts out laughing while Ron looks around, puzzled.

Sammy extends his hand and introduces himself, "The name's Samuel Regulus Brett Jones. First year student of Ilvermorny School of Witchcraft and Wizardry and future magizoologist. You can call me Sammy for short." Harry smiles and takes his hand. "Nice to meet you, Sammy. Never heard of Ilvermorny before." Sammy's smile brightens. "It's only thee best school in the world! No offense..." He winces once he remembers what school they're from. Hermione questions the boy, "How do you know about us anyway?"

"My pen pal! Our youth center had this pen pal thingy you see where we individually got our first letter from someone that chose one of us from our class group picture. We all wrote back as a nice hello! Not many got a reply but I was one of the few that did. He's two years old than me so he got into school before I did. He said he knows you guys personally and told me a crap ton of things! Well from what he knows from the tiny bits of convos he's had with you."

He just kept going on and on for what seems like hours. They weren't actually getting tired of listening to him. Actually, they were interested on the things his mysterious 'pen pal' has said about them. The twins felt so proud of themselves once they learn Sammy wanted to also become a practiced prankster after hearing all of the 'good' deeds they've done for younger students. Meaning them helping the lower years have a good reason why to be excused from classes. Hermione was flattered to hear so many compliments. Ron was embarrassed with some of the things he heard from Sammy, but felt all the same as everyone else. Though they had no idea what was said about Ginny as it was supposed to be kept a secret between the two, so he just whispered it into her ear for only her to hear. "Oh! I almost forgot! I wanted to give you something if I ever saw you guys!"

Excited, Sammy goes straight to his suitcase and - much to their surprise - opens it then starts climbing down. Ron looks at them, befuddled at what just happened. "Uh... Did you guys just see what see?" All of them move from their spots and approach the suitcase, carefully taking a peek inside. There was a few crashing sounds heard inside, accompanied with a few shouts from the boy, then there was silence. "Think he fell on something?" Fred comments, slightly unsure. Just when they thought of following after him, a creature flies out and immediately pins Ron to the ground. Harry attempts to take it off but Hermione stops him. "Don't! It's the Swooping Evil! One bite from it and you'll go through excruciating pain before your death. There's no known cure for it's deadly venom." Sammy hurriedly climbs up - his hair and clothes a complete mess.

"Stop right there Devil! Do not eat his brains!" The creature grunts while Ron starts at the boy in horror. "My brains!?" He looks straight back up to see it drooling and panting. With no other choice, Sammy brings out an oddly shaped whistle an blows it, though the sound could only be heard by the Swooping Evil that sent it hissing in pain. Devil reluctantly gets off of Ron, but not before rubbing its tongue over his forehead then flies straight back into the suitcase. "Sorry!" Sammy quickly apologizes as he completely climbs out, shutting the suitcase and locking it tight. "Devil just hates being confined in the same space for too long. I've been trying to figure out a proper way to get him to stretch his wings out without spotting a potential next prey. Alex keeps telling me I should figure it out soon or she'll have Devil evicted."

"I'm guessing Alex is the pretty one down there?" the twins chime. "Alexis Joanna Abigail Hope Jones! She's a pain in the butt but..." he trails off, unable to finish at the sad reminder of his currently injured sibling. Harry and the others fail to notice as they all started laugh at the name. Not how ridiculous it sounded - Harry actually silently thought how the name oddly fits her - but with strangely long it was. "Do all Americans have long names?" Ron asks, trying to hold back from laughing too much. Sammy just rolls his eyes and plops himself on top of his suitcase. "It was mom's idea... She thought if we had longer name's then it'd be impossible for anyone to hunt us down since it's too long to remember. Well. If she is even my mom..." One of them was about to question that until someone knocked on their door.

They all stand up when Arthur steps in the room. "My apologies! I was just wondering if I can grab our little guest to say hi to his sister." A split second later, Sammy just dropped whatever he wanted to give to the trio and runs straight out of the room, practically shoving the bigger man out of the way to get to her faster. Harry had this sudden impulse to follow, also wanting to see the mysterious girl. Everyone else follows. Though not before getting confused looks from Ron and Hermione on his strange reaction.

Everything was just completely dark. I wanted to open my eyes to see where I was, but I felt so tired. "ALEX!" I know that voice. "Hold on there little one!" Ok that voice I don't know at all. Or voices I should say. "We can't have you waking her up just yet." "Why not? Don't tell me she's in a coma!" I could hear a gasp coming from the voice.

"She'll be just fine Sammy... If you want I can wait here with here," another voice spoke. Sammy sighs, "Yeah... Okay... Thanks Harry." Harry? Who's that?

"Someone's interested."

"S-Shut it Ron!"

"Oh stop teasing him. We know he wouldn't just fancy a random stranger. Then again he did fall for Cho at first sight without knowing much of her."

"Ginny... Just no."

Something gave me the strength to open my eyes after I kept my focus on that voice. It was a struggle at first, the light practically blinding me for a second until my vision adjusted, and then I found myself staring at the backs of strangers that were trying to comfort Sammy. "Hey... where's the fire?" I tried to joke a bit to get a more positive attention, but my raspy voice caused every stranger and Sammy to face me with worried eyes, which is the last thing I wanted - to make people people (even strangers) worry. "Alexis!" Sammy flung himself to me, completely forgetting about my injury and let the flood gates out. It was rare for him to call me by my full name. 'I sure scared him to death..' I thought as I gently stroke the back of his head.

"Um... Sammy-" I raise a hand to stop the curly haired girl, giving her a thankful smile while shaking my head. He needs to let it out before he does anything else. If he's crying this much then I must have been out for hours. I kiss the top of his head the same way mom world whenever he was upset, therapeutically humming my lullaby to him in hopes of gettibg his tears to stop, tears which I also knew weren't just because of what happened to me back at home. No matter how hard I tried to shield his eyes, he still witnessed enough to know our parents were hurt. One second he was crying, and the next he was out. I bit back a laugh and gently pushed him off, allowing the girl from earlier take him. I apologize to the group, "Sorry about that. Once he starts it's hard to stop, which sort of runs in the family I guess."

A middle aged woman - whose hair was just as red as some of the others in the room - comes over to my bedside with a hot mug in her hands. She smiles, saying, "No need to apologize dearie, he stayed strong the entire time the healer were tending to your wounds. From what the boys and girls told me, he kept running his mouth like there was no tomorrow once they calmed him down." "Hehe. Thanks Mrs..." I trail while taking the mug from her. "Molly Weasley. This is my husband, Arthur." The moment she slightly moves for Mr. Weasley to step forward, a wave of pain explodes in my head. I know him... I know him from somewhere... but where? "Alexis?" his voice echoed in my head full of concern. I tried to pretend I was fine, but the pain was so unimaginably strong that it was hard to maintain a straight face.

Someone apparates themselves into the room behind the Weasley's backs. "I came as soon as I heard-" the man stops as soon as he lays his eyes on me. "Alexis...?" the man murmurs under his breath, only loud enough for only a few to hear his disbelief. Just seeing his face automatically caused the pain to increase its intensity and strange visions started appearing at a rapid pace. I let out the loudest scream that has ever escaped my lips in my entire life. This was the first time I've ever experienced this sort of feeling in ages - not since I had my first meeting with the headmaster from Hogwarts when he can to visit Ilvermorny. Though it was only slight at the time. The man starts barking orders as he rushes to the head of the bed, "Everyone get back! I need a moment with Alexis! Harry- you take Sammy to bed and make sure to watch over him until I'm done."

People started to leave the room as they were told. The boy named Harry was the last to leave with Sammy in his arms, but not before taking one last glance at us then goes straight us. Seeing that we were along - and I was still twisting and screaming in pain - the man pulls his wand out and puts his full attention to me. "Alexis... my name is Sirius Black," he starts, waving his wand over my head while a light starts to appear at the tip. "Your father and I were really close friends. Just hold on a moment. I'm just here to help... relieve the pain." There was a bit of hesitation in his voice. I just gave a short laugh and let a joke slip to put him at ease, "Hope you won't make it so I don't ever wake up." He catches this and starts to laugh, just a bit, and continues whatever spell he's casting on me.

And just like he said, the pain I was feeling minutes ago was subsiding, as well as the visions that had just suddenly died out with it. What's weird about it is... I don't even remember what they were about, except for that last one where I was holding a hand of a woman wearing this long black clock and held a baby with her free arm. I couldn't see her face. Who the hell is she?

Alexis' eyes became heavy, tired both mentally and physically with everything that's happened all in one night, a night which was supposed to just be the day she'll be heading back with Ilvermorny and Sammy's first time to enter the school and be sorted into his house. Sirius carefully wipes her sweaty forehead as she slowly succumbs to sleep. Remus enters the room not long after. "Sirius! What's-" Sirius brings a finger to his lips then points down to Alexis. Both men fell silent. They had expected for this day to happen, but Sirius truthfully wished for it to never come but it has, whether he likes it or not - Alexis and Samuel were here in the same roof as him. Sirius brought his hand to her face and brushed a few strands of hair away from her face, saying nonchalantly, "She looks so much like her mother."

Remus only chuckles as he joins his friend, "Hopefully she doesn't have her temper and sarcasm. We both know how much trouble she got herself into with the certain professors." Both started laughing at the memory for a brief moment. "Remus... What should we do? If she's here that means-" Remus shushes his friend, "Nonsense Padfoot! She entrusted their safety to them for a reason. You mustn't allow what happened to get to you. They're here, she's here, he's here - both of them are." He knew that ever since what happened to the Potters, Sirius continues to blames himself for ever allowing things to turn out the way they did. Despite his assurances that nobody would have expected someone they used to consider a close friend would betray them, there was nothing Remus could say to help his friend get over the past.

But maybe, just maybe, these two could help. "I think it's time they learn the turn," Remus suggests, placing his hand over, "and I think you are the perfect person to tell them." Sirius shakes his head, vehemently refusing, "No! As far as I know, they don't deserve to be apart of this." Alexis starts to stir from her sleep, prompting Remus and Sirius to set their upcoming argument aside and solely shift their focus on her. This wasn't the time to argue about the past - all that should matter was this moment, nothing else. Though as much as he wants to deny it, there will be a day he'll have to say something.

To Be Continued

Forgive me for the rushed prologue. I haven't been able to work on my other story since my friend has been tired lately. Not the good kind... Let's just say she's so tired she'd rather prefer to sleep forever and will do anything to achieve that. And that friend is the person who was helping me work on Frost and Ember and this one as well. She's having a tough time right now with college. Since she's a nursing student, she told me she's starting to enter the stages of depression, which I didn't really believe until recently. I promise you that