Disclaimer: Harry Potter is the property of JK Rowling and no profit is being made from this story.
Author Note: This fic has already been written and completed, so the updates will (hopefully) be quick. There is a little violence in the story and the occasional use of bad language. There will be pairings and NO Slash.
Prologue
James Potter and his wife made their way up through the small Wizarding town of Hogsmeade, on their way to Hogwarts. The sights and smells brought memories to James from his days visiting this village as a student at the mammoth castle that lay perhaps only a mile away.
As they walked past Honeydukes, the famous sweet-shop, James's tongue almost automatically found its way to his teeth, which had received probably irreversible damage from the produce of the shop. He remembered the time he and his best friend Sirus Black, in an attempt to gain more pocket money, tried to sell a new type of sweet to the owner of the shop, Ambrosius Flume. It didn't take him long to realize that the new item of confection was actually just a fizzing whizzbee with a glamour charm on it (Not that this stopped Sirius from insisting that they invented fizzing whizzbees once the deception was exposed).
James looked over to his wife, Lily. She was being fairly quiet, a change from her usual talkative self. The look on her face almost suggested she was nervous about something, but then occasionally she would smile or quietly giggle to herself.
Women!, thought James.
Lily Potter and her husband walked through Hogsmeade on their way to the world famous school, Hogwarts. She was incredibly nervous for two reasons, Albus Dumbledore for one. He had requested a meeting with the couple.
It was obviously extremely important, otherwise why else wouldn't he have simply told them at last night's Order meeting? The Order was the most trustworthy group she knew; if they couldn't be told, then...
And then, of course there was the other reason...
What she didn't know at the time, of course, was that it wasn't just one other reason, it was two; she would only learn that particular fact in around nine months.
Albus Dumbledore was not the type of wizard to get nervous about things; in fact, the last occasion he had been anywhere as nervous as this was when he had taken his brother Aberforth on a rehabilitation trip to a goat farm.
This, however, eclipsed that trip. It was his job to tell one of the angriest women he knew (second behind Molly Weasley, and only because he had known her for longer) some potentially heart-breaking news, a prophecy involving her and her family.
He stood up and made his way to the cabinet in his office in order to get his pensive out, the other component – a memory – safely tucked away inside his robe pocket.
He had just sat the pensive down on the desk when he heard the sound of the spiral staircase rotating, indicating the presence of his visitors.
They were here.
All he had to worry about now was how to tell them what he had to tell them...
"Professor!" exclaimed James Potter as he walked into Dumbledore's office, the same smile on his face that he'd always used when trying to convince teachers that he hadn't preformed his latest prank. "How are you?"
"Now James, I am hardly your teacher anymore," Albus responded with a slight smile of his own. "It's Albus to you. And yes you do find me in good health – how are you James, Lily?"
"Fine, just fine Pro- Albus," James replied, chuckling slightly as he looked at his surroundings. "I have to admit, though, it's a bit strange coming back to Hogwarts and not being a student"
"I'm well too, Albus," Lily replied, looking uncertainly at the headmaster. "I'm just slightly confused as to why we're here..."
"Ah Lily, direct as ever, I see," Dumbledore replied with a smile, before his expression became more serious. "Well one of my dislikes, being a teacher, is confusion, so let us remedy it. I don't know if you are aware of this yet, but I have appointed a new Divination teacher– Sybill Trelawney, I believe you may have overlapped in your time at school-"
"That weirdo?" James interjected incredulously. "That Hufflepuff who always wandered round with her head in the clouds? You're going to let her teach children? Well, that settles it; if there's ever a James junior or a James-etta, they will not be taking divination!"
At this Lily blanched slightly then softly smiled, this wasn't lost to Dumbledore's twinkling eyes.
"Well," Dumbledore continued, as though James hadn't interrupted, "as I was saying, during the interview process she gave a prophecy to me – she is a descendent of the famous seer Cassandra Trelawney-"
"Hold on... wasn't she that daft-looking one from Chocolate frogs cards?" James asked, thinking hard.
Lily sighed; "Yes James..." she said, shooting a fond yet exasperated smile at her husband before turning back to Dumbledore.
"Professor, what did the prophecy say?" she asked, a sense of trepidation and anxiousness evident in her voice.
Dumbledore reached into his robes and pulled out a small glass vial with silvery looking liquid inside. He stood and emptied it into the stone basin sitting upon the desk.
"Watch closely, and listen hard," he said, as small almost holographic figure rose from the basin and began to speak:
The one with the power to vanquish the Dark Lord approaches,
Born as the seventh month dies
Born to those who have thrice defied him
And the one shall rise above two who know more
Evil, thrice the parents have defied.
There will come a day the one shall be marked
They will have skills unequaled by all
And can make the Dark Lord Fall
There was silence in the office for a number of minutes; James had a deep pondering look upon his face, Lily looked pale and frightened, and Dumbledore just observed them.
James was the first to speak.
"Albus..." he began, looking uncertainly at the headmaster, "wh... who are those who have thrice defied him?"
"That, James, is simple," Dumbledore replied. "The Longbottoms, who are expecting around early August and you – the Potters."
"Well," James began, a broad grin on his face as he turned to look at his wife, "thank goodness we aren't expecting any little Potters..."
His voice trailed off as he took in the expression on his wife's face.
"Are we?" he asked uncertainly.
Lily nodded.
James woke up around half an hour later in the hospital wing, hearing hushed voiced from beyond a curtain. He struggled to remember the conversation that had previously caused him to
faint... something about a prophecy... a prophecy involving the Longbottom's unborn child, and...
"Lily!" he yelled.
A blur of red hurricaned its way past the curtain and attatched itself to James;
"Lmfy, hmf ddt ouf ell mff our wfre prgnfnt?" said James into his wife; naturally, given how muffled he was, there was no reply.
When Lily finally pulled herself from James he asked the question again;
"Lily, why didn't you tell me you were pregnant?"
" I was only 100 sure last night, James," she assured him. "I used a pregnancy tester and it told me – I just wasn't sure when to tell you the news..." she trailed off.
"Oh, Lils!" James replied, smiling broadly and grabbing her in a hug as he laughed for joy, "not only have you made me the happiest man in the world, but now our child is potentially going to be the saviour of the world in which I am happy! Now I'm thinking James if it's a boy and James-etta if it's a girl"
Eight and a half months later...
"JAMES!" yelled Lily
"FRANK!" yelled Alice
"LILY!?" yelled James
"ALICE!?" yelled Frank
"And SIRIUS..." added Sirius, a broad grin on his face as he looked between his four friends.
"Shut up Sirius!" yelled almost everyone, regardless of their current actions.
It was July 31st, and the maternity ward of St. Mungos was packed full; the current inhabitants consisted of Lily and James Potter, Alice and Frank Longbottom, Sirius Black, Remus Lupin, Peter Pettigrew, Albus Dumbledore and three Midvives.
It was approaching midnight when Neville Michael Longbottom was born.
It was just on the verge of being midnight when Violet Olivia Potter was born.
It was midnight almost precisely on the dot when Harry James Potter was born.
Neville came out minus any complications into the arms of a very relieved Midwife, mother and father.
Dumbledore watched, eyes twinkling madly.
Violet came out without any complications, aside from the fact that the seventy year old midwife admitted;
"In all my years, that has to be the loudest new born I have ever encountered!"
Again Dumbledore watched.
Harry came without any complications; the only odd thing about his birth was that, after the first few traditional cries of the newborn, he stopped crying, opened his eyes and took in his surroundings.
Dumbledore still watched.
The chosen one had been born.
On August the second, Dumbledore called an Order meeting. Most of the Order was there, with only Peter Pettigrew being absent, claiming illness. Everyone in the room stopped talking as Albus stood; everyone knew that, if even half of the rumours they'd been hearing recently were true, then this Order meeting was to be huge.
"Ladies and Gentlemen, there is a saviour in our midst! This savio-" Albus was cut off by shrill screaming from a pink crib just behind the chairs of Lily and James Potter; Violet was screaming once again.
James laughed as he picked up his daughter
"And here is your savior...potentially," he said, smiling at the group before him as he held his daughter in his arms.
Everyone looked confused, aside from Alastor Moody who just looked angry.
"If you will allow me to explain," Dumbledore said cutting off Moody before he began to shout at a volume that could probably have only been surpassed by Violet, "there has been a prophecy made concerning the three babies in the room; I think it best if you hear for yourselves..."
The one with the power to vanquish the Dark Lord approaches,
Born as the seventh month dies
Born to those who have thrice defied him
And the one shall rise above two who know more
Evil, thrice the parents have defied.
There will come a day the one shall be marked
They will have skills unequaled by all
And can make the Dark Lord Fall
There was an uproar of chatter in the room with many smiling, although just as many looked devastated.
"How can we put trust in three children?!" Alastor Moody yelled as he stood up and glared at the Order's leader. "Three days old and saviours? This is beyond a joke Albus; how can you kid about something like that in the middle of these dark times?! People are dying left, right and centre, and you have the cheek- no- the audacity to say that babies can do what aurors and even you cannot do!? I'm losing my patience with you, old friend..."
"ALASTOR!" Albus interjected, looking pointedly at the old Auror. "You will calm down this instant! I am not some kind of idiot; I realize that a baby cannot defeat Voldemort-" many in the room flinched, but Albus ignored this and continued speaking, "-which is why I now need to discuss with you my plan for the children."
The parents of the children exchanged worried glances at Albus' statement.
"Now, Alastor," Dumbledore began, "put yourself in Voldemort's robes – oh please Dedalus, fear of the name only increases fear of the thing itself-; which poses the biggest threat to you? A half-blood boy, a half-blood girl or a pure-blood boy?"
"The boys, Albus though it is difficult to see which of the bloods he would go for – he is a halfblood yet he has a pureblood obsession..."
"So, Alastor you agree that young Violet is fairly safe?" Alastor nodded "So then if the boys are at highest risk, then they would need some sort of training?" Again there were nods, not just from Moody.
"If we train only the boys then surely they would know more than Violet – who Voldemort doesn't see as a threat." People in the room began to smile, more nodding followed as they began to acknowledge Dumbledore's insight.
"I believe that Violet Potter is the chosen one; however, Neville and Harry must be trained from a young age, as they will be invaluable to us in the future should anything happen to Violet. I have arranged for both boys to be trained all things possible starting from the age of eight. They will leave home, they must become powerful and our weapon in this war!"
People stood up and cheered, gathering around Violet Potter, with Harry and Neville forgotten by even their parents.
It was a sign of what was to come.