Chapter One: A Letter

"Mom, Daddy, Adam, I'm home!" yelled Tabitha Stephens after appearing in her family's living room.

"Your father and I are in the kitchen," Tabitha heard her mother Samantha shouting from their kitchen. As Tabitha entered the kitchen, Samantha added, as she took a meatloaf out of her oven, "Your brother won't be home from school until tomorrow morning."

"So, how well did you do on your exams, today?" asked Tabitha's father, Darrin, as he set their table for dinner.

"Piece of cake, Daddy," Tabitha replied, hugging both of her parents. "Did I get any mail, this week?"

"You got a letter by way of owl, yesterday morning," answered Samantha. "Unfortunately, Gladys Kravitz was looking in the front window when I was removing the letter from the owl's leg, and you know how she can be."

"I really like Mrs. Kravitz, but why does she always have to be so nosy?" asked Tabitha with a sigh, taking her letter out of the slot her parents put the family's mail. Looking at the envelope, she exclaimed, "It's from my best friend Lily at Hogwarts! I hope she's sent me more pictures of my godson."

"What's wrong, dear?" asked Samantha, seeing tears beginning to flow down her daughter's cheeks.

"Lily wrote in the letter, that it was only to be delivered to me if she and James were both dead, and that Sirius and I were to take custody of little Harry," answered Tabitha. Sniffing, she added, "I have to go to Britain right away so I can see what's happened."

"Young lady, you're not going all the way to Britain alone," said Darrin.

"But, my godson's parents are dead, I have to go Britain," argued Tabitha.

"Tabitha, your father's right, you're not going to Britain alone," stated Samantha. Before her daughter could reply, she added, "Call for your grandmother, and the two of us can go with you."

"Thank-you, Mom," said the still teary-eyed Tabitha, before shouting, "Grandma, can you come here right away, we need you?"

"What's troubling you so, my darling granddaughter?" asked Tabitha's grandmother and Samantha's mother, Endora, appearing in the kitchen.

"I just got a letter from my best friend, Lily, that was only to be delivered if she and her husband, James, were dead, and Sirius Black and I were to take custody of our godson, Harry," answered Tabitha, showing the letter to Endora. "Then, Daddy and Mom both said I can't go to Britain alone, and Mom told me to call for you to see if you might want you to go with us."

"Of course, I'll go with you and your mother," replied Endora, hugging her granddaughter. "Where in Britain do we need to go?"

"If James and Lily really are dead, then I think we should start by visiting Professor Minerva McGonagall at Hogwarts," answered Tabitha. "It's just past 10:00 p.m. in Scotland, so hopefully Professor McGonagall hasn't gone to bed yet."

"Why not go visit with Albus Dumbledore?" asked Samantha.

"Professor McGonagall always looked out for Lily and me while we were attending Hogwarts, and I think she'd be more likely to give me a straight answer," answered Tabitha. "Professor Dumbledore likes to keep too many secrets, and I don't trust him nearly as much as I do Professor McGonagall.

!

"Albus could you please answer the knock at my door," said Professor Minerva McGonagall, as she and her good friends Poppy Pomfrey, the Hogwarts school healer, and Albus Dumbledore, the school's Headmaster, were meeting in her office at the Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry.

"Ah, Miss Stephens, Mrs. Stephens, and Endora, welcome back to Hogwarts, would you please tell us the nature of your visit," inquired Albus upon seeing Tabitha, Samantha, and Endora standing in the corridor outside Minerva's office.

The reason we're here is because I received a letter from my best friend, Lily Potter, in which she wrote that it was only to be delivered to me upon hers and James' deaths, and that Sirius Black and I, as their son Harry's godparents, were to assume guardianship of little Harry," answered Tabitha.

"Miss Stephens, ladies, this past Halloween evening, the dark wizard calling himself Lord Voldemort discovered where the Potters were hiding, and sadly he made his way to their home and murdered both James and Lily Potter, "said Albus.

"What happened to little Harry?" asked Tabitha.

"After Voldemort murdered James and Lily, he tried to do the same to young Harry, however due to Lily sacrificing herself for her son; Voldemort's killing curse rebounded off young Harry's forehead back onto himself, thereby killing himself with his own curse," Albus replied. "However, I do not believe Voldemort is gone forever due to his use of untold dark rituals and magic."

"Is little Harry with Sirius, now?" asked Tabitha.

"No, Sirius Black is now in Azkaban for betraying the Potters to Voldemort," answered Albus.

"That's absurd; Sirius took the Unbreakable Oath when James and Lily named him Harry's godfather, so there's no way he could have betrayed the Potters," argued Tabitha.

"Sirius was the Potters' secret keeper, making him the only one who could have told Voldemort where the Potters were hiding," replied Albus.

"I'm telling you, you are wrong," said Tabitha. "I was the bonder when Sirius took the Unbreakable Vow that he'd never betray Harry. If he were the one to betray the Potters, he'd be dead now, not sitting in a cell in Azkaban."

"I assure you, Miss Stephens, I am most certain Sirius Black betrayed the Potters," replied Albus.

"Okay, suppose I believe you, which I don't, then where is my godson?" asked Tabitha.

"Young Harry was left with Lily's sister…" answered Minerva.

"Petunia!" exclaimed Tabitha. "My godson was left with Petunia. She hates magic, and she loathed her own sister and the ground she walked on. She and that abomination of a husband of hers will make Harry's life a living hell. Now, tell me where Petunia lives, so I can go get my godson and raise him as his parents wanted."

"I am sorry Miss Stephens, but I cannot tell you where the Dursleys live," answered Albus.

"Professor McGonagall, do you know where Petunia lives?" asked Tabitha.

"Miss Stephens Petunia Dursley lives…" answered Minerva.

"Stupefy," Albus said, pointing his wand at Minerva.

"No you don't, Father Christmas," said Endora, waving a hand and freezing Albus on the spot, as Samantha countered his spell with a twitch of her nose.

"Professor McGonagall and Madam Pomfrey please follow the three of us out into the corridor," said Tabitha. Once in the corridor, she added, "Professor, please think about a location in or around Petunia's house with Grandma, Mom, and me touching you, and we can do the rest including getting Madam Pomfrey there with us,"

"How is that possible?" asked McGonagall.

"It's a family secret, ma'am, and I asked you to come out here with us so Professor Dumbledore couldn't see what we do," answered Tabitha,.

"Okay, let's proceed to the edge of the castle grounds, so we can Apparate to the Dursleys' residence," replied McGonagall.

"This location should be adequate for us to leave from so that we are away from that old fool," said Endora.

"It's not possible to Apparate anywhere on the castle grounds," explained McGonagall.

"Not for us, it isn't, and what we do is not Apparating," replied Endora.

"These portraits you have along this corridor, can they talk?" asked Samantha.

"Yes, they can, and they're charmed to report what they see and hear to the Headmaster," replied McGonagall.

"Tabitha, you take the left, Samantha the right, and I'll take the wall opposite, and we can put the occupants of these portraits to sleep," said Endora.

"How long will they remain sleeping and how long will Albus remain frozen in my office?" asked McGonagall.

"The portraits will reawaken and the old fool will thaw out once we leave this facility," answered Endora.

"You are aware, that Albus will be sure to follow us to the Dursleys' don't you?" surmised McGonagall.

"The thought did cross my mind, and I do hope he does follow us," said Endora with an evil smile.

"Professor McGonagall, if you will please think of Petunia's house, and Madam Pomfrey please touch Grandma, Mom, or me, then we can take us all to Petunia's house," said Tabitha.

!

"I didn't feel a thing," said Poppy, as the five witches appeared in front of Number Four Privet Drive, Little Whinging, Surrey. "Normally when I Apparate it feels like I'm being sucked through a tube."

"That's because what we do isn't really Apparating," answered Tabitha. "We don't have a name for it, but we have the ability to disappear from one place and reappear at another place anywhere in the world within seconds."

"Samantha and Tabitha, this neighborhood is worse than the one you live in," commented Endora. "The houses here all look the same; Clara never would find the right house in a neighborhood like this. Thank-goodness Durwood had enough sense to buy a house in a neighborhood where the houses at least look different."

"Grandma/Mother, Daddy's his name is Darrin," said Tabitha and Samantha with indignation.

"Whatever," replied Endora nonchalantly. "We're here, so should we knock or should we just pop right in?"

"Grandma, I'm going to knock first, however, if they're the way I remember from Lily's wedding, and then you can have your fun with them, later," answered Tabitha.

"Tabitha, Mother doesn't need any encouragement," chided Samantha.

"Sorry, Mom, but they were just like some of Daddy's worst clients at Lily's wedding," said Tabitha, before knocking on the front door of Number Four, Privett Drive.

"Who the bloody hell could be knocking at this hour of the night," the five witches heard Vernon Dursley say from his sitting room. "At least the freak stopped crying and moaning, so they won't hear him."

"Why, hello Vermin, who exactly are you calling the freak…" asked Tabitha, after Vernon opened the front door only to have the obese brut slam the door in her face.

"Listen, tubby, I don't take kindly to having a door slammed in my granddaughter's face," said Endora, as the five witches popped/Apparated into the Dursleys' house.

"The whole effing lot of you, get your bloody arses the hell out of my house, you freaks!" bellowed Vernon.

"Gladly, Vermin," replied Tabitha. "Just tell us where my godson Harry James Potter, then we'll take him with us, and you'll never see him or us again."

"I don't know what you're talking about, there's nobody hear by that name," answered Vernon.

"Then, why my I ask are you nervously glancing at this little door under your stair?" inquired Minerva. Opening the door, she gasped before fainting on the spot, "Merlin's beard."

"Oh, Harry, what has he done to you?" asked Tabitha, running to the door and locking before emptying her stomach.