Chapter Text
May 8, 1981
Most twenty-one year old couples with a one year old son two days before Mother's Day are planning something special to do for said mother. But Lily and James Potter are at home with no plans.
In little Harry Potter's room, Sirius Black is playing with the young boy. Outside of the parent's bedroom is a pacing James Potter with a worried expression on his face. Inside the room is Lily Potter and her friend Mary MacDonald, who is a healer in the maternity wing at St. Mungo's Hospital for Magical Maladies and Injuries.
"Come on, Lily," Mary says. "Push, one more push!"
Lily lets out a painfully loud and long grunt. A second later, Mary face breaks out into a smile as a small cry fills the air. Lily let's her head fall back, relief filling her. Mary takes the small baby into the bathroom to clean her up. When she comes back, the little baby is wrapped in a sage green knitted blanket.
Mary hands the baby to Lily, "It's a girl."
Right then, James bursts into the room, going right to Lily's side. "Did I hear you right, Mary? A girl?"
She nods, "I should get going, but congratulations, both of you." Mary leaves, and a minute later they hear the door slam.
"Rosalie," Lily whispers, staring down at the baby. "Rosalie, to follow the flower names in my family."
"And Lily, after her mother," James says. "Rosalie Lily Potter."
James slowly sits next to his wife, his face full of pride. "I have a daughter. We have a daughter."
Lily looks up sadly. "What about the prophecy, James?"
"What about it?"
"What if something happens to us?" the redhead asks. "Then Harry and Rose will be alone. We can't do that to them."
"Don't think about that, Lily. Even if something does happen to us, you know our kids will never be alone. They already have so many people that care about them."
"I'm just so scared."
"I know, but we'll get through this."
Before Lily can answer, another person bursts into the room. Both James and Lily look up from the sleeping baby. Sirius is standing there with Harry in his arms. Harry, just so happens to be wrapped in Sirius black leather jacket. "Name the baby Sirius!"
Lily laughs. "For one, this is a girl. And two, we already named her Rosalie."
"A girl," Sirius asks, is eyes widening. "Awesome."
"Hey, the kids can go with Sirius if anything happens to us!" James says excitedly.
Lily's eyes widen, "Great..."
- - -
October 31, 1981
Lily sits with her head against her husband's shoulder. In her arms is a baby that's almost six months old. You can already tell she'll look like her mother. She has very little hair, but it's red. Her green eyes are as bright as her mother's. In other words, she looks exactly like her mother it's almost scary.
In James's arms is their son Harry who is busy playing with his father's wand, which is sending purple sparks everywhere. Together, the four is just a happy family. But when James looks up, he sees a hooded figure gliding towards their house.
He knows immediately who it is. James stands abruptly. He takes his wand from his son, then pushes Harry into his confused wife's arms. He starts guiding his wife towards the stairs. "Lily, take the kids and go!" James says. "It's him! Run, go! I'll hold him off-"
Lily's eyes widen, not wanting to leave her husband, but does as she's told. She nods, but rushes upstairs and into the children's nursery. She places her two kids in the crib.
She goes back to the door, locking it. Then moves all the furniture in the room but the crib in front of the door. She goes back to her kids and kneels, looking between the crib bars at her two children.
"Mummy loves you, Daddy loves you. Remember that," she says to the two babies, then turns to Harry. "Take care of your sister, Harry. Protect Rosie, Harry, protect her at all costs. And remember, neither of you are ever alone. You have uncle Siri, uncle Remmy and aunty Alice. I-"
There's a loud boom and the door flies open, furniture crashes into the walls. A hooded figure moves forward, almost in slithering.
Lily steps in front of the two children. "Not Harry and Rosie, not the kids, please!" Lily begs.
"Stand aside you silly girl, stand aside now," Voldemort hisses.
"Not Rosie and Harry, please no, take me, kill me instead-" Lily begs, fearing her children's lives.
"Stand aside!" he snarls, pointing his wand at Lily.
"Not my kids!" Lily cries. "Please... have mercy... have mercy..."
"Avada Kedavra!"
There's a flash of green light and a scream. Immediately, Lily's limp body drops to the floor.
Little Rosalie and Harry both cry loudly. While Harry holds onto the bars, staring at his mother, Rosalie lays in a little bundle.
Voldemort turns to Harry, "Avada Kedavra!"
The two children are crying even worse than before. Harry's forehead is bleeding, and little Rosalie is just very confused. Harry hugs his sister tightly.
Neither child pays any attention as a man with greasy hair and a hooked nose comes into the room and cries over their dead mother. He probably would've stayed longer if he hadn't heard a door burst open and a loud voice say, "James! NO!"
The greasy haired man stands and disapparates. A large and hairy man bursts into the room. "Lily," the man says sadly.
The man picks up both children and blunders out of the destroyed house. As he turns the corner, he's immediately met by Sirius Black.
"Hagrid! What's going on? Where's Lily and James?"
With a pained voice, Hagrid says, "They're dead, Sirius."
"Dead? No..."
Hagrid tries to comfort the tall male, but it's no use. "Hagrid, let me take them. I'm Harry's godfather, and with the help of Remus we can take care of Rosie and Harry."
"I wish I could, Sirius. But I'm on strict orders from Dumbledore. He wants 'em kids ter be with their aunt and uncle," Hagrid explains.
"Fine! Fine, Hagrid, take my motorcycle, it'll be faster."
Sirius leaves the three with his motorcycle. Hagrid clambers on, and flies toward Little Whinging with a sleeping Rose and an almost sleeping Harry.
Many hours later, Hagrid lands the motorcycle on Privet Drive, in front of number four. Standing before him is Minerva McGonagall and Albus Dumbledore. "Hagrid," says Dumbledore, sounding relieved. "At last. And where did you get that motorcycle?"
"Borrowed it, Professor Dumbledore, sir," he says, climbing carefully off the motorcycle as he spoke. "Young Sirius Black lent it to me. I've got them, sir."
"No problems, were there?"
"No sir - house was almost destroyed, but I got them out all right before the Muggles started swarmin' around. She's been asleep the whole time, while Harry fell asleep as we was flyin' over Bristol."
The two professors lean over the two bundles of blankets. Inside one, just visible, is a baby boy, fast asleep. Under a tuft of jet black hair over his forehead they could see a curiously shaped cut, like a bot of lightning. In the other bundle is a girl, still an infant, sleeping peacefully, not knowing of any troubles in the world.
"Is that where-" whispers Professor McGonagall.
"Yes," says Dumbledore. "Hell have that scar forever."
"Couldn't you do something about it, Dumbledore?"
"Even if I could, I wouldn't. Scars can come in handy. I have one myself about my left knee that is a perfect map of the London Underground. Well - give them here, Hagrid - we'd better get this over with."
Dumbledore takes Harry as McGonagall takes Rose in their arms and turns toward number four, Privet Drive. "Could I - could I say goodbye to them, sir?" asks Hagrid. He bends his great, shaggy head over Harry and Rose and gives each of them what must be a very scratchy, whiskery kiss. Then, suddenly, Hagrid lets out a howl like a wounded dog.
"Shhh!" hisses Professor McGonagall, "you'll wake the Muggles!"
"S-s-sorry," sobs Hagrid, taking out a large, spotted handkerchief and buries his face in it. "But I c-c-can't stand it - Lily an' James dead - an' poor little Harry and Rose off ter live with Muggles-"
"Yes, yes, it's all very sad, but get a grip on yourself, Hagrid, or we'll be found," Professor McGonagall whispers, patting Hagrid gingerly on the arm as Dumbledore steps over the low garden wall and walks to the front door. He lays Harry gently on the doorstep, takes a letter out of his cloak and tucks it into Harry's blanket. He quickly walks back to the other two, takes Rose, and does the same. When he returns once again, the three stand there for a full minute and look at the two little bundles; Hagrid's shoulders shake, Professor McGonagall blinks furiously, and the twinkling light that usually shines from Dumbledore's eyes seem to have gone out.
"Well," says Dumbledore finally, "that's that. We've no business staying here. We may as well go and join the celebrations."
"Yeah," says Hagrid in a very muffled voice, "I'd best get this bike away. G'night, Professor McGonagall - Professor Dumbledore, sir."
Wiping his streaming eyes on his jacket sleeve, Hagrid swings himself onto the motorcycle and kicks the engine to life; with a roar it rises into the air and off into the night.
"I shall see you soon, I except, Professor McGonagall," says Dumbledore, nodding to her. Professor McGonagall blows her nose in reply.
Dumbledore turns and walks down the street. On the corner he stops and takes out his silver Put-Outer. He clicks it once, and twelve balls of light speed from it into their street lamps so the Privet Drive glows suddenly orange and he can make out a tabby cat slinking around the corner at the other end of the street. He can just see the two bundles of blankets on the step of number four.
"Good luck, Harry and Rosalie," he murmurs. He turns on his heel and with a swish of his cloak, he's gone.
A breeze ruffles the neat hedges of Print drive, which lies silent and tidy under the inky sky, the very last place you would expect astonishing things to happen. Harry and Rosalie Potter roll over inside their blankets without waking up. One of Harry's small hands closes on the letter beside his and Rosalie sucks away at her binkie, neither knowing that they were special, not knowing that they were famous, not knowing they'd be woken in a few hours' time by Mrs. Dursley's scream as she opens the front door to put out the milk bottles, nor that they'd sped the next few weeks being prodded and pinched by their cousin Dudley... Neither could know that at this very moment, people meeting in secret all over the country are holding up their glasses and saying in hushed voices: "To Harry Potter - they boy who lived! And Rosalie Potter - the girl who survived!"
- - -
Now, lots of crazy things have happened to Rosalie Potter in her life.
Like when she was five and fell off her bike, crushing half the bones in her hand. Rosalie ran home crying, and Aunt Petunia took her to the hospital. When they got there, though, the bones had somehow healed.
Or the time when she was eight, her cousin Dudley and his buddies decided it would be fun to hold Rose down and shaved all of her vibrant red hair off at recess. Rosalie walked around the rest of the day, looking just pathetic. But the next day, it had all grown back.
The weirdest thing though, was when she was ten. And it wasn't even her fault, it was Harry's. It just so happened to be Dudley's eleventh birthday.
Every year for his birthday, he gets to do something special, and Mrs Figg our neighbor watches Harry and Rose. She hates going to Mrs Figg's house. She's a mad old lady. Her house smells of cabbage and all she does is show them photographs of all the cats she's ever owned - which is quite a lot.
But this year, she couldn't. She had broken her leg, and nobody else could watch the Potters. Harry and Rose suggested just leaving them at the house, but of course their aunt and uncle believed they'd burn the house down, so that was a no. Eventually, they decided to just take them with, not that the Potter siblings really minded. They've never done anything fun before.
But the real trouble started after lunch when they went to the reptile house. Dudley quickly found the biggest snake in the place. But for Dudley, the only problem was that the snake asleep.
After several attempts to get the snake to move, Dudley decided it was boring. After he'd moved away, Harry and Rose moved in front. Slowly the snake opened its beady eyes and raised its head until it's eyes are level with theirs. And then it winked, literally.
Rose knows it's weird, but Harry started talking to the snake, and by the looks of the snake was talking right back to him. Dudley's friend Piers, saw the interaction, and when he called the Dursley's over, Harry and Rose were shoved to the ground. One second the two boys started leaning against the glass, and then next, they'd leapt back with howls of horror.
The glass in front of the boa constrictor's tank had vanished. The giant snake was uncoiling itself rapidly, slithering out onto the floor. People were screaming and running toward the exits like lunatics.
They got in a lot of trouble, to say the least. They're locked in their cupboard for almost the whole summer. When they were finally let free, they spent most their time outside.
The next day, though, when Harry went to get the mail, there was a letter addressed to him. Uncle Vernon burned the letter. For the next few days, hundreds of letters came for Harry, and he didn't get a single one.
Uncle Vernon decided it was time to get away, so they went to a hotel, where a hundred letters were delivered. That morning, they left for somewhere even more isolated. They went to an island with a single shack on it. Uncle Vernon bolted the door shut. Rose was sleeping peacefully on the floor, when there was a loud thump at the door.
A second later a giant smashed the door down. Uncle Vernon threatened the giant with a gun, but the giant took the gun and tied it in a knot. He gave Harry a chocolate cake, since it's now his birthday, and said his name was Hagrid, the 'Keeper of Keys and Grounds at Hogwarts.' He explained to both Potter's that they were wizards and gave Harry his acceptance letter, telling Rose she'll get her's next year. Then he told them how their parents really died. With Uncle Vernon protesting, Hagrid took Harry and Rose from the shack.
The next morning, they set off to London to shop for Harry's school supplies. Their first stop in London was the Leaky Cauldron, a pub where everyone recognized the Potter's, and wanted to shake their hands. After, they arrived at Diagon Alley. Harry does all his shopping, Rose finding the whole experience just great.
On the way home, Hagrid told them why they were really so special. Then gave Harry his ticket to the Hogwarts Express.
Harry's last month at the Dursley's before he left was not fun for either of them. When September first finally arrived, they went to King's Cross. Uncle Vernon dumped all of Harry's belongings in front of the platforms, and gave Harry a nasty grin. Rose made sure to give Harry a weepy goodbye, and was dragged away by the Dursley's.
As they were heading out, Rose noticed a family of redheads rushing by. There were four boys, a little girl Rose's age, and the Mum. The Mum said something about Muggles.
Right then, Rose knew that despite this being the longest she'll have been away from Harry, somehow everything was going to be just fine.