Chapter One :
"James! Hurry up or we'll be late to the meeting!" Lily Potter yelled up the stairs.
"Coming!" Was the answering yell. Lily sighed in exasperation and smiled down at her twin children playing in the living room.
Lily and James had never been so happy when their twins had been born. Being rare among wand wizards paired with the fact that both children were powerfully gifted in magic despite Lily herself being muggleborn was a huge slap to the faces of those bloody purist bastards. She couldn't help but have her red hair fluff in smugness when those who toted 'my blood is purer than thou' could only have one magically gifted heir if they were lucky. Inbred twats.
Jasmine was the eldest twin, with black hair a shade darker than both James and her brother Nathan's, but still carried Lily's bright emerald green eyes that sparkled with intelligence. Sometimes Lily swore Jasmine could understand what was going on around her despite being just a year old, leading Lily to suspect her eldest possessed eidetic memory. From the little she read, babies with eidetic memory learned and matured much faster due to never forgetting anything; learning from most of their mistakes in one go. It certainly paired with Jasmine's rapid mental growth.
Nathan on the other hand was nearly a tiny clone of his father, with the same black hair and hazel eyes, with a little rounder face than his sister. Already he was the more adventurous of the two, constantly trying to crawl anywhere he could possibly reach and touch anything he could grav, which unfortunately included the stairs, silverware, and electrical sockets, much to the demerit of Lily's poor heart. Jasmine unfortunately wasn't much better, constantly trying to find new things despite boundaries and baby gates. Both cute little balls of trouble in the making.
The sound of baby's protests brought Lily back to reality, letting her see a sight that forced her to suppress a squeal at the cuteness.
Jasmine was currently trying to build a tower of sorts out of childrens legos with the assistance of Nathan. The latter building the base of the tower while his sister kept adding blocks to the top to make it go higher. Jasmine was protesting due to not being tall enough to make it go higher, stifling her dreams of making it reach the ceiling.
Lily chuckled at Jasmine's cute face of annoyance. Out of the two, it was obvious Jasmine was more intelligent, despite Lily's desire not to play favorites. She had already spoken her first word at four months. The fact it was 'Mama' had nothing to due with her favoritism at all. To add humor to the situation Nathan spoke his first word 2 months before their first birthday. It being 'Fly' had convinced her husband James that Nathan was born to be a quidditch player and had promptly taken every chance to let him fly on his toy broomstick, much to Lily's terror.
Jasmine, on the other hand, seemed to be a born Ravenclaw, She always seemed to be analyzing everything she looked at, her green eyes staring as if to see straight into other people's souls. Their godfather Sirius described it as 'creepy', but Lily simply laughed and told him it was because Jasmine knew he was lying when he said he was late for her birthday due to stopping a death eater, when he was actually just struggling to get out of the bed of a particularly clingy one night stand.
Lily turned to look up the stairs towards the main bedroom and therefore missed Jasmine levitating a lego block onto the top of the tower to Nathan's cheers of delight. Jasmine giggled at her success and Nathan grinned toothily.
James walked out of their room, climbing down the stairs and entering the living room with a smile as he took in the sight of their children playing. It was sights like this that reminded him of why he fought against Voldemort, the current dark lord, so fiercely. So his children wouldn't have to grow up afraid to leave the house due to some madman would try to kill them on the basis of a prophecy.
The day their children were born was the happiest of their lives. The day after was currently the worst. Dumbledore, sage of merlin, came to them and explained their children were possible subjects for a prophecy about the potential defeat of Voldemort- where a child would either kill or be killed by the darklord.
Denial only lasted so long. Thankfully Dumbledore had given them the chance to protect their children in the form of the Fidelius charm- a complex bit of magic created by Merlin to imbue a secret within a person's soul so that no one could discover, remember, or know about that secret unless it was revealed by the secret's host, a Keeper, willingly under no duress. The piece of magic so potent that even if one knew the general area and burned the entire village to the ground, the house would be untouched and unnoticed.
(A/n: Don't know if that's exactly how a Fidelius charm works, but I'm going with it, so oh well.)
Due to the persuasion of Sirius and Dumbledort, they had made Peter Pettigrew the Keeper. They agreed that it would be the ultimate 'made-you-look', due to no one even suspecting Peter of being the Keeper. Everyone would automatically assume it was Sirius, therefore leaving Peter in the clear.
James looked at his wife and gave her his famous Potter grin, "Well, Mrs. Potter, don't you look simply ravishing today?"
Lily rolled her eyes, smirking at his compliment. "Please, these bulky wizard robes are nothing but unflattering. Years and years of wearing and I still miss good old muggle pants." she muttered at the end.
James smirked. "Maybe, but you make wearing them hot for me."
She gave him a gentle peck and chuckled. "Such a charmer. Hopefully our son doesn't take after you and your history with women."
James grinned. "Hey, I got the best woman in the end so that has to mean something! Plus, us Potters always fall for redheads."
"Oh? Maybe we should set up a contract for Nathan to marry Molly's daughter, don't you think? First female Weasley in generations, a redhead to boot, why they're practically made for eachother in that case." Lily teased.
He grimaced. "Spare me. I don't think I could stomach the idea of being related to Molly. Sure she's a good person at heart, but far too..." he gestured with his hand.
"Overbearing?" Lily scoffed and shook her head. "Tell me about it. One more 'helpful' tip on how to raise my children and I'll strangle her."
James barked a laugh, pulling her into a gentle hug. Lily sniffed, "Plus, I'll never force either to marry someone they don't love or want to marry. No need to imitate the supposedly superior purebloods with their arranged marriages."
"Right." He smirked, "After all, isn't their right to choose their own paths in life the reason we're fighting?"
A soft smile spread across Lily's face as she turned around in James' hug, looking towards the playing twins. "I wouldn't want it any other way." she whispered, so only James could hear her as they looked at the twins cheerfully tearing down their built tower. Nathan tossing blocks all over while his sister carefully separated them into individual blocks.
The sounds of apparition pulled the couple from their peaceful gazes, James grinning as he turned to look out the window at his three oldest friends. Letting go of Lily so she could fuss over the twins a bit, he pulled open the door at their knocking with a grin.
"Padfoot!... Did you pee before coming over? I don't want a repeat of your last visit."
Remus barked a laugh and almost fell over chuckling at the memory. his tall, pale and thin body shaking as he struggled to contain his laughter. To his side, the portly Peter just shakily smiled, wringing his ever-sweaty hands together. Meanwhile Sirius' face was covered in exasperation at his old friend.
On their last visit a week ago, Sirius had needed to go to the bathroom badly, but the sole toilet in the house was occupied by Lily at the time. Thinking fast, he transformed into a dog and gone outside to pee in a bush. Unfortunately, Jasmine and Nathan has seen him from the window and sold him out the moment Lily appeared saying "Doggie pee!" in unison. The embarrassment on Sirius' face after her scolding caused her to buckle over in laughter, despite the bush being her favorite rose bush.
Sirius rubbed his hand across his face, and gave his friends a mock glare. "It's not my fault! I was this close to exploding and your wife wouldn't get out of the bathroom! And it was your kids who sold me out!"
That just caused the laughter to rekindle, made worse once they walked into the living room and Jasmine immediately giggled while pointing at Sirius "Doggie pee!"
James and Remus fell onto each other in laughter, while Nathan echoed his sister joyfully "Doggie pee!"
Sirius just groaned while blushing, turning away from the twins and headbutting the wall. Even Lily chuckled at the continuing humiliation. No one noticed Peter looking around nervously, no chuckles escaping his shaky, unsteady smile.
Eventually, he cleared his throat and spoke quietly. "Shouldn't you guys get going? The Order meeting is in five minutes." He gestured to the clock visible through the kitchen doorway.
James and Remus slowly caught their breaths while Lily went back to fussing over the twins. Smiling at the sight of his twins, James nodded in agreement with Peter's statement. "Yeah. We should get going." Walking up the twins he kissed both on the top of their heads before sighing. "It's not fair." He ruffled the hair of his kids, much to their delight and laughter. "It's Halloween and they should be out trick or treating with the other children. Not being cooped up in the house due to Voldemort, much less without us due to that emergency Order meeting."
Peter shuffled, his smile ever present. "Don't worry. I'll watch over them. Nothing will happen to them while I'm here."
James smiled at his friend, patting him on the shoulder, missing Peter's flinch as he passed him. "I know. Thank's Peter."
Lily said her goodbyes to the twins, giving them lots of kisses before joining everyone except Peter in the large brick fireplace, the crackling orange fires not harming them in the slightest. She forlornly looked at her children, already missing them, before shouting "Hogwarts!" with the others and throwing the floom ash at their feet. A bright flash of green fire later and the four adults were gone.
Peter let out a shuddering breath at the sight of the empty floom. The flames quickly shrinking and shifting back to a calm, mundane orange. He quickly put up a ward across the floom with shaking hands so the ones who just left wouldn't appear at an inopportune moment. After staring at the burning fireplace for a moment, he then turned around and looked at the twins, suddenly gaping in shock as took in the sight before him.
Nathan was clapping his hands and babbling cheerfully as Jasmine had blocks floating around her. They clumsily collided as she tried to create several shapes in the air, like a pyramid, a cube, and a long stick. Nothing complicated, but still Peter felt a shiver go down his back.
'Wandless. And pure magic.' Peter almost fainted when Nathan tried to copy his sister and levitate a single block before losing concentration and it fell to the floor. Jasmine giggled and dropped all the blocks, causing Nathan to cheer in babyish joy.
Peter could only stand there with his mouth agape at the sight before coming back to himself as Jasmine started to levitate more blocks to the cheers of her brother.
'There's no doubt. That one must be the child of prophecy. Who else could have the power to match the Dark lord?' He thought fearfully. Glancing at the clock about to strike ten before he quickly shuffled his way to the door and left the building, closing the door behind him and taking deep breaths as he pulled up his sleeve, exposing a dark, strangely shaped mark on his forearm, unaware of Jasmine tilting her head as she looked through the large window at Peter standing on the lawn.
He hesitated for just a moment before pressing his wand into the mark, causing him to hiss in pain as the skin around it seemed to burn black as he called his master.
There was a brief moment of silence before the crack of apparition was heard, and a tall, black robed and hooded figure appeared before him. Peter fearfully fell to his knees and bowed.
"Well Tell me the secret, Wormtail!" Voldemort hissed. He waited long for this night, unable to risk Peter telling him the secret beforehand lest Dumbledore sensed a change in the wards showing they were broken. Peter whimpered infront of his Master, "The Potters live in Godric's Hollow."
The contempt in Voldemorts eyes briefly was replaced with unholy glee as a house finally appeared before him in it's all it's soon to be destroyed glory. He stretched out his senses and felt the Potter twins on the first floor, before spotting one, the female, peeking at him nervously through the window. His eyes widened slightly at the feel of the twin's potential. One was quite powerful, promising a wizard of Dumbledore's strength before fully grown, but the other, the one staring through the window at him, sent shivers down his spine.
The child's magical aura was far more potent. If she continued to grow normally, she would far surpass even Voldemort himself. His face twisted in fury. He was the Heir of Slytherin! How could some half-blood bastard daughter of a pathetic mudblood whore be able to surpass him.
The girl left the window in fright as Voldemort all but shoved Peter out of the way. "Begone, Wormtail. I have business to attend." He didn't even look at the sniveling, retreating coward as he pulled out his wand. The only emotion he held to the rat was contempt. Gryffindor, the house of the brave and noble! Hah! Peter was nothing more than a coward who betrayed his closest friends, behold the house of lions! He'll have to kill the pathetic betrayer at the soonest opportunity. What use was a man who would betray even him, the dark lord, if there was even the slightest hint of him losing? Voldemort would kill him now, but couldn't risk Dumbledore sensing Peter's death and arriving before the twins were naught but corpses.
The crack of Wormtail apparating away was followed by the wrenching crunch of the Potter family's door being blown to splinters, pulling a shriek from the younger twin, the boy.
Voldemort lifted his wand and aimed it at the twins, a maniacal grin across his face. "Never again shall I enter Death's realm." A small shudder passed through him at the memory of beholding a part of death when he tried to summon the entity, the mockery and callous disregard of his pride and superiority by the mere portion of the entity causing his face to twist further as a green light started to appear on the tip of his wand. The prophecy of a child being born to kill had hung over his neck for too long, his increased attacks on anyone connected to the Order of the Phoenix to prevent any such child from being born had failed, with the Longbottom boy and Potter twins still being born.
Tonight, however, he would correct that failing personally. "With this, my immortality... is assure-"
*clunk*
Voldemort blinked in surprise at the light impact, looking down and spotting a child's large lego brick on the ground. He tilted his head up at another impact, another brick falling to the floor to no effect as the elder twin magically threw legos at him, standing infront of her crying little brother protectively.
A moment passed, another lego brick colliding with Voldemort's chest before he erupted into a guttural snarl at the welp "AVADA KEDAVRA!"
A green spike of energy lashed out from his wand, and the girl put her hands infront of her in panic. The spike slammed into an instinctive shield, cracks spreading across its surface as the child fell on her bum in pain, tears gathering in her eyes.
He snarled again, lashing out with his wand and sending a concentrated sickly green beam of hate and murder at the twins, slamming into the girl's shield as she cried in pain and her brother screamed behind her. Tongues of green light seeped through cracks, lashing at the children. A long tendril struck the boy across the face, causing the skin from above his right eye to his chin to bubble and burn as blood seeped from it as the boy's screams reached another octave.
The girl's shield collapsed, and Voldemort's mouth twisted in glee at the taste of victory as the beam of death his the girl directly in the forehead- and vanished. Voldemort blinked once. A green flash lit the house and Voldemort felt his sternum crack, ribs shattering from an impact before he screamed in pain, not noticing he was only a spirit as his body became ash instantly as he was thrown from the house.
He only righted himself seconds later, his incorporeal form smoking as he stared at the town he was ejected from in unholy anger. "She... reflected the curse? She destroyed my body? Me!? MINE!?" A ghostly howl of rage echoed in the night, silencing the ambient sound of insects and night owls. He was only alive due to the horcruxes, but without corporeal form, he could not even cast magic. "No matter. My followers will come, and I will have new flesh before the week ends." A hideous snarl etched itself like cracks in stone through his face. "AND THAT STUPID. WHORE WELP WILL SUFFER."
Whatever animals were asleep nearby, all had awoken, shivering in fear.
Meanwhile, Jasmine had passed out from over-exertion, and Nathan was now only whimpering from the pain of his scar as he scrawled up to his twin, vainly trying to shake her awake. And when she wouldn't, he started crying for his parents, knowing his sister was in pain.
Beneath the black bangs of Jasmine's hair, a hair thin, festering red lightning bolt shaped scar glowed softly before returning to normal.
In World Detail Explanation | (For when plopping in story would be an info dump)
I have not the slightest clue how magic works in the original Harry Potter outside of 'wands' and 'be specific' plus latin. But it's magic, so how detailed can you even really get? I could look up a youtube video that does a deep dive into everything known about HP magic, I'd be surprised if one doesn't exist, or I could pull 90% of it out my ass.
I'm doing the latter.
So, Magic (at least magic on a personal level) in my own little multiverse (more of that later) is mainly reliant on two things, Intent and History, with Will and Belief being massive supporters and fueled by Mana. In a nutshell, Magic can theoretically be done with just Intent and Mana alone, as long as one has enough Will and Belief to accomplish it. This is stupidly hard. As hard as lifting a rock as tall as yourself with not but your tongue. So, you cheat.
One thing you can do is amplify your belief through something like a ritual, which you decorate with symbols and runes, practices and materials, dancing while chanting words that feel powerful to you the entire time. Fun side effect of doing this is that by doing this, especially if you're observed by others doing it, you're subsequently increasing the ease of casting the same spell by twofold- through History and reinforcement of Belief.
Fast forward merely a couple centuries and you've got people flinging fireballs from little slips of paper written and drawn with blood that include all those funny squiggly shapes you drew haphazardly on the ground to move your boulder. they may even give up a couple reagents or whatever while chanting those words you found powerful to increase the effect of those spells!
Give it a thousand years or so and even those materials you once used, and even alot you didn't that others decided had enough magical importance to believe and invest their power in, and now people are running around with tiny sticks made of said materials and shouting words of languages long-dead to cast spells. Forshame, all your funny squiggles have been nearly forgotten or locked away in ancient vaults for being 'too-powerful' or 'too-dangerous' or some other crap.
What this does mean, however, is that casting free-form or true magic is hard. With a bloodline descended from a long lineage of powerful, freeform wizards you may have some chance, but even with a buttload of Mana (Also called Reality Juice) you'd be hard pressed even light a candle without a wand. If you were say, muggle born and had no knowledge of magic whatsoever nor any reason to think it exists, you probably wouldn't even be able to suggest lighting said candle with a ton of practice and wand use. (Fun Fact; this is part of the reason muggle born wizards struggle- a history of nonbelief or even anti-belief is relatively common among them, and adds to the suppression from the established community who tote around their superior ass-sticks with firm belief that mud-bloods are trash. Who knew.)
And that's basically my take on Magic in-universe. The different variants of it are basically due to different groups of people thinking different things were cooler a long, long time ago. Of course you can mix and match stuff, if you don't have a hate boner going for others, anyway... Or that the history of said magic system specifically excludes outsiders....
It gets messy fast.
I'm just going to drop in here to mention that Magical Marvel gets very good. unfortunately it is a mixed bag at the start. Interesting setup, horrible continuation. After one specific event though the whole novel shifts gears quite drastically and becomes a rather interesting story. I think it is worth the read
(also the bad part should be ended by Ch. 10 or so and they aren't that long so I don't think it's too much of a time investment to try the good part)
I got to the time-traveled establish hogwarts in camelot bit of it before dropping. May have to do with my strong dislike of the common/modern take on time travel+fate, but I just couldn't get into it despite how much I liked the premise of the first few chapters.
@AzureFeather oh I see. Then the novel doesn't change too much in quality. The accumulation of her powers was extremely badly done so I thought that is what you took issue with
@Nahmate I mean, don't get me wrong. That's a bloody issue in of itself. I just tried not to let it stop me
@AzureFeather yeah, in the original you can clearly see the author get better and better as the story goes on, but even though the time-travel lets the author fix some glaring plotholes AFTER doing the whole circle, the novel could do with some rework on the first half.
On that note, might want to put a link to the original novel on the synopsis just as a nod to the original author