live or die, i
"Let's just play dead," Hailey Potter told her two brothers.
Outside, the sounds of fighting and spells being casted grew louder. Rian winced at a particularly loud Bombarda, and Hailey and Charlie flinched as what sounded like a large piece of debris crashed somewhere nearby.
"Except there's no one here," smart, perfect, Rian Potter (until today anyway, Hailey belated remembered) said in response, his tone cool and detached, "We can't just play dead when the Manor wards haven't been breached yet."
Yet, Hailey thought to herself, feeling a new wave of nausea hit. "You don’t even have any hope?" Charlie asked, his voice as scarred as Hailey felt.
It wasn't every day you found yourself with the bloody Dark Lord at your doorstep. Hailey had joked with her brothers about how impossible it would be to find the Manor Mid-War, but she'd never seriously believed it could happen.
"I can feel the wards breaking with every spell," Rian said in kind, "whatever He wants isn't outside-" where all the fighting is, Hailey thought grimly, "-but here. And unless it's some ancient relic they didn't get rid off for some reason, but doubt it, its us he's after," he finished, leaning back to rest on the reclining chair Hailey was going to steal one day when she's older.
Bad as the disownment fight Hailey undoubtedly eavesdropped on had been, no one could start and end a disownment in less then half a day.
(It would take both Hailey Potter and Charles Potter till they arrived at Hogwarts that year to comprehend just how bad it could have gotten for the two of them; for had James Potter really did as he said he would and disowned his eldest, the twins would have been devoured by the vultures in the political society.)
"Can we run?" Charlie asked.
"From him?" Rian asked back, his voice calm, as it always was. How he stayed so composed, especially after being at risk of losing his magic five hours ago, was beyond Hailey.
"He’d chase us to the ends of the earth," Hailey replied. "We’d be the Prewetts two point o," she continued, waving her wand idly, as though it could help against the Dark Lord or any of his Death Eaters. "Or the Bones, or the Longbottoms, or anyone he ever wanted dead!" She was shouting by the end, but neither Rian nor Charlie disagreed; her words rang true.
Hadrian muttered a prayer in respect to the fallen, or so Hailey assumed. It would’ve been rude to interrupt him, and by the time he stopped, other matters had taken over.
Charlie winced at a particularly loud crash. Hailey couldn’t help but feel some of his unnatural calm seep into her.
"How are you so calm?" She couldn’t hold back the question as the sounds of clashing spells grew closer.
"Die now or die later. We’re all meeting death at some point," Hadrian responded in his usual matter-of-fact, I'm about to lecture you, tone.
Hailey glanced at Charlie. Charlie looked at Hailey. Hailey gestured at him with her hands to do. Charlie looked at her once more, then at Rian, clearly trying to think of something to say. For all that Hadrian was different from their father James, both men shared a tendency to lecture on absurd topics and philosophical musings. Hailey had once been trapped for two hours with her father while he discussed the relationship between the nine arithmetic runes and necromancy. She for one, did not want to be trapped in another lecture.
"Ah," Charlie said in realization, continuing once he saw Hailey give him a thumbs-up, "your depression is back, ain't it?" he asked, dodging the pillow Rian threw at him in response.
Lecture averted, Hailey cheered inwardly, doing a victory dance in her mind.
"It’s not," Rian responded, "and in any case, I’d wager you two," he said pointedly, "have no reason to be worried. It’s me he’s after," he added, finality in his tone.
Indeed, Hailey thought bleakly. Every witch and wizard on the British Isles knew of the prophecy, and anyone worth their salt knew of the candidates that could be. Hailey and her brothers fit the prophecy, though they were born two years after Hadrian.
"How do you think them Longbottoms are doing?" Hailey asked idly, considering there was nothing else they could do. Neville Longbottom, Hailey Potter, Charles Potter, and Hadrian Potter-Black. She shared a birthday with Rian, and Charlie shared his with Neville.
By birth order, Hailey suspected it was really Rian he was after. But it wouldn’t matter; any pebble standing in the Dark Lord’s way would be vaporized.
"If he’s hunting us both," Rian said, turning a page in his book, "he won’t stop until he has guaranteed himself safety," he said, contradicting himself.
It had been quite the stir, Hailey recalled, for the unconquerable Lord of a Hogwarts' House to be given a prophecy; about his prophesied enemy and destined defeat no less. Hailey sometimes wished she was born far after the Wizarding War, but she wasn't that lucky.
"In other words," Charlie began, his voice shrewd and eerily reminiscent of Sirius Black when he was scheming, "he’d kill all the boys and let Hailey live if he feels like it."
Hailey flinched at the bluntness of the statement, but Rian merely nodded.
"Indeed," he said. As grim as it was, the Dark Lord would either kill them all or kill none. Hailey understood that, but it didn’t mean she had to like it.
Below Potter Manor, there was an old dungeon that had seen more use in days long gone by. Hailey knew from Uncle Sirius' stories that Black Manor had one too, recently used due to the war. Though unclear on the how and why, sometime shortly after Rian had been born, Sirius Black had gone from being a staunch ally of Dumbledore to something far more neutral—if leaning dark; even if he was their current Defense teacher at Hogwarts.
According to Hadrian, it had caused a lot of fights between their parents and honorary uncle. Hadrian somehow maintained his relationship with the man despite that, though he did almost get disowned for it today, Hailey mused.
Fleamont Potter had transformed the old dungeon into a secret escape route after seeing the effects of the war with Grindelwald. Hailey didn’t blame them; if not for the war’s strict hold on international Portkeys, she’d have been in Australia by now.
Her father had gone one step further, making tunnels under the manor that would serve them as emergency escape routes. They were neither far nor were they dead, but when needs come, Hailey knew they would work.
"Damn do I wish I was in Hogwarts right now," Charlie muttered.
"We can always go early and live in their walls," Rian offered in a tone that had Hailey and Charlie gaping at him in disbelief.
Hadrian merely turned a page in his book.
A scream echoed from nearby, whomever it belonged to Hailey didn't care. It was far to close. And with that, the happy harmonious atmosphere disappeared as soon as it appeared.
"We can play sleeping?" Hailey offered, sitting up from the bed and looking out of the single window high up in the room. It probably used to be a sewer drain or something similar, but Hailey didn’t care about the logistics; the fighting was happening on the other side of the manor, but hey at least they didn't lose yet from the sounds.
"And pray do tell," Hadrian started, not looking up from the muggle novel he had in hand all the time they hid in his room. Hailey couldn't want to feed his ego but even the Dark Lord, magically gifted as he was, would not be able to break through whatever wards Hadrian cooked up on his room easily. Not that any of them would risk it, but at the same time, the extra insurance would serve them well; even if all it did was buy time, "how in Morgana's name is that supposed to work?"
Hailey stayed silent, for she had no answer. So did Charlie, looking around the room like the muggle fiction bookshelf Hadrian had was very interesting.
"Thought so," Hadrian said, in the tone he inherited from their father, one that made it clear he judged your intellect and your refusal to admit when you were wrong. Hailey felt mildly offended, but she couldn’t deny the truth of his words, seeing as she was the one who came to that conclusion.
She laid back down, closing her eyes, lulling herself into a dozing state while the sounds of bloodshed and death reverberated from outside.
Her mother, Lily Potter, had a way of looking down on people—literally. Hailey remembered the way Lily judged everyone, especially at balls and political functions.
James Potter, on the other hand, always treated others like children, simplifying everything in a way that made them feel lesser. Hailey wished she could say she inherited something better, but instead, she had her mother’s eyes.
Hadrian James Potter was tall and lean, with a face that demanded attention—privilege, really. And he knew it. Even sitting down with his legs crossed, looking every bit like a Greek god, his presence couldn’t be ignored. When he judged you, he did it well.
"Did you do your potions essay?" Charlie asked, laying next to her, bringing some normalcy into their summer even with all the siege business happening outside.
"Nope, couldn’t be bothered," Hailey responded.
Snape was a right bastard, and his essays were just another form of child labor. Luckily, you couldn’t really fail Hogwarts unless you failed your OWLs, and Hailey was confident she’d be fine. Who cared about exams in the middle of a war anyway? Not Hailey Elizabeth Potter that's for sure.
"Charms?" Charlie pressed.
"Couldn’t be bothered either," she said with a shrug. despite how she was laying down on Rian's floor hard bed. This time, she really couldn't be bothered. War and all that tended to dampen one's mood when it came to schoolwork.
"How do you sleep on this thing?" Hailey asked, shifting uncomfortably on the hard bed. While Charlie and she had both gotten the bare necessities out of their rooms, Hadrian had the foresight and made the former dungeon's his own during the last two months they spent at the Manor.
"You sleep," Hadrian responded as though he was stating that the grass is green, the sky is blue, that the Dark Lord was sieging their ancestral manor, and failing, Hailey's brain gleefully added, for now, she had replied darkly.
"Hey Rian," one Charles Fleamont Potter started after a moment of silence, "how's the snake house since the war began?"
Hadrian gave him the look—the one that judged everything about your upbringing, your knowledge, your wisdom, and your parents' own upbringing.
"Hey!" Charlie exclaimed, "You don’t have to give me that look. I’m just asking," he defended himself.
"Like it always has been," Rian responded dryly, rolling his eyes.
"Ugh," Hailey said, "this is taking too long."
"I'm hungry," Charlie muttered.
"I need water," Hailey added.
"Same, sister. Same."
"You know what guys," Hailey said, "I'm going to sleep, wake me up if it looks like its ending," she said, getting her whole body on the bed and began to position herself, "or if it looks like we're about to be ended," she added, covering herself with Hadrian's age old but admittedly comfortable blanket.
Almost like a jinx, the next Bombarda they heard was about two doors down; Hailey would know, the entire floor shook with the force of the spell. She could hear it whenever their parents practiced spells in their room, two doors away. And even if it wasn't, it was still far too close.
"Bloody hell," she snarled, getting up and tying her shoes. Wouldn't be a fitting end for her to die via tripping on untied shoelaces; let that be another Potter's legacy.
"Tunnels?" Charlie asked, as though he was wasn't already activating the doorway to the tunnels while Hadrian was, Hailey turned around to look at what he was doing, only to be further bewildered as she watched him burn down the posters on his wall.
"Really?" she asked, half in disbelief and half in sheer annoyance.
"You would too," he said, and Hailey would, she realized, she really would make sure no one saw her room walls. Hadrian turned, chanted some more spells at the door and walls before grabbing the emergency backpacks they had half heartedly packed before; when the fighting had been just starting and both Rian and Charlie were as realistic as they were usually.
Hailey took hers without complaint, and with one last solemn gaze at Hadrian's former room, she turned and followed them into the tunnel, casting a Lumos as she did so. Live or die, she recalled, we all greet death in the end.
"Should we stay and listen?" She asked, voice steady despite her fears. They were safe in the tunnels, safe as anyone can be in modern Mid War anyway if you exclude neutral territory.
Charlie looked back in consideration, "We can but do we?" They both looked at Hadrian, awaiting his judgment like they were criminals about to be sentenced to a Dementor's Kiss.
"We might as well," Hadrian said, taking a seat on the floor as he did so. Hailey commended the house elves for keeping the tunnels clean; dusty as they were, she had yet to see a rat or spider and she'll take her victories when she could.
Outside, she could hear them coming closer. "Dodged a bad one there," she muttered to Charlie as they leaned on each other on the floor, it was too low, or muted perhaps, for them to make out anything useful; but what little they heard was not pretty. The floor was cold, everything was really; despite it being almost the end of August. Hailey almost regretted her decision to stay, and to leave Hadrian's blanket behind.
"Hey," Charlie said in encouragement, though Hailey didn't really know who he was encouraging, "give it a couple hours and we'll be back in Hogwarts."
Neutral territory, Hailey thought.
Along with St Mungo's and the Bank, everything else was essentially free for all in the war between the Dark Lord and Dumbledore. Surprisingly, they included Hogwarts in the official agreement despite it being Dumbledore's stronghold essentially.
Not that Hailey would trust it wholly, she doubted anyone did except those poor muggleborns, ignorant as they are to the whole fiasco going on. She could almost visualize Skeeter's next headline: Muggleborns Dead! Lord Slytherin to Reform New Blood Legislation! This year she would rather sleep in the dungeons with her brother then in the Gryffindor tower. But now was not the time for such thoughts.
"We're running out of time," Hadrian spoke suddenly, "we need to leave, now."
As they did so, Hailey had to flinch back from the sounds coming from the other side.
May Mother Magic be with whoever was still alive, because Hailey really did not want it to be her business.