2.
Today was the day. The day when she would finally leave for Hogwarts. Of course, she would miss her father and Remus dearly, but she never had many friends in Forks. The only friends she ever knew were the Weasleys; the twins and Ron especially. She hoped to make new friends at Hogwarts, so she wouldn't have to sit home and read all the time, though it was something she loved doing. She was excited to play quidditch, even though she would have to wait until her second year unless she got lucky, not likely. She was excited for her lessons with Dumbledore, so she could control her banshee abilities.
"Hayden! Wake up! Remus will be here in an hour to take you to Kings Cross Station". Charlie exclaimed walking into my room, waking me up. He sat on the edge of my bed and smiled sadly before bringing me into a tight hug."I'm going to miss you, kid".
Hayden looked up at her father who had tears in his eyes and smiled."I'll miss you too, dad".Her dad gave her another quick hug before letting her get dressed and ready. She put on a light pink sundress and a jacket before going downstairs, not even bothering to tame her curly hair more than brushing it out slightly. Once downstairs she ate breakfast with her father and checked her luggage until Remus got to the home.
"Remmy!" I yelled and ran into his arms. He huffed as I squeezed him into a hug."Hi".
"Why, hello!" Remus looked down at me smiling and squeezing me just as tight as I was him."Are you excited? We have to leave in about ten minutes if you want to still have a compartment". He said loosening his grip on me and looking me in the eye.
"Yup! I'll go get my trunk". I ran up the stairs, hearing my dad and Remus start to converse. I made sure I had everything. Including my journal, muggle books, sketchbooks, and all the essentials. By the time I was done Remus was calling me down to leave.
I hugged my dad goodbye and grabbed Remus' arm; before I knew it we were in Kings Cross Station.
"How do we get on the platform?"I said as we walked up to a pillar between platforms nine and ten. I looked up to Remus to see him smirking.
"You have to go through the wall". He said smiling at me.' Is he serious?'
"Seriously?" I looked at the wall incredulously.
"Yes, better to do it at a run though, easier". Remus said giving me a small nudge. I took a deep breath and ran, closing my eyes as I got closer to the wall. Remus' hand on my shoulder running next to me the whole time.
The next time I opened my eyes I was in a whole different place, Platform 9 3/4. Looking in every direction you could see families hugging and bidding goodbyes to one another, others popping in with their children, few children were alone. I gasped in awe at the sight of the train, a beautiful scarlet red. Remus and I were farther from the pillar now, looking back I saw a boy with black messy hair and glasses run through, followed by a red-headed family I knew oh so well.
"I'll miss you Remmy". I stated squeezing him tight once again.
"I'll miss you too, little one. Remember to write to your father and I every once and a while, alright?"Remus looked down upon me with a sad smile, tears coming to his eyes.
"Oh, Remmy... don't cry. I won't forget about you or dad, never". I pulled away finally after a few last reminders. Most of which were to speak to Professor Dumbledore whenever I needed to. It wasn't long before I was leaving Remus and getting on the train.
Once on there were no empty compartments, much to my discontent. There was one compartment though, inside was Ron and the black-haired boy.
"May I sit here, with you both? Everywhere else is full." I asked, smiling at the boys, hoping I wouldn't have to keep looking for a compartment.
"Sure,Hayden" Ron said gesturing to the seat next to him. I sat down and introduced myself to the unknown boy.
"I'm Hayden Swan, and you are?" I asked shaking hands with the black-haired boy.
"I'm Harry Potter." Upon hearing this I gasped. He was the boy mom was talking about. I was brought out of my thoughts by Ron.
"What?" Ron asked me.
"Nothing, just, can't believe I'm meeting you." I didn't want to lie to them, and I was still in shock. Harry and Ron looked towards each other, Ron giving Harry an 'I told you' look, then turned back to me.
The rest of the train ride was spent getting to know each other and eating sweets. I told them of my muggle father, witch mother, and wizard godfather, most of which Ron already knew about. But I left out anything banshee related. I knew I would have to tell them soon, we were already close friends.
The girl, Hermione, from the book store, came in and asked about a frog, but I wasn't really paying attention. I had been having slight feelings as we got closer to Hogwarts, I would have to speak to Dumbledore when we arrived.
We arrived shortly after this, we all had our Hogwarts robes on and were walking towards Hagrid, a half-giant with a friendly appeal. He led us to the boats where Harry, Ron, and I sat with another boy whom I hadn't caught the name of. We were lead up to the beautiful castle that was standing tall in the moonlight. We stopped in front of a tall woman with black hair pulled back into a bun. Whom of which I came to know as Professor Minerva McGonagall, Teacher of Transfiguration. She lead us into the Great Hall to be sorted. I zoned out until my name was called.
"Swan, Hayden!" I looked at Dumbledore as I walked up, giving a look that showed I needed to speak to him after the feast.
I sat down on the stool and the hat was placed on my head. I heard his voice in my mind as he decided my place.
"Ah, daughter of Merilyn. Lots of potential. Intelligent, but loyal. Ambitious, yes, but not Slytherin. Brave, definitely. 'Outta be Gryffindor!" The sorting hat yelled it's choice for all to hear. The hat was taken off my head and I skipped to the Gryffindor table, smiling at Ron and Harry as I passed them, giving them a thumbs-up as I sat down.
Ron and Harry, as well as Hermione, all went to Gryffindor after me. That night I was escorted to Dumbledore's office by Professor McGonagall, where I spoke to both of them about the feelings I was getting. It was something darker than just death. Like it was broken, already dead, or just staying together by an outside source.
Professor Quirrell had just run in screaming about a troll in the dungeons. Percy was now leading us to the common room when I realized something." Wait". I grabbed both Ron and Harry's arms, stopping them from walking further.
"What?" The boys asked in sync with worried looks in their eyes.
"Hermione, she doesn't know about the troll. She's been in the bathroom since you made fun of her". I said looking between them and ending on Ron. He looked down looking guilty when Harry spoke up.
"We have to go get her!" We moved away from the rest of the first years and in the direction of the girl's bathroom.
That night we saved Hermione, fighting the troll senseless, since then we have all been very close friends. From there we went on to antagonizing Professor Severus Snape, though, in the end, we learned he was only trying to protect us. We learned of Nicholas Flamel and the Philosopher's Stone. During this time my feelings were becoming more significant, like the Philosopher's Stone would play a part in the death of someone at Hogwarts. I ended up telling Harry, Ron, and Hermione about my abilities.
I was in Potions class, sitting next to Hermione when the whispers became more significant. It was different though, I could understand them somewhat. they were angrily yelling in a hushed tone
"THE PHILOSOPHER'S STONE!" This made me look down at the notes Hermione had given me on the Philosopher's Stone that were peeking out from under my books. My eyes widen and I tensed.
"Are you alright, Hayden?" I heard Hermione whisper. I didn't respond I raised my hand.
"Professor? May I be excused?" I gave a pleading look and he nodded understanding what was wrong. I quickly grabbed my books and bags and exited the room at a fast pace. I could feel Hermione, Ron and Harry's worried looks on me as I left the classroom. I immediately ran to Professor Dumbledore's office. Giving the password to the Gargoyle, and running up the steps. I quickly knocked on the door before walking in hearing his "Come in!"
"It hurts, Professor". I said near tears, the voices were very loud now, I knew I would have to scream. Professor Dumbledore swiftly walked up to me taking hold of my shoulders before speaking.
"Scream. Hayden you must scream, it is the only way". He stepped away and covered his ears before I let out a loud, piercing scream. I saw Professor Dumbledore stumble a bit before regaining balance.
"What is it?" He asked, leading me to sit.
"It was different than the others, the voices sound broken, and I've been able to understand them since it became strong a few minutes ago". I confided in him about my feelings, the voices.
"What did they say?" He looked very serious as he sat at his desk, across from me.
"The Philosopher's Stone, the Dark Lord seeks". I stated, tears now running down my face. Thinking about the man who killed my mother hurt, both physically and emotionally.
That day made the rest just so much more terrifying. The voices were always there, giving me an endless headache. Though most of the time I could not understand them, some days while doing research with Hermione, I would get small fragments. They were mostly cautions and dangers, warnings none the less. I tried to distract myself from these warnings the best I could. It wasn't until Harry brought me to the Mirror of Erised. I didn't know what I expected to see in it, but it certainly was surprising.
"See it's right here Hayden." Harry opened the large door to an abandoned classroom. Inside was a tall mirror, The Mirror of Erised. we walked up to it looking into the reflective surface.
As I looked into it, a few feet behind Harry, I didn't see anything.
"What do you see?" Harry asked looking back at me before speaking again."Come on, Move closer or you won't see!" He dragged me a few feet closer. That's when I finally saw, my mother, standing right in front of me with her strawberry blonde hair, all too similar to mine, but more wavy than curly. I looked her in the eyes as she smiled down at me.
"Mom?" I asked her, hearing Harry gasp from next to me before backing up, giving me some space. I was crying now, I never got to meet her but I loved and missed her so much. She waved before fading away. I backed up into Harry as he hugged me tightly as I cried.
"She knew your parents you know, even knew we would be friends before we had even met. She died about a month before your parents. As banshees we can see the future sometimes, I haven't harnessed the ability yet though". I said looking him in the eye.
"Really?" He asked. He looked to be astounded, at a loss of words.
"Yeah, this ring, my dad gave it to me when I turned eleven. It was my mother's. He also gave me a letter, that she wrote before she left. She hoped I would meet you". I looked down at the ring on my left hand, then looking up to Harry with a sad smile. He brought me into another tight hug before we walked out of the room, under the invisibility cloak, and back to Gryffindor Tower.
It brought tears to my eyes thinking about my mom, I would always miss her.
It wasn't too much longer after that we were hunting down Professor Snape before he got to the Philosopher's Stone. We were wrong about Snape it was Professor Quirrell, from what Harry had said when he woke up in the hospital wing. Harry also told me that Professor Quirrell talked about me and my abilities. I thought it would come up though. Just before he died I screamed, finally being relieved of my constant headache.
I was now looking out the window of the compartment, we were maybe a half an hour out from Kings Cross Station.
"Guys?"I hear Hermione ask.
"Yes?" Ron says groggily.
"You'll all remember to write, right?" She asked timidly.
"Of course Hermione". I said smiling over to her, the boys agreed. We all smiled at each other, I would miss them. We were about as close as siblings now. We talked about our summer plans until the train arrived at the station. I felt bad for Harry, I stopped him before he left to his aunt and uncle.
"Harry, you're always welcome at my house if you need to get out of there, alright? Just send me an owl and I'll send my godfather right over to get you." I said seriously, looking into his eyes and grabbing him by the shoulders.
"Thank you, Hayden." He smiled.
"You're welcome, you're my brother now, gotta protect you." I laughed, he joined in before taking me into a hug."See ya later Harry." I gave him one last look as he gave a goodbye before leaving him to find Remus. Which was not a hard task as he was so tall. I ran up to him and hugged him before saying, "hello Remmy!"
"Hello Hayden, you ready to go, your father is waiting". He said grabbing my hand tightly.
"Yes, let's go". I smiled, before we apparated away, back to Forks.
I wasn't looking forward to being home the summer after second year as much as I was the year prior. Of course I was happy to see my dad and Remus, but Bella wouldn't be coming. She had told me in a letter that she wanted to stay with Renee, apparently Renee had gotten remarried very recently. It really hurt to hear that from her, we had promised to stay together since we were little. On top of that the school year had proven to also be terrible. Relatively early in the year the Chamber of Secrets had been opened, raising warning. I had gotten a few feelings that night, but nothing scream worthy. It wasn't until much later in the year that the feelings increased, the night that Harry, Ron, and I found out that Ginny Weasley, Ron's sister, had been taken into the Chamber.
We watched as the professors spoke about how to handle the situation of Ginny being taken into the Chamber of Secrets. Ron was very upset, understandably so, if it was Bella I would have felt the same way. It wasn't long before we had decided to make Gilderoy Lockhart help us into the chamber. We ended up getting separated after Lockhart tried to obliviate us, and it backfired. I was stuck with Ron while Harry saved Ginny.
"She'll be fine Ron, she's in good hands". I said as I helped him to open up an entrance in the rock that had fallen.
"I know, I'm just worried".
That was understandable. Ginny was Ron's younger, and only sister. That night we all came out alive and safe. The heir of Slytherin being Tom Riddle's teen spirit taking form from its place in his old diary, which had now been destroyed. Surprisingly, we didn't get expelled. Dumbledore asked Ron and I to send an owl to Azkaban to let out Hagrid. I decided I would also send a letter to my Uncle Sirius, though I had only met him a few times when I was only a year old and didn't remember him, I knew he was innocent.
"Dear Sirius,
I'm not sure if you remember me. I don't quite remember the few times I met you, as I was only one year old. My mother was your best friend, she made you my godfather, making me your goddaughter. I have heard stories of you from Remus and I know you're innocent. From what he says, you and James were too good of friends to do what everyone thinks you did. I do hope to meet you in person one day and remember it.
Love, Hayden"
I sent it off with Harry's owl, Hedwig, as Ron sent the letter for Hagrid with his family owl, Errol. It was that night, at the feast, when Hagrid returned, welcomed with cheers of joy.
I didn't expect a letter back from Sirius but I do hope he got it. We were a few minutes out from Kings Cross when I turned to Harry.
"My offer still stands, if you ever need to get out of that wretched house, you owl me, Remus will be there as soon as I get it". I hugged him before getting up and waking Ron and Hermione, we had just arrived at the station. We all said our goodbyes as we got of the train and went to our separate families.
"Hi Remus!" I yelled hugging him tight. He held me just as tight as he sighed in relief.
"I'm so glad you're alright Hayden". He kissed the top of my head before letting me go and looking at me."You're getting big, little one, your father will be pleased". said Remus in a teasing tone. He took my hand and we apparate back to Forks. I saw the cruiser on the grass and ran inside my home. There my father stood at the stairs, waiting for me. I jumped into his arms as he gave the same reaction as Remus, relief. So much had happened this year, so much danger, I was happy to be home. Dad looked at me as he held me in his arms, looking as if he didn't want to tell me something.
"I know Bella isn't coming this summer, dad." I looked down, sadly. He pulled me into another hug, he knew how much I would miss Bella, we had been so close until now.
Sirius Black sat in his gloomy, dark cell in Azkaban on a June morning. He was stuck to his depressing thoughts of his friends and family, James, Remus, Lily, Merilyn, Harry, and Hayden. He was upset with himself that he could not be there for his godchildren in their time of need. They had to have been about twelve to thirteen by now. He would have started crying if someone had not come around and interrupted his thoughts.
"Mail for you, Black." The guard said in a sharp tone, throwing the small envelope at him through the cell. Sirius scrambled to get the letter, picking it up and looking at it firmly, tears coming to his eyes when he saw who it was from. He tore the envelope open and read.
Dear Sirius,
I'm not sure if you remember me. I don't quite remember the few times I met you, as I was only one year old. My mother was your best friend, she made you my godfather, making me your goddaughter. I have heard stories of you from Remus and I know you're innocent. From what he says, you and James were too good of friends to do what everyone thinks you did. I do hope to meet you in person one day and remember it.
Love, Hayden
His tears were flowing freely now, his goddaughter believed in him, believed in the truth. He hoped too that he could meet her now. She seemed like a wonderful young lady from what he had read. Then and there, he knew his plan would have to work, he would get out of this wretched place. He would see his godchildren, he would have a family again. That's what he always wanted, a family who loved him. James, Remus, Lily..... and Peter, had been that for him at one point. That was until Peter ruined it for us all, he let fear get the best of him, taking Sirius' family. Sirius would have that again if it was the last thing he did.