Prologue
October 26th is an ordinary day for most everyone. With less than a week until Halloween jack-o-lanterns are being carved, costumes are being finished, and children (and their respective parents) are preparing for the sugar rush that can last weeks. However, in a small town called Godric’s Hollow, one woman is having an extraordinary, if painful, day. You see, in the wee hours of the morning, she welcomed her second child into the world, one of the few bright moments in a world falling into darkness. The woman and her family had been forced into hiding when a prophecy that had come to light put Lily and James’s first son into the middle of the war they are fighting, something no innocent child deserves.
More than nearly everything, Lily and James want to share their joy with all their friends, as well as what little family they had left, but with the war and the need for secrecy, only one person outside their small family knew. Which, quite unfortunately, is out of necessity more than anything else. Merely a day after Richard, their second son's birth, Harry, the couple’s older son at 15 months, started showing symptoms of one of the many early childhood diseases that is quickly cured with a charm or potion. And, although Harry’s illness is neither severe nor difficult to treat or cure, Richard is but a day old with the barest trace of an immune system, and the small family is confined to their house. This meant, that the family needed to find a way to protect Richard from the illness without endangering their other son, or each other until a healer could visit on November first. Altogether, the parents of this small family are becoming quite tired by the need for secrecy and the delay for anyone, even a healer, to be thoroughly vetted. However, they would never say anything and would continue to bear what amounted to house arrest if it meant their children are safe. For any decent parent knows that any cross to bear is more than worth it if it means that their child is safe, happy, and healthy. And Lily and James aren’t just decent parents, they are as loving and supportive as any child can hope for.
Which is why, on the evening of the 27th, Sirius, James’ closest friend, comes to take Richard to spend a few days with one of Lily’s muggle friends. Sirius, after all, owns a motorcycle and understands the basics of interacting with the muggle world. Not to mention, Lily’s friend, Mary Grayson, travels with a circus as an acrobat, so she doesn't so much as blink an eye when an owl delivers a vague letter with a note about owl mail being far more difficult to track, and would she please watch a newborn for a few days, as there was no one else Lily trusts, with a warning that maybe Haly’s circus should cut short its British tour and return to mainland Europe, at least until the terrorist attacks die down.
Mary agrees without the slightest hesitation. She and Lily had met years ago when Lily and Petunia had visited the circus with their parents. The girls had both been getting ready to finish up with school, and their parents wanted one of their last summers before their daughters started flying the nest to be memorable. Petunia hated it. Lily, on the other hand, had started talking to Mary, who had still been new to the circus. Mary had joined because her fiancé, John, was an acrobat. Mary, who had done gymnastics for years, wanted to learn how to use her skills to travel and perform with her husband. Mary and Lily had discussed everything from wedding plans for Mary, to how Lily’s new relationship with James was going. By the time the circus had closed for the night, Lily and Mary were incredibly close, almost as close as Lily had been with Petunia before the letter arrived when she was eleven. The closeness of sisters was something Lily had grown to miss in the years since.
So of course, when Lily, who was practically her sister in all but name, asked her to babysit on a moment’s notice, Mary agrees, and even with the vague warnings in the letter, trusts Lily and her judgement enough to convince Haly that Britain might not be safe, and perhaps it would be better to reschedule once things calmed down.
Which is why, on November first, in the aftermath of the terrible Halloween that cost Lily and James their life, a betrayal that cut so deep, and filled Sirius with a rage so powerful and overwhelming that he went after Peter before anything else, and while Hagrid and Dumbledore began to plan young Harry’s future, no one saw the letters tucked away, one addressed to each son from Lily. No one knew to tell Mary that Lily was dead leaving Richard an orphan. So, when November first comes and goes, then the second, and the third, and no letters are received, or messages passed along, Mary and John were forced to consider that whatever terrible thing that had been hinted about, had come to pass.
With no records of Richard’s birth or family, something must be done soon. A story is needed to explain their suddenly permanent guardianship of a newborn, preferably before questions are asked and police start getting involved. Which is why Mary and John fabricate the story that Richard is their recently orphaned baby nephew, which contains only the slightest hint of a lie, and that they are undergoing the process of legally adopting him. In fact, they end up submitting a birth certificate with themselves falsely listed as Richard’s parents. How else do you explain the lack of a birth certificate while adopting a baby? They then proceed to raise Richard as their own son, with love and support that rivaled Lily’s own. After all, it's exactly what Lily would have done if their situations had been reversed. And one day, when Richard is older, and when whatever dangers had taken Lily and James from their son is gone, Mary would explain everything.