The unknown daughter

Chapter 1: Halloween night

A small village is shown. All the lights are out and a soft fog has settled over the houses, creating a scary atmosphere. Slowly the camera drifts through the streets, coming to a stop infront of the only house that still has lights on. 

James turns to his parents: "Isn't that Godric's Hollow?"  His mother is holding his father's hand in a tight grip: "Yes, it is." Her eyes never leave the screen as she talks to her son. She has a feeling. A terrible feeling, that whatever they are about to see is going to be something bad. Fleamont draws Euphemia in closer to himself by the waist and holds her to him. It seems that he could feel it as well.

An older James Potter can be seen, playing on the living room floor with an adorable girl in a deer onesie. The camera moves around the room to get a better look at the girl's face. 

Everyone in the Great Hall gasps. The girl has soft red hair and fairly pale skin, what makes her stand out however is, that one of her eyes is the same soft brown as her father's, while her other eye has the same icy grey that the Black family is so well known for. Confused glances are exchanged. What was up with that girl's eye? 

James looks over the future generation once more: "If she's my daughter, why isn't she here? Shouldn't she have come as well?" Harry's face falls at the mention of his sister and Lily sharply inhales: "No. She isn't...Is she?" The boy-who-lived looks at his parents in sadness: "We told you that terrible things happened in the future. My sister was one of the many that didn't make it out alive." 

Silence comes over the room. Some look at the Potter family in pity, other's in triumph and some wonder what could possibly happen for so many people to die. But while the Potters, Lily and the rest of the Hall are busy with handling that information, no one notices the two red-haired twins exchanging glances and hiding their smirks. Only Hermione catches on, making eye-contact with the two and grinning right back. 

The father-and-daughter-duo are playing on the floor. Mischievous grins on their faces and a well-known twinkle in their eyes. Their game is interrupted when a red-haired woman enters the room, holding a small toddler in her arms: "James. Please stop what you're doing, it's bed-time." The grown man pouts, but stands up nonetheless. 

He's about to pick up his daughter, when there's a hard bang on the door. Fear flashes across the parents faces. Their eyes lock and they meet in a hug. "It's him." "I know, Lily-flower. Hide the kids upstairs. I will hold him back as long as I can." A tear rushes down her cheek: "I love you, James Potter." "I love you too, Lily Potter," is his instant reply. 

The small girl tugs on his sweatshirt: "Daddy? What's happening?" The Potter man kneels down, so he can look his daughter in the eyes: "I'm so sorry, bambi, but you have to listen to me now, okay? I need you to go upstairs and hide with mommy. Whatever happens, don't come out. You hear me?" The child nods, feeling the urgency rolling off of him in waves. Her hands move around his shoulders, hiding her face in his neck while she hugs her father as tight as she can: "I love you, daddy." James Potter hugs her back just as tightly, knowing this is probably the last time he gets to hug and talk to his oldest child: "I love you too, bambi." 

Then he draws back, carefully pushing her towards the stairs, where he goes on his knees once more. His brown eyes burn into the mismatched one's of his daughter: "Never forget that I love you, okay, bambi. I will always be here for you, even if you can's see me. Now be strong for daddy." Tears roll down her cheeks, not understanding what's going on, but knowing that something isn't right: "I will be strong for you, daddy." 

He turns to the door, as another bang sounds: "Now go to your mother." The small red-head takes a few steps up the stairs, only to hesitate and turn back to her father once more: "Daddy?" Hearing the desperation in his child's voice, he turns his head: "Yes, bambi?" "I'm glad you're my daddy. I love you." And before he can answer, she runs up the stairs and joins her mother in the bedroom.

Lily draws her only daughter into a tight hug: "Mommy loves you, Cassie. Mommy will always love you. And I will always be here-" "even if I can't see you. I know, mommy. I love you too and I'm glad that you're my mommy." A choked laugh escapes the older red-head: "Good girl. Now go hide in the closet for mommy, okay?" "Okay." 

No sooner has the closet door closed, there's a loud bang from downstairs and a second later a bright green light fills the darkness of the night, a thud following a second after. 

Cassiopeia watches from the small space in the closet, as her mother holds a hand over her mouth. She watches as her mother stands up straighter, when footsteps move up the stairs. And her eyes don't leave the scene when an ugly man steps into the room and addresses her mother. 

"Get out of my way, mudblood, and you may be spared." A fierce look overcomes her mother: "No." "Get out of my way. I will not be repeating myself again." "No. Kill me, if you must, but leave my children alone!" 

There's the bright green light again and then her mother is laying on the floor unmoving. Cassiopeia quiets her sobs behind her hands. An inner battle breaks out in the young girl, when the man moves towards her brother. She has, after all, promised her father and her mother that she would hide. But she can't let him do, whatever he has done to her parents, to her brother.

Another step closer to her brother is all she needs to make a decision. She runs out of the closet and takes a protective stance infront of her baby brother: "Leave him alone!" "Get out of my way, you foolish girl!" But she doesn't move. No matter how much her hands are trembling, no matter how many tears roll down her cheeks and no matter how much she wants to run, she holds her ground. 

The man raises his wand once more: "Avada Kedavra." The green light shoots towards her and Cassie closes her eyes, scared of what it will do. But nothing happens. For a moment, there's nothing but silence. Then the man begins to scream in agony, making Cassie open her eyes. 

The three-year old watches as the ugly man dissolves to dust, before it moves towards her in incredible speed. Her eyes close again, when the dust sweeps through her and then everything goes black. 

The camera slowly ascends showing one of the children laying on the floor, holding her wrist close to her chest as blood slips through her fingers, connecting with the dust that now descends over her. Both her blood and the dust glow lightly, only just bright enough that someone who is watching closely would be able to see it. Meanwhile, the other child is crying in his crib, a scar on his forehead that wasn't there before. But differently from his sister, he isn't bleeding. The scar looking as if it had been there for ages.  

Sobs echo around the Great Hall. Somewhere in the middle, all their friends and family have begun to gravitate towards James and Lily. The two of them now in the middle of a cuddle pile. All of them hold onto each other as if their life's depended on it and despite how uncomfortable to two are, to be squished like that, they are thankful that they have something to ground them.

The younger students are holding onto each other or the person closest to them, being horrified by what they have just seen. Even the older students are thankful that they have someone to hold onto. 

Minerva McGonagall can be seen wiping her tears away, her other hand occupied with holding the one of Sprout. 

A break is called, so that everyone can collect themselves. Giving the people around James and Lily and the two of them themselves time to come to terms with what they have just seen.