"One of your children is destined to fall at the Dark Lords command"
Anna Diggory had always thought herself a strong woman. The world around her had been crumbling for almost as long as she could remember. All around her, people were dying - poor Benjy Fenwick, and Fabian and Gideon Prewett, and so many more. But Anna had remained resilient in the face of war. She carried them with her like a beloved family heirloom and continued to push forward into the darkness.
But now, a moment of dark epiphany. The bottom of her stomach seemed to have vanished into the air. She was numb and the world around her had gone mute. The words 'no, no, please no,' echoing in her head like a broken record.
Anna sat motionless at the circular table in Fortunes for the Misfortune. The candles adorning the table casting menacing shadows of the obscure chattels that decorated the darkroom.
"I'm sorry," a witch with tangled black hair whispered. She wore a headband with a half-moon hanging just above her wildly unkempt eyebrows. Her raspy voice had mirroring sentiments Anna had been forced to say to so many of her friends over the years.
"There has to be something you can do," Anna pleaded, finally looking up from her pregnant stomach to meet the onyx eyes of the witch.
"I told you last week, I can only see what the future has in store," the woman stated. She reached out to hold Anna's trembling hand. As she did the tattoos that covered her body scattered, seeking refuge beneath her clothes. Anna watched as a magically tattooed owl fluttered up her arm, finally resting on her exposed collarbone. It's yellow eyes watching Anna.
Anna inhaled deeply, she pulled her eyes away from the owl. "I won't bury one of my babies," Anna said, her voice was steadier than it had been in a week.
The witch met Anna's fierce gaze, her bushy eyebrows pushing downward. "Your husband made it clear he didn-"
"He's not here," Anna snapped quickly.
Amos had been Anna's whole world. But her world was about to grow by two, and she would not allow his cowardice to be the downfall of one of her unborn children.
"It will come at a cost," the witch replied, each word escaping at an excruciatingly slow rate. Anna nodded as she reached for her coin pouch, but the witch dismissed her.
"It won't be you who pays the biggest price," she said, her eyes fixated on Anna's stomach. Anna's hand recoiled from the witch and rested her hand on her stomach.
"W-what exactly are you saying?" She asked, her hands shielding her children like an iron wall.
"Anna," the witch began, her eyes meeting Anna's again. "What you're asking for...it could give your children the tools to escape their fate...but it's dark magic. This type of magic will have...side effects..."
"Will it harm my children?" She asked.
"I can't be sure, but," the woman paused, her eyes narrowing, "I don't believe it will harm the children."
"Then I don't care!" Anna barked. Any side effect would be worth her children's lives. Their lives were the only thing that mattered to Anna.
The witch nodded and slowly stood up from her table. She glided through the room and disappeared behind a weathered wooden door.
When the witch emerged from her storage room she was holding a small glass vial containing a thick dark liquid. Anna reached for the vial, but the witch waved her off slowly before placing the bottle on the table.
She reached for a tomato-sized pincushion sitting on a wooden chair beside the table. Plucking one of the pins from its home, she pricked her finger, letting the dark blood run down her finger.
The witch reached for the vial and carefully removed the cork from the top. She stared pointedly at Anna for a moment, before squeezing her pricked finger, allowing trickles of blood to flow into the vial.
"A little bit of seer blood goes a long way, my dear," the witch uttered quietly. Anna watched the vial hungrily.
The witch handed Anna the vial, she smiled sadly at the expecting mother. "You'll have to drink it all at once," she instructed.
Anna held the potion to her lips, hesitating for a moment.
Any cost her children would pay would be worth it if they could both live.
And without a second thought she tipped the vial up, and the thick liquid flowed down her throat.
Anna never told Amos of the measures she took to protect her children.
They were born two months later. A healthy boy and a girl. Cedric and Fiona. Two perfectly healthy babies. It was all Anna could have hoped for. She thought the witch had been wrong. There would be no ultimate cost her children would have to pay.
And while the world around them continued to crumble at the hands of Voldemort, Anna and Amos had created a peaceful oasis for their little family. Though always, in the back of their minds, they wondered which of their children was destined for the gruesome fate.
And then, a miracle. Three years after their birth the Dark Lord was vanquished. Thwarted by a child.
The wizarding world began to heal, and Anna and Amos could finally rest easy, knowing both of their children would be safe.
Cedric had started showing signs of magic first, Amos was beyond himself with pride when his four-year-old levitated his toys into his crib for the first time.
But Fiona showed no signs of magic, while her brother's magic only grew.
Anna could never tell Amos what she had done, he'd never forgive her, and she feared he would take her babies. So Anna kept her secret to herself.
She waited and waited for Fiona to show an inch of magic.
By the time the twins turned six Cedric was wreaking havoc around the house on his training broom, while Fiona spent hours in the garden, talking to the plants.
Every morning she dragged her copy of the Beedle and the Bard to the garden to read to the flowers.
Then it happened. While Fiona read to the plants they began to grow. Seeds Anna and Amos had never planted began sprouting from their garden at an alarming rate.
Fiona was a witch.
Anna and Amos threw a garden party for their neighbors to celebrate their children's magic. The Fawcetts' brought their daughter Sarah to play with Fiona and Cedric, while the Weasley's brought their entire litter much to Amos's displeasure ("we'll have to move! I won't have my daughter sneaking off to the Weasley household on holiday!"). Amos had even invited Xenophilius Lovegood and his wife Pandora, they brought their daughter Luna.
The war was over, and life was good.
Anna felt as if she had somehow managed to achieve the impossible: a perfect life, with a perfect family.
And the tragedy struck.
Fiona woke early one morning screaming. She couldn't see.
Anna and Amos did everything they could to fix her, but the healers at St. Mungos were at a loss. No potion or spell could repair what she had lost.
Anna knew.
She had done this to her daughter.
A month after Fiona went blind Anna returned to Fortunes for the Misfortune. She pleaded for the witch to undo the magic that had stolen Fiona's sight.
"You-Know-Who is dead! Whatever powers the potion gave her she doesn't need! Take it back! Fix my baby!" Anna demanded when she stormed into the shop.
The witch just cackled a humorless laugh at her request.
There was nothing Anna or the witch could do.
Fiona was destined to pay the cost for a fate that Anna believed was no longer possible.