Fifth Year with a Twist

Prologue

It was one o-clock in the morning on July thirty first, and in a ward in St. Mungo's hospital laid Lily Potter, with her husband, Jams Potter, by her side. Beside Lily's bed were twin cots each holding a newborn baby; one a girl, one a boy.

Lily had gone into labour at seven thirty, and after a six-hour labour she had given birth to twins at exactly 12:01 in the morning, making it the thirty-first.

"Have you thought of any names for them yet?" asked Lily quietly.

"No," answered James.

Lily had delivered two healthy babies. Both James and Lily were expecting twin boys but were pleasantly surprised when a medi-witch handed Lily a little bundle in pink blankets.

Both of them were carbon copies of their parents, the only difference between them being the eyes: the baby girl had James' eye colour and the baby boy had Lily's eyes.

"How about Harry?" suggested Lily.

"Harry, hmmm?" mused James, looking at his son, "Yeah, that sounds right. Harry James Potter."

The proud parents had agreed to use their own names as middle names for their first two children.

"Lily, what do you think of Danielle?" asked James, the name popping into his head.

"Danielle Lily Potter. That sounds perfect." answered Lily, yawning tiredly.

"Get some sleep, sweetheart," replied James, kissing the top of his wife's head.

Lily fell into a light sleep a couple of minutes later; James sat besides his children's cots protectively and didn't fall asleep until an hour later.

***

Life was as good as it could be for Lily and James. The twins were celebrating their first birthdays, and they had planned a small get together with some of their closet friends, namely Sirius Black, Remus Lupin, and Peter Pettigrew.

Harry and Danielle were perfectly happy, healthy, normal babies. Well, as normal as magical babies could be.

Sirius Black had been named the twins' official godfather, in the eyes of the law. Remus Lupin had been named Danielle's godfather, unofficially due to the fact that he's a werewolf.

Lily was preparing some snacks for the party when her fireplace sprang to life, and out tumbled Sirius and Remus, followed shortly by Peter.

"Hello everyone!" greeted Lily, abandoning her cooking.

Going over to the three of them she hugged each in turn just as James entered with a baby in each arm.

"Hey Padfoot, Moony, Wormtail," greeted James.

The twins shared a quick look, then Harry started to squeal with delight.

"Pa'foo!" Harry smiled brightly at his godfather.

Danielle, quieter then her brother, settled for trying to worm her way out of her father's arms and into Moony's. But James wouldn't have it, and as he handed Harry over to Sirius he tightened his hold on Danielle. Upset at not getting what she wanted, Danielle scrunched up her face and began to cry, rather loudly.

"What did you do James?" asked Lily, watching her daughter cry.

"I didn't do anything! She just started crying after I handed Harry over to Padfoot." James frantically tried to sooth his daughter, "Shush, shush, don't cry, it's alright."

Sighing, Lily had an idea,

"James, let Remus hold her."

Bewildered as to exactly why his wife thought that would work, but not wanting to antagonise her, James handed Danielle to Remus. Once she realized she was with the person she wanted, she promptly stopped crying and began cooing happily.

"Well I never..." commented James, "How did you know that would calm her down, Lily?"

"It seemed obvious. Harry was with his godfather, it only made sense that Danielle would want the same thing," answered Lily.

The twins' birthday party went quite smoothly after that. They were each given lots of soft toys and storybooks. Finally, tired, happy and full, Lily and James said goodbye to their friends, and settled the twins down for the night.

***

Midnight on Halloween night found two babies crying as a curse rebounded off them leaving nothing but a small lightning bolt scar. Both their parents were dead. Little did they know that they were now famous, The-Boy-Who-Lived and The-Girl-Who-Lived.

A street blown apart, muggles and one wizard dead, and at the centre of the crater a man stood, laughing as though he had gone insane.

Somewhere on the outskirts of a small town a man sat down, crying for his lost friends.

In the morning the twins' lives would be transformed from happy, carefree, and loving to mistreated, uncared for, and abandoned.