In Another Life...

17

━━━━༺❀༻━━━━

The weeks that followed the birth of Harry James Potter had Ascella thoroughly exhausted.

As expected Marlene found out about the birth of Harry and was there within moments of discovering it.
At first she was upset nobody dragged her out of bed for the birth of her nephew, but all was quickly forgiven when she was handed the small bundle of scarlet colored blankets.

When Ascella wasn't nursing or playing 'pass the baby', she was catching up on rest. With a newborn though, that was hard.

James easily became a wonderful dad like his had been, though Ascella was terrified. She was terrified to be the monster her mother was.

She was reminded almost hourly that she was doing a good job and that she wasn't her mother. Ascella couldn't help but worry, despite her friends kind and encouraging words.

Soon things began looking up.

Once Ascella had gotten over her self-deprecating thoughts, she began enjoying motherhood.

Then Dumbledore dropped a bomb on the young families.
It was too dangerous for them to be on the front lines, now that their sons were born, the dark lord would be coming for them - their families.

He suggested going into hiding, temporarily.

In Dumbledore's terminology, 'temporarily' could be three days, weeks, months, or even years. Being inside Godric's Hollow for the first two months of Harry's life almost drove the Potter's insane. . . What would temporarily do?

No good at all, that's what.

But they'd do it. . . For Harry.

━━━━༺❀༻━━━━

The remainder of 1980 found the Potter's inside of their home. Their friends came to visit for the holidays, as per the new usual, though the celebration wasn't the same.

In mid January of 1981, the Potter and Longbottom homes were put under the Fidelius charm for additional safety.
The secret keepers were unknown to those around them. It was a good thing too, because they had huge priorities.

Keep their sons alive and away from Voldemort.

January through August, there was no problem with wither family, aside from the fact James and Ascella were itching to get out of the house.

It'd been the three of them to celebrate Harry's first birthday in July, Sirius had gifted him a toy broom that only hovered a foot off the ground, but he positively traumatized the cat.

They'd lost four good friends in August: Marlene, the Prewett twins, and Lily. Fabian got her to escape, and she did, only to be killed 3 days later by the same death eaters.

The place that had once been their sanctuary, was now their prison and they yearned to escape. With each passing day, they convinced themselves to stay within the boundaries of the Fidelius charm.

If they so much as stepped a foot onto the street, death eaters would be on them immediately. They wouldn't take that risk, no matter how insane they felt.

The only fresh air they got was from opening the window, and by the time mid September rolled around, the only thing they had to look forward to were the upcoming holidays.

Sirius cornered James and Ascella on the first of October with his concerns.

"It would make sense that I'd be your secret keeper, it doesn't take a Ravenclaw to piece it together. . . Let them think its me, keep the real one a secret."

"Pads-" James began, but immediately got cut off.
"No, listen, it's for the best. Just trust me, alright?"

"Fine then, what do you suggest?" Ascella questioned quietly, glancing over to where Harry was napping on the couch.

"Get Wormtail over here. They'll suspect me before they ever suspect him. . . Tell nobody, not even Dumbledore."

"Alright then. . ."

Within the hour, the secret keeper had been changed and Ascella felt this pit of dread growing in her stomach. It was that same feeling right before a large adrenaline rush. . . She didn't like it one bit.