Karina Potter, Aunt Marauder

Chapter 1

And that was how the world ended.
Not with a bang, but with a whimper. But not just any whimper. The whimper, of a one year old little boy, who sat in his pram, and watched as a dark wizard murdered his mother, as his father laying dead downstairs.

The only one who truly heard him and knew how he must have felt, was Karina Potter, his aunt Marauder. She had come into the house the day they were killed, took the boy from his pram, and took him home, to raise him as if he were her own. And that boy's name, was Harry Potter.

But of course, with this story, it began with a conflict the very same night.
Karina had brought Harry home and soothed him, as he cried still.

"Oh, Harry." She whispered, feeling tears prick her eyes again. "If only I could make your pain go away. You've only known your parents for a year and nine months, if you count those months. I've known your parents almost our entire lives, and I'm telling you now that I am certain that there is nowhere that they'd rather be than right here, comforting you." Knock knock knock! Someone was at the door. Karina quickly went to the door and used her foot to open it, revealing Hagrid at the door.

"Karina." He greeted. She smiled at him, trying to appear okay, but a tear fell from her eye and Harry was only now calming down from sobbing to whimpering.

"Hello, Hagrid. What brings you here?" She asked him. Hagrid looked a little somber.

"I uh, I, er..." Karina set the now sleeping Harry onto the couch and surrounding him with pillows so that he wouldn't fall off.

"Hagrid? What is it? Spit it out, already!" Hagrid sighed slowly.

"Well, Professor Dumbledore asked me to bring young Harry to his Muggle aunt and uncle, to live with them until he's old enough to go to Hogwarts."

"Lily's sister?" Karina gasped, remembering the Christmas she had spent with Lily the one year.

Her sister, Petunia, had been an absolute nightmare! She called her and Lily freaks all the time and constantly told Lily that she didn't belong at home. She had also only met Petunia's husband, Vernon, once. It was a day after their wedding, and she, James, and Lily had gone to give them a late wedding gift, since they weren't invited to the wedding. James hadn't wanted to go, but Lily insisted on attempting to be on good terms with her sister.

Of course, however, Vernon had hated them at once. At first, he hadn't let them into the house, then took out the vase that they had bought them and smashed it to little smithereens and refused to allow James to use Reparo to fix it and take it home, then kicked them out of the house. Petunia herself had simply been nervous the whole time. James had tried to shake her hand and she had jumped away from him as if he was handing her a bomb. And when Karina had accidentally tripped over the rug in the front room and hit her shin on the coffee table, Petunia had screamed so loud, their neighbor, Miss Figg came over to tell them that she had disturbed her cats.

"You want to send Harry over to those horrible people!?" She exclaimed. "Never! Never, in a thousand years! I'll stand before the Minister of Magic himself and tell him that I myself will become a Squib before sending Harry to them!" Hagrid sighed again.

"Well, maybe not the Minister of Magic, but Dumbledore is probably gonna show up."

"Let him show up!" Karina told him. "Because when he does, I'll be ready for him! I'm not sending Harry to live with those awful people when we both know that legally, if anything happened to Lily and James, Harry was going to come to live with me, his aunt, and Sirius, his godfather and future uncle!" Hagrid nodded, looking nervous. "So, you go ahead and tell Dumbledore, or McGonagall, or whoever is waiting to collect my nephew and take him to the Muggles, they're going to have to go through me!" Hagrid nodded again, almost rolling his eyes.

"I'll let them know."

MARAUDER

Later that night, Karina had managed to put together a makeshift cradle out of a laundry basket, two blankets, and eight pillows and lay Harry down for the night, just as she heard someone Floo Powder downstairs!

She ran down as fast as she could, shutting her bedroom door softly. When she got downstairs, she saw Dumbledore and McGonagall standing in her living room. She stood straight, blocking the upstairs.

"Let me guess. You've come to take Harry from me?" McGonagall sighed.

"Miss Potter, please-"

"No!" Karina interrupted her. "Harry is my nephew, and if you think that you are going to take him away from me, then you are sorely mistaken, professor!"

"Miss Potter, please!" McGonagall shouted. "Let Albus speak." She looked to Dumbledore. "Albus." Dumbledore nodded to her, then went over to Karina, who's hands were balled in fists.

"Where is he, Karina?" He asked.

"Like I'm going to tell you!" She growled, standing her ground. "You're just going to take him away from me!"

"Please, Karina. I would never dream of taking Harry away from you. You are one of the little family he has left." Karina unballed her fists. "Now, where is he?" She sighed slowly.

"He's upstairs, sleeping in a laundry basket. Its only temporary until Sirius gets back and can help me get his crib from the house." McGonagall looked to Dumbledore, and Dumbledore's eyes went to the ground. "What?" She asked them, worried. No response. "What's happened to Sirius?"

"Sirius... Has been taken to Azkaban." Karina nearly fainted.

"What?" Dumbledore nodded.

"Yes. I'm afraid he has been charged with the murder of numerous Muggles, including his once good friend, Peter Pettigrew." Karina fell back, astonished.

"No. That's not true! Sirius won't never..." Dumbledore crouched down and put his hand on her shoulder.

"I'm afraid it is. He was seen surrounded by the dead and was taken away immediately. It took many to capture him." That was when Karina noticed a folded piece of paper in his hand, and ripped it away from him.

"Miss Potter, I wouldn't-" McGonagall tried to stop her, but Karina opened it anyway, and saw a picture of Sirius, holding a sign with his prisoner number, fighting and shouting as men held him back. Tears filled Karina's eyes as she read his angry lips.

I was framed! It wasn't me! I need to get to Karina and Harry! Karina! She crumpled up the poster and threw it into the fireplace, starting a fire with her wand so that the poster caught fire, tears pouring from her eyes.

"Get. Out." She growled at the two professors. "Get out of my house! Leave me alone!" Dumbledore and McGonagall looked to each other, then apparated out of the room, leaving Karina to fall to her knees and sob. She'd just lost both her brother, her sister-in-law, her fiance, and one of her good friends in one night.

(And a rough a patch already, wow, tough break, Rina. But hey! The strongest start I've had in a while! And there's more to come!)