Lumos (Book One)

Prologue ~ The Hogwarts Letter

A red-haired woman rushed up the stairs into the nursery, clutching a baby boy and girl tightly to her chest. She set them in a cot while she blockaded the door as best she could.

The girl fussed. "Shh, shh, shh," the mother whispered to her infant daughter, "It's alright, Sammy. It's alright. We're going to be fine."

Right as the words left her mouth, the nursery door flew open. A black-cloaked figure pointed his wand menacingly towards the mother and her children.

"Step aside, Lily," he growled.

"No! Leave them!" she screamed at him, shielding the twins who were now huddling to each other with her own body. "Take me instead! But leave my children be!"

"I said," the cloaked figure roared, "step aside!"

"No!"

The cloaked wizard's lip twitched slightly. "Fine. Have it your way. Avada Kedavra!"

And with that, the ginger woman fell to the floor in a flash of green light and was no more. The man stepped over her corpse and stood in front of the cot, grinning evilly at the two crying children.

He raised his wand at them. "Avada Kedavra!"

Green light flashed in the room as the spell bounced off the girl's head and onto her brother's before it ricocheted back to the cloaked man. He screamed an inhuman sound, and was no more.

The spell carved a lasting mark on the faces of the two siblings, the girl's more prominent as she was hit with the full force of the magical attack unlike the boy.

Soon, another man came into the nursery, this time one the infants somehow knew they could trust. He grimaced at the woman's body as he stepped past her to collect the children.

"I promise," he whispered past his silvery-gray beard, "you will be safe, Harry James and-"

"SAMANTHA AVERY O'REILEY!"

The young girl screamed as she fell from her bed. She quickly scrambled up. "Yes Mum?" she asked meekly. She was a bit short for her age, but not by much. Her long red hair complimented her green eyes. She hated her first name - Samantha - and instead preferred her middle name of Avery. Only her family called her by her birth name.

Her mom stood in the door, shaking her head and laughing. "I swear, the animals could be stampeding around the house and you'd sleep right through it. It's time for rounds Birthday Girl."

Avery grinned as her mom left. It was her thirteenth birthday.

Forgetting about the nightmare, which had been recurring every night for two months now, she ran to her wardrobe and quickly changed. She was anticipating lots of presents after making her morning rounds.

"Why hello, Flannigan!" Avery cooed at an old Clydesdale. "You behaving yourself now?" He snorted at her - she took that as a yes - and dipped his large head into the feed bucket she was holding.

Avery patted his nose before continuing her rounds, though Flannigan was her favorite. He looked intimidating but was a real sweetie at heart. He took great interest in the scar that maimed her face, even licking it when it stung to try and ease her pain - even though he just covered her face in horsey slobber. She had just made her way inside when her dad called her into the kitchen.

She ran at break-neck speed to see what she was being called for. Her four older brothers, three older sisters, mom, and dad sat solemnly at the table (the top of said table completely covered with presents, mind you) together. A single envelope was clutched between her dad's shaking fingers.

"What's the matter, Dad? Is everything all right with Aunt Marlene?" Avery asked worriedly.

"T-This came in the post for you today," he croaked, reaching out the envelope to her. She warily took it and examined every detail.

A wax seal held it shut. On the back was... well... what she guessed was an attempt at her name.

Samantha Avery Potter

The Bedroom Closest the Stables

"Samantha Avery Potter?" she scoffed. "They put the wrong surname on here. You're sure it's mine?"

Her parents nodded slowly. She eyed them and her siblings before ripping into the parchment envelope.

"'Miss Samantha Potter,

We are pleased to inform you that you have been accepted to Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry.' ? Is this a prank? If it is it's extremely stupid."

"It's not a prank, Baby Sis," the oldest of the brothers mumbled. He looked up at Avery slowly. "Why don't you sit? We'll explain."

She inched towards the empty chair and sat.

Her mom took in a deep, shaky breath. "Samantha, sweetie. You... You're adopted."

~ ~ ~ ~ ~

A/N

Yay! Prologue up! I wrote this part before the character list, so that's why there's no names for the family members in here. No I will not fix it. They will be mentioned a bit in the story so if you need to you can flip back to the character list.

You might want to read the character introductions.... there are super minute details that you might miss out on if you don't! ;)

I'm sure you guys will love this as much as I do.

~ Kisses!