Strangers in the Night | r.j.lupin

The Past

The next time Elvera Felicio's feet tapped on the floor of the Leaky Caldron a lot had changed.

She did, in fact, take up Lily Evan's offer of comfort when she joined Hogwarts many, many times. The older girl had become the solid rock foundation she felt she needed for her first year in Slytherin as a child who was not of pureblood. Elvera was bright and confident in her work, but she was not a stranger when it came to being shy and Lily managed to bring out her strengths in order for Vera to be able to become as head strong as the Gryffindor when progressing through her years.

When James and Lily had decided to get married, an action that admittedly caused confusion for the young girl at the time, she was invited to the wedding despite it's small size. She knew this was a big deal, even though she was only 12 at the time, as she was beginning to fully comprehend the dread of war and the meaning of the young Potter's wedding being as concealed as possible.

Vera stayed for the ceremony and long enough to hug and kiss Lily, whom she was certain was the closest to an older sibling she was ever going to get, but her family did not stay for the entirety. James and his parents were pleased to see the young girl, not having seen her since her trip to Diagon Alley before her first year, but the air of the wedding was darkened by Mr Potter's lowered voice discussion with her father before they departed, and she knew that the situation was only getting more dire.

That was the last time she saw Lily Potter before she went into hiding.

They'd sent letters back and forth every week or so, Vera feeling glad to know that despite wizard and witches disappearing in every direction, she still had her dear friend.

And then they stopped.

Eupheus had heard from the Potters that Lily was pregnant, and this is why they'd suddenly gone into hiding and Vera understood. Although all she wanted was to speak to her friend, she also only wanted her safety. The Potters had died from Dragon Pox soon after informing the Felicio's of the pregnancy and in a way Vera was glad, as they seemed to die happy knowing their son had a loving wife and a son on the way.

July 31st of 1980 is when she received the first scrap of anything from Lily and how desperately she needed it. It didn't say anything, any clues onto their whereabouts or their safety, but Vera concluded the picture was evidence to their temporarily safe situation. It was moving, the photograph, but only slight movements came from the slight flickering of tiny eyelids and the clenching of miniscule fists. On the back displayed in Lily's perfectly scripture handwriting said:

"Harry James Potter, born 31st July 1980"

This was all young Elvera needed to push herself into her new school year and she carried it with her everywhere, deciding then that she would master all angles of magical crafts in order to protect this baby with her life, despite not knowing when she would eventually meet him if she did at all.

The decisions to come home for the October half term of her fourth year was prompted by the increased murders among muggleborns and 'blood traitors'; it was a proud but grim feeling knowing her father was doing everything in his power to prevent the seemingly inevitable rising of the dark wizard and did not want to risk not seeing him if the worst became true.

They'd laughed in the car when he collected her from the station, using muggle devices was not uncommon to them due to her mum, and Vera found car rides relaxing as she was able to relate it to the feeling of her being on the Hogwarts Express which was a feeling she clung to so much.

They'd also laughed as they pulled up to their small but warm home which was suddenly struck with a shroud of dark magic. Vera had stopped short, but Eupheus pressed on with his build up of experience in situations such as this. But this was not a situation he had experience with, not really.

The sickeningly bright yellow paint on wood of the door had seemed stripped of all life, shredded parts of wood looking like whatever beast had attacked it had taken it's happiness as hostage.

She didn't need to see what was inside, she knew. She felt her father's sobs course through her own cries of panic she didn't even realise she was making.

Stumbling along the steppingstone path, she could hear Eupheus calling for her but she wished nothing more than to turn around and go back to where she had come from. The sight did not decrease this feeling. 

Rounding the corner she saw her father hunched over her mother's unmoving body with blood splattered like misdirected paint on the walls around her. This was a brutal attack, one she knew had come at the cost of her mother being a squib.

"Vera, we have to get her to St.Mungo's, she's bleeding," Eupheus choked, trying to cover his wife's wounds with his hands, but she was not bleeding, she had bled. The life drained from Regina Felicio's face would not be returning. "Elvera, can you listen please? Please she needs help, we need to move her- why aren't you moving?"

She couldn't bare to look, her father's grief stricken face was too much to deal with and she promptly vomited on the floor and then collapsed into a hyperventilating state. Eupheus remained with the notion his dead love needed to be moved, not taking in the dark cut in her jugular that Vera knew had finished the kind woman.

As the next days passed with every minute feeling like an eternity and a millisecond all at once, she yearned for the comfort of her redheaded friend but received no word. Until she did.

The Potters had been killed by Lord Voldemort himself, but the boy lived.

The world had dropped, but Harry had survived. That was the only news worth clinging to.

Fast forward to August 1993, Elvera sat opposite the table from an exhausted, aged looking Eupheus. No mother, no Lily and the only semblance of new hope she'd had in many years.