Beyond the Darkness

Prologue

July 2011

Author's Note:  This story follows the events of the Harry Potter movies, not the books.  I do not own Harry Potter, just the idea for this story and Sasha James, Cassius, Allison, and Cyrus.  (There may be more, but you get the idea...lol.)

It was summer.  The sun was blistering hot.  But the weather did not bother Allison.  She was happy to be outside.  More importantly, she was happy to be in her secret place.  She was in her own backyard in a rocking chair on the back porch of the house she had grown up in on Spinner's End.  She called it her "secret place" because that is where she went to read books and escape to other worlds that were all her own.  But this time she wasn't lost in a fantasy adventure.  Nestled in her lap was a small chestnut brown handmade leather journal.  She had tried to get her hands on it ever since her mother and father had finished writing in it a few weeks ago.  They never would tell her what they were doing.  Allison, curious, wanted to know what they had been writing about.  She had never gotten the chance to get her hands on it until today.  They had finally left it unguarded.

She hoped it would be full of their adventures from Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry since she had gotten her letter just a few days ago.  This year would be her first year at the historic school.  But she wasn't worried.  Her mother and father both worked there.  How much trouble could she really get into?  A wild sense of excitement overwhelmed her as she untied the leather string holding the journal closed.  She couldn't wait to read what was inside.

Allison turned to the first page.  It read: Words to Live By.  She would have recognized her mother's oval shaped and neat writing anywhere.  

"Listen to your heart and all it may demand," she read aloud.  "Listen to your heart and you will understand.  Cassius."

She frowned.  She had no idea who Cassius was or what he or she had to do with what she was about to read.  She turned to the next page.  It was titled: Beyond the Darkness.  Below the title was a photograph of her mother and father and a young boy she hardly recognized.  But the lightning shaped  scar on his forehead was unmistakable.  A pang of thrill surged through her.  Allison definitely couldn't wait to get started now.  She turned the page once again.  Unable to contain her curiosity, she flipped through the pages.  Some of the handwriting was her mother's, but not all of it.  There was also a very cramped and slanted writing she knew that belonged to her father.  A smile spread across her face.  They had taken turns, she mused.  Fascinated by the possibilities of what she might find, she settled down in her chair and began to read.

She was so engrossed in the journal that she didn't notice an ivory skinned young woman watching her from the window.  The woman sighed.

"I knew she would get her hands on it one day."  She turned and smiled at the man standing behind her, her husband of twelve years.  "Should I stop her?"

"No," he said wrapping his arms around his wife's waist.  "She should know our story and who better to tell it to her than us?"

"But she is only eleven," she protested.  "What if she doesn't understand?"

He smiled warmly.  "You know Allison as well as I do.  She will ask us questions about everything she doesn't understand."

She sighed wearily.  She knew he was right.  Allison had always been a quizzical little thing ever since she discovered she could talk.

"I'm just worried-"

Her husband kissed her on the cheek.  "Don't.  We are about to let her go to Hogwarts on her own, the safest place on Earth.  Why not know where she came from?"

She smiled.  He was always so logical and level-headed when it came to things like this.  Still, Allison was her only child.  And she was special just like she had been when she was young.  "Hogwarts wasn't always safe, you know."

"You don't have to remind me of that, dear.  I remember it like it was yesterday."

She turned around to face him and planted a soft kiss on his lips.  "It's a miracle we made it, you and I."

"Yes, it is.  With your stubbornness and all."  His eyes sparkled with mischief.

"My stubbornness?"

He chuckled.  He had expected that reaction from her.  He knew that it was him who had pushed her away so many times.

"You were the one who said you didn't deserve someone like me."

"It was hard for me to accept, I admit.  It took me a while to realize someone could truly love me, that they would be able to look beyond the darkness that surrounded my heart and soul for so long."

Her face softened.  She kissed him again.  "And I still love you after all this time.  We picked a good title for our history, didn't we?"

"I would say so."

He took her hand in his and they stared out the window together.  Allison was oblivious to just how much she was about to find out about her parents' past.