Hidden || A Harry Potter Story [Book 1]

Chapter 1: The Cottage at the End of the Street

It was becoming a crisp end to the October month. Orange Jack-O-Lanterns lined just about all of the cottages in Godric's Hollow. Leaves danced in the wind and gracefully swirled onto the ground, only to have a man dressed in a black coat and a striped scarf rake them into a pile by the tree they fell from. The streets were filled with scents of fresh pastries, pumpkin tarts, and sweets being prepared for Halloween in a few days' time. Children were playing in the yard with the red leaves their parents' had previously raked.

However, on the very edge of the village there was a cottage that was different from the rest; no cookies or caramel pies were being cooked in the kitchen like the others, no children were outside playing, the leaves had not even been raked into neat piles; and the most important, this cottage could not be seen. The small house was hidden from sight, not even the neighbors were aware of its existence. None of the people that passed by it looked judgmentally towards the unkempt lawn; they blindly walked by, except one man.

The man stopped right where the front gate would stand and looked all around him before he took out a small wooden stick. It was about dusk and the street lights were beginning to flicker on, the young man closed his eyes and a funny word fell from his mouth as he waved the stick in front of him. When he put his hand down, the wooden gate appeared along with the small stone wall supporting it. The man opened the gate and walked along the small path that led to the cottage. He stopped and looked around the small yard, noticing the dead leaves on the ground; and he lazily flicked his stick, instantly the leaves vanished and the ground was left spotless. He continued until he reached the door to the house and knocked. A woman appeared at the door with a small baby on her hip and she immediately smiled, "Sirius, come in, please." She motioned him inside before she closed the door. Sirius walked in and put his coat on the coat rack in the entryway; he followed the lady into the small sitting room and sat on his usual chair by the bricked fireplace. "Tea?" she asked him.

"Oh, yes, please." He replied. She smiled and handed him the baby before disappearing into the kitchen. Sirius held the small boy in his lap and chuckled while the child played with his fingers. The fire crackled in the fireplace and the woman came back with a tray holding three tea cups, a tea pot, and sugar and milk.

"James will be down in a minute," she said after taking a sip of her sweetened tea," He's putting her to sleep." Sirius nodded, understandingly as he stirred sugar into his tea. They sat quietly in the sitting room, only noise coming from the tabby cat that was purring as it curled next to the fire.

A few minutes later a tall man with black hair and glasses appeared in the doorway of the room, "Sirius, always good to see you!" The man said hugging Sirius, who was now standing. "I finally got her to fall asleep, she wouldn't stay still. She'll be a handful when she's Harry's age!" He laughed, looking at his son. He fixed himself his tea and drank it as his wife took Harry from Sirius and put him in her lap. "I'm guessing you didn't come here for the tea," James said after a long period of silence in the room. "What going on, Sirius?"

Sirius sighed, "It's her, Charlotte. I fear that someone is trading on us and is getting to Voldemort. I think having one less person here will be much safer, just in case my judgments are correct." He looked at both of them, not surprised by their reaction: shock.

"What are you talking about, Sirius? She's safe here, It's Harry we're under hiding for." James said. It was true; after the prophecy was made about his son's fate, the Potters' had gone into hiding to protect Harry from the Death Eaters and their leader, Voldemort.

"Exactly, you are hiding for Harry, not Charlotte, and we feel that she will be safer away from here. People only think it's rumor that you had another child, Lily. No one would suspect there to be another child here." Sirius Replied.