"James... what are we gonna do?"
"That's what I've been thinking for a while now... The attacks are getting worse. I'm not allowed to join the raids anymore. Sirius was attacked at his apartment..."
Harriet listened to their conversation while pretending to sleep in her crib. The couple was outside the room, talking to each other and unaware she was hearing them.
From the bits of conversation these months, she understood they were in a war. Some dark lord guy was after them. Tch, if Harriet were grown up, she would have put that dark lord in his place. One punch knockout, cha!
"You are not gonna plan on swapping the keepers, are you? That's a terrible plan."
"Everyone knows how close Sirius and I are, Lily. He's Harry's godfather. Peter is the best choice. No one would think it's him."
Hold up, that creep?! Harriet's eyes opened in shock. Huh?! Why?
"Not that you're wrong... Peter does seem like a choice. He is—no offense—but weak and fragile... No one would think that we could make him our keeper."
"Exactly!"
"Shh! Not so loud... I just put the children to bed..."
Harriet groaned in disappointment as the couple walked away; she couldn't hear them clearly now. Argh, this was bad. She'd had a bad feeling for the past few months. She hadn't seen Mooney or Padfoot. Heck, her new parents seemed to be cautious around her and Harry when talking about outside world events.
The moment she learned to crawl and walk, that guy was finished! Shannaro!!
Yawn escaped her lips, her eyelids closed.
Damn, her baby body was too soft and weak. Darkness surrounded her as she fell asleep.
—————————
Days passed by. Harriet's new life wasn't so bad — a bit of mystery about the whole magic thing. She had seen her twin performing magic; Lily squealed seeing Harry do his first accidental magic.
Harriet at the time was sucking milk from her bottle when it happened and she almost spat it out. Was that telepathy or some shit? How did he do that?
That wasn't chakra at all. What was it? She genuinely felt so confused and determined to know about this phenomenon.
Today, however, things were intense — very intense. She noticed that her dad, James, never left the house now. Like he was spending more time with her and Harry. Was he on vacation? What about that Dark Lord guy? Was he captured? Was the war over?
Never once did she hear the couple talk about it. They fussed over them. What's weird was Sirius and Remus never once visited. Not even a letter.
"What are you doing, Lily?" James asked his wife, who was doing something to the children's crib. "Huh? Are those runes?" He knelt down and took a look at the runes she was writing with careful strokes of a black paintbrush. "That's a unique style... I don't recognize these runes..."
"Of course you wouldn't... The Ministry would have a stroke if they knew what I was doing."
"And what are you doing?"
"Placing protection... these... are special runes," Lily stayed focused on writing. "Don't distract me."
James stared, wondering what his wife was planning. Nonetheless, he stood up and looked at his children. Harry was asleep and Harriet wasn't; she sat watching her mother work. There had been times when James felt his daughter might be far more intelligent and understand things.
Lily admitted Harriet did act different; she didn't fuss, only cried if she was hungry or needed a diaper change.
Maybe they were thinking too much. James ran his hand through his hair trying to calm himself; it was honestly frustrating. Hiding in their house, with no communication outside except Headmaster Dumbledore.
He wanted to blast those bastards to bits. This war was stupid. They were being so stupid.
"Done," Lily stood up, looking at her handiwork. "Now, last touch." She grabbed the kitchen knife from the table she had brought and made a small cut on her finger.
"Huh?! What are you doing?"
"See for yourself."
Lily pressed her bleeding finger against the runes she'd written with black paint and smiled, seeing the runes glow for a second and fade away. The runes she wrote disappeared, absorbed into the wooden crib.
James gasped in shock. THAT'S what she did? He went pale. "L—Lily..." That's what she meant by the Ministry having a stroke if they knew. "Merlin, saggy balls—"
Lily slapped his shoulder. "Language! Harriet is awake!"
Harriet blinked; she had seen what her mama did, but what the heck did she do? "Ah...?"
"Did you just do what I think you did?!" James whispered, looking paler. "T—That's..."
She rolled her eyes. "Yes. I did."
"That... wasn't black paint...?" Now that James thought about it, the smell was weird.
"Nope! Don't ask. Yes, I did blood magic," Lily looked rather cheerful. "Wouldn't you do the same to protect our children?"
James's mouth opened and closed. Fair. That was fair. "But I am an Auror!" He couldn't keep this a secret. Dark magic like blood magic was far darker than any dark magic!
"I am your wife."
"... Fair."
"Just shut up and help me get the clothes prepared. Tomorrow is Halloween..."
"Still... What's with this...?"
"I am having a bad feeling... Don't pretend you don't feel it..."
The heck? Harriet looked between her parents. Black magic? Huh? Tell her too! She wanted to know! What is blood magic?
"You're being overly cautious, Lily. We're safe."
"Just in case, James." She had already given up on pressing James into further security. Unlike him, Lily was very serious about this.
The Dark Lord, Voldemort, wasn't an easy opponent. These days, Lily felt tense, like something big was going to happen. Tomorrow definitely something was going to happen; Lily had already prepared things just in case. Yes, just in case.
They survived this war.
Their children would survive this.
If only she knew, the person they trusted their lives with was about to betray them. They died. Lily's sacrifice saved the children and the Dark Lord was gone. For now.
The children were taken into the care of her sister, who hated magic with a passion.
An innocent man would be sent to Azkaban without a trial.
A lone wolf would drown in sorrow, regret, and mourning for his friend's death.
The one who betrayed them lived in fear and hid as a rat.
But Harriet Potter, twin sister of Harry Potter, daughter of Lily and James Potter, would bring the storm. She wouldn't be a pawn or let someone walk over her or her brother.
Harriet Potter, or Sakura Haruno, ninja of Konoha, student of Tsunade Senju, Kakashi Hatake, Yamato, teammate of Naruto Uzumaki, Sasuke Uchiha, and Sai.
Cha! Bring it, you fossils! I'll punch you to the moon! Cha!