HEDWIG

CHAPTER ONE

THE BOY WHO LIVED

October 31, 1981
Godric's Hollow

The first morning's light had not yet risen over Godric's Hollow. The small West Country village was eerily reticent - except for the distant sound of a baby crying. Faces peered cautiously and curiously through windows and through the cracks of their front doors. They were listening to the dark, trying to decide where that loud and startling sound had come from.

Fog settled in thin wisps over the homely houses while the wind bit at all their windows. A ruined home was left to pieces, as a large, wild-looking man approached. His face was unreadable as he stared up at the Potter's cottage. It was still standing, except for a massive hole on the right side of the second floor.

Hagrid swallowed back the bad taste in his mouth and held close to him a tattered pink umbrella. Rubeus Hagrid was the Keeper of Keys at the ancient school of Hogwarts. His mane of tangled black hair and beard obscured most of his face. His black eyes glinted into the dark morning sky and spotted something in the distance.

A snowy, white owl was soaring toward him.

Hagrid walked slowly up the cobbled stone walkway. He was afraid. He knew what he would see, but maybe it wouldn't be. He wanted to feel hope, but it seemed in that moment that Godric's Hollow was a hopeless place.

When he reached the porch and looked in through the door frame, he tensed. The door had been completely blown off its hinges and lied six feet inside the house. Hagrid held the pink umbrella out like a sword in front of him. He breathed in and disappeared inside.

There was a sudden rumbling in the sky above. The closer the sound came, the louder its roaring grew - until a large motorcycle appeared through the thick clouds and landed on the pavement of road in front of the ruined house. Sirius Black turned the engine off and swung his leg over.

His face was a pale color and glistened with sweat. He wore only a blank expression as he stumbled to the gate and leaned against it. All his fears had been confirmed as he looked up at what was left of his best friend's home. There were no thoughts. He couldn't process them. It seemed as though his mind were slow. He should already have run into the cottage, but yet, he still stood outside, depending on the gate for support. He felt like a coward.

Finally, Sirius pushed past the gate and ran to the steps of the wreckage. He hesitated, pulled out his wand, and then stepped inside. After a long and silent moment, Sirius reappeared. He was sweating profusely and had to lean against the door frame to keep his knees from buckling under. Sirius moved from the door frame and knelt over the grass, feeling as if he were going to be sick.

The snowy white owl Hagrid had seen in the sky, fluttered down and transformed into a small, dark-haired woman with peculiar amber eyes. She stared up at the hole in the roof of the Potter's home and dropped to her knees, scraping them on a jagged cobblestone. The shock paralyzed her - enveloped and numbed her to the bone marrow. She knew. She knew without a doubt. They were gone. He-who-must-not-be-named - he got to them first - before they could.

They failed.

"Cecelia," Sirius whispered, unable to project his voice.

Sirius straightened up, went to Cecelia, and pulled her to her feet. Sirius looked into her tired eyes and rubbed her tear-stained cheeks with his thumbs. This was all his fault, he thought bitterly to himself. He pulled her into a tight embrace and murmured, "Shh, it's going to be okay." But, even as he said it...he knew it wasn't. "It's going to be okay," he repeated softly.

Sirius balled his fists into the fabric of her cloak, trying to stop his hands from shaking, but he kept seeing the images of James's and Lily's dead bodies in his head. Everything came crashing down around them as the truth was quickly sinking in. They held onto each other so tightly as if they were falling - as if they were both losing grip and dangling over a very high cliff.