Chapter Text
It was calm.
The sea always was when they went to observe it, two children, no worries. Two young souls, too naive to see how bad it could get.
The stars shone the brightest when they too would be happy, and the moon would get full in hope of hearing their words better.
Two children. Two cousins sat by a rocky cliff, the air was warm and a soft summer breeze flew between them two.
March 27 of 1960, the oldest of the two cousins was born, head full of hair and the lightest brown eyes, James Fleamont Potter was born alone until he met his youngest cousin on november 11th of that same year, the two of them with a mess of curly hair and a warm brown skin to accompany it, and they were never alone after.
The Islands were their playground and where James and Marie went, laughter and joy followed, they were far too innocent to understand what was happening in the non magical world of their islands and far too sheltered to care. Marie always knew that they were magic, they were in the sky and the stars and the moon and the sea, the earth, the land; them.
They were happy, in their coven everything was happy until it wasn't. Their coven was secret, a good kind of secret, the kind that is like a little joke only you and your family gets. Their grandma Mary would always tell them the great stories of their past; James´s mother, Auntie Mia, had not being originally part of the coven until she and Uncle Monty fell in love, but she now was, because of love, their coven, their magic was love it was what tied them all together.
The all kept the secret of the existence of their coven from the world because they wanted the safety of those who they loved, after the first extermination tries from both the magical and non magical authorities on the magical folk and indigenous people from the islands; all islands agreed to fake their disappearance, minimal contact between them and the rest of the world, each island had their main coven ruled by their main families creating a web of magic between their geography, and helping their sister covens in times of need.
But a little secret can scape from time to time, its no ones fault really, Marie didn't thought so anyway, until she saw the consequences; James had made a friend in the beach, she wasn't at his side picking seashells from the waters when a boy near their age scream at James, who looked curiously unsure why his newest friend didn't glue back together a broken shells with his magic when he stepped on it, so he did it for him. And just with that “Monster”, “freak”, and a series of much grown up name calling, Jamie started crying and without hesitations Marie left all of her earlier treasure of the shore - a waste really, the ocean was always kind with their gifts for her, this time the prettiest gray, green and amber gradient shells she had ever seen with her short 5 years - but when the other half of her soul cried she couldn't help it.
She ran as fast as she could without flip flops, pushed the boy on the ground and took Jamie's hand and just dais “Run”, both running as fast as they could to their coven's lair and their family house.
And the consequences came not late after, the next morning Auntie Mia and Uncle Monty were starting to pack, new house bought far away from their safe haven to protect the rest of their coven from harm´s way, Auntie Mia's family used to be located in England and that's where they would go, ,just a marriage that wanted to come back for the education and society introduction of their son after raising him in her home country, a good enough backstory which made little scared Marie whom had never been alone, started sobbing, and running away to the cliff in which the two cousins were once happy seating, now she was only sobbing. The sea was calm, not causing more turmoil than the one she felt inside her already, the moon was waning crescent in the hope to cuddle her in her embrace and the stars shined a little less not wanting to take the spotlight away from the fact that the sun of her life was leaving her. The light breeze stopped and raising her head from between her knees a little, a glass frame too big for a little boy's face startled her - They used to belong to their grandpa Daniel, but after his passing they only took dust by their living room console.
“I know you are upset Mar-mar” said Jamie softly “but it's the only way to protect the coven.”
“You just want to leave me, you want to have new and other friends and dont want me anymore” said the little sobbing girl. “You will leave me alone on my birthday, it's not fair, I was there when you turned six.” A streak of jealousy and abandonment sparked out of her chest.
“Why would I want that, I just love all of you, and if it's what's necessary to keep you safe I will” said Jamie with all the confidence and wisdom a six year old could master. “I'll still be you fiend, you´re my baby cousin, whos gonna be as cool as that, and who says i will forget, why will still talk, i am sure Amma and Paapa can figure something out, or we could write to each other and put it in bottle, so the sea could send it to us.” Said the boy, not stopping to catch his breath.
“....But what if we still forget?”Said Marie softly. “I don't want you to go, i want to go with you too”
“We'll be fine, us, always and together, to the stars and beyond” he said, chuckling to their moto. “Here, so you remember me” said Jamie.
In Maries hand now stood a shell braided into a necklace, light brown and amber spiraling together. It was beautiful, “Grandma helped me, but I found the shell on the beach…yesterday, it's us so I put it back together.”
And then they were both crying and hugging, both cousins locked into place like no current could come between us “I'll always love you Pot Flow” Marie laughed between tears, James always said she was terrible at nicknames, it was true, of course, but he didn't have to know that “Ughh, That is not my nickname, it horrible, chose something else” James said.
“Nop, Mr. Fleamont” she laughed at his middle name “ Your hair is always like a bush so you should be named after a pot of flowers” she joked “okay its not very good, but i'll work on it.”
“Yeah, I should be named after the coolest of cooler things, like the Easter Sniffler or something” James said, arma in arm with his cousin. “The Easter Sniffler isn't real Jamies, everyone knows that”she said as she playfully rolled her eyes. “Yeah it is, everybody knows it's real, if not why do you find shiny things in the weirdest places? the Easter Sniffler left them there of course”
“That's probably because another person lost it, those myths are not true besides a real sniffler would keep it to itself, I know, I read it in Nanas book” Marie stated in a matter of fact high pitched voice. “That is exactly why it's real, it's magic, duh,those are present meant for you to find them, dummy.”
“It's so not true”
“It's so yes true”
“Whatever” Marie said, a short and comfortable silence taking place between them, leaning her head on his shoulders. “Will you promise not to have too much fun without me?” “Of course, I'll update you on all my pranks, you tell the sea and I tell the sky, so we are together.” Marie hummed in agreement, eyes feeling heavy after the emotions of the day.
It was calm. Very calm.
The moon in crescent forming a smile, and the stars not wanting to fade and mark a goodbye on a familial bond as this one.
“Hey Jamie” said Marie half asleep already “I'll tell the stars and the moon to protect you, you are my sun” She promised. “Will you come next summer? And never forget to write me back?” She asked, hoping for the answer.
“Yes, of course I will.”
She kept her promises. He didn't.
And just like that a half of the same soul traveled far away, and drifted more apart than they ever meant to. But as always, fate has a nasty way of pushing you to the right path. Almost always.
August, 1976. England
Marie Angelica Potter Cabrera stood in front of the door of her once-upon-a-time family; they had left and even though the resentment had settled after the first especially hard years and her more mature view on life made her understand the reasoning, broken shells, and broken promises still hurt when the wind blew. They would for sure be different from her memories, older for sure, but did Aunt Mia's hair still smelled like a hug?, did Uncle Monty still smiled like he was the first person to know about the biggest secret joke ever told?, She was about to find out that's for sure, she was also changedfrom last time they saw her, runic tattoos of her coven up her arms, an eyebrow slit and piercing in her face and a no longer mess of long curls on top of her head, luggage at her side, and cat in his carrier on her other one, she was almost pickpocketed twice after her accent slip up speaking. Gladly nothing that a quick anti-theft charm couldn't help with.
And now there she was frozen at the sight of a door, Grandma Mary's last words to her still on her mind.
See with the stars,
Feel with the moon,
One with the Ocean.
Run to your Sun.
Whatever that meant, she must have been cursed as a child, because starting to have vision was never a sign that the world was going to have a party, as far as her own experience told her.
And as soon as the courage returned to her body, and knocked the door three times for good measure, a loud voice made itself heard from the other side of the door, slowly approaching and opening it, until she was face to face with its carrier.
“A vision” she said in trance, a handsome unknown boy staring back at her, head tilted, body pressed against the side of the door. “Who are you?” she thought she heard she wasn't sure, it was as clear as hearing underwater. “Strikes of grey, never met a grey star. Umm, pretty.” She said softly, one of the perks and disadvantages of a secret coven is that meeting new people and having a filter are not things usually done at the same time, and point taken the stranger was as frozen in time and as curious as a stag in headlights.
“Sirius, mate, who was at the door” said a familiar voice. Who then stood frozen in place seeing the shadow of a memorie standing in front of his door.
“...Mar-m…Marie…?”, And there was the sun. Again, “Muuuuuummmmmmm!!!”.