Prologue

October 31st, 1979 – Raven's Nest Maximum Security Prison, Yorkshire, England

It was a dark and stormy night. Now, this is quite an overused description when beginning stories. Some 'dark and stormy' nights could more accurately be described as 'moonless and rainy' or 'cloudy with a bit of a drizzle'. However, in this case it was most definitely a dark and stormy night. Everyone in Yorkshire was battened down in their homes, unable to sleep because of the rain's incessant pounding. Children shrieked with fear and delight as thunder rumbled and lightning crackled loudly. The guards at the nearby prison, called the Nest by locals, were the only ones going about their normal Halloween routines, which were the same as any other night.

It was not a night to be outside, yet someone was.

A woman was walking along the wall of the prison, carrying a basket under her cloak. Her head was covered by her hood and water was running off her nose. The oddest thing about her was that, other than her nose, she was completely dry as she slogged through the storm.

She was also singing as she walked.

"Lullaby and good night, with roses bedight. With lilies o'er spread is baby's wee bed."

She stopped when she reached the prison gate. She looked up at the lights in the guard tower, and then at the gate itself.

"Lay thee down now and rest, may thy slumber be blessed. Lay thee down now and rest, may thy slumber be blessed."

When she was satisfied by what she saw, the woman placed her basket on the ground in front of the gate. She then pulled out what would appear to most people to be a shapely stick and tapped the basket and most of its contents with it. She then flicked the stick upwards over the basket and a slight haze descended over it.

"Lullaby and goodnight, thy mother's delight. Bright angels beside my darling abide."

Her work done, the woman stepped back from the basket with a sob. "Fate is cruel, my darling." she whispered. "Fate is cruel." Then she disappeared with a crack.

In the basket a baby rolled over in her sleep. To her she hugged a letter that contained her name, date of birth, and a series of runes that would make no sense to anyone who wasn't well studied in them. A small golden key on a chain also rattled inside the envelope. The girl's blankets deflected the rain from her through the night and into the morning, when she was found by a prison guard coming off of his shift. The guard shouted loudly in shock, which caused the guard in the watchtower to yell down to him, asking what was wrong.

"There's a baby down here!" he replied.

"What!?"

After much confusion the child was eventually settled in the staffroom, where she sat up in her basket and gummed on a biscuit while three guards, a nurse and two other members of staff looked on.

"What are we going to do with her?" the nurse eventually asked. The guard that had found her, shook his head helplessly. The two of them looked at the guard who was reading the letter that had been in the basket with the child, along with blankets, a grey teddy bear and a gold necklace with a key hanging from it.

For some reason, none of them found it strange that the blanket and its contents were completely dry.

The guard looked up from the letter. He was a man with a very take-charge attitude, so it was only natural that they would look to him for a decision.

"Her name is Patricia Stimpson," he said. "And we are going to keep her."

"Here?" the nurse asked with surprise.

"Here."

And so it happened that Patricia Stimpson became the ward of Raven's Nest Maximum Security Prison. It didn't seem at all odd to any of the staff, and the girl wasn't allowed to wander at first, so the prisoners were none the wiser. Two years later another baby was left on the front step of Number Four Privet Drive. A year after that one Remus John Lupin was hired as a guard at the Nest.

Then our story began to properly take place.

A/N: Why do I keep doing this? I just have to work on half a dozen stories at a time! Why? *sigh* Anyway, this is the prologue of my new Harry Potter story. I did say I was going to write one...

Disclaimer for entire story: I do not own Harry Potter. Harry Potter belongs to J.K. Rowling, who is so kind as to allow us to play in her world.

The song used here is Brahm's Lullaby, which I also do not own.

-Cynder2013