Chapter One:

Not So Happily Ever After

Three years had passed since the fateful Halloween Kuronue, or Selene Potter as she was known amongst humans, had unwittingly changed the course of an entire society's future. Much more had changed than one would expect. At only four years old, Holly Potter was quite possibly the simultaneously most popular and most hated celebrity. Matched only by Albus Dumbledore himself, as a matter of fact. This fame which trickled down to the other three Potters was the source of almost all of the changes.

When Kuronue was a baby, she found James pleasant enough, and a good man. He was a little too narrow-minded for the ex thief's taste, but far better than she had ever dared to even dream of, let alone hope for. In her opinion this was all she could ask for, even if he came across as surprisingly childish for his age. Even his best friend Sirius Black, aka her godfather 'Uncle' Padfoot, who was just as cheerful a person, was more mature. Granted, they were both stuck up, but as a youkai thief she'd come arrogance so often it didn't faze her when she first discovered that praise and compliments made them preen like a peacock.

Then, the massive media coverage of the 'death' of 'He Who Must Not Be Named' started. (Which made Selene scoff, were humans truly so stupid as to be scared of a name? And how did they think he was dead when a body was never recovered? There hadn't even been a pile of ashes.) After that it was almost impossible to leave for someplace public- such as Diagon Alley- without eventually being mobbed by fans. Then there was the fan-mail and the masses of gifts from complete strangers, some even came from Eastern Europe, the Caribbean, or the Americas. Once a month or so, a gift no one seemed to realize was from either Africa or Western Asia (The 'Middle East' to humans) showed up. To Kuronue's horror, as someone who had actually witnessed the entire twentieth-century centric transformation of newspapers and other such things into a massive entity of sorts with nothing better to do than stalk celebrities, it got to the point of Holly being a target of the paparazzi before they were three.

It gave her a migraine, but Kuronue's thoughts on the matter amounted to little more than 'there is no longer any way that I'm sticking around any longer than I have to.' when summarized.

James' transformation had been gradual, but still quick. It was finished before the twins were two. He showered Holly with more and more gifts and attention, spoiling the girl rotten and coddling her. Kuronue was worried that 'Daddy's little girl' would be helpless when truly by herself if it continued too much. On the off chance she didn't manage to receive what Sirius had called the 'infamous Potter luck'. The male Potter also slowly decreased both attention showed to Kuronue and clearly cared for her less and less. In that way, things continued until the current situation, the Potter twins' party for their fourth birthday.

When the ex-thief's 'Uncle' Remus tried to talk to her about it, Kuronue only shrugged. "Holly's still nice, and as long as she stays that way I don't care." (It had been funny to see the brains of the infamous Marauders look so perplexed.)

Normally, something like a birthday party wouldn't be associated with the term 'situation' as if something bad had, could, or would happen. But for the avatar, the events of that day helped prove that soon the only people who could be fooled by James Potter's friendly persona didn't know him, were unobservant, were idiots, or saw the world through rose-tinted glasses. Which Kuronue supposed meant just about the entire Wizarding World, as she hadn't met a single wand-based magic who had been raised in the isolated subculture and didn't seem to think that magic could solve, help with, or improve literally anything.

'And I thought humans had somewhat outgrown the tendencies and overabundant greed that made even the friendlier youkai dislike them.' Kuronue thought with a sigh, 'And yet here I am, newly alive for only four years, and without my mother I would already have been at the point where I could stop pretending to be dependent on adults completely. Granted, I like the additional freedom, but still…'

Currently, Kuronue was watching the activities of a birthday party. To be exact, a party that was supposed to be for both Holly and her, as it was July 31st, their birthday. That is, according to Lily, who was supposed to have planned the entire thing, and their honorary uncles, who all but demanded to be allowed to help. Even their old headmaster, Albus Dumbledore, had come. (Kuronue didn't think she would ever understand or feel easy about how much power was in the hands of a man whose job was running a school.) James, however, had blown it out of proportions by inviting a lot more people than Lily had intended or Kuronue would have liked.

It didn't bother Kuronue that Sirius, Remus, Dumbledore, and her mother were the only adults to remember or acknowledge that it was her birthday. Or that most of the children, included the youngest two of a red-headed family with seven children, didn't seem to realize that there was a second birthday girl. All of the noise was giving her a headache.

"Nah nah, you can't catch me!" Holly shouted as she zoomed around on her new toy broom. (It was a new model for older children that functioned like a real broom only wouldn't higher than an adult's head.)

Holly was nothing like her twin. She was outgoing, was more curious than even normal children, friendly, had little regard for her safety, and was already liable to accidentally offend someone who either did something or had a personality she didn't like. She also looked nothing like Kuronue's semi-human form. Holly's naturally messy hair was black with red highlights which only showed up in the light, and her glasses-covered eyes were exactly like their mother's. The first thing everyone they'd ever met had noticed was that Holly Potter looked just liked her father, only with her mother's eyes.

When Kuronue was born she had black hair and the same green eyes. However, Kuronue was a youkai in what should have been a human body, after all, and it was bound to have effects. Her looks already would have gradually changed no matter what due to this little tidbit and the youkai blood Selene Potter shouldn't have been born with. (Said blood would slowly grow more and more prominent until Kuronue was once more a full blooded youkai.) The process was sped up that Halloween night when the bat youkai had been forced to actually use her powers to survive and get rid of the leftover piece of soul. As a result Selene Potter had green-gold eyes (reminiscent of a young earl Kuronue once came across who was strangely fond of poison) and hair which, while Kuronue was four, one couldn't tell if it was purple or black but would noticeably be dark purple by the time she was ten.

"Holly, Selene, time for presents!" Lily called, "Come over here!"

"M'kay!" Holly called cheerfully as she chased a random guest was making zoom around the big yard, "Just let me finish real quick!"

"All right." Kuronue answered, lazily wandering over to her mother in a way she knew would be compared to a prowling cat had anyone been paying attention.

Sirius, in fact, had noticed such moments occasionally. It made Kuronue miss Kurama dearly, and got her reminiscing.

"Kuronue, how is it that you're a bat youkai yet when you're lazy you look like a feline calmly stalking its prey?"

The fox had made such comments with a chuckle more than once, and if Kuronue hadn't been able to sprout wings from her back when she concentrated she might have wondered if she really was some kind of cat youkai… The heavens knew she'd been the 'black' sheep- more like white sheep in a black flock- of the clan to the extent where she'd wondered if she'd been adopted. Even in looks. No one else in the clan had violet eyes.

While her infamous partner got his start out of boredom and a bet with a fool who underestimated him due to his youth, she'd been orphaned shortly after hitting puberty and been left to fend for herself. Her parents had been the only ones in the entire clan to show her affection, the most positive acknowledgement she ever got from the others was indifference. Like the animals in the wilds of Ningenkai, amongst youkai it was survival of the fittest. If you weren't powerful, smart, or at least connected, you were dead or someone's lackey…

("-necklace from… Daddy, who's Antony?" There was Holly, saying everything she got and who it was from again, Kuronue noted.

"It's 'Anthony' sweetheart, he's one of your fans. He was here for about an hour when the party started." Apparently, James expected Holly, a four year old human, to remember and care about a complete stranger.)

Kuronue still missed the fox, and still wished she could either apologize for leaving him or get him to stop blaming himself. Befriending him had been the best thing that ever happened to her. In her old life she'd never regretted anything. Life for a youkai was too long to be held back by something like the concept of regret. Letting something bother you so much it became something you regret when you eventual die is largely a human concept unless you've gone something any sentient being would deem tragic, traumatic, or horrifying, youkai usually eventually either deal with or accept it then get over a great deal of the sort of things human tended to regret.

The decent ones who haven't grown old enough to realize things like regret were simply a fact of life, anyway. Kuronue may have been relatively young be demonic standards but she had learned early in life that abilities, looks, and the quality of the five senses were the only true differences between humans and youkai. Some youkai go dark- or from dark to evil- by trying to get rid of the problem or their own metaphorical heart to be rid of the emotions they saw as 'disturbingly human-like'. She often wondered if this was the way youkai that live to be old enough to have an unbelievable amount of strength felt.

Then Sirius, who was handing Holly the presents for Lily, finally addressed both girls, finally catching Kuronue's attention. "-And this is your gift from me and your Uncle Moony, Selene."

Kuronue lazily opened the gift to find that her honorary uncles' joint gift was a black GameBoy Color and the Yellow and Blue version Pokemon games, complete with all of the accessories she might ever want for her new toy. Her widened a little and turned genuine, touched that her uncles had caught on to the fact that normal society- the 'Muggle World' as most magicals called it- was anyone's best bet on a gift she would like. (And that they had noticed just how firm a grasp she had on reading.) Too many of the valuables from the magical society Kuronue would steal or otherwise get ahold of given half a chance were cursed, tacky, or simply too much a hindrance for the ex-thief's liking.

"Thank you Uncle Sirius, Uncle Remus." Kuronue said, her eyes shining at the chance to see what the fuss was about. 'I hope it lives up to the hype I keep hearing from normal kids.'

"No problem, Pup." Sirius said cheerfully.

"You're welcome, Selene." Remus agreed.

Next was a pair of cards and a batch of fudge from a family of the redheads Kuronue learned were collectively the Weasleys. They weren't friends of the family, per say, (in spite of what Lily would say) but they were very close acquaintances. From what Kuronue understood they had been her parents' upperclassman at Hogwarts. Lily had quickly found them to be kind and friendly, so she kept in contact in their adult life. Apparently they'd wanted to get each of the 'well known' Potter Twins a present but with seven children hadn't had the money. She wished someone would inform them that most people either didn't know the name of Holly's twin, ignored Selene Potter's existence, or didn't even know that Holly had a twin. The headache the situation gave Kuronue annoyed her. Shrugging off the thought, she immediately took a piece and popped the whole thing in her mouth.

Kuronue grinned. "This is the best fudge I've ever tasted."

Finally, after Dumbledore had given each twin boxes full of various 'muggle' candy, it was her parents' turn.

"Your father and I disagreed on what to get you girls, so we each bought our own present for you both." Lily informed Kuronue and Holly as she handed each girl a box, "This is what I got you."

Ignoring Holly and the fuss everyone was making over her, Kuronue opened her present. What she found proved that Lily had long since realized that Kuronue had not only been 'teaching herself' Japanese but was already fluent. Lying inside the box were the first few volumes of a manga called Detective Conan straight from Japan.

Kuronue grinned. "I love it."

And she did. Not just because it looked interesting, but because it proved that Kuronue's mother paid more attention to her than she'd ever given the red haired woman credit for. To a long-lived being like Kuronue who spent centuries watching the world unable to interact with it, the acknowledgement and unconditional affection Lily gave her was like finding an oasis after months of traveling a desert. And found the faith in humanity she had discovered as a ghost renewed all over again.

Of course, no day was complete without trouble or chaos, or even just something to ruin a moment. In Kuronue's life as Selene Potter, the main troublemaker was currently her own father. It was James Potter's turn to give the girls gifts, and the curious look on Lily's face proved that James had failed to at least hint at what he'd gotten.

"Happy birthday, Holly-bear." James said with a big grin that made him look like he was still a schoolboy.

The male Potter had given the Girl Who Lived a box full of Quidditch related things. But as Holly proceeded to play with the very last item from the box that contained her father's gifts, something became painfully apparent. James Potter hadn't even given the younger twin a card or pocket money. He didn't acknowledge her existence, let alone that it was her birthday too. Kuronue didn't say anything or even react. But her eyes, hidden by her bangs (and her hair as well, as since it was shoulder length it wasn't quite long enough to put up properly without looking silly or too cutesy) were trained on her mother. The eldest Potter female's head was slightly bent so that the shadow of her hair hid the upper part of her face and made her expression unreadable.

"James?" Lily asked, obviously undecided between concern and anger to anyone who bothered to notice, "Where's Selene's present?"

James, who had been playing with Holly, looked at his wife. "Who, love?"

"Our older daughter Selene, Holly's twin. Where is her birthday present?" Lily elaborated, an edge to her voice which James was the only adult who failed to see as a bad sign.

James blinked in confusion, and Kuronue was the only one listening in who wasn't shocked. "What present? I don't know what you're talking about. Didn't she get all of her presents?"

Sirius glared and Remus stared at their longtime friend in horror. Lily's eyes widened, a gasp escaping her lips in spite of her obvious attempt to stay calm. Her devastated expression was mixed with something that wasn't quite decipherable but Kuronue thought might be along the lines of heartbreak. Her eyes, however, betrayed something else to the bat. Something within Lily Potter, formerly Lily Evans, had finally snapped after years of daily contact with the man she had married, according to Sirius, in spite of being unable to tolerate his attitude during their school years, snapped and her eyes not hid hints of something fierce rising to the surface and a surprisingly high amount of longing. In that moment the ex-thief knew that nothing would ever be the same and that her biological father would be lucky to survive.

End of Chapter