"Time. you were the one i wanted most to stay. but time could not be kept at bay. the more it goes, the more it's gone, the more it takes away." - Lang leav.

prologue: twilight
to laurent devereaux, time was an both an enemy and a precious commodity. it was a cruel reminder of his limited moments left with those precious to him, but those moments would be ingrained into his memory forever. time was the price you had to pay for fond mementos.

Laurent's mother, veronica trelawney-devereaux, was a bright young witch who suffered from terrible envy. it was fitting that someone with such vaulting ambition would be placed into slytherin; however, her time at hogwarts did not last long. veronica's sister, sybill, who was placed into ravenclaw, would often outshine her. veronica, riddled with envy, transferred to beauxbaton's academy of magic in the hopes of no long fading into the background of her sister's shadow.

there, veronica met antonio devereaux. antonio was easily one of the most charismatic and well-liked wizard among the entire academy. thus, it took little effort for him to gain the veronica's favor. without the presence of her sister, veronica adjused to the new school with ease, and she went on to be courted by antonio just a year later.

following their graduation, the pair moved to london where veronica harnessed her talent in alchemy to open up her own potions shop in diagon alley, and antonio supported her dreams by pursuing his passions via journalism. he worked under rita skeeter, and he was considered to be one of the best field reporters of his generation. no one knows exactly how he managed to uncover many of his stories, but he refused to tell a single soul. 

After two years of pursuing their passions, the young couple was gifted with their first and only child, a curious, inquisitive boy named laurent. 

Chapter 1: dawn
Throughout his childhood, Laurent spent most of his time in his mother's alchemy shop. his investigative nature would often get him into trouble, especially when he had a concotion of his own making blow up in his face and turn his face and hair blue. thankfully, it effects were temporary and were easily reversed, but he wasn't allowed in the shop without supervision for what felt like months afterwards. 

the boy's time spent with his parents was incredibly skewed. since his mother was always around at her shop, he spent the majority of his time with her while his father was off looking for the best story to submit to his boss. however, that simply made the times where he was around all the more special to him. 

Laurent's most precious memories were around christmas each year. his father would be off of work, and his mother spent her days creating different potion concoctions as gifts for her friends and family. thus, the entire alchemy shop was filled with different scents of spices and herbs. the entire building smelled as though it was a giant kitchen with gingerbread cookies in the oven. 

chapter 2: Dusk
it was common knowledge that the journalism line of work could put a giant target on your back, but many reporters disregarded that warning, and laurent's father was one of them. he did not subscribe to mindless superstition. rather, he jumped at every opportunity give to him in an attempt to adequately support his family.

unfortunately for antonio, his good luck would eventually run out, and his scandalous scoops caught up to him. in the midst of the summer, during the family's time off from work, they decided to take a vacation. On the morning of june 30th, laurent was jolted awake as a result of his dreams. beads of sweat fell from his temples, pooling and slowly dampening the sheets below him. his breathing was labored, and his body ached. the child had a terrible nightmare. it was unclear as to the details of it as his mind had blocked out the majority of it, but he distinctly remembered a blinding wall of flames. brushing the nightmare off as nothing more than that, laurent went about his morning as he normally would and joined his parents for breakfast. the vacation destination was france to visit antonio's family. This would have been the first time that laurent would have met his paternal family. unfortunately, the trio did not make it that far. 

on the home stretch of their drive, laurent could barely keep his eyes open. it was approaching the late evening, and the child had already been in the car for a few hours at this point. the rhythmic motion of the vehicle easily resembled that of his mother's embrace when he smaller. it didn't help that he could hear her humming along with the music, just as she had done when singing lullabies to him.

it was veronica's scream that brought him back from the clutches of slumber as he saw a bright red and orange wall of flame nearly encompass the family's car. antonio swerved, avoiding it entirely, but he could not readjust fast enough, and the vehicle ended up diving into a ditch. the mere force of the impact caused the car to roll a few times before halting, flipped upside down.

none of the family members died from the initial impact, but the following sight would haunt laurent for the rest of his life. his parent's cries for help may have sabotaged their chances of survival from this blatant assassination attempt. with the knowledge that the crash was not enough to kill them, the assailants dragged both of the adults out of the car and used the killing curse on them. their cries and sobs were immediately silenced, and laurent, still hanging upside by his seatbelt, covered his mouth to stifle his cries.

perhaps they overlooked him, or they didn't care to kill an innocent child, but they spared his life. if he had to decide, he assumed that they thought a young child seeing his parent's murdered before his very eyes would be more excrutiating than a swift death. laurent had to agree. the sight of his parents' lifeless bodies still plagues his mind. 

epilogue: midnight
left with no immediate family, laurent was placed in the care of his closest family member, sybill trelawney, who was his aunt on his mother's side. having no husband or children of her own, it was clear that sybill was not well-versed in the art of raising a child. thankfully, laurent, who was nearly 11, would find it incredibly easily to adjust to life within hogwarts. 

following his eleventh birthday, sybill and laurent spent the majority of their time within the castle walls. during the summer months, when the students were expected to visit their families, the pair would find themselves sitting around a coffee table in their shared cottage in hogsmeade. the pair did not use the cottage otherwise, and during the academic year, they would rent it out to those in need of a place to stay. for their needs, it served them perfectly, and over time, laurent began to appreciate sybill greatly. she was certainly odd, but he enjoyed that. it was clear that honesty was at the forefront of her personality, and that comforted him. he would never have to guess with her. as a means to show his gratitude to her, he would defend her from those who would bad mouth her, even if she was not around to hear. rather than thinking her to be a crazy divination professor, laurent knew her as his kind, loving, aunt who treated him as if he were her own son.