"Mama!" A little girl with auburn hair flounces over to her mother. "Mama! It's time to get up!" She struggles to hop up onto their bed, but manages by taking hold of the blankets as tightly as her little fists can.
"Papa you too!" She croons to her parents. Her high voice not phasing them in the slightest. So she changes her tactic. She sits at the foot of her parents bed, crouched low like a lion, a grin on her face, determination in her eyes. She watches as her Father is about to turn over and launches herself in the air to land on him. She watches as his eyes shoot open, a matching grin on his face and he catches her mid air and pins her under him.
"Nice try my little lion." He grins at her and she giggles softly to herself. Anticipating what is coming next.
He roars menacingly and starts to tickle her without reprieve. Her screaming laughter echoes across the stone in the room and effectively wakes up her mother. She thrashes about, trying to get away, but at the same time not really wanting to.
"Mama! Mama!" she calls between peals of laughter and pants of breath. "Help me Mama!" She tries pushing her Father's hands away as her Mother looks on with a smile on her face. She lazily goes for her husbands wand and sends a tickling charm his way. Reducing him to a laughing mess as he rolls onto his back to try and squirm away from the magical fingers.
The little girl catches her breath and laughs at her Father's predicament on the edge of the bed and crawl over to her Mother's side.
"Thank you Mama!" She hugs her mother around the neck and nuzzles her affectionately.
"I swear child you pick up more and more of your Father's traits every day." She mutters to herself, a smile on her face. The woman stands up out of bed a chemise covering her figure and picks up the little girl and her own wand. Using her own wand she cancels the tickling charm a wicked grin on her face.
"Not fair Row." The man gets out between pants. His hair now even more thoroughly mussed. Row just looks back at him and moves away to throw a light robe over her chemise and pull a toga type covering over her daughter.
"It may not be fair, but neither is pinning the poor girl." Row laughs as she dresses her daughter.
"You may dear have been spending far too much time with Sal." He says as he gets up. His eyes looking hungrily at his wife. She rolls her eyes.
"You my dear, are just whining. Now lets get to the bath before the students are up and using it. I like to bathe in peace." She says and he gets up off of the bed and embraces his wife.
"Of course my dear." He says softly, and she smiles at him. They both look at their daughter who is looking between them.
"Bath?" She says excitedly, and starts scrabbling to be put down. The parents laugh at her and smile.
"I'll get the oils for our hair, and the comb." Rowena says as she puts her daughter down.
"Godric," she calls out after him, "would you make sure she isn't in the sauna too long this time? No need for her to become dehydrated again." Godric rolls his eyes amusedly.
"Of course dear."
~~~~GG~~~GG~~~~GG~~~~~
"Albus! Albus stop!" A girl hollers over the sounds of the duel. Her friend Arianna standing next to her.
"Albus! Aberforth! Gellert! Would you just calm down for a moment?!" She tries again to no avail.
In a field of her favorite flowers Arianna watches her brothers and Gellert duel. She doesn't know the initial reason that it all started. She knows that Albus wanted to take her and Aberforth away to make the world a better place. But, this duel… a nasty purple hex shoots right by Aberforth's ear and she can't take it anymore. Even if she can't control her magic she maybe able to save her brothers from each other.
Her companion on the sidelines watches as Arianna throws herself into the fray and as Albus's eyes alight in a wicked way. Right before a stunning spell would have reached Arianna, this silent companion watches as instead an Incendio does partnered with a Diffindo. Arianna never stood a chance. Aberforth turns on Grindelwald as does Albus, both for very different reasons.
"It is your fault Gellert! You killed my sister!" Aberforth spits in his direction, tears pooling in his eyes.
"Hence forth Gellert, I am your enemy. You have split my family enough. I can't believe you would do that. To your best friend." Albus reacts, the girl standing silently on the side feeling fury arise within her.
"You are wrong Albus!" She shouts, her anger making her magic pulse wildly. "Gellert didn't do anything wrong in this! You did!" She marches forward.
"Shut up woman." Albus says snidely, "Else you will be considered on the same side as Grindelwald." She pulls back as if slapped at his response, his tone biting more than usual.
At this tone, Gellert hauls back and punches Albus in the face.
"You will not speak to her in that manner. Ever." He grinds out through his teeth as he looks down on the sprawled form of Albus on the ground. "If I find out that you have ever again, I will personally make sure you never see the light of day ever again." With that Gellert turns away from his once Lover, emotion heavy in his eyes. "Come Morgana. You deserve better treatment than that." He walks over to her and holds out his hand to her.
"If you go with him I will personally see to it that you are never accepted within the Wizarding Community again." Albus sneers out.
"At least Gellert is honest about his agenda Albus. Unlike you. You manipulative, sleazy bastard. But you know what." Morgana turns on him stalking him like prey. "One day someone will beat you at your own game. And on that day I will be there. That I promise." They feel magic crackle around them and then snap into place. Morgana savors the look of horror on his face as he registers the fact that she just cursed his existence, and her own. It is quickly covered by haughtiness.
"Pretty words, but they mean nothing to me." Albus tries to say dangerously, but the tinge of fear in his tone reveals it all to her and she grins menacingly.
Morgana turns away from him and takes Gellert's hand. They walk away a few paces and then turn around to face their enemies.
"May the game begin." She intones softly and they dissolve away, her Chesire grin the last thing the brothers see before their own row breaks out.
~~~~~GG~~~~~~GG~~~~~~~~GG~~~~~~~~
"You don't understand you can't do that!" a girl cries out, the man not paying her any mind as he concentrates on his spell. She runs towards him and is stopped by a shimmering barrier.
"All I have wanted is for my family to be whole again. So many years have been wasted. You have to understand." He replies coldly, his blue eyes glinting in the fading light.
"Yes! Fine! So what if I understand?! I wouldn't destroy my soul, my heart over it! She would be disgusted with this display of cowardice." At this his head spins around to face her, a deadly sneer on his face.
"You understand nothing!" He throws his hands down, dropping the barrier with it. She feels his magic pushing on her, trying to force her into submission.
"Nothing?! I'm probably the only other person in this whole world who understands you! And you say I understand nothing." She shoots right back at him. "You miss her sure, great. At least you got to fall in love!" Tears threaten to fall from her eyes, as she almost hisses back at him.
"And what good did it do me?!" he shouts in her face, she can feel his breath on her skin. "Here I am with a broken heart from a man I never suspected to fall in love with, and a woman who died before he was even born." He scoffs and goes to turn his back on her.
She roughly grabs his shoulder and spins him around and smacks him hard across the face, her rage winning over her logical thought. He snarls at her and throws her to the ground, as he forces her down she grabs his wrist and hooks her ankle behind his to pull him down with her. Once on the ground she uses his momentary stunned state to flip them over, her skirts hampering her a little, but not much. She stares right into his eyes, her face distorted with anger and pain.
"You got to fall in love, have a family, grow up. You're wife died oh boo fucking who." She slaps him again as he starts to try and speak, her nails leaving marks on his face. "No my turn. You can stay silent." She snarls back into his face. He scowls deeply but makes no other moves to speak.
"That's right. I'm all grown up now. Well as grown as I will ever get thanks to you. Because it's all your fault. My entire cursed existence is your fault, and I don't even know why."
~~~~~~GG~~~~~~~GG~~~~~~~~GG~~~~~~~~
A knock in the middle of the night rouses the orphanage matron from her slumber. She slips on her night robe and slips out to the front door. As the war continues to rage on through London more and more children find their way to her door. She wearily opens the door and is about to tell the poor child that she has no where for it to stay when she looks and sees not a child, but a baby. A sleeping baby sitting in a basket with a note and a knit blanket to keep her safe from the chills of the evening. She picks up the precious bundle and looks around for another life form to indicate who left his child on her doorstep. She takes the child in out of the cold, cooing a tiny bit as she does. She walks into the room with the only crib, and sets the new child in it. She fails to notice as one of the other occupants of the room wakes up and stares at the new child, curiosity in his chocolate brown eyes.
The matron leaves the room and opens the envelope. "Evelyn..." she breathes softly. "Evelyn Penrose. Poor thing." The matron shakes her head sadly and makes her way to her office in the middle of the night to lay the envelope down. She would see to getting the file created in the morning, when the light curfew wasn't in affect. She yawns and walks back to her warmer bed, rubbing her arms roughly as the chill settles into her skin.
~~~GG~~~~GG~~~~GG~~~~
"Ow! Billy that hurts!" a girl cries out in pain, her green eyes welling up with tears. "Billy let go." She cries out in pain again.
"Hahahahaha!" The large boy just laughs at her pain. "Not so special without your knight to save you are you? Hahaha." The kids that had gathered around laughed at her predicament too. This caused the girl to cry more as her arm started to bruise in his hold.
"Let go… Billy… let go. Please, it hurts." she pleads, tears running freely down her face now.
"Stupid girl." he releases her arm and she holds it to her chest. "Now the real fun begins." Billy brags. He takes a stone out of his pocket as do five other boys around her. Billy looks at his pals and pulls his arm back in preparation to throw the stone at her and finds it stuck there when he goes to throw. Billy looks around in fear.
"Evey.." a familiar cold voice coaxes her to open her eyes. She sees Tom standing in front of her.
"Tom!" she cries out in relief. She goes to stand and he holds his hand out to her.
"Evey, are you okay?" She holds her wounded arm to her chest a little closer.
"I will be Tom. It's okay." She sniffles softly. They may have been mean, but Tom always overreacts when people hurt her. "It's just a little Indian burn." She continues softly.
Tom's eyes flash dangerously in the direction of the boys and other kids around them. Most of the kids scurry away. Seeing Tom get like that was never a good thing.
"You hurt Evelyn, Billy. What did I say would happen last time you decided it was a smart idea to hurt her?" Tom responds coldly, but conversationally. Observing his nails almost disinterestedly. Billy cringes back in fear as Tom shoots a glare at him.
"Tom you really don't have to. I will be okay." Evey says softly and takes his arm. Billy looks on in horror as she willingly touches the monster of a child.
Tom spots Billy's new rabbit and grins wickedly. With his focus on the rabbit, Tom barely notices Evey moving in closer to him to accept the comfort only he was walling to offer her. A sickening noise pierces the atmosphere of the yard. Everyone's eyes are drawn to the rabbit which is now flopping round and shrieking in an unearthly way. Billy looks between Tom and the rabbit and runs over to his rabbit. Tears falling from his face as his precious rabbit stops moving all together.
"Come on Evey." Tom takes her hand gently and walks to the edge of the yard, away from all of the other children as the matron made her way out to Billy and his dead rabbit. Evey follows behind Tom her eyes directed towards the scene unfolding behind them.
"Why did you do it Tom?" She asks, tears in her own eyes for the poor rabbit. Tom turns quickly to face her, hearing the sadness in her voice. He looks at her eyes and sees them filled with tears and curses the stupid boy. Tom sits down and Evey curls up with him. She lays her head on his chest, just enjoying the long denied contact with him.
"Because he hurt you Evey. He made you cry." Tom responds evenly, in all of his seven year old bravado. "He made you cry, so I had to make him cry."
~~~~GG~~~~~GG~~~~~GG~~~~
"You have to be joking!" The girl screams at the top of her lungs.
"Now Genevieve! You know raising your voice isn't lady-like. You will calm down this instant." The girls mother responds her voice soft but firm. The girl scoffs in her mother's direction.
"Now we have the discussion of lady-like?!" Genevieve puts her hands to her head and then throws them in the air. "Mother, I'm fifteen and I'm not even betrothed yet!"
"Genevieve we have discussed this before..." her mother starts only to be cut down.
"Really? When did that happen because I don't remember being there for that conversation." the girl retorts poisonously.
"Genevieve I refuse to have this conversation with you if all you are going to do is take that tone with me." her mother responds tersely.
Genevieve takes a potion off of the mantle and downs it in one go. In moments her entire body relaxes and her feelings come more into her control.
"Is that better Mother?" she responds the snark underlying her tone still, but not as prevalent as it was.
"It will do. But reducing yourself to such childish antics is unbecoming of a girl of your age." Her mother points out like a dagger to the achilles.
"Mother you won't even meet him. Sal has been my chaperone on all of my outings lately. How can you tell me no if you haven't even met the boy? He has even started offering me courting gifts mother. And you know how badly it would look on our name if I denied them." Genevieve continues trying to play to her Mother's logical side.
Her Mother puts her hand to her temples. Her body showing signs of stress outside of just teaching the students in the school. Slowly she starts to shake her head her chest caving as a sigh escapes her.
"Please, trust me Genevieve. You don't want to pursue this topic any further." Her Mother's eyes plead with her to stop, but Genevieve doesn't notice them, and if she does she doesn't care.
"I can't do that. If there is a reason why I can't be with him I need to know. I have feelings for him Mama." Genevieve pulls her trump card and a blush lights her face. Her Mother's head snaps to look in her direction.
"What did you just say Geneveieve?" She says quickly.
"You heard me Mama. I have feelings for him." Genevieve says again a little softer this time. Looking at her Mother with wide eyes. Her Mother sits heavily down in the chair next to the vanity. Once again she puts her hand to her forehead and sighs.
"This is what I was worried about. I told Sal to watch over you and let me know if something like this started to develop." Rowena mutters to herself.
"What is that supposed to mean Mother?" Genevieve starts in her anger trying to break its way through the calming potion in her system. Rowena looks up at her daughter, anger, sadness, worry, hurt all in her eyes. Genevieve inhales sharply, not having seen her mother so vulnerable before.
"Genevieve. Please leave it all be. This is your last warning. Don't see that boy again. Your Father will deal with the family." Rowena says softly, tiredly, her tone telling her age more than her appearance does.
"You know I can't do that." Genevieve returns her momentary sympathy and worry fading.
"I always hoped you would be the perfect mix of both of us." Rowena smiles wryly, "and here I am damning the very same stubbornness and curiosity that we have cultivated throughout your entire life." Rowena laughs to herself. Genevieve gets slightly offended that her mother is talking about her as though she isn't really there, but keep quiet. Ofttimes when people forget a person is in the room they let a bit more slip then they would otherwise.
"Genevieve. My little lion. My darling daughter." Rowena holds out her hands for Genevieve to take and settle down at her feet so she can play with her daughter's hair. Genevieve takes the offered hands and lays her head in her Mother's lap, her legs folded under. Protected from the cold floor by the cloth of her skirts.
"There is something you need to know." Rowena starts and Genevieve sits there enjoying the feel of her mother's fingers in her hair, her attention focused solely on what her mother is saying. "I don't want to meet the boys, I don't want you to get attached to them. There is a reason that your Father and I don't have you betrothed. Something that happened before you were born made us decide this." Rowena continues Genevieve shifting her head so she can see her face.
"I wish you could experience love darling. But you are destined to wander this Earth for eternity. I would never wish it on you my darling girl." At this Rowena's eyes fill with tears but she continues to run her fingers through her daughter's hair. Genevieve's head snaps up to stare straight into her Mother's eyes. All she sees is sadness and anger and love… nothing that would indicate her as being untruthful. Genevieve stands up then and backs away from her mother slowly. Her mind reeling with the information given to her.
"How?" she asks breathlessly. As she turns once more to face her mother.
"Your father. It is his mistake that you have to pay for my darling girl." Rowena looks at her daughter defeated for the first time in her life.
~~~GG~~~~~GG~~~~~GG~~~
"Tom I'm not going with you!" Evey tries to pull her arm from his grasp only to find his grip stronger than she remembered.
"I won't accept no for an answer Evey. That isn't how things work." Tom stares her down all tenderness gone from his face, his eyes.
She stares into the face of the boy she has watched to grow up, the boy she has grown to love as he became a man. Eyes that were once such a deep brown, that she could get lost in them, are a crimson red that almost glow in the fast fading light of the sun. Her heart breaks into pieces in her chest.
"It is how things will have to work Tom. You know that. We both know that." She continues, "This is what must be done. For everyone's sake."
Tom's jaw sets in a hard line. His eyes glinting dangerously. The same way they did before he killed his Father. The same way they did when he killed Billy's bunny that afternoon so long ago. Evey pulls her arm away again, only to find it released easily. A thoughtful look hiding behind the dangerous glint. And that combination never spelled any good for anybody in the past. Apprehension fills her every breath, sitting heavily on her chest.
"You're right Genevieve." he uses her given name softly. One of the few times he has ever chosen to use it. She turns her head away only to feel his fingers take her chin and turn it back to face him. "And I know I didn't do this properly. But..." Tom's gaze bores into her, as though looking to her very soul. He inhales deeply, and drops his gaze for a moment.
He lifts his eyes once more.
"I can't watch you walk away from me. I don't want you to walk away from me ever again. If the last three years have taught me anything it is just how much I need you. I hate my cursed muggle name, I hope to wipe it from history." He turns his head away for a fraction of a moment before looking right back at her unnameable emotions residing in his eyes. "But when you say it, it is addictive. When you gasp my name, when you whisper it, when you scream it because you are mad at me.."
He trails off and lays a warm hand on her cheek. Her face flushing at his words and his touch. So affectionate. She thinks to herself just how much she has truly missed this.
"When my cursed name falls from your lips..." Tom traces her lips with his thumb in reverence. "All I can think about is how to get you to say it over and over again. I want to hear you say my name for the rest of eternity." Tom leans in close to her, his unoccupied arm snaking around her waist. Her breath hitches as the very moment she has dreamed about comes true before her eyes.
"Genevieve Gryffindor… will you marry me? Will you become my Dark Lady?" He breathes against her lips, their eyes locked even at such a close distance.
"Tom..." she breathes out and he closes his eyes in bliss. When they open this time a powerful gaze pins her in place, one she had only ever seen her Father give her Mother. One filled with his undying love for her.
~~~~GG~~~~GG~~~~GG~~~~
A/N: Hello Friends and Followers! This is just the beginning of my Genevieve Gryffindor Reboot. There will be no Peter Pan in this what-so-ever. There will however be lots of Tom and lots of our heroine Genveieve. And I'm going a little outta my depth here, but it will be written, mostly, in the Marauders time. So bear with me as we begin this journey together once again. It has been ten years in the making. I have very little prepped for it in this moment, but I am hopeful that I can alternate years between this and my Keket piece. We shall see how everything goes once the ball really gets rolling.
As always thank you my faithful readers! I would love to hear what you think about this series of snapshots.