Hey! This is a little pet project of mine. Just a collection of one-shots and random thingies all wrapped up in one little neat package. The first one is about Selene from my story Girl, Eleven, Demanding a ReSort, because I like her and she needs more of a backstory and I forgot to give Kagi her happy birthday fic. So...uh...happy birthday!
And I really do like Selene. And she needs a backstory and I couldn't wait for the next five chapters (or books) to get to it. Enjoy!
She knew it from behind locked doors, pressing her ear to the keyhole, listening to the words the floated through the air and nested in her mind like seeds that sprouted and bloomed.
Once upon a time, there was a little princess who had a home, lots of books to read, and a mummy who loved her.
Even at five years old, Selene knew that she was different. Sometimes she'd think about something, wish for it real hard, and then it'd be there. Other times, she did things that were certainly impossible for her age. Like floating up and touching the ceiling for a whole five minutes before coming back down.
"Are you sure you weren't dreaming? What had you been reading, Peter Pan?" Her mother had laughed and teased, disregarding it as a figment of her imagination. And Selene believed her, because she loved her mother more than anything in the world.
She used to have a father, but she never really saw him. He was always away, but the princess never minded. She knew the king was busy.
But at night, the ugly words, the angry words were sometimes shouted and shook the walls of the house like an earthquake. Words like 'unnatural' and 'scary' and 'freak'. But worst of all 'liar liar liar'.
"You lied to me!"
"I never lied to you. I'm not a liar."
"Oh, but you never told me the truth! Am I not good enough to hear the truth?"
"You wouldn't believe me if I told you."
"Try me. I can be very flexible."
"It's nothing."
"I saw her flying the other day! Flying! And somehow she managed to get my copy of War and Peace off the top shelf without even lifting a finger! I want to know what's going on!"
One day a big ugly dragon came and clouded the kingdom in darkness. The king and the queen would never agree on how to get rid of it. The princess paced in her room and waited for it all to stop.
Sometimes her name would slip in, ammunition in their weapons. Mummy knew what was best for her, Daddy knew what was best for her, you can't have her because she's mine-mine-mine.
No one ever asked her how it felt.
All of a sudden, the shouting stopped.
And then the rest was silence.
"Magic."
"Yes."
"Magic."
"I told you."
"So you're a wizard…and our daughter…good god, our daughter is…"
"A witch."
Witches were ugly and had warts and were mean and cast spells in forest and rode broomsticks. Witches cursed people and laughed and were always-always-always the bad guys.
Witches ruined everything.
The princess did not want to be a witch.
Her father did not come back the next day. Her mother skulked around the house, muttering things under her breath, things Selene did not understand. Instead, she stayed in her room and talked to her stuffed animals, reading books and writing fairy tales with happy endings.
'Unnatural.' 'Scary.' 'Freak witch ugly scary liar mutant weirdo lunatic crazy-crazy-crazy.'
She could hear her mother upstairs, moving things around, scowling under her breath. It scared her a bit. It was like the world was falling apart.
One day, the queen packed her bags and left the castle. No matter how much the king begged and shouted, she would not listen.
The princess wished that things could go back to the way they w-
She came into Selene's room in the afternoon. Selene quickly stood up, gathering her papers and straightening them.
"Look, mummy, I wrote a story!" She said proudly, holding out the words to her like a first-place ribbon. Her mother didn't even look at it.
"That's nice," She murmured, scanning the little girl's room for anything she had missed. The books she had bought, the badly drawn painting taped to the walls. There was one Selene had drawn just yesterday, of a mother and a father and a little girl with black curls.
Selene peered over at the bags her mother was holding. "Are we going away, mummy? Are we going on a trip?"
"No, just me," Her mother replied, brushing a stray curl away from Selene's face and peering into her eyes.
"Is it because you and Daddy are fighting?"
"No. I just need a vacation."
"Why can't I come?"
"Some things you just need to do alone, baby."
"Do you still love me and Daddy?"
There was a quiet silence.
The queen kissed the princess on the forehead and promised she would be back.
She never came back.
Selene sits in the library of Hogwarts, pouring over her Transfiguration homework. Her best friend, Kate, sits beside her. A companionable silence between them, something perfected over the years.
Sometimes Selene wonders about her mother, and how some things you just need to do alone. Once upon a time she really truly believed that she would come back.
Kate reads Muggle fairy tales. Is obsessed with them. Selene watches her read each one with something like a childlike delight. The girl didn't grow up with Cinderella or Snow White. She can still believe in them.
Sometimes Selene envies her, as ignorant as she is. She can still believe in happy endings, in true love, in magic. Selene believes in magic. Selene hates her magic sometimes.
The princess became a witch who ruined everything.
She doesn't believe in happy endings anymore.
"Of course I will always love you."
The princess knew better.
Love was dead.
fin
Thanks for reading!
-Mischief Managed!