Notes: Hello, hello, hello! I have decided to create another story in-progress. For those of you following my other story line, I'm afraid to say that I have lied!! Yes, I will not be making a one-shot, but another chapter story! Frankly, I just got this idea, researched a lot, and decided to make it happen. So, I hope you enjoy this, it's quite a weird sort of Prologue, but I hope you all like it!
Disclaimer- Everything belongs to Rowling. Sadly, I'm just an amateur.
~Prologue
Mistakes are encouraged by many families, the Bennett Family were no exception to that rule. To many parents who put their faith in the 'learning from one's mistake after one has experienced that mistake' policy, Lora Bennett could not help but feel that those specific people have been misled! Including her parents! How can one possibly learn from their mistake, if and when they're in the middle of said blunder, when no one has taught them the supposed lesson to get out of the said hypothetical misinterpretation?
And indeed, it is a nasty situation to be in if a twelve year old girl was wandering the streets of Soho, London in the dead of night, with no chaperone or help, while being tailed by three drunk men, who were now wolf-whistling. Oh and there is the fact that the said girl doesn't have a bloody hypothetical resolution to this said hypothetical misapplication because of the damn policy and its misconception to all families who believe in it!!!
So evidently, there has been a miscalculation. Lora thought irritably. Quickening her pace and turning corners to try and lose the drunken trio, but they also managed to find her by her shadow that was produced from the eccentric looking night lights that flashed nonstop. Oh, yes, they did a fantastic job cleaning up London, since it still contains the many bars and night clubs in a neighborhood that was deemed safe to all age groups. How did I get myself into this nightmare in the first place? Oh yeah, from my supposed friends.
"Lora! Come on Lora, we want to show you something." She felt her heart thumping rapidly as Thomas's voice was heard. Looking out her window, she saw the brown haired Thomas, and his twin sister Tammy beside him, beckoning her forward. Nodding reluctantly, as to not seem like a coward, she jumped from her first story window and followed the two through the streets of Soho.
After walking for hours, Lora couldn't help but feel suspicious. They have already passed neighborhoods that Lora's mother would deem 'inappropriate' or 'not for children's eyes'. In fact, they had walked past one door with a sign saying, 'Large Chest For Sale.' which certainly appalled Lora. But then again, her friends knew where they were going. Her friends would never put her in any danger. She could trust her friends.
"Are we going to St James's Park?" Lora asked as the surroundings were becoming familiar to her. Tammy nodded as Thomas suddenly gripped Lora's hand, forcing her to blush.
"We saw something interesting in the water today, you'll never believe what it is. It's absolutely brilliant! Wait a second, you were supposed to be with us today. We waited for you at the park, I asked your mum, and she said you were busy."
"Er. . ." Truthfully, Lora had actually hidden away in her room, practicing a sort of. . . Well, she doesn't exactly know what it is, but she calls it the Gift. Where she has learned to levitate things and have bats suddenly appear out of nowhere. It was quite scary, and exciting, but she never dared tell the twins, there were some things she just couldn't tell them. "Stomachache." She replied with a forced smile.
Accepting her answer, Thomas pulled her forward, leading her through the deserted park. At night though, the full moon was casting long and dark shadows. It made her feel uncomfortable at how the darkness seemed to engulf them. If she hadn't known that it already was a starry, moonlit, July night; Lora could probably assume that it was a fleeting, chilling night of October. Getting a prickly feeling on the back of her neck, Lora tightened her grip on Thomas's hand.
Oh what she'd give to be on Dean Street, looking over the house numbers, where Karl Mark had lived and was creating The Communist Manifesto. Which would make her possibly ponder about what gave him the ideas to create an effective, yet looked down upon government system. Or perhaps she could be on Frith Street, gazing at a plaque that claimed Mozart had lived there for a few years. Lora always found it possible to hear mystical, soothing songs fill her ears, that, no doubt, came from the early inspiration of the prodigy. Or maybe she could be looking over Soho Square, where Paul McCartney's office resided; possibly going over the drastic culture changes that he and John Lennon had brought to America!
Needless to say, Lora would much rather be in any of those places, imagining the ideas that led to the creation of such wonderful masterpieces, than looking at this supposed thing in the water. But once they finally arrived at the river's edge, Lora couldn't help but feel uneasy being so close to the water.
"Come on, we have to climb this tree to see it!" Tammy whispered excitedly. Once the three were firmly secured on the pine, Thomas began pointing to the depths below them.
"It was here, shimmering and a bit scaly, and it was huge! At first we thought it must have been a fish, but we thought we saw arms and-"
"Fish don't have arms!" Screeched Lora disappointedly. Her gaze traveling beyond the pine, were those people by the benches?
"I know that! But, it was definitely not a fish. Oh no," Thomas's gaze rested on the new company. "Come on, we better leave, we can come back another time." Replied Thomas, now ending a rather pointless journey, to now hopefully return home and get away from the people that they were close to. But when Lora tried to get down, the branch beneath her let out a loud Snap, resulting in her tumbling to the depths of the dark waters. "Lora!" Thomas's distressed call was the last thing she heard.
Splashing and kicking furiously, Lora had become entangled within her own clothes. Oh, why hadn't she told them that she couldn't swim? Oh, that's right, she had been under the delusion that they would laugh at her! Twisting and turning, Lora had no way of knowing what was up or down or right or wrong. What was it she had read about in subjects of water related accidents [that, ironically, more car accidents resulted in people drowning, than by people drowning of their own accord]? Wait till the car was filled with water. . . Unbuckle and open the nearest door, seeing how the water pressure would be the same. . . And follow the bubbles, That's it!! The bubbles go up! Twisting around once more, she saw the bubbles floating upwards, she kicked her legs and was closer to the surface, but no where near close enough, and air was now timely precious.
Trying to reach up to grab any sort of weed, she felt something push her from behind. It was forceful and propelled her to the surface with ease. Disoriented and gasping for air, she reached the shore, looking back at what had pushed her. But all she saw was the moonlight reflecting off of something shiny. But there was no time to investigate.
"Thomas!! Tammy! Thomas?" Her wails for help ended in a sort of desperation and pity. They were gone, and she was alone. Feeling fury rise up within her, she closed her eyes and wished she could go back to her house, anywhere near her house, anywhere at all. . . Opening them, she found herself on the doorstep, under the uninviting and ludicrous sign that beckoned drunk men. Only finding out that as she looked up, wet and cold from her unintended night swim, three drunk men were smiling a ways away from her-
"LET GO OF ME! I AM NOT A PROSTITUTE!"
Lora screamed at one of the men, who had succeeded in taking a hold of her wrist, forcing her out of her thoughts as she decided to face the mistake at hand. Of course idiot. I've been leaving a trail of water, that's how they keep finding me.
The men chuckled, and the one holding her replied through a heavy haze of alcohol. "Good, my money won't be wasted tonight." The other two roared with raucous laughter, Lora went rigid with fear and anger.
"I told you to let go!" Bang! The man flew backwards and hit a building wall, Lora ran, and ran, and ran for God knows how long. She closed her eyes, and wished to be safe again, safe with her books, safe with her filled out journals of notes and theories, safe with her most precious keepsakes. Opening her eyes, she found herself locked away in her room, her home.
Falling onto her bed, exhaustion took her, and so did the impending dread of brutish nightmares that would feed off her every fear, desire, and need.
It was so close; the migraine trickling, annoyance flickering, and the ignorance commencing that was produced by every new year.
Even settling down to review the expected poor papers in the rather dismal sitting room, that brought back oh, so many fond memories; Severus Snape could not help but taste the bitter cruelty that laced his mouth. While marking similar T's to two potion's essays that belonged to a pair of insufferable Weasley's, Snape glanced down at the attendance sheet that was barely visible under the stacks of inadequate papers that were still left ungraded.
Another task from Dumbledore, no doubt. A yearly routine where every professor [with the exception of the newest teacher, of course] had to pick a muggle-born, or a witch or wizard in the muggle realm, to explain to them their magical properties, and how they have been accepted to Hogwarts. While the post owl didn't always achieve necessary functions, given that some muggle-borns would conclude that the letter is not at all believable, formal in-person greetings would have to suffice.
And it was only customary for the Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher to not give his willing assistance in this work for Hogwarts! For the Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher must be troubled with added 'work', uncertainty, and the fact that he'd be watched all the time by Dumbledore. Yes, Quirrell, must have shown Dumbledore his past bravery, and undying gratitude that he has to possess in order to be acquainted with this job! Oh, how could Severus Snape, youngest potion's master, double agent, expert Occlumens and Legilimens, the most bloody self-sacrificing Slytherin ever, and Dumbledore's most loyal right-hand man; oh yes, how could Severus Snape ever consider competing with the likes of Quirinus Quirrell? But it doesn't matter, nobody questions Albus Dumbledore and his actions! Never; damn you Quirrell.
Trailing down along the list of expected first years, Snape would have been pleased to have an excuse to show up at Lucius Malfoy's door. But, with his arrogance and boastful pure-blood status, Snape could conclude that he would have already told Draco of the magic he possessed. His eyes stopped on another name, which he gave an involuntary twitch at, Harry James Potter. But to Snape's relief, and possibly disappointment, Hagrid had decided to be the one to recognize the boy's limelight. Scrolling down, he stopped at another name, staring at it for several seconds, he got out parchment and a quill and wrote a quick letter to Dumbledore. Only writing to confirm the child he had decided to visit, Dumbledore would be pleased.
Dumbledore,
I intend to go to Soho tomorrow. A certain quarrel needs to be smoothed out. New explanations and fictitious truths will be told to the child, with your permission of course. I also intend on making sure that the crucial element is safely secure once it reaches Hogwarts.
Snape
While watching the owl soar off into the inky sky, Snape went back to grading papers. But his eyes kept darting back to the attendance sheet, which now had a circle around one name. Lora Phoebe Rince was the name that was circled, also known as a very unforgiving mistake in the endless circle of lies.
Notes: Hello, again. Well, after you read it, you can see which parts are I had fun writing. I think you can guess that I favored the words, 'said', 'supposed', 'hypothetical', and 'mis-interpretation, -application, -conception, and -calculation'! Yes, I had fun at those parts. I think the descriptiveness was a bit thick though, that's why I'm debating whether or not to remain in third person for the rest of the story, or switch it to first person, I'm still deciding. I hope I portrayed Snape well, it took me two hours to be creative with interpreting his mind.
As I said up at the top, I did research a lot about Soho, London. Urban, entertainment center; there was and still is a lot of prostitution, thought I'd add that in. Also, I looked up the streets where famous people have lived on wikipedia, so if it's wrong, I'm sorry! I did the best I could! Also, I am a sucker for doing OC's, I love them! It's all about this mysterious person that you know nothing about, and that you'll have to just keep reading because the prologue was so damn good! Ha ha, just kidding. I'd like reviews, if that's fine. Keep writing and reading fellow FanFictioners!