Disclaimer:I claim nothing involving the Harry Potter franchise as my own, as it all belongs to the fantastic J.K. Rowling, and the only characters I claim ownership of currently are Roxanne and Andromeda.
Authors Note: So this is the first chapter of my rewrite of this story, and if you've ever read the old version, you'll notice as you read along that my range of vocabulary and ability to write has improved so much since I once wrote the other chapters. The reason I began again was because I deeply enjoyed the plot behind this story, and I felt the need to turn it into what it really should be – a good read, unlike before. New things will be involved, a lot of things will be changed, and I really can't wait to get on with this story and allow you all to enjoy. And with that, I hope you enjoy the first chapter of my rewrite.
Lux, Veritas, Virtues: First Year.
Chapter One: Everything Changes.
In an old two-story house in a small village, a happy family of five sat cosily around a blazing fireplace in the warmth of their living room on Halloween night. The room was cluttered with giggling from young toddlers and a man's voice, one which altered as he changed the narrative of his story. A young man with messy black hair and brown eyes was boisterously telling his family a story full of mischief and mayhem. His children loved to hear the wild tales of the brave pranksters, the Marauders.
However, as much as his wife enjoyed listening to the stories, the intelligent woman with flaming red hair and dazzling emerald eyes, certainly did not approve of her husband telling her young one year old twins girls and two year old boy such stories, mostly because she was worried it would give them bad ideas. As funny as the old Marauder stories were, they were also cruel and she didn't want her children to walk down any bad paths.
It just wasn't in the young to mother to have the heart to put a stop to it however. The stories made her husband so happy, they were his childhood stories after all. Besides, their children didn't want the stories to come to an end. Instead of regular Muggle nursery rhymes, such as Humpty Dumpty or Hansel and Gretel, her children were stuck in the world of the Marauders, where they believed even the impossible was possible.
"You're giving them ideas, my love," she said with a smile, reaching out and ruffling the frizzy red hair of one of her daughters, which was somewhat much darker than her own, almost a strange maroon colour, an unusual colour for a child to be born with.
"Of course I am," the husband exclaimed, shooting his wife a cheeky wink.
"Mummy! Daddy knows good," the auburn-haired girl pouted, bright blue eyes sparkling in delight from the fascinating stories. This young one had been a bright child from the moment she was born, just like her mother had been. She'd picked up English as quickly as possible, despite how childlike it was.
The mother looked to her youngest daughter – youngest only by five minutes, mind you. "Alright, little monster," she gave in, rolling her eyes, smiling.
Suddenly, out of nowhere, there was an echoing bang as the front door flew open, slamming harshly against the pretty, papered walls, marking and denting the beautiful structure. A dark, cloaked and hooded figure stood there, red eyes gleaming in the darkness, as thunder rumbled behind him and lightening struck. It was like a scene out of the children's fantasy story books, where the villain came to steal away the light. It was a terrifying scene.
"Quick, take the kids and go!" the father yelled to his wife, scooping his children towards him to kiss them all goodbye, before he stood tall and pulled his wand out, ready to defend his family with his life. Hopefully, this wouldn't be their final goodbye.
The mothers' eyes widened in realization, recognizing the menacing figure that stood before them. She needed to get her children to safety quickly. But, she didn't have the strength to carry all three of her young ones up the stairs by herself. However, she knew her husband was too stubborn and heroic to run away instead of facing the villain, and therefore she'd have to manage by herself somehow, one way or another.
She gathered her sniffing, on the verge of crying daughters up into her arms, adjusting the weight of her children, cradling them close. Closing her eyes, breathing calm intakes, out-takes, slow whilst working fast as she cast wandless magic, and her son was lifted into the air, like a bird taking flight. The boy squealed in excitement, yet not understanding what was happening. The mother moved as fast as she possibly could up the stairs whilst carrying two toddlers and concentrating on not dropping her son, as the dark figure radiating evil took his first few steps into the living room.
Frantically, she ran to the closest room to them, the nursery. This was once the old bedroom her son had slept in when he was born, before they slowly began turning it into a playroom after the twins came along. The old wooden cot was still sitting there in the middle of the room, as well as a large oak wardrobe leaning against the wall behind it. Carefully she lowered her squealing son into the cot, hushing him, and with light steps, as not to alert the intruder to what room they occupied, moved to the open wardrobe and gently placed both twins inside.
However, just as she was about to reach down and pick Harry up, in order to place him in the wardrobe as well, there was a scream of pain downstairs. All of a sudden, the intruder blasted through the nursery door as it flew off its hinges and smashed into the opposite wall, knocking down a bookcase full of children's rhymes in its path. The mother, acting quick, closed the wardrobe door tight and threw herself in front of the crib to protect her eldest yet suddenly most vulnerable child as he cried for his mothers warm cuddles, not understanding the situation.
Unfortunately, the mother had left her wand downstairs in the living room, which was likely torn to pieces and ripped apart during her husbands duel. Realizing that her husband must have been defeated brought tears to her eyes, her heart breaking. All her children had left now to look after them was herself, and she had to do everything in her power to protect them. She'd die trying before she let this man get his skeleton hands on her most precious gifts.
"Move aside and I shall spare you," the demeaning villain demanded coldly, his chilling voice sending icy shivers throughout her body. It was a distinct sound that would catch somebody out, shocking their being into a frozen stillness.
The mother stood strong, despite angry tears pouring down her cold cheeks, yet warming them up. "You will not have my son!" she shrieked, flinging her shaking arms out to her sides, to protect her terrified son. She would not lose her children like she'd lost the love of her life.
Until truly driven to anger by failure or disobedience, the man continued to keep a calm posture, despite his murderous nature. His usual advantage over victims was the ability to terrify them through manipulative commands. However, this woman seemed to be a stubborn one whom would not be swayed easily. If she did not comply with his strict orders, he would be forced to eliminate her.
"If you do not move aside," he began, gleaming red eyes narrowing into slits, "I will be forced to deal with you accordingly." He rested his spidery fingers over his wand, fingering it in the depths of his pockets, ready to strike.
A humph sound echoed from the woman's lips. There was no way she'd let him scare her off in the way he had scared many others. "Never! I'll protect him forever, I'll protect all of my children forever." She stood defiant, she'd never back down.
Then, a bright green light flashed before the red head, with a terrifying chorus of the two simplest of words that would end her life. The last sound she would ever hear would be the lonely cries of her scared child. This man had whipped his wand out and had cast the killing curse, like it was the easiest thing to do, to end somebodies life. With a bone-chilling scream, her cold, dead body crumpled to the floor, like an animal caught by their prey,
A smirk of satisfaction spread across the villain's face. He glided towards the cot, wand firmly in hand, and peered down at the crying infant inside. Firstly, he must deal with the child and then later figure out what to do with the other two once the deed was done. The child blinked up at him with bright green eyes, but this did not phase the great Lord. With no caring bone in his body, he cast the killing curse once more.
There a sudden flash of bright green light exploding and then...nothing.
A young, frizzy, vibrantly red-haired girl woke with a start, her emerald green eyes blinking through the darkness, trying to make sense of where she was. Had that been a dream, the same dream she'd been having on and off since she was an infant? She leaned up upon her elbows, raised a fist to rub the sleep from her eyes, and yawned. Her sleeping pattern had always been terrible, however last night, it was at its worst. She was exhausted.
Reaching over to the clock, she checked the time. It was seven o'clock in the morning. She groaned, knowing that she'd never be able to get back to sleep now. However, her early-bird sister was bound to be awake and already in her sanctuary by now, the library. Unless she'd fallen asleep in those big, slouching chairs yet again, of course. Eleven year old Roxanne wouldn't be surprised, it'd be the seventh time she'd discovered Andromeda snoozing, a large pile of books resting on her lap. Despite little similarities, her sister was unbelievably, an opposite to her.
After throwing herself out of bed, she looked around her dark green and silver themed room, hating the way the colours worked together. She'd never been much of a green person. It wasn't much surprising considering she'd grown up all her life with a very respected family that worshiped the combination of green and silver due to their heritage and legacy. However, I have to deal with it, she thought sullenly as she wandered over to her walk in wardrobe and slowly pulled on a pair of denim jeans, a plain white vest, and a simple black robe.
Even though her room made her somewhat claustrophobic, she would've much preferred to stay confined in her room than wander through the halls of Malfoy Manor, where any kind of cruelty could be found lurking. She hated watching the House Elves slave away, she hated her ancestors portraits stare at her in disappointed as she walked past, and she mostly hated the impending thought that she may bump into her terrifying father suddenly. She made the effort to avoid any possible routes he may journey through as she quickly made her way to the library.
Unfortunately however, just as she was a few steps away from pushing open the large, heavy mahogany wood doors to the library, the youngest male Malfoy of the family appeared, her wretched brother, with his slicked, blonde hair and gleaming blue eyes. It was funny, the brother was so different from the twins. Whilst they were both dark in hair and eye colour, the rest of the family were all blonde and blue eyed. This always brought her deep into thought that perhaps, maybe they didn't really belong there?
"Oh great, what does he want now?" Roxanne uttered impatiently, placing a small hand upon her slowly but surely curving waist. She had no patience to deal with his pathetic act of pretend inferiority, couldn't she just have a normal day for once.
Twelve year old Draco Malfoy smirked in the way that you knew he was about to stir up trouble. "I was just wondering why-"
But he didn't get very far, as Roxanne cut him off with a sharp insult, "oh I'm sorry to cut you short, but wouldn't you be amazed to hear about how I really don't care. Goodbye." She went once more to push open the door, but he grabbed her wrist with a firm hand, stopping her.
"You're one more stupid comment away from living your life alone," Draco defended, and pressed her buttons further. "Ladies shouldn't back-chat to inferior figures." If he believed anything could anger her fast, he knew it would be that last comment.
She glared at him in a rotten way, narrowing her eyes sharply. Sexist comments were not at all her favourite, she refused to believe that 'ladies' should act only in a way according to the male population. "I refuse to enter a battle of wits with somebody who is unarmed," she growled.
This was just a usual morning. Roxanne would be wandering somewhere, her brother would suddenly appear, and they'd somehow enter up pushing back and forth sarcastic, cruel comments, just to push each other into competition. It was a whose insults are better than whose competition. However, it usually ended in bad results, as her brother would easily be defeated and would go tattling to their father, who'd always end the discussion painfully fast.
Inside the library however, Andromeda sat furiously reading away, her dark brown eyes scanning the pages as she furiously flicked her curly auburn hair away from her face. She was stuck into a fantasy book called Tales and Fantasies, which was full of Robert Louis Stevenson's short stories. Although the book was more based towards younger children, she'd already read everything else in the Malfoy library that she possibly could. Although she may have not understood some more higher educational texts, her love for books and reading in general did not stop her.
When the arguing outside became so loud that it somehow pulled her previously deep attention away from the story she was immersed in, she threw the book down on her lap and huffed. She'd stayed up all night reading and she was tired, she was not ready to listen to yet another battle of wits at seven o'clock in the morning. She just wanted to read her books.
Knowing that she'd have to stand up for her sister, after all they were so close that they were also best friends, she placed the book down on the little square table besides her and stood, brushing the dust off her jeans that had fallen onto her from the book, as nobody had picked it up in years, it seemed. With a sigh, she fast-stepped towards the library door and pulled the heavy blockade open, ready to defend her hot-tempered sister.
It was unfortunate that their father had already appeared before she could arrive, as he stood there with his arms folded, his piercing icy eyes staring hollow holes into Roxanne's soul. She cowered slightly under his gaze, and Andromeda wanted to run over to her sister and soothe her. An angry look from her father froze her step as she attempted to comfort, and she backed away slightly. Their father was definitely not a man to be messed with.
"You're coming with me," the man of the manor spoke calmly, yet grabbed her in a rough manor and yanked her by her collar, "no lady of this house speaks in such a manner, you should know your place by now." He dragged her down the hallway as she struggled to break free, but it was no use, she'd never escape.
Andromeda glared angrily at Draco, knowing that she'd never forgive him for all the times he'd sneakily gotten Roxanne in trouble with their father. Andromeda didn't even know if Draco knew what kind of trouble he was constantly pushing her into. However, he still smirked at her gloatingly, as if to say he'll always have it best over them. It was horrible, this fact, yet neither sisters would ever understand why Roxanne was always treated so badly.
All you could hear throughout the halls was the horrific screams of pain coming from Lucius Malfoy's office, and this was the first time she'd ever heard them herself. Draco seemed to have never heard them before either, and he stood there in equal shock and horror, just as she did. He really did not understand how bad their sister had it, and he never, ever would.
Authors Note: What do you all think? I hope you enjoyed to all of those new time readers and that you'll continue to read, and for those old time readers if any of you are reading this, I hope you can see how much I've improved. I've worked hard to improve and give this story the ability to be enjoyable and interesting. Please, don't forget to review to help me improve further:)