Disclaimer: Can we get… I don't know, some sort of form we fill out so I don't have to put this every time I start a new story? Ugh… I digress. Where was I? Oh yes… I don't own anything. Nothing at all. Nope, no ownership here whatsoever.
-.-
Bzzt! Bzzt! Bzzt! The gentle buzzing sound pierced twelve-year-old Scarlett Moreau's sleepy brain, rousing the young brunette from a very deep sleep. Muttering darkly, Scarlett disentangled herself from her blankets and reached across to her nightstand in the darkness and grabbed her cell phone. She glanced briefly at the glowing display and then held the device up to her ear.
"Hullo..." she said blearily.
"Hey!" came the cheerful voice of one of Scarlett's closest friends, Jake Warner. She had met Jake almost a year ago while riding the train to Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, one of the most prestigious schools of magic in the world. Jake was a very nice boy, sometimes rather nervous, but sweet. He was also muggleborn, meaning that unlike Scarlett, he didn't have a drop of magical blood in his veins but had somehow, by some fluke of fate, had been born a wizard nonetheless.
"Jake, it's three in the morning," Scarlett muttered darkly, rolling onto her back. "Why are you calling me?"
"What? Oh, right... sorry," said Jake quickly. "Sorry, I forgot about the time difference!"
"Yeah, there's a bit of a time difference between Leeds and New York," said Scarlett dryly
"There is," Jake agreed, sounding rather nervous. "Uh... sorry again..."
"Well, you called me and woke me up," said Scarlett, sitting up in bed. "What did you want?"
"Oh, well... it's kind of a long story," said Jake. "I was just going to tell you about the tour of Newcastle Academy of Magic we went on yesterday. It's... very different from Hogwarts."
"Well, America is very different from Britain," said Scarlett. "So, no surprises there. Thinking of transferring?" Jake chuckled.
"Of course not!" he exclaimed. "What would my three girls do without me?"
"I really have no idea," said Scarlett in a very serious voice.
"Well, I'll let you get back to sleep," said Jake. "Sorry for waking you. Will you call me back in the morning? There's a lot more I want to tell you and the owl Dad bought me for my birthday is a little... well... old and I don't think he'd manage a transatlantic flight if I wrote you a letter."
"Of course," said Scarlett. "What time is it there? I've got to make sure I call you a three a.m. your time."
"Thanks," Jake said dryly.
"Oh, anytime," Scarlett replied. "Talk to you later."
"Yeah," said Jake. "Bye,"
"Bye," Jake hung up and Scarlett heard the line go dead. With a sigh she placed her phone back on her bedside table and after a few seconds the illuminated display went out, plunging the room into complete darkness.
-.-
The Choices We Make: The Black Book
Chapter One: Long Summer Nights
It was mid august in Scarlett's hometown of Leeds and the summer holiday was quickly coming to a close. The twelve-year-old was taking the time to enjoy her final days of freedom by relaxing in a lawn chair by the pool in her backyard because in two weeks the new school year would be starting at Hogwarts and Scarlett had to admit that she was both excited and worried about it.
Her first year at Hogwarts had not been particularly normal... even for a witch. Upon her arrival at Hogwarts, she had befriended the Charms teacher, a man named Mercius Balathar who had once known Scarlett's birth parents, Alexandra and Michael Moreau. Both of them had been killed in an accident involving an experimental spell when Scarlett was two years old.
Balathar had once had an affair with Scarlett's mother and he had believed that Scarlett might have been his daughter. This, Scarlett knew, had turned out not to be true but Balathar still appeared to have a fatherly interest in Scarlett. They had taken to each other very quickly and became fast friends... until Balathar's true intentions had been revealed.
Balathar had betrayed Scarlett to a strange wizard who wanted to steal a powerful relic called the Orbstone from Hogwarts. The wizard failed to claim his prize and both he and Balathar had been forced to flee from Hogwarts and the Orbstone itself had seemingly disappeared, but not before Scarlett had been horrendously tortured and nearly killed. It had taken her the better part of a month to fully recover physically, and despite what she told anyone who asked, she still hadn't recovered mentally and emotionally.
Balathar's betrayal had truly devastated her. She had cared about him, maybe even loved him in a father-daughter way. It seemed that Balathar had wanted her for no reason other than to use her as a sick, twisted copy of Scarlett's mother. It turned out that Balathar had been obsessed with Alexandra even when she was a student at Hogwarts. Scarlett was a picture-perfect copy of her and Balathar had intended to kidnap her and use her to... well, Scarlett preferred not to think about what uses Balathar would have found for her if his plans had not been foiled.
Despite all the pain of the previous year that still remained with her, there were certainly some good things coming along in her life. Scarlett's adoptive parents, Sara and Jonathon Hobbard, had to make an emergency trip to Germany. Jonathon worked in the Department of International Magical Cooperation and he was needed immediately at the German Magical Embassy.
As soon as she learned that she would be cooped up in a hotel room, as she always was on her father's business trips, for the next two weeks, Scarlett had immediately sent a plea to her very best friend in the world, Lilly Harcourt. Lilly was a fellow Hogwarts student and they were in the same house, Gryffindor. The two girls had met on the Hogwarts Express one year ago and had instantly become close friends.
Lilly had happily asked her parents and they agreed to allow Scarlett to come and spend the rest of the summer with them. They had assured Scarlett's parents that she would be perfectly safe and that they would see their daughter safely onto the Hogwarts Express on September 1st.
As Lilly was due to arrive later that afternoon and Scarlett wasn't even fully packed, she decided to cut her relaxation time short and wrapped herself in a towel and headed up to her bedroom. Scarlett didn't consider herself a messy girl, but as she stood in the doorway gazing around at her room she had to admit that she had allowed her possessions to... spread out a bit over the summer.
Tugging on a pair of jeans and a t-shirt, Scarlett began moving about her room collecting her belongings and tossing them haphazardly into her school trunk. Her owl, Aura, who sat in her cage atop Scarlett's wardrobe, hooted in a 'couldn't-you-at-least-pack-without-making-a-mess?' sort of way.
"What?" Scarlett asked the owl. "I'm in a hurry. Lilly will be here in a couple of hours." Aura gave her a look that quite clearly said, 'You could've started days ago'. Scarlett rolled her eyes.
"You know me, Aura," said Scarlett with a wry smile. "I procrastinate." It took Scarlett well over an hour to fully pack her trunk. She was just throwing the last book, an old diary of her mother's with several pages ripped out at the end that Balathar had given her the previous year, into her trunk when her mother's voice echoed up the stairs.
"Scarlett, sweetheart, lunch is ready!" her mother called.
"Be right there!" Scarlett replied, closing the lid of her trunk. "Here," she said to Aura. "Are you hungry? Alright, I'll let you out. But be back in an hour, Lilly's coming and I don't want her to have to wait on us." Aura hooted happily as Scarlett unlocked her cage. She took flight, pausing long enough to nip her mistress affectionately on her ear before leaving the house through the open window. Smiling, Scarlett turned to head downstairs. She stopped, however, at the doorway when she spotted the old locket her mother had given her on the platform just before she boarded the Hogwarts Express.
The locket had once belonged to her birth mother, who had asked Sara to give it to Scarlett before she left for Hogwarts. Scarlett loved the locket and almost never took it off. The only thing that annoyed her about it was that she had never been able to open it. She scooped it up and looked at the small golden disk attached to the silver chain.
The large letter A (without the line in the middle) in the center of the disk caught the light from the open window, causing it to glow slightly. Scarlett sighed as she ran her thumb over the disk, a small but rather sad smile on her face. She carefully looped the chain around her neck and tucked the locket down the front of her shirt, allowing the heavy metal disk to come to rest in the center of her chest.
Scarlett continued downstairs and entered the kitchen where her mother was busily folding clothes that had just come out of the dryer and tossing them just as wildly as her daughter had, into a suitcase. Scarlett sat down at the table and scooted the plate of baked chicken and boiled potatoes toward her.
"Taking enough clothes?" Scarlett asked, noticing the suitcase was practically full of nothing but clothing.
"Well, we're going to be gone a while," said Sara with a shrug. "I don't want to be stuck in Germany with not enough clothes to wear."
"They do have stores, you know," Scarlett said idly, spearing a bite of chicken with her fork. "You could just buy something new if you run out... or, you know there's this things called washing machines... You know how Dad hates Apparating with heavy luggage."
"I'll Apparate my luggage by myself if he gets in a mood," said Sara. "Besides, have you seen your father's suitcase? He's got it filled with an entire file cabinet full of paperwork!"
"I guess he needs it for… whatever he's got to deal with," said Scarlett thoughtfully. "What's going on over there, anyway? Has Dad said anything?"
"He told me the German Ministry is threatening to completely cut ties with the British Ministry if all of this Muggleborn legislation rubbish stays in effect." Sara explained. "Did you hear about the latest law they passed?" Scarlett shook her head. The last thing that she had heard had happened late in the previous school year. The Ministry of Magic had passed a law that said that any Muggleborns not currently attending Hogwarts or living in a magical community would never be permitted to attend Hogwarts or live within a magical community.
Scarlett knew that Professor Harmony Phoebus, the headmistress of Hogwarts School, had been outraged by the law and had flat out said that any Muggleborn who wished to come to learn at Hogwarts would be welcomed. Scarlett didn't know how Professor Phoebus would be able to do that, but if there was one thing she did know it was that when Professor Phoebus said something, she had every intention of following through with it. She had made the Muggleborn community a promise and Scarlett knew the headmistress would keep it.
"No," Scarlett told her mother. "What's going on now?"
"The Ministry's added an amendment to their bloody Muggleborn Proliferation Act," her mother replied hotly. "They've made it illegal for Muggleborns to get jobs in a Magical place of business. Thankfully, people who are already employed are unaffected but who knows how long that'll last with these damn Puritists running about."
"Cursing in front of our daughter, I see," said Jonathon, Scarlett's father, as he entered the kitchen hurriedly tying a tie around his neck. "I get a death glare whenever I do that."
"In this case it was justified," said Sara defiantly. "In fact, I could've said much worse in regards to the Puritists."
"That's not untrue," Jonathon agreed. "If Minister Tobias keeps submitted to pressure from the Purity Movement, he's going to have some major problems." He sat down at the table across from Scarlett and unfolded the newspaper that was lying in one of the otherwise empty chairs. "Did you see the front page this morning?" He asked his wife. "The Americans are threatening very heavy sanctions if the M.P.A. remains in effect."
"What sort of sanctions?" Scarlett asked curiously. Jonathon shrugged.
"Well, they haven't given any details but its safe to say that if our ministry is going to face any kind of international political issues it'll be the Americans leading the charge. They've already threatened to withdraw from the United International Federation of Magic... not that I can blame them. If I didn't work for the Ministry, I'd be charging right along with them."
"So what are you going to Germany for?" Scarlett inquired.
"To try and smooth all of this Muggleborn stuff over," said Jonathon. "The Magical Empire of Germany is right up there with the American Magical Republic on the subject. Emperor Heinrich has sent letters to the Minister personally requesting he reconsider these new laws. It would do any good, but he's trying.
"Unfortunately, the Germans are a bit more... aggressive than the Americans. They're planning on a full diplomatic cut off. They're saying they'll completely cut all ties with us and that would devastate our economy. I'm hoping we'll be able to soothe tensions and retain political ties." Before Scarlett could reply, there was a knock at the front door.
"And that'll be Lilly," said Sara as Scarlett ran out of the kitchen at breakneck speed, racing down the hallway to the door. She reached it in seconds and, taking a brief moment to compose herself, she tugged it open. Lilly stood on the front porch, apparently examining the doorbell with slight interest. She looked up when Scarlett opened the door and the girl's rather pouty lips curved up into a wide smile, a smile that lit up her baby blue eyes.
"Carly!" Lilly exclaimed, using the pet name she had created for the brunette the previous year. In the brief moment in which the girls' eyes met, what felt like a bolt of pure, unfiltered lightning rippled through Scarlett's entire body. Such a thing would come as a shock to most, but to Lilly and Scarlett it had become as natural as breathing because it happened every time they looked at each other or touched one another. It had terrified them at first, but after over a year it had become the very best feeling in the world. Neither girl could say why it happened, nor did they care at all.
Smiling widely, Lilly leapt forward, engulfing the other girl in a bone-crushing hug. They broke apart and Lilly held Scarlett out at arm's length to look her over.
"You look great!" said Lilly brightly.
"You too!" Scarlett replied. "What did you do to your hair?" she asked, noticing Lilly's blonde locks were quite wavy now instead of straight like they had been when she had last seen her best friend.
"Oh, you like?" Lilly asked, turning on the spot. "My mum did it..."
"It looks great!" said Scarlett happily. "Well, come on in! I want you to meet my mum and dad." She paused, looking over Lilly's shoulder at a large black sedan parked on the road in front of the house. A tall man in a suit and tie stood beside the rear passenger door, waiting quite patiently. "Your dad can come too," she added pleasantly.
"Oh, that's not my dad," said Lilly, glancing back at him. "That's Geoffrey Bu'Fay, my family's driver." Scarlett arched her eyebrows.
"Your driver, huh?" she said idly. "Since when do you have a driver? And why'd you come by car, anyway? I figured you'd use the Floo Network."
"Ah, well, see that's..." but she broke off as Sara and Jonathon appeared, smiling, behind Scarlett.
"Ah, you must be Lilly," said Sara brightly. Lilly nodded. "Well, Scarlett's told us all about you, of course." she added, patting her daughter's shoulder lovingly.
"It's nice to meet you, Mrs. Hobbard," said Lilly pleasantly. "Mr. Hobbard."
"Lilly, I haven't had the chance to thank you," said Jonathon firmly. "But I absolutely want to thank you for helping save our Scarlett last term. She might have been killed had you not tipped off Professor Phoebus that she was in danger." Lilly smiled graciously.
"Well, she was doing just fine on her own from what I understand," she said gently. "But you're welcome, nonetheless." Jonathon took a quick glance at his watch and his eyes widened.
"Sweet lordy-lord, we're late!" he exclaimed. "I'd invite you in for a cup of tea, but I'm afraid we've got to be off!"
"You're packed, then?" Lilly asked Scarlett as the brunette's father bustled off.
"Yeah, my trunk's upstairs," Scarlett replied.
"I'll help bring it down," said Lilly. Together, the girls headed upstairs and into Scarlett's bedroom.
"You'll have to excuse the mess, I'm a little... well, messy..." said Scarlett somewhat nervously.
"Oh, that's okay," said Lilly with a smile. "I like a little messiness every now and again. My mum is a bit of a... neat-freak…"
"Right," said Scarlett, opening her trunk and making sure she had everything she needed. As she was searching, Aura flew back in through the open window and landed gently on Lilly's shoulder.
"Hey, Aura," said Lilly pleasantly. "Have a good summer?" The owl hooted happily.
"Me too," said Lilly.
"Come on, Aura," Scarlett called, opening the owl's cage door. "We're about to leave." Aura took flight and landed in her cage. Scarlett closed and locked the door and dropped a few Owl Treats in the bottom of the cage. Aura hooted appreciatively.
Back downstairs, Scarlett bade her parents goodbye. Sara was weeping as was normal as she hugged her daughter and Jonathon asked Lilly to keep an eye out for Scarlett as she had done the previous year. After saying their goodbyes, Sara and Jonathon Disapparated. Lilly and Scarlett dragged the heavy trunk and Aura's cage outside and Scarlett locked the door. Lilly's driver, Geoffrey, approached them and bowed.
"I'll take that, madam," he said to Scarlett, relieving her of Aura's cage and her trunk. Lilly smiled at Scarlett as Geoffrey stowed the luggage in the trunk of the sedan and secured Aura's cage inside the car.
"So what was that you were saying about arriving by car instead of the Floo Network?" Scarlett asked as she and Lilly sat down in the rear of the vehicle.
"Oh, that," said Lilly. "Well, my dad's a... well, he prefers to blend in as perfectly with Muggles as possible when we're out in their world. We travel using Muggle transportation, we live in a Muggle house although it is magically cloaked…"
"What's the point in using Muggle transportation if you're going to a Magical location?" Scarlett asked. "The Floo Network would've..."
"Well, my dad actually works in the Muggle world," said Lilly. "He's a banker for Geller & Greene International Bank and Trust, a big bank in London. He loves everything about Muggles and their way of life... which is good, because he married one."
"Oh, your mum's not a witch then?" Scarlett asked curiously, surprised that she had never discovered this fact before.
"Nope," said Lilly. "I'm a half-blood, if that matters. My mum's part of the reason my dad is working so hard against the Muggleborn Proliferation Act. If the M.P.A. already affects muggleborns, how long until they start coming after wizards who marry Muggles? I mean, where will they draw the line? What if they start going after half-bloods too?"
"If there's a wizard alive today that's not at least a half-blood, I'll be surprised," said Scarlett dryly. "My mum was a half-blood and my dad was muggleborn. Most of the old wizarding families have practically died out or married into Muggle families."
"Diluting Magical blood," said Lilly angrily. "At least that's what the Puritists keep saying." She shrugged. "Well, let's not talk about something so depressing. Tell me about your summer!"
"Nothing particularly special happened," said Scarlett. "I mostly just hung out by the pool and read from the Book of Shadows."
"The what?" Lilly asked, arching her eyebrows.
"You remember that box of stuff I got for Christmas last year?" Scarlett asked the blonde.
"Yeah," Lilly replied, remembering the strange Christmas morning when Scarlett had opened the large box which contained a number of books as well as a magical map called the Marauder's Map that showed a live image of where everyone was inside of Hogwarts and an Invisibility Cloak. The box had been sent anonymously except for a short note signed with the initials P.H., which meant absolutely nothing to Scarlett whatsoever.
"Well, the Book of Shadows was mixed in with all of that stuff," Scarlett explained. "I showed it to you last year."
"It was a book," said Lilly, shrugged. "Trust me, I wouldn't remember."
"Yeah, well, this one's actually really interesting," said Scarlett. "It's a book of spells, but there are descriptions of demons and warlocks and all sorts of magical creatures as well as tips and methods of how to fight and destroy them."
"Planning on becoming a demon slayer, are you?" Lilly asked interestedly. Scarlett rolled her brown eyes.
"Of course not," she said dryly. "I'm just curious if someone else in my family might have been. Maybe that P.H. person who sent me the box was one. The note that came with it said I was the last of the Warren witches and that the book belonged to me. I figured it might be a good idea to at least read the book. Maybe something in there might help me understand where my gifts come from." And by gifts, Scarlett didn't mean her being a witch, because Scarlett was no ordinary witch. Scarlett was special. When she had first arrived at Hogwarts, much of the magic she was taught came so easily to her it was as thought she had a natural affinity to it, a ingrained ability to perform magic with no previous instruction or practice.
Scarlett had able to cast spells well beyond what any first year student should have been able to perform. This had made her the envy of many of her peers and an enigma to her teachers. None of them had ever met a witch quite like Scarlett. As far as anyone knew, no one had ever had such an easy time with magic. Spells that would have been difficult for a fourth year to perform came as easily to Scarlett as adding one plus one would be to a mathematician.
It was, in fact, Scarlett's strange abilities that first brought her to Balathar. He had taken an immediate interest in her unique powers and had even begun giving her private tutoring lessons during the evenings. She couldn't have known it then, but in truth Balathar wasn't interested in her abilities, the evening lessons had only giving him a reason to get close to her.
"I guess there could be," said Lilly quietly. "But you'd think if anything it would've been in your mum's journal, wouldn't you? If anyone would have known, it would have been her, right?"
"Maybe," said Scarlett. "I don't know what she knew, Lil. I never knew her." Lilly's attempt to change the subject from something depressing clearly hadn't worked, so she tried again.
"So, have you spoken to Jake or Hope recently?" she asked curiously.
"Jake called me a couple of days ago," Scarlett replied. "He's in America, you know? He was telling me about a tour that he took of Newcastle Academy of Magic in New York City. You know how he gets when he's excited. He was talking really fast, so I think he's having a good time."
"I'm sure he is," said Lilly slyly. "Have you seen the girl's skirts at Newcastle?"
"Well they can't be much shorter than ours," said Scarlett. "They don't even cover the knees when we're standing up, much less when we're sitting down. Why do you think I always hated sitting in the front row of desks in class?" Lilly shrugged.
"Give it a couple of years and I'm pretty sure you'll be able to earn yourself an Outstanding in any class with a male teacher with those skirts," said Lilly with a giggle. "Just do a bit of suggestive leg crossing and a nice smile… and we might have to get you a lollipop…"
"Lilly!"
"What?" said the blonde. "Look, I'm planning ahead. You're already cute and we both know you're gonna be smoking hot in a few years. If I'm going to have a sexy best friend I want to make sure we know how to use her effectively." Scarlett shook her head.
"I'm not even going to respond to that."
They rode in the car for nearly two hours, driving deeper and deeper into the countryside all the while. Finally, Scarlett saw the edge of a tall, wrought-iron fence outside of her window blocking access to a dense forested area.. It continued on for over a mile, appearing to enclose a very large area.
"Any idea what's in there?" Scarlett asked Lilly, gesturing out of the window.
"I've got an idea, yeah," said Lilly, but she didn't elaborate. Moments later the car took a right turn and stopped at a large gate in the fence. A large letter H was set into the center of the gate, which opened to let them pass. They drove for another five minutes, Scarlett becoming more and more confused as they went, before the dense forest on either side of the hilly, twisty-turny road fell away, revealing a wide, sprawling lawn that would easily rival Hogwarts' and a massive mansion sitting beside a crystal clear lake. Scarlett's jaw dropped and Lilly laughed and said,
"Welcome to the Harcourt Estate,"