Persephone: Chapter 1; The Family Line

"She's beautiful"

"Just like her mother."

"And look at those eyes, so green! Oh, she was born with Slytherin blood, just like her father!"

A group of people were gathering around a small crib in the middle of a gigantic room. All of them had rushed into see the newest member of the Coaxoch family.

"Oh, she's just darling, a true Pureblood! What's her name?" A skinny woman was speaking to the man on the left side of the crib. She turned her face and looked up at him. The man must have been in some sort of a daze or something because he didn't seem to hear the women in the slightest.

"Travus." The man looked to his side to see a beautiful red haired lady standing to his right, she gently touched his arm.

"Darling," she said. "Aunt Holly asked you a question."

Her silk voice confused him for a minute, but he snapped back when he remembered the group of people.

"Ah, yes," he said straightening his back as though to regain his appearance as host. "Her name is Persephone. Persephone Ann Coaxoch."

He reached in and grabbed her out, as if to put her on display for the whole room. Everyone looked at her with admiration as they shook their heads in agreement. Yes, she was indeed a Persephone, a Persephone that everyone would one day come to know and fear, for she was the daughter, the first daughter, of the Coaxoch generation, a generation that would not soon be forgotten.

A few years passed and the little Persephone was now 6 years of age. Her 7th birthday was coming up, and she could not have been more thrilled. She had been looking forward to this day for weeks and just couldn't hold it in any longer.

"Please, Daddy!" Persephone squealed. "Please, please, please"

The child was clinging to the armrest of her father's dining chair. He looked down at her and smiled.

"Not yet, pumkin." he replied with a chuckle

"But it's only one more day!"

"Exactly, which is why I'm surprised you waited so long to ask."

Persephone puffed up her cheeks like red balloons and turned her head away in embarrassment. Her dad had been planning a birthday surprise for her for over a month now and had not given her the slightest clue to what it was. She had tried her best for the family's sake to act as a proper Coaxoch should, but this was going to be her day, and she thought that, even if it was just every once and awhile, she could get away with acting her age.

Her dad got up from his chair and kissed her head.

"Now, Persephone. I don't want you trying anything funny while I'm gone, you understand?" Persephone nodded her head as to say she understood. "Good," her father said as he turned towards the door. "And," he added. "I definitely don't want you looking in any of the West Wing ballrooms, either," He said as he gave her a slight wink. "You understand?"

Persephone nodded her head, trying not to seem to eager, but she knew exactly what her father was saying.

She ran over and squeezed his leg as she waited for him to go down the staircase and out the front gate, then, without hesitation she was off and running down the hall as fast as she could. Through the dining room, up the staircase and landing straight in front of the party room. She was less than 2 feet away from the door.

Should I open it? she thought.

One foot away.

Daddy seemed like he wanted me to.

10 inches, 9…

Maybe I misunderstood, but how often do Daddy and I not understand each other?

5 inches.

4 inches.

3 inches.

I'm sure he lead me here. Why else would he be so specific? I have to know! I just have to. What could happen?

2...1…

Persephone couldn't hold it in anymore. She had to know what was waiting behind that door. She pushed as hard as she could with her little round hands on the golden door knob and heard a great click. She was in! Her excitement was at the brim. Feeling at any moment she would find herself buried in her own happiness she sprang the door open and jumped inside. But before she was even able to take it all in, she had been pushed over by a great heap of wind. Her head hit hard against the floor and she was knocked unconscious.

When Persephone came to, she heard her mother sobbing at the side of her bed, with her father, who must have already come home from work, right beside her. She must have been knocked out a long time because she could not remember getting into her bed or that it had been dark outside. The last time she checked the clock, it had been a quarter to eight in the morning, where now, it seemed to be half past 6 at night. She reached forward and touched her mother's hand, noticing the tears in her eyes.

"Hi…Mummy." Persephone whispered.

She tried to speak normally, but the wind must have still been trying to find its way back to her lungs after being so forcefully knocked out of her.

Her mother saw her hand and looked up to see her daughter staring back at her.

"Dear!" she cried to her husband. "Dear, she's awake, she's awake!"

Her father suddenly looked up from his path and took a great sigh of relief.

"Oh, my girl!" he said wrapping his arms around her head. "My beautiful little girl! You had us worried sick."

She grabbed her father's shirt sleeve as if to tell him that she was alright. He leaned back and grabbed both of her shoulders gently.

"What where you thinking? Why would you ever do something so dangerous that it would make you hit your head like that? You know you need to be at your best health for tomorrow!"

Persephone was now confused.

Was I not supposed to go into the room? I thought that was the surprise. I must have misunderstood.

Her eyes started to tear up, but not so much that either of her parents would notice. She didn't want to make them more worried more than they already were.

"I'm sorry." Persephone said as she looked down at her blanket. "I must have just misunderstood what you told me. I will listen better next time."

Both of the parents looked at each other in surprise.

"Pumpkin? What do you mean?" her father was quite confused.

"Yes," said her mother. "What did we say?"

"Well, when Daddy told me earlier not to go up into the West Wing ballroom, I didn't listen. I thought he meant it as a joke or something, so I went to see what was inside. But when I opened the door, I got knocked back and I…"

"What?" her father said in disbelief.

Her mother had a look of worry on her face. "Dear, I don't think it means anythi - "

"You heard the girl, didn't you? She was knocked back!" His voice was starting to rise from a quiet concern to a raging anger.

Persephone's mother started to get up from the side of the bed, hoping to calm him down. "Dear, please - "

"How? How did this happen? There shouldn't have happened!, after all! She isn't…"

His face went from outraged to completely murderous. His eyes looked empty and his voice became stern and cold like autumn before a winter freeze.

"The hall..."

They both went out into the hallway. Persephone could see their shadows on the walls, bouncing up and down as hands were used to emphasize the words she couldn't understand. The argument went on for quite some time before they both came back into the room. Her mother's eyes were bright red from the tears she had been shedding and her father was trying his best to stay calm, looked at his daughter with a cold glare. He had never looked at her like this before, never in his life. Yes, he had been angry with her, but this, this was different. This was pure hatred, a look of disappointment and disgust.

Finally, he spoke.

"The surprise is off."

Persephone's jaw dropped.

"Dad!" she shrieked as she tried to get onto her feet. Her legs were still too weak to hold her up, so her body smacked back onto the ground. She called out to him again. "Dad!"

He had already turned his back and left the room, leaving his wife and daughter in tears. Persephone didn't know what to do. She had nothing to do, so she just laid back down on the ground and curled herself in a ball, hoping it would all just be a bad dream, and that she would wake up with her father holding her, saying it would never happen to her again. Sadly, it wasn't a dream, or a figment of her imagination. She just laid there and laid there, as she listened to her mother say over and over again in a hushed voice:

"I'm so…so sorry."

BANG! BANG! BANG!

A big knock came from upstairs.

"Persephone!" a voice yelled. "Wake up! Its time for breakfast."

Persephone moaned and reluctantly got out of bed to get ready for the day. It'd been four years since the night before her birthday, and whether she wanted it or not, things at home had changed. Persephone's room used to be right across the hall from her parents but when her little brother was born three years ago they turned her room into his nursery. There were plenty of other unused rooms in the castle, but her father had moved her into the lowest part of the house right below the dining room floor, into an almost apartment-like complex. When she first moved in, it had been full of old books and dirty cauldrons, but she and her mother had worked with the staff to turn it into a little home below a home. It had a wooden floor, a bathroom, dark green painted walls, and a huge bed that she could lay on and read all the old books she wanted. It was her favorite place in the world, because whenever it came time to go upstairs, she was forced to deal outside of her books, outside her little kingdom underground.

She turned to look into her walk in closet and picked up her wand.

"Toufi Echanga."

Within seconds her clothes were spinning around her. Vibrant colors of silvers and greens mix matching with every color of the rainbow, as if trying to find their way to the girl first.

"Cease."

She spoke with another flick of her wand. Suddenly the clothes that had been spinning around her flew back up onto their hangers and into their drawers, as she stood dead center of the room, looking more fabulous than the queen of Egypt. Her silk green nightgown had been replaced by a ruffly, purple buttoned down laced top and a black skirt reaching from her hips to her knees. Her hair had gone from a rats nest to a beautiful fishtail braid that cascaded down her back as her once bare wrists had been covered with white aristocratic gloves.

Yes, she knew she wasn't allowed to use magic at her age, but ever since she moved to the basement, there was no way for anyone to find out. That was another thing she loved about the basement: no supervision. At first, it had scared her, being in a place all alone. But now, it was the only place she could go without everyone's eyes constantly watching her. This had also been the place where she found her wand, underneath a pill of old books in a small chest laid this beautiful little wand take it, it doesn't always do what she wants but after practicing for a good 3 years she can manage to do simple things, in her little hole in the ground. It was her dome of security, and she would rather be down there all day than anywhere else in the world. Sadly it never lasted long.

'Bang Bang Bang!'

"Persephone! Get up her this instant!"

A loud man was yelling upstairs.

Persephone froze. It was her dad.

Quickly, without a second thought, she threw her wand onto the bed behind her and ran upstairs, trying to waste as little time as possible. She had to stop doing this; she had to stop making her dad so angry all the time, but she just didn't know how.

When she got upstairs she saw her family sitting around the breakfast table.

"Its 7 AM," her father said coldly.

"Yes, Father." She hung her head.

"Breakfast starts at 6:45, every morning."

"Yes, Father..."

"And where were you at 6:45 this morning?"

Her father waited for her to respond

Persephone kept her gaze at the floor as she whispered something trying her best not to sound shaky, but it was so quiet that it only made her father more frustrated.

"Look at me when I'm talking to you!" He said in a demanding straight tone.

Persephone slowly lifted her head, keeping her face as emotionless as possible.

"Now," Travus continued. "Where were you at 6:45 this morning?" he said, looking at her as if she had just come back from robbing a thrift shop.

"I was in bed," she answered.

"That's right," Travus said as he stood. "You were off in little dream land while your brother was crying his eyes out wanting to start the day." His tone was firm, direct, like an arrow hitting its target or a cannon striking a ship. "Next time, be more considerate when you do something that affects the ones around you."

He looked over at his wife, who had been staring at him with an utmost rage, but after a few moments of silence she turned her head and looked down at the table, not saying a word.

Travus looked back at Persephone

"Well?" he finally asked. "Are you going to keep us waiting or are you just going to eat on the floor with the rats?"

Persephone walked over to her seat at the table and lowered her head to say a prayer for the meal. She made sure not to do it out loud anymore, because last time she did she was scolded for it.

Things had been like this ever since that night in her room, She had no idea what she did or didn't do to make her dad resent her so much but whatever it was, all she knew is that it had something to do with that room. That room that knocked her out whenever she would try to go inside. She tried many times after that to go in, but every time she did, it would just push her back like the night she first tried to go in.

That day after breakfast, Travus left for work and Persephone's mother, June, took her little brother, Salem, to play outside.

Once everyone had left Persephone went right downstairs to grab her wand and opened up the red book laying on her bed. She flipped through the pages until finally she found what she was looking for.

"Got it!" she yelled.

She threw her hand over her mouth and listened intently.

Silence.

After reassuring herself that no one was there she took out the old small chest that had held her wand and locked it up tight.

She took a step back and inhaled. "Ok."

She lifted her hands and stared intently at the box.

"Alohomora."

She waved her wand and waited for something to happen.

Nothing did.

She let breath in heavy and try again.

"Al-Oho-mo-RA."

There was a great snap and bang as the chest lock snapped into.

Persephone's excitement over flowed through her.

"Woo!" she yelled. "I did it I did it I did it!"

Persephone was doing a dance around her room when she heard a knock coming from upstarts.

"Blimey girl, what you doing down there!" yelled the voice.

She ran up the stairs and lifted the lid into the kitchen to see who it was, leaving her wand behind her.

Persephone was relieved to see that it was just Gregory, the head busboy in the kitchen.

Gregory was about seventeen and was always getting into Persephone's business. On a normal day she would have just told him she was right about the author of her favorite book or her friends at school told her about this awesome song this awesome song that she was listening too on her self-playing mini-music set. but Gregory already knew about the wand, since he was one of the people she was willing to show so she grabbed onto his sleeve and begged him to come down stair.

"You sure seem excited about som'thing - alright alright - Guys I'll be right back, Jim, be more careful with that pan!"

After about two more minutes of him yelling instructions to his team, Persephone lead him to the chest she had just managed to unlock.

"Blimey lass! Did you do that all on your own?!"

"I sure did!" Persephone gleamed. "First time I've ever been able to unlock with a spell."

Gregory patted her on the shoulder, "Nice job, tike! I'd say you win your pop's respect right and quick with that kind of hard work."

Persephone's smile diminished. She sat down on her bed and looked up at Gregory. Persephone had so much she wanted to ask, so many questions about why her father treated her like she was the thorn that made his heart feel nothing but pain and hurt from her but she didn't know how, she just dropped her head back down and shifted her feet back and forth, back and forth, back and forth in a pendulum motion.

Gregory seeing Persephone in such disasters sat down next to the girl and pulled a small envelope out of his pocket.

"Here, lassie" He said as he handed it to her. "I was going to give it to your fath..." He stopped himself thinking it wise to not mention her dad again. "Well go on open it."

Persephone took the letter with both her hands and stared down and the purple wax seal holding the letter shut. She turned it around as she read, 'To Persephone, London, England; Montague Road, Downstairs Bedroom. From Hogwarts.'

Persephone's eyes shot wide as she stared down at the beautiful letter in her hands. She let her thoughts slip through her mouth into a gentle whisper. "Maybe I can do something right."