Lorelei Alarice
Preface
The rain drizzled down outside 47 Albourne Dawn Street. All the terrace houses were in a neat little row. Some of them were broken and old, but some, like 47, were newly furbished. It was big and grand compared to the other houses.
Its roof had perfect tiles on it, not a single one out of place or chipped. The bricks were all perfectly stacked, each the right colour, shape and size. The door was white, pure white, with not a speck of dust anywhere to be seen. In the middle of the door was a door knocker which took the shape of a golden snake. Its eyes were green, reminding which of emeralds in the bright sun.
A slim, long hand appeared at and grabbed the snake. The hand then used the golden snake to knock on the door, creating a muffled sound. Heavy footsteps were approaching the door from the inside. By the way they sounded they seemed to be size 9 boots.
The door flew open, revealing a man cloaked in black with shoulder length greasy black hair.
"Merope, what are you doing here?" he spoke in a deep muffled voice. She, the figure who had been knocking on the door stepped inside, dripping wet and cradling something in blankets in her skinny arms. Her clothes were tatted and ripped. She looked like a slave girl with her dirty blond hair which lay messily on her head. The only thing decent about this girl was her green eyes. They, too, were like the eyes of the snake. She held out her arms so the man in the cloak could see what she was holding.
"Lorelei Alarice" she said and stroked the cheek of the baby with a dirty finger,
"Yes, and what am I supposed to do with… it" He chose the noun he was going to use very carefully. The woman, Merope's eyes filled with tear as she spoke.
"She is your daughter Severus, you must look after her" she begged. He snorted.
"Alright, I shall look after… it" he said still eyeing the child. "The port key is over there" He pointed to an old phone "Take it now and leave, or you shall die here" His tone matched the thunder which was heard outside. Merope nodded and handed him the basket which held the child before making her way over to the port key. Before she took a hold of it she looked at the man
"Thank you" she whispered and grabbed the phone. Within the blink of an eye, she was gone.
The man, Severus, looked at the bundle of blankets in his hands.
"I'm going to look after you" he chuckled deeply "You shall be taken to the orphanage this instance Lorelei Alarice. Never to burden me with you or your mother's troubles again" his foots steps landed on the ground heavily as he walked down the street. The rain was dripping down but from Severus's face it looked like it didn't seem to bother him. The bundle of blankets with the baby inside was now in a basket with a note on top.
He trudged all the way up to a massive building which looked pretty much like a church. It had oval shaped windows which held thin glass covered in pictures of butterflies and assorted flowers. The building didn't look very pleasant. The tiles of the roof were very battered and old. The bricks were wearing away.
Severus dropped the basket at the doorstep and turned away. He took a few steps then turned back.
"Farewell Lorelei Alarice. Let us hope we never cross each others paths" He said in his deep voice and walked off.
Lorelei slept in the basket, unaware of what had just happened. She smiled in her sleep, not knowing what was to come of her life.
The door flung open, just missing Lorelei's basket. A pair of meaty pink hands came forward and took in the basket.
"Well, Well, Well. What do we have here?" the figure which the hands belonged to said in her sweet voice. She picked up the note and read it,
"Lorelei Alarice
Born on the 2nd October 1994"
"Oh my, oh my, oh my" she put her pink hands to her cheeks and called "We have another one Charles! Just three days old" She had lost the sweetness of her voice. It was loud and rough. The type you would expect women who spent all their life in the pub to have.
A thin troubled looking man rushed down the great stair way. He had grey hair and round spectacles which were slipping of his long thing nose. He stood by the woman and glanced at the note mumbling something about people being at it like rabbits and the keeping them. He sighed and shook his head.
"What do we do?" asked the woman, the sweetness once again in her voice.
"Well," said the man "We're going to have to find a room for her. She's 3 days old, Ruby. We can't just leave her" he sighed and looked at Lorelei.
"But-"started the woman but she was cut off
"I know we have 13 orphans dear, but this is of course an orphanage. If one turns up at the doorstep we must take that one in" He took a hold of the sleeping child and smiled. "She doesn't seem like much trouble, maybe she'll turn out good" he said and skipped up the stairs which he came down. He walked down the dusty corridor, once or twice peaking into each room to see if the children were sleeping. He came at last to the room at the end of the corridor. He struggled opening the door and tripped in, clutching Lorelei tight. She opened her eyes at the sudden uneasiness of her ride and looked at Charles' face. He looked down at her smiling.
"Ah, here we are Miss Alarice" he said while straightening up. He walked over to a cot and placed Lorelei down carefully "Welcome to your new home" he said and wiped a stray tear from his face. He turned his back on Lorelei and walked out of the room. He closed the door carefully behind him.
Six years later
Lorelei woke up and yawned. It was a bright and sunny day. She smiled as she sat up in her bed. She looked around the room and sighed. She wondered if anyone knew what day it was. She jumped out of bed and shuffled her tiny feet into pink, fluffy bunny slippers. She shuffled towards the door and reached for the door knob. Suddenly it flung open, just missing Lorelei. Charles walked into the room, beaming brightly at Lorelei.
"Morning, dear" He said and walked over to draw the curtains from the windows, revealing the sunlight. Lorelei had to screw up her eyes due to the light being so bright. She watched him walk all around the room, moving bits and bobs, picking up others.
"Hello, sir" she chirped in her angelic voice. She smiled warmly and Charles returned the smile. There was a strange essence about Lorelei which made everyone like her, yet fear her at the same time. "Sir," she began "Do you know what day it is?" she asked, standing back against the door, looking directly at the old man. He smiled weakly and nodded. He reached into his pocket and pulled out a long box. It was covered in navy velvet. He handed the box to Lorelei.
"Happy birthday" He said and watched her open the box. Her eyes widened as she saw what was inside.
"Wow! Thank you sir" she said and took out the beautiful locket which lay in the box. She unclipped the end and put it around her neck. She fastened it at the back and looked at herself in the mirror. It was true, Lorelei Alarice had turned six today and she was very excited. She twirled around in her night gown and giggled.
"You look beautiful, dear" complimented Charles. He got up and walked over to the door "I shall be downstairs. Breakfast is at 8. There shall be a surprise for you miss" he chuckled and walked out of the door. She carried on smiling and admiring the locket. She locked the door and slipped out of her nightgown. She skipped over to her wardrobe and looked inside.
"I wonder..." She said. She threw out all the clothes in there and found a package at the back. She took it out and read the letter, which she did every birthday. "Dear Miss Alarice, I am throwing all your mother's possessions away and thought you make like some. Keep them or throw them away. SS" she sighed and sat cross-legged on the wooden floor. She looked inside the brown package, seeing all the usual things in there. She took them out one by one, beginning with an old, gold ring. It was dusted and looked slightly out of shape. On the inside of the ring, a single word was carved 'Slytherin'. Lorelei could never read the word but guessed it was probably the maker's name. She put it aside and took out the next object. It was quite peculiar and Lorelei wondered why her mother ever kept it. The little model of twin swords was very pretty to look at. They were carefully sculpted and even the tiniest detail was included. She stroked one of the thin blades on the model of the twin swords and set it down. She pulled out the last thing in the brown bag, a tree stick. She wondered why a twig was in the package. Had he put it there by accident? She laughed at the possible ideas of why it could have been of use.
Lorelei