*Aedan is pronounced AY -den
**Keiran is pronounced KEER -an
***Aileen is pronounced AY -lean
these are all Irish names (Rose is too!) I looked them up at this certain site. k, then Happy reading!
~note~ Rose has nothing to do with Rose on Titanic, K?
Disclaimer: I don't own any of the HP characters, the country of Ireland (waaaahhh!!) or any monkeys and cheese, than you very much! Oh, wait, scratch the monkeys and cheese thing ^_^. DON'T HURT THE POOR LITTLE DERANGED GIRL!!!
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Rose walked through the crowded streets of Dublin, avoiding the drunks and bums as well as one could in an alley full of them. She turned the corner to find the narrow stone wash flooded again, meaning she'd have to walk through the piercingly cold water. She stepped precariously into the puddles, shivering as her shoes filled with water. She sighed, thinking of how mad Mam will be when she comes home with soggy shoes. Shoes were a thing of luxury to the O'Shanon family, who were so poor they could barely afford to live in the small, two room shack they rented. She kicked the hem of her tattered dress from her ankles, leaving a large water mark on her sock. Rose took in her surroundings; she stood in a gray alleyway of stone, full to brimming with poor people on the same level as her own family, all sick and dying of the damp. People never lived long in these conditions, they were the 'slums' of Dublin. The places no one wanted to be, the places no one could stand, not even the people living in them.
A heavy rain burst form the clouds above as she turned another corner, to the alleyway that was her own. She gently turned the knob to the small shack, but found it to be stuck. Rose heaved a sigh and kicked it open with a mighty blow. She ran her hands through her pale-golden hair exasperatedly as she entered the small house.
It was the season of Rain, water was everywhere. It was in their hearts, their dreams, their futures and their pasts, and there was nothing any of them could do to escape it.
Or so Rose had thought. Years ago, she had received a letter proclaiming her acceptance to the school of magic called Hogwarts that was all the way in England! Oh how she longed to go, it was all she thought about, day and night. Unfortunately, her mam had just had another baby -- another boy, to make matters worse -- and couldn't afford to send her anywhere except the local general shop and even that was a hardship. Going into a store and watching all the other customers buy sweets and novelty items deeply pained Rose, as she could scarcely afford the food the family needed so badly. She had never attended school in her life, and made money singing in the streets and peddling various items. Sometimes, a kindly old woman or soft hearted young man would give a coin or two, but they never made much. All Rose had left was her music, she had a voice to rival those of angels and a face to match it. She was the product of a Scottish mother and Irish father; Rose had inherited her mother's blonde locks and her father's blue eyes. They were accepted in the town simply because they were as poor as the rest, and supported the Catholic church.
Rose was the fourth of the ten O'Shanon kin. She had one only two sisters, one of which had been disowned for falling in love with an Englishman and another who was only two. Otherwise, she only had brothers. There were boys everywhere, and since you couldn't escape anyone, much less seven boys in the cramped two room apartment, she was always on the verge of going mad. it was a hardship to have so many boys; they required special training for later life that was 'unneeded' for women. Rose kicked the water on the dirt floor, letting it flood her boots again.
"Hey! Watchit, Rose!" shouted her elder brother, Keiran, who was in a drunken slur.
"Watch it yourself, you damn drunken fool!" She yelled, hating life in every aspect. What she despised more than anything was the alcohol. There was always a smell of liquor hanging heavily through the rows of shacks. Men would come home on Fridays singing old Irish tunes and troubadour songs. Rose had listened to them all so many times that she had memorized them well enough to sing them out on the street corner, which is exactly what she did.
"Aw, feck off!" Keiran shouted to her back as she climbed the slippery stone stairway, avoiding two of her brothers who came pummeling down the stairs. The top room was a bedroom, with three beds pushed against the walls. The apartment was rented to them being a two room shack, but Rose and her oldest and favorite brother, Aedan, soon found it not to be. They had pried a bunch of boards from the wall of the top room, finding a dank, small, musty room, just large enough for two people to sit in comfortably. They hadn't told the rest of the family about their secret haven behind the wall, but resided it to be a secret, meant to be kept between brother and sister. Aedan was 'all grown up' now, nearing his twenty-second birthday, but often went to the Haven, just to feel isolated form the horrible Irish Catholic society.
Rose shot a glance around the room. Only Connor and Tommy remained in the room, both of whom were too little to understand. She waited until they were distracted with their feeble toys to pry the board from the wall. Inside was like a paradise for them, though it was as damp and cold as the rest of the house, it had a feeling of possession to it. It was theirs, and nothing could take that away.
"Hello, Aedan," said Rose, smiling.
Aedan looked up from his book. He was the only child lucky enough to attend school (well, only child that was still considered an O'Shanon, Aileen [Rose's older sister who had been disowned] went to school as well) and had taught Rose all he knew about reading. Rose looked up to him, he was smart and funny, and he would never steer her wrong. But the best thing about Aedan was that he had never gotten drunk. He had never tasted alcohol, for fear he would become like their next door neighbor, Colman, who was a drunk through and through. he had lost his family and all of his friends, he had even been banned from the Church for becoming drunk in the middle of mass.
"Hello, Rose." Aedan smiled back. He sat on a cushion he had taken from the junk yard and brought home. Rose had sewn it up, being extremely handy with a needle, and they found it perfect for their Haven. Rose sat beside Aedan. "I've been thinking," he said. "Do you remember the letter you got a long time ago, the one accepting you to that school in England?"
"Of course I do. I only dream about it every moment of sleep!" She said, wondering what her brother was up to.
"Well, I'm nearing the age where I must move out and support myself, and I've already got a job lined up that pays good money. I was thinking that maybe, after I get a steady flow of money coming in, that I could send you there."
A mixture of fear and gratitude seethed in her stomach. "Really?" She exclaimed, letting the happiness show first. "But, why me?"
"I know how much it all meant to you. I remember getting that same letter myself, but I'm too old to go, now, and you're the only other magically talented person in the family," he chuckled merrily. "And it also helps that you're my favorite sibling."
Rose smiled, but changed her expression to a worried grimace. "But what if Dad finds out. you know how he is about the English, and how they brought the fleas over and how terrible they were to all of us," she said, rolling her eyes. "I don't want you to end up like Aileen, God protect her, wherever she may be!"
"Nor do I care to end up like her, but you can come away with me. The good Lord knows Mam and Dad would be glad to have one less mouth to feed."
"I guess so," she said, meekly. Rose thought about how wonderful it would be to go to school and be with kids of her own age. She also marveled at the realization that the school was all the way in another country! Rose had never even been out of Dublin! "Thank you so much!" She cried, hugging Aedan.
He smiled "you're welcome. You deserve to go to school. You're a good girl, Rosie, a very good girl. You deserve more than just the bottom feeder life of the Irish slums," he said. Rose smiled up at him, he was very handsome, sharing Rose's eyes but having inherited their father's dark hair. Everyone in Ireland was pale, but Aedan seemed to be even more ghostly than before. This worried Rose; he had been coughing a lot lately, too. She squirmed uneasily, picking up a book to pass the time.
~@~
Rose woke to her brother's moans of pain. Aedan was groaning in his sleep, and his face was illuminated with sweat. Rose bolted upright and crawled over her sister and brothers. She ran across the room to her mother.
"Mam!" she cried. "Mam, there's something wrong with Aedan!"
Her mother woke groggily. "What? What's wrong with Aedan?"
"I don't know, he's moaning and coughing! Mam, don't let him die!" Rose was in tears, sobbing and shaking. She remembered all too well how her other sister died.
It was a cold night in the middle of the Rains. Izette was only nine years old, she had always been small and fragile. Rose's poor little sister had woken night after night in a cold sweat, coughing until her lungs burned as if they were on fire. Every time the sun set and she was set in bed she would cough. Aedan and Keiran would run to the medic's house, Aileen and Mam would try and tend to her fever. Rose would try to help, but she would just get in the way. Rose would have given anything to have saved Izette, but nothing would work. She died a few months after the coughing started. Rose still shivered at the thought. She was holding Izette's frail hand as she died, and had felt the body grow cold and limp; she felt the spirit leave. Soon after the newest baby died, probably of the same cause of Izette's death. People dropped like flies in the horrible housing, it was the damp that killed them. Rose was jerked out of her flash back as Aedan moaned and coughed again.
Mam jumped out of bed and ran to her son's side. She pulled him over Keiran, who was so drunk he didn't even realize his brother was being pulled over him.
"Aedan, dear, what's wrong." Said Mam in her Scottish accent.
"It hurts," he moaned. Rose froze in horror, remembering Izette's exact words.
"What hurts, Aedan."
"I can't breathe, it hurts!" his face was drenched in sweat. Rose wanted to scream. Don't take him Lord she prayed, I can't handle another, especially not Aedan! After an hour or so, Aedan was finally peaceful. He fell back into a deep sleep.
~@~
Yes, as I said, it WILL involve Harry and the gang. be paitence is virtue. ^_^ review, pleez, thank you!