Chapter One
Working Class Hero
Who the fuck?
This was all Ava Kelly could think, as she staggered haphazardly through the upstairs hallway, tripping over the various junk that had been thrown on the floor. She growled to herself, and swore vengeance on the perpetrator, making sure to bang the wall with her fist on the way down the steps. She was not a morning person, and cursed the traps that had delayed her caffeine intake. She didn't care if someone injected her with an IV filled with the stuff, she knew she had to have it, and immediately. She squinted, peering into the kitchen, trying to raise her eyelids to an acceptable level. The bold smell of a freshly roasted pot of coffee filled her nostrils.
She fucking hated the smell of coffee.
It was disgusting, and she had always hated the smell, the taste, the entire entity. She wanted to kill the creator and put him through some grotesque torture. With that thought fresh on her mind, she grabbed a mug from the cabinet and filled it three-quarters of the way with the stuff. She filled the rest with creamer and sugar, making it halfway drinkable. She flinched as the piercing sound of rock music hit her ears.
"Turn that shit down!" she yelled banging on the wall. The music was only turned up louder forcing her to emit an angry whimper. She stomped out the back door and let the screen door slam shut. She forcefully gulped down the coffee, before she sat the cup on the pink ornate table in front of her. She lit a cigarette and took a long drawl, wishing she was back in bed. The only thing worse than coffee, was coffee and cigarettes. Too bad she was addicted to caffeine and nicotine. She looked over to her right at the Fitzgerald house, noticing their teenage son Jack standing on the back porch staring at her. She gave him a glare, and he recoiled slightly. Who the hell did he think he was looking at?
Ava looked down at her clothes, and she realized with embarrassment that he was staring at her with good reason. She was quite frankly, a mess. When she tiredly crawled into bed last night, she did not care much for what she slept in. She would have slept nude if Emma didn't have an awful track record of stumbling into her room drunk, asking about some obscure event that happened when they were younger. And usually Emma was almost nude. She was wearing just an old oversized t-shirt (left over from some terrible one night stand) that proudly proclaimed "Keep Calm and Show Me Your TATAS." Her pale unshaven legs stood out, and her nipples bulged braless from underneath the shirt.
Then, Mrs. Fitzgerald came out yelling at her son, before noticing Ava. She gave a yelp when she took in Ava's appearance.
"Get inside now Jack!" she howled.
"But mom!" he complained, to no avail. Mrs. Fitzgerald was already pushing him inside the door; her hands firmly wrapped around the front of his innocent eyes. He flailed as his mother tried her best to hide him from the scarlet woman.
"This is highly inappropriate Ava!" she screeched. "What would your grandmother say?" Ava wanted to tell the cow to go fuck herself, but she refrained, because her grandmother surely wouldn't like that. Instead she took the higher road, butted her cigarette and went back into the house. The rock music was still blaring and Erin Kelly sat on a stool at the kitchen island, her shoulders perfectly square.
"What happened to you?" she asked raising her arched eyebrows. What Erin received in response was a low guttural sound of recognition that yes; she knew she looked like shit, and she didn't need a perfectionist like Erin telling her so. Erin could not imagine leaving her bedroom before being properly pampered, and fully dressed. It was a habit that had blossomed from being a child that washed her hands fifty times a day. Erin sat daintily eating her grapefruit and yogurt, looking the fitting image of a 50s house ware advertisement. Her full cherry dress flared out underneath her navy cardigan to about mid calf, and her feet were outfitted with her signature black low-heeled mary janes. Add in the headband that held back her straight auburn hair, and Ava was disgusted. Did anyone actually eat grapefruit?
"Stop giving me that look sugar," Erin said without looking up.
"What look?"
"The disgusted one," she stated calmly taking a bite of her grapefruit, the sun streaming from the window illuminating the brown freckles across her nose.
"Stop being disgusting then and we won't have a problem," Ava replied, nuking a frozen burrito in the microwave.
"You're just mad that you can't look this gorgeous all the time. Must be hard, being the ugly sister."
"I'll ugly sister your face," Ava huffed, though her attire suggested something more unthreatening. Ava went over to the wall that was just under the vent that lead to Kylie's room and started pounding again. "Seriously Kylie, turn that shit down!"
"She never listens, why even bother. That's what silencio is for," Erin told her. Ava merely rolled her eyes. "What's the point in being a witch if you live like a muggle?"
"I like living muggle, its adventurous."
"Because dragons and spells are boring," Erin responded, clicking her tongue.
"I could die in a car accident. Seen one splinch, seen them all," Ava waved her off. Erin only hummed in reply.
"I have to go. I'll be home late though. Do you think you could feed Chester for me?" Erin asked, referring to her obnoxiously fat cat, and disposing of her dishes.
"Your class isn't until eleven."
"I have a date," Erin informed her.
"It's seven in the morning."
"And?"
"Fine! I'll feed the stupid cat."
"Thanks doll," Erin said before placing a kiss on her cheek and disapparating. How was it fair that her younger sister had a date at seven in the morning on a Friday, when she hadn't had one in six months?
The music had stopped and Ava could hear Kylie, her youngest sister, barging down the steps. She was fresh-faced in quidditch robes and her black pony tail bounced with each step.
"What's for breakfast?" she asked with a wide gummy smile. Ava instantly forgave her for the music.
"Whatever you're making," was the reply.
"Apple's fine then," she said taking one out of the basket. "I'll grab something at school too. Need my carbs for practice. I've been working on a bunch of new plays I want to try; we're definitely getting the cup this year. The Pudeator Panthers haven't a chance in hell." Kylie spoke in that over eager, fast paced voice only she could master.
"Good to hear," Ava told her with an affectionate smile. "Do you need any help with them?"
"Nope, this cap't has it all taken care of." Ava's smile fell a little.
"What about lunch? I could throw something together for you. I didn't think you'd be up this early."
"No thanks, early practice." Kylie said pulling her book bag over her shoulder. "I'll probably be going out for lunch. Last year and all, want to make it count."
"Is it a date?" Ava prayed it wasn't.
"No, not really. Not sure, honestly. Jacob just wanted to go out to lunch." It was a date, but Ava only felt relief. Jacob was the type of boy who you knew would take a while to start any physical contact.
"Well be careful," Ava said, as all sorts of terrible scenarios involving Kylie in life threatening danger with only Jacob Lamont for protection swirled around her head.
"Yes, mom," Kylie responded rolling her eyes, and exiting the room. She heard a faint "Love ya," before she knew Kylie had already flooed away.
"Love you too," she whispered to the empty room. Just then, she heard the jingle of keys, and laughter coming from the front of the house. She quickly went to investigate and watched as someone repeatedly tried to turn the knob. Eventually she lost hope that the person on the other side of the door would ever figure out how to properly use a key. When she yanked the door open, a tumbling Emma fell forward, only staying on her feet because of the masculine arm wrapped around her waist.
"Hiya Ava darling," Emma spoke through giggles, in her best mock Erin voice. It did not go that well as it was slurred and there was a bit of drool hanging out the right side of her mouth. Not to mention, Erin would most certainly not greet someone with "Hiya."
"Emma, I'm charmed," Ava responded, her tone flat.
"This is Stefan," she said in her best Dracula impersonation, making sure to spread her hand out on to her male companion's chest. There had been many things in Ava's life that she had been sure of. She had been sure she would win the cup her seventh year at Salem Institute, sure that Caden Mays had been the one to feel her up at that end of summer party, and sure that this man's name was most definitely not Stefan. People did not name their children Stefan. He was tall, much taller than Emma at least, and that was the only thing remarkable about him. He was a bland sort of fellow, with an average face, and common brown hair. Ava would forget it all the moment he was out of her site.
"Nice to meet you Stefan." It was not nice to meet him at all, because he was a drunken boy, her even drunker sister had decided to bring home at seven in the morning, for horrible drunken sex.
"Stefan just came over so I could show some of my paintings. He's very interested in art," Emma informed her, raising her eyebrows in a comic fashion, and grinning broadly. She always did this, made up some offbeat excuse for having company, even though she didn't need an excuse, she was twenty-one years old after all. She just thought it was funny to have an excuse, when everyone knew the truth, but wouldn't say it out loud. "This is my older sister, Ava."
"Nice to meet you Ava," he responded, smiling smugly and winking in what he thought was an attractive way. His eyes then wandered down to her legs and back up again, and Ava was again painfully aware of how she was dressed. "Will you be joining us to look at some art?"
Ava almost threw up in her mouth. Leave it to Emma to bring home a man who upon one minute of meeting her would suggest a threesome with her and her sister.
"No," she gritted out. "I will not." Emma only giggled, finding the entire perversion humorous.
"She's not a big art fan, doesn't get to take a look at it very often," Emma said, clearly implying a euphemism between art and sex. Stefan was amused. Ava was not.
"Why don't you get to looking at that art then," Ava said roughly, closing the door and locking it. Emma never locked the door. She was the very definition of immature, wrapped in a package of always too many whiskey sours and orange frizzy curls.
"Yes why don't we," Emma responded heading towards the kitchen with her one night only beau. Just before exiting the room, she shot Ava a wicked grin, amazing Ava at her ability to turn her head without falling down. Ava heard Emma struggle with the basement door before the lovers wandered down the steps and into Emma's basement bedroom. There was a small crash, but Ava thought nothing of it. It was not uncommon for Emma to fall, as her bedroom was somewhat of a death trap.
She went to retrieve her burrito from the kitchen counter, only to find it missing.
"God dammit Emma!" she yelled. She could not even have a too hot on the outside but frozen in the middle burrito. She thought that assessment pretty accurately summarized her life. She decided cheese curls and a bag of ham lunch meat was an easy and nice enough alternative to her stolen burrito. She spent the rest of her morning cleaning and doing various chores before cuddling up on the couch with ice cream to watch old Maury episodes. The action only made her more depressed about her life.
Her favorite television show's catch phrase was "You are not the father," after all.
There was a time when her life was different, when she didn't feel like she'd be a spinster bar maid for the rest of it. She was not overly popular in school, but she did have a lot of friends. Friends she now avoided in grocery stores in case they asked her how her life was. It was crap, and she didn't need anyone pretending that it wasn't. They would all be disappointed or secretly thrilled to learn that stubborn and confident Ava Kelly had failed at life.
She was continually single, and though she had never needed a man to define her, she sometimes wished there was someone who would ask how her day had been, or to make her eggs when she was sick. There was the whole sex component too, but Ava for the most part could take care of those needs. It was, however, pretty hard to cuddle yourself.
She did not even want to think about her career choice, though she supposed it wasn't much of a choice. She had just taken the job for money, money she desperately needed. She had big boobs, and wasn't half bad to look at, so it was an obvious choice, much to the chagrin of her self-respect. Maybe if she liked people and enjoyed mixing drinks, it wouldn't be a half bad career choice. But Ava hated meeting new people, and if she was in charge of making drinks at a party, she opened beers.
On her way to Macmillan's Tavern, her place of employment, she received a call from another Kelly sister. Ava could not escape them, as much as she believed she wanted to. After taking another drag of her cigarette, she pressed the phone button on her steering wheel, allowing Taylor's voice to come through.
"What?" she said.
"That's how you answer phones now?" Taylor asked.
"I'm on my way to work Taylor and I just had to turn off Lady Gaga to answer this call, so it better be good."
"I just wanted to see when you were coming over," Taylor said exasperated.
"For what?"
"You were supposed to help me look at paint colors and curtains." Curtains?
"What are you talking about Taylor?"
"Last week, I told you I needed help, and you offered. You said you'd come over one day." Ava could not remember jumping at the chance to pick paint colors and curtains.
"I-," she started but then remembered. She had been desperately tired, and Taylor had called her complaining about all the work her new house needed. She was having a meltdown over choosing the wrong color scheme. Ava, in a rush to get to sleep, had calmed her down by offering to come over, and help her decide.
"You were just trying to get me off the phone weren't you," Taylor said, reading her mind.
"Yes, but I'll come over anyway. I'm free tomorrow." It was her only free Saturday this month.
"Can't, the Auror department needs me to come look at a body. They're not sure about the cause of death," Taylor responded nonchalantly, reminding Ava of how uninteresting her life was.
"Then Monday night? I'll switch with someone."
"Works for me!"
"Great, now let me finish my cigarette in peace."
"I really wish you would quit," Taylor said, and Ava could imagine the scrunched up look of disgust on her face.
"One day. Love you Taylor," she said.
"Love you too Ava."
When Ava arrived at work, the usual scene greeted her. The music was loud, people were playing pool, and Toni was hanging off a bar stool. Toni was a short muscular man in his early sixties, who was a regular patron. He routinely declared his love for Ava and insisted she touch his muscles.
"Hey," he yelled as she went behind the bar to relieve Kathy.
"Hey Toni," she responded, with a smile. Ava was an expert at the fake smile and pretending to be interested.
"I love her so much!" he declared to the man next to him in his best drunken slur. "She's so beautiful." He reached over the counter to grab her hand but Ava stepped back. "How old are you?" Ava had told him her age every day since her first.
"Twenty five."
"She's a little bit too old for me, but I love her anyway." Ava was used to this, and didn't even bother trying to analyze what he said. It was always the same.
"I'm not trying to wreck your life," he informed her.
"I know," she said. For some reason it was becoming harder everyday to force the smile. She did however, as she counted her money, and began her shift.
"Good luck Ava," Kathy told her, as she looked around at the full bar.
Nine hours later, as Ava set the security alarm and locked up; she recognized Kathy's wish of luck was absolute shit. It had been one of the most grueling shifts of her life. Toni had pestered her for hours, until she finally called his daughter to come pick him up. Someone had taken a monstrous shit in the men's room, and instead of wiping their ass with toilet paper, had used napkins, clogging the toilet up. Ava hoped to never have to pull shitty napkins out of a toilet again. She had gotten into a brutal argument with a customer who had lit a cigarette in the bar and declared that it was a free country. Eventually she had just shoved him out the door, and refused to serve him when he returned.
Her feet were throbbing, and she could not wait to lie in bed. With her McDonald's double cheeseburgers and sweet tea in hand, she made the trek up to her front door.
"Ava," someone called, surprising her. It was 3 a.m. in the morning, and pretty dark out, so she could not see much. Ava should have known better, as she was usually prepared with her keys and her wand. She looked over to see Jack Fitzgerald walking towards her. He was wearing batman pajama pants with a worn out blue shirt, and he reminded her of every teenage boy Ava had known at Salem.
"Jack? What are you doing out this late?"
"I was waiting for you," he told her, and Ava could tell he was nervous.
"Is everything ok?" she asked, concerned for Mrs. Fitzgerald.
"Everything's wonderful," he said whimsically, and Ava noticed he was staring at her without blinking.
"Then what did you want Jack?"
"Well, I was just wondering…" he trailed off leaving Ava frustrated.
"Yes?"
"Well you see…"
She was so fucking tired.
"Out with it!" she yelled startling him. He nervously began wringing his hands and looked at the ground.
"You're so beautiful!" he blurted out. They then both just stood there in silence. Ava wasn't sure what to say.
"Thanks? Look Jack, I really need to go to bed. I've been at work, and my feet are really sore." His head snapped up.
"I could rub them for you," he offered. Ava stared at him, this lanky fifteen year old boy, with acne and a lip ring.
"That's ok Jack."
"Really, I don't mind. I would actually enjoy it." Ava widened her eyes.
"I should go to bed."
"I could come with you," he said.
"Excuse me?" Ava thought he was most definitely out of line.
"It's just, I really like you Ava. You're so beautiful and smart. And funny. And even though my mom says you're easy, I think I'm in love with you."
"You're mom thinks I'm easy?" she asked, and she felt like an idiot for it. That was not the most shocking part of this confession.
"She says you're the kind of woman that leads men astray," he said sheepishly. "But if that's true, I want to be led astray. I would really like to take you out."
Ava was overwhelmed. She hadn't been asked on a date in six months, and here was little Jack Fitzgerald asking her on a date. She remembered him as that annoying little boy next door that would sometimes follow Kylie around, who had turned into a video gaming home body once he hit twelve. To her, he was still a little boy, only slightly older. Her life was truly pathetic.
"This is inappropriate Jack," she told him, hoping to end it all. "I'm much too old for you."
"Age is a number. Love is forever." Ava didn't know what that meant.
"Yes well, still illegal."
"So that's the reason?"
"More than that, but I don't think we should be having this conversation. Good night Jack." Ava attempted to flee the scene as fast as she could.
"I'll think of you tonight," he called after her. Ava almost fell over.
The house was quiet when she entered. Thank God. She quickly disposed of her pants, because she could not find a reason for them to stay on any longer. She had grown out of her current size, but didn't have the money for more, or the skill to expand them. She usually ended up accidentally burning them.
"Do you ever wear pants?" Kylie asked her sleepily as they passed each other in the hallway.
"You wish," she responded entering her bedroom, not even contemplating whatever that meant. She put on a rerun of The Aurors on WizTv and set up her food for an hour of binge eating. Then her phone rang.
"What the fuck now?" she screamed frustrated. She looked at the caller id to see an unknown number.
"Hello," she yelled into the phone.
"Ava, is that you?" a familiar voice asked. Her heart immediately felt lighter and a genuine smile lit up her face.
"Scarlet?" she asked though it was unnecessary. She would know that voice anywhere. It was a voice she had known from the first day she entered this world.
"Yes! I hope I'm not waking you up, the time difference put me off a little. But I couldn't wait any longer, I had to call you," Scarlet spoke excitedly. Scarlet Kelly was the oldest Kelly sister, though most times, Ava felt like the oldest. She was currently in England, exploring the world some before she returned home to America. Ava had been anxiously waiting for her.
"No, it's fine Scarlet. How are you?"
"I'm wonderful, fantastic, any word you can think of that describes pure bliss." Ava laughed.
"What has you so happy?"
"I'm married!" Scarlet screeched. Ava froze, and felt her heart drop.
"M-married?"
"Yes! Isn't that wonderful?!"
"To who?" Ava asked disbelieving. "You're not dating anyone."
"We just met two days ago, and I know you're going to think I'm crazy and I jumped into this, but I'm in love Ava! I've never felt this way about anyone in my entire life. So please don't start lecturing me, just be happy for me. I love him so much, and I know you will too."
Ava's only romantic prospect was a fifteen year old boy who was now jerking off to her image and meanwhile her sister, her best friend, was married to a man she met two days ago.
"What's his name?" Ava asked, not knowing what else to say, in fear that she would release some type of judgment.
"James-James Potter."
"Hello sister," she heard a male voice yell through the phone as Scarlet giggled. Ava wanted to throw up.
She fucking hated her life.
All rights to Harry Potter belong to J.K. Rowling. This chapter is named after a song by John Lennon. I was including a quote from the songs, but I wasn't aware of the tight copyright rules about songs.
