p dir="ltr" style="text-align: center;"strong1. Conjuring of the Stormbr /strong/p
p id="docs-internal-guid-94154a3a-7fff-baae-05fc-45b4a9f0f0ce" dir="ltr" style="text-align: center;"em1977/em/p
p dir="ltr""Who is she?"/p
p dir="ltr""How the hell should I know?"/p
p dir="ltr""Whoever she is, she looks bloody familiar."/p
p dir="ltr""Why don't you just ask her?"/p
p dir="ltr""She's unconscious, idiot."/p
p dir="ltr" style="text-align: center;"-/p
p dir="ltr"It was unclear at the time of the storm, whether is decent upon the lake that surrounding the castle was a work of mere chance, or whether it had been subconsciously summoned by the strong emotions of the girl standing on the banks./p
p dir="ltr"It depends on your views on the power of magic over fate, or vise versa, which you believe to be true./p
p dir="ltr"Angry waves lapped greedily at her black leather boots which sunk into the gray sand, wind teased her hair into a black frenzy, but she paid no mind. Her rheumy eyes were fixated on the silhouette of a small rowboat bobbing dangerously on the water, slowly getting farther and farther away. The single passenger on the watery vessel kept her hood pulled down over her eyes, either to shield herself from the rain or to avoid the broken-hearted stare of her daughter, who stood alone on the shore. The girl kept her back to the castle, even after the boat containing her mother had disappeared from sight, engulfed by the fog that came with the rain./p
p dir="ltr"The tears in the girl's eyes were hidden well by the rain droplets that landed on her pale cheeks. So absorbed in her despair was the girl that she did not hear the crunching of footsteps on the gray pebbles that lined the upper shore. The footsteps got quieter but closer as they transitioned to the sandier part of the beach./p
p dir="ltr"Someone placed a hand on her shivering shoulder, and she flinched. Forced to finally tear her eyes away from the water, she whipping around to see who had touched her./p
p dir="ltr"A giant oaf of a man stood before her, clad in a large coat made of sewn pelts and bushy facial hair coming down to his torso. Despite his intimidating bear-like appearance, there was a concerned look in his beady black eyes./p
p dir="ltr""You had bet'r come with me, Dumbledore will be wantin' to see you."/p
p dir="ltr"The girl cast her kaleidoscope coloured eyes down to the sand and resigned, following him into the school for witchcraft and Wizardry./p
p dir="ltr" style="text-align: center;"-/p
p dir="ltr""What is your name, my dear?" A voice inquired, but the girl didn't respond./p
p dir="ltr"How could she, when her mind was still far far away, on the banks of the lake, watching as her mother abandoned her. Watching, with her goodbyes still hanging on her lips. Watching, as her mother rowed back across the lake, and taking everything that she knew with her./p
p dir="ltr""What is your name?" Dumbledore repeated in his gentle tone, staring expectantly through his crescent moon spectacles at the girl sitting on the other side of his desk. She sat on the edge of the seat provided for her with her back arched primly, her hands placed delicately in her lap. She had been looking down at her hands in a removed state, but his words seemed to wake her up out of her minor flashback. Her irises flickered up to meet his surprisingly blue eyes and earnest expression./p
p dir="ltr""Lavinia." Came the soft answer./p
p dir="ltr""Do you have a last name?" He pressed, a kind crinkle on his aging features./p
p dir="ltr"Lavinia hesitated- not sure if she could trust him-but no one could help but trust the old headmaster. "Riddle." She blurted, and heard an astonished muttering come from behind. Both her and Dumbledore craned their necks and saw Hagrid -the man who had fetched her from the banks-standing near the door, stunned at what she had just uttered./p
p dir="ltr""Forgive me sir-I didn' mean to interrupt-it's jus... she's claiming to be related to You-know-" But Hagrid was not given the chance to finish./p
p dir="ltr""There are many things to be unraveled here, Hagrid." Dumbledore spoke calmly, but in a way that commanded authority. "Perhaps, it would be best if me and Ms. Riddle were to continue, alone?"/p
p dir="ltr"Hagrid's eyes grew wide. "O'course sir-I'll... I'll jus' be going..."/p
p dir="ltr""Thank you Hagrid, be so kind as to shut the door on your way out." The headmaster said, and they heard the door click closed. "Now," He said, turning his twinkling aqua gaze back on the girl, and touching the tips of his fingers together to focus all of his attention on the young girl. "Do you have something to give me?"/p
p dir="ltr"Surprise flickered on Lavinia's pale features, but she nodded and pulled a crumpled and slightly water stained envelope out of her damp robes. She pushed it across the desk so it lay inches away from him./p
p dir="ltr"The wizard produced a long elegant wand the colour of pearl wood and lightly tapped the yellowing envelope. Immediately, the envelope opened its wax seal on its own accord and a piece of parchment slipped out, inscribed in a delicate cursive hand that could only belong to the girl's mother./p
p dir="ltr"By tapping it a second time, he caused the parchment to begin to speak. Or rather, the words read themselves aloud in the voice of her mother./p
p dir="ltr""Dearest Headmaster,/p
p dir="ltr"It has been many years since I attended your prestigious school for witchcraft and Wizardry, and as I am no longer a student I have no right to ask anything of you. I am also well aware that the actions of my so called husband are not smiled upon by the wizarding community, nor should they be. It is for that very reason that I have decided to return to England after many years living abroad, to track down Tom, though I hear he is going by a different name now, and talk some sense into him. I know already of the risks involved, so it will do no good to try and convince me I should not. For despite the fact that he has done many wrongs, innumerable sins, I believe there is good in him yet./p
p dir="ltr"And so, I leave my only daughter, Lavinia, in your care. I know for a fact that this will be the best place for her, and should like to inform you that she has already undergone the necessary magical training for her age at the Ilvermorny School of Magic in North America. She has expressed magical talent from a very young age, which is not surprising when you consider who her father is./p
p dir="ltr"I hope these facts will be enough to earn her a place amongst your students. If you choose to deny her enrollment in your school, I shall have no choice but to put her in the care of a foster family until can return for her. I could not risk bringing her with me on my journey to find Tom, until I am of the utmost certainty that he has changed./p
p dir="ltr"Regards,/p
p dir="ltr"Seraphina Asphodel."/p
p id="docs-internal-guid-94154a3a-7fff-baae-05fc-45b4a9f0f0ce" dir="ltr" style="text-align: center;"em1977/em/p
p dir="ltr""Who is she?"/p
p dir="ltr""How the hell should I know?"/p
p dir="ltr""Whoever she is, she looks bloody familiar."/p
p dir="ltr""Why don't you just ask her?"/p
p dir="ltr""She's unconscious, idiot."/p
p dir="ltr" style="text-align: center;"-/p
p dir="ltr"It was unclear at the time of the storm, whether is decent upon the lake that surrounding the castle was a work of mere chance, or whether it had been subconsciously summoned by the strong emotions of the girl standing on the banks./p
p dir="ltr"It depends on your views on the power of magic over fate, or vise versa, which you believe to be true./p
p dir="ltr"Angry waves lapped greedily at her black leather boots which sunk into the gray sand, wind teased her hair into a black frenzy, but she paid no mind. Her rheumy eyes were fixated on the silhouette of a small rowboat bobbing dangerously on the water, slowly getting farther and farther away. The single passenger on the watery vessel kept her hood pulled down over her eyes, either to shield herself from the rain or to avoid the broken-hearted stare of her daughter, who stood alone on the shore. The girl kept her back to the castle, even after the boat containing her mother had disappeared from sight, engulfed by the fog that came with the rain./p
p dir="ltr"The tears in the girl's eyes were hidden well by the rain droplets that landed on her pale cheeks. So absorbed in her despair was the girl that she did not hear the crunching of footsteps on the gray pebbles that lined the upper shore. The footsteps got quieter but closer as they transitioned to the sandier part of the beach./p
p dir="ltr"Someone placed a hand on her shivering shoulder, and she flinched. Forced to finally tear her eyes away from the water, she whipping around to see who had touched her./p
p dir="ltr"A giant oaf of a man stood before her, clad in a large coat made of sewn pelts and bushy facial hair coming down to his torso. Despite his intimidating bear-like appearance, there was a concerned look in his beady black eyes./p
p dir="ltr""You had bet'r come with me, Dumbledore will be wantin' to see you."/p
p dir="ltr"The girl cast her kaleidoscope coloured eyes down to the sand and resigned, following him into the school for witchcraft and Wizardry./p
p dir="ltr" style="text-align: center;"-/p
p dir="ltr""What is your name, my dear?" A voice inquired, but the girl didn't respond./p
p dir="ltr"How could she, when her mind was still far far away, on the banks of the lake, watching as her mother abandoned her. Watching, with her goodbyes still hanging on her lips. Watching, as her mother rowed back across the lake, and taking everything that she knew with her./p
p dir="ltr""What is your name?" Dumbledore repeated in his gentle tone, staring expectantly through his crescent moon spectacles at the girl sitting on the other side of his desk. She sat on the edge of the seat provided for her with her back arched primly, her hands placed delicately in her lap. She had been looking down at her hands in a removed state, but his words seemed to wake her up out of her minor flashback. Her irises flickered up to meet his surprisingly blue eyes and earnest expression./p
p dir="ltr""Lavinia." Came the soft answer./p
p dir="ltr""Do you have a last name?" He pressed, a kind crinkle on his aging features./p
p dir="ltr"Lavinia hesitated- not sure if she could trust him-but no one could help but trust the old headmaster. "Riddle." She blurted, and heard an astonished muttering come from behind. Both her and Dumbledore craned their necks and saw Hagrid -the man who had fetched her from the banks-standing near the door, stunned at what she had just uttered./p
p dir="ltr""Forgive me sir-I didn' mean to interrupt-it's jus... she's claiming to be related to You-know-" But Hagrid was not given the chance to finish./p
p dir="ltr""There are many things to be unraveled here, Hagrid." Dumbledore spoke calmly, but in a way that commanded authority. "Perhaps, it would be best if me and Ms. Riddle were to continue, alone?"/p
p dir="ltr"Hagrid's eyes grew wide. "O'course sir-I'll... I'll jus' be going..."/p
p dir="ltr""Thank you Hagrid, be so kind as to shut the door on your way out." The headmaster said, and they heard the door click closed. "Now," He said, turning his twinkling aqua gaze back on the girl, and touching the tips of his fingers together to focus all of his attention on the young girl. "Do you have something to give me?"/p
p dir="ltr"Surprise flickered on Lavinia's pale features, but she nodded and pulled a crumpled and slightly water stained envelope out of her damp robes. She pushed it across the desk so it lay inches away from him./p
p dir="ltr"The wizard produced a long elegant wand the colour of pearl wood and lightly tapped the yellowing envelope. Immediately, the envelope opened its wax seal on its own accord and a piece of parchment slipped out, inscribed in a delicate cursive hand that could only belong to the girl's mother./p
p dir="ltr"By tapping it a second time, he caused the parchment to begin to speak. Or rather, the words read themselves aloud in the voice of her mother./p
p dir="ltr""Dearest Headmaster,/p
p dir="ltr"It has been many years since I attended your prestigious school for witchcraft and Wizardry, and as I am no longer a student I have no right to ask anything of you. I am also well aware that the actions of my so called husband are not smiled upon by the wizarding community, nor should they be. It is for that very reason that I have decided to return to England after many years living abroad, to track down Tom, though I hear he is going by a different name now, and talk some sense into him. I know already of the risks involved, so it will do no good to try and convince me I should not. For despite the fact that he has done many wrongs, innumerable sins, I believe there is good in him yet./p
p dir="ltr"And so, I leave my only daughter, Lavinia, in your care. I know for a fact that this will be the best place for her, and should like to inform you that she has already undergone the necessary magical training for her age at the Ilvermorny School of Magic in North America. She has expressed magical talent from a very young age, which is not surprising when you consider who her father is./p
p dir="ltr"I hope these facts will be enough to earn her a place amongst your students. If you choose to deny her enrollment in your school, I shall have no choice but to put her in the care of a foster family until can return for her. I could not risk bringing her with me on my journey to find Tom, until I am of the utmost certainty that he has changed./p
p dir="ltr"Regards,/p
p dir="ltr"Seraphina Asphodel."/p