I'm walking alone outside. It's so dark out; there's no moon. But the stars are shining so brightly tonight, and I can see them reflected in the waters of the lake…. Orion is by far the most dazzling. Bellatrix, my mother's star, is the fiercest star that's out tonight, shining strongly at Orion's shoulder. Mother told me that Bellatrix is 22,204 degrees in Celsius, and is the 25thbrightest star in the entire sky, 4,000 times brighter than the sun. But it's almost 500 light years away, so it doesn't seem as bright as it should. It's white, the color of purity…which I've always found rather ironic, given my mother's background. Orion was my grandfather, Bellatrix was his daughter, and I, Rigel, am hers. Rigel is the seventh brightest star in the sky and mother has never let me forget it.
Somewhere distant, a church bell strikes. One, two, three… Three days I've been here, in my sixth year. Four, five, six… Six days since I last saw dad. Seven, eight, nine… Nine years old I was when I first learned Crucio. Ten, eleven, twelve… Twelve times I've used it. Father doesn't want attention drawn to me.
He's told me the story of my birth so many times. I could say it backwards in my sleep in Spanish if I wanted to. In Dad's version, he saved my newborn self single-handedly from fifty members of the Order of the Phoenix, there to kill me and my mum and dad. Mum's version is a little different; there were only about fifteen and there were ten other Death Eaters present. And she says there aren't even fifty people in the Order. But neither of them knows how the Order of the Phoenix found out mum was pregnant, especially with father's child, when they were supposed to think that my parents and all the rest of the Death Eaters had died in the Battle of Hogwarts.
I sigh, thinking of all that I've been through in my sixteen years. Naturally I'm in Slytherin, and I'm literally the queen of the common room. I have been ever since third year, for performing the Imperius curse on a seventh year and forcing him to do all of my homework for me. They all say that they've never had a third year be what they call the queen before; it's usually a sixth year or up, but you stay "queen" for the rest of your years at Hogwarts. Of course the only queen I know is my mother, with my father as king of the Death Eaters, and I as princess. I know I'm not really a princess, but I'm treated like one, and the other children address me as such.
I remember when I was six and I asked mother if I was a princess and she told me, "Of course you are, Rigel. Do you know what your name means?"
"No," I answered in my innocent, childlike voice.
"Rigel is the seventh brightest star in the sky, love, and it is Orion's foot."
"The foot?" I asked incredulously. I was named after a stinky old foot?
"Yes, the foot. Where would you be without your feet? You'd be crawling on the ground!"
I giggle at my mother's silliness as she kneels down on the floor of my room and pretends to slither around like a snake. I jump off the bed and join her on the soft, deep blue carpeting.
"Your name also means the Central One," she says, smiling. "Do you know what color Rigel is?"
"Green?" I ask hopefully. Green's been my favorite color all my life, green for Slytherin.
"No, Rigel. Stars aren't green. Your star is bluish-white, and it's the prettiest color I've ever seen. Just like your eyes."
I comprehend this for a moment. "Isn't a princess the center of the court?"
"Yes," my mother answers.
"And Rigel is the Central One?"
"Yes," she says again.
"Then I am a princess!"
Those sweet days with my mother are now long past. My future is as uncertain now as the final destination of a leaf that falls into a wild mountain stream.
I can only dream of a better life.
End of chapter sucked. Sorry.
You pronounce Rigel as RYE-gell. At least in my little world. Or JKR's world. Which I don't own.
R&R plz!!