Disclaimer- Harry Potter and all characters, places, ect. concerning Harry Potter belong to Warner Brothers and J.K. Rowling. Not me.
Angry yells were coming from the kitchen. Chaeli Davidson looked up from the book she were reading and glanced at her door. Her father was at it again.
Ever since she had come home from her school for summer vacation, her parents had always had something to fight about. Whether it was money or her two other siblings and herself, they had always found some sort of disagreement in anything.
Usually her father started the arguments. They always started as minor frustrations over petty things and ideas, but soon he was so fed up with everything that he just had to yell at the next person to talk to him, usually her mother. She was starting to think that he was just arguing with everyone for his own enjoyment, but whenever she brought this up with her mom or older brother, they shrugged it off and said that he was just irritable from all the stress around work.
Normally, she would be able to understand this. Her father had worked at the ministry her whole life and now with Lord Voldemort back in power, word of attacks and raids had to be flying everywhere and stressing everyone out. Not to mention that he was constantly receiving howlers at home telling him to come back into work.
The only problem was; he never did go back, or at least she suspected as much. More than once had she spotted him with a few shady characters in alleyways or small, empty cafés during the day. He never seemed to notice her presence when she saw him, thankfully.
Today was no different. While she were walking to a nearby coffee house with two of her best friends, Jessi and Alex, she noticed him; clad in a dark cloak, the hood shading his eyes, in a dark alleyway with two other people dressed the same. They seemed to be very nervous about something, for her father's head seemed to dart constantly in one direction or another, searching for eavesdroppers.
Although she was thoroughly confused by his actions, she simply narrowed her eyes in his direction and ran to catch up with her friends.
She arrived home at about seven in the evening, her father stumbling into the house shortly afterward. Michael, her older brother, had been watching "Finding Nemo" with Ashlyn, her younger sister, in the living room when she arrived. Her dad glared at all three of them, a silent sign for the three siblings to retire to their rooms for the night.
Turning off the DVD player and television, the tree of she grudgingly marched up to her rooms, silence filling the house for a moment.
That's when it started; the screaming. Sighing, Chaeli marked her place in the book, since all of the yelling was too distracting to keep going, and set it down on the edge of the blue quilt that was tossed messily over her bed. She walked gently over to where Ashlyn sat, under her bright pink cover, hugging her old, tattered teddy bear for dear life. She sat next to her younger sibling and pulled her into a comforting hug.
She looked up at Chaeli, her electric blue eyes brimmed with tears. "Chaeli, what's going on? Are they going to fight again?" she asked in her cute, five-year-old voice as she nuzzled her forehead into her arms.
She looked at the top of Ashlyn's blonde head, and kissed it gently. "Don't worry about it Ash, it'll all be fine. It always is, remember?" she told her in the most comforting voice she could muster.
She nodded gently, squeezing her bear with all her might as Michael knocked gently on the door. "You can come in Mike," the oldest sister called to him quietly, still holding her younger sister.
He walked in, not making a sound as his feet hit the plush tan carpet. His face held a grim expressing as he stepped across the room to where she was sitting with her sister. Although Mike was only a year older than Chaeli, she had always seen him as almost 10,000 times more mature as she would ever be.
He had a curly mess of dark brown hair atop his head, a nice contrast with his shocking blue eyes that had always seemed to always be carefree and happy. This time, however, his eyes were distraught and alert as they gazed worriedly into her chocolate ones.
She stood, after finding that Ashlyn had fallen asleep in her arms and laid her sister gently onto her bed, pulling the comforter up to her chin. She kissed her forehead gently and followed her brother across the hallway and into his room, so that she would not wake Ashlyn while they were talking.
Plopping down onto Mike's bed in the corner of the poster-filled room, she gazed back at her brother, who was now pacing back and forth in front of his black dresser, a hand pressed to his forehead.
"Mike?" she asked gently, pulling a pillow out from under her and hugging it tightly to her chest, almost like Ashlyn had done with her bear. "Mike. . . what's going on?"
He looked at her from across the room. "I'm not going to lie, it's getting bad, Chaeli. It looks like Mom can't do anything, she's not even fighting back," he started, massaging his forehead to try and prevent a headache. Her eyes widened. She wasn't fighting back? Usually she would at least throw a punch or something. "Worse, he's pulled his wand on her."
She gasped, and looked at him, panic apparent in her eyes. "He hasn't done anything, has he?" she asked desperately, standing up and walking over to her brother. "Mike! We have to do something! Mom can't fight back, she's just a muggle!" She ran toward the door, pulling her wand from her pants pocket.
"No! Chaeli! Wait!" Mike whispered harshly, noticing that things had gone quiet downstairs. He grabbed her around the waist and pulled her away from the door. "Hush, listen," he whispered, straining his ears to hear footsteps coming up the stairs.
She stopped trying to free herself from his grasp, and listened, but only heard the light buzz of Mike's computer in the corner of the room. Letting out a sigh of relief, she freed herself from his grasp, and walked back over to the door.
Mike glared at her, his blue eyes commanding and strict. "Where are you going Chaeli? Are you crazy? It might not be over yet," he scolded quietly, but stayed put.
She narrowed her eyes back at him. "I need some water, Mike," she whispered harshly, "All the panic made my throat dry." He sighed and nodded, knowing that it would probably be more dangerous for she to be yelling at him now, and she quietly exited the room.
Checking on Ashlyn to make sure she was still asleep, which she was, Chaeli once again grasped her wand lightly with her right hand; just in case, as she walked slowly down the stairs leading to the kitchen.
Her heart was pounding in her chest, it sounded like it was the loudest thing in the whole house. If her frightened breathing didn't make anyone notice she, the drumming of her heart sure would.
Grasping her wand harder, she reached the bottom of the stairs and stepped out onto the hardwood floor of the entryway. Her socked feet made little noise as she carefully stepped across the wood toward the kitchen, afraid that the argument was not over yet, she definitely didn't want to enter in the middle of a fight between her parents.
She finally reached the kitchen door and slowly pulled it open to reveal her mother with her back pressed against a wall. Her normally tanned face was rid of all color, and her blue eyes were widened in fear at the sight of her father, standing directly across from her, with his back to her.
His hair was a mess, and he was shaking slightly. His wand was out, and pointed at her mother. Her eyes widened in shock at the sight before her. 'Oh my God,' she thought, gazing around the room in fear as her father stared at her mother's frightened figure.
"Avada Kedavra!" he shouted evilly, flicking his wand in her direction. A green light flashed across the room, and her mother's body fell to the floor with a dull, lifeless thud.