A/N: This is the revised edition of the prologue. When I decided to post at fictionalley, I changed some things around. I thought the father's dialogue was a little over the top, as did my only reviewer: Thanx so much Kristina! You have absolutely no idea how much your review means to me! I seriously didn't think I was going to get any feedback for this story, but you changed my mind! Thanx again!
Devil and the Deep Blue Sea
~Prologue~
It would have been a regular night. It would have been just another night, one undeserving of considerable mention and unremarkable in every way, but when the fates want something to occur, it will, whether it be important or no. And it just so happened that on that clear night in downtown London, a very suspicious looking pair appeared out of nowhere into the shadows of a back alley, across the street from the dark and formidable looking orphanage that sat like a sleeping monster waiting to be roused.
It was fortunate that no one was walking the streets at that late hour, as lonely drunks and soul searchers were wont to do, or perhaps it wouldn't have happened like it was supposed to. It was also very fortunate that the small girl standing hidden between the two wasn't making any noise of protest. If she had been a normal girl, she would have been squalling and struggling for all she was worth, fighting her father's hold on her arm and doing everything in her power to stay away from the bleak future waiting across the street for her. But as it was, this girl accepted her parent's decisions, however heartless and horrifying they may be, and even though she was just a little scared, and just a little unsure of what her life would be like from now on, she didn't show it.
The aforementioned pair shared a quick word, then ushered the small girl across the street, dodging like thieves between parked cars and staying clear of the street lamp's bright glare on the asphalt. Their long, strange looking cloaks of dark green and maroon swayed around their feet in great bells, obscuring the girl in their thick folds. They hurried up to the heavy metal gates, whose heavy padlock mysteriously clicked open after the man uttered a single word and pointed what looked like nothing more than a thin rod of wood at the gate. He pulled the now unlocked gate open just so much as they could slip through unnoticed, and pulled the woman and girl along with him, tugging them along down the cobblestone courtyard path and up to the mighty oak doors. The woman fell behind as they reached the steps, and waited while the man parked the girl right in front of the doors, stuffing a piece of parchment into her hand.
He drew the thin rod of wood again and pointed it at the girl.
"Oblivia…" he began, but stopped himself, hesitating.
"What are you waiting for?" the woman hissed, glancing around her worriedly. "Wipe her memory!"
The man exhaled through his nose, lips pinching together.
"We're abandoning her, Monique." He said stiffly, looking back at the woman. "We should at least leave her her memories, if nothing else."
The woman gave a disgruntled sigh, crossing her arms.
"Fine then." She snapped. "Leave her some silly memories. It's not as though anyone would believe her, given what she is…."
"Exactly. Do you see my point?"
"Whatever you want André." The woman looked visibly distressed now, dancing from foot to foot. "Just hurry up so we can go. Someone's going to see us…"
This seemed to make up the man's mind, and he put away the rod, turning and grasping the girl's shoulders tightly.
"Don't ever come back." He said. "We've leaving you here, and it is here that you will stay. Forget ever calling yourself a Lestrange again, Squib. You are not a witch, despite who your parents may be. You are not Morganne Sylvie Lestrange. You are Lynn Grey, nothing but a dirty, filthy, talentless Muggle, just another hapless victim of a loveless union. That, my dear, is who you are. Don't ever forget it."
With that, he grasped the heavy brass knocker and rapped loudly twice. When a light came on from the second floor, followed by more on the first, the man went back to the woman's side, and without so much as a goodbye, they disappeared into thin air. The girl watched her parents go unflinchingly, as she'd done so many things in her short life, and as the doors behind her opened and a large woman appeared in the doorway, crying out at the sight of her watching the empty courtyard with blank eyes, she couldn't help but realize that she was very, very alone.