Awareness
The house was stood, conjoined to its twin, in a suburb a little way out of London. The old red bricks and shut windows looked younger and less severe in the light from the streetlight across the road. The wheelbarrow in next door's garden and the well in theirs were cast in shadow and you would never imagine that that particular house would be home to a small family of scared witches and wizards.
Only two lights were even on in the house as it was quite late. The bathroom window was open a crack and a little light leaked out from it. The fresh autumn breeze had become harsher because midnight was approaching and anything outside was chilled. The tree standing directly in front of one of the upstairs windows rustled slightly as someone shifted, trying to keep their hands and feet warm.
Seven year old Nymph skipped down her street. The sunshine was beaming down on her and she felt rather warm, so she took off her pink fleece cardigan that Daddy had bought her and wrapped it around her waist. The trees around her were slowly shedding their leaves and she picked up a big one with brilliant auburn feathering and beautiful spiky edges.
The room facing the street, the window almost fully covered by the tree was Nymph's bedroom. She'd selected purple and pink clashing paint for the walls and a neon quilt, which her Mummy hated, for her bed just the year before, when she was six. It was her personal haven because it contained everything she liked and it was just the way she liked it. Nothing was breakable. Most things were pink or close enough.
Nymph spotted her Mum and Dad stood at the gate to the park. The grin which she'd been wearing before widened.
"Hey Mummy, Daddy! Look at my leaf! Isn't it pretty?" She gabbled happily, waving the leaf enthusiastically. Neither of the looked very happy, but nobody seemed to look very happy recently. "Can we go play in the park?"
They shook their heads sadly. "Not today, sorry." Daddy said slowly. "You've got to keep going." Mummy pointed further along the road.
"We'll see you later." She said gently.
The sitting room, directly below Nymph's room was one of the most used rooms in the house. Appropriately, it was still in use. The lights were on, but the curtains were shut tight on the back garden so no light escaped. Two people were sat on the slightly tatty leather sofa. There were scuffs on the leather and stains on the dark green carpet, signs of Nymph's clumsiness. The lady was sat reading a heavy book, she was in her thirties with pale brown hair and a mild expression.
The man was about the same age, his attention focused on a small TV set in front of him. The volume was right down but his blue eyes lingered on it. He was taller than the woman and had golden fair hair.
Nymph bounced further along the street. The trees around her all seemed to have lost their leaves and were standing bare. Stood in front of the community police station, where PC Margret had given her a big sticker with a badger on it, just the month before stood Sirius. She smiled at the tall, dark young man and ran towards him.
"Siri!" She screamed, throwing herself into his arms. Sirius caught Nymph easily and gathered her up in his arms. A strangely tender emotion flickered over his face, which tended to appear frozen, despite its handsomeness as her hair changed from its habitual bright pink to something resembling his own.
"How you doing, Nymph?" He asked, rearranging her position in his arms so she could face him.
"I'm good!" She replied positively. "Have you seen my leaf?" She wafted it happily.
The couple began talking in quiet, concerned voices. The woman put her heavy book aside and the man flicked his TV onto standby.
"You know it's not safe!" The man protested. "We need to stay as low as possible."
"I know!" The woman replied, her voice becoming less quiet as she became heated. "But we need to do something! If we lose this war then you know how much trouble we're going to be in!"
"We can't afford to stick our neck out like that!" He disagreed. "It would be like painting a target on Nymph's back- if there isn't already one there!"
Reluctantly Sirius placed Nymph on the footpath again. "You've got to keep going. I'll see you again someday."
Nymph didn't like the way that nobody was coming with her and gave him her best sulky frown as she stomped off. Even the air seemed cooler as she moved along the road, past the convenience shop and around the corner. Unenthusiastically she pulled her fleece back on and carried on walking.
She encountered a woman outside the Cornerstone café. She'd only met her once, but it had been a memorable experience. The woman looked a little like Mummy, but had much darker hair and a darker skin tone. Nymph clutched the fleece closer to her, and tried to walk on but the woman stopped her. She was in her late fifties and up close the grey streaks in her hair and wrinkles in her face showed that. Mummy had said to be very polite to this lady if she saw her again.
Nymph thought for a second. What was that lady's name?
"Good day, Mrs. Black."
"What good manners for such a little girl." Mrs. Black said condescendingly. "If it isn't Nymphadora."
Nymph didn't like the way that Mrs. Black was looking at her- looking down at her. It made her feel small, and even less important than she already felt, standing next to a lady in full dress robes.
"It is, ma'am." She replied.
"What quaint muggle clothes you're wearing, Nymphadora." The woman said superciliously. The way she said 'quaint' made Nymph feel like she was wearing something homemade and old. She'd only got her new jeans a fortnight ago. "I expect your father bought you them." She noted.
Nymph wasn't quite sure where she stood or why Mrs. Black had presumed that Daddy had bought her clothes so she said nothing.
"Carry on now, Nymphadora." The woman ordered. "Take care."
As Nymph carried on walking obediently she wondered if there was something worrying or dangerous around the next corner. The way Mrs. Black had said 'take care' had sounded odd to her seven year old ears.
"My mother even contacted me with a warning!" The woman broke in sharply. Her voice was quite high pitched, fearful. "Do you know how bad it must be if she's doing that?"
As Nymph ambled on, nearer to the city centre she noticed that her breath was beginning to show in front of her, her hands and feet were feeling especially cold. In front of the hairdressers shop (where she wasn't allowed to go because her hair would just change) stood a man who looked quite familiar. He wasn't as tall as Sirius and had short grey hair. Beside him a woman with flowing blond hair stood.
"Nymphadora dear!" The woman called. Nymph looked at the woman warily. She looked similar to Mummy, but they looked nothing alike. Mummy's hair was brown, the lady's hair was blond. Mummy's eyes were dark green, the lady's eyes were pale blue. But she observed that the man had same face shape as well.
Half-heartedly Nymph stepped over to them.
"Nymphadora, such a refined name for girl of her standing, don't you think Cissy? What was Andromeda thinking when she named her?" The man said with an ugly smirk. The blond woman smiled down at her.
"My mummy says it's pretty." Nymph said unsurely. The woman's smile widened further and Nymph was reminded even stronger of Mummy.
"How sweet." The woman commented mildly, her eyes still fixed on her niece.
"Really? 'Pretty?' What was Andromeda thinking?" The man muttered sullenly. Nymph scowled at him.
"Keep going Nymphadora. You're not there yet." The blond woman said slowly, her smile melting away. "Say 'good morning' to Lucius for me."
In the cosy sitting room with the tatty sofa, the man leant nearer to the woman. He brushed a brown curl from her face and put his mouth to her ear, to look like an affectionate lover.
"Don't look at the window now, but I think there's someone spying on us." He hissed softly.
The woman withdrew instantly, her gaze set on the blank TV.
Nymph stomped up the road, feeling distinctly unhappy. Her hands were going blue and purple and her feet began slipping under her. When she looked up at the sky she saw it was covered by a blanket of thick white snow cloud. When she looked down again she saw the pavement was covered in thick ice.
Now, Nymph wasn't a geographer, but she knew that it should have been early autumn and it wasn't normal for it to be so cold. Her ears felt like ice to her chilled hands and she wrapped the fleece jumper around her closer. As she slid, slipped and tripped across the pavements she saw two men in front of her who she was sure she'd seen before.
She recognised them from an old family photograph she'd peeked at from Mummy's cupboard. Lucius Malfoy and Rodolphus Lestrange. They were deep in conversation and although Nymph could have sworn that the blond one's eyes had flicked over to her, they ignored her.
Nymph waited a few minutes for them to talk to her, but they continued to ignore her so she walked on.
The woman's dark green- brown eyes flicked over to the window.
"Do you think they've got someone outside Nymph's room?" She whispered quietly.
"I don't know." The man replied slowly, his eyes didn't move from the window. A shadow showed that someone- they had no idea who- were stood directly outside their window. It shifted slightly and they both held their breaths.
Nymph slid onwards. She felt colder and number with every step. She felt afraid. She felt like she was never going to be happy again. Her breath caught in her throat as she caught sight of a figure she did know stood boldly in front of the gate to the cemetery.
As she moved closer, the sky gave an almighty bang and pieces of ice began tumbling from the sky. Hail the size of golf balls and bottle caps pelted down on her, hitting her in the face, falling down the back of her jumper and into her hair. The high speed projectiles hurt as they hit off skin and flesh. Nymph felt like she was going to cry.
Bellatrix beaconed.
Nymph noticed that she looked like Mummy. They had the same face shape, cupids bow and- to her horror- eyes. Nymph had Mummy's eyes too. Bellatrix moved forward impatiently.
"If it isn't Andi's little girl!" She remarked loudly. Her voice was scary. It made Nymph was to run away and hide. "I'll enjoy sending this little message to her. After all, what a better way to show we don't tolerate half-blood freaks by sending her own little darling home sans a few limbs!" She gave a vicious cackle. Flecks of spittle landed on her chin.
The woman suppressed a sob when she heard her daughter crying out upstairs. The man, her husband, next to her stiffened.
"Nymph!" He said urgently.
Bellatrix took out her wand out her crimson robes.
Nymph had understood enough of her speech to know it wasn't good.
With a high pitched scream Nymph tried to run away. Rapidly. Her feet slipped on the ice as she ran and she ran straight out into something that felt only slightly corporal.
A dementor.
Nymph crumbled to the floor as any happiness she had left her. She was so scared.
Soon enough her throat hurt from screaming.
When the hysterical screaming began they both jumped up. Spy two meters away or no, they couldn't stand to hear her cry like that. Together they raced to towards the stairs. Along the hall. Threw open the door. Into her room.
Their eyes scanned the room for intruders, but they could only find their daughter. Andromeda quickly cast a diagnosis charm on the screaming little girl, huddled in her bedclothes.
"Nymph?" Ted asked worriedly. The reached out to touch her and found her to be shaking. Wrapping his arms around the semi- conscious little girl, he sat on the little bed with the neon duvet and gathered her into a hug.
"It's okay, Nymphie. Just a nightmare." He said quickly.
Both parents jumped when there was a rap on the window. Nymph appeared to have retreated back into the land of dreams." The person in the tree struggled against the thick limbs and made his way to the far side of the tree, as close to the window as he could get. Andromeda and Ted had reached for their wands, they were both pointing at the figure.
"We're from…" The man began. His face was cast in shadow. He could be anyone.
"The Death Eaters!" Andromeda burst out fearfully.
"The Order." He man substituted. "We heard there might be a security risk so we were stood guard."
"How do we know? Identify yourself." Ted said loudly, brandishing his wand and looking quite scary, even with his seven year old daughter of his lap.
"It is I, Sirius Orion Black, I spent a week with you when Nymphie was born." The man, Sirius said, leaning closer, "You thought Bellatrix had cursed her because her appearance kept changing."
"Yeah, carry on." Andromeda ordered suspiciously.
"It's me!" The man, Sirius said indignantly. "When I was seven you took me to the donkey sanctuary without telling your mum and an ass backed into you."
Ted burst out laughing. "Really? She never told me that!"
"It was a donkey ass, and it was blind." Andromeda said defensively. "It wasn't funny, my mother was up in arms because I had a huge scuff on my dress robe trousers."
The man, most definitely Sirius, grinned and rolled his eyes, moving sideways into the light.
"You shouldn't have been wearing them in the first place. It was meant to be muggle."
"You try sneaking muggle clothing into the house without Druella Black noticing! I swear she had a nose like a blood hound!"