Prologue
August 1976…
Tara was staring at her closet in disbelief. She had nothing whatsoever to wear to her last date before she moved to New York. This was the last time she would see him. She hadn't actually seen him since she graduated in June. As she sifted through all of her clothing, throwing everything on the floor, she wondered what would happen when she moved and when he went back to Hogwarts. Would he remember her? Should she write to him? At this thought she shook her head: she was going to have a new life away from the rumours and her bad reputation here. This was just for fun…right?
Then she saw her outfit: a baby blue halter to match her eyes and white jeans. She quickly dried her hair and made the curling, blond mass lie flat. Then she threw on the outfit and was faced with a new dilemma: which shoes? She pondered about it when she put on her usual layers of make-up. She settled on a pair of white stilettos; sure they would get massacred in the
puddles of London, but there was nothing she could do about it.
She looked at the clock and swore, she was supposed to meet him in Soho five minutes ago. She disapparated to an alley close to the club she was supposed to meet him at and strutted out confidently. Suddenly, she stopped. God, I can't do this… she thought desperately, It's going to end the same way it did last time…and the time before that.
And then, he was there. He was looking around the street, his warm grey eyes taking in everything. He flicked his hair out of his face. That one annoyed movement made Tara's knees melt. She couldn't resist him, even now in the half-light he looked amazing. She gave in to her heart and walked up to him,
"Hello, Sirius…"
11 years and 9 Months later: May 6th 1988
As she brushed her long black hair out of her face, Cassy sat up, wondering what had woken her at this late hour. Then she heard it, the drunken giggles of her mother and the clumsy laughter of a new guy. Disgusted, she laid back and looked at her flashing alarm clock. It read 1:18 A.M. Wow, she thought, I'm eleven. She didn't feel any different, she was, however, relieved that it was Saturday. With thoughts of a birthday cake she knew she would never receive, she dozed back into sleep.
"CAS!! CAS!! Wake up!!" somewhere above her she heard a voice. She groaned and blearily opened her ice blue eyes, to see her two half-brothers jumping on the bed.
"Guess what?" Brian said, with a grin.
"Yeah! Guess!" Rob demanded mischievously.
"Hmmmm…" She hummed, pretending to think. "well, its May 6th, so that means……that I'm eleven!!" She cried out to their anxious faces. As the springs on the bed once again began to squeak from their movements, their faces contorted into strange, yet hilarious, Cassy laughed until she cried. She was so grateful that she had them to keeps her spirits up.
Telling them to stay in their room, she crept to Tara's room. Silently opening the door, she peered around. She saw clothes, male and female, on the floor, and two lumps on the bed. Backing out with tears in her eyes, she found her brothers and ushered them quietly past their excuse-for-a-mother's bedroom, all the time vowing that she'd never be like that. Cassy wanted to use her magic for good, not to seduce a different man every week.
When they entered the main room, Brian and Rob made a run for the television, fighting over which channel to watch. Cassy wandered over to the
fridge and pulled out the leftover pizza.
Taking a piece, she grabbed the seat closest to the kitchen window. She glanced outside before settling down. That's when she saw the owl. Owls didn't often come to this part of town. In fact, the only reason she knew it was an owl was because of the pictures in her schoolbooks. She opened the window and let it in, the sounds of sirens and cars coming in as well.
There was the letter she had been awaiting since she found out she was a witch. Finally, she was going to the Salem Academy.
June 1995
Cassy and her three best friends had just graduated and were talking excitedly about their futures. She felt a pair of arms snake around her waist. She hugged her friends' goodbye and was then pulled away by the boy, no, man she loved.
"Freddie! Where on earth are you taking me?" She giggled as he led her to their favourite spot, underneath the huge willow tree. When they arrived, Fred let go of her and stared nervously at a spot somewhere behind her.
"Cas, you know I love you with all of my heart, right? I have loved you since I first saw you in the Cafeteria. I have and will always love you and I want to be together forever." He got on one knee, leaving Cassy breathless. He produced a box with an emerald ring in it from somewhere in his robes. "Will you, the love of my life, marry me?" Cassy stared, a grin spreading across her face.
"You forgot the magic word!" she teased.
"Please?" Fred added, looking more and more unsure of himself by the minute. He looked so nervous, gazing at the ground, Cassy's heart swelled with unending love.
"Stand up and look at me." He got up and glanced at her and was held there by her lips. She entwined his brown hair between her fingers and pulled him closer. When they finally came up for air, she said, "I can't resist you. You must be completely insane if you think I won't marry you…I love you."
Fred spun her around. He felt like the luckiest guy in the world. They smiled at each other and Cassy sighed. "I guess we have to tell everyone now…race you!"
April 16th 2004
"Its okay, Mrs. Clarke…one more push." Cassy screamed with the effort.
"Well done Mrs. Clarke! I'm happy to say you have a beautiful baby girl!" The doctor smiled.
"Finally!" Fred exclaimed. After six boys he was rather relieved. He ran over to his wife who was shaking.
"Sweetheart, we have a girl! Just relax, honey, its over." He whispered to her. She sighed, content, and smiled weakly at her husband.
"Mr. Clarke, you have to leave while we clean everything up. You can visit later." Fred ran into the waiting room, where a relieved black haired man was grinning, and where his six children and his mother were. "WE HAVE A GIRL!!" He shouted for all to hear. After calming him down and sitting him in one of the seats, his mother scolded, "Why are you in here instead of with of your wife?"
"The nurse kicked me out." He grumbled.
"I don't like the nurses here. I told Cassy to go back to the states for the birth, but she would not see reason. She saw what it was like with the first two, and I think she liked it better, but still, it's like talking to a brick wall. But what on God's green planet did you think you were doing when you moved the family to England? Of all places! You should have rejected that job, I tell you! …"
But Fred's eyes were glazed over, completely oblivious to his mothers prattling, his family was complete…
Three Years Later…
"Ashes to ashes, dust to dust…" droned the vicar. Fred couldn't believe it. His mother was dead. After the muggle service, the magical one started. The youngest branch of the Clarke family, who took up a whole row, all found themselves with wet faces by the end of the service. Even the twins, Pete and Harry, found themselves a bit teary-eyed. Cassy heard all about her mother-in-law's "contribution to society" and the like. All she remembered was a slightly eccentric but great woman who loved food, conversation, history, and people.
Fred remembered in his fourth year when his mother turned up in a bright yellow sundress "because yellow was the colour of death in Elizabethan Spain."
Cassy and Fred looked at each other over seven children, with small, watery smiles, reminiscing.
Two Years Later…
"SIRI!! Where are you?" Pete called, his floppy brown hair hiding his golden eyes. Syria stood in the middle of the room, eyes squeezed shut, they couldn't possibly find her now.
"We'll be back soon! Pete, Harry, please don't burn down the kitchen again. Love You!!" Her parents yelled to the house in general.
"Bye Daddy, Bye Mummy. I love you!" a small voice said at their feet. Fred saw big, solemn, grey eyes, grinned and picked her up. After they both smothered her with kisses, and set her down in the house, they yelled goodbye again. The only responses were six muffled "I love you"s. Satisfied, they left the house. Nobody heard the squeal of tires or the blaring sirens as the stretchers were wheeled out…
Six Years Later…
Ding, ding, ding. The dinner bell went off and all throughout the building, laughter and shouts were heard as everyone made their way to the cafeteria. Meals were the only times loud noise was heard at the orphanage.
Syria, Harry, Pete, Brian and Robin congregated at their usual table and began talking excitedly about the year ahead. This was to be Syria's first year at Hogwarts. Her two eldest brothers, George and Jack, had already gone through Hogwarts and were now working themselves into the ground to get their siblings out of the orphanage Syria hated it here and admired her
brothers for their efforts.
Talk of Quidditch (good), Charms (eh-), and Potions (not good) excited her. She only had one worry, would she be sorted into Gryffindor like all her brothers? When she thought about the possibility of Slytherin she physically shuddered. She had heard such bad things about it. However she went to bed that night ecstatic about her new life.
The next morning they woke early. Syria tugged on her jeans and shirts as she rubbed the sleep out of her sparkling grey eyes. She didn't know what to do with her long, straight, black hair so she tied it back in a high, messy bun. If Hogwarts was a smart place, she would be in trouble; growing up with six older brothers hadn't made her the most girly person on earth.
Her brothers and she trudged across London in the cold sunlight. By the time they reached Charing Cross, Syria was exhausted from carrying her trunk the whole way. They were next to go through the wall. The family in front had three children; the youngest, a red-headed girl who really, really didn't want to wait three years to go to Hogwarts apparently. As soon as they got through the barrier, Syria stopped in awe. The crimson train was the most beautiful thing she had ever seen.
But her brothers, wanting to see their friends, pushed her onwards, into the magical world…
