Disclaimer: Harry Potter and all of the original characters belong to J.k. Rowling
Author's note: To those of you who have been following this story... You will probably notice that this chapter or prologue has been changed. I decided to go through and re-edit the chapters that I have already had posted here. To those of you who are new, enjoy the story. Please read and review!
August 31
Prologue
Large wooden crates filled to the brim with the young women's possessions littered the polish wooden floor of her childhood room. A well-worn trunk was w open near her now empty cherry wood wardrobe. At this very moment, a petite young woman with long chocolate locks was throwing things haphazardly into the space the trunk provided. Angry jade green eyes scanned her surroundings for her wand. Dogwood with a faerie wing core; 10 1/4 inches long, identical to her mother's. Finally finding the magical stick, the petite young women made quick work of the rest of her belongings with a small flick of her wrist. Deciding against leaving the contents of her trunk in the unorganized heap, she flicked her wrist one more time for good measure.
The overwhelmed brunette took in a deep breath, the effort was useless, it did nothing to control the rage she felt. ' Oh how she loathed that man! Emerald June Amellus thought to herself angrily. How could he make decisions about her life without consulting her first? Uprooting her entire existence, taking her away from the only place she's ever called home. Hogwarts?! Really?! Moving to London was bad enough. Now he was making her switch schools, too? Beauxbaton's was her home. Forget the fact that her father was now seeing her dance instructor or ex- dance instructor, for that matter. Her mother's body wasn't even cold in the ground yet and he was playing house with someone half his age. She hussy had practically moved in, already!
Emerald felt her insides begin to burn with the amount of anger and resentment she held for her father, Brangwen Amellus. Her mind began to cloud over with the pain and suffering of losing her mother less than three months ago. Hadn't she suffered enough? Didn't it ever end? The fragile young women felt too many emotions, too fast. She couldn't deal with any of this! Emerald's doll like features twisted with the agony she felt as she walked to her white oak end table and stared at the moving picture of a beautiful blonde woman with eyes the color of forget-me-nots.
"Thanks mum." She said quietly. "For leaving me here, in this mess." One solitary tear escaped the suffering jade green eyes, before she fought them back. Now was not the time to cry.
The frustrated seventh year opened the first drawer of her end table. She pulled out a small antique mother of pearl box and opened it. She removed two small round pills, placed them in her mouth under her tongue. The tablets began to melt and almost instantly took effect. Euphoria filled her veins, the feeling spread through her chest as a light airy sensation took over her entire body.
Always afraid of coming down too quickly, Emerald took one more out of the small box and swallowed this one whole. She could breathe again, and although she knew it was wrong to depend on a substance to bring her peace, at this point she didn't really care. Why should she? She had lost everything; every ounce of normalcy in her life was slipping away.
A small smile lit up her face as she walked over to the floor to ceiling mirrors and her once upon a time passion. Gripping the barre as she stared at her reflection in the mirror, Emerald surveyed the changes she noticed. Although she slept, her sleep was restless at best. Dark circles marred the flesh under her jade green eyes.
Italian descent, her normally tan skin looked sallow, having lost its normal warm glow. Her beautiful thick chocolate brown locks were in desperate need of a trim and a good shampoo. She looked like herself, but not. Pain and suffering clouded her beautiful jade colored eyes. Her petite frame was showing signs of malnourishment. If Emerald was honest with herself, she looked a mess.
She turned from the mirror and grabbed her secret stash, took one more before throwing the little box into her new black leather satchel. The suffering teen grabbed the picture of her mother off her end table and placed it gently into the trunk with the other belongings she would be taking to Hogwarts. She slammed the lid shut, casting an anti-fragile spell on the bulky luggage. Feeling a bit tired, the petite brunette prepared herself for bed.
Tomorrow she would be leaving her childhood home behind forever. Although, she should be nervous about facing the world alone, she couldn't find it within herself to care. This at least got her away from her father and his new lover. Besides, being alone came easy to her now. Over the past couple of months Emerald had spent the majority of her time by herself only having her father's footman, Jeffery, as company. She had become reckless. Sometimes she wandered aimlessly through the city streets, walking or apparating to random spots. Other nights, she would flash her wizard made fake ID at the muggle security guards working at her favorite pub. She would go alone, usually high on the magical drug known as "nauge" in French or "cloud" in English and she would dance and drink until the sun came up. Emerald had lost the ability to care if she lived or died at this point, a part of her actually wished she would succumb to death.
Why should she care? It was clear to her that her father didn't give two flying fucks if she took her last breath. The self-absorbed asshole was never around and when he was, he looked right through her, like she was a ghost from his past. Choosing to spend all his time with Imogene, Brangwen had abandoned his daughter emotionally. Of course, the egotistical man still paid her way, gave her a hefty allowance. So, The petite brunette spent his Gaellons on the things that brought her comfort, boos and nauge.
Alone… the quiet… These things she could handle. The voices and emotions in Emerald's head were constantly at war. The demon she tried to keep shackled up tightly in her soul would flap its wings violently, screeching at her to answer its call.
Addiction, that's what she was left with- just take another pill and make it shut-up- was her thought process. She couldn't handle this fucked up life she was being thrown into. Emerald was an intelligent girl. She more than understood the affects these pills would have on her body, eventually. She could die or go insane, lose her memory, end up a vegetable for the rest of her existence. So why take them then?
Because it made the god forsaken voices shut up! That's why she shoveled pill after pill down her throat. Nauge made this life she didn't ask for easier to bare. Her drug of choice was funny like that; it could make you believe your life was fabulous! It took all the bad feelings away, at least temporarily. Besides all of that, the one person who cared about her and really knew her was gone. Six feet under in a vaulted plot at their family cemetery in Italy- nowhere near her. She couldn't even place flowers on her own mother's grave. She couldn't even stop by to visit or succumb to the need to lay beside her monument on the grass.
The emotionally drained brunette climbed into her bed and curled in on herself. She found herself praying for sleep and to whomever was above her controlling her life that maybe tomorrow would be different. That maybe tomorrow would be better. That maybe, just maybe, she still had a chance, a hope at being normal. At finding peace. It wasn't too much to ask for, and she didn't even think it would work. At least, it never had before. She whispered to the dark like she did most nights, never receiving an answer from the voice she most desperately wanted to hear "Night mum."