Becoming Dolores Jane
Chapter One
No one in his right mind would ever cross the strict rules of the caretaker, but ten-year-old Dolores was ruthless. The day was cold, and her dirty, old clothes didn't keep her as warm as she wanted, but this was not going to stop her. The small creek dividing the property where her mother served as a maid and the next Manor was flowing fast. She jumped on a rock midway across the edges and then on the opposite edge. Her light skirt flew around her legs, a blow of wind chilled her bones. She would catch a cold for sure, and her mother would be mad. It didn't matter. She had to go or everyone would think she was a coward.
The Selwyn Manor was not far, and she often crept over the trees to watch their children play. Some of them were from London. Their rich families sent them in the countryside during the war, and a few cousins still came to visit once in a while. She could never afford to play like that. Her mother worked for the family in the small house near Selwyn Manor, full time, and she often helped. They weren't pure-bloods, the Laurchins, and serving a half-blood family was even more humiliating than being a maid. Their status wasn't very high. Dolores didn't even know her own last name. She knew the lie her mother told Mr. Laurchin, but she knew her last name wasn't really Ferell. Every time she asked her mother she said it wasn't the time to discuss it. They were despised by everyone, and no child would play with her, some even said they were Squibs. Well, Dolores was no Squib, and she would not forgive anyone for calling her that. The short ten-year-old had more pride in her than her mother ever accounted for.
She wanted so bad to be like the Selwyns, she would go spy on them every day, until their caretaker caught her and ordered one of the Selwyns' house elves to keep her away from the borders. She tried again, but this time the children saw her, covered in scratches for going on the most unusual path to avoid get caught by the elf. Knowing the whole story with the caretaker, the children dared her to come back again. She would not let them win. They were just messing with her, she knew, but if she proved she was worthy, maybe they will let her in their garden.
She climbed the tree until reaching the branch stretching over the fence and started slithering on it. Dolores wasn't even halfway through the branch when she hit something so hard she nearly fell over. What happened? She stretched out a hand and touched something invisible stopping her from crossing the boundaries of the manor. A barrier. She looked down and found out she was just over the fence. A magical barrier had been created to keep her out. She could never get in again.
Looking at the garden, in a distance, she saw the three Selwyn children laughing, and pointing at her. They ran closer and closer. Before she could run away, they were under her branch.
"What's the problem Squib? Don't know what kept you out? It's called magic!" The oldest boy laughed and everyone followed. Dolores hated him, and at the same time she wanted to accepted by him. She didn't answer.
"Hey! Did the cat steal your tongue? Not a smart-mouth anymore huh?" the blonde older boy was the one to attacker again.
"Shut up."
"Don't tell me to shut up Squib! How you dare talk to me? I'm a Selwyn!" his raging eyes had a shade of pure disgust in them.
She didn't have any good answer, so she just climbed down the tree, laughter in her ears, and ran back home, crying.
She still heard the laughs in her ears, even though she was half a mile away now. How could she be so foolish? She should have know they would never let her in. They tricked her into coming so she would be humiliated, and now she would never have the face to show up again. Smart. But they could not win this.
Dolores ran for a long time, not knowing where she was going. The name, Squib, still lingered in her head. What if she really was? Her mother wasn't, she had a wand and everything, but she didn't really show any particular sign of magic, as far as she knew. It was time to find out. In a few months she would be eleven and she would go to Diagon Alley to get her wand. The thought of staying a long time in Olivander's shop just to find out she had no powers was far too humiliating, she had to know before that.
How did young witches and wizard show their powers? Some just appeared in their ordinary lives, with funny results or hilarious consequences. Well it was clear this wasn't her case. There was another option. Some showed a particular magic ability in case of danger or distress, aimed to save them. It was risky, but she was willing to try. It was perfect.
She knew a crag close by, if she jumped over it and somehow survived, it would mean she was after all a witch. Otherwise, if she was a Squib, she would want to face life anyway.
She was standing at the edge. All the bravery flew away went she saw the crag. No hope of surviving unless some power showed up. Was she really willing to do that?
Before she could change her mind, she decided to take a run for it. She backed away a few steps, and run towards the edge. Her feet were running, her head was trying to stop her, but she concentrated on her feet only, and on the idea of magic itself. Somehow, she thought it could help. When she jumped, she felt the wind on her face, and felt terrified. She was going to die, she didn't feel any power saving her, anything at all.
After a split second of pure terror, she regretted it, and thought that maybe her power would show in another way, but now, it never would. She despised herself for thinking that in the same second she did, she was supposed to hate Squibs and be a good witch. Her death was right, it was going to make the world a better place, with one less Squib.
She still hadn't finished that thought, that she hit something, hard, but not as hard as the ground at the bottom would be. Her bones ached, but she wasn't dead. She found herself on the chest on an old, filthy man.
"Hey gal! What were ya tryin' to do?"
"…What?"
"You jumped over a freakin' crag! Where ya tryin' to kill yourself?"
Who was that man? He put her down on her feet and she looked all over him. He smelled like garbage and had rusty, long hair. His clothes were filthy and cut in many places. No wizard would live like that. The question was: Squib or Muggle? Either way, she hated him. He had no business here, near the wizard community. But maybe he had business with her, after all she might be a Squib.
"What are you doing here?" She asked. She wanted to know if he knew of the wizarding world or not.
"Lookin' for something to eat. A man can't live of air, can he now?"
Muggle. Definitely a Muggle. No wizard would try to find food in a forest. No Squib either. If she were a squib, she would go to London and try to get a humble job, that is if she didn't find the strength to kill herself for the humiliation.
She hated him for saving her, for preventing her to find out if she had powers or not after all. The hatred filled her so much, she stepped away and looked at him with disgust. A filthy Muggle saved her. She was dirty for being saved by such a despicable being.
The moment her hatred reached a peak, she watched the man before her eyes crumble to the ground and scream in pain, crouching on himself.
"What the bloody hell?"
"Are you all right?" She asked more curious than concerned, stepping closer. She actually felt an internal realization for that sufferance, but she wasn't going to show it. He looked up to her. That was new. She had always been very short, even for her age, and no one ever looked up to her. She liked that.
"I… I dunno… My body just ached so much and…"
She felt that hatred again. Filthy ignorant Muggle, answer a witch's question!
As she thought that, pain seemed to go through the man's body again. This was when she realized.
It was her. She was causing that pain, her hatred converted to pain for a filthy Muggle! That was what magic was for.
"I know what that is." She spoke with new confidence, standing over him with a new light in her eyes. "It's what you deserve, you filthy Muggle!"
"What did ya call me? And I just saved yo life!"
"I don't need your help!" She tried to forget that he did save her life. "I'm more than you will ever be!"
With that, she ran away and sprinted for the road that would get her home. She wanted to tell her mom , but she somehow doubted she would be happy about her daughter torturing a Muggle.
