Disclaimer: Don't own anything, except the character of Rebecca.
A.N. This is the improved version of the original Forbidden Love. This is all due to Maid of Imladris requesting to beta the story. I know I ended up with a few comments over my poor grammar.
So with out further interruptions. The new improved Forbidden Love.
Forbidden Love
Chapter I: Escape
Rebecca Potter sat in a corner of the living room, cradling her bruised arm
and trying not to cry. She just received another beating from her father- but
she hadn't done anything wrong. Harry, her younger brother, had broken
another one of her mother's prized china dolls and blamed it on Rebecca. As
usual, her parents had blamed her, and her father (who had been already
furious from a bad day at work) had taken his anger out on his only daughter.
Rebecca wiped away her tears, and slowly climbed to her feet. Her parents
had taken Harry out, leaving Rebecca alone. Again. This time, though, it was
different. This time Rebecca wasn't going to wait around for them to
return, and then wait quietly for whatever punishment they were going to dish
out. She was leaving.
She started to climb the stairs to her too-small room, thinking hard.
She'd been planning her escape for ages now, and even though she didn't
actually have an idea of where to go, she knew that she could find somewhere
that she could get a job or stay for a while. She padded into her room and
began packing. She managed to keep the small space immaculate almost all the
time, which made it easy to find what she needed quickly. She didn't have a
suitcase like her parents or Harry, just a luggage hold-all that her Uncle
Remus had given her years ago, but she didn't mind. A suitcase would be far
heavier, and prove more awkward to carry. She grabbed all her clothes (almost
all of which were ripped or too small), folding them and packing them as
neatly as she could into the bag. Then, she packed her writing stuff,
including her parchment, quill, ink, and last of all grabbed her wand. Not
that she could do many spells- she was only ten, after all, and her parents
hadn't really bothered to teach her much, obsessed as they were about making
sure that Harry knew every single spell in existence.
She glanced at the clock and realized that her parents and Harry would
undoubtedly be back soon. Quickly, she zipped up the hold-all, put her wand
in her back pocked, and went into her parents' room, moving as speedily as
she could. Rebecca walked over the small cabinet on the east side of the room
labeled 'Funds' and knelt down beside it, pulling out her wand.
'Alohomora,' she said clearly.
The cabinet unlocked and Rebecca opened it. The Alohomora charm had been
Rebecca's first successful charm when she had got her wand, not that anyone
had really noticed. Mr. Ollivander had persuaded her parents to get her a
wand when they were buying Harry one, and she'd never regretted it. At
first, her parents had said she hadn't needed a wand so early, but the kind
(if slightly creepy) wandmaker had managed to convince them otherwise. She
wasn't allowed to use it often, but sometimes she would steal one of Harry's
numerous books (he never read them anyways) and practice late into the night.
She still didn't know much, as it was hard to lean magic self-taught, but
she did her best.
Rebecca sighed. She hated how her parents ignored her, favoring her twin
brother over her almost all the time. She wished that they could see her as a
person, not just as her brother's shadow, but she knew that it was hopeless.
They pampered Harry, focusing all their attention on him because they though
he was The-Boy-Who-Lived. They believed, along with every other witch and
wizard, that it had been Harry who had defeated Voldemort nine years ago. But
Rebecca knew better.
She could only vaguely remember that night, but she dreamt of it almost every
night, and even nine years later, she could still remember glowing red eyes
and maniacal laughter, and a clear green light speeding towards her,
enveloping her… it was she who had deflected the Avada Kedavra that night.
She still didn't know how, but she was glad. Otherwise, she'd be dead, and
despite the sadness that she often felt about her circumstances, she was very
glad to be alive.
Unfortunately, the whole Wizarding world thought that there was no way a girl
could have deflected a spell like that. It didn't help that Harry's scar,
which was much flashier and noticeable than her own, had led Dumbledore to
claim that it was Harry who had defeated the Dark Lord. The Wizarding world
had celebrated their young 'hero', and Lily and James were determined to
care for and protect their son, desperately working to make sure that he would
be able to defeat Voldemort if he ever returned, and pampering him constantly.
Over time, Rebecca had faded into the background, overwhelmed by her
brother's glory, and all too soon she had become just the forgotten
'second twin'.
Rebecca pushed her thoughts away, cursing herself mentally for spending so
much time dwelling on pointless thoughts. Looking inside the cabinet, she saw
four neatly labeled drawers. One said 'James Potter'; the one beside it read
'Lily Potter', the one below James' said 'Harry Potter', and the final one
said 'Rebecca Potter.' Rebecca pulled open the drawer with her name on it. She
knew there was quite a bit in there. Her parents put 2 sickles in each month
since she'd been born. Since Rebecca had never used any of the money that she
had in there, she thought she must have about…14 gallons and 12 sickles.
She had always been decent at maths.
Rebecca collected the money, counting it into her bag. She actually had 24
gallons and 12 sickles. She guessed that her parents had put an extra gallon a
year in for birthday and Christmas. They usually just gave her some 'new'
clothes, but perhaps they had put some money in there for her, as well. She
thanked God that her parents had put a charm on the box, meaning that money
was added when it had been arranged. Otherwise, she doubted they would have
remembered to give her the allowance every month- and she certainly wouldn't
have tried to remind them.
She strode out of the room, swinging her bag up over the shoulder of her good
arm. Her bruised arm still smarted a bit, though it didn't hurt as much as
it had at first. Her bag weighed more than she'd originally thought, buts she
was strong enough from her various chores that she could lift it, though not
without some difficulty.
She reached the front door, flinging it open to reveal a brightly shining
sun. She checked there was no sign of her parents or brother, and when she
was sure it was all clear, she looked once more back at the house and walked
out, closing the door behind her. Rebecca Potter turned around, walked down
the pathway, and headed down the street, determinedly not glancing back.
They we have it the first chapter. Please review, if not for then for Maid of Imladris.
