A/N: Okay friends here is the next installment of my Genevieve reboot! I will try to update once a week or once every two weeks. Thank you friends! I really hope you enjoy. This really has been a story ten years in the making, seeing as I started trying to write it when I was 12. Thank you for your support!
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"Lucy! Lucy!" A small girl pads around the manor with her stockinged feet. Looking for her brother. Her long blonde hair bouncing lightly around her shoulders. She pokes her head into his bedroom, his door slightly open. All she sees is a sparkling clean room with a desk and some books. Huffing she sets off farther down the hall to bother her Father and Mother. They should know where her brother is hiding from her.
She continues down the hall, only three or four doors down the hall and stops in front of it and is about to knock when a house elf appears before her. She flinches back in surprise.
"Young Mistress, Mater is requesting your presence in the parlor for a light lunch." It tells her and then escorts her to the parlor. They wander through the opulent halls her skirts making a whispering sound about her knees.
The doors to the parlor swing open wide and the girl is greeted by the smiling face of her Father and the pouting face of her brother. She grins and runs up to her Father giving him a large hug giggling the entire time. Once done there she jumps down, brushes her skirts and pads over to her brother and pulls on his sleeve. He looks over at her and seeing the toothy smile, smiles back and she glomps him. He pulls her into his lap a smile on his normally blank face.
"As I was saying Lucius, with you starting school this year it would be prudent for us to make a trip out to Diagon Alley to prepare your books and supplies for the year. We could make the trip today, my schedule is cleared if you are interested." Abraxas continues the conversation that must have been put on hold when she walked in.
Lucius thinks on this a moment and nods in acquiescence.
"That sounds like a good plan Father." Lucius looks at the girl sitting in his lap. "But what will Persephone be doing while we are out?" Lucius asks, the welfare of his younger sister on his mind pretty consistently.
"Well, Our Lord wanted to spend some time with her today." Abraxas watches his daughter's reaction as he mentions this. She perks up and her smile brightens more than it was when she walked into the room.
"I get to see him?!" She starts happily, and claps her hands together in excitement. Lucius looks at his sibling smiling also. This little girl, so favored by the Dark Lord and by his family in general. It was always a wonder to Lucius that the Dark Lord took all of this time to make time for her what with the war drawing ever closer.
All of a sudden she becomes very still and Abraxas watches as her eyes glaze over in a frightening way, as though she has retreated into her own mind. Only for the next moment them to return to normal. A small look of wonder on her face.
"Tom..." she whispers softly, tears clouding her eyes now. Abraxas looks straight in his daughter's eyes until she hops out of Lucius' lap and makes her way over to the fireplace and sits down there in front of the fire. Abraxas and Lucius look at each other and then look at her.
~~POV Change~~
I look into the flames licking the stone. Father and Lucy said that I would be able to spend time with him. Tom… I think to myself. Another flash…
I am in a dark room, a familiar dark room. I look up at the small boy who is reading to me, a smile on my face. His soft voice is soothing to me.
"Tom," I say softly as he talks a moment after a period. He looks at me with his one eyebrow raised. Not a word leaves his mouth. "Can I stay with you tonight? Please." I ask shyly, quietly. I see his mouth turn up in a weird smile.
"Always." He says softly and puts the precious book under one of the floorboards and climbs back into bed. He pulls me close, both of us fully clothed, our shoes sitting neatly near the door. "I'll keep you safe. I promise." He says softly, as I close my eyes and fall asleep.
I tilt my head in interest and surprise. I hear Father and Lucy talking about Hogwarts, and the houses.
"Oh I have no doubts I will be sorted into Slytherin Father, don't worry." Lucy says.
"Slytherin is for the strong, the cunning, the lost. We take care of our own here Vivy." A man says and I feel a ruffle of my well tamed, plaited hair.
I hear a man's voice floating through my mind. These things feel the same as the things I remember from being with Lucy or Tom or Father. But I don't know where they are coming from. I light up briefly and turn around to look at Father and Lucius.
"Father what is today?" I ask excitedly.
"Today is a Tuesday. Why?" He responds off-handedly.
"No Father, what is the date?" I ask again more insistently.
"Oh, it is July twentieth." I hear a response from behind me and see Tom standing there in the floo. I look at him bright eyed. "Happy Birthday Persephone." He says softly and picks me up, holding me in his arms.
"Thank you Tom." I say and nuzzle my head into the crook of his neck. Tom clears his throat and I turn around to look at what is going on. Father is flushed a little bit red, and Lucius is looking at me with something similar to wonder and horror. I look at Tom's face a bit perplexed, and then realize I said his name aloud in front of the other people. I quickly cover my mouth and mumble an apology.
"It is fine Persephone. You have every right to call me by my given name. And you are the only one." Tom says aloud, and I see the looks exchanged between the three men but I don't quite understand them. Tom then looks back to me and I place my hands on his face confused.
"Why are they red?" I ask him, staring directly into his crimson eyes. Tom's eyebrow raises in my direction and I just keep staring in them. My mind working in a different direction.
A little boy with chocolate eyes. That is my first memory of sight. Deep brown eyes that I could lose myself in. A soft gurgle escapes my mouth, I think. The owner of the eyes lifts me up and holds me at arms length. Trying to express my discomfort I let out a small cry. And I'm put back down quickly.
"They have been like that for a long time Persephone." Tom responds and I snap out of my thoughts. He doesn't break eye contact with me, and addresses Father and Lucy. "And don't you two have plans for today?"
Lucy and Father stand quickly and bow shallowly, seeing just how distracted Tom is by me and vacate the room. Saying quick goodbyes to me.
"What color should they be if not red Persephone?" Tom asks me softly.
"Chocolate..." I respond still confused, my small hands still on his cheeks. "Chocolate eyes..."
Tom smiles softly to himself and walks with me over to the Floo system and we floo to his home. A place I have frequented many a time. We arrive in the main receiving room and I see some of his minions standing in the room, just talking. At our arrival they turn and bow to Tom, Tom walks right on by. They know that I am a Malfoy child because of the frequency I am around. Tom carries me through the halls as we make our way to his favorite study. He waves his hand and the door opens, and I squirm a bit to be set down. He lets me down and I walk over to the chest of stuff that he has sitting over in one corner. Stuff that wasn't there before. I look over to him curiously.
"May I?" I ask and point at the chest.
"Of course Persephone." he responds and sits down to do a little bit of paperwork.
I pop open the chest and see semi-familiar objects. I reach in and pull out a pretty set of earrings.
"My beautiful girl. Your first set of ear drops. Such a special day. You know these are the height of luxury right now? They came all the way from Egypt, where they work with gold consistently. Their artisans are the best in the world for gold working." A woman with raven wing hair talks in soft tones to me.
Gold with rubies. Familiar and yet odd colors at the same time. I place them down on the floor next to me. And move a couple more things around in the chest, looking for something else that will catch my eye. A pair of silk slippers is the next thing.
"Morgana! What have I told you about going around without your slippers on? It is simply barbaric young lady!" Another woman's voice chides.
I look back at Tom and then start in on the chest again hoping something will give me answers.
~~GG~~GG~~GG~~
"Persephone." I hear Tom's voice and I open my eyes and rub them. "How was your nap?" he asks. I nod and yawn widely. Then hold my hands out to be picked up. Tom chuckles to himself and picks me up under the arms and pulls me in. I lay my head down on his shoulder.
"It was a good nap." I mumble, and my eyes start to close again. Tom moves me jerkily and I hiss at him. He just laughs again.
"Ready to go back to the Manor Persephone? Your Father and brother should be back." Tom talks to me and I bury my head into his robes and wrap my arms around his neck.
"I want to stay with you." I murmur, feeling more awake at the thought of him leaving me. I don't know why but it is worse than it has ever been.
"I will be going with you." He runs his hand through my hair, and I relax a bit but don't let go of his neck.
"Okay." I say and we apparate to Father's study. I look up and see that he isn't there and I snuggle into Tom again. We walk through the halls, I watch the pictures pass my line of vision. I turn around in Tom's hold so I can face forward.
"Hey Tom." I say kinda quietly. I look at his face and his eyebrow is quirked in silent response. "Do I know a Billy? Do you know a Billy? I think he had a bunny… but something happened to it..." I trail off trying to bring back that memory.
Tom keeps walking, seemingly in thought.
"Why do you ask?" he responds finally. Glancing at me.
"Well, there is this picture in my head. It is of some one I think is me and someone who looks like you, but smaller. And an open dirt space, and other kids and one of them, Billy, I think… well I think I got hurt and the person who looked like a small you got mad. And did magic on a bunny and the Billy boy cried..." I trail off.
"That sounds like a very specific picture." Tom responds, "Do you think it was a dream?" he continues.
I look at Tom, it could have been. Cause that hasn't happened before, but on the other hand it isn't the only one.
"But that isn't the only picture. I have some of this ancient castle. And people keep using different names. Vivy and Evey. It is really weird." I tell Tom and I watch his face.
"That is interesting. We will take time at some point and look into it. But for now, let's keep it between just us okay?" Tom responds. I nod and smile widely.
"Thank you Tom." I kiss his cheek and hug him around the shoulders.
Tom continues to walk and I hear a set of doors open and look forward when Tom moves his shoulder. The room is dark except for a single light coming from the table. Tom sets me down and I walk over to it. I know Tom wouldn't let me do something dangerous. I get over to it and climb into the chair and see it is a candle flickering a top a tart.
"HAPPY BIRTHDAY!" I hear a cacophony of voices say as the lights turn on and I look around, a bright grin lighting up my face. I clap happily and Lucy comes up behind me, placing his hands on the back of my chair.
"Happy fifth birthday little sister." Lucius says to me.
"Blow out the candles!" Father insists. "And don't forget to make a wish!" he reminds as my cheeks puff up.
I bring my wish to the front of my mind and blow all of the candles out! I squeal in delight. That means my wish should come true! I look over at Tom who is smiling at the other side of the table next to Father. Lucius picks me up out of my chair with some effort and the house elves take to cutting the modestly sized tart. Nothing major going on for my birthday. Just Father, Lucius, Tom and me. After we enjoy the dessert and talk amongst ourselves, we move on to gifts.
Father gives me his first. It is prettily wrapped with decorative swirls on the fabric it is wrapped in. I open it and as the fabric falls away I see a beautiful hair piece, as well as a new set of Dragonhide boots charmed to grow with me. I thank him profusely as my last pair of boots I had just worn through. Lucius hands me a package wrapped in the same fabric as Father's and I open that too. I find a new set of robes and a toy broomstick. Father had expressly forbidden me from flying with Lucius or at all until I at least turned five. I grinned at Lucius and hugged him tightly, thanking him profusely.
Then it was Tom's turn. His gifts were always the most interesting to me. He hands me a present wrapped in green silk. I take it carefully and look from him to it intrigued. I carefully take apart the fabric and find two things. A long skinny box, and a smaller rectangular box. I open the smaller rectangular box first and find a bracelet of snakes. Not necessarily live ones, metal ones, but the sounds they made and the way they moved was very real. Each one had a different pattern of scales and all of them had red eyes. Just like Tom's eyes. I had Lucius help me put it on and caressed them while they were on my wrist and heard their hisses of pleasure, just like Nagini's when I scratched her scales. I then turned my attention to the long box. I opened that one and found a wand. Almost immediately I saw Father's head whip around to Tom.
"You know she needs to go and pick her own wand out my Lord..." Tom's look silences Father mid sentence.
"Go ahead." Tom looks right at me, his eyes sparkling in a way I haven't seen them in a while at least.
I tentatively look back down at the wand sitting right in front of me. Lucius only got his today and he is eleven! Why would I get one so early. I look hard at the wand, and feel something. I pick the wand up slowly and as soon as I touch it that feeling intensifies.
"A wand is the wizard's first crutch, which is why we train physically too." A man with red hair says and hands me a short sword.
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"Aren't you excited to get our wands? I know you aren't going this year but I won't let you stay there with no way to defend yourself. Billy and the others will try something as soon as I leave." I see those chocolate eyes that I love, and feel an embrace.
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"You! Get out! You will ruin us! Take your sorcery away with you! Devil child! I knew it was a mistake to grant you lodging within our home!" A woman shrieks at me as she goes for one of the kitchen knives. And I run away, my wand secure in my hand, my cloak hiding my face in the dead of the night.
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A man with black hair, no not a man. Something else, I don't know what, but something else. Maybe an elf? Though they are extinct. He uses odd phrasing. I don't trust him, so I take my wand out and brandish it at him, more confidently than I feel.
"So young aren't you?" the being says, "and yet, not young at all." He leans against the tree and I feel fear and confidence. I may not remember everything, but some instincts never leave.
Memories flood my mind. So many and yet I know that they are so few. Almost as though this wand is a living entity. Old magic, and yet so familiar to me. Bits and pieces of different lives come back to me. That is what they are. Lives. This wand has so much knowledge. I look at Tom and see those eyes, so familiar besides the color. I remember it from the orphanage, that look. One of complete satisfaction. And I look at Father, and he is just Father. Nothing triggers there. I look back at Tom.
"Thank you." I say to him, and I hop off of my chair, I can feel that something has changed within me. I feel something bubble up in my chest and I can't help the smile that comes to my face as I am picked up by him. I yawn and Father holds his hands out to take me.
"I can take her my Lord. I don't want to keep you from your important work." Father says respectfully to Tom.
Tom waves his hands away. "No need Abraxas. I would love to put her to bed." I loosely wrap my arms around his shoulders and use his shoulder for a pillow. Lucius picks up the wand and the other couple of gifts and tails us to my room. He sets everything down on my low table and bows as he leaves.
"Sleep well Persephone." he says softly as he closes the door.
"You too Lucy." I respond and then yawn.
Tom sets me down on my already large bed. I think it would fit two adults. I head over to my wardrobe and take off my day clothes and put on my night clothes. I walk back over to the bed and Tom lifts me up onto it. I settle in under the covers and look at Tom.
"Why did you give me my wand back? Where did you get it? What do you know?" I question him.
"I had a hunch that that wand would still be compatible with you. And I know a lot Persephone. But now isn't the time to discuss it with you." Tom responds politically. I scrunch my nose up at his response and cross my arms.
"When will it be?" I respond petulantly.
"When it is." Tom responds sarcastically, which makes me stick my tongue out at him.
"But I remember you from before. I remember growing up with you. I remember what you said. Did you mean it?" I question him, defensive but curious.
Tom looks down at me and his eyes are wide for a moment, before his face softens towards me.
"You know I don't say things lightly Persephone. Anything I may have said to you still stands." He responds still politically, but I can feel the sincerity. Like he is protecting himself from me for some reason. I curl into him.
And in response Tom pulls me close to him my small body easier to maneuver now than it was when we were both kids. I sigh softly and close my eyes, sleep overwhelming me.
"I will keep you safe Evey. Now more than ever." I hear Tom whisper just before I fall into Morpheus's arms.
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Hello all! Thank you for finishing the first installment. As always let me know what you think about what I have going so far. See you next time!
~~Tris
