Song for this chapter: Simplicity has a Paradox by The Seven Mile Journey

BPOV

10 years later

I don't remember coming to live in the orphanage, even the first few years I was here are an indecipherable blur. Somehow it seems impossible that I will ever forget the years that stay clear in my memory however; no matter how much I might like too. At first, when I was small I didn't understand. I didn't realize that I was different or that the place I lived in wasn't normal. I believed that the other girls that lived along side me were my siblings and Tony was our father. It took years to understand that I was wrong.

I first began to notice that something was strange when I began to attend primary school. The children I met there were so happy and talked of parents, as in plural. They had a mother and a father, they did not have a man named Tony who was forever in a rotten mood. As far as I could gather they lived in small comfortable homes where there may or may not be a few other children. They weren't crammed into a hovel like sardines with upwards of thirty other girls ranging from toddlers to teenagers. I began to wonder why there were so many of us where I lived and why our home was so uncomfortable.

I came to understand that Tony was a bad man when I made the mistake of asking him about our home. I learned that where I lived was an orphanage on the same night that I learned how painful it is to be slapped across the face. I had seen Tony slap they others girls before, but he had never done it to me before that night. I had thought they had been naughty to deserve punishment, but after I had been slapped for daring to ask a question I began to wonder if it weren't Tony that needed to be punished.

By the time I was eight I learned why Tony only had girls, and why everyone older than me seemed to have a shadow in their eyes. I learned about the parties that Tony liked to throw and the despicable men that attended them. I was taught to see my body as an instrument of a grown man's pleasure that I had no control of. I learned what it felt like to be invaded by fingers and other appendages. I learned that I should not cry. I learned to be disgusted with my body and the bodies of men. I learned quite a few things living in Tony's orphanage that I knew none of the other kids at school were being forced to learn.

By the time I turned ten I began to notice that I didn't look like the other girls, not just in my class, but in my home as well. Some of the older girls looked like me, but those around my age looked nothing like me. They were skinny and somewhat shapeless. If it weren't for their hair they could easily be mistaken for boys if you looked at them from a distance. I wasn't like that. For some reason that no one seemed to understand I had begun putting on weight and developing curves unlike the other girls. It might not have upset me if I didn't see the way Tony's eye lingered on me, or see how suddenly I seemed to be the most sought after girl at his parties. I was thankful that Tony charged them for our services because my appearance garnered a much higher price and only one man named Jon was willing to pay it. It was twisted, but I was grateful to have a regular customer because I did not constantly have to deal with new hands or new depravities.

I was also thankful to hit puberty so early when I discovered it meant that for a week out of every month I was undesirable to Jon. For one week out of every month I remained untouchable, and I only had to help Tony to set up for his parties before sinking back into the darkness with the girls lucky enough to be too young or too shapeless just yet. Just days before my eleventh birthday I was surprised by my monthly visitor once more and given the luxury of remaining untouched.

I woke to a loud pounding on the door of the closet masquerading as a bedroom that I shared with Sarah. Even sitting in my bed, rubbing sleep from my eyes, I knew it would be Tony on the other side of the door. He would be expecting me to clean up his sitting room and set out the drinks and snacks for the party he was hosting this evening. I looked at the digital watch on my wrist and saw that it was nearly five and I should have started my preparation tasks already.

I scrambled out of bed and launched myself at the door. Tony tended to lose his temper if he had to knock a second time. I threw the door open quickly, stifling a gasp of surprise when he grabbed my shoulder roughly and stopped myself from fighting it when he pulled me roughly into the hall. His fingers bit into my skin as he pulled me along with him, but I bit my lip to keep from crying out. He was moving so quickly I nearly had to run to keep up with him and when he kept on walking right past the kitchen I began to panic.

"I'm sorry that I took such a long nap," I said breathlessly, trying to keep pace with him. "I'll just go get things ready for the party?"

"Not tonight girl," he growled and I wished he would just use my name. "It's your birthday, and there is a new client coming tonight to celebrate it with you."

"It's only my eleventh birthday, nothing special," I rushed, fear clogging my veins as I considered the possibilities of what he might ask of me. "Besides, its that time right now… I can't work for at least a few more days."

"Oh you don't look eleven sweetheart," as he tucked my un-brushed hair behind my ear. "And your blossoming womanhood is exactly what Jon is interested in."

My stomach turned as I realized that I would be forced to fall into a deeper level of hell with someone who was clearly more disgusting that anyone I had encountered yet. I tried to gather my courage, but it was a struggle as he threw me bodily into the side room where all of us girls went to transform from children into harlots. The other girls were there already surrounded by the dresses, shoes, makeup, and everything else we could need to make ourselves look more appealing. I had always thought it was a pretty room even if it was strangely at odds with the haunted girls that worked in it. I sometimes thought of us as ghosts, no one seemed to see us or know that we needed help, perhaps we had already died. Those same shadowed eyes that I was so familiar with were now staring at me in surprise. They knew I shouldn't be working this week either.

"Make sure she wears pink," Tony barked at Elizabeth. "Put her hair up like yours."

Elizabeth gave him a stiff nod and he turned on his heal and stormed out of the room. The door slammed shut behind him and I jumped at the noise before going very still. My breathing seemed to be coming too quickly, so I just stared at the closed door while I tried to bring it under control. A squeak of surprise escaped me when a hand landed on my shoulder. I spun around and found myself face to face with a very sad faced Elizabeth.

"I thought you weren't working tonight?" she asked me quietly. "Why has he sent you?"

"It's my birthday," I whispered around the lump forming in my throat. "Someone new is coming to celebrate it with me he said."

"But it's your week isn't it? You're menstruating?" she pushed with an arched brow.

"Yes," I said surprised when her hands reached out to wipe away tears that I hadn't realized were falling. "Apparently that's why he wants me tonight."

"That's depraved," she scoffed. "It's always the gross ones that want us to wear pink."

She slid her hand off of my shoulder and took my hand and tugged me gently over to the dress wrack. I watched her flipping through the cluster of pink dresses and I understood why Tony had asked her to get me ready. I was shaking so badly I could hardly seem to stand still let alone pick out an outfit. Something about tonight and what this new threat might bring had me absolutely petrified with terror. Elizabeth focused on her task like only she could, sparing each dress a brief glance before she pushed it to the other side of the rack and looked at the next one. I didn't know what she was looking for but I waited patiently for her to decide. In the end she pulled a pink dress made of silk that reminded me of the kimonos I had seen in one of my history books at school.

"Somehow this one just seems right," she shrugged as she handed the dress over. "I don't know this new guy so I don't know what Tony is expecting me to make you look like, but hurry and put that on and we'll come up with something before he comes back."

She crossed the room and began dressing in her own outfit consisting mostly of black lace. I averted my eyes and stared at the dress clenched between my shaking fists. I didn't want to change, I didn't want to attend this party with this new man, but there didn't seem to be another choice for me unless I wanted to take a beating and then possibly still have to attend the party.

I closed my eyes and pretend that none of the other girls were there while I stripped away my scrubby clothes and slid the silky dress over my head. It was actually a very nice dress and I looked pretty in it, but my gut told me that wasn't going to work in my benefit tonight. I slid on the pair of black heels that Elizabeth had left at my feet, and I nearly fell on my face when I tried to walk in them. They were perilously high, much higher than anything I'd ever worn, but I managed to teeter my way over to the vanity that she was waiting for me at.

"Just watch your feet while you're walking tonight. I'll teach you how to walk in those shoes properly tomorrow." She coached with a pained smile. "Now sit here while I get you dolled up."

Elizabeth had been doing her own makeup and that for other girls for years now, she was about ready to age out of the system and leave the orphanage, and it showed in how quickly she applied my make up. I watched in the mirror as my face changed under her hands. She had to pause occasionally and wipe away the stray tears I hadn't quite stopped yet but she managed. My skin seemed even smoother and my eyes brighter when she framed them with black shadow. My lips seemed larger when she covered them in a shining red stain. I hardly recognized myself as she deftly pulled my hair back into a messy bun that somehow managed to look elegant even when she simply fasted it with an elastic and let gravity do the rest of the work. I stared at my changed image in the mirror and fought off the last of my tears so I wouldn't destroy her work. I was aware of her working on her own makeup beside me, but I continued to stare at my own face. It seemed fitting that I should not be able to recognize myself tonight when once again something I though I knew would always be a sure thing would be taken from me. I wasn't sure I'd have anything left after tonight. I was pulled from my dark thoughts when the door was thrown open once more.

"Elizabeth, Bianca, Ashley, and Launa your clients have arrived. Head into the sitting room," Tony barked. "And don't forget to smile."

I fell in line with the other girls as they hurried into the sitting room. I tried to force a smile onto my face, but it felt more like a grimace than anything else. The other girls sauntered over to three of the men in the room and I was left staring awkwardly at the balding man sitting in the green velvet armchair. I gave him a slight curtsey before tottering on unsteady feet over to him.

"I'm Bianca," I said quietly.

"Yes," he said with a creepy smile that only added to the disturbing image created by his fat stomach lapping over his jeans and hanging out from under his sweat stained white tank top. I hoped that my disgust didn't show on my face. "I paid a lot of money for your companionship tonight, you're going to treat me right aren't you?"

"Yes," I squeaked, locking my eyes with his so I wouldn't have to see the rest of him. He had ugly brown eyes.

"Why don't you come sit on my lap?" he suggested, patting his jean-clad knee as if he were St. Nicholas.

I swallowed down the fear and sickness that was building in my stomach and I did as he asked me to. From where I was perched I didn't have to look at him, but looking at the other girls around the room in similar positions did nothing to calm me. I felt a cold sweat break out on my back when I saw the inappropriate touches happening, knowing I would soon be forced to give and receive those myself with this man. I closed my eyes and tried not to think about what was happening but I felt it when this man who had not bothered to tell me his name grabbed my shoulders and turned me to face him.

"Open your eyes," he demanded quietly of me and I complied immediately though tears sprung up in my eyes again as his hand began to creep up my leg inside of my dress. "That's better, but let's put a stop to those tear right now. You're the birthday girl today, and birthday girls don't cry do they?"

I shook my head no, but the tears only fell more quickly. I felt myself begin to shake once more as his hand slid along the seam of my knickers and his other hand began to climb higher outside my dress. When his hand ghosted over my chest, and his fingers slid inside the last place I wanted them I sprung away from him. I would take whatever punishment was coming from Tony but I could not allow this man to touch me it was beyond what I was capable of handling anymore.

"Come here," he yelled as he grabbed a fist full of my hair. "I will not play some stupid game of chase with you little girl. You will do what I like, when I like."

He crushed his lips to mine and I gagged at the sour taste of alcohol on his breath. I tried to fight his hold and pull my face free but he was much stronger than me. He tried to force his tongue into my mouth and I started smacking his chest in fear and anger, despite things just like this being done to me by Jon for years now. He released me and I thought I was free but then his hand smashed into the side of my head and I saw stars. I couldn't help it, I began to sob and cover my face as I cowered away from him. The door flew open with a bang as his hands fisted on the front of my dress pulling me flush against him.

I turned my head to look at the door in terror, expecting to see Tony coming to force me to give this man what he wanted but instead I saw a very strange looking man. He had a long silver beard that matched his hair and sparkling electric blue eyes that somehow reminded me of my own. They sat behind his half-moon spectacles glaring at the man holding me in the most intense way. He was wearing a purple robe of some kind and had a small stick in his hands. What was most striking about his presences was the anger that seemed to radiate off of him in waves. It was absolutely terrifying and felt as if he could burn you to ash with just his eyes.

"You will release the girl at once," he said in a firm and powerful voice that resonated deep in his chest. "All of you will stop touching these girls at once. The muggle authorities are already on their way to deal with this situation."

I fell to the floor painfully when the man holding me released my dress and shoved me off his lap while I was staring at this new man. He crossed the room quickly and offered me his hand. I scurried away from him, not sure what he wanted and just as afraid of him as I was of the man who had just been violating me. He slowly lowered himself to my level on the floor, demonstrating quite a bit of flexibility for a man of his age and he put his hand out to me again.

"I won't hurt you Bianca Potter," he said in a slow and even voice that was reassuring despite the strangeness of him knowing my name, though this was the first time I had ever heard a surname associate with me.

I looked into his eyes and despite wondering how he knew my name I felt certain that he was being honest. I still didn't understand what he wanted but something told me I could trust him. I extended my shaking hand out to take his.

"Who are you?" I asked, using my free hand to wipe the tears from my eyes.

"My name is Albus Dumbledore and I am the headmaster of a school that has been trying to send you you're acceptance letter to no avail," he said softly, gently closing his warm hand around mine. "Your parents enrolled you a long time ago but when they died many believed you has as well. It was only recently that I became aware that this was not the case. I have come to offer you safe passage and a warm place to sleep at night until school starts in a month."

"What school?" I asked, my voice hardly audible with the shock that seemed to be suppressing my air supply slightly, it was a wonder that he could hear me at all over the commotion in the room as Tony's guests fled the house and Tony himself yelled at the girls who were huddled together near the farthest wall.

"Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry," he told me calmly, focusing his attention on me alone.

"Wizardry?" I questioned.

"Yes," he said with a slight nod. "There is much to explain, and I promise that I will in good time, but I believe it's best that we are gone by the time the authorities arrive here. Will you come with me?"

I couldn't explain my trust in this man, but it was there. If anything I feared him less that Tony or that man from tonight, so I nodded slowly and squeezed his hand tightly. Together we stood and he quickly pulled me in close to his chest and turned to the left. Through my shock I registered a loud cracking sound and then there was a terrible squeezing sensation as if I were being passed through a very tiny hose.

Before I knew it the unpleasant sensation ended and my eyes popped open once more. I looked around, ignoring the way my stomach was turning, and took in the grassy hills around us and the gate directly in front of us. Beyond the gate and sweeping grounds I saw a great stone castle that took my breath away. It appeared he hadn't been lying about being a wizard.