Chapter 2 -
A small figure had appeared on top of the tall shrubs that surrounded the Malfoy estate. The small three and a half foot girl swung her legs over the side of the shrub and then jumped, landing on the ground below, staggering. Silence got to her feet and wandered out into the village streets, her left arm showing the odd black markings on her forearm for all to see. She wandered into a playground; many children were bustling everywhere, swinging from swings and monkey-bars, sliding down long shinny slides. It looked to be so much fun and she rushed over to play with all the other little kids. How could her father, Lucius, want to keep her from this? The adventurousness of it all nearly called her name. She just couldn't understand why she wasn't allowed to play here with all the other kids.
A scream howled from a mother nearby. It rang in Silence's ears and made her shut her eyes in shock. She turned toward the woman now holding her small toddler close to her face. "It's the child!" She screeched. "The child that bares the dark mark!" The woman pointed to Silence's left arm and she looked down at it, wondering if she had split paint on her arm from earlier in the afternoon.
The other mothers got to their feet. Some of them came close to see what was impressed upon her arm. Others got their purses and ushered their kids to follow them. A child swooped down the slide next to her and glared at her for a moment before his mother came and pulled him away. Silence stared at the scene, unsure of why they disliked her tattoo. True, it wasn't the prettiest of things and she had tried to paint over it several times in an effort to conceal it, but she just couldn't understand. What had she done wrong?
Silence stood there on the empty playground, swings still squeaking behind her. She stayed there, still, for what seemed like hours, even days to her. She tried to take in what had happened, why they seemed so disgusted with her. Off in the distance she thought she'd heard her name being called.
"...lence?!"
She walked to the entrance of the playground.
"Silence?! Oh thank heavens you're alright!" Narcissa knelt in front of her and hugged her tightly. Lucius clambered up behind her and looked around agitatedly.
Narcissa released her grip on the small girl and looked her square in the face. "What were you thinking?! How did you get so far away?"
"Narcissa, might I suggest we leave quickly? We don't want anyone to see her!" Lucius bellowed behind her, an anxious look playing across his face. Narcissa looked up at him and then quickly wrapped a coat around her daughter.
"But mummy, it's so hot!" Narcissa yanked her arm and pulled her along, ignoring her plea for the coat to be removed. They walked for a minute or two without saying a word to one another. The images of those mothers faces bore into Silence, taking root within the crevices of her mind.
"Why did those people leave the playground?" Silence asked a few moments later. "I just wanted to play. But all of them seemed in a hurry and they left me all alone. I had no one to play with."
Narcissa and Lucius stopped dead in their tracks and gazed down upon her.
"What did you say?" Lucius stepped toward her.
"The children... at the park, they--"
"You mean people saw you?!"
Silence stared at her father and saw the same look of shock in his face. He looked at her as the people on the playground had and, unsure of what to say, she just nodded at him. Lucius looked over at his wife. A shocked look came across her face too as she looked back at him.
"Oh dear God..." Narcissa raised her free hand to her mouth, looking frightened, as if Silence had just told her a meteor was plummeting towards the spot on which they were standing.
Lucius picked up the girl and took off at a quick trot; Narcissa quickly followed. Silence squirmed in her father's arms, uncomfortable from the sudden upheaval. She looked back at her mother and saw her staring at her, utter horror on her face. She then looked at her father, who seemed concentrated on getting home. The feeling of being hated took a hold of Silence. She wasn't sure how to deal with this new feeling. She had known very few people in her life and the meeting of new ones had made her feel hatred towards herself. There must have been something wrong with her, something that made those people want to leave in such a hurry.
When they arrived at their house, he quickly set Silence down and rushed into the sitting room. "You know what this means, Narcissa. We must move the girl." Narcissa gave a gasp as she followed in behind him. "She can't stay with us any longer," he continued. "No one is safe so long as she stays here. All of those who saw her will report her to the Ministry and soon; this place will be swamped with aurors who'll be searching for the people who keep her refuged."
"But the Dark Lord, Lucius! If he ever finds out we--"
"The Dark Lord was killed four years ago! Tell me how on Earth he is to know of this? My dear, it is not just for our safety, but for hers as well."
"But she is the heir!"
"When she comes of school age, then we will begin her training; that's the only time in which we could have started to begin with. Until then, I think it safest for her to live with muggles."
Narcissa nodded and understood. They couldn't keep Silence there, it was too dangerous. The Ministry had no grounds to stand on by sending a five year old to Azkaban, she'd done no wrong other than her biological father was the most ruthless wizard to ever walk the Earth. It was Narcissa and Lucius who needed protection. If the Ministry found out that she had been staying with them, they would ask questions and the risk of being locked up in Azkaban was quite prominent. True, though the Dark Lord had been gone for four years, the Ministry would have no problem in locking them up, having once been Death Eaters.
Silence had stood there in shock, taking in every word they had said. She was going to be forced to leave the only family she'd ever known to live with muggles? Non-magic folk? Surely they couldn't be serious. Panic was coursing through her veins now. Who was the 'Dark Lord' she'd heard her parents speak of so often? What did he have to do with her? But most importantly, "Why must I leave?!"
Narcissa hurried upstairs and pulled Silence along with her, ignoring her outburst. Silence scrambled to keep up with her panicked mother and nearly lost her footing at the top of the stairs. Narcissa released her at this moment and hurried into Silences' room. A blonde haired boy, slightly shorter than Silence sat on the floor with a toy chest open and a werewolf figurine in his hand. He looked up at his mother as she went into the closet and pulled out all girlish clothing.
She laid them on a bed and then waved her wand, a pink suitcase appearing from the top of the closet door, floating toward her. She flicked her wand and the suitcase opened, the clothes flying into it, neatly stacked. The suitcase floated toward the door, over Silence's head.
"Come, Draco. I must change the room." She ushered a reluctant Draco out into the hallway and shut the door behind them. She muttered an incantation under her breath, barely audible and a loud compression sounded from inside the bedroom. A moment later and Narcissa opened the door once more. The walls were now painted a dark blue and there was one lone bed in the center of the adjacent wall, big enough to fit Draco and perhaps five more of him. Quidditch teams' posters were bared all over the wall, small broomsticks lacing the crown molding. There was no evidence that a girl had ever lived there. Draco beamed at his new room and rushed over to the toy box, opening it to reveal all sorts of wizard action heros and lowly chained muggles.
Silence felt herself dragged away from the doorway, her brother busy playing with his action figures. She ran down the stairs, behind her mother, Lucius, wearing a traveling cloak, waiting at the bottom.
"She'll be staying with Karkaroff and his family for the time being, till we can find a muggle family in which we can alter their memories," Lucius directed at his wife.
"But daddy, I don't want to--" Silence began in a frantic voice but she was cut off by her mother speaking.
"Yes of course. I'll be the one taking her, though." Lucius made to interject but she hurried on in her explanation. "Please dear. You work at the Ministry. They'll take more of an understanding, so to speak, to you and will find it prudent to be on their way with their business. If I'm here, well..." She needn't go on. Lucius understood what she meant. He wasn't the most friendly of people at the Ministry and any chance someone got to search his house he was sure shouldn't be done whilst he was away.
He nodded to her in approval and she ran to the closet to fetch her traveling cloak. Lucius opened the front door and stepped outside motioning for Silence to follow him. She stood there, quite still, shaking her head, before Narcissa grabbed her by the arm and pulled her reluctantly into the driveway. They walked out onto the gravel lining their yard and Narcissa turned and kissed her husband before turning toward Silence and grabbing hold of her once again, with one hand, the suitcase in the other. Lucius stood back and Silence caught one last glimpse of the only home she'd ever known before being pulled into darkness.
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A jagged rock flew through the air and hit her dead in the face. Silence flinched and rose her hand to shield her face from her attackers.
"Little tiny Silence, huh?" yelled a boy from the crowd. "What's the matter Silence? Don't like being put in your place? The freak that never cries. Is it true what they say?" He hurled another rock in her direction as she turned her back on the crowd of boys and took off running down the lane.
The boys rushed after her, continuing to hurl rocks, and she fled as quickly as she could. She ran into the village below, zig zagging through side streets and alleyways before taking refuge in a nearby grocery market. She stopped to catch her breath and then peered out of the sliding glass doors, careful to conceal herself. When she saw no gang of boys running towards the market, she calmed and caught a whiff of freshly baked donuts.
She walked ahead, towards the smell, her mouth watering a bit. She hoped she could snag one while the baker wasn't looking. But he would catch onto her game, she was sure, just as the baker down the road had caught onto her after some time.
It was safer now to roam about; safer than it was three years ago. There were supposed sightings of her all over the country and some in other countries as well. Lucius had placed a sticking disillusionment charm on her dark mark, to keep it not only concealed from observant wizard eyes, but also to keep it hidden from the muggle family she had been living with for the past three years.
She hated that place though. She was one of seven now and they forced her to do chores in the house that no one raised a finger to help with. Eight years old and already the cook of the family. Not only did she cook the meals everyday, she was forced to do all the clean-up, all the laundry and and every other odd end chore they could stick her with. She was glad to have escaped for the time being. They were not her family. Her family was the Malfoys; but then... they didn't want her now did they? Why else would they have sent her to live with such lowly creatures?
She wandered off down to the bakery and stood in front of the glass case in which the donuts lay. Freshly baked and how delicious they looked. She longed to have one and concentrated hard on it. Suddenly, the glass case was no longer there and she grabbed two of them and quickly took off, rushing out the sliding glass doors once again.
She took ravenous bites of it, as if she had never tasted food in her life. She wandered down the streets, oblivious to the people that surrounded her and the looks they all gave her, though in the back of her mind, she knew they all thought of how closely she resembled the descriptions they'd heard of her. As she finished the last bite and licked her fingers, she drew up the sleeves of her arm so that people's looks were quickly quelled.
A bench came into view up ahead and she walked over to it, an old man already sitting on it. Glancing around at all the people, her heart began to beat faster. Her mind began to fuzz over and she could hear static cutting across her thoughts. She placed her hand upon her head and tried to shake this unwelcome feeling off. She got to her feet and began to walk a bit. This only seemed to make things worse and the static grew louder and louder. But it wasn't static at all, in fact now she was hearing it with her own two ears. She looked up and saw a plump man with a mustache coming through a shop door, his skinny wife holding the door open for him and their fat son standing next to him, looking lost in a daze.
"Come on Vernon! We have to get to the clothing outlet before it closes! The sale only lasts one day!" the skinny woman said to her husband.
He grunted under his breath but followed along behind her. His figure now absent, revealed a tower of boxes, swaying to and fro slightly. Small grunting was coming from behind them and they began to sway forward. A small thin boy with dark hair and black-rimmed glasses wandered past her from behind the packages. He stumbled and fell forward, the packages falling to the ground. He sat up and held his hand to his forehead, rubbing it as if someone had just opened a door in his face. She wandered over to get a better glance of him and he let out a small cry of pain.
"What are you doing, boy!?" The plump man came billowing towards him, yanking him by the arm. Silence stood on the side of a shop, her eyes transfixed upon the boy on the ground. She continued to hear a slight static and it seemed as though every word the man said was echoing in her mind.
"Now pick up the packages and get moving!" Vernon pushed the boy from his arms and waddled back over to his wife who was waiting with a look of concern on her face. This was more certainly a concern of what had become of the things inside her packages, rather than what looked to be her son.
The boy began to stack the packages on top of each other, one by one, a look of defeat upon his face. He got to his feet and looked up, spotting Silence standing next to a coffee shop. They stared at each other for a few moments and flashes of herself came into her mind. She was wearing the exact same clothes she wore now and was in front of a tiny shop it seemed. What were these images playing in her mind?
They continued staring at each other as the boy put his hand to his forehead again. It was then that she noticed it, the lightning shaped scar, emblazoned there.
"Harry! Boy! What are you doing?" the skinny woman had shouted over at him.
He glanced over and then back at Silence. She stepped forward and whispered under her breath "You're... Harry Potter?" He stared at her for the longest time, unsure of what to say and then shook his head back into reality. He grabbed the packages and hurried off after Vernon and his wife. Silence stared on after him and thought to herself. 'That can't possible have been Harry Potter.'
She looked up at the sky and saw the sun setting. She had better be getting back home, she thought. She felt oddly drained from what she had seen and all that static running through her head. She began to walk on through the village again, winding through the streets. The static and thoughts began to diminish as she wandered farther away from the place where she had seen Harry Potter.
'The boy who destroyed Voldemort? Well surely he was a hero then. It was because of Voldemort's once existance in this world that she was outcast from nearly everyone. Why, she was still unsure of. But Harry Potter is her family's enemy, her enemy, right?' She felt such anger towards him, anger she had siphoned from others. 'If he hadn't killed the Dark Lord, he'd be ruler of this world and my family would be high ranking under him. It's his fault! It's Potter's fault I have to live this life of exile and solitude, this life of alienation. It's his fault I have to live with muggles who I despise!'
She reached the end of the lane and turned a corner leading back into her town. She stopped and stared up at the now dark sky and thought what it might have been like if the Dark Lord survived. People would have accepted her more. Her family wouldn't have to keep secrets from the public any longer. She tilted her head back down and stared over at a flower. Thoughts of rage raced through her mind at what the world was like with the Dark Lord gone and the flower began to wither and deteriorate before bursting into flames.