Author's Note: This is my first fanfiction, but don't take it easy on me. I'd like to know what I should work on. I was going to make this longer, but I've decided to separate it into two chapters. Chapter three is on it's way!
Sadly, I do not own Harry Potter. Asphodel is a character of my creation.
Asphodel sat there, in the very room she had spent the last seventeen years in, glancing at the treasures she kept hidden in a shoe box throughout the years. Most of the items were small random trinkets the other children left behind, others she'd stolen, and some she'd had since birth. Currently, the redhead was fiddling with the locket she was told to have been sporting when she arrived at the orphanage. The locket was quite intriguing because it seemed entirely impossible to open the damned thing.
Over the years, Asphodel had tried everything from using a crowbar to casting it into the fire. Once, she had even through it onto the street as a car was passing. The locket had managed to escape damage each time, and presented itself without a single scratch. Sighing, she clasped the locket around her neck, not at all shocked when the chain magically lengthened. Having a magical locket was just about the least of her worries.
Today was the day that the young girl would be returning to the wizarding world, by herself. Yes, she was quite aware about the world she belonged to. Though, she'd never received a letter from Hogwarts, she had learned about many things magical. Asphodel owed all of her teachings to Mafalda Minship, an elderly muggleborn witch who took joy in volunteering at the orphanage, and spoiling the children.
When she was younger, Asphodel noticed that the woman had taken a special liking to her, which was an oddity in itself. You see, at the orphanage everyone treated the girl as if she had some sort of disease. But, she couldn't help it that things tended to catch fire when she threw a tantrum. When Mafalda heard of these happenings, her visits to the orphanage became more frequent and she began spending more and more time with the freckled girl. She'd began taking Asphodel out during the days, to parks and various places, before telling the little girl that she knew what she was.
Mafalda explained everything to her, and had taught her to the best of her abilities. Every year, Asphodel's book collection grew, making it necessary to put an expansion charm on her trunk. Everything she read was fascinating, and it was hard to believe that she belonged in such a place.
However, Mafalda had never taken her to Ollivander's or anywhere in Diagon Alley, causing many arguments between the two. But, the elder witch held a firm belief that their world was no place for a child.
But, why? The year that Asphodel was born, a dark wizard who considered himself a lord killed a family, but was defeated by a young toddler. The boy's name was Harry Potter, but he had become better known as "The Boy Who Lived". Apparently, there had been speculation about Voldemort's return, and Mafalda was a firm believer that he would one day come back, mainly because he had studied the dark arts for years and losing to a mere child seemed impossible.
So, Asphodel was never taken to any place where wizards gathered. Instead, she practiced wandless magic, which was said to be much more difficult, but the girl excelled. Though, Asphodel practiced different incantations and movements daily, so when she receiver her wand, she would know how to use it properly.
Last year, Mafalda stopped visiting. Asphodel cried for months, thinking she'd been deserted yet again. But, when wizard lawyers came to discuss Mafalda's will, she knew the worst had happened. It was then when she was told that when she came of age, she would inherit all of the older witches' money and her house in Godric's Hollow. Though Mafalda didn't have any children, Asphodel was shocked at this act of kindness.
Yes, and today was that day. October 8th, her seventeenth birthday... the day everything was going to change. Asphodel had packed the week before, excited to finally be out of the blasted place that she would never consider to be "home".
After tucking the locket inside of her soft green, button up dress, she tucked her shrunken trunks into her pockets. She glanced around the room one last time, a wild smirk spreading across her face. Asphodel raced down the stairs, almost running out the doors before she heard someone calling for her. The voice was coming from a person she knew all too well, the owner of the orphanage.
Francine Duvall was a plump, middle-aged woman with rosy cheeks and a few strands of gray hair amongst the brunette mane that was always plopped in a bun atop her head. Though, the sweet appearance might remind someone of a favorite aunt or other relative, the young redhead had always had a strong dislike for the woman and saw her for exactly what she was, pure evil.
While the woman who had now wobbled over to where Asphodel stood, seemed to be quite a charmer to everyone else, she wasn't fooling the young witch. Asphodel had listened in on many conversations held between Duvall and parents who were interested in adopting her. Though she was used to words like "different", "odd", and "ill-tempered", Asphodel was still stung that the woman had kept her from having a family for the last seventeen years of her life.
"Yes?" Asphodel asked, raising a perfectly shaped brow. She wasn't given an answer, as the woman just huffed and tossed an envelope at her before going back to her sitting room.
Asphodel watched the woman's retreating figure, eyebrow still cocked, before turning the envelope over a few times in her hand. With a shrug, she decided to look it over later, slipping it into her pocket alongside the shrunken trunks. But, right now she needed to get out.
It was a nice autumn day, a slight breeze hitting Asphodel, who hugged herself to the warm cream cardigan she'd slipped on over her dress. A huge grin spread across her face as she skipped down the skips, it was the first time she'd been allowed outside the orphanage on her own, and the last time she'd ever see the place. "Goodbye prison, hello freedom."
