A/N: Hey people! this is chapter two, if you like it review! if you don't review! I like reviews.
Disclaimer: You actually think I wrote Harry Potter? *Squeals* Thank you! but no, I don't.
Chapter Two: In Which Ten Year Olds Are Scary, And Pictures Cause Tears
TERRORISTS ATTACK LOCAL HIGHSCHOOL!
On March, 12, 2013 at approximately 11:02 AM, tragedy struck. Jefferson Lake High School was attacked by a rogue group of terrorists, hell bent on harming the innocent. The group killed 27 and injured more than 50 of Jefferson Highs student body and staff. The group was equipped with semi-automatic weapons and a few homemade grenades. They entered the school by blowing up a wall near the back, as they walked they kept their weapons on constant fire, shooting anyone and everyone they saw. It took police 20 minutes to get to the school and when they did the terrorists had fled the scene.
"We have circumstantial evidence of this being terrorists" Head of the police department, Andrew Smalls told us, "the message on the side of the school, 'The War is not over' we believe that this is the ongoing war on America, and Freedom."
One of the victims of this horrific hate crime was 18 year old quarterback Matt Hayes, an aspiring- The rest of the article was just about the tragedy of Matt's death and not about the crime or any of the other victims.
It had been a month since the attack, and everyone was affected differently. Noah had a new girlfriend every week, Ryan became the most studious person Josh knew, and Josh…. He began to do things that most people would consider extremely dangerous and just plain stupid, he began to antagonize Erik Davis.
If one summed up Erik Davis in three words those words would probably be: Strong, Mean and Stupid. Erik came to The House when Josh was eight and he was 10. Eriks mom had died in child birth and so he grew up with his father, who was a low grade drug dealer, when Eriks father got caught by the police, he was going to go into the foster system but Mary had saved him and taken him here. Josh could still remember the day he had met Erik.
Josh stood on the lawn in his best shirt and less ratty pair of jeans, lined up with all the other kids from The House. Mary walked up the line of about 10 kids, making sure each looked marginally presentable.
"Jimmy, tuck your shirt in"
"Margret straighten those pigtails"
"ETHAN YOU SPIT THAT OUT RIGHT NOW!" until she reached Josh, who promptly puffed out his small chest and stuck his chin in the air. She chuckled fondly at the eight year old. Licking her thumb she wiped off a smudge of dirt on his cheek, ignoring his protests. Josh had just freed himself from her grasp when a black SUV pulled into the drive way. Mary stood in front of the line and stared nervously at the car. The door swung open and a 10 year old boy hopped out.
He was positively the scariest thing young Josh had ever seen. He had greasy brown hair that swept into his ice cold eyes, his face was thin and he had a shark-like grin that showed off his two sharp incisors. He wore a red t-shirt and a pair of baggy black jeans with slashes in them, which looked to have been made from a knife, a pair of black Chuck Taylors were stuffed on his feet and he wore a shark tooth necklace. Erik Davis made a pretty terrifying ten year old.
Erik had strutted over to them while Mary was talking to the adult that drove him and declared.
"I own you." He stated confidently, "I am bigger, faster and stronger then y'all and ya best be remembering that. I own you, your stuff, your food, your clothes and everything you have. As the old saying goes, 'what's yours is mine'".
The next day Josh had found an old wooden box in the garage and had begun to hack at his floorboards with the knife he got for his birthday.
Josh frowned as he kicked a pinecone down the road and out of sight. He was on his way to his piano lesson. You see, Mary had signed him (as well as every other resident in The House) up for lessons on some musical instrument. She wanted the kids to have a "well-rounded education". Mary had given the children two choices, Piano or Vocal lessons.
Josh had argued and whined about this arrangement, claiming over and over again that he had no talent (which was completely true), but in the end he had settled on what 9 year old Josh had thought would be the easiest, the piano. Boy was he wrong.
"Morning Ms. Campbell" he greeted automatically as he entered the room, immediately heading to the grand piano in the middle of the room and sitting on the bench, placing his fingers on the keys and beginning his warm ups. One thing you have to understand about Ms. Campbell is that she was positively the strictest teacher this side of the Mississippi, and after six years of being her student he knew exactly what to do, and what not to do under any circumstance….. ever.
"Good Morning Josh" she said stiffly, barely tilting her head, "as you may have noticed we have a guest today." Josh risked a glance up from the piano to see a very beautiful woman sitting on a stool a bit away from the piano. She had long silvery blonde hair and big deep blue eyes, she also seemed to be emanating a silvery light. While she was, in fact, extremely beautiful Josh did not feel attracted to her, and being a fifteen year old hormonal boy that was weird. But he felt like she was a close friend or something, like he knew her. He nodded at her smiling slightly, before turning back to the keys.
"This is Fleur Delacour, she is an aspiring piano teacher, she will be interning here. Now-"
"eet is very nice to meet you Josh." She said in a thick French accent. Josh winced slightly at the rookie mistake, no one interrupted Ms. Campbell.
"Miss Delacour, I will have to ask you not to interrupt me when I am teaching," Fleur looked up fronted, "Now Josh as I was saying please play the piano piece we have been working on."
Josh nodded hurriedly beginning to play the piano piece from Augustana's Boston. It was not the most complicated piece but it was really fun, and with Joshs lack of talent Ms. Campbell had learned long ago to give him pieces that sparked his interest, rather than boring Mozart, although he had to learn those as well.
When he was done he sat back waiting for critique.
"Zat vas amazeeng!" Fleur exclaimed clapping her hands together, Josh smiled slightly at the praise.
"It was adequate," his teacher corrected, "Hands." She demanded, he held his hands out in front of him uncertainly, she snatched them and held them up to eye level, studying them.
"You haven't been practicing have you?"
"No ma'am" there was no use in lying to her, he couldn't get away with it. She huffed angrily.
"Go home, there is no point in you being here if you didn't practice." He hurriedly grabbed his things, "and when you come back next week you better have callouses the size of an elephant!" he nodded quickly walking out the door, waving goodbye to his teacher and Fleur, who smiled at him mysteriously.
oOo
Hermione Jane Granger nee Weasley paced the length of the study anxiously while Ronald Bilius Weasley sat with his head in his sweaty hands as he muttered under his breath nervously. The large oak door swung open and a tall man strode into the room.
"Well?" Hermione demanded hotly, her usually kind brown eyes sparked dangerously. Ron stood quickly and grasped his wife's hand, squeezing it reassuringly.
"Neville….. is it really…?" Ron trailed off, his face was a mixture of hope and uncertainty. Neville smiled at the two and nodded.
"It's Joshua." The couple's faces split into wide ecstatic smiles.
"BLOODY BRILLIANT!" Ron shouted throwing his fist into the air, unable to contain his glee.
"Is he safe? Happy? Healthy? When can we see him?" Neville laughed as Hermione rapid fired questions about her youngest son's well-being.
"He is fine, he has two close friends named Noah Huber and Ryan Carlson, both fourteen like him. He went to Jefferson Lake High school before the attack and is currently attending Ferris High school while they rebuild. He-"
"Is he safe by himself? Are you guarding him? Is-"
"He's fine," Neville reassured, "There are a team of Aurors watching the house and there are at least two following him discretely at any given time, and with Fleur stationed there…. He is very safe." Hermione's shoulders sagged with relief.
"Now, Fleur sent this to my office and I think you would very much like to see it." He pulled a small sealed envelope out of the pocket of his robes and set it gently on the desk. Ron reached forward and picked it up gingerly, as if it might explode.
"I'll leave you to it." Neville said awkwardly, as he took his leave. Ron stared at the envelope in his hands uncertainly, grabbed the letter opener from Neville's desk, and sliced it open. Ron dumped the contents onto his lap. They were pictures, pictures of Joshua ranging from age 4 to 14. Hermione knelt beside him as they began to flip through the pictures.
The first was simply a face shot of the five year old. Freckles sprinkled across his nose and cheek bones and he was grinning widely, proudly showing off the strawberry he held clenched between his teeth. His bright red bangs were falling messily into his warm brown eyes that glittered with excitement and happiness.
The second was from when he was 8, his hair was shorter and slightly neater, he sat on a rock, wearing a white and blue plaid shirt that was buttoned up to the collar, which had a small hole in it, and a pair of blue jeans. His ears stuck out slightly and the right corner of his lips curled upward in a smirk, his eyes held mischief and amusement. The sea of freckles still adorned his face and he had a small smudge of dirt on his left cheek.
In the third he was 10, he was leaning on the railing of a dock, the light from the setting sun illuminated half of his face, while the New York Yankees hat he was wearing darkened the other. He was focused on something off camera.
The fourth showed him at 12, sitting in the midst of a very large group of children, who were laughing and playing happily. He sat alone on an old blue sofa, immersed in a book.
The final photo was of him and two other teenage boys. The one on the right had short blonde hair that was spiked up with gel, and green eyes that sparkled mischievously, he wore a ripped denim jacket over a plain white T-shirt and a pair of pale blue jeans. The one on the left had curly brown hair and light blue eyes, he wore a baggy yellow sweatshirt and a pair of flannel pajama pants. Joshua sat in the middle; his red hair was shaggy and fell into his eyes, he wore a black t-shirt with some sort of strange cartoon rainbow unicorn with the words "Haters Gonna Hate" written in white underneath it and a pair of red basketball shorts. All three boys were roaring with laughter and leaning heavily on each other.
There were many more pictures, Hermione and Ron spent the next few hours pouring over them hungrily, trying desperately to get some sense of the life of the son they never really got to know.
A/N: ok so there you have it. I just wanna let you guys know that with finals coming up it might take me awhile to upload the next chapter, sorry about that. Also if anyone has any suggestions about the story or anything please let me know! I love hearing it! As always please review.