The Three Keys
A/N: I do not own any Harry Potter Characters, just my Laurel and her family.
Thank you JKR for your brilliant characters!
CHAPTER 2 – LAUREL
It was a sunny May day and the warm ocean breeze blew Laurel's hair as she gazed out looking at the beautiful California coast line. She always loved the ocean, it soothed her soul like nothing else could and she was anxious today.
Her school year was almost done and she would be entering next September into her seventh and final year at Pacifica, the most prestigious wizarding school on the West Coast of the United States. She was an excellent student; liked school for the most part. Laurel was a naturally bright girl, curious and honest. This was both a strong point and a vast weakness for her, as it often lured Laurel into trouble.
Overall Laurel was a normal, well-adjusted teenager, albeit a magical one. She had one younger sister, Willow she was ten and fast becoming a handy little pre-teen witch as her powers were just beginning to manifest.
Her mom was a witch from a prestigious and age-old wizarding family in Spain and her father was a Muggle-born American. Her parents, Maggie (short for Magnolia) and John were wealthy by both standards - wizarding and Muggle. John was a high-ranking government official that headed the Federal Building in Brentwood and was on the fast track to bigger and more influential posts in the near future, his ties to the White House were very strong.
Her mother posed as a charitable socialite wife, but in reality was also a high-ranking diplomat for the Ministry of Magic, U.S. Bureau. One of her main duties was to visit the Ministry's headquarters in London and New York to oversee the compliance and cooperation between both the European and U.S. ministry offices. Maggie's job was especially important in this time of heightened alert. There were solid rumors that Voldermort had unearthed a second prophecy and now had a definitive time frame he was following for an attack. They now knew it was imminent, but needed to find out where and when.
This new knowledge had the Ministry working overtime all over the globe. They had no idea of any so called "second prophecy" though all leads proved this to be true and Ministry officials were frantically using all their covert methods and under-cover intel operatives to discover what the prophecy was, the only thing they knew for certain was that it had something to do with three keys.
Laurel was not privy to most of what was going on in the Ministry and she could care less what silly political mumbo jumbo her dad was steeped in, but her mom wanted her to start thinking about career paths. Maggie and John, "Jack" as friends and family knew him, were both strongly opposed to her joining the Ministry and becoming an Auror. They felt this would surly prove to be an impossibly dangerous role in the very near future. They were inclined to have her attend a good four-year Muggle college and learn both sides of her heritage and explore all her opportunities.
Laurel had been singing, dancing and playing the piano since she was very small and was a talented pianist and songstress. She sometimes mused about singing as her career of choice, but the thought of the music industry gave her the creeps. Being brought up in Southern California, Hollywood, she saw the seedy side of the business up close and personal and had little interest in jumping into that vat of boiling oil and besides she didn't much like the spotlight either.
No, it was looking like a good college was a tempting idea. Not many knew, but Laurel's family did, that there were subtle, but definite connections between the magical and Muggle schooling systems, if you knew where to look, you could easily transition into a Muggle college and get the benefit of a non-magical education as well. But, she flip-flopped all the time.
On the other hand she would make an excellent Auror too, she thought. Laurel was learning to wield her powers quite well. She was gifted with the power of sight, or divination. She had also been learning wandless magic; her mother saw fit to begin teaching once she was about halfway through her schooling, as it had come naturally to her mother. And, as she was learning, it also came quite naturally to her. With permission from her parents, she was currently taking a few classes here and there with her Headmaster to develop the skill more fully. So, if her choice were to enter the magical world as an Auror she would have to make that decision soon. Her seventh year classes would need to be tailored to give her the best training she could receive before entering an excelled Auror training class immediately upon graduation. She just didn't know which way to turn.
This was why she sat at the beach today. She needed to think and right now her mind was clouded with childish dreams and grown up expectations. Laurel sighed a weighed sigh and dug her toes into the sand, pulled her knees to her chest and looked out to sea. She stared at its shiny glare until her eyes were dull and foggy, lost in thoughts of schools, an unknown future as the realization that she was on the cusp of big changes began to sink in. Laurel watched the people strolling along the beach; they looked so happy, casually walking or jogging - solitary, hand in hand or with the occasional dog. 'Why can't my life be simple like theirs?' This was a thought that often plagued her. She sometimes wished she didn't have magical powers to deal with. It was difficult enough learning how to use your powers and learning regular schooling, on top of dealing with life.
If she chose the Auror path she would be sent to London. She already knew this for sure and the thought of leaving her family and her home just didn't seem like an option. But, she felt compelled….no driven?...to become an Auror. Laurel knew her path was set already before her, and she had a suspicion that it was going to be a difficult one.
Looking down now at her watch, 5:30 – she looked back at the ocean, it would be sunset soon she thought as a slight chill ran over her skin, the evening tides were bringing in a crisp breeze. Reluctantly she got up, brushing the sand from her pants and headed home.
She had a date tonight with Don, another wizard who graduated from Pacifica last year and she'd had a complete crush on him since her fifth year. He was totally cute, tall, dark brown hair, big, clear green eyes, broad shoulders – exactly what she always fell for. Plus, though she would never admit it, she thought he looked like Harry Potter a little. He wore his hair in the same kind of quirky, spiky, carefree style. She really liked that. At least tonight would be fun, she thought. Don had not paid any attention to her while he was in school with her and she was very surprised when he showed up around the campus a few weeks earlier looking for her. He told her he'd been thinking about her a lot lately and asked her out. Since then he had been taking her out almost every weekend.
Since it was Friday, she thought they'd go catch a movie or just have dinner and hang out, or whatever he wanted, it was just nice to have a date. Although, she couldn't quite ignore the niggling at the back of her mind, in the last few dates she sensed something different, something changed about his demeanor. She had the feeling he was hiding something from her, which was why she had been very reserved around him. He was always polite, complimentary, funny, even charming. He even kissed her - he was just an okay kisser - but when she got close to look in his eyes he would look away each time. She couldn't put her finger on it and since he never let her get close enough to get a good long look in his eyes she just couldn't tell for sure what it was.
This worried her as no one knew about her 'soul seeing' ability outside of her immediate family, two teaches and the headmaster of her school. These three she knew, would never speak about it. Laurel's 'gift of sight' was into a person's soul. Not like hearing your innermost, personal thoughts or anything like that, but she could see their souls. They had colors and they radiated out heat as well as their strongest characteristics, like loyalty or courage or a gift of music; things like that. But she could also see the darkness of a soul. These were totally different, their eyes were dull and black looking inside and they seeped cold from their spirits, like death. To date she had only seen one such soul, quite by accident. She never let on. Laurel just smiled and walked away, she had been quite frightened. She chose to tell her mother about the encounter long after it had past.
Soul seeing however was not something Laurel could perceive if you were casually walking down the street past her. She needed to be close and look deep into a person's eyes. She was still learning this skill, it was something that would take years to hone and develop fully and training took a lot out of her. Her headmaster warned Laurel to be vigilant in her Occlumency training. This was imperative, in order to shield her mind to the effects of a powerful spirit. When you had this particular gift of sight a seer could easily be overcome by a strong soul, flooding the seer with the other person's emotions. Occlumency was an effective defense to combat this side effect of peering into a person's soul. A seer could be manipulated or overcome, at least at first, if they were not prepared or trained properly. Laurel was still learning to control keeping other's emotions from washing over her; it were almost as though their feelings became hers.
Though soul seeing was undoubtedly a powerful gift to possess, it was also theoretically a dangerous one. Maggie and Laurel's instructors had not sugarcoated the vulnerabilities and threats she could face when using her power. Laurel took this knowledge to heart and listened to her mom – mostly – when she was told not to use the sight without supervision.
As she drove home, Laurel pushed those thoughts away and focused on a more immediate problem. Don. She didn't click with him like she'd hoped she would. They didn't have anything in common and he'd become increasingly distant and moody in the last couple of weeks. She was trying to figure out how to call it off with him. But, tonight she'd just have a nice time and try to forget about college and careers and breakups. Maybe Don's mood would be better and he'd convince her that breaking up, at least for now, could wait.
3