28
Summer Before Seventh Year
The platform was empty, or just about. There were only a few people left. Doe had been waiting for almost an hour.
She sat on her trunk, still waiting.
Her mother was supposed to pick her up. Her father always did.
" Do you want to come with us, Doe?" Sirius asked, he was standing with James and James' family.
She shook my head, " No, she's not coming. I'll just apparate" she told him.
Sirius frowned slightly, he knew better than anyone how she was feeling at the moment.
He pulled her into a tight hug, " It's only two months, you'll live."
They broke apart, " I'll see you soon, Sirius"
He smiled, " Be careful, beautiful. Don't splinch yourself".
She rolled her eyes at him and waved goodbye, watching James' father put an arm around both him and James.
Something hurt inside her. It reminded her so much of her father.
Doe pulled her trolley off to the side of the platform, gripping one side of it and trying to concentrate. As much as she had laughed off Sirius' warning, the last thing she needed was to leave an arm behind. She closed her eyes and apparated.
She felt it pull her forward, being sucked through the air.
She landed very hard on her hip. Her trunk at her feet. She landed in her kitchen, on the tile. Which was several feet to the left of the living room where she had been hoping to end up.
She got to her feet, and walked into the dining room. Her mother was sitting there, a muggle newspaper was open in front of her and she was reading it intently.
" Hello" Doe called out.
She jumped a little and turned to look at her. Her face calming down when she saw it was just Doe.
" Oh, Dorcas, it's just you. You gave me such a fright. Couldn't you have used the front door?"
Doe stared at her dumbfounded, her jaw hanging open.
" What?" She asked.
" Didn't you forget something?" Doe asked incredulously.
She blinked at her, " No".
" You were supposed to come get me," she told her angrily, " I waited there for an hour for you!"
Her mother shook her head wildly, " No. I was not going to that place. Not with all of those people there"
Doe stared at her, completely in shock. She had always been slightly uncomfortable around those with magic, but Doe had just assumed it was because she didn't have any. She had taken it too an entirely new level now.
" Those people!?" Doe practically yelled, " You mean witches and wizards? Because I AM one of those people, and so was dad!"
Her mother scowled and clutched her head between her hands, " Stop it, Dorcas. I am not in the mood"
" In the mood for what? This isn't something you can be in the mood for. It's my life" Doe reminded her.
She shook her head, " It doesn't have to be" she said getting to her feet.
Doe involuntarily took a step back from her, " Excuse me?"
" You don't have to do it!" My mother said earnestly, " you can change. You can be normal like me"
" That is ludicrous" she snapped at her, " Listen to yourself"
She shook her head again, " Please, Dorcas. I've already lost your father, I don't want to lose you too. Stay here, don't go back to that school. You can be normal with me"
She reached for her hand. Doe pulled it away from her.
" You've already lost me" she snapped through her teeth, " and Dad would be disgusted with you"
Her mother narrowed her eyes angrily.
Doe could feel the tears welling up in her eyes. She pulled her wand out, remembering she could now do magic at home, and bewitched her trunk to fly to her room.
She left the room and headed for the stairs. She couldn't believe her mother. This was a new low, even for her. The tears started to flow down her face.
Doe stopped at the second floor and tried to open the door to my father's office. It didn't budge. It was locked. Her mother had locked it.
She took her wand out and pointed it at the lock, " Alohomora".
The door sprung open and she walked in.
It hadn't changed at all. It was like he was about to stride in here at any moment and tell her about his day. She sat down in the large armchair behind his desk and closed her eyes, letting the sadness and misery wash over her.
Doe's house was empty. It wasn't technically. Most of the time both she and her mother were both in it, but it didn't matter, it felt like there was nothing and no one there.
It was like her father was the only one holding their family together. He made it a home. Without him here, it was like living with a stranger.
A stranger who hated you.
After the incident on her first day home, she hadn't said a single word to her mother in two weeks. She spent all of her time in her room or locked in her father's office.
She had to keep reminding herself that this was her last summer here. Next year at this time, she would know what she was doing with her life, and she had enough gold saved up that she would be able to move out.
It was strange to think about it like that.
If her father was still alive, she probably would've ended up living at home for another year. Whether she would be an auror or a healer, both weren't far from here at all.
But that wasn't an option without him. Her mother despised everything about her world, and by extension, Doe.
It was eating her alive, slowly. Every passing minute there just reminded her of how much she missed her father.
At least at Hogwarts, she had distractions. Her friends were there and the castle was always full of magic and happiness. It made it easy to forget.
But here, everything was an irritating constant reminder.
She wished she could see Lily, Remus, or Sirius. She was going mad without someone to talk too, but they were all on vacation and there were some things you just couldn't write in a letter.
It began being too much to stay in the house, she was going to kill herself if she had to stay there much longer.
She decided a trip out would make me feel better. She figured she could go to Diagon Alley and transfer her Gringotts account.
It was a menial errand, but it was better than being home. At least there she would be surrounded by other witches and wizards.
She apparated into the Leaky Cauldron. It was relatively crowded. A few of the tables had some strange witches clustered around them.
Tom was serving a few people drinks at the bar.
Doe walked past all of them and headed towards the back of the restaurant, tapping the three bricks that opened the wall to Diagon Alley.
The streets were lined with younger kids. It always was during the summer. Doe watched as two little girls around the age of six pushed a small model dragon back and forth in front of Florean Fortescue's.
It was comforting being in Diagon Alley, almost like being back at Hogwarts.
Gringotts stood at the end of the alley. It was just as imposing as ever.
She opened the front door, and walked into the massive lobby.
There were 30 desks that stretched higher than usual towards the vaulted ceilings.
Goblins sat at each of the desks. The desk closest to her, didn't have anyone standing in front of it, so she walked over to it.
" Hello" she said to the Goblin who was sitting there.
He stopped folding the letter he was holding and raised an eyebrow at her. The look of irritation he flashed reminded her momentarily of the looks that Severus gave her.
" How can I help you?" he asked.
She handed him the form that the minister had given her, " I'd like to transfer this account to myself"
The goblin took the paper from her and studied it carefully, giving her a strange look, as if he thought she had falsified it.
" And you acquired this by death, I presume?" he asked.
Doe nodded glumly. It killed her to hear it out loud.
The goblin scribbled a few things down and handed her a new key.
" Congratulations, your new vault number is 312, if you stand over by that door, someone will take you to it"
He handed her a small canvas bag and pointed to a large brass door in the back of the bank.
She stood patiently by the door, waiting for one of the Goblins to come. Eventually one did. He stroked the door and she watched as they walked into a cave with a small rickety cart suspended on rails. She had only ever been to the lobby of Gringotts. Her father had never let her come to the vaults.
She got into the cart with the Goblin and gripped the sides as it shot off down the railroad system.
It went extremely fast. Her stomach flipped every time it dipped down or turned quickly. The goblin next to her was unphased, it was obvious that he did this often.
Eventually, the cart stopped in front of vault 312. She slowly got out of the cart and waited for the goblin to open the vault with his fingers.
When it opened, she was shocked.
Inside was stacks of gold galleons, silver sickles, and bronze knuts. She hadn't known there had been this much in here. Her mother must not have known either, or she would've insisted it be left to her, even though she had no use for wizard money.
Doe took a few scoops of gold into the bag and closed the door.
The cart ride back to the bank was just as unnerving and rickety as it been on the way down. She couldn't get out of it quicker.
Doe felt very useless. She walked around the alley for a little while, avoiding having to go home.
She was heading back to the leaky cauldron when she noticed a sign hanging in the window of Flourish and Blotts.
It read " Help Wanted".
She didn't need a job yet, she had plenty of gold. But as she looked at the sign something occurred to her. It would get her out of the house. It would be something she had to do, somewhere she had to be other than rotting of boredom in her room.
She opened the door to Flourish and Blotts and was engulfed by the smell of new books. It wasn't very crowded at all. She suspected that it would get much busier when it was closer to the beginning of the school year.
She walked over to the counter where Mr. Blotts was sitting examining a very battered copy of 'Unmasking the Faceless'.
" Mr. Blotts?" she asked.
He looked up at her, studying her face, " You go to Hogwarts, sixth or seventh year right?"
She nodded, " A seventh year" she said. It felt strange coming out of her mouth. It was the first time that she had ever said it aloud.
" Im Doe Meadowes" she said reaching out to shake his hand.
" And what can I help you with Doe?" Mr. Blotts asked.
She gestured to the 'Help Wanted' sign, " Are you still looking for someone for the position?" she asked.
Mr. Blotts nodded quickly, " Yes. Actually, were quite desperate. Nobody seems to be interested, and not a lot of parents want their children out everyday in the current climate"
" Well, I'd love to do it" she told him.
" Are you of age?" Mr. Blotts asked quickly.
" Yes, I am" she told him.
" Are you responsible? Like books?" He asked.
" Yes to both" she assured him.
" It would just be for the rest of June and July a couple days a week, my son comes back and can take over in August" Mr. Blotts told me.
" That sounds perfect" she told him.
" Well then Doe" Mr. Blotts said, " you're hired".
