Anya And the Curse of The Forbidden
~*Part I*~
By
Anya Searu
*************
For Manora Leneveu.
Who pulled me out of the dark, and showed me the light.
*************
Read the Prologue first.
*****
Lavender Brown sighed took another sip of her butterbeer. She had been sitting in the booth for half an hour and the oak door of The Leaky Cauldron hadn't been opened since she'd arrived. She kicked her trunk in frustration, earning her an amused glance from Professor Dumbledore, who quickly continued his conversation with a stout, balding man who wore a name tag that read:
Mundungus Fletcher
Sales Executive of Grunnings
It was a very strange name indeed, but, on the other hand, she'd never even heard of anyone appart from her headmaster who went under the name of one such as ' Dumbledore' Lavender peered down at her rucksack. She was tempted to fish a Judy Blume book out of it, but tore her hands away from the clasp. Whoever this Anya Searu person was, she didn't sound like the sort of person who's enjoy reading about a girl who had to wear a back brace 24/7. Ten minutes later, just as Lavender began to fall asleep on the table in front of her, the door of the smoky pub swung open, and a massive woman, about the size of an overgrown cow, ducked in. Professor Dumbledore muttered something to 'Mundungus Fletcher :Sales executice of Grunnings', who nodded, and swiflty apparated away.
"Dumbly-dore! How good to see you!" She flung the door shut (which made a terible noise) and hugged Professor Dumbledore so tight, Lavender swore she good have heard bones cracking. The door was pushed slightly ajar, and a small girl crept into the pub. Lavender had to rub her eyes to make sure she was seeing right. The girl had very dark skin, white hair that came down to her waist, periwinkle eyes and very white teeth.
"Ah! Thees ees Anya Searu." Madame Maxime said through gritted teeth. Anya gave a small, closed mouth smile and waved shyly. Professor Dumbledore grinned.
"Come in! Come in, dear child. You look freezing! Tom, a butterbeer and 2 scones please!"
Tom poured a pint of butter beer, took two scones from a small box, and gave them to Anya. Anya looked confused.
"Isn't this for you, Professor?"
"No, no! You eat it! I've had enough to last me at least another week!"
Anya looked slightly scared now, and Lavender didn't know whether it was because nothing like this had ever happened to her before, or if she thought that Professor Dumbledore should be admitted to St Mugos hospital for the Criminaly insane as fast as possible.
"But I can't pay you back! I have to money, and i have nothing to give you! Please si I can't!" So it was because she didn't have money! Oh well, Lavender still though her headmaster has nuts.
"Dear child! You don't have to! It's a...welcome gift!"
Anya visibly relaxed.
"Thank You Professor Dumbly-dore."
Professor Dumbledore (not Dumbly-dore) grinned.
"My pleasure. Why don't you sit next to Lavender over there." He pointed at the booth where Lavender was sitting. Lavender smiled and raised her hand to her shoulder. Anya looked at Madame Maxime, who glared at her. Anya cowered and walked/stumbled over to the bench in front of Lavender. She placed her drinks and food on the table before she sat down, and once she had, she looked down and wringed her hands nervously.
"I'm not going to bite you, you know."
Anya started and looked at Lavender with fear in her blue eyes. She was silent.
"What? You don't believe me? I can't put teeth marks through a pice of bread!" She said, attempting to add humor to the lifeless conversation. For a split second, Lavender thought she saw a hint of amusement cross Anya's lips, but before she could be sure, she had gone back to looking down and wringing her hands. Lavender sighed.
"So...er....when's your birthday?" Lavender groaned inwardly. What a stupid line!
"13th of August." Anya mumbled.
"Sorry?"
Anya looked up.
"13th of August."
Lavender nodded. Anya looked like she was about to jump off of Big Ben.
"How about you?" She squeaked.
"5th of march."
"Oh." She wringed her hands again. Lavender leaned slightly forward.
"Excuse me for saying so but...you seemed a lot more...talkative, in your letters."
Anya looked up.
"I preffer talking to people through letters than face to face. People... tend to get scared of me because of my..." She hesitated. "Appearence."
"I can imagine. Where you're going, there's a guy called Draco Malfoy, total son of a bitch if you ask me, and he freaked me out first time I saw him. He's totally pale, has these tiny grey eyes, almost like slits, a pointed chin and this weird blonde silver hair. Nevertheless, there are some girls, a few who aren't even Slytherin, are like seriously INTO him."
Anya smiled, and Lavender felt her relax. Then the smile faded.
"What did you say his name was?" She looked scared now, almost like Hermione had looked when she had been Petrified in their Second year.
"Draco Malfoy."
The fear on Anya's face was scary. Her dark skin had turned paler and her pale eyes had gone very round. She grabbed one end of the table as if to keep herself from falling.
"Oh God....oh no...Please, God no!" She grabbed her cloak, ran up to Madame Maxime and started talking very fast in French. The hairs on Lavender's neck started to stand on end. Something was very wrong. Whatever Anya knew about Draco, it was far worse than the rumors of his father being a Death Eater. Madame Maxime let out a loud and cruel laugh and said something that made Anya burst into tears, and Professor Dumbledore looke very worried.
"Well! I think we should all be going our seperate ways now! Anya, please get your trunk and come with me! Lavender, I shall see you next year. We will contact you if there is anything important you need to know. Lavender nodded gravely, tried to smile weakly at Anya and dragged her trunk outside into the snow. As Madame Maxime told her about the history of Beauxbatons, and the massive carriage flew high into the sky, Lavender peered out of the window, and saw something that remained ingraved in her memory forever. Down bellow, Professor Dumbledore magicked Anya's trunk into the Knight Bus while the girl looked fearfully climbed into the Bus, a look of total fear in her eyes.
*~*~*~*~*