(Part One of "The Truth is hidden within the lies" series)
Henri Parsons was late, but he
didn't care. He seemed to be late a lot lately. He pulled his coat closer as he
opened the door to the Leaky Caldron, a small pub unnoticed by most
Londoners on the street. He slipped in, the warm air hitting him in a rush,
quickly bringing back feeling to his ears. The room was dark and smoky, but it
was warmer then the outside, so it didn't matter. Taking off his coat, he
scanned the room, finally making his way over to the table that Samuel was
sitting at, in the corner of the room.
"You're late" Samuel said,
looking up from his newspaper that he was reading.
"Sorry…sorry" Henri sat down, trying to straighten out his windblown hair. "The underground was hell." Samuel gave him a strange look.
"Why didn't you
apparate? We have graduated you know, we can use magic outside of
Hogwarts."
"Well, some of us aren't as
lucky to pass the test on our first try you know." He paused, " So
when is Marilla going to get here?" He asked, trying to change the
subject.
"I take it your didn't pass
your test yesterday?" Samuel laughed. They had graduated six months ago,
and almost all the graduating class has past the apparation test, except for Henri.
Samuel checked his watch.
"In about two minutes, but then
again, she can apparate." Henri glared at him.
"Very funny"
"Well, it is actually. You
graduated the head of the class and it's been six months and you still haven't
passed the test."
"They were on my off days"
Henri said defensively.
"Everything you do wrong is on
your off days Henri" a female voice from behind him said.
"Well, that's because it's
true" He replied, turning around and noticing the small girl being him.
"So glad to finally see you again, Marilla " He said in a voice that
was pretty obvious he wasn't glad to finally see her again.
"You too, Samuel didn't
tell me you were coming today." She glared at Samuel, making sure Henri
couldn't see it. All Samuel did was shrug. She sat down beside Samuel and a
tall red haired girl sat on the other side of her. Henri looked over curiously.
He had never seen this girl before. She had white skin, dark red hair, and the
bluest eyes Henri had ever seen. She wasn't extremely beautiful, but yet he
couldn't take his eyes from her. She had this air of mysteriousness about
her that Henri couldn't place. Marilla noticed Henri staring at her
friend, and introduced the two boys to her. "Oh I forgot, this is my
friend Ellen MacKenzie from home. Ellen, these are Samuel and Henri, you
remember me telling you about them." She smiled at Samuel and Henri knew
exactly what she had been telling Ellen about his friend. His description, on
the other hand wouldn't have been so pleasant, considering there was no lost
love between Marilla and himself.
"Nice to meet you" she said
in a soft Scottish accent. Henri was mesmerized. For the first time in his life
he thought he was in love.
"So, did you go to
Hogwarts?" Samuel finally asked, obviously not as mesmerized by this girl
as Henri was.
"No, I was home schooled by my mother in Scotland."
"Was your mother a
witch?"
"No, she was part druid, but I
was raised in a wizard village.
"I thought druids were
small?" Henri asked rather stupidly. She laughed, her voice sounding like
small bells.
"Aye, well, my father was a
typical highlander. I got my height from him."
"But you know how to apparate,
right?" Samuel randomly asked.
"Aye, of course" Henri
kicked Samuel under the table. "I've been able to apparate since the age
of twelve…not legally of course" she gave a grin.
"Well, Henri here has yet to
master the technique, maybe you could give him a few pointers." That
resulted in another kick, harder this time.
"I almost got it" Henri
grumbled.
"Almost got it, you left your
left leg in Aberdeen last time, and you were supposed to go to South
Dakota"
"As I said, I almost got it,
There is an Aberdeen in South Dakota, so there. Some of us aren't perfect you
know" he kicked Samuel again.
"Hey, stop kicking me"
"Well, stop mocking me"
"I'm just getting you back for
all the times you teased me in school."
"I never teased you in
school."
"You did, you teased me about
my Defense against the Dark arts grade all the time."
"If it hadn't had been for me,
you would have never passed Defense against the dark arts."
"Just because you were the best
in the class doesn't mean I couldn't do it without your help."
"It is my fault that I happened
to know more about the dark arts then any of our professors."
"No, but you don't have to rub it in everyone's face."
"I don't rub, I resent that
statement." By this time both of them were yelling. Marilla grabbed her
wand and quickly put a silencing charm around their table.
"Are they always like
this?" Ellen whispered over to Marilla, watching the two boys.
"No, not all the time,
sometimes they actually get along, but those are few and far between."
Marilla rolled her eyes, "You'll get used to it after a while. I learned
how to do a silencing charm real quick in school." Finally the boys
quieted down, glaring at each other over their drinks.
"I got to go, I'm late for
work." Henri finally said, standing up.
"Where do you work?" Ellen
asked, looking up at him.
"At the ministry" he
finally got out.
"Henri and I are both assistants in the accidental charms department."
"Oh is that so,"
Even though Samuel was speaking, her eyes were focused on Henri.
"Charms have always interested me. I have to go the Ministry anyway, do
you mind if I accompany you?" She smiled at him.
"Sure, if you don't mind
walking." He replied, returning the smile.
"Not at all" she stood up, pulling her coat over her shoulders.
The two of them walked down
the street in silence. Well, it wasn't like they had any choice, the wind was
blowing too hard to have a decent conversation. It would have been so much
easier to apparate Henri thought as he struggled to walk in a straight line,
but then he glanced over at Ellen, and decided maybe it wasn't.
Ellen watched him out the corner of
her eye, glancing at her every couple of seconds. He was certainly very
different then she has expected. From what Marilla had told her, she had
expected him to be a horrible person, evil to the bone. She got the impression
that Marilla didn't like him too much, but she figured out that probably the
feeling was mutual. From what she had experienced, he seemed very nice, but
then again she had only known him for less then half an hour.
Finally they reached the lobby of
the Ministry building. "So, it was nice walking with you." He
stuttered, not being able to think of anything else to say. Good going Henri,
he thought mentally kicking himself.
"Aye, I'll see you around
then" Neither of them moved.
"I better be going now, I'm
going to be late" Henri said, but still didn't move. Suddenly a man
called out her name, breaking their concentration.
"I've got to go" she quickly said,
running after the man. Henri waited till she was out of sight before apparating
away.
"You're late" Mr. Hawkins
said as Henri appeared in the center of the office.
"Well, it's pretty hard to be
on time when everyone believes that I can't apparate. Tell me again why I am
lying to all my friends and family?" Henri replied, sitting himself down
on the couch.
"Because it's protocol. I don't
make the rules; I just enforce them. Plus it keeps suspicion down." He
shrugged. " It's one of those things that everyone has to do, you're not
being singled out."
"So why did you call me here
today?"
"Sit down" Henri did just that. "It has been discovered that there is a mole at the Centre"
"What, you don't
think" Henri said shocked. He quickly jumped up. " It wasn't me, if that's
what this meeting is all about."
"Henri, calm down. " he
motioned for Henri to sit back down, which he did, reluctantly. "I'm not
accusing you. You haven't been here long enough to be accused. But the mole did
give out some important information and well, last night…how can I put it Henri,
John is dead." Henri felt like his jaw fell to the floor. He couldn't
believe it. No, not John. He had been like a father to Henri, when Henri's
father couldn't be there for him. He couldn't say his father was a bad father,
he was the best he could be, under the circumstances. But John was much more
then that, he was Henri's mentor, he was the one who got him into the Centre in
the first place.
"I know you were close to John,
so I felt it would be best if it came from me."
"What…what about his family?
Sara? James?"
"They are being well provided
for by the Centre, let me assure you." He smiled sadly and handed Henri a
tissue. "They will never have a want or need in this world. Except for a
father of course." He paused, as if pondering what to say next. "You
may not realize it yet Henri, but here at the Centre we are like family, and
when one of us leaves our ranks, it is a great loss. But that wasn't the only
reason I called you here today. I also understand that John was your teacher
here, your mentor?"
"Yes Sir, he was. Does that
mean I will start learning from someone else now?"
"Well, not exactly. From what
I've read of John's notes you were an excellent learner, and the council has
decided that you can take the initiation test now. Maybe by next week you will
be a member of the Centre as well."
"Thank…thank you sir" Henri
said shocked. He had only been training for six months, normally it took a
recruit at least a year before he was complete with his training and ready to
test, but it was hard to be happy for his accomplishments when his mentor was
dead.
"We will notify you of the test
date sometime early next week."
"Thank you again sir" Henri
said, standing up shakily.
"It's no problem. Now go
home"
"But..." Henri protested.
"No if ands or buts, now go
home. I'll send a message to the accidental charms department and tell him of
your absence." Henri nodded, and without another word, apparated to the
front stoop of the apartment Samuel and he rented. He knew Samuel would be at
work right now, so he didn't worry about anyone important catching him
apparate. He sat down on his doorstep and that's where Ellen and Marilla
found him four hours later.
Ellen looked at her watch, they
still had twenty minutes before they had to be at Samuel's, and it was only a
block away. Sure it was raining, but that wouldn't cause that much of a
delay. "What's the hurry?" she asked, looking over at her
friend.
"I was hoping to get there and
be gone before Henri came home. He usually doesn't return from the Ministry
till at least six."
"You didn't invite him?" Ellen
asked, already knowing the answer.
"Nope"
"Why do you hate him anyway
?" Marilla stopped walking and faced Ellen.
"His family practices the dark
arts, he practices the dark arts, and you did know that, right?"
"How can you be so sure, he was
in Gryffindor, was he not? From what you've told me, the dark wizards aren't in
that house."
"There can always be
exceptions. Plus how could he have known so much about dark arts in school.
Ellen, please stay away from him. I would have never introduced him if he
hadn't been best friends with Samuel. I don't even know why they are friends.
He always gives me the creeps. The way he looks at you" She gave a
dramatic shudder to get her point across. "He's bad news Ellen, trust
me." Ellen didn't have time to respond to that statement because
they had come up on Samuel's building. "Speak of the devil"
Marilla said, pointing to a figure sitting on the rain soaked stoop. "Why
in the world would he be home early, of all the days?" Ellen shrugged. Marilla
continued past him as they walked up the stairs but Ellen stopped, and drying
off a place beside him, sat down. Her friend gave her a disapproving look, but
entered the house without a comment.
"Penny for your thoughts?"
He didn't respond. He didn't even give any notice that he knew she was there.
"Still mourning about failing your apparation test?" she asked, in a
half joking manner. He finally looked up at her, his face white as a sheet,
only made whiter by his black hair. His eyes had turned to a complete black
color, losing their brown tint, looking more like charcoal, and if Ellen
didn't know any better she would have swore he was evil. For a moment she
actually believed that maybe Marilla was correct.
"If only it was that simple,"
he said, his voice the softest of whispers. He brushed a raindrop of the front
of his robes, but it didn't matter, being that they were soaked through anyway.
"How long have you been out
here?" she asked, touching his hand. They were as cold as ice.
"You're freezing."
"I don't know" He
turned back to face her. "It wasn't raining when I came home."
"God" she cried, throwing
her cloak around him. "It's been raining for the last three hours. What
are you trying to do, kill yourself." He shrugged, but didn't respond.
"Come on, you're going inside." He didn't protest as she took his arm
and pulled him into the house. She finally got him seated by the fire when
Samuel and Marilla came downstairs.
"Ready to go Ellen?"
Marilla called from the front hall of the apartment.
"I think I'm going to stay here
tonight. You two go have fun without me."
"You can go, you don't have to
stay on my account" Henri said, his voice a little louder then a whisper.
"No, that's okay. I …I
…I would like to stay" She finally got out, glancing over and their eyes
met. She realized that the reason that she rather stay here wasn't
because she didn't want to spend the whole evening watching her friend flirt
with her boyfriend, but because she wanted to stay with him, to make sure
he was all right, but that wasn't the only reason, just the reason she kept on
telling herself. Marilla glared at her.
"Remember what we talked
about"
"I know" she glared back.
Marilla shook her head, and then followed Samuel out the door, leaving the two
of them alone.
"I take it she had her little
talk with you about me already. She's getting quick, we've only known each
other one day." Henri said, his voice almost back to normal. Ellen didn't
have to answer for him to know she had. "She doesn't like me you
know"
"I got that impression."
Ellen replied, sitting down on the couch beside him and handing over a blanket.
"I take it she told you to stay away from me, that I would lead to trouble." Ellen shrugged.
"Something like that"
"That I practiced the dark arts" She didn't have to answer, but her expression gave away any chance of her appearing nonpartisan on it. There was silence. Finally Ellen asked what she had wanted to know all evening.
"Well, do you?"
"What do you think?" She paused, trying to figure out her answer. If she said yes and he didn't he would obviously be very insulted, and if she said no and he did, well she didn't want to think about that possibility.
"I would be hoping the answer would be no" she finally said, watching his face closely for any response. He was almost impossible to read. What was she doing, god she had only know him for a day, a single day, less then 24 hours, and she was alone with him, in his house. She shivered involuntarily. He didn't answer, but instead moved forward and kissed her. It wasn't a forced kiss, she could have pulled away if she desired, but she didn't. Although the rest of his body was cold, his mouth was surprisingly warm and after the initial shock of being kissed by someone she barely knew, she found she rather enjoyed herself, which surprised her. After about ten seconds he pulled away.
"I'm sorry, I don't know
what came over Me. " He replied softly, looking away.
"It's okay, really"
Ellen replied, trying to do her best not to laugh. It would inappropriate for
her to laugh at such a moment, but yet she had a hard time not. He looked so
guilty, like he had done something very very wrong.
"Miss MacKenzie, may I ask permission to kiss you again?" He asked, brushing the hair out of his face, and smiling sweetly. He looked so innocent, looked more like a nine year old then a nineteen year old.
"But of course Mr. Parsons,
I would be honored." She replied, not sure if it was herself
speaking, or somebody else. She thought herself a reasonable girl, not someone to
rush into something like this, but yet, yet this was different. Then he kissed
her again, and if she thought that the last kiss she had received was the best
of her life, she changed her opinion with this one. You know how sometimes when
you kiss someone, it just seems wrong, well to Ellen, this kiss seemed right in
every way possible. It was then; even only after a day that Ellen
realized that she was in love with this mysterious handsome young man, even
after all the warning. When they separated, she was trembling slightly, not exactly
sure why. He put his arms around her, and pulled her close, her head resting in
the crook of his neck. She could feel his heart beating underneath his thin
robe, and the wetness of his shirt against her cheek made her realize that this
wasn't really a dream and she smiled slightly to herself.
Samuel and Marilla came home hours
later and found them wrapped up in a blanket, curled up on the couch, both
asleep. Ellen had her head resting on Henri's chest, and he had his left arm
around her, his fingers intertwined within her hair.
"Quiet" Samuel
whispered to Marilla who was just hanging up her cloak.
"What?" she replied,
coming over to where he was standing. Damn, Marilla thought, looking at
the two of them. What I told her was suppose to separate them, not bring them
together.
"You planning on waking them, or should I?"
"I'm not planning on, and neither are you" Samuel replied, holding her back. "Anyway, you were planning on saying over anyway, right" He gave her a smug look and motioned towards the stairs.
"Now that you suggest it, it does seem like a good idea." She replied, smiling and pulling Samuel towards the bedroom.
Henri woke up the next morning with sunlight streaming down on his face. This confused him at first being that his bedroom was on the opposite side of the house, so the sun never woke him up in the morning. The other thing that confused him was the fact that he felt something laying on his chest.
"You're awake" the something on his chest said.
"Yup" he smiled, remembering last night and who exactly the something on his chest was.
"I dare say I don't like that smile Mr. Parsons, it seems devious and quite suspicious." Ellen commented, brushing her hair out of her face and looking up at him.
"Well Miss MacKenzie, if you knew me at all, you would realize I am devious and suspicious" He replied, trying to look stern and serious, but failing incredibly and making her burst into laughter, and kiss him quickly on the check, which in turn made his inside go to mush.
"What time is it?" he
finally asked, when he got his speaking skills back in capacity. He squinted at
he clock on the mantle.
"About half past eight. The
clock says we still have about ten minutes before breakfast time."
"Ah, so I still have time to relax" He placed his head back on the arm of the couch and closed his eyes.
"So you never answered my question last night," Ellen said suddenly, after about two minutes of silence.
"What question?" Then he remembered what started all this in the first place. He groaned. "Oh that question."
"So?" She used her elbows to prop herself up and look at him.
"Before I give you a definite answer, what would you do if I said yes?"
"Well first I would slap
you"
"Change me eh? What if I cannot be changed?"
"Then I'd run back home to Scotland, and proceed to tell my father how you hurt his little girl, who in turn would teach you a lesson." She replied dramatically. It was driving her crazy; she couldn't read him, not at all, not one bit. He lifted her off him, and placed her on the couch, so they were face to face. Gripping her upper arms, a little harder then she would have liked, he just stared into her eyes, as if he was probing her. She gulped and tried to pull back, but the grip on her arms was too strong. She suddenly felt very vulnerable, knowing that even with his wand on the other side of the room, she still was at his mercy. Looking up in his eyes she saw eyes all void of emotion. Stop it Ellen, she told herself, he is just trying to scare you. Well it's working she told herself back.
"Henri please" she
whispered. He finally shifted his eyes and noticed she had tears streaming down
her face. She didn't even realize she had started crying.
"Oh Ellen, I'm so sorry. I didn't me to hurt you, honest. It's just that..." He never got to finish because Marilla decided to choose that exact time to walk into the room, and seeing Ellen sobbing in one corner and Henri standing in the other she assumed the worst.
"Ellen, I'm heading home, are you coming?" She said to her best friend, all the while glaring at Henri. Ellen nodded and dashed out of the room before Henri had any chance to protest. "You stay away from her," She hissed, pointing her finger at Henri once Ellen was out of the room.
"Who are you to tell me who I can and cannot see" Henri replied, returning the glare. As Ellen just found out, Henri could look malevolence when he wanted to be, and he knew it. Of course with Ellen, he hadn't meant it. Most of the time he disliked it intensely, and it caused him much annoyance, such as while he was at school, he had many experiences where other students who didn't know him assumed he was in Slytherin, and how they had believed Marilla's outrageous rumor that he practiced dark arts. The only person, except for the professors that believed him was Samuel, and that's because he had known Henri since they were first years on the train, and of course there was the promise they made. Samuel knew Henri would never break a blood promise. But right now he was taking full advantage of this characteristic. Marilla unconsciously took a step back.
"I am her best friend, that's who I am, and I don't want her to be corrupted by the likes of you."
"Likes of me…likes of me" Henri threw up his arms in protest. "What are you afraid of, that I'll corrupt her with the lack of skill in the art of apparating. That her hanging around me will make her lose her ability to apparate." He was absolutely furious now.
"You know exactly what I mean Henri Parsons." Her voice was a low grade hiss.
"Oh I don't…do please tell" He took another step forward.
"That you…that you..." but she couldn't finish her sentence.
"Can't say it can you. You know why?" She only glared. "You can't say it because you know it's a lie. I have never practiced a dark spell while I was at school, and never will, and you know it." Marilla didn't know about before school, and for that he was thankful, for it would only had added fuel to her fire.
"How am I to know that" she finally said, getting her courage back. "You were the top in DDFA after all."
"What you say is true, yes.
I cannot deny that.
"That was very hurtful thing to say Henri Parsons, I demand you take it all back."
"Hurtful, that wasn't
even close to hurtful. Let me give you an example of hurtful. Hurtful is more
like when you tell the person who I am in love with that I practice the dark
arts, especially in a time where practicing the dark arts is not something that
people look too kindly upon.
"Ellen what are you doing?" Marilla said.
"So is it true?" Ellen asked, not even acting like Marilla had said anything. Henri shook his head yes and cleared his throat, afraid to say anything more, hoping a simple head nod would be enough, because he didn't know what would happen if he tried to speak. Ellen was the only woman on earth who had the power to render him speechless.
"I….I…." he tried to say but she stopped his mouth with her own. It was as if the rest of the world has disappeared and they were in the only two in it. If it had been a movie this would have been when the music swelled in the background. Neither of them even noticed when Marilla threw up her arms in disgust and walked out of the room. Finally, much to the sheer disappointment of both of them, they had to stop for lack of air.
"I love you so much," Henri finally said, brushing a piece of hair out of her eyes.
"You're just saying that because you want to shag me." Ellen said, trying to sound serious. He laughed.
"Yeah, that too." He kissed her again. They didn't even notice for him to leave for work had come and gone.
"I am really really sorry about earlier, I didn't mean to scare you like that." He said sometime later when they were sitting on the couch. "It's just well, lets just say, I've had some not so fun experiences with dark arts, and it's not something I enjoy talking about."
"That's okay" She replied, picking up her legs and curling up beside him. "I'll just add that to my list of things I know about you"
"I have a list eh? May I know what is on this list of things about me?"
"Okay, but you asked for it." She pretended like she conjured up a notebook and started reading from it. "Henri Parsons, one…. Mysterious, sexy, and extremely good looking." He laughed.
"Are you sure you're reading from the right list, that doesn't sound a bit like me.
"Of course, the pretend notebook never lies." She looked up at him. "Now shall I continue."
"Of course"
"Number two, works for the accidental charms division of the Ministry. Number three, doesn't know how to apparate. Number four, also doesn't practice the dark arts, much to the insistence of my stupid friend." She snuggled closer to him, feeling him tense up at the mention of this. "And lastly, enjoys unintentionally scaring people out of their minds."
"Who said anything about enjoying it?"
"Oh come on, you can't say you didn't enjoy scaring Marilla back then."
"All right, I did enjoy
that, but that was an exception." She laughed.
"So, is there anything else I
should know? Like you can turn yourself into a dog, or are a spy like
007?" He tensed at the mention of spy, but hoped she didn't notice.
"Nope, nothing" he pulled
her closer and wrapped his arms around her. "Nothing else"