The Makings of a Lord
Chapter One
Meredith watched. Lights went off in the castle, curtains closed, eyes
that could have seen her return shut. Eventually, there was only one window lit
by the glowing of a dying fire. Meredith started down the hill, the castle grew
nearer and the fire grew weaker. She reached the gates to the Hogwarts grounds;
she raised both her hands, palms out towards the gates. Making a simple pushing
movement with her hands, she watched the gates open. She looked at her hands
where her powers were harnessed; he had helped her do that.
"Dear me, Professor Dumbledore. Are you not here to welcome your favourite student back?"
As
her soft voice spoke the words, Meredith looked to the window of the fire. The
fire died. Nothing could stop her now; she was on her way.
~~~
In another part of the castle, far away, Felicity lay awake. She was
worried about her brother. Staring into the blackness that was her dorm, her
brother worried her. He was only across the hall, yet she couldn't go see him.
He wouldn't like it, and she mustn't upset him. He upset her, but she mustn't
upset him. Besides, she wasn't sure he knew how he made her feel. He
instability, the unexpectedness of his actions, the power he couldn't control,
it all scared her, and she worried. She worried about him, she worried about
his actions, she worried about his power. She worried now, but she mustn't go
see him, she mustn't upset him.
She couldn't stay here though; there must be something she could do
instead of staying here. She climbed out of her bed and checked the time. It
was three in the morning. No one, except maybe a few of the house elves would
be up now. According to Tupenny, even Filch went to bed during the night. She
said she had watched him one night, and he had left Mrs. Norris on duty (which,
according to Tupenny, she soon forgot about) and gone to bed himself at one
a.m. It was two hours and approximately twenty-seven minutes after Filch had
gone to bed, Mrs. Norris will have gone to sleep by now. Perhaps she should try
to visit Tupenny. She might have been out that night, and no one would see
Felicity. After all, everyone was abed, except maybe the house elves.
~~~
Everyone
should be abed, except maybe the house elves. Meredith remembered, Burry, a
friendly house elf used to come and visit her in the mornings. Once, she had
told him to wake her as early as he dared. She had been woken at 5 o'clock by a
Burry in a terrible state. He had not wanted to disturb her, but he had not
wanted to disobey her. She remembered him telling her he had been awake for
many hours, but only because he was to visit her early that morning. Meredith
struggled to remember, but she couldn't. Was it at four o'clock or at five that
Burry had told her the house elves usually woke themselves? She hoped upon hope
it was five. She mustn't be seen. Meredith told herself the house elves would
obey her, that if she was seen, she could tell them to tell no one. She shook
her head as if to get rid of her memories, memories of Burry, memories of her
past, memories of happiness. That had all changed. Hogwarts was for seven years
only, her happiness had been limited, they had stopped it, and she was bitter.
~~~
Ta-daa! Told you it was short. Anyway, that's all I've
written and I'm the review junkie, so, tell me what you think?