Title: Lusitania (9)
Author name: siriuswhite
Author email: siriuswhite@schnoogle.com
Category: Romance
Sub Category: Mystery
Keywords: Artio Sperios Patrick Dolphin Lusitania
Rating: PG-13
Spoilers: SS/PS, CoS, PoA, GoF, FB, QTTA
Summary: Artio is a girl who goes to a magical school, like Hogwarts. She is going for the first year and very strange things happen. Patrick is a boy who people don't like. Why?
DISCLAIMER: This story is based on characters and situations created and owned by JK Rowling, various publishers including but not limited to Bloomsbury Books, Scholastic Books and Raincoast Books, and Warner Bros., Inc. No money is being made and no copyright or trademark infringement is intended.
Author notes: Thanks to everyone who reviewed the previous chapter: Nentari, Hotpepper567, Aisling Kinsella and Elfinkat.
Thanks to my beta-readers, Freda Potter and Jo, for their extremely good work and some extra inspiring sessions which I haven't paid yet. You're the best!
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Lusitania
BY S I R I U S W H I T E
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NINTH CHAPTER
REVELATIONS
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The strange woman was dressed with a long soft purple dress, with short sleeves, she'd certainly come from a hot place, she was dressed for a summer's day. On her left arm an image of a skull could be seen.
Cynthia looked at the strange woman who was arranging her clothes. "Who are you?"
Before the woman replied to Cynthia's question, she turned her head and looked into Cynthia's eyes. Cynthia felt a cold shiver down her back.
****~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~****
"Who am I?" asked the woman herself, and repeated, "Who am I...?"
Cynthia finally stood up, the woman was scary, it seemed that she was the master of something. Cynthia was looking at her although none of them said a word, they simply continued looking each other for a while. The woman was incredibly like Artio, the same blonde hair and blue-green eyes, Cynthia knew it, but didn't make any comment about that coincidence...
Cynthia finally broke the silence, "Um... When did you learn to be an Animagus?" it was the most stupid question a person could ask at that moment but, anyway, she did ask it.
"Some years ago, when I was a student, at Durmstrang." the woman seemed to understand it was a stupid question, yes, but she didn't say what she thought, she simply answered naturally.
"Oh, did you study at Durmstrang?" Cynthia asked. The question was less stupid now. Cynthia grinned, but outside, she kept her face blank.
Both Cynthia and the Glumbumble-woman stared at each other, standing up, but not moving.
"Yes, I studied in many schools." the woman seemed to put away her master- of-something expression, she moved for the first time, walking in Cynthia's direction. They had been about three meters apart, and Cynthia prepared to walk back but as she realized that the woman just stopped near the tree, she didn't put her foot back.
"Bad behaviour?" Cynthia guessed a reason for studying in so many schools. Cynthia herself went near the woman, who sat on the grass, near the tree, her back against the tree and she relaxed.
"Something around those lines, yes." the Glumbumble-woman replied, Cynthia couldn't sit near her because the tree wasn't very large, she simply sat on the grass some half-meter away from the woman.
"Where did you go?" asked Cynthia. She knew, for some reason, that the woman wouldn't hurt her. No, she wasn't a bad person. Her expression when she transformed from the Glumbumble was quite far from her actual one.
The sunset had been some minutes ago and some stars started to be seen in the dark blue sky, there were no clouds. Jupiter was looking at them. Cynthia liked Astronomy very much too, her father had taught her many things about stars, planets, galaxies, life and black-holes, and these last ones were his speciality.
"I studied in Durmstrang in the first half of my-second year. Then I came to Lusitania, where I stayed until the end of my fifth year. Hogwarts was where I finally graduated, I studied there for my sixth and seventh year."
"Three schools," Cynthia said, "Not that much." Cynthia was not as scared as before, obviously she uncomfortable with the new woman, but they both talked to each other trying to forget that they didn't know each other.
"Three schools, but much more trouble." Nostalgic, the woman felt nostalgic, Cynthia understood it.
Cynthia didn't reply; they were better acquainted now. She suddenly remembered about the Astronomy class, which would start soon, at half past nine. It was in about eight minutes, as she checked on her watch.
"That girl found me near your bed yesterday night." the Glumbumble-woman said calmly, some uncertainty in her voice.
"Who? Amanda?" Cynthia asked. She knew that it was Amanda; she didn't know why she asked that.
"Yes, the one who caught me, she almost saw me as a human..."
"I knew it, she told me she'd found you in our dormitory." Cynthia nodded.
"Yes, I was searching for you," she said.
"Me?" asked Cynthia, who hadn't ever seen that woman in her life and so she didn't understand why she was searching for her.
"Yes, I know you are Artio's best friend."
"Oh," Cynthia nodded, "So you came here because of Artio... do you know her?"
"Yes," the woman's eyes became a sad colour, "I..."
"What? Any bad news from her?"
"I'm her... mother." the woman, who was looking down, looked at Cynthia who opened her mouth.
"What?" Cynthia couldn't believe that. She was shocked, what she heard about that woman make Cynthia hate her from the moment that she said who she was.
****~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~****
Hogwarts was beautiful that night; there were two moons, one in the sky and other in the Lake. Artio was observing the outside from a window, in the Ravenclaw Common Room. She was thinking about Patrick. Then she remembered he was Jeremy.
Above all, she was in love with Patrick, not with Jeremy. She knew they were both the same person, with some changes, and Patrick was the bad guy. But Patrick was also the one she fell in love with.
Artio knew that Jeremy was an adorable person, she liked him much, and she kissed him.
But when she did, she didn't think on him as the real Jeremy but as the fictional Patrick.
And he didn't send her any owls, she thought sadly, maybe he was one more of those many boys who kiss every girl.
That was the only way to explain the fact that he hadn't written her a single letter.
And her father? Was he all right out there in London in a Muggle area? Artio thought he was crazy to live in a Muggle area, where he could not use any magic.
Cho called her back to reality.
Reality, what was that?
"Artio," Cho had a quill on her hand, she was sitting on a chair in the Common Room, and she was doing some extra homework, or just writing a letter.
"Hum..." Artio stopped looking outside at the two moons, and turned her head to look for Cho, "Oh, what is it?"
"You are flying too high, you may fall, so I called you to come back," she said.
"Oh, yeah, I was thinking on many things out of this room," Artio agreed and came near the desk where Cho was writing.
"Writing a letter, or homework?" She knew that Cho was determined to win the most points ever seen, Ravenclaw must be the House Cup Champion this year, she had told Artio some hours ago.
"Letter," Cho replied, but didn't stop writing.
"For him?" Artio asked, smiling, and waited a positive reply.
"Maybe I can give this to him someday."
Although they met each other only a day ago, Artio and Cho were like best friends, they knew each other's secrets, at least almost of them. Artio herself didn't hide any of her important secrets, she told Cho everything.
"You can, I'm sure," Artio smiled, she'd like to see Cho happy, and that meant that she'd have to be in love with her beloved boy.
"Forget that, now, what were you thinking about?" asked Cho, who already knew the answer.
Artio also knew that, "Don't you really have a clue?" she asked smartly.
"Jeremy, for sure."
"And my father, too."
"Some conclusions?" Cho asked.
"None," Artio thought about his black eyes, how she had been lost in their darkness, and how good it was.
"What if we went to bed?" Cho stood up from the desk and held a yellowed piece of parchment in her hand, "Tomorrow will be another day, girl, just be patient."
"Yeah, it might be better, let's sleep." Artio agreed and both she and Cho went to their own dormitories.
****~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~****
"Cynthia, listen to me, please." Artio's mother asked Cynthia to calm down.
"I... How do you even think about talking to me?" Cynthia had been put out of her wits, "Isn't it enough what you've done with Artio and Mr. Archibald?"
"I know, you're right. The divorce... it's my entire fault, I know, but I had no choice. Now I know I was wrong, and..." she stopped and after a deep breath she only said, "You need to go to your Astronomy class, Robin is waiting for you and he will be disappointed if you don't go."
"No," Cynthia still didn't believe the blonde woman, "I want you to explain why you're here after everything you did. One class won't be the end."
"It may be. Trust me, it's better for you to go to the class for now. Go!" the woman didn't wait for Cynthia to answer, also because she knew that Cynthia wouldn't accept the idea and wouldn't go. The woman changed to her Animagus shape, and a Glumbumble flew away from the wet grass.
"Robin? Who's Robin?" Cynthia thought, and her eyes followed the little animal disappear behind a tree.
She passed in the dormitory to get the bag with her stuff, including some sky charts, which were required for the Astronomy Class.
Some minutes later she was waiting with the other Dolphins at the door of the Astronomy classroom, on the seventh floor.
Captain Dolphin appeared at the floor some time later. Cynthia knew that she shouldn't tell Captain Dolphin about Artio's mother, although the woman hadn't asked her that.
The students entered the classroom and sat down, some of them, as Natasha Bizecuit and Marysia Anderson, ran to inside the room because they wanted to get the best desks...
"Good evenings," began Captain Dolphin, "Tonight you'll be introduced to the Astronomy subject, which is also a science for Muggles. Both communities are interested in this matter; this is the one that allows us to search for life on other planets. Astronomy is also important because of the many prophecies inspired on the movements of the planets and stars in the sky." he walked through the classroom looking for someone with a special interest. It seemed he had found one boy interested, his eyes were shining whether Captain Dolphin talked about the origins of Astronomy. It was the Brazilian boy, Carlos Filteg.
"Which planet is the most brilliant in the sky?" asked Captain Dolphin.
Quickly, the boy raised her hand and with Captain's order, he said, naturally, "Jupiter."
"Very well, I see you've been studying," said the professor, proudly.
"No, I knew it from many years ago," explained Carlos.
"Do you? Good, I'm glad that boys of your age are interested on this majestic subject, five points for the Dolphin House for your answer."
One hour and forty minutes later Cynthia and the other Dolphins were entering the common room between the two portraits, who were both sleeping.
Cynthia didn't like the Astronomy class very much. It might be because of Captain Dolphin's attitude the previous day, for her, he wasn't the same admirable person anymore.
Cynthia couldn't put away the idea of Artio's mother being in the academy, but now she couldn't do anything, she didn't know where the Glumbumble had flown to.
All the girls went to their own beds, Cynthia knew they wouldn't sleep; they would talk until the sunrise, and only then they'd sleep.
Cynthia thought it'd be good for her to talk with them. They sat on Monica and Amanda's beds, which were side by side, and would be easy to everyone to listen their stories. Quickly Cynthia understood that they were relating stories of their past.
Monica had many weird stories, all about the Brazilian forest, the Amazon.
"I fell into the river and then," she made some suspense, not saying any thing for some seconds, all the other girls were listening attentively, "and when I woke up I was in a Muggle Hospital!"
"Ooh!" said some girls, disgusted.
"Yeah, they didn't know how I had gone to the river, they said I'd been found by a tourist, who had a boat, and brought me there. The most complicated was to get back to home, I ran away from the Hospital and I found a Muggle city... it was night and I was fascinated by the lights they had on the streets, they call it electricity..."
Amanda interrupted her, "Monica, let me tell you my story, and then you'll know what is a scary one."
"Oh no, let me finish mine!" asked Monica, "Next will come the most interesting part..."
"You continue it tomorrow, you've told us many... every story you relate us ends with you and 'the most beautiful boy on the Earth' kissing!" Amanda changed her expression and announced; "Now I'll let you know why I want... Revenge!"
The other girls looked at her and imagined like if they were living everything.
Cynthia was also interested, but still she couldn't think about anything else but Artio's mother. Why was she there? Perhaps it would've been better if Cynthia had told Captain Dolphin about her. When she was deep on these thoughts, Amanda's voice was higher and she remembered about the story."...Grandparents, You-Know-Who was away but his followers still have a mission to accomplish..." some more suspense.
"What?" asked Natasha, excitedly.
"Killed... my parents!
"Aaaahh!" they screamed.
"It was true, they had that mission. It was December, it was very cold," she was moving her hands, drawing the scenario in the air, "I was with my cousins and my uncle John, we had gone to the shop to buy our Christmas presents, yeah, it was the twenty-fourth December, the night of the present giving. But that year everything would be different, and it wouldn't ever be as before... We went to my grandparents' house, in the north of Portugal. My parents would be late for dinner, so we waited for them, they had some unexpected work, they were Aurors," she add some more suspense, that would fit well on any story, "They would have apparated in my Grandparents' house as soon as they had finished work, a Death Eater attack. It was strange, it had been many years since The Attack, when The Boy Who Lived killed him. That was what almost everyone thought. Contrarily, my parents didn't think that, they always said that He was hidden, somewhere. And the Death Eaters attacks had become less active in those years. That Christmas they seemed to be organizing some party to commemorate some strange, unexpected and special event. He would return, their plan was to revive You-Know-Who!"
"Ooooh!"
"The plan hadn't had any success, and they attacked a small Muggle village and my parents were called. That was what they wanted." suddenly, a sad expression crossed her face, "In fact they didn't have any plan to revive him, they weren't clever enough. They only wanted to kill some special people. They knew that the other Aurors were occupied doing other things, except four."
"Four?" asked Marysia.
"Four." Amanda agreed, "My parents, Andre Santos and Sergio Antocilo. They were called to fight the dark forces. When they arrived there, the Death Eaters were hidden and they attacked from behind them. The four were killed." Amanda was sad but she didn't cry, Cynthia noticed that, "When we heard it was midnight, in the living room, my cousins and I started to open our Christmas presents. The adults were worried but I didn't understand anything, I was only five." one more pause, "Two minutes after midnight, an owl knocked at the cold window. My grandpa opened it and took the letter. The owl flew away the fastest she could, it seemed it knew what it had carried."
"What did it carry?"
"Pain, shock and sadness. The Christmas wouldn't be a party anymore; it had become the day of my parents' death.
"Aww..."
"I receive the double presents on my birthday and on Christmas day we, I and my grandparents, go to the cemetery. Remember them. I do remember them every day, but Christmas has become a sad day, different to every Christmas in other houses."
"I'm sorry," said Cynthia, who forgot Artio's mother for some moments.
"I am, too. And that's the reason why I want revenge! I must learn many things here in the academy, I must fight the dark forces, and I will kill them all, with no compassion."
****~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~****
It was half past five and it was still dark, no sun.
Cynthia woke up with a bite on her neck; some bug bit her so she would wake up. Cynthia noticed the Glumbumble. It flew outside the dormitory; Cynthia understood that she was supposed to follow her.
In the Dolphin Common Room, Cynthia took a seat near the fireplace, which had no fire because it wasn't so cold.
The woman returned to her human shape and took a seat near Cynthia.
"What?" Cynthia asked, irritated.
"We must talk, musn't we?"
"Yeah, you ran away and I had to go to the Astronomy class," Cynthia nodded.
"Robin would be angry if you hadn't gone..."
"Robin?" Cynthia remembered about that name that she didn't know, "Who is Robin?"
"Oh, you don't know his real name... Captain Dolphin, he's Robin Stormd'sky."
"Cap... Captain Dolphin?" Cynthia was surprised; she never heard he had other name, "Stormd'sky?"
"Yes, you didn't expect that Dolphin was his name, did you?"
"No..." in fact Cynthia hadn't thought about that, "Is he Professor Shayra's husband?"
"No, he's her brother... but that's another story, a long one, which I would tell you if I had time."
"Okay, now explain me what you're doing here." Cynthia wasn't as angry with the woman as she had been when the Glumbumble-woman said she was Artio's mother.
"I... I want to know if Artio had found her father yet," on her face appeared a scared expression.
"Yes, of cours-" Cynthia was interrupted.
"What? Had he found her? Oh my god, what will I do now?" she started to move nervously.
"What? Didn't you know? She went to London with him, he has a new job there, and she is studying at Hogwarts."
"You mean, Archibald, right?" the woman calmed down.
"Yes, she had gone to live with him."
"Oh, that's much better... In fact, Archibald... he..."
"What? What happened?" Cynthia asked nervously thinking about the worse possibilities.
"He is not Artio's real father."
****~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~****
Artio woke up, her dorm mates were all sleeping and there was an owl knocking at a window near her bed. The owl was knocking desperately, the noise wasn't very audible, but Artio woke up with a hunch. She opened the window and the owl flew to her bed.
She took the letter from the owl's leg and she flew away again, the moon was still visible in the Lake and in the sky, Artio looked at both with a remembering smile, and went to her bed where a letter was waiting to be read.
Dear Artio,
I received your owl yesterday but I could only reply now because I was busy, we had our first classes.
This letter had been sent by an academy owl, I don't have one yet...
Jeremy is fine, he didn't accept your departure very well but I think he'll think about it other way because he also loves you.
I will talk to him soon.
I won some points to the Dolphin house but Professor Josh Darkwater, Captain of the Shark house, took me as many as I've won...
When we arrived at the academy, other students have arrived too. They are from Brazil; they're very funny. I didn't know that the academy also received Brazilian students, did you?
So how are your father and your brother? I hope everything is right with you all. I don't need to ask about you, I know you are feeling sad for being away from Jeremy.
I'll do my best to bring you both together.
We'll find each other in holiday time, at least.
Let me know how you're going and what have happened to you.
Above all, try to have fun, and not to think about Jeremy very much, okay?
Yours,
Cynthia T.
Artio finished reading the letter; everything seemed fine with Cynthia. Artio thought she'd have to reply to her telling her about the Triwizard Tournament and her Quidditch training with Cho Chang.
Suddenly she remembered about the snake she had seen on her arm the first night she had been there. She must tell Cynthia about that. Cho knew almost everything but one thing: that snake. She took a look at her left arm to check if it was still there. No sign of the image, it seemed as if it never was there.
She wanted to sleep, she'd write to Cynthia later. Even if she sent the letter back right now, it would arrive to Sitnalta Island much later, almost two days after it had been sent. The distance between the two schools was huge and she thought it would be hard for the owls to do the travel...
Artio lied on bed and fell asleep some minutes later.
****~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~****
"What?" Cynthia couldn't believe that, she was more than shocked, "Mr. Sperios isn't Artio's father?" she was screaming.
"Shh, shut up," asked the Glumbumble-woman, "You'll wake them up!"
"What do you mean? You want me to shut up? Are you crazy? Okay, now I understand, you ran away from St. Mungo's..."
"No!" replied the woman, eyes wide open, those eyes, which made Cynthia remember Artio, "I am Artio's real mother. Cynthia, let me explain, I know I made a mistake but now I can't fix that. I can, at least, fix my error in protecting Artio's life."
The woman was right; Cynthia's screams had woken up some people. They started to appear at the doors of their own dormitories, "What happened?" asked some of them.
Cynthia turned to look at them and, when she turned to face the woman, she was not there anymore; A Glumbumble flew outside the window in the common room, no one noticed that a simple bug could be an Animagus.
"I..." Cynthia looked at the others again, starting to explain, "I fell asleep in this sofa," she showed it to them, "and I had been having a nightmare."
The others started to protest and to go to their beds again, it wasn't day yet, they would appreciate very much to fall asleep again, that is, if Cynthia let them.
"I'm sorry for waking you up! Sorry," Cynthia apologised.
"That's a crazy girl," some fourth year girls commented, "She must be, no one screams like that in the middle of the night."
The common room became empty again. No sign of any bug. Cynthia looked at every object, evaluating if it could be hidden somewhere, but it had gone outside.
As Cynthia remembered that she'd return to the human shape if she wanted to talk to her, she went back to her dormitory. Monica, Natasha and Amanda were awake, certainly because of her scream.
"What happened?" asked Amanda.
"Oh, that was me, I had a nightmare and when I screamed out loud I woke up. I'm sorry for waking you up too," explained Cynthia.
"In the common room?" asked Natasha, who was smart enough to know that she had been sleeping on the dormitory, not in the common room.
"Yes, I went there to... to get a drink of water and I fell asleep on the sofa."
"Oh," this was the last word Natasha said, she closed her eyes and tried to sleep again.
"Sleep well," exclaimed Monica, the most sympathetic of the three.
"Thanks Monica," replied Cynthia, "You too."
Cynthia lay in bed and tried to fall asleep. "Damn it!" she thought.
****~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~****
That day the Dolphin students would have Defence Against the Dark Arts, with Professor Sinushoy Habecula, and Flying, with Professor Sabrina Pitinus.
Both classes' subjects were a brief introduction to what they'd study that semester.
In Defence Against the Dark Arts, Professor Habecula asked them some basic Historic questions about the Wizarding Conference in which Goblins had been declared as intelligent beings, which had been in that status for seventy- two years; the year of the Declaration of Unicorn's protection and reservation in Natural Habitats...
The Flying lesson was quite different, the introduction had been more practice, saying "Up!" for the first time and, additionally, it has some more fun because it was one class with two houses, Dolphin and Mermaid first years had been practicing for two entire hours. Professor Pitinus did not introduce them to the Quidditch balls, that was the first time they'd mounted a broom, at least, officially, because most of them have already flown for many years, with their parents, cousins or older friends.
Cynthia herself did know how to fly but she was not a 'professional'... Madame Pitinus still had hard work on her hands to teach them how to fly and not cause trouble, which was a really difficult task.
After classes, which had finished around six in the afternoon, Cynthia went to Captain Dolphin's office.
When she was on the stairs, Anaras was coming down; Cynthia smiled.
"Hi," she said, she seemed nervous.
"Hi," replied Cynthia, "What are you doing around here? Some trouble with R... Captain Dolphin?"
"Yes, I was in his office, but no trouble," Anaras smiled, "I... I've come to ask him authorisation to borrow a book from the Library..."
"Oh, I am going to talk with him," suddenly Cynthia remembered that no one was supposed to know about her contact with Captain Dolphin, nor about the spell either, but unexpectedly, Anaras didn't ask any questions, "I am going to ask permission to borrow a book too," Cynthia emended.
"Okay, are you having fun here?" asked the second year girl.
"Yeah," replied Cynthia happily, "And Carldonne? Is he alright?"
"Yes, everything's all right with us. Bye."
"Bye," Cynthia replied and turned her back to her, walking to the office.
Having no answer when she knocked at the door, Cynthia decided to open it even with no authorisation.
She noticed that no one was inside, the window was open, from there a beautiful view could be seen, the sky and lots of seagulls flying over the boats in the island harbour, the blue of the sea was mixed with the blue of the sky, no hint of the horizon line.
Cynthia stood there for a few moments, observing and enjoying the scenario outside.
A Glumbumble entered by the opened window, Cynthia noticed it, and it turned into Artio's mother.
"Cynthia," she began, but couldn't proceed because Cynthia interrupted her.
"Finally you appeared!" she said, irritated, "Where have you been? You are turning me crazy with your apparitions and disapparitions!"
"Shh, shut up, you saw what happened yesterday. It was your fault, if you hadn't screamed, now you'd know everything I have to tell you, don't make the same mistake twice."
"Okay, now, tell me everything!" she was a bit calmer.
"I'm afraid I can't, Robin will return soon, you are the only one who know I'm here and he especially must not know I'm here. We'll do the following: you will meet me on the same place as yesterday, behind the tree, after dinner."
"But I can't wait so long!" protested Cynthia.
The woman didn't reply, returned to the bug shape and flew outside the window.
"Grr!" she mumbled and went back to the Common Room, she had to have dinner quickly, she couldn't wait to know what the bug thing had to tell her, she was really desperate, she doubted if her story was true or if she had been laughing at her the entire time.
****~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~****
"Hey," Cho called, "Artio, owl for you."
"One more?" she asked, surprised, she didn't receive so many owls in one day.
"Yes, and this one seems... to be enchanted!" Cho grinned, she tied the letter from the owl's leg and tried to read it, no way, she was enchanted with some spell that only Artio could see the words, "hum!" Cho continued, smelling the air, "It has perfume!"
Artio stood up from the chair, she had been reading her book about Transfiguration, which she had had in the afternoon, and lost five points from Ravenclaw because she was asked how to turn a feather into a quill and she didn't know, the basic answer was in the very first page of her book, "Show it to me," she asked, "It's mine."
Cho gave her the letter and as Artio looked at it to read, Cho was looking behind her shoulders.
"Hey!" Artio said, meaning that she should be spying on her letter. Cho grinned and went away, not stopping to look at her.
It was a letter from Jeremy, finally he had written to her.
To the sweetest girl on the face of Earth
Hi, Artio! I've thought about us both day and night, my eyes tend to close during classes, when I finally have time to sleep because the subject doesn't have any interest.
I think I'll ask Professor Shayra to let me found a new class, Deep Study about Artio Sperios.
Artio grinned, he was ever so funny!
I think about anything but you.
I was stupid when Cynthia told me you were gone and I was angry with both of you.
One hour ago, after dinner, she asked me to talk; we went to the fields and sat down on the grass.
She explained me that you had no chance, one more time she told me the same thing, the truth.
I could merely have told you that I thought it'd be good for me to write this letter but I won't tell you that, just because it isn't the truth. It was Cynthia who told me to send you an owl, then I agreed and here it is.
I just want to tell you one thing.
Artio heard a great noise but as she hadn't finished reading Jeremy's letter, she didn't turn her head and so she didn't see three owls, who were carrying a great piece of a yellowed parchment.
The only thing I want to tell you is the most important one.
She stood looking at that letter, not understanding anything. The letter simply ended with those words, the last sentence, 'The only thing I want to tell you is the most important one'. Artio didn't understand anything... was Jeremy crazy? She looked away from the parchment of the letter, to Cho's face, who was rolling her eyes and grinning, then laughing out loud as if she had been enchanted with a stupid smile-for-two-entire-days spell.
Then she turned her head, to see what had Cho been laughing about.
The three owls were carrying a great parchment roll; it was so heavy that only three owls could carry it.
Artio understood that was the continuation of Jeremy's letter.
As she opened it, the parchment was more than two by three meters square, she could read "I love you!!" on every shape, size, colour and font. The font was changing, as the colour of each word, and its size. In truth there was a central sentence in the middle of the parchment, 'I LOVE YOU!' and many other sentences, dancing over the yellowed parchment, changing its colours and singing a music, which could be only heard 'I love you' thousands of million times. There were also two weird owls, one pink and one green, dancing and kissing and flying all over the scenario.
Artio was laughing with happiness, she had never received a love declaration like that one! Cho joined her and hugged her so much, both grinning, "Do you see," said Cho, almost inaudibly because of the singing from the enchanted parchment, "He loves you too!"
After that happy moment, and when they were both calmer (all the other girls became interested, wishing that the same happened to them, and some boys stole the idea to surprise their girls), Artio noticed there was one more owl waiting to leave its letter.
I love you!
I will love you forever, you are my girl, I am your boy.
The distance between us won't break what I feel since I knew you.
I will always understand everything you do, certainly you have some reason to do that and not do other things.
I'm sorry for the pain I caused you, I know how you felt, not having any news from me, I felt the same way.
Take care.
Yours, with
Love,
Jeremy
P.S. can you feed the five owls I sent you? They're from the academy and I don't want them to arrive here almost dead.
Artio couldn't believe that Jeremy had done such a thing; it was and would be the most original love declaration she had ever received. (In fact it was only the one love declaration she had received since she was born...), and, yes, she'd feed those owls which made her day.
****~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~****
Cynthia had dinner quickly, in fact she didn't eat much, she wanted to go find that bug that had the gift of turning her crazy.
There was she, down by the tree.
"Good evening," the sunset would be in some minutes, as the day before, the sea gave it a wonderful look, Artio's mother was looking at the horizon when she said those words.
"Come on, tell me everything, I want to know every detail of your apparition here, and quickly, you just can't have any other incident to make you not to tell me again."
"You're right, I will start, just promise me you will make no comments, just listen to me attentively, if you want to help Artio you must trust what I say and don't make me waste time."
"Okay," Cynthia agreed, and sat in the grass, her back touching the tree, and so did Artio's mother.
"My name is Stella," she began; Cynthia was going to say something like 'What do I care with that?' but she sat quietly as the other took an close look at her, remembering her promise.
"As I have told you, Archibald is not Artio's father," Cynthia desperately wanted to make a comment on that but she stopped herself, "Let me start from the beginning..."
"Rudolph, my son and Artio's brother, was twelve, he was a second year at Beauxbatons, in France, where I and Archibald were living, he was doing some research in some important subject. We had been a happy family since Rudolph was born. Archibald was a free-lance journalist, he wrote some reports for famous wizards and he asked some magazines and papers if they wanted to buy his reports. He worked like that for seven years, he won some money in the beginning but then there were many journalists, who had studied on the best High Wizarding Colleges, and although he had much more experience than any of the others, what counted was what they had written on the paper."
"Archibald had to change his method of working, as a free-lancer he got much more money because it was he who sold the interviews at his very own price. He became a normal province-paper journalist here in Portugal. Archibald and I always dreamed about the best schools for our son, and with the supremacy of the Dark Lord, Lusitania was not a secure place although it had good teachers. Here dark magic was also taught, until the Portuguese Ministry of Magic stopped it some years ago."
"It was general knowledge who You-Know-Who feared, the great Albus Dumbledore, Headmaster at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, in England. When it was time to Rudolph enter to Hogwarts, we didn't hesitate, we followed him to King's Cross, I and Archibald, still a happy family, seventeen years ago..."
"Archibald's work intensified when Rudolph was in his first year, my husband lived to win money and he didn't live the life as he should. We didn't have money problems, I knew that we didn't have the same cash as when he was a free-lancer but we didn't live in poverty. He was not the same person I had known one day. We were living in Portugal, Gilbert Stormd'sky," Cynthia raised an eyebrow, he could only be Robin and Shayra's brother, "was our friend, he was older than us some... four or five years. I had a little passion with him in that winter, because I had no husband anymore."
"Some months after that he ran away, I didn't see him again since then. Lungush appeared at my house; Archibald was out as ever. I knew he had trapped Gilbert when they both were here in Lusitania."
"Some weeks after his first apparition in my house he convinced me, I joined their habitual sessions with the Dark Lord. I became a Death Eater."
Cynthia opened her eyes widely; she couldn't believe she was talking to a Death Eater who was, in addition, her best friend's mother. She didn't run away, if she had been there and nothing had happened to her, why would it happen now?
"I didn't know why I did that, Gilbert would never face me again. Some time later I fell in love with one of them, it seemed I was the men-eater of that group, first Archibald, then Gilbert and after that... that bastard. Some years later I realised that in truth I had always loved Archibald, he was the man in my life, Gilbert was the escape I had to have some attention and someone taking care of me, and the other... I must have been crazy for power to follow Lungush's orders... but I realised that was too late, everything had been done and couldn't be repaired..."
"I needed some power to feel better with myself, Archibald didn't even notice I went for secret reunions at the strangest hours of the day and night. I joined their stupid circle every time the Dark Lord called me by his mark," she showed the image of the skull on her left arm, "and I was stupidly influenced by him."
Cynthia realised how much pain she had been feeling remembering those all horrible things and finally opened her mouth, "So you fell in love, or whatever, by one man in that circle and Artio's real father is a Death Eater, is that?"
"No," said Stella, "Artio's father is the very own Voldemort." she started crying, tears falling down her face and stopping on the wet grass.
Read? Review!
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So, what did you think?
Next chapter: What will Cynthia do, how will she react? Artio and Jeremy seem to finally find happiness above all, will that continue for much time? And Captain Dolphin, will he discover that Stella is in the academy?
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Lusitania is at AstronomyTower, part of the FictionAlley community. Join us here; see Art at Lusitania Website and post reviews here.
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Author name: siriuswhite
Author email: siriuswhite@schnoogle.com
Category: Romance
Sub Category: Mystery
Keywords: Artio Sperios Patrick Dolphin Lusitania
Rating: PG-13
Spoilers: SS/PS, CoS, PoA, GoF, FB, QTTA
Summary: Artio is a girl who goes to a magical school, like Hogwarts. She is going for the first year and very strange things happen. Patrick is a boy who people don't like. Why?
DISCLAIMER: This story is based on characters and situations created and owned by JK Rowling, various publishers including but not limited to Bloomsbury Books, Scholastic Books and Raincoast Books, and Warner Bros., Inc. No money is being made and no copyright or trademark infringement is intended.
Author notes: Thanks to everyone who reviewed the previous chapter: Nentari, Hotpepper567, Aisling Kinsella and Elfinkat.
Thanks to my beta-readers, Freda Potter and Jo, for their extremely good work and some extra inspiring sessions which I haven't paid yet. You're the best!
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Lusitania
BY S I R I U S W H I T E
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NINTH CHAPTER
REVELATIONS
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The strange woman was dressed with a long soft purple dress, with short sleeves, she'd certainly come from a hot place, she was dressed for a summer's day. On her left arm an image of a skull could be seen.
Cynthia looked at the strange woman who was arranging her clothes. "Who are you?"
Before the woman replied to Cynthia's question, she turned her head and looked into Cynthia's eyes. Cynthia felt a cold shiver down her back.
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"Who am I?" asked the woman herself, and repeated, "Who am I...?"
Cynthia finally stood up, the woman was scary, it seemed that she was the master of something. Cynthia was looking at her although none of them said a word, they simply continued looking each other for a while. The woman was incredibly like Artio, the same blonde hair and blue-green eyes, Cynthia knew it, but didn't make any comment about that coincidence...
Cynthia finally broke the silence, "Um... When did you learn to be an Animagus?" it was the most stupid question a person could ask at that moment but, anyway, she did ask it.
"Some years ago, when I was a student, at Durmstrang." the woman seemed to understand it was a stupid question, yes, but she didn't say what she thought, she simply answered naturally.
"Oh, did you study at Durmstrang?" Cynthia asked. The question was less stupid now. Cynthia grinned, but outside, she kept her face blank.
Both Cynthia and the Glumbumble-woman stared at each other, standing up, but not moving.
"Yes, I studied in many schools." the woman seemed to put away her master- of-something expression, she moved for the first time, walking in Cynthia's direction. They had been about three meters apart, and Cynthia prepared to walk back but as she realized that the woman just stopped near the tree, she didn't put her foot back.
"Bad behaviour?" Cynthia guessed a reason for studying in so many schools. Cynthia herself went near the woman, who sat on the grass, near the tree, her back against the tree and she relaxed.
"Something around those lines, yes." the Glumbumble-woman replied, Cynthia couldn't sit near her because the tree wasn't very large, she simply sat on the grass some half-meter away from the woman.
"Where did you go?" asked Cynthia. She knew, for some reason, that the woman wouldn't hurt her. No, she wasn't a bad person. Her expression when she transformed from the Glumbumble was quite far from her actual one.
The sunset had been some minutes ago and some stars started to be seen in the dark blue sky, there were no clouds. Jupiter was looking at them. Cynthia liked Astronomy very much too, her father had taught her many things about stars, planets, galaxies, life and black-holes, and these last ones were his speciality.
"I studied in Durmstrang in the first half of my-second year. Then I came to Lusitania, where I stayed until the end of my fifth year. Hogwarts was where I finally graduated, I studied there for my sixth and seventh year."
"Three schools," Cynthia said, "Not that much." Cynthia was not as scared as before, obviously she uncomfortable with the new woman, but they both talked to each other trying to forget that they didn't know each other.
"Three schools, but much more trouble." Nostalgic, the woman felt nostalgic, Cynthia understood it.
Cynthia didn't reply; they were better acquainted now. She suddenly remembered about the Astronomy class, which would start soon, at half past nine. It was in about eight minutes, as she checked on her watch.
"That girl found me near your bed yesterday night." the Glumbumble-woman said calmly, some uncertainty in her voice.
"Who? Amanda?" Cynthia asked. She knew that it was Amanda; she didn't know why she asked that.
"Yes, the one who caught me, she almost saw me as a human..."
"I knew it, she told me she'd found you in our dormitory." Cynthia nodded.
"Yes, I was searching for you," she said.
"Me?" asked Cynthia, who hadn't ever seen that woman in her life and so she didn't understand why she was searching for her.
"Yes, I know you are Artio's best friend."
"Oh," Cynthia nodded, "So you came here because of Artio... do you know her?"
"Yes," the woman's eyes became a sad colour, "I..."
"What? Any bad news from her?"
"I'm her... mother." the woman, who was looking down, looked at Cynthia who opened her mouth.
"What?" Cynthia couldn't believe that. She was shocked, what she heard about that woman make Cynthia hate her from the moment that she said who she was.
****~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~****
Hogwarts was beautiful that night; there were two moons, one in the sky and other in the Lake. Artio was observing the outside from a window, in the Ravenclaw Common Room. She was thinking about Patrick. Then she remembered he was Jeremy.
Above all, she was in love with Patrick, not with Jeremy. She knew they were both the same person, with some changes, and Patrick was the bad guy. But Patrick was also the one she fell in love with.
Artio knew that Jeremy was an adorable person, she liked him much, and she kissed him.
But when she did, she didn't think on him as the real Jeremy but as the fictional Patrick.
And he didn't send her any owls, she thought sadly, maybe he was one more of those many boys who kiss every girl.
That was the only way to explain the fact that he hadn't written her a single letter.
And her father? Was he all right out there in London in a Muggle area? Artio thought he was crazy to live in a Muggle area, where he could not use any magic.
Cho called her back to reality.
Reality, what was that?
"Artio," Cho had a quill on her hand, she was sitting on a chair in the Common Room, and she was doing some extra homework, or just writing a letter.
"Hum..." Artio stopped looking outside at the two moons, and turned her head to look for Cho, "Oh, what is it?"
"You are flying too high, you may fall, so I called you to come back," she said.
"Oh, yeah, I was thinking on many things out of this room," Artio agreed and came near the desk where Cho was writing.
"Writing a letter, or homework?" She knew that Cho was determined to win the most points ever seen, Ravenclaw must be the House Cup Champion this year, she had told Artio some hours ago.
"Letter," Cho replied, but didn't stop writing.
"For him?" Artio asked, smiling, and waited a positive reply.
"Maybe I can give this to him someday."
Although they met each other only a day ago, Artio and Cho were like best friends, they knew each other's secrets, at least almost of them. Artio herself didn't hide any of her important secrets, she told Cho everything.
"You can, I'm sure," Artio smiled, she'd like to see Cho happy, and that meant that she'd have to be in love with her beloved boy.
"Forget that, now, what were you thinking about?" asked Cho, who already knew the answer.
Artio also knew that, "Don't you really have a clue?" she asked smartly.
"Jeremy, for sure."
"And my father, too."
"Some conclusions?" Cho asked.
"None," Artio thought about his black eyes, how she had been lost in their darkness, and how good it was.
"What if we went to bed?" Cho stood up from the desk and held a yellowed piece of parchment in her hand, "Tomorrow will be another day, girl, just be patient."
"Yeah, it might be better, let's sleep." Artio agreed and both she and Cho went to their own dormitories.
****~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~****
"Cynthia, listen to me, please." Artio's mother asked Cynthia to calm down.
"I... How do you even think about talking to me?" Cynthia had been put out of her wits, "Isn't it enough what you've done with Artio and Mr. Archibald?"
"I know, you're right. The divorce... it's my entire fault, I know, but I had no choice. Now I know I was wrong, and..." she stopped and after a deep breath she only said, "You need to go to your Astronomy class, Robin is waiting for you and he will be disappointed if you don't go."
"No," Cynthia still didn't believe the blonde woman, "I want you to explain why you're here after everything you did. One class won't be the end."
"It may be. Trust me, it's better for you to go to the class for now. Go!" the woman didn't wait for Cynthia to answer, also because she knew that Cynthia wouldn't accept the idea and wouldn't go. The woman changed to her Animagus shape, and a Glumbumble flew away from the wet grass.
"Robin? Who's Robin?" Cynthia thought, and her eyes followed the little animal disappear behind a tree.
She passed in the dormitory to get the bag with her stuff, including some sky charts, which were required for the Astronomy Class.
Some minutes later she was waiting with the other Dolphins at the door of the Astronomy classroom, on the seventh floor.
Captain Dolphin appeared at the floor some time later. Cynthia knew that she shouldn't tell Captain Dolphin about Artio's mother, although the woman hadn't asked her that.
The students entered the classroom and sat down, some of them, as Natasha Bizecuit and Marysia Anderson, ran to inside the room because they wanted to get the best desks...
"Good evenings," began Captain Dolphin, "Tonight you'll be introduced to the Astronomy subject, which is also a science for Muggles. Both communities are interested in this matter; this is the one that allows us to search for life on other planets. Astronomy is also important because of the many prophecies inspired on the movements of the planets and stars in the sky." he walked through the classroom looking for someone with a special interest. It seemed he had found one boy interested, his eyes were shining whether Captain Dolphin talked about the origins of Astronomy. It was the Brazilian boy, Carlos Filteg.
"Which planet is the most brilliant in the sky?" asked Captain Dolphin.
Quickly, the boy raised her hand and with Captain's order, he said, naturally, "Jupiter."
"Very well, I see you've been studying," said the professor, proudly.
"No, I knew it from many years ago," explained Carlos.
"Do you? Good, I'm glad that boys of your age are interested on this majestic subject, five points for the Dolphin House for your answer."
One hour and forty minutes later Cynthia and the other Dolphins were entering the common room between the two portraits, who were both sleeping.
Cynthia didn't like the Astronomy class very much. It might be because of Captain Dolphin's attitude the previous day, for her, he wasn't the same admirable person anymore.
Cynthia couldn't put away the idea of Artio's mother being in the academy, but now she couldn't do anything, she didn't know where the Glumbumble had flown to.
All the girls went to their own beds, Cynthia knew they wouldn't sleep; they would talk until the sunrise, and only then they'd sleep.
Cynthia thought it'd be good for her to talk with them. They sat on Monica and Amanda's beds, which were side by side, and would be easy to everyone to listen their stories. Quickly Cynthia understood that they were relating stories of their past.
Monica had many weird stories, all about the Brazilian forest, the Amazon.
"I fell into the river and then," she made some suspense, not saying any thing for some seconds, all the other girls were listening attentively, "and when I woke up I was in a Muggle Hospital!"
"Ooh!" said some girls, disgusted.
"Yeah, they didn't know how I had gone to the river, they said I'd been found by a tourist, who had a boat, and brought me there. The most complicated was to get back to home, I ran away from the Hospital and I found a Muggle city... it was night and I was fascinated by the lights they had on the streets, they call it electricity..."
Amanda interrupted her, "Monica, let me tell you my story, and then you'll know what is a scary one."
"Oh no, let me finish mine!" asked Monica, "Next will come the most interesting part..."
"You continue it tomorrow, you've told us many... every story you relate us ends with you and 'the most beautiful boy on the Earth' kissing!" Amanda changed her expression and announced; "Now I'll let you know why I want... Revenge!"
The other girls looked at her and imagined like if they were living everything.
Cynthia was also interested, but still she couldn't think about anything else but Artio's mother. Why was she there? Perhaps it would've been better if Cynthia had told Captain Dolphin about her. When she was deep on these thoughts, Amanda's voice was higher and she remembered about the story."...Grandparents, You-Know-Who was away but his followers still have a mission to accomplish..." some more suspense.
"What?" asked Natasha, excitedly.
"Killed... my parents!
"Aaaahh!" they screamed.
"It was true, they had that mission. It was December, it was very cold," she was moving her hands, drawing the scenario in the air, "I was with my cousins and my uncle John, we had gone to the shop to buy our Christmas presents, yeah, it was the twenty-fourth December, the night of the present giving. But that year everything would be different, and it wouldn't ever be as before... We went to my grandparents' house, in the north of Portugal. My parents would be late for dinner, so we waited for them, they had some unexpected work, they were Aurors," she add some more suspense, that would fit well on any story, "They would have apparated in my Grandparents' house as soon as they had finished work, a Death Eater attack. It was strange, it had been many years since The Attack, when The Boy Who Lived killed him. That was what almost everyone thought. Contrarily, my parents didn't think that, they always said that He was hidden, somewhere. And the Death Eaters attacks had become less active in those years. That Christmas they seemed to be organizing some party to commemorate some strange, unexpected and special event. He would return, their plan was to revive You-Know-Who!"
"Ooooh!"
"The plan hadn't had any success, and they attacked a small Muggle village and my parents were called. That was what they wanted." suddenly, a sad expression crossed her face, "In fact they didn't have any plan to revive him, they weren't clever enough. They only wanted to kill some special people. They knew that the other Aurors were occupied doing other things, except four."
"Four?" asked Marysia.
"Four." Amanda agreed, "My parents, Andre Santos and Sergio Antocilo. They were called to fight the dark forces. When they arrived there, the Death Eaters were hidden and they attacked from behind them. The four were killed." Amanda was sad but she didn't cry, Cynthia noticed that, "When we heard it was midnight, in the living room, my cousins and I started to open our Christmas presents. The adults were worried but I didn't understand anything, I was only five." one more pause, "Two minutes after midnight, an owl knocked at the cold window. My grandpa opened it and took the letter. The owl flew away the fastest she could, it seemed it knew what it had carried."
"What did it carry?"
"Pain, shock and sadness. The Christmas wouldn't be a party anymore; it had become the day of my parents' death.
"Aww..."
"I receive the double presents on my birthday and on Christmas day we, I and my grandparents, go to the cemetery. Remember them. I do remember them every day, but Christmas has become a sad day, different to every Christmas in other houses."
"I'm sorry," said Cynthia, who forgot Artio's mother for some moments.
"I am, too. And that's the reason why I want revenge! I must learn many things here in the academy, I must fight the dark forces, and I will kill them all, with no compassion."
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It was half past five and it was still dark, no sun.
Cynthia woke up with a bite on her neck; some bug bit her so she would wake up. Cynthia noticed the Glumbumble. It flew outside the dormitory; Cynthia understood that she was supposed to follow her.
In the Dolphin Common Room, Cynthia took a seat near the fireplace, which had no fire because it wasn't so cold.
The woman returned to her human shape and took a seat near Cynthia.
"What?" Cynthia asked, irritated.
"We must talk, musn't we?"
"Yeah, you ran away and I had to go to the Astronomy class," Cynthia nodded.
"Robin would be angry if you hadn't gone..."
"Robin?" Cynthia remembered about that name that she didn't know, "Who is Robin?"
"Oh, you don't know his real name... Captain Dolphin, he's Robin Stormd'sky."
"Cap... Captain Dolphin?" Cynthia was surprised; she never heard he had other name, "Stormd'sky?"
"Yes, you didn't expect that Dolphin was his name, did you?"
"No..." in fact Cynthia hadn't thought about that, "Is he Professor Shayra's husband?"
"No, he's her brother... but that's another story, a long one, which I would tell you if I had time."
"Okay, now explain me what you're doing here." Cynthia wasn't as angry with the woman as she had been when the Glumbumble-woman said she was Artio's mother.
"I... I want to know if Artio had found her father yet," on her face appeared a scared expression.
"Yes, of cours-" Cynthia was interrupted.
"What? Had he found her? Oh my god, what will I do now?" she started to move nervously.
"What? Didn't you know? She went to London with him, he has a new job there, and she is studying at Hogwarts."
"You mean, Archibald, right?" the woman calmed down.
"Yes, she had gone to live with him."
"Oh, that's much better... In fact, Archibald... he..."
"What? What happened?" Cynthia asked nervously thinking about the worse possibilities.
"He is not Artio's real father."
****~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~****
Artio woke up, her dorm mates were all sleeping and there was an owl knocking at a window near her bed. The owl was knocking desperately, the noise wasn't very audible, but Artio woke up with a hunch. She opened the window and the owl flew to her bed.
She took the letter from the owl's leg and she flew away again, the moon was still visible in the Lake and in the sky, Artio looked at both with a remembering smile, and went to her bed where a letter was waiting to be read.
Dear Artio,
I received your owl yesterday but I could only reply now because I was busy, we had our first classes.
This letter had been sent by an academy owl, I don't have one yet...
Jeremy is fine, he didn't accept your departure very well but I think he'll think about it other way because he also loves you.
I will talk to him soon.
I won some points to the Dolphin house but Professor Josh Darkwater, Captain of the Shark house, took me as many as I've won...
When we arrived at the academy, other students have arrived too. They are from Brazil; they're very funny. I didn't know that the academy also received Brazilian students, did you?
So how are your father and your brother? I hope everything is right with you all. I don't need to ask about you, I know you are feeling sad for being away from Jeremy.
I'll do my best to bring you both together.
We'll find each other in holiday time, at least.
Let me know how you're going and what have happened to you.
Above all, try to have fun, and not to think about Jeremy very much, okay?
Yours,
Cynthia T.
Artio finished reading the letter; everything seemed fine with Cynthia. Artio thought she'd have to reply to her telling her about the Triwizard Tournament and her Quidditch training with Cho Chang.
Suddenly she remembered about the snake she had seen on her arm the first night she had been there. She must tell Cynthia about that. Cho knew almost everything but one thing: that snake. She took a look at her left arm to check if it was still there. No sign of the image, it seemed as if it never was there.
She wanted to sleep, she'd write to Cynthia later. Even if she sent the letter back right now, it would arrive to Sitnalta Island much later, almost two days after it had been sent. The distance between the two schools was huge and she thought it would be hard for the owls to do the travel...
Artio lied on bed and fell asleep some minutes later.
****~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~****
"What?" Cynthia couldn't believe that, she was more than shocked, "Mr. Sperios isn't Artio's father?" she was screaming.
"Shh, shut up," asked the Glumbumble-woman, "You'll wake them up!"
"What do you mean? You want me to shut up? Are you crazy? Okay, now I understand, you ran away from St. Mungo's..."
"No!" replied the woman, eyes wide open, those eyes, which made Cynthia remember Artio, "I am Artio's real mother. Cynthia, let me explain, I know I made a mistake but now I can't fix that. I can, at least, fix my error in protecting Artio's life."
The woman was right; Cynthia's screams had woken up some people. They started to appear at the doors of their own dormitories, "What happened?" asked some of them.
Cynthia turned to look at them and, when she turned to face the woman, she was not there anymore; A Glumbumble flew outside the window in the common room, no one noticed that a simple bug could be an Animagus.
"I..." Cynthia looked at the others again, starting to explain, "I fell asleep in this sofa," she showed it to them, "and I had been having a nightmare."
The others started to protest and to go to their beds again, it wasn't day yet, they would appreciate very much to fall asleep again, that is, if Cynthia let them.
"I'm sorry for waking you up! Sorry," Cynthia apologised.
"That's a crazy girl," some fourth year girls commented, "She must be, no one screams like that in the middle of the night."
The common room became empty again. No sign of any bug. Cynthia looked at every object, evaluating if it could be hidden somewhere, but it had gone outside.
As Cynthia remembered that she'd return to the human shape if she wanted to talk to her, she went back to her dormitory. Monica, Natasha and Amanda were awake, certainly because of her scream.
"What happened?" asked Amanda.
"Oh, that was me, I had a nightmare and when I screamed out loud I woke up. I'm sorry for waking you up too," explained Cynthia.
"In the common room?" asked Natasha, who was smart enough to know that she had been sleeping on the dormitory, not in the common room.
"Yes, I went there to... to get a drink of water and I fell asleep on the sofa."
"Oh," this was the last word Natasha said, she closed her eyes and tried to sleep again.
"Sleep well," exclaimed Monica, the most sympathetic of the three.
"Thanks Monica," replied Cynthia, "You too."
Cynthia lay in bed and tried to fall asleep. "Damn it!" she thought.
****~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~****
That day the Dolphin students would have Defence Against the Dark Arts, with Professor Sinushoy Habecula, and Flying, with Professor Sabrina Pitinus.
Both classes' subjects were a brief introduction to what they'd study that semester.
In Defence Against the Dark Arts, Professor Habecula asked them some basic Historic questions about the Wizarding Conference in which Goblins had been declared as intelligent beings, which had been in that status for seventy- two years; the year of the Declaration of Unicorn's protection and reservation in Natural Habitats...
The Flying lesson was quite different, the introduction had been more practice, saying "Up!" for the first time and, additionally, it has some more fun because it was one class with two houses, Dolphin and Mermaid first years had been practicing for two entire hours. Professor Pitinus did not introduce them to the Quidditch balls, that was the first time they'd mounted a broom, at least, officially, because most of them have already flown for many years, with their parents, cousins or older friends.
Cynthia herself did know how to fly but she was not a 'professional'... Madame Pitinus still had hard work on her hands to teach them how to fly and not cause trouble, which was a really difficult task.
After classes, which had finished around six in the afternoon, Cynthia went to Captain Dolphin's office.
When she was on the stairs, Anaras was coming down; Cynthia smiled.
"Hi," she said, she seemed nervous.
"Hi," replied Cynthia, "What are you doing around here? Some trouble with R... Captain Dolphin?"
"Yes, I was in his office, but no trouble," Anaras smiled, "I... I've come to ask him authorisation to borrow a book from the Library..."
"Oh, I am going to talk with him," suddenly Cynthia remembered that no one was supposed to know about her contact with Captain Dolphin, nor about the spell either, but unexpectedly, Anaras didn't ask any questions, "I am going to ask permission to borrow a book too," Cynthia emended.
"Okay, are you having fun here?" asked the second year girl.
"Yeah," replied Cynthia happily, "And Carldonne? Is he alright?"
"Yes, everything's all right with us. Bye."
"Bye," Cynthia replied and turned her back to her, walking to the office.
Having no answer when she knocked at the door, Cynthia decided to open it even with no authorisation.
She noticed that no one was inside, the window was open, from there a beautiful view could be seen, the sky and lots of seagulls flying over the boats in the island harbour, the blue of the sea was mixed with the blue of the sky, no hint of the horizon line.
Cynthia stood there for a few moments, observing and enjoying the scenario outside.
A Glumbumble entered by the opened window, Cynthia noticed it, and it turned into Artio's mother.
"Cynthia," she began, but couldn't proceed because Cynthia interrupted her.
"Finally you appeared!" she said, irritated, "Where have you been? You are turning me crazy with your apparitions and disapparitions!"
"Shh, shut up, you saw what happened yesterday. It was your fault, if you hadn't screamed, now you'd know everything I have to tell you, don't make the same mistake twice."
"Okay, now, tell me everything!" she was a bit calmer.
"I'm afraid I can't, Robin will return soon, you are the only one who know I'm here and he especially must not know I'm here. We'll do the following: you will meet me on the same place as yesterday, behind the tree, after dinner."
"But I can't wait so long!" protested Cynthia.
The woman didn't reply, returned to the bug shape and flew outside the window.
"Grr!" she mumbled and went back to the Common Room, she had to have dinner quickly, she couldn't wait to know what the bug thing had to tell her, she was really desperate, she doubted if her story was true or if she had been laughing at her the entire time.
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"Hey," Cho called, "Artio, owl for you."
"One more?" she asked, surprised, she didn't receive so many owls in one day.
"Yes, and this one seems... to be enchanted!" Cho grinned, she tied the letter from the owl's leg and tried to read it, no way, she was enchanted with some spell that only Artio could see the words, "hum!" Cho continued, smelling the air, "It has perfume!"
Artio stood up from the chair, she had been reading her book about Transfiguration, which she had had in the afternoon, and lost five points from Ravenclaw because she was asked how to turn a feather into a quill and she didn't know, the basic answer was in the very first page of her book, "Show it to me," she asked, "It's mine."
Cho gave her the letter and as Artio looked at it to read, Cho was looking behind her shoulders.
"Hey!" Artio said, meaning that she should be spying on her letter. Cho grinned and went away, not stopping to look at her.
It was a letter from Jeremy, finally he had written to her.
To the sweetest girl on the face of Earth
Hi, Artio! I've thought about us both day and night, my eyes tend to close during classes, when I finally have time to sleep because the subject doesn't have any interest.
I think I'll ask Professor Shayra to let me found a new class, Deep Study about Artio Sperios.
Artio grinned, he was ever so funny!
I think about anything but you.
I was stupid when Cynthia told me you were gone and I was angry with both of you.
One hour ago, after dinner, she asked me to talk; we went to the fields and sat down on the grass.
She explained me that you had no chance, one more time she told me the same thing, the truth.
I could merely have told you that I thought it'd be good for me to write this letter but I won't tell you that, just because it isn't the truth. It was Cynthia who told me to send you an owl, then I agreed and here it is.
I just want to tell you one thing.
Artio heard a great noise but as she hadn't finished reading Jeremy's letter, she didn't turn her head and so she didn't see three owls, who were carrying a great piece of a yellowed parchment.
The only thing I want to tell you is the most important one.
She stood looking at that letter, not understanding anything. The letter simply ended with those words, the last sentence, 'The only thing I want to tell you is the most important one'. Artio didn't understand anything... was Jeremy crazy? She looked away from the parchment of the letter, to Cho's face, who was rolling her eyes and grinning, then laughing out loud as if she had been enchanted with a stupid smile-for-two-entire-days spell.
Then she turned her head, to see what had Cho been laughing about.
The three owls were carrying a great parchment roll; it was so heavy that only three owls could carry it.
Artio understood that was the continuation of Jeremy's letter.
As she opened it, the parchment was more than two by three meters square, she could read "I love you!!" on every shape, size, colour and font. The font was changing, as the colour of each word, and its size. In truth there was a central sentence in the middle of the parchment, 'I LOVE YOU!' and many other sentences, dancing over the yellowed parchment, changing its colours and singing a music, which could be only heard 'I love you' thousands of million times. There were also two weird owls, one pink and one green, dancing and kissing and flying all over the scenario.
Artio was laughing with happiness, she had never received a love declaration like that one! Cho joined her and hugged her so much, both grinning, "Do you see," said Cho, almost inaudibly because of the singing from the enchanted parchment, "He loves you too!"
After that happy moment, and when they were both calmer (all the other girls became interested, wishing that the same happened to them, and some boys stole the idea to surprise their girls), Artio noticed there was one more owl waiting to leave its letter.
I love you!
I will love you forever, you are my girl, I am your boy.
The distance between us won't break what I feel since I knew you.
I will always understand everything you do, certainly you have some reason to do that and not do other things.
I'm sorry for the pain I caused you, I know how you felt, not having any news from me, I felt the same way.
Take care.
Yours, with
Love,
Jeremy
P.S. can you feed the five owls I sent you? They're from the academy and I don't want them to arrive here almost dead.
Artio couldn't believe that Jeremy had done such a thing; it was and would be the most original love declaration she had ever received. (In fact it was only the one love declaration she had received since she was born...), and, yes, she'd feed those owls which made her day.
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Cynthia had dinner quickly, in fact she didn't eat much, she wanted to go find that bug that had the gift of turning her crazy.
There was she, down by the tree.
"Good evening," the sunset would be in some minutes, as the day before, the sea gave it a wonderful look, Artio's mother was looking at the horizon when she said those words.
"Come on, tell me everything, I want to know every detail of your apparition here, and quickly, you just can't have any other incident to make you not to tell me again."
"You're right, I will start, just promise me you will make no comments, just listen to me attentively, if you want to help Artio you must trust what I say and don't make me waste time."
"Okay," Cynthia agreed, and sat in the grass, her back touching the tree, and so did Artio's mother.
"My name is Stella," she began; Cynthia was going to say something like 'What do I care with that?' but she sat quietly as the other took an close look at her, remembering her promise.
"As I have told you, Archibald is not Artio's father," Cynthia desperately wanted to make a comment on that but she stopped herself, "Let me start from the beginning..."
"Rudolph, my son and Artio's brother, was twelve, he was a second year at Beauxbatons, in France, where I and Archibald were living, he was doing some research in some important subject. We had been a happy family since Rudolph was born. Archibald was a free-lance journalist, he wrote some reports for famous wizards and he asked some magazines and papers if they wanted to buy his reports. He worked like that for seven years, he won some money in the beginning but then there were many journalists, who had studied on the best High Wizarding Colleges, and although he had much more experience than any of the others, what counted was what they had written on the paper."
"Archibald had to change his method of working, as a free-lancer he got much more money because it was he who sold the interviews at his very own price. He became a normal province-paper journalist here in Portugal. Archibald and I always dreamed about the best schools for our son, and with the supremacy of the Dark Lord, Lusitania was not a secure place although it had good teachers. Here dark magic was also taught, until the Portuguese Ministry of Magic stopped it some years ago."
"It was general knowledge who You-Know-Who feared, the great Albus Dumbledore, Headmaster at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, in England. When it was time to Rudolph enter to Hogwarts, we didn't hesitate, we followed him to King's Cross, I and Archibald, still a happy family, seventeen years ago..."
"Archibald's work intensified when Rudolph was in his first year, my husband lived to win money and he didn't live the life as he should. We didn't have money problems, I knew that we didn't have the same cash as when he was a free-lancer but we didn't live in poverty. He was not the same person I had known one day. We were living in Portugal, Gilbert Stormd'sky," Cynthia raised an eyebrow, he could only be Robin and Shayra's brother, "was our friend, he was older than us some... four or five years. I had a little passion with him in that winter, because I had no husband anymore."
"Some months after that he ran away, I didn't see him again since then. Lungush appeared at my house; Archibald was out as ever. I knew he had trapped Gilbert when they both were here in Lusitania."
"Some weeks after his first apparition in my house he convinced me, I joined their habitual sessions with the Dark Lord. I became a Death Eater."
Cynthia opened her eyes widely; she couldn't believe she was talking to a Death Eater who was, in addition, her best friend's mother. She didn't run away, if she had been there and nothing had happened to her, why would it happen now?
"I didn't know why I did that, Gilbert would never face me again. Some time later I fell in love with one of them, it seemed I was the men-eater of that group, first Archibald, then Gilbert and after that... that bastard. Some years later I realised that in truth I had always loved Archibald, he was the man in my life, Gilbert was the escape I had to have some attention and someone taking care of me, and the other... I must have been crazy for power to follow Lungush's orders... but I realised that was too late, everything had been done and couldn't be repaired..."
"I needed some power to feel better with myself, Archibald didn't even notice I went for secret reunions at the strangest hours of the day and night. I joined their stupid circle every time the Dark Lord called me by his mark," she showed the image of the skull on her left arm, "and I was stupidly influenced by him."
Cynthia realised how much pain she had been feeling remembering those all horrible things and finally opened her mouth, "So you fell in love, or whatever, by one man in that circle and Artio's real father is a Death Eater, is that?"
"No," said Stella, "Artio's father is the very own Voldemort." she started crying, tears falling down her face and stopping on the wet grass.
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So, what did you think?
Next chapter: What will Cynthia do, how will she react? Artio and Jeremy seem to finally find happiness above all, will that continue for much time? And Captain Dolphin, will he discover that Stella is in the academy?
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