Hello everyone! Chapter 25 is here! I know that 24 doesn't flow into 25, but there will be odd little intrusions in the chapters from now on, so get used to it ;) Hope you like! Oh, and it's much, much longer than the last chapter. It just worked out that that's where I had to cut off between 24 and 25, but I'm not making bitsy little chapters my habit, so don't worry. Oh yes, WARNING: My French is not good, there is no need to tell me so, though help would be appreciated :)
* * *
"I just can't bear it! I can't bear knowing that I could have known, and that I might have avoided the mess altogether," Cecil said, tears stinging her eyes. "I'm ready for whatever test I have to pass. Give the Rite to me this instant and I will pass," she said desperately. Dumbledore shook his head sadly. Genna looked frightened and continued to watch meekly from her chair.
"The test every human must pass, Cecil, Genna, is the test which puts our instinct, our resolve, against every other force. You must learn to rely on yourself, and to trust yourself to do the right thing. There are many such tests in one's life, and you may not even realize it when they come along. Before the Rite, you must learn to conquer yourself. It is not an easy task," he replied wearily. "You have simply shown me tonight that you have a long way to go before you reach this point, Cecil." Cecil nodded her head gravely and stood up to leave and Genna soon stood up too.
"Goodnight Professor," Cecil said and put her hand on Genna's shoulder. "Come on, Genna, let's go." Cecil guided her sister to the door and had already opened the passageway when Dumbledore called.
"Cecil? Cecil, could you please bring back young Ms. Aveneere's Stone? Yes, that's it, right there is just fine," he said amicably, directing her where to set it down. Then in a sterner voice, he continued, "You are an influential young woman, Ms. Aveneere, with or without your Stone. You caused what happened tonight, and it is still in your ability to undo it. That is not a power of magic, or a gift, but simply the power of the human heart. We are complicated beings, and there are things within yourself that you must master before the Stone," he finished quietly. "Now, goodnight," he said, and watched Cecil leave with a considerably larger amount of sadness than before. Yes, she still had a long way left to go.
* * *
Chapter 25: History Doomed to Repeat
The woman looked as though she had teetered on the side of the river of youth past her time, as if she had jumped across the long bridge of middle age and had landed on the bank of senior citizenship in one giant leap. Her hair—wispy, gray, and fine—was tucked neatly behind her ears. She touched it often, as if she wasn't used to ever wearing it in such a casual fashion. She was growing impatient and issued a loud sigh of perturbation.
Immediately the small bundle in her arms began to cry. She crooned him a soft song in a lilting high soprano voice.
"Alouette, gentile alouette,
Alouette, je te plumerai,
Alouette, gentille Alouette
Alouette je te plumerai.
Je te plumerai
la tête
Je te plumerai
la tête
Et la tête, et la tête
Alouette, Alouette
O-o-o-o-oh"
The little bundle in her arms knew no meaning of the words, but the tune seemed to comfort him. Her predominant arm was in a cast, hanging in a sling and it restricted her movements vastly. He was nestled in a crook in her arm which was by no means comfortable for either party. His chubby mouth bubbled into a tootless, adorable smile. She crooned to him, humming, and was bumped nastily from behind. He began to cry once again.
"Get on wit' it, wujya!" cried a raucous voice from behind her. "The line's a-movin'!"
"Imbécile," she muttered softly under her breath, taking very leisurely steps forward. "Vous mourra un homme mauvais… personne ne remarquera, comme toutes les personnes qui vous passe dans la rue!" she said nastily, her native French escaping her lips with a tainted scowl.
"Don't blubber in tha' French o' yours to me, lady!" he threatened. He moved close enough to make her want to hurl. "Whajya say bout me?"
Marie, for that was her name, turned around to look the man in the face. "Pas de tout," she said briskly.
"I warned ya lady, don't try nunna tha' wit' me," he growled atrociously. Marie turned to face him, she looked down her nose at the man who was nearly a foot taller than her, arched her eyebrows cunningly, and plastered a malicious smile on her face, all in a practiced, disdainful manner. The man shrunk before her.
"I sed nuzzing," she pronounced in harsh English. "Do not bozzer me again." He grumbled, but backed away, just as the teller said in a loud voice, "Next!"
"I vould like to apply vor citizenship. I need zee papers," Marie said.
"From what country do you originate, ma'am," he asked, severely bored by the mundane routine.
"France, off course," she said proudly. The man eyed her warily, drew a set of papers from the rapidly dwindling stack. He handed Marie the papers and she walked away, sniffing at the man behind her as she passed by. The first instructions next to the box that required her name read, in bold letters, were PLEASE PRINT CLEARLY. 'I shall simply skip that one for now,' she thought, knowing she could in no way write her name legibly with her current handicap, especially not in such a small space. She struggled through the paper, marking that she had no residency, not anymore, and no remaining family, none except for Nicolas.
The papers were completed, except for her name, and so she strode to the most educated-looking man she could find. "Excuse-moi, but my arm ees broken, and I cannot write. Vould you help me, s'il vous-plaît?" He merely looked at her oddly and strode away. Marie scowled in disgust. "Englishmen! In France, we are more polite," she said quietly, her words laced with French. Clearly, she needed to approach the other end of the social ladder for any sort of help. Besides, those people were easily paid off, she realized, and she could certainly spare some money for a poor man.
"Pardon me, but I haff an offer for you," she said to a man she witnessed filling out his own papers, but wearing a terribly shabby old coat. "My arm, it ees broken, and I cannot write, vould you help?" He looked dubious for a moment, and she added, "I vill pay!" Instantly he smiled, showing grubby old teeth. Marie cringed, but knew she was in the right place.
"Sure thing ma'am! It'd be a pleasure. Now, what's your first name?" he asked as he picked up her paper, scrutinizing it. He paid no attention that she had marked no previous residency, most people going to England had nowhere else to live. But that's where the work was, the cheap work. That's why he was going, but this lady didn't strike him as the working class. A noble in a poorly fabricated proletariat disguise was more fitting, but he didn't give it another thought. She claimed no other relations, which was odd as well, though not too peculiar. What truly struck him was what income level she had filed under. What would a person with so much money be doing applying for citizenship in Britain? And why would she be trying to look poor while doing it?
"Marie," she said stiffly, purposely cutting into his nosy perusal. He looked not a bit sheepish, and Marie almost chastised herself to stooping to such a low level as to actually socialize with such a man. She frowned, then realized Nicolas had become unhappy and smiled affectionately at him.
"Aah," the man said. "'S mah sister's name." He paused, as if he expected her to make conversation. "So yere French, are ya?" he said, with all the stupidity of a mule ramming into a fence repeated times. Marie huffed softly with impatience, not able to appreciate that he was trying to be considerate and friendly.
"And yere middle initial?"
"A," she said, pronouncing in French. Her scribe looked confused, though she paid him no notice.
"Oh!" he proclaimed. "You mean, ay." Marie looked at him preposterously. He had added an "h" sound to it, and he had opened his mouth so appallingly wide that three stacks of the straw probably could have fit inside. She grimaced.
"Now fer yere last name," he said cheerily.
"Avenir," she said, quietly, for she didn't want unsavory characters overhearing.
"Av-near?" he said, chuckling loudly. "Y'all certainly got sum funny names up there. Ha, Av-near!" he repeated. "How'd you spell that ma'am?"
"Vell, it begins like 'have' but vithout see h," she said debasingly, because he seemed to be partial to that letter. To a smarter person it would have been patronizing, simply by her manner of speech, but he simply continued along, taking care to write perfectly legibly in hopes of getting enough money for a solid meal. The lady reeked of richness, he could tell, even if she had tried to mask it, and even if he had read her papers. She was too prim, too condescending to be one of his own— any poor man could tell she didn't belong.
"Then you gotch yere 'n'" he said. "What's next then, 'e'?"
"Oui, oui," she said absently, waving her hand twice. She felt… not right. She needed to be finished with this tiresome business quickly, and get out of here! She took a step away from her scrivener to look for anyone she should be avoiding. In the interim he muttered to himself (for he found it easier to write if the letter were said out loud), "Then an 'r,'" he said, "and another 'e'. And yere all done!" he proclaimed, drawing her attention back. "Unless, that is, you need me to do yere birthday as well. I kin write numbers jes as well as my letters," he said hopefully.
"Zank you, but no, I vill be fine." She hadn't realized she had left her birth date blank. But it didn't matter if they couldn't read her birthday. She had known she would have been declined without a legible name, however. She handed him enough money to last him for a week of the dinner that he had imagined and walked quickly away, surreptitiously scribbling numbers (mostly resembling blobs of ink, however) into the birth date squares. She had longed to be 38 again, and now she had her chance. Her other documents for the final approval could be altered when she returned to the place she was staying. A man was arranging all this for her, expediently forging the documents she needed, for a hefty sum, of course. But it was necessary. Now she would be safe. Now Nicolas would be safe.
Marie's temporary employee, upon receiving his payment, had goggled. When was the last time he had seen such money! He couldn't remember, and he struggled to find his voice through the jubilant confusion. He turned in her general direction and, though she was already a good twenty feet away and he couldn't see her, he yelled, "Well, thanks a whole bunch Ms. Av-near!!!" She gasped. She could feel the presence of the very men she had been trying to avoid change their direction in search of her. They knew she was here, and now she had to run. Her other documents she would simply have to do without, one way or another.
She ran to the counters where her document would be approved, and when she saw the long, endless lines she thought for a moment that she would be lost. But a plan slipped into her mind. Briskly she slapped Nicolas across his face and he let out a wild, violent cry. She worked herself into a frenzy and ran to the head of the line, hysterical with false concern.
The attendant, a kindly old man, informed her that she could get assistance through the doors, where there was a maternal care ward. Marie glanced at the door. It was those who had passed through the next stage in their visa.
"Yes, please," she said as she hummed to her baby, forcing sobs out of her throat at the same time. He brought her through the gate, assuring the man waiting in line that he would be attended to soon. He let fly a long stream of German, then finally acquiesced. Marie was at the door when she pretended to be struck with a sudden realization. "Sacré bleu! But I need zee papers approoved!" She regarded the attendant with distress, and he hurriedly returned to his desk, picked up his stamp and pressed it on her papers without so much as looking at them. Marie almost forgot to hold the charade because of her good fortune. The ten-minute scrutiny of her papers—cut down to the one short moment when they were sanctioned!
"God bless," he said kindly, and sent her through the door. She saw two large men approach the counter just as she walked through the door, but she simply continued to walk and didn't look back. She headed straight for the maternal care ward, not even pausing to look at her papers. A genuine worry for the small boy that she had so abused sprang into her mind, and she wished for his quick recovery.
Marie and her scribe had suffered and cross-lingual mistake, the French mingling with the English in a confused waltz, both parties ending up so dizzy that the ceiling looked no different that the floor. And so, with two indifferent waves of her hand, Marie's name now read as such: Mary A. Aveneere. Such a matter was trivial at this point. Most importantly was the large red stamp across the top, proclaiming that yes, she was finally free.
APPROVED
June 17, 1793
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Lily woke up early Sunday morning, hoping to leave without having to disturb her makeshift dorm mates. But when she got out of bed she realized that Robyn had already risen, gotten breakfast, and was sitting in front of her dresser next to an empty chair. She was clearly ready and waiting for a talk and some sort of explanation from Lily. Lily sighed, cursed the memory of Rowena Ravenclaw for leaving such high standards for her prodigies, and sat down next to Robyn.
"So, what do you want to know?" Lily said sadly, her own tiredness dulling the pain of the memory.
Robyn looked up innocently from her breakfast plate. "I don't particularly want to know anything," she said diplomatically. "But, if there's something that you want to tell me, just to get it off your chest, I would be willing to listen," she said, eliciting a half-smile.
"Curse Ravenclaw," Lily said again, smiling herself. "You lot make too much sense." Robyn shrugged, as if it was a long-accepted fact. "I guess… I guess what startled me the most was the abruptness of it all. If you had asked me on Friday if I liked James, I probably would have said no, not even realizing that, well—" she stopped, stammered, and blushed. Robyn seemed to understand the rapid transformation Lily had undergone. "And then the kiss in Hogsmeade, well, you've probably heard all about it." Robyn nodded.
"Ada," she replied simply, and Lily bristled.
"And her," she said venomously. "Out of nowhere!" she grumbled. "I can't believe I made such a fool out of myself, when he really likes her. I mean, I usually get the gossip from Ada, so I can see where the connection wasn't made, but honestly! Honestly, Robyn, is Ada so much better than me?" Lily asked sadly. "No, no don't answer that, forget I asked," she said, thinking better of it. Robyn sighed, handed Lily a piece of toast for her to munch on, since she was obviously still upset, and formulated an answer. Some moments later, she replied, "I understand why you feel bad that you kissed James when he liked someone else, but it's also perfectly understandable, judging by the horrible way he led you on!" Robyn stifled to add that she had been so absolutely sure that James had liked her this summer, but hastened against it.
"But that's just it!" she exclaimed. "He kissed me. I just kissed him back. He doesn't make any sense!" she said, falling back in her chair and taking a giant, ferocious bite out of her toast.
"Wait, what?" Robyn said, confused, absorbing what Lily had said. "That slimeball! You should have wrung his neck," she said venomously and scrunched up her eyebrows as if she was imagining it. Lily smiled ruefully. "I almost did. But, at least I made sure I had as much mashed potatoes that could fit on the plate before I threw it at him," she said happily, and Robyn laughed.
"He looked positively miserable after you left," Robyn said, trying to encourage her light spirits. "Just kept staring down at his plate, with the potatoes on his face and everything," Robyn said, giggling. Lily laughed too, but that struck a chord with her. That wasn't James, if he hadn't really cared he would have laughed it off, turned it into some sort of joke. It just wasn't him. 'No,' she adamantly thought. 'You don't know James,' she told herself. 'You never knew him. All he ever was were lies.'
And so she continued to laugh along with Robyn as the conversation was slowly turned to other more trivial things, though in her thoughts everything still seemed to revolve around him. He wouldn't get out of her thoughts, even when they started talking about Arithmancy, a class James didn't even take.
"And so it took me simply forever for me to realize that the numbers weren't adding up because I had just copied down Aesclepius's name wrong! I was in front of the class, telling them that he didn't like the sight of blood, was a bit dim, and all sorts of things that were just horribly wrong," Robyn recalled from her fourth year. "Can you imagine? And of course everyone knows that he was one of the greatest healers in early times, he practically laid the foundation magic for our healing today! I felt like such an idiot," she grimaced, and Lily, while offering condolences, could only think that she wouldn't have noticed such an error, but James, who was in Magical Healing, would definitely have noticed.
"Well, you are ten times smarter than me anyways, Robyn, so you hardly have anything to worry about," Lily assured. "You practically have the world at your fingertips!" she said, reciting an old phrase. Robyn sobered.
"Dad said that," she said quietly, then took a few moments of silence, as if recalling a dream. "Ever since I was five, and corrected him when he mentioned some Ministry policy or something," she added, not quite speaking to Lily anymore. In another person this might have been bragging, but Lily, having known how the Delanns worked, felt at home trying to imagine the scene. She ended up seeing herself though, small and tiny, as her Dad had said words of encouragement to her when she had finally learned to ride a bike.
"I'm sorry," Lily said, as much for herself as for Robyn. She snapped out of her reverie, sniffing her nose.
"Oh, don't be. It doesn't really feel like he's gone, just lost. It seems weird, but I feel like he's still with me. I still think of him all the time, and so it doesn't hurt so badly," she said softly. "You know what I mean?" she asked, obviously referring to her parents.
"Yeah," she answered vaguely. Her parents were gone, now. They weren't inside her thoughts as they once had been, though it had really only been such a short time ago that they had died. But she remembered them every day, and they made her ironically happy. James, though, James was lost. He was a ghost inside her head now, but she couldn't claim the peace it brought Robyn. It hurt her terribly.
"I better get going, I have a lot of homework to do," she said, noticing the time. Her Gryffindor housemates would usually be at breakfast by now, and so it was the perfect time to go into the dorm and grab all her books. They both stood up, and Lily grabbed Robyn in a long, hard hug. Her eyes stung when she let go. "Thanks. You helped." Robyn smiled.
"You helped me, too," she answered. "So I'm guessing I won't see you at Lunch or Dinner?" she questioned. Lily didn't feel like cursing Ravenclaw for the third time that morning, so she just nodded.
"I'll catch you later, though," Lily said, and left as they finally said goodbye. She trudged her books from Gryffindor Tower to the Library. She didn't go to Lunch, merely worked through it, preferring to grab food around 3:00. As she walked back to the Library, she planned for the rest of the day. She could finish her work in another hour or two, gather up all her books and then stop by dinner on the very early side (when her Housemates were usually just finishing up whatever they had left of their homework from Friday and Saturday). Then, if everything went alright, she could simply walk up to her dormitory and go to sleep without having to answer any pesky questions.
She munched on an apple as she made her way back up to the Library, content with her plan. If everything went alright, she wouldn't have to deal with James until at least tomorrow. She tried to remember her Monday schedule, for there had only been one Monday of classes since the term started. James was with her almost the entire day, for she had only one elective scheduled for Monday. She had no elective classes with him, for he took Magical Healing, Care of Magical Creatures, The Study of Ancient Runes, and a Transfiguration class. She took Divination, Arithmancy, Magical Law, and an extra Charms course. They had picked up Magical healing and Magical Law (more Auror-like than anything else, as boring as the name sounded) as fifth-year electives, and the Charms and Transfiguration class as their seventh-year elective, where seventh-years were encouraged to take a supplementary course in their strongest subject.
Lily, who took her Charms course on Wednesday, was simply excited by her class because it was the one course Dumbledore actually taught. Many students had tried to enter the class even if they had strengths elsewhere simply to be taught by him. But he hand-selected his students, and Lily, who had rather known she would be chosen, was excited nonetheless to be in his class. He was a rather odd teacher, so far, she thought as she walked up to the Library door and opened it. It was as curiously surprising as himself, as she was waiting for the class when everything came together and made sense, though she had a sense of foreboding if such a pinnacle would ever come.
She stopped as she came to the table she had claimed. James sat only three tables further down, facing in her direction, yet currently absorbed in a Rune. 'Obviously,' Lily thought, mentally slapping herself. 'He has just as much work to make up from yesterday as I do.' She found a simple solution, however, and simply sat in an opposite direction from him and rearranged her books so that they all faced her. The last book, her large History of Magic text, squeaked across the table. She could almost feel James' eyes at her neck. She caught her breath, wondering if he would talk to her, and though she tried to suppress the feeling, she wanted him to.
James, from his table, was jerked out of a Rune translation by a loud squeak, and he was about to protest to the offender when he saw who it was. It was Lily, and she had moved everything simply to save her the pain of looking at him. He frowned, and his heart sunk. She would hate him if he tried to talk to her, he thought, and so he simply returned to his Rune, though with far less vigor than he had before. He could not help himself though, to steal a glance every five minutes or so. Gradually he would wear away to more-than-a-moments at less than five minutes intervals, at which point he would shake his head roughly and continue to work, testing himself at how long he could stare at his parchment.
And Lily gave up hope that he would talk to her in much the same fashion. As soon at 5:50 rolled around she began to pack up her things, even though she wasn't quite finished. She could finish her Divination reading before she went to bed, however. James watched her, and as he watched her start to walk to the door he gathered enough pluck to walk after her, and perhaps speak with her.
She heard him move behind her and her heartbeat quickened. 'Just think of this as a test, Lily,' she coached herself. 'He's just a person that you need to avoid. Get away from him now and he'll know you won't have anything to do with him. You'll be free of him forever.' And so she walked out the doorway, not once turning back. Past the door, James felt he couldn't follow. The second before the door closed however, he yelled her name, "Lily!"
He waited, and waited, hoping she would turn and come back. But still he stood there, alone in the middle of the Library, and she didn't come back.
* * *
Lily grabbed dinner, eating quickly. She didn't want too many people to see her at dinner by herself. As she ate her salad she heard someone say her name and she perked her head up from the table. She almost choked on a crouton when she saw that Ada Jordan, of all people, was waving and walking over to her table.
'Don't get mad at her, it was James's fault. Be nice,' she cautioned to herself. She waved halfheartedly and mustered up a smile. "Hey Ada! How's everything been since Thursday?" Lily said, naming the day they had talked last at their Arithmancy class.
"Everything's been fine with me, but how can you even ask?" She talked quickly, and Lily was soon overwhelmed. "I just wanted to say how sorry I am for the whole James thing," she said unabashedly. Lily had to swallow several times before answering.
"You shouldn't have to be sorry about anything," she strained to say.
"Simply everyone has bee coming up and asking me about it, and I've just been like, 'You know, you really shouldn't get into it. Just let them to themselves, you know?'" she said as she grabbed a piece of baguette from the basket on the table. Lily had to remind herself to be nice, though she really couldn't see how much better than herself Ada could possibly be.
"I'm sure… I'm sure you can just get the details out of James," Lily said as peacefully as she could manage. She nearly speared her pork chop, though, and Ada gave her an odd sort of look.
"I only see James on Fridays, when we're partners in Magical Healing," she replied so serenely Lily couldn't understand how she did it. 'How can she act like nothing happened!' Every second that passed Ada was getting closer and closer to spending the rest of her life in the Official Bitch Trailer Park inside Lily's head. "I don't know how I am going to stand talking to him on Friday," she said, biting thoughtfully on her baguette.
Lily dropped her pork chop.
"What?" she scrambled out of her mouth. Her tongue seemed to be flopping like a dead fish inside her mouth.
"I mean, after he was just so horrible to you! The mashed potatoes were a nice touch though," she said, laughing a little. Lily was mad and confused. Either Ada truly was the typical Ravenclaw, and was actually much, much smarter than she appeared and was playing a seriously cruel joke on Lily, or there had been an equally serious miscommunication.
"But don't you like James?!" she screeched. Ada stared her straight in the face for five deadly seconds when Lily was sure Ada was going to break out in some sort of maniacal laughter, and then she did. Sort of. She laughed, but it seemed like she thought the idea was actually funny.
"I like that James is good at Magical Healing, and Loco Lorquo"—the endearing nickname for the School Nurse, Madame Lorquette—"already has me on her good side. James is a little too… well, I'm not sure, but too something for me," she finished. Lily was pretty well convinced by now that Ada wasn't secretly a genius. Then after a second Ada continued, in a more strained voice, "Who exactly did you here that rumor from?"
"From Cecil, from Sirius," Lily answered hazily. 'If James doesn't like Ada, then who does he like?' she wondered to herself, as Ada excused herself to right the gossip, probably by spreading some more. "See you on Thursday!" Lily said without looking at her. She immediately left the Great Hall, thinking of the possible explanations.
For a moment she hoped that really, James actually like her. 'But if he did—if he really, really, did—then why hasn't he tried to talk to me?' she thought, ignoring the incident in the Library. 'So there was one pitiful 'Lily,' but he had a whole two hours to actually explain, to at least say that he liked me,' she reasoned, blotting out the rest of her hope like the moon in a solar eclipse. She was still thinking about what was happening when she entered Gryffindor Common Room quietly, trying not to draw attention to herself.
"LILY!!!" someone cried as soon as she walked in, and she winced. As she faced the direction of the exclamation she saw Emily running towards her and brightened.
"Emily, what's the matter?" she said happily, though her young friend looked worried and as if she had been sniffling.
"I've b-b-been waiting for you all d-day!" she said joyously as she blubbered. Lily was caught in between a frown and a smile. "I need help with my Charms homework, and I know you're really, really good at it, I wouldn't ask unless Genna wasn't feeling so horrible, because she's the only one who's really good enough to teach it to me and I'm sorry if you can't and it's okay if you don't want to but Professor Malchite was really mad at me and he said I was never going to learn unless I actually tried but I am trying I just don't understand so I was really hoping that you could help but it's okay if you can't," she said, finishing breathless. Lily barely absorbed any of what she had said; Emily had been in such a rush.
"Of course I'll help you," Lily agreed despite how much work she had already. "When should we set up a time for it?"
Emily looked abashed. "Well… I do have Charms tomorrow, so… maybe… if it was okay…"
Lily smiled and offered, "Right now?" Emily brightened and exuberantly agreed.
"I would have asked earlier," Emily said as she lead Lily to the desk she had her books on, "except that I had detention last night, and that's when Professor Malchite told me that I needed help," she explained.
"Was he too busy to help you himself?" Lily asked as she sat down and looked at the chapter Emily was on. It was like time traveling to look at a description of Floating Charms.
"He didn't offer," she said simply. Lily was on the brink of asking why she hadn't asked him herself when she continued, "I don't like Professor Malchite." That surprised Lily, for she had always liked him, though he had been a little tetchy lately. "He's not a good person," she said, then looked completely ashamed for saying so. "I'm sorry," she said. "Sometimes I say things I feel without realizing I feel that way and without even realizing I'm saying it!"
"Don't worry about it," Lily assured her. "For now, we'll just think about Wingardium Leviosa, okay?" She spent the next half-hour directing Emily on how to do the spell properly. Then, on her third or fourth practice try, she managed to make her pen float a few feet off her desk.
"I did it!" she yelled, and the pen landed with a clank on her book.
"All you have to do it really want for it to float, and you'll be fine," Lily said. "I think that was your only real problem."
"I just can't make myself want to do it for him," she said sadly. It was strange that Emily could have such an immediate antipathy for the teacher, but Lily only tried to reassure her.
"Just imagine I'm there with you then. Or maybe your parents. I'm sure they'd be proud to see you do magic," Lily tried to inspire her.
"No, not my parents," she answered forlornly.
"I'm sorry," Lily said meaningfully and sadly. This was the second time today her parents had surfaced so abruptly, and it was deadening her spirit. "My parents are dead too."
"No, my parents didn't die. They just left me," she said, even more despondent than before. "When I was eight, they just brought me to Diagon Alley and left me there. I know they aren't dead because they have to send money to the place that takes care of me." Lily was truly shocked. What kind of horrible people could ever want to abandon their child? Lily was overcome with a fierce sense of responsibility for the small girl.
"You'll see, Hogwarts seems like home to everyone soon enough," Lily tried to offer soothing words.
"Yeah," Emily replied, completely happy once again. "It's great. Well, I'd better run down to Dinner now, Bye!" she said, and took off quickly. Lily wondered how happy Emily really had been. She spoke of it with such practiced indifference, as if she had tried to make herself not care. Lily pondered this as she walked up to her room, picked up the Sunday news that had been deposited at her bed. Quidditch, as usual, took first page news. Lily, disgusted at the prospect of reading the same article simply re-worded for the hundredth time, tucked the paper under her bed. Divination was even better than reading the same tired old story again and again.
It turned out, though, that her progress was really quite slow, for she really couldn't keep her mind on the subtle nuances of tea leaves—of which there were about 200—when she had so many other things on her mind. Thoughts of Emily almost rivaled those of Mr. Unmentionable as she tried to finish her Divination reading for the next day.
'How could Emily's parents be so horrible? How could he be so horrible? How can my whole goddamn life be so horrible!!!' she thought vehemently, though the last thought came across more as a statement than a question. She felt tired, annoyed, confused, and mad enough to throw fifty plates at mashed potatoes at anyone who came near her. She dropped her Divination book next to her, and, already in her pajamas, forced herself to sleep.
Emily, at that time, was just returning from her dinner and walking with all appearance of being content up to her dorm. "Hey, everyone," she said as she opened the door. A very gruff "Be quiet!" greeted her from behind the curtains of Genna's bed. Katie rolled her eyes and motioned Emily over to her bed, where Alexis and Clarice already sat.
She won't let anyone talk, Clarice wrote on a notepad with a pencil that had a large pink pouf on the end that she had brought from home. She's being completely unreasonable, threatening to float us up to the ceiling and leave us there if we don't be quiet. It's ridiculous. Clarice had gone to a Muggle school that had been strict on handwriting, and hers was rather perfect.
Curse her for being so good at Charms, Katie wrote, scowling. She could probably do it, too. And Alexis is just being herself, she added.
Stubborn.
"Hey! I resent that!" Alexis said. "Just because I won't do whatever Ms. Obnoxious wants us to do doesn't mean that I'm being "Stubborn," as you put it."
"Shut up!" cried Genna, whom Emily thought might be crying at this point. Alexis groaned and continued, in a much louder voice, obviously meant for Genna to overhear.
"I'll talk just as loud as I want to, considering how it is OUR dorm just as much as it is yours and you have no right to make all the rules. It's only 8:00 and nobody is tired enough to go to bed. SO, I will NOT shut up JUST to please YOU!!!" Alexis said rudely, though it seemed to do the trick.
"Fine," yelled Genna, getting out of her bed. "Don't even take the time to ask what's wrong, just get mad and shout," she said, even as she was shouting herself.
"You never gave us a chance," Clarice interjected.
"All day you've been sour, telling us not to talk at all, and definitely not to talk to you. So don't get all huffy at us, it isn't fair," Katie agreed. Emily had watched until now, torn between what to do. The argument seemed to come to a standstill, and so Emily calmly asked if Genna might care to tell that what was wrong now. Genna simply stared at them all in anger, opened her mouth as if to speak, only to shut it quickly and storm out of the room. and walked out the dorm.
"Shouldn't we go after her?" Emily asked the other three.
"She's just going to Cecil," Clarice answered, and the other two nodded, moving to their own beds. Emily knew she felt worse because she had put up with less of it, but she still felt bad. This morning all Genna had done was groan and mumble, and answer sharply and rudely to anyone who spoke to her. But she was fine on Saturday, Emily thought as she walked to her own bed. Someone went wrong last night I bet, she reasoned; something really hurt her and she can't tell us about it, remembering how Genna had opened her mouth to answer only a minute ago. Emily changed clothes and got into bed, hoping that whatever had happened to Genna would turn out alright in the end.
* * *
In a small country neighborhood on the very outskirts of London, a man sat in a large armchair reading the Sunday news. The front page boldly proclaimed the triumph of the Appleby Arrows over the Ballycastle Bats, proclaiming underneath that Northern Britain prevails momentously over Northern Ireland and showing many exciting moments from the match, also giving a detailed description of the event which had even succeeded in raising 100,000 Galleons for charity out of the ticket sales.
He grimaced. On the next page read the headline "MYSTERIOUS VOLDEMORT MASSACRES AGAIN"
A small, hunched-over butler entered the room. "Wonderful news, today, isn't it, sir?" he said, noticing the newspapers. "The Appleby Arrows pulled it off again, I see." He poured some tea into the cup on the end table. "They're your favorite team, if I'm not mistaken."
His master sighed. "Quidditch—first page as usual. I do believe Mr. Avonde's team of the Karasjok Kites won their match as well, though the news would never report it," he said bitterly. Pausing for a moment while he held his tea cup he added, "Please send for him, if you will. That will be enough, for today. You can take an early leave."
"Thank you sir, the missus will be grateful to you, as am I," he groveled, and strode out of the room. Five minutes later Mr. Avonde walked in and sat down in an opposite armchair.
"Any news, Kropp? Other than this Quidditch rubbish?" he asked, throwing the paper to his side where it flew to pieces. The Quidditch players on the front page looked a little miffed, and Kropp Avonde scoffed disdainfully.
"We have found one, sir. Eligible for our needs, young, and impressionable—Perfect," he grinned madly, showing large, gritty teeth.
"Where?"
"Ah, why this is the best part. She is at Hogwarts!" This had the reaction Avonde had expected.
"Are you positive? This could mean the accomplishment of everything we have worked for, everything!"
"It has been confirmed by an inside source," Avonde replied happily.
"Well, you know what to do next. It is good to know that there are such faithful allies in Norway as yourself. It shall not be forgotten." With this, they both stood us, briefly shook hands. "We have come far, Avonde, it would be… unprofitable… for a mistake to happen at this stage. Do not fail."
Avonde, rather than being intimidated, was encouraged. "Do not worry. You shall make the front page yet."
* * *
How's that for a long chapter! I hope you liked it, that was a whole lot of plot in that chapter, so don't forget it all—it's important. Also, I hope my interpretation of Voldie isn't taken wrongly. I perceive him as not always being as corrupted as he is now. I see a lot less exterior hate, but you never know, it could just be me ;)
And I'll give you a leetle hint for the next chapter: Brush up on your French History. Also in case you didn't understand the whole misinterpretation with the name, the English 'E' sounds like a badly-pronounced version of the French 'I'. So, when he asked her is 'e' came next, she wasn't paying attention and said Yes (oui) twice, and instead of one 'i' there were two 'e's. I hope that clears up anything else. Oh, and also, for Voldie's little henchman, his name actually means something *hears gasps of astonishment* Yes, its true, the JKR bug has bitten me! Prize to the first one who tells me what it is! Actually, just the satisfaction of figuring it out *grin* Anywho, any other serious questions I will answer next chapter. Toodles, Love ya Much!
Amelia Bedelia: That's so sweet you said I was sweet about you being sweet! Yay! The madness continues! Haha, and don't worry, I have debates with myself all the time :) AngeloftheDarkMoon: Thanks so much for tuning in for the fic! Thanks a bunch! Ariana: Yes, the end of the chapter will all be explained in due time…Ok, I attempted the "mystical author" thing, but I think I failed…a little…a lot, ok. Haha, I really am crazy, but thanks a lot for following this story for so long! Blueauice: Awwww, you are too cute! Thanks so much for the review! Oh, and Harry/Ginny is a fave of mine, so when you post your fic tell me and I will check it out! Britz: Waaaaaaaaaaaaaah! Where are you girlie? :( Bubblegum*girl: Yay! Thanks so much for adding me to you faves! Love ya much Calypzo: Yes, I am eeeeevil!!! *cackle cackle* hehehe…Ummm, if I seem crazy maybe you should check your last review =D Confuzzler: Ooh, you are an actor? That's so cool! Thanks for the review, I really appreciate it! Cquill13: Coolness for liking the seer thing, though you will see that the Avenirs aren't exactly seers. Stay tuned! mwaz DaemonSrorm: Thanks for the two reviews! I know it was really abrupt when I left Jinxsed, but one day I decided I didn't have enough time for Neopets and I actually *forgot* to post a bye message at the guild. Anyway, thanks for still reading, it means a lot ;) Imagine: Wow, I can't believe you spent days reading this! You people sure do know how to make me feel special. And I loved the ronnerisms (bloody brilliant) Thanks so much! Jesusfreak7777777: Yay! I'm so happy that you think this is the best fic I've ever read, its means soooooo much! Thanks a lot Kaeera: I don't know when you get (got) back from Italy, but I hope you had fun and that you liked this chapter! Oh, and I would love it if you followed up on the "ron crying" ficlet. Mwaz! Le Chat Qui Garde Le Lune: Haha you have some weird friends…but I guess I figured that out when I read your fic :) Lol, good luck on the updating, your muse will kick you in the butt to get going soon enough! Lucky5: Thanks so much for all THREE reviews, you rock my world! I'm glad you still like it even though it has been so long since you've read it. Ttyl! Matrices: Wow, I reviewed matrices in math today… anyway, ignoring that bit of randomness, thanks for the review! I always look forward to hearing from you! Hope you liked that chappie, and thanks for the help with the word ;) Myri Canari: Hey! How are you doing? Thanks so much for all the reviews and the help you gave me. Sometimes I am such an idiot I cant believe it o.~ MWA Seaweed: Wow, thanks for the review and the props for my story! Hmmm…. James serenading Lily you say? I haven't thought of that one before, but maybe I'll see where it goes ;) Parselmouth Majere: tsk tsk for the cliffie?!? Okay, I guess you aren't a cliffie fan, so maybe you wont like this chapter either… :( sadness… PrincessLesse: It's a good thing you say you like angst, because we might be in for a loooooooong angsty trip ;) Tokyo's Angel: Sorry there was such a long interim of no posting… I will be better from now on! Glad you liked the kiss!
THANKS TO ALL MY READERS!!! MWAZ