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The Beginning

by: Laura Owen

Adellis knew what she looked like when she danced. She had seen every movement in her mind before it was ever made. She knew what it looked like. She was too realistic not to know that there were imperfections. The waver of an unsteady ankle. The unrequired twitch of a neck muscle.

Today was no different.

She had come in to the stark gymnasium after hours as she always did when she felt like this. She knew it was that feeling that drove her to keep dancing. She had charmed the PA to play the music that she wanted, according to her thoughts. The first song was slow. It always started slow.

But it would always build.

And it was never music that the faculty wanted the students to hear.

Always muggle music. Always.

It just expressed what she felt better. It always had. It still did tonight.

Tonight the music changed sooner than it ever had. It went from being the slow beautiful strains that reminded the listener of water rippling to the hard, grinding modern rock and roll that her fellows hated.

She was always surprised that there was still so much anger, so much rage, after more than fifteen years. But there it was. She whirled around the polished wood floor in her bare feet. As her hair wrapped around her face she was taken back.

He father had been absolutely livid.

He had been purple. He was mad.

It was Coral that had done the damage. It was Coral who had been slinking around, spying. It was Coral that had suggested America.

Coral. The music changed again. This time to a haunting sort of refrain. Dark and building until it ended abruptly.

And her father had agreed. She would go to a different school. In America. He had known of one.

That one had been this place where Adellis danced now. She had come, and had never left. She had found out years ago that there was nothing worth going back for. Nothing.

She had been out of harms way in America. She had not been there when Voldemort's supporters had arrived at her family's house. She had not been there when her mum and father died. Correction. When her mum and father had been murdered. She had not been there when Coral was tortured, then killed. She would not even have known, had her other two sisters been there that night.

Evangaline and Josephine. The music changed again. Slower now, peaceful. A smile played across Adellis's lips.

Evie and Jo had come to her then. She had been in her last year of school. Her sisters had told her that the three of them were the only one's left. They had never been very far from one another since then. Evie and Jo made trips back to England though. Adellis never went back.

She couldn't.

Because Evie and Jo went to see their uncle. Their uncle was still at Hogwarts. And at Hogwarts, there were too many memories.

Memories. The music became so sad. So mournful that Adellis was dancing through a cloud of tears.

It had been Evie and Jo who had told her that half of their family was dead. They had also told her who had tortured Coral. Tortured her then killed her, leaving his imprint in the crook of her elbow.

A small heart shape. The double S initials.

The music changed again. A tortured love song that made Adellis stop dancing and sink to her knees. She put her head in her hands and sobbed until the song ended on its own. After that, the gymnasium was silent except for a few residual tears from her. After several minutes of just sitting in the silence Adellis, very drained, got up and started for the door, scrubbing the back of her hand over her eyes as if she were still fifteen.

Before she got to the door, Evie walked in. When she saw that Adellis had been crying, she went to her baby sister and held her.

"Oh, darling," she said in her soothing voice. "Why do you do this to yourself?"

Adellis didn't answer. She just held on to Evie. There was always comfort in a sister. For Adellis, there was a special comfort in Evie. Unlike Jo, who was always a little coarse, Evie knew just what to say. She never claimed to be able to make everything better, but she could make the horrible bearable. Golden haired, blue-eyed Evie was like an angel.

Jo was great for reality checks. Jo could put everything in perspective. If it was Jo who had happened on Adellis just now, she would have held her and told her that it had been more than fifteen years. Time to forget. Time to forgive. Jo wouldn't fully understand. But she would try.

Evie pulled back and held Adellis at an arms length. "Can you stand some news from England?"

"Good or bad?" Adellis asked, giving her eyes another scrub.

"I think it is good. Good for you," Evie smiled. That was a bad sign. She held out a letter addressed to Adellis.

"Been reading my mail again, have you?" It was a joke really. All three girls read each other's mail.

Evie just shrugged as she said, "It arrived by express owl about an hour ago."

Adellis gave her a questioning look and unfolded the letter. The handwriting was too familiar.

Dearest Adellis,

I hope all is well stateside. Your sisters tell me that you have settled nicely into your job there at the school, but that you still feel like you are lacking something. I can only hope that you will consider this offer seriously before you make a decision.

We have run in to a problem here at Hogwarts this year. Our Potions Master has finally realized that in order to get the job he has wanted for years, he must apply for it. Silly git. Been telling him that for years, and he just never did it. Until now. He has, of course gotten the job. He has first hand experience with the Defense Against the Dark Arts and will do very well there.

But, that leaves us without a Potions Master. After many hours of meetings, we were only able to come up with a few names to fill the spot. Everyone declined when we asked them to step in for the interim.

Adellis, I was not going to ask you to come and fill in our little gap, but I am in a bit of a pinch. I need someone and the term starts in two weeks. Please, dear, consider coming and helping out for a short while. It will not be for more than a year. By that time we will have found someone and you will be able to return to your home. That is a promise I know I can keep.

Please, consider it.

Uncle Albus

"No. I can't." Adellis could not go back to Hogwarts. Surely he understood that. He had to.

"Now just wait, Adds." Evie was getting upset. "You can't just say no."

"Yes, I can. No."

"Adds, you will go. Uncle Albus needs you." Evie was nearly begging. Evie never pushed Adellis to go back to England. Never.

"Needs me or not, he can find someone else."

"He's got two weeks! He hasn't been able to find anyone all summer!" Evie sighed. "And it probably won't even take a year. People always want the job that has someone in it."

Adellis snorted.

"They do! Look at the git who was Potions Master. He wanted something else while it was full," Evie pointed out.

"Well, that's typical git behavior isn't it?" Adellis scanned the letter again. She could be home in a year. It had been fifteen years since she had been back.

As if she could read Adellis's mind, Evie said, "It doesn't even look the same there now. They moved the lake."

"What?" Adellis didn't think she had heard right.

"They moved the lake. About a hundred yards further out. They got a squid, too." Evie was looking very knowledgeable.

Adellis thought about this. She wondered…

Once again, Evie answered her thoughts, "It's blocked now. Uncle Albus had the painting moved." She was almost grave and her voice was soft. She knew her sister too well not to realize that would come up.

In a rush of courage to keep the tears from coming back, Adellis whispered, "I'll go."

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