Chapter 4- Underneath it All
Disclaimer: Don't own, nuff said
(Underneath it All is a song by No Doubt)
Charolette sat alone in the parlor of her sisters house, gazing out of the window at the garden where flowers were blooming in abundance.
Her sister was big on keeping a garden, and was very talented when it came to flowers. Charolette was envious, as she had never had a garden to take care of, only a small house plant that died after a few days because she'd over watered it.
The sound of the front door shutting echoed into the parlor, and Charolette looked up from the garden. Maggie entered the room, taking off a huge black cloak.
"Hey Mag, where'd u go? I woke up and you weren't here," Charolette said, glancing at the cloak curiously. Since when had Maggie worn black?
"I was at a meeting, which by the way, I want to talk to you about something." Maggie said, no hint of happiness in her face as there usually was.
"Ya..sure Mag, come sit down." Maggie went and sat next to Charolette, taking her hands in her own.
"Charolette, I want to make you an offer I highly doubt you can afford to refuse," she said, squeezing her sisters hands tighter. "I want to offer you a position with my Lord's...group, and, because your my sister and I am well respected, I feel you would get the highest appraise any newcomer could hope for."
Charolette looked at her sister, but it didn't look like her anymore. Maggie's eyes were dark, her face paler, and her mouth formed in a securely evil grin.
"What group would this be, Maggie?"
"Oh, I think you know...as much as you are not associated with the wizarding world, I know you know of whom I speak when I say My Lord..."
Charolette swallowed and looked away from her sisters gaze, fear built up in the pit of her stomach.
"Voldemort, Charolette, he is rising again...gaining more power...he needs followers, and has asked me to invite you to join us." Maggie held her hard on gaze, never shifting or letting that evil grin fail her face. "You see, we have a lot of money to our name, but Voldemort needs both of us to have it..."
"No, Maggie, I won't join you." Charolette said quickly, pretending to be calm even though her stomach was twisting in a tight knot.
"I'm afraid you don't have much of a choice, we need followers, and I can offer you a position of power...great power...my good aquaintance Lucius Malfoy beckons you to come to our next meeting...to decide if you wish to receive the mark."
Charolette looked at her sister in disbelief now. Had this been why she had brought her sister here? To join the dark side with Voldemort? She would NOT be forced to the dark side, she absolutely refused.
"No, I told you no and that is my final answer," Charolette stood up and walked out of the parlor, but before she'd gone upstairs yelled back down to her sister, "I'm leaving, Maggie, I can't stay here anymore."
~*~
Maggie had disapeered when Charolette came down with her suitcase, so Charolette simply walked out the door.
She didn't know where she would go, but figured since the only place she knew of was Hogwarts, that she'd go there. She had met Professor Dumbledore in a meeting before school had started to thank him for allowing Emma to attend the school. He had said that she was welcome to stay at Hogwarts if she ever needed to, and right now was as good a time as any to take the offer.
She caught a bus that led her to London, and from there she asked around in the Leaky Cauldron for directions into Hogsmeade, which to her present knowledge was located below Hogwarts.
When she'd finally found her way, she walked up the castle steps and went into Professor Dumbledore's office. Professor McGonagall was just coming out of the office, and smiled at her and told her what the password was.
Charolette said the words and the stairs began to move up again, and she hopped up on one and reached the top of the landing. Knocking lightly on the door, she waited to hear Dumbledore say 'enter' or 'lemon drop' or whatever it was that he felt like saying today.
She heard him say 'Cherry Puff' and she figured that was a form of enter in his weird candy language. Opening the door slowly, Charolette walked in, and saw the Professor talking to one of the Headmasters in a painting.
"I don't think it's a good idea to allow a morning break period Albus!"
"Ah, but what you don't understand, is that with a morning break period, I'd have another chance to catch up on eating candy!" the headmaster joked, and then turned to Charolette.
"Well goodafternoon Ms. Charolette, for what do I owe the pleasure of your visit?" the older wizard smiled at her, his eyes twinkling.
Charolette couldn't help but laugh at Albus, even though her situation was terrible.
"I...well you see...I found out today that my sister, who I was staying with...well...shehasbecomeadeatheaterandaskedmetojoin," Charolette said very fast, embarassed by the very situation. The wizard just laughed.
"No need to be ashamed my child, but this is indeed a bad situation...are you planning on staying anywhere?"
Charolette blushed alittle, and stared down at her hands.
"Well, you see, I was hoping to accept your offer of staying here, at Hogwarts, I don't know anybody else in England or all of Europe for that matter and I want to be able to be close to my daughter."
"You are more then welcome to stay here, Ms. Graye, we have extra living quarters near the Gryffindor common room." Albus smiled at her relief, "I will inform the house elves of your presence and ask them to clean up a room for you."
"Thank you so much, Professor Dumbledore." Charolette said, relieved of having a place to stay.
Albus, who apparently had nothing to do at the present moment, invited Charolette to some tea and a game of chess. She accepted, and sat down in an arm chair by the fire while the old wizard conjured up tea and a chess board.
Charolette was about to begin playing when she watched in horror as the Headmaster picked up the Queen and took a big bite out of her.
"Umm..." was all Charolette could get out.
"Mmm...coconut..." Albus looked at her and laughed. "Ah, yes, well you see I like to play with candy pieces, so that when my opponent loses a piece I get to eat it instead of have it broken apart." he smiled and she laughed. He was full of surprises.
They played for about an hour, when the door opened and a man walked in. Charolette looked up and grinned in surprise.
"Sirius!! It's so good to see you again!" She ran up to him and hugged him, then backed down when she saw that he had a look of horror on his face. "Charolette...what..?"
"What's..." she said as she turned to Albus who seemed as surprised as Sirius. "What's wrong?" Charolette asked impatiently, wanting to know why it was a surprise that she knew who Sirius was.
"Charolette, may I ask you a question..." Albus said finally, looking curiously at Charolette. "How do you know Sirius here?"
"Oh..I met him at the airport when we were going to London, why?"
"Well...I'm sure you've heard of a certain Sirius Black?"
Charolette paused, then backed away from Sirius and fell into the armchair she had been sitting in. Sirius looked at her sadly and then looked at the ground.
"I take that as a yes...well what you've heard is not true...but I must beg you that if I tell you the truth you must not word it to anyone, not a soul," Albus said quietly.
Charolette nodded, and looked up at Sirius again, and saw how he looked sadly at his feet and back up to Dumbledore. She suddenly felt like a fool and stood up again, still keeping her distance from Sirius.
"It all began when years ago a group of muggles were killed supposedly along with a man named Peter Pettigrew." Charolette saw Sirius wince at the name, and then Dumbledore continued. "Everyone thought Peter had died, and that Sirius had in fact killed all the muggles...he went to Azkaban for 12 long years before he escaped, his mind set on killing Pettigrew who he found out was still alive."
There was a short pause, and Charolette studied Sirius's expression, which was filled with hatred, an expression that she'd never seen on him before.
"Anyway, it turned out that Sirius here was innocent, and that Pettigrew had killed the muggles and framed Sirius, then ran off to join Voldemort. We got so close to catching him again, but he turned tail and ran, getting away into the darkness."
Charolette felt horrible about backing away from Sirius, and walked up to him again, touching his shoulder.
"I'm so sorry Sirius...I didn't know," she said softly, and watched him look at the ground again, his eyes saddened.
Dumbledore continued. "And so, Sirius was on the run, because everyone still thought he was guilty. He ran off to America, where no one would recognize him, which is where you met him. He came back here and asked for a charm to make it impossible for people to recognize him or remember his face when they turned away. That is why it is so astonishing that you recognize him...because no one else can, except for Harry and I and the staff who know of his presence."
Charolette looked at Dumbledore, confused as to why she could recognize Sirius.
Sirius faced her, and looked into her eyes. He could see apologetic tears forming in them, and touched his forehead with hers.
"I'm sorry Charolette, but I'm a burden, I have to go." With that he ran out of the office, leaving a stunned Charolette and smiling Dumbledore behind.
"Albus, I think I'm going to go up to my room now...I suddenly don't feel all that well..." Charolette said, emptyness shadowing her beautiful face.
"Alright, goodnight Charolette," Albus said, and when she had gone smiled and sat down in his chair.
"What are you smiling about Albus? The poor kids are hurt and your SMILING?" the paintings all said in unison.
"Ah, my friends, what you don't see is that the only way that Charolette, a mere woman Sirius hardly knows and met for the first time a few weeks ago, could recognize Sirius is if they were soul mates."
The paintings whispered to themselves, finally turning to Albus with one wide grin.
~*~