Chapter 4
*Tap* *tap* *tap*
Marisa groggily opened her eyes to be greeted with the large, expectant eyes of Prestia. Marisa jumped up, surprised at being awoken so abruptly. After realizing it was only her
house elf, Marisa lay back on her bed and groaned. She pulled her pillow over her eyes, blocking the light from them.
"What IS it, Prestia?" Marisa managed to get out. She flopped back on her side and closed her eyes, trying to salvage a few precious moments of the sleep that was stolen from her.
Prestia was wringing her hands nervously, it was becoming a habit of hers. She walked closer to her mistress and tapped her again. Marisa turned her head around and glared. Prestia
took a few steps back, when her mistress had her hair in such a disarray and she looked at her like that, it made her appear satanic.
"I-I is sorry, miss. Master wishes for you to get dressed and meet him downstairs." Prestia told Marisa while looking down at the floor. She wrung her hands again before continuing,
"He urges you to hurry, as the rest of the group are eagerly awaiting for your arrival." Marisa knew that when Prestia said 'the group', she meant the Death Eaters. "He expects you
down by 7 o'clock". She looked at the time. It was 6:34 a.m.
"Yes, yes, tell him I will be right down," Marisa replied. When she heard about 'the group' it made her much more eager to get downstairs.
Marisa walked to the closet, pushed through the double doors and stood in the middle of it. She rubbed her eyes, yawned, stretched, and looked around the closet for what to wear.
After a couple of minutes, she suddenly realized she didn't know where she was going, so she didn't have the faintest idea of what clothes she should pick. She stuck her head out of
the closet, hoping to catch Prestia before she left. She hadn't.
"Prestia?" Marisa called. The elf turned her large head around, looking for her mistress. She saw Marisa's head peeking out of the closet and she walked over to her. She looked up at
her with her big, blue eyes. She saw Marisa with a calm look on her face, so she relaxed a little bit.
"Yes, miss?" she squeaked.
"Prestia, be a dear and ask Papa where we are going today," Marisa ordered. She walked out of the closet and sat at her vanity, starting to brush her hair. She looked down on her
desk and saw her mirror and jewelry box. She opened the box and heard a sleepy, boring melody play. Sighing, she looked back at her mirror. She saw from the reflection that Prestia
hadn't moved. She peered over her shoulder and left the brush in the air, still brushing. "Is anything wrong?" asked Marisa with mock concern.
"Sorry miss," said Prestia. She lost her nerves, but then gulped, composed herself, and tried again, "but are you forgetting what Master told you?" Prestia shrank back, as if expecting
a blow for just mentioning her flaw.
Marisa, not noticing her timid house elf, thought. She remembered her father at dinner last night, chuckling with his booming laugh. He was happy about something. Marisa tried very
hard to remember what it was, but she found she couldn't. Her family dinners weren't exactly entertaining, so Marisa usually fooled around with the enchanted salt and pepper shakers
while her father and mother used small talk to fill the awkward silence. She could specifically remember something about Quidditch...
"Quidditch?" said Marisa to herself, puzzled. Suddenly, realization dawned upon her, "The Quidditch Cup! How could I forget?" Marisa slapped her hand on her forehead. She ran to
her closet and began looking for an outfit to wear.
"Quidditch," Marisa said to her closet. The clothes began whizzing around again, zipping around the closet. They started sorting themselves again, the formal wear from a few weeks
ago were being replaced with sporting clothes, some bearing the names of teams on the fronts. In her haste, she brought her brush and lip gloss into the closet with her and allowed
them to fix her up for the Word Cup. Marisa was so preoccupied that she didn't even remember than Prestia had corrected her.
"That will be all!" she yelled from the closet. "Try something casual but fun," Marisa instructed her brush. She then told her lipgloss, "Enough that it shows up, but not too much that
it blinds everyone who looks at my face."
By the time she finished telling her beauty products what to do, the clothes were arranged in front of her. Marisa walked closer to the rack, looking for the most appropriate choice.
Her fingers dipped in and out of the rows, occasionally spotting something but putting it back when she found it was not satisfactory. She finally spotted a long, black robe with a
small, tasteful Snitch embroidered on the front. It flapped its wings and flew across the robe, darting from the front to the back. It was simple, but classy.
"This will do," Marisa said.
She chose a simple black hat and matching black shoes to go along with it. Marisa then remembered that the Quidditch Cup was known to go on for days. She went through the racks
again and chose a few more outfits suitable for the event. Carefully carrying them to her bed, she laid them down. She placed her brush and lipgloss back on her vanity and checked
her reflection in the mirror. Tying two black ribbons in her hair, she smiled. The mirror muttered, "Perfect, darling."
Marisa fetched her tiny suitcase (it shrank and expanded magically to fit your needs) and walked back to her bed. She tried to fold her clothes but eventually became frustrated when
she couldn't get it perfect. Annoyed because she couldn't do it right, she called Prestia and made her do it. Prestia obliged right away, cowering beneath another one of Marisa's death
glares. Marisa just rolled her eyes in her typical fashion and walked back to her vanity.
Marisa made some last minute preparations, (smacking her lips together to check lipgloss viscosity, pinching her cheeks to bring out the natural color...the usual things) grabbed her
hat, and walked out of the room. Even though Marisa wasn't really looking forward to going to the Cup, she was glad that she would be joining her fellow Death Eaters again. She
would also see her only friend, Malcolm again. Thinking of those things, Marisa woke herself up and began to skip happily down the halls.
Aunt Sophie tried to stop Marisa to have one of their usual verbal spars, but Marisa was blissfully unaware and skipped right on past. Thelia looked disappointed. Her clanging down
the halls woke some other portraits up, but she paid no attention to them. Some grumpy old wizards shook their fists at them, Marisa just spit her tounge out and kept skipping. Her
curls bounced up and down with each step.
She turned around and saw Prestia with her suitcase, struggling to keep up with her. Marisa laughed at her elf's efforts and skipped a little faster. Prestia finally gave up and slowed
down to a walk. Marisa shrugged and continued her skipping. She stopped at the top of the stairs, fastened her ribbons more securely, and walked down the steps ("One foot in front
of the other, slowly").
She saw a few more elves gathered around one large pile of luggage, occasionally adding a new suitcase to the group. Marisa saw the family owl, Jose, in his cage, hooting at all the
commotion around him. He was a beautiful, raven-black owl. Marisa, feeling pity for his current position, stooped down and straightened the cage, giving him a little more comfort.
Jose hooted to his satisfaction and hopped on his perch. Marisa heard the booming voice of her father and looked up.
"My princess!" he said as he walked to her and embraced her. He smelled strongly of cologne. "I trust you are ready for the big occasion?"
Marisa nodded and tightened one of her ribbons, "Yes, Papa. I cannot wait until I see Malcolm and the rest of the group."
Mario raised a dark eyebrow, "You do not care for Quidditch?"
She shrugged and answered, "I suppose its alright. I am more eager to meet with my friend again."
Mario nodded, understanding. "You and your friend should start your training at the as soon as we get home from the Cup." He started to walk away, but stopped and turned around
as he remembered something. "Oh yes, wait until the end of the Cup, we have something delicious planned," he said mysteriously and winked. Marisa winked back.
He turned and walked away, expecting for her to follow him. When he made sure she was, he said, "You should meet your mother in the kitchen for a quick breakfast. Nancy
prepared a scrumptious meal for us." With that, he nodded and walked to his office.
Marisa continued walking to the kitchen, watching the servants of the household continue to prepare for their departure. She saw some elves vigorously cleaning, hoping to make the
estate sparkling before their master's absence. Others were checking and rechecking bags, making sure that every item was accounted for. She saw Prestia nervously wringing her
hands while sitting on the floor (house elves were not permitted on the furniture) and Tules dusting an ancient vase. She noticed that the floors had changed again, probably thanks to
Nancy. They were a deep blue, the same color blue as in the parlor.
She got to the kitchen and saw her mother, looking elegant as ever, sipping a drink and looking at the latest issue of 'The Daily Prophet'. She glanced up at Marisa upon her arrival
and nodded in her direction. Marisa nodded back and Athene looked back at the paper. Marisa sat at the end of a ridiculously large table and waiting to be served. The cook came out
with omelets and porridge and placed them in front of Marisa. Nancy started shaking sugar on her porridge, Marisa held up her hand to show it was enough.
Marisa looked across the long table and saw her mother daintily holding her eating utensils. Mimicking her, she picked up a spoon with the very ends of her fingertips and tried to eat.
It didn't work very well and she was only able to get a tiny amount on her spoon. She eventually gave up with a loud sigh and gripped the spoon with her whole hand. She even put
her elbow on the table, to further signify her defeat. She heard faint laughing, and she looked up to see her mother giggling at her antics, trying to hide with her newspaper. It wasn't
working, and Marisa felt her face grow flushed.
She started grumbling, muttering to her porridge, when a large barn owl swooped in and left a letter in front of Marisa. She looked up, slightly surprised, and dropped her spoon in
her porridge. This resulted in another laugh from her mother. Marisa paid no heed to her as she looked at the envelope. It was from Malcolm. As quickly as the owl came it, it flew
out, right through the open french door. Marisa was about to open her letter when her mother stopped her.
"It would be rude," she began before patting her mouth daintily with her napkin, "to read at the table." Marisa was about to respond that she herself was just reading a few minutes
ago when her father came walking in.
"Mi familia!" he cried brightly, "I hope your bellies are full, as we are leaving now." He looked around, waiting for them to get up.
"Of course, Mario," Athene said, "Marisa and I were just leaving."
They weren't, but Marisa didn't bother to object. They both stood up, dropped their napkins to their chairs, and followed Mario. Athene glided (and Marisa walked) behind the man of
the house. He led them to the reception room where some stray elves were still checking their luggage. One walked up to Mario to signal that everything was okay and ready to go.
Mario nodded and cast a spell to reduce the size of the pile. Each individual case of luggage was now roughly the size of a thimble. He threw them into his jacket pocket and turned to
his family.
He clapped his hands together and said, "Well! It appears everything is in order!" He opened the large, glass front door and allowed his wife and daughter to walk through. As soon as
they were standing in the daylight, Mario said, "And, we're off!" He lifted one arm in the air and made a large swooping motion. Nothing happened.
Marisa blinked. She saw no means of transportation by which they would get to the Cup. To the left of her, Athene was looking at her nails, clearly not concerned of the lack of
transportation. Marisa looked at her father, about to ask him how they would actually get there. Before she got a chance, Mario put his hand on her mouth.
"A secret," he said, "It should be arriving right about..." he looked down at his watch. There was a loud *BANG!* and Marisa looked up, "now." He finished with a smile.
"Well then," he said, clapping his hands again, "Shall we go?"
