Boxing Day
Miranda Silver, Episode 4
Ignorance is bliss. -Anonymous
Miranda crept back to her room just before dawn. She tried to sleep, but her mind was racing. She pulled out a quill and her journal and tried to make sense of what she had discovered.
The truth was that she had more questions now than answers. She figured that the little girl with her father must be Sophia- but who was Sophia? She didn't have any aunts on her father's side. Her father and Lucius must know whom she was- then why was she never mentioned? Maybe Sophia had done something to offend the family. Maybe she was a supporter of Voldemort- that was a joke. Everybody knew Lucius Malfoy was the biggest Death Eater of them all, and her father still spoke to him.
She had nothing but a hunch. She scribbled down a quick note. Miranda crept over and awakened the owl Alistair had given her. He hooted groggily. "Sorry, Thoth. Can you take this to Mitchell for me? Oh, come on, don't ignore me like that. It's just 5 minutes down the road!" The tiny owl sleepily nibbled her finger, took the letter, and flew off.
She went to bed, eagerly awaiting the return post.
aaaa
Miranda walked sleepily into breakfast. She slipped into her chair across the table from Cassidy.
"G'morning. Thank you, Hopfrog," she said as the ecstatic house elf brought her a glass of orange juice. She gulped down a plate of scrambled eggs and sausages. Her sister was incredibly excited. Miranda had promised her that they would go on the field behind the house and practice quidditch. They couldn't practice with real balls, but they could always fly around and have fun.
Apollo flew in nonchalantly after breakfast, followed closely by Thoth. The latter landed beside her juice glass and gave her hand a nip. She opened the note and read the reply.
Randa-
My mother's maiden name was Anna Malfoy. She's Lucius Malfoy's sister. What for?
Mitch
So much for her hunch. "Just asking about an essay for potions," she said. She stuffed the note in her pocket. "Come on, Cassidy, let's go," she said, standing.
aaaa
A few days later, on Christmas morning, Cassidy woke the entire household with joyful shouting. Miranda got a new silk robe, a book on great animagi in history, and various other things from her parents. They celebrated the holiday with a game of quidditch, wizard's crackers, and copious amounts of eggnog. Late in the afternoon, Miranda decided the time was right.
"Dad, who's Sophia?" She knew she had hit her mark when her father choked on his eggnog.
"What... how..." he stammered while being patted on the back by her mother.
"I just found this book in the attic, and it said Sofia Silver in the cover... I just wondered who she was," she lied.
"She was your great aunt," her mother said unconvincingly.
"Oh, ok," Miranda said innocently. She then left the room. She walked down the hall for a few paces and flattened herself against the wall.
"One... two... three... four... five... six... seven... eight... nine... ten," she counted slowly under her breath. As if on cue, she heard crying from the other room. She gasped when she realized that it was her father.
She could hear snippets of conversation. "God, Jennifer... I loved her, I really did... why did he have to take her away from me... If it wasn't for Lucius... and Mitchell never..." he breathed between sobs.
"That was 15 years ago, Drew. You've got to let it go," her mother said soothingly.
"I know... I know," said her father, with a deep sigh. "It's just so hard... why didn't the Memory Charm work?"
"I don't know. She must have broken it herself, but I don't know how," her mother whispered. She heard her father push the chair back and stand. She slunk down the hall out of sight, and raced up the stairs.
She bolted the door behind her and threw herself on the bed. She reached down under the bed for her bag. Feeling around, she found her charms book. She hurriedly found the chapter on Memory Charms.
Memory Charms, she read, are quite commonly used, though occasionally dangerous. The most common use is to erase the memories of Muggles who accidentally witness magic. Powerful or specially trained wizards can break Memory Charms, but the process can occasionally cause permanent injury or death. Current studies show that Memory Charms may lose potency over time and should be renewed biannually. A classic study by the late Alfred Binns shows when wizards are "obliviated", as the effects are also known, at an early age, they can unconsciously break the Charm. Researchers estimate that 1/3 of wizards who are admitted to magical mental hospitals are merely suffering from remanifestations of obliviated information. The incantation for this Charm is "OBLIVIATE" /ob LIV e ate/. Not recommended for young wizards, except for pedagogical purposes.
Miranda lay down and tried to work out what she knew so far. The man and woman in the dream were definitely Sophia and Gabriel. The end was her Memory Charm. But what about the green light? What about that spell she had never heard?
Sophia must not be related to her after all. Silver was a common wizarding name. She had even met a girl from Beauxbatons named Meredith D'Argent. Whoever Sophia was, her father was in love with her. Something had happened just before they left Hogwarts, and her father met her mother, and Sophia met Gabriel. Sophia and Gabriel had a son, who had to have been Mitchell; then- there was something wrong with her theory. If her father was still in love with Sophia, why would he marry her mother? If Sophia and Gabriel got divorced, why didn't she just marry her father? Who carved "Sophia Loves Gabriel" on the wall in the attic? Where was Sophia now? Not even Mitchell, her son, knew who she was.
She wracked her brain for a new scenario. If Sophia was related to Andrew Silver, she must have met Gabriel at Hogwarts and married him just after they graduated. They had a son a few years later and then- she disappeared from the face of the planet. Maybe she was a follower of the Dark Lord and had to go into hiding. That seemed the most likely solution, until she remembered her father's words. Who "took her away"? How was Lucius involved?
She had nothing but more questions. She decided to let it wait until after Boxing Day. Maybe she'd think of something else.
aaaa
Miranda sat anxiously in the front room for Alistair's arrival. Her parents had dispatched Hopfrog to greet his family. She only hoped that his parents wouldn't be too alarmed. She heard the oaken front doors swing open. A few seconds later, her father entered with Alistair and his extremely confused parents.
"Hello, Mr. and Mrs. Jones, how nice to see you!" her mother said, entering from the kitchens. "Do come in and have a drink." She led the Joneses to the dining room. As soon as her father closed the door, Miranda threw her arms around Alistair's neck.
"I missed you so much!" she cried. "I've got so much to tell you-" She was cut off when their parents reappeared. Everyone sat down. After a long, strained silence, Alistair's father burst into questions.
"When we came up the driveway, all we saw was an old shack, though Alistair swears he saw a mansion. Then this little green thing ran up to the car," he said, exasperated, pointing at Hopfrog. "It keeps calling me Muggle!"
Miranda, with some difficulty, stifled a giggle. "Oh, of course, you saw a shack," her mother tried to explain. "You're muggles- that just means you're not wizards. Alistair could see the house, because he's a wizard. You see, it's just a simple muggle repelling charm. And that is Hopfrog, our house elf."
Alistair's father was somewhat calmed by this explanation, if not more confused. His mother leaned forward. "You'll have to excuse my husband. He's a little bit easily excited. I've been the one helping Alistair with... wizard things. Charles just isn't used to it yet."
"Of course we understand," said Jennifer sweetly.
Before things could get any more awkward, Hopfrog entered and announced dinner. Everyone retired to the dining room.
aaaa
Dinner passed without event. Afterwards, Miranda and Alistair took a walk alone around the gardens, which were illuminated by charmed balls of fire. A gentle snow fell around them. She explained how her parents had used wizard space to create a 15-acre estate on one acre of land. He thought it sounded like a tax evasion plot.
They found their way to a secluded bench in the garden. She pulled her thick velvet cloak closely around herself. "Are you cold?" Alistair asked concernedly as he put his arm around her shoulders.
"It's nothing," she replied. "I'll be fine." He smiled. He softly put his hand behind her head and leaned in close to her face-
Thoth landed on her leg. "Every time we're alone," Miranda laughed. He was carrying a message from her mother, telling them to come back inside. She put the letter in her pocket and put her gloved hands on Alistair's face. "Listen carefully. Tonight, around midnight, get up and come to my room. If anyone sees you, tell them you thought you heard a scream. They'll think you've heard the family ghost and tell you go to back to bed. I have something very important to show you."
Alistair kissed her softly. "Of course, anything for you," he whispered. They walked, hand in hand, back to the house.
aaaa
Miranda feigned sleep for a few hours. Around 11:30, she got out of bed and dressed. She gathered everything: the photo albums she had found, her notebook, and the picture. She waited nervously for Alistair. At precisely midnight, there was a knock on the door. "Come in," she whispered. Alistair crept in.
"One of the paintings accosted me... but I don't speak German..." he said, confusedly.
"Don't mind Brunhilda. She was a gift," she said, smiling. She was comforted having him there, and it somewhat eased her mind. She sat him down on the bed, and told him everything she knew, in detail.
After she was finished, he sat thinking for a few minutes. Finally, he spoke.
"We have to find Sofia... we have to talk to Mitchell, maybe he knows something!" he ejaculated.
"How can we do that? What if something horrible happened to her? What if Mitchell doesn't know?" she pleaded.
He crossed to her desk and got a piece of paper. "I'm going to owl Mitchell."
"No, don't!" she half-shouted. He ignored her and began writing.
She produced her wand from a fold in her robe. She held it steady, but shut her eyes against it. Her mouth fumbled around the word. "Obliviate!" she murmured.
Alistair stopped dead and looked around. "What time is it... and what am I doing in here?" he asked, puzzled.
"You were sleepwalking again, and you ended up in here," she said innocently. "Come on, I'll take you back to your room."
He smiled a broad, trusting smile as she led him out of her room and down the corridor.
