Learning to be 'Normal' Chapter One By Jess

~*~

I picked up the book intended for my reading assignment, due tomorrow. I read out loud the first part, "It was the best of times, it was the worst of times." I snapped the book shut again and hurled it against my bedroom wall.

Some people are quite content to be 'normal', as they would only call it. I, on the other hand, am not. People like my neighbors, Vernon and Petunia Dursley, would be very happy to live at their house on Privet Drive. They would be quite happy to be non-magic and do everything the hard way. I am not.

I live at 5 Privet Drive with my parents, Jacob and Lydia Clairmore. I am almost eighteen years old and I attend the public academy. My hair, thanks to continual color treatments, is a dark brown color with slight red highlights like my mom's; which is also color treated. My eyes are now a pristine blue, due to colored contacts. The same color as my dad's; he also wears colored contacts. You see, in the beginning, which I am getting to, my original hair color was the same as my mum's was. And my eyes were the same color as my dad's were. But because we didn't want to be found by the world we'd just escaped from, we had to change.

So now I lead a normal life, as normal as it can be with neighbors like the Dursleys. But it wasn't always that way.

~*~ It was late one night, one single moonbeam shone in through the window onto the rug in the middle of the Gryffindor common room. I don't remember why I was up, but I do remember him coming down the stairs after I'd been seated on the couch in front of the dying fire for hours. When he came down those stairs leading up to the boys' dormitory, my heart stopped, and maybe his did too. He paused for a moment before seating himself next to me and pulling me close to him. Reaching up, he toyed with the strands of my hair. His hand faltered and I wondered briefly if it was from exhaustion or something else more consuming.

If I could freeze time, that's the moment I would have. With the fire casting shadows across his face and his lips hovering so close to mine I could feel his breath fanning across my face. If could have frozen time, I wouldn't be where I am now.

But I can't freeze time and the kisses ended. I fell asleep there in his arms, if I hadn't, would I have heard him leave? Would I have questioned his intent? Would I have prevented some of it? Would I have gone with him and supported him? Would I have the chance to say, 'I love you.' Maybe I would have.

But I did fall asleep and I didn't hear him leave. And with the exception of a select few, my family among them, neither did anyone else. No one heard him gather his troops and map out the plan in the quiet of the entrance hall. No one heard them steal away and meet the enemy on the grounds of the school. No one heard the first curses thrown that dawn, but everyone was woken rather rudely with the first explosion.

The students ran to the nearest window to see what caused such a sound. Apparently the Astronomy tower had been blown right off. When students figured out why, many ran and hid. Some joined the fray, one for either side. There were adults fighting adults, students fighting students, curses and shields being thrown, and bodies falling silently to the ground. I ran down to the field when I spotted my family. The mortal enemy to our world raised his wand and personally took out each of my family members with an 'Avada Kedavra'. I'd never been so mortally terrified and anguished at the same time.

The very person I'd fallen asleep next to a few hours ago stood before that creature. That thing pulled out his wand and shouted one more 'Avada Kedavra'. My love raised his own wand and muttered a curse at the same time. The words of his curse went in one ear and out another. But what happened next astounded me; as my love's body fell to the ground lifeless, the creature was pulled into his own wand and the bodies of those killed by his wand disappeared. The headmaster of our school picked up the wand of his enemy and snapped it in half and in half again. I turned on heel and ran.

I didn't know where I was running to, and I half realized that I'd dropped my wand somewhere back behind me, but I didn't care. I kept running until I realized I was in a clearing just outside of the town our school was located next to. The next thing I knew a couple had apparated right in front of me. They glanced down at me and the woman knelt to my level.

"Is it safe at the school?"

I shook my head, tears still coursing down my face. That being's followers were still hanging about. She smiled at me and spoke to the man in hushed tones. Once again she approached me.

"Are you alone?"

The tears fell fresh when I nodded in affirmation. He reached out to pat my shoulder and I crossed my arms as if to somehow hold my pain in my hands and make it more bearable.

"We're going to go into hiding of sorts. You're welcome to come with us. We'd be like a family; it'd be our cover. Does that sound good to you?"

I stared at her blankly for a moment or two before nodding slowly. She smiled again and I found it hard not to smile back at her through my tears.

"We won't use our real names of course, and we won't ask you yours for confidentiality reasons. But my name is going to be Lydia Clairmore and this is my husband Jacob Clairmore. And you are our beautiful daughter."

It took me a minute to think of something suitable. "Alison. I'm your fifteen, almost sixteen year old daughter Alison Clairmore."

She held out her hand and I took it and we walked for a long time. ~*~

Two years ago I went from being who I'd been for so long to Alison Clairmore. I'm not sure what happened to the world I'd left, the wizarding world. I suppose I'll never know.

A knock came at my door and I opened it, revealing my mum.

"Ali, what was that sound?"

I looked to my book lying in a heap on the floor on the other side of the room and shrugged. She sighed, frustrated.

"Ali," she warned me. I knew that if I didn't own up now to throwing my book she'd ring it out of me with her motherly ways and I'd never hear the end of it for not telling the truth.

"I threw that stupid 'A Tale of Two Cities' book. I hate it and I got bored with it."

My mum gave me a look that said I was being ridiculous and I needed to knock it off, clean my room, and do my homework. All in one look, Mum's amazing, I'm telling you. She tutted at me and went back to cooking whatever it was that smelled so good downstairs. I would have ventured downstairs then, but it was too risky, with Mum irritated and all.

I heard a car pull up that signaled the return of my dad and smiled as Mum greeted him at the door with a 'Did you have a good day, dear?' and a lingering kiss. I leaned against my doorframe and listened to my parents be in love and smiled. Maybe being 'normal' wasn't so bad after all.
Author's Notes: Eeep! Keep with me, things are bound to get more interesting soon, I promise! Everyone's true identities soon, though I'm sure most of you have some pretty good guesses.