Chapter 3
A fresh start
Soraya lost sight of London an hour ago and was just wondering how much more country she would have to look at before they arrived when the car stopped. Soraya and Amily got out of the car to look at their new house...house? Small mansion more like. The girl's mouths dropped as they tried to take in their new home. Sarah and Derick smiled at the impressed looks upon the girls faces. The front garden was nothing like you see on a mansion like this. No swan bushes out front with a nicely kept lawn, no there was a beauty here all of its own here. It was the beauty of nature. The front garden was covered in wild flowers and the house was painted white, but it had patches of green ivy growing all over it.
"We let nature keep it the way it is, so what do you think?"
The girls couldn't talk; they just closed their mouths and nodded to Sarah's question. They then entered the house, if royalty was to go anywhere it would be here. The place was filled with red and gold colours; they had walked in to a small entrance hall with red and gold wallpaper. There was a set of stairs on the left of the room where you could fit four people standing side by side. There was a red carpet going up the middle of the stairs to the landing, and the sun was gently splashing the room with light.
All ten bedrooms were on the second floor which all had a simple and very different shaped gold plaque on the door so you could tell the difference, as all the rooms were the same. Amily and Soraya's rooms were next to each other they both had circle plaques on the doors. Amily liked this as she didn't like being away from Soraya for the first two days in a new place.
Sarah and Derick gave Soraya and Amily a short guided tour around the mansion. After the bedrooms they showed them the small kitchen at the back of the house, it was like one of those cosy tea rooms in the country and thankfully didn't smell of cabbage. The counters were the colour of pale granite, the floor tiles were white as well as the walls. There were wooden cupboards above and underneath the counters. In the middle of the kitchen stood a standard wooden table with matching chairs. Above it was a light with a yellow lampshade; and the back door to the left of the room over looked a garden. It was just as wild as the front except it was the size of a field, and there were clearings here and there.
There were five bathrooms, some were blue and others were white with some golden fish prints on the walls. All were filled with something or rather that would remind you of the sea.
Then came the dinning room, and like all the other rooms except the kitchen it was the most formal. There was a long table that seated twenty; all around the room in glass cabinets was gold, silver and bronze. It came in the forms of cups, plates and cutlery. There was a long red carpet that went under the full length of the table; the chairs had red velvet cushions fixed to them. The ceiling was covered in a huge oil painting; it was the kind of thing you would see in a cathedral. There were people, angles, lights, faeries, clouds, mountains, lakes and a lot of other things. But unlike the other rooms it was cold, and the sunlight cast eerie shadows all over the room. It felt like there was no happiness in here at all; it was like being in a library. Soraya was too scared to speak in case she woke up something that was sleeping underneath the floor boards. Soraya did not like this room at all and she would not be caught dead in it on her own. So she decided to steer well clear of this room. She didn't know why but she could feel something in this room that wanted to grab you and take you away forever to some nasty place where you will never be happy again.
Then came the last room, it was a large living room. There were fifteen squashy armchairs and five sofas; each had a different sized table next to it. Soraya liked this room very much, it was warm and welcoming as you walked in. The fireplace was at the far end of the room; it was quite big and had metal carvings around it.
"Now head on up to your rooms and unpack. Then you can come down to the kitchen for lunch."
The girls nodded and ran up the stairs to their rooms and started to unpack. They hid their brooms in Soraya's closet as they weren't so sure that they were magic folk. Then they heard a knock at the back door underneath Soraya's balcony so they ran on to it to see who it was. They just got out on to it to see a shadow going in to the house, the girls stayed there for a few seconds then went back inside.
Soraya looked around her room, her bed was king sized and had hangings all around it. To the left of her bed was a closet the size of a man and the width of two. Opposite her bed was a chest of draws with wooden carvings on them. On top was a large round mirror which had a very interesting frame. There were two snakes going round it, they met at the top with their fangs bared to one another. Their tails coiled round one another at the bottom of the mirror which looked like a small unicorn horn. She examined the snakes and remembered her dream; she looked in to the mirror and slowly ran her index finger down her scar.
"A girl like you with such beautiful eyes should not be so worried."
Soraya jumped, did the mirror just talk? 'Unless these people are magic folk then I must be going crazy.' She thought staring in to the mirror waiting for it to speak again so she could confirm her suspicions. But unfortunately it did not and Amily came in with a great big grin on her face. So they left their room and started down the stairs. But Amily decided to look at the animal carvings on the banisters, so Soraya waited for her at the bottom of the stairs.
So many thoughts were buzzing round her head, 'Is this guy the surprise?' 'Are they muggles?' 'Will I be able to stay here for longer than a year?' Just then Amily tugged on her cloths and Soraya snapped out of the stupor. Then they both headed towards the kitchen.
Amily and Soraya stopped outside the door, they could hear voices. But the other one sounded so familiar and it hit Soraya and she knew who it was. It was the voice of Albus Dumbledore she heard all those years ago.
"Derick, Sarah it is know time to tell Soraya and Amily the truth."
"Yes Albus they have been in the dark about our world for too long."
"That is correct Derick. But in order for them to find out they must first come in from the other side of the door."
Soraya and Amily's mouth's dropped in horror, how did he know they were there? Soraya just looked at Amily and shrugged her shoulders, then whispered to her. "Probably like Dean said, he's a great and powerful wizard."
So they opened the door to see a man with a silver beard sitting at the table with Sarah and Derick. He looked like the same old Dumbledore with his half moon glasses and green robes, he smiled and his eyes twinkled at them. But Soraya thought that his eyes were disturbing, they were light blue and seemed to be scanning her. So she looked at the floor for she was still thinking about that dream she had last night. He seemed to know something was clearly going on in her mind and had a child like curiosity spread over his face. He then spoke so suddenly it made Soraya jump.
"Soraya why so modest?"
"Sorry sir?"
"Come now we both know it's your birthday."
"Oh yes....umm, happy birthday to me." They laughed and Amily grinned, Soraya looked at the floor and could feel her face burning.
Then Dumbledore proceeded to rummage through a bag that lay on the table. He pulled out a parcel with the most dazzling wrapping paper. The colours seemed to swirl magically. Soraya stood there for a moment entranced by it and then looked up at Derick and Sarah.
"So you aren't muggles then?"
"No, I heard you lived like muggles when you lived with the Hung's.
"Yes. I suspected you weren't when the mirror spoke to me; I thought I was going crazy."
"Well you can safely say you're as sane as any of us here."
Soraya smiled and looked back down at her mysterious package; she ripped off the wrapping paper to reveal a plane looking box. Then slowly she opened it, inside what ever it could be was covered in thin sheets of tissue paper. She moved them to reveal a long piece of black material; she took it out and it fell to the floor. She was holding a hood and saw it was a cloak. The outside was as black as the night's sky whilst the lining was as silver as moonlight. They went together perfectly; it was light and looked magnificent. Not a stitch or seam out of place. Dumbledore smiled at her and was very pleased she liked her present. At first she didn't know what to say and she looked at Dumbledore in amazement.
But he spoke first; it was in a clam and almost sad kind of way.
"This cloak is the last thing your mother made before she died. The cloak was meant for you in the first place so I am just returning it. The cloak is made on the basis of your parents favourite colours. Your mother's was silver so it was placed close to you to symbolise a caring and loving colour. You father's was black and this symbolises protection. Why don't you try it on?"
Soraya put the cloak on slowly, not daring to damage it. The cloak was light but warm at the same time and she closed her eyes. She tried to remember the pictures that the Hung's showed her of her parents. She imagined her mother hugging her close and her father in front of her with his wand out. Soraya smiled as she opened her eyes, Dumledore looked very pleased indeed.
Derick looked a bit worried at Dumbledore.
"Don't you think this is showing a bit of favouritism?"
"Not at all Derick, I am just simply returning something that was hers to begin with. Remember this is not the first time I have done this."
"Yes Albus."
Soraya looked at her reflection in the window, and saw the cloak was indeed magnificent. Her hair just seemed to melt in to it as it was exactly the same colour as the cloak.
"Thank you sir, this really is a great present."
"I'm glad you like it Soraya, your parents will have been very proud to here that. Now there is something I must tell both of you, I don't know whether it's good news or bad news to you so I guess we shall all find out now. Eight years ago Lei and I came to a ...certain agreement. I promised him that I wouldn't take you in to Hogwarts until Amily turned eleven."
"So am I to go to Hogwarts with Amily now?" "Yes. If you choose to go, then the Hogwarts express shall be leaving at kings cross station on the thirty first of August. It shall arrive and depart on platform nine and three quarters. The train will leave at exactly eleven O'clock. Whether you choose to go or not is entirely up to you two."
Amily and Soraya looked at each other for a moment; they couldn't believe their luck. A new home and a new school...no, not just a school. But one for witches and wizards unlike any other.
They both had stunned looks upon their faces and their mouths dropped at Dumbledore's proposal.
"Well...I..."
Soraya fell silent as she heard a knock at the back door. Sarah got up and answered it, Soraya and Amily breathed a sigh of relief to be taken out of this tense situation.
"Hello Serverus, here to see Dumbledore?"
"Yes Miss Redwood, I have some news that I will need to discuss privately."
The man sounded just as posh and gentlemen like in her memory. Sarah emerged from the doorway and Snape stepped in. He looked older and in his prime from the last time she saw him. Soraya spotted something white under his greasy hair on his forehead; and it looked suspiciously like a bandage.
Then he caught Soraya's eye. She hated looking in to those cold eyes and quickly looked away. Then she felt someone tugging on her cloak, it was Amily and she was signing hurriedly. Soraya nodded at Amily and asked to be excused, so she folded the cloak back in to the box. They just reached the door when Dumbledore called their names, so they stopped and turned round.
"I hope you will give more thought to what I said, but I must insist that I get an answer within two days. Otherwise I cannot let you in to the school. I shall be here on business as well as Serverus when I am not talking to him or in meetings. Then I will be more than happy to answer any questions you may have."
"Ok sir."
Snape was now at Dumbledore's side and whispering something in to his ear. Soraya thought he looked very annoyed about something. So Soraya and Amily ran up to Soraya's bedroom with her mind buzzing like a bee. 'Questions? What questions do I possibly have for a wizard like Dumbledore to answer?' Amily and Soraya hurried up to Soraya's room and closed the door. They started signing so no one would here what Soraya said if she spoke.
"A school for witches and wizards, what are they nuts? I hardly know anything about the wizarding world and you know just as much as me Soraya."
"Don't worry I heard from Dean that hardly anyone knows about magic when they start. But he started at your age what do they expect me to do? Start at the sixth year and work my way up?"
They talked and talked for two hours straight but still couldn't decide whether to go there or not.
Just then Sarah knocked on the door and invited them to take their brooms and go flying out back. Soraya and Amily stopped talking instantly and were overcome by excitement. So they ran to Soraya's closet and quickly unwrapped their Firebolt's. Sarah gasped as their brooms fell on to the bed.
"Wow Firebolts! You must have had a very rich family before you came to us."
"Yes....well grandma anyway. She gave these to us for all the family occasions she missed because of her illness...before she died. So we take care of these really well in memory of her."
"I see, will you still want to ride them then?"
"Well she didn't buy them to be ornaments Sarah."
They laughed as they went back down the stairs towards the kitchen to get out the back door.
Derick like Sarah gasped as he saw what was in the girls hands, Dumbledore just smiled at the girls. Snape on the other hand looked curiously at them; did he have a trace of disappointment in his face? Soraya had no time to comprehend this because just then Sarah had opened the back door. So the girls ran out to their field sized back garden and looked around.
"Um...Sarah. won't muggles see us if we fly too high? There is nothing but small hedges lining the sides of the garden."
"Don't worry about that Soraya there is a spell on this place to stop muggles seeing you at all. No planes or helicopters fly around here so you could go all the way up and touch the clouds. Just stay in the perimeter of the garden OK."
"Will do Sarah." This suited Soraya fine.
So she mounted her broom and flew all they way up to the clouds, she touched them and flew back down again. The Firebolt was indeed very fast so it only took a few minutes to do this. Amily watched longingly at Soraya flying all over the place, for Amily was never taught how to fly on a broom. Soraya was fifteen when the Hung's died and had been flying for four years, but Amily's parents died when she was nine. So she just stayed on the ground and watched for a while.
Then Sarah came up to Amily and Soraya flew back down to her.
"Are you OK Amily?"
"She can't fly Sarah as she hasn't been taught yet."
"Well your not suppose to do this but...will you teach her Soraya? As I will be talking to Dumbledore and the others right now. Just remember what you were taught and everything will be fine."
"Ok Sarah. Come here Amily, broomstick training one on one is about to begin. Right first the grip...yes that's it. Ok now kick off....ok; now stay there for a couple of seconds...yes. Now lean to the sides and slowly turn....yes, great. Now finally to land, just lean forward a bit and touch back down.....perfect, you're a natural flier Amily."
So for a few minutes Soraya decided to watch Amily take her first real flight. She was going fast as she was on a Firebolt. But it was a lot slower than the speed Soraya was going a few minutes ago. Now Soraya knew that Amily would not try to copy her unless Soraya told her it was safe.
A few years back the Hung's gave Amily her first horse riding lessons and Soraya was already way ahead. She watched Soraya gallop at full speed around a field that day. So Amily decided to do the same. This was a big mistake as the horse was quickly out of control, and as a result Amily was hit off the horse by a low hanging branch. She was in hospital for a few days lying unconscious on a bed with her head in bandages. It was a hard lesson to learn but she learnt it well. From then on she knew better than to copy Soraya when she wasn't capable of doing it herself.
Soraya hadn't been on a broom for a few years and decided to go flat out and see what the broom could do. It wasn't long before she realised she had an audience. Soraya had just performed a few quidditch tricks and was applauded for it. She had turned a deep shade of scarlet and her face was hidden when her hair feel over it. So for the rest of the afternoon Soraya and Amily forgot about lunch and just flew around until it got dark. The others watched in the comfy chairs that Dumbledore had conjured up.
Soraya took it upon herself to teach Amily a few tricks on the broom. So they rolled, dived and performed sharp turns. Everything went well until the three hundred and sixty degree turn; Amily didn't stop very well and nearly fell off. The spectators gasped; all except Snape who just raised his eyebrows. But Soraya was right by her side and caught Amily just in time, Amily decided she had enough and landed beside the others.
Dumbledore then proceeded to conjure up a long table and some more squashy chairs. It seemed dinner had been mentioned but Soraya decided to stay up until she called was down. Then she landed a few feet away from the table and sat down. The seating around the table went Sarah, Derick, Amily, Soraya, Snape and Dumbledore who was at the head of the table. The food was delicious, and there was a bit of a selection too. Chips, ham, turkey, chicken, rolls, butter, margarine, peas, carrots, steak pie and pasta. Soraya and Amily had a bit of everything because when you had the food at the orphanage for two years anything will taste better. After their meal which was more like a small feast desert came along after the dinner things were magically cleared away. Custard, chocolate cake, three sorts of ice- cream, strawberry, chocolate and vanilla, whilst Dumbledore conjured up one of his cream teas.
Everyone tucked in to the wonderful dessert, and then Soraya felt a little tug on her clothes.
"What is it Amily? What? You want the strawberry ice-cream? OK." The flavour Amily wanted was on Snape's side and out of reach. Soraya was a bit apprehensive about asking him for it but shrugged her shoulders and turned to him. "Excuse me Serverus can you please pass the strawberry ice-cream?"
Snape's mouth thinned and at once Soraya knew that she must have said something wrong. He didn't look at her while he spoke; but it was in a kind of annoyed and demanding tone.
"Any child who attends, or will attend Hogwarts School will call me professor Snape or sir. I expect nothing more or nothing less, and I hope you shall remember that in future." Soraya looked back at Amily who was also glaring at Snape, then sighed and signed to Soraya.
"Don't worry about it I'll have vanilla instead."
She reached for the bowl but Soraya stopped her and signed back angrily. "If you want strawberry ice-cream then that's what you shall get."
So she got up and went over the strawberry ice-cream, but Snape took it as she went to take it. This made her angrier and sat back down without it. Then Snape put the bowl back down and Soraya was livid; she noticed he didn't even put any of it in his bowl.
"It's OK Soraya really I'll have another flavour."
But Soraya just stopped her hand again, this time she swallowed her pride and turned to Snape again. This was a matter of principal now. Taking care to steady her voice and not grit her teeth she spoke calmly towards him.
"Professor Snape, sir. May I please have the strawberry ice-cream?" Snape's lips curled up in to a sneer. He was pleased at himself for getting what he wanted without having to do much at all.
So he picked up the bowl and handed it to her and was still sneering all through dessert. Soraya lost her appetite after that and she looked very angry indeed, so she pushed her bowl away and headed back to the house.
Then she and Amily went up to Soraya's room. She was too angry to notice that the plaque on her door was changing shape very slowly, but it was there. She jumped on to her bed and started pounding her pillow. Amily didn't look as annoyed as Soraya and waited for her to calm down.
"Jesus Christ! Who does that guy think he is? Royalty?" Amily signed angrily too Soraya. "Yeah what a jerk!"
"You know what I think Dean was right about that guy. He's a total git and wants to make every kids life a living hell. Oh god...and he's gonna be here for two days. Can this possibly get any worse?"
Amily looked at Soraya and answered. "Yes you could end up in Slytherin, and then you will never be able to shake him."
"Geez, thanks for the answer Amily."
"Well you did ask a question and I gave you an answer."
"Huh, good point little sis. I'm tired how about you?"
"Yeah, I'm going to bed. See you in the morning Soraya."
"Good night little sis."
Just as Amily left Soraya's room Dumbledore entered with a sad look upon his face. He made his way to a puzzled looking Soraya.
"I saw what happened at dinner tonight and I apologise for Serverus's behaviour. But in time you will understand."
'I understand all right, I understand that he is a sad git who needs to get a life.' But she didn't say that to Dumbledore so she took a deep breath instead and said.
"Ok sir, in time I may find a way to forgive him. But really he's a total..." Then words failed her completely. She could not bring herself to say the next word with Dumbledore in ear shot.
"I think he was trying to give you a lesson in his way of seeing manners. But I had a word with him and he will not do it again."
"Thank you sir."
With that Dumbledore left and Soraya sat on her bed for a few minutes lost in her thoughts. Then she tried to get to sleep and turned out the light. But she couldn't as her mind was still buzzing, and she was still fuming about Snape. She tried breathing and counting to ten but nothing worked. She could not empty her mind to get to sleep and in the end she gave up. She then realised she felt very thirsty so went down stairs to get a drink of water.
Soraya just past the living room door when she could hear voices. Nothing grabbed her attention until she heard her own name mentioned by Derick.
"What if Lei was right about Soraya not going to Hogwarts?"
"You saw what happened to the Hungs. If the girl did go to Hogwarts then she may have been able to help them." Snape was talking this time, and what he just said produced a fresh wave of anger in the pit of her stomach.
It was as though he just dismissed their deaths as though it was nothing. But she was pleased to hear the note of unmistakable disappointment in his voice that she didn't go.
Right now Soraya imagined that she ran in with her Firebolt and brought it crashing down on to his greasy head. She wouldn't have if she had the power to anyway. She respected Dumbledore too much; it was as though he commanded respect without having to ask for it at all. Where as Snape acts like a total git just to get something he can't. So he has to ask for it by making an example of students that crossed him.
"SHE is a pure blood witch, and her level of power should be controlled. If they can't be then who knows what will happen. So she has to learn to control them for all our sakes!!!"
Soraya had a good mind to go in there and tell him to shut up. But Snape raised his voice again just like all those years ago. With a start she knew what must come next, so she looked down the hall to hide. The only available place which was close and quick to get to was...the kitchen. 'I don't believe this!' But she had no choice.
So quickly and silently she ran to the kitchen and dived behind the wall. She heard Snape storm out of the living room. 'Please don't come in here, please!' She prayed with all her heart, but it sank as she could her him approaching the dark room. It was like dark kitchens seemed to attract him like a magnet. So Soraya decided to busy herself with getting a drink of water. She took a glass from a cabinet above the sink, filled the glass with water and drank deeply. She filled it again and was just about to walk out when she heard him step in to the kitchen.
She turned round; and saw his figure was in the doorway. But he was not as intimidating as before. Soraya figured this was because she was a lot taller than all those years ago.
"So here we are again, history repeating itself."
"Except I can get my own water this time."
"So it would seem; I heard you became very independent after you left the Hungs." Snape had a slight sneer on his face as he said these words. A fresh wave of anger even more powerful than the last erupted within side of her.
Soraya tried very hard to keep her voice steady with what she said next.
"The Hungs were murdered by a very dark wizard. They died trying to save me; and they were the closest thing I've ever had to a family that I can remember."
"You heard what was said in the living room didn't you?"
"Yes."
"Well going to Hogwarts or not they still died."
"But they saved my life twice! Sir."
"Indeed, maybe you should have gone to Hogwarts. You might have been able to have done something to help them against the dark lord."
"I never would have done anything to disrespect Lei."
"But Lei isn't here anymore."
"He also taught me to respect the wishes of the dead."
That was it; Snape had been beaten at his own game. Soraya had won and felt very pleased with herself. He walked over to the table and sighed, he placed his hand on his head as he sat down.
"You know your right sir history does repeat itself. You have just done the same thing from all of those years ago." Snape looked up; he had a trace of annoyance on his face.
He got up and headed towards another door which led to the dining room and left Soraya in the kitchen. Soraya was extremely pleased with herself. Not only did she beat Snape at his own mind game but managed to drive him out of the kitchen with hardly trying. She had a grin on her face all the way back to her room, and when she got in to bed Soraya found it very easy to fall asleep. 'Heh, heh too cool. I hope you like a taste of your own medicine Snape cause I can dish out more of that when required.' She sighed deeply and closed her eyes. 'A perfect end to a perfect birthday.'
She was woken up the next morning by Sarah and she told her to come down to breakfast. Soraya got changed in to her clothes, and then went near the basin in her room to wash. It instantly filled with water, Soraya loved magic things like that. They just seem to read your mind and do exactly what you want them to do at the precise moment in time. The water was perfect, not too hot and not too cold. The water was very clean and not as hard as the water in the orphanage to the skin. The water wasn't as clean as the water here either. You could drink the water back at the orphanage safely, but not too much as the impurities can make you very ill if you drink enough. Winter was the only time you could drink as much as you liked. Because the constant rain and ice made the water very clean, but in the summer it turned slightly yellow. Now that was when you couldn't drink a single drop and could only wash in it. So the cafeteria was mostly filled with bottles upon bottles of water. This came from the supermarket a mile down the hill at the edge of the village. Soraya took a long time over washing herself with this new and clean water which she hadn't seen in a long time. Amily came out of her room when Soraya had finished with a broad grin on her face.
"You like the water too?" Amily nodded happily.
For the first time in a while they both felt cleaner and more refreshed than they ever had at the orphanage.
So Amily and Soraya left her room. Amily was just about to go down the stairs when Soraya called her back.
"Amily come and look at this."
Amily's eyes widened, the plaque on Soraya's door was no longer shapeless. It had taken the form of a very proud and fierce looking gryphon. It was holding a small banner which read 'Soraya's room'. Amily went to her door to see the plaque had turned in to a Chinese dragon; Soraya and Amily looked puzzled.
They headed down the landing and saw Snape's room had a snake on it.
"Well he is the head of Slytherin house isn't he? Yes I would say this plaque is very fitting for him." Amily nodded in agreement and then proceeded to look at Dumbledore's plaque. It had changed in to the shape of a lion. Now Soraya and Amily were confused, they couldn't see how Dumbledore could be a lion.
"Heart of a lion maybe?" Amily just shrugged her shoulders.
"Seems like we have to ask about this one Amily because I'm stumped."
So they made their way down to the kitchen for breakfast, Soraya swallowed her pride and her temper. 'I will be calm, this is my first day here and I will not let Snape ruin it for me being the turd that he is.'
But when she entered Soraya was relived to see that Snape was leaving. She felt relief wash over her as he stood up before an empty plate. 'Yes!' Soraya kept a straight face to show that she wasn't pleased he was leaving, and by the looks of things passed with flying colours. Snape looked at her with a puzzling look; Soraya looked at her feet and felt very uncomfortable. She didn't like being looked at like that. It was the look Dean gave her in Miss. Baldwicks office when she made the glass explode. She managed to hide her discomfort on her face but her eyes betrayed her when she looked up. Snape's mouth curled in to a slight sneer, and then a burning hatred entered her eyes with her face still straight. Dumbledore noticed this and steered Snape out of the room to break their eye contact.
He succeeded and the tension in the air lifted. Derick kissed Sarah on her cheek and left, Snape look sickened at the momentary love scene as he apperated. Dumbledore was last to leave and winked at Soraya through his half moon spectacles. Then he smiled and said goodbye to Sarah and Amily. His purple robes floated behind him as he made his way out, and then he too was gone. Soraya was sad that he left; she would have loved to talk to him. When Dumbledore was around she felt safe and relaxed.
"Where are they going Sarah?"
"Sorry Soraya, even though you are here I can't answer all your questions. Besides Dumbledore's gave orders not to say anything to you, really ....I'm very sorry."
"No need to apologise Sarah, even though Dumbledore has only been here a few hours I feel like...I already respect him."
"What about Serverus?" Sarah asked as they sat down to have breakfast, Soraya sighed and avoided Sarah's yes.
"I swore to myself that I would not talk ill of anyone for at least a while no matter what. So I think I will stay quiet about him... I hope you understand."
"Perfectly, Serverus isn't easy to get along with, especially when you are a student at Hogwarts." Sarah served eggs, bacon and toast for breakfast. After last night's feast Soraya thought she wouldn't be able to eat for a month. But Soraya and Amily were very hungry and had double portions of everything.
"You knew him at Hogwarts?"
"Yes." Sarah's face changed to a deep sadness. There was also the slightest and almost unnoticeable trace of hatred. "Mind you he wasn't easy to get along with then either. In fact...you may be inclined to call him a git!"
Soraya dropped her toast and pretended to be surprised and shocked. "Sarah! I thought we were supposed to be setting an example to one another."
Sarah laughed; Amily grinned from ear to ear and clapped. After breakfast Sarah took Soraya and Amily outside in the back garden.
"You remember when I told you to stay in the perimeter of the garden when you were flying last night?"
"Yes I wondered about that last night."
"Well grab you brooms and meet me at the end of the garden just before the path."
So Soraya and Amily made their way to the end of the garden holding their broomsticks in their hands. They reached the end of the garden and started to look for the path. It wasn't easy to find as the beginning of it was covered by wild flowers. Then Sarah showed up and helped them to find it.
"Ok now obviously what I am about to show you has to be kept within magic folk, so no muggles!"
"Don't worry Sarah we know not to say anything about the magic world to muggles. After all we managed not to let anything slip for nearly two years whilst in the orphanage didn't we Amily?" Amily nodded in answer to Soraya's question, Sarah became a great deal calmer after the agreement the girls made.
So Sarah led them up the path to what at first looked like an enormous stretch of plain, flat land. But as they moved closer hills started to appear and there was a gigantic lake. A wall which was almost twenty or thirty feet high looked over the lake. There were also different patches of land from woodland to desert which were at least the size of a couple of big fields. There was a small mountain range in the distance; there was even snow on top of it. It was too low down to be cold enough so Soraya knew that must have been put there magically.
Sarah grinned at the stunned looks on the girls faces.
"So what do you think?"
Only one word was in Soraya's mind that left her mouth at that moment in time. "WOW!"
Sarah then mounted her broom and told the girls to do the same. "Right first we are going to go round the perimeter. Just so you know the boundaries to how big this place really is. Then we shall fly around to give you a bird's eye view of this place." So they took off and kept as close to the edge as possible when Sarah showed them around.
"How big is this place?"
"Oh, about a thousand acres or so."
"How can you afford to keep a place as big as this?"
"The ministry of magic pays us to keep many magical creatures for use in potions or wands you know, that kind of stuff."
"What kind of creatures?" Said Soraya nervously. Amily didn't look too happy about the situation either.
"Oh the usual. Hippogriffs, unicorns, dragonflies, flobberworms, fireflies, there are just too many to name right now. I'll give you two a list when we land back at our house. Don't worry; the creatures are quite tame and harmless. Except for our colony of dragons as they you can't tame a dragon so they are quite wild."
This piece of news made Soraya nearly fall off her broomstick, she looked at Sarah this time in genuine shock.
"Dragons, you have a colony of dragons here?"
"Don't worry there is a charm on to keep them happy and they won't hurt you. But offend them and make them angry...by the looks on your faces I don't have to explain the rest."
"Believe me Sarah there is absolutely no chance of us making the dragons angry is there Amily?" Amily shook her head vigorously in agreement.
It took an hour for them to get to the end of one side of the land, even on a broomstick it took a long time. Soraya had to slow down for Sarah and Amily. Sarah only had a nimbus two thousand and Amily was still a beginner at flying and couldn't fly as fast as Soraya. The flight ended in a long stretch of cliff heading in to the sea.
"The cliff never shrinks because there's a spell to make it invincible. So the sea won't eat it away making the land shrink. Because even though there is a lot of land for the animals we can't afford to rebuild the cliff or loose any land. There are also animals living in the cliff that we breed as well."
They kept flying around the perimeter until they covered the whole thing and then turned in to the land for a guided tour.
One end the lake turned in to a large river slowly turning in to a waterfall at the end. This cascaded down the side of a cliff at least twenty or thirty feet high. The other half of the lake was covered in shadow by the wall that was fifty or sixty feet high. All around there were stables, paddocks, barns and holes in the ground scattered all over the place. Soraya tried to count them, she thought she missed a few but Soraya estimated there were about three hundred.
Then Soraya noticed a large cabin not too far from their house.
"Who's in the cabin Sarah?"
"No one for now Soraya."
"For now?"
"In a few days some students from Hogwarts will be here to learn more about magical creatures. For you see Hogwarts have a wide range of magical creatures there, but there are some things Hogwarts cannot provide. So each summer they take their sixth year students here who are learning care of magical creatures. So they learn about the ones we have got and Hogwarts haven't."
For the rest of the morning they flew all around the place. Even went in to the canyon and out again.
"Where are the dragons being held?"
"Over there, behind that barn covering the entrance to a cave. It goes down to a lava pit so they can place their eggs there to hatch."
"Surely you and Derick can't be doing this all by yourselves."
"No Soraya, the workers stay in that large cottage over there by the lake. Unless they have their own homes, then they can just apperate later on."
"Apperate?"
"Yes vanish from place to another." As they spoke three men and a woman came out wearing robes. Each of them had a badge with MAS on the silver gleaming badges in capital black letters. Soraya and the others were low enough to make them out. The workers waved, Soraya and Amily waved back.
"M.A.S?"
"Magical.Animal.Sanctuary."
Soraya looked at her watch, it was nearly two o'clock. They had been flying around for six hours. Apparently the workers had come out to feed the animals. Amily's stomach grumbled and she blushed as Soraya and Sarah turned to look at where the noise was coming from.
"Don't be bashful we have been out here for a long time. I was wondering when you two were gonna be hungry." So they flew back to the house, Soraya turned back to see the sanctuary but only saw the flat field again.
"A vale of illusion if your wondering, it changes back in to a field with a certain distance. Even aeroplanes don't see it."
"Very cool."
Soraya and Amily both agreed that this was the best place they had ever been to yet. They landed next to the house and propped their brooms to the right of the door. Then made their way to the kitchen for lunch.
***** Finished....hurrah. The next chapter won't be as long I promise.
A fresh start
Soraya lost sight of London an hour ago and was just wondering how much more country she would have to look at before they arrived when the car stopped. Soraya and Amily got out of the car to look at their new house...house? Small mansion more like. The girl's mouths dropped as they tried to take in their new home. Sarah and Derick smiled at the impressed looks upon the girls faces. The front garden was nothing like you see on a mansion like this. No swan bushes out front with a nicely kept lawn, no there was a beauty here all of its own here. It was the beauty of nature. The front garden was covered in wild flowers and the house was painted white, but it had patches of green ivy growing all over it.
"We let nature keep it the way it is, so what do you think?"
The girls couldn't talk; they just closed their mouths and nodded to Sarah's question. They then entered the house, if royalty was to go anywhere it would be here. The place was filled with red and gold colours; they had walked in to a small entrance hall with red and gold wallpaper. There was a set of stairs on the left of the room where you could fit four people standing side by side. There was a red carpet going up the middle of the stairs to the landing, and the sun was gently splashing the room with light.
All ten bedrooms were on the second floor which all had a simple and very different shaped gold plaque on the door so you could tell the difference, as all the rooms were the same. Amily and Soraya's rooms were next to each other they both had circle plaques on the doors. Amily liked this as she didn't like being away from Soraya for the first two days in a new place.
Sarah and Derick gave Soraya and Amily a short guided tour around the mansion. After the bedrooms they showed them the small kitchen at the back of the house, it was like one of those cosy tea rooms in the country and thankfully didn't smell of cabbage. The counters were the colour of pale granite, the floor tiles were white as well as the walls. There were wooden cupboards above and underneath the counters. In the middle of the kitchen stood a standard wooden table with matching chairs. Above it was a light with a yellow lampshade; and the back door to the left of the room over looked a garden. It was just as wild as the front except it was the size of a field, and there were clearings here and there.
There were five bathrooms, some were blue and others were white with some golden fish prints on the walls. All were filled with something or rather that would remind you of the sea.
Then came the dinning room, and like all the other rooms except the kitchen it was the most formal. There was a long table that seated twenty; all around the room in glass cabinets was gold, silver and bronze. It came in the forms of cups, plates and cutlery. There was a long red carpet that went under the full length of the table; the chairs had red velvet cushions fixed to them. The ceiling was covered in a huge oil painting; it was the kind of thing you would see in a cathedral. There were people, angles, lights, faeries, clouds, mountains, lakes and a lot of other things. But unlike the other rooms it was cold, and the sunlight cast eerie shadows all over the room. It felt like there was no happiness in here at all; it was like being in a library. Soraya was too scared to speak in case she woke up something that was sleeping underneath the floor boards. Soraya did not like this room at all and she would not be caught dead in it on her own. So she decided to steer well clear of this room. She didn't know why but she could feel something in this room that wanted to grab you and take you away forever to some nasty place where you will never be happy again.
Then came the last room, it was a large living room. There were fifteen squashy armchairs and five sofas; each had a different sized table next to it. Soraya liked this room very much, it was warm and welcoming as you walked in. The fireplace was at the far end of the room; it was quite big and had metal carvings around it.
"Now head on up to your rooms and unpack. Then you can come down to the kitchen for lunch."
The girls nodded and ran up the stairs to their rooms and started to unpack. They hid their brooms in Soraya's closet as they weren't so sure that they were magic folk. Then they heard a knock at the back door underneath Soraya's balcony so they ran on to it to see who it was. They just got out on to it to see a shadow going in to the house, the girls stayed there for a few seconds then went back inside.
Soraya looked around her room, her bed was king sized and had hangings all around it. To the left of her bed was a closet the size of a man and the width of two. Opposite her bed was a chest of draws with wooden carvings on them. On top was a large round mirror which had a very interesting frame. There were two snakes going round it, they met at the top with their fangs bared to one another. Their tails coiled round one another at the bottom of the mirror which looked like a small unicorn horn. She examined the snakes and remembered her dream; she looked in to the mirror and slowly ran her index finger down her scar.
"A girl like you with such beautiful eyes should not be so worried."
Soraya jumped, did the mirror just talk? 'Unless these people are magic folk then I must be going crazy.' She thought staring in to the mirror waiting for it to speak again so she could confirm her suspicions. But unfortunately it did not and Amily came in with a great big grin on her face. So they left their room and started down the stairs. But Amily decided to look at the animal carvings on the banisters, so Soraya waited for her at the bottom of the stairs.
So many thoughts were buzzing round her head, 'Is this guy the surprise?' 'Are they muggles?' 'Will I be able to stay here for longer than a year?' Just then Amily tugged on her cloths and Soraya snapped out of the stupor. Then they both headed towards the kitchen.
Amily and Soraya stopped outside the door, they could hear voices. But the other one sounded so familiar and it hit Soraya and she knew who it was. It was the voice of Albus Dumbledore she heard all those years ago.
"Derick, Sarah it is know time to tell Soraya and Amily the truth."
"Yes Albus they have been in the dark about our world for too long."
"That is correct Derick. But in order for them to find out they must first come in from the other side of the door."
Soraya and Amily's mouth's dropped in horror, how did he know they were there? Soraya just looked at Amily and shrugged her shoulders, then whispered to her. "Probably like Dean said, he's a great and powerful wizard."
So they opened the door to see a man with a silver beard sitting at the table with Sarah and Derick. He looked like the same old Dumbledore with his half moon glasses and green robes, he smiled and his eyes twinkled at them. But Soraya thought that his eyes were disturbing, they were light blue and seemed to be scanning her. So she looked at the floor for she was still thinking about that dream she had last night. He seemed to know something was clearly going on in her mind and had a child like curiosity spread over his face. He then spoke so suddenly it made Soraya jump.
"Soraya why so modest?"
"Sorry sir?"
"Come now we both know it's your birthday."
"Oh yes....umm, happy birthday to me." They laughed and Amily grinned, Soraya looked at the floor and could feel her face burning.
Then Dumbledore proceeded to rummage through a bag that lay on the table. He pulled out a parcel with the most dazzling wrapping paper. The colours seemed to swirl magically. Soraya stood there for a moment entranced by it and then looked up at Derick and Sarah.
"So you aren't muggles then?"
"No, I heard you lived like muggles when you lived with the Hung's.
"Yes. I suspected you weren't when the mirror spoke to me; I thought I was going crazy."
"Well you can safely say you're as sane as any of us here."
Soraya smiled and looked back down at her mysterious package; she ripped off the wrapping paper to reveal a plane looking box. Then slowly she opened it, inside what ever it could be was covered in thin sheets of tissue paper. She moved them to reveal a long piece of black material; she took it out and it fell to the floor. She was holding a hood and saw it was a cloak. The outside was as black as the night's sky whilst the lining was as silver as moonlight. They went together perfectly; it was light and looked magnificent. Not a stitch or seam out of place. Dumbledore smiled at her and was very pleased she liked her present. At first she didn't know what to say and she looked at Dumbledore in amazement.
But he spoke first; it was in a clam and almost sad kind of way.
"This cloak is the last thing your mother made before she died. The cloak was meant for you in the first place so I am just returning it. The cloak is made on the basis of your parents favourite colours. Your mother's was silver so it was placed close to you to symbolise a caring and loving colour. You father's was black and this symbolises protection. Why don't you try it on?"
Soraya put the cloak on slowly, not daring to damage it. The cloak was light but warm at the same time and she closed her eyes. She tried to remember the pictures that the Hung's showed her of her parents. She imagined her mother hugging her close and her father in front of her with his wand out. Soraya smiled as she opened her eyes, Dumledore looked very pleased indeed.
Derick looked a bit worried at Dumbledore.
"Don't you think this is showing a bit of favouritism?"
"Not at all Derick, I am just simply returning something that was hers to begin with. Remember this is not the first time I have done this."
"Yes Albus."
Soraya looked at her reflection in the window, and saw the cloak was indeed magnificent. Her hair just seemed to melt in to it as it was exactly the same colour as the cloak.
"Thank you sir, this really is a great present."
"I'm glad you like it Soraya, your parents will have been very proud to here that. Now there is something I must tell both of you, I don't know whether it's good news or bad news to you so I guess we shall all find out now. Eight years ago Lei and I came to a ...certain agreement. I promised him that I wouldn't take you in to Hogwarts until Amily turned eleven."
"So am I to go to Hogwarts with Amily now?" "Yes. If you choose to go, then the Hogwarts express shall be leaving at kings cross station on the thirty first of August. It shall arrive and depart on platform nine and three quarters. The train will leave at exactly eleven O'clock. Whether you choose to go or not is entirely up to you two."
Amily and Soraya looked at each other for a moment; they couldn't believe their luck. A new home and a new school...no, not just a school. But one for witches and wizards unlike any other.
They both had stunned looks upon their faces and their mouths dropped at Dumbledore's proposal.
"Well...I..."
Soraya fell silent as she heard a knock at the back door. Sarah got up and answered it, Soraya and Amily breathed a sigh of relief to be taken out of this tense situation.
"Hello Serverus, here to see Dumbledore?"
"Yes Miss Redwood, I have some news that I will need to discuss privately."
The man sounded just as posh and gentlemen like in her memory. Sarah emerged from the doorway and Snape stepped in. He looked older and in his prime from the last time she saw him. Soraya spotted something white under his greasy hair on his forehead; and it looked suspiciously like a bandage.
Then he caught Soraya's eye. She hated looking in to those cold eyes and quickly looked away. Then she felt someone tugging on her cloak, it was Amily and she was signing hurriedly. Soraya nodded at Amily and asked to be excused, so she folded the cloak back in to the box. They just reached the door when Dumbledore called their names, so they stopped and turned round.
"I hope you will give more thought to what I said, but I must insist that I get an answer within two days. Otherwise I cannot let you in to the school. I shall be here on business as well as Serverus when I am not talking to him or in meetings. Then I will be more than happy to answer any questions you may have."
"Ok sir."
Snape was now at Dumbledore's side and whispering something in to his ear. Soraya thought he looked very annoyed about something. So Soraya and Amily ran up to Soraya's bedroom with her mind buzzing like a bee. 'Questions? What questions do I possibly have for a wizard like Dumbledore to answer?' Amily and Soraya hurried up to Soraya's room and closed the door. They started signing so no one would here what Soraya said if she spoke.
"A school for witches and wizards, what are they nuts? I hardly know anything about the wizarding world and you know just as much as me Soraya."
"Don't worry I heard from Dean that hardly anyone knows about magic when they start. But he started at your age what do they expect me to do? Start at the sixth year and work my way up?"
They talked and talked for two hours straight but still couldn't decide whether to go there or not.
Just then Sarah knocked on the door and invited them to take their brooms and go flying out back. Soraya and Amily stopped talking instantly and were overcome by excitement. So they ran to Soraya's closet and quickly unwrapped their Firebolt's. Sarah gasped as their brooms fell on to the bed.
"Wow Firebolts! You must have had a very rich family before you came to us."
"Yes....well grandma anyway. She gave these to us for all the family occasions she missed because of her illness...before she died. So we take care of these really well in memory of her."
"I see, will you still want to ride them then?"
"Well she didn't buy them to be ornaments Sarah."
They laughed as they went back down the stairs towards the kitchen to get out the back door.
Derick like Sarah gasped as he saw what was in the girls hands, Dumbledore just smiled at the girls. Snape on the other hand looked curiously at them; did he have a trace of disappointment in his face? Soraya had no time to comprehend this because just then Sarah had opened the back door. So the girls ran out to their field sized back garden and looked around.
"Um...Sarah. won't muggles see us if we fly too high? There is nothing but small hedges lining the sides of the garden."
"Don't worry about that Soraya there is a spell on this place to stop muggles seeing you at all. No planes or helicopters fly around here so you could go all the way up and touch the clouds. Just stay in the perimeter of the garden OK."
"Will do Sarah." This suited Soraya fine.
So she mounted her broom and flew all they way up to the clouds, she touched them and flew back down again. The Firebolt was indeed very fast so it only took a few minutes to do this. Amily watched longingly at Soraya flying all over the place, for Amily was never taught how to fly on a broom. Soraya was fifteen when the Hung's died and had been flying for four years, but Amily's parents died when she was nine. So she just stayed on the ground and watched for a while.
Then Sarah came up to Amily and Soraya flew back down to her.
"Are you OK Amily?"
"She can't fly Sarah as she hasn't been taught yet."
"Well your not suppose to do this but...will you teach her Soraya? As I will be talking to Dumbledore and the others right now. Just remember what you were taught and everything will be fine."
"Ok Sarah. Come here Amily, broomstick training one on one is about to begin. Right first the grip...yes that's it. Ok now kick off....ok; now stay there for a couple of seconds...yes. Now lean to the sides and slowly turn....yes, great. Now finally to land, just lean forward a bit and touch back down.....perfect, you're a natural flier Amily."
So for a few minutes Soraya decided to watch Amily take her first real flight. She was going fast as she was on a Firebolt. But it was a lot slower than the speed Soraya was going a few minutes ago. Now Soraya knew that Amily would not try to copy her unless Soraya told her it was safe.
A few years back the Hung's gave Amily her first horse riding lessons and Soraya was already way ahead. She watched Soraya gallop at full speed around a field that day. So Amily decided to do the same. This was a big mistake as the horse was quickly out of control, and as a result Amily was hit off the horse by a low hanging branch. She was in hospital for a few days lying unconscious on a bed with her head in bandages. It was a hard lesson to learn but she learnt it well. From then on she knew better than to copy Soraya when she wasn't capable of doing it herself.
Soraya hadn't been on a broom for a few years and decided to go flat out and see what the broom could do. It wasn't long before she realised she had an audience. Soraya had just performed a few quidditch tricks and was applauded for it. She had turned a deep shade of scarlet and her face was hidden when her hair feel over it. So for the rest of the afternoon Soraya and Amily forgot about lunch and just flew around until it got dark. The others watched in the comfy chairs that Dumbledore had conjured up.
Soraya took it upon herself to teach Amily a few tricks on the broom. So they rolled, dived and performed sharp turns. Everything went well until the three hundred and sixty degree turn; Amily didn't stop very well and nearly fell off. The spectators gasped; all except Snape who just raised his eyebrows. But Soraya was right by her side and caught Amily just in time, Amily decided she had enough and landed beside the others.
Dumbledore then proceeded to conjure up a long table and some more squashy chairs. It seemed dinner had been mentioned but Soraya decided to stay up until she called was down. Then she landed a few feet away from the table and sat down. The seating around the table went Sarah, Derick, Amily, Soraya, Snape and Dumbledore who was at the head of the table. The food was delicious, and there was a bit of a selection too. Chips, ham, turkey, chicken, rolls, butter, margarine, peas, carrots, steak pie and pasta. Soraya and Amily had a bit of everything because when you had the food at the orphanage for two years anything will taste better. After their meal which was more like a small feast desert came along after the dinner things were magically cleared away. Custard, chocolate cake, three sorts of ice- cream, strawberry, chocolate and vanilla, whilst Dumbledore conjured up one of his cream teas.
Everyone tucked in to the wonderful dessert, and then Soraya felt a little tug on her clothes.
"What is it Amily? What? You want the strawberry ice-cream? OK." The flavour Amily wanted was on Snape's side and out of reach. Soraya was a bit apprehensive about asking him for it but shrugged her shoulders and turned to him. "Excuse me Serverus can you please pass the strawberry ice-cream?"
Snape's mouth thinned and at once Soraya knew that she must have said something wrong. He didn't look at her while he spoke; but it was in a kind of annoyed and demanding tone.
"Any child who attends, or will attend Hogwarts School will call me professor Snape or sir. I expect nothing more or nothing less, and I hope you shall remember that in future." Soraya looked back at Amily who was also glaring at Snape, then sighed and signed to Soraya.
"Don't worry about it I'll have vanilla instead."
She reached for the bowl but Soraya stopped her and signed back angrily. "If you want strawberry ice-cream then that's what you shall get."
So she got up and went over the strawberry ice-cream, but Snape took it as she went to take it. This made her angrier and sat back down without it. Then Snape put the bowl back down and Soraya was livid; she noticed he didn't even put any of it in his bowl.
"It's OK Soraya really I'll have another flavour."
But Soraya just stopped her hand again, this time she swallowed her pride and turned to Snape again. This was a matter of principal now. Taking care to steady her voice and not grit her teeth she spoke calmly towards him.
"Professor Snape, sir. May I please have the strawberry ice-cream?" Snape's lips curled up in to a sneer. He was pleased at himself for getting what he wanted without having to do much at all.
So he picked up the bowl and handed it to her and was still sneering all through dessert. Soraya lost her appetite after that and she looked very angry indeed, so she pushed her bowl away and headed back to the house.
Then she and Amily went up to Soraya's room. She was too angry to notice that the plaque on her door was changing shape very slowly, but it was there. She jumped on to her bed and started pounding her pillow. Amily didn't look as annoyed as Soraya and waited for her to calm down.
"Jesus Christ! Who does that guy think he is? Royalty?" Amily signed angrily too Soraya. "Yeah what a jerk!"
"You know what I think Dean was right about that guy. He's a total git and wants to make every kids life a living hell. Oh god...and he's gonna be here for two days. Can this possibly get any worse?"
Amily looked at Soraya and answered. "Yes you could end up in Slytherin, and then you will never be able to shake him."
"Geez, thanks for the answer Amily."
"Well you did ask a question and I gave you an answer."
"Huh, good point little sis. I'm tired how about you?"
"Yeah, I'm going to bed. See you in the morning Soraya."
"Good night little sis."
Just as Amily left Soraya's room Dumbledore entered with a sad look upon his face. He made his way to a puzzled looking Soraya.
"I saw what happened at dinner tonight and I apologise for Serverus's behaviour. But in time you will understand."
'I understand all right, I understand that he is a sad git who needs to get a life.' But she didn't say that to Dumbledore so she took a deep breath instead and said.
"Ok sir, in time I may find a way to forgive him. But really he's a total..." Then words failed her completely. She could not bring herself to say the next word with Dumbledore in ear shot.
"I think he was trying to give you a lesson in his way of seeing manners. But I had a word with him and he will not do it again."
"Thank you sir."
With that Dumbledore left and Soraya sat on her bed for a few minutes lost in her thoughts. Then she tried to get to sleep and turned out the light. But she couldn't as her mind was still buzzing, and she was still fuming about Snape. She tried breathing and counting to ten but nothing worked. She could not empty her mind to get to sleep and in the end she gave up. She then realised she felt very thirsty so went down stairs to get a drink of water.
Soraya just past the living room door when she could hear voices. Nothing grabbed her attention until she heard her own name mentioned by Derick.
"What if Lei was right about Soraya not going to Hogwarts?"
"You saw what happened to the Hungs. If the girl did go to Hogwarts then she may have been able to help them." Snape was talking this time, and what he just said produced a fresh wave of anger in the pit of her stomach.
It was as though he just dismissed their deaths as though it was nothing. But she was pleased to hear the note of unmistakable disappointment in his voice that she didn't go.
Right now Soraya imagined that she ran in with her Firebolt and brought it crashing down on to his greasy head. She wouldn't have if she had the power to anyway. She respected Dumbledore too much; it was as though he commanded respect without having to ask for it at all. Where as Snape acts like a total git just to get something he can't. So he has to ask for it by making an example of students that crossed him.
"SHE is a pure blood witch, and her level of power should be controlled. If they can't be then who knows what will happen. So she has to learn to control them for all our sakes!!!"
Soraya had a good mind to go in there and tell him to shut up. But Snape raised his voice again just like all those years ago. With a start she knew what must come next, so she looked down the hall to hide. The only available place which was close and quick to get to was...the kitchen. 'I don't believe this!' But she had no choice.
So quickly and silently she ran to the kitchen and dived behind the wall. She heard Snape storm out of the living room. 'Please don't come in here, please!' She prayed with all her heart, but it sank as she could her him approaching the dark room. It was like dark kitchens seemed to attract him like a magnet. So Soraya decided to busy herself with getting a drink of water. She took a glass from a cabinet above the sink, filled the glass with water and drank deeply. She filled it again and was just about to walk out when she heard him step in to the kitchen.
She turned round; and saw his figure was in the doorway. But he was not as intimidating as before. Soraya figured this was because she was a lot taller than all those years ago.
"So here we are again, history repeating itself."
"Except I can get my own water this time."
"So it would seem; I heard you became very independent after you left the Hungs." Snape had a slight sneer on his face as he said these words. A fresh wave of anger even more powerful than the last erupted within side of her.
Soraya tried very hard to keep her voice steady with what she said next.
"The Hungs were murdered by a very dark wizard. They died trying to save me; and they were the closest thing I've ever had to a family that I can remember."
"You heard what was said in the living room didn't you?"
"Yes."
"Well going to Hogwarts or not they still died."
"But they saved my life twice! Sir."
"Indeed, maybe you should have gone to Hogwarts. You might have been able to have done something to help them against the dark lord."
"I never would have done anything to disrespect Lei."
"But Lei isn't here anymore."
"He also taught me to respect the wishes of the dead."
That was it; Snape had been beaten at his own game. Soraya had won and felt very pleased with herself. He walked over to the table and sighed, he placed his hand on his head as he sat down.
"You know your right sir history does repeat itself. You have just done the same thing from all of those years ago." Snape looked up; he had a trace of annoyance on his face.
He got up and headed towards another door which led to the dining room and left Soraya in the kitchen. Soraya was extremely pleased with herself. Not only did she beat Snape at his own mind game but managed to drive him out of the kitchen with hardly trying. She had a grin on her face all the way back to her room, and when she got in to bed Soraya found it very easy to fall asleep. 'Heh, heh too cool. I hope you like a taste of your own medicine Snape cause I can dish out more of that when required.' She sighed deeply and closed her eyes. 'A perfect end to a perfect birthday.'
She was woken up the next morning by Sarah and she told her to come down to breakfast. Soraya got changed in to her clothes, and then went near the basin in her room to wash. It instantly filled with water, Soraya loved magic things like that. They just seem to read your mind and do exactly what you want them to do at the precise moment in time. The water was perfect, not too hot and not too cold. The water was very clean and not as hard as the water in the orphanage to the skin. The water wasn't as clean as the water here either. You could drink the water back at the orphanage safely, but not too much as the impurities can make you very ill if you drink enough. Winter was the only time you could drink as much as you liked. Because the constant rain and ice made the water very clean, but in the summer it turned slightly yellow. Now that was when you couldn't drink a single drop and could only wash in it. So the cafeteria was mostly filled with bottles upon bottles of water. This came from the supermarket a mile down the hill at the edge of the village. Soraya took a long time over washing herself with this new and clean water which she hadn't seen in a long time. Amily came out of her room when Soraya had finished with a broad grin on her face.
"You like the water too?" Amily nodded happily.
For the first time in a while they both felt cleaner and more refreshed than they ever had at the orphanage.
So Amily and Soraya left her room. Amily was just about to go down the stairs when Soraya called her back.
"Amily come and look at this."
Amily's eyes widened, the plaque on Soraya's door was no longer shapeless. It had taken the form of a very proud and fierce looking gryphon. It was holding a small banner which read 'Soraya's room'. Amily went to her door to see the plaque had turned in to a Chinese dragon; Soraya and Amily looked puzzled.
They headed down the landing and saw Snape's room had a snake on it.
"Well he is the head of Slytherin house isn't he? Yes I would say this plaque is very fitting for him." Amily nodded in agreement and then proceeded to look at Dumbledore's plaque. It had changed in to the shape of a lion. Now Soraya and Amily were confused, they couldn't see how Dumbledore could be a lion.
"Heart of a lion maybe?" Amily just shrugged her shoulders.
"Seems like we have to ask about this one Amily because I'm stumped."
So they made their way down to the kitchen for breakfast, Soraya swallowed her pride and her temper. 'I will be calm, this is my first day here and I will not let Snape ruin it for me being the turd that he is.'
But when she entered Soraya was relived to see that Snape was leaving. She felt relief wash over her as he stood up before an empty plate. 'Yes!' Soraya kept a straight face to show that she wasn't pleased he was leaving, and by the looks of things passed with flying colours. Snape looked at her with a puzzling look; Soraya looked at her feet and felt very uncomfortable. She didn't like being looked at like that. It was the look Dean gave her in Miss. Baldwicks office when she made the glass explode. She managed to hide her discomfort on her face but her eyes betrayed her when she looked up. Snape's mouth curled in to a slight sneer, and then a burning hatred entered her eyes with her face still straight. Dumbledore noticed this and steered Snape out of the room to break their eye contact.
He succeeded and the tension in the air lifted. Derick kissed Sarah on her cheek and left, Snape look sickened at the momentary love scene as he apperated. Dumbledore was last to leave and winked at Soraya through his half moon spectacles. Then he smiled and said goodbye to Sarah and Amily. His purple robes floated behind him as he made his way out, and then he too was gone. Soraya was sad that he left; she would have loved to talk to him. When Dumbledore was around she felt safe and relaxed.
"Where are they going Sarah?"
"Sorry Soraya, even though you are here I can't answer all your questions. Besides Dumbledore's gave orders not to say anything to you, really ....I'm very sorry."
"No need to apologise Sarah, even though Dumbledore has only been here a few hours I feel like...I already respect him."
"What about Serverus?" Sarah asked as they sat down to have breakfast, Soraya sighed and avoided Sarah's yes.
"I swore to myself that I would not talk ill of anyone for at least a while no matter what. So I think I will stay quiet about him... I hope you understand."
"Perfectly, Serverus isn't easy to get along with, especially when you are a student at Hogwarts." Sarah served eggs, bacon and toast for breakfast. After last night's feast Soraya thought she wouldn't be able to eat for a month. But Soraya and Amily were very hungry and had double portions of everything.
"You knew him at Hogwarts?"
"Yes." Sarah's face changed to a deep sadness. There was also the slightest and almost unnoticeable trace of hatred. "Mind you he wasn't easy to get along with then either. In fact...you may be inclined to call him a git!"
Soraya dropped her toast and pretended to be surprised and shocked. "Sarah! I thought we were supposed to be setting an example to one another."
Sarah laughed; Amily grinned from ear to ear and clapped. After breakfast Sarah took Soraya and Amily outside in the back garden.
"You remember when I told you to stay in the perimeter of the garden when you were flying last night?"
"Yes I wondered about that last night."
"Well grab you brooms and meet me at the end of the garden just before the path."
So Soraya and Amily made their way to the end of the garden holding their broomsticks in their hands. They reached the end of the garden and started to look for the path. It wasn't easy to find as the beginning of it was covered by wild flowers. Then Sarah showed up and helped them to find it.
"Ok now obviously what I am about to show you has to be kept within magic folk, so no muggles!"
"Don't worry Sarah we know not to say anything about the magic world to muggles. After all we managed not to let anything slip for nearly two years whilst in the orphanage didn't we Amily?" Amily nodded in answer to Soraya's question, Sarah became a great deal calmer after the agreement the girls made.
So Sarah led them up the path to what at first looked like an enormous stretch of plain, flat land. But as they moved closer hills started to appear and there was a gigantic lake. A wall which was almost twenty or thirty feet high looked over the lake. There were also different patches of land from woodland to desert which were at least the size of a couple of big fields. There was a small mountain range in the distance; there was even snow on top of it. It was too low down to be cold enough so Soraya knew that must have been put there magically.
Sarah grinned at the stunned looks on the girls faces.
"So what do you think?"
Only one word was in Soraya's mind that left her mouth at that moment in time. "WOW!"
Sarah then mounted her broom and told the girls to do the same. "Right first we are going to go round the perimeter. Just so you know the boundaries to how big this place really is. Then we shall fly around to give you a bird's eye view of this place." So they took off and kept as close to the edge as possible when Sarah showed them around.
"How big is this place?"
"Oh, about a thousand acres or so."
"How can you afford to keep a place as big as this?"
"The ministry of magic pays us to keep many magical creatures for use in potions or wands you know, that kind of stuff."
"What kind of creatures?" Said Soraya nervously. Amily didn't look too happy about the situation either.
"Oh the usual. Hippogriffs, unicorns, dragonflies, flobberworms, fireflies, there are just too many to name right now. I'll give you two a list when we land back at our house. Don't worry; the creatures are quite tame and harmless. Except for our colony of dragons as they you can't tame a dragon so they are quite wild."
This piece of news made Soraya nearly fall off her broomstick, she looked at Sarah this time in genuine shock.
"Dragons, you have a colony of dragons here?"
"Don't worry there is a charm on to keep them happy and they won't hurt you. But offend them and make them angry...by the looks on your faces I don't have to explain the rest."
"Believe me Sarah there is absolutely no chance of us making the dragons angry is there Amily?" Amily shook her head vigorously in agreement.
It took an hour for them to get to the end of one side of the land, even on a broomstick it took a long time. Soraya had to slow down for Sarah and Amily. Sarah only had a nimbus two thousand and Amily was still a beginner at flying and couldn't fly as fast as Soraya. The flight ended in a long stretch of cliff heading in to the sea.
"The cliff never shrinks because there's a spell to make it invincible. So the sea won't eat it away making the land shrink. Because even though there is a lot of land for the animals we can't afford to rebuild the cliff or loose any land. There are also animals living in the cliff that we breed as well."
They kept flying around the perimeter until they covered the whole thing and then turned in to the land for a guided tour.
One end the lake turned in to a large river slowly turning in to a waterfall at the end. This cascaded down the side of a cliff at least twenty or thirty feet high. The other half of the lake was covered in shadow by the wall that was fifty or sixty feet high. All around there were stables, paddocks, barns and holes in the ground scattered all over the place. Soraya tried to count them, she thought she missed a few but Soraya estimated there were about three hundred.
Then Soraya noticed a large cabin not too far from their house.
"Who's in the cabin Sarah?"
"No one for now Soraya."
"For now?"
"In a few days some students from Hogwarts will be here to learn more about magical creatures. For you see Hogwarts have a wide range of magical creatures there, but there are some things Hogwarts cannot provide. So each summer they take their sixth year students here who are learning care of magical creatures. So they learn about the ones we have got and Hogwarts haven't."
For the rest of the morning they flew all around the place. Even went in to the canyon and out again.
"Where are the dragons being held?"
"Over there, behind that barn covering the entrance to a cave. It goes down to a lava pit so they can place their eggs there to hatch."
"Surely you and Derick can't be doing this all by yourselves."
"No Soraya, the workers stay in that large cottage over there by the lake. Unless they have their own homes, then they can just apperate later on."
"Apperate?"
"Yes vanish from place to another." As they spoke three men and a woman came out wearing robes. Each of them had a badge with MAS on the silver gleaming badges in capital black letters. Soraya and the others were low enough to make them out. The workers waved, Soraya and Amily waved back.
"M.A.S?"
"Magical.Animal.Sanctuary."
Soraya looked at her watch, it was nearly two o'clock. They had been flying around for six hours. Apparently the workers had come out to feed the animals. Amily's stomach grumbled and she blushed as Soraya and Sarah turned to look at where the noise was coming from.
"Don't be bashful we have been out here for a long time. I was wondering when you two were gonna be hungry." So they flew back to the house, Soraya turned back to see the sanctuary but only saw the flat field again.
"A vale of illusion if your wondering, it changes back in to a field with a certain distance. Even aeroplanes don't see it."
"Very cool."
Soraya and Amily both agreed that this was the best place they had ever been to yet. They landed next to the house and propped their brooms to the right of the door. Then made their way to the kitchen for lunch.
***** Finished....hurrah. The next chapter won't be as long I promise.
