All characters and setting, and other stuff belong to J.K. Rowling
Chapter Three
Diagon Alley
It was all Voldemort, Harry thought, staring up at the canopy of his bed in the darkness, it all came back to Voldemort.... He was the one who had torn these families apart, who had ruined all their lives....
- Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire
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"Merda! Where is it?" Cesare tipped over a stack of musty schoolbooks on his desk, desperately searching for his wand. It had to be somewhere here; he had just put it down! Ah, there it was. He stuffed it inside his black robes and went downstairs.
His uncle was waiting near the enormous marble fireplace in the high-ceiling great hall. The few dusty rays of light that had snuck past the heavy, drawn curtains illuminated his uncle's irritated, dark face. "You are already late, hurry up!"
"They can wait a few minutes," Cesare answered sarcastically in Italian as he approached him.
"English!" Vincenzo reprimanded him. "Damn it, you are supposed to be practicing!"
"My English is fine," he said, rolling his eyes. Vincenzo had suddenly developed a fear of Cesare sounding like an "illiterate immigrant" at Hogwarts and embarrassing the family name. Cesare found that highly offensive, considering he could read and write in over six languages.
"Just tell me where to meet them and I'll be gone," he snapped, struggling to keep his annoyance at his uncle hidden. The best way to deal with Vincenzo was to ignore his taunts.
Vincenzo hide his smile as he watched Cesare. That's it boy, get angry. You could be so powerful in your anger. "Where Knockturn alley branches off from Diagon. Don't get lost. The Malfoy's don't like waiting.
Cesare nodded; he had never been to England or Diagon Alley before and couldn't really make sense of those directions, but he wasn't about to ask for more help. Without another word, he swept past his uncle and casually tossed Floo powder from the mantel into the fireplace. Green, glittering flames shot up and he stepped into the fire, without ducking. The enormous fireplace had been built specifically for this purpose and could have easily held ten people. In a clear, even voice he said, "Knockturn Alley."
His uncle's face and the spacious dim corridor disappeared in a swirling sea of dancing flames and snatches of other rooms.
A few minutes after he had left, another head appeared in the flames and spoke to Vincenzo in a menacing tone, "That boy has much anger. It will be easy to mold him into something very dangerous." The voice laughed coldly. "I can hardly wait."
"Soon enough, my lord. Your plans have been well laid and will soon reap results. Your bargain with this family will finally be fulfilled," Vincenzo said with a small, proud smile.
"Good. Your stepsister was much too weak to be effective. However, Cesare's placement at Hogwarts is perfect," the voice remarked.
"Agreed, my lord. "He will be able to serve you well there."
"Excellent. I will tell you when we begin."
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Cesare landed with a hard thud on the stone hearth of a dusty fireplace. He stared out at the small, dark shop he was in and stepped out of the fireplace, rubbing his elbow where he'd hit it. The walls were adorned with ancient bookshelves, coffins, and what looked like some kind of torture mechanism. He almost walked into a glass case containing a shriveled mummy's hand. He cursed under his breath.
"Hey! You there! Watch it! This isn't a toy shop, little boy," a voice said insultingly. Startled, Cesare looked up at the shabby, gray-bearded man at the long, wooden counter.
"It's not a bus stop either. Buy something, not that you could afford it," he scoffed, "or leave."
Cesare stared him down coolly and the clerk felt somewhat unsettled. That kid has a wild look in his eyes. Without a word, Cesare calmly strode out and "accidentally" knocked over a towering stack of books, which crashed to the clerk's feet. "Oops, guess it really isn't a toy store," he smirked.
He continued down the alley until he saw the Malfoy's. Draco had white blond hair and a nasty disposition. His father was even worse, but surprisingly, Lucius wasn't there. In his place stood his wife, Narcissa. Cesare thought that was odd, as he greeted them solemnly. Narcissa told them, "I have to do some business here. Draco will show you where to find your school supplies." And with that she excused herself and left them.
The silence was slightly awkward. Cesare had never particularly liked Draco. However, as they purchased their supplies and made their way down the crowded street, Draco easily filled the conversation gap by telling him about himself, his friends, what was wrong with Hogwarts, and how much he was going to like Slytherin.
"I mean, that's what house you'll be in right? With your family, that's where you belong."
"I guess so," Cesare answered. He knew his uncle would probably beat him if he was placed in any place else. Can't go about embarrassing the family name, now can I? He thought sarcastically. "So where is your father?" he asked, finally voicing his wonder.
Draco suddenly stopped cold and whirled around. "WHAT?" he asked in disbelief.
Cesare looked at him oddly. Why was Draco reacting like that? "Your father. I thought he would be here."
Draco narrowed his eyes and surveyed the Italian suspiciously. "You mean, you don't know?"
"Know what?"
"My father was arrested," he answered with a funny, closed-off tone in his voice, unlike his usual boastful drawl.
"He was what?" Cesare asked, shocked.
"He was arrested by our Ministry for supporting You-Know-Who," Malfoy said. "Although they couldn't hold him very long. He got away this week," the blonde boy added with a trace of pride in his voice.
"The jail break? Your father was involved?"
"Of course. You-Know-Who wouldn't leave his most loyal supporters in prison." Draco lowered his voice. "Our families have been trying to assist them. In these times, our kind have to protect our own." He shuddered. "I just hope the Mudbloods are the first to go. Contaminating us, they are."
An odd feeling of disgust welled up in Cesare's chest at Draco's smug words. He had grown up hearing his uncle say similar things, often directed at Cesare about his father. Vincenzo was always muttering about pure, wizard blood and shooting dark glances at his nephew. Since Cesare knew virtually nothing about his father, he had no idea if he had been a born to a wizarding family or not.
Ignoring the anger building up inside him, he simply muttered to Malfoy. "Let's go. You don't want people to hear you," he said darkly.
But Malfoy was ignoring him and stayed where he was on the cobbled street. There was a look of pure hatred in his cold gray eyes. He was staring at a group of people in front of a small, cozy looking ice cream shop.
"Look who's here," he muttered maliciously. "That scum, Jalil, is the reason my father was arrested."
Cesare looked confused at the group of teenagers seated at the table Malfoy was glaring at. Then, with a start, he recognized one of them.
"Do you mean to say Harry Potter is the reason your father was put in Azkaban?"
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"This day just took a turn for the worse," groaned Harry to Hermione, Ron, and Ginny. They had taken a break from shopping for their school supplies to buy some ice cream. It was boiling out and Ron was suggesting experimenting with putting ice cream on his head to cool down in the sweltering heat. The day had been going fine until Draco Malfoy started to approach them with a strange boy their age they had never seen. Ron complained loudly. "It's summer! Don't we see enough of that arsehole in school?"
"Who's that with him, he's pretty cute," Ginny laughed.
"Probably his new backup goon," suggested Hermione. However she took a good look at the stranger. He had a lean muscular build and black hair that fell across his eyes. His eyes were a startlingly light brown color that stood out against his bronzed olive complexion. Ginny does have a point, she couldn't stop herself from thinking before mentally admonishing herself. Ron looked slightly alarmed by Ginny's words. Harry however had a troubled look in his eyes, like he was trying to remember someone. Why does he look so familiar? I could have sworn I've seen that face before. "Is it just me or does he look kinda…familiar?"
But Harry didn't get an answer before Malfoy was standing over him with a smug expression on his face. "I told you something stank," he said, his voice filled with disgust and contempt. "Unfortunately this collection of the poor and Mudblood also go to out school. Luckily in Slytherin we don't accept such trash."
Harry met Malfoy's contemptuous gaze with his own. A nasty smile tweaked at the corners of his lips. "How's Daddy, Draco?" he asked in voice full of mock concern.
Draco's eyes flashed and his fists balled up. "I don't know, Potter. Better off than your parents though, I suppose."
Harry started to jump up and Malfoy reached for his wand. At the same instant, Ron put a hand on his friend's arm to stop him and Cesare grabbed Malfoy's wrist in a steel grip to prevent him from pulling out his wand. "We're done here," he hissed into Draco's ear.
The startled young wizard mumbled something, and then stalked away. Cesare followed him without another glance at Harry and his friends. The group burst out laughing.
"Did you see his face? I guess Malfoy is the one taking orders now."
Harry glanced at the back of the retreating boy. How do I know you? They continued to eat and talk about what had happened last night at Grimmauld Place. Harry wasn't the only one who thought that Mrs. Weasley had been trying to rush them out of the house this morning.
Ron had suggested that the Order was probably having another big meeting and didn't want them around. He looked irritated at the thought of this. They all were annoyed at being excluded. After all, they had been the ones who had fought several Death Eaters only a few months before.
Ginny checked her watch and almost choked on her chocolate raspberry sundae. "We were supposed to meet Fred and George at their shop ten minute ago! They're gonna be annoyed if we don't go. The joke shop is closing soon and they really wanted Harry to check it out" They grabbed their purchases and hurried off towards Weasley's Wizard Wheezes.
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Cesare left a sulking Malfoy in Madam Malkin's and decided to get an owl before he left for home. He didn't suppose he really needed one, considering he had nobody to write to when he was at Hogwarts. Still he supposed it might be nice to know SOMEONE, even if they weren't human, before he was stuck in a foreign country for nine months.
He found his way to the owl emporium, and observed Diagon Alley and its shoppers carefully as they passed by. If this was to be his country for the next several months, he wanted to know more about its residents. Already he felt lost and confused.
Cesare walked into the store and headed towards the aisles full of screeching cages and started studying the different owls. He settled on a friendly, chocolate brown one that chirped happily when he talked to her. He took the cage and grabbed some supplies, then walked up to the counters. He handed the clerk four gold galleons. The clerk took the money then met his eyes. He let out a cry of surprise that made Cesare take a step back.
"I don't believe it! It can't be! Cesare?!" he asked excitedly.
"Um .…. uh ..…yeah. Do I know you?" Cesare asked, confused that the man knew his name and had used it so informally.
"You don't remember? Well, I guess you were too young. Your father would always bring you in here to look at the owls, when your mum was working. You always loved animals. Now you're all grown-up.
Cesare's mouth was hanging open as he stared through widened eyes at the balding man. He could scarcely believe his ears. This man had known his parents. What were the chances.....?
"My mum worked here?" he asked eagerly. He had absolutely no idea that his parents had even lived here, let alone worked in Diagon Alley.
"Of course, didn't you know that?" And without waiting for a response, the man's hand flew to his mouth and his light blue eyes widened dramatically. "OH! That reminds me!" He turned around and began excitedly rummaging and ruffling though messy wooden drawers in the old, decrepit cabinets behind the counter.
"Nearly forgotten 'bout this....... 'course, it's BEEN nearly sixteen years...... but nevertheless."
As Cesare curiously watched him nearly demolish the cabinets, the man tore out a bottom drawer. Cradling, the drawer in the crook of his arms, he snatched a small, dusty box from beneath a sheave of papers, and then spun back around to face Cesare.
"Aha! Here it is." He opened the box and slowly withdrew a delicate gold chain. A small flat, rectangular pendant dangled from it. He handed the fragile necklace to Cesare, who took it wordlessly. "You mum gave that to a jeweler friend of mine to fix the clasp, shortly before her death," he added in a low murmur.
Cesare's light brown eyes looked wondrously over the necklace, his fingers caressed the engraved figures.
"Forgot what it was. Camilla told me once. Buncha funny pictures on it...... meant something.........," the old man droned on and tapped his forehead as if that would clear the cobwebs of times.
"They're Egyptian hieroglyphics," the young wizard said softly. "For 'Kalila.'" He felt like he had been punched in the stomach. He recognized that as his mother's nickname at school. One of her old schoolmates was the History Professor. When Cesare was in his second year, she had told him that his mother's Egyptian friends had given her the Arabic name of Kalila, or 'dearly loved.' It was their joke version of his mum's Italian name, Camilla. He wondered briefly if one of those friends had given her the name pendent.
"Oh yeah, that's it. I think your dad called her that sometimes. I meant to give this back to him after her death, but he never came around again. And then after everything happened," the old man shuddered and Cesare's gaze was broken and he looked up at the man, alert at what he had heard.
The balding clerk continued, not noticing the black-haired boy's rapt attention to his words. "Damn shame about your father though. Who ever knew he had it in him to …. Well, I guess you never really know how dark a person can be inside." he shrugged. "I don't know. After your mother's death and your uncle gaining custody of you ......Of course your uncle was NATURALLY the more responsible choice over your father. No question about that. But your father was never the same. Something in him snapped."
"You knew my father as well?" Cesare asked anxiously and dropped the necklace back into the box. His uncle hated his father and subject was forbidden at home. Cesare had gotten severe beatings for even mentioning him. "I don't even know his name."
"No kiddin?" asked the clerk, who looked thrilled to know this bit of juicy gossip. "Well I guess they were trying to protect you. Besides, your old man isn't exactly doing too well for himself lately. But his name is ..…" the clerk was interrupted by the loud boom of the door. Narcissa and Draco angrily strolled in. They had heard the last part of the conversation.
"We're leaving. Now," she snapped, pushing the stunned young wizard out the door, barely giving him a chance to grab Mari's cage, and shooting the clerk a nasty glare. Outside she thrust Floo powder into Cesare's hand.
"Also here is your ticket for the Hogwarts Express. All the information is on it. You can use that fireplace to get back," she pointed. "And make sure you....." she was suddenly cut off the old clerk who had rushed out of the store.
"Young man! Wait, you forgot your owl's treats," he said and hurried towards him.
Cesare checked his bag. "What? No, I didn't......"
The clerk had caught up to him and gave him a meaningful look. "Yes. Yes, you did," he said forcefully and shoved the small box containing his mother's necklace into his hands.
Cesare's met the clerk's gaze, and he carefully slipped the box into his pocket, out of sight from Narcissa's cold watchful eyes.
"Thank you," he stammered out.
"Take care of yerself, kid," the old man said quietly. "Your mum was a good, decent person. I'd hate to see you in the wrong company," he added in an even softer voice, with a quick glance over his shoulder at the Malfoy's.
Narcissa looked suspicious and quickly cut in between the two. "You should be going," she ordered and gave him a demanding nudge towards the fireplaces.
Cesare was suddenly filled with questions, as he tossed the Floo powder onto the orange, glittering flames. He had always thought his father was dead, but the clerk had spoken as if he was still alive. But the only thing Vincenzo would ever tell Cesare about his father was that the man was long dead. Is my father still alive? Who is he? And why was VINCENZO, of all people, given custody of him if his father was still alive? All these thoughts overwhelmed him. And he knew he would get no help from his uncle when he arrived home.
A house elf was waiting for him when he came out of the fireplace. She quickly started to usher him up the stone staircase to his room, with nervous glances behind her.
The Jalil home was a six hundred year old villa, made mostly of shining marble and stone. It stood high on a cliff above the sea. Cesare always thought it was strange how such a beautiful looking building could hold such horrors. However, his room was in the tallest tower, thankfully far away from the dungeons, where his uncle usually was.
"Hurry! Be quicks! Your uncle is having them bads peoples over tonight in the dungeon!" With a gasp, she covered her mouth in shame, slammed his door shut, and ran out of sight. He knew what that meant. Like the Malfoy's, his uncle was deeply into the Dark Arts and an ardent supporter of Lord Voldemort. Since his reported return, Vincenzo often had midnight gatherings at his home. Cesare assumed they were all Death Eaters. He knew his uncle was one anyway. Who knew what they did? Yet for some reason, the knowledge that dozens of Voldemort's supporters might be down the hall didn't frighten him. As much as it did sicken him, he knew what Malfoy said was true. His family belonged with those people and therefore Cesare didn't fear them.
Yet tonight, he wondered, for probably the millionth time, what happened down there. He had often heard terrified screams from deep inside the house. Cesare dropped his supplies at the foot of his bed and put his train ticket and wand on his dresser. He pulled the box from his pocket and took out his mother's necklace.
This was all that he had of his parent's. He reread the ancient hieroglyphics, a skill he had learned at the Anksenum wizarding school, the same school his mother had attended. Kalila. Dearly loved. She had been. The staff at Anksenum had loved her, the kind, beautiful Egyptian-Italian witch from an unkind family. The headmaster, Professor Rakha once gave him a picture of her, the only one Cesare had. It showed a pretty girl with olive skin, big dark eyes, and long curly black hair.
He sighed. He knew he had been a huge disappointment to Rakha and the rest of the teachers. They found it hard to believe that one of their favorites students could have such a troublesome son.
But his thoughts quickly drifted back to his father and he put the necklace on his desk. Then he sat on his bed, facing yet another sleepless night, but now was filled with a question. Who IS my father? As he stared at the cracked stone floor, he heard a pained scream from the dungeons. He shivered. 'What the hell could be so wrong with his father that his uncle was considered a better guardian?'
He lay down, and stared out the open window from his bed, gazing at the inky blackness littered by bright stars. The Mediterranean lapped at the cliffs below. He closed his eyes, hoping for sleep to overcome him before he heard it again.
"NO! PLEASE! NO! OH, NO! NOOOOOOOOOO!" Then the screaming stopped abruptly.
Cesare curled up and clamped his hands over his ears, hating his inability to act. But would you do? Charge in there and tell a bunch a Death Eaters to stop or else? He was powerless and he hated it. He hated this place. He hated his uncle. He even now hated his father for doing whatever he had done that had resulted in Cesare's life spent in this madhouse.
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Please review! Makes me write faster!
