Chapter 2: The Girl
Tora Galloway ambled up the lush, green hill overlooking a shimmering blue crystalline lake. It was her favorite spot resting on the backside of her family's estate. She sat down at the top, hugging her knees to her chest. A light breeze teased her loose ebony hair, tugging it this way and that. Tora shifted her blank stare from the lake in front of her to behind her shoulder. Her eyes rested on a woman sitting on the porch swing, with a picture in hands.
Her mother. Tora heaved a sigh. Her mother would never be the same woman again. From the hill, Tora studied her mother. She had long, raven hair much like her own. However, her mother had eyes of the purest sapphire blue instead of Tora's molten silver ones. She remembered her mother once telling her she had her father's eyes. Tears started to well up in her eyes as she thought of her absent father. She brushed away the tears that had escaped her eyelids, and focused on her mother again. Even from this distance, she knew her mother's eyes no longer sparkled. The light in her eyes that once had shinned so brightly from her soul was now gone— snuffed out like a useless taper. Tora recalled the day that her mother received the devastating news.
~Flashback ~
Tora awoke in the middle of the night, drenched in sweat, her heart pounding out a painful rhythm from a malicious nightmare. She recalled only a few things about the dream, death and a voice screaming out again and again. She watched as Sirius Black fell behind a mysterious veil of some sort, but he did not appear on the other side. Then she had heard a boy's voice echoing throughout the stone room as he bellowed at the top of his lungs, "SIRIUS—IS—NOT—DEAD!!!" The voice reverberated inside her head, and made her ears ring. Tora knew that she would carry that sound inside her for the rest of her days.
She rolled out of bed and glanced at the clock. 3:15 A.M. 'Great' she thought. She walked to her bathroom and washed her face with cool water. She looked out her window and twisted her hair into a messy bun, lost deep in thought. An ear piercing sound reached her ears. The eerie sound etched itself into her soul for keeping. Tora bounded down the halls and raced on until she reached the downstairs parlor. Her heart stopped at what she saw before her.
Her mother was on her knees, screaming denials with tears flowing down her pale face. A man with gray streaked hair knelt next to her, cradling her in his arms, rocking her back and forth.
"What happened? Who are you and what's wrong with my mother?" Tora demanded. The man looked up with grief stricken eyes. Her icy silver gaze pinned the unknown man's. The man sighed; the girl's distrust was evident in her eyes. He shivered under her gaze. The man lifted Brenda Galloway off the floor and put his arms around her shoulders.
"Tora, your father's—dead," the man choked around the words. Tora stared back at the man; her nightmare had been true. Bile rose to her mouth and she shook her head to dispel the feeling of unreality. But Tora knew it was true, she remembered the terrible nightmare, which must have been a sign. Wrestling her emotions back into her subconscious, she turned on the man with a stoic façade.
"Who the hell are you?" she demanded again, but this time with a voice devoid of even the bare hints of emotion.
"My name is Remus Lupin, and I am a very close friend of your parents. Your father was one of my best friends," the man replied.
"You were one of the Marauders." Remus stared hard at the girl standing before him. How long had it been since he had last seen her? Her father had always described her in the most loving and proud tones. Tora was there before him now, with her features schooled into nothing. 'Give nothing away, and they can't hurt you.' The odd phrase flitted through his mind as he locked himself into a stare-down with his best friend's daughter. Who had said that phrase? Had James said that? No, it couldn't have been him. Well, then it had to have been...Remus smiled inside at the irony of his discovery.
"Yes, I was. I'm sorry for your loss, Tora, believe me. I know that he wrote you a letter but you won't get it until you start school again. This time at a different school," Remus spoke sincerely; there was nothing outright deceptive about this man. Tora relaxed slightly, but was still on edge underneath. ~End Flashback~
Tora shook herself out of her reverie. She stood up and stretched, her muscles tense after sitting still for so long. A movement down by the house caught her eye. A man appeared in front of her mother. Tora shook her head with a shudder. 'The valiant Remus Lupin has returned' she thought and started the long return back to the house.
~*~*~*~
When Tora arrived at the house, she noticed Remus Lupin had not arrived alone. The other aged wizard with him was talking in hushed tones with her mother, Brenda. The wizard had a long white beard, long white hair, and twinkling blue eyes. Tora rested her hip against the doorframe, crossed her arms over her chest, and watched her mother through hooded eyes. Her mother no longer seemed remote. The woman was actually carrying on a decent and lengthy conversation with the older man, from the looks of it. Inside, Tora was partly relieved; she had grown tired of all the one-sided talks she had struggled through.
Those insufferable conversations had been the motivation that started all the letters to Harry Potter. At least he answered her questions and replied with more than a one-word answer. The two had corresponded all summer long. Tora stowed her stack of at least 25 letters in the safety of her desk, hidden in the one place she knew the house elves wouldn't clean without permission. She was going to reply to his most recent letter today, giving Tempest a break from all the flying. The bird had incredible stamina. The trips from London to America were not easy or short by any means. This would be her final letter to Harry before school started. Ugh, school. How she loathed school, especially the one she was attending now. It was so awful. She cringed every time she thought of it. There were only two more days left of summer.
In one of Harry's letters, he had described the school he was going to, Hogwarts. Harry spoke with such love and warmth when he described Hogwarts. Her mother and father had gone to the same school. Tora longed to go there. Anything was better than the school she was currently attending. The teachers were horrendous, and surely, none of them were fit to teach students. The teachers were beyond hope. There was something dreadfully wrong when the students knew more than every teacher there. At St. Gabriel's Institute for Magicks, there was no order, no discipline, but it was the only Wizarding School in America. The whole school was a joke really, and a very bad one at that.
"Tora," Remus whispered from behind her. She cocked her head towards his voice but didn't turn around to face him.
"Why are you here?" she asked coldly. She still distrusted Remus Lupin. The fact he was a werewolf didn't even faze her; it was something else.
"You'll find out soon enough. Why do you distrust me so?" Remus questioned. Tora heaved a sigh.
"It's not because you're a werewolf, I can tell you that much," she informed him.
"What?" he whispered in disbelief. 'No one's told her what I am; I know that. How could she know?' "How did you know that?"
Tora shrugged. "It's obvious."
"Obvious?" he repeated dumbly. 'Bloody Hell, doesn't this girl ever lose her composure?' he thought.
"Funny, I hadn't pegged you as a parrot, too."
Remus shook his head and felt a smile start to tug at his lips. "I'm not. It's just it isn't often that I have someone, who is as indifferent as you are figure out I'm a werewolf. Most people cringe and cower, but you're just standing there, like it's no big deal."
"It's not a big deal, and I'm not most people. You are what you are and you can't change that," she stated emotionlessly.
"Fair enough. Then may I ask, why it is that you distrust me so much?"
"You can ask, but I won't answer. So it would be better not to ask at all." Tora kept her back to him throughout the whole exchange, and he never made any movement to stand in front of her. Remus could see well enough from his vantage point to know that she had slipped on her stoic mask again. That mask scared the hell out of him. It seemed to come so naturally to her too. Was she as jaded as she seemed or was there more than one reason behind the indifference?
"So are we going to continue playing twenty questions, or are you going to leave me alone?" Tora raised her eyebrow at him. He had the distinct feeling that royalty had just dismissed him. He brushed past her and moved to where the other two sat.
"Ah, Brenda. Is this your daughter?" The older wizard acknowledged her finally. Tora looked at him, and out of the corner of her eye, Tora saw her mother's broad smile.
"Yes, this is Tora. She's sixteen," her mother responded. "Tora, darling, this is Professor Dumbledore."
'Dumbledore? Where have I heard that name?' Tora thought, then it dawned on her, 'Of course, from Harry.'
"He is the headmaster of Hogwarts." Her mother smiled fondly at Dumbledore.
"Hello," Tora said politely as she shook the extended hand.
"Hello, Tora. I don't know if your mother has told you yet or not, but you're being transferred to Hogwarts for school," Professor Dumbledore said kindly.
"Really? No, well, my mother didn't tell me. It seems she didn't deem it important enough to inform me. When will I be leaving?" Tora spoke in civil tones, but no one could mistake the coolness lying beyond the surface.
However, Dumbledore just smiled at the girl. "Tonight would be the best for traveling. That is, if you could have your things packed by then?" he offered.
"I can be packed in twenty minutes, if you would prefer that," she responded.
"That is even better." With that said, Tora headed for the stairway and stared to go up when she heard bits of the conversation from the parlor.
"How has Harry been?" Brenda asked quietly.
"Ah, yes. Harry hasn't been handling this at all like I had hoped, but he is much better it seems with the Weasley's than with the Dursley's."
"I think anyone would be," Remus retorted. Tora paused, straining to hear more, but none of it concerned Harry anymore. She trudged up the stairs and began packing her things.
"Tora, darling, come on!" her mother called up to her exactly twenty minutes later.
"Coming, Mother!" Tora yelled back as she reached into her drawer for her letters. "Oh no! I forgot! Geez, I guess I'll write to him from England. Tempest won't have to fly as far then."
Tora charmed her trunks and then bounded down the stairs after them. Then with a gigantic pop, they all vanished.
Tora Galloway ambled up the lush, green hill overlooking a shimmering blue crystalline lake. It was her favorite spot resting on the backside of her family's estate. She sat down at the top, hugging her knees to her chest. A light breeze teased her loose ebony hair, tugging it this way and that. Tora shifted her blank stare from the lake in front of her to behind her shoulder. Her eyes rested on a woman sitting on the porch swing, with a picture in hands.
Her mother. Tora heaved a sigh. Her mother would never be the same woman again. From the hill, Tora studied her mother. She had long, raven hair much like her own. However, her mother had eyes of the purest sapphire blue instead of Tora's molten silver ones. She remembered her mother once telling her she had her father's eyes. Tears started to well up in her eyes as she thought of her absent father. She brushed away the tears that had escaped her eyelids, and focused on her mother again. Even from this distance, she knew her mother's eyes no longer sparkled. The light in her eyes that once had shinned so brightly from her soul was now gone— snuffed out like a useless taper. Tora recalled the day that her mother received the devastating news.
~Flashback ~
Tora awoke in the middle of the night, drenched in sweat, her heart pounding out a painful rhythm from a malicious nightmare. She recalled only a few things about the dream, death and a voice screaming out again and again. She watched as Sirius Black fell behind a mysterious veil of some sort, but he did not appear on the other side. Then she had heard a boy's voice echoing throughout the stone room as he bellowed at the top of his lungs, "SIRIUS—IS—NOT—DEAD!!!" The voice reverberated inside her head, and made her ears ring. Tora knew that she would carry that sound inside her for the rest of her days.
She rolled out of bed and glanced at the clock. 3:15 A.M. 'Great' she thought. She walked to her bathroom and washed her face with cool water. She looked out her window and twisted her hair into a messy bun, lost deep in thought. An ear piercing sound reached her ears. The eerie sound etched itself into her soul for keeping. Tora bounded down the halls and raced on until she reached the downstairs parlor. Her heart stopped at what she saw before her.
Her mother was on her knees, screaming denials with tears flowing down her pale face. A man with gray streaked hair knelt next to her, cradling her in his arms, rocking her back and forth.
"What happened? Who are you and what's wrong with my mother?" Tora demanded. The man looked up with grief stricken eyes. Her icy silver gaze pinned the unknown man's. The man sighed; the girl's distrust was evident in her eyes. He shivered under her gaze. The man lifted Brenda Galloway off the floor and put his arms around her shoulders.
"Tora, your father's—dead," the man choked around the words. Tora stared back at the man; her nightmare had been true. Bile rose to her mouth and she shook her head to dispel the feeling of unreality. But Tora knew it was true, she remembered the terrible nightmare, which must have been a sign. Wrestling her emotions back into her subconscious, she turned on the man with a stoic façade.
"Who the hell are you?" she demanded again, but this time with a voice devoid of even the bare hints of emotion.
"My name is Remus Lupin, and I am a very close friend of your parents. Your father was one of my best friends," the man replied.
"You were one of the Marauders." Remus stared hard at the girl standing before him. How long had it been since he had last seen her? Her father had always described her in the most loving and proud tones. Tora was there before him now, with her features schooled into nothing. 'Give nothing away, and they can't hurt you.' The odd phrase flitted through his mind as he locked himself into a stare-down with his best friend's daughter. Who had said that phrase? Had James said that? No, it couldn't have been him. Well, then it had to have been...Remus smiled inside at the irony of his discovery.
"Yes, I was. I'm sorry for your loss, Tora, believe me. I know that he wrote you a letter but you won't get it until you start school again. This time at a different school," Remus spoke sincerely; there was nothing outright deceptive about this man. Tora relaxed slightly, but was still on edge underneath. ~End Flashback~
Tora shook herself out of her reverie. She stood up and stretched, her muscles tense after sitting still for so long. A movement down by the house caught her eye. A man appeared in front of her mother. Tora shook her head with a shudder. 'The valiant Remus Lupin has returned' she thought and started the long return back to the house.
~*~*~*~
When Tora arrived at the house, she noticed Remus Lupin had not arrived alone. The other aged wizard with him was talking in hushed tones with her mother, Brenda. The wizard had a long white beard, long white hair, and twinkling blue eyes. Tora rested her hip against the doorframe, crossed her arms over her chest, and watched her mother through hooded eyes. Her mother no longer seemed remote. The woman was actually carrying on a decent and lengthy conversation with the older man, from the looks of it. Inside, Tora was partly relieved; she had grown tired of all the one-sided talks she had struggled through.
Those insufferable conversations had been the motivation that started all the letters to Harry Potter. At least he answered her questions and replied with more than a one-word answer. The two had corresponded all summer long. Tora stowed her stack of at least 25 letters in the safety of her desk, hidden in the one place she knew the house elves wouldn't clean without permission. She was going to reply to his most recent letter today, giving Tempest a break from all the flying. The bird had incredible stamina. The trips from London to America were not easy or short by any means. This would be her final letter to Harry before school started. Ugh, school. How she loathed school, especially the one she was attending now. It was so awful. She cringed every time she thought of it. There were only two more days left of summer.
In one of Harry's letters, he had described the school he was going to, Hogwarts. Harry spoke with such love and warmth when he described Hogwarts. Her mother and father had gone to the same school. Tora longed to go there. Anything was better than the school she was currently attending. The teachers were horrendous, and surely, none of them were fit to teach students. The teachers were beyond hope. There was something dreadfully wrong when the students knew more than every teacher there. At St. Gabriel's Institute for Magicks, there was no order, no discipline, but it was the only Wizarding School in America. The whole school was a joke really, and a very bad one at that.
"Tora," Remus whispered from behind her. She cocked her head towards his voice but didn't turn around to face him.
"Why are you here?" she asked coldly. She still distrusted Remus Lupin. The fact he was a werewolf didn't even faze her; it was something else.
"You'll find out soon enough. Why do you distrust me so?" Remus questioned. Tora heaved a sigh.
"It's not because you're a werewolf, I can tell you that much," she informed him.
"What?" he whispered in disbelief. 'No one's told her what I am; I know that. How could she know?' "How did you know that?"
Tora shrugged. "It's obvious."
"Obvious?" he repeated dumbly. 'Bloody Hell, doesn't this girl ever lose her composure?' he thought.
"Funny, I hadn't pegged you as a parrot, too."
Remus shook his head and felt a smile start to tug at his lips. "I'm not. It's just it isn't often that I have someone, who is as indifferent as you are figure out I'm a werewolf. Most people cringe and cower, but you're just standing there, like it's no big deal."
"It's not a big deal, and I'm not most people. You are what you are and you can't change that," she stated emotionlessly.
"Fair enough. Then may I ask, why it is that you distrust me so much?"
"You can ask, but I won't answer. So it would be better not to ask at all." Tora kept her back to him throughout the whole exchange, and he never made any movement to stand in front of her. Remus could see well enough from his vantage point to know that she had slipped on her stoic mask again. That mask scared the hell out of him. It seemed to come so naturally to her too. Was she as jaded as she seemed or was there more than one reason behind the indifference?
"So are we going to continue playing twenty questions, or are you going to leave me alone?" Tora raised her eyebrow at him. He had the distinct feeling that royalty had just dismissed him. He brushed past her and moved to where the other two sat.
"Ah, Brenda. Is this your daughter?" The older wizard acknowledged her finally. Tora looked at him, and out of the corner of her eye, Tora saw her mother's broad smile.
"Yes, this is Tora. She's sixteen," her mother responded. "Tora, darling, this is Professor Dumbledore."
'Dumbledore? Where have I heard that name?' Tora thought, then it dawned on her, 'Of course, from Harry.'
"He is the headmaster of Hogwarts." Her mother smiled fondly at Dumbledore.
"Hello," Tora said politely as she shook the extended hand.
"Hello, Tora. I don't know if your mother has told you yet or not, but you're being transferred to Hogwarts for school," Professor Dumbledore said kindly.
"Really? No, well, my mother didn't tell me. It seems she didn't deem it important enough to inform me. When will I be leaving?" Tora spoke in civil tones, but no one could mistake the coolness lying beyond the surface.
However, Dumbledore just smiled at the girl. "Tonight would be the best for traveling. That is, if you could have your things packed by then?" he offered.
"I can be packed in twenty minutes, if you would prefer that," she responded.
"That is even better." With that said, Tora headed for the stairway and stared to go up when she heard bits of the conversation from the parlor.
"How has Harry been?" Brenda asked quietly.
"Ah, yes. Harry hasn't been handling this at all like I had hoped, but he is much better it seems with the Weasley's than with the Dursley's."
"I think anyone would be," Remus retorted. Tora paused, straining to hear more, but none of it concerned Harry anymore. She trudged up the stairs and began packing her things.
"Tora, darling, come on!" her mother called up to her exactly twenty minutes later.
"Coming, Mother!" Tora yelled back as she reached into her drawer for her letters. "Oh no! I forgot! Geez, I guess I'll write to him from England. Tempest won't have to fly as far then."
Tora charmed her trunks and then bounded down the stairs after them. Then with a gigantic pop, they all vanished.