Two years had passed, and Eddie was returning to Hogwarts once more, and
this time, as a seventh year. The whole princess thing hadn't gotten any
easier-in fact, as time flew by, it became harder and harder. The summer
had been particularly brutal on the family.
New about Voldemort was now common. People were actually starting to fear even saying his name, and started calling him You-Know-Who. Of course Eddie found this quite ridiculous, because sometimes she didn't know who you-know- who was.
So one day, the family had held a reunion-all of the members were sitting in the palace, partying. Eddie met several cousins, aunts and uncles. This was an exclusive party. It was nearly as big as Eddie's Sweet Sixteen birthday ceremony where she was officially made heir to the throne, and crowned.
As the day wore on, the Daily Prophet photographers and reporters arrived. But nobody realized until it was too late that these weren't the actual reporters and photographers-the real ones were bound and gagged in a closet. These were Death Eaters. The Death Eaters had the whole family standing all in one long row and told them to smile for the camera. It was one of those old fashioned cameras, with the push button and the fabric, perfect for staging a massacre. The 'photographer' had everybody smile and had his wand pointed through the lens. He clicked the camera, and muttered 'Avada Kedavra.' Nobody heard him. They only saw magnified flashes of green light bounce at them all. The picture did develop however. The last picture taken of the Lalonde family.
The only survivors were Eddie, Benjamin, their mother, grandma Josephine, and cousin Lenette. The rest were dead. Gone. The actual Daily Prophet was having a field day, as well as the muggle world. Of course the real reason of death was not told to the muggles-an auror had placed a charm on the family to make it look as if they were all shot to death.
The sight had of course been horrific-bodies were strewn across one another, and the magnified Avada Kedavra had singed a few of the closer bodies. The whole world was mourning. It was like going back to the Cold War, when the Romanovs ruled Russia. 'Shot' to death during a photo shoot.
That was the day Eddie was made the official Princess of Arista. She couldn't be made queen until she had gotten married, and Eddie had blown off the sick pure blood fanatic man she was engaged to since the age of five. Yes, Arista really was the centre of attention. People were outraged that Eddie had blown off Prince Christopher, but that couldn't be helped. The man was a creep-a Death Eater. And he collected dead animals... So Eddie had gotten away with the marriage last year, and was now a free girl.
Platform 9 and ¾ was crowded as usual. Members of some secret organization called the Order of the Pheonix heavily guarded Eddie and Benjamin now. Unknown members watched them day and night, and Dumbledore had cast charms on the family survivors. To an outsider, they looked as normal as can be, minus the fact that house elves trailed them around for their every need.
People hushed when the prince and princess arrived at the platform. Eddie scowled. She hated being treated differently. It drove her insane. She hated it more than those stupid balls she had to attend, and the fluffy dresses she had to wear. Being a princess sucked. Eddie and Benjamin lumbered onto the train and split off on their own ways.
In the train, Eddie sat with her usual group of friends. She put on a false image of bliss that she normally would have worn (for real) so as not to upset her friends, who were deeply worried.
"Are you sure you're okay?" asked Lily. "Of course I'm okay. I can't really say that it was a shock-you heard about Voldemort and all. He was bound to come after us sometime for being 'pure blood traitors.'"
"How can you say his name so-so casually?" asked Rachel.
"I dunno. I'm not really afraid of him. Sure, he can kill me, torture me, and do whatever he wants, but who cares? We'll all die eventually. And if we were immortal, life would be a living hell, and we'd want to die anyways." Rachel, Lily and Shannon dropped their jaws.
"So you're not afraid? Even after what he did to you?" asked Shannon slowly. Eddie sighed.
"No. I told you that it was expected. No biggie." But deep down inside, it was a biggie. It hurt, it tore, and it clawed away at Eddie's insides. But she hid this well. Eddie had always been a good actress. Sub-consciously that is. But she desperately wanted to tell someone, anyone. But not her friends. They would just be sad for her, and she didn't want that. She wanted somebody who could still stay happy even through all of the horrific things that had been happening.
The conversation moved on to other things, such as how on earth James Potter had actually become Head Boy, and whether or not Lily liked him. And her friends placed their usual bets on the odds that Eddie would have Sirius' neck in her hands by the end of the week. Last year, Shannon had won all three term bets and had earned herself quite a sum of cash, so this year, the other two were not to be fooled. Eddie shook her head and a smile crept onto her face. The first, genuine smile she had smiled since the massacre.
At Hogwarts, the sorting hat sorted its students as usual, and Dumbledore had made his speech. This was it-the final year. For seven years (or two in Eddie's case) the students had all been kept safe within the walls of the school. What awaited them in reality, most did not know. Others like Eddie knew.
The food appeared on the plates once more, and first years looked at it in awe. Eddie didn't even touch it. She had barely touched food since the massacre anyways, and the habit had sunk in. She wasn't about to break it now. She observed the Great Hall. Something was missing though-something that had happened every year since day one at Hogwarts, but it was not food.
She looked around and suddenly realized what it was. The four boys (aka Marauders) had not entered their compartment on the train. In fact, they hadn't even talked! Which mean that Sirius hadn't called Eddie 'Princess,' the horrible nickname everybody but her friends and family called her. Eddie frowned. She felt empty inside. Perhaps she WANTED to be called Princess. Perhaps she did not. Whatever she wanted or did not want still made her feel empty. She'd have to wait. Sirius would call her sooner or later-he hasn't failed me yet, she thought miserably.
All this thinking seemed to have given her a glazed look, because her friends were staring at her, waving their hands in front of her face with no response.
"Eddie? Hey, Eddie? Are you okay? Can you hear us?" Eddie didn't respond.
"Angelica Rosemary!" Eddie came into focus.
"I thought that I told you not to call me that!" she said crossly. Her friends laughed uneasily.
"You sort of zoned out there, Ed," said Rachel.
"Did I?" said Eddie dismissively.
"Look, maybe you're not alright after all," said Lily. "You haven't even touched your food!"
"And normally you'd have eaten half the table out by now and not gained a pound," added Shannon enviously. Rachel snorted.
"Even if she did gain weight, she'd lose it anyways-she's a seeker after all." Her friends went into some sort of discussion about who knows what. Eddie got up from the table and left to the common room. Her elf followed behind her.
"Look KwiKwi-not to be rude or anything, but do you mind leaving me alone for a bit?"
"But mistress will be hurting!"
"No, it's alright." Eddie bent down and whispered to the elf, "I know there are people watching me, so it doesn't matter." KwiKwi looked at her dubiously, but scurried away.
New about Voldemort was now common. People were actually starting to fear even saying his name, and started calling him You-Know-Who. Of course Eddie found this quite ridiculous, because sometimes she didn't know who you-know- who was.
So one day, the family had held a reunion-all of the members were sitting in the palace, partying. Eddie met several cousins, aunts and uncles. This was an exclusive party. It was nearly as big as Eddie's Sweet Sixteen birthday ceremony where she was officially made heir to the throne, and crowned.
As the day wore on, the Daily Prophet photographers and reporters arrived. But nobody realized until it was too late that these weren't the actual reporters and photographers-the real ones were bound and gagged in a closet. These were Death Eaters. The Death Eaters had the whole family standing all in one long row and told them to smile for the camera. It was one of those old fashioned cameras, with the push button and the fabric, perfect for staging a massacre. The 'photographer' had everybody smile and had his wand pointed through the lens. He clicked the camera, and muttered 'Avada Kedavra.' Nobody heard him. They only saw magnified flashes of green light bounce at them all. The picture did develop however. The last picture taken of the Lalonde family.
The only survivors were Eddie, Benjamin, their mother, grandma Josephine, and cousin Lenette. The rest were dead. Gone. The actual Daily Prophet was having a field day, as well as the muggle world. Of course the real reason of death was not told to the muggles-an auror had placed a charm on the family to make it look as if they were all shot to death.
The sight had of course been horrific-bodies were strewn across one another, and the magnified Avada Kedavra had singed a few of the closer bodies. The whole world was mourning. It was like going back to the Cold War, when the Romanovs ruled Russia. 'Shot' to death during a photo shoot.
That was the day Eddie was made the official Princess of Arista. She couldn't be made queen until she had gotten married, and Eddie had blown off the sick pure blood fanatic man she was engaged to since the age of five. Yes, Arista really was the centre of attention. People were outraged that Eddie had blown off Prince Christopher, but that couldn't be helped. The man was a creep-a Death Eater. And he collected dead animals... So Eddie had gotten away with the marriage last year, and was now a free girl.
Platform 9 and ¾ was crowded as usual. Members of some secret organization called the Order of the Pheonix heavily guarded Eddie and Benjamin now. Unknown members watched them day and night, and Dumbledore had cast charms on the family survivors. To an outsider, they looked as normal as can be, minus the fact that house elves trailed them around for their every need.
People hushed when the prince and princess arrived at the platform. Eddie scowled. She hated being treated differently. It drove her insane. She hated it more than those stupid balls she had to attend, and the fluffy dresses she had to wear. Being a princess sucked. Eddie and Benjamin lumbered onto the train and split off on their own ways.
In the train, Eddie sat with her usual group of friends. She put on a false image of bliss that she normally would have worn (for real) so as not to upset her friends, who were deeply worried.
"Are you sure you're okay?" asked Lily. "Of course I'm okay. I can't really say that it was a shock-you heard about Voldemort and all. He was bound to come after us sometime for being 'pure blood traitors.'"
"How can you say his name so-so casually?" asked Rachel.
"I dunno. I'm not really afraid of him. Sure, he can kill me, torture me, and do whatever he wants, but who cares? We'll all die eventually. And if we were immortal, life would be a living hell, and we'd want to die anyways." Rachel, Lily and Shannon dropped their jaws.
"So you're not afraid? Even after what he did to you?" asked Shannon slowly. Eddie sighed.
"No. I told you that it was expected. No biggie." But deep down inside, it was a biggie. It hurt, it tore, and it clawed away at Eddie's insides. But she hid this well. Eddie had always been a good actress. Sub-consciously that is. But she desperately wanted to tell someone, anyone. But not her friends. They would just be sad for her, and she didn't want that. She wanted somebody who could still stay happy even through all of the horrific things that had been happening.
The conversation moved on to other things, such as how on earth James Potter had actually become Head Boy, and whether or not Lily liked him. And her friends placed their usual bets on the odds that Eddie would have Sirius' neck in her hands by the end of the week. Last year, Shannon had won all three term bets and had earned herself quite a sum of cash, so this year, the other two were not to be fooled. Eddie shook her head and a smile crept onto her face. The first, genuine smile she had smiled since the massacre.
At Hogwarts, the sorting hat sorted its students as usual, and Dumbledore had made his speech. This was it-the final year. For seven years (or two in Eddie's case) the students had all been kept safe within the walls of the school. What awaited them in reality, most did not know. Others like Eddie knew.
The food appeared on the plates once more, and first years looked at it in awe. Eddie didn't even touch it. She had barely touched food since the massacre anyways, and the habit had sunk in. She wasn't about to break it now. She observed the Great Hall. Something was missing though-something that had happened every year since day one at Hogwarts, but it was not food.
She looked around and suddenly realized what it was. The four boys (aka Marauders) had not entered their compartment on the train. In fact, they hadn't even talked! Which mean that Sirius hadn't called Eddie 'Princess,' the horrible nickname everybody but her friends and family called her. Eddie frowned. She felt empty inside. Perhaps she WANTED to be called Princess. Perhaps she did not. Whatever she wanted or did not want still made her feel empty. She'd have to wait. Sirius would call her sooner or later-he hasn't failed me yet, she thought miserably.
All this thinking seemed to have given her a glazed look, because her friends were staring at her, waving their hands in front of her face with no response.
"Eddie? Hey, Eddie? Are you okay? Can you hear us?" Eddie didn't respond.
"Angelica Rosemary!" Eddie came into focus.
"I thought that I told you not to call me that!" she said crossly. Her friends laughed uneasily.
"You sort of zoned out there, Ed," said Rachel.
"Did I?" said Eddie dismissively.
"Look, maybe you're not alright after all," said Lily. "You haven't even touched your food!"
"And normally you'd have eaten half the table out by now and not gained a pound," added Shannon enviously. Rachel snorted.
"Even if she did gain weight, she'd lose it anyways-she's a seeker after all." Her friends went into some sort of discussion about who knows what. Eddie got up from the table and left to the common room. Her elf followed behind her.
"Look KwiKwi-not to be rude or anything, but do you mind leaving me alone for a bit?"
"But mistress will be hurting!"
"No, it's alright." Eddie bent down and whispered to the elf, "I know there are people watching me, so it doesn't matter." KwiKwi looked at her dubiously, but scurried away.