A Broken Rose
By Emma Fallowthorn
Prologue: The Frogge Family
It has been said that no wizarding family has ever been crueler than the Frogges. Archibald Frogge sailed to America in 1652 and settled his family there, in the wilds of what came to be known as Maine. Hidden away in the mountains, bothered by no natives or settlers, he experimented ruthlessly on his wife and children—inventing horrific spells that, with time, changed their appearances and mannerisms to those of hideous monsters. Finally, he ended their suffering and took to a hermitlike lifestyle, making trouble for Muggles. Archibald has been accredited with bewitching the minds of four young girls and thus causing mass hysteria in the town of Salem, Massachusetts that ended in heartbreak and death. When he died, Archibald left no heirs in the New World.
While Archibald played around with the fears of ignorant Muggles, his relatives in Europe were inventing some of the worst curses and spells imaginable. James Frogge discovered the Cruciatus Curse. Felix Frogge found a way of slowly destabilizing a wizard's brain until he or she became a gibbering mess, unable to communicate or do anything on their own. Calypso Frogge, sometimes known as "Mother Calypso", invented a difficult piece of spell work to kill an expectant mother without killing the fetus. And so on. The fame of the Frogges always came from cruelty.
And then came Nigel. Here was a Frogge who did everything opposite. When he was four, Nigel met a Muggle child for the first time. The little girl was crying because her older brother had broken her favorite doll. Nigel, something of a prodigy, conjured a new, moving, speaking doll from thin air and handed it to the weeping girl. He was severely punished both for the breach of wizard security—and for the act of kindness. However, that did not stop Nigel. Although he was put into Slytherin House at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, he excelled at Transfiguration, rather than Potions…History of Magic, rather than Defense…and, well, all the things a Muggle-loving fool should excel at.
So when, at the age of sixteen, Nigel Frogge broke his arranged engagement with Narcissa Black, those in the pureblood "circle" simply shook their heads. "Nigel, he'll do what he wants," his cousin Dora Finch stated prosaically. "Not much we can do stopping him."
And then, at the age of seventeen, Nigel renounced the Dark Order and Lord Voldemort. While some were shocked, others were used to this. Regina Frogge calmly disowned her son, and they parted ways amicably. Regina always owned that Nigel had asked the favor from her, saying that he wanted no part of the inheritance.
Therefore, when Nigel Frogge made known his intentions to marry Artemis Dumbledore, it did not take the Dark World by storm so much as it did the Light. Dulphina Dumbledore, Artemis's mother, committed suicide from the mere shock. Albus Dumbledore, Artemis's father and Headmaster of Hogwarts, sighed, shook his head, and held a funeral for his wife. He sent his congratulations to his daughter, but did not come to the wedding. Angela Dumbledore, Artemis's sister and a Seer, simply scowled. "No good will come of it," she announced firmly. "No good at all."
And that was that. Lord Voldemort was steadily gaining power, and no one had time to waste gossiping about the unusual romance. Nigel and Artemis joined the Order of the Phoenix and fought the Death Eaters, many of whom Nigel knew by name. Artemis had a baby girl whom they named Penelope, but neither of them had the time to spend with her. So it was Angela, taking care of the infant one afternoon at the Frogges' house in London, who first noticed that Penelope was amusing herself by shooting sparks out of her fingers. When she pointed this out to Artemis and Nigel, they laughed in delight. "It's a charming gift, isn't it, Angela," Artemis said happily.
Angela, seeing that her older sister was too addled by new motherhood to realize the danger the baby would be in, spoke to her own father, Albus. Under his direction, Angela put a guard on Penelope at all times. As soon as Penelope turned five years old, she was sent to the Salem Institute of Witchcraft, an excellent school in America for witches with gifts. And there she stayed, while Angela was found murdered in her cottage by the White Cliffs. Penelope did not hear that Artemis and Nigel were both killed on the job, spying at the Malfoy Manor. She had no idea that Baby Harry Potter defeated Lord Voldemort, becoming The Boy Who Lived. And Penelope did not know that at Hogwarts, Albus Dumbledore watched his granddaughter's accomplishments from afar, hoping to keep her—and her mysterious gift—safe from those who wished her harm.
A/N: So what think ye? Should I continue this? I'm not too pleased with the title, so it may change, but I needed to call it something. It's meant to be a Harry Potter 6 sort of deal, but I honestly don't like the "Harry Potter and the…" idea. I'm open to suggestions, remember!