Chapter Three
Gwen opened her eyes and couldn't believe what had happened in the past couple of days.
Nancy, Alfred and Maggie had now become her friends, her family and her teachers.
Yes, at the beginning she'd be sceptical about what they'd been saying, but after seeing what she'd seen, how could you not believe them?
She'd seen Alfred call for things and then have them zoom into the kitchen and land into his lap, Nancy knit, without even touching the needles and Maggie disappear and then reappear out of thin air.
But the most convincing piece of evidence was their wands; the long, thin pieces of wood which were completely unique to every person.
Yes, that had been the thing to really convince her that these people were telling her the truth.
Gwen had also noticed that although the three of them, looked quite weak and fragile; well, maybe apart from Alfred, they were actually quite good with magic.
The ease in which they did things, the way they knew absolutely everything, seemed fascinating to Gwen and she secretly hoped that one day she could be as good as them.
Nancy taught her about Charms and Divination, which she said was very important for a Merlin. The power to see into the future was a Merlin's special gift and that she should treasure it.
Gwen liked divination but she didn't think she was that good at it. Nancy told her not to worry, her full powers wouldn't appear until her 16th birthday and after that day, everything would fall into place.
Maggie taught her Transfiguration and Potions and it was fun, except Maggie always diverted into cooking.
One day, they were supposed to be making a freeze flame potion and they ended making some nice fair-weather cakes, which were Alfred's favourite, so, he didn't complain.
Though, how she made them, Gwen was never quite sure.
Alfred taught her everything else, the History of Magic, Arithmacy, Ancient runes, Defence Against the Dark Arts, Magical Creature Studies and Spells.
She loved her lessons but the one thing about them was that you needed a wand and Gwen still hadn't got hers.
Alfred said she would get one but not yet, first, she had to learn all the spells and then she could put them into practice.
* * *
Harry hurried into the great hall and settled down into his seat at the Gryffindor table with Ron and Hermione on either side of him.
They watched the new first years come in and stand nervously around, waiting to be sorted into their houses.
Harry thought back to his first day at Hogwarts and how he'd felt that he was finally accepted somewhere; he smiled at the old feeling.
"Slytherin," he heard the hat call and he watched a small boy walk over to the Slytherin table.
It made his flesh crawl, watching another unsuspecting victim enter that house. He caught sight of Draco Malfoy; they stared at each other and you could feel the hatred between the two.
" Ravenclaw," the hat shouted again, and Harry watched a tall blonde girl walk over to their table. She sat herself right next to another familiar face, Cho Chang.
Harry felt himself breathing more quickly, as he watched her talk and smile at her other house members.
After the sorting was over, Dumbledore stood up.
"Welcome new and old students, to a new school year. I have one announcement. due to the unfortunate dismissal of Winston Wickerham; I have had to appoint yet, another Defence Against the Dark Arts teacher. It is with great pleasure that I announce that Arabella Figg will be taking over."
He motioned to an old woman at his side. Harry smiled. He had seen Mrs. Figg a number of times before this, but only up to last year, he hadn't understood her role in his life.
She had been his Fairy Godmother, watching him at a distance, keeping guard and helping him, without him ever knowing.
He clapped loudly, as did Ron and Hermione; they'd met Mrs. Figg too, last year.
"Now, let the feast begin," Dumbledore said and a mountain of food appeared, everyone dug in hungrily.
* * *
"So, how were lessons today?" Maggie asked, settling down to eat.
"Umm.great. I had Defence Against the Dark Arts and Charms," Gwen replied, taking another roasted potato.
"I've never liked that Defence Against the Dark Arts teacher," Maggie said, giggling while she said it. Alfred frowned and poured some more gravy onto his beef.
"Really? I like him," Gwen said, winking at Maggie, putting her into further giggles.
Alfred looked up and stared at Maggie, then turned to Gwen and smiled warmly.
"Thank you, Gwen."
"Umm.," Gwen started, taking on a more serious tone, "when can I get my wand?"
"We've been through this," Alfred said firmly.
"I know. But I'm tired of using that wooden stick," she said, pointing at the cane in the corner, "I mean, how do I know I'm doing it right, if nothing happens?" Gwen pleaded.
"Maybe, she should have it," Nancy said suddenly.
"Nancy, you know that she's not meant to have it before her 16th birthday," Alfred said, stabbing his fork into his meat.
"Why not?" Gwen asked, "do other witches get their wands at 16 too?"
"No, they get them, just before they go to Hogwarts," Alfred replied.
"Hogwarts?" Gwen asked, intrigued by the new subject.
"Hogwarts is a wizarding school, where wizards and witches go to learn about magic."
"Why don't I go there?"
"Because, you're special and they start when they're 11."
"So, I could have started when I was 11," Gwen muttered, she wasn't trying to be difficult but she desperately wanted a wand.
"Well, you see, we didn't actually know about you, 'till about a year ago," Alfred said, a little embarrassed.
"I don't understand. How did you find out about me then?"
"Well, there's a book called the book of Esse. It is said to be Merlin's book, where he wrote all his predictions for the future down. Anyway, whenever anyone tried to read it, they couldn't. The pages are completely blank and it is said only a descendent of the great man himself, can read it. Well, a year or so ago, the book opened by itself and words started to appear, "The new Merlin will be born soon. Gwen Aldan." And then when the words had been read, they vanished and the book closed again. So, when we found out, that you were the Merlin, we volunteered to be your guardians," Alfred said, leaning back in his chair.
"Is about to be born?" Gwen queried.
"It means that you're going to come into your powers soon. Then you will be a true Merlin," Nancy answered.
"How do you know so much about Merlins, if we're so rare?" Gwen asked, stuffing the last potato in her mouth.
"Before you, there has only been one other Merlin, apart from Merlin himself. His name was Henry Cadwellon. When he was discovered, people decided to study this phenomenon," Alfred said, getting up and taking his paper before settling back down again.
"Where is he now?" Gwen asked.
"He is long gone, way before your time and mine. I think, my grandfather was just a boy, when he disappeared," Alfred said, opening the paper.
"Disappeared?" Maggie said, joining in the conversation, "I didn't know that."
"Yes, he vanished. Never saw him again. His disappearance is still one of the great unsolved mysteries of the wizarding world," Alfred said, turning another page.
"All that talk, has made me hungry for some desert," Maggie said, getting up and taking a giant jelly off the kitchen counter and placing it on the table. The jelly wobbled slightly then started to change colours, first red, then purple, green.Gwen was amazed.
"It's all different flavours, depending on when you scoop the jelly. I want raspberry," Maggie said enthusiastically, waiting for the jelly to turn a dark pink colour, before taking a massive scoop of it.
Alfred and Nancy drew nearer to the jelly, waiting for their flavour. Alfred settled on tangerine and Nancy went for cherry.
Gwen watched the scene and ended taking some traditional strawberry flavour.
"You know this was your mother's favourite desert," Maggie said absentmindedly, but as soon as she said those words, her face fell and she knew she shouldn't have said it.
Alfred turned and glared at his sister.
"It's alright, really. You can talk about her," Gwen said, trying to break the tension.
"Actually, there is something I wanted to ask you," she said, her voice wavered slightly, "umm.I've been thinking about my mother a lot lately and I was wondering.umm. how did she die and why did she give me."
Nancy suddenly got up and said loudly,
"Bedtime," before grabbing Gwen and taking her up to her room.
As Nancy tucked the covers in and around Gwen, she saw the confused look on the child's face.
"Something wrong?" Nancy asked, knowing the answer and questions that would follow.
"No. But I just wanted to know, why my mother gave me up and how she died. Is that wrong?" Gwen felt suddenly better, now that the questions had finally been asked.
Nancy looked down at the girl and kissed her gently on the forehead, before whispering in her ear,
"Sleep now."
With that she left and Gwen dived under the covers, wondering why they wouldn't give her any answers.
It was about midnight when Gwen woke up; her recurring nightmare had reared up again.
Gwen started to shake the images out of her head when she heard the slight murmur of voices from downstairs, curiosity and the fact that she didn't want to sleep, took over.
She quietly walked down the steps and saw that the kitchen door was slightly open and that light was streaming out from it, she could hear the voices of Nancy and Maggie from inside.
"We have to tell her something," Maggie said, "she's going to keep asking."
"We can't tell her, it would break her heart," Nancy disagreed.
"We have to say something," Maggie said sharply.
Gwen had never heard her talk like that.
"I wouldn't know where to start," Alfred said, up 'till then, he'd been quiet.
"Tell her the truth," Maggie said.
"We can't," Alfred repeated.
"We have to," Maggie muttered her voice rose slightly.
"No," Alfred said, he was beginning to shout.
"She has a right to know," Maggie shouted.
"What are we supposed to say?!" Alfred yelled and Gwen heard him slam his fist on the table and the noise echoed into the night.
Alfred continued, "shall we tell her that her mother went mad because her father was a servant of Lord Voldemort, hmm?"
"Alfred.," Nancy shouted, but was cut off.
"That she hated the fact that her child was a muggle!" Alfred yelled even louder.
"I will not lie to her, Alfred!" Maggie retorted loudly back.
"I don't want to either but we can't tell her the truth. It would destroy her," Nancy said, trying to ease the tension.
"She may be stronger than we give her credit for," Maggie answered.
"She may be strong but she is not strong enough to hear that her mother gave her up because she thought her father wanted to kill her," Alfred muttered.
"I think, we'd better calm down," Nancy said, looking at her husband and sister-in-law. They were both fuming and had their eyes fixed on the other one.
"William would have told her," Maggie mumbled.
Alfred's eyes grew, "don't you dare say that name!"
"Why?! We need to face it sometime, not just for us, but for Gwen. She needs to know how her mother died!" Maggie screamed.
"How she died?" Alfred bellowed, "she was murdered! Along with.," Alfred fell silent, breathing heavily.
Gwen had never heard him sound so angry, it scared her.
"That's quite enough from the both of you," Nancy said quickly, "you'll wake her up," her voice had taken on a harder edge.
Gwen couldn't take any more and ran upstairs to her room, where she cried herself to sleep.
* Thanks to my reviewer Twilight Aurora*
Gwen opened her eyes and couldn't believe what had happened in the past couple of days.
Nancy, Alfred and Maggie had now become her friends, her family and her teachers.
Yes, at the beginning she'd be sceptical about what they'd been saying, but after seeing what she'd seen, how could you not believe them?
She'd seen Alfred call for things and then have them zoom into the kitchen and land into his lap, Nancy knit, without even touching the needles and Maggie disappear and then reappear out of thin air.
But the most convincing piece of evidence was their wands; the long, thin pieces of wood which were completely unique to every person.
Yes, that had been the thing to really convince her that these people were telling her the truth.
Gwen had also noticed that although the three of them, looked quite weak and fragile; well, maybe apart from Alfred, they were actually quite good with magic.
The ease in which they did things, the way they knew absolutely everything, seemed fascinating to Gwen and she secretly hoped that one day she could be as good as them.
Nancy taught her about Charms and Divination, which she said was very important for a Merlin. The power to see into the future was a Merlin's special gift and that she should treasure it.
Gwen liked divination but she didn't think she was that good at it. Nancy told her not to worry, her full powers wouldn't appear until her 16th birthday and after that day, everything would fall into place.
Maggie taught her Transfiguration and Potions and it was fun, except Maggie always diverted into cooking.
One day, they were supposed to be making a freeze flame potion and they ended making some nice fair-weather cakes, which were Alfred's favourite, so, he didn't complain.
Though, how she made them, Gwen was never quite sure.
Alfred taught her everything else, the History of Magic, Arithmacy, Ancient runes, Defence Against the Dark Arts, Magical Creature Studies and Spells.
She loved her lessons but the one thing about them was that you needed a wand and Gwen still hadn't got hers.
Alfred said she would get one but not yet, first, she had to learn all the spells and then she could put them into practice.
* * *
Harry hurried into the great hall and settled down into his seat at the Gryffindor table with Ron and Hermione on either side of him.
They watched the new first years come in and stand nervously around, waiting to be sorted into their houses.
Harry thought back to his first day at Hogwarts and how he'd felt that he was finally accepted somewhere; he smiled at the old feeling.
"Slytherin," he heard the hat call and he watched a small boy walk over to the Slytherin table.
It made his flesh crawl, watching another unsuspecting victim enter that house. He caught sight of Draco Malfoy; they stared at each other and you could feel the hatred between the two.
" Ravenclaw," the hat shouted again, and Harry watched a tall blonde girl walk over to their table. She sat herself right next to another familiar face, Cho Chang.
Harry felt himself breathing more quickly, as he watched her talk and smile at her other house members.
After the sorting was over, Dumbledore stood up.
"Welcome new and old students, to a new school year. I have one announcement. due to the unfortunate dismissal of Winston Wickerham; I have had to appoint yet, another Defence Against the Dark Arts teacher. It is with great pleasure that I announce that Arabella Figg will be taking over."
He motioned to an old woman at his side. Harry smiled. He had seen Mrs. Figg a number of times before this, but only up to last year, he hadn't understood her role in his life.
She had been his Fairy Godmother, watching him at a distance, keeping guard and helping him, without him ever knowing.
He clapped loudly, as did Ron and Hermione; they'd met Mrs. Figg too, last year.
"Now, let the feast begin," Dumbledore said and a mountain of food appeared, everyone dug in hungrily.
* * *
"So, how were lessons today?" Maggie asked, settling down to eat.
"Umm.great. I had Defence Against the Dark Arts and Charms," Gwen replied, taking another roasted potato.
"I've never liked that Defence Against the Dark Arts teacher," Maggie said, giggling while she said it. Alfred frowned and poured some more gravy onto his beef.
"Really? I like him," Gwen said, winking at Maggie, putting her into further giggles.
Alfred looked up and stared at Maggie, then turned to Gwen and smiled warmly.
"Thank you, Gwen."
"Umm.," Gwen started, taking on a more serious tone, "when can I get my wand?"
"We've been through this," Alfred said firmly.
"I know. But I'm tired of using that wooden stick," she said, pointing at the cane in the corner, "I mean, how do I know I'm doing it right, if nothing happens?" Gwen pleaded.
"Maybe, she should have it," Nancy said suddenly.
"Nancy, you know that she's not meant to have it before her 16th birthday," Alfred said, stabbing his fork into his meat.
"Why not?" Gwen asked, "do other witches get their wands at 16 too?"
"No, they get them, just before they go to Hogwarts," Alfred replied.
"Hogwarts?" Gwen asked, intrigued by the new subject.
"Hogwarts is a wizarding school, where wizards and witches go to learn about magic."
"Why don't I go there?"
"Because, you're special and they start when they're 11."
"So, I could have started when I was 11," Gwen muttered, she wasn't trying to be difficult but she desperately wanted a wand.
"Well, you see, we didn't actually know about you, 'till about a year ago," Alfred said, a little embarrassed.
"I don't understand. How did you find out about me then?"
"Well, there's a book called the book of Esse. It is said to be Merlin's book, where he wrote all his predictions for the future down. Anyway, whenever anyone tried to read it, they couldn't. The pages are completely blank and it is said only a descendent of the great man himself, can read it. Well, a year or so ago, the book opened by itself and words started to appear, "The new Merlin will be born soon. Gwen Aldan." And then when the words had been read, they vanished and the book closed again. So, when we found out, that you were the Merlin, we volunteered to be your guardians," Alfred said, leaning back in his chair.
"Is about to be born?" Gwen queried.
"It means that you're going to come into your powers soon. Then you will be a true Merlin," Nancy answered.
"How do you know so much about Merlins, if we're so rare?" Gwen asked, stuffing the last potato in her mouth.
"Before you, there has only been one other Merlin, apart from Merlin himself. His name was Henry Cadwellon. When he was discovered, people decided to study this phenomenon," Alfred said, getting up and taking his paper before settling back down again.
"Where is he now?" Gwen asked.
"He is long gone, way before your time and mine. I think, my grandfather was just a boy, when he disappeared," Alfred said, opening the paper.
"Disappeared?" Maggie said, joining in the conversation, "I didn't know that."
"Yes, he vanished. Never saw him again. His disappearance is still one of the great unsolved mysteries of the wizarding world," Alfred said, turning another page.
"All that talk, has made me hungry for some desert," Maggie said, getting up and taking a giant jelly off the kitchen counter and placing it on the table. The jelly wobbled slightly then started to change colours, first red, then purple, green.Gwen was amazed.
"It's all different flavours, depending on when you scoop the jelly. I want raspberry," Maggie said enthusiastically, waiting for the jelly to turn a dark pink colour, before taking a massive scoop of it.
Alfred and Nancy drew nearer to the jelly, waiting for their flavour. Alfred settled on tangerine and Nancy went for cherry.
Gwen watched the scene and ended taking some traditional strawberry flavour.
"You know this was your mother's favourite desert," Maggie said absentmindedly, but as soon as she said those words, her face fell and she knew she shouldn't have said it.
Alfred turned and glared at his sister.
"It's alright, really. You can talk about her," Gwen said, trying to break the tension.
"Actually, there is something I wanted to ask you," she said, her voice wavered slightly, "umm.I've been thinking about my mother a lot lately and I was wondering.umm. how did she die and why did she give me."
Nancy suddenly got up and said loudly,
"Bedtime," before grabbing Gwen and taking her up to her room.
As Nancy tucked the covers in and around Gwen, she saw the confused look on the child's face.
"Something wrong?" Nancy asked, knowing the answer and questions that would follow.
"No. But I just wanted to know, why my mother gave me up and how she died. Is that wrong?" Gwen felt suddenly better, now that the questions had finally been asked.
Nancy looked down at the girl and kissed her gently on the forehead, before whispering in her ear,
"Sleep now."
With that she left and Gwen dived under the covers, wondering why they wouldn't give her any answers.
It was about midnight when Gwen woke up; her recurring nightmare had reared up again.
Gwen started to shake the images out of her head when she heard the slight murmur of voices from downstairs, curiosity and the fact that she didn't want to sleep, took over.
She quietly walked down the steps and saw that the kitchen door was slightly open and that light was streaming out from it, she could hear the voices of Nancy and Maggie from inside.
"We have to tell her something," Maggie said, "she's going to keep asking."
"We can't tell her, it would break her heart," Nancy disagreed.
"We have to say something," Maggie said sharply.
Gwen had never heard her talk like that.
"I wouldn't know where to start," Alfred said, up 'till then, he'd been quiet.
"Tell her the truth," Maggie said.
"We can't," Alfred repeated.
"We have to," Maggie muttered her voice rose slightly.
"No," Alfred said, he was beginning to shout.
"She has a right to know," Maggie shouted.
"What are we supposed to say?!" Alfred yelled and Gwen heard him slam his fist on the table and the noise echoed into the night.
Alfred continued, "shall we tell her that her mother went mad because her father was a servant of Lord Voldemort, hmm?"
"Alfred.," Nancy shouted, but was cut off.
"That she hated the fact that her child was a muggle!" Alfred yelled even louder.
"I will not lie to her, Alfred!" Maggie retorted loudly back.
"I don't want to either but we can't tell her the truth. It would destroy her," Nancy said, trying to ease the tension.
"She may be stronger than we give her credit for," Maggie answered.
"She may be strong but she is not strong enough to hear that her mother gave her up because she thought her father wanted to kill her," Alfred muttered.
"I think, we'd better calm down," Nancy said, looking at her husband and sister-in-law. They were both fuming and had their eyes fixed on the other one.
"William would have told her," Maggie mumbled.
Alfred's eyes grew, "don't you dare say that name!"
"Why?! We need to face it sometime, not just for us, but for Gwen. She needs to know how her mother died!" Maggie screamed.
"How she died?" Alfred bellowed, "she was murdered! Along with.," Alfred fell silent, breathing heavily.
Gwen had never heard him sound so angry, it scared her.
"That's quite enough from the both of you," Nancy said quickly, "you'll wake her up," her voice had taken on a harder edge.
Gwen couldn't take any more and ran upstairs to her room, where she cried herself to sleep.
* Thanks to my reviewer Twilight Aurora*
