Chapter Five
Gwen could see Annabelle just in front of her and she seemed to be terrified of something, Gwen moved forward but every time she did, Annabelle took a step back.
Then, there was a flash of green light and.nothing.
But then, another image appeared, this was one of a young woman. The woman had her back facing her and Gwen was looking up at her.
Then the woman turned around and it was her mother, "now, remember our song."
The woman said, looking at Gwen. Gwen could see now, her mother had the same dark hair and dark eyes as her.
Victoria Aldan then started to hum and she brought out a small wooden flute.
She brought the instrument up to her lips and blew it gently, a soft noise came out and a familiar tune enveloped Gwen.
She gazed up at the woman and then she spoke again, "not so scared now, are we?"
Her voice was so gentle and quiet and the music had formed a blanket around Gwen, making her feel protected.
Then the woman leant down and kissed the girl on the forehead, Gwen could feel it, it felt so real.
"Wake up, Gwen!" It was Nancy.
Gwen sat upright in bed and looked at the old woman, pottering around the room, moving things here and there.
"What's the matter?" Nancy said, looking at the girl.
"Oh, nothing. Just had a funny dream," Gwen replied, not really knowing what to make of it.
"Oh. Well, you know dreams can sometimes be trying to warn you about things. Maybe things in the future," Nancy said quietly, she then started to hum.
"What you humming?" Gwen asked, pulling off her nightgown.
"Oh, just a song," Nancy replied, opening the curtains and letting in a flood of light.
"Sounds familiar," Gwen said, her thoughts returning to her dream. She fingered the place where her mother had kissed her.
"It does.," Nancy said, turning around, "do you remember anything else about it?" Nancy said, walking towards Gwen, her eyes focused on her.
"Umm.I remember, not to be scared," Gwen hardly knew what she was saying.
"You remember?" Nancy said, a smile spreading across her face, "she remembers!" she called out to the others.
Nancy took hold of Gwen's hand and dragged her downstairs and into the kitchen.
"What you doing, Nancy?" Gwen said, pulling free.
"She remembers the song, Maggie," Nancy said enthusiastically.
"She does," Maggie said, whipping around and spraying a mixture everywhere from the spoon she was holding.
"I don't understand," Gwen said puzzled, "so what if I remember a song?"
Alfred rose and pulled a chair up to his and patted it, indicating Gwen to sit down.
"You've been here before, Gwen. You've met us all before. When you were young, your mother brought you here; you even had your 1st birthday here," Alfred said.
"When we said, we knew your mother, we weren't being completely honest. We didn't just know her, Arthur and I were her godparents," Nancy said, stroking Gwen's head.
"That means, I'm your god aunt," Maggie added cheerfully.
"But I don't remember. I mean, if I was here, wouldn't I remember? I was young, but I would still remember something, wouldn't I?" Gwen said, racking her brains for something.
"It was the memory charm," Maggie said, sitting down next to Gwen.
"Memory charm?"
"Yes, we think that your mother put a memory charm on you before she gave you up. So, you wouldn't remember anything and live a normal muggle existence."
"But, you remember the song and that means that the memory charm is wearing off," Nancy said.
"I didn't know, memory charms could wear off," Gwen said quietly.
"They don't normally. But you're mother was in such a weakened state and the fact that you're a Merlin.," Alfred replied.
"Here, maybe this will jog your memory," Maggie said, taking a large leather book from one of the kitchen drawers.
Gwen opened the book slowly and found an array of moving pictures, she wasn't surprised, she'd seen moving pictures in the "Daily Prophet".
The first time she'd seen a moving picture was in the "Daily Prophet." It was of a young wizard and he'd waved at her, she'd nearly fallen off her chair, at the shock.
The pictures in the book were of her, Nancy, Maggie, Alfred and.her mother.
She saw the happy looks on all their faces and wished that she could remember them.
Then as she looked through the book, she came across two faces, she didn't know.
"Who are these people?" Gwen said, pointing at the two men.
One of them was quite young, with brown curly hair and deep brown eyes; they reminded her of Nancy's.
The second man was older; he had dark grey hair, with stripes of white, here and there. He also had brown eyes and was holding her in the picture.
Maggie and Nancy each took a deep breath and looked away, Alfred seemed to be the only one that was listening.
"Those two are.William Arthur and Simon Lark. My son and Maggie's husband," Alfred said, his eyes watering.
Gwen knew instantly that she'd hit a nerve with all of them, "they're dead too, aren't they?" Gwen asked.
Alfred nodded his head gently and then murmured quietly, "they died on the same day as your mother."
All four of them remained silent, all holding back their tears.
***
"Where is she?" William said, walking alongside Simon.
"It's getting dark, let's go back," Simon muttered.
"I don't know."
"William, there's no point, us carrying on without telling them where we are. There's no point, worrying your mother anymore," Simon said.
"Yeah, you're right."
The two, started to head back when out of the corner of William's eye, he saw her. "Is that Vicky?" he cried out to Simon.
"Yes, it is. Quick, we need to go get her," he called back and the two headed off to try and catch Vicky.
Vicky kept looking around her, she couldn't remember where she'd left her baby, nothing looked familiar.
Then she heard them, William and Simon, calling to her.
They couldn't take her back, she didn't have her baby, thought Vicky and so, she ran.
Eventually, she was too tired to run anymore and stopped in front of an abandoned warehouse.
From within, she could hear voices, so she drew closer, peering in a crack left by the door.
"There she is," Simon shouted, seeing Vicky standing near the entrance to the warehouse.
The two of them, ran up to her, only to be quieted by a look.
They looked into the warehouse and saw a bunch of cloaked figures standing around a massive bonfire.
Simon and William looked at each other, they'd thought the same thing, it was the death eaters society.
"Why did we have to meet in a muggle place?" one said.
"Because.the Ministry wouldn't dream of coming here. Not in a place, where they might cause a scene with the muggles all around," another said, he was clearly the leader. "Now onto business," he continued, "as you all know, our dark lord is in a weakened state. But he will making a recovery, so we must be patient and wait. So, I'm afraid this will be our last meeting for now. In the meantime, we must watch our backs; there are those that wish to bring us down. Also, we must convince the Ministry that we were confused, anything, so that they will leave us alone. After this meeting, I want you to hide or destroy anything to do with us, so we are nothing more than a memory. Is that clear?"
There was a resounding yes; the leader went on.
"Fine. Now, we have another matter, the baby."
At the mention of baby, Vicky rushed forward; William and Simon weren't quick enough to catch her. The society turned and watched the mad woman run across to them.
"You have my baby?"
The leader turned to look at her and sneered, "a mad muggle woman. Someone dispose of her."
Another cloaked figure stepped forward and drew his wand.
At that point, William Arthur rushed in and pulled out his wand, screaming, "Leave her alone."
He was closely followed by Simon Lark, who also had his wand out.
There was a flash and the cloaked figure had fallen back. The society then, formed a line and drew their wands.
The leader stepped forward, and looked at the two wizards.
"Ah, Simon Lark and friends. Members of our opposition, no less. I saw your article about us in the paper, Lark, very powerful stuff."
"Shame, you're dark lord wasn't," Simon Lark retorted.
The leader stopped and sighed heavily before continuing in a forced polite tone, "I'm so glad you could join us, for our final meeting."
"It will be, once we tell the Ministry of Magic," William Arthur called out. The death eaters all laughed together.
"And what makes you think, you'll get the chance?" The leader asked, William and Simon couldn't see underneath the robe, but they were sure that he was smirking.
The leader walked forward and grabbed Vicky by the hair; she didn't struggle but turned and started to sing, that familiar tune.
"Stupid woman," he shouted and threw her back on the floor. He then turned his attentions to the others, "any famous last words?"
William stood tall and remained silent.
Simon looked at the death eaters and spoke loudly, so they could all hear, "your great dark lord was defeated by a child. The all powerful one, the one that couldn't be stopped and look at him now, oh wait, you can't," Simon paused, to gauge their reaction but nothing stirred, so he continued, "with him out of power, how do his worms expect to live?" He smiled and held his head high.
The leader stepped forward and smacked Simon across the face with his wand, "How dare you!"
He paused for a moment and then thinking of something, said in a low voice, "we worms know how to survive, we'll live. You on the other hand, won't have that pleasure," with that he raised his wand and the other death eaters followed suit.
Vicky looked up at her executioners and sensed the severity of the situation and she got up and stood tall with the other two.
"Now!" the leader screamed. A blinding flash of green light filled the warehouse and it was over.
***
Gwen walked back up the stairs, the book clutched to her chest.
After the mention of the three deaths, everyone had closed up; no one spoke for a long time.
Eventually, Alfred had told her to go and revise her spells, Gwen had sadly agreed.
She set the photo album on her desk, but couldn't bear to look at it and pushed it aside.
As she did, a piece of paper fell out of the album. It was an old "Daily Prophet" clipping.
The headline read, "Death Eaters claim another Three Victims."
She read on, but she already knew who the victims were, Simon Lark, William Arthur and Victoria Aldan. Gwen scanned the article, finally coming to the last paragraph, which read:
"The two wizards and witch were Simon Lark, a writer for the "Daily Prophet", William Arthur and Victoria Aldan. They were found by muggle authorities in a muggle warehouse, yesterday night. The Ministry Of Magic said it was a great tragedy and that after the incident with You-Know-Who, they had hoped that the killings would have stopped. Cornelius Fudge made a plea to the magic world, saying it was now imperative that we find the rest of the death eaters and once and for all, bring an end to this sad chapter in magic history. This reporter would like to express his condolences to the families of the deceased. It really was a great loss and hopefully those responsible will come to justice."
As she finished reading, Gwen felt so angry that she vowed to herself that she would avenge these deaths and somewhere, deep inside, she knew she could, that she had it within her power.
She placed the clipping back inside the album and was about to go downstairs, when she heard the faint noise of sobbing, Nancy's and Maggie's sobbing.
She imagined them down in the kitchen, the three of them, Nancy and Maggie weeping quietly and Arthur sitting motionless, with silent tears running down his face.
Gwen closed the door and collapsed on the floor, closing her eyes, trying to shut out the world.
Gwen could see Annabelle just in front of her and she seemed to be terrified of something, Gwen moved forward but every time she did, Annabelle took a step back.
Then, there was a flash of green light and.nothing.
But then, another image appeared, this was one of a young woman. The woman had her back facing her and Gwen was looking up at her.
Then the woman turned around and it was her mother, "now, remember our song."
The woman said, looking at Gwen. Gwen could see now, her mother had the same dark hair and dark eyes as her.
Victoria Aldan then started to hum and she brought out a small wooden flute.
She brought the instrument up to her lips and blew it gently, a soft noise came out and a familiar tune enveloped Gwen.
She gazed up at the woman and then she spoke again, "not so scared now, are we?"
Her voice was so gentle and quiet and the music had formed a blanket around Gwen, making her feel protected.
Then the woman leant down and kissed the girl on the forehead, Gwen could feel it, it felt so real.
"Wake up, Gwen!" It was Nancy.
Gwen sat upright in bed and looked at the old woman, pottering around the room, moving things here and there.
"What's the matter?" Nancy said, looking at the girl.
"Oh, nothing. Just had a funny dream," Gwen replied, not really knowing what to make of it.
"Oh. Well, you know dreams can sometimes be trying to warn you about things. Maybe things in the future," Nancy said quietly, she then started to hum.
"What you humming?" Gwen asked, pulling off her nightgown.
"Oh, just a song," Nancy replied, opening the curtains and letting in a flood of light.
"Sounds familiar," Gwen said, her thoughts returning to her dream. She fingered the place where her mother had kissed her.
"It does.," Nancy said, turning around, "do you remember anything else about it?" Nancy said, walking towards Gwen, her eyes focused on her.
"Umm.I remember, not to be scared," Gwen hardly knew what she was saying.
"You remember?" Nancy said, a smile spreading across her face, "she remembers!" she called out to the others.
Nancy took hold of Gwen's hand and dragged her downstairs and into the kitchen.
"What you doing, Nancy?" Gwen said, pulling free.
"She remembers the song, Maggie," Nancy said enthusiastically.
"She does," Maggie said, whipping around and spraying a mixture everywhere from the spoon she was holding.
"I don't understand," Gwen said puzzled, "so what if I remember a song?"
Alfred rose and pulled a chair up to his and patted it, indicating Gwen to sit down.
"You've been here before, Gwen. You've met us all before. When you were young, your mother brought you here; you even had your 1st birthday here," Alfred said.
"When we said, we knew your mother, we weren't being completely honest. We didn't just know her, Arthur and I were her godparents," Nancy said, stroking Gwen's head.
"That means, I'm your god aunt," Maggie added cheerfully.
"But I don't remember. I mean, if I was here, wouldn't I remember? I was young, but I would still remember something, wouldn't I?" Gwen said, racking her brains for something.
"It was the memory charm," Maggie said, sitting down next to Gwen.
"Memory charm?"
"Yes, we think that your mother put a memory charm on you before she gave you up. So, you wouldn't remember anything and live a normal muggle existence."
"But, you remember the song and that means that the memory charm is wearing off," Nancy said.
"I didn't know, memory charms could wear off," Gwen said quietly.
"They don't normally. But you're mother was in such a weakened state and the fact that you're a Merlin.," Alfred replied.
"Here, maybe this will jog your memory," Maggie said, taking a large leather book from one of the kitchen drawers.
Gwen opened the book slowly and found an array of moving pictures, she wasn't surprised, she'd seen moving pictures in the "Daily Prophet".
The first time she'd seen a moving picture was in the "Daily Prophet." It was of a young wizard and he'd waved at her, she'd nearly fallen off her chair, at the shock.
The pictures in the book were of her, Nancy, Maggie, Alfred and.her mother.
She saw the happy looks on all their faces and wished that she could remember them.
Then as she looked through the book, she came across two faces, she didn't know.
"Who are these people?" Gwen said, pointing at the two men.
One of them was quite young, with brown curly hair and deep brown eyes; they reminded her of Nancy's.
The second man was older; he had dark grey hair, with stripes of white, here and there. He also had brown eyes and was holding her in the picture.
Maggie and Nancy each took a deep breath and looked away, Alfred seemed to be the only one that was listening.
"Those two are.William Arthur and Simon Lark. My son and Maggie's husband," Alfred said, his eyes watering.
Gwen knew instantly that she'd hit a nerve with all of them, "they're dead too, aren't they?" Gwen asked.
Alfred nodded his head gently and then murmured quietly, "they died on the same day as your mother."
All four of them remained silent, all holding back their tears.
***
"Where is she?" William said, walking alongside Simon.
"It's getting dark, let's go back," Simon muttered.
"I don't know."
"William, there's no point, us carrying on without telling them where we are. There's no point, worrying your mother anymore," Simon said.
"Yeah, you're right."
The two, started to head back when out of the corner of William's eye, he saw her. "Is that Vicky?" he cried out to Simon.
"Yes, it is. Quick, we need to go get her," he called back and the two headed off to try and catch Vicky.
Vicky kept looking around her, she couldn't remember where she'd left her baby, nothing looked familiar.
Then she heard them, William and Simon, calling to her.
They couldn't take her back, she didn't have her baby, thought Vicky and so, she ran.
Eventually, she was too tired to run anymore and stopped in front of an abandoned warehouse.
From within, she could hear voices, so she drew closer, peering in a crack left by the door.
"There she is," Simon shouted, seeing Vicky standing near the entrance to the warehouse.
The two of them, ran up to her, only to be quieted by a look.
They looked into the warehouse and saw a bunch of cloaked figures standing around a massive bonfire.
Simon and William looked at each other, they'd thought the same thing, it was the death eaters society.
"Why did we have to meet in a muggle place?" one said.
"Because.the Ministry wouldn't dream of coming here. Not in a place, where they might cause a scene with the muggles all around," another said, he was clearly the leader. "Now onto business," he continued, "as you all know, our dark lord is in a weakened state. But he will making a recovery, so we must be patient and wait. So, I'm afraid this will be our last meeting for now. In the meantime, we must watch our backs; there are those that wish to bring us down. Also, we must convince the Ministry that we were confused, anything, so that they will leave us alone. After this meeting, I want you to hide or destroy anything to do with us, so we are nothing more than a memory. Is that clear?"
There was a resounding yes; the leader went on.
"Fine. Now, we have another matter, the baby."
At the mention of baby, Vicky rushed forward; William and Simon weren't quick enough to catch her. The society turned and watched the mad woman run across to them.
"You have my baby?"
The leader turned to look at her and sneered, "a mad muggle woman. Someone dispose of her."
Another cloaked figure stepped forward and drew his wand.
At that point, William Arthur rushed in and pulled out his wand, screaming, "Leave her alone."
He was closely followed by Simon Lark, who also had his wand out.
There was a flash and the cloaked figure had fallen back. The society then, formed a line and drew their wands.
The leader stepped forward, and looked at the two wizards.
"Ah, Simon Lark and friends. Members of our opposition, no less. I saw your article about us in the paper, Lark, very powerful stuff."
"Shame, you're dark lord wasn't," Simon Lark retorted.
The leader stopped and sighed heavily before continuing in a forced polite tone, "I'm so glad you could join us, for our final meeting."
"It will be, once we tell the Ministry of Magic," William Arthur called out. The death eaters all laughed together.
"And what makes you think, you'll get the chance?" The leader asked, William and Simon couldn't see underneath the robe, but they were sure that he was smirking.
The leader walked forward and grabbed Vicky by the hair; she didn't struggle but turned and started to sing, that familiar tune.
"Stupid woman," he shouted and threw her back on the floor. He then turned his attentions to the others, "any famous last words?"
William stood tall and remained silent.
Simon looked at the death eaters and spoke loudly, so they could all hear, "your great dark lord was defeated by a child. The all powerful one, the one that couldn't be stopped and look at him now, oh wait, you can't," Simon paused, to gauge their reaction but nothing stirred, so he continued, "with him out of power, how do his worms expect to live?" He smiled and held his head high.
The leader stepped forward and smacked Simon across the face with his wand, "How dare you!"
He paused for a moment and then thinking of something, said in a low voice, "we worms know how to survive, we'll live. You on the other hand, won't have that pleasure," with that he raised his wand and the other death eaters followed suit.
Vicky looked up at her executioners and sensed the severity of the situation and she got up and stood tall with the other two.
"Now!" the leader screamed. A blinding flash of green light filled the warehouse and it was over.
***
Gwen walked back up the stairs, the book clutched to her chest.
After the mention of the three deaths, everyone had closed up; no one spoke for a long time.
Eventually, Alfred had told her to go and revise her spells, Gwen had sadly agreed.
She set the photo album on her desk, but couldn't bear to look at it and pushed it aside.
As she did, a piece of paper fell out of the album. It was an old "Daily Prophet" clipping.
The headline read, "Death Eaters claim another Three Victims."
She read on, but she already knew who the victims were, Simon Lark, William Arthur and Victoria Aldan. Gwen scanned the article, finally coming to the last paragraph, which read:
"The two wizards and witch were Simon Lark, a writer for the "Daily Prophet", William Arthur and Victoria Aldan. They were found by muggle authorities in a muggle warehouse, yesterday night. The Ministry Of Magic said it was a great tragedy and that after the incident with You-Know-Who, they had hoped that the killings would have stopped. Cornelius Fudge made a plea to the magic world, saying it was now imperative that we find the rest of the death eaters and once and for all, bring an end to this sad chapter in magic history. This reporter would like to express his condolences to the families of the deceased. It really was a great loss and hopefully those responsible will come to justice."
As she finished reading, Gwen felt so angry that she vowed to herself that she would avenge these deaths and somewhere, deep inside, she knew she could, that she had it within her power.
She placed the clipping back inside the album and was about to go downstairs, when she heard the faint noise of sobbing, Nancy's and Maggie's sobbing.
She imagined them down in the kitchen, the three of them, Nancy and Maggie weeping quietly and Arthur sitting motionless, with silent tears running down his face.
Gwen closed the door and collapsed on the floor, closing her eyes, trying to shut out the world.
