Finding a Father.
Ch. 8
A/N: Ok. I know it's been awhile, but I've been super busy. College is still super fun. I have a job now though so I don't have large amounts of spare time. This isn't my best work but I'm writing through a severe case of writer's block. Oh well here you go.
Isabelle stepped out of the back of the black town car gracefully. Smoothing a wrinkle out of the lavender and white traveling suit Maddie lent her. She shoved her sunglasses back into her hair and glanced around the elegant courtyard. Holding her chin perfectly parallel she let herself be led, by Remus, through the throngs of cheering Moneran citizens up wide white stone steps into the grand entrance of the palace.
Isabelle gasped. The entrance of the palace was amazing. Glancing around the white and gold room, that was huge and filled with renowned works of art, the occupants of whom were visiting animatedly with each other. Lost in the lavish surroundings of her new "home", Isabelle didn't even register the other people in the room.
"Welcome home," a woman in her late thirties said as she embraced Remus, "This must be Isabelle. Hello darling." The woman smiled brightly and moved to embrace her. Isabelle embraced the woman lightly but stepped back quickly and raised an eyebrow at Remus.
"As always Jazz, you are right. This is my daughter," at his words Isabelle glared at him, "Isabelle, this is Jasmine Carlisle-Lupin. Your Aunt."
"Nice to meet you Your highness," Isabelle said bobbing into a small curtsy.
"None of that nonsense," Jasmine said, "We're family. Let's introduce you to the palace staff and then I'll show you to your rooms," she bubbled as she propelled Isabelle towards a receiving line of stern looking people.
"It's Belle," Isabelle said quietly, "Only my Gran-mère calls me Isabelle." She smiled at her aunt as the vivacious woman stopped in front of the first person.
"This is Henri, he's the in charge of the castle staff. If you have problems with anyone on your personal staff you'll have a meeting with Henri," Jasmine said with a slight nod at a tall man with white hair and a mustache.
"Personal staff?" Isabelle asked shocked.
"Why of course, Your highness, You are a member of this family after all," Henri said with a bow. To shocked to speak Isabelle just nodded dumbly as her aunt moved on.
"This is Matilda, she's the palace chef. You and your father will sit down with her later on and discuss food allergies and your favorite foods. I imagine you'll have a rather close relationship with Tilly. Everyone else does," Jasmine said smiling at the round woman with kind brown eyes.
"Nice to meet you, Matilda," Isabelle said kindly.
"This is Marisol," Jasmine said practically dragging Isabelle in front of a beautiful young Spanish girl, "Marisol is your personal assistant. She's the head of your personal staff and will help you not only adjust to life at Bellaterra, but will be in charge of assisting you in preparing for large events."
"Hi," Isabelle said brightly.
"Hello, Your highness," Marisol said with a curtsy.
"Please, call me Belle," she said with a smile.
"Yes, Your…Belle," Marisol said after a moments pause.
"Last person you'll meet this afternoon, and probably the most important," Jasmine said propelling Isabelle in front of a tall, well muscled blonde man, "Marco Solis will be your bodyguard. He is in charge of your safety and well being. I must stress to you , as I do my own children, that your bodyguard is not in charge of making you happy. You may not always agree with Marco, but he is the only person outside the family you must always listen to."
"I got it," Isabelle said patiently, "My uncle was an Unspeakable, I've had a bodyguard before, Nice to meet you Mr. Solis."
"The pleasure is mine, Princess Isabelle," Marco said with a bow, "Your father, and I have already begun drafting a plan for your protection. I hope to gain your input sometime soon."
"Of course, I can't imagine why Prince Remus would not think to include my opinion," Isabelle said coolly.
"Come along then, my dear," Jasmine said smiling, "I'll show you to your rooms."
Isabelle followed her aunt through countless corridors. Completely losing her sense of direction as the corridors shifted from darkness to bright sunshine back into darkness. She alternated between blinking and staring wide-eyed at the artwork and the ornate carvings in the halls. When they stopped at a set of large double doors in a large, blue ,brightly lit corridor with huge windows, Isabelle took in her surroundings nervously.
"This is your room. Leigh-Anne, my daughter and your cousin, picked out most of the stuff. She's just a couple of weeks younger than you, so she figured she knew best," Jasmine said with a small smile as she opened the door, stepping aside as to let her niece into the spacious room.
Isabelle glanced around the room and gasped. There was a dark green comforter with small cream colored embroidered flowers. The curtains on the large bay windows were a heavy hunter brocade with white and gold weaved throughout the fabric. Isabelle turned and tried to rush out but stopped before she ran into Jasmine. "I…this is…"
"Belle. What's wrong?" Jasmine asked softly as she guided the young girl across the hallway into the Library and locked the door behind them. "You can tell me. You don't have to but you can."
"The colors…," she said quietly, " They're the same as the ones in my mum's room at home."
"Oh, I'm sorry. I didn't know."
"It's not you're fault. You couldn't have known," Isabelle said blinking and trying not to cry.
"It's alright to cry," Jasmine said matter-of-factly.
"I…"
"I'll have someone change it later, why don't you and I go into the Library? Remus said you liked to read."
"I do," she said nodding numbly, "My mum taught grammar to local wizarding kids."
Jasmine Lupin surveyed her niece and smiled sadly. The girl was going to have a lot of problems adjusting to the stiff properness of being royalty. And she was prepared to do all she could do to help. She lead the girl across the hall into a huge library, attempting to hide a smile when the girl's mouth went slack.
"There's gotta be a hundred thousand books in here," Isabelle said looking around wide-eyed. Carve white bookshelves lined every wall from floor to ceiling. There was a fire crackling in the large fireplace at the far end of the room.
"A hundred and fifty thousand five hundred and three…to be exact," Jasmine said with a smile.
Isabelle sat down in a near by chair and closed here eyes. The pain was strong, stronger here than it had been since her mother's death. She could almost feel her here. Hear her laughter and see her smiling as she sat by one of the large window reading. She felt the pain wrap around her, drawing tightly around her heart. "She came here…didn't she?"
"She loved this room, no one really came here after she left. Remus forbid it," Jasmine said softly kneeling in front of her niece, "Belle….I don't know how much you know, or how much Remus has told you…but he loved your mum."
"I loved her too….she was all I had…." her voice trailed off as she tried to force her tears away.
"Don't stop them."
"What?" She asked looking at the regal woman in front of here questioningly.
"Don't stop your tears, it's ok to cry."
"I can't cry…"
"It's alright if you can't, but don't hold it inside. Be angry or sad or upset."
Silent sobs began to shake her shoulders. Slowly the silent tears became heart wrenching cries. Tears of pain and anger. Tears of sadness and hopelessness. Isabelle felt her aunt's arms wrap around her comforting her as she continued to sob. She continued to cry until she could cry no more. She sniffed and wiped her eyes gently, looking at Jasmine. "Thank you," was all she could say.
"It's perfectly alright, dear," Jasmine said softly. Both of them looked up shocked when the library doors slammed open and Remus entered followed by a woman with dark brown curls and silver eyes.
"Madame Kingsley…." Isabelle's jaw dropped.
"My sweet child," the woman soothed as she engulfed a shocked Isabelle.
"Madame….Kingsley….it's not that I'm not happy to see you but….I can't breath."
"I'm sorry my dear, when Madison told me they'd practically banished you here…well…I can't let you just rot here."
"I assure you…my daughter is far from rotting Madame," Remus said stonily.
"My daughter and this young lady have never been separated in their entire lives…..I refuse to let either of them be miserable because of your pigheadedness," Madame Kingsley spat angrily.
"Is Maddie here?" Isabelle asked quietly.
"You are not going to France, Isabelle," Remus said with a note of finality.
"That's not what I asked."
"Yes, dear, Madison and Ginevra are in your room," Madame Kingsley said glaring at Remus, "Perhaps you should go and see them."
Standing slowly Isabelle cast one last look over the three tense adults before slipping out into the corridor. She crossed quickly and opened the door to her room, expecting to see Maddie and Ginny in the still green room. She pushed the heavy oak door open and looked around confused. She must have opened the wrong door.
"BELLE," Ginny squealed as she launched herself off the bed and threw her arms around her friend.
"Gin, Maddie…I missed you two so much," Isabelle said burying her face in her friends shoulder.
"Mum's pestering Remus about letting you spend the rest of the summer in France," Maddie said with a grin.
"It won't happen. I mean, he practically kidnapped me to get me here."
"We know," Ginny said sympathetically.
"What's up with this room though?" Isabelle asked, "Did you two do this?"
"Yeah, we figured you'd like it better," Maddie said unusually quiet.
Isabelle looked around the room for the second time that day. Ginny and Maddie had certainly put a lot of thought into the décor they'd chosen. Dreamy netting cascaded around the headboard of the queen sized bed which was covered in a pale yellow and blue comforter and pushed into one corner of the room. The was a maple colored writing desk across from the bed and close to fifty platinum framed pictures hung around the room.
"This is amazing you two."
"Thanks, We filled the desk with all your favorite stuff from Flourish and Blott's," Maddie said.
"Cause you can't get it here," Ginny continued for her, "And Fred and George sent a whole batch of WWW stuff."
"Wow," Isabelle said sinking onto the end of the bed.
"Oh and we arranged your closet first by color and the by sleeve length for shirts and the style for pants and skirts," Maddie added as an after thought.
"I don't even want to know where the clothes came from. I'm to exhausted to think," Isabelle said, "I hope your mum succeeds in her mission Maddie."
"I didn't," came a voice from the doorway.
"Mum!" Maddie exclaimed.
"Madame Kingsley!" Ginny and Isabelle said at the same time.
"Your father is a stubborn man Isabelle Wood," Madame Kingsley said, "But he's reasonable," she continued. "Madison, You and Ginevra will return to Bellaterra in one month's time and spend the remainder of your summer here."
All three girls nodded and stood. Hugging each other and promising to write while apart Ginny and Maddie followed Madame Kingsley from the room. Leaving Isabelle alone for the first time in days.
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Isabelle lay nearly asleep on her bed. It had been hours since Maddie and Ginny had come and gone. Bored, tired, and lonely Isabelle sighed as she watched the sun set through one of her windows. Cotton-candy colors lit the Mediterranean sky and Isabelle sighed.
"What are you doing in here?" Came a sharp voice from the door, "No one is supposed to be in this room. Are you new on staff or something?"
Isabelle turned to face the voice and was mildly shocked by the presence of a young man, no older the Oliver, wearing camouflage pants and a white t-shirt. "I could ask you the same thing."
"How dare you speak to me in that tone!" The boy exclaimed.
"Who in Merlin's name do you think you are?" Isabelle practically shouted.
"I'm the bloody Prince," he said grabbing her wrist and dragging her out of the room into the hallway.
"You certainly could learn to act more like it," Isabelle said shifting her weight and pulling her wrist out of his grasp. Causing him to land on his back on the marble tile. Honestly, my Gran-mère taught me better than that when I was Five," she said rolling her eyes and walking away from him.
"Princess Isabelle!" Marco Solis exclaimed as he raced down the corridor towards her, "Are you alright? The disturbance wards are going off."
"I'm fine Marco."
"Prince Jonathan, why are you on the floor?" Marco asked the young man as he helped him up.
"The Prince here apparently thinks man-handling young girls is appropriate behavior," Isabelle said with a glare.
"I didn't man-handle you!"
"Tell that to my bruise," she grumbled rubbing her wrist.
"I just have one question Princess," Marco said, "How did you manage to get the Prince onto the floor, he's a highly trained fighter."
"My older brother is a Professional Quiddtch player and my uncle was an Unspeakable. Oliver taught me to protect myself when I was about ten."
"Older brother? Your Mum must have been busy," Prince Jonathan remarked derisively.
"You great prick," Isabelle lunged at him swing a fist only to be caught around the waist by Marco, "You bastard…You Have know idea what you're talking about. We can't all be raised in perfect royal families. I suggest you stay the bloody hell away from me unless you want more to happen than for you to be on the floor."
"Isabelle!" Remus said as he entered the hall, "That type of language is unacceptable. Apologize to your cousin."
"Like hell I will," she said glaring at him, "You have no idea what it's like. You don't care either. I wish all of you would just leave me alone!" Isabelle turned on her heal and stormed back into her bedroom and slammed the door.
"I didn't realize your wife had a child before you were married, sir." Marco said.
"Norah and I were never married. And Isabelle is her only child. Oliver is actually her cousin," Remus said quietly before disappearing back into the library.