Dumbledore had read through all the information in Larissa's Diary and found most of it uneventful, unhelpful and boring. He found it interesting that there were magical blocks preventing her diary from revealing most names, specific dates and in many cases whole entries altogether. Only the end of the journal seemed completely unblocked, and that consisted of the pages she had written with Dumbledore in mind. He also had finally gathered from many scattered entries the day and reason for her decision to join the dark side.
Larissa had to stay at her Father's house for a month the summer between her 5th and 6th years at Hogwarts. The Tri-wizard tournament had recently ended and with it came the rise of the dark lord. Larissa happened to be rather reluctant to stay with her father; in fact she seemed to hate her father with the same passion that upper-class purebloods reserved for muggles. To her, her father was a low down muggle kissing blood traitor squib.
Daniel Baikal was not the sort of person too even attempt to win the favor of his children, he simply was not brought up that way. Even after the divorce, when he rarely saw his daughters, he remained distant from his children. You see Daniel came from a long line of powerful dark wizards from Russia. The Baikal's had a history of excelling in the dark arts and following whichever Dark Lord entered their era. Then Daniel came along, a squib with what society deemed 'positive moral values'. The effect was disastrous for the family. The family was split over the fact the heir to the Baikal name was a squib. They tried desperately to change his values and used dark magic to steal the boy some magic, but nothing worked.
Then the downfall of the Dark Lord came. Many of the Baikal's had received the dementor's kiss and even more where dead, a few scattered cousins and distant relations where all that was left besides the family skeleton, the squib. Five years before the fall of the Dark Lord Daniel had run off and married a nice pureblooded witch from a very neutral family that has a history of being insane. It was rumored that the only real reason they were neutral was that no side wanted to claim the useless nutcases, this family was the Dawn family. Their youngest daughter, Artemis, was given a small pat on the back and an even quieter "good for you" when she married Daniel right out of Hogwarts and moved out of the wizarding world.
The happy couple had apparently lived like muggles with only minor connections to their past life up until their oldest daughter, Larissa, got her Hogwarts letter. Daniel honestly believed the wizarding world was evil, that magic was evil and that the world would be better off if magic folk were all killed. Using this line of reasoning he demanded that Larissa not attend any sort of magical school and just live her life out as a muggle. Artemis disagreed, that led to the divorce of the nice young couple and the estrangement of father and daughter. Daniel over looked the fact that his other daughter, Tania, attended Hogwarts, it was Larissa who started making waves after all.
Larissa was not happy about her current residence in her father's house. Her stepmother (a muggle) had decided since Larissa was barely there, the room that Larissa had dubbed 'Dementor's lair' should be put to good use. Dementor's lair was black when Larissa had left it; it had been black since she was three, the only colors that had been in the room besides black where dark blue, pale yellow, and turquoise. The paper-thin curtains had usually been drawn, the light streaming through them giving and thing that wasn't dark a yellow tint, as if corrupting the light. But everything was cream now; well maybe not everything, the rest was pink. Dementor's lair had been turned into 'The rose room'; it was for 'guests'.
Larissa had sucked in the dismemberment of her room and took it as no horrible plot against her. As the weeks wore on she realized her father's plot against her, he was trying to cram her into his little moral box, make her part of his magic-less law abiding church going family. He had cut her off from her friends and from Michael through the means of not allowing Tania's owl anywhere near the house and warning of punishment for any owls that did. Not that she wasn't flattered that her father actually wanted her, but Larissa had had just about enough of his stupid ideas.
Susan Baikal was a very nice muggle. She knew nothing of the wizarding world her husband was raised in and even less about the going-ons of her stepdaughters. All that she really knew was that Larissa was being sent to a prestigious boarding school that did not discourage her dabbling in magic. Not that Susan understood magic; she thought of it as tarot cards, tea leaves, mixing herbal remedies and calling them potions and most of all, deals with the devil for power. She simply overlooked her husband's comments to Larissa when he was in a bad mood.
"Pathetic little witch," and "You'd have been better off living with me," with a very real undertone of 'you're practically a squib anyway,' were common enough to hear, along with the occasional, "You see anyone's death in those soggy leaves or should I rearrange them for you?" But when Susan was out Daniel used threats of breaking her wand and mentions of her low OWL scores as ways of keeping her in line. A month with him was not looking up for Larissa.
She made it three weeks actually. The sickishly pink room full of rose potpourri made Larissa nauseous and she opted to sleep on the couch in the den, the taunts were ignored and she spent her days writing in her journal about her reading from her morning ritual tea leave reading. Saturday came and went with out event, why couldn't Sunday?
Sunday morning found Larissa in turmoil. The first rays of sun peaked through the windows of a shamelessly yellow kitchen that seemed to have been overtaken by sunflowers and joyfully bounced off Larissa's tangled curls as she stared blankly into her tea cup. "Two paths, a choice today will decide one way or the other. One peaceful and long the other short, dark and painful, vengeful, powerful. The choice will come today."
She blinked in surprise, "Oh fuck."
It was only an hour later when her father found her staring idly out window at a swarm of ladybugs that were getting picked off by a few small birds. "Time to go," he said in an amused voice, startling Larissa from her peaceful position.
"Go where?"
He frowned, "we're going to church."
"I'm not going to church today," she said quietly, looking at her cup sadly.
"Why not?" Susan asked walking into the kitchen to grab the car keys she had stashed under the strawberry shaped cookie jar.
Larissa raised her head with power and determination, "I fear something bad will happen if I go."
"Oh," Daniel said looking at her with a slight grin on his face, "Afraid you'll get saved?"
Larissa's eyes flashed angrily, "I'm not going!"
"Yes you are you little brat! Go get in the car now!" Daniel roared. It usually took longer for him to get upset. Larissa was starting to get suspicious of him.
"No!"
"You go or I'll—" he was cut off by Tania's quiet voice.
"Larissa," Tania said, softly touching her sister's shoulder, "just come please. Nothing will happen, I promise."
Larissa never did stand up to Tania unless the situation called for it, and to her, the situation had not gotten that desperate yet. So she sent one last glare at her father before storming out to the car.
The sermon was on the evils of witched and how they should all be put to death. How they were devil worshipers and infected with demons. The pastor talked about how the congregation should avoid these people, how a witch's purpose was to bring down the Christian society.
Not more then a week later Larissa attended her first Death Eater meeting.
Larissa had to stay at her Father's house for a month the summer between her 5th and 6th years at Hogwarts. The Tri-wizard tournament had recently ended and with it came the rise of the dark lord. Larissa happened to be rather reluctant to stay with her father; in fact she seemed to hate her father with the same passion that upper-class purebloods reserved for muggles. To her, her father was a low down muggle kissing blood traitor squib.
Daniel Baikal was not the sort of person too even attempt to win the favor of his children, he simply was not brought up that way. Even after the divorce, when he rarely saw his daughters, he remained distant from his children. You see Daniel came from a long line of powerful dark wizards from Russia. The Baikal's had a history of excelling in the dark arts and following whichever Dark Lord entered their era. Then Daniel came along, a squib with what society deemed 'positive moral values'. The effect was disastrous for the family. The family was split over the fact the heir to the Baikal name was a squib. They tried desperately to change his values and used dark magic to steal the boy some magic, but nothing worked.
Then the downfall of the Dark Lord came. Many of the Baikal's had received the dementor's kiss and even more where dead, a few scattered cousins and distant relations where all that was left besides the family skeleton, the squib. Five years before the fall of the Dark Lord Daniel had run off and married a nice pureblooded witch from a very neutral family that has a history of being insane. It was rumored that the only real reason they were neutral was that no side wanted to claim the useless nutcases, this family was the Dawn family. Their youngest daughter, Artemis, was given a small pat on the back and an even quieter "good for you" when she married Daniel right out of Hogwarts and moved out of the wizarding world.
The happy couple had apparently lived like muggles with only minor connections to their past life up until their oldest daughter, Larissa, got her Hogwarts letter. Daniel honestly believed the wizarding world was evil, that magic was evil and that the world would be better off if magic folk were all killed. Using this line of reasoning he demanded that Larissa not attend any sort of magical school and just live her life out as a muggle. Artemis disagreed, that led to the divorce of the nice young couple and the estrangement of father and daughter. Daniel over looked the fact that his other daughter, Tania, attended Hogwarts, it was Larissa who started making waves after all.
Larissa was not happy about her current residence in her father's house. Her stepmother (a muggle) had decided since Larissa was barely there, the room that Larissa had dubbed 'Dementor's lair' should be put to good use. Dementor's lair was black when Larissa had left it; it had been black since she was three, the only colors that had been in the room besides black where dark blue, pale yellow, and turquoise. The paper-thin curtains had usually been drawn, the light streaming through them giving and thing that wasn't dark a yellow tint, as if corrupting the light. But everything was cream now; well maybe not everything, the rest was pink. Dementor's lair had been turned into 'The rose room'; it was for 'guests'.
Larissa had sucked in the dismemberment of her room and took it as no horrible plot against her. As the weeks wore on she realized her father's plot against her, he was trying to cram her into his little moral box, make her part of his magic-less law abiding church going family. He had cut her off from her friends and from Michael through the means of not allowing Tania's owl anywhere near the house and warning of punishment for any owls that did. Not that she wasn't flattered that her father actually wanted her, but Larissa had had just about enough of his stupid ideas.
Susan Baikal was a very nice muggle. She knew nothing of the wizarding world her husband was raised in and even less about the going-ons of her stepdaughters. All that she really knew was that Larissa was being sent to a prestigious boarding school that did not discourage her dabbling in magic. Not that Susan understood magic; she thought of it as tarot cards, tea leaves, mixing herbal remedies and calling them potions and most of all, deals with the devil for power. She simply overlooked her husband's comments to Larissa when he was in a bad mood.
"Pathetic little witch," and "You'd have been better off living with me," with a very real undertone of 'you're practically a squib anyway,' were common enough to hear, along with the occasional, "You see anyone's death in those soggy leaves or should I rearrange them for you?" But when Susan was out Daniel used threats of breaking her wand and mentions of her low OWL scores as ways of keeping her in line. A month with him was not looking up for Larissa.
She made it three weeks actually. The sickishly pink room full of rose potpourri made Larissa nauseous and she opted to sleep on the couch in the den, the taunts were ignored and she spent her days writing in her journal about her reading from her morning ritual tea leave reading. Saturday came and went with out event, why couldn't Sunday?
Sunday morning found Larissa in turmoil. The first rays of sun peaked through the windows of a shamelessly yellow kitchen that seemed to have been overtaken by sunflowers and joyfully bounced off Larissa's tangled curls as she stared blankly into her tea cup. "Two paths, a choice today will decide one way or the other. One peaceful and long the other short, dark and painful, vengeful, powerful. The choice will come today."
She blinked in surprise, "Oh fuck."
It was only an hour later when her father found her staring idly out window at a swarm of ladybugs that were getting picked off by a few small birds. "Time to go," he said in an amused voice, startling Larissa from her peaceful position.
"Go where?"
He frowned, "we're going to church."
"I'm not going to church today," she said quietly, looking at her cup sadly.
"Why not?" Susan asked walking into the kitchen to grab the car keys she had stashed under the strawberry shaped cookie jar.
Larissa raised her head with power and determination, "I fear something bad will happen if I go."
"Oh," Daniel said looking at her with a slight grin on his face, "Afraid you'll get saved?"
Larissa's eyes flashed angrily, "I'm not going!"
"Yes you are you little brat! Go get in the car now!" Daniel roared. It usually took longer for him to get upset. Larissa was starting to get suspicious of him.
"No!"
"You go or I'll—" he was cut off by Tania's quiet voice.
"Larissa," Tania said, softly touching her sister's shoulder, "just come please. Nothing will happen, I promise."
Larissa never did stand up to Tania unless the situation called for it, and to her, the situation had not gotten that desperate yet. So she sent one last glare at her father before storming out to the car.
The sermon was on the evils of witched and how they should all be put to death. How they were devil worshipers and infected with demons. The pastor talked about how the congregation should avoid these people, how a witch's purpose was to bring down the Christian society.
Not more then a week later Larissa attended her first Death Eater meeting.