IMPORTANT, PLEASE READ! Author's Note: Sorry folks, but it's going to be a mighty lengthy wait in between chapters from here on out. The previous chapters I completed writing a long, long time ago and have just been revising (which is why I have posted them so quickly. No, I didn't write them all in one day; it took me several months, as a matter of fact, to get all of the kinks worked out, because my plot is so damned complicated). I have my entire story divided into seven, if you can believe it, parts. This ends the first part. Considering school will be starting up again Monday, Lord knows how long the wait will be in between chapters. Updates will, most probably, be somewhat sporadic.
Another Author's Note: If there is anyone out there reading this interested in being a beta for yours truly (as I am dire need of one) please contact me. My e-mail address and screen names are listed on my profile.
Disclaimer: see prologue.
"Interlude"
There was nothing in the world Skye Cooper hated more than being left out of things. She had been left out of everything her entire life. No one ever saw fit, it seemed, to give her information.
It had taken until she was ten years old for her father, Dorian, to tell exactly how her mother had died. Aislinn Cooper had been in the Order of the Phoenix, a secret organization working unceasingly against You-Know-Who. She was killed the same night that Skye's aunt—her mother's sister—Rose Macarthur, and Ste Weasley's mother—Raleigh. Skye didn't know why Dorian had waited so long to tell her this; what Aislinn Cooper sacrificed was something to be proud of, Skye knew. Before her father had told her, when friends had asked her bluntly what had become of her mother, she hadn't been able to give them a straight answer. Skye understood, in a way, where Dorian had been coming from. Her mother's side of the family had been torn apart by the first War, leaving Aislinn an orphan. Aislinn's father—Skye's grandfather—had been tortured and died at the hands of Death Eaters, but his body had never been found. Skye knew that her father just didn't want to subject her to those gruesome details; he had wanted her to have as normal a childhood as possible. Nevertheless, Skye had been angry with Dorian for a while; he was the only family Skye had, and if he wasn't completely honest with her…well… Skye didn't want to think about that.
And now it was happening all over again! She hated it when people thought she was too young or naïve to handle the truth! Any truth is better than a pack of lies, because lies always get found out, and then it's ten times worse than the truth in the first place.
It had all begun with Kali and Elita Rollins. They had disappeared. Well, not "disappeared" exactly—Dumbledore had told the students that they had gone to be with their mother, who was very ill. But Shane didn't buy it, so Skye didn't either. He thought that Kali would have told him before just vanishing like she did. This in mind—any number of horrible things could've become of them! They could have been tortured by Death Eaters—or You-Know-Who himself, like what had happened to her grandfather.
But no! Skye had seen them walking down the hall on her way to breakfast with Kris, Shane, Ste, and Aiden. They didn't even bother to say hello after not seeing each other for a month! It was all just so frustrating. She had hoped Shane would at least tell her what was going on; he was always ever so polite towards Skye. But no, Shane didn't even glance at her. She just didn't get it.
Dumbledore had informed the concerned populace of the school at breakfast that Kali and Elita's mother had recovered mostly from her sickness and had insisted upon the twins' returning to school.
Most of the students seemed to swallow this tale, basically because they wanted to believe that they were safe and sound at Hogwarts School. But Skye, whose curiosity had always gotten the better of her, didn't believe this cover story for a minute. She vowed to herself to uncover the truth. Skye Cooper was not going to be kept in the dark any longer.
Ste and Shane sat in the Great Hall playing Wizard Chess, but Ste couldn't seem to concentrate. He had asked Shane to play in hopes of being distracted from his thoughts. But his plan wasn't working. All he could do was think about was her. Maybe it was because Brynn, whom he had thought of as his role model, had turned out to be the scumbag traitor he was, and as a result Ste needed, now more than ever, someone close. Someone to confide in. Someone to love…
He kept on turning around in his seat when he thought Shane was concentrating on the game to catch glimpses of her. Kris was over at the Slytherin table, deep in conversation with Blake. Ste liked Blake, they were friends, but he couldn't help feel a sharp pang of jealousy towards him now. He knew that Kris had many friends, but Ste was her best friend, shouldn't she spend more time talking with him than with Blake? He shook his head silently, pretending to be pondering whether or not to move his bishop, who was now cursing violently at him.
Kris was so beautiful, so wonderful, that it was unreal to Ste that they were such good friends. Ste figured that if they hadn't grown up together she wouldn't give him the time of day. But then again she might… you never could tell with Kris. She never ceased to amaze, yet another reason why he loved her. He glanced her way once again; he didn't notice Shane smirking at him until Shane cleared his throat loudly and his knight began to obliterate Ste's bishop.
"And what are you grinning at?" Ste asked heatedly.
"Oh, nothing," Shane replied innocently.
"Liar."
"Yeah," he sighed dramatically. "I guess I should probably tell you…"
"Tell me what?" Ste eyed him suspiciously.
Shane grinned evilly. "I know you're completely in love with Kris."
As smart as Shane was, Ste had definitely not seen this coming. His gray eyes bulged nearly out of their sockets. "You do?"
"Well, now I do," he replied. Ste felt like hitting his friend for outsmarting him so badly. "Thanks, mate," Shane continued. "Oh, and speaking of—" Shane's rook moved across the board. "Checkmate."
Ste felt as though he'd been slapped in the face. "I walked right into that, didn't I?"
"Sure did. But hey—I was bound to find out sooner or later. It's not that you're an idiot, it's that I'm just plain brilliant."
Ste glared at him. "Modest too," he muttered sarcastically.
Shane stretched his arms to either side of him and yawned hugely. "I can't believe I actually won that game, though. Y'know, you making googley eyes at my sister is very distracting." Ste threw a pawn at him. "Jeez! That's the last time I try to have a friendly conversation with you…"
"It's such a beautiful name," said Skye. "I wonder why it's not more popular, you're the only Kali that I know of."
Kali scoffed. "You need to do more reading, young lady," she chastised jokingly. She laughed. "My parents have very… interesting senses of humor. Kali is a warrior goddess, more specifically, the Hindu Goddess of Death."
Skye shivered. "Really?"
"Yes. But it's interesting—she's very… multi-dimensional, you might say."
Skye smiled impishly. "Like you?"
Kali chuckled. "Not exactly. She's a symbol of Mother Nature in her nurturing, creative, and devouring aspects. Some Christians have labeled her satanic on account of her destructive nature. I don't really have an opinion on the matter, but it's said that Kali killed only demons for mankind's benefit, and was not a demon herself. She is both the birth and destruction of the world… Tantric worshippers of Kali faced her Curse, the terror of death, just as willingly as they accepted blessings from her. For those people, wisdom meant learning that no coin has only one side: as death can't exist without life, and life can't exist without death. So in a way she's the Goddess of Life too, because death is a part of life."
"But," Skye objected. "I always thought that life was the opposite of death."
"No," she corrected. "Birth is the opposite of death, because any creature who lives… dies." She smiled, somewhat wryly and recited. "His Goddess, his loving Mother in time, who gives him birth and loves him in the flesh, also destroys him in the flesh. His image of Her is incomplete if he does not know Her as his tearer and devourer."
"Creepy," Skye commented.
"My name is interesting in its own rite, though. The name itself means 'black', which is understandable considering Kali, the goddess, is in a state of inconceivable darkness, but it's derived from the Hindu word meaning 'time.'"
Kali noticed Skye's blank expression. Of course she didn't understand the irony of it, she didn't know about Elita...
"And Elita?" Skye asked curiously. "Does that have some special significance too?"
"Yes," Kali replied. "I like her name. It obviously is derived from the word 'elite.' It means 'the chosen one.'"
Harry watched as his owl, Horus, flew through the window and dropped the post in front of his plate.
"Hmm," Harry said, looking at the letter Horus had dropped on top of the Daily Prophet which was addressed to 'the Potters.' "Do you know who this is from, love?"
Hermione looked up from across the table and took the letter. "I don't recognize the handwriting," she said. She opened the envelope carefully and began to read. "Huh."
"What is it?" Harry asked her in turn, noticing the peculiar expression on his wife's face.
"It's from Kali Rollins," Hermione replied, brow furrowed. "She's asking if we know if 'Professor Macarthur' is Skye Cooper's aunt. Is she talking about Rose Macarthur? …Wow," she said in a sort of hushed voice. "I haven't thought about her in ages. I'd almost forgotten she taught at Hogwarts before she joined the Order. We were never really that close, though, so I don't know much about her. Is she Skye's aunt?"
"Yes," Harry replied soberly. "In a manner of speaking, at least. Rose was Aislinn Dearborn's half-sister. You remember Aislinn, don't you?"
"Of course," Hermione replied. "She joined the Order just a few years before we did." She sighed wistfully. "She was the sweetest person, sweet people like her don't deserve that kind of fate… Didn't you tell me she was an orphan?"
"Yeah. Aislinn was Caradoc Dearborn and Kellan Malfoy's daughter."
"Malfoy?" Hermione asked incredulously.
"Uh-huh," Harry replied between bites of toast. "Kellan was Lucius Malfoy's sister. She was a Death Eater—big surprise—but Caradoc was oblivious to that. He married her anyway. And they had Aislinn. A few years later he found out what Kellan was and left her, taking Aislinn with him. He joined the Order soon after. Probably had a guilty conscience or something. He knew my parents, I'm pretty sure."
"Wasn't he killed?" Hermione asked curiously.
"He was lured into a trap and tortured, or so I hear. Kellan rescued him, though, at the last minute. Even though she was a Death Eater she still loved him and Aislinn."
Hermione made a derisive sound, Harry continued.
"But Caradoc was in a lot of pain, he died shortly thereafter. His body was never recovered. Voldemort was absolutely livid—Caradoc could have been an invaluable tool, he hadn't wanted him killed, and Kellan had disobeyed orders by interfering. He had Kellan killed, leaving Aislinn an orphan. She went, er—to live with her older cousin or something, I think. Tara or Tina—"
"But where does the half-sister come in?" Hermione asked impatiently.
"Oh, well, before Kellan and Caradoc married, Caradoc had an alleged affair with Finvarra Macarthur."
"Finvarra Macarthur," said Hermione thoughtfully. "I know that name from somewhere…"
"Yes, you would," Harry commented dryly, smirking. "She's a novelist. Reclusive type—lives—or lived in Scotland, not sure what's become of her. She was kind of quirky."
"Novelists tend to be," Hermione chuckled.
"Anyway, one day, probably about twenty-five years ago, Aislinn got a letter. It was from a woman, named Rose Macarthur, claiming she was Aislinn's half-sister, Finvarra and Caradoc's daughter."
Hermione snorted. "Sounds like a Muggle convenient store novel to me."
"Oh, Merlin, wait until you hear the end of it. Anyway, you can imagine how Aislinn was thrilled when she found out she supposedly had a sister. It would be sort of like me finding out that I had some long-lost sibling. They met up. I think they might have hit it off, but for some reason Rose had to leave, went to America I think. This happened right before she left Hogwarts at the end of our sixth year."
"Yes, I remember… she resigned… do you know why?"
"No idea. Rumor has it she moved to the States and eventually became secretary to their Minister of Magic. But, in the meantime, you know what happens."
"Aislinn married Dorian Cooper—that French wizard—and they had a baby—Skye," Hermione recited. "But Rose Macarthur moved back to England soon after Skye was born, didn't she? Joined the Order, right? It was like she knew what was going to happen. Raleigh had hurled that Killing Curse at Voldemort, and most people thought he had died. But Rose seemed to think differently. She came back and joined the Order."
"Yes, but she certainly didn't stay very long," said Harry sadly. "She happened to be in the very wrong place at the very wrong time. Bellatrix Lestrange came looking for Raleigh on her own vendetta, and Aislinn and Rose were with her at the time and so… " He lowered his head dejectedly. "Remus and I tracked down Finvarra Macarthur; we thought she had a right to know about her own daughter's passing. We found her, and she told us she doesn't have a daughter! Or any children for that matter!"
Hermione frowned. "But she had to have. Why would Rose lie about something like that?"
"I have no clue," Harry replied, stumped. "And if you ask me, I thought Aislinn and Rose looked a considerable amount alike. And Skye looks like the both of them too. That's a bit of a coincidence if Rose lied about her parentage."
Hermione looked at her husband questioningly. "Why didn't you tell me this before?"
"Well," Harry replied. "It was confidential information at the time. Not quite sure why, but I'm sure it doesn't matter if I tell you now."
"Well, it's a load of bollocks anyway," Hermione said, annoyed. "Sounds like a crazy old lady to me. And writers, especially reclusive ones, are crazy enough to begin with. She was probably just losing her marbles." But something about Hermione's pensive expression told Harry that she did not entirely believe her own words.
He merely shrugged. "Maybe."
