Fleeing New York
It was nearly ten years since Polaris Black gained two of the most wonderful gifts she has ever received. Scratch that, two of the most interesting, mind-boggling, expensive, exasperating, annoying, and tiring and downright lovable gifts she has ever inherited.
She was standing by the sliding glass door leading out to the balcony where Remus and Selene had turned up that fateful night, staring out at the skyline again. She smiled, letting it play on her lips as the first rays of the sun poked over the horizon.
'I'm going home.' she thought giddily, completely happy for the first time in years.
The apartment behind her showed that obvious sign. All the furniture was packed up and moved out, and all the rooms were empty. All that was a couple of boxes left in the living room for the delivery guys to get, three suitcases for their temporary stay in London, and their carry on luggage.
In the middle of the room, two sleeping bags had been rolled out and the two girls were fast asleep in them. Neither of them was happy about the move, although Lilac had quietly protested and Mirial had thrown a full-out fit, leaving a hole in the wall that was now patched and painted over.
They had grown-up beautifully, but there was enough of a noticeable difference that Polaris had to tell people repeatedly that they were ferturnal twins, and Mirial got most of her looks from her father. Unfortunately, that ruse didn't work so well for Lilac, as it did for her pseudo-sister and the rest of the world. Therefore, Polaris had to tell her the same thing every day since she started asking, hoping that Lilac wouldn't be too mad at her in the end.
Of course, Polaris didn't blame her. Lilac was small and skinny, with extremely pale skin making her look sickly. She had somewhat long, straight red hair and the prettiest pair of violet eyes imaginable. Polaris knew she would grow up to be every bit as pretty, smart and clever as her dear mother Lily had been.
Her only concern lay with Mirial. The child was a mother's worst nightmare, and that was probably the only reason she had been sent to live with her aunt instead of a foster family in Britain. She was a good 4 or 5 inches taller than Lilac, but just as pale. Her hair was all black and red chunks, obviously the clash of her mother's dominate magic genes and her father's dominant wizard's genes. They also clashed in her eye color, one eye a brilliant green, the other a deep sapphire blue, making her target for genetics joke from neighbors and teachers. The one weird thing that did pass under the radar about her was her slightly pointed ears, mostly hidden under her black and red curls. Mirial's attitude also needed improvement, since she was often combatant, angry and rude. When she entered Kindergarten, a silly Muggle idea to start kids' schooling at the age of five, Polaris had been called into the Principal's office after Mirial had started a fight with the boys. She also remembered the thought 'Oh, you are defiantly your mother's daughter' crossing her brain shortly after the meeting.
"Polaris, Duani, they're coming." said a crisp voice. A man had suddenly appeared by her shoulder. He was thin and wiry, about Polaris's height, with coffee colored skin and a close trimmed salt and pepper beard, mustache and hair. His loose shirt and pants were brightly colored, and hung all over with sparkling jewelry, charms and broaches in many different colors with differentmetals and types of stones.
"You don't seem too alarmed Kyprioth." Polaris replied to the God, her good mood disappearing.
"Duani, you wound me. Nevertheless, the children are capable, and so are you. So I have no need to worry, you'll get them into the protection of my divine brothers and sisters safely." Kyprioth murmured, so not to wake the girls.
"How much time do I have?" Polaris muttered at the same volume. Kyprioth glanced out the window, squinting his eyes.
"A half an hour at most." Then he was gone. "I'll hold them off." His voice drifted to her, then his presence was completely gone.
"Mirial, Lilac... Get up." Polaris roused both of the unamused girls and sent them into the bathroom. While she was sure the two were occupied, she pulled out her wand and muttered a spell. The sleeping bags and unpacked luggage was suddenly neatly packed and ready to go.
"Ugh... I am out of practice..." Polaris pulled the cover off the only thing that was not ready for travel. It was a mirror, framed in an onyx stone and a perfect reflector. She quickly examined the frame, and moved a small round spiral askew. The mirror glowed blue as if it had become a portal. Polaris quickly levitated all the boxes and luggage through, except for a pair of backpacks and her laptop case. She quickly moved the spiral back into place and covered the mirror as the girls came out of the bathroom.
"Aunt Rissa?" Lilac questioned when she saw her Aunt's grim face and all the boxes gone.
"Ris! Move." Kyprioth warned. Polaris quickly got the girls into action.
"Go out the door and to the elevator. I'll be there in a minute." She said, handing the girls their backpacks. "And stay together." Lilac nodded and grabbed her half-asleep sister, running out the door. Polaris swung her laptop bag over her shoulder and aimed her wand at the mirror.
"RISSA!" Kyprioth yelled. Polaris let out a destruction spell, destroying the mirror and ran for the elevator. It was opening as she got there, and she ushered the girls into it.
"Aunt Rissa, what is going on?" Lilac demanded as the doors closed. Mirial had slid down to a sitting position, her eyes half-closed. 'There's one blessing. Mirial is about as much of a morning person as her mother.'
"Later, darling. Right now you need to be quiet." Polaris whispered. The rest of the ride down was quiet.
As soon as the doors had opened, Polaris had checked the outside halls. Determining that it was clear, she drug the girls out onto the street, mixing with the crowds. They were only a block away when their apartment exploded. Polaris was thankful for the confusion, dragging her two charges down into the subway terminal, keeping a good grip on her wand from under the sleeve of her jacket. As they approached the ticket gates, a few crows decided to distract the guards, allowing Polaris and the girls to slip past, undetected.
'Thank you Kyprioth.' She sent silently to the god, after getting past.
'Don't thank me yet.' He grunted in reply. She saw it then. A shadow following her and the girls. She picked up speed in the near empty terminal as the next train slowed infront of her. Polaris tossed the girls into the empty care and dove after them, just as the shadow moved into the light. Both her and the girls saw it through the closing doors. A great black wolf covered in onyx and crimson armor. Then it was gone and the train was off.
"What was that?" Mirial said, finally awake. Her mismatched eyes were as wide as her sister's were, but Polaris saw something in them that she didn't like.
"A Gothirim Draug..." Then Polaris sighed, remembering that they knew nothing of her world, their world. "A Drow wolf. One of Riailin's troops." The girls took this in quietly.
"Why are they after us?" Lilac asked innocently. 'Oh boy... if you only knew...' Polaris thought, then winced as she remembered she was going to have to tell them. She quickly glanced around the car, adjusting her Sight to see magic and other listening devices. The Sight was one of the only gifts she received when she was inducted into the Gatekeepers, and it had gotten her out of more scrapes than anything had.
Seeing nothing, she settled down into a seat and dug four letters out of her laptop bag. All of them were written on thick parchment, but two bore the crest of her own school, Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, and the other two had the crest of Evangeline's School of Magic, a wizard's school in America.
"I guess it's time for you to learn of your origins." Polaris said, handing each of the girls two letters.
"Aunt Rissa, these aren't mine... These are addressed to Lilac Potter... I'm Lilac Black...," Lilac said desperately, examining the envelope. When Polaris rubbed her eyes and looked down, Lilac's eyes widened. "Aren't I?"
"Wicked." Was the only thing Mirial said as she opened her envelopes and eyed the contents.
"Mirial, will you quit being a self-center prat for a moment?" Lilac begged. Her long-thought of sister looked at her.
"Lilac," Polaris said, kneeling next to her carefully on the moving train. "You'll always be my niece. For reasons I can't tell you, you were brought into my care at the same time Mirial was and it was requested that you knew none of this until you were old enough."
"Wait, wait, wait... If all this is true, my parents didn't die in a car accident, did they?" Mirial took a glance over at Lilac's distraught face, "Or her's either?"
"No, they weren't. They were murdered by a man named Voldenmort... Well, at least Lilac's parents, the Potters, were. Mirial, your father, my brother, was murdered on his command, they didn't know how dangerous little Regulus was, and your mother was killed while Voldenmort was being detracted, as much as he wanted to have a go at her." Both girls were silent at this development.
"So..." Polaris said, plopping back into her seat and surveying the girls. "Where do you wish to go? Hogwarts was my old school and the school your parents attended... While Evangeline's school is know for the Evangeline's Guard..."
"I'm going to Hogwarts." Mirial said, glaring at her aunt, who smiled in return.
"I'll go to Hogwarts..." Lilac sounded less certain.
"Good, then I don't have to drag you so you will go to the same school as your brother." Polaris grinned. Lilac immediately perked up at that development.
"My... brother?"
"Yes, your twin brother survived and has been staying with your muggle aunt and uncle since. Don't ask to stay with them, they're about the most horrid Muggles I have ever met." Polaris said as the train stopped at JFK International Airport. She took the letters and stashed them in her bag for safe keeping, letting the two girls run ahead chatting. At the first window she located, she looked out into the city using her Sight.
'It'll take them another 24 hours to reach us.' she thought, with a slight smile.
Six hours after arriving at the airport they were on a plane, heading for Heathrow airport in London, England, Polaris grinning wickedly at all the fun she was going to have with her friends when she arrived.
Ok... that was well, odd. Their Next Chapter: Some people you may recognize and some evilness by Polaris... as well as more of a personality by Mirial.
Disclaimer: Might as well add one. I do not own Kyprioth. He belongs to Tamora Pierce. I own everyone else in this chapter, unless I add in someone that you can guess belongs to JK Rowling.
A side note: I live nowhere near New York, I haven't even been there. So bear with my little errors, please. It would also be nice to have some reveiws, maybe?