Disclaimer: I do not own The Hunchback of Notre Dame or anything to do with it. However, I do own Diamanta Devereux, her father, Oliver, Cecile Devereux, Madame Doreen,and Judge Thomas Gautier.
Note: No, the story isn't finished. I, too, am a Clopin fan and refuse to finish the story with such a terrible ending as I have in this piece of it. I don't know how many chapters there will be, but there'll be enough for the story to make all Clopin fans fulfilled.
Chapter #5
"Diamanta, wake up," a familiar voice cooed. She opened her eyes to see a completely different woman standing before her.
Esmeralda wore a flowing white shirt tucked into a green and gold striped corset. A deep purple scarf decorated with what seemed to be gold coins was wrapped around her long violet skirt. Her hair was no longer a tangled mess pulled back by a pale yellow bow, but combed into elegant waves with a pink ribbon added for more color. There was no other way to describe her but beautiful.
"Good morning, madam," Diamanta said sleepily.
"Call me Esmeralda," she corrected. "Everyone here is on a first name basis. Well, almost everyone. Madame Doreen is very old fashioned and demands others treat her with respect," she said as she pointed out the wagon's door to a rather husky stiff-faced woman who appeared to be in her mid sixties.
"Is she friendly?" she asked.
"She has nine misbehaved children, and she is not ready to deal with another one. For now I'll say she is going to learn to warm up to you in time. Here's the problem we have: you need clothes and she's the only one who can find you something."
"Why not go to her wagon now and get this over with?" Diamanta asked as she edged toward the open wagon door. Esmeralda pulled her back by her arm.
"Do you know how she would think of you if you came in her wagon with a dirty face and nightclothes?" Esmeralda said in an almost strict tone. She grabbed a cloth and dipped it in a small bowl of soapy water. Diamanta reached for the washcloth, but Esmeralda quickly pulled it out of her reach.
"I can wash my face on my own," she said gently.
"No one knows how to present themselves to Madame Doreen better than I do," Esmeralda said as she scrubbed Diamanta's face like she was sandpapering a table rather than washing a child's face.
"Why would you say that, Esmeralda? Ouch, you got soap in my eye!" Esmeralda began to rake a fine-toothed comb through her hair.
"Madame Doreen was the one who took me in after both my parents died. I was not much older than you, Diamanta. Five of her children where grown men and women and out of her hands, which left her with four others. Something inside her told her she should take care of me. She was the strictest woman I've ever met. She told me to leave the wagon only a few years after your mother forced us to move here. I was fifteen years old then. For three years I haven't spoken to her. This is the first time I'm going to confront her, and I'm not about to mess it up. This must be why she's so tense today, Diamanta thought. Esmeralda closed the wagon door and handed her the now dry clothes.
After half an hour of pain Diamanta was able to convince Esmeralda to let her out of the wagon.
"Good morning, Madame Doreen!" a familiar voice exclaimed. Clopin pulled off his large hat and went into a low bow. Madame Doreen scowled and resumed sweeping the cobblestone floor around her cabin. Clopin ignored her reaction and continued. "A little girl only ten years old came to us in need of a home. Could you give her some clothes to wear?" he stuck out his lower lip to give himself the appearance of a wounded puppy. Madame Doreen rolled her eyes.
"I'll give her some clothes to wear for now, and for goodness sake Clopin, stop trying to pull that off. You're twenty and you still try to take advantage of people the same way you did when you were five! It's not cute anymore!" Diamanta and Esmeralda walked up to the two.
"Good morning, ma'am," Esmeralda said sheepishly as she stared at her feet.
"Did I ask you to speak, child?" she snapped. Esmeralda shook her head and Diamanta smiled nervously at her.
"This, Madame Doreen, is Diamanta, daughter of Cecile. She may not seem like someone who would want help with gypsies, but she is separate from her mother," Clopin explained. Madame Doreen gave Diamanta a disapproving look, but eventually grunted,
"Come inside, I might have something for you." Diamanta followed the round woman into her bright green wagon, which was filled with both finished and unfinished outfits, needles, thread, several other sewing accessories she had never seen before, and a few cushions to sleep on. Madame Doreen rummaged through several children's outfits before she came upon a loose tan dress with splashes of pink and green. It was one of the uglier dresses, but Diamanta was smart enough to know not to complain to a woman like this. She shoved the dress into Diamanta's arms.
"Get dressed," she demanded. Diamanta felt rather uncomfortable undressing in front of this woman. She noticed how different Esmeralda was from her. She would focus her attention on an object behind her, unlike this woman who would give her a cold, hard stare as she clothed herself. "You're going to be a pathetic apprentice, you know," she said. Diamanta stared at her in confusion. Madame Doreen sighed. "Stupid children," she muttered. "Haven't you seen gypsies dance in the streets?" Diamanta nodded. She remembered going to the Feast of Fools the year before. At nine years old she had found the rather colorful and exciting day the best thing she had ever experienced. Now that she was a year older, all her memories before her mother's death became just a blur of time. To Diamanta's surprise, the wagon door flew open followed by Esmeralda's angry shouts.
"Clopin, she could have been getting dressed! Don't do that!" Clopin ignored her and stepped inside with a wide smile.
"Ma chere fille, you are beautiful," he said as he held Diamanta's hand and spun her around. She giggled and sat down on the soft bedding.
"Clopin, why didn't you tell her she would be the apprentice?" Madame Doreen snapped.
"What are you…this is too soon to decide!" Clopin exclaimed. He looked back at Diamanta and gestured her to leave the wagon. Diamanta obeyed, leaving her with Esmeralda.
"What is happening? Suddenly I'm someone's apprentice. Esmeralda, do you know something?" Esmeralda kept quiet.
"I would rather not say, Diamanta. Things aren't completely decided yet." Diamanta stared directly into Esmeralda's eyes.
"What are they talking about in there?" she demanded. Esmeralda tried to hold back a laugh. How innocent and pure Diamanta appeared to be! However, one day later she is filled with spunk and attitude.
"Esmeralda, come claim your beast!" a man cried in the backround. Both Diamanta and Esmeralda reared their heads to see a small goat biting the leg of a man in his mid thirties.
"Dajali, no!" Esmeralda shouted at the insolent animal. "Stay here," she told Diamanta as she left to pull the angered goat from the man's leg. After Diamanta was sure Esmeralda was out of eyesight, she pressed her ear to the wagon door.
"Madame Doreen, she is only a child. Besides, give her some time to warm up to this place. Think of where she came from!"
"You are a child, Clopin! You took over your father's duties when you were fifteen! Think of what Diamanta can do at such a young age."
"She is a child. She can't be doing the same thing Esmeralda does, she is far too young to understand and she is not fully grown. It's not like Esmeralda's going to die anytime soon. She doesn't need an apprentice."
"That is true, but she does need a partner!"
"I can be her partner!" a high-pitched voice exclaimed.
"This is not the time to humor me with that stupid puppet!" Diamanta heard Clopin sigh and the rustling sound of a puppet being stuffed into his pocket.
"Madame Doreen, she is a child and she will not learn—"
"I AM YOUR GODMOTHER AND I DEMAND IT!" There was a long silence inside the cabin.
"Wow, she's bossy!" the puppet said.
"Sh! She's not supposed to know you're here! Quiet yourself!" Clopin said in a mock-whisper.
"You stupid boy, I am not joking we need to know how she will fit into the world of gypsies! If we don't decide now she will live a pointless life!" she screamed. Again silence filled the wagon. Eventually Clopin spoke.
"You win, Madame. Tomorrow Diamanta will become Esmeralda's apprentice, learning the dances of our heritage. However, if Frollo recognizes how many more gypsies there are, he will not hesitate to kill us, even the children."
"I am aware of that," came the smooth reply of Madame Doreen, "but in four years she will be permitted to leave the Court of Miracles. Before then would be far too early. Perhaps she would be discovered by her mother. After all, it was her who probably made these bruises."
"No it wasn't. Esmeralda told me. It was her father. Not too long ago her father murdered her…" Diamanta pulled away from the wagon. She did not want to hear anything about her parents. My father will no longer make me suffer, Diamanta thought, This is my new life. My new world. No longer will I be the same Diamanta as before. I am no longer the Diamanta who takes in all her father's abuse. This new Diamanta is someone different; this new Diamanta is a gypsy.