Trust is a funny thing. When you love someone, you give them the power to destroy you; you just trust them not to. When you trust someone, you give them a shred of your soul that they could easily destroy, ripping your very essence bit by bit, you just believe in your heart they won't do so. When you believe in something or someone strongly, you give that thing or person control of your happiness which they could demolish easily; you simply have faith that they won't hurt you. When you have faith in anything, that thing could collapse and fail you miserably, you just hope it won't. When you hope, you are at your most vulnerable state, and anything can hurt you, and there's no solid substance to protect you, all you can do is love that thing to the point you know if it didn't come through, you'd collapse, but your love for it makes you trust it. Yes, trust is a funny thing.
I trusted someone, I loved them, I believed in them, I had faith in them, and I had hope for them. And now I am vanquished, I am destroyed, I'm demolished, I have been failed, I have been hurt, and I have collapsed. Trust is indeed a funny thing. It is what truly betrayed me, and so I shall never trust again. I am no longer naïve. I am no longer innocent. I am no longer weak. I am wise. I am tainted. I am strong. I am no longer corrupted by society. I am pure of its biased sugary sweet coating on everything. I am no longer clean of the world's impurity. I am officially sullied by its dross. I am no longer a child. I am now an adult.
My name is Layla, and this is my story.
It all started with one of my visions, as usual. I was almost three years old and my mother was going into labor with my youngest brother, Stephan, who would later be known as the one who took away my trust.. I was thrown into a vision as my mother screamed in her pain. I could still hear screaming, but it was worse, much worse…..
Lilly woke up with a gasp. Visions at night were always the worst, like nightmares that crawled up on you when you were vulnerable, unprepared. However, she had never had a vision of her mother's past, let alone her thoughts. Her mother's pain was so, so piercing. She could still taste the rage, loneliness, cold bitter feelings. It was horrible, awful, and tainting. She felt as if she was her mother, her cheeks felt wet and she moved her hands to touch them, tears, there were tears.
Her mother was crying, and so was she. 'No!' she thought, 'Mom is dead, she wasn't crying, it was only me being a stupid baby. It's all Stephan's fault. And to think that monster was my uncle. Disgraceful. I have to try to get some sleep, I have to focus, tomorrow we go to Kings Cross Station and find platform 9 ¾.' She rested her head on her pillow, ribbons of red hair fanned around her like an eerie halo, 'One I don't deserve,' she thought bitterly, 'Angels wear halos, and I've killed too much to be an Angel,' She swatted at her tears, and breathed deeply. She needed rest, it was a big day tomorrow, and Lila and Lory were counting on her to lead them. It was a burden she was bound to by the promise she made to her mother, but she would have cared for her sisters with or without the oath anyway. Her sisters were the most important things to her, and unfortunately, all of Stephan's old accomplices knew that. The rapscallions used her sisters as bait far too many times, and Lilly always blamed herself. Guilt was an awful emotion; burning your insides with shame, causing you sleepless nights. It was an emotion that Lilly was familiar with, one she carried around with her every second, of every minute, of every hour, of every day. 'Now is not the time to wallow in my guilt,' she told herself, 'Lils, you better toughen up. How else will you get to Hogwarts in one piece?' she pondered. Of course, she did have to work to find out where Hogwarts was…..
FLASHBACK:
"How will we get there?" Lorelei inquired.
"Well, it looks like this Hogwarts thing has to do with witchcraft," Lilly began.
"Ugh! Not more witches! Remember when me and Lila were like kidnapped by that Ezmaldina girl? She like, tried to cook us so she could steal our youth, or something," Lorelei remembered the traumatizing experience, she was ten at the time it happened, Lilly was twelve.
"Lila and I," Lila corrected.
"That makes no sense, smart one. You're Lila Duh!" Lorelei didn't get that Lila was correcting her grammar, "You're supposed to be the smart one,"
"Whatever. Besides, only some witches do the whole 'boil and bubble children' thing," Lila ignored her sister's 'smart one' comment, there was no point in arguing with someone who didn't really understand the point to begin with.
"Ezmaldina was part of a coven and read a bunch of Wicca books, right?" Lilly questioned.
"Yes, and there are areas in England dedicated to cult groups, and you can identify the witches and warlocks from each one by the charm necklaces they wear," Lila told them.
"Well we know father left mom for a cult group called the 'death munchers'," Lilly stated.
"I think you mean 'death eaters', and they claim that their magic is real," Lila corrected.
"Well, don't they all?" Lilly asked.
"Yes but there is a difference. There are people called Wiccans who practice Wicca. They are medicine men and women, however some are a bit different with their thoughts and believe their medicine is a magical potion, rather than a healing solution. They call themselves Witches and Warlocks, and form in groups called covens or covenants. Contraire to popular belief, they do not worship Satan, that would actually go against Wicca beliefs." Lila lectured.
"Um, your point?" Lorelei asked.
"I'm getting to it! Well those in a coven don't really have magical powers, they are mere muggles. The way we can say the Deatheaters have real magic is because they are not recorded in the Coven listings, meaning they are unheard of by non-magic folk." Lila continued.
"Well, I still don't see the point!" Lorelei interrupted. Lilly glared at her as if to say, 'hush up, she's getting to it,'
"The point is, if we check the coven listings and see that they are not there, that means that father's magic is real, and not just cult-inspired," Lila kept going.
"So, is that good?" Lilly asked.
"Well, if the magic is real, then we know that these 'death eaters' can be looked up in the real magic listings," Lila proclaimed.
"Our type of magic?" Lorelei asked.
"Not exactly. We're nymphs, while if dad and his death eaters are for real, then they would be witches and wizards," Lila explained.
"Still not getting how this will help us find Hogwarts," Lory complained.
"Well, if we can look them up in mom's old scrolls, then that might lead us to where Hogwarts might be," Lila continued.
"Why don't we just look up Hogwarts?" Lory asked.
"Because mom's old scrolls are all records of her visions, and I would have seen them glow when my vision mentioned Hogwarts," Lilly answered this.
"Huh?" Lorelei asked feeling totally confused.
"Mom's scrolls glow whenever Lilly's visions have mentions of what is in them," Lila said.
"But, then wouldn't they glow because dad was in the vision?" Lorelei asked.
"Dad probably wasn't in any of the visions that mom recorded," Lilly sounded sure.
"How do you know that?" Lila asked this time.
"I just do. I can sense that, feel that," Lilly explained.
"Okay, well we aren't ones to judge on your intuition Lils, so whatever," Lila said while Lorelei nodded.
"Maybe we should just skip looking up the whole coven thing. If dad wasn't really magical, how else would mom have met him?" Lorelei stated.
"Are you sure you're just not afraid of witches?" Lilly grinned.
"Of course not! Just, don't make me come near them again," Lory meekly squeaked, and Lilly and Lila laughed, and Lory joined them. Each remembering the experience with Ezmaldina, the old crackpot.
"Anyway, I guess we could skip that part of the plan," Lila figured, "Let's just look up 'death eaters' in mom's scrolls,"
"Okay troops, homeward bound to the apartment," They held hands and Lilly whisked them away in a swirl of light to inside the apartment they were renting. It was bare, save for suitcases that were half unpacked and books strewn across the floor, as well as a chest made of cherry oak. Lilly motioned with her hands like a conductor for the chest to come to her telekinetically. It was summoned right to her hands in a flourish.
"Show off," the twins joked and Lilly just grinned. Those two always provided comic relief to their hectic lives. Lily placed her right hand over the chest and muttered words to unlock it that shall be kept confidential. The chest unlocked, and Lilly opened it and revealed the rolled up parchment inside, covered with their mother's spidery handwriting.
"I wish too find the recording of the vision of death eaters," Lilly announced, and the scrolls bounced and one shot up in the air, and Lorelei reached to catch it. She handed it to Lila who opened it gently and carefully, as to not rip the fragile page. She began to read silently, scanning for the word death eater, her eyes lit up when she found it.
"Death eaters! Mom scribbled down death eaters, they have to be for real now!" Lila said excitedly, not knowing that the fact that death eaters existed was not a good thing at all.
"What's written down about them?" Lilly asked.
"It says that they are," Lila's eyes darkened, her smile disappeared, "They are a group of wizards and witches who follow an evil wizard,"
"What's his name?" Lilly inquired frantically, hoping that it wasn't Voldemort.
"It doesn't say," Lorelei remarked. Lilly touched the scroll and was plunged into a vision of words. She hated these, it was like getting flashes of a newspaper headline that was really juicy; pure torture. Lilly read: Death Eaters follow Lord Voldemort, Dumbledore's group Order of the Phoenix strikes back, Voldemort vanquished by Harry Potter, Voldemort restored back to life, Hogwarts under Headmaster Dumbledore, Kings Cross Station platform 9 ¾ to Hogwarts……
"Ouch!" Lilly was pulled out of the word vision, and felt her head hurt. She was dizzy and tired, Lorelei held her while Lila got her a glass of water. After she drank she told the girls about what she saw, correction what she read.
"It looks like we have to go to Kings Cross Station then," Lilly inferred.
"What kind of a platform is 9 ¾?" Lila questioned, she was sure one didn't exist.
"One that's in between platforms 9 and 10?" Lory joked.
"Before we get to the platform, we have to find Kings Cross Station," Lilly reasoned.
"I know that it is in London, so we have to take a train there first," Lila stated.
"Great, well we still have some cash left. I hope that it's enough," Lilly thought out loud, "Now we just need to get tickets. Hey where's Lory?"
The girl in question walked in on the phone giggling, "Yes Jake, I do love your just-out-of-bed hair! He he, you're so funny. Really? You'd do that for me? Awe! You're so sweet. I love when a rugged man can be a softy. Heh, heh, Love ya too, bye!" She hung up and smiled to her sisters questioning looks.
"Now is not the time for," Lilly began.
"One of my boyfriends," Lory answered rolling her eyes, knowing what Lila was going to say, "But I just scored us tickets to a train leaving for London in about two hours, so we better get packing," Lory grinned at her sisters' shocked looks, "I told you flirting with that cute guy would come in handy!"
end flash back
'The train ride had been comfortable enough, and that Jake guy did have some information as to where Kings Cross was, so it seems Lory's flirting actually did come in handy,' Lilly thought to herself. The girls had crashed at a youth hostel, and were leaving for Kings Cross first thing in the morning to find out where platform 9 ¾ was. Lilly shut her eyes and tried to will her self to sleep, tomorrow was a big day, and she needed to be ready.
A/N: THANKYOU TO ALL WHO REVIEWED! YOU ROCK!