That night, I couldn't sleep. There were just too many thoughts and emotions bouncing around in my brain. I had had a whole different life for fifteen years, without even realizing it. Dead parents, a twin brother, a world of magic and spells...it was just too much. I started to cry softly, thinking about the woman who had played the role of mother to me for almost my entire life, and how much I would miss her. I wanted to be louder about my pain. It was so hard letting it out quietly, but I didn't want to wake up mom, who was asleep beside me. (As I've mentioned before, we didn't have a lot of money, so we had to share a rather small bed). Although, judging by her fitful restlessness, I didn't think her sleep was all too peaceful. Wiping the tears from my eyes, I crept closer to her. She half-woke and put her arm around me. I slowly fell into a dreamless sleep. I guess feeling my mother's warmth helped.
The next morning, I was awakened by a distant voice. "Ashleigh. Come on, we have to depart as quickly as possible. Oh dear, you are a stubborn one, aren't you." I suddenly felt a sharp poke on my shoulder and sat bolt upright, rubbing my bruised arm, and glaring at Dumbledore.
"Hey, what did you do that for?" I demanded angrily as I slipped out of bed, and threw on a ratty old robe I had found in a charity bin a few years ago.
"Terribly sorry about that, but we must leave at once." I was a little more than upset at his words.
"I can't believe this!" I yelled. "You expect me to just walk out the door without a backward glance at my mom and my entire life, not to mention the fact that I'm in my pajamas, my hair is a mess, I haven't brushed my teeth, and I haven't eaten breakfast!" Instead of being offended by my words, the old man just smiled and chuckled under his breath. This made me even angrier. "What the h are you laughing about? I don't find this very funny!"
"Ah, so like your brother, you are. I have no doubt you will be as great as him in the coming years." he said. I grumbled under my breath as I tried to smooth out the knots and tangles in my waist-length black hair with my long, somewhat knobbly fingers. "I am prepared to give you enough time to do those morning activities which are so important to one's overall well-being throughout the day, but they must be done quickly." In my irritation, I tripped over a pair of jeans on the floor, and banged my toe rather hard against the cracked and worn baseboard lining the bottom of my wall. I swore loudly. "Tsk tsk. Now a mouth like that will simply not do. I shall have to ask you to hold in your tongue whenever you feel the need to use profanity. At least in my presence." he said cheerfully. I was tempted to say the F word in his face, just to annoy him, but thought better of it.
"Yeah, whatever." I grumbled. Dumbledore led me to the living room/kitchen, where my mom was eating a paper cup full of dry cereal (Cheerios, cheapest you can get) over the blanket on the floor. I noticed the chintz armchairs had disappeared.
"Hey honey." my mom said as I walked in, though I took note of her swollen eyes and sniffly nose. "Did you sleep okay?" she asked.
"Not really". I admitted. Now that I saw her watery eyes, and realized that this was it, I was really leaving her today, my heart gave a wrenching cry, and my tears threatened to devour me. I held it back, not wanting mom to see how scared and upset I was. She shared her cereal with me. I guess there wasn't enough to go around that morning. She offered some to Dumbledore, who politely shook his head and sat down beside me. I suddenly had a question for him. "Um," I began. Dumbledore smiled and nodded his head as if he knew what I was going to ask, but wanted to hear it from me, anyway. "Why now? I mean, according to you, all this happened over fifteen years ago. Why come here and tell me all of this now?" He gave a little sigh, and did a 90 degree angle turn to face me directly.
"To be quite honest, I didn't even want to reveal this to you now." he began, "but with recent events, I soon came to realize that you and your brother would be safer together rather than apart now. You see, I originally separated you, because even with Voldemort gone, I feared he would return and try to finish what he started. I believed that keeping the two of you together was like a target for him. I thought that if you were not with each other, it would be harder for him to find you or Harry. I believed you safe as long as you were apart. For fifteen years, I was correct. However, Voldemort's returned, and more bent than ever on killing you and Harry. Now that you are older, I feel it is time to bring you two together again. Hiding from him is no longer an option. He'll find you, and I think that together, your powers will be enough to stop him once and for all, whereas apart," he paused and shook his head sadly "there's a very slim chance either of you will come out of it alive." My mother gasped and clapped a hand over her mouth. As for me, my heart was racing. I was terrified! This guy had just told me that an evil mass murderer was after me and my brother, and that we had to combine our so-called power to stand up to him and somehow thwart his sadistic killing spree. If I had had anything more than half a handful of dry Cheerios in my stomach, I would have vomited. My mom's voice suddenly brought me back to this Earth.
"H-he's back, Dumbledore?" she whispered.
"I'm afraid so, Sorcha", he said gravely. "That is why I must take Ashleigh with me right away. She'll be a lot safer with Harry than she is here." My mother nodded listlessly as a single tear rolled down her cheek. It's amazing how one tear can break your heart.
After breakfast, Dumbledore gave me time to get dressed, and brush my hair and teeth just as he promised he would. As I was brushing my hair in half our mirror (the other half shattered and fell off the wall when we got robbed a few years back, we never had the money to replace it. The little that was taken was basically everything we owned. We practically had to start our lives over from scratch after that), I saw the thin lightning-shaped scar on my forehead. I frowned. Not only did I think it was hideous, I also couldn't believe it was a mark from almost being murdered. I heard Dumbledore calling to me from the doorway. I guess my time was up. I reluctantly walked towards him. I saw my mother weeping as if her heart were being ripped to shreads, which got the tears leaking from my eyes, too. I hugged her tight. I never wanted to let go. I knew this would be the last time I would see her for a long time, so I summoned the words I rarely said to her for fear of not being "cool", but were very true.
"Goodbye, mom." I whispered through my tears. "I love you." She was too distressed to reply, but she hugged me even tighter and kissed the top of my head, which I knew meant that she loved me too. I stepped away from her, both of us trembling with heartache and fear. I was afraid of being with strangers, and being murdered by this Voldemort guy, and I could guess she was afraid for me. Dumbledore put a comforting hand on my shoulder.
"I know this is hard, but believe me, it's for the best." I did not know how this could possibly be for the best. Your heart isn't supposed to break when it's for the best, but I kept my mouth shut. He grabbed my shoulder and looked down at me. For an old guy, he was pretty tall. "Ashleigh, we are going to perform something called Side-Along Apparition. I don't suppose you know what that is?" I sniffled and shook my head wearily. "It is a rather complex spell involving disappearing and reappearing almost at once in another location. That is what Apparition is. Side-Along Apparition is much the same thing, except the person actually performing the spell takes someone else along with them. It is particularily useful when the person being taken along has not passed their Apparition test, like you." I was too depressed to care that he just told me he was going to do something impossible. Disappearing and reappearing. How ridiculous! I just nodded my head lethargically and followed his next set of instructions. "You'll need to hold on to my arm. Oops, not that one" he said as I reached for one of his arms "I'm afraid that one is a little sore right now". As he said this, I realized that one of his hands was badly burned, charred black, in fact. I gave a small shudder and reached for his other arm. "That's better", he smiled. I suddenly heard a sob behind me.
"Please take care of my daughter, Dumbledore." my mom whispered, then dissolved into tears again. He put a hand on her shoulder.
"I can assure you, Ashleigh will be quite safe with me, Sorcha." he said gently. He turned towards me and said "Now...1...2...3...go." I suddenly felt as if my entire body were being squeezed through a very tight tube. My eyes were being pushed far back into my head, and my ears were ringing. My rib cage felt as if it were being crushed. I couldn't breathe. I was sure I would suffocate, when I felt a rush of air fill my lungs. I took a deep breath. My head was dizzy. I felt like throwing up for the second time that day. I heard a woman's screech.
"DUMBLEDORE!" I also heard two young men's voices along with a girl's voice.
"Hey, the twin is here!" one of the male voices said.
"Ron! Don't call her that. You're so insensitive!" This was the girl's voice.
"Geez, Hermione, get a sense of humour." the male voice replied. "Harry thinks it's funny, don't you Harry?"
"Huh...oh yeah...whatever. Help me get her up, guys." the other voice said. I felt three pairs of arms helping me to my feet. I looked up and saw an army of red-haired people, all of them boys, except for the older woman and a young girl. I also saw a bushy-haired girl, and a pretty blonde woman, along with a pink haired woman. My head started spinning again, but it wasn't because of these people, it was because of one guy standing in front of me who looked my age, and was practically a male version of me! He even had a thin, lightning-shaped scar on his forehead! This must be Harry Potter, my twin brother, I realized.