II.

These Chosen Few


1991


In Essex county, right by Southend-on-Sea, a modest sized brick house, sat a little ways away from the sea, the occupants of which were sitting down for a celebratory meal.

On her eleventh birthday, Anne McKinley wasn't at all surprised when she received her Hogwarts letter on the first of August. She was sitting at the table eating cake, when her father sat the opened letter down in front of her. "When Nick got his letter, those owls delivered it before breakfast was even over," Archibald McKinley, commonly known as Archie, commented.

"She was born late in the night, Arch. She's still technically ten," Clarisse gently reminded him, kindly handing another piece of cake to the birthday girl.

"What House do you think you'll be in, Annie?" Barr, her younger brother asked. He would receive his own letter the subsequent year.

"I assume Ravenclaw would be too much to ask for," Archie grumbled again. He grabbed a plate of food from the counter. "Clarisse, I'm going to eat in the study. I have a lot of work to catch up on." He placed a hastened kiss on his wife's forehead and shuffled out of the room. The wife squeezed her husband's shoulder affectionately.

Clarisse smiled at her daughter. "Any House will be just fine, Anne. Whatever makes you happy. Finish your cake, I'll be back in a minute." She exited the kitchen.

"Thanks, Mum," she called. Anne's small hands carefully snatched the letter laying flat on the table, abandoned in front of her father's empty seat. She was very particular not to bend the corners or cause any rips.

Just as Anne was about to read the unique cursive lettering again, the piece of mail was ripped from her hands. She let out a wail and flung her upper body across the the table, attempting-in vain-to retrieve the letter back from her older brother, Nick, who held it up high, squinting at the words. "Nicholas, give it back now!" Anne shrieked, taking a swat at his hand. "Wait until I get my wand!" She threatened.

Nick simply laughed and held the letter up higher. "Even if you had it, you can't use your wand during the summer. You should know that Anne. But I guess you won't be in Ravenclaw."

"I thought Hufflepuffs were supposed to be nice," Barr asked, mouth full of chocolate cake.

Nick dropped the letter. "That doesn't mean I have to be nice to my sister."

"Mum was a Hufflepuff, right Nick?" Barr asked.

Mildly irritated, Nick rolled his eyes at Anne, who was busy poring over the letter again. She had to have that whole thing memorized by now. "Yeah, Barr."

"And Dad was in Ravenclaw?"

"He just said that, you dolt."

"Are you sure you're not secretly in Slytherin?" Barr asked mischievously, his smirk hidden beneath the table, only his eyes visible.

Nick scoffed. "No. I am not a Slytherin!"

Glancing up from the letter, Anne rejoined the conversation. "What's wrong with Slytherin?"

"They're all Death Eaters!" Nick exclaimed, as if it was the most obvious thing in the world.

"Nicholas Charles!" A quiet but harsh voice called from the doorway. Clarisse stood in the entrance of the kitchen, a sleepy toddler with puffy brown hair and droopy eyes on one hip. "What did you just say?" The mother demanded.

"Nothing Mum," Nick looked down, immediately knowing he was in trouble.

Stalking over, Clarisse placed the toddler in the high chair. "I leave for three minutes to check on Avey and I hear you saying something I never want to hear you say again!"

"Sorry Mum."

Leaning across the table, Clarisse demanded the attention of her son. "Where did you even hear that?"

Nick shrugged, looking at his mother's forehead, refusing to make direct eye contact with her. "I heard some older kids at school say it."

Clarisse stiffened. "Do you even know what that means?"

Nick shook his head. "No I don't Mum."

"Then why would you say that? That's untrue! You don't go around saying things you don't know. You know better than that Nicholas!"

An attitude flaring a bit, Nick finally looked his mother in the eye. "What's the big deal? It's just a stupid name."

Clarisse pointed a finger at her son. "I don't care if you think it's just a stupid name. I don't want to hear you use those words again. I don't want to hear any of you talking about it. I don't even want you thinking about it. Yeah?"

"I get it Mum," Nick sullenly responded.

Softening, Clarisse straightened up. "Good. Now, go outside and enjoy the weather. I have to feed your sister."

"But I didn't finish my cake-" Anne began.

"I'll save it. Go outside and enjoy the rest of summer, you three," Clarisse respondly shortly, already turning her attention to her youngest child.

After a minute, Clarisse turned slowly and regarded her three children slowly moving towards the back door. "Anne, I'm sorry. We'll open presents in a bit, yeah?"

A smile spread across the young girl's face. "Tag! You're it!" She suddenly shouted, shoving a hand into Barr's shoulder, before bolting out the backdoor, down the sandy way to the beach.

In response, Barr punched Nick in the arm and repeated Anne's words, running out the door.

Aggravated, Nick sped after them, yelling he was too old to play tag with his little siblings.


Anne cuffed her pants higher as she waded into the cold water. Even in the middle of the summer heat, the ocean was always as icy as the winter. She had seen pictures of other beaches that had white sand and blue water, but here, that sand was gray, and the water was churning and murky, a blackish gray. Normally, everything was gray in England. Except in the winter. Then everything was white and gray. It was all right, as Anne didn't mind it a bit. She quite liked the cloudiness.

Today, however, it seemed as though Mother Nature knew it was Anne's birthday. There were still clouds out, but only in a thin film, thin enough that pale rays of sunshine were shining through.

Looking back towards the shore, Anne squinted at the house that was just a bit of a speck. Near the bank of the shore was Barr. He laid in the sand, eyes shut, in an attempt to dry off. After making his older brother "it" Nick had chased them to the edge of the water, before stopping and saying he didn't want to get wet. Being the annoying younger brother that he was, Barr used all of his strength and tackled Nick into the water. The two got into it for a few minutes while Anne lightly smiled and rolled her eyes at the boys' antics.

Eventually, Nick got fed up with his brother and shoved Barr hard, before turning and stomping back to the house, complaining the entire way about annoying his siblings were.

Anne turned back to the water and waded a bit further, the icy waves now halfway up her calves.

The sand shifted behind her as Barr got up from where he lay in the sand. Coming to stand next to his sister, he looked out towards the horizon as well. "Hey Annie?"

"Yeah, Barr?" Anne asked.

"Are you nervous?"

"About what?"

"About Hogwarts?" Barr asked, suddenly fidgety.

"Maybe a little. I'm more excited than anything else." She looked at Barr. "Why do you ask? Do I seem nervous?"

He shrugged. "No. It's just...Nick was so excited to go. And now so are you."

She shrugged, not really following. "I'm excited to go to school. There are so many things that are going to happen to me."

"No, Annie, I mean...I'm scared to go." He rubbed his shaggy brown hair.

She frowned. "But you don't go for another year. And it's not scary, you know."

He bristled a bit. "How would you know?! You just got your letter today!"

Lips pressed into a thin line, Anne said, "I'm a witch. And you're a wizard. That's how I know it won't be scary."

"That doesn't make any sense!" Barr yelled.

"Yes it does. We can do magic, Barr. That's kind of amazing," Anne said. As a halfblood, Anne often thought about the life her mother, Clarisse lived before she found out she was a witch, back when she thought she was a Muggle. It was a world Anne had not grown up in firsthand, but one she had seen from far away, including those of her grandparents. And as far as Anne was aware, Clarisse's parents were still displeased their daughter was a witch. Sacrilegious, she believed was the word she heard.

There was a pause. "What if I can't?" Came the small voice.

Anne frowned. "Pardon?"

"What if I can't do magic?" Barr admitted, looking quite ashamed.

She let out a chuckle. "But that doesn't make sense...both of our parents are magic. Why wouldn't you be?"

"I could be a Squib!" Barr screamed at her. His face was turning a bright red, hair seeming to curl at the ends.

Anne thought for a moment. She knew she had heard that word before, but couldn't quite remember what it meant.

"It's like Mum, but the opposite. Instead of being magical and coming from a family of Muggle's it's being a Muggle but coming from a family that's all magic."

Anne grimaced. "Oh. That sounds terrible."

Barr let out a cry of despair.

Quickly reassuring him, Anne grabbed her younger brother by the shoulders. "But you're not a Squib, Barr! You've done magic before!"

He shook off her hands and began to pace the length of the water. "Have I? Are you sure it was me? It could've just been you or Nick or even Avey! She's two years old and I bet she's more magical than me!"

Anne knew her brother was being overdramatic, but a small, growing part of her was wondering what would happen if he was right. He wouldn't be allowed in the wizarding world. There would be no place for him in it.

"Okay, how about this?" Anne said, coming up with a solution. "If that point-oh-one percent chance that you're a Squib actually happens, I won't go back to Hogwarts. Okay?"

Barr's eyes grew wide and he stopped in his tracks. "Why would you do that?"

She shrugged. "I'll give up magic. Doesn't seem fair that I'd get it and you wouldn't."

"You'd do that?"

"Sure would. I reckon you'd do the same for me." Anne's face broke into a grin. "Can't say Nick would do the same for either of us."

At the, the two broke into a fit of giggles.

"Mum told me to tell you there's presents you lot!" Nick suddenly called, as he walked towards the beach, still closer to the house.

The two siblings still on the beach, began to laugh harder at the sight of their older brother. As usual, he had a grimace on his face, a frown that grew only deeper at the sight of Anne and Barr.

In perfect tandem, Anne and Barr launched themselves as fast as they could after Nick, who had stopped to make sure they heard him properly.

"You two leave me alone! I mean it!" Nick's angry voice echoed as he spun on his heel and retreated back towards the house.


Anne received a nice present from her parents. It was a jumper that would change size, color, and designs according the wearer's desire.

"That was a lot of money, Annie Corrine, you understand?" Archie asked, somewhat playfully. "I want that to last you through your school years."

Smiling, she donned the jumper and nodded vigorously. The fabric shrunk and thinned out, turning into a light jacket in a deep blue color.

A fond looked on his face, Archie suddenly smiled. "Ravenclaw colors. Very nice. Speaking of which, Anne?"

"Yes?" She asked, admiring the material.

"There's one more thing I needed to give you. Will you come with me to the study?"

"Sure thing, Dad."

Clarisse ruffled Anne's hair after that. "I want you in bed after that, young lady," she called playfully.

As Anne was exiting the kitchen behind her father, she couldn't help but laugh and Nick and Barr's groans as Clarisse instructed it was time for them to get ready for bed.

"But I'm older than Anne," Nick said, "and she's still awake."

"It's my birthday!" Anne called.

Clarisse turned. "If you don't go now I will send you to bed with them." The threat was to be taken as a joke, but Anne still hustled out of the room, moving down the corridor after her father.

The corridor was generally dim, with large, dark planks of wood covering the floors and the walls. Matching rafters and beams criss crossed the ceiling. The foyer of the house was at the front of the corridor, the kitchen at the back, while various rooms jutted off in the hall. The stairs leading upstairs were situated in the foyer.

Archie's study often had the door shut tight. Much like the space outside, the room was dim. Heavy curtains covered the windows, while bookshelves ran floor-to-floor and wall-to-wall across the four walls of the he was at home, this was where the patriarch of the house spent most of his time.

Once reaching his desk, Archie took a seat in the plush leather chair on the other side and slid a heavy tome across the desk towards Anne.

Leaning forward, she ran a finger over the gilded words of the cover. Hogwarts: A History.

Producing a list of supplies Anne would need-that came with the letter-Archie pointed at something on the list that was now crossed out. "It's under the 'recommended' section, but I'm requiring you read this."

A bit of the wonder Anne had wore off at that. She retracted her hand a bit. "You want me to read this whole book?"

"It'd be better if you finished it before school started."

She frowned. "But I'd only have a month to read it."

"I'm not saying it'll be easy, but this is a pace you're going to have to set for yourself if you want to do well in school, stay at the top of your class."

The top of her class? Anne swallowed. "I guess I can start reading it tonight."

Archie smiled. "There's my girl. Happy birthday, darling," he said, showing a rare display of affection by giving her a quick hug. "Now off with you."

"Night Dad," Anne whispered, about to shut the door to the study on her way out, like she was supposed to, the thick textbook tucked awkwardly under one arm. But, she suddenly stopped. Not really sure why, Anne reentered the room and closed the door behind herself.

Archie looked up. "What is it?"

Nervously, Anne came to stand at the edge of the desk. "I heard Nick say something earlier and Mum got really mad at him. She said not to talk or even think about it, but I didn't even know what it was."

"What did Nick say?" Archie asked. He leaned forward.

Anne shook her head. She knew he would yell at her too, but she had to ask. Hopefully, since it was her birthday, he wouldn't yell at her as bad as Nick had gotten it.

"Well?"

"Nick said Slytherins were all Death Eaters. What's a Death Eater?"

Wincing, Anne scrunched her shoulders up, preparing for the hailstorm of chastisement from her father.

But it never came.

"Sit down, Anne. I'll tell you."

She scooted into the chair on the other side of the desk and sat the book on her lap, letting her father know she was ready to listen.

Archie readjusted himself in his chair and took off his glasses. "Anne, you know we're at war right now?"

She frowned. "Who's at war?"

"The wizarding world. Britain specifically," Archie responded.

"With who? And over what?"

"Well, technically, we're at war, have been for decades, even all the way back to when I was still in school. But for the past decade, there hasn't been much of a war, as it has been. Because it's been quiet, many people think it ended. But it's just a false sense of security."

Anne nodded, trying to pretend like she knew what he was talking about. "But who are the Death Eaters?"

"I'll get to that. See, this war has been going on against someone named You-Know-Who. He used to be a man, just a normal wizard, but he wanted power. Craved it. He was a real threat to the wizarding world when, especially when your mother and I were younger, right when we were first married. That was when he was at the peak of his power.

"You see, because he's been quiet for the past decade, many think he simply died. However, there are others who think he's turned into something else. Something that's not human anymore. Many think he's been dormant, gathering his strength.

"The Death Eaters were You-Know-Who's followers. They killed and attacked for him. They terrorized Muggle and wizarding communities alike."

"But why Muggles?" Anne asked.

"Because You-Know-Who was obsessed with blood purity. He hated non-magic folk, thought they were less than those with magic. To him, the purer the blood, the superior the witch or wizard.

"His Death Eaters believed this as well. They're fanatical and dangerous. After You-Know-Who went into hiding, or died, many of his supporters were hunted down and put on trial for their crimes. Many renounced their ways, saying their master was dead. Many put on trial renounced their ways, saying they were under the Imperius Curse."

"The Imperius Curse?"

"It makes the person under the spell easy to manipulate. It's one of the Unforgivables. Another time, Anne," Archie assured when he saw her confused face.

"Anyways, there is a stereotype that Slytherins are Death Eaters because Slytherin house is known for its obsession with blood purity. I can guarantee you nearly every student in that house had come from a long line of ancient purebloods."

"But you're pureblood?"

Archie nodded. "There are exceptions to every rule. Just because I'm pureblood doesn't mean my family was obsessed with purity. Not every pureblood is in Slytherin. Just how not every Slytherin is a Death Eater. You understand?"

Anne nodded. "But I don't understand something."

"What?"

"What happened to You-Know-Who?"

"Nobody knows."

"What do you think happened to him, Dad?"

Archie contemplated his daughter in front of him. She was only eleven years old, but he firmly believed knowledge was power, even at a young age. Surely, Clarisse would have a heart attack if she found out what he was telling her. The information wasn't hurting the girl; it was arming her, preparing her.

"I think he went into hiding, to gather strength, find new recruits. See, he just disappeared, right before there was supposed to be full out bloodshed between the Death Eaters and the Ministry. It's naive to think he just died. No one drops off the face of the earth like that."

"When do you think he'll come back?"

Archie shrugged. "Some speculate he's already been back. There's this silly prophecy that states the "Chosen One" is the only one that can stop him. A decade ago, people thought it was the real deal. When You-Know-Who disappeared, they thought the Chosen One had stopped him. Nevermind there wasn't actually a Chosen One to be identified. The whole thing is absurd.

"You-Know-Who is nothing more than a bigoted tyrant who wants power. That's all."

Anne nodded, trying to believe him.

"There's nothing to worry about, I assure you. Because if you do well in school, you'll learn to protect yourself an defend yourself, so there will be no reaso for you to be afraid. Right, Anne?"

"Right Dad," she muttered weakly.

"Okay, that's enough for now. Off to bed with you, and not a peep to your mother about this. Understand?"

"Yes Dad. Goodnight."

"Night Anne. Shut the door behind you."

Anne felt distinctly ill as she closed the door and climbed the stairs. For bed, she put on her nightgown, brushed her teeth and washed her hair before shutting her door-something she rarely did-and climbing into bed.

The day had started out wonderfully. It was her birthday and she was officially a Hogwarts student.

But now she found out they were at war? They had been at war? She had never heard a single word about that her entire life. And You-Know-Who was still out there somewhere?

Anne was terrified to think he would come back.

She didn't know what that meant, but she knew one thing.

Anne was afraid.


I hope this intrigues some of you! Thanks for reading. Please fav/follow/review!