Disclaimer: (sings loudly) Jingle bells, Draco smells. Dumbledore's such a drag. Harry and friends rock the world and Fudge should be hanged…HEY! LOL! HP does not belong to me.
Title: Song of the Melodie
Author: GreenLeaf7
Chapter 14: Family Reunions
But I fear I have nothing to give
I have so much to lose. Here in this lonely place
Tangled up in our embrace
There's nothing I'd like better than to fall
But I fear I have nothing to give… Sarah McLachlan
One second, Eliora and Charlie were standing in the middle of London in a dark corner. The next, both children found themselves standing right in front of the grand staircase at Coldrock House for Orphans.
A soft light had surrounded them when they appeared, but now was slowly diminishing until they were both plunged into darkness.
Eliora and Charlie, with their bags in hand, stood side by side with the same expression. Mouths were dropped; eyes doubled their size, and one question racing through their minds.
"How did that happen?" Both asked at the same time.
Eliora waved her hand over the medallion and it instantly came to life while giving off a faint purple glow. But when she did that, Eliora suddenly wobbled on her feet and drop to her knees. She had suddenly become weakened all of a sudden.
"Eliora, are you alright?" Charlie suddenly asked as he quickly bent down next to Eliora. But Eliora nodded her head and after shaking her head, she slowly got up.
Charlie was still holding onto Eliora's arm as she slowly stood up. When she was stable on her legs, Charlie let go and asked the question that was burning in his mind.
"How did you do that, Eliora?" Charlie asked, his eyes shinning in amazement.
"I have no idea." Eliora replied. And yet she did. She remembered now, when she was little she use to do that a lot; hiding from her father when it was past her bedtime.
Eliora softly smiled as the memory surfaced. She softly squeezed Charlie's hand.
"I remember, Charlie. My memories are back!" She excitedly, yet quietly stated to her brother.
Charlie's eyes widened like saucers. "Eliora, that's great…"
The lights leading up the stairs were suddenly turned on. Not exactly knowing what do to, Eliora did the first thing that came to mind.
She looked towards a door, which led to the broom closet, which was right underneath the first row of stairs leading up. It was just big enough for Charlie and their stuff to fit inside.
Without another word towards Charlie, she grabbed his hand and ran towards the space. Charlie tried to speak, but Eliora covered his mouth. Footsteps could be heard walking down the steps.
Wasting no time, Eliora shoved Charlie into the space along with their stuff.
"Eliora! What are you doing!" Charlie telepathically screamed as he watched her quickly shove their stuff into the room with him.
"What ever you hear Charlie. What ever happens, I want you to stay right here and wait until everyone leaves. When that happens, go up to the Tower." Eliora hurriedly stated as she began to close the door.
"Eliora!" Charlie screamed as the door was closed. He tried to speak to Eliora again, but found that he was blocked from her thoughts.
When Eliora closed the door, she ran and skidded across the tile floor towards other end of the staircase. If she could just reach the supply room, they would both be alright.
But Eliora suddenly stopped when a flashlight beam aimed straight into her eyes. She froze like a criminal under spotlights. Eliora covered her eyes and tried to block out the blinding light…
"My my, isn't this a surprise." Miss. Perkings sneered from the top of the stairs.
The flashlight beam was gone and Eliora had to now squint in order to try and see Mrs. Perkings.
"Well, explain yourself?" Miss Perkings ordered as she walked down the steps.
"I…I…I was…" Eliora kept on stumbling in her words as she tried to figure out exactly what to say. This was not supposed to happen.
When Miss Perkings arrived to stand right in front of Eliora, it didn't take a minute to pass for her to notice Eliora's state of clothing.
With a bony finger, Miss Perkings raised it up and pointed at Eliora's clothing.
"Where. Did. You. Get. These?" She menacingly questioned as she pinched the shoulder of Eliora's sweater.
Some of the other children, as well as staff members, were now peering down at the scene before them. Some even questioning amongst themselves on how Eliora got those clothes.
Eliora stayed absolutely still, not knowing what do to. More than anything she wanted to disappear right then and there. But she, not fully understanding why, found herself weakening with every minute that passed.
"I asked you a question!" Miss Perkings practically screamed in Eliora's face.
Closing her eyes for a second, Eliora made up her mind. It was time to take a stand. She opened her amethyst eyes and stared straight at Miss Perkings.
"I found them, in the room underneath the stairs." Eliora answered. She then turned towards the staircase to look at the other children.
"That wasn't the only thing I found. I also found pictures of parents, trinkets that no doubt belong to one of you." Eliora stated in a clear voice.
"Did you see a book with a blue cover? It had a picture of a dog in front." A boy by the age of fourteen, with short blond hair asked from the stairs.
Eliora turned towards the boy. Thinking back to all the things she had found in the room, she now remembered seeing a book much to the boy's description.
Eliora nodded her head. "Yes, I did." She answered.
"Was there a porcelain doll with a green dress?" A little girl, with almond shaped eyes asked as she stood up from peaking behind the railing of the staircase.
"Yes, that too." Eliora said as more children stood up to probably ask her if their own precious items were inside the room.
"All of our stuff is in that room. From our clothes that we came with, to our dolls, lockets, caps, and…"
SLAP!
Eliora was knocked down to the floor, her hand immediately covering her left cheek as it burned from the sudden slap from Miss Perkings.
A silence fell across the room. Neither child nor staff said a word as they watched in shock as Miss Perkings reached down to grab a handful of Eliora's hair.
Miss Perkings yanked hard on Eliora's hair as she pulled the girl up, a scream of pain from Eliora only made Miss Perkings grip tighten.
"Mrs. Stone warned me about you. I should have listened." Miss Perkings dangerously whispered in Eliora's ear.
When Eliora was on her feet, Miss Perkings grabbed Eliora's wrist and yanked her down the room and out the front door.
"She told me what was to be done if you pulled a stunt like this." Miss Perkings said as she tightened her hold on Eliora's wrist and led her straight towards the sweat box.
Judging by the fact that the sweat box was already opened, Eliora figured that one of the children had just got out.
When they reached it, Miss Perkings didn't even bother to wait for Eliora to climb down the ladder. With a push from Miss Perkings, Eliora was soon finding herself falling into the pit.
It was a good thing that it wasn't deep. But Eliora still felt a shot of pain roll up from her feet to her knee as she landed feet first onto the dirt floor of the sweat box.
She couldn't help herself as she fell to her knees and bit her lower lip so as not to cry out.
"You will stay here until I decide what punishment you will receive. Your actions will not go unpunished!" Miss Perkings shrilled from above.
With a slam, the latch was closed. Eliora soon heard keys being rattled, as Miss Perkings locked the door; leaving Eliora alone and in total darkness.
After a few moments of waiting, Eliora somewhat made herself comfortable in the pit. She seated herself on the dirt and leaned her back against one side of the surrounding dirt wall.
"On the brightside, at least Charlie is safe." Eliora said to herself as she looked up.
It was hard to see pass the latch as Eliora could scarcely see the night sky. Shivering slightly, Eliora tightened her jacket around herself as she curled her legs up so that they were pressed against her chest.
Closing her eyes for a second, Eliora concentrated on her medallion. Now having her memories back, she could now remember that a simple thought from her could make her medallion glow.
But she still had no idea on how the medallion glowed in the first place.
A soft purple glow shined from the medallion, presenting a small amount of light in the pit and with it…a tinge of hope.
The minutes ticked by and still no sign of Miss Perkings releasing her. Not that it came to any surprise for Eliora. Though she didn't know what was worse. Waiting here, or finding out what Miss Perkings had in store for her.
The night air was cold. It was already seeping into the pit and creating the unhelpful habit of Eliora shivering as she tried to stay warm.
She knew it was hopeless for her to call out for someone to release her, nobody would listen.
So Eliora huddled herself tighter as she tried to think of warm thoughts. But with the thoughts, Eliora began to form a plan.
What happened nowproved that being in Coldrock was down right dangerous for both Charlie and herself. If she even survived the night, this was to be their last night in Coldrock.
"We can't stay here any longer." Eliora thought to herself. "I can find a job somewhere, hopefully. Find a place to stay with Charlie, Tal, and I."
As Eliora thought over her plan on leaving Coldrock once and for all, she couldn't help it but tremble and shiver as the cold night grew tight inside the pit she was in. Her lips were tightly pursed together, slowly tinting a light purple.
Her knuckles had all ready turned white as she gripped herself tightly so as to keep as much warmth as possible.
Things were going real bad and Eliora's hope was fast diminishing.
And that's when she heard it. It started off like an echo, barely audible. But when Eliora strained to hear, it was then that she recognized the echo as someone humming.
The humming was faint, off key at times, and deep. Whoever was humming it had a deep voice that seemed to vibrate against the dirt walls and send a cold chill down Eliora's back.
Which wasn't much since her back was already chilled. But the sensation wasn't new. She had felt this way before, and in hearing that voice it had always brought her a sense of quickened excitement and fear.
"Father…" Eliora whispered as she could now clearly hear her father humming a tune.
How was it that she could hear her father? Eliora tried to listen to tune.
"I know that song." Eliora acknowledged as the voice of her father seemed to sweep over her…literally.
Without her realizing it, Eliora began to softly sing the lyrics of a song that she could clearly remember her mother singing.
Suddenly, right before Eliora, a small white hole began to open. Not being able to do anything, Eliora kept on singing as she watched in fascination as the hole misted itself to become larger.
Soon, Eliora was completely engulfed in the hole, and finding herself in a completely different room.
She had stopped singing long before the hole had engulfed her and now found herself sitting on cold stone floor in a room that she had never been in.
The room was dark, making it hard for Eliora to see her surroundings. It was cold, probably colder than the pit. The only source of light came from a roaring fireplace at the far end of the room.
One large easy chair was facing the fireplace, its back facing Eliora. Slowly getting up to her feet, Eliora wobbled on her feet before making her way slowly towards the fireplace.
The humming was coming from the chair, which was strange to think that the chair was humming. But when Eliora slowly etched closer to the chair, it was then that she found an older man asleep on the chair.
The man was as pale as chalk, with straight jet black hair that came down to his shoulders. He was dress all in black, giving off a deadly look about him.
He was sound asleep, his head resting on his shoulder as he appeared to have slumped unto the chair quite suddenly.
Eliora slowly kneeled beside the arm rest, so that she could get a better look at the man. Even in the sleep he was in, Eliora could faintly see his lips move as he mouthed the words of the song.
But she still couldn't see his face clearly, so Eliora slowly maneuvered herself so that she was right in front of the chair.
Now, her back was to the roaring flames and her amethyst eyes were now glued to the face of the man before her.
"Dad…" Eliora whispered as her eyes swept across her fathers face. She delicately placed her hand over his own hand that was resting on the arm rest.
It truly was her father. Even though, through Elioras eyes, he looked much older than what she now remembered. But reminding herself that the last time she saw her dad was when she was seven, told her that it was expected for her father to age.
At the sudden voice of Elioras, her father shifted in his sleep. A frown appeared on his face and he stopped humming.
Now, Eliora didn't know what to do. Her heart was crying out in happiness that she had found her father. This meant that she was no longer an orphan that she never was to begin with.
But it also brought up the problem of now. What was she to do? She couldn't really tap her fathers arm and say 'Hi daddy. It's been a while.' She'll be lucky if she didn't give him a heart attack.
But it appeared that Eliora didn't have to worry about that, since a sudden intake of breath brought her to look straight up into her fathers face.
Her father had awakened and was now staring straight into Elioras eyes. Eliora looked into the dark pool of eyes of her fathers, and found herself unable to move.
A silence for a good while followed. Neither of them daring to move, even Elioras hand had not been moved away from being placed on her fathers hand.
Eliora noticed that the look her father was giving her was not one of joy to match her own. On the contrary, he looked pissed.
"Papa?" Eliora softly whispered, fearing the look her father was giving her.
"Leave me." The voice of her father sent a sharp shiver of cold down Elioras already warmed spine.
Without another word, her father quickly snatched in his hand away from underneath Elioras.
"Stop haunting me." He dangerously said as he quickly stood up. Eliora was left surprise at her father's attitude.
She moved away, but stopped when she felt the near heat of the flames from the fireplace against her back. She then looked up at her father who was no towering over her.
"Papa? Daddy, it's me. It's Eliora." Eliora quickly said as she launched herself forwards.
She then wrapped her arms around his leg and tightly held on.
After all of these years, thinking that she was an orphan and not even remembering who her parents where, there was no way that she was going to let her father slip through her fingers. Not when she had found him.
Eliora could feel her father stiffen as she latched herself unto him, her arms being tightly wrapped around his right leg. But she didn't care; she was not going to let him go.
"It's me...your daughter! I remember now! I remember you and momma! I never could before today. I couldn't remember your face or the sound of moms voice. But I can now. I can remember the times when you use to read to me about potions instead of a bed time story. I remember it all, papa!" She desperately cried, unable to hold it in. Tears welled up in her eyes and spilled freely as she clung to her father, hoping and wishing that he would see that she wasn't a dream. That she was his daughter and that she really was here with him.
"Papa please! Say that you know me. Say that you remember me. Please!" A sob escaped her past her lips as she looked up into her fathers eyes. His hard cold gaze sending a shiver of fear down her spine. But she resisted the urge to run and gave herself a hard reminder that this was her father after all and she had no reason to be afraid of him. He would never hurt her. He just had to remember her!
So instead Eliora stood her ground and locked her amethyst eyes with his black pools. She didn't look away, but kept her pleading eyeslocked on his cold gaze...until finally she saw them begin to soften.
"Eliora…" He whispered out her name, barely audible as if he feared that she wasn't real.
"Yes papa. It's me." She softly replied, her voice a little shaky. She heard him repeat her name again and then the walls between them fell away. He had reached for her and with a gentle touch that made fresh tears stream down her cheeks, he cupped the side of her face and gently wiped away the tears on her cheeks. No words were needed then as a smile broke out between them. It was a smile that said everything, a joyful heartbreaking smile that could only be read by the two as they both shared in the same pain for ten long years. It was the pain of separation that only now had been healed and it came in the form of a joyful smile in their reunion.
She was with her father! He remembered her. He remembered! No amount of words could have been said to express the joy that filled Eliora's heart that very moment. Even if their family was broken with her mother missing from this tender moment between them, it was enough that they at least were together. And as Eliora stayed kneeling by her fathers chair as he so gently rubbed away the last traces of her tears; she believed with every fiber of her being that she would never leave his side. That they would never be separated again. How cruel the turn of events that followed.
It came without warning. Eliora gasped immediately, as an instant freeze swept down her spine. Her fingers became numb; her lips trembled as they turned purple.
Without realizing it, Eliora released her hold on her father's leg. She couldn't control herself from trembling as her entire body felt like it was packed in ice. She closed her eyes and felt herself falling backwards.
"Eliora!" She faintly heard her fathers voice rise as she slowly became enveloped in darkness.
"No! Take me back! Please!" She cried out, but it was too late. As the warmth of the fireplace was quickly replaced by the biting cold darkness that was unmistakably the pit, all hope of returning to her father began to fade.
Wrapping her arms around herself, she shivered and curled herself up tighter to keep warm. With no level of restrain bitterness, Eliora realized she was right back where she started. Cold, alone and wondering if she had dreamed it all. But her heart told her no, that it had happened and despite the freezing cold that seeped into her very bones...remembering the warmth of her fathers embrace gave her hope. She had seen father. He was alive and out there, somewhere. After so long living without her memories and believing that he was lost to her, to suddenly have it all changed in a single night...it was all so overwhelming. It was amazing and wonderful, but still she felt it would take her a few days for it all to settle in.
Provided of course, she survived this one night. The temperatures had continued to drop and Eliora shuddered as a white plume of breath escaped her lips. A thick fog had started to seep in between the cracks of sweatbox latch, falling in like an eerie waterfall of grey vapor. It began to fill the small space surrounding Eliora, rising by the second. In moments it was up to her waist the chilling fog, seeping into her clothes and making her skin crawl.
"Is this how I die? Death by fog?" If that fact that she couldn't feel her legs, as they went numb with the cold, and that her teeth were chattering; the whole situation would have been funny. Would have, being the operative word.
As the temperatures continued to drop, Eliora began to lose the battle in staying awake. Her eyes grew heavy, drooping while her vision began to darken. There was a brief moment when she though she heard a voice call out her name, but she too far gone to give it any further focus. As her eyes fluttered close, she lost the strength to keep upright and promptly collapsed onto her side. As she lay there on the dirt ground, the fog began to swallow her shivering unconscious form like a haunting graveyard scene, claiming a victim in the night. In a matter of seconds all that was visible were her white converse and the lavender hoodie she'd been wearing. Sadly it was doing nothing now to keep her warm.
So deep in her oblivion as hypothermia took over, Eliora didn't at all hear the loud BANG as the heavy padlock that secured the sweatbox door to the ground, exploded into a million tiny specks of metal. Passionately destroyed in a hurried and desperate attempt at freeing the girl lying crumbled at the base of the pit; it was in fact the beginning of a daring rescue...
Hello my fantastic fans! (Gives plushies of Eliora, complete with wings, to all reviewers)
I hope you all have enjoyed this new chapter. But before you turn that page, be prepared. The next won't start with Eliora…
For all those readers out there! I thank you for giving your time to read my story. I hope for a while I entertained you. If you liked the story so far, please press that little submit button and drop a line.
THANK YOU ALL! YOU KEEP ME GOING!