CENTER p December 12, 1979 /p /CENTER
p A large, white colonial farm house sat on a spacious landscape. A cold December wind whirled snow thru the air and rustled the naked maple trees. The house itself looked like any normal house would, except for one thing. In the back of the house sat an oval shaped, snow covered field surrounded by gates and four observation towers that were connected by elevated stands. Three poles stood at each end of the field; each with a rather large hoop attached to the top. /p
p To passersby this was a little strange, but to those living inside the house, strange things were quite the norm. /p
p Kathy Diggory sat on the worn scarlet clothed couch watching her two-year-old son, Cedric, crawling across the dull wood floor after a toy broomstick floating slowly across the room. Her life was perfect and she was determined to keep it that way. p However, Kathy had a secret. Her marriage with her husband, Amos, wasn't going so well. He was a perfectionist and could be quite rude and obnoxious towards Kathy. Every Tuesday night since the summer, Amos thought Kathy was attending a book club meeting with a couple of girlfriends. Well the girlfriends part was right, but other then that his assumptions were way off. /p
p Every Tuesday, Kathy would meet a guy named Kegan at a bar in the city. They would hang out there, having drinks and a great time. For a few hours, Kathy could forget everything and live as though she was seventeen again. But one early October night, things got a little out of hand and Kathy had woken up to find herself in Kegan's apartment. Dazed and confused, she had stumbled out the door and hailed a cab that took her to her friend's apartment. /p
p Everything had been fine when she called her husband, telling him it got too late to grab a cab so she had slept over her friend Jen's house. When she had gotten home, Amos pulled her into a kiss and sat her down at the breakfast table so they could talk about her night. Kathy had decided that she really did love Amos. So what if he was a little obnoxious; after a few cups of his wondrous coffee, she had forgotten all about Kegan and her one nighter. /p
p But, after missing two monthlies, she had gone to her doctor only to discover that she was pregnant. She had been putting off telling her husband, but her lump was growing and time was running out. Kathy didn't know what to do as she didn't want Amos to know she had cheated, but they had used so many protection spells that there was no chance the baby could be his. /p
p The roaring fireplace suddenly turned emerald green as Amos came hurling through the floo network. Kathy took a deep breath; it was now or never. /p
CENTER p July 16, 1980 /p /CENTER
p "It's a girl!" the doctor said, holding the screaming baby into the air. Kathy Diggory plastered a fake smile on her face as she turned to her husband and rolled her eyes. Even though Amos knew the baby wasn't his, they had decided to keep it for Cedric's sake. Of course she couldn't have looked anymore like George and any less like Amos as she had come out with flaming red hair and blue eyes. /p
p "I have a sister! I have a sister! Yay! Can I hold her? Please, please? What are we naming her? When is she coming home? When are you coming home?" Cedric babbled enthusiastically. /p
p "Isolde Dietra," Kathy replied, smiling at her hyper son. i 'I'm doing this for him' /i she thought, staring down at the sleeping baby that had been placed in her arms. /p
p "I'm sure you'll want to spend some time with your new daughter," the nurse said happily. "Just let me know when you need a little rest, okay?" /p
p "I need a rest now," Kathy demanded. /p
p "Oh," the nurse replied, her smile faltering. "I'll take Isolde back to the nursery then and bring her back when it's time for her to be fed." /p
p "Um, excuse me, but we decided to bottle feed this one," Amos said, nodding towards the red-headed girl that would always remind him of his wife's betrayal. "So, doesn't that mean she doesn't have to spend the night here and my wife can get her rest?" /p
p "Well, I guess so," the nurse said as her brow furrowed and she pushed the baby out the door and down the hall. /p
p "Glad she's out of here," Mr. Diggory huffed. "Wouldn't want the girl to be disturbing you while you slept." /p
p "Yes, but what are we going to do when we get her home?" Kathy asked, exasperated. She hated the fact that she had to keep this baby. It was like a constant reminder of her serious misjudgment. "Am I going to have to get up with her every two hours?" /p
p "No, my love." Amos smiled, kissing his wife on the forehead. "We can get one of the house elves to attend to her. You won't hear a thing." /p
CENTER p August 15, 1989 /p /CENTER
p Nine years later, the sun rose over the lush green fields as a new day began. In a pink room slept a nine-year-old girl, her bright red hair tied in pigtails flung out across her pillow. She wore a overly large Weird Sisters t-shirt that had once been her brother, Cedric's as well as a pair of his old flannels. /p
p She had been tossing and turning for quite sometime, having a dream about that Harry Potter boy her parents were always talking about. She would see what she imagined as his face and then flashed of random objects: a locket, a necklace, a cup, a snake, a wand, a ring, and a pair of red eyes. For some reason, a sense of urgency filled her as she struggled to wake. A piercing scream echoed through her thoughts and finally woke her. /p
p "It's here! It's here!" Cedric screeched, running into Isolde's room. /p
p "Cedric, you twit! I haven't even had a chance to get out of bed," Isolde complained goodheartedly. She tossed a pillow at him and he retaliated by ruffling her already messy pigtails. /p
p "You'll never guess what came in the mail this morning Is! My Hogwarts letter, can you believe it? I actually get to go to Hogwarts! Isn't this exciting?" /p
p "I guess," Isolde sighed, looking dejectedly towards the floor. /p
p "What's wrong, Issy-Bissy?" Cedric asked, climbing onto her bed and putting a hand on her shoulder. /p
p "What am I going to do while you're not here?" Isolde quavered. /p
p "Don't worry Isolde. You won't get lonely. Mum and Dad are here and I'll owl you every chance I get," Cedric promised, pulling her in for a hug. /p
p "Thanks Ced," Isolde sniffled, gripping him around the neck. /p
p "Cedric!" Kathy called up the stairs. "We are heading to Diagon Alley now so come down and get your shoes and cloak on!" /p
p "Ok mum! Hey, hey mum?" Cedric yelled, running down the wooden hallway. "Can Is come too? She's never been there and I can show her around. I've been there loads of times!" /p
p "Well," Kathy hesitated, "Maybe next time. I wanted to apparate and Isolde is a little too young for Side-Along Apparition." /p
p "Oh, all right," Cedric said, disappointed. "Sorry Is. Guess you have to stay home again. Don't worry, I'll definitely take you when you get your letter." /p
p "Oh, it's ok Ced. I'll see you later." /p
p "Bye Issy!" Cedric called from his room. /p
p "Bye! Hey! Hey Ced?" Isolde called back. /p
p "Ya?" Cedric asked, popping his head back around the door. /p
p "When you… you get back… can we um… play some Quidditch?" /p
p Cedric laughed as he replied, "Sure Is I'll see you later, ok?" /p
p And with that he disappeared down the hall as Isolde snuggled back under her sheets, dreaming of the day she would finally get her chance to join her brother. /p
CENTER p August 15, 1991 /p /CENTER
p Isolde and Cedric were sitting at the table in the kitchen of their two-story colonial home. A warm fire burned in the enormous stone fireplace behind them and Mrs. Diggory brought over some fresh blueberry muffins for them to eat. /p
p A thirteen-year-old Cedric sat one side of the table with yellow and black Quidditch robes stained with mud. Actually there was mud everywhere. It had rained the night before, and Cedric and his father had been out on the Quidditch pitch all morning preparing for school. Mud stained his light brown hair, was smeared in streaks along his cheeks, and was now all over the hardwood floors of the kitchen. /p
p Eleven-year-old Isolde sat across from him, still in her pajamas, but it was usual for her to go all day without anyone reminding her to get some clothes on. She had a pair of Cedric's old flannels on that were much too big for her as well as a Hufflepuff chaser T-shirt her brother had gotten her for Christmas. He knew how much she wanted to be a chaser and her brother couldn't wait to have her on the team with him. /p
p As they were finishing their eggs Hela, the family owl, came swooping into the kitchen with two letters in her beak. /p
p "Merlin," Isolde cried, jumping down off her seat. She was so excited she forgot to hold her pants up and they wound up at her ankles. "Oops!" She blushed, pulling them up and ran over to Hela. "They're here, they're here! Cedric these are it! Our Hogwarts letters! Yay! I'm finally going to go to Hogwarts and be just like you Cedric!" /p
p Her brother got up and hugged her, smearing her with mud, but she only laughed and began dancing around the kitchen. /p
p "Isolde Dietra," her mother snapped, turning around from washing a pot with her wand. "You are a mess. Go upstairs and put on some clean clothes so we can get going to Diagon Alley." /p
p "Yes mum," Isolde squeaked, running off upstairs. /p
p Cedric followed her up with his eyes. /p
p "Why do you have to be so mean to her?" Cedric asked, rounding on his mother. /p
p "I don't know what you're talking about," Kathy blushed, turning back to her work. /p
p "Oh, but I think you do," Cedric replied, eyeing her suspiciously before heading upstairs to shower and change. /p