Chapter One - Farewell
I have to leave, I thought as I packed my room up in my huge trunk. Tears blurred my vision, and I threw everything I could into the trunk. Pretty soon my room was bare and empty (laziness had prevented me from really decorating the room), all except for the cage on the bed that I had to practically pull out of the closet with the jaws of life. I looked down at my owl, Lena, while she turned her head to the side to look at me with an intense glare. I sighed. I had put a silencing spell on her, and had kept her cooped up in her cage for the most part these last few months. I revoked the spell and immediately Lena hooted from inside her cage. She was a light gray-silver owl, and strange in her own way. She had purple amethyst eyes, a rarity in owls. Some people thought it was a bit of a bad omen, and the store keeper was excited to get her off his hands. I personally found her to be my own good luck charm.
I heard the door open, and Charlie quickly running up the steps. I could him hoarsely calling out my name. He must have been out with the search team this whole time. I was grateful ; it gave me time to pack in peace.
"Bella?" Charlie said, and I gritted my teeth. The amount of hurt and hope in his voice made me want to just break down right then and there. But, I couldn't. I had already set the plan into motion, I had to finish it.
"Come in." I said, keeping my voice steady. I pulled my 9 ¾ cherry blossom wood with a unicorn core wand out, the first time I had touched it in months. I was reminded of the time I had gone wand shopping, and instantly went back to that very afternoon.
"Nathaniel! Ronald! Good grief, hurry on up before Ollivander's closes and you wont have a wand for the start of term!" Mum said, and I could tell time was running out. We had to hurry up and get our wands before the shop closed. I didn't really believe mum would send us to Hogwarts without a wand, but knew that lugging us all back to Diagon Alley another day would be too bothersome and hard for her.
"Sorry." Nathan said and his brown eyes scrunched up as he looked at the broomstick in the window.
"Coming Mum." Ron said, also moving from the display window. I kind of felt out of place at the moment, like I did sometimes when I was out with my family. Everyone had a nice head full of red hair, freckles, brown eyes, and warm toned skin; me and Nathaniel had mahogany brown hair, deep blue violet eyes (I had bewitched them to seem chocolate brown in Forks), and pale alabaster skin that couldn't even retain a freckle. I used to feel even more out of place as a child, but not I had grown used to it when I was out and about with all of them. But right now, seeing my soon to be classmates with their own families (who looked like them), it made me bite my lip.
Suddenly, I could feel Nate's hand slip into mine, and squeeze it gently. I looked over at him, and knew he was having the same mixed feelings as me. I squeezed it back gently, before looking up. We were here. Ollivander's Wand Shop.
"Now, Bella, watch over your brothers. I need to go find Fred and George and make sure they're not over in Knockturns Alley ; I'll take Ginny with me. If you need any more money for the wands, just tell Ollivander I'll be there soon enough." My mum said, before taking Ginny by the hand and walking back the way we came from. With a gulp, I walked in first, followed by my two brothers.
It was empty in the shop, and you could see dust in the air illuminated by the sunlight pouring in through the windows from outside. To finish the sight was a middle aged verging on elderly man at the counter, smiling down at us.
"Hello sir, we're here to buy our wands." Nate said, after a minute of standing there, and the man just smiled.
"The Weasleys, I presume. Interesting... Very well. Who would like to be first?" Ollivander said, and Ron stepped up after a few seconds. After some time of observing Ron, the man turned back, mumbling to himself and pulling four different wand boxes out of their place. He laid them out of the table slowly, before eliminating two and putting them back on a shelf. I watched, a bit fascinated. Soon, Ollivander handed Ron a wand from the first case, and Ron simply waved it in the air, to create a show of fireworks.
"Ah. 14 inches precisely, willow and unicorn hair. Here you go Mr. Weasley, make due to take care of this wand."
With that, Ron nodded feverishly before taking the box, and stepping back a few steps. Nathaniel stepped up, and Ollivander studied him for a good ten minutes, before moving and mumbling under his breath for another five more minutes. Finally, he chose a single box, and slowly pulled the wand out of the casing, and handed it to my twin brother.
With a shrug, Nate flicked the wand a bit more softly than Ron had, and a bouquet of flowers popped out. Ollivander merely smiled, and handed him the case.
"12 and a half inches, oak, with a dragon heartstring core. A very nice choice, identical to your fathers. I had a very curious notion that possibly your wand would be identical to your fathers, and it turns out that I was correct in the end... Now for Ms. Swan." Was all that came out of Ollivanders mouth, before Nate looked at him.
"Thank you sir." Was all he could say before stepping back, and finally, it was my turn. I was full blown freaking out now. What if my wand isn't like my mothers? What if I can't make anything happen? What if I just make a fool out of myself?
Those were all the thoughts running through my head as I made a nervous shuffle up to the counter, and Ollivander simply looked at me for less than a minute before turning around, and picking out a box. He handed the wand to me, and I looked down at it. I took a deep breath, and flicked it. A single rose shot out from it delicately, and Ollivander looked ecstatic.
"Excellent, excellent indeed! Now, your wand Ms. Swan is 9 and three quarters of an inch, made of cherry blossom wood with a unicorn core. Identical to your mother's." Ollivander said as he took the wand from me delicately, and put it back in the box. He hummed a small, disconnected tune under his breath, before handing me my box. I accepted it, with a small 'thank you'.
Ollivander merely looked at us, before smiling.
"You know, Isabella, Nathaniel. You two really do look like your parents." Was all he said, before walking over to the old fashioned register. I didn't know how to respond to that, and instead paid him the seven galleons each for the wands, before mumbling another 'thank you' and walking out of the ship with my brothers, waiting for mum to come back, more than likely holding the twin's by the ear.
I was taken back to the present, with a baffled Charlie in front of me, looking around the room, to my wand in hand, to my trunk, and then back to me, and straight into my now deep sea blue eyes, which border lined with the color violet.
"Bells... What... Your eyes... And... What...What is that?" Charlie said, finally choosing to first ask me about my wand. I sighed, and brought up my wand slowly, pointing at him. He looked at it, going cross eyed for a moment, before looking back at me. I cringed, seeing the hurt and desperate look in his eyes.
"Bella, what's going on?" Was all Charlie whispered, and I immediately felt a pang of regret. I wanted to stay in Forks, with the make believe family I had, with the friends I had made while. But, I knew it had to end now. It had all gone on longer than it should have in the first place. I made my thoughts stray from Forks to the principles in erasing memories, before taking a deep breath and relaxing.
"Obliviate." I whispered, and Charlie looked at me for a few more seconds, before his expression became dull and dreamy, before finally slowly backing up into the wall and sliding down it, ending up sitting on the floor, appearing to be asleep. I knew that while I could never truly erase all memories of me, it'd just seem all like a dream. A long dream, but a dream none the less. He never had a daughter ; He divorced Renee after a few years of her infidelity and irresponsibilities ruining the marriage, and settling down in his hometown of Forks, Washington. Bella never existed ; She was just a ghost of a life he wish he had. Or so he would think. I walked out of the door, my trunk levitating itself out along with me, before I got into my truck.
I ran my hand over the dashboard, knowing this would be the last night I'd ever drive this. Soon, I was driving out from the driveway of the place I called home for almost a year, and driving throughout the small, sleepy town of Forks. I snuck into houses and cast a mere confounding spell that made it so that people would be confused over their memories of me, before casting another spell similar to obliviate, which in fact just mixed reality and fiction for the person. It only affected memories of me, and in the end, it made it so that people would just eventually forget about me as time went on, with them waking up this morning when my name on the tip of their tongue maybe, or my face in their head for a second, before it all faded away like the dreams we always forgot.
Soon enough, I was finished, and left my truck on the side of the ride. The plates were faulties that Charlie had made under his initial confusion caused by me, made so that if I drove around the area, and the plates ran, there would be no difficulty, but if I drove extensively around the state as a whole, the facade would diminish and crumble. I got out of the drivers seat, and closed the door. Nobody would pay this truck more than a few seconds of thoughts ; it'd just be another piece of crap someone abandoned on the side of the road.
With a flick of my wand, I bewitched the trunk to follow me as I delved into the forest, reminding me of Edward. I slowly came to a small clearing, and sat down on one of the bigger rocks. My trunk landed with a small and gentle 'thud', before I pulled my knees up into my body, my wand safely in my pocket now.
"Goodbye Forks."
Those were the last words to spill out of my mouth before I let out a sob, and began crying into my arms. Somehow, in the last twenty four hours, I had lost so many people from my life. I lost the Cullens. They themselves were like a family to me already. I lost my best friend and sister, Alice. I lost what I had thought would be the love of my life, Edward. I ended up losing all of my friends, including Angela, who I really did care about. And then Charlie. Thinking about it made my eyes water up even more somehow. I stayed like that for an hour, before I was all cry-ed out.
Slowly, I gathered myself, and realized I should have contacted someone before I made all the plans to leave. Taking my wand out of my pocket, I held it up to my face, near my mouth. Small wisps of silver came out of the wand from my silent spell, forming into a lioness next to me. I cleared my throat, before beginning my message for my patronous to take. I hoped it would manage to trip over the ocean. I had never tried sending a message this way home, but knew that an owl would take too long, and Lena would get too exhausted from the journey, especially since she hasn't been able to fly in ages.
"Nate, I need to be picked up. It's alright for me to come back, right?" Was the message I recorded, before the lion nodded and soon sprinted gracefully away from me. I sat there, before opening my trunk and grabbing a Gryffindor House sweatshirt from it, and pulling it over my flimsy camisole. I wanted to put on some nice pajama pants, but decided to just keep my jeans on in case something happened and I had to get out, quick. I was settling myself on the (much comfier than expected) rock, when I saw figure coming from the trees in front of me ; it was white and blue, and made my heart swell up with hope.
The lion stopped short of me by a few feet, five maybe, before it opened its mouth slowly.
"We're coming Bells." Was the response that came out of the patronous, in the voice of my twin brother. I smiled faintly, and knew I was going home. My real home. I settled down on the rock, and closed my eyes, hoping to get some type of sleep before having to travel back home. My last thoughts before I fell under was how I was going to get home...
"Is she alright? She seems a bit pale."
"Bella? Pale? She's always pale."
"Good point mate."
I heard the voices before I could really piece them together, and cursed myself for sleeping so out in the open. I got up, a bit blindly to be honest, with my wand in hand and pointing to the origin of the voices. I opened my eyes after rubbing them with my other hand, and soon saw Nathan, Harry, and Ron. I felt relieved to see them. I could tell Nate had gotten a bit taller, and he had finally gotten taller than me. Bastard. It wasn't until I saw the slight edge of fear in Ron's face that I laughed and put my wand in my pocket. They all breathed a sigh of relief, and Nate sighed.
"Oh, darling Isabella, I was frightened you were going to jinx us." He said in a bored voice. I rolled my eyes, and watched as they all looked around, really taking in the place this time, and not just looking for the sight of a golden scarlet sweater in this green and brown world. I was a bit disappointed that this was their first trip in America, but knew I'd make up for it later on. I'd drag them around the country if I had to.
"Anyhow. Morning sunshine." Nathan said, grinning, and I could feel a smile tug at my lips. His hair had gotten a bit longer as well, and he looked more muscular. I now realized how foolish I was to try and stay with Edward, to get him to change me. I already felt a tug at my heart, realizing how I'd missed a year of these guy's lives. I didn't want to miss anymore. I practically ran into my twin brothers arms, and felt his own warm arms grab on to me.
"We missed you Bells." I heard him whisper, and I sniffed, telling myself I wouldn't cry.
"Missed you too Nate." I mumbled, and he let go of me, messing up my hair with his hand and attempting to move out of the way to avoid me slapping his arm. Like I said, attempting. Ron and Harry just laughed, and I turned to hug them, and soon enough, my trunk was floating a few inches off the ground. Ron held out a simple, empty soup can, and Nate looked at it with squinted eyes.
"Ron, I thought it was my job to grab the portkey on our way out of the house." Nate said, and Ron glared at him.
"Mum yelled after you to get it, but you were too busy singing 'Bellie Wellie is coming backie' over and over again that you couldn't hear her. So I grabbed it, so we wouldn't be stranded in America." Ron said stiffly, and I laughed. Harry shook his head, and looked around.
"Everyone ready?" He said, and I grabbed onto my trunk, before putting my hand on the portkey, and closing my eyes. Everyone put a hand on the soup can, and I could feel the semi-familiar tug at my belly button, and soon the swishing and whirling motion of being transported. I hated having my eyes open for this part, seeing how I would get portkey sick after it. Slowly, I could feel the pressure being slightly lifted, until it lifted off suddenly, and I landed on my feet. Opening my eyes, I at first saw darkness, and slowly my eyes adapted. I could see Ron and Harry on the floor, with Nate on top of my trunk. I shot a questioning look in his direction.
"Don't ask." Ron said, and Nate grinned. I shrugged it off, before flicking my wand, and the trunk started to move across the field. I knew my home had protective barriers around it, so we were a little less than a mile away from it. I could see the top of it from above the tall plants, and instantly knew I was home. We all walked quickly back home, with my trunk behind us like a puppy chasing at their owner's heels. I could see the lights of my house turning on one by one, and grinned. It had to be around 3 in the morning here, seeing how it was around 11 when they found me in the forest. I felt a bit bad for waking everyone up so late (or early depending on how you wanted to see it), but knew that soon I'd be seeing mum and dad, and Ginny, and Fred and George...
I started to run, and could hear Ron mumble under his breath about how I ran too damn fast for the rest of them and the trunk. I ignored him, and soon reached the garden within a minute of running, and hopped the fence before going up to the door leading into the kitchen. I opened it, before having a person flung their arms around me and hold me tight. I smiled, and returned the hug.
"Hi mum." I said, and I could hear her crying a bit.
"Oh Bella, you're finally back..." She said, and patted my hair and pressed her hand against my cheek before stepping away.
"Oh, you're probably famished, I'll just cook up some onion soup and toast some bread..." I heard her say, seeing her bustle around the kitchen and animating several kitchen items. I just smiled at the familiar sigh of all of this, before heading into the sitting room, to see Fred and George playing a game of exploding snap. I grinned, and then George turned his head, probably wondering what the ruckus mom was making in the kitchen was, before seeing me. A grin split across his face, and he laughed.
"Hey Bells, brown is a good color on you." He said, before I noticed just how dirty my sweatshirt was from sleeping on the rock.
"I don't think blue and blue is a good color on you, though." I said thoughtfully, and Fred merely chuckled before hugging me. Soon, George came after, crushing the hell out of me. I slapped him lightly on his arm, and he just grinned. I looked down at the cards, and then at the singed end of Fred's robes, and merely smirked.
I could hear the boys finally making their way inside, explaining the mum how Ron had tripped and Nate had merely been trying to clean him off when his clothing, instead, disappeared, and they had to get clothes out of my trunk to make sure he didn't walk in here naked. The twins left with a crack, and soon their laughter was heard from the kitchen. I could hear Ron yell 'annoying gits!' and George just asking why he didn't have on any matching makeup. I giggled bit, before turning toward the steps and seeing a head full of red hair running down the steps and towards me.
Soon, I was practically fighting to stay off the floor, with my younger sister hanging on to me. My face softened, and I looked down at Ginny.
"Hey Gin." I said, and she looked up at me.
"You were gone too long." She pointed out, and I grinned sheepishly.
"Yeah, that I was. But, I'm back now." I replied, and she merely looked at me. I stuck my tongue down at her, and she stuck her own tongue at me, before we just laughed. She let go of me, and soon we walked back in the to kitchen, to see everyone munching on bread and eating soup. There were two more places, one for me, and one for Ginny. We sat down, and tuned into the conversation.
"Your father's out doing things for the Order, you know that. Bella, dear, he'll be sure to see you before you guys go back to Hogwarts." Mum said, and I frowned. I realized the date. September 14th. I looked at the students at the table.
"Why aren't you lot in school?" I asked, and Harry looked me in the eye.
"Dumbledore knew you'd need us." He said, and I knew it was as simple as that.
"And I'm guessing you guys are staying here so long as I stay here." I said, and Harry nodded.
"Meaning I'm going back tomorrow." I said, and could see Ron's face fall. I looked at him.
"It's an amazement Hermione isn't here. And if she were, she'd lecture you about not going to school." I mentioned, and he just sighed, getting a dreamy look on his face. I turned to Harry, a confused look on my face.
"They finally got together." He explained, and I nearly dropped the whole slice of bread I had in my mouth, and did choke a bit on the piece in my mouth.
"Finally, Ronald saw the light called intelligence." I coughed out, drinking some of the pumpkin juice mum had laid out to help me not die. I nearly laughed again when I realized he was wearing a shirt of mine bewitched to be pink, with a unicorn on it.
"Shuddup." Ron mumbled, and I could just tell everyone else wanted to tease him, but knew they probably had all had their fair share of doing so. I simply smirked, and went on to eat my soup in peace. I handed Ron my piece of bread, knowing he'd know it was a small apology. He took it, and smiled a bit. Before he could say anything, Nathan stood up suddenly, before flicking his wand, and a nice small cake coming out of nowhere, complete with candles.
"Seeing how I have recently come of age, this means Bella too has come of age, meaning that we should totally eat cake at 4 in the morning." Nathan said, before looking at mum with a pleading look in his eyes. I could see she was weighing the pros and cons, before getting up and lighting the candles with the tip of her wand. He grinned, and soon came over to me and made me get up. Everyone sang happy birthday, and I could feel Nathan's hand go over my eyes, and I did the same with him, a small tradition of closing each others eyes to make a wish on our birthday. I thought of how hard things will get soon. Everyone will want to know how America was. Who I met, who I became friends with, if anything exciting happened. It was at that moment that I vowed to never mention Edward Cullen again. I shut my eyes tight, and thought of what to wish for. It was at that moment I didn't have anything to wish for, really. I was home. I was me again.
I felt Nathan lean in, and leaned in myself, before blowing out the candles, and putting my hand back to my side, and looking at everyone. Fred quickly scooped up some of the icing and spread it all over my face, and George did the same with Nate. I just laughed, and licked the icing from the side of my mouth.
"Yum." I laughed out, before helping to serve and cut the cake. I wiped the icing off my face with a napkin, before Mum handed me a small box shut tight with a blue bow.
"We didn't know when you'd be back, but me and your father got you this present." She whispered, and I slowly opened it. Inside was a watch, and it was beautiful. It had a chain that would attatch itself to my wrist, a nice onyx swirl of tiny and delicate chains. It had a small oval center, the framing around it mimicking a framed photo with small white stones inset in around the face of it. The numbers were written in a curvy and long writing, the background of a moon in the corner and clouds rolling in to cover it moving. I noticed it was the same kind of moon as the one up in front of me, and mum merely smiled. I opened my mouth to protest, to tell her I'd pay her back, when she gave me the look that told me to be quiet.
"Nate helped pay for it, as did Fred and George, I'll admit. Harry wanted to chip in as well, but I wouldn't let him. Now, I want you to just wear it, and be happy. I know you've given up a lot for this family, and this is you're coming of age gift, which is always one of the most important gifts next to your wedding gifts." She said quietly, and I could feel tears start to come up fresh in my eyes. I hugged her, and she rubbed my back soothingly, before I let go and sniffed. She smiled, before looking toward my siblings and Harry, and finally noticed that they were all making a huge mess with a cake fight going on.
"NATHANIEL LEON SWAN, IF I SEE YOU STICK ONE MORE SLICE OF CAKE IN GINNYS HAIR, OR ON ANYONE ELSE FOR THAT MATTER, YOU'LL BE SORRY." She yelled, before turning to the twins.
"AND YOU TWO, YOU'RE OL-" Was all she could yell out before the twin grinned sheepishly and waved goodbye and apparated out. You could see mum's face getting a bit red, but she relaxed and looked at everyone else.
"Clean this place up, and then off to bed. I was going to let you all stay home today, but you'll be on your way to Hogwarts at noon." She said, before bidding us a good night and going up the stairs to her bedroom.
I looked at the end product of the chaos, and stifled a laughter. Everyone was covered in cake from head to toe, and I could see Harry's glasses on the table, covered up and smeared with cake. His green eyes looked over at mine, and his lips turned up into a small tiny smirk before I realized that a plate of cake was on top of me.
I don't think Harry or Ron will be able to get the cake out of their ears in less than a week, to say the least.
Well, this is the first chapter of Chosen. As you can see, I've changed things up, and I got maybe halfway through the original first chapters events here. I guess this means either I blabber on too much, or my writing has gotten more detailed... I'm hoping the latter, haha. Anyways, thanks to everyone who's reviewed the story and has it on favorites or story alert. This chapter took me a good few days, and I'm currently procrastinating an English essay to put it up. Not that I mind, the thing has been confusing me for a good few hours now. I'm not too sure how quickly the Cullen's will come back in right now, but I'm thinking the end of Chapter 2 / beginning of 3 at earliest, and latest Chapter 4. I don't know if witches receive watches as coming of age presents, but after Googling it, nothing really came up, so I made it that they do. As a clarifier, Bella is really only 17 as she lied to Edward about her age, and missed her sixth year to be in America. She's going to be in her seventh year, seeing how she always got top marks and took the courses necessary for sixth year over the holidays, as well as the exams. And... Yep, that's about it. Thanks for reading!
xoxo
Lorri