Chapter Five: Second Year
Olivia Ballentine was returning to Hogwarts once more to begin her second year. Towards the end of her first year, she had allowed herself to believe that this time it would be easier to leave her mother, this time it wouldn't hurt as much to say goodbye. This time she wouldn't drown in the guilt.
She had thought that her love of magic, of exploring the different aspects and avenues of her spell casting would pull her back to this school, to this life. She had believed, foolishly, that things would be different.
But they weren't.
She had arrived at King's Cross well ahead of the rest of her fellow students. Hours early. Her stepfather still didn't know of her true school's identity. The year before her mother had decided this time it really was best to lie. He believed she had been accepted into a private school on the other side of the country. That didn't, however, mean he approved of her going to school at all. He was of the firm belief that if it inconvenienced him, it was wrong.
Therefore, Olivia needing a ride to the station at the same time he wanted the car for his own use, was an inconvenience, and hence, wrong. An argument had ensued, one that was heated, violent. Olivia had rushed to her mother's defense and things had escalated even further. She had gotten into the thick of the fight and been dealt several severe blows.
In the end, the fight had stopped when two cops knocked on the door. It seems the neighbors, who had called the cops on them, had heard the shouting. Her stepfather had glared them into silence as he went to open the door, and Olivia had used that chance to escape, dragging her mother into her bedroom, closing and locking them in, safe. Her stepfather was probably too drunk by this point to remember that they were even arguing. Once the police left, he would go back to watching his show, and everything would be fine once more.
The fight had had its effects, despite the seemingly winning outcome, both physically and mentally. Olivia had been dropped off at the train station at eight in the morning, after a hurried breakfast. Her mother had wanted to get the car back home before her stepfather noticed it was gone.
There had been the tearful goodbye in the car, of course, the hugs and the kisses, and her mother had begged Olivia once more to study as hard as she could and not to worry about her. She had explained, in a tone that Olivia had trouble believing, that she was the source of her mother and stepfather's arguments, the majority of the time. With her out of the house, most of the tension was gone. That Olivia really had nothing to worry about.
But Olivia had seen the look in her mother's eye, that tiny little glint of guilt and she had known she was being told lies. However, there was nothing she could do, not now, that would help her mother at all. Coming back home would only make it worse. Her stepfather expected her to be gone. If she remained at the house, he would be furious.
So Olivia had stepped quietly from the car, walked into the station, taken a seat on the bench, and planned. She reviewed all the defensive spells she had read of the year before, all the protection spells she could remember. And she decided that she didn't know nearly enough.
She wanted to be able to protect her mother, even when she wasn't at home. Perhaps there was spell hidden within the library that would allow her to do that. Maybe she would even be able to complete the spell before the year was up. Her mother could possibly be safe by the time Olivia had returned home.
This thought had cheered her slightly, but she had still snuck onto the train almost an hour early and claimed the very last compartment on the train for herself. The reflection that looked back at her from the window showed her battle wounds and she new that if she were to be seen questions would be asked, questions she didn't feel like answering. It was best if she just hid away like this, away from prying eyes. Then everything would be fine.
She thought things were going to go as she had planned when the train pulled out from the station and she had yet to see any of her fellow students. She saw the landscapes outside her window begin to move faster and faster until it was a blur and she finally allowed herself to relax.
With a sigh she sunk down low in her seat, rested her head against the back of the cushion and closed her eyes, letting words from some of her more favored spell dance across the back of her eyelids. Olivia, while she may have had a very busy summer protecting her mother, hadn't given up her studies completely. She had been able to recite the incantations aloud, as well as do the wand movement without the wand in her hand. Through this practice, she had been able to stay sharp.
She was just about to dig through her trunks to find her most beloved wand when sudden footsteps approached her door. As if in slow motion, Olivia watched the door to her compartment slide effortlessly open to reveal the one person she truly hadn't wished to see.
"Let me guess," Olivia said as she watched Teddy Lupin open his mouth to speak. She knew what he was going to say. Didn't he always say it? Why was it he was always in need of a seat when she was near? What was it about her that gave him the over whelming urge to sit down? "You need a place to sit."
"The other compartments are full," Teddy said, but this time it was without the smile that usually accompanied the situation. He almost always approached her with a certain carefree attitude, and a grin that made her feel as if they were sharing some inside joke. Today he stared at her solemnly, almost with a sadness.
Olivia wondered if it had anything to do with their owls over the summer.
Much to her chagrin, Teddy had owled her within the first week of the summer. He had spent several paragraphs describing his Grandmother and her strange Muggle habits. Though Olivia had lived her life as a Muggle as well, Teddy's grandmother had seemed quite out there to her. He had then gone on to tell her about the coming trip to the lake he had mentioned and then he had asked her how her summer had been so far and if she had spoken to her mother about accompanying him on the trip.
Luckily for Olivia the owl had arrived while her stepfather had been out and she had been able to scribble a hasty reply before shooing the animal out her window. She vaguely recalled telling him somewhat of her mother and a little of how she had decided to practice her magic through theory for the summer.
Olivia had received several more owls for the next month and a half and she had begun to respond with actual letters, not just a sentence or two. She had even begun to enjoy writing to Teddy. It was fun to have someone to talk to. Someone who didn't know of the horror that she went through on a daily basis. Someone who wasn't tainted by her every day life.
And then, mid June, all hell had broken loose. She had received an owl, early in the morning, before her stepfather had woken from his drunken stupor. Being as the house was quiet, Olivia had written back an equally as long letter and sent the owl back to Teddy. In the past, the letters she had received had been one or two days apart. So after sending her letter she had gone on with her normal habits.
She and her mother had cleaned up the house, first doing the regular chores that her stepfather demanded be done and then moving on to the extra work. Dinner the night before hadn't been the most pleasant of affairs and several stains had come into effect during the performance. After several hours of scrubbing it was decided that tougher cleaning supplies were needed for this and Olivia had gotten into the car with her mother and set out to the store.
It was while she was away that the worst possible thing had happened, the thing she had feared the most. Teddy, in his over eagerness to have an answer to whether or not she would be able to come to the lake, had done away with writing her an actual letter and had instead written her a note. That note had arrived at her house via owl some time while she and her mother had been at the store.
The owl, she was assuming, had gone first to her window and after tapping several times and being ignored as her room had been empty, it had tried a different window. That window had belonged to the living room, where her stepfather had been sitting, drinking his afternoon beer and watching the sports channel. After trying to ignore the incessant tapping and failing, which sparked his temper, he had stormed to the window expecting to see hoodlums, or so Olivia imagined in her mind. Of course, he was quite shocked and possibly startled to find the owl, which angered him further.
At that point he needed an outlet for his anger, and since the owl deposited the note and left, he couldn't find that necessary outlet. So his anger grew. And in his building rage he had read the note, realized it was for none other then his burden of a stepdaughter, and found his next target.
He had sat at the door and waited, ever so patiently, for his wife and stepdaughter to return home, un-expecting of what was to come. He had waited, and plotted, and when the door had swung open on a happy little scene of mother and daughter, the monster had attacked, and the nightmare had reigned once more.
Olivia winced at the memory, which caused the cut on her lip to split back open and sluggishly ooze blood. She watched Teddy's eyes fall to the blood like a bright red beacon on her face, exposing her life for what it was. She couldn't bear it, couldn't bear to have him know the truth. It hurt too much. Olivia pushed her thin-rimmed glasses up on her nose and spoke her nerves into the quiet.
"Where are you friends, Dylan and Roger?" She cleared her throat. It hurt to use today. Probably dehydration. She had hid away in her room for the majority of the day before. And the small glass of orange juice she had guzzled down at breakfast hadn't helped much.
Teddy didn't say anything, just looked at her for a long time, studying the bruises on her face, trying to memorize them. Olivia knew what he saw. She had studied it many times in the window since boarding the train.
Her black curls framed her thin face, her cheeks hollowed out. The right side of her face was red and puffy with a purple bruise all along her cheekbone, glaring out from under her skin. The thin-framed glasses didn't hide anything, least of all the dark shadows in and under her eyes. Her lip was puffy as well and bleeding now from the cut that had opened back up. Olivia had tasted the blood when she had licked her dry lips.
What was he thinking she wondered. Just standing there, staring. Was he trying to figure out the nicest way possible of leaving? Surely, now that he had seen what she truly was, the kind of life she lived, the people she came from, he would give up all his attempts to see her. All his attempts to be friends with her, for she saw now that's what he had been trying to do. He had been trying to be friends, but not anymore. Now he would run from her.
As if to prove her thoughts right she saw him turn his back to her and reach for the door. Olivia closed her eyes as she heard the rattle as it slide closed. A small pull at her heart had her wincing. She hadn't known it before, but Teddy really had been the closest thing she had to a friend, her first and only friend. And even though she hadn't understood why he felt the need to be her friend, or had really tried to reciprocate it, she had become used to it. It would be strange not to have him always trying to sit with her, or talk to her. Or write her those damning letters.
Olivia was startled out of her thoughts when she felt a touch upon her face. Her eyes flew open to meet Teddy's warm brown ones, serious and concentrated on her bruises. Her breath clogged in her throat as she held herself perfectly still, afraid to move, afraid to breathe. No one touched her, ever. This was so foreign to her, so completely out of her range of knowledge that she didn't know how to react or what to feel.
Sure, her mother touched her, but that was her mother. And it was her mother, and it was so easy, so natural, to wrap her arms around her thin little body and hug back. Then there was her step-father, but did his punches really count? No one other then that, tried to show comfort or affection. Not a classmate, a teacher, not anyone.
Teddy must have read the shock in her eyes for he dropped his hand and took the seat beside her, closest to the door. Closest to escape? But then he leaned just the slightest bit towards her so their shoulders touched.
"Why did you stop writing to me?" Teddy asked into the quiet of the train car. Olivia had started to breath again but she still couldn't fathom Teddy's touch. Her entire shoulder was tingling from it, radiating warmth from the contact. It was unlike anything she had felt from her mother's touches. Certainly not like her stepfathers. What was this?
"Was it because of this?" Teddy prodded, reaching up and touching her face gently. This time Olivia twisted her face out of his grasp, not wanting to feel what he made her feel anymore. Comfort. Sympathy. Understanding. Belonging?
"No, this was an accident," Olivia said at last, surprised by her own voice. She hadn't expected herself to say anything. In fact, she had planned on ignoring him all together. The fact that she had not only talked to him, but volunteered him the truth was shocking. If he knew the truth, he would walk away from her, wouldn't he? He wouldn't want to be friends with someone like her, she was certain.
"Then why did you stop writing to me?" Teddy asked in that same tone. It seemed to her as if it was filled with the utmost patience. As if he was waiting for her to realize she could trust him. She figured he would have a very long wait.
"My stepfather doesn't like owls. When he found out I was using yours to send you letters, he forbid me to have any contact with you. When your next letter arrived, he sent the owl away and burned the letter before I had a chance to read it."
Well, it wasn't exactly a lie. Her stepfather had burned all the letters Teddy had sent her after he had first discovered the owl. But he hadn't forbidden her to speak to Teddy so much as he had terrified her into believing that if she wrote another letter to Teddy, her stepfather would kill either her or her mother.
Teddy didn't say anything after that explanation. He sat for a very long time, what felt like an eternity to Olivia, very still and quiet, his shoulder still pressing lightly against hers, sending that rhythm to her heart. Soon, though she thought it would have been impossible, Olivia began to relax into his touch. Her head leaned back against the seat and the fatigue that she had been pushing away came back. The blue eyes that Teddy found so fascinating began to close and before she knew it, she felt herself drifting into sleep.
"Olivia…" Teddy whispered as he felt more of the girl's weight settle onto him. He felt more then heard her murmured response and knew that if he ever was going to find out the truth, now was the moment. "Did your stepfather give you those bruises?"
Her sigh might have been a yes, might have been a no. But Teddy was fairly certain that he was correct. Since the moment he had seen the imposing giant of a man stalking through the train station to drag Olivia away, Teddy had known this man was the cause for Olivia's nagging sadness. And the bruises he had spied on her wrist in first year. With the look he had seen on that giant's eyes, how could it not be?
When her letters had stopped coming over the summer, he had feared something terrible had happened.
Olivia, with her frail figure and haunting blue eyes, brought out this protective nature. He felt like she needed someone to save her from the predators of the world, and for some reason, he felt the urge to be that someone.
Since Teddy had been a little boy, his grandmother had told him again and again of how she and his grandfather had meet. She said she had been sitting in a coffee shop, minding her own, when suddenly his granfather had taken a seat at her table and demanded her attention. From that point on, they had been inseperable. Teddy had often asked why his grandfather had taken her seat, done what he had done. She had explained that her grandfather was a firm believer in gut instincts. And he had said the moment he had laid eyes on his future wife, his gut had told him that she was the one. There had been no question, no second guessing for him. He had made his move and hadn't looked back.
Teddy had come to believe in the same philosophy. Thus his attarction to Olivia. From the moment he had first set eyes on Olivia, all by chance of course, he had known she was someone who would be in his life forever. Friendship, or more, he didn't care. He simply knew he had to talk to her.
And as she gave into her wariness of him and allowed herself to trust, just the littlest bit, Teddy knew he wasn't making a mistake in befriending this girl, in "wasting his time on a silly shy girl" as his friends put it. They just couldn't see what he saw in her. But he would forgive them that, just as he would forgive Olivia for her constant need to push him away.
Once Olivia arrived at the school with the rest of her fellow students, it seemed to her as if time flew. She barely registered her embarrassed stammer at Teddy about being tired and not meaning to use him as a pillow, and then she was in the Great Hall, under that magical sky that brought back the realities of what she was becoming.
She had flown through her meal and then snuck off to the library to check out her first book, a book on the method for charming objects and she had spent her first night as a second year student huddled beneath her blanket with her Lumos-ed wand lighting up the pages.
Before long Olivia was engrossed in her studies in classes, filling pages and pages of parchment with her own intake and ideas of lectures held by teachers. She was once again excelling in class, having spent the first few weeks going over the year's materials and using the time in class to expand her own theories of how the spells should be done. She had even started up experimenting on her Lumos modification idea, though as yet it proved to be fruitless.
She saw Teddy a lot during classes and he always nodded hello to her, though he didn't try to strike up a conversation, which she was very grateful for. She had a feeling that if he were to recognize her, even come and talk to her publicly, with his little fan club of cool boys and pretty girls following him, she would be eaten alive. That and she didn't want to be distracted from her work.
And the gaggle of adoring fans that followed him, which started because he was such a funny, charming boy, and grew once he became accepted on his house Quidditch team (a game that still confused and remained uninteresting to Olivia) didn't seem like they would be very accepting of her.
Olivia also received a letter from her mother within the first few weeks of school. It was filled with the usual lies, about how everything was fine at home. How, once she had left for school, the atmosphere at home had settled down slightly. Her stepfather had seemed in a much better temper. However, he wouldn't be leaving for sea until mid march, so Olivia would once again be spending Christmas at Hogwarts. Joy.
In October, near to Halloween, Professor Flitwick called Olivia into his office and informed her of the Ministry's reply to her modification spell of Wingardium Leviosa. The letter that had been sent back to her by ministry officials had been long and filled with big words, legal terms, and unnecessary sentences that did much to confuse her. The translation that she gathered from Professor Flitwick was that after some preliminary testing and mastering of the spell by two select individuals the spell appeared to be authentic and therefore an accomplishment of untold measures for her.
Since it hadn't been tested or mastered by enough wizards and witches, it would not be considered for eligible spells to be learned and was not entered into the school curriculum. However, it would be appearing in a spell book at the first of the next year with her name credited under it. The book was called A Compilation of Newly Discovered Spells. Hers would be appearing on page 23, or so the letter had informed.
While this delighted Professor Flitwick, Olivia wasn't all that enthused about the idea. She had become deeply engrossed in defensive magic and was currently working on a modification for a protection charm she had read about. This modification seemed much more challenging and intricate then the lift and hover she had perfected. She was certain if she were able to pull this one off, her first modification would be left in the dust.
Olivia continued to study the charm and try out different ways of casting it. The practice consumed all her free time after she finished her studies and she fell into a routine of waking up early and staying up very late. She often forgot to eat and forgot that her fellow students actually existed at times. Teddy Lupin was the only one she really noticed on the rare occasion she wasn't in a mental fog. Time passed very quickly for her and before she knew it she was at Christmas break once more.
She didn't receive as many presents this year as she had the last and she gathered that it was because her stepfather was still in town. He wouldn't approve of Olivia receiving Christmas presents when the money could have been spent elsewhere. However, the warm black knit sweater her mother gave her, as well as more school supplies was more then enough to make her happy.
Olivia also was given another mystery gift. This time the item was something that she found fascinating. It was called an ever-lasting notebook. Each page worked very much like an Internet screen on a computer, something she had learned about at her old school's library. As she would write, instead of having to move her hand back and forth across the page, the paper within the notebook would magically move. It would continue to go up and up, giving her as much space as she needed to write on each subject. Later, if she needed to come back to something that had been scrolled up, she simply tapped on the top of the page and her written words would scroll back down.
It soon became her most treasured possession and Olivia carried it with her everywhere.
After Christmas the rest of the school year seemed to go by in a blur. She stayed on top of her studies, excelling in class, and even perfected her protection charm. By the end of April she began looking into how to charm objects. This quickly branched off into learning how to keep a spell on a certain object going without actively concentrating on it, which was essential to her charming objects, she was sure.
The end of school year ride was much the same as the return trip of first year. She sat with Teddy Lupin and his two friends. He asked her if he could write to her once again, though this time with a little more understanding in his eyes. However, since her stepfather was away to sea, Olivia agreed with a smile. She even promised to ask her mother if she could visit the lake with Teddy when he prodded her.
All in all, Olivia felt that her second year at Hogwarts was much the same as her first, if a little less exciting. She planned to enjoy her summer then return for her third year with renewed effort towards building a spell that would keep her mother alive.
A/N The next chapter will be a lot more interesting, I swear. I'll be introducing one of my most favorite characters. She has been described as a "force of pure energy". She's fun. Review me! =]