Chapter Two: The Visitor
She supposed her punishment could have been worse. It complied of very painful whacks from Matron's cane, no supper for a week, and, to Sapphira's great dismay, she was prohibited from going outside for the next month.
However, on this particular day the sky was filling up quickly with angry storm clouds, and already the drops of heavy rain began to fall down onto the unkempt lawn of the orphanage. The room was filled with the playing orphans, to Erin's great dislike. She preferred when it was just her and Sapphira; the silence let her mull things over.
Sapphira's sudden squawk made her peer out the window, and just in time, she caught the back of someone's heel disappearing through the orphanage's doors. Who would be visiting at this time of day?
She steadied Sapphira and slid quietly around the door, making no noise as she flew down the stairs she knew led to Matron's office. It was quite a long flight, and by the time she had reached the door, the visitor had already made himself quite comfortable. Through the sliver she could see, Erin could make out the white hair of the man whose back was to her and speaking to Matron.
"… I am Hendrith Dippet," the man was saying. "And you are…?"
"Lucinda Bloor," Matron said, eyeing Dippet carefully. She extended her hand and shook his, still unsure what to make of her guest. The man withdrew his hands and folded them in his lap. "I'm sorry to take up your time, Madame Bloor," the man said in a rather feeble voice. "May I pour you some sherry, perhaps?
Erin felt the change in the air before she saw it. When she looked at Matron, her eyes seemed slightly out of focus as she watched Dippet pour her a glass of wine. And where had the wine come from? For it had definitely not been on the desk just a moment ago. Matron didn't seem to realize the wine's sudden appearance but continued to stare at her guest blankly with a glazed look.
The visitor handed her a glass of sherry and continued. "I am the headmaster of a prestigious school. We are very interested in one of your orphans attending this school." Matron's out of focus eyes seemed to slightly snap back into attention. "Orphan?"
"I believe her name is Erin Lyths." Erin froze in the doorway. Had she heard correctly? She glanced at Sapphira for confirmation, but the bird was listening in rapt attention that she didn't notice Erin's questioning stare. She turned her head back to the door, her heart thumping with- what? Excitement?
"That girl?" Matron asked with obvious contempt. She gulped the glass of wine down. Erin noticed Dippet's glass remained untouched. "Of course, you needn't worry, Erin will be receiving a full scholarship," Dippet said reassuringly.
Matron finished another cup. When had it been refilled? If Erin didn't know any better, she would have thought that the glass was refilling itself. "You're giving a scholarship to Erin? Are you insane?" She belched rudely as Dippet waited silently for her continue. Erin got the feeling he had been waiting all along for Matron to tell him about her. "I mean, not that I mind, takes a hell lot of work off my shoulders. But that girl," she said, wagging a stubby finger at Dippet while still drinking the sherry. "That girl is something strange, I tell you. I remember when she first came here, yes, shipped over from halfway across Europe when she was barely eight.
"Rumor is," she said, dropping her voice to a whisper, "that she killed her own parents in an attempt to escape. House looked like it had been attacked by demons." Erin's hand tightened on the frame of the door.
"Oh?"
"Well, that's what they say." Matron sipped her sherry thoughtfully. "But she's a nuisance, she is. Never seemed to fit in, always different- and always doing weird, strange things. For instance, how did she scale that cliff?"
Erin could hear Dippet ask, "What cliff?" but his voice sounded far away and distant.
"Alright," said the smiling teacher. "For the upcoming project I will need you all to divide into pairs of two!" The class of orphans shuffled around until everyone was partnered up except a small girl with dark hair that fell over her pale face. The young teacher quickly took this in and covered her mouth. "Oops," she giggled. "It seems we're one person short."
The girl's eyes flashed angrily, but the woman didn't notice and continued. "Would anyone like for Erin to join their group for three people?" Nobody volunteered, and in the silence one girl giggled awkwardly. The teacher turned to face Erin and put on what she thought was a sympathetic look. "Oops," she said again, smiling widely.
And her smile didn't stop. It continued to travel across her face, spreading her lips thinly and drawing the skin all around her mouth. Although she was smiling, her eyes shone with fright. "Stop it!" she managed to choke out before her teeth snapped shut. Her skin appeared to be about to rip, and she cried out. The other children didn't understand what was going on, but they knew something was wrong with their teacher. A young girl in the front began to sob on her friend's shoulder.
Finally, when the woman's skin was a second away from tearing off her face, the dark haired girl unclenched her fist and the smile vanished, replaced instead by a shocked 'o'. "You- you… you monster!" the teacher shouted before fleeing the classroom to the shock of the orphans, who all swiveled their heads to stare accusingly at the girl.
She let the blood run down her palm from where her nails had dug in, controlling the woman's smile. The pain felt good.
Her senses came back to her when she heard Dippet say, "Thank you for your time, Madame Bloor. I'll go talk to Erin now." Her heart skipped a beat and she fled up the stairs, not daring to look behind her as she arrived, breathless, through the door to her room. She sat down by the window where the rain was now beating against it, and her gold eyes met Sapphira's own. They stared accusingly back at her.
Erin shifted guiltily. Sapphira always knew when she had those sudden memories, those pieces of the past. It wasn't like she was running away from who she was, but there were so many terrible memories that she would rather forget everything that had ever happened.
The door opened carefully behind her. Dippet only had to look once before he spotted her. There was no doubt from Matron's description that this was her. She was sitting alone, away from the playing children, staring out the window and absentmindedly stroking Sapphira. "Erin?" he asked in a quiet voice, as though not to alarm her. However, her head slowly swiveled from the oncoming raindrops to face him. She seemed quite unperturbed. There was silence for a moment, and then-
"How do you know my name?" She smiled to herself. She was just playing with him, pretending she had no idea who he was. This would be interesting. Dippet sat down beside her on the ledge. "Your name has been written down for my school for quite a while."
"What do you mean?" she asked, feigning disinterest. But Dippet had, quite abruptly, stood up. "I'd prefer to talk someplace more private with you, if you don't mind," he said, gazing at the playing children who had been listening with rapt attention just a few seconds ago. Erin nodded and stood up to follow him, and her eyes widened in surprise as she got a good look at him. He seemed quite normal at first glance: the same height as most other men, a short beard that was as silvery white as his hair, and a pair of rich, dark green eyes. But if she concentrated harder, she could see a faint outline of something that was neither light nor liquid; pulsing around his body was a bright blue substance that wavered and shifted at his every move.
She was astounded. Not that this was unfamiliar to her, but it was very rare she glimpsed something like this, let alone up this close. Three times before she had seen random bystanders in the street with their own strange, dancing colors around them, and it had taken her quite a while to understand that the other children could not see them.
Dippet moved out the door, and because Sapphira didn't make any sudden movements marking him as a danger, she followed him. They walked down the damp, stone corridor until they reached the end where a large, human-sized window stood, echoing the booms as the raindrops splattered against it.
He turned around, facing her, and she saw her pale, drawn face reflected in the window. Dippet cleared his throat as though he was nervous. "As I was saying before, my name is Professor Dippet, and I am the headmaster of a school called Hogwarts. It is a school for children with special abilities like yours."
He seemed to be about to say more, but she cut in. "Special abilities… like mine? There are others?" Erin frowned for a moment. And here she had been thinking it only ran through the blood of her family….
"You… know you have special abilities?" Dippet asked in surprise. Erin narrowed her eyes.
"Stop it!" she screamed as Barnie lowered Sapphira tantalizingly close to the rippling water. The bird cawed in fright. This made the boys laugh harder. "Wanna see yer f'miliar snuff, eh, witch girl?" a boy whose name she never bothered to learn asked, grinning. He tightened his hold on her arms until she could barely fidget. Barnie dunked the bird under the water.
"NO!"
His hand quickly withdrew from the water, but it wasn't from remorse. The temperature in the air had decreased drastically, and the clear, summer day was now filled with angry winds. Barnie was looking at her, clearly frightened. This just made her feel sickeningly happy. "W-whatever you're doing, stop it! I already took your bird out!"
But the voice that issued from her mouth was unnatural. "Get back, all of you." The wind whipped around them eerily, and it seemed to the boys that shapes were taking place in the sudden storm, shapes of dragons and tigers and all sorts of wild creatures…
Barnie dropped Sapphira on the ground and they ran for it, howling about witches and curses. The door to the orphanage slammed behind them. Erin gingerly picked up her companion, who wasn't harmed besides for being badly shaken. The wind subsided; her rage had gone as quickly as it had come, and she sighed. She would have to work harder on containing her anger… if she just let it out like that, next time those boys might not be so lucky.
Erin didn't acknowledge his question, but instead repeated her own, "There are others?" Dippet looked at her with wariness in his eyes.
"Yes Erin, there is a Wizarding world made up of witches and wizards that use magic in the same way you do. Hogwarts enables you to develop your powers so you can control it at your will." Erin cocked an eyebrow. She doubted that others used magic in the same way she did. "Is it normal," she began, "to see people's auras?" She waited for Dippet's reaction and was not disappointed.
"See what?"
"Auras… I can see them. I can see yours; it's almost like a periwinkle blue. I knew you were powerful the moment I saw you. Can other wizards and witches see them too?"
Erin saw confusion, shock, and worry flit across Dippet's face. "I've never met anyone who was able to see auras before," he said. Erin glowed, delighted by his answer.
"Madame Bloor was telling me that you arrived here when you were eight," said Dippet. "Do you know if your parents were also wizards and witches?"
Erin narrowed her eyes cautiously. What was he suggesting? She didn't blink. "No, they weren't," she said, an edge to her voice.
The fire was a dancing flame, gentle in her hand. The girl gazed at it in amazement for a moment, and then ran lightly through the thin layer of snow to the river where her mother was washing the dirty clothing.
"Mommy, Mommy, look what I can do!" The girl squealed in delight and proudly shoved her hand holding the fire in her mother's face. Her mother's eyes widened, and then she raised her own hand and knocked the flame out of the girl's hand. It fell into the snow and disappeared.
"Stupid girl, don't ever do that again! You hear me?" She slapped the girl twice, and the girl, determined not to cry, let herself be dragged back into the house.
She was pulled back roughly by Dippet saying, "… your Hogwarts letter." He handed her a thick letter, where, emblazoned in green, was written, Erin Lyths. The letter was also adorned by a golden seal where a lion, badger, raven, and snake were separated into four sections. She held the letter carefully, and thought she could feel something… the letter gave her a sense of belonging, something she had not felt in years.
"It contains information about the new term, which starts September first, your train ticket, and a list of your school supplies," Dippet said. This was beginning to be much easier than he first expected. Erin raised her head from the envelope to meet Dippet's dark green eyes. "I understand I will be receiving a full scholarship," she said, "but I have no many for school supplies."
"Don't you worry, its all being taken care of," said Dippet with a small smile. "We give a starting loan to students who can't afford the necessary equipment. And while we are on the topic of school books, I very much doubt you can travel down to the nearest village and purchase a handful of spell books. No, there is a Wizarding center that supplies your materials called Diagon Alley. I can accompany you in buying-"
"No, that's alright," she cut in, her attention diverted back to Sapphira. "I'd prefer to go myself. Just tell me, exactly, how to get there."