Thanks for the reviews, rockinrachy, kankananime123, weasleytwinslover87, and reifa96lockheart! :D
Already finishing up chapter six. Sirius and the Marauders will be making their first appearance in chapter ten!
Hey…you…do you like tacos? REVIEW! ;]
DISCLAIMER: I DON'T OWN ANY OF THIS, EXCEPT FOR ANY CHARACTERS YOU DON'T RECOGNIZE. JK ROWLING IS JESUS!
CHAPTER 4
"I'm going to my father's house in France this summer, haven't seen him in two years. What about you guys?" said Chantal, a tall veela who was bending her step shoes slightly, trying to break them in further.
"Visiting the Dunaff colony, my mother's family from there. Is your mother teaching again this summer, Audrey?" said Teagan, a banshee.
Audrey nodded, stretching one of her legs. "She's teaching transfiguration and step this year."
"Excellent!" replied Teagan. "I hear you're mother's got some moves."
Audrey laughed. "Yeah, I've heard some stories myself…she's crazy when she tries to teach me some of the steps. It's too fast!"
"Are you going anywhere for the summer?" Chantal asked, looking at Audrey.
"Russia again. Not sure what I'm going to do afterwards though…" Audrey said nervously.
"Still no word on schooling yet?" Chantal asked. She had already received a letter from Beauxbatons a few months back.
"None…I don't think they'll accept me. They might be afraid I'll destroy the castle or something." Audrey waved a hand.
"Well was your father schooled?" asked Teagan.
"My father went to Durmstrang…" Audrey said quietly. Isaac had hated that school bitterly, she never asked why.
"The all boys school?" Teagan questioned, Chantal and Audrey nodded.
"Perhaps you'll get something over the summer? Maybe from Beauxbatons or from the Salem School in the US!" Chantal said excitedly.
Audrey shrugged. "I'm not getting my hopes up for anything, you know how they all think of us."
Teagan and Chantal nodded.
"No good, lousy, filthy." Chantal mocked a stuck up voice as she did air quotations.
"Ain't that the truth." Teagan said, slamming one of her shoes down on the wood floor trying to break it in.
Outside of my home and the dance studio, I was socialized with others in the summer. I have always been allowed to visit my grandparents in Russia. My parents sent me to Saint Petersburg for the summer every year, and though my grandmother had taken on the name Dalio when she married my grandfather they still went under her maiden name. For it was much safer to be an Ivanoff, then it was to be a Dalio. My grandfather's family is well known for their abilities in Russia…to be one of them, to be labeled as one of them, it was frowned upon.
During those summers, I went under the alias Fiona Ivanoff.
And those summers had been some of the greatest times of my life.
Isaac and Airleas had always sent Audrey off to Russia during the last week of April by train. Though Isaac was never comfortable with his young daughter going on the train by herself, but Airleas insisted. To draw attention by having Isaac's parents come to get the child would be worse.
"Audrina." Isaac's thick accent reflected some worry. "You must be careful…but if anyone gives you trouble. Severe trouble, use what you can…it is not illegal."
"For Merlin's sake, Isaac. She knows! She's been on this train multiple times and no one bothers her." said Airleas, throwing her arms up.
"You never know, my Airleas." Isaac said, giving her a look.
"She'll be fine, love." Airleas replied, kissing her husband on the cheek.
Audrey nodded, kissed her parents goodbye and boarded the train.
I had never encountered trouble on the train, being that I was always sent off to St. Petersburg at the end of April. The train was never crowded in April. Every year when I took the train, I always stayed with Yuri, one of the conductors. He was a great friend…and like me in some ways. Yuri was a werewolf.
"Greetings, Fiona." said a raspy voice.
Audrey turned around, to find a graying man in a conductors outfit. His features were very prominent, he had an angular jar and large, round eyes. His smirk might have been creepy to some, but Audrey knew it well.
"Yuri." Audrey replied, giving him a small curtsy as he tipped his hat.
Yuri grinned.
"You grew again!" He said.
Audrey nodded, grinning. "I'm almost as tall as my grandmother."
"You're probably taller then she is at this point." He replied jokingly as they sat down.
Yuri and I seldom corresponded throughout the year, we had decided we'd always catch up with each other on the train every year. This way, during the long ride we would have things to talk about.
The ride took several hours, but it always seemed to go by so quickly and before she knew it, Audrey was in Russia.
She hopped off the train in St. Petersburg and saw her grandmother instantly. She wasn't hard to miss, a short, tiny woman with a prominent nose, salt and pepper grey hair that was always wrapped tightly in a bun. She wore a long, navy blue dress, with a matching jacket. The first thing Audrey's eyes went to were her Nana's large pearl earrings…when didn't she wear them?
"My Fiona." said Anastasia, her face wrinkling even more as she grinned. "A year always feels like so much longer, my precious grand child."
"I've missed you too, Nana." Audrey wore an identical grin. "Where is Papa?"
"At the house of course, dear. Come, come." Her grandmother replied.
Audrey followed her around to a pillar, then took her grandmother's arm. They dissapparated.
As soon as Audrey could smell the flowers, she knew where she was. The had landed in the large front yard of St. Aleksander's Palace, one of several palaces within the city. The estate the Ivanoff's had owned since the 15th century.
Despite being a tiny elderly woman, Anastasia Ivanoff-Dalio could move incredibly fast. Audrey found herself working a little hard to keep up.
"Is everyone else here too?" She asked her grandmother.
"Of course, dear. Alina is here, Sophia is here, and of course Pavvel."
Alina, Sophia, and Palo were Isaac's brother's and sisters. All four of the Dalio children were a year apart, and their children were just the same. But in a different order…
Jacques, Alina's son was the oldest. Hans, Sophia's son was the second oldest. Peter, Pavvel's son was the third oldest, and Audrey was the youngest.
Whenever Audrey came for the summer, the first thing she would do is run through the large palace to find her grandfather.
As she ran through the halls, she breathed in, drinking in the place she loved most. It was beautiful, but there was far more to it beyond its aesthetics.
The floors were intricate wood designs, each room and each hallway were different. Whenever I ran through the palace I enjoyed staring at the floors from time to time and how they changed.
Audrey ran through the west wing, and down another hallway. She knew she had come in the right direction when she heard music. Astor Piazzolla's "Libertango" echoed through the hallways. She followed the wonderful sounds until she reached a study, and then she saw him.
My grandfather always looked so alive when he played, he almost always played with his eyes closed. He swayed slightly, constantly moving within the notes.
He abruptly stopped and opened his eyes.
"Audrina!" He exclaimed, putting down his cello and striding over to his grandchild. He wrapped her in his arms.
"I've missed you." He whispered into her hair.
"I've missed you too, Papa." Audrey replied, smiling.
"How is my son?" Edik asked, wrapping an arm around her as they walked down the hallway.
"He is good, still doing carpentry." Audrey replied thoughtfully.
"Such a strange profession my son has chosen." Edik mused. "But I cannot complain I suppose."
Audrey giggled.
"Let's go down and get some lunch, I'm sure you're famished." Edik said, wrapping an arm around her shoulders.
Asia followed her grandfather down the halls, making their way to the dining area. She had already heard laughter and the table rumbling. Something which was very common among all of the Dalio family when they were together. They were all good with controlling their magic, but from time to time, when they were all together and laughing so much they lost a bit of control.
My aunts and uncles were just like my father, but had lesser amounts of magic. Just as their parents and uncles were before them. None of us knew why, my father seemed to absorb so much of the magic that had run through the Dalio bloodline for hundreds of years. My aunt Alina was the wind, my aunt Sophia had the ground, and my uncle Pavvel had stone. Their children, were passed the same as their parents. My father, grandfather, and I were the only ones who had everything. We had never figured out why, but we all disregarded it. We were just happy to have each other.
"Now it's a party." said Pavvel, a huge smile spreading on his face as he noticed his father and his niece making their way into the dining room.
Audrey's aunts, Alina and Sophia turned next.
"Audrey!" exclaimed Sophia. "When did you get here?"
"Just this morning." said her grandmother, walking in from one of the other doors.
"Excellent." said Alina. "Are we going shopping?" She asked, turning to her sister and her niece.
Audrey's aunts, both having only sons, had always been excited to see their niece.
"Girl things?" asked Jacques, Audrey's cousin, who was chomping on some bread.
"What else would they be doing?" snorted Hans.
"They're still upset you weren't born girls." Audrey joked, sitting next to Peter, the cousin closest to her in age. Hans threw a piece of bread at her and she laughed.
"Hans, don't throw your bread dear." said Anastasia, taking a seat next to Edik.
"Hans, you can throw your bread if you wish." Edik said immediately, purposely contradicting his wife. She gave him a stern look and he chuckled.
Hans quickly threw his bread at his mother, Sophia. Alina had blocked it with a light breeze, Hans pouted.
"Oh it's not like you didn't see that coming!" Alina exclaimed, Audrey and Sophia burst into laughter.
"Are we going to play some Quidditch later?" Peter asked, turning to Edik.
"Yes, if Ivan is up to it." Edik replied thoughtfully.
"Who said I wasn't?" boomed a familiar old voice.
My great uncle Ivan, was only elderly by appearance but was in incredible shape for a man of his age. He was twenty years older then my grandparents, and though my grandfather had inherited the strongest of our family magic, Ivan was a powerful wizard, he was well gifted in maneuvering wind. He was not a force to be reckoned with.
"Papa did!" piped in Jacques.
Ivan shot his younger brother a look.
"I did not!" Edik said, giving his grandson a look.
"And you're going to tell me these pure, wonderful, children are lying?" Ivan said, crossing his arms. He was being incredibly sarcastic of course, but he was always one for a good joke.
"I swear on Merlin's grave." Edik joked.
This was a common joke among our family, because the wizarding world claims that Merlin does not have a grave. Our family had ties with Merlin, and happen to be the very few people who know where he lies.
"His non-existent grave." Audrey piped in, a mischievous glint in her eyes.
"Audrina!" Ivan exclaimed. "When did you arrive here, Moya printsessa?"
"Princess Audrey!" Hans said in a mock regal tone. Jacques did a royal wave.
Audrey threw some bread at him and said. "Eat your bread, Hans."
He laughed.