© Sunrisepainter: Because of Snape

The Bird in a Gilded Cage

"HOPE!"

Slowly Hope opened her eyes and she first had to remember where she was and how she got there. It was already dark and trough the windows the stars were faintly visible on the evening sky. Moreover, she could still hear the rushing of the waves.

"HOPE!" Aglaja roared another time.

Hope sighed in annoyance and got up from her bed which made something fall down to the floor. So, she fell asleep while reading. She wondered for how long she had been asleep now.

"IF YOU AREN'T DOWN IN THAT INSTANCE, OR ELSE, YOUNG LADY!" She heard the voice of her father.

Swiftly she run down the fancy marble stairs whereby she almost slipped but she could grip the railing in time. Her father was already waiting for her at the food of the steps and shook his head in anger.

"Why don't you come when someone's calling you!" He snarled at her.

"I'm sorry, I...I fell asleep." Hope whispered.

"We're having dinner now."

"Aright." She did not dare to say any more when she followed him into the dining hall.

Hope eyed the laid table with surprise. Aglaja really made an effort there. The meal reminded Hope of the feasts in Hogwarts. To special occasions, the students and teachers always came together to eat and to have a great time or to celebrate the beginning or the ending of a school term. That was the time when no one complained about Fred and George making everyone laugh with their jokes ans pranks. There was also Hermione complaining about Ron's eating behaviour, Dumbledore's touching speeches, Hagrid and Professor Flitwick drinking too much and also things like the Sorting Hat ceremony...Hope almost sighed. She was not even a day in this big, cold manor and she was already missing her school and her friends.

"What's wrong?" Her father asked and eyed her questionably.

"Nothing." She mumbled and sat down at the table. No, dining with these people could never compare to the feasts at Hogwarts.

"Do you have an owl by chance?" Her father asked by the way when they while they were eating. Hope swallowed the rest of her meat and answered hesitantly:

"Um...no...I...um...I've always used the school's owls. I wanted to ask you anyway if I could use one of yours to write my mom and my friends."

"Absolutely out of-" Aglaja wanted to object but her husband gave her look of warning which made her keep her mouth shut on the spot.

"Of course, you might use Aragorn sending your letter. It's one of our best owls." Her father smiled kindly.

"Thanks." Hope was kind of relieved now.

"Well, there is one condition, thought." Her father was still smiling but there was something slightly menacing in his voice. Hope gulped.

"You have to let me read every letter beforehand!"

Hope indignantly gasped for air and she nosily tossed her silver fork onto the equally silver plate in front of her.

"Never! That's outrageous!"

"Well, then not a single one of you're letters is going to leave this house!" Her father decided coldly.

"That's just too unfair! Nobody has the right to stop me from corresponding with my friends and family! You can't do this to me!" Hope yelled angrily and glared at the two adults.

"Of course, we can! We're much older than you and this is our owl you want to borrow here." Aglaja butted into the conversation. Again, she used that annoying conceited voice of hers.

"That's true. We have to prevent you from telling your mother any lies about us. And by the way, this house has a magical barrier around it which makes it impossible for anyone to apparate or to disapparate. The people who lived in this manor before were all great magicians who cast various spells over the property to make it almost as safe as Hogwarts or the Ministry." Humphry told her proudly. Hope was not impressed in the slightest way:

"You mean that you want to control me 24/7? Only to make sure I'm not telling anyone bad things about you or that I'm not disappearing?"

"Yes." The man smirked.

Hope shook her head in disbelief and crossed her arms over her chest. Her appetite was spoiled once and for all. That was more than mean of her dad!

"So, you want to ban me from leaving the house or my room, too? That's like incarceration! That's inhuman!" She hissed furiously. She saw in Aglajas eyes that this terrible woman was enjoying herself more and more. She obviously wanted to see Hope suffer. That made Hope boiling with anger. Immediately, she closed her eyes and took deep breaths, thinking about something else. She could not risk for her strange magic to take over her right now. She needed a clear head to deal with her father and his horrible new wife. His calm but taunting voice made her open her eyes again.

"It's not like we're imprisoning you, you know. You are allowed to move around in town. However, I would advice you not to leave the manor for more than three miles. We're living in some dark times and I don't want you to get into trouble. It's fr your own safety, too."

Lies. All lies. Hopes eyebrow started to twitch while she wished he would just stop his mocking laugh.

"Maybe, we should take her wand, too. What do you think, honey?" Aglaja smirked nastily.

"That's enough! You may control my letters but I won't let you take away my only protection in these dark times, how you called it, dad!"

Hope jumped onto her feed and angrily left the dining room without looking back.

Back in her room, she widely opened a window and sat down on the window sill to watch the dark garden. Dark. That's how she felt inside of her. The night air was ice cold. Shivering she hugged her legs.

So, it seemed as if her father and McShadew (Hope decided to call that rude woman only by her family name) wanted to control her during her stay. They did not want her to have any contact to the outside world at all. But why? That's what she asked herself since she came here: Why did they offer her to stay with them anyway then? It was more than obvious that McShadew could not stand her at all and her father...well...he had been mean to her as well. He yelled at her or made her feel small. At any rate. he was nothing like a loving dad at all.

"Dad!" She spit out scornfully.

She already spent a lot of thoughts on how she should call him. She did not know anything about him and the word "Dad" sounded just too fake in her ears. "Father" showed some kind of respect but she could not respect this person at all. She finally came up with the solution to call him just "Humphry" from now on, nothing else. This had to be enough for now.

Hope tilted her head back and looked up to the stars. Something she had always felt close to the stars. Maybe it was because of her name. Hope. To her, the stars symbolised hope. The hope for freedom and a better life. A peaceful life. Peaceful like a night at the sea.

The wind rustled trough the leaves of the apple tree which was in front of her window. She changed her position so that one of her legs dangled out of the window and leaving the other still in her room. She leaned forward while supporting herself with her hands on the window sill.

Just a moment. She paused then she softly touched the wood of the sill with her fingertips and felt some subtle notches. At that spot, someone had definitely carved something into the wood. Being curious inherently, she got her wand from her trousers pocket and mumbled "Lumos". Immediately, the whole scenery was aflame by a faint light.

She had been right. There was something carved into the sill. A heart containing the initials "H.S. + F.W.". Smiling, she shook her head. That must have been a couple deeply in love. However, that was not the whole message. There was a small poem next to the heart:

Moonlight and liberty,

Confidence and faith,

May their wings carry me,

To the end of the earth.

I feel alive

After knowing about the magic of the moonlight.

I was neither a very great poem or something that made sense in any way but Hope was somehow touched. Whoever wrote it must have been madly in love and probably very sad. Maybe being crossed in love. What did the poet mean with "the magic of the moonlight". Was it just a figure of speech? Hope got the feeling that there must be more behind it as the house had been handed over to generations of magicians. And what did it have to do with the love of two star-crossed lovers? She had never been interested in poetry as she thought it to be useless. However, sitting here alone in the darkness, imprisoned in this manor, she somehow understood the poets feelings. How much she also wished for herself to grow some wings and fly away. Far, far away.

"You may look around the village a little but you have to be back at six o'clock as we'll be receiving some important guests today." Humphry Shycates announced the following day at breakfast. Curious and surprised at the same time, his daughter looked at him:

"Who's is going to come?"
"Well, you'll see soon enough." He answered harshly. He took another sip from his morning tea and raised from his seat:

"I have to leave now, important business."
Hope did not know what he was doing and she actually was not interested in his career anyway. He seemed to be kind of wealthy if she thought about the manor itself and all the expensive stuff in it. Oddly enough, they did not seem to have any servants or other staff as rich people usually did. Hope was actually fine with it. She did not want to have people swarming around her all day. She needed some piece and quiet right now.

"See you later, honey!" McShadew fluted and pressed her lips onto her husbands cheek. Hope felt like throwing up her toast.

"I'm going to be back home this evening. Please, prepare some food to serve our guests, darling. And you young lady, you have to wear the dress I put in your closet. We especially bought it for this evening, so be grateful." Without letting her any time to protest, Humphry left trough the door.

Hope rolled her eyes. This was getting better and better! Now, she even had to wear some stupid dress! She definitely preferred her jeans. She already had a lot of trouble wearing the skirt of her school uniform but now he wanted her to wear a dress? Not in a million years!

Quickly, Hope finished her cereals and reached for her coat. She did not want to waste any more time being alone with McShadew in this house.

Light snow covered the roof tops of the village. The air smelled like salt water and the streets were filled with people this morning. Muggle.

There were just a few days left to Christmas and everyone was already busy.

They bought presents, wrapped them up or got a Christmas tree or mistletoes. Hope watched a man coming home. His wife who wore an apron around her hips opened the door for him. Her cheeks were all red.

"Merry Christmas, my dear!" The man laughed, got the mistletoe from behind his back and held it above their heads. The woman laughed and kissed him passionately. Hope smiled at the happy couple and could hardly look away.

"Yeah, why can't I be as merry and lucky as them?" She sighed. It was not like she needed something like a boyfriend or anything but she would have been happy just to have some person to rely on. Someone she could lean on during hard times. The snow crunched under her feed with every step she took. Curiously, she looked around her and decided to do some Christmas shopping herself.

The morning became quite busy. She rushed from shop to shop as she was carefully thinking about what to give everyone. In the end, she got a muggle cooking book for Alicia. Hope heard from Angelina that Alicias passion was cooking all kind of dishes.

For Hermione she found a beautiful chain symbolising their friendship as Hope thought it was finally time to show her how much she considered her as her best friend. She was not sure about Angelinas present but eventually she found a vial with a perfume which smelled quite good.

Moreover, she got a red headband for Lee, a vinyl of Suzie Quattro for her mother and some plain chocolate for Ron, Ginny, Harry and Euan.

After thinking about it over and over again, she even got something for McShadew and Humphry as she considered Christmas the time to even care about disagreeable people. For McShadew she had no other idea but to give her lip stick. Hope planned to cast a spell on it later so that it would change its colour according to the mood of the owner. For Humphry she bought a simple scarf with red stripes.

Finally, she only needed something for the twins. What should she get them, though?

Chocolate seemed to be to simple considering the fact that they were one of her closest friends now. Perhaps, some muggle joke items? No, she definitely did not want to support their pranks.

Books? Now way! But what would be appropriate?

Aimlessly she roamed trough the streets for half an hour. Eventually, she stopped in front of an antique shop called "Colin's Kingdom". If she would find something for the twins inside of this strange shop?

Filled with hope, she entered the shop. It was very dusty and crammed with knick- knacks. The counter was not occupied. So, Hope looked curiously around the shelves.

End of Chapter Twenty.