Time turned
(A/N fininshed formatting the old chapters and now here is the new chapter. enjoy.)
The kids all gathered inside with hot chocolate around the once floo now fireplace. Hades was on his back by the fire. "This is nice. No school, Al hanging around the fire and no sense of doom because the twins are there." Neville spoke softly. The others either humming or mumbling agreement. "Do you think we could go riding tomorrow?" Daphne asked softly, the mood not needing anything higher in volume. "I don't see why not. I'm not an expert rider though. I don't actually know how." The father's but Harry gasped at her. "What I don't either." Harry spoke. "So you guys can show us. It won't be too hard, I know at least Hermione will have some kind of step by step." Harry teased and Hermione scowled at him.
"Sure we can give it a try." Once eyes started dropping, Persephone helped sort out who would go where. Neville and Harry decided to bunk up, Tracey Hermione and Daphne in the third where Draco had the final room to himself. Hades curled into Persephone and chuffed softly. She smiled and scratched his head eyes fighting to stay awake a little longer. There was a soft knocking on the door before a soft shuffling of feet. "Seph… it's too crowded with Tracey and Hermione. They're both out cold… can I just crash in here?" Persephone grumbled and scooted over, pulling Hades on top of her.
Daphne slipped beside her and turned towards her. "Thanks Seph… goodnight." Persephone gave a sleepy smile then closed her eyes drifting off. Daphne watched her for a moment, looking over her face from the side she could see, Hades watched her for a moment before turning his head and drifting off himself. Daphne wasn't sure what was going on and she wasn't sure if it scared her or not.
The next morning Persephone stretched out and touched something else. Her brain tried to figure out what said thing was with her eyes closed. Odd… she slowly opened her eyes only to close them again from the light. She grunted softly and tried again. Blonde hair? What? Daphne was laying by her side fast asleep still. She didn't want to wake her, so she slowly lifted the cub, placing him next to Daphne and he instantly curled into the warmth, then she gently slipped from bed and snuck out of the door.
The rest of the house was silent and dark still, but Folly and the new little elf Gunby we're in the kitchen, it looked as though he was teaching the small elf to cook. "Hey Folly " she whispered. He turned and gave her a slight nod of his head. "Miss." She nodded. "Much better. Can you grab me warmer clothes to throw on over this? Daphne is still sleeping I don't want to wake her." Folly gave a nod and popped away before returning a moment later with a thick jacket, her snow boots and a hat. "Thank you. I'll be in the stables. Can I have tea in a little bit?" Gunby gave her a eager head nod.
A moment later and she was closing the door to the stable behind her. The wind made it a little hard. A storm had moved in overnight and the land was a blistery mess. She blew into her hands a bit to warm them as she walked past each stall. Each horse had a feed bag they were munching out of and an elf she hadn't seen before was currently filling a bucket with oats. "Oh you must be Neville's elf." The elf turned and gave a soft bow. Before returning to his task. Folly was suppose to be out here learning. The brat. Persephone reached her stallions stall. He gave a short in greeting before returning to his oats. She gave his neck a soft pat, before taking out a brush and giving his coat a brushing. "I think Daphne is going to be very disappointed about not being able to ride today. Unless it clears up soon. The stallion of course said nothing, just kept munching.
She had his mane completely brushed out by the time tea had been brought to her. "Thank you Folly. I think I have a name for my stallion here."
"Do you not want the one he had?"
"No. That was his old life. In this one he deserves a new name. I was thinking Zeus. Keeping with the Greek theme." She gave a chuckle. Folly tilted his head. "Your grangy friend had the same idea. Named hers Aphrodite." She gave a chuckle and shook her head and gave Zeus another oat before stepping out of the stall. When she closed the gate she saw the wood on the gate had been carved. Zeus plain to see. Then she glanced around and saw the horses that had the most attention all had names on their gates. "Folly…." She scolded and he popped away. Damn that elf.
The door to the stable opened and closed quickly, an audible huff and scuffling of feet was heard. Persephone was up in the hay loft and glanced down seeing Hermione quickly walking to her stall. Persephone had rolled her eyes and return to exploring the loft.
So far she had found old farm tools, some pictures of people she didn't know. They moved in the frame gave a scowl and raised a fist shaking it at the holder. The other picture had been of a lady sitting in the living room on a lounge chair reading a book. She didn't look at the picture taker, but her hair gave soft movements like there was a gentle breeze.
Persephone smiled and tucked the pictures in a small crate she had found. The house needed some life inside. "Hello?" Hermione called out but Persephone didn't answer cause her eyes caught something on the wall. It needed some serious love and care. But it was beautiful. There was no name on the head, two string were broken and had long ago been lost. It almost looked handmade. She picked it up off the wall and gave it a good blow. Dust swirled in the air and made her sneeze.
"Seph? Is that you up there?" Persephone shouted down a positive "yup." And she could hear the ladder groan as Hermione climbed it. But she turned her attention back to the guitar in her hand. She gave it a soft knock on a few spots listening carefully. It still sounded mostly solid, perhaps a good charm or two from an older student could bring it back to glory.
"Wow. It's a mess up here." Hermione spoke softly. "A bit. I was hoping to find some decor for the house. It's so bland."
"Any luck?"
"Some old wizarding photos in that crate and I found this guitar up here." Hermione looked down at it and tilted her head. "Looks old."
"Probably very. Look at the dust ring from where I found it. That's years of dust." Hermione hummed. And began to sort through stuff with her, holding up some paintings flipped around and laying against the wall. The girls soon had to figure out how to lower all they found down the ladder.
"No one else awake yet?"
"Harry was, he had his guitar out and trying to figure out how to play it when I came out here. It's a beautiful gift you gave him." Persephone gave a smile, handing down another painting.
"I'm glad. I just hope it helps him." She grunted handing down a heavier frame. Hermione squeaked a bit at the weight and tried to shuffle it over to the others. Persephone not knowing Hermione wasn't there, had to try and catch the next painting as it slipped down. The force of the instant reaction made Persephone call out as she held on by her feet out turned to hold her to the top of the ladder. "Oh gosh Seph! Hold on!" Hermione dropped the painting. Chipping a corner of the frame. Quickly taking the frame and laying it down at her side she reached back housing her hands to try and push Persephone back up by her hands. But neither girl were strong enough to hold and Persephone's arms buckled out, and she fell.
The horses cried out in alarm at the crash sound, but settled down quickly. "Ow… Hermione are you ok?" Persephone spoke opening her eyes. They were nose to nose, Hermione on her back and Persephone awkwardly crashed on top. "I think so." She said softly as Persephone quickly pushed off on the ground around Hermione and turning before falling back. "Maybe we get Folly to help huh?" Hermione didn't say anything.
They limped softly back up the pathway to the house. Persephone had a busted lip, how she didn't know and Hermione had a far away look on her face and a bruise forming on her forehead. "You sure you're ok Mione?" She nodded but still said nothing.
Persephone began to deflate a little inside by the time they got inside the house. Hermione walked away from Persephone and she let her shoulders fall more. I don't know what I did. She took a breath and tried to put a smile on her face and walked to the sound of a frustrated Harry, the old guitar in her hand. Harry looked up as she walked in and gave her a nod before looking back down at the book open on the floor. He sat just in front of it scowling down at the page, then looking back to his fingers trying to copy the diagram shown. "I didn't think it was going to hurt." He grumbled. Persephone sat across from him. Looking at the diagram upside down, then to his fingers. "Well you might be trying to hard of a chord to start with. Why not learn the scales? See if that comes easier until your fingers get more used to the pressure of the strings." Harry glanced her way then saw the guitar laying beside her. "Where'd you find that?"
"The hay loft."
"Huh. Do people normally leave stuff like that in old buildings?" Persephone shrugged. "I'm hoping maybe Tonks or Penelope can help me repair it. And I'll learn to play with you." Harry gave her a wicked grin. "Well until then we can share this one." He gestured down at his own. "Maybe. But see here try this." Persephone flipped a few pages back to the diagram of the scale. Harry looked at it and scratched his head. "I don't know what any of that says though." She twisted her lips in thought and turned to look at it. Asking silently for the guitar in his hands. He shrugged and handed it over as she looked at the two side by side. "Ah! Here like this. see on the page before it had a picture showing which string is which. And the scale has the same letters on this one." She handed them both to Harry who looked at the two and lifted a single brow before heade an 'o' with his mouth and connected the two like she had.
Hermione had entered the guest room she and apparently only Tracey shared the night before. Said brunette was fixing her hair in the mirror. "Hey, why do you look like someone kicked your cat?" Heione sighed. "I went out to the stables earlier and Persephone was in the hay loft. She found a bit of stuff she wanted for the house, so I was helping her as she lowered it put it aside. But something happened and she slipped, I tried to help but she still fell. On top of me." Tracey gave her a look. "Are you both ok?" She asked seriously. "Yes just a bit bruised. Persephone's lip was bleeding. And I know what it was cut on. But she didn't say anything and I have no idea if I should say anything." Tracey stopped brushing out her hair and turned to look at her. "Do we need Daphne too?" She shook her head. "Daphne was giving me strange looks yesterday I don't know what I did." Tracey rolled her eyes. "Most likely nothing. She gets in her head about something and she sticks to it. Like a challenge was issued without words. Maybe she decided you two were rivals of some sort." Hermione groaned softly. "Great. I stand no chance against her if it's about boys or whatever." Tracey blinked and laughed softly. "Nah. No worries about that any time soon. Now what's up."
Hermione looked down and back again
"She cut her lip, on my teeth."
"And?"
"And for her lip to hit my teeth hers hand too…"
"Touch yours? Does that bother you?"
"Yes!...no?... I don't know Tracey."
"I wouldn't worry about it Hermione. We're eleven or twelve years old. No where near when we have to worry about that kind of stuff." Hermione hummed. "Just relax Mione. If it was an issue I think both of you would have reacted badly about it. And Seph isn't exactly the most observant when it comes to these things either. Remember when we walked in on her our first class day?" Hermione nodded. "How long did it take her to realize she wasn't wearing a shirt? Or hell how we reacted?"
"It did take her a moment."
"Exactly so even if she remembers inadvertently kissing you, it's not gonna register with her as something wrong unless you point that out. So I'd just leave it unless it truly bothers you."
Hermione huffed and fell back into the bed. "That's the problem Tracey. I have no idea if it did or not."
"Then you have a lot of thinking to do. Just don't shut out people while you do." All the kids had been around the table soon after, eating breakfast made by a proud Gunby. The winds still blew outside wildly and most seemed pretty down about it. "We still have another few days, we can always try again another day." Persephone tried but the others just seemed to wallow in it.
Persephone excused herself and walked back to her room. The bed had been made which made Persephone eye roll at the antics of her friend. She touched her sore lip and winced when it throbbed. She still had no idea what happened, it was all a blur and with the way Hermione acted after she decided to just drop it, though it bothered her deeply inside. Her lip trembled. What did she do? Was her friendship with Hermione over now? Persephone slid to the floor and crawled into her closet, hiding herself away. once she was sure she couldn't hear anyone looking for her, she cried.
She missed her friend, she missed her old life. Hell she even missed her dad, even though he was a drunk. She missed her old school and the simplicity of it. She started to cry harder, using her clothed knee to muffle her sobs. She could feel the strain in her throat, the raw that was starting just behind her tonsils. She cried and cried, she cried for her old life and the family she'd never see again.
$$&&$$ meanwhile
The weather was starting to clear a little bit, but none of the kids seemed to keen to go now. There was a strange feeling in the air. Hades paced around to each dragon and tried to get their attention. Only one seemed to notice the cub. "What's wrong Hades?" The cub took off down the hall and the person followed. That seemed to shake the others out of it. "What's going on?" Neville spoke groggily. "I'm not sure." Hermione added. They all looked around and noticed two gone. "Where's Seph? And…"
She heard the mow and slid the door open just enough for her to reach out and grab him by the scruff to pull him in. That however wasn't the only thing that came. The door opened and closed again, the body slid to the floor beside her. They didn't speak for a long few moments while Persephone sniffled trying to calm herself. "Care to tell me why you're hiding?" Tracey asked softly but Persephone didn't answer right away. She still sniffled and held Hades closer to her. He gruffled slightly but curled into her neck. "I don't know…" she spoke in a whisper. "then why are we whispering in a closet?" Tracey whispered equally back trying to make the other smile but her face fell more. "I…I needed to be alone I don't like to cry." Tracey took her hand and gave it a squeeze. "Why are you crying Seph?"
"I don't know what I did wrong."
"What do you mean?"
"Mione…" was all she got out before a heavy sigh came from Tracey. "Hermione has a lot on her mind at the moment. You didn't do anything wrong Seph."
"Then why do I feel so bad?" Tracey gave a soft shrug. "I couldn't tell you but don't hide away. We're your friends. Your family. If you can't show us this side of you then we're not very good at our jobs." Persephone sniffled a bit more but was taking deeper breaths.
Tracey gave a quick look to the closet door, which Persephone didn't see. "I think we have company." She whispered and Persephone shrunk into herself. The door opened again and there stood Daphne who gave Tracey a strange look before seeing Persephone's tear streaked cheeks. She slowly lowered herself to her knees. "Seph…" she gave a genuine worried look to her. "I-i'm ok. Tracey found me." Daphne gave her friend a raised eyebrow before Tracey could see that glint in her eyes. Oh great. I know exactly what it this is now. Tracey scotted over allowing Daphne room to sit.
The others had finally wandered into Persephone's room, and they walked in to a strange sight. Daphne was giving Persephone a hug. She was leaning over her knees working like a pivot to hold her upright as the rest of her seemed to be holding Persephone. Daphne was blocking their view of Persephone's face but the look on Daphne's, closed eyes and all made them come to the conclusion on their own.
Harry was the first to bravely walk over and reach a hand down. "Come on Persephone. A closet is no place to be cooped in."
