Cruelty was a very common form of emotion in humans. Time and time again history had proved that fact and yet they would be surprised when something bad would happen to a person close or stranger to them.
"How could they be so cruel" they would ask or think to themselves, human were brown with this sealer that remained hidden for the most part and would come out in the most deranged way possible. It managed to scare the weak hearted people away and by the end of it it just became a passing moment that provided them fleeting interest in their otherwise everyday mundane life.
The casket laid down the woman into the ground deeper and deeper, everyone wore black to show their sadness and held each others hand in support of their loved one passing away, at least that's what their emotions showed. The casket got lower and lower and their happiness level got haughtier and higher. At the end of all of this the only alive obstacle was her-their eyes noted-the little girl who sat there with a pretty black dress and downcast eyes, holding a diary close and in that moment the man-her bodyguard-looked at them with a sharp gaze and secretly smiled.
Murmurs surrounded the halll as everyone passed on their condolences, she concentrated on her drawings-a scary representation of her mother they would say-a woman that was revered in the artistic circles due to her extraordinary ability and talent in drawing and writing. It was so vivid and lifelike and entirely so possible that people would often feel sick while looking at them because deep inside their mind-something would whisper-the situation being and feeling too real.
She was an exact carbon copy of her mother-quiet, self-isolated and a pathological ignorant person. Her mother-Josephine Ruth Vandeleur-had an extremely successful career as a single mother, an author and a Painter-at least in the media. Inside the mansion the two had a completely different story that they wrote. She didn't feel anything-other than a slight numbness-towards the whole situation. In order to feel sad you have to be close towards the person which she wasn't.
Snap-she closed the pen and put it in between the diary-looking up she looked at her bodyguard-Jason-speaking with her relatives. She knew what they wanted and she knew that she was the obstacle. It wouldn't take long for them to dump her in the orphanage and get the money and properties to divide amongst themselves. Her mothers novels had mentioned about this kind of event that happened to a child before and she knew that it was her future. The novels that her mother wrote were bloody, scary and frightening so much so that there was a warning tag that would be there on the first page itself by the publishing company to warn off the children from reading it.
She wasn't one of those children, the library and office had been a open space that she had wandered in and out of as a baby. As she got older and older she became more and more aware of the gruesome personalities and traits that adults and children her age would go through. Instead of the good she had been exposed to the bad situations and this provided her a different outlook in life itself. She didn't see it with honey and Pastel coloured glasses-she was used to seeing life for what it was.
A cruel game of mind and death.
Something that she was about to be part of.
Unlike her mother she preferred spending time with other things too. She could of course draw exact replicas and situations that her mother would create in a whim but other than those things she also indulged herself in playing piano and violin, learning about fabrics and stitching patterns together. At school she was described as an average student. She achieved good marks in maths and English, her history and geography were good and science she was barely able to pass. She didn't stand out particularly other than having talent in drawing and playing musical instruments.
On the same evening-they couldn't even wait any longer-adults say in the drawing room and argued about stuff. Accountants, relatives all seemed two minutes away from breaking each others neck. The government officials kept silent on one side letting them sort this mess together. She wandered out after a few minutes of them not actually fighting but just sitting down.
Boring.
She moved towards her own room and picked up her handbag that she would use for outdoor activities and picked out the three books from her bookshelf. They had large green covers and were the unreleased ones that were made by her mother but never revealed to the public. The beauty of those three books was that her mother had only competed half of the story, the other half was left to her and just a few days ago she had gone to to the office to drop the books as she had competed the last part but had found her dead instead.
A small box was fished out from her drawer-it contained rubies-left by her father with a letter. She put them both inside the bag too. She aligned one strap on her shoulder and moved the plant in the left hand corner, there was a key hidden there. She started walking towards the office in the left wing, close to her room just downstairs, and soon enough she reached the mahogany doors that opened up with be key. They hadn't been able to open the room, despite her cousin crying about it, it was not that easy to get it opened. Only this key could.
A desk stood in the between of all the windows and bookshelves. Stacked papers upon papers and books that had gathered dust after all this time and a small couch-that was all in here. She moved towards the desk with small steps and soon stepped in the front of the drawers. There was never cash just lying around there and this was the only place that she knew where cash would be. She opened and there was around 5000 pounds in, she had counted it last time.
Picking it up she put it inside her bag too and then took her time looking around-memorising the details. Her brows furrowed as she looked at the only painting in the room that layed on the desk, her mother looked at her with blank eyes.
"I'm not going to be here for long, perhaps…" she trailed off, "perhaps this might be my last time here." She looked at it and with a sigh she looked around again. One of her mothers characters had once in rage and in order it hide the evidence done something that would be frown upon-most of the times. Half an hour later she walked out of the office, the key in her bag inside the box of rubies and so was her mothers photo. As she walked down the corridor the scent of smoke filled her nose and soon screams echoed inside the empty mansion.
"Get the extinguisher-" was the last things she heard. She knows by the time they managed to subdue it nothing would be left. Only ash.
~
Matron Lily patted her head as the driver left, "Don't worry, you'll be safe here." She said in a soft loving voice. She peered up at the gateof the place that she would be spending the next few years in-Saint Mary Orphanage. Her eyes stung with something wet and for the first time in her life, Dorothea Vandeleur cried. The matron said nothing but stood beside her, she could understand the sadness behind all of this and so she kept quiet.
Holding the matrons hand she walked inside as number of eyes looked at her scanning her up and down and in that moment she knew that her future was now uncertain and all she had was now nothing but memories. Well except her bag of-course
~
Severus Snape scanned the man in from of him-said man-Xenophilius Lovegood shifted his stance form one leg to another and then moved his head around to look at different things around him and not concentrate on the eerie eyes that seem to want to rip him apart. Yes he absolutely wasn't scared of Severus Snape just a little bit……intimidated.
"I take it…" the youngest potion master of Wizarding Britain started with a grim voice an an icy expression, "that you were the other recipient of the letter?" Xenophilius nodded heavily twice and looked up at the building…orphanage again.
His second cousin from his mothers side was actually Snape's father's niece. Weirdly enough she had played a huge role in both of their lives and when just a day ago they both received the Letter that informed them of the demise and her orphanaged daughter. It was a little unerring because the letter was written by Josephine herself and even signed and it was like she just wrote about her death and then also about her daughter who would probably be in an orphanage, somewhere in Edinburgh.
So now they both are here, one dressed in a full black robe and the other in a blue shirt and dark pants with a black robe to top it off. They both looked weird-the children murmured among themselves. Dorothea just quietly sat in her room-bore of all the commotion already.
It was small in size-her room-and had a singular bed with faded sheets, a cupboard and a study table. Her belongings were still kept in the bag closed off in the lower part of the cupboard that she had sewed shut with a dark black cloth that fooled everyone, enough to not dig deeper.
She had attracted the other children's attention enough for them to go through her room whenever she wasn't there. Her paranoia had led to her to spend most of her time in here only-hardly would she step foot out of here.
"Dorothea" she looked up with hooded eyes, "someone's here to meet you." She stood up.
So those odd looking men were here for her. Both stood there in the corridor, their height much longer than hers and looked down at her. Xenophilius wanted to go ahead and hug her but stopped because of that look on her face-it was blank-maybe she could stay with Severus?
Stare.
Stare.
Stare.
Stare.
A bow.
She bowed down and greeted them, "Pleased to meet you, my name is Dorothea Vandeleur. How may I help you?"
Impeccable manners, Severus nodded approvingly, so his eccentric cousin had managed to make the girl perfectly like herself. That's good, at least she would be quiet and will sort out any and every situation by herself.
Xenophilous coudnt keep quiet anymore-he wasn't used to much silence, even at home his daughter would often skip around softly singing or making something, this was suffocating him.
"Witch" he impulsively exclaimed, Severus closed his eyes in exasperation, Xenophilius cleared his throat-a little bit ashamed- "I meant, errr, that you're a witch. Oh! Also I'm your uncle, from your mother's side."
She blinked her eyes and turned to the sane looking person in the room, the looming bat like figure, "Is mental Illness common in the Vandeleur family?"
Xenophilius flushed, face closely resembling a tomato due to his extremely pale skin, and Severus barely cracked a smile. The girl looked back and forth and he after a moment's consideration opened his mouth, "He speaks the truth, you are a witch. Me and him are Wizards. Both from your mothers side of the family, although she was a squib-someone who couldn't perform magic."
For the rest of the hour Severus had decided that he had spoke enough instead concentrating either on glaring at Xenophilius or glaring at other nosy kids down the hall and scaring them enough to make them cry. Xenophilius rambled on and on about anything and everything that came into his mind-most of which was about his daughter, Luna who was two years younger than her.
"So either one of you will be adopting me?" she questioned and waited for an answer. At last Severus seemed to have achieved his objective as the tenth kid wailed in tears and his voice echoed through the corridor and gave his attention to her, "Indeed. Although I believe that Xenophilius should be the one to make you a ward as I spend most of my time in teaching children at a school."
"You're a teacher?" She muttered in disbelief, the man seemed to despise the very existence of kids themselves, he smirked and nodded, "Indeed I do." Her eyebrows raised more as she broke her eye contact with him, magic can allow you to read a mind too huh.
"If you wish-" Severus started, "then Xenophilius can become your guardian and I-your godfather." She went over the idea, Xenophilius looked exited and she……wasn't.
"It would not work out for me." She started out slowly, not willing to look at either men in the eye she continued staring outside where the little children still leaning to walk played, "From a young age I've always been..alone and left to my devices. There wasn't anyone to teach me about right and wrongs. I've tuaghte them to myself. So-" she stopped and chewed on her lip, showing the appropriate nervous actions from her mother's character Algeria, "I would want you-" she pointed at Severus informally, "to be my guardian and you sir, "she pointed at Xenophilius, "to be my godfather."
The unknown words that weren't spoken were loud and clear. She would live away from everything where no one would control her and Severus was the perfect choice, he would only be at home a couple of weeks and not much and that time they would tolerate each other's presence. Other than that, all year round they can do their own things. As expected-a Slytherin in who needed a little more polishing and practice and she would fit right in with the other pureblood brats.
Xenophilius Lovegood disappointed, but nodded with understanding glad that she at least had a spine to speak up for herself and still appreciated that he had the chance to become a godfather and potentially give Luna a chance to have a sister that wouldn't think she a weird. At least he hopes she doesn't.
With that decided under every persons watchful and envious eyes, Dorothea Vandeleur was able to leave the orphanage in a short frame of a week time only after she had arrived and that also with two guardians who would look after her.
The day ended with her learning about apparition, vomiting all over Severus's black pant and seeing the wand and the Ministry of Wizarding Britain for the first time. All in all the day of January 21st 1885 ended of a proper and happy note.