May 13, 1979
Alice let her cry. Calandra sat on her friend's bed and watched her own tears soak the duvet. Alice rubbed her back and summoned pints of ice cream and let Calandra vent. Then, when all her tears were spent, Alice levitated all of Calandra's things into the spare room down the hall and put fresh sheets on the bed.
Calandra unpacked her belongings. Alice put on music and they stacked books on the small bookcase, folded clothes, and sorted through odds and ends. In a box full of paint pots Alice pulled out a money bag and tossed it to Calandra. It landed heavily on her lap. She looked down at it. It was hers; had her initials on it and everything, but she hadn't used it in over a year. She pulled it open and stared down at the gold inside. The bag was almost full, there had to be almost a thousand galleons inside.
Calandra threw the bag in the corner and shook her head. She stomped over to the boxes of paint and shoved them under her bed. Alice looked over from where she stood. She put down the pillow she held and stopped the music with a wave of her wand. She turned down the blankets on the bed and closed the curtains. Calandra climbed into bed and curled into a ball. Alice slipped out of the room and softly shut the door.
Calandra didn't think she had any tears left, but she was wrong. She wanted to go throw the gold back in his face. Wanted to march over and drop the bag on his feet or fling the coins one by one at his head. But most of all she wanted the bag to be empty. She wished he'd have just thrown it in the box with all her other things instead of filling it with his gold.
A few hours later the door to her room slowly opened and Alice crept back in. She slipped in the bed beside of Calandra and cried with her.
"I'm sorry." Alice whispered.
Calandra nodded and sniffed.
"Do you want me to go talk to him?" Alice asked.
Calandra shook her head.
"I never thought he'd do this." Alice said. "He's always been so crazy about you."
"Not anymore." Calandra said.
Alice held Calandra's shoulders and looked her in the eye.
"Look at me." She said. "You are absolutely amazing. He can search the whole world over, but he won't find anyone to compare to you. You hear me?"
Calandra nodded and closed her eyes. She heard her; she just didn't believe her.
...
May 27, 1979
Calandra's days were all one big blur. She woke up, made breakfast for Alice and herself and tried to make conversation as Alice ate her breakfast. Calandra pushed her food around on her plate until Alice left for work and then she left for the beach. To go stare at the water then order more books and work on paintings for the ministry.
The monotony was endless. Every day was just an extension of the one before. It was pathetic. She was pathetic. One goodbye from a good-looking bloke and she dissolved into a tearful mess? Merlin's beard, what on earth had she come to?
She'd taken to browsing bookstores a few days a week, looking for books about magic bloodlines and Sirens. She alternated between muggle bookstores and Flourish and Blotts. Afterwards she'd drop in at a muggle pub for a quick drink. She didn't bother going to the Leaky Cauldron and she stayed away from Rosemerta's. She didn't want to chance bumping into Sirius or James or Remus or even Peter.
She signaled the bartender and ordered another drink. Last one. She only ever let herself order two. If she didn't it would be all too easy to try to drown herself in them.
She tilted the glass back and welcomed the burning in her throat. It cut through the numbness quite nicely.
...
June 4, 1979
Calandra had just laid her items on the counter at the bookstore when she heard a scream. She whirled around and saw two figures with dark hoods pass by the window of the shop. She darted behind a bookshelf and listened. The bell over the door tinkled and she heard footsteps slowly approach the counter. Please let them be thieves, she thought. Just thieves. Muggle thieves.
"'Ere now." She heard the shopkeeper's voice call out. "What's all this? You blokes take your devilment somewhere else."
Cruel laughs rang out and Calandra saw flashes of green and red lights illuminate the ceiling. Damn it. The shop keeper cried out in pain. A whimper caused Calandra to look down. A small girl crouched behind a wingback chair. She was crying. Tears streamed down her cheeks. Her whole body shook.
Calandra put her finger up to her lips in a warning to the girl and took a step to her right, closer to the child. She crouched down and held out her arms and the girl stood, reaching out to her. A book thumped to the ground, falling from her lap, and the shopkeeper's cries abruptly ended.
Calandra scooped the girl up and whispered, "Stay quiet" in her ear as she cast a disillusionment charm on the two of them. She slowly backed her way to the wall, keeping one arm firmly around the girl.
"See if you can find something to entertain us in the back." A voice said.
Footsteps echoed off the wood flooring, getting closer and closer. They stopped one row over from them and Calandra heard a chuckle.
"What's this?" a gravelly voice rang out.
A man answered him.
"Please." His voice shook. "You can have all my money. Here's my wallet. Just don't hurt them."
"Them?" the gravelly voice purred.
"My family. Please. Here are the keys to my car. You can have it."
Calandra heard the metallic sound of keys sliding across the floor. The little girl in her arms cried harder, trembling and shaking.
"What would I want with that?" the gravelly voice sneered. "I'd rather have what you're hiding behind you."
"No!" the man's voice rang out. "You can have me. You can have all my money. Just leave her alone."
The man with the gravelly voice laughed. He shouted something and Calandra saw a flash of light at the same time a tall, dark woman rounded the corner, looking very much like she'd just been shoved that way. The little girl wrenched out of Calandra's grip and ran to the lady.
"Mummy!" her voice rang out.
The woman wheeled around, looking for the little girl. Calandra bit back a cry as a cloaked figure stepped into view behind the woman. Calandra rushed forward as the cloaked figure lifted his wand. The woman suddenly fell backwards, and Calandra knew the little girl had finally reached her mother. She shot a spell at the Death Eater and quickly disillusioned the woman on the floor as the cloaked figure fell behind her.
She ran up to them and leant down.
"Please, stay there. Don't say a word. I'll keep you safe." She whispered, pushing them back into the corner.
Another cloaked figure rounded the opposite end of the bookshelf, wand in hand.
"Avada Kadavra."
Calandra ducked as the flash of light whizzed down the aisle. The window next to them shattered and the bookshelf toppled backwards. Streaks of light shot from the Death Eater's wand and Calandra flattened herself against the wall, casting shield charms on the two figures huddled in the corner.
The Death Eater stopped about halfway down the aisle and started levitating the fallen bookshelves out of the way. Calandra turned around and grabbed onto the bodies in the corner. She tugged them toward the window and urged them out.
"Go!" she said as quietly as possible. "Go! Run!"
She hefted the woman up and watched the splinters of the window frame drag across the sill as the woman climbed out of the window. She turned back to the Death Eater just in time to get hit with an acid hex.
She screamed out as the hex hit her left leg and dove into the next aisle. Books flew off the shelf beside her as she ran towards the checkout counter. She looked around wildly for the shopkeeper and turned away quickly when she saw him. His body was ripped to shreds. Sliced into many pieces. She could feel her charm slipping and turned on her heel, hoping and praying they hadn't put up anti apparition wards.
She breathed a sigh of relief when she found herself on the doorstep at St. Mungo's. Calandra stumbled up the steps and leant against the front desk, her left leg burned and shook. The reception witch, who usually looked perpetually bored, started when she saw her.
"Acid Hex." Calandra bit out through clenched teeth. "I can't walk anymore."
The witch nodded and tapped her wand to Calandra. She felt herself being floated onto a stretcher and heard healers talking about removing bones and skelegrow.
"Who shall we contact for you, miss?" she heard someone say.
"Alice." She said, through the pain. "Alice Fawcett."
...
June 7, 1979
She'd given statements to four different Aurors, not counting Alice. Apparently, her experience was just one of a long line of cases of Death Eaters tormenting muggles for sport.
The woman and the little girl had gotten away. The woman required healing for a couple injuries from stray hexes, but they were safe. The ministry had not obliviated them yet, because the woman was still recuperating, but they would be released later in the week. The woman's husband was dead, they'd recovered the body and fed a story of an aneurysm to the morgue. Protective charms were being put on their house.
After she was released from the final interview, an Auror named O'Riley cleared his throat and handed Calandra small, orange sheet of paper that was folded lengthwise. She opened it to find a shaky crayon drawing of a tiny stick figure with a purple triangle dress holding hands with a tall stick figure with long, curly hair. The tall stick figure had wings and held a stick with a star at the end of it. Tiny rectangle books were drawn all over the page.
Calandra felt tears pool in her eyes as she read the neat, flowing script at the bottom of the page; the same words written in black ink over and over again.
Thank You. Thank You. Thank You. Thank You.
She nodded her thanks to O'Riley and took the floo with Alice back home. Calandra went straight to her room and curled up on her bed. She stared at the drawing until she fell into a restless sleep. That night she dreamed about a small girl in a purple dress clinging to her as people screamed and green lights flashed all around them. When the girl looked up at her Calandra saw she had grey eyes. Beautiful grey eyes.
...
July 20, 1979
Calandra and Alice sat together in the dirt outside Augusta Longbottom's country home. Frank had commandeered his mother into giving up a patch of her back garden so Alice could grow different plants. She was testing how well two different plants could cross breed to see if their flowers could be used for better concealment than charms for all the Aurors.
Alice came home bone tired most nights. Calandra was worried about her, more so now than before, ever since they'd waived the extended training period. The ministry must be extremely on edge about all the Death Eater activity if the Auror program had been cut short. Alice had already been in the field, on assignments with more experienced Aurors, but still in the field. Last time they'd only sent her out with one partner.
Calandra pulled the weeds carefully from around the Caveatis Flower, lest it get spooked and turn invisible. Alice had already finished her whole row and was working her way back down to Calandra. Calandra tossed the weeds onto the pile on the grass and sprinkled some fresh dirt around the base of the little plant.
Alice looked over to her and smiled. Calandra couldn't help but smile back. Alice had a streak of dirt across her cheek and a daisy petal stuck to her forehead. Much to Mrs. Longbottom's chagrin the both of them were wearing muggle blue jeans and tatty jumpers. Frank's mother didn't care that the clothes were muggle, just that they were dressed so casually. Calandra had yet to see the old lady in anything other than full robes, complete with some intricate hat perched atop her head.
"What are you staring at, over there?" Alice said, as she plucked weeds from the tiny plants.
"I can't tell." Calandra said. "Maybe a mandrake, but I'm not sure. Possibly some new ghastly little flower that can make peoples ears bleed when it sings in the shower."
Alice threw a handful of weeds at Calandra with a laugh.
"No fair." She laughed. "We can't all have magical voices."
Calandra rolled her eyes.
"Ahh, yes." She said. "Such important talents to have at a time like this; singing and wielding a paintbrush."
"That's not all you can do, and you know it." It was Alice's turn to roll her eyes.
"Seriously, Alice. I may as well be in primary school." Calandra said, moving to the terra cotta pots that sat on the small table in the garden.
"You can always join the Auror program, you know." Alice said. "They're recruiting."
Calandra shook her head as she tore off the dead leaves of one of the flowers.
"They'd find out." She said. "There's no way I could hide it from them. Besides, I'm not cut out for that."
"What makes you say that?" Alice asked as she repotted a plant.
"I'd rather not kill people if I can help it." Calandra said.
Alice looked sadly down at the pot in front of her. She nodded and topped it off with dirt.
"Yeah." She said softly. "I always wonder when it's going to come down to it for me."
...
July 23, 1979
The barkeep pushed a shot glass of vodka toward Calandra. She looked up at him, puzzled. She had not ordered another drink. The barkeep nodded towards the other end of the bar.
"From the young bloke sitting over there." He said.
Calandra looked back to the young man that sat at the end of the bar. He was handsome. He had dark red hair and flashing blue eyes. He gave her a smile. She looked back at the drink in front of her.
She looked back to the young man and lifted her hand. At the wave of her fingers, the man bit his lip and gave her an apologetic smile. It was a little too wide, but still seemed sincere. He nodded toward the drink in front of her then held his hands up.
Calandra studied him as she reached for the shot glass. As she upended it and swallowed the burning liquid something familiar flashed in the man's eyes. Calandra gave him a nod and pulled a note from her pocket and slid it across the counter.
The barkeep gave her a salute as she hopped off the barstool and left the pub. The ring on her hand glinted in the sunlight. She twisted it around on her finger. She should stop wearing it. Should probably send it back. But that family ring did come in handy sometimes.
...
July 25, 1979
Calandra sat straight up in her bed, heart pounding wildly. Alice was screaming. Calandra threw her covers off and jumped out of her bed, running for the door. She wrenched it open and stumbled into the hall to the other bedroom, her sock feet sliding on the hardwood floor.
She barreled into Alice's room and flung her hand out when she realized she forgot her wand. No one was there. Alice lay on the bed writhing, her head thrashing back and forth as she screamed and whimpered. Calandra knelt on the bed beside her and summoned her wand.
"Alice. Alice." She said, holding her friend's wrists. "You're ok. You're ok. It's me. It's Callie."
"No! Please!" Alice cried, her eyes clenched shut.
"You're safe, Alice! I've got you! You're safe. It's ok."
Alice's eyes flew open and she gasped for breath.
"It's ok. You're ok. I'm here. It's ok." Calandra repeated. "It's just a dream."
Alice looked around desperately before she crumpled against Calandra.
"I'm sorry." She said between gasps. "I'm sorry."
"Shh." Calandra stroked her hair. "It's ok. You're alright. Nothing to worry about."
She rocked back and forth, soothing Alice, and whispering comforting words to her. She felt tears fall on her arms and squeezed Alice tightly. Calandra hummed a soft lullaby as she rested herself against the headboard, one arm holding Alice and the other stroking her back. It wasn't until the sun shone through the curtain the next morning when she realized she'd fallen asleep like that.
...
August 2, 1979
The tattoo shop was almost empty. The woman behind the desk looked up at Calandra and put down the pen she held. She motioned her to come up to the counter and flipped a folder open.
"Anything here strike your fancy or do you already have something in mind, love?" the woman asked.
Calandra didn't even bother flipping through the pages. She pulled a few wrinkled notes out of her pocket and unfolded them.
"Dealer's choice." She said sliding the money to the woman. "You pick. Anything McGarret'll get me."
The woman peered at Calandra.
"You drunk?" she asked. "Cause, I don't want no one calling up tomorrow bellyaching about-"
Calandra shook her head.
"I've only had two pints. I'm not even halfway there."
"Well." The woman gestured toward the back of the room. "Come on, then."
Calandra sat down on the chair and watched the woman pull on a pair of gloves. The woman had lots of curly red hair, piled on top of her head. She was quite pretty. Roses and snakes and birds wound their way around her arms and Calandra thought that she saw flames peeking out from under the woman's collar.
"Where you want it?" the woman asked.
Calandra looked down at herself. She lifted her shirt and pointed to a spot on her ribs.
"That'll hurt." The woman warned.
"S'not my first one." Calandra said pointing out the others.
The woman nodded and pulled up a stool. She pulled a small pot of ink toward her and held the tattoo gun in her hand. She gave Calandra a piercing look and raised her eyebrows.
"You sure you don't have something in mind?" she asked once more.
"Surprise me." Calandra smiled.
The woman bent down and soon Calandra was lost in the buzz of the machine and the sting of the needle.
