Tuesday, June 24, 2003
If anyone has read chapter one before today you will want to go and re-read their has been a post OotP edit done in order to bring it up to cannon. Well that is it for today seeing as I am still digesting the book.
Wednesday, June 18, 2003
Well here is chapter two and all that will be posted before OotP comes out in 2 days. Again this is a work in progress. Please bare that in mind. I working acheiving perfection. (anyone who tells me perfection is the ultimate of unacheivable goals does so at their own risk>)
Chapter 2: A Disturbing Premonition
My dream of you came quickly and was gone.
Vanished with the dawn’s pink light.
When North and South are at peace,
We will have each other again.
~*~Xuan Moi~*~ Departure~*~
~*~Translated by Thanh T. Mguyen and Bruce Weigl
August 1987
Ann and Celia sat upstairs in the room they shared listening to their wireless blare out the latest hit by Duran Duran. “We can’t pass up the opportunity.” Ann was saying to Celia careful not to speak loud enough to be heard over the wireless period “This is a teacher that doesn’t know us.” Both girls being only seven still had an air of innocence that would usually fool anyone. Anyone, that is except their mothers and now Aunt Karin’s new boyfriend, Marc. Neither girl liked him very much. There were no words to describe why, he just didn’t feel right. The man just gave Ann the creeps.
“Are you sure?” Celia asked. “Mum was very angry about the last prank we pulled.”
“Ohhhh! She was just upset because it was aimed at her precious Marc. I really don’t get what she likes about him. I mean if she had to like a boy, did she have to make it one that was so . . . so . . . so . . . creepy.”
“I’m never going to understand why grown-ups like boys. I mean they’re gross!” Celia made a gagging sound and stuck out her tongue. “I thought Mum was smarter than all that.”
“I heard my Mum calling him a lazy git the other day. Whatever that is, your mum didn’t like it at all. I never heard them argue like that before.” Ann shuddered with the memory. She was always afraid when Mum and Aunt Karin argued that she and her mum would end up leaving, then she couldn’t be with Celia.
There was a soft knock at the door and Syndil came into the room. “Time for bed, girls. You have a big day tomorrow.” Both girls scrambled into bed as Syndil turned off the wireless.
“Tell us a story, Aunt Syndil.” Celia pleaded from her bed.
“Yeah. Tell us one about Dad.” Ann put in eagerly.
“You girls need to go to sleep. Tell you what---I will come in tomorrow and tell you a story about our last night at Hogwarts and the parting gift the Marauders gave to their favorite victim, Severus Snape.” Then kissing both girls on the forehead she smiled at them and put out the candle as she left the room.
~ * ~
“I can’t believe it.” Ann was left speechless. A boy by the name of Jacques St. Claire had some how without anyone seeing him, planted a live snake in the teachers desk. Ann was convinced that it had been him that did it. Then when the creature had been discovered, as innocently as a new born lamb, he informed the teacher that it had been the girls that had placed it there. Celia and Ann found it impossible to keep a straight face at any prank, ----especially if it wasn’t theirs,---the teacher had found it only too easy to believe “Sweet little Jac’s accusations” . “How dare he get us into trouble?” Ann fumed
“We were planning to do something just like that after lunch.” Celia pointed out “That’s not the point, Celia, and you know it.” They were sitting in the back of the bus that was taking them home. Talking in English and since very few French children spoke fluent English this young. They were pretty sure that even if they were being listened to they wouldn’t be understood. “The point is, he has completely destroyed our record. Now in order to get it back, we have to pretend to be the perfect little angels. Our mum’s haven’t believed that for years.”
“Yeah, and who’s fault is that?” Celia asked raising an eyebrow.
“You can’t hold that against me. We were barely a year old. Besides, what they didn’t see was you hitting me with that toy right before that.” Now with as young as they both had been neither girl really remembered this event. But ever since their mother’s had told them the story a few years before; this had been a favorite conversation. “If our mums didn’t see it, it doesn’t count . So, it is still your fault that we lost our ‘little angel’ status.” Celia finished triumphantly.
“Speak for yourself. My mum still calls me her ‘little Angel’”
This got a disbelieving look from Celia. “It isn’t the same thing Ann; Aunt Syndil calls you her ‘little Fallen angel’.”
“Brat!” Ann replied glaring at her friend.
Celia gave a huge smile as the bus came to a stop. “Come on, this is our stop. With that she skipped off toward the front of the bus, leaving Ann to follow..
~ * ~
“Celia? Ann? Is that you girls? Celia and Ann were greeted by Karin Moonvale’s voice. “Come in here. there is someone I want you to meet.”
Both girls stopped cold in the doorway. “You!” They said as one. Standing in the middle of their parlor with Aunt Karin and Marc was Jacques.
“Wonderful!” Aunt Karin exclaimed, “You three have already met. I really hope you will be good friends. Well, why don’t you girls go up and show Jac your toys. Have fun.” She finished while she slipped into the kitchen with Marc.
Ann and Celia glared at Jac and folded their hands over their chests.
“Look,” Jac began, “I don’t like this any more than you do, but maybe working together we can end this and keep my Dad from making a huge mistake.”
“Your Dad making a mistake?” Celia’s voice was deceptively soft, “I’d say it was my Mum making the mistake. The only good thing your Dad has is his wealth.”. Seeing that he was getting no where, Jac decided to change tactics. Giving a little sigh he said, “I only meant that they have very little in common. I truly think that they would be unhappy together. Maybe if we work together we can keep them both from making a mistake.”
“Right. Well then, we can’t appear to get along, can we?” Ann said pointedly. This git had ruined a perfectly good record. The teachers had always suspected them of the pranks before but had never been able to prove it. Now thanks to the ennui in front of her she was taking the blame for a prank that wasn’t hers. It wouldn’t have been so bad, but the prank had been so cliché. She always tried to make hers original. “Seems to me that the best thing we can do is go on hating each other and make sure everyone knows it.”
“Exactly,” Celia put in never taking her glare from Jac. Celia didn’t like getting in trouble when it was her fault. It was an entirely new experience to get in trouble without doing anything wrong in the first place.
Both girls deciding simultaneously that the conversation was over, stuck their noses in the air, and walked up to their room, shut the door in his face, and locked it behind them. Jac’s attempts to persuade them out only elicited fits of giggles.
~ * ~
July 2, 1989
“Hey how about a game of exploding Snap?” Celia asked. Getting no response, she sighed and changed tactics. “Come on! I remember now why we never come to the park. Every time you see other kids with their fathers you get into a huff that lasts for days.” After being stuck in the house all day yesterday due to rain, they had decided to go and wander around the park by their home for several hours. Things had taken a decided turn towards boring, when they had passed the first playground. Fathers were playing with their kids, some in the sand box and some coaxing the very young to go down the slide on their own for the first time.
“I can’t help it. All I can get Mum to tell me about him is that it would have been kinder for the ministry to just kill him outright.” Ann was busy inspecting the ground right in front of her. It was always hard to watch other children with their fathers, a fact that Celia used to understand. It seemed to Ann that after she had become friends with Jac, Celia had lost a good deal of her perspective about a lot of things. Suddenly Marc was one of her favorite people and she would defend him as vehemently as her mum would.
Celia angrily proclaimed, “I’m going home. You’re no fun like this.” With that, Celia stormed off in the direction of their house.
Ann gave no outward sign that she had even heard her friends’ outburst other than to look up and watch her retreating back. She pretended as if nothing had happened.
Ann circled the small park several times before returning home. All Ann wanted to do was slip off to her room and stare at the small wedding picture of her parents. Her mother had always carried it with her until Ann had asked about her father for the first time when she was five years old. Syndil had then gave the small picture to her daughter; the edges of the picture were now well worn from handling. Ann didn’t understand why they didn’t return home after the Dark Lord had been defeated, but all her mother would say was that there were still those who were faithful to him. They would want to hurt Syndil because she knew that Ann’s dad hadn’t done what the ministry accused him of. They wouldn’t want Syndil telling everyone what she knew because then they would start looking for the right person.
Ann felt that if there should be something more to it than that. Her dad was in a horrible place and he shouldn’t be left there simply because someone might want to hurt them.
~ * ~
The same day several hours later.
“You’ve got to be kidding me!” Ann shouted at her mother. They had never agreed when her mum had started dating again about a year ago. Ann admitted that Paul, her mum’s current beau wasn’t a bad guy, but he wasn’t and never would be her father. “My dad isn’t dead! You can’t re-marry when you’re still married!” Ann had been when her mum had called her into their parlor to tell her that she had agreed to marry Paul.
“Ann” Syndil started slowly, clearly expecting her daughter’s temper not to let her finish. Still, Ann wanted to hear how her mother could rationalize this betrayal. “People don’t last very long in Azkaban, particularly the innocent ones Most go mad and die within the first year. Your Father will have been there for eight years in November. I doubt that he is still alive.”
“Mum, if people believe he did all those horrible things wouldn’t there be some notice of his death. I know you and Aunt Karin subscribe to the Daily Prophet. Shouldn’t you be absolutely sure before you do something like this?”
“Ann, I know more about this than you do. You’re just going to have to accept that. Eight years, Ann, I doubt that things could ever go back to the way they were before. Even if he was alive and released tomorrow, he wouldn’t be the man I married. Azkaban changes people.” Syndil seemed to shiver violently as she finished.
Ann couldn’t believe what she was hearing, “I never thought you were one to give up.” She stated coldly and stormed out of the room.
~ * ~
“Ann?” Celia tentatively poked her head in the room. When nothing came flying at her, she went all the way into the room. Ann was laying face down on her bed, only picture of her parents on the pillow beside her. “Do you want to talk?” Ann shook her head without lifting it from the pillow. “I really think we should.” Celia said sitting down on the bed beside Ann. Ann looked up at Celia with tears in her eyes.
“She’s given up on him, Ce.” Ann said brokenly, her distress was made even more obvious by her using that nickname. She only used it when she was truly upset like when she had one of those nightmares she had been having for the last few years “She’s completely given up and I think she gave up years ago. I don’t know if I even believe this story of someone wanting to keep us from talking.” Ann’s voice solidified as rage took over covering the hurt; but after eight years with Ann, Celia saw right through it “I mean wouldn’t they have kept looking for us?”
“Ann, my mum’s told me stories she heard about Azkaban. I guess her father had to go there a couple of times. He came back all sick and pasty looking. He was only there for a couple of hours. She says they have the most awful guards. They suck the happiness out of a place.”
“HOW DARE YOU!” Ann sat up glaring at her friend. “How dare you come in here and defend her.”
“Can’t you even admit your mum might be right? Ann!” Celia cut Ann off, as it appeared she was going to cut in again. “I’m not saying she is right, just that isn’t it possible that she might be? I thought you liked Paul?”
“I do like Paul, but he isn’t my dad. Celia, don’t you see it doesn’t matter that she may be right. She doesn’t know for sure. For all she knows, he could be alive. That’s what should matter---but apparently doesn’t.”
“Ann,” Celia began but she was cut off.
“Just go away, please. I just want to be alone for awhile.” Ann’s voice broke on the last end. Celia knew that she wouldn’t want an audience. Ann looked awful when she cried. She closed the door quietly behind her and shook her head at her mum and Syndil, who were waiting just outside the door. Left to go and walk around the park where she would be free from the pressure to go and talk to Ann again.
Great, Celia thought to herself as she walked slowly to the park. Now she’s got me depressed
~ * ~
“I’m not going down there.” Ann said stubbornly. It had been three months and Ann’s opinion hadn’t changed one little bit. She was content most of the time now, except when someone mentioned her mum or Paul, who was now officially, as of a few hours ago, her Stepfather. “I had to be at the wedding, but I refuse to celebrate it. Mum knows how I feel about this. I went to the wedding to respect her choice, not to endorse it and to go to the party would appear to support it. You go celebrate --- dance with Jac. I’m going to get some of the work done I’ve missed today. Who knows, maybe I’ll even start writing on that report that is due in two weeks.”
Celia gave up and quietly left the room. She had spent the last three months trying to get Ann to patch things up with her mother, but Ann had this idea that she wouldn’t let go of. Celia shrugged and turned to go back down to the party. Just because Ann was being a wet blanket didn’t mean that she couldn’t have fun herself.
Ann heard the door close behind Celia and sighed. Looking down at the picture in her hands she said. “I want to be glad that she is happy. I mean, she’s been miserable for so long. But to be truly happy for her I have to believe that you’re dead and I just can’t do that, not even for her. Why can’t anyone understand that? You know, sometimes I think she doesn’t even want to know if you alive. I think it is because it would ruin all her pretty plans.” Ann let out a sob and flung herself across her bed. She cried until she fell into a fitful sleep filled with nightmares.
There were two men, both beckoned to her, one she didn’t recognize but the other, even though hollow cheeked and dirty, was certainly her father. Then there was a third man and a flash of brilliant green light. When the light faded, the only thing that remained was a life-sized version of her favorite toy ‘Paddy’. Suddenly with a small whimper everything disappeared and she was left alone in the dark feeling this horrible sense of panic. Something was stalking her.
Ann woke up to the sound of her own scream. Glancing at the clock and then looking at Celia’s bed she realized that Celia must still be celebrating. It was getting close to their bed time so she would be upstairs soon.
Ann would be leaving the only home she knew next week, after her mum and Paul got ‘settled in together’. Whatever Aunt Karin had meant by that?
Hearing Celia on the stairs, Ann pretended to be asleep so she wouldn’t have to answer any questions or listen to how great the party was or how she should make peace with her mother. Honestly, Celia was beginning to sound a bit like a broken record. It wasn’t until long after Celia had fallen asleep that Ann was able to doze off again. Thankfully, this time she didn’t dream.
It wasn’t until years later when she was reading her mothers diary and going through her papers. Ann discovered that her mother had indeed divorced her father before she married Paul.
~ * ~
Chapter 2: A Disturbing Premonition
My dream of you came quickly and was gone.
Vanished with the dawn’s pink light.
When North and South are at peace,
We will have each other again.
~*~Xuan Moi~*~ Departure~*~
~*~Translated by Thanh T. Mguyen and Bruce Weigl
August 1987
Ann and Celia sat upstairs in the room they shared listening to their wireless blare out the latest hit by Duran Duran. “We can’t pass up the opportunity.” Ann was saying to Celia careful not to speak loud enough to be heard over the wireless period “This is a teacher that doesn’t know us.” Both girls being only seven still had an air of innocence that would usually fool anyone. Anyone, that is except their mothers and now Aunt Karin’s new boyfriend, Marc. Neither girl liked him very much. There were no words to describe why, he just didn’t feel right. The man just gave Ann the creeps.
“Are you sure?” Celia asked. “Mum was very angry about the last prank we pulled.”
“Ohhhh! She was just upset because it was aimed at her precious Marc. I really don’t get what she likes about him. I mean if she had to like a boy, did she have to make it one that was so . . . so . . . so . . . creepy.”
“I’m never going to understand why grown-ups like boys. I mean they’re gross!” Celia made a gagging sound and stuck out her tongue. “I thought Mum was smarter than all that.”
“I heard my Mum calling him a lazy git the other day. Whatever that is, your mum didn’t like it at all. I never heard them argue like that before.” Ann shuddered with the memory. She was always afraid when Mum and Aunt Karin argued that she and her mum would end up leaving, then she couldn’t be with Celia.
There was a soft knock at the door and Syndil came into the room. “Time for bed, girls. You have a big day tomorrow.” Both girls scrambled into bed as Syndil turned off the wireless.
“Tell us a story, Aunt Syndil.” Celia pleaded from her bed.
“Yeah. Tell us one about Dad.” Ann put in eagerly.
“You girls need to go to sleep. Tell you what---I will come in tomorrow and tell you a story about our last night at Hogwarts and the parting gift the Marauders gave to their favorite victim, Severus Snape.” Then kissing both girls on the forehead she smiled at them and put out the candle as she left the room.
~ * ~
“I can’t believe it.” Ann was left speechless. A boy by the name of Jacques St. Claire had some how without anyone seeing him, planted a live snake in the teachers desk. Ann was convinced that it had been him that did it. Then when the creature had been discovered, as innocently as a new born lamb, he informed the teacher that it had been the girls that had placed it there. Celia and Ann found it impossible to keep a straight face at any prank, ----especially if it wasn’t theirs,---the teacher had found it only too easy to believe “Sweet little Jac’s accusations” . “How dare he get us into trouble?” Ann fumed
“We were planning to do something just like that after lunch.” Celia pointed out “That’s not the point, Celia, and you know it.” They were sitting in the back of the bus that was taking them home. Talking in English and since very few French children spoke fluent English this young. They were pretty sure that even if they were being listened to they wouldn’t be understood. “The point is, he has completely destroyed our record. Now in order to get it back, we have to pretend to be the perfect little angels. Our mum’s haven’t believed that for years.”
“Yeah, and who’s fault is that?” Celia asked raising an eyebrow.
“You can’t hold that against me. We were barely a year old. Besides, what they didn’t see was you hitting me with that toy right before that.” Now with as young as they both had been neither girl really remembered this event. But ever since their mother’s had told them the story a few years before; this had been a favorite conversation. “If our mums didn’t see it, it doesn’t count . So, it is still your fault that we lost our ‘little angel’ status.” Celia finished triumphantly.
“Speak for yourself. My mum still calls me her ‘little Angel’”
This got a disbelieving look from Celia. “It isn’t the same thing Ann; Aunt Syndil calls you her ‘little Fallen angel’.”
“Brat!” Ann replied glaring at her friend.
Celia gave a huge smile as the bus came to a stop. “Come on, this is our stop. With that she skipped off toward the front of the bus, leaving Ann to follow..
~ * ~
“Celia? Ann? Is that you girls? Celia and Ann were greeted by Karin Moonvale’s voice. “Come in here. there is someone I want you to meet.”
Both girls stopped cold in the doorway. “You!” They said as one. Standing in the middle of their parlor with Aunt Karin and Marc was Jacques.
“Wonderful!” Aunt Karin exclaimed, “You three have already met. I really hope you will be good friends. Well, why don’t you girls go up and show Jac your toys. Have fun.” She finished while she slipped into the kitchen with Marc.
Ann and Celia glared at Jac and folded their hands over their chests.
“Look,” Jac began, “I don’t like this any more than you do, but maybe working together we can end this and keep my Dad from making a huge mistake.”
“Your Dad making a mistake?” Celia’s voice was deceptively soft, “I’d say it was my Mum making the mistake. The only good thing your Dad has is his wealth.”. Seeing that he was getting no where, Jac decided to change tactics. Giving a little sigh he said, “I only meant that they have very little in common. I truly think that they would be unhappy together. Maybe if we work together we can keep them both from making a mistake.”
“Right. Well then, we can’t appear to get along, can we?” Ann said pointedly. This git had ruined a perfectly good record. The teachers had always suspected them of the pranks before but had never been able to prove it. Now thanks to the ennui in front of her she was taking the blame for a prank that wasn’t hers. It wouldn’t have been so bad, but the prank had been so cliché. She always tried to make hers original. “Seems to me that the best thing we can do is go on hating each other and make sure everyone knows it.”
“Exactly,” Celia put in never taking her glare from Jac. Celia didn’t like getting in trouble when it was her fault. It was an entirely new experience to get in trouble without doing anything wrong in the first place.
Both girls deciding simultaneously that the conversation was over, stuck their noses in the air, and walked up to their room, shut the door in his face, and locked it behind them. Jac’s attempts to persuade them out only elicited fits of giggles.
~ * ~
July 2, 1989
“Hey how about a game of exploding Snap?” Celia asked. Getting no response, she sighed and changed tactics. “Come on! I remember now why we never come to the park. Every time you see other kids with their fathers you get into a huff that lasts for days.” After being stuck in the house all day yesterday due to rain, they had decided to go and wander around the park by their home for several hours. Things had taken a decided turn towards boring, when they had passed the first playground. Fathers were playing with their kids, some in the sand box and some coaxing the very young to go down the slide on their own for the first time.
“I can’t help it. All I can get Mum to tell me about him is that it would have been kinder for the ministry to just kill him outright.” Ann was busy inspecting the ground right in front of her. It was always hard to watch other children with their fathers, a fact that Celia used to understand. It seemed to Ann that after she had become friends with Jac, Celia had lost a good deal of her perspective about a lot of things. Suddenly Marc was one of her favorite people and she would defend him as vehemently as her mum would.
Celia angrily proclaimed, “I’m going home. You’re no fun like this.” With that, Celia stormed off in the direction of their house.
Ann gave no outward sign that she had even heard her friends’ outburst other than to look up and watch her retreating back. She pretended as if nothing had happened.
Ann circled the small park several times before returning home. All Ann wanted to do was slip off to her room and stare at the small wedding picture of her parents. Her mother had always carried it with her until Ann had asked about her father for the first time when she was five years old. Syndil had then gave the small picture to her daughter; the edges of the picture were now well worn from handling. Ann didn’t understand why they didn’t return home after the Dark Lord had been defeated, but all her mother would say was that there were still those who were faithful to him. They would want to hurt Syndil because she knew that Ann’s dad hadn’t done what the ministry accused him of. They wouldn’t want Syndil telling everyone what she knew because then they would start looking for the right person.
Ann felt that if there should be something more to it than that. Her dad was in a horrible place and he shouldn’t be left there simply because someone might want to hurt them.
~ * ~
The same day several hours later.
“You’ve got to be kidding me!” Ann shouted at her mother. They had never agreed when her mum had started dating again about a year ago. Ann admitted that Paul, her mum’s current beau wasn’t a bad guy, but he wasn’t and never would be her father. “My dad isn’t dead! You can’t re-marry when you’re still married!” Ann had been when her mum had called her into their parlor to tell her that she had agreed to marry Paul.
“Ann” Syndil started slowly, clearly expecting her daughter’s temper not to let her finish. Still, Ann wanted to hear how her mother could rationalize this betrayal. “People don’t last very long in Azkaban, particularly the innocent ones Most go mad and die within the first year. Your Father will have been there for eight years in November. I doubt that he is still alive.”
“Mum, if people believe he did all those horrible things wouldn’t there be some notice of his death. I know you and Aunt Karin subscribe to the Daily Prophet. Shouldn’t you be absolutely sure before you do something like this?”
“Ann, I know more about this than you do. You’re just going to have to accept that. Eight years, Ann, I doubt that things could ever go back to the way they were before. Even if he was alive and released tomorrow, he wouldn’t be the man I married. Azkaban changes people.” Syndil seemed to shiver violently as she finished.
Ann couldn’t believe what she was hearing, “I never thought you were one to give up.” She stated coldly and stormed out of the room.
~ * ~
“Ann?” Celia tentatively poked her head in the room. When nothing came flying at her, she went all the way into the room. Ann was laying face down on her bed, only picture of her parents on the pillow beside her. “Do you want to talk?” Ann shook her head without lifting it from the pillow. “I really think we should.” Celia said sitting down on the bed beside Ann. Ann looked up at Celia with tears in her eyes.
“She’s given up on him, Ce.” Ann said brokenly, her distress was made even more obvious by her using that nickname. She only used it when she was truly upset like when she had one of those nightmares she had been having for the last few years “She’s completely given up and I think she gave up years ago. I don’t know if I even believe this story of someone wanting to keep us from talking.” Ann’s voice solidified as rage took over covering the hurt; but after eight years with Ann, Celia saw right through it “I mean wouldn’t they have kept looking for us?”
“Ann, my mum’s told me stories she heard about Azkaban. I guess her father had to go there a couple of times. He came back all sick and pasty looking. He was only there for a couple of hours. She says they have the most awful guards. They suck the happiness out of a place.”
“HOW DARE YOU!” Ann sat up glaring at her friend. “How dare you come in here and defend her.”
“Can’t you even admit your mum might be right? Ann!” Celia cut Ann off, as it appeared she was going to cut in again. “I’m not saying she is right, just that isn’t it possible that she might be? I thought you liked Paul?”
“I do like Paul, but he isn’t my dad. Celia, don’t you see it doesn’t matter that she may be right. She doesn’t know for sure. For all she knows, he could be alive. That’s what should matter---but apparently doesn’t.”
“Ann,” Celia began but she was cut off.
“Just go away, please. I just want to be alone for awhile.” Ann’s voice broke on the last end. Celia knew that she wouldn’t want an audience. Ann looked awful when she cried. She closed the door quietly behind her and shook her head at her mum and Syndil, who were waiting just outside the door. Left to go and walk around the park where she would be free from the pressure to go and talk to Ann again.
Great, Celia thought to herself as she walked slowly to the park. Now she’s got me depressed
~ * ~
“I’m not going down there.” Ann said stubbornly. It had been three months and Ann’s opinion hadn’t changed one little bit. She was content most of the time now, except when someone mentioned her mum or Paul, who was now officially, as of a few hours ago, her Stepfather. “I had to be at the wedding, but I refuse to celebrate it. Mum knows how I feel about this. I went to the wedding to respect her choice, not to endorse it and to go to the party would appear to support it. You go celebrate --- dance with Jac. I’m going to get some of the work done I’ve missed today. Who knows, maybe I’ll even start writing on that report that is due in two weeks.”
Celia gave up and quietly left the room. She had spent the last three months trying to get Ann to patch things up with her mother, but Ann had this idea that she wouldn’t let go of. Celia shrugged and turned to go back down to the party. Just because Ann was being a wet blanket didn’t mean that she couldn’t have fun herself.
Ann heard the door close behind Celia and sighed. Looking down at the picture in her hands she said. “I want to be glad that she is happy. I mean, she’s been miserable for so long. But to be truly happy for her I have to believe that you’re dead and I just can’t do that, not even for her. Why can’t anyone understand that? You know, sometimes I think she doesn’t even want to know if you alive. I think it is because it would ruin all her pretty plans.” Ann let out a sob and flung herself across her bed. She cried until she fell into a fitful sleep filled with nightmares.
There were two men, both beckoned to her, one she didn’t recognize but the other, even though hollow cheeked and dirty, was certainly her father. Then there was a third man and a flash of brilliant green light. When the light faded, the only thing that remained was a life-sized version of her favorite toy ‘Paddy’. Suddenly with a small whimper everything disappeared and she was left alone in the dark feeling this horrible sense of panic. Something was stalking her.
Ann woke up to the sound of her own scream. Glancing at the clock and then looking at Celia’s bed she realized that Celia must still be celebrating. It was getting close to their bed time so she would be upstairs soon.
Ann would be leaving the only home she knew next week, after her mum and Paul got ‘settled in together’. Whatever Aunt Karin had meant by that?
Hearing Celia on the stairs, Ann pretended to be asleep so she wouldn’t have to answer any questions or listen to how great the party was or how she should make peace with her mother. Honestly, Celia was beginning to sound a bit like a broken record. It wasn’t until long after Celia had fallen asleep that Ann was able to doze off again. Thankfully, this time she didn’t dream.
It wasn’t until years later when she was reading her mothers diary and going through her papers. Ann discovered that her mother had indeed divorced her father before she married Paul.
~ * ~
Monday, June 16, 2003
Here it is after long hours of fighting both with the story and with my Computer. Please take in mind this is still o work in progress. If you have any comments on this story you can Email me at siriusnuttter@yahoo.com Please mention this blog in the Subject line.
AN: Required Reading, The Harry Potter series. If you haven’t read them you will likely be lost in this story.
The Forgotten Child
Chapter 1: Come What May
In a time of secret wooing / Today prepares tomorrows pain
Left knows not what right is doing/ My heart is torn asunder
In a time of furtive sighs / Sweet hellos and sad goodbyes
Half-truths told and entire lies / My conscience echoes thunder
In a time when kingdoms come, / Joy is brief as summer’s fun.
Happiness it’s race has run, / Then pain stalks in to plunder.
~*~Maya Angelou~*~ In A Time~*~
June 1978
Syndil kept scanning the crowd. Sirius had promised to be here. He must have been held up by with his parents or maybe even out with the Marauders. This was, after all, the Marauders last night at Hogwarts. Still he had promised and she was getting more than a little annoyed. Not to mention board it seemed like forever since she had been able to spot Sirius’s tall head above the crowd.
Syndil spotted James Potter coming towards her with his girlfriend Lily Evans. Well, there went the theory of the Marauders closing prank. James with his invisibility cloak inevitably would have been right at the center of any prank.
“I hope you’re not too mad at me” Sirius’ voice came from behind her with such sincere pleading, that she couldn’t really bare to yell at him.
“You do have a lot a lot to make up for.” She said with a mysterious little smile hoping to make him wonder just what he would have to do.
“I didn’t think my parents would ever let me go. Picture after picture and a three minute conversation with Dumbledore in between each one.” He tried so hard to look miserable that she had to laugh.
“What has he done now and why weren’t the rest of us in on it?” James asked finally reaching them.
“Why do you want to know?” Lily asked in an exasperated voice. “You will just get into trouble with him and you didn’t get to have the fun of plotting the prank.”
“What makes you think I won’t get into trouble without knowing about it? The Marauders have been a set. for seven years. We hardly ever prank on our own.” James informed her importantly.
“Excellent! Are we pranking after all?” The small group turned to see Remus Lupin and Peter Pettigrew walking up to them.
Syndil saw Sirius get the glint in his eye that meant he had mischief in mind. “The only thing he has done,” She said quickly hoping to avoid trouble; that was all that could follow with so little plotting time. “ . . . Is kept me waiting forever!”
Remus shot Sirius a glare and said gallantly “Never fear, fair lady. I shall beat him senseless for thee.”
Sirius snorted quietly. “You can always try, Moony.”
Syndil laughed and turned as there were others coming to congratulate all of them and ask them exactly what they would be doing in the wizarding world.
Two hours later, Sirius touched her shoulder and asked “Can we get out of here? There is something I want to show you and we’ll miss it if we don’t hurry.”
~ * ~
“Oh, Sirius! It’s beautiful!” Syndil gazed in absolute amazement, as the stars seemed to shimmer into nothingness right in front of her. They were so close that she would swear she could reach out and catch one in her palm.
“Yes, Beautiful!” Sirius said but he was not looking at the stars. He reached into the pocket of his robe and pulled out a small black velvet box.
“I know you think we should wait,” he began looking very nervous, “but I have known you for seven years and we have been dating for the last two. I cannot imagine my life without you and what’s more, I do not want to. Please say we can give it a try.” His face was agonizingly hopeful in the moonlight as he opened the box to reveal the most exquisite ring she had ever seen.
Unable to speak, she kissed him and gave him the most brilliant smile she could. He returned the smile as he slipped the ring on her finger with the stars falling all around them.
~ * ~
July 31, 1980,
Sirius read the letter in his hand aloud and turned to smile at his wife where she sat playing with their one-week-old daughter; Antigone
“Now will you can stop worrying? She has been admitted to Hogwarts just like everyone said she would be.” Syndil smiled lovingly at her husband. “Although, I don’t know how you can doubt it after she threw that rattle at the back of your head last night.”
Just then another owl came in the window. Sirius took the letter and gave it a dish of water. “James and Lily had a boy.” He said after reading the letter. “They’ve named him Harry and want me to be his Godfather.” He did a very bad impression of a muggle movie they saw once about six years ago on summer holiday. “Do you think I’ll fit the part?”
Syndil laughed and let him put Ann in her crib. Life was good.
~ * ~
Nov. 1, 1981, about 4:30AM.
Syndil sat on the living room floor playing with her daughter Antigone, who was now wide awake and showed no signs of going back to sleep any time soon. Hearing footsteps on walkway and knowing that they were not Sirius’s, “ she shoved Antigone behind the couch whispering, “It’s time to play hide and seek, Ann. don’t come out until mommy comes for you.”
She stood up as the door shattered. She turned to see a black-cloaked man wearing the dull metal mask of a Death-Eater “Everything is ruined!” he stated and his familiar voice registered with the first punch. She couldn’t imagine why he was not hexing her? Everyone knew that hexes could cause a lot more discomfort; she could only conclude that he did not want her to be able to get to her wand. When there was not a single part of her that was not bruised, he drew out his wand to finish. However, before he could even open his mouth, he froze and listened for something. A look of absolute terror overcame his face and he disapparated on the spot.
Syndil stood there for a moment without moving. She knew that she had to get moving. Who knew if someone else would come and try to finish what this last one had started. Still, she had no clue as to where to go. Sirius and her had been going to decide on some where to portkey to in an emergency when Sirius returned.
Suddenly she knew the last place where anyone would look for her. Karin, her best friend at Hogwarts, was living in France at the moment.. Karin had married, a man of her fathers choosing, shortly after Syndil and Sirius were married. Syndil thought, privately, that Karin had done it to make up for being put in Ravenclaw instead of Slytherin, like the rest of her family had been for as long as anyone could remember. Karin and Jean Luc, her husband hadn’t gotten along at all from the letters that Syndil had received from her old friend; a few months ago Karin’s husband had disappeared along with a young witch from his department at the Ministry. Karin had been left to raise her one-year-old daughter on her own.
While thinking all this she had picked up her daughter’s favorite toy---an impossibly large plush black dog that Sirius had bought for her last month saying that it would remind her of her father. Syndil had not found it at all funny. Particularly when he had taught her to call the thing Paddy. She performed a charm and made the dog into a one-directional portkey and picking up her daughter she waved it in front of her to get her to touch it. Her only thought as she felt the familiar tug of the portkey was that she would have to send an owl to Sirius when they arrived there.
~ * ~
Rouen, France, about 8AM the next day.
“I really appreciate this.” Syndil told Karin as they sat in her kitchen over a plate of begets and a pot of good English tea. Karin had never been able to develop a taste for coffee and when Jean Luc had left her, she quite trying. Celia, Karin’s daughter and Antigone sat in a playpen nearby playing together happily. Antigone was blissfully ignorant of the things that had taken place. At that moment an owl flew in with The Daily Prophet Syndil was shocked when she read the front-page article.
15-month-old Harry Potter Slays You-know-who
13 Dead-- Ministry blames Sirius Black
Syndil couldn’t believe what she was reading. Sirius would never have done anything like that; he adored little Harry almost as much as he did his Ann as he called her. James and he had been practically inseparable since they met on the train to Hogwarts when they were eleven years old. Syndil knew that he had been afraid that it was too obvious for James and Lily to pick him as there secret keeper. The only thing that Syndil could think of was that he must have changed the secret keeper and kept quiet about it. She didn’t like that thought however, because that meant that either Remus or Peter had betrayed them all. While a lot of people would have quickly put the blame at Remus’ feet because of what he was, that is if they knew. However, Syndil knew that that wasn’t anything more than an accident of fate and Remus was the least DARK creature you could ever hope to meet. She hated to think what Remus was going through right now. Knowing Remus, would find a way to place the blame squarely at his feet or more likely at the wolf’s feet. “Everything is ruined!” The phrase replayed through her mind. That voice was the key, but she didn’t dare go and confront Remus. She was afraid of the slight chance that the traitor was Remus and he would finish what he started few hours ago.
Syndil was scared, not to mention distraught and furious. If it had just been her, she wouldn’t have thought anything about going to Sirius’s aide--- but little Antigone.---She wouldn’t risk her daughter’s welfare. The article said that Sirius had been sent to Azkaban without a trial Syndil wept for that because she knew that, with them all so sure, there was nothing she could say that would be believed. They would probably say that she had been involved with it, then her daughter would be all alone----just like little Harry Potter. She knew that that was the last thing that Sirius would want under normal circumstances. He wouldn’t want their little Ann to lose them both when she is still so young.
Syndil and Karin both looked up as Celia started to whimper a little. ”Sounds like some little girls are about ready for their N-A-P-S.” Karin spelled conspiratorially. Celia had apparently taken to saying “uh-huh” whenever she heard the word “nap” a trait that Antigone would no doubt quickly pick up on soon. They would then have two girls yelling “UH-HUH” at the top of their lungs.
Putting recent events out of mind Syndil went to pick up her daughter. As Syndil picked Antigone up, Syndil noticed that Antigone had been sitting on one of Celia’s toys. Celia immediately stopped whimpering and scooping up the toy with a small coo and a huge smile, continued playing happily. Ann gave her mother a sheepish smile and laid her head on her shoulder. Syndil knew immediately that her daughter had been teasing Celia, but Celia had shown that she would not put up with it. Chuckling, she looked over at Karin and shrugged while putting Ann back into the playpen.
~ * ~
Nov. 15, about 8PM
Syndil plopped herself wearily down of her bed. Ann had started clinging to the stuffed dog her father had given her---quite a feat seeing as the dog was almost as big as she was. When anyone would try to take it away from her, she would start to scream for “her Paddy”--- a name she had formally only used for the stuffed dog, but now, much to Sirius’ annoyance, because of some mutual friends she had started to call Sirius that as well around the end of September. It was taking longer and longer to get Ann to go to sleep at night.
Syndil was getting very worried Ann seemed to withdraw a little more each day. She seldom played with Celia any more. Most of the time, all she did was curl up on the floor with her Paddy hugged it close for hours.
Syndil wasn’t sure what she was going to do for Ann, but she knew it had to be something and soon because she couldn’t bear to see her hurting like this. Syndil shook her head and continued worrying over her daughter long into the night. It was much easier then concentrating on her on pain.
~ * ~
AN: Required Reading, The Harry Potter series. If you haven’t read them you will likely be lost in this story.
The Forgotten Child
Chapter 1: Come What May
In a time of secret wooing / Today prepares tomorrows pain
Left knows not what right is doing/ My heart is torn asunder
In a time of furtive sighs / Sweet hellos and sad goodbyes
Half-truths told and entire lies / My conscience echoes thunder
In a time when kingdoms come, / Joy is brief as summer’s fun.
Happiness it’s race has run, / Then pain stalks in to plunder.
~*~Maya Angelou~*~ In A Time~*~
June 1978
Syndil kept scanning the crowd. Sirius had promised to be here. He must have been held up by with his parents or maybe even out with the Marauders. This was, after all, the Marauders last night at Hogwarts. Still he had promised and she was getting more than a little annoyed. Not to mention board it seemed like forever since she had been able to spot Sirius’s tall head above the crowd.
Syndil spotted James Potter coming towards her with his girlfriend Lily Evans. Well, there went the theory of the Marauders closing prank. James with his invisibility cloak inevitably would have been right at the center of any prank.
“I hope you’re not too mad at me” Sirius’ voice came from behind her with such sincere pleading, that she couldn’t really bare to yell at him.
“You do have a lot a lot to make up for.” She said with a mysterious little smile hoping to make him wonder just what he would have to do.
“I didn’t think my parents would ever let me go. Picture after picture and a three minute conversation with Dumbledore in between each one.” He tried so hard to look miserable that she had to laugh.
“What has he done now and why weren’t the rest of us in on it?” James asked finally reaching them.
“Why do you want to know?” Lily asked in an exasperated voice. “You will just get into trouble with him and you didn’t get to have the fun of plotting the prank.”
“What makes you think I won’t get into trouble without knowing about it? The Marauders have been a set. for seven years. We hardly ever prank on our own.” James informed her importantly.
“Excellent! Are we pranking after all?” The small group turned to see Remus Lupin and Peter Pettigrew walking up to them.
Syndil saw Sirius get the glint in his eye that meant he had mischief in mind. “The only thing he has done,” She said quickly hoping to avoid trouble; that was all that could follow with so little plotting time. “ . . . Is kept me waiting forever!”
Remus shot Sirius a glare and said gallantly “Never fear, fair lady. I shall beat him senseless for thee.”
Sirius snorted quietly. “You can always try, Moony.”
Syndil laughed and turned as there were others coming to congratulate all of them and ask them exactly what they would be doing in the wizarding world.
Two hours later, Sirius touched her shoulder and asked “Can we get out of here? There is something I want to show you and we’ll miss it if we don’t hurry.”
~ * ~
“Oh, Sirius! It’s beautiful!” Syndil gazed in absolute amazement, as the stars seemed to shimmer into nothingness right in front of her. They were so close that she would swear she could reach out and catch one in her palm.
“Yes, Beautiful!” Sirius said but he was not looking at the stars. He reached into the pocket of his robe and pulled out a small black velvet box.
“I know you think we should wait,” he began looking very nervous, “but I have known you for seven years and we have been dating for the last two. I cannot imagine my life without you and what’s more, I do not want to. Please say we can give it a try.” His face was agonizingly hopeful in the moonlight as he opened the box to reveal the most exquisite ring she had ever seen.
Unable to speak, she kissed him and gave him the most brilliant smile she could. He returned the smile as he slipped the ring on her finger with the stars falling all around them.
~ * ~
July 31, 1980,
Sirius read the letter in his hand aloud and turned to smile at his wife where she sat playing with their one-week-old daughter; Antigone
“Now will you can stop worrying? She has been admitted to Hogwarts just like everyone said she would be.” Syndil smiled lovingly at her husband. “Although, I don’t know how you can doubt it after she threw that rattle at the back of your head last night.”
Just then another owl came in the window. Sirius took the letter and gave it a dish of water. “James and Lily had a boy.” He said after reading the letter. “They’ve named him Harry and want me to be his Godfather.” He did a very bad impression of a muggle movie they saw once about six years ago on summer holiday. “Do you think I’ll fit the part?”
Syndil laughed and let him put Ann in her crib. Life was good.
~ * ~
Nov. 1, 1981, about 4:30AM.
Syndil sat on the living room floor playing with her daughter Antigone, who was now wide awake and showed no signs of going back to sleep any time soon. Hearing footsteps on walkway and knowing that they were not Sirius’s, “ she shoved Antigone behind the couch whispering, “It’s time to play hide and seek, Ann. don’t come out until mommy comes for you.”
She stood up as the door shattered. She turned to see a black-cloaked man wearing the dull metal mask of a Death-Eater “Everything is ruined!” he stated and his familiar voice registered with the first punch. She couldn’t imagine why he was not hexing her? Everyone knew that hexes could cause a lot more discomfort; she could only conclude that he did not want her to be able to get to her wand. When there was not a single part of her that was not bruised, he drew out his wand to finish. However, before he could even open his mouth, he froze and listened for something. A look of absolute terror overcame his face and he disapparated on the spot.
Syndil stood there for a moment without moving. She knew that she had to get moving. Who knew if someone else would come and try to finish what this last one had started. Still, she had no clue as to where to go. Sirius and her had been going to decide on some where to portkey to in an emergency when Sirius returned.
Suddenly she knew the last place where anyone would look for her. Karin, her best friend at Hogwarts, was living in France at the moment.. Karin had married, a man of her fathers choosing, shortly after Syndil and Sirius were married. Syndil thought, privately, that Karin had done it to make up for being put in Ravenclaw instead of Slytherin, like the rest of her family had been for as long as anyone could remember. Karin and Jean Luc, her husband hadn’t gotten along at all from the letters that Syndil had received from her old friend; a few months ago Karin’s husband had disappeared along with a young witch from his department at the Ministry. Karin had been left to raise her one-year-old daughter on her own.
While thinking all this she had picked up her daughter’s favorite toy---an impossibly large plush black dog that Sirius had bought for her last month saying that it would remind her of her father. Syndil had not found it at all funny. Particularly when he had taught her to call the thing Paddy. She performed a charm and made the dog into a one-directional portkey and picking up her daughter she waved it in front of her to get her to touch it. Her only thought as she felt the familiar tug of the portkey was that she would have to send an owl to Sirius when they arrived there.
~ * ~
Rouen, France, about 8AM the next day.
“I really appreciate this.” Syndil told Karin as they sat in her kitchen over a plate of begets and a pot of good English tea. Karin had never been able to develop a taste for coffee and when Jean Luc had left her, she quite trying. Celia, Karin’s daughter and Antigone sat in a playpen nearby playing together happily. Antigone was blissfully ignorant of the things that had taken place. At that moment an owl flew in with The Daily Prophet Syndil was shocked when she read the front-page article.
15-month-old Harry Potter Slays You-know-who
13 Dead-- Ministry blames Sirius Black
Syndil couldn’t believe what she was reading. Sirius would never have done anything like that; he adored little Harry almost as much as he did his Ann as he called her. James and he had been practically inseparable since they met on the train to Hogwarts when they were eleven years old. Syndil knew that he had been afraid that it was too obvious for James and Lily to pick him as there secret keeper. The only thing that Syndil could think of was that he must have changed the secret keeper and kept quiet about it. She didn’t like that thought however, because that meant that either Remus or Peter had betrayed them all. While a lot of people would have quickly put the blame at Remus’ feet because of what he was, that is if they knew. However, Syndil knew that that wasn’t anything more than an accident of fate and Remus was the least DARK creature you could ever hope to meet. She hated to think what Remus was going through right now. Knowing Remus, would find a way to place the blame squarely at his feet or more likely at the wolf’s feet. “Everything is ruined!” The phrase replayed through her mind. That voice was the key, but she didn’t dare go and confront Remus. She was afraid of the slight chance that the traitor was Remus and he would finish what he started few hours ago.
Syndil was scared, not to mention distraught and furious. If it had just been her, she wouldn’t have thought anything about going to Sirius’s aide--- but little Antigone.---She wouldn’t risk her daughter’s welfare. The article said that Sirius had been sent to Azkaban without a trial Syndil wept for that because she knew that, with them all so sure, there was nothing she could say that would be believed. They would probably say that she had been involved with it, then her daughter would be all alone----just like little Harry Potter. She knew that that was the last thing that Sirius would want under normal circumstances. He wouldn’t want their little Ann to lose them both when she is still so young.
Syndil and Karin both looked up as Celia started to whimper a little. ”Sounds like some little girls are about ready for their N-A-P-S.” Karin spelled conspiratorially. Celia had apparently taken to saying “uh-huh” whenever she heard the word “nap” a trait that Antigone would no doubt quickly pick up on soon. They would then have two girls yelling “UH-HUH” at the top of their lungs.
Putting recent events out of mind Syndil went to pick up her daughter. As Syndil picked Antigone up, Syndil noticed that Antigone had been sitting on one of Celia’s toys. Celia immediately stopped whimpering and scooping up the toy with a small coo and a huge smile, continued playing happily. Ann gave her mother a sheepish smile and laid her head on her shoulder. Syndil knew immediately that her daughter had been teasing Celia, but Celia had shown that she would not put up with it. Chuckling, she looked over at Karin and shrugged while putting Ann back into the playpen.
~ * ~
Nov. 15, about 8PM
Syndil plopped herself wearily down of her bed. Ann had started clinging to the stuffed dog her father had given her---quite a feat seeing as the dog was almost as big as she was. When anyone would try to take it away from her, she would start to scream for “her Paddy”--- a name she had formally only used for the stuffed dog, but now, much to Sirius’ annoyance, because of some mutual friends she had started to call Sirius that as well around the end of September. It was taking longer and longer to get Ann to go to sleep at night.
Syndil was getting very worried Ann seemed to withdraw a little more each day. She seldom played with Celia any more. Most of the time, all she did was curl up on the floor with her Paddy hugged it close for hours.
Syndil wasn’t sure what she was going to do for Ann, but she knew it had to be something and soon because she couldn’t bear to see her hurting like this. Syndil shook her head and continued worrying over her daughter long into the night. It was much easier then concentrating on her on pain.
~ * ~
Saturday, June 14, 2003
Well lovely my Computer is up and running but not quite on the net yet. So you will have to make do with this
Wednesday, June 11, 2003
Again just to post More Computer problems GRRRRRRRRRR!!!!!!!!!!! I hope to be up this weekend.
Tuesday, June 10, 2003
Just so I can say I posted today. I hope to get part of my story posted in the next couple of days but I am currently having computer problems GRRRRRR!!!!!!! With any luck I will have everything up an running tonight.
Monday, June 09, 2003
I finally got this up and going I'm currently at work so when I get home I can post more but this is just to get me up and going. I don't know how much of my life people will actually be interested in but at least here i can post some of my Fanfiction. The Forgotten Child By Siriusnutter.
