I don't own any of JKR's stuff, as you know, but I would greatly appreciate it if you wouldn't copy my OC, Alise.
“You are taking your vows, aren’t you?”
Silence.
“Aren’t you?”
“Father, I can’t, I-”
“And why not?” he demanded of me.
“I-I don’t want to end up like my brother,” I replied tentatively, knowing full well what my father’s reaction would be to this.
I had crossed the line. No one spoke of my brother in front of my father. No one. He glared at me with stony eyes that chilled my blood. I looked at my mother whose eyes appeared depressed, as if she knew exactly what was going to happen.
My father looked at me, trying to understand my decision, his black, glittering eyes piercing my soul. Without changing his expression, he spoke to me, his tone steely. “Get out of my house.”
Mum started to cry, loud enough to startle my father. He looked at her, and then back at me. “Father, you-” I started.
“You are no daughter of mine,” he said coldly and without emotion, sending me the most hateful look I had ever seen him give to any person. And that was saying something.
“Lucius,” Mum whispered through her tears. “Don’t-”
He turned to her sharply and said, in the most dangerously calm voice I’d ever heard escape his lips, “I will not have another child of mine disgrace the family name. As far as I’m concerned, we have never had any children, and we are still waiting for one.”
I shivered as soon as I set foot in that orphanage. Although I would only be staying there for a night, just to wait for my foster parent to pick me up, I still felt a wave of dread wash over me. I had known that this would happen the moment I decided not to become a Death Eater. I was a strong person, one who would pull through all the tragedies that came along with being disowned. There was no way that I would allow myself to be killed, thus breaking my mother’s heart…like my brother had. I knew that I’d hurt her already “ I’d known that the moment I’d caused my father to disown me…but I also knew that I couldn’t submit myself to my father’s will for me to be the loyal Death Eater, like my brother, and get myself killed.
The matron led me to my bedroom, a small closet-sized space, big enough only for a small bed and a small dresser. There were particles of dust that had settled onto the bed and into the disheveled pillow, giving both a brownish hue. Clearly, no one had stayed here in a long while. I set my small bag of belongings, the few things I had been allowed to take with me, on the bed, which caused me to cough and sneeze as a cloud of dust flew into my face. Deciding it would probably be in my best interest to avoid the bed altogether, I sat down on the hard wood floor and pulled out a piece of parchment and quill so as to write my last goodbye to my favorite cousin and my dearest friend.
My dearest Sidney,
I told my parents, you know, about not wanting to end up like my brother, and as I anticipated, they disowned me. I have been forbidden to talk to you, or any of my family, and have obeyed them, with the exception of the letter I’m writing now.
I have to be honest; this really sucks. However, I absolutely refuse to walk around, belonging to an illegal group of people, and I hope you understand that, but if you don’t, that’s your problem. You know you are my best friend and my favorite cousin. We were inseparable, as your mother puts it, or used to put it, or--whatever, you get the point! Anyway, I never will forget the time I put ink in your pumpkin juice, and you thought that it was hot chocolate. I remember the look on your face when you first looked in the mirror: a look of sheer horror.
Anyway, I love you (Not like that! You know what I mean!), and I will miss you a lot. I hope you can say the same thing about me, and if you are too ashamed to call me your cousin, you can take your complaints and shove them right up your hairy”let’s just say you’ll be the biggest jerk ever or, at least, you will be in my book. Ha!
All my love,
Alise
As the tears threatened to spill, I rose from the floor and folded the letter, pulling my shoulder-length, dirty-blond hair into a ponytail to keep it out of my face. I blinked back the tears; if I was going to do this, I was going to have to be strong. I couldn’t let anyone see through me; I couldn’t let them know that I had weaknesses.
After beating the bed to the point where I was satisfied with the fact that I had gotten most of the dust off, I lay down and curled up into a little ball. I got this lump in my throat, like when you swallow a small grape tomato without chewing it first, as I thought about the last time I saw my mother.
She looked desperately into my father’s eyes; it was almost as if she were begging him to let me stay. “Don’t do this Lucius,” she whispered pleadingly to him.
He ignored her. He had always treated her as an inferior, so why should this circumstance be any different? “Narcissa, don’t start,” he told her without a trace of regret.
My mother turned to me and watched as the men my father had hired from the adoption agency led me by the arm to the portkey. Her eyes were glazed with tears, and I saw her draw herself up in anger. “You bring her back here this instant, Lucius!”
“Cissa, end of discussion. She is no longer our daughter.”
“If you don’t bring her back right now, I am going to do it myself! I will not lose another child just because you don’t want to feel embarrassed!”
He looked at her incredulously, amazed that his wife was standing up to him. “You will do no such thing!” he threatened quietly, menacingly.
“And I suppose you are going to stop me?” she inquired, her voice dripping with sarcasm as she folded her arms. I looked at her in amazement; she had never dared to be cheeky to my father. I had never dared to be cheeky to my father, for fear of what might happen to me. And I was well-known for my cheek.
In one swift movement, his hand made contact with her cheek. I was horrified, and for the first time, I started to fight the agent to go help my mother.
My mother just stood there; a red mark shaped like a hand was already forming on her face. For what seemed like days I fought the man who was holding me back, though to no avail. I saw tears well up in her eyes. She looked at me lovingly and turned back to look at my livid father. He grabbed her arm and whispered something in her ear and she nodded though looked absolutely terrified. As I felt the tightening sensation on my chest, I caught her eye, and she looked back at me, sorrowful and tearful as I disappeared before her eyes.
And thinking of that event that had taken place a couple of months ago, I cried for the first time in three years. I hated my father, and I vowed that I would kill him if it was the last thing I did. How dare he strike her? I still remember the look on her face as she saw me disappear. An expression of horror and a look of despair. It is a look that will haunt me forever. It is a look that I will see every time I shut my eyes.
It is a look I will never forget.
A/N: Just FYI, Sidney is a boy, and I will explain that further in later chapters, when Alise goes back to Hogwarts. I hope you liked it; please review!