The Girl With the Black Book

Bambi Rose thought the year went too slow and bleak. She sat down in the Great Hall, as the school year was already over. Everything happened so fast. It turns out, her DADA professor was a werewolf, and she knew he was one when Professor Snape showed the werewolf bit.

Bambi Rose sat alone, no one to say goodbye to and nobody to tell them that they will see them next year. All she had was he bird cage and her black book. She was mindlessly drawing in it, not even knowing what she was drawing. She was just drawing randomly. She closed her book as soon as everybody was getting up from their seats. She grabbed her bird cage and trunk and set off into the scarlet train.

Bambi Rose sat alone, like always. She was always alone in the same compartment, nobody to talk to except for her pet bird. Bambi Rose sighed and sat in her compartment. She felt the train lurch forward. She watched the scenery pass her by. She wanted to fall asleep, to escape from her reality, but it never happened. She would force herself to sleep, but she would never go to sleep. She would be awake and keep thinking of her father. Her Aunt Midge will be taking care of her, but she will drop her off at her parents for the last week of August. She was scared.

She didn't want to face her father. Her mother used to yell at her sometimes, but not like her father. She hits her. She still remembers the mark on her cheek, which she was lucky that it went away. Bambi Rose remembered when she was eleven years old and she spent time with her family, her father gave her a bruise on her arm. She didn't think of it. She only thought of it as a mark; a mark of shame.

Bambi Rose kept seeing the scenery, until she remembered that she needed to change out of her wizard robes. She closed the curtains and Vormund's bird cage and changed into the pair of skinny jeans and shirt that her sister gave her for Christmas. They were a bit loose, but she'll grow into them, if she could try. She pulled the covers down and the covers off of Vormund's cage. Bambi Rose sat down on her seat and continued to watch the scenery. One thing kept popping in her mind.

She still remembers when Malfoy looked at her, and gave her anger in her eyes. She couldn't shake off the feeling, but she thought he had a heart, but she couldn't know. She just couldn't.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~

Lisa Swan was a kind woman. She was kind to her children and to her husband. What she couldn't stand was imperfection. And she surely couldn't stand her daughter, Bambi Rose. Lisa knew that she was a strange child. She wanted her to be perfect, like her oldest sister, Joy. Piper was okay, as she still followed orders of being perfect. Her sons, also. Lisa wanted to get rid of Bambi Rose. She convinced her husband, Ian into it, and he did, but his sister, Gloria, thought it wasn't right. Lisa blamed her sister for it, as she was never into perfection.

Lisa didn't hug, kiss, or wave hello to Bambi Rose, but she did to her brothers and sisters. Lisa didn't bother with Bambi Rose. They all left the train station and apparated to their home. Lisa looked behind her and saw Bambi Rose holding hands with her twin brother, Terran. Lisa simply ignored her.

Bambi Rose never liked her mother. She always held a grudge over her. It turns out, Bambi Rose won't be able to see her Aunt Midge until the beginning of July. Bambi Rose was very sad about it, but she kept her hopes up, thinking that she'll be able to see her aunt again soon.

They all entered the house. One by one, they all scrambled onto the staircase and went into the rooms. Bambi Rose went up the stairs silently, and left her trunk and bird cage inside her room.

"I never liked your parents. They always give off a bad vibe. And I was right about your father," Vormund finally said. He barely talked at all on the train ride home.

"It's not like I've got anybody else, except for my Aunt Midge," Bambi Rose told her raven friend.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~

Bambi Rose was busy scrubbing the floors when her mother came in. Lisa just looked at her like a piece of gum on the bottom of her shoes. She simply walked through the floors that Bambi Rose scrubbed. Lisa shook her head and went to the fireplace, warming her tired feet and resting her arms.

Bambi Rose started humming a lullaby to herself, a song that her Aunt Midge used to sing to her when she had trouble going to sleep. Lisa looked at her strange daughter and looked at her in disgust. Lisa found her perfectly beautiful, but she surely wouldn't find a good husband for her. She thought Bambi Rose was strange.

Lisa wasn't thinking. She didn't know what she was doing, but she grabbed one of the fire utensils and went down into her basement. About four hours of hard work, she came back upstairs and rested the utensils in the fire place. Bambi Rose was still scrubbing off some of the mildew on the floor. Lisa thought it was perfect, as Bambi Rose was wearing a tank tops and a pair of jeans.

When Lisa thought the utensil was heated up, she grabbed onto it and went toward her daughter. Lisa didn't hesitate as she stabbed her daughter with the very hot branding. Bambi Rose's cries could be heard around the house. Terran was the only one home, as his brother and sister and father went to get tickets for something big. Terran raced down and didn't like the scene that he saw.

One the ground, curled up in a tiny ball, was a sobbing Bambi Rose, and her mother holding a branding plate. Terran went toward his baby twin sister and looked at her upper arm. Her upper arm was branded with the word 'freak'. Terran looked at his mother, and saw a strange look in her eyes.

"She doesn't deserve to have the looks. She doesn't deserve to be perfect. She deserves to be branded," Lisa told him, a wild, masochistic tone crawling in her voice.

Terran never saw this side of his mother, and he didn't like it. Terran grabbed hold of his baby sister, who was still sobbing in his chest, and took her to her room. Bambi Rose kept crying, and it didn't help since the brand was still hot from his touch. Terran never saw his sister like this. He never saw her break down and cry.

Bambi Rose cried herself to sleep, and dreamed of being normal, with normal dreams and normal feeling. That's all she ever wanted:

To be normal.