Golden Children and the Others

Everything appeared to be normal.

But Ava was gone. She’d left for her mission without saying goodbye, leaving a gaping hole in at least three lives. Faryn, though, could understand why her cousin did it- so as not to make it harder for her or Addy, as well as for Ava herself. Life was quiet for the short week leading up to the beginning of the school year. The week flew by, even with a lack of activity.

On the morning of September 1st, Faryn awoke to Adalia banging on her door. “Faryn! Come on, we’ll be late!” The girl shouted. Faryn tumbled out of bed and into the bathroom she and her sister shared. “Did you stay up late talking to Jamesy?” Adalia questioned as she brushed her hair.

“Sh’up,” Her sister replied with a toothbrush in her mouth. Both girls had had their trunks packed for days, and Adalia wasn’t planning on putting Sophie in a cage, as if the feline would have gone into one willingly anyway.

“Girls! Breakfast!” Their mother called. Adalia lugged her trunk down the stairs while Faryn continued to hurriedly get dressed and finish putting her hair up before carrying her own heavy trunk down the stairs as well.

Adalia was simultaneously buttering a blueberry muffin and picking up a cup of milk as Faryn sat down. Her mother slid her a plate of eggs, sunny side up, and toast. Their father was sitting at the head of the table reading the Daily Prophet. Faryn was still unsettled to see a moving photograph of her headmistress and a small square article about the attack on her home. She felt a small prickle of fear before telling herself, Hogwarts is the safest place to be. Safer than home. Safer th

an James’ house.

“You’re home today, dad?” she asked as she started to eat.

Her father folded up the paper and smiled at his daughters. “Of course. After today we won’t see you until Christmas holiday! I took the day off to give my fourth year and my Prefect a proper send off,” he answered. Faryn smiled back at him, his face creased with laugh lines around his mouth and caring blue eyes.

“Here, I shrunk your trunks. They’ll fit in your pockets now,” their mother said, bustling back into the kitchen and placing each girl’s trunk in front of her plate- shrunk to the size of a finger, as was the trend nowadays for Hogwarts students. While other, unlucky saps had to drag their trunks with them

on their little trolleys all day, Faryn and Addy wouldn’t have to lift a finger to carry theirs.

“Thanks mum,” Faryn said with a grateful smile. She wished she no longer had the Trace on her, it would make things so much easier. She could do magic herself- she could have shrunk her own trunk.

All too soon it was time to go, and Faryn felt that melancholy feeling she always felt when they had to leave their house. Adalia came over and hugged her, a moment of calm as their parents rushed about, until soon they were both touching the Portkey and plopping into the bustle of Platform 9 3/4.

“Bye girls. Be sure to write,” their mother whispered to them, kissing the top of their heads, her long reddish

brown hair blending with Faryn’s light brown and Addy’s dark chocolate waves.

Their father gathered them both in a hug. “Adalia, if you need anything, let me know, especially if those two boys of yours are making a scene.” he said.

Adalia smiled. “Sure thing, dad. Expect a letter within the first two weeks.”

Their dad turned to Faryn. “And Faryn, make us proud. Take a bunch of points from Slytherin.”

Before Faryn could respond, two voices came from behind them. “What’s wrong with Slytherin, eh?” The group turned to see Albus and Scorpius smiling behind them. “Come on, Addy, we’ve got to get seats before we’re the last ones on and we have to sit with the new first years!”

“Bye dad,” Adalia called as she allowed the boys to drag her off.

“Faryn! There you are!” came another voice. The girl whirled around in the other direction to see James, Dawn, and Lysander. “Come on, we’ve gotta get to the Prefect’s compartment,” James urged.

“Where are the other?” Faryn asked, furrowing her brow. She had wanted to see everyone before they had to take on full Prefect duties.

“They’ve already got a car, we can check in with them later. Are you coming?” James asked impatiently.

Faryn let a smile slip over her face as she waved goodbye to her father and let James Potter’s hand close over hers, leading her to the train. “I’m coming, James.”

[x]

Addy helped the boys shove their trunks onto the racks, silently thanking her parents for shrinking her own down to its comfortable place inside her pockets. “What shall we do this year, then?” she asked, grinning.

It was an ongoing tradition that the three, now dubbed the new Fred and George Weasley (much to Headmistress McGonagall’s dismay) would mess with the First Years upon their arrival. It was also why they chose compartments closer to the front of the train, where the newbies tended to group together.

“Trolls? Dragons? Fluffy? Fluffy always works well, since we’ve actually still got the old boy around should we get any ballsy little ones,” Scor pondered aloud, “though we have done that before, and word does spread first among the ickle ones. They might already know to steer clear of us.”

“Or the ones that’ve gone through it already might keep it as a rite of passage,” Al shrugged, hugging her waist. “Whatcha think, Adds?”

Thinking about it a moment, she simply said “Unicorns,” whilst staring out the compartment window at the passing countryside.

“What?!” both boys exclaimed, dumbfounded.

“Unicorns,” she repeated, still watching the scenery. “What do even all Firsties know about unicorns?”

“They’re pretty?”

“They have horns?”

“Only pretty girls with pure hearts can see one, so you’re out of the running?”

She sighed, finally turning to them. “The first two, and most of the last one, you jerk, Scorpius.”

“So….?” Albus prompted. “This leaves us with…?”

“Gullible children.”

Scorpius’ eyes were shining. “You may just be a genius, dear. An honest to Merlin genius.”

A smile lit up her face, pleased to have thought of something clever for once. “It’s nothing, not really.”

“Um, guys? Yeah, me, over here. Still not getting it,” Albus spoke up. “Unicorns? How do we spin this one? How are they even remotely scary, even to Firsties? They’re adorable. And ponies – all girls like ponies. I remember when Lily went through that. Unicorns and ponies are like God to them.”

“That’s where we’ve got them,” Adalia reassured him. “They all see some unicorns, or pictures, and all they can think is ‘How pretty’ or ‘How adorable’ or something of the sort. But what if we find a bad natured white horse, stick a horn on it, and call it a unicorn? What do they think then?”

“I’ve not the foggiest.”

“They think ‘Oh dear Merlin, what have we got here?’ as they run away, Allie boy,” Scorpius drawled, sounding very much like his father. “And then they feel like they’ve been tricked out of things. Start to wonder what else they ‘know’ is fact…or fiction. Very nice, Addy darling, with the lingering affects there. Should be brilliant.”

Still absorbing what the plan was and all its components, Albus took up Addy’s position, looking out the window and pondering. “What if we get caught this time, though? Headmistress McGonagal would likely throw a fit, even with our parents getting us out. Or, rather, even just my dad.”

“That’s what makes it brilliant then, innit? We don’t get caught. We’ve done this before, and last time we brought them to Fluffy. In case you hasn’t noticed, he’s much more dangerous than a horse,” Scor shot at him.

Frowning to herself, Addy took out her journal, needing to clear her head.

Dear diary,

Unicorn plan went well. Already convinced Scor, just waiting for Al to fully be on board. He’s thinking it through, which is why he’s essential – me and Scor would never do something as practical as all that.

They’re fighting or something, though. My boys. The air’s tense and prickly, kinda like when you can tell a room’s got a charm on it or something. But I don’t think this is magic…maybe teenage boys being teenage boys? I don’t know, but it worries me and I don’t know what to do. I’d ask Far, but she’s no help with them. Too love struck with Jamesie to care properly.

But we’ll be at Hogwarts, at home, soon enough and hopefully that’ll settle them down. After all, if they’re still all grouchy, then who will remember to give me the password to Slytherin? The portrait is fine with me coming, as long as I give him the password. But if I don’t have it…I cannot even imagine what old Minerva would have up her sleeve should I get caught.

I’d better go make sure they’re okay, and then go start working on the Ickle Attack of the year.

“How’re we doing this?” Adalia asked cheerfully, stowing her journal into a deep pocket in her robe. “Rounding them up or going compartment to compartment? Hijacking the speaker system? A charm?”

“Charm would set off the Trace, rounding them up will raise suspicions, hijacking the speaker system would be stupid because everyone knows our voices, and compartment to compartment takes too much time,” Scor said, ticking each point off on his fingers. “I say we get old Rubeus in on it like usual. Let him give ‘em the tip off.”

“I wouldn’t want him in trouble, not after everything he did for Dad,” Albus intoned, still staring out the window. Adalia didn’t know much about auras, had never really done well in Divination, but she could tell he had a cloud of gloom surrounding him.

“Well, then, there’s always room for something new in our bag of tricks, innit there? So, new ideas?” Adalia asked. “Anyone? No, nothing?”

Lazily raising a hand and facing her, Albus said, “On the snack trolley. All the ickles are in compartments closer to the front of the train. If we hang a sign on the trolley, something with details, then they’ll all see it. And we can use some of my Timer Paper, it’s in my trunk. It’ll set itself off when needed, we just set it.”

“I love the things your family thinks up in that shop, Allie,” Scorpius laughed. “Who’d’ve thought it? Not a one but a Weasley!”

“That a problem, Mr. Malfoy?”

Adalia scowled. “Stop it right this instant, both of you! You…you prats! You are acting like school children! And for what? What is this even about? You two were fine not a week ago when we were in Diagon Alley.”

“Oh really, darling Addy. We were? Who’d’ve thought that one, eh Albus?”

“Not her, that’s for sure. At least, not if she’d looked closer.”

“I’d wager. Otherwise, we’d be six feet down right now with all the interrogating.” Turning to her, Scorpius added, “It’s not like you’re dense or anything. You’re a Ravvie, after all, though one does wonder sometimes.”

And then Albus said the one thing that would hurt than any other, for reasons to jumbled for her to sort out. “We’re in love with you, Adalia. And you’ve never even noticed.”

[x]

This was one of the rare times that Ava would admit to being afraid. She rested a hand on the smooth stomach, hiding her baby. All of the worries that her friends and family had heaped upon her returned to her mind, especially Adalia’s. Like a lamb being led to the slaughter with a convenient side dish.

A door opened to her left, letting some dim light into the dark room they had told her to wait in. Luna’s husband, Rolf, had an old friend who was a Death Eater of the New Order, who didn’t know that the Lovegood-Scamander family was working for the Order of the Phoenix. Somehow he was initiating her. She was foggy on the exact details, but they didn’t matter- she was just doing her job.

The man at the door beckoned her to enter the other room, so Ava pushed her doubts and worries out of her head, holding herself confidently. “Okay Rigel, with mama luck,” she whispered to her baby, entering the room.

The Dark witches and wizards who stared at her were mostly disheveled, with dirty hair and clothes. A small boy sat in a corner with a dog that growled at her. Their numbers are small, Ava noted to tell Harry and the others. Only four people in the room looked presentable, let alone rich. The man who led her inside wore expensive looking robes and a jeweled ring on his right hand. A woman at the end of the room was wearing a long, flowing black dress with a hairpin that looked to be goblin-made.

Another lavishly dressed man was very pale and had red eyes. His white blonde hair was clean and nicely groomed, though ht looked as though he was staring hungrily at her. He was the one who freaked her out the most.

The last one, who looked to be the leader, wasn’t dressed expensively, but had a regal sense about him. He was cold and authoritative, commanding respect. She could see in the faces of those around her that they did fear and respect him.

The room was dark and gloomy. There was a long table, but only that leader sat there, at its head. Some food and wine was laid out, but no one touched it. Everyone was backed up against the walls except for the richly dressed woman, standing behind the leader.

When Ava and her guide raeched the leader, he stood, drawing himself up so that he made Ava feel small. “Ava Katz,” he addressed her in a slippery voice, his eyes boring into hers. “Tell me. Why do you wish to join my New Order of Death Eaters?”

This was her big moment- this would decide if she was going to be accepted into this ring of darkness or if they were going to kill her and Rigel on the spot. Or the could torture her, she wouldn’t put that past them, though it was not a thought she wanted to linger on. She knew that Harry was keeping Teddy close today, making sure he didn’t do anything rash or try to contact her. Ava hadn’t told anyone about her suspicions with the Firewhiskey.

“I hate Muggles. And Mudbloods. I want to see them put in their place.” Ava spoke in the coldest, hardest voice she could gather, with confidence penetrating her words.

The leader’s lips twitched into a smile. “Ms. Katz, did you, by any chance, have any relations in the old order of Death Eaters?” He asked, his tone inviting. Something about him made her tongue want to spill all of its secrets. She knew what- she could feel him using Legilimens, trying to root around in her mind. But her shield of Occlumency was holding- Harry had taught her well.

“I did. My grandfather.” She replied. The leader nodded.

“I was sure I knew your last name. I was young and my uncle was a follower of Tom Marvolo Riddle. I was around the first Death Eaters as a child and was shipped off to Durmstrang when the final battle was waged. They were all fools.” His eyes bored into Ava’s seeming to be taking off all of her layers. She was almost certain he knew she was a spy, and trhat she had another human being inside her. She had to reassure herself that he would never be able to get past her Occlumency.

The leader’s stare was gone now, nodding to the woman at his side. “We will be in touch with you, Ms. Katz. A toast to our cause. A toast to seeing the scum of blood crushed under our very feet.” The woman brought Ava a small glass, only a little bigger than a shot glass. She could smell mulled mead and wondered briefly why they didn’t use the win on the table. The leader received a similar glass, raised it to her, and drank. Ava nodded and downed hers. She set the glass down on the table and the man who had brought her into the room escorted her out.

“Til we meet again, Ms. Katz.” She heard behind her, just as the door closed.