Choices

Chapter One – Escaping

Demonio’s POV

‘This is it,’ I thought as I looked over my bedroom for the final time. My bed was stripped of the usual black covers, my posters were off the white wash walls and my dresser had no drawers in it as they were on my bed where I had put them to be able to grab my clothes to shove them in my trunk faster. The door to my room was locked from the outside for the night and I had to pick the lock on my window like a common thief. Downstairs my family was asleep and through the floor boards I could hear my brother Regulus snoring and talking in his sleep about Quiditch. I threw my trunk out of the window and there was a muffled thunk as it hit the ground. I sat on the window, one leg out hovering over nothing and listened for a sign of disturbance from downstairs, when none happened and only then I reached forward for the drainpipe. The plastic was slick and my hands slipped a bit but I managed to get a grip in the end. With not a little cursing I climbed from the attic of my three story house to the ground outside and I was free. After six years of being inside the house I was out. My mother had not wanted anyone to know of my existence after our last argument and had therefore moved us all and locked me in my room all day, every day. She had gone to the extent at which she had installed a bathroom into my room with a mini kitchenette. I had only seen the whole house once when we moved in but was put straight at the top of the house before I could learn the lay out to avoid me escaping. I never really got to see my brothers unless my mother sanctioned it and that was rare. In the six years Sirius had visited at least once a month, my other brother Regulus I had only seen twice in the whole time period. As you can expect he is very secretive and keeps to himself but Sirius is like my best friend. He was the one who convinced mother to let me have gym equipment in my room to keep me fit. After all, he had said, what is worse than a magical angry teen? A magical, angry, fat teen. Although he had said it he hadn’t meant it, he didn't think I was as angry as mother portrayed me but I could be dangerous if pushed. In fact at one point mother had referred to me as she-who-shall-not-be-named like Voldemort. This was right after my best friends brothers wives cousins sons family was killed by Voldemort so it didn't go down well and we had one of our little disagreements where the results was me burning down the house. On accident mind you, I didn't think ‘I know what I’ll do to make her pay, I’ll set the house on fire!’ Honestly I didn't but my mother got it into her head that I did. Through all of this my father has been neutral. Without a doubt he loves all but that’s the trouble because I’m his only daughter so he has to side with me but she’s his wife. This means he has to side with her, the only way he could stand by both of us and upset neither of us was to be Switzerland. Completely and utterly neutral also meaning a bit of a wimp. A girl can't really blame him I guess. My mother’s wrath is legendary throughout our family tree. Nobody crosses her on the fact that she would kill you without a second doubt. It also meant I was left a bit hanging when mother said he wasn’t allowed to talk to me anymore. She was that insecure about where his loyalties lay that she forbids me from talking to me. That was the tipping point I think, last I heard from Sirius they hadn’t talked since I got locked up. Although that was l years ago so they made up yet I doubt it. Like my mother’s anger father was renowned for his ability to hold grudges for long periods of time. Once after his mother cut off his hair in a bid to make him look neater he didn't talk to her for the rest of her years on the planet. Even when she was on her deathbed and it was her final wish for him to say hello to her he refused to speak to her because he was just that annoyed at her. It had taken him six years to get to a length that he liked it and then she cut it all off in his sleep. The day before his wedding to mother as well. To say he was a little cheesed off would be an understatement.

Pulling out of my reverie I took in my surroundings. 12 Grimwald Place was a lonely home; the grass on the lawn that had been cut short when we came was now knee height, the front of the house loomed over the garden casting it into a permanent shadow. Where there had once only been a thigh high red brick wall was a metal caging built to keep me in like a prison. It was at least three times the size of me and on top was a row of barbed wire. What mother hadn’t thought of was that the gym equipment had kept me in tip top shape, meaning that I could easily scale it. I, using wandless magic, levitated my trunk over it and took a running start at the fencing. I leapt a third of the way up and it shook violently. I grasped hold of it tightly and waited it out, when it stopped and I was confident that I wasn’t going to be caught I carried on climbing. I reached the top and looked back at my prison for the last six years. There were small balconies from every other one of the second floor windows and a small light burned in one of the windows. Sirius looked out from the window where the light was from and didn't move. I stared back into his eyes and he gave me a small nod. His blessing to me and all my heart skipped a beat; it told me that he wasn’t going to tell mother that I had escaped. Small mercies I suppose. I launched myself off the top and landed on the balls of my feet, I turned to meet Sirius’ eyes one last time but he had moved away from the window and was now in bed once more.

Sticking out the hand I would have used had I had a wand I walked forward to the curb-side. There was a split second where nothing happened and then the Night-Bus arrived. It was a purple double decker like the London ones and inside I could see swaying lamp shades. A young lad stepped out of the bus and greeted me.

“My name is Ernie, welcome to the Night-Bus yada, yada, yada. In you go.” He stepped aside and made a sweeping motion with his arm. I stepped onto the bus grasping my trunk tightly with both hands. Sirius may have put the undetectable extension charm on it but that didn't make it any less heavy. I sat on the edge of one of the many beds and put my trunk next to me. Ernie sat next to me and patted my trunk.

“Where are you going with this then miss? If you pardon my asking,” He looked me in the eyes and I sighed. I hadn’t got to that part yet, I hadn’t really expected to get this far.

“The nearest safe haven for a 15 year old witch on the run.”

“Ah, you’ll be wanting Hogwarts then I’ll just tell Marshal the driver.” He stood up and shouted at the driver. “To Hogwarts please Marshal, just to drop this little lady off then. So then missy what’s your name?” I thought on my feet.

“Winfred Prewett- Carlson.” I knew that it was stupid to use a relations surname and my best friends surname but I honestly didn't think that they would mind. The Prewetts all knew about my mother’s hatred towards me, they were the ones that held the most sympathy for me out of the whole family tree. They didn't particularly like mother, they thought she was rather harsh, as you can probably guess they were related to my dear father Herbert.

Ernie sat on the bed opposite mine and I tucked my legs up underneath me. Giving me a curious look, he stared into my eyes and I stared right back. His eyes were like Demantoid Garnet’s under direct sunlight. Like the light was stuck in it and after a moment flashed back out. They were innocent eyes, never had he seen the horrors that I had been subject to. My eyes were reflected back to me in his eyes. Flat and grey, slightly wide but not enough that I looked completely shocked; I had too many years of horrors to not hide my feelings well yet not enough to cover tem up completely.

Sighing, he stood up as the bus lurched to a sudden halt, he was only jerked a slight bit although all of the beds flew forwards towards the booth were the driver was.

A man about 5ft 8’’ got on the bus. He had blue eyes that sparkled like a youths behind horn rimmed spectacles. His beard was long and white with age, his forehead wrinkled and he was wearing a red robe that swept over the floor. Ernie inclined his head politely and the aged man stepped forwards towards me. He took the seat that Ernie had just vacated across from me and held out his hand. Hesitantly, I took it and he gave it a shake.

“Hello, my name is Albus Dumbledore. I’m a teacher at Hogwarts and I heard that you need to get to Hogwarts. Your brother Sirius told me about you and I told him that I would take you there if you ever got away. Would you like to go now?”

“Yes please!” He extended his arm and I grabbed a hold of it and my luggage simultaneously. Then we were aparatted into Hogwarts. To say the castle was big would be an understatement. From what I could tell it was at least twelve stories at the lowest point and twenty at the highest. I wasn’t sure though, I let go of Dumbledore’s arm and looked at him.

“Come child, we must sort you before this year’s first years arrive so that you can sit in the appropriate house tomorrow to celebrate the sorting.” He said this and stepped forward whilst levitating my bag for me and I followed him in.

If the entrance hall was any indication then Hogwarts was a very over whelming place. The ceiling seemed to arch to the heavens, the floors were laid with flag stones and there were stair wells in every direction. There was a loud grating noise overhead and as I looked up there stair case moved itself around. Overwhelming and confusing. Oh well, at least it was a sort of home now. Better than the one had left behind at any rate. Dumbledore managed to navigate his way around though with ease which made me feel slightly happier, at least now I knew that someone knew their way around. I stood onto a small landing with a stone gargoyle as the steps I had been stood on only moments earlier started to move around. Dumbledore murmured something and the statue moved so that a spiral staircase was revealed.

The staircase swept upwards and he indicated for me to follow which did with only a slight hesitation. The door to the office was open and Dumbledore stood behind the desk that was centre-stage. In his hand he had a very old and battered hat, which when I reached him he plonked on my head with a flourish.

‘Hmmm’ the hat said and I gasped. This was the sorting hat Sirius had told me of! ‘So difficult to place you are. Like your family except Sirius you have the need for power, glory and the rest of it but like Sirius you also have the characteristics of a Gryffindor. So hard to place but I must decide… I will put you in Gryffindor!’

I stood and took off the hat placing it carefully on the desk.

“And that is that Demonio, you are now in Gryffindor. I shall walk you to the common room and you can get settled in before the students turn up tomorrow. By the way, you’ll probably be wanting this.” He flicked his wand and a box zoomed into my free hand. I looked down at it and was shocked; it was a bottle of hair dye from the muggle world in a shade called Cherry Red. I nodded my thank you and left the room. The stairs revolved and I ended up back at the bottom of the stairs, Dumbledore was stood right behind me and I let him take the lead. We took so many turns that I lost count and finally we ended up outside of a portrait. In the picture a woman was wearing a pink dress with her black hair curled into tight ringlets. She was stood in front of a particularly sickly looking garden with stone columns and so many roses that if I were in the painting I would have suffocated on the smell.

“Peanut Butter,” 'Jelly time, peanut butter jelly time, peanut butter jelly, peanut butter jelly, peanut butter jelly and a baseball bat' I continued in my head as Dumbledore said the password and the portrait swung open revealing the common room. The walls were wallpapered in red and there were a selection of comfy seats huddled around a roaring fire. In the furthest left hand corner was an oak coffee table and in the far right there was a book case with volume upon volume of books.

When I spun around to tell Dumbledore thank you he had already left. Flopping into a seat I looked up at the clock and sighed. It was one in the morning and I hadn’t slept the night before either as I was busy planning.

That night I didn't go to my dorm, I was so tired that I just sat there watching the flames leap in the grate until I fell asleep. It was a resting sleep, the first in years. The first since I was first beaten, part of it was probably the fact that my parents weren’t going to be able to touch me again. I was free of their restraints and Sirius could protect me here, him and his friends. Maybe I could make friends of my own! It was a pleasurable thought and I didn't want to lose hold of it for one moment.