Past, Present...Destiny

After they had finished dinner, Alana remembered that Sheridon was supposed to come see her. It was already 7:30, and he still hadn't. So, Alana explained and excused herself, to go look for him. Since it was getting dark James followed along, just in case she got lost. They trotted over a few fields to the player's quarters- special cabins, equipped with personal staff, a gym, a spa (to relax before the game), private rooms, and game rooms (with games like wizard's chess and exploding snap).
"Excuse me umm... Where is Sheridon Clavering?" Alana asked one of the guards timidly. He rolled his eyes.
"No fans allowed past this point." he said sharply.
"She's his daughter... He won't like it if you talk to her like that." James sneered. The guard raised his eyebrow, and whispered to the other guard.
"Very well." he relented. "But make it quick. I think he's in cabin B." So Alana and James walked up to the cabin, a games room, and knocked. A house elf answered the door.
"Yes?" he squeaked.
"We're here to see Sheridon Clavering... My father..." Alana murmured. The elf opened the door and let them in. It was a spacious cabin full of all sorts of board games, cards, and table games. There was a small of whiskey and cigar smoke in the air. The elf gestured for them to follow him. It was pretty crowded, and Alana and James had a hard time squeezing through the burly men. They were led to a group of men gathered around a table, playing poker. Alana recognized Sheridon, whose back was turned to her. He's just lounging there... relaxing with a cigar and wine... He totally forgot about me. What AM I to him? Just the FACT that I'm his daughter should mean SOMETHING-
None of the men noticed them, since they were so short that they were blocked by the tall arm chairs.
"Fold." one of them said.
"So Don... What is this daughter Wood told us about?" a man drawled.
"... It's a long story." Sheridon said stiffly. The group goaded him to tell more, but he just shook his head and remained silent.
"Let us guess then. A while ago..."
"- You met a woman, had a quick fling-"
"- She had a kid-"
"- and finally dumped her on you?"
"Or was it a one night stand-"
"- A quick shag-"
All the men jeered, suggesting all these cruel things. Tears welled up in Alana's eyes. She just stood there, each remark a stab to her heart. Her mother had not been some sort of whore or anything that they were implying. Finally, Sheridon flung his cards down, stood up, turned around, and froze. He looked down and saw Alana, who had just been dealt a heavy blow- she had been exposed to the dirty side of the male mind. She had been insulted as no child should ever be. And her mother's death so fresh in her mind... These men had insulted her memory... her very existence. It raised the hair on her neck. Her eyes burned with an eerie light, and her hands felt abnormally hot.
The men grew silent, and stared at her. It didn't quite register that she was the ba----- they had been talking about. With a burst, Alana turned on her heel and stormed out of the room. James tried to keep up with her, but he couldn't get past the men standing in his way, just standing there gawking.
Alana stormed away blindly. She did not know where she was going, but she didn't care. How could Sheridon have just sat there and taken all of that? He didn't even try to defend her or her mother... She couldn't help but wonder if what all those men said was true, which would explain why he didn't say anything.
Her heart beat painfully as she sat down in an area of tents that was devoid of people outside. She looked down at her hands, and was shocked. They were glowing with a bright orange flame. She noticed a puddle by her, and she tried to dowse her hands in it. As she pulled her hands away, the water stilled... She peered in at her reflection, and to her astonishment her eyes were giving off a faint red glow... She blinked and it slowly faded into the usual mix of colors. Perhaps she was just imagining things...
She felt indignant beyond words, and shocked, hurt, betrayed, confused. How could she ever face Sheridon again?
James finally managed to get out of the cabin.
"Alana!" he called out. He was worried that she might get lost, but mostly just wanted to get to her, since she must be feeling pretty bad... He wasn't exactly sure about what though. He could tell the men had said some terrible things, but wasn't sure what they meant. He was a little scared as well. Her eyes had turned blazing blood red, and her hands had burned orange like glowing coals. How could she do that? James knew that witches and wizards could do weird magic when they became angry or scared, but not something like that... He ran around through the sea of tents... And finally found her huddled in an empty area. He stumbled with his words.
"Hey... Alana- I..." She started sniffling. He could just make out a muffled "Leave me alone". He walked to her, and sat down with her, not sure what to say. "They're just big... jerks." he said, for lack of a better word, trying to make her feel better. It didn't work. They heard voices, and Alana jumped up, and started jogging back to the tent, and James followed. She shuffled into the bathroom quietly, washed up and changed, then quickly went to bed. She didn't utter a word or a noise or anything to anyone. If she did she probably would have started bawling again.

The next day, Alana woke up with the gentle shaking of Mrs. Potter.
"Get up dear... It's almost time for the match." she whispered. Ally stirred, with a giant headache. After her head cleared a little, she got out of bed, washed up and dressed in the dark green cloak, black dress and comfortable shoes. She ate breakfast silently. There was none of the excitement of the previous night in her. James had told his parents about the night before, at least the part he understood. They hurt for her... She was so young, and those men had said all those awful things... Mr. Potter glanced at his watch.
"Well, we had better start heading there... You all have your tickets right?" They all nodded. They cleaned up, and Alana and James went and got their Omnioculars and things, and they started walking over to the quidditch pitch.
They reached it, and Alana couldn't help but gasp and gawk in wonder, even in her bad mood. It was enormous. They got inside, and it seemed like it could hold a million people... They climbed many flights of winding, narrow stairs, and finally reached their seats. Alana sat next to James so he could explain the plays and everything to her. The sheer size of everything was absolutely astounding. She thought the quidditch pitch must have been ten times as the one at the estate. There was a giant chalkboard which magically scrawled and wiped away advertisements.

Nimbus 1000- Official broom of the International Association of Quidditch, sponsor of the Three Hundred ninety-ninth Quidditch World Cup!.... The Niffler- Artificial mechanical niffler. Guaranteed to find your lost gold jewelry in 30 minutes or less!....

They all got settled in the Top Box, and waited for the match to finally start. The seats were sort of like benches divided into individual seats. They were cushioned with red pillows, and had arm rests and cup holders. There was a wizard that would fetch anything from the food stalls. There were some diplomats and ambassadors conversing with one another, and some other families in the box. All these families had children Alana's and James' age that were going into first year as well. Mr. and Mrs. Potter chatted with most of them- The Johnson's, the Tremaine's, the Chang's, the Longbottom's and the Rowley's. But there was one family that they avoided. The whole family had platinum blonde hair and icy blue eyes, and a disdaining look on their faces. They looked so much like some of the people in the portraits at the estate.
"Those are the Malfoys." James whispered to Ally, noticing her curious expression. "Mum and Dad aren't really on good terms with them... No decent wizards are anyway. I'm... Both of us are related to them, I think. From way far back, but still related."
"Why are they so bad?"
"Well... We're all pureblood families... Which means all family members have been wizar-" He caught himself, though a little too late. He glanced at Alana awkwardly. Her mother had been a Muggle, so she wasn't pureblood... "Anyways," he continued, embarrassed. "They think they're better then everyone else that's not pureblood. They're all snooty and mean and selfish and everything. And I heard they're involved with dark magic and anti-Muggle groups. They're not the sort of wizards you want to associate with."
Alana flushed pink. If they knew she wasn't pureblood, what would they say to her? Make her go sit somewhere else, look down on her... She had a feeling that all the families in the box, and probably all the top boxes, were pureblood. And with pure blood came wealth. (well mostly)

"Ladies and Gentlemen, wizards and witches of all ages... Welcome to the final match of the Three hundred ninety-ninth Quidditch World Cup!" the speaker's voice boomed over the stadium. "This is sure to be a once in a lifetime game!" The stands erupted with an enormous amount of applause and cheers. "Without further adieu... I'd like to bring out the English Team's mascots!" A rush of beating wings rang through the stadium, and about 30 small dragons flew out of the sky. They were each about 10 feet long, with shiny scales of all different colors from red, green, blue and silver. They circled the stadium, spewing fire from their mouths (not getting anyone of course), awing the audience.
"Don't worry people, these aren't real dragons... These are aduras, cousins of the larger more well known, dangerous dragons like the Hungarian Horntail or the Norwegian Ridgeback. Aduras are harmless if they're trained from birth, which these were. However, they aren't for households or sport... They are only used for carnival shows and such. Now before I bore you," The aduras slowed down and landed in a large patch of ground reserved for them and their handlers. "Lets bring out the Caribbean Team's mascots!" Out of nowhere, a whole bunch of large, golden retriever sized monkeys started climbing up and down the columns of the stadium. They had long dark forest green fur in long tendrils that looked like leaves. People close to them laughed as they did tricks and climbed on some people's heads. They went to their designated spot as well.
"Now for the moment you've all been waiting for... Let's introduce the teams who will be competing in a grueling match for the Quidditch World Cup. Please greet... The English National Quidditch Team! Clavering!" A brilliant red blur soared out of the player entrance and moved to the middle field. The rest of the team followed as their names were called-
"Troy, Ackman, Bristow, Wood, Roland and... Bowne!!!" There was a frenzy of waving of flags and team souvenirs, and everyone applauded and whistled. With all the excitement, Alana forgot about the previous night for the moment, and cheered along with everyone else.
"Now let's give the Caribbean National Quidditch Team a warm welcome!" Bright aquamarine colored shapes flew out as their names were called-
"Duany, Hudson, Bethune, Taveras, Nadal, Navarre and... Mackay!" There was just as much of a cheer for them. They zoomed down to the middle of the field and landed.
"And here's our referee, the French Ambassador to the International Association of Quidditch, Montague Laroche!" A stressed looking man flew to the center of the players with a quivering chest in his arm. The head chaser from each team flew up to face the referee, as the other players went to their positions. Their last names were stitched on the back of their uniforms, and could be seen now that they were flying slowly.
Alana zoomed in with her Omnioculars, and saw Sheridon go to the English end's goal posts. Then she moved to the head Chasers, who were giving each other fixed, unwavering scowls. Laroche opened the chest and released two shiny metal medium sized black balls, which must have been the bludgers. They zoomed out at a dangerous speed. He took a small golden ball and tossed it in the air. That is definitely the Snitch Alana thought. Tiny wings sprouted out of it, and it flitted away with a flash of light and out of sight. The air was extremely intense now, as the referee took a large red ball, the Quaffle, in his arm, and rose up to meet the two opposing chasers.
"The head chasers Troy and Hudson will now shake hands..." the commentator murmured, as tense as everyone else. The whole crowd held their breaths. "On the whistle..."
The referee tossed the quaffle high in the air and blew the whistle shrilly, and ducked down. Immediately, the two chasers rocketed up.
"Hudson snatches the quaffle first, and he's off!" The crowd started screaming in protest or approval. The chaser zoomed across the field followed closely by the other chasers. The opposing chasers, Troy, Ackman, and Bristow tried to knock it out of his hand as the other Caribbean chasers Bethune and Taveras tried to cut them off. Alana zoomed into the players, but even with the Omnioculars, it was pretty hard to follow them. They were extremely fast and the moves were complicated, so they zipped every which way. Bludgers zoomed in on random players. The beaters of England- Wood and Roland and the Caribbean beaters Nadal and Navarre were trying to hit the bludgers into the directions of the opposing players.
"- passes to Taveras, intercepted by Bristow, to Ackman, dropped and taken by Hudson... Narrow miss, Troy almost hit by a bludger-" The Caribbean chasers were now making their way over to England's goal posts. "Hudson, Ackman, Hudson, Brist- Bristow shoots-" The large red ball soared toward the lower smallest hoop. It was almost out of Sheridon's grasp. "Clavering dives and- saves!" There was more cheering and booing. That was a close save. Alana couldn't help but admire him, and all the players really. She could tell it took a lot of practice, concentration and skill. She refocused the Omnioculars onto the other players. Sheridon tossed the ball back to the chaser Troy.
"Troy swerves past Hudson- Troy, Ackman and Bristow V formation towards the goal- Close contact. Bludger to Bethune's elbow... England moves in for the goal- Troy shoots- It goes past Duany and scores! 10 points for England!" There was a loud cheer. It was the first goal of the match. Alana clapped along with the rest. James had a rapt expression on his face; he was paying all his attention to the game. He absorbed every single detail of the players, their maneuvers...

After about three hours, the score was tied, 210 points for both England and the Caribbean. There was a call for a half time break for the game. While the players dismounted and went to get refreshments and coaching, the mascots whirled around the stadium, keeping people's spirits up. People got up to stretch, to a restroom break, or to get more food.
"This is amazing! I can't believe they're tied.. It could go on for days, the rate it's going." James said, finally tearing his eyes away from the pitch.
"... Days??" Alana said, amazed. "Won't they be exhausted??"
"Well I think that they put in substitute players... I don't think that'd go too well though. I'm sure that Bowne'll find the snitch soon enough. He's the best seeker in the league..."
Ally got bored, and decided to take a walk and stretch her legs. She wandered around the other bleachers, observing interesting people and such. She started spacing out, thinking about what she was going to say to Sheridon later, or how school was going to be... She walked past another top box seat, and didn't notice the boy sitting there. He sat up straighter, not sure if it was her. He didn't call out because he hadn't really gotten her name the other day, since his mother interrupted...
Alana made her way back to her seat, and the game was going to start again in 5 minutes. A charismatic looking man was talking to Mr. and Mrs. Potter.
"Alana, this is the Minister of Magic, Gregory Rowley." they introduced. The man shook her hand. "Mr. Rowley, this is Sheridon Clavering's daughter, Alana." He looked her up and down, surprised.
"My, I didn't know Don had a daughter!" he exclaimed. Alana forced a smile.
"He doesn't really talk about me much." she managed to say.
"Well, I'm charmed, surely... Ah, I have someone for you all to meet-" Mr. Rowley motioned a boy over to his side. He was Alana's age, with shiny dark golden brown hair, swept to the side, dark brown eyes, and a lonely, slightly defiant look on his face.
"Son... Introduce yourself." Mr. Rowley told him encouragingly, with a slightly authoritative tone. The boy looked at Alana, and she could tell he was obviously used to doing this a hundred times a day. He shook her hand politely, yet a little quickly.
"Tristan Rowley." he said shortly, giving a fake sarcastic smile. His father frowned a little, but quickly gained composure again.
"Alana Clavering." she responded.
"Alana and James are going to Hogwarts this year as well." Mrs. Potter informed them. Mr. Rowley nodded in seeming interest.
"Well, see Tristan... You'll have two friends before you even get there." he said. Tristan rolled his eyes. Alana thought Mr. Rowley had been sincere, but it hadn't exactly come out the best way... A bell sounded, and the game started again.

People were getting a little tired, restless, and uneasy, and started booing a lot more. The Caribbean team was now ahead by 30 points, 260 to 230. Alana could tell that the players were getting tired out. They made more clumsy fumbles and didn't react as quickly or execute their plays as sharply. After almost two more hours, people started grumbling. Some of the lesser fans even walked out of the stadium to cook dinner. Alana's arms were getting very tired, so she stopped looking through her Omnioculars and set them on her lap. Even James seemed a little bored of it all.
About 30 minutes later, things tensed up again. The Schooners were ahead, 300 to 230. The players were getting anxious, just wanting to win already. There were numerous fouls from both teams... The referee's whistle blew shrilly again.
"Foul against English chaser Troy... Quaffle is given to Troy, passes to Ackman- Bristow- Troy- Wait... What's this? English seeker Bowne seems to have spotted something... Caribbean seeker Mackay follows..."
The crowd held its breath. Alana could tell this was it. She picked up her Omnioculars again, and focused in on the two seekers. They were neck to neck, trying to knock each other out of the way. Their arms were outstretched. They flew in the same directions, up down, sideways, spiral... Alana zoomed in and caught a glimmer of gold ahead of them. Despite herself, she started squealing and shouting along with James and the others.
"C'mon, Bowne! Faster!" James yelled, jumping out of his seat and leaning over the edge of the box. Alana joined him. The other players were forgotten... All eyes were on the two warring seekers. They zoomed across the field in erratic movements. Sometimes they were exactly beside each other, sometimes one was slightly behind... and the Snitch was getting closer and closer. In a mili-second Bowne gained ahead of Mackay, zipped lower, leaned far at the edge of his broom, half standing, stretched his arm out farther then it seemed possible- and leapt up. Everyone screamed and gasped. As if in slow motion, Bowne did a sort of flopping roll in mid-air, and started to fall- and plunged down, onto his broom. He barely caught it, and was hanging by his arm. He slowly raised his other hand- and in it was the golden Snitch!
"BOWNE CATCHES THE SNITCH! ENGLAND WINS 380 TO 300!" Alana and James stared, stunned for a moment, as Bowne mounted his broom again and flew down, swarmed by his other team mates. Then they both realized that England won, and screamed, jumping up and down.
"They won! They won!" they cheered over and over again, grinning ear to ear and laughing ecstatically. On the pitch, all the players had landed, and were shaking hands. Even though the Caribbean lost, they didn't look too disappointed. They'd played a great game.
"Lets get back to the tent." Mr. Potter said. They all complied, and made their way slowly through the throngs of people. When they got back to the tent, Alana plopped down on the grass, still feeling exhilarated and light headed. She pulled off her Embers hat, flushed and giddy. James was prancing around, still cheering.
"James, Alana... Maybe you two should go for a walk. We've been sitting for too long." Mrs. Potter suggested.
"And can you get some water on the way?" Mr. Potter asked. Ally and James nodded, both taking a water bucket, and hopped along to the water pumps.
As they pushed the pump handles up and down, Alana and James were silent and pretty tired out. All the excitement had taken a lot out of them.
Alana felt a tap on her shoulder. She turned around and saw-
"Sirius! Hi!" she said timidly. He grinned toothily. She now noticed that he was about 3 inches taller then her.
"That was a great game wasn't it?"
"Yea I know... Oh, this is James Potter." she introduced. "James, this is Sirius Black." James raised his brows.
"Don't worry," Sirius explained. "I'm not like the rest of my family." The two started talking about the game as they all walked back to the tent, and bit by bit, Alana became invisible. It's not like she tried to jump into the conversation or anything... She just... Wasn't that noticeable. She sighed as she walked to the tent opening.
"I'm going to take a nap... Bye Sirius." He gave her a quick glance.
"Bye... See you at Hogwarts." he said, then was absorbed in his banter with James about all the Quidditch plays. She sighed, and shuffled to bed.
When she woke up, her stomach growled loudly. She hadn't eaten since that morning. She drowsily got out of bed and into the main area. No one was there except for the Potter's house elf, and Mixie.
"Had a nice nap Miss?" Mixie asked politely. Alana nodded.
"Where is everyone?"
"They are all celebrating with Master. They told me to bring you when you woke up." Alana felt a little hurt... They had gone without her. They hadn't even told her about any celebration party.
"Alright... I'll just go wash my face first..."

When Ally was ready, Mixie led her to a fenced in vicinity. The security watch let them in. There were tables covered with linen, elves carrying around trays of hors d'oeuvres and buffet tables laden with decadent foods and refreshments. There was a live string quintet playing, and to her surprise real fairies, twinkling in the trees and giving off a festive glow. There were many wealthy, prominent looking people there of all ages. Alana weaved through to the food, and chose chicken breast al' a Riviera, crab stuffed mushrooms, beef tenderloin salad with feta cheese and a peach mango iced smoothie. She couldn't find anyone she knew, so she just sat down at an empty table, a little glumly, and ate. Everything was delicious and incredibly lavish, and she did enjoy herself, but she was lonely and felt out of place. She didn't know all the proper table etiquette like which forks to use for what foods, and she wasn't dressed properly... Her cloak seemed like casual wear- All the other girls her age were wearing poofy taffeta flounces and had large headbands in their hair and pearl earrings to be jealous of and shiny buckled shoes that made smart, cute clicking noises with every step... I guess I'll have to get use to it... Being Sheridon's daughter and all...
"Alana, right?" She looked up, and saw Mr. Rowley's son, Tristan. He was now in crisp dress robes, and has his hair slicked back.
"Hi." she said, embarrassed to be seen in such a pathetic state. To her surprise, he sat down with her.
"Uggh, my father is such a pompous fake..." he said, looking disgustedly at his father, who was in the middle of a small group of smartly dressed men. Alana looked at Tristan questioningly. "Look at him... He doesn't even respect half of those men, but he acts like they were all old friends. All for re-election..."
"Well he must have some... important plans... for the... government..." she said, not sure how to respond. Tristan shrugged and changed the subject.
"So, you're really Mr. Clavering's daughter?"
"Yup..."
"... James is over there, if you were looking for him." he said randomly, pointing to her left. She smiled oddly and thanked him. He was a strange boy...
James was having a 'serious' conversation with two of the Embers Quidditch players- Bowne, the seeker and hero of the game, and Troy, the head chaser. It sounded like he was trying to get all their tricks out of them. Alana recognized them as some of the players who had jeered at Sheridon the other night. They hadn't been the worst ones there, but still... She turned, about to leave unnoticed, when James called out to her.
"'Lana! Where've you been? Did you really sleep that long?" She gritted her teeth and made her way to James, blushing furiously, hoping the players didn't recognize her.
"I was eating." she said as calmly as possible.
"Oh. Well-"
"Excuse us..." Bowne interrupted. "We have to be greeting the other guests." James looked disappointed, but let them go. Alana squirmed. She knew James was a little annoyed. She had scared them off, or at least had given them a second to escape. Her and James were silent for a moment.
"I think... I'm gonna go look for my fa... Sheridon." James nodded, and Alana weaved through the crowd, peering at faces. But pretty soon, she gave up. What would she say to him, even if she found him? He was probably talking to oh-so-important delegates or something. So, she went back to the tent and fell asleep.
The next morning, everyone was tired from partying, except Alana. She sighed, as she said goodbye to the Potters, and dragged her trunks, followed by Mixie, to the place where she was going to meet up with Sheridon in her new robes, the dark green one with embroidered roses. She sat down on her trunks, and waited. Nearly an hour later, he finally showed up.
"Sorry I'm late. Lots of people to talk to..." he said. Alana shook her head silently. They apparated back to the manor.
"I was wondering... What do you want to do for your birthday?" he asked. She looked at him, surprised.
"I uhh- I don't really need anything," she said. "But I guess we could get my school supplies..." They left it at that. Alana was still sore from that other night, and Sheridon didn't want to bring it up again. He truly was a disappointment to Alana in almost every way.