It's Not All Dark

Chapter 2 - For the Greater Good

I sit on the balcony overlooking the gardens, a notebook in one hand and a quill in the other, the ink placed haphazardly on the ledge of the balcony along with a cup of tea. It's barely morning, the entire view cast in a hazy blue-gray light. The air is damp and cold and the fog slowly fading over the landscape looks like some form of magic. It's hard to believe that nature is natural, and not magical. The way that flowers bloom and fog slips away seems, to someone aware of magic, the only authentic beauty missing magic.

I suppose that's one thing that makes non-magiques so different, is that they have, not a world without magic, but a world where they are unaware of it. Everyone lives in a world with magic, it's inescapable, really. Magic is the force that drives most things, but looking over the view from the balcony, almost silent save for the sparse birds and insects accompanied by the brushing of trees and bushes in the wind, a wizard can almost picture how non-magiques can be content without being aware of magic.

"Êtes-vous prêt pour aujourd'hui?" (Are you ready for today?) A voice says from behind me, and I nod before answering. There's only a few people who normally speak French with me. Mattheo sometimes, Camdus sometimes, and then my brothers. My mother's family was Fench, so we always spoke it with each other, and I learned it growing up. I speak Russian, learned over years at Durmstrang, and I can also speak passable Bulgarian. Of course, on top of those, I'm well versed in ancient languages both muggle and magical due to my grandfather's teachings. The voice is Alvarus' and he comes up behind me, placing his hands on my shoulders.

"Yes." I reply, and he nods.

"Leaving Durmstrang." He says slowly, shaking his head and chuckling slightly. "Mum would be happy." I chuckle, smiling. She always hated that school, and did want me to go to Hogwarts instead, but my father's family insisted. I suppose it's quite ironic that now that she's gone I have to go there doing a job for my grandfather. "And then you can be known to everyone." He says, and I can hear the smile in his voice.

Alvarus has always been sweeter with me. Of course, he has his distant moments, and sometimes he can be incredibly cold, but moments like these aren't infrequent and he's usually there for me if I need him. Ignacio is like that sometimes, but mostly he's immersed in his work, busying himself with dark magic and his particular fascination with the manipulation of air and light, particularly removing and manipulating light to create total darkness, both literally and magically more as a feeling of pure darkness and terror.

Occasionally, Ignacio and Alvarus together scare me, but I'd never let them know that. They can both be terrifying when necessary, and there's no arguing they aren't extremely powerful and as masterful in their magic, as well as in their charm. I've seen them being manipulative up close, and even the most well acquainted and paranoid person would melt for them if they told them to. Of course, when I say they scare me it's more that they impress me than I'm actually worried for my safety with them. I'd trust them with my life, and I do. They're my family, and to someone with the blood of a Grindelwald, that goes deeper than what most 'close' families mean when they say they are close. It's less that I'm frightened of what they can do, and more that I'm frightened that when given the chance, I won't match up to them.

That's one of the reasons I'm so eager for this task, because this is the first thing of real consequence I'm doing completely independently. It feels like a test, and I'm determined to prove myself to my family. I'll show Camdus and anyone who wants to compare me to my parents, even Mattheo, that I'm more than them.

"You'll be perfect with us, Eiress." He says, and I smile slightly. "You think you won't be as good as us, but I've seen it... I've seen you. Even with those who don't know your last name already... you'll be fantastic." He pauses for a moment. "Ignacio won't say it to you, but he feels the same way." I chuckle. "It's true. I think he's the most excited." He says with a grin. "We'll miss you." He says, wrapping his arms around me now and leaning down so his chin is on my shoulder.