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'I met a girl once,
she sorta ripped me open'
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-Eden-
Eden Grace was just two years old when her entire family was slaughtered. One would look at Eden now and have no sympathy for her; what the world had done to her is too deep for a sane mind to comprehend. Yet the tale that will be told will not be about Eden's childhood, how men twisted her mind and turned her into a weapon, or how they drove her insane. No, you will learn about how she became the saviour and the villain, all at once.
Eden Grace, sixteen, and a child of the cause. 'What's the cause?' You may ask. The cause was a secret organisation formed by the most skilled wizards during the first wizarding war, 'similar to the order', someone foolish and ignorant would probably say, but this organisation was lethal. It was founded by the same man who founded The Order of the Phoenix, Albus Dumbledore. The Cause was founded with only four families, all which had only one child, babies to be exact. Eden was one of those babies. The four families died the summer that Harry Potter defeated Voldemort, and they left their children behind. With no other families to care for them, Dumbledore took the four orphans in. With them, he began to create his next army.
Albus Dumbledore always knew the Dark Lord would come back, so he trained the four orphans. Alec Aspen, Kara Lotus, Apollo Archer, and Eden Grace. . . 'The ones who will save the wizarding world!' he claimed. He got them trainers and teachers, muggles and wizard folk, so by the age of fourteen they were finished with their education. Dumbledore trained them in Bulgaria, where the law was different and there was no such thing as 'underage magic'.
You see, they were never kids. The members of the cause, which was now made up by the four orphans, had all killed someone too many times to count in their young lives. They were skilled in muggle fighting and wizarding duels. They had managed to control some of the most dangerous and difficult magic such as elemental and animagus. They were weapons, at least that is what all their trainers had told them.
So, they were a bit dangerous, weren't they?
• • •
"Eden, wake up!" Kiara's voice hissed in Eden's ear. The blonde turned her head to one of her best mates, she saw that the boys were already changed in their training robes. "He's here!"
"I'll be there in a minute," Eden grunted, raising herself from the bed. Kiara crossed her arms over her chest.
"Don't be a bitch, Eden, please," Kiara begged to the girl she saw as her sister.
"I won't, Kiara," Eden sneered.
"Oh, get over it, will you?" Snapped Kiara.
"I am over it!" Thundered Eden, but the flashbacks were already coming back.
Blood, there was a lot of it, a gun being pointed to a man's head, the man whimpering and begging for mercy to the girl who had her slim finger on the trigger.
"You're the one who asked to be the first one," Kiara acknowledged. Eden could hear the faint voice of her younger self begging to be the first.
'Please! Let it be me! Not him!' agonising sobs filled Eden's ear as if she was speaking in that moment.
"You know why I did that," Eden whispered as she pulled a shirt over herself.
"I know," Kiara said fondly. "You killed that man so Apollo wouldn't have to, it was noble, Eden, it really was."
"Yeah, well, eight year old me thought she should protect Apollo, and that's what she did," shrugged Eden as she locked herself in the bathroom.
The house in which Eden, Apollo, Alec, and Kiara lived wasn't very big. They had five libraries, three bathrooms, a kitchen, a dinning hall, a training room, and two bedrooms. Why five libraries? The answer is simple, those were the ones they used for their lessons. There was one library for each child and an extra one to spend time in. They all lived in the same bedroom, there wasn't much they hid from each other anyway, and the second bedroom was occupied by whomever was educating them at the time, but now it was a simple guest room. You might think it is a little irresponsible to allow four sixteen year olds alone, but after training for so many years they were extremely disciplined. They had lived on their own since they were fourteen, with the occasional visit from Dumbledore, of course.
Eden finished what she had to do in the bathroom quickly, she fetched her wand and a simple pocket dagger before she headed to the kitchen. It was Apollo's turn for breakfast, which came as a relief to Eden since she and Alec usually burned all the breakfast on their days.
As Eden entered the kitchen she spotted Dumbledore sitting besides Alec. That day was one of Dumbledore's visit days. Eden smiled at the man before taking her usual seat on Alec's other side, facing Apollo, who was too busy cooking at the moment.
"Eggs and bacon, Eden. Eat up!" Apollo said as he pushed Eden's plate for her. She gave him a smile of gratitude as she began to eat.
"Mr. Dumbledore," Alec began, Eden knew he wanted to get out of the house, but Dumbledore had promised them that they could only leave once their help was needed in the Order. "Has Voldemort risen up yet?"
This could sound like a joke, it wasn't.
"Yeah, we wanna do something else, we are getting bored here," Kiara complained.
"Alec, Kiara, as a matter of fact, Lord Voldemort has returned," Dumbledore said calmly. One would expect a gasp, a shriek, but that wasn't what came out of the four teenager's mouths.
"Wicked!" The four of them breathed at the same time, their mouths forming the exact same smirk.
"Two of you are working on the inside of Hogwarts and the other two will be working with the adults in the order," he informed them. There was an uproar in the instant, none of them wanted to work with the children.
"I call dibs on the grown-ups!" Eden exclaimed as she raised her hand up in the air.
"Mr. Dumbledore, I'm the smartest!" Apollo yelled.
"I don't want the kids!" Groaned Kiara.
"I'll fight you for the grown-ups, Eden!" Alec challenged.
"You're on!" Eden responded in the instant, cracking her knuckles. Dumbledore laughed at their reactions.
"Alec, Eden," Dumbledore began, Eden instantly sat up straighter on her chair. "You will assist Hogwarts this year."
"No!" Eden and Alec groaned.
"Yes!" Kiara and Apollo cheered.
"Apollo and Kiara, you will be staying here until further notice," Dumbledore informed them.
"No!" Apollo and Kara complained.
"Yes!" Eden and Alec high-fived.
"Pack up your equipment and meet me down here in five minutes," Dumbledore ordered. Alec and Eden nodded, disappearing off to the training room. By 'equipment' Dumbledore meant lethal muggle weapons. Alec's go-to was a bow, but he was quite handy with a sword. Eden, on the other hand, could use anything she could get her hands on, a spear, a sword, a dagger, a single arrow. . . anything that she could stab with.
See the danger now?
• • •
"Can you believe it?" Alec huffed once he and Eden stepped into their bedroom to gather up the last of their things. "We have to work with children!"
"May I remind you that we look like children ourselves?" Eden responded, packing her clothes.
"But we aren't children!" He reminded her. "What kind of child has mastered seven languages by the age of sixteen?"
"No need to brag, Alec," Eden said. "Besides, apparently Harry Potter has a knack for trouble so we will have our hands full with this kid."
"Hope you're right, Eden," Alec answered as he zipped up his bag with an undetectable extension in it. As they walked to the first floor landing again, they were met by Apollo and Kiara's irritated expression.
"Aww!" Eden cooed mockingly. "Are 'ickle Apollo and 'ickle Kiara sad because they have to stay in the house?" She caressed Apollo's cheek softly.
"Sod off, Eden!" Apollo said as he threw her hand aside, glaring at her but not being able to contain his goofy grin.
"Say your goodbyes, you will not see each other until the end of term," Dumbledore reminded them. Eden sighed and hugged Kiara.
"Don't get yourself killed, Eden," warned Kiara.
"I promise nothing," Eden responded cheekily. Kiara pulled out of the hug to stare at Alec and Eden concernedly.
"I meant it, you two, don't die on us," Kiara said seriously. Alec sighed and drew her into a hug, Eden doing the same with Apollo.
"Take care of each other," Apollo suggested, causing Eden to smile into his shoulder.
"Eden, hold on to my arm. Alec, hold onto Eden's arms," Dumbledore said and with one last glance, they disapparated into a dark-looking street.
Dumbledore handed them a piece of parchment with the words 'Twelve, Grimmauld place' written on them.
They were now a crucial part of the war.