CVIII. THE MIRROR OF DESIRE
21:79 ─❁────────── 31:80
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❝Waking up to kiss you and nobody's there
So far from the stars❞
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SHE TRIED; LUCIA DID TRIED.
Being in the confinements of the hospital wing, Lucia found temporary solace as she was forced to inhabitant the place for a couple of weeks, rather than having to step out toward the corridors that would eventually lead her to her demise.
After being tortured and having to suffer public humiliation because of it, Lucia didn't think she had enough mentality to bear walking the corridors while chances of people making fun of the situation, she was in would be high. That, and the fact that the prospect of continuing her daily life was just something she couldn't imagine.
Luckily, her friends had updated her on what was going on whilst she was recovering, and the things she heard made her swallow in utter mortification.
She could never heal from this.
"Well, instead of calling you the girl in the trunk, they're now calling you the girl that got tortured," said Luna smilingly, as she poured pumpkin juice in Lucia's goblet.
"I-I don't think that makes it any better," said Lucia weakly.
"I don't think it was supposed to," said Luna airily.
She was the talk of the school, and it was all because of the Carrows making her as an example to imbed fear in the students and staffs. Though it was horrible, and Lucia was aware that she should feel utter fear, she did not — well, she did whenever they were to enter the hospital wing for no reasons, probably trying to scare her, but not to the point that she did not want to see them. In actuality, she was angry.
They messed up her body and mind really bad, and there was no way of healing the scars she got from them. Even her scalp throbbed from the many times they had pulled her hair so harshly. She really wanted to plan a murder, luckily, she didn't have to, for her friends were planning that for her.
If there was one thing that came out of her being tortured, it was the resurrection of the D.A. that Neville, Ginny, and Luna now led in place of Harry; they were able to gather a good number of students that were brave enough to join them, and hopefully there would be more to come.
They had asked for her to lead the group the first time they reinstated the D.A., but Lucia decline the offer; she simply didn't think she was in the right enough mind to even lead a whole rebellion. Every second of the day, all she would feel was numbness and the inability to be straightforward with her feelings to the point that it was jumbled up in her heart. She was also never a leader, so that was a thing too. But it was all and all due to her sick mental state.
Every day she was to flutter her eyes open, she would only feel dread. It felt like she was milking the whole "Woe is me" scenario, but in all honesty, even if she wanted to get rid of that rubbish already, she couldn't.
One night in the hospital wing left her restless as she awoke in the middle of the night with a start; her eyes gazed around the hospital wing in a panic manner before it calmed and she slumped back against her pillow, a hand over her heart. She had a dream — no, more like a distant memory...
"Are you... why are you hiding in the bush?" Little Lucia asked as she halted in motion, midway through her stroll around the school's garden. She saw a peculiar sight of a bespectacled boy with unruly hair and clothes that were too big for him to even fit, hiding in the bushes behind the peony flowers. She furrowed her eyes.
The strange boy perked at her voice and wheeled at her, "Leave me alone!"
"I... you're very weird, very odd," she said as she made a beeline toward him. He lost his balance in his crouch at her suddenness, causing him to fall back on the ground. She peered over him, "Very mysterious, strange boy,"
"Don't call me strange boy!" he huffed. "I'm not strange — I'm not a freak either!"
Lucia quirked her head, "I never said you were..."
The strange boy scoffed. "Whatever,"
"So..." She looked around the proximity before she closed in on him and whispered, "Are you being chased?"
The boy had red tinted his cheeks for some odd reason. "No, now go away,"
She shook her head, much to his dismay as she fiddled around with her ponytail, "I think not!" Lucia chirped, making him groan. "Also, if you're being chase... My big brother told me that if I were to ever get chased by bad people, I should always hide behind someone bigger than me!"
The boy narrowed his eyes at her, "What are you insinuating here?!"
"I'm just saying," she shrugged, "You know, since I'm standing, I'm technically bigger than you,"
"How — ?"
"Can I tell you something?"
"No," he said. "Also, an eight-year-old like you shouldn't be talking to strangers!"
"You can't say that, that's just hypocritical of you," she stated. "Now, let me speak,"
"But —"
"I have a secret that no one knows yet... do you want to know?"
Lucia slipped out of the doors of the hospital wing silently with every fiber of her body, her nightgown and cardigan being the only thing to fend her off from the chilliness of the coming autumn, and her wand being her only source of light. Peculiarly, even with all that's going on, the castle grounds in the night remained tranquil, but she wasn't going to complain.
If it had changed, that would only add to her stress.
It wasn't safe, she knew that. No one in their right mind would think of venturing around a castle that was now in the hands of murderous Death Eaters that would find any excuse to torture and all and all, kill them. But Lucia didn't seem to find that thought quite affective as all she could think of was the memory that kept haunting her mind.
Was that actually a memory, or was it just something she wished to be a memory?
Suddenly, she halted in motion in the middle of the corridor. She had been walking around the castle, but she wasn't even sure just how long she had been doing it before she realised that she was now in the seventh floor; she could easily detect it, for it was the floor that would inevitable lead her to Gryffindor Tower, but it was also the floor that was so familiar to her in another way.
She heaved out a sharp breath.
Stop it, Lucia, you're hallucinating again. You're delusioning as a means of coping, and it's getting unhealthy.
But how was she supposed to stop when this very corridor already held so many memories?
As she stood still, she took in the tapestries, the banners, the portraits, but all she could think of was the smell of him that seemed to be stuck in the air still. It was hard; she could remember the many times in which she, him, Ron, and Hermione had used this corridor together, and now they were no longer anywhere beside her. They were gone, somewhere far.
Yet, the only thing Lucia wished at this moment in time was for her to see them again. To see him.
"Everything will always come back to you, my love,"
Lucia never understood what it meant. She thought that her mother was just talking riddles again last Christmas, but now she began to reconsider what it meant as a sudden breeze of wind blew through her face oddly; she thought, why would there be wind? But it all made sense as she saw a glint of light int the corner of her eyes.
A highly polished door had appeared in the wall. Lucia stared at it blinkingly: The Room of Requirements?
Why on earth would the Room of Requirements appear in front of her? Well, unless they had Harry, Ron, and Hermione tuck in there, there was really no reason for it to appear. Regardless, Lucia felt compelled to go ahead; she reached out, seized the brass handle, pulled open the door, and was greeted by a fairly cavernous room that held so many trinketts and furniture before a lone mirror in the middle of the room caught her eyes.
She moved forward and closed the door behind her. The Room of Requirements merely looked as though it was just another school storeroom, but somehow the mirror made her doubt — made her believe that it didn't belong here.
It was a magnificent mirror, as high as the ceiling, with an ornate gold frame, standing on two clawed feet. There was an inscription carved around the top: Erised stra ehru oyt ube cafru oyt on wohsi.
Lucia furrowed her eyes. "The hell?"
But why was she so tempted to stand in front of it?
Go ahead, stand in front of it.
Why should she?
Looks like the Room's been waiting for you. Look, it even prepared a small cushion for you to sit...
That makes it even more suspicious.
But you are the one that wished to see them, right? To see Harry?
But —
Go ahead and see them.
Before she could even comprehend, her legs moved up toward the mirror. Lucia fell on her knees on the cushion before she stared at the mirror peculiarly as she raised her dull-lit wand to see better.
There she was, reflected in it, confuse.
"So, it really is just an ordinary —" Her words were short-lived when her reflection blurred into nothingness, dissipate into the greyish dust when suddenly she saw someone else in it.
She had almost jump if it were not for the fact that she was frozen solid. Lucia couldn't believe what was before her, she just couldn't believe it was real... which she truly did believe was not, but perhaps a trick of her mind. Nonetheless, water brimmed her eyes as she stared back at the mirror, placing her free hand soft and gingerly upon its surface.
"H-Harry?" Her voice came out unintentionally thick, but she couldn't be bothered to acknowledge that. All she could focus on was the person in the mirror.
Harry — her Harry, sat across from her with all his glory, yet it also felt distant. Her heart rammed against her ribcage, and she found it hard to breathe, to believe. Her stomach felt like it was doing cartwheels as the Harry inside the mirror smile softly at her with that smile that brought light; Lucia watched painstakingly as he pressed his palm over hers, the mirror acting as if it was the barrier between them.
Lucia faltered.
Then standing behind him was two figures that she could recognise was Ron and Hermione. They, like Harry, was also smiling. They, like him, smiled in a way that made her feel safe and calm.
But this was not real, she had to remind herself.
Yet...
She wanted to stay here, forever.
As if reading her mind, the Harry within the mirror shook his head. Lucia gazed at him with her crystalised eyes. "W-What are you trying to say?"
He raised his other hand and pressed a finger over the mirror. She watched as he slowly traced words upon it, and she could read: You can't.
Lucia shook her head profusely, denying. "Why can't I? Why can't I stay here forever? Who's going to stop me? No one!"
The Hermione of the mirror furrowed her eyes softly, as if to tell her to that she can't just ignore her problems, that she still had responsibilities. The Ron of the mirror looked as though it was letting out a soft sigh before he casted her a saddening look, to say: We're not real.
"I know that! You don't have to tell me twice! I know you aren't real! I know that you're not my Harry — and you're not my Ron — and you're not my Hermione, but why won't you let me stay here?! I'll be happier, don't you want that?!" Lucia cried desperately, yearning their touches that she knew was impossible. "Stop looking at me like that and let me be! Let me be happy for once!"
The Harry of the mirror softened his gaze as he stared at the shattered Lucia before him. Softly, he knocked upon the mirror, desperate to garner her attention, in which thankfully he did as she slowly and hesitantly raised her gaze at him with blotchy red eyes.
He couldn't speak.
Artificial reflection was never able to speak, but if he could've, he would've assured her. He would've told her that it was fine to fall, but that didn't mean that she should never get back up.
He gazed her in a way that he was hoping for her to understand: This isn't happiness. This is merely your desire; it can never be your happiness...
"Why not?" she croaks, leaning her head against the pane defeatedly.
The Harry within the mirror knock once more, but this time with rhythm. A rhythm that Lucia recognises vividly as morse code.
Because they're out there.
She sniffled. "How are you so sure?"
He knocked once more
Because I just know, so please don't be sad all the time.
"How can I not? You... He le — slipped away from my grasp before I could even blink... He was gone before I could even tell him everything... the words I've never gotten to say the first time around..."
You don't have to not be sad, but you must think of yourself now...
How can she? How can she think of herself when she can barely func —
Oh.
Lucia leaned back to fix her eyes on the artificial Harry before her, who nodded at her knowingly.
What was she doing with her life? She had so much to live for, she still had so many things she wanted to do with or without them being with her... She shouldn't be second-guessing her life like this when she still have so much that was waiting for her over that sea...
Lucia squeezed her eyes and leaned her head back against the pane as the tears she saved slowly slipped down her cheeks, her body quivering. It took her everything, her strength, her willpower, to release her hand from the mirror... to release the desire of wanting to see them again as she encased herself in her own embrace, sobbing silently underneath the quiet moonlight.
"DiFiore?"
Her sniffles, her hiccups, it didn't stop for anyone as she continued on with her woes. She couldn't even be bothered to look around and see who had come into the Room of Requirements, but the voice made her realise enough just who it was.
"Leave me... Leave me..." — she hiccuped — "A-Alone!"
"With that sorry state you're in? I think not," Lucia opened her blotchy eyes, staring into the mirror as the images of her friends — Harry, dissipates into the mirror with encouraging smiles at her, nowhere to be seen again. Now, she could see herself clearly. She was also able to see Draco Malfoy over her shoulder.
"What are —" she sniffled, "doing here?" she eyed him judgingly through the mirror, eyes cold.
He let out a sigh and shrug, "This was my place, you know? I practically lived here,"
Lucia narrowed her eyes — not that she needed to thanks to how swollen her eyes already was, "But there's no need anymore..."
"You think?" Draco hummed thoughtfully before he took a step forward toward her. She was about to point her wand at him when he draped his robe around her shoulder and crouched down before her with an expression that Lucia found quite questionable; "You... You can cry you know?"
Lucia looked at him, incredulous. "What?"
"You can —"
"I heard you the first time," snapped Lucia, wiping her tears with the sleeves of her cardigan. "But I'm not going to do that because you'll only poke fun at me," she said thickly.
Draco gnawed his lip, "I won't,"
"Yeah, right," Lucia scoffed.
"Fine, think what you want I guess," scowled Draco, subconsciously helping her up to her shaky feet. He gazed at her peculiarly before he propped his robe properly around her shoulder, "You shouldn't be out of the hospital wing..."
"Yeah? Since when did you care about my well-being?"
"I never said I was," he rolled his eyes.
"You implied," stated Lucia.
"Come on, let's get you back before Madam Pomfrey has your head," Draco said, stirring her away from the mirror that he found her at. But he was distracted himself, especially from what he had seen on that mirror...
It was odd.
Why did he see Astoria there and not Lucia?
Draco shrugged.
Though Lucia wanted to rebut, she didn't. She didn't have energy to. After she had cried her eyes out, she felt nothing but feeble that even her journey back down to the hospital wing she could predict was going to be tough... for Draco per se. He would probably do the walking for her while she'll force him to giver her piggy-back ride.
However, as they were about to exit the Room of Requirements, Lucia couldn't help but looked over her shoulder at the mirror. There was no doubt about it...
"deepest, most desperate desire of our hearts."
The night in which she had cried her eyes out, the night in which Draco Malfoy found her, it became something that was left unspoken between them. But it was for the better, for Lucia never wanted to speak of the night in which her greed and desire had almost taken over her if not for the mirror fighting back, as well as the appearance of Draco back then. It was a secret.
And between Draco and herself, they both knew it was better to stay a secret.
Before she knew it, October drew over the grim grounds of Hogwarts, air becoming chilly in contrast to the warm summer sun a week ago as autumn settled itself in their side of the hemisphere. Lucia was discharged and returned to Gryffindor Tower as fast as she could. She refused to communicate with anyone that was not her friend, in hopes to avoid having to relive the tails she wished to never speak of.
"Hello, Crookshanks!" Lucia giggled, as the cat pounce on her when she entered the dormitory. "How've you been whilst I was gone? Did Lavender and Parvati accompany you, or did you have some friend over?"
She then heard a faint sound of squeaking, and instantly she knew whom it belonged to.
Bao Bao climbed down from the pole of her bed and into her arms, joining Crookshanks in her embrace. "I should've known," she sighed, petting both of her companions. "I missed you both, did you know that?"
Crookshanks meowed regally, and Bao Bao squeaked.
"And do you know who else I miss?" Lucia's face suddenly falter, her smile dimming as her eyes wondered to the three photo frames upon her bedside table. Crookshanks purred against her lap, as Bao Bao nuzzled his face into her neck, comforting her. "I miss them..."
It would be a lie if she said she did not miss them. She missed her parents... her grandparents... her brothers... her friends... Harry... She missed them to the moon and back. It was impossible not to missed them, but with all that's been going on around her, she almost forgotten the problem she had found recently.
"Hey, Crookshanks,"
The cat meowed in response.
"Are you sure you're not an Animagus?" Lucia asked absentmindedly, and Crookshanks stopped licking himself, gazing at Lucia offendedly.
He meowed.
Lucia gasped, and Bao Bao squeaked, scandalised.
"Okay, there's no need to use that tone on me!" scoffed Lucia, pushing herself back up to her feet, moving toward her bedside. "Plus, I was just hoping that maybe you are and that you were someone from my dad's past or something. I'm that desperate you know?"
"Meow," meowed Crookshanks.
"Yes, well, I don't even know what kind of things that this investigation would lead to, you know?"
"Squeak," squeaked Bao Bao.
"What if I don't like what I'll find out? What if those tarnishes who I think my dad is? I've always wanted to be like him, because the way Mum told me about him... he was, well, good," said Lucia, eyes downcast to her scarred hand that was bandaged.
she still had not seen what Alecto had made her write, and frankly she did not think she ever want to know...
Even the mere sight of quills made her shudder. Damned the person that invented it.
Lucia shook her head. She really did think that upholding Mrs. Weasley's promise about not getting herself in any trouble was proving to be very difficult now as she sat on her bed aimlessly. She thought that anything she could do would make the Carrows want to torture her again — perhaps that's why they decided to move the torture to where everyone could see. Because it was fun for them.
"Squeak, squeak, squeak," said Bao Bao on her shoulder, and Lucia nodded, listening attentively.
"You think I should do it?"
"Meow," Crookshanks bobbed his head with his nonexistent neck, as if trying to nod at her.
Lucia sat on her knees, not minding the pain she was feeling from her injuries as she tapped her chin thoughtfully as she stared at her trunk in wonder. She then rummaged through it with her good hand, before taking it a familiar floral journal she had deposited.
"Should I start from the beginning then, Mr. Bao? Crookshanks? Bao Bao?" Lucia asked nervously, unwrapping her scarf from around her neck. "Do you really think I should be doing this? "
There was a chorus of squeaks and meows before Lucia let out a sigh.
"Okay..." she cleared her throat, "...1st September 1965..."
Dear journal,
This is my first log for this journal. Frankly, I have never had a proper journal before up until now. Would it be too girly of me to say that I am a bit excited to start this? Either way, Father told me that it is important to record the most important day of your life, and from now on, I will.
Today is the start of my journey in Hogwarts. At first, I did not think much of it and just assumed that it was just learning and socialising, just like those balls I always went to with Mother and Father. But now that I am sitting in the Hogwarts Express as it began to move toward the countryside, I feel a bit... nervous.
Was it normal for a twelve-year-old to feel so nervous before?
It never truly dawn on me before that I have to make friends, and Merlin small buttocks that I do not know the very basics of making friends. I am rubbish at it, for all of my life had only consisted of myself being sheltered and only socialised just to connect ties with other families and whatnot. I never truly had a real friend before... I hope I would be able to make one...
Lucia cocked a brow. Her father did not know how to make friends before? That was incredibly new...
Good evening, Journal,
So posh...
I have return to tell you that I was completely alone for a while when a bunch of narcissistic people suddenly raided my compartment while I was IN THERE. Can you believe that? The audacity!
I could not even say thing, because I was alone against too many people. They keep asking for my name too, which made it more uncomfortable for me but I had to tell them my name in the end. I said, "Florian," and that was all.
Luckily, they gave up, but there was this one person that has not stop bothering me, journal. He is even trying to peek on you!
I am about to end this barbaric guy if he does not stop —
Oh, he told me his name. His name is Rodolphus Lestrange... I think I have heard about the Lestrange family before from my parents, but either way, it was a weird name, huh?
Am I supposed to call him Rudolph the reindeer or something? Like....
Lucia was irritated. Nothing. She repeats, nothing could tell her what type of relationship he had with Rodolphus Lestrange. There was only one page that consisted of that man, and it was when they first met up. Not to mention she could not find any answers as to whom her father was as a person.
It felt as if she wasted her time.
But she was still adamant in trying to find proper answers to this. There was no way that Lestrange was just unhinged to point that he targeted her family and murdered her father cold-bloodedly before going into Azkaban's custody... That just seems too easy.
This was frustrating.
After lessons ended, Lucia did not was time in hurrying out of the classroom and to the library, sprinting as fast as she could as Mr. Bao and Bao Bao was inside her school bag. She entered the library and made a beeline to the reception desk.
"Madam Pince," she whispered, garnering the attention of the librarian. She spared her a glance, before continuing in polishing her leather-bound book.
"Aren't you supposed to be at dinner?" she eyed the young woman.
"Yes, well, I don't feel hungry," stated Lucia hastily. "I'll get straight to the point, okay? I heard that Hogwart's library so happens to be the largest and most archaic library in the whole Great Britain —"
"That is the truth," nodded Madam Pince, narrowing her eyes suspiciously at the girl.
"So is it possible that most records are in here as well? Like, past student records for example..."
"Now why do you want to know about this?" she asked calmly, leaning forward by the palm of her hand.
"I... I just need to figure something out," said Lucia desperately.
Madam Pince stared at Lucia momentarily, before she stood up and rounded the reception desk, before she pushed the book trolley, waving her wand. Lucia followed suit after the librarian.
"Pretty please, Madam Pince. Just confirm it for me!"
Books floated above them both, going back to their rightful place in the books racks as the two walked down the rows, retrieving books one by one. "I won't deny that records are being kept in my library, however why on earth does a child like you one to find these records?"
"It's..."
"It's illegal for someone without authority to look through it, and it is forbidden someone of your stance and position to enter the area,"
"Madam Pince, please just give me a lee way," pleaded Lucia. "I need to find out,"
"Find what out, exactly?" Madam Pince cocked a brow.
Lucia gnawed her lip, before she glanced up at the woman. "I need... I need to find out things about my father..."
"Florian," breathed Madam Pince.
"You know him?" Lucia asked, surprised.
"Not personally, no. However," she wheeled back around, dusting off the bookshelves and shoving books into Lucia's hands, beckoning the girl to help her out subconsciously. "There isn't a person back then that didn't know him."
"What d'you mean?" Lucia furrowed her eyes, confused.
"How he died," said Madam Pince. "Everyone in the Wizarding world have never been told of such passionate murder before. When you think of murder in our world, it would be something like the Killing Curse, but this one is different. It was as though it came out of what seemed to be a murder mystery book,"
"But it isn't,"
"Exactly, for it was real. And not to mention that the murderer did not even hide the fact that he did it," said Madam Pince listlessly, before she turned to Lucia, taking a double take. "You didn't know?"
"I... I was told that it was just a normal killing that happened back then," Lucia said quietly, as she played with the cuffs of her sleeves.
"Oh, you poor girl... you don't even know the truth, do you?"
Lucia shook her head.
"Well, I can't be the one to tell you," said Madame Pince.
"I'm quite aware of that," said Lucia. "That's why I'm asking you for permission to search through the records."
"As I said, it is not something you can obtain easily,"
"Then what can I do to?" Lucia asked. "I'm desperate here, please,"
Madam Pince stared at the girl for a moment. She studied her eyes that were as though stars imbedded the sky, almost mirroring a starry night sky. In those eyes, she saw truth, sincerity, and desperation unlike any other as she pleaded at her.
Madam Pince digressed.
"Oh, all right then," she said, and Lucia breathed out a scoff of bewilderment.
"Really?"
"But with one condition," said Madam Pince firmly, and Lucia nodded.
"What is it?" she asked, eyes twinkling.
"You are now assistant librarian and will be coming here every time your lessons end and after your seventh-year comes to an end, you will return until you get a proper occupation," told Madam Pince. "Miss DiFiore, I am aware of your dislike for reading, that is why I will be making it hard for you. Take it as punishment," she added.
Lucia nodded vigorously. "I understand!" I am completely fine with books, Madam Pince...
But she did not need to know that just yet.
"Now, shoo!" Madam Pince beckoned. "You'll get dust on my lovely books!"
Giggling, Lucia shouldered her school bag and hurriedly away from Madam Pince, leaving the woman with her lips twitching.
"How uncanny of you both..."
"Say, Madam Pince,"
"Oh, not you again," she groaned.
"I just want you to know that you look beautiful today," he said swiftly, before shouldering his school bag and hurrying away, leaving her in a state of scoffing.
"How typical..."
Lucia ran excitedly, avoiding tables and tables that were inhabited by students younger than her. She then reached to the much more secluded part of the library, the Restricted Section. She read somewhere in the Hogwarts: A History that the Restricted Section was home to many books that were considered rare, valuable, and sometimes inappropriate for students to reach. However, it was the home of many unread records that had been kept for years regarding students, or any events that had occurred in the past. And she was going to enter it legally.
Cool.
"Are you ready?" she whispered quietly, making sure that Madam Pince was nowhere around. Bao Bao peeked his head out of her school bag slightly, before giving her a squeak, indicating he was ready.
Lucia giggled. "Let's do this,"
As she stood idly in front of the rope that separated the section from the rest of the library, Lucia carefully stepped over the rope, and she felt a chilly breeze hitting her face. It was definitely very different than the rest of the library, which made her wonder what lies before her other than stuff she shouldn't look through.
Lucia and Bao Bao wandered around, searching for the material they needed. From row to row, they searched aimlessly when finally, they arrived in front of racks of books that consisted of yearbooks of almost every year since the start of Hogwarts. They were all large and most likely heavier than gold... there were even the ones that were dated from the medieval ages.
Curious, Lucia took a peek and perhaps she should not have expected much, but it was very much odd to see a yearbook with portrait paintings and old parchment instead of the normal materials. Lucia slid back with little difficulty it came from and began to look up and down in the row that was titled, "1900s."
Her fingers traced from one book to another. 1910... 1925... 1940... 1941... 1957... 1960... 1965!
With great strength, Lucia pulled the large book out of the bookshelf and hoisted it with great difficulty onto the solo-table in front of her. Once she did, an explosion of dust erupted in front of her face, causing her to go in an onslaught of sneezing.
"Oh, geez!" she cried, sneezing. "They really weren't kidding when they say that once in the Restriction Section, it'll never be touch!"
Bao Bao climbed up to her shoulders, peering the abnormally large book. He gave out a squeak.
"Of course I'm sure this is the one. I did the math, and the journal even said it's 1965!" said Lucia, glancing at him with her hands o her hips. "If it's wrong, I would literally just get a free workout for nothing,"
"Squeak!"
"Don't use that tone on your mother, mister," Lucia scolded the champagne ferret. "I know I need the workout, but that's not the way to say it!"
"Squeak! Squeak!"
Lucia grasped Bao Bao in her hand and stared at him with a deadpanning expression. "Oh, you definitely learn those words from Crookshanks, didn't you?"
Bao Bao squeaked, and Lucia had enough of his attitude as she blanketed out her hanky on the table, sitting him down beside Mr. Bao.
"No more insults, will you? Just keep me company?"
Lucia turned to look back at the giant yearbook, and already she felt her neck straining. Merlin better be rolling in his grave right now...
Why?
She didn't know herself. She just hopes that he wasn't resting so peacefully.
Sitting slowly on the chair, Lucia flipped through the pages. It was old — of course, not as old as the one she saw before, but it was still old. It was odd to think that they had different school informs back then, but at the same time it was logical for that to happen; it seemed that during the 60s, and most likely the decade before that, the girls sported checkered pinafores below their robes that seemed more like coats, whilst the boys wore black vest and long trousers below their coat-like robes that were embroidered by the symbol of their Houses.
Lucia looked down at her uniform, before she frowned.
"Bao Bao, Mr. Bao, why is my generation so plain when it comes to uniform? Like, remember Durmstrang and Beauxbatons — oops, I've forgotten you weren't there yet back then Bao Bao, but just know they're much more elegant and interesting than this," said Lucia, huffing as she turned a page. She then stop dead.
"Wow, there's a lot of them..." she whispered to herself, eyes scanning the pages. She knew that if her year had a book, each House would most likely be sharing a page, for there were not much of them...
Lucia turned a page and reached the 1965 first years of Slytherin House. They were many of them, more than the other Houses. She traced her fingers over their moving, yet regal and nervous pictures. She read out a few names that were prominent on each and every one of the legends such as: BROWN, VIVIANA... CHANG, CHRISTINE... MALFOY, LUCIUS... DOLOHOV, ANTONIN... DIFIO —
"DiFiore, Florian! We found him, guys!" said Lucia ecstatically, now propping herself properly on her chair as she stared down at her father young figure.
He was different, she thought. Between the pictures she has of him and this one, it was as though they were both a different person entirely. While the pictures in her possession told stories of how lighthearted and kind he was, the one that was staring back at her told chilling legends of how cold he was...
Lucia trailed her eyes to the journal on her lap, recalling his first log in his journal. The way she read... the tone she had of his voice in her mind...
"Have I been reading him wrong this whole time?" Can't be...
She looked back at the boy with looks that could kill. What changed?
Her eyes further trailed own the page of her book until she reached the photo of a young boy with a haughty grin and even with the black and white ink of the picture, she could tell that he possessed black hair. The legend read, LESTRANGE RODOLPHUS.
"Lestrange... LESTRANGE?!"
Lucia could not quite believe her eyes at the moment as she looked back from both her father's photo and to Lestrange's.
"T-That can't be right..." Lucia gaped, lost for words.
She had always expected her father to be the one that grin and happy, and Lestrange to be moody and grumpy. However, her expectations really did not match her reality as she stared at both of their photos.
Merlin's pink eye...
As shock as she was, she still had to get her priorities straight, for the answers of the bond between Florian and Rodolphus was still a mystery to her, and she needed to find out. Perhaps it could lead her to why Rodolphus did what he did other than being naturally unhinged.
Lucia found herself in a deep daze as she flipped from year to year. It was odd seeing her father growing up indirectly, while knowing that he could not do the same for her. Lucia was amazed just how much of a different person he slowly became, and the glint of light in his eyes slowly began to form and by seventh year, he possessed the kind smile that she knew so well. Right as she was about to shrug it off, her eye caught something interesting.
OPPOSITES ATTRACTS
The top of the page stated, and with her dark eyes, they stopped on a particular photo of two young mean, side-hugging each other as they wore a pair of flower crowns. The light hair one had a crown adorned with peonies and dandelions and roses, whilst the dark hair one had daffodils and red dahlias.
They looked happy. Happier than how they became.
They were indeed best friends... so, what happened?
Before she could further investigate, a blinding light filled her vision, appearing out of nowhere.
Bao Bao immediately scrambled into her bag, hiding as Lucia stood up suddenly, only to be met by a Patronus of a horse.
"Lucia, can you come down for dinner? We have some favour to ask you," Ginny's voice emitted echoingly from the Patronus, before it dissipated into thin air.
Lucia blinked.
A favour?
Regardless, Lucia didn't decline it as she hastily cleaned up after herself, putting the large book back from where it came from. She still had plenty of time, it was just her curiosity that was killing her —
Her thoughts broke off when a book on top of her and down to the floor, accidentally opening a page. She winced.
"What the — ?" Lucia rubbed the back of her head, slowly going into a squatting position as she reached out for the book. Lucia furrowed her eyes.
HORCRUX
"What in the world is that supposed to be?" Lucia scoffed, but an uncomfortable sensation filled her heart as she said it.
She rubbed over her heart, closing her eyes. Why did it sound so foreign, yet so familiar?
Lucia picked the book up and read the title.
"Liber Cataclysmi..."
Weird name.
Must have been written by an oddball for sure.
She shook her head aimlessly and was about to put it back, however there was no place for it. She swore she saw an ajar spot for it to be placed in, but it was gone. How...
Lucia decided not to think much about it and merely shoved the book inside her school bag, sighing. "Well, looks like you are coming with me, Bao Bao, and Mr. Bao, book," she said, before sauntering away, unbeknownst of what it means for her future.