Caelie's point of view:
Adaliz stood in front of me and stared at the bearded salesman. I looked confused at Garreth and Sebastian, who both smiled at me. I looked back at the salesman and saw tears streaming down his cheeks from his golden eyes.
"Caelie," he said quietly while Adaliz gave him a warm hug. My heart was beating like crazy. We made it. My father stood in front of me.
I didn't know what to do. I just felt myself start to cry. All of a sudden I had a thousand questions in my head. I was incapacitated.
I just stared at him. He wasn't much taller than Sebastian. As Adaliz stepped aside, he stood in front of me and hugged me while we both cried.
"Why didn't you ever get in touch with me?", I asked, crying loudly, "At least a sign of life. At least to know that you don't hate me and why you gave me to Marlee. Any explanation. Anything."
He cried just as miserably as I did, "We were scared. My parents were murdered and later Marlee was murdered too. We wanted ye to have a happy life. And when we were on our own two feet in Iceland, ye were already staying with your friend's family," he said, "We didn't want to burst into yer life overnight and take ye out of there."
"But how did ye find us?" Edvin asked, "No, wait. I'll close the shop and then we'll fly home. Are ye okay with that?"
I didn't know what to answer. Adaliz nodded happily, and Garreth and Sebastian followed.
We went outside. Edvin picked up his bag and locked the door. We walked without a word to the end of the village and took off.
"We live a little over 50 kilometers away from here. Away from civilization," he said quietly as we flew over the Icelandic nothingness. Edvin was looking concerned. I wondered what was on his mind.
In the distance, after a while, I saw a large volcano. A lake had formed in his crater. It looked absolutely picturesque. Edvin didn't talk much. I got the feeling he had a lot going through his head too and he didn't know where to start.
Next to the wide crater I saw a green meadow and many trees. Someone had obviously helped out here with magic. Edvin slowly lowered himself. As soon as we landed, I saw a lady with blond hair. That must be Fayette. She looked at me and slowly walked towards me. We really looked alike. Suddenly, I heard a loud "DADDY!", and saw a young, dark-haired girl hug Edvin.
All of a sudden I felt an immense anger rising up inside me. They had left me in England and had a second child afterwards? My jaw clenched, which Sebastian quickly noticed and put his hand on my shoulder to calm me. I wanted to scream. I wanted to lash out.
"Keep calm, Caelie," Garreth said softly. Adaliz looked shocked as well. Edvin took the child and moved a little to one side. Garreth and Sebastian grabbed me left and right and pulled me aside.
From a distance we could hear Adaliz and Fayette arguing in French while they both howled.
The pain and anger within me increased. What should stop me from torturing all three with the Cruciatus Curse? "Hey Caelie! What are you thinking about?" Garreth asked turning me to him. "I want to cause someone pain," I said truthfully. "I know. It's the first time I've seen such tremendous darkness in you." Garreth said, concerned.
"If you want to hurt someone, do it to me. I still owe you Crucio to me," Sebastian said, placing a hand on my cheek. I didn't hesitate and slapped him. "I'm definitely not going to use that curse on you. Are you crazy?" I asked irritably, "I'm sorry, it's not your fault. But seeing this really hurts." I said and felt myself start to cry again. I could still hear Adaliz raging in the distance.
I heard Adaliz getting louder again. Sebastian hugged me and didn't let go. Rarely in my life have I felt so betrayed. I felt worthless and unnecessary.
Apparently we were called, at least Sebastian broke the hug and we went back.
"Caelie, I'm so sorry," Fayette said softly, crying as well. "We really only wanted to protect you." She sobbed.
"You're either lying or you're not protecting your other daughter," Sebastian said coolly as he wrapped his arm around me. "You're just as direct as your father, little Sallow. And no, neither. Elísabet doesn't have the skills Caelie has. She's a Squib, so she's not relevant to the humans that are after me and Caelie. Because these people are after our magic." Fayette said softly.
Fayette summoned a large table and six chairs. "Sit down, but Elísabet, please go into the house and your chores, yes?" she said softly. "Caelie, this is your little sister Elísabet. She is 8 years old. Please don't hate her for our mistakes. It's not her fault," said Edvin.
"You're probably the young Weasley that used to play with Caelie, then?" asked Edvin Garreth. He smiled and nodded.
"And you're Samuel and Annabel's son? What do you have to do with Caelie? How come you're accompanying her here?" Fayette asked. "We're her fiancés. The three of us are getting married next year," Sebastian said. Fayette and Edvin looked very surprised but said nothing. "Congratulations!" said Edvin, smiling at us.
"Why did you leave me with Marlee and never contacted me?" I blurted out.
"Because there aren't only dangerous families in France.", Fayette said softly. "Your blood is valuable in itself, but your magic is what many old magicians covet families for. In France, this mainly affects one family, the de la Lunes. However, there is another family in England. It's a smaller, but no less powerful or less ruthless family. We wanted to blur the track a bit. That's why we could only watch you from afar. This family offered to protect us from my family if you would marry their youngest son in return. We turned it down and then they fraternized with each other. And so everything took its tragic course. They killed Edvin's parents first, and then Marlee. We knew that you would be safe with the Weasleys. We didn't want to risk that safety."
"What's the name of this family?" Sebastian asked, with an expression that showed he already knew. "Gaunt. The descendants of Slytherin themselves. Ye might even know the boy. He's about yer age," Edvin said.
The Gaunts wanted to force Ominis and me into marriage?
Sebastian nodded. "He's my best friend." He said softly.
At that moment, Fayette and Edvin pulled out their wands and pointed them at Sebastian. Garreth and I drew our wands as well. "Ominis isn't like his family. He's blind and gentle. He loves to read and tell stories to kids. He doesn't believe in that pureblood stuff. He hasn't been with his family for years, he's always been with me, my sister and my uncle because he hates his own family," said Sebastian. "That's true. Ominis is really different." I said.
Fayette and Edvin lowered their wands. "And why didn't you even write me a letter?" I asked further. "We wanted to make it easier for you. We thought if ye hated us it would be easier for ye to deal with our absence. We kept checking on ye," Edvin said softly with his scottish accent.
"That's right. Do you remember New Years Eve? The rabbit and the dog? That was us!" Fayette said, smiling. "You bit me," I said dryly. "Yes, and I'm very sorry about that, but I didn't want you to recognize me," Fayette answered.
"And you guys just had another kid and left me with Marlee? And then with the Weasleys instead of taking me with you?" I said coolly. I was still very angry.
"What makes you think your daughter is a Squib?" asked Garreth, frowning. "Caelie's magical abilities showed up almost immediately after birth. It was unusual, though. Elísabet has no magical abilities to this day and she's already eight," Edvin said.
"My magic didn't show up until I was almost ten years old. That's also unusual, but it exists. My parents thought I was a squib, too." Garreth said, irritated. Edvin and Fayette raised their eyebrows and looked at each other.
"But do you really think it's okay to have a second child when you haven't taken care of the first?" Adaliz asked, staring at both of them. they were silent.
"It's not like we were actively wanting a second pregnancy. But it happened and we can't help it," Edvin said after a while.
"I'm going to meet her," Garreth said, standing up while Adaliz nodded, signaling my parents that it was ok. He went into the house and was not visible anymore. Garreth liked children, and so did I, but I couldn't bear Elísabet's face. It was like looking into the past in a mirror. In a mirror that reminded me of all the horrible things of my childhood.
It pained me to look at her. She, who had everything I ever wanted. I know it wasn't fair to blame her for my parents' faults, but I couldn't contain the anger inside. She really did look just like me. The only major difference was the color of the eyes. Her eyes were the same color as Fayette.
My head hurt, I wanted to ask a thousand questions, but actually I just wanted to be alone. Sebastian put his arm around me and pulled me to him.
Neither of us said a word. Fayette and Edvin gave me a thorough look. "You really have turned into a beautiful young woman," Fayette said quietly.
I looked at her. She was significantly older than in the picture, but still very pretty. Her blonde hair was noticeably shorter, but we still looked a lot alike.
"And I'm glad you have those two men by your side. They look like they can protect you well." Edvin said, smiling softly. "Well I do, but Garreth isn't a born fighter. He's a potion brewer and healer," Sebastian said. "Well, he can protect me anyway.", I said and had to smile a little.
"But actually, Caelie doesn't need any protectors. She's a really good duelist.", Sebastian said and gave me a kiss on the head.
"I have no doubt about that, but I still have a question.", Fayette said quietly, "How did you find us? It's good to finally be able to talk to you, but I'm worried someone else might find us too."
Sebastian shook his head. "I hardly believe that. Orla gave us the decisive clue."
Adaliz told Fayette about the note she found and about our search over the past few days. "It was just a stroke of luck that he recognized me," said Sebastian, pointing at Edvin, "and that I have to go into every bookstore I see."
"But even though I understand your intention, it hurts that you have had another child. She probably doesn't even know who I am," I said.
Edvin's eyebrows drew together. "Of course she knows who ye are. We always told her about you and what you do when we checked on you. She cares a lot about ye. Do ye think that we have banished ye from our life? No, pictures of ye are hanging all over the house. Even if we couldn't talk to ye, we still love ye. Ye are our daughter." He said softly.
"Why did these people kill my grandparents and Marlee? And why didn't they attack the Weasleys or me?" I asked.
"I'm guessing it was both the Gaunts. Edvin's parents killed them to show how serious they were. They killed Marlee to corner us. They ambushed us. They would have struck if we had come. And the Weasleys didn't attack them for several reasons. First of all, even though the Weasleys are so-called blood traitors, they are still purebloods. And pure blood shall not be shed. Secondly, the Weasleys have numerous family members.
They wouldn't survive a clan war and thirdly, they have the blood of Godric Gryffindor running in their veins." Fayette said, thinking she would surprise us with that last point. When we weren't surprised, she looked at Edvin in confusion.
"We know that. Garreth has been given the ability to use pure magic," I said. Fayette's mouth opened. "How do you know about this?" I asked. "We were looking through family trees. And that's where we found it."
Garreth and Elísabet came out of the house together and seemed to be enjoying themselves. Apparently Garreth had sensed that I was slowly relaxing a little. Now that he and Elísabet were walking towards me, I didn't feel any more anger.
She stood next to my chair and looked down at the floor in embarrassment. "Hello Elisabet," I said quietly.