WARNING
SLIGHT MENTION OF ABUSE AND NEGLECT IN THIS CHAPTER
Prologue
Chapter One
ARIADNE VENERA SOLEIL HAD ALWAYS BEEN ALONE, as long as she could remember. She had always had the misfortune of being around people who wasn't fond of her.
According to what she had been told, Ariadne was left as a baby of one year old on a porch of a couple living outside of a village located outside London. It would take a least a little more than an hour to reach London, assuming you had a carriage and a horse. That was the only way to reach the village in the first place when one was out of groceries.
Unlucky as Ariadne was, her foster parents weren't the foster parents of the year. For a while, the wife was kind to Ariadne, but when she was around 5 years old, she overheard the couple speak ill of her. And she decided that she couldn't trust anyone but herself..
Weird things had always happened to Ariadne. Like things moving on their own. The stove changed between being lit and shut. And doors and windows banging even though there was no sign of wind.
Unbeknownst to her, things like that had always happened ever since she was sheltered by the couple. Whenever she would sneeze as a baby the fire on the candles would either lit or distinguished. Or the the window curtains would open or close.
Eventually Ariadne had grown tired of her so-called foster parent, so she decided to run away. The final straw happened a month prior to her escape plan.
The husband had yet again come home, drunk. Ariadne served him food per his order and he drunkenly commented that she was better off like her dead parents.
Anger bubbled inside of Ariadne and, one of the windows shattered and glass was everywhere. The husband grew angry and pushed Ariadne in anger. She fell on a big glass shard that was stuck in between the floorboards and slashed her clavicle. It earned her a deep scar and while recovering she carefully planned her escape.
7 year old Ariadne, managed, but barely, to escape the dreadful house. She was fortunate to catch the horse carriage that was headed out of the city.
She has been living in the streets of London, for a year. She have made herself a small space near the market of London where she set a small tent or in an abandoned alleyway. And of course she wasn't the only resident. But as long as she didn't bother them, others wouldn't bother her.
Through the first month, Ariadne somehow successfully managed to pickpocket, weird looking coins. Galleons, Knuts and Sickles. It didn't sit right with Ariadne and she called after the man she stole the money from and managed to convince him that he must have dropped it.
She had a bad feeling t he could tell that she was lying, but didn't say anything about it. He sounded more impressed by her and revealed if a petty criminal was pickpocketed by a amateur Niffler, she had a bright future ahead of her. After introducing himself as namely, Dung, he left and that was the last she ever heard from him.
Ariadne usually looked forward to the cold months, especially when it was snowing, but that was not the case that year. Wet streets. No snow. No feeling of tranquility. No quietness. Less food.
Other than pick-pocketing, she had to rely on stealing food from stalls. She had become good at making things move at her will, so occasionally she let a apple roll her way. It worked until she took the chance to steal some bread. The man who sold bread at the stall was busy with attending to customers, and some were waiting behind them.
Her luck must have run out because she was caught by the seller. After contacting some people in uniform, they led her to a station, where she was informed that someone would come and pick her up. She would have run away but was under a watchful eye by some woman in some nice clothes, a social worker. It only prompted Ariadne to look at her own, that was hardly keeping her warm.
The woman seemed nice, but Ariadne knew better but to trust adults. The woman gently took Ariadne's hand to catch her attention. When she got it, she motioned with her head to the exit of station, where a woman in her 50's walked towards them.
Ariadne could immediately tell that she was definitely not to be trusted. She introduced herself at Margaret Warburton and was the Matron of an orphanage named Wool's orphanage, where Ariadne would live until she was 18 years old.
Ariadne wasn't enthusiastic about it, but at least she would have a roof under her head and would get some spare clothes. Out of politeness, she said her goodbyes to the social worker, who also gave Ariadne her belongings from her little shelter. She turned to follow the Matron, and saw the seller who just finished giving his statement. When passing by him, Ariadne turned around and stuck her tongue out, making the seller look at her in disbelief.
The orphanage was a square building surrounded by high railings and looked run-down. In the inside, even though it looked run-down, it was surprisingly clean and children were laughing and having fun.
''Children.'' the Matron called out to her. ''This is our new resident, be nice to her now.''
The children looked at Ariadne and whispered amongst themselves. She was a little uncomfortable of the attention.
''Look at her eyes.''
''One is blue and another is green.''
Of course, they would comment on her heterochromia, but little did they know that she wasn't the only thing that made Ariadne different from them.
𓏲𝄢ৎ୭𓏲𝄢ৎ୭𓏲𝄢ৎ୭𓏲𝄢ৎ୭𓏲𝄢ৎ୭𓏲𝄢 ৎ୭𓏲𝄢ৎ୭𓏲𝄢ৎ୭𓏲𝄢ৎ୭𓏲𝄢ৎ୭𓏲𝄢ৎ୭𓏲𝄢 ৎ୭
THREE YEARS PASSED IN A BLINK OF AN EYE, since Ariadne was forced to live at the dreadful Orphanage. And she hated every second of it. Kids were always mean to her and didn't only bully her for her heterochromia, but they witnessed a few months after her arrival; things moving on their own. They concluded quickly that it was Ariadne and had labeled her as a freak in the orphanage.
It didn't bother her that much but she did get lonely at times. She did have some grasp of her abilities, amongst others and was very careful how to use them. Never did she use them to terrorize the other children, but only to scare them.
Over the years, she had learned to be persuasive and could almost get anything she wanted from the other children. Ariadne took things from the other children if she was in need of it, and made sure that the other children didn't rat her out, hence she never got caught by the staff as they lacked evidence. But she knew that they had an eye on her.
She never took that much pride of her actions, but she had to survive somehow. Ariadne knew that she would never have a sentimental attachments for the orphanage, as the staff rarely gave her parental guidance. But it must also have been due to her independent nature which she had even before arriving at the orphanage.
She often wondered what it was like to have friends and family, and because the people among her were different, she found it hard to bond with them. Mrs. Warburton was no angel either, she would often try to punish Ariadne. The Matron knew that she was to blame of the many incidents over the three years. She even expressed that, Ariadne being gone would make everyone in the orphanage happy.
Ariadne found herself to love reading. Luckily, the staff held a few classes for children, so they could learn to read and write. Ariadne also learned french not through books, but she used her liberty to sneak out of the orphanage where she meet a man named Claude, who didn't seem to mind her company.
He wasn't even looking at her in any odd way when she once vented about weird things happening around her when she got too emotional. According to him, he was from France but moved to England after a dispute with him 'superior' family as he liked to call them. Then he met his wife and they opened a tea shop together.
Claude assured Ariadne that it was alright to be different from others, as he was too in his own way. He also slightly hinted that there were others who were the same as Ariadne, much to her delight. He even, hardly, made her believe that when she turned 11, that her life would change forever in a magical way. Ariadne was a little skeptical of it, but could sense that he wasn't lying. He also convinced her that she would find true friends, who would always have her back. It was a foreign feeling to Ariadne, but she held onto his words. During her years in the orphanage, Claude would teach her french. She even taught herself latin through books to which Claude commented that she was an intelligent girl.
And so, there was only a couple of weeks to the 13th August, Ariadne's 11th birthday, but that was the last thing on her mind, as she was informed by Mrs. Warburton that she would have a visitor. She let the door be open for a reason she didn't know either, maybe for safety precautions.
She especially had to hide her biggest secret under her quilts which she intentionally made a little messy, enough for anything to crawl beneath them.
She decided to face the window that only had the view to a brick wall of another building besides the orphanage. When she heard a soft knock on the door, she slowly turned around and face Mrs. Warburton and an old man besides her.
Ariadne tried not to show how surprised she was at the sight of how old the man looked as he could die any day now.
He was tall and thin, in nice clothes and a purple coat in his hand. He had long silver hair and beard so long that Ariadne thought that he could sweep the floor if he leaned down a little. His eyes were a soul-piercing shade of blue under his half-moon spectacles. His presence was almost ethereal and serene.
Ariadne knew in that moment, that he was her saviour from that hellhole of an orphanage. His eyes twinkled at her both in happiness and sadness, like he had met an old friend and lost them at the same time.
Mrs. Warburton excused herself and closed the door to Ariadne's room, but she felt like she was in good hands in the presence of the old man.
She was a little embarrassed by her small bare groom with nothing but an old wardrobe, table and chair, as well as a bed.
Ariadne immediately walked closer to the man and extended her hand to greet him. ''Hello, sir. I'm Ariadne.''
''I know Miss Soleil. I'm Albus Dumbledore. And you Miss, have been quite the troublemaker according to Mrs. Warburton.''
His words made Ariadne lose face immediately and feel uncomfortable, but was met with a gentle hand on her shoulder, which made her look up the owner. ''Don't worry, it happens.'' he said with his soft and gentle voice that made Ariadne lose her posture.
She smiled to him and sat carefully on her bed and gestured with her hand to the wooden chair besides the bed to which the man obeyed. ''Please sit, Mr. Dumbledore.''
When he sat, Ariadne could contain her curiosity and asked. ''Who are you, sir?''
''I am Professor Dumbledore.''