Hidden within the mountainous Alps...
Silence filled the carriage as the old woman wrapped in fine lynx fur, sat on the burgundy leather seat lodged on one side of the carriage. Her old wise hazel eyes followed the surly young girl climbing the carriage and sat across the woman with beguiling composure, as the coachman brought their luggages inside.
The young girl felt the old woman's eyes trailing her every move, wanting to unravel the swirling mass of chaotic emotions she kept inside. She kept an indifferent face as she refused to be unnerved by the woman's burning gaze which she returned with a chilling cold shoulder.
If the old woman still thought she was still the same spoiled unruly brat she was once were as a child, then she has never been more wrong in her lengthy life. This was much more than a simple tantrum over some silly toy. This was a battle of the wills, one she was confident she will not loose. She refused to be treated like some child by letting her anger rule over her actions.
Instead, with a strong resolve, the young girl kept an indifferent air, pretending to take more interest on the white crystal frost on the side of the carriage window and thick biting deadly snow that she had grown to love, the place where she had built a place for herself, deep within this secluded mountain range.
The old woman sighed seeing that she will not be able to slip through any cracks in the hard walls of the stubborn child. She shifted her attention to glance at coachman who lifted the last of their luggage inside and passed him a gracious smile.
"Blagodarim vi, che ni pomognakhte."
(Bulgarian Translation: Thank you for assisting us.)
"Tis my pleasure, Madam Schmied." replied the coachman, tipping his hat to the woman whose charming smile, elegant style and her unwithering natural beauty despite her aged years, could still make a man of his age blush like a little lad.
"Vill soon begin our departure."
Grace Schmied nodded and turn her attention once again on her wayward grand daughter as they sat together face to face once again after much time passed.
She studied her young flushed face that complemented her ivory skin, her silky beautiful tresses tied into an intricate braid and the dark black abyss of her eyes where she hides her delicate soul from the world. The little child Grace had once never-endingly scolded for dirtying her clothes with dirt and oil from helping her equally unruly grandfather tinker with his old cars, was blossoming into a beautiful elegant young woman.
It was what she thought the last time Grace had visited her at her boarding school, till she discovered her wayward grand daughter had chugged a bottle of Madam Circe's Ever-Lasting-Hair-Color-Tonic that tainted her beautiful naturally colored hair into a dreary ebony black. In a flash, Mrs. Schmeid saw all the years she had spent pushing her grand daughter to take ballet and etiquette classes to force the child out of her tomboyish ways, all went down the drain.
Mrs. Schmied contemplated whether she should regret admitting precious Schatzi to one of the most infamous male-dominated dark arts academy, Drumstrang Institute. It was a thought that boggled her ever since the hair tonic stunt her grand daughter pulled. When Grace had told her grand daughter she was moving her to a different school, she knew the child would not take the news well. She was prepared for the screaming and the whining.
What Grace had not prepared herself for was the news that her grand daughter deliberately getting herself expelled from the school for blowing up the potion lab, vandalizing the school's trophy room, spreading questionable rumors about the school's head dean and fraternizing with great number of male students to help her with her shenanigans. Ever since her little Schatzi had knack for getting people to do her whims with her charisma and looks, the child had always kept a horde of little boyfriends and suitors to be at her beck and call.
She expected the child to rebel but not to this degree. Now here she sat with posture that showed the old woman's great effort to have fix her wayward grand daughter's ways had not gone into complete waste. She was handling her anger like a proper lady, accepting the consequence of her actions, holding her held high. But try as she might, the child will never be able to fool her old woman. Grace could still see the grief and longing in the child's eyes.
"If you had just given your actions a second thought before foolishly deciding to behave so wildly, then you could have spent more time in the academy, my Schatzi."
At this moment, the woman's calm hazel eyes met a pair of dark swirling mass of ire. They locked gaze neither of them backing down.
"I'm offended you'd even think your grand daughter would consider acting out so weakly, grandmother. I have no interest in delaying my misery like a spineless idiotic coward." She dropped her eyes refusing to engage in a longer conversation and went back observing the thick mass of snow outside.
"I would rather everything already be done and over with."
Grace sighed and looked at the child with pity. Her precious Schatzi has always been forced to hide her emotions at a young age she has learned to deal with them on her own.
"What about your friends?"
The girl gripped her hands into a first, not wanting to be affected by the old woman's words. She stilled her emotions.
"And what about them?" She asked in reply, not taking her eyes away form the window.
"Have you told them you're leaving?"
Moments silently past and the woman had almost loosen hope receiving an answer from the stubborn child. But after long minutes have died, the girl tore her eyes from the frosty window and locked her eyes once again with her grandmother.
"I have no need for friends."
This time it was the woman who took a moment to rein in her anger. Never has she been more disappointed in her grand daughter before. She knew the child meant no harm by her statement but to say such words with no emotions-
"How can you say such cold-hearted words? Those people have went through so much trouble for you." The girl met her grand mother reprimanding gaze with a glare.
"How do you think they would feel hearing those kinds of words from you and leaving them without a word from you?"
"Their feelings? I'm sure their feelings is nothing compared to a person's who was deprive from the only place she felt accepted and betrayed from the only family she has- "
Grace eyes softened as the girl let some of her grief slipped from her rein shocked by her own outburst. She pressed her lips into a thin line, berating herself for saying more than she planned.
"They'll get over it."
Guilt immediately filled the woman's heart as she realized the child's words. She had not realized how much her grand daughter has grown attached to this place.
"I never meant to do this to hurt you, my Schatzi. I only want what's best for you- " Something snapped inside the girl. And like a broken damn, her anger and frustrations spilled from her mouth.
"Then why did you have to tell me I need to transfer to a different school?! Why did you have to take me away from the only place I felt I belonged?" She remembered all the belittling faces that looked at her so dubiosly when she had first arrived at Drumstrang, that later turned into friendly faces that accepted her in their life.
"Do you know how hard it was for me to find a place where people didn't live in fear of me? How difficult it was for me to prove myself that I could fit here? This place was the only where people treated me like normally, not like some kind of dangerous beast they fear. And you still decide to take this place away from me, just because of what some crazy old- " In her rage, magic seeped out the girl, sending put small vibrations on the carriage's floor.
Grace eyes widened as she saw angry silver sparks started dancing around the girl.
"EMILIA SORREL SCHMIED!"
Then it ceased. Shame etched on the girl's usual nonchalant face as she realize what she did. She had her emotions slipped through her iron grip and let her magic rampage.
"Delphi is one of the greatest soothsayer of our time and my most trusted friend." The young Schmied scoffed.
"You forgot mad and deranged."
"I do not appreciate the tone of your voice, young lady. It was thanks to Delphi, I was able to keep you safe."
"Keep me safe? Do you really think the great soothsayer and your most trusted friend helped you for my benefit? To keep me safe or was it to keep other people safe from me?!" Grace gasped.
"What do you think Derrek would say- "
In a quick flash, the tight seal she kept uncapped releasing the rampant magic outside. Sorrel Schmied was swallowed by the grief and anger suppressed inside. The magic merge with the air in the carriage, raising the pressure to the heights where one would have difficult to breath. It grew and grew till the whole carriage trembled, such a small carriage would not be able to contain all inside. Their trunks rolled on the floor, small cracks formed on the window.
Grace jerked and swayed in her seat. She grasped the walls desperately in fear she would be tossed out in her own seat.
The young Schmied let her grief reign over the rampant magic she kept within. Her reason were still too hazy to realize the destruction about to set forth, from the memory that would never cease to haunt her in her life. She refuse to recall such painful memory again. So she let her eyes focused back to the present and saw her grandmother. Fear struck in her eyes. The same fear people showed her after hearing about the strange dangerous magic she had.
It was enough for her to rein back the rampant magic inside. Absorbing them again was like pulling thick iron stings, almost impossible. But this was what is what she had always been training for in her childhood, to prove the impossible. With little struggle, Sorrel pulled the rampant magic back and shut the seal once again inside.
"Nothing. He would say nothing because grandpa is gone." The trembling stopped and Grace looked once again at her grand daughter with sad eyes.
"He still loves- "
"Don't. Please don't feed me again with such blatant lies. I am not child. Dead people don't feel. He's dead."
"My Schatzi, are you still blaming your- " Sorrel gripped her fists and shook her head.
"I don't want to hear about it again. Please." Grace sighed. Just as she was about to reason out with the child, the carriage's door swung open by the coachman.
"There seems to vi a magic turvulance in the area. Ve vould have to delay our departure to add more protecting charms and runes in the carriage. My sincerest apology, Madam." The old woman waved her hand dismissively.
"That's understandable. Please do your job thoroughly." He nodded and shut the door.
Grace stood up and sat beside her Schatzi wrapping her arms around the child. She stroke her hair as she let her calm down. Sorrel closed her eyes and let her anger dwindle by her grandmother's comfort.
"No one blames you for anything that has happened, my Schatzi. You are my and your grandfather's precious treasure. We only want you to be happy." She pat the child's head. "If you stay here, Delphi said you shall face consequences. And I will not take those chances knowing fully well I could send you somewhere you'l be safe."
"But I am happy here, grandmother." She whispers in reply.
"I know you are. Think of this as a new adventure." The young Schmied shook her head and unwrapped herself from the woman's arms.
"What could possibly be adventurous in a school for snooty brats? "
Grace shook her head, resting her hands on her lap. "Sorrel, Hogwarts is the best wizarding school in England. I'm sure you'l find something enjoyable in the castle."
"I fail to see what ever could I find remotely interesting in such pompous pretentious school." Just as the young Schmied moved to turn her eyes once again to the chilling snow outside, she stilled hearing a question she had thought she would never hear from her own grandmother's mouth.
"Don't you want to meet your father?"