1994
THE CAR SCREECHED loudly once it stopped on a busy street of London. A few people glanced at the highly and curiously dressed people who looked like they had come straight out of the Macbeth play.
The Rowlys, along with the driver ignored them and made their way through a deserted alleyway. A shabby cupboard stood, supported by the building behind it. It bore the colour of ancient green with numerous cuts and slashes to indicate it's age. It was enchanted to remain invisible to the Muggles.
"Well, then, Blackwood, why don't you check the cupboard and see if an intruder has tried to go through or not?" Henry signified with a cold smile, then without waiting for a reply he shoved Blackwood into the cupboard and waited.
Moments later, he revived from the darkness. "There's no one, sir."
"Oh, good. Good." Said Henry, and dumped some galleons on his palm.
The Rowlys entered the cupboard as Blackwood closed the door behind them, they stood in silence for a second before Henry illuminated the place with his wand light.
Inside the cupboard was a narrow tunnel that lead to the brightness on the other side. The Aristides had been hidden from the Muggles by this way for ages.
They revived from the dark moments later and Anna was confronted by the Manor after almost a year.
It still stood with all it's glory as it had been for thousands of years. The Manor was made of marble with various Irish designs.
Aristides Rowly, a very powerful wizard of his time had built this Manor during the Middle Ages and named it after himself. If prestige had not been attached to the name of Rowly even the other Purebloods would have laughed just because how old fashioned it looked.
They walked up to the huge front door made of Oak. There was a little statue of a mighty Phoenix engraved on top of the door. The symbol was of Royal green with a quote written circling around the bird in gold, Anna looked around the vast grounds to see if anything had changed. Some house elves were tending to the garden, besides that it all looked the same. She only glanced back when she heard a click.
Henry pushed the door open and walked in, the others following suit. Anna was struck with a sense of dread, it was still the same: cold and grimy. The only thing that kept the place slightly lightened was a single lantern down the hall.
Silvia, the chief house elf, stood to welcome them. She was just about two feet and wore better clothes any house elf could. She held herself with great dignity.
"Take the trunks upstairs." Henry ordered. Silvia bowed and with a flick of her fingers, the trunks as well as she vanished.
Alan and Anna both made a move towards the stairs simultaneously, crashing into each other in the process. They scowled.
"I was first." Alan stated with a glare.
"No—"
"Alan, you go. Anna, come to the living room, we need a talk." Henry interrupted, taking off his coat and walked away, Melanie following suit.
Anna could swear she had turned paper white in contrast to her heart giving a rather forceful squeeze. She didn't move, she felt as if she couldn't feel her legs. Then caught her brother's eye who looked like he was fighting an inner battle. He stared, opened his mouth, closed it and rushed up the stairs.
She sighed. What could possibly go wrong? They'll probably scold me, then shame me, then punish me..
There seemed to be several things wrong but there was no time to contemplate because before she knew it her feets had stopped in front of her parents.
The living room was dark like any of the other ones with the fireplace being the only source of light. She didn't know why they despised brightness so much. She had spent a good amount of time during her childhood wondering whether her parents were secretly vampires or not.
Speaking of her parents, they were settled on the largest loveseat. Henry's one leg was thrown lazily over the other while he leaned into the sofa. Melanie remained straight and poised, her hands clasped over her lap. They were both scrutinizing her with their eyes.
"You wanted to talk?" Anna joined her hands over her waist and found it hard to speak in the posh manner again, having used and been around normal speaking people for a year.
"Don't be silly. You know well why we want to talk." Her mother sneered.
"I'm sorry mother but I truly have no idea." Anna feigned obliviousness.
"It's alright, Melanie." Henry said silkily putting a hand on her knee, making her instantly shut her mouth. "We can illuminate her."
"Please do."
"Our family have served the Slytherin house for centuries. Can we know why you were sorted into Gryffindor?"
"Maybe because I'm brave or something?" She shrugged, "I dunno, you should probably ask the sorting hat. Anything else?" Anna bit back a smile.
"Very well, there is more." Henry pressed his lips in a thin line. "Can we ask why you associated yourself with those people?"
"Which people, father?"
"The ones we forbad you to!" Melanie suddenly exclaimed, standing up. "Those filthy blood traitors!"
"Who even told you that?"
"You don't—"
"Enough!" Henry said loudly and everything went quiet. "It doesn't matter through whom we have found out, what matters is that you have associated with people we told you to avoid. Is there anyway you can explain yourself?"
"No." Anna said bluntly.
Henry sighed and pinched his nose. It dawned on her that she was touching his last nerve. But for some reason it wasn't bothering her.
"I don't understand it. Are you really that empty-headed or is it some teenage rebellion you're unveiling but you should bestow it inside your head that your actions have consequences. You are tarnishing the name of Rowly that your ancestors have worked so hard to keep prevailing. I will not tolerate your insolence diminish our dynasty."
Anna gulped and looked straight into his dark brown eyes that mirrored her own. "Forgive me for it, father, but it sounds like your problem."
A beat of silence followed.
"How dare you!" Melanie shrieked.
"Mel-" Henry tried to stop her but Melanie simply swatted him away and grabbed Anna by her forearm.
Anna hissed slightly when her long nails digged into her skin but other than that remained unfazed. As unhealthy as it sounded but she was used to this behaviour.
"I don't know what they did to you, girl! I don't know what twisting ways they've taught you while you were at that awful School but.." Melanie lowered her voice threateningly. "You have no right to speak like that to authorities. You have done nothing to gain the position to defy us. We are your parents and you will obey us."
Anna squirmed. Her arm was growing limp with the alarmingly tight grip.
"Does it hurt?" Spoke her mother, pulling Anna further towards her harshly. "It might hurt more if you don't watch your tongue."
Mustering some force, Anna pulled away her arm leaving Melanie shocked at her atypical behaviour.
"No, I'm not going to do this anymore." Anna vented, heaving several breaths at once. "I don't care about this dynasty crap anymore, I never have. You won't be passing on your disease to me, I'll involve myself with anyone I please. And about Gryffindor? Heck, I can't be happier to separate myself from you lot." She gazed at her mother fiercely. "Those blood traitors you talk about are far better than any Pureblood maniacs I've ever had the misfortune to meet."
"You-"
"And if you think you can keep me quiet with your pathetic punishments and all." Anna scoffed. "Well, tough luck."
"You-" Melanie struggled to say something scornful. "You are an absolute disgrace to the name of Rowly!"
"Glad to be of service." Anna gave a sarcastic bow.
And before they could say anything else she took flight from the room as if it was suffocating her which it was. She ran up the stairs and down corridors towards where she knew her room was. She ran and ran as if it was freedom she was chasing.
On the way she passed Sylvia, the house elf who dropped the towels she was carrying, her mouth agape.
"Mistress!" She wailed with a horrendous gasp. "Mistress- miss Rowly is thundering along the corridors! Miss Rowly has broken the protocol Mistress made!"
Anna closed the door behind her, drowning out the elf's screaming and leaned onto it, hands clasped over the shocked smile that had taken place on her face. She had not planned to disobey. In fact she had thought to remain as obedient as possible this summer to avoid any conflict.
But now that she'd done it, she felt happy. As if a load had been lifted off her shoulders. A breathless laugh escaped her lips and she kept chuckling for a good while. Then she glanced around to survey her room.
Her room was like any other rooms in the house. Filled with exotic furniture and frames of paintings. The walls were painted emerald green with the corners lined with silver, the drapes were drawn and even they were of a shade of pine green to resemble the Slytherin pride.
But she was no Slytherin though. Anna smirked. Maybe a makeover could be the first thing she did.
~◍~
ALAN ROWLY HAD SPENT all his life in perplexity. He was his parents' jewel, their pride because he had put his whole faith in them. He was a Slytherin and he hated muggle borns, half-bloods, muggles and blood-traitors and he took pride in being a Pure blood and a Rowly. But he never exactly knew why he hated them.
They all had magic running through their veins and had contributed to the betterment of the wizard kind, then what were they hated for? He didn't know and didn't question.
But his sister, oh, his Merlin -forsaken sister who just didn't know how to obey for once. He didn't understand why she was so keen to set herself apart from them. They were her family!
You'd think her rebellion had started after starting Hogwarts, after she associated herself with those people but Alan knew better. She had always been like that.
She'd been like that when she was five and had cut her hair like his because mother reckoned only a butch would look like that. She was punished.
She was like that when she was seven and spoke against Abraxas Malfoy when he ill spoke of muggles at a Pure blood party, asking him why he hated them. She was punished.
She'd been like that when she was nine and snuck out of the house and played with some muggle kids down a few blocks. She was punished.
Alan had lost count of the number of times he had seen her struggling to stand, needing a support to help her move and clutching her side.
And then came the faithful day of her Hogwarts acceptance letter. Chaos ensued when Henry declared she wasn't going. She had taken the house by storm as if she were a hurricane. Alan had cowered by the staircase as both Henry and Melanie had to drag her towards his study room where she was always punished, to teach her a lesson.
She hadn't been the same ever since. That was the turning point of their relationship. It all went wrong that day.
Another year rolled along, while he rode the Hogwarts express, Anna burned her letter in the darkness of the living room.
Until Henry mysteriously agreed to send her for her third- or supposedly: first year.
~◍~
In a gloomy day of June as the thunder rumbled outside, the house was surprisingly quiet. Melanie wasn't screaming and Henry was nowhere to be found. He was suspiciously absent these days.
Taking the opportunity, Anna climbed up her bed and opened the thick book levelled, Curious Magical Abilities by Abigail Bagshot that Professor Dumbledore had given her as a Christmas present. She flicked through the pages of the old book, her eyes quickly scanning the numerous words and side notes written on it. It was a very old one, probably written in 1800s or something. Dumbledore had informed her that he had recruited it from a place outside of Britain.
She found the folded page and tried smoothing the crease on it, then allowed her eyes to read it's content. It was a chapter on an ability.
Mens Imperium
- Mens imperium is derived from the Latin words 'mens' meaning mind and 'imperium' meaning control. This ability is considered, by the Ministry of Magic, as an inborn gift. As the name suggests, whoever has it has the ability to control other's minds. Even the most skilled Occlumens don't have the power to stop them from penetrating their minds. By gaining complete take over means that the caster can make their prey feel a series of emotions like happiness, sadness,anxiousness, giddiness and even pain them mentally and rid them off of physical pain. In short they gain complete control over them as long as they want to. This ability has been rumoured to be the origins of the imperious curse.
• Witches and wizards with this ability are given the name 'Imperiumegus' but there has been no notable witch or wizard exercising this ability so far and there has been a debate in the Annual Magical Conference last year to render this ability fictitious.
• But nevertheless, this ability has continued to intrigue us for ages, so fictitious or not here is the list of symptoms that we have gathered through many historical scripts showed by an Imperiumegus..
Under the brief description, there was a long list of symptoms. Anna was slightly surprised to notice that she could relate to almost all of them.
Then, all of a sudden, her door was flung open. In an instant she shoved the book under her pillow and looked at the intruder. Alan stood there eying her suspiciously. She scowled.
"Why did you not knock?" She barked. "Don't you know, it's rude to burst into someone's room without their permission?"
Alan rolled his eyes as he entered. He scanned her newly designed room as if he had come for browsing. Her room was too red for his liking and stuck like a sore thumb with the emerald ones. It remarkably looked like the Gryffindor common room.
Not that he had ever been to the Gryffindor tower.
He shook his head at her still messily half unpacked trunk. "Ever the unorganized, you are. It's been weeks since summer started and you still haven't unpacked?" He tutted.
Anna rolled her eyes. "Well, what's the point of unpacking if I'm going to put them back in a month later, anyway, why are you here?"
He looked at her. "I was stultified." He deadpanned.
".. What?"
"I was bored, dimwit." He rolled his eyes again and began to skim through her things.
"Oi! Who're you calling a dimwit? I'm older— and hey, don't look through my stuff!" Anna said angrily.
He paid her no mind. "A plant?" He scoffed holding up the plant Neville gifted her. "Didn't know you were into planting."
"Put that back!"
"What do you need these needles for?" He said holding up a fen- no pen.
"Put. that. back—"
"Who gave you this?" He cut her off, showing her the beret that Ron had bought for her.
"A friend. Who's like a brother to me." She said simply.
Alan froze. She saw a brief flash of hurt in his eyes but it was gone as soon as it had come instead his face morphed into nothingness as usual.
"Of course." He said forcefully and turned his back on her, trailing a finger along the bookshelf. "Right. I forgot you found your kind. Suppose you had fun with the blood traitors?"
"Don't call them that." Anna said sharply. "And besides if you really think of them as some sort of disease or something, what were you doing with Ginny Weasley all the year?"
She saw him visibly tense up. "What're you talking about?"
"Don't play dumb with me. I've seen you two together many times. I thought you were finally seeing some sense." Anna spoke, narrowing her eyes to see any body movement that might give him away.
And indeed she had. During the many times she had accompanied Hermione in the library, she had caught Alan and Ginny together in the farthest table skimming through books. While they could be doing some project, what surprised her was that he didn't look irritated.
To her both amusement and disbelief, she saw him hesitate, finally at the end he cleared his throat. "We were assigned in a project in Potions, a stupid one really, during September, that's why we were together, that's it."
"Is that so?" Anna raised a brow.
"Yes!" He replied, rather forcefully. "If you're just going to talk nonsense, I'll be off! I have better things to do." Then he rushed out of the room.
"Hey!" Anna yelled after him. "If you have better things to do why did you even bother coming? I swear if you try putting a foot in my room again-"
"Annalise! Do not shout in my house! It's so unladylike and ungraceful-" Her mother screamed from downstairs.
Anna rolled her eyes and shut the door loudly drowning her voice and locked it.
~◍~
Dear Anna,
How's your summer going? Mine is surprisingly normal, yeah no, boring will suit better. Uncle Vernon was ready to punish me for blowing up Marge but I told him about my 'mass murderer godfather' who will 'turn anyone who bothers me into jumping teacups'. You should've seen his face, it was hilarious. After that he went quiet. Aunt Petunia avoids me like the plague and Dudley still screams when he sees me as if I'm a monster straight out of his video games. That reminds me, he's on one of his diet again because his school said he's too- uh- healthy so he needs to loose some. Which means all of us are in a diet because Duddykins might get distracted. Not like I had any good food but it's worse now. So I thank you guys for sending me all the cakes and chips.
Padfoot writes to me rarely, it'd be too risky to, but whenever he does, he always asks about you that I'm half-tempted to just send him your address. He's alright by the way. That reminds me, I hope you don't get in too much trouble for Hedwig showing up at your window so frequently. I'll try keeping the letters minimum but it's a bit hard because these letters are the only thing helping me spend the dreadful summer.
Ron's invited me to come to the match with his family. You'll make it there, won't you? It'd be a waste without you cussing at the player's stupidity.
Hope you can make it. Not missing you at all.
Harry;)
——◍——
Dear Harry,
Summer is going better than I anticipated. Mind you, for me, not for the others. In an act of rebellion I have completely changed my room. I had to, it was hideous. Huh, you should've seen my parents reaction when they first saw what I did to their prestigious home. Mother fainted when she did, dramatic much? Father had been suspiciously calm. Just last year if I did something like this, I probably wouldn't have lived to see the next day. They're both acting weird since I came back. I almost forgot, I had a row with them. Told them they were a lunatic bunch and expected a hit but it didn't come. Its getting uncanny but I guess I can ignore it for now.
Lovely your guardians are, really. So they're starving you worse now? Is there any way I can fly over and have a 'talk'? It seems like I should send more sweets. And DON'T you dare feel guilty about it. What are friends for? (You can repay me with Chocolate frogs.)
Well, I did meet Padfoot before you so sucks for you, ha! I'm jealous I can't join you guys, father hasn't mentioned the match once so I suppose we have to reinforce our plan. I'd kill to be at the match.
Yeah, I hope to be at the match too. And second: ouch, but I don't miss you either.
Anna;)
~◍~
"Hang on, we are going to the match?" Anna asked, her face twisting into a comically confused expression.
Just half an hour ago Henry had strutted into the living room from work and broke the news that he had brought tickets for the Quidditch World Cup.
"Yes." Henry replied idly as he loosened his tie looking at the tiny mirror that hung on the wall.
Anna hovered behind him. When he stepped back, he tripped on her foot and caught himself at the last moment to avoid toppling over.
"Anna! What is this behaviour?" He gritted his teeth, spinning around to face her. Anna grinned.
"No, seriously we're going?" She asked, ignoring his wrath. "I thought you didn't like these stuff?"
"I was offered these so I had to take them, unfortunately." He replied coldly.
"When is it, father?" Alan asked politely.
"18th of August."
Anna squealed loudly, took her father's hand and dropped a kiss on his knuckle. His mouth fell slightly.
"Thank you! Thank you so much Father dearest!" She cried, dropping his hand and darted up the stairs towards her room.
"Rudy!" Anna barged into her room and called the sleeping owl who jumped at her loud voice. "I'm gonna need you to send some letters!"
She quickly opened her drawer and took out a parchment. Addressing all her friends because she knew they were together, she swiftly wrote down the announcement as Rudy hooted around her.
"Come here." Rudy settled on her forearm as she tied the letter and took her to the open window. "Take it to the Burrow, you know the address, don't you?"
Rudy hooted one last time flapped her wings and rose higher before she shot outside. She watched her tiny figure grow smaller and smaller until she disappeared into the inky sky.
She sighed and dragged her body towards her long mirror. Like other artifacts it too looked old and slightly worn out, boring the Rowly crest on top of it where she had written 'Anna Motherfucking Rowly' clumsily with a bright red nail polish.
She had grown taller since summer had started and noticed much of her baby fat had been lost from her face. Her chubby cheeks were gone, giving her face a more structured appearance. The light freckles were almost gone, they only came during the winter anyway.
Her figure had become more toned, hugely because she had been running around the house everyday to annoy Melanie but it worked on her part too she guessed. But, she scrunched her nose, the changes just seemed so meh, there was no notable or dramatic change in her at all.
She touched her hair that had grown below her waist. She'd always had long hair because Melanie never let her cut below her elbows but they'd been an extra bother this summer. She gently pulled the auburn strands for some minutes and as if a muggle light bulb had gone off on her head, a smirk slowly crawled on her lips.
Maybe a new haircut could kick start her new year.
✴✴✴
The summer is up!
Took a long time to make but hopefully did it right.
————