Shadows of the Dark

The jeans were filth.

She unzipped them, stepped out, and threw them upon the chair that was already strewn with her discarded robe. Her shirt soon joined the pile, and before taking off her dirty underthings, she removed her wand from the band of her knickers. Quickly, she banished the entire mess of clothing, grabbed a sheet from her bed to cover her bare body, and hurried to the closet.

As she rustled through set after set of stunning robes, the door to her room swung open. She spun, startled, and let out a gasp.

"Gabrielle, what are you doing?" Gabrielle's sister stood in the dim light of the hall, her silhouette revealing a woman of composure.

"Fleur!" Gabrielle said, clutching the sheet to her chest tightly. "I'm...I'm dressing!"

Even in the faint light, Gabrielle was sure that Fleur had narrowed her eyes. "Papa is waiting for you at dinner. 'E isn't very 'appy."

"Oh," Gabrielle growled, gathering the sheet up from her feet. "He can wait." She snatched a robe from her closet - her ugly mauve-coloured one - and hurried to her private bathroom across the room. As she passed, Fleur grabbed her arm.

"Do not make Papa angry tonight," Fleur warned, her voice barely above a whisper. "Tonight is my chance to ask Papa, and I do not want 'im upset."

"Fine, just tell him I was napping," Gabrielle said, and shut the bathroom door with a loud snap. With building frustration, Gabrielle dressed herself in the robes, ran a brush through her fine, blonde hair, and gave a half-glance at the mirror. She put her wand to her face and cleaned the dirt off. Her papa wouldn't be pleased if he knew what she had been doing tonight.

Or for the past year, nearly every night.

Gabrielle splashed on a fragrance, hardly noticing the inscription on the pricey bottle's label. She rushed down the great winding stairs, past suits of armour and scurrying House Elves. Quietly as she could, she slipped into the dining room and fell into place at the table.

The silence that followed her arrival was ghostly and empty. Gabrielle looked at her mother, a beautiful part-Veela, then to her papa, a tall and magnificent man, then to her sister. She suspected that a bystander would find the lot of them amazing, but Gabrielle had more pressing issues than to bother about what her family's pedigree was.

"Pardon," she said, sweetly. "I was exhausted and I must've fallen asleep."

"What were you doing, Gabrielle, to make yourself so tired?" her papa asked, and then took a delicate sip of wine.

"Tidying my room a bit," she said, making a mental reminder to clean the mess when she was excused from dinner.

"I see. Do us all a favour and stay awake next time."

"Yes, Papa."

"Merci. Now take some soup, Gabrielle."

She obliged him and poured some of the vegetable soup into her bowl, though she had no intention to eat it. Instead her long, elegant fingers picked at the freshly baked roll on her plate. Fleur began to speak.

"Papa, you know I was offered a job in France's Meenistry?"

"I know, and what of it?"

"Well," Fleur continued, not the least perturbed by Papa's casual demeanour, "do you not 'sink it would be a good opportunity for me?"

Papa seemed to consider this as he chewed a piece of potato, looking quite elegant with a thoughtful look upon his face. He swallowed, patted his mouth with his napkin, and shook his head. "'Ow do I know zat you will not make a mess of your life by leaving us 'ere?"

Gabrielle controlled her laughter. It was rather rich of him to ask such a question when he had uprooted the entire family and moved them to Britain. He had insisted that his daughters live with them. Gabrielle, who was two years out of Beauxbatons, found it awful to live under the nose of scrutiny from her papa.

"Papa," Fleur said, gently, "you do not understand! I 'ave a chance to be part of 'igh society! Isn't zat what you 'ave always wanted for us?"

Papa considered this, too.

"It might be good for 'er, Louis," Mama said, her voice as smooth as cream. Gabrielle rolled her eyes; if Mama thought it was good for Fleur, Papa was sure to cave in. Even a man of such grace couldn't resist the temptations that Mama threw out. She was, after all, filled with Veela blood.

Papa cleared his throat and drank some wine. "Fine. If you want to move back to France you shall, but do not expect any 'elp from us."

Fleur beamed, displaying her neat row of teeth that lined her mouth like piano keys. She stood up from the table and hugged Papa, causing him to spill his wine on his gorgeous robes. In a wave of silver hair she disappeared up the stairs. Papa patted his robes as if it the wine stain had not just ruined the hundred-Galleon-a-meter fabric.

Seeing that Fleur was successful with Papa, Gabrielle attempted to begin her own negotiations.

"Papa, may I ask a question?" Gabrielle asked. Papa nodded, and she continued: "There's a darling flat in Diagon Alley that I would just love to rent out. It's at a reasonable price-"

"Out of ze question. Pass the bread, Gabrielle."

"Papa, you haven't even heard my argument," she said, nearly throwing the breadbasket at him.

"Oh, Gabrielle, your English is marvellous!" Mama exclaimed. Gabrielle rolled her eyes (one of the better traits she had learned from her new group of friends).

"Mama, you aren't helping!" Gabrielle hissed. "Papa, the rent is low and I can afford it myself. I'll be right near the Ministry and still in a safe part of Wizarding Britain!"

"No."

"Pa-pa...."

"Louis, you are not being vairy fair."

"Gabrielle, you are only twenty 'ears of age. I dare not 'sink of everyzing that might befall you."

"I can take care of myself," she said, angrily. "I'm not a baby. You put me through Beauxbatons so that I would learn some of the best Defence material there is!"

"I 'sink zat we 'ave 'ad enough of zis conversation."

"No-!"

"Gabrielle."

Gabrielle pounded her fist into the table and turned to her mama. "Mama, can't you do something?"

"I agree wiz your papa," she said, almost hesitantly. "You are rowdy and unmannered, and a disgrace you shall be to our name."

With a cry of frustration, Gabrielle stood, threw her napkin onto the floor (causing her mama to gasp at the horror), and sprinted upstairs. She blew past Fleur's room, where she could be heard packing, and slumped into her own messy room. Gabrielle shut the door and sank to the floor, her eyes burning with the unfairness of it all.

At Beauxbatons, all the girls had cried that she was so lucky to live in such prestige. Gabrielle supposed she was lucky, but at that moment, she would have given a few thousand Galleons just to trade families with a poor, happy, girl.

With a strangled sob, Gabrielle gathered herself off the floor and walked to her elegant desk. She yanked the window open, allowing the breeze to blow the fine curtains up like balloons. On the desk was an old letter, and it threatened to blow off the desk completely, but Gabrielle managed to snatch it in her hand. She looked at it, grinned, and sank into the plush chair to read:

Mon Belle,

Right, so I think I botched up that French bit, but what can I say? I haven't seen you in some time, so that's basically why I decided to write to you and not sneak up your trellis. The gang hasn't been able to meet up at the same time lately, so hopefully we can arrange something soon. I'm itching to hex the hell out of someone. We haven't done Muggle Hunt in a while, so I think we'll do that next time.

At this, Gabrielle grinned again; because that was the very thing she had done tonight.

I've arranged for someone from the Dark Lord’s inner ring to come and speak with us in a week's time. I haven't the slightest as to who he is (or she...hmm), just as long as we're recognized. Can you imagine? Man.... That's all for now. Too bad your sister isn't a Muggle, eh?

-Leo

Gabrielle, with a start, realized that anyone could have read this off her desk. What was I thinking, she wondered, and quickly disposed of it with a spark from her wand. She dumped the ashes out the window, where they fell until the breeze hit them against the bricks of the house. She imagined the tiny specks of ash floating through the air, one managing to land on Leo's doorstep in dingy London.

Ah, but Leo had been an old fling, a quick fling. Neither of them minded the age difference. Gabrielle laughed, as she remembered, that age didn't matter in that business....

**

Gabrielle peeked through the stained window cautiously, hiding the rest of her body behind the front door. Her parents had left to attend some banquet, and her sister had departed to busy herself with social meetings. Gabrielle was alone at home, blissfully, but the knock on the door jarred her into anxiety.

The wavy glass revealed a familiar face, one that she had seen around Fleur for nearly three months. Immediately, Gabrielle opened the door, somewhere in her subconscious surprised that he wasn't with Fleur right then.

"Hullo," he said, his voice smooth and light as air. He pushes his dark hair away from his face and smirked. "Gabrielle," he added, his voice taking on a fake French accent.

"Fleur's not home," she said. "I thought she was with you."

"Nah, we've separated."

Gabrielle stared. He had said it so easily and so carelessly. Well, sure, men can get over women...but this was her sister he was talking about. "Oh," was all that she could muster.

"Mind if I come in?" he asked. His eyes sparkled in a very endearing way.

"Oh - right, sorry, Leo," she said and quickly opened the door for him. He stepped into the rather intimidating front hall, and instead of jamming his hands in his robe pockets like most folks did, he leaned against the banister, calm as ever. Gabrielle shut the door behind her, locked it, and grinned at Leo.

He was ruggedly handsome with floppy brown hair that he constantly pushed away from his face. Where his skin was dark, his eyes were nearly black. Leo had a dark and enigmatic feeling around him, exciting and calming at the same time. Gabrielle was, and always had been, strangely attracted to him.

"Would you like a drink?" Gabrielle asked. She twirled a strand of hair. She moved to find a House Elf, paused near Leo, glanced at him, and halted. His eyes revealed a sort of hunger, a desire, a confusion. “What is it...?"

"Fleur never did this to me," Leo said.

"Never...did what?"

Leo grabbed Gabrielle's hand and placed it on his chest, right over his heart. It pulsated under her fingertips, pounding erratically. Gabrielle gasped slightly and leaned forward to try and hear the beats. Leo, however, had other intentions. He lifted her face with a finger, looked her straight in the eye, and kissed her.

Gabrielle was paralysed for a moment, her lips unresponsive to his. Only when he slipped his hands onto her lower back did she respond, and did she respond indeed. She slipped her hand up onto his shoulder and moved the other hand to his face. Oddly, though she had never really sat down for a conversation with the man, she couldn't get enough of him. There wasn't enough space for her to attach onto him. Their kiss was frenzied, lustful, and not the least bit romantic.

"What was that?" whispered Gabrielle, uncertain of what had just happened. This seemed wrong to her, like a forbidden love. How on earth would her parents react if they knew? Leo, almost a complete stranger to Gabrielle, had just exchanged a kiss with her.

Leo continued to do amazing things to her neck. Sure, she had been with one or two boys during her school years, but they had never made her feel like this. "That...was nice," Leo breathed onto her skin, gently nipped her ear, and extracted a moan from Gabrielle (much to her dismay...she couldn't imagine where it came from).

"Oh...Leo...oh, stop...we have to stop-" she insisted, and then lost control over her voice.

"Why?"

"We can't take this that far...we can't...."

"Why not? I can just Apparate from your room."

"Not from inside the house," Gabrielle said. She couldn't take it anymore; she kissed him roughly, moving from his lips to his ear.

"You seem to have no complaints."

"My parents -"

"We'll silence the room."

Frustrated that she was getting no response from him, Gabrielle kissed him again on the mouth, this time prodding his lips with her tongue. It seemed to work, for as their kiss deepened, she felt his body respond.

"Upstairs," she managed, tugging on his sleeve. His eyes sparkled. With a guilty look behind her, Gabrielle left her past and goodness on the foot of the stairs.

**

In hindsight, Gabrielle realized that the only reason she had allowed Leo to stay with her was because she was jealous. Fleur was the star of the family, the true beauty, and Gabrielle was just the little sister who looked like "a little Fleur!" And she had been sick of it. It seemed like the greatest prize, somewhere in her subconscious, to grab Fleur's boyfriend.

It turned out that their relationship was mostly physical; nowhere in the month they dated did they actually go out on a date. Gabrielle was very fond of Leo. He introduced her to a group of friends who frightened her quite a bit at their first meeting, but were now her closest friends. She began to fall into their dark world in the alleys of London. They were a stark contrast to the world of gold and goodness that she grew up in; where society had moulded her into a polite angel, Leo's friends changed her into a creature moved by dark emotions.

For a while, Gabrielle was afraid of what these people had influenced her to do. She had never imagined the pure joy she would find in someone else's suffering. Leo explained it as her desire to get back on the world. She supposed that was partly true. Though she was rich and quite beautiful, she had been truly unhappy with her stifling parents and obnoxious older sister.

Gabrielle's real reason for torturing Muggles was because it made her feel powerful. Her family was comprised of power-hungry fools, and Gabrielle supposed that she was the first who turned to the Dark side to actually get that power. Her little group was not part of Voldemort's inner circle. They couldn't use some of the destructive curses that Voldemort used, mainly because they were his and his followers'. The little group of five managed, though, to be quite destructive without the three Unforgivables.

The only reason she ended it with Leo was because Fleur almost found out one evening, and Gabrielle was unwilling to take that risk again. So they parted for a little while. Gabrielle went to France for a vacation with her parents, and she and Leo lost contact. After a month of being apart, Leo found her and asked her to come back. She was excellent with defensive charms, and he said that they needed her.

She had gladly returned to the damp, dark night streets of London.