Unwelcome Desires 2 - Draco's Return

Crystil M. Ravens walked into her London apartment on a Saturday night and sighed. Yet another date gone wrong, and she couldn't understand why. She had been dating her old friend, Liam Cavannaugh, on and off for a few months. The last time she went out with him before that was in her fifth year, before she was at Hogwarts. He was nice, funny, smart and good looking, but somehow it just wasn't working.

She wearily got ready for bed. As she was just about to drift to sleep, an owl flew through her window, and landed on her bed. Moaning, she took the letter from the owl's leg and turned on the light to read.

Dearest Crystalline,

She instantly knew it was from her father. He was the only person who ever called her Crystalline. She read on, wondering what he could want.

I have some sad news. Your mother passed away this evening. She fell off her new flying carpet while travelling to her magical cookery club. I still can't understand why flying carpets were made legal. Her funeral is this Sunday at 2:00 p.m., at the St. Merlin's church in Diagon Alley.

Yours,

Dad

P.S. Sorry if this arrives a little late, you know our owl is a bit old.

Crystil looked at the date on the letter. It read Wednesday February 5^th 2002. Three days! It should have only taken the owl a few hours. Poor Snowy, she thought, looking at the worn out snowy owl on her bed. Then the news began to register. She was shocked for a moment. Crystil was very close to her family, and her mum was especially dear to her. It was a terrible feeling. To Crystil, it felt like the world had ended. Suddenly the tears began to fall. She hadn't cried like this in years. Eventually, she ran out of tears to come cascading down her cheeks, and fell asleep, only to dream of the last person she wanted to dram of that night. The person she had not seen or heard from for five years.

On Sunday, she got up in the morning as though nothing was wrong. She went through her usual morning routine of washing, getting dressed and having breakfast. She sat perfectly still in front of the fire, reading "Useful spells for around the home: Cooking, cleaning and so much more" until the clock on the wall said 1:45. Then she stood up, almost zombie-like, and got the little pot of floo powder from the mantelpiece. She took a pinch and threw it into the fire. Then she stepped in, called "Diagon alley!" and in the blink of an eye was gone.

Crystil stepped out into the stony street of Diagon alley a few seconds later. It took a while for her to regain her posture. Shouldn't have risked floo powder, she thought to herself as she walked up to the church.

The church was in a quiet part of Diagon alley, somewhere behind the Leaky Cauldron. It wasn't too big, but very pretty. It looked like it had come straight out of a fairy tale. It had grey stone walls, almost the exact colour of the ones at Hogwarts, and a few medium size windows with no glass. The windows, although small, let in an amazing amount of light, which bathed the church in an almost extra-terrestrial glow. They also let a cool breeze into the building, unlike some churches Crystil had been in which were stuffy and uncomfortable. Flagged stone covered the floor, and a few tapestries were hung on the walls depicting not, as would be expected in a church, religious scenes, but great magical triumphs. Lots of wizards and witches used it for getting married in, funerals and other such business.

She could already see some of her family waiting for her. She walked up to them, greeting various people. She practically ran up to her dad and her brother Wesley, who were both looking terrible. She gave them both a massive hug, and was about to start conversation in the awkward silence, when the clock struck two and everyone filed into the church.

Crystil filed in with everyone else, and found her way to a seat near the front at the end of a row, next to her father.

Professor Dumbledore acted as vicar for the funeral. He was a teacher and the deputy head when her mum was at Hogwarts, and he was also her mum's favourite Professor. He was probably the best choice, too, as he generally helped keep the atmosphere calm.

Crystil took a look at her father. He looked tired and about twenty years older than he actually was. He'd probably had many sleepless nights, the poor man. She thought he was being awfully brave, not crying all throughout the sermon. Even she, as strong as she was, cried a little, due to the struggle or emotions inside her.

After the sermon, during which everyone had cried a lot, Crystil said her last goodbyes and made her way back to the Leaky Cauldron. She had, of course, been invited to stay back at the massive Ravens estate, where she used to live with her family, but she felt like she needed to be alone. So, keeping her head down, she made her way through Diagon alley back to the new floo station.

The floo stations had been installed because, with the increasing popularity of floo travel, the fireplace at the leaky cauldron was getting too busy. Floo stations had about ten fireplaces all lined up, so witches and wizards could use them instead of the one in the Leaky Cauldron.

She was just about to walk in the door, when she bumped into someone. She looked up to say sorry, and recognised the cold, grey eyes, even though she hadn't seen them for five years. They were the eyes of Draco Malfoy.