Children of Fate

Ana tried to scream but found she could not speak. The world around her spun madly, like a top, and she felt herself being sucked, inch-by-inch, into the diary. Finally, after what seemed like forever, the spinning stopped. Ana looked around herself at her surroundings. She was in a beautiful bedroom. Though it was small, the room was decorated lavishly.

There were deep green curtains made of an expensive looking silk fabric, and, looking out the windows, Ana realized she was on a ship. Slowly she walked to the window and looked out. The water was a beautiful shade of aquamarine and seagulls circled around in the sky. In the distance, not too far off, was what looked like a harbor. Turning around Ana decided to investigate the room more thoroughly.

There was a desk right beside the window, ornately carved with fancy quills and flowery stationary laid out neatly upon it. The carpet was also green and very soft and thick. Ana removed her too small shoes and giggled as she stepped onto the rug in only her stockings. Silently she padded over to a bookshelf, as skillfully and wonderfully carved as the desk. She leaned over to see what books were on the shelves but found that the places where the titles should have been were blurred. Only three books had titles: Meet Me at Dawn by Thomas Norville, The Outlaw and the Auror's Daughter by Sally Smith, and Love You Forever by Kenneth Mills. All three books looked like the trashy romance novels Amber-Lyn sometimes read.

"She never read any of the books on the ship so the diary doesn't have the titles," a quiet voice said. Ana couldn't help but jump. She had forgotten all about Tinkerbell.

"What does that mean? Who is she?"

Tinkerbell rolled her eyes. Somehow she had found her way back into Ana's pocket. "She, of course, would be Kate. This is her memory. The diary she kept was not at all a normal one. It was somewhat of a pensive. You know what those are, right?"

Ana nodded. "They store your memories. But aren't they bowls?"

Tinkerbell nodded. "Usually. But if you're very skilled you can take the elements of a pensive--such as the ability to store a memory--and transfer it to another object, usually a diary."

"Was Kate Lowell good at that kind of stuff?"

"No," Tinkerbell said, shaking her head. "She wasn't good at many tough magical things like that. Her one strength, though, was charms. Not hexes, curses, or anything to do with the dark arts, like her parents wanted. She was good at charms and could brew most potions." Tinkerbell trailed off and Ana looked around the room, suddenly uncomfortable. Her eyes rested upon the grand Victorian bed facing the window. No one was sitting there. She and the faerie were alone in the room.

"If this is Kate Lowell's memory then where is Kate Lowell?" Ana asked, sitting down in the chair by the desk.

As if an answer to her question the door to the room and a girl rushed in, followed by a woman like none Ana had ever seen. Mrs. Davies was rich, of course, and she dressed in fine clothing, but always something that fit the occasion. A regal dress for a ball, designer robes for normal days.

The woman who had followed the girl into the room knew of no such restrictions. She wore a black velvet dress with silver trims and a silver design of silk on the front. Silver jewelry with emeralds encrusted in it hung around her neck, arms, and dangled from her ears. Her dull (red hair blond hair) was done up in a bun and her face was one of an aristocrat. Ana supposed the woman, who's skin seemed to be stretched tightly over her bones, could have once been pretty. But over the years stress had born down upon her and made her what she was today.

"Kate, 'oney-I zink you are overreacting," the woman said in a heavy French accent, and Ana's gaze turned to the young girl who must have been Kaitlyn Lowell. Kate was sprawled on the bed, staring at the ceiling, a look of extreme disgust written on her features.

"Overreacting? I have every right to be overreacting! Mother, you told me we were going on a trip to Salazar Harbor so we could become a family again! You never mentioned the people paying for the trip were the parents of the boy you had betrothed me to! I thought you said Draco Malfoy had married some British girl named Pansy!" By the time Kate had finished her tirade her cheeks were flushed with anger and her eyes were blazing.

"Well," Kate's mother said, seating herself daintily on the edge of Kate's bed, "'e was going to marry Pansy Parkinson...But 'is father decided that 'e liked us-"

"His father decided that I was worth more money," Kate said, cutting her mother off. "Why do you lie to me? I know that this is all some game. Since father died you've been having trouble managing all our businesses. Lucius Malfoy can help you with that. The Malfoys are going bankrupt. Ever since the Ministry of Magic for Britain discovered the stash of dark magic objects in Lucius Malfoy's manor he's been having some trouble paying the fine. But hey, the Lowells are rich people. He's sure that the dowry for Kaitlyn Lowell will be more than enough." Kate's eyes narrowed. "And even if it isn't all the money father left to me should cover the bill." Kate's mother gaped at her daughter, but only for a few moments before realizing she was doing a very unsophisticated thing.

"Well, young lady, you 'ave no choice! We do need the 'elp and you will marry Draco Malfoy. From what I 'ear 'e is a fine young man and very 'andsome, too."

Kate glared at her mother. "Yeah. That's while he'll have a million mistresses!"

"Young lady! Watch your mouth!" Kate's mother cried, her pale paper-like skin flushing. Kate made a rude face and stared out the window. Deciding that she had had enough, Kate's mother stood, straitening her dress in the process. "You 'ad better lose zat attitude, Kaitlyn Lowell! We'll reach the port in Salazar 'arbor tomorrow morning. Draco and 'is parents will be zere and if you know what's best, you'll be courteous to zem!" Having said that, Kate's mother stormed out of the room, slamming the door in her anger.

As soon as her mother had left, Kate reached under her pillow and whipped out the very diary that Ana was in now. Taking her wand, which had been hidden up the sleeve of her robe, she opened the diary and placed the wand to her head. After a few moments Kate took the wand away and, attached to it, was a silvery string. Kate touched the silvery string to the book's pages and, with another flash of gold the entry was made.

"We'll be leaving, now," Tinkerbell said in a quiet voice. "Pretty soon we'll be off to another entry, probably one where she meets Draco Malfoy."

No sooner then she had said the words Ana's surroundings, including Kate sitting on the bed, began to swirl and change. This time, however, Ana did not scream. The time in the swirling transition seemed to be shorter the second time around and soon Ana found herself standing at the end of a line of about thirteen women. All were dressed in green robes with silver trims and holding small silver parasols with hissing snake handles. Kate was nowhere to be seen.

They were in a long hall, still on the ship, waiting by a large open door. The door was open and through it came the salty smell of the ocean and the caw of seagulls. "Those are her sisters and cousins," Tinkerbell said, motioning to the women. "Kate's mother has already found matches for two of Kate's eight sisters. The cousins are along just in case one of the betrothals falls through. Then Francine-that's Kate's mother's name-would still have a chance at making an alliance with someone in Britain." Ana nodded, pretending to understand the politics involved with these marriages.

A door beside Ana opened and out stepped Mrs. Lowell. "Well, ladies, let's get zis show on zee road!" All the girls burst into nervous laughter and Ana suspected it was more out of fear of Francine Lowell than the fact that they thought it was funny. Mrs. Lowell took her spot at the head of the line and led the girls out of the boat, and, upon following them, Ana found that they had to walk down a plank to get to land, where a fair number of people were gathered. For some reason every one of those people gave her the chills.

"We won't be able to hear what Mrs. Lowell's saying to well...Kate was listening from her room. She'll be coming out any minute," Tinkerbell said in a quiet voice so as they could hear Mrs. Lowell's speech. Ana watched with growing fascination as three people, probably mother, father, and son, approached her. The father and son were practically identical with the same tall, lithe, slender builds, faces that came together in such a way that they seemed to point, and blond hair so light it had a silvery hue to it. The mother was also tall and slender, though her hair was a shade or two blonder than her son and husband's.

"Are they the Malfoys?" Ana asked, secretly awed by these people.

"Yes. I'm sure, if Voldemort has risen to full power, that you know who Draco Malfoy is? They were, in those times, a very infamous but powerful family," Tinkerbell murmured.

Ana thought for a moment before replying, "Now he calls himself D. Malfoy. Mrs. Davies calls him Dragon when she speaks of him, which isn't often. She really hates him. I think because they rival for attention from You-Know-Who. He never comes over, either. The one or two times he did show up Mrs. Davies hid me in a closet because she thought I looked like a ragamuffin."

Tinkerbell had stopped paying attention to Francine Lowell and the Malfoys and had turned her head skywards so she could look into Ana's eyes. "You're mistress is Mrs. Pegatha Davies?" she asked quietly. Ana nodded. "Tell me, Ana, where are your mother and father?"

Ana looked away from the faerie. "When I was a baby my mother left me on the steps of Mrs. Davies manor."

Tinkerbell's small face was beginning to turn red. "Have you always been a maid?" she asked and something in her voice betrayed that it was on the verge of cracking.

"When I was five I started doing small things, like picking vegetables. When I was six and a half I began cleaning the manor and when I was eight Mrs. Davies assigned me to be her daughter's nanny. Before I was five, though, I did a little work."

Tinkerbell shut her blue eyes and took a deep breath. "Tell me, Ana, do you have any friends?"

Ana nodded. "Jeffrey and Liza, but everyone calls Jeffrey Rey. They work, too. Rey works with the animals and Liza helps in the kitchen and cleans the house with another maid named Tilly Smith."

"WHAT?"

The small explosion from Tinkerbell startled Ana and she jumped back, into the door Mrs. Lowell had come from, just as it opened. Luckily, this only being a memory, the door passed right through Ana.

"What's the matter?" Ana asked, watching as Kate Lowell, dressed in an uncomfortable and stiff looking dress, struggled to walk down the plank.

"This is the end of this memory, Ana, and now we'll be going back. There are a few things I need to tell you and your two friends."

Ana was about to ask Tinkerbell why when the world began to swirl around her. Silently, to herself, Ana wondered if this day would ever start making sense.